MuggleCast 261 Transcript
Show Intro
[“Hedwig’s Theme” plays]
Andrew: Because this is our eighth year Harry Potter podcasting, this is MuggleCast Episode 261 for January 27th, [2013].
[Show music begins]
Andrew: This week’s podcast is brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 100,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction, and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast.
[Show music continues]
Andrew: Welcome to MuggleCast Episode 261. Eric, Micah, and I are here this week. Hello, gentlemen.
Eric: Hello.
Micah: Hello.
Andrew: What do we have on tap for this week, this month, this year? The first episode of 2013? You guys tell me.
Micah: It’s kind of scary, isn’t it? To think this will be our eighth year of podcasting?
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: We started way, way back in 2005.
Andrew: Mhm. It is a long time, Micah.
Micah: It is. What’s interesting is seeing you guys as we podcast here because we’re doing it on Google Hangout, which we haven’t normally done over the last… how long has Google Hangout even been around? A year?
Andrew: Yeah, maybe a year or two. But it’s only gotten better recently, so…
Micah: Yeah. I just find it interesting to see what each of you do as you podcast. Andrew…
Andrew: What do you notice about me?
Micah: Sipping some coffee or alcohol.
Andrew: It’s pure vodka.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: It’s a nice mug.
Micah: That’s what I was going to say. Yeah, it’s cool. But anyway, on this episode, nothing. We’re not going to change too much in 2013, I don’t think. We’re going to stick to our normal format. Go through some news, talk a little bit about Harry Potter…
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: …new content from Pottermore, and do some fun segments. And we might even bring back a voicemail or two.
Andrew: Wow. Bring back from where?
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: From two years ago, the voicemail.
Eric: Well, well, let’s…
Micah: No, no, no, it’s been longer than that.
Andrew: The lost voicemail.
Micah: I was going to say we should really task the listeners with going back in time and seeing if they can tell us the last time we had a voicemail on the show.
Andrew: I would think you could just search the show notes and find… because we would probably mark the voicemail segment.
Micah: That’s true.
Andrew: I would think.
Micah: I would think. But…
Eric: I’m going to do that right now. I’m curious.
Micah: Let’s see, if we had to guess – go around the table – when was the last time we had a voicemail on this podcast?
Andrew: 2008.
Eric: Would you think… oh wow, that’s a specific year. Would think that it was before… we haven’t had voicemails since we had David Heyman on the show, did we? Have we?
Micah: Did we have…
Andrew: Yeah, maybe that was the last time.
Micah: …voicemails specifically for him?
Eric: No, we didn’t. But I was saying that was kind of a milestone. But that was two or three years ago, Episode 200.
Micah: Yup.
Eric: So, let me…
Micah: I think Andrew could be on target there. 2008, possibly.
Andrew: Well, tell us what’s in the news today, Micah.
News: Wizarding World Construction Begins in Japan
Micah: We have some updates from the Wizarding World in Japan. Construction finally beginning over there. Many, many thousands of miles away from all of us, but we’re slowly starting to see things come together. I see one picture here with Elmo on the wall outside. I don’t know how Elmo ties into Universal Studios, necessarily.
Andrew: Weird things happen in Japan. That’s all you can say about that.
Micah: Everything is randomly connected, I guess, in other parts of the globe. But the building that we see, I’m not entirely sure what it is and why it’s necessarily associated with the Wizarding World, unless it’s the beginning of the castle being put together. But it looks more just like your average corporate building, to be honest with you.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: There’s nothing that really says Harry Potter about it. [laughs]
Andrew: Well, of course. Micah, come on, you’re a construction man. They’re not going to build Hogwarts Castle, they’re building the structure. My guess is that’s probably the building that the Forbidden Journey will be housed in.
Micah: Hmm.
Eric: I think that’s probably right.
Andrew: It looks just like the other one, so yeah. And it’s supposed to be the same exact thing as what’s in Orlando right now, so we shouldn’t be expecting any surprises or anything. But it’ll be interesting to see if they make any areas bigger because of crowd issues. I know there’s been some crowd concerns with Wizarding World Orlando, so that’ll be interesting to see if they kind of backtrack on those from the original plans.
Eric: It’s funny, I usually think of Asia as having crowd issues normally.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, and I mean the thing about the small stores, as they argue, is that in the books they’re small, the stores are small. It was kind of designed that way on purpose to make it loyal to the book.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: And the movies. So…
Micah: Yeah. I wonder, though. You said it’s going to be the same as the one in Orlando. Is that including an expansion?
Andrew: No.
Micah: Or will Orlando be the only one that has this new area?
Andrew: My guess is Orlando is going to be the only one with this expansion because they… I think Universal Orlando still probably wants the advantage over the other parks.
Micah: Mhm.
Andrew: And who knows how well these other parks are going to do in these different locations. It’s kind of a safe bet that they’ll be successful, but we don’t know for sure. So yeah, I think you’re just going to see that in Orlando. By the way, we were sent on Hypable some photos of the Orlando expansion and we were asked to take them down, but they were something. They basically proved that they are building Gringotts. We saw the windows and we saw the teller desks. [laughs]
Eric: Oh, wow.
Andrew: So, there’s kind of no doubt that…
Micah: Did you see the goblins?
Andrew: No, those have not been constructed yet.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Warwick was not there.
Micah: But it says this park is set to open in late 2014. Is that the same timeline for the park out in Hollywood as well?
Andrew: I think that one is 2015.
Micah: Hmm.
Andrew: Yeah, because they’ve barely even started here. There’s nothing, as far as I’m aware. And they have to knock down a lot of stuff here first, whereas in Orlando and Japan they didn’t. What else is going on in the news?
News: Pottermore Insider Explains How Moments Are Created
Micah: We got an interesting update from Pottermore. They took us behind the scenes to really give us insight into how a Moment is created. So, as you go through Pottermore, usually you get several chapters per segment – or several segments per chapter, I should say – and you get these Moments from the design team, coded and magically created so that you can interface with it. I thought that kind of the big piece in this was that they try and take scenes that don’t necessarily appear in the movies. They specifically said, “We also like to highlight scenes that were omitted from the films or those where the film depiction differs from the books.” So, they really want to give people experiences that they wouldn’t normally have if they were watching the movies.
Andrew: Yeah. I think that’s a really good idea because I think, as I wrote in here, it’s good that they… it’s nice that what Rowling dreamed up finally gets some visual light of day, as I put it…
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: …kind of poorly in the post. Because you don’t see it in the movies, so that’s nice that they prioritize.
Micah: Yup.
Andrew: They should really say that more, say, “Hey, join Pottermore and check out these scenes that you didn’t get to see in the movies.”
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: That seems like a selling point to me.
Eric: I agree with that. They’re all very artistic and they’re fun to look at. So, the fact that they weren’t specifically in the movies… I noticed that even the scenes that made it completely into the movies from the book, they managed to keep it interesting on Pottermore in terms of the perspective of the Moments.
