MuggleCast 167 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 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]
Andrew: Because MuggleCast has successfully completed another year of Harry Potter podcasting, this is MuggleCast Episode 167 for December 28th, 2008.
[Show music continues]
Andrew: And look at this. We’ve reached another year of Harry Potter podcasting. It’s the end of 2008. Welcome, everyone, to another edition of MuggleCast. We have a wonderful panel this week: Matt, Eric, Micah, Laura. They’re all here. Hey guys.
Laura and Matt: Hey.
Eric: [Speaking as Dumbledore] Another year gone.
[Andrew and Matt Laughs]
Matt: Oh, you went there.
Andrew: We should play that clip.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: [Speaking as Dumbledore] Another year gone. [normally] That’s a very memorable line. Just the way he says it. It was nice.
Matt: I know, because it’s like the little withered hand just goes, “Gone.”
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, it was nice. But we’re here to talk about the year that was 2008. There’s been a lot of news, and we’ve got some fun segments planned. We are going to look at the best of MuggleCast. We’re going to look at the best news stories. And just for fun, we’re going to try this little thing we’re going to call, “The First Annual MuggleCasties.” It’s an awards ceremony where we pick out some of the best stuff of the year in various categories. So – it’ll be fun, and we’ll have a good L-O-L and look forward to that. So let’s get right into it for our final show of 2008. I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Matt: And I’m Matthew Britton.
[Show music continues]
News: Deathly Hallows Movie Split
Andrew: Micah, it’s been a slow news week, but what’s been going on? Everyone’s on vacation – not making news, so we just have to deal with it.
Micah: Yeah, we’ve only had a couple pieces of news since we last released our show and one of them was concerning David Heyman. It was kind of a follow up to the news item we had on last week’s show where he was talking a little bit more about the split for Deathly Hallows, and he said that he’s still debating where the movie is actually going to be split, but he thinks that he may have found a spot. This was an interview that he did at his premiere of Yes Man last week. So what do you guys think? Where is this movie going to end up being split…
Matt: Hm…
Micah: And why is it taking so long for them to figure it out?
Matt: Why is it taking them so long to give us a freaking poster of the movie is what I want to ask.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: For Half-Blood Prince?
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: I think that they’re talking about minute details like where exactly to split it, you know…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And they’ve also got to – with part two – they’ve got to come into it. With a montage, or…
Andrew: It has to be exciting.
Eric: Or something – they’ve got to come into it. They can’t just, you know, open up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione going to Xenophilius Lovegood’s house. Or maybe it can. Or maybe they knock on the door and he opens up, and that’s the end of part one.
Andrew: I think that the reason that they’re still deciding is because – like Eric was sort of describing, it is a really big decision, where to split it. So if – they don’t want to take it lightly, because they have to end it with a very awesome ending, and then kick it off with a very cool opening…
Eric: Just story boarding.
Matt: And they have to film it, too.
Andrew: You know…
Eric: Yeah…
Matt: First.
Eric: Yeah they have to film it, and story boarding and planning the shoot, you know planning when they’re going to shoot what. It helps if you know which scenes are in the movie and which scenes you won’t have to worry about for another four months.
Laura: I think it would be cool if they did it – I have my copy open right now – if they did the split at the end of chapter 22, “The Deathly Hallows”, right after they get captured. And then they start the second movie at Malfoy Manor. I think that would be really sweet…
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: That sounds pretty good. Because they’re ending high, and they’re starting high.
Eric: Well, do you think they’ll start the Malfoy Manor scene in the beginning?
Matt: I think they may show a panoramic shot of the Malfoy Manor while they’re going up in the stage coach or something. That would be…
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: That would be a pretty good scene to end on. Like you don’t know which house – or you just found out it’s the Malfoy’s house or something. And then it goes to dark, or something.
Andrew: Will Harry survive the Draco’s – Draco’s lair? Tune in next time.
[Eric and Laura laughs]
Andrew: Something like that. Like an old school…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion. What else is going on this week, Micah?
News: Jason Isaacs Can’t Let Go of Potter
Micah: Just one more news story was in the Jerusalem Post. An interview with Jason Isaacs who really seems to love what he does on the Potter films. And, you know, he said that he had a ridiculously good time making the films and he recalled specific scenes with certain actors and actresses. But as far as the last book being made into two films, he says that he thought it was a mistake. And the reason he thought it was a mistake was because he would rather it were made into ten films so he could do it for the rest of his life.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Oh, that silly Jason. He had me fooled for a second.
Matt: Oh!
Micah: So…
Andrew: Well that’s nice of him. And you know – that really is nice to hear that one of the actors really, truly appreciates working on the films. You know, you’re not going to hear all the actors saying that.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Emma Thompson for example, who couldn’t wait to get out. [laughs]
Matt: Whatever Andrew, jeez. So she doesn’t like being in ten minutes of a three-hour film.
Eric: Yeah, I know. Really? That’s not…
Andrew: Well – hey – ten minutes of a film means you don’t have much to film so you could do two films at once if you wanted to. That’s my opinion. Was there anything else really, Micah?
Micah: No, that’s all I got.
Andrew: I say it with depression because I get sad when there’s no news. It’s one of my favorite segments to do here on MuggleCast. And…
Micah: Well, we’ll be talking about plenty of news in a couple minutes when we do the year in review.
Announcement: Azkatraz 2009
Andrew: As for announcements this week, we’d like to remind everyone that we’re going to be at Azkatraz 2009. Tickets – we just heard that tickets are running out very quickly for the IMAX – the midnight IMAX screening of – that would be Half-Blood Prince – I believe it’s called. HP2009.org. Tickets running out for the IMAX. Once the IMAX ones run out they are going to go to – there’s also going to be a normal theater playing it. So that will be cool, but you know, you may want to see it in IMAX, because there’s like twenty five minutes of 3-D footage, so that will be pretty cool.
Matt: And we’ll be there too. So you can say hi.
Andrew: Yeah. And then afterwards we’re going to be doing the live podcast; discussing the film and everyone’s excitement. So it’s going to be a huge party all night long.
Matt: Woo! No sleep!
Andrew: Until like 5:00 AM when we go to bed.
Matt: We’re not going to bed.
Andrew: Um.
Matt: No. We’re not going to bed.
Andrew: It’s Half-Blood Prince night. We wait an extra eight months for this.
[Laura laughs]
Matt: Yes. We made a YouTube video.
Announcement: Podcast Alley
Andrew: Don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley. It’s December and we’re going into January, so we appreciate your vote there. And also – we’ll talk about this real quick – a few days ago MuggleNet debuted a brand new feature on the site – MuggleSpace. MuggleSpace.com. It’s the first and only – for now, until a million of them pop up now that we’ve done it – social network for Harry Potter fans.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: And it’s similar to Facebook and MySpace, hence MuggleSpace. I have to say – we’ve been kicking around this idea for a while…
Laura: Yeah, and…
Andrew: …and we finally brought it to life. And there it is. And it’s been a great success. We have close to five thousand members as of Friday night and a lot of people – it’s been getting great reviews. Better than I thought it would, to be honest with you. So – it’s been exceeding our expectations, I think. Check it out – MuggleSpace.com – you can connect with other Harry Potter fans and it’s just a – it’s a whole lot of fun.
Eric: Cool.
Andrew: Isn’t that right Micah and Laura?
Laura: Yeah, it is. Friend us.
Andrew: And Matt. Eric, you need to get a profile.
Eric: Yeah, I do need to get a profile.
Matt: Yeah, Eric.
Eric: Dude, I…
Andrew: It’s easy! Sign up today!
Eric: …what if there’s already an Eric? What am I going to do then? Am I going to do, like…
Andrew: Well, you can be Eric Scull.
Eric: Oh. But what if there’s already another Eric Scull? You never know.
Andrew: I’m searching. No there’s not. But it turned up a profile of a girl who I assume has you – yeah. “My friend still wears the shoes that Eric Scull signed”.
Eric: Oh!
Andrew: So there you go. You can learn things here on MuggleSpace.
Eric: Yeah, you can learn things. It’s very educational.
Matt: And there’s a chat that’s always going on, too.
Best of MuggleCast: Episode 134
Andrew: Okay, so as everyone knows, this is our year end episode and we want to look back and get lots of news and stuff that’s been going on – but we also want to look back at the best of MuggleCast. And we have a few clips we’re going to play this week and spread them throughout the show. So first we’re going to listen to – this was episode 134 for March 1st 2008.
[Andrew plays clip]
Andrew: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the program. I just wanted to start the show off this week with a few e-mails I got about last week’s show. So let me kick it off here.
Jen, from New Jersey: “I just wanted to tell you that you accidentally dropped the F-bomb in Episode 133 at 59 minutes, 31 seconds. Just wanted to tell you so you can edit it out, or whatever.”
Ima Clone, from Nashville: “At 59:30 of Episode 133, you dropped an F-bomb. Not very family friendly, as you mentioned earlier in the episode.”
Jessica B., 17 of Cobleskill, NY: “You said a very bad word during minute 59 and you missed it again. Woops, slipping up in your old age.”
Nick B., 13 of Boston: “I can’t believe you dropped an F-bomb on the show and didn’t cut it out. Can you believe this was my mom’s first show? Just kidding, but I thought I might point it out to you. Hahaha.”
Emily, 18 of Lynchburg College, Virginia: “Just FYI, Andrew, you dropped an F-bomb that made it through editing at 59:31 on Episode 133. Just thought you should know. Not really concerned, but thought you might be.”
From Matt: “Hey, Andrew, you accidentally forgot to edit yourself out saying [beep] around 50, 60 minutes into the show. It is not really noticeable, but I thought I would let you know.”
Holleen: “You totally said [beep] on air at 59 minutes, 31 seconds. Oopsies!”
I know! I said the “F” word! Sorry! Argh!
Matt: What’s the…wait.
Laura: Now you know how I feel when you forget to edit me.
[Andrew sighs]
Matt: What’s the word? The F…Is it “fecal matter”?
[Laura laughs]
Matt: Is it “frustrated”?
Andrew: Yes, Matt, whatever you say.
Matt: Oh, wait. It’s [beep].
[Elysa and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: You said [beep] on the show, Andrew? You’re not supposed to say [beep] on the show.
Laura: I can’t [beep]-ing believe you [beep] said that, you [beep] moron.
