MuggleCast 148 Transcript
Show Intro
[Intro music begins]
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[Harry Potter theme plays]
Jim Dale: [as Professor McGonagall] This is Professor McGonagall welcoming you all to MuggleCast hoping you all enjoyed – Dobby! Dobby, come here! Here! Dobby! [as Dobby] Yes, I’d just like to say how very pleased I am to introduce MuggleCast to all of you! Thank you! Thank you!
[Show music begins]
Micah: Because some people feel the need to call me on my only night off, this is MuggleCast Episode 148 for June 8th, 2008.
[Show music continues]
Andrew: So, there are only six more chapters left in our wonderful, enlightening Chapter-by-Chapter series, and many people are wondering what we’re going to do after these chapters are finished, because we’ve always – we’ve been saying for the past couple months that once we finish Chapter-by-Chapter that’s when we’re going to slow down the show.
Matt: Mhm. We’re quitting.
Andrew: No, we’re not quitting and that’s the big misconception.
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: We’re actually – we’re far from quitting. We’re just going to be slowing down how – how – how frequent the episodes are released. So I thought it would be nice if we could just discuss, you know, what – what we could do in the opening because we’ve got nothing else we can talk about. [laughs] Should we – do you guys think we should do every other week? Do you think there would be enough content? Laura, as a long time host, do you think this would be a wise choice?
Laura: Ooh. You know, I don’t know. I feel like a lot of fans would be really happy about that, but I’m not sure we could depend on there being that systematic release of news and other information every two weeks. I feel like sometimes it would work and sometimes it would come up short. So, I almost feel like an approach – sort of along the lines of putting out a show when there’s something to put out a show about might be a little more practical, but that’s just me.
Matt: Yeah. That’s what I thought too. I mean – the whole fact that we are kind of slowing down is basically because we want to be able to release a show when we have enough content to make an actual good show for the listeners.
Andrew: So, both of you have the view of glass the is half empty.
Laura: [laughs] No.
Mikey: I’m going to have to go – I’m going to flip it over and say the glass is half full, Andrew.
Andrew: There we go.
Matt: I think my glass is half full, but it’s made of ice so when you tip it over not – it’s still the same. It’s not devour itself.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: That – so…
Matt: I was so – I almost had it. [laughs]
Mikey: I have – I have to say this, Matt. If your glass is half full, and it’s filled with ice, and there’s anything in there besides ice, it’s actually less than half way. So, you really are doubting, you’re…
Matt: It’s…
Mikey: …doubting.
Matt: Well water’s heav…
Mikey: You know what, Matt? Matt, don’t…
Matt: Liquid’s heavier than ice though, so…
Andrew: Anyway, I guess we’ll have to leave it up to the listeners, maybe create a poll or something to figure out what to – what we’re going to do, but for now, we have a full show and a full weekly show. I’m Andrew Sims.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Matt: I’m Matthew Britton.
Mikey: And I’m Mikey B.
[Show music continues]
The MuggleCasters Call Micah
Andrew: Micah Tannenbaum is absent this week. So, we’re going to have to handle the news without – without the big guy. What’s he doing this week? I mean, it is a Friday night, so…
Mikey: I think we should do a Spy on Micah.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Spy on Micah?
Laura: Yeah, we should call him.
Andrew: All right, should we call Micah real quick just to see if he’ll answer maybe?
Mikey: Yes, we should call Micah.
Laura: Yeah, we should.
Matt: Yeah, let’s call Micah.
Andrew: Well here’s some heavy…
Matt: You know he’s thinking about us right now…
Andrew: We’ll hear some heavy, thumping club music in the background.
[Matt makes heavy, thumping club music]
Laura: And techno beats. Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, techno beats. He’ll be all out of breath, sweating heavily from all the dancing on the dance floor.
Mikey: Yeah, and while we call him it’s going to be like [sings] “Somebody scream!”
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: We’re going to hear someone in the background yell, “Micah, come on. You’re missing out on the party. Woo!”
Andrew: All right. I’m calling him.
[Phone rings]
Andrew: You guys won’t be able to talk to him, but – I could just…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: …picture the scene now. He’s on the dance floor, can hardly feel the phone vibrating in his pocket.
[Micah picks up]
Micah: Hello?
Andrew: Yo Micah, what’s up?
Micah: Hello?
Andrew: Yeah, it’s Andrew. What’s up?
Micah: What’s going on?
Andrew: Aw, man, the – the MuggleCast news studio. I can’t do it without you.
Micah: Oh, really?
Andrew: Yeah. Well, what’s going on? What are you doing?
Micah: I am out on the Upper West Side of Manhattan…
Andrew: Upper?
Micah: …hanging out with college friends.
Andrew: College friends. Okay. Could you run back home? We really need you to do MuggleCast.
Micah: No. Sorry, I don’t think I could do that.
Andrew: That’s not…
Micah: The day after what went down in there.
Andrew: I don’t appreciate that kind of attitude.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I don’t think you – you should be – you know.
Laura: He’s fired
Matt: Yeah. He’s done.
Andrew: We’ll cover your – your cab. I mean we have some extra Pickle Pack money leftover.
Micah: All right.
Andrew: All right. So that’s a yes?
Matt: Yeah.
[Micah ends call]
Mikey: He hung up on you.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: He hung up on me.
Matt: Gosh.
Laura: Wow.
Andrew: All right, well, there you go. That’s how we play Spy on Tannenbaum.
Matt: Is it me or did Micah sound kind of like – like he was trying to act cool in front of his friends kind of talk?
Andrew: He was trying to act kind of cool.
Matt: [imitating Micah trying to sound cool] Yeah, what’s up, man? I’m out with my friends from college.
News: Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement Ceremony
Andrew: All right, so let’s get to the news without Micah. Big news this week. There was some big news. J. K. Rowling spoke at the Harvard commencement ceremony. She had a wonderful speech that lasted about twenty minutes. It was streamed live online so all the Harry Potter can – fans – and cans, I guess, could watch as well. I would like to quote the end of her speech. She said, “So today I could wish you nothing better than similar friendships” – She spoke a lot about her friends – “And tomorrow I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of one of those old Romans I met when I fled down the classics corridor in retreat from career ladders in search of an ancient wisdom. As is a tale, so is life. Not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. I wish you all very good lives.” And J. K. Rowling got a very big standing ovation. At least five minutes. Big standing O.
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: Mhm.
Mikey: Wow.
Andrew: What did you guys think of this? I mean it was really cool of her to come to a U.S. college commencement ceremony.
Laura: Yeah.
Mikey: I wish that – I was going to say, I with that she had spoke at mine. All I had was some astronaut.
[Laura and Matt laughs]
Andrew: Some astronaut? [laughs]
Mikey: Yes, some astronaut. I was like, “Man, it would be so cool to have J.K. Rowling there.”
Andrew: Well, it was funny because Jo was get – well, Harvard was under a lot of scrutiny. People were saying, “J.K. Rowling? That’s – why an author? Why a children’s book author?” And Harvard was saying, “Well, it doesn’t have to be someone in politics, you know, to – to reflect a very powerful person in this world.” And I thought that was kind of mean of some of the skeptics who didn’t think Jo was a good choice.
Matt: Well, I mean, I don’t think a lot of the Harvard graduates are like novelists and such. I mean, I don’t think that’s the majority of the people who study at Harvard.
Laura: Well, hey, Mikey, how many people from your school became astronauts?
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Mikey: Actually, quite a few. But this lady – yeah, this astronaut person just graduated like ten years ago and she just went into space and just got back.
Andrew and
Matt: Oh.
Mikey: She did some cool stuff, but…
Matt: “I just got back from the moon!”
Mikey: She just got back from that space station. It was really hot and long and kind of boring. I was text messaging people on my phone through the whole thing.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Nice.
Matt: I thought it was really cute of J.K. Rowling when she said, at the beginning of her interview, that, “Thank you for inviting me to possibly the largest Gryffindor gathering ever.”
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: Or something like that.
Andrew: She said if she squinted her eyes at the red banner she would feel like it’s the largest Gryffindor gathering. [laughs] Which is so funny; she threw a couple Potter jokes in the beginning too.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: And everyone got it.
Andrew: Everyone seemed to get it. She made a gay Dumbledore joke. It was…
Laura: Yeah, that was great.
Andrew: …interesting.
Matt: I love the way – how Jo was dressed too. She looked like an actual novelist. You know, what everyone portrays a novelists to be, with her hair kind of pulled in the back. She had…
Andrew: She looked very studious.
Matt: …more of a mousy appearance than when you see her with her hair all dolled up and stuff. She just seemed more, you know, approachable and more modest looking.
Laura: Mhm.
News: Rowling Files Another Lawsuit
Andrew: Yes. [laughs] Yeah. So, that was a nice ceremony. And in other J.K. Rowling news, she actually filed another lawsuit, this time against Star Map. There’s actually some of these in Hollywood. Star Maps are just like a giant map of the area and it’ll show you where the private homes of stars are. And J.K. Rowling was on the London Star Map and she’s suing them. She said, “The sole aim of London Star Map is self-evidently to incite, encourage, and enable members of the public to track down and locate the exact location of private residences of various recognizable celebrities so that they can visit those residences. I’m a very private individual who regards my family’s privacy and safety as having paramount importance.” Which is totally understandable.
Laura: Yeah. I would sue them too.
Andrew: I wonder how many stars have actually filed a lawsuit against London Star Map.
Matt: Well, J.K. Rowling has in the past, you know, had this huge privacy issue addressed too. This isn’t the first time we’ve ever heard about this.
Mikey: Yeah.
Andrew: Right. Yeah. This one seems to really – this is kind of a big one. It’s funny because right on London Star Map’s homepage, LondonStarMap.com, it says, “Like a real life Harry Potter Marauder’s Map!” That was said by the London’s Evening Standard.
Matt: Ooo. And they actually have like a little…
Andrew: They have a picture of Jo.
Matt: …Marauder’s Map fold-out, too.
Andrew: Yeah. And they have a picture of Jo there. But, yeah, so they’re getting sued, understandably, by Jo.
Matt: Mhm.
News: No Trelawney in Half-Blood Prince
Andrew: In movie news, no Trelawney in Half-Blood Prince. It was confirmed by Emma Thompson’s representatives – or her agent – that she will not be in Half-Blood Prince. Which, I guess, is kind of disappointing.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: We didn’t really see her much in Order either. Go ahead, Laura.
Laura: Well, I wonder how they’re going have Harry find out that Snape was actually the one who overheard the prophecy.
Matt: Yeah, I doubt they’ll even have that. They may just cut that entire part out.
Mikey: Yeah, I kind of agree…
Laura: Yeah, that wouldn’t surprise me.
Mikey: …with Matt. That might just be out of it. Trelawney doesn’t have like a pivotal role in this book.
Matt: No. You really only see her only a couple times, like when she and Harry are walking towards the corridor and she tells Harry about, you know, Snape overhearing her conversation, being so rude. But, yeah, she doesn’t really have a very pivotal part in this book.
News: Radcliffe and Griffiths Presenting at Tony’s
Andrew: In other movie news, Radcliffe and Griffiths are going to present at the 2008 Tony’s!
Mikey: That’s kind of cool.
Laura: Cool.
Andrew: Yeah, that is pretty cool. It’s – well, I think it’s just to promote their upcoming Equus on Broadway.
Matt: Well, that’s exactly what it is.
Mikey: Yeah, of course, that’s what it’s for.
Andrew: I mean, it wasn’t really said. It was just – you know. They didn’t…
Matt: Because it’s already implied.