Micah: I agree with what you said, Andrew, though. I think it would be a great selling point.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: I think that a lot of people go to Pottermore… and for those who have read the books, they’re looking for the additional information. And when they’re interfacing with it, they tend to get frustrated or get bored because you don’t necessarily have that much going on. There’ll be a chapter where you’re just clicking and nothing really happens. Maybe you hear a noise here or there. But if you know going in that, “Hey, I’m experiencing a chapter that doesn’t appear in the movies, and they took a lot of time and attention and care to detail in creating this,” maybe you’ll appreciate it a little bit more.
Andrew: Yeah. Exactly.
Eric: Mhm.
Andrew: I wonder if there’s going to be a Pottermore Superbowl commercial.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Eric: They want to be everywhere, don’t they?
Micah: Brought to you by Sony?
Eric: Yeah, brought to you by Sony.
Andrew: Yeah, Sony’s probably got the money for it. Yeah, they do want to be everywhere. You would think that’s kind of… they should consider that.
Eric: A logical step.
Micah: They do. There was a story not too long ago – I think it was actually yesterday or the day before – about how they’re now working together with the Book of Spells.
Andrew: Really? Oh, that’s right.
Micah: And how you can now connect spells that you learned on the PlayStation and bring them into Pottermore. So, I guess you can duel with them or do something to that effect. I didn’t really read too much up on it, but…
Andrew: Well, I know when you connect your accounts you can get the wand that you were assigned in Pottermore on Book of Spells. It’ll become your wand in Book of Spells.
Micah: Oh, okay.
Eric: Oh, cool.
Andrew: That’s a nice integration.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: I’m not running out to buy it because of that, but…
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Micah: It’s funny, I actually got it over the holidays. I got it as a present and I haven’t hooked it up yet…
Andrew: [laughs] Ho ho!
Eric: Oh, no kidding?
Micah: …to test it out.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Micah, if I gave you that gift for Christmas I would have been calling you by now and been like, “So, what do you think of your Book of Spells? How’s it going?” And I would be very upset.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, why haven’t you… you don’t seem very excited if… I mean, it’s been a month now since…
Micah: Yeah, it’s true.
Eric: You should… I think you’ve given up the present. You should regift, Micah. You know my half birthday is… actually, that’s not true.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: My birthday is coming up soon. You might as well regift if you’re not going to plug it in.
Andrew: Well, I’m never playing it. I know for sure now because my PlayStation 3 died the other day.
Eric: What?
Andrew: Yeah. It finally died, so I just bought a Blu-ray player. I never play games anyway, so…
Eric: Well, that’s fair. But they do have the new white PlayStation 3, not that I’m advertising for them.
Andrew: Yeah. I just never play video games, so…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: …just bought a Blu-ray player. Stick with that.
Micah: I think I’m missing one of the components. I think that’s what it is. You need a little piece that goes…
Andrew: Yeah, you need like thirty accessories to play Book of Spells.
Micah: Yeah, exactly. I just got the Book of Spells itself. I don’t have all the additional components.
Andrew: You don’t have the wand and the camera and the… what else do you need?
Micah: Yeah. The fifteen million other things that you need to make it happen.
Andrew: It’s literally four… you need the wand…
Eric: The book…
Andrew: The book, the camera, of course the PlayStation itself, the game. So, it’s like five elements.
Micah: Right.
Eric: Still, I would think that the game wouldn’t be sold on its own because of it being…
Andrew: You can get a pack.
Micah: Yeah, I’ll have to take a look and see what’s in there. I think the only thing that might be missing is the camera. So…
Andrew: Oh, okay. And you need a TV, which I just find ridiculous. I’m out.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Micah: Those are expensive these days.
Andrew: They are.
We are going to continue with the news in just a moment, but first it is time to remind you that today’s episode is brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 100,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature and featuring audio versions of many New York Times Bestsellers. For our listeners, Audible is offering a free audiobook to give you a chance to try out their great service. One audiobook to consider is Divergent by Veronica Roth. Now, I get lots of questions… since we do this podcast and we do a couple of others, people ask us, “Well, what should I read next? What is next? What is the next big thing?” Of course, there was Twilight, there was The Hunger Games. And the next big thing, I’m going to let you in on the secret right now. Some of you know this already because it’s already kind of becoming the next big thing. It is Divergent by Veronica Roth. It is a trilogy, even though only two of the three books are out right now. The third one is due out this year. The second one is called Insurgent, the first one is called Divergent. Rumor has it the third one is going to be called Detergent, but that’s besides the point. And also a joke. But anyway, Divergent, book one in the trilogy. It is a dystopian novel. I actually just finished reading it the other day. You can listen to it, just like you do a podcast, for absolutely free by visiting AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast. Do a search for “Divergent”, you will see the book there. You know, people really enjoy the book, and people do believe it’s going to be the next big thing. There is a movie that they haven’t started shooting yet, but they’re going to start shooting soon. They actually… the studio just announced the other day that Kate Winslet is going to be in the movie. We don’t know who she’s going to play yet. There’s some guesses, but Summit has not announced yet who she’s going to play. And by the way, Shailene Woodley is going to have the lead role as Tris. This book follows a girl in the lead character slot. So again, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast, type in “Divergent”, type in “Fifty Shades of Grey”, type in whatever you want. Whatever book you want to read, visit AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast and chances are you’re going to find it. They have, like I said, over 100,000 downloadable titles and many, many, many books you are going to love listening to, just like you do this podcast, are available there on Audible. And we thank Audible for their support of the show.
News: Warner Bros. Studio Tour London to Host Wand Week
Micah: Speaking of wands though, the studio tour…
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: …over in England is hosting Wand Week, which I ask, is this similar to Shark Week? It seems like they’re starting to do a lot of themed weeks. They did something with the Dark Arts not too long ago…
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: …it was before the holidays. And I think we can probably expect a lot more of this kind of stuff moving forward where the studio tour will put things on display, or create these theme-type weeks that maybe haven’t necessarily got the attention or there just maybe wasn’t space in the studio tour to house some of this stuff, so they’ll do these cool kinds of features.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s a cool idea. It’s definitely great to bring people back, or maybe finally give people a push to come in and experience the thing. I know Disney, this year, they’re doing a series of Limited Time Magic, and this is what that kind of reminds me of. It’s these limited time, special things. But really, a lot of these should be open. A week doesn’t seem like enough time. It should be longer. I don’t get why it’s so small…
Eric: True.
Andrew: …of a window.
Eric: Yeah. Museum exhibits, for example, are usually like a month or two long, I think. If they are a traveling…
Micah: Right.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: …exhibition. Wand Week, though, kind of has a nice ring to it.
Andrew: I’m surprised they are not selling annual passes, and I mean that seriously. If they want people to come back for these different themed events, why don’t you do this special pass that’s good for a year?
Eric: You know, it’s funny, I can’t remember who it was, but just the other day, in a Ustream chat for the Shorty Awards, somebody said that they lived near the studio tour and have been like twenty-five times.
Andrew: Good God.
Eric: They said that it was their second home. So whoever it is, whoever that was, let us know how Wand Week is.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Because if I went there that often [laughs] I’d be looking for something different, I’m sure.
Andrew: It seemed really expensive to me. I think I brought up on the last episode that I went to Harry Potter: The Exhibition in New York City. Did I mention that?
