Transcript #173

MuggleCast 173 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music plays]

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[“Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac plays]

[“Innuendo” by Queen begins]

Andrew: Because it’s time for the new trailer, this is MuggleCast Episode 173 for today.

[Music continues]

[Show music begins]

Andrew: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It’s Thursday. It’s April 16th, 2009. Good evening, Matt.

Matt: Hey.

Andrew: Hey, Mikey.

Mikey: Hey, buddy.

Andrew: What’s going on, Mikey B? I haven’t seen you in a while, Mikey B!

Mikey: I know. I haven’t been around for a while, have I?

Andrew: I know. I miss you in your Kentuckyland.

Mikey: Oh, I know, I know. It’s far away from California.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: Very different out here, very different.

Andrew: Yes, it is.

Matt: I bet.

Andrew: And Micah Tannenbaum is here too. [puts on a deep voice] Good evening, Micah.

Micah: Good evening, Andrew.

Andrew: Good evening. Also, Laura Thompson will be joining us later this evening. She’s running a little late, but that’s okay. We have a great show today because the final trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was relieved – released.

Matt: Relieved, yes.

Andrew: Released. Sorry, guys, I’m nervous. What do you guys think? I mean, in a way I’m a little sad it’s the last trailer.

Mikey: Ooh.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: I got chills.

Andrew: I did too. I got chills just, you know…

Matt: Just chillin’.

Andrew: This trailer is fantastic, and it’s very fitting that the last trailer is the best one yet. Do you guys agree?

Mikey: Yeah. No, I totally agree.

Matt: I mean, it’s always kind of cliché to say that the latest trailer is the best…

Andrew: Is the best one, yeah. [laughs]

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: But if you think where we started. Where it was just a couple of scenes with Voldemort – Dumbledore explaining young Tom Riddle and it’s turned into this giant epic – a lot of wand work in this trailer I noticed…

Matt: Yeah, finally.

Andrew: …in particular.

Mikey: Oh yeah.

Andrew: But let’s go around the table with our initial reactions and then we’re going to start picking apart some of the scenes that we saw. So are we all in agreement that it’s the best trailer yet? And I’m going to make a poll on UStream right now. There are 1,131 people listening to us this evening.

Matt: Oh my God.

Andrew: Good evening, guys.

Matt: That’s a lot.

Mikey: Wow. Hi, everybody.

Andrew: [in a funny voice] Hi, everybody. Yeah, so it’s a big audience tonight and we thank everyone for staying up late, but what are we going to do? 9 P.M. trailer.

Matt: Yeah. At least everybody’s off work and school.

Andrew: So Mikey, what do you think?


Best Trailer Yet?


Andrew: Best trailer yet? What really stood out for you? What’s the deal?

Mikey: Oh wow! Honestly, I really feel that this is the best trailer yet for Half-Blood Prince. I honestly – like I said, “Ooh, chills”, I really did get chills like watching it. I just got so excited.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Like really, really excited.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: You know what I think is the best for me right now?

Andrew: What’s that?

Mikey: Is Quidditch. I’ve missed Quidditch.

Andrew: Yeah and there’s that…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …and we’ll get into this in a little bit but there’s that huge – you see the wide shot of the Quidditch field and it looks better than ever.

Mikey: Oh yeah!

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: It looks amazing.

Andrew: Yeah, high tech stuff.

Matt: I mean, we really never get to see it like empty and…

Andrew: Right, that was cool. Although I wonder why it was an empty shot.

Matt: It was probably just him by himself. Probably getting there early for tryouts.

Andrew: Oh maybe. Micah, what did you think about it? What was your initial reaction? What are you thinking about it now?

Micah: Well it’s definitely better than that Japanese trailer. That’s for sure.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: I agree. Yeah, it was the best trailer to date. I think everything was finally put together in a way where in the other trailers, things were kind of scrambled about. I think this was finally you got a full picture for what Half-Blood Prince is all about.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: And I really liked the scenes with Snape and Draco in particular.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Those were really good too.

Andrew: And Matt?

Matt: I mean, I agree with everybody. I think it was the best trailer for Half-Blood Prince so far. Ever, now since it’s the last one.

Andrew: Ever, yeah.

Matt: Yeah, yeah. I just feel it was very even. You know? Like all the other trailers…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: …seem to have their own kind of theme? But this one kind of like just grasped the entire film’s story and it was just very good. My favorite part – I got chills when I saw Katie Bell…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: …just get thrown up in the air and…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Oh my God. Such a great scene in the book…

Andrew: We’ll…

Matt: …and it looks really good.

Andrew: We’ll talk about that more too. I don’t know what to think about that. I don’t know yet. But we’ve got time codes all laid out. We came prepared this time with time codes because every time we do a trailer show everyone’s like, “Uh what time is this scene?” and nobody knows, so now we got the…

Matt: Time stamps.


Dumbledore: How’s This Tempo?


Andrew: …numbers all set thanks to Matt and Micah. So let’s start with 25 seconds in and I’ll show you guys on the UStream as we’re going through. There’s these extended cave scenes. We have the wide shot of Dumbledore…

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: …and the ring of fire. And this is first time we’re hearing him say something, right?

Matt: Yeah, it’s the first time we get to hear him conjure the spell for the ring of fire.

Andrew: Yeah. What was he saying?

Matt: I don’t know. It almost sounded like – one of the words sounded like ‘temple’.

Andrew: Oh wait, I have the clip.

Matt: Oh! You do, that’s right.

Andrew: Here we go.

[“Innuendo” plays briefly]

Andrew: Oh and the sound’s still playing on that channel. Boom. Okay, here we go. Here was the clip of…

[Clip from the trailer plays – Dumbledore yells inaudibly]

Andrew: I think he said, “Haji hav vash!” Let’s listen again.

[Same clip plays]

Andrew: Yeah. I think I was right.

Matt: I think he said, “How’s this…tempo?”

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Wait. Hold on let’s see if we hear that.

[Same clip plays]

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: It sounds like, “How’s this temple?” or something.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: One more time and then we’ll move on.

[Same clip plays]

Andrew: I don’t know. [laughs]

Matt: How’s this…temple?

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Tom? [laughs]

Mikey: Wow. [laughs]

Matt: He didn’t really say that though.

Andrew: We’re going to need the closed caption version of that.

Matt: Definitely.

Andrew: Or we can just have a caption contest or something. Then what else did we see here? A closer look at the Inferi and that was at 1:40. Sorry guys, I told you guys I was going to bring it up on the screen and I will.


Trailer: Inferi


Matt: Yeah. So if you’ve got the trailer up go to time code – what was it, 2:40?

Andrew: 1:40.

Matt: 1:40. Okay go to 1:40.

Mikey: Yeah.

Matt: Just an up-close look at the Inferi.

Micah: Ugly looking things.

Matt: I know, you would think that they’d be really cute and everything, but no.

Mikey: Reminds me of Golum a little bit…

Matt and Micah: Yeah.

Mikey: …coming out of the water.

Matt: [as Golum] My precious.

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: So yeah, well they look at – oh, it was at 1:40, correct?

Mikey: Yes.

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: Yes.

Mikey: 1:42.

Andrew: They kind of look like Dementors a little bit, don’t they? Because it’s just like the colors, the blackish gray.

Matt: Yeah, you would think it would be the Dementors when they take off their cloaks.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah naked Dementors. No, but they look sort of – I don’t know. Like if you saw Dementors flying…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …that’s what they would look like.

Matt: They just look like dead bodies that are brought up to life.

Andrew: Right, right. Actually they kind of look like wolves. Yeah, so that’s pretty cool.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: And then what do we have next on the list, Matt?


Trailer: The Unbreakable Vow


Matt: Next on the list we have the Unbreakable Vow. And that’s at time code 27 seconds into the trailer.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: And basically what we’re seeing is what the film version of what the Unbreakable Vow is. It’s just like an intertwining – like I would say just a little wisp of light just – tying itself around both Snape and Mrs. Malfoy.

Andrew: Yeah, check that out. What do you guys think of that? 27 seconds.

Mikey: It looks like what was described kind of in the book. A little string kind of wrapping the hands together.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mikey: It’s kind of what I expected too, but it’s kind of nice seeing it.

Andrew: Yeah. Exactly.

Matt: It’s a very subtle thing that they did, too.

Andrew: And for some reason in the books, I never pictured – every time it was said in the books it didn’t describe that, did it? Or maybe it did, I’m just forgetting.

Matt: I, remember it kind of being a little more theatrical. Like it kind of just sprang out and something.

Andrew: Well we only see like three frames of it….

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: So…

Matt: Maybe it was the beginning of it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Well this is could be the end like after it binds the hands together…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: …where it’s like, it springs out of the person that – the wand that actually officiates the Unbreakable Vow.

Matt: Yeah, I can see that too.

Mikey: But like, it can be like, it might even be like, dissipating, where it might’ve even been more intense and it’s just kind of fading away.

Matt: Yeah, I think I agree with you, Mikey. I think that could be the ending shot of that scene then it transitions to something else.

Andrew: Yeah. Or it’d be cool if it was like, “All right, we’re all set.” Or it does something cool like that.

Matt: Or they just shake off their hands? “Ew, it’s still on me.”

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, “Ew, get it off me.”

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Mikey: Wow.


Trailer: Quidditch


Andrew: Then of course, the wide shot of the Quidditch Pitch. But we talked about this before.

Matt: Yeah, but you know, it’s really not – in HD you see like everything around it too…

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Matt: …you see the water fall in the background. It just puts…

Mikey: Oh yeah.

Matt: …it all together. It’s really nice.

Mikey: I have the nice 1080p version on my screen right now and I’m looking at it. It just looks beautiful.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: You know what, Mikey? I have the 1080p too.

Andrew: I have 1080p too.

Mikey: [laughs] High five! Yes. No but honestly, but like that waterfall in the background – like who knew there was a waterfall right there by the Quidditch Pitch?

Matt: Yeah, well it’s in Goblet of Fire.

Mikey: Is it the same one that’s in there? I don’t…

Matt: It has to be. It looks the same.

Andrew: Well that’s – and I mean, it’s really changed in the books. Although – no, it’s just missing the…

Matt: Yeah, just the banners and things

Andrew: The covers. Yeah.

Matt: It looks really – I really love how they took it apart.

Mikey: Yeah.

Matt: But if you see, you still see people in the stands. At like three or four seconds into the trailer.

Mikey: Yeah, on the left hand side.

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: Like…

Matt: It has to be for tryouts. For the Keeper.

Andrew: Yeah, probably. But that’s, that’s a pretty cool effect.

Matt: Yeah, it’s really nice.

Andrew: And yeah, like Mikey said, I couldn’t help but gasp when I saw it.

Matt: Mhm.

Mikey: I like Quidditch. I was a little excited when I saw that.

Matt: I miss it. Yeah.

Andrew: It’s pretty eerie. Cool effect. And I was going to ask how it’s changed over the films – [yawns] excuse me – but then I realized, oh they just took the thingies off, so it pretty much looks the same.

Matt: Mhm, looks more plain.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: But, it looks nice. It looks good.

Andrew: Yeah. Then we have a lot of stuff to get through. We have some Harry/Ginny moments.

Mikey: Well actually…

Matt: Yes.

Mikey: …hold on one second. Back to the Quidditch.

Andrew: Yeah?

Mikey: If you go to 1:35, you actually see a scene of the Quidditch again. They have all the things back on it.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh really?

Mikey: So the previous shot has to be just during practice or tryouts or something.

Andrew and Matt: Yeah.

Matt: It has to be tryouts.

Andrew: I think I was talking about it in a previous episode, that I was hoping they were going to really enhance Quidditch…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …because they’ve had all this time to – technology wise – they’ve had all this time to develop the technology and make Quidditch look more realistic than ever.

Matt: And it really does. Since we’re on Quidditch, and I don’t think we were planning on talking about this from what I’m seeing, but the clip – or the still shot that we put up earlier this morning is in the trailer and we get to see Luna and right next to Hermione and the Parvati twins and Lavender Brown, just cheering on.

Andrew: And Matt Lewis.

Matt: Yeah! And Matt Lewis too. Yep, cheering on Gryffindor with a big s…

Mikey: I like the hat she’s wearing. Yeah, what is that? A lion?

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, that’s her lion hat.

[Mikey laughs]

Matt: Yeah that’s kind of…

Matt: What is that really?

Andrew: Evanna Lynch made that too herself – the hat.

Matt: I’m really excited to see what it looks like animated…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: …when they use all the CGI.

Andrew: I’m really excited to see Quidditch and now you know, and now we got – can you imagine Mikey when this comes out on blu-ray? Blu-ray Quidditch? I mean, that’s like unreal. I can’t even imagine.

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Mikey: Thanks, really.

Andrew: No, yeah, seriously.

Mikey: No, I’m really excited. Like, honestly this trailer, like I said, gave me chills. And it really ties everything together.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Like all different stories.

Andrew: Micah?

Micah: Yeah, I agree.

Andrew: Oh.

[Matt laughs]

Micah: I’m just listening. You guys have been having such a great discussion that…

Andrew: Oh, well thank you. All right, we’ll see you later, Micah.

Micah: All right, take care.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]


Harry and Ginny


Andrew: Okay, so anyway, the Harry/Ginny moments.

Matt: Yeah, it was only for a quick second, but it – I felt like we need to talk about this to say what our thoughts were. Because, to me it felt a little like out of place. Like something that Harry and Ginny wouldn’t do. I know Ginny would not say, “Take my hand, and we’re going to look at this tapestry on the wall…”

Andrew: Why do you think it was out of place, Micah?

Matt: It – oh, sorry. Micah.

Micah: It just didn’t fit into the rest of the trailer, I don’t think. It was – I agree with Matt, the only way to describe it is out of place. It just didn’t flow well with the rest of the trailer.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Isn’t there a song, like, [sings] “Take my hand, and we’ll…” Does anyone know what I’m talking about?

Micah: I’m sure there’s a lot of them.

Matt: There’s like a million songs. Yeah, you narrowed it down.

Andrew: No, but I thought, I don’t know, a popular song. I don’t know.

Matt: Like The Beatles songs?

Mikey: “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”?

Andrew: [sings] “I wanna hold your…” Yeah, yeah, something like that.

Mikey: Something like that. You know, The Beatles.

Andrew: That’d be nice if they had that…

Mikey: The only way that this – the Ginny-Harry scene right here – really fits in to trailer is like the beginning dialogue when Dumbledore says “it brings people closer together”

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: And it kinda like introduces them together, because they haven’t been together in earlier movies…

Matt: Well, if it were more literal, it would put – it would be like – oh, Laura’s calling me.

Andrew: Don’t answer.

Mikey: Hi Laura!

Matt: Do you want me to answer?

Andrew: No.

Matt: Oh. Ok. Eh, sorry Laura.

Andrew: We don’t have that technology.

Matt: We don’t have that – okay. Anyway – what was I talking about?

Andrew: Harry and Ginny.

Matt: Yeah, when Ginny comes in for the kill for the kiss. That would be more closer together if you want to put it in the literal sense.

Andrew: Yeah. But people like seeing that stuff, I mean, no matter what you’re going to get the – I guess mostly girls excited about that.

Matt: Yeah.


Trailer: Hermione Gets Violent


Andrew: But, yeah. And then we have – this was funny – and they had special music for it too, starting at 44 seconds, Hermione hitting Harry with the book over the head.

Mikey: Oh yeah!

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: On the beat! That was amazing.

Matt: That was great.

Andrew: Yeah, that was funny.

Matt: Oh, I was so excited to see that. I just love it when people beat up Ron. I don’t know why. Maybe it just must be something…

Andrew: Yeah. But isn’t it funny, like every trailer, there’s always someone beating somebody? And I think back to, like, Snape hitting Harry and Ron over the head with the pieces of paper…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] I mean, it’s funny stuff, but…

Matt: Yeah. I thought it was funny.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: But is Hermione really supposed to hit Ron, until Deathly Hallows?

Mikey: Yeah…

Andrew: [laughing] Where does this come from, though? Because, like, Hermione’s staring at Ron, and Ron’s just sitting there chewing his food, and then out of nowhere Hermione just starts, as someone said in the chat, spanking him. [laughs]

[Matt and Mikey laugh]

Micah: Well, I don’t know about that, but…

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: He probably said something inappropriate.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Yeah, cause it cuts completely different angles, like a 180.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: You know, see it’s like, you see she’s, like, angry, so he had to have said something, but…

Andrew: Yeah. It’s going to be a funny moment, too, because Ron is just sitting there chewing his food.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Here, I’m going to play the music real quick.

[Sound clip of music from trailer where Hermione hits Ron]

Andrew: [laughs] It’s such a Disney thing, too.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: You know, when they go, like, floating up into the air or something.

Mikey: I really liked that it’s on the beat. It really made me happy to see that.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Matt: Yeah.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: And they’ve always done a good job of that, I thought, in the Harry Potter trailers, where they really put the video to the music.

Matt: Yeah. It just makes it more sync.

Andrew: Yeah, and the sound effects, keep them in sync, right. Uh, what’s next?

Matt: Okay, um – my browser froze. So…


Trailer: The Dark Mark


Andrew: Oh. Well there’s a wide shot of the Dark Mark forming over Hogwarts at 50 seconds in…

Matt: Mhm. We saw a lot of the Dark Mark in this trailer.

Andrew: Yeah, we did.

Mikey: Yeah, we did.

Andrew: It’s quite… Yeah, so you see it forming, but you don’t actually… I mean, you sort of see it. But…

Matt: Yeah. “This movie’s really dark, so we’re gonna add more Dark Marks.”

Andrew: But doesn’t Hogwarts look great in that shot?

Matt: Yeah, it does.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Everyone look at it. Here, I’m showing the UStream guys, I mean, Hogwarts just… Ahhh. So good.

Matt: Can I have a time code, please?

Andrew: [in deep geek-techie voice] Uh, time code is 51 seconds.

Matt: Oh, thank you.

Andrew: It sort of looks like it’s – it doesn’t totally look like the Dark Mark logo, but…

Matt: It looks a lot bigger. Hogwarts, the grounds, just look, just more…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: You know, fuller, and deeper.

Andrew: It may be the angle, the lower angle, the worm’s-eye view…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Right, Mikey?

Mikey: Yeah. [laughs] Little worm’s-eye view, exactly.

Matt: It’s just – I honestly…

Mikey: It’s a perspective thing.

Matt: Yeah, I honestly don’t remember seeing that many castle tops, from the previous films.

Andrew: No. Well, they never match, you know, they re-design it every time.

Matt: Mhm. You can still see the Astronomy Tower, though.

Andrew: Yes, you do.

Mikey: Yeah.

Matt: Mm. You see anything falling off it yet?

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: Someone should Photoshop this, and have Snape just going off – er, sorry, Dumbledore, just – [makind sound effect of falling and landing] Wheeeeeeeeee – ppftt.

[Matt and Mikey laugh]

Matt: That’s not – that’s…

Mikey: Wow, that is so sad.

Matt: That’s so inappropriate.

Mikey: That is really inappropriate.

Andrew: Can somebody do that?

Matt: No!

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: All right.

Andrew: Well, as I was saying on the last show, it really freaked me out when I actually saw how far of a drop it actually is for Dumbledore, and that’s when I started feeling really bad for him.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Okay…

Matt: Okay. Next?

Andrew: And the next part is…


Trailer: Death Eater Attacks


Andrew: And then the next part is the expansion of the Death Eater attacks, and this was with the voice over. This was really cool, how they set this up I thought. Because – whose doing the voice over? Does anyone know? Was it like Arthur or something?

Matt: Oh – what was it that he said?

Andrew: The attacks. Here – I’ll – I’ll play it.

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: Boom. Boom.

[Andrew plays a clip from the trailer]

Andrew: Yeah, so…

Matt: Yeah that’s – that’s the announcer that’s for every single Harry Potter trailer.

Andrew: Right.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: Sorry. No…

Micah: Whose name maybe Arthur, but I doubt it.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Matt and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: My name is Arthur.

Mikey: Arthur.

Andrew: People will die. No but it – I thought this was really good and you guys – tell me what you think. It – it sets it up for people not as into Harry Potter because I think people – some people may be more interested if they see this and they’re like, “Oh, wow. This involves our world.”

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: “So I’m actually interested to see what happens to it.” Thoughts?

Mikey: Yeah. I agree. When I saw it, it was kind of surreal because we really haven’t seen – we have seen Harry in the first one in London and stuff like that. But we haven’t seen like interaction with a lot of outside people. [unintelligible]

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: And this right here just kind of see the fly through, the city and…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: …it was really kind of surreal. It made me think of all the other British TV shows and movies I’ve seen because you see the double decker bus, and everything like that. That’s not the Knight Bus, it’s an actual…

Andrew: Right. Double.

Mikey: …bus you see right there.

Andrew: The London thing, yeah.

Mikey: Yeah and you’re like, “Wow, that’s kind of like – in, you know?”

Andrew: It’s cool.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: And then it cuts to these Muggles who are sitting in the office building and they look out the window. They look awfully – oh god I just found a really funny frame. At 1:05 – I’m going to zoom in to this for the UStream visitors. These woman’s eyes are just pierced. [laughs] I wish you guys could see this but there is this woman in the pink sitting off to the right and her eyes are just dead wide open. It’s really funny.

Mikey: Awesome.

Andrew: Go to 1:05 and look for the woman in the pink towards the right.

Mikey: I see it.

Matt: Oh hilarious.

Andrew: She looks right at the camera too! [laughs]

Matt: I think this is a really good thing that they did. I didn’t really think that they – it didn’t even occur to me that they would have it from a Muggle’s perspective. It’s not that funny Andrew. It’s just a woman looking!

Andrew: Look at the people in the chat. They’re loving it!

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: If you saw this you would be laughing too, trust me. [laughs]

Mikey: I’m watching the chat Andrew. Really why – why…

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Mikey: Keep zooming in Andrew, please. Keep going back in.

Andrew: Oh, I just fast forwarded. Okay, anyway, so yeah. Go ahead Micah.

Micah: No I like how you mentioned it kind of may interest some people who weren’t maybe as interested in the films to begin with because now you’re bringing into quote on quote “Our world,” and so maybe they will go and see the movie just to you know – it peaks their interest as to what actually happens to our world in this movie.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: Or in the final two films coming up.

Matt: It’s – it’s not just a full fantasy movie.

Andrew: [laughs] Guys, I’m not kidding you. This will be the funniest thing you will have ever seen in your life.

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Mikey: Oh Andrew.

Andrew: Okay I’m going to put a thumbnail on MuggleNet or something because this is way too funny.

Matt: Okay….

Andrew: We’ll keep moving on now. I’m sorry.

Matt: God.


Trailer: Millennium Bridge


Andrew: Anyway, what is the next item on our list? We have…

Micah: Millennium Bridge.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Oh the Millennium Bridge, yeah. We’ve seen it a few times. Is it any different Micah this time? Or…

Micah: Yeah I thought there were a couple of times you got a little bit closer up to the people who are on the bridge.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Micah: There is a point where you see them walking early on in the trailer and then…

Matt: We just see more destruction too.

Micah: Yeah, you see more destruction towards the – the under the trailer with them running off.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Trying to get away. Previously we had only seen wide shots of it snapping.

Matt: Yeah. We got kind of a before photo too of the bridge with people just walking, taking pictures and things, and then…

Mikey: Yeah at 1:14…

Andrew: Go ahead.

Mikey: 1:14 on the trailer is the – it’s a crane shot. It just lifts up off the bridge and I think that…

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: …there gives a little bit more intimacy with it because you see that there is people and family and if you look at it there is a little girl holding her Mom’s hand…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: …and then all of a sudden it’s torn to shreds and they’re all going to die, which is sad. [laughs]

Matt: Gee!

Andrew: Look at that 1:15 – 1:14 there is a guy with a trombone on the bridge and he is playing it.

Mikey: It’s – it’s a tuba.

Andrew: Tuba, whatever.

Matt: It’s a tuba.

Andrew: Sorry! [laughs]

Matt: What is wrong with you Drew?

Andrew: I don’t know instruments. I know drums and guitar that’s it, and bass. But – I mean that’s kind of random too, isn’t it? [laughs]

Mikey: Hey – you can see he’s got his little case out there, people you know – give him money.

Andrew: I guess he is one of those street performers, yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: He’s playing the Harry Potter theme. You know?

Andrew: Yeah! That’d be awesome if he was playing the tuba.

[Mikey imitates a tuba playing the Harry Potter theme]


Trailer: Burrow on Fire


Andrew: Okay, and what else do we got here. The wide shot of the Burrow attack at 1:51. That is very cool.

Matt: Yes.

Andrew: I am getting up a shot right now. But you just see the Weasley house encircled in flames. And it is pretty cool. Anyone got thoughts on this? We have seen this before, so. Oh that’s cool I don’t know if we saw it last time, the, the Inferi I guess it is, they go right through the house.

Mikey: The Inferi? What are you talking about?

Andrew: Dementors. Death Eaters, sorry, uh gosh, long day sorry.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Death Eaters fly right through the house and set it on fire. That’s pretty awesome.

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: Andrew, I don’t think that is starting the fire, I think it more of like causing an explosion.

Andrew: Yeah, well explosion equals fire.

[Mikey laughs]

Andrew: No, really.

Mikey: They blow stuff up.


Trailer: Slughorn, Dumbledore and Harry


Andrew: Yeah that’s really cool. Then we got, oh and this was nice too, Slughorn yelling at Harry and Dumbledore outside his house.

Micah: That’s nice.

Andrew: Yeah that was nice. I thought it was cool. I just thought it was cool. It’s this clip.

[Andrew plays Slughorn clip]

Andrew: You can hear what he is saying definitely. And that was at what, 1:10? Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Matt: It is really mad times that they’re living in.

Mikey: They’re mad…

Andrew: I really like the shot. This was another shot that gave me chills; because I like seeing the adult actors work together and you don’t really see it much in the movies. Here you see Dumbledore, Slughorn and Harry, and Slughorn is standing in front of the house and Slughorn is yelling at them. It is pretty good.

Matt: Mhm. Mad times.

Andrew: What magazine is Dumbledore holding?

Matt: The Mad Times.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: Mad, Mad Magazine. “I needed a laugh Harry, please excuse me.”

Matt: He watches Mad TV.

Andrew: [laughs] I love that singer who goes, “You’re so crazy… Mad!”

Micah: He probably stole it from Slughorn’s house.

Andrew: Yeah exactly.

Mikey: Which you got to know, that isn’t even Slughorn’s house. Dumbledore is kind of like stealing.

Matt: Right.

Mikey: He is kind of borrowing it he isn’t stealing the magazine.

Micah: Doesn’t he go in the bathroom at some point?

Mikey: Oh there we go, okay.

Matt: Isn’t it knitting magazines or something like that?

Micah: It would be with him.

Andrew: Ohhhh. Yes so he…..

Micah: What?

Andrew: No, no, you are right. I guess that is what happened, he was reading in the bathroom and he was so interested in what the magazine had to say… “I must keep this if you don’t mind.”

Mikey: It is how to knit yourself a wand holder or something like that.


Trailer: Katie Bell’s Necklace


Andrew: Yeah [laugh] I am sure he could have duplicated it with a spell or something. What is next? We have Katie Bell being attacked by the necklace, this is at 1:28. Now – I am not saying it’s bad but shouldn’t she look a little more terrified or what? I don’t know but she is just like frozen with a big smile on her face, you know what I mean?

Matt: Oh wow, you know what I think is more ridiculous, and Andrew, you need to do this at 1:27 if you go frame by frame on it looks like her head kind of like moves like…

Mikey: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Her head looks like she is being dragged by a string. She looks like a puppet sort of.

Matt: Yeah and it just looks scary.

Andrew: Yeah that is pretty eerie. I will bring it up on the chat for everyone.

Micah: PG-13 worthy.

Matt: Yeah, I think so.

Andrew: It’s basically a dead body and she is pale and not looking so good. I don’t get it, I don’t get it.

Mikey: I think on the chat you need to go a little bit before that when shes on the ground, sliding on the ground actually.

Matt:

Like she gets thrown up like a puppet.

Andrew: Like that?

Mikey: Like your sliding on the ground. Before Harry, before Harry. Look at that head just popped out of nowhere.

Matt: She’s like Pinocchio. No strings attached.

Mikey: Look at that head, just pops up out of nowhere.

Andrew: She looks like she is flat. Shhhhullppp – sucked up. Pretty scary stuff.

Matt:

Wow.


Trailer: Wand Salute


Andrew: A lot of this trailer isn’t totally new, but that was one completely new thing. It was a pretty exciting to see as well. Next, we have the students all raising their wands in the air on Hogwarts grounds. And this came in….

Mikey: Not just students.

Andrew: And teachers, yeah, everybody. Matt who did you see?

Matt: I saw Madam Pomfrey, haven’t seen her since movie 2. She’s actually in this movie.

Andrew: Now, go ahead…

Mikey: What’s the time code on that one?

Andrew: 1:37. Madame Pomfrey, Hagrid, Evanna – oh sorry Luna.

Matt: Luna, Nigel, and I think one of the actresses who I believe is playing the girl who – Romilda Vane.

Mikey: Where?

Andrew: On the left, far left?

Matt: Ron and Hermione are right hand side right next to Madam Pomfrey.

Andrew: Right. Isn’t this kid in the right? Sorry what?

Mikey: On the bottom right hand corner I think it is the guy from the third one. My head is exploding right now.

Matt:

Your head is exploding?

Mikey: From Azkaban, from Prisoner of Azkaban.

Andrew: Dean?

Matt:

He’s a lot thinner.

Mikey: Yeah I think it might be him.

Matt:

I don’t think it is him.

Mikey: I want to pretend that it is him. Oh, who – What is the line that he says in the movie?

Matt:

“It is one of the darkest omens in our world.”

Mikey: Yes.

Andrew: Was that really it?

Matt:

Yes. “The omen of death.”

Mikey: Thank you.

Matt:

You’re welcome.

Andrew: Right in the center we see Nigel. That’s cute, kind of working him in there.

Matt:

Kind of working in – no Colin though.

Andrew: No what?

Matt:

No Colin.

Andrew: No Colin, no.

Matt:

Yeah, so we are going to see Nigel die in the last film.

Andrew: Instead of Colin?

Matt:

No it is going to happen, I swear it is going to happen.

Andrew: Maybe. I think it is cool how you see Madam Pomfrey right on the front line. Assuming that is the front line, or maybe they are in a big circle.

Matt:

Yeah, it has to be the front line because Ron and Hermione are there.

Andrew: Yeah, and Hagrid, That is going to feel like so like, “Yes guys yes, do it, do it!” You know what I mean?

Matt:

It’s a little – they’re paying tribute to their fallen headmaster.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

Matt:

That is kind of sad. Yeah.


Trailer: Draco


Andrew: And what do we have next here. Oh the Draco story line, I have a couple of things to say about this.

Mikey: All right, well tell it brother.

Andrew: First of all the revealing, the vanishing cabinet at 52 seconds. We have seen that before and he takes the curtain off, that’s cool right?

Micah: Yeah, but he picked something up too. What does he have in his hand?

Matt:

I think he dropped his contact lens. That is what I think it is.

Micah: [laughs] It looks like it yeah.

Matt:

Found it.

Andrew: At 52 seconds or somewhere else?

Matt:

It’s in the same – scene.

Mikey: Yeah it is at 57.

Matt:

Yeah it is a contact lens. I didn’t know he wore contacts?

Mikey: His eyes really aren’t that blue.

Andrew: Viewers on UStream is this a contact lens he is picking up? Ah there it is – oh no everyone is saying it is a feather.

Matt:

A feather – why does he need a feather?

Andrew: Yeah guys why does he need a feather? None of us are remembering right now. They are saying it looks like a feather. But – I don’t know it looks like a contact lens to me.

Matt:

He has to be holding something up. Maybe he is crying and he picked up one of his tears.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: I don’t know that is pretty strange. What’s next? Oh the Sectumsempra battle. That’s starting at 1:47. That’s a really cool shot too.

Matt:

Firing off at each other. It was the Chamber of Secrets all over again.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt:

Except no snakes.

Andrew: Go ahead, Micah.

Mikey: I was thinking that too, just like Chamber of Secrets all over again.

Matt:

I was thinking that too, they were on the same sides they were on at the duel. Back in the bathroom.

Andrew: Micah, what were you going to say?

Micah: I thought it was a cop out. You see Harry saying “Sectumsempra,” but it doesn’t hit Draco, so they got around it by not actually having the spell hit him. Which would have definitely made the film PG-13.

Mikey: Definitely.

Andrew: It may have just been the editing of the trailer though. Don’t you think?

Matt:

They missed the PG-13 by just a hair.

Andrew: By just a frame.

Matt:

By just a feather, because Draco picked it up.

Andrew: In all seriousness don’t you think it could just be the editing? You watch the trailers and then you see the film and it is completely different.

Micah: That’s true.

Matt:

Yeah that’s true.

Andrew: The last line I wasn’t happy with. I am going to play the clip. The clip goes as follows.

[Andrew plays the Draco clip]

Andrew: It just sounds…

Micah: Whiny.

MuggleCast 173 Transcript (continued)


Trailer: Draco Has To Do It


Andrew: It just sounds – like maybe he’s…

Micah: Whiny.

Andrew: Yeah! But maybe – okay, so maybe he’s being emotional so he may be on the verge of crying.

[Andrew plays clip again]

Andrew: [imitating Malfoy] “I have to do this!”

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Do you guys think this is good, or what?

Matt: I think it’s kind of weird by itself but I think it may actually fit with the whole scene.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: I don’t know. I don’t know.

Andrew: I don’t know. I wasn’t – it just didn’t come off – I want to see manly Draco. I want to say, [in a “manly” voice] “I have to do this.”

Mikey: Wow.

Andrew: Not, not…

[Andrew plays clip again]

Andrew: [imitating Malfoy] “I have to do this!”

Matt: So you want, [in a “manly” voice] “I have to do this!”

Andrew: [in a “manly” voice] “I have to do this. Ahh, I’m on Twitter!”

[Matt does a Darth Vader impression]

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: [As Darth Vader] “Dumbledore, I have to do this!”

Andrew: [plays partial clip] Tweet! [plays partial clip] Tweet! [plays partial clip] Tweet! Twitter.

Mikey: Wow.

Andrew: Okay. So yeah I’m not really totally – maybe if it is emotional before that – whatever is happening before maybe it will be funny, but…

Matt: It’s – it’s not funny.

Andrew: That – that was a…

Mikey: Yeah. It’s supposed to be emotional man. This is where you start to see that you are kind of sorry for Draco.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: That he is sort of forced to kill Dumbledore who could have stopped him a long time ago, but didn’t.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: And you see that – you see that at the end of Book 6 and in Book 7 you see that he kind of doesn’t want to be where he is and he’s kind of stuck in that, otherwise he’s going to die.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: So I see it as him – more crying than sad like, I have to do it but I don’t want to…

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: …but I’m going to kill you anyway!

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Well, this is probably later on in the conversation when Dumbledore is trying to have him stop and he’s starting to break down.

Andrew: Yeah that could be it.

Matt: He could have started off really manly too and then you know, Dumbledore being the man that he is…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: …is slowly breaking him, you know?

Mikey: Yeah it’s kind of like when you are saying, “We can protect your family,” and he’s like, “No one can protect me,” and all that.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: So…

Matt: Join our mafia of wizards, Draco. We can give you protection.

Andrew: Yeah. So it went from, “Dumbledore I have to kill you,” to…

[Andrew plays clip again]

Andrew: [imitating Malfoy] “I have to.”

Matt: [In a defensive whiny voice] “Dumbledore, you don’t understand. My dad is really angry at me. I have to do this.”

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: Wow.

Matt: Yeah.


Trailer: Train Attack


Andrew: And that lovely moment was at 2:04, like I said. And then we also saw the train attack. That was at 2:12 and we’ve seen it before. So, you know, it wasn’t much of a surprise.

Matt: Yeah, not too much.

Andrew: But it’s cool. He does look angry in that scene. That’s the Draco I like to see.

Matt: [imitating Draco with a whiny voice]Petrificus Totalus.”

Andrew: [laughs]Petrificus Totalus.”

Matt: Hmmm. Yeah, we’re not seeing much of that scene, are we?

Andrew: No we’re not, not yet.

Matt: I mean honestly we have seen a lot of stuff in the past trailers and in this one and a lot of the fans are of course upset. But I mean, come on, we all see all the trailers anyway.

Andrew: Right.

Matt: I would hate to see the same trailer a billion times anyway. But at least they are showing a lot of the scenes that are kind of close together. So, it’s not like one shot of every single part of the film.

Andrew: Yes.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: So by the way a quick update on Laura. We want to get her in here but she – she isn’t able to get into one of the rooms where she can take out her laptop. But Matt, can you ask her if we could call her and then we’ll get her thoughts that way? She doesn’t have to be on for a while. Just a couple minutes.

Matt: On the phone?

Andrew: On the phone.


Trailer: Snape – It’s Over!


Andrew: Okay and then the Snape story line. We got a really cool line out of him. Snape said… [plays clip]

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew and Matt: [imitating Snape] “It’s over.”

Micah: Now do you guys think that was something taken out of context?

Mikey: Oh yeah.

Micah: Or do you think that’s really after he kills Dumbledore.

Andrew: I hope not. I hope it’s – well I was thinking like, “It’s over,” and then he sends Dumbledore flying off.

Matt: Well, maybe – maybe it’s just half of what he’s going to say. Like maybe he’s going to say, “It’s over, for you.”

[Andrew plays clip]

Andrew and Matt: “For you.”

[Andrew plays clips]

Andrew and Matt: “For you.”

Matt: Avada Kedavra! [laughs]

[Andrew plays Draco and then the Snape clip]

Andrew: I don’t know. It’s going to go one way or the other.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: But yeah – I sort of – I feel like that’s – that it would – it would really be cool to me if, “It’s over,” and then he sends him flying off the Astronomy Tower. That would be really sad, but I think it would be really cool. Now Mikey, what do you think? Do you think it was out of context?

Mikey: I think it was out of context. I guess you know – because I think that’s kind of – “It’s over,” is just – he didn’t say anything like in the book. I know they can add stuff, but less is more. And honestly by saying, “It’s over,” kind of defeats the purpose. Yes, Avada Kedavra the green flash we know that kills people. We’ve seen it before.

Mikey: We know that kills people, we’ve seen it before.

Matt: Mhm.

Mikey: But why would he have to say “It’s over”? I think that’s taken out of context somewhere else, and it’s put in there because, again, the trailer is cut to be exciting.

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: And I think it fits in the trailer, but I really think – hope it’s out of context.

Matt: Maybe Snape says it to Draco? Says, “It’s over, I’ll finish it.”

Mikey: Maybe, I could see that. But I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily right before it. I would say, “It’s done,” and then he turns to Draco and there’s a pause before, and it’s not right afterwards. And it’s not referring to Dumbledore at all. It might be referring to Draco, say, “It’s over, it’s done.” His – you know…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: Or does he say it to Harry even, under the cloak?

Matt: Yeah, he could say…

Mikey: It could be.

Matt: But Harry’s not under the cloak, apparently.

Mikey: It could also even be out in the courtyard when Harry’s chasing him and stuff like that. After Snape kind of tosses him away, and it’s like, “It’s over,” and he walks away.

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: I can’t imagine – especially how they’re going to portray Snape in the next movie based on what we know in the book, that they’re going to have him be that type of character saying, “It’s over” after he kills Dumbledore. Because that’s just kind of like the nail – it’s like stabbing him in the back, essentially. It’s not – he doesn’t want to do it, and we know he doesn’t want to do it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I mean – and this shot at 1:53, it’s a beautiful shot. It’s a close up of Snape, his hair is blowing in the wind, and that’s why I sort of think that it may be at the pinnacle moment, because this is a really nice shot of Snape. And I think the wind blowing in his hair just sort of completes it, and you’re close up so it’s emotional. Snape – I won’t jump to conclusions, but I kind of think he may be a little teary-eyed. I don’t know, his eyes look a little glossy.

Mikey: You know, it could be even after it’s done and he’s looking down at it, but not in the moment of killing him.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: People in the chat are saying Snape says “It’s over” right before the Death Eaters come, or right before the Death Eaters Apparate away.

Micah: In the book?

Andrew: Yeah, everyone’s saying he says it to the Death Eaters.

Matt: I think the same person is saying it over and over and over again. They’re going to get banned in a couple seconds if they don’t stop.

Andrew: No, but other people are saying it, too.

Matt: Okay. [laughs]

Andrew: Okay, well, yeah.

Matt: And that makes more sense.

Andrew: Yeah, it does, as much as I would like to see, “It’s over,” and then [makes spell sound]

Matt: He kills him, and then he stops the Death Eaters coming up or something, saying, “It’s over.”

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt: And then he goes up and kills Dumbledore or something.

Andrew: Classic Alan Rickman.

Matt: Classic Alan pause two seconds after every word.

Andrew: Right. “It’s…over.” Which he does in every role ever, but whatever. It works for him.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: And we’re nearing the end of our play by play, and we’re also going to take your calls tonight…

Matt: Yes.

Andrew: …but once we’re done getting through all this. We’re also going to discuss some other news. It’s been just over a month since we’ve done our last show. Hehe, sorry.

Mikey: Hey, you want to know something funny that I just realized?

Matt: What?

Mikey: This is episode 173; my first episode was 73.

Andrew: Aw, Mikey!

Matt: Aw, Mikey!

Andrew: Happy 100.

Mikey: That’s 100 episodes ago. Wow.

Andrew: [laughs] Congratulations.

Mikey: Woohoo, I’m 100…episodes.

Andrew: That’s really nice.

Matt: Old.

Andrew: And we’ll call Laura right before we take the live calls. So Matt, if you want to tell her it’ll be a couple other minutes?

Matt: Yeah. She’s actually walking outside, so we can call her.


Trailer: Bellatrix in Hogwarts


Andrew: Okay. Bellatrix in the Great Hall, that’s at 1:56 and 2:05. We’ve seen it before, but it’s a really cool shot.

Matt: It is really nice.

Andrew: I mean, she’s just running along the Great Hall table, knocking…

Matt: Just kicking everything.

Andrew: Yeah, knocking everything out of her way.

Micah: She’s nuts.

Matt: She’s just having fun. That’s all she’s doing.

Andrew: She is nuts. And that’s what really makes that role. Her craziness is just – it’s over the top. And one of my favorite shots in Order of the Phoenix was when she was running through the Ministry of Magic, just flailing…

Mikey: Away from Harry?

Andrew: Yeah, flailing her arms…

Mikey: It was amazing, it really was. I’m looking at a shot right now at 2:05. She’s in the Great Hall, and she just has the biggest grin. It’s like, “Aw, she’s looking at puppies! No, she’s destroying the big old realm.”

Andrew: Right. She’s so happy. Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, so that’s…

Matt: I just love – she just looks like a loose cannon, and that’s what Bellatrix is.

Andrew: What she is, yeah. So I really look forward to seeing her in this film and the next one. It looks like – I’m looking at the shot at 1:55, and she’s walking behind the rest of the Death Eaters. You see Draco there.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Anyone else that we recognize? It’s hard to tell from the back of the head.

Matt: Well, it’s the same people that we see when she’s conjuring up the Dark Mark.

Micah: Dark Mark, yeah.

Matt: We see the brother and sister, and Fenir Greyback.

Andrew: Ah. Yeah, yeah, yeah…

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: So we have a good group.

Andrew: Is Snape there, too?

Matt: Do you think it’s kind of ironic that Bellatrix is on the Gryffindor table, kicking all the stuff down?

Andrew: [laughs] Yes, it is actually.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: She actually lets out a war cry. Do you have that audio? It’s pretty funny.

Andrew: Where is it? What’s the TM? TC?

Matt: Well, it’s like, 1:56, 1:55.

Mikey: I think she actually says, “Hiya!” You know, karate style.

Micah: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She does.

Andrew: I’ll play it.

Mikey: She does!

[Trailer clip plays]

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, she’s like, “Yah!”

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: “Kung fu!”

Matt: That’s inserted, though, because her mouth isn’t even moving.

Andrew: Oh, well that just ruins it.

Matt: Yeah, sorry to ruin it.

Mikey: Oh. And you know, Matt, if you really want to get into that, theres a lot of spots here that I see ADR going off the wall like crazy, okay? They’ve put a lot of stuff in here.

Matt: Must be from ADR…

Mikey: It’s not just that. I think she’s just unique and able to make those kung fu noises, because she’s so into this scene.

Matt: Mhm.

[Andrew plays Snape clip]

Matt: Oh, it is?

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: Let’s move on.

Matt: Okay.


Trailer: Dumbledore’s Death?


Andrew: No, that was Snape telling us the show’s over. Just kidding. Okay. In the last shot of Harry, at 2:13, that’s the – is that the last thing on our list? Yes. 2:13, 2:13…Oh yeah, it’s Harry. Where is he?

Mikey: I have no clue. He’s got a green glow…

Andrew: I think we’ve seen…

Matt: Wait.

Andrew: …this shot before in a previous trailer.

Matt: Wait, give me a code mark.

Andrew: 2:13. He’s looking around, and then he looks up.

Matt: Okay. This – I swear, this is the part where Harry witnesses Dumbledore dying.

Andrew: Oh!

Mikey: I can see it! That can be the Avada Kedavra curse.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Because we were told that he’s not under the Petrificus Totalus. He was hiding underneath it, and then he sees Snape give him the “sh” face, and then goes into the office.

Andrew: Yeah, the clock tower, that makes sense.

Matt: This is definitely – he’s watching it from the clock tower or something.

Andrew: Right, right. All right. Cool stuff. So let’s call Laura and get her thoughts, but also something to sort of speculate about, you guys may remember that a couple of weeks ago the trailer was at Show West. It was a big convention, do you guys remember hearing about that?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: And there was a trailer – they played a trailer there. Presumably it was this one, right?

Matt: I would think so, maybe. Yeah.

Andrew: I think so, too. But Micah, could you run through the rules, please, for callers when they do start to call in? We’re not taking calls yet, so don’t call yet, but Micah, could you explain to them what the rules are, please?

Micah: Sure.

Andrew: While I get Laura’s number ready.

Micah: So when you guys call in, please, no shout outs, no plugs, mute your stream, and have a question or comment ready.

Andrew: Prepared, yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: You want me to give the numbers, too, or are you going to do that?

Andrew: No, you can. Go for it.

Micah: All right, the numbers: In the US, 1-218-20-MAGIC, and in the UK, 02081440677.


Laura’s Thoughts


Andrew: Yes, but do not call in yet. We’ll take calls later on. Right now, I’m getting Laura in here, using our wonderful world of Skype. It’s now ringing. [whispers] Laura.

Laura: Hello?

Andrew: [in a foreign accent] “Hello, pizza delivery for Laura Thompson.”

Laura: Oh, that’s a really terrible accent, Andrew.

Andrew: Oh, sorry. [laughs]

Matt: Yeah, that was really bad.

Andrew: Darn it! One day I’ll get you, Laura, one day!

Laura: Okay.

Micah: Should’ve played Snape for her.

Andrew: Well, Laura, thanks for coming on. I know you weren’t able to get a room in the library.

Laura: Yeah, it’s terrible. Imagine all these college students, wanting to study.

Andrew: [laughs] During finals time.

Laura: Jerks. [laughs]

Andrew: You should have banged on all the windows and been like, “I need to podcast! Get out!”

Laura: [laughs] They probably would have asked me what a podcast was.

Andrew: “Study your tech books! You’ll know!” Anyway, Laura, what’d you think of the trailer? You saw it earlier, what’d you think?

Laura: I thought it was awesome.

Andrew: Yes.

Laura: All around really cool. I was glad to see that they included more of the plot in the trailer…

Andrew: Right.

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: …like the Draco stuff and the Snape stuff, because originally I thought with the other trailers it just was a lot of focus on Voldemort, so…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: …I thought it was really awesome. And I liked it a lot.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: And it’s really cold, so that’s why I’m, like…

Andrew: Shivering?

Laura: I sound like I’m shivering. It’s freezing outside.

Andrew: Is this your favorite trailer yet? Would you agree that it’s the best one?

Laura: Yes, definitely.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Laura: You mean of this movie?

Andrew: Yeah, of the movies, yeah.

Laura: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrew: How about all time? We haven’t asked that question yet.

Mikey: Ooh.

Laura: Oh.

Matt: Oh.

Laura: I kind of liked the Order of the Phoenix one…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: …the theatrical one.

Matt: I kind of agree with…

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: I have to say, I really liked Goblet of Fire trailers.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Oh yeah?

Mikey: I liked those a lot.

Mikey: I would have to say I really liked the Goblet of Fire trailers.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: I liked those a lot, I really did. But I think I liked this one out of all them for the Half-Blood Prince.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: The trailer editors really are great. I mean, these people who edit them together, they create emotion, they create a rush…

Matt: They really get the best trailer music, too, for each trailer.

Laura: Yeah. Well, and I have to say, I really liked how this time – I feel like a lot of time in these trailers, they pick the one funny moment in the movie and they keep putting it in the trailers over and over again.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: And I can only think of one moment in there that was meant to be humorous, and the rest of it was really serious.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: So I liked that a lot.

Andrew: Yeah. Me too. And I think we were – go ahead, Micah.

Micah: No, I was going to say, there was no “Chosen One” crap.

Andrew: Oh, yeah. [laughs]

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Instead we got the classic “Hermione beating Ron” shot.

Matt: Mhm.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Or spanking him, yeah. Anyway, Laura, we’ll let you go. We don’t want you to freeze in…

Laura: Yeah, I’m walking back to my apartment.

Andrew: …wonderfully cool Maryland. All right, well, enjoy the trailer, and we’ll talk to you later.

Mikey: Bye, Laura.

Laura: Yeah, thanks for calling. Bye, guys.

Andrew: No problem.

Matt: Bye, Laura.

Micah: I’ve actually got a question, though.

Andrew: What’s that?

Andrew: Oh, and in the meantime – hold on one second, Micah – you guys can start calling in now. Theres a lot of people listening, and when there are a lot of people listening, a lot of people call in, and Skype literally overloads and it gets insane. So if you’re having a problem calling in, that may be why. And we are starting to get calls now, but go ahead, Micah.

Matt: Micah, if you have a question, please call the MuggleCast hotline.

[Andrew laughs]


Trailer: Hedwig’s Theme


Micah: Oh, okay. I’ll be right back, hold on. No, at the end, was “Hedwig’s Theme” darker than it’s ever been before? I mean, I never heard it that deep.

Matt: Oh yeah, definitely.

Andrew: Oh yeah, let’s play it. It was a very impactful one because it went straight from the sound effects to “Hedwig’s Theme”, where usually it’s a sort of a pause, and then it starts. [Hums “Hedwig’s Theme”]

Micah: Mhm.

Andrew: So here, we’ll play it.

Mikey: Wait…

Andrew: Hold on a second.

[Trailer clip plays]

Andrew: Ooh!

Matt: It’s sort of telling you it’s almost the end of the series, but not quite.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Matt: It’s like: [Hums dramatic version of “Hedwig’s Theme”]

Andrew: “We’re not letting you go just yet.”

Matt: “It ain’t over yet.”

Mikey: “Two more movies to give us money.”

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: I mean… yeah.

Andrew: To give us laughs. But you know what else…

Mikey: Yeah, and cry.

Andrew: Yeah. We’re going…

[Mikey starts to say something]

Andrew: Hold on. One second, Mikey. Let me get the first call now, because everyone’s calling in like crazy.

Matt: Okay.


Live Call: Inferi


Andrew: First call is from Sasha. Hello, Sasha, you’re on MuggleCast Live this evening.

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hi, Sasha. How are you?

Matt: Hey.

Caller: Oh my god! Wait one second, let me mute my…

Andrew: Oh, wonderful. Welcome to the MuggleCast trailer bonanza! That’s what I’m calling it.

Caller: Hi.

Andrew: Hi.

Mikey: Hello.

Andrew: So what’s your question or comment?

Caller: Okay, I wanted to talk about the Inferi.

Andrew: Yes.

Caller: I know you already talked about it, but this was the thing I was going to say about the last trailer. They look kind of like skeletons.

Matt: Well, they are dead.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: I know, but they don’t have bodies, though. They kind of do, but they’re – you know what I mean?

Andrew: Yeah. No, I know what you’re saying. They are very… [sighs] Okay, when we were on the set, they explained how they were designed, and you’re absolutely right. And we’re allowed to release another preview of our set visit one week from today, so maybe that’s what my set visit preview will be about. Because you’re right, and they put a lot of care into doing that. They are skeletal, yeah.

Matt: Yeah. But they really look like the way a dead body would look if it was in the water while it was decomposing, too.

Micah: Yeah, just…

Matt: Because they decompose differently in the water than they do if they were buried or something.

Andrew: Right.

Caller: Yeah, that’s true. I just pictured them as more of a body, I guess.

Andrew: Yeah, but I think it is a cool representation.

Caller: Yeah, I know. It’s definitely cool, because they make it all scary.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Because I remember watching the interviews and stuff, the behind the scenes with Goblet of Fire, how they make all the CGI stuff really scary.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt: Well, I think a lot of people think that way, too, Sasha, because when we think of a zombie – because that’s what they said in the book – we think of regular zombie movies where they’re just regular people with decomposition. Like, you can see their skeletons a little bit through their skin.

Caller: Yeah, that’s what I was saying.

Matt: Yeah. So I think that’s just a common thought that a lot of people have when they think of a zombie.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: But once you see it, you’ll be like, “Oh, that’s pretty awesome.” Because we just see them fly by, so you don’t really get a full look at them. You know what I mean?

Matt: Mhm.

Caller: Yeah, totally.

Andrew: Yeah. All right, well thanks for calling in, Sasha! Where’re you calling from?

Caller: Rhode Island.

Andrew: Rhode Island, nice.

Matt: Nice.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Were you going to say something else?

Caller: And, Andrew?

Andrew: Yeah?

Caller: Just last night I was listening to your Smart Mouths: Episode 10, and you might want to have kept that story to yourself.

Andrew: [laughs] Sorry, I just…

[Caller laughs]

Andrew: I couldn’t resist.

Matt: Hm.

Andrew: All right…

Caller: Okay.

Andrew: Thank you for calling in, Sasha!

Caller: Thank you!

Andrew: Bye. Oh, I cut her off. Whoops. Anyway, yeah, that was one thing that we saw when I visited the set last year, but all that stuff’s embargoed, so maybe I’ll make that my set visit preview. I’ll give you a preview of that, because they really put a lot of care into designing those guys. All right, let’s take another call: This is April. Hello, April, you’re on MuggleCast Live!


Live Call: Teary Moments


Caller: All right, I’m going to mute my stream. Okay. [laughs] Hello!

Andrew: [laughs] Hello!

Caller: Hi, how are you?

Andrew: I’m good, how are you? Where’re you calling from?

Caller: I’m good. I’m calling from Jersey City, New Jersey.

Andrew: Oh, Jersey City! North Jersey! [laughs]

Caller: Yeah, North Jersey, represent. [laughs]

Andrew: [laughs] Represent!

Caller: [laughs] Okay…

Andrew: Anyway, what do you think of the trailer?

Caller: The trailer was, like, the best trailer ever.

Andrew: Yes.

Caller: Yeah, it was a good mixture. Everybody was well represented, and I cried for no reason.

Andrew and Matt: Aw!

[April laughs]

Matt: At least you cried.

Andrew: Do you think you’ll cry during the movie? I mean, were there any specific scenes? I know you said no reason, but…

Caller: I really cried when Snape said, “It’s over.”

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Because that just reminded me that we really only have two more years.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: [laughing] I know, you’re right!

Caller: Right! So that sentence hit home for a lot of reasons, not just for HBP, but…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Deathly Hallows and everything else.

Andrew: They shouldn’t be reminding us.

[Andrew plays Snape clip]

Caller: I know!

[Caller and Matt laugh]

Andrew: Not cool. But yeah…

Caller: That’s basically it. It just made everything hit home.

Andrew: Yeah, it did. It did. I hear you, and I think a lot of the fans hear you. In the chat a lot of people are saying they cried, too, so…

Matt: Mhm.

[April laughs]

Andrew: You’re not the only one.

[Matt laughs]

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: All right, April, well thanks for calling in from Jersey City!

Caller: No problem! Thanks for taking my call, guys.

Andrew: No problem. Have a good night in Jersey!

Mikey: Byeee!

Matt: Bye!

Andrew: My hometown. That’s my home state, guys. I came from New Jersey.

Mikey: Woot, woot!

Matt: Woo.


Live Call: It’s Over, Time to Go


Andrew: Next up on the calls: Liliana Potter is your alias. Hello!

Caller: Hi! One second, let me just…

Andrew: Thank you.

Caller: Hi. I’m calling from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Andrew: I’ve got to say – oh, can you turn your stream down more? [laughs]

Caller: Oh yeah. One sec, sorry.

Andrew: I was about to just say, we have the best-trained callers in all of Skype-world…

Mikey: Aw…

Andrew: …but then I heard myself talking. [laughs]

Mikey: You were going to say it too soon, Andrew. Too soon.

Andrew: Well, it’s very good, because as soon as we pick up a call, they say, “Hold on, let me mute my stream.” That’s perfect, that’s what I like to hear.

Matt: That’s what I like to hear.

Andrew: Anyway, go ahead. What was your favorite part of the film? Or what do you want to say about it?

Caller: Oh, well I was just calling – I liked the trailer a lot…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: …and I thought the Draco/Harry fight scene was pretty cool.

Andrew: Yeah, it was.

Matt: Yeah.

Caller: But I just found the page in the book where Snape says, “It’s over.”

Andrew: Mhm?

Caller: So it’s page 598 of the American version…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: And I think he’s running away. I don’t know, did you guys already find that, or…?

Andrew: Well, yeah, some people in the chat said it was right after the Death Eaters – or right when the Death Eaters – what was it, guys? Sorry, I’m…

Caller: Yeah.

Matt: When they’re…

Caller: Harry’s running after him, and it says, “He heard the hated voice shout, ‘It’s over. Time to go,’ and saw Snape disappearing around the corner at the far end of the corridor.” So…

Andrew: [Imitating Snape] “It’s over. Time to go.”

Matt: “Time to go.”

Caller: Yeah, so I just thought I’d call in and say that I’d found that, so…

Andrew: Cool!

Matt: That’s great.

Andrew: Thank you.

Matt: Awesome!

Andrew: Thank you for helping us out. That’s why…

Caller: Thanks for listening, guys!

Andrew: …we need to re-read the books. Oh, well, thank you for calling in!

Caller: Yeah, you guys are awesome. Thanks!

Andrew: Thank you!

Matt: Aw, thanks!

Andrew: Bye-bye!

Caller: Bye!

Mikey: Byeee!

Matt: Byeee!

Andrew: Mikey, what’s with you and your “byeee”?

Matt: I know, you just come out of – you don’t say anything for the entire conversation, and then when she goes, “Bye,” you go…

Andrew: “Byeeee!”

Matt: [in a deep voice] “…Byeee!”

Mikey: I was looking up the “It’s over,” okay? I’m sorry…

Andrew: All right.

Mikey: I got distracted. It happens.

Andrew: All right.

Matt: It does.

Andrew: By the way, guys, it doesn’t seem like the Skype-in number is working. Everyone’s just Skyping us, so if you want a shot at calling us, call us on Skype. It’s the username MuggleCast. I do not know why – I’m not getting any numbers from the phone line.

Mikey: Actually, you know what, guys? I’m looking at the – Snape actually says, “‘It’s over. Time to go.’ And he saw Snape disappearing.”

Andrew: Oh.

Mikey: So Snape is yelling that at the Death Eaters to leave.

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: Instead of them like gawking at like the flying down, dying Dumbledore, it’s like, “It’s time to go,” and then Harry saw Snape disappearing around the corner at the far end of the court.

Andrew: Yeah. Nice.

Matt: Nice.

Andrew: Cool.

Mikey: There we go, see I actually looked it up, that’s why I was a little distracted.

Andrew: Good job.

Matt: Well thank you for your call, Mikey.

Mikey: I returned, yeah, yeah okay, bye guys, thanks.

Andrew: Bye.

Matt: Bye.

Andrew: I’m waiting for a guy…

Mikey: No, no, no, I’m sorry…


Live Call: An Untrained Caller


Andrew: I see – I see guys call – oh – [makes frustrated noise]. I see guys call and then – all right, okay, here we go. Hey Logan! Hello?

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: What’s up Logan? Hello?

Caller: Nothing.

Andrew: Listen to us on Skype, what’s going on?

Caller: Nothing, I just thought that – yeah, hello?

Matt: Hello?

Andrew: Okay. See that’s what we call an untrained trailer – or caller. That’s why I jinxed myself, as soon as I said – hello, Nick! Nick?


Live Call: Who Edits The Trailers


Mikey: Hello?

Caller: Oh hey, I’d like to order a pepperoni pizza?

Andrew: Ah I’m sorry the pizza place is closed.

Matt: No, that was me, that was me.

Mikey: Oh, what’s up, did you order enough for all of us?

Matt: [laughs] No, just me.

Caller: Ah I might be able to spare a slice.

[Matt and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: What’s up dude?

Caller: Not a whole lot.

Andrew: What did you think of the trailer?

Caller: I definitely think it’s the best trailer yet.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: You know I have to say that I like the editing – you know the way they cut it all together, you know I think it really gives us a good representation of the movie we’re going to get to see.

Andrew: Yeah, it really does look great. Those guys who edit, they’re the best. I wonder if they edit the movies.

Matt: No, because the movies are crap.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Well aren’t – Mikey they – they – there’s different – there’s certain, like businesses right? Like WB sends them a boatload of clips and they just edit it together right? A separate company?

Mikey: Yeah, yeah, yeah like right away I can – actually I wouldn’t be surprised if like Skip Films cut this. There’s basically like three or four major editing houses that would do this type of film.

Andrew: Oh okay.

Mikey: And all they do is trailers. And there’s actually a – there’s actually a company called Skip Films and all they do is like a lot of the fast-paced action, you know, cut…

Andrew: Cool.

Mikey: You know trailer stuff?

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: And actually – it’s actually a term in the industry. Oh, we need to skip that up – means you’re taking the style of trailer editing.

Andrew: Oh, nice.

Mikey: Uh huh, so if they need to skip it up if it wasn’t so – you know the way they wanted it, they Skip it up a little bit…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: And Skip Films is the company that does that.

Andrew: Cool.

Mikey: Yeah, just a little insight. I’m so far away from Hollywood it – I miss – I miss it a little.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: You’re still connected.

Matt and Caller: Yeah.

Mikey: It’s all right, I still know what’s up. I still talk to those guys.

Andrew: Nick, where are you calling from?

Caller: Youngstown, Ohio.

Andrew: Youngstown, Ohio, cool! Getting people from all over. Well thanks dude, for calling in.

Caller: No problem guys.

Andrew: No problem, cool, see ya!

Caller: Thanks.

Matt: Bye, Nick.

Andrew:: Yep, bye.

Matt: We’re getting closer to the West Coast.

Andrew: I thought Nick was one of us, I was getting confused. I was like – is someone playing our voices back? You know what I mean?

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh, so many people are calling. Some people I recognize on here and I want to take their calls but – it’s the luck of the draw here, because people are calling…


What’s Up With The Date?


Matt: Did we even talk about the date at the end of the trailer yet?

Mikey: No we didn’t, we completely skipped over that.

Andrew: [laughs] Oh yeah, what’s up with the date?

Matt: Yeah, I was just thinking that.

Mikey: It’s like it just comes out today and it’s like – you guys have already announced your change in the date.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: What’s up with that?

Andrew: I know – yeah it was kind of weird. Hey you know what? Let’s take one more call and then we’ll get into the news and then if we have a little more time we’ll continue taking some calls because I know obviously a lot of people are calling. There’s that – 1,050 people listening to us this evening. Happy Thursday everybody!

Micah: Yeah we got some Twitter responses too.

Andrew: Oh you want to read through those?

Micah: Sure.


Live Call: Attack on Diagon Alley


Andrew: Right here let me take one more call and you get those ready and then I will – we’ll get to the Twitter questions. Hello Carly, you’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Wait, seriously?

Andrew: Yeah, seriously.

Matt: Yeah.

Caller: Awesome!

Andrew: Yeah, just mute your UStream.

Caller: Oh, dude, sorry.

Andrew: There we go.

Caller: Is that muted?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Caller: All right, sweet.

Andrew: Good job.

Caller: All right. I actually had a question.

Andrew: What’s that?

Caller: On like – time code about 1:09, 1:10, is that still Muggle London? Or is that Diagon Alley or something?

Matt: No, it’s – it’s Diagon Alley.

Andrew: Yeah that – yeah.

Caller: Okay.

Andrew: Yeah, because you see the little – the little guys walking around too.

Matt: Yeah because the guy who’s doing the trailer voice – he goes, “from our world to theirs” or something like that.

Andrew: From their world to our world.

Matt: Yeah so it’s kind of a transition between both worlds.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Oh okay, cool.

Matt: Yeah.

Caller: Oh is Fenrir Greyback just like robbing some random woman?

Matt: Yeah, oh I – I don’t know if it’s a woman because wizards all dress weird but yeah he – he does – he – I think that’s his job, he collects, because he did that in Deathly Hallows where he just collects people who aren’t of a…

Mikey: You know what, actually guys I think that – what’s his name – Wandmaker, because he has all these tools around his belt. And it’s covered up.

Caller: Oh yeah.

Mikey: It looks like it could be…

Andrew: Olli- Ollivander. Olli- Olli- Olli…

Mikey: Yeah, Ollivander.

Andrew: What’s wrong with me?

Mikey: Ollivander.

Andrew: Ollivander.

Mikey: I wanted to say Ollivander, but no.

Andrew: Ollivander.

Mikey: Ollivander.

Andrew: Ollivander. What’s wrong with me?

Mikey: I know, I know.

Matt: There’s something wrong with you.

Andrew: Okay, well I’m going to show the people here on UStream, since I can say those words correctly. Yeah, he’s grabbing…

Matt: He’s grabbing some- a guy. It has to be Ollivander.

Andrew: It’s not Ollivander.

Matt: Because he’s the only guy in Diagon Alley.

Andrew: Is it a guy?

Mikey: That we know about.

Matt: Yeah. [laughs]

Caller: It looks like she’s- It looks like they’re wearing like a skirt. I guess that’s like a…

Andrew: No, no.

Caller: One piece or something.

Andrew: He’s wearing a tool belt.

Mikey: A work apron. It’s a tool belt/work apron type thing and he has like a hood on. So I think we’re not supposed to know who it is and maybe it’ll be revealed that he’d been taken at that time, you know, in the next movie or something.

Andrew: That would make sense, since they got to set that up, so…

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: Yeah.

Caller: Kind of reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean – that scene where they’re all running through.

Matt: Yeah.

Caller: And like blowing stuff up.

Andrew: Right, exactly.

Mikey: In the first one.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Yeah. [laughs]

Andrew: All right, Carly, thank you for calling in.

Caller: All right, thank you.

Andrew: Buh-bye!

Matt and Mikey: Bye.

MuggleCast 173 Transcript (continued)


Twitter Feedback


Andrew: See? I did it. Buh-bye! All right, Micah, you want to read through some of those Twitter responses? What’d we – What’d we get?

Micah: All right. Well, we asked people what their initial reactions to the trailer. Do you still think its PG? Was there too much on Snape? And – bunch of responses here. I’ll read about five of them, or so. CalMCL said, “Wow, trailer was epic. Inferi were a little too Gollum-ish for my liking. I expected them to be more zombie-like.” SCGameCock said – no hold on, that’s irrelevant. I’m sorry.

[Andrew snickers]

Micah: I can’t pronounce half these people’s names. Shefalihalder said, “It was the most epic thing I have ever seen in my life.”

Andrew: Nice. Yeah I definitely think it’s the most epic of Harry Potter trailers. I kind of forget Order of the Phoenix and all of them, but you really feel a lot of emotion with this one.

Micah: Yeah. EmilyEC said, “Single most epic trailer ever. Music was especially astounding. Never too much Snape. Loved it.”

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, well there’s never too much Snape because there’s hardly any to begin with. You know what I mean, it’s just like – we get so little of him in the trailers.

Micah: Right.

Andrew: Not to mention the films. So…

Micah: SPG2008 says, “It should be PG-13.”

Andrew: Yeah, that’s – you know…

Matt: It has to.

Andrew: Don’t get it.

Matt: Yeah, but we’ve talked about this a lot, though.

Andrew: Yeah, we’re not going to call them again, so…

[Micah laughs]

Mikey: Okay.

Andrew: And was that it? All the Twitter feedback?

Micah: Well, no, there’s a lot more. I’m just trying to read them here through real quick.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah: JohnK said, “Thought the trailer was great. They didn’t put too much of Snape in, and the stuff they did put in didn’t reveal all that much.” I don’t know if I agree with that, though. I think the scene where Snape was kind of kicking Harry’s butt…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: ..kind of revealed a little bit too much.

Matt: Yeah. I’m looking at one of the Twitter people and PoFoSho said, “They didn’t actually say anything about the Half-Blood Prince book.”

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: That still hasn’t happened, but…

Matt: But is it really that – that mandatory that they have to say why the movie is called Half-Blood Prince in the trailer?

Mikey: No. Not really at all, actually.

Andrew: They never really emphasis – well, they did with Chamber of Secrets.

Matt: Right, but the whole movie revolves around…

Andrew: That was the central – yeah.

Matt: The Chamber of Secrets. Yeah, they don’t say the Prisoner of Azkaban. This is the Prisoner of Azkaban and – but yeah, like other films, I would say like Lord of the Rings trilogy and like Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, they didn’t specify what each thing in the name was.

Andrew: Right. Well, I mean, you have – I mean like – It’s funny because the very first picture that came out from this film was Harry holding the Half-Blood Prince book. So you’re like, “Oh! That’s cool, I guess.” [laughs] Well, it really wasn’t cool, but that may give the impression that they may be trying to circle the plot around the Half-Blood Prince book. Who knows? But we will see a little bit of it in the movie.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Unless they cut that.

Micah: Well I wonder how much they’re going to get in terms of back story, though. Because, you know, that’s where Harry really learns about Lily’s connection to Snape.

Matt: Mmm.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Well also, I don’t think we see any shots of Harry holding any books, so I don’t think the trailer really focuses on his academic career at Hogwarts that much, guys.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: No, that’s right.

Mikey: So…

Andrew: Let’s take one more caller and then we’ll move into the news. There’s a lot – what?

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: There’s a lot of stuff to talk about, so…

Matt: All right.


Live Call: Voldemort


Andrew: Sorry. I was – I had my thumb on one person, and then it – whatever. Hello, Jose! You’re on MuggleCast Live! Jose, Hello?

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Welcome to the show.

Ben: Hello, hello.

Caller: Crap, I actually got in.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Anyways, yeah, just two things. You guys were talking about it didn’t have a lot of “You’re the chosen one” stuff, but I think it did mention it once, and I heard Hermione say, “You mustn’t…” What was it?

Mikey: It was something about destiny?

Caller: Something about who you are.

Mikey: Yeah, it was something about who you are/destiny. I remember that scene somewhere.

Andrew: I’m the chosen one, that’s who I am. There’s a quick shot of Voldemort too, again, I mean, it’s cool, but he’s not even in the movie so why? I don’t know. I guess he will be in the movie, but really quick flashback.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: I’m just tired of seeing him when he’s not in the movie.

Micah: There was a shot of young Voldemort too?

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Kind of screaming up.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Yeah, there was like – there was one when he was a little kid and then in the bubble his face warps into big Voldemort, I don’t know, something like that.

Andrew: Right. Yeah, I was referring to old Voldemort, for the record.

Matt: Oh, what Hermione says is, “You have to realize who you are.” Or something like that.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Mikey: Yeah, that’s what it is.

Andrew: Nice.

Mikey: I knew it was in there somewhere.

Andrew: Cool, All right, well thanks for calling in Jose.

Caller: All right, no problem.

Andrew: Bye!

Matt: Bye [censored]!

Andrew: Okay, Matt, that wasn’t nice.

Matt: What? I said Jose.

Andrew: Oh.

Matt: Sorry, my mouth went away from the mic. Sorry, that’s not what I meant.

[Andrew laughs]


News: Another HBP Release Date


Andrew: All right, well there is some news to talk about today, and then maybe we’ll take a couple more calls. So, obviously we’re doing the show a little backwards today, but who cares? The first thing that really just happened actually – the release date of Half-Blood Prince was changed to July 15th.

Matt: Yes.

Andrew: What do you guys think? I mean, is anyone upset or?

Matt: I mean, let’s just talk about the reason why they did it. The whole…

Andrew: Well…

Micah: Money!

Andrew: Yeah, money.

Matt: Well, yeah, because now they’re up against Transformers 2.

Andrew: No.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: No, the reason that WB said was because for every day – every day in the summer is like a Saturday or a Friday. They said something like that.

Matt: Oh. What I read was they are coming up against a lot more competition.

Andrew: What’s the release date of Transformers 2? [Noise goes off] Sorry about that. What’s the release date of Transformers 2?

Matt: I’m looking, the chat is just killing my UStream – or my internet…

Andrew: Don’t have it open…

Micah: Well here’s the quote though, from the guy…

Andrew: Yeah, read it.

Micah: “The gives the movie a head start on the weekend, during what is shaping up to be a highly competitive summer season for Hollywood which has major franchise films opening virtually every week.” It’s all about money!

Andrew: Yeah, of course.

Micah: They want the jumpstart on a huge weekend.

Mikey: Yeah, it’s the same thing that happened when Order of the Phoenix came out…

Andrew: Yeah!

Mikey: And Pirates and all those movies. Transformers actually comes out on the 24th of June.

Matt: Yeah, of June, so it’s coming out before.

Andrew: It’s totally separate.

Mikey: Yeah, but it’s the same thing. It’s like there was Shrek 3 that came out, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Order of the Phoenix, all those movies just came out one week after another. I felt like I was going to the movies every week…

Matt: It’s because we all were.

Mikey: Or waiting a week and seeing two or three movies at once.

Andrew: Okay, here’s my thing. They did this with Order of the Phoenix. So why not do it – Why not think about this when they moved the date from November to July? Why wouldn’t that dawn on them? I don’t get it because it’s already happened, this isn’t new…

Mikey: Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, they did.

Andrew: No they didn’t.

Mikey: They did…

Andrew: No they didn’t.

Mikey: What happens is…

Matt: He was there.

Mikey: Andrew, Andrew, Andrew…

Andrew: This trailer says July 17th!

Mikey: Andrew, Andrew, this is considered what they call a tent pole movie. Okay?

Andrew: No, I know. We’ve heard all that. Okay, listen.

Mikey: And what holds it all up – to make more money, they move it earlier…

Andrew: You’re kidding right?

Mikey: They move it earlier. They originally planned that, I’m sure they did. It would be ridiculous if they didn’t.

Matt: So do they want – so the wanted to lose money by setting it eight months back? Is that how the math goes?

Mikey: No, that was a whole bunch of different reasons. But it was a tent pole movie to kind of keep up – it’s all business related.

Andrew: Okay, okay, Alan Horn. Thank you. Alan Horn.

Matt: Yeah, Thank you.

Mikey: All right, guys…

Andrew: President of Warner Brothers, Alan Horn is here, thank you!

[Matt and Mikey laugh.]

Mikey: All right, thank you, fine. Fine.

Andrew: No, but that’s what he said.

Mikey: I don’t know anything, you’re right, I don’t.

Andrew: No, it is about money.

Matt: This tent movie is…

Andrew: It is about money, but I don’t need to – this tent pole…

Mikey: They moved it back – they put it in July…

Andrew: Is this a circus?

Mikey: They moved it earlier – they moved it earlier, to Wednesday, like a lot of movies do.

Matt: Right.

Mikey: A lot of movies come out on Wednesday now because it gives them a couple days before the weekend box office, and what happens is those five days that are now the box office weekend automatically guarantees this movie’s going to be number 1. It should have been number 1 already, but never know, and now they have five days going into that weekend tally to show that this movie is in the green, where they want it to be.

[Andrew plays “Circus” by Britney Spears in background]

Micah: What I think Andrew’s point was why if you were concerned about the financial side of it, why would you have moved it back in the first place knowing that it would have made enough money in November anyways.

Matt: Yeah, it’s only for two days! If the two days were so significant to put it up on that certain day, why didn’t they do that when they released later to begin with? Because, you know – because, I mean, it was only a two-day – that only meant they were trying to find the best date of that week to release it but that’s something they should have already known when they were going to release it later.

Andrew: This is Alan Horn’s new song, it’s called “Circus.” This is him singing.

Matt: Can you turn it off?

Andrew: And he’s running a tent-pole.

Matt: All right. Are we…

Andrew: In the music video.

[Music is turned off]

Matt: I think the biggest issue we have for this release date is really that it was a day and a half at most so there’s really no difference for anybody technically. The biggest thing that is the issue is Azkatraz. For us.

Andrew: Yeah, the thing…

Matt: And a lot of the fans and anybody who’s going.


News: Azkatraz Update


Andrew: Those of you who are attending Azkatraz, here’s what’s going to happen. The film’s going to be moved to 9 PM or around 9 PM – it’s going to be between like 8 and 11. The movie theatre can’t confirm the time for like another month or two so right now, those who are attending, you’ll be seeing the movie earlier – sure you could see it before that but the cool thing is this is IMAX so you can go see it in a regular theatre and then you can see it again in IMAX and then after the IMAX screening, we’re going to be doing the podcast.

Matt: Mhm. And it’s just a day, most of the people who are actually going to Azkatraz, they’re going to be getting ready to go so you wouldn’t be able to see the film, anyway. Maybe.

Andrew: Right. No, that’s true. Yeah, and plus some people want to see it for the first time with their friends and that’s totally understandable. But, okay, and here’s the other thing; Deathly Hallows Part II comes out July 15, 2011. Guess what day that is. That’s a Friday. So what do you think they’re going to do with that date?

Matt: They’re going to release it eight months later.

Andrew: No. They’re going to…

Matt: Oh. [laughs]

Andrew: Well, maybe. But they’re going to move it to Wednesday! Why not just move it now? Just tell us now, don’t tell us three months out – because you know that’s what they’re going to do. They’re going to wait until it gets really close and then all of a sudden, “Ah, guys, I’m sorry. We’ve got to move it to Wednesday! I mean, obviously we’re going to do it, we did it with the other two films.”

Matt: Ah, I don’t know about the Deathly Hallows film, because there’s so much hype already for this film because it’s the last movie…

Andrew: But Matt, but Matt!

Matt: …they’re putting a lot of energy into it.

Andrew: But Matt! In the summer…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …every day’s a weekend.

Matt: Yeah. Okay. I know. Thank you.

Andrew: You know what it is?

Matt: But…

Andrew: It’s just a Circus.

Matt: Okay. But there’s going to be so many events…

[Andrew starts playing “Circus” by Britney Spears again]

Mikey: Andrew.

Andrew: Sorry, I can’t hear you over Alan Horn.

Matt: Can you turn off your crappy music?

[Andrew stops the music]

Andrew: It’s Alan Horn.

Mikey: Wow.

Matt: Yeah, that’s great.

Mikey: Wow.

Andrew: He’s telling us about the tent-pole.

Matt: Yeah. The joke is dead.

Andrew: All eyes on me, Alan Horn, in the centre of the ring…

Matt: Okay!

Andrew: …my tent-pole.

Matt: We get it! You’re funny.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: Okay, in other news – oh! By the way, Nick, MuggleNet staff member Nick, was talking to me about this earlier, he’s upset because the UK still has to wait until the 17th. So, it is kind of unfair. I feel bad for them. Doesn’t anyone else?

Mikey: Yeah. Does the UK – do we know if they’re going to change the date over there?

Andrew: Well…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I said to Nick maybe they will do it they just haven’t decided yet, but that’s what happens with the international release dates. And it is kind of weird because it’s filmed there, it’s produced there, it’s edited there, like everything happens there for Harry Potter

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …and yet it comes out two days later than the US. I understand the tent-pole, the – I – Mikey I was making fun of you earlier…

Mikey: I know. I know.

Andrew: …but I know it’s a real term. You sent me a definition earlier and…

Mikey: Yes, I sent you very long-winded definitions, in Wikipedia. Look up ten-pole, for me.

Andrew: I know, I believe it, that’s what he meant. That’s what he said in the press release. “It’s a tent-pole summer,” blah, blah, blah. Yeah.

Micah: And it looks like we’ve got an answer on that whole feather thing with Draco.

Andrew: Oh yeah?

Micah: Apparently he uses birds to test out the cabinet.

Andrew: Oh.

Micah: This was reported after the HPB screening – that Eric did.

Matt: Is it the same birds that Hermione used on Ron?

Micah: Maybe.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: What’s this?

Matt: Ooh, birds.

Andrew: It’s got Ron’s hair on it. Hmmm.

Matt: Hmmm. I’m stealing these.


News: Waylett Arrested for Drug Possession


Andrew: In other news – and this is a more serious story – Jamie Waylett, the actor who plays Crabbe in the Potter films – all five of them…

Matt: Mmmm.

Andrew: …he was arrested for drug possession when he was pulled over with his friend and they, you know, were pulled over and they were found to have weed, marijuana, on them. Cannabalis, as the article says.

Micah: Cannabis.

Andrew: Cannabis, sorry.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: See, I don’t know my terms just because I don’t do that kind of thing. Stay in school, kids.

Matt: They’re all in school too.

Andrew: Do you guys think this is going to affect the seventh film? Because he has a court date in July, so that may interfere with the premier.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: Well, I think the bigger problem is that he was growing it at his apartment, not that – or his home, rather – not that he …

Andrew: Yeah, that too.

Micah: Just happened to have it in possession when – in the car.

Andrew: Right. Please…

Micah: It’s going to cause a bigger problem at the premiere, I think, because that’s going to be a big focus unfortunately for a lot of the media that goes there…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: I would think.

Matt: Because – I mean he has a death scene in the film. He does die.

Andrew: Yeah. So, I still think they’ll have him back, you know, it’ll blow over. Of course, in July it’ll pick back up when the court trial is and who…

Matt: Mmhm.

Andrew: Knows what will happen after that?

Matt: Well, do we even know how…

Andrew: The punishment is?

Matt: Yeah, the punishment in England is, if it’s the same as in the U.S.

Andrew: Somebody told me it’s pretty bad, and I can’t remember what the punishment is, but it can be pretty bad.

Micah: Its jail time, but I don’t know how much.

Andrew: Yeah it’s jail time. Yeah it depends on you know I think a lot of it is going to ride on his you know how much – him growing it at home too that’s an even bigger offense.

Matt: Yeah that’s a big offense.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: That’s huge, that’s a big flag.


News: J.K.R. Steps Down from MS Society Scotland


Andrew: So that’s a shame, and then right around this time like more sad Potter news we found out that J.K. Rowling stepped down from the Multiple Scl – Scl – Scl…

Matt: Sclerosis.

Andrew: …Sclerosis Society Scotland, and she had been the figure head of this she was a big supporter of it of finding a cure for MS because her mother died of it, and we found out that she stepped down. There was a statement from J.K. Rowling saying that there was something going on within MS Society Scotland that she didn’t approve of. She thought things were going the wrong way so she stepped down, so it’s kind of sad.

Matt: Yeah.


Marijuana Prison Term


Micah: It’s 14 years by the way, is the maximum sentence for growing marijuana.

Andrew: In UK or…

Micah: Yup.

Andrew: Oh wow.

Micah: That’s the maximum though.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: But they seized about four thousand dollars worth of weed in his house.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: Dollars? Dollars or pounds?

Micah: Yeah, dollars.

Mikey: And see you have to, you also have to kind of see this to as he’s not really a public figure, but he’s also famous to the point where they might use him as an example so they might give him the worst case. Hopefully he doesn’t get the worst case scenario but you know who knows where this could lead.

Andrew: Yeah it’s a shame it really is but you know hopefully things get resolved, and may the law steer him the right way. I don’t know what the proper thing is to say there.

Matt: Well, I don’t think that’s the proper way to say it.


Back to Rowling Stepping Down


Andrew: Anyways, J.K. Rowling, MS Society Scotland – pretty sad to see her step down right guys?

Mikey: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, it’s pretty sad.

Andrew: Because she was a big figure head but she’ll always support it though, so that’s a shame, but hopefully things will get better. Micah, there was also some casting rumors. You should be doing the news. You’re the news man. I don’t know why I’m doing the news.

Micah: No, I took the night off.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: Sorry.

Andrew: You don’t work nights – Thursday nights.

Micah: Nope.

Andrew: Anyway well there was a – do you want to do it? Or…

Micah: No because I really don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.


News: Grindelwald Cast


Andrew: All right Jamie Campbell – you know – Jamie Campbell Bower he starred in most recently Sweeney Todd. [singing] “I have sailed the world beheld it’s wonders,” he was that guy. Right Matt? I think?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: He was cast as well the rumor is he will be cast as Grindelwald, and what do you think of that casting Matt?

Matt: I don’t like it.

Andrew: Really?

Matt: No.

Mikey: Really?

Matt: No, I don’t.

Mikey: You don’t like it?

Andrew: Why not?

Matt: I just don’t think he looks the part. I think he’s too pretty.

Andrew: Here’s his singing voice – well, Mikey what do you think of it? You’ve seen Sweeney Todd.

Matt: But he’s also in a Twilight film too. He just got recently casted for the New Moon film.

Andrew: Yeah, he was cast in Twilight or I mean New Moon.

Mikey: You know – I think he kind of works as it, but maybe – you know – it’s young – well do we know who’s cast for young Dumbledore?

Matt: No, I don’t. I don’t think we know.

Andrew: There may – well will there be a casting? I mean maybe Michael Gambon can play it off?

Mikey: Really? You think so?

Andrew: I don’t know I mean they made him kind of young.

Mikey: Well he’s supposed to be in school at this time just graduating.

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: Like I can’t imagine like you know Michael Gambon passing as an 18-year-old at all.

Andrew: Here’s his voice he’s a good singer.

[Clip plays]

Andrew: Ahhhh! So…

[Clip ends]

Matt: He has a really good voice.

Andrew: He’s a good singer at least.

Matt: Yeah, it…

Andrew: [singing] “I feel you Dumbledore.”

Matt: I mean he – I guess he could play a good Grindelwald but honestly I just think it’s too soon.

Mikey: You know see I’m looking at some pictures of Sweeney Todd right now, and now I remember exactly who the guy is – you know – I really like him as it because he kind of has this – I don’t know I’m looking at the first photo on IMDB with him and Johnny Deep in front of him and honestly he’s got this crazy eye that can like totally pass for Grindelwald.

Matt: He does look really creepy.

Mikey: You know like a hunger for power and he wants to put Muggles beneath him like he’s that strong I could see that I really could.

Andrew: Yeah, I agree.

Micah: I could’ve made a joke right there and I chose not to.

Mikey: Thank you. I appreciate it. I really do. We’re trying to keep this show under PG-13, also.

Micah: Yeah. I know.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: But, Andrew, when was this? Because I don’t even remember any news about Grindelwald. That’s why I said that earlier.

Andrew: It was a couple – oh, it was a couple weeks ago.

Micah: Oh, Okay.

Andrew: I can’t – I don’t know. I got it off the site. I know we posted it, but yeah, we’ll keep you updated on that. So yeah, so he’s busy with New Moon, but I don’t think that’ll interfere with this film because, you know, they got flexible recording schedules.

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: Recording schedules?

Andrew: Filming schedules, sorry.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: By the way, Matt sent me this. Somebody Photoshopped Dumbledore falling off the tower like I requested, and I’m going…

Mikey: Wait, where’s it at? I want to see it.

Andrew: I’m going show it on the UStream thing. I’ll send you a link in a little bit. Got to be honest, it’s not the best Photoshop job because Dumbledore’s like the size of the tower, but hey…

Matt: It’s probably a close up. It’s probably coming at the camera.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] I’ll deal with it, you know. It’s art. It’s art. So, thanks to whoever created that. I don’t know. Matt just sent it to me. We’re going to paste a link in the chat if – it’s good they did it this way because this is so obviously not what it would look like.