Andrew: I guess it’s implied, but it’s going to be June 15, and starting at 8PM eastern. It’s actually also going to be streamed live online, so anyone can watch that.
Mikey: That’s cool.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: I’ve never seen the Tony awards. I never really had an interest.
Andrew: You know, this year – they’re doing – there’s going to be a live performance of a song from The Lion King.
Mikey: Really?
Matt: Oh!
Mikey: I’ve seen that!
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: I’ve actually seen that. It’s really good.
Andrew: Yeah. Me too. Along with a couple of other little performances, so it’s definitely something to look forward to for all of you theater goers.
News: Harry Potter MMORPG
Andrew: And lastly this week, the most interesting story online – I’m loving posting about it on MuggleNet – there are – new rumors have started about a Harry Potter MMORPG. Mikey, what does that mean? What does that stand for?
Mikey: Oh geez. I actually took a video game class. It’s Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game.
Andrew: Yeah, and it’s the biggest acronym.
Mikey: No, no, no! Wait! I’m sorry…
Andrew: No, that’s right!
Mikey: …I forgot the O. Massively Multiplayer…
Andrew: Oh.
Mikey: …Online Role-Playing game.
Andrew: Right.
Mikey: That’s where the O comes in.
Andrew: Right.
Mikey: Right, so…
Andrew: And Warner Brothers – what happened was, PotterSphere, another Harry Potter fansite, inquired with Warner Brothers about creating a massively multiplayer online role-playing game centered around Harry Potter. And Warner Brothers – the vice president of marketing for Warner Brothers – came back with the statement, “The notion of creating a Harry Potter MMORPG is something that we’ve been discussing at Warner Brothers. At this current stage, we are investigating the possibility of creating our own.”
Matt: So basically, it’s like the Harry Potter version of The Sims.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Sort of.
Mikey: Or World of Warcraft! Or Star Wars!
Matt: Or World of Warcraft, of course.
Andrew: Second Life. I mean, the two biggest ones out there right now, I think, are WOW – World of Warcraft – and Second Life.
Mikey: Yeah.
Andrew: Mikey, have you ever played an MMORPG?
Mikey: Yeah, I have. I’m not really a huge fan of them, it’s not my cup of tea, but I have played them.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: I grew up, you know, on the computer, and I played a lot of the old, old, old ones. Like text based ones, you know, Dungeons and Dragons stuff. And I’m a complete geek, we all know this.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: I mean, I’ve admitted on the show, I think that I used to be extremely into The Sims Online. I think a Harry Potter MMORPG could have a lot of potential.
Mikey: Yes and no. I’m kind of worried how they would do it though. You know?
Andrew: Yeah. It would raise a lot of questions. I mean, it’s definitely something that would have to be thought out and done right. I’m sure they don’t want another flop.
Matt: You know, this may be a little more difficult too, because they’re actually basing it on an all ready established world, that they’re basing it on. Like in World of Warcraft, you can create other lands too, in case there’s more people that play it, but there’s only certain places…
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: Yeah…
Matt: …you could go in the Harry Potter world.
Mikey: …which are different servers basically.
Laura: Yeah, and I wonder just how they would do characters and stuff. Like, could you have your own character, or would you have to be like one of the main ones. You know?
Matt: Like – yeah. Like would you have to be…
Andrew: I could see…
Matt: …a student? Or a goblin? Or a House-elf?
Andrew: I could see, like, you creating your own wizard or witch, and then like – yeah. I would imagine a lot of people would want to play as Harry Potter. So…
Mikey: Well, actually, here: Like Star Wars actually has a MMORPG. MMO…
Andrew: Mhm.
Mikey:…I can’t even do it – say it fast.
Andrew: That’s all right. [laughs]
Mikey: But Star Wars has one. It’s Empire At War, and you actually have a lot of options. ‘Cause like everyone wants to be a Jedi, obviously, like if you’re going to be in Star Wars you want to be a Jedi. Just like if you’re going to do a Harry Potter one, someone wants to be like Harry Potter.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: And what happens is, to become that, like, super character that you want to be, it takes a lot of time and a lot of skill to get up to it.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Mikey: Like, a lot of – like a ridiculous amount of time to where – you know, as much as I love Star Wars, I gave up on it after, probably like, six months of straight playing.
Andrew: Mhm. Yeah.
Matt: Well, they could probably do that by – you can just all be a wizard, and then they’ll just scale you up by like, a First Year, Second Year…
Andrew: Yeah, that’s true.
Matt: …of a Hogwarts student.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: Yeah. And again, I think one of the reasons that World of Warcraft does really well is it’s easy to power up. But there’s so many levels and stuff like that too where – to become really good, you have to spend some time and have skill. And I think they have to make sure, if they do do this, to have it do anything, they’d really have to spend the time to actually have a good company to develop it and spend the time making it…
Andrew: Now the interesting thing…
Mikey: …and not aim it at, you know, little kids, because…
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: …the minute they do that, they’re going to lose all skill-level…
Matt: Because younger kids…
Mikey: …and it’s going to come…
Matt: …are going to play these…
Andrew: Now, I haven’t…
Matt: What? Sorry.
Andrew: Now, I haven’t posted this on MuggleNet yet, but a very interesting article came out of a NextGen.Biz. An Online Entertainment company that has developed a Lord of the Rings online game called Turbine received a forty million dollar investment from Time Warner. What is Time Warner own? Warner Brothers. So, um…
Matt: You didn’t give us a chance to answer.
Andrew: [laughs] It’s very interesting because Warner Brothers invested forty million dollars into this company and it’s already created an online game based off a book! So, I have an e-mail into Turbine right now, asking them: Is there a Harry Potter development going on? Because I know they would be less quiet than Warner Brothers. Because you know how Warner Brothers likes to be hush-hush over everything. But if you were going to put your money behind on a company developing the game, I would put my money behind Turbine. I mean, I’m no betting man in this situation, but…
Mikey: You’re always the betting man, Andrew.
Laura: You’re always – yeah.
Mikey: Yeah.
Andrew: I’m not betting until I get an e-mail back… [laughs] …from them.
Laura: Oh!
Matt: “I’m not betting until I know I’m going to win.”
Andrew: Yeah. Exactly. So, that’s a very interesting story. We’ll see what comes out of it. You know, it definitely seems like – MuggleNet has an online… [laughs] …Harry Potter game. MuggleNet Interactive. I don’t know if you guys ever played this.
Laura: I have not.
Andrew: MNI? Interactive.MuggleNet.com?
Mikey: It doesn’t work on Macs.
Andrew: It doesn’t?
Mikey: No. I tried it once and I gave up…
Andrew: Hmm.
Mikey: …because it didn’t work at the time.
Matt: Aww.
Andrew: Weird. Well, I think it may work now. I’m not sure. But anyway, moving on from news, let’s go on to some announcements for this week.
Mikey: Yay!
Andrew: Let’s talk a little more about…
Mikey: Announcements! Sorry.
Andrew: Yay!
Matt: Yay!
Mikey: I work on a kids show. Of course I’m excited. Like, every time we go to a different segment, I’ll be like, “Yay!”
Matt: But you’ve been saying stuff like that before you worked on a kids show, Mikey.
[Andrew and Mikey laugh]
Announcement: Portus 2008
Andrew: Anyway, Laura, where are we going to be this summer? Where is the biggest place we’re going to be?!
Laura: Dallas, Texas.
Mikey: California.
Matt: Ooh.
Laura: [laughs] Well, and California. But we’re going to be at Portus 2008 in Texas. And I think we’ve already promoted this a couple of times on the show. But definitely…
Matt: We have.
Laura: ..,if you guys want to come out and see a live show, if you’ve never been, or if you’ve been before, you should register. These conventions are so much fun! You will love it.
Andrew: At Portus, Jim Dale is going to be there. And I know we’ve been getting a lot of questions asking what kind of package you should get. The Podcast Palooza is on Saturday. So you could get an all-day Saturday pass, or you can get a pass for all Portus, which we recommend a lot more. Because you get access to a lot of – many more cool things. There’s the ball, there’s a ton of things you can sign up for. Soon, we will have Aziza on the show who helped us interview Jim Dale. We’ll be having her on to answer your questions about Portus. One thing we should point out is that our podcast is going to be at midnight. It’s going to be the final podcast going on at Podcast Portu – [stutters]… Portus Palooza.
Mikey: Woohoo! The best for last, Baby!
Andrew: Yeah, we’re going to be – it’s going to be starting at midnight, thankfully there we will be able to sell our t-shirts throughout the entire Palooza.
Matt: Our brand new Portus t-shirts, by the way.
Andrew: Yeah, whenever they come. I don’t want to say anything about them yet. I mean, other than what I said last week. [laughs] But it will be going on at midnight, so I don’t want anyone to be caught off guard, like, if they’re bringing their parents with them and the parents are going to be like, “Oh, man, we came all the way out here for something that starts at midnight?” So, just so you guys know, but we did our Leaky Mug at Prophecy at midnight and that was a great success.
Matt: That was fun.
Laura: That was so much fun.
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: We won’t pretend to be asleep this time, though.
Andrew: Right. We’ll be alive.
Matt: Should we do like a MuggleCast meet-up before the show, too?
Andrew: Yes, we are also – to make it more worth you’re money coming out here, I think we should also do some sort of MuggleCast meet-up, somewhere in the hotel, during one of the days. So, we have time to hang out with everyone besides the Palooza.
Matt: Yeah, and maybe have some games, and maybe like a Pin the Tail on the Donkey Pinata?
Andrew: And Laura’s going to cook cake and brownies and all these home goods.
Matt: Mmmm.
Laura: Oh, really?
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, well…
Mikey: Laura, you’re cooking for us? All right!
Laura: I don’t know if I need to suffer you guys by cooking; it’s actually quite terrible, but, yeah.
Andrew: Oooh, okay. We’ll get someone else.
Mikey: I’ll cook! I’m a really good cook. I’ll make stuff.
Announcement: Podcast Alley
Andrew: [laughs] Okay. In other announcements, thank you to everyone who has been voting for us on Podcast Alley. I think we are number one right now, I’m sure.
Matt: Yeah, except not.
Andrew: Oh, no. We’re number four actually. [laughs]
Laura: That’s no good.
Matt: Keith and the Girl is beating us right now. Both the Keith and the Girl. Keith and the Girl, Keith and the Girl TV, and the Super Secret Backstage…
Andrew: That’s Keith and the Girl, too. It’s all Keith and the Girl.
Matt: Oh, it is?
Announcement: Successful Wear Your MuggleCast T-shirt Day
Andrew: Vote for us at Podcast Alley. Help us get back up to number one. Hey, the Third Annual Wear Your MuggleCast T-shirt Day was a great success. It was this past – what was it, Monday?
Laura: It was June 2, yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, it was Monday, and Matt and I took pictures. Still waiting on Laura and Mikey to take pictures…
Laura: Ooh, yeah.
Mikey: Dude! I wore my MuggleCast shirt to work the other day. You guys were just asleep when I left.
Andrew: Oh, right.
Matt: Oh, that’s right, but we were awake for the rest of the day.
Mikey: Yeah, well, you didn’t take a picture of me. I don’t have a camera at work.
Andrew: And lastly, Laura, did you have this announcement?
Announcement: Copious Amounts of Gifts for Andrew
Laura: Yeah, I did. So, despite the fact that I made it very clear that there was no need to flood the P.O. Box with gifts and things for Andrew…
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: …you all did it anyway. So I’m sure Andrew is very thankful for that, but essentially…
Andrew: Yes.
