MuggleCast EP16 Transcript
Intro
Ben [Show Intro with music in background]: This is MuggleCast – Episode 16 for November 20, 2005. This week’s show is sponsored in part by GoDaddy.com. Get your own piece of the Internet and save money along the way. For a limited time, GoDaddy.com is offering a new domain name, transfers and renewals for just $1.99 with every new non-domain product you buy. Choose from hosting, website builders, e-mail accounts and much more! Plus take an additional 10% off any order simply by entering “Muggle.” That’s M-U-G-G-L-E in your cart at check-out. So, visit GoDaddy.com and save big.
Now, let’s get to the show. Hello, everybody! Welcome to Episode 16 of MuggleCast. I’m Ben Schoen and I am back from a nice little break. I took about four episodes off there.
[All laugh]
Eric: And slept in the one he came back on.
Ben: Yeah, you guys saw the LIVE podcast and all of that.
[All laugh]
Andrew: He didn’t sleep.
Kevin: He was close to it.
Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Eric: I’m Eric Scull.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Ben: Yeah, everybody. Micah’s here this week. We’re fresh off of…well, not exactly, last weekend.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: A week-long high!
Kevin: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah, we went to, we were all in New York City together and we had a complete blast walking around Times Square at what? 1:30 in the morning, messing around?
Eric: 2:30 AM.
Ben: Yeah, it was really late. It was quite, quite fun. Everyone pretty much had the times of their lives except Micah because he didn’t say much.
Andrew: Micah?
[Laughter]
Micah: I was sick.
Ben: He was sick.
Eric: Micah was sick. Micah did the most talking actually.
Ben: I got sick too, but we won’t go into that. Okay.
[Andrew laughs]
Kevin: He was talking to us, Ben. I don’t know about you.
Eric: Yeah, he was just ignoring you.
Ben: He was just ignoring you.
Kevin: He was just ignoring you. Yeah.
Ben: Okay, well since Micah’s here in the conversation this week, before we get into any other announcements, I think we’ll have him do this week’s news.
News
Micah: Goblet of Fire has finally hit theaters in both the US and UK. According to the Box Office Mojo, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire collected a staggering $36 million on its opening day, just two million behind Prisoner of Azkaban.
Some of the stars made a few live appearances this weekend. Matt Lewis (Neville), Jamie Waylett (Crabbe), and Devon Murray (Seamus) all greeted fans Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the National Comic Book, Art, and Sci-Fi Expo in New York City. Additionally, James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George) were at the Hollywood Boulevard Theater in Woodridge, Illinois yesterday signing autographs.
Empire Magazine has conducted a series of interviews over the past week with members of the cast and crew including Michael Gambon, David Heyman and Mike Newell.
Of course you can check out tons of pictures, video clips, and other interviews Goblet of Fire-related over on MuggleNet’s Main Page.
Our New York City Podcast at Barnes & Noble in Union Square was a huge success. The New York Post wrote a great article on the event, and you can check out a gallery of close to 200 pictures from last weekend. Transcript and video of the event are coming shortly.
Finally, TIME Magazine has asked visitors to start voting on who they think should be featured as their Person of the Year, and one person under consideration is JK Rowling. The Potter author is up against U2 lead singer Bono (so Andrew is going to have a hard time deciding), Steve Jobs, The Google Guys, and Mother Nature herself in relation to Hurricane Katrina. TIME’s choice will be revealed on December 18th.
That’s all the news for this November 20, 2005 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show.
Ben: That was wonderful, Micah.
Announcements
Ben: Now, I think we have a few announcements to make…maybe. We have a major announcement, but you won’t be able to listen to it here, you’ll have to go over and download the Special Edition of MuggleCast, which will probably be…oh, sorry, excuse me. It’s called “The Leaky Mug,” which will be out later this week. We announce another LIVE podcast, and it is going to be quite a blast. You’re all going to be invited and it’s going to be quite fun. Andrew, do you have anything else to add? I don’t know, is there anything else we need to say?
Eric: Yeah…
Andrew: Back to you, Ben!
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: How about thanks to everybody who came out to New York because it was the best weekend of my life and it probably should have been the best weekend of all your lives too.
Ben: Mhm. Oh, it was. I’m telling you.
Andrew: Yay!
Ben: So Andrew…
Eric: Even though you guys all got to see the movie, and you know, I didn’t, but…
[All mocking Andrew from LIVE show]
Ben: Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Eric: Yeah! Yeah!
Kevin: Yeah!
Andrew: Ben, you got really annoying with that at the LIVE show.
Eric: Micah and I stayed and manned the fort for MuggleNet at the Barnes & Noble, which went flawless, pretty much. And, do we have video of that yet? Guys, do we have…?
Ben: It’ll, I think it’ll be up soon.
Kevin: Yeah, we’re working on it.
Eric: Let’s hope.
Andrew: Well, we need to talk with the woman of video, but we do have a couple of announcements.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Exposure announcements.
Eric: Ooh!
Andrew: Well, first of all, as we boasted about on the Main Page we finally, finally, finnnaaallllllyyy got mentioned on the iTunes Main Page under “New and Notable.”
Ben: Right.
Kevin: It only took how many months?
Andrew: It’s about time. I am really glad they finally gave us the plug. Our server, Limelight Media Networks, actually helped us get on there. So, that’s really cool. I am kind of sad now because now I can’t brag that we’re the No. 1 unpromoted podcast. [Laughs]
Kevin: Yeah. [Laughs]
Ben: But still…
Andrew: But still, it’s cool.
Kevin: We were the No. 1 unpromoted podcast.
Andrew: We’re at No. 15 right now.
Eric: Not bad.
Ben: Yeah, right before we got promoted on the list iTunes “New and Notable,” we moved up to No. 15. Excuse me, we moved up to No. 20, and then once we got promoted, all of a sudden we shot up to No. 15.
Andrew: No. 15.
And now we’re No. 14, right now.
Eric: And strangely that was right after Ben started to leave the cast.
Ben: Ohhh.
Andrew: Nooo.
Eric: No no no.
Ben: That hurt, Eric.
Eric: Ben, Ben is awesome.
Andrew: Of course though Goblet of Fire has been all over the news this week.
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: And we’ve been mentioned in some places. You know? We’ve gotten a little plug.
Ben: Mhm. There was an article, there was an article in the New York Post where they covered the LIVE podcast and they basically, they basically butchered of all of our quotes. They said that… When Andrew introduced Kevin he said, “backwards compatible with everything but basic HTML.”
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: What’s wrong with that?
Ben: And the New York Post… Hold on, hold on. The New York Post misinterpreted us as saying, “Basically compatible with everything, but basic HTML.”
[Ben and Kevin laugh]
Ben: I don’t know. It was just they butchered some quotes.
Kevin: That does not sound good.
Ben: But, it was good to get the media attention. It was quite fun.
Micah: They couldn’t even spell Voldemort or say Voldemort. Do you know that?
Ben: You-Know-Who.
Micah: It was Valdemort.
Ben: Valdemort? [Laughs]
Eric: Valdemort? Oh god.
Ben: Okay.
Andrew: We were also mentioned on a Swedish radio the other day. They were talking, they were saying how we should or they should check out MuggleCast, which is pretty cool.
Eric: Hmmm.
Andrew: I don’t have the name of the person who pointed it out specifically, but thanks for letting us know. See, we were even mentioned in Sweden.
Eric: That’s really cool.
Andrew: Who would have “nod”…known?
Kevin: “Nod”?
Andrew: “Nod.”
Eric: And now we’ve all actually seen each other, which is really cool. Seeing all you guys and hanging out in Emerson’s hotel room. That was cool beans.
Kevin: It was.
Andrew: [Laughs] Emerson’s hotel room.
Ben: It was my hotel room.
Kevin: It was our hotel room.
Eric: Well, right.
Ben: I had the hotel room.
