MuggleCast 80 Transcript
Show Intro
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[Intro music plays]
Andrew: Because England finally has a professional podcaster in the country…
Jamie: Hey!
Andrew: This is MuggleCast Episode 80 for March 11th, 2007.
[Music continues to play]
Andrew: I don’t know if you guys checked out the new Wizard of the Month this month over at JKRowling.com. Anyone?
Jamie: Ummm…
Kevin: I saw it, yeah.
Jamie: I’m sure I saw a news post about it, but I can’t remember.
Eric: I agree with that statement, Andrew.
Laura: Clue us in.
Andrew: The new Wizard of the Month is Tilden Toots, born 1959 and still alive to this day. And JK Rowling describes this person as, “the wizard with three green thumbs,” and a celebrity herbologist and radio personality. So I was thinking, I kind of like this name, Toots, and since this guy is a radio personality, I’ve decided that I want my new name on the show to be Toots.
Eric: Okay.
Jamie: Do you know what I think?
Laura: Okay…
Jamie: I think that is possibly the worst idea I’ve ever heard, so we’re going to keep calling you Andrew, Andrew.
Andrew: But this person is a radio personality and I’m a radio personality, so, it’s close.
Jamie: Well, you’re a podcast personality, so…
Andrew: Well, if I don’t have a supportive co-host group, then I guess not.
Eric: Oh.
Jamie: Well, you know…
Andrew: Thought you guys would support me on that decision, but I guess not.
Jamie: Well, it would be cruel and inhumane for us to tell you that it was a good idea when it was possibly the worst idea since…
Andrew: What about Tootsims?
Jamie: No, even worse, in fact.
Andrew: Tootsims? Tootsims.
Jamie: It’s cringe-worthy.
Eric: Wait, I’ve got one, I’ve got one. Andrew Sims.
Jamie: It’s cring-worthy.
Andrew: No, Tootsims.
Jamie: Nooooo. Where did you get that name from, Eric? That’s good, I like it.
Andrew: I’m Toots!
Eric: I know, I know.
Jamie: No you’re not.
Andrew: Name intros.
[Silence]
Eric: Oh, you’re Toots?
Jamie: No, you have to say Andrew.
Andrew: Yeah. You’re Eric Scull, we all…you know…
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Right. Right, you’re Toots.
Andrew: I know this is new to everyone…
Eric: Guys, I don’t…
Andrew: What we do is we run through every one’s names, you guys.
Jamie: I’m refusing to say my name unless you say Andrew.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: It’s that bad.
Eric: Yeah. In protest…
Jamie: I feel that strongly about it.
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Lets just not do it.
Andrew: I’m sorry but I’m not moving on and this show – these drums will not stop until you guys say your names.
Jamie: Well, in that case…
Laura: All right. No name intros.
Jamie: In that case…
Andrew: I’m Toots.
[Silence]
Jamie: Well I hope to everyone listening that you can still remember my name in 30 episodes time…
[Kevin laughs]
Jamie: …because I’m not saying it until Andrew gives in.
Andrew: As the host and producer of this show, I refuse to go on until you guys say your names.
Jamie: Fine. Fine, let’s strike.
Andrew: No, we’ll start again…we’ll start again…
Jamie: Everyone, let’s strike.
Andrew: We’ll start again. I’m Toots.
[Silence]
Eric: Okay, Jamie and Laura and Kevin, how about you and I just go? We’ll all go off, and…
Kevin: I think that’s a great idea.
Eric: … talk about Movie 5 and all the reviews, and we’ll just leave…
Kevin: Our own devices.
Eric: Toots here…
Laura: Okay.
Eric: Because…yeah. Okay.
[Music continues to play]
News
Andrew: Micah Tannenbaum is standing by in the MuggleCast news center with the past weeks Harry Potter news stories. Micah!
Micah: Thanks, Toots. Ah, he better have a good explanation for that.
Jo Rowling has been nominated for the NCH Scotland Women of Influence awards, which will take place in Glasgow later today. She is one of five influential women in the category who recognizes those who have worked hard to improve the lifestyles and education of children.
A former winner of the title said, “These awards mark the significant contribution women from diverse communities make to our national life. In our mothers’ and grandmothers’ time women received very little recognition. Today, it is a very different story. The awards also highlights the vital work NCH does to support Scotland’s children and young people and raise an incredible amount of money to support that work.”
Speaking of Jo, after being named a billionaire last year by Forbes magazine, this year she makes the list yet again at #891. JKR has an estimated net worth of $1 billion and is the only career author billionaire.
