MuggleCast EP21 Transcript
Intro
Andrew [Show Intro with music in background]: This is MuggleCast – Episode 21 for December 25, 2005. Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of MuggleCast. I am Andrew Sims.
Ben: I am Ben Schoen.
Kevin: I am Kevin Steck.
Eric: I am Eric Scull.
Laura: I am Laura Thompson
Jamie: And I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Andrew: We have a filled room this week. Six people! That is a new record for this show, but only…
Ben: [in deep voice] And I’m Santa Claus.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: And I’m Harry…no, forget it! This is…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: We have a filled room this week…
Kevin: You’re on a roll.
Andrew: …because it is a special occasion. This is our Holiday edition. So…before we get started…let’s go over to Micah for the past week’s top news stories.
News
Micah: Thanks, Andrew. The strike almost made it impossible for me to get to the studios, but…anyway…
The location of where JK Rowling wrote chapters of Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets is where a granite plaque will be placed to recognize the author. The idea was organized by Robert Watt, a retired teacher. Watt worked with JKR to provide a picture for the plaque as well. The Edinburgh Evening News reported:
Even though she fell short in the voting for Time’s Person of the Year, JK Rowling did win the 2005 TIME For Kids Person of the Year Award, beating out Lance Armstrong and the Chicago White Sox.
In movie news, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire became the UK’s most successful film of 2005 as it has made $75 million in just under five weeks. It has beaten out other movies such as Revenge of the Sith, the final installment of the Star Wars series and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Film critic Roger Ebert recently released a list of his Top 10 movies of 2005. Goblet of Fire didn’t make the initial list, but Ebert listed it as one of the films receiving a “Jury Award,” meaning that some critics (at film festivals) could easily vote it their favorite.
In two of Entertainment Weekly’s end-of-year polls, Harry Potter has emerged victorious. It was voted “Best Novel” for Half-Blood Prince and “Best Movie” for Goblet of Fire. These results will be published in the magazine’s final issue of 2005.
Furthermore, the fourth film was dubbed “Best Fantasy” and runner-up “Best Trailer” by IGN.
Ralph Fiennes will be back in Order of the Phoenix. The Lord Voldemort actor recently did an with USA Today where he said he will reprise the role of Harry’s foe in the fifth film. Ralph also discussed what it was like to dress up as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
In other news, the Hebrew edition of Half-Blood Prince was released Thursday evening in Israel. Haaretz.com reports an initial print run of 120,000.
And each year, the world’s most popular search engine reveals lots of interesting tidbits from search data they collect. This year, “Harry Potter” came in 10th under top Google News searches.
Finally, for all the latest video clips, screen grabs, and interviews including Emma Watson’s interview with the Chicago Tribune log on to MuggleNet’s Main Page. Also, be sure to look into the England/Scotland tour that has been designed just for MuggleNet fans.
That’s all the news for this December 25, 2005 – Christmas edition of MuggleCast. Happy Holidays everyone! I’ll see you in ’06!
Andrew: Okay. Thank you, Micah. We did promise that Micah would be on this week, but he wanted to tell everyone that it was because of the transit strike that kept him out. Because, as you know, there’s a big one going on up in New York City. Actually, it was resolved just a few hours ago, but… Yes, breaking news. First on MuggleCast.
[Laura laughs]
Ben: You heard it here.
Andrew: I was…I found out an exclusive story. But anyway…
Ben’s Weekly Top 10
Andrew: So, this is our Christmas edition. So, we’re going to bring to you lots and lots of Christmas-themed things. First off, Ben’s Top 10 List that isn’t exactly a Top 10 List. Ben?
Ben: Okay, this one is a doozy folks. This one is the Best Top 10 List we’ve ever heard on MuggleCast and…
Andrew: Holiday Edition. [laughs]
Ben: …Holiday Edition. I came up with it. Well, I came up with…it’s the collective creativity of everyone on MuggleCast. So…number… Okay, better tell you what the list is first: “The Top 10 Things Not To Get Harry For Christmas.”
No. 10 – A pair of Uncle Vernon’s socks.
No. 9 – A Christmas card from Azkaban.
No. 8 – A yearly subscription to Witch Weekly.
No. 7 – A dragon.
No. 6 – A gift card to Borgin and Burkes.
No. 5 – A date with Umbridge (that’s a good one).
[All laugh]
Andrew: Whoever thought that one up was pure genius.
[Laura laughs]
Ben: No. 4 – A box of chocolates from Fred and George.
No. 3 – (This has to be my favorite) Eric.
[Andrew laughs]
No. 2 – A CD of me singing. (Oooh, who thought that up? Actually, that might have been me.)
Andrew: You.
Ben: And the No. 1 reason, the No. 1 thing not to give Harry Potter for Christmas – this is my favorite one of all time: A CD of PotterCast. Oooh!
Andrew: [singing]Da da da da da.
[Kevin hisses]
Eric: Okay.
Ben: I thought that was great.
Andrew: I’d just like to say it first right now. John, that wasn’t my decision.
Laura: Yeah, we tried to talk him out of it, but…
Eric: And we’ve just reached the 700th…
Kevin: We did.
Eric: Guys, we’ve reached the 700th tally for how many times we’ve bashed PotterCast on this show. I’ve been tallying it off.
Andrew: No, but all joking aside, PotterCast is a good show.
Ben: Yeah, we’re just messing.
Jamie: Very good, yes.
Andrew: And we do love the Leaky people.
Eric: We all…
Ben: And by the way people, if you like my Top 10 List send me an e-mail saying, “keep it going.”
Eric: Hate mail.
Ben: If you don’t like it, send me an e-mail saying, “I hate it Ben. Please stop. It ruins my week.” So…
Laura: [laughs] Okay, I’ve got to e-mail Ben now.
Eric: That’s a little harsh, Ben. That’s a little harsh.
Ben: If I get enough of those e-mails, I’ll just quit doing it.
Kevin: Yeah, let’s e-mail him right now.
[Laura and Eric laugh]
Announcements
Andrew: Ah, just one quick announcement. We are the winners of the 2005 Weblog Awards for “Best Podcast,” so thanks everyone who voted for us. A special thanks to Jeanie, who actually nominated us. Otherwise we wouldn’t have been in it at all. So, thanks to her.
And, a quick reminder – PO Box and phone number – we just started. It’s an easy, the phone number is an easy way for you to call us and leave a voicemail, comment, question, suggestion; whatever you want to be aired on the show. That number is 1-218-20-MAGIC. Local calling rates will apply.
Ben: And also, we got our first letter today folks.
Kevin: Really?
Ben: I’d like to make shout-out to…let me get your name here real quick… I’d like to give a personal shout-out to Tracey Dye from Oklahoma. She sent us a letter about how much she likes the show, and about how much she likes us individually. She even sent in a Top 10 List. It didn’t make it on this week’s show, but we’ll see about in the future. So, keep sending in your letters to:
MuggleCast
PO Box 223
Moundridge, Kansas 67107
Andrew: [fake crying] Our first letter. I’m so happy.
[Laura laughs]
Ben: So, thank you Ben.
Eric: Ben, post it on your refrigerator.
Christmas At Hogwarts And Throughout the Wizarding World
Andrew: Now, moving along, moving along, moving along. Like I said, it is our Holiday Edition, so… We’re going… Our main discussion for this week will be mainly Christmas at Hogwarts. Laura?
Laura: Andrew. [laughs]
Andrew: Laura, you brought up several ideas for us this week.
Laura: Yes.
Andrew: So, why don’t you start us off.
Laura: Well, I was thinking that, like in the Halloween episode how we discussed Halloween’s significance at Hogwarts, we should discuss Christmas’ significance. So, we’ll start off doing a little bit of a recap of what has happened in the books at Christmas in Sorcerer’s or Philosopher’s Stone, depending on which edition you own. Harry got his Invisibility Cloak from Dumbledore and found the Mirror of Erised, which turned out being instrumental in the climax of the book.
