Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed
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| Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed | |
|---|---|
 Title card from the first episode. Subsequent episodes had a number after "REVEALED." |
|
| Format | Reality Documentary |
| Starring | Mitch Pileggi (narrator) Val Valentino (Masked Magician) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 5 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 1 hour |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | FOX Network |
| Original run | November 24, 1997 – October 29, 1998 |
Breaking the Magicians' Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed was a series of five specials, aired on the FOX Network in the US, and on Sky and ITV in the UK.
Contents |
[edit] Val Valentino
The first four specials featured incognito magician Val Valentino as the Masked Magician, who performed large-scale illusions and smaller-scale close up magic tricks, before revealing the secrets of the tricks. The Masked Magician was promoted as a well-known magician, who wore a mask to avoid recrimination from fellow magicians.
The title alluded to the magician's code: the promise by working magicians to not reveal the basis of their tricks, or else risk getting blackballed by fellow magicians.
The first four episodes were hosted by Mitch Pileggi.
| List of Grand Illusions Revealed | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Show One November 24, 1997 |
Show Two March 3, 1998 |
Show Three May 5, 1998 |
Show Four October 29, 1998 |
Show Five May 15, 2002 |
| Lady to Tiger Levitation Chinese Lantern (magic trick) Zig Zag Girl Exploding Packing Crate Sawing A Woman In Half Sword Basket Metamorphosis Vanishing Elephant |
Crusher Teleportation Lady of Steel Suit of Armor Shooting an Arrow Through Switching Places Box of Pain Water Torture Escape |
Table of Death Stretcher Knife Throwing Haunted House Bullet Catch Mismade Girl Vanishing Tank |
Car Crusher Escape Cremation Spike Torture Guillotine Buried Alive (magic trick) Death Trap |
Cutting A woman In Half With A Buzz-saw Making An Assistant Disappear Balancing An Assistant On Broom Bristles Going Through The Portal |
| This list covers only large-scale illusions. Other tricks were exposed. | ||||
At the end of the fourth show, the Masked Magician unmasked himself, and revealed that he was Val Valentino.
[edit] Subsequent Specials
At the end of the fourth show, the now-unmasked Val Valentino announced he would soon star in live magic shows in places like Las Vegas. On February 23, 2000, Fox broadcast Secrets of Street Magicians Finally Revealed which featured a masked street magician performing tricks in the style of David Blaine. Fox returned to the original format on May 15, 2002, with Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed 5 - Escape from the Ice. The new magician was wearing a new mask and a new outfit.
[edit] Series Revival
Recently, MyNetworkTV obtained the rights to air thirteen new specials shown only in Brazil, in the US during fall of 2008. The new specials will have all new illusions never before shown in any of the other specials.
[edit] Trivia
The specials were parodied on the animated television series King of the Hill[citation needed] during an episode in which Peggy participated in an illusion involving an exploding pinata, leading Hank to question her throughout the episode as to how the trick was performed. During the end credits, the trick is explained by Bobby Hill, who is seen wearing a replica of the Masked Magician's mask, which he removes to ask the audience "Please don't tell my dad."
[edit] External links
- A YouTube account dedicated to the Masked Magician
- Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed at the Internet Movie Database
- Breaking the Magician's Code 2: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed at the Internet Movie Database
- Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed 3 at the Internet Movie Database