Matt: Yeah.


News: Yahoo! Posters


Andrew: Guys, we’ll put it online, too, if you’re listening to this show later, we’ll put it in the show notes. We got to get out of here soon. What’s – what else do we have to talk about? Oh! One last thing, okay. So, the Half-Blood Prince trailers were – posters were released over the past few weeks, but just tonight Yahoo! released some excellent new posters. Have you guys seen these yet?

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: Are you talking the character banners?

Matt and Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Yeah.

Matt: They’re really cool.

Mikey: Do you know, there’s one that it didn’t sit right with me, and I’ll tell you which one it is in a second.

Andrew: Mikey, can you turn your headphone volume down? I hear you a lot, or I hear myself a lot through it. I think it’s yours, but yeah. Yahoo! released these really – and like when I saw these, I just had to gasp because they look great. The first one when you click the link is Dumbledore and Harry.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Okay. Yeah, Dumbledore and Harry, and they’re like on a rock it looks like, but I mean this is obviously really Photoshopped, so this is not a scene from the movie, but what do you think of this new style where like the title is bigger than the poster?

Matt: I think its okay.

Andrew: Mikey? Micah?

Mikey: Yeah. Yeah, I like it. I think they don’t need the title to be as predominant…

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: As it has been in previous ones because, come on. All these people are, you know, cultural icons. You know, hasn’t – you know, Harry Potter – isn’t he like number four famous…

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Mikey: …you know – hero in movies now? And Voldemort’s like number seven as like, you know – the worst villain or something like that. It’s like everyone knows Harry Potter now.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Like if you don’t know what Harry Potter is, you really like have not been living on planet Earth. Like, it’s everywhere – you know?

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Whether you love it or hate it, you know what Harry Potter is. Especially, just like looking at someone with like a wand in their hand, like, “Oh, that’s the Harry Potte thing.”

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Even if it’s not Harry Potter, everybody’s like “Oh, it’s a wizard. It’s Harry Potter.”

Andrew: Right.

Matt: Yeah. I’m liking the duo shots, though, with…

Micah: You do?

Matt: …Hermione and Slughorn and Harry and Dumbledore together and Ron and Ginny together.

Andrew: I like them, too. What do you think, Micah?

Micah: Just the Quidditch one is the only one that looks normal. Like you were saying Photoshopped before…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …if you look at the first three, it looks like the person who’s in the forefront, whether it’s…

Andrew: Right.

Micah: …Harry or Hermione or Draco, don’t belong there.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Like the other characters: Slughorn and Dumbledore or – is it Dumbledore? No, Harry’s in the background in the first one, but like Harry and Slughorn and Snape all look like they belong there, whereas the other characters that are in the front don’t look like – it just looks weird.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: I think the Draco and Snape one looks the sort of fakest because Draco’s making like a stupid face, and he’s looking at a weird angle.

Micah: Well, he’s probably about to say that line.

Andrew: What was the line again?

Matt: [in Draco voice] “I have to do this, Snape.”

[Andrew plays the Draco clip]

Andrew: “I have to do this,” and then, it goes like this.

[Andrew plays the Draco followed by the Snape clip]

Andrew: With that awkward audio cut, too.

Matt: Yeah. [laughs]

Andrew: So, yeah, and I liked the one of Ron and Ginny. I agree, but it’s just really cool like the one of Ron and Ginny like the “H” is completely missing from the poster. It’s just “Arry Potter,” and I really like that. And like, what are they going to do with these posters? Because this is sort of the first time I’m really actually looking at this one, and Half-Blood Prince is completely cut off. You see “Half,” “B,” “L,” and then “P.” It’s just really like – I don’t know. I like the style because in the first one, you see Half-Blood Prince very clearly, with Harry and Dumbledore, you see it very clearly. And then Hermione and Slughorn, you just see the “Bloo” and then “-ince.” And then Draco and Snape, you see them clearly. And then again, Ron and Ginny. It’s like “Half-Bl P.”

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: Sorry, maybe I’m just very emotional when it comes to posters. But yeah…

Micah: Well, the posters aren’t that – they’re not great.

Andrew: I like them. I think it’s a nice change because you always see the traditional “Harry Potter and the blah blah blah,” at the very top centered perfectly, and it’s glowing…

Micah: Well, you shouldn’t ask me about pictures anyway.

Andrew: Yeah, you don’t like pictures.

Matt: Not a picture guy there, Micah?

Micah: No, just not Half-Blood Prince pictures.

Andrew: New poll on UStream: What do you think of the posters? The options are: Love it, like it, eh, or hate it. Hate them, I meant, sorry. I just typed those answers up right now. Well, we’ll see what everyone thinks. And then the posters we saw a couple of weeks ago – those were really photoshopped, right?

Mikey: Oh, yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I think Dumbledore is looking very Gandalf-ish. I think he looks pretty cool, but, again, very photoshopped. We also see Draco and Ron. So all good stuff. Hey, I don’t know if you guys know, but we’re doing a podcast right now. So feel free to talk.

Matt: Yeah, sorry.

Micah: Oh! Sorry.

Mikey: We’re looking – I’m looking at the posters still. Sorry.

Micah: There is one other piece of news, though, that’s not in here…

Andrew: What’s that?


News: Deathly Hallows Epilogue


Micah: That we got today about the Epilogue for Deathly Hallows

Andrew: Oh yeah!

Micah: I know we’re focusing on Half-Blood Prince, but…

Andrew: No, that’s ok.

Micah: It’s kind of important.

Andrew: Yeah. So what was the story?

Micah: Well, MTV spoke with David Heyman, and he said that the trio will play their own parts in the Epilogue.

Andrew: Yeah. Which is…

Micah: They don’t have to get other actors.

Andrew: I don’t know what to think about that because – ok, they’re only aging, what, ten years?

Matt and Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: It’s not – I think I’m just going to laugh when I see them aging like that. Like trying to age, to look older. You know what I mean?

Matt: You don’t think it’ll look good?

Mikey: No, see, I think it’ll look fine! Because, honestly, aging someone ten years is not that hard with movie make-up. Trying to take someone younger is the hard part.

Andrew: Yeah, but it’s their height, too. Like Dan Radcliffe, he’s kind of short, so maybe they’ll do an upward sort of camera angle…

Matt: Do you think he’ll grow a lot in ten years?

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: I think he’ll grow a lot in ten years, yeah.

Micah: No.

Mikey: Really? He’s supposed to be like 17 at the end of the movie.

Andrew: No, but Dan Radcliffe himself, he’s a short guy. He’s like 5’10”.

Matt: Then he’ll be a short adult.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: I guess so. But he’ll – I don’t know. Whatever!

Matt: It could work. It happens…

Mikey: Andrew, really, when you’re 17 to 27, you’re not going to grow a foot. You might grow, like five or six inches max.

Andrew: I grew – I’m 19 now, I was nine, I grew about two feet…

Matt: It’s a lot different from nine to 19 though.

Mikey: It’s – yeah, nine to 19 you grow a lot.

Andrew: Really?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Wait, hold on. My dad, when he was 19, he was my – he was 5’11”, but now he’s 7’11”. So, you do grow.

Mikey: [laughs] Okay.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: 7’11”. Wow.

Andrew: In ten years!

Micah: So, isn’t it 19 years?

Andrew: 19 years. Sorry. Whatever. I was just throwing a number out of my head. The point is he – you know. It’s a long time. He’s going to pull a Benjamin Button, someone said in the chat. [laughs]

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, results of the UStream poll: 32% say “Love it!” in response to the posters. 40% say “Like it.” 16% say “Eh.” And 9% say “Hate it.” I’m sorry. Geez, go back to your lame, centered, perfectly aligned posters. Go ahead, Micah.

Matt: What?

Andrew: Go ahead, Micah.

Micah: Oh, just about Deathly Hallows. They’re going to have to age, what, five characters?

Matt: Yeah?

Andrew: Well, this article did say, what, the trio? But I assume they would. But don’t you guys agree, it’ll be funny. Like, you’re going to see them older, and everyone in the audience is going to be like, “Haha. That’s – they didn’t really age.”

Matt: Well, I don’t know, because Benjamin Button did an awesome job. They did an awesome job making Brad Pitt look younger, so if they just make him look older, I think he’ll work.

Andrew: They did a good job making him look older, too.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: So…

Matt: I think it will work.

Andrew: “We’ll be sobbing,” someone in the chat said. Good point.

Micah: I don’t care about the epilogue – I hated it anyway.

Andrew: Yeah, I didn’t like it either.

Matt: Well, I mean, odds are they’re probably going to completely change the epilogue anyways.

Andrew: I think it will be cool to see them age them. It will be something to look forwards to. Even though we know that the epilogue isn’t that great.

Matt: Yeah. Well, what can you do?


Matt’s Phone Number!


Andrew: So, I think that’s it. I think we’re done for today. It’s been a nice long show. I’m sorry we’re not taking any more calls. Thank you to everyone who has been trying to call in. We really do feel bad that we can’t take all the calls, and we appreciate you guys calling in. But, I’m sorry – we just cannot get to them all in one episode. Maybe we’ll try to leave more time – you know – in future shows, but for this episode obviously we had a lot to talk about. So what are we to do?

Micah: Oh well.

Andrew: Yes. You can call us – Matt, can I give them your personal number so they can just call you?

Matt: Yeah. Yeah, here’s my phone.

Andrew: 609-9692

Matt: That’s actually – you are actually giving them my number!

Andrew: [laughs] Okay, well thanks everyone for joining us. It’s been a lot of fun, like I said. Matt, Mikey, Micah.

Mikey: Yeah!

Andrew: God, all these M’s! Getting confused.

Mikey: Hey Andrew, how come your name doesn’t start with an M?

Andrew: I’m ‘Mandrew’. Some people like to call me Mandrew because I’m a man.

Matt: Yeah, that’s it. [laughs]

Mikey: Yeah, that’s really the reason.

Andrew: No, that’s really why. I think so.

Matt: Mmhmm. Definitely.

Mikey: I can think of at least ten other reasons why we call you that.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: Okay.

Mikey: Anyway.


No More Trailer Shows


Andrew: Anyway. Thanks again everyone for listening. Really appreciate it. We’ll try to get back with another show soon – obviously we’re done with trailer shows for this movie! Already, we’ve done like what – five? So.

Mikey: This is the first one I’ve been on.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: That’s not true.

Matt: It was great having you back though. Mikey, we miss you.

Mikey: That’s not true – that’s not my – this isn’t my first one. I called while I was a work once during the first trailer…

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Mikey: …the second trailer.

Matt: Oh, I wasn’t on that.

Mikey: So, this isn’t my first one. You’re right. I’m lying.

Andrew: There you go.

Mikey: Sorry. Right.

Andrew: I’ve been on all of them. [laughs]

Micah: So based on our rate, we’ll see you at Azkatraz…

Andrew: Azkatraz! [laughs]

Micah: …for our next show. [laughs]

Andrew: No.

Mikey: No, no, no. See now I have my office set up. I have stuff – I’m no longer in the process of trying to get stuff packed up and moved and get settled in. I’m here now, and if you guys want me back, I’ll come back.

Andrew: Speaking of – you know – hosts and their appearances, Jamie is going to be on the next episode. He wanted to be on this one, but it was way too late. But he really, really, really wants to be on another episode, so he’ll be on episode 174 whenever that’s released.

Micah: No way. How crazy is the chat right now?

Mikey: Wait, wait – did you know me, Jamie, and Ben want to be on an episode together again?

Andrew: All together?

Mikey: Like it hasn’t happened for 100 episodes maybe.

Andrew: It was the good old days, what can I tell you.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: But – yeah. So Jamie will be on 174. We’ll try to put another episode together. We’re trying to create a new show where – you know – we can have – we want to create new segments that we can keep using over and over and that are easy to peruse and stuff. Because I’ve got to be honest guys – we’re kind of done with the theorizing at this point. I mean – you know – there’s not much left to do. We went through all of Book 7, so we’re pretty much done with that. So a lot of movie talk, theme park’s coming up, exhibition’s coming up. Some good stuff.

Micah: Some other things in the work.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Yeah, Azkatraz.

Matt: The whole movie thing.

Andrew: Ah! Yes, good hint, Micah. “Some other things in the works”. Forgot about those. So…

Micah: Yeah, we can’t talk about them right now.

Andrew: No. So you can look forward to all those things coming up in the future of MuggleCast.


Congratulations: Emerson and Gaby


Matt: Have we talked about Emerson?

Andrew: Ah yeah – congrats to Emerson by the way – he got engaged to his girlfriend. There’s a video on YouTube. Search for “Emerson and Gaby” – G-A-B-Y – and you can see him proposing to Gaby at a basketball game.

Matt: Emerson’s getting married. Yay!

Matt: Yay.

Andrew: I wonder if we’re invited. Do you guys think we’ll be invited?

Matt: I would go.

Mikey: I think so.

Micah: You probably are. I don’t know if I am.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: I hope he invites everyone!

Mikey: Yeah, the rest of us.

Andrew: I hope he invites everyone.

Matt: Yeah, it will probably just be you, Andrew.

Andrew: Well I don’t – someone’s got to cover the site. I’ll be there at the chapel with my laptop and the news.

Micah: Nick will cover the site.

Andrew: What? Nick will cover the site?

Micah: Nick.

Andrew: No, I think Emerson’s dad would appreciate it if I had my laptop at the wedding, and I was posting news live.

Mikey: If you were posting it step by step…

Andrew: I want to use UStream…

Mikey: …Gaby is walking down the aisle.

Andrew: [laughs] I want to UStream his wedding. Has that ever been done before?

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Oh, it has?

Matt: Do you thing that Emerson’s going to wear a MuggleNet t-shirt underneath his tux at the wedding?

[Everyone laugh]

Mikey: You know he will. You know he will.

Andrew: I would! I would so do that! I would so do that! We’ve got to ask him to do that. [laughs] Everyone’s saying I should UStream the wedding. We’ll have to talk to him about it. I mean, I don’t see why not. Emerson would like that.

Matt: He’ll be up for it. Definitely.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Yeah.


Community Outlets


Andrew: Okay, again, thanks everyone for listening. We’ll be back soon. Follow us on Twitter.com/MuggleCast, so you can get the latest updates about the show, Twitter dot com slash MuggleCast. Also, we have a Facebook page and check out our brand new MuggleCast site. Is this the first episode with the new site?

Micah: No.

Matt: No, no, it’s not.

Andrew: Oh, darn. Okay, well check out the new MuggleCast.com if you haven’t yet. We just got it re-vamped, and it’s a great site. Really looks great.

Micah: And the transcripts, too. We promised we’d do those. Or plug those, right?

Andrew: Oh, yeah. The transcript section has been getting updated a lot, right Micah? What’s the latest on that?

Micah: Yeah, it’s been getting filled up, day by day. Margaret and all the other transcribers are working really hard, so it should be up-to-date hopefully within the next couple weeks, but…

Andrew: Perfect.

Micah: …we’re getting there.

Andrew: It’s a really great archive to have.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: And I said on the show, like, I want to take every single word and sentence that’s ever been on the show and put it on a huge poster. Just make the font really small, but every single word on the show. Wouldn’t that be awesome? I think it would be cool.

Matt: That’d be a really small font, though.

Andrew: It’d be kind of weird.

Micah: Eric would probably take up half of it.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: Yeah. Oh, Eric.

Andrew: I don’t think so. Anyway, and, yeah, thanks again to those transcribers. They do a great job transcribing the show. And while we’re on the thank yous, thank you again to UStream for hosting us, it was another great event. No crashes, just one, but that’s okay. It happens. Also, thanks to – thank you to the people who have been modding the chat, namely Andrew the Food Processor, as he likes to be called, you can find him on MuggleSpace, and Nick, MuggleNet staff member Nick, and Stephanie Perez, she was doing it, as well. Lucas wasn’t here tonight like he usually is. So again, thank you, everyone, for listening. It’s been a wonderful show.


Show Close


Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: And we cannot wait to see you next time. I’m Andrew Sims.

Mikey: I’m Mikey B.

Matt: I – oh, am I on?

Micah: Go ahead.

Andrew: Just go.

Matt: I’m Matt Britton.

Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Andrew: We’ll see you next time for Episode 174. Buh bye!

Mikey: Bye!

Matt: Bye!

Micah: Bye!

[Music plays out the show]

Transcript #172

MuggleCast 172 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music plays]

Mason: Listen up, MuggleCast listeners. GoDaddy hosting plans are more powerful than ever. Best of all, plans start at just $3.95 a month. And no matter what plan you choose, your site receives 24/7 maintenance and protection in the GoDaddy.com world class data center. Plus, as a listener of MuggleCast, enter code RON – that’s R-O-N – when you check out and get your dot com domain name for just $6.95 a year. Some restrictions always apply. But check that site out for the details. Get your piece of the Internet at GoDaddy.com

[“Hedwig’s 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 plays]

Andrew: Because Mary GrandPre is joining us this week, this is MuggleCast Episode 172 for March 6th, 2009

[Show music continues]

Andrew: Oh, this is a show for the mantle, ladies and gentlemen. This week we have, as promised and previewed, an interview with the illustrator of the American Harry Potter covers. Mary GrandPre is on the show this week. We conducted a great interview with her and we’ll be having that later on in the show, and it’s actually been awhile since our last MuggleCast, so we’re going to be catching up on a lot of news this week. So, let’s get right into the show. I am Andrew Sims.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Matt: And I’m Matt Britton.

[Show music continues]


News: Today Australia Airs Half-Blood Prince Clips


Andrew: Okay, Micah, we’re all looking forward to the Mary GrandPre interview, but first, what’s in the news?

Micah: Well we got a lot of news, because, as you said, it’s been a while since we did our last show, and…

Andrew: Yes it has!

Micah: We’ll get right into it. Today Australia debuted a new look at Half-Blood Prince back on February 23. And there were a few new scenes that were revealed in this – could you call it a trailer? Or is it just a sneak peek?

Andrew: It’s just as good as a trailer.

Laura: Yeah.

Matt and Micah: Yeah.

Micah: It’s better than the Japanese one, that’s for sure.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: I mean, first we saw the – this was in theaters, then, like Micah said, it was on Today Australia, and then W.B. officially released it in beautiful high definition quality. And, oh, just everything in this trailer – the scenes with Bellatrix jumping up and down in front of the Burrow – or, sorry, in front of Hagrid’s hut, it’s just – oh, my God…

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: These scenes were great.

Laura: Yeah, they really were great. I have to say, I really enjoyed the one opening scene where she flew down in front of the Burrow.

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: I mean, which you just mentioned, but it looked so cool.

Andrew: Yeah. She did a little twist.

Laura: Mhm.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: So awesome. I also love when she’s running on the tables in the Great Hall.

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: It was so insane. I love crazy Bellatrix. I’m so excited to see that.

Laura: [laughs] Well you get to see Hermione sicking the…

Matt: Oh, yeah.

Laura: Birds on Ron.

Andrew: That was pretty cool.

Laura: It looked really cool, but at the same time, that clip also shows – you know the original trailer where it shows Hermione crying and she looks really emotional?

Matt: Mhm.

Laura: I thought…

Andrew: Yeah, that’s that shot.

Laura: Yeah, I thought maybe it was because of Dumbledore dying.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: I just think it’s a little bit too much. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.

Andrew: A little too upset?

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: [laughs] Well, she’s heartbroken, I guess. I mean, I don’t know.

Matt: Well, you know, you – maybe Ron in the film said something after that and it made her more upset.

Laura: Yeah, that’s true. That’s true.

Matt: Because she didn’t seem very emotionally upset when she did the spell to cast those birds onto Ron. She just looked kind of just a little bit upset. But then you – we saw in the trailer she looks like she’s on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Laura: [laughs] Maybe she is.

Andrew: Laura, you’re a big Rupert fan. Do you like his hair in this movie?

Laura: Yeah, I like it…

Andrew: Do you?

Laura: I don’t know. I like it shorter in general. I mean, I hate to sound like one of these people who sits around and scrutinizes how they all look…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I really didn’t like it in Goblet of Fire. I didn’t like Dan’s hair in Goblet of Fire, either.

Matt: No. None of the hair was happening in Goblet of Fire.

Laura: Yeah. No, it was bad. [laughs]

Andrew: At the end of this was that – the “I am the chosen one!” clip again. And at this point, like, it’s funny, but it’s like, okay, it’s going to provide zero excitement in theaters, because we’ve all…

Matt: Well…

Andrew: …seen it now. So…

Matt: There’s always that scene in every film…

Andrew: I guess.

Matt: That they keep playing over and over…

Laura: Mhm.

Matt: In TV spots and trailers and behind the scenes, everything. And then they – when you see it actually in the film, you’re like, “Ah. Eh, we’ve already seen this a million times.” So that’s just going to be the scene that everybody’s going to be already tired with.

Andrew: So, yeah. Really cool, I mean this just – the clips are top notch. I mean, in the cave – the cave looks incredible.

Laura: And the Inferi.

Andrew: And we’ve talked about – yeah, yeah, just crawling up there. What an epic scene that’s going to be.

Matt: The fire looks really good, too.

Laura: Mhm.

Matt: The ring of fire that he casts.

Andrew: Yeah. And I just love how the camera starts out above him and it swoops down.

Matt: It’s pretty epic.

Andrew: Yeah, it really is. What else is going on, Micah?


News: New Half-Blood Prince Website


Micah: There’s a new Half-Blood Prince site, and we get to hear a little bit of music from Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: Yes, well, let’s play it, because its stuff from the score, we can only assume, right, Matt?

Matt: We can only assume, because it’s not from any other film that we’ve heard from, yes.

[Music plays]

Andrew: So you have the “Hedwig’s Theme.”

Matt: That sounds just like John Williams, too. That’s what I’m really…

Andrew: Yeah, well, they always use the same.

Matt: No, I mean, they always use variations of it.

Andrew: This part’s new. Shh.

[Music continues]

[Matt hums along to music]

[Music stops]

Andrew: So, it’s very exciting.

Laura: Mhm.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Guess the scene. What could that possibly be from?

Matt: Oh, that’s definitely that one – that part in that one scene, remember?

Laura: That one scene?

Andrew: In Half-Blood Prince?

Matt: Yeah, in the film. In Movie 6.

Andrew: Maybe it’s like in Fred and George’s Wizarding Wheezes.

Matt: Nah, I would assume that would be more like silliness and crazy score.

Andrew: Well, that’s kind of – it’s a little upbeat, a little…

Micah: Actually, I hate to break it to you guys, but we had Patrick Doyle record that last week.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Ha, ha. You guys fell for it.

Andrew: I see. So it’s all fake. Well, you guys did a good job hacking Warner Brothers’ site and putting that on there. What else is going on, Micah? Let’s shift out of Half-Blood Prince. We’re all tired about that. There’s a new movie coming!


News: Deathly Hallows Filming Underway


Micah: Yeah, I’m sick and tired of this. We’re going to be able to piece the movie together by, you know, these next couple of months, with all these videos and photos. It’s getting tiring. So let’s go to Deathly Hallows. Filming’s officially under way, and Emma Watson…

Andrew and Laura: Woo!


News: Hermione’s Mother Cast


Micah: …updated her site that she began filming on February the nineteenth. And speaking of Emma Watson, her mother, or the woman who’s going to play her mother, Michelle Fairly, was cast today. And this brings up an interesting question, because we know that her parents don’t appear, at least in terms of any dialogue, in Deathly Hallows, so what are they going to do for the movie that’s going to have a scene for these two characters? I’m assuming they’re going to cast her father, as well.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: This is really kind of weird, because we only see it in like – it’s only Hermione who actually talks about her parents in the movie…

Laura: Or in the book.

Matt: But we never see interaction.

Andrew: Well now they’ve got two parts to fill, so I think they – this is a perfect little extra thing to add in there that the fans will appreciate. I think it will just be a little, like, while Hermione’s explaining it to Ron and Harry maybe there’s a flashback to Hermione getting them off to Australia or something.

Micah: Right.

Matt: Well they may have even been casted…

Andrew: I think it would be funny…

Matt: To take like a photo shoot so she has a picture of them with her.

Andrew: Oh, yeah, maybe.

Laura: That’s true.

Micah: Now, is this the same woman who played her in Chamber of Secrets?

Andrew: No.

Matt: No.

Andrew: And people in the MuggleNet comments were saying, “Hey, well why not hire that woman? The one who had played her in Chamber of Secrets, because she looks more like her,” or something like that. But, I mean, the photo we posted on MuggleNet, it’s not, you know, that’s not how she’s going to look in the movie.

Matt: Mhm.

Laura: No, they’ll – I’m sure they’ll give her the same hair, at least.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Not bushy.

Andrew: Give her the same hair color.

Matt: Non-bushy hair?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: But I think it’s a good sign for these two parts, because you would never see them do this in a one-parter thing. I mean, that would probably be cut from the movie…

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Altogether, that whole…

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: You know, Hermione explaining to Harry and Ron what went on with their parents. I mean, I think that would be cut.

Matt: Mhm.

Laura: But I mean, at the same time I feel like they could just do it in the movie the same way it was done in the book. Hermione just told them what she did, and I feel like that would be a really quick way of getting that issue out on the table. I feel like casting somebody was kind of – not a really smart move, just because they’ve cut characters before who were more important. So why would you cast characters who you never actually see in that book?

Andrew: Well, I see it as, like, it’s going to be B-roll footage, where while Hermione is explaining it – over-top of her explanation, you see Hermione sending them off to Australia.

Laura: [mumbles grudgingly] Eh, I guess, I don’t know.

Matt: Yeah. I honestly…

Andrew: I think that would be a funny moment.

Matt: I honestly think it’s going to be just for like a picture or something she has. Because…

Andrew: Maybe. I don’t know, but the casting site said she was cast for it, so…

Matt: Mm, I kind of agree with Laura on this.

Andrew: I mean, have we ever seen, like, casting announcements for people in just pictures?

Matt: Well, we heard about Timothy Spall being in Order of the Phoenix, but only being for that photo, of the Order of the Phoenix.

Laura: That’s true. Yeah.

Andrew: Well, yeah. I guess, I guess. I suppose.

Matt: And I’m actually looking through Michelle Fairley right now on Google, and all these images, and she does look a lot like Emma Watson.

Andrew: And then it’s also interesting, because the article…

Micah: Ben’s going to be happy.

Andrew: Yeah. The article also says, “However, producers for the blockbuster have insisted that they wanted Michelle to play the part of Mrs. Granger.” So why would they insist? Unless, you know, there’s – I think they’re adding something. A scene. I think it’s more than just a picture.

Matt: They may be at the wedding. You never know.

Andrew: Oh, yeah. Maybe. What else is going on with Deathly Hallows?


News: Brent Klovstad Update


Micah: Well, it was reported back on February 27 by the Telegraph, that 21-year-old Brent Klovstad was camping outside Leavesden Studios in an attempt to get a part in Deathly Hallows. Now, Andrew, I know you spoke to him…

Andrew: He’s crazy!

Micah: …and it’s actually discovered that he was just looking for any job on the set, not necessarily a role in the film. He even told you that he’s clearly not British and he’s not an actor. He just wants to be involved in some capacity.

Andrew: Yeah. And the Sun initially reported it, and then the Telegraph I guess just took their story, or something, because they both said he was there just to be an actor – you know, to act in the film. When we reported this, I thought it was a rather intriguing story. The story ended up getting 177 comments from people, the large majority being like, “he’s crazy, why should he get a role, he’s American, he says he can’t act, blah blah blah.” So what I did is, I went on good old Facebook. And I Facebook-ed his name, and sure enough I saw a picture of him, sent him a message, said “Hey, do you want to talk about this for MuggleNet?” And I tried to record it, but the recording turned out bad because he’s over there right now, and he had a poor internet connection. So I just wrote up the summary of the interview instead. And he revealed, like what Micah said, that he was just trying to get any sort of job. And he was also just trying to brighten up the days of people who were there on set. He held signs that read things like “You Are Magical,” “Have a Harry Happy Day,” “We Can All Be Heroes Like Harry,” and “Smile.” Like, it was just a really nice story, I thought. I mean, he was just trying to brighten up people’s days, and, you know, if he’d gotten a – little intern job where he was sweeping floors one day, he would have been happy with that. But, you know, he was still happy with the outcome, and he talked to a couple actors as well. So that’s that. And it just shows you – and now everyone’s upset at the press for screwing up the story and making him look like something he’s – like someone he’s not.

Matt: Yeah. And that’s all due to you, Andrew. Good job. Yeah.

Andrew: I saved him. He’s welcome. No, but [laughs] he’s a really cool guy, and I wish him well. He lives in Southern California actually, too.

Matt: Oh.

Andrew: He’s going to be heading back here soon.


News: Deathly Hallows Part II Release Date


Micah: Continuing on with Deathly Hallows, we got a release date for the second part of the final film: July 15, 2011. It was originally scheduled for May 2011. [sarcastically] I can’t imagine why they would move the film back to July.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Yeah! Why is everybody all pissed off? Like everyone is still angry at Warner Brothers, “Oh my God, they’re doing it twice to us, I can’t believe Warner Brothers, oh my God!”

Laura: I don’t get why these people are complaining. It just means the movie’s going to come out in the summer, when you don’t have school.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: And do you really want…

Laura: Stop complaining.

Matt: [laughs] Yeah, I don’t get it. I think it’s ridiculous.

Andrew: I think, and you know, this is the final release date, so they can’t do this in the future, but I think that they should stop announcing release dates so early. They’ve been doing this since Order of the Phoenix, where they release the release date two years early. And it’s just – and they end up changing them. [laughs] So, you know…

Matt: Yeah, also fans – especially of the films that are coming out – they shouldn’t really consider all the release dates that studios provide set in stone.

Micah: Right.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Because movies don’t have a certain schedule. Things happen.


End of the Fandom: July 15, 2011


Andrew: The bigger side to this is that we finally, in a way, have an end date for the fandom. [laughs] Because for the first time after July 15, 2011 there will be no new books and no new movies…

Laura: Oh man.

Andrew: …based on the original seven books.

Matt: Yeah. Thanks for making that a reality, Drew. That was really nice.

Andrew: It’s kind of sad, it is kind of sad. There’s that final date now. It seems so far off, but it will be here…

Laura: Two years.

Matt: It does seem really weird, yeah. Two years.

Andrew: What do you guys think about this? Is it kind of weird?

Laura: It’s weird that I am going to be twenty-two when the last movie comes out. I’ve been reading these books since I was eleven years old.

Andrew: We should – I’ll be twenty-one too. I’ll be older. Or twenty-two or something like that.

Micah: I’ll be twenty-eight. Does that make you feel any better, Laura?

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Well no, I’m not talking about age, I’m not using that as a factor. It has just been a long – road, I guess, if you think about it.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: A lot of changes have happened in everyone’s lives since we started reading these books. And it’s just weird – who knew when you were a kid or a teenager or whatever and you picked up the first Harry Potter book, how different it would be ten years down the road.

Andrew: I know. It’s going to be twelve years since MuggleNet opened, which is insane. And this year is MuggleNet’s 10th Anniversary. October…

Laura: That blows my mind. It is so weird.

Andrew: I know.

Matt: That is really odd.

Andrew: By the way, we are going to be doing a few things to celebrate that. To all the listeners…

[Matt gasps]

Micah: It would be six years of MuggleCast.

Laura: Oh my God.

[Laura and Matt laugh]

Andrew: Crazy! I hate time. Why does time exist?

Matt: It just makes you feel older, doesn’t it?

Andrew: Yeah, yeah. So there you go, July 15, 2011. And we definitely will be doing some sort of party…

Matt: A big one.

Andrew: End of fandom extravaganza somewhere, but…

Matt: The fandom will never die, Andrew. So stop it.

Andrew: No it won’t, it won’t and I’m wondering if J.K. Rowling is considering releasing the encyclopedia after this final movie comes out.

Matt: Maybe.

Andrew: Because I don’t know, I just feel like once the movie is over…

Matt: Well it’s definitely not coming out anytime soon. She hasn’t even really talked about it.

Micah: Speaking of big events, the year before there is going to be an opening, right?

Andrew: Yes.

Micah: The theme park?

Andrew: Yes!


News: Theme Park Update


Micah: We got a little bit of new concept art from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And this one is for Dervish and Banges. It’s going to be in Hogsmeade and it looks pretty cool.

Laura: Yeah, it does.

Andrew: I like it.

Micah: Not your average convenience store, that’s for sure.

Andrew: [laughs] You won’t see this in a 7-Eleven.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: It is pretty cool. And it kind of reminds me of Fred and George’s store because there’s that banister up on the second level, and if you see some video from the Half-Blood Prince preview there’s a banister on the second story.

Laura: Oh yeah.

Matt: There’s a lot of banisters in the films too, even Flourish and Blotts.

Andrew: Okay, so banisters are in the films. But it looks really cool.

Matt: I’m really excited to see the merchandise they have in that store. Because, it’s always very hard to find Harry Potter stuff to look at and buy, you know?

Andrew: I wonder if it is going to be – if they are going to be having exclusive merchandise that you’ll only be able to get in the theme park.

Laura: Oh, I’m sure.

Matt: Oh, definitely.

Andrew: That would be sweet.

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: Because it is going to have official Harry Potter theme park stamps.

Andrew: Well no, I’m hoping stuff that doesn’t have that. Like obviously, you’ll be able to get Wizarding World shirts and stuff like that; which will be awesome, by the way. I wonder if – like, look at the stuff in the picture. The – Jack-in-the-Box right in the front. Of course they have the scarves.

Matt: Mhm. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of stuff that we’ve never seen before.

Laura: Did you notice – I don’t know, one of the first things I noticed, maybe because I am a girl – but they had Hermione’s Yule Ball dress on display.

Andrew and Matt: Yeah

Laura: That’s cool if you’re interested in buying that kind of thing.

Matt: What’s right next to it? Is that the Goblet of Fire Tri-wizard Tournament…

Andrew: It looks like…

Matt: Thing that Harry wore?

Andrew: Yeah, looks like something of Harry’s. Because in Order of the Phoenix, he wears that grey sweatshirt and red shirt underneath…

Matt: And the red underneath shirt. Yeah.

Andrew: In a couple scenes.

Matt: It looks pretty big too, if you look there’s a hallway that goes pretty far back.

Andrew: Yeah. So yeah, it’s pretty sweet. I can’t imagine – I’m really excited to see the different stores they have in Hogsmeade. I mean, you’re going to be able – Harry Potter fans will be able to spend the whole day just in Hogsmeade.

Matt: Jeez.

Andrew: It is so exciting.

Matt: It is.

Andrew: We still haven’t seen any actual – there’s been a couple of buildings going up but there’s been no clear construction photos where you see a picture and you’re like, “Oh, that’s Hogwarts.”

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: They’re working on it, but…

Matt: I’m excited about that, though. I really want to be surprised on a lot of the stuff in the theme park.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I don’t want to see every little piece of construction that’s been going up and it’s just going to look…

Andrew: Yeah…

Matt: You want to absorb the magic as they want you to see it.


News: J.K.R. Defacing Property – Again


Micah: All right and one final piece of news. Back on February 21st The Scotsman reported that J.K. Rowling visited a local hospital and graffitied the walls of the Young People’s Unit at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Morningside. And the hospital cares for teenagers with complex psychiatric conditions. And the people who work over there said that not only did she do a good job with the graffiti, but she really identified with the teens that were there.

Andrew: That’s really cool.

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: I’d love to see her with a can of graffiti and just like…

Laura: A can of graffiti?

Andrew: Yeah, or how does graffiti work? I don’t even know.

Laura: It’s spray paint or paint and you…

Andrew: Yeah, a can of spray paint. Whatever.

Laura: Yeah, but graffiti doesn’t come canned. [laughs]

Andrew: Oh.

Laura: That’s what I was saying.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, regardless. It’d be funny to see her doing that.

Matt: You know you’re famous when your graffiti becomes priceless.

Laura: When you don’t get arrested for it.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Exactly.

Matt: You actually just make it more valuable.

Andrew: Speaking of that, in response to this story Chelsea, 14 of New York wrote to us. She said:

“Hey MuggleCasters! I just want to express my love for you guys and all your podcasts. I was writing in about the news of Jo’s graffiti at the hospital. In Episode 75, I believe you were all discussing about the release date for ‘Deathly Hallows’ and how Jo wrote on the marble bust when she finished D.H. in the hotel room in Edinburgh. I think it was Ben or maybe Eric who was saying how maybe Jo would make this her new career, and now she’s done it again! Coincidence? Maybe you all were just a little too good in Divination. Anyways, love the show and hope to hear from you all soon.”

Andrew: So I thought that was pretty funny. Maybe Jo likes doing stuff like that. That’s her thing.

Matt: Maybe she had a history of graffiti.

Andrew: Maybe at her house.

Micah: She’s letting loose, now that all of the books are over.

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: She just went crazy.

Andrew: Woo!

Matt: She’s a loose cannon.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: Her house is like a New York City alley. It’s like graffiti everywhere.

[Matt laughs]

Laura: Don’t mess with her.


News: Robert Knox’s Killer Convicted


Andrew: And one final story, shifting gears for a moment. We’re recording on Wednesday, and we heard today that Robert Knox’s killer was convicted of murder today. As everyone remembers, last May – May 2008, Rob Knox, who plays Marcus Belby in Half-Blood Prince, was tragically, so sadly, killed out in front of a night club in London. He was stabbed to death actually. Terrible story, and his murderer was finally convicted today and he will be sentenced tomorrow. So…

Matt: That’s sad.

Andrew: Good to hear that he got justice, but very sad story.

Matt: Very sad circumstances.

Laura: Mhm.


Announcement: New MuggleCast Website Design


Andrew: Yes. So anyway, moving along to some announcements before we get to Muggle Mail and then the interview with Mary GrandPre. We have a new design on MuggleCast.com. Has everyone seen this?

Matt: Yes!

Laura: Yeah, that’s awesome.

Matt: Yay!

Andrew: People are loving it much more than I thought they would…

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: …which is great. So thanks everyone. We’re glad to hear you like the new layout. It’s really nice. It’s slick, it’s easy to look at. It’s got more information on there. It’s just nice.

Matt: I like it. It’s very clean looking too.

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: Yeah, it’s better organized and it’s got some fun buttons for Twitter. And finally our pictures are up there. Because some of our listeners still haven’t – they don’t know what we look like yet, because they don’t go on Facebook or MySpace or MuggleSpace, for whatever reason.

Micah: And now they wish they didn’t.

Laura: Oh my God.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Now they’ll see…

Laura: Now they know that we’re all social hermits.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: Wow, these guys are nerds. Look at them.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: So our pictures are up there. So if you want to see the true us just go to MuggleCast.com and you click “About.” That’s been a long requested feature.

Matt: We need to pick a new picture for Micah, because his is…

Laura: You know Andrew, if you picked a crappy picture for me I’m going to kill you.

Andrew: I didn’t. I picked Facebook profile pictures for everyone because I figured if you used them once – it’s a very nice picture of you.

Laura: Okay, I’ll take your word for it.


Announcement: Podcast Alley and Azkatraz


Andrew: Anyway, we’re in March now, so don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley. We’re in the Top 10 as of right now, so thank you to everyone who has been voting for us. We really do appreciate your vote. And finally in the announcements we have a couple things about Azkatraz to talk about. As everyone knows, we’ll be doing a podcast after the midnight premiere of Half-Blood Prince with our friends at Leaky. It’s going be a lot of fun. And we’re doing a couple of other things too, on our own. And actually we heard just the other day – and I want to thank everyone who has signed up – we heard that we’ve referred over a hundred people to Azkatraz.

Laura: Wow.

Andrew: Like a hundred of our listeners signed up. So that’s great news…

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: And that’s going to help us out a lot. So thank you to everyone who’s been registering. And we can’t wait to see everybody there.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Also today I found out that our panel on “How to Podcast” has been approved. So we’ll be doing a discussion on how to make your own podcast and how to come up with ideas and such. I can’t remember if I ever told you guys about this…

Laura: You did, you did.

Andrew: Okay good.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: For once.

Matt: But you are finding out now and you are doing it.

Laura: Okay, Mason.

Matt: [imitating Mason] Oh yeah!

Andrew: It will be a lot of fun. I did this once before with Ben and Jamie at Enlightening 2007, the convention in Philadelphia. And it was a lot of fun and the fans enjoyed it too. So we’ll be doing that.

Matt: I’m really excited for Azkatraz.

Laura: Yeah, me too.

Andrew: Yeah, we’re also going to do a MuggleCast meet-up like we did last year at Portus. That was a lot of fun. This year, maybe if we got some extra money, we’ll order a ton of pizzas, whereas last year…

Laura: Instead of just pizza for Andrew.

Matt: Yeah, except one for yourself.

Andrew: We just ordered pizzas for ourselves! [laughs]

Laura: It wasn’t even for us, it was for you.

Matt: It was just for you.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: I ate like three pizzas. [laughs]

Matt: Yeah…

Andrew: I gave…

Matt: We were sitting there for a half hour waiting on you to show up with your pizza.

Andrew: I awarded slices to the people who asked questions and such. But anyway…

Matt: The leftover slices…

Andrew: We’ll have like fifteen or twenty pizzas.

Matt: You didn’t want to eat.

Andrew: Yeah, sorry. So we’ll have a big pizza, Pepsi, soda party. Water, orange juice, whatever you want, it’ll be there. So that’ll be a lot of fun, and like I said, that will be the MuggleCast meet-up and we’ll be doing “How to Podcast.” And lastly, one more thing that we are doing. And Micah’s going to talk about that.

MuggleCast 172 Transcript (continued)


Announcement: The Next Biggest Podcast Idol Survivor


Micah: Oh yes, I am.

[Matt laughs]

Micah: HPEF and MuggleCast are teaming up to create “The Next Biggest Podcast Idol Survivor.” I think we included just about every reality TV show in there.

Andrew: Put Bachelor at the end.

Micah: A contest to make the next great Harry Potter podcast. Yeah, they’re missing that. And we mentioned this last episode, but the competition is great because it culminates on July 20th when the winners are going to get the chance to podcast live from Azkatraz in San Francisco as part of the Podcast Palooza. The reason why we’re talking about it so much is that you only have a small amount of time to get your audition tapes in. They need to be submitted by March 15th to YouTube, with “HPEF The Next Biggest Podcast Idol Contest” and then your name in the subject field. Now full details, including all the info on the remaining stages of the competition, are available on MuggleCast.com. But that’s the first step: you need to get your audition tape in so you have a chance at being a part of this at Azkatraz.

Matt: Wait, Andrew, I got a question for you. On this thing, are – us the hosts – are we going to be the judges?

Andrew: Yes.

Matt: So like American Idol judges?

Andrew: Yeah, you’re going to be the Paula.

Matt: I don’t want to be Paula. I’m not crazy.

Andrew: I’m going to be Randy. “Yo, dawg. Yo, man, that was really kickin’.”

Laura: Who gets to be Simon?

[Micah laughs]

Laura: Who gets to be the mean host?

Andrew: Micah can be Simon. Laura you can be the new host.

Matt: I think, Andrew, you seem more like Simon than anybody else.

Andrew: “Dreadful, absolutely dreadful.” [laughs] That’s my best Simon.


Announcement: Smart Mouths Podcast Reminder


Andrew: One last quick announcement before we move into Muggle Mail. Just want to remind everyone we have a new podcast, everyone on the show this week is doing, and it’s called Smart Mouths. You can visit smartmouthspodcast.com for more information. We’re talking about anything and everything in the world and it’s a lot of fun. So check it out: SmartMouthsPodcast.com.


Muggle Mail: Who Would You Date from the Potter Series?


Andrew: And so with that, let’s move into Muggle Mail this week, to catch up on some e-mails. People really enjoyed our favorites discussion last week on who we would date in the Harry Potter series as part of our Valentine’s Day discussion.

Laura: First one comes from Molly Gwin, age 20 of Madison, Wisconsin. She writes:

“In your Valentine’s Day episode, you asked people who in the ‘Harry Potter’ series would they date. I thought it was interesting that no one said that they would date Harry. I wondered why that is because I know I would.”

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, why didn’t anyone say Harry?

Laura: I wasn’t there.

Matt: I think we just – yeah, Laura, who do you think you would date?

Laura: I would date Harry. I like Harry. He seems like…

Andrew: Anyone else? Pretend like you didn’t see this e-mail. Who would you have said?

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: Who would I have said? I mean, I like Ron, too. I don’t know.

Matt: I think why a lot of us didn’t really think about Harry was because we just know too much of Harry.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Well, there were also five guys on the show.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: That might have had something to do with it, too.

[Andrew laughs]


Muggle Mail: Who Would You Date from the Potter Series? #2


Micah: Next e-mail comes from Mary Margaret of Germantown, Tennessee. She says:

“I loved hearing your answers to the ‘Which HP Character Would You Date’ question. However, I was surprised that none of you guys said Molly Weasley. She obviously likes to get it on since she has seven kids and her nickname from Arthur is ‘Mollywobbles.’ She’s a great cook and she’ll even knit you a sweater. This is a woman who knows how to take care of her family and her man.’
[laughs] “I have to say…”

Matt: No, you had to say it with a little soul, too: [in soulful voice] “This is a woman who knows how to take care of her man.”

Micah: [laughs] You do it for me.

“I have to say I would date Harry since I always seem to end up with the guys who have emotional baggage and lots of drama.”

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: So that’s from Mary Margaret.

Andrew: I would date Molly.

Micah: She’s married, though.

Andrew: No, before. I mean, if she was…

Micah: Oh, before.

Andrew: You know, in her teens or her young adult years. I mean, she’s – Mary’s absolutely right. She’s a very nice lady. She’s very caring.


Muggle Mail: No MuggleCast Episode for Australian Footage


Matt: She’s the only character who actually swore in the series. Our last e-mail comes from Zach, 21, of Ohio, and Zach writes:

“You gave a live MuggleCast to that piece of trash from Japan, but we didn’t get this actual new footage from Australia? Plus, the little bit from Spoilers and the Oscars and there isn’t even a recorded MuggleCast? I’m afraid I just don’t understand. And I’m not mad, I’m just curious as to what you thought of all this new footage. Love the show and Ben needs to be on more.”

Geez, a little demanding of this kid.

Laura: Yeah, really.

Andrew: Well, I included this because a lot of people were asking why we didn’t do a show after the featurette was released that we discussed a little bit earlier. I mean, it was just because it wasn’t a trailer and we had some other stuff going on at that time. I mean, the stuff – the footage was really awesome.

Matt: Australia was definitely…

Andrew: One of our best looks yet.

Matt: The Oscars and Spoilers things, I don’t think, holds any water at all because the Oscars suck.

Andrew: Yeah, they both kind of sucked. The Oscars…

Matt: Let’s be honest. Spoilers and the Oscars, there’s no reason for us to do anything for that. It wasn’t even worth it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: It was what? All of not even five seconds, I think.

Matt: It was five seconds of stuff we just – already saw six months ago.

Andrew: There was like one new clip, and it was a second long.

Matt: Yeah, but you had to pause it.

Micah: And I wouldn’t call the thing from Japan a “piece of trash”. I mean, that’s a little harsh.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: He was just upset.


Mary GrandPre Interview


Andrew: And there was a lot of new stuff in there. But yeah, next time there’s a new trailer, we’ll do a live show. Hopefully, there will be a lot of new stuff to discuss in it. But yeah, that featurette was awesome! Okay. Well, that’s Muggle Mail this week taking in all of your feedback from previous episodes of MuggleCast. Now it is time for our interview with the illustrator of the United States Harry Potter books, Miss Mary GrandPre.

Matt: Yay!

Laura: Yay!

Andrew: We’re now joined by the illustrator of the U.S. Harry Potter books, Mary GrandPre. Mary, it’s an honor to be talking with you. How are you doing?

Mary: I am doing just great today, thank you. How are you?

Andrew: Good, we’re doing good.

Laura: We’re great. We – we heard you’re in Florida right now. So we have to wonder if you’ve been to Universal Studios by chance and caught any glimpses of the Harry Potter Theme Park they’re building?

Mary: I have not. I’m waiting to do that. We have a little girl that we will take with us, and when she’s old enough, we’ll explore it.

Andrew: Aww.

Laura: Aww. [laughs]

Andrew: Well, let’s – let’s get into some questions about the books, because we do have a lot of them and, of course, all the fans know you for your amazing work with them. But let’s start with the basics. Could you – could you explain to us the process of designing one of the Harry Potter covers? We know that you read the books first, and then what?

Mary: Yeah, I’ll get the manuscript and then I’ll just go through and highlight descriptions of characters, descriptions of places, or creatures, or whatever is something that I might end up drawing. And I kind of have a code system that I, you know, highlight things that might be good for a chapter heading or a different color for things that might be good ideas for covers. And then make all my notes and try and get a really good understanding of the story and emotionally and visually as well. And then I just start out with writing notes and making some little sketches, and then at that point, after I feel like I’ve got some ideas, I’ll call David Sailor at Scholastic and we’ll discuss what some of my cover ideas are, and he’ll discuss with me what they’ve been talking about at Scholastic for cover ideas, and we’ll kind of come to a decision about a couple of different approaches. And then I’ll go back to the drawing board and sketch those. It’s usually a scene – sketch those scenes out. And, you know, working with the type, all the covers have – are
handmade, or hand drawn – title in them, so I kind of have to design the cover with that in mind. After the cover is decided we’ll go through and discuss what each chapter heading might be, and sometimes David will give me a list of his ideas, and sometimes I’ll have a different idea so I’ll shoot that to him, but I’ll just then continue on with those sketches. I mean, everything’s done in pencil first, pencil on tracing paper, and then it goes to pastel on paper after the pencils are approved.

Andrew: How long of a process do you think this is from, like, month-wise? It sounds like it must take a while.

Mary: It does, but there’s not enough time. There’s never enough time…

Andrew: Right.

Mary: …because the, you know, the print deadline is really always looming, and since, like, the artist is the last one to get the… [laughs] …to get the thing handed down…

Andrew: The book. [laughs]

[Laura laughs]

Mary: So, you know.

Andrew: Not fair.

Mary: But I would say from the time I get the manuscript to the time the final piece of art is due is probably about two and a half months or so. Two to three months, maybe…

Laura: Wow.

Mary: …to get a cover done and then all the spots, yeah. And they’ve also been including frontist pieces, which is that colored piece at the beginning of the book, too, so…

Andrew: Right.

Laura: Mhm. How…

Mary: And then there’s also a separate cover for the special edition too.

Laura: Wow.

Andrew: And is that done in that two and a half month period as well?

Mary: Yeah, I’d say maybe three months for that.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Mary: Yeah.

Laura: How many ideas do you come up with per book? Is it ever hard for you to decide which scene you want to depict on the cover?

Mary: It is before I talk to David, but after I get some kind of validation and really knock some ideas around on the phone with him, we’re pretty focused on a direction. I mean, it’s hard to decide before that point because there’s so many,
you know, exciting scenes to show, and J.K. Rowling really gives us a lot to work with visually. She’s such a – her writing is very rich in that regard, so it is hard to pick, you know, what wonderful scene to show, but once I talk with David, there’s a pretty good direction, and then my challenge is just to work within those
boundaries and make that scene shine the best way I can. Initially, I’ll come up with maybe four different ideas for what a cover might be when I speak with David.

Micah: Was there any book in the series you had a particularly hard time designing? And, if so, what was that challenge?

Mary: I would say Book 5 was hardest for me because it was a very dark book. It was kind of a hard book for me to read. I mean, I think it was really good, but it seemed like that’s when Harry was kind of coming into puberty and becoming this
young man, and it was emotionally really – it seemed really heavy and dark, and so – and there were a lot of dream scenes, and Harry running through hallways, opening doors, and as dramatic and interesting and rich as that is, it was hard to find a scene that was not depressing to show on the cover, and…

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Mary: …so that’s why we went with the round spinning room with the candles, the blue lights. But, you know, I like to work with dark things too. I mean, it had that fun part about it, you know, dark is fun too, but it also can be kind of
overwhelming if you get caught up in it emotionally, so…

Andrew: Right. Now that was also the first cover that was – had a single, I guess – I don’t know what the technical term is – but a color tone, it was all blue.

Mary: Yeah.

Andrew: What was the reason for doing that?

Mary: Well, I think when I looked back at the first – the first three books were kind
of jewel-toned, you know?

Andrew: Yeah.

Mary: Reds, and blues, and purples, and golds, and then the fourth book became pretty green, and I started to kind of think in terms of, you know, let’s do something different with the fourth book. And then by the time the fifth book rolled around,
and color seemed actually to be mentioned a lot in the fifth book, there was a lot of dark blues in the writing. And it just so happened that the next book, Book 6, The Half-Blood Prince, there’s a lot of green. And so, I mean, it really made sense to kind of start making the books more poignant in their color…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mary: …themes.

Andrew: Now what about a character? Did you ever have a hard time coming up with the idea for a character? Because there are so many you have to illustrate when you’re including the character in your pictures too. Were there any challenges with that?

Mary: Not so much, I think, because she really describes well…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mary: …how people look. I mean, it’s not like I had to make them up, I really just had to pay attention to what she was saying and kind of envision the character in my head, and I really stayed away from watching the movies because – well, for one thing, they come out after the books, you know, and I didn’t want to get caught up in the special effects and the “wow” factor of the, you know, laser beams or whatever you see on the T.V.

[Micah laughs]

Mary: But, I mean it’s just – you know, I really wanted to make the books pure and simple and true to the writing, and – so I really just paid attention to the writing when it came to deciding how characters look, or places look. And so I don’t think there was so much challenge. My biggest challenge was always the ticking clock to get everything done on time.

Andrew: Ah, right.

[Laura laughs]

Mary: Yeah.

Laura: Kind of going off of that, have you ever received complaints from fans who may not have liked the characters as you depicted them in the cover art?

Mary: No. I mean, I think – I know that I can go online and look at websites where they kind of pull apart the art and criticize the art, and I choose not to do that because, really, what’s the point? I get more positive feedback and that’s really what moves me forward.

Andrew: Yeah. I think in general, the fans just – they really do love your work and they seem to – we know they tend to get critical about the actors playing the, you know, the roles, so we were wondering if maybe they had any problems with the characters, too, but I guess not.

Mary: Well, I’m guessing they do, I just don’t know about them. [laughs]

[Laura laughs]

Mary: I don’t want to know about them because, you know – I mean, I’ll do some public appearances as far as going to schools and talking to them about the process and the experience and about making pictures for books, and not just Potter books, but all books that I do, and, you know, I’ll always have a Q&A at the end and kids talk about – asking questions, why I do something this way or that way, or have comments, and it’s that kind of feedback, you know, in a public forum that I enjoy. Getting complaints in the mail or something like that doesn’t interest me… [laughs] …too much.

[Laura laughs]

Mary: And I don’t. I don’t really get them. I get some great letters, and there’s some wonderful fans, and it’s – and I – the encouragement is the biggest gift. So, you know, it’s a funny thing because you can’t really draw something in somebody else’s mind. I mean, you can only draw from what – how you see it, that’s how – the nature of art in any form, so that’s that I guess.

Andrew: Okay. And you talked a little bit before about designing the covers, but we’re wondering if you’ve had any involvement with the author, of course, J.K. Rowling? Do you talk with her at all when designing them? Or does she give you any feedback?

Mary: The way that it’s set up, and it’s this way with picture books as well, is it’s usually the publisher is the go between. They kind of keep the author and illustrator separate so that they can each do their job, and of course they would send sketches to J.K. to get her approval, but I never dealt with her directly. I mean, I’ve met her and spoken with her, but I never – when we were working I never dealt with her directly. It’s just not the way the agreement is set up. The relationship is set up. But if she wanted something changed, you know, or if she was concerned about something, she would relay that to the art director and the editor, and they would then speak to me about it. So far there’s never been a complaint, really, I don’t think, on her part about the covers.

Andrew: Cool.

Mary: She’s quite agreeable.

Laura: [laughs] Do you work with the international illustrators at all?

Mary: No. I don’t. I know there’s a lot of different publishers around the world and some of my artwork shows up in different countries, like a lot of the Asian countries. But no, I don’t speak with the others.

Laura: So there was never any concern about, maybe, like, the U.S. artwork and the U.K. artwork looking too similar? Or is that sort of a non-issue?

Mary: I think it’s a non-issue, and I don’t think they look similar at all, really, but…

Laura: Oh no, no, no, they definitely don’t, but just in terms of scenes being used on the different editions.

Mary: Oh. No, I don’t think there’s ever really been a concern about it.

Micah: When you’re designing the covers, do you have any other influences aside from the stories themselves that you may use?

Mary: That’s a good question. You know, it’s hard to say. I think so many of our influences are indirect and we don’t really know what we’re pulling from sometimes in creating something, but I guess I would really have to say my biggest and most tangible influence is the writing itself, the story, and the mood that it sets and, you know,
how this book cover differs from the last one, how it progresses, you know, how Harry’s aged, and just to think in progressive terms as a series. That’s – that’s really where my focus goes in deciding, you know, how the books change from one to another.

Andrew: Now, some more specific cover questions about your work. What, in your mind, was the significance of the heavily worn curtains on the Book 7 cover compared to the Sorcerer’s Stone cover. And I know you spoke – you did a small interview, I think, when – when that cover was revealed you said that every little detail on the cover mattered. So could you talk about the significance of that curtain, because that was particularly interesting.

Mary: Yeah, well, the last book we wanted to harken back to the first book and the curtains was one element of that, and, you know, the book really changed from – from one through seven, the look of it. I think it just got more mature and developed, as did Harry. And, you know, Harry’s more of a grown young man on the last cover, and so the curtains are more worn and older too, and, you know, a lot has happened. So we just had fun
making this dramatic scene, and making the covers tie back to the first one. And also the outstretched arm, you know, it’s a different – it’s almost a different Harry even though it’s the same Harry. He feels older, and more mature, and different, and he’s in a totally different environment. So part of it was – the curtains was just this kind of staged, dramatic effect and – but most of it was to tie back to book number one, just visually and also, in a way to say, you know, this is the closing scene, almost like a stage.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

Laura: Mhm. Speaking of tying back to Book 1, how did you decide what to do for the Sorcerer’s Stone 10th Anniversary Edition cover?

Mary: When David and I talked about that, we just both agreed on the idea that we would show Harry in a more emotional, up-close way, because we’d been showing scenes. And Books 1, 2, and 3 were really scenes of these little figures, you know? And I really don’t like doing little figures very much. I like to get up close and do more of a portrait, more of an emotional connection with the characters, and so when it was time to do the anniversary cover, book – let’s see – we wanted to just show him in a vulnerable place on a real human level, a side that we hadn’t yet shown him on a cover that way, really, where he’s just really in this reflective state, looking at his parents in the mirror. So – and the fact that we never really got to see his parents on a cover and parents were a big part of his
spirit, you know, his – his strength. So that just seemed like a really good scene for those reasons.

Micah: Speaking of the 10th anniversary, both Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban celebrate their 10-year anniversary this year. Have you thought about cover ideas for them? Have you even been approached about those books?

Mary: We’ve thought about them. I’m not sure what’s happening right now with it. I really – I don’t really think I can comment on that. I’m not sure…

[Laura and Micah laughs]

Mary: …where we’re at with it. I know it’s – it’s approaching and then – I’m not really quite sure about it.

Micah: Yeah, no comment, right? [laughs]

Mary: Yeah. No comment on that one. [laughs]

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, and one other future cover that’s possible is J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Encyclopedia. She says she
wants to do this down the road. She’s basically giving the impression that she really wants to do it. Obviously,
everyone would be looking to you to do a cover for the encyclopedia for the American edition. Have you heard about
the encyclopedia? Have you given any thought to it? What you could possibly put on – on an all-encompassing cover, you know?

Mary: Yeah, I know, that would be a tough one. That’s a tough – a tough cover to figure out because there’s so much and that’s going to be a really big encyclopedia.

[Andrew laughs]

Mary: And, you know, the cover should represent what’s going on inside. So that’s just – that would take a lot of thought. I don’t know if I’m going to be doing it or not, I – but should I be approached about it I would have fun trying to figure that one out.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah.

[Laura laughs]

Mary: Yeah.

Andrew: I think it would be cool if you drew, like, every character and every item ever, and just fit it all on…

Mary: Yeah.

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Mary: Okay, and the next ten years I’ll be doing Potter. Yeah, there’s so much. There’s so much.

[Laura laughs]

Mary: But I think, you know, a collection of portraits would be very cool.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Laura: Mhm.

Mary: Colored portraits, yeah. Because so many times we only see a lot of the main characters in just a black and white form in a tiny little spot, you know, at the chapter headings.

Andrew: Right.

Mary: But I think really getting to see them – their portraits – would be very cool.

Laura: Yeah. One of my favorite things about reading the books has always been the chapter art, because you always seem to be so good at not giving away too much with the drawings. Do you find the process of selecting a piece of work for each chapter challenging?

Mary: I found it more fun than challenging. Yeah. Challenging in a fun way. Yeah. Because that’s exactly what you have to do. You just have to entice – the writing, of course, entices you enough, but the chapter headings just really had to give you a little glimpse of what’s about to come without telling you too much. And, like I said, those chapter headings are also opportunities for us to meet some of the characters and then when we read on we find out who they are and what place they have in the story. So, you know, those are, I’d say, as much fun for me to do as the actual covers, because they really kind of mark places in the story that are important without giving it away, and that is fun to do.

Micah: Now, you’re one of the first people to read these books when they come out. I want to know, how difficult was it with knowing the end of Deathly Hallows and not being able to share it with anybody? And then, also, how did you feel once Harry’s story was done, because obviously you played such a big role in series as well.

Mary: Mhm. As far as the difficulty level of not sharing it, it’s kind of hard, but I’ve gotten used to just, you know, signing the confidentiality contracts and just being true to that. And my focus is always so much on, you know, the artwork and doing a good job and getting it in on time and just really being true to the writing that, you know, the other element of the social aspect of not sharing my work is just kind of not that important. My family doesn’t really – they know enough to not even talk to me about it at that time, and…

[Everyone laughs]

Mary: … my friends know. And they just know when I’m not coming out and socializing I must be working on a Potter piece.

Andrew: Right.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Mary: So, you know, they know the program and it just has become a way of working when that rolls around.

Andrew: A couple people…

Mary: And the other – yeah, I’m sorry…

Andrew: Sorry.

Mary: …the other part of your question was…?

Andrew: How’d you feel once Harry’s story was done?

Mary: Oh! Sad. Sad, but also kind of happy. It’s kind of like – I think I’ve said it before – like your eighteen year old is leaving for college…

Andrew: Right.

Laura: Aw.

Mary: …and they’re going out on their own, and now you move on to other things too. But sad too, because he really has been a part – and of course I look back at the work and I wish I could redo parts of it and do it better, you know, but that’s what artists do. And that’s what anybody does when they look at their work. Yeah.

Andrew: Well, a couple of basic questions: what’s your favorite character in the Harry Potter series? And what do you think your favorite book is too?

Mary: Well, Harry is my favorite character. But aside from Harry, I would say Hagrid.

Andrew: Oh, Hagrid.

Laura: Aw.

Andrew: Why Hagrid? Did you have fun drawing him too? He looks like a lot of fun to draw.

Mary: Mostly I love Hagrid because I’m drawn to… [laughs] …lovable, big, scruffy…

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Mary: …guys – people, characters, I guess. And he reminded me a lot of my best dog Chopper who was a big St. Bernard mix and he was there and loyal and protective, and that’s what Hagrid was. And that, to me, is just really sweet. But I, you know, I also love Dumbledore and, you know, that, but I guess emotionally there’s a little tug at the heart for Hagrid. But certainly Harry.

Laura: Out of all the cover art you’ve done for the Potter books, which one is your favorite?

Mary: I would say the last one is my favorite.

Laura: Mhm.

Mary: I think it’s the best portrait of Harry, and I think, you know, I like the dramatic quality of it and the simplicity of the composition. I kind of like the curtain. I liked how it tied it up and it kind of related back to the first book.

Andrew: Right.

Mary: So, yeah.

Andrew: And also, what is your favorite book?

Mary: My favorite book of the Potter series?

Andrew: Yeah, like the stories in general.

Mary: It’s a draw between the first book and the third book.

Andrew: Now, why’s that? Why – was there anything…

Mary: You know, I think the third book because of Harry – the first book certainly because we’re just meeting this kid, and it’s just an amazing story and the fact that he lives in this little cellar under the stairs and, you know, and the funny parts. It seemed to be a little more lighthearted, and there was some good humor, and I guess when you meet a character and you’re finding out about their quirks, or their personality, it’s kind of – it’s kind of exciting in that way.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mary: And just being drawn to Harry as this orphaned boy, and discovering in that first book that he has this power, is pretty exciting. And then Book 3, I think it was about him finding out who Sirius Black was, and that he had this connection with him, and that he wasn’t alone, and there seemed be a real camaraderie between him and Ron and Hermione in that book, too. I mean, they are in all those books, but they really seem to come together physically and dramatically in Book 3.

Micah: Well, wrapping up, can you tell us a little bit about your exhibit that was recently held at Cedar Rapids?

Mary: Yeah, the exhibit was – it’s a great museum, and, you know, I’m from the midwest. I’m from Minnesota, and so Cedar Rapids is just a couple hours south of where I’m originally from, and so I felt a kinship to go back to the midwest and have this pretty extensive show in a museum. And the curator Sean Ulmer is a great guy to work with. But I showed a variety of my illustration work from throughout the years from other children’s books, and book covers, and posters, and opera, pieces I’ve done for the Cincinnati Opera, and also some sketches from the Potter series that I’ve got. I don’t own any of the originals, but I do have a few of the sketches. So it was interesting because people were drawn to this show, I think initially, because the illustrator of Harry Potter was showing some of the sketches, but once they got there they saw that my work expands into other areas, and they ended up, I think, leaving with a bigger picture of, you know, what an illustrator does, or what certainly – what I did outside of the Potter books, and it was nice to be appreciated for the other work too, since I’ve been working in illustration for twenty-five years, and…

Andrew: Sure.

Mary: …Harry’s been around for ten, so…

Micah: [laughs] Yeah, definitely.

Mary: …yeah, it was just a nice opportunity to show both sides of my work and to be appreciated on that level.

Andrew: Yeah, and we’ve received some reports from your exhibit from fans, and they sent in some pictures showing, you know, the galleries, how it was laid out, and really it was great, and we heard you went around and – I guess you probably didn’t do this for every day, but I guess maybe the first couple of days, you were there and took everybody through with the exhibit.

Mary: They just had – I did a few things. I visited some schools, and had – there was a family day, and I helped kids with art, and so there was a lot of community involvement. But then on one day I did a gallery walk and walked through and just talked about different pieces in the show, and took questions from the audience. It was a good turnout, and then I think the curator – I think the curator might be on YouTube, you probably saw, Sean Ulmer. He goes through and talks about some of the pieces too.

Andrew: Oh, cool.

Mary: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, it sounded like a lot of fun too, just seeing you explain your work and all that.

Mary: Yeah, it was. It was a really nice opportunity, and it’s really nice to see people interested in art, and in, you know, the art that goes with literature, and other kinds of illustration. Most people don’t know what illustrators do and so when you get the opportunity to kind of support the craft and talk about it with them, it’s fun. Just it feels almost educational.

Andrew: Before we let you go, just a quick question. Are you working on any other projects right now outside of Harry Potter? What’s going on?

Mary: I’m working on some other picture books, and I’m working on a bunch of personal work for me. It’s just, you know, painting and other kinds of medium. So, I’m experimenting with some of that, just trying to grow as an artist.

Andrew: And maybe you’ll get a call from Scholastic about those two books.

[Laura laughs]

Mary: Maybe I will. We don’t know.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

[Mary laughs]

Andrew: All right, well, Mary, it was so great having you on with us. Thanks so much for…

Mary: Thanks.

Andrew: …talking with us. We learned a lot today.

Mary: Well, thanks. Good questions, guys, and keep up the good work.

Andrew: Okay, well there you have it. Big thanks to Scholastic for helping us set up that interview, and to Micah as well. You were a crucial part of getting that interview with Miss GrandPre.

Laura: And of course, thanks to her for talking to us as well.

Andrew: Oh, absolutely.

Laura: It was great.

Matt: Yeah, she’s really cool. I like her.

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: It was a lot of fun, and we hope you guys the interview too.


Make the Music Connection


Andrew: Now let’s move on to a fun game called Make the Music Connection!

Laura: Where’s the…

Andrew: Now I didn’t play the sound effect.

Matt: Yeah, where’s the – that wasn’t the clip. Where’s the clip?

Andrew: People request that I do it live now, instead of the clip, because, you know, live is live.

Matt: Now who are these people? You keep mentioning people.

Andrew: It’s a focus group. It’s a MuggleCast focus group.

Matt: I think it’s just you.

Andrew: No, no it really wasn’t me. People have requested that, so – let’s see, let’s have – Matt, you go first. Here is your selection for Make the Music Connection. If you don’t know how this game is played, basically I’ll play a hot song right now in the world, and the contestant has to make a connection between that song and Harry Potter. So here we go.

Matt: All right.

Andrew: Here’s…

Matt: I’m nervous, let’s do it.

Andrew: Here’s your choice.

[“My Life Would Suck Without You” by Kelly Clarkson plays]

Andrew: This is of course, “My Life Would Suck without You” by Kelly Clarkson.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: She’s a popular artist.

Matt: Yeah. That’s a good song. I really like it, too.

Andrew: Let me read back some of the lyrics to you to help you out.

Matt: I know the song.

Andrew: “Because we belong together now, yeah. Forever united here somehow, yeah. You got a piece of me, and honestly, my life – my life – would suck – would suck – without you.”

Matt: Well, if you go by the lyrics, I would think it would be like, the showdown in the forest when Harry sings to Voldemort.

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Matt: Don’t you…

Micah: I missed that part of the book…

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: …where he sang to him.

Laura: Yeah I must have gotten one of those editions where the pages were missing.

Matt: Well it was more like a ballad slash lullaby when he was singing it to him: “You’ve got a piece of me inside me.”

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Here maybe this will help your case…

Matt: Honestly, honestly though, I think this would be more relevant to Hermione when she’s beating the crap out of Ron in the tent in Deathly Hallows.

Andrew: Good one.

Matt: When she finds out that she really loves him.

Andrew: Well here’s another part of the verse that I think is good for your Voldemort thing. “Being with you is so dysfunctional. I really shouldn’t miss you, but I can’t let you go, oh yeah.”

Matt: “Oh yeah.” [laughs]

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: I think that seems to fit too.

Matt: Can you imagine him actually just speaking the lyrics to Voldemort instead of just singing?

[Laura and Matt laugh]

Matt: I really shouldn’t…

Andrew: [in an English accent] “Being with you is so dysfunctional. I really shouldn’t miss you, but I can’t let you go, oh yeah.” [laughs]

[Laura and Matt laugh]

Matt: And you just see Lucius in the side, “I’m like so uncomfortable right now.”

Andrew: Anyway, okay, next song, this is for Micah. Now this isn’t a current song. It’s actually from 1965, however when Watchmen is released on this weekend, it’s going to be – be coming back.

Matt: Is it Bob Dylan, from “The Times are Changing”?

[“The Times They Are A-Changin'” by Bob Dylan plays]

Andrew: This is of course, Bobby Dylan, “These Times are Changing,” and Matt and I caught a screening of Watchmen a couple of weeks ago, and this was in there.

Matt: This is a really good song.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: It almost seems like a song that you would play during a somber moment, so I’d probably go with Dumbledore’s funeral.

Andrew: Oh no!

Micah: Or after Dumbledore’s funeral.

Andrew: That’s so sad.

Matt: That is really sad. Thank you, Micah.

Andrew: I’m tearing up. That’s really – crap.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Now I’m just depressed.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: Damn it!

Matt: You know, I’ve been noticing a lot though when this song is played throughout movies, it’s always played during montages too.

Andrew: Yeah. All right, well that’s good Micah. They should really start incorporating some real songs into Harry Potter.

Matt: Yeah. Well, we’ll talk about it in eighty years when they remake the series.

Andrew: Okay.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Laura: Exactly.

Andrew: And Laura, I know this is one of your favorite songs.

Laura: Oh, really?

Andrew: So this final one is for you.

[“Right Round” by Flo Rida plays]

Matt: Oh yeah.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: This is of course, “Right Round” by Flo Rida.

[Laura laughs]

Matt: Do you honestly love this song Laura, really?

Andrew: No I completely made that up. [laughs]

Laura: No but it reminds me of…

Andrew: Here I’ll give you some lyrics to it.

Laura: No I already have my answer.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Laura: It makes me think of the way the Pensieve works.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: That’s great. That’s excellent.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Here’s some lyrics from that song. “Hopped out of that house with my swagger. Hop in that with girl.” That makes no sense. “I got places to go, people to see. Time is precious. I look at my crowd and they out of control. Just like my mind where I’m going. No women, no shorties, no nothing but clothes.”

Matt: God that’s Shakespeare right there isn’t it?

Andrew: Yeah it’s excellent. So there you go. That’s how we play Make the Music Connection! Im just going crazy with it now.

[Matt makes siren noise]

[Andrew and Laura laugh]


Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul


Andrew: And we’ll wrap this excellent episode of MuggleCast up today with two Chicken Soups. The first one is rather sad. It’s from Matthew Dredge, 14 of Victoria, Australia. He writes:

“Hey guys. As you may have heard, the people here in Australia are suffering the worst bush fire disaster in decades. Fortunately as the fire swept through my state, my family survived but I cannot say the same for my house. We’d evacuated three hours before and escaped with a box of my possessions. For the past week my family and I have been living in a community center and the atmosphere here has been quite depressing. I can’t express how lucky I am that there’s wireless internet here, otherwise I would not have been able to download episodes of MuggleCast to my iPod Touch. Your hilarious jokes, insightful comments, thoughts and voices makes this difficult time just that bit more easier. Thank you so much. Love what you’re doing. G’Day from Australia.”

That’s from Matthew.

Laura: Oh.

Andrew: And we hope him and all the others who are victims of the Australia wild fires make it through and hopefully you know, get back to normal lives.

Laura: Our next one comes from Dana, 20, of Tucson, Arizona. She writes:

“I’m a long listener of the show and I love you guys. My Chicken Soup is in three parts. Firstly, I want to thank you for getting my boyfriend to read these books. I would always be listening to the show and he would want to. I would never let him because I didn’t want to spoil the movies. He ended up loving the series so much. We started downloading all the episodes so he can listen and now he loves you as much as I do. Secondly, I feel you Laura and Andrew. On being poor college students, you give us hours of entertainment because we don’t have cable. Finally, last September my sister technically died. She did some stuff that isn’t really good to talk about on the show. I know you like to keep it PG for the most part. She was in a coma for three days and in treatment for another four months. Thank you for supplying me with happiness on the way” – I can’t read today – “thank you for supplying me with happiness on the forty five minute drive to the hospital, which I made about four times a day. She is doing very well now. I really love you all and can’t wait until the next episode. Thanks so much. Dana.”

Matt: Awww, we love you too.

Andrew: We’re glad to hear Dana and Matthew and everyone who listens, and is sending in Chicken Soup’s are using MuggleCast to brighten up their days a bit.

[Show music plays]


Contact Information


Andrew: Anyway, that wraps up this 171st episode of MuggleCast. We’ll be back to talk to you guys more very soon but before we go we want to remind everyone about our contact information. I’m sure lots of you have feedback about this episode.

To contact us, don’t forget you can always call in your voicemail question or comment to us. If you’re in the United States you can dial 1218 20 M-A-G-I-C. If you’re in the United Kingdom you can dial 020 8144 0677. Don’t forget you can also Skype the username “MuggleCast.” Just remember no matter how you call us, keep your question under sixty seconds and eliminate as much background noise as possible.

And of course, on the brand new MuggleCast.com you can find a handy feedback form to contact any one of us or just use our first names at staff dot mugglenet dot com, and don’t forget we have the community outlets. Follow us on Twitter, fan us on Facebook, vote for us once a month at Podcast Alley and we have a variety of other community outlets: MySpace, YouTube, Frappr, Last.FM and the Fanlisting and Forums over at MuggleCastFan.net. But just remember, MuggleCast.com has all the links you need.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: So, there you go. We’ll be talking to you guys again soon.


Show Close


Micah: Real quick I just want to say thanks again to obviously Mary GrandPre but also Kris Moran over at Scholastic for helping us with that.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Yes.

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: Thank you very much.

Matt: Scholastic, you rule.

Andrew: So with that, it is time to go. Once again, I’m Andrew Sims.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Matt: And I’m Matthew Britton.

[Everyone laughs]

Matt: Well I don’t know. Everyone was talking so fast.

Andrew: I thought Micah’s was a glitch – whatever. We’ll see everyone next time for Episode 172. Buh bye!

Laura: Bye.

Micah: Bye.

Matt: Bye.

[Show music continues]


Bloopers


Andrew: Because Mary GrandPre is joining us this week, this is MuggleCast, Episode 172 for, I don’t know the date! 2009.

Transcript #171

MuggleCast 171 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music plays]

Andrew: And good Thursday evening to everybody. Here we are, and just nine hours ago, Warner Brothers decided, “Hey, let’s surprise the fans again!” And a new trailer has been released. I’m here with Eric, Matt, and Micah. Hello, ladies.

[Prolonged silence]

Andrew: Hello?

Eric: I don’t see any ladies here.

Matt: I know. What are you talking about, dude?

Eric: Do you see any ladies, Micah?

Andrew: I’m sorry about that. Ben is supposed to be here, too, but the nerve of these people who, you know, they come on this show, and its like, “Oh, I’m a big time host, I can show up whenever I want now.” So Ben will show up whenever he decides to. But what were the chances? What were the chances, ladies and gentlemen, that we were going to have a trailer the same day our live show was planned?

Micah: Oh, what a coincidence.

Andrew: What a coincidence.

Micah: That’s just amazing.

Andrew: Well, here’s the funny story: Matt, Laura, Micah, and I were recording episode 171 last night, and literally wrapping up the show, “Well, okay, bye you guys, bye!” and I see WB’s calling, and I’m like, “Oh, crap.” Because it’s either really good news or really bad news with WB. So I don’t answer it until after we’re done recording, and then, you know, talk on the phone. And, long story short, trailer tomorrow. And then I tell Matt, Micah, and Laura, and it’s like a collective, “Ugh!”

[Andrew and Eric laugh]

Andrew: Because we had just finished recording the other show. Not because we have, you know, a new trailer. That’s, of course, very exciting.

Matt: We’re still going to release that episode, right?

Andrew: Yes, of course. Yes, that’ll be out over the weekend.

Matt: Okay.


HBP Trailer Discussion


Andrew: So, let’s talk about this trailer. I think everyone’s really excited that another one came out. And look at this, WB’s actually keeping up on their promise that we would have a trailer, or that – remember – what’s his face? That guys behind WB who does – oh, Alan Horn, that’s it. He was like, “Oh, yeah, we’re going to be, you know, we’re going to keep the fans occupied. We know we got to keep them happy with this extra long wait.”

[Prolonged silence]

Andrew: Isn’t that right? [laughs]

Matt: Yeah. [laughs] That didn’t really sound like the end of a conversation, so I was waiting for the end.

Andrew: No, that was pretty much the end. Anyway, let’s talk about some of the big things in this trailer. Let’s start with the overall feelings of this trailer. I mean, is this the darkest one yet? That’s the end of the sentence, by the way.

Matt: Oh.

Eric: Question mark.

Matt: I think it’s the most somber of them yet.

Andrew: It’s very depressing.

Matt: Yeah. Kind of makes you want to dye your hair black and part it to the side.

Andrew: And wear tight black pants and put on Paramore shirts from Hot Topic.

Matt: Yes. Is that a shot at me?

Micah: I can’t really say that, to be honest.

Andrew: What? What, Micah?

Micah: I don’t think it would make me want to do that, to be honest.

Andrew: [laughs] Well what did you think of the trailer?

Eric: What Micah is saying is that he needs a whip.

[Andrew laughs]


A Lot of the Same Stuff


Micah: No, what I thought of the trailer – and I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade here – production-wise I thought it was a great trailer.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: But content-wise, I wasn’t thrilled.

Andrew: Why not?

Micah: It felt like a lot of the same stuff that we’ve already seen. We got a couple of new scenes, as I’m sure we’re going to talk about, but overall there was a lot of the same for me. I feel like I’m on American Idol right now.

Andrew: [laughs] Yo, yo, dog, yo, it was just a lot of the same, man. I wasn’t feeling it, I wasn’t feeling it.

[Eric laughs]

Micah: Exactly. It’s not what we saw during Hollywood Week.

Andrew: No.

Eric: But it’s coming back for the wild card, you guys know that, right?

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. I was just about to make that joke. So, listen, Eric, what did you think of it? Do you think it’s reflective of the movie? Of this PG movie?

Eric: Actually, I’ve only been able to listen to it. My laptop screen died…

Andrew: What?

Eric: Just as I was turning it on earlier today. Yeah, my laptop screen is shot. This laptop has been with me since, oh, not the beginning of MuggleCast, okay, so it’s not that dramatic, but yes, I’ve only been able to listen to the trailer. But I was worried at first. I was like, “Oh great,” you know? My initial reaction was like, what more can they give away? Like, what more scenes from the movie can they possibly reveal? Because personally, I feel like when I heard there was a trailer, I feared, “Oh great, WB has had this film in the can way too long.” That what we’ve seen before, with them overdoing clips, giving pretty much the whole movie out for download to people before the movie came out. I was worried that it was going to be more new stuff, making the actual film not as cool. But I guess I like the tone of this trailer. That’s all I can say until I see it…

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: …but I like the tone of this trailer and I agree with what you guys are saying.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, look, it’s a really dark trailer, and even the ending was very sad. There wasn’t that climatic build up that we’ve seen in other trailers before.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Matt, what did you think? Disagree? Agree?

Matt: I think I kind of agree with a little more Micah than the rest. I really like the scenes that we got to see. A couple of them were really cool, but, you know, I just wasn’t feeling this trailer. Because a little bit – it was too somber for a Harry Potter trailer. Because we always see a big upshot at the very end…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: …not an upshot but an upset at the end, and I just wasn’t seeing it. I guess I didn’t really see what they were trying to go for, what they were trying to appeal to the audience with this trailer. I guess that’s what I’m trying to say.

Andrew: Ben’s joining us now. Hey, Ben, thanks for coming on, you know, five minutes late. It’s not that big of a deal. You’re a big star now, so you can show up whenever you want.

Ben: I know. Well you didn’t call me. I told you I wanted a text message, I need text messages.

Andrew: You never told me that! You never told me that. Anyway, as everyone may remember, our last live show, Ben at the end of the show had a vision where he predicted when the next trailer will come out, and he didn’t get the date exactly, but he got it pretty close. Let’s replay that now in case you forgot.


Ben Predicts Trailer’s Release Date


[Ben making gasping sounds]

Matt: What the hell?

Andrew: Trelawney?

Ben: The new trailer will come out – on February 27th.

Andrew: Whoa.

Matt: Jeez!

Andrew: So there you go. Ben predicted – Ben, do you remember that? Because you seemed very flustered after you had that vision.

Ben: No, I remember flashes of it, but…

Andrew: Yeah. It was…

Matt: Were you constipated?

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Sounds like it.

Andrew: [laughs] Well so February 27th, that’s not bad! That’s a week ago come tomorrow, so that wasn’t bad. Good job. Maybe you didn’t read the tea leaves correct or something.

Ben: Awfully close.

Andrew: Yeah, it was pretty close. Okay so we have a few things to go through about this trailer. By the way, Ben, what’d you think of the trailer overall? We’re going to get in specifics in a minute.

Ben: Trailer. Well, I watched it in HD, like…

Andrew: Show off.

Ben: A lot of people. But the quality was just awesome.

Andrew: Mhm.

Ben: I thought the quality was great. It looks like it’s going to be another good movie, I mean…

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: All good.

Andrew: Mhm.


Harry Potter Films Need That “Wow” Factor


Ben: But the thing about the Harry Potter movies – I want to get this out there – is they’re all good movies. I think everyone can agree on that. But there isn’t one that transcends greatness.

Andrew: [laughs] What do you mean?

Ben: Like Lord of the Rings movies.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: There’s not one that stands out? Is that what you’re saying or what?

Ben: Well, I mean, Harry Potter movies are – they seem to be the movies that people see because Harry Potter is a very popular thing. You know what I mean?

Andrew: Right.

Ben: They’re not – I don’t feel that they’re the type of movie that somebody really wants to go see because it’s true cinematic excellence in the same way as Lord of the Rings.

Andrew: Mhm.

Ben: And that’s kind of what I’m anticipating with the rest of the movies. That’s what I’m hoping, that’s what I’m looking for. That’s what I’m holding out for, you know?

Andrew: Mhm.

Ben: There’s something that really just says “Wow.” You guys understand what I’m saying?

Andrew: No, I understand what you’re saying. I think – there seems to be – and this trailer really helps what I’m thinking. The film has become so – and I guess all the trailers are this way – so beautiful. I really feel like there’s something different about this one.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Maybe it’s that it’s the darkest yet. I don’t know there’s just something so extra epic about it.


Film Texture


Matt: It does seem very water-colored, I guess I could say.

Andrew: There’s a lot of single colored…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: It’s like blue shots and green shots.

Matt: Very smooth-edged. It’s not as sharp as the original movies were.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: You know what I’m talking about?

Andrew: Yeah. And do you guys remember…

Ben: Yeah, yeah. Go ahead, sorry.

Andrew: Do you remember with the first trailer, we saw these scenes of young Dumbledore going to visit young Riddle, and it wasn’t all blurry like this is.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Do you remember that?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: So what’s the difference here? Is it just that the special effects are done and this is the memory? I mean, it is the memory. I just thought that was interesting.

Matt: Mhm.

Ben: Well, I mean, it would make sense for the memory to be a bit blurred because I think the point that we’re trying to get across there is that – Jo’s kind of stressed that memories are subjective in a way, I think.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: Well actually, I think when Emerson asked her if it was subjective, she made it sound like it wasn’t. So I don’t know, but personally – I mean, I think everybody knows that memories are a subjective thing.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: So the fact that it’s a bit blurry makes sense.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay, this is going to sound really messed up, but so – wouldn’t it be funny if you saw what people were thinking during that memory, too? So like, you know, since Dumbledore…

Eric: You can’t see thoughts, man.

Andrew: So, you know, Dumbledore may be having a dirty thought or two. [laughs]

Matt: What is with you trying to make Dumbledore some dirty old man?

Andrew: No! We know he’s not, but I’m just saying…

Matt: But you’re always trying to say it.

Andrew: Okay, whatever.

Eric: I think the purpose of a Pensieve – wasn’t it explained in Book 4 – that it actually fleshes out the memory a little bit more, makes it a little bit more realistic. Like you can travel and see what other people are doing in your memory, even if you aren’t within earshot, as Harry does in Book 5.

Andrew: Right.

Matt: And so it’s kind of like that is – I think J.K.R. called it “the magic of the Pensieve.” So – but then, you see Slughorn and he’s able to manipulate the memory – albeit poorly – but you can guess by what Dumbledore says that it can be done a little bit more professionally to edit the memory. But you can still do it.

Andrew: Right. Well, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll go piece through piece, I guess you would say, through the trailer. I thought there was going to be – oh, here we go. So, the big thing with this is that there’s Dumbledore – it’s his narration. So let’s listen to that and then we’ll discuss it. By the way, people on Ustream are watching this live, so…

Eric: Oh, Andrew.

Andrew: What?

Eric: One thing I wanted to mention, I have seen the trailer now. I plugged it into my TV.

Andrew: Oh, nice.

Eric: Yeah. I love it.

Andrew: Good job. Here we go.

Matt: Thank god.