In Chamber of Secrets Harry, Ron, and Hermione use the Polyjuice Potion to turn into various Slytherins to try and spy on Draco Malfoy, which resulted in Hermione becoming a cat (sort of).
In Prisoner of Azkaban Harry got the Firebolt from Sirius Black, which Hermione ratted him out on and got it taken away.
In Goblet of Fire there was the Yule Ball, which wasn’t terribly significant plot-wise unless you count the romance and such.
In Order of the Phoenix, this is what I think is the most significant thing that has happened in the series thus far at Christmas – Mr. Weasley was attacked by Voldemort’s snake. Mr. Weasley was attacked by Nagini while doing his job for Order of the Phoenix at the Department of Mysteries.
And in Half-Blood Prince there wasn’t anything terribly significant apart from Harry’s little spiff with Scrimgeour.
Eric: Oh hey, that reminds me. In Book 6, no, we got the… No, Book 6 was very significant because we found out… Wasn’t that when Mr. Weasley called Mrs. Weasley, “Mollywobbles”?
Laura: No, that was at the beginning of the book.
Eric: Ohhh.
Jamie: Why is that significant?
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: Because that’s so cute.
Jamie: Oh, right. Yeah, it is, but I wouldn’t call it pivotal in the series as a whole.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: That was at the beginning of the book.
Kevin: Yeah. That’s a major plot element right there. You know?
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: You’re so right. It reveals so much about everything.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: Although on Christmas in Half-Blood Prince, that is when Percy showed up with…
Laura: Scrimgeour.
Eric: Scrimgeour. For the first time in a book-and-a-half.
Laura: That is when it all began with “Dumbledore’s man through-and-through.”
Jamie: Right. Yeah.
Andrew: So, you know…
Eric: For a book-and-a-half.
Andrew: And that chapter was called “A Very Frosty Christmas.”
Jamie: I’ve got a theory. Well, it’s actually not a theory at all.
Eric: Oh okay, Jamie. Go.
Jamie: Okay, well, I was going to say that I don’t think that Christmas actually has that much significance. It really isn’t a wizarding holiday, you know? It’s like, I mean, Halloween is, and it just seems like it’s just one more day and things can happen. And I mean important things do happen on Christmas Day, but it just sounds like these things were going to happen whether it was Christmas Day or not. And also, I mean, things seem to get worse as we get further in the books. So, in Philosopher’s Stone, I can’t remember what you said happened on Christmas Day… What happened on Christmas Day?
Laura: He got his Invisibility Cloak.
Jamie: Okay, yeah. He got his Invisibility Cloak, which is good, which is good. He got that. Whereas, you know, in Order of the Phoenix Mr. Weasley got attacked. So, things are just going downhill. And also I think it’s to show that even though Christmas is supposed to be a good time and everyone is supposed to be happy, it’s really, really dark times in the wizarding world. And even when it is Christmas, bad things can still happen. So, it just emphasized that they are in a war and all that.
Laura: Exactly.
Kevin: The end.
Laura: I think that’s just part of Jo just being so realistic with her work and the fact that just because it’s a wonderful, joyous time of year, a war doesn’t stop.
Jamie: Yeah. Exactly.
Eric: I like what you said about it not being that big of a wizarding holiday, and I agree with that because presents come for them out of nowhere almost daily at Hogwarts. You know?
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Gifts and parcels and things like that. So the elves, which they know exist, delivering presents by the fire on Christmas is practically expected.
Jamie: Yeah. Exactly.
Eric: And it’s not that new.
Laura: It also depends on your background. If you’re Muggleborn it might be more prominent.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: And really, we don’t know. Without bringing any type of religious discussion into this, we don’t know if wizards have a specific religion that they take part in, or if it’s just… You know what I mean?
Jamie: Yeah, but…
Eric: You know, “Wizard of the Month” on JK Rowling should be St. Nicholas, should be Nicholas Claus or whatever his name is. Should be “Wizard of the Month” just to play with us.
[Laura and Jamie laugh]
Eric: I think that would be funny.
Jamie: Nick Claus.
Eric: Could he make a presence. I think that would be really cute. If the series didn’t have to be as dark as it is…
Jamie: Is Christmas even celebrated in the wizarding world or is it just at Hogwarts because the children go there and…?
Kevin: Well, I mean they put trees up and stuff. No?
Jamie: Yeah, but is that because it’s a school? If you walk past…
Laura: Yeah, but we’ve seen it celebrated at the Weasleys.
Kevin: That’s true.
Jamie: Yeah, I suppose that’s true.
Eric: Yeah, it’s a time for family. Actually, it reminded me of…
Kevin: Well, that’s why I’m saying.
Eric: Family dinner with the Weasleys reminded me of A Christmas Carol with the Cratchits and the whole, and the underprivileged family, and they still, they value love.
Laura: Mhm. Definitely.
Jamie: Yeah, that’s true.
Kevin: But, do you think there is going to be any significance to Christmas in Book 7?
Laura: Eh.
Jamie: I do.
Kevin: And when I say significance, I mean do you think she is even going to mention it? Because…
Laura: I think it is going to be mentioned. It’s a marking point so we kind of know where we are – corresponding the seasons to the story. Usually Christmas is the half-way point in the books.
Jamie: Yeah, but couldn’t you say that Christmas has sort of become much less important.
Laura: Oh, definitely.
Kevin: Yeah.
Laura: I think it will be rushed. It will be kind of a hurried thing.
Jamie: Yeah. But…
Laura: It won’t be heavily emphasized.
Jamie: But, in Book 6 it was like… In Book 6, as you said, Christmas was hardly mentioned at all and Scrimgeour came around and Percy came around, but then it just kind of shows they don’t have time for Christmas anymore since everything is so hectic and the war is going on. So, there’s a chance in Book 7 she’s going to totally exclude it, just to sort of remind everyone how serious everything is.
Laura: I definitely don’t think Harry is going to have time to pop around at the Weasley’s for Christmas Eve.
Jamie: No.
Eric: Scrimgeour…
Andrew: Well, on the other hand you could look at it as what they call “comic relief.” Where it is a good opportunity to lighten the mood of the story. So…
Kevin: Yeah.
Jamie: She can’t do that though because that…
Andrew: Well…
Jamie: It isn’t supposed to be lightened.
Laura: I’m not sure how much comic relief we’re going to have in Book 7.
Andrew: Well…
Jamie: No. You can’t just say, you can just say, “Oh, Harry’s just been killed, let’s go and celebrate Christmas.” That wouldn’t be nice.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Well who said he was going to die before Christmas?
Laura: Jamie says.
[Andrew and Laura laughs]
Jamie: Well even if he dies after Christmas… Yeah. Even if he dies after Christmas they’ll be celebrating it and they’ll find out he dies. It would be awful.
Andrew: I guess you’re right.
Jamie: So just don’t… I don’t know. I don’t know.
Why Do the Dursleys Send Presents?
Eric: Christmas has become a kind of…well, it always was…just another excuse for the Dursleys torture Harry. I mean, you know, with all their crappy gifts and you know, he’s kind of…I mean that’s not even important to him anymore. He sees, you know, they send him dirty socks and he gives them to Dobby. I mean he just doesn’t really care. He puts his Sneakoscope in them. It’s really not… I mean, I don’t even know why they send him Christmas presents just to be nasty. I mean…
Jamie: No, no actually that’s interesting. Because, they can’t do it just to be nasty.
Eric: You know what?
Jamie: They need to send them. Perhaps…perhaps when Dumbledore said they had to take him into the house, there are like certain things that they have to do.
Eric: [laughs] You must send him a Christmas present or you will grow five heads!
Jamie: No, no, no, no, but… It’s all about feeling welcome. Didn’t, I don’t know if this is true, but didn’t he say that Dumbledore…sorry, Harry always has to feel welcome at the Dursleys? And perhaps, and perhaps it would be the case that if they didn’t send him a Christmas present that would finally tip him over the edge, and he wouldn’t feel welcome at the house.
