Larry-view: Not bad. 8* is generous, but it's about right given the weakness of the average "Magician" episode. This one features many guest appearances, one good guest star, and one great magic trick. We get two jokes, both funny, and that really helps the writing on this show. I haven't seen any jokes since some of the earliest episodes.
The big guest star is the "bad girl," and she's really gorgeous and glamorous, in the style of Joan Collins. She's not a great actress, but she's *just* good enough to avoid being bad and so she's fun to watch. We get a live panther in the plot. As usual, we get good location footage and action, including night scenes. I like the sound work in this show. The sound in the scenes in the vault is inconsistant, but sometimes you get an echoey effect that helps set the vault atmosphere. I love the sound in the night forest scene with the silence, the crickets, and footsteps. That's great that they were able to get that "hushed" effect with some large noisy crew right behind the camera. As usual there is precious little magic, ahhhhh! That's so annoying. Tony introduces Mark Wilson on to the Magic Castle stage and we don't get to see Mark do anything, not even a portion of a trick. Why do they do that? Magic is the gimmick of this show, we're in the Castle, it would fold into the plot, what's the problem? More magic would have helped make this show a historical document.
The show is a burglary caper mystery, can't go wrong with that. At the climax, the girl wears a hat and tuxedo outfit that doesn't play in the plot and looks odd. She looks like a magician.
Here is the magic I remember:
Tangerine and glass vanish
Single card production from empty hand.
Card throw
dove vanish
balloons into doves
Mark Wilson produces two card fans from empty hand, assisted by Greg Wilson
A great dove vanish using a box made of foil paper that is then torn to show that the doves aren't hidden. This is great and despite my knowledge of magical techniques and repeated slow-mo viewing, I can't see how he does it. It's very slick and convincing no matter what. I see no monkey business while Bill is loading the doves into the box. I don't think he could be loading the doves to his assitant, Larry, while only pretending to load the doves into the box. My best guess is the doves are hidden in a bag on the back of one of the foil panels, and when Bill rips the foil he only rips the half where the doves are not held, but I think I can see both sides of the panel too clearly and I see the panel edge on and there is no telltale bulge, and the paper rips too convincingly and Bill handles the panels too naturally and roughly for there to be a hidden load. The only suspicious thing I see, at all, is that the girl assistant makes a hasty exit before the trick is completed, leading me to suspect that she's dirty.moreless
EDIT
Episode Summary
A statue of an Egyptian cat on display in a museum is this episode's main attraction. It is believed by the Egyptians that incarnated inside the statue of the Ramses Cat is an Egyptian god. They also believe the statue belongs back in Egypt, not in a private museum. Not long after the museum curator turns down the Egyptians' final offer of one million dollars for the statue, the statue disappears, even though it has numerous alarms and obstacles protecting it! Enter Tony Blake, professional magician hired by the museum's insurance company to investigate the supposed "impossible" theft. As Tony follows the trail and starts to get close to some answers, he finds his suspects dead before he can ask any more questions. All have been torn apart by a large animal--with large claws. Has the spirit of the Ramses Cat been unleashed and is it seeking revenge? Will Tony get attacked by the animal too? Will he survive? That Tony Blake is pretty tricky, and, as usual, he manages to solve the mystery in under an hour.moreless
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Bill Bixby
Anthony Blake
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Camiey Gwyn Sebring
Kathy
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Jim Watkins
Jerry Anderson
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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Trivia
ADD TRIVIA- Apparently, the night scenes in the series were filmed during the daytime, with a special filter over the camera lens to make it appear that they were filmed after dark. The goof is, although Tony had his Corvette's headlights on, the streetlight he passed was not illuminated! Edit
- The elevator made a sound a little bit like the elevator on Star Trek. Edit
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Notes
ADD NOTES- Magic performed in this episode: Vanish of glass (with tangerine inside) - Bill Bixby Doves in Balloons - Bill Bixby Dove vanish in Tear Apart Box - Bill Bixby Card fan productions - Mark Wilson with son Greg Edit
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Quotes
ADD QUOTES- Larry Ford: Now that floor is weight sensitive to within an ounce. The controls are at the Wilshire division. You'd have to overpower an entire police station to get at it. The case itself has four separate locks. Each lock has its own independent alarm system. Edit
- Tony: Mrs. Russell, I'm going to give you some classified magician's information. When a magician pulls off a seemingly impossible escape trick, the chains and locks ... are just diversions. Edit
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Allusions
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Help by adding allusions to this episode. Add allusions
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Does this show, show how to do magic?
02/12/082
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