Edited Dialogue


[Trailer clip plays]

Andrew: So it’s pretty epic. I mean – [laughs] – and this goes back to that other trailer where there’s big musical build up. [hums tune] “I want you to see it.” Boom! So what do you guys think…

Matt: Yeah!

Andrew: …of Dumbledore’s narration? Is this actually in the film? Like, is this Dumbledore talking to Harry?

Matt: It doesn’t seem like it to me because it seems very choppy. They just edited it from what he was telling Harry.

Andrew: Well I guess Eric would have the answer.

Matt: Oh yeah.

Andrew: In a way, though, I don’t want to know. [laughs]

Eric: Yeah, I can’t say definitively that this was in the movie, is the thing, which is what’s shocking about it…

Andrew: So was there only a part or something?

Eric: Well, I just can’t guarantee that that dialogue is in there. I mean obviously it’s cut, or it sounds cut, but I actually think that a lot of this, for narration’s sake, was actually – obviously it was redubbed – but Michael Gambon in this movie is, as I’ve said before, really cares or appears to care a whole lot more about the character and I wouldn’t be surprised if he came back and did this narration because it’s just that awesome. I don’t remember his being exactly like, “I knew this boy who did all the wrong choices.” Blah blah blah.

Andrew: Oh okay.

Eric: I really doubt, actually, that that is in the movie like that…

Andrew: I think it’d be pretty sick if he did this just for the movie, or just for the trailer. I mean, and then there was also – I remember we were making fun of that – I guess it was the IMAX trailer, when he was like mumbling and we were joking that he just went into the studio real quick, did one take, and got out of there.

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, so I don’t know. So Eric definitively says he doesn’t remember it being exactly this way, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Matt: Mhm.


Dumbledore’s Tone


Andrew: But Dumbledore had – what’d you guys think of Dumbledore’s tone? It was very weak. There was a…

Matt: Well he’s dying…

Andrew: Yeah I know. [laughs] We’ll talk about the black hand in a bit because you do see it pretty clearly in this trailer. But what’d you think of his tone? Was it – fill in the blank. Matt?

Matt: Somber. Dying.

Andrew: Awesome, awesome.

Eric: Okay, Micah?

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: [laughs] I like somber. I think that’s probably the perfect word to describe it.

Matt: Thank you.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, it just felt so nice. I have so much faith in Michael Gambon now. I love it.

Eric: Yeah, I’m going to say bookish.

Andrew: Bookish? What, his tone?

Eric: That’s my word for it, yeah.

Andrew: Okay.

Matt: I know what you’re going to say, Andrew.

Andrew: Gay?

Matt: Yeah.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: No, I was not going to say gay.

Eric: Pretty and witty and gay.

Andrew: [laughs] No, I was not going to say that. He does not sound like that at all. He sounds very serious and dying. I think that was good. I think that was accurate.


Riddle Opens a Cabinet That’s On Fire


Andrew: Now, let’s go through a couple of things in particular that we saw of interest. Tom Riddle opening the cabinet on fire. Matt, you want to talk about that?

Matt: Yeah, he opens a cabinet that’s on fire.

Andrew: Can you be more descriptive than that?

[Ben laughs]

Matt: Yeah. He opens it slowly and kind of slowly looks in, and the cabinet’s on fire.

Andrew: I’m sorry – you’re so good, thanks.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: I’m going to sound like an idiot, but I don’t remember that…

Matt: Yeah, remember? Tom Riddle likes to keep mementos of his victims, and in that little box is what he keeps.

Andrew: Oh, right.

Matt: Because I think Dumbledore knew or something, didn’t he? Where it was?

Andrew: I can’t remember…

Matt: I can’t remember.

Andrew: Anyone remember?

Matt: Gah!


Young Tom Riddle


Andrew: It is pretty cool though. Young Tom Riddle – there’s a lot of new footage of him in this. I mean, there’s a lot that we’ve seen before, but he looks very – he looks great. His eyes are just piercing and like…

Matt: He looks fantastic! He must’ve gotten work done.

Andrew: [laughs] Right.

Eric: [laughs] Excuse me, excuse me, who does your eyes? We’re wondering.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: Eric? Eric, how the hell are you?

[Matt laughs]

Eric: I’m good, Ben. How’re you doing?

Ben: Oh, I’m doing well. I just haven’t heard from you. We’re neighbors, what’s up with this?

Eric: Yeah, I know! Ask Dylan, man. He lives like ten blocks from me and I haven’t seen him.

Matt: Yeah, ladies, I hate to interrupt tea time, but we are talking about the trailer.

Eric: Yeah, so this trailer…

[Matt laughs]

Eric: Like what you’re saying about young Tom Riddle being – I mean, he looks exactly how the book describes him when he opens the flaming cabinet. He looks fearful of what’s inside, you know, obviously it’s that box of all the little relics he took from his classmates.


Luna Finding Harry on the Train


Andrew: And then – what about – a lot of people are commenting about this. Luna, when she spots Harry in the train – but the big problem is – I guess it’s fact that she can’t see through the – well she shouldn’t be able to see through the Invisibility Cloak?

Matt: Yeah it’s a Deathly Hollow – or Halo. Hallow.

Andrew: Hallow.

Eric: Halo?

Andrew: I don’t know. Eric, what did you think about that? I mean what do you think is up with that? Was that in the movie?

Eric: Yeah, okay they replaced that with Tonks finding her – I think it’s instead of Tonks finding him they have Luna finding him. I’m actually not sure if she can see him through the Spectrespecs but I think that’s how it plays out and if she does then that’s kind of cool because it verifies that – I don’t know, maybe the Spectrespecs aren’t entirely useless, you know, if they can somehow see.

Andrew: Yeah?

Eric: Actually I think it’s a bunch of Nargles or something are floating around the area where Harry is. It’s really interesting – they do it like little bugs or something that the Spectrespecs can see and I think that’s how she sees him which is – which is really awesome. And it wouldn’t be surprising. I mean some people who are defending the canon will say, hey, that’s dumb, because nothing can see the Invisibility Cloak, let alone a Deathly Hallow one, but I think it was really cool and I think not a lot of people would have put faith in Spectrespecs or expect that – expect them to be effective in this way.

Matt: Is it me or does it seem really similar to what Mad-Eye Moody’s eye can do? In that little shot, you know how it kind of zoomed in on Harry?

Andrew: Yeah, yeah sort of. But it’s sort of like – what’s that called – those – well you put your eye through and you look up to the light. What are those toys called?

Matt: A telescope?

Andrew: No…

Eric: Kaleidoscope.

Andrew: Kaleidoscope. Yeah, it’s sort of like – it’s sort of like that. I mean that’s how it’s functioning. So – so and you – hold on…

Micah: There’s a problem though.

Andrew: Okay, go ahead.

Micah: The only thing I was going to say is that you’re deviating away from the actual story and you’re making the Cloak able to be seen through yet again.

Eric: Hm, maybe not seen through. Like I said, I mean she kind of guesses Harry is there or he sees her and shouts out.

Andrew: But like…

Eric: I don’t think it’s a definitive see-through sort of thing.

Andrew: But our point of vision is through her Spectrespecs and you can clearly see him like – you know what I mean? But I do see those things around his head. So Eric, you’re saying that they added those things to [dog barks] unlock – whoa, Eric – keep your thoughts to yourself.

Eric: Sorry, I have a dog. Wait a sec I got to – I got to get the dog. Hang on.

Andrew: Okay. Well so…

Ben: Hey, Andrew…

Andrew: Yes Ben?

Ben: I’m an idiot – I just spent the last three minutes trying to talk…

Andrew: And your mic was muted?

Ben: I would try to say something – yeah, my mic was muted.

Andrew: Well, what can I say? You’re not as professional as you used to be. You show up late, you don’t know how your mute button works.

Ben: I know and I – you know I just learned something. I just heard that people on Ustream can actually see you right now?

Andrew: Yes they can. I’m live on Ustream.

Ben: So – so are you like making faces at comments that people make?

Andrew: I am not!

Ben: Like you’re just sitting there… [laughs]

Andrew: I am not!

Ben: And when someone says something stupid you’re just making a really screwed-up face.

Andrew: I write a sign and I hold up – and it reads “he’s stupid”. No, no I don’t do anything like that. I’m just sitting here.

Ben: Well, so – so can I watch you right now? Or is it going to screw up…

Andrew: You probably shouldn’t – I mean you’ll start hearing yourself echo. I mean it will be recorded so you can look at it later. I know you’re dying to check me out but…

Ben: I can’t do it later Andrew I have a source – I have a source that tells me that you do make faces.

Andrew: I made one face – I made one face when Eric and you – when you and Eric were shooting the breeze. That was it though.

Ben: Hey, don’t be making faces.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay.

Ben: I don’t like faces.

Andrew: I’m not, I’m done. Completely done.

Ben: Perfect.

Andrew: Those guys ratted me out so I can’t trust them anymore. Anyway, I’m kind of weirded out about that – the – Micah what do you think about that? The particles around his head to reveal him? Sort of?

Micah: Well, didn’t Eric just suggest that they were Nargles?

Andrew: Are Nargles…

Micah: Are you not supposed to be able to see them?

Andrew: They look like gnats though.

Micah: Maybe that’s what gives him away, as opposed to the Invisibility Cloak if she’s able to see something going on above his head. I don’t know, it’s really weird.

Matt: Well you know when – when you like hit your head or something you see dots?

Micah: Yeah that’s what it reminded me of, like an old cartoon where there’d be birds flying around the person’s head who got knocked out.

Andrew: Yeah. Well I’m just reading the definition about them. They are fleas – they are like fleas, ticks but a little bit bigger. And they were described in – in Order of the Phoenix.


Dumbledore’s Hand


Andrew: But, and then the other thing that was particularly interesting was – where am I going here? Let’s see – point – the 1:10 mark when Dumbledore and Harry are in the lake and Dumbledore is casting a spell – and you actually get a pretty good shot of Dumbledore’s black hand.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: It looks just black to me. Now, I don’t know how you’re supposed to picture it. I mean, actually 1:09 has the better – but it just looks like it, you know, like he just stuck it in soot or something.

Matt: Yeah. Or it looks like he accidentally spilled an ink well or something.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah. [laughs] I hope they didn’t mess that effect up.

Eric: Oh, didn’t I tell you guys? They changed that, too. He actually dips his hand in ink. By accident…

Andrew: Oh. You see?

Eric: It’s cursed ink, really.

Matt: Well that makes sense.

Andrew: No. That doesn’t make sense. They make these changes to shorten up the film. So what is he, just like, opening shot of the movie, he’s like in his office and then writing a note to his lover, and then [makes pop noise] “Whoops!”

Matt: Stop it!

Eric: Who would his lover be, Andrew?

Andrew: I don’t know anyone. How does it look in the movie – Eric, it wasn’t complete in the movie?

Eric: No, it wasn’t.

Andrew: He just had a green glove, right?

Eric: Actually, no, it was for one of the scenes. It was the train scene when the – no, no, I’m not going to say that. The beginning of the film, or towards the beginning of the film, there was a shot where it was complete. It looked great. It looked better. I haven’t seen this, I can’t watch it in High-Def on my TV, but it looks fine in the film.

Andrew: We have it up on the stream now, and it’s actually kind of hard to see. But I mean, yeah it’s – it just basically look like he stuck it in asphalt or something.

[Barking]

Eric: No, it’s a blackened, deadened hand, I’m pretty sure – whose dog is that now?

Andrew: What is this? Are we – Do we live in pet stores? What’s going on? Matt, was that you? I’m going to blame Matt this time. Yeah, he muted his stream.

Matt: Yeah, that was me. Someone got shot or something so the dogs were barking.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

[Eric laughs]

Matt: Yeah, I’m back at home, that’s why.

Andrew: Yeah, by the way, people in that chat are all like, “Why isn’t Matt on camera?” Well first of all, I’m the hostess with the mostest, so you’re going to see me. And second of all…

Matt: He gets jealous when I get all the thunder away from him.

Andrew: Matt’s not even in here. He’s an hour-and-a-half away right now. He’s in…

Eric: You guys are away? You’re spending time apart?

Andrew: He’s in a new studio in Palm Springs. We’re testing it.

Ben: A new studio.

[Andrew and Ben laugh]

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: As in his studio apartment?

Ben: He keeps on trying to beat us down, but MuggleCast keeps on rolling.

Andrew: Keeps on ticking, baby. Okay, well some other…


MuggleSpace Plug


Ben: Well, I’d like to take the time now…

Andrew: Oh! What’s that?

Ben: To do…

Andrew: Are we breaking for an ad?

Ben: To invite everybody who’s listening to enjoy MuggleSpace, the ultimate Harry Potter social network, and the most popular Harry Potter social network online.

Matt: Yes.

Ben: We have over 13,000 members – close to 14,000- 13,780. And last show – were we trying to get 10,000? Was that what the game was?

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: Let’s go for 14,000.

Andrew: I don’t think it will happen because we didn’t get to 10,000 last time. [laughs]

Ben: Yeah.

[Andrew and Eric laugh]

Ben: With that attitude, it’ll never happen. It’ll never happen with that attitude.

Andrew: Okay.

Ben: And everyone coming to the chat for some fun play-time with Ben Schoen.

Andrew: We just lost about 500 listeners as you did that ad, so thanks.

Eric: They all want to play with Ben.

Andrew: No, I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.

Eric: They’re going to come back.

Ben: You’re probably making a face. That’s probably why they left.

Andrew: [laughs] No, I wasn’t. I was making a very happy, thumbs-up picture.

Eric: This live MuggleCast is brought to you by the Caption Contest.

[Ben says something unintelligible]

Andrew: Everyone stop.

Eric: Visit the Caption Contest for all of your humor needs.

[Ben laughs]

Matt: Why is everyone talking at the…

Andrew: All right, thank you guys.

[Ben laughs]

Andrew: Anyway, back to the…

Ben: Andrew! Andrew! Next time, can I be on the camera?

Andrew: If you’re here, yes. Otherwise…

Ben: I’ll have to fly all the way out to LA.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Yes.

Ben: Is that how it is?

Andrew: Yeah. Maybe there’s some money in the budget.

Eric: Dude, there’s no money there. You know there’s no money there.


McGonagall Gazes at the Sky


Andrew: There is no money there. Okay, well let’s talk about some other things. 1:22 – and this – it’s the shortest shot, but it just stands out because her eyes are just popping out of her head. McGonagall is, you know, looking outside of Hogwarts, and then she looks up. What is she looking at? The Dark Mark?

Matt: The sky.

Andrew: Well, the sky, but the Dark Mark? Any theories there? She suddenly jolts her head up. Micah?

Micah: Yeah, I think the Dark Mark is probably a good guess.

Andrew: It’s kind of sad, though. How she looks so sad, doesn’t she?

Micah: She looks scared.

Matt: She looks very helpless.

Andrew: Yeah, she does look scary. But it just looks…

Micah: Not scary. Scared.

Andrew: Scared.

Matt: But it could also be when Hagrid’s hut catches on fire.

Andrew: Ah, maybe. Yeah, because it actually – like throwing it back to Prisoner of Azkaban, you know how that one area of Hogwarts where you can run right out of, and then you just run down the hill? To Hagrid’s hut?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: It sort of looks like…

Matt: But Hagrid’s hut moves every single movie, so…

Andrew: I know. I know.

Matt: So only God know where this one is this year.

Andrew: But is sort of looks like that. But I just love it, and all these scenes, and the Ron and Hermione looking up into the sky, that’s a throw back to the back of the Half-Blood Prince cover.

Matt: Yeah, that’s really cool, I really like that.


A Dark Movie


Eric: Yeah, very ominous. I think, this trailer, with you guys saying it’s all somber, and kind of, not even your cup of tea, compared with the other ones. I like this a lot, in that it shows the darker side of the movie. It’s not all, you know, the jovial school stuff which we’ve seen time and time again, but it actually shows that this is a darker film, as it should be.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: I mean, looking at this you wouldn’t think that it is a PG movie but I guess it still is, but it shows the darker side of it, which is really good. I mean, from this trailer wouldn’t you guys say that you think that it’s at least as dark as the movies have been? Or…

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: But…

Eric: That’s the rewarding thing in this trailer.

Matt: But, I don’t think it’s as balanced as the other ones are, because, you know, they keep saying in all the previous interviews and things like that, that Half-Blood Prince is more, you know, funnier.

Andrew: [laughs] We’re having a laugh with this one, and then this trailer comes out and it’s like the saddest thing ever.

Matt: Yeah.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Yeah, but they don’t show Dumbledore dying in this one, so…

Matt: Well that would be a big spoiler. Why would you even go see the movie after that?

Andrew: Well, because it’s part of the book, that’s why. [laughs]

Matt: Well, I know, but that’s the biggest spoil of the entire movie.

Eric: Sometimes they do that.

Matt: I’m only going to see Dumbledore die.

Andrew: Well, that’s not nice.

Matt: Oh, well, they better have it in the film.


The Music


Andrew: Well, what else is there to talk about? Somebody, what did you guys think of the music? Somebody – I just got a P.M., and by the way don’t P.M. me when I’m doing the show and ask, “What’s up?” You know what’s up. I’m podcasting. That’s what’s up.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: You don’t need to P.M. me. Anyway, somebody, I’m going to get the name up here, A-R-O-U-S-H-K-A was asking what we think of the trailer – or the music. What do you guys think of the music? I liked it.

Matt: Yeah, it’s pretty good.

Andrew: It was just somber, was there anything new Matt? Did you pick anything up that was new?

Matt: Well, I honestly don’t think it’s from the soundtrack, but…

Andrew: No.

Matt: I think just the music was just there to stay in the background; I don’t think it was there to stand out. Just like in the previous trailers.

Eric: Why was it not in the – Why don’t you think it’s in the soundtrack?

Matt: Hmm?

Eric: Why don’t you think it’s in the soundtrack?

Matt: Oh, I don’t know. I just feel like I’ve heard it before.

Eric: Oh.

Andrew: Well, I mean, and plus what they do is they pick like – they get music from that database of stuff.

Eric: Yeah, that’s true. It could be a hundred similar things from other movies.

Andrew: Yeah. You know what I’m saying.


Astronomy Tower


Matt: Hey, I know we don’t have it written down to talk about it, but I was just looking through it and what do you guys think about the aerial shot of the Astronomy Tower?

Andrew: What’s the time code? Time code please.

Matt: Time code: 34.

Andrew: 34.

Matt: 34 seconds.

Andrew: Oh yeah, and you can see Dumbledore up there.

Matt: Yeah, and you can see the telescope.

Andrew: Oh my God, that’s so sad. That’s a long fall. That’s a long fall.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: No, because in the book does it look, do you picture it that high up?

Matt: Well when I read the book it didn’t look that high. All I saw were words.

Andrew: It is so high up. I never even realized that. Sorry, I just had to…

Micah: If it’s any consolation he was already dead before he fell.

Andrew: Yeah, but its still, it’s still – but it’s still quite terrible.

Matt: It’s still pretty high.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: That’s like saying, his body went in the lawnmower, but he was dead before it happened so who cares? Bad analogy?

Eric: There’s a good view of the Hogwarts front gates right after that view of the Astronomy Tower.

Andrew: Yeah, which is odd because…

Matt: Well after you can see a little bit of the river and the lake.

Andrew: We need time codes guys.

Eric: 35 seconds.

Andrew: Matt, 35 seconds?

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: Right after the Astronomy Tower. Time stamp.

MuggleCast 171 Transcript (continued)


The Front Gates


Andrew: Right. So there’s Harry and Luna walking in, and we’ve never seen those gates before. Or did we see them in Order of the Phoenix?

Matt: Yeah, those are the front gates.

Andrew: Yeah, but have we seen those front gates before?

Eric: No, we haven’t.

Matt: No, we have not.

Andrew: Well, okay, that’s something new. And then there’s like a little…

Matt: That’s been in the previous trailers.

Andrew: Yeah, you’re right, but we’ve never talked about it being the first – in there.

Matt: I do like that they’re introducing it because they do talk about it a lot in the last book. The gargoyles.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they’ve got to start getting that outer perimeter of Hogwarts in these shots because there’s so much going on outside of Hogwarts now. Like the final battle.

Eric: Exactly.

Andrew: In DH.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: That’s a good point.

Andrew: Did you see a lot of the outsides, Eric?

Eric: There’s some at the, you know, when they first go to Hogwarts. I’m not sure during the year but then afterwards when Harry chases Snape and whoever out of the – Hogwarts there’s obviously some there too. There’s also a bit of the Unbreakable Vow, you see Narcissa…

Andrew: Right.

Eric: In this trailer.

Andrew: Right.

[Matt says something unintelligible]

Andrew: What did you say, Micah?

Micah: I didn’t.


Narcissa


Andrew: Oh. Sorry. But yeah, Narcissa is in here and a picture I’m going to put up on the Ustream chat. But she’s crying! She’s shedding a tear. She looks at her ring first. And then she looks up at Snape and is like, “Wah, wah.”

Matt: I don’t think she does that.

Andrew: No. Well, she may in the actual film.

Eric: Don’t hold your breath.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: I like how Eric is like the know-it-all so he keeps like giving us all these hints and stuff.

Eric: Well, actually guys, that’s kind of why I was like – I wasn’t sure if I was going to sit this episode out because I didn’t want it to be too much of the same thing where you guys are all like, “Hm. New trailer. Well, what do we think about it? Let’s just ask Eric if it’s actually in the film this way.”

Andrew: I’m – I was just kidding though, we appreciate your input.

Ben: It’s – how does it feel to have knowledge that…

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Only you have?

Eric: Guys, I’m going to stress that I don’t think this is the same film. I mean, I – there are parts…

Andrew: [laughs] What do you mean?

Eric: I saw a very primitive cut of the film! I really did!

Andrew: Oh. Okay.

Eric: I’m just as excited to see the new thing as you guys.

Andrew: Well, that’s good.

Eric: So.

Andrew: Some people in the chat are saying Narcissa doesn’t look pretty enough but I disagree with that. I think she looks quite stunning. Wouldn’t you agree, Ben?

Matt: It seems like that’s a very common issue when we see new characters; they’re not pretty enough.

Andrew: Yeah, everyone’s critical of their look, are they?

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: Well, she’s kind of a brunette, which is my issue with it. She’s got like that brownish – I don’t know if it’s a bun or a hat or what.

Andrew: Yeah. I can’t…

Eric: It’s in the promo pictures too. It’s not all blonde hair and they needed to distinguish her from Paris Hilton wig-wearing…

Andrew: [laughs] Right. It is pretty cool there – it is pretty cool though. I like her.

Matt: Mm. And it’s very easy to say in a book that a character is pretty, but actually to find a good enough actress to play the character and be pretty enough for everybody to agree on…

Eric: You’re saying they’ll settle, Matt?

Matt: Yeah. Exactly.

Ben: I kind of have a thing for McGonagall.

Andrew: You have a thing for McGonagall?

Ben: Yeah, I’ve moved on from Emma.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: You’re going for the older ladies?

Ben: Yeah, Emma just can’t make up her mind.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Ben: Though, older women, they know what they want.

Andrew: Right. Right. They’re decided, they’re set. So can you…

Micah: You should take a look at Mrs. Granger though, Ben, who was just cast.

Andrew: Yeah, did you see her picture?

Ben: I actually didn’t take a look at her – is she a babe?

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Eric: We’re going to have to talk about that on the show like…

Ben: What?

Eric: As a secondary news item. We could do that.

Ben: What are you talking about?

Andrew: Well, there…

Eric: Check the site. You know, that one site you work for.

Andrew: Hermione Granger’s mom was cast yesterday. Or was it someone else?

Ben: Oh yeah, I got the text.


Ginny Playing Quidditch


Andrew: Yeah, okay. I should just noticed this, too, and I don’t know if this is in the notes but Matt – oh yeah, you did – the Quidditch with Ginny. That’s the first time seeing her in her Quidditch outfit. She looks cute.

Eric: Mm, time stamp?

Andrew: I don’t have a time stamp – I have a picture.

Eric: Yeah, well, time stamp?

Andrew: Matt, do you have a time stamp? Time stamp? Time time stamp? It’s a shot of the, you know, it’s the Quidditch Pitch. I’m going to put it up right now for Ustream listeners.

Eric: Quidditch?

Andrew: It’s nothing that special, but, you know, it’s something.

Matt: Mhm.


The Room With Animal Heads


Andrew: So there it is for Ustream listeners. And what else have we got here? Harry was in a room with animal heads on the wall. Matt, what were you talking about with this? I don’t think – oh! I see. What was that? Do you guys know what he’s talking about?

Micah: Yeah, I do.

Andrew: What was…

Micah: At the very end of the trailer before it switches over to the title of the movie, when Dumbledore is talking to Harry.

Andrew: Oh, yeah.

Micah: They did it just right. It looks like there’s some antlers on the wall behind them.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: I don’t know if they cut two different scenes there because I don’t think that where Dumbledore is talking to him is actually the same place where they show Harry. If that makes sense. If you know what I’m saying.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: If you get what I’m saying. They converged two scenes together.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, they did.

Matt: Mm.

Andrew: Plus, he’s wearing a jacket – like, why would Harry be wearing that jacket outside?

Matt: Yeah, well, yeah, a jacket’s stupid. Why would he be wearing it? I mean, it’s not like it’s cold outside.

Andrew: You know what I’m saying though. He’s got a, I mean – actually, I don’t know. It is just kind of weird, maybe they went to the range or the – what are those places called? The VW outhouse or something?

Matt: The Hog’s Head?

Andrew: No – oh maybe it is the Hog’s Head, good point. I was trying to make a realistic connection to it, but perhaps not.

Eric: The end of my trailer lags. I don’t actually see it.


End of Trailer


Andrew: But yeah and then there was that, it was a really somber, eerie transition where it goes from that shot of Harry to that slow fade to the title.

Matt: Yeah that was like the first time they’ve ever done something like that.

Andrew: Yeah it is. And it’s just eerie. It’s just…

Matt: It is me or – oh sorry, what?

Andrew: Go ahead.

Matt: Oh, I was just going to say, is it me, like right as they transition to the title at the end of the trailer, doesn’t it look like the Prisoner of Azkaban clouds and stuff?

Andrew: Yeah sort of.

Eric: You caught them.

Matt: I did it, I did it.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: WB is snapping their fingers, “Darn! They got us! We used the same clouds!”

Matt: Gosh!


The Burrow


Andrew: What other new shots? I mean you have that awesome shot again of Bellatrix doing that spin intro onto the Burrow and actually for the first time I think there’s that overhead shot of the Burrow. I’m trying to find it in the video right now.

Matt: Yeah it’s 1:23.

Andrew: 1:23 here we are. It’s a pretty cool shot of the Burrow and then there’s that – there’s that little outhouse right next to it and I think that’s where Dumbledore pulled Harry.

Matt: It’s a barn.

Andrew: The barn – right.

Matt: The outhouse. [laughs]

Andrew: You never know it could be an outhouse. Mr. Bob is on the job. And here’s a fun fact. I have a fun fact about the Burrow at least the movie version I don’t know if the book version is the same but in the movie version, inside the house – inside the house no two corners are set at a 90 degree angle. What do you think about that?

Matt: That’s amazing.

Andrew: I thought it was interesting.

Eric: That’s deep.

Andrew: And any other new sets, or shots, guys, before we open it up for questions from the audience?

Matt: Um…


Malfoy and the Vanishing Cabinet


Micah: Yeah Draco.

Matt: No.

Andrew: Oh yeah, Draco and the Vanishing Cabinet.

Matt: Oh.

Eric: That’s a really great scene.

Andrew: That’s a what?

Matt: I’m really upset thought they only shot .2 seconds of it

Andrew: Yeah it was really quick, but it came right after Narcissa which I thought was kind of telling in a way.

Matt: Mhm, kind of connection.

Andrew: Yeah, but Malfoy – I mean we did see a picture of Malfoy and the Vanishing Cabinet a long time ago. It was a crummy shot of it but there you have it again and – pretty cool, pretty cool I must say. Does anyone have any questions in the chat? If you just type them in the chat we will respond to them.

Matt: Well, why don’t we take callers?

Andrew: Because I don’t like taking calls. Hm, I said it.

Matt: Oh, okay.

Andrew: No, I’m just kidding. We’ll take calls.

Matt: Let’s just do it anyway.

Ben: Potato wedges are amazing!

Andrew: What?

[Micah laughs]

Matt: Potato wedges are amazing.

Andrew: Oh, Ben, you’ve lost your lust I must say.

Ben: What are you talking about?

Andrew: [laughs] I just – nothing.

Ben: My lust? Lust for what, Andrew?

Andrew: I don’t know. I don’t even know what that word means. I meant shine, I meant sparkle. Ben – we are going to take calls – but first Ben is going to get out of here because he has studying to do for a test tomorrow. So, Ben, I wish you luck. It’s finals week, right? Or midterms week?

Ben: Thank you.

Eric: Ben, you don’t study do you?

Ben: All right, I always study – I have been – this has been – see I can’t even talk anymore, that’s how much studying I’ve been doing.

Andrew: Study out loud.

Ben: Good week of school but the trailer’s awesome…

Andrew: Okay thanks, Ben.

Ben: …you’re awesome, Andrew is awesome…

Andrew: Thanks Ben, I know.

Ben: Make faces Andrew.

Andrew: All right.

Ben: Make a face for me. I’ll be watching.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay, you watch.

Eric: Ben, it was great to be on the same show as you again.

Andrew: All right, boys.

Ben: Yeah come over some time.

Andrew: All right, we’ll be seeing you Ben.

Ben: See you.

Andrew: All right, bye. Freaking dork. Sorry about that. Oh were we live? Did I say that out loud? I’m sorry.

Eric: You kiss your mother with that mouth?

Andrew: [laughs] Anyway!

Matt: Yes he does.


Call: Reaction to Dark Theme


Andrew: Yes I do. We’re going to take some telephone-o calls now. I just want to remind everyone before it crashed no shout outs, no silly things, none of that, and have a question prepared and mute your stream and all that jazz. Okay, first of all we’re going to take a call from Cindy. Hi Cindy, you’re on MuggleCast Live, good evening. Hi Cindy.

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hey!

Matt: Hi.

Caller: Oh hey!

Andrew: Welcome to MuggleCast Live.

Matt: Oh hey, what’s going on?

Caller: I’ll ask my mom to turn off the news, I think.

Andrew: Oh, no problem. Anyway, what’s your question, and how are you?

Caller: I’m good. I actually sent you – well, you were asking for reactions to the trailer, so I sent one in earlier.

Andrew: Oh sweet! What’s your name?

Caller: Yeah. Cindy, but my e-mail’s Cindy_Val. And it’s not quite a reaction because the video didn’t tape, so it’s just me talking about it.

Andrew: Oh, okay. Well, yeah, we’re going to be posting reaction videos on MuggleNet.com later tonight so everyone can see everyone’s reactions. Those are always fun. So, Cindy, what did you think of the trailer?

Caller: I actually really liked it, which seems to kind of be in a minority.

Andrew: No, I don’t think so. I enjoyed it too, and I was reading the comments on MuggleNet, and everyone – some people were saying “Best trailer yet,” such and such. Why do you think it was the best trailer?

Caller: Well, I don’t know if it’s necessarily the best, but I just…

Andrew: Oh, you really liked it. Sorry. [laughs]

Caller: Yeah. I really like seeing the dark parts of it because the trailers up until this point were – all about the comedy side of it…

Andrew: Right.

Caller: And – yeah. I just kind of thought that that was starting to get really overplayed.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: And I agree. And like I said earlier, it was kind of ironic that – [coughs] excuse me – that they had a – you know, they were sort of hyping up the fun, and they were hyping the laugh with this one and then this is like the darkest trailer we’ve seen yet.

Matt: Mhm.

Caller: Yeah, and I think that’s important because despite the whole conversation about “Oh, this is the one with all the romance and you know…”

Andrew: Right.

Caller: “The fun and it’s funny,” there’s a lot of darkness in Half-Blood Prince and it obviously has to be part of the movie.

Andrew: Yeah. Absolutely.

Caller: So, it was actually kind of a relief, but basically the topic I kind of had was, if you watch my video, I basically talk about just how confused I am about the darkness of this trailer in contrast to the PG rating.

Andrew: Yeah. I don’t know. Well, what did you discuss? What did you think about that?

Caller: Well, it just – it seemed odd to me because – granted, it’s only a trailer, so you’re only seeing a part of it.

Andrew: Right.

Caller: So you’re not – it’s hard to determine how this is distributed throughout the movie, but it certainly seems that it has the potential to be as dark as Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, or maybe even darker.

Andrew: Yeah, definitely.

Caller: I mean, you look at the – yeah, you look at the time stamp is around 28 seconds where Harry falls into the water with all the Inferi around. I mean, the whole concept of that is extremely disturbing. Like…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: He’s surrounded by dead bodies.

Andrew: Yeah. It’s really – it makes you wonder. And actually, as a follow up, a lot of people suggested that we see – what’s it called now, Matt? Oh, This Film Is Not Yet Rated. It’s a documentary on the MPAA, and I mentioned that we saw it a couple weeks ago, and yeah, it’s just – these guys, they’re not professional raters. They don’t know what they’re doing. So really, I think my official stance on that – on the rating at this point is that the rating means nothing.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: I mean, it…

Matt: Well, what I’ve got to say about…

Caller: It’s really…

Andrew: Go ahead, Matt.

Matt: Yeah. Well, I think, honestly, this trailer – the reason why it was darker than the other ones, because I think it was just trying to play a balancing act with the other trailers that were too happy.

Andrew: Right.

Matt: I really – I mean, why couldn’t they just have a well-balanced trailer that has the darkness, and maybe a little comedy, and then that’s it.

Andrew: I don’t know.

Matt: I mean, it doesn’t have to be all one thing and then has to be completely like, “Emo, I’m going to suicide myself.”

Andrew: No. Don’t say that.

Eric: I don’t think this trailer was that dark.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: I just think it, you know, in comparison to the other trailers, it’s darker, so much of that part where it’s relieving.

Caller: Yeah. Well, it definitely was a relief to me. I think the reason I felt it was so dark was that if you really start to think about the things that are playing, it kind of brings you back the book.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Absolutely.

Caller: So, the whole reminding you of Dumbledore dying, just the overall creepiness, especially the Inferi really creep me out. I mean, I think that’s, for me, where the darkness of the trailer comes from.

Andrew: Yeah. I agree. Well, thanks…

Eric: I think it’s…

Andrew: Go ahead, Eric.

Eric: Oh, sorry. Can I say one final thing?

Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Please.

Eric: I think it’s safe to say at this point, because they hyped up all the humorous parts, and we’ve seen trailer after trailer of funny, comedic stuff, that when I saw the part of the film that I saw, I thought that it was actually darker than it was humorous. There was almost too much darkness and not enough humor, so it’s a bit interesting that the trailers have come off this way…

Andrew: I think…

Eric: …and that the movie is being marketed as so funny. And obviously with the PG rating it can’t be that dark, but…

Andrew: Well – and plus, they have so much time now to fill with these trailers that – and I sort of thought they may be doing this – just release different trailers with different themes. And maybe we’ll get one more that’s all about, “La, la, la, Hogwarts is so fun, blah, blah, blah,” and all the jokes and all that. Maybe we’ll get different-themed trailers.

[Prolonged silence]

Andrew: Nobody agrees with me. [laughs]

Eric: Yeah, maybe.

Caller: Yeah, well…

Andrew: No, it’s…

Caller: I don’t know that themed trailers are really a good way to go. Because they don’t really encompass the entirety of emotion in a movie. And if you only see one trailer compared to another, I don’t know that you’re really going to get the entire scope of the movie if they’re claiming that this movie is the most balanced yet.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s true. Good point.

[Starts to cut out]

Eric: Cindy!

Andrew: Well, thank you for calling in, Cindy.

Eric: Something is happening.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: It was wonderful having you on.

Caller: Thank you.

Andrew: Where are you at, by the way? What’s your location?

Caller: I am from Seattle.

Andrew: Oh, Seattle. Very nice.

Caller: Yeah. Are you guys coming to Seattle anytime soon?

Andrew: No. [laughs]

Matt: I’m going next week, actually.

Andrew: No, no, you’re talking about a live show. I don’t think so. So, sorry.

Caller: Oh.

Eric: Have you read the Twilight series?

Caller: I have.

Eric: Living in Seattle, have you read Twilight? Did you like them?

Caller: [laughs] I have read Twilight, I’ve never been to Forks.

Andrew: Oh, you traitor.

Eric: You’ve never been to Forks and it’s like twenty minutes away?

Caller: Nope.

Andrew: Okay, we can’t have Twilight discussion or this is – or people are not going to like it.

Eric: Okay, okay – right. Well, I brought it up.

Andrew: I know.

Eric: Just put it on me.

Andrew: [laughs] All right, well thanks, Cindy, for calling in.

Caller: All right. Thank you.

Andrew: No problem, bye. Cindy from Seattle. Cindy from Seattle. Micah, are you happy now, I’m asking for their locations?

Micah: Yeah – well, that’s what you should do.


Call: Luna Seeing or Not Seeing Harry


Andrew: I know, I’m just kidding. I’m just messing with you. All right, another call here. This is Ah-drianna. Hey, Ay-drianna, Ah-drianna, Ay-drianna.

Caller: Oh, hey guys!

Andrew: Hey! Mute your stream, please.

Matt: Oh, hey!

Caller: Hey!

Andrew: How are you?

Caller: I’m good, how are you?

Andrew: Good, thanks. You live in Los Angeles, correct? Or somewhere…

Caller: Yes, I do. I baked you guys the apple cookies.

Andrew: Yes! Ah, they were so good!

[Adrianna laughs]

Matt: Ah! And John Noe ate them all.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: Hey, when we do another live show for Twilight – I’m sorry this is off topic – but the release party thing – you’re going to be coming, right?

Caller: Yeah! [laughs]

Andrew: Okay, good. Can you bake more cookies, please?

Caller: Of course!

Andrew: [laughs] Okay.

Eric: Okay, now we’re talking about cookies. I don’t know which is worse.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay, well off Twilight, off Twilight. What did you think of the trailer?

Eric: Thanks for not baking me cookies. You know, whatever.

Andrew: We were doing a podcast.

Matt: You live in Chicago, Eric.

Eric: Sure, sure.

Andrew: Anyway.

Micah: He’s kidding.

Andrew: What did you think of the trailer Adrianna?

Caller: I really like the trailer. I don’t think it’s the best one, but it was really good.

Andrew: Did anything stand out for you in particular, perhaps?

Caller: Well, yeah. Going back to that ring around Harry, or whatever – like, was it just the reflection of her glasses, or was it actually something there – like, really there?

Andrew: Sorry, what are you talking about?

Caller: When it shows Luna looking at Harry.

Andrew: Oh. Well, I don’t know, that’s a big question. And Eric, you disappeared when we were talking about this. What’s the explanation? There’s Nargles around his head – okay, we get that – but does Luna actually – just tell us. I can’t wait until July. Does – can Luna actually see her – him?

Eric: I don’t know. I don’t know how they’re doing it.

Andrew: Oh.

Caller: Well, anyways, did you guys…

Eric: Although I think that ring that Adrianna is mentioning, the ring of – I think its diamonds or something – it’s kind of circular…

Caller: Yeah.

Eric: I think that is actually more being viewed more through her glasses, than what her glasses – like what she’s seeing. I think it’s something else that her glasses are doing.

Andrew: It’s sort of like looking through a kaleidoscope, like I said earlier.

Eric: Exactly. It’s got that look. So I don’t think that – that the ring of diamonds is what’s actually there. There are little – kind of like lightning bug sort of things around his head that I think are actually there, that only they can see. But then theres also the inner-workings of her glasses. It’s a bit confusing, but you understand it when you see it.

Andrew: Right.

Caller: Oh, okay.

Matt: Yeah, I think it may be just be an illusion, that your eyes are playing tricks on you, like it’s moving, maybe.

Andrew: Yeah. It will probably be – hopefully it’ll be sort of classic Luna funny, how she discovers him. It will be funny if she just tripped right over him. Is that what happens, Eric?

Eric: Let’s not forget, too, though, that scene is immediately following the Draco-Harry scene on the train, which is – I’m so happy they haven’t spoiled that in a trailer yet or too early.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Yeah I’m glad they haven’t given away a lot of the scenes. Like, when we go to the movie, we’ll be surprised and it won’t be like, “Oh, I’ve seen this already.”

Andrew: Right.

Eric: Well, they’ve shown a lot. They have shown a lot. I mean, just clips though. I mean, no real dialogue, like actual scenes, with the exception of Ron under the love potion – under the love spell, but that is actually something that you have to…

Caller: Yeah, but…

Eric: Sorry?

Caller: Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Eric: I was going to say that you actually have to watch…

Micah: I had a question, Eric.

Eric: Because Rupert has a really good – Rupert does a really good job in that scene, and the trailer – no trailer could do it justice. Sorry, Micah.

Andrew: What’s your question, Micah?


Tonks


Micah: Well I had a question for you, off of what Adrianna said. And that is, Tonks was in this movie, correct? Or was she not?

Caller: That’s was what I was just about to ask.

Micah: Because if she was, then there’s no reason why they needed to use Luna in that scene. The only reason that I could think of would be to sort of solidify…

Matt: Well Tonks is in the movie. She’s at the Burrow.

Micah: So why not have…

Eric: No, she’s in the movie Micah, but the – because it’s a bit…

Micah: Her stationed…

Eric: Because they’re not going to have Tonks stationed at Hogwarts. They – that subplot where it’s all weird, and Harry doesn’t know what Tonks is thinking, and he knows she’s upset but he thinks it’s about Sirius, and it turns out in the end that it’s about a werewolf, and it’s about Lupin, and this and that. Tonks isn’t stationed at Hogwarts this year, is the only…

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: …thing that is cut out. That’s why she doesn’t find him on the train is because she’s nowhere near it. She’s in the movie at the Burrow with Lupin but not around Hogwarts lurking in the corridors, changing Patronuses…

Matt: And isn’t…

Eric: Being all depressed.

Matt: Isn’t Tonks and Lupin already sort of together anyway, it’s just sort of implied that they’re together?

Eric: I don’t know. There’s a scene at – Lupin and Tonks don’t get too much screen time, but they are in the movie, and they are close in proximity.

Caller: Well, couldn’t – I mean, they didn’t – they could have used Tonks without explaining the whole Sirius-Lupin storyline.

Andrew: Yeah. No, they don’t really need it, but you’ve got to keep the fans happy.

Matt: Uh-huh.

Eric: Gives Luna more screen time. Evanna Lynch is just so awesome as Luna.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Yeah, she is.

Andrew: Who can complain? Anyway, thanks Adrianna for calling in, and we’ll see you soon.

Caller: And I’m so excited for Azkatraz…

Andrew: Woohoo!

Caller: The night screening.

Andrew: Oh my god!

Matt: Woo!

Andrew: It’s going to be awesome.

Caller: It’s going to be so much fun. It’s my first convention.

Andrew: Aw, how exciting. All right.

Caller: I know.

Matt: Aw.

Andrew: It’s going to be one not to miss. HP2009.org, and refer – when you register, put MuggleNet or MuggleCast in the referral area. As you’ll hear on Episode 172, we appreciate everyone signing up. Anyway, thanks Adrianna.

Matt: Uh-huh.

Caller: Sure!

Andrew: Bye-bye.

Caller: Bye!

Matt: Bye.


Call: The Gate


Andrew: All right, we’re going to take land line calls only for now, and actually there’s one coming from England, so I’m going to take it right away. [in an English accent] Hello, caller from England. Chip-chip, hello.

Caller: Hi.

Andrew: Hey, how are you?

Matt: Hey!

Caller: I’m quite good. I’m quite surprised I got answered, to be honest.

Andrew: [laughs] Well, I saw your U.K. number, and we don’t get many UKalls anymore, so…

Caller: It’s 3:00 A.M.

Matt: Oh that’s very clever.

Caller: It’s three o’clock in the morning.

Andrew: Aw, that’s – that could be one reason. [laughs] Well, thanks for staying up late to listen. What’s on your mind?

Caller: It’s – I think it’s at 39 seconds, where they’re walking out because it’s some big gate, and I was wondering if it was the Riddle House.

Andrew: I don’t think it’s the Riddle House. It’s the entrance to Hogwarts. Is that what we’re in agreement with?

Eric: Yeah.

Caller: Ah, yeah.

Andrew: Because it’s – and then, what’s that group of people down there, by the way? Are they just all coming off the boats or something, and they’re – or…

Eric: You mean the people at the other end – at the other side of the gates?

Andrew: Right.

Eric: You really want to know?

Andrew: Well, kind of, because why would they all stop there?

Eric: Yeah. No, it’s just the regular gate check sort of security. They have a few teachers there.

Andrew: Seriously? There’s baggage-claim-check-thing?

Matt: There – there’s always baggage-claim-check. It was in the book.

Andrew: Oh.

Eric: Security’s tightened.

Andrew: I forget this. This is why I’m re-reading the book. That’s…

Eric: Well, because they haven’t had it in the previous movies too, is the thing. So it’s a bit awkward to see it in this movie because suddenly it’s – suddenly you’re seeing all these things that were in the books that have never been translated in movies before, but they’re suddenly being a lot truer to the characters in the book and the events.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: So it’s a bit confusing.

Andrew: Harry looks like…

Eric: Off-putting. I can see where the confusion…

Andrew: Harry looks like he’s carrying a bowling bag. Sort of, it’s that same shape.

Matt: It’s called a suitcase.

Andrew: All right. It looks like the shape of a bowling bag.

Eric: It’s got Hedwig in it.

Andrew: What’s your name, caller?

Caller: Adam.

Andrew: Adam. And where are you in England, specifically?

Caller: I’m in County Durham actually, same place as Jamie.

Andrew: Oh, Durham. Do you go to Durham University? Or…

Caller: No, I don’t.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Caller: Only the name.

Andrew: Durham’s a very nice town. Or, county.

[Caller laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, well – go ahead.

MuggleCast 171 Transcript (continued)


Narcissa Malfoy


Caller: I was actually about to ask about Narcissa Malfoy.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Caller: Because I thought she would be a lot more – like, thinner features and, like – it sounds picky, but a lot more posh, if that makes sense.

Matt: Yeah! No, I agree. Because in the book it does say that she’s very skinny, and she has a very pointy nose. And…

Caller: Yeah, the other is that when you look at her, it’s just like – not like that, originally.

Andrew: [laughs] Well, I mean, maybe bony is another way to describe it. Or is that…

Matt: She has – well, no, she’s more fuller in the film. She does seem – yeah, she’s described as – almost posh and snooty, like Adam said.

Eric: Yeah, in everything from the features to the mindset. If you remember guys, Helen McCrory, who’s playing Narcissa, was originally thought of to be cast as Bellatrix.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: But I believe Helen McCrory became pregnant, and was unable to do the role of Bellatrix, which then went to Helena Bonham Carter. So I don’t know what the story is with that, but they wanted to give her a role, and they gave her Narcissa. But of course – I’m not saying that Helena Bonham Carter wouldn’t be better as Narcissa, because I’m not saying that at all, but I do agree that maybe – that Narcissa would look different – or the book Narcissa that I imagine, looks different then Helen McCrory.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean – yeah, and then you’ve got to argue – I mean, I see what you guys are saying, but I think she still looks great as a Narcissa, and…

Matt: No, she looks great. I mean, she’s just – I mean, we’re just going off of what Adam said. And he’s just – it’s right.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, I agree.

Eric: It works, but it’s our job to discuss this kind of stuff.

Matt: Yeah, and we analyze.

Andrew: And pick at it for 30 minutes to fill up time.

Matt: Yes.

Andrew: Well, thanks Adam for calling in, and thanks again for staying up late in Durham to talk with us.

Caller: Thats all right. Cheers. Thanks for answering.

Andrew: All right, no problem.

Matt: Cheers.

Caller: Goodnight.

Andrew: Goodnight. Shame on me for mocking him.

Matt: Yeah. I’m going to slap you.

Andrew: [laughs] Anyway, we are still taking calls, but right now we’re talking to people on the land lines because we’re paying for the numbers, so hell! Let’s use them.

Matt: Yeah!


Casting of Mrs. Granger


Andrew: And – I mean – buh-buh-buh! Let me – [laughs] – let me also mention – Lucas brought this up to me, one of our chat mods – that we are talking about anything related to Half-Blood Prince. I guess we can talk about some other stuff too, but you can call in and ask a question about anything related to Harry Potter. So, feel free to do so. Eric, I guess we talked about it on the show we recorded yesterday, but we did bring up the casting of Ms. Granger. Eric, what do you think about that? Do you think it’s a bad call, good call, what call?

Eric: I love it on the grounds that that scene is not in Book 7. So it seems like now that they’ve split the movie into two, they have all this – not extra time, but they have the ability, or the enthusiasm, to do something like cast Mrs. Granger, who Hermione just off-handily says she sent her parents to Australia. They think that they’re…

Andrew: Right.

Eric: These alternate identities. The fact that they cast her, and that it was this big deal, was really awesome, because I can’t wait to see – maybe they’ll even show Hermione doing it, or at one point they’ll show her parents, obviously. So I’m just excited. Raw enthusiasm and raw excitement, that’s what I have from reading that article.

Andrew: Well yeah. And I think – my theory is that they’re going to – like, when Hermione’s explaining it to Harry and Ron, what she did, it’ll cut over to a B-roll of her being like, “Oh, yeah,” of sending her parents off to Australia. Perhaps?

Matt: Yeah, I hope – yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay. Well, no more landline calls are coming in, so I assume that the landline phone is broken once more, which tends to happen when…

Eric: Kind of like Libsyn, huh? You pay for it, but it just doesn’t…


Call: Overall Good Reaction to Trailer


Andrew: No, it works when you’re not having a gazillion people hammer it. Okay, so let’s take another caller now. Hello, caller! You’re on MuggleCast Live! Good Thursday evening to you.

Caller: Hey! Can you hear me?

Andrew: Yeah, what’s your name? Where’re you from?

Caller: My name’s Antoine. I’m from Los Angeles, California.

Andrew: Sweet. People are going to start, “Andrew, you’re only picking up calls from Los Angeles!”

[Antoine laughs]

Andrew: It’s because I live there! Anyway, what’s going on?

Eric: Well, you are.

Andrew: I have no way of determining what the location of the caller is.

Eric: Except the area code.

Andrew: No, these are Skype calls.

Eric: I see.

Andrew: “Yeah, hold on. Let me look up your area code real quick before I take your call.” Anyway, what’s your question, Antoine?

Caller: Well, the first time I saw the trailer, I was a bit underwhelmed, but I saw – I watched it over and over like I usually do, and the cinematography in this film, this Harry Potter film, is the best. It’s the most beautifully shot Harry Potter yet.

Andrew: I agree. Is it the same cinematographer, does anyone know the credits?

Caller: I think it’s a different guy.

Andrew: Is it?

Eric: Is it Mark Day?

Andrew: It’s – I don’t know. Could someone look that up real quick?

Matt: Yeah, I’m looking it up right now.

Eric: I met him. He’s a nice guy.

Andrew: But yeah, it really does look just beautiful. And as these films progress – and okay, Chris Columbus with the first two movies, they look kind of, “Eh, it’s kid’s movies, it’s kiddish.” They still had good shots, but I completely agree. They’ve started looking better and better.

Matt: Bruno Delbonnel.

Andrew: Okay, so it is a new guy.

Caller: I have no idea who that is.

Matt: Yeah, it is a new guy. He’s French.

Andrew: And we actually – kind of speaking of…

Matt: Oh, this explains it! He did Across the Universe.

Andrew: Really?

Caller: Oh, Across the Universe is awesome!

Andrew: That’s pretty cool! Yeah, that’s what they – they’ve got to keep doing that. Just bring on these really cool cinematographers. Get – who would be another cool guy?

Matt: Yeah!

Andrew: What’s another trippy movie? I just want trippy cinematographers.

Caller: Slumdog Millionaire?

Andrew: Slumdog – I haven’t seen that, but Slumdog Millionaire

Eric: You haven’t seen it? It comes out on DVD on the 30th.

Matt: Honestly, I saw it last night for the whole thing. Not a fan.

Eric: Really?

Caller: Harry Potter! We are talking about Harry Potter!

Matt: I think it is overrated, but…

Andrew: I just know they go, “JAI-HO!” the whole time. Ha ha ha, man.

Caller: Also, the actual title, Half-Blood Prince, it seems like they’re trying to make it out as if – they’re trying to trick people as to think Voldemort is the Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: You think so?

Caller: In keeping Snape a secret – because I remember when the book first came out, people used to speculate that Voldemort was the Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: But how do you think – how do you think people are being led to believe that?

Caller: Well, because that’s the name of the movie, and there hasn’t been any indication of Half-Blood…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: And all people can think of is Voldemort, maybe? And because there’s all this story about him?

Matt: Well, in the trailer for Order of the Phoenix, did they ever say about the Order of the Phoenix?

Eric: I think what you’re saying is there’s not – I mean, they could make this trailer about the book Harry finds. They could have an overshot of Harry, [in a British accent] “Oh, Ron! I found this book! And it’s Half-Blood Prince, what’s this?” And all of a sudden he’s doing great in Potions and girls are loving him. They could totally make it that kind, but they’re focusing on the fact that this is Voldemort’s backstory, which I can see where that could be a little bit confusing or misleading. But even the book…

Andrew: The book doesn’t talk about – yeah, exactly.

Eric: Didn’t really have a whole lot to do with the Half-Blood Prince. Only at the very, very end, after the climax of the book, we find out who the Half-Blood Prince is. It’s not really that driving of the story in itself, either.

Matt: There really is no actual central story for this book. I mean, there are so many twists – there are so many subplots in this book, especially.

Eric: It’s plot advancement.

Matt: It would be really hard to put that in a trailer. They would have to only hit one aspect of it.

Andrew: Yeah, and I do remember when Half-Blood Prince came out, a lot of people where speculating, “Well, why was it called Half-Blood Prince, if…” You know. That’s a good question for Jo. And by the way, back to the cinematographer thing, Eduardo Serra will be directing Deathly Hallows. That was announced back on Valentine’s Day, actually. And he’s directed Defiance, Blood Diamond. I don’t see anything else here that would stand out to anyone. But yes, he is directing parts one and two of Deathly Hallows. I hope…


Is John Williams Returning?


Eric: And we have John Williams composing again, right?

Andrew: That’s not confirmed yet is it? I don’t think so.

Eric: I thought it was.

Andrew: Is it Matt?

Caller: I thought Yates was doing the last two parts.

Andrew: Let’s look – why don’t we know this?

Caller: Remember The Giver? The whole thing about The Giver.

Andrew: What – what’s The Giver?

Caller: The movie that David Yates was supposed to do but then she said that he is doing the last two Harry Potter films.

Andrew: Right.

Matt: Andrew we talked about it with – Elysa and Laura on an episode.

Andrew: Oh okay.

Matt: But – John Williams has only stated that he wants to come back.

Andrew: That’s right.

Caller: He better do it. He’s awesome.

Eric: That’d be so cool, he’d have five films of stuff – of material to just…

Andrew: [laughs] Copy.

Eric: Take in.

Matt: No he could just do his own…

Eric: No to take in!

Andrew: Oh.

Eric: Right. But he created the series so I’m saying he could draw in anything that any of the number of other composers have done and make it into a unified theme so that it kind of feels like a whole unit.

Andrew: Go ahead Micah.

Micah: No, I just wanted to clear up what you just said…

Andrew: Speak up, you’re low. You’re low.

Micah: You mentioned directed – I think you were talking about directing the cinematography.

Andrew: That’s what I meant. Yeah, sorry – if I said something otherwise.

Matt: Yeah, you said a new director.

Andrew: Oh no, no, no! No. Come on guys. Don’t you think you ought’ve known that? I’m sorry, it’s my fault.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Director of cinematography.

Matt: Oh!


David Yates Sticking Around


Andrew: That’s – yeah. Yeah. No, David Yates quit, he – he decided to go for The Giver.

Caller: Right, like he would do that.

Andrew: [laughs] You know what’s still funny? And I said this on a million MuggleCast episodes before, but this is the first time since Chris Columbus we’re having a director direct two films – or more than two films. And I think it’s going to be…

Caller: It has been three.

Andrew: Yeah. Or four technically. So I’m personally so excited to see how he makes – changes and evolves through the films. I hope there is actually a really good difference.

Caller: Definitely gotten better.

Eric: There is a progession.

Caller: Thats true.

Eric: There is a progression. There is absolutely…

Caller: You can already tell.

Eric: Yeah.

Caller: In the trailers you can tell he’s gotten better with his craft.

Andrew: Yeah. All right, well – Antoine thanks for calling in.

Caller: No problem.

Andrew: And thanks for staying up with us although you’re in LA so it’s not…

Caller: I’m in LA so yeah, it’s two.

Andrew: Are you actually in LA?

Caller: I’m actually in LA by Korea town.

Andrew: Nice, nice, Korea town.

Eric: Okay. [laughs]

Andrew: Alright dude.

Caller: Peace out.

Andrew, Eric and Matt: Bye.

Andrew: There’s an example of a good caller for anyone calling in and wondering how they can be a good caller. Speaks well, good Skype quality, yada yada.

Eric: Happens to be Andrew’s neighbour.

Andrew: [laughs] He’s not my neighbour, I’m not in LA.

[Eric and Matt laughs]


Call: Zip Likes the Trailer


Andrew: All right – let’s take another caller now. This is Zip. Hi Zip.

Caller: Oh, hi.

Andrew: You’re on MuggleCast Live, how are you?

Caller: Oh, good thanks.

Andrew: Good.

Caller: Hi.

Andrew: Hi.

Caller: I’ve never been on the show before.

Andrew: Oh, well, welcome to the show.

Caller: Kind of freaked out.

Micah: Neither have I.

Andrew: Is your name actually Zip?

Caller: Oh, no that’s my nickname.

Andrew: Oh, can I ask your real name, or are your parents going to sue me?

Caller: Yeah it’s Nora.

Andrew: Oh Nora, that’s a nice name.

Matt: Nora!

Andrew: So where are you calling from? Please don’t say anywhere in Southern California.

Caller: No, I’m actually calling from Rhode Island.

Andrew: Yes! All right Rhode Island, yeah! [laughs]

Caller: Yeah, I think I’m the only person here that listens to MuggleCast.

Andrew: That’s not true.

Eric: You sure you aren’t the only person there?

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: I don’t know, it’s a small state.

Caller: Maybe. Like nobody I know listens to MuggleCast.

Andrew: Oh well…

Caller: Sad.

Andrew: We actually – we actually have like ten listeners.

Caller: Oh.

Andrew: Yeah, everyone on Ustream thinks this is another one of Obama’s speeches.

Caller: Nice.

Andrew: Okay, anyway. What’s going on? I like your name Zip.

Caller: Zip.

Andrew: What’s going on Zip?

Caller: Yeah everyone in this chat is like, “Zip!”

[Andrew and Caller laugh]

Caller: Okay, well I saw the trailer. It’s awesome.

Andrew: Yes.

Caller: I loved it. I think it is the best one yet, honestly.

Andrew: Well good, there we go there is a good example. Why do you think it’s the best one yet?

Matt: Yeah. Why do you think that?

Caller: Well, I really liked the young Tom Riddle. He looks so scared opening the wardrobe. And then he – when he says that – there is a part where they’re like, “He’s never had a visitor.” And then he does this smile. But then he sees Dumbledore and he just looks completely evil.

Andrew: Yeah. It’s really cool. I just love it. I love their chemistry.

Caller: It’s awesome.

Matt: It’s spooky.

Andrew: Any other things that stood out for you?

Caller: Well I really like the Inferi. Like in the – the cave is going to be awesome.

Andrew: Yes. There was – it was so cool. And you wonder, why those things that they – the things that they’re on, the stone or whatever it looks like ice.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Be funny if it melted.

Matt: In a cave.

Eric: Its Planet Krypton. It’d be funny if they changed the name.

Matt: Yeah it’s funny.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: All right, Zip, thanks for calling in with your thoughts. We’re glad to hear somebody thought it was the best trailer yet.

Caller: Thanks Andrew.

Andrew: No problem. Have a good night in Rhode Island, and trust me, there are listeners there. I’m sure you’ll find some eventually.

Caller: Okay.

Andrew: Look around, I’m sure there’s some people in the chat too. They’ll represent.

Caller: All right, people in the chat, say hi to me. I am watching you.

Andrew: If you live in Rhode Island. Don’t ask everyone to – oh, whatever, they’re all saying hi anyway. All right, well have a good night Zip.

Caller: All right, bye!

Andrew: Don’t you ever wish your parents named you something cool, like Zip?

Matt: Like a name?

Andrew: No, like Zip.

Eric: I’d settle for Nora, that’s a pretty cool name to me.

Andrew: It is a very cool name. The calls are coming in too fast. Stop, everyone stop.

[Matt says something unintelligible]

Andrew: Huh?

Matt: Would you rather nobody called?

Andrew: Well, I literally cannot answer a call right now, so yes. [laughs]

Micah: Can you hear me right now?

Andrew: Yeah, you’re kind of low though.

Micah: Better?


Call: Bellatrix at the Burrow


Andrew: Yes that’s better. It’s twenty after seven right now on the west coast, we’ll take just a couple more calls. Thanks everyone who’s been listening. There’s close to 700 people in here, we had well over 800 earlier. Oh here’s a caller who – see I miss these – hi Briana, you’re on MuggleCast live.

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hi.

Caller: Hi! Oh my gosh.

Andrew: Welcome to the show. You won the lottery.

Caller: Thank you. How much did I win?

Andrew: What’s your question?

Caller: Oh, I was just wondering what you guys thought about the whole when Bellatrix Apparates from the Burrow when it’s on fire, I think that’s just so cool.

Andrew: Yeah, it’s how she just sort of like spins and does a little dance thing?

Caller: Yeah and she kind of laughs.

Andrew: Yeah. She’s insane. There’s no other way to describe such a thing.

Caller: Oh, I know, and she just – Helena does such a good job playing her.

Andrew: Yeah. Well not – Helen.

Caller: It’s Helena right?

Andrew: For Bellatrix?

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Is it? I’m getting confused between her and Narcissa.

Eric: Helen McCrory plays Narcissa Malfoy.

Andrew: Yeah, thank you.

Caller: Bellatrix is Helena Bonham Carter.

Andrew: Yes, thank you. Sorry, I thought I was going crazy for a second.

Eric: Oh wait, that is confusing.

Caller: [laughs] I thought you were too.

Andrew: Well it is kind of crazy – confusing, because it’s like she was going to play her.

Caller: Yeah, that’s true.

Matt: What is confusing?

Andrew: What’s that?

Caller: I’m glad that she ended up getting the part.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly, yeah. Well thanks, Briana, where are you calling from, by the way?

Caller: I’m actually in Mexico right now.

Andrew: Oh Mexico. Are you on vacation?

Caller: No, actually I’ve lived here for seven months.

Andrew: You said “right now” as if – as if it was just temporary.

Caller: Well, I’m an exchange student, so it is temporary.

Andrew: Ah! Aha!

[Caller laughs]

Eric: What college do you go to in the States?

Caller: I actually am from Oregon, but I live in West Virginia, and I’m in high school.

Andrew: Oh nice.

Eric: That’s actually really cool, like mad props to you.

Caller: Thank you. [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah that’s pretty impressive.

Caller: I’ve been spreading MuggleCast love all through Mexico.

Andrew: Ah, good. What do they all say?

Caller: Well, they all like you guys, but all my friends are pretty much into Harry Potter too.

Andrew: Cool.

Caller: And like, the whole world speaks English.

Andrew: Well hopefully. I would go crazy if I had to speak Spanish down there.

Caller: Yeah [laughs]

Andrew: But speaking of MuggleCast and school, we get these emails – like particularly this year, I guess it’s new – there’s this book on new media, and there’s this section on podcasting, and they mention MuggleCast, and so every time somebody reads that chapter, they send us an email like, “Hey, you guys are in this book!” So, I was like…

Micah: Where are our royalties?

Andrew: They were just naming our show, it’s not like a – you know, an interview, or anything, but yes…

Caller: It just proves how awesome you guys are.

Andrew: [laughs] Well here’s a really funny story, and I showed this to Micah real quick. One time – related to this book – the same day, we got two emails from two different people, but they were both in the same state, they sent this the same day, and they said – they both said we had to read this chapter for our homework tonight, [laughs] and it mentioned MuggleCast. I was like, wow, there is two classmates who go to school together, who don’t even know each other are MuggleCast listeners.

Caller: That’s crazy.

Andrew: Yeah! I emailed them both back, and I said, “Hey, you have another friend in this class, because she listens to MuggleCast too.” and they both had different IP addresses, so I know that they weren’t making it up. So that was a funny story. Think it was in West Virgina, actually, so that was really funny.

Caller: That’s so cool though.

Andrew: Yeah definitely. Well, you have a good night in Mexico Briana.

Caller: You too.

Andrew: And continue to spread the love down there.

Caller: Oh I will, definitely. Love you guys.

Andrew: Alright, love you too. Bye.

Caller: Bye.

Andrew: All right, there we go. There’s Briana. And I hate to say it, thank you to everyone who’s calling in but literally, Skype has never had this problem before where I literally can’t pick up calls. I don’t – they’re just coming in way too fast so I think we’ll cease calls for tonight, plus we’ve been going for an hour and twenty minutes. Anyway, to wrap up the…

Micah: What about the Twitter?

Andrew: Ah, the Twitter questions? I haven’t actually taken those yet. [laughs]

Micah: Oh.


Twitter Question: Dumbledore’s Tone and MPAA Rating


Andrew: I didn’t even plug that. If anyone’s been sending in any questions via Twitter, do it now. Put the ‘@’ symbol MuggleCast and type your question and then we’ll answer them. I’ll look right now to see if there are any. Roxy says, “I think Dumbledore’s tone sounds distressed. He knows he what he must have to burden Harry with, even if he doesn’t want to.” That’s a really good point. That must be so hard for Dumbledore. Breakingfree111 says, “I just re-watched the trailer and there’s no MPAA rating at the end.” That’s kind of interesting. Maybe they’re trying to get it re-rated.

Matt: And also there’s no release date.

Andrew: Huh?

Matt: It doesn’t even have a release date.

Eric: It just says July.

Andrew: Oh, right. [laughs]

Matt: Are they going to delay it again?

Andrew: Uh well yeah, maybe they’re just leaving it open just in case.

Eric: No!

Andrew: Yeah, I don’t think so but I think that’s sort of like a formality. Like, you just write the month.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: Because it’s still like a couple months away, you know?

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, maybe they’re not sure. Maybe they’ll delay it a week. That’d be terrible. [laughs] That’d be terrible.

[Matt laughs]


Twitter Question: New Character


Andrew: Nicole3: “No, my stupid power is out so I can’t listen!” I’m sorry Nicole.

Eric: How are you Twittering?

Andrew: Well, she can do it on your phone. You can do it on your phone.

Eric: So, you can’t submit a question on your phone?

Andrew: You can.

Eric: Oh, but you can’t listen. Okay cool. Right. Fine. I get it.

Andrew: Sam Watchman, one of our mods, says, “There’s a shot of the locket at fifty three seconds, look at it and there’s also a new character two seconds before it.” I’m going to look, I think I know what he’s talking about. Yeah, that’s not a new character. That’s young Tom Riddle. I mean, that’s school Tom Riddle.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Because you go from young Tom I think, right before that? Yeah.

Matt: Oh yeah, yeah it’s the transition from Tom Riddle to Voldemort.

Andrew: Yeah and that’s when Dumbledore says, “Voldemort” and then you see his head, which was kind of cool. Oh and then there’s a split second frame of Voldemort from Goblet of Fire I think that was, or Order of the Phoenix.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: The shot of him looking.

Eric: There’s no Ralph Fiennes in this movie. It’s all recycled…

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Images.

Andrew: Which is kind of sad, I must say. Kind of sad.

Eric: Indeed.


Recycled Flashes of Voldemort


Andrew: What other questions? Somebody said the quick flash of Voldemort looks new but it’s actually not, like we just said it’s from Voldemort – it’s from Order of the Phoenix.

Matt: Order of the Phoenix. Yeah, when he’s in the water.

Eric: If it’s not like what’s actually in there it’ll be like one of the other shots they have. Like, you know what I’m saying? Even if it didn’t make it into the final film it’ll be a picture, like a shot of him at an angle that we haven’t seen before specifically but no. It’s old footage anyway is what I’m saying.


Twitter: Options for Epilogue Scene


Andrew: Yeah. TabithaC says, “Wouldn’t it be cool if the actress that was cast for DH to play Hermione’s mom was really cast as Hermione in the future for that scene in the Epilogue?”

Matt: Well, that’s what I thought at first when they said they casted Miss Granger.

Andrew: That’s not a bad idea. Why didn’t anyone suggest that? You guys are all dumb. Thanks TabithaC. Hmmm?

Matt: Nothing.

Eric: Oh. Whoever found that is really clever. That is the locket. They show the locket.

Andrew: Oh yeah, Sam mentioned the locket too.

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: Is that the locket or is that the necklace that Katie Bell got?

Eric: No, it’s not the opal necklace. The opal necklace you can see in one of the promo pictures. It’s Snape and McGonagall in one of the captured pictures recently. This is the replacement locket from the end of the story.

Matt: Oh, okay.

Eric: They actually show – it’s very quick. It’s when little Voldemort’s turning into big Voldemort.


Twitter: Andrew’s Candle


Andrew: Somebody else on Twitter – kind of off topic – EmilyCatrell is asking what my candle that I have in the video smells like and it’s “Ocean Breeze.” It’s the beautiful ocean breeze.

Micah: Just open the window!

Matt: That’s my candle.

Andrew: [laughs] We’re not on the ocean! We’re like a half hour away. Why don’t you open the window Micah? There’s an – ocean near you too.

Micah: Yeah, three blocks away.

Andrew: Really? You’re that close?

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Is that the river or the…

Micah: So, if we get a hurricane I’m in real deep trouble.

Andrew: Yeah, because a hurricane will come up to New York City. My final last words.

Micah: It’s happened before.

Andrew: Yeah, but not like – big.

Matt: Mmmm.

Micah: Not in a long time.


Twitter: Astronomy Tower


Andrew: “The Astronomy Tower is the tallest tower in Hogwarts that’s why it’s so tall.” Good point, Antoine. [laughs] I mean obviously but – for some reason, in the book, I didn’t picture it that tall. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

Matt: You just didn’t want him to really – fall that hard.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: You didn’t want him to suffer.

Andrew: Right. It’s just sad to think of.

Matt: It’s the tallest…

Micah: I’m sure he probably falls in slow motion. If that makes you feel better Andrew.

Andrew: What’d you say, Micah?

Micah: I’m sure he probably falls in slow motion.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. Then I’ll react in slow motion. I’ll just be going, “Noooooo!”

[Matt laughs]

Eric: We should probably wrap this up.


Twitter: Too Many Trailers


Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. Okay. There’s so many questions coming in though. Let me just get one more. Twilighter369, “Why do you think they are putting out so many trailers? It is going to give away the whole movie.” I don’t think – I mean, Eric, percentage-wise, how much of the movie was actually revealed so far? Because this what, the fourth or fifth trailer?

Eric: Well, we’re talking about too many clips. If I had to break it down into scenes I couldn’t do that, but I – I don’t know. I can’t do it percentage-wise. That’s the wrong question to ask.

Matt: Honestly though, we haven’t really seen that much.

Andrew: Yeah, we really haven’t.

Matt: The only long scenes we’ve seen in the trailers are the same scenes.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I mean all the new clips we saw were very short. We may have saw like one second at the very most. That’s more of a tease than actually a clip.

Eric: Talking about scenes – it may be a tease but combine that with promo pics and you’ve got nearly every scene in the film. Is at least one second clips that are the problem – what I think some of the fears are. And that’s not entirely true, but it’s close. It’s beginning to get to the point where it’s really close, where they’re clipping almost everything that’s good and sacred. I mean, they aren’t doing the whole scenes though. So until they release entire scenes for download online like they did for Goblet of Fire I won’t be too upset.

Andrew: Yeah. True.

Eric: As of now, it’s two minute trailers and it’s another two-something hour movie so it’s not giving too much of it away it’s just the eye candy parts of it.


Special Guest Announcement


Andrew: Yeah. Okay, so that is it for the show today but as promised we have a special announcement about a special guest coming on. Okay, so here’s the deal, like I said at the beginning of this recording, we were recording Episode 171 yesterday, but now what we’re recording right now is 171 and the show that comes out over the weekend – this will come out tonight – the show that comes out over the weekend will be 172. Okay?

Eric: And we totally [unintelligible].

Andrew: Yes, well that’s because a very surprise last minute thing – and nobody knew about this except for Laura, Micah, Matt and I. So, Micah, go ahead.

[Prolonged silence]

Micah: Okay.

Andrew: Well, yeah…

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: You’ve got to – well, never mind. I’ll cue the drum roll when you’re ready.

Micah: Well, hold on a second.

Andrew: What?

Micah: I was just going to say, we’ve been teasing about this in different areas over the course of the last week or so.

Andrew: Mhm.

Micah: Right?

Andrew: Mhm.

Eric: Different areas?

Micah: So cue the drum roll.

Andrew: It’s very short so don’t be all surprised when it ends.

Matt: Just hurry up and say it.

[Drum roll sound plays]

Micah: Okay so on Episode 172 of MuggleCast…

[Drum roll sound ends]

Micah: Wow. That was a really short drum roll.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: I told you it was short!

Micah: We’re…

Andrew: Hold on. Wait. Wait. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Try it again. Here’s what were going to do…

Micah: You’ve been teasing these people. You’re driving them crazy over here on the chat.

Matt: Just say the freaking thing. This is stupid.

Andrew: No. Hold on please. Please.

Micah: Okay.

Andrew: Here’s what we’re going to do. You intro it and you stop right before you reveal the name. I’ll play the drum roll then when you here the cling that’s when you say the name, okay? This is how we do it.

Micah: Okay.

Matt: What should Eric and I do?

[Andrew sighs]

Micah: On Episode 172 of MuggleCast, Andrew, Laura, and myself will be interviewing…

Andrew: Hold on.

[Drum roll sound plays]

Micah: The US illustrator of the Harry Potter series…

[Drum roll sound ends]

Micah: Mary GrandPre.

Andrew: Wooo!

Eric: Wow.

Matt: That’s pretty good.

Andrew: That’s pretty cool. Hmmm.

Eric: Wow. Really?

Andrew: That’s neat.

Eric: Did you guys ask her if she’s willing to go back and redo art for the anniversary editions to the books?

Andrew: We can’t reveal anything yet! Yes. We can’t say nothing! Yes.

Matt: Did you ask her to make a MuggleCast album art?

Andrew: Yeah. And she did it. No I’m just kidding – yeah, she did make the MuggleCast album art. We’ve been using it for like three years.

Matt: Oh that’s right.

[Eric laughs]


Show Close


Andrew: [laughs] Anyway, so that interview will be out this weekend. Very excited about it. And we thank Scholastic for allowing us to do it. So there you go and that’s the show. We thank everyone for listening. It’s been a lot of fun. And thanks for staying up late with us if you were over in the UK or wherever you are right now. And – what can I say? It’s been a fun show. Anyone have any final words of wisdom before we sign off today? While I also cue up some music so it sounds like we’re professional.

Eric: Nitwit. Blubber. Oddment. Tweak.

Andrew: Wow. Is this it? Is this all you guys got? Okay, well that’s okay. I have music ready to go. So thanks everyone for listening and have a good night and we’ll see you this weekend for Episode 172 and we’ll go live again one more time sometime whenever the next trailer’s out which I can’t have another thought like Ben did but maybe in another month or two. Who knows? Anyway, thanks everyone for listening. I’m Andrew Sims, Micah Tannenbaum, Matt Britton, Eric Scull. Goodbye everybody!

[“My Generation” by The Who plays]

Transcript #170

MuggleCast 170 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins]

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[“Hedwig’s 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]

Micah: Because you may not have known Patrick Doyle completely improvised the Yule Ball score, this is MuggleCast Episode 170 for February 16th, 2009.

[Show music continues]

Andrew: Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the show. It’s our Valentines Day special!

Laura: Woo!

Matt: Heart.

Eric: Aww.

Andrew: We don’t have much planned, I’ll be honest with you. There’s not much. We have a Favorites segment that’s all about love, but I’m sure we can work in love throughout the show in a variety of ways. Special this week, we have a very nice interview with the Goblet of Fire composer, Patrick Doyle. Matt and Micah worked this one up. Good job, guys.

Matt: Oh, thank you.

Andrew: I give you guys my love because it’s Valentines Day. The day after.

Laura: Aww, that’s so sweet.

Andrew: Yes.

Micah: I was just going to say, and I’m sure we can mention it later though, we owe a big thanks to Syracuse University for getting us that interview.

Andrew: Love to them too because it’s Valentines Day!

Matt: Yes, we’re spreading the love.

Andrew: Love! Love! So yeah, we got that and we got a lot of news to catch up on because it’s been a few weeks but it’s so good to talk to everyone again, I must say. So let’s get right into the show. I’m Andrew Sims.

Eric: I’m Eric Scull.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Matt: I’m Matt Britton.

Nick: And I’m Nick Myers.

[Show music continues]


News: New Movie Posters


Andrew: Micah Tannenbaum, it’s been a few weeks so there’s a lot of news to catch up on. What’s going on?

Micah: I don’t know if I’m going to remember how to even do this.

Andrew: Oh, my.

Micah: But the biggest news, of course, was on Monday. We got some high res versions of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince posters.

Andrew: Finally!

Laura: Yay.

Micah: They were originally…

Matt: Yes, finally! What the f…

Micah: What?

Matt: Finally!

Laura: Not this show, Matt. Wrong show.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Matt: Oh my…

Eric: Yeah actually, they’re nice…

Matt: …Dumbledore.

Eric: …but I thought they were too blue.

[Laura laughs]

Eric: So I actually took it down a notch. I took the high def images – or high res images – and I took them down a notch as far as blue, and so I have them on my desktop now and they’re not – you guys see what I’m saying, looking at that?

Matt: That’s funny, Eric, because I actually changed it to lavender. I think it has a better ambiance to it.

Eric: So you changed the hue?

Matt: I honestly think, yeah.

[Laura laughs]

Micah: Is that for Valentines Day?

Andrew: Yes, nobody cares what colors you changed.

Matt: Okay, fine.

Andrew: I like the blue. I thought it was a nice tone. It’s dark tone.

Matt: Isn’t the – oh I guess not, that’s green…

Laura: Aren’t they always blue?

Matt: …for Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: Yeah, they…

Laura: Don’t they usually have a blue cast to them?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Didn’t the posters kind of remind you – they had kind of like a Goblet of Fire resemblance? Like the Goblet of Fire posters?

Andrew: Sort of. Well, it’s rainy.

Laura: Well, yeah, in the fact that they had more of an epic look to them. Yeah, I would agree.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: Is that rain or is that snow?

Matt: Epic!

Andrew: Maybe it’s snow.

Laura: Snrain.

Matt: Well, they’re probably still on that little island in the middle of the ocean.

Eric: Oh, right, with mist.

Andrew: Maybe.

Matt: In front of the cave. Mist, yeah, that’s it. It’s mist.

Micah: I thought it was going to be the Astronomy Tower, but I don’t know if it was raining then.

Matt: And the mist was just air bubbles and then falling down.

Andrew: It shouldn’t have been raining.

Micah: I don’t know, you know how they like to change things, Warner Brothers.

Eric: It’s true.

Matt: Yeah, Harry could die in it too.

Eric: He could.

[Laura laughs]

Matt: Falling down there with Dumbledore.

Andrew: There’s – a lot of people are wondering what’s up with Dumbledore’s hand, why he doesn’t – why his hand isn’t all battered up like it’s supposed to be.

Matt: Yeah, that’s kind of weird.

Micah: Because it’s only PG.

[Everybody laughs]

Micah: They can’t make his hand look any scarier.

Andrew: No, well, that is going to be in the movie, it’s not like – I was thinking maybe it’s just because they don’t want to confuse people who are just looking at the posters being like, “Oh, why is his hand all messed up?” It doesn’t really make sense in the context of the poster.

Laura: I would think that would be a point of interest if they did that, like…

Eric: I’m not…

Matt: Yeah. Yeah.

Laura: Like, “Oh my God, why is his hand all screwed up?” I don’t know, I think that would attract people.

Eric: I’m not entirely sure they didn’t do that. If you look at – I guess it’s his left hand – the finger closest towards him is pure black and the other finger…

Andrew: Yeah…

Eric: …kind of looks cut off. It’s darker than his other – you know what I’m saying? I think – I don’t remember…

Andrew: Well, you’re right.

Eric: …what it looked like.

Andrew: You’re right.

Eric: Or if I even saw what it looked like completed. But maybe they only have like half his hand and then it spreads to his whole hand down to his palm. I don’t know. It looks blacker than it should, his hand, in parts.

Andrew: Mhm.

Matt: What do you guys think about this, them having them each have HP and…

Eric: I didn’t like that.

Matt: …the number of the book…

Laura: I thought that was really cheesy.

Matt: …on the poster?

Nick: Yeah.

Matt: I thought it was really cheesy too, them trying to adjust the whole lightning bolt thing into a 6.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Matt: I thought that was kind of lame. That’s what made me think, “Is this actually real? Is this a real poster?”

Andrew: Yeah, it does look fake. And they seems like they’re really emphasizing that whole, “Once again I ask too much of you, Harry.”

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: Because that’s been the trailers and now it’s on the poster.

Laura: Yeah, but don’t they always have that one line? Every – like last time it was, “You’ll lose everything.”

Nick: Yeah.

Matt: “Everything is going to change,” or…

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: “Everything changes.”

Andrew: I do love how Dumbledore is in Harry’s glasses.

Laura: Yeah, that is awesome.

Nick: Amazing.

Matt: That’s pretty awesome. It kind of would have been a little better if they didn’t have the same poster in it.

Micah: See, that’s what made me think about the Astronomy Tower, was the fact that he’s seeing Dumbledore in his glasses and it kind of looks like he’s dying or in the process of getting hit with something.

Andrew: But these posters are never shots from the movie, you know? They’re just promotional poses.

Nick: Yeah. That could explain how they missed the black hand off, if it’s an aftershot. They haven’t made his hand up and everything.

Andrew: Yeah, these are just promos more than anything.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Harry’s got really blue lips in this, though! [laughs]

Laura: It’s hypothermia.

Andrew: I didn’t notice that.

Nick: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, so they’re cool posters. And it’s about time, because that was one of those things – before the delay happened, people were really wondering where the hell the posters were.

Matt: Well, here they are.

Andrew: Yeah!

Micah: I have one question though about Harry’s poster. With…

Andrew: What he’s wearing?

Micah: No, his arm. Isn’t his arm reflected in his own jacket? Or is that something else, if you look at it.

Matt: Oh, I see what you’re talking about. I think it’s just the ruffling of the cloth.

Micah: Because it almost looks like it’s a reflection of something else, kind of similar to how Dumbledore was reflected in his glasses.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, it does look weird. I think it’s just the combination of the lighting and like the angle.

Eric: Oh! Weird!

Andrew: More so the lighting because you see some light hitting the back of Harry’s right hand and then I think that light is going over his hand and onto his shirt.

Eric: No, it’s actually the special effects guy, Lenny.

[Everybody laughs]

Eric: Honestly. An oversight like that.

Matt: Lenny is a very skilled CGI Photoshop man. He would not go – he would not miss something like that.

Nick: I can’t see his scar, either.

Eric: No surprise there, though!

Andrew: Yeah, no scar. And his eyes aren’t green. Wah!

Matt: You can see the scar a little bit, can’t you?

Andrew: No.

Matt: Or maybe that’s just his hair. Okay, well, he – Dumbledore doesn’t have glasses!

Laura: Yeah, but that’s not central to the plot.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: He does actually – actually, you know what? Actually that’s interesting you say that, because in the movie he does have the glasses.

Matt: That’s right. Harry has blue eyes, I forgot.

Eric: That’s the thing. This is the first movie, that I noticed, that Michael Gamdon wore the Dumbledore glasses. And…

Andrew: Yeah, no, it is. I think he kind of looks weaker without the glasses on, and this is sort of an epic but – maybe not weaker but older.

Eric: Well, especially if he has them on most of the movie and takes them off.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, plus wouldn’t it look kind of silly if Harry’s glasses showed Dumbledore and Dumbledore’s wearing glasses, maybe?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I don’t know. Someone in the comments was saying Dumbledore looks like Santa in this picture. I kind of agree.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: What else is going on, Micah?


News: Sneak Peaks Coming Up


Micah: Well, earlier this week the New York Times reported that there is going to be a little bit of a preview of Half-Blood Prince at the Oscars on February 22nd, and from the article it seems like it’s going to come at the end of the show. Is that right?

Andrew: Yeah, I think so. It’s going to be – they’re going to be hyping it up throughout the Oscars. Because they’re really hyping up a different – a new Oscars this year. It’s going to be different from the other ones. So I – a lot of people are wondering if this is going to be a new clip or not, but I think it will be. I don’t see why they would play something that we’ve already seen.

Matt: That would be lame if they didn’t.

Andrew: Yeah, for something as epic as the Oscars, I don’t…

Eric: It’s true.

Matt: It’s – well, they were saying they were going to show trailers from – like debut trailers and footage that no one – from movies that people haven’t even heard about yet, too. So, I mean, it would just be stupid if Warner Brothers just chucked out this trailer that they’ve been showing like a million times already.

Micah: And they’re not the only ones that are doing this sneak peek into Half-Blood Prince. The day before, MTV is actually going to be doing one, and, Andrew, you guys are going to be involved in that, aren’t you?

Andrew: Well, sort of. Yeah. On February 21st there is going to be a showing of MTV Spoilers; it’s this new show they’re doing. And they just announced today – we’re recording Friday – that they are going to have – be playing clips from upcoming WB films, including Half-Blood Prince. And turns out, Matt and I actually got some tickets to this screening because it’s a Watchmen screening.

Matt: It’s a Watchmen screening!

Andrew: But we don’t know if they’re actually going to play these other clips at the screening that we’re going to. They may just add them later, but we have no idea which way they’re going to be doing it.

Matt: Well, are they going to be – they could just be showing it when they release it on TV.

Andrew: Right, that’s what I’m saying.

Matt: Oh.

Andrew: Yeah. So we don’t know whether we’re going to be seeing – we are going to be seeing them or not, because this taping happens on this upcoming Wednesday, the 18th. I think it’s the 18th. Yeah, it is.

Eric: Neat.

Andrew: And then the show will be out that following – that upcoming – this upcoming Saturday. It’ll be cool, you know? WB is obviously trying to get a lot of promotional stuff out with Half-Blood Prince now.


News: Rupert and Emma Nervous About Kiss


Micah: All right, well moving on, timely with Valentine’s Day, there is a little bit of news with the upcoming Deathly Hallows film. Both Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have confessed that they are a little bit nervous about a kissing scene that’s coming up in the seventh film.

Andrew: Aww. I think this is so funny that they’re both like “Oh I’m so afraid to kiss the other.”

Matt: You know secretly they really want it.

Andrew: Yeah, they’re so excited.

Matt: As soon as their cue goes up, they’re going to be…

Eric: She’s going to pin him to the wall.

Matt: Yeah. She’s going to throw him.

Andrew: I hope it gets crazy.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: It’s going to get crazy in theaters when people are watching this.

Laura: Oh my – yeah, can you imagine?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I can just imagine them really hyping it up too in the movie. Just all this romantic music being played as soon as they start kissing.

Andrew: They should, they deserve it.

Micah: I’m going to bring cotton balls to put in my ears because of all the screeching that’s going to be going on.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: Yep.

Matt: Cotton balls ain’t going to work.

Andrew: Well, you’re going to have to stick some cotton balls in my mouth because I will be screaming too.

