Being done with the series for a while now, I'm craving another good show like this one, preferably with a character like Elliot was 😂 any suggestions on a show that feels like The Magicians?

My grocery store is encouraging a rewatch...

I love the aesthetic of The Magicians' Protection Wards effect. I tried to recreate the visuals as faithfully as possible.

I’m curious if there’s an official or fan made rendering for the back tattoo from the books which was meant to hold the Cacodemon. Book Quentin describes it as a stamp-like pentagram full of other smaller symbols and script

Coworker gave this to my lead at work, I said "can we name it todd?", he agreed, now whenever I f up at work I blame it on todd

I stumbled across the word, “Waughian” in an unrelated context today…

Sound like anyone we know?!

I had no idea his name had any meaning, but it’s perfect!

I know Jason Ralph left after season 4, but the first time I watched this show I had no knowledge of that.

Am I the only one that was looking forward to a deep dive into Quentin’s odyssey in the afterlife? To seeing him journey his way to his final destination? I was expecting an epic season long battle with Quentin struggling through an esoteric plane full of confusion, memories, and hard choices. I assumed season 5 would portray his story in the other world just like Penny’s death journey was shown. I was so disappointed that season 5 had none of that, then I later learned Jason Ralph was not in that season.
I still love the show, don’t get me wrong, It just feels like an amazing storyline was lost to circumstance.

I thought I would write a bit about the books, because I've always read mixed things about them and I went in with low expectations - and although that was ultimately pretty accurate, they're still absolutely worth reading!

The books and the show are good in different ways. Having watched the show first, the novels almost felt like fanfic! But I mean that in the best way possible: you get to see your favorite characters go through familiar events in different ways and hearing their inner thoughts, and in some cases they have totally new adventures. I watched the show during an emotional time during covid, so reading the books felt almost nostalgic and there were a lot of warm moments. That is especially true since the ending of season 4 in the show does not happen in the book, so the plot diverges a lot after that.

No real spoilers ahead but I talk about how characters and scenes compare to the show, without going into detail.

First, Quentin is a jerk and often misogynistic for almost all of book 1. He grows up by going through things personally and by empathizing with others as they go through things. It really isn't until book 2 that he's a good person. It really is worth pushing through, though, especially because...

Alice is a way more interesting character, and there are really sweet moments between her and Quentin. She was never my favorite in the tv show and I think both she and their relationship together are better represented in the books. I wouldn't necessarily recommend the books for the romance specifically, because it's not in focus most of the time, but it is really nice to have it alongside the main events.

Julia's origin story is overall much better in the books than the show, though I appreciated some of the later things in the show. She really goes through a lot in the books and really struggles in a way that the show doesn't go as into depth on. The lore and mythos for hedge witches is explored in a much more interesting and meaningful way.

Penny's arc and his character in the show is way better. He basically is almost a plot device in the books moreso than a true standalone character. Honestly, kind of disappointing. You can somewhat say the same about Josh, though he has some good scenes.

Eliot is just okay in the books, though he has a couple of nice moments. And we never get to see anything as deep as peaches and plums, sadly.

Janet... oh my gosh Janet is such a worse character in the books. :( Even putting aside that she absolutely shines in the show, in the books she basically just exists to be snarky and snide. Other than the desert scenes, she's almost entirely forgettable. Really sad about that.

Other stuff: there are a lot of things the tv show did better than the books. Season 3 of the show especially was far and away better than anything the books did with the golden keys, and a lot of the lore about fairies, the gods, the underworld, Jane Chatwin's experiments, the mirrors, etc. was much more interesting in the show.

With that said, the books did have their moments, we get to see more of Ember and Umber, the Chatwin children's backstories are interesting (especially Martin's motivations), and we get to see a bit more of the dragons.

And finally every so often you get really nice explanations like this one, which ultimately you can take back and use to enjoy the show more upon a rewatch:

It was funny about magic, how messy and imperfect it was. When people said something worked like magic they meant that it cost nothing and did exactly what you wanted it to. But there were lots of things magic couldn’t do. It couldn’t raise the dead. It couldn’t make you happy. It couldn’t make you good-looking. And even with the things it could do, it didn’t always do them right. And it always, always cost something.

