Wizard Wars

[shadowkat]

Did anyone catch Wizard Wars on SyFy last night?  I felt like Ekaterina Dobrokhotova and Chris Funk were robbed!  I don't understand picking pockets being equated to Magic.  The Wizards, Gregory Wilson and Justin Flom basically showed us some pick pocketing and misdirection. I do not know either of them, they may be very good Magicians but I wasn't impressed by their showing on Wizard Wars.  It was way cooler to see Ekaterina Dobrokhotova  produce the sunglasses through the board and for Chris Funk to produce a foil from an audience member's purse.  WAY more Magical. Perhaps I am not the target audience.  I have never been impressed by pick pocketing or the card cheating type of Magic.  Yes, it takes skill, however the end game is to rob someone.  I want to be fooled by Magic and have some unsolved mystery to ponder.  Any thoughts? 

[Anthony]

Well missed it last night, have my DVR now set to record......I'll get back to you 

[Don Boyer]

Well missed it last night, have my DVR now set to record......I'll get back to you 

What, you don't have video on demand?    That's saved me more than once...

[Anthony]

Well missed it last night, have my DVR now set to record......I'll get back to you 

What, you don't have video on demand?    That's saved me more than once...

I do, it wasn't available....plus I'm working a goofy shift smack dab in the middle of the day, so better safe then sorry. I can watch it at my leisure later tonight

[Don Boyer]

Well missed it last night, have my DVR now set to record......I'll get back to you 

What, you don't have video on demand?    That's saved me more than once...

I do, it wasn't available....plus I'm working a goofy shift smack dab in the middle of the day, so better safe then sorry. I can watch it at my leisure later tonight

It sometimes takes a little time to appear.  You can also try the channel's website, they often have full episodes on tap.

You do know I was referring to catching the episode you missed and not new episodes, which you can easily record to a DVR, right?

[John B.]

If you google it, it is online. I used gorrilavid. but I dont think they were robbed. Honestly I feel justin floms prediction effect of where he would stab the guy was awesome. Also the fact that they made it a story was nice.

[Nurul]

Ekaterina and Chris were funny, their chemistry was good. Their card trick was really impressive, hope it gets released. If it is, maybe someone can drop a link?
Justin Flom and Greg Wilson are two of my favourite magicians. Magic isn't just about the trick, it's about performance. Greg and Justin had a story to tell, it was engaging and was easy to follow.
Ekaterina and Chris' war with the wizards, was good, but not great. They couldn't justify some of the stuff they were doing, for example the glasses coming out of the board. It was magical, yes, but you couldn't really see it.

All in all, I loved the show and I look forward to the second episode.

[10ofclubs]

Did anyone catch Wizard Wars on SyFy last night?  I felt like Ekaterina Dobrokhotova and Chris Funk were robbed!  I don't understand picking pockets being equated to Magic.  The Wizards, Gregory Wilson and Justin Flom basically showed us some pick pocketing and misdirection. I do not know either of them, they may be very good Magicians but I wasn't impressed by their showing on Wizard Wars.  It was way cooler to see Ekaterina Dobrokhotova  produce the sunglasses through the board and for Chris Funk to produce a foil from an audience member's purse.  WAY more Magical. Perhaps I am not the target audience.  I have never been impressed by pick pocketing or the card cheating type of Magic.  Yes, it takes skill, however the end game is to rob someone.  I want to be fooled by Magic and have some unsolved mystery to ponder.  Any thoughts?

In my opinion, that's a pretty shallow way to look at the performances. They weren't performing street magic, it wasn't just about the "wow factor" and the judges knew that. As has been stated already, Gregory Wilson and Justin Flom are very popular magicians and, again just my opinion, did a better job at creating a cohesive narrative and were more engaging with the audience.

[Anthony]

Well missed it last night, have my DVR now set to record......I'll get back to you 

What, you don't have video on demand?    That's saved me more than once...

I do, it wasn't available....plus I'm working a goofy shift smack dab in the middle of the day, so better safe then sorry. I can watch it at my leisure later tonight

It sometimes takes a little time to appear.  You can also try the channel's website, they often have full episodes on tap.

You do know I was referring to catching the episode you missed and not new episodes, which you can easily record to a DVR, right?

Ya, I got that Don 

[shadowkat]

Ekaterina and Chris were funny, their chemistry was good. Their card trick was really impressive, hope it gets released. If it is, maybe someone can drop a link?
Justin Flom and Greg Wilson are two of my favourite magicians. Magic isn't just about the trick, it's about performance. Greg and Justin had a story to tell, it was engaging and was easy to follow.
Ekaterina and Chris' war with the wizards, was good, but not great. They couldn't justify some of the stuff they were doing, for example the glasses coming out of the board. It was magical, yes, but you couldn't really see it.

