The Magicians (Syfy) [** Spoilers **]

_Tombstone_

No Thread for this? First ep out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SuW7c28SAM

humanji

Harry Potter for the Hunger Games generation?

mikeruurds

I quite enjoyed it. The last 5 minutes were class. Looking forward to the next episode.

Anachrony

humanji wrote: »

Harry Potter for the Hunger Games generation?

The novels skew a little older than Hunger Games. They are not considered to be in the "young adult" category like Hunger Games, or Children's books like Harry Potter.

The Hogwarts comparisons are very superficial. The series actually has more to do with C.S. Lewis than J.K. Rowling. But it approaches it from a different angle that Lewis probably wouldn't have appreciated. It is pretty scathing towards the basic idea of escapist fantasy. The main characters are mostly self-centered, entitled jerks who are never satisfied with the opportunity to live out all their fantasies.

CiDeRmAn

Sorry, I can't hear of magicians without thinking of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPXvAM9blow

JP Liz V1

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/the-magicians-season-2-renewed-syfy-1201699942/

Renewed

youcancallmeal

Anyone still watching this? I've watched the first episode, it was only okay imo, last 5 minutes were good. Wondering whether to continue watching?

Anachrony

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Anyone still watching this? I've watched the first episode, it was only okay imo, last 5 minutes were good. Wondering whether to continue watching?

I am, and I plan to continue with it. It's not bad for a SyFy channel show, but I'm not blown away. It could easily be worse, but it seems a little low budget to pull off so much fantasy, and the writing is not very polished. I think the other episodes thus far have been fairly consistent, so if the pilot didn't draw you in then I can't guarantee that watching more will hook you.

I thought the book series was fun. If you like the premise of the show (which to be fair takes a while to become clear), but are ambivalent about the execution, then you might like the books better, too. If you don't like it at all, then you probably wouldn't like those either.

Mr E

Season finale last night. What an odd series. I feel like it was trying to cram in as much magical cliché as it could - demons, time travel, alternate worlds, astral projection, magical school, battle magic - yet put a crude adult spin on it. What other show would have sex magic or drinking semen from gods?

To be fair, it was very watchable with likeable leads. It was laugh out loud funny in places, and packed in its fair share of great twists.

The censorship of bad language was a little bit jarring. It was in the script, it was spoken by the actors, but they couldn't air it on SyFy so they blanked it out. Hopefully it pops up uncensored on Netflix - I might give it another run through before season 2.

I'm glad that there will be season 2. I don't think I've ever seen such an abrupt cliffhanger.

Bandana boy

quite enjoyed this
For the ,you should have the power of the gods as your better than me at magic speech ,I was totally thinking this is a thinly veiled I am not drinking a jar of God Cum ! excuse.

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttPmut0kBgw

pixelburp

Was wondering about this only the other day & when it might be coming back. Really ended on a exceedingly grim, dark note but was otherwise pretty engaging with likably-unlikeable characters.

naughto

pixelburp wrote: »

Was wondering about this only the other day & when it might be coming back. Really ended on a exceedingly grim, dark note but was otherwise pretty engaging with likably-unlikeable characters.

In the trailer it's saying January

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuC0irbKSGg

Sleepy

Anyone else still watching this? About 4 episodes into Season 2 and really enjoying it. It's brainless but quite fun.

EoinMcLovin

Sleepy wrote: »

Anyone else still watching this? About 4 episodes into Season 2 and really enjoying it. It's brainless but quite fun.

Yeah watched season 2 when it aired , gets good in second half of season

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGAnY6DqevY

pixelburp

Looking forward to this returning, and all the latest ways our 'heroes' can completely f*ck everything up this time There's something endearing and refreshing about protagonists who are almost nearly always the wrong people for the job, or just hopelessly out of their depth. Makes my own mistakes feel trivial in comparison haha

JP Liz V1

Renewed

http://tvline.com/2018/02/28/the-magicians-renewed-season-4-syfy/

pixelburp

Completely forgotten about this coming back for season 3; must get on that. Fascinated to know where the show goes, what with one of its pillar concepts now completely removed.

On a related note, apparently ScyFy and USE have decided that in future not to bleep out any swearing in its shows: good news for The Magicians, as it always took me straight out of the story when those obtrusive 'dips' masked Penny's many - MANY - utterances of f*ck.

It should also be good news for The Expanse, and its sweariest character from the books, Chrisjen Avasarala; the lack of her famous pottymouth has been the one disappointment in an other solid adaptation.

https://www.avclub.com/the-****s-are-prepared-to-fly-on-syfy-and-usa-1822642302

Mr E

I think they are limited to a certain number of uses per episode though.

pixelburp

Mr E wrote: »

I think they are limited to a certain number of uses per episode though.

That's fine, at least they can use them now and the dips can be dispensed with (I found the audio dropout more jarring than a conventional 'beep'). A little canny scriptwriting can get around the quote of f*cks, sh*ts, p*sses and whatnot.

ixoy

They've been dropping loads of F-bombs all over the place, and a couple of C-bombs, with no cutting at all this season.