Andrew: And then of course, it was funny because one thing, like when we were walking around Times Square, I kept thinking that we were going to be spotted. Like a fan would come up and say, “Hey, I know you guys.” Blah blah blah.
Eric: But, nobody! Andrew and I were talking.
Andrew: Nobody did. But, wait. But, wait. The day after on Sunday, we got spotted about three times.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Once at our hotel room, once on the streets somewhere random, and once in the NBC Experience Store. [Laughs]
Eric: That’s because the girl there had just been to the podcast. [Laughs]
Kevin: And Micah got spotted walking me to the Port Authority.
Micah: Walking you to… Yeah.
Andrew: Oh, really? So, four times.
Eric: Yeah. That’s really cool.
Andrew: That’s funny.
Ben: Interesting. So, the LIVE podcast was a success, and we are going to do it again. For details on that, once again listen to the latest joint podcast between the The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet.
Andrew: Right.
Kevin: That you left me out of. Okay, so.
Ben: Oh yeah, the one I accidentally left Kevin out of. Sorry, Kevin.
Eric: And me. And me. And me.
Ben: And Eric. And Micah. Sorry, everybody.
Kevin: Okay.
Ben: Andrew, we recently did an interview with Joe Fulton from MillionairePlayboy.com regarding the Goblet of Fire Lego Contest. Is this correct? Or Harry Potter Lego Contest.
Andrew: Oh… Well, that’s right, Ben, and we have some results and winners. So, let’s take a listen to that interview right now.
Lego Contest Update
Andrew: All right. So, once again we are joined by Joe Fulton of MillionairePlayboy.com to announce the winners, winners of the Harry Potter Custom Lego Contest.
Joe: I’m glad to be back. We actually extended the contest, one, because of your LIVE podcast, but two, because it was getting such great entries…
Andrew: Yeah.
Joe: I wanted to give people extra time in getting us some great Harry Potter scenes from Book 6. And if you go to MillionairePlayboy.com right now, you’ll be able to see all the entries that we had for the contest, including the two winners. And by the time…what we mean by two winners is well one, there is the First Place winner that will win both of the Lego sets that we were giving away, but we have an Honorable Mention because this person produced so many different Lego scenes for us that we felt they needed to get an extra prize just for that.
Andrew: And they all look great too.
Joe: Oh yeah. I think they are wonderful and it is actually amazing to see the variety of different scenes that people picked.
Andrew: Yeah.
Joe: And obviously the most popular ones were the scenes of… I guess, I’m not sure what the spell is, but of Harry hitting Malfoy with that spell that he gets from the book.
Andrew: Right. Just all the… I was just impressed in the first place by all of them because we haven’t seen any pictures yet from like, you know, there hasn’t been any movie clues yet on what you would expect it to look like.
Joe: Mhm.
Andrew: But, I think a lot of people really captured the detail. That was neat.
Joe: Yeah. That’s the other great thing about this, and they’re using Lego sets from a variety of different Lego sets, some that are not even Harry Potter. Some of these sets are from other sets that don’t even have anything to do with that.
Andrew: Yeah, smart thinking.
Joe: And they actually put them together and created some great stuff.
Andrew: Right.
Joe: So, I guess we should get to the winner.
Andrew: Yes. First Place is…
Joe: First Place goes to Peter Hentze for “Rise of the Inferi.” His description was that it is set to the chapter of “The Cave” from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince where the undead Inferi rise out of the black lake to drown Harry and Dumbledore.
Andrew: It is an excellent depiction.
Joe: Yes, it’s actually…
Andrew: It really does look great.
Joe: It’s very action-oriented, which is probably one of the main reasons why it got so many different votes from all the judges.
Andrew: Yeah.
Joe: If you look, he created, he even created the staff of Dumbledore shooting out fire…
Andrew: And the fire going around.
Joe: Yeah, at the Inferi, and one of them is almost ducking because of it while the other ones are coming towards them.
Andrew: Yeah.
Joe: And it’s a great depiction.
Andrew: Yeah, it really is. So, they won the Harry Potter Lego Graveyard Scene from the new Goblet of Fire series and the other one…
Joe: As well as the Dragon Set.
Andrew: So, congrats to Peter!
Joe: Yep.
Andrew: And runner-up, with how many did you say she entered? Six?
Joe: She entered about five or six of them. She goes by the name AliceinMuggleland or her real name is Alice Merril and she’s getting an “Honorable Mention” because she – one, produced so many, but second, the second…she came in Second Place with her entry “Won-Won’s Lip Lock.” And, that is a depiction of when Ron Weasley is snogging Lavender Brown.
Andrew: Exactly.
Joe: And if you look at it, the details in it are just amazing as well.
Andrew: Yeah.
Joe: She has the Fat Lady picture on the doorway there and even the symbol up in the corner.
Andrew: Yeah, she put some extra work into this one.
Joe: Yes, she did.
Andrew: You can see Crookshanks.
Joe: Mhm.
Andrew: It’s all there.
Joe: And a little mini-Hermione figure actually walking away very upset that Lavender and Ron are snogging.
Andrew: Yeah. It looks like she’s got an angry face too.
Joe: Yeah.
Andrew: So, she paid attention to detail.
Joe: Yes, she did.
Andrew: And, she built a lot of sets. So, that’s why.
Joe: Mhm. Yep.
Andrew: She gets this prestigious award.
Joe: And, so why don’t you tell what she won as her “Honorable Mention”?
Andrew: She won a Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Beauxbatons Hoody from Warner Bros. So, congrats to her.
Joe: Well, congratulations to everybody who won and, you know, congrats to everyone who produced these great scenes. And, like I said, you can see these at MillionairePlayboy.com and check them out because you have some really talented people out there.
Andrew: Why, thank you. I raised them well.
[Joe laughs]
Andrew: The link will also in the “Show Notes,” in our show notes on MuggleCast.com. Thanks, Joe!
Joe: Oh, no problem!
Ben: Congrats to all of you who sent in your entries and good job to the winners.
Goblet of Fire Discussion
Ben: Okay, now moving on, the movie has now been released in the United States, the UK, and various other countries throughout the world, and we thought it would be prudent to discuss it. So, if you have not seen the movie yet and you do not want to be spoiled, I recommend you stop the podcast right…NOW! Okay. Andrew…
Andrew: Yes. Sorry.
Ben: Andrew… Andrew, Kevin, and myself all saw the movie on…at the domestic premiere, which was really quite awesome because we were in the same theater as the likes of Tim Robbins, Steven Spielberg, the entire Harry Potter cast. It was quite a rush.
[As Ben speaks, Eric says in background “Don’t…rub…it…in!”]
Andrew: It was actually like…
Eric: Rub it in! Rub it in!
Andrew: …exactly one week ago like up to the hour, minute, seconds.
Kevin: Yeah.
Ben: Mhm.
Andrew: We were watching it right now a week ago. [Fakes sobbing]
[Micah laughs]
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: And Micah was running around like a lunatic getting audio equipment that we didn’t have, and I was standing on the stage trying to entertain the rowdy fans.
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: Anyway, I have seen the movie twice by now. Micah has seen it also. Is that correct, Micah?
Ben: Well, anyway.
Eric: So…
Ben: Micah got to see the movie on Monday. He got to see it early also.
Eric: Yeah.
Ben: So, you guys listen… So, some of you guys didn’t listen to the
podcast, we’re just going to review our thoughts about the movie and
basically discuss what we thought was the best, what we didn’t like about
it. However, I am going to start off since I got, since I sort of got…I
didn’t get to say as much in the LIVE podcast about the movie. But, here is
what I thought about it. I thought it was the best movie considering what
they were given to work with. Transferring a 735 page book to a two-and-a-half hour movie is really quite difficult, and Mike
Newell had quite a job to do. And I think he did a very excellent job doing
it. However, I think the movie is not, some people who are not going to like
it are going to be people who have never read the books and also people who
basically are Harry Potter purists, and they don’t like it when they cut
things out. Do you guys agree with me there?
