talkmagic.co.uk

This was shown on Channel 4 originally in 2002 and has been repeated quite a few times over the past few years.

For those who have seen it, what do you think of it?

For those who haven't, the whole thing can be viewed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idWI5vbALVI

You will find the other parts on the same guys channel.

I really enjoyed it when I first saw it ages ago and when I recently re-watched it, I was quite pleased tricks such as...

David Copperfield's flying Trick
Paul Daniels Chop cup trick
Tom Mullica's cigarettes trick
Juan Taramiz's 4 blue cards trick
Melinda Saxe's Drill of death trick
and Harry Blackstone JR's Floating lightbulb
Tommy Coopers bottle/glass trick.

Were included in the countdown

Oh and it was great Adam and Joe did a spoof of Breaking The Magicians Code aswell!

But are there any tricks which weren't included in the countdown, should've been?

and are there any tricks in the countdown which you felt, shouldn't have been included in the countdown.

and for anyone interested, here's a list of every trick which was included in the countdown (Don't look if you don't wanna know )

50. Franz Harary, Vanishing Space Shuttle (1994)
49. Juan Tamariz, Four Blue Cards (1996)
48. Shahid + Lisa Malik, Sword Box (1991)
47. Guy Hollingworth, The Reformation (1997)
46. Harry Blackstone Jnr., Vanishing Bird Cage (1987)
45. Mark Mottram, Thumb Tie / Sword (2000)
44. Penn & Teller, Truck Trick (1990)
43. Meir Yedid, Fingertip Fantasies (1985)
42. Derren Brown, Subway Hypnosis (2001)
41. Melinda Saxe, Drill of Death (1999)
40. Paul Zenon, Snooker Card Trick (2000)
39. Spoon Bending (Amazing Jonathan, Geller, Rowland)
38. Stevie Starr, Goldfish Regurgitation (1992)
37. Fay Presto, Bottle Thru Table (1996)
36. Lance Burton, Osmosis (1997)
35. Robert Gallup, Straitjacket Escape (2000)
34. James Hydrick, PK Page Turning (1980)
33. Penn & Teller, Cut & Restored Snake (1991)
32. Paul Daniels, Electric Chairs (1989)
31. Great Soprendo (Geoffrey Durham) Torn & Restored Newspaper (1982)
30. David Berglas, Levitating Dancing Table (1981)
29. Amazing Jonathan, The Skewer (2001)
28. Tommy Cooper, Multiplying Bottles (1967)
27. Paul Zenon, Tax Disc (2000)
26. Derren Brown, Art Gallery Prediction (2000)
25. Paul Daniels, Vanishing TV Camera (1984)
24. Amazing Jonathan, Knife Thru Arm (1996)
23. David Berglas, Pulse Stopping (1986)
22. Siegfried & Roy, Interlude (1994)
21. Simon Drake, Swords Illusion (1990)
20. Ishamuddin, Indian Rope Trick (1999)
19. Derren Brown, Blair Witch Illusion (2000)
18. Robert Gallup, Death Dive (1996)
17. Amazing Orchante, Ball of String (1987)
16. Siegfried & Roy, Vanishing / Reappearing Elephant (1994)
15. Simon Drake, Guillotine (1992)
14. Lance Burton, Rollercoaster Escape (1999)
13. Harry Blackstone Jnr., Floating Lightbulb (1977)
12. David Blaine, Card In Window (undated)
11. Penn & Teller, Double Bullet Catch (1996)
10. Hans Moretti, Crossbow (1995)
9. Richard Ross, Linking Rings (1983)
8. Paul Daniels, Chop Cup (1985)
7. Tom Mullica, Cigarette Eating (1996)
6. David Copperfield, Flying (1995)
5. Robert Harbin, Zig-Zag Girl (1965)
4. Lance Burton, Doves (1982)
3. The Pendragons, metamorphosis (undated)
2. David Blaine, Levitation (undated)
1. David Copperfield, Death Saw (1995)

I have seen this a couple of times since it was first aired but it would be nice if they updated it.