Eric: You know what Jamie? I think that’s really intelligent.
Ben: No, no, here’s what I’m thinking.
Jamie: No?
Ben: I don’t think that’s true. What I think is that it’s a situation like, you know, you go to eat at a restaurant and you sit there, and afterwards you’re supposed to leave a tip, and they say it’s more insulting if you leave a penny then if you leave nothing at all.
Jamie: Yeah, that’s true.
Ben: And the way that’s analogous is that well Harry can’t say, “Well, they probably just forgot.” It’s more of thing where, “We sent you a dime.” And it makes you feel shafted. It makes you feel bad about yourself.
Kevin: I think so too.
Ben: That’s what I think at least.
Laura: Not to mention, it might look kind of suspicious if Harry isn’t getting any Christmas presents, and that might make some people wonder. So, they might be doing it to avoid any suspicion.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: As well.
Jamie: I think that’s right. That could be right.
Kevin: I don’t think they would care, whether or not, you know, people wondered about his family or not.
Laura: Yeah, but then it draws attention to Harry’s abnormality, as they would call it. And they don’t want to draw attention to that.
Kevin: Yeah, that’s true.
Ben: No, no, how would anyone know? How would anyone they care about know? How would their…
Laura: I don’t know. If Dumbledore showed up on their doorstep in the middle of the night, I think people would notice that.
Ben: Right, but is he going to show up at the doorstep and say, “You didn’t send Harry a coat hanger this year!”?
Laura: [laughs] No, what I’m saying…
Ben: [in weird voice] Avada Kedavra!
Laura: What I’m saying Ben, is that Dumbledore cannot constantly monitor Harry’s treatment at the Dursleys, therefore he probably doesn’t know half the things that happen to Harry. And if he sees Harry not getting Christmas presents that could tip him off. And we know the Dursleys aren’t exactly brave towards Dumbledore.
Ben: Oh, who are you kidding? You know that Dumbledore realizes that Harry gets treated like crap.
Laura: Well…
Kevin: He does. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, he does. No…
Laura: Oh, I’m sure he realizes that, but I don’t think he knows half of the things exactly as they happened.
Jamie: Do you think he really cares though? Obviously he cares about Harry, so he doesn’t want him to get hurt. But his main concern while Harry is at the Dursleys is that he’s protected from Voldemort. So, I don’t think he’s going to go out of his way to make sure that they are getting him proper Christmas presents, and that they are treating him right when if they just turn around and say, “No we’re not going to keep him here,” he’s like 10,000 times more vulnerable.
Eric: Well guys, you just have to realize, even by mailing Harry anything, you know whether it be gifts or crappy gifts or whatever…just by mailing him something, they’re giving in to, as Laura said, “his abnormality.” I mean, they’re giving in… They have to find an owl and get it to send Harry a gift. For the Dursleys, who hate everything that’s unDursleyish and wizarding-kind, they have to give in every Christmas just to give him stuff. Maybe that’s why they send him crap, because they hate doing it. But I like what Jamie was saying – maybe they have to.
Ben: No, they wouldn’t have to. Maybe they are sending him crap because they don’t like him. I think that makes a lot more sense than.
Eric: But they still have to give in.
Jamie: Why would they send to him? Why would they bother then? Why do they bother?
Eric: They have to give in to the fact that they’re…I mean why would they acknowledge it?
Ben: Okay, I think there has only been once reference to it in the entire series, hasn’t there? Maybe one or two.
Laura: No, there have been more than one.
Eric: No, Harry…
Laura: Harry has gotten socks and tissues…
Eric: And hangers.
Laura: And coat hangers.
Jamie: A toothpick.
Eric: A used toothpick.
Laura: Yeah, he got a toothpick.
Ben: Okay. Big whoop! I don’t think it has to do with any hidden…
Laura: Well, it could also be like Snape feeling like he had that obligation to help Harry during Sorcerer’s Stone because of the debt he owed Harry’s father. It could be even though Petunia is not overly fond of Harry, she feels that obligation because at the end of it she is his aunt.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Right, but what’s he going to use a toothpick for?
Laura: Well, at least…
Ben: To poke Voldemort’s eyes out?
[Laura laughs]
Laura: Of course not, Ben.
Jamie: Ben, Ben…
Laura: You’re missing the point.
Jamie: The thought…
Ben: No, no, I think you guys are missing the point. I don’t see the point in talking about this when it’s just a side note that JK Rowling threw in there.
Jamie: It’s not a side note.
Ben: It’s not like it’s a big deal that I’m sure Aunt Petunia and Dumbledore didn’t sit there fore 364 days…
Jamie: You can say this about the entire thing though.
Ben: …thinking, “Oh my gosh! What am I going to send Harry this year.”
Laura: We never said they thought that.
Jamie: Ben’s being really, really negative in this episode everyone.
Kevin: Yeah, he is. He’s a scrooge.
Ben: Okay, but why does it matter what he gets sent over Christmas?
Kevin: Because it matters whether they are trying to do it maliciously or trying to do it out of necessity?
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Because that determines whether or not they’re nice people, which determines…
Andrew: Exactly.
Laura: Because it could have a lot to do with the ancient magic that protects Harry from Voldemort.
Ben: I disagree.
Laura: It’s seemingly minor, but it could have a connection. She likes to do stuff like that.
Ben: No, I think it has something to do… I think it’s just, I think it’s just… JK Rowling trying to remind Harry what he has outside the magical world, how much better he has it at Hogwarts. Because at Hogwarts he’s sitting there alone and then he gets a package from the Dursleys. Maybe it’s sort of, “Oh well. Better than being with them.” That’s what I think, because I don’t think it has much to do with: [in weird voice] “If they don’t send him a toothpick each year, he’s going to lose the enchantment of Privet Drive.” I think that’s ridiculous.
Jamie: No, but we aren’t saying that. We’re just saying that he has to feel welcome. Every single summer he has to feel welcome, however badly they treat him. He has to still think that they want him there.
Ben: I know, but do you think that them sending him a tissue and a toothpick is going to make him feel welcome? That would make me feel unwelcome.
Jamie: No, but that isn’t the point, what they send them on Christmas. I think it was what Kevin said, they are using what they hate the most. They’re finding an owl, they’re sending him something. Would you really go to all that trouble just to spite him. You know, if you hated somebody so much that you actually acquiesced to it, and find an owl and sent it to him just to annoy him… I think, I think there’s more to it than that.
Ben: I think that’s a good question to ask JK Rowling – how do they send it to him? Or do they…
Jamie: Owl, it has to be an owl. Doesn’t it?
Ben: Okay, but how do they get an owl? Is there a way for Muggle parents to send their kids something without…
Eric: Without acknowledging the…
Ben: …requesting an owl to come to their house. Could they send it some Ministry of Magic and they send an owl to a school or something like that?
Laura: Hey, here’s a thought. Maybe Hedwig goes. And we know Hedwig has pecked the crap out of people before.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. [laughs] Maybe she pecks them until they…
Ben: Yeah.
Eric: That would be cool.
Jamie: Maybe, maybe. I like that.
Ben: Yeah. That’s a good point.
Eric: PS…The bird bites!
Voicemail – Neville’s Role
Kevin: [laughs] Well, I actually have a voicemail relating to this. From Emma from California.
[Audio]: Hi! This is Emma from California and I was wondering what you guys thought about how Harry got his glasses? I mean the Dursleys don’t care about Harry, so I don’t think they would have taken him to the eye doctor and spent money to buy him glasses. So how did Harry get his glasses? I love MuggleCast and I support Bemma.
Ben: Rock on! Rock on!
Jamie: I think it has to do with school, you know? If you go to school…
Laura: Yeah.