Kevin: Well, I don’t think that any of the movies are for Harry Potter
purists, do you? I mean…
Ben: I see what you’re saying, but I’m saying that a lot of times these
people who are overly obsessed with Harry Potter and they think, “Well, I want
absolutely every scene in here,” they’ll be upset and they’ll want to chuck
things at their screen, their popcorn.
Eric: You know what, Ben? [laughs] Ben, I think this was the most generous
film to all the purists. I mean, what did they cut out? Besides, I mean
besides the house-elves all right.
Kevin: The Quidditch World Cup.
Ben: The Dursleys. What I’m talking about with Harry Potter purists is the
things, they’ll get mad when you cut just a tiny scene.
Kevin: The tiniest, yeah.
Ben: Like at the very end where in the book Harry goes to talk to Hagrid
about how everything is going to change now and then Hagrid basically tells
him that, “Well, we’ll have to cross that bridge to we come to it, times are
going to get rough.” And then also Dumbledore calling all the Order of the
Phoenix. That was suppose to be cued in for the next book and the next movie.
Eric: Yeah. I wanted that in there, I did want that in there but. Anyway…
Kevin: Yeah, I mean although I think we said it at the LIVE podcast that they
hinted at it. That they…
Eric: Kind of.
Ben: Well, what I really had a problem with is that the movie moved
incredibly fast.
Eric: No it didn’t!
Ben: You never really…
Kevin: It did.
Ben: You know, just hear me out here. You never really got an opportunity to
soak things in. You never… In Prisoner of Azkaban there would be a really
dramatic scene or whatever and then Cuaron would take a moment and have a
shot of the Whomping Willow killing a bird, or something like that.
Eric: [laughs] Five times.
Ben: But, I know, but it would just be a great opportunity for you to think
about what just happened and then get a nice little shot of the scenery…
Eric: You know, we…
Ben: …and Cuaron’s artistic point of view and in Goblet of Fire Newell sort of got rid
of that and it was just…
Eric: You know…
Ben: …Harry all of a sudden, Harry gets back to the graveyard! Oh Moody’s
going to kill him now! Oh, it just all moved so incredibly fast, there
wasn’t an opportunity to savor the moment like there was with the previous
films.
Eric: Alright, the…
Kevin: There you go.
Eric: The only reason we had time to soak things in Prisoner of Azkaban was because
Cuaron cut so much out that he didn’t know what to do with what he had left
so he added a little dramatic moment before the next thing that he decided
not to cut out could go in the film. That’s my, I mean that’s my
point of view. Goblet of Fire…
Ben: Oh, that’s complete, no way. That’s completely bogus. If we, if we look
at Prisoner of Azkaban, he may have left out a few parts here and there, but
the thing, if we look at the comparison of what was cut in Prisoner of
Azkaban to what was cut in Goblet of Fire…there’s no comparison because the
movies are exactly the same length, nearly the same length, and in Goblet of
Fire they basically butchered half of the movie because.
Eric: No, I thought Goblet did the best job of condensing. I really thought
it did. And it had.
Kevin: I do too. Overall it was the best movie of the Harry Potter movies.
Eric: The thing I think, and I’ll sum Goblet of Fire up in one word. The Goblet of Fire
movie summed up in one word is: Respect. That’s exactly what it is. It’s
respect. It’s attention, attention to the characters. Goblet of Fire is a
character movie. We finally saw the Weasley twins as the Weasley twins. We
got to see a ton of Hermione and not to mention a ton of book-smarts
Hermione in addition to a ton of more girly Hermione. We got to see, and it
was character-driven. We got to, it was just a character movie and it feels
like, seeing the movie twice, it really feels that all the plot moments and
things were thrown in the background. I mean, you know? Even the Voldemort
scene does not focus on the fact that, you know, Voldemort is back and the
whole worlds going to be impacted. It focuses more on Voldemort as a
character.
Ben: Right.
Kevin: But at the same time, I agree with Ben that it was very, very fast.
Like everything was so condensed that.
Ben: Right.
Andrew: The beginning..
Kevin: Well even in the middle of the movie, it – it’s not the type of movie
you want to get up and go for a bathroom break or anything because you’ll miss
something major.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: That is true.
Andrew: Why should you anyway?
Kevin: Because you’ll miss something going on.
Eric: You shouldn’t. Yeah, Andrew is right.
Andrew: Use the bathroom before you see the movie. That’s
stupid.
[Kevin laughs]
Ben: Right, but personally what I’m thinking about this movie is that I
agree that it is probably is the best yet, but what I’d I really like to get
the point of view from is a fan who has never read any of the books and see
what exactly they thought about it.
Andrew: No.
Eric: People have said.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Here’s an example that Ben’s going to love: my sister. She was talking
to her friend about the movie today and her biggest, she, not even she liked
how they were missing stuff, but she hasn’t read the book in five years, so
there was some visible differences. There was some visible cuts. Like, Molly
Weasley not being in the movie at all.
Eric: Right.
Micah: Yeah, right.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: That was huge! She’s popular. She’s a popular you know, people like
seeing her in the movies. She’s something light to add to the dark movie.
Ben: But going back to what Eric was saying for a minute, about how this movie was really character driven. Well, there was a review published in the Miami Herald about the movie and it was basically saying how they sort of…Hermione
basically became, “Harry I’m worried for you,” “Harry I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Eric: Nooo!
Ben: And it really lost the subplot, basically the advice she offers and things like that.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: You know, Harry was really having trouble with this Summoning Charm and he had to practice to get that down. Whereas in the movie, it’s “Accio Firebolt!” and it just came flying to him, he didn’t have to work at that at all.
Eric: Yeah, Moody says that…
Kevin: Yeah.
Ben: Just things like that, I don’t know it’s sort of, it really removed Hermione’s, part of her importance to the series.
Goblet of Fire Discussion
Andrew: She just looks like a mother now.
Ben: Yeah, I agree.
Eric: Yeah, I don’t know. It’s, it’s interesting. I do understand what Ben’s saying and I do agree with him on certain levels.
Kevin: How do you guys feel…
Andrew: I mean, people better get used to it.
Eric: Yeah, exactly.
Andrew: …because now we have Book 5 and it’s an even bigger book, and we’ll be seeing even more cuts, and even more people are going to be upset about it.
Eric: Exactly, People who have not read the books are getting lost with this movie and, you know, they are because of the cuts they had to make establishing who is saying what to where and all that stuff.
So, I think that people who have read the books are generally – just look at our poll on MuggleNet – are very satisfied with how attention driven this movie was. In certain ways, yes, there was no time to think about it, but
my perspective, the first time I saw the movie on Thursday at midnight, I went and we were about an hour into the movie I figured, “Wow,” because we still had to see the Yule Ball, we still had to see the Second Task, we still had
to see the Third Task and Voldemort and the resolution and Cedric’s death and all that stuff. I knew and I was thinking of what they still had to show and I knew that it was so big that they wouldn’t cut it. So, the movie actually
seemed to be really long for me and actually a really good use of two and a half hours.
Ben: The problem that I had with the movie is that it sort of seemed a bit chopped up the way the sections were merged together.
Andrew: We already discussed this.
Eric: But I thought it flowed.
Ben: I know but I’m just saying that, all of a sudden, okay, we’re at the Second Task and then [makes “Zoom!” noise]. You said there wasn’t room for a bathroom break, but it all depends on how you like things like that. If you’re a big fan of action-packed movies,
then this is really a movie for you. But if you’re a fan of, I don’t know, it all depends on what kind of movies you like.
Eric: If you see a film with choppy animation, I thought Prisoner of Azkaban had more choppy animation. They showed more of the story, but it was choppy animation. I think…
Kevin: To be honest, I hated Prisoner of Azkaban.