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Oh, the recent one?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, the one that we… okay, cool. What did you think?
Andrew: That was the first… well, I’m trying to remember… did I talk about this last episode? I don’t want to…
Micah: You talked about it a little bit, I thought.
Andrew: I was just… well, I thought it was all right. I was disappointed they didn’t let you take pictures. That was really bugging me.
Eric: Oh.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Especially when I was getting sorted! I’m up there, on the Great Hall thing, with the hat on my head, and you can’t even take a picture? Come on!
Eric: Yeah. Well, did they take one for you and then…
Andrew: No.
Eric: …they expect you to buy it? No, they didn’t, so…
Andrew: Well yeah, they do at the very beginning.
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: But not…
Eric: But not getting sorted.
Andrew: Right, not getting sorted.
Eric: If you’re getting sorted, that’s a special occasion. Not just everybody gets sorted.
Andrew: Yeah. By the way, me, my mom, and brother, we did this evening tour and there was just, like, five of us. It’s like, what’s the harm?
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Come on, don’t you know I do MuggleCast? Come on…
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Andrew: …I need this picture of me being sorted.
Eric: Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?
Andrew: Yeah. Do you know who I am? [laughs]
Micah: It’s clearly a policy, though, because I remember when I went with a friend, back when the exhibition was first in New York, and she tried taking pictures, and they went over to her and did the same thing, so… I don’t understand it, though, because the studio tour you can take as many pictures are you want.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: I mean, you see all the pictures that our friends have posted when they’ve gone over to visit. So, I don’t understand what the issue is for the exhibition because they’re not the original props, supposedly. I mean, they may be original in some sense but they’re not as authentic as what you would find at the studio tour, so who cares if people are taking photos of them? I mean, look, I can understand if people are going through they’re taking a photo of everything that they see. But to your point, if you’re there with five people and you’re kind of working your way through and there’s not many people around you, you should be able to take photos of whatever you want.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: I think it’s a fair point considering the studio tour does allow photos for the exhibition to also follow suit. The only thing I can think of is that it might be terms of the agreement for displaying those costumes and things.
Andrew: Yeah, I’m sure it’s probable with Warner Bros.
Eric: Maybe, but considering it’s a traveling exhibit and you’re not going to be able to see it – you can’t just go down the street and it will always be there – you should… I just think that photos should be allowed. I don’t know why that wouldn’t be.
Micah: Yup. It’s definitely weird, but some interesting notes that came along with this story and some of them may have touched on before but in the first and second films the wands looked quite plain and this was drastically changed in Prisoner of Azkaban when the wands were given distinctive shapes and carvings, reflecting the owner’s personality. Obviously we’ve heard a lot about this from the films over the years, that the wands were created specifically for the characters that were using them.
Andrew: Is that… I mean in the books you would think that they have some detail, or did JK Rowling never… I mean obviously she would describe the wands when people first got them.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: But I would think that the movie versions, what they became, were more of what you would expect to find in the actual books.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I wonder if that was Alfonso’s touch?
Eric: That’s the thing, is that it says during Prisoner of Azkaban…
Andrew: Right.
Eric: …this changed dramatically.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: And I was like, yeah of course it did because he changed everything.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Eric: But that’s why Hermione’s wand has leaves or vines up the side of it. I think that’s… maybe I’ve already ranted about this on a previous MuggleCast, but suffice to say I just think that the wands that they currently sell as being Hermione’s wand, Bellatrix’s wand, Voldemort’s wand… which is a bone. I just don’t think it’s very realistic in terms of…
Andrew: Really?
Eric: Yes.
Andrew: Oh, I love those.
Eric: Well, if you’re like ten-year-old Voldemort though, and you get… and Ollivander hands you the wand and it’s a skeletal bone like a femur or something, [laughs] don’t you think you’re destined to be this evil overpowering wizard? Like, do you really think that when he was that young…
Andrew: Yeah. Well, I just… I mean in terms of purchasing them it is cool to…
Eric: Oh, okay.
Andrew: …be able to see the differences. You know what I mean?
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: Mhm.
Eric: Well, I agree with that because if… to be honest, if they want to sell something it can’t just be plain.
Andrew: They can’t all look the same, other than the label.
Eric: Yeah, and how would you tell them apart?
Micah: Well, I seem to remember a story, probably from a couple of years ago, where they said that JK Rowling would actually sit down – I forget if it was with David Heyman, or one of the producers, or the director – and actually talk through what all of these wands look like for these specific characters. So… but I don’t know, Andrew, if they took on more the representation of the actors who were playing these characters or the characters themselves, so that might be an interesting question to ask. It also said that 17,000 hand-decorated and hand-labeled wand boxes filled Ollivander’s during filming, and his costume will actually be on display for the first time in front of his store in the studio tour. So, again, tying back to the stuff that hasn’t been featured up until this point.
Andrew: He… what was I going to say? Oh, in the movies, you know how… where was it? Someplace… oh, is it during… yeah, yeah, it’s on the actual studio tour, right? All the wands are on display, and each one has a name of a person, and they’re all crew and cast member names.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: Do you guys remember hearing that?
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, I thought that was neat.
Micah: It is.
Andrew: Just a random fact.
Micah: Because you could take your wife, your kids, and go show them that your wand is sitting there with your name in this studio tour, which, I think, is kind of cool.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: Show your family, show your friends. Hey, I worked on Harry Potter. Here’s the proof.
Andrew: What’s that?
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
News: Alan Rickman and Michael Gambon Prank Daniel Radcliffe During Prisoner of Azkaban Filming
Micah: But the final story of this episode, related to news, is the fart prank machine, or the fart machine prank, however…
Eric: Why is this news? How is this news? [laughs]
Andrew: I didn’t put it in.
Micah: I put it in, which is probably to be expected.
Andrew: It’s true.
Micah: But the video of this, finally…
Andrew: It’s really funny.
Micah: …was released…
Andrew: Well yeah, I actually… I don’t know how this surfaced. It’s off the DVD, obviously, but I don’t think it’s ever been on the Internet until recently.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: And it was on one of the special feature DVDs. I assume… it may be new on Wizard’s Collection or something, I have no idea.
Micah: Mhm.
Eric: Right.
Andrew: But it was obviously shot during Prisoner of Azkaban, in the scene where Dan Radcliffe and everybody is sleeping in the Great Hall and Dumbledore and Snape are talking. And apparently Michael Gambon inserted a fart machine into [laughs] Michael Gambon… into Dan Radcliffe’s sleeping bag, and what ensued was really funny. I’ll play a clip really quick. I’ll just skip to the good part.
[Clip plays]
Andrew: That’s Alfonso talking.
[Clip continues to play]
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
[Clip ends]
Andrew: What’s really funny to me… first of all, yeah, this is the first time we’re seeing this footage as far as I know, but also, I just love how Michael Gambon continues rolling through the lines…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: …even while the farts are happening.
Eric: Yup.
Micah: Yup.
Andrew: [imitating Michael Gambon] “Even in our deepest dreams. Our deepest dreams.”
Eric: [imitating Michael Gambon] “The deepest waters.” [laughs]
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: So funny.