Jamie: If you go to school and you can’t see anything and you’re sort of squinting at the board in the front, the school will make inquiries about it. And here on the NHS, you know, if you don’t have any money, you can basically get glasses free in the end. So, I don’t think it is a case of money or the Dursleys not making him do it. I mean I can imagine it being the school.
Kevin: I think it was out of necessity to prevent them from attracting attention to themselves.
Jamie: That could be it as well. Yeah.
Andrew: Okay, I think that pretty much wraps it up for that part of the discussion. But the Christmas theme doesn’t end here. We’re going to cover a lot of voicemails right now because we’re in a voicemail-answering mood. So Kevin, why don’t you role the first one.
[Audio]: Hey MuggleCast! This is Jade from London, England, and I was wondering, what do you think Neville’s role will be in Book 7? I think that he will help Harry out in some way to get him moving forward to defeating Voldemort or helping him defeating Voldemort or saving him or something. So, you’re thoughts on this idea? Thanks, and Happy Christmas!
Ben: Well, I think Neville is turning into a stud y’all. I think he’s starting to come into his own, so to speak.
Eric: Ben thinks that Neville is a stud.
Ben: Neville’s a stud.
[Eric laughs]
Ben: I think that he’s come into his own and that he’s becoming a real wizard instead of this pseudo-Squib we’ve seen in the first few books…
Jamie: Yeah, definitely.
Ben: …because of his… He didn’t even have his own wand. He had the wand of his Dad. And even though he felt bad about losing it, it’s probably good that he has his own wand now, and he could probably perform magic better. And see, we talked about this last week I think, and we said that there’s a reason Neville is in Gryffindor, and we haven’t really seen that yet. Well, we saw the courage he displayed in the Ministry of Magic, but I think there’s going to be something bigger for Neville that we’ll see in the future.
Eric: Hey guys, is it possible we won’t see anything. Is it possible that maybe the fact that Neville is in Gryffindor is just to emphasize the similarity he has to Harry.
Jamie: That’s interesting actually.
Eric: I mean he stood up for his friends or stood up to his friends in Book 1 and stuff. And I really think that he will play a bigger role, but do you think it could also kind of foreshadow the closeness and the similarity? You know, both Harry and Neville have parents who defied Voldemort three times. All that other crap. All the similarities. Like Neville could have been “The Chosen One,” so it makes sense that they are in the same house even though Harry chose to be in Gryffindor.
Jamie: Can I just check something? Does he know about the prophecy yet? I can’t remember.
Kevin: No.
Laura: Uh-uh.
Jamie: Do you think if he finds out, it’s going to change what he’s going to do in Book 7?
Eric: No.
Kevin: I think it would give him more confidence.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Mhm.
Kevin: I think that…
Jamie: Well, it would scare him.
Kevin: Because I think that Neville is actually a more powerful wizard than JK Rowling makes him out to be.
Jamie: Yeah, I agree.
Kevin: And that he just needs the confidence to push him.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: Confidence is everything.
Kevin: Exactly.
Jamie: It is.
Kevin: So, I think that it is possible that he will find out about his…
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: …his involvement with the prophecy and that will give him the confidence to show what he’s really made of.
Eric: And…
Jamie: I think he will play a big part though. Yeah.
Laura: I think he will too. I like what Eric said and I think that, that is probably 100% true, but I also think we are going to see something big out of Neville in Book 7.
Eric: Well, I agree.
Laura: Just because we haven’t seen him with his new wand yet. What he can do.
[Jamie and Laura laugh]
Eric: We haven’t seen his new wand.
Jamie: We haven’t seen his new wand.
[Still laughing]
Laura: Okay…
Eric: Neville! Back with a vengeance and a new wand!
Jamie: Yeah.
[Laura laughs]
Kevin: Okay…Okay…let’s go on to the next voicemail.
Voicemail – Sinistra, Wormtail, and Voldemort
[Audio]: Hi, this is Katie from Maryland, and I have two questions. One, why have we seen everyone of Harry’s Hogwarts classes except for Astronomy with Professor Sinistra? Why does her name sound so much like the word “sinister”? And did Voldemort go to Wormtail forcing him to tell the whereabouts of James and Lily Potter, or did Wormtail decide to go to Voldie himself and offer the info? And Eric, don’t try and convince me that either of them are really a good guy. In your thoughts, and Happy Holidays!
Eric: Oh, come on. Neither of them is Barty Crouch Jr. Okay…
Laura: [laughs] Oh my god!
Eric: Anyway, anyway, the first part of the thing – Sinistra – I think that, that was a complete JKR moment where she chose to not tell us anything about Astronomy until something important happened, such as…
Jamie: The Lightening-Struck Tower.
Eric: …such as Dumbledore getting blown off of it. I mean, you know, the whole JK Rowling process is to tell us nothing and then have something big happen there.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: You know? Kind of like the Department of Mysteries. It was kind of like this mysterious thing and then all of a sudden we got all of it revealed to us. Now, as I did mention before in another episode, important stuff did happen on the Astronomy Tower.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: That’s where they got rid of Norbert and you know, things like that. But as for the actual class of Astronomy, I thin it’s just a red herring. I think we were supposed to wonder, “Well gee, what’s up with Astronomy.” And then Dumbledore gets blown off the tower. And then we’re like, “Oh, that’s what’s up with Astronomy.”
Jamie: Yeah.
[Ben laughs]
Eric: And the other thing, they had their… What I was interesting was that the first Astronomy class we did see was the O.W.L.
Jamie: It was.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: The O.W.L. for Astronomy when they were using the telescopes to spy on Hagrid’s hut or whatever.
Ben: And then McGonagall got nailed by the stunning spells.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. So that was strange. What was the second part of the question?
Kevin: Oh…what…do you think that Wormtail went to Voldemort or Voldemort went to Wormtail? I think Voldemort…or Wormtail went to Voldemort.
Jamie: I agree. Yeah.
Laura: Me too.
Kevin: Because he’s a front-runner.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: He’s goes to the person who in his opinion is leading the race. So…
Jamie: Yeah, Voldemort couldn’t have known that he was the Secret-Keeper.
Kevin: Exactly.
Eric: Voldemort certainly wouldn’t have suspected Wormtail.
Ben: Because that’s the reason they chose Wormtail for Secret-Keeper.
Kevin: Right.
Laura: Yep.
Eric: Exactly.
Ben: And the reason Wormtail is so adamant about…is he loves to be with people in power.
Jamie: Yeah.
Ben: He’s kind of like Slughorn in the way that he likes to be around those who are famous and since he can’t basically build an empire of his own, he has to mooch off of others.
Eric: I agree with that Ben.
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: I agree with you too.
Eric: In fact I think that’s brilliant.
Kevin: So, next voicemail.
Jamie: On that…
Laura: We agree on something. Oh my god!
Kevin: We do?
Eric: On Christmas. Merry Christmas!
Voicemail – Tom Felton as Draco
[Audio]: Hey MuggleCast! This is Jackie from Chicago. After listening to your thoughts on how Hermione is portrayed in the movies versus the books, I was wondering if any other characters are the same way – such as Draco? In the books he seems a little more threatening and has a little more dignity, but in the movies he’s more of just comic relief. How do you think this will affect how he is portrayed, especially in Movie 5? Thanks, and Happy Holidays! Bye!
Jamie: I think up until sort of Book 4, you know beginning of Book 5, that wouldn’t have been a problem, but I can’t see Tom Felton portraying Draco in The Half-Blood Prince. You know? I just, I don’t know. I can’t see him crying in the toilet and being so scared of Voldemort that he sort of turns white and stuff like that and attempting to kill Dumbledore. I don’t know. I mean, in terms of looks I think he’s a good Draco. And, you know, his hair is extremely Draco-esque.
Eric: I don’t know. You basically said that he can’t act.
Jamie: No, I didn’t say that. No, because, I mean…
Kevin: Well…
Jamie: There are some actors that can’t pull off certain things. Like let me think, let me think.
