MuggleCast EP14 Transcript
Intro
Andrew [Show Intro with music in background]: This is MuggleCast – Episode 14 for November 06, 2005.
Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello.
Kevin: You’re saying “Hello” too much.
Laura: Okay.
Andrew: You 70,000 MuggleCast listeners.
Laura: We get the idea.
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Georgia: I’m Georgia Mountford.
Andrew: And this is the show where we bring you the latest in Harry Potter news, discussions, theories, cooking recipes, Acne treatments. I’ve told it to you all before. Before we get to anything else, first, let’s go to Micah for the past week’s top news stories.
News
Micah: Thanks, Andrew.
The World Premiere of Goblet of Fire took place earlier today. Be sure to check out our main page as it will be continuously updated with information.
And just a reminder about some TV appearances being made by the actors in the fourth Harry Potter film (All times are on the East Coast unless otherwise stated):
Thursday, November 10th: The Today Show – Dan Radcliffe to appear. The show runs from 7-10 AM on NBC.
Regis and Kelly: Dan Radcliffe to appear. The show airs live at 9 AM.
The Martha Stewart Show: Dan Radcliffe to appear. All times vary.
Friday, November 11th: MTV’s TRL – Dan Radcliffe and Rupert Grint to appear. Airs live on East Coast at 5 PM.
“ET on MTV”: Special airing on MTV about Harry Potter at 8 PM.
For a complete listing of all show appearances, please visit MuggleNet’s Main Page.
And, we informed you last week that a folk group called “The Wyrd Sisters” had secured a court date where they hoped to have Goblet of Fire banned from distribution across Canada. They believed that their band’s name was being used in the film without permission and that it would ruin their reputation. The Canadian Press reported on Friday that their motion has been dismissed, much to the delight of all Canadian Harry Potter fans!
As always, there are tons and tons of new video clips, screen shots, poster scans, post cards, including shots of Emma Watson in the upcoming editions of Teen and Elle magazine, Dan Radcliffe in Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly, and Robert Pattinson in Teen People. There are also two new contests to check out: one being run by the Today Show and the other by MuggleNet, Warner Bros., and the Noble Collection. Go to MuggleNet.com for more information.
One brief announcement, for those of you wondering, the date for the release of the Spanish translation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been announced. It is due out on February 23, 2006.
There are also two Minicasts available for download. One which is an interview with Matthew Vines of Veritaserum.com, who has already seen the new film and the other is a joint podcast with TLC‘s Melissa and John with information regarding the upcoming New York City podcast.
Finally, don’t forget our LIVE New York City podcast at Barnes & Noble this Saturday, November 12th at 33 West 17th Street between Broadway and Park Ave. in Union Square.
That’s all the news from our News center in New York for this November 06, 2005 edition of MuggleCast. I’ll see you guys live, next week.
Update on New York City Podcast
Andrew: Thank you, Micah. And the first thing many of you might have noticed by now is that we have a new MuggleCaster. Please welcome Georgia from MuggleNet Fan Fiction.
Laura: Yay!
Andrew: Yay!
Georgia: Hello!
Andrew: Hi, Georgia!
Georgia: Hi!
Andrew: Okay, tell us a little about yourself. Where you are from, what you do around the site.
Georgia: I’m British, but I live in Australia and I work on the Fan Fiction section, and I have for about a year now.
Eric: Woo!
Andrew: Excellent! And we brought you on here last minute because Ben was supposed to be on again, but… [Laughs]
Eric: Ben is on time out right now.
Laura: Yeah, Ben is in time out.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: He’s outside the room. He’s out Andrew’s bedroom right now. We put him in the corner of Andrew’s hallway.
Andrew: Well, we had a couple of problems, but Ben will definitely be on next week because next week is our LIVE show. [Laughs] Wow, it’s only a week away now.
Kevin: I don’t think he has a choice then. Yes, it is.
Andrew: You know what’s funny? I don’t know who came up with this LIVE podcast idea first, but my original idea…
Kevin: It was me.
Andrew: No, it wasn’t.
Laura: It was all Kevin.
Andrew: My original idea was, “Hmmm, this will be nice. After the premiere, we’ll go to Starbucks. Oh, maybe ten people will show up.” [Laughs]
Eric: Yeah, how many people have registered?
Kevin: It’s true.
Andrew: Boy, was I wrong. Okay, well, we have like 600 people. That’s an estimate. We have about 350 reservations, but each person is bringing at least one other friend. There is one group that is bringing 15. There’s, the HP Fan Trips people are bringing, I don’t even know how many.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Sssh.
Georgia: No pressure.
Andrew: My advice to all of you is get there early. Just get there.
Eric: Yeah, even earlier than the time… Yeah.
Andrew: I just… [Laughs] It’s going to be so crowded. There will be tons of seating. There will be room for everyone. It’s not going to be like Ozzfest and there’s going to be no room to move around.
[All laugh]
Andrew: Kevin can attest to that.
Eric: Except that does not mean you can’t carry us in the crowd.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Because that might happen sometime later in the night.
Andrew: It’s just going to be, it is going to be a lot of fun, and we really cannot wait for it. I am looking at the e-mails right now. We have 332 e-mails. People who have sent us an e-mail and said to us, “Hey! I’m coming.” Each person is at least bringing one other person. Multiply 332 times at least 2, that’s 660.
Eric: Four.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: 664.
Andrew: Six hundred and sixty four.
Eric: Good.
Andrew: A couple larger groups. So, my only suggestion is to get there early. There will be plenty of room. It is going to be comfortable. It’s not going to be like a madhouse or anything. It’s going to be a nice time.
Laura: It’s not going to be a mosh pit.
Eric: [In creepy voice]It’s a madhouse!
Laura: Basically.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: [In creepy voice]A madhouse.
Andrew: I’ve been thinking about it so much lately. Me and Melissa just worked out our intro. That’s going to be pretty fun.
Kevin: Oh, geez.
Andrew: I don’t want to spoil any surprises yet. It’s going to be a fun time. And, for those of you wondering. Yes, we’re going to have a video version. Yes, we’re going to have an audio version. The audio…
Kevin: Oh, we’re having a video version now?
Eric: We’re having video.
Andrew: Oh, we’re going to do it all.
Kevin: Awesome!
Andrew: We’re going to do any version you could possibly think of, but the video version won’t be up as soon as the audio. That could be up to a week, but the audio version will…
Kevin: Yeah, that’s going to be tough to edit.
Andrew: The audio version will be up the following day, which is Sunday, because right after the show we don’t want to do that. We’re going out to dinner.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: Have a good time.
Andrew: And chillax.
Laura: Slackers.
Andrew: Laura, you want to do it? You want to edit the show?
Eric: Yeah, yeah. We’ll send it to you down in Georgia.
Laura: Oh, thanks!
Eric: Because you’ll be sitting at home on your computer being like, “I can’t be in New York!”
Laura: You know what? You suck!
Andrew: So, that’s that. We can’t wait. Kevin, Eric, Ben, Micah, Emerson will all be there from MuggleNet. And TLC… Ehhh… You know…
Laura: No one cares about them.
Eric: Other fan sites as well? Harry Potter Fan Zone will be there.
Andrew: Oh yeah. Mike from Shurtugal.com, Aris Janetakos, who made an appearance on MuggleCast on Episode 2, and Matthew Vines might be there. I’m not sure.
Kevin: HPANA as well.
Eric: Oh, Jeff.
Andrew: Oh, right. Jeff.
Kevin: Jeff. Yep.
Eric: Yes.
Andrew: Jeffrey. Good man Jeffrey.
Eric: It will be a nice reunion.
Kevin: Yeah, it’s going to be quite a show.
Andrew: It’s going to be fun.
Kevin: It will be.
GoDaddy.com
Andrew: But, moving right along. Today, we are announcing our new partnership with GoDaddy.com. GoDaddy is your No. 1 source for all your hosting needs. GoDaddy has domain names, transfers, and renewals for as low as $1.99.
Kevin: Plus, check out hosting plans, website builders, secure certificates, and much more.
Andrew: Act now by entering the code “Muggle”. That’s M-U-G-G-L-E and you’ll save an extra 10% off any order.
Kevin: Vist MuggleCast.com and the click the “GoDaddy Banner” to get started with your new website today.
Andrew: And you might be saying, “Well, who says this GoDaddy is all said and good, and a good service?” Well, we have all used it ourselves.
Kevin: Yes, we have. I actually registered MuggleCast.com with it. So…
Andrew: Easy, quick, right? Yes?
Kevin: Yes. Very good. They actually called today.
Andrew: And, we’ve all…
Kevin: That was very good.
Andrew: Oooh!
Kevin: Yes.
Andrew: We’ve all used them for personal experience with different types of Internet hosting needs and we know a lot of you have come to us saying, “Well, how do you start your own website?” This is where you start with the hosting and the domain names.
Kevin: Yep. You got to have a good… Well, you have to have a good hoster before you have a good website.
Andrew: Yes, you do. And we do recommend GoDaddy today.
Announcements
Andrew: Hey, guys. We screwed up again on Episode 13.
Eric: No, that was my fault, Andrew. I will take responsibility.
Andrew: Good job.
Eric: I did take responsibility on the Comments. It is…
Andrew: To clarify.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Go ahead.
Eric: To clarify it was not Katie Bell that was attacked in Book 6. It was, what was it?
Andrew: …Angelina Johnson. [Transcriber’s note: It was Katie Bell that was attacked]
Eric: Angelina Johnson. Sorry. So, when we were talking about the death attack that Draco was giving. I don’t know. Everybody understood what I meant, but it was incorrect. So…
[Kevin laughs]
Andrew: And then we also got complaints about how we didn’t put a spoiler warning on Episode 13.
Eric: I…
Laura: Well…
Andrew: Because we talked about Goblet of Fire a lot. I mean…
Laura: But, we said we were talking about Goblet of Fire.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Telephone rings]
Andrew: People were upset, but I’ll put one at the beginning of this show if we talk about Goblet of Fire.
Eric: Too much.
Andrew: Heavy duty.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: For those of you wondering, that is my phone.
Andrew: I don’t think, I mean if you hear us start talking about Goblet of Fire just stop it. I mean I am sorry for those people who might have gotten spoiled a little, I guess, but we’ll start doing it again. I didn’t think it would be too much of a problem. My “B”. My “B”. My bad. Sorry, dudes.
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: Also, I’m getting nightmare stories from people. Last week, we were talking about British schools.
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Eric: And, I asked if they are really as bad as they are being portrayed in the Goblet of Fire movie, and actually as a matter of fact, they make it seem like a playtime, compared to the stories that I am getting from these people.
[Georgia laughs]
Eric: You know? I must of got, I got at least twenty different re-tellings of how people were… I am not even going to go into it. It’s bad. So, that answered my question. Thank you, people!
Andrew: But, thanks for keeping Eric entertained.
Eric: Yes.
[Laura and Kevin laugh]
Andrew: It’s nice to see him…
Kevin: He likes hearing horror stories.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: It’s nice to see him busy.
Eric: Especially from British people. Yeah.
