AIRPLANE MODE by George Iglesias & Twister Magic

Here’s the Ad Copy for Airplane Mode:

George Iglesias does it again! A great not only trick but, a full powerful routine! Packed with lots of mentalism, comedy gags and entertainment! A total sold out at Blackpool Magic Convention 2020!

“A First Class Act”
– David Copperfield

Design to amaze, Airplane Mode by George Iglesias is a new and great multi-phase mentalism routine involving real life props and a travel experience! A modern act that combines many mentalism plots that will fit perfect in your shows from small to big scenarios!

Do we write our own destiny or is it already written for us?

Effect:

A spectator is invited to participate in an amazing experience in which he will travel using his imagination. First of all, the magician mentions an item you find inside of an airplane that we always see, but we never read, and we should, we are talking about the emergency card. This is always located in front of our seats and we are too lazy to read it, but it can save our life in case of an emergency. This information is very important, therefore the magician hand out a real emergency card and invites the spectator to open it and actually read it, while the spectator does so, the magician addresses the audience to say that a destination will now be secretly chosen by the spectator. The magician now displays many boarding passes with different tourist destinations, boarding groups and seat numbers. The viewer selects one completely at random and the journey begins.

The announcement of the pilot ready to take off is heard, the spectator is asked to buckle up and enjoy the flight. The magician asks the spectator to close his eyes to, relax and get some sleep, but a second later he asks him to open them again (There is a baby in the back-seat crying) so to relax he now shows him a list of different drinks available at the flight, he will now choose one.

The magician now shows a tray with a bag and invites the spectator to say out loud the drink he has chosen (example: whiskey). When the magician lifts the paper bag, he has failed because there is only one orange box juice there. Now the magician continues and ask him to take the airplane magazine that has all the movies available inflight and to please secretly choose one. Now he asks him to focus on the film, the main actor, the soundtrack and other details, magically the magician begins to read the spectator’s mind revealing one by one all the things he is thinking. Then the magician guesses the exact number of the airplane seat where he is on, his boarding group and finally the destination of the flight, city and country he is traveling to. At the end magician finishes with a question.

Do we write our own destiny or is it already written for us?

At the beginning the magician handed over an emergency card and asked the spectator to read it, but did the spectator really read it? Now when the emergency card is opened you can see in the drawings of the entire printed card everything that has just happened, all the “free choices” of the spectator are printed on the card and even better to be more sure, now the magician opens the card and it becomes a giant poster that reveals everything that just happened in the routine!

But wait, there is more, now the magician asks the spectator again which drink he had originally chosen, the spectator will say whiskey and now the magician to the spectator’s great surprise, will lift the orange juice box that turns out to be just a giant shell to show that inside there was a whiskey glass since the beginning of the act.

Maybe our destiny is already written, don’t you think?

Includes:
1 Special airplane emergency card
1 Special set of 30 boarding passes
1 Airplane movie magazine
1 Airplane drinks list
1 Orange juice box (for a kicker ending)
1 Instructional online video
Easy to do! Pack very flat, plays very big!

My Thoughts:

Well.. I couldn’t have asked for a more complete ad copy. Rarely does ad copy spell out the effect so meticulously. Almost everything you need to know.. aside from my opinion, is included.

I suppose what’s on the mind of some of you is… how true is the ad copy? I can honestly say it is totally true. There isn’t an iota of exaggeration.. almost. When they say it’s “..easy to do”, they say so in a physical sense. In a literal sense, this is easily a ten minute routine.. more if you are a conversationalist. Learning all the components IS easy. But, you still have to put it all together. That will take a little practice on your part. There is scripting involved, and timing, and getting everything to come together in a harmonious way. This isn’t a problem.. as George spells out, carefully, everything you need to do and say. But, if you think you’re going to perform ten minutes of strong magic ‘on the fly’.. think again.

I’m not trying to scare anyone. I’m just saying you need to go over everything a number of times to get the flow of AIRPLANE MODE down pat. Please don’t get in the middle of this very strong routine and lose your train of thought because you watched the video twice and think you know it all. This is true of ALL magic. But, because Airplane Mode is one continuous routine, you don’t have the luxury of getting all jazzy. Just learn the steps in order, (easy enough) plan your patter, and slay your audience.
Video: The training video is online. It runs about 38 minutes of solid instructions. George has a very good mastery of English and you’ll have NO problem understanding his instructions. Not only that.. but he’s a downright likeable guy. The video itself is top quality and very easy on the eye. This is the first video I’ve reviewed from Twister Magic, and I’m already a fan.

Props: For seventy bucks, you expect first class props. That’s precisely what you’ll get. Everything is made to last.. and to be visually appealing to the audience. The booklets, boarding passes, movie guide and drink list are all heavy duty laminated plastic.. designed to look good during your performance and to travel well from show to show. Credit is due for their realism.

Methodology: George has taken some of the standards of magic and combined them into a routine that works. A couple of ‘classic’ methods you’re most likely already familiar with are employed to do some of the heavy work. There’s nothing to learn as far as sleights are concerned. There IS a little ‘handling’ involved.. positioning of this and that.. but simple, simple. Again, everything is explained in detail to enable even a total beginner to succeed.

Impact: Honestly, I was concerned when I first opened everything I was going to learn a very ABC effect with minimal impact. Not that Airplane Mode looked cheap.. it’s just that it reminded me of other high dollar effects that were all glitter and no guts. My act depends on the power of the mind.. and not paranormal positioning. The ending of Airplane Mode surprised even me.. and fits perfectly with my style. Without giving too much away, after the spectator makes a number of choices he/she can be shown where ALL their choices were either predicted or influenced in advance. Fits me like a glove..

Overall: I highly recommend AIRPLANE MODE to my friends and readers. If you are a seasoned mentalist, or new to mentalism, this is a great effect for your routine. I believe you are considerably better off investing in one strong effect than investing in several lesser effects. This is a multiple phase routine that plays like several effects.. but ties everything together in the end with a climatic reveal. Save your pennies and buy Airplane Mode. Everything you need is included.. aside from a paper bag and a drink glass with an appropriately colored beverage. (Generally, a half glass of iced tea will suffice.. as you only need something that can pass for whiskey).
I cannot recommend Airplane Mode for Zoom performances. There may be a way to pull it off, but you’re going to lose something in the process. Giving the spectator the airplane emergency card and having them both open it and read it is an integral part of the effect.. and it would be hard to achieve via Zoom. Now, if you send your Zoom attendee’s a participation package.. you might have yourself one nice little performance. Because of the various props involved, you need a little table of some sort.. so performing it during walk-around or strolling is not feasible. This is the ideal effect for a parlor or home show. You could also perform Airplane Mode in a smaller theater sitting. You want your audience to be able to see the realistic props. It adds greatly to the overall effect.

Bottom Line: Don’t overthink it.. just Buy It… You’re welcome!

$70.00 Thanks to Murphy’s Magic for providing a review copy. Available from Murphy’s Magic and there wide assortment of associated dealers.
https://www.murphysmagic.com/product.aspx?id=68112

Reviewed by Rick Carruth for The Magic Roadshow…