Axwell

Yeah cursing is scattered throughout this season without any effort to hide it. Quite enjoying the season so far to be honest. The story arc and how they are dealing with it is quite enjoyable and I dont think its any weaker than previous seasons which is usually the case the further on shows go.

Kirby

Under pressure.....

That was cringey but hilarious at the same time. Also, kudos to the guy who plays Eliot for doing the high parts so well.

pixelburp

Oh, it's not another bloody musical episode is it?

EoinMcLovin

Great season finale, can’t wait for next season

Kirby

You would think a show about magic would be full of feel good stuff and whimsey. Nope. Jesus this show is dark. :P

Bandana boy

I think S3 is the strongest yet , really liked it . Roll on S4

Axwell

Loved that season once it got going. Wasn’t sure for a while what direction they were going with some of it or if it was going to work but it came together nicely in the end and looking forward to season 4.

fitz

Season 3 was worth watching for Margo's dialogue alone.

EoinMcLovin

fitz wrote: »

Season 3 was worth watching for Margo's dialogue alone.

Yeah especially the scene where she was talking in pop culture code with elliot

pixelburp

Finished season 3 the other day; the show has definitely come into its own after some slight growing pains in the first run. It's quite complex, dark but often very human in its approach despite the fantastical elements throughout - I daresay there are few other shows that openly embrace its cast being such colossal failures, dangerously flawed, but still inherently interesting or likeable. Elliot and Margo are honestly one of the best charactering pairings on TV; they're both a bit tragically useless, yet you just cheer on their every small victory.

Seems a shame it doesn't quite get the same kind of audience or fandom as other genre shows (even though ironically ScyFy have renewed it for a fourth season, despite killing other, more prominent shows). At first blush it probably came off like a Harry Potter for grown-ups, but it's so much richer than that.

Even the musical episode was enjoyable! And I HATE musical episodes.

NSFW for language (the allowance of some f-bombs really worked well this season), while being kinda spoiler'y (being as it is from episode 9!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyK3FyvXcGA

pixelburp

First footage from Season 4 has been released, along with a release date: January 23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJTEh7PsCSg

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5QMn7lToKY

Arcsurvivor

How is it compared to the book?

EoinMcLovin

Back this week and already renewed for a fifth season.

https://tvline.com/2019/01/22/the-magicians-renewed-season-5-syfy/

EoinMcLovin

Now that was a great season finale

Axwell

Good wrap up alright, a few weak points but overall a pretty decent season.

pixelburp

I had forgot this was back, so only caught the first couple of episodes; it has really morphed into a solid & quality show. Seems to float under the radar but never so much it has been cancelled by SyFy (which is most unlike them).

Still suffers a little from re-introducing characters from random episodes with the bare minimum of reminder. You definitely can't half watch it

Bandana boy

very decent season , and was genuinely sad at the end

I wonder is that really about the story or problems on set with the actor

pixelburp

Caught the last episode, what a gut-punch but in many respects I should have seen it coming; that particular race had definitely come to its natural conclusion.

This has easily become one of my favourite shows, and given how quick SyFy will cancel anything it's a minor miracle this is still going - and that there'll be a fifth season.

EoinMcLovin

pixelburp wrote: »

Caught the last episode, what a gut-punch but in many respects I should have seen it coming; that particular race had definitely come to its natural conclusion.

This has easily become one of my favourite shows, and given how quick SyFy will cancel anything it's a minor miracle this is still going - and that there'll be a fifth season.

Yeah that was such a sad episode, show has gotten better every season. Next season will be very interesting and I wonder if we will get another musical episode

pixelburp

Honestly I had forgotten

Quentin was ever suicidal, but that (musical!) campfire moment was a bittersweet capper on his journey and affirmation of his value. He was certainly the audience surrogate at the start, but the narrative had moved on. Same could be said for Kady TBH

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIGom2-HZBY

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYZ3ekClINo

pixelburp

Am reading the first novel at the moment and it blew my mind to realise the best character from the show - Margot IMO - isn't even in the book. There's a "Janet" who's kinda similar and maybe she becomes more Margot'y later (only about 40% through). The rest are kinda the same, bar maybe Josh.

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhKm43xao00

EoinMcLovin

Back this week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxEMknDa0Qc

EoinMcLovin

The Magicians Cancelled After 5 Seasons; Series Finale to Air in April

https://tvline.com/2020/03/03/the-magicians-cancelled-season-6-syfy/

pixelburp

Ah nuts, that's a shame, though it did well to get 5 seasons at all. Seemed to garner little chatter online, this thread included. Hopefully the final episode can bring things to a natural end.

Jaysus, just reading that article and it says that there are only 2 remaining "ongoing" scripted series at WyFy. That's a bit crazy.

Had been watching Season 5 and been meaning to add my thoughts here at some stage. It has been good so far, though a little aimless in stretches, the show trying to find its direction in the absence of

Quentin

. It has often been a weird one to watch, characters, plots or McGuffins thrown in & out so fast and loosely, it could be a little hard to follow.

I will definitely miss Summer Bishil as Margo, for ... ahem. Reasons. :cool: