"Extreme Possibilities Volumes 1 through 4" DVDs
by R. Paul Wilson
Suggested Retail USD$34.95 each
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

R. Paul Wilson's four-volume DVD set, "Extreme Possibilities", is a collection of some of the best close-up effects going today, with unique workings and presentations as you'd expect from R. Paul Wilson. And if you're not familiar with Wilson's work, you're in for a treat because the man is capital-G-good.

Okay, so I'm a fan. Always have been, probably always will be. I've loved his thinking in his booklets and prior videos. Without going off the deep-end about Wilson, he's what I consider a neo-classicist, someone who can take old themes, old methods, and slam them against new ideas and techniques to create what amounts to new and powerful magic.

"Extreme Possibilities" showcases some of the best of Wilson's magic (well, as it stands right now -- knowing Wilson, he's probably got enough stellar material for fifty discs just sitting around in his head waiting to come out). Purportedly Wilson's favorite effects, this set is definitely some of Wilson's better stuff. Mostly cards, with some coin work and the odd piece thrown in just for good measure, and catering to the advanced worker but with pieces for the beginner and the expert among our number, this is a melange of great magic. Period.

I won't give you a run-down of all effects: there are over thirty-five of them (including a handful of "performance-only" pieces) and an exhaustive discussion of them all would be just that, exhausting you and your patience. So let's just hit the highpoints here.

Volume One contains nine routines consisting of six card routines, a coin routine, a "ring-on-stick" routine, and a performance only bit. The first one to catch my attention here was the first on the video, "ConCam Rendezvous". It's a multiple prediction effect with a shuffled deck that appears to be so fair it's astounding when the predictions hit. "Zulu Sandwich" quickly became one of my favorites and that despite it being a sandwich effect. In this one, three cards are selected and lost in the deck only to appear between two other cards... that have been in clear view the whole time since before the cards were selected and visually. I hate sandwich effects but this one is just too good. "ConCam Ring on Stick" finishes my favorites on this one: it's a great take on the classic, complete with some added visuals that make this one a jaw-dropper. Talk about being worth the price of the video, that routine is.

Volume Two contains eleven routines: eight with cards, one with coins, and two performance-only pieces featuring Wilson's marketed effects, "Ricochet" and "Spectrum". I was hooked with Wilson's take on "Tantalizer", which adds a twist to the old routine. A card is selected, lost in the deck, and the performer begins dealing cards into two piles, eventually eliminating one of the piles. This continues until only three cards are left. The performer shows them to the spectator and, unfortunately, the chosen card is not among them. The performer deals them down as usual, eliminating two and leaving one which has changed to the selected card. Talk about adding impact to a classic, this one does it. "Thief of Hearts" is just clever. A couple's trick, this one has a chosen card trapped between two Queens teleport to end between two Kings. But not the whole card: just the center portion, magically torn out to be a paper heart. This one is great and perfect for those special situations that sometimes arise. "Wilson's Aces" is labeled as a "magician-fooling version" but that's underselling it -- it's a rapid assembly that will fool magicians, but it'll also blow spectators away. The big selling points? It's incredibly open and clean. "A New Wave" is Wilson's sole coin routine here and it is, in a word, elegant. Three coins appear one at a time, vanish the same way, and reappear once again. This is a gorgeous routine and worth the price of the disc.