Eric: I think Goblet flows.
Kevin: I did not like that movie at all.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Me, too, Kevin, it was weak.
Eric: In the beginning of Goblet of Fire, you guys were perfectly on spot…
Micah: Target.
Eric: …in the LIVE podcast when you said, “Ten minutes in and you’re at Hogwarts” because that’s how it was. I mean that’s exactly how it was. But, I thought that it really truly flowed well with them, yet
they did cut out the actual match of the Cup, but you could follow them, you could follow them and what they were doing. And I thought that it was a tremendous, great, great, way of coming into it when they went from the beginning of the match to the Death Eaters.
With everybody celebrating, with Fred and George dancing around like lunatics and then Mr. Weasley coming in and saying, “That’s not the Irish.” It just transferred. It flows very well.
Kevin: Yeah.
Micah: Can I…
Andrew: Yeah, because you knew like, it didn’t happen all suddenly, it was sort of like a slow transition.
Eric: It was a transition, yeah.
Andrew: Because they were still having fun even when Mr. Weasley still knew what was happening outside. That was good.
Eric: Yeah, and I wasn’t sitting through Goblet of Fire thinking, “Okay they needed a classroom scene here.” I was actually fine with just the one classroom scene with Unforgivable Curses.
Andrew: That was another thing that my sister had complained about was because there was no classroom scenes because, like the… No, no, I’m using her as an example. The non-hardcores, they like the classroom stuff because it brings back the general, classic Harry Potter, basic, generic, blah, blah, blah…
Eric: Oh. Yeah. I agree with that.
Andrew: So, I was kind of upset. I mean there was only one scene with the classroom.
Eric: That’s true.
Andrew: Mad-Eye…
Ben: Well, I don’t know, I don’t know. Because as I said before, Newell had quite a task on his hands and he had to be able to…
Eric: Oh, I don’t know how he did it.
Ben: …to fit all the necessary things in. And there’s the…
Kevin: And either way, there going to cut out something that would make other people angry. Either way.
Ben: Mhm. Right, but that was the one crucial…
Kevin: Whether it be a classroom scene or the maze, you know?
Eric: Well, there was dance class. You guys can’t forget dance class with McGonagall.
Ben: Oh, funny Eric.
Andrew: But, that wasn’t really…
Kevin: Yeah…
Ben: What I’m trying to say is that that was the one crucial classroom scene that needed to be in because they needed to explain the Unforgivable Curses and once they did that, I don’t think there was any need for all the other classroom scenes, you know with the potions…
Andrew: Ahhh, but it brings back the classic HP, back to the books.
Micah: Yeah.
Kevin: Feel of the books.
Micah: Can I bring something up for a second?
Ben: I want to hear… You know what I want to hear? I want to hear what Micah Tannenbaum has to say.
Andrew: Yeah, I was just going to say.
Micah: Well, I thought that this was the best movie by far. Like Kevin said, I didn’t like Prisoner of Azkaban very much, but there was something, and I want to know what you guys thought, that was kind of left out in this movie. We only had one correspondence with Sirius and the relationship with Sirius has
not built very well throughout these movies. When he kicks the can in the next movie, are we going to see a close relationship there?
Ben: Eric?
Eric: This is the most important thing. Thank you, Ben. This is the most important thing they have to do with Movie 5. They spent Movie 4 working on the characters that were already established, like Hagrid got a lot of good things in and all the students did, the Weasley twins. Ginny got a lot in this
movie. Now what they’re going to have to do in Order of the Phoenix is establish the past and everything with the past.
Andrew: Which they won’t.
Eric: How Dumbledore, the Potters, all the Order…what it was like when Voldemort used to reign because he’s back now and Movie 5 is all going to have to be about is the prophecy and what happened in the past. So, with Sirius and the entire Order in Grimmauld Place, they’re going to have to do a lot of back story
a lot of true acting on the adults’ part this time around, trying to understand how this is like, because Sirius has to show Harry all about his family and all about the tree and all about his past things. But at the same time, they also have to show how Sirius is shunned from the actual Order because of his
danger and you know, he can’t leave Grimmauld Place. They also have to, this is going to tear me apart, they also have to show Harry really pissed off at everybody.
I think that Dan Radcliffe took a tremendous leap in Goblet of Fire, I mean a tremendous, tremendous acting leap. I loved Dan in this movie. He did such a wonderful
job and it’s going to be a real pain in Order of the Phoenix to see him play a really angsty, angsty ticked off-at-everybody Harry. I think he did the Harry in this movie so well and they… I mean it’s just amazing. So, but in answer to Micah’s question, I think they’re going to have to spend a lot of time on the adults.
Micah: The relationships. Establishing them.
Eric: Establishing the relationships.
Kevin: Yeah, definitely.
Eric: And I think they’re going to have a heck of a time doing that and still having the plot and with Umbridge at school and all this stuff, but I would not care if they cut more school stuff out to use the actual Grimmauld Place and more like what Harry’s parents were like in the past.
Kevin: Now, do you think they’re going to include a lot of Umbridge?
Eric: They have to in a way because…
Ben: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, but that’s what people were saying about Rita Skeeter, right?
Eric: Ehhh. Well, it’s corruption…
Andrew: No. Who said that?
Eric: I think what they’re doing, what they’re doing with the movies, they’re avoiding it. It’s corruption in government, and they need to get it into the movie somehow. And I think they’ve been putting it off and putting it off and if they don’t do it in Movie 5, it’s never going to happen in the movies. I really doubt it.
Ben: Right and…
Eric: So, I think they need to this year at Hogwarts.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s one of the most important books.
Ben: To what Micah, to what Micah was saying about establishing the relationship with Sirius and all that. I think Movie 5, I have no idea how they’re going to be able to fit that in the two-and-a-half hours.
Micah: Yeah.
Ben: If there are purists who are upset about Movie 4, then when Movie 5 comes around…I don’t know.
Andrew: That’s what I said.
Kevin: Yeah, I think that people just have to realize that things have to be cut, you know? And the director does the best job they can with it, and that’s what has got to be done.
Ben: Have we heard anything about the length of this? Are they still shooting for two-and-a-half hours?
Andrew: We should have asked Heyman that.
Ben: That would have been a really good question.
Kevin: We’ll track him down.
Andrew: All we know is that they’re starting filming in late February.
Eric: I think, guys do you agree with me on this that the Department of Mysteries scene itself and the final battle could be like 45 minutes in video.
Ben: I completely agree with you, I think…
Kevin: It could be yes, but I don’t think it will be.
Ben: I think Order of the Phoenix could be a 20-hour movie.
[Kevin laughs]
Ben: Honestly.
Eric: It could be too because they need to establish, I mean Movie 4, Movie 5 the rundown. A very short rundown. They have to do the dementors on Privet Drive so do you think, could they cut it? I really…it’s a really big thing. But, if they do that, do they have to put Mrs. Figg in? Can you guys imagine them trying?
Kevin: I think they could cut that, to be honest.
Eric: You think?
Ben: What I see happening is…
Kevin: I think it would be a good transition to introduce the Order. I think what they’re going to do is instead of introducing the Order in this movie, they’re going to have the dementors attack and have them show up somehow and that’s when they’re going to introduce them.
Ben: Here’s what I see happening. I see basically Harry getting attacked on Privet Drive, then Mrs. Figg coming out yelling, screaming, whatever. Then Harry automatically…instead of waiting three days like it does in the book when he’s locked in his room and all that, Harry automatically gets swept away by the Order of The Phoenix. They go to Grimmauld Place. We’re not going to see Grimmauld Place like we have in the past where it’s basically…in the movie, I mean in the book we see a lot of Grimmauld Place because Harry is waiting for his trial, we hear…we see more of the real Professor Moody and things like that. I see that getting condensed down, then Harry going to his trial, them basically saying, “You’re still at Hogwarts” or whatever. Hogwarts is going to get…I don’t know, that’s probably going to be the most condensed part because the Department of Mysteries stuff is probably the most crucial…
Eric: Because it’s all about the prophecy.
