The new Syfy series The Magicians is based off of the popular Magicians Trilogy novels written by Lev Grossman.

Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph, Manhattan) has always been obsessed with the “Fillory and Further” fantasy novels, and the world of magic which their characters inhabit. As children, he and best friend Julia (Stella Maeve, Chicago P.D.) would always dream about what it would be like to go to Fillory. Julia has since moved on from this childhood fantasy, but Quentin has never let go of his obsession.

As Quentin and Julia head off for graduate school interviews, they both soon discover that this world of magic may not be so make-believe. They somehow find themselves transported to the campus of Brakebills University, where they are sat down for the entrance exam for a secret school for magicians in upstate New York.

Quentin passes the exam and soon finds himself in a strange new world of magic and spells. Among his fellow first years are gruff roommate Penny (Arjun Gupta, Nurse Jackie, How to Get Away with Murder) and shy overachiever Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension)—who comes from a family of magicians and has a secret motivation for attending Brakebills. Quentin also meets upperclassmen Eliot (Hale Appleman, Smash) and partner-in-crime Margo (Summer Bishil, Lucky 7), whose top priorities always seem to center around partying and sex. As Eliot gives Quentin the lay of the land, he also reveals that there is something dark afoot—most of the third-year class had gone missing the prior year and no one knows what happened to them.

While Quentin and the other first years go through their regimented Brakebills training, back in Brooklyn, a dejected Julia is reeling from her Brakebills rejection. Now that she knows there’s this magical world out there, her childhood dreams have come back. And so when Julia learns that there is a back alley network of Hedge Witches who trade spells and practice magic on their own, she quickly becomes obsessed and wants in, and will do anything to get her magical fix. However, the unstructured nature of this kind of magical training can and does lead to some very dangerous results.

Meanwhile, back at Brakebills, the faculty and students have a shocking awakening when a deadly creature known as The Beast arrives on campus, but the man’s face is hidden behind a swarm of moths. Quentin and the others now find themselves in a race to discover the identity of The Beast and figure out how to stop him before he returns to kill everyone—and those answers seem to be connected to Fillory.

Upon reading a synopsis of the series, one can’t help but be reminded of things like Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia. However, while there are similarities, The Magicians does set manage to establish its own identity and move past those initial comparisons. The series is much more adult in nature, both in its language (which is uncensored on this Blu-ray release) and its themes—there’s a lot of four-letter words and sex—and has a great blend of humor, fantasy and drama. Aside from a moment at the end of the premiere, the series starts off a bit on the light side initially as we get to know these characters, but by the middle of the first season it takes a really interesting, but very dark turn. And the final two episodes are extremely engaging, mixing some humor in with the surprising (and in one case, horrifying) twists and turns, culminating in an OMG moment that will make you anxious for the upcoming season!

The characters on the series are well-defined and multi-dimensional, and over the course of the season we learn about most of their pasts and motivations. I particularly enjoyed how this series is written—the characters’ dialogue and interactions feels so natural and realistic. They curse, they drop pop culture references and just have fun razzing one another, and all of this helps make these characters feel more grounded and relatable.

The series is beautifully shot, and looks fantastic on this Blu-ray. The series takes place over four main locations—Brooklyn, Brakebills, Fillory and the Neitherlands. Each of these locations has a unique color palette and shooting style that makes it easy to keep track of where the action is taking place, even as the story jumps around between characters or locations. The New York City scenes are shot in a darker, gritty, blue tone with handheld cameras, Brakebills utilizes more fixed cameras and a brighter color pallet, Fillory has a more ethereal feel to it with its overhead cameras, and the Neitherlands is always shot off-kilter. In addition, all of the magical spells and effects are beautifully blended into the scenes, making this magical world feel so real and possible.

As for the rest of the Blu-ray presentation, the audio track provides clear dialogue and ambiance, but I didn’t notice a lot of use of the surround channels as much as I would have expected. And as mentioned earlier, the dialogue is presented unedited, which is a great improvement over the constant muting of f-bombs in the original Syfy airings. On each of the three discs there are deleted scenes (just over 13 minutes in total)—there is some interesting material included, but some of these scenes are under 10 seconds long. There is also a really fun 8-minute gag reel as well as an interesting 14-minute cast/creators interview featurette. The Blu-ray comes packed in a standard-size 3-disc case with a lenticular slipcover, and includes a code to redeem an UltraViolet Digital HD copy of all 13 episodes.

What’s Included:
Episodes: (9 hrs, 32 mins)

Blu-ray:
• All 13 Episodes of the First Season:
  “Unauthorized Magic”, “The Source of Magic”, “Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting”, “The World in the Walls”, “Mendings, Major and Minor”, “Impractical Applications”, “The Mayakovsky Circumstance”, “The Strangled Heart”, “The Writing Room”, “Homecoming”, “Remedial Battle Magic”, “Thirty-Nine Graves”, “Have You Brought Me Little Cakes”
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH

Digital Copy (See NBCUcodes.com for redemption deadline):

• Digital HD Copy redeemable via UltraViolet

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes (13:27)
  Deleted scenes are included on each disc with the corresponding episodes. Each disc offers a Play All option as well as the ability select by episode.
  • Disc 1: (2:08) – “Unauthorized Magic” (:10), “The Source of Magic” (1:18), “Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting” (:40)
  • Disc 2: (5:01) – “Mendings, Major and Minor” (1:07), “Impractical Applications” (2:25), “The Mayakovsky Circumstance” (:50), “The Strangled Heart” (:20), “The Writing Room” (:23)
  • Disc 3: (6:18) – “Homecoming” (1:23), “Remedial Battle Magic” (2:13), “Thirty-Nine Graves” (1:06), “Have You Brought Me Little Cakes” (1:41)
• Gag Reel (8:09)
  Fun with the cast as they constantly crack up, flub their lines, deal with prop malfunctions and generally have fun on set.
• The World of The Magicians (13:51)
  The cast and creators of the show talk about how the series brings the world of the books to life, the story, the detailed sets, the use of practical effects and more. Includes clips, behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with series creators/executive producers Sera Gamble & John McNamara, and stars Jason Ralph (“Quentin Coldwater”), Olivia Taylor Dudley (“Alice Quinn”), Hale Appleman (“Eliot Waugh”), Arjun Gupta (“William ‘Penny’ Adiyodi”), Summer Bishil (“Margo Hanson”) and Stella Maeve (“Julia Wicker”).

Final Thoughts:

The Magicians is a beautifully-shot series with some well-developed characters and an interesting story. While comparisons can be made with Harry Potter or Narnia, the series does a great job of estabishing its own unique world with tale that is at times both fun and quite dark. The first season makes for a great binge—I enjoyed it even more the second time around watching on this Blu-ray release. The Blu-ray presentation is quite nice and includes uncensored audio as well as a small but decent collection of bonus features, plus an UltraViolet Digital HD copy of the episodes. If you haven’t already seen the first season, this is a show you must check out. Or if you are looking to see the episodes again, this Blu-ray is definitely worth picking up. Either way, I guarantee by the end you’ll be counting down the days until the season season!