Laura: …I told my mom to go check the P.O. Box and she came back with this huge stack of envelopes and she was like, “These are all for Andrew!”
Andrew: Nice.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: I was like, “Oh, good. I love that they listen to me.” But…yeah.
Andrew: [laughs] Well, I can’t wait to read them all. Thank you to everyone who sent those in. That’s very sweet of all of you.
Muggle Mail: Fantasy Book Release Date?
Andrew: Let’s move to Muggle Mail this week. Matt, do you want to take the first one?
Matt: Sure. First Muggle Mail comes from Freddie Doyle, age 14 from Quincy, Massachusetts. Freddie writes:
“Hey, dudes. If I were a betting man, I would say that someone will laugh at that.”
[Everyone forces a laugh]
Matt: “I just thought when you mentioned at the 10th edition of ‘Sorcerers Stone’ comes out on September 23, that I should point out that this is the same day that the third book in the ‘Inheritance Trilogy: Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr…'”
Mikey: Yep, it’s Brisingr.
Matt: …”‘Brisingr…'”.
Mikey: All right.
Matt: “..is released. P.S. Andrew, did Laura send you the cookies?”
Andrew: What!?
Matt: Cookies?
Laura: Umm…
Mikey: Aaah, Laura. You got caught!
Laura: No, I – honestly, I looked at this and I have not gotten any cookies in the P.O. Box. I mean – and I’ve only been home for two weeks. So, tell me when you sent them and if you sent them before…
Andrew: Oh, maybe.
Laura: …I got home from school, maybe my mom, or my brother ate them, but…
Andrew: Awww….
Mikey: Likely story.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: Likely story.
Laura: If they were sent before I came back from school, I can’t make – take any accountability for them. I’m sorry.
Andrew: Well, we’ll have to investigate that…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: …but I just thought this email was interesting because maybe, random theory, but maybe Scholastic was thinking, “Oh, gee, since people, fantasy enthusiasts, are already going to be going out on the 23rd to get the next book in the Inheritance series that they’ll pick up SS 10th Edition.” Maybe? No?
Mikey: Maybe. I’m…
Laura: Maybe.
Andrew: The timing’s kind of…
Mikey: …picking up Brisingr.
Andrew: We have a voicemail about the 10th Edition Sorcerer’s Stone coming up later in the show that was a pretty interesting question.
Mikey: Actually, you want to know something funny about that Inheritance series?
Matt: What is it?
Mikey: It used to be the Inheritance Trilogy, but this third book…
Matt: Right.
Mikey: …is no longer the ending because he couldn’t finish everything in three books.
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: So now there’s a fourth book.
Andrew: We actually talked about that on the show and how cheap it was for them…
Mikey: I’m really…
Andrew: …to do that.
Mikey: …disappointed because I was…
Laura: Mhm.
Mikey: …like all excited like, “Dude, I want to find out what happens. I don’t know how he’s going to wrap it.” Yeah, that’s too bad.
Andrew: You know, people are calling Jo cheap for, you know, trying to protect her encyclopedia. I mean look at this guy; he’s splitting a final book into two. [laughs]
Laura: Well, I mean…
Andrew: I guess Warner Brothers is doing the same thing..
Matt: If he wants to…
Andrew: …for the film.
Matt: …finish – I mean, if he wants to…
Andrew: No…
Matt: …finish his trilogy on a good note and he feels like he can’t really do it all in one book, and he has to do another book, I mean, just let him. Geez, it’s like…
Mikey: No, no I agree. It’s just the first two books I have to say, “Book 1 in the Inheritance Trilogy.” Now it’s going to be like, Book 3 is going to be like…
Matt: Right.
Mikey: …”Book 3 in the Inheritance Series,” and I’m going to be all sad.
[Matt laughs]
Mikey: They’re not going to match.
Matt: That’s true. Trilogy plus one.
Andrew: Right, plus one. [laughs]
MuggleCast 148 Transcript (continued)
Muggle Mail: The Ron-Hermione Kiss
Andrew: All right, well, the next email comes from Mike, 19 of Alberta, Canada. He writes:
“Hey, MuggleCasters, just wanted to point out something that I think you missed on the Chapter-by-Chapter segment: THE RON/HERMIONE KISS! The thing we’ve been waiting for since ‘Prisoner of Azkaban.’ I personally think it came at an odd time in the book but it was funny nonetheless.”
We forgot to talk about this, guys, last week. The Ron and Hermione kiss in Chapter 31.
Matt: How did we skip that?
Mikey: Because you guys were more worried about Fred dying.
Andrew: Maybe that, but also…
Laura: I thought Micah mentioned it though.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: …we’ve been getting a lot of emails about it.
Matt: We did get a lot of emails about it. I guess people wanted us to talk about it more.
Andrew: Probably more, yeah. Also, it was very quick in the chapter, but…
Matt: Okay, about the whole kiss thing. I honestly – I did not care when this happened because – I would have cared if this happened at a less, more climactic scene, but since there was so much going on, I didn’t really think about the kiss very much. It was during a war and…
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: What do you guys think about the place mat of this kiss? Do you think it was appropriate?
Mikey: Well, you know what? Like compare this kiss, Ron and Hermione, versus the Harry/Ginny kiss. Like I remember reading Half-Blood Prince, and the Harry/Ginny kiss, I got super excited. I was like, “Yeah! All right!”
Matt: Well, there was tension between Harry and Ginny too. This one is just all unprovoked. I mean, she just threw her stuff away and just embraced Ron and gave him a kiss. Let me start…
Mikey: Well, that’s what Harry and Ginny was too. It wasn’t really tension. It was like she’s happy they won and he’s coming out and they’re like – instead of hugging they kiss.
Matt: Mhm.
Mikey: And it was like, “What happened?”
Matt: My favorite part of that, of that part, of the whole kiss thing, was when Harry just yells at him, “Oy! We’re at a war here!”
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah, that’s how I felt when I was reading it too, because, I mean I’ve always been supportive of the Ron/Hermione relationship and I was looking forward to seeing them get together, but I was so into the chapter at this point that I was like, “I don’t care!”
Matt: I don’t need this right now!
Laura: Hook up some other time.
Matt: People are dying and you people are kissing?
Andrew: I think…
Mikey: You know what, though? If fit though. It fits though, because they needed this immediate sense of danger, of death, to kick them in the right direction.
Laura: Yeah, it’s true.
Andrew and Matt: Yeah.
Laura: And that’s what Ron said too, because Harry said something like, “Hey, there’s a war going on,” and Ron was like, “Yeah, so it’s now or never, right?” You know. I thought that was cute.
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: And it’s really – it’s not Hermione – it’s kind of out of Hermione’s character a little bit, but it’s so in Ron’s character completely. Like if it wasn’t for this, it probably wouldn’t have happened for a couple more years.
Andrew: I think that was half – part of the thrill of that kiss was that it was so unexpected, too, and all the shippers who were hoping for it this entire book sort of get it out of nowhere, so it’s like, “Oh, my God!”
Matt: It was pretty much – it came out of left field. It really did, for me.
Mikey: I don’t know. I don’t remember my first reaction when I read it. I just kind of remember when I went back and read it the other day.
Matt: For me, it was sort of like – like an exhaling of breath, like, “Ah, finally.” And then I just kept reading.
Muggle Mail: More Girls than Guys Listen to MuggleCast
Laura: Our next Muggle Mail comes from Aaron, 14, of Cathage, Carthage, Carthage? – how do you say that?
Andrew: Carthage, yeah.
Laura: What is it?
Andrew: Carthage. Carthage?
Laura: Carthage? All right. Our next Muggle Mail comes from Aaron, 14, of Carthage, New York. He says,
“Hey guys. I was just looking through the pictures of people with their MuggleCast t-shirts on for the t-shirt day, and I noticed there are very few guys with one on. I was just curious if there are a lot more girls that listen to this show than guys.”
Andrew: Yes.
Mikey: Yeah.
Andrew: And we’ve said on the show before that our demographics show about 78% of the listeners are… [laughs] …female.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: So…
Mikey: Only 78%?
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Well, it’s a good amount, which I’ve never really figured out. I think that just reflects the Harry Potter demographic, too, just in general.
Laura: Yeah, I think it does.
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: Well, I think the Harry Potter demographic is also way more skewed towards girls. Like, I think our show, we have probably a little bit more even than – probably 78 – I don’t think that’s the real number. I think guys just don’t admit to listening to it.
[Everyone laughs]
Mikey: Because I remember I used to listen to it, and I didn’t admit to it for a long time.
Andrew: Well, yeah, I mean that comes from a survey, so more girls could have, but like, when you look at our emails, there’s definitely more girls.
Matt: And when you see, like, conventions and stuff in the fandom, I mean, there are a lot of – there are a lot of guys too in the fandom, but there are just so many girls that over-dominate it.
Laura: Yeah. [laughs]
Mikey: But you also got to remember, if you look at our Muggle Mail for today, the three emails have been from guys, and then our next two are from girls.
Muggle Mail: Book 3 and Book 7 Parallel
Matt: Our next email comes from Isabelle, 18, of Missouri, and she writes:
“Hi! I’m currently re-reading all seven of the ‘Harry Potter’ books. I’m on ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ right now, and I just read the part of Chapter 13 on page 265 of the American version, where Ron wakes up to Sirius standing over him. Well, right before, Harry is having a dream where he is following something silver-white through a forest and reaching a clearing, and Ron interrupts the dream when he starts screaming. I think that the dream could possibly be foreshadowing the fact that, four years later in Book 7, he’s following a Patronus, which happens to be silver-white through a forest, finding Gryffindor’s sword. And right after that, Ron makes another very unexpected interruption, saving his life. Just a little something I caught. I’d love to hear what you guys think. Sorry if you’ve already discussed this. I love your show, keep up the good work.”
Andrew: That is really cool.
Laura: Yeah, that’s a really neat little correlation that you found. I like it.
Andrew: Do you think that’s actually the connection?
Mikey: Yeah. I think it is.
Matt: I think it’s a nice Easter egg, yeah.
Mikey: I think it is. I think it is. There’s no doubt in my mind that it is.
Andrew: Jo made it just basic enough where in case she wanted to change it, she could still work around it.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Sounds right. Good job, Isabelle.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: But it’s also one of those things where, you know, when we go through those books before the seventh book is out, are we really going to notice his dream if it had any significance?
Matt: No.
Mikey: No. Especially, you know, in Prisoner of Azkaban there’s almost no mention of Lord Voldemort. It’s all about Sirius.
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: So it’s really kind of one of those, you know…
Matt: I always love those little things you do when you reread the books and you find out the little, like, foreshadowings that you never really caught when you read it the first time.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Mikey: Well, yeah, it’s like one of those things where like, everything from all the books were so important, you know, stuff that you just didn’t even think about.
Matt: Yeah. That’s why it’s so much fun to re-read the books after, you know, the end of the series.
Matt: That’s why it’s so much fun to reread the books after, you know, the end of the series.
Muggle Mail: Contradiction in Books
Andrew: Yeah. Okay next e-mail comes from Kanda Darwish, 15, of Beirut, Lebanon. Wow.
“First of all, I want to say that I absolutely love this podcast even though I haven’t been listening to it for long. I’m absolutely in love with all of you.” Aww, thank you!