Andrew: And then also, quick Happy Birthday shout-outs! People who e-mail me say, “Hey! Can you wish me Happy Birthday on the show?” I say, “Eh. Sure!” Why not? It’s fun. [Laughs]
Happy Birthday to Chaya. Her birthday was back on the 16th. And Megan, who had a birthday earlier this week. So, [Singing] Happy Birthday to Megan and Chaya.
Eric: Also, if you’re a Harry Potter fan and would like to…
Andrew: Happy Birthday to you!
Eric: And if you would like to propose to your girlfriend or your future fiancé through this show, we do, do that for you.
Andrew: Happy Birthday to you!
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: We will gladly say, “Kim, will you marry Johnathan?”
Andrew: Happy Birthday to youuu! Wasn’t that nice background music while Eric was talking?
Kevin: Rambling?
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: Oh, and everyone don’t forget…
Eric: I was offering to do wedding announcements, Kevin.
PowWows.com
Andrew: Everyone, do not forget. I don’t know, how could you forget, but November is…
Laura: Native American Month.
Eric: Native American Month.
Andrew: Right! And that’s why PowWows.com is sponsoring MuggleCast all this month to bring you the latest information all about Pow Wows, the Native American culture. They have videos, audio, pictures, calendars, dance routines, songs, it’s all there. So, visit PowWows.com/mugglenet for quick links for students and teachers. It really is a great resource and we have been getting lots of e-mails about it, people enjoying it, thanking us for mentioning it, bringing it to them.
Let’s see, what else? Heck! That’s it.
Book Reviews
Kevin: Oh, we could talk about book reviews. We have been debating and we need some recommendations for doing reviews on books that Harry Potter fans can read other than Harry Potter, while waiting for Book 7.
Eric: Yes.
Kevin: So, if you do want to send us recommendations for books, you can probably send it to my e-mail address. That’s kevin at staff dot mugglenet dot com and we have to, we’re going to take our time with it. So, we’ll try to do maybe one a week or one every two weeks because you have to give us time to review it. You know? Read the book itself. But, after that we should get that off the…
Eric: We’re going to see if it works out.
Kevin: Yeah. We’ll try.
Eric: Yeah. I mean, because I know for one, Ben can’t read, so he’s out for the reading.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: No, don’t.
Kevin: No.
Eric: He admitted to it. He said Ben… Ben said he can’t read.
Kevin: Well, Andrew’s dyslexic.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I can’t read. I’ll openly admit it.
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: And, I don’t really read either. Which is…
Laura: None of us read. Do you know this book called Harry Potter?
Georgia: That’s a movie, Laura.
Laura: Maybe you’ve heard of it? Yeah.
Andrew: Parry Hotter? What?
Laura: [Laughs] Oh yeah. It is a movie.
Kevin: That’s where I’ve seen it.
Eric: Oh yeah, but what’s the…
Andrew: We are the most unentertaining podcast in the world!
Kevin: I know, but we try.
Andrew: I take that back. Now people are going to use that clip for other shows that hate us.
Laura: [Laughs] That’s going to be TLC‘s blackmail.
Eric: PotterCast will use that.
Andrew: You know, there several other Harry Potter podcasts out there.
Kevin: There are, yes.
Andrew: Believe it or not, we’re not the only one.
Georgia: But, we’re the best one.
Laura: Exactly!
Eric: Thank you, Georgia!
Andrew: Oh, Georgia! Thank you for saying that! How much should I promise to pay you?
[All laugh]
Georgia: I don’t get paid! What’s this?
[Andrew laughs]
Kevin: Payment?
Eric: I think the currency… No, Andrew, unfortunately the exchange rate is crap right now, so whatever you offered her is probably triple that.
Andrew: Oh! Oh! I take that back.
Goblet of Fire Chat
Andrew: We are only a few days away until Goblet of Fire. Well, it depends on when you’re listening to this.
Eric: We just talked about this.
Andrew: But, we’re definitely less than two weeks away from the Harry Potter film.
Georgia: Away? We don’t get it here until December 1st.
Laura: Awww!
Andrew: Ohhh!
Eric: What? The Australian…
Andrew: That’s right.
Georgia: Yeah, I don’t know why they would do that. Why the U.S. and U.K. get it, but we don’t in Australia.
Andrew: I forgot about that.
Eric: They’ll have it on the Internet.
Kevin: Oh geez.
Andrew: We’re all giddy, while in the meantime…
Kevin: Eric, don’t say that. Come on.
Eric: [Laughs] Kevin will get it for you.
Kevin: Oh yeah.
[Andrew laughs]
Kevin: Let’s not. [Laughs]
Andrew: [Singing] WB, I hope you didn’t just hear that.
Kevin: Yes. Kevin would rather not be arrested.
Andrew: Ding, ding, ding, dun!
[All laugh]
Andrew: But, it would be pretty funny if someone came to arrest him during the LIVE show.
Kevin: Oh, okay.
Eric: They take him away.
Kevin: Do you want to give them the address too?
Andrew: So anyway…
Eric: No, the fans would mob them. No…
Andrew: So, if you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, Goblet of Fire is only two weeks away, less than two weeks away in fact. There has been a lot of news lately, but the one story we wanted to talk about was actually late-breaking. The follow-up just came out as we were about to record. A judge has dismissed the motion to block the Potter film in Canada. What happened was that the Wyrd Sisters, who play a role, their music is in the film, and recently they came to Warner Bros. and they said, “Hey. We don’t want to be in the movie.” They argued that a fictional rock band in the film would ruin their careers and were seeking $40 million in damages from Warner Bros.
[Kevin sighs]
Andrew: The Wyrd Sisters were going to be in the biggest film probably in the whole year and they were afraid it would ruin their career.
Eric: And they wanted $40 million?
Andrew: Does that make sense?
Eric: They wanted $40 million.
Georgia: Just, why would they do that?
Andrew: But, their name wasn’t use. It wasn’t used.
Laura: It has no name mentioned in the film.
Andrew: Warner Bros. proved it to them. This is the best promotion a band could get.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: I just don’t understand why they’re…
Laura: Yeah, why they were so upset about it.
Andrew: They wanted $40 million from Warner Bros.? I want to know how much Warner Bros. paid them in the first place.
Eric: They would have gotten that if they just did a website of their own. You know? If they would have done “WyrdSisters.org” they would have gotten so many hits and ad revenue would have been $40 million. You know? From being a…
Andrew: This is just…
Eric: It’s crazy.
Andrew: It’s product placement. It’s easy. [Gets aggravated] It’s…
Eric: It’s free ads!
Laura: Yeah, but you know, I also think they might be doing it to get the attention.
Andrew: The press.
Laura: Because they probably know that there are a lot of Harry Potter fans.
Eric: But, you know what?
Andrew: They even… And then they wanted the film out of Canada.
Eric: Yeah! I mean…
Andrew: So, not only would they have made $40 million.
Eric: They would have ticked…
Andrew: It would have been banned from Canadian…
Eric: They would have ticked off everybody in Canada! You know. I have faith now in, now I have faith in the Canadian court system because…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, it was a little ridiculous. I don’t think it ever had a chance.
Andrew: But, now of course, the judge has dismissed it, so there is no more worry for the Canadian fans. They’re rejoicing. They’re all going, “Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh!”
[Laura laughs]
Eric: No, I love…
Andrew: It’s a happy world up in Canada.
Eric: I love the voicemail we got from the Canadian girl that said, “Eh!”
Laura: Yeah, where he was like, “Eh!” [Laughs]
Eric: “Eh, I’m from Canada. Eh!” That was good.
[Kevin laughs]
Andrew: Oh yeah. I remember that. So, that’s good. Anything else you guys want to talk about relating to Goblet of Fire?
Eric: Ummm.
Andrew: It’s only a few days away.
Laura: That…
Kevin: We’ll have a lot to talk about.
Andrew: World Premiere attendees, pretty much everyone. The Trio.
Kevin: Yeah, that was to be expected.
Andrew: Bonnie Wright.
Kevin: Well, that thing on MuggleNet, that was for the premiere in London. Do we know if there’s any less people coming?
Andrew: Right, World Premiere.
[Transcriber’s note: They are referring now to the New York premiere.]
Eric: Yeah. Is there more people?
Andrew: Yes. We do know who is going to be there, but I am not sure if we can talk about it.
Eric: Oh.
[Absolute silence]
Kevin: [Laughs] Wow! That’s silent!
Andrew: [Whispers] Do you think, wait, do you think they are still listening? Warner Bros.?
Eric: Yeah. I’d like to see, I’d like to see them try and take them away.
Laura: They are too busy arresting Matt Vines, guys.
Andrew: [Whispers] Oh yeah.
Eric: Well, you know what.
Andrew: [Whispers] I just don’t want them to hear us.
Eric: I’d like to see them and try and arrest us. If the cops came in, guys. If the cops came in, the fans would just mob them, and we would be able to escape through the back door.
Andrew: That is true.
Eric: Or we’d like change…
Andrew: The MuggleCast Army is the strongest thing I’ve ever seen.
Eric: Yes.
Laura: Yes! I concur.
Andrew: It got us back on iTunes. It made me a multi-millionaire. It’s doing everything perfectly for us.
Eric: Andrew, I thought your house looked different.
Andrew: Well, I will say this. The World Premiere has many more attendees than the Domestic Premiere does. Many more. Robbie Coltrane, Robert Hardy, who plays Fudge, Robert Pattinson, Rider Lloyd Pack, Shirley Henderson…
Eric: Oh, Moaning Myrtle.
Andrew: Oh, who else? Warwick Davis. They’re all… Oh, and JK Rowling is going to be at the World Premiere.
Eric: Will she be in New York?
Andrew: Basically, the entire cast is going to be there.
Eric: Andrew, will she be in New York?
Andrew: At the World Premiere.
Kevin: But, that was to be expected, I mean.
Laura: Yeah, Americans can’t saying “Rolling,” everyone.
Eric: Rolling.
Andrew: Rowling, Rolling. I don’t know. I just think growl, rowl. Growl, rowl.
Kevin: Rowl, Rowl.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Next time I see her, that’s what I am going to call her. Yo, “Growl Rowl!”
[Laura laughs]
Kevin: She’ll appreciate that. I am sure.
Eric: If she spelled it differently…
Andrew: Oh, I am sure she’ll love it.
Eric: If she spelled it like “Rolling,” people would be saying, “Rowling.”
Kevin: Never talk to her again.
Andrew: So, I guess there is really nothing else to say there. Well, also good news for everybody who isn’t going to be going to the World Premiere online. You’re going to be able to watch it live. Not the actual movie, but the Red Carpet arrivals. You won’t be able to…
Kevin: [Laughs] Well, you may be able to watch the actual movie if someone sneaks in their camera, you know?
Laura: Kevin. Hush!
Kevin: Oh, sorry.
Eric: Yeah, they’ll stop the movie to take the person out.
Laura: Warner Bros. is going to come and like…
Kevin: Arrest me?
Laura: Yeah, they are going to get us all in the night.