[Series of beeps]
Andrew: Guys, seriously, seriously. Shut the [beep] up.
[Laura and Andrew laugh]
[Clip ends]
Andrew: So there you go. We got so many e-mails about that when that – after that aired. [laughs] Most of them positive saying that was funny, but we did get some people saying it was…
Matt: Yeah.
Muggle Mail: Beedle the Bard
Andrew: …a bit inappropriate, I guess. [laughs] Anyway, we’ll play some more clips throughout the show and later on. Let’s for right now get into MuggleMail this week. Who wants to take the first one?
Eric: Sweet. First MuggleMail this week comes from John, 36 of Chicago. He says:
Hey guys, I’ve enjoyed the podcast for a while now. I was especially into the chapter-by-chapter discussions, which is why I was interested in this podcast so much.
Mmm, good to hear it.
“In MuggleCast 165: ‘Beedle the Bard Analyzed,’ someone (I’m sorry, but I forget who) mentions the fact that ‘The Tale of the Three Brothers’ was word-for-word the same as the tale Hermione told in Book 7 at the Lovegood’s. This sparked a complaint amongst some of you that it would have been nice to have some difference between the two. I just got “Beedle” for Christmas and you’re right. It was word-for-word the same. But the thing that I think you guys missed in your discussion was that on page xi (11) of the introduction, Jo says that this is a brand new translation by Hermione Granger. So it makes sense that she would tell the tale the same way both times. In Book 7 she had spent months translating the story. When she retold it in Xenophilius Lovegood’s house, I would think she knew it by heart. Just to point this out as something to ponder. Merry Christmas, John.”
Andrew: Well, thanks for bringing that up because we did not see that. [laughs]
Eric: Well, we read it, though. We did discuss that it was her who translated it, but we just didn’t connect the two together.
Micah: I think what all of us were looking for was just more in-depth storytelling. As opposed to what we heard in Deathly Hallows we felt was a shortened version, and we were looking for maybe a little bit more to it. I don’t necessarily think that we were arguing the translation side of it. At least that was what I took away from it.
Andrew: well, we were saying why was the translation exactly the same.
Micah: Right. Yeah…
Andrew: So…
Micah: I understand that, but I was looking for more substance to the story, I guess you could say. More than just however many pages it ended up being in Beedle the Bard.
Andrew: Would you have felt that there should have been more – do you think you would have felt the same if that story actually wasn’t in Deathly Hallows? Do you know what I mean? Maybe you feel underwhelmed just because you already read it. Like, in hindsight, I’m not really complaining.
Micah: No.
Andrew: I thought it was fine. You know, the explanation in the beginning of the book that John points out was a great point.
Micah: Yeah.
Laura: I don’t know.
Eric: Well, does it feel like the other stories in Beedle the Bard – do you guys, does it feel like they were of a different tone? And then when you get to “The Three Brothers” it was like, a word-for-word what we heard in the book and it was nothing special. It felt like it was just pulled.
Andrew: Is that how you felt? I mean, I guess that would make sense.
Eric: Well, to be perfectly honest, I’m pulling a Micah and Goblet Of Fire movie at the moment. I don’t think I’ve – I haven’t read the book yet.
Andrew: You haven’t read it? Who are you?
Micah: It was…
Eric: Dude…
Andrew: Get off this show!
Eric: Dude, my December is like…
Andrew: I don’t care.
Matt: It is a pretty thick book, though.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: It was Order of the Phoenix, first of all, not Goblet of Fire that I didn’t see so…
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: But, I don’t know. I just think that – honestly, I don’t remember what the story was from Deathly Hallows. [laughs] So, to me reading it in Beedle the Bard was fine. You know, Eric, to answer your question, I felt like the stories got progressively darker as you went along throughout Beedle the Bard. So I didn’t really feel as if we were missing out on anything, but I could understand somebody making the argument saying, “Hey, well we got this in Deathly Hallows. Why is it exactly the same in Beedle the Bard? Shouldn’t there have been more to it?” But, at the same time, you get that in Dumbledore’s commentary.
Matt: And also, if they added more to the story, then it wouldn’t have made sense if Hermione didn’t say it in Deathly Hallows. Because then she left out a piece of the story…
Micah: Right.
Matt: …that could have been important for the Deathly Hallows.
Laura: Well, I almost thought – in Deathly Hallows, I thought she was just giving a summary of all the high points.
Andrew: Right. Me too.
Laura: Because if you look at the tales in the book, the rest are longer significantly than “The Tale of the Three Brothers”. So it’s not that I’m complaining about feeling like I was shorted out of something or that I felt like the story was lacking. I just feel that in terms of practicality, her translation for a new version of Beedle the Bard years and years after Deathly Hallows happened would not be exactly the same as the one that she told Harry and Ron when she was 17. But that’s just me.
Andrew: Yeah. But then again…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Like what’s been said, if it was a different translation, it would kind of be weird.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: From the – you know?
Eric: Yeah, both points are valid. And I wouldn’t look for something different as in new information, but even said differently, worded differently a little bit, or – you know, just eclectically told even just a little bit different would be refreshing, interesting, new. And it’s okay that they didn’t do that because, of course, we got lots of other Tales of Beedle the Bard that were all new and awesome.
Andrew: Eric has seen Half-Blood Prince but has not read Beedle the Bard.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Let’s try to make some sense out that one.
Eric: I bought it the day it came out. Come on, seriously. [laughs]
Andrew: We should make you read it, like, right now as we record, because it takes an hour to read. And you’re a speed reader; you could probably knock it out in half an hour.
Eric: No, I’m a speed typer. I can’t speed read.
Andrew: Well, you were beating us when we were reading Deathly Hallows, so…
Eric: Oh. Yeah, that’s true.
Andrew: You could read it faster than me.
Laura: That’s because you didn’t sleep.
Andrew: And I – huh?
Laura: That’s because he didn’t sleep.
Matt: He cheated!
Andrew: That’s true.
Laura: [laughs] We slept.
Eric: I’m one of, like – how many of us didn’t sleep? But I wasn’t the first one to get done. Someone else was…
Andrew: Kevin. Kevin was the first.
Eric: …the first one to get done. Kevin was the first? Well that’s because…
Laura: Yeah, that’s because he cheated.
Andrew: That’s right. Well, because every time we’d be like – he’d be like, “What page are you on?” And we’d be like, “Uh, 320.” And he’d be like, “Oh, you are about to hit something big.”
[Andrew Eric and Laura laugh]
Matt: I hate that…
Andrew: Remember that?
Matt: …when people do that.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: And Kevin just gets his own brand of enthusiastic down… [laughs] Cryptic.
Andrew: Right. “Oh, you are about to hit something.” It’d either be that or, “Oh, okay, you’re not at the big part yet.” [laughs] So funny.
Laura: Well then, didn’t Jamie also read like half of it, or at least the epilogue or something?
Eric: Yeah, some half of it or something.
Andrew: He did?
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Oh, that’s funny.
Laura: And I got there and I was like, “What the hell is wrong with you people?”
Andrew: Yeah.
Muggle Mail: Crookshanks
Matt: All right, our next e-mail comes from Rhonda, who is way too old to admit her age. But she’s from Illinois, so it evens out. Okay, so Rhonda says:
“I was listening to MuggleCast 166. Someone wrote in questions if Crookshanks could have been Lily Potter. On a similar line of thinking, until the end of the book, I had thought that Crookshanks could have been Regulus Arcturus Black, because Sirius was a dog Animagus. In astronomy, Sirius is ‘Alpha Canis,’ the dog star. Likewise, Regulus is ‘Alpha Lionis,’ the brightest star in the constellation Leo, a feline, marking Leo’s heart.”
So, what do you guys think?
Laura: I don’t know. I think it would have been overdone if we had more secret Animagi. That’s just me.
Andrew: Hey, Laura, we don’t belittle you when you…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: …give us a parallel.
Laura: No, I’m – I mean, it’s not that it’s a bad theory, it’s very well researched, but…
Andrew: Mhm.
Laura: …I mean, we already had Sirius and Peter Pettigrew.
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: So…
Matt: It is a cool connection, though, I have to say. Like, you wonder if she did it on purpose.
Andrew: It would have been cool, though.
Micah: And Rita Skeeter.
Laura: Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of that going on.
Eric: I think it’s more probable that Regulus was Crookshanks, because Lily is a girl and Crookshanks is a guy cat.
Muggle Mail: Filming Time
Laura: Next mail comes from Christopher, 21, of Ithaca, New York. He writes:
“Hello, MuggleCasters. I wanted to comment about your statement about the actual amount of shooting time for the new film. You state that it will take about fifty-four weeks. In reality, if you think about it, fifty-four weeks seems short when you think about the following: additional casting, airline flights to sets, hotel accommodations, set and prop preparations, children’s filming hours with going to school. In my opinion, I feel they would need more time to film in order to create an awesome movie. Thanks a lot for allowing my thoughts.”
Andrew: So there you go, that’s just a little insight on why on earth it’s taking fifty-four weeks. And it’s understandable. I mean, you know, it’s a lot. But then again, they do have huge crews and stuff, so, I mean…
Laura: We shall see.
Eric: I mean, I don’t know if the kids are being schooled anymore. They were. It was certainly a consideration for the first few films, but…
Andrew: Yeah. But some are.
Laura: Well, they’re still going to have extras that’ll – who are in school.
Andrew: Yeah. And like, Evanna.
Eric: And second unit filming, and stuff like that.
Andrew: And plus, like someone brought up last week, you know, the child labor laws really delay them a lot, too. For the extras. I mean, you know, they must have a really hard time filming in the Great Hall, with all the kids filling in.
Matt: Yeah.
Muggle Mail: Lord Voldemort Repenting
Micah: The next e-mail comes from Ruby, 15, of Seattle. She says:
“Hey, guys, I love the show and just finished listening to Episode 166. There was a part of this episode where you talked about Harry offering Voldemort a chance to repent. You mentioned that Harry gave him the option to save himself, but when I was reading the book, I always thought Harry almost said this out of desperation. On page 103 of the American edition, Hermione mentions that remorse – which I relate closely to the act of repenting – could kill the person who feels so. It made me think that maybe Harry was trying to get Voldemort to destroy himself without Harry needing to do anything but talk. Not that Harry is anything like a coward, but it was worth a shot. Just wanted to see what you thought. Keep up the great shows.”