As we reported previously, the Potter author is suing eBay for allowing illegal and fraudulent copies of her works to be sold on the auction site. Jo has managed to obtain an injunction which prevents eBay from listing illegal copies (namely e-versions of her books), which is binding until a May 23rd hearing. You can check out MuggleNet.com for more information on JK’s Army and sign a petition against eBay.
The Harry Potter series has received a nomination under “Favorite Book” at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. Be sure to head over and vote.
The actor who plays Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter series spoke in a brief new interview about his character, the Order of the Phoenix movie, and Deathly Hallows.
Speaking about the series he said, “I was into J.K. Rowling’s books about Harry Potter long before I was offered the part of Professor Flitwick and I’ve loved reading every one since then. So, yes, I’m really looking forward … like you … to the next book.”
Finally, speaking of the seventh book, partially due to the book’s high cost, over a quarter of independent booksellers in the UK have chosen not to stock Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The book’s sticker price, $34.99, is roughly twice the $17.99 cost of Sorcerer’s Stone when it was published by Scholastic in 1999.
That’s all the news for this March 11th, 2007 edition of MuggleCast. Back to the show.
Andrew: All right, thank you, Micah. And are you guys – you going to call me Toots now?
Jamie: No.
Kevin: Not a chance. No.
Andrew: I don’t see why you can’t be supportive of…
Jamie: I’d rather Harry died in…
Andrew: …your co-host.
Jamie: …the final book, Andrew, than to call you [laughs] that ridiculous name.
Eric: Andrew, I just contacted GoDaddy, and – I just contacted GoDaddy and I locked Toots.com and stuff, so you just can’t have it. It’s not good for you. I was looking out for your…
Andrew: Well, I already made toots at staff dot mugglenet dot com, so…
Eric: Ahhh.
Andrew: …I think…
Jamie: However, Andrew…
Andrew: …your plan backfired, there.
Jamie: Yes, but if you keep calling yourself that name, we’ll kill you.
[Eric and Kevin laugh]
Jamie: And then an e-mail address or a website isn’t going to do you any good, at all.
Andrew: Jamie, I’m not really afraid of you kidding me – killing me, because it’s not like I’m going to be seeing you in a couple of days, or anything…
Jamie: Oh, no. Yeah, exactly.
Andrew: …so it won’t be any problem. Yeah, so…
Jamie: Oh, wait!
Andrew: Transition!
Jamie: Whoa-ho.
Announcements
Andrew: Jamie, we have a podcast in England coming up.
Jamie: We do. We are going to be at the School of Oriental and African Studies at Vernon Square in London on March 17th, at 2:00 PM, doing a live podcast, and then a meet and greet type event with literally hundreds of prizes. We’ve gone all-out on the prizes, and we’ve got loads of fun activities happening, and stuff like that. All places are now filled, but people can drop out, so if you want more information, go on MuggleCast.com and read the latest news post. But for all those people…
Andrew: Very good.
Jamie: …who are attending, we look forward to seeing you all there.
Andrew: It’s going to be a lot of fun, and to anyone who might be a little bummed that they can’t show up, this is actually – this is going to be a little test for us to see how well these live podcasts/meetups will work out. And if it works out good, we’d definitely be interested in doing more of them here in the United States, or maybe over in England again, you know? Yeah, so and, of course, opening it up to more people, so hopefully that, all of that will go very well.
Also, there is a book door [laughs] – there is a book tour coming up with Ben and Emerson. They’re kind of a big thing, now, with their book release, and I know Laura and Micah contributed to that book, too. They’re going to be going on a little tour over their spring break and all of those dates can be found on MuggleNet.com. There’s a little tour ticker, as I like to call it, on the right side, there, with all the dates. You could find more details about their tour right there.
Jamie: What they’re doing is, they’re hiring out a VW camper van and painting it with flowers and they’re going to drive around…
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Jamie: …the continental US and just stop at random bookstores and talk about their book.
Andrew: Yeah, so you’ll have to be lucky and catch them, but…
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Anyway, I regret to inform everyone that I won’t be there. Yes, my pen name…
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: …Andy Gordon, is – you know, I would be there, but I’m going to be in England, so I apologize for that.
Another live event that we’re going to doing, coming up this summer, is at Enlightening 2007 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the University of Pennsylvania. That whole convention is from July 12th to the 15th, and it’s going to be a lot of fun. We encourage everyone to come out. We have an update on the podcast. The podcast is going to be open to the public. There’s going to be 600 seats total, so they’re really expecting a big turnout for this. So anyone who lives in the tri-state area, like Eric, if you still actually lived here in the United States, we encourage everyone to come out, whether you’re in New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, anywhere, it’s going to be a lot of fun. And then that night, we’re going to be seeing the movie. The movie details aren’t nailed down yet, but we’ll update you when they are. And, of course, we encourage everyone to actually sign up for the convention because they have a lot planned. It’s like Prophecy and Lumos, only it’s more family-oriented, and they’re going to have a lot of fun stuff going on, including a workshop on how to create your own podcast.
