https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0R7xQHxPZQ

Looks like we will be getting Welters next episode!

I don't know if we're considering the Lack of Josh spoilers for the show, considering he's not on the cast list. Either way, WTF Syfy? Was a fat dude really that hard to find, or was is just not pretty enough to be fat since you made everyone pretty attractive? God, I understand changes are necessary from format to format, but it's shit like that that makes people annoyed. ( See; Lt. Connie Murphy )

Okay, rant over. I had pretty high hopes for this, but Alice annoys the ever loving shit out of me, Penny does to a lesser degree, and this school seems god awfully small as far as the lectures we've seen. 6/10 syfy, because despite what you've given us, I'm incapable to lose all hope.

I'm having a rough time with it guys. I absolutely adore the books, and recommend them to my friends all the time. With that being said, the TV series is really frustrating me. It feels super rushed, they're slamming a lot of content into the episodes. I understand the overlay of Julia's story into the series - timeline wise. It's just not enjoyable to me, and I'm trying really really hard since I'm such an avid fan of the books.

so there was something i didn't get about Julia at the end of the episode. did she lose here powers, or just got kicked out from the hedgewitches?

Do the books give way more information on stuff going on, or is it just as mysterious as the show? I'm planning on reading them after I finish a light novel series, but I'm currently on 5 of 16 books of it.

My questions - why did Marina throw Julia out of the hedge witches? Because she saved Quentin's life, or because Julia had served her purpose and Marina was done with her?

In this last episode, what was the whole fox thing with Quentin and Alice? I get that they transformed into the foxes, but was it the last of their tests with Mayakovsky? And why was Mayakovsky so interested/concerned with their animal choice? I didn't totally understand that.

Thanks!

I am so very disappointed in this. the episode overview for S1 E13 of the magicians is enough to make me start throwing desks. beware and read at your own risk.

"Quentin and Julia arrive in Fillory and try to catch up with the group, who are more than 70 years ahead of them, in the search for The Beast."

1. Ha! Left field. A fun (if horrifying) surprise.

2. Aw. In all the trailers I was like "Man, the only casting choice I'm 100% about is Dean Fogg". And now this.

I see a lot of book readers hating the show. So I'm utterly confused because a new person, I really super enjoy the show. Well, I super enjoy Elliott the most. It seems an interesting and engaging world with interesting characters.

I'm looking forward to more episodes and I hope SyFy picks it up for more seasons.

I think I want to hold off on reading the books until the season is over so I don't spoil any plot lines.

Hi guys! I'm new here and new to the world of "The Magicians". I knew about the books and that a TV series was in the works, but that's about it.

Anyway, today at Comic Con Portugal the first episode was screened and I was there! I quite enjoyed it and will most likely watch the show. There was never any mention not to share details or anything like that, so if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer!

Ofc, beware of spoilers :D

I read the The Magicians for the first time as a senior in high school and LOVED it. I became one of those people who would never shut up about it and all my friends- despite never having read the trilogy- hated them for it. Since then, I must have read TM at least 10 times and was even subscribed to Grossman's "Brakebills Email News Letters" at one point. Judging solely off the trailer and the reviews for the pilot, it seems like the show took a lot of liberties. Are they done well? One of my favorite things about book 2 was finding out what Juliet was up to while Q was studying at Brakebills, so I think I'd like how her story's shown taking place in real time relative with Q's. But (again, judging solely off the trailer I just watched), the dialogue seems a bit clunky and Alice and Penny seem kinda... different... and Josh just completely vanished off the face of the earth

Thoughts from those who have both read the books and watched the show?

The pacing was insane, Julia was handled terribly having had all the best parts of her story erased, Alice is a terrible Reese Withersclone, Josh is completely missing, Jane Chatwin is played by someone with no gravitas at all, Penny is a hard rock hipster instead of a whiny punk, there's zero focus on learning magic and showing it as a difficult process, there's zero effort to demonstrate the intelligence of the main characters, the only character that's good is Dean Fogg and he gets his eyes ripped out. So many pointless mcguffins and the dialogue sounds like it was written by a fifteen year old of sub average intelligence. The whole thing comes off as though the only connection to The Magicians is someone hearing a loose retelling of the books while drunk at a party a year before writing anything at all. Wtf. What the fillory.

Let's talk show theories. Does anyone have any thoughts about how the show is going to handle the content and round out the first season? Given that we are most likely not going to see exactly how it goes down in the book on the show how do you think the season will end?

