"Breaking the Magicians' Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed" was a series of four specials that aired from 1997-1998 (followed by "Secrets of Street Magicians Finally Revealed in 2000 and "Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed 5 - Escape from the Ice" in 2002, both featuring two new masked magicians) on FOX. The first four specials featured The Masked Magician preforming large-scale illusions (some well-known and others not so much) that could never possibly be attempted by any average view at home. In addition, he would preform a small trick or two that could usually be done at home, involving minimal and cheap supplies and not posing any safety risks. I remember watching these specials as they aired and being so excited and intrigued. One of my cousins at the time was really into magic as a kid and I can recall my aunt saying she felt the specials were ruining magic because by knowing how the tricks are done, you ruin the mystery and excitement of the trick. The Masked Magician later explained when he revealed himself as Val Valentino, that he was doing this for the complete opposite reason. Valentino felt that magic was losing it's popularity and it wanted to spark an interest in magic to a young audience by showing them how some of the big illusions are done and at the same time teaching them some smaller tricks they could preform with simple household items. He looked at it as an inspiration, a way to keep magic alive amongst generations to come, and for aspiring magicians to work to for bigger and better illusions that have yet to be preformed. I can understand why other magicians and some of the population were upset by these specials, but at the same time I see Valentino's point in wanting to do the series. Personally, I was very entertained by these specials and continue to be nearly 10 years later. Luckily, I was able to get my hands on copies of some of the episodes and last month caught some of them on the FOX reality channel (digital cable) and apparently for the past few weeks they have been showing some on MY9. Long live The Masked Magician. I would love to see him comeback into the limelight with some new stuff.
2 comments:
Woah!! I was skipping through channels last night and actually caught some of The Masked Magician. At first I didn't know what the hell it was. After a few minutes, I couldn't change the channel.
Despite whether or not people think what The Masked Magician did was ethical or not, there is not doubt about it that he is a fantastic entertainer! Like you said, you couldn't change the channel, whenever I watched one of the specials I'm hooked.
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