Ben: …part to the movie.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah.
Kevin: And that sets up the rest of the series so you can’t cut it.
Eric: You know what else they have to do? They have to show Brendan Gleeson as Moody, they have to actually…Moody has to act a completely different character so either they’ll show him able to do that or they won’t show much of Moody in Movie 5, but it’s going to be confusing for the people who just watch the movies if they don’t establish Moody as a different character, there’ll be people who still think he’s a bad guy.
Micah: I think that was pretty well established at the end of the fourth movie that he’s not a bad guy.
Kevin: It was yeah. I think that was pretty well established.
Ben: Well, yeah and of course they’ll have to…you know when Harry…there’s a line in the book where Harry says, “Professor Moody?” and then Moody responds, “Well, I didn’t get around to… I don’t know if you can call me Professor because I didn’t get around to much teaching next year because…”
Eric: Yeah. But, you know what I’d really like to see? I would like to see Lupin, I mean, sorry, David Thewlis and Brendan Gleeson and everybody in Privet Drive with the Dursleys. I just want to see that happening.
Ben: I don’t know, David Yates the director of Order of the Phoenix is going to have quite a job on his hands, even more than Newell did. And also, we have a new screenwriter too.
Eric: What?
Ben: It’s no longer Steve Kloves.
Eric: Steve Kloves…no? We don’t have…
Ben: It’s Michael Goldenberg.
Eric: We don’t have Steve Kloves anymore.
Ben: Michael Goldenberg is the new screenwriter. So it looks…
Eric: Did you guys know that?
Ben: Order of the Phoenix is going to be something…
Kevin: It’s going to be unique.
Ben: Yeah, something different because…
Andrew: Well, the problem with David Yates is he hasn’t done any movies. Or he has but…
Kevin: He’s done TV kind of movies.
Andrew: His main…right. He’s done a lot of TV movies. It’s going to be interesting to follow. He’s a Brit.
Eric: How are they…?
Ben: JK Rowling…isn’t it the case that JK Rowling has to approve the script?
Eric: I don’t…
Andrew: I’m pretty sure they run everything by her. That’s what someone told us.
Ben: I’m sure…
Kevin: Because what…
Ben: I’m sure JKR’s not going to let them completely destroy it.
Eric: I don’t know.
Kevin: It’s not that, it’s that what if they exclude something that is vital to the Book 7 plot and we don’t realize it yet.
Micah: Right. Like you just said before…
Kevin: So she has to look over it because what happens when they get to the Movie 7?
Andrew: Well they’ve already screwed that up so…
Eric: And then again they didn’t…she remarked the other day that she hadn’t seen Movie 4 yet.
Andrew: Oh she’s seen it now.
Eric: She’s seen it now but I mean if she hadn’t seen it…
Andrew: No, no, but… Right, but…
Kevin: But she read the script.
Andrew: She signs off on everything.
Kevin: Exactly.
Ben: Right.
Micah: Well, Kevin…
Kevin: Yeah?
Micah: Like you just said, the dementor attack on Dudley, isn’t that supposed to be revealed what he saw in Book 7, so won’t you need to include that in the fifth movie?
Ben: Well I see them chopping off those parts.
Kevin: But is that going to be a vital part of Book 7?
Micah: Yeah, I mean I don’t know.
Eric: I don’t know, I liked what they did in Goblet of Fire with Adrian Rawlings and Geraldine Somersberg/Somersville…Lily and Potter. I’m sorry, Lily and James in Goblet of Fire. We saw them and we heard them. I liked that. I thought that was incredible and I’d like to see the Pensieve scene with them in the past, and the Marauders in the past because that’s one of the things that was cut out of Prisoner of Azkaban is the Marauders in the past. Will it ever make it in the movies? I don’t know. All I know is they really should start showing what happened when Voldemort was powerful the first time because that’s such a needed input. Like…it just occurred to me upon watching Goblet of Fire the second time that the name Riddle had already been established in Chamber of Secrets the movie, you know Tom Marvolo Riddle. It didn’t occur to me and that’s because there’s so little past and so little much of the past in the movies, and I think we need more of that.
Ben: Yeah. Okay, well I have an idea here. Okay. Andrew…starting with Andrew, say what your favorite scene in the movie was and why.
Eric: Ben, that’s a brilliant idea.
Andrew: Okay. Oh, I got to think about that one for a second.
Kevin: I’ll go. I could go.
Eric: Okay, Kevin.
Andrew: Yeah, go ahead, you first.
Kevin: I was thrilled with the Dragon scene.
Eric: That was cool.
Kevin: I don’t think…it wasn’t…
Andrew: That was going to be my choice.
Kevin: Yeah, it wasn’t because you know, I did like other scenes because of the emotion of the scene and how it was constructed, but just the action of the Dragon scene was just amazing.
Eric: And you know what they did?
Kevin: What?
Eric: You know…I’m sorry Kevin. You know what they did with the whole Dragon scene is they established a Columbus/Cuaron/Newell Hogwarts that finally agreed with itself.
Kevin: Oh yeah.
Eric: Also, and also, all of the video games. If you look at the Chamber of Secrets video game, the archways and the duct, the harbor at Hogwarts is finally established, it’s actually in the movie, the stuff from the video games in the past and you know, the things that…
Andrew: Yeah well they’re making it more like the movie. Has anyone played the Goblet of Fire video game yet?
Eric: I think it would be awesome.
Kevin: I haven’t.
Micah: No.
Eric: I haven’t played it, but it’s got to be cool.
Kevin: They have to send us copies.
Andrew: We should, we should…no we should all just play it and do a review on it.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: But actually, getting back to the Second Task…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: You know what I really would have liked to have seen? When he, when he…how do you pronounce it? Accio Firebolt?
Ben: Accio.
Eric: He said Accio.
Andrew: Did he? Accio Fire…when he said Accio Firebolt, I would have liked to have seen the Firebolt like lift up and head for the…
Eric: Yeah, and break free. Right.
Kevin: Oh yeah. Like cut-scene.
Andrew: That would have been a cool shot like have the camera… right.
Kevin: Flash back and forth between Harry and the Firebolt? Like back and forth?
Andrew: Well, that would have been kind of corny but…well I don’t know.
Kevin: That would have been pretty cool.
Andrew: Bring up some momentum.
Eric: Because that’s what Fred and George do, don’t they?
Andrew: But that would have been just cool, to see like, to hear him yell, “Accio Firebolt” and have the camera just fly back to Hogwarts, see it lift up and then go back.
Eric: Yeah, that would have been a really cool shot. Don’t Fred and George…
Andrew: I was sort of hoping for that.
Eric: Guys, don’t Fred and George do that in Book 5? With theirs?
Andrew: What?
Eric: When they take off, don’t their brooms break free from the chains to go…
All: Yeah.
Eric: From Umbridge’s chains. So there might be a chance to do that. Yet. If they wanted to, because that would be cool, flying through the Halls of Hogwarts you know, kind of broomsticks, camera but…
Ben: Well, since you guys pretty much agree that your favorite scene was the Dragons, the Second Task. My favorite…that was an awesome scene, I agree with you guys, but what my favorite scene was, was the Graveyard. I thought that was about the coolest thing ever.
Eric: Ben, that’s my favorite scene.
Kevin: See…
Eric: Yeah.
Ben: Sorry Eric. But we’ll discuss this. Hold on.
Eric: No problem.
Ben: What I thought was awesome was when…you know when Peter…when Wormtail was basically brewing the potion and getting ready to cut off his arm and then Cedric and Harry come there and they’re all confused and then Cedric just drops dead and… Ah, I just thought it was sweet to see Lord Voldemort in the flesh and it was great.