Everyone: Aww…
Andrew: “Okay, now my question. I may – I might have misunderstood, or J.K. Rowling could have contradicted herself. She’s done it before. In Book 6, when Dumbledore is showing Harry the memory when he declined – where he declines Voldemort the DADA job, doesn’t Dumbledore say that they haven’t had a DADA teacher for more than a year ever since he refused the post to Voldemort? But in the first book, I remember J.K. Rowling mentioning that Professor Quirrell taught for more than one year. Did I misunderstand? Did Quirrell only teach for only one year? Thanks!”
Laura, did you look into this? Is there…
Laura: I didn’t specifically look into it, but I do believe she’s right.
Andrew: Hmmm.
Mikey: She is right, but I remember reading somewhere that she actually said in – because someone asked this question, like, a long time ago. I don’t know if it was here, Leaky, or one of the other po – websites that actually posts the news. I’m sure it was MuggleNet, ’cause that’s the site I check all the time. But… [laughs] …you know, it could have been the other sites ’cause I do look at them all. But I remember she saying that it was – remember how Quirrell met Voldemort on his travels? He was a teacher, and then he was gone, and then he came back. I don’t know if he was DADA teacher before, or if he was a teacher of something else, and on his travels he then came back as a DADA teacher.
Andrew: Mhm.
Mikey: But she said he used to teach at Hogwarts, she never said what he taught, but then he did go leave for his, you know, journey in research, and then he came back. So I don’t think he ever taught two years in a row as a DADA teacher.
Laura: Okay.
Matt: And he may not have actually, you know – we may just be going by, like, full years. Maybe he never taught for more than two full years. He probably taught…
Mikey: [laughs] ‘Cause he died, you know.
Matt: Yeah, like, the whole year, like, before Harry got there, and, you know, you can probably say that, you know, Quirrell didn’t stay for the entire year of Harry’s first year, because he died. But…
Laura: Well, he – he…
Mikey: [laughs] That’s really stretching it, though. The end of the year, anyway.
Matt: Yeah, well, I’m trying to find some loopholes or something.
Mikey: Well we, you know – I think – I think her justification is that, you know, he left and then he came back.
Matt: Or maybe Dumbledore is just saying what the rumor that all the students keep trying to make is that no – no teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts ever stayed for more than one year. So maybe, you know, that’s what Dumbledore told Harry because that’s what all the students think.
Andrew: Quoting the Lexicon, “Quirrell was a professor of Muggle Studies and later of Defense Against the Dark Arts. In between holding these two posts, he took a year off to gain experience dealing with dark arts.”
Mikey: I was right. I told you! I don’t look that stuff up. I just know.
Laura: Well, that explains it.
Andrew: Well, you’re so smart, Mikey. Good job!
Matt: Wow.
Mikey: I remember the – see, I retain…
Andrew: You’re so quick with Google searching. It’s unbelievable.
[Laura laughs]
Mikey: No I didn’t – I didn’t Google search at all! I’m just remembering stuff.
Andrew: I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.
Mikey: I retain the stuff I read!
Andrew: I’m just kidding.
Muggle Mail: Price of Book 1 Anniversary Edition and a Micah Complaint
Laura: Our last Muggle Mail comes from Janet of St. Louis, Missouri. She says:
“I had a couple of quick things. You guys kept mentioning that the price for the anniversary edition is $30, but that is actually the list price and Amazon already has it at 19.”
Andrew: True that!
Laura: Thanks for that. So, we’ll keep that in mind as we’re deciding whether or not we’re going to go out and buy this thing.
Andrew: Nineteen bucks? I’ll purchase it. But go ahead.
Laura: [laughs] I won’t. Anyway…
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Laura: She goes on to say:
“Also, the last couple of episodes, Micah hasn’t seemed very into things revolving around ‘Harry Potter.’ That’s the impression I get when I listen to him on MuggleCast. As a fan, it’s hard to hear someone talk about the news if this is something that they no longer feel passionately about. Maybe it is just me and I’m completely wrong about this, but it just seems like lately he’s not into it anymore. I mean no disrespect, but I wanted to voice my opinion.”
Andrew: Well, Micah found it very important that this e-mail was addressed, but of course he’s, you know – he’s out with his college buddies in, what was it, West Side Manhattan?
Matt: [laughs] It’s not so important for him to be on this episode.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: But it is important, that e-mail. So…
Mikey: Micah loves Harry Potter.
Andrew: Micah – yeah, Micah just does it to be funny. He’s not serious when he pretends like the news isn’t important. He’s just doing it to be funny. He’s going for the little show personality there, which I respect him for.
Matt: I mean, you’d be surprised at how much, you know, Micah does for the show.
Andrew: Micah does a lot for the show and for MuggleNet.
Laura: He’s constantly IMing all of us with news stories, like all the time.
Andrew: Oh yeah.
Laura: I’m not even kidding. So he definitely loves what he does, so…
Mikey: I would almost say he “squees” at times.
Andrew: He does squee. I’ve seen him squee.
[Matt laughs]
Mikey: I have seen him squee. I think he’s…
Matt: That’s a scary image.
Mikey: Yeah.
[Everyone laughs]
Mikey: Micah going, “squee!”
Andrew: Ah, okay.
Mikey: Anyway…
Andrew: Hopefully we cleared that up, Janet. But, you know, it’s just Micah trying to be funny. I mean, we understand he’s not funny, but we just go along with it.
Matt: Yeah.
[Everyone laughs]
Mikey: Just let him – let him be delusional right now.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: He doesn’t have a lot of people laughing at his jokes. Obviously, you didn’t, so…
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Mikey: Janet, thank you for the e-mail.
Chapter-by-Chapter, Chapter 32, “The Elder Wand”
Andrew: All right, well, this week, it is our sixth to last Chapter-by-Chapter. This week we are discussing “The Elder Wand,” Chapter 32.
Matt: Everyone, get your books.
Mikey: Yay!
Andrew: And as Mikey pointed out to me earlier before we recorded, and as I’ve said before, it would have been such a good title for the book. I thought it would have been a really cool name.
Mikey: Yeah, but then it gives away way too much information.
Fred’s Death
Andrew: So we’ll start of with the beginning, which we sort of – we talked about very briefly at the end of Chapter-by-Chapter last week. Fred Weasley’s death.
Matt: Fred Weasley is dead, guys.
Laura: [gasps] No!
Matt: Yes. And we actually got a lot of e-mails about that too. A lot of people – a lot of the listeners weren’t – were kind of upset that we didn’t talk about Fred Weasley’s death as much, and basically – but we’re talking about it now because there’s more to talk about because they actually, you know, embrace – well, not really embraced, but they actually center on Fred’s death more in this chapter, and so…
Mikey: Yeah.
Matt: So, in this chapter Harry cannot really grasp Fred’s death. His mind is at a free fall, the book says; he can’t really focus on, you know – it’s not even real to him, you know? He just sees Fred, he knows that Fred is dead, but his mind just can’t calculate it, you know?
Mikey: And he can’t even look at him.
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: There’s a point where him and Percy are stashing the body behind the suit of armor, and it says, I don’t remember the exact line, but it says like, he didn’t look at it any longer than he absolutely had to, so…
Matt: Yeah, and that’s later on in the chapter when they hide his body.
Mikey: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Mikey: Well, it’s when he’s dead, and they pull him away, we’re still going to talk about it, Matt.
Matt: Oh, yeah, yeah. I’m sorry!
Mikey: Yeah, yeah. I’m just – yeah.
Matt: Okay. [laughs]
Mikey: Sorry, but yeah, no, I agree with you that his mind was free falling, and it was hard, you know? I don’t – besides his parents and everyone else in his family that, you know, that have died and left him, you know, it was right there and happened in front of him, just like Dumbledore.
Andrew: I’ve been trying to think about how J.K. Rowling has described the other deaths, like Sirius’s and Dumbledore’s, the other two people that were probably closest to Harry, and, I mean, this is right up there with their – with the way Harry felt towards them, and then I started thinking, well, why does Harry feel so – so…
Mikey: It’s different though. Fred Weasley wasn’t a mentor to Harry, he was a peer.
Andrew: Right.
Matt: He was a brother.
Mikey: Yeah, he was a brother. It’s one of those things where, I’ve had friends, you know, young friends, really good friend of mine, my first episode of MuggleCast, I found out that day she died. Completely unexpected; she was twenty-two at the time, and it’s one of those things where it’s really different. You know, I’ve had a grandparent die, and it really sucks, having a family member a die that you’re close to, but having a peer die?
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: It really changes a lot in you, because now you start questioning your own mortality, in a sense that…
Matt: It definitely hits a lot closer to home.
Mikey: …I’m only twenty-two, and I’m like, how much longer am I going to live? Obviously, I hope to live until I’m old, and, you know, ready to pass on, but, you know, if a friend of mine can pass at twenty-two, completely unexpected, you know, bad stuff can happen. And, you know, Fred Weasley showed that the trio – obviously we knew the trio was going to make it through, ’cause, you know, she said that a long time ago, but it kind of gives you a little bit more realism that they’re not invincible, because they’re peers, Ron and Percy’s brother.
Matt: Yeah, I think you’re right.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: I think that’s why it hit Harry especially because he’s been so close to the Weasley family, and now the Weasley family is suddenly dismantled.
Matt: Mhm. Well, I also think that Mikey’s right on the fact, what he said. It’s a lot more different having an authority figure or respected mentor die rather than having one of your close friends or a peer die, who’s around the same age as you.
Andrew: Mhm.
Matt: Because…
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: …you just see them differently. Percy, who’s with them right now, who’s the older brother that they – that they just…
Mikey: Just welcomed back.
Matt: …got back.
Mikey: Yeah.
Matt: So Percy – this is a huge blow to Percy, and he just can’t grasp it. He’s just protecting him, holding him over. He won’t let go of Fred, and the one who’s actually trying to bring him back into, you know, the reality of the situation is his younger – is his youngest brother, Ron, who himself is just…
Mikey: Bawling.
Matt: …completely just crestfallen from this entire blow.
Mikey: He’s got tears running down his cheeks.
Matt: Right, and – and it’s just a sad scene to see. So I guess…
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: Okay, so moving along in the chapter…
Mikey: I want to see this in the movie. I’m sorry. I just think this would be a very emotional moment, and I think it would be really good.
Andrew: It’ll be in the movie. This is one of the big times.
Mikey: It has to be. I just really want – like I hate to see the death of a Weasley. I hate to see Fred’s death, really. Like, I would hate to see the death of anybody, just even the first movie, seeing Harry’s parents die is really sad all the time to me, but…
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: …I really want to see, and I hope they pull this off really well, you know, because I’m a visual person and I think this is going to be a huge moment, just because, you know, I know people that mourned Fred Weasley for months, like literally mourned him, like a real person, and, you know, he was important. I’m all sad now.
The Spiders Attack
Andrew: So, these spiders start to come in and fight the students in the castle, and it’s kind of unexpected and kind of – it’s kind of – it’s a morbid thing to see. What do you think they’re doing here? I mean, did Dumbledore – or sorry, did Voldemort tell them to come in? Because it seems like – how would they get them to unless they were under the Imperius Curse, or…
Matt: Yeah, I always wondered about this. I mean, is this just a little cameo that Jo put in, you know, now that…
Laura: Well, I mean…
Matt: We kind of left it to, you know, when Aragog died in the last book in Half-Blood Prince. Now that Aragog’s not there to protect or to hold back the spiders, they’re free to do whatever they want.