Eric: Woot.
Andrew: And that will be hosted by Jamie, Ben, and I. And of course…
Jamie: Well, I…
Andrew: …Micah’s going to be there…
Jamie: …I’m just going to be…
Andrew: …at the live podcast.
Jamie: …standing there, and you’re going to be doing it, because I couldn’t create a podcast if my life depended on it.
Andrew: [laughs] Well…
Jamie: I just sit here and talk with my feet up.
Andrew: …didn’t I say last week that you’re going to do a seminar on how to come up with British jokes?
Jamie: Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. All you need is – oh, wait. I’ve already made that joke, I can’t make it again.
Andrew: [laughs] So, you could find more information on Enlightening2007.org, and if you are not going to be signing up for the convention, but you plan on coming as part of the “public,” please email enlighten07 at gmail dot com, and mention – let us know how many people you plan on bringing with you so we can get a good handle on…
Jamie: Enlighten, is that?
Andrew: …how many extra people.
Jamie: Enlighten?
Andrew: Enlighten. Enlighten. Like, I’m going to enlighten you.
Jamie: Okay, so minus the “ing”?
Andrew: 07 at gmail dot com. Yes.
Jamie: There’s no “ing” on this. Okay.
Andrew: Yes, don’t ask me why I didn’t do it. I don’t know. [laughs] And then, finally, it – we’re getting into, we’re getting well into March, here. Don’t forget to vote for us at PodcastAlley.com to keep us up top of the rankings. It helps all those media sources find good podcasts out there, like us, of course. And, so, place your vote. All you have to do is leave it – place a vote once a month over at PodcastAlley.com, so thanks for that.
Listener Rebuttal: De Facto
We have our first rebuttal now.
Laura: This comes from Aggy [laughs] Aggy? Oh, god, I can’t even talk – Abby Stokley, 14, from Austin, Texas. She writes:
“Hi, I was just listening to Episode 79 and I heard you use the term “de facto”, which is Latin for “of fact”. You did use the term correctly within your comment, but your translation was a little off. It quite literally means “of fact”, and more correctly means that a subject is correct in the facts related to it, but is not correct by law or vote. Thanks for taking the time to listen to a picky Latin student. I love the show.”
Andrew: Our bad.
Jamie: And, no, she’s absolutely right.
Andrew: I think it might have been Ben.
Laura: Yeah, probably.
Andrew: It wasn’t me. I wasn’t on last week.
Jamie: I know.
Laura: I know it wasn’t me.
Jamie: Ooh, actually…
Eric: Yeah, Ben just totally whipped out that political term.
Jamie: It’s an extremely interesting…
Andrew: Was it?
Jamie: …concept. I’ve just been studying it recently in relation to sovereignty – you know, de jure, I think that’s how you pronounce it – sovereignty versus de facto sovereignty, legal versus real life sovereignty. Very, very interesting. Although…
Eric: That is quite cool.
Jamie: …actually, somebody else e-mailed in about the pronunciation of deus ex machina – I’m sure I’ve got it wrong again, because I cannot remember exactly what they said. But, yeah, I got that wrong. Ummm…
Laura: Okay, well we’ll beat Ben later.
Jamie: So, that’s cool…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah.
Jamie: We’ll kill him.
SPOILER: Early OOTP Reviews
Andrew: Okay, we’re going to get right in to our main discussion this week, which is the – we’re going to talk about the first reviews of Order of the Phoenix, because a few people – a few very lucky people – got to see an early screening of Order of the Phoenix in Chicago over the past week. And, first off, I’ve got to say, can you imagine just going to the movie theater, and you get this little ticket saying, “Hey, come by next week for a movie,” and you’re a Harry Potter fan and then you go and it’s [laughs] Order of the Phoenix, already?
Jamie: But, Andrew, do you know…
Andrew: It’s nuts.
Laura: That would be great.
Jamie: Do you know, I read on Ain’t It Cool News where the guy who went to it – you know, he was there – and he was talking about how the movie was basically done, but it wasn’t very sort of – the effects weren’t complete, and so there were bits…
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: …that didn’t look real, like sort of – you know, Grawp would be – his – when he moves, he wouldn’t move properly, or he wouldn’t blend in with the background, and stuff like that, and I don’t think I’d like to watch it like that, though. I just want to see it when it’s completely done. I think it would spoil the magic for me, but…
Eric: Well…
Jamie: How about you?