Eric: You know what’s cool?
Ben: And then even when, like the most emotional scene in the movie, we talked about this in the LIVE Podcast, was when they…after Priori Incantatem when the Wands were connected, which they didn’t explain what happened there either, basically after that happened and then Harry grabs the Portkey, Cedric’s body, and goes back, they’re laying there on the ground and then everyone thinks they’ve won and then Fleur lets out the scream and that really moved a lot of people to tears. I didn’t cry, but everyone around me was.
Kevin: I saw you cry. I saw you cry.
Ben: Oh, Kevin.
Eric: Caught in the act, Ben.
Ben: Eric, what did you think?
Eric: I agree with Ben. Ben’s entirely right on this and that’s, that’s true.
Kevin: It’s a matter of opinion.
Eric: Well, my particular fascination with the Graveyard scene was Voldemort. And not just Voldemort but how…I mean Ben used the term “in the flesh” and that’s exactly what he was. He was in the flesh. That’s all he was and you know, Voldemort wasn’t done up with a thousand special effects. He was done up with a hundred pounds of make-up probably, but that’s beside the point.
What I mean is, you saw Voldemort as he had been before he fell in person, standing there right next to Lucius, standing and threatening them and just…standing! He exists! That’s the scariest thing in the world to me. He wasn’t necessarily scary. He was ugly. But, just this fact that he commands respect. His presence on that Graveyard ground just commands this reach into the past at who he was, who he is, and why he’s threatening and why they all look up to him and this just evil that was so well represented by Ralph Fiennes and I just want to see more of it, is all I’m saying. I want to see more of Voldemort and he was so real and so personable and so crazy.
Ben: I think the coolest scene in Movie 5 has to be Dumbledore and the Dark Lord dueling in the Department of Mysteries.
Eric: Which is going to be…
Ben: That is my, that is my favorite part of all the books you know, when Dumbledore comes out and says, “You shouldn’t have come here tonight, Tom,” and…that was just incredible.
[All laugh]
Eric: Micah, what do you think?
Andrew: [mocking Ben] Ahhh, that was just incredible.
Kevin: [mocking Ben] Ahhh…
Eric: Micah, what do you think?
Ben: I’m a sap guys. What do you think, yeah Micah, what’s your favorite scene in the movie?
Micah: I talked about this with Andrew and definitely the best scene was Flitwick crowd-surfing during the Ball.
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: Was that Flitwick though?
Kevin: I don’t…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Is that, because they totally…because Cuaron changed him!
[Micah laughs]
Ben: Yeah.
Eric: And I never understood if that’s Flitwick or not because they never really…it kind of sounds like him when Hagrid stabs his fork through him.
[Kevin laughs]
Eric: I mean…
Ben: What about Movie 1, wasn’t Flitwick a guy with a white beard and stuff?
Eric: Yeah, so I never understood. Like I saw the guy there.
Kevin: They changed it in…
Andrew: They made him more classy.
Eric: I know. No, I like, I actually like the new Flitwick, but it’s just that they never really established it, they never really have him say anything that would give us that connection. Now, I actually watched the credits all the way through because I thought there was something special at the end which there actually wasn’t in my reel. Did you guys see anything special at the end? Did you hear about that?
Andrew: No.
Ben: I don’t know.
Eric: Okay, the only thing is, at the very end it says, “No Dragons were harmed in the creation of this film.”
[All laugh]
Eric: Which is really cool, but there was no special video like Lockhart or anything like Chamber of Secrets. But, anyway it does credit Warwick Davis, so I was thinking like “Was that Flitwick?” Because if it was, I think it’s really funny and I actually like the more you know, pseudo-Flitwick. But he…they never really, I don’t think they ever really explained that so I wasn’t sure if that was Flitwick or if he just existed to lead the non-existent choir in the chorus and the band, which now exists.
Micah: Yeah, that was just supposed to be a joke though…
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Micah: I mean…definitely the Graveyard scene, I agree with…
Eric: Well no, it was cool, it was cool. The crowd-surfing was…
Goblet of Fire Discussion
Ben: Well okay, I have an idea here. Okay, I’m going to ask each and every one of you to go around, say what you…okay out of a scale of ten, out of a scale of ten, what would you give the movie, ten being the best? Eric, you first.
Eric: I’m going to have to go with thirteen. Thirteen.
[All laugh]
Ben: Thirteen.
Eric: I have to go with, I have to go with thirteen, Ben.
Kevin: Wait, you have to specify, as a Harry Potter movie or as a movie in general?
Eric: Good point, okay as a movie in general I’ll take it down to…I don’t know, it’s still up in eight and a half/nine because it truly is…
Kevin: Yeah, I would give it an eight as a movie.
Eric: Yeah. Just as a movie because it’s the biggest budget film but yet…
Ben: [impersonating Andrew] Yeah!
Eric: Yeah, but they did so much with the money they had and I don’t mean in terms of special effects because the special effects scenes weren’t the ones that amazed me, it was the actor scenes that amazed me and how they developed Ron and how they developed Dan’s character and you know, everybody. The character…
Ben: There was some, there was some incredible actors in this movie. Brendan Gleeson did a phenomenal job.
Eric: He did.
Andrew: Yeah Mad-Eye Moody was hilarious.
Ben: I thought that was incredible.
Eric: I still have…I have to see him as regular Moody. I just have to see how he does it because he’s so great at being the kind of demented, demented Moody who sticks his tongue out at McGonagall after the ferret scene. I mean that was just funny.
Ben: Right Andrew, Andrew, what do you think?
Andrew: On a scale of one to ten, I would say a nine.
Ben: Why?
Andrew: Because…because…just because, and I know this really isn’t Warner Brothers’ fault, but just because it wasn’t all there. It was still the best movie.
Eric: That’s true.
Andrew: The other ones I would give like a one and a two.
[All laugh]
Andrew: I’m just kidding, not that low.
Ben: Micah, Micah? What would you give it?
Micah: Yep, nine. I think…well what you said before, taking a 735 page book and putting it into two-and-a-half hours was definitely a job well done, and I didn’t like Prisoner of Azkaban either so this, in my opinion, was the best movie by far.
Eric: Oh, can I do something?
Ben: Okay well, I need to give my rating first here.
Eric: Okay, cool.
Ben: I think that when you compare it to the other Harry Potter movies it’s…I don’t know…it’s better than Prisoner of Azkaban and it’s definitely, it’s certainly better than the first two so I give it an eight. An eight in terms of Harry Potter movies and just as a movie in general, probably about the same. I think, I think it was heading in the right direction. There of course could have been some things they needed to work on with it but you know, there’s only so much time you have to do things.
Andrew: I have a question. Is Columbus to blame for the first two movies not being as good?
Ben: I happen to think…
Eric: I LOVE the first two movies!
Ben: Well, here’s what I feel about the first two movies. I thought the first two movies were really good. They were probably the truest…they probably were extremely true to the book and the first two movies are actually what got me into the Harry Potter series to begin with.
Eric: Thank you, Ben! Ben…I’m flying down to your house and I’m just…
Ben: It really makes me angry.
Kevin: See the thing is…
Eric: It does!
Kevin: I think that he had a huge task on his hands. I mean look at it, he had to set up…he was the one who set up the movie. You know, all these, all the movies after it, have him to thank for setting it up for them. So although they may not be the best movies, they were the best movies for setting up the series so other directors could take it and do their own thing with it.
Ben: It really makes me angry when people say that the first movies absolutely sucked because that’s not true. It’s not true at all. Because the first two movies, they were very true to the books and they’re what brought a lot of fans to actually read the series so I don’t understand how people can say they were so terrible. In comparison to the last two movies they were not that great.
Eric: Yeah, it’s not that Chris Columbus disregarded the plot just so that he could establish the series, it’s not like that all. He both established and went with it.