Volume Three consists of four card pieces, two coin pieces, a silk routine, a prediction effect, and two performance-only pieces: ten routines in all. "Tipless", the silk routine, is a guilty pleasure for me -- it's great to use to sink those poor, deluded folks who think we use plastic thumbs to make pieces of cloth vanish. It may not be the most earth-shattering piece of magic you'll see on the disc, but it's a fun, interesting piece. As for earth-shattering, "Popper Bound" is closer. This is a coin routine, a bit of a flurry, that goes from vanishes and appearances to a Spellbound bit and a hand-to-hand repeating change. This is one of those routines that fit in anywhere and Wilson through some fun bits at it to make it entertaining to see. "Jazz Two Step" is Wilson's version of Kane's "Jazz Aces" and it's an excellent version with a slick take on the final card. Considering I'm probably one of a handful of folks who'll whip out the original version at the drop of a hat, Wilson's version's invaluable to me. "Left Turn on Cactus" has four spectators locating the four Aces from a shuffled deck: they call out a number, that number's counted to, and there's an Ace. Wilson uses some great psychological touches to build suspense and make the discovery of each Ace more interesting (and apparently more difficult). Probably the most difficult routine on the disc, this one is worth learning. It's a thing of beauty. But so is "8 Card BW+2", Wilson's take on Trost's "Eight Card Brainwave". It's beautiful, it's bold, and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. I love the original but this one... wow. And that's all I've got to say about that one. I could also say it about "Devilish Princess", an truly awesome take on the classic. Wilson went overboard on this one and it works beautifully. It begins with a spectator picking a card and having it lost in the deck. A fan of five cards are shown to another spectator who mentally selects one of the cards. After a bit of by-play, the cards are spread on the table: four cards are face-up and one has turned face down. Obviously, it's the spectator's thought-of card, right? Nah, that's too easy: it's the originally chosen card. This is one you have to see to appreciate and do for some folks to catch the strength of this one in action.

Volume Four, the final volume, has nine effects: five card pieces, two coin routines, a ring-and-silk routine, and a single performance-only effect. "Written Wrongs" is among my favorites here. It's a comedy card prediction piece with some nice surprises, that ends up being a "card-to-impossible-location" effect. What can I say? I'm a sucker for well-structured routines and this is one of them. "Wild With the Ladies" is another great piece. As you can tell from the title, this is a version of "Wild Card", done impromptu, with a packet of cards changing to match a selected card and, at the end, turning into four Queens. Simple and direct, this is a neat visual handling for the classic. "DDT Open Prediction" is, obviously, Wilson's take on the Curry miracle and it's a powerful one. It's quick, clean, and as open as you can get in more ways than one. This is a powerful version of the original. "The Mystery of the Little Piece of Cork" is, in a word, a masterpiece. Wilson has taken the Ramsay effect and upped the amperage on it, making it a work of artistry in coin magic. It all begins with a small, open-ended cylinder being shown empty and a piece of cork dropped through it to confirm it. It's placed on the table and the cork dropped inside. Three coins then are magically produced and magically vanish, only to appear stacked inside the cylinder, underneath the cork. This one is worth the price of the disc, hands down.

Whew. Well, that ended up taking more space than I thought it would... and I still left off half the material. There's just so much good magic on "Extreme Possibilities" that pointing out personal favorites and "the best" routines becomes next to impossible.

Okay, so who should take a look at these discs? The short answer is pretty much anyone involved in close-up. If you're totally into coin work, or completely hate card work, then you should probably pass: there's not much coin magic on this (though I would argue anyone and everyone should see "The Mystery of the Little Piece of Cork") though what's here is good; the majority of the material is card work.

But if you're like most and live between those two extremes, "Extreme Possibilities" is definitely worth the purchase. Excellent, solid, commercial material abounds on these four discs and only the most jaded of our number won't find a thing or two or six that doesn't pique their interest and get the blood flowing.

Or, to make a sound-bite out of all of this, get "Extreme Possibilities' now and spare yourself the regret later when someone sinks you with one of Wilson's routines.

"Extreme Possibilities Volumes 1 through 4" DVDs
by R. Paul Wilson
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

Material: 10
It's cards and coins and other things thrown in for good measure, all done as only R. Paul Wilson can do 'em. The difficulty of the material ranges from stuff for beginners through to expert, with most of it being for the more advanced worker. All of it is gorgeous, gorgeous stuff.

Practicality: 10
There's the odd set-up and prop, but by and large all the material here is practical as close-up pieces, with most of workable for stand-up.

Quality of Production: 10
It's L&L and you know what that means. The quality is typical of their best work.

Quality of Instruction: 10
Wilson does a great job of teaching his material. He's thorough and concise and patient: you'll have no problem picking up his routines.

Presentation: 10
The presentations run the gamut here, with everything but the kitchen sink represented (there's even a story routine, for heaven's sake). All of Wilson's material though is visually pleasing, engaging, and straightforward -- just what you want in good magic.


Shane

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