Matt: Or drooling.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Laura: Are you a Rupert Grint fan, Andrew?

Andrew: Well, it’s so funny because – what?

Laura: Are you a Rupert Grint fan?

Andrew: No, and – yes. I guess the joke would have been funnier if I had said yes.

Laura: Yeah. [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, I am. I really do like him. But it’s so funny, just the way they’re both like – because Emma is like [in a high voice] “Well, I’ve never had to do it before so I can’t say I have any techniques. I’ve never had to kiss anyone on screen so it’s all new to me.” And then Rupert’s like [in a stoner voice] “I’ve known Emma for so long…”

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: …”I reckon it will be ten times worse. I really love the seventh book but there’s no way it’ll be tame with the Hermione stuff.”

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Laura: Because he sounds like a stoner, apparently?

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Oh come on, it’s not like he hasn’t thought about it before. I guarantee you he’s thought about it a number of times.

Matt: Just watch. After this film they’re going to be coming down the red carpet as a couple.

Laura: Eh.

Andrew: But you guys know this is going to be like the big press thing.

Laura: Oh yeah.

Andrew: Like whenever they get interviewed: “What was it like kissing Rupert for the first time?” “Oh it was okay. I mean after the first…” And then there’s going to be the tabloids that say they did it fifty times.

Eric: Actually…

Andrew: And then they ended up liking it. Or there will be tabloid stories about how the kiss went on longer than it was supposed to. Maybe they actually are in love.

Eric: Actually, didn’t…

Micah: All of a sudden it got darker. It got darker with each passing kiss.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: So much darker.

[Everyone laughs]

Eric: Didn’t Emma say something about Dan had told her that the kissing – that they do ten, fifteen takes and it gets boring after a while?

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Did you guys read that quote? It was hilarious.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, that’s how I usually feel too. Not acting kissing, like real kissing.

[Laura laughs]

Eric: What, after ten, fifteen times it’s just not worth doing anymore?

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, no.

Laura: That’s really sad.

Andrew: I kiss other things…

Eric: I feel bad for your significant other.

[Laura laughs]

Matt: He kissed a girl and he liked it.

Andrew: [laughs]

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: For the first five times, then I got bored.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: What else, Micah?

Micah: Well…

Andrew: Kissing, love!

Micah: Well…

Andrew: It’s Valentine’s Day. Happy Valentine’s Day Show! What else?


News: Injured Stuntman


Micah: Yeah, we’re going to move to something a little bit more serious, but we didn’t have a chance to talk about this since our last episode. I think it happened shortly after.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: One of the stuntmen was injured on the Deathly Hallows set a couple of weeks ago. He was performing an aerial stunt when he fell down to the ground, and both Dan Radcliffe and Tom Felton went to visit him in the hospital the other day. We don’t really know much about his condition, right? I hadn’t seen a whole lot released…

Andrew: Right.

Micah: …just that he is in stable condition. But we don’t know the extent of his injuries right now.

Andrew: Yeah. I think the only good news is that he’s not in really bad critical condition. But, yeah, he’s still in the hospital, and it was nice seeing that Dan and Tom both went to check up on him.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: And obviously he’s had a lot of support from the fans. But it just sucks. I mean, that’s the first week of test filming, and then all of a sudden this happens. And it’s the last film; this guy’s been there forever.

Micah: Yeah, he’s relatively young, obviously, he’s – what was he, twenty-five?

Andrew: It’s a shame…

Micah: It’s very sad.

Andrew: …and it must really get them down, because they must be really excited to start. But…

Micah: Right. One question I had out of this was what scene do you think – it said it was an aerial stunt.

Andrew: Yeah, and there was fire, was it, or a blast, some sort of explosion…

Micah: So maybe the Seven Potters…

Nick: Seven Potters, yeah…

Micah: When they were escaping?

Eric: Could be anything.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, it really could be anything. I mean, there’s just so many scenes in this book.

Micah: But hopefully he recovers and gets well soon.

Andrew: What else?


News: Casting for Reg Cattermole


Micah: I’ll stay with Deathly Hallows. Recent news. Actually today, the day we’re recording, a little bit of casting. Steffan Rhodri – I hope that’s how you say his name – was cast as Reg Cattermole. And he said that…

Andrew: Yay!

Matt: Yes!

Micah: …he’ll begin filming in the fall. So we’re getting some news slowly, but I think we’ll start to hear more leak out in the next couple of weeks.

Andrew: Yeah. Keyword there is “leak,” because, I mean, this was an interview. I think WB sort of just expects these actors are going to say something in an interview. Because this guy, Steffan, only did this for some play he was going to be in.

Matt: Right.

Andrew: He looks like a good guy to fit the part. He’s – Reg Cattermole is that guy in the Ministry of Magic who takes the Puking Pastilles.

Laura: Mmm.

Andrew: So that should be funny if that’s in there.

Eric: Yeah. Well isn’t he also – isn’t he the guy who gets impersonated by one of the trio? In the…

Nick: Yeah, Ron.

Eric: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Right. Yeah, because they have the Puking – he takes the Puking Pastilles first, right? So he’s not there.

Matt: Yeah, and isn’t his wife the one that…

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: …Harry goes to save?

Eric: But – so that looks like the whole Ministry scene is in.

Andrew: Yeah. So that’s cool. So actually that is kind of big news, so we know that’s in there.

Eric: It’s exciting.

Nick: Gives us an idea of where they’re cutting the film in half, as well. We’re getting at least Chapter 14 in the first film.

Eric: Right, yeah. [laughs]

Andrew: Oh my God, is that Chapter 14?

Eric: Oh.

Micah: Well, that also makes me wonder if – oh, I’m going to forget her name now, too – Professor Umbridge is going to be back.

Laura: Oh, Imelda Staunton?

Nick: Oh, yeah.

Andrew: I hope so.

Matt: I hope so!

Andrew: And anything else, Micah?


News: J.K. Rowling Inducted into the Legion of Honor


Micah: Yep, one last piece of news. J.K. Rowling, back on February 3rd, was inducted into France’s Legion of Honor, and she was bestowed the title of Knight by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Andrew: Ooh la la.

Micah: So she just keeps racking them up. I mean, one after the other.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Micah: She’s got a lot of things she can be proud of, that’s for sure.

Matt: Jo’s busy.

Micah: Aside from the series, all these awards she’s received.

Andrew: Yeah, and her entire acceptance speech was in French too. That was kind of cool.

Laura: Yeah, that was really impressive.

Nick: She did it so well.

Eric: Yeah. Well she taught French, hadn’t she, in Portugal?

Andrew: Right.

Micah: That just shows you it’s somebody who has respect for where she’s going and who she’s talking to, that she actually gave the speech in their language.

Eric: It’s just a cool thing to do.

Andrew: Yeah, that couldn’t have been easy, too. I mean, that must take some preparation to make sure you get everything right. Pronounce everything right. So, good for her. And there’s a great picture – a few great pictures of her accepting the Legion of Honor.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: So.

Nick: Yeah.

Andrew: That was really cool stuff. Anything else, Micah?

Micah: I don’t have anything else. Eric, did you have something you wanted to mention?


News: Jo’s Handprint in the City Chambers


Eric: Yeah, you heard what happened in Edinburgh too, speaking of J.K.R. getting honored.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Eric: She was able to – her handprints were put in the City Chambers in Edinburgh, Scotland, next to – in Renkin’s.

Andrew: That’s sweet.

Eric: That’s pretty special.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: And I love that picture of her handprints getting traced. She looks a little nervous. [laughs] Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know. It was a cute picture. I really want to go visit that now. That’s got to be sweet. That’s got to be a really nice area too, the city chambers.

Eric: We’ll go there and then we’ll swing by the Balmora Hotel and check out the bust there…

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Yeah, road trip!

Andrew: There you go!

[Laura laughs]

MuggleCast 170 Transcript (continued)


Announcements: Podcast Alley and Azkatraz


Andrew: Moving on to some announcements. As always, don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley. This is the first episode of February so we appreciate your vote over there. You guys are always very supportive. Right now we’re number ten, but I’m sure after this episode we can bump up a few places to remind people we’re still kicking!

Matt: Uh-huh.

Andrew: Also, don’t forget, we’re going to be at Azkatraz 2009. That’s HP2009.org. We’re going to be doing a podcast at 3AM with our friends at Leaky right after Half-Blood Prince makes its midnight premiere. We’re all going to go see it and they told us – the other day, I heard that we’re going to have seats in the theater right next to the door so as soon as the movie ends we can run out of there and get ready for the podcast before everyone else starts trying to get out.

Matt: Mmhm.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: Do we get a police escort?

Andrew: Yes.

Matt: Yes, please.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: We’re actually getting a helicopter.

Micah: Nice.

Matt: Oh!

Andrew: We’re going to be flown.

Matt: Really?

Laura: Awesome.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I would have just settled for a limo or something. That would’ve been fine.

Andrew: Mmm. Diva.

Matt: Mmm.


Announcement: Next Biggest Podcast Idol Survivor


Andrew: Well, anyway – and also, we have a pretty cool announcement that we made earlier this week, right, Micah?

Micah: Yeah! We made it on MuggleNet about a little bit of a reality competition that’s going to be going on leading up to Azkatraz this year.

[Long pause]

Andrew: And what’s that called?

[Andrew, Matt, and Micah laugh]

Matt: It’s like, “What is it!?”

Micah: I was throwing it to Andrew, but he was all, I don’t know.

Andrew: Oh okay. All right. You’re – I’ll do it. Let me find it.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Oh, there it is! It’s the…

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: …Next Biggest Podcast Idol Survivor. It’s quite a mouthful, but it’s really cool! It’s a contest to make the next great Harry Potter podcast. That’s what we’re trying to do here. The competition will start on July 20th – or no – the competition will end on July 20th when the winners will get a chance to podcast live from Azkatraz during the Podcast Palooza! That’s the thing we did at Portus last year. All the details are online. Go to MuggleCast.com and the details are there on the front page in the news. Basically, you’re going to be auditioning. You’re going to convince us why you’re a great podcaster, and then we’ll pick the best five people to make the new podcast. And then the winner, as I said, will be a part of the Podcast Palooza altogether. I think I’m going to help moderate the panel. And then also, you guys are going to win a free year of podcast hosting to help get your podcast off the ground. Because that’s really the only thing you got to pay for. And MuggleCast is going to cover that for you with LibSyn podcast hosting. So that’ll be – it’s a cool contest, and people who have always wanted to do a podcast will have some help from us now, and you’ll get to do your own live show! Not many podcasts have the chance to do their own live show.

A quick thing that HPEF did want me to address here. You have to be registered for Azkatraz, or at least Monday, which is the Podcast Palooza, to be eligible. So that way you can actually be at the live podcast if we choose you to be a part of the next podcast – a part of the podcast. So, for more information, go to MuggleCast.com and you will see a post there.


Announcement: MuggleCast Web Site Getting a New Design


Andrew: And speaking of that, coming very soon, and we don’t have it up yet because we’re just making a couple little tweaks still, but after that we’ll be done, there’s a brand new website design coming for MuggleCast.com! And it’s been a long time coming. I don’t think we’ve had an update in – a site refresh – in close to a year and a half to two years now?

Laura: It’d have to be two years.

Matt: It’s been about two years.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. This new one’s really nice, and we can’t wait to share it with you guysut we’re just making a couple of last minute tweaks and check for it in the next few days. It’ll be out on the site sometime this week, Sunday night at the earliest, if not then, then Monday or Tuesday, definitely. Hoping all goes well. So check that out, MuggleCast.com.


Transcript Update


Andrew: And speaking of the site too, Micah, you’ve got a transcript update?

Micah: Oh, yeah. These are always fun, but there are a lot of people that are working hard for us and we just hired – this is going to sound crazy, but – over thirty people to work…

Eric: Oh my god!

Micah: …on the transcripts and they’re pumping it out though. They’re doing a good job and they’re really eager…

Matt: Give the transcripts…

Laura: They’re “pumping it out?”

Matt: …the transcribers some love.

Micah: They are. They are pumping it out and we’re up to about episode 150 now, hopefully by the time this show gets out.

[Laura laughs]

Micah: Hey, don’t laugh. These people work hard Laura.

Laura: No.

Micah: You should not be mocking them.

Laura: I’m not laughing at them. I’m laughing at your word choice. [laughs]

Micah: Oh. What? “Pumping it out?”

Laura: Anyway. Yes.

Eric: I guess that’s what you do.

Andrew: “Pumping it out!”

Eric: I just can’t believe thirty people are writing down what six or seven of us are saying. That’s…

Laura: They must hate us.

Matt: They do.

Eric: They must hate us and… [laughs]

Matt: I did it for almost two years. Yeah, I hated you guys.

Laura: Aw, but you love us now.

Matt: No offense. I love you now. I don’t have to transcribe what I’m saying right now so it’s fine.

Eric: So you can be as verbose as you want.


Muggle Mail: Origin of the PG-13 Rating


Andrew: Thank you everyone for your help with that. We really do appreciate it. Let’s move on to Muggle Mail now this week. Laura, do you want to take the first one?

Laura: Oh, sure. Why not?

Andrew: It’s all about the movies this week. Everyone is talking about the movies.

Laura: All right, the first one comes from Rachel, 16, of Massachusetts. She writes:

“First, I love the show and I always enjoy listening to your thoughts and ideas. I’m writing because, on the past two shows, you’ve mentioned that movies from the 70’s and 80’s received questionable PG ratings like Jaws. Recently, I was watching the Indiana Jones documentary that came with the DVD trilogy set, which shed some light on the PG-13 rating. At the time there were only G, PG, and R ratings. When George Lucas and Steven Spielberg made Temple of Doom it almost received an R rating because of the scary scenes including cult practices. Steven Spielberg petitioned his friends at the MPAA to give it a PG rating and simultaneously suggested a PG-13 rating for future films, hence the beginning of the PG-13 rating.”

Andrew: Yeah, so that’s why Jaws wasn’t rated PG-13 because there was no PG-13 rating when it came out.

Laura: That’s interesting.


MPAA Documentary


Andrew: Yeah. And speaking of that, a lot of – not a lot – a few MuggleCast listeners suggested that we watch This Film is Not Yet Rated. It’s a documentary on the MPAA. Matt and I watched it a little over a week ago and it’s amazing.

Matt: It’s really good.

Andrew: Well, yeah. The documentary is okay, but it reveals a lot of information about the MPAA that is amazing. These guys – basically it’s this group of parents that aren’t revealed – the MPAA does not reveal their identities, they keep them really secret. This documentary tries to track them down. They’re like spying out in from the MPAA, which is located in California. It’s really good and they end up finding out that these people who are raters shouldn’t even be raters because they don’t fit the MPAA’s guidelines anymore. They’re too old. Their kids are too old. So it’s kind of ridiculous.

Matt: It’s pretty…

Andrew: The fact that they leave ratings up to six or seven raters – parents – is ridiculous.

Matt: Parents who are – of adults who are in their twenties and thirties even.

Andrew: Yeah, who have kids who are in their twenties and thirties.

Eric: Oh. I was going to say, if that’s not parenting material I don’t know what is.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. There was something else I was going to say. Oh, they did a lot of comparing films that should have gotten ratings, like say one film got a PG-13 but the other film that was just like it got an R because of certain stereotypes. You know, homosexuality and such. So it’s very biased rating going on and it would be interesting to see why Harry Potter was rated PG. Hey, who knows. Maybe it really does deserve PG, but…

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: …MPAA is corrupted.

Eric: And they come up with what the rating is going to be and they tell the people who make the movie before. They have the chance to edit it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: For instance, what this voicemailer said was, or what this Muggle Mailer said regarding Steven Spielberg – he didn’t want it to get an R rating and at that point obviously PG-13 wasn’t an option, but he was able to say “Wait a minute. We’ll either cut these certain scenes you find offensive or…” – he didn’t say that, but they can do that now.

Andrew: Right

Eric: They can change it for a rating because – the theory being that PG-13 now is the most widely accepted adult, sort of teenage area, I guess. There’s G and there’s PG, but PG-13 is what a lot of people are aiming for.

Andrew: Hmhm.

Eric: I guess.

Matt: I’m waiting for R.

[Laura laughs]


Muggle Mail: Controversies Over Ratings


Andrew: Nick, you want to take the next email?

Nick: We have a message from Katie, 18, from London. She writes:

“Hey MuggleCast. I’m Katie and I’m a film student from London, England. I was just commenting on the rating for the new Harry Potter flick. The American’s (stiff cut?) is PG whilst the UK is 12A. I recently attended a BBFC lecture and workshop in which they told us how they decide ratings. Sometimes after controversy about the ratings they have to rate a new blockbuster higher than they should be to get the press off their backs. In the UK, we recently had some controversy about the rating of the Dark Knight. Some parents felt it should have been a 15 and not a 12A. After they took their young children to go see the film the kids had nightmares. So perhaps they are rating Harry Potter higher than they normally would to show they are very strict about ratings and not lax. I love the show. Katie.”

Andrew: Now Nick it hasn’t received that rating right? That was just the trailers?

Nick: Yeah, it was only the trailers that was 12A. They usually don’t get rated until a couple of months before release in the UK.

Andrew: But it is definitely suggestive.

Nick: Yeah definitely, definitely.

Matt: Huh, that’s interesting.

Nick: It’s interesting what she says because the BBFC currently put a survey on their website so users can judge certain films that have recently been released and comment on whether the ratings were correct. So it seems that they’re overhauling their system and criteria at the moment. So it should be interesting to see what it gets rated.

Andrew: Well, I was – also in that documentary apparently the MPAA is the only rating group in the world that keeps their raters confidential, which is also kind of strange. It looks like the BBFC knows what they are doing and they are working with the people rather than being all weird and secretive.

Eric: I have to see that documentary that just really bothers me now.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. It’s good, it’s funny, and it’s short. It’s good stuff. It’s funny watching them spy on these people driving out of the MPAA.It was pretty good.

[Everyone laughs]


Muggle Mail: Listener Questions WB’s Honesty


Andrew: Matt, you want to take the last e-mail?

Matt: Sure. Our next email comes from Jared, 23, of Alabama and Jared writes:

“I do not wish to sound overly cynical however I feel that Warner Bros. should stop making these trailers for one reason. Trailers are supposed to inspire fans and even those who are not to view the film but I feel that the release of this Japanese trailer that WB is not inspiring people but rather disheartening them. I agree that the editing of this most recent trailer was indeed shabby and shows a blatant, lackadaisical attempt to prompt visual excitement of the film. I, for one, feel disheartened by this attempt and am left to wonder about WB’s true feelings towards the movie series. WB continuously states that they basically believe in the series and wish to make them as close to the books as possible. Is this for our sakes or theirs? WB has witnessed the public outcry of a badly done film based on a popular series with ‘Eragon’ and I fear that this latest attempt shows that WB is just in it for the money and remain hypocrites for denying otherwise.”

Eric: Ah, okay stop, right at the end.

Micah: You left it out. Go ‘Cuse. And no, I didn’t put that in there. Thanks Andrew.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Go ‘Cuse. Whoopee. How much of this – I’ve got to ask you guys because I wasn’t there with the Japanese trailer, even though I have seen it. How much of this is what you guys said about the editing being shabby and stuff? I want to know how much is his original idea and how much is you guys – what you said.

Andrew: Well as we discussed during the show, it wasn’t really a trailer. It was a sneak peak. It was a bunch of clips. We kept calling it a trailer because its easier to say it’s a trailer instead of a group of sneak peaks.

Eric: Right, well they go by pretty fast.

Andrew: A group of clips from Half Blood Prince. Its just easier to say trailer. And it sort of felt like a trailer there were some titles. There was narration. It sort of was, but…

Matt: I would say it is more like a TV spot than a trailer.

Micah: Yeah, we really hit the editing hard in the last show Eric.

Andrew: It did stink though.

Matt: Yeah, it was bad.

Laura: It was bad.

Matt: It wasn’t an official WB release though. If it was, it would be released everywhere. It was only released in Japan. This was just something for extra – it’s a novelty for the Japanese fans.

Nick: I don’t think they expected it to go world wide, did they?

Matt: Not they didn’t. And if they did we would have been able to download it in high quality.

Eric: Jared is talking here about how WB is giving us this crap and disheartening – and he says “we feel disheartened.” I’m thinking, wait a minute this wasn’t even your, it wasn’t even for us.

Matt: It wasn’t even our country.

Eric: We as the US fans grabbed it once we found out it was playing in Japan. But it’s not for us and we shouldn’t take such a burden to be so upset about it. It’s not ours really.

Matt: With all due respect Jared, all of the trailers have been amazing for Harry Potter.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Not one single one…

Micah: Yeah. High standard right?

Matt: …did not inspire me to go see the movie that’s the one thing I get upset with the Harry Potter franchise is that the trailers are so effing amazing.

Laura: And then you see the movie.

Matt: And then you see the movie and you’re like ìWhat?î

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I want to go see the trailer again.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: If anything, the trailer’s are too good.

Micah: How about this though? I would think that we have a listener or two in Japan, why don’t we have somebody send us in a little note what they felt about it. If they saw it on TV or after the fact.

Andrew: Yeah. That’s a good idea.

Micah: So, all our Japanese fans, go crazy.

Andrew: And go ‘Cuse.

Matt: Of course.[laughs]

Andrew: Well that does it for our MuggleMail this week and now we have a great interview, as I said at the beginning of the show, with Goblet of Fire film composer Patrick Doyle. Let’s take it away.

Matt: Yeah!


Doyle at Syracuse


Micah: Okay, so Matt and I are joined by one of England’s most distinguished film composers, Patrick Doyle, who most of you know as the composer of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Mr. Doyle, thank you very much for joining us today.

Patrick Doyle: It’s my pleasure.

Micah: Right off the bat I wanted to ask you, you know, what brought you to Syracuse University in the middle of February? Wasn’t there – could there have been another place that you could go that was a little bit warmer?

Patrick: Well, I have a long association with Syracuse through some very good friends I met – my family met – in London. Jim O’Conner and Julia O’Conner, and they have kids and our kids have all grown up, obviously at different ends of the Atlantic together, but we visit each other, and we’ve seen Niagara Falls with them, and lots surrounding areas. Went to Harriet Tubman’s house. I’m very, very interested in history, especially American history. So I love the city, and it reminds me very much – it’s a port and industrial town. It reminds me very much of Glasgow. I sort of get the vibe of the place. It’s not glamorous, but I love…

[Matt and Micah laugh]

Patrick: …the realness here. I think it’s terrific. And Jim O’Conner has recently – not recently – but for a few years now has a major fundraiser – one of the major fundraisers for the university, so – and we talked to David Rizac here and we all got together and decided it would be nice if – a two-fold thing, if I could come and maybe talk about the work I do to students here at the university, and also there would be an opportunity again to interact with my friends and come to a place I’ve come to really, really love.

Micah: Yeah, I happen to agree with you. I went to Syracuse for five years and glamorous is probably not the word I would use to describe the weather around there, that’s for sure.

Patrick: No, but, you know, it’s really a place about the people, always. You could sit in the middle of – some people could sit in the middle of Malibu beach and be utterly miserable, whereas…

[Micah laughs]

Patrick: …a bunch of friends standing around, that’s on the edge of – I don’t know – a defused factory overlooking a lake, and then having a few beers with a friend…

[Micah laughs.]

Patrick: …that’s the most important thing. So it doesn’t matter where you are, you know, it’s the people, and what the people are doing, and what they’re committed to, and what the ethos is, you know, in the culture and the surrounding – in the surroundings. And the university itself is very impressive, especially the music building. It’s also – it’s one of these wonderful things we don’t have back at home. A sort of self-contained, you know, mini-town sort of university. And, you know, it’s a great honor to be asked to – it’s a great privilege and honor and responsibility to talk to students because, you know, I’m by no means the oracle. I can only…

[Micah laughs]

Patrick: …pass on my experiences at life and hopefully they can gain some experience and some preparation for their own path in life.

Micah: Yeah, absolutely, and you just mentioned Crouse College. It shows up a lot of times on television when different events are going on, but it’s probably one of the most magnificent buildings I’ve ever seen.

Patrick: [laughs] Well, it reminds me, I was just saying that the building that reminds me – the stonework reminds me of the stonework in Glasgow. It looks like a red sandstone, I haven’t asked any, you know, geologist in the area, but the – I mentioned Glasgow again because the building – the music building itself isn’t unlike the high gothic Victorian structures we have. It sort of reminds me of – in a way, it just reminds of the art gallery in Glasgow. It’s got the same huge, enormous, confident, you know, architectural aspirations that, you know, a lot of those Victorian buildings did, you know, before the world crashed, you know, eggs of us were warm, you know, pre-Titanic and everything else. So it’s got that wonderful, you know – incredibly, kind of, grand statute about it. You know, and the old vibe of the place is great to walk on in the quarters and hear a soprano and a string quartet, and a wind group, and an orchestra, and a horn player just did all that. It really brings it all back to days when I was at the – the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in – in my time.


Films Doyle Has Composed


Matt: Well, Patrick, we’re just going to delve into a bit about your profession. You’ve…

Patrick: Mhm?

Matt: …composed films such as Gosford Park, Bridget Jones’s Diary

Patrick: Yep.

Matt:Sense and Sensibility. I mean, you’ve composed a lot of great films, and…

Patrick: Well, I’ve – oh, carry on. Carry on, sorry.

Matt: Oh, sure! No, feel free.

Patrick: Well, I’ve been very, very lucky and I’ve – very lucky that I’d been asked to do some – some very high-profile and – and really, really artistically successful and commercially successful films.

Matt: Mhm.

Patrick: And I’m very, very fortunate that – and you’ll – many of them are a regular, you know, annual events so whatever, and on TV all the time and Carlito’s Way, for example is – each generation comes along, especially amongst the guys.

Matt: Uh-huh.

Patrick: It’s – it’s a classic. It’s become a cult classic. You know, and that’s – I mean, on all the works of Kenneth Branagh, and the works of Regis Wagnier – a very close friend of mine. Another close friend of mine, you know, I’ll be doing a piece for Regis later in the year. He starts working very soon on that – it’s a comedy. And…

Matt: Oh.

Patrick: …and, you know, so I’m very, very fortunate that these are really classy, top-rate filmmakers who all embark on a project, you know, with the best possible stories and I already have got a great commitment. They’re immensely committed, as I am, and I’m very fortunate that – not only having produced quality films, that I’ve been part of it, you know, Alfonso Cuaron is another one, The Little Princess, Great Expectations.

Matt: Mhm.

Patrick: Actually, to my delight, that Kanye West has just taken one of my tracks from Great Expectations, and it’s now part of his new album 808s & Heartbreak, so I’ve now got major cult features in my own house. [ laughs]

[Everyone laughs]

Patrick: I’m “Mr Cool.” My son couldn’t believe it. See, I cannot believe. Both my sons couldn’t believe it, because one of my sons is into techno – he’s a DJ. Did a lot of DJing – he’s really, really good. He’s a huge fan of Dead Mouse, so he’s really, really – he left out of bed, couldn’t believe it. “You’re joking! Kanye West? Oh my god, dad!”

[Matt and Micah laugh]

Patrick: So that’s the wonderful thing about music, you know? You get your chance to shine over and over again so, listen, guys, I have no complaints. I’m very fortunate.

Matt: Well, that’s great.

Patrick: If it all stops tomorrow, I’ve done plenty.

[Micah and Patrick laugh]


The Process of Writing a Score


Matt: When you’re approached to do, like, a score, how – what is your process? How long does it take you to do this – this whole scoring thing?

Patrick: Well, Robert Orben approached me five weeks before he needed the score, and mulled over it. But in real terms, I wrote the picture for Gosford Park in two and half weeks.

Matt: Oh my God.

Patrick: And it was – in fact, it was less than that, it was three days on a piano piece – I spent – no, three days on the piano piece, then nine days. Nine working days on the score.

Matt: Wow.

Patrick: So it’s twelve working days, spread over.

Matt: Did it take you about nine working days for Goblet of Fire? Maybe? Give or take a day?

Patrick: That took us a year’s worth. That was a year’s work on and off. Although the actual bulk of the score probably took about two months. But I’ve spent a year on it, come up with themes and working with the director, so each project’s different. With Ken Brannaugh, I used to come in to the script stage of it early to disscuss ideas. So it varies from film to film.

Matt: Mhm.

Patrick: And I usually visit the set, if I can visit the set during filming. So, some things, I’ve got to take a look at is the script and I – in fact, this is something I’m going to talk to David about – I want to do an experiment – but I’m actually going to write a cue in front of the students, if I can.

Matt: Oh, cool!

Patrick: And come up with a couple of scenarios. ‘Cause you really don’t have to – one shouldn’t need a picture…

Matt: Mhm.

Patrick: …a physical picture to look at. As long as you get the story, you can use your own imagination, which is far more powerful than any movie can project to you. So that’s something that I’m hoping to try and do here, and so anyway, each film varies. Sometimes it’s before the script is sent to me, so it changes.

Matt: Mhm. Now…

Micah: Which…

Matt: Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Micah.

Micah: I was just going to ask with Goblet of Fire in particular, did you read the book to get some ideas or was it all going to visit the set during filming?

Patrick: Oh no, I read the book. I read the book and I also obviously read the script, and had long discussions with the director. I saw all the designs of all the costumes, all of the sets – had visited the sets, and all the models, so I was very, very involved with that film all the way through.

Matt: Mhm. Did – were there any scores that were particularly difficult to come up with, any themes or anything?

Patrick: Well, each score – well, it’s all difficult. Each score is very difficult, but I’ve learned to just lounge a bit and just soak up as much as possible rather than jump in too early. Just soak up the script, soak all the conversations that come with the director, and all the heads of departments if I’ve had the opportunity to talk to them. Not every time. But just let it soak in and just not to panic, just relax, because, you know, the earlier it is you panic you learn through experience that something comes up, something twigs, and, you know, I always sit down – I go into work every day right at the same time. By 8:30 I’m going to work, and I don’t stop until 6 at night, so I go in and make sure I’m inspired before I come home. [laughs]

[Matt and Micah laugh]

Patrick: That’s the job.

Matt: Are there any, like, scores you have to leave out when you’re scoring a film, that you feel bad…

Patrick: Any scores – sorry?

Matt: Any scores that are left out in the process that never make it into the film?

Patrick: That’s only ever happened to me once. But I think every composer, it happens once in their life. I don’t think anyone has ever escaped it. But out of 45 pictures it’s only happened to me once.

Matt: Oh okay.

Patrick: So it’s – I mean that’s – I think that’s pretty remarkable considering that’s, you know, that’s – you’re working and playing with people you’ve never worked with before, it’s a pressurized situation, there’s time factors, the film gets changed a lot, and you’re dealing with lots of people’s opinions. It’s a very much collaborative process so I’m proud I’ve managed to hang on in there.

Matt: Yeah.

[Everyone laughs]


Reactions to His Own Scores


Micah: What feelings go through you when you hear your score with the finished film and you actually go to the theater and sit down and watch?

Patrick: You know, by the time I get to the theater, I’ve had all my thrills. I’ve had my thrills when I’ve first heard my music being played, and getting it right to the picture, the director’s reaction to it, and the jamming process, so by the time the movie comes along, I’ve really moved on. It’s just – I enjoy it, but that wonderful thrill kick has happened earlier. Yes, it’s been enjoyable to sit with an audience and see their reaction to it, but by then I’m slightly removed from it because I’ve had all the thrill, the fun, and everything else writing it, and, you know, experiencing it with these people earlier, so I mean, I still enjoy, obviously, going to the – I’ll tell you what’s interesting. I get a thrill many years later if I happen to walk past a television and up comes a channel, and there’s my movie. I get an extra surge then because I’ve forgotten. I think, “Oh my God, yes, that’s not bad!”

[Matt and Micah laugh]

Matt: “Oh my God, that’s mine.”

Patrick: “That wasn’t bad!” So that can hit me but, I mean, I never – I probably listen to my music maybe to learn some things for a week or so after I’ve written it, but then I never listen to my music again, so I’m always shocked when I hear it years later.

Matt: Mhm. Yeah, that does seem to be a trend with a lot of artists. Once they compose or do a film or something, they move on afterwards.

Patrick: They move on. Yeah, they move on. You have to move on. You listen to it and afterwards you think, I’ll do that again, I would do that differently if I was doing it again or whatever. You learn from each one.


The Fantasy Genre


Matt: Mhm. Patrick, recently a lot of your films have been in the fantasy genre, like with Eragon. Is that, like, your preference genre? Or do you have a certain preference to score?

Patrick: I don’t mind what I score as long as it’s something I particularly enjoy. With regards to fantasy movies, it just so happens that I’ve done fantasy, I’ve done science fiction scores. I suppose Harry Potter, you know, people can see what you can do. I mean, you get a big sort of action-fantasy movie, but I mean, Into the West was a small Indie picture.

Matt: Mhm.

Patrick: It was full of magic and fantasy. A little princess was a fantastic – and her friend…

Matt: Oh yes.

Patrick: And the two saved the world – tale. So, but, no. It just – I think it’s coincidence. I mean, I certainly…

Matt: Is it?

Patrick: I love to read science fiction. I love fantasy stories…

Matt: Mhm.

Patrick: …’cause I love opera. Opera is real fantastic story writing. So, I mean, I adore that. So, it’s something I – it crosses over very easily into film.

Matt: Mhm. So you do read a lot of science fiction/fantasy. Have you read all of the Harry Potter novels or just the one, Goblet of Fire?

Patrick: No, I’ve read two or three of them. I haven’t read them all.

Matt: Oh, okay.

Patrick: But the kids have read them all. The kids have – but, you know, I read – I remember – I used to read Azimov when I was younger, and C.S. Lewis, and new Mervyn Peake trilogy…

Matt: Mhm.

Patrick: And funny enough, Lord of the Rings. I only ever – I read The Hobbit, and I read the first Lord of the Rings, and I thought The Lord of the Rings was a big Hobbit

Matt: Yeah.

Patrick: …after I read The Hobbit, you know.

Matt: That’s what happened to me. I’ve actually read The Hobbit the first time, and then it just seemed like it was just one big novel.

Patrick: Yeah. I just thought The Hobbit summed it up for me. But listen, chaps, I have to go now because I want to make schedule. Is there anything you would really particularly like to ask me before I go?


Getting Involved with Goblet of Fire


Matt: Micah?

Micah: Yeah, just really quickly, how you got involved with Goblet of Fire. We know that you have a close relationship with Mike Newell.

Patrick: Uh-huh.

Micah: Is that how it all came about?

Patrick: I think so, and John Williams is – I believe wasn’t available. He was working on something else. So – and, you know, Mike was – when he asked me he said, “I’m not sure,” he said, “about working with another composer’s theme.” I said, “Well, let’s have a look at it,” because I saw there was a huge opportunity for a composer to make his or her mark because of the introduction of new characters or the emphasis on established characters. And in the end, I think I only used about twenty seconds worth of John’s music and for the very right reasons. It opened and closed the picture, and that’s because, you know, the kind of thing that, you know, I wanted to cut. It was a great honor to follow his footsteps. Apart from everything else, there’s a great tradition in music, especially one in the classical music, of actually using other people’s themes. It’s a very honorable and long tradition.

Matt: Mhm.

Patrick: So, I think to be precious about it is to be silly, and there was no way I could turn it down because my kids would kill me.

Matt: Right. Okay, Patrick, if we could just…

[Everyone laughs]


The Yule Ball Score


Matt: If we could just ask you one more quick question about The Goblet of Fire before we let you go.

Patrick: Sure.

Matt: About the Yule Ball, which is everybody on the show – their favorite theme is the Yule Ball in The Goblet of Fire film.

Patrick: Right.

Matt: Was that your favorite film to compose or…

Patrick: You mean the waltz?

Matt: How do you go about like that?

Patrick: The “Harry Potter Waltz” you mean?

Matt: Yeah, “The Potter Waltz,” “Neville’s Waltz,” the entire Yule Ball – the entire ball scene in the film.

Patrick: Well, the Harry Potter theme I wrote during a meeting with the director, believe it or not – “Harry Potter’s Waltz.”

Matt: Uh-huh.

Patrick: The other one I improvised with the ballet – with Wayne McGregor – I improvised the whole tune, believe it or not, and I said, “I’ll write you something else.” He goes, “No, that’s fine.”

[Everyone laughs]

Patrick: I improvised with the dancers. He goes – I said, “Do you like this?” He goes, “Yeah, we love it.””Okay, well, keep it.”

[Matt and Micah laugh]

Patrick: So that’s a true story. That’s a true story.

Matt: All right. Well, thank you so much, Patrick Doyle.

Patrick: No, it’s my pleasure.

Matt: It was real great talking to you.

Patrick: It’s my real pleasure, okay?

Matt: Okay, well…

Micah: Yeah. Thank you.

Matt: …you have fun hosting a film screening. There are going to be so many people there wanting to ask you so many questions.

Patrick: I’m looking forward to it very much.

Matt: Okay.

Micah: All right. Thank you.

Patrick: Okay. Cheers, guys. Bye!

Matt: Cheers!

Micah: Bye!

Patrick: Bye bye!

Andrew: All right, there you have it. Matt and Micah, great job! As – as – as you guys know it was a very last minute interview. It sort of came out of nowhere but you guys pulled it off.

Micah: Yup.

Andrew: Did great!

Laura: Yeah, great job guys!

Matt: It was very last minute.

Andrew: Yeah, I – I was nervous. Because…

Micah: Why were you nervous?

Andrew: Because Matt had to record and I was afraid he may screw something up.

Micah: Oh, he did a great job.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: He took care of it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I – I am very proud of myself. And honestly…

[Micah laughs]

Matt: …I was scared for myself too. I really thought I was going to mess it up.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Well, thanks again to Syracuse University and David Ressack who is the Head of their Music program up there who was kind enough to orchestrate, no pun intended…

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: …the interview process.

Matt: You went there!

Andrew: You should have done that with…

Laura: You are a funny guy.

Andrew: You should have done that with Patrick.

Micah: I did go there.

Andrew: I don’t know how, but anyway…

Matt: Yeah, well, we were laughing enough during the interview. It was good. It’s all good.

MuggleCast 170 Transcript (continued)


Harry Potter Lexicon on Shelves


Andrew: Moving along, we have some other interesting information to talk about today. Recently, the Harry Potter Lexicon was released on store shelves. What do you know? And as everyone remembers, we did a lengthy episode about the trial, and a lot of people enjoyed it because they thought we were very fair to both sides, and we broke it down how it should be broken down, and just in general, everyone really liked the episode. Now, Eric has a unique angle on this, because he recently picked up the book and also went to a book signing of Steve’s.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: Right?

Eric: Yeah. Steve is on tour at the moment, actually, just visiting several local bookstores and – with the Lexicon. Actually, I went to – it was Steve and also fellow author – there are four people who wrote, in the end, this book version of the Lexicon. John Kearns was also there at the time…

Andrew: Mhm.

Eric: …and this was at the Magic Tree in Oak Park, Illinois, wher
e MuggleNet had their Book 7 and Book 5 release.

Andrew: Mhm.

Matt: Hmm.

Andrew: Now, you saw him and met him, right?

Eric: Yes, yes I did.

Andrew: Yeah. Now, when you saw him, did you start – did this start playing in your head?

[Clip from trial episode plays]

Andrew: [announcer voice echoing] And in this corner, looking not a day over twelve years old, breaking down at the podium, Steve Vander Ark!

[Clip ends]

Andrew: Did that play through your head? Did you have a flashback?

Eric: I’m pretty sure that that is always on a loop playing in my head somewhere ever since you did do that.

Andrew: [laughs] I see.

Matt: That’s because he never stops playing it.

Eric: But…

Andrew: No.

Eric: No, I actually – that did not particularly go through my head, Actually, Roger Rapaport was also there in the bookstore.

Andrew: He’s the owner of RDR Books.

Eric: Yes. He was there as well, which was very interesting. But they actually did a trivia night, a trivia sort of contest. There were…

Andrew: Mm.

Eric: …a few people who showed up. They did trivia. My team won! Yay! Go – what were we, Kristen? What was our team? The flobberworms! Go flobberworms!

Andrew: So Eric, I was in Barnes & Noble last night and I saw the Lexicon, it was there. There was – it was there. It was on sale. And I Twittered it, and I was like, “Hm, this looks interesting,” and – you know, to get some people responding, and – on Twitter – and, a lot of people were surprised that it’s actually out. And, I guess the fansites didn’t really post that it ended up coming out, but it did, and – like a month ago, right?

Eric: Yeah, January 16th I think, Amazon says. So, it would be a month…

Andrew: Obviously, yeah.

Eric: I think the day this airs, or something.

Andrew: Yeah. Now, what about the book itself? I’ve paged through it, but you’ve read the whole thing?

Eric: Yeah, let’s do a little timeline here in keeping with – because a lot of people are confused; a lot of people didn’t know it came out. What happened was, you guys remember the court case, and a few months later the judge came out with a verdict. Well, in that verdict, he actually took the manuscript of what at that time was The Harry Potter Lexicon and went through it, basically page by page, and noted and decided for himself and for the law what was and wasn’t compliant with the Fair Use Doctrine, and what could and couldn’t be – basically used. And so, what happened was he returned that manuscript to RDR and Steve Vander Ark took it and basically spent the next few months basically taking the Lexicon and cutting and adding everything that was requested of him from the judge. And so what this is, actually, the book that is on the shelves is an approved, legal version of The Harry Potter Lexicon, believe it or not. They took – he added a lot more commentary. Steve said he basically rewrote the entire thing. They added lots of commentary and took out – for instance, I know they took out things from the Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, because a lot of that – Steve explained it pretty well. With the – taking it out of the books you can paraphrase, but if you take something out from what is already in encyclopedia format and put it in encyclopedia format, it’s kind of – that’s a direct copy. It’s a lot – that’s where you get into the really illegal stuff, because you are not able to produce anything new as you would by sort of translating. So, all that’s gone, and they cut a lot of other stuff, and basically just reworked the book. And now, so – what happened was, J.K.R. issued a press release from – I believe it was through her publisher – and they said, you know…

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: …”We are aware that this new book is going on, we appreciate the effort that – and that everything was resolved with the court case.” So basically, the book is now out, and it’s selling, and Steve is going on these – meeting in several book stores. I know he has been in Michigan and Chicago so far; I don’t know where he’s going. But they are holding trivia, and all the trivia is from this book, and basically doing some signings and stuff, which is really interesting, really just gathering on a small scale – just the knowledge. And everywhere he goes, he’s telling people, “Yes, this is legal.” It’s the first thing he explains.

Andrew: Nice. Now, I looked through it. So it’s sort of laid out like – each page has two columns, and then – it’s basically still an encyclopedia…

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: And each thing’s got a couple of sentences, explanation of each term or name of person and such and such.

Eric: Yeah, yeah. It’s in alphabetical order.

Andrew: And it’s pretty lengthy, too. What is it, like 380 pages or something like that.

Eric: Yeah, yeah. It’s a doozy. It’s a doozy. It’s really – but, I mean, when you think about it, this is – I mean, Steve’s been working on it for what, ten years now? But it’s a complete compendium of all the terms and creative usages – of J.K. Rowling in the Harry – that appear in the Harry Potter series and all extremities of that.

Andrew: Right. Well, it certainly seems like a good thing – a good way for you to – if you need to – and I was reading reviews on Amazon too, people have been reviewing it favorably. If you do need a quick reference, you can sort of just pick it up and – index – go to “B” and find information about Bertie Botts or whatever you need.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: So that’s…

Micah: Whats’ the – Eric, whats the upside to doing that as opposed to doing it online?

Eric: That’s interesting. It’s a good question. Personally, the setbacks are: there’s no search feature. So, for instance, I was reading…

Micah: [laughs] Well, obviously.

Eric: …something the other day and I needed to figure out where I had read that in the book, so I went online to find it. But the – honestly, Micah, I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t use the website. The Harry Potter Lexicon website, I have used maybe five times, when I need to search for stuff. It’s true. I know a lot of people use it plenty more times than me, but now that I have this book, and this book – like I said, it just made me feel so in awe of J.K. Rowling’s works because of all of the different entries that Steve and the other three authors have just compounded and figured out all the stuff they can about them. Having the book is an experience all to itself, that I don’t think viewing online can give anyone. Plus, you know, websites go down, and…

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Oh my god…

Andrew: “In case the Lexicon ever goes down, you have this book!”

Matt: You have their version…

Eric: I mean – I mean in…

Andrew: By the way, Eric is getting paid – Eric is getting paid…

Eric: Actually…

Andrew: …five hundred dollars for positively talking about this.

[Micah laughs]

Eric: I wish I were, but I’m…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: …happy to say that I’m doing this by my own will. I mean, honestly, I love this book. It’s really good. I’m glad that it came out, that it’s legal most of all…

Matt: What kind of person would use a companion book? I mean, other than a person who has like a Harry Potter website…

Andrew: Well…

Matt: …that needs a quick reference.

Andrew: I think people would use companion books.

Matt: For, like, reports and things?

Eric: What are you talking about? Most of the fans in the world have companion books that they buy.

Matt: Well most the fans of Harry Potter have read the series a billion times!

Andrew: But you still need…

Eric: But they still haven’t read this.

Andrew: Yeah, Matt, you’re just arguing for arguing’s sake.

Eric: Yeah…

Andrew: You need to check a quick fact, for example: if I had the Lexicon book, I would definitely use it if we were recording MuggleCast, and I needed to check up on a fact of something we were talking about. Definitely.

Eric: But this book also – I mean, this book lays down what is not only canon, but properties of spells and how that stuff works. You don’t get that without having to find it in the story otherwise. And…

Micah: Right. What does it offer that’s different from the website? Anything?

Eric: A hands on sort of thing.

Micah: Well, I mean…

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: …is there any content in there that you can’t find on the website?

Eric: Yeah. Yeah, there is. The comment – the comments most importantly, because a lot of the stuff that can be done online can’t be done in book, and vice versa, so there is a lot of commentary going on…

Micah: Okay.

Eric: …a lot of explanations that don’t appear on the site that I’ve noticed.

Andrew: So what’s everyone think about this now, in hindsight of the court case. You know, it’s been a long time coming. It was almost about a – we’re almost coming up to the year anniversary of when that court trial was. It’s kind of…

Micah: Right.

Andrew: I guess everyone’s sort of over it, I think, at this point. [laughs]

Eric: Yeah. This was a big deal. This split across the fandom. I mean, for a solid block of time, you couldn’t walk down Fifth Avenue in New York City in Harry Potter robes without getting mugged. I mean, it was pretty freaking dangerous out.

Andrew: I must say, I had to go in about four bookstores before I actually found a copy, and not because their stores aren’t selling them – I mean, I was going into Borders and Barnes & Noble stores – but because they were actually sold out. Because I would go – we would ask people. And honestly, I hate asking for Harry Potter books. I guess I’m insecure…

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: …so I had Matt do it…

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: …and then they’re like, “Oh yeah, well we had one copy left, but it sold out” or whatever. But yeah, so I think it’s – it sort of looks like it’s been selling well. I mean, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be breaking any records, but, you know, whatever.

Micah: That was the question I had for Eric, though. Was – do you think that the negative press that it received from the trial is going to have an impact on its sales overall?

Andrew: I don’t think so.

Eric: This is – I don’t – I think it’s going to be interesting, but it’s made clear – I think even on the spine of the book or in the forward – exactly what has happened post court case, and the book was completely revamped after the court case, so this is sort of a – it distances itself from that publication that was contested in court.

Andrew: I’m reading an article, it said it had 30,000 pre-orders, too. So that’s not bad, before it came out.

Micah: Well, I mean, it could have the opposite effect to, bad press doesn’t always lead to lower sales.

Andrew: Oh, any press is good press.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: When I write a book, I’m going to cause controversy first, to make sure everyone knows about it.

Eric: Actually, and looking back to something that Steve looks at, he said before this court case – and I know what we did on MuggleCast, which was an excellent episode of MuggleCast, where we took the Fair Use Doctrine, and disassembled, and broke it down, just like they were doing in court, to try and figure out how we felt about it. What Steve said is basically this court case, although it was very emotional for himself and for everyone in the fandom, it can now be used as a reference point for Fair Use Doctrine and copyright law. This was something that had not happened before, and in that respect, now if someone else wants to do a compendium, they know exactly where the line is driven. Because we were seeing how it was kind of vague, the Fair Use Doctrine. And this court case, if anything, has now eliminated that vagueness. That was, I think, a positive that Steve was looking at when I asked him.

Andrew: All right. Well, thank you Eric for that report, and your check is in the mail.

Eric: [laughs] Honestly guys, it’s a good book. I mean, I can’t imagine how much time it must have take to compile all of this. It’s just unbelievable. And for JKR to write it, and – this takes genius to even assemble something like this, something as massive as J.K. Rowling’s world, for him to be able to keep it all in order and provide this is – and for the other authors, too – this is – I love it. I’m very happy that I bought the book, and…

Matt: I kind of want to…

Eric: I think on the website – to answer – sorry, Matt…

Matt: I was just saying, I kind of want to see what J.K. Rowling’s encyclopedia’s going to look like compared to this.

Eric: I don’t think it’ll be the same as the thing, and I never did!

Andrew: I think Steve will take her to court for infringing on his book. That’d be a cool twist.

[Matt laughs]


Favorites


Andrew: Let’s move on now to Favorites this week. It’s Valentine’s Day edition, because…

Matt: [sings] “Love is in the air.”

Andrew: …because this week is Valentine’s day – week. We’re going to play “person you’d like to date in the – favorite person you’d like to date in the Potter series, and why.” Now, you know, if you had to date somebody in the Harry Potter series, who would it be? Because, if you were at Hogwarts, who would you be going after? And I want to start with Micah, because…

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: I feel like he…

[Eric and Matt laugh]

Micah: Because why?

Andrew: Well, because you love the books, and you are very vocal about your love for characters on the show sometimes.

Micah: Yeah. Let’s see. I would – hmm. I like – well, later on in the series, there’s an interesting thing about Lavender Brown.

[Piano music plays]

Micah: She’s kind of interesting. The way – she’s a little promiscuous. Not that’s a good quality to look for.

Matt: The way she looks at you, and the way she says “hi” when she’s walking down the hall.

Micah: That’s pretty good.

Andrew: Sorry, who did you say? I got lost in your voice.

Micah: Who, Matt’s voice?

Andrew: No, yours.

Micah: Oh, my voice.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Baby, I’d be so good to you.

Andrew: Who’d you say? No, Matt. Stop.

Matt: Okay.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Who’d you say, Micah?

Micah: I said Lavender Brown.

Andrew: Oh, of course.

Micah: Later on in the series.

Andrew: Do you find her attractive?

Micah: I find Jessie Cave attractive.

Andrew: Okay.

Eric: Micah’s into crazy people.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Why? Why’s she crazy? You mean the actress, or the character?

Eric: She calls him “Won-Won.” No, the character in the book.

Micah: Oh, okay.

Eric: She calls him “Won-Won,” for crying out loud. What would she call you? “Wicah-Wicah”?

Matt: “Mi-Mi.”

[Everyone laughs]

Matt: “Tanny-Tanny.”

Andrew: Okay. Well, thank you, Micah. That’s…

Eric: Do you really want that, Micah? Do you really want that?

Micah: Well…

Matt: I think he wants it. He wants it bad.

Eric: Snogging in corridors?

Micah: Hey, whatever works.

Eric: That’s true.

Micah: I mean, who else is there? The easy one out is Fleur, but..

Eric: Oh, jeez.

Micah: …but she only comes around every couple of years.

Matt: Or not at all.

Andrew: Yeah. Nick, how about you?

Nick: This is really tricky, and it took me ages. Honestly, I’d probably end up with a Hermione type, just because she’s sensible and brave and determined.

Andrew: Ooh. Does this have anything to do with Emma Watson?

Nick: Maybe. It helps, but – no, I think even if Emma Watson wasn’t playing her, they’re the qualities I would go for. Not just the looks. You know who’d be really great, though? Luna, because if you ever forgot her birthday you could pretend you got her a present and it was stolen by Nargles.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Everyone laughs]

Eric: He’s thinking ahead. He’s thinking to wooing and stuff.

Matt: He goes for the whole picture.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: Somebody on Twitter chose Luna too. We’ll get to that in a minute. Eric, how about you?

Eric: I would have to say Tonks, actually. I would choose Tonks to date.

Andrew: She is quite sexy.

Eric: She’s sexy, she’s got the pink hair, and she’s also really low maintenance. She would never ask you, “Do these pants make my butt look big?” because she could just change that.

Andrew: Ah, yes.

Micah: She could change a lot of things.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: She could change a lot of things. So that’d be pretty cool.

Andrew: Well, she would probably good then for a abusive husband who may not – who may be very, what’s the word I’m looking for? Just very needy, or wants his wife or love interest to be perfect physically.

Eric: Are you calling me an abusive husband?

Andrew: No, I’m saying Tonks could appeal – Tonks could be…

Matt: Yes, that’s exactly what he’s saying.

Eric: And she could also be quite the dominatrix.

Andrew: Yes.

Matt: Whoa.

Micah: Wow. This is turning into quite the segment. While we’re at it, Rita Skeeter. I figured I should throw her out there. At least in the movies.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Eric: Alone in the closet with her and her quill…

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Eric: I’d just get nightmares.

Micah: I don’t know about it going that far.

Eric: I think I’d get nightmares, Micah. I’m not seeing in it. I’m not seeing the Skeeter. Skeeterbug.

Matt: This is getting awkward, guys.

Andrew: Matt, how about you?

Matt: If I had to pick, it would probably be…

Micah: McGonagall?

Matt: You know what? Maybe she’s got few rings on her mouth, but…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!

Matt: I would say…

Andrew: Meaning she’s old.

Matt: Yeah, meaning she’s old because you know, the tree, count the rings.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Um…

Eric: [coughs] I’m coughing up hairballs.

Matt: …I would choose Katie Bell.

Eric: Why?

Andrew: Oh, that’s so nice.

Matt: Yeah, that’s why I’d choose her, because she’s so nice and sweet. And she plays Quidditch, so you know she’s fit.

Andrew: Mhm.

Matt: And I mean, she had that little mishap in Half-Blood Prince, but she seems to be very nice in the films, and that’s what I really like the most, people who are sweet and nice and very loyal to their friends.

Andrew: Yeah, I mean, personally I like the Tonks choice, that was a good idea, Eric. I think either her or – I don’t know, there’s just something about Umbridge that…

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: …the commanding, always being…

Micah: Now that’s a dominatrix.

Andrew: …being in control…

Matt: Total dominatrix.

Andrew: You know, just always being in control. I really like that.

Micah: Oh, yeah. She would be in control.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: I just really like…

Eric: Actually, there’s something in the Lexicon…

Matt: Where’s Laura? We need a – we need some estrogen in here.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Yeah, we do.

[Micah laughs]

Eric: Now, guys, there’s something in the Lexicon about centaurs, and centaurs in Greek mythology, they mate with human women. And so the Harry Potter when – at the end of book five, when Dolores gets carried off in the forest.

[Andrew, Eric, and Matt laugh]

Eric: That’s a bit ambiguous.

Matt: Nice.

Eric: I never knew that before, so that was a nice tie-in. That was nice.

Eric: Where’s Laura?

Andrew: Oh, yeah, we lost Laura. Her Internet died. Um, so…

Micah: Oh.

Andrew: Yeah. All right, now let’s hear what some Twitter people said. Our Twitter question of the week: Who would you want to date in one of the Harry Potter books? And the first one from The Ry Guy, he says, “Hermione, because my last girlfriend cheated on me with a dude named Ron. This would be my revenge.” [laughs]

Eric: Wow.

Andrew: I like that, that’s good.

Matt: Oh, yeah, revenge on Valentine’s Day, that’s awesome.

Andrew: Chris V says, “Luna Lovegood. She never worries about anything, and that’s really special nowadays.” So true.

Matt: That’s so true.

Andrew: Tricia Chocsky says, “Neville. He’s smart, caring, funny, and turns out to be confident and a brave leader. His quiet dignity sets him apart, as well.” That’s nice. Princess Fox says, “I think young Tom Riddle would have been interesting to date. Could he ever have been able to connect with a person like that?”

Eric: Oh, I don’t want to find out.

Andrew: I don’t think so.

Eric: She likes dangerous guys.

Matt: It didn’t end really good with him.

Andrew: Yeah, could you imagine Tom Riddle with a girl? That’d be so weird.

Matt: Well, I mean, he did have women, I mean…

Andrew: Mattyza says, “Hm, I’d probably say Hermione. Brains and beauty is always a great combination.” I agree. That’s why I would pick Hermione.

Eric: [laughs] The next one…

Andrew: No, really. Oh, Camie1975 says, “Is it bad if I say Cedric Diggory because he’s Edward? Just saying.”

Eric: Yes.

Andrew and Matt: Oh.

Matt: Oh my Edward.

Andrew: A little Twilight reference there.

Eric: Yes.

Andrew: Alyssa Cullen says, “I would date Sirius Black. I love his attitude and the way he carries himself with confidence.” I know Elysa would sure – for sure would date either Sirius or Remus. She’s big fans of both.

[Matt laughs]

Eric: Yeah. Only together. Double or nothing…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: …with Elysa.

Andrew: KristinTHS says, “Hagrid, of course. He’s lovable, compassionate, and oh-so-handsome. I love the coat and beard lol.”

Eric: Ew. She’d get…

Andrew: I would date Hagrid.

Eric: …tangled up in his beard and fur and…

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: [In a girly voice] I love your beard, Hagrid. [Imitating Hagrid] Thank you.

Matt: Hagrid’s an emotional mess, though. If you ever had any skeletons in your closet or anything and you told him, he would tell everybody.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: Or if you broke up with him. He’d be so upset.

Eric: Yeah, and then he’d like drink tubs and tubs of brandy…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: …and then only get drunker and wander into the forest.

Matt: And die. Is that what you’re going for?

Eric: No, no, he wouldn’t die, that’s the thing.

Matt: You’re so negative, Eric!

Eric: He’d just wake up the next day feeling even sorrier for himself, and then…[sighs] I would not date Hagrid.

Andrew: [laughs] Twisted Logic X says, “Roger Davies, because he’s a stud muffin.” Who is Roger Davies? I don’t even know. I can’t remember.

Eric: He’s the Quidditch – oh let me look it up in my Lexicon! Hold on.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Davies, Davies, Davies.

Matt: Why don’t we look it up on the Internet?

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Eric: Davies, Davies, Davies. Let’s see who gets there faster. Davies, Roger. “A popular, athletic Ravenclaw student. A year or two older than Harry.” References, Goblet of Fire, number two, number three. There we go.

Andrew: MrsCullen2916, “I would date Ron because he’s super hilarious and I like that in a guy. I’m goofy so I like guys that are goofy, too.”

Matt: Where are you getting these?

Andrew: Well hey, MrsCullen, I’m goofy. I’m reading them off Twitter.

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: So maybe I’ll do a couple others.

Eric: Roger Davies is also a chaser and a captain.

Andrew: One other person said…

Matt: Let it go, Eric.

Andrew: One other person said – I lost it – one other person – Lyric of the Day said, “Arthur Weasley, because he has a car.”

[Eric laughs]

Nick: That can fly! That’s always a good reason.

Matt: That car is fly.

Andrew: And lastly, Berdacia says, “Remus Lupin, because the only thing sexier than werewolves is reading.” I think there might be a little throw to Alex Carpenter there, too, from The Remus Lupins, perhaps. So there you go, there’s some Valentine’s Day love.

Matt: Aw!

Andrew: Is anyone going on some hot Valentine’s Day dates tomorrow?

Matt: No.

Andrew: Nah. Nick?

Nick: I shared all my loving out this episode, with you guys.

Andrew: We can find you one on the show. Can we find you a girlfriend on the show?

Nick: That would be fantastic.

Eric: No, because this show airs Sunday.

Andrew: That would be huge ratings. No, well I just mean for whatever. [laughs]

Matt: You know, really, what I was always looking forward to on Valentine’s Day was the day after, when everyone had the sale on the candy.

Andrew: Oh yeah, that’s true. What a nerdy thing to say.

Matt: Oh whatever!

Andrew: I can’t wait for it to end, so I can get the sale on chocolate.

Matt: That’s not a nerd, that’s a person who likes to eat chocolate.

Eric: Actually, how can chocolate even last that long in Los Angeles with it being all like ninety degrees there and stuff?

Andrew: It’s kinda cold right now.

Matt: It’s cold, it’s rainy right now. It’s like, wet.

Eric: In February.


This Week in MuggleCast History


Andrew: Anyway, moving along, This Week in MuggleCast History – we haven’t done this segment in a while, and I found one that – what I think is one of our best intros, and it has nothing to do with Harry Potter. This was Episode 77, it was February 17, 2007, so it was two years ago now, and we’re talking about the weather. So take a listen to this.

Andrew: I thought we would start off the show this week by talking about the weather. Because we don’t talk about…

Ben: The weather?

Andrew: Yeah, the weather.

Ben: All right.

Andrew: Ben, what’s the weather like in Kansas?

Ben: It’s cold. I was talking to Mikey last night and it was nine degrees here.

Andrew: Wow.

Ben: Yep. Nine.

Andrew: Mikey, what’s the weather like – where do you live, first of all?

Mikey: I live in Fullerton, California. Currently, I’m looking at my widget right now; it says it’s 73 degrees. So, it’s uh…

Andrew: Wow.

Mikey: Kind of warm.

Andrew: Yeah, come to think of it, we’re all over the world here. Eric, what’s the temperature like in New Zealand?

Eric: Well, it just happens right now to be a very chilly 66 degrees Fahrenheit.

Andrew: Hm, darn.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: Kevin, how’s the weather up in Connecticut?

Kevin: It’s cold.

Andrew: Cold?

Kevin: Feels like negative one degree.

Andrew: Kevin, you sound like you have a cold.

Kevin: I…

Andrew: Do you have a cold?

Kevin: I do have a cold, quite a bad cold.

Andrew: Aw, Kevin under the weather. Kevin’s got a blue screen of death.

Kevin: Yeah.

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: [laughing] For Vista.

Andrew: Well, I got…

Mikey: It does that arrow effect with the blue screen, you know.

[Eric and Kevin laugh]

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: It says, “You fail, you fail! You lose! Restart!”

Andrew: Hee hee, yay, Vista! Well, I got news for everyone. It is about to heat up in here.

[Mikey laughs]

Eric: Whoa ho, ho, ho.

Andrew: Look out, here it comes…

[Ben laughs]

Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.

Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.

Andrew: So…

Micah: Had a little difference in voice there.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Your voice was darker then.

Andrew: It may have been…

Matt: Darker. [laughs]

Andrew: Deeper. I think it was the compression, how the show was compressed.

Matt: Yeah.


Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul


Andrew: And lastly today, to wrap up the show, another segment we haven’t done in a while: Chicken Soup. This is Tough Economy Edition. As everyone knows, America’s not doing well…

Micah: Did I write that?

Andrew: Huh? Is this yours?

Micah: Did I write that?

Andrew: No. [laughs] Micah, do you want to say what you did today, or no?

Micah: Yeah, I was actually over at the unemployment office. You’re forced to make at least one appearance for, like, an unemployment workshop when you file for unemployment, at least in New York State. So that’s what I was doing today. It was a lot of fun.

Andrew: I’m sure you were proud to be there.

Micah: Oh yeah, it was great. It was amazing. It was a complete waste of time.

Andrew: Anyway, well maybe…

Micah: Want to see your government dollars at work? Go to a place like that.

Andrew: Maybe this caller can help you out ’cause he’s telling us how MuggleCast has helped him deal with the tough economy.

Matt: Okay, let’s hear this.

Andrew: You may not understand why he’s in the tough economy situation at first, but I’ll explain afterwards.

Joel: Hey MuggleCasters. This is Joel, 22, from Michigan and I’m just calling in with a Chicken Soup. I sent you one in an email a while ago and you read it on the air, so I just wanted to share another one. Recently at work, it’s been very, very hectic. I work at a Subway, and I’m one of the closers, and we have to be done within half an hour after being closed, and lately it’s just been next to impossible. We have a new boss and she’s just asking for the impossible, but it’s been really great because after I’ve closed I put on MuggleCast and I listen to stuff and the time seems to fly by. I actually don’t think I’m able to finish in half an hour if it wasn’t for you guys, so thank you so much for everything that you guys have done. Keep up the great work.

Andrew: So there you go. He’s being rushed to close the store early so they don’t have to pay him more than they absolutely have to.

Matt: Right. I understand that.

Andrew: So there you go. Tough economy edition.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah: Yep.

Andrew: And, you know, always good to hear how the show’s helping out everyone else.


Smartmouths


Micah: Well, Andrew, speaking of the economy, we have a new show that we’ve been working on – we’ve done a pilot episode for it. And it’s not all to do with the economy, but the economy is an important topic these days, and we’re doing a show that relates to a lot of different topics. And we’re really not holding ourselves back at all, are we?

Andrew: Yeah, we’re really excited about this new podcast. Yes, we are doing a new podcast, Smartmouthspodcast.com. This is a podcast between me, Micah, Matt, Laura, Elysa, Kevin – Kevin Stoeck is back, Penny – she’s been on a couple episodes of MuggleCast, and her husband, Greg who hosts HP Prognostications with her.

Matt: Basically, it’s a show where we talk about whatever we want.

Andrew: Yeah, we sent out a podcast pilot a couple days ago, and people have really been enjoying it, if you saw the link on Facebook. If not, go to Smartmouthspodcast.com and you can see the iTunes link to go subscribe and check it out. We’re doing the show weekly and it’s a lot of fun.

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: It does have explicit content on the podcast as well.

Andrew: Yes, which makes it extra exciting. But if you’re little, don’t listen.

[Micah laughs]

Matt: It’s not for the little kiddies.


Show Close


Andrew: [laughs] Right. So that’s about it. That’s all we’ve got for the show this week. I do want to do a quick plug just for Mugglenet in general. Nick, Micah, and I in particular, and Eric’s played a role in this, too. We’ve been revamping the site inside and out. Many sections that haven’t been updated in a while are now being updated at a more regular rate. And we’re just making it our goal to get Mugglenet back moving again, because some of the content has not been updated like it should be. So, I highly recommend keeping an eye out on that updates box on Mugglenet.com – it’s on the right side. You’ll see what’s been going on around the site, and a lot has been going on. We’ve had two new recipes added to the Rosemerta’s Recipes section…

Micah: Oh! Now there’s somebody…

Andrew: What?

Micah: There’s somebody you could throw out for going on a date with – Madam Rosemerta.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: I think Ron’s already been there, done that.

Nick: Ron fancies her.

Micah: Well, sloppy seconds. What are you going to do?

[Show music begins – the music is played at such a high volume as to drown out what Andrew is saying in the show outro]


Bloopers


Eric: Whoa, that was flawless.

Laura: Ooh! [laughs]

[Everyone laughs]

Eric: That was wonderful. Andrew’s getting a little excited there.

Andrew: That made me happy. Uh, okay.

Eric: Are you good?

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Okay.

Transcript #169

MuggleCast 169 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins playing]

Mason: Listen up, MuggleCast listeners! 2009 is finally here, and now GoDaddy hosting plans are more powerful than ever! Best of all, plans start at just $3.95 a month, and no matter what plan you choose, your site receives 24/7 maintenance and protection in the GoDaddy.com world class data center. Plus, as a listener of MuggleCast, enter code Ron – that’s R-O-N – when you check out, and get your dot com domain name for just $6.95 a year. Some restrictions always apply, but check that site out for the details. Get your piece of the Internet at GoDaddy.com.

[“Innuendo” by Queen begins to play]

Andrew: Because we have yet another Half-Blood Prince trailer, this is MuggleCast Episode 169 for January 23rd, 2009.

[Music continues]

[Show music begins playing]

Andrew: And good morning! I couldn’t hear myself, sorry. [clears throat] MuggleCast Live. It’s a new day. We have a new trailer, and we have a wonderful panel here today. First up, Ben Schoen’s back. Hey, Ben.

Ben: How are you?

Andrew: I’m good, Ben. How are you?

Ben: I’m great.

Andrew: Good.

Ben: You know, doing school and all that.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: It’s going well.

Andrew: Mhm. Thanks for joining us. Laura’s also here. Hi, Laura.

Laura: Hey!

Andrew: Love you.

Laura: It’s good to be here again.

Andrew: Yeah. Sorry, is there something wrong with doing two live shows in a week!?

Laura: No, no, nothing at all. It’s fantastic.

Andrew: Excellent, excellent.

Laura: You know I live for this kind of thing.

Ben: I think we should do a live show every week.

Andrew: [laughs] I’d do one every day.

Laura: Will you actually be here?

Andrew: Ooh.

Ben: Huh? If we did a live show every week I’d be here.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah right.

Ben: Live shows are so much fun.

Andrew: They are, they are.

Ben: They are.

Andrew: Also, Micah’s here.

Ben: They’re better than doing a regular show.

Andrew: I think so. Hey Micah.

Micah: Hey. What’s up?

Andrew: Nothing. You?

Micah: Not too much.

Andrew: And also, Nick’s here. Hey Nick.

[Laura laughs]

Nick: Hey Andrew. Thanks for having me back on.

Andrew: Hey, no problem. Like I said, the fans love to hear the wonderful English voice of Nick. So there you go.

Ben: Hey, don’t cheapen Nick down to just his English voice.

Andrew: [laughs] I’m not!

Ben: He has much more to contribute than just that, Andrew.

Andrew: He does. He absolutely does. I’m just saying the fans love Nick partially because he’s English. Isn’t that right, Nick?

Nick: Mainly because I’m English, yeah. [laughs]


Announcement: MuggleSpace Close to 10,000 Members


Andrew: [laughs] Okay. So actually, we have a very exciting announcement to kick off the show. And I only spoke to Ben about this, so I hope you all are very excited. We’re actually very close 10,000 members on MuggleSpace. We actually have 9,934 members, so I thought it would be exciting if maybe the people in the live stream right now could possibly help us break the 10,000 mark, and then we’ll have a celebration. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Laura: Oh, that’s pretty cool.

Ben: Yeah, and that includes me. I haven’t even signed up for MuggleSpace yet.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: I’m going to go sign up right now pushing us towards the 10,000. So, everybody join me right now on MuggleSpace.com. Let’s all sign…

Micah: Ben, what are you talking about? Your picture’s on so many different people’s profiles.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: Your picture is everywhere.

Micah: I thought you joined like a thousand times. Yeah.

Ben: I’m actually going to be – I’m making a profile and all that.

Micah: Oh, okay. Did you know your picture was being used as the default?

Ben: I did know that actually, yes. I have been to MuggleSpace, I just didn’t create an account.

Andrew: There was actually – it was actually Mason’s idea to set the picture of you as the default picture.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: Why exactly was that the idea? I’m just curious.

Andrew: Because it’s funny. Because it’s you.

Ben: Oh, thank you.


New HBP Trailer Released in Japan


Andrew: [laughs] It’s nothing personal. Anyway, we’re here, we’re live. Why are we here? A new trailer came out for Half-Blood Prince in Japan, actually. It wasn’t even a U.S. trailer. But it’s actually a surprisingly good trailer, if I do say so myself. Would everyone else agree?

Nick: Yeah.

Andrew: Don’t all speak at once! Laura? Hesitation?

Laura: Well, okay, it was cool to see some of the new scenes, and I kind of see that we have some comments on this later in the show. It was kind of poorly put together, I thought.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, let’s be honest. This isn’t – it didn’t even feel like a trailer. You know what I mean? It was kind of…

Laura: No, it felt like a T.V. ad.

Andrew: Yeah, and this Japanese television, I’ll tell you, you watch this video and there’s all this crap running at the same time as the trailer. It’s like, how distracting! But I guess that’s typical Japanese television. There’s all this stuff and these credits…

Micah: It looked like it was running after a movie.

Andrew: Yeah. Exactly.

Micah: If you looked at the bottom right hand corner of the video, there was a little box that had a scrolling list of credits. So it was almost like it was a T.V. show, or a movie, or something like that.

Andrew: Exactly. Yeah, so it was a bit strange. Not to mention that it took a while for this trailer to come out. It had aired on Japanese television, what, three or four days ago now? And just now, finally, somebody decided to put it on YouTube. Well, let’s go around the panel. Hey, Nick, how about your thoughts? What did you think about this trailer? What are we going to call it? A T.V. trailer?

Nick: Yeah, it was more of a T.V. trailer than anything, wasn’t it? Yeah, I loved seeing the new scenes. Like Laura said, it was poorly put together, but that didn’t bother me too much. It was just good to see something new.


Michael Gambon as Dumbledore


Andrew: Yeah. And what really stood out for me with this trailer was the acting. Particularly Dumbledore. He continues to please me in these trailers, and I don’t know about everyone else, but do you remember what he said in this trailer? The comment about traveling via – what were they doing? They were Apparating.

Laura: Oh yeah, he was like, “That was fun.”

Ben: Most people throw up the first time?

Andrew: Yeah, hold on, let me play the clip really quick. Boom. Boom.

[Trailer clip plays]

Andrew: [laughs] It was pretty funny!

Laura: That was pretty good.

Andrew: There’s a certain tone in Dumbledore’s voice, I think, tat – he’s different, isn’t he? We’ve seen four trailers now. Am I the only one who thinks he’s really going to be different in Half-Blood Prince?

Ben: No, he’s not.

Laura: Well, something you need to consider, though – I really don’t think in terms of acting, I don’t think he’s going to be different. But I think Dumbledore as a character was different in Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: Mhm. He was weaker.

Laura: Yes, he was weaker, and he was sharing more information with Harry. He was more frank with him.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I know that reading the books, I saw a change of him as a character, so I’m not really sure it’s due to Michael Gambon finally reading the books or something. I think it’s just the way Dumbledore’s character sort of evolved as the books wore on.

Andrew: Ben? Did you have something to say about it? I thought you were…

Ben: Oh, about the trailer in general?

Andrew: Well, about Dumbledore.

Ben: About Dumbledore.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: I mean, I don’t really think you can tell if Gambon has developed or changed much just by looking at a few trailer clips, but I hope that he portrays Dumbledore in a better way than he has in the past. But it’s gotten to the point where after a while, he’s been Dumbledore for so long that when I read the books, I think of Dumbledore – I just get it all mixed up anyways, so…

Andrew: Mhm.

Ben: …to me, in a way, he’s become Dumbledore, he’s made Dumbledore his own character.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. There’s just this extra – different tone in his voice that I’m really, really enjoying. Nick, Micah, any thoughts about this?

Nick: Yeah, I’m really impressed with him in the trailer. From what I’ve seen, I think you’re right, there is a bit of a change. I think the Dumbledore in the book itself changes into – Gambon’s more serious, too, I agree what Laura said earlier.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Micah: Well, I think the first trailer that we looked over – Ben and I actually discussed the fact that Gambon was changing. And Ben said something along the lines of, “How can you really say that if you’ve only seen 30 seconds of him on the screen?” And he’s right about that. But I think as more and more trailers have now surfaced related to Half-Blood Prince, he does seem different. He seems like he’s much more into the role, and he seems more along the lines of the Dumbledore that I expected.

Andrew: Do you think it’s sort of like, “I’ve got one last chance to do this.” Like really, you know, “It’s my final shot,” so he’s really giving it his all? Or no?

Ben: I would say that not so much that, but more of the fact that he’s had several movies now to get into the role, and…

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: …he’s developed more as Dumbledore. And now maybe he’s got enough hate mail, enough flaming crap left on his doorstep…

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: …that he’s ready to be the Dumbledore we want to see.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: And we’re absolutely positive this has nothing to do with the revelation that Dumbledore is gay?

Ben: So you’re thinking that he’s being more of like – being a softer character?

Andrew: Well, sort of.

[Ben laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, because I mean, we – you know, right before the start of the film, we heard – of the start of them filming – there was that one thing from Dan Radcliffe saying, “Oh, yeah, he’s camping it up a bit.” And everyone was like, “Oh, he’s just joking, he’s not going to do that on film.” But I think he acts a little different, and I don’t know if it’s because of that, but something’s changing him. [laughs]

Micah: I don’t know. I agree with Ben, though, to the extent that we’re going to have to see the movie in full to know if he’s really changed…

Andrew: I guess so, but all these…

Micah: …compared to previous films.


Emma Watson Has Improved


Andrew: I guess. All these clips really have me. And then there’s this – Hermione, personally, I think she’s really advanced. And I know it’s just another one clip, but listen to this, listen to this clip.

[Trailer clip plays]

Andrew: Now, if that was in Sorcerer’s Stone

Laura: Oh my God.

Andrew: …she would be going, [in a whiney voice] “Do you honestly suspect that…” whatever she said. She’s changed as an actor, too. I think she sounds really serious in this role and she’s not that annoying girl that is in Sorcerer’s Stone. [laughs]

Ben: Well, they…

Laura: Yeah.

Ben: …they’ve grown up. They’ve grown up. They’ve matured as people and as actors, and it just really shows…

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: …because, like you said, there’s no – it’s not the same, and you don’t get annoyed by how bad their acting is, so…

Andrew: Right. Yeah.

Ben: They’ve come a long ways.

Laura: I agree with you, Andrew. Because in past films she kind of had a tendency to exaggerate her lines, like you were saying. And in this particular clip, at least, she just sounds more like the Hermione that I imagine in the books.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: Her tone is just softer, but at the same time, it’s so much better. She doesn’t need to use – she doesn’t need to accentuate every word to get her point across.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: So I really appreciate that she’s finally…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: …doing that.

Andrew: It’s just really refreshing. She’s very serious and it’s not annoying. It’s not a typical role. Now, I don’t think there’s enough proof for Rupert and Dan, but – Micah, were you about to say something?

Micah: No, but I will if you want me to. [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, go ahead. I thought I heard a Micah.

Micah: No, no, no, no.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: No, I agree with what Ben said. They’re older now, so – and I would expect that her voice from Sorcerer’s Stone is completely different today. So she would obviously sound better then she would all those years ago. Probably almost ten years ago now.

Andrew: Yeah. But I think it has to do with the acting, too.

Micah: Oh, absolutely. But over time you mature.

Andrew: Mhm.

Micah: And she definitely has.


Emphasis on “The Chosen One”


Andrew: Yeah. Now, another thing with this trailer that I noticed, and we got a couple pieces of feedback about this – and I’m trying to see if we – I don’t think it’s in here. But there’s a lot of references to The Chosen One in this trailer, and the first reference is you see Snape doing it. He’s like – what was he – here we go, I’ve got the clip right here.

[Trailer clip plays]

Andrew: He sounds so – I think this is the deepest Snape we’ve ever heard from Alan.

[Laura laughs]

Micah: He’s awesome.

Andrew: Did you like that? Did you like that?

Micah: Yeah! I just think him playing Snape, it’s just perfect. There’s no other word to describe it. I just think he’s perfect in that role.

Andrew: Yeah. I don’t know, but that clip in particular really just freaks me out because he’s hit a new vocal low. It just sounds so incredibly low. [laughs]

Micah: Like creepy low?

Andrew: Yeah, exactly! Here, let’s listen again.

[Trailer clip plays again]

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: He sounds like…

Laura: He’s got his big boy voice.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah. It’s cool, sort of, but if you listen to it a couple times you realize how deep it sounds. Yeah, so then there’s that reference, and then they have the clip of Harry going, “But I am The Chosen One!” And I think there may have been one more reference, but I don’t know.

Micah: Hermione.

Andrew: Right, yeah.

Micah: When they’re in the library.

Andrew: Yeah. And then Harry says, “But I am…”

Nick: At the end.

Ben: “The Chosen One!”

Andrew: They do it at the end again, Nick?

Nick: Yeah, Dumbledore mentions it.

Andrew: Oh right. So is this going to be Harry Potter and The Chosen One? I mean, there’s a lot of references to it. It’s like – we get he’s The Chosen One, but – I don’t know. Do you think that’ll be one big emphasis in this movie?

Micah: Clearly, yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: I think it could show up on a poster.

Laura: I’m hoping they don’t do it every other line. That was one thing that annoyed me about the book, because they kept saying – there was that one scene where Harry was talking to Slughorn and he said, “I’m The Chosen One.” And I was like, “Oh God, are you Jesus or something? Shut up!”

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: I got so sick of him saying that, so I really hope they tone it down in the movie.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: He is The Chosen One, Laura.

Laura: We know!

Andrew: Yeah, well, I sort of think in this Japanese trailer, it may have been also – maybe it was for comedic value. Like, “The Chosen One. The Chosen One! The Chosen One.” I don’t know, if you spread four…

Laura: But would that translate like that? I mean, obviously, they’re just reading subtitles. Right? Like the Japanese subtitles?

Andrew: What do you mean? No, I mean, that’s what they said. They didn’t say it in the narration.

Laura: Yeah, yeah, I know, but there were subtitles in Japanese.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: And I’m assuming that if the subtitles were Japanese, most of the people watching it don’t speak English.

Andrew: Oh!

Laura: Would that translate…

Andrew: Oh, I see what you’re saying.

Laura: …as a joke? I don’t know.

Andrew: Yeah. Which kind of confused me, because the narration in this trailer was Japanese – like the guy doing the narration, the voiceover guy. And then the clips were English, so shouldn’t the – isn’t that weird? Shouldn’t the narration be English, too, and just do the whole thing Japanese subtitles?

Laura: Probably what they did was have someone do the narration in Japanese because we have our narration in English. And also because they can’t release a trailer fully in Japanese because they haven’t even dubbed the film yet. So they probably just got some random guy to dub over it, if you know what I’m saying, to kind of give more context to the trailer, to explain what’s going on.

Ben: Well, and if it’s going to be airing on Japanese T.V., it would probably make sense for there to be some Japanese in it.


Rating of the Film


Andrew: Yeah. No, you’re right. But it would be like us listening to – well, maybe that’s a bad example. Whatever. Just bringing it up for discussion sake. And the other thing is, yet, through all of this, it’s still a PG film. And I really got a dark impression in this trailer.

Ben: I mean, if Snape’s voice is going to be that low, it has to be PG-13.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: It looks pretty scary. I get nightmares.

Micah: Yeah. Well, not only that, but you look at the bridge being torn apart and the attack in Diagon Alley and all the fire that’s going on around Hagrid’s hut – Ben, I know you’re probably pretty upset about that. Those are all really dark scenes. Andrew, you just said that. But I can’t imagine, especially with Dumbledore dying, and I’m not sure how they do his death, but it’s still PG? I don’t know.

Andrew: Yeah. I’m so confused! I want to do an interview with the Motion Picture Association of America and be like, “Why!?” I don’t know. I mean, I think WB’s happy, because that just brings more people to the film. The little kids and their parents.

Ben: Do you think maybe – I don’t know if you discussed this before – do you think that they may perhaps had less – when the movies before were rated PG-13, do you think that an audience they were trying to attract they weren’t able to attract as much because of the PG-13 rating? And perhaps that’s why the PG would be important to them this time?

Andrew: That’s a good thought, but they did it for two films. Don’t you think they would have noticed that after Goblet of Fire?

Ben: Yeah, probably. I don’t know. Just thinking.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: I’m wondering if this movie was rated the first time around, when it was supposed to be released in November, and if it received the same type of rating.

Andrew: Oh, it must have. I mean – well, yeah. Some bloggers were like, “Oh, it’s just because the MPAA was just being generous or lenient that day.” I don’t know.

Micah: But do their rating systems change each year? You know? Does it go – like 2009, so now the standard for PG increases or decreases.

Ben: Yeah, because you would think with the constant degradation of society…

[Micah laughs]

Ben: …that for sure it would be harder – or actually, what’s PG-13 anymore isn’t – is a higher…

Micah: It’s R.

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh, that’s a good point, yeah. Because think about these days. These damn kids, they start cursing younger and younger every year.

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Andrew: But I don’t think – I mean, because then wouldn’t video game companies be making their ratings more lenient too?

Laura: Well, I think the difference is that movies have been around a lot longer than video games. I mean, if you look at movies from twenty years ago and you look at the rating, the rating probably makes no sense to us.

Andrew: Yeah. I’m looking at a list: the Top 8 PG-rated Movies That Should Not Have Been Rated PG. To be honest with you, I haven’t seen many of these personally, but Beetle Juice, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws. I can’t believe Jaws was rated PG. I mean, that’s pretty violent.

Ben: Jaws was rated PG?

Andrew: Yeah, back in ’75.

Ben: Wow.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] Pretty bad. So maybe they were just feeling a little lenient, who knows? They should put a man-eating shark in Half-Blood Prince just to make it worse.

[Nick laughs]

Andrew: And they’d still get away with it.

Andrew: Thank you, Nick, for laughing. Because nobody else did.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: I did.

Andrew: Oh, you did, Laura? Didn’t hear you.

Laura: Yeah, I did. I was trying to be nice to you, but, you know…

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: Any other…


MuggleSpace Update


Ben: Hey.

Andrew: What?

Ben: Just quickly here. I only see 9,907 MuggleSpace members, and I already took the time to sign up. So don’t let me down.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Come sign up.

Laura: Make a duplicate an account if you have to.

Andrew: I think that – well, no, no. I don’t want to encourage that. [laughs]

Ben: And I am in the chat, by the way. Some people in the chat are wondering if it was me, and I am in the chat. Come get in the MuggleCast chat.

Andrew: MuggleSpace…

Ben: The MuggleCast chat. MuggleSpace chat. What’s with all this Muggle? MuggleNet, MuggleSpace, MuggleCast.

Andrew: MuggleShop.

Ben: Can’t handle it.

Andrew: MuggleTunes.

Ben: Oh my.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: I think it’s a cool way of associating all of our things.

Ben: It’s like a brand.

Andrew: It is a brand.

Ben: Kind of like McDonald’s has the McChicken, McNuggets…

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] Right.

Ben: MuggleSpace, MuggleNuggets.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Let’s do it. Let’s patent Muggle. Oh, wait. Should we take some calls? Or anyone else have any thoughts about the trailer?

Laura: Let’s take some calls.

Andrew: Okay, let’s take some calls. The number is 1-218-20-MAGIC in the United States. In the United Kingdom, and I don’t have the number. I think it’s 0-208-144-0677. Hey, got it memorized already. All right, let’s take the first call now. Hello, you’re on MuggleCast Live.

[Call disconnects]

Ben: Not anymore.

Andrew: Oh. See? Scaredy pants. Hello, you’re on MuggleCast Live.


Call: Confusing Japanese


Caller: Hello.

Andrew: Hi. What’s your name?

Caller: Edith.

Andrew: Edith, how are you?

Caller: Yeah. Good, good.

Andrew: So what did you think about the trailer?

Caller: I don’t know, the whole dubbing in Japanese thing was really confusing.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: I know.

Andrew: But it wasn’t for you. It wasn’t for us.

Caller: I know.

Andrew: We shouldn’t even be talking about it.

Caller: Well, I know.

[Andrew and Edith laugh]

Andrew: Well…

Laura: I don’t think the voiceover should have been in Japanese.

Caller: It was just really confusing – distracting.

Andrew: Yeah, they were kind of distracting. Laura, can you speak Japanese?

Laura: No.

Andrew: Konichiwa!

Laura: [laughs] That’s pretty much it.

Andrew: Oui oui. Oh no, that’s French.

Caller: That’s French.

Andrew: Hey, are they going to make this a U.S. trailer, do you think, or what?

Caller: I think they should.

Andrew: Me too. [laughs] Hosts? Panelists?


Trailer is Badly Cut


Laura: If they’re going to make it a better trailer, sure.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I’m still not impressed with how that was put together.

Andrew: Nick?

Nick: Yeah, I agree with Laura. If they put it together better then definitely.

Andrew: Yeah, I noticed at the beginning, too, when Dan’s talking there’s a cut between two of the things he’s saying. Like they didn’t even try to cover that up. It’s a pretty blatant cut. You know how he says like three sentences? After the first or second one there’s a cut to the next thing, and he moves ever so slightly. It’s hard to tell, but I noticed, and I was very upset. But yeah, it was poorly put together. [laughs] All right, Edith, well thank you for calling in!