Andrew: Do you guys think that makes sense? Like, do you think Harry really wanted to see if Voldemort would kill himself?
Laura: It’s possible.
Eric: I don’t know about killing himself. I mean, I think Harry is all about giving him as many choices as he can, because choices is the theme. You know, he wanted to give Voldemort a chance to repent, simply to see if he would do it, at this – his last, most vulnerable moment, after he knew that his Horcruxes were gone, and that he was really in trouble and in front of everybody, and he opted to not be perceived as weak by everyone, and opted not to repent, and got his – got his – his life
ended.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] It kind of would’ve been funny if Voldemort…
Laura: [laughs] Just like self-combusted? Like, he couldn’t take it, so he just like blew up.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: Just like exploded.
Laura: That would’ve been messy.
Andrew: Like, lava come up.
Matt: [in high-pitched voice] I’ve found the source of the ticking! It’s a pipe bomb!
Andrew: It’s like – what is it? – in the Flintstones, where smoke comes out of Fred’s ears? Was that it? [Imitates smoke blowing and laughs] Voldemort just went, “You know, you’re right.”
Laura: Boom!
[Andrew imitates explosion]
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: But that would teach kids like suicide, in a way, wouldn’t it? I mean, not that…
Laura: Yeah, feel bad about something and you’re going to blow up.
Andrew: I mean, not to say that Harry Potter – I guess you could argue that if it’s teaching suicide, then it’s also teaching people to kill other people, but…
Matt: Isn’t that the best lesson of all?
Laura: Homicide.
Muggle Mail: House Points Hourglass Comparisons
Andrew: Homicide, yeah. Okay, and the last e-mail today comes from Lorne, 24, of Denver, Colorado. And he writes – I assume it’s he, Lorne Michaels is the creator, or producer of SNL and he’s a dude, so I’m going to go with dude.
“Hi MuggleCast! I’m a new listener and loving every minute of it.”
Well, welcome, Lorne.
“I don’t really have a question or a suggestion, I have an observation about the endings of ‘Half-Blood Prince’ and ‘Hallows’ in relation to the House Point hourglasses at Hogwarts. I don’t know if this was intentional on Jo’s part but at the end of ‘Half-Blood Prince’ during the battle in the castle, someone smashes the Gryffindor hourglass and all the rubies inside are scattered across the floor. This happened on the same night that Dumbledore, a Gryffindor, met his demise atop the Astronomy Tower. In ‘Deathly Hallows,’ the same thing happens on the Slytherin hourglass with all the emeralds scattering and Voldemort, a Slytherin, meeting his downfall. I don’t know if you have ever talked about this before but you are always looking for connections throughout the books, so I thought I would share it. Again, I don’t know if it’s intentional, but do I think it’s interesting. P.S. Voldemort’s eyes are red in the books; Harry’s are green – opposite colors to the House they are in.”
So that’s a pretty cool parallel, too.
Laura: Yeah, it’s a nice use of symbolism.
Matt: Yeah, because Dumbledore fell off the Astronomy tower so when he hit the floor, Dumbledore probably went all over the place.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Matt: And when Snape got bitten by the snake, his blood went all over the place, so…
Andrew: How can you draw the parallel to that and Voldemort, though? Because he didn’t exactly explode.
Laura: He could’ve, if Harry would’ve let him.
Andrew: Aw, damn it! I wish! That would’ve been an awesome parallel.
Micah: Well, Snape also died that night, too.
Andrew: Yeah, and he was Slytherin, right?
Micah: Yeah.
Laura: No, he was Hufflepuff.
Andrew: Thought so. Wasn’t sure, just had to check.
Micah: [laughing] What’d you say, Laura?
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: I thought you said “no, he was Hufflepuff” or something like that.
Andrew: [laughing] I’ll play that back in editing and I’ll know exactly what you said.
[Laura laughs]
Best of MuggleCast: Episode 137
Andrew: Okay, well that’s Muggle Mail for this week, and it’s time to take a look at another of the best of MuggleCast of 2008. This would be our March 16th show, Episode 137, so let’s hear the clip.
[Andrew plays clip]
Jim: Hello, it’s nice to be with you.
Aziza: It’s great to have you here, and hear that voice. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. It’s kind of surreal hearing it outside the audiobooks.
[Jim laughs]
Andrew: We’ll start off the questions today with a recent news story. I’m not sure if you’ve heard about this yet, but they’ve decided to split the final film into two parts. Did you hear about this?
Jim: Yes, I read about that. You know, my only problem with the films is, you know, if a story is written for the screen and then it has a beginning, a middle, and end, including all the characters, when you take an existing story that lasts – when you listen to it or read it, it lasts twenty-seven hours, and you try to condense that into a two-hour film you’re surely missing out and losing a lot of parts of all the
story, all the side stories, and all the characters. I think sixty characters were missing from one of the films due to the fact they had to edit the story down so much. So that’s a pity, but if they’re going to make it into two films, then at least it gives all of us a chance of seeing and hearing a little bit more of the stories and the subsidiary characters in the story. I’m very pleased that they’re doing that.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Aziza: Yeah.
[Clip ends]
Matt: What a wise man.
Andrew: So there’s a clip of the Jim Dale interview, and you know what was so great about him? We didn’t even ask him a question about that. We were about to, but we just asked him had he heard the story and he just jumped into a great explanation of why he felt like it was a good idea.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: I wonder where he got that fact from. We never really talked about that. He said that from one of the films he heard sixty characters were cut.
Eric: That’s my comment, that Jim Dale is so brilliant and he knew, again with the 27 hours, he knows how long his audiobooks are. He knows how much work he put in and how much came out of it. He knows his own stuff, he knows his own work, and so for him to say sixty characters were cut out of a film, that’s possibly something maybe he even looked up.
Andrew: I was going to say, he totally counted them himself! [laughs]
Eric: Those are sixty characters that he voiced that weren’t in the movie.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: That could be something that he knows, just because he’s
that cool and that into – the work and the character. It could be part of his preparation. You guys should have asked him actually, on the show.
Andrew: Yeah. Do you think he kept a tally when he was watching, let’s say it was Prisoner of Azkaban, do you think he just like kept a tally throughout the movie whenever he – he had the book in hand and was like paging through?
Eric: No, that’s like O.C.D.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I don’t think he’s crazy, I just think he’s good at what he does.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: I just think he’s thorough.
Micah: That was such a great interview.
Laura: I can just see him sitting there, like taking names off, being like, “Where the hell is Peeves?”
Andrew: Where the bloody hell is Peeves?
Matt: [laughing] I can just see him going, “Ah! They cut this one, too! Doh! God!”
Andrew: Yeah. Bollocks!
Micah: [lauhging] Well he was so attached to some of the characters though, because he said, especially in that conference that he drew so many of the voices from people he knew in his real life.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: And it was really such a pleasure seeing him there at Portus. Micah and I – I’ll never forget that moment, Micah!
[Micah laughs.]
Andrew: Just sitting there, watching with you, and then we turned heads and stared into each other’s eyes and…
Matt: And that group photo we all took. That was awesome.
Andrew: What?
Matt: That group photo we took with Jim.
Laura: Aw.
Andrew: Oh yeah, that one without me.
Matt: So nice…
Andrew: Thanks, guys.
Eric: Hey, remember that time you guys all went and saw JKR except for me?
Andrew: Hey, remember that time – were you even there?
Eric: No, I wasn’t there.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: Well, I was there and I didn’t get to see ’em. You guys all ditched me in the hotel room.
Andrew: Oh yeah, that’s true.
Laura: [laughing] I remember that.
Andrew: That was so funny. I don’t know if we ever told this story on MuggleCast; we may have. I think we did, actually, on that “Dumbledore is gay” episode but…
Laura: Did we?
Andrew: The first thing, we just came into the hotel room and Matt and Elysa and her friend Sean were in there, and the first thing we said was, “Guys, Dumbledore is gay!”
[Laura laughs]
Matt: Yeah. Well, okay. We opened the door and literally, right when it cracked open, we heard the word “gay” like fifteen times from five different people. “Gay! No, he’s gay! He’s gay! Oh my god, he’s gay! Gay!” That’s all I heard.
Andrew: It was so much fun telling people. It still is.
Laura: But see, you guys didn’t even believe us at first. You were like, “Nooo!”
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] Nooo.
[Laura laughs]
MuggleCast 167 Transcript (continued)
Best of 2008: Top 7 News Stories
Andrew: Keeping on the theme of our year in review, we’re going to talk about the top news stories of 2008, and we’re going to do something different this year. You know, make it a little more exciting. We’re going to count down the top seven stories of 2008.
Eric: Counting backwards.
Matt: Yeah, we’re going backwards. Right?
#7: Harry Potter: The Exhibition
Andrew: Yeah, counting backwards. So it will lead up to the number one story, and we’ll leave everyone guessing what the number one story will be. So let’s kick it off. The seventh – counting down, starting with number seven: Warner Brothers announcing Harry Potter: the Exhibition. And Eric, I want to jump right in and first ask you, have you gotten your tickets to this yet? Because it’s right there in your town of Chicago.
Eric: I have not secured my tickets per se – but IDK my BFFs the Phelp twins have assured me that I will be there. So…
Andrew: What, are you in touch with them or something? [laughs]
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Andrew: Are you really? No, you’re not.
Eric: No.
Andrew: Yeah, I was going to – [laughs] Well, yeah. You can get tickets online. So, you may as well get them soon.
Eric: No. Actually, you’re exactly right. This news story totally reminds me. And along with the IMAX at Azkatraz, I have to make sure we have those, too.
Andrew: Yeah. Give you a to-do list.
Eric: Because of the movie. That would be a fun podcast to do if I hadn’t seen it.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] Well, yeah. Well, what is – why are we putting this here on the top seven stories of 2008? Personally, I think it’s a really, really cool thing for the fandom. Because who – you know, everyone – well, you don’t say it because it’s kind of impossible for 99.999% of the fandom, but everyone wants to go to – it would be so cool to check out the Harry Potter sets in person. And this is like, in a way – I really think it’s going to feel like being on the Harry Potter set. We saw the concept art and they’re going to have these great rooms to put everything on exhibit, so I think it’s going to be really cool.