Kevin: Well the one thing that really annoyed me…
Eric: Well he hasn’t…
Kevin: The one thing that really annoyed me was Prisoner of Azkaban with Hermione and the wand, where he almost started crying from her holding the wand to him.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, that was…
Kevin: That was completely against his character.
Eric: Well, luckily that was Alfonso’s take on things and not everybody else’s.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: But at the same time, no. I think that kind of goes along with what I wanted to say, which was that the movies are how what the plot of the movies calls for. In other words, if they need Draco to be serious and picked on, they are going to show a lot more of that in the movie. But if they just need him for one or two scenes, the important parts of him being a jerk and insulting Buckbeak, then that’s all that’s really going to be in the movie so they have him to come off as more comical.
Jamie: But, Eric, he isn’t just a jerk though…
Eric: What I’m trying to say is…
Jamie: He isn’t just a jerk. You know, that’s just such a small word to call him in Book 6 when…
Kevin: Yeah, he was a more diverse character.
Jamie: When he kills Katie and…
Eric: Oh, I know. I’m saying just only the jerk part of him showed and that‘s really all the time they had to fit into the movie. I think they’re going to make more of an effort to fit more of it because they’re going to have to…
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: If they don’t, it’ll be disappointing.
Jamie: See…yeah.
Eric: It’s just a matter of showing the character a little bit more and where the people who write the script decide to do that with the movie.
Jamie: Can I just clear something up, then? I think he’s a good guy, seriously. I think what he does he’s a very good actor, but it takes somebody of a lot of, you know, you have to really put your heart into it and I don’t know if he has enough experience to do that yet. But, I’d rather, to be honest, seeing Draco in the films, I’d rather see him being quiet and moody throughout the first five at least first four.
Kevin: Yeah, me too.
Jamie: And also, then he’d just suddenly come out of his shell and be evil like he does in, I say evil but that’s a whole different story. But you know, acting evil. I don’t know. It’ll be very interesting to see.
Kevin: It seems like, so far it seems like they sort of missed the mark with Draco when it comes to his character in the movies. They tend to…
Jamie: Perhaps.
Andrew: Ehhh.
Eric: You know what?
Kevin: They get down his evil side pretty well, but I don’t think they fully develop him the way they should.
Jamie: He’s not evil, though. It looks to me like banter, boyish banter in the first three.
Eric: Yeah, I know.
Kevin: Yeah, yeah less evil.
Jamie: But they have to have a huge step up to killing, attempting and trying to kill people in Book 6.
Eric: And you know what, guys? They cut out the scene in Chamber of Secrets, it was Chris Columbus who cut out the deleted scene with Lucius and Draco in Borgin and Burkes, you know, the extended scene anyway. And in that you see a little bit more of how Draco acts with his father around him. You didn’t really see that in Goblet of Fire either.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: They’re just cutting it out and delaying it, and it’s interesting.
Kevin: I think they’re waiting for 6 to actually show him a lot. I mean, if you’ve noticed, he really doesn’t play that large of a role in any of the movies so far.
Eric: They’re keeping…they are keeping the story though.
Kevin: Yeah, his character, his appearance keeps being reduced and reduced as movies go on.
Eric: But they still…
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Because he’s not very significant, you know…
Eric: The two things that they emphasize…
Andrew: To the final plot of the movie, well yeah.
Eric: The two things they emphasize on are the connection that Draco is a jerk and that he has a father who’s very powerful. That’s in all the movies, sequentially.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: He’s a jerk in all the movies and ever since Chamber of Secrets, they mention his father. Like when Hagrid mentions about Buckbeak, and in Goblet of Fire with “We have a bet that you won’t last ten minutes or five” or whatever. So, we were reminded that. I think Movie 5, when they show Lucius giving money to Fudge, or something like that, I think they’re going to start building the Draco character.
Jamie: Yeah, they’re going to have to. Because also, if you compare Prisoner of Azkaban to Half-Blood Prince. In Prisoner of Azkaban, you’ve got Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. I think it was those three, pretending to scare Harry at the Quidditch match by dressing up as dementors and that’s just a child’s game, you know?
Kevin: Yep.
Jamie: How can he make a massive jump from doing that, to sending poisoned drinks and…
Eric: Well, he can’t. That’s the whole thing. He can’t, though. He has…
Jamie: He’s going to have to.
Eric: Yeah, but it’s all been talk and that‘s the problem with Draco. It has all been talk. He’s been raised but can he really go through with it? And he can’t.
Laura: I think part of the problem with this is starting the movies before the books are finished.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Because there are always going to be little inconsistencies. We don’t know how far Jo went when she was telling Steve Kloves about the plot of the story. I mean, if I were her…
Ben: Well, she had to tell them…
Andrew: I don’t think she ever goes very far.
Laura: If I were her…
Ben: She had to tell him enough so he didn’t leave anything out in the movies.
Eric: Well, she tells the actors the important things. You got to keep in mind, she does tell the actors the important things. Like, if they absolutely need to know it, she usually tells them. Like Hagrid.
Laura: But you have to keep in mind that there’s certain things that if I were her, I would be afraid of leaking out – for instance: Draco being the one trying to kill Dumbledore in Half-blood Prince. Do you think she would actually tell them that was going to happen?
Eric: Not on the first day.
Ben: Right.
Eric: Not like, “You’re playing Draco. Well, one day you grow up and kill…”
Laura: Not necessarily, not Tom Felton. I’m talking Steve Kloves and the director.
Kevin: Yeah, but I think they take that pretty seriously.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: They would never say a word about that.
Ben: Steve Kloves and…
Laura: Yeah.
Ben: I’m pretty sure they’re on a contract too.
Laura: I’m sure, I’m sure. But there seems that there would always be a limit that you would want to take with how far you went telling people involved with the movie where the books were going.
Eric: Yeah.
Jamie: Does this show though, that since Draco does have to make the jump up to killing people and seeing him crying in the bathroom with Moaning Myrtle, does this show that he can’t do things like this? He can’t kill so he isn’t really evil. So, you know, going from childhood games to being made to kill somebody, he just can’t do it.
Eric: And you know what’s interesting, Moaning Myrtle feels for him.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: I mean she feels for him. She was defending him against Harry.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: She was defending him with Harry, and here’s a girl who was picked on her entire life…
Jamie: By people like him.
Eric: …by people like Draco, precisely. And Draco, all he does is pick on Harry up until Book 6.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: So, for Moaning Myrtle to like him has got to be a testament to something, because she was picked on and he’s a bully.
Andrew: Do you think that if Book 6 had came out prior to even Goblet of Fire, or even say Prisoner of Azkaban being adapted into a movie, do you think there would be any difference in Draco? Draco’s role on screen?
Laura: I think there would be a huge difference if all the books were published prior to the movies even starting.
Jamie: Yeah, they’d have to.
Andrew: Yeah, in the first place, yeah.
Kevin: Yeah.
Laura: Honestly, I’ve never thought it was a good idea to start filming movies half way through a series. I always thought that was kind of not the most swift move you could make.
Andrew: Then with that said, could we be seeing remakes of all the movies down the road?
Kevin: No, oh jeez.
Jamie: No, no.
Andrew: That seems a little far-fetched but I mean…
Jamie: No, no way.
Kevin: Although, you say no, Jamie, and then you were telling me about Narnia, where Narnia has been done how many times?
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: So…
Laura: Look at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka.
Jamie: Charlie and the…yeah but there…
Andrew: It’s not like the plot changed with that movie.
Jamie: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Andrew: And plus there’s seven of them.
Jamie: Exactly, the thing about…
Andrew: That was a good movie.
Laura: It was.
Andrew: I love those Oompa Loompas.
Jamie: The thing about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the first one’s a musical. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the first film was a musical where the second film was an actual film. So it really isn’t a remake.
