MuggleCast EP26 Transcript
Intro
Andrew [Show Intro with music in background]: This is MuggleCast – Episode 26 for February 05th, 2006. GoDaddy hosting plans are now more powerful than ever. Best of all, plans start at just $3.95 per month. No matter what plan you chose your site receives 24/7 maintenance and protection in the GoDaddy.com world class data center. I use them for my personal website, AndrewSimz.com and I know that GoDaddy has some of the best, affordable hosting plans online. I recommend you use it for your upcoming website or podcast because as a MuggleCast listener, enter the code MUGGLE, that’s M-U-G-G-L-E when you checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the Internet today at GoDaddy.com.
Hello everyone, and welcome to MuggleCast. I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Andrew: And that’s it – four people this week! This is the core group of MuggleCasters. We’re not messing around! No Ben. Well Ben, I fired Ben for last week’s show.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Kevin’s off getting fitted for some wedding thing.
Eric: Oooh. His own wedding?
Micah: Kevin’s getting married?
Laura: Yeah, Kevin’s getting married everyone.
Andrew: Yes, Kevin is getting married. That’s exactly what I was implying.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Before we go anywhere else, first: let’s get updated on the past week’s top Harry Potter news stories with Micah Tan.
News
Micah: Thanks, Andrew.
It was a busy week in the Harry Potter movie world. A number of casting announcements were made for the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Evanna Lynch, the 14-year-old from Ireland, who attended the open casting call for the role three weeks ago, beat out 15,000 other Luna Lovegood hopefuls to become everyone’s favorite Ravenclaw.
And it was speculated about for months, but earlier this week WB confirmed that Imelda Staunton will play the role of the newest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dolores Umbridge.
Natalia Tena, who has starred in the BBC drama Casualty and acted in movies such as About a Boy will play the part of Nymphadora Tonks.
Additionally, Helen McCrory has been cast for the role of Bellatrix Lestrange and George Harris will play Ministry Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Kathryn Hunter will take on the part of the neighborly, cat-loving Squib, Arabella Figg. Hey, that rhymed.
Finally, Michael Wildman has been cast as Magorian, one of the Centaurs from the Forbidden Forest, and Robbie Jarvis will play the part of a young James Potter, ensuring that the flashback scene from “Snape’s Worst Memory” will indeed be in the fifth film.
Filming for Order of the Phoenix begins February 6th.
The fourth Harry Potter movie has received one Oscar nomination in the category of “Achievement in Art Direction,” for Stuart Craig (art director) and Stephenie McMillan’s (set decorator) work on the blockbuster. The winners for the 78th annual Academy Awards will be announced on March 5th.
As a celebration of children’s literature – new and old – the Queen of England will host a party for her 80th birthday in Buckingham Palace Garden on June 25th. Children aged 4-14 can apply through CBBC’s website for an invitation. There are 1,000 invitations available allowing each child to take a friend and parent or guardian. JK Rowling will be one of many famous children’s authors attending.
The Harry Potter author has also released a list of the Top 10 books she thinks all children should read. You can check that list, which includes titles such as To Kill A Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye and over on MuggleNet.com
That’s all the news for this February 5th, 2006 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show.
Andrew: All right. Thank you, Micah.
Micah: No problem.
Andrew: Micah, how is the MuggleCast NewsCenter doing anyway?
Micah: It’s good, it’s good. It actually, eh…geez. [laughs]
Andrew: Wah, wah, wah, wah!
Eric: Just keep that in, just keep that in. Seriously.
Micah: That was a miserable failure right there. [laughs]
Eric: [Imitating Micah] “It’s good, eh…” As Micah realizes it’s just…
Andrew: If you were going to… No, if…
Micah: Hold on, I’ve got to think of something. Let’s do that again.
Andrew: No, this is live-to-tape.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: If you were going to say something like, [in dorky voice] “Oh, I got to dust it,” I was going to be like, “Okay, you used that joke three years ago.” [laughs]
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: But anyway, let’s start off with a few announcements, then we’ll get into the discussion of news.
Announcements
Andrew: We’ve got tons of stuff for you this week. First of all, come on, it’s a new month, and of course, as all of you know, it’s time to vote for us again at Podcast Alley. It’s the one time of month that we ask. We appreciate it. Why do we ask you to vote for us? We’ve never been No. 1. We’ve always been losers. [laughs]
Eric: We’re actually going to try…
Laura: Because no one listens to us to the show anyway.
Eric: Yeah. Wow.
Andrew: [laughs] As we briefly mentioned last week, MuggleCast T-shirts are now available on MuggleCast.com. You listen to us every week, but now here is your chance to wear us.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: These shirts, we have two different styles: Micbolt and “Squares,” which is looking a lot like the Apple design. It’s really cool. We all got our T-shirts. We all love them, right?
Laura: Oh yeah.
Micah: Yep. I’m actually wearing mine right now.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, same here.
Laura: I wore mine all around my town last weekend.
Eric: Nice.
Andrew: Did you?
Laura: Yes, I did.
Andrew: Were you spotted?
Laura: No, I wasn’t spotted, but I did have a couple of people ask me what it was. And…
Eric: She was “squared,” Andrew.
Andrew: By buying these shirts, you do support the show, which we appreciate greatly because we need a little extra cash to upgrade some of our equipment, as you heard last week. [laughs] I suffered a bit. We even had some problems just before we just recorded this. So, we thank you for your support and thanks to Sam and Nate at SamandNate.com, who helped us design these shirts and get the made up for you guys. So, check them out – MuggleCast.com. And then you click on “Store.”
You know, we’re always thinking about the show. We’re always considering what to add next. And we have a new idea for an “Editorial Segment,” where we’re not sure of the name, we’re not sure exactly what we would go into every week, but we want to cover a specific editorial on the MuggleNet Editorial Section of the website. So, if you have any editorial ideas that really stand out to you, send them into mugglecast at staff dot mugglenet dot com. And then put in the subject line “Editorial Segment” with your favorite ones. We’re going to…we’re thinking of interviewing the people who wrote them, go in-depth with them, ask them about their theories because…
Micah: Provide direct links too, I would say, to the actual editorial.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, to make to it easier for us. Because those articles are really, really excellent!
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: They’re just well-written. They cover…they’re just great! So, we want to use the ones that you guys like the best. So, please send them in. Thanks for that. Now, Laura.
Laura: Yes, thank you Andrew. For the past few months, Elysa of MuggleNet Fan Fiction and myself have been working to starting a charity with the intention of raising awareness and funds for the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. The situation over there is… Frankly, it’s sickening. Basically, there’s genocide in Sudan – millions of refugees are being killed and starved. And the lack of awareness is making it harder to fix the problem. After the Holocaust we said, “Never again!” and it’s absolutely necessary that we uphold that promise. If you’d like to help us out with that, you can visit OperationSudan.org. I’ll be posting that link over at the Fan Forums and see what we can do about putting it in the Show Notes?
Andrew: Yeah, absolutely.
Laura: All right. Awesome.
Andrew: You guys have created an excellent website.
Laura: Mhm. Thank you.
Andrew: Along with the help of lo and behold, MuggleNet Greg.
Laura: Mhm. Yeah.
Eric: The real MuggleNet Greg.
Laura: He designed the layout for us.
Andrew: Not the John Noe MuggleNet Greg, the real MuggleNet Greg.
Eric: The REAL MuggleNet Greg.
Laura: The REAL MuggleNet Greg.
Andrew: [Laughs] Yeah. And…
Laura: Greg was so good about it. He really has been instrumental in just making the site look great. So…
Andrew: And you guys have put a lot of thought into this site and I was looking through it.
Laura: Yes, it’s been a long time in the making.
Andrew: Very good. Thank you, Laura.
And last but not least with the announcements, as we said earlier, we do want to apologize for last week’s show. [laughs]
Laura: Really. [laughs]
Andrew: My computer had ran into a few problems. It just said to me last week, “Sorry, dude. I’m not helping you out.” And then we were rushing to get it out because we always try and get it out Sunday nights, so you can have it for Monday morning. You know, get it before the week begins. So, we do apologize. And of course, our No. 1 consideration is making you guys get the show on time and with great quality, and [laughs] last week we failed. So…
Eric: Andrew, I think you should say it without laughing. I think it’s more than quality issues as well. I think it’s becoming content. And a lot of the complaints I read over in the Fan Forums were that it was less content and more inside jokes between us and John Noe and PotterCast and stuff like that.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: So, content.
Laura: I saw. [laughs]
Eric: I mean… Yeah. When you say that the content is bad and we’re sorry because our equipment sucks, it’s also our fault, and I’d like to apologize and I think everyone should.
Andrew: No! Oh no! I know it’s our fault! Absolutely!
Eric: Because we just went off topic way too many times.
Micah: Right.
Laura: We did. And I saw a lot of people upset about Emerson’s power-hour.
[Micah and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Well, listen guys…
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Let me give you a little secret. Ben is a little lenient on what goes in and what doesn’t. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah, I noticed. I noticed.
Andrew: But no, really, we are dedicated to getting it out the best that it can be because in the end it is all about you guys. We’re just the idiots who sit here and talk to each other about Harry Potter. Ah, so we do apologize. And from now on they will be top-notch quality.