Eric: I mean, it is a big deal. Along with the movies, this is pretty much the biggest thing that’s going to happen within the next couple years, the movies and conventions. That is – it’s huge. It’s absolutely huge because before now, the only place you could go for movie set stuff was Burbank, California – the Warner Brothers studio lot…
Andrew: Right.
Eric: Where they had the Ford Anglia and a few of the costumes. But this is something that is going to Japan and Chicago and all sorts of other places.
Matt: Like Cumming, Georgia.
Eric: It’s a really big deal.
Laura: Yeah, it’s coming to Cumming. I think like anything else that we have going on in the fandom post-Book 7, I think it’s just another – nice little thing to serve as a remembrance. You know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Because, it’s like, we can look back on – I mean, even – gosh! I remember the first Harry Potter movie came out when I was, like, twelve.
Matt: Oh!
Laura: So, going and seeing some of this stuff, that’s going to take me back to when I was still twelve and we still only had four Harry Potter books out.
Andrew: Right.
Laura: It sort of just reminds you of that excitement you once had. So…
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: It’s going to take you into the future, too. Because they are going to be putting items from Half-Blood Prince on display, too. So, we’re going to have some déjà vu.
Laura: Nice.
Andrew: It could be like, “Oh my god, I saw that” and hopefully, touched it.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Micah, what do you think?
Micah: I just think it’s a great opportunity for fans. It’s – just going off what Laura was saying earlier, it’s just kind of – the chance for people to go out and hang on, in some small way, to the series. I think there will be more and more things like this over the course of the next couple of years as sort of a remembrance to what it meant to everybody.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
Eric: Do you think? I mean, there’s one thing like this. I haven’t classified this as being like… Now that you guys are saying it, it reminds me of watching – like some people watch the Lord of the Rings documentaries, thirty hours of documentaries on how they did everything. You know, this museum being kind of like that. I don’t think there will be spinoff things. I think this was – you know, depending on how successful this is, it might find a permanent home somewhere. But I
don’t know necessarily about spinoffs, Micah.
Andrew: Well, I’ve always hoped that eventually, they’ll turn Leavesden Studios into a little museum. I mean, that would be awesome. It would be a sin to take down the Great Hall set and Dumbledore’s office set.
Matt: And it’s just…
Andrew: That’s a true sin! [laughs]
Matt: It’s sad because a lot of the set designers, they put a lot of work and detail into this stuff, and you only get to see what? Like a few seconds or a few minutes at the most of it and then they just tear it down.
Andrew: Yeah, but it’s over seven films, so…
Matt: It’s just nice to respect the people that take the time to put their work into this and that other people get to see it up close and marvel at how nice it is.
Andrew: Speaking of that, they – I’ll get to you in a second, Micah, but while Matt’s talking about this, the sets on – the Order of the Phoenix set, Half-Blood Prince set, they build these and tear them down like, so quickly. Because as big as Leavesden Studios is, they’ve got to keep – they need more room for all the sets. So they’ll take a set and then – it’s called striking. They’ll strike it as soon as it’s done. And it’s a shame because there’s so much they could do with that. But, you know, they just have to get rid of this stuff, and it’s kind of depressing. Go ahead, Micah.
Micah: I was just going to talk about what Eric was saying with the spinoffs. I didn’t necessarily mean spinning off of the exhibition, but I meant more of these sort of ancillary events… where you have like a tenth anniversary of Sorcerer’s Stone and follow that up with tenth anniversary of Chamber of Secrets. You have this exhibition, you have Beedle the Bard, which isn’t as big as the previous books, and I’m sure – I just have a feeling J. K. Rowling will do more charity books in the coming years. So I still think that you’ll have these little pieces, not specifically one thing, but all these little different moving parts that’ll keep the fandom going.
#6: Harry Potter Leaves New York Times Best Seller List
Andrew: Yeah, definitely. Story number six: Harry Potter leaves the New York Times Best Seller List for the first time in a decade. How about this? This was – the reason why this is on the list is because it really was a milestone, and we talked about this when the news broke. So many fans were upset and they were like, this is over! This means the fandom’s over! But, it was kind of a sad story to report.
Micah: I remember Laura responding to this on one episode. I can’t remember what you said though.
Laura: Oh gosh.
Andrew: In a positive way, or what?
Micah: I think it was more of a “Hey, everybody, chill out,” kind of…
Laura: Oh okay. Because I hope that I don’t come out and say something that’s the complete opposite of what I said before.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Laura: That’s kind of how I feel about it though. Like, yeah. There aren’t any more coming out. Of course it’s not going to be on the New York Times Best Seller List forever.
Micah: Yeah.
Laura: I think it’s naive to expect that.
Andrew: Right.
Micah: Who else could have rivalled that though? Has any other series rivaled that?
Andrew: No…
Eric: No.
Andrew: I mean, nothing’s been like it.
Eric: I mean, we talked about – this was a topic that got its own show, or at least got a big part of a show, when it came out. It invented new lists on New York Times because it, you know, it invented the Children’s – it was singlehandedly responsible for the New York Times Children’s Best Seller List because no other book could sell as well as Harry Potter and Harry Potter, this quote “kid’s book”, was at the top of the New York Times Best Seller List, which, you know, Dr. Atkins was all indignant [laughs], you know…
Andrew: Right.
Eric: So they had to create all these separate lists and really looked at and challenged the way that even such lists were created, but challenged sales and the way everything was looked at, you know.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: It’s just changed everything.
Andrew: I don’t know if I ever told this story on MuggleCast – I don’t think I did – but when I used to run my little Harry Potter website, I used to have a page called – something related to the Best Seller List. And every week I would – my dad would, this was my dad’s idea, and for some reason I liked it. I rarely like an idea he gives me for MuggleNet these days, or the podcast. But he will – would give me the New York Times Best Seller List and then I would update my site with the rankings. Because he found it so fascinating, and I think a lot of people did, that it consistently stayed on top. And that was really one of the first signs of its huge popularity. Like Eric was saying, it was the reason for creating the Children’s List. So…
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: I think it’s, of course, extremely remarkable. The one thing the original article pointed out from May first of this year was that it was less than a year after Deathly Hallows was published. Does that surprise anyone at all? That the final book in the Harry Potter series left the New York Times Best Seller List after a year?
Matt: No…
Laura: Not really.
Andrew: Okay.
Matt: I mean…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: The fact that it sold for a year, you know, usually…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: You think of a hyped book being out, selling great in the first few months. I mean, that consistently sold all year round. That’s how many people were continuously getting into it for the first time…
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: And reading it for the first time, up to a year afterwards. Think about how many people have that book…
Andrew: Right.
Eric: Here’s the other thing, and so the question with this is news post is what does the story mean for the fandom symbolically and everything? Think about how many people have that book…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And all those people are going to have kids when the book is around, when it comes out on paperback, you know? That’ll sell well. And when it comes out on paperback it’ll probably make another appearance on the Best Seller List possibly. But all of that – think about how many people have the Harry Potter books. And that’s just to show how many there are out of the world, how many people will continuously be exposed to it. The fact that it left the Best Seller List just means from now on people will be getting their Harry Potter books from libraries or other sources. From family members more, you know?
Andrew: Right.
Matt: Well I could understand why some of the fans were just upset because mainly it’s just because, you know, it’s just like a wakeup call to the fact that stuff doesn’t last forever, and stuff moves on. You know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: You just have to change.
Andrew: So – I don’t know. And this was [laughing] looking back on the news post I made. This was before we found out that Beedle was going to be published, so at the last paragraph I put, “Once J. K. Rowling’s Potter encyclopedia is released, we’re sure Potter will make a comeback.”
#5: Half-Blood Prince Trailers
Andrew: Story number five: The Half-Blood Prince trailers, all as a group together. They certainly sparked a lot of excitement in the fandom and I’m pretty sure that for each of these trailers we did a live podcast, didn’t we? So that was a lot of fun for us personally. And why is this on the list?
Matt: [laughing] It’s all we had.
Andrew: [laughs] Well yeah, true. It was just so – it pumped a lot of excitement into the fandom. I think besides the book releases and the movie releases, the next most exciting things are book titles, book covers, and movie trailers. We got three this year and ironically enough, the movie’s not even coming out until next year. So…
Matt: But that’s another number. That’s another one.
Andrew: That’s another story.
Eric: Yeah. I mean, it is another number, too. And we – you know, we could talk about the prolonged time lapse between getting the first trailer and, you know, all the stuff we found out in between getting the latest trailer. But the latest trailer and why I think this is significant – and maybe this should be the point – is that the latest trailer made everyone okay – or the closest to okay – they will be with waiting for next year to see the movie that everyone – I mean, has it not received unanimous praise from everyone? We did a live show and just for an hour and a half to two hours, everyone could only say awesome things about it.
Andrew: Right.
Matt: Well, all the Harry Potter trailers are always awesome. Well, I mean, let’s face it. They’re all pretty good.
Andrew: They really are.
Eric: That is true. We’re all excited to see everything.
Andrew: I can’t remember ever seeing a trailer and being, like, oh, this sucks. They’re just always so well done. And some trailers for movies are bad.
Laura: My only qualm with some of the trailer is – and Andrew, you and I have talked about this. It was the guy that they get every now and then.
Andrew: The voice guy?
Laura: Yeah. [laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Laura: We were making fun of…
Andrew: What if…
Laura: Him online one day.
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: That’s right.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Right.
Eric: They just give him something to say and he says it. They just give him a script. He’s just reading what they gave him.
Andrew: Yeah. I really – yeah. And I have to say, those three trailers were three, probably, of the funnest days of the year for me, [laughs] which may sound lame. But I just love doing live MuggleCast episodes. And it’s always so much fun to do them then, because you’re really capturing the excitement of the fans when we take the live calls and from ourselves, too. And for, I know, two out of these three trailers, we did a live show hours after it came out – each one came out. So, it’s very exciting and – do you guys think we’re going to get – how many more trailers [laughs] could we be seeing? We got to get at least one more, right?
Laura: Yeah, we have to get at least one more.
Eric: Maybe one. One in March.
Andrew: So that’s four trailers. I mean, that’s – normally we would not have received four full…
Matt: This is really weird.
Andrew: Length trailers.
Matt: Yeah, because we received, like, three full teaser trailers. Or teaser trailers, period. And we haven’t gotten any real, you know, promos or anything. Like…
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Posters, or billboards, or anything.
