Price$30.00
Media TypeDVD
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedDec 07, 2007
Time and Space
Justin Miller
(Based on 1 review)
From the creator of some of the best-selling DVDs like SILVER DREAM and X-MARKS THE SPOT. Justin Miller, comes one of the most time altering effects of his generation. With a story of what time travel might look like if it were possible, this one is sure to go in to your act almost instantly.
Effect
The magician pulls out of his pocket a playing card with its back towards the audience and sits it off to the side. A deck is introduced and a card is selected and signed by a member of the audience. Not wanting his audience to thing that any funny business is going on, the magician takes the two jokers from the deck and tells his audience that the jokers will be the "body guards" of the card that has been placed aside from the beginning. The mystery card is then sandwiched face down between the two face-up jokers. The packet is spread so all can see. The signed selected card is then placed face down in to middle of the deck (by the spectator if you wish) and is lost fairly. What ensues next is beyond words.
First, the signed card disappears from the deck. Every card is counted one at a time by the spectator. It really is gone!
Second, with absolutely nothing in the magician's hands, the mystery card is turned over. It is the signed card!
And finally, the two jokers and the signed card are placed in to the spectators hand, in a flash all three cards fuse together in to a single card! On one side, the two overlapping jokers, on the other, their signed card to keep forever! What a souvenir!
- No Palming
- No Funny Moves
- No Rough and Smooth
Running Time Approximately 26min
Reviews
(Top ▲)
Here's Miller's take on it: Add a time travel theme, a few Back to the Future jokes - always fun - and throw in a kicker ending that includes a card stuck in a time warp. All in all, not bad. However, let's dive a bit deeper . . .
Performance
The premise of time travel is always a good hook I think. However it does depend on how well you address it and how interesting you make it. It's fun to speculate about time paradoxes. Miller only briefly touches on this.
I'm not a fan of lines like this:
"This is a deck of cards obviously . . . "
What's the point!? This is one of the opening lines during Miller's performance . . . annoying to say the least.
There were a lot of lame and/or weak jokes along the way, and it took almost a full 4 minutes into the routine before anything happened. The trick/presentation/patter was extremely slow and dry.
The spectator - played by the producer, Kozmo - looked less than thrilled at the performance. That's nothing against Koz (a friend of mine) or Miller (an acquaintance of mine). It's more the fact that Koz is a well-versed magician who's been exposed to a lot of magic . . . not the best choice for an effect like this. It would have been better to have either no audience or a real "lay" audience that could have shown a bit more enthusiasm.
Additionally, Miller's Riffle F**ce was poorly timed. He didn't wait for Koz to say "stop."
So my rating of the entire performance, effect and presentation . . . probably a 3 out of 5.
Explanation
There's no doubt that this method goes a long way to cancel out certain methods in the mind of the spectator. One such effort is the nice subtlety that Miller uses with the signatures. This is very clever and could be employed in many other effects.
Great effort was put into the filming of the explanation, multiple angles and thorough explanations to say the least. That's one thing I've always admired about Miller (even on the effects of his that I hate) is that he is a very thorough teacher. In this particular project, even though he was thorough, he did seem a bit "off" that day . . . maybe a rough night's sleep or something, but it was a bit stiff, but still thorough.
The set up is a bit obnoxious and hard to reset . . . so much so that this effect (regardless of it's impact) is very unlikely to end up in my strolling repertoire . . . a set show, maybe, but even still unlikely for other reasons.
Another point to consider . . . in the performance, he had the spectator blow on the face of the signed card to allow the ink to dry. However, once you learn the method, you'll realize that you can't actually show the face of the card to the spectator. Miller never explains this in the explanation.
Also, I'm not sure that Miller knows what the word "Psychology" means . . . he constantly says there's a lot of psychology here, then shows something that has nothing to do with a psychological point.
Another thing about Miller that I've always admired is his fluidity of motion. He's a very smooth technician, even on the effects that I'm not a fan of. This effect is no exception. He is smooth and fluid in both his performance and explanation.
All in all, the explanation is a 4 star explanation on a 2.5 to 3 star effect.
Props
Each performance destroys a gimmick. The DVD only comes with Six cards, and the website mentioned on the DVD for obtaining refills is a dead site. I imagine, however, that you could get refills from Koz. However, let me caution you that the quality of the prop is mediocre at best. The two jokers that are printed on one side of the deck look like the border between them was hand drawn with a cheap sharpie . . . not the best looking gimmicks.
Final Analysis
The effect itself, in my opinion, is not as good as its predecessors mentioned at the beginning of the review. However, the signature subtlety is worth learning, and the effect isn't horrible . . . it may strike the fancy of some of you out there, so I'm left with a final verdict of 2.5 out of 5 stars and a Stone rating of grubble (a little bit of gem and a bit more rubble).