Derren Brown: The Experiments

If you haven't seen this programme yet, you probably don't want to read any further. It has been a great series so far and I recommend it.

I've not really bothered with Derren Brown, especially since he wasted an hour of television just to pull off a cheap camera trick (lottery prediction), but thanks to David's post I caught the end of it on +1. Very interesting stuff, and it a nice change to see a studio audience being forced to think instead of howling and baying, which is what most of them seem to do these days*.

David

* and get off my lawn.

Looks like there is a common theme this series of


Unfortunately the nature of these shows is with every passing series you get more and more sceptical - but this has been an enjoyable series so far and regardless of whether or not you believe everything you're seeing, the ending did make you think a bit tonight.


One problem though with this "Experiment" and to a lesser extent last week is just as in science at school you pretty much have your conclusion before you start and really set out to prove that conclusion rather than see what really happens.

Must say I enjoyed this weeks episode the most of the series so far - even if it is the cruellest practical joke ever. Loved all the Cluedo references too!

Meh, this week's put me off him again. Call me cynical, but I don't believe you can whisper a few soothing words to someone who only got mildly squiffy the night before, then carry him down the stairs and out on to the lawn without waking him up, any more than you can:

- Predict the lottery numbers (a real low point)
- Stare out of a window and make a passer-by stop and turn around
- Psychologically determine which chamber a bullet has been placed into
- Hypnotise someone playing a computer game with a few flashes of light and make them believe they're facing a zombie horde
- Hypnotise someone else and wheel them unconscious onto an international flight, leaving them to wake up in a photo booth in Marakesh

And so on (though at least he doesn't have conveniently placed "scientists" in white lab coats taking notes on clipboards these days). I just can't be impressed by what he does, because I have no idea what I'm supposed to think I'm seeing. Give me Paul Daniels making a TV camera disappear any day - now that's magic!

At least last week's would have given you something to think about even if it had been entirely fictional.

David

Cynical you may be - but you obviously keep coming back for more. I'm sure though next weeks experiment where one person will gamble their life savings on a throw of a dice is something they've done before.

I had a half-hour break between HIGNFY and QI, and I didn't stick around for all of it



Yeah. That was one of his more educational/believable specials too.

David

I think what a lot of people overlook is that Derren is an illusionist. He gives the illusion he predicted the lottery numbers (even if it was a load of cack) it wasn't supposed to be a magic trick.

People overlook it because Derren Brown doesn't want them to think it. Predicting the lottery numbers was a magic trick - he just doesn't want his audience thinking that, because then he's just another magician.

David

It wasn't even a good magic trick either. It was camera trickery, pure and simple. No sleight of hand or anything else - it was just a con. Although it was very entertaining to try and work out how he did it, so I suppose it was a success on those grounds.

That's pretty much all a magician or illusionist has to do, make the impossible seem real and make you think "how'd she do that?", how she gets there.. upto her. Derren, much like Paul Daniels, you'll like him but not a lot.

Perhaps David was persuaded into watching the show?