Eric: Yeah, but I’m glad. I mean, I’m glad because I think they overdid it with Movie 4 particularly.
Matt: Order – oh, you think so? Because I think they overdid it with Order of the Phoenix.
Eric: Well, when was it – I mean, it was Movie 4 I know they were posting five to ten minute scenes…
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Eric: Of the movie.
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: Order of the Phoenix did that too. I hate that.
Matt: Yeah. I think they both did that.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Yahoo! Movies always gets, like, a bunch of clips.
Eric: I’m not…
Andrew: It sucks.
Eric: Even cool with what, like, ABC Family does. Like, I’m not even cool with that. Complete…
Andrew: But those are, like, a minute. I mean…
Eric: I know. It’s cool. It’s cool. But I just get edgy when I hear about it.
Andrew: You’re just, like, oh, I’ve already seen this.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: I already…
Matt: I mean…
Andrew: Saw the whole film.
Matt: Like…
Eric: No.
Matt: All you really…
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: …see in those ABC Family things are just the actors going, “Yeah, this is…” Like, Rupert going, [impersonating Rupert Grint] “Yeah, this is a really cool movie. It’s really fun.”
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Laura: “And this one’s so…”
Matt: I mean…
Andrew: “I love this movie. ”
Laura: “…much darker…”
Matt: That’s all you hear.
Laura: “…than the last one.”
Eric: And Michael Gambon…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: …looking, like…
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: …he knows what he’s talking about…
Matt: Yeah, I love that, Laura. [laughs]
Eric: …for the first time ever.
Matt: Every single time, they go [in fake British accent] “Yeah, this movie is a little darker than the other one because the story’s darker and, you know, they get older and, you know, they get into the adulthood.”
Eric: I think they have a script too.
Andrew: Yeah, Eric, I brought that up on the show last week. Michael Gambon really sounded intelligent this time.
Eric: Sounded like he knew what he’s doing. I know.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Like, he really appreciated it too.
Andrew: It was cool.
Matt: Well, he dies in this one. I mean…
Eric: Well, somebody told him [unintelligible].
Matt: He’s got to get serious.
Eric: And I think that’s the thing. He dies.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: So he’s sad.
Eric: And so…
Andrew: I wonder if he’s sad to be leaving the films.
Laura: Well, he’s not.
Eric: He’ll be in the next movie.
Matt: He’ll be in the next movie.
Andrew: Oh, right. That’s true.
Eric: He’ll be in the next two.
Andrew: Well, it’s true.
Matt: Just not as much.
Andrew: Oh, yeah. So I guess he doesn’t care. [laughs]
Eric: All right. Number…
Andrew: Next.
#4: Deathly Hallows Split in Two
Eric: Four, please.
Andrew: Number four story. Just want to remind you, we’re counting down the top stories of 2008. And we’re counting from seven to number one, the biggest story.
Matt: If you…
Andrew: Number four…
Matt: Just joined us, we’re talking about the top stories in Harry Potter.
Andrew: Hey, I’m reminding people because sometimes people zone out while they’re listening to the show.
Eric: Well, and remember…
Andrew: And, you know…
Eric: …before we get to – before we do number one, we’re going to have to stop for commercial break like all those VHR shows.
Andrew: [laughs] Right. Right.
Eric: The countdown for the…
Andrew: The number one story [pauses] will be revealed right after this break.
Eric: And let’s review the last three. No, just… [laughs] Let’s…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Get on.
Andrew: All right, number four. Deathly Hallows split into two separate films. This happened very…
Matt: Now, I think that this…
Andrew: Early…
Matt: Should be…
Andrew: On the year.
Matt: The top ones.
Andrew: What?
Matt: I think this should be higher up. That’s my opinion.
Andrew: Why? And why didn’t you…
Matt: Because this was…
Andrew: Suggest it last night? Oh, wait, you did.
Matt: I did!
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Matt: Oh, I so did! Don’t you even start. I said no…
Andrew: I just said…
Matt: I don’t like…
Andrew: You did.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Well, personally the reason I think it belongs where it is, is because one, the three other stories were much bigger. And this story sort of built up. There were several rumors going on prior to the official announcement. And even the producers said, yeah, we’re looking at this and considering this. And how often do they ever comment on a rumor like this that is pretty damn big? So, I don’t – Warner Brothers certainly was not keeping this under wraps. And this – also with this official announcement came the announcement of David Yates directing Movie 7. So, what do you guys think? What do you think this is really – I mean, in hindsight – well, I’ll look at it this way. Nobody complained. I mean…
Matt: No.
Andrew: I don’t think anybody complained…
Matt: Well…
Andrew: Right?
Laura: No.
Matt: This is basically…
Laura: Didn’t we do a live show for this?
Matt: What every fan…
Andrew: Yeah, we did.
Matt: Yeah, we did. We did a…
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: Big live show.
Andrew: Yeah. It was two hours.
Laura: Everyone was really excited.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: It was fun.
Eric: I think what we could say then is what we can say now, that it just seems like they wanted to give it the proper adaptation. And…
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: The…
Matt: Well, this is what every fan says they want in the movies.
Eric: Yeah.
Matt: They’ve always said, if…
Eric: Longer films.
Matt: Only they did this into two movies.
Eric: More of it.
Matt: Yeah, they want a longer movie or you know, it’s split into two, which is you know, up – up till the Deathly Hallows film it was just, you know, unimaginable. None of the fans ever thought it would ever happen.
Eric: Yeah, we wanted it. I mean, you know, we were thinking even as early as Goblet of Fire people were saying you know, just make it two movies – make it two movies and it was never seriously considered.
Andrew: I remember David Heyman said they even considered that for Goblet of Fire.
Laura: Oh yeah that’s right.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah which is interesting in they finally did it with Deathly Hallows and everyone was like – I mean the greed accusations and all that came later, but everyone was just genuinely happy.
Andrew: [laughs] Came later. I think they came pretty damn quick.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: People, you know…
Matt: Who cares? I mean, geez.
Andrew: And the reason this film was split was the same reason why the movie got delayed – Half-Blood Prince got delayed. So – I think this was definitely one of the most exciting stories because you know it’s an eighth film but I can’t imagine them, like, because once you split Goblet of Fire, don’t you have to split the rest?
Laura: Yeah, thatís what I was thinking too.
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: That would – I don’t think they really needed to split either Order of the Phoenix or Half-Blood Prince, I don’t think.
Andrew: Could you imagine how much longer it would take for the whole series to complete though? I mean…
Laura: Oh my god.
Andrew: We’d be in what – 2018 probably?
Laura: We would all have kids…
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: By the time they finish these movies. Like…
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: No!
Micah: So would the trio. [laughs]
[Everybody laughs]
Matt: The trio could play in the epilogue and they wouldn’t need any makeup.
Andrew: Yeah, oh yeah.
Eric: Yeah, I think they – I think they played it well.
Andrew: That’s true. I really think that one of the reasons behind Goblet of Fire not being split is that they would have had more pressure to split the others and time wise that’s just impossible.
Eric: Especially because – yeah, especially because by then Book 5 was a lot longer than Book 4.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: And let’s be honest, nobody on that cast and crew wanted to be producing these films for twenty years. I mean you got to move on at some point.
Eric: Well, I think it’s – itís what Laura and Micah were saying about – just the age…
Andrew: Them growing up, yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s true. They’ve timed it nicely. I remember – do you guys remember this? Maybe I’m just making this up but with the first couple of films there were a lot of concerns of “oh gee they’re going to be, you know, twenty by the time the last film’s out and they’re going to…”
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: “Look so old and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Do you remember that?
Matt: Well, no, when the first movies came out, they discussed that they would just change the actors.
Andrew: Well, yeah. There was a little talk of that.
Matt: Oh, yeah they’re expendable. We’ll just get another one when they get too old.
Andrew: Well, then it became a hit and that was obviously a dumb decision. But it’s also weird that there used to be a day where – I mean it was just in 2007 when they confirmed that they were signed on through all seven films. I remember – remember that we used to have discussions and there used to be days where you know, we would be like, “Do you think they’ll come back?”
Laura: Well, wasn’t there one point where Emma Watson hadn’t signed on…
Andrew: Yeah that was the big one.
Laura: Because she was considering going to school?
Eric: [sighs] But who else would they recast? You know?
Andrew: They just keep throwing million dollar bills at her until she said yes. I’m sure. I mean – you know, how can you say no to that either? That’s a huge career move for you.
#3: Half-Blood Prince Delayed Eight Months
Andrew: Story number three. Some may argue this was the biggest and when we get to our Twitter segment in a minute, we’ll see that most people did say this was the biggest. Half-Blood Prince delayed eight months. And the first question I want to ask is: where were you guys when the story broke? Because it’s one of those things where you – you know, it’s one of those breaking things like big world events where you remember where you were. I hope all you guys remember, because I sure do.
[Laura laughs]
Matt: Yeah. Well I was with you so I – I remember it.
Micah: I think Laura told me, actually. I was at work.
Laura: Did I?
Micah: Yeah.
Laura: See I know I was at home for the summer but I don’t remember exactly what I was doing or how I found out. I probably read it.
Eric: The MuggleNet – the MuggleNet news story is August 14th, that’s the date for it.
Laura: Yeah. No, I was definitely at home.
Eric: And the thing too was the lead-up. You’ve got to understand too – the lead-up – like where were we? Well, part of where we were when that happened was completely in confusion and anxiety over the fact that the movie was supposedly coming out two, three months and we hadn’t seen or heard near anything…
Andrew: That’s true.
Eric: From WB. You know, so, it was a surprise – it was a shock and it certainly was in its own way, you know, completely controversial. But we were wondering about it – and so where were we, well, we were waiting for news about the movie, not that it had been delayed, not that anyone suspected that it would be delayed, especially months.
Matt: No it was – like it wasn’t really like out of the blue if you think about it because I mean we waited for how long? We thought that the trailer for Half-Blood Prince would come out in May of this year.
Eric: Yeah, and it just didn’t and there were months when it just didn’t, and we didn’t really – we didn’t even really question it that much. I mean we did, kind of, but…
Andrew: [laughs] I was posting news stories every week – like when people would send us in a report, “Yeah I work in this movie theater and there’s no Half-Blood Prince trailer on this reel.” So then I’d post, “no trailer with Kung Fu Panda.”