Eric: We promise.
Andrew: Always and forever.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Oh god. Toujours pur! That’s on my class ring, did you know that?
Andrew: No, actually I didn’t. I was completely unaware. Thanks for getting us off topic after we just apologize.
Eric: You’re welcome. Let’s go…
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: No, let’s go back to Peter Pettigrew – this week’s topic.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
The Black Family Tree
Andrew: No, no. Well first, before we get to Peter Pettigrew, there was so much news that happened over the past week. Order of the Phoenix casting, mainly.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: And then the Black Family Tree – the little card that JK “Rowling” is donating to Book Aid International for charity. First off, we’ll start with the Black Family Tree. This reveals bits of new information.
Eric: I just depends how much we saw of it, really. We didn’t see that much.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: No, we didn’t. We only saw part of it. Most notably the Black family has relations to the Potter family and the Longbottom family.
Laura: The Weasley family too.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Wait, Potter? Wait, Potter?
Laura: I wasn’t…
Andrew: Yes, Potter.
Eric: Potter?
Andrew and Micah: YES!
Andrew: Pot-ter!
Eric: I just stared at that for a half-an-hour and I didn’t get the Potter, where was that?
Andrew: Arcturus is also in there, who is rumored to be the R.A.B. Now that Arcturus that we see on the Family Tree, he is deceased, but a relative, that would make sense, that would make perfect sense.
Micah: Right. For his middle name.
Andrew: Right. A couple… What I found interesting, was on this little portion of it, we see two, what Jo I assumed made out to be, two little black holes with missing names.
Laura: Yeah, where Mrs. Black blasted them off the Family Tree.
Andrew: I forgot about that.
Laura: Yeah, remember in the book? That would be Sirius and then I think Andromeda, Tonks’ Mom.
Andrew: Ahhh, I’m sorry. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah. They sounded to me like cigarette burns, that’s what I kind of…
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: That’s what they sort of look like, doesn’t it?
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: So that’s that. Should we be hoping to see this entire thing before it goes on sale?
Eric: It’s the question. I think you’ll get it after. I don’t think we’ll see it all before it goes on sale.
Andrew: I say that because they are having an open house…
Eric: Ahhh.
Andrew: …with all the items that will be up for auction. Now, you pay ten pounds I think it is, you can walk in, take a picture of that, theoretically.
Eric: But, can you?
Andrew: If nobody catches you.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I don’t know. I don’t know. [laughs]
Eric: I think it’s a matter of…doing it…doing it…
Andrew: If someone can jot it down, it’s completely…
Laura: Tell them… Tell them that you are an official photographer for MuggleCast.
Eric: Yeah. Uh-huh. No, they’d pay thousands of dollars for…
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Micah: Well, somehow I’ll get my hands on it. I mean, I got the Dumbledore’s toast. I got the Ford Anglia. So, it’s only a matter of time before I get my hands on it.
Laura: Yeah!
Eric: Yeah, get… No, get… Yeah, you have contacts, Micah.
Andrew: What’s sad is that you’re not joking. That’s the sad part. [laughs]
Micah: I know. I did spend a lot of money on that toast.
Laura: Yeah, how do you think we’re all getting to Vegas in July?
Micah: Yep.
Eric: Yeah, it’s Micah Tan.
[Micah and Laura laugh]
Eric: And his contacts.
Andrew: But seriously if somebody took a picture of this… Of course, we would love…
Micah: Siriusly?
Andrew: Yeah, no pun intended. If someone took a picture of this and sent this in to MuggleNet or even one of the other sites, this could seriously decrease the value of it because the hype won’t be as big. You know what I’m saying?
Laura: Yeah, you just have a copy it saved to your desktop now.
Eric and Andrew: Yeah.
Andrew: Who cares? Well, I mean it is the original thing. This is hand-written, correct?
Laura: I think so.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, and her signature is right there. So…
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: I think…
Laura: That’s definitely something a die-hard fan would love to have, but at the same time I think the knowledge is equally as important to the fans.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: So, if they already have, you know, a jpeg of it, I don’t anybody is going to be too fussed for it.
Eric: I highly doubt… I don’t think they need to show the entire thing to sell it. In fact, it’s best if they didn’t. The real question is, the people who buy it – will they want to spend all that money on it and then share it with the world? Or would they want it to themselves? Whoever buys.
Andrew: I would think. I would probably…oooh, geez. What would you guys do? Would you keep it for yourselves?
Laura: I don’t know. [laughs] I don’t know because…
Eric: I’d wait until Book 7 and then give it out.
Laura: …if I spent all that money on it, and then it was like everyone else could have it for free – I don’t know. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: It’s just, kind of, I don’t know.
Andrew: That’s a good point. But then again you know THE original copy that Jo actually drew out, which is…
Laura: Yeah, that’s true.
Eric: You know what?
Andrew: Priceless! I mean, except for at this auction. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah. [laughs]
Eric: Then later on, you’ll find 100,000 hand-draw, you know, family trees on eBay signed by JKR.
Andrew: So it is interesting. We look forward to seeing that being sold. The little book over 70-something words, I can’t remember off the top of my head, do you guys? 70? 72 words?
Laura: Mmmm. Don’t remember.
Andrew: It was in the seventies – 70 words. That never made it online, so I would think that they would tell whomever won, “Look, just don’t post it online.” So…
Eric: I don’t think they can do that because it is the person’s property then.
Laura: I guess we will find out.
Order Of The Phoenix Casting
Andrew: And then also the Order of the Phoenix casting. Of course there were several big announcements this week. Most notably we have our Luna. Imelda Staunton was confirmed, which we’ve talked about her in a previous show, but I would just like to say I think she’s perfect for the role.
Laura: She looks great. She really does.
Micah: Yep. Especially if you look at her picture over on, what is it? Internet Movie Database?
Eric: Yeah, IMDb.
Laura: Yeah.
Micah: That shot of her, looks exactly like Umbridge.
Eric: IMDb is my homepage.
Andrew: Yeah, IMDb is a great site. She just looks perfect for the part. I can’t wait to see her in costume, and I just can’t wait to see her acting. And the newbie, well, the young newbie, 14-year-old Evanna Lynch from Ireland, who actually attended the open casting call just like a billion other people and actually made it in. Which I had found interesting because even before the open casting call, correct me if I am wrong, but Warner Bros. had narrowed it down to five people. Correct? So, what happened? Any ideas? Was Evanna that good?
Laura: She might be. You know, maybe they had those five people narrowed down, you know, as the five best out of everyone they saw, but maybe none of them fit just what they were looking for. And that excites me.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: It gets me pumped up because I think that this girl could, if she’s really that good, then she can really do a spot-on job of playing Luna. I’m really excited about that.
Andrew: I just think it is interesting, but yeah, like Laura said, it is pretty exciting. And then of course, she’s had background with the brush of fame. She was in the hospital for…I don’t think it was mentioned.
Eric: I mean, put it this way. If you can already Google her, she’s good fame material. She can handle it well.
Andrew: Yeah, by fame I meant that she had just, she had gotten Book 5 signed. She looks like a good Luna, yes?
Laura: Yeah, I think she looks pretty good.
Andrew: She matches the physical features, yes, we’re going for? [laughs]
Micah: Yep.
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: And then there were some other people that were cast, but there’s not exactly much to say with anyone because we haven’t seen or heard much from them. Of course they’ve all had some experience, but they are not huge movie stars. Yet again, not exactly big roles. So, you can’t expect much.
Eric: But, you can, in a way. You can still expect…
Andrew: Explain, Eric. Elaborate.
Eric: There is an old adage and it is kind of actually annoying even to me. But it says, “There are no small roles…” [stutters] Sorry. “There are no small roles, just small actors.” What this means basically, even if you only have one line as a character on stage or in a movie, you could make that simply the best line there is. And you put your heart into it, you think how would your character say this, and you establish yourself on screen. Even without words there have been characters that are, you know, bold. And from a cinematographic point of view, they stand out. And so I think even though Kingsley Shacklebolt might just show up at, you know, Privet Drive and just be standing next to Moody as he says, you know, “This is the different teacher than you’ve had before.” Brendan Gleeson who has obviously been with Daniel Radcliffe, Kingsley might just stand there. But at the same time, you know who he is, we know who he is, and we can fun with that.
Andrew: And then of course on a smaller note (it sort of got overshadowed by the wonders of Luna Lovegood and Umbridge and the like), that Robbie Jarvis is going to be playing young James Potter. Which tells us that yes, Snape’s bad memory would indeed be in the movie. Which is exciting because I like seeing the stuff from the past. We haven’t seen as much in the past. We haven’t seen many past, you know what I mean, like seen…
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, we really haven’t.
Andrew: Because this, we’re going to be seeing a younger Snape then, right?
Eric: We’ll be seeing younger…
Laura: Yeah, that means we’ll be seeing younger Marauders, younger Lily…
Andrew: Everything, yeah.