Kevin: Exactly. He knew that what he was making, he had to set up…
Micah: Remember the age of the actors he’s working with too. I think that plays a large role in it.
Eric: Guys, that’s why I can’t read the first book.
Kevin: Yeah, that’s true.
Eric: I mean the first book, it’s still…it’s a book about an eleven-year-old and it’s not childish; it’s just an adult book about an eleven-year-old.
Kevin: I think that the age of the actors did also play a role in it as well. I mean they were inexperienced actors.
Micah: Right.
Kevin: Actors and actresses I should say and you know, of course the movie isn’t going to be the best because you have a brand new actor who has never acted before. I mean they got lessons, but you can’t expect…
Eric: Hey guys, speaking of, speaking of Katie Leung and Fleur and all the Champions and everybody…they did good jobs.
Kevin: They did.
Eric: And especially, you know, I think especially when Rita Skeeter went up to the four Champions and she was taunting Fleur and you know, taunting Victor and when Victor in the tent said that this is for Champions and friends only, I mean that was a great line on his part and they really like…
Ben: His only line!
[All laugh]
Andrew: Please! I thought that was so cheesy.
Kevin: I thought so too.
Eric: No!
Ben: It seemed to me like it was a line they made so he actually had a line in the movie.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Exactly, exactly. Ben, you were here when I said that to that girl. That’s exactly what I said. It sounds like a… “Oh, here let’s write something real quick for Krum so that it doesn’t sound, so he says at least one thing.”
Kevin: It’s corny. It really was a corny line.
Eric: Well, it does show that they…
Andrew: A pity he didn’t say more lines.
Eric: Yeah, it shows that people are aware though of the media and how bad they are and that you want the Champions of each school to be aware of how the media can misconstrue what they say. And the other thing about this movie, which I loved, is how they finally…Harry seems…they emphasize his age. They actually…they didn’t just, I mean they didn’t ignore the fact that he was getting older. In fact they emphasized…they went all out saying that he was 14 and Harry corrects Rita Skeeter three or four times saying “14, 14, 14,” for his age and she writes him in as 12. And if you notice, all the Champions are taller than Harry and the Weasley twins are freakin’ huge – they’re giants. So, Harry looks small. And if you look at the Goblet…
Andrew: Well, that’s natural, though.
Eric: It might be natural but…
Andrew: That’s by chance.
Eric: I thought it was also emphasized, they actually also made a point to make it seem like you know, he was as young as he’s supposed to be which was 14 because there was the lines and then there was…you know just in general, Harry looks smaller in this movie compared to everybody else. Maybe he’s just up against tall people. That could be it but I really felt that Harry was 14.
Micah: Maybe he’s just short.
Eric: Watching this, I just really felt that he was 14 and I thought that was a good job because it’s not like the other movies where you kind of wonder what his age really is and what he’s supposed to be playing. I thought this when they made it.
Ben: I don’t know if I felt he was 14 because…I don’t know, it just seems so awkward because his voice is so deep. Some fourteen-year-old’s voices are like…
Eric: It isn’t deep though; it’s not as deep as yours, Ben.
Ben: That’s often times when an adolescent boy when his voice changes when he’s fourteen. Thirteen/fourteen in that range and…I don’t know Harry’s voice started changing in the movies, Dan Radcliffe’s voice started changing at the end of Sorcerer’s Stone.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: Well, Ben, do you also want to complain about his abs then for the bathroom scene that most fourteen-year-old boys don’t have abs?
Ben: But that’s not true, it depends on…I don’t know why you were checking out Dan Radcliffe’s abs.
Eric: I wasn’t, Ben.
Andrew: That’s messed up.
Kevin: Yeah it is.
Eric: I wasn’t checking out his abs. All I’m saying is he had abs and if you want to complain that he’s not really fourteen then you might as well go the whole mile. What about Moaning Myrtle? I liked that. What about Moaning Myrtle?
Kevin: He’s trying to change the subject right now.
Eric: Okay fine, I’m leaving.
Kevin: We called him out and he…
Eric: Guys!
Kevin: Can’t explain it.
Ben: Now that we’ve cleared up that Eric has a little crush on Dan…what did you guys think of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore in this movie?
Kevin: I thought he was angry.
Micah: I have to apologize to…
Andrew: Yeah we already had this, we’ve had this talk a million times but I really liked him. I still do. I still stand by what I said.
Micah: I started that whole argument last time, what was it, Episode…the Halloween episode when I said that I didn’t like Gambon but I felt he did a much better job in this movie although that interview he gave in Empire has gotten a lot of people hot because he seems like he knows absolutely nothing about the series.
Andrew: So what, though?
Ben: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: Well, I guess it does matter.
Micah: I don’t know if he was being sarcastic or what the deal was.
Andrew: I doubt it.
Kevin: Yeah but I mean, I mean in the premiere before they started the movie they had that woman going around with the SceneIt? games.
Andrew: What?
Kevin: She had no clue what she was talking about.
Andrew: Yeah, what was that woman doing?
Kevin: She was…during the…
Ben: Okay, well here. While you and Emerson were still on the Red Carpet…
Andrew: Yeah…
Ben: Kevin and I were already in the theater sitting there and this woman was going around with Harry Potter SceneIt? games and…
Andrew: Handing them out?
Kevin: Yeah.
Ben: She’d ask them a question and if you got it right, she gave you a game.
Kevin: But she was giving everyone the answer to begin with, and she had no clue what she was talking about. She knew nothing about Harry Potter. You could tell, she knew absolutely nothing.
[Kevin and Micah laugh]
Kevin: So you know, it’s not uncommon for the people who are playing in the movie or involved in the movie not to know about the books themselves. And sometimes it’s better because it makes it so they don’t skew the director’s vision based on their own opinion of the character.
Micah: Didn’t Matt Lewis talk about how he looked into Order of The Phoenix for his role in Goblet of Fire.
Kevin: Yeah. He said that at the LIVE Podcast, didn’t he?
Micah: Yeah. So I mean not…I think it is a good idea to know a little bit about your character.
Andrew: No, you have to.
Micah: But Gambon just came across as such a…I don’t know. The comments about his interview, there was like 400 of them. It was not good. People were asking for other people to, or another actor to take on the role.
Andrew: Oh please!
Micah: Yeah, I know but…
Andrew: I still like him.
Kevin: Yeah, just because he doesn’t know about the series doesn’t mean he doesn’t do a good job in playing the part, you know?
Andrew: What’s more important, knowing about acting or knowing your character in Harry Potter? Actually that’s a good question!
Kevin: Yeah! Well so long as it’s…
Andrew: I think it’s knowing about acting.
Kevin: So, long as he portrays the character correctly, it really doesn’t matter if he knows about him or not. I mean I think that shows the, you know, director…that’s Mike’s influence because obviously he got the knowledge from somewhere I bet you. You know, the director.
Micah: I just think he needs a valium every once in a while.
[All laugh]
Micah: He got a little too crazy in the Trophy Room.
Kevin: Yeah, I think so too.
Ben: So, so, overall we all agree that the movie was pretty sweet, it could have been done better but…well actually I don’t know.
Andrew: I don’t think so.
Ben: Michael Gambon… Mike Newell probably did…
Kevin: I think he did a good job.
Ben: The best job within his capabilities unless he wanted to spend a million more dollars on it so…I think the movie was awesome. It had its flaws but every movie does and once you start analyzing it this much, it’s always easy to find a problem with it.
Surveys
Ben: Okay, so with all that in mind I hope everyone has enjoyed this podcast. Oh, before we conclude…
Kevin: Uh oh.
Andrew: How can you forget?
Ben: Andrew? Do you have an announcement about some…
Andrew: Did you just call me Drew?
Ben: …surveys for our listeners to take?