Kevin: MPAA will deliver a $5,000 bill to my door.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: That’s okay. We’ll just podcast from jail then. Guys, we’ll podcast from jail.
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: It will be like, “Hi, we’re in the New York Penitentiary right now.”
Andrew: What does this doing for Warner Bros.? Why are they putting it online?
Kevin: Publicity.
Andrew: The Red Carpet arrivals.
Kevin: Publicity, I would say.
Eric: Because they are nice people.
Laura: Didn’t they do that with Chamber of Secrets, too?
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: And…
Laura: I’m pretty sure a lot of movie premieres, I’ve seen a lot of…
Andrew: …with Sorcerer’s Stone, too.
Laura: Especially recently just a lot of publicity online with movie premieres. So.
Andrew: It’s this online craze. It’s madness!
Kevin: It’s true and it’s getting a little bit more sophisticated now, so they can stream things a little easier.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Especially with wireless.
Andrew: I don’t watch TV very often, but I sat down and watched it last night. I went through four or five channels. All of them have Goblet of Fire ads. They’re putting it everywhere.
Laura: Yay!
Kevin: Yep.
Andrew: They’re, they’re, I mean I guess it’s good. Well, obviously for them it is.
[Andrew and Kevin laugh]
Eric: Well, they have to meet the budget. They have to meet the budget of the film even though they would have done it anyway.
Andrew: Is it possible to overkill it?
Kevin: I don’t think so. I don’t think, I mean people…
Laura: I don’t think it matters.
Andrew: Especially with the Potter fandom.
Kevin: They’ll either see it or not. It’s like Lord of the Rings. They were pasting that all over the place. I saw that on billboards in Torrington. [Laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. But, I think if, I’ve said this in the past. If you promote it too much, people might get too much of a good look, and might change their minds on whether they want to see it or not.
Kevin: Well, the only thing I would be concerned about is that people think it is going to be better than it is because of all the publicity.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: And then they go and see it and they are disappointed because they have this expectation of it.
Eric: Like Prisoner of Azkaban.
Andrew: Right. Well, that’s what happened with me with Prisoner of Azkaban.
Eric: Yeah, me too.
Andrew: I’m not keeping my hopes up for Goblet of Fire.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: Matthew Vines is not going to change my mind.
[Laura laughs]
Kevin: Yeah, I’m sorry, but the movies aren’t the best, but…
Laura: Nooooo. They’re not.
Kevin: They’re entertaining. They’re entertaining.
Georgia: I’ll tell you what really annoyed me. I saw in a preview that Mad-Eye Moody has his eye strapped on?
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. That’s a difference.
Georgia: What’s with that?
Laura: I don’t like that at all. I think it’s stupid.
Eric: I’m used to it now. I’ve gotten used to it though.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: To me that seems like a cheap way to not have to work on special effects.
Laura: Yeah, because if his eye is strapped in, it is not going to pop out like it is all the time. So.
Kevin: Yep.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Hey. We’re not sure about that though.
Eric: You know what I think it was, I think there are probably…
Laura: Well, we’re not, but I think Warner Bros. is being cheap.
Georgia: Mmm. Oh, you know I couldn’t believe what they did to that werewolf in the third movie.
Eric: Oh.
[Kevin laughs]
Andrew: Oh. Yeah.
Georgia: That was just terrible. I’ll never forgive them for that.
Kevin: [Sighs] Ugh. It really was.
Andrew: Sirius in the fire is going to be a big upset, too.
Eric: What? No it… Eh…
Andrew: I think.
Eric: Matt said it was cool.
Andrew: It’s like an intern made that.
Eric: Hey! Hey!
Kevin: An intern probably did make that. [Laughs]
Eric: What’s wrong with interns?
Kevin: They were like, “We don’t have to do this. Hey, you, come over here?”
Andrew: There’s nothing wrong with interns, the problem is, well, it wasn’t an intern, and the poor guy who made that is crying right now because everyone keeps insulting it.
[All laugh]
Eric: I think it’s cool.
Kevin: “Oh, my work!”
Andrew: I know. He probably spent like three months on that.
Laura: Instead of like his head…
Andrew: His face is in the fire.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: I had no problem with it.
Andrew: It looks like molten lava!
Laura: [Laughs] It does!
Andrew: It’s supposed to be in the gas…
Eric: I expected to see a…
Andrew: I mean, the flames.
Eric: Yeah. I expected to see more-
Laura: It’s like he’s actually in the logs.
Eric: Yeah. I kind of expected…
Andrew: You can’t even see logs!
Eric: I wanted…
Andrew: It’s molten lava!
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Okay, Andrew…
Andrew: It’s like Harry’s in a volcano!
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Andrew, I was expecting a more Wizard of Oz type of thing.
Kevin: He’s in a volcano.
Eric: I was expecting, like, the…all right screw it!
Laura: They’re like, trying to combine Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings now.
Kevin: Hey, we try.
Eric: Andrew, I was expecting a sort of Wizard of Oz…
Andrew: They tried. That’s for sure.
Eric: …kind of man behind the curtain thing.
Andrew: All right. [Voice cracks]
Kevin: Wow! Your voice just cracked there!
Andrew: My voice just cracked and that’s about it.
Laura: Awww!
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: I’m finally growing up.
[All laugh]
Kevin: It’s about time.
Goblet of Fire Sweepstakes
Andrew: Oh, by the way, our Goblet of Fire Sweepstakes on MuggleNet.com. Click on that fine banner. Warner Bros. is great. Have you guys looked at these prizes yet?
Laura: No.
Andrew: Excellent prizes! Excellent prizes! We have Potter Sweatshirts, Dragon Eggs, future Triwizard Champion t-shirts, Ministry of Magic bags, temporary tattoos.
Laura: Ooooh!
Andrew: Come on! [Laughs]
Kevin: Ah! Everyone loves those temporary tattoos.
Andrew: Beauxbatons hoodies and beanies.
Eric: “Beauxbaxtons”?
Andrew: It’s all here! Oh, oh, and then the Grand Prize, worth a $125, a seven-inch replica of the Triwizard Tournament Cup thanks to the Noble Collection.
Kevin: And you can count, and you can count on me winning that. So, don’t even bother.
[All laugh]
Andrew: No, we’re playing absolutely fair.
Kevin: Yeah, we’re not allowed to win it. So…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: They give us an extra one.
Andrew: They should. We’ve been getting a lot of e-mails too about where we can get these from, where people can buy these from. We don’t know yet. I mean, the Triwizard Cup you can get off of NobleCollection.com. The Potter Sweatshirt, which is the favorite among everyone because it looks like his jacket he worse in the Triwizard Tournament scene, I mean the Dragon Scene.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Cool.
Andrew: It’s actually a really sweet jacket. I want one, but I’m not going to get it. Some lucky person is going to win it.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Speaking of…
Laura: We’ll get you one for Christmas.
Andrew: Ah, would you?
Kevin: No. We wouldn’t.
[All laugh]
Andrew: Okay. By the way, guys. Christmas is right around the corner. We all want Christmas presents.
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: Yes, we do.
Laura: Cough up.
Andrew: No joke. No joke.
Eric: Harry Potter iPod.
Kevin: I don’t get Christmas presents. [Fake sobs]
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Awww!
Kevin: No, I’m teasing. I do get Christmas presents, but still…
Andrew: All right, so I think that’s about it.
Eric: Ummm.
Andrew: Goblet of Fire.
Kevin: Send in book recommendations.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: And speaking of t-shirts, if you have, once again we’re asking that if you have a nearby custom t-shirt store, that you create a MuggleCast t-shirt to wear to the premiere, if you’re coming, and make copies for us.
[All laugh]
Kevin: Make copies for us. Okay, that’s great.
Eric: I mean copies, extra shirts, make shirts for us too and we’ll wear them.
Kevin: Awesome.
Main Topic – Ginny Weasley
Andrew: Okay, so moving along to our Main Topic of the Week.
Eric: Ginny Whizzey.
Andrew: Continuing our regular series on a specific character in the HP series to bring out everything we need to know about that character. This week as promised, Eric?
Eric: Ginny Whizzey.
Andrew: Ginny Whizzey.
Eric: Ginny Whizzey.
Kevin: Say it with enthusiasm.
Eric: Ginny Whizzey!
Kevin: There you go.
Eric: There we go.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Today… This…
Andrew: Ginny Whizzey, Ginny Whizzey.
Eric: This week we’re talking about Ginny Whizzey.
Andrew: Let’s run through a few quick facts first about, all about her.
Laura: She is the only girl.
Eric: Yes, and if I remember, she was the first girl, she was the first Weasley that Harry saw at Kings Cross if I recall correctly.
Laura: I think she was, well, I think she was there with Mrs. Weasley and Ron, but I think she was definitely the first person he heard talk.
Eric: Heard. Yeah. Actually…
Laura: I don’t know. We might be wrong again. We do that sometimes.
Kevin: Could be.
Eric: Hang on, I have the first book.
Andrew: No guarantees. Her full name, Ginevra Molly Weasley. Born: August 11, 1981. She is a pureblood, thankfully.
Laura: What, are you prejudiced here?
Andrew: Her first year at Hogwarts. No, no, no.
Kevin: You just said, “thankfully.”
Andrew: Her first…
[All laugh]
Andrew: Because I didn’t want Draco to insult her. Duh!
[All laugh]
Laura: You’re so full of it!
Andrew: Her first year at Hogwarts, 1992, Gryffindor House. A Seeker for the Gryffindor team, isn’t that great? Yay!
Kevin: That’s excellent.
Laura: Yay!
Andrew: The Weasleys, they’re taking over the Quidditch.
Kevin: They are.
Andrew: Is it a genes thing?
Kevin: It’s possible. It’s distinctly possible.
Andrew: Genes in the Weasleys.
Eric: Quidditch. It’s actually the they have out in the back of their house. You know, all that summer practice?
Laura: Ah.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: Anyway…
[Kevin laughs]
Andrew: She’s not a Parselmouth, but of particular interest, she named Dumbledore’s Army.
Laura: Oh.
Kevin: Oh she did. You’re right.
Andrew: There you go. Thanks to the HP Lexicon for all that info. No, I didn’t pull it out of my head. You kidding me!
Eric: You know I was actually fairly certain I hoped at least, that Ginny’s first name was Virginia and not Ginevra because…
Laura: Yeah, so was I until we found out.
Eric: It was like, yeah….Virginia. But actually clarifying, Ginny was the first Weasley child that Harry took note of when he is at Platform 9 and 3/4, when he’s at Kings Cross Station. Molly says, “Packed with Muggles” and that gets Harry’s attention and then she asks, “What’s the platform number?” and Ginny says, “9 and 3/4”. And…yeah. “9 and 3/4” piped a small girl, also red-headed who was holding her hand. “Mum, can’t I go?”
Laura: Just a general interest question. Who on here, when they first started reading the books, actually called her ‘Ginny’. [With a hard “G” sound]
Kevin: I didn’t, for sure.
Laura: I did.
Andrew: I don’t think it anyone did.
Eric: I think that was a strictly…
Andrew: Really?
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: I thought that was a strictly Laura thing to do. I don’t know.