Eric: A younger everybody which is… I think they really need to capitalize on this because they’ve cut all the past stuff out of Movie 3, and the only past thing we’ve had is the Chamber of Secrets, you know? The thing with Tom Riddle and Hagrid, and that really didn’t happen.
Andrew: Goblet of Fire too…
Laura: Well that’s not true, in Goblet of Fire, you had the court and everything.
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: Oh, right.
Andrew: But those didn’t give us great looks it was just…
Laura: No, was it just me or when you saw that, they didn’t really make everyone look younger?
Andrew: No, no, they never try and they didn’t try this time.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: Yeah, I meant as far as life at Hogwarts by the way, when going back into the past.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah so, that will be interesting.
Eric: Also, I wanted to mention with Robbie Jarvis cast, there were a few people that were suggesting since Harry and James look so much alike, why didn’t they just get Dan Radcliffe to portray James?
Andrew: Yeah, good idea.
Laura: I don’t think they look that alike though. I mean…
Eric: No, I don’t think they do either. And that’s what I wanted to point out too, I don’t think, it’s better they cast someone different entirely because first of all, I doubt they could make him up to look any different and I think it would just be weird.
Andrew: Well…
Eric: It would be more weird than…
Andrew: It would probably look weird, but if they were on a budget or something, it might not have been a bad idea. You could easily, come on, you got the make-up and stuff. They took a nose off of Ralph Fiennes, they can do anything. So…
Eric: Well true, true, but look at, sorry, Richard Harris in Chamber of Secrets when they made him look younger or whatever. He looked completely different. That actually just disproves my point, but I mean he looked really different there.
Laura: I don’t know, for some reason I can’t see Dan doing the cocky thing very well.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: I don’t know. I’m not insulting his acting skills, but I think he does a really good job portraying the role he’s in and I don’t know, maybe it’s just because I’ve seen him in four movies being so noble that I can’t actually see him picking on someone.
Eric: Yeah, I also think Harry – sorry – Dan’s Harry portrays more the Lily side of Harry than the James side of Harry.
Laura: Yes. Yes, I think it does.
Eric: I think in movies. And I think that would probably create a problem if he were to do James.
News
Andrew: Now, moving on to our main discussion of the week, as promised, [says in Remus Lupin voice] “Peter Pettigrew.” What movie?
Eric: Petti-grew-oo.
Laura: Remus Lupin.
Andrew: Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
Laura: Yay!
Eric: Wait, what? You cut out, sorry, what?
Andrew: Ah, you lost, that’s the point.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Let’s just inform everyone of some few basic facts. He is an unregistered Animagus who can turn into a rat. He is short, balding, and plump. [laughs] Peter sacrificed his right hand to renew Voldemort’s body and he bears a silver hand in replacement from his master, which of course is Lord Voldemort. Ummm, nothing is official but he is considered at least half-blood since he was accepted as a Death Eater. And all of that information is provided to us by, no, not the HP-Lexicon, but MuggleNet’s very own Encyclopedia. [laughs] You know, we’ve been checking…
Laura: We actually use our own Encyclopedia.
Eric: Wow.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I was checking the Lexicon this week and then I realized: wait a second, we have all of this on our own website. [laughs] So…
[Everyone laughs]
The Rat And His Master
Andrew: Ah, that’s funny. So, we have a variety of questions to cover. Number one, most importantly, what drew him to Lord Voldemort?
Laura: Lord Voldemort’s power, I think, because we know Pettigrew will definitely side up with the biggest bully on the playground and it seemed at the time that Voldemort definitely had the upper hand. And then of course, his downfall to Harry, he went and hid for twelve years.
Micah: But do you think Pettigrew went right after Voldemort, or do you think Voldemort kind of sought out Pettigrew? Because I know it’s hard…
Laura: I think Pettigrew went for Voldemort.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Pettigrew had to go for Voldemort.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: That’s the whole point of making Pettigrew Secret-Keeper, was that Voldemort wouldn’t seek him out. So, I think Voldemort, or the majority of it had to be Pettigrew going to Voldemort saying, “I have this big secret for you.” And even though Pettigrew blames Voldemort and says he has ways or persuasion, Voldemort wouldn’t have just gone out on the street, picked a few people, you know, who were on the good side and said, “I’m going to make you my servants,” because he would have picked all the purebloods and stuff. So, yeah.
Micah: But he was a close friend of James. Why wouldn’t Voldemort want to try…
Eric: Well, that’s what made him so good.
Micah: …seek out and convince those people surrounding the Potters to sort of turn against them.
Eric: Well no, he would, but at the same time would he just go out again? He was their most pitiful friend. Would he just say, “Let’s go all the…” I think he would try and convert Sirius or Remus first if he was just looking for friends of the Potters.
Laura: They said that Pettigrew had been passing information to Voldemort a year before they died, so he probably went to Voldemort ages before he became Secret-Keeper and Voldemort probably said, “You need to become Secret-Keeper. You need to do something to convince them that you should do it,” and it worked.
Eric: Well, it was suggested as a joke actually, according to Sirius.
Laura: A joke?
Eric: Yeah, he said he suggested Peter as a joke almost.
Laura: Oh, really?
Eric: Yep. Because who…
Laura: Oh I don’t remember that.
Eric: Who would possibly suspect…yeah.
Andrew: Now as Micah said, they were close, Pettigrew was close friends with James, but I just… Is that an excuse for why Pettigrew went to Voldemort?
Laura: No! None of it’s an excuse for what he did.
Andrew: I know…
Eric: No, there is no excuse for what he did.
Andrew: But why? What made him? I mean, because he grew up in a life – he was surrounded by, he grew up with James and Sirius. He spent a lot of time with them at Hogwarts, correct?
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: So I just don’t understand why. Why? Why, Peter?
Laura: Because he wants to saddle up to anyone who has power.
Eric: But at the same time… I don’t know. I think, they definitely characterized him in Prisoner of Azkaban they said, you know, they actually said it to his face, they called him the person who would shackle up to anybody who had power and, you know, leech off them. But at the same time, there had to have been a point where Peter was then saying, you know, “My side no longer has the power.” Except I don’t know when that would have been, but for him to go to Voldemort – I mean, if you’re going to be with anybody who’s anybody from the good side, you should be with the Potters. And that’s who he was. So even though Peter was actually on the best of the good side, he just still chose to go over to the bad.
Micah: But even thought he was a part of that group, do you guys think he was picked on a little bit? Like he wasn’t the star of the group.
Andrew: I’m sure he was.
Laura: Oh, yeah of course.
Micah: So maybe that was part of it, too. Maybe part of it was, “Look how powerful I can be by going over to Lord Voldemort’s side and look what I will be able to do.”
Laura: It’s entirely possible.
Eric: I think that’s…
Laura: And it’s just as immature as Snape taking things out on Harry for what his father did, you know? I’ve always found it extremely immature that you have people who will take things that you did when you were 14, 15 years old and hold them against you when you’re an adult. It’s like, everyone makes mistakes.
Eric: Well, at the same time, James never seemed to be one to apologize. His cockiness may have subsided, but I don’t think Pettigrew ever got an apology or anything that he was due because nobody, including, you know, Sirius and Remus, felt that he was due one.
Laura: No, probably not.
Eric: So I think that Pettigrew’s turning is a slap in the face, and is a “Hey, you don’t appreciate me, maybe Voldemort will more,” which we know is not true, but I think that’s probably what it was.
Laura: I’m sure that there was some of that in there. Definitely. Along with the fact that he probably felt that as someone, you know, working so close with the Potters and Dumbledore, he was at high risk to be killed. And he probably figured, “If I give this information to Voldemort, then I’m on their side and they won’t hurt me,” which is very untrue.
Eric: I like that. He valued his own life, which was good.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: …and not the life of the Marauders as a whole.
Secret-Keeper
Andrew: Now, why did Dumbledore let him become Secret-Keeper? I mean, in a way, you think, “Okay well, it’s because he’s always hanging around them,” but, around James, but could that be the full reason why?
Eric: Is it…is it in my memory that, uhhh, maybe, ummm…is it just in my head that maybe Dumbledore thought that it might have been Pettigrew that was sneaking information to the Potters and he still let them make him Secret-Keeper anyway?
Laura: I don’t think he had anyone specific in mind. I know Dumbledore offered to be the Potters’ Secret-Keeper.
Eric: Yeah, I know that, too, but see what happened was, ummm…
Laura: I think they knew that one of their friends was betraying them.
Eric: Yeah, and so I think, even though Dumbledore has always been characterized as, you know, valuing choice and all this other stuff. Even though he sat by as they made Peter the Secret-Keeper, I think he probably should have objected to it.
Laura: What could he do though? Because, I mean, the Potters were adults. He couldn’t tell them what to do.
Eric: I’m just saying, I really, honestly don’t know why it wasn’t Dumbledore anyway because that would have been the absolute…
Laura: Because if it was Dumbledore, then the Potters wouldn’t have been murdered and there would be no Harry Potter. There would be no Harry Potter series. [laughs]
Eric: Well, that’s a good thing. No, that’s a good thing. Not for the content-wise, but…
Laura: There’d be no MuggleNet and there would be no MuggleCast.
Andrew: How is it good, Eric?
