Price$35.00
Media TypeDVD
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedNov 24, 2008
The Works
Steve Dobson
(Based on 1 review)
VIDEO CLIPS
For over 25 years, Steve Dobson has performed magic that runs like a fine Swiss timepiece. Night after night the Dobson magic machine delivers precise doses of the stuff that works to the people that matter. Now we open the mechanism to give you a look at The Works:
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The first in a series, this volume starts with a COINS ACROSS that doesn't quite start as a coins across. It's everything a worker should be; clean, surprising and reliably amazing.
Even nice guys have to flex their manly card biceps every once in a while. ACES TO JACKS is for those times. The deck delivers four aces like clockwork, one jumps up off the table, goes through the others, and turns over. Suddenly the aces are all backs, then all Jacks, leaving the aces back in the deck.
When the time is right for a packet trick, THE OTHERWORLD POKER HAND has it all. Four cards turn face up one at a time, then the backs change color, from Red to Blue to ? ? ?.
THE PORTABLE HOLE is Steve's streamlined version of the David Roth classic, in which three coins vanish into a flat piece of cloth, travel through two dimensional space, and arrive together underneath. Done standing, gaffless, and without a clink.
ALL BACKS is four strange cards with backs, but no faces. Just when they're convinced it's back, back, back, back, BAM - it's Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack!
MY FIRST CARD TRICK starts out with you teaching a simple trick, which you do, until suddenly, magic happens. What kind of magic? Just an instant, sleightless, full deck, reverse oil and water that comes out of nowhere. Hey, you've got to fool all of the people some of the time.
Combining the best of the Herrmann and Jiggle passes, Steve's HERRMANN WITH A TWIST is swift, silent and angle friendly. The select few who know about this literally begged Steve not to release it, but he'd rather disappoint them than disappoint you. After all, we promised you The Works.
"Steve is one of magic's hidden talents. I have seen him work for laymen many times and he always entertains!"
- Bill (Still on the loose) Malone
Running Time Approximately 35 min
Reviews
(Top ▲)
With that as a background, basically what you get a $1.00 per minute fee to watch the video ($35.00 - 35 minutes). You get six tricks as I mentioned that range from Weak (a 1) to Amazing (a 5)
Here's the breakdown from my perspective:
Coins Across (3) - nothing really original, but it's a nice smooth presentation. The best part of this is that you see it in front of a live audience and there's a lot to learn from that interaction
Aces to Jacks (2.5) - a decent packet trick with a kicker ending - again, nothing too original, but a pretty good trick
The Otherworld Poker Hand (3.5) - a lot of mileage out of a few cards with a very logical presentation and again performed in front of a live audience
The Portable Hole (4.5) - A solid presentation with some beautiful vanishes . . . and Dobson's retention vanish is beautiful
All Backs (4.5) - not entirely revolutionary (and not my favorite plot), but one of the most convincing and deceptive handlings of the plot I've ever seen
My First Card Trick (.5) - Ok . . . it's a decent premise, but there's a certain way you have to set up the cards and you're never shown how to get into this in a presentation, and it's not the kind of thing you can before the show. You have to do it in front of the audience.
In the "bonus" section, you get to see the studio performance of the two effects (Coins across and Otherworld Poker Hand) that were shown in front of a live audience. Plus you get to see a performance only segment of the classic "spectator cuts to the aces" plot. Again . . . a lot to be learned from watching Dobson live.
Granted, he made some mistakes in my opinion. He made a couple of comments that, in my opinion, were insulting to the audience, but for the most part he was nice and friendly and truly connected with them on many levels.
If you're looking for new stuff . . . don't bother. If you're looking to see a pro perform, then consider it. Nothing here is earth-shattering, but there are some gems and some wisdom to be mined if you're watching for it. The average rating of the effects alone is a 3 on a 1 to 5 scale. However, the overall score is pinged a little bit for the price and the fact that nothing really new is being presented . . . however the score gains a little bit of ground due to the value of learning from a pro with Dobson's experience . . . All in all, this is a decent DVD that's slightly over priced. I'll give it a 2.5 star rating . . . final status of grubble . . .