Eric: Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, I remember that.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: And Micah did you do a – did you do a What’s Buggin’ Micah with the movie?
Micah: I don’t think so. I didn’t start…
Andrew: It really bugged you.
Micah: With all the pictures.
Eric: Maybe that’s why it was delayed.
Laura: [laughs] Micah.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Laura, what did you say?
Laura: I was just going to say I remember when we finally got the teaser trailer with young Tom Riddle in it and I was like, thank God, we know there’s actually a movie being filmed now.
Andrew: Oh yeah. [laughs]
Laura: And then like two weeks later, they’re like, “Oh, never mind.”
Andrew: I don’t even think it was two weeks…
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: It was like a week, wasn’t it?
Laura: Yeah pretty much, yeah.
Andrew: It was so quick. [sighs]
Laura: Well and I just remember my initial reaction was like, “Oh God, what’s wrong with the movie,” like, I was like something happened and I was freaking…
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Out about it. [laughs]
Matt: Yeah. Who died?
Andrew: I remember exactly where I was – I was in Target and…
Matt: We were in line at Target.
Andrew: We were in line at Target. I was staring at the magazines, looking at Empire magazine’s fall Half-Blood Prince preview and there’s Harry Potter on the cover. But I remember Ben called and then Eric called and then Eric was like, [imitating Eric] “I just tried to call you!” And I was in Target where, you know, the reception can be bad when you’re in department stores. And so I didn’t get his first call.
Matt: That’s not true. He really just didn’t want to talk to you, Eric.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s…
Eric: I thought so. I thought so, because I was like – I knew I was like the first person who was going to break the news to him though. So…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Just so it’s on the record that I called him, and then Ben called him…
Andrew: You called me first. And then by the time Ben had called me, I had reception, I guess.
Eric: But it was up on – you got it up on MuggleNet then pretty fast. So…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: I mean, I thought it was a joke.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, I look at this news post now, and it’s seriously the darkest news post we’ve ever made.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: It’s like a funeral! [laughs] It’s like a death sentence. It’s just terrible. [laughs] And I really did feel like a part of me died inside. I’ve said that multiple times and I wasn’t kidding. So that was number four and – we’ll discuss this in a minute, but a lot of people felt like…
Micah: Three.
Laura: That was three.
Matt: That was number three.
MuggleCast 167 Transcript (continued)
#2: J.K. Rowling vs. RDR Books Trial
Andrew: Sorry. And a lot of people felt like that was the biggest story of 2008, but we’ll discuss that in a minute. Story number two. Oh boy, here we go. The J.K. Rowling v. RDR books trial. This was held in – it was April and – oh no, sorry, it was March.
Eric: But it spanned months.
Laura: Yeah, it went for a long time.
Andrew: Right. I just want to check to make sure. I mean, the actual…
Matt: It spanned for almost an entire year.
Andrew: The trial itself was held in March and it was from the thirteenth to the sixteenth, or the fourteenth to the sixteenth. And man, that was a crazy week on MuggleNet, wasn’t it? I mean, for all…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Just like news post demise.
Matt: It was scary for the fandom. Because…
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Especially for MuggleNet and other web sites because this could – the outcome could have seriously affected all the fan sites of Harry Potter.
Eric: And all of the fan fiction writers were worried as well and the implications that everything would have.
Matt: Oh yeah.
Eric: And what’s fun for me is going back to that week in MuggleNet news posts and just – I like watching the thumbnails of each because we would have different press photos of Jo…
Andrew: Right.
Eric: In the business suit, showing up at each trial.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Kind of like the different aggravated and like the RDR books spokesperson was like, you know, everything was happening and we were totally with it. At every step of the way, every time someone said something, we’d have their picture looking, you know, completely disgruntled and attacked, defensive, and just – it was great. It was great. Looking at the news post thumbnails is fun.
Andrew: Well, let me just say while Eric’s on that. I’ll tell you real quick that there was so much news being posted that I felt that we had to have different thumbnails because otherwise they were all going to look the same.
[Matt and Laura laugh]
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Because there was so much news related to it, so we were making thumbnails like crazy. And thank God for Yahoo! News, they had like a whole page where you would just keep on going back to for [laugh] the latest on the thumbnail for the trial.
Matt: [laughs] Yeah. They had like a gallery every like ten minutes.
Andrew: Yeah, they did. It was a trial gallery.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, I got to say thanks to those people for taking so many pictures.
Micah: I just remember going to you, “I need a thumbnail. I need a thumbnail. I need a thumbnail.” It was – but it was also fun. I mean, it was a very busy week of news, but I thought it was fun because you were really following everything that was going on and you know like Eric said, we were literally on top of everything and getting news up as quickly as we possibly could. I remember there was some blog on The Wall Street Journal that was following it.
Andrew: That was very helpful.
Micah: Yeah, in terms of explaining everything…
Andrew: Right.
Micah: …that was going on legally.
Andrew: And getting reports from inside the court room because they would update like – in the morning. They would update during the court lunch break. So you would have a morning report and then they would update at the end of the day, so then you would have the report from afternoon. So that was really helpful. And I’m going to say, hard for me because I did not – I don’t know this court crap so I was very reliant on The Wall Street Journal blog who put it into simple terms. And I just still have memories of just sitting in Rowan in the library, and just sitting there at the table just figuring out this stuff.
Eric: Being such a challenging case for copyright law, just the episodes when we got into it and we questioned, we went over copyright law and its definition, its legal parameters – that was all really cool. And it allowed us develop and really talk about stuff, and try to handle it informingly and not just emotionally.
Andrew: Definitely. Yeah.
Eric: That was really good.
Andrew: And that was one of our best episodes. Because we – and that whole copyright law thing was very intriguing. Because we broke it down, point by point, we tried to figure it out from an unbiased stand point. And we got a lot of feedback about that, and I remember specifically at Portus, who listened to the show – it was one person at least from this podcast called SnapeCast.
Laura: Oh yeah.
Andrew: And they came up and said, “Thank you. You discussion was excellent, and it was fair. [mumbles] Unlike other podcasts. So thank you for that and it was great. And I was like, “Well thank you. I really appreciate that. That’s really good to hear.”
Eric: That was very passionate.
Andrew: Some people were upset, let’s be honest. We did get some e-mails saying, I can’t remember, but some people didn’t like it.
Micah: Well, I think no matter what…
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: …people are going to show their bias. And clearly we all had our own positions on the issue, but we tried to bring up as much for either side as we possibly could. That doesn’t mean we are going to agree with everything.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: Right.
Andrew: And from an unbiased stand point, I really felt like Jo was right. I’m not afraid to say that Jo was crazy, if she was, but she wasn’t crazy, she was absolutely right.
Laura: Yeah, I agree.
Eric: Yeah, and I un-biasly can say otherwise.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: I’m just proving a point by saying that, but it’s okay.
Micah: There you go.
Eric: I want to do a little review here real quick, before we get to number one. I’m going to do a little recap. Okay?
Andrew: Okay.
#1: The Tales of Beedle The Bard Release
Eric: Main discussion year in review the top seven stories of 2008. Number 7, was WB announcing their Harry Potter: The Exhibition to tour the world in 2009. Number 6, was Potter leaves the New York Times Best Seller List for the first time in ten years, everyone is sad. Number 5, Half-Blood Prince trailer is released. Number 4, Deathly Hallows is going to be split into two separate films. Number 3, Half-Blood Prince is delayed eight months. Number 2, J.K.R. vs. R.D.R. trial, and now we are at the moment of truth, the number one top story of 2008, Andrew.
Andrew: Drum roll please.
[Eric makes drum roll sound]
Matt: Say it!
Andrew: Nude photos on Hermione’s website!
[Laura laughs]
Matt: Oh, is that point five?
Andrew: Just kidding! No, I butchered it.
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Andrew: Actually I meant new photos on Emma Watson’s website. I didn’t want to say nude.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Lightmaker does a second site, it is for Emma Watson, that’s what we have here.
Andrew: It’s for real Emma Watson fans!
Matt: Oh, Ben.
Andrew: No, The Tales of Beedle the Bard being released. Why was this number one? Why wasn’t the delay being number one? Personally, I think this was the number one story because this showed that the Harry Potter fandom was not dead, J.K. Rowling was not done. She was still willing to put books on shelves.
Eric: Still could be books out.
Andrew: Yeah. And people were still willing and excited to go to midnight release parties, even though not as many bookstores had midnight release parties.
Eric: When was Beedle the Bard auctioned? Was that this year or?
Andrew: It was December of last year.
Eric: December of last year? It was the end of last year, so when we followed the story at the beginning of the year we thought that when Amazon – Amazon won, for what was it, 3.98 million? Was it pounds or dollars or something?
Andrew: Dollars, that was 3.98 million pounds – I mean dollars.
Micah: Well, I don’t know if I agree with it being number one.
Matt: No, I don’t either.
Micah: I’m one of those people that thinks the delay sits up at number one and, you know, Andrew, you mentioned about how showing the strength of the fandom. I would say the response to the movie delay also showed the strength of the fandom. Just how angry and persuasive they can be, or responsive rather, they can be. But as far as Beedle the Bard though, I thought it was a good thing. You look at all the money going to charity, it being the fastest selling book of 2008, and knowing that the money is going to such a good place and Eric mentioned the live show in London and as we know, all the unveilings that took place both in New York City and in Edinburgh. So, I thought there was a lot of good things that came out of Beedle the Bard.
Andrew: Laura, you’re the tiebreaker here. Was Beedle the Bard the most – the biggest story, or was something else?
Laura: I would have to say that I agree with you on this, Andrew.
Andrew: Yes!
Laura: I mean, I definitely think…
Micah: Boo!
Matt: Boo!
Laura: Okay, I was definitely more, not excited, but I was definitely more riled up by the movie delay, but I think for the fandom as a whole Beedle the Bard was a bigger story, because after all the years of Jo Rowling giving us things, you know, giving us books and giving us her time for interviews, she turns around, a year after her final book in the Harry Potter series, she’s turning around and selling something again, but this time for charity, and I just think that the charitable contribution in itself makes it a huge story, and it just goes to show that Potter fans rock, and we give to charity.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Now that I think about it, and I’m reading the list, I would think that the JKR/RDR trial and The Tales of Beedle the Bard probably are the biggest Harry Potter, itself, news, but for the fandom I thought – I agree with Micah with the Half-Blood Prince delay. I thought Beedle the Bard as a whole was probably like, the best little encore of the Harry Potter series that she could probably do for the fans. You know, like a little curtain closing a little bit. You get a little extra thing.