Micah: Which begs the question, I think…
Andrew: [laughs] What question could this possibly beg? Go ahead.
Micah: Will we ever see bloopers from this series?
Andrew: Oh. [laughs] Yeah, that’s true. We still haven’t seen the bloopers, have we? Oh no, I thought there was a blooper reel in that new thing that just came out.
Eric: I really don’t know.
Micah: Which new thing is that?
Andrew: Wizard’s Collection, right? Wizard’s Collection, that came out…
Eric: Wizard’s Collection?
Andrew: No? Maybe not.
Eric: Based on the write-up that we got from, just the product write-up of what the features were, the bloopers weren’t advertised. But it’s possible they were on the special hidden disk or the double hidden disc.
Micah: I don’t…
Andrew: I see there was a little blooper reel included with Prisoner… or sorry, with… what is this a part of? Yeah, this is a part of Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection, and it was this clip… it was basically just showing how Rupert couldn’t keep a straight face. So, that was kind of considered a Harry Potter blooper reel because it was just tons of clips of him screwing up during takes.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: But yeah, I think we all know what kind of blooper reel we’re looking for.
Micah: Something like we just heard, with Gambon.
Andrew: Yes. More farting, please.
Micah: Yeah. Why not? He’s an old man, I bet he farts a lot.
Eric: Oh God.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Anyway…
Eric: [laughs] Does that conclude our news?
Micah: That does. What better way to conclude the news than talking about gas? Speaking of gas, our next…
Eric: Whoa.
Micah: No. [laughs]
Andrew: I don’t like…
Micah: That was a horrible transition. What’s that?
Eric: You can make that transition.
Micah: I can make that transition?
Eric: You can do that. You know what runs on gas, don’t you?
Micah: Well… or does it?
Eric: Or does it? Ooh, the Knight Bus.
Andrew: Or, is it out of gas?
Eric: Oh!
Micah: Boo.
[Andrew laughs]
MuggleCast 261 Transcript (continued)
Pottermore Discussion: The Knight Bus
Micah: But we wanted to talk a little bit about some of the things from Pottermore that were revealed in the first couple of chapters of Prisoner of Azkaban that we didn’t really get a chance to talk about in full detail on our last show. Our live show, right? It was live, I think?
Andrew: Yes, somewhat.
Eric: Yeah… [laughs]
Micah: [laughs] Somewhat live? It was, right? Year in review?
Andrew and Eric: Yeah.
Micah: All right. Well, the gas transition we were trying to make there has to deal with the Knight Bus, and we got some new information about it. It says that:
“[The Knight Bus] is a relatively modern invention in wizarding society, which sometimes (though it will rarely admit it) takes ideas from the Muggle world. The need for some form of transportation that could be used safely and discreetly by the underage or the infirm had been felt for a while and many suggestions had been made (sidecars on taxi-style broomsticks…”
Can you imagine that?
Eric: Mmm.
Andrew: Mm-mm.
Micah: No, that doesn’t seem to work.
Eric: No.
Micah: It barely works on Sirius’s motorbike. I can’t really see that.
Eric: I was going to say, that sidecar was a little… I don’t know. Maybe it was because Hagrid was sitting on it. I was skeptical.
Micah: But yeah, I don’t think it would work too well on a broomstick.
“…carrying baskets slung under Thestrals)…”
Is that a bit like a stork?
Eric: That would look weird because if you couldn’t see Thestrals you’d see the basket just hanging off of nothing.
Micah: That’s true. Maybe that’s why they decided not to do it.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: [continues]
“…all of them vetoed by the Ministry. Finally, Minister for Magic Dugald McPhail hit upon the idea of imitating the Muggles’ relatively new ‘bus service’ and in 1865, the Knight Bus hit the streets.”
Eric: Probably literally. She’s probably being very literal right there.
Micah: Mhm. Now, it says it was detested by purebloods because it was seen as a means of Muggle transportation. Any surprise there?
Eric: I get that. I see that.
Micah: No? No surprise?
Andrew: No, I don’t think so.
Eric: I see that.
Micah: And another piece of insight we got is that the driver and conductor of the Knight Bus in Prisoner of Azkaban are both named after JK Rowling’s grandfathers, Ernest and Stanley.
Eric: That’s cool.
Andrew: Now, that’s a surprise.
Micah: It’s a surprise?
Eric: It’s just something you’ve never heard before. Nobody is going to ask JK Rowling in an interview when there are questions like Sirius Black to ask her, “Well, how did you come up with the names of the conductor of the Knight Bus?” So, this is one of those fun facts that I think makes Pottermore a delight.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: But if you guys… honestly though, the question I have is, if you guys were JK Rowling, you were writing the Knight Bus and you had to name the conductor and the driver after your grandfathers, what would the characters names be?
Andrew: I don’t want to reveal that personal information.
Eric: Oh, okay. I’ll go first then. My driver and conductor would be Paul and Albert.
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: From what I understand. So…
Micah: Are those bus driver names?
Eric: I don’t know. Not as much as Ernest and Stanley. Paul and Albert. Micah, what would yours be?
Andrew: You’re just used to them now.
Eric: Yeah, that’s true. That’s very true.
Micah: Mine would be Fred and Morris.
Eric: Fred and Morris. Yeah, those are bus driver names.
Andrew: Morris? Mine would be Gunter and something else I can’t remember off the top of my head right now.
Eric: Oh, that’s okay.
Andrew: I can’t believe I can’t remember it, but…
Eric: Yeah, no, it happens. I had to think really hard about mine.
Andrew: Tom. That’s it.
Eric: Gunter and Tom?
Andrew: Yeah, see?
Eric: Fred and Morris…
Andrew: Tom is a bus driver’s name.
Micah: That’s true.
Eric: But anyway, that was fun. Yeah, the Knight Bus – I guess we saw it again after Book 3, but I think it was during a crazy time in Book 7 so I don’t really have much recollection of it. But it was interesting to read this about it because I like the extra info, and you just don’t hear about it. People don’t take the Knight Bus to get places – really, only Harry did that one time – but things like the Floo Network are just much more preferred, I guess.
Micah: I wonder if it has a specific route that it takes. I know it can randomly pick people up, but does it have a normal route that it takes?
Eric: Probably not.
Micah: No?
Eric: Because isn’t it that if you stick your wand arm out, somehow they find you right away, no matter where you’re going? So, I would say it’s just need-based. It’s always traveling because somebody always needs it, but I don’t think it would be the kind of bus that would take you from the Wal-Mart to the movie theater. I don’t know.
Pottermore Discussion: Boggarts
Micah: All right, well that wraps it up with the Knight Bus. Another area that we learned more about – well, not really an area, but somewhat of a creature – is a Boggart. And not too much new information there, other than the fact that… we know that they can be made to disappear, but more will inevitably arise to take their place.
Eric: That’s creepy.
Micah: Yeah, so you don’t really ever get rid of them, I guess.
Eric: Lupin left that out of his lesson. I think that would have been pretty darn scary. [laughs] “You can explode a Boggart, but eventually five more are just going to show up under your bed, kid. Enjoy.”