Eric: Because James and Lily would be alive and there still would be a Harry, just not the Harry we know, so…
Laura: And there would be no story. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, but Dumbledore should have been the Secret-Keeper if the Potters wanted to survive, that’s all I’m saying.
Laura: Yeah, of course!
Eric: Well, okay, so we understand each other.
Micah: Didn’t they talk about Sirius being it, too? But they thought that was too obvious.
Laura: Yeah, they wanted to use Sirius originally.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: But I think it was actually Sirius who suggested Pettigrew.
Eric: Yeah, it was.
Laura: Because he, he basically said in Prisoner of Azkaban, “I as good as killed them.”
Eric: Yeah, because he joked, which is what I said. He joked about choosing Peter and then lo and behold Peter was the upper hand…or had the upper hand.
Pettigrew In Slytherin
Andrew: Why wasn’t he in Slyth… [stutters and then laughs] Slytherin, because of the way he was so self-protective?
Laura: I think it’s proof that not all bad wizards are in Slytherin because of course, in Sorcerer’s Stone, it’s either Hagrid or Ron, I can’t remember, who told Harry that.
Eric: No, it’s both.
Laura: It’s both?
Eric: Yeah, because…
Laura: But I think that’s more of a stereotype type thing. I mean, obviously you have a lot of dark wizards that come from Slytherin, but I really don’t think that you necessarily have to be in Slytherin to be a bad wizard.
Micah: Yeah, and what he did, he did display bravery even if it wasn’t bravery in the good sense.
Eric: Yeah. Which is…
Laura: And I wouldn’t call him a dark wizard anyway. [laughs]
Eric: No. [laughs]
Micah: No. [laughs]
Eric: Micah is entirely correct.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: And also, if you think about it, even the Hufflepuffs are characterized as being bad people. You know, when they seclude themselves from Harry with Justin Finch-Fletchley thing in Chamber of Secrets…
Laura: Yeah, they were being loyal.
Eric: Everybody has…they were being snooty and…and, you know, royal pains in the butts to Harry and you know, they weren’t being nice people, nice, accepting, generous people, which shows that there aren’t many in any house. There aren’t…you know? Not everybody is.
Andrew: It’s just several factors. I mean, being bad is a personality thing. Of course, that’s one of the factors. I think that goes into your sorting, but there’s other things too.
Eric: Maybe it was his choice. Maybe all the power was in Gryffindor so he was like, “I’m going to shackle up to Gryffindor. Make me Gryffindor.”
Wormtail The Wizard
Andrew: So…so what powers did he possess? What kind of magical ability?
Eric: He’s good at dealing with things – being a rat for 13, 14 years, you know? Actually, do you guys think… Here’s a good question, do you guys think that he ever revealed himself to Percy?
Andrew: No! No! If he had…
Eric: All those times living as him.
Andrew: The surprise would have been just big as it was with Ron. I don’t see why he would. And I’m pretty sure, I remember reading that he did stay in secrecy that entire time.
Laura: Yeah, I don’t think he would, really. Because as corrupt as Percy is, I don’t think that he’s going to be a Voldemort-supporter.
Eric: I agree with that. My problem was of course, well, the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, it all happened so fast when he came out of that, and he was so used to walking around like a human and stuff, it just seemed like he had done it before or something. But that was just probably due to how he acted it, you know, in the movie and how it was directed and everything like that.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: Because he was…a lot of people complained too, when talking about Timothy Spall as Peter, they say that he did it too mousy, you know…too not human enough and it was almost silly watching this overgrown rat-type thing. But, I just felt that..
Laura: But in the book, that’s how it described him though. That he, that even as a human he seemed rat-like.
Eric: He was rather done well in Goblet of Fire, I felt, so it was just a matter of what we saw in the movie.
Andrew: I…I would agree.
Missing In Action
Eric: So now, if Peter didn’t ever reveal himself to Percy and everything like that, where was…where was Peter in Book 5? Because he wasn’t mentioned, like, at all. And even in Book 6 he was only mentioned in the very beginning, do you remember that?
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: With Snape in “Spinner’s End.” But he wasn’t mentioned at all the read of the book. He wasn’t even, at the end of Book 5, he wasn’t even in the big battle with all the Death Eaters.
Laura: I think in an interview, I can’t remember specifically which one, but someone asked where he was during Book 5 and she said, “You will find out eventually.”
Andrew: And we didn’t find out really in Half-Blood Prince.
Laura: So, he might have been. Well there’s still one more book.
Andrew: I mean, we didn’t find out in Half-Blood Prince.
Laura: No, there’s still one more book. I think…
Andrew: My thoughts on that is…
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: …if they don’t show up in a book then they’re not doing anything that is super-important.
Eric: No, I think it’s a red herring.
Laura: Either that, either that or they’re doing something VERY important [laughs] that we’re not supposed to know about.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: I just don’t understand why you would avoid mentioning him. It’s just like, is that Jo’s writing style that if you don’t mention someone then it’s assumed that…? It’s just weird.
Laura: Well, not necessarily.
Eric: There is such a thing as a red herring.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: And you know, the absence of signs is a sign.
Laura: I think she wanted to draw our attention away from a lot of things in Book 5 and in Book 6 as well, just by not mentioning the Department of Mysteries really. I think she’s trying to draw our attention away from that so she can set up, you know…
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: The plot for Book 7.
Eric: Traditionally the style with J.K. too, when she doesn’t want to mention something, she’ll still at least have it exist in the book. Like it won’t completely, completely drop out. Even though it seems like it will, it will still there a little bit. Just enough so that when she does bring it back, we’ll still remember it. Such as Gilderoy Lockhart and things like that. You know, there was the mention, I think it was in Book 3, which was after Lockhart that Hermione said – No! It was Book 4! – when Hermione was going on about how she doesn’t like people for how the looked and then Ron joked Lockhart. And you know, made that, “Cough! Lockhart! Cough! Ha! Lockhart!”
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: And that was just her way, you know, obviously we saw Lockhart in Book 5.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Which is really weird because I just completely didn’t think of that, but he’s there and he’s ever-present in the background.
Laura: And something that that reminds me of is in…I want to say it was in Book 5 when Hermione was asking Fred and George where they were getting all this money for their joke shop. One of the twins said, “Ask us no questions and we’ll tell you no lies.” And I think that that is her attitude towards it.
Eric: I agree. The only difference is between lies and what she actually changes her mind about.
Laura: I don’t think…
Eric: I…
Laura: She’s not… I don’t think she’s going to lie, but I think it was definitely a present theme.
Eric: Well yeah, but the question is, will she actually ever…are any of the major book secrets do you think she actually changed her mind about? That might actually change, it might actually maybe contradict a possible… See we have to understand there is so many things that she has to finish up with Book 7…are… Could it be possible that maybe, once she gives us this answer, this final answer, that they actually contradict one or maybe even more things that she’s actually said in the past?
Laura: It’s possible, I mean, when you’re writing something as epic as this…
Eric: Of course, which is…
Laura: …there are going to be inconsistencies.
Eric: She’s been writing for over fifteen years hasn’t she?
Laura: Mhm. Yeah.
Andrew: And she said on her website, that, just a couple weeks ago, that she was trying to avoid, you know, getting screwed up with the plot. But, it’s just going to happen, especially with a book so in-depth like this and it’s already turned up so far and it’s…parts of it have been fixed in some revisions of the books, but it, you know, I think it’s impossible. Jo does great, but, you know…
Laura: But she’s human.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
How Did He Find The Weasleys
Andrew: Yeah, oh…so how did he get to the Weasleys’? How did Percy pick him up? Could he have got into a store and…or, he was just crawling on the street?
Laura: Did it ever say? I don’t think it said.
Eric: I’d be more interested…
Andrew: No.
Eric: I’d be more interested in figuring out why, like, if Mr. Weasley was all like hanging around in a coffee shop and saw a rat, why he’d want to give it to his son, Percy, as a pet. You know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: “Oh look, a rat! This would be a good pet.”
Andrew: “A rat, cool!”
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: “Cool! It’s a Muggle rat.” You know?
Andrew: But, did…
Laura: Well, it’s something they can afford.
Andrew: Did Pettigrew intend to get into the Weasley family?
Laura: Yes, he did.
Andrew: Okay.
Laura: It’s…
Eric: I think we can give him that.
Laura: …in Prisoner of Azkaban, I’m pretty sure it was…
Eric: Where it says that he shackled up to make sure that he knew the news.
Laura: Yeah, they were like, Sirius was like, “Yeah, you made sure that you, you know, got into a wizarding household where you could hear the news, hear if your old master had come back” and all this other stuff. So, I think, it’s not, I’m not sure that he was looking for the Weasleys specifically, but he was definitely looking for a wizarding family.
Andrew: I mean, it’s completely possible he could’ve been aiming to get into the Weasleys. And they are pretty gullible so…[laughs] especially Mr. Weasley, you know, with his Muggle fascination.
Laura: What? You think he picked up the rat and started talking to it, Andrew? Was he like…
Andrew: No. I’m saying his fasc…
Laura: “Are you an evil wizard?” [laughs]
Andrew: I’m saying his fascination with Muggle anything. He’s just fascinated with anything…
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: The guy’s like, you know? So…
Laura: Well, he’s very curious.