Andrew: Well hopefully it’s not an ending. But – yeah, so, I think it’s split and we’ll get to the Twitter responses in a little bit, and like I said before, most of them were about Half-Blood Prince being delayed, but people also brought up good points of Beedle the Bard, so we’ll get to those in a minute. Eric, you entered some honorable mentions. Probably a good idea. What were some of those?
Best of 2008: Honorable Mentions (News Stories)
Eric: Well Andrew, I thought there were some things that did happen this year that we did, MuggleCast history that were worthy of just honorable mentioning. One of them was the conclusion of Pickle Pack. Which happened this April, April of 2008. The beginning of the year, we sort of just finished up, and everyone, including Matt got really involved with doing Blickles and making up for lost time in 2007 and just, in the end it ended with a bang, and I think people were really happy. Oh, and also the second thing, the other honorable mention I mentioned – or wanted to mention was MuggleNet’s election day coverage that you guys, was it Micah that spearheaded it?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Because I know, Micah, you did all the news posts. And to be honest, this is something that I – I was really busy. I had nothing to do with it, not next to nothing. I had nothing to do with this, and I would still come to MuggleNet and see that it was going on, and I thought it was a great idea from the beginning, the election day, side-by-side, elect your Minister of Magic. And, I thought it was just the coolest idea! I have to give you mad props; I thought it was absolutely, insanely awesome every way that it was done. How it happened, that you all kept track of it, that you all [laughs] – the Twitters. Everything just looked so wonderful and I have to say, from the outside looking in, it was – it just looked like something that would be so much fun to be a part of.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, Micah, definitely a great job. And – yeah, I forgot what I was going to say, go ahead. Your acceptance speech, please.
Micah: [laughs] Well, no, Eric, I mean, thanks. It was a lot of fun to do, and it’s just those types of things, I think, that keep people interested. I think the biggest thing also, that I took out of it, was seeing people who weren’t old enough to vote saying, “Hey, we can actually voice our opinion and it’s going to matter.” Even though it’s a fictional election, but they actually felt like they were contributing in some way and getting to vote, even though they weren’t allowed to vote in the presidential election, or even people from other countries who couldn’t really have a say in what goes on here felt like they were making a difference.
The First Annual MuggleCasties
Andrew: Yeah. It was just very interesting in general to follow. All right, and now we’re going to do the first annual MuggleCasties award. This is just something we’ll try out just for fun. We’re going to do a couple of categories and name the answer and our opinions, like what…
Matt: Oh – thats cool.
Andrew: …what fulfilled that category.
Micah: So we’re going to go around the table?
Andrew: Let’s go around the table really quick. Biggest impact on the fandom story: Definitely the Half-Blood Prince delay for me.
Laura: Same.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Matt: Same.
Micah: I agree.
Andrew: Eric?
Eric: Yeah, me too.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Okay. [laughs] That one was easy.
Eric: I was thinking, I was thinking.
Andrew: This sort of goes hand in hand with this: most shocking story was also the Half-Blood Prince delay, in my opinion.
Laura: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: I’m going to go with the trial.
Andrew: Yeah. Specifically the outcome, actually.
Eric: Well the outcome, that it was happening – I think the trial was shocking, and – Micah brought up the parallel too – about when he was debating whether or not Tales of The Beedle the Bard should be the number one story, he mentioned something which reminded me that – well, Tales of the Beedle the Bard, he said, was more like a fandom event – I mean, a non-fandom event. It was for everyone who reads the books and likes the books, whereas the trial was more fandom-related, because inside the fandom – inside the people who were active online and viewing our site, there were the feuds and the death threats and the things, you know, which is much closer to us as far as feuding but Beedle the Bard is something that’s great for fans everywhere is what I was thinking. So, most shocking story, I’m going to go with what was really close and personal, because a lot of personal stuff was happening with the JKR feud before anyone – I mean, I think with the WB thing, you really hated WB or not, but with the JKR/RDR you were on one side and people fought about that I think a lot longer or a lot more intensely than with the Warner Brothers thing.
Micah: Yeah. Most shocking – I mean, I might stay with the RDR trial and say them filing for appeal on the day – or, I’m sorry, the re – I forget the right word. Kind of like – [sighs] I don’t know what the legal term for it is but getting rid of their appeal on the day Beedle the Bard was released. So, essentially deciding that they weren’t going to file for appeal.
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Micah: You know, I thought it was…
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: …a little weird timing and after having gone through all of this in the first place, I thought it was just kind of weird that they were stepping aside.
Eric: It’s – but it is good, and I think – I think the reason I think it’s most shocking too is because it shocked me to read the actual written responses and testimony, and all the allegations were shocking to me. I was very shocked and I voiced the opinion at the time. I was shocked how RDR handled the accusation to begin with, and how everything spiralled out of control after that. I think it was shocking that it was actually happening, and it was something that even non-Harry Potter fans were saying, “Hey!” You know – were coming to me and saying – and everyone I knew who was a Harry Potter fan was being asked, “What do you think about this? Is it JKR being greedy? Is it this author lady?” You know, they wouldn’t even know her, and everyone knew, even if you were outside the fandom, because it was making news about the court trial.
Andrew: Next story: The…
Matt: Least surprising.
Andrew: Least surprising, yeah. This is interesting. I didn’t really think about this.
Eric: Yeah, whoever thought of it was a good idea.
Andrew: Actually, I guess Movie 7 being split into two films, because there was a sort of lead up to it.
Laura: Yeah, it had been rumored for a while.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Really?
Eric: Yeah, it’s a big and important thing, but how else would they do it? And…
Andrew: Well, let’s make this least exciting…
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: [laughs] least surprising yet exciting. I mean…
Eric: It’s still exciting. I mean, it’s still one of the biggest…
Andrew: Right.
Eric: …things of the year. It’s the least surprising story. I mean, we were doing Chapter by Chapter for Book 7 and we just kept saying each show, “Wow, this is a big scene, how are they going to do it tribute?” You know, before we knew.
Andrew: Right. Right.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: Anyone else?
Eric: The next one I like…
Matt: No, no, I don’t think – I honestly don’t think that that was mine. I think my least surprising was probably Tales of Beedle the Bard given out to the public.
Andrew: Well, okay, yeah, fair enough.
Matt: I wasn’t all that surprised about that.
Micah: What else were you going to say, Matt?
Matt: What?
Micah: I didn’t hear what you said at the very end, about Beedle the Bard.
Matt: Oh. It was the least surprising story for me.
Micah: Okay, because it was actually released on the date it was supposed to be, and didn’t get delayed for eight months?
[Eric and Matt laugh]
Eric: There was nothing surprising about that.
Matt: No, because I always thought that it was going to be released to the public anyway. I didn’t know – I wasn’t really surprised when they announced that people would be able to buy it. It just didn’t make sense that it would only be to a special few people. That’s why I thought it was going to be…
Eric: Yeah, because she did create that new content.
Matt: Yeah, she made all that content and everything and she’s just going to give it to a few people? I just thought, “Okay, she’s going do it for charity, so obviously she’s going to wait until a while, and then she’s going to give it out to more people so she can make more money for charity.” It just makes sense.
Micah: Right. Yeah I mean for me, least surprising, I think Andrew mentioned it before, but it’s a smaller story but with Emma Thompson not coming back. You know, some people actually made a big deal about that, but I didn’t think it was that major.
Matt: So least interesting story?
Micah: Yeah, or least surprising. I mean, actors leave all the time. I mean, Eric was talking before about how they didn’t think that the trio was going be able to make it through all seven films.
Andrew: Best Half-Blood Prince pic/video of the year.
Micah: Oh geez.
Laura: Oh, this is Micah’s favorite category.
[Micah laughs]
Micah: Hang on, I’ve got to flip through my album here.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: For me, I have to say that my favorite video was definitely just seeing the scene – obviously all the trailers are great – but seeing the scene where Dumbledore having that ring of fire around him. I really think that’s going to be a huge pinnacle scene, and not just sort of like half-assed like some scenes have in previous films that are really hyped up.
Eric: My best promo pic and/or video of the year would have to be the most recent trailer, which looks awesome.
Matt: Yes!
Eric: I would say the movie itself, but I saw a version without all the special effects and I don’t want to be cocky, so I’m just going to say the most recent trailer.
Andrew: Laura, how about you?
Matt: Mhm.
Laura: Oh, it would definitely have to be the leaked trailer where the special effects weren’t finished, and McGonagall just shoots that beautifully fake lightning bolt into the air.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: That was my top moment of my year.
Matt: That took days.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: That took seconds to copy and paste from Microsoft clip art. Micah?
Laura: It honestly kind of looked like the lightning bolt out of iMovie. Have you ever used that before?
Andrew: It probably was, they probably recreated it.
Laura: [laughs] It probably was!
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: You see some “Copyright iMovie” on the bottom right hand corner.
Laura: You see the little apple.
Matt: “Courtesy of iMovie.”
Micah: Video? The most recent trailer, the fansite trailer, I would have to say. I like the shots of the astronomy tower that we got, especially the one of Harry supporting Dumbledore, which I guess is right when they got back from the cave. As far as pictures go, all of them. I mean every single one of them. I love them all. They were great.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: You say that almost without alternative meanings, Micah.
Micah: Yeah, they were great. You know, I’ve got them all up on my wall, I’ve got them on the computer. I had such a great time with all the photos. At least they gave us a reason why they did it, because they weren’t going to put out a movie so they decided to…
Eric: It sounds like that bugs you, Micah.
Matt: I think my favorite has to be with everyone else, with the trailer. I think it was the third trailer, because of the one where – the one scene that we got to see with Dumbledore and Harry on the rock in the ocean, and the wind’s blowing in Dumbledore and Harry’s face, and Harry’s just looking at Dumbledore with – he doesn’t look very sure about this whole situation, and Dumbledore is just staring at it like, “Oh yeah, we’re going in there,” you know? That was pretty cool.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Eric: “We’re going in, cover me!”
