talkmagic.co.uk

For the benefit of people outside the UK who never got to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice, here you will find more lengthy clips showing segments of the series.

http://uk.youtube.com/user/sophieevansmagic

Angelo

Talk about turning perceived problems into an advantage! One of the guys who's been concerned about revealing the methods of the tricks called me to say he'd had a Children's Party booking on Sunday which he feared might go a bit pear shaped. He always tried to refresh and revitalise his act as often as possible and had deliberately removed tricks which might be similar to those seen on Sorcerer's Apprentice but this booking was taken on the basis of one done much earlier this year and the Mom who booked him insisted that he do the same show. In the end the magish decided to do what he'd been booked for and to hell with any shouts of 'I saw that on telly…' etc. When he came to his cups and balls routine one kid stood up and said, "Did you learn that off the Saucer's (sic) Apprentice?" The magish looked him squarely in the eye and, with inspired bit of thinking on his feet said, "No, I taught The Sorcerer everything he knows - he was my apprentice!". The rest of the act went beautifully and the kids were chuffed to think that they had seen someone so important!

Super. LOL

As I've posted elsewhere I believe this to have been an excellent series. As has just been proved there is always a way of dealing with those who think they know.

Just seen this program in the last couple of days and did a quick search to find this and a locked thread...

Exposure is a tricky one it really is... we've had so many discussions on here before about exposure but I would always say that a certain amount of exposure is ok because after all someone "exposed" the workings of a trick to us all once and from then on we set about trying to learn stuff much better and with a bigger wow factor!!

Magic has had a rough time as an entertainment medium since the demise of the Paul Daniels show... We've had good, bad and promising magicians come through but the profile hasn't always been high or when it has not always well received (Blaines transformation from whatever he was to whatever he has become).

Like all "crafts" and art forms the continuation of the form lies in the interest of children. Children are the ones who grow up either loving or hating the form so given that magic does need a new injection of life I can understand why they are doing this program.

Look at the kids faces with the levitating ring... how they were in awe as a spec but then when they started to learn they realised that its not easy and gained a new respect for someone who can do it even tho they now know how to do it themselves. They may "know" but can they "do"??!!

Levitation effects are a bit advanced I admit to be exposing BUT a simple deck of cards doesn't cut it these days in bringing in the interest of children to study our art. If we want to encourage and nurture great magicians of the future then we need the stick and carrot approach. We are competing against PS3's, Xboxs, Bebo, and many other techno places/items that kids go to/use so if we want to show them there is a way of life in magic then we have to show them something that is a tad advanced.

I don't like seeing it and I don't exactly agree with it but we have to do something to keep our art form alive.

And there are a couple fo those kids that will make soemthing if they continue beacuse yes they do have a bit of potential and may well go on to develop something WE buy in years to come.

A contentious and perhaps groundbreaking program... Is it moral and right given our oathes??? Probably not.....

Is it worth taking the chance witha small amount of exposure to reignite national interest in magic??? YES YES YES

If it's a one off I have no probs... if it goes pop idol routes then I will be writing to the magic circle about the exposure elements myself....