Laura: Yeah, well, we also saw in Chamber of Secrets that Aragog said that the only reason his children didn’t harm Hagrid was because he told them not to. So like you said, with him gone, there’s no one stopping them from having free reign over the grounds. And furthermore, we know that one of the downfalls of the quote on quote good side is that they never paid proper respect to magical creatures, and Voldemort would not really give them that respect, but he would give them things in order to make them feel respected, so it’s not unreasonable to assume that Voldemort might have done something for the spiders or offered them something, so that they would be on his side.
Hermione Switches Gears
Matt: So, moving along in the chapter, Hermione – they hide Fred’s body and Hermione is asking Harry to now go into Voldemort’s mind to actually use Harry’s ability to go into Voldemort’s mind and actually do it himself. And I was just in awe that Hermione has gone from the complete opposite side of the spectrum in this situation with Harry and Voldemort’s connection.
Laura: Yeah.
Mikey: It’s a “I told you so” moment.
Andrew: Didn’t a couple chapters ago she do something similar like that?
Matt: Harry went into Voldemort’s mind, and it was the first time Hermione was intrigued on what she saw. But this is the first time she’s actually telling him to go into Voldemort’s mind and see where he is and – because he has Nagini with him.
Laura: I guess that’s just one of those like “what do we have left to lose?” moments, you know?
Mikey: It’s the whole – it’s the Hail Mary.
Voldemort’s in the Shrieking Shack
Andrew: So they find out that he’s in the Shrieking Shack and…
Mikey: Yay! Shrieking Shack.
Andrew: …something.
Matt: Why is he there?
Andrew: Yeah, that’s what we’re wondering. Why is he there?
Laura: Because it’s protected.
Matt: Yeah, but I mean – do you think that Wormtail told Voldemort of a good hiding place?
Mikey: Yeah.
Matt: Because he would be – I mean since he’s one of the Marauders, he would probably be one of the only ones who would be able to tell Voldemort where he could hide during this whole battle. That he could actually see the battle from happening but still be a safe enough distance away.
Laura: Well, and Snape also knew where it was too.
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: Only because he followed, you know, Ron and Harry…
Matt: That’s true too.
Mikey: …and Hermione.
Matt: Oh no, but he was also there when he almost got killed.
Mikey: I think Voldemort knew about it. I think he knew. The Shrieking Shack was there before the Marauders were there, but I think he knew about it because we know Tom Riddle knew a lot about Hogwarts. You know, he found the Chamber of Secrets. I think he knew about it.
Andrew: I guess the question just was, what significance does Voldemort have with it, but…
Matt: I think it’s basically just mainly a…
Mikey: Bringing back a familiar place.
Matt: …bringing back a familiar place, yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: All right so moving along, Voldemort is with Lucius.
Mikey: Actually – actually, can we go back to it real quick?
Andrew: What?
Mikey: I just wanted to make a point why they would use that versus some new place.
Andrew: Okay.
Matt: Okay.
Mikey: You know, it makes sense for her to bring back a location that they have talked about before, especially they have also described. Just because, you know, during this heated moment…
Andrew: If you said something else we probably don’t want to slow the pace down.
Mikey: What?
Andrew: If you – if you said – if you introduced a new place, you’re slowing the pace down.
Mikey: Yeah, you’re slowing the pace down, exactly, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m assuming she used this, because it fits, and you don’t have to describe it anymore, because you don’t have to slow that pace down.
Andrew: Right.
Mikey: If you say “Shrieking Shack,” everyone who’s reading this book knows what the Shrieking Shack is.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s a good point.
Mikey: You’ve read it in other books. We’ve seen it in the movies too, so…
In the Shrieking Shack
Matt: So, we see Voldemort and Lucius in the Shrieking Shack, and pretty much all – Lucius is like curled up in a corner. He got the crap kicked out of him, pretty much, from Voldemort, and all he’s doing is pleading for Voldemort, you know, to stop the battle, “my son is in there,” and pretty much just all he’s doing. He’s just pleading for his son’s life. And – I don’t…
Mikey: He’s not pleading for his son’s life. He’s pleading to find out what has happened to his son.
Laura: Well, and he’s…
Matt: Well, it’s kind of the same thing. I mean, he knows if his son is in there by himself, he’s going to be killed.
Laura: Yeah. Well, what he’s basically doing is just pretending to be on Voldemort’s side in order to ensure that his son stays safe. Like he sits there and says, you know, “Wouldn’t it be prudent to call off the battle, you know, to find him yourself?” And then Voldemort essentially tells him, “Well, don’t try and play games with me. The only thing you care about at this point is the safely of your son.” So this is a complete turning point for the Malfoys. We see that they’ve completely disregarded any alliance they’ve had with Voldemort previously, so I think it’s interesting.
Andrew: Definitely.
Matt: Yeah. And basically – and he told both, Snape and Lucius, that there’s no reason to call off the fight in case Potter might be killed, because he knows for a fact, he’s 100% certain, that Harry will come to him, mainly because he knows that he’s going after the Horcruxes, and he has Nagini with him.
Laura: Mhm.
Mikey: Yup. That’s pretty – that much – that in a nutshell.
Andrew: Which makes me also wonder, because…
Mikey: Actually, you know what though? Just so we correct you now, because I don’t want you to get a bunch of emails about this, he didn’t tell that to Snape. Snape wasn’t there yet. He ended up telling Lucius to go fetch Snape afterwards.
Matt: Right, but he told Snape the same thing when Snape was there with him.
Mikey: Did he afterwards?
Matt: Yes he did.
Mikey: I don’t remember. I’m sure he did. Okay. Sorry, Matt. I apologize.
Andrew: But the other interesting thing is, if Voldemort was expecting Harry to show up anyway, why wasn’t – why – doesn’t he think Harry would be hiding in the – in the Shrieking Shack somewhere? Does he really think Harry would just walk in the room where he’s sitting with Nagini? You know what I mean?
Mikey: Yeah.
Andrew: ‘Cause like, Voldemort should have known. He was just like…
Mikey: Voldemort’s – Voldemort’s arrogance is his, you know, his…
Matt and Mikey together: Greatest downfall.
Matt: Yes.
Laura: Mhm.
Mikey: His greatest weakness. You know, it’s like in Star Wars. It says, “Your arrogance is your weakness. Your trust in your friends is yours!”
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: But, you know, it’s the same thing. You know, Harry’s trust in his friends – who – who killed Nagini? Come on. It – it was, you know, Neville.
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: That’s right!
Mikey: I was waiting for you guys to answer. Come on!
Andrew: Sorry.
Matt: Sorry.
Mikey: But yeah, no, it was his friend, you know. He trusted in his friends to take care of, you know, what needed to be done.
McGonagall, Warrior Princess
Matt: Going back, Harry goes back into – out of Voldemort’s mind, and – I wrote this scene in, just because it’s one of my favorite scenes in the entire chapter and the battle, is McGonagall has a herd of desks galloping down the corridor…
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: And you see her with her hair down, a huge gash, I mean she’s like this war – this warrior princess, and…
[Everybody laughs]Laura: Like Xena?
Matt: I could just so see Maggie Smith with a wand in her hand going, “CHARGE!” And all these desks just come out of nowhere, just going down the corridor, beating up all these Death Eaters. I just…
Mikey: Matt, have you listened to Jim Dale’s description of that?
Matt: No, I haven’t.
Mikey: You really should. I have the audiobook on my computer.
Andrew: It’s like straight out of Beauty and the Beast.
Mikey: Yeah…
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: It’s pretty awesome.
Laura: [laughs] That’s what I was thinking too. [laughs]
Mikey: It’s pretty awesome.
Matt: Mhm.
Mikey: I’m excited for that scene.
[Andrew laughs]
Ron Punches Draco
Matt: And so after the trio sees, you know, McGonagall kicking butt, they see Draco – this is a good scene too – they see Draco pleading with a fellow Death Eater that, you know, he’s on their side, don’t kill him, he’s on their side. And then Harry stuns the Death Eater, and then Ron comes out from underneath the Invisibility Cloak and just punches Draco square in the face and called him, like, “this is the second time we saved your life, you two-faced bastard.”
Andrew: Naughty language from Jo. Kind of…
Matt: They’re seventeen.
Laura: Yeah, I know.
Andrew: [laughs] They’re seventeen, it’s okay!
Matt: Yeah, if they say it in the books, we can say it on the show.
Andrew: I know, we established that rule.
Matt: Okay.
Andrew: Last year.
Matt: So what did you guys think of this scene?
[Laura laughs]
Matt: I just – I couldn’t help but giggle when I read that.
Laura: Yeah. It was kind – it was a nice little light moment to kind of brighten up the intensity of the chapter, I think.
Andrew: Yeah.
Greyback Attacks Lavender
Matt: [sighs] So, okay, moving along, we also see – we see Fenrir Greyback attacking Lavender Brown on the ground, which is kind of a very violent, very gruesome scene. I mean Fenrir Greyback is pretty much feeding off of Lavender Brown before Hermione stuns him. And do you guys think that – I mean we see – we know that Lavender is still moving after the attack, so does that mean that she’ll have like the same werewolf qualities as – what’s his name?
Laura: Did he actually bite her?
Matt: Well, he attacked – I mean he was…
Mikey: I think he was going to attack her…
Laura: I think Hermione stopped him before he was able to.
Matt: Oh, okay. Well, she was – well, she was already on the ground, though.
Laura: Yeah, they fell. It says, “Two bodies fall from the balcony overhead as they reach the ground, and a gray blur Harry took for an animal sped four-legged across the hall to sink its teeth into one of the fallen.”
Matt: That’s it.
Laura: And then Hermione stuns him before he can get to her.
Matt: Okay.
Trelawney and Her Crystal Balls
Mikey: Yeah, it says, “‘No!’ shrieked Hermione, with a deafening blast from her wand. Fenrir Greyback was thrown backwards from the feebly struggling body of Lavender Brown. He hit the marble banister and struggled to return to his feet. Then, with a bright white flash and a crack of a crystal ball, fell on top of his head, and he crumbled to the ground and did not move.”
Matt: And guess who had the crystal ball?
Mikey: Trelawney! Whoo! Sorry.
Matt: Miss Professor Trelawney!
Matt: I think that was just fun. Just to see Professor Trelawney…
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: …actually doing something.
Mikey: You know what? I think it shouldn’t have been a crystal ball that fell on his head. I think it should have been a sherry bottle.
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: Those are too priceless to her.
Mikey: It’s like, “Everyone’s going to die!” [makes explosion noise]
Matt: I can just see Trelawney going through her purse going, “Okay, crystal ball, sherry bottle – oh, no no no no no no. Okay, we’re doing the crystal ball. I need this.”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: “I need that bottle to celebrate later.”
Mikey: “I need the sherry bottle. We’ll throw away my crystal ball.”
Matt: “I need to celebrate after this. I’m going to need a little something to take the edge off.”
[Everyone laughs]
Mikey: Yeah, so Lavender Brown was still struggling…
Andrew: But the…
Mikey: …and wasn’t dead.
MuggleCast 148 Transcript (continued)
Hogwarts Comes to Life
Andrew: But the thing about this – now, you know, this is still the battle of Hogwarts. And when you think about it, like, I didn’t even realize this at first. It may be obvious to the rest of you, but when Jo says the battle of Hogwarts, it’s Hogwarts as a whole. You’re seeing every aspect of Hogwarts suddenly coming to life, literally! The desks, the armored statues – they’re all coming to life and battling for the school. It’s Hogwarts…
Matt: This is the ultimate fight scene…
Andrew: …saving itself.
Matt: …that every fan had wished for…
Andrew: Had dreamed of, yeah.