Matt: “Oh yeah, Harry. This is the last place you’re going to be with me before I get killed. Yeah, you ready for this? Let’s go.”
Eric: And the following MuggleCasties award is the J.K. Rowling award. It is soon to be prestigious. MuggleCast is doing this first, first annual MuggleCasties. And this year’s J.K. Rowling award goes to…drumroll please.
[Andrew makes drumroll sound]
Eric: J.K. Rowling.
Andrew: Oh, what a surprise. Oh my God, really?
Laura: Wow, I never would’ve expected.
Eric: I think it’s only appropriate. We’re a Harry Potter podcast to have J.K. Rowling award, and this year J.K. Rowling won it.
Andrew: Congrats to her.
Eric: We’ll see better luck next year to the other contestants trying to win the J.K. Rowling award.
Micah: I heard she was going to accept that award on the first show of the new year.
Andrew: Yeah, I was going to say we tried to reach her for comment, but as of press time we have not heard back.
Twitter Feedback
Andrew: And to wrap this whole big discussion up, we’re going to take some Twitter feedback. We’re going to have Twitter feedback every week now as I brought up last week, it’s just a couple quick ones.
First one, “LummyDeedleDum” writes about – the question was, “What was the biggest story of 2008?” and LummyDeedleDum wrote: “The Half-Blood Prince push back until Summer 2009 because it showed the world how passionate Harry Potter fans are and it also got the most press coverage.”
That’s very true, it may have gotten more coverage than Beedle The Bard.
Matt: Yeah there are so many videos.
Eric: Not more than the trial, the Washington Post didn’t write about the – pushback.
Andrew: Yeah, well, biggest reaction, maybe she was trying to say.
Matt: Yeah, definitely the biggest reaction.
Andrew: “Hptwilighter” writes: “Beedle The Bard going to the fans announcement. Half-Blood Prince news is just for the movies but more from Jo equals amazing!”
I think that’s a good point because it’s more from Jo, the creator of all this.
“DominicoE” writes: “Delaying Movie 6 because Movie 6 would’ve been the biggest event of 2008.”
I disagree with that, I don’t – wouldn’t the movie being released be the biggest event if it came out this year?
Eric: It depends on what they decided to do with Beedle the Bard if the movie was coming out.
Andrew: Good point.
Eric: Assuming any has an effect on the other.
Andrew: I don’t think so, because they – last year, you know, with Book 7 and Movie 7 being like ten days apart.
Eric: Right, but I’m glad that Beetle the Bard came out with no other thing to be worried about at the time.
Micah: Yeah. I would say that maybe even the trial would have moved up to number one if the movie actually came out.
Matt: Yeah. That’s true, too.
Andrew: “Danielle525” said: “Beedle the Bard was the biggest story to me. It’s a new Harry Potter-related book from Jo. So, that’s pretty special.”
And lastly, “Malawyer” writes: “Definitely the news to split Deathly Hallows into two movies. It was great news to know that at the end our fave series would be done right.”
Matt: I think we should have had a category “The Biggest Upset,” and I think the split of Deathly Hallows is probably the best.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Like, the one where the fans got the most, you know…
Eric: The biggest “Huh?!” WB moment.
Matt: …positive. Yeah, the biggest “Yay!” kind of feedback.
Best of MuggleCast: Episode 142
Andrew: Yeah. There’s a poll now up on MuggleNet asking you which question is the biggest – or which story is the biggest of 2008. So, head on over there and vote, and that’ll be interesting to see what the general audience thinks, but I have a hunch they’re all going to say the Half-Blood Prince pushback because, at least with Twitter, like 80 percent said the Half-Blood Prince pushback was the biggest. So, it’ll be interesting to see what our audience writes in, too, and says they disagree. Anyway, it’s time for another “Best of MuggleCast” clip of 2008, and then we have a Chicken Soup, and we’re going to wrap it up today. This was from our court discussion that we actually talked about a little earlier on. This is from Episode 142 from April 19, 2008.
[Andrew plays clip]
Micah: The key players in this huge court trial that has taken place over the last four days. Obviously, everybody knows about J.K. Rowling and Steve Vander Ark, but…
Andrew: So wait a second, wait. This is all your – you don’t have any fanfare or anything? This is the best you can do?
Micah: What do you mean “fanfare”?
Andrew: Well, I mean, like this is a big – you just said yourself, it’s a big – this is a big trial you…
Eric: [in a booming voice] “And the co-plaintiff is…
Andrew: Yeah. You…
Eric: …J.K. Rowling.”
Andrew: …you don’t have anything prepared like that?
Micah: Oh, you want me to do it like that?
Eric: Well, we’re not all like you, Andrew. We don’t all have those j-j-j-j-J.K. Rowling c-c-c-co-plaintiff.
Andrew: Hold on, wait, I think I can set this up properly. Hold on one second.
Eric: Okay.
[Theme from Monday Night Football plays]
Eric: Oh, god.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: [announcer voice echoing] In this corner, coming in at five foot five and an undisclosed amount of weight, J. K. Rowling! And in this corner, looking not a day over twelve years old, breaking down at the podium, Steven Vander Ark! [speaking normally] All right, that’s much better. Now we have the whole thing set up, and people will realize how big this trial actually is.
Micah: I don’t even know how to continue after that, though. That was just amazing.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I agree.
Andrew: Thank you.
[Clip ends]
Andrew: So there you go. That’s the end of the clip.
[Laura laughs]
Micah: That was good.
Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul: Surgery Edition
Andrew: We’re going to wrap things up today with a Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul: Surgery Edition. This comes from Olivia G., 14, of Maryland. She writes,
“Hey MuggleCast, I love your show, and I check my iTunes as often as I can to see if you uploaded a new show. Thank you guys for continuing to produce an awesome show. Today, I had to undergo a minor surgical procedure on my feet. Really minor, nothing anyone responsible should be afraid of…”
Oh, sorry.
“Nothing anyone reasonable should be afraid of, but I guess I’m not exactly a Gryffindor. I was terrified. I wasn’t put to sleep during the procedure, so I put MuggleCast on my iPod nice and loud. Focusing on your voices kept my mind off my fear and off the pain. I’m now resting at home with two very sore toes, but I should be fine in a few days. Thanks so much for helping me conquer my fears. Hugs, pickles, and gold. Olivia.”
Laura: Aw.
Andrew: So, Olivia, we’re very happy to help you through your surgery.
Laura: Yeah. Surgery’s a scary thing.
Andrew: That would be one of the first times someone was, you know, being – having surgery and listening at the same time. I would be listening to Hairspray really loud.
Micah: As long as it’s not the doctor, we’re okay.
Andrew: Yes. Yes.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: It’s not like going bungee jumping and having them play Jump by Van Halen.
Andrew: Yeah. “Jump, jump.” Yeah.
Eric: That actually happened to me.
Remembering 2008
Andrew: All right. Well, it’s been another great year and it’s time to wrap up the final episode of 2008. Thank you everyone for listening through another year. And if you’re a new listener, we hope this is the first year of many. It’s a big year for us.
Eric: Yes.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: It’s the first year we – this is the year we stopped doing shows weekly, which hasn’t been too bad.
Matt: Yes.
Andrew: No, it hasn’t.
Matt: No. It was a good thing, because there wasn’t really anything to talk about that much on a weekly basis.
Eric: For some weeks. And then other weeks there was a lot to talk about.
Andrew: Hence the two hour shows.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Which was great.
Matt: I mean, unless we wanted to do Chapter-by-Chapter for all seven books.
Eric: [gasps] Ooh. Can we?
Andrew: Maybe. We’ll…
Laura: Ooh. I don’t think so.
Matt: Laura and I discussed it last night. We really want to do it.
Eric: Really? You guys were?
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: Wow. For some reason, I’m not remembering this conversation, Matt.
Matt: [laughs] Oh, Laura. She’s modest.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Laura really doesn’t like when you put words in her mouth, Matt.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s not mean.
Matt: Oh well. Someone has to.
Micah: But it was a big year for the show, too. I mean, we really didn’t talk about the show, right? I mean, all of Portus and you guys going to London, and Jim Dale, and…
Eric: A lot still happened. A lot still happened.
Micah: …the podcast award.
[Show music starts]
Andrew: Yeah. And a big year coming up in 2009 with the movie and Azkatraz and a few surprises along the way.
Eric: Yeah. With the trial, even without having a book out, this show grew in leaps and bounds with interviews of prestigious celebrities like Jim Dale.
Andrew: [laughs] Definitely. Yes.
Eric: And Stephenie Meyer.
Andrew: Yes. Oh yeah! That too. I forgot that.
Micah: Didn’t you have Spiderwick Chronicle kid on, too.
Andrew: Was that this year?
Laura: Oh yeah.
Andrew: That was this year. Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, it was!
Laura: Spiderwick Chronicle kid! [laughs]
Micah: [laughs] Sorry. That’s probably – what’s his name?
Laura: Freddie Highmore.
Micah: Oh, I’m sorry, yeah.
Andrew: Big year of interviewing stars on MuggleCast who have no relation to Harry Potter.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: So it was awesome.
Laura: Well, Spiderwick Chronicles, remember, we saw – we saw that in…
Andrew: It was just like PoA.
Laura: Yeah.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: All right, well, thank you everyone for listening. This episode really flew by for me. I cannot believe it’s been an hour and fifty minutes recording. So yeah, it’s just lovely.
Eric: Yes.
Andrew: It’s wonderful.
Eric: 2008 was fun. I can’t wait to see you guys again at Azkatraz, it’ll probably be.
Andrew: Yeah. I cannot wait to see you either.
Eric: Unless it happens to be – you guys should all come to Chicago for the Harry Potter: The Exhibition.
Andrew: Maybe. What if it comes to me? Why should I go to it?
Eric: Because Chicago’s the first.
Andrew: True. It’ll probably be the best. Thank you everyone for listening to our final episode of 2008. Once again, I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I am Eric Scull.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Matt: And I am ending the show of the year with my name. Matt Britton.
Andrew: We’ll see everyone next time – sometime in January – for Episode 168. Buh-bye!
Laura: Bye, happy New Year!
Andrew: Happy New Year. Yeah, happy New Year to you all!
Matt: Bye, happy New Year.
Micah: Happy New Year!
Matt: Yeah! Kiss each other.