And it was inefficient. The system was never airtight, it always leaked. Magic was always throwing off extra energy, wasting it in the form of sound, and heat, and light, and wind. It was always buzzing and singing and glowing and sparking to no particular purpose. Magic was decidedly imperfect. But the really funny thing, she thought, was that if it were perfect, it wouldn’t be so beautiful.

Overall I'd say it's a 7.5/10 where the tv show is a 10/10, but if you miss the characters it's worth reading. You'll be glad you did. :)

I had to do it to her.

The thing that surprised me the most.

I've watched this series 10x over.

And I still cried too.

I don't think I've ever had a character affect me this much.

Hell I named my youngest, as so her nickname would be Q. And she answers by it.

It just shows how amazing they did with the character building and development in this story.

I call it name that episode by the Amazon prime description. The episode description is as follows.

Julia lends a book to some lady; Fogg finds a sock.

One more,

Kady punches a dude, Margo misses cocaine. Yawn.

So my husband and I are rewatching and I'm just falling in love with all over again. I feel so bad for Q. Elliot is still my favorite. Alice eh she cool. Penny is so funny. Margo my spiritual animal that girl is a gangsta. Lol 🤣

Anyone wish brakebills and fillory was real. I only dream✨🦋

I've tried via Amazon and Walmart and the DVDs never ship. i can't find anything from Syfy.. I'm trying to get them for a family members birthday and also myself lol. Ideas? I'm in the US

So lets start it off with characters.

Elliot and Margo are my favourite, i feel the actors have the best talent out of the bunch with...

unfortunately Quinten and Alice are at the bottom end. Even though Quienten is still a favourite becuase he feels like essentially the reader/audience insert. they just dont have quite the acting chops. Alice is just resting bitch face most of the time and i cant help but think that she's in the show for two very big important reasons if you catch my drift...

The ending to season 1/season 2 intro is incredibly fucked up with Julia, i can kind of appreciate the no pulled punches approach to the main cast. But still fucked up.

Still dont like Penny, maybe he'll get better as the show goes on. Kady is kind of just there, though so far in season 2 she hasnt come back so i dont know if she has been written out since the Julie situation

And im about 4 epsiodes into season 2 and is it bad im kind of starting to like the beast? maybe its just the singing and gleefull psychopathy lmao

*edit*

another thing i wanted to say, i wish they got a bit more in depth to the magic side of things, maybe they talk about it more in the books. But in the show they kind of just explain it as a foreigh language? with techniques named after people that invented them. But it just looks like a lot of finger wagging with no actual description of how magic works and doesnt seem to explain why some people can perform magic and others cant

I love the spellwork designs in The Magicians, so I tried to recreate the Rhinemann Ultra. It's not exactly the same as it appears in the show, but I did my best to capture the overall look.

I just had a dream in the neitherlands… I was with myself, seven of them.

I’m a black guy, the other male me was a white dude, a redhead. We were talking about demons and tattoos and chatting with life (the god-being) until I realized he was me. That’s when I woke up. The other me’s were all female.

There were spaceships there!!

It’s a real place that you can visit in case yall were wondering. Wild, wild dream. Meditation works.

Hi, I only followed this story in a series version. I just wanted to know that, Were there any mentions of other worlds besides the fillory in the novels? I really like the way this story creates an alternate dimension context, but I feel like if the Well-springs has such cross-dimensional influence, shouldn't there be people from other worlds who can do the same thing as those in the human world did?

Deep down, I really want the story to be continued because it has the potential to develop many interesting additional aspects.

Sorry if my grammar are bad, EN isn't my first language.

was there ever any official merch releases i keep trying to look for anything but i cant find anything

Discussion: would this have been Quentin if he didn't get to Brakebills?

I think season 4 episode 10 All that Hard, Glossy Armor is probably my favourite singular episode of the series. Margo's whole journey is just... So, so good.

Fumar is Not a Statue -the Fairy Queen