A lot can (and has) happen in 9 years.

Still a great watch.

IMHO, editing out the very unfunny links by Joe and Adam would be a great improvement.....

Joe and Adam are never funny!

I'll agree on Adam and Joes links being incredibly unfunny, the spoof of Breaking The Magicians Code being slightly amusing

But if they do an updated version, I hope they don't do what they did with all the other 50/100 greatest programmes when they updated them and get two idiots from T4 to do the updated links who don't have any knowledge on the subject they're talking about.

But what are peoples opinions on the tricks featured? do you think some which were elft out should have been included and do you think any which were included, shouldn't have been?

Simon Drake should have been featured more times. He is a legend and is a great shame that many youngsters may not know his work....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaaV2ZAD ... 6A&index=9[/url]

It was meant to be a countdown of magic tricks, yet David Blaine got in there with a camera trick. How did that happen? The unfunny links didn't help either, and some of the contributors were what can only be politely called nobs. I would much rather have seen the ten best tricks, but have seen the tricks instead of brief teasers. Not a particularly inspiring show in my opinion.

Stephen Ward wrote:Simon Drake should have been featured more times. He is a legend and is a great shame that many youngsters may not know his work....

I agree. His Shadow Illusion was brilliant, and he did a great version of the 'Swallowing The Needles' effect. The atmosphere on his Secret Cabaret show was amazing and really made you feel like you were in some old fashioned mysterious circus tent. It was this show that first got me into Ricky Jay, who had a few appearences.

As for the list, id have liked to have seen Michael Ammar on there, especially for his work on the Cups and Balls - surely the cups and balls are one of the greatest tricks ? I think the Floating Lightbulb should have made the top ten, what a great piece of magic.

God knows how David Blaines levitation made number two. If special effects were allowed on the list then Steven Speilberg has done far better

jim

Yeah it's quite amazing, some of the tricks that made it to the countdown.

Especially seeing it was (apparently) voted for by members of the magic circle.

I do also wonder why some stuff such as Hans Moretti's Crossbow appeared because they're technically not 'magic' tricks but more dangerous stunts, don't get me wrong though, still entertaining

When you make these kind of shows up, you tend to base your selections upon either the library of clips you have already bought, the clip library you can get a good deal from or the rights that you can get to show things within your budget. There can also be a dozen other reasons and somewhere in amongst those would be the actual list. I'm sure that somewhere a TV show is actually made up from a truthful list but I've never seen one.

I think it's odd that Copperfield's Statue of Liberty Vanish didn't make the list. Regardless of what one feels about the illusion, there is no doubt that it made Copperfield a household name. (At least here in the States)

And no Mascot Moth??? Surely one of the greatest illusions of all time.

David Berglas's disappearing a concert grand piano from a hotel function room isn't on the list, nor is the one where the American magician froze the lady inside a massive block of ice to publicise a theatre show in the 1950s. There may not be any tv footage of them but they haven't shown the whole of the tricks they did include so I don't see why not.

I have only seen clips from the show, but I thought that Paul Daniels' chop cup was more impressive than any of the others. I guess I've never had a desire to do the big tricks like vanishing the Statue of Liberty, an elephant or a space shuttle. I'm not even interested in things like zigzag. I enjoy watching them, but, because I've tried to learn things like the chop cup and linking rings, I really appreciate them more.

That said, Copperfield flying really is magical.

mastermindreader wrote:I think it's odd that Copperfield's Statue of Liberty Vanish didn't make the list. Regardless of what one feels about the illusion, there is no doubt that it made Copperfield a household name. (At least here in the States)

Thats a good point Bob. The Statue of Liberty vanish is probably one of the most famous and talked about illusions (from the general publics point of view).

Apparently the illusion was offered to Doug Henning, who refused it on the grounds that no-one would believe such a grand scale vanish. So it was given to Copperfield, who at the time was not so well known outside the magic field. The rest as they say, is history

jim

So who or what should be included in an update?

I dare say more Derren Brown as it's the same production company.