The Genii Forum

They are now available I saw on Ebay a 6 dvd set all 22 episodes of The Magician item #6361239457 price $35.00 If they are available there they must be available elsewhere

Paramount has never released The Magician on VHS or DVD. Anything you see on eBay or elsewhere are unauthorized broadcast copies.

Bootlegs is the word!

if you go to this website, rhere is an online petition to get Paramount to release this series on DVD
TV TOME The Magician

I had already signed at the website. The ebay item doesn't look bootleg it says they come in a case and all. I believe you, but some one went to a lot of trouble. I for one would rather wait for the real thing. Thankyou for your postings

Daniel, most bootlegs come with printed discs, printed inserts in their cases (hoping to fool someone exactly like you), but they are bootlegs nonetheless--there are NO authorized copies of The Magician for sale anywhere in the world.

Thankyou Richard

HERE is a place where you can get the complete series for $25.

And HERE is a clip from an episode filmed in part at the Castle, in which Vernon is briefly seen, performing the cups & balls.

This set will likely be recorded from television onto VHS and transferred to DVD. It will be the heavily edited version that ran on SyFy. This is an unauthorized copy.

The are plans for an authorized copy. When it will be released remains unknown. What the master will be is unknown (it could also be the heavily edited version). The announcement was made in November by Visual Entertainment, Inc.:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Magici ... nned/21730

Dustin Stinett wrote:This set will likely be recorded from television onto VHS and transferred to DVD. It will be the heavily edited version that ran on SyFy. This is an unauthorized copy.

The are plans for an authorized copy. When it will be released remains unknown. What the master will be is unknown (it could also be the heavily edited version). The announcement was made in November by Visual Entertainment, Inc.:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Magici ... nned/21730

Judging by my complete set of The Equalizer, Visual Entertainment does a pretty decent job. Non-heavily-edited, at least.

Might move things along if Bixby fans email VEI about how wonderful it is of the company to reissue the Magician & how they're looking forward to spending money on buying it.

Sent them an email this morning and got the following reply a few minutes ago:

=====
Hello Brian

Thank you for contacting us and expressing your content with the forthcoming release of The Magician.

Any updated news on release dates and product information for this title will be posted on the website.

Sincerely

Support Desk

VEI
=====

So either they don't know anything further at this point or they haven't been bugged by enough people yet. But they responded pretty quickly, so if more folks write to them it could very well spur them along and/or cause them to reprioritize the release to the extent of control that they have.

You can write to them at: support (at) vet (dot) tv

review at METV

METV is probably re-running the syndicated, edited versions of the show.

Richard Kaufman wrote:METV is probably re-running the syndicated, edited versions of the show.

I don't think they are. But their website has a bunch of articles about TV shows from the Baby Boomer era, and this is one of them.

Since we dropped cable, we are watching a lot more METV.

Seems odd to me they'd have an article about a show they're not running now or plan to run in the near future.

It appears that the series is, at long last, available:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0753 ... MC3C&psc=1

Mark

Yes, for the first time ever, this is an authorized collection. EVERYTHING else, regardless of the source, has been unauthorized. I am saving my shekels to get my copy, and when I do, I will let everyone know if this is truly complete. We know all of the episodes as well as the pilot are there, but the question is if those episodes are complete. The syndicator had truncated them from what originally aired to make room for more commercials, so a LOT of magic, particularly as performed by Mark Wilson, Dai Vernon, and others, was cut since those segments did nothing to advance the storylines of the individual shows.

You can ask the publisher directly here.

One of the Amazon comments:

"Ordered my set straight from VEI, and got it on August 21. Print quality is quite good, particularly given that they squeezed 6 episodes on to each disc. Normal amount of visual artifacts for material of this vintage (actually, less than I would have expected). Episodes all clock in around 49 minutes each, EXCEPT for "Illusion of the Curious Counterfeit - Part 2." It runs only about 43 and a half minutes, because it is missing the lengthy opening recap of Part 1. Also missing are the 30 second opening teasers that were originally broadcast before the opening title sequence (but those are typically omitted from DVD releases). Overall, I give the set an enthusiastic thumbs-up."

So perhaps someone can tell from the 49-minute length whether that was the original running time?

Spotted elsewhere:

Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files was clearly watching [The Magician]. Years later, on his paranormal FBI series, a young Mulder is shown watching The Magician when his sister Samantha is abducted by aliens.

49 minutes would be the correct run time.


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Received mine on Saturday and am into the 2nd disc. Had forgotten many of the episodes.

Terry wrote:Received mine on Saturday and am into the 2nd disc. Had forgotten many of the episodes.

You beat me to it Terry Last night I watched the pilot and the first episode.

The transfer is very very good. I've seen transfers from filmed (not video'd) TV series in the 80's that weren't this crisp, particularly given that I'm watching it on a high def TV. Sound is excellent. The end-of-episode credits roll by VERY quickly, I think they saved some time there to get the complete episodes on a fixed number of disks.

Watching the show, with "Anthony Dorian" the Magician solving problems by always having the correct trick, prop, or sleight ready, and thinking on his feet, reminded me that a true "magician" is always ready to perform. As opposed to one who just "does magic."

I finally got these, and binge watched them over the weekend. These are the complete episodes. It was a delight to see Dai Vernon, Peter Pit, Nino, Mark Wilson, a very young Greg Wilson, Nani Darnell, Larry Anderson, and several others back in the show. And by the way, that is the normal speed of the end credits. I know this because I do have one original episode, transferred (by and courtesy of my friend and fellow "The Magician" fan John Parnell) to DVD from a 16mm film that is owned by Beth Brickell, who guest starred in "Illusion of the Stainless Steel Lady."