Matt: …and pretty much got it.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s perfect.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: I mean, all the things they say through the series – all the little things about each part of Hogwarts – actually comes to life, and actually fights back.
Andrew: Yes.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: I mean, the castle fights back. Not just the inhabitants of it.
Andrew: [laughs] Yes. That’s exactly what I just said.
Matt: I know, but it sounds better from me, okay?
Andrew: No, it didn’t.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Matt’s always thinking up his next thought while someone else is talking, so he basically just repeats whatever. [laughs]
Matt: You don’t know what I’m thinking!
Andrew: I’m just kidding.
Mikey: Yeah, we do.
Andrew: I’m just kidding. Anyway, so, moving on, Matt?
Hagrid Protects the Spiders
Matt: Okay, so, we see the spiders again, but with Hagrid. Now this is interesting. During even this huge war-battle, Hagrid is still protecting those huge spiders that are trying to kill the people on his side – his allies. You know, the spiders are fighting for the opposing side, and Hagrid is still trying to protect them, saying, “No! Don’t hurt ’em, don’t hurt…” I mean, what’s his deal?
Mikey: You know…
Andrew: He’s holding his position.
Mikey: …I think you forgot the most important part, Matt.
Matt: Oh. It’s Hagrid.
Andrew: The impression?
Mikey: No, no, it was Hagrid running…
Andrew: Oh yeah.
Mikey: …with his pink umbrella.
Andrew: Oh yeah. [laughs]
Mikey: That’s the most important part.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Oh yes.
Mikey: Because he was running with that pink umbrella, which we know he hid his wand in.
Andrew: That’s right.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: With the pink umbrella, everything is better. I mean…
Mikey: Yeah!
Matt: …everything makes sense.
[Laura laughs]
Mikey: It’s happy and cheery. I want a pink umbrella.
[Laura laughs]
Matt: As long as he has the pink umbrella, he’s chill.
Mikey: I want a pink one. I have a green one.
Laura: Someone send Mikey a pink umbrella to the P.O. Box.
Mikey: If someone sends me a pink umbrella, I will take pictures and thank you on MuggleCast.
Andrew: He’ll sing and run…
Matt: He will grow a beard.
Mikey: I will sing…
Matt: He will do everything.
Mikey: …I will do a “Singing in the Rain/Singing in the Sun” with the pink umbrella, and pretend I’m Hagrid, and I’ll say – I’ll go, “Wingardium Leviosa,” with the pink umbrella, and I’ll do all the wonderful things like – yeah. Aguamenti. Because Hagrid did that one, too.
Andrew: Did anyone think Hagrid was done for when he was swept away with the spiders?
Mikey: No.
Matt: To be honest, I didn’t – I don’t think so.
Andrew: Really?
Mikey: He’s half-giant.
Matt: Because he’s had so many chances of dying…
Andrew: It doesn’t matter, because…
Matt: …and he hasn’t died yet.
Andrew: Well, we were all speculating, “Would Hagrid be one of the people to go?” and I think a couple of us, myself included, may have said yes, because he’s so close to Harry, and Harry’s already losing these loved ones.
Matt: Well, to be honest, I mean…
Mikey: I never thought so.
Laura: No, I didn’t really think about it. [laughs]
Matt: …in this point in the story, I just – I had just grown tired of saying, “Okay, this is the part where he dies.”
Andrew: Look. If Dobby could die, anyone could die.
Matt: Yeah, but no one speculated that Dobby would die.
Andrew: MuggleNet had a hundred-to-one odds that he wouldn’t die.
[Laura laughs]
Matt: Hagrid’s half-giant, okay? Hagrid is not going to die. And he didn’t.
Andrew: Okay.
Matt: So…
Mikey: Yeah.
Matt: Everything worked out.
Mikey: Come on, Ben Schoen’s still alive, right?
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Matt: [in a creepy voice] Ben…
[Everyone laughs]
Mikey: “Cheryl?”
Andrew: That’s an impression of Ben’s mom…
Laura: Oh my god.
Mikey: Cheryl Schoen, everybody! Whoo!
Andrew: …but yeah, we’re not putting that in there. Oh, we will.
Trio Saved by Luna, Seamus, and Ernie
Matt: Okay, so the trio runs into the Forbidden Forest and they are attacked by about a hundred Death Eaters. And the – and Harry is just shocked, and he can’t even hold up his wand straight. And then all the sudden they get three patronuses that are not from the three of them but from someone else in the trees. And it turns out that it is Luna, Seamus, and Ernie. Now, what I thought was kind of cool, was you got to see – you got to see again other people’s patronuses, and I kind of saw a mirror of Luna’s, Seamus’, and Ernie’s patronuses of their selves. Did you guys think, I mean, because I think that a boar is just a perfect patronus for Ernie. Because he’s kind of like the brute jock and…
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: …a boar is kind of like strong but not entirely, you know, one of the smartest animals, and we all think that, you know, jocks aren’t exactly the smartest people in the entire world. I mean, it – that’s just the prejudice.
Mikey: You know what? I think – I think that’s a stereotype right there.
Matt: Well, that’s the stereotype, yeah.
Mikey: You know what? I don’t – you know what? I don’t appreciate it. I really don’t.
Matt: You’re not a jock. I’m not stereotyping you.
Mikey: Oh, okay. Then I’m okay.
Matt: Okay then, cool. [laughs]
The Casters’ Patronuses
Mikey: What would your patronus be, guys? What would your patronus be?
Matt: My patronus?
Mikey: Yeah.
Matt: Mine would be like a cool animal.
Mikey: I think mine…
Laura: Really?
Mikey: …would be like a hamster. Like super, like, hyper hamster. That’d be hilarious.
Matt: I want mine to be like…
Mikey: It’d be like dancing.
Matt: …like a coyote, or maybe a bobcat.
Andrew: I want mine to be a little kitty.
Mikey: I want mine to be a puma. Pumas are cool, too.
[Laura laughs]
Matt: Pumas? The shoe?
Mikey: No, the cat.
Laura: Yeah, Mikey’s patronus will just be a shoe.
Mikey: [laughs] I’d be like, “Expecto Patronum!”
[Everyone laughs]
Mikey: I got you in the face.
Matt: This shoe just comes out of nowhere.
Book 1 Parallel
Matt: Oh, okay. There’s this little – there’s this little quote afterwards when they try to get into the Whomping Willow, and Ron asks, you know, “I wish we had Crookshanks.” And Hermione goes – Hermione says to him, “Are you a wizard or not?” And I just – I just had to stop and think about the complete mirrorization from those two characters from the first book.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: Because when there were in – was it Devil’s Snare? When he – when Hermione says, “I can’t make – I can’t make a fire I have no wood.” And Ron goes, “Are you a witch or not?” It’s just a complete little mirror.
Laura: Yeah, that was really cute, like in a nice little parallel.
Matt: Mhm.
Matt: That’s really cute.
Laura: Another one of those Easter eggs.
Did Snape Know he was a Goner?
Matt: So the trio gets into the Whomping Willow and they slowly creep up to the opening where they can hear Voldemort and Snape talking, and we hear Snape just constantly pleading to Voldemort to allow him to find Potter. But Voldemort keeps refusing him. Now, Laura, you have something to say about the situation about Snape going – knowing what his fate was going into this.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: So.
Laura: Well, just the – I don’t know if anybody else felt this way, but when I was first reading it, the urgency with which Snape was speaking was very different than anything we’d ever seen him portray before. And I got the impression that he knew from the second Voldemort brought up the subject he was a goner. Like, he didn’t even have to bring up the Elder Wand to know that he was in trouble. One of the things that I think might provide a little bit of interesting discussion was knowing whether his panic was about the fact that he was about to die or that he wasn’t going to be able to reach Harry in time in order to give him the information he needed.
Matt: Well, do you think that maybe when he came – he became white when Voldemort told him that this is Dumbledore’s wand. Do you think that his face went pale when he – when – just thinking about Voldemort going into Dumbledore’s coffin and stealing it from his cold dead fingers?
Laura: Well, Snape was there when he did it, wasn’t he?
Matt: Yeah he was, but I’d still get sick.
Laura: I think it’s a combination of that and the fact that he knows there’s no escape now. I just got the impression from the way he was speaking like, let me – there’s actually the part where he’s kind of pleading with Voldemort, asking him to let him go help with the battle, and Voldemort keeps telling him “Oh no, you’re a skilled wizard, but they don’t need your help anymore.” And he’s being almost falsely nice, so I just think that gave the impression from…
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: …the start that Snape was not going to live past the end of the chapter, and I think he knew it.
Matt: Yeah, I think you’re right about that false, you know, kindness when Harry notices that when Voldemort was telling him that it was very soft, softly spoken, but he could sense from his scar, from hurting so much, that he was starting to get very angry and, like, something bad was going to happen.
Laura: Right.
Mikey: I don’t think he ever got angry. I think he was more excited because now he thought he was going to kill the only…
Matt: Well, I don’t think he got really excited. I think that he started getting a little angry. Maybe not the word “angry,” but a little irritated, or agitated, with it, because…
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: …his – Harry’s scar was burning during that.
Laura: Well, I think he was agitated as well, because he – I don’t think he really wanted to kill Snape. I mean, Snape was one of his quote unquote most loyal followers according to Voldemort, and he even said that it was a pity that he had to kill him, but there was no way around it from Voldemort’s point of view. So I could see him being upset about having to dispense of someone who was useful to him.
Andrew: I think, Laura, in response to your original question, I think it was both. I think he was nervous of – I think he probably knew he had to die, and also he was just afraid that Harry would not – he wouldn’t be able to tell Harry.
Matt: Well, this isn’t exactly the situation that he intended too, to end for his death. He probably was hoping that he would be able to have some kind of contact with Harry by the time, you know, his death approached.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: So maybe he was just worried of leaving Harry all by himself after all this time of trying to protect him.
Andrew: At least the poor guy could have died at least a little satisfied when Harry knew…
Matt: Yeah, or at least his death could have been a little more clean. I mean, this has got to be one of the worst deaths we see in the series, is Snape getting killed by Nagini by her biting him on the neck.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: And it’s not a very clean death to see, especially on screen, which I’m kind of excited to see, or kind of regretting to see, but… So, after Voldemort allows Nagini to kill Snape and he leaves, he tells Snape that he regrets doing it. He said, “I regret this,” or something.
Andrew: But it had to happen.
Snape Dies
Matt: Right, and so after Voldemort leaves, Harry runs over to Snape. He doesn’t really know why he does, but he just feels like he needs to, and he runs over to Snape’s side, and Snape tells Harry very quietly that – “Take this,” or something, and a pensieve memory starts gushing out of his face – his mouth and his ears. And so Harry takes it. And then Snape’s final words are, “Look at me.” And that’s his – that’s when he dies.
Andrew: Which we’ve discussed in the past, is the wonderful…
Mikey: Lily’s eyes.
Andrew: It was basically a final piece of evidence that Snape really was in love with Lily, because Snape wanted to see Lily through Harry’s eyes one last time. It’s really powerful and meaningful.
Laura: This was such a sad scene.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: It was. It was really sad.
Laura: So sad.
Andrew: It is pretty beautiful, though, just the whole, “Look at me,” just so he can – so much meaning.
Matt: It was our first real indication that Snape wasn’t exactly on Voldemort’s side at all.
Laura: Well, and it also goes to show who he was doing this all for, because, as we see later…
Andrew: Yes. Yes.
Laura: …Dumbledore’s saying, you know, “Well, if you’re not going to do this for Harry, do it for Lily.”