Caller: You’re welcome!

Andrew: Buh-bye!

Caller: Bye!


Call: The Ring


Andrew: There’s Edith. She was displeased that the Japanese trailer was not made for us American visitors. Hello, you’re on MuggleCast Live! What’s your name?

Caller: Hey! My name is Ellen.

Andrew: Oh! What’s up Ellen? Are you Ellen DeGeneres?

Caller: I was on last week’s…

Andrew: I love your show.

Caller: Excuse me?

Andrew: Are you Ellen DeGeneres, host of the fabulous daytime talk show?

Caller: Of course.

Andrew: [laughs] Oh, wonderful!

Caller: Yeah, okay.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: What’s going on?

Caller: Sure.

Laura: Denied, Andrew.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Okay.

Andrew: What’s going on, Ellen?

Caller: I have two specific things from the trailer. Do you think the 1:04 – that might be the timestamp, I’m not sure – where someone was playing with their ring on their hand, do you think that was Tom Riddle’s hand?

Andrew: Hold on. I’m getting the video up. Does anyone else have the video up right now?

Caller: Okay, it’s like…

Andrew: 1:04 – oh! Maybe. That’s a good point. That’s a really short clip at 1:04 in.

Caller: Yeah. Kind of iffy.

Andrew: But right before that in the shot, Slughorn’s looking at something. Could it be he’s looking at the person putting on the ring?

Caller: I don’t know. Since it was in the whole Slughorn mix, I was thinking maybe it was part of his memory.

Andrew: Yeah. That’d be pretty cool.

Caller: [unintelligible] maybe.

Andrew: And it makes sense they wouldn’t show it for Voldemort. Like they wouldn’t show the face, just the person putting on the ring.


Call: Avoiding the PG-13 Rating


Caller: Yeah. And real quick, my question from last week – I kind of forgot it when I got on the show.

Andrew: [laughs] It’s okay.

Caller: [laughs] But anyway, this – here, I have it now. Do you think that they would cut out the battle and/or the funeral to avoid the PG-13 rating?

Andrew: Oh, good point. I don’t know.

Laura: Hmm.

Andrew: Laura?

Laura: I don’t know that the funeral would affect the rating. I would think that Dumbledore’s actual death would affect the rating more.

Andrew: Yeah. But we don’t even really see his death, right?

Laura: Well, I thought they just cut the funeral.

Andrew: Oh, that’s right.

Laura: I mean, if they cut his death I’d be really ticked off.

Andrew: Well, I mean, I can’t imagine you see him hitting the ground. I would cry. [laughs]

Laura: Well, yeah. That scene in the book – and that’s another thing I was wondering, because the scene in the book, basically it talked about how when he hit the ground, it clearly mangled his body because Harry was talking about how he was distorted and laying in an awkward position, and I’m not sure they’re going to show that in the movie…

Andrew: Right.

Laura: …considering the rating.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: So I’m kind of concerned.

Andrew: Yeah. Nick, what do you think?

Nick: If they cut the battle or the funeral scene – they’re cutting the funeral scene, right?

Andrew: Yeah, and they cut the battle too.

Nick: They’ve cut the battle too?

Andrew: Yeah. Well, because in David Heyman’s words, because it’s too repetitive.

Nick: Ah, right.

Andrew: But I guess they wouldn’t say they cut it to avoid the PG-13 rating because that would upset a lot of fans.

Nick: Yeah, definitely.

Ben: Except those younger than thirteen.

Andrew: What?

Ben: Nothing.

Andrew: Oh.

Ben: I said except those younger.


Ending of Movie a Mystery


Laura: So what exactly happens at the end of this movie, I’m wondering?

Andrew: Sorry, say that again.

Laura: I’m wondering what exactly is supposed to happen at the end of this movie.

Andrew: Well, didn’t Eric say there was something like there was going to be shots of everyone being sad or something? Because you know that shot of Hermione when she’s crying in the courtyard or whatever?

Caller: That was awkward.

Andrew: Yeah. That reminded me of the old Emma, not that one I played in the clip earlier. But yeah, I don’t know. I think it’s just going to be a really sad moment and everyone’s just sort of hanging around crying. I don’t know. [laughs]

Caller: We’ve seen Emma cry in every movie. She cried in Hagrid’s hut in Chamber of Secrets, and then she cried when Buckbeak got killed…

Andrew: Right.

Caller: …and now she’s crying again.

Andrew: Goblet of Fire when Cedric died. But…

Caller: Yeah, seriously.

Andrew: …who didn’t cry during that? Well, she’s a crybaby. What’s there to say?

[Ellen laughs]

Andrew: All right! Thank you, Ellen.

Caller: Yeah. Thanks so much.

Andrew: Buh-bye!

Caller: Bye. Thank you.

Andrew: You’re welcome. Glad to…


Ben Proposes to Laura


Ben: Hey, Laura.

Laura: Hmm?

Ben: Hey, Laura, I was just in the MuggleCast – MuggleSpace chat and…

Laura: Yeah.

Ben: …people think I should marry you.

Andrew: [laughs] Aww.

Laura: Oh, you’re kidding me.

Ben: And I was wondering if you were down.

Laura: No.

[Someone applauds]

Laura: Sorry. Wait, wait, wait. Didn’t you already marry Jamie like…

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: …two years ago…

Ben: Did I?

Laura: …on the show? Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. Jamie proposed to you.

Ben: You see, I’m a polygamist.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: I’m pretty sure that’s not legal here, so…

Andrew: See me…

Laura: …sorry.

Andrew: …on HBO’s Big Love.

[Laura laughs]

Ben: We should all get married, how about that?

Andrew: All right.

MuggleCast 169 Transcript (continued)


Muggle Reality Show


Ben: We just all live in a big house together.

Andrew: Do a whole reality show.

Laura: We can just all move to California and get a giant apartment.

Andrew: We’ll call it Muggle Survivor or Muggle Brother.

[Laura and Nick laugh]

Andrew: Big Muggle Brother. [laughs]

Ben: Yeah, then we can vote people off and stuff.

Andrew: Yeah. Oh, that would be terrible. [laughs]

Ben: That would be awesome! We should do that. We should vote somebody off the show each week until there’s one person left. They have to do the show for the rest of time by themselves.

Andrew: Well, I would win. No doubt.

Laura: Have fun with that.

Andrew: I would.

Ben: That’s because you’d cheat.


Call: Who Actually Likes Harry Because He’s The Chosen One?


Andrew: I – no, I would create alliances with everyone. All right. [laughs] Well, let’s take some more calls now. Hey, Sam. Sam Watchman, MuggleSpace mod and aspiring MuggleNet staff member.

Caller: Hey.

Andrew: You’re on the show. What’s up?

Caller: I’m good, thanks. How are you?

Andrew: I’m just fine.

Caller: Good.

Andrew: What do you think of the trailer?

Caller: I’m – it was all right. Nothing special, really.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: But I was watching that and I thought I’d look back on the old ones.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: And the scene in the library where Hermione goes, “Ginny likes you because you’re The Chosen One.”

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: They changed it in the newest one and it says, “He only likes you – or he’s only interested in you because you’re The Chosen One.”

Andrew: Really?

Caller: It’s – yeah.

Laura: It’s true.

Caller: I may be wrong. I hope not because I’ll sound like an idiot now.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: Yeah, you’re right. They did.

Nick: No, I noticed that, you’re right.

Andrew: Oh, hold on. Let me – let’s play it. Let’s all listen.

Ben: Ooh.

Andrew: Oh, wait. Hold on. I’m not a professional podcaster. Here we go. Rewind. Okay.

[Trailer clip plays]

Andrew: Uh-huh.

Ben: It wasn’t even there.

Andrew: I heard a weird cut though. Did you guys hear that cut?

Laura: Yeah.

Ben: Play it again.

[Clip plays again]

Nick: It’s a dubbing error, perhaps?

Andrew: Yeah. It’s because… [cuts] …”he thinks you’re The Chosen One.” There’s a lot of very bad editing in this video.

Laura: Well, I think…

Nick: And it’s right after Slughorn just said…

Laura: …what they were trying to do…

Nick: Just talked about Harry. And it’s all about Slughorn. And then it says, “He’s only interested in you…”

Andrew: Right. Yeah. Well, I – yeah. Hmm, that’s weird.

Ben: Hmm.

Andrew: I doubt they changed the scenes so it’s a guy. I mean, because wouldn’t – wait. What would that scene create?

[Laura laughs]

Ben: Dan has…

Andrew: Dan would have someone…

Caller: It was a guy in the corner and not a girl.

Andrew: No, it wasn’t.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Shut up.

[Ben laughs]

Andrew: Was it really?

Ben: Jo’s going to drop another bombshell.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: “Harry was gay all along!”

Andrew: [laughs] Couldn’t you tell? Hold on.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: No, you can’t tell. This trailer’s too crumby quality. You were kidding, right, Sam?

Caller: Well, you never know. It could be a guy.

[Everyone laughs]


Call: Harry-Ginny Kiss


Andrew: I guess so, I guess so. Any other revealing aspects from the trailer you have for us?

Caller: The kiss with Ginny.

Andrew: What about it?

Caller: It’s a bit…

Andrew: Oh.

Caller: Is it – I take it it isn’t the first kiss. Could it be the break-up kiss?

Andrew: What time is it at? I don’t remember the…

Laura: It’s the same one we’ve seen in the trailers before.

Caller: It’s the same as Cho, sort of. The same position.

Andrew: Oh.

Caller: But with the first kiss, it was meant to be Happy Birthday sort of kiss.

Andrew: Does anyone have a…

Caller: But…

Andrew: …time code?

Laura: No. It’s up to you, Andrew.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: The show depends on you.

Caller: I think it’s 1:39.

Andrew: Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah. We saw this during the first Half-Blood Prince sneak peek when they were filming it. It’s on YouTube.

Caller: Some people are talking about it, and it doesn’t look like it’s the first kiss. So it was, like – is it the break-up one?

Andrew: Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not a believer in break-up kisses. Leaves things too open.

Ben: It’s… [laughs]

Andrew: What?

Ben: Oh, I was just laughing at the idea of a break-up kiss.

Andrew: Oh. [laughs] Yeah.

Ben: Like, “This is it. Oh, can I just get one more kiss?”

Andrew: “Just one more.” [laughs] I had an experience like that. Should I say that on the air?

Ben: Just did.

Laura: Why not? Share your stories, Andrew.

Andrew: Oh, whoops. [clears throat] Well, it was about a year ago. No, I’m kidding about the year ago thing. Anyway, all right – I told the person, though. Anyway, thanks, Sam. They were…

Caller: Try and nail ’em.

Andrew: Ah, no problem. Bye. Man, Harry being gay. I don’t know. [laughs] It’d be a little too much for me. Kramer, hi, you’re on MuggleCast Live.


Call: Caller Apologizes to John Noe


Caller: Hey.

Andrew: What’s up, dude?

Caller: Nothing.

Andrew: Were you on the show last week?

Caller: Yeah, I was.

Andrew: Yeah, I recognize you. You were that really chill guy.

Ben: Cut him out, Andrew, he can’t be on the show twice.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: No, I’m just kidding.

Andrew: Anyway, what do you think about the trailer?

Caller: I thought it was cool, but – yeah, like you said I think there was a lot of poor editing in it, though.

Andrew: Yeah. For video professionals like you and I, Kramer, it’s not up to standards.

Caller: Right. [laughs]

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Also, I just wanted to apologize to John Noe for yelling out that he was telling people to spam your show.

Andrew: Oh, it wasn’t true?

Caller: Oh well, yeah it was, but you never know.

Andrew: Oh. [clears throat] Very professional of him. Anyway… [laughs]

Caller: Right.

Andrew: All right. Thank you, Kramer.

Caller: Yep, bye.


MuggleSpace Update


Andrew: MuggleSpace update, we have 9952 people! So we’re inching ever closer to that 10,000 mark. I have…

Ben: There’s currently 92 people on the chat. Let’s get it to a hundred.

Andrew: [laughs] Let’s break it. Yeah.

Ben: Let’s break a hundred.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: We get it to a hundred, I’ll do something crazy.


Call: “The Chosen One” Scenes


Andrew: Ooh, uh-oh. Uh-oh, what’s he going to do? Amanda, you’re on MuggleCast Live. Hello.

[Feedback from stream]

Andrew: Mute your feed, please. Hello, Amanda.

Caller: Hi!

Andrew: Hey, what’s up?

Caller: Oh, Snape! You – I – you answered my call. I’m so excited.

Andrew: [laughs] Did you just say “Oh, Snape”?

Caller: I definitely did.

[Amanda and Andrew laugh]

Caller: I was actually going to mention, when you guys were talking about how they definitely use The Chosen One lines a lot…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: …and when they did the thing – they reused the scene with, “She’s only interested in you because you’re The Chosen One,” I think that was kind of out of place in there, because everything else seemed sort of dark, and they just threw in a comedy out of nowhere.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, I agree, but I think that one scene in this Japanese trailer that you – “But I am The Chosen One” – it wasn’t really in a comedic form, because…

Micah: Well, she slaps him on the head with the newspaper.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, but it’s missing – I don’t know, I think it’s missing that – that extra shot where she’s – that girl in the background – or apparently now guy – is daydreaming about Harry.

Caller: Yeah, that was a guy. [laughs]

Laura: Well, it was awkward because they were sort of using that to get the point across that Slughorn was interested in having Harry around because Harry’s The Chosen One. But the whole context of the scene originally was that a girl liked Harry. So it’s like they’re trying to mix these two elements and it doesn’t work very well.

Andrew: Yeah. Good point. What should they have done? I think it’s important, though, to keep in some funny bits though, don’t you think?

Caller: Yeah, but I mean they could have probably put it somewhere differently, because like you guys said, the ending was horrible. I think they just threw it in randomly somewhere where it didn’t fit at all.

Andrew: Right. Yeah, you’re right. Well…


Comedy


Micah: There are some comedic lines, though, between Dumbledore and Harry. We talked about the one at the beginning of the show, about…

Andrew: Yeah, the vomit.

Micah: …the vomiting, and then Harry also says that he’s getting used to Dumbledore surprising him.

Andrew: Yeah. I got to say, I love Steve Kloves. There’s been a ton of clever things in this movie that – or at least in these trailers – that we’re seeing, that are not as like corny as in past films. Granted, he did write those too, except for Order of the Phoenix, but I think – have you guys noticed that the writing for this film has changed at all or is it just me?

Laura: Eh, I mean there are some funny bits but – and this seems to happen with a lot of movies – they put the best lines and the best scenes from their movie in the trailer. And I’ve noticed that a lot with Harry Potter. Like they’ll put the funniest lines in the trailer, and then when you go see the movie everybody laughs like they’ve never heard it before.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: And you’re just sitting there like, “Oh yeah, I’ve heard this six times.”

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Laura: You know?

Andrew: Yeah. Well, that’s why I hate watching all the clips, the promotional clips that they put up, and sometimes they’re like, full scenes. Yahoo! always has up those full scenes and it’s just – it’s kind of annoying, because you don’t want half the movie to be spoiled for you. All right! Well… [laughs] …thank you, Amanda, for calling in.

Caller: Thank you so much for answering my call.

Andrew: You’re welcome. It’s a Friday night. Are you doing anything tonight?

Caller: Actually, I’m not. I’m going to finish listening to this podcast while I’m watching T.V.

Andrew: Oh.

Caller: It’s my birthday on Sunday, so…

Andrew: Oh, well, Happy Birthday.

Laura: Happy Birthday.

Caller: Yeah. I’m going to see Equus on Broadway. [laughs]

Andrew: Oh nice.

Laura: That’s a good birthday.

Caller: Yeah, I’m so excited.

Andrew: Take some pictures, if you know what I’m saying. [laughs sarcastically]

[Amanda laughs]

Andrew: Just kidding!

Caller: I know exactly what you’re saying.

Andrew: [laughs] All right, well, thank you for calling in, Amanda. Have a – have a Happy Birthday weekend.

Caller: Thank you. Bye guys.


Will Deathly Hallows Overshadow Half-Blood Prince?


Andrew: Bye. Equus is running for, what, another month I think? Well, it’s got to be because Half-Blood – or Deathly Hallows filming starts. Let’s talk about that for a second. Emma Watson revealed on her official site that test shooting begins Monday. What do you guys think?

Laura: Nice. It’s exciting.

Andrew: It’s – it’s kind of unbelievable that they’re filming this next film and Half-Blood Prince won’t be out for another six months.

Micah: I think Deathly Hallows is going to end up overshadowing Half-Blood Prince. I know we talked about this on a previous show, but I really think that’s what’s going to end up happening. Because you’re going to have a lot of news coming out of the filming over the next couple of months and maybe get something from WB, but I think Half-Blood Prince is going to fall in the wayside. I don’t think people are going to be as into it leading up as they normally would be.

Andrew: Do you think that – well, what do you mean exactly by overshadowing?

Micah: News-wise, I think, you know, particularly because this is the final film. It’s not like you’re dealing with a delay in Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince is starting filming. This is the final film.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: And so they’re going to pay a lot more attention to it than they normally would, I think. And I think the news is going to be that much more important to everybody. I don’t know what anybody else thinks of that, but I think Half-Blood Prince is going to get overshadowed.

Andrew: How about everyone else?

Ben: I’m not so sure. I think that anytime you have a – I mean sure, the filming – the cycle has always been – there’s always been one film being made about the other time the other comes out, right? Isn’t that pretty usual?

Andrew: Not really. No, because usually it’s a couple weeks after the premieres they start filming again.

Ben: Oh, okay. I mean, I don’t know. I think people are just going to be so excited for the movie and it’s not going to matter.

Andrew: I think WB is going to be orchestrating it so they don’t get in the way of each other. Because I don’t think they would want Deathly Hallows to overshadow Half-Blood Prince. And I just don’t think – I don’t know. The Potter franchise is too much of a powerhouse. I don’t think you can have it overshadow itself, in a way. They’re not going to be releasing interviews about Deathly Hallows until after Half-Blood Prince is out, I would think.

Laura: I really don’t know.


Call: Dumbledore Taking the Tube


Andrew: But I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Didn’t we have a caller on? No, we didn’t. Let’s get another caller in here. Andrew Carol, what’s up, dude? You’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Hi.

Andrew: What’s up, man?

Caller: I was wondering what – at the beginning of the trailer, there’s like a – Dumbledore is in a subway thing.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Why is he in a…

Andrew: [laughs] Anyone got any ideas on that? Why Dumbledore’s in a…

Laura: He wants to decrease his carbon footprint.

Andrew: [laughs] What?

[Andrew Carol laughs]

Andrew: I – it is weird. Oh, you know what? Just random fact, the trailer that is playing over top – sorry – the movie that was finished playing while this trailer was on was Goblet of Fire. If you watch the beginning, it’s the Goblet of Fire parchments. So anyway, I don’t know. It’s kind of strange. What do you guys think? Why is he there?

Caller: He’s on his way to Slughorn’s house. [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, but why in the Underground? That’s not in the book.

Micah: Are you talking about when the Apparates?

Andrew: No, no, no, in the subway. Of course, over in England, it’s called the Underground.

[Andrew Carol laughs]

Micah: Oh. Let me take a look.

Andrew: Nick, any ideas?

Nick: No idea. It’s very unusual.

Andrew: Yeah.

Nick: I mean, unless it’s sort of in there to – as a bit of foreshadowing with the whole – with how Deathly Hallows ends, I suppose.

Andrew: Yeah, maybe.

Nick: Tie it in there.

Andrew: To get London in there a little more?


Laura Went to the Presidential Inauguration


Caller: And I also have another question for Laura. How was the inauguration? [laughs]

Laura: Oh my God it was amazing!

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Really?

Laura: It was fantastic. I mean we stood for twelve hours so…

[Andrew Carol laughs]

Laura: …we were really really tired, and we were about to pass out, and the police didn’t know what they were doing but…

[Andrew Carol laughs]

Laura: …actually being there was fantastic.

Caller: Ah.

Laura: It was such a wonderful feeling and I’m still full of hope.

[Andrew and Andrew Carol laugh]

Ben: Yes. We. Did.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: Yes we did.

Andrew: Some people are calling Obama the Kingsley Shacklebolt of the American world. What do you guys think about that?

Laura: Hmm.

Andrew: [laughs] No? [laughs]

Caller: Change is coming. [laughs]

Andrew: Yes.

Laura: I never really thought about it, but, sure I guess.

Andrew: Well, Andrew, thank you for calling in.

Caller: No problem.

Andrew: Bye.

Caller: [unintelligible] [laughs]

Andrew: What did he say?

Micah: I don’t know.

Laura: I don’t know. [laughs]


Call: The Rating


Andrew: All right. Jenny, you’re on MuggleCast Live. Good evening.

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hi, you’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Hi. Sorry.

Andrew: It’s okay. What is your question about the trailer?

[Jenny laughs]

Andrew: Or your comment.

Caller: [laughs] Sorry. I – editing quality aside – I really liked this trailer. Though I agree with you guys said earlier in the program about why they would rate it PG, because this trailer does seem to showcase a lot of the darker elements of the film.

Andrew: Yeah. Do you have any ideas why it would be rated PG?

Caller: I don’t know. Aside from – again, you guys spoke earlier about it – about how if you look back at films that were rated PG or even R in the seventies and in the eighties, they probably wouldn’t be rated be PG today. And this is even – aside from the fact that they didn’t have the PG-13 rating then – I think that’s part of it.

Andrew: So really the MPAA has gotten stricter.

Caller: Or softer, rather.

Andrew: Well, no, I mean, because if Jaws was rated PG in ’75 and wouldn’t it be rated PG-13 now? Or no?

Caller: I don’t know. With all the violence it might actually be rated R. I have to admit I never got all the way through Jaws.

Andrew: Oh.

Caller: Because when I saw it about nine years old and it scared the crap out of me.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, exactly. [laughs] So yeah, I don’t know. But Nick’s idea was very interesting last week; he was saying the trailers over there are rated 12A, which is the equivalent to PG-13. So, it’s like, could this be the first time that a film gets rated a higher rating in England than it does over here? Just…

Caller: That is pretty interesting.

Andrew: Yeah. But I wonder, on the other hand, what is it, Nick? The British Film Classification Board?

Nick: Yeah. BBFC.

Andrew: I wonder if they were influenced at all by the MPAA. I would kind of think so.

Nick: Well, the earlier trailers are actually PG and actually the latest one’s 12A.

Andrew: Oh, I see. Hmm. That’s so weird!

Nick: But I mean, if they’re putting a 12A in there surely the overall rating has to be a 12 too because it’s made up of the same part.

Andrew: Right. Right. Was the third one that we got darker than the others?

Caller: I think it was.

Andrew: I guess so. I can’t even remember.

Caller: At least it had – it seemed to bring those darker elements to the forefront. I mean, there are some slightly lighter moments like the Slug Club dinner when they do the little toast thing, but a lot of it’s pretty dark.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Especially at the very end of it where you see that scene…

Andrew: The bodies crawling up to the – are you talking about the Japanese trailer?

Caller: Yeah, the Japanese trailer. Yeah. Right at the end sort of starting with you see Ron passed out on the floor and then going through the – it’s lots of action and…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: …bad things happening.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Micah: Right.

Andrew: I’m so confused! I think the MPAA made a mistake.

Micah: I do too. I think we should write to them.

Andrew: [laughs] We should! Or call them! We can get them in for an interview or something.

Micah: Well you just brought up…

Laura: How about it? Let’s call them right now.

Micah: …a whole new thing with the Inferi crawling out of the lake, and you also have Sectumsempra. Is that going to be in this film or is that cut too?

Caller: I heard that it – I heard from – I’m not sure where, but a lot of – the rumor going around just said that they cut it from the film.

Andrew: Hmm.

Micah: Yeah, because if that happens, that’s PG-13 in of itself.

Andrew: Right.

Caller: Definitely.

Nick: They could probably just tone it down though.

Andrew: Right. Hey, should we call the MPAA right now? I found a number.

Micah: Yeah, let’s.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay. All right, Jenny, thanks for joining us.

Caller: Yeah, thanks for taking my call.


Call: Hagrid Calls the Show


Andrew: You’re welcome. Bye. Actually, before we do that, I’ll just take one more caller. Hello? Caller?

Ben: [as Hagrid] Hello!

Andrew: Oh! Hagrid!

Ben: [as Hagrid] Can I speak to Laura?

Andrew: Oh, sure, sure, sure. Laura, Hagrid’s on the phone for you.

Laura: Oh, really? Hi. How’s it going?

Ben: [as Hagrid] Laura! It’s Rubeus Hagrid!

Laura: Wow. It’s been a long time since I heard from you. What’s going on?

Ben: [as Hagrid] I was wondering if you wanted to go back to my hut and help me tame a dragon.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Uhh…

Andrew: What do you say, Laura?

Laura: Uhh…

Andrew: Pretty big honor.

Laura: I don’t know, I think – I don’t know. I think Madame Maxime would be pretty upset about that.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: I don’t think I can… [laughs]

Ben: [as Hagrid] Oh, what she don’t know won’t hurt her.

Laura: No, I’ve got things to do. Sorry. But Hagrid, I do hear that your good friend Ben Schoen – all the people in the chat really want him to sing. On the show.

Ben: [as Hagrid] Oh. I can’t…

Laura: Maybe you could talk to him about that?

Ben: [as Hagrid] I’ll put in a word.

Laura: Okay. I’d…

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: …really appreciate that.

Andrew: All right. All right. Thank you, Hagrid. Ben, did you hear that? Hagrid just called.

Ben: I know, I stepped away for a minute. I was in the bathroom.

Andrew: You always step away when he’s here. I don’t get it.

Ben: I know. It’s – it doesn’t make any sense. I keep missing him.

Andrew: Bad timing. Yeah. All right.

Ben: But Hagrid – but Laura, Hagrid did want me to tell you that he’s expecting a phone call later, so you really got to come through, so…

Laura: All right, all right. I’ll – I’ll give him a call.

Andrew: I think it’d be worth it, Laura.

Laura: Sure, yeah.

Andrew: He proposed a marriage. I think something could happen between you all.

Ben: Oh and by the way, speaking of marriage, someone by the name of Charlie in the chat really likes Micah and I just wanted to…

Andrew: Aww.

Ben: …let Micah know.

Andrew: You have a friend, Micah.

Micah: Oh, well, thanks.


Andrew Calls the MPAA


Andrew: All right we’re calling the MPAA.

MPAA Representative: Motion Picture Association.

Laura: This is like a [unintelligible] show.

Andrew: Hello?

MPAA Representative: Hello?

Andrew: Hi, I have a question about a rating for a film.

MPAA Representative: Okay, one moment.

Andrew: Okay. Let’s get to the bottom of this.

Ben: Did you really just call the MPAA?

Andrew: Yeah.

[Laura and Ben laugh]

Andrew: [whispering] Shh, everyone, be quiet.

[Telephone rings]

Andrew: Very concerned.

MPAA Answering Machine: Sorry… [long beep]

[Andrew sighs]

MPAA Answering Machine: …is not available. Record your message at the tone. [short beep]

Andrew: Hi, this is Andrew Sims calling from MuggleNet.com. We had a question about the recent trailer rating for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It received a PG rating, and we wanted to know if the MPAA would like to comment on that given that the two previous films, Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, were both rated PG-13. So if you could give us a call back it would be greatly appreciated. My number is 1-218 MAGIC. M-A-G-I-C. Thank you. Bye.

Laura: You gave the wrong number.

Ben: Andrew, why didn’t you give your cell phone number? Did you forget it? It’s 609…

Andrew: [laughs] Shut up!

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Andrew: I wanted – I want…

Laura: It’s [unintelligible].

Andrew: I forgot – what did I say?

Laura: [laughs] You said, “1-218 MAGIC.”

Andrew: Oh. Darn! All right, I’ll call back later.

Laura: She’s going to be like, “What?”

Andrew: I’ll call back later and get a real – damn. I blew my one shot. Damn it!

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: Anyway. I guess she’s out for the day. It’s almost 5:00. Well, it was worth a shot, right? [laughs]

Micah: Yeah.


Call: The Harry-Ginny Kiss Again, Broadbent as Slughorn, and the PG Rating


Andrew: All right, here comes another MuggleSpace mod. Madame Rosmerta. Hello, you’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hi.

Caller: Hi, how are you?

Andrew: I’m doing good, how are you?

Caller: I’m good. I’m…

Ben: Are you actually Madame Rosmerta? Can you bring me some butterbeer?

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Sure. I’ll get a fresh Butterbeer right away.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Thank you. You’re awesome.

Caller: I don’t think I called earlier about the kiss. We were talking about that on the chat and we were just saying how I personally didn’t feel like it was the kiss that we saw in the book. Well, definitely wasn’t. The kiss in the book was in a room full of people and it was exciting, it was like, “Oh my God. Harry and Ginny are kissing.”

Andrew: Right.

Caller: And now this is kind of just depressing.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: And also, I was watching the new trailer and I just really – I was hesitant about Jim Broadbent playing Slughorn, but seeing the scene where he’s taking the memory out of his mind…

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Caller: …it just really kind of sealed the deal for me. He looks physically sick like he’s in pain and really scared of sharing that memory with somebody else.

Andrew: Yeah, it was really cool. I was pretty impressed by him too. There’s also this other clip I actually – I didn’t play yet. It’s Harry asking Slughorn about Voldemort, and I thought really – Slughorn really shined through. So I’ll play it right now.

[Clip plays]

Andrew: That is pretty freaking cool, wasn’t it? Especially Harry. He’s like, “PROFESSOR!?”

[Madame Rosmerta and Nick laugh]

Caller: No I’m just saying – I just – and as far as the PG rating goes, I know Eric was saying last week that he doesn’t think this film or this book is as dark as the others.

Andrew: Mhm.

Caller: And I think there are so many dark elements in this book that we haven’t seen before, like the Inferi. Those are scary creatures.

Andrew: Yeah really! Especially that scene where they’re crawling up to Dumbledore.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: I mean…

Caller: So I’m confused how – where the PG rating is coming from.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: But considering that Jaws killed business on the Jersey shore for that July 4th weekends, that kind of makes me a little more positive.

Andrew: Wait, wait, wait, wait. What? What about the Jersey shore?

Caller: [laughs] You said Jaws was rated PG, right?

Andrew: Oh yes.

Caller: The weekend that came out there was no beach goers on the Jersey shore.

Andrew: Oh. [laughs] Wow.

Caller: So maybe – maybe this will be as scary.

Andrew: Yeah. A PG movie shouldn’t be able to do that.

Caller: No.

MuggleCast 169 Transcript (continued)


Ben’s Theory


Ben: Maybe – maybe just maybe right before the film comes out – you know WB has been putting all these twists on everything.

Andrew: [laughs] Right.

Ben: They waited so long to give us a trailer. They waited so long to give us – I mean, they switched the release date of the movie. So now at the last minute they’re probably going to rate it R.

[Andrew laughs]

Nick: They are just messing with our minds.

Caller: They’re going to smack us with an R rating.

Andrew: That would be pretty awesome. That would be a big twist that everyone would actually like for once, I think. They should just go – we’ve said this on the show before – they should just go all out for Deathly Hallows and just rate it R. Rate it X. Why not?

Ben: Why not?

Caller: [laughs] What?

Ben: That’s always the better question.

Andrew: [laugh] Well, thank you, Natalie, for calling in, and thank you so much for all your help with MuggleSpace. You’ve been a mod there for a few weeks now and we really appreciate your help.

Caller: Oh no problem. Thank you.

Andrew: Thank you. Good night.

Caller: Bye bye.


Always Ask, “Why Not?”


Ben: I want – I would like all MuggleCast listeners to always ask the question, “Why not?”

Andrew: It’s a good way to look at life.

Ben: Why not?


MuggleSpace Update


Andrew: MuggleSpace update, 9,965. I don’t think we’ve moved. I can’t believe we have not actually hit the 10,000 mark tonight. Definitely by tomorrow but not tonight I guess.

Laura: Come on, guys. Help us out.

Andrew: I feel like all the people listening to the show already – we don’t want to encourage people to make duplicate accounts. I mean, we want…

Ben: Don’t make duplicate accounts. We want legit accounts.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. So don’t make an account if you already have one.

Ben: So are we doing another live show tomorrow?

Andrew: [laughs] Why?

Ben: Because I like this. This is fun.

Andrew: Well, maybe you should be on them more when we do these.

Ben: You never call me, dude.

Andrew: Ben – Ben, you’re always on the e-mails. You’re always – you’re the first one I compose the message to.

Ben: Aww.

Andrew: [laughs] I’m really disappointed about the MPAA. That would’ve been a…

Laura: Yeah, that would’ve been awesome.

Andrew: That would’ve been…

Laura: We should keep doing that.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: Call back – call back and let’s talk to the operator.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Operator, do you have a comment?

Ben: Please let us know.

Andrew: No, I don’t – I don’t want to bother them. We don’t want them to hate us.

Ben: I know, they’re probably so busy…

Andrew: I’ll call them later.

Ben: …just rating movies.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: Maybe she’s in a movie right now. Maybe that’s why she didn’t answer. I’ll call them back later and give them the right number. Maybe we can get a little comment from them. But for now let’s take another call. LuffTheHufflepuff…


Call: Disappointing Scenes from the Trailer


Caller: Hey.

Andrew: ….another MuggleSpace mod! Hello, you’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Hey.

Andrew: Hey.

Caller: Hey. So I just have a really quick question about the trailer.

Andrew: Okay.

Caller: So I was wondering what you guys’ feelings are? What scenes are you guys willing to cut?

Andrew: From what, the trailer or the actual film? What do you mean?

Caller: The actual film.

Andrew: Like after seeing them in the trailer?

Caller: No, no, no, no. Well, yeah, after you’ve seen them in the trailer. Yeah.

Andrew: Personally, there weren’t any scenes that really made me want to – that I was disappointed in. How about you guys though? That’s a good question. Anyone disappointed by any scenes?


Andrew, The Master Podcaster


Micah: Hold on a sec. First of all, what’s your name and where are you from?

Andrew: She’s LufftheHufflepuff…

Caller: Oh. [laughs]

Andrew: …from Hogwarts.

Caller: My real name is Shelby and I’m from Seattle.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: Thank you. Andrew, you should be – nobody that’s listening knows who these people are that are calling. [laughs]

Andrew: No, no, no. They do. When I picked up I say, “Hello LufftheHufflepuff,” but then you guys are on hold because I have to have you on hold…

Micah: Oh okay.

Andrew: …to add a person to the call. So that’s why you always miss it. Yeah.

Micah: Gotcha.

Andrew: Micah, don’t – don’t – don’t – come on.

Micah: You could have asked where she’s from.

Ben: Micah, let Andrew do his job. Okay?

Andrew: Yeah.

[Ben laughs]

Andrew: I’m the Master Podcaster.

[Caller laughs]

Micah: Not.

Andrew: I’m the Howard Stern of podcasting. Anyway – I’m just kidding.

Ben: Wow.

Andrew: I’m just kidding. It’s incredibly cocky.

Ben: What a claim.

[Andrew, Ben and Micah laugh]

Ben: You should write a book.


Back to the Caller’s Question


Andrew: Ben, were there any scenes in any of these trailers you saw and you were like, “Cut that out of the movie”?

Ben: I don’t know. I don’t think so. I mean, a little too much kissing for me.

[Andrew and Caller laugh]

Andrew: Yeah right.

Caller: I personally – I’m going to be a fan of all the kissing and everything like that. Ginny and Harry’s kissing is going to be hot!

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Hot!

Andrew: Ben, are you jealous of Ginny – or of Harry?

[Andrew and Caller laugh]

Ben: I am very jealous of Harry. I mean, Bonnie Wright is beautiful, and my Emma is beautiful.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Yes. I said “my Emma” because she’s mine. She’s amazing, but – yeah. I’m figuring – I’m figuring this time, premiere, I might – red carpet, it’s just going down right there.

[Andrew and Caller laugh]

Ben: I’m just – I’m just going to lay it on her. It’s going to be…

Andrew: Well, you should…

Ben: …over.

Andrew: You should talk Emerson out of asking the questions this year. You can do it and then I’ll be filming, and then when she comes up, you know, “Hey, Emma. First question: will you marry me?”

[Caller laughs]

Ben: Yes! That would be awesome and we’d have it on video and everything.

Andrew: Exactly. I think she would really like that. Third time’s the charm, right?

Ben: It’s going to happen.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: I mean, eventually…

Caller: I bet it will.

Ben: …I’ll probably make her my bride.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: But right now…

Caller: I bet it…

Ben: …it just – I got to get my foot in the door first. I got to actually talk to her.

Laura: When she doesn’t have security around.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Hey Ben, I got to tell you honestly, I bet it will happen.

Andrew: Aww.

Ben: I wouldn’t be surprised. I really wouldn’t.

Caller: Of course not!

Ben: I just got to wear that MuggleNet T-shirt and I got a hat now.

Andrew: Oh yeah. That’ll sell her. [laughs]


Keep Our MuggleSpace Users Safe


Caller: Yeah. Hey Andrew, can I just quickly say thank you so much for taking my call.

Andrew: Oh. You’re welcome. And thank you for being a great mod on MuggleSpace.

Caller: And thank you for joining my group. That was awesome! A whole bunch of people joined because of you.

Andrew: Aww. Well, I’m glad they did. And what’s your group? Plug it real quick. It’s a good group.

Caller: [laughs] Okay. So I came up with this group called “Keep Our MuggleSpace Users Safe.” It’s all about getting rid of online predators, and I’m tired of getting sexually preyed upon with guys on the Internet. So I created this support group, and we’ve already brought somebody in.

Andrew: Good job. Good job.

Caller: Thank you.

Ben: That’s awesome.

Caller: Thank you.

Andrew: Yeah. MuggleSpace: Catching Predators. [laughs]

Ben: Seriously, we should make our own Harry…

Caller: [laughs] Dateline NBC.

Ben: How to Catch a ‘Harry Potter’…”

Ben and Andrew: “…Predator.”

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: And me and Andrew will be sitting there in the room and they’ll come and be like, “Why did you do it, huh? Why? Who do you think you are?”

Andrew: “This is Andrew Sims, and I’m from MuggleSpace.com.”

[Caller laughs]

Andrew: “I’m Chris Hanson with Dateline NBC.” I love that line whenever he says it.

[Andrew and Caller laugh]

Andrew: “I’m Andrew Sims with MuggleSpace and we’ve just caught you.”

Caller: It’s so funny. Okay, not to bring up NBC and everything, but it’s so funny. The guy’s walking and like “Oh I shouldn’t have.” It’s like why did you show up? Sorry.

Andrew: Right, right. Yeah. Micah’s been through that a couple times. Haven’t you, Micah?

Caller: Oh, poor Micah.

Andrew: [laughs] I’m just kidding.

Ben: Next week on How to Catch a Predator.

Caller: [laughs] Yeah. Micah, I promise I won’t report you. I won’t report you.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: And you better not run. The Death Eaters are waiting outside to take you – take you away.

[Caller laughs]

Andrew: That would be a great video show. We should do that. [laughs]

Caller: You know what? I might just – I don’t know. I just might make a video.

Andrew: [laughs] All right.

Ben: What if we stopped calling cops “cops” and we called them Aurors. You know what I mean? Just for like…

Andrew: Called them Aurors?

Ben: …shits and grins.

Andrew: “Oh man! It’s the Aurors!”

[Caller laughs]

Andrew: Be like, “The what? Excuse me?” The Auror cars. Doesn’t…

Caller: You know – okay, Andrew, let me explain. There’s these wizard cops named Aurors and…

Andrew: [laughs] Exactly.

[Caller laughs]

Andrew: All right. Well, thanks for calling in.

Caller: You’re welcome.

Andrew: Enjoy Seattle.

Caller: I will. Yeah, all the rain.

Andrew: Let me know if you see Edward.

Caller: [laughs] No. Oh shut up, Andrew.

Ben: [singing] Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday…

Andrew: Why are you singing?

Ben: …to you. [stops singing] Didn’t he say your birthday?

Andrew: No. I said, “Let me know if you see Edward up there.”

Ben: Oh, I thought you said, “Sing me ‘Happy Birthday.'”

Andrew: No. Thanks though.

[Caller laughs]

Ben: Oh. I must have missed that.

Andrew: [laughs] All right. All right. Thanks for calling in. Have a good night.

Caller: Okay, you too.

Andrew: Thanks. I will. Oh, she hung up on me. Meany face. Okay, it’s past 8:00. We said we were only going to do this for an hour. I don’t know – should we take one more? The calls have been good today. [laughs] Last time they weren’t so hot but this week they’re pretty good. So what do you say, guys? One more call and then we’ll wrap it up?

Laura: We can take one more.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Hopefully it’s a good one though. That would be bad. Hello – oh, it just put everything on hold. Hello Kelsey. You’re on MuggleCast Live. Hello? Kelsey? Kelsey, hello? [switches to another call] Hello. Hello, you’re on MuggleCast Live.


Call: PG Rating a Mistake


Caller: Hey. Can you hear me?

Andrew: Yes I can, and now the other hosts can too. What’s up?

Caller: Okay. It’s really laggy right now but it’s okay.

Andrew: Oh. Sorry.

Caller: Okay, about the PG rating, I don’t think it’s that much of a big of a deal because I really do think they made a mistake in the way of – I don’t know. I think they made a mistake.

Andrew: Yeah. Why? Explain yourself.

Caller: I’m sorry.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Because [laughs] – well, because obviously, it’s – it’s a dark movie and a book. And like I said, Dumbledore’s death is – is good enough to make it a PG-13.

Andrew: Me – yeah, I agree. It’s very confusing.

Caller: [laughs] It’s such a lag. It’s weird.

Andrew: Well, anyone else? Anyone else got thoughts? I’m researching breaking news right now we’ve just received in the MuggleCast studio.

Micah: Well, are you saying – I’m sorry…

Caller: Go ahead.

Micah: …that you don’t think that it’s going to make that big of a difference one way or the other? I mean it’s…

Caller: I think it’s the same movie.

Micah: Yeah.

Caller: Whether they said it’s PG or PG-13, I think it’s the same movie.

Micah: Yeah, absolutely. I think you’re right. In the end it’s not going to make a difference in terms of sales. I think everyone is still going to go out and see it, but this opens it up to a much wider audience and maybe…

Caller: Sure.

Micah: …some parents will be more wanting to take their kids to it since it’s PG as opposed to PG-13.

Andrew: Mhm.


Trailer Not a Trailer


Caller: And plus the trailer, I don’t think it was made for – even – I think that of course it was made for the Japanese, but I think that it was made really quick. Like on the fly. Just because they needed something at the end of those credits. I don’t think it was meant to be – no one was really meant to see that in America. [laughs]

Micah: Yeah. That might change though…

[Caller and Micah laugh]

Micah: …depending on what we find out here in the next few minutes. Right, Andrew?

Andrew: What?

Micah: That that might have just been a trailer that we weren’t really supposed to see.

Andrew: No. No. There were – there were rumors about this being with Inkheart, but I’ve just confirmed that this is actually false, so – if that’s what you were referring to.

Micah: Yeah, that’s what I was referring to.

Caller: Because if it is it’s a really – it’s not a great trailer at all. It’s not a professional trailer.

Micah: Not at all.

Andrew: Yes. Well, okay. Well, thank you for calling in. You’re right. It’s not a professional trailer. I think it was more of a promo thing more than anything else. Plus Dan is – in the beginning he’s like, “Hey! Check this out. I really think it’s good.”

Micah: He called it – he said it was new footage. He didn’t even say trailer.

Ben: So we’ve been calling it a new trailer when it hasn’t been a trailer the whole time.

Andrew: Ah! We were robbed.

Ben: What a blunder, Andrew. What a blunder.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, well…

Caller: Oh! And one more thing. I can’t wait to see Dean Thomas and Ginny.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, that’ll be interesting. That’ll be exciting, I mean. All right, well, thanks for calling in, dude.

Caller: Yeah, thanks.

Andrew: All right, bye bye.

Caller: Bye.


Ben’s Plans to Drink Apple Juice


Andrew: All right, well, on that note, I think it is time to wrap things up. It’s been a good show.

Ben: It has been.

Andrew: Hasn’t it been Ben?

Laura: It’s been Ben.

Ben: It’s been Ben.

Andrew: It’s been Ben. Ben been. What are you guys doing tonight? Anyone going to any parties?

Ben: I’m not going to any parties, but me and my friends – my friends are coming over to play Uker and drink apple juice.

Andrew: Oh cool.

Laura: Apple juice!?

Andrew: That’s fun.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: I’m going – I’m going to a friend’s house too. It’s a Harry Potter party.

Ben: Say that three times fast, Andrew.

Andrew: Harry Potter party, Harry Potter party, Harry Potter party. I don’t stumble anymore.

Ben: Say it for five minutes.

Andrew: [laughs] I can’t do it for five minutes. Well, thanks, everyone, for listening tonight. What are we at here? 490 viewers right now and I saw it was higher at 500 earlier today.


MuggleCasters React to Snape Shushing Harry


Micah: Should we just talk about one more thing?

Andrew: Yeah please.

Micah: Because I don’t know, we didn’t really bring it up, but the scene where Snape is shushing Harry.

Andrew: Oh yeah!

Micah: I know a lot of people sent in a message about that. What do you guys think?

Andrew: I – what do you think? Because I saw that, and I don’t – I don’t know. I mean, is he essentially saying that he’s…

Micah: I think it’s right before he kills Dumbledore.

Andrew: Huh? Right, it’s…

Micah: I think it’s right before he kills Dumbledore.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: So can he see under the Cloak? Is Harry even under the Cloak? Who knows? He would have to be.

Nick: He’s moving though in it as well.

Micah: He’s what?

Nick: He’s moving in it though, isn’t he? Isn’t he immobilized when he’s under the Cloak?

Micah: Right.

Nick: In the trailer he actually moves.

Micah: Yeah, and what’s also weird about it is this would suggest that Snape can see Harry when we know…

Nick: Oh yeah, yeah.

Micah: …in the book that he doesn’t. Or maybe he does, who knows? Maybe he can sense Harry under the Invisibility Cloak.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, it’s – it’s – it’s – it’s weird. I don’t – but do you think this could be – I mean, this essentially reveals though that if Snape is telling him to be quiet, then isn’t it sort of giving it away that he’s the good guy?

Micah: Well, I don’t know, because right before he kills him maybe Harry sees Snape coming up the staircase and thinks he’s there to help. It could be one of those situations because Draco has already – or no, has Draco – would Draco have already disarmed Dumbledore? He would have, right?

Andrew: Yes, I think so, by this point.

Micah: So I would say it would be the scene where Snape is sort of coming up the steps to the Astronomy tower, and Harry might see him there, and he just turns to make sure that Harry doesn’t move. I don’t think it would imply that he’s good.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Because Harry doesn’t know what he’s about to do.

Andrew: Right. Anyone else? Any thoughts about that? I think it’s bad. I think fans are going to be upset with that.

Nick: Yeah.

Andrew: No? Nobody? Laura? Micah? Ben?

Laura: Dead air.

Ben: Nothing. I’ve got nothing, Andrew. I’m all showed out.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay…

Ben: All this time on the stage, thinking and all that, has been rough.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: Just kidding. It’s been fun. It’s been a blast!

Andrew: I know. I’m sure you’re – it’s a lot of work, isn’t it, just sitting there?

Ben: It must be a lot of work for you too, Skype Master!

[Andrew and Micah laugh]


Show Close


Andrew: Podcasting Master. Well, thanks, everyone, for listening. This has been a fun show. Thanks to the 500 of you who have been listening too. It’s a nice – nice big audience for a last minute show, and we hope you all have enjoyed it. So yeah, Ben, you have fun with your apple juice. And the rest of you have fun being losers Friday night just sitting around.

[Andrew and Ben laugh]

Andrew: I’m just kidding.

Ben: I’m not.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Actually I am. I’m sorry.

Andrew: Hey, fun – fun last minute question. When do you guys think the next trailer will come out? Because there’s got to be one more.

Nick: A couple of months.

Ben: Oh, it’s coming to me in a vision, hold on. [makes choking noises]

Andrew: Is he Trelawney?

Ben: [as Trelawney] The true trailer will come out on February 27th.

Andrew: Wow!

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Wow.

Ben: Guys, I have no idea what just happened there.

Andrew: February 27th.

Ben: What? What happened?

Andrew: February 27th. That’s a Friday. I guess that’s a possibility.

Ben: What’s going on? What were we talking about? What’s going on?

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: I just blanked out for a second.

Andrew: I don’t – you just had a vision, Ben, I think.

Ben: Oh my gosh!

Andrew: You predicted February 27th for the next trailer. We’ll see. [laughs]

Ben: Wow.

Andrew: That was so weird.

Ben: Sorry. Sometimes it just comes to me.

Andrew: Right. I understand. Thanks, everyone, for listening.

[“My Generation” by The Who starts playing]

Andrew: Whoa! That was really loud! We’ll leave you with “My Generation” by The Who. Goodnight, everybody!

Nick: Bye.

[“My Generation” plays]

Transcript #168

MuggleCast 168 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins]

Mason: Listen up, MuggleCast listeners! 2009 is finally here, and now GoDaddy hosting plans are more powerful than ever! Best of all, plans start at just $3.95 a month, and no matter what plan you choose, your site receives 24/7 maintenance and protection in the GoDaddy.com world class data center. Plus, as a listener of MuggleCast, enter code Ron – that’s R-O-N – when you check out, and get your dot com domain name for just $6.95 a year. Some restrictions always apply, but check that site out for the details. Get your piece of the Internet at GoDaddy.com.

Andrew: Today’s podcast is also brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of spoken word entertainment. What are you listening to after today’s episode? How about a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up. Log on to www.AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast today for details.

[“Innuendo” by Queen begins playing]

Andrew: Because we’re here to usher in the new year, this is MuggleCast Episode 168 for January 15th, 2009!

[Show music begins playing]

Andrew: And look at this.

Matt: What?

Andrew: Look at this. 686 people in the Ustream feed right now, and there’s not even big news. This is like – this may be one of the biggest shows we’ve done live on Ustream, and there’s not even news. There is news. There’s a lot of news, and I’m excited…

Micah: There’s news.

Andrew: …to introduce – thank you, Micah – I’m excited to introduce the panel today. First, joining me in studios, Matt Britton.

Matt: Hi.

Andrew: Well said. Also, via Skype today is Micah Tannenbaum.

Micah: Hey.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Man of many words, as always. Who else have we got here? We also have Laura Thompson. Hello, Laura.

Laura: Hey, how are you?

Andrew: You are looking dashing today.

Laura: Oh I know, thank you. I dressed up just for…

Andrew: Anyway, also, Eric is here. Hey, Eric. Just kidding.

[Matt laughs]

Eric: Hey guys.

Andrew: Eric, there’s a lot to talk to you about since you’ve seen this movie, and now we have a PG rating. Very confusing.

Eric: Actually, I’m not so sure, Andrew. I’m not so sure I’ve seen this movie. I think…

Andrew: You think they changed it? [laughs] I see. And lastly, also joining us today, Nick Myers, a – he was petitioned on MuggleSpace to come on the show, so we have him here on MuggleCast. Hey, Nick.

Nick: Hey everyone, how are you doing?

Andrew: There’s Nick, isn’t that refreshing? An English voice. Haven’t heard one of those in a while. [clears throat] No, I’m just kidding. Jamie’s a great – Nick, how about you start the show off, tell us – tell everyone a little bit about yourself. We need to know who you are.

Nick: Well, I’ve actually worked on MuggleNet for two years on the movie section, the picture page, the gallery, just doing general maintenance around the site. I live in sunny England, I’m nineteen years old. What else do you want to know?

Andrew: That’s about it. You sound like Jamie, so I think everyone will be happy with you.

[Nick laughs]

Andrew: No, but you’ll come into your own on the show, I’m sure. [laughs]


Audible Advertisement


Andrew: And don’t forget, ladies and gentlemen, today’s podcast is brought to you by Audible.com, the leading provider in spoken word entertainment. Audible has over 35,000 titles to choose from to be downloaded and played back anywhere, just like MuggleCast. Log on to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast to get a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up today. Again, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast for your free audiobook.


News: Half-Blood Prince Gets a PG Rating


Andrew: Anyway, welcome, everyone, to MuggleCast Live. Like I said, it’s a wonderful Thursday evening. I didn’t say that part. I did say there were six – over six – over 700 people listening now, so this is great. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in. Quick reminder before we start, there’s obviously – with a lot of people listening, there’s a lot of people in the chat room. If you want to listen to this without the chat, just go to MuggleNet and you’ll see at the top post there is a reminder about the show. Click the “Read More” link and then you’ll see a window that’s just streaming this and it won’t be with the chat. So that’ll help calm that down if you don’t like the chat. Anyway, Micah, what’s in the news this week?

Micah: You mentioned it before, Andrew. Half-Blood Prince was given a PG rating. This story was back on January 7th, not too long ago. But what kind of makes me wonder is that it says PG is for “scary images, some violence, language and mild sensuality.”

Andrew: Yes. Okay, now this – this is surprising. I mean, because everyone was expecting – let me put it this way: Goblet of Fire – before Goblet of Fire came out – of course that was the first movie with the PG-13 rating – everyone was like, “Well, is this going to be PG?” because we’ve seen before that there’s been a – you know – the books are obviously getting darker. So why did it go back to PG? That’s the question I guess we should try to figure out, and a lot of people are also disappointed. Nick, you had an interesting take on this. To get the discussion started, you e-mailed me about it the other day. Can you tell us about that? It’s really interesting.

Nick: Yeah, of course. After the announcement of the PG rating in America, the first thing I did was I went on the BBFC website and looked at the U.K. classification. I found something quite interesting. Basically, the trailers for the latest Half-Blood Prince movie in the U.K. have been rated 12A, which usually means that the film will also follow suit and also be a 12. The past two films have also been 12s and they had trailers with 12A ratings.

Andrew: Right.

Nick: So I guess what I’m saying is it’s going to be rated 12 over here by the looks of things…

Andrew: Yeah.

Nick: …which is kind of a PG-13 equivalent.

Andrew: Yeah, so isn’t that interesting? So that would be actually – that would be a first time one of the Potter films has a different rating here, isn’t that right? I mean, there’s never been a time when it’s rated 12A over there and PG here, or vice versa.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: PG’s silly, but, Eric, let’s go to you now. You’ve seen the film, and you said it was the darkest yet when we discussed this on the phone the other day.

Eric: Yeah, it wasn’t just the darkest yet; it was painfully PG-13 in my opinion, and I actually didn’t want to say anything then when I had first begun. First of all, Andrew, I just logged into the Ustream and it says “Off Air.” Are we actually on air?

Andrew: No, we’re on air. Yeah.

Eric: Okay, because I can’t pull up the chat, so I’m just making sure. But anyway, when I first got done seeing the movie I didn’t want to mention exactly how dark the movie was, specifically because I think one of these news articles now, one of the stars, is saying that they feel they’ve achieved this perfect balance between humor and darkness. I actually felt that the scale was tipped a little bit more in the darkness, to be honest, and I spoke with David Heyman and David Yates afterwards and said, “Dude. Okay, first of all, the entire movie – the entire movie that we saw was in sepia.” I mean, it just felt like the whole thing was color-washed and really dark, and dark literally. We’re talking literally dark. They assured me that they were still working on the color, et cetera, et cetera. But whatever happy scenes there are, and there were some genuinely funny scenes in this movie, I just felt that the darkness was really intense when there was. And I just don’t see any way that this movie could be PG from the film – from the preview that we saw. The movie we saw had, you know, not a completed score, so maybe it’s a really happy score. Maybe they just set all the depressing, horrible scenes to happy music. I don’t know.

Andrew: Is there a chance that the Motion Picture Association of America, they just decided – maybe they were feeling lenient that day or something? That’s what one blog suggested, which I thought was kind of funny.

Eric: I think it’s possible, but what I wanted to bring to the show as far as discussion-wise is, the more I thought about it, the sixth Harry Potter book to me is actually a lot lighter, I think, than Book 5. I mean at least Harry’s not as angsty, so…

Andrew: Right.

Eric: I mean, and it’s not until Book 7 that everyone starts dying. So Book 6 being a lot about Voldemort is very interesting, but if you’re even going to take most of that away, then you’ve kind of got the makings of a PG movie, I guess, right? I mean…

Andrew: Right.

Eric: …it will get dark, but it might not be. The book seemed…

Matt: Eric, do you – now when you say that there are scenes that are – like this film was a lot more darker than the previous films, do you mean it was darker in the action, like physically darker, or verbally, like in the script and stuff? Do you know what I mean? Like, if someone – like it had deeper tones.

Eric: Language hasn’t changed too much, so language as far as in the wording and stuff is much darker. No. I think it’s more in the events, the thematic – maybe then they were really trying to play up the Voldemort aspect of it, but it just felt – I mean, a lot is going on, and one of the things I liked about this film was how slow it was. I’m going to use the term slow because I felt that they spread all the events that happened in Book 6 out to actually make them feel like they were taking place over the course of a longer period of time, unlike when they rushed things.

Andrew: Let’s get everyone else’s thoughts. Laura, Micah, and Penny’s joining us now. I’ll be completely honest, Penny, I completely forgot to call you… [laughs] …when I was getting this.

Penny: Yeah, I’m forgettable like that, aren’t I? [laughs]

Andrew: Yes, you are, and by forgettable I mean amazing. Anyway…

Penny: We’ll remember that in the future.

Andrew: Yeah. Awkward. Laura, Penny, Micah? What do you guys think about this? I mean, is it a disappointment?

Laura: I’m kind of scared. I’m not going to lie. I mean, considering that the previous – the couple movies past have been PG-13, and I really consider the content of Book 6 to be just as, if not more, frightening than the content of Books 4 and 5.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: So, I’m really kind of confused.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I’m not going to lie.

Andrew: Yeah. Micah?

Micah: Yeah, I agree with Laura. I think that it’s kind of disheartening to see that it’s rated PG, and – just because you do have a death in this book, probably the biggest in the series for most people, and you have a rogue necklace running around the grounds of Hogwarts, and I’m sure that’s a pretty creepy scene. And a couple of other things. I mean, like Laura did say, you’re dealing with a lot of dark material here. It’s really where you get your first glimpse into Horcruxes. I’m assuming that they kept that in the film. And I just think that for PG rating, it’s kind of questionable with the past two films being PG-13.

Andrew: And Penny? How about you?

Penny: Yeah, I just worry that they’re not going to be able to do justice to everything. That’s my biggest problem with it. I don’t know if you guys said that before, but there is so much in this that is darker, and there are so many more mature themes, that if they can’t do justice to it with that rating, it’s going to be a real disappointment.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: What kind of things, though, would make it PG-13? Let’s just name off some stuff.

Andrew: Well, I mean – the book itself?

Micah: The sex, drugs, rock n’ roll of Harry Potter.

Laura: Well, there was the whole scene where…

Andrew: Yeah, where’s the sex? Where’s the drugs?

[Penny laughs]

Andrew: I want the Harry smoking some hash.

Matt: Hash?

Andrew: He needs to relax!

[Penny laughs]

Matt: Cocaine?

Eric: Yeah, just take a kitten and – just cut some kittens in half. That would make something – actually, probably more than PG-13.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, about that.

Andrew: Yeah, because I just started reading Half-Blood Prince the other day actually, again, to figure out what could – what’s – what – because obviously because we’re talking about it more. But can anyone think of any scenes that may be a problem?

Laura: The Inferi? Dead people…

Eric: That’s where, like…

Laura: …coming out of the water?

Matt: Yeah. Oh, and the whole Sectumsempra thing with Draco…

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: …with his insides coming out, but they cut that.

Eric: Okay, well, let me interject then. The movie that I saw did do the book justice. In fact, it did the book so much justice that it was my favorite film that I had seen, and I hadn’t seen the whole thing that was finished and edited. So we know that they haven’t cut nearly anything. They – David Heyman said they were just – they added one scene and that was it; they just tinkered it a little bit. Okay, the movie I saw did great justice to the book. And so maybe we’re overreacting, because to be perfectly honest, I was very satisfied. And you guys know, listening to me on MuggleCast for however long it’s been, three years, that I’m not easily pleased.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Oh.

Andrew: Yeah, you’re just a big complainer.

[Nick says something unintelligible]

Andrew: What’s that, Nick?

Eric: So I think they have to…

Nick: Could this just be a marketing ploy to get more people to – more people to go visit – or watch it. I mean, this will have made press all over the world, the rating thing. It’s great advertisement for the WB. It just seems very sort of – almost like it is a PG-13, they’ve just mis-rated it.

Andrew: Right.

Matt: I’m just scared it was probably originally PG-13 until they just added more stuff and then kept editing it until it was a PG film.

Andrew: I don’t think they would do that.

Matt: You don’t think they would?

Eric: Do you think the were aiming for a PG rating?

Matt: I don’t know. A broader audience? I mean, PG-13 is not that bad. I mean…

Eric: No.

Matt: What – I just want to know, what was it that made it a PG and not PG-13?

Andrew: Eric, do you think it’s darker than Order of the Phoenix and Goblet of Fire? Like, you know – I don’t even know how to explain that.

Eric: It’s rough. I mean, it’s a different movie altogether. I mean, that’s the problem. Movie 4 I thought was really dark and stuff, and obviously there’s the creepy Voldemortness of it all. It’s a different film, but I did feel it was dark. The first thing I said to – when I had the pleasure of meeting those guys, I said, “This is not, nor can it be marketed as, a kid’s movie.” Because actually, I felt that the young kids who would see this, if it were, say, PG – you know, the five or six year olds – I made the contrast of Chamber of Secrets, which was rated PG for some scary scenes, and they had to, in the trailer, mention that it was rated for these scenes of scary spiders and the Basilisk was supposed to be scary. Okay, if you’re comparing rating here, the stuff they have in Movie 6 is a lot scarier. Like you guys said. Dead bodies coming out of the water. Souls being split in pieces. A lot scarier than giant spiders.

Matt: Well, that’s the same exact thing that happened in Chamber of Secrets. Voldemort’s soul was split in half, and there were giant spiders. But the spiders didn’t come out and kill anybody, they were just there. They were just there. [whispers] They were just there!

Andrew: So, I mean, is there anything else to talk about this? I mean, it is somewhat disheartening, I guess, in a way, but I’m just holding out hope that the people who decided to rate it at the MPAA were just like, “Eh…” I don’t know. I mean, did Order of the Phoenix – did Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix even deserve the PG rating? PG-13 rating?

Eric: That’s a good question. Maybe they’re trying to reform a little bit. I don’t know. I mean, it’s not really a shame to be – I mean, if you guys look at older movies, like Planet of the Apes for instance, that’s rated PG by the Motion Picture – we’re talking about the one in the ’60s – is rated PG, and there is all sorts of swear words in that movie.

Matt: Well, yeah, there wasn’t any headway – there wasn’t no middle ground between PG and R rating at that time.

Eric: Right, right. Then. So they – nowadays that movie might get a PG-13 rating. But I’m just saying, certain time changes sort of what ratings mean…

Matt: Well, maybe the times are changing, Eric. I mean, do they have a refresh every year saying, “Well, should we up the PG rating?” or what? We’ve got to get somebody on the…

Penny: Yeah, but they’re not letting the public – the problem is that they’re not letting the public know that, though, so let’s say the MPAA or Warner Brothers says, “Okay, now we’re making this PG,” you still have kids out there who maybe shouldn’t be seeing this movie because it is pretty dark, that are going to go and see it because it’s a PG movie. So if you think about what the ratings are for, that might be problematic. Whether we’re disappointed or not is one thing, but when I think about parents taking their kids, that bothers me too.

Matt: Uh-huh.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Well, we don’t really know…

Micah: I like what Nick said earlier, though, when he was talking about – does Warner Brothers have something to gain by making it PG?

Eric: Just…

Micah: A wider audience would be one.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: Just the ability to corrupt the minds of the innocent. Virgin eyes.

[Matt and Micah laugh]

Eric: I hate thinking – I mean, we just got over thinking that WB were the villains, and now I just feel that I was tragically misunderstood by the makers of the film and that they agreed with me then, and said, “Hey, it’s not for kids,” but then went and advertised it to four year-olds in fricking day care!

Matt: [laughs] Maybe Warner Brothers was just too busy with the whole Watchmen thing that they just thought, “You know what? Just give Harry Potter a PG rating, we’re too busy with this.”

Micah: [laughs] But how do you go from Half-Blood Prince being PG to Deathly Hallows potentially being rated R?

Andrew: No, it can’t be.

Matt: No, it’s never going to be rated R.

Laura: It can’t be rated R.

Andrew: Unless you see death or something.

Matt: Unless there’s an intimate scene with somebody.

Andrew: Well…

Eric: Unless they actually do the Hedwig scene.

[Matt laughs]

Laura: They wouldn’t rate it R for that.

Eric: Hedwig’s…

Matt: I mean, they would have to graphic up that death.

Andrew: Yeah, that death is not very…

Eric: Do you have any idea what special effects can do, Laura? We can see…

Laura: Sure.

Eric: …the little Hedwig body parts, little organs and…

Laura: Mmm, I’m pretty sure they’re not going to do that, but maybe you should pitch that to David Heyman and see what he thinks.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: I don’t know. David and I aren’t getting along.

Andrew: It would be kind of funny if… [laughs] …they did decide to rate it R. I mean, you can’t – no Harry Potter book is rated R. Even if the book, exactly is for what it is, became a movie. Am I right?

Eric: No, it’s only the fanfic that’s R.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Laura laughs]

Eric: Even that just gets…

Laura: That’s so true.

Andrew: Just a word to those listening in the chat, we had to disable the video because we’re having some Upstream problems with the thing.

Eric: Andrew, we had video?

Andrew: Yes. There’s video of me and Matt. We’re naked. It’s fun.

Matt: Ew.

Andrew: [laughs] But anyway, we did have to do this. So anyway – just so everyone knows. And it keeps disconnecting, so I don’t know why. But hopefully it’ll get fixed. We should just switch to Stickam or something. That’d be funny.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Anyway. What was I going to say?

Matt: [whispers] I don’t know.

Andrew: Well, let’s move on. What else is in the news, Micah?


News: Toby Jones Returns as Dobby’s Voice


Micah: A couple more stories. Back on January 9th, the Telegraph reported that Toby Jones will be back to voice Dobby in Deathly Hallows. And we haven’t seen Dobby since Chamber of Secrets, so that was good news. And which begs the question, when do you think we’re going to hear some more casting news? They’re starting filming in a month from today, actually, so any idea as to when we’re going to hear some more information?

Matt: Jeez. How long has this movie been in production? Has it been over a year?

Andrew: Yes, it is. It is.

Matt: Oh my gosh.

Andrew: So. Yeah, I mean, that’s kind of cool to hear that he’s coming back. That was actually – people were pleasantly surprised to hear that, weren’t they?

Matt: Yeah. I was so excited.

Andrew: Really?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Why?

Matt: Well, because, hello, he’s been out of the movies for, what, three movies now? Where he’s actually been in the movies – or the books?

Eric: It means that there’s got to be some kind of planning to have his character back in the movie adaptation, which they didn’t have to do.

Matt: Well, we get to see him die, pretty much. Oh, sorry, spoiler.

Eric: They bring him back to kill him off.

Matt: I know. Gosh. Warner Brothers is so nice. I don’t want to talk about his death.

Andrew: I guess there’s not much to discuss with there. What else is going on, Micah?


News: Harry Potter Theme Park


Micah: Well, I’m going to go over to Laura for this, because I heard she was sneaking around Universal Studios.

Laura: Oh. [laughs] Yeah.

Andrew: What were you up to, Laura?

Laura: I was just at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, in Orlando, Florida, which is pretty exciting for Potter fans, because we all know they’re building the theme park. And, first of all, funny story – I was walking through the section where they’re sort of doing a lot the construction, and it’s like the Jurassic Park area, and the Lost Continent, for anybody who’s ever been there. And they have all these big tall wooden gates that look very Hogwartsy-ish that are – it’s really exciting, but they’re hiding all the construction. And I saw one of them was cracked open, and so I went to just sort of stick my camera lens through and take a picture, but then I realized the gate was totally unlocked! And so I kind of opened it a little bit…

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: …and as I was doing that, a Universal employee comes up to me and was like, “Uh, no.”

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: So I was like, “Okay, okay, I’m leaving!” But I just thought it was funny, because there wasn’t actually anything back there. I looked and there was nothing behind this particular gate. But they didn’t want me back there.

Eric: Muggles can’t see it, Laura.

Laura: [unintelligible] so far. Oh, that’s true.

Andrew: Is there anything interesting going on? Because we get people commenting, you know, or sending in picture reports every once and a while, but all they are – it’s the same thing! Now, granted, the park’s not opening up for one – maybe two – years. So, I mean, was there anything?

Laura: Umm…

Matt: Did you see any dirt?

Laura: A lot of it…

[Micah laughs]

Laura: What? I’m sorry, the feed’s freaking out.

Matt: Oh.

Laura: Essentially, I think it would take somebody who had been to the park a few times to notice the changes, because it’s become very apparent that they;re using a lot of pre-existing structure from those parts of the theme park so they’re not going to be rebuilding new things. Like there was at one time in the Lost Continent area a huge restaurant, and now, if you stand on a bridge, you can see where they’ve completely taken the roof off of that and they’ve gone down to sort of – the more foundation part of it where there’s still some castle-looking area that’s on the water.

Andrew: Aha.

Laura: So it looks like they’re building it up from there.

Andrew: That’s cool!

Laura: I…

Andrew: So it’ll be on the water?

Laura:[unintelligible] being constructed. It’s sort of on the water. The way they had it was the restaurant was inside, and you went out on to a back patio area, and it was on the water.

Andrew: I see.

Matt: Oh.

Laura: I’m thinking maybe that’ll be the Three Broomsticks. I don’t know.

Matt: Hmm. Interesting, interesting, interesting.

Andrew: That’s very exciting.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: I mean, that would be really cool if it was on the water. What was I going to say? Pie, that’s what. Not to change the subject so quickly, but Eric just sent a link in the chat that – yeah, I’ve seen this, Eric, it’s actually pretty interesting. It’s an article asking, could the Harry – and my immediate answer is no – could the Harry Potter series end early? What are they saying in this article, Eric?


News: Could Deathly Hallows Be Pulled?


Eric: They’re saying that movie studios are pulling movies and is it that far-fetched to suspect that they just wouldn’t go on making a seventh Harry Potter film due to the massive budget that it would require, and do they really need to? As Warner Brothers, couldn’t they just squash – couldn’t they just not make a seventh Harry Potter film and sit on the rights so that no one else could make it? Really, a bit of a paranoid sort of idea-maker there.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: If they thought they had a problem pushing back Half-Blood Prince, they would have a huge problem…

Matt: Right! [laughs]

Micah: …doing something like that.

Andrew: Listen. I mean, the Harry Potter franchise is now the biggest franchise of all time. Why would you even think they would not do a final film? WB can certainly afford it!

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] It’s…

Matt: Don’t you think they’ve been saving up for this movie, though, too?

Andrew: I think the idea – no! What, they’re like throwing some money in their…

Matt: Yeah, they’ve got a savings account.

Andrew:Deathly Hallows piggy-bank?

Matt: Yeah. I’d like to deposit this in the DH account, please.

Andrew: Yeah. No.

Eric: Whatever it costs, they’ll make it back plus some.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: You know what I’m saying?

Andrew: Plus double, triple! I mean… [laughs]

Eric: They really have nothing to…

Matt: It’s in two parts. I mean, shoot.

Andrew: Oh, yeah! Hell, yeah! I mean, it’s insane, when you think about it, how much money the final film alone will generate.

Matt: A lot.

Andrew: A lot of money.

Matt: Yes.

Andrew: So that’s – I think this article, more than anything, is sort of just an attention grabber. Like, “Ooh, will it really end?” And the sad thing is, it made so many stupid headlines in the different movie blog sites and all that.

Matt: Well, what kind of movies were pulled? I know that the Chronicles of Narnia film was pulled by Disney, but that’s all I know.

Eric: [unintelligible] Narnia

Andrew: Yeah, well, that was pretty sad. What did you guys think of the Narnia films being cancelled? Well, the third one. I was looking forward to the third one.

Eric: Well…

Matt: Yeah, I was too, because everyone who read the books said it was so good.

Eric: The book is great. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a great book, but it became apparent when I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End that if they were to do a – they’re very similar, let’s just put it that way. The scenes and – C.S. Lewis wrote it way before Pirates came out but they’re very similar. Why film the same movie? Et cetera, et cetera. I just think Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a massive underwater tank, undertaking, and it’s a bit disappointing that they won’t do it, but some things are better left to books, I guess.

Matt: I guess so.

Andrew: Yeah. What else is going on, Micah? In the news?


News: Jim Dale is not doing Beedle the Bard


Micah: One final piece of news. A lot of people actually asked about this, so we have kind of exclusive information here that Andrew was able to go and get.

Andrew: Ooh, everyone, listen up.

Matt: Oh, shh.

Andrew: Where’s my exclusive sound effect?

Matt: [whispering] Okay, okay.

Andrew: Oh, I don’t have one.

Micah: Have you got one? Oh, you don’t have one. Oh, okay.

[Andrew makes sound effect]

Micah: Anyway – nice. Thatís good. Jim Dale has not been approached to do a Beedle the Bard audiobook as of right now.

[Andrew repeats sound effect]

Andrew: That’s kind of sad. I’m going to be honest. We posed this question to his agent, because a lot of people are wondering, is Mr. Dale going to do it? Because he’s been involved in so many so many Potter books and…you know?

Matt: Now that we’ve seen the book, we know how small it is.

Andrew: Yeah, so he’d be able to knock it out.

Matt: He’d be able to knock it out, but it would be on like half of a CD, or – what? – an hour on an MP3 player?

[Laura sneezes]

Andrew: Bless you.

Matt: Oh, bless you.

Laura: Excuse me.

Andrew: It’d take him like three Apples. He’ll knock it right out.

[Micah laughs]

Matt: Would it even be worth it, though? I mean – what?

Andrew: Three Apples.

Micah: It’s for charity.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Jimmy-boy can read it. Maybe we can read it. Maybe we can petition.

Matt: Ooh, let’s do an audiobook. Yeah.

Laura: Heck yeah, sure.


MuggleNet Fan Fiction: Audiofictions


Andrew: Hey, speaking of that, real quick plug for MuggleNet Fan Fiction. They started this thing called Audiofictions, and basically they are audiobook versions of Harry Potter fan fictions. And they just released the first one a couple of weeks ago; we plugged it on MuggleNet, and they’re really cool. I want to get in on it. [laughs] I asked them if I could read one for them one time. That’d be fun. I’m an inspiring Jim Dale user…

Matt: No, you’re not.

Andrew: …person.

Micah: We should get Mason to do it.

Matt: [laughs] You’re so not. Yeah, let’s get Mason on it.

Andrew: So, if you want to check this out: FanFiction.MuggleNet.com. They’re very innovative, I must say. Is that it, Micah? Is there anything else to talk about?

Micah: That is it. We’re done.

Andrew: Oh, that’s it? Oh.


NPR feels threatened by MuggleCast!?


Andrew: Okay, well, also going on this week, a couple announcements. First of all, this isn’t an announcement, but we want to talk about it. The 2008 Web Blog Awards. We came in second place.

Matt: Aww.

Andrew: Which, not a big deal, it’s fine. But what happened was NPR was also in the running for this, and they were trying to compete with us. Now, for some reason, it was called The Harry Podcast MuggleCast on the voting thing…

Matt: Ugh.

Andrew: …which is weird in and of itself.

Matt: It’s so awkward to read it too.

Andrew: Yeah, and kind of embarrassing, because who would name a podcast Harry Podcast MuggleCast? But anyway, we need to call out NPR, a little wag of the finger, in the words of Colbert. Because what they did was kind of weird. Let me play this. This is their little plea to beat us.

Matt: Play the clip, Andrew.

Andrew: Okay. Here’s the clip.

NPR Host 1: …this morning about the 2008 Web Blog Awards. These are where people get to vote for the best podcast of the year.

NPR Host 2: And we don’t really care about awards. Our mothers do, but we don’t particularly…

Andrew: Oh, right, sure.

NPR Host 2: But there was something about this e-mail from Adam that really made us all snap to attention.

NPR Host 1: Which is that we are losing to the Harry Podcast MuggleCast.

[NPR hosts laugh]

[Andrew laughs mockingly]

NPR Host 2: And I’m sure that the Harry Podcast MuggleCast is an excellent podcast, and we wish them well, but we want them to come in second place.

NPR Host 1: So, if you don’t mind, please go and vote. You don’t have to register or anything. Just go click. And actually, I’m going to do it on this computer because I think you can do it once per computer per 24 hour period.

Andrew: So that’s NPR trying to encourage their visitors to beat out a amateur Harry Potter podcast. [laughs] Which I thought was really funny and kind of ironic because they said they wanted…

Micah: They got it right.

Matt: Well, yeah. We did get second place.

Andrew: They said they didn’t want us to get second place…

Matt: No, they did.

Eric: They got what they wanted.

Matt: “We want them to get second place.” Well, we did get second place.

Andrew: And they got third. Apparently Econ Talk didn’t matter. But then at the end of the show, once isn’t enough, they have to do it again. Sorry, turned my audio down. They had to do it again. Listen to this.

NPR Host 1: Well, right now I’m making a living working on this podcast.

NPR Host 2: I think we just finished another one. Do not, Planet Money listeners, forget to vote for us in the 2008 Web Blog Awards. Don’t let the Harry Podcast MuggleCast make Adam cry.

NPR Host 1: Don’t let them win.

NPR Host 2: No! The link’s on our blog: NPR.org/Money. I’m Laura Connoway and I’m going to win this thing.

NPR Host 1: And I’m David…

Andrew: Like – what? Do you really need to – I mean…

[Matt laughs]

Laura: Seriously?

Andrew: [laughs] What!?

Matt: Andrew…

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: Wow, NPR is threatened by MuggleCast.

Andrew: [laughs] I know. I find it very flattering. NPR is a fantastic group of radio programs.

Matt: They have a whole bunch of them. I was on iTunes. They have what, thirteen?

Andrew: Probably more. Close to thirty, I think. They’re…

Matt: Oh my God.

Andrew: So we did get second place, just like they wanted, so – but they ended up getting third, and they posted a picture on their blog. It was like Jim cried – or whoever that guy was – he cried because we lost – he lost.

Matt: Well, everything works out in the end.

Andrew: Yeah. So listen, NPR…

Laura: Plug on NPR.

Andrew: …we beat you. We’re better than you.

Matt: No, don’t say that.

Andrew: All right. Yeah, that’s cocky.

Andrew: Laura…

Laura: We’re a lot better than you.

Andrew: …do you have a cold? Laura, do you have a cold, Laura?

Laura: Yeah, I do.

Andrew: Oh.

Laura: I was hoping no one would notice.

Andrew: You know what? I didn’t notice, but someone in the chat did. So I had to ask.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Laura: Thanks for noticing, person in the chat. Feeling bad for my sickness.

Andrew: That’s funny.

Eric: You got to get down with the sickness, Laura.

Matt: You got to get down with the sickness [unintelligible]


Announcements: Podcast Alley and Midnight Leaky Mug


Andrew: Anyway, in other announcement news, don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley. Currently, we’re in number three, so thanks for that. And don’t forget – and this was just announced today (another announcement about Azkatraz) – Azkatraz 2009 in July. It’s going to be a fantastic event. Of course, it’s going to be right after the movie release, and we just announced today that the podcast we are going to do after the midnight release of Half-Blood Prince is actually going be… [gasps] …a Leaky Mug.

Matt: [gasps] OMG.

Andrew: So we announced that on that on MuggleCast today.

Micah: So excited.

Andrew: MuggleNet today. You can get more details on MuggleNet.com. Okay, how you doing, Nick? Nick?

Nick: Okay, sorry, I lost you on your audio for a second there.

Andrew: That’s okay. Just wanted to check in on you to make sure you’re still okay. You’re a first-timer; we have to take extra good care of you. [laughs]

Nick: You’re doing a wonderful job. Thanks.

Andrew: [laughs] Can you say “brilliant,” please, instead of “wonderful”? The fan girls like that.

Matt: Stop making him Jamie!

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Let him be himself.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: I’m just kidding. Usually Brits say “brilliant.” Anyway – whatever.

Matt: God.


Muggle Mail: Effect of Beedle the Bard on Fandom


Andrew: Okay, Muggle Mail this week. We have a few e-mails to get through, then we’re going to talk about 2009: what to expect this year. Another wonderful year in Harry Potter. So who wants to take the first Muggle Mail? Matt, how about you do it?

Matt: Okay. Okay. So, our first e-mail comes from Thalia Culvin. She’s thirteen from Mason, Ohio. That’s what the OH means, right?

Andrew: Mhm.

Matt: Okay. And she writes:

“Hi guys, love your show. I just had a couple comments regarding your discussion of the Top 7 News Events of the year. You talked about which ones have had the most impact on the fandom. Although I agree that a new book by J.K.R definitely deserves a high place on the list, ‘Beedle the Bard’ didn’t really do that much to introduce new people to the fandom. Although it’s sort of – it’s the sort of the thing that keeps the fandom going, I found that only people who were already mega-fans of the books have even heard of it. My friend who is a big fan of ‘Harry Potter’ and movies came to me and all excited about a week ago and informed me that there was a new book by J.K.R coming out. She was very surprised to hear that I had known for many months. On the other hand, I know lots of people who became fans of the books through the movies. So the ‘Half-Blood Prince’ delay really could be at the top of the list, I think. Anyway, just thought I’d throw that – my two cents in. Lots of love, Thalia.”

Andrew: Yeah, so that was interesting, I thought.

Matt: Yeah, I thought it was interesting, too.

Andrew: Sorry, I have to re-read it, but I know I put it in for a reason.

Eric: She says that only people who were big fans of the books knew about Beedle the Bard. But actually, I found the opposite…

Andrew: Really?

Matt: Really?

Eric: …to be true. Yeah, people – just knowing Kristen at work, people come up to her and say, “Hey, is this new Beedle the Bard thing – is that any good and what’s that all about?” So they’ve heard of it and they are just regular random co-worker normal people, not inside fandom at all.

Matt: Well, I mean, they probably heard it in the news, but it doesn’t have Harry Potter and the Beedle the Bard. It’s just Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling. So they probably thought – they probably just wanted to know if it was connected to Harry Potter or anything. I mean, it’s basically the first book that doesn’t have Harry Potter and the blah, blah, blah written by J.K. Rowling.

Eric: But what this girl is saying is that Beedle the Bard did nothing for new people who don’t already belong to the fandom and, therefore, is a less significant event of the year. And I mean when we did that show, we were arguing about which is more important, and we had a nice little discussion there so that’s all fine.

Matt: Right. But I do kind of agree with Thalia on her opinion on Beedle the Bard though. I do think that Beedle the Bard is only a novelty of the Harry Potter series. I don’t think it has any real influence on a general audience to actually read the rest of the Harry Potter books because there’s no real connection, except for the brothers story.


Muggle Mail: DH Foreshadowing in Movie 4


Andrew: Mhm. Next e-mail. Nick, you want to read that one from Tawney?

Nick: Yeah, of course. This is from Tawney. She writes:

Hey MuggleCasters, I really love the show and I love you all as individuals. I was watching the ‘Goblet of Fire’ movie with subtitles, not because I can’t hear but because I like to know every word said. And in the scene where Fred and George try to put their names into the Goblet of Fire, they start to fight and one of them yells, ‘I’ll rip off your ears!’ When I saw this line, I couldn’t help but laugh, as we very well know that George does lose his ear in the final book. I was just wondering what you thought about this line as the movie did come out before ‘Deathly Hallows.’ Thanks and Happy New Year.”

Andrew: Isn’t that kind of interesting? It’s a nice little parallel.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: A little foreshadowing.

Eric: Irony. Ha.

Matt: It would be funny if he said, “I’ll rip your ears off!” And then the other twin goes, “Yeah, but you’re going to die!”

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Oh my God.

Matt: Too soon?

Andrew: No, it’s not. That was perfect timing.

Eric: Too soon, too soon?

Andrew: Next e-mail. Laura, go.


Muggle Mail: Dumbledore’s Comments in Beedle the Bard


Laura: Okay. Jordan, seventeen, of Australia writes:

“Hey. Did you guys think Dumbledore’s comments were too lengthy? I thought they were only going to be footnotes but they were pages long. This seems to be a major complaint among ‘Beedle’ haters so I thought it was worth addressing. That’s it, really. Thanks for reading.”

Andrew: [laughs] This is weird. This is one of the very few e-mails who complained about this.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Does anyone think his comments were too lengthy? Now, I do have to say, actually – this just reminded me of something – Matt – not Matt – Ryan, my brother, Ryan, he read Beedle the Bard while I was back home in New Jersey and he didn’t want to read Dumbledore’s commentary either. He thought it was too boring. Then again, he’s twelve. Although, I take that back; twelve year-olds obviously like Harry Potter. But I don’t know. Jordan isn’t the only one.

Eric: Do you guys think it sounded like Dumbledore?

Andrew: Yes, definitely!

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: Yes.

Laura: Oh, yeah.

Eric: Like it wasn’t…


Eric Hasn’t Read Beedle the Bard


Andrew: Have you read it yet, Eric, by the way? [laughs]

Eric: I haven’t…

Andrew: You still haven’t read it?

Eric: …but I’ve heard a few comments…

Andrew: Eric!

Eric: No, I have not.

Andrew: Eric, it takes an hour to read. Surely you’ve had an hour. [laughs]

Eric: I just started college, Andrew.

Andrew: I know, but…

Eric: I’m reading about the French Revolution.

Andrew: Oh, sorry.

Laura: I was in college when it came out.

Micah: Come on!

Laura: Finals week.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: New Year’s resolution.

Eric: Seriously, I – seriously, the comments I’ve heard say…

Micah: By the next show, you have to…

Eric: …that it doesn’t sound like Dumbledore.

Matt: Eric, that’s sad.

Eric: Oh, don’t give me an ultimatum, Micah!

Matt: It’s so depressing.

Eric: Mr. Goblet of Fire movie.

Andrew: Order of the Phoenix!

Micah: It was Order of the Phoenix!

Andrew: You screwed it up again! [laughs] I don’t know, I…

Micah: What is interesting, though, Andrew.

Andrew: What?

MuggleCast 168 Transcript (continued)


Back to Dumbledore’s Commentary


Micah: You know that link you just sent me of J.K. Rowling doing the interview…

Andrew: Yes.

Micah: …in Edinburgh for Beedle the Bard? She said that that was actually her favorite part of it all, was writing Dumbledore’s commentary, because she hadn’t had the opportunity to write him for so long, as a character.

Andrew: Hm, interesting. I mean, yeah, and why not? Dumbledore must be one of the funnest people to write about, or to write as! He’s so witty. In Beedle the Bard he’s extremely witty. The Lucius Malfoy stuff I loved. When Dumbledore was talking about how Lucius Malfoy originally got – they originally got into a fight or started hating each other.

Matt: Yeah, it was the start of a life-long feud, or something like that.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: That was pretty chill.


Muggle Mail: Bloopers


Andrew: And final e-mail for today. Eric, do you want to read it?

[Long pause]

Eric: Yes!

[Matt laughs]

Eric: This one is from Jose, seventeen, from Tulare, California. Tulare? [pronounces Too-lar-ay] Tulare? Any of you Californians help me out?

Andrew: [pronounces Too-lair] Tulare, I guess?

Eric: Tulare, California. Jose says:

“I can’t help but notice that at the end of Episode 167, you said that you’d been recording for one hour fifty minutes. It beggs the question…” – with two g’s there – “…what kind of hilarious bloopers are the fans missing out on? My suggestion is that you maybe should make a small show composed of the out-takes that take place behind the scenes. Love the show and I hope there is much more to come. Pickles!”

