Magic Tricks

I wanted to like this effect. The idea is clever and can be memorable for the audience. Unfortunately, the presentation is sub-par.

The maps look. This is quality printing on quality paper, not the cheap treatment. The maps are gimmicked in ways that are not obvious.

Sadly, the map has two flaws. The small flaw is that the mapmakers swapped two tube stations on the Central Line, Oxford Circus and Marble Arch, for no good reason. Even my mom has done enough shopping on Oxford Street to know which side of Oxford Circus that Marble Arch is on.

Here’s the big flaw: The mapmakers forgot to consider what will happen 3% of the time, when the trick will go horribly wrong. The DVD explanation doesn't even mention the possibility of failure, or what to do about it. The publisher didn’t put together a video on their website to address the issue post-production, either.

Between them, the two flaws indicate a project where they just allowed the brilliance to override quality control. Yes, you can come up with a way around the problem. But then again, if you're inventing things, you can come up with a way to a similar effect with a completely ungimmicked map, so the whole idea of "hey, there are workarounds!" won't hold water.

There are supplementary effects that are not affected by the errors in gimmicking the map, but all material for Tube makes it absolutely plain what the main effect is. And that main effect just simply has not been thought all the way through.

I give Tube two stars. A lot of the time, the effect will work and it is strong. Some of the time, the effect will fail spectacularly, and you will look weak.