Andrew: Right.
Laura: And that’s what Snape said he would do, so…
Andrew: Right, right.
Matt: So, Andrew, do you have a Quote Quiz for the next chapter?
Quote Quiz
Andrew: Yes, but first I have to do my “Quote Quiz” [echoes] That was sort of messed up, but let’s see. So next chapter’s “The Prince’s Tale.” “What’s Potter got to do with anything?” That’s Quote Quiz this week.
Voicemail: Realization of Love Between Hermione and Ron
Andrew: All right, so we’re going to play some voicemails now. We got some based on a few different aspects of the Potter fandom. So let’s play the first one now.
[Audio]: Hey, MuggleCasters! My name’s Jacklyn, and I’m a massive fan from Sydney, Australia. I have a question about the Ron and Hermione relationship. When do you think each of them realized that they liked each other? Do you think it was from day one or as late as the snogging in the middle of the war? Love the show, don’t ever stop. Pickles and love.
Laura: I think Hermione realized it a lot earlier then Ron, and I would peg it as about being around the Yule Ball, just because of how upset she got about the fact that Ron kind of used her as a last resort when he was asking around for dates. And I don’t think Ron actually had it figured out until towards the end of Book 6 of the beginning of Book 7.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Just because of his really shallow relationship with Lavender.
Andrew: I think it also just built over time, even though they didn’t realize it. Because I think one unexpected thing is when you’re friends for so long, sometimes friendships come to the point of where it could never actually be a romantic relationship.
Matt: Well, maybe also the friendship between Ron and Hermione – I mean Ron didn’t really see what he felt towards Hermione was more then just a platonic friendship. Maybe he just saw her as Hermione and “these feelings I have towards Hermione is because I love her because I think of her as a sister.”
Mikey: What about when he got jealous of Krum though?
Matt: I don’t think he realized, though, it was because of his feelings towards Hermione.
Mikey: I think he did. I think it was one of those crushes that it just made him upset. You know, he broke his Krum doll, and he was a huge Krum, you know, fan.
Matt: I think, though, in – I think Ron noticed Hermione as more than just a friend during the Yule Ball when he saw her walking down the stairs. Just like Laura said. Did you say that, Laura?
Mikey: She said it the other way around.
Laura: Well, I said it was the other way round. I don’t know. The thing is, I feel like Ron might have, I guess, liked her a little bit, but I don’t feel like he was really in love with her at that point, or anything.
Matt: Well, okay, I’m just saying that he thought that she was attractive, because he couldn’t stop staring at her.
Laura: Yeah, I think that it might’ve been – because typically when you look at those kinds of relationships, especially when you have girls who end up liking their friends, it’s almost always the girl who notices first. Not to generalize men as being clueless but…
Mikey: It’s okay, we pretty much are.
Laura: …sometimes they are. [laughs]
Mikey: I won’t deny it. I am. I’m always clueless. [pause] What are we doing?
[Everyone laughs]
Mikey: Back to MuggleCast, here!
Voicemail: Dumbledore’s Funeral Cut from Movie 6
[Audio]: Hi, MuggleCasters, this is Rachel, 16, from California. I’m calling in from last week’s Episode 147 talking about SuperCon. It was said later that Nat Tena, who plays Tonks, did read the seventh book, although she doesn’t seem to remember much. And that she also mentioned there was a possibility that Dumbledore’s funeral wasn’t in Book – or Movie 6. So let me know what you think, thanks. And welcome to California, Andrew. Bye.
Matt: Awww!
Andrew: Thank you, that’s so nice of you!
Matt: Have we talked about the Dumbledore funeral being cut from Half-Blood Prince yet?
Andrew: No.
Mikey: I can believe that.
Andrew: Matt, I know this is bothering you.
Matt: This is…
Laura: I would be so ticked off if that did that.
Matt: I’ll be so ticked off if this really happens.
Mikey: No, no, no, you guys, stop. I wouldn’t mind it being cut if it was the opening scene of Deathly Hallows.
Andrew: It won’t be. It won’t be.
Matt: If it’s not in the Half-Blood Prince movie it won’t be in any other movie. Because…
Andrew: It’s in Half-Blood Prince.
Matt: This is my – one of my favorite chapters in the entire book, if not the favorite, because if we don’t have Dumbledore’s funeral, that means we don’t have the Phoenix song, we don’t get to see the centaurs shoot arrows from the Forbidden Forest, we don’t see the mermaids coming out to show their respects, we don’t get to see anything between Harry and the new Minister of Magic, and we don’t really – we don’t get to see – well, we will probably get to see Harry tell Ginny that he can’t be with her, but it won’t be in this situation.
Mikey: And – and we won’t have any…
Laura: But I mean, even if…
Mikey: I was going to say, we won’t have a location for Voldemort to open up and take the Elder Wand from.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: Well, we’ll probably have, like, a still shot of where he’s buried. Just no – it’ll just be all by itself or something. Like, a little coffin.
Laura: But I mean, even if they left all of that other information out, it’s such a pivotal point in the story. How can you kill Dumbledore and then breeze over his funeral?
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Well, I think they still will find a way to pay tribute to him. Like, maybe it will just be sort of what Matt was saying, just like some really artistic shots of his grave area or maybe, like, Harry laying flowers down by his grave or something.
Matt: Yeah, I see that. I see Harry probably just like talking to Dumbledore’s tomb and just, like, having a little conversation, saying…
Laura: But seriously, they could do his funeral scene in, like, five minutes. It doesn’t have to be that long.
[Mikey laughs]
Matt: Right.
Laura: I don’t understand! Why can’t they do this? It’s not like they have to make it some epic, twenty-minute long funeral ceremony. You just have a few shots of the funeral.
Matt: Oh, but Laura, they do. That’s what it all comes down to.
Andrew: It would be nice to see everyone together.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Because we don’t really see that much anymore. There’s no huge Great Hall scenes anymore.
Matt: Yeah, we don’t. I mean, what are they going to do at the ending? Are they just going to end it how they did with the Order of the Phoenix film, with just them leaving and not really having much of an ending at all?
Laura: No, I think they’ll have a nice huge picture of Dan Radcliffe’s face, like they did in Prisoner of Azkaban.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Matt: Just smudged from the side.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah. Oh, I couldn’t help but wonder how the people in the first row felt during that.
Andrew: Maybe they’re afraid it would leave – it would leave people too unhappy coming out of the movie.
Matt: Well, it’s an unhappy moment!
Andrew: Doesn’t matter. So cut it out! [laughs] I don’t know. We’ll see.
Laura: Yeah, and I’ve noticed that they have a trend of doing that, because really in the end of Order of the Phoenix, Harry was not happy, and in the film they added this optimistic end to it, because I guess they didn’t want people to walk out feeling…
Matt: I was thinking about what Dumbledore told him…
Laura: …like the world was about to end, but…
Matt: …about – there’s something to fight for. But I’m not going to tell you what it is. You’re just going to have to guess or go to the next movie.
Mikey: Or read the book.
Matt: I don’t know. Well, we’re just going to have to wait and see, guys.
Voicemail: Put 800-word Story into Re-released Sorcerer’s Stone
Audio: Hi, all. My name is Lisa, I’m from Maui, Hawaii and I just have a comment on the question that you posted on the new MuggleCast Episode 147, asking that is the Sorcerer’s Stone‘s re-release something to be excited about. I think what would make it exciting is that if they put in the prequel that J.K. Rowling just wrote for that 800-word story. So that would be cool if they added that at the beginning of the Sorcerer’s Stone. That’s it. Pickles. Bye.
Laura: Oh, yeah, I think that would be a good idea. But I wonder if they’d do that, though, just because it’s part of another book.
Matt: Yeah. And it’s for charity, too.
Andrew: It is for charity, yeah.
Mikey: Yeah.
Andrew: So, I think that would be a problem. It’s not a bad idea, though, because it would fit, but…
Mikey: And they would sell a ridiculous amount, because, you know, people would be able to get this book, not just the limited edition, you know…
Andrew: Or J.K. Rowling could write a more detailed prequel for the book that’s separate from the charity thing.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: There’s many things she could do, obviously. But, for now, we’ll just take it to the next voicemail.
Voicemail: Cedric’s House
[Audio]: Hey MuggleCasters! My name’s Katie. I’m 21, from the Twin Cities. My question is regarding Cedric Diggory. I know you guys have talked about Houses before and kind of traits for Houses, but why do you think Cedric was put into Hufflepuff instead of maybe Gryffindor or Ravenclaw? I love the show and can’t wait to see what you guys have to say.
Mikey: Because he dies?
[Laura laughs]
Mikey: No.
Matt: Well, I mean, there are plenty – I mean, there are plenty of people who show more qualities of another House more openly than, you know, what House they’re actually put I mean, it doesn’t – just because you prove a lot of bravery doesn’t mean that you’re just automatically supposed to be in Gryffindor.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, so why is Cedric in Hufflepuff?
Matt: I think one of my – the big reason that tipped me off was during the maze scene, when he stopped and told Harry to go on and take the cup for himself, because he felt that Harry deserved it more than him, because Hufflepuffs are known to be more loyal and more humble, and I think that was a true Hufflepuff moment for Cedric when he gave away his immortal glory and galleons for Harry, because he felt that Harry deserved it.
Laura: Mhm I agree.
Mikey: Yeah. And look what Harry did. He said, “We’ll grab it together and now you die.”
Andrew: That sounded bad.
Mikey: Please cut out all my comments on this. I’m so cynical to Cedric Diggory.
Andrew: In that case, next voicemail!
Mikey: Yay! Voicemails!
Voicemail: Will Movie 6 Have Bathroom Scene?
[Audio]: Hey MuggleCasters. My name is Tony. I’m 35, from Kentucky. I’ve just got a movie – Half-Blood Prince – related question here. In Chapter 24 when Harry and Malfoy are in the bathroom, where Malfoy talking to Moaning Myrtle, what do you think the odds are of WB putting in the Sectumsempra spell that Harry casts on Malfoy? Do you think that would be too much, a little too hard for the PG rating? Or do you think that would push it over to R, because it is a pretty bloody scene. Love the show, keep up the good work, guys, and thanks a lot.
Laura: Okay. I would be ticked off if they left that scene in and then cut Dumbledore’s funeral.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: I would be so angry! So you’re telling me that you would rather have a scene where one of the characters gets practically slashed in half, and there’s blood all over the floor, but you can’t have a funeral scene? No.
Mikey: I’ll only take this scene if, as soon as Harry does that, he walks out, pops his collar, and “Back in Black” starts playing.
[Andrew laughs]
Mikey: DUNT. Sorry. No, I totally agree with you, Laura, but yeah.
Matt: But I can see why they would put that in just to help get Sirius’ identity as the Half-Blood Prince, because when he sees that Harry did that, he’s wondering, “how did he know one of my spells?”
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: They could dumb it down and make it less brutal.
Matt: Yeah, I mean, leaving that small scene in and leaving the whole Dumbledore funeral scene, that is pretty shady of them to do that, but we don’t really have a good opinion on it until we see the movie. So…
Mikey: Well, you know what, though? Also, at the same time, they can replace that scene with something else really easy to let Snape know.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: Again, I don’t know if you guys remember, right when Jo announced that Dumbledore was gay, she actually said that, actually this was something that was brought up where, during – one of the screenwriters had Dumbledore saying the line “When I was younger I was in love with this girl” and she made a note saying Dumbledore is gay to the screenwriters. So it’s – I’m sure there’s a lot of other things that they want to do, maybe, instead of a bloody scene, and she could’ve said, “this is also there,” or something like that.