Andrew: Yeah, we may – that’s – what happens is we’ll record, but some things we say are really dirty. Like Laura has the worst potty mouth I’ve ever heard in my life.

Laura: I really do.

Andrew: She has to restrain herself on live shows. Don’t you – aren’t you sitting there with like duct tape that you wrap around your head whenever…

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: …you’re resisting?

Matt: No, no. [laughs]

Laura: I mean, I literally – I mute my mic anytime I don’t have anything to say just so nothing slips out.

Matt: Oh, I thought you had like a pillow or something on your lap the entire time, and when you have something to say you just put it over your mouth. [makes noise like talking through pillow] Or not?

[Andrew pretends to laugh]

Matt: I thought it was funny, okay?


Main Discussion: 2009


Andrew: Let’s see. Okay. So that’s Muggle Mail this week. Let’s move on now to the main discussion. We’re talking about 2009, and that’s why we’re doing the live show. We’re ushering in the new year. It’s a new year! New Harry Potter! Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa! New movie, new exhibition, and other stuff. So we know there’s a movie, we know there’s an exhibition, but what else can we look forward to? Micah, you want to go through some of the things we can hopefully look forward to? We can discuss them if they’re actually going to happen and whatnot.


Deathly Hallows Casting


Micah: Sure. One thing is Deathly Hallows casting. I know we had talked about this before when we were speaking about Dobby. But what else do you think we’re going to hear within maybe even the next couple of weeks with filming starting?

Matt: A poster for the movie.

Andrew: I cannot believe…

Micah: Which movie?

Andrew: …filming starts in a month. That’s insane!

Matt: Oh! Are we talking about Deathly Hallows?

Eric: [unintelligible] Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: Oh, sorry, I thought you were talking about – never mind. [laughs]

Matt: Sorry.

Andrew: Yeah, I mean…

Micah: I was talking about Deathly Hallows.

Andrew: Oh, you were? Oh, okay.

Matt: Yeah, I was talking about Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: Well, WB tends to be hush-hush in the way of casting news. Usually it has to be pried out of them in the way of a leak. Like, someone will say in an interview, [in British accent] “Oh yeah, I’ve been casted for this role in Harry Potter, by the way.” You know?

Matt: Maybe …

Andrew: Isn’t – that’s how we heard from James Brock – what’s that?

Eric: You’re doing your Nick impression?

Andrew: Nick? Yes. [laughs] That’s how we heard about Jim Broadbent. He did an interview with Dark Horizons, and Dark Horizons said, “Anything else coming up?” And he said, [in British accent] “Yeah, I’m doing – playing Professor Slughorn.”

Matt: I think one of the big casting news we’ll get is Xenophilius Lovegood.

Andrew: Yeah, that should be interesting.

Matt: Because, I mean, it definitely has to be like a very well-known British actor.

Eric: Bob Hoskins.

Matt: Well, that’s what they’ve been saying for a longest time. They’ve been saying some other guy too. I forget his name. I guess it wasn’t that important.

Eric: Bob Hoskins.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Matt: Smooth.

Andrew: What other…

Micah: What other big characters, though?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Well, they still don’t have Scrimgeour.

Andrew: Yeah. You need a lion-like guy. You know who’d be great? Who’s that guy playing in X-Men Origins? Who’s that? Made that surprise appearance at Comic-Con.

Matt: Hugh Jackman?

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. He’d be awesome!

Matt: You want Wolverine?

Andrew: Yes, I want Wolverine.

Eric: He’s Wolverine.

Andrew: He’d be fantastic. Well, no, because I’m thinking the lion-like description. They’re going to need somebody who looks like a lion, and he kind of looks like a lion.

Matt: He has to have orange hair, doesn’t he? That doesn’t matter.

Eric: You should get Robert Downey.

Matt: Robert Downey Jr. is American.

Andrew: He can pull an English accent.

Laura: It doesn’t matter! He’s hot.

Andrew: Who, Laura?

Laura: Robert Downey Jr.

Andrew: We’re not talking about who’s hot. We’re talking about who looks like a lion.

[Matt sighs]

Eric: Yeah, do you really want to have dreams about Scrimgeour?

Matt: Oh, I know who it is. It’s Robert Pattinson.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: They should bring him back for a role. A different role.

[Matt laughs]

Eric: A different role. Like Harry’s mentor.

[Matt laughs]

Eric: Harry’s new mentor. And just have them opposite each other.

Matt: [laughs] Harry goes in Deathly Hallows, “Didn’t you die in the fourth movie?”

[Eric and Matt laugh]

Eric: God, that’s great.

Matt: “We killed you off already.”

Eric: Guys, what about Clemence Poesy? Did you guys hear anything about…

Andrew: She should be coming back. She’s got nothing better to do, right?

Eric: Well, she just did In Bruges with Colin Farrell, which won the – well, he won the Golden Globe.

Andrew: Right.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: And how about Professor Trelawney, now that they don’t have what’s-her-face.

Eric: Well, she never has that big a role.

Matt: They’ll probably cut her role.

Andrew: I hope not. She has awesome scenes in the battle.

Matt: She has…

[Nick says something unintelligible]

Andrew: What? Sorry, what’s that, Nick?

Nick: Is she not going to be in both of them? Or is she just missing the first one?

Andrew: No, she – I think she’s – yeah, she’s skipping out on both.

Matt: Wait, don’t we just see Trelawney in that one scene?

Nick: The second.

Matt: Yeah, at the end of the book.

Andrew: Right, the battle.

Matt: That one scene where she’s on the balcony with the globes.

Andrew: The battle, yeah, that’s what I’m saying.

Matt: Yeah, that…

Laura: They could probably live without her.

Matt: It’ll be like ten seconds in the movie.

Andrew: But it would still be cool. Don’t you guys see what I’m saying here?

Matt: [imitating Andrew] No, no, we do see what you’re saying! But it’s…

[Laura laughs]

Matt: It’s a small – no matter how you put it, it’s still a very quick, small scene.

Andrew: Yes.

Matt: Literally, she’ll be walking in. It will take two hours.

Andrew: I know.

Micah: So why can’t she do it?

Andrew: Yeah, exactly, why can’t she do it? And the other thing is…

Matt: She probably doesn’t think it’s worth it.

Andrew: Okay.

Matt: Okay, here we go, let’s go with the hate.

Andrew: Hold on.

Matt: But I’m just telling you what she would probably think.

Andrew: Emma Thompson aside, you can still have someone else do the role real quick. That’s what I’m saying.

Matt: But…

Eric: Why…

Matt: The audience is going to be like, “Who’s that? Is that…?”

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: “Is that – is that Trelawney?”

Andrew: Honestly, you can’t even tell it’s Emma Thompson, because of that wig and those glasses. They could easily find a look-a-like.

Eric: Warwick Davis could play Emma – the new Trelawney.

Andrew: Oh yeah. [laughs] That’d be pretty funny.

Micah: Wow.

[Matt laughs]

Eric: Because he’s already got one makeover. They already made him into the choir director.

Andrew: Right. But he was still – he wasn’t playing – he was still what’s-his-face.

Matt: You can’t replace Emma Thompson though.

Micah: Flitwick?

Andrew: Flitwick, yeah, thank you.

Micah: What about Yaxley? He has a big role.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Matt: Yeah, he does.

Eric: Wait, what about Yaxley?

Andrew: That’d be a good one for Hugh.

Penny: You know who else I’d love to see? What about like, Ricky Gervais? For like a comedic…

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Matt: Oh yeah.

Andrew: That’d be awesome.

Penny: One of the stupid Death Eaters, if there is one.

Eric: [laughs] They would make one.

Matt: He can play Xenophilius, couldn’t he? Doesn’t he kind of have…

Penny: He could.

Matt: He kind of fits that role. But I don’t know. I mean he did do Extras with Daniel Radcliffe. They do kind of have that history. And Warwick Davis, who plays seventeen roles in Harry Potter.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Penny: Warwick Davis or Verne Troyer? Oh no, it was…

Andrew: See – yeah, so many people get confused over that. There was a big discrepancy over that. IMDB had it all wrong.

Matt: Very hush-hush.

Andrew: No, wasn’t saying that. Any other roles?

Micah: Weasleys.

Andrew: The Weasleys?

Micah: The older brothers.

Matt: Oh yeah. We still haven’t seen them.

Andrew: It’ll be really cool to see the whole family.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: They’ll probably cut them.

Matt: Yeah. But then, who do you think they would put in their place for “The Seven Potters”? Unless they just skip that whole scene and just go straight to the wedding.

Andrew: Oh, I hope they don’t skip “The Seven Potters.” I’ve said it on the show before, that’s my favorite scene.

Matt: It’s mine too.

Laura: Unless they make it like “The Five Potters.”

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Matt: “The Two Potters.” [laughs]

Andrew: But…

Matt: “One and a Half Potter.”

Andrew: Number seven’s too significant. What if they just – what if there were just five and they never – obviously, they’re not going to say, “Next scene: ‘The Seven Potters.'” So what if they just made five and see if anyone noticed?

Micah: We’d notice.

Laura: Yeah, I mean, I can honestly see them doing that. I mean…

Matt: Yeah, they could probably just do a cloning charm or something. I mean, they’ll just make something up. [in British accent] “Bombarda!”

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: I just – I really can’t wait to see that scene, though, how they do that. I mean, that’s got to be – that’s got to be some new technology they use to put seven Harry – seven Dan Radcliffes in the scene at the same time, interacting with all the different – other people in the room. That’s going to be intense! I can’t wait.

Nick: Awesome.

Matt: Awesome.


The Encyclopedia


Andrew: Okay. What else is there to talk about? Okay so DH casting, movie info, hopefully we’re going to see – I mean, what other big movie news could there be this year for Deathly Hallows? Not – it’s going to be very confusing, isn’t it? Like, you’re going to have all this filming news and then also the release of Half-Blood Prince at the same time.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: Well, do you guys expect that encyclopedia to come out any time soon?

Andrew: Yeah, I guess we should talk about that too.

Matt: I hope so. God, that’d be so amazing. It’d be so much easier for us too. We just have it with us when we record.

Andrew: When would that be announced? I mean, they got to give, what, probably like six, seven months of leeway, right?

Micah: Yeah.

Eric: Well, I don’t think she’s writing it yet.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: I mean…

Matt: She’s practically – isn’t it like already done?

Andrew: No, it’s…

Matt: Doesn’t she just have to fine-tweak it?

Andrew: No. Well, her editors, Scholastic and Bloomsbury, both have their own encyclopedias. They’re just like informational things. I don’t think…

Micah: Like the Lexicon, almost.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Actually, I didn’t know that, Andrew. That’s really interesting.

Andrew: Yeah, that came out in court. In the court trials, Jo said that – I don’t know, it was part of their defense.

Matt: It’s going to be a huge book though. It’s got to be massive.

Andrew: Yeah. That would be cool if it was one giant book. Like a full on encyclopedia that you see in your library. You know it could happen if Jo spent like twenty years on it.

Matt: Or if it’s actually so massive she has to do it alphabetically in books, like volumes.

Micah: [laughs] So “A” comes out next year and then “B.” That’d be cool.

Eric: For the next twenty-six years.

Matt: Okay, maybe “A-L” or something like that.

Micah: [laughs] That’s a little excessive. But, you know, if she ever updated her site and told us what was going on aside from these birthdays…

Eric: Micah, that sounds like that’s bugging you.

Micah: No. It’s a new year. I’ve got to let go of the anger.

[Eric and Micah laugh]

Eric: So, what’s pleasantly surprising you or happens dancingly coming to your attention, Micah?

Matt: What are you on, Micah, right now?

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: We’re live so we can’t say anything.

Andrew: Nobody’s listening. Go ahead, Micah. Open up to us. Tell us what’s wrong. What’s bothering you?

Micah: With Jo?

Matt: You’re in a safe zone. You are in an inner peace.

Andrew: This is your intervention. Open up.

Micah: [laughs] Jo, she just needs to communicate with us, let us know what’s going on in her life. She needs to open up too.

Andrew: Yeah, I miss when her site was getting a lot of updates.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Those were the good old days.

Matt: Let’s just reminisce.

Micah: All right.

Matt: Okay.


Tenth Anniversary Editions


Andrew: Another thing Micah has here – and I think this is a definite, although it hasn’t been announced – the tenth anniversary of Chamber of Secrets. Now, at their tenth anniversary event for Sorcerer’s Stone, they did that thing where everyone read a paragraph and it was a really good idea. It was fun to watch. And at the very end they said, “Okay, see you next year!” or it may not have been next year, it was next time. But it heavily implied that they’re planning on doing it again for Chamber of Secrets. So when would that come out? Do you think the same month?

Micah: I’m looking it up right now to see. What month was it released?

Andrew: I don’t know. Check out the MuggleNet Decade in Review.

Micah: It’s actually – it says it was released in 1998.

Andrew: In the U.S.?

Matt: No.

Micah: Maybe not in the U.S.

Andrew: Let me look at the MuggleNet Decade in Review.

Matt: I’m pretty sure it was 1999. That was ten years ago! Oh my God.

Andrew: I don’t really like the whole idea of every book being turned into a tenth anniversary edition.

Eric: Really, Andrew? I do think it was in ’08 – or ’98 – and Azkaban was ’99.

Andrew: June…

Matt: That’s right, that’s right.

Andrew: Actually, June of ’99 Chamber of Secrets came out in the U.S., July of the same year, Prisoner of Azkaban came out in the U.K. September, Prisoner of Azkaban came out in the U.S. So there was a – so they would have to do both books this year. [laughs] I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all.

Eric: So you don’t like this whole…

Matt: We’re so old…

Eric: …tenth anniversary. [unintelligible] …the new book art? Because I thought that was cool, the new cover.

Andrew: Yeah, I liked it too. It was really good. But don’t you think it’s a little commercial-ish?

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] It’s a new word.

Eric: What isn’t? There’s action figures.

Micah: We all know this is a business, so – look at Warner Brothers moving the movie. So it’s just Scholastic trying to make more money.

Laura: These anniversary editions are so expensive too. It’s ridiculous. It’s like $30 for a book that you originally paid like, what, less than 20 for?

Andrew: Right.

Micah: I think they should hook it into to a charity though too, like they did with Beedle the Bard. That would make more sense.

Laura: That would make me happy. I would buy it if it was going to charity.

Andrew: But, honestly, I don’t think the publishers like that, because Scholastic and Bloomsbury, they’re not doing well except for these Harry Potter books, so I’m sure they’re looking for a way to make a buck off of it and that’s a perfect way. I’m sure they were happy to do the Beedle the Bard thing for charity, but it’s not even like most of that went to the charity. Someone read the back of the U.K. Beedle the Bard. It says how much. Excuse me. Oh no, wait. Matt, I can’t get to the door.

Matt: What? Oh.

Andrew: Sorry about that. £1.61 from the U.K. version went to the charity from each book. So £1.61, this thing sells for £7, so that’s like £5.50 that I guess you’ve got to pay for, you know…

Micah: Production.

Andrew: …production, yeah. All that, sorry. Blanked out.

Micah: So what’s that about, three U.S. dollars?

Andrew: No. Yes, yes. But I don’t know if – it may have been different for the U.S. because they probably cost different amounts to get published and printed and all that.

Micah: That’s true.

Andrew: How much was the U.S. version?

Micah: I don’t even remember. It’s – I think it was around the same. Seven U.S. dollars – between 7 and 10.

Andrew: Oh, okay. Interesting, interesting. Well, I guess that’s good news. I mean, it’s not the most interesting thing to discuss. Does anyone else have anything to say about that? Is it…

Micah: No.

Andrew: I don’t know, something about it, I just – collectors tend – or seven new collector’s edition books. Does anyone here have the first one?

Laura: Nope.

Andrew: Yeah, see?

Micah: The Sorcerer’s Stone?

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Yeah, I have it.

Andrew: Oh, Micah, you loser.

Matt: [laughs] He has all the books.

Andrew: I have every book. Every U.K. version, every Brazilian version, every Japanese version, every Spanish version.

Eric: You can never have them all.

Laura: I think that it would be cool if they released an anniversary set, like book set of all seven books, instead of systematically releasing each book separately.

Matt: Uh-huh.

Eric: I disagree, because the books didn’t all come out at the same time, so they can’t have this twenty-fifth anniversary because every year it’s another book.

Laura: Sure they can. They can do it for like Book 7 or something. That would be a really cool way to do it…

Eric: Maybe.

Laura: …instead of releasing all at the same time – or differently.

Eric: Well, like the whole thing is, though, like I don’t own that tenth anniversary thing yet, but I don’t own paperback versions of the first four books either, so when it comes time – my paperback is about falling apart, I don’t know about your guys’ paperbacks, but – so if I read that book one or two more times, I’m going to need a new Sorcerer’s Stone. And when I go to the store – well, am I going to choose the old version or the new version? Well, I’ll probably choose the new version.

Matt: It’s the same story.

[Everyone laughs]

Matt: It looks the same when you open it.

Laura: And also, I don’t know that I would want to pay $30 for a book and then kind of put it through the same wear and tear that I put my other books through.

Matt: You are so cheap, Laura.

Andrew: Yeah, what the – what’s wrong with you?

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Don’t you want to support Scholastic?

Laura: If I’m going…

Micah: Put it on the side, Laura.

Laura: …to destroy a book I’ll buy the cheaper one.

Matt: “I don’t want to pay money for this book!”

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: That’s why it’s called a collector’s edition; you’re not supposed to really read it. [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, you’re supposed to collect it.

Laura: But why would you go out and get a new one to replace your one that you’ve been reading, is what I’m saying.

Andrew: That’s not even the original – if I’m looking for a replacement I’m not going to get the anniversary edition.

Matt: He’s going to get the original.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, who wants the anniversary? You want the one you first read. At least the same cover.

Matt: Well, technically, the first one you read is demolished.

Andrew: No, I still have it on my bookshelf at home, I’m very happy to say.

Matt: Oh, well, that’s good. You don’t have to buy a new one then.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Matt: Case closed. Let’s go on to the next topic.

Andrew: But, in summary, Scholastic and Bloomsbury are not going to release these for charity. I mean, they’re looking for money.

Micah: No, you’re right.

Andrew: They’re desperate. I mean, let’s face it. Every time there’s an article about the quarter results, they’re always like, “Oh, Harry Potter put us over the edge.” Go ahead, Micah.

Micah: Yeah. No, I was going to say the sad thing about what you just said is I just purchased the series in Spanish.

Andrew: Really?

Micah: You know how you just jokingly said, “Oh, you have the Brazilian, Japanese…”

Andrew: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You bought the whole thing?

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: I didn’t know you speak Spanish, Micah.

Andrew: Yeah, can you please give us a couple lessons?

[Micah laughs]

Micah: I don’t speak Spanish, actually.

Andrew: Laura could give us a few lessons.

Matt: Then why’d you…?

Micah: Laura could, yeah.

Laura: Si se puede.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: She just called me a tool in Spanish. That wasn’t nice. Micah, I’m curious. Why did you buy the Spanish edition?

Micah: Just to collect it.

Andrew: Pffft. No, I’m kidding. [laughs]

Laura: Yeah, I have a couple Spanish editions.

Matt: Oh, whatever, Andrew. Shut up.

Andrew: I’m kidding, I’m kidding.

Laura: It’s really cool.

Andrew: Well, cool. That’s very cool.

Penny: My cousin sent me the Hebrew Beedle the Bard.

Eric: Was it – really?

Andrew: Can you read it?

Penny: If I take long enough I can, maybe.

Andrew: Nick, were you happy with Beedle the Bard?

Nick: Yeah, definitely.

Andrew: Was it everything you hoped for and more?

Nick: It was, it was.

Andrew: Me too. [laughs] The camera’s not on. [laughs]

[Eric says something unintelligible]

Andrew: What?

Eric: Half-Blood Prince with Dumbledore getting blasted off the tower on the front cover.

Andrew: Oh, that would be awesome.

Eric: Bulgaria. I actually do want that one.

Andrew: I would buy that. Yeah. All the new covers…

Micah: Yeah. There’s a good reason to buy them. They all have different covers.

Andrew: Yeah. I guess that’s cool.

Eric: Or you could just go to MuggleNet’s book covers thing and create a rolling screen saver of them all.

Andrew: Okay, listen. People in the chat, I am going to turn on the camera, but if this starts having connection problems – I think we’re back to – we’re okay now. If it does, I don’t know. So there, camera’s on now. Yay. What else is going on this year? Can we expect an encyclopedia from Jo? No, right? We would have known by now. Anyone?

Matt: No.

Laura: If you were a betting man, Andrew…

Andrew: See, I only say that when I’m sure of something. And I can bet on it illegally.

Laura: And you have someone give you inside information.

Andrew: Right. [laughs] I think – don’t you think that Jo will update her site and be like, “Hey, guess what? I am writing it again. LOL. BBS.”

Laura: And she’ll write it just like that too.

Andrew: Yeah. She should appeal to the current generation. She should start writing like Twilight writing and what’s that other book?

Laura: Oh, please no.

Andrew: The John Green? What’s it called, Matt?

Matt: Oh, Paper Moon?

Penny: Paper Towns.

Matt: Whatever!

Andrew: Paper Moon.

Matt: Paper Towns.

Andrew: That’d be funny. Or maybe not funny.

Matt: Sorry. I am not saying whatever. Oh, I am going to get so many bad e-mails about that.

Andrew: Okay. No Harry Potter encyclopedia this year. Is there anything else to talk about in the way of news before we talk about what’s for MuggleCast this year?

Micah: How do you know there is no encyclopedia? Are you just guessing?

Andrew: Well, yeah. I mean, I feel like she would tell us when she’s working on it again, wouldn’t she?

Micah: Yeah, but twelve months is a long period of time.

Andrew: Yeah, if she releases in December.

Micah: I don’t know. I’m just trying to play devil’s advocate.

Andrew: Do you guys think there would be more release parties as opposed to how few there were for Beedle the Bard?

Micah: For an encyclopedia?

Penny: I think so.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: It is going to give us new information, the encyclopedia, so I think that people are going to be more excited about it than they were for Beedle.

Andrew: Right, yeah, I really hope that she’ll do something. That would be really exciting.

Nick: Definitely.


MuggleCast in 2009


Andrew: For the world. So what’s coming for MuggleCast in 2009? And we are going to begin taking your calls in a minute. We’re going to have a special call coming in from someone first, don’t want to say who. But we’ll do that first and then we’ll move on to everyone else. So what’s coming for MuggleCast? We are doing the Azkatraz thing and then maybe, maybe, maybe some sort of tour. If – it all depends on the premiere and stuff. I don’t even want to talk about it much, because what if it doesn’t happen?

Matt: Okay, well then, thanks for mentioning it.

Andrew: [laughs] Micah added it. Didn’t you, Micah?

Micah: What?

Andrew: Never mind.

Micah: Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention


The Special Guest


Andrew: No, okay. It’s all right. Can we move on now to take some live calls? Are you guys okay with that?

Laura: Absolutely not.

Eric: Ooooh.

Micah: Now that just angered everyone in the chat.

Matt: Okay, so apparently…

Laura: [laughs] Yeah.

Matt: …John Noe is asking people to spam our show. I will be right back. I’m going to go kick him.

Andrew: That’s real cool. Real professional. See what those other podcasts do? Professional…

Eric: He came to my popcorn reading of Prisoner of Azkaban and handed out Leaky stickers and left. He didn’t even stay for the whole thing. Way to be a supportive friend, John Noe.

Andrew: A real professional person. All right, so we are going to take calls. Can someone read the guidelines to everyone while I – never mind, I’ll do it.

Micah: I’ll do it.

Andrew: Okay, go ahead.

Micah: It sounds more threatening coming from me. Here are the calling rules: if you are in the U.S., you can dial 1-218-20-MAGIC, if you are in the U.K. you can dial…

[Phone starts ringing]

Micah: …02081440677. Please think of the question you want to ask before you call in. Don’t call in and then think about…

Ben: Hello?

Andrew: Sorry, Micah.

Micah: Who is this?

Andrew: Ben Schoen is joining us now. Hey, Ben!

Matt: Oh my God, it’s Ben Schoen!

Andrew: Ben, what’s up?

Ben: I got a haircut.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: Oh.

Matt: So isn’t it lowered?

Ben: It’s short. My hair is shorter now. I ditched the hippie stuff.

Andrew: [laughs] The hippie stuff. So you’re a changed man now?

Ben: Yeah, I’m a new man.

Andrew: Ben, quick question: what do you think about this PG rating?

Ben: You know, quite honestly, I’m kind of disappointed in WB.

Andrew: Really?

Ben: You know, because Prisoner of Azkaban, what was it rated? PG, right? Or was it PG-13?

Andrew: PG.

Matt: It was R.

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] It was R.

Ben: It was R. Okay, and then Goblet of Fire was PG-13, right?

Andrew: Right.

Ben: And the last one was PG-13 as well, right?

Andrew: Right.

Ben: So, I mean, what are they doing? They can’t go backwards, you know? So they’re stepping the wrong way. You either got to keep it PG-13 or you got to go over to R.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Do you remember the old days when Emerson convinced us Goblet of Fire was going to be PG? He was like “Dude, I’ve spoken with people. They want to keep it PG. Trust me.”

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: Do you remember that? [laughs] He was like…

Ben: When it came out it that it wasn’t it was quite funny.

Andrew: Yeah, it was quite funny. One of those I told you so moments.

Ben: But really though, really though, I don’t know, I don’t think it’s really going to affect it that much. I mean, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: I mean, I think it’s – sure, it might be toned down a little bit, but definitely better for the parents in the audience, you know?

Andrew: Yeah, I guess so. It’s somewhat disappointing, though, considering, like you said, it is a step backwards.

Ben: So, what do you think? What do you think it’s going to do to the film?

Andrew: Well, you’ll have to listen to MuggleCast 168. It’ll be out later tonight.

Ben: Oh, really?

Andrew: [laughs] It’s this show. Well, yeah.

Ben: Hey, actually, I was listening to the live show.

Andrew: Oh, good. Yeah, that’s what we’re doing.

Ben: Oh, is this the live show?

Andrew: Yeah! You’re kidding.

Ben: Oh, I’m on the air right now, dude?

Andrew: Yeah. You knew that. Shut up. [laughs]

Ben: Oh.

[Andrew, Ben, and Micah laugh]

Ben: Andrew, when’s the next episode of MuggleCast?

Andrew: I don’t know. You’ll get an e-mail about it.

Ben: All right.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: Well, thanks for coming on. Your thoughts were very insightful.

Ben: Thanks for having me, Andrew! I miss you!

Andrew: You’re welcome. I love you, Ben!

Matt: Awww.

Ben: I love you too. I love you all. Especially Micah.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: Hey, Ben.

Ben: Hey, who’s all in here? Who’s all on the show right now?

Eric: Hi, Ben.

Andrew: Laura, Penny, Eric, Nick, Micah. It’s a big party.

Matt: I’m here too, jerk!

Andrew: Oh, and Matt.

Ben: Oh, he doesn’t count, does he?

Andrew: No, he doesn’t.

Matt: God!

[Micah laughs]

Micah: How’s Hagrid?

Ben: Huh? Who?

Andrew: How’s Hagrid?

Micah: How’s Hagrid?

Ben: [as Hagrid] Rubeus Hagrid!

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: What’s Hagrid think…

Ben: Is it ever going to get old?

Andrew: No, it’s not.

[Ben laughs]

Andrew: What’s Hagrid think of the PG rating?

Ben: I don’t know.

Andrew: It’s nonsense. Just do that.

Ben: [as Hagrid] Nonsense!

Andrew: Rubbish! [laughs]

Ben: I can’t do it anymore; I’ve lost it! I haven’t done a MuggleCast in so long.

Andrew: Well…

Ben: I’ve lost my ability to do Hagrid. This is a sad day.

Andrew: Practice. And maybe we’ll do another interview with Hagrid about the PG rating. [laughs]

Ben: 2009, You know what, guys? I just want to say something because it’s 2009. Is this the first MuggleCast of 2009?

Andrew: Yes it is.

Ben: Well, you see, 2009, I just have a good feeling about it, because I just think it’s going to be the year, you know?

Andrew: Year of what?

Matt: Of 2009.

Ben: The year. It’s 2009. It’s going to be the year. The year when we all step it up and we all be great and…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Dude, that was two years ago.

Matt: That was so 2007.

Andrew: Ben, you say that every year.

Ben: I know, but…

Andrew: It’s like a New Year’s resolution. You plan it and then nothing happens.

Ben: Whatever, man. 2007 was pretty fun.

Andrew: [laughs] Yes, it was. Well, all right, Ben, well, listen, we got to take some other calls.

Ben: You can’t kick me off! You can’t kick me off! I started this show.

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: I don’t know who you think you are! I am the co-founder.

Andrew: I’m sorry, Ben.

Ben: Back off!

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: I am welcome on this show anytime I please!

Andrew: All right, Ben, well, I’m sorry we’re out of time. We got to wrap up the show.

Ben: Are you getting hate mail about me already?

Andrew: No.

Ben: Are people trying to get me off?

Andrew: We got to go! We got to go! We got to leave!

Ben: All right.

Andrew: Sorry.

Ben: Stay classy!

Andrew: All right, bye.

Matt: Bye, babe.

Ben: Bye.

Andrew: Oh God, has he lost it.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Just kidding. All right, a reminder about the calls real quick: remember, think of a question before you call in, keep your questions relevant to the discussion at hand, and have your stream muted when you call, or mute it as soon as we pick up, if we pick up, and also, lastly, for the love of God, no shout outs please. It’s a little overdone.

Matt: Have something to say too, when we answer.

MuggleCast 168 Transcript (continued)


Call: MuggleCast Meet-up at Azkatraz


Andrew: Julie, hi! You’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Oh, hi!

Andrew: Hey!

Matt: Hi!

Caller: I was just wondering, it’s kind of early, but are you guys planning a meeting for Az – a meet-up for Azkatraz? Sorry.

Andrew: A MuggleCast meet-up?

Matt: Ooh. I would say so.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Yes, definitely.

Caller: Yeah, that was…

Matt: Yeah, it was fun at Portus.

Andrew: Mhm. I ordered pizza and…

Caller: Yeah, that was…

Andrew: …I ate it all to myself.

Matt: We should do it outside. We should do like an outing instead of just – let’s just – walking around and stuff.

Andrew: A field trip?

Matt: Yeah! We should walk down or something. Yeah, that’d be cool.

Andrew: Okay.

Matt: Just sit down on a grassy knoll and just sing songs or something.

Eric: We should have our…

Micah: We’ve done that in Dallas, gone to the grassy knoll.

Eric: …MuggleCast meet-up be on one of those moving trolleys in San Francisco so that everyone has to make an effort to meet us up. Just have one of those moving trolleys as it goes through the streets of San Francisco and take over a whole trolley.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Like a scavenger hunt? They have to find us?

Eric: Yeah.

Micah: No.

Andrew: [laughs] Scavenger hunt.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: That’s a little too hard. All right, well, Julie, we’ll see you at Azkatraz, I assume?

Caller: Most likely.

Andrew: Awesome!

Matt: Yeah!

Andrew: Well, we look forward to seeing you there. MuggleCast…

Caller: Okay, bye.

Andrew: Bye!

Matt: Aw, bye.


Call: Dead Caller


Andrew: Yeah, Muggle – [laughs] – she wanted to leave. Yeah, MuggleCast meet-up, that was a lot of fun at Portus and it’ll probably be a lot of fun next year. Alexandra, hi, you’re on MuggleCast Live. [pause] Alexandra, hello?

Matt: Alex?

Andrew: Andra.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: And that’s what we call a dead caller. Not literally!

Andrew: Scott, hello. You’re on MuggleCast Live.


Call: Caller Hangs Up


Andrew: [laughs] And he hung up. Okay so, remember the rules.

[Laura laughs]


Call: Book Connections


Andrew: Let’s try again. Rose, hi, you’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Oh, hi!

Andrew: Hi!

Matt: Hi!

Caller: All right, so, sorry this is a little bit off topic, but I just wanted to kind of share one of those – oh, did I mute my thing? Okay.

Andrew: Yup. You’re good.

Caller: I wanted to share one of those cool, kind of like book connections which I worked out the other day.

Andrew: Yeah?

Caller: Hopefully not everyone has already made this connection, because then I’m going to seem very slow.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: But in the Emerson and Melissa J.K.R interview Jo said, and I quote, “The one scene that I wondered whether I was going to be able to get past the edges was the physical condition of Voldemort before he entered the cauldron, do you remember? He was kind of fetal. I felt an almost visceral distaste for what I had conjured up, but there was a reason it was in there and you will see that.” And I’m sure that what – oh, end quote. I’m sure what that relates to is the baby, which is described in the “King’s Cross” chapter in Deathly Hallows.

Andrew: Yes.

Caller: So does anyone else think that’s kind of cool or…

Andrew: Definitely. Now, what was she talking about in context to that? What was the question?

Caller: The question – it was something about scenes and she was saying kind of scenes which she thought was pretty sort of horrific but she said that she could justify every morbid scene she had in the book except that that one was the one she was a bit kind of…

Andrew: Oh.

Caller: …freaking out about a bit. Yeah, she [unintelligible].

Matt: That’s…

Caller: But yeah, I just thought that was kind of cool.

Matt: That is pretty cool! I didn’t think about that. Although I’m not very smart.

Eric: You’re just not an Australian, that’s all.

Matt: I guess not.

[Caller laughs]

Andrew: Hey, what time is it there in Australia?

Caller: It’s 1:16 on Friday.

Andrew: 1:16 on Friday.

Matt: In the morning or afternoon?

Andrew: Afternoon.

Caller: Afternoon.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, okay.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Yeah – yeah, I don’t know.

Andrew: Matt doesn’t know how time works.

Caller: I’m not that dedicated to get up at one.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Oh I see.

Andrew: Oh, well then, bye!

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Okay.

Eric: At least you know it.

Andrew: Yeah. All right, well, thank you for calling, Rose.

Caller: Wait, one more thing.

Andrew: Oh.

Caller: One more thing.

Matt: Yeah?

Caller: Speaking of Australia, what’s happening with the Australian number?

Andrew: [laughs] I was actually going to re-add that number before the live show but I didn’t. But yeah, we’ll put it back on. Sure.

Caller: Okay, because it’s still up on the website.

Andrew: Right.

Caller: But then I realized you just didn’t mention it.

Andrew: Yeah, I was just kind of on the fence about it.

Matt: He was lazy.


Eric Flags His Praising E-mails


Andrew: No. But yeah, obviously we have a couple – were you at – were you at Eric’s MuggleCast meet-up in Australia a couple…

Caller: I was.

Andrew: Oh!

Caller: In Sydney. It was very good.

Andrew: Look at that, Eric! You met this girl.

Caller: Eric, I sent you an e-mail about it, do you remember? Afterwards, gushing praise? You replied back, so…

Eric: Yes, yes, I flagged it, actually. I flag all my praising e-mails.

Andrew: [laughs] You are so…

Matt: So full of yourself, Eric.

Andrew: Yeah, really.

Matt: [imitating Eric] “Oh! Look at all these e-mails about me.” Oh, people LOVE Eric.

Andrew: He prints them out and hangs them up on his wall.

Eric: Online. It is online. Sydney is online.

Caller: Yeah, I watched it again as well. I really liked how you had the Paul Kelly song as the music “From Little Things Big Things Grow.” I love that song.

Eric: Actually, I have to thank another Australian who gave me that. It was a CD with it on. So, it wasn’t my idea. Wasn’t all my plans.

Andrew: All right, well, thank you, Rose, for calling in. And we’ll…

Caller: Thanks.

Andrew: …get that Australian number back.

Caller: Sweet, awesome.

Andrew: Okay, bye bye!

Caller: Bye.

Andrew: Damn, I forgot to say, “Say hello to the Kangaroos.”

Matt: [laughs] You’re so – that’s so lame.


Call: MPAA’s PG Rating of Half-Blood Prince


Andrew: Hello Jim, Kathy, and Sarah! I’m sure it’s just one of you in the Nick family. Welcome to MuggleCast Live!

Caller: Yeah. Well, I’m using my family account, so…

Andrew: Oh cool.

Caller: Yeah. So my name’s Sarah, but…

Matt: Hi, Sarah!

Caller: Yeah, I just wanted to say that you guys are amazing and I’m a huge fan.

Andrew: Oh well thank you.

Matt: Oh thanks.

Caller: I love you guys.

Andrew: Oh well thank you. That’s very nice of you.

Caller: I just wanted to say that I really hate the fact that they made it PG.

Andrew: Why do you hate that fact?

Matt: Yeah, tell us.

Caller: Because it’s just – it’s supposed to be getting darker. I mean, isn’t it supposed to be getting darker?

Matt: No.

Micah: That’s what they say every film. I mean – right? It’s getting darker. Darker, darker, darker.

Caller: But it’s supposed to be getting darker!

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Well, no one’s to say that it doesn’t get darker. I’m just saying that…

Andrew: Do you think it’s darker – the darkest, Eric?

Eric: I do, but…

Caller: Well, why don’t they put it PG-13 or R?

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: I’m not sure. I’m really – I’m really confused. But I mean, if you think about it, I was trying to say this before, Book 6 was at times quite jovial, and the hormones and everything were – Book 6 is not as intense as Book 5 as far as angst, unless you’re going to – unless you think of the Voldemort stuff, which is very minimalized in the movie. So it might not be out of the question for Movie 6 to be PG. I mean…

Caller: Okay.

Eric: …really.

Caller: Well, it’s – I don’t know. I am a huge fan of the books and a huge fan of the movies and I just want them to do it justice.

Andrew: Yeah, I hear you.

Eric: I think that you – I think that you will like this movie.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Okay, good.

Andrew: You sound like the cast.

Caller: It’s just going to be disappointing if they don’t do it justice.

Matt: I know. Eric, you’re going to get a heavy weight on your shoulder because…

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: …once the movie gets released, I mean, you’re going to be responsible for every reader who didn’t like the movie. I’m putting all that weight on your shoulders.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, thank you for calling in, Sarah.

Caller: Okay, I love you guys!

Eric: Thank you, Sarah.

Andrew: All right, bye!

Caller: Bye.

Matt: Bye, Sarah.

Andrew: That was a nice caller.

Matt: That was sweet.


Call: More on MPAA’s PG Rating


Andrew: Let’s take another call. Hi, Heidi, you’re on Mugglecast Live. Good evening.

Caller: Hi.

Andrew: Hi, how are you?

[Audio feedback]

Andrew: Mute your stream.

Caller: Oh sorry. Let me mute my stream.

Andrew and Matt: Oh there you go.

Andrew: What’s going on? Hi.

Caller: Nothing. I was wondering if you think that it being PG is going to impair the fandom at all. Because of all the things they’ve done, like delay it and…

Andrew: Sorry, going to what the fandom?

Caller: Like not giving us a trailer for six months and then delay it for nine months.

Andrew: Wait, what do you think it’ll do to the fandom?

Caller: Do you think it’ll hurt it, like lesser it?

Andrew: Penny, do you think it’ll hurt the fandom?

Penny: I don’t think itís going to hurt the fandom anymore than anything else the Half-Blood Prince has done. As far as the delay really was painful, but we all got over it, and I think that it’ll be fine. If it’s a good movie it will be a good movie no matter what.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Penny: Do you agree?

Caller: Yeah, I’m just afraid of…

Matt: I mean…

Caller: …all these things they’re doing to us. [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, it is – it is – I don’t know. I mean it certainly – it hurt. It hurt my heart.

Caller: Mine too.

[Andrew and Caller laugh]

Matt: I mean, what – I mean, honestly, what – anything that’s going to happen there’s going to get both a positive and negative reaction to it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: So it doesn’t really matter.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: I mean, these things happen, but people are sort of over the delay now, right?

Caller: Yeah, I guess.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: There are all the Facebook groups.

Andrew: Oh yeah, I know. You sound really sad, Heidi. Do you need to talk with us? Is there anything we can help you with?

Caller: [laughs] No, I’m nervous.

Andrew and Matt: Awwww.

Andrew: My mom’s name is Heidi.

Matt: That’s not true.

Caller: Really?

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: What do you mean it’s not true? Yeah, it’s true. I’m just trying to help you cope.

[Heidi laughs]

Eric: Actually, guys, I wanted to mention…

Andrew: What?

Eric: …I just got a message from a guy named Jeremy on Skype, and I haven’t checked on this, but he says that HarryPotter.com says that this film is not yet rated. It still says that.

Andrew: No, but it doesn’t matter. They just haven’t updated it.

Matt: HarryPotter.com never gets updated on time.

Andrew: Yeah, Warner Brothers actually…

Micah: Well, Warner Brothers confirmed it was PG.

Andrew: Yeah, Warner Brothers confirmed it the other day. We just didn’t post because it was obviously confirmed, because it was on the MPAA’s website. I wish so, Eric. It’s nice to dream. Well, thank you, Heidi, for calling.

Caller: Wait. I have one more thing.

Andrew: Oh. What’s up?

Caller: I think you guys should come to Boston.

Andrew: [laughs] Hey, we may. We may. You never know.

Eric: She thinks we should what?

Andrew: Come to Boston. Here’s the deal. Whoever…

Matt: Why? What’s in Boston?

Andrew: …gives us $5,000, we’ll go anywhere. But we need $5,000.

Matt: That’s all?

Andrew: Paid upfront in cash. I’ll give you an address to mail it to. Or if you live near one of us we can trade with suitcases.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: $5,000. All right. Well, yeah, Heidi, we may. You never know.

Caller: Okay.

Andrew: Thanks, though. Thanks for calling.

Caller: Okay. Thank you. Bye.

Andrew: You’re welcome. Bye. Oh, that was nice. How many more calls should we take? One or two? Let’s go with one. We’re at an hour and a half here.

Matt: Oh my goodness gracious.


Break: Andrew’s Music


Andrew: We didn’t even take a break. I prepared break music.

Matt: Do we have to take a break?

Andrew: No. I love taking breaks because I go like this. This is what I do to get – oh, do I have to put…

Matt: It’s going to be a good song.

Andrew: It is going to be a good song. What? Oh, there we go. Okay, I like – I like taking breaks. I like going like this.

[“Roxanne” by The Police starts playing]

Andrew: [imitating a radio host] All right. We’re going to take a break right now. It’s 6:25 on your Thursday evening, 527 people listening. Ho! This is MuggleCast Live. We’ll be back in just a few minutes. This is “Roxanne” by The Police.

Matt: Oh. I thought it was going to be a good song.

Andrew: “Roxanne” by The Police.

Laura: You’re playing “Roxanne”?

Matt: Yeah.

[“Roxanne” stops playing]

Matt: You’ve got the weirdest taste in music.

Andrew: That’s what I was going to do, but…

Eric: Bad taste.

Laura: No, it’s a great song.

Andrew: It’s a good song.

Matt: It’s so random, though.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: You play all – you never play any music that’s in this decade.

Andrew: Whatever. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Matt: I do.


Call: Beedle the Bard


Andrew: Logan, hi, you’re on MuggleCast Live! What’s up? Logan!

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hey! You’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Hi.

Andrew: What’s going on?

Caller: Well, I was thinking another reason why maybe the Beedle the Bard or whatever should be the – was the best thing of 2008 was because even people who haven’t read Harry Potter can still read that book and pretty much understand most of it.

Andrew: Yeah. So, it’s like a new – it’s a new thing for people even if they’re not into Harry Potter?


Call: Justice to the Half-Blood Prince Plotline


Andrew: Hey, Natasha, you’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Hey.

Andrew: Hey, Natasha from New Zealand. What’s up?

Caller: I’m pretty good, thanks. Yeah.

Andrew: What’s on your mind?

Caller: I just had a question about Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: Oh. What’s that?

Caller: I was wondering whether they would give justice to the plotline of The Half-Blood Prince because we haven’t really seen it in the trailers yet.

Andrew: Oh yes.

Eric: I liked it in the movie. What they do – I mean, they show the “Spinner’s End” chapter. They show that in a scene. I mean, it’s a scene in the beginning of the movie or towards the beginning of the movie, and it kind of gets a fair amount of play as far as Harry having the Potion book, and at the end, but I’m not going to say it wasn’t as rushed as it was in the book.

Andrew: Hmm.

Eric: I don’t think it’s necessarily more rushed, though.

Caller: Hello?

Eric: Which is probably a good thing.

Andrew: Mhm.

Matt: Oh, okay.

Andrew: Interesting. Well, I hope it’s – it’s – it’s somewhat good, because…

Eric: I enjoyed it.

Andrew: …the movie is called Half-Blood Prince, after all.

Matt: Yes.

Eric: Yeah, and people should be able to understand why.

Matt: Didn’t she say something about the trailer, though? Or was I just…

Laura: They hadn’t really shown it in the trailers, yeah.

Matt: No, they haven’t shown – but they never really show anything about, really, the plot in the trailers, because, well, basically, the plot is so deep and connected you can’t really get a good general plot through.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: Except in The Chamber of Secrets when there was – obviously the climax was in the Chamber of Secrets.


Call: Attitude Toward Movie 6 and MuggleSpace


Andrew: Hello, Ellen. You’re on MuggleCast Live. Hello. What’s going on?

Caller: Hey, how’re you doing?

Andrew: Good. How about you?

Caller: Good, good. Actually, I should be studying, but that’s okay.

Andrew: Nah.

Caller: Anyway, so a couple of things. First of all, with the Half-Blood Prince delay…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: …I think that even though I was upset too, I really think that we’ve all been expecting like a lot from WB, and I think that part of the way to, I don’t know, ease the pain, is to think about how much we’ve been expecting and how much we’ve been getting and think how much we’re going to love it when we get it.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, personally…

Eric: It’s a good attitude to take.

Andrew: Yeah, me too. I agree. I mean, look, every movie I get really excited and then sometimes my hopes just get down. And by sometimes, I mean most of the time.

Matt: Yeah, sometimes I mean all the time.

Caller: Okay, well, I just had another comment. I think that MuggleSpace is a great way to keep everyone united, and it’s actually starting a lot of new things, so thanks.

Andrew: Is it? Like what? Oh, well, we’re glad to hear that.

Caller: Some of us are going to try to start a podcast, and…

Andrew: Oh, cool!

Caller: …I’m talking to a lot of people, and it’s really great. I’m like – really, things slowed down, but that just picked it right back up, I think.

Andrew: Well, that’s very good to hear. I mean, that’s – that’s the purpose of it, to connect Harry Potter fans with other Harry Potter fans. So, we’re glad to hear that, thanks.

Matt: Keep the fandom alive.

Caller: Yeah, that’s a good thing for it to get some [unintelligible].

Andrew: Definitely.

Caller: Exactly.

Andrew: Well, thank you, Ellen, for calling.

Eric: One thing Ellen did say about – yeah, one of the things Ellen was saying about the other series. There are other series out there that don’t get – that their books – like they may have a favorite book, and their favorite book ever has not gotten the movie treatment and may not even have hope of getting the movie treatment. And yet we’ve had movies consistently every other year to look forward to in addition to our books. I think Ellen was awesome to point that out…

Andrew: Yeah, definitely.

Eric: …that we’re pretty lucky.

Matt: Yes.


Remembering MuggleCast Listener, Darren


Andrew: Definitely. Okay, well, that does it for the live calls for now, and we’re going to wrap up the show in just a minute, but unfortunately, we do have some sad news to report that we just found out last night. Isn’t that right, Laura?

Laura: Yeah. Like Andrew said, unfortunately we received news late last night that MuggleCast listener, Darren Shoon, fifteen, of Australia, drowned at a beach off the coast of Melbourne. I’ll first go ahead and read the e-mail Darren’s friend, Chris, sent us. He said:

“My friend died yesterday, Darren. He was a hero. Funniest guy I knew. He could cheer people up when nobody else could, and he was an avid listener of MuggleCast. I was just hoping that you could give a shout out to him, his friends and family, and his memory. He drowned at a beach yesterday, and we all miss him very much. Thank you. Chris.”

Andrew: Yeah, so really – very sad news.

Matt: That’s so sad.

Laura: Yeah, this is – this is really a huge loss. I mean, all across the board. We just want Chris, you, and Darren’s family to know that we’re thinking of you and we have you in our thoughts and prayers.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Absolutely.

Laura: And yeah. We’re going to hold a moment of silence to remember Darren now. So we ask that everyone listening tonight will also keep Darren and his friends and family in your thoughts and prayers.

[Moment of silence]


Show Close


Andrew: All right, so there we go. And like Laura said, our thoughts and prayers are with Darren and his family. And his friend, Darren’s friend actually sent us what apparently – what is Darren’s favorite song. It’s actually “One Chance” by Take a Chance – I’m sorry, it’s “Take a Chance” by One Chance. I got those backwards. And so we’re going to play that to wrap up the show. It’s actually a nice song. Darren had a good taste for music. So I guess we’ll wrap everything up for today. Thanks, everyone, for listening. If you’ve been listening on the live stream, we’re sorry for the technical difficulties but they eventually were ironed out at the end. So thank you, everyone, for listening. Once again, Penny, Laura, Nick, Micah, Eric, and also Ben, who came on earlier, thanks for joining us. And we’re going to wrap things up today, like I said, with the song “Take a Chance” by One Chance. So, again, thanks everyone for listening and good night.

[“Take a Chance” plays]

Transcript #167

MuggleCast 167 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins]

Mason: Listen up, MuggleCast listeners! 2009, is finally here, and now GoDaddy hosting plans are more powerful than ever! Best of all, plans start at just $3.95 a month! And, no matter what plan you choose, your site receives 24/7 maintenance and protection in the GoDaddy.com world class data center. Plus, as a listener of MuggleCast, enter code RON, that’s R-O-N, when you check out, and get your dot com domain name for just $6.95 a year. Some restrictions always apply, but check that site out for the details. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

[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.

Transcript #166

MuggleCast 166 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins]

Andrew: Hey, Mason. Did you know that on July 1st Yahoo! Domain renewal pricing increased to $34.95 per year?

Mason: $34.95 per year? No way! Ridiculous! That’s not a deal at all.

Andrew: You’re right. It’s not. And I do need a deal.

Mason: You need a deal? I got the deal you need, Andy! Check this out: transfer your domain to GoDaddy for as little as $6.99 and get a free one year extension plus guaranteed renewal pricing. GoDaddy.com makes transferring easy and offers loads of extras, including hosting, a five page site builder, and much more. Oh yeah! Plus, as a listener of MuggleCast, enter code Muggle – that’s M-U-G-G-L-E – when you check out and save an additional 10% on any order. Some restrictions do apply. I want you to see the site for the details. Get your piece of the Internet at GoDaddy.com.

[“Hedwig’s 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]

Micah: Because the holidays are here, and it takes us an hour to realize it, this is MuggleCast Episode 166 for December 19th, 2008.

[Show music continues]

Andrew: All right, we are here for another episode of MuggleCast and it’s been a while since we’ve had a traditional episode, so to speak. You know, where we go through all the normal segments and such. But we’re all happy to be back, and Mikey is back. Hey Mikey!

Mikey: How you guys doing?

Laura: Hey Mikey!

Andrew: Good, but I’m kind of sad you no longer live…

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: …just a few steps away from me.

Mikey: I know, I moved far away and it’s cold and snowy. But it’s fun.

Andrew: The land of Kentucky.

Mikey: A land of Kentucky. You know, I went out and bought some bourbon…

[Micah laughs]

Mikey: …because I guess it’s where bourbon’s from. Haven’t had it yet.

Andrew: What’s bourbon?

Mikey: It’s some type of alcohol. I don’t know.

Andrew: Oh.

Mikey: I’ve never had it before.

Andrew: And also Penny is joining us again. Hey Penny!

Penny: Hey, how are you?

Andrew: Penny – oh good, thanks, but – so weren’t you – did we have you introduce yourself before – the last episode? I can’t really remember.

Penny: I don’t know. I…

Andrew: Tell us a little bit – little bit about yourself.

Penny: I’m probably the oldest person ever to have ever been on MuggleCast.

Andrew: No, I’m kind of 57.

Penny: Because I’m like 65.

Andrew: Oh. Okay, never mind.

Penny: Yeah, I think so. [laughs] I’m not really.

Laura: I don’t think you’re quite that old but…

Penny: Yeah, but I’m still older than all of you. And I’m from Baltimore, Maryland and…

Laura: Yay!

Penny: …I do some other Harry Potter stuff but right…

Andrew: What’s the – what’s the other site?

Penny: I’ve been working on Harry Potter Prognostications, the podcast and the blog, for the past two years or so, and I do that with my husband, Greg. But I’m happy to be here with all you guys right now.

Andrew: We stole you for the show.

Penny: Yeah, I’m happy to be here.

Andrew: We’re happy to say that Penny is going to be more of a regular here on MuggleCast. We tested her out on the live show and I think she passed. So…

Penny: Aww.

Andrew: Goning have you on here more regularly. That’ll be fun.

Penny: Thank you.

Mikey: Woo! Yay! I get excited, Penny.

Laura: Finally, we have three female hosts.

[Penny laughs]

Mikey: Woo! Okay, anyway.

Andrew: Well, we do have a full show so let’s get right into it. I’m Andrew Sims.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Mikey: I’m Mikey B!

Penny: And I’m Penny Gershman.

[Show music continues]


News: Beedle the Bard the Movie?


Andrew: All right, Micah Tannenbaum, what’s in the news this week? Or the past few weeks?

Micah: Yeah, it’s been a little while since we’ve done a show. But the top news item…

Andrew: Besides Beedle the Bard coming out.

Micah: Well…

Andrew: We know about that.

Micah: …we talked about that on the last show. But Beedle the Bard, speaking about it, there is a couple of reports about it being possibly being turned in to a major motion picture.

Mikey: Yes!

Micah: And this all came out within the last week or so. Cinema Blend, which sounds like a really reliable source, reported…

[Andrew, Laura, and Micah laugh]

Micah: …that Beedle the Bard may be made into a movie by Warner Brothers, and I don’t really know about this.

Andrew: Me either.

Micah: I’m kind of skeptical, to be honest with you, and the report referred to Warner Brothers trying to ride the magical gravy train a little bit longer.

Andrew: [laughs] I can believe that, but…

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: I don’t know, this whole Beedle the Bard turning into a movie thing, it wouldn’t – it wouldn’t like – I could see this sort of maybe in the theme park they film these and play them in like the waiting lines or something, but it couldn’t be a full on movie, all these tales together.

Micah: Right.

Mikey: I can see…

Andrew: What do you guys think?

Mikey: I can see it being like a holiday special, like a TV special, where it’s like an hour long…

Andrew: Yeah, that’d be cool.

Mikey: …and it would be like each little story, and you could have Jo there sitting on her little rocker and introducing each story and just be like, “Welcome to the Holiday Special: Beedle the Bard.” And it would just be…

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: I don’t know! I’m just thinking of the old holiday specials they used to do for all the old movies. And it just – it would be so cool.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Sorry.

Micah: Right.

Penny: Do you guys see it as live action, or animation, or claymation, or what?

Andrew: I think – hmm, good question.

Micah: I’d say animation. That’s how I…

Mikey: I would do live.

Andrew: Really? I was going to say live action.

Mikey: I would love each – kind of – to have a different director tackle each story and do it different.

Andrew: Oh, that would be cool. Yeah.

Mikey: Maybe have “The Three Brothers” be done by like Tim Burton, and do it like claymation, like Corpse Bride or something like that.

Laura: Oh, that would be cool.

Mikey: And have someone else do another one. And I just think it would be really cool to have just different styles for all of them. Like think about the Christmas – the Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer claymation.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Stop motion. I just think it’s cool.

Andrew: That’s a good idea. I mean, the only way I can see Jo agreeing to do this would be if the DVD sales went to charity.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: Otherwise, though, it’s just a really cheap way of…

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: Marketing. Yeah.

Andrew: …making a quick buck, yeah.

Penny: And if it would turn into a movie would there be any of Dumbledore’s commentary in it as well?

Mikey: You mean Michael Gambon’s commentary? [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: Yeah, something like that. [laughs]

Andrew: It would kind of seem out of place, wouldn’t it?

Penny: No, but wouldn’t it be awesome if like Jim Dale narrated it or something?

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh yeah, that’d be really cool. We should find out if he’s going to do an audiobook for Beedle the Bard.

Micah: Yes, we should, Andrew.

Penny: That would be awesome.

Laura: That would be fantastic.

Andrew: I was supposed to get on that and I forgot.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: So whatever, Micah. [laughs] But yeah, that would be cool. It’d be cool to listen to him read those tales. And it couldn’t take him more than a day to record all those.

Micah: There was one article that followed up on this report. It was in the Los Angeles Times, and they actually recommended expanding “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart” because they really felt that it had the most opportunity to be made into a movie. Now, I don’t know if that meant expand that story in particular and still film all the others, or just do that one specifically.

Andrew: Yeah. I don’t know.

Micah: And they recommended…

Penny: I love that story.

Micah: …Guillermo del Toro…

Penny: That’d be amazing.

Micah: …for directing it.

Andrew: Yeah. I liked their ideas. They had some good ideas. But expanding it would kind of be weird in a way because that’d be the first time anything related to Harry Potter would actually be expanded for time, you know? They’re always condensing it.

Micah: That’s true.

Laura: Yeah, I mean, they would have to add a lot to it, so I don’t know.

Andrew: You know what also was interesting? David Heyman said in an interview that he would not be interested in doing a Beedle related film, didn’t he?

Micah: He did. Yep.

Andrew: Yeah. I thought that was interesting because we don’t know the exact date of this interview, but it was definitely after the movie came out – or the book came out – or the rumors, sorry. [laughs]

Micah: All of the above.

Andrew: Yeah. So I don’t know what to think about that. I’m glad David Heyman would kind of be against it because it is an obvious sort of way of making a cheap buck.

Micah: Yeah, and I don’t know that…

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: …the interest would be that high, to be honest.

Andrew: Yeah, no. It wouldn’t be. I mean there wasn’t even like – the interest for this book can’t even compare to…

Mikey: Any other releases. Yeah.

Andrew: Right. Right.


New: Beedle the Bard Fastest Selling Book of 2008


Micah: Which pretty much leads to our next news item about…

Andrew: What’s that?

Micah: …the sales of Beedle the Bard in its first week. It ended up making 8.5 million dollars for the Children’s High Level Group and it sold roughly 2.6 million copies worldwide, and, Andrew, you have here it was the number one bestseller and the fastest selling book of 2008.

Andrew: No surprise.

Micah: Do you guys consider that to be impressive based on what we’ve seen from her previous works or is that somewhat underperforming?

Andrew: I don’t know. I mean, compared to the other Potter books, it’s obviously underperforming.

Mikey: I think it’s impressive for the type of book.

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: Just because – I don’t remember the exact stats for the Fantastical Beasts – but I remember it was – that one was way underperforming compared to this one.

Micah: Right.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Mikey: And even now I don’t think Fantastical Beasts has sold even this many copies and it’s been around for that long.

Andrew: Plus, I mean, Harry Potter is more popular now than it was when Fantastic Beasts and Quidditch Through the Ages came out, I think.

Mikey: Yeah, but still, regardless, I think that’s kind of – I’m impressed with the performance of this type of book. I remember they didn’t have a release party where I’m at and I went and just picked it up the next morning at Walden Books on my way to work, and that night I went to the grocery store after I finished reading it and there was like a whole display in the grocery store in the Kroger with Beedle the Bard so – and it was picked clean so…

Micah: Yeah, I agree with you. I think 8.5 million dollars is a lot of money for a charity, especially in the span of only a week. And it’s going to keep selling; there’s no question about it.

Andrew: Ladies, what do you think?

Laura: I think the number’s impressive. I just don’t think that anything like this would sell like a Harry Potter book would. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that this seems to be something that more of the hardcore fans really knew about, because I know several people at school who love Harry Potter but they don’t spend their days on the fan sites and they don’t listen to podcasts, and they didn’t even know about this.

Andrew: Blasphemy!

Penny: Yeah, I told a few people “Oh, Beedle the Bard‘s coming out!” and they’re like “Oh, that’s that fairy-tale thing.” And even though they read all the Harry Potter books they had no interest in reading it.

Andrew: And in a way it’s understandable, because there’s huge fans and then there’s fans who are casual readers of the books and likes the series but don’t want to read the fairy-tales that don’t involve Harry. And I think the commentary from Dumbledore was an obvious ploy to get people more interested in this book, wouldn’t you guys agree?

Mikey: I don’t know. I think it was also like a commentary that maybe Jo wanted to say about the stories.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: You know, especially, again, a lot of it was the Malfoys had commentary on two of the books – wanted to get them banned, or the stories – and I think it’s one of those things where if she didn’t have Dumbledore’s perspective on it, we wouldn’t have really seen that additional – that – I don’t know. When I was reading it, I kind of started thinking of Laura Mallory and wanting to ban the Harry Potter books. And I kind of felt that might have been a little commentary on that, and having Dumbledore talk about it, but that was just me.


Mikey and Penny Share Their Thoughts on Beedle the Bard


Andrew: Penny, what did you think of Beedle the Bard, and Mikey, for that matter?

Penny: I loved it. I thought it was great. I thought the morals were great, and I love – Dumbledore’s commentary was amazing, especially the commentary on “The Tale of the Three Brothers.”

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: It just – it – really, that was the one that we were able to connect to Harry Potter, obviously, and it was just so good.

Andrew: Yeah, how about you, Mikey? Do you approve?

Mikey: Well, you know, I was telling you, I read it during my lunch break and I absolutely loved it. The only thing I would take away that I wasn’t super impressed with: seeing the American version versus the U.K. edition. I was totally bummed at the design of the book, of the U.S. version. I wish I had been able to go to London…

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: …and buy the really cool one, but, you know.

Andrew: You should have asked me to get you a copy. I have copies here for Penny and Micah.

Mikey: I didn’t even think about it.

Penny: Can’t wait.

Mikey: You know, all the move and everything, I was just like – I was trying to see if there was a release here, and of course there wasn’t, but I love those…

Andrew: You can always order it online.

Mikey: I’m going to say, the stories – it brought back a warming feeling that I haven’t had since the first read-through of Deathly Hallows.

Penny: Yes, yes.

Mikey: It made me almost shed a tear a little, just like, oh wow, is this going to be the last Harry Potter-related book that I’m going to read through that’s written by Jo? So…

Andrew: I hope not. She’s got to be doing more things like this.

Mikey: I would not mind her expanding and writing more stories like this, or even have – you know, I was discussing this the other day with someone that there’s so much fan fiction, and I can’t really bring myself to read a lot of the fan fiction, but I would love to read stories written by professional authors, or even her, not about Harry, but just about – in that universe that she created, just because it makes me feel so happy inside, just reading it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: But…

Andrew: And back real quick to the casual fans not really being as interested in this. When I was in London, and I guess this was two days after the book came out, I was in the bookstore getting extra copies of the U.K. Beedle, and people – I would see people go up to the display stand where all the books were, and they would look at it and be like, “Oh J.K. Rowling” and then open it up, page through it, and then go “eh, pfft,” and then put it down and then walk away. And it was kind of sad because I think it’s a great book for anyone who’s ever read Harry Potter, and it’s a shame that people are so – a lot of people are being turned off by it just because it’s not Harry Potter.

Penny: Although, on the other hand, I have several friends who haven’t read Harry Potter who said, “Do you have to read Harry Potter in order to appreciate this?” And I don’t think – I think Jo wrote it in a way that you really don’t have to read Harry Potter to appreciate it.

Andrew: Yeah, definitely not. I mean, although, there are a couple spoilers in here if you haven’t read…

Penny: You have to look closely at them to see them as spoilers, I think.

Andrew: That’s true, yeah. It’d be funny if – yeah. [laughs] Doesn’t it say in here – isn’t there – Jo…

Mikey: Yeah, at the end, Jo talks about: “written nine months before Dumbledore’s timely demise on the Astronomy Tower” or something like that.

Andrew: Yeah, but at this point, I think everybody knows that Dumbledore has died.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: Thanks to that spoiler shirt that you have, Mikey.

Mikey: Yes I do. There’s a shirt…

Laura: Oh, do you have that shirt?

Mikey: There’s a wonderful shirt that’s called spoiler, and it’s got all the wonderful spoilers, and of course, right there in the center is that Snape kills Dumbledore.

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: You know what’s funny? Andrew knows this. I was working – a show I was working on. There’s a bunch of people who haven’t read the Harry Potter books, and they’ve just been watching the movies, and they’re like – they honestly got really mad at me that I was wearing a shirt that said, “Snape killed Dumbledore” because they did not know that.

Andrew: Well, you’re betraying these poor – your poor friends who have not read it yet and are looking forward to reading it.

Laura: That serves them right.

Mikey: You’ve got to understand! Half-Blood Prince has been out for years! Really?

Andrew: Yeah, that’s true.

Micah: That’s why Alan Rickman doesn’t do interviews for Harry Potter. He’s actually stated that…

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Micah: …because he doesn’t want people who only see the movies to have him possibly reveal something about the books.

Andrew: In a way, though, I kind of feel like that’s a lame excuse to just avoid talking about Harry Potter. [laughs]

Micah: Yeah, that’s a cop out. It’s a cop out, there’s no question about that.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Yeah.

Penny: I think there’s a statute of limitations when you can do spoilers. After a few years I don’t think it’s a problem anymore, like I don’t think it would be a bad thing to say that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father. Something like that.

Mikey: Exactly! You really can’t do that!

Andrew: What? No.

Penny: Sorry, sorry about that.

Mikey: And of course that’s also on my shirt.

Andrew: I have not seen Star Wars, but everyone knows that rumor.

Laura: But who doesn’t know that? It’s like, come on.

Andrew: [laughs] “Who doesn’t know that? Duh, it’s so obvious.”

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Laura: Well, it’s true! I mean, come on. I knew that before I even saw those movies.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: What else is going on, Micah?

[Laura laughs]


News: Harry Potter Exhibition Going on World Tour


Micah: Harry Potter the Exhibition is going to be in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry starting on April 30th of next year. And I saw some of the artwork that was done, kind of previewing the displays that are going to be out there, and they look pretty cool. One of the Great Hall, one of the Common Room, which was given to us, and you posted it on the site, and this is going to be interesting. It’s supposed to move around the country or around the world?

Andrew: Well, originally they said the country, and now it’s world, so I mean I think it’s going to go – it’s going to go all over the U.S. first, then go to the U.K. and then wherever else.

Micah: So these are actual pieces of the sets, correct?

Mikey: Yes.

Andrew: Yeah, but I think mostly it’s props. I don’t know if they’re moving – like, I know what you’re talking about in the sketches they have like the Great Hall exhibit; it looks kind of like you’re in the Great Hall. I don’t think they’re moving literal sets. I think they’ll dress it up to make it look like it but I don’t think it’s an actual set. They will have actual props though, which is cool.

Mikey: I don’t know if this is going to be exact, but I know they did – the Smithsonian did a Star Wars exhibition a while ago, a couple of years ago, and what they did is they actually had set pieces and actual props there, and they dressed up the rooms to look like it so – for the…

Andrew: Yeah, I bet that’s what they’ll do.

Mikey: I would not be surprised if the room that has all the Great Hall memorabilia and the pieces and the tables and stuff like that, would look very similar to what the Great Hall would look like, minus obviously the magical roof because they can’t do that, but yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, that’s what they have in these concept sketches. You see the backgrounds and it does look like the Great Hall, but…

Mikey: I wouldn’t be surprised if each room – they’re probably getting some wonderful auditorium for every time they do it – they set it up in a different city, and it would definitely probably – the people they use to set these things up just like big concerts, like U2, Andrew, they have huge stages and huge things that they set up and the same thing with this. I’m sure they would…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: …go all out and, from what I’ve seen, it looks like it’s going to be pretty amazing.

Andrew: Yeah, I’m really excited. I think they have put together a really nice idea, and I think it’s going to pay off.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: I think it’s going to be really cool. Now of course Eric lives in Chicago and I’m sure he has tickets already. Has anyone heard from him?

Micah: Nope.

Mikey: I haven’t talked to Eric in a while.

Laura: No. Does he still exist?

Andrew: I think so.

Laura: I haven’t heard from him in a long time.

Andrew: I don’t know. That’s a good question.

Micah: We should make WB give him tickets to go and try to report.

Andrew: Yeah, well, I imagine they’re going to have like a press day sort of thing, and…

Micah: Right.

Andrew: But yeah, it’s exciting, and I’d been thinking about this recently because the original announcement came April 25th of this year and they said the tour would begin Spring ’09 so it’s like when are they going to announce the first place?

Micah: Yep.

Andrew: And there it was, so…

Micah: Well, they also need to release a schedule sometime soon of where else this display is going.

Andrew: Yeah. So it’s going to be in Chicago from April – the very end of April until…

Mikey: September.

Andrew: …the end of September?

Mikey: September 7th.

Andrew: So yeah, I hope it comes over this way next. [laughs]

Mikey: I’m sure it will. I’m sure it will. I’m sure it’ll go all over the place.

Andrew: Yeah. It’ll be fun. What else, Micah? There’s a lot of news.


News: Half-Blood Prince Previews on ABC Family


Micah: There was. Kind of staying with the movies, Half-Blood Prince, there was a few previews that showed up on ABC Family during their Harry Potter weekend that they traditionally do every year around Christmastime, and there was five previews. Not a whole lot of new shots, but the one thing that stood out to me was in the preview called “Comedy.” You actually got a little bit of a look inside Weasley Wizard Wheezes.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: The joke shop.

Andrew: It looks fantastic!

Micah: You got to hear from some people you don’t normally hear from a lot in interviews. You saw Michael Gambon, who actually sounded and looked more like Dumbledore in an interview than he does during the films.

Andrew: Yeah. Let me stop you there. When he was talking about…

Laura: Hey now.

Andrew: …Dumbledore’s role in this movie he genuinely sounded interested and I thought that was really exciting. He looked like he cared because he looked like he was processing through his head the character of Dumbledore and we haven’t seen that before, so he’s thinking. Good for you, Michael.

Micah: [laughs] And the others – just briefly was “The Story of Tom Riddle,” “Meet Professor Slughorn,” where you heard from Jim Broadbent, “Love is in the Air” you got to hear from Lavender Brown, the actress who plays Lavender Brown. And “The Story,” which was kind of just a brief overview of what to expect in Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: Yeah. They were cool and, honestly, I got pretty excited for the movie after watching all those. Does anyone else have any thoughts on those?

Mikey: I saw them but I was a little disappointed.

Micah: Yeah, I agree with you.

Andrew: Why were you disappointed?

Mikey: I was a little…

Andrew: Why?

Mikey: Well, I made sure I DVR-ed the whole thing because I wasn’t around all day, and I kind of just fast-forwarded through the movies to make sure I get to just watch these things.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: And they showed some good information but it’s kind of like – I think I’m still jaded because the push-back date and I just feel like I’ve been waiting for this for so long that I’m just kind of like – I just want to see it. And it has to be good otherwise I’m going to be beyond disappointed because it should have been out already a long time ago, and I’m just disappointed, and I’m like a bunch of fans, angry and upset and bitter, and please don’t be bitter about the movie. I am but that’s me. I just want to see it.

Andrew: It was interesting, because – in that comedy bit too, I think it was in the comedy one – they had a quick clip of, I guess it was Ron, he was filming, and then he runs directly into a giant blue screen. So he hits a wall and he sort of does like pancakes right up against it, and it was pretty funny. I was like “Oh, that’s funny. That must be their comedy they’re talking about.”

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Penny: So once again Ron Weasley is the comic relief.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

Penny: They’re back to that.

Laura: Exactly.

Andrew: Yeah. I hope it’s like really funny because they’re really hyping up this whole “You’re going to LOL a lot in this movie.”

Micah: Right.

Mikey: Yeah. Let’s hope.

Andrew: What else in the movie world?


News: David Heyman Talks About Movie 7 Split


Micah: You talked about David Heyman a little bit earlier. He did an interview with IESB.net where he talked about the Deathly Hallows spit – spit – split!

Andrew: Spit? Oh, okay.

Micah: And he actually said that he didn’t want to do it initially. He thought it was crazy. And then the decision, according to him, ultimately rested with the filmmakers. And the studio said, you do whatever you think is right and initially, again, he thought it was crazy, and then he started going through the book and realized, hey, maybe this is not such a crazy idea, maybe we should split the movie into two. And…

Andrew: It does makes sense. And I think we’re all going to be happy about it.

Mikey: I’m happy about the split. I was really disappointed at first, but I think it makes a lot of sense. Just because of the way that book goes, it’s too much for one movie.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Even a long Lord of the Rings style epic, it’s too much. You need to break it up. For pacing-wise at least.

Andrew: I mean, and it is a lot of work that it suddenly hits them that they are all set on doing seven films and suddenly they have to invest in other – a lot more time into doing another one, and that’s a whole other premiere and a whole other round of interviews. So it must have been a lot to swallow initially.

Micah: Yeah, and not only that, you made a post earlier today, another interview with David Heyman at his…

Andrew: Yes.

Micah: …premiere of Yes Man out in L.A. He said they are going to be filming for 54 weeks.

Andrew: [laughs] That’s insane!

Micah: That’s a long time.

Mikey: [laughs] I did not see that! Wow! Sorry.

Andrew: And he said they’re going to be starting in February so that’s going to bring them up to April 2010.

Laura: That’s crazy.

Penny: That is insane.

Mikey: For anyone who knows, big blockbuster movies usually only shoot for about 12 or 13 weeks.

Andrew: Well, we got to remember this is two films too.

Mikey: Yeah but – Lord of the Rings, the entire trilogy was shot in about that time. All three…

Andrew: What, 54 weeks?

Mikey: 54 weeks, yeah. The entire three films were shot in about that same amount of time. I don’t want to – I’ll get the exact time in a second. Wikipedia, here I come. But, it’s – that’s a lot.

Andrew: Yeah, and I looked – I compared it to Half-Blood Prince and that was about 32 weeks, and you got to remember they’ve got to stop for a couple of weeks to promote Half-Blood Prince. So I wonder if the 54 weeks includes their time off when they have to go promote Half-Blood Prince, and then you have the holidays, so…

Mikey: Well, I think it’s also because there’s still kids in the film. Children can only work X amount of hours.

Andrew: Oh, yeah.

Mikey: That’s one of the reasons why I think this is a little bit longer.

Micah: Now you understand why David Heyman was so ticked off that the movie got pushed back.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Penny: I just think it’s really good that the main characters aren’t 11 and 12 again because a year is a long time in puberty… [laughs] …thinking about that, they’ve all pretty much matured to what they are going to be, so..

Andrew: Right. Yeah, they would have changed a lot, that’s a good point.

Penny: Yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] David Heyman may come out of this with some gray hair but…

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: David Yates too, but he already has gray hair and he’s kind of bald, so he’ll be more bald. Anything else, Micah?

Micah: That’s all I got.


Announcement: MuggleCast at Azkatraz


Andrew: All right. Announcements this week: Hey, we’re going to be at Azkatraz 2009. That’s HP2009.org. We’re going to be doing a podcast there after the midnight release of Half-Blood Prince. So you are going to see Half-Blood Prince at midnight and then you are going to finish seeing it around, I guess, 2:30 A.M., and then you are going to come back to the hotel and then we’re going to be podcasting all about it. We will talk about how amazing the film was, what our favorite parts were, the whole audience included. It’s going to be a ton of fun. So that’s HP2009.org, so check that out, sign up, register, it’s going to be a ton of fun. They just announced something that’s really fresh and new and exciting; it’s called Wizard Wrock Around the Rock, and it’s going to be a four hour cruise around the San Francisco Bay, and there is going to be Wizard Rock on board, and then there’s going to be different levels of the ship that are just for hanging out and chilling. So that’s going to be cool too, going on this cruise while listening to some great Wizard Rock bands, and also just hanging out, relaxing, having a few drinks, having a few bites to eat. And it’s all to benefit charity.

Laura: Oh, wow!

Andrew: They are working with the Harry Potter Alliance so…

Laura: That is so cool.

Andrew: …it’s going to be a great event. HP2009.org. If you register be sure to put MuggleCast or MuggleNet in the referral area so they know where you are coming from, and that’s going to be a lot of fun. That’s – when is it? July 17th through 20th or something like that. Or July 18th to the 20th or 21st or 22nd because it starts the day after the movie comes out but they’re sort of extending the convention to fit in with the movie, so. Boy is that going to be a lot of fun.

Penny: It’s going to be amazing.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: I can’t wait for the jet lag.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: Getting out to San Francisco and then staying up, seeing the movie, and then podcasting afterwards.

Andrew: [laughs] Well, we’ll have to – you’ll have to get here a day early or two. You’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: The three hour time difference really isn’t that bad.

Mikey: No it’s not. Hey Andrew, so I just found out how long Lord of the Rings filmed for.

Andrew: How much? How long?

Mikey: 46 weeks.

Andrew: For all three?

Mikey: All three films were shot in 46 weeks.

Laura: You’ll survive.

Andrew: That’s smart; you were probably saving money too for only shooting it for that long.

Mikey: Yeah. So all three Lord of the Rings films were shot in 46 weeks, Deathly Hallows is going to be shot in 54. Wow.

Andrew: That’s pretty crazy. Yeah, I bet it has to do with those child labor laws. That would make sense. Because they’ve got a lot of kids to handle.


Announcement: Podcast Alley


Andrew: Also, don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley. It is MuggleCast Mecember and it’s – we got to get the vote in and stay at the top of that list. It’s a great thing, that Podcast Alley.


Announcement: Laura’s Birthday


Andrew: And lastly, Happy Birthday to Laura Thompson.

Laura: Aww! Thank you.

Mikey: Woo!

Andrew: Celebrating – how old are you, 20?

Laura: Yeah, 20. [laughs]

Andrew: Now, you’ve been complaining that you’re not – you’re getting old or something. What’s this about?

Laura: [laughs] No, that’s – it’s just difficult accepting that as of right now I have four hours left of being a teenager and then… [laughs] …never again.

Penny: Responsibility hits all of a sudden.

Andrew: Your birthday is Friday.

Micah: Laura…

Laura: Yeah, it’s like all of a sudden “Oh my God, I’m 20.” [laughs]

Micah: Focus on 21, okay? After 21 it’s all downhill.

Laura: Oh yeah, that part I’m really excited about, but…

Mikey: Laura, you don’t have to grow up. I still haven’t and I’m 24 now.

Laura: That’s true.

Mikey: You don’t have to. I was Mario for Halloween. I had a full on costume. It was fun.

Laura: Okay. That makes me feel a little better.

Andrew: Halloween is all about being a little kid.

Mikey: Yeah, it’s all about being a kid! Come on, I play video games. It’s fun.

Andrew: Well, what are you doing for your birthday tomorrow, Laura?

Laura: I’m not really – I kind of just want to relax, because, I mean, I’ve had – you know this, Andrew…

Andrew: You must be getting old.

Laura: Shut up! No.

Mikey: Laura, that’s hurting me! You need to go out and have fun! Go play mini-golf.

Laura: Well, I mean I’ll probably go out and do something, but I haven’t decided yet. But I’ve had a long semester, and I’m just kind of….

Andrew: I understand. You just want to relax.

Micah: I heard you got a really nice gift, though, earlier today.

Mikey: I heard that too.

Laura: Oh. [laughs] Yeah.

Andrew: Laura, where are you going? Whenever that day is.

Mikey: Whatever the day is? [laughs]

Laura: On January 20th, you mean?

Andrew: That’s it, yeah.

Laura: Yeah. I’m going to the Presidential Inauguration. Going to be at the swearing in ceremony.

Mikey: Hey! That’s a good birthday gift, right?

Laura: Yeah!

Andrew: Look at that! Who got you tickets to that?

Laura: Kevin Steck. Our very own Kevin Steck won tickets, so…

Andrew: He must really love you. He’s inviting you. I knew it. I knew you two had something.

Laura: Really? We’re going to go there?

Mikey: Well, that’s why Kevin stopped coming on the show, because they had a little love spat and him and Laura just couldn’t get along.

Andrew: He just couldn’t take it anymore.

[Micah laughs]

Laura: We are not even going there. Anyway.

Andrew: Well, that’s fun. Good for you.

Micah: Muggle Mail.

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: So Happy Birthday, Laura.

Laura: Thank you.

Mikey: Happy Birthday, Laura.

Laura: I love you guys.

Andrew: Here’s to turning 21 next year.

Laura: Yeah, see, that’s what I’m excited about.

Andrew: 21’s a fun age.

Laura: Yeah! No, I can’t wait to be 21. Do you know how awesome Infinitus is going to be?

Andrew: What?

Laura: We’re all going to be 21 at Infinitus.

Andrew: Yes we are.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Laura: It’s going to be fabulous.

Mikey: Woo!

[Laura laughs]


Muggle Mail: Finding Hidden Clues in Beedle the Bard


Andrew: All right, let’s move on to Muggle Mail this week. Who wants to read the first e-mail from Andrew? Laura, it’s your birthday, how about you do it?

Laura: I guess – yeah, I’ll do it, okay.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: Our first e-mail comes from Andrew, 18 of New Hampshire. He writes:

“Hey guys. Great job with the discussion of the ‘Tales of Beedle the Bard’ in the previous episode. I noticed a couple of other things while reading the final tale. I think it’s interesting that, in revealing less than he knows or suspects, Dumbledore seems to take a skeptical perspective in the commentary. Also, at the end of the tale there is a drawing of what seems to be Ignotus Peverell’s gravestone. There is what looks like an epitaph at the bottom, but it’s really hard to read. Probably a good question for J.K.R.”

Andrew: Ah. Well, isn’t that interesting? Now, a lot of people are trying to speculate – look for the little things hidden in the sketches of what Jo drew. And I think it’s cool that people are doing that, but I don’t think really there’s anything to them. Personally.

Micah: I don’t know. Wasn’t there something on each of the Potter’s gravestones that was in Deathly Hallows?

Andrew: Yes!

Micah: Or other gravestones that were in the cemetery that Jo put in there? So maybe there is something to it. They were Biblical references, right?

Andrew: But I mean – yeah. Yeah, I think that’s right. Didn’t we have a discussion on that?

Laura: I know the Biblical references were on the Potter’s and on Kendra Dumbledore’s gravestones. But I don’t know about Peverell’s.

Andrew: Hmm. Well, yeah, I think it’s interesting. I sort of meant that people were speculating like she’s hinting at something to come or something. Like somebody sent in an e-mail that said, “Oh I was looking at the fountain and I noticed she drew a number eight. Does that mean there’s going to be an eighth book?” I’m like ehh….

Laura: Yes, that’s absolutely what it means.

Micah: Jeopardy, here we come.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: She found me out.

Laura: She actually called me and told me about that last week. So yeah.

Andrew: Oh really?

Micah: Oh cool. So can you call her up and ask her about this epitaph that’s on the bottom of the tombstone?

Laura: Yeah, Andrew, why don’t we Skype out Jo?

Andrew: Oh okay. Sure. What’s her number? But next e-mail. Micah, you want to get that one?


The Elder Wand and Females


Micah: Next e-mail comes from Ali, 16 of Virginia about the Elder Wand. She says:

“Hey MuggleCasters, I love your show. I just finished reading ‘Tales of Beedle the Bard’ and I was wondering, in the commentary that Dumbledore made to the ‘Tale of the Three Brothers’ he says, ‘Every man that has owned it has insisted that it is unbeatable.’ I think it’s very interesting how only wizards have claimed the Elder Wand. Not that I’m writing from a feminist point of view, but what do you think about that? Do you think that if a witch had used it, it would have a different history? Thanks, and keep up the good work, Ali.”

Andrew: I think Dumbledore was sort of just referring to the fact that it’s only been used by men. Yes, no?

Mikey: My opinion would be that maybe this wand would appeal more to the barbaric nature of males versus the more nurturing nature of females. And that would be why men have always claimed it versus witches. I don’t know. And that’s just something to think of, that no women have ever claimed to have the Elder Wand, or the Deathstick, or the Wand of Destiny, whatever you wanted to call it. But at the same time, we don’t have any – we don’t have any proof that there weren’t any super bad, you know, angry, evil witches that were as bad as Voldemort or Grindelwald or anything like that. We only have so much of the history, you know. Without seeing the whole history, you can’t really…

Micah: Exactly.

Mikey: You know, I would hate to say it’s only men that can be bad, that can go bad, but that’s not true. You know, Slytherin, and Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange was just as bad as Lucius Malfoy, if not worse. But she never got to own the Elder Wand. I don’t want to – I don’t know. I’m going to stop.

Laura: No, I mean, I understand what you’re saying. Well, and also I think it’s important to remember that English is a very male-centric language, so a lot of the times, when someone is referring to a group of people, they refer to them as men. Or mankind.

Mikey: Yeah.

Laura: So it could be – I mean – also, we don’t know tons about its history. I mean we know it’s passed from owner to owner, but, I mean, there’s really no set record, is there, saying who had it?

Mikey: No.

Andrew: No.

Mikey: Not at all.

Andrew: We know of a couple people.

Laura: So this could just be Dumbledore making an assumption.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Yeah, those were the two things I was going to say. “Wizards” can be a very generic term, and then also, that we don’t know the complete history. It’s just Dumbledore trying to recount who it went to through its history, so I’m not sure that a witch could not have ever owned it. It’s possible.

Penny: The way I looked at it is that – and Jo wrote something about this – is that the Elder Wand was only sought out by men. And she said – made some kind of little footnote, saying take that however you want. But the way I looked at it is that the Elder Wand is called the Unbeatable Wand, but in essence it really isn’t the Unbeatable Wand, because if it was, it wouldn’t have been passed from person to person, because the only way you can pass it is by actually beating it or beating the person who used it. So I always look at it as a woman wouldn’t be foolish enough to think that she could – that it actually is the Unbeatable Wand. And they wouldn’t suffer that, I guess, the false impression that you can actually beat it.

Andrew: Ahhh.

Penny: So I don’t know if it’s that the women were wiser, or…

Laura: Yes!

Andrew: [laughs] Good point.

Laura: I like that point.


Muggle Mail: Parallel Between Beedle the Bard and Harry Potter


Andrew: That’s very interesting, yeah. Penny, you want to read the next one?

Penny: Sure. This comes from Cassidy, 16, from Canada. And she writes:

“Hey MuggleCast. I apologize if you’ve already discussed this, because I haven’t finished listening to your latest episode. ‘The Fountain of Fair Fortune’ story really reminded me of the part in the fifth book where Harry pretended to put Felix Felicis in Ron’s drink before the Quidditch match. Ron really didn’t need the Felix Felicis and Sir Luckless didn’t need the Fountain of Fair Fortune. Just wanted to share my thoughts with you.”

Andrew: There’s another nice little parallel between Beedle and Harry Potter.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: I like that Jo threw these in, even if she didn’t mean to.

Mikey: Oh, she meant to. You know that.

Andrew: Yeah, I guess so. Maybe.

Penny: Or else, I mean, she believes in this. She’s a firm believer in that people change their own destiny, I guess. And it just comes out more than once.


Muggle Mail: Hermione’s Translation of “The Three Brothers”


Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, that’s true. And the final e-mail from the day comes from Kelly, 22, of Phoenix, Arizona. She writes:

“I was surprised in the show how you all kept commenting, or even complaining, that the version of ‘The Three Brothers’ in ‘Beedle the Bard’ was the same as the version in ‘Deathly Hallows.’ Really now? Seriously? ‘Beedle’ was translated by Hermione Granger, and I think it’s pretty safe to assume she translated it from the book Dumbledore left her, which was the book she was reading from when the trio was at the Lovegoods’ in ‘Deathly Hallows.’ The story had to be the same; it just wouldn’t have made sense otherwise.”

Well, Kelly, I think what we were saying was maybe that it would be longer. I mean, it didn’t have to be different. Obviously it was going to be the same exact story…

Laura: But this was like word by word, Hermione’s telling it in Deathly Hallows. So.

Andrew: Well, no, she wasn’t telling it, though. I mean, she was just – she was reading it.

Laura: Well, she – no, she wasn’t reading it, was she?

