Night #76 - Magic, Monsters, and Museums

One of my personal projects recently has been to make my way through the entire original Yu-Gi-Oh! series, the one that 4Kids dubbed and aired during my childhood. And recently, I've been picking up on a lot of subtle similarities between this franchise and NATM, which can be grouped into three categories: use of magic, use of Egyptian themes, and character journey. I will discuss each f these as the time comes, but tonight, I'd like to discuss the use of magic in the two franchises. And yes, the series which focuses nearly squarely on a children's card game does, in fact, feature magic.

When it comes to the magic in the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, the basic idea is that there are seven ancient Egyptian artifacts with varying magical properties: a necklace which reveals the future, an eye which reads minds, a rod which controls minds, a ring that looks like a dream catcher which can help you find whatever you're looking for, a key which lets you into another person's mind, a set of scales which can judge a person in life the way they will be judged in death, and a puzzle which can (I gather) alter fate. Each of these items also shares the ability to create Shadow Games, which are so high-stakes that the loser/cheater faces the possibility of a fate worse than death more often than not, and which may be normal games or may be something made up on the spot to challenge someone on a character level.

Magic in Night at the Museum is considerably more nebulous: we have a tablet but we don't know the extent of its power: clearly, as Kahmunrah was so kind as to demonstrate in the middle of his plot to take over the world, it does a lot more than bring exhibits to life every night, even though that is its primary (and possibly only inert) feature.

However, in both of these franchises, magic is an element of the setting, relevant only insofar as it influences the main plot of the series (exhibits coming to life and creating a less-than-ordinary job for Larry or being used as a weapon by crazy people in order to make children's card games considerably more interesting, which is pretty much Yami and Yugi's problem), but otherwise background. The story instead is concerned with how this element contributes to the character's journey, discussed a couple of nights from now. Though the magical systems are entirely different and only share the similarity of their origins, they do serve the same function: they affect the lives of the characters and contribute to their decisions.

Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": The second criterion: use of Egyptian themes.

Countdown: 296 Days to NATM 3