Laura: [Laughs] No, I was eleven. I actually got the first three books for my eleventh birthday. I know, pretty cool. And as I’m reading the 1st Book I kept calling her ‘Ginny’ [With a hard “G” sound] and I’m reading it out loud at one point and my mom’s like…gives me this look like “Are you a moron? It’s Ginny!”. So…
Eric: Well…
Andrew: At eleven years old!
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: It’s one of those things where if you’ve seen the name before and if you’ve seen it written, you know how to pronounce it like…actually is Hermione a common name or is it like a name…like where does…
Laura: I actually looked that up at one point and according to Behindthename.com, we don’t have to, we can just leave that out if we need to, don’t have to plug them, but according to that site Hermione was actually a fairly popular name in Britain in the ’20’s and ’30’s.
Eric: Kind of like Emma or Emily and, you know? Gertrude here in the States.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: Yeah, so that’s really interesting because I’m wondering where does JKR get all her names from, I mean, she has this extensive you know, list of everybody’s you know, Latin origins and everybody’s mythology and you know, she delves into like all of it. And some of it, I mean is probably even unintentional and she just goes so far into it with the creation of a name.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: And I’m wondering if they’re also like popular names as well.
Laura: Well, also I mean, you’ve definitely got some mythological influences because Hermione in Greek Mythology was the woman loved by two men, but this is not the HermioneCast. So…
Eric: I don’t think it’s Harry and Ron either. We don’t want to get those emails.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: The two men are Ron and Draco, okay. I’m establishing that right now.
Laura: Draco?
Eric: It’s better than Harry.
Laura: Try Krum.
Eric: Okay yeah, Krum, alright Krum and Ron. That works.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Actually, talking about Ginny, since that’s what we were supposed to do in this Cast, I have to say that I actually called the Ginny/Harry relationship. I actually was…I was very pleased in Book 6 to find that my ‘ship had sailed because…not that I ship Harry characters because I really, really don’t but I was pleased to see because I thought that Ginny would make a really good potential girlfriend for Harry and it’s really a shame because with all the romance in Book 6, we really didn’t see Harry and Ginny together at all.
Andrew: When did you predict this?
Eric: Throughout the series when I was reading, I just thought, “Oh gee, wouldn’t it be nice, you know, for Ginny”. Because you have crazy girls like Cho and stuff and then you have Ginny who has always liked Harry, and who is actually growing into not just you know, this giddy little girl, but this actually really good defenseful…you know? So, I was very happy, I was like, “Hey!” you know?
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: I kind of always…I never really shipped the characters, but I always thought that Ginny and Harry should really happen and I was very happy that it did.
Laura: I never really cared all that much. I’m kind of like you, Eric, I just was like, “Oh okay, that’s cool.”
Eric: Yeah, kind of tuned it out. You still read the romance scenes but they don’t really exist in your mind.
Laura: Yeah. Pretty much.
Andrew: Maybe one day we should do a whole podcast on well, our main topic, should be ‘shipping because I just don’t see what the big deal about it is.
Laura: Valentine’s Day! That should be like the special Valentine’s Cast.
Andrew: Oh, good idea!
Eric: Valentine’s! Yeah, okay, Valentine’s Cast, alright.
Andrew: If podcast thing is still in style in February, let’s mark that down.
Laura: It will be.
Andrew: But I just don’t see the whole thrill of this ‘shipping thing.
Laura: No, no.
Andrew: It’s because I’m a guy.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: You’re up for the adventure, not for the romance.
Laura: Hey!
Eric: You’re going to get flamed.
Laura: Hey I’m a girl, and I don’t think the ‘shipping is all that.
Eric: Yeah let’s not get into this all right.
Laura: Yeah, we’ll get into this whole…
Eric: We’re talking about Ginny here, we’re talking about Ginny. Now it’s interesting…okay fine, I’ll just start another topic like I have been doing. Okay. The Parselmouth thing, I thought for sure, again, like with the Virginia thing, I thought it would be really cool if Ginny were still a Parselmouth from when Riddle possessed her, and I thought that would be a kind of really cool way of leaving his powers with Ginny since he talked Parselmouth through her, I thought it would be cool if she retained those. But then JKR said that she didn’t. So.
Laura: And I’m pretty sure that has something to do with Horcruxes not being able to transfer power.
Eric: Exactly. I was just going to get to that. Laura, you’re brilliant.
Laura: Thank you.
Eric: If Harry is a Horcrux then why does he have Voldemort’s powers, even when Voldemort’s not acting through him? Oooh. Booya!
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Take that all you Horcrux-Harry ‘shipper people.
Andrew: All right, so let’s take a couple of voicemails right now. Keep this convo going.
Eric: About Ginny.
[Audio]: Hi MuggleCast, this is Katrina from Canada. On her website, JK Rowling says that Ginny is the first girl born into the Weasley Clan in a few generations. Do you think that this has some effect on the person that she is and the character that she will mature into in Book 7?
Laura: Yeah, I think it will because you see a lot of pressure just from Ron by being the youngest boy, so you’ve got to imagine being the youngest girl with all those siblings.
Kevin: Yeah, but do you think…
Laura: You feel like you have a lot to live up to so I think she really has that motivation and it’s really toughened her up.
Kevin: Yeah, but do you think that will affect her in Book 7 even after she’s lived with that her whole life?
Laura: I think you’ll always have some type of…she might always feel like she’s in competition with her brothers in a way, but she seems like a pretty strong personality to me. Like she handles them really well.
Kevin: I think it’s already changed her but she’s not going to change any more because of it.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. I agree.
Kevin: I find it hard to believe that, you know, she’s going to…
Georgia: I think with having so many brothers, you know that scene where she was caught by Ron in the cupboard snogging and they had that little bit of a fight and how harsh she was to Ron and everything?
Kevin: Yes.
Laura: Yeah that was good.
Georgia: I think that a lot of that is to do with all the boys that have been around her and the second she has a boyfriend or something there’s all this pressure?
Kevin: I agree, and they all want to kick his butt. I think Ron wanted to kick…who was Ginny with?
Laura: Dean.
Eric: Yeah, but that’s the other thing with Ginny, she not only has to deal with all those brothers, but she has to deal with a brother like Ron who tends to be…yeah, hypocritical and you know, very emotional when it comes to what his sister is doing that he isn’t. So, you know, I think it’s in Ron’s personality, Ron’s personality makes it a little bit harder for Ginny to deal with, but I think she gets by very well.
Kevin: So, I think we all agree that she’s not going to change any more than she has.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Based on her…yeah.
Kevin: There’s no reason for her to…
Andrew: Well, you mean change as in what?
Kevin: Well, I mean she asks whether because of this she’s going to…is it going to effect her the way she matures in Book 7 but I…
Georgia: Yeah, I don’t think her character has much more growth.
Laura: Yeah.
Georgia: You know? She’s been developed over the fifth and sixth book and I think she’s, we’ve got a firm idea of who she is now and I don’t think she’s going to change much in Book 7.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And I don’t…
Laura: I agree.
Eric: If she does grow, if she does grow it will probably be more in the relationship sense as I did mention, we don’t really see much of her and Harry in Book 6 even though they’re together, they don’t really show it.
Georgia: Yeah.
Eric: So, anymore maturity I think will come from Harry and her relationship and not be more of like family-related stuff.
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, but I think she’ll play her biggest role in Book 7.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Just because…
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: You know, I think that’s the way it’s been going and now they’re in a relationship, so even though Harry doesn’t want to, she’s going to want to be near him and all that.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, I think though…I don’t think that Jo is going to – again we touched on this, I don’t even remember what episode – but I don’t think the romance is going to have any bearing on the overall plot or…
Kevin: Well, it really can’t.
Laura: Whether basically Harry and Ginny being together is not going to depend on whether Harry defeats Voldemort or not.
Eric: Yeah, I think one of the things that’s smart about keeping Ginny close to Harry is that Ginny was possessed in Book 2 by Voldemort, so she’s had that close contact with Voldemort and I think it’s really important to see all the people close to Harry have really been affected directly.
Laura: Exactly.
Eric: By things that Voldemort has done. And it’s kind of like an unlinking, like a step-by-step unlinking of him in Book 7 is what I foresee because everybody who is near him has had something happen to them and they’re just going to, it’s all going to come back. Like I mean, all the characters that come forward are going to…you know it’s going to be brought up like what happened to them that Voldemort did. Including Neville. Andrew…is Andrew cutting out to anybody?
Kevin: Yeah he’s breaking.
Laura: Yeah. He’s breaking up pretty bad. A little.
Kevin: Still, yeah. It’s like last time. Whoa, it’s weird. Okay, so I think we explained that pretty well. I mean, again just to reiterate, she has matured enough so that her family situation is not going to effect what she becomes in Book 7.
Eric: Except…
Kevin: She’s going to play a large role in Book 7, but the relationship isn’t.
Eric: Except for a flower girl at Bill and Fleur’s wedding.
Kevin: That’s true.
Eric: But that’s about it.
[Audio]: Hi MuggleCast, my name’s Ellis and I’m coming to you from Wellington in New Zealand. My question this week is: Do you think there is any further connection between Ginny Weasley and Lord Voldemort? Also, why do you think Lucius Malfoy chose Ginny Weasley to receive the diary? More to the point, do you think Lucius knew that it was a Horcrux? Love to hear you guys’ thoughts, thanks.
Andrew: Its a multiple-tiered question.
Georgia: I thought I, I don’t know where I’ve got this from but I thought that Voldemort would have given Lucius the diary and told him to keep it safe or whatever, however he explains it, but I don’t think he would have told his Death Eaters about all his Horcruxes and their locations because…I don’t know.
Laura: No, I agree whole-heartedly. I don’t think Lucius knew.
Eric: Yeah, it’s actually said, it’s actually said in the book, if I’m not mistaken, that Dumbledore speculates that when Voldemort gave Lucius the diary, he told him some things about like that it might bring the Chamber back open.
Georgia: Ah.
Eric: But he didn’t tell them about the Horcrux.
Georgia: That’s where I would have got my idea from then!
Eric: It was actually like speculated. Yes, JKR, the best source.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: And then even if you think about would he really risk putting that in, right in front of Dumbledore had he known?
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: If he knew it was…
Eric: Right. The reason I think he chose Ginny was because he saw her as a weak girl and at that point, he was as, also as Dumbledore says, he was in it for his own selfish reasons and Arthur Weasley was conducting all these raids and stuff so wouldn’t it be great to discredit Mr. Weasley by killing his daughter or, you know? And his daughter completely fit the type. She was a shy, kind of girl who would write a diary. So, it really worked.
Laura: Yeah. I agree, I think it was a total, just a hit on the Weasleys, just because he didn’t like them and not to mention Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley got into that huge fight right before Lucius put the diary…I think he actually slid it into one of Ginny’s schoolbooks or something.
Kevin: Yeah.
Laura: And threw it back at her. So, that might have been a little bit of inspiration for him as well.
Kevin: Yeah, but do you think that she, do you think he chose her specifically or just the opportunity presented itself?