Andrew: Well, the second one has music too. It’s got a lot of songs in it.
Eric: Well, the second one focused a lot more on Willy as a character, as an abused child, you know?
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: And…
Jamie: It is completely different.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: The thing that I find interesting is that Roald Dahl was incredibly disappointed with Gene Wilder’s movie, the Willy Wonka version.
Laura: I didn’t like it. [laughs]
Eric: I thought it was weird how he flipped out at the end and they never explained why he flipped out on Charlie. But apparently, Gene Wilder…
Andrew: Yeah, we could go on about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because we all love that movie.
Laura: But this is Harry Potter. [laughs]
Andrew: Let’s start a Wonka Podcast.
[Laughing]
Ben: Go to WonkaCast if you want to talk about Wonka.
Jamie: WonkaCast.
Andrew: Seriously though. Everything about those books and movies rocked, but moving on.
Eric: Ok but…
Jamie: Moving on.
Kevin: The thing is, they can’t be remade.
Andrew: I dunno, I can see the movies…
Laura: I don’t know.
Andrew: If Book 7 gives…
Jamie: Why?
Andrew: What? Okay, maybe not all 7.
Jamie: The alienation risk…
Laura: But then again, think about the money potential.
Jamie: You could alienate so many people.
Laura: But think about the money potential.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: But there are so many problems with it as well. If you make the first three, you can’t go back and say, “This has been a failure.” You can’t make three and be like we aren’t going to make the further four.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: You’d have to finish them all then, yeah.
Jamie: And you’d risk alienating so many people.
Kevin: Yeah, you’d have to finish them all then.
Jamie: You have to pick three new characters, you’d have to pick new characters for everyone. And things couldn’t be exactly the same, you’d have to change them.
Ben: What about making it a mini-series?
Jamie: No way, uh. That’s sickening.
Andrew: If you make it a mini-series, then you’d have to get all these rights and…
Jamie: That’s a sickening thought.
Eric: That goes with…
Andrew: I don’t know, I could see…Go.
Laura: But what might happen is more of a compilation type movie of all the different plots.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s what I was just going to say. What if they try and combine but then I thought…
Laura: I mean…
Andrew: That’s a really long movie.
Laura: As a movie it might be good because there would be certain things cut but as being faithful to the book, it’d be…
Jamie: It would be a twenty-hour long movie.
Laura: No, no, no. I’m saying they take main plot points from each of the books and…
Jamie: Oh, ok cool.
Laura: Put them together in one movie, and where they might make a really great action film, it wouldn’t be faithful to the books at all, and you’d have Harry Potter fans all over the world screaming.
Kevin: But do you think, seventy, eighty years down the road, it’s possible they would remake the movies?
Jamie: I don’t think so.
Laura: I think it’s possible.
Andrew: It’s completely possible.
Kevin: When all of us are old and close to death.
Laura: I think seventy to eighty years down the road we’re going to be dead.
Eric: [In an old man voice] Welcome to MuggleCast. Episode…ughhh. [Laura laughing]
Andrew: [Also in an old man voice] Welcome to MuggleCast. Let me get my dentures and we will begin.
[All laugh and Eric making noises as if he had no teeth]
Andrew: [Still in old man voice] This is the show where we bring you the latest in Harry Potter dentures and wheelchairs and…
Eric: [Old man voice] Viagra treatment.
Jamie: Uhhh.
Laura: This is MuggleCast for December 1st, 2057.
Kevin: Yeah. [laughs]
Eric: Andrew, can you see yourself editing the show every week from now until you‘re seventy?
[All laugh]
Ben: That would be funny.
Eric: I can see Andrew doing that.
Andrew: That’s a painful thought.
Voicemail – Missing Links
[Audio]: Hey guys, my name is Courtney. I’m twenty and from Omaha, Nebraska. I was wondering what all you guys thought about the things JK mentioned in Book 5 but didn’t mention in Book 6. Like the mirror Sirius gave Harry and the veil in the Department of Mysteries. Do you think that she didn’t mention them in Book 6 for a reason to keep us hanging? What’s the deal with that? Thank you.
Eric: Yes.
Laura: Yes. [laughs]
Eric: She totally didn’t mention the Department of Mysteries at all which I thought was incredibly uncharacteristic of Harry. I mean, he goes around school depressed about Tonks, who he thinks is depressed about Sirius, but he doesn’t at all mention how unfair it was that he went through the veil and he doesn’t look at the mirror again. We don’t see him catching a glimpse at the mirror to see if it still works or Reparo-ing it. It just doesn’t happen and I really think we’ll be back at the Department of Mysteries for Book 7.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: Oh, I don’t have a doubt.
Jamie: Definitely.
Laura: Yea.
Kevin: Especially that door. That one door.
Eric: Yeah, that door, the love door.
Kevin: It has to…
[All laugh]
Laura: The love door. [laughs]
Kevin: It has to open.
Eric: You know that was brought up in Book 6. That was the only part of the Department of Mysteries that was brought up in Book 6. When Dumbledore tells Harry that it’s love behind the door. [sings] The love door is really cool place where…
[Jamie laughs]
Jamie: The veil though, the veil is such an interesting thing…
Eric: Oh it is.
Jamie: There has to be something beyond it.
Kevin: Yeah, but do you ever think she’ll explain it?
Jamie: Yeah, she’s…
Laura: She has to.
Jamie: She can’t leave like that hanging.
Kevin: I think she might in one of those, you know charity books, but I don’t think it’s going to go in the…
Eric: But she killed off a main character with that thing.
Laura: I think it’s…
Eric: She killed off Sirius with that.
Laura: It’s got to. We have to find out if that’s where people go, if that’s …
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: What happens to them, I mean.
Jamie: This is reaching very, very dangerous territory to come to a discussion about “Is Sirius dead?”
Kevin: Yeah, that’s…
Jamie: We should stop before we start killing each other.
Laura: Not to mention what Luna said at the end of the Order of the Phoenix. You know…
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: “Didn’t you hear them?” And all that other stuff. You can’t just leave that hanging.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: You know what, guys? Didn’t JK Rowling say that she was really going to elaborate on the ghosts and what it takes to become a ghost and all that stuff?
Jamie: Yeah, she did.
Laura: Yes.
Eric: And she hasn’t yet. So, if death is going to be explored you’d think they’d touch the veil a little bit.
Andrew: Next v-mail.
Voicemail – Do Patronus And Animagi Take The Same Form?
[Audio]: Hey MuggleCast guys, this is Jeffrey calling from California. I am a huge fan of your show, I listen to it religiously every week. My question is about Patronuses. What do you guys think about my theory that Patronuses and Animaguses form the same animal? For example, Hermione’s Patronus is an otter so if she were to become an Animagi, would she become an otter? Um, I ask this because never really gotten a clear distinction in the books and I thought it would be, more or less, the same thing. So, I just wanted to know your thoughts on that. Thanks! Keep the shows coming. Buh bye.
Jamie: No, that can’t be right because Rita’s Patronus would be a beetle.
Laura: That would be a good question for her though. What’s the difference between your personality assuming your Animagus form and your Patronus form?
Kevin: That’s true, yeah.
Jamie: Yeah, that would be really interesting. What would Harry turn into, you think? If he became an Animagus.
Kevin: Lion?
Jamie: Yeah, because of Gryffindor.
Eric: He’d turn into Liam Neeson.
[All laugh]
Eric: He’d turn into Liam Neeson.
Kevin: I would think a lion.
Jamie: Yeah. I think a lion would be very cool.
Kevin: Yeah. So, next voicemail.
Voicemail – Triwizard Contract
[Audio]: Hi, this one is from California. I was wondering about the bonding contract that is involved in the Triwizard Tournament. Is it similar to the Unbreakable Vow, or does something else happen if one of the champions bails on the tournament?
Andrew: Ohh.
Jamie: Yeah. This is very interesting. They say that…
Ben: You don’t die.