Laura: Yeah. I wonder if that scene they just changed “girl” to “boy.” Wouldn’t that be awesome?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Laura: If in the movie Dumbledore was saying, “I was in love with this boy.”
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Laura: Oh, fans with flip out. [laughs] It would be so funny.
Andrew: I think they just straight up cut it out.
Matt and Mikey: Yeah.
Mikey: That won’t be in the movie.
Laura: I know. I can dream, though.
Mikey: If I’m a betting man, and I am, I guarantee you that won’t be in the movie. [laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] And…the last voicemail for today.
Voicemail: Should Have Waited for Books to be Released Before Making Movies
[Audio]: Hi, MuggleCast, this is Katie Karazuski from Holland, Ohio, and I was wondering what your thoughts were in terms of, don’t you wish they waited for all seven books to be released before they made the movies? I think that would have been great because that way they would have kept in everything that they knew was going to be important, and I know in a way that if they waited then we wouldn’t have Dan, and Rupert, and Emma, and all of our favorite cast members, but still, I think it just would have been way better altogether for them to wait for the books, or to have waited for the books, before they made the movies. Well, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I love you guys, and Matt is an excellent addition on your show. I love you. Bye bye!
Matt: Aww, thank you! Thoughtful!
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: So yeah, I think this is a good idea. Release it – like – I think it would definitely expand the fandom tenfold. Can you imagine the first movie coming out after the seventh book was released?
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Like, the excitement leading up to seeing a film – a Harry Potter film for the first time?
Laura: Yeah, I had thought about that when they were like midway through – probably around the time that Prisoner of Azkaban came out. I was like, “Why are they filming these movies and this series isn’t even finished yet?” And there were points where I thought, you know, they’re going to be missing so much stuff. But then I wonder – I think about all the times that Jo has said that she will steer them in the right direction if they’re going the wrong way with something, and I feel like we might still have stuff left out, regardless of whether or not all the books are published, because we’ve seen certain bits of foreshadowing from the books, like the Marauder’s Map, completely left out like who made it and where it came from, and they said that they would clarify it in Goblet of Fire, but they never did. So, that whole storyline never made any sense, and they clearly had all the information they needed for it. You know?
Mikey: Mhm. It’s one of those things, like, writing a screenplay for a novel – you know, it’s an adaptation. You know, it’s never going to be exactly the same. Nine out of ten times the book is always going to be better than the movie, but the movie is a visual representation, which lets you see a lot of what you have imagined. And, you know, I actually am glad that the movies came out before the books were finished…
Matt: Mhm.
Mikey: …just because…
Matt: It wouldn’t have been nearly as popular, too, if the books weren’t also in full swing at the time.
Mikey: That’s true, and, you know, a perfect example is, I didn’t start reading the books until after I had seen a bunch of the movies.
Matt: Mhm. And I think that goes for a lot of the fans of the books, too, that, you know, the movies brought more attention to the people who read the books after they saw the movie because a lot of them hadn’t heard very much of Harry Potter, or didn’t have much, you know, interest to see it just by everyone’s word on it. But when they saw it on the big screen, seeing how great of, you know, a story this whole series is, you know, it would incline them more to go see it.
Mikey: It’s kind of…
Matt: Or read it.
Mikey: It’s kind of like my position on Twilight. I’m going to see the movie with you guys. If I don’t like the movie, I’m not going to read the books, guys. Sorry.
Andrew, Laura, Matt: Aww.
Matt: Okay.
Plug: TwilightSource.com
Mikey: [laughs] Sorry, guys, I had to put that in there. Speaking of Twilight!
[Andrew, Laura, and Matt laugh]
Mikey: What’s that website you guys made?
Andrew: Oh, yeah, speaking of Tw – yeah, good transition, Mikey.
Mikey: See? I’ve got your backs, Andrew.
Andrew: It’s time for another shameless plug for TwilightSource.com, the next MuggleNet for Twilight.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Twilight information.
Matt: This will be our last plug, so don’t worry, guys.
Andrew: By last he means second to last.
Laura: It’s an awesome website.
Andrew: Okay, now…
Matt: I know, I love it too. Isn’t it great? Okay. [laughs]
Mikey: You know what I love? I love Harry Potter, guys. Can we get back to it?
Andrew: Oh, okay, yeah.
Matt: Oh, oh, oh, oh, okay, wow.
Sorting Hat
Andrew: We’re going to play Sorting Hat this week, we haven’t done it in a while. And it actually comes from a listener. Haley, 13, from New Jersey, my old home state. She writes:
“I really love the Sorting Hat segment you all do. I just wanted to know though, what House would you sort Laura Mallory in? I was thinking about it last night and I wanted to see what you guys thought. Thanks a lot. Keep up the awesome show. Lots of golden pickles, Haley.
Mikey: I know.
Matt: What?
Mikey: Filch’s house. She’d be a Squib.
[Laura laughs]
Matt: Yeah, I think so. I think she’s either a Muggle or a Squib.
Andrew: Laura, what do you think? I mean, you’re pretty close to her right now, maybe you could pick up a vibe or something.
Laura: Oh, yeah. Don’t remind me.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Yeah, I think I’m going to have to agree with Mikey because there is really no House that truly, you know…
Matt: Hates magic. [laughs]
[Laura laughs]
Mikey: Oh, you know what? She might end up going to, like, Durmstrang, that fanaticism that she has.
Laura: Yeah, that’s true.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s true. Maybe she goes to a completely different school.
Laura: I don’t know. She kind of reminds me of Petunia Dursley, to be honest.
Mikey: Yeah, I know. That’s what I’m saying.
Matt: Or, like – she’s so open about being negative about the whole wizarding world, but behind it all, she really wants to be a part of it.
Laura: Yes.
Matt: She wants to be a witch.
Andrew: Do you think she…
Matt: Or a wizard.
Andrew: …secretly wrote to Jo asking for – like, saying she’s a huge fan of the books?
Matt: “Can I have a signed copy?” Yeah.
Laura: She probably…
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: …puts on a robe at night after her kids go to bed.
Andrew: Oh no.
Laura: She plays Harry Potter.
Mikey: I bet you she has, like, a light up…
Laura: On their Playstation.
Mikey: …wand and runs around the house casting spells.
Matt: “Flipendo! Flipendo, kids! Flipendo!”
[Everyone laughs]
Mikey: I can’t believe Flipendo made it into this episode.
Andrew: Well, that is how Sorting Hat is played.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: If you have an idea for Sorting Hat, someone in the real world we can sort, send it in to mugglecast at staff dot mugglenet dot com and put “Sorting Hat” in the subject line.
Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul
Andrew: We’ll wrap things up today with a Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul. Laura, would you like to read it?
Laura: Sure.
“Hi, MuggleCasters, I’m a huge fan. I absolutely love your podcast. I just wanted to say thanks. A few weeks ago, I was going through a hard time. I was overwhelmed with a huge History/English project, and I was on my school’s track and field team. I’m not a runner, so at first track was hard and I wanted to quit, but my mom wouldn’t let me. I was crying and having a really hard time for a couple of nights before I went to sleep. So, when I laid down, I put on my iPod and tuned in to MuggleCast. It helped my calm down and continue. I got an A on the project and ended up really enjoying track. I might even do it next year. So, again, thanks. Thank you and keep up the great job. Maddy, 13 of…”
Andrew and Matt: Yay!
Laura: Aww…
Matt: And it’s M-A-D-D-Y so it’s a girl. Just in case, because, you know, you can say Matty for me, but it’s M-A-T-T-Y.
Laura: Yeah, that’s Matty.
Matt: Matty.
Laura: Maddy.
Matt: Aw, but congratulations on the A, Maddy. That was really good.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: We always get e-mails…
Mikey: And on track and field.
Matt: Yeah.
Mikey: Track and field is cool too.
Laura: Mhm.
Matt: It’s not an easy subject, too.
Andrew: No.
Mikey: It’s a sport.
Matt: I know.
Mikey: I’m just saying, Matt.
Contact Information
Andrew: Well, I think that wraps up our collection of wonderful segments for today’s episode of MuggleCast. Laura, if people want to send me some really late birthday cards…
Mikey: Or graduation cards.
Andrew: …where do they mail them?
Laura: [sighs] P.O. Box 3151, Cumming, GA, 30028.
Andrew: [laughs] If you would like to call us to have a voicemail question aired on the show, you can use the MuggleCast hotline. If you’re in the United States, you can dial 1-218-20-MAGIC, if you’re in the United Kingdom you can dial 020-8144-0677, and if you’re in Australia you can dial 02-8003-5668. You can also Skype the username MuggleCast, but no matter how you call us just remember to keep your message under sixty seconds and eliminate as much background noise as possible. I’ll give you a little hint; when I’m searching for voicemails, Skype tells you how long the voicemail message is. So I always look for the ones that are in the range of fifteen to sixty seconds or so. If it’s longer, sometimes I’ll listen to it. If it’s shorter, usually not, because people will – people like to give the hotline a test call to see like, you know, if it really works, as if we’re like making it up or something. But anyway, you can also visit MuggleCast.com for a handy feedback form to contact anyone of us. Or just use our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com. And don’t forget, as always, we have the community outlets on our website. You can visit our
MySpace, our Facebook…
[Show music begins]
Andrew: …our YouTube, our Frappr, our Last.FM, and our fanlisting and the forums. Also don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for the latest updates about MuggleCast, Digg the show at Digg.com and vote for us once a month at Podcast Alley. So…
Show Close
Laura: And go to TwilightSource.com.
Andrew: And go to TwilightSource.com for everything Twilight.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I mean, it makes sense. It’s your Twilight source. I couldn’t believe the domain name was still available. Twilight‘s like, you know…
Matt: Yes, we’ve heard this from you before.
Andrew: I’m just, you know…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I also bought – fun fact – I also bought BellaCullen.com.
Matt: This is all like bonus stuff, right? I mean, our listeners don’t…
Andrew: Well, we’ve gotten a lot of people into Twilight. People have said “Wow, you guys were talking about it so much I decided to read it, and I really like it.” So that’s my listener challenge this week. That’s my listener challenge. Go out, give Twilight a try. I mean, we’re not sponsoring it, but I’m….
Matt: Yeah, we’re not really plugging Twilight, per say. We’re just trying to get Potter readers to expand their horizons and read other books as well.
Andrew: It’s a great book if you want more after Harry Potter.
Mikey: Well, you know what I read? I read the new Jedi Order. It’s…
Andrew: Thank you, everyone, for listening…
Mikey: It’s only eighteen books!
[Laura laughs]
Mikey: It’s a great series. An amazing story ark. It’s got Luke Skywalker’s son in it, Han Solo and Leia’s kids in it. Yeah. No.
Andrew: Once again, I’m Andrew Sims.
[Mikey laughs]
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Matt: I’m Matthew Britton.
Mikey: And I’m Mikey B, everybody!
Matt: Ahh.
Mikey: Mikey B! Mikey B! Mikey B! POOF!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Poof? What was that?
Mikey: It was POOF! I magically appeared on my bed!
Matt: Should I go run into his room and see if he’s still there?
Andrew: I think you better go check on him. I think he’s like – I don’t know – had a heart attack or something.
[Mikey laughs]
Andrew: We’ll see everyone next week for Episode 149…
Mikey: Bye, everybody!
Andrew: Bye!
Matt: Bye!
Mikey: What a world! What a world! What a world!
Laura: Bye!