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I'd advise anyone who wants to see him live to sign up to his newsletter. You get to find out when tickets go on sale (last October for my Svengali tickets), and you won't get flooded with spam. The only message I've had was about tickets.

jhmagic1 wrote:

kolm wrote:

jhmagic1 wrote:

kolm wrote:Maybe the editing helped but I found the word dissociation funny getting onto irritating. We all knew he knew the last word, did he have to go back to it again and again? (And did he have to end the first half with it?)

Dont understand why he didnt tell the audience he worked the word Mcfly in to the opening voice over?

Because in the theatre it's clearly obvious (that message was spoken a number of times before the show started and he did the "slip a word into a sentence" thing a couple of years ago), and McFly was also mentioned a number of times during the show

Oh, so it was a question of Derren knowing some of the audience would pick up on the fact he slipped 'Mcfly' in. So he didnt have to point it out.

The people sitting next to me at the show got it... it's a nice contrast to the usual 'I'm cleverer than you' to exploit the audience's intelligence, which is what Derren always does so brilliantly.

I actually liked the memory effect on the unedited version and prefered that and its presentation to the spirit cabinet. I'm not sure where the audience were left with the spirit cabinet- its not inexplicable and impossible, and everyone knows its trickery- and the whole game of 'deception' and being cleverer than the audience comes back again.

Then the ending too, when you're in the theatre (and I think they did a good job of somewhat replicating that atmosphere on the tv) is incredible.

But undoubtedly the best thing was the medallion effect. A beautiful piece of real 'magic' which appeals to everyone. It got me in the show and on the tv.

Mandrake wrote:the total running time including the credits and DVD advert at the end is 76 minutes.

I'm now staring at the online store wondering why a DVD with three shows on it is only £6 more expensive than one with just the one show...

...and wondering if I can afford it

SamGurney wrote:I actually liked the memory effect on the unedited version

I think ironically I may have forgotten this effect...

which was this?

Beardy wrote:

SamGurney wrote:I actually liked the memory effect on the unedited version

I think ironically I may have forgotten this effect...

which was this?

When he divines someone's memory, just a billet effect but as you'd expect- brilliantly done. Derren at his best of his pseudo-explanations.

Oh yeah - I really liked that effect! Gave me a lot of inspiration that one. I misunderstood what you meant by memory! I thought you meant a memory feat!

Beardy wrote:Oh yeah - I really liked that effect! Gave me a lot of inspiration that one. I misunderstood what you meant by memory! I thought you meant a memory feat!

I also kind of liked the tin-foil stuff. It was a bit magic-y but it was an interesting way of dressing effects up. In tin foil.

kolm wrote:I'm now staring at the online store wondering why a DVD with three shows on it is only £6 more expensive than one with just the one show...

...and wondering if I can afford it

Perhaps the DVD version runs longer than 76 minutes? No doubt there will be 'extras' of some kind but I'd hope they put back the bits edited out for TV.

Mandrake wrote:

kolm wrote:I'm now staring at the online store wondering why a DVD with three shows on it is only £6 more expensive than one with just the one show...

...and wondering if I can afford it

Perhaps the DVD version runs longer than 76 minutes? No doubt there will be 'extras' of some kind but I'd hope they put back the bits edited out for TV.

They're both DVDs, just the slightly more expensive one has the previous two shows on it as well. I guess I'll be reading the backs of the DVDs in HMV and/or asking questions then!

Well, I found the TV version something of a letdown. The tinfoil routine provided a good long, thoughtful, slow-paced breather in the middle of the first half, and cutting it made everything rush past far too breathlessly. The interval was only about 15 or 20 minutes into the programme.

I thought the "child's spirit cabinet" (won't give it its proper name here) was far more creepy and inexplicable than the full-sized cabinet, and it formed a great lead-up to it. So to find that hacked out completely was very annoying -- and again its loss made the show too breakneck.

The times I saw it on stage, the man selected to hold the slate against his body in the spirit cabinet wore a dark shirt that showed up chalk smudges when the slate was turned around -- a good convincer. A pity that for the TV filming both of the random chaps were in light clothes.

The finale was better in its original version anyway, but apart from that it fell flat on TV, and it must have been partly because of the ruined pacing. The whole show was rushed, so there was no feeling of a buildup of energy to the finale. The camera angles were poor, especially the revelation of the "subliminal" phrase, which deserved a dramatic close-up. Most of the references to McFly throughout the show had been cut out, so their appearance was meaningless. And the finale itself felt rushed and abbreviated -- maybe they edited out brief pauses to cram it into a shorter time?

So it was all basically a shame compared to what it could have been, but at least I got an object lesson in the importance of pacing.

Colin watched most of it, which is rare for him and magic shows. He wasn't squicked out by the vinegar, because he actually likes the stuff and used to sneak sips from the vinegar bottle when he was a lad! His only comment was, "Hey, Derren shouldn't be advertising Sarsen's."

Beardy wrote:I still love that finale

I had that song in my head for days after I saw the show. I wouldn't be suprised if I am still singing it over the weekend again.

Myself and the missus enjoyed the show, but then again we enjoyed being there seeing him live even more.

Cannot wait for Svengali!

I thought the show was as dull and repetative on tv as it was watching it live and I think he should say "Random" a lot more as I didn't quite get the point the first 300 times he said it.

What did come across on the is the smug self pleased look of "how good am I at this"



As you can tell I'm bored of Derren Brown and his increasing looks of "hey, how good was I just then?". How long will it be before he becomes a self help guru like Paul McKenna?

yawn yawn yawn

Now dont get me wrong I think he is a brilliant performer but for me personally I'm bored by this form of presentation.

I think it is akin to comedy. Every comedian has a style or outlook to their humour and once you've seen it a few times it begins to wear thin.
For example in the late 90's I used to like Eddie Izzard but now I am sick and tired of blah blah blah, jam, squirrels.

Why couldnt the audience hear.. lets just say... a noise... when he was doing the engraved coin routine?

greedoniz wrote:For example in the late 90's I used to like Eddie Izzard but now I am sick and tired of blah blah blah, jam, squirrels.

Not a great example as Eddie Izzard had pretty much lost his bottle with comedy during the last decade after Watchdog had a go at him quite unfairly and he hasn't worked on it enough to get better. I think this is also a motivating behind him getting stuck into movie and TV roles. "Circle" was only performed once in the UK for charity and his latest show "Stripped" marked a return, hence why it wasn't as good as older stuff and seemed to be mainly composed of surreal gibbering.

I saw Enigma for the first time last night and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't nearly as enjoyable as the 2 shows previous, which had me gob smacked. I really enjoyed seeing his version of the Spirit Cabinet.

Something that did occur to me was that I must have learned a lot more than I realise over the last year as I saw through so much of it unintentionally. It both spoilt it for me and gave me a nice satisfying feeling through realising that my hard work is really sinking in. As a result, it dawned on me what a excellent showman and convincing liar he is. That's a beautiful thing to watch in itself.

He does say "Random" a lot though.

jhmagic1 wrote:Why couldnt the audience hear.. lets just say... a noise... when he was doing the engraved coin routine?

Distance. Plus, have you ever seen it done?

Surprisingly quiet.