Micah: Exactly. So, it’s kind of like… what would be the equivalent? She says there’s no equivalent in the Muggle world, in our world, but there has to be because she had to have gotten it from somewhere.
Eric: [laughs] Just that JK Rowling cranium.
Andrew: Her mind is always… yeah.
Eric: 24-carat crystal.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: But I always thought… the interesting thing was that I always thought that Boggarts were modeled after the familiar childhood feeling of having a monster in your closet, you know?
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: You feel that there’s a… or under your bed. “There’s a monster under my bed!” You don’t want to look, you can’t see it, and if you did see it, wouldn’t it be clever if it were the very thing that you’re fearing? So, I always thought there was a connection there. But actually – according to Pottermore – apparently there’s actually not. That is…
Micah: Well, it does say that they’re generated and kept around by human emotion.
Eric: Well, that’s interesting.
Micah: So, I guess a depressed area would be something that would call for that kind of creature to be around.
Eric: It’s like fear creates it. That’s kind of cool.
Micah: One of the things that she did, I’ll just run through real quickly, was name some famous Boggarts.
Eric: Stop me if you’ve heard of any of these famous Boggarts. [laughs]
Micah: Yeah.
“The Old Boggle of Canterbury (believed by local Muggles to be a mad, cannibalistic hermit that lived in a cave; in reality a particularly small Boggart that had learnt how to make the most of echoes… echoes).”
Eric: [laughs] That’s funny.
Micah: There’s also:
“The Bludgeoning Boggart of Old London Town (a Boggart that had taken on the form of a murderous thug that prowled the back streets of nineteenth-century London, but which could be reduced to a hamster with one simple incantation).”
Eric: You know, this one – the phrasing of nineteenth-century London – makes me think late nineteenth-century London, which was around the 1880s, where Jack the Ripper was going around. But I somehow don’t think the stories are connected. I just wondered if she was trying to say that Jack the Ripper was a Boggart because they never caught him. So it’s kind of an interesting, perhaps plausible, idea, but I guess more would need to be known.
Andrew: I don’t get why these are famous Boggarts, though.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: What made them famous? Was this all the info she put, or did she have more?
Micah: No, this was it.
Andrew: Hmm.
Micah: This is how she listed them. So…
Eric: Maybe one of them is Jack the Ripper.
Micah: I think it’s just that people are thinking that they’re something that they’re really not.
Andrew: Mmm.
Micah: That they kind of create these… I guess similar to what we would call old wives tales.
Andrew: Mmm.
Micah: And then, the final one that she listed was:
“The Screaming Bogey of Strathtully (a Scottish Boggart that had fed on the fears of local Muggles to the point that it had become an elephantine black shadow with glowing white eyes, but which Lyall Lupin of the Ministry of Magic eventually trapped in a matchbox).”
So that’s a real Boggart. An actual example, I guess, as opposed to the others. But Lupin, the name Lupin, creeps up…
Eric: Sounds familiar!
Micah: …in this description. I wonder what the relation is. Father? Mother?
Eric: Oh, I imagine it would be maybe…
Micah: Grandfather?
Eric: …a few generations back.
Micah: Is Lyall a… is that a male name? Female name?
Andrew: That’s a male name.
Eric: Spelled that way it looks more feminine, but I’m not an expert, and I think it would probably still be a dude.
Micah: Mhm.
Eric: Lyall.
Micah: So, I guess the question we could ask – and I don’t know that this question has ever been asked on the show – is what would our Boggarts be? And more specifically, what would we use to get rid of them?
Andrew: My Boggart would be you, Micah.
Micah: [laughs] I scare you that much?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. And to… what? To get rid of you, I would…
Micah: It’s got to be funny, right?
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: Or a happy memory. No…
Andrew: I would think of all of Jamie’s British jokes and that would get rid of you.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: Got it.
Eric: I don’t know what mine is. You’ve got to…
Andrew: That’s really personal, Micah. I don’t appreciate these personal questions. What would your Boggart be?
Micah: Hey, Eric asked the names of your grandfathers.
Eric: [laughs] That wasn’t personal.
Andrew: You’re basically the same person, you two. What would yours be, Micah?
Micah: It would probably be something related to… I think snakes. I’m not a big fan of snakes.
Andrew: Mmm.
Micah: So… I don’t know if that’s my deepest fear, though.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: So…
Eric: Eh. My Boggart – I’ve just thought of this – would be one of the creatures from the movie Prometheus. Literally any one of them.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I recently re-watched that movie and they’re all terrifying creatures.
Andrew: I haven’t seen it. I’ve heard similar things like that, though.
Eric: Yeah. You must, though. It’s a good film and it looks great on Blu-ray.
Andrew: Onward, Micah. Onward.
Micah: Speaking of onward, sounds like something Sir Cadogan would say. [laughs] Doesn’t it?
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Come on, I’m trying to transition here!
Eric: Ooh, this is good.
Pottermore Discussion: Sir Cadogan
Micah: The last piece of Pottermore information that we didn’t really touch on too much on last episode was Sir Cadogan, and we were told that he belonged in Gryffindor House, and he had a wizard father and a witch mother, so he is in fact a pureblood. Keeping it pure. Surprising he wasn’t in Slytherin, then.
Eric: Hmm.
Micah: But interesting, it says that he was supposedly one of the Knights of the Round Table, but a lesser-known one…
[Eric laughs]
Micah: …and that he was actually good buds with Merlin. Who knew?
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: Hmm.
Eric: So, then…
Andrew: Merlin the show?
[Eric laughs]
Micah: Yes, he will appear…
Andrew: That’s crazy.
Micah: …occasionally on that show, yes.
Eric: So when somebody says, “Merlin’s beard!” in front of the portrait of Sir Cadogan, he’ll be able to describe it down to its very detail.
Micah: Yeah, I would think so.
Eric: “Well, actually, Merlin’s beard was quite short. It was more of a goatee, really.” Or something like that.
Micah: But he’s been left out of the stories…
Eric: Of course.
Micah: …that have come to be known about King Arthur. Of course.
Eric: That always happens. That always happens. This reminds me a lot of Monty Python’s The Life of Brian which is like, born in the stable next door to where Jesus was born is Brian and he lives his whole life being mistaken for the Messiah and his mother is like, [speaking in a female voice] “He’s no Messiah! He’s a very naughty boy.” [back to normal voice] This reminds me of that tale, though. A case of mistaken identity or somebody who is really the underdog throughout life.
Micah: Right. But while he was left out of our version of the story, he was included in the wizarding version. It says that:
“These tales reveal him to be hot-headed and peppery, and brave to the point of foolhardiness, but a good man in a corner.”
Andrew: Hmm.
Eric: Hmm.
Micah: So if you are ever in a corner, call Sir Cadogan, I guess.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: And then it kind of details out how he came to be with the pony that shows up in the picture inside of Hogwarts. It says that:
“[His] most famous encounter was with the Wyvern of Wye, a dragonish creature that was terrorizing the West Country. At their first encounter, the beast ate Sir Cadogan’s handsome steed, bit his wand in half and melted his sword and visor.”