Andrew: Oh. The “An” got cut off. Yes, so in order to you know, make it easier on us in our lives and you know, just get a better feel for the show, we decided we’re going to quit.
Kevin: Yep.
Andrew: But seriously…[pause]
[All laugh]
Andrew: Guys, we need to take a break one of these weeks to recoup.
Kevin: Yeah, maybe next week we’ll take a break.
Andrew: Rehash, re-everything.
Kevin: Rehash!
Andrew: Well, you guys wanted to this week and I was like “No dudes!” But anyway, you might notice on Mugglecast.com there is a new link there in the “Listener To-Do List” that says “Take Our Listener Survey” and by taking this listener survey, it’s about…it’ll take you five to ten minutes depending on how long it takes you to type or whatever. It basically asks you some questions so we can get a better feel for you guys, the listeners, our demographics because we need some dems. We’ve got to dem, dem it up here.
Kevin: We do have to dem it up.
Andrew: So if anyone…so please take these. Please take the listener survey, it’s really going to help us out. Its easy, it’ll just take a few minutes of your time because we really need to start getting a feel for what, who listens to the show, what types of people because we need these in order to keep growing the show. It’s actually really, really important.
Kevin: Important. It really is, yeah.
Andrew: To us. So just…it’s number one, right there on that list, Mugglecast.com, right next to that nice GoDaddy ad, it says “Take Our Listener Survey To Help The Show.” Click it, press “listener survey start now” and then it will start asking you a few questions. It goes to a separate website. Just fill out their basic generic questions. So that’s it. Thanks guys. It’s really going to help. It’s maintained by Podtrack, which is a new company that helps podcast users grow.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: Their podcast.
Kevin: Grow their podcast. [laughs] Helps their podcast grow.
Andrew: Step one, add water. [laughs]
Kevin: “Hooked on Phonics” worked for us.
Ben: Okay, well I think that wraps up episode…funny, funny guys, funny.
Spy on Spartz
Micah: Are you going to Spy on Spartz or no?
Ben: I think that wraps up this epi…
Kevin: Oh, “Spy on Spartz.”
Ben: Oh crap, we forgot this.
Kevin: Yeah, let’s spy on him.
Andrew: Yes let’s do some regular segments here.
Ben: Finally…
Andrew: Let me IM Emerson – I’m pretty sure he’s been idle all day.
Ben: He’s idle.
Kevin: No I can bet you exactly where he is.
Ben: He’s watching the Notre Dame game.
Kevin: There you go.
Andrew: Wait is…I haven’t been…I’ve got it on the TV but I actually haven’t been…
Kevin: They’re winning and they’re most likely going to be…
Micah: The score is 34-3 Notre Dame so I’m getting killed over here.
Andrew: Oooh, oooh!
Kevin: He’s going to be happy.
Andrew: Micah, weren’t you cheering on Syracuse?
Micah: I would hope so, yeah.
Andrew: What happened there?
Micah: I don’t know.
[All laugh]
Kevin: Okay.
Micah: Maybe the fact that we have one win this year has something to do with it, I don’t know.
Andrew: Oh, hey!
Ben: I bet so.
Andrew: How many games is that?
Micah: Well…
Andrew: How many losses?
Micah: We’ll go to 1-9 on the season after this game.
Kevin: Oh my.
Andrew: Ohhh.
Kevin: Ohhh.
Ben: That hurts.
Andrew: That does hurt.
Micah: No more football funding next year.
Andrew: 1-9, ouch!
Ben: Okay, well I think that does wrap up this Episode 16 of MuggleCast. I hope you’ve all enjoyed it. Once again.
Book Recommendations
Andrew: Oh wait, wait, w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-wait. Kevin, are you doing something with those book reading segment things?
Kevin: We will be, we will be. We’re working on it. We’ve gotten hundreds upon hundreds.
Andrew: Okay. Yeah.
Kevin: Of recommendations.
Ben: Okay, we’ll mention that some other time.
Kevin: Yeah we’ll worry about that…
Andrew: No, we just need to update people on what’s going on.
Kevin: Yeah, no, absolutely, yeah.
Ben: Okay.
Kevin: We’re working on it.
Ben: Okay, before we vacate, before we close the show, I think Kevin has something to say about our book recommendations. Kevin?
Kevin: Wait…yeah for all those who are wondering, we have gotten quite a few, well more than a few recommendations so we’re working on sorting them out, seeing which ones we’re going to read first and then we’ll….you know, we’ll review them. Hopefully, it will be by next episode so…good times. There’s hundreds.
Andrew’s Listener Challenge
Ben: Sounds good to me. Oh and Andrew! Do we have a “Listener Challenge” this week?
Andrew: Nooo.
Ben: Oh here we go, I have a Challenge. Go out and see Goblet of Fire.
Kevin: Yes. Yeah.
Ben: There’s your “Listener Challenge” this week.
Andrew: Ahh, that’s corny.
Ben: And while you’re in the theater, you should…
Andrew: Oh, ooh oooh, okay. I have a new “Listener Challenge.”
Ben: Oh! We have one! An impromptu “Listener Challenge.”
Andrew: Guys, what you have to do, okay? Okay, we can’t…okay, turn up your headphones because I don’t want many people hearing, but everyone has to bring a camera into the movie theater, not bootleg the movie, but I want you to bring your friend to the movie theater with a camera and right when the movie’s starting, just yell really loud…well see people have already seen it but just yell really loud…no, what should they say? “Listen to MuggleCast or Die!”
Kevin: Okay, I think they’ll be arrested.
Andrew: Okay!
Kevin: Yeah if you say that, you’re going to be…
Andrew: Okay fine, just say, really loud before the movie just yell “Listen to MuggleCast,” okay? Alright?
Ben: Sounds good to me.
Andrew: Okay, good.
Micah: Sure.
Ben: Okay and don’t, and please ignore the part about the camera. We don’t want to get you thrown in jail.
Andrew: No do it, because we have to have proof. You’re not going to get thrown in jail.
Ben: How can you have proof?
Andrew: Guys, don’t worry about it.
Ben: No, no, here’s a better idea.
Andrew: Sneak it in…
Ben: I’m modifying…no I’m modifying “Andrew’s Listener Challenge.” I want you to take a video of you outside the theatre yelling, “I listen to MuggleCast.” There.
Andrew: And then take your camera inside…
Ben: No.
Andrew: They’re not going to get arrested! The worst that’s going to happen is you’re going to get kicked out. Please, you won’t get caught.
Ben: Okay.
Andrew: Guys, I’ll get you a lawyer if you get thrown in court or something.
Show Close
Ben: Okay, so I think that finally wraps up Episode 16 of MuggleCast. Everybody, I hope it’s been fun. I sure have had fun. We’ve had a nice insight about the movie. Next week, we would like to answer questions that you have about the movie so please send those to voice at staff dot mugglenet dot com. For other ways to contact us, please visit MuggleCast.com or MuggleNet.com/MuggleCast and you’ll see a link that says “Contact Us” and that’s pretty much it.
Andrew: And also, stick…we want to hear what you guys thought about the movie, just not besides questions.
Kevin: Comments, yeah.
Andrew: Like send us…send us…yeah, little comments. Keep them under I’d say a minute and we’ll stick them in at the end of the show. Send those to voice at staff dot mugglenet dot com too.
Ben: I agree.
Kevin: Thanks a lot!
Andrew: Record your voice. It has to be a voice recording.
Ben: Okay, well thanks to everybody for listening to us once again, hope this has been enjoyable and we’ll see you all next week. I’m Ben Schoen.
Andrew: I’m Andrew Sims.
Kevin: I’m Kevin Steck.
Eric: Bye, I’m Eric Scull, see you everybody.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Ben: So, everybody, we’ll see you all next week.
Kevin: Goodbye.
Andrew: Or will we?
Ben: Goodnight, everybody.
———————–
Written by: Micah, Jess, Claire, and Ally