Laura: It might have been a little bit of both. I think maybe he had an idea that he would like to do something like that to the Weasleys and maybe, I’m not sure whether or not he knew they had a young daughter. Maybe he saw her in there and realized that they did and was like, “Oh yeah, perfect!” and gave it to her.
Eric: He could have planted it on any Hogwarts student and he chose, he chose Ginny and that might have been that it presented itself, but I don’t think he was sitting, “Okay we’re going to corner them in Flourish and Blotts and I’m going to put it in their cauldron,” you know?
Andrew: Would the outcome have had been any different though? If say, it was one of the other first years? Because I’m trying to remember how…well Harry found out that Ginny…it was Ginny.
Eric: They were in the staff room.
Andrew: Yeah. Right.
Eric: Yeah they were…it was in the staff room. It was Ron and Harry snuck into the staff wardrobe, before the boggart was in there.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: And they overheard that it was Ginny and so that’s when they said…
Kevin: Well, overhead it was Ginny who was taken.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Who was taken, right. And then so yeah, it would have been another student who was taken down, but I think they might have reacted in the same way. They would have gotten frightened and tried to throw it away so the plot may have still played out a little bit, but I think it was important that it was Ginny.
Kevin: I’m not sure if it was important that it was Ginny. I think…
Laura: I think you definitely needed a timid personality for that.
Andrew: Yeah but I think, well you had to be very curious. You know? I think that’s one of the things that Ginny played into.
Laura: Mhm.
Kevin: She was so curious over the diary.
Georgia: It was perfect for it to be Ginny because you know she’s got all those brothers like we mentioned with the first voicemail and she is susceptible to, as in she has no one to share her secrets with, so therefore she’s susceptible to Tom Riddle’s weird little mind-powering thing.
Eric: Yeah. Georgia that’s…
Laura: It’s something she doesn’t have to share with her brothers.
Georgia: Yeah.
Eric: Because she doesn’t have a sister to share that with, you’re right. That’s…she has nobody to tell so she’s going to tell Tom. I thought it was clever. Reading Book 2, it’s always funny to see how they all have trouble starting off the day when they’re going to Kings Cross and Ginny forgets her diary and they go back for it.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: I think that’s so cool. I love it when JKR does that.
Laura: She’s the Queen of Foreshadowing. I’m so jealous.
Kevin: Yeah, and it’s funny because she foreshadows so far in advance that you don’t see it coming.
Laura: Mhm. Oh, she’s so good at it.
Eric: And you know what, does she do it intentionally? I mean you know, I think it’s all about…
Laura: Yes!
Eric: It’s all about her knowing how the septology is going to go and you know, how it’s going to go. So I mean, all that stuff about her foreshadowing and stuff, people on message boards across the fandom are going and analyzing so much into the motivation behind every line and I’m in favor of that, by the way, but also some of the stuff that exists, I really don’t think JKR is ever going to come forward and say, “I did all of it.” I really don’t think she’s, you know she’s not going to acknowledge that she actually, but I think it’s really clever that we all see her as this omniscient, flawless character because so much has fit together like puzzle pieces into the thing.
Laura: Well, that’s why we jump to so many conclusions like with Mark Evans.
Eric: Exactly, but JKR has said that she doesn’t re-read her books and stuff and it’s so awkward because how well the books fit together and how true they are and how little they are contradictory, it’s so cool that she doesn’t read her own books, which is…
Georgia: Well, she said in an interview once, a reporter came up to her and said something about the origin of the word Quidditch and JK Rowling actually said that she’d simply just written down a whole bunch of cool-sounding words that started with “Q” and picked one, but the reporter thought it had to do with quintessence or something like that.
[Laura laughs]
Georgia: Yeah, I don’t quite remember the quote.
Eric: Eric.
Georgia: But yeah there are a lot of things that are accidental, but some things that are definitely planted.
Eric: And that’s… Yeah. I think it would be interesting if she actually surveyed herself and did go through in the books and say how much was actually intentional and how much just formed itself. Because I think that’s definitely a testament to the creative mind.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: But, more Ginny, yay!
[Audio]: Hey MuggleCast, this is Natalie from Harry Potter Fanzone.com and my question is, how do you guys feel about the relationship between Ginny and Harry and do you think that Ginny is worthy enough to be the girlfriend of the famous Harry Potter?
Eric: Yes.
Andrew: Yeah.
Georgia: I have supported that ‘ship forever!
Laura: Sure.
Kevin: Yeah. Definitely.
Andrew: Not only that, I mean just because you’re famous doesn’t mean the person who you have a relationship with has to be. You know?
Georgia: I think Ginny can handle his fame and his popularity. She’s such a strong character; I think that she can definitely be with him.
Eric: She can handle anything.
Laura: Yeah. And she’s got the spunk to…
Georgia: I mean she survived from Voldemort.
Eric: Yeah. What about in Book 6 where it was about the tattoo or whatever where there was rumors going around that Harry had a tattoo?
Laura: [Laughs] Yeah!
Eric: And she goes, “I told them it was a Hippogriff, it was more manly” or something. She can handle any rumors going around about her and Harry; she just deals with his fame.
Georgia: Yeah.
Eric: And she just deals with it, to be with him, so it’s really cool.
Georgia: And she’s grown so much over the last two books and she’s experienced a lot in common with Harry like how, especially with the whole Riddle thing being possessed and being a victim and everything, she can relate to him more than any other girl could.
Eric: And because Harry and the Weasleys are so close. You know, Harry and Mrs…and he’s always over there, so they really do have a lot more in common.
Kevin: They do, especially…I think on a different level, their family situation as well. I mean she’s like the odd person out in the family because she’s the girl, like we said before. You know? And I think that Harry obviously is an odd person out in what you would call his family now with the Dursleys and I think that they can also relate on that level.
Eric: Yeah, so even…yeah, so that’s an interesting point. So, even though they can relate through being a family they can also relate through not really being in the family.
Kevin: Exactly. I mean they, yeah sort of strange connection, but I think that just the fact that they have so much in common, makes it so that they are quite obviously a good couple. But what comes of that is the question.
Georgia: When Harry pulled the whole Spiderman thing at the end of the book, I think their relationship is just on hold, I don’t think it’s over at all.
[Everyone Laughs]
Laura: Yeah, I agree. Most definitely.
Eric: I love that, the Spiderman thing!
Kevin: Okay, that leads to a different point. Do you think that they will ever have a full relationship before the end of Book 7?
Eric: If Harry doesn’t die, I want them to.
Laura: Well, I think – what I could really, honestly see happening is Harry and Ginny having like their little moments throughout Book 7.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: But, it won’t be an official type thing until Voldemort’s gone.
Andrew: Because they’ll be so quick and there’s going to be so much going on, it’s just going to be like, “Hey! Dah dah dah dah dah!”
Eric: Okay right, you know what? I think we’re going to…yeah.
Andrew: Sorry, Eric.
Eric: I think actually you know what? I’m thinking. No problem, Andrew. I think that we’re going to see some James and Lily parallel. I really want to see a James and Lily parallel because James and Lily Potter defied Voldemort three times and so they really must have, even though we didn’t get any insight into it much because Lily hated James in Book 5 in the Pensieve scene, they did work together to destroy Voldemort, and I think it would be really cool if we got kind of like a reminiscent James and Lily situation with Harry and Ginny, working together, you know? They like each other but they’re also working towards defeating Voldemort.
Kevin: Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for, something where they…they like each other but it’s not a true relationship yet.
Eric: Yeah, but it will…yeah but they’re fighting for…
Kevin: Just working together.
Laura: Right.
Eric: Yeah, and they’re fight for Voldemort will strengthen their relationship as well.
Kevin: Exactly. And then they can, then she can wrap it up in the end, you know where she doesn’t give a detailed account of the relationship, but she somewhat foreshadows to what’s going to happen. You know?
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: You know, I think so much crap has happened to Harry that he really deserves a…he really deserves Ginny. He deserves to live.
Laura: He deserves a loving relationship definitely.
Eric: He deserves a loving relationship like Ginny can give him and I don’t think Harry should die because if people knew that Harry died, and if Harry does die, who would read the books? Would you guys still read the books? If you knew that the character you’re reading about.
Laura: Well.
Kevin: I would if she did it in a certain way.
Eric: Yeah, the character…
Laura: We’ll have already read them. So, it won’t matter.
Eric: Well right, yeah the damage is done. But, I mean the…JKR gives us so much insight into his thoughts at every particular moment in, throughout the course of seven years, and if he dies, none of it will matter. Like in a certain way, we can get our own enlightenment from it and we can…
Laura: I don’t agree necessarily. Because when someone dies, they always leave some kind of imprint behind.
Eric: Yeah, it’s…I mean we can derive things from Harry’s story and we can become more mature through studying his emotions and things like that, but beyond that, I really don’t want to, you know…
Laura: I don’t want Harry to die either, but honestly I see Ron as a more likely death candidate than Harry.
Eric: Er, yeah. We’ve talked about this.
Kevin: See, I don’t know about that, though, because I always thought that Harry was going to die because of JK Rowling setting up the characters around him dying.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: She’s killed off so many of his close friends and his relatives…
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: …that it almost seemed to me she was trying to portray this, “There’s no going back now” kind of thing. So, I’m not trying to be you know, redundant, but again, the Lord of the Rings analogy.
Laura: Right.
Kevin: Where Frodo comes back to the Shire, but it’s not saved for him.
Laura: Mhm.
Kevin: So, he would never be the same. I sort of had the feeling that Harry would never be the same after everything is over.
Laura: Right. The main reason that I think that Ron is going to bite the dust is that Chess analogy. It was completely, if you read, we talked about the one editorial where they compare the Chess Game in Book 1 to the Second War and, yeah, if you compared all, if you put certain people in different places as different pieces and then obviously you have Ron getting killed by the Queen.
Eric: But, all three of them did prosper in the end, I guess.
Laura: They did.
Eric: Well, at least Harry went on so, you know.
Andrew: I just think the reason why Ron would die is because he’s so weak. Weak in a way…
Laura: Awww!
Andrew: I just seem him as weak.
Eric: Honestly, he is a flawed character in many ways.
Kevin: Now, what do you mean by weak. Do you mean…?
Andrew: I mean that he…I don’t know how to explain it. He’s just, not weak in character but weak in attitude. He’s not a can-do guy like Harry. He’s, he’s just…if he was faced with a situation where it was life or death for him, he wouldn’t survive.
Laura: I could see Ron…
How would he? He’s not good at spells. He’s not good at anything.
Eric: “My wand, look at my wand!”
[Laura laughs]
Georgia: He’s spent his life overshadowed by people, he’s always had his older brothers.
Andrew: Right.
Georgia: And then he’s always had Harry and he’s never had a chance to show who he is and I don’t know, maybe that’s why he’s seen as weak.
Laura: I think if Ron does go down its going to be like sacrificing himself.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Really for the good, I don’t think it’s going to be…
Eric: That’s really the…yeah.
Georgia: I agree, actually.
Laura: It’s not just Voldemort going Avada Kedavra and Ron dies, and that’s what is going to happen.