[Eric laughs]
Micah: [continues]
“Unable to see through the steam rising from his melting helmet, Sir Cadogan barely escaped with his life. However, rather than running away, he staggered into a nearby meadow, grabbed a small, fat pony grazing there, leapt upon it and galloped back towards the wyvern with nothing but his broken wand in his hand, prepared to meet a valiant death.”
Andrew: How dramatic.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Very dramatic.
Micah: [continues]
“The creature lowered its fearsome head to swallow Sir Cadogan and the pony whole, but the splintered and misfiring wand pierced its tongue, igniting the gassy fumes rising from its stomach and causing the wyvern to explode.”
[Eric laughs]
Micah: So, he’s a hero!
Eric: He’s a hero!
Andrew: Gotta love him.
Micah: And that’s how he got his fat pony.
Eric: And now all he gets to do is…
Micah: And alone? Is that what you said?
Andrew: I said, “Gotta love him.”
Micah: Oh, gotta love him. [laughs]
Eric: Now he gets to show kids how to get to the tower, the Divination Tower.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Eric: But…
Micah: It was also mentioned in there that he had a fair number of children, I think. Like fifteen or seventeen children, if I remember.
Eric: [laughs] As you do.
Micah: [laughs] So… but that’s kind of… that’s the kind of stuff I think that people are interested in Pottermore for.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: Right, Andrew?
Andrew: Me, personally, I’m still waiting for the more shocking information to come out.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Yes, Aunt Marge’s…
Micah: Like about…
Andrew: Well, yeah, okay. Let’s say not even Aunt Marge admitting she’s a lesbian, or coming out as a lesbian.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Just something… I don’t know, just more factoids. [groans]
Eric: Yeah, do you think this is too all ages, this content?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: I see that. I see that.
Andrew: Well, it’s just basic. It’s not… I think JK Rowling has to go pull out some true gems. She has to have some real gems that will rock the fandom. It doesn’t have to be sexuality claims or anything like that. I’m sure there’s something. Anyway, it’s time now for a new game here on MuggleCast called Would You Rather.
Would You Rather
Micah: Yeah. It was… I think it was submitted by a user last year some time. We did it on one episode, and it was pretty well received. So, we asked the question on Twitter and got some interesting questions.
Andrew: Micah, would you rather throw a surprise party for Voldemort or marry Bellatrix Lestrange? That’s from Amanda.
Micah: I’d rather… well, what happens if you throw a surprise party for Voldemort?
Eric: He gets… he’s so surprised.
Andrew: He gives you an awkward hug.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Micah: He gives you an awkward hug? I would marry Bellatrix Lestrange.
Andrew: Yeah, I would too. She’s sexy, through and through.
Eric: [laughs] Oh, gosh. Yeah, I agree. What if you surprise Voldemort so much that he kills you because he hates surprises? Sounds like you’d have a better chance marrying Bellatrix Lestrange, which sounds weird.
Andrew: Yeah. Eric, would you rather – this is from Tyler – spend a weekend with Dudley or with Kreacher?
Eric: Wow, that’s a good question. Probably Kreacher, just because he’s another being, another creature I’d like to know a little bit more about how house-elves operate.
Andrew: Yeah, and he’s kind of like a pet, whereas Dudley is not a pet.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Except to Vernon and… Vernon and Petunia.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I agree with your choice as well.
Eric: So, Andrew, would you rather listen to a Mandrake crying, supposing it didn’t kill you, or would you rather listen to Umbridge say, “Hem hem,” for an hour straight?
Andrew: And that was from Rebecca. I would say the Umbridge thing because I like… I used to love Umbridge as a character, and the Mandrake cry is just so piercing and annoying.
Eric: Yeah, it is.
Andrew: That’s a good question, though.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: And…
Micah: I like your logic.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: And then, finally, from Michelle: would you rather meet the Harry Potter cast or meet JK Rowling?
Micah: Good question, Michelle.
Andrew: JK Rowling.
Micah: JK Rowling.
Andrew: She started it all.
Eric: I’m going to agree.
Andrew: I’ve already met the Harry Potter cast. [laughs]
Eric: I was going to say, I’ve already met JK Rowling. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, so we have… it depends. I think the question is for anybody who… if you’ve never done one or the other, then…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: …you either pick JK Rowling or… I would have picked JK Rowling.
Eric: I would pick JK Rowling, too, just because of the opportunity to thank her for… I’m sure she gets it all the time, but just the books.
Micah: Yup.
Eric: That is how that’s played!
Micah: I think we agreed pretty much on everything.
Andrew: Yeah, we kind of did actually. So…
Eric: Well, keep them coming.
Andrew: …develop more questions.
Eric: We should ask the listeners, keep them coming. At any point you can email us, tweet us, your Would You Rather’s.
MuggleCast 261 Transcript (continued)
Muggle Mail: Harry and Sirius
Andrew: It’s time for Muggle Mail now. This first email comes from Erica, 16, of Canada. She writes:
“Hey, guys. I found your site last school year. Listening to your Chapter-by-Chapter of ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ deepened my love for the series. I always loved the books. I grew up…”
Do you pay attention in school?
“I grew up with them, but you guys caused my obsession. Anyways, I just wanted to ask if you guys think Harry…”
What is happening here in this email?
Eric: This is weird. I think it was…
Micah: [laughs] I don’t think she used punctuation.
Eric: No, she did use punctuation, but in all the wrong places. I think this was dictated. I think either Siri is writing it or maybe it’s the Canadian dialect and Siri can’t pick up on it. But there’s periods in the middle of…
Andrew: Oh, I see. Okay.
“Anyways, I just wanted to ask if you guys think Harry would have let Sirius go on the Horcrux hunt. Though he didn’t let Lupin go, I find it doubtful that Sirius would have let him go alone. I just always thought Harry would have told Sirius about the hunt. Just wondered what you guys think. P.S. Love you, Andrew.”
[laughs] Thank you.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Oh, I get it. Siri, Sirius. Is that what that joke was before, you guys?
Eric: No, no. It wasn’t even a joke.
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: It was just it looked like it had been transcribed from somewhere, like a translator or something…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …that put in all these periods.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: But anyway, yeah, I think Sirius totally would have gone with on the Horcrux hunt, especially he would have seen it as a calling because his brother did. Once it was learned what Regulus Black did, Sirius would have been like, “Man, my brother wasn’t an asshole. I got to live up to… I got to honor him.” So, I think it would have been a big deal.
Micah: Yeah, I think the difference with Lupin is that Harry is very concerned with the fact that he’s not giving enough attention to Tonks and their newborn child, and I think he sees a lot of… potentially what happened to him could potentially happen to… even though it eventually does happen…
[Eric laughs]
Micah: …but happen to Teddy. You know what I mean?
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: He’s seen the fact that if Lupin is going out, running around with him trying to find Horcruxes, it puts him at great risk. And he doesn’t want really to have that happen, where I think he looks at Sirius of being not as much of a parental figure but more of a peer, and…
Eric: And a rogue.
Micah: And a rogue, yeah. And I think that he would like the idea of having Sirius accompany him to look for Horcruxes.
Eric: Yeah, that’s a good point.
