Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Secret of Derren Brown Svengali's 9889 (SPOILER ALERT)

I have posted a couple times now about what the number "9889" might mean in Derren Brown's new stage show, Svengali. I am told now that 9889 is supposed to be the number of mechanical pieces in the Hungarian Svengali device/automaton/robot/doll that is the centerpiece of Derren's new show.

I have not seen Svengali myself, so I cannot confirm this from firsthand knowledge. Also, I assume the 9889 number has some greater significance as part of the Svengali trick.

Now if I can just figure out what "4 8 15 16 23 42" means...

22 comments:

Unknown said...

The 9889 is indeed the number of peices from Derrens hungarian Svengali doll (which actually freaked me out! i hate china dolls and stuff!)

I cant say much, as its extremely hard to explain what happens, but at the end the 9889 does tie in with the whole show....

William_Tapscott said...

Great - thanks again, Aimee! The doll is pretty creepy. It sounds like 9889 is kind of the punchline of the show, so maybe it's best that we not spoil it.

Roxxy Barry said...

9889 is also the inmate number of the dolls owner when he was in jail.the dolls owner is apparently the father of the boy the doll is modelled on cos his son died when he was 6.
and the graveyard plot where the same man was buried (9889)
though derren may have made it all up, but that's what he said. i haven't looked into it yet.

William_Tapscott said...

roxie_life -- Thanks for the additional info about 9889. It sounds fictional, but I have not researched the background story yet either.

Unknown said...

Who was the artist that created the doll?

Unknown said...

I saw this last night and for me it wasn't as strong as Engima but maybe it's early days - perhaps things get chopped and changed.

It starts off with a request for 'embarrasing confessions' for which some people have to write on pieces of paper. Most of these are dumped into baskets but others are obviously associated with seat numbers to be used later in the show - this rather crude gimmick is used at least 3 times with drawn out dialogue supposed to identify the actual indiscretion and/or idividual. Since the method used is so obvious the number of times this is used becomes a bit tired - perhaps some people think Derren can actually read minds?

If anyone wants more spoilers then let me know - just don't read if you're going to the show and want to be surprised!

AbhishekGoswami said...

Hy. Please spoil the entire show for me. I wanna know what he is doin in the show..please go ahead and write the entire show. I wuld appreciate and love to read it..
Thanx
i will keep checking ur blog for that.

Unknown said...

I read on Derren's blog that the last couple of nights at Oxford they were chopping and changing so I'm not sure if I saw the show pre- or post- the changes. It was a bit hesitant at times and I was very surprised at how often Derren forgot the names of those coming on stage.

Even if they do change the show significantly I imagine it'll be difficult to remove the doll since it's called Svengali and presumably the whole show is based on that fact. That's a bit bizarre since it's easily the weakest part of the show! How impressed would you be if Derren got out a remote control car and had it drive over letters to spell out the answer to questions?

At the end the request for a 4 digit random number is so rubbish that you'd not expect it to have any significant contribution to the finale but it appeared almost central. At ours it was 6683 but with some tweaking of dates it could change from show to show - it's just thet the selection of the number ".. oh, lets get two people to choose so that when we force our number each of them will assume the others' was chosen .." is so flipping crude you assume something clever is going to happen to compensate. But it doesn't.

The slapstick ending is funny and it gained, deservedly, a standing ovation. Derren is good but I think he's been better; much better.

William_Tapscott said...

BITS -- send me an e-mail - derrenfans[at]live.com - and I can give you a lot more detail -

William_Tapscott said...

James -- I think your comment conveys the general sentiment. Although Derren's new show has it's moments, most diehard fans are disappointed. I blame it on the change in writers.

AbhishekGoswami said...

I think derren show were great till evening of wonders. thats it... Enigma wasnt that good either..
now svengali which has pretty captivating name and poster.. But I think derren is more into presentation n aesthetics. Content really isn't that interestin n I believe derren himself know it too.
Nevertheless derren has something pleasant in his personality that people no longer go to see his feats but rather people go to see him n autograph.. :)))

AbhishekGoswami said...

Hero 3oooo feets was a blot on derren show brand . I wish he shouldn't have done it. But gotta appreciate him greatly of his new show miracles for sell. That was really a come back.
I love you again derren :)
and indeed he is looking super sexy and super slim and trim in that show. Awesome gift.
Keep it up.

AbhishekGoswami said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Craig Brown said...

I don't understand - you haven't even seen the show yet and you want to spoil it for other people?

Quite a fan.

LauraJHW said...

Derren Brown has taken so much time and so much to make the show what it is. If you had made the effort to see it for yourself you would know this. I understand if you do not want to see the show but why would you feel the need to ruin the show for people who are going? I went to see the show last night and it was mind boggling. But thats all i can and will say. Derren puts trust into his fans and his audience asking them not to discuss it online or with anybody who hasnt seen the show themselves until it has been aired on tv. So why would you ruin that? Some fan.

William_Tapscott said...

If I want to "spoil it for other people" I wouldn't put the text "SPOILER ALERT" in my post title, would I? I just don't see any reason not to make information available to people who want it.

Tilley661 said...

i've not read all the comments, but the number 9889 is a number given to you through out the show, much like his other shows so i'm not spoiling anything here. I went to watch it and there was a different number, so it just seems relevant to each individual show with a story behind it to put it in your mind I presume, ours was the audience attendance. The way in which he brings this number round is quite unbelievable though, great show, give it a watch as soon as you can.

Anonymous said...

You're all saying about how Derren puts trust in you to not reveal it to other people... but is it really to save the 'magic' until they see it? or to boost the dvd sales? and to get more theatres booked out ?! never the less a great show. Would recommend anyone to go and watch it before judging, it's got to be said, not the best of his shows but his stage manor alone is amazing. The biggest fault I can see is the whole 'svengali' thing, to me it just doesn't seem real, he's done far too much making imaginary people/stories up and stuff in past shows this just looks like another.

William_Tapscott said...

tomo1095 - good points about Derren's financial motives for secrecy. Also, a number of readers of this blog have seen the show multiple times, so apparently knowing what is going to happen in advance does not kill the experience.

Bloodyuk said...

Just Watched it on tv at the final number 1499
Red- 1
Yellow - 4
Green - 9
Blue - 9
And as the front 4 people who had a ballon to stand up and shout out their numbers, Im guessing the only way you could set this up is for all the Red balloons to have 1, yellow no.4, green no.9 and blue no.9. He also knew what the final number was going to be since he stated that was the number of people who attended and also stated it was a full house not difficult to work out.

thehottieat3oclock said...

I also just watched the show on TV, and can't help but wonder if this Svengali legend is actually made up by Derren Brown himself... seeing as the only information I can find on it is in relation to him? please correct me if I'm wrong, and even better suggest where I can find out about the real history?

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