Jamie: …you can’t really sue somebody in the wizarding world.
Kevin: And I think they really emphasize that in the movie.
Jamie: They have to be a death thing. It has to be a death thing. The thing is, when you bring in magic, everything changes because it could be a binding thing so that it’s impossible for…
Kevin: To turn it down.
Jamie: Yeah, it’s impossible. You’re just really excited whenever you think about it and you have to do it. Or even though you have doubts, you always end up doing it. It could be a magic binding contract rather than a…
Laura: Yeah, I agree with that.
Eric: What was Dumbledore thinking? And that’s a serious question. What was Dumbledore thinking? Now you have this Triwizard Tournament which is clearly deadly and they say that it was so deadly they had to tone it down a bit. But if you are legally bound to be in it, and Harry almost died so many times, and the rest of the competitors died so many times, if they can’t get out of it, it’s like a death sentence. Which is why we said that the whole Cedric thing being announced on Halloween…
Kevin: No, because you can be disqualified from it.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Can you be disqualified from the tournament or just a particular task?
Kevin: I believe from the tournament. I mean, if…
Eric: Because they could have disqualified Harry if they didn’t want him…
Jamie: No…
Kevin: You have to be able to be disqualified because, didn’t they mention if you got caught cheating that you’d be disqualified or something like that?
Jamie: The thing is though, how far do you have to compete to fulfill the contract? Like in the third task, could you just walk in two feet and send up red sparks and say, “I can‘t go take it”?
Kevin: “I give up,” yeah.
Jamie: Yeah, and in Task Two could you just jump in and say “I’m finished.”
Kevin: “I’m too afraid.”
Eric: You know, that’s another thing. But that’s what I’m talking about. They would have left them to drown, don’t you think? I mean that’s the impression I got from the movie at least. That they actually would have let Fleur’s sister…
Laura: No, no, no, no. In the book, in the book, Ron said, “What, did you think really think he was going to let us drown?”
Jamie: Yeah, there is no way they would have …
Eric: In the movies the merpeople really seemed like they wanted to.
Kevin: In the movie. But that’s a movie.
Eric: You know. I know the books definitely take prevalence but my only thing is it’s not really an honor to be chosen if you’re just going to get these trials and suffering and get almost killed. All for this cup you have to get anyway because you’re contracted into it.
Kevin: See, the way I always…
Laura: Yeah, but here’s something too. We know Crouch Sr. was under the Cruciatus Curse and he could have been saying that just to…
Eric: What?
Ben: You mean Imperius.
Laura: Imperius, whatever. Yeah, you know what I meant.
Eric: When was he under the Imperius Curse? When he said that?
Laura: I think he was, wasn’t he? He was under it the whole book. At least that’s the impression I got or I could be totally wrong and Andrew might have to edit this out.
Eric: Wait, Senior?
Kevin: This is the impression I got. The impression I got was that goblet would not spit out your name if it knew that you would not participate. It’s sort of…
Jamie: That could be it as well, yeah.
Laura: Ahhh, that’s good too.
Kevin: You know, the goblet chose, and it chose…
Jamie: If you had the will to participate.
Kevin: Exactly.
Eric: That’s weird. That’s like, what it reminds me of is searching for profiles. Like, it’s a background check…
Kevin: Exactly.
Eric: On everybody, just by their name. You write it and your name has magical significance in the world for the goblet to look at your character and see if you’d be able to compete. And to pick on the best one based on the name, obviously, there is more magic to it than that.
Jamie: Yeah, of course, yeah.
Eric: Yeah, I thought that was cool.
Voicemail – The Scar
[Audio]: Hey, MuggleCasters. This is Stewart from California. I was just wondering whether you think that Harry Potter’s scar will vanish or will it stay when Voldemort dies? Because that’s the bond between the two of them. Thanks. Love you guys. Bye.
Jamie: But isn’t the point of a scar is that it’s permanent?
Kevin: Yeah.
Laura: Mm-hmm. I don’t think it will.
Kevin: I don’t think so either.
Eric: Well, Dumbledore said he’d have that mark forever or something like that.
Kevin: No, Dumbledore said, I think it was the very beginning of Book 1, that – what was his quote? “Even if I could remove it, I wouldn’t because scars are there for a reason.” Yeah, they come in handy.
Ben: They come in handy.
Eric: It also says that he’ll have it as long as he lives or something.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Depends on if his scar is a Horcrux anyway because…
Jamie: They come in handy though because it tells him that Voldemort’s moving about and gets closer to him.
Kevin: Not to mention, it brings so much attention to him though.
Eric: I know. He would paint it on just to get recognized. He’ll be 80 and all lonely and stuff and just paint his scar on and they’ll be able to find him.
Laura: No, Harry wouldn’t do that.
Eric: Yeah, Harry, that’s atypical of Harry. Harry is not like that at all.
Laura: I think it’s going to stay because it is a part of Harry. That’s who he is.
Eric: It’s Harry.
Laura: And getting rid of it would be like saying, “I’m not Harry Potter anymore.”
Eric: That’s correct.
Jamie: Yeah. Like when…
Eric: I’m siding with Laura.
Andrew: But he might appreciate it…
Jamie: No he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t.
Laura: Oh, I’m sure he would appreciate it. But again, Harry’s got to learn. This is who he is.
Eric: But at the same time, people will respect him. They are actually witnessing his life in the tabloids and everything, and as the end of Voldemort draws nearer, they are kind of seeing that it isn’t an easy task for him and I think. It’s not necessarily like before where they said hi to him and they recognized him and it wasn’t to taunt him. But I think now they’ll respect him more and not be like “Oh my God, it’s Harry Potter! The guy I read about years ago.”
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: You said that he’d appreciate losing his scar, but do you think if someone asked him now, “I can take away your scar from you, and all the things it gives you, and all the things it helps you with.” Do you really think he’d say yes?
Kevin: I don’t…I don’t think so.
Laura: Not right now, he wouldn’t.
Kevin: No without a doubt.
Laura: Not right now he wouldn’t.
Andrew: I think that’s good a question, what would he do if he were given the choice to keep his scar or get rid of it? You know, because on one hand, his scar is what makes him so famous but…
Kevin: Yeah…
Andrew: On the other hand, he hates all that.
Kevin: The thing is he hates the attention but he understands the responsibility.
Jamie: Yeah, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the fame though.
Andrew: No, but I mean once everything is said and done.
Laura: He’s learning to except it.
Andrew: I’m saying like in the long run.
Kevin: Oh, in the long run?
Andrew: Does he really want it fifty years from now? You know what I mean?
Jamie: In Book 1, it says he actually likes the lighting-bolt scar.
Andrew: That was Book 1.
Kevin: I can see how after everything is said and done, he’d want to pull himself back from the public, you know.
Eric: I think he’s proud of his scar. In the beginning of Book 1, it said he really didn’t like his appearance except for the scar.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: Because, obviously that was foreshadowing because that linked him to the wonderful magic world or whatever. But at the end of 7, I think he might be proud of who he is. You know, he’s Harry Potter. He is the Chosen One. He has the responsibility and he completed his task.
Laura: One big thing that I’ve seen in the books is Harry having to accept who he is. We’ve seen points in like, Goblet of Fire where Harry’s wondering what it would be like if he were one of the students not participating in the Triwizard Tournament. What he’s got to come to realize is that wouldn’t be because that’s not who he is. That’s not what he’s destined to be and getting rid of the scar, it would just not be him.
Kevin: Yep.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s true.
Jamie: Oh yeah, I was going to say that… if you can’t bluff the Killing Curse, can you like get rid of all the stuff it causes? So you can say instead of killing Harry, it’s caused that mark, it‘s caused the scar. It can’t really take away what’s already been caused by that.
Kevin: Oh yeah, the power behind the spell.
Eric: You know what, yeah. And Harry’s scar was created with the death of his mother or the absolute almost death of him. You cannot undo death so how can you undo the scar?