Andrew: Yes, yes.
Laura: And I think that if he found just a normal garden rat, he would…that would be something he would like to have.
Andrew: And since they’re poor, they can’t exactly afford it, so Percy gets it. It, you know, makes sense.
Reveal Yourself
Eric: Okay, I guess the next thing is why didn’t he attack Harry prior to Book 3? But I think that’s also already been answered in the book, too.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Where he needed the assurance that, if he was going to act, that he needed to…or maybe that was…was that about Lucius Malfoy?
Laura: No, that was about Pettigrew, he would need somewhere to go. And we…and he doesn’t want to do anything unless it directly benefits him.
Eric: Right.
Laura: You know?
Micah: It was just an added bonus.
Eric: Okay.
Laura: He wouldn’t want to do it under Dumbledore’s nose…
Eric: Yeah, so wait, guys.
Laura: …unless Voldemort was back.
Peter Gets No Love
Eric: Now, Pettigrew really is the character in the books, next to Snape, who gets no love. And, would you guys agree with that? Because I mean, here he is and he’s this, and he is a bad person, I will agree with that, that’s been argued. He is a bad person, he’s chosen all bad things, but he’s really had to take the crap from the Marauders all his life and here he goes and he signs up with Voldemort and causes the whole series to spin out of control, but at the same time, he still gets no love. And when we did see him, the very little we did in Book 6, he was being abused by Snape, who was also abused by the Marauders. He’s getting abused and he’s getting, you know? He’s this little servant-slave thing “make-me-tea-or-else” type. He’s not getting any kind of affection from either side.
Laura: Yeah. I wouldn’t give him any affection.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Besides the fact that he’s, you know, “only a mother could love him.” What do you guys think?
Laura: Besides the fact that he betrayed his best friends to their death… Why doesn’t anybody love him?
Eric: Why doesn’t anybody?
[Laura laughs]
Eric: No, really nobody did before. He was this short little, fat kid and McGonagall never treated him properly.
Laura: Well, we don’t know for sure that no one loved him. I mean, he definitely got a lot of tough treatment, but I don’t think it’s an excuse at all because…
Eric: No, I’m not saying that’s an excuse.
Laura: With me and my friends, we make fun of each other all the time.
Eric: I agree!
Laura: And it’s just…I’m not going to go and betray them.
Eric: There is a point when too much is too much though. And they can respect that. I mean, it’s just… No, I’m not giving…
Laura: Well yeah, but they were young people and they weren’t thinking. And they weren’t expecting him to do what he did.
Eric: Well right…exactly. And believe me, I am not saying… This is completely different from the Barty Crouch Jr. thing. I am not saying…
[Laura laughs]
Eric: …that…I wasn’t going bring it up. No, this is not saying that Wormtail deserves love…everybody deserves love…but at the same time, I’m not justifying his actions. I’m just saying that, you know, he really took a lot of crap and it’s really unfortunate that he still has to take crap with Voldemort. And he’s never really going to…the good side…the bad side isn’t any better than the good side. In fact, it’s worse.
Laura: Mhm.
Micah: Well, are you saying that Pettigrew should have gotten more love, or Wormtail should be getting more love?
Eric: I would assume that it would be…I don’t know. It is interesting…just the fact that you classified them as, like, two different people. Pettigrew was… I see the character of Peter Pettigrew as being somebody who was, you know, always not as skilled as he was able to let on and he was satisfied with, at least, you know, just living the life of the greats. But, there was a point where, I think he had to become his own person, and kind of take his own, you know, take his own path and that was when he decided that the rap he’d been getting, maybe he could do without it if he… He saw himself as becoming valuable once he started getting information from the Potters. And this wasn’t just about their Secret-Keeper, this was obviously a year before, but I think there was a point where he started seeing that he was a valuable person, but not to the good side anymore. That he was starting to become valuable to somebody else and maybe he wanted to try to see. Maybe he did want to try, maybe he just wanted to give it a little dab into the dark side and see if he could actually be possibly more appreciated or more happy with himself on the bad side, which I actually think he is, probably more happy.
Laura: I just see him as, sort of, a pathetic person, really. Like he’ll…
Eric: Well, he is.
Laura: He’ll get himself pulled in way too far. You know, he’ll get in over his head and he won’t even really have realized what he has done. I think, possibly if he knew, if he could look into the future and see what all was going to happen to him in the future, he probably wouldn’t do what he did but not because of, you know, out of, you know, love for the Potters…
Eric: I agree.
Laura: Out of, you know…
Eric: I agree entirely.
Laura: …love for himself.
Eric: Yeah. For himself, I think, looking back, he would probably change it. Not for the Potters. I agree with that.
Loyalty: Snape vs. Pettigrew
Andrew: Here’s another question: Who is more trusted by Lord Voldemort? Snape or Pettigrew? And I’ll…
Eric: Snape!!
Andrew: Okay. Great. Thanks, Eric. I just like to voice my opinion here that, yeah, at this point, I think it’s Snape too. Pettigrew’s too weak. Snape’s got the trust and the power.
Eric: Even…
Laura: Yeah, I think so, too.
Eric: Even after…
Andrew: Pettigrew’s got the trust and that’s it.
Laura: But, I think that it’s possible that Voldemort would use his followers to spy on one another. I think that having…
Andrew: To test loyalty?
Laura: Yeah, I think that having Pettigrew and Snape in the same house was sort of a double win for him, to keep them, you know, in line…
Eric: A check.
Laura: To keep them spying on each other.
Micah: See that’s the thing. I mean…
Laura: Yeah?
Micah: Wormtail has shown his loyalty throughout the series to Voldemort, whereas Snape has been the one who has always been in question, so why would we all of a sudden naturally assume that it’s Snape that’s watching over Wormtail as opposed to the other way around?
Eric: And I like that.
Laura: Well…
Eric: That’s a brilliant…
Laura: I think it’s both ways, personally.
Eric: Well, it’s just, the way Micah just worded that. It fit exactly what I wanted to ask. And that was brilliant. That was brilliant, Micah because, I don’t know. It makes…it’s a complete opposite. It makes sense. We should be suspecting Snape would be, you know, the one who’s being spied on.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: Because Pettigrew has clearly said…you know, Pettigrew…it’s not a question if he’s good or bad, because he is bad. And, the problem is, he can’t be trusted by Voldemort because Voldemort chooses to value the morals of it for, you know, Voldemort’s not a moral person, but yet he realizes that Pettigrew only does what he wants out of fear instead of wanting to. And I guess he looks…
Laura: And that Pettigrew would leave at the drop of a hat if the opportunity came up and it would benefit him and keep him safe.
Eric: I guess he sees that, but fear is a lot more powerful than choice. I think Voldemort would, at least, try and think that way, but he’s not.
Laura: Mhm. Oh, he’s…I mean, he’s afraid to leave and probably even more afraid since he’s, you know, allegedly being watched over by Snape.
Eric: And assuming that…assuming that Voldemort trusts Snape, he’s trusting somebody, who, even if he was bad, would only want to be in it and doesn’t… Snape doesn’t feel compelled to have to be in it, you know.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: Even if Snape were a bad guy, it’s still a choice he makes, and I think that’s interesting to observe that Snape is actually choosing to be on the bad side whereas Peter is choosing, but also, he fears for his life and it’s more… I think Peter is more likely to stay on the bad side than Snape and yet Voldemort’s Snape…trusts Snape more.
Micah: Yeah and I don’t even know if “weak” is the right word, because somebody mentioned this before, to describe Wormtail. I don’t necessarily think he’s weak when you consider all the things that he’s done throughout the series.
Laura: He’s…I mean.
Andrew: Who said that? That wasn’t me, was it?
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I didn’t…
Laura: I don’t remember. I honestly don’t remember.
Andrew: Well, because, I didn’t say “weak,” I just said he wasn’t as powerful.
Laura: I think when you compare him to the likes of some of the Death Eaters, he is weak, but he’s definitely…he’s a good rat. That’s what he is, I mean, he’s good at sneaking around and…
Eric: He really is.
Laura: …gathering information
Andrew: He’s sort of like Peeves, only more worthwhile.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Just, sort of like the attitude and, I don’t know. He’s sort of annoying, but…
Laura: I find Peeves to be funny.
Eric: I find Peeves…
Andrew: Peeves is funny, but he’s annoying… He annoys Harry.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: You know?
Eric: All his strange words…”ickle” and…
Andrew: Yes, yes.
Laura: [Laughs] I wish they had Peeves in the movie.
Eric: [In a funny voice, imitating Peeves] “Potty-wee lad. Potter-wotter wee lad. Gah.”
The Silver Hand
Andrew: So, what is the silver hand meant for, if anyone…? I see it as, like, Voldemort’s reward to him…to Pettigrew.
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: Like, check out this silver hand… Ooo.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: He’s a rat, exactly, he’s fascinated by shiny things.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Like sewer pipes, right?
[Everyone still laughing]
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. And cheese.
Laura: In all seriousness, I think the hand probably has some magical ability.