Andrew: I thought she was. Because I remember looking in the book, and – hold on. I’ll look. “‘Well, Mr. Potter, the whole thing starts with The Tale of the Three Brothers. I have a copy somewhere.’ He glances…” Oh, I see. So this – so, yeah, they weren’t reading Hermione’s translation.

Laura: Yeah, exactly. Like, it was – miraculously comes out the same. Yeah.

Andrew: Well…

Laura: I mean, I understand why.


Main Discussion: Final Battle Between Voldemort and Harry


Andrew: Yeah. Well, let’s get into our book discussion now. We have an interesting one this week. And we’re going to talk more about Deathly Hallows. We’re gonna talk specifically about the final battle between Lord Voldemort and Harry. But the question pertaining to this discussion is, was it a disappointment? And you may say, oh, why would somebody say that? Well, there had been some discussions afterward that the battle wasn’t maybe what it was leading up to. I think everyone, before the book came out, everyone was expecting this huge, epic duel that would be just incredible and a hundred pages long. And it wasn’t. And, in a way, it wasn’t even a full-on duel. It was sort of, as we’re going to discuss a little later on, a verbal duel. So it’s interesting, and we’re going to talk about it, we’re going to talk about what exactly went on and what else could have happened, and such and such.


Harry Would Not Have Won a Normal Duel


Andrew: So does anyone here agree that – well, let’s put it this way: Harry could not have won in a regular duel versus Voldemort. Does anyone disagree with that?

Mikey: No.

Micah: You’re talking one-on-one…

Andrew: Right, right. Like, if Harry and Voldemort were…

Penny: Like straight spells.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

Mikey: Yeah. Like think of like a – like let’s just think of like a game of Horse but with spells. Like Voldemort would do one and Harry would have to match it.

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: Like Harry would lose. Voldemort just used so much more magic than Harry.

Andrew: Exactly.

Mikey: Like it’s – it’s kind of like looking – if you think that Voldemort was able to defeat Dumbledore – he knew more, he didn’t actually defeat him but he was that on par with Dumbledore. Is Harry on par with Dumbledore? No, Voldemort was though. But – yeah, sorry, I digress.

MuggleCast 166 Transcript (continued)


General Opinions on the Battle


Andrew: So in a way though – I mean, so in a way why – I mean a lot of people were expecting a major duel, correct? I mean, so why didn’t we think this through a little beforehand and think – unless we thought in Book 7 Harry was going to just develop some insane skills that would be right up to par with Voldemort.

Mikey: That’s what I was thinking. I was thinking Harry was just going to become like uber awesome.

Andrew: Really!?

Mikey: Yeah. I was hoping he would get – yes, that during the whole reading, and I started learning about the Hallows and everything, the whole line of Horcrux or Hallows, what to go after, I was so excited. I was like, “Oh my gosh, Harry’s going to be awesome. He’s going to be the Master of Death.” I was so – you don’t even know. I’m like – well, you know. I was reading – I was talking to you about it going, “Oh my gosh!” But when it came down to it I was actually really happy the way the battle came out. Because it wasn’t – it was one of those where it’s just like you knew walking into it that Harry had already defeated Voldemort. You knew it.

Andrew: Laura, what were you expecting?

Laura: Well, and this is kind of going off a point that we are going to touch on later, but I know that based on the book cover and based on the previous mentions of wandless magic, I thought that was the answer. I thought Harry and Voldemort were going to have to fight each other without their wands. And I thought that Harry was going to become super awesome at wandless magic. But I mean, I wasn’t…

Andrew: Yeah, but you were totally set on that happening?

Laura: Well, that was the most reasonable theory I had. What I appreciate about what we ended up getting was that it wasn’t this big like showdown battle with like every student at Hogwarts like out on the grounds firing at Voldemort’s army. It was just like Harry and Voldemort with everyone around them. And sort of the more fan fiction-y stories I saw had both groups of people advancing on each other like they were in some sort of, I don’t know, colonial fight. But…

Micah: Right. But I know people who would argue just the opposite, that they were disappointed that – and obviously there are other events going on that the reader needs to be focused on from Harry’s point of view – but things that we learn about after the fact. A lot of people had a problem with not seeing Remus and Tonks die and a lot of the other characters that we learn about later on. There wasn’t enough focus on the battle as a whole. It was too much of what was going on with Harry. Obviously we needed to know that but there was stuff that people felt was left out. There wasn’t enough battle time.

Laura: I think it’s kind of creepy that some people say they wanted to watch someone die.

Andrew: Well, but…

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: …you know why though.

Laura: No, I’m just kidding.

Andrew: Sort of in their honor.

Laura: I’m just kidding.

Mikey: From a – I would definitely like to see Remus’ last hoorah. I hate to find out this character…

Andrew: [laughs] There wasn’t so much of a Hoorah though, was it?

Mikey: Well, it’s his last stand. You know what I mean? Like…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: But you’ve got to remember. This is the story of Harry and his perspective and what he sees. He didn’t know. I’m sure if Harry realized that Remus was fighting and lost and died, he probably would have had a very similar reaction to what happened when Sirius died. And…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: …it would have thrown off the whole thing and he probably wouldn’t have defeated Voldemort even though he had all this knowledge of what really was going on.

Penny: The thing is also, is that the way I look at is, even though I agree with Laura, I also thought that Harry was going to use wandless magic later, but I think part of the beauty of it is that he didn’t. He’s not Harry awesome guy. He’s just Harry Potter that we’ve come to love from the beginning of the book. But he’s just – he really is just a regular guy. Anybody could be Harry Potter. But he was able to take the tools that Dumbledore and everybody had given him and defeat Voldemort even without all the major spell work, wand work, everything like that. So I actually ended up really liking it, that it was just Harry being Harry.

Andrew: Well, where else – where should we go with this next? I mean, would it have been better to see a longer duel with, say, more complex spells, attacks, or people just in general, sort of like maybe a three on one? Like okay, if we can admit that Harry couldn’t beat Voldemort by himself, wouldn’t it have been cool to maybe see the trio attack Voldemort by himself?

Mikey: That…

Andrew: Because how do we – maybe Voldemort doesn’t have spells to go against – what if three Avada Kedavras are coming at him at once? What does he do?

Laura: I don’t know. I was always – I was always a firm proponent of the idea that Ron and Hermione could always help Harry during his journey but the final battle between just he and Voldemort, I thought that needed to be between them.

Mikey: That’s his – this is Harry’s story. It had to be his journey. He had to take it alone, you know. He had his mentors to help him. He had his Yoda character, you know. He has his friends helping him out. But in that last moment it has to be him alone. That’s the…

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: And he says that. As soon he pulls off the Invisibility Cloak he says, “Everybody, move away. I have to do this.” And…

Mikey: Yeah. So it’s his story. It’s his journey and I am glad that they didn’t have the trio in there. I’m actually – I’m really happy with the way the book ended with that battle. I would’ve been really upset, if like Penny said, he became super Harry. Like Laura said earlier, it would’ve been cool for him to become super Harry with the wandless magic and everything, that’s what I was imagining before. And when I started hearing about Horcruxes or Hallows, I was like, “Oh my God. He’s going to get that wandless magic power and just be awesome.” And it turned out to be just not that he knew Voldemort was going to kill himself in a sense.

Micah: I was just going to comment on what you said earlier, Andrew. Voldemort – there is a scene where he is dueling McGonagall, Slughorn, and Flitwick, I think it is. So he could easily take on three people without any question; much more so, probably, the trio…

Andrew: That’s true.

Micah: …than dealing with the advanced magic that those three professors know.

Penny: I was just going to say the exact same thing as Micah. Basically, for those people that wanted to see that full, everybody waving their wands and throwing curses at each other, we saw that! We saw Voldemort battling three. That’s when Molly was fighting Bellatrix, and you couldn’t have had Harry be in the mix of that, because at that point, I don’t think that if they had known Harry was okay and alive, all those people, I don’t know if they would have had that same amount of energy at that point, as well, because Harry had to do it himself.

Andrew: Laura?

Laura: I was going to say, in regards to Harry just being a regular guy, what I thought was so great about this whole scene was he used his signature spell to kill Voldemort. And…

Andrew: Yes.

Laura: …I just thought that was great.


Would It Had Been Better With More Battling Against Voldemort?


Andrew: Did you? Well, that would be interesting. But first let me ask you a question, Laura, I wanted to ask you earlier.

Laura: Uh-oh.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: If the battle – if this battle wasn’t just between Harry and Voldemort, would you have been severely disappointed? I mean, that could be a question to anyone, but I want your opinion first.

Laura: I think I would have been a little bit confused, because throughout the whole novel it was sort of this idea of – and I was never one of those people who was like, “No, Harry can never take Ron and Hermione with him in Book 7!” Like, I never thought of that but it just seemed like the overlying message was Harry’s the only one who can defeat Voldemort. So it would seem kind of cheap at the very end of this wonderful series, to have Ron and Hermione there shooting curses at Voldemort with him. So that’s just me.

Andrew: So you would be disappointed if…

Laura: I would be disappointed. Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. I think I agree with that. So I guess someone could argue that Jo avoided having them duel longer, because we as readers knew that Voldemort couldn’t win. I mean, is that fair to say?

Laura: Yeah, I mean, he’d already lost.

Andrew: Right.

Laura: That was the whole thing.

Andrew: But do you think that’s why Jo kept it short and sweet and to the point? Extremely.

Laura: Hmm. I mean, it was pretty short.

Andrew: Mhm. See, now you’re admitting it.

Laura: No, I mean…

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: …the final showdown between them was very short.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I don’t care, but…

Andrew: I’m just kidding.

Laura: I don’t know. Because I felt like so much of the battle was already done by that point.

Penny: Exactly. The three chapters that led up to it, it was all part of the battle.


Harry Using Expelliarmus


Andrew: Yeah. Okay, well, let’s talk about what Laura just mentioned, Harry using his signature spell. And this is another interesting debate. I was kind of surprised to just hear that Laura was excited to see him use that. Let’s sum it up. It is the, of course, “Expelliarmus!” spell. We talked about it a lot at our summer tour last summer, and I know we’ve referenced it a lot before, but it sort of goes back to when Lupin warned him, earlier in the book, that it’s not a good spell to use in defense. And this is from Chapter 5, Harry explaining to Lupin how he got caught. Harry says, “‘We were hundreds of feet up, Stan’s not himself, and if I’d Stunned him and he’d fallen, he’d have died the same as if I’d used Avada Kedavra. Expelliarmus saved me from Voldemort two years ago,’ Harry added defiantly.” And in a way, that was sort of foreshadowing, wasn’t it? I mean, what was to come?

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: And then in the same chapter, Lupin is explaining why not to use Expelliarmus and we can talk about whether Lupin was right or wrong here. Lupin says, “‘The Death Eaters, frankly, most people would have expected you to attack back. Expelliarmus is a useful spell, Harry, but the Death Eaters seem to think it is your signature move. And I urge you not to let it become so.’ Lupin was making Harry feel idiotic, yet there was still a grain of defiance in him. ‘I won’t blast people out of my way just because they’re there!’ said Harry. ‘That’s Voldemort’s job.'” So, Laura, do you think Lupin was right to recommend this to Harry? I mean, he certainly has a good point. People can expect that he’s going to use Expelliarmus.

Laura: I guess so, but I just – my thing is, it clearly works. Not only did Harry make the point to Lupin in Book 7 that he had escaped Voldemort before using this, but he also made the same point in Book 5, I believe, when they were getting together Dumbledore’s Army and everyone was sort of sceptical of learning Expelliarmus. And he said, “Well, hey, this is how I escaped Voldemort last summer.” So I don’t know.

Andrew: What does everyone else think about this? Was Lupin right to tell him to not use the spell?

Micah: Yes. In my opinion. I think it’s a weak spell.

Mikey: No, I agree with Micah completely. Logically thinking, Expelliarmus is probably the weakest spell you should use against a Death Eater who’s trying to kill you. You know, a Stunning Spell is just that much more logical to use. You know, that way you have more time to get away before versus them just not having their wand. Now, at the same time, though, Harry kind of has his own set of morals and that’s where he’s, “I won’t blast people out of my way just because they’re there.” And I’m glad that Harry sticks to them, but from Remus’ standpoint, Harry’s being an idiot. Using Expelliarmus.

Andrew: Mhm.

Mikey: And I think that Lupin was in every right to express his feelings and tell Harry not to let that become his signature move.

Andrew: Yeah. And we obviously saw some anger between those two in the book. Do you think Harry wanted to continue using it just to prove Lupin wrong?

Micah: Not at that point in the series, no. I mean, you’re talking about – Lupin has already been killed. I don’t think Harry is proving a point when he kills Voldemort with Expelliarmus for the sake of the conversation that he had had with Lupin months before that. If that’s what you’re asking.

Andrew: Well, I was just saying – forgetting about the final battle, I mean, do you think he just wanted to – he didn’t really take Lupin’s advice and continued using it throughout the book, not just the final battle, just because he wanted to prove something with it?

Mikey: No! I think it – again, it kind of goes back to what Harry said there. He won’t blast people out the way just because they’re there. He’s completely different than what Voldemort is, and the exact opposite of Voldemort just killing people and blasting them out of the way would be just to disarm them and kind of almost talk to them. And Harry would obviously not talk to them, he would run away, but it’s one of those things where if he did anything more forceful, it would have been kind of closer to what Voldemort himself would have almost done. And I think Harry walked his own line and stayed with it.

Micah: Yeah. I think it was a matter of comfort for Harry. It was probably the first thing that came to his mind. But I also believe that if he had used any spell it would have killed Voldemort. Just because he was using the Elder Wand.

Penny: But also, before Deathly Hallows came out, a lot of people were very nervous about Harry killing Voldemort because they said – because we know that Dumbledore told Harry that part of his soul would be split. Part of anybody’s soul was split if they willingly kill somebody. And a lot of people were concerned that Harry’s soul just wasn’t going to be the same if he would kill Voldemort. So this wasn’t – he didn’t use Avada Kedavra on him. Like Micah said, anything that he would have used would kill him, but just by virtue of the fact that he didn’t use one of those stronger spells, I think, shows just who Harry is.

Micah: Well, I just want to bring something up, and I know we’ve talked about this on another show. We saw, in this book, Harry use the other two Unforgivable Curses.

Penny: Yeah, that’s true.

Micah: And I thought that was leading up to him using Avada Kedavra against Voldemort, but it never happened.

Andrew: Mmm. Yeah. And it would have been exciting to see him use it, don’t you think? Okay, yeah, it’s a death spell, but don’t you think it would have been exciting? I think Micah brings up a good point, you know. It seems like it was sort of leading to that.

Micah: Right. I forget who they – well, he used the Imperius Curse. What is it, the Ministry? No.

Penny: At Gringotts.

Micah: At Gringotts, sorry. And then they use – Harry uses Crucio on one of the – was it Alecto or one of the Carrows.

Penny: Yeah. Amycus.

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: Amycus Carrow. See, that’s why Penny’s here, to correct all my mistakes.

[Micah and Penny laugh]

Penny: Sorry.

Micah: No, no, no. I make plenty of them.

Laura: But weren’t those for specific reasons?

Micah: Yeah, but it’s almost like Jo was saying “Okay, Imperius Curse, now Cruciatus Curse, we’re building to something bigger at the end of the story.” But that’s just what I thought.

Laura: Mmm. Harry is like Batman. He won’t kill anybody.

Andrew: [laughs] In a way, though, that sort of is – I don’t want to say a weakness, because Harry is obviously a very strong person – but he has that sort of heart.

Laura: That “saving people thing”?

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, although he did kill Voldemort, so it’s not like he can’t kill.


Harry Giving Voldemort the Option to Repent


Laura: Yeah, but you know what? He even gave Voldemort a chance to repent.

Andrew: Yeah, and that was really interesting. Like, what would have happened if – I don’t know. I didn’t get what was going on there, really.

Micah: He wouldn’t have.

Andrew: But what would have happened?

Laura: If Voldemort had just been like “Oh, yeah. Sorry, dude”?

Andrew: Yeah, exactly!

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: Yeah, but you know what? But you see, Harry had to offer that chance to him. He really did. He had to offer Voldemort that chance to kind of turn around, because that’s what Dumbledore would have wanted, to give Tom Riddle one last chance to redeem himself. Because Harry knew what his future held because he had seen the torn-up soul already at King’s Cross. And we know he wasn’t going to take it. We knew Voldemort was not human anymore. He wasn’t going to repent for his crimes. But he had to give him that chance because that’s what Dumbledore would have wanted.

Penny: But what’s interesting is if you look at what was said there at that exact moment, it says – Harry is talking to Voldemort and it says, “‘Before you try to kill me, I advise you to think about what you have done. Think and try for some remorse, Riddle.'” And then he says, “‘What’s this?’ Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had shocked Voldemort like this.”

Andrew: Yeah. That was really interesting.

Penny: And I was just always wondering, why? Why did this bother Voldemort so much?

Andrew: Because he’s giving him a chance. Right? He’s giving him a chance for survival in a way. Or he doesn’t want to kill him, it almost seems like. Right?

Penny: It would seem like that, but does he have a chance?

Laura: Or maybe Voldemort thought if Harry was actually offering him this chance, maybe that was when he realized, “Oh, crap! I’m going to die!” [laughs] You know?


Snape Taught Harry His Signature Spell


Andrew: Yeah. Well, it’s a very interesting debate. Let’s move along to another thing to talk about. Penny, did you add this in? Snape is the one to…

Penny: About – yeah.

Andrew: Go ahead talk about that.

Penny: Well, everybody wanted to know from the beginning what the deal was with Snape. And what’s interesting is that in Chamber of Secrets when they did the duel, Snape is the one who taught Harry the spell.

Laura: Oh!

Penny: So, ultimately, Snape is the one who – not only did he protect Harry throughout the series…

Laura: Oh.

Penny: …but he’s the one that taught him his signature spell and the one that ultimately killed Voldemort. So that’s just pretty cool.

Laura: Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. I never noticed that before.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: Isn’t that awesome?

Andrew: Yeah, it is really cool.

Laura: I feel like I should pull a Jamie and request a moment of silence for this amazing discovery.

Andrew: [imitating Jamie] Let’s have a moment of silence just to appreciate that moment.

Laura: I feel like he does that every other episode. [laughs]

Andrew: It’s funny. It’s his thing.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: He just wants to have a break for a second. That’s his way of…

Laura: It’s his signature line.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: Like I could announce Podcast Alley and he’ll just be like, “Can we just take a moment to appreciate here.”

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: Oh Jamie.

Micah: But that’s really cool. The only thing that I wish that we could have seen was Snape possibly in that final battle where he was fighting on the side we all knew he was on, but it obviously couldn’t have happened that way.

Penny: But at least Harry was able to announce it everybody, where Snape’s allegiance lied.


Holy You-Know-What Moments


Andrew: Yeah, moving along. What was this last point? Was this you too, Penny?

Penny: Yeah. I just thought there were so many parts during this battle that were just like, oh my gosh, holy you-know-what moments, and not just for the readers. Because there were some things. Like we knew that Harry was under the Cloak, let’s say, during the battle. So Harry pulls off the Cloak and all of a sudden everybody sees that he’s alive.

Andrew: Bum-bum-bum. Yeah.

Penny: So that’s for the people that are in the Great Hall. But then the point when Harry says “Snape was Dumbledore’s, he was never yours,” that’s a time that Voldemort is just like, oh my gosh. And then when we’re reading it and all of a sudden he’s talking and says something like, “Draco Malfoy was the master of the Elder Wand.” I don’t know about you guys when you read it, but when I read it, it’s like it was in the back of my head but I just didn’t make the connections.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: And I was just like, “oh my gosh, you’re right!” I just thought that there were so many of those during this battle that it made it so good.

Andrew: Yeah. And reading the battle again today, in preparation for this discussion, I really felt like to pay tribute to J.K. Rowling and her books, they should really strive to keep this scene verbatim in the movie.

Penny: Yes.

Andrew: I think that would be so cool.

Laura: Mhm. And they could easily do it too. I mean…

Andrew: It’s like a movie.

Laura: Yeah, it would all translate very well.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Penny: As long as they can pull it off. I hope that they’d be able to, because it really is amazing.

Andrew: Yeah, it really is, it really is. Well, there you go. There’s our discussion on the final battle. Does anyone have any other things to add about this? No moments of silence to appreciate.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: None here.

Micah: No, I thought it was a good discussion.


Holiday Discussion


Andrew: Yes, and I think we laid it all to rest one last time. You know, speaking of this, we’ve been talking about all of this and yet we’ve failed to mention thus far that this is our holiday episode. And here we are talking about death and how Harry was a wuss for not killing someone straight up. So we’re going to transition now into sort of a little holiday discussion. Last episode we asked people to send in their questions related to Beedle via Twitter, which is sort of like a Facebook. The whole site is dedicated to Facebook statuses, so to speak. So Twitter is – you have an account and you just write what you’re doing throughout the day. So “Andrew is dot dot dot recording MuggleCast.”

Micah: It came in very handy for our Ministry of Magic elections.

Andrew: Yes it did. That too. So I want to start using it more with MuggleCast. This week – and I posted an announcement on the site just saying, yay, we’re going to start using Twitter more. So this week we asked people for their questions about the holidays. Sort of to talk a little about the holidays since it is the holiday season.

[Holiday music plays]

Andrew: And this first one came from Pokea.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: I didn’t read this username.

Mikey: I like that Twitter name. I really do.

Andrew: It’s – I guess I have to read it. It’s “Pokeahotass.” And so…

[Andrew and Laura laugh]


The Hosts Say What They Would Give to the Trio


Andrew: I never read it. It said, “If you could get the trio anything for Christmas what would it be? And the motives behind the gift.” I thought that was interesting. I guess we could talk about the Wizarding World. Mikey, if you had to give one of the trio anything, what would you give them?

Mikey: Ooh, I don’t know. I would give Ron a Blu-Ray player.

Andrew: I knew you were going to say Blu-Ray. So you can watch it on Blu-Ray.

Mikey: I think out of the trio, I think Ron would really enjoy movies.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: I think he’s the type of person – I don’t know. I think I identify a lot with Ron. I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I – I like movies.

Andrew: For Christmas I would just give Harry a six-pack of beer. Just let the kid relax.

Laura: He deserves it. He’s earned it.

Mikey: Just relax and hang out.

Andrew: Yeah. Penny or Laura, do you guys have any ideas?

Penny: I was going to give Ron some tact for Christmas.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: What’s that? Tact?

Penny: Tact. T-A-C-T.

Andrew: What is that?

Penny: Tact? Like be more tactful?

Andrew: Oh, I see. I’m sure he would appreciate that. It’d be one of those “Oh, ha-ha” jokes.

Mikey: Oh, you know what? I would also give Hermione Ben Schoen.

Laura: Oh.

Andrew: Ah, yes.

Micah: Wow.

Andrew: She couldn’t ask for anything more.

Mikey: She couldn’t ask for any more.

Laura: That’s unfortunate.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: That would be Emma Watson though.

Laura: I’m just kidding. Kind of.

Mikey: Anyway.

Andrew: This next one comes from HeidiHeartsHugs. That’s a nice name. Compared to the first one.

Micah: Compared to the last one.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]


Santa in the Wizarding World


Andrew: The question is, “They have Christmas, but does the Wizarding World have a Santa? And if so, what magical differences would he have?” This is a good question. Like what – like okay, obviously they celebrate Christmas, but in terms of religion – and this other question comes from JPrince610, “Are all the children of Hogwarts Christian? Because if they weren’t it might get a little awkward for little Jewish witch or wizard.” That’s kind of a good question.

Penny: That Anthony Goldstein.

Andrew: What’s that?

Penny: You’ve got Anthony Goldstein. He’s a little Jewish kid at Hogwarts.

Andrew: Well …

Mikey: Now that is stereotyping. That is stereotyping.

Penny: I’m sorry. [laughs]

Micah: Yeah, well …

Mikey: Goldstein?

Micah: Chances are he’s Jewish.

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: I mean let’s be realistic here.

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: My senior English teacher…

Penny: Micah and I can both say it without stereotyping.

Micah: Yeah, exactly.

Andrew: Yeah, it’s okay. That’s why we have you two on the show. No, but what do you think? I mean we’ve always seen just the Christmas holiday in Hogwarts, but is anything else celebrated?

Mikey: Well, you know, you’ve got to remember that Santa is a wizard. Come on, he’s got his little red wizard hat and he flies magical reindeer.

Andrew: But children in the Wizarding World must not even be fascinated by Santa because he can do what they can do.

Mikey: But he still gives them toys.

Andrew: That’s true, they can’t produce toys like Santa can.

Mikey: Exactly. He’s got his – he’s got elves, a bunch of elves, the slave driver making toys year round.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: Come on, he’s a wizard! You know, Santa’s a wizard. He’s real. I still believe in Santa Claus.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Me too.

Penny: Are they House-elves?

Mikey: Yeah, House-elves, yeah.

Andrew: Oh, you mean …

Mikey: No, they’re workshop elves. There’s a difference. They make toys instead of do housework.

Laura: Hmm.

Andrew: It would kind of be cool to see like a special holiday in the Wizarding World.

Mikey: Yeah, like Santa Claus, he’s been around from 1200 A.D. to current. The oldest – only second in age to Nicholas Flammel, and…

Andrew: Yeah, I know, but…

Mikey: No, that would be rad though, I agree.

Andrew: Like a full on holiday. You know, Jo creates all this crazy stuff in the films – or in the books, so just imagine her coming up with a holiday with a theme and songs and a figurehead like Santa.

Mikey: Like “We Wish you a Wizard Christmas” and stuff like that?

Andrew: Yeah. Do you think Dumbledore would play Santa at the meet and greats?

Mikey: [laughs] It’s like, “Now what would you like for…” Never mind. Just imagine…

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: …Santa sitting up in the Great Hall in a big old red costume, and it’s not really Dumbledore, it’s Santa Claus.


Religion in the Wizarding World


Andrew: And one last question from LindseyTinsey. That’s a cute little rhyme there. “Why does the Wizarding World celebrate Christmas and Easter? Do they believe in Jesus?” I know we could probably get deep into a religious discussion, but…

Laura: That’s not necessary.

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: I mean, I think – okay, here’s what I’ll say. I’m not religious myself, but I still celebrate Christmas and Easter and all of these other holidays because they’re – while they are Christian holidays they’re also huge in our society. So…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I mean, since I’m not religious it’s like I pick up these major holidays and celebrate them anyhow.

Andrew: Yeah, and I think Jo wanted to write a holiday that she celebrates. I think…

Micah: Right.

Laura: It’s something familiar, you know?

Andrew: Yeah. And plus, when she was writing Sorcerer’s Stone, which has Christmas in it, she didn’t think it would be as big as the book became and I doubt she was writing it to – I’m not trying to say that she was like, “Oh I need to write…” Never mind, I don’t know what I’m saying.

Mikey: It also has Halloween.

Micah: No, I agree with you.

Mikey: They also have Halloween. They also have Halloween.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: No, I agree, Andrew. I think it’s whatever she knows from her own experience. That’s what she’s putting in the book.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: It doesn’t necessarily mean that they all believe in Jesus. I think one thing to remember, and this is not in any way trying to offend people, but Christmas has become a very commercialized holiday where…

Andrew: Right.

Micah: Just like what Laura was saying, people may not subscribe to the religion but they still celebrate it because it’s just a festive holiday and that time of year just lends itself to, I guess, a Christmas type feeling.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: And I’m going to get e-mails for that.

Andrew: Well, there you go.

Micah: So yeah.

Andrew: No you won’t. I don’t think so. Well, there you go. There’s our holiday discussion for this year. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Laura: Even though three quarters of it was about death.

Micah: Happy Holidays!

Andrew: Happy Holidays, I’m sorry. All right, now it’s time to get into voicemails. We haven’t had them in a while. So I don’t know about you guys but I’m very excited.

Mikey: Woo! Excited!

Andrew: Let’s take the first one. This is a book question.


Voicemail: Lily Should Have Been Crookshanks


[Audio]: Hey MuggleCast, this is Colton, age 15 of Kansas City, Missouri, the biggest Harry Potter fan of all time. I was just reading the series for my ninth time and I got to the part in Prisoner of Azkaban where they found out that Peter Pettigrew was and Animagus, and I thought – or I thought before Deathly Hallows was released – that maybe a good plot twist would be if Lily Potter was secretly Crookshanks in Animagus form. Obviously this isn’t possible because Deathly Hallows has already been released. Just thought I’d see if I could get you guys’ feedback. Thanks. Keep up the good work. Love the show. Pickles.

Andrew: There’s a crazy listener who believes Crookshanks could have been Lily. I thought that was kind of interesting.

Laura: You know, I’ve heard that theory before.

Andrew: Really?

Laura: Yeah, there were a lot of people who thought that.

Andrew: Like before Book 7?

Laura: Yes. Yeah.

Andrew: That would be so cool, but at the same time it would be crazy. Like how would Harry react? Wouldn’t he be…

Mikey: He would be resentful.

Andrew: …like, “What the hell?”

Mikey: Like, seriously.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, “You’ve been hiding from me as a cat this whole time?”

Mikey: [laughs] That heavy …

Andrew: At least show yourself once.

Mikey: I know. Come on. Like how many birthdays and Christmases did he have with no family.

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: And all that time at the Dursleys’. That would be like – oh wow, I’d be like so…

Andrew: It would be funny if there were a couple scenes where Crookshanks…

Mikey: It’s like the Jerry Springer edition of Harry Potter.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Well, no, I was going to say, before Harry found out there’d been like instances where Harry would be like – behind Hermione’s back Harry would toss the cat of to the side…

[Laura and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: …when he was sitting in a chair or something. She was sitting in a chair. Yeah.

Micah: Yeah, well, one of the things that could still be true, and really does need to be posed to Jo is, there was a cat that was talked about in the letter that was found in Sirius’ room…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …from the Potters’ old home, and I know we got a lot of e-mail about that possibly being Crookshanks.

Andrew: But see, the problem with that theory, I mean other than Mrs. Norris, they’re the only two cats so I could sort of see how everyone would be like “Oh my God, maybe it’s a connection,” because there’s not that many cats.

Laura: Or maybe they just had a pet cat.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I don’t know.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I don’t think that’s unreasonable. [laughs]

Andrew: That’s an interesting theory though. I mean, Jo could’ve went anywhere with that. That would’ve been pretty cool though. That kid – did you hear what that kid said though? He was reading the series for the ninth time.

Micah: Wow.

Laura: That’s impressive.


Voicemail: Differences Between U.S. and U.K. Editions


Andrew: All right, next voicemail. This is also about the books.

[Audio]: Hi MuggleCasters, this is Courtney Martin, I’m 17 from [unintelligible] United States. I love your show, but I have a question. What’s the difference between the U.S. edition and the U.K. edition of any of the Harry Potter books? I’ve been reading the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows U.K. version because I’ve already read the U.S. version. I love your show, especially Andrew and Laura. Thanks! Bye.

Andrew and Laura: Aww.

Laura: That’s so sweet.

Andrew: Well, that’s a kind of a good question. Not everyone really knows that, especially maybe our younger listeners. But the difference between the U.S. and U.K. editions are – I mean, it’s different publishers, that’s mainly the thing. And then also, when Jo writes these books, she writes them for – she writes them in English, U.K. English, so some words like “favorite” will have a “u” in them, and then they change those words in the U.S. edition so it matches with our – with our proper language.

Laura: And even some of the slang gets changed too.

Andrew: Yeah. Not to mention the title.

Laura: Yeah. [laughs] Of the first book. And the covers are different too.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: But…

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: And…

Andrew: Any other differences?

Mikey: In Philosopher’s Stone there’s an extra chapter. In the U.S. edition.

Andrew: Nuh-uh.

Mikey: Uh-huh.

Andrew: Really?

Mikey: Yeah, because it’s in the Sorcerer’s Stone versus Philosopher’s Stone. In the U.K. edition there’s no explanation of what a sorcerer’s stone is, or a philosophers stone is, because it’s kind of like common knowledge, whereas in the U.S. edition there’s that explanation because – of the sorcerer’s stone or philosopher’s stone – is not common knowledge.

Andrew: Oh, I thought you said extra chapter.

Mikey: No, well, it’s not really an extra chapter, but there’s a whole extra section that is in the U.S. edition…

Andrew: Oh.

Laura: Oh, okay.

Mikey: …that’s not in the U.K. edition. But that’s like the only one that I know off the top of my head that still stands out.

Andrew: Well, also, and Penny called this one, in Beedle the Bard there’s an extra footnote for the U.S. people saying, “if you’re not from the U.K. such and such means this.” And when she saw that she IM-ed me and was like, “hey, is this in the U.K. version?” And I was like “why, no, it’s not.” Good find, Penny.

Penny: Yeah, because once again, we’re stupid.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: That’s why.

Laura: [laughs] Exactly.

Mikey: I know I am.

Andrew: Stupid?

Mikey: Maybe, sometimes. Most of the time. Maybe. I don’t know. Anyway.


Voicemail: Dumbledore Resembles Gandalf


Andrew: All right, next voicemail.

[Audio]: Hi, my name’s Aubrey and I was watching the international teaser trailer, and I was listening to MuggleCast about the fire and how somebody was really obsessed and pyromaniac-ish, and I was wondering if anyone else thought that the scene where Dumbledore was waving around and the fire was going on, that that was a little bit of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. Like, I was seriously reminded of Gandalf. But anyway, I’m going to keep this short, so yeah. Okay, bye!

Andrew: Gandalf. I have not seen Lord of the Rings so I have no idea what’s she’s talking about.

Mikey: Yes.

Andrew: Actually, I know Gandalf.

Mikey: I agree.

Penny: That was my first thought, definitely.

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: It’s definitely a little Gandalf-in-Lord of the Rings-ish.

Micah: I agree too.

Laura: Yeah.

Penny: I thought it was a cross between Gandalf and Moses…

[Laura laughs]

Penny: …like in the The Ten Commandments a little bit.


Mikey Explains How Trailers Work


Mikey: You know what? Actually – actually, about the trailer, I never actually got to talk about it because I was moving during that time, but someone IM – or messaged me on Facebook or something – and asked about the visual effects work because, I don’t know, I guess people ask me that sort of stuff. But if you look at like the trailer – I actually pulled it up right now, just to make sure I’m not going crazy thinking about it. But if you look at the bridge scene, there’s a bunch of people on it when they’re going around it and then it snaps, and then when its flipping up and down, there’s nobody on it. And just to answer that person’s question, because I don’t remember what it was, trailers are cut completely crazy, so if you think there’s no visual effects done or something like that where there’s nobody on it, because when you go to the scene at exactly at 1:37, there’s nobody on the bridge, and the bridge is just like flying up and down. What happen is the people have either fallen off or have gotten off there and that could be at the very end of it when all the cars and everything on it are just gone, off the bridge.

Andrew: Oh, that’s a good point.

Mikey: But yeah, it’s not like the trailer’s not done and the footage isn’t done, it’s – if you look at it, it’s completely intercut with different timing. That can literally be like three minutes later in the scene where it’s that distorted, and it’s not that visual effects aren’t done. And it’s just that – it’s – you can see that it’s completely cut different time. Same thing with a lot of the Tom Riddle and the – the young Riddle and the older Riddle, like the cuts back and forth to it.

Andrew: I – go ahead.

Mikey: Yeah, I was just going to say, a lot of that is just trailer editing. A lot of times you will see stuff in trailers that don’t actually make it into the movie, but they’re actually there. They’re just used a little bit differently in the trailer.

Micah: I actually have a question for you, Mikey, though, off of that. Do trailers oftentimes not always go in sequence?

Andrew: Definitely not.

Micah: I’ll be a little more – No, no, no – here’s what I’m saying though. For example, Harry and Dumbledore at one point in this trailer are in front of Slughorn’s house and they immediately Apparate and there’s this really quick scene in there where they show up on the Astronomy Tower and it switches to something else.

Mikey: So the way trailers kind of work is it’s kind of up to an editor to kind of create a short story out of it. Now what happens is, what people tend to see, tend to be the really cool parts that are done, and so the Apparition scene – I’m actually going through it step by step. Chances are, that’s not the final scene or final Apparition – Apparation. Blah. Whatever. It’s not the final visual effects for it. It’s probably – I’m looking at it. It looks like an additional kind of thing that the editor may have done and it cuts directly to the Tower. Nothing to do. And what happens is, a lot of times trailers are cut before the whole thing is done and editors just start getting stuff. And one editor who might actually be working on the film will be assigned, hey, you need to cut the trailer. So so they know, this scene has been done, this scene’s been done. They start picking and choosing key shots from it that look exciting that will fit to a trailer, and they’ll cut something to a temp music track. And then it will go from that – the temp music track will go to someone who does music and will actually put music to it that’s the Harry Potter music. They will keep dialogue in.


Voicemail: Movie 6’s New Scene


Andrew: Okay, let’s listen to the next voicemail.

[Audio]: Hey guys! This is Micah from South Carolina and I just wanted to let you guys know I am completely confused. I just finished reading for the second time the Half-Blood Prince book, and this is going to sound really retarded, but I cannot find anywhere where the Burrow is on fire and I am confused. If I could get some help on that. I don’t know if maybe it’s at the end of the book and I am just reading too fast. Maybe I just missed that. But you guys do a great job. I love the show. The trailer was awesome, the new trailer, and I love listening to you guys. Thanks very much for your time. Bye.

Andrew: The reason I included this is because we actually – people still do send in e-mails about this, which is kind of surprising. It’s been widely reported, but they added that scene, specifically that scene, to the film as a pacing scene to hint at danger early on. So that whole scene at the Burrow, that is an entirely new scene approved by Jo, but entirely new, and it’s not in the book, so there you go.

Mikey: And wouldn’t that also be kind of the understanding of getting them back to school and back to also the Order headquarters too?

Andrew: Oh, yeah!

Mikey: Because now it’s no longer safe at the Burrow. It’s again – like the trailers, movies can’t be completely true to the books because people who don’t read the books have to be able to follow along. Well, why aren’t they at the Burrow? Harry’s safe there. Their family has been safe there for years and Voldemort has been around. Why do they have to go to the Order of the Phoenix headquarters? Especially since it’s so dark and gloomy and whatever.


Voicemail: The Trailer Themes


Andrew: And the final voicemail for today:

[Audio]: Hey MuggleCasters, Nicole here from Micah’s alma mater Syracuse University. And once again, I must ask too much of you all. It is needless to say the new trailer has sparked a lot of discussion. In the past two previews we see that they each adhere to a theme. Like the first one focused on young Tom Riddle and Dumbledore, whereas the second one, although a bit more fiery as you all put it, definitely put the emphasis on Harry and Dumbledore. I am surprised there has not been much dialogue seen amongst the Malfoy and Lestrange families, especially since Narcissa is a relatively new character in the realm of the HP films. I know we’ve got a few more months until the movie does comes, out but do you guys think in the next trailer they will promote them more? Thanks MuggleCast! And Andrew, I love you, wildcat!

Andrew: Hey now!

Micah: Wow.

Laura: Oh my gosh.

Andrew: She is of course referring to the fabulous High School Musical 3. They refer to each other as “wildcats” in the school because that’s their mascot thing. Anyway, what can we hope for in the next trailer in terms of a theme? I mean, she was saying, hopefully, some more Narcissa Malfoy, but I don’t know. Maybe hopefully they will focus more on the humor that they are loving to hype up right now. Especially on ABC Family. I don’t know. Does anyone have any hopes for what the next trailer can bring in terms of a theme or what to see?

Micah: Snape?

Andrew: Snape?

Penny: Yeah, I was going to say that, or the Potions book, Half-Blood Prince, something.

Andrew: Yeah, there still has been no explanation of that.

Micah: Maybe a little more Slughorn.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: A little more of everything that we want from the movie?

[Micah and Mikey laugh]

Penny: But not too much!

Micah: I’m wondering what Nicole wants to see out of the Lestranges and the Malfoys, because I would think that Narcissa’s role in particular would be pretty minor in this movie.

Mikey: It’s all Draco’s role.

Micah: There’s somebody, too, to see some more of, Draco.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, there’s been a lot of pictures of Draco, too, coming out. I mean a lot of the promotional pictures have had Draco and yet we’ve seen pretty much nothing of him in the trailers.

Mikey: We’ll see Draco. I’m sure of it just because, you know, Harry doesn’t fight Voldemort in this book, it’s all Draco.

Andrew: All right, so there you go. That’s voicemails this week. We’ll give you the call-in information at the end of the show if you want to send in your own voicemail and we’ll get to that, too. These – of course those last three were all about the trailer because these were gathered when the trailer came out so everyone was very excited to talk about it.


Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul


Andrew: But let’s wrap up today with Chicken Soup: Finals Edition. Penny, you want to do this one? It’s like your inaugural Chicken Soup.

Penny: Oh wow. I might just shed a tear.

[Andrew laughs]

Penny: It’s from Carly, 15, from Vermont, and she writes:

“Hey everyone, lately I’ve been going through a lot of stuff at school. Keeping straight A’s isn’t very easy, especially with finals coming up. I hate having the pressure applied to me because I know if I don’t do well in high school and college it’s going to be difficult, and since I’m only a freshman I really shouldn’t start worrying yet. But since I have four siblings I need straight A’s to continue in school. MuggleCast has gotten me through those hard nights of constant nonstop studying when I don’t go to bed until 3 A.M. because I need to finish a paper. All your jokes and stories make my day that much better and I really enjoy hearing your voices. Myth: ‘Harry Potter’ is over. Total lie. MuggleCast is continuing the fandom and keeping it strong. Thanks Andrew, Matt, Elysa, Laura, Micah, Eric, Ben, Mikey B., Kevin, and Jamie.”

Micah: And Penny.

Penny: “I hope I didn’t forget anyone. If I did, just imagine their name.”

I’m imagining it.

Andrew: Penny!

Penny: “Everything you do is amazing. I hope to someday meet you all. I love you, and thanks again for keeping me sane through these times.” Smiley face, heart.

Andrew: Aww, well you’re very welcome, Carly. And there you go. Doesn’t that warm your heart? It’s like a chicken soup.

Micah: That’s a lot of work for a 15 year-old to be up until 3 A.M.

Andrew: Well, these kids these days, it’s just work, work, work.

Micah: Wow.

Andrew: I don’t get it.

Micah: I’m not sending my kids to school in Vermont, that’s for sure.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: That’s a good point though. You know, that is a lot. Maybe she was saving it all until the very end or something.

Micah: Probably. Procrastination.

Mikey: That’s what I do. You’re not supposed to do that, but I do that.

Andrew: Anyway, so that does wrap up the latest episode of MuggleCast. I know you’re all sad, but we will be back next week for a fantastic year-in-review episode. We’re going to be talking about all the big stories over this year. And I was thinking about it, there was a lot of big stories that happened this year. Even though, for the first time in a while, we did not see a new book or a new movie this year, besides Beedle, but it doesn’t really count.

Micah: We got the Tenth Anniversary Edition of Sorcerer’s Stone. [laughs]

Penny: That was exciting.


Contact Information


Andrew: How could I forget? I guess that was one of the bigger stories we could discuss because they’re planning on doing tenth anniversary editions for the rest of the books, too. So, to contact us, if you’d like to send parcel mail, you can always send it in to the MuggleCast P.O. Box. That is MuggleCast P.O. Box 3151, Cumming, Georgia, 30028. If you would like to call in a voicemail and have it played on the show just like the ones that were aired a little earlier, we have a couple numbers for you. If you’re in the United States you can dial 1-218-20-MAGIC. And if you’re in the United Kingdom you can dial 02081440677. Now, you guys can help me to decide this, but right here I would normally say the Australian number, but here’s the thing: it expired a few days ago. And literally, we get very, very, very few calls from it, so I’m thinking we should just let it go. What do you guys think? [laughs]

Penny: Yeah, just ignore it and hopefully no one will notice.

Andrew: [laughs] Now that I’m discussing it here on air I think people may, but it just didn’t get used so I figure, why even bother? I’m sure Eric would be annoyed if he were here because he used to live there.

Micah: You’re going to get a lot of e-mails now from Australia.

Andrew: Well…

Micah: All of a sudden this line will be the hottest…

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Micah: …phone line for the next two weeks if you renew it.

Andrew: Yeah, we just didn’t get many calls from it.

Micah: How long would you have to renew it for?

Andrew: You can do three months or you can do a year.

Micah: Oh.

Andrew: So it doesn’t get used and you can always use the other option; you can Skype the username MuggleCast to leave us a question too, so maybe they can just do that.

Mikey: Yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay…

Mikey: I like Skype. I like Skype.

Andrew: So we’re decided. All of us Americans have decided for the Australians. We love our Australia listeners, though. We do have a lot of them. It’s just the number didn’t get used much, so Skype the username MuggleCast if you can’t get either of those two numbers. And don’t forget, on MuggleCast.com, we have a feedback form to contact any one of us, or just use our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com. I actually have to revise the script in my head because we fixed the feedback form on the site but you can’t individually contact us anymore because something went weird and it hasn’t been working. So, if you want to send an individual message to one of us, just use our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com. Penny, for now, we’ll get you an at staff name eventually, but for now, if somebody wants to write to you with a thought or a disagreement, or whatever, how could they e-mail you?

Penny: HarryPotterProgs at yahoo dot com.

Andrew: Okay, there we go. So – and also don’t forget our community outlets. We have the MySpace, we have the Facebook

[Show music begins]

Andrew:YouTube, Frappr, Last.FM, we have the fanlisting and the forums. Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter. And now with every new episode we’ll be asking you a question to answer there on Twitter, and we’ll read your questions or comments on the show. And don’t forget to vote for us once a month at Podcast Alley. And, for more details about Azkatraz 2009, go to HP2009.org, and we hope to see you there.


Show Close


Micah: Yup. One quick thing?

Andrew: What?

Micah: I just wanted to say thanks again for the Podcast Awards. We accepted the award last week…

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Micah: …at the Virtual 2008 Podcast Awards. It was all done online, so thanks again to everybody for voting for us for Best Entertainment.

Andrew: And if you want to see Micah virtually accept the award, you can go to PodcastAwards.com and go to videos there. You have to fast forward a bit. I don’t even think you can fast forward, but Micah does talk pretty – what? Like first maybe fifteen minutes in or so?

Micah: Yeah, we were pretty early on.

Andrew: Yeah, so just watch it. Micah, you did a great job.

Micah: Yeah, I might have referred to our fans as cultish, but that came from the host himself first.

Andrew: [laughs] That came from him, yeah. He was like, “You guys have a big following, don’t you?” So – but it was good, you did a great job, and pictures from our live events played and all that, so it was very cool. So thank you, everyone, for voting for us, we really do appreciate that.

Micah: Cool.

Andrew: All right, let’s wrap it up. I’m Andrew Sims. [laughs] I forgot my name.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Penny: I’m Penny Gershman.

Mikey: And I’m Mikey B.

Andrew: We’ll see everyone next week for Episode 167, our year-in-review. Buh-bye!

Mikey: Bye!

Laura: Buh-bye.

Micah: Bye.

Mikey: Bye! Bye! Bye! What a world, what a world!

[Show music ends]


Blooper 1


Mikey: I’m Mikey B! [laughs]

Andrew: Laura…

Laura: Oh wait, wait, I thought someone else…

Micah: Stop, you know, freaking out over your inauguration tickets…

Laura: …was here. I thought someone had more seniority.

Micah: …and pay attention to the show.

Mikey: I know, Laura, seriously!

Laura: Okay, leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone. Okay, okay.


Blooper 2


[Andrew hums circus music]

Laura: Got a copy on here.

Andrew:Tale of the Three Brothers.” Typing it into my PDF search.

Laura: Now Andrew, I hope you typed that up yourself.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: [imitating Jamie] I hope you typed that up yourself, Laura!

Laura: [laughs] Oh Jamie.

Transcript #165

MuggleCast 165 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins]

Andrew: This week’s podcast is also brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of spoken word entertainment. Get a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up today. Log on to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast today for details.

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[Show music begins playing]

Andrew: All right, welcome to our Beedle the Bard discussion. We just all finished reading the book – a little late compared to how quickly we did our Book 7 discussion. Do you remember that, Jamie?

Jamie: Oh, I remember that.

Andrew: When we were in London, once we finished – yeah, we all gathered…

Jamie: We got more listeners when we weren’t there than when we were.

Andrew: Right. [laughs] Yeah.

[Laura laughs]

Jamie: That was a success, wasn’t it?

Andrew: Yeah, that was a lot of fun. So now we’re here, we’re all finished reading Beedle the Bard. Jamie, Matt and I are here in London and Micah and Laura are here via Skype. Hi, guys. And girls.

Laura: Hey.

Micah: Hey.

Andrew: So let’s go around – well, first we’re going to talk about the news of the week. And there’s been so much Beedle the Bard news going around. Micah, do you want to take us through that?


News: Original Copy of Beedle the Bard Unveiled


Micah: Sure. The first piece of news that really kicked off the week was, there was an unveiling of an original copy of Beedle the Bard at the New York Public Library. And I think there was another one at the National Library of Scotland but we’ll leave that alone because I didn’t go there.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: I went to the one in New York City, and it was a cool event. They had Arthur Levine there from Scholastic as well as the president of the New York City Public Library. And they did a short press event and then unveiled the copy of Beedle the Bard that belonged to Arthur Levine. And…

Andrew: Ooh.

Micah: …we got to go and take pictures and ask them questions, and it was a neat little event. But…

Jamie: He sounds like a fangirl.

Micah: What’s that?

Andrew: Are you a fangirl?

Jamie: You a fangirl, Micah?

Micah: Of the original copy of Beedle the Bard?

Jamie: Arthur Levine.

Micah: [laughs] No.

[Matt laughs]


Tangent: Micah Obtains Faulty Harry Potter
Poster


Andrew: Micah, I know you have this in the announcements, but do you want to tell your background poster story real quick? You might as well tell…

Micah: Okay.

Andrew: …it here, since you were there.

Micah: Sure. I was taking a picture…

Andrew: Wait, hold on. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. And I’ll explain the – my part.

Micah: Well, I can explain your part, too, it’s…

Andrew: All right, all right, go ahead.

Micah: …part of the story. [laughs] I took a bunch of pictures of the glass case that this book was in. And behind the book – if you look at some of the pictures that are on MuggleNet – you can see that there’s this poster in the background of the case. And it details what Beedle the Bard is and it also lists all the other books in the Harry Potter series. But if you notice – and as Andrew pointed out when I showed him the picture – that the books are not in sequence. So I think it’s Order of the Phoenix actually is the second book in order. And so what happened was…

Andrew: Wait, hold on. The order went: Sorcerer’s Stone, Order of the Phoenix, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Half-Blood Prince then Deathly Hallows. Which was weird. And I pointed that out to you. I was like, “Why is it out of order on that poster?” So, go ahead.

Micah: Right. So I said, well, Scholastic should know about this if they don’t already. So I e-mailed one of the people over there and she responded to me and she said, “Yeah, you know, we knew about this, but we weren’t able to fix it and get a reprinted version by the time we did the unveiling, but we’ll fix it for when it actually goes on display at the New York Public Library.”

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Wait, wait, so what are they doing with the one that’s messed up?

Micah: Well, she said, “Since you were the first one to point it out, give me your address and I’ll send you the poster.”

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Jamie: No way!

Micah: Yup.

Jamie: eBay it.

Laura: That’s cool.

Jamie: Wait, what’s your…

Micah: I think she just wanted my address.

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: Hey! Hey, now. So that’s pretty funny. You should have J.K. Rowling sign it and she’ll be like, “How the hell did you get that?”

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, that’s pretty cool…

Micah: Stole it!

Andrew: …because it was sitting there right in front of the book and sitting there in the library right now. So that’s cool.

Micah: Yeah, it’s a cool story.

Jamie: Where are you going to put it?

Micah: Where am I going to put it?

Jamie: Yeah, the poster. Where you going to keep it? Are you going to put it in your bedroom, on your ceiling, so like…

Micah: [laughs] Yes, yes. Stare up at it every night.

Jamie: Yeah, just before you go to sleep.

[Micah laughs]

Jamie: Along with all your pictures of Arthur Levine.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: And then what else is going on, Micah?

Micah: I don’t know. What else is going on?

Andrew: Well, Chrissy’s report from…

Micah: How’s London?


News: J.K. Rowling’s Tea Party


Andrew: London’s great. Chrissy’s report from the J.K. Rowling tea party. Do you want to talk about that?

Micah: Yeah, she’s a staff member of ours. She got a chance to go over to the tea party and kind of – speaking of fangirls – act like one and stand outside.

Andrew: Take pictures.

Micah: Take pictures. She seemed to really enjoy herself and was able to report for us that there were a couple of actors and actresses that were at this party as well.

Andrew: Yeah, Evanna Lynch. Who else? A couple other people. A couple other Harry Potter actors.

Micah: Yep, Matthew Lewis.

Andrew: Yeah. And one MuggleNet visitor actually just sent in a report from inside the tea party, because they won an essay contest. She said it was really fun and all of the kids were really excited to see Jo and all that. So…

Micah: No, I saw a picture of some of those kids. They did not look like they were in elementary school. I think they were lying.

Andrew: Well, kids look older here, Jamie, don’t they? They age differently.

Jamie: I think they do.

Matt: Yeah.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: It’s the water.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: No, no, it’s the tea.

Matt: Oh.

Micah: Oh, that’s what it is.

Andrew: The tea.

Jamie: It’s the British tea.

Matt: It’s the English form of eating breakfast.

Andrew: And what else has been going on, Micah?

Micah: Well, you guys were – still are in London. How’d the show go earlier this week?


News: Live Show Was a Success


Andrew: That’s right. Our show was a lot of fun. It was at the Waterstones Piccadilly Circus. We had, what, well over 300 people there, right?

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: Oh yeah, like maybe six or seven hundred.

Jamie: Six thousand, maybe.

Andrew: A million people. [laughs] It was a lot of fun, and thank you to everyone who came out and said hello. We hung out with a lot of the people afterwards, and that was a lot of fun. And everyone got the book…

Jamie: Maybe we should just apologize to Josh Boulton’s parents about that.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: There’s a rumor going around that I insulted a kid by the name of Josh Boulton who we interact with on Facebook a lot, but I actually did not – I wasn’t talk about him, for the millionth time. I was talking about someone else who was there.

Matt: Sorry, Josh.

Jamie: Sorry, Josh…

Andrew: Okay.

Jamie: …on behalf of Andrew.

Andrew: Whatever. And then one last thing, Micah?


News: RDR Withdraws Appeal


Micah: Yeah. Back on Thursday, RDR Books coincidentally withdrew their appeal for the publication of a companion book by Steve Vander Ark. And it’s just interesting that they did it on December the 4th, the same day that Beedle the Bard came out.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: That’s a good coincidence.

Micah: Yeah.

Jamie: I’m sure it won’t give them good press because everyone will be thinking about Beedle the Bard and not about Steve Vander Ark’s book.

Andrew: Yeah, but I guess they figure the fan sites will post it, and while everyone is on the fan sites…

Jamie: That’s true.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: It’s lame.

Micah: But he’s still making a book. It’s still going to be published. It’s just going to have the title of an unauthorized version of…

Andrew: Harry Potter and Beyond or something like that.

Micah: Something like that.

Jamie: Why doesn’t he just give it up?

Andrew: [laughs] Why doesn’t he just give it up?

Micah: Yeah.

Jamie: Move onto Twilight.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Matt: Get on the bandwagon, please.

Andrew: Okay. Was that it, Micah, for news?

Micah: That’s all I’ve got, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, that RDR thing kind of annoys me, and I didn’t post it the day it came out because obviously that’s what they wanted.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: I waited until the next day, but still.


Announcement: MuggleCast Wins at 2008 Podcast Awards


Andrew: Announcements! MuggleCast won at the 2008 Podcast Awards in the Entertainment category. Didn’t we talk about that already?

Micah: You may have talked about it on your live show.

Andrew: Oh, no we didn’t.

Matt: No we didn’t. We haven’t talked about it.

Andrew: Okay, well, thank you, everyone, who voted for us in the 2008 Podcast Awards. That ceremony is actually a couple of hours from now. I don’t think the show will be out before that, but Micah will be representing us. Thank you, Micah.

Jamie: No way, really?

Andrew: Well, it’s live online. It’s not in person.

Jamie: So unlike last year?

Andrew: Right. Right, right.

Jamie: Why aren’t they doing it live?

Andrew: I don’t know. Money?

Jamie: They can’t afford it?

Andrew: I guess so!

[Matt laughs]

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: It’s the economy.

Micah: The economy sucks.

Jamie and Matt: Yeah.


Announcement: MuggleCast at Azkatraz


Andrew: We have to use streaming. But that’ll be fun. And then also don’t forget that MuggleCast will be at Azkatraz 2009, July 18 – 21, I think. Something like that. We’re going to be doing a podcast after the midnight release of Half-Blood Prince. So at like 3:00 AM we’re going to be…

Matt: It’s going to be good.

Andrew: We’re going to be doing a podcast discussing the movie. Everyone’s going to be really excited because it just came out.

Matt: Are going to try and go, Jamie?

Jamie: Yeah, definitely. Well, yeah, hopefully.

Andrew: Hopefully the economy will be better.


Audible Advertisement


Andrew: Today’s podcast is brought to you buy Audible.com, the leading provider in spoken word entertainment. Audible has over 35,000 titles to choose from to be downloaded and played back anywhere, just like MuggleCast. Log on to www.AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast today to get a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up. Again, go to www.AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast today for your free audiobook.


Announcement: Podcast Alley


Andrew: And finally, don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley. It’s MuggleCast Mecember, so don’t forget to vote.

Matt: So we won for the 2008 Podcast Awards. So we can say it was MuggleCast 2000-mate?

Andrew: Sure.

Jamie: [unintelligible] as well.

Andrew and Matt: Yeah, mate.

Matt: And then next year will be 2000-mine.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Everyone laughs]


Main Discussion: Beedle the Bard


Andrew: So let’s move on to our main discussion this week. We’re going to be talking all about Beedle the Bard, as I said earlier. We all finished reading it, and let’s start off with our general thoughts about the book. Laura, how about you first? What – you just finished reading this, I think. What did you think of it?

Laura: You know, I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I kind of expected to just get it and think, “Oh, that’s nice. Fairytales.” But I really enjoyed Dumbledore’s commentaries because he has a very – and Micah and I talked about this – warped sense of humor.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Especially when he talked about Aberforth…

Jamie: Yeah.

Laura: …and his favorite story that his mom used to tell him.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: And there were just like a lot of really cool little things. Like when you open the book and it says, “Translated from the ancient Runes by Hermione Granger.”

Jamie: Yeah…

Andrew: That was really cool.

Laura: Just nice little tidbits like that. I really enjoyed it.

Jamie: Wasn’t he kind of arrogant though, Dumbledore? Like when…

Laura: He was!

[Micah laughs]

Jamie: That bit about the greatest wizards and then in the footnote it explained something about who are the important wizards, and it just says something like, “Like me.”

Andrew: “Like me,” yeah.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: It was in there twice.

Jamie: Really?

Andrew: There was a, “Such as myself” thing.

Laura: Yeah, I was like – okay.

Andrew: [laughs] That was so funny. Well, Dumbledore kind of is a little cocky that way, don’t you think?

Jamie: He is.

Andrew: Don’t you think, sometimes? He’s trying to be clever.

Jamie: I guess, like – she did it on purpose, because he’s a flawed character and now all his flaws are coming out more so, you know…

Matt: Well, everyone talks about how he’s the greatest wizard of all time. And I think he’s just nodding to that fact.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: “Well, since everyone says so, I mean, that’s me.”

Jamie: Yeah, that’s true.

Andrew: Yeah, Micah, did you get excited at that goat thing?

Micah: [laughs] No, no, no. [laughs]

Jamie: He’s too into Arthur Levine now.

[Micah Laughs]

Jamie: No he’s not.

Matt: He loves Levines.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: Goats. No, I just – I agree with Laura. I mean, we talked about it earlier – just his perverted sense of humor – I wouldn’t even call it warped – I would call it perverted, with some of the little stories that he references throughout the course of the book, which I’m sure we’ll talk about – but I liked it. You know, I spent more time on the commentary than I did on the actually stories. You know, I agree with what Laura said. I thought it was going to kind of be one of those books that you just get and you’re like, “Oh, it’s nice to have.”

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: And just spend a couple minutes looking through it. But the commentary definitely made it, for sure.

Andrew: Yeah. I really, really enjoyed it, too. I just thought the stories were so nice. And I read this on our way to Oxford the day after – or the day it came out. And it was just so relaxing, you know, sitting there traveling through the suburbs of London and reading this book. And it was – yeah – it was really fun. Dumbledore’s
notes really made it, but I also really, really, really enjoyed the tales too.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: More than I thought I would.

Jamie: I was expecting it to just be a collection of normal fairytales mixed with a bit of magic. I wrote a review – this journalist e-mailed me and asked me to write a review – I got it to him a bit late, but anyway, I said that I was expecting it to be like Snow White hunched over a cauldron with a wand and stuff, but it wasn’t. It was really original and really, really fun. And I thought they taught moral tales and stuff – moral lessons which fairytales should do, really. Because that’s the definition of fairytale, you know. So I think quite a bit of thought went into this book; it wasn’t just written last minute to get it out for charity and stuff. I actually really enjoyed it. I think it stands alone away from Harry Potter, although obviously all the references to the books – and the “Translated by Hermione Granger” and Dumbledore’s storyline adds to it for the hardcore fans. I thought it was awesome.

Matt: I really love the book, actually, a lot. I think – the only opinion I probably have which is kind of a selfish opinion is that I kind of wanted more stories from it because they were so good.

Andrew: I just wanted more!

Matt: I just wanted more! There were only five. At some point I looked at how far I was in the book and I kind of got upset because I read more than half in fifteen – half an hour.

Jamie: Read it twice then, Matt, then you’ll have ten tales.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Yeah, or read it backwards and you get it in, what, Finnish?

Jamie: That’s amazing!

Matt: I really love the drawings J.K. Rowling drew in the pictures, too. It was just really nice to see some of the pictures and things that went on it. Unlike Harry Potter where the drawings were at the beginning of the chapter for the U.S. version. But during the readings you got to see a little bit of what J.K. Rowling thought, because it’s her drawings, so it’s like what she envisioned the story was and things. So I thought it was really nice.

Jamie: She can draw pretty well.

Andrew: Yeah. I was impressed.

Jamie: It’s not bad at all.

Andrew: All right. Let’s move on to the main discussion. Micah, would you like to guide us through this please? Since you developed it ever so wisely.


Beedle the Bard Himself


Micah: Sure. Yeah. Well, the book opens up and you kind of get a little bit of a background on who Beedle the Bard was, even though it’s pretty brief. That he lived in the 15th century and much of his life remains shrouded in mystery. So I think that just kind of set the tone for the book. You don’t know a whole lot about this person, which is kind of J.K. Rowling style, I feel like. He was born in Yorkshire and had an exceptionally luxuriant beard. That kind of reminded me of Dumbledore a little bit.

Andrew: Yeah. Definitely.

Micah: So does the comment after that.

Matt: Yeah, sorry. That was me.

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Andrew: I kind of thought it was interesting how J.K. Rowling compares the “Fountain of Fair Fortune” – she says:

“The tales are as familiar to many of the students at Hogwarts as ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’ are to Muggle nonnmagical children.”

And I was thinking, well, do those tales get developed in the movie too? Since Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty turned into profitable Disney films?

Matt: Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty in the Muggle world has been retold a million times. We know that the Beedle the Bard books have been redone at least once or twice.

Jamie: This is going to get picked up by Pixar or Disney.

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Andrew: Yeah. That’s what I’m saying.


Dumbledore’s Commentary and Footnotes


Micah: What did you guys think of, and I know we talked about this a little bit already, but Dumbledore’s commentary as a whole? And not only that, but how Rowling felt the need to comment on Dumbledore and what he wrote throughout the course of the book?

Andrew: I loved his commentary. Some of you guys were saying that it really made the book, and it was really fun to read, and I think it was a great way to get sort of a goodbye to Dumbledore, in a way, and I want to talk about this later on when we’re talking about his final notes, because I thought there was a lot of meaningful things in those final notes. Yeah, they just added so much, and you get a lot of respect for Dumbledore, and it made the book really fun and enjoyable all around.

Matt: I really liked the footnotes too, when he did the notes. The little things where he went down to see the definitions of what this or that meant.

Andrew: Yeah. They were funny.

Matt: I had no idea that Dumbledore’s notes would be so profound in this book. There’s a lot of it.

Jamie: And they can stand alone. It’s like literally criticism. He’s a good writer. Well, she’s a good writer, I should say. It actually reads like most of her books and stuff. But then I think she just feels the need to explain, because that’s Dumbledore’s character. He assumes people know that there are stands and experience level, and he doesn’t think his readers to be complete beginners and so he’ll assume a level of knowledge. So she explains stuff, I guess, and also tries to write something witty, I guess. If your a Muggle, she might have to explain some things.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I was just kind of thinking, wasn’t there one point in the introduction where Jo stated that Dumbledore always sort of has a habit of writing a little less than what he knows? And I was just wondering if you guys picked up on anything that you felt like he wasn’t giving you all the facts?

Andrew: Oh. Well, yeah, didn’t Jo say that specifically about the tales of – “The Three Brothers.”

Laura: “The Three Brothers?”

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah, and I’m remembering there was something in there where I read it that I was like, oh, this is what she was talking about, but now I can’t remember what it was.

Andrew: Really? I mean, Dumbledore, I’m going to [unintelligible] right now – I mean, he’s really – he talks about the three important items: the Invisibility Cloak, the Elder Wand, and the Stone.

Matt: When he talks about the Elder Wand it seems like – yeah, you’re right, Laura, he does kind of hold back some of the information. Like you think he’s going to go somewhere with it and he just doesn’t really deliver on it.

Laura: Mhm.

Jamie: Like, thinking about this book being a success or not, I just thought of something: since it is so important to Book 7, if she had messed up this book, the whole of Book 7 could’ve not made as much sense, would not have been as powerful. If this book read badly, then you’d think, well, basing an entire book on the Deathly Hallows and stuff, Dumbledore’s excuse is a bit…

Andrew: Is lame, yeah.

Jamie: …lame, yeah. So she actually had quite a – she undermined her entire Harry Potter series by turning this book into something that people don’t really like.


Tale-by-Tale: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot”


Andrew: That’s true, yeah. That’s really true. So let’s go through the story now. We’ll go book-by-book – or tale-by-tale.

Matt: Or story-by-story. Whatever.

Andrew: [laughs] And the first story was “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot.” And this one really brought out Jo’s cleverness, I thought, because there’s a pot that hops, for crying out loud! And what’s a brief summary of the story? I mean, basically, this hopping pot is going around making ruckus until a wizard actually starts helping the townspeople, right?

Jamie: Yeah, like his father used to do.

Matt: It’s the son of this wizard who helps the Muggle village with all of their problems…

Andrew: Until he died.

Matt: …until – yeah, until he died. And then the son, who was given the pot – or the cauldron – was – I guess didn’t appreciate his father as much and didn’t like the cause that he did. And he was just a very bitter person and just refused to do anything. So every time one of the Muggle villagers came up and asked for him to solve their problem for them, he denied it. And every time he denied it, it would just come back to him in the pot.

Andrew: Right.

Jamie: Kind of like the curses of the…

Matt: Yeah.

Jamie: Like a plague of locusts and stuff.

Matt: Mhm.

Jamie: And warts in a cauldron.

Matt: Yeah, and it would follow him, too, everywhere he went.

Micah: Yeah. That had to be a disgusting pot to follow you around. With all that disgusting stuff coming out of it.

Andrew: Yeah. It looks kind of gross.

Jamie: When he’s sleeping, as well. Like…

[Micah laughs]

Matt: It’s like bad milk and cheese and slugs coming out of it.

Jamie: Yeah.

Laura: Eh.

Andrew: And sour milk.

Matt: Same thing.

Andrew: Oh, yeah. [laughs] Yeah. So, it was a pretty good story. I think it was a good one to start it off. But let’s talk about Dumbledore’s notes, because they were pretty interesting, right, Micah?

Micah: Yeah. With the wizard going around and eventually helping out all the Muggles in the village, Dumbledore made a note that this particular Beedle tale was somewhat out of step with its time, because of the chance of persecution. You know, if you revealed yourself to be a wizard or a witch, you’d often end up being killed…

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: …or – and I thought that was kind of interesting to hear him comment on this story, just because we learned in Deathly Hallows kind of his mentality early on in his life was to sort of have this dominant – you know, him and Grindewald were sort of – I don’t know what the right word is, but they had this practice where they were thinking about dominating the Muggle world, and that wizards were the best and that sort of thing.

Andrew: Yeah. Well I mean, aren’t fairy tales supposed to – are they supposed to be in step with their time, so to speak? I mean, you know, the whole not being persecuted for being a wizard, you know – I can’t really think of an example where a fairytale was supposed to abide by all the laws that were going on in that current time.

Matt: Well was Grimm’s – were the Grimm Brothers’ during their time when they wrote the fairytales?

Andrew: I don’t know. I’ve never read any of them. Have you, Jamie?

Jamie: I haven’t read the original book, no.

Matt: I think it was even – no, I don’t think it was their time, either, when they wrote it. So it was close to – what? Like the Middle Ages when they wrote them?

Jamie: I think so, yeah, the originals. But they’ve been translated so many times, I bet they bear no resemblance to what we read today and stuff. You know how it is.

Matt: Yeah. But everything is a little more lighter than the original version. So it was probably watered down…

Jamie: Right.

Matt: …and Disneyfied.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Disneyfied.

[Matt and Micah laugh]

Andrew: We’ve also got the Nearly Headless Nick connection.

Micah: Yeah. We learn a little bit of a back story.

Andrew: Mhm.

Jamie: It’s quite political, this stuff, really, as well. Like, you know, it’s just – she just wants to give a history of the world, like in a wizarding sense. You know what I mean? Like, she wants to teach people a lesson and show how well you should accept everyone and stuff. It’s just really marvelous, this book. Really, really marvelous.

Matt: Mhm.

Jamie: I think she’s going to run for like Prime Minister of something.

[Andrew, Micah, and Laura laugh]

Micah: I don’t think she has a chance…

Jamie: No I don’t think she does…

Micah: …do you?

Matt: No, she’s too young.

Micah: Nobody would vote her.

Laura: She’ll write her autobiography.

Andrew: That’s sort of like Oprah running for president.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: I mean like, she has the popularity vote, but some people would be skeptical, sort of. What else, Micah?

Micah: Well, we also learn that there’s a revised version of this story that’s extremely anti-Muggle and promoted by the likes of a Malfoy and there’s no surprise there. I don’t think that an anti-Muggle version of the story wouldn’t be promoted by someone in that family.

Andrew and Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Is this the one-this is not the one with the Lu-that’s the next story. Never mind. The Lucius Malfoy connection that Dumbledore makes I thought was really interesting too.

Micah: Yeah, that was pretty funny.

Laura: Oh, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

Andrew: We’ll talk about that later, but…

Micah: And I think Jamie mentioned – or was it you, Andrew, earlier? About how Dumbledore starts referring to himself as a brilliant wizard.

Andrew: Yeah. “Such as myself.” He says that…

Micah: A little arrogant…

Matt: Ho ho.

Andrew: Yeah. He’s says that here, and then he says it in another story.

Jamie: He really is so arrogant.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, it is.

Laura: Although, I guess it…

Micah: I thought it was funny.

Laura: It’s pointed out that at least in the context of the book, these were his private notes…

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Oh, that’s true.

Laura: …he’d been taking, so he probably didn’t know. [laughs]

Andrew: Doesn’t it seem a bit cockier, though, when he’s writing about himself to himself?

Laura: [laughs] To himself, yeah.

Jamie: Like he has to remind himself that he’s amazing.

Matt: “Such as myself.” You attracting young man.

Jamie: I think – like, I think with him – I don’t think he’s arrogant, he just – he just tries to do emotion out of stuff, because power and emotion has messed him up in the past. So he just…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: I think he just keeps the fact, like, he thinks he’s a pretty good wizard and everyone else does. It’s just like in Book 7, rather than trying to be modest about it, yeah.

Micah: Yeah. There’s a couple times during the series too, though, where he’llrefer to himself as being – you know – overly brilliant.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah. Wasn’t Sorcerer’s Stone when he said, like, “That was one of my more brilliant ideas…”

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Matt: “…and that’s saying something.”

Jamie: And then was it Deathly Hallows when they’re when he picks Harry up, no, sorry, Half-Blood Prince, and they’re walking along, and he says to him, “Harry, I don’t think you’ll be attacked tonight.” And Harry’s like, “Why?” And he’s like, “You’re with me.”

Andrew: Oh, right.

Jamie: You know.

Andrew: It’s sort of like a bittersweet moment.

Jamie: Yeah.

Micah: We got introduced to a character that comes up a couple of times throughout this book: Beatrix Bloxam. And she’s kind of the anti version of fairy tales, it seems like. And she tries to recreate them so that they’re these pure stories that don’t have any sort of real-world application to them. And…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …what it reminded me of, and I actually had this in the notes that I took but somebody sent in an e-mail, was I thought Rowling was going directly at Laura Mallory when she created this character.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Because of the way that she’s described and the…


JKR Takes Shot at Laura Mallory


Andrew: Weird, yeah, let’s read the e-mail, it’s from Steven. It says:

“I finished reading Beedle the Bard yesterday and I thought it was great. J.K. Rowling did an excellent job as always. I was wondering if any of you thought, like I did, when reading Dumbledore’s notes on “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,” that JKR was poking fun at Laura Mallory. I am speaking specifically about page seventeen in the UK version which reads, well, you know, we know what it says. When I read this I almost thought it was like an inside joke. While it would still be funny to the casual reader, to those of us who found all things Potter would have something extra to laugh at. The icing on the cake is that our favorite Idiot of the Year would never know that JKR was making fun of her because she will probably never read the book.”

Jamie: Hmm.

Andrew: Laura, given that you live in the same state as Laura Mallory, what do you think?

[Micah and Laura laugh]

Andrew: Do you think there’s a connection?

Laura: Um, well, I mean – yeah, I don’t it’s a specific connection because also when I read this I thought of Umbridge.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh, yeah!

Laura: And how she was constantly trying to sort of change what everybody was thinking and protect – so-called protect the minds young wizards. I think it’s just meant more to sort of poke fun at people who are pro-censorship and…

Matt: Yeah!

Laura: …want to alter certain things. So…

Micah: Like Laura Mallory.

Laura: Yes, like Laura Mallory, but I don’t think it’s specific. I mean – she could’ve been thinking of her.

Andrew: Do you think Laura Mallory would approve or disapprove of this book?

Laura: Oh, I think she would approve of the rewritten version…

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Yeah.

Laura: …of “The Hopping Pot.”

[Micah laughs]

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Maybe if she saw that…

Laura: I mean, it’s very…

Andrew: What?

Laura: I mean, it’s very – you know – like, if you listen to this: “And Wee Willykins huggled the hoppitty pot.” Like, ew. I think she’d love it.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: It’s insulting to children as well – like, it treats them bad. It’s really patronizing, the revised story.

Matt: Yeah.

MuggleCast 165 Transcript (continued)


The Fountain of Fair Fortune


Andrew: And then next is “The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” where there’s the three witches and the knight. I think it was, the knight, right?

Matt: Yeah, there was the three witches and the knight.

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: And they have a journey to this fountain whoever bathes in it will have fortune for the rest of their life.

Matt: Yeah, good fortune for their entire life.

Andrew: Mhm. And this seems to be one of the general favorites of the book, correct, guys?

Matt: Yeah. It was my favorite.

Micah: Yeah, Jamie, do you know whose favorite it was, actually?

Jamie: Who, Arthur Levine’s?

Andrew: Yeah.

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: Does that mean it’s your favorite too, Micah?

Micah: No, actually, it’s not my favorite, but…

Jamie: Ah.

Andrew: He read this one online – on Scholastic’s website, didn’t he? There’s a video of him reading this?

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: I’m pretty sure there was.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: And so, this was a good one.

Matt: Yeah, I really liked it…

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: It seemed more like a like more of a – more of a broader – almost like a bigger budget if it was a film kind of a story.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: It was more detailed.

Matt: It’s part of a journey.

Jamie: And it’s extremely moraled as well – like it was…

Matt: Yeah.

Jamie: …she’s obviously trying to show – you know – that the journey’s more important, as Dumbledore says in – no sorry, as Jo says in the beginning, that the journey’s more important than the…

Matt: Mhm. Just so much involved in the story, too.

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: Well, in the story this garden opens on summer solstice when the day is the longest and on this day the garden picks one person with a lot of problems in their life and they are allowed to bathe in the Fountain and all their troubles would go away. This story in particular, three witches who caught pity on each other band together and became, like, a little team. If one of them was chosen they would all three go in and help each other. So on that day one of the witches was picked and they all grabbed on to each other and the last witch that was grabbed on was actually entangled in a knight’s armor and he was dragged into it too. But my question that I found kind of interesting was that the creepers, quote-unquote, which are kind of these little vines that grow up buildings and things caught the first witch and did that mean that the garden only wanted than one witch or was the garden aware of the truce between all the witches?

Andrew: I don’t know.

Matt: Because we know at the end of the story that the Fountain really had no
fortune at all.

Jamie: To be fair, like, fair fortune is really just chance, so it could just have come out, and they just managed to catch on to it.

Matt: Right. But what I mean was the Fountain had no special ability actually at all.

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, it was just, like, a water cooler.

Matt: No enchantment.

Matt: Drinking fountain.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: It was kind of disappointing, though. Why didn’t it actually have Fair Fortune? Because – I mean, these are fairy tales. It could easily have something like that. So why not?

Laura: Well…

Matt: Well, I think it’s the moral of the story…

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: …that you have the power to solve your own problems.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Okay.

Matt: This question I kind of thought was interesting when I was reading it, but didn’t you think that this story had a good connection to Goblet of Fire in the Maze? Like, because of all the things you had to pass though?

Jamie: Yeah.

Laura: Mhm.

Matt: In order to get to – you know, the trophy, the thing that you’re looking for.

Andrew and Laura: Yeah.

Matt: So I kind of thought that this was the story that would probably be a good object to do in the Triwizard Tournament.

Jamie: And that’s a very interesting point, yeah. Especially since the Tale of the Three Brothers was so heavy in Book 7. Because Jo just likes to add stuff in that some people won’t, there’s so many layers. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was that.

Matt: And also there’s four champions in the Goblet of Fire, and the last one wasn’t even supposed to be part of the journey.

Laura: Oh, yeah!

Jamie: Oh, Matt!

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Yeah.

Jamie: Oh, God!

Andrew: You’re brilliant.

Jamie: Should we take a moment of silence?

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Well, not to mention it’s sort of the same but, like, opposite. Like in this story it’s three witches and a wizard but then in Goblet of Fire it’s three wizards and a witch that are in the Maze.

Andrew and Matt: Oh, yeah!

Matt: But the knight’s not even – he’s a Muggle. The knight’s a Muggle.

Laura: Oh, he is a knight.

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: That’s interesting.

Andrew: Matt sort of brought up a good point. In this story, I don’t think if anyone heard it, the knight is the odd one out and he wins, and in Goblet of Fire Harry is the odd one out and he won.

Laura: And he wins, yeah.

Jamie: It’s also about cooperation as well, like magical and non-magical cooperation – you know, and that people can work together.

Matt: And he was the humblest of the four, too.

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: He’s the one that gave up and let the witches win.

Andrew and Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: All right, moving along.

Matt: We don’t even have to say the third one, because we kind of already talked about it.

Micah: Okay.

Andrew: Micah?

Micah: Well, I was looking at the sketch of the Fountain which is on page 34 in the U.S. edition of it. What I thought was interesting was that it has the Deathly Hallows symbol on the lowest bowl if you look at it. I don’t know what page it is in the U.K.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Oh, yeah.

Micah: And it also looks like the main base that’s holding it together is a snake with some sort of wings on it.

Matt: I think it might be a dragon.

Laura: It looks like a dragon.

Andrew and Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: I noticed the symbol too, what does that mean? Could that mean anything, though? I didn’t realize what was going on with that.

Micah: I don’t know.

Jamie: What are the other two symbols?

Matt: It’s an eye.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: One of them is a rune, but I don’t know what it means.

Jamie: I think it’s a Freemason conspiracy.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: And then there’s that number four on the third level.

Jamie: Dan Brown’s…

Matt: I know. I’m like, “Is this the Da Vinci Code?”

Matt: Wow, yeah. I guess this is a bunch of symbols that she just uses.

Jamie: What, this is just a bigger…

Matt: Yeah, this is just the key to some bigger thing that nobody knows about.

Andrew: Maybe if we decode this it’s like “Harry Potter Book 8 2010.”

Laura: Exactly.

Matt and Jamie: Yeah.

[Laura laughs]

Laura: If we decode it, she’ll write Book 8.

Andrew: [laughs] Right.

Jamie: If those two teamed up, Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling!

Andrew: Someone should start a rumor.

Matt and Andrew: Yeah.

Andrew: It would be kind of cool if there was a hidden puzzle on there. It’s like a little game in the book.

Jamie and

Matt:

Yeah.

Andrew: To figure out. It doesn’t even have to relate to the story. All right, what’s next?

Micah: Well, Dumbledore spent a lot of time in his notes on this story talking about the pantomime, and I guess that’s a British term because – Andrew, you said that this actually doesn’t show up in the UK edition…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …the footnote doesn’t show up in the UK edition, about what a pantomime is.

Andrew: Yeah. What does the footnote say? For those of us who have the UK books right now and can’t even see it?

Micah: Let me see.

Laura: I’m trying to find it.

Micah: Yeah, I have it.

Andrew: It starts off with, like, “UK Muggles may not be aware of…”

Laura: Oh! Yeah, it says: “Non-British Muggles may be unfamiliar with the British tradition of plays presented at Christmastime usually based on fairy tales and including music, comical characters, and audience participation (though not, generally, of the vigorous type described here).”

Andrew: That’s interesting.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: It’s probably like the one difference between the books.

Jamie: The two books, yeah.

Laura: But it’s just another example that, once again, Scholastic thinks Americans are stupid and can’t understand certain things. Like, apparently Americans don’t know what philosophers are. So…

Matt and Andrew: Yeah.

Andrew: That’s true.

Laura: So annoying.

[Micah laughs]

Jamie: Sorcerer’s Stone is weakening as well because, Sorcerer’s Stone, it’s just ridiculous.

Laura: It’s such a stupid title!

Andrew: To be honest, I didn’t know what a pantomime is.

Micah: Yeah, but I think you can figure it out, though.

Matt: I mean, yeah. If you really cared enough, you would go and find it.

Laura: It’s called a dictionary!

Matt: Yeah. Or a thesaurus.

Laura: We do have those here.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Or an Internet.

[Laura laughs]

Jamie: Yeah, an Internet.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, I mean…

Matt: A World Wide Web.

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: Plus, if you go through this book there’s plenty of other things you’ll see that you don’t know what they are.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: I mean, like, there’s no explanation of a charlatan which was the guy in “Cackling Stump.” But – you know, there’s no explanation of that.

Laura: Well…

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: I didn’t know what it was! I’ll be honest, I hadn’t heard the word before!

Matt: What is it?

Andrew: It’s a person.

Jamie: No, it’s like a faker, isn’t it? A joker who just flaunts about.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt: Oh. Well why didn’t they just put that in the book – like, a sidenote saying, “For those of you who don’t know what a charlatan is…”

Andrew: “See W.B.’s The Dark Knight.”

Matt: Yeah.

[Laura laughs]

Jamie: When’s the night always darkest?

Matt: The night’s always darkest before the dawn. And, the dawn is coming.

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: That’s coming out on DVD.

[Everyone laughs]

Matt: Buy it on Blu-Ray and DVD.


Hogwarts Professors and Malfoy Mentioned


Andrew: And then we also heard about a couple new characters. First, Professor Herbert Beery of Herbology and Professor Silvanus Kettleburn of Care of Magical Creatures, that was kind of cool.

Matt: Yeah!

Jamie: I thought this was the only kind of, like, digression in this book. I thought it was kind of pointless to be honest.

Andrew: Yeah, it was. It felt like filler to me.

Jamie: Yeah, it did. It felt like filler.

Laura: I liked it.

Micah: I thought it was the first look into Hogwarts we got, really…

Jamie: That’s true, yeah, yeah.

Micah: …that we didn’t know much about.

Andrew: Yeah, but – I mean…

Laura: Don’t you guys…

Andrew: Go ahead.

Laura: I was going to say, don’t you remember from Prisoner of Azkaban when Hagrid was given the post of Care of Magical Creatures professor, and Dumbledore was sort of giving his speech, and he said that Professor Kettleburn had left to enjoy the time with his remaining limbs?

Jamie: Oh, yeah! That’s true, yeah.

Laura: So I thought this was kind of cool because it gave us background about that…

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Mhm. That is very true, yeah, that’s good.

Andrew: And, like I mentioned earlier, this is a story where Dumbledore explains why Malfoy originally started his – you know, the feud between the two.

Jamie and Matt: Yeah.

Micah: Yep.

Matt: I loved how he said that Mr. Malfoy kept writing back to him, and he just ignored him.

Andrew: Yeah, that was funny.

Laura: Yeah.

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Matt: “I said what I’m saying and…”

Jamie: And his hygiene as well.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Yeah. That was really funny.

Jamie: His hygiene.

Micah: Yep.

Andrew: “Their relevance to this commentary is remote.”

[Micah and Andrew laugh]

Micah: It’s just all humor – I mean, if you look at it. Really, the whole pantomime thing, it’s pretty comical scene, and everything with Lucius, too. You know, he talks about how Lucius was trying to get him removed and he said, well, “I marked the beginning of me trying to get him removed as Voldemort’s Favorite Death Eater.”

Matt and Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: I just like to think he wrote this-tell me if I’m wrong – after he decided to die, because I think the paragraph that starts, “This exchange marked the beginning of Mr. Malfoy’s long campaign” and ends with, “And of mine to have him removed from his position as Lord Voldemort’s Favorite Death Eater” is not something that Dumbledore would write if, when he wasn’t sure of stuff and things that were going on, because that’s quite an accusation, even though most people know.

Matt: Well, he always knew that Malfoy was a big supporter of Malfoy.

Jamie: Yeah, Voldemort.

Matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Matt: That guy.

Jamie: That nasty man.

Andrew: But again, we also do have to remember that these are his personal notes.

Jamie: That’s such a weird concept, though. They’re written completely to be published, obviously.

Andrew: Right. So it sort of doesn’t make sense, in a way.

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: But I think that was just for…

Matt: Just enjoy it! I mean, it’s a book.

Andrew: Just go with it, don’t analyze it.

Jamie: It’s true.

Matt: Stop!

Micah: [laughs] All right, then we can stop recording right now.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Okay.

Jamie: After 170 episode, Andrew says, “Don’t analyze it!”

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: And – anything else in this story we should talk about?

Jamie: I think it’s pretty done.

Andrew: I think that was it, yeah. All right!

Matt: So, good read.


The Warlock’s Hairy Heart


Andrew: “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart.” This was a really clever one, I thought.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: This is…

Andrew: Hmm?

Micah: No, I was going to say, this is where the tales really start to turn dark.

Everyone: Yeah.

Andrew: This was very brutal for something in a Harry Potter novel!

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: Very tragic. It’s the most tragic of, I think, all the stories.

Jamie: It really is tragic, yeah, it is.

Andrew: And basically, a quick summary, the warlock has a hairy heart, he takes it out of himself, then he meets this chick who – I think she’s the one who’s like – “Put the heart back in, so you can feel true love.” Right? Something like that?

Laura: Right.

Matt: That was the best summary I’ve ever heard.

[Micah and Laura laugh]

Andrew: I’ve forgotten.

Laura: [impersonating Andrew] “And he met some chick, and she was like, ‘Dude, put your heart back in, man.'”