Jamie: Yeah. I think it’s going to stay forever.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Me too.
Kevin: That’s if he lives.
Jamie: Right, if he lives, yeah.
Eric: It’s not going to disappear the second he dies. Yeah, he’ll die with his scar.
Andrew: Yeah, well that wraps up the voicemails. We were on a roll this time I think…
Kevin: Yeah they were…
Andrew: People.
Kevin: I think it was the voicemail number. We get more submissions, it’s good.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s the holiday spirit.
Kevin: Everybody, keep sending them in.
Jamie’s British Joke Of The Day
Andrew: To keep things rolling. Jamie, you’ve got a “British Joke of the Day” for us. Holiday edition.
Jamie: Yeah, it is kind of holiday related. It has a Christmas and Star Wars theme.
Andrew: Ohhh.
Eric: Christmas and Star Wars? I have been waiting for this for like, ten episodes. Take it away, Jamie.
Jamie: Can I have a say? Okay, then. How does Darth Vader know what Luke Skywalker’s getting for Christmas?
Kevin: How?
Laura: How?
Jamie: He felt his presents.
[All laugh]
Andrew: Ah, that’s funny on three different levels.
Eric: I give it a good three and a half actually.
Laura: For all you Star Wars nerds out there.
Jamie: Yeah.
Book Review Update
Andrew: Kevin, you want to do a quick update on book reviews?
Kevin: For book reviews, we’re exploring different ways to bring it to you because it’s too long to fit into MuggleCast. So, we’re coming up with some ideas and hopefully will be done in a little while.
Laura: But we are still doing the Golden Compass and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Kevin: Yeah, we are still those books. We just have to find a format that will work for you guys.
Laura: Hopefully sometime soon after Christmas.
T’was The Night Before MuggleCast
Andrew: Because a lot of people had shown interest in it. Now as a special holiday treat to you, we’re going to tell you a little story. It was, is there a specific title for this?
Jamie: T’was The Night Before Christmas?
[All laugh]
Jamie: That’s one popular name.
Andrew: T’was the Night Before Christmas MuggleCast Edition. This was written by Kelly Egan who has done some excellent artwork for us that we have, that we are going to put up this week to show you some Christmas-themed stuff. Pictures, drawing of us. It’s pretty cool. So, let us begin. Everyone sit by the fire, and enjoy.
[With Christmas music playing background]
Andrew: T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the web
Not a creature was stirring, not even on MuggleNet.
iTunes was open and refreshing with care,
In hopes that a new MuggleCast would soon be there.
Ben: The fangirls were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Emerson danced in their heads.
And I in my dress robes and matching posh hat,
Had just settled down for a quick cat nap.
Kevin: When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a bludger,
Tore back the curtains and threw out the shutters.
Eric: The moon on the crest of the new-fallen snow
Gave the illusion of several objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should I spy,
But Laura Thompson and all 6 MuggleCast guys!
Laura: With a echo of laughter, “yeah! yeah!” and “hem-hem”,
I knew right away it was most certainly them.
More rapid than Hippogriff herders they came,
Laura whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
Jamie: “Now Andrew! now, Micah! now, Kevin, Ben PLEASE!
Come on, Jamie! and Eric! Before you all freeze!
To the top of that porch! At the top of this lane!
Surely there’s someone here aware of our names!”
Andrew: They took to my porch and promptly rang the doorbell,
I respectably answered and in they propelled.
Up into the house hold each Caster debuted,
With American welcomes, and a British one too.
Ben: “Thank you, dear stranger, we’re awfully pleased,
If left out in that storm any longer we’d freeze.”
“What Andrew means,” said the one with fluffed hair,
“Is we’d rather cast inside instead of out there.”
Kevin: Then from Kevin’s pocket they dispensed a PC,
And all gathered round under my Chirstmas tree.
“Tonight we’re discussing,” inquired Ben Schoen,
“All great importance that Emma Watson sustains.”
Eric: “I agree,” cheered Laura and nods went around,
“They were better than Ben’s, and far more profound.”
Laura: And so the Podcast continued late into the night,
Ready on time tomorrow to the fans delight.
As I sat to the side observing the lot,
My stomach twisted into tight gillyweed knots.
Jamie: “We should do something nice since this fan let us stay,
I think we should show her Chirstmas our way.”
Andrew added, “Eric, I don’t think our ambition,
Settles merely with singing our carol renditions”
Andrew: “Hey guys,” said Micah, “I got a better plan,
We could make her drive the MuggleCast van.
“Excellent thought,” said the cast all a thrive,
“That saves us for asking Melissa to drive!”
Ben: “No, Micah you’ll drive, this fan is surely devote,”
She’ll see us real soon in Las Vegas no doubt.”
So with Laura guiding them off to the door,
I shook each hand of the guys I adore.
Kevin: They sprang to their car, the engine churned and roared,
And away they sped singing merrily off chord.
But I heard Ben exclaim, as they drove out of sight,
All:“Merry MuggleCast to all, and to all a good-night!”
Show Close
Andrew: So on that note, I’m Andrew Sims.
Ben: I’m Ben Schoen…dot com.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Eric: Merry Christmas. Happy Kwanzakah. Wait.
Jamie: Chanukah.
Eric: Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah! This is Eric Scull.
Laura: Happy Holidays, I’m Laura Thompson.
Eric: Say Happy Christmas, Jamie. You have to say Happy Christmas.
Kevin: You do.
Jamie: What, just Happy Christmas?
Eric: Happy Christmas.
Jamie: And to everyone, Happy Christmas. Happy Holidays. And a Happy New Year. And have a great time. And I’m Jamie Lawrence.
Ben: Trust the Brit. Trust the Brit.
Jamie: Oh yeah.
Eric: Trust him.
Jamie: Whatever I say goes.
Andrew: Next week on Episode 22 will be our New Year’s special, taking a look back at the top stories of 2005. And we will attempt to be the first PodCast of 2006. So on that note. Merry Christmas. Happy Kwanzaa. Happy Chanukah. Happy Festivus. Happy…
Laura: Winter Solstice.
Andrew: Happy Winter Solstice. [laughs] Happy Sunday. Happy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday…
Jamie: Happy Day.
Andrew: Whatever it is, have a Happy Day!
Ben: Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Kevin: And stay safe!
Eric: Stay safe.
Laura: Have a safe Holiday.
Eric: Don’t trust store Santas.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: And could we make this sign-off any longer?
Kevin: Goodbye.
Ben: Goodnight everybody.
Laura: Bye
Andrew: Goodnight.
Song Parodies
Andrew: Now, a few song parodies from our listeners. Thanks to everyone who sent these in. Enjoy!
Bloopers
Jamie: Now Andrew, now Micah, now Kevin, Ben please. Come one Jamie and Eric before you all freeze. To the top of that porch, at the top of this lane. Lane [bleeped out] sorry!
[All laugh]
Jamie: Let me go again. Sorry, sorry.
Eric: And you did that so good.
Jamie: You can use that as an outtake if you want, Andrew.
——————————————————————-
Kevin: Is Andrew still here?
Ben: Yeah he is.
Andrew: Yeah, I’m still here. Me and Ben are singing Original of the Species over AIM.
Ben: Yeah, because someone talked about confidence and it reminded me of U2.
[Ben and Andrew singing]: I’ll give you everything you want. Except the thing that you want.
Eric: Kevin, why‘d you have to ask? Kevin, why‘d you have to ask?
Kevin: Yeah, I should have just stayed silent.
[Ben and Andrew singing]: You are the first one of your kind.
Kevin: This is where people stop listening.
Ben: And you feel…
Laura: Oh my God, shut up!
Ben: Oh, come on.
Kevin: Ok. Kitty, from Maryland.
———————————————————————-
[Jamie singing]: On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me, five negative Bens.
———————–
Written by: Micah and Ally