Eric: I think that’s in Ron’s character, the only thing Ron can do, if he can’t help with the battle. You know, if he’s not a strong wizard, the best thing he can do is sacrifice himself. But, I don’t want Ron to die. I like Ron.
Laura: I know, I like Ron too!
Eric: I like his flaws.
Kevin: I think it adds for a more dynamic character. And I don’t see…I honestly don’t see him dying. Like I don’t see him…if he was faced with a life and death situation, I think he’d smarten up pretty quickly. I think that he maybe died in the crossfire kind of thing, but I don’t see him dying because he’s too weak.
Laura: Mhm. I think Ron is smarter than he and others give him credit for.
Kevin: So, well not to break this but…
Laura: Yeah, this is the GinnyCast!
Kevin: Ron is another topic for another day.
Andrew: And I think we’ve covered Ginny Weasley pretty well.
Kevin: I think we did. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, she knows injustice. She knows what she’s doing. She knows the meaning of hypocrisy and you know that’s really all you need in the Harry Potter universe.
Kevin: But I do see so only one thing possibly happening as well, is that she’s going to get herself in trouble to help Harry. That’s the one thing that…
Eric: Like what do you mean? Like the Spiderman thing?
Kevin: Well, sort of like that but in the sense that…
Laura: I could see her doing something to try and help Harry.
Kevin: Something stupid, rash.
Laura: Yeah, and it would end up getting her in trouble and making things a little worse.
Eric: But I did mention a few, actually it was like three or four episodes ago, and I said in Book 6 where Harry says you know, “I can’t be with you.” She does basically say, once again “Screw that.” And she says, “We’re going to help.” She said, “We’re going to help you anyway,” so I think whatever Ginny does, I think it’s in her character to get herself in trouble for Harry, but at the same time he shouldn’t be held responsible for that. I think she’s fully aware of all her actions. And, I think that’s what makes Ginny a great character and a responsible character.
Kevin: Yeah, definitely.
Laura: I agree.
Kevin: So, do you want to do the outro for Georgia before we…
Laura: Yes, I think we should.
Andrew: Why does she have to go?
Kevin: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, she has to go because her dad’s there.
Kevin: Should we outro her or should we just give her an exit.
Andrew: What do you mean outro or exit?
Kevin: Well, just…
Andrew: I’ll do it. Georgia, you’re still here, right? Okay. All right, well that pretty much wraps it up for this part of the show.
Eric: For Ginny.
Andrew: Right, but Georgia has to leave us right now because she must be on her way. Thanks for joining us, Georgia!
Georgia: Thank you, I had a really nice time chatting to everyone.
Laura: Thanks for coming, Georgia.
Kevin: Yeah, thank you, Georgia.
Andrew: Yeah, you were great, a great addition so we’ll have you on another time, I’m sure.
Georgia: Excellent. Enjoy the rest of the show.
Kevin: Not next week’s show because that’s a LIVE podcast.
Georgia: I’m coming to the live one.
Andrew: Yeah, do you want to fly in?
Eric: Do you want to catch a ride?
Laura: Oh you’re going to like bring Georgia but you don’t…I see how it is?
Andrew: We’re not going to bring a girl from Georgia up.
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: Thank you for joining us.
Laura: Thanks for joining us, Georgia.
Kevin: Bye, bye.
Georgia: Bye.
Laura: Bye.
Voicemails – Dementors
Andrew: Now it’s time for the Voicemails, the part of the show where you send in your thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, theories.
Kevin: Regarding general stuff.
Andrew: Hoop-la. Yeah, whatever you want really in Harry Potter. Let’s play the first one right now.
[Audio]: Hi MuggleNet Boys and Laura. I totally love your show. Anyway, I’m Celene from the Philippines and I was watching Prisoner of Azkaban last night and I was just wondering where do dementors come from? I mean, how exactly do you think they reproduce? Do they just pop out of nowhere. I know this curiosity is probably answered by Luna Lovegood or something that I just missed and which is so sad because Luna is my favorite character. I want to hear what you have to say about it. Thanks.
Kevin: An infection or bacteria.
Laura: Yes, I agree.
Kevin: It flourishes where things are unclean or in this case unhappy. I think the whole reason why they are reproducing so fast is because people are worried, they’re nervous, they’re scared because of Voldemort coming back, and I think they’re just like an infection in the way that they flourish when these feelings are commonplace.
Laura: I agree completely, I think it is a spontaneous generation type thing. I do not think that dementors mate.
[Lots of groaning]
Laura: That would be…[Laughs]
Eric: I like the correlation, in Book 6 there is a (in the beginning I believe), there is a cold front or something and they’re mating and it makes everything, like the whole temperature and weather and everything cold outside. I love that correlation because…
Andrew: Yeah, doesn’t it have something to do with the fog?
Laura: So, wait…
Andrew: I thought Fudge mentioned something once.
Laura: He mentioned that, I believe he said something about there being more cold and fog due to dementors. Because I believe that wherever a dementor is, it’s very cold and unhappy.
Eric: Yeah. Maybe we don’t know. Maybe nobody knows how they reproduce. Because it’s so foggy when it happens. You see like…”G’day, here I am. You know, in the dementor sac.”
[All laugh]
Laura: Urgh!
Kevin: Okay, okay. Completely inappropriate.
Eric: Real live dementor!
Andrew: We’re cutting that out.
Kevin: Yes, we are. Yeah but I think that’s the most viable solution, not solution but answer. I think that’s the only thing we can assume. But beyond that it’s just that, it’s an assumption. I don’t see JK Rowling putting in something that’s where they breed or anything like that. I think that they are like a bacteria or an infection where they flourish.
Andrew: They feed on the evil.
Kevin: The emotion.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, the emotion. Yeah.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: And you know as long as there are humans, there will be evil.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: But anyway…
Andrew: Evil!
Kevin: I think that answers that question.
Eric: No, no, no, no.
Kevin: No?
Eric: You forgot about the origin. Where do they come from?
Kevin: Oh.
Eric: They aren’t in Fantastic Beasts, are they?
Andrew: I can check. I do not believe so.
Eric: Yeah, they actually aren’t so…what I heard was some people are speculating that dementors were actually manufactured characters, not manufactured, but created by wizards or just by their bad emotions.
Kevin: Well, it’s possible that, the way I always thought of it, is that every good has an evil, kind of thing? And. I think that’s symmetry throughout the book, there’s Harry and there’s Voldemort kind of thing. And, I think that for all the good there is, there has to be an evil, and I think the dementors are the balance.
Laura: Also, I believe that dementors represent depression, and where you have people, there will always be depression there will always be sadness. So, I don’t think there’s a specific origin, it’s just where there are people there will be dementors.
Kevin: And, I think that if they knew where they came from and it was a viable source, then they would have tried to exterminate them long ago.
Andrew: A long time ago.
Eric: Even though they are…
Kevin: I mean why would you want those things walking around?
Eric: Well they are pretty effective for the Azkaban.
Laura: Not anymore! [Laughs]
Kevin: But, do you think they would have kept them around when they could have just wiped out the whole lot of them? You know what I mean?
Eric: Yeah, I know what you mean. I like the idea of the dementors because they were JKR’s way, as of Book 3, before they were terribly developed, they sort of served for me as a reason to be upset, like if… It’s an explanation, if you’re ever upset about something and you don’t know why, there could be a dementor nearby. It was just like this brilliant invention like, “Ho, hey maybe that’s why…”
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: You know, it was like an explanation.
Laura: That’s why Episode 13 was cursed.
Kevin: Yes.
Laura: There were dementors.
Eric: Because there were dementors outside, yeah. But no because I think it’s a brilliant, like it’s her solution of doing it, just like her approach to the Salem Witch Trials you know? And her approach with the boggart with all the things like under our bed and in the closet and things like that. The boggart was a brilliant invention, and it applies to all of our fears and things. So.
Kevin: Yeah, definitely. Okay. Onto the next voicemail. Chevon from Australia.
Andrew: That was a good question.
Kevin: What?
Andrew: That was a good question.
Kevin: It was a good question.
Laura: That was a good question. I liked that one.
Voicemails – Hagrid’s Fate
[Audio]: Hello MuggleNet, I’m Sylvain from Berlin. What I wanted to say is I had the impression that Hagrid’s been somewhat laid aside in the sixth book. I mean apart from Aragog’s burial, Harry, Ron and Hermione didn’t visit him, they are not going to his lessons, and there is no usual strange animals plot. I wanted to know what do you think Hagrid’s role will be in Book 7. Thanks, and continue the show, it’s great.
Andrew: It’s going to be something with the Giants. I don’t know what.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Yeah I was going to say…
Laura: I don’t know why but.
Andrew: Hagrid will play a role to get the Giants to play a role.
Kevin: Exactly.
Eric: But, I think that’s what he did in Book 5. I wanted to say that his main job probably in the series is already done, is what I was going to say, but then I realized…
Andrew: Really, you think so?
Eric: No, no I don’t which is why I…
Andrew: You’re lying to yourself.
Eric: Yes, I was. And, so I think by Book 7, I think he will have another big role to play. Now, if you guys remember which I’m sure you do because you’re old enough. You remember that everybody was, Hagrid was the favourite to die in Book 5.
Laura: Yep.
Eric: But he didn’t.
Kevin: And Book 6.
Eric: And Book 6, but he didn’t.
Kevin: And Book 4 I think.
Eric: And I think that’s important you know, everybody thinks that Hagrid is going to die, but he has been through the Giants, he’s been through the Buckbeak thing, he’s been through everything and he’s still been alive and I think that’s tremendously important.
Kevin: And to be honest, I don’t see him dying because she represents him as such a hardy person.
Eric: Jolly.
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: Someone who lives through things that other people wouldn’t live through.
Laura: Right.
Kevin: You know stuff like that when they broke his wand and cast him out.
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: He still kept hope and continued being active in the wizarding world.
Eric: And dude, all the Death Eaters like attacking him and him defending them all.
Andrew: Dude, exactly this.
Laura: Yeah, that was awesome.
Eric: And they get him and they burn his hut and he’s still there like fending them off.
Kevin: Exactly, yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Hagrid is…
Kevin: He obviously is a very resilient person and I don’t see him dying.
Laura: Yeah. Also, I think he will play a large role in Book 7 just because, we discussed this on a previous Cast that she likes to kill people who no longer have a purpose. So, I think if Hagrid no longer had a purpose, he wouldn’t be with us anymore.
Kevin: Yep.
Eric: Yeah. I think as much as it seems like they did have unfinished business, both Sirius and Dumbledore have or will prove more valuable in their death, I think.
Laura: Mhm.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: Because Dumbledore really, I feel that Dumbledore did get out, you know everything he had to, to Harry, and that was the whole point of his lessons and I think that Sirius, now that Harry has Grimmauld Place, I think that will play importance. I want Robbie Coltrane to continue playing Hagrid. Because there was speculation I remember, there was an article about him saying he might move on to other things, but I think I like him as Hagrid.
Laura: Yeah I do too.
Andrew: I don’t see it happening. People…Warner Bros. knows how important he is to this series, starring in it because…
Laura: They know to deal with that.