Muggle Mail: Horcrux Inside Harry
Andrew: This next email comes from Jean, 41, of California.
Micah: Neighbor of yours?
Andrew: Yeah, in fact.
“Hey, MuggleNet. My son, Chris, age 10, wants to know: how come the Horcrux inside Harry is not destroyed in his first visit to the Chamber of Secrets when the basilisk venom gets into his body? Until Fawkes arrives and uses his healing phoenix tears to cure Harry, it seems like the venom is enough to kill him. Is this a mistake on JK Rowling’s part, like she hadn’t yet planned out what Horcruxes were going to be, or is there some other explanation?”
Now, we have a thing here from… where did this come from, exactly? I assume…
Micah: I called JK Rowling.
Andrew: Oh, I see.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: And I transcribed exactly what she had to say. Do you want me to read it?
Andrew: So, where did this come from, really?
Micah: This came from JK Rowling, either from her website or from an interview with JK Rowling.
Andrew: Okay.
Micah: One of the two. I can’t remember.
Andrew: Go ahead, tell us what it says.
Micah: She had said either in an interview or on her website:
“I have been asked that a lot. Harry was exceptionally fortunate in that he had Fawkes. So before he could be destroyed without repair, which is what is necessary to destroy a Horcrux, he was mended. However, I made sure that Fawkes wasn’t around the second time a Horcrux got stabbed by a basilisk fang, so the poison did its work and it was irreparable within a short period of time. I established early in the book, Hermione says that you destroy a Horcrux by using something so powerful that there’s no remedy. But she does say there is a remedy for basilisk poison, but, of course, it has to be administered immediately. And when they stab the cup later – boy, I’m really blowing this for anyone who hasn’t finished the book – there’s Fawkes, is my answer. And thank you for giving me a chance to say that because people have argued that quite a lot.”
Andrew: Interesting.
Micah: So, it was just timing, I guess. Fawkes just happened to be there and saved Harry in the nick of time, and by doing so…
Eric: But because he didn’t die…
Micah: Right.
Eric: …it removed….
Micah: By doing so, he preserved the Horcrux.
Andrew: Just in the nick of time.
Muggle Mail: Weird Places To Listen
Andrew: All right, and the last email is Hannah, 23. “Weird Places to Listen.”
“Hi, MuggleCast. I am a brand new listener and I love the show! I listened to all the episodes you have on iTunes over the last few weeks, and now I’m going back and started from the beginning. I heard your ‘Weird Places to Listen’ segment, and didn’t know if my contribution would count. I work for the US Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and I listen to your podcast nonstop at work (along with Hunger Games Chat and Onceable).”
Those are podcasts on Hypable.
“Thank you for the amazing show and hours of entertainment! I’m so glad Selina is on the show now – she’s great, and it’s nice to have a girl’s perspective.”
Well, not today, but yes, normally it is.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: She’s actually away this weekend, so…
Eric: The US Department of Homeland Security.
Micah: Wow.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s pretty cool.
Eric: She could tell us more, but she’d have to kill us. The rest of her email…
Andrew: Immigration and Customs.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: That’s important work, and very… they let you in and out of the country.
Eric: Oh, man. I hope I get her next time I have to come into the country. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
[Micah laughs]
Listener Tweets: Horcruxes
Andrew: And then, finally, we have some tweets. We asked people on Twitter: what item close to you would you choose to put your soul into for protection? We asked that on Twitter.com/MuggleCast. And, Eric, what were the responses?
Eric: So, this one is from Energezer. Energezer says:
“I would put it back in my body, thank you very much. #NotVoldy”
So, okay. Kind of skirted around the question.
Micah: Play along, Energezer!
Eric: Play along, Energezer! Paige Kunkel says:
“My class ring.”
Kathryn White says:
“If I put my soul into my chocolate, what would happen when someone ate it?”
Fair question. Janaki:
“My guinea pig?”
[Micah laughs]
Eric: [continues]
“Just kidding, my ‘Order of the Phoenix’ book. I mean, I have two copies. What else would I use it for?”
Cassidy Tilden says:
“A slinky. Good luck destroying that.”
[laughs] And then Selina participated in our Twitter question. Selina Wilken says:
“Trick question. It’s already in my laptop.”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: So, if you ever feel you pour your soul into your computer, there you go. And we actually had a very famous Twitter response from Rohan Gotobed, who said:
“A penguin if one was waddling around my street. After all, who would hurt a penguin?”
Andrew: Excuse my ignorance, who is Rohan? Was he one of the kids in the Epilogue?
Eric: He’s young Sirius Black, isn’t he?
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Micah: Yes.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: How easy is that for his mom, though? I mean, that must be funny every night.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: What? Oh, Gotobed. “Rohan, go to bed!” Anyway…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: So again, [laughs] just reminding people, the question is: what object would you put your soul into? Beccaaaaa says:
“My cat…”
Or no. [unintelligible] Beccaaaaa says:
“I’m not telling you that, then you would find it!”
Kelly Sorge says…
Andrew: Good point.
Eric: [continues]
“Like a football…”
Yeah.
“…or a dolphin.”
Nicole Soor says:
“In my iPod, so it has the company of all my MuggleCast podcasts.”
Andrew: Aww!
Eric: And I’m just going to read a few more. We got so many. Thank you guys for participating. I’m going to read, like, three more. Taylor Griffen says:
“A Tracfone. Those things are impossible to destroy.”
M&M says:
“Chapstick. If I can’t find that son of a gun, no one else would be able to.”
And Jaelin – this is probably my favorite one – says:
“The Declaration of Independence. Security will never know what they’re really protecting.”
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: I like that.
Eric: That’s fun. [laughs] So thanks, guys. We’ll try and pump out some more Twitter questions randomly throughout the next couple of weeks until our next episode.
Voicemail: Profound Effects of Harry Potter
Andrew: Okay, well I believe that is MuggleCast… oh, it sounds like you want to say something.
Eric: Just about the voicemail.
Andrew: Oh right, the voicemail. Yeah, okay. So, here’s the voicemail. Let’s listen in.
[Sounds of mic popping]
Andrew: Whoa.
[Audio]: Hi, MuggleCast staff. My name is Matthew. I’m calling from Nashville, Tennessee, with a question. Now that the series, both literary and film, is complete, I found myself – like many others, I’m sure – having a difficult time dealing with the end of it all. I often ask myself as a true-color fan, what am I supposed to do now? How am I supposed to just say goodbye to something I enjoyed so much for ten years? And furthermore, what is it about the series that has captivated me so? So Andrew, Eric, Selina, and Micah, how would each of you articulate why Harry Potter has had such a profound effect on your lives? Just what is it about this series that caused it to become such a phenomenon to us all? Thanks for your continued, hard-working podcast. I think it’s brilliant, and so are all of you. Cheers.
Andrew: That was really deep.
Eric: Yeah, right? I love this because we asked for voicemails just the other day – I will repeat the hotline in a minute – but that was the only one we got so far, and it was just really, I thought, well spoken, asking us about the end. Geez.
Micah: Why it’s had such a profound effect?
Eric: Yeah, and what’s he supposed to do now?
