by seige » Oct 6th, '03, 10:53
Mandrake, as usual - you mirror my thoughts almost entirely.
I took a 'night out' from socialising and locked myself away with the TV for the night.
The Derren Brown hour lived up to all expectations... and even though we know how he did it, it still made fascinating television. The build up to me was far more entertaining than the stunt - which I found a little over-theatrical - especially if any of you have read Derren's excellent books - it was almost too predictable that there'd be a 'hair-raising' moment to the effect.
The following show, Magick, was just utter trash. A feeble attempt at contemporary shock-tactics... if you take out the MTV style cut shots and the awful 'dark' aspect, you were left with a jumbled bunch of effects that almost anyone on this forum could have pulled of with twice the finesse in half the time.
The bad taste element was apparent from the opening scene with the small African child. I couldn't quite understand the logic behind most of the stuff, and when the drugs appeared, I'm afraid that was the clincher, and I simply started channel-hopping.
The biggest let down with stuff like this is that it actually takes some of the magic away - and in some ways removes any sincerity or honesty from the magic. I mean, to make a small child appear in the middle of a busy street is a joyous thing to behold - but to then abandon the child and make childish comments about feeding habits took the magic from the effect.
Channel Four will undoubtedly get their wrists slapped over this one. And for all those of you about to comment that 'well, Derren Brown pushed the boundaries of bad-taste by attempting to dodge a bullet' I say, Pish!
Derren Brown performed a MENTALISM feat which involved nothing more than pure control. The bad taste element is merely a danger factor to reinforce how important and accurate his prediction was.
I did happen to catch some of the following programme, which I've seen before (and has the David 'mundane' Blaine levitation in the top 3) and never quite got on with, but hey, it kept me stimulated long enough to feel that the night had been worthwhile.