Andrew: Robbie Coltrane is…well, Hagrid is one of my favorite characters.
Kevin: He is, yeah.
Andrew: And Robbie Coltrane is one of my favorite actors in the series, just because he’s done a lot of great work in the past including the Bond films which I’m a big fan of.
Eric: Ohhhhh!
Andrew: So, I don’t think we have to worry about him going anywhere. Warner Bros. will keep him on.
Kevin: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: They’ll make him stay.
[All laugh]
Kevin: If it requires offering something very good, I’m sure they’ll force him to stay.
Eric: I mean what can you offer besides the hard-send minds of brilliant, these young kids and…
Laura: Money.
Eric: I mean I never got that, like has anybody turned down a Harry Potter film?
[All laugh]
Eric: And money! But would you turn down a Harry Potter film, you know? I mean I think Jason Isaacs, who I love as Lucius…
Kevin: Well, see I think what he’s trying to prevent is him typecasting himself in his role.
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: He sees that people are starting to see him as Hagrid and he is afraid that after this job, he won’t get any other jobs because any movie he’s in, everyone will think of him, “Oh, it’s Hagrid.”
Eric: It’s ironic because after these blockbuster huge films, you know, he won’t need to be in anything else. I think he’s set for life.
Laura: Yeah, but I mean it really depends on if that’s what he wants to do. And I do think that several of the actors are going to have problems with typecasting.
Eric: I think so, too.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: You know, just the Trio. I think no matter what, like you know, Rupert’s doing that movie Driving Lessons now? But the same with Thunderpants, so many people from Harry Potter were in Thunderpants.
Laura: I never saw that.
Eric: And are in Driving Lessons now.
Kevin: I never saw that either.
Eric: Yeah like, even Gambon and things, I think. If I’m correct, I might not be, but don’t send e-mails and don’t post on Comments that we’re lying.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: They’ll do it anyway.
Eric: But yeah I think they were…but you know, there’s like this true elite British actors that are in the Harry Potter films because of how cool they are and how…you know? But, any British film that Rupert does is probably going to have a connection right back to Harry Potter, and the fans are always going to make that connection.
Kevin: Yep, absolutely. I think he’s already typecast to be honest and I don’t think that…
Laura: I think they all are.
Kevin: Yeah they all are. And I think…
Laura: The Trio. I think the Trio are all typecast.
Kevin: But I think that Rupert is going around about it the right way. He’s trying to pick up films besides Harry Potter, nothing to do with Harry Potter.
Laura: Right.
Kevin: To try to alleviate some of the typecasting, you know?
Eric: I think it’s really cool because Rupert got his start by sending in like an audition video to who was it? BBC or something. He was just a regular fan and you know, a regular kid and he sent in his…
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: So, it’s really like this cool story about not necessarily rags to riches but he was just this happy fan and now he’s discovered acting and really conditioned his skill.
Kevin: And I think he’s one of the best. I would say that he’s one of the best of the three.
Laura: He’s my favorite, he really is, I love him.
Eric: I would say that too; I think Ron is probably my favorite. Rupert. But…hey! One thing that reminds me, even though we’re talking about Hagrid here, sorry people. The Rupert mention in Book 6 when Slughorn…
Laura: That was not a mistake!
Eric: That was not a mistake!
Laura: Urgh!
Eric: I have to vouch for whoever is in charge of book mistakes.
Laura: That would be me and Janie. We have that.
Eric: No kidding, I feel so bad for you people because I know you guys…the second I read that, I thought, “People are going to think it’s a mistake” but…
Kevin: Yep.
Eric: I treated that…for those of you who don’t remember, Slughorn when he’s drunk, I believe it’s in Hagrid’s hut or whatever, he refers to Ron as Rupert and I really didn’t think it was a mistake. I actually thought it was…
Laura: I thought it was funny.
Eric: I treated it as tribute.
Andrew: Yeah, me too.
Eric: No, I treated it as tribute is what I did because if JKR is…it just works so well. I thought that it was completely a nod to Rupert from JKR.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: That’s exactly what I thought it was.
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, she’s denied in the past that the movies don’t have any affect on the books but come on, that’s a nice little Easter Egg so to speak.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: I just thought it was such a cool…
Laura: I thought it was really awesome and…
Eric: I think Rupert should be completely like just blown away with how…I mean that’s a direct thing and it’s just…
Laura: And…oh, both of our inboxes were so flooded with that!
Eric: I know, but that’s okay.
Kevin: You know what you can do. Do you still have the link for the Editor of the Harry Potter books? Do you remember that, they posted a response to the fans?
Laura: Ah, we actually I believe put a message on the book mistakes page saying, “Do not send this, or die!”
Eric: Yeah. I mean usually…
Andrew: All right so…we answered that question, didn’t we?
Eric: Okay.
Andrew: We’ve got to keep it rolling here.
Kevin: Okay.
Andrew: How far are we at? I’m laying on my floor again.
Kevin: Two more voicemails. Okay Chevon from Australia.
Eric: Okay.
Andrew: How far in are we?
Eric: We’re an hour and a half.
Laura: Ah, 1:25:00.
Andrew: Okay.
Voicemail – Albus Pick: Tom or Voldemort?
[Audio]: Hi guys, this is Chevon from Canberra, Australia. I love your show and my favourite parts are the voicemails from other listeners. I would like to hear your comments on this interesting quote I re-read in Philosopher’s Stone. This is Dumbledore’s response to McGonagall referring to Voldemort as ‘You-Know-Who’ and I quote, “For eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name, Voldemort.” We have of course seen that from Dumbledore’s memories in Half-Blood Prince that he refused to call Tom ‘Lord Voldemort” when Tom came looking for a job. So, what do you think in this period in Tom looking for a job and Harry’s parents dying, do you think has caused Dumbledore to change his mind? And do you think that if Dumbledore had continue to call Voldemort, Tom Riddle as he was doing when Tom was searching for a job that perhaps the Chamber of Secrets Diary wouldn’t have warped Ginny so much because everyone would know that Tom was Lord Voldemort?
Eric: This is such an awesome question.
Kevin: I love this question.
Laura: I know.
Eric: It’s so…
Laura: It makes me happy.
Andrew: Yeah..
Eric: Great.
Kevin: Thank you, Chevon.
Laura: It makes me want to squee.
Eric: Its just great, that’s all it is, is great.
Kevin: So, would you like to take this, Eric?
Eric: Sure, Kevin!
Kevin: Look how enthusiastic he is.
Eric: This is such a good question! I love these because they completely think it out.
Kevin: We should save this for the live podcast, so we can see how enthusiastic Eric gets over this question.
Laura: Awww!
Eric: Oh I’ll get enthusiastic, I’ll get enthusiastic just being there. So, no that’s okay. Yeah okay so much I have…okay. Sorry…
Kevin: Gathering thoughts, gathering thoughts.
Eric: Gathering thoughts. It’s okay…the more recent question, if he had called him Tom in the first place, would the diary have been discovered sooner? Yes. I think that’s a brilliant, I think it’s a plot device, it’s all about… I mean, I think it was definitely convenient, it’s not all about it, but I think it was definitely convenient for Dumbledore to be, you know, caught not revealing and not calling him Tom, in the first book to McGonagall. And I think that has a lot to do with who Tom was and it’s the whole mystique behind Voldemort and his past which is found out in Chamber of Secrets. But, also I think that Dumbledore did not call him Tom because he wasn’t facing him, and he wasn’t even in contact with him until, you know, Book 5 where he started calling him Tom. So. I think what it is, is kind of like a teacher/student relationship type thing where he is, whenever he is face to face with Voldemort, Voldemort is trying to say, “Oh, I’m mighty,” and he’s trying to prove how much of a cool wizard he is, but he’s still Tom to Dumbledore and, you know, he’s still the wizard. He’s still his student and he’s still the little boy that he visited in the orphanage and stuff, and I think Dumbledore… Dumbledore has bragging rights over Voldemort. I mean he can just say, “Tom” and he’s using his Muggle father’s name against him, and it disgusts him and I think…
Laura: I agree.
Eric: It’s complete…it’s just good like that.
Laura: Completely.
Kevin: I think that it’s an advantage that Dumbledore has over Voldemort that he would rather not destroy.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: It makes him mortal.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: It really does, if he has a name, if he has a mortal name, it ties him to the world and it’s just something.
Kevin: Yeah and I think that if he had told everyone what his real name was, it would have infuriated Voldemort for a little while, but then he would grow used to it.
Laura: Not to mention, I mean we’d have the whole plot of Chamber of Secrets spoiled.
Eric: Yeah!
Laura: If we knew in the beginning of Sorcerer’s Stone.
Kevin: That’s true, yeah.
Laura: I think that probably has something to do with it! [Laughs]
Kevin: Yeah!
Eric: I think that was really cool for development; it was definitely convenient at least. What else did they ask in that? I don’t think Dumbledore calls… Yeah, the thing about in the beginning of the book with him insisting that people call him Voldemort, hand-in-hand I think he wants people to call him by Voldemort because he doesn’t like the idea that they’re afraid of it, but at the same time, he will call him Tom face-to-face. I mean, I think he wants to get people not to be afraid to call him what he wants to be called and stuff.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: And I can’t get… When I’m excited I completely can’t express, I can’t express my best points so this is probably a really crappy theory that I have.
Laura: [Laughs] No, you’re fine, you’re fine.
Eric: It’s just…there’s so much, it’s a good question. So, anyway. Anybody else?
Kevin: I agree.
Laura: I think you pretty much beat that with a stick.
Eric: With my stick that I have from the Caption Contest.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: The stick. That was such an ad-lib line, I don’t even know what I meant by that. It was great but…
[Laura laughs]
Kevin: Okay, so last and well…last and final voicemail.
Voicemail – Birthday Surprises
[Audio]: Hey MuggleCast, this is Jessica from Boston, Mass. Since JK Rowling started putting up birthdays on her site, I wonder does she consider the character’s horoscopes when choosing their special day. We all know Harry is a Leo, which is another connection to Gryffindor, and something that’s written in an interesting editorial on Minerva McGonagall, do you think this could lead to some insight on some characters? Just wondering what you guys think. Thanks!
Laura: I think that’s entirely possible, actually.
Kevin: I think that there’s too many coincidences to have not been.
Laura: Yeah!
Kevin: And I think that, I don’t think that it’s going to play a vital role and it’s not going to reveal anything huge.
Laura: No, but I think it’s a fun thing. Like, yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, it’s one of the titbits that she’s…I really hope she writes a book of just titbits where she just gives us the small little things that people don’t usually notice.
Eric: Yeah. Because she has them.
Kevin: That played a part.
Eric: She has, yeah she has them. She has the whole Seamus Finnegan history that she didn’t write out in the books because, you know, she sacrificed it for Neville’s back story, she said on her site. But, she has these things and I think with the Trio and stuff, I think it’s entirely her doing that, you know, when their birthdays are. And I think it’s really interesting that now on her website, we’re getting all these “Happy Birthday” things and all the “Wizards of the Month” and things because they all apply.
