Sorcerer’s Apprentice - The Final

For the final episode we begin with a demonstration by Sorcerer Max Somerset of all the skills they’ve learned rolled together into a single illusion. We begin with Max asking Tomos to draw a picture in secret, and wear a sieve - sorry a thought-transmitting device - upon his head. Meanwhile Max is locked in chains, and then put inside a large box in the middle of the courtyard. The sides of the box are raised by several workmen wearing masks. We are told he has only one minute to read Tomos’ mind and escape. The workmen retire to a safe distance while the time ticks away. As soon as the time runs out, the box explodes, and the sides drop to show that Max has vanished. The camera pans to a window in the tower where, of course, we see Max. He throws down a scroll and a key. Tomos opens the scroll to discover a picture of a sheep with “bobble” written inside identical to the one he drew at the beginning.

During lunch, they resite the school motto for one last time, and determine the order of performance. This is done by chance by using Horace the cockroach, who runs around a plate choosing sorcerees by passing over a numbered envelope containing the stage name of a sorceree. The order of performance will be: Power Joe, Alexandra the Great (good name!), The Hatted Dragon (Tomos), Gypsy Rose (Leonie), Small-dini (Mehmet) and finally Witty (Rebecca) Whitely. The sorceree will be able to perform any two of the tricks they have learnt over the two weeks. Interestingly, Tomos chooses the trick he performed the worst, in an attempt to impress the Sorcerer - will this tactic pay off?

After an afternoon of dress rehearsals in front of Mr Tariq Knight and Miss Sophie Evans the sorcerees prepare for the most important performance of the series. Once again friends and family are dragged from the corners of the United Kingdom to form the audience for the show. It would have been nice to have seen the final performances in their entirety but unfortunately they suffered the same edit as the previous episodes. Cutting to each performer in turn we saw Joe performing his mind reading trick ending with his favourite garlic eating finale. Alexandra performed the levitating wand trick (and seemed to have the speed just right) followed by the hats and chairs trick. Tomos displayed a perfect performance of the paper and cups trick, and Leonie gave a good show of her teddy bear trick. Mehmet’s performance was typically funny, and finally Rebecca performed the lemons and limes trick unfortunately flashing the lemon and giving the game away.

After an anxious wait, Max Somerset gathers the sorcerees together and announces “I Max Somerset the Third declare that the winner of Sorcerer’s Apprentice is … Tomos Power”.

I think Tomos was a worthy winner, of what’s turned out to be a very entertaining series. It has put magic in a good light, and will hopefully spark the interest of young performers. Roll on the next series.

Technorati: Magic max somerset, sophie evans, sorcerers apprentice, tariq knight, television

Crystal Thought Condenser

We proudly present this optical miracle. A cube is shown to be made of transparent plastic. It is clearly empty and held in your equally empty hand. Suddenly, the image of a selected card appears inside the cube! Just as quickly it vanishes. This is very clean, visible magic. No kind of body attachments are used; it's self-contained. We also include an un-gaffed cube, so you can switch it and pass it out for examination if you desire. This clever prop can be adapted for use with letters, num... [more...]