All in all, I loved the show and I look forward to the second episode.

After searching a bit online into Greg Wilson, I feel he was not portrayed well on Wizard Wars.  They made it seem like all he did was pick pockets.  Being somewhat new to Magic, I had not heard of him and did not get a good impression from the show.  I understand that Magic isn't just about the trick, but about the performance.  I think Magic is a lot like Comedy in that each person will walk away with a very different experience.  Thanks everyone for discussing.  I am looking forward to the next episode as well. 

[Anthony]

I like the show, I hope it stays on for a while.

I think Ekaterina card trick stole the show, they both had their "Snags" Ekaterina glasses pull from the chalkbosrd probably hurt them the most because of poor angle more than anything. But it's not like Justin and Greg were flawless....their closing prediction had prop issues and poor choice of wording didn't help as pointed out by Penn.

It's all a matter of opinion I guess, I still think Ekaterina and Chris had a slight edge, but all in all, very entertaining.

[magicphill]

Kind of a strange format for a magic show but then that seems to be all the trend these days with having a judging panel and some element of competition and a cash prize. Having said that if it keeps magic in the media and current i'm all for it.

I did like the card trick that they pulled off with the signature ending up inside the layers of the card. Penn looked generally fooled (but then that's a different show

[John B.]

Its a new effect called Layers, not yet released. Ekatrina is working on it right now.

[Nurul]

Anyone watch the latest episode of Wizard Wars? Blake Vogt and Adam Trent's performance was by far the best I've seen so far on this show.
Was disappointed with Dan Hauss' performance. The magic was good, showmanship was somewhat bleh. I have the utmost respect for him and the magic he creates, but that performance from him felt boring.
What do you guys think?

[kdklown]

I think Hauss is a much better behind the scenes guy.  He is an excellent creator but I have never been overly impressed with his performances.  At least not the handful that I have seen.

[Don Boyer]

Anyone watch the latest episode of Wizard Wars? Blake Vogt and Adam Trent's performance was by far the best I've seen so far on this show.
Was disappointed with Dan Hauss' performance. The magic was good, showmanship was somewhat bleh. I have the utmost respect for him and the magic he creates, but that performance from him felt boring.
What do you guys think?

I'm finding the pretense to be a bit much.  They show people "working on their act", scouting the props and cutting a random length of wood on the circular saw but NONE of it ends up in their acts.  It's kind of ridiculous, so why bother - ditch that crap, show us the real work or add more performers.  It just wastes time and looks dumb.  How many of those people actually use any of the wood they cut?

[kdklown]

Anyone watch the latest episode of Wizard Wars? Blake Vogt and Adam Trent's performance was by far the best I've seen so far on this show.
Was disappointed with Dan Hauss' performance. The magic was good, showmanship was somewhat bleh. I have the utmost respect for him and the magic he creates, but that performance from him felt boring.
What do you guys think?

I'm finding the pretense to be a bit much.  They show people "working on their act", scouting the props and cutting a random length of wood on the circular saw but NONE of it ends up in their acts.  It's kind of ridiculous, so why bother - ditch that crap, show us the real work or add more performers.  It just wastes time and looks dumb.  How many of those people actually use any of the wood they cut?

Agreed Don, there is a lot of fluff.  They could definitely cut out all that garbage.  I would imagine it's hard to show them actually prepping their routines without tipping any methods.  They could fill the time with the "wizards" and judges performing.  That would be much more enjoyable. 

[Don Boyer]

Anyone watch the latest episode of Wizard Wars? Blake Vogt and Adam Trent's performance was by far the best I've seen so far on this show.
Was disappointed with Dan Hauss' performance. The magic was good, showmanship was somewhat bleh. I have the utmost respect for him and the magic he creates, but that performance from him felt boring.
What do you guys think?

I'm finding the pretense to be a bit much.  They show people "working on their act", scouting the props and cutting a random length of wood on the circular saw but NONE of it ends up in their acts.  It's kind of ridiculous, so why bother - ditch that crap, show us the real work or add more performers.  It just wastes time and looks dumb.  How many of those people actually use any of the wood they cut?

Agreed Don, there is a lot of fluff.  They could definitely cut out all that garbage.  I would imagine it's hard to show them actually prepping their routines without tipping any methods.  They could fill the time with the "wizards" and judges performing.  That would be much more enjoyable.

An equally good alternative would be to show the challengers talk a bit more about their craft and what drives them - I'd imagine it would make for some more effective teamwork if these performers knew this about each other.  Then again, they probably do this already off-camera - they just need to re-aim them and turn them on!