Several postings have expressed curiosity about the Hill-Climbing
 Bicycle scene in "THE WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME" feature film...

 Newsgroup: alt.fan.mike-jittlov, article: 811
 From: chuck@dip.eecs.umich.edu (Chuck A. Nicholas)
 Subject: Up Hill Bicycle Scene in WOSAT
 Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 13:22:44 GMT

 > :) I kept getting hung up on the biz where the *inside* of the
   photomat is vastly larger than the outside

 Along similar lines, the one scene in the film that I find most
 intriguing was when Mike rides his bike up the hill without
 pedalling it.  I mean his feet are completely off of the pedals.

 I watched it frame by frame and everything else in the scene
 seems to be moving normally, i.e. right direction, apparently
 the right speed.  There is a person walking on the hill and some
 cars moving around as well.  If this was done with stop motion,
 did you stop motion the traffic as well?  The only other thing I
 can guess is a small electric motor hidden in the back basket to
 push the bike?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Richard Pieri responds:

 Or someone/thing off-camera doing the tow-trick.
 Or Mike pedaled *real hard* before he came on-camera :-).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Keith Dickinson notes:

 If you look closely to when they first cut to the scene, Mike's
 legs are just being being pulled away from the bike.  I believe
 that furious pumping of the bike and then lifting one's legs
 away at the last moment will give you that effect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Chuck Nicholas cites:

 I looked for a tow line/cable or even shadow of one, can't see
 any evidence of one.  Maybe rocket packs?
 "Or Mike pedaled *real hard* before he came on-camera"
 That's a big hill, he must have pedalled *REAL HARD*!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Leo L. Schwab elaborates:

 Look more closely.  Look at the surrounding buildings and see
 if their angle to the ground is consistent with being on a hill.
 I think he just tilted the camera at an odd angle to create the
 illusion of a hill, much as they do in truck ads, making it
 appear the truck's climbing a steeper hill than it really is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Chuck Nicholas adds:

 OK, I checked.  It's a big hill.  The trees, telephone poles,
 etc, look OK.  Also, you can see the bottom of the hill where
 it flattens out.  I can't even imagine someone "riding" a bike
 backwards that great a distance & reversing the order of the
 film.  The shadows don't seem to move enough for stop motion.
 No wonder they call him The Wizard of Speed and Time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Erik. S. Swedlund offers:

 Suppose he had a *lot* of friends give him a big push just
 before the bike entered the camera field?  Or perhaps some
 other sort of pushing device...

--*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*--

 Okay, the poll has officially closed.

 BIKE-MOTOR THEORY:
 The WIZ-bike was supposed to do more, in this movie.  But due to
 my esteamed business partner's mysterious necessity to get this
 production going immediately, I didn't have the 2-3 months of
 prep time to find our shooting locations, design sets, build the
 props, etc.  I had to create and gimmick the bicycle _during_
 our filming.  The bike's lights and sounds all work, but the fan
 is just a fan - there was no time to find a decent bike motor
 (do they still make'em?).

 INVISIBLE TOW-CABLE THEORY:
 I couldn't locate the company for this.  Besides, the sun angle
 was wrong - you would have seen the glint even on the special
 wire - and we surely couldn't afford the digital-erasing used in
 TERMINATOR 2 (which process didn't exist yet, anyway).  Plus,
 something would probably go wrong, and I or the bike would get
 dragged kicking and screaming for a block until the emergency
 uncoupler finally activated.

 LOT OF PEOPLE PUSHING ME THEORY:
 Nope, it was just me and Brian Thomas, that day.

 PEDALLING REAL FAST THEORY:
 I was dog-tired, it was a hot day, that's a very steep hill.

 RIDING BACKWARDS THEORY:
 I tried that - but the bike isn't designed for backwards riding,
 and it was uncontrollable after more than a few feet.

 STOP-MOTION FILMING THEORY:
 Well within the sanity level of this production, and actually
 used on this stretch of road for the ending to "Turtle Joak" -
 but stop-motion proved undoable due to all the heavy vehicular
 and pedestrian traffic, and the local mongrels occasionally
 attacking the bike's tires.

 ROCKET-PACK THEORY:
 This theory is so far-fetched I won't even bother to answer it.
 (And besides, the only jetpack available was Kenny's Bell unit,
 and it only lasted for 20 seconds, and there were too many
 overhead phonelines to avoid in case Murphy's Law cut in.)


 HOW WAS IT DONE??? HOW WAS IT DONE???  HOW WAS IT DONE???  :@

      The Official *Wizard* Answer may Surprise You...


             [Coming Soon, to a Posting Below!]

 ________________________________________ ___._`.*.'_._ ________
  Mike Jittlov - Wizard, etc       .   . +  * .o   o.* `.`. +.
   Hollywood, CA 90026-2714       '   *  . ' ' |\^/|  `. * .  *
 jittlov@gumby.cs.caltech.edu  (: May All Your  \V/  Good Dreams
   <& alt.fan.mike-jittlov>    and Fine Wishes  /_\  Come True:)
 ============================================= _/ \_ ===========