Eric: It’s topic, it’s topic, should Voldemort, you know, what exactly is silver? Now think of this. Okay, you just brought me back, I’m not going to give you your regular hand back, I’m going to give you a silver hand back. I don’t even think Voldemort thought about it. I don’t even think it was a second thought, like, “Gee, you were actually a decent, you know, friend to me, I’m going to give you a silver hand.” I…
Andrew: What’s the advantage though?
Laura: It’s probably got some kind of magical ability. I really think so…
Eric: It has to.
Andrew: I guess more powerful spells if you have your wand in that hand?
Micah: Well, Jo said that people naturally assume that, since it was silver and silver bullets kill werewolves, that there was going to be some kind of connection there, but she sort of struck down the whole Lupin thing when she updated her site.
Eric: Yeah, but I…
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Why does nobody accept the idea that it could be the bad werewolf…that other guy?
Micah: Greyback?
Eric: That…Greyback.
Laura: I think it’s possible. I think…
Eric: Whenever I mention that, everybody goes silent and I’m like, you know, that could be…he could just kill Greyback.
Laura: That could be his debt to Harry…I mean, paying off his whole debt…his life debt and stuff.
Eric: I don’t know…
Laura: I don’t know if he will kill anyone purposely. But I think…
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: …that it’s a definite possibility that he could…
Eric: But I want to say, also, when Voldemort gave him that silver hand…
Laura: …inadvertently cause the death of…yeah.
Eric: It’s not like Voldemort was planning ahead to have to kill a werewolf and so he said, “Hmmm, you know, I’m going to…you saved me, resurrected me, I’m going to give you a silver hand so you can fight off a werewolf one day.”
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: You know, I don’t think he said that. I think it was an off-hand type thing. No pun intended.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I can also see it as just a way to, you know, excite Pettigrew over nothing. You know, he’s like a child. He’s easily…what’s the…he’s…what’s the word, duh?
Eric: Easily contented?
Andrew: He’s…no, I was going to say gullible.
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: He’s, you know, “Ooo…silver hand!” And he goes off to play with it.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: In a non-weird way.
Eric: No, no, we weren’t thinking in a weird way. It was just a cute thing to say.
[Laura still laughing]
Laura: No, also I think it’s a way of making sure that he remains loyal by thinking “Hey, if I keep doing this kind of stuff, he’ll keep giving me more stuff,” you know.
Eric: I agree.
Micah: You know, two silver hands instead of one.
Andrew: Yeah exactly, Micah.
Eric: Soon he’ll have the silver foot.
[Laura laughs]
It’s Payment Time
Andrew: So well, we sort of talked about this in different questions, but how will he repay his debt to Harry? We just suggested, “Oh, the silver hand can do it with Greyback.”
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: Any other theories? I just…saving him from Voldemort in Book 7? I…
Eric: I want to talk to…I want to talk about the unlinking of Voldemort’s inner circle and just how Pettigrew’s going to fit into that and possibly repay his debt, in the meantime. I think we characterized Pettigrew before as being the kind of person…and I think this was mostly due to Laura…the kind of person who would stumble into helping fulfill Harry’s…you know, his debt to Harry whether, just say, “Okay I have to go help Harry now.”
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: I don’t know that he’ll necessarily say, “Okay, the good side is where I truly should be” before he helps Harry. You know, I don’t know that that will happen.
Laura: I could see Harry forcing him. Seriously, I can seriously see…if they somehow took him prisoner, I could see Harry like, pointing his wand at him and saying, “You will do this for me, or I will kill you.”
Andrew: Yeah. He bullied him around in Prisoner of Azkaban in the Shrieking Shack scene.
Eric: I, well I…yeah. But, the thing is also, Harry wouldn’t have to do that too, which is the question…is what is the debt? Because Harry wouldn’t have to push him around. I mean, I’m sure that would be effective and all, but I don’t know how we’re going to find out what exactly his debit is to Harry because, you know, it’s not going to… I don’t know how Harry’s going to find out and Pettigrew is probably unaware that he even has a debt. So…
Laura: Yeah. It all depends on how debts work. If they’re actually, I mean, if there’s a specific span of time in which it has to be completed or…?
Andrew: Or is it similar to an Unbreakable Vow where…
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: …it has to be done. But, Pettigrew’s got really nothing to lose. He’s not in any sort of [laughs]…it sounds stupid, but he’s not in any sort of relationship or, he doesn’t have some reputation built up that’s absolutely vital…
Eric: Which means he’s…
Andrew: …he’s not trying to save the world…
Eric: You know, what this means?
Andrew: He’s just Pettigrew. He’s a tool to be honest.
Eric: Yeah, which means he’s not going to die. Also, like, if he had like a girlfriend and family and everybody loved him, he’d probably die, following the JKR rule.
Andrew: I was saying the exact opposite, that, in fact he’s got nothing to lose.
Laura: I think he will die. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, so, why not go back…
Laura: I think he will die.
Andrew: …why not go back on his debt?
Eric: I’d like to see Pettigrew dying for Harry’s cause. I would like to see Snape die for Harry’s cause.
Andrew: But he won’t. Snape is evil.
Eric: But, I would like to see, yeah, both. But Pettigrew filling his debt, it’s just a question of – I don’t know, he might find the courage to – I don’t know that it will stand up to Voldemort, but he did stand up to Sirius and Remus in the Shrieking Shack. There was a point where he did… Did he not say something that was something to the effect of, you know, he gets no respect or something? And then it was…
Laura: I don’t remember that specifically.
Eric: He said a lot of crazy things. He said a lot of crazy things and especially like the whole, you know, “I made a better rat,” and then Sirius told him that’s nothing to brag about. But at the same time, I think it’s just the future and how Pettigrew repays his debt I think just depends on what he’ll see as good and evil when the time comes. And I don’t think he’s necessarily a good person. So…
Wormtail’s Fate
Andrew: And beginning to wrap this up: What will his fate be in Book 7? There’s so many different ways this could go. [laughs] He could completely bail out, like I was just saying. He’s got nothing to lose. Why not run off again? Not… I’d hate to say commit suicide.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I mean, with anyone, it’s kind of depressing, but…
Eric: I just realized something.
Andrew: What’s that?
[Eric laughs]
Eric: He can’t… whatever he’s been doing and whatever he does, he can’t be seen to the public! Because that would mean that Sirius Black was innocent if he were still alive. Whatever he does, he can’t show himself to the wizard public. Do you guys agree with that? Because…
Andrew: But people…
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Because it would create the gradual unlinking and show that…
Laura: Well, that was why they killed Bertha Jorkins at the beginning of Goblet of Fire.
Eric: Exactly! So, whatever he’s been doing lately, he had to be utter, über top secret with it. And whatever he does in the future has to be… Maybe, I don’t know, but maybe he actually has to – maybe he’ll come forward or something in the future. I don’t know. But…
Laura: I think he’s going to die, personally.
Eric: Maybe he will. But the fact is, that’s what sucked about Book 3, was that nobody knew that Pettigrew was alive and they couldn’t prove it.
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: But if they saw Pettigrew, I mean, that alone would have some value at least in the wizard public’s understanding of what’s been going on and at least they’re, you know, they’re kind of getting to know that Dumbledore had been telling the truth the whole time.
Laura: Mhm.
Micah: I don’t see Pettigrew really straying from Voldemort very much in the next book. And like Laura said, I think if he repays Harry at all, it’s almost going to be by mistake. And if he does die, I really don’t know who’s going to kill him either. I mean, it could be any of the Marauders, it could be Voldemort for accidentally repaying Harry somehow. But in the end, I really think that he’s a goner.
Andrew: You know, when you think about it, to quote Micah next week:
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: “Someone’s got to whack him off.”
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: That’s all there is to it.
Micah: It was last week, not next week.
[Eric and Laura laugh]
Andrew: I said last week!
[Micah laughs]
Eric: [still laughing] You said next week!
Laura: [still laughing] No, you said next week!
Eric: “To quote Micah next week…”
Andrew: We record episodes in the future, and Episode 26 was actually before Episode 25, and that’s how it works.
[Everyone laugh]
Andrew: I think that just about wraps that discussion up. Anything else you guys want to cover?
Laura: I think we covered him pretty well. I mean…
Andrew: Okay, I’m out of here. Bye!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: No… We’ve still got way more to do.
Andrew’s Listener Challenge
Andrew: Andrew’s Listener Challenge update for this week: we’ve gotten – well I’ve gotten – many emails from people asking questions about their segments. In case you didn’t listen to Episode 25, I started a brand new contest this week – well, starting this week, where you will create a MuggleCast segment that will go onto the show!
So to just touch on a couple of things here: Your segment must not be any longer than seven minutes in length. It must relate to Harry Potter in some way, shape, or form. Your segment must be turned in no later than February 18, 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. So get a start on them now!
Winners will have their segment aired on MuggleCast, as I mentioned before. And all participating hosts will win a shiny MuggleCast tee-shirt. They are beautiful. They really are. I love them.
Laura: They are really nice.
Eric: They are!
Laura: I really like mine.