[Everyone laughs]

Matt: And if you think about it, the way we’ve just been describing it, it sounds like the summary of every single romantic comedy.

Jamie: Yeah, it’s true, yeah.

Matt: A guy doesn’t want to fall in love, so he takes his heart out, and it’s up to a woman to bring the heart back into him.

Jamie: And then they kiss.

Matt: And then they kiss and he cuts open her heart and his and then they die.

[Laura laughs]

Jamie: Well, he eats it.

Matt: He eats the heart, yeah.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: That’s always the end to it.

Matt: Yeah.

Jamie: Like Hannibal Lector.

Micah: I don’t even know how to go on.

Jamie: I thought this one was the best, honestly. She just said everything in, like, a few pages. The words she used as well, like she deliberately said, “warlock” and how she described him – you know, like he was up to the top of his place, that there was no way he could get anything more. I thought it was going to end in tragedy right from the beginning.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah: Right.

Matt: Well, he was totally heartless, in…

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: …in literal and figurative sense…

Jamie: Yeah, that’s true.

Matt: …during the entire story. I didn’t really realize he used Dark Magic to take out his heart.

Laura: Yeah, and I sort of like the connection Dumbledore made between that and the Horcruxes.

Jamie: Yeah, that was really cool.

Andrew: Oh, yeah!

Matt: Yeah, that was nice. Well, do you think the connection has any connection to how the part actually disconnected itself from the body and became its own…

Jamie: Definitely, yeah.

Laura: Yeah. It sort of, yeah, and it took over.

Jamie: Also when the two figures of Ron and – sorry, of Harry and Hermione came out of the Horcrux and spoke to Ron. Like, you know, it took over and sort of fed on your worst nightmares and stuff.

Matt: Well, what would happen, though, if you took a Horcrux and you took the spirit back into your self?

Jamie: Could you do that?

Matt: I don’t know. Can you do that?

Andrew: I don’t think so.

Matt: Was that ever discussed?

Jamie: I don’t think that was discussed.

Andrew: So you can put a piece of soul back inside you?

Matt: Obviously you can split it, does that mean it’s permanently split, you
can’t take it back from you?

Andrew: I kind of remember reading that somewhere or discussing that.

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: Because wouldn’t something like this happen then? Or is it just not possible?

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, he says it’s impossible, it can only happen in fiction.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, not to mention the moral of this story was that if you take your heart out, I mean, this wasn’t the real moral, but you learn from the story that if you take your heart out and put it back, it’ll be too late. I mean, the heart is already…

Jamie: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrew: …has a mind of its own.

Jamie: It’s a warning. The other ones are kind of – like, lessons, but this is more of a warning.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: But it’s also from, like, Dark Magic, too…

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: …that’s controlling the heart.

Micah: Right.

Jamie: It was a bit Pirates of the Caribbean.

[Micah laughs]

Laura: I know, I thought of that as well. I didn’t want to be the one to say it…

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: There’s a lot of footnote action going on in this story, too…

Matt: Oh, snap.

Andrew: …in Dumbledore’s notes.

Micah: Yeah. Well, the main thing he said, though, was that it speaks to the dark depths in all of us and that’s kind of why it survived…

Jamie: Yeah.

Micah: …and was pretty much unchanged over the years. I mean, what do you guys think? Do you think stories like that, you know, that have these gory, evil, nasty, disgusting scenes in them generally survive? I mean, do we like them, we just don’t like to admit that we like them?

Jamie: It’s true, yeah.

Matt: Well, this is definitely one of those stories where they would definitely turn it into a cute, happy ending Disney film.

Jamie: Yeah.

[Micah laughs]

Matt: Because this reminds me of – like, The Little Mermaid. The little mermaid – like, sacrificed herself for the person that she loved and now it turned into – like, her father magically gave her legs, and she married the prince and they lived happily ever after.

Jamie: Right, hell yeah. He’s got unlimited ability to just grant people legs.

Matt: This is like one of those Middle Age, classic fairy tales that constantly get redone.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: It’s kind of like Toy Story where the toys go out on their own…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …like, Buzz goes out on his own and realizes he’s not a toy.

Matt: Kind of, but not. So, the footnotes?

Andrew: Go ahead.

Matt: I was going to talk about the pictures, but are we still on the footnotes?

Andrew: No.

Jamie: Gruesome!

Matt: I love this photo. I think it’s one of my favorite pictures in the entire book. It’s just so graphic.

Laura: The one where they’re both laying there dead?

Matt: They’re both laying there dead with their chests split open and…

Jamie: Oh, you love reading that, isn’t it? Touching to you.

Matt: Well, look, there’s a little hairy heart but the big heart, it looks like a rotisserie chicken!

[Everyone laughs]

Jamie: It does, it really does, yeah.

Andrew: It kind of looks like Snape or Sirius, doesn’t it?

Matt and Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: Like a young Snape or Sirius?

Laura: Yeah, it kind of does.

Jamie: It looks like an elf.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Regulus.

Andrew: And the girl, she kind of…

Jamie: She doesn’t look like anything!

[Laura laughs]

Matt: She doesn’t look very well, does she?

Jamie: She looks like the girl from The Ring?

Micah: Yeah. She doesn’t look like she was described in the book. You know, you’re expecting…

Jamie: Yeah.

Laura: Well, you know, someone had just cut her heart out. I don’t know how you look after someone does that to you.

Micah: Well, her face wouldn’t change.

Matt: She’s got a long neck, too.

Jamie: Yeah, she does.

Micah: Vampire.

Andrew: Jo’s still working on her sketches of women.

[Jamie laughs]

Matt: She drew the guy really nicely, though. I mean, you can see all the wrinkles and disfigurements on his face.

Andrew and Jamie: Yeah.

Jamie: Yeah, I can see.

Matt: He’s got jeans on.

Laura: The visuals in this story are, like, really disturbing.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, they are.

[Micah laughs]

Laura: Like, the whole part where it’s like, he was like, licking the heart.

Andrew, Jamie, and Matt: Yeah!

Matt: Yeah, that was gross.

Laura: [laughs] Isn’t that disgusting?

Micah: Yeah.


Hector Dagworth-Granger


Andrew: We have this interesting e-mail about “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart.” It says:

“Hi, Mugglecast! This is from Rachel H. I love the story but Dumbledore’s commentary left me a bit confused. On page 57 of the U.S. edition, Dumbledore leaves a footnote regarding the search for a true love potion. He says, “Hector Dagworth-Granger, founder of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers, explains, ‘Powerful infatuations can be produced by the skillful potioneer, but never yet has anyone managed to create the truly unbreakable, eternal, unconditional attachment that alone can be called love.’ Rachel says: Okay, maybe I didn’t have to write all that, but my point it, Hermione’s a Muggleborn. Is Jo hinting she gets her magical talent from a wizard in her distant family? I doubt the Granger is just a coincidence.”

Jamie: This was solved in Book 6. Didn’t he ask if, like, if she was related to Dagworth-Granger?

Laura: Oh, yeah, he did.

Andrew: Oh!

Matt: That’s true, he did.

Andrew: Good memory, geez.

Jamie: And then Harry’s just like, “No, sir.” And she’s like, “Oh, did you really tell him I was the best witch in the year? Oh, Harry.”

Andrew: Good memory, Jamie.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Jeez, man.

Matt: How many times have you read the books?

Laura: And if for any reason the relation, like, was valid, earlier in Beedle the Bard when Dumbledore was talking about Squibs and Muggleborns in one of his little commentaries, he said something about how most of the time, Muggleborn witches and wizards do come about because of a magical relative further back in their family tree.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah and Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: It’s possible.

Micah: I mean, it’s a common last name.

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: Yeah, but I still think it’s an interesting connection. Because especially the quote that Dumbledore uses.

Micah: Yeah, but that’s really impressive, Jamie, I don’t know how the hell you remembered that.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Thanks.

Matt: Well done.

Andrew: Micah, you want to do that last point there?


Dumbledore’s Humor and Lessons


Micah: Yeah, it’s just more of the humor of Dumbledore. And he goes back to talking about Beatrix Bloxam and how in her notes somewhere she wrote that she had overheard the story but that at the same time she had also overheard something about her Uncle Nobby, the local hag, and a sack of Bouncing Bulbs.

[Micah and Matt laugh]

Micah: So, you know, that’s Dumbledore’s way to lighten the mood on such a serious story. It seems like this is a story that you would try and overhear your parents telling to, maybe, your older siblings, because you’d always want to know about it. It seems like a story that maybe your older siblings would try to tell you to scare you or something like that.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: But…

Jamie: This is a – go on, sorry.

Micah: No, go ahead.

Jamie: No, I was just going to refer to Adalbert Waffling’s Fundamental Laws of Magic, which I thought was an awesome thing because – like, it brings magic down onto a non-magical level and says that it’s not like it can do anything which is – like, kind of a moral for the entire Harry Potter series. That, you know, like in Book 7
when the Prime Minister is talking to the Minister of Magic and, “You can do magic!” And the Minister’s like, “Yeah, but the other side can do it as well.” I just thought that was a really awesome touch. Just like, “Tamper with the deepest mysteries, the sources of life, the essence of self, only if prepared for consequences of, the most extreme and dangerous kind,” which is obviously Horcrux and Voldemort and everything like that.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: There were a lot of books that were for two in the story, for Dumbledore’s notes.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Like Albert Wafling’s Fundamental Laws of Magic – what was the other
book that you mentioned?

Andrew: Fantastic Beasts.

Matt: Yeah, Fantastic Beasts, I guess.

Andrew: Is Jo doing like a little plug for her own book?

Micah: [laughs] Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Matt: You see, well this one I like the most. The self help book, The Hairy Heart: A Guide to Wizards Who Won’t Commit.

Jamie: Yeah.

[Andrew and Jamie laugh]

Matt: I would buy that.

[Laura laughs]

Jamie: And the hairy snout human heart? [laughs]

Matt: Yeah. Well yeah, it’s… [laughs] ‘Hairy snout human heart,’ that was funny.

Micah: Yeah.

Jamie: Very good.

Micah: But – and the other funny piece that was in here was when he was talking about his Aunt Anoria calling off her engagement because her suitor had a hairy heart. And I think that was again, an attempt to explain to us exactly what a hairy heart was.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Kind of similar to the pantomime thing, I don’t know if it’s a more common expression in other places than others, but then Dumbledore adds in that he doesn’t believe that that was the reason the engagement was broke off. It was because she was – oh I’m sorry – because he was fondling some horclumps.

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: And you know, this made me think that this book, though really while it’s supposed to be about a bunch of fairy tales, it really appeals to more of an adult audience, just with some of the things that are discussed.

Matt: Yeah. It’s very difficult to see why anyone would want to fondle a…

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Matt: Beause their just like these little mushroom like creatures.

Andrew: It’s true.

Matt: Like hamsters, yeah.

Micah: But don’t you think, though, I mean there’s a lot of insinuation going on…

Jamie: Yeah.

Micah: With you know, her uncle and the local hag and a sack of bouncing bulbs, and then fondling some horclumps.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: There are other things throughout the course of this book that are just kind of perverted in a way.

Jamie: It’s true, yeah.

Andrew: Jo’s letting out now!

Micah: She is! [laughs]

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Harry Potter‘s over. I mean, she doesn’t have to – you know?

Matt: She could do whatever she wants.

Andrew: She could write all these gruesome scenes and call people – what were those insults in the beginning?

Laura: Scum suckers?

Andrew: Scum suckers!

Jamie: There we go. Yeah.

[Laura laughs]

Matt: That was nice.

Andrew: Yeah. [pause] Dung licker! That’s my favorite.

[Matt groans]

Andrew: Dung licker.

Matt: Dung licker.

[Laura laughs]

MuggleCast 165 Transcript (continued)


Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump


Andrew: [laughs] That’s kind of- pretty rude. All right so second to last story, “Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump.”

Jamie: On the theme of, you know.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Kind of audience titles, “Cackling Stump.”

Andrew: Yeah. The most real of Beedle‘s tales, Micah wanted to note. How about a summary of this one? Go ahead, Matt. You do it since I’m – I can’t. Do a good summary.

Matt: This is my least favorite one.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Jamie: This is my least favorite one as well, Matt.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah, mine too. [laughs]

Andrew: I personally didn’t like it because I got my hopes up the most, I think, for this story.

Matt: Well this one also- is the only story that mentions the whole witch hunters thing, too – about it. Like…

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: The king had witch hunters with hounds going after all the witches. But he also wanted to do magic, too. So the king called out asking for any witch or wizard to be his advisor.

Jamie: It kind of – sorry.

Matt: Go ahead.

Jamie: It kind of echoes today that people say that people are scared of what they want and they like oppress stuff and then like sort of people who do…

Matt: What they want to do.

Jamie: Yeah, yeah.

Matt: They’re jealous, sort of, of the sort of abilities that other people can do and so in order for them to feel better about themselves, they make it into an evil.

Jamie: Into an evil, when they’re scared of it or wished they could do it.

Matt: Yeah.

Jamie: Yeah, exactly. I always thought it’s kind of like that. And- go.

Matt: So basically this guy saw this as a potential to making money and so he calls himself a sorcerer to the king and tells him he’ll teach him how to do magic, an instructor of magic. And the king, who isn’t very smart – well, he’s kind of an idiot. Let’s face it, this king isn’t very smart. So the king hires him as his sorcerer and during which the king is doing all these stupid things that the sorcerer is – what is the guy called? A charlatan? And the charlatan is teaching him to do all this stupid little nonsense spells and things, and this woman, the washwoman who is called Babbitty Rabbitty, which is kind of a weird name. It doesn’t really fit in with the story, but the old woman is just watching and laughing at him, and I guess the Charlatan follows Babbity Rabbity, and finds out that she actually is a witch, and so he tries to blackmail her, which, foolishly into being with him during his little show that he’s going to put on with the king for showing magic. The King is starting to get a little embarrassed about the whole thing, and he tells the Charlatan “I’m going to do a show for everybody, and if I get laughed at I’m going to cut your head off.” Basically. Do you guys want to go on with this story because I only read this once?

Andrew: Well, that’s kind of a long summary.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: But basically the moral of the story is that – or what ends up happening is that the king really can’t produce magic and Babbity Rabbity runs off after the Charlatan calls her out, and then what happens?

Jamie: Well, it’s like, evil doesn’t pay as well.

Andrew: Right.

Jamie: You can’t do that to someone and expect it to be a fair game.

Andrew: Yeah

Jamie: You shouldn’t really covet something that you can’t get. Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Logically, or fairly, because – you know, something bad is going to happen to you.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Go on.

Andrew: I thought the whole idea of Babbity Rabbity doing the magic behind the bushes was kind of clever.

Jamie: Yeah, it was, yeah.

Andrew: I thought that was interesting because I didn’t know how she was going to do it. And it came as a pleasant surprise I thought.

Micah: Yeah, I thought it was interesting!

Laura: I thought the ending was funny.

Micah: Yeah. Well, the interesting part was – being that when she couldn’t do anything when he tried to raise the dead boarhound back to life.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Or the search hound. And that obviously has stronger ties to a lot of what goes on in the Harry Potter series in terms of…

Jamie: Yeah.

Micah: …you learn that you can never bring anybody back from the dead, even magic can’t do that.

Matt: Right.

Micah: And, yeah, the ending was funny though, Laura.

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: And…

Jamie: It was weird…

Andrew: Go ahead.

Jamie: I was going to say it was a weird tale. I thought…

Andrew: Yeah, it was.

Jamie: …the morals weren’t quite as clear as…

[Micah laughs]

Jamie: …in the other ones. I can’t remember – I read a review online, and it compared one of the stories to The Emperor’s New Groove. I don’t know which one because I haven’t seen The Emperor’s New Groove, but it might have been this one?

Andrew: I love that movie. What’s the comparison? I love that movie.

Jamie: Just that they were based on the same theme, and…

Andrew: Oh.

Jamie: …and storytelling, but I don’t know if it was this one. I’ll have to re-check it.

Andrew: Yeah, I don’t know. Sort of, because there’s a – I don’t know. I’m not sure. [laughs] Great movie though.

Jamie: If anyone has any thoughts on that.

[Andrew and Micah laugh.]

Andrew: And then, anything else you want to talk about here? I guess we didn’t even go through the notes…

Micah: Well.

Andrew: Go ahead Micah.

Micah: In terms of it being the most real of the tales, I mean, it’s just the most practical in terms of what we know of the magical world.

Andrew: Yeah. That’s true.

Micah: Dumbledore brings that up. He says, “Of all the stories so far, this is one that could have actually taken place given everything that goes on in the story.”

Andrew: Yeah, maybe this is just a rejected plotline from J.K. Rowling…

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: …she put in here.

Micah: Could be.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: I’m glad she didn’t use it.

Andrew: And I remember Elysa said she was particularly looking forward to this story because Jo had said that she came up with these titles before writing the stories, so you know, she had to make the story go with the title.

Micah: Huh.

Andrew: So that must have been quite the challenge.

Jamie: Definitely.

Laura: Oh yeah, she’s said something about that too. She said, “You try writing a story to go with the title ‘Babbity Rabbity and her Crackling Stump.'” Or something like that.

Andrew: Right, right, it must be hard. My original thing with it was just that there was Babbity Rabbity and also the Cackling Stump – not, you know, she would be the cackling stump.

Matt: But she wasn’t the cackling stump.

Laura: But she wasn’t the cackling stump.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: She was underneath it.

Jamie: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: Right.

Andrew: Yeah, but the stump was cackling, was it?

Jamie: No, no.

Laura: No.

Jamie: I thought it was going to be some type of appendage of hers.

Andrew: Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I thought the stump would come to life, literally, you know, because if a pot can walk with a foot…

[Laura and Micah laugh.]

Andrew: …then why can’t a stump cackle?

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: It was definitely one of the more anti-muggle stories too…

Jamie: Yeah, definitely.

Matt: …saying that wizards are more smart than muggles are.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Yep.

Andrew: Then there’s also the first mention of an animagus, which was interesting.

Matt: It also talks about how, how this didn’t really go with animagi too, about how they cannot speak.

Jamie: How they are different from transfigured animals. Which is really interesting because I don’t know, I just really like insights to how magic works on a theoretical level.

Andrew: Yeah, and seeing this really ancient piece of it.

Jamie: Yeah.

Micah: Yep. And then Dumbledore also mentions that the witch – was it the witch that could have threatened to use the Cruciatus Curse on the king?

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Because it wasn’t yet illegal in the beginning. We kind of get some insight into the Ministry of Magic, in that they didn’t make the – those three curses unforgivable until a certain year, I think it was, right?

Matt: I think it was 1600-1700.

Laura: In 1717, I think.

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: Sixteen – yeah, I don’t know.


McGonagall Mentioned


Micah: [laughs] And we just get more of Dumbledore’s humor. I mean, he – the little – well, it’s actually by J.K Rowling – the the bit that’s on Professor McGonagall.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: And…

Laura: Oh, yeah.

Andrew: I thought it was really refreshing to hear, you know, Headmistress of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall.

Micah: Right.

Andrew: And also makes you kind of yearn to hear stories of Hogwarts and Professor McGonagall leading it.

Matt: I loved how she wrote – how she wrote that she asked him to make it quite clear that she’d become an Animagus…

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: …purely because of her research on Transfiguration.

Micah: [laughs] Yeah. But she never turned into a tabby cat for any surreptitious purpose.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: And…

Micah: Cold.

Matt: I wonder if Dumbledore ever joked about that with McGonagall.

Jamie: Well, I bet he teased her. I bet he teased her.

Matt: Yeah, I bet he did.


The Rabbit Advisor


Micah: [laughs] I didn’t get the whole rabbit-advisor thing to Henry the VI – was that an inside-joke? Or…

Jamie: I think it’s…

Micah: …is it like a British joke, or?

Jamie: Well, I guess he’s supposed to be – I don’t really know much about British history…

Laura: He’s – he was fairly – I mean, I don’t know a lot about him – but he was well known to be a complete psychopath.

[Micah laughs]

Laura: And I think he actually had some mental issues…

Matt: Well, wasn’t that because…

Laura: So I think – yeah.

Matt: …of the imbreeding? Didn’t they say…

Laura: Yes.

Matt: …it was because his family inbred?

Andrew: That would make sense.

Laura: So, I don’t know – he might have had syphilis or something, but…

Andrew: [laughs] Why am I laughing? I’m sorry, yeah.

Laura: No! That genuinley causes…

Jamie: I’m betting that didn’t actually happen, mind.

Laura: …mental problems.

Jamie: It’s usually a misconception, that’s all.

Matt: Like a rash.

Jamie: Yeah. It doesn’t actually affect…

Laura: I always heard that it did, though. I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong.

Jamie: How do you know so much about this? Neh?

Andrew: She’s smart.

Laura: I don’t…

Jamie: Do you mean… [laughs]

Laura: But – I don’t know. I just felt it was a joke worth adding.

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, maybe it was.

Laura: You know?

Jamie: Should we move onto the next one?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yes, please.


The Tales of the Three Brothers


Andrew: The last tale, “The Tale of The Three Brothers.” This was the shortest! I think.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: It was only – what? Three pages or something?

Laura: Yeah.

Jamie: It didn’t really come as a surprise though, after Book 7.

Andrew: Right.

[Micah laughs]

Matt: Jamie and I were talking about this earlier today, but when we read it we felt like we read this entirely in Book 7. Like, almost…

Laura: Yeah, I felt like I knew it all.

Andrew: What?

Matt: Yeah?

Andrew: Was the whole thing in Book 7?

Jamie: I swear it was.

Matt: Or it was told almost exactly like it was written.

Laura: Exactly like it was, yeah.

Jamie: “And so death took the second brother for his own. But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him.” Yeah! That was it!

Matt: The very last paragraph is definitely written word-for-word from it.

Jamie: Yeah it is, yeah.

Matt: From Book 7.

Laura: Okay, hang on… I have Deathly Hallows on my computer. We’re going to find out about this.

Jamie: Well, I hope you talk about yourself, Laura!

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Well… [laughs]

Andrew: Well, while she’s looking up that we’ll look at the notes here, that Dumbledore…

Matt: I don’t think we really need to summarize this, because everyone’s read it.

Jamie: Everyone knows it.

Matt and Andrew: Yeah.

Andrew: It was Dumbledore’s favorite bed-time story.

Micah: Yep.

Andrew: You know I really…

Matt: Unfortunately it wasn’t Aberforth’s favorite book.

Jamie: No.

Andrew: I really did enjoy re-reading this story again. Because, after discussing it so much here on the show, I found it really, just – I don’t know – really nice to read again.

Jamie: It really was, yeah.

Andrew: All was very clear at that point. Because…

Matt: It does have the best moral, if you use it.

Andrew: …when you read “The Tale of The Three Brothers,” you didn’t know everything. And reading it again – because I never re-read Book 7. I should have, shamefully.

Jamie: That is pretty poor.

Matt: This is also the most mature…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: …moral out of them all, I mean, this seems like it’s…

Micah: Wait.

Matt: …being directed towards adults.

Jamie: I was just about to say that Matt, yeah.

Micah: You never re-read Deathly Hallows?

Andrew: No. Oh, except for chapter-by-chapter…

Micah: Right.

Andrew: You’re so funny, ah – but you know what I mean, right?

Laura: Yeah, the whole thing is in here. By the way.

Andrew: Jo ripped us off. Damnit, Jo! You fooled everyone.

Laura: [laughs] It’s actually a – this is actually Hermione’s telling of the
tale.

Matt: Yeah, it’s her interpretation.

Andrew: Huh. Oh right. Right, right. Yeah, because she translated it.

Jamie: Yeah. Well, funnily she translated it as exactly Jo wrote it! So, you know, it’s terrible.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Jamie: She quoted it word-for-word. I can’t help but wonder how…

Micah: But…

Jamie: I agree, Matt. I thought it was really adult-like morals. It was like – it talked to people as adults and says what’s going to come and how you can’t live your adult life while your child could life.

Matt: It’s also more of a – like a moral that a lot of adult men tend to try to cheat. Because…

Jamie: Yeah.

Matt: …men have those mid-life crisises where they don’t want to grow old or…

Jamie: And they buy a maid.

[Andrew chuckles]

Matt: Yeah. Or Feraris and stuff. Yeah. Or a new wife.

[Jamie laughs]

Matt: Though not necessarily buy a new wife, thing is he’ll find one.

Jamie: Buy one with the advent of the internet.

Matt: Oh, geez.

Jamie: These things change.

Micah: E-mail order brides.

[Laura laughs]

Matt: Er, Micah, get off of computer.

Jamie: I’d like to order a bride.

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: What else, Micah?

Laura: This story’s getting a little – sorry.

Micah: No, go.

Laura: Oh. I was just going to add that – has anybody read Canterbury Tales?

Jamie: No.

Matt: Ooh! No, I haven’t.

Laura: Oh, okay. You guys suck. [laughs]

Andrew: Is this Life of Canterbury Tales?

Laura: It’s kind of both – because Canterbury Tales have several different tales, but it kind of reminded me of the “Pardoner’s Tale” from that because in that story there’s – and they’re sort of drunkenly walking along this path and they’re trying to find Death because Death has killed one of their friends and they want to
kill Death. So they run into this old man that tell them that he’s left Death in a grove under a tree. So the three brothers go there and they find all this gold and essentially they all become really greedy and end up killing each other so that they can have the gold but like in that way it kind of reminded me of this.

Jamie: Stuff like that, it doesn’t happen to me when I get drunk.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: But it just seemed like this was sort of loosely based on that.

Andrew: Yeah that’s pretty cool.

Jamie: Yeah that is cool.

Matt: I found it kind of funny though in the picture that Jo drew about the Three Brothers and Death is that when they made that bridge Death got angry with them because they cheated death but this river is not very big and it’s, I mean – you could just jump across it it’s not really that hard, and there’s a tree right there and so they could’ve just cut it down.

Andrew: Well, maybe for book reasons, whatever…

Matt: I don’t know I just thought it was funny.

Laura: Maybe, hey, maybe people couldn’t swim back then.

Andrew: Maybe people could’ve what?

Laura: Maybe people couldn’t swim back then.

Jamie: Who did invent swimming? Did people just keep drowning until one person picked it up?

Matt: People kept drowning until there were so many bodies they just walked over.

[Jamie laughs]

Andrew: Steve Wimmer invented swimming.

Jamie: Oh I see.

Andrew: S. Wimmer, get it?

Jamie: Oh, are you being serious there?

[Micah laughs]


Analyzing Dumbledore’s Comments


Andrew: What else Micah?

Micah: Well you mentioned it was Dumbledore’s favorite bedtime story. I thought that was kind of interesting knowing that, everything that we learn about him in Deathly Hallows that you know he would like a story like this and he eventually goes after the Hallows himself.

Matt: Yeah, it shows that he had an early weakness for this kind of thing, the Elder Wand, that would probably be the reason why he loved that story so much there was this really powerful wand.

Andrew: Also the mentioning of the Philosopher’s Stone is mentioned right here inspiring the Beedle tale that’s pretty interesting.

Jamie: Yeah it really is. Well I was going to say in the notes we got his final line when he says, “Even I, Albus Dumbledore, would find it easiest to refuse the Invisibility Cloak which only goes to show you that clever as I am, I am just as big a fool as everyone else.” That for me kind of forgave him for everything he’s ever done cause like he’s very humble, like he’s not modest but he’s humble like in like he admits that he’s clever but he also admits he’s a fool and like that’s what clever people don’t really do so I think, – I think he’s an awesome character
like we met someone at the podcast whom I talked to briefly who said she didn’t ever forgive Dumbledore for what he did.

Micah: Was that Jess?

Andrew: No.

Jamie: But yeah I don’t know.

Andrew: Yeah there was something about these notes as a whole that I thought were really meaningful to Dumbledore’s life, especially that last sentence.

Matt: It’s definitely the most notes he’s given for a story in the entire book and he definitely has a lot to say about it.

Andrew: Also how he’s talking about an Elder Wand and how it’s, what was it here – so called history of the Elder Wand.

Matt: Does it ever say why – why Beedle knows all this stuff to be true?

Andrew: No.

Matt: How did he know this story? And we know for a fact that these items do exist in the series.

Laura: Well, I don’t think – I think they kind of determine in the book that the story itself wasn’t necessarily true, that it was sort of made up to explain where these things came from.

Andrew: Yeah, that makes sense.

Micah: It almost seems like a plan though, like Dumbledore is planning in this particular commentary like when he’s going through the history of the Elder Wand. It’s almost like he’s recounting it to himself so that he can act, you know, in the next couple of months.

Jamie: It’s a reminder as well that this story in the seventh book is kind of you know telling Harry to keep like keep his head like on his shoulders, you know and stop like rushing forward into things. I think it served a dual purpose talkingabout the Hallows but also like not only is the Invisibility Cloak the best option but like you know you need to think about stuff before rushing into it.

Andrew: It was really interesting to me because it was a sort of foreshadowing his mistakes and the weaknesses he had when he was trying to help Harry through all this and you know he admitted his mistakes throughout the books and I thought this was, this book was particularly meaningful in that. Because as he said that last sentence again he said he was just as big a fool as anyone else.

Matt: Also Dumbledore talks about these old superstition phrases. Like when his wand’s oak and hers is holly, then to marry would be folly.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah. But my favorite one…

Micah: It’s like…

Matt: …I’m sorry. What?

Micah: …they’re almost like nursery rhymes.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: Kind of.

Matt: Just like old tale – I mean old woman rhymes, really – old wives’ tales. Yeah, and “Wand of elder, never prosper” he says. I think that’s like a really good saying because if you think about the Elder Wand, people that never really live very long. “Wand of elder, never prosper.”

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Thought that was pretty good.

Andrew: Anything else important to bring up about this? We’ll move along. We’re getting kind of late into the show here.

Micah: Grumble the Grubby Goat.

Laura: Dumbledore’s familiar with Alexander Pope.

Jamie: Yeah. That was cool.

Andrew: Yeah. It’s cool.

Jamie: Another Dan Brown reference for those who have read The Da Vinci Code.

[Laura, Matt, and Micah laugh]

Andrew: Micah, we discussed Grumble the Goat. You’re going to write the tale now?

Micah: Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: That would be a cool contest, actually, to write that tale.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

[Micah laughs]


Listener Feedback: Jim Dale Voicing Beedle?


Andrew: A couple listener feedback about the book and then we’ll wrap it up for today. Camille, 14, of San Diego, she wrote:

“As always, love the show. Keep up the great work. I was wondering, do you guys think Beedle the Bard will become an audiobook narrated by Jim Dale? We’ve said he’s good enough to narrate a dictionary and make it sound interesting. Will he get the chance to narrate Beedle? If so, it’ll be cool to hear the Dumbledore comments in Dumbledore’s voice.”

That would be really cool, but I just don’t think – I don’t think it’s big enough.

Jamie: There’s not a lot of stuff.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Oh yeah.

Matt: It’s like you can download it or something. I mean, you could for anything. Yeah, I think it would just be too short. I mean, if you go out to listen to it in the car or something, it would be a very short drive.


Listener Feedback: Where Does Beedle Rank in the Series?


Andrew: Yeah. Also, some questions from Twitter. I asked people on the MuggleCast Twitter to reply with their questions, and this was fun. We got some good responses, and I like Twitter because people will keep their questions short so they don’t send us these books of e-mails. This comes from Dreyesbo, D-R-E-Y-E-S-B-O:

“If you made a ranking of the Harry Potter series, where would Beedle the Bard stand?”

Matt: Is it even part of the Harry Potter series?

Jamie: It’s barely comparable.

Andrew: Well, but, OK. How ’bout between Fantastic Beasts, Quidditch, and Beedle?

Laura: Oh, those would – yeah.

Jamie: Beedle, Fantastic Beasts, then Quidditch Through the Ages.

Matt: Yeah. This is definitely something you can read and you find more things that connect with the series.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Yeah. I agree.


Listener Feedback: Favorite Moral?


Andrew: Megan Simpson asks:

“What was your favorite tale or moral?”

We sort of talked about our tales. Laura, what was your favorite?

Laura: I would have to say “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” just because it has such a relation to Book 7.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: I really enjoyed it.

Andrew: Yeah. Was there any favorite moral that sticked out with anyone?

Matt: I still like “The Fountain of Fair Fortune.” I like the moral.

Andrew: Yeah. Me too.

Jamie: Wizard’s – “Warlock’s Heart.” Those were the best.

Andrew: Yeah. That too. Yeah. Micah?

Micah: I’ll go with “Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump.” I don’t really know the moral there to be honest, but I like the moral from the first two stories. You know, sort of the wizard-Muggle relations and them actually getting along with each other as opposed to – you know, using their magical power to threaten other people.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: But, I did like that story even though most people did not.


Listener Feedback: Collector’s Edition


Andrew: Moving along, Angel12319 on Twitter asks:

“Just wanted to know how many of you bought the Collector’s Edition because I plan to buy it and was wondering who else bought it.”

Jamie: Is that the hundred dollar one?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, that’s the expensive one.

Andrew: I didn’t buy. I don’t think anyone here did.

Jamie: That’s insane.

Micah: No, not me.

Jamie: How much of that goes to charity?

Matt: All of it.

Andrew: A good amount of it.

Matt: A lot of it.

Andrew: I mean, like three dollars of this book is…

Laura: Well, if I had – I was going say – like, if I had a hundred dollars, I would buy it.

Andrew: Yeah. Are you asking for that for Christmas, Laura? Is that it or just the regular version?

Laura: No. No, no, no, just the regular version.

Andrew: You should ask for the big one for Christmas.

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: Hey, I want other things too, you know?

Micah: You know what you do, Laura?

Laura: It’s true, you know.

Micah: Laura, see if they’re going to do an unveiling of the Collector’s Edition somewhere, and go and notice if behind it, there’s something wrong with the poster or the stand that it’s on, and then write to them and say, “Hey, I noticed this was wrong,” and see if they’ll send you a free Collector’s Edition.

Laura: There we go.


Listener Feedback: Grumble the Grubby Goat


Andrew: AliceMania on Twitter asks:

“Why didn’t Jo write “Grumble the Grubby Goat”? After it was mentioned, I wanted to read it, but was disappointed it was left out.”

Maybe it’s for Beedle the Bard 2.

[Laura laughs]

Matt: Oh yeah.

Andrew: It would be kind of cool to see Beedle the Bard 2.

Matt: Yeah, well that mentioned, I was – that’s what made me upset because there’s all these other Beedle the Bard stories that were never written.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Yeah, that’s true. I have one last point to make that I remember thinking about it when I read it. In “The Tale of the Three Brothers” when she writes, “Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as though by a veil.”

Matt: [gasps] Ooh. Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. That was really cool.

Jamie: I thought that was brilliant.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Obviously on purpose as well.


Listener Feedback: Three Brothers Too Short?


Andrew: Yeah. Kathleen91 asks:

“Hey guys, I was just wondering if you thought “The Tale of the Three Brothers” was gonna be longer. I was excited to read it, but it was three pages.”

Eh, what can you do? She had to keep it short for Book 7, so…

Matt: Well, I mean, it’s a good story, I mean.

Laura: It was literally taken word by word from Hermione’s telling of it in the book.

Andrew: Yeah, so. And they had to keep it short in the book, and I think there wasn’t any part that felt rushed or anything. It was just a nice little tale.

Jamie: Yeah. Yeah.

Matt: It wasn’t – Yeah, the story was already told in the book. I mean, it was the entire story they said, so.

Micah: Plus, she got the most commentary from it, too.

Andrew: Right. Exactly. Yeah. Come on, Katherine. Geez.

Matt: Geez.


Listener Feedback: How Long Did it Take to Read Beedle?


Andrew: No, I’m just kidding. And lastly, KJPotter94 writes:

“How long did it take you all to read the book?”

Took me about an hour and a half.

Jamie: About an hour and a bit, yeah.

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: It took me actually longer because I kept rereading it over and over again.

Andrew: Oh, Laura? Micah?

Laura: I would say around an hour.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Yeah. A little over an hour.

Andrew: I guess I’m slow.

Micah: Taking notes. I don’t know.

Laura: Well, Andrew…

Micah: Yeah, you’re slow.

Laura: …do you remember when we were reading Deathly Hallows?

Andrew: And we were like…

Laura: And we were consistently 50 pages apart no matter what we did?

Andrew: Yeah. I was trying to come up with a scheme to like distract Laura to slow her down so I could get by her, but never worked out. Shoulda set your hair on fire or something.

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: Oh thanks.

Andrew: You’re welcome.

Laura: I love you, too.

Jamie: That would probably distract everyone, to be honest.

Andrew: I just wanted to distract Laura.

Matt: Just punch her out unconscious.

Jamie: Yeah.

Laura: Wow.

Andrew: You bitch! [makes punching noise]

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: It’s OK. J.K. Rowling said it.

Matt: Oh, that’s right.

Laura: Oh. That’s true. We can say it now, too.

Matt: It’s my book, you bitch!

Andrew: We can say dunglicker, too because J.K. Rowling said it.

Laura: And we weren’t allowed to say that before?

Andrew: I never knew that word existed.

Matt: Okay. So, quick can we take about another episode?

Andrew: No, no.

Matt: Do we have time for this? No? No?

Laura: No.

Jamie: Maybe some excerpts.


Show Close


Andrew: All right. Well, this wraps up our Beedle the Bard talk. It’s been a long show. I think much longer than we anticipated.

Jamie: We didn’t even intro, Andrew.

Andrew: No, we didn’t. We’ll outro because I know you wanna do that. Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the book, and we’ll discuss it on another future episode. Just want to say that I think our next episode will be our Year End Review show, which will be fun. I started working on MuggleNet’s Year In Review last night and I noticed there
was a lot of big stories this year: the movie split, the movie delay.

Matt: No movie.

Andrew: Beedle the Bard. Yeah. No movie. So – and, of course, the JKR/RDR trial. There’s a lot of fun stuff to talk about on that episode. So, that’ll be out by the end of the month if not in like two weeks or so. All right, so, I’m Andrew Sims.

Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.

Matt: I’m Matthew…

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Matt: Why did you point to me?

Andrew: I pointed to Jamie.

Matt: And then you pointed to me.

Andrew: No, I didn’t!

Matt: OK.

Andrew: I pulled my hand away.

Matt: You were like…

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: That was the longest pulling your hand away.

Laura: It doesn’t matter.

Micah: Who cares? It doesn’t matter.

Matt: OK. Let’s just go. Again.

Andrew: We’ll just leave this for a blooper. I’m Andrew Sims.

Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Matt: And I’m Matthew Britton.

Andrew: Thanks everyone for listening. We’ll see you next time for Episode 166.

Jamie: [in deep voice] Buh-bye.

Andrew: Bye.

Laura: Bye.

Micah: Bye.

Matt: Bye.

[Outro music plays]

Transcript #164

MuggleCast 164 Transcript


Show Intro


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[Intro music begins]

Hagrid: Are you ready?

Dumbledore: Yes.

Hagrid: Is everybody ready?

[Audience cheers]

Dumbledore: Oh, they don’t sound ready, Hagrid. They might as well go home if they don’t sound more enthusiastic than that. Hagrid said, “Are you ready?”

[Audience cheers louder]

Dumbledore: That’s more like it.

Hagrid: Right, Professor…

Dumbledore: Yes?

Hagrid: …I think we need to pave the way for our dear friends to come straight down here in all this cheering and clapping and screaming. So ladies and folks, will you please give a great big round of applause for our first guy, Mr. Andrew Sims!

[Audience cheers]

Dumbledore: Oh! There he is! Andrew, oh, you look as if you’re ready to be in the sixth form, yes.

Hagrid: As you can see – aww…

Dumbledore: Andrew, when you hug Hagrid, could you stand up? Oh, sorry, you were standing. I thought he was kneeling.

[Audience laughs]

Hagrid: Yeah, he’s a midget, so it’s all right. Right! Mental or mad, I don’t think that was loud enough cheers so this time when you go even worse – oh, careful tiger.

Dumbledore: Oh, healthy feet.

Hagrid: The even wilder Jamie Lawrence!

[Audience cheers]

Dumbledore: Oh, Jamie, oh. And have you finished that essay on the 12th century properties?

Jamie: I have.

Dumbledore: You have? Oh, I’ll take it then. Oh no, that’s not an essay, it’s a jumble. All right, carry on, carry on, good to have you. Give him a kiss – ah! I didn’t realise it was like that Hagrid!

[Audience laughs]

Hagrid: Okay, go sit yourself down there, young man. Oh, he’s got some special artifacts over there.

Dumbledore: Yes.

Hagrid: What’s that all about then? Okay then, I think it will get ever wilder now, as we’re going to bring out the wonderful Matt Britton!

[Audience cheers]

Hagrid: Oh, Matt! And you come in a tie. But what happened to the hair?

[Audience laughs]

Hagrid: Oh, no! He’s one of these other half-breeds – half boy, half porcupine.

[Audience laughs]

Hagrid: Yes, come through, come through.

Dumbledore: They’re what they call troll bogies, Professor.

Hagrid: Oh. Eeeaugh!

Dumbledore: These people call it gel or something disgusting.

[Audience laughs]

Dumbledore: Let me just wipe it on there.

Hagrid: Go on, give another round of applause. Go on, Matt.

[Audience cheers]

Dumbledore: I’m glad you came in old clothes.

Hagrid: And then, who’s left? Ah, we’re a bit unbalanced with the sexes at the moment.

[Audience laughs]

Dumbledore: Shall we bring her out, shall we? Elysa? Shall we bring her out, yes?

Hagrid: Would you like her to come down the aisle now?

[Audience cheers]

Hagrid: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Elysa Montfort!

[Audience cheers]

Hagrid: Oh, golly! Good to see you. Yes. I’m sure you have problems in the airport with the metal detectors.

[Audience laughs]

Dumbledore: Right, Hagrid. Are we going to hand it over to them?

Hagrid: Absolutely. One more round of applause for all the guys here!

Dumbledore: It’s a very, very special night tonight.

[Audience cheers]

Dumbledore: LET’S MAKE SOME MAGIC!!!

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Thank you, Hagrid! Thank you, Dumbledore! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to MuggleCast Live in London 2!

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Three, this is three. We’re all very excited. Is everyone excited for Beedle the Bard?

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Who was here when we were here for Book 7?

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: A few people in the audience raising their hands. Of course, we’re all here. We’re all very excited for Beedle the Bard. General… what we’re going to do, we’re going to treat this like a normal MuggleCast. We’re going to be talking about the latest news and then we’ll get into some Beedle discussion. Then we have some really cool prizes brought to you by Alivans. So we’ll get to those later on. But first, there’s been a lot of – besides Beedle the Bard, what has been the other big story?

[Audience member shouts something]

Matt: Yeah!

[Elysa laughs]


Half-Blood Prince Trailer Discussion


Andrew: No, I’m not talking about that. No, Harry Potter wise, the Half-Blood Prince trailer that just came out a few weeks ago. What did everyone think of it?

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Some lost hesitation. We still haven’t gotten the thoughts of Matt and Elysa yet so I want to get them now.

Matt: Yeah you did.

Jamie: No actually it’s me.

Andrew: Oh no, sorry. Jamie and Elysa. Yeah. Jamie, what did you think about this trailer?

Jamie: I really…

Andrew: While I sip this beautiful looking water.

[Audience laughs]

Jamie: Oh yeah okay. I really liked it actually. I thought – I think starting with movie three, Harry Potter has taken on like a – they look more like proper films. Not to say one and two aren’t very good because I’ve realized I’ve just said they are bit…

[Audience laughs]

Jamie: I just think they started to look like proper movie trailers. I think quite a few movies like the first year Harry Potter ones, you watch them and you think, well, they look very fantasy. They look very Harry Potter-ish. But starting at three, I feel they started to take on that darker tone that Cuarón brought out and I think Half-Blood Prince looks awesome in that light. You know, I think it’s really going to be dark. It’s going to be a good film and it’s going to be scary which is good and they’re probably still going to give it a 12A rating.

[Audience laughs]

Jamie: So everyone can go and see it because that would be unfair if they couldn’t, so yeah, I’m really looking forward to it.

Andrew: And Elysa, your thoughts?

Elysa: Yeah, I agree completely. I mean, my favorite part about it was probably the opening line where Harry’s just like, “I’ve just sort of learned to go with it at this point.” I really liked that. I like that it was sort of coalescing humor and like the darker sides of it at the same time which I really thought Half-Blood Prince was all about. But, so far, definitely my favorite trailer.

Jamie: Harry wouldn’t say a line like that though, would he?

Elysa: What?

Jamie: “Well, I’m just going to roll with it.”

Elysa: Well, maybe not, okay, maybe not like out loud in the book, but I think he’d say…

Jamie: He doesn’t have the personality for it really though does he?

[Audience laughs]

Elysa: I think he’s learned to roll with it though. He’s had to.

Andrew: Can you guys believe the film would have been out for two or three weeks now…

Elysa: I know.

Andrew: …if it weren’t for the delay.

[Audience groans]

Andrew: I hate to get everyone down. But it’s almost surreal that it would be over and done with at this point. But, yeah, so and we made that big post on MuggleNet. I’m sure Warner Bros. didn’t appreciate us reminding people but…

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Yeah. Whatever.

Jamie: How many of you guys think Twilight is a poor like…

[Audience boos]

Andrew: [laughs] This is the wrong crowd bring it up in front of. Boo. Get out of here.

Jamie: I know. I just alienated everyone.

Andrew: What do you know?

Matt: Jamie just shut up.

Jamie: Oops. Oops.


Andrew’s Encounter with Twilight Cast/Crew


Andrew: We’ll say real quick, I’m sure some of you heard about this now, Matt and I, on our flight over here from L.A., the director of Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke and the lead Kristin Stewart who plays Bella were both on our flight.

Matt: Yeah.

[Audience murmurs]

Andrew: When we saw them I turned into the biggest fan girl you would imagine.

[Audience and Matt laughs]

Andrew: I never reacted like that before, but just something about them – actually, like, seeing them. I don’t know.

Matt: No, it was funny because we were just sitting there and you were playing with your iPhone or something…

[Audience laughs]

Matt: …and I was looking somewhere off and I saw this woman just walk by me and I said, “Catherine Hardwicke!” And then you were like, “What are you talking about?” And then he just starts screaming.

[Audience laughs]

Matt: Like, “Oh my god, Oh my god! Oh my god!”

Andrew: Yeah, I really was. It was really exciting, but then – sort of a funny story and then we’ll move on – we got to baggage claim in London, and I was like, “Okay, some people aren’t going to believe this, so I have to take a picture,” and we couldn’t find Kristen, but Catherine was there waiting by us. So I had a magazine or something, and I just sort of stood up, and I just went like this. [demonstrates]

[Audience laughs]


New Half-Blood Prince Release Date


Andrew: I got like three takes just in case, you know, one of them turned out bad, and that’s on my Facebook now so – but anyway, that’s what happened. Back to Beedle, before I start fan girling again. Is everyone okay with the July release date now for Half-Blood Prince?

Audience: No!

Andrew: No? But isn’t it good now, there’s something to look forward to this year?

[Indecisive responses from audience]

Andrew: And it’s all because of that DVD that’s coming out Monday, Dark Knight.

Jamie: Oh that is true.

Andrew: Oh well.

Audience Member: And James Bond.

Andrew: And James Bond.

Jamie: On that note, did people like the new James Bond film?

[Negative responses from audience]

Matt: Yeah, I didn’t like it either.

Jamie: It did suck.


Beedle the Bard Discussion


Andrew: And one other bit of news today. The AP – Associated Press reported that eight million copies of Beedle the Bard are being printed today, or will be – the initial print run. 3.5 million in the U.S., and I don’t think they announced the U.K. Does anyone know how many books are in the U.K. for Beedle? A lot?

[Audience Member responds]

Andrew: Seven million? Okay, well that math doesn’t add up. Maybe – I dont know, maybe that was just…

Jamie: Did she say seven billion?

Andrew: No, million. I thought she said billion.

Jamie: Two for every person who lives in the world.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about, yeah. Yeah. So you guys got a few copies. All of them are here, actually, because – anyways. Let’s move on to the Beedle discussion. What’s everyone’s general expectation of the book? Because we know we’re all excited, and they’ve added things that weren’t exactly in the original – book that J.K. Rowling wrote. Matt, why don’t we start with you? What are your general expectations of this book? Are you hoping to be enthralled?

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: You can’t put it down?

Matt: I don’t – What is it about?

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: It’s the Tales of Beedle the Bard. Actually, well one of…

[Andrew knocks his mic]

Andrew: Oh, I’m sorry. One of Elysa’s friends saw the books already. They’re about the size of like the Fantastic Beasts and the Quidditch through the Ages books, so…

Matt: I’m hoping it’s going to be a good read. I mean, I don’t know how many times I’m going to re-read it like I do with the Harry Potter books but…

Andrew: Yeah. Well, what’s going to keep me interested, and we’ll get to this in a second, but what’s really going to keep me interested are the notes from Dumbledore…

Elysa and Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Because when I read the descriptions of those I got really excited. Elysa, how about you? What are you looking forward to?

Elysa: Um, I don’t know. Well, I’m sort of hoping that we see some other sort of direct relevance to the series, like obviously we know with the one story and the Peverell Brothers that’s you know, hugely significant but I’m hoping that some of the other tales in there, we’re going to be able to spot some sort of – red herrings or symbology in there as well. That’d be really neat.

Matt: Yeah, are there really going to be that many red herrings or something in the book?

[Prolonged silence]

Elysa: What?

[Audience laughs]

Matt: Are there…

Elysa: A little slower if you don’t mind actually.

Matt: Yeah.

[Elysa laughs]

Matt: I forgot what I said.

Andrew: And Jamie, how about you? I mean, are you excited for the Dumbledore stuff mostly or what?

Jamie: I’m looking forward to it but I worry it’s going to be kind of like Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts which I did enjoy but I thought they were written kind of away from the books so you could read them but it’s not like reading a Harry Potter book, so I’d like to see some direct references to what happened in Book 7. I’d like to see her answer some questions that people are still wondering about but I don’t know if she’s going to. And like, I thought in Fantastic Beasts, I think it was when it said like “This book is the property of Harry Potter.” I thought that was kind of bad to be honest.

Andrew: Wait – that was like a little library book, right? From the…

Jamie: Yeah, and it was like hangman stuff. I thought that was a bit unnecessary.

Andrew: Maybe he got bored of reading it. Are you sure that wasn’t you who drew that in there when you were bored?

Jamie: No because I wouldn’t put “This book is the property of Harry Potter.”

Andrew: Oh, okay.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: So, let me quote what Amazon said about the Dumbledore description because I think this is going to be one of the most interesting things. “Enlightening and comprehensive commentary including extensive footnotes by Dumbledore who brings his unique wizardised perceptive to the collection.” Do you think Jo and the publishers decided to add this to maybe sell the book more? Because do you think it would sell as well if this book would have been published just how it was?

Jamie: It sounds like it’s written to sell. Like, “enlightening and comprehensive commentary, including extensive footnotes,” and stuff. I don’t know.

Andrew: Right, yeah. I don’t know. Do you guys think, would you guys be as excited if it didn’t have the Dumbledore stuff because personally that’s what I’m most excited about. You are?

Matt: It’s a Harry Potter book!

Andrew: Just go with me, come on. I know, yeah. And – also “Professor Dumbledore also includes fascinating historical background including tid bits such as ‘The History Pursuit of Magic Wands'”? What could that be about?

Matt: Probably the historical pursuit of magic wands.

Andrew: Yeah I know, jokes aside.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: What could it really be about? Would he go really in-depth like this? Because I know how Jo can’t resist you know being about to go in-depth in something like this.

Matt: Sorry, go on.

Jamie: Go on Matt…

Matt: I had nothing to say.

Jamie: I can’t remember what I was going to say really.

[Audience laughs]

Jamie: Andrew, you’re the host, you can save us now.

Andrew: Okay, thank you. And what else was there? And a brief comment on the Dark Arts and its practitioners, which is also pretty cool.

Jamie: Is that going to be from Dumbledore? Like him talking…

Andrew: That’s him writing, yeah.

Jamie: That would probably be quite interesting.

Matt: That would be kind of cool.

Jamie: Yeah, because he kind of dabbled in it well you know, sort of with Grindelwald – so I think it is going to be interesting to hear his view on it because so far we’ve seen everyone say the Dark Arts are really, really bad, and we’ve seen it from Voldemort’s point of view where he loves them, and the good people’s point of view where they hate them, the Order of the Phoenix. But if we have it from Dumbledore I think him – like he has experienced it and he is not – doesn’t really think good and bad, black and white.

Matt: Yeah.

Jamie: So I think it would be interesting to hear what he says.

Matt: Yeah, it would be interesting to hear Dumbledore’s view points on Dark Arts through his point of view and not him like telling Harry or something.

Jamie: Is he going to feature Grindelwald though? Is he going to talk about him?

Matt: I don’t know, I haven’t read the book.

Andrew: I would think so because that…

[Everybody laughs]

Andrew: Grindelwald is Dark Arts, I mean.

Elysa: Yeah.

Andrew: You could argue.

Jamie: One of the worst wizards ever.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah. And then the other question that I thought would be fun to discuss was, we know there were seven copies, handwritten by Jo, one was auctioned off to Amazon and then we know one went to Arthur Levine, Scholastic editor, and a second copy went off to Barry Cunningham, the Bloomsbury editor. And there are four other copies – so who do you think the other four could have gone to?

[Audience Member responds]

Andrew: Her sister? But how about someone in the movie, like David Heyman…

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Fiddy, her assistant, definitely.

[Answers from the audience]

Andrew: Daniel Radcliffe? No.

Matt: Yeah, doesn’t he have everything though, else?

Andrew: Yeah, he doesn’t need anything else, he has enough.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Didn’t you get a copy? You were influential.

Jamie: Uh, well I don’t know about that influential. I think it worked like a Willy Wonka type thing where she hid them…

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Five bars of the chocolate.

[Everybody laughs]

Jamie: Someone is going to find them.

Andrew: Yeah, Arthur and Berry got very lucky.

Jamie: Yeah, that’s so lucky, the two editors who do the books.

Andrew: Who knew? What were the chances? Elysa, what do you think?

Elysa: Um, God, I don’t know.

Andrew: I think Fiddy definitely. It’s people who were very involved in the book series.

Jamie: She probably gave her something a bit nicer, though. It’s nice, a handwritten copy, but since she’s been working with her for so long you’d think, like – she’d, like…

Andrew: Something nicer? Bought her a house? Yeah.

Jamie: Something like that.

Andrew: Yeah. All right. So, what we’re going to do now, if – does anyone else have any other thoughts about that, before we move on?

Audience Member: Didn’t she have a friend she based Ron off of?

Andrew: She had a friend she based Ron off of?

Jamie: The guy who drove her around all…

Audience Member: Yeah.

Jamie: Yeah. She might’ve given him…

Matt: Didn’t he sue her, or something?

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: No, that was her brother?

Audience Member: Cousin.

Andrew: Cousin.

Matt: Oh.

Andrew: Yeah. On that lie detector show. That was dumb. That was probably fake. But yeah I don’t know. So I think it would be interesting. I don’t see why it might – like – okay obviously those four remaining people aren’t going to boast about it, but I feel like – you know – we should know. We have the right to know.

[Matt laughs]

Elysa: Human rights.

Andrew: Did anyone see the – did anyone get the Amazon Collector’s Edition?

Audience Member: Yeah!

Andrew: A few people? I really want to get it, but…

Matt: Oh the…

Andrew: The Special Edition that costs one hundred dollars.

Matt: Yeah that one looked really nice.

Jamie: It’s one hundred dollars?

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: What extra do you get with it?

Andrew: You get a lot of stuff.

Matt: You get a really nice cover.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: No, but you get like ten special drawings from Jo, what else does anyone remember? It’s a lot. It’s well worth the extra money.

Audience Member: It’s got, like, the proper fake cover.

Andrew: It’s got the proper fake cover, yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

[Audience Member says something]

Andrew: The what, sorry?

Audience Member: The gems.

Andrew: Oh yeah it’s got the gems in it, yeah. But when that first came out, I think I first said this on MuggleCast, I was so amazed at the price difference. It went from ten to one hundred dollars. It’s like, what’s that ninety really giving you?

Matt: Well, I mean, come on…

Andrew: It’s worth it.

Matt: Yeah it’s worth it.

Jamie: Can she draw, though?

Andrew: Yeah.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Have you seen the pictures? She has drawn – they’re not, you know – insert good artist here. Picasso. They’re actually kind of like Picasso.

Audience Member: They’re still by JK Rowling.

Andrew: Yeah, they’re still by JK Rowling.

Jamie: That is a fair point.


Beedle the Bard Trivia


Andrew: We’re going to do some Beedle trivia right now. What we’re going to do – we’re going to pick specific people in the audience and I think we have people standing in the wings with microphones. Where are they? Do we have our wing people? Okay there’s one mic. That’s all we need. Oh theres two. Okay so raise your hand if you want to participate. These are Beedle related questions, and you’ll win a fabulous prize sponsored by Alivans. That’s Alivans.com, master wand makers. Raise your hand. Okay we’ll start with this girl right here.

[Audience murmurs]

Andrew: Yeah, go ahead stand up. No no, no! Back two. There you go. Hello? What’s your name? Hold on, wait a second.

Jamie: This works kind of differently, in that you have to give the answer before he asks the question.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Oh, yeah – check? Do it again. Good?

[Mic fails to work]

Andrew: Okay, well we’ll – so where are you from?

Audience Member: I live in London but I’m originally from a place called Blackpool.

Andrew: Oh, okay, cool.

Elysa: Ooh, very nice.

Andrew: Yeah, woo, Blackpool! Yeah, I haven’t been there.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Ok [laughs]. Here’s your question, okay, and you’re going to be able to pick from – we have a few things up here. We have scarves from Alivans…

Matt: No, it’s a secret, it’s a secret!

Andrew: Wands, sweaters, and tattoos…

Matt: Never mind.

Andrew: You can just take the tattoos, too.

Andrew: Ok, the question is – and don’t yell it out, unless you want her to get it, of course.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Actually, don’t yell it out. What was the final selling price for the seventh copy of the handwritten book?

Matt: [gasps] Oh my gosh…

Andrew: This was, of course, purchased by Amazon, it was a lot of money. You can ballpark it, I mean, if…

Audience Member: Is this in pounds or dollars?

Andrew: Ah, either.

Audience Member: Um, four million dollars?

Andrew: Yeah! 3.98 million. There you go!

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Everyone’s like, How’d she know that!?

Matt: I know! How did you know that?

Elysa: I didn’t know that.

Andrew: No, that’s good. Come collect your prize at the end – no, you can come up now.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: What do you want? You want a Harry Potter scarf?

Audience Member: Yes, please.

Andrew: Okay, perfect.

Matt: Well she’s got a Slytherin shirt.

Andrew: Where’s the other stuff? Elysa, do you have it?

Elysa: Yeah.

Andrew: Can you just put it on the table? Okay.

Jamie: Andrew, while you’re doing that, do you think I could just throw a t-shirt into the audience? I’ve always wanted to do that.

Andrew: Yeah, sure, go ahead.

[Audience laughs and cheers]

Andrew: These are the wonderful – a lot of you can get them,
we have a lot of extras that we’re going to be giving away at the end, too.

Jamie: That was so cool, I’m going to have to do that again.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: I’ve waited my life for this! I’ve waited all my life…All
right, one more, go ahead. Make your dreams come true.

[Audience cheers as Jamie throws]

Andrew: You feel better now?

Jamie: No, I’m going to have to do it again.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: All right, hold on.

Jamie: I’ll see if I can…

Andrew: Ok, next question – who wants to – how about this girl right here. Saw her hand up first. Okay, what’s your name?

Audience Member: Beth.

Andrew: Where are you from?

Audience Member: Iowa City, Iowa.

Andrew: Oh, wow. Why are you here?

Audience Member: I’m studying abroad for the semester.

[Audience cheers]

Matt: Oh, cool. Yeah.

Andrew: Where at?

Audience Member: With my program for Purnell College.

Andrew: Cool, cool. Okay, nobody be thrown off by her American accent. It’s normal.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Okay. On what day was it announced that Beedle the Bard would be published in the U.K. and the U.S.? What day – it had special significance.

Jamie: It’s quite significant, yeah.

Matt: Very.

Audience Member: July 31st?

Andrew: Yes, Harry’s birthday. There you go. You win a fabulous prize from Alivans.com.

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Come up here. You can pick a prize.

Matt: Do they get to pick? Do they get to pick?

Andrew: Yeah you guys can pick. There is a variety of wands up here. Next question, how about this guy right here? I’ve got to get a guy. What’s your name dude?

Audience Member: Steven.

Andrew: Steven where you from?

Audience Member: London.

Andrew: London, awesome.

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Are you – Are you good with your Beedle the Bard knowledge? Have you brushed up?

Audience Member: Maybe.

Andrew: Maybe? Okay. Let’s see.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Okay. Well this could be challenging. I don’t know. Name three of the five stories found in Beedle the Bard.

Matt: Oh. Oh.

Andrew: You can pass it off to someone if – if you feel like this maybe…

Matt: I know that one.

Andrew: …too difficult a question. He’s thinking hard.

Audience Member: The Tale of Babbitty Rabbit or something.

Andrew: Close enough.

Matt: Yeah that’s…

[Audience laughs]

Audience Member: The Tale of the Three Brothers.

Andrew: Yes.

Audience Member: And the Wishing Pot?

Andrew: Close enough.

[Audience laughs and cheers]

Andrew: That was like a combination of two titles, but whatever. So you got like two and a half, two fourths of each. All right…

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Trying desperately for him to win something. All right, thank you. You won an awesome prize from Alivans. Okay question four – what are we at? Four, let’s see. How about – You’re too close to the other girl who – sorry no. Okay fine right here – right here. And then we’ll get someone from over this side and then one more. What’s your name?

Audience Member: Alex.

Andrew: Where you from, Alex?

Audience Member: Norway.

Andrew: Norway wow.

Matt: Wow!

Andrew: What are you here for?

Audience Member: To see you guys.

Andrew: Oh stop.

Matt: Awww.

Andrew: Why you win a prize just for that.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Okay here’s the question. How many copies of Beedle the Bard did Scholastic say will be in the initial print run in the U.S.?

Jamie: Hasn’t this already been said?

Matt: Yeah didn’t we just say this?

Andrew: Did I say that?

Matt: Yeah you did.

Andrew: We’re making sure she’s listening. So go ahead.

[Long silence]

Andrew: See she wasn’t listening! Okay.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: You can ballpark it.

Audience Member: Eight?

Jamie: To the nearest ten million.

Andrew: Eight what?

Audience Member: Million?

Andrew: Oh million? I’m sorry that’s not correct. But come up and get something anyway. We’ll have someone else answer it. How about this guy right here?

Matt: What? I thought – I thought that was right.

Andrew: Well no, no, in the U.S. specifically.

Matt: Oh.

Andrew: But it’s – it’s, okay. That was good enough. This guy right here, in the Gryffindor scarf. What’s your name?

Audience Member: James.

Andrew: James, what – How many copies was in the U.S.?

Audience Member: Was it 3.5 million?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: That’s correct. You win a prize from Alivans.com.

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Actually, we have two more questions. Ah, look, we’re getting contestant pictures, what is this? All right, microphone, over here. This girl right here.

Audience Member: Hi. I’m Ashley.

Andrew: Hi. Go ahead. Stand up.

Audience Member: Stand up?

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: What? You don’t want to? Okay. What’s your name? Ashley?

Audience Member: From Philadelphia.

Andrew: From Philly!

Matt: Wow!

Andrew: You two were at Enlightening!

[Audience Member responds]

Matt: Why are we picking Americans in London?

Audience Members: They’re studying!

Andrew: Oh they’re studying. Everyone is studying here.

Matt: Anyone here who is English?

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Okay. How many people – are you listening? This is very important. How many pages is the original, handwritten copy of Beedle the Bard? How many pages?

Audience Member: Twenty-seven?

Andrew: Oh no! Oh, God. No, I’m sorry. This girl, right back here. Hold on, this girl in the blue.

Audience Member: One hundred?

Andrew: Close! This girl, right here, go on.

Audience Member: Isn’t it ninety-six, or ninety-seven, or something like that?

Andrew: No! Unless I got the number wrong, but I’m pretty sure I have it right. Anyone else? This girl?

Audience Member: Is it one hundred and twenty-eight?

Andrew: No, closer. Higher. Go ahead.

Audience Member: One hundred and fifty!

Andrew: One-fifty-seven. Yeah. Did anyone know that? I hope I got the number right. I read it online. I got it off Wikipedia, so it must be right.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: I didn’t get it off Wikipedia. For the record. Yes, that is where we get all our information. Okay, and one last, final question. I hate to make you run around, but you – no, no, come over this side! This girl, right here, in the black cap. Here we go, she’s going to win a fabulous prize. Oh, who guessed the one-fifty? You can come up here and get a thing.

[Audience Member responds]

Andrew: Yeah, if you want. Okay, last question, go ahead. This girl in the black cap. Are you ready, do you have the microphone? I can’t see.

Audience Member: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Sorry, okay.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: This is a recent news story. So, hopefully, you’ve been checking the fansites. What tale – what tales did Scholastic editor, Arthur Levine, recently compare the Tales of Beedle to?

Audience Member: Something to do with – Grimm!

Andrew: Yes, the Grimm Brothers, yes. There you go!

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Yay! Thank you Alivans, for those – thank you Alivans for those wonderful prizes. And, now, what we’re going to do do, we’re going to open up the floor, and we want to take lots of questions from you guys, to ask you anything – if you want to talk about anything related to Beedle, or anything related to the movie, or JK Rowling’s art…

Jamie: First, can we just check who’s come the furthest today?

Audience Member: Me! Australia! Australia!

Jamie: Oh man, that’s got to win…

Matt: Oh my god!

[Audience murmurs]

Jamie: Should I test my throwing arm, and see if I can get a t-shirt all the way back there?

Andrew: Don’t hit the light!

Jamie: Oh yeah, the light’s going to…

Andrew: And – hit the light! No, I’m just kidding.

Jamie: You can come up and get one.

Andrew: Yeah. We have lots of shirts back here, so once we’re done, you guys can come up.

Matt: And every time you ask a question, you get a sheet of these awesome scar stickers.

Andrew: Oh, man! Cool!

Jamie: And a t-shirt.

MuggleCast 164 Transcript (continued)


Question Time with the Hosts


Andrew: Those are also brought to you by Alivans. Okay, who’s got a question? Just a general question, or… What’s up, David? Just wanted to say hi? [laughs] Go ahead. Anyone – anyone raising their hand. That girl, right there, who just won the prize.

Audience Member: This is kind of cheeky, but where’s my Pickle Pack shirt?

Matt: Ooh…

Andrew: It’s in the mail!

Audience Member: Is it still in the mail?

Andrew: I’ll get it to you! Give me your address after the show.

[Audience laughs]

Audience Member: Okay.

Andrew: Geez.

Jamie: We should have brought some Pickle Pack shirts.

Andrew: I know, we should have been prepared for this! Okay, how about someone else? This guy in the blue? What’s your question?

Audience Member: Do you think this’ll be a book that really little kids read, like parents read to toddlers, or whatever?

Jamie: It doesn’t really seem like it.

Andrew: I don’t know. I don’t think so.

Jamie: I don’t think it is, like, I don’t know if adults think it’s going to be part of Harry Potter or if it’s more like a fan book, or…

Matt: Well, it’s got a huge Harry Potter thing on top, I mean, it’s kind of Harry Potter.

Jamie: Yeah, but it’s not Harry Potter and the Tales of Beedle the Bard, it’s more of a companion book. I don’t know, though.

Elysa: It can stand on its own, though, so I would imagine that people would. I mean, I would.

Jamie: They probably love it, like, after Order of the Phoenix, which is that thick, when they can read the child a book that is a lot thinner.

Elysa: Yeah.

Jamie: They’re gonna love it.

[Audience laughs]

Matt: They would rather read that than read Harry Potter.

Andrew: Do we have any little kids here – I don’t know, ten, eleven, twelve…

Matt: Two!

Andrew: How old are you?

Audience Member: Eleven!

Andrew: Eleven. Are you really excited for Beedle?

Audience Member: Mmm.

Andrew: Yeah, see, there you go. Question answered.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: No, I think that – I think – I mean, let’s be honest, it’s not going to sell as many copies as Harry Potter did. And I mean, this has been totally expected. I was reading an article today comparing – Book 7 had twelve million copies in the initial print run just for the U.S., and so, I mean, you know, it’s still going to be a great book, but all I’m saying is, that I don’t think it’ll appeal too much.

Jamie: It’s still quite a big print run though, compared to Book 7.

Andrew: How old are you? You look young. This kid right here.

Audience Member: He’s twelve.

Andrew: Twelve? You don’t look a day over ten.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: I don’t mean that in a bad way, though. I really don’t. I didn’t mean that in a bad way. But you’re excited to read it right?

Audience Member: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, of course. All right next question.

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: How about this girl right here.

Audience Member: How do you feel about the way that Harry is portrayed in the trailer? Like he’s a bit cocky.

Jamie: Yeah, he is cocky.

Audience Member: He says, “I am the chosen one.” Whack.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: I think that was a really funny line, though. It was some comic relief and it was…

Jamie: I don’t know, I still stick by this thing where I just don’t think he has the personality for that. I don’t think Harry Potter‘s that kind of thing.

Audience Member: Yeah, that’s true.

Jamie: Can I say that?

Matt: Yeah, I guess.

Andrew: You’re just a hater, man. You’re talking with face paint. What are you saying?

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Looks good.

Audience Member: It’s a Gryffindor lion.

Andrew: Yeah, well. I think it was really funny. Dan’s been really – his acting’s really good. It’s because of Equus. That’s what everyone says.

Jamie: It’s probably because of that.

Matt: If you get naked in front of a full audience, I think your acting had better get real good.

[Audience laughs]

Jamie: You have to be good, yeah. Who here saw Equus?

Audience Member: Me! [laughs]

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: “Me! Woo!”

Jamie: This is a stupid question, but did you enjoy it?

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: She’s crying. She – just had a flashback.

Jamie: The memories that have been brought back now.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: Wow.

Audience Member: It was really good.

Andrew: It was really good, yeah. It was really good, I think just for the acting. I really believe that.

Jamie: Richard Griffiths is so cool as well.

Andrew: We’ll go right back here, down the aisle. Oh. Hold on, we got a second – got a second microphone.

Jamie: MuggleCast shirt, too.

Andrew: Oh, yeah. Awesome.

Matt: Oh, nice.

Andrew: What’s your name?

Audience Member: Jemma.

Andrew: Jemma.

Audience Member: I was wondering whether you think they are going to make Ron into the comic relief again, in this film.

Andrew: I think he really is.

Matt: Yeah.

Jamie: We saw in the trailer. Didn’t we? Like with Romilda Vane.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: I don’t know.

Matt: I don’t like him when he does comic relief so much.

Jamie: I don’t either.

Matt: They do it all the time. I liked him in Order of the Phoenix because he didn’t have much comic relief.

Andrew: Well, he’s sort of Harry’s wingman so he can do stuff with that.

Matt: Yeah, but…

Andrew: I don’t know. Elysa, do you like it?

Elysa: Yeah, it’s sort of his character, too, in the books in a way.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah but he’s a little cooler in the books.

Elysa: Okay, well. Maybe you should just be cast as Ron then. [laughs]

Matt: I should have!

Andrew: All right, next question.

Audience Member: Hi, I’m going to break a little bit of taboo…

Andrew: Okay.

Audience Member: And ask a question about another podcast

Andrew: Okay.

Audience Member: That has to do with Potter.

Andrew: Uh-oh.

Audience Member: Oh my goodness. Did you guys read Melissa Anelli’s Harry, A History?

Andrew: I started reading it.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: It’s good!

Audience Member: What did you think?

Andrew: It’s good! It’s a good book, Harry, A History. Is it on sale here?

Audience: Yeah.

Andrew: Okay, yeah. It’s a good book! I don’t think anyone else has read it though.

Elysa: No, I haven’t. I want to.

Matt: No, no I haven’t, sorry.

Andrew: No, we burned it!

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: No. Read it, guys, read it. This girl right here. Yeah, Jamie?

Jamie: I was kind of annoyed though, because Andrew and Ben are mentioned. I was getting excited.

Andrew: [laughs] Go ahead, what’s your name?

Audience Member: Hi, I just had a quick question. You know the covers for all the Harry Potter books? I’ll put you on the spot. Which one – individually, actually – do you prefer the American ones or the British ones?

Audience Member: Ooh!

Andrew: I like the English ones because of how colorful they are, I think the artwork’s really good.

Jamie: I think the American ones are pretty shocking to be honest.

[Audience laughs]

Jamie: I really like the English ones. I think they’re kind of childish, the American ones.

Andrew: No – I think the U.K. ones are more childish! They just look – it’s just because of the way they were sketched, you know.

Jamie: Andrew, when you come to London, you’re in our country.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Oh right, I’ll get chucked out the window, stuck on the – what’s that street there? Piccadilly. Piccadilly, yeah. It’s a one-way. How about you guys?

Elysa: Hmm…

Matt: Hmm…

Elysa: I don’t know, I like them both.

Matt: You skipped me!

[Audience laughs]

Elysa: I did skip you! Because you didn’t get on it. I like them both. I think if I had to choose, I’d probably say American just because I like how their color schemes match with the tone of the book.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: Yeah. But the images are just – oh sorry, Matt.

Matt: Yeah, let me talk, Jamie!

[Audience laughs]

Jamie: Sorry, Matt.

Matt: I like – I guess I like the American ones better just for the way the people are drawn. I like how the trio’s drawn in the American versions better than the U.K. Although, I like the scenes they draw in the U.K. ones better.

Elysa: Yeah, I was going to say I like the scenes better.

Matt: I like the Deathly Hallows one much better, though, than the American version.

Andrew: Sort of related to this, there was the press unveiling of the Arthur Levine’s copy of Beedle the Bard in New York City today. Did anyone see pictures from that yet? Okay, they just came out a few hours ago because, you know, the time difference, but it’s really weird. They have a – they have the Beedle the Bard, the actual thing and it’s in glass and they have a poster behind it. And the order of the books is really weird, and I feel like the printer screwed it up, because it goes: Sorcerer’s Stone, Order of the Phoenix, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows. And it’s like, why are they – why is that? I don’t know. I just noticed that and I was really interested.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: I think it’s interesting. Why would they do that? Anyway, next question. So you guys are all going to go home and look at it and wonder the same thing.

[Audience laughs]

Audience Member: Which story are you looking forward to the most in Beedle the Bard?

Andrew: Ah, that’s a good question. I’ve read that – when reading – did anyone read Amazon’s summaries of the…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: The one story – I think they said – the one that they said was the craziest was my favorite, and I think it was The Fountain of Fair Fortune

Matt: Yeah, that’s right.

Andrew: …that they said was the craziest one? Or it is, like, the most purest of the fairy tales. I don’t know. What is everyone else looking forward to? Are there any that really stand out specifically?

Audience Member: Babbity Rabbity.

Andrew: Babbity Rabbity. That looks really cool.

Matt: Yeah what is that?

Andrew: I just love the names.

Audience Member: A rabbit with no legs.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: And a stump that cackles.

Matt: Isn’t it – wouldn’t it be more like – Rollaby – Stump…

Andrew: Mm-mm.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: How about you guys? Elysa? Jamie?

Elysa: Oh yeah.

Jamie: I agree with that one.

Elysa: Yeah, I was going to say Babbity Rabbity too, just because I read in a quote that she sort of put herself in a bind because she had come up with the name, and then now she had to form a story around it. So I’m interested to see…

Andrew: Oh yeah! Yeah!

Elysa: …how she does that, yeah. How she pulls that off.

Andrew: That’s true, I forgot about that.

Jamie: I don’t know. I don’t think that sounds very PG.

[Audience and Elysa laughs]

Andrew: “Babbity Rabbity”? You never know. It sounds like an actress’s name, you’re trying to say?

Jamie: No I’m not saying anything.

Andrew: Okay.

[Audience and Matt laugh]

Andrew: All right, another – how about this guy back here.

Audience Member: Just what Jamie’s saying about the other books that have been released before not feeling like Harry Potter books, do you think a Harry Potter book can feel like a true one without Harry? I mean like…

Andrew: Yeah.

Audience Member: Obviously it wouldn’t be a Harry Potter book, but it’s in the – same type of story.

Andrew: Right. Well, like Matt said earlier, at the top it says, “A wizarding classic from the tales of Harry Potter” – “from the world of Harry Potter.”

Jamie: I think it depends on the storyline as well. Like we started off in Philosopher’s Stone we went through to Deathly Hallows and each one continued that saga. I think a book like this has to be a companion book more than – like, it doesn’t really feel like a Harry Potter book because we found out everything that we can find out. Although obviously it’s going to give some extra tid bits of information it’s not going to continue the story.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Well actually, I hope that she writes more books.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I mean she created that huge Wizarding World and everything, and she’s just going to focus on just one character.

Andrew: Well yeah, I mean…

Matt: I kind of wish she adds on.

Andrew: She has the potential now to write stories about Harry’s children – everyone’s children.

Matt: Yeah.

Elysa: Yeah.

Andrew: And I think it would be really interesting, and everyone – that would sell like crazy.

Jamie: We have to hope that she’s feeling the credit crunch…

[Andrew and Audience laugh]

Jamie: …so she has to write to make more money.

Andrew: After that VAT drop, I doubt – I think she’ll be fine.

Jamie: That’s true, yeah.

Andrew: See how I knew that? The signs are everywhere.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: How about this girl right here. Hi, what’s your name?

Audience Member: Emma.

Andrew: Hi Emma.

Audience Member: I’m just kind of going off what you were just saying, do you think that J.K. can’t really let go of Harry Potter?

[Andrew laughs]

Audience Member: She’s like, interview, finish…

Andrew: That’s a good question.

Audience Member: The encyclopedia. Maybe she should go on and do more things?

Jamie: I don’t know. I think she kind of has though, because you know she – the epilogue of Book 7 kind of ended it. Kind of said, how can she really write more after she said what’s going to happen to them. She can write past that point, but I don’t really think she can go back and write before that point.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: I think she kind of let go with that, but I don’t know. Again, if she’s – feeling the pinch…

Andrew: I mean, after you’re doing that for what, ten years, you’ve got to feel like…

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: You can’t let go of it, really. Right?

Elysa: Yeah, I mean, I haven’t let go of it.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] Nobody has.

Elysa: So I’m hoping she…

Andrew: Well yeah, that’s thing too. I mean, I think as long as J.K. Rowling keeps seeing this huge fandom surrounding it – because, you know, the big question around Book 7 was, “Oh, what’s going to happen to the fandom after…” And here we are, almost a year and half later, and nothing’s happened.

Matt: Well, a lot of authors tend to disconnect from their material more than the fans do. Like Tolkien, he actually got upset because he seemed like, he was the only person in the entire, you know, Lord of the Rings

Andrew: Fandom?

Matt: Story that could, that could – not disconnect from the world, except him.

Jamie: You can get exhausted with a character as well as exhausted with a story. I think she probably does want to move on and write something new. Start from the beginning, and also…

Matt: Doesn’t she want to do a crime drama or something? Suspense novel?

Elysa: Yeah, I read that.

Andrew: Suspense?

Matt: Something like that right?

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: That’s going to be awesome.

Andrew: Yeah. Well anything she does now is going to be – it’s going get huge hype around it. Because how could it not? Imagine starting another suspense novel or whatever, and starting this whole trilogy all over again. It won’t be as fun as Harry Potter, but…

Elysa: Didn’t she say though that if she published anything else outside of Harry Potter she was considering…

Andrew: [laughs] A pen name.

Elysa: …using a pseudonym?

Andrew: A what?

Elysa: A pseudonym, like changing her name.

Andrew: Oh.

Matt: To like, Joanne Rowling?

Andrew: Wasn’t she just joking though? I mean.

Elysa: I mean, I couldn’t tell.

Jamie: It would get leaked as well. We’re going to find out.

Andrew: Yeah.

Elysa: Yeah, oh no, I mean, we definitely would.

Andrew: [laughs] Oh yeah, I mean that would be really hard to keep it a secret.

Elysa: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. Stephenie Meyer is actually Stephenie Meyer, for those wondering.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Hi.

Audience Member: Just – this is something a friend of mine and I were talking about. It’s kind of going back to the fandom thing. There’s the Harry Potter books, the literary part of it and how great they are and well written, and then the fandom of it, that you guys are a part of, you know, with the MuggleCast and everything like that. With – keeping all that in mind, how do you guys feel about the theme park coming out?

Matt: I kind of want to see it.

Andrew: What? You can almost see it?

Matt: I want to see it.

Andrew: Oh, yeah, well I think…

Audience Member: Well I think they have some plans…

Andrew: Yeah, yeah yeah.

Matt: Oh. Nice.

Andrew: I’m excited! But like, when this theme park was just a rumor, people were like, “Oh, well that’s sort of really, that’s kind of selling out,” that’s what some people were sort of saying. Because whoever thought Harry Potter would ever be a theme park? And then the theme park was the biggest hint that Harry wouldn’t die, because everyone was saying that, “Oh, well if Harry dies, then nobody would want to go to…” well, people would go, but it’ll be a sad mood if Harry’s dead, and…

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Everyone’s like, “Whee! I’m riding Harry Potter’s Firebolt! And he died.”

[Audience laughs]

Matt: I think it’d be really cool, though. I mean, you could actually go in to the Three Broomsticks or something and actually order a drink.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s pretty sweet.

Matt: That’d be sweet.

Andrew: Now, as U.K. people, do you hesitate with the trip? Because it’s going to be a good…

Audience: No.

Audience Member: Yes!

Andrew: No? Okay.

Matt: No.

Andrew: “Yes”? I heard one “yes.”

Matt: They’ve got time to save up.

Audience Member: Why isn’t in the U.K., though?

Andrew: Because – no offense, but we’ve got Disneyland, we’ve got Disney World…

[Audience Member starts to argue her point]

Andrew: Personally – I think it would have been a lot cooler to do an entire Harry Potter theme park rather than putting it in Universal. Because Universal’s limited.

Jamie: Yeah, but that’s a big deal, doing an entire thing for Harry Potter.

Andrew: Yeah, I know. But think about how many Disney fans, and then think about how many Harry Potter fans there are. Think about how many Universal fans of all those movies that are there, like – what’s there? Dr. Seuss I think, Jurassic Park – I’ve never been there – The Hulk. Yeah, all Univeral movies and stuff like that.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: The Harry Potter thing would reach out.

Matt: It’s a good thing Harry Potter‘s a Universal movie, too.

Andrew: Yeah, that doesn’t make sense, but…

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: I think we have time for a couple more questions. How about this girl over here. [Starts singing] Dead air. Okay, go ahead. What’s your question?

Audience Member: As David Heyman is directing the next films, do you think it will suck as much as Order of the Phoenix did?

Andrew: Yates, you mean.

Audience Member: Compared to the books? Yates.

Andrew: You don’t like it?

Audience Member: No. It was terrible.

[Andrew and Audience laugh]

Andrew: Does everyone think David Yates is going to be good – be able to carry it through? I do. I mean, here’s why I’m excited about Half-Blood Prince: I think that – this is the second time we’re seeing a director direct two Harry Potters. And I think Chamber of Secrets did definitely get better after Sorcerer’s Stone. And now David Yates has a lot to look back on, and be like, “Okay, here’s what I can do differently.”

Jamie: Yeah, but he wants them to bring their own style to it. Like, Heyman said, didn’t he, that he wanted every director to not look back? Didn’t he say that? And he wanted everyone to treat their – like, one Harry Potter film as their project and stuff, and not look back to previous films?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, but then – that’s why the movies don’t really connect to each other.

Jamie: Well no, yeah, that’s true. They don’t at all. But do you think Half-Blood Prince is going to be good, or do you…

Audience Member: I hope so. The trailer looks good.

Elysa: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, the trailer looks good.

Matt: The trailers always look good, though.

Andrew: Yeah, they do. They really do. Yes?

Audience Member: I just wanted to add a comment to that, because I sensed from all the extras on the DVDs that all the actors really love working with him compared to the director before.

Andrew: Yeah.

Audience Member: And as the movies get more intense, the acting needs to get more intense, so I’m really excited about the nuances for the new movies.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I think David Yates is – as we’ve seen him – is probably more passionate, and more – wants the fans to like the movie more. Because…

Andrew: You know, I heard that – sorry.

Matt: Sorry. No, go ahead.

Andrew: I heard that too, that Mike Newell didn’t really connect with the kids very well, if that’s who you’re talking about.

Audience Member: He actually yells a lot.

Andrew: Yeah, I heard that somewhere.

Audience Member: I think it was somewhere on the DVD clips.

Andrew: “I yell at the kids! It makes them good! I hate them! Grr! But it makes good acting.” Okay. And we’ll do one final question, and then we’ll start wrapping it up, and then we’ve got Beedle the Bard in 45 minutes. You look like you want to say something. Do you? She’s like, “I don’t know!”

Audience Member: Well, I’m not sure if everyone will agree, but I’m not particularly a big fan of Emma Watson’s Hermione. I feel like the cheeks sometimes are over dramatic. And I just…

Matt: And her eyebrows constantly move.

Audience: Yeah!

[Audience cheers]

Matt: I mean, every time she opens her mouth, they go up.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: I wish we just had a mic on the whole audience, because you just heard all these little, [whispers] “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: [laughs] “Finally, somebody said it!” I think she’s good, but I think in the Half-Blood Prince trailer, that crying was a little “eh.” As we said on the live show, people were very excited about her bushy hair. But I think that just came from being electrocuted or something. Because if you look at…

Elysa: It didn’t look that way in the rest of it.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: What?

Elysa: It didn’t look that way in the rest of it. It was just that one part. I saw the same frame.

Matt: But that one part was heavenly.

[Audience and Elysa laughs]

Andrew: If you look at Seamus standing next to him, I think he looks a little dirtied up.

Elysa: He did.

Andrew: So that’s why…

Matt: His face blew up, that’s why.

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Again!

Elysa: His face always blows up.

Matt: Oh, all right, okay. Sorry.

Andrew: Okay, one last – you were – you already went! This is not fair!

Audience Member: I think I know why Hermione’s hair is bushy in that particular scene.

Andrew: Why?

Audience Member: In the book, there’s the description when Harry’s sort of cheating by using the Half-Blood Prince’s potion book. Hermione’s getting more and more frustrated.

Andrew: Oh, right.

Matt: Yeah, yeah! That’s exactly what I said, see?

Audience Member: At one point, she actually pulls out a bit of her own hair to put in the potion. And I might have knew Seamus has been blowing up probably in potions.

Andrew: Cool. That’s a good point. Yep.

Jamie: Very good point.

Andrew: Definitely. All right guys, unfortunately we do have to start wrapping it up. Of course we’re going to hang around and hang out with everyone…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …until Beedle the Bard in 45 minutes. We can all have our personal MuggleCasts once we stop recording.

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: [quietly] We’re doing another show, but Waterstone’s doesn’t know!

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: Anyway, thank you everyone for coming out tonight. Is everyone so excited for Beedle?

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Real quick, is everyone – I mean, you know, we all stayed up for Book 7, so everyone’s going to stay up all night reading the…

[Audience laughs]

Andrew: I hope it’s substantial.

Matt: Yeah, it will only take you two or three hours.

Andrew: It’s going to be handed to us, and we’re going to be like, “Awww.” [makes fart noise] No, we’re just kidding. We’re very excited. Thank you so much to Waterstone’s. Thank you to the crew who’s been doing this for us, everyone back there. Jill James especially, she’s been coordinating this whole event with us, so thank you very much to her.

[Show music starts]

Matt: Thank you, Jill.

Andrew: And thank you guys for coming. We’ve got lots of t-shirts up here, they’re free. So come on up.

[Audience cheers]

Andrew: Thanks again to Alivans.com, too. All right, thanks everybody.