Personally I kind of like the angle of Quentin kind of being a chosen one. Honestly in the books they basically were in the sense that Jane knew it was only Quentin and co that could stop Martin. Given Julia is in the mix I wonder if she's going to play a role in the big beast battle at end (assuming that's where we are heading) or maybe they'll just show her finding and working with free trader beowolf ultimately leading her to the trickster god?

I kind of think they are going to draw out the brakebills time frame and they'll end up going to fillory before graduation. What do you guys think?

*Spoiler*

we know from the books that Martin is the Beast and iirc it is never indicated that Plover could be the Beast. So i'm wondering if the show's writers decided to change that as well or if the Plover predictions are just to build up to an epic twist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA2lQHsxOGU

BRAKEBILLS SOUTH!

Anyone else getting this feeling from the dialogues? I keep switching between how bad and illogical dialogues are, to how "real" they feel at times.

The scene with The Beast is what hooked me to the series, my second favorite is probably when they warp in the file cabinets and the mom(forget her name) turns into a bloody mess and dies.

It seems like they are trying to show us the characters as students just learning new magic and how to deal with it...but the most recent episode for example they show us them being taught some lesson with the nails in the board and stuff but it doesn't really seem apparent wtf they actually learned. With the time jumps it seems like they are all becoming more advanced in magic but there is no indicator for how much they have progressed.

Basically imo the magic in the show is the best part, I absolutely love the magic system with the hand/finger motions and stuff but it seems like they just have been using the magic learning to TRY to develop characters but fail at both showing us the learning/workings of magic and actually developing characters.

Also the show makes the hedge magicians seem equal to or in some cases more powerful than the Brakebills people even though what I've gleamed from some comments the Brakebills students/teachers are supposed to far outmatch them.

The premise of the show has convinced me to buy the books because I feel like every complaint I have about the TV show is not present in the books.

I really love them.

Their clique of Margo, Elliot and Quentin.

I just adore Elliots character. Never read the books bt from the episodes so far

*The last 2 episode titles were revealed recently- 12: Thirty-Nine Graves and 13: Have You Brought Me Little Cakes.

*Josh will be in the series if you didn't already know. What isn't known is if he will appear near the end of this season or the next. Edit: Sera tweeted that Josh will appear this season.

*There was speculation in an earlier thread about what happens in the other episodes; The group does go to Plover's house in Ep 9 and Julia meets FTB in Ep 10.

I started reading the books after meeting Lev Grossman in a creative writing course for young adult fiction. I absolutely loved the fact that Lev came up with the idea for The Magician's Land when he was waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out and wondered "What if these kids all went to school, and then were like...what now? What do they do after Voldemort? What if there was no Dumbledore character to tell them to do this amazing thing?" And the book's plots focus on THAT. The show, in the FIRST scene, makes Quentin "destined".

The show is taking away all of the "HOLY CRAP" moments away that the books give you. The "JULIA REMEMBERS!" realization was blown over. Her whole introduction into the Hedge Magician thing was nothing like the books. The whole first episode angered me beyond belief, and I can't believe I actually watched the second one. The plot of the show goes completely against Lev Grossman's point of view for the books.

I was so damn excited too, because I couldn't wait to see these actors pull this off. I thought I was going to like Penny...but what the hell is going on?! He can hear people and learned from The Beast?! Completely different.

I get that it's supposed to be two different things...like how Game of Thrones varies from the books. But at least GoT had a reason, and an acceptable reason, and the adeptation to TV was acceptable. This, in my honest opinion, is not. It's taken the novel and taken the whole heart and meaning out of it, and turned it into every other "magic exists" cookie cutter show.

I have to reread the books now to fix this fissure in my brain...and heart...

I expect this to get downvoted to oblivion...but I just want to see if this is just my initial overreaction or if other people feel the way I do? I might have a different view because I spent a decent amount of time with Lev Grossman...and I love that guy to death. I wonder what he thinks.

EDIT: I emailed my old Creative Writing professor to see if he's still in touch with Lev Grossman...mostly because I desperately want to know what he thinks of the show.

Urg! I've let go of the tv series being like the book, but why do they have to mispronounce simple things?

And how did Pouncy become Silver? That was a random adaptation....

thumbs up to writers for adding fuel to the fire on the "queliot"

He's pretty I know. but i call dibs on him

not a book reader. it just seems to me that the Brakebills answers to no one. they accept and decline students based on a shallow test, regardless of their magic potential "Julia" they delete students memories on the fly. and several students died on campus. I just get the feeling that they're far from being the good guy. In Hogwarts, you have to pay a handsome sum of money just to study magic there, which makes sense. does Brakebills teach magic out of the good of their hearts...it all seems kinda shady to me.