Andrew: So if anyone has any other questions, you can always email them to andrew at staff dot mugglenet dot com. Good luck, and we cannot wait to hear your segments.
The Las Vegas Minute
Andrew: Now it’s time for the Las Vegas Minute! We haven’t had time – we haven’t done one of these in a while. And then we’ll wrap it all up with a fine, fine Dueling Club. The reason we’re… we’re only going to do these Las Vegas Minutes when we have actually something to say. And that is…
Eric: Okay, I’m going to time it.
Andrew: Go ahead.
Eric: Are you ready?
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: Okay, Andrew. Go. [Eric’s watch beeps]
Andrew: Space is running out for you to sign up for Lumos 2006. So if you are interested in going, we are going to be there, we are going to do the live podcast. That is the final decision. There hasn’t been, like, an official announcement through Lumos yet, but they’re working on, you know, all this stuff, and we’re going to post lots of information on MuggleCast.com. But! Please register soon if you’re interested because space is running out.
Eric: Thirty seconds.
Andrew: Space is running out, space is running out! So get… [laughs]
Laura: Not to mention that the rates get higher…
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: …the longer you wait.
Andrew: And the hotels…
Eric: They only get higher.
Laura: Right now, it’s $160. And sometime – in May I want to say? it jumps to $180.
Eric: Yeah. Quick!
Andrew: The hotels are running out too. And we really… if you think you can come, then come, then. Because this – the place is beautiful where we are all staying at and where the convention is being held.
Eric: Okay, okay. I’m going too. Bye.
Andrew: A huge group of MuggleNet-ers will be here.
Eric: Time! It’s one minute.
Andrew: Oh, oh. You are going Eric?
Eric: Do you guys actually time this?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. I’m going.
Andrew: Oh, I wasn’t aware of that.
Eric: I’m going. My whole family’s going. My mom and sister and me are going.
Andrew: Oh, that’s nice! I get to meet the Sculls! And just real quick!
Eric: Yeah!
Andrew: It’s funny because Eric and I just realized that we’re both [laughs] about 45 minutes away from Philly.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: So, we’re going to try and meet up and record a couple of these shows together. Because I know he tends to rant a lot…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: …so this way I can actually punch him when he starts to go off too much.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: So.
Eric: Like Sock’em…
Laura: Yeah, I’m actually going to be in D.C. in May!
Andrew: Are you?
Laura: So we should all, we should all get together and do…
Eric: Yay!
Laura: …do a group recording.
Eric: For some reason, I’m getting the image of like, Sock’em Boppers with Andrew and Eric sitting at, like, a café…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: That’s what I was doing, although Eric wouldn’t punch back.
Eric: …you know, punch and like my jaw comes off and… No, I wouldn’t do that.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: My hands, my hands would be holding Book 6, or something.
Andrew: Of course.
Dueling Club
Andrew: So now, moving on to this week’s Dueling Club. We had this idea where instead of deciding who we would duel beforehand, two of us would throw a name out there and then we’d compare the two. So…
Eric: Huh.
Andrew: …you guys want to try this?
Eric: Sure!
Andrew: I thought it would be- I thought it would bring a little bit more excitement to the premises.
Laura: Okay.
Andrew: So me and… Who wants to go? Who wants to fight me?
Laura: I don’t know. [laughs]
Andrew: And then we have to defend our own character.
Laura: I’m intimidated.
Eric: All right, Nymphadora Tonks.
Andrew: No! No, no. You don’t get it. You have to say it at the same time as someone else.
Eric: Laura, do you have your character?
Laura: Let me think. Mmmm… Yeah.
Micah: 3, 2, 1…
Eric: Petunia.
Laura: [At the same time as Eric] Bellatrix Lestrange. [laughs]
Eric: Petunia and Bellatrix. What do we think?
Andrew: [laughs] Petunia and Bellatrix?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Eric: That was… see? This was good! Andrew!
Andrew: Who chose Petunia?
Eric: I did. She’s not the… [laughs] she’s not the ordinary… She’s not the ordinary Auntie, but at the same time, I think anybody battling Bellatrix – you know, Bellatrix probably has the upper hand.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Just because she’s so more evil and more, you know? But…
Laura: Yeah, I was about to say that I think that Bellatrix would pretty much PWN Petunia.
Andrew: Micah, it’s me and you now. Let me gather my thoughts here for a moment.
Eric: And I’ll…
Andrew: Okay, gathered.
Eric: You ready?
Andrew: You got one, Micah?
Micah: Yeah, I’m ready.
Eric: Okay, guys.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: Andrew. Micah.
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: Play safe. Play fair. Okay. 3, 2…
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: …1, shoot.
Andrew: Luna Lovegood.
Micah: [At the same time as Andrew] Dobby.
Eric: Luna Lovegood and Dobby!
Andrew: Ooo…
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Well, we haven’t really seen much from Dobby, besides… well, okay. He’s got…
Eric: Yeah, we have!
Andrew: He’s relatively powerful.
Eric: He took down Lucius Malfoy.
Andrew: Good, Micah. You defend him. You said it. [laughs]
Micah: Well, he’s relatively powerful.
Andrew: Mhm.
Micah: You know, we saw what he did to Lucius.
Andrew: Mhm, right.
Micah: At least in the movie, I don’t know.
Laura: He did it in the book, too.
Micah: Okay. And…
Eric: He made him lose his hair tie.
Micah: He just… He just seemed once he was sort of set free, we’ve seen more things from him throughout the books. And we talked about this, I think, in another episode. We’re not really sure exactly what type of powers that house-elves possess. But based upon how he’s just able to shoot his hand out and send Lucius flying down the hallway, I think he would be able to handle Luna pretty well.
Andrew: Actually, I would have to agree with that. [laughs] Because…
Laura: What happened to defending your character?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Well, because I didn’t… see, this is the thing. You don’t know who you’re going to put them up against!
Micah: He wasn’t ready for the Dobster.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I wasn’t. I was defeated.
Laura: That’s fun. That’s fun! We should do that again.
Andrew: I don’t know… Yeah! Wait!
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: I’ve got to defend Luna now! I’ve got to stick up for her a little bit. So…
Eric: Her father is an editor and he can slander Dobby all he wants to. So nobody would know – even, even, even if the truth was that Dobby PWN’d Luna, you know, nobody would know about it. Everybody would read the Quibbler and then it would be like, “Oh! Luna just whooped that elf’s patinski.”
Andrew: I think Luna just seems too unsure about herself to really be able to fight.
Eric: But she could hear the voices and see the Thestrals.
Andrew: Yes, because that’s because she’s weird.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: But that doesn’t suggest…
Laura: Hey.
Andrew: …that she’s a powerful wizard.
Laura: Weird is good.
Eric: Ohhh…
Andrew: I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just saying it doesn’t mean that [gets cut off]
Laura: You kind of broke out there for a second. [laughs]
Andrew: I didn’t say she was mean, I’m just saying that she was…she’s not…that doesn’t mean she’s a powerful wizard.
Laura: No, it doesn’t.
Andrew: Why’d I pick her? [laughs]
Laura: But we can assume…
Eric: [laughs] Andrew’s like, “Why did I pick Luna?”
Laura: No, no, no! Seriously. Because we know that her mom used to do tests with all these really powerful spells. So her mom must not have, you know, been too shabby at magic.
Eric: Actually, yeah. And who knows what that, you know… I think Luna’s very powerful. I think we’ll see more from Luna.
Andrew: We have not seen Luna as a bad person. As a bad wizard.
Eric: Why would we?
Andrew: Just I don’t know, there could have been an occurrence.
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: So it’s completely possible that in Book 7, she ends up, you know, making a comeback.
Eric: I think she could.
Micah: Now what happens if it’s Luna and Dobby versus Petunia and Bellatrix?
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Oh, that’s too complex. I can’t…
Eric: No, I think…
Andrew: I think it’s two on one.
Eric: No, Petunia would take down Dobby for being in her hydrangea bushes…
Andrew: Yes.
Laura: Oh yeah.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: … in the beginning of that. She’d be like, I…you left those things in my bushes and… it’s like Whack-A-Mole.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay, can we stop using that word, please?
Eric: It’s like Whack-A-Mole, for Petunia.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: She just, she just runs around her yard and…
Andrew: [laughs] That word is officially banned from MuggleCast.
Eric: What word?
Andrew: Whack.
Laura: Whack.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Banned from MuggleCast.
Eric: But it’s like Whack-A-Mole! I’m going to do that, I’m going to go on Macromedia Fireworks or whatever and I’m going to play with it. I’m going to come up with a game that’s like Whack-A-Mole with Petunia with a broom…
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Oh dear god…
Eric: …and she’s like running around the back. And, like, Aunt Marge is floating around in the background and, it’s like…
Andrew: All right, well thank you, Eric.
Eric: …to continue…
Show Close
Andrew: So, is there anything else you guys wanted to discuss this week? It was a busy news week. It definitely was. Micah, you were busy in your news center this week.
Micah: I really was. I’m going to have to read all of those names, too, that we couldn’t pronounce before. [laughs]
Andrew: Aw yeah. [laughs] Good luck with that.
Micah: Thanks.