Laura: I think she wants us to know.
Eric: They all apply to our understanding of the universe.
Kevin: And she obviously had it planned out.
Eric: Oh yeah.
Laura: Oh yeah.
Kevin: If she’s…you know?
Eric: Absolutely.
Kevin: If she is posting the birthdays. So.
Andrew: We need to talk about her site too. That’s another good discussion we could have.
Laura: I really, I think that she’s giving out the birthday reminders for a reason.
Andrew: To keep it fresh if you ask me! [Laughs]
Laura: Well yeah, but she knows that there are fans out there who dig deep, and she knows that there are going to be people who see that and they’re going to go and look up these horoscopes.
Kevin: Do you know what else she knows? She knows that we do a podcast, and it would be nice of her to recognise that on the site.
Laura: [Laughs] Yes.
Kevin: Basically, we do think it plays a part, you know, the horoscopes, but it’s not going to be a vital role.
Laura: And just you know, for common interest, I just went to a horoscope site and it said…
Kevin: Actually Jessica, I must thank her because she did include horoscopes for quite a few of the characters.
Laura: Oh, cool.
Kevin: Which was…thank you, Jessica, for all the work. Maybe I’ll have Andrew put it in the “Show Notes.”
Laura: Awesome. Sweet.
Andrew: Yeah, so we covered all that, right?
Kevin: Yep. Very good voicemails.
Andrew: Okay, a few final announcements.
Spy on Spartz
Eric: We’re going to get really nasty emails about people tired of us fitting “Spy on Spartz” into the last second of the show but…
Laura: Oh, they can get over it.
Eric: But, Emerson’s on next week so you know, whatever.
Andrew: They have to wait. So Spy on Spartz. His away message is so corny this week, it’s not even worthy of being aired.
Eric: Air it. Air it. Air it.
Laura: Last time I saw it, it said “Friday.” That was all it said.
Andrew: No, it’s changed now.
Laura: Oh, okay.
Kevin: What does it say now? Let’s see. I’ll read it.
Andrew: Oh, I can’t.
Kevin: I got it. Right click. View contact information. Okay.
Andrew: What takes you so…
Kevin: “It’s the freakin’ weekend, baby. I’m ’bout to have me some fun.”
[All laugh]
Kevin: So, Emerson is about to have fun.
Laura: You can guess what that means.
Kevin: Because it’s quote unquote, “the freakin’ weekend.”
[All laugh]
Laura: Oh man. Their minds are going to wander so much.
Eric: In nature of this freakin’ weekend, somebody go on Notre Dame site and get the live web feed. I think we’re about to be surprised.
[All laugh]
Kevin: We may see Emerson on top of the Notre Dame…
[All laugh]
Eric: Because of the freakin’ weekend.
Andrew: Did you see his buddy icon?
Kevin: Yeah. Just like people at our school who ride the Husky dog.
Andrew: Can I tell you guy’s a secret?
Kevin: What’s that?
Andrew: I don’t know if our “Spy on Spartz” segment is as valuable as it used to be. Because everyone has AIM.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Because…
Laura: He gives it out to everyone.
Eric: Yeah, but they aren’t checking it when we’re checking it.
Andrew: He has it on Face Book.
Kevin: Oh yeah.
Andrew: So, everyone knows.
Andrew’s Listener Challenge
Andrew: Challenge Pictures, yes we got many entries. One person dressed up as me, one person dressed up as Laura. That’s all I’ve seen so far. I haven’t looked through it all.
Kevin: I forwarded you the e-mails.
Laura: Were you guys slackers on this? You didn’t dress up?
Andrew: Yeah, I think a lot of people failed at Andrew’s Listener Challenge.
Laura: Yeah. I guess…
Eric: That’s okay, Eric’s is still open. Eric’s is still open. Just get us shirts. Make us shirts.
Andrew: Yeah that is still this week’s challenge. Make us shirts. Because we are waaaaaay too busy to make our own shirts. So send us designs and stuff, we’ll take a look at them. We’ll probably post them. The Halloween pictures, I did promise they’d be posted in our galleries. I will get around to posting them. I’m just…this week, next week, this week is going to be so busy.
Kevin: This upcoming week is going to be very busy.
Eric: Can we announce…?
Laura: Yes.
Andrew: Ben’s flying in Wednesday. I have a meeting with a guy named Bruce Springsteen on Tuesday?
Eric: Bruce, who’s that?
Andrew: And the rest of my week is…I don’t know, I hear his music’s good.
Eric: I don’t know.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Laura giggles]
Eric: Sounds like a hippie.
[All laugh]
Mobilcast and Closing Announcements
Andrew: Okay. And then also moving right along, don’t forget, if you have a mobile phone you could find out more about Mobilcast on MuggleCast.com. Mobilcast is a service that will let you listen to our show and many other podcasts right there on your own cell phone. So go to MuggleCast.com and then under the listener “To Do” list you can find out more about Mobilcast.
Eric: Andrew, why does the…
Andrew: And then don’t forget…what, I’m on a roll here. What?
Eric: I’m sorry, why isn’t there an “E” in MuggleCast between…I mean…?
Andrew: Because it’s podcasting, there is no rules.
[All laugh]
Andrew: And then don’t forget to visit PowWows.com/mugglenet for everything related to Native American Month for both students and teachers.
Kevin: And again…
Andrew: Now…what? Go ahead.
Kevin: Have them send in recommended books.
Laura: Yes.
Andrew: Yes.
Laura: We are going to start doing…
Kevin: I’m sure we’ll get plenty of emails, but…
Laura: Book review type things.
Kevin: We’ll slowly but surely go through them.
Eric: Yeah, we’ll find somebody to read books and comment on the show.
Laura: I will!
Kevin: Yes we’re not good book readers.
Eric: Yeah, Laura. You’re home-schooled. You have all the time in the world.
Laura: Yes, I will read your books.
Andrew: Oooh, and then one last final thing, my official fan site, Andrew Simz.com spelled with a “z” was nominated for an award! [Laughs] A Dervish Award. It’s a Harry Potter Fansite. There’s a link in the “Show Notes.” It’s a good award for it.
Kevin: Hey, do you know what’s funny about Sims spelt with a “z”?
Andrew: What’s that?
Kevin: When you add 89 to it, it becomes something.
[Laura laughs loudly]
Andrew: What, my birthday year?
Eric: We just don’t know what.
Kevin: I don’t know.
Eric: I don’t know.
Andrew: People…
Eric: And with the first…
Andrew: If you’re trying to give people my AIM name, that’s still not even close.
Eric: You forget… No, you forgot the first initial.
Kevin: Pretty close.
Eric: First initial, right before it. First initial.
Kevin: What first initial? I don’t know what you mean. “A.”
Andrew: Okay, well I’m not editing this entire part so let’s just keep it at that.
Kevin: Okay.
Andrew: And, they can try to figure out my AIM name and…okay!
Kevin: Okay.
Laura: All righty.
Andrew: That wraps it about up. Episode 14. Next week is the big LIVE show. Kevin, I will be…and Eric, I’ll be seeing you next week.
Kevin: Yes.
Eric: Yes.
Kevin: Should be interesting.
Andrew: Live in New York City. I can’t get my mind off of it.
Kevin: I know.
Andrew: There’s so many…we’re still…everything’s set, but…
Eric: We just don’t know when it is yet.
Andrew: Me and Melissa are working on a sweet introduction.
Kevin: I need to skip Math because of that.
Andrew: [Laughs] What?
Kevin: Because of that podcast. I do! I’m skipping Math to catch a bus.
Andrew: Awww!
Kevin: Yep. See, I’m dedicated people.
[Andrew yawns]
Kevin: So, if any of you want to tutor me in multi-variable Calculus.
Eric: Multi-variable Calculus?
Laura: Oh my god!
Eric: Oh wow! Yeah, Kevin, I’ll tutor you. I’ll tutor you in multi-variable Calculus.
Laura: Yeah Kevin, because you know how good I am at Math.
Show Close
Andrew [Show Close with music in background]: So, wrapping things up, I am Andrew Sims.
Kevin: I am Kevin Steck who just interrupted Andrew Sims.
[All laugh]
Eric: I’m Eric Scull, who can’t think of much different intonations to use when I intro or outro myself.
Laura: And I’m Laura Thompson and that’s it!
Kevin: Eager and original.
Laura: Exactly, there we go.
Kevin: There we go.
Andrew: Episode 15 LIVE, November 13th will be when it’s released. We’ll see you next week.
Laura: Bye!
Kevin: See you next week!
Eric: Bye everybody!
Laura: Oh, I won’t.
Kevin: No, you won’t.
[All laugh]
Eric: We’ll see you at home, Laura.
Andrew: Waa waa waa waaaaaaah! [Eric joins him]
Laura: You guys suck.
Kevin: You’ll be in our thoughts.
Laura: I’ll be there in spirit.
Eric: We’ll be sure to get you like a bumper sticker or something.
Laura: Awww, how sweet.
Eric: We’ll get you an “I Love New York” shirt or something.
Remixes
Andrew: This week’s remix is from Julian in Australia.
Remix by Julian coming soon!
Comments
[Soothing music begins playing]
[Audio]: Bonjour MuggleCast! This is Larry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with an observation on the films thus far. Like his predecessor Richard Harris, I think Michael Gambon is a fine actor of the classic type. He belongs on stage, belting out a blood-curdling line from Shakespeare or Poe, however as Dumbledore I feel he misses the hushed wisdom, the quiet strength inherent in nearly everything Dumbledore does. While he certainly adds a much-needed spark to the character, there is an understated majesty that is missing. This, is what I feel is the key, to what makes Albus Dumbledore such a special character and an indispensable role model for Harry.
[Soothing music ends]
Bloopers
Eric: I have something to talk about.
Laura: This is just as bad as last week.
Eric: No, no, no, no. It’s not bad!
[All laugh]
Eric: That episode was cursed. Okay, Episode 13, we actually…
Kevin: It was cursed!
Eric: We actually recorded a whole Episode 13 with Ben and a few other people and we talked about Remus Lupin, but it went terribly. It was not… It didn’t…
Laura: So, we did it again.
Eric: So, we did it again, and many of you have said on the Comments that this was your favorite episode, and that it was a lot of fun. So, we really liked that and we think, “Gee that’s really lucky that it went from so much bad crap to such a good thing.”
Laura: Yeah. It may have been lucky 13 for you guys, but it wasn’t for us. [Laughs]
Eric: Not for us!
[Laura laughs]
Eric: We pulled an all-weekender!
——————————————————————-
Laura: I get a lot of requests to be added to people’s Buddy Lists on Skype.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: I actually had someone bypass my request thing. I don’t know how they did it.
Andrew: Well, you know what? I always accept them, but I never answer the phone. It drives them crazy.
Laura: Oh, see.
Andrew: I love doing it!
Laura: I don’t accept them. Ehhh!
Andrew: I get them all excited.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Ben and I were talking on Skype a few weeks ago and we picked up, well, someone called, and I only, I picked up that one time. And that’s the only time. Only one person.
———————–
Written by: Micah and Jess