Andrew: Well, everybody has their own different reasons as to why it has had a profound effect.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: It may be friends. It may just be really connecting with the story. It may be giving you inspiration maybe to write yourself or to be a better reader or read more. There’s lots of different reasons, but I think the general consensus is that it all has to do with the great story that she wrote and the wonderful characters and the fandom that’s surrounded it as well.
Micah: Yup.
Andrew: There’s no one answer.
Eric: Agreed.
Micah: I agree, and I think that… he asked why has it had such a profound effect on him. I don’t know that we can answer that question. Only he can answer that question.
Eric: Look deep inside yourself.
Micah: Yeah. I think it ties into everything that you just said, Andrew. I think that for a lot of people, it was growing up with the book series, and that’s kind of a very unique situation, something that I don’t think we will probably ever see in our lifetime ever again, to have that kind of cultural phenomenon. And I think the fact that you could connect with so many different types of people, irregardless of all the things that get listed, whether it’s gender, religion, any kind of background, I think that it crossed all sorts of barriers. And everybody enjoyed it, with the exception of people like Laura Mallory.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: But I think that any time you have something like that, you’re going to have people try and capitalize negatively in some way. But I just think that that’s what makes it so different than anything else. And, like you said, the friendships, the fact that all of us met through this, and here we are still talking eight years later. And we’ve had a good ride and got to go to a lot of places and meet a lot of great people as a result of it, and… I don’t really know what else to say. I think you’re right, I think it’s different for each person.
Eric: Now, as to what you do now, share it with somebody else!
Andrew: You can also…
Eric: Find somebody who hasn’t read Harry Potter.
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: Give them the books.
Andrew: I don’t know how much of a reader you are, but you can also read other books as well that you’ll find just as, perhaps, enlightening or exciting or moving, et cetera. So…
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: So what is that voicemail number, Micah – or Eric – for people who want to…
Eric: Yeah, so that voicemail number is (323) 984-8547. That comes directly to us, and you can leave us any comments at all, any questions, thoughts, theories, as long as it has to do with Harry Potter. We will get it, and we’ll play it on the show in a future segment. It just feels really good to have voicemails back, I think, in terms of hearing a fan voice on the show or a listener voice, you know?
Micah: Yup.
Eric: So, that’s good!
Show Close
Andrew: And also, a couple of plugs here, along with the website. I brought up on last month’s episode that I’ve been living a secret life [laughs] as a weekly podcaster…
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: …which is what we used to do with MuggleCast, with this podcast called HYPE. It’s about to get a different, slight name change, but the podcast is called HYPE. You can visit HYPEPodcast.com. We do four episodes, $3.99 a month. Pop culture stuff, world news stuff… just life as young adults, that kind of thing. And I don’t mean that in a corny way. That just sounded corny. We talk about…
Micah: Perhaps talking about the new Star Wars movies.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, stuff like that. And that Manti Te’o thing.
Micah: Fiasco?
Andrew: I meant to ask you to come on, but we recorded it in the morning. Yeah, the catfishing situation, where he got duped. He was living an online relationship that was fake. The girlfriend was fake.
Eric: Whoa!
Andrew: So we talked about stuff like that, just crazy stuff like that. And pop culture like Star Wars, like you were saying. Anyway, go to HYPEPodcast.com. You can listen to a couple of samples, and you can also sign up.
Micah: Yeah. And while we’re plugging, I’ll do a quick plug for Game of Owns, specifically because three of the hosts of this podcast – Eric, Selina, and myself, along with Zack Luye – do a weekly – or thrice-weekly, I guess you could say…
Eric: Thrice!
Micah: …depending on how you want to look at it – podcast about the Song of Ice and Fire series. The TV show is coming back on March 31st, so we’re gearing up for that. We have a lot of fun with it. We’re allowed to use language a little bit more age-appropriate than we are on MuggleCast, so you have that to look forward to. And obviously the content is much, much different than what you would see in the Harry Potter series, unless, of course, you’re reading fan fiction. So check it out, GameofOwns.com, Game of Owns on Twitter, Facebook… you know the deal.
Andrew: Did you guys see those new pictures that came out yesterday?
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Twenty-three hi-res Game of Thrones photos.
Eric: Totally awesome.
Andrew: Yeah. All right, so visit MuggleCast.com. You can click on “Contact Us” at the top to send us some Muggle Mail. You’ll also find our Twitter, Twitter.com/MuggleCast, Facebook.com/MuggleCast, and our fan Tumblr which is MuggleCast.Tumblr.com. Then you can also… what else can you do? Oh, go on iTunes. Rate and review us. Just go to the iTunes store…
Micah: Nothing less than five stars is acceptable.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Yeah, we don’t want your four-star reviews. No, you can be honest. I see a nice review here:
“Andrew is a sellout. One star.”
So, that’s nice.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Oh, come on.
Andrew: But that was back in July, so things have changed by then, let’s hope. [laughs]
Eric: You’re much less of a sellout now. [laughs]
Andrew: The only reviews are the problems about me, apparently. There’s a four-star review… oh no, sorry, three-star review, and it’s complaining that the Twilight podcast isn’t coming out anymore.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: So if you want to complain about me, just go into the iTunes store and write a less-than-five-star review. But if you like the show and everything that we do, you can leave a five-star review.
Micah: Now, do they have reviews going way back to 2005?
Andrew: Oh yeah, there’s everything here. Yeah.
Micah: Oh, wow. That’s cool.
Andrew: Yeah. I always sort it by most recent to see what new…
Micah: Oh, okay.
Andrew: But yeah, you can sort by most helpful and you will see reviews from 2005. Those are the first ones that show up.
Micah: That’s awesome. And you can always check out our transcripts section. We do have all of our episodes transcribed. There’s a huge library there. I think we’re almost up to date, at least through Episode 259. So, if you want to read what we say [laughs] every episode… I know that it’s been very useful for people who for whatever reason can’t download the show or are hearing impaired, they like to be able to go online and read the transcripts of the show.
Eric: What I like about it, also, is the transcripts section has that thing in front where it has all the interviews that we’ve had, with people’s thumbnail for their headshot…
Micah: Yup.
Eric: …so they can easily navigate to all the different interviews we’ve conducted throughout the years, which is very nice.
Micah: Yeah, if there’s a specific interview that you want to listen to, as Eric mentioned, they are all featured there, from David Yates to David Heyman to Oliver Phelps to Warwick Davis, the five hundred times he’s been on this show.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: They’re all there, and some of them are really good. It’s some of our… in my opinion, some of the best stuff that we’ve done over the years on the podcast. And something else I always hear is that people who don’t speak English as a first language often will go to the transcripts to help better understand what it is that we’re saying. I don’t think, though, that we’re always the best example [laughs] for proper use of the English language, but who cares?
[Show music begins]
Eric: [laughs] I will say that the transcribers probably did a very accurate job. So, making that clear.
Micah: Yup.
Andrew: Absolutely. All right, thanks everybody for listening and we’ll see you next time for Episode 262. I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Eric: Bye, everybody.
Andrew: Goodbye.
Micah: Bye.
[Show music continues]