Andrew: Well, guys, I think that does just about do it for Episode 26 of MuggleCast. I’m…
Micah: One more thing.
Andrew: Oh, what’s that, Micah?
Micah: I just… I wasn’t the only one who came up with those questions there. Kim Parker, from Leaky…
Andrew: [laughs] Oh my god, you’re kidding.
Micah: [laughs] You want to talk about…
Eric: Oh yes, you’ve got… Yes.
Micah: She did a good job on some of those questions, so we just wanted to thank her.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Laura: Thanks, Kim.
Eric: Thank you, Kim.
Micah: Because they did help out with the discussion.
Andrew: Kim hurt my feelings last week, in the Leaky Lounge. But I won’t go into that.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: So…
Eric: You just did.
Andrew: No, remember I said I won’t go into it.
Laura: I hurt your feelings weekly…
Micah: It’s going to magically disappear from this conversation.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: …and you’re not mean to me.
Andrew: [laughs] So thank you, Kim. Sorry we couldn’t get the pre-show out for you.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Eric: Hey! Hey! Hey.
Andrew: Ooo! Speaking of pre-show…
Eric: Andrew…
Andrew: Speaking of pre-show, how could I almost forgot! How could I forget to mention? The Muggle – the LIVE podcast video from New York City is now out and available for your viewing pleasure on MuggleCast.com. So definitely go and check that out. It’s – they are pretty big video files. If you’re a dial-up user, you’re going to have to go over to a friend’s house or at school to watch them. But…
Eric: Yeah, Andrew, I heard you took a screenshot…
Andrew: It’s…
Eric: …I heard you took a screenshot of your computer uploading, like…
Andrew: Yeah, because people are so desperate…
Eric: …saying and then it came out.
Andrew: On AndrewSimz.com, yes. So many people…
Eric: But it came out a week later, anyways.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. [laughs] I said a few days, I didn’t want to be very specific. Definitely check those out. It’s a very fun video. You see us doing the podcast and you see the crowd. Everyone’s so excited. You see Eric, because Eric was, like, right in front of the camera. [laughs] So once again, I am Andrew Sims.
Eric: I am Eric Scull.
Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Andrew [Show Close with music in background]: By the way, I was just getting kidding earlier. I didn’t fire Ben. [laughs]
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: However, I could. [laughs] No, probably not.
Eric: [laughs] He could…
Andrew: He’d probably body slam me, and then I’d be like, [in a breathy voice] “Okay!”
Eric: Ben hired you. [laughs]
Andrew: Ben did hire me for MuggleNet, that’s true. But I hired him for MuggleCast. So he’ll be back for next week, hopefully. Kevin will be back. And Ciaran will be back. Ciaran’s in London this week. He’s doing something London-ish that is unspeakable. So, thanks everyone for listening and we will see you next week for Episode 27. Goodbye!
Laura: Adios!
Eric: Goodbye!
Micah: Bye.
Eric: Okay. [laughs] Goodbye! Goodbye!
Andrew: Stop. Stop.
Eric: Goodbye! Goodbye now.
Bloopers
Andrew: Listen as Laura, Eric, and Micah try to figure out how to host the show without me.
Andrew: We have this girl – Evanna… [laughs] I don’t have her full name up right now.
[Phone rings]
Andrew: Whoops!
Laura: Lynch.
Andrew: Hold on one second.
Micah: She’s calling you.
Andrew: I know! She’s calling! Oh my god! [laughs]
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Hold on a second.
Eric: Let’s get her on the show.
Andrew: Here, you guys can talk… no, actually, you guys can talk – yeah. You guys can talk about her. Go ahead.
Eric: Ummm.
[Long pause]
Laura: What’d you guys think of her?
[Micah and Laura laugh]
Eric: I thought fine.
Laura: Don’t laugh at me. I’m trying to start a conversation here.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: I… no. They had her on – when we linked to her on MuggleNet, we did that other article we found about, that was supposedly about her, you know, and Harry Potter?
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: Do you remember that? And then…
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: …so I thought that was pretty cool, like she’s clearly a Harry Potter fan…
Laura: Mhm.
Eric: …which is good, because there are some girls who would show up for the audition and not know a single thing about it and, you know, really rip all the die-hard fans slash actresses off.
Laura: Yeah! And I mean, we know that there are actors in the movie who haven’t read the book. So I’m…
Micah: Like good old Michael Gambon.
Eric: Thank you, Micah.
Laura: And Tom Felton, and about [laughs] half the other people in it.
Micah: Well…
Eric: Yeah, but you know what? They’ve all read it now, and that’s… Well, except maybe Michael Gambon, but then that’s just, you know…
Micah: Wow, this is really just, like…
[Micah and Laura laugh]
Eric: No. No.
Laura: [in a sarcastic voice] This is going great, guys!
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: The second Andrew leaves… no. No.
Laura: This is top-notch content, right here.
Eric: Okay, guys, though. Guys, though. What about the James?
Micah: You know this is all going at the end, right? [laughs]
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Yeah. Don’t say anything…
Eric: Guys.
Laura: You know, I try to get conversation starters going, and you two just sit there.
Eric: Okay.
Micah: Well, there’s a lot of new people here.
Eric: Yeah. Guys, let’s…
Micah: We’ve lost our leader.
Eric: What do you think about James?
Laura: [laughs] I know.
Eric: The James casting.
Laura: Fearless leader. We can’t do anything without him.
Eric: Am I even here anymore?
Micah: He’s busy on the phone with Evanna.
Eric: I’m not even here anymore, am I?
[Micah and Laura laugh]
Laura: Well, what do you guys think of the way she looks? Like, do you think… Does she look the way you imagined Luna to look? Or no? Maybe? Kind of?
[Long pause, in which typing noises are heard]
Micah: I can hear you typing.
Laura: I can’t hear you, Eric. Yeah, I can hear you typing, but…
Eric: Well, because I brought up like one hundred thousand points and nobody heard me.
Andrew: We hear you, Eric!
Laura: I didn’t hear it at all. [laughs]
Micah: Yeah, I didn’t hear anything.
Andrew: I’m back.
Eric: Good. Andrew, I think when you muted me, I think that totally…
Andrew: I didn’t mute anyone.
Eric: Oh. Well…
Andrew: I muted my mic.
Eric: Yeah, I think that might have muted me.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: I hit the little red button on my microphone.
Eric: Well I’m sorry! But your little red button is like…controls me.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: And my computer.
Andrew: Okay.
Micah: Andrew, I think we just took care of the bloopers for the end of your show.
Andrew: Did you? Oh, okay…
Micah: In those last three minutes. [laughs]
Andrew: Okay.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: So what’d you guys talk about?
Laura: [laughs] Nothing!
Andrew: Oh. [laughs] Okay.
Laura: I’m like sitting here trying to start this, and they both just sit there. And I’m like, what the hell.
Andrew: You sitting ducks. You losers. Okay, here. Should we start that again…
Laura: Yes, just do it again.
Andrew: …and then Eric can bring up his three million points?
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Okay.
[Long pause]
Andrew: How did I intro Luna? I forget now.
———————————————————–
Andrew: And then the other people who were cast were [mispronounces] “Natalee-a Teena”… [laughs]
[Micah, Andrew, and Laura laugh]
Eric: [pronounces correctly] “Natalia.”
Andrew: [pronounces correctly] “Natalia.”
Eric: Natal… [pronounces incorrectly] “Natalee-a.”
Andrew: Natal… how do you say it? [laughs]
Laura: Natalia.
Andrew: Natalia?
Laura: Not [pronounces it the incorrect way] “Natalee-a.”
Eric: It’s [pronounces it incorrectly] “Natalee-a.”
[Micah laughs]
Eric: No, it really is.
Laura: Natalia? [laughs]
Eric: I know her personally. It’s [pronounces it incorrectly] “Natalee-a.” Like Andrew said it was.
Andrew: Natalia [pronounces incorrectly] “Teena”? [pronounces correctly] Tena?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Oh, forget it!
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Natalia! Natalia! Haven’t you ever seen Golden Eye?
Andrew: No! Natalia Tena?
Micah: Who does she play in Golden Eye?
Andrew: Who cares, that’s the question.
Eric: No, Natalia was the name… [laughs]
Micah: Oh.
Eric: Natalia was the Bond girl in Golden Eye.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Anyway, I’m sorry.
Andrew: Uhhh… [laughs]
———————————————————–
Eric: That wasn’t an attack on Ben, by the way. I felt bad, but I have no problem with Ben editing the show.
Andrew: Awww, I can’t believe I lost this.
Eric: As I had mentioned earlier, I think the problem with last week’s show was content – actually what we did talk about or didn’t talk about, rather than the quality of the show. So forgive me, Ben. Because he’s going to listen and be like, “Oh! That hurt, Eric.”
Andrew: He’s not going to listen. I’m not putting this part in. Just tell him over AIM.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Seriously.
Laura: Who’s editing this week?
Andrew: Me.
Micah: Yeah.
Laura: Thank god.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: You guys! I’m like, “I’m sorry Ben!”, and you’re all like, “THANK GOD!”
———————–
Written by: Micah, Ally, Martina, and Sarah