Andrew: That is true.
Eric: It might spoil the magic, but again, a lot of the parts of the movie is the acting, Jamie, as well, not just special effects. So you would still get the acting.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: You would, but I don’t think Grawp is an actor. [laughs] To be honest.
Eric: Well, okay, okay. Yeah. Perhaps it might be actually…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: …intentionally not really wanted, but they said Ralph Fiennes was basically himself, but with dots on his face?
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Eric: For them to – to mark the things. But that’s something I would be interested in seeing, because Ralph Fiennes is such a great actor…
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: …and stuff, so I would like to see him with a nose, pretending to be Voldemort who doesn’t have a nose.
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: So, yeah, that definitely would ruin the fun. I think one of the upsides, besides seeing it four months early…
Jamie: Yeah, apart from that. [laughs]
Andrew: …is that you would also see a lot that is probably going to end up getting cut.
Jamie: Yes. Exactly.
Andrew: Because this is a very rough cut of the movie…
Kevin: Yeah, that’s true. Yeah.
Andrew: …so you’re going to see a lot of good stuff. You’re going to see some special effects work that is not going to make the – even the bonus DVDs with how they actually…
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: …make the movie. So for a film nerd – I’m not really a film nerd, but a behind-the-scenes nerd like me, that likes that kind of stuff, I’d just be like, “Whoa! This is better than the real thing!”
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Which it probably wouldn’t be. I would just like to see Ralph Fines with a lot of dots on his face.
Jamie: Yeah.
[Eric laughs]
Jamie: I’ve been…
Andrew: What disappoints me is why…
Jamie: …wanting to see that for years.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] What disappoints me is that with all the technology these days, with people, you know, got their cell phones, and everyone’s got a camera with them these days, always looking for a new MySpace picture…
Eric: Cough!
Andrew: …why didn’t anyone just take a quick shot of the screen? You know?
Eric: Oh, come on. They gave us enough, though. That’s what these people at Warner Brothers – that’s why I’m surprised they did these screenings so early, is should there happen to be a Harry Potter fan in the audience, they would be able to tell everything. I mean, if they had enough of a memory, or had enough of a will to be that kind of resource, they could tell us everything, and as we found from these three or four sources that we have on MuggleNet, they have. We found out pretty much a lot.
Andrew: Yeah. At least. Now…
Eric: As far as what went in and what didn’t.
Does Heyman Go to the Movies?
Andrew: Yeah. Now, sorry for not knowing, but I think I might have heard one time that David Heyman will sit in on these screenings to get the audience reaction. Is that true, or am I completely thinking about something else?
Laura: I haven’t heard about that.
Eric: No, I think it’s true.
Jamie: I wouldn’t be surprised.
Andrew: Is it true? Eric, are you up as an employee of a movie theater, [laughs] do you know how these things work?
Eric: Former employee…
Andrew: Former.
Eric: …but yeah. Sometimes we had Michael Opaque, the Pennsylvanian senator come into our movie theater a few times, and he had a guy with him who was a body guard type guy, and he handed out road maps…
Andrew: Yeah?
Jamie: As you do.
Eric: …of Pennsylvania – as you do. And so he would just be able to walk past and see whatever movie he wanted to, and hand out…
Jamie: [Laughs] “Here, have a road map!”
Eric: …road maps. [laughs] So I have a nice little Atlas of – or, a little road map of Pennsylvania. But I don’t…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Is it signed?
Andrew: I don’t know what that has to do with…
Eric: That’s all I pretty much…
Jamie: Is it signed, Eric? Along your street?
Eric: No, he did sign it, though, I think, actually.
Jamie: That’s pretty cool.
Eric: But, at any rate, no. As far as screenings go – we’re trying to talk about screenings. Yeah, no, I heard that David Heyman actually looked in and wanted to get audience reactions, because that helps him – also as you said, Andrew, determine what does go in the final cut of the film…
Jamie: Oh, completely, yeah.
Eric: …and, also, whereas the can cut stuff, they can also add stuff, and I think that is probably the reason, or one of the reasons why screenings have been so early, because if there is something that’s really upsetting, or really big of a problem, they might be able to do something with it. I mean, I’m not saying they’re going to re-shoot some scene if we all complain it’s not in it, but they might be able to cater to certain things like this. So, yeah, fan reactions – I would not be surprised if David Heyman went, or didn’t go to one of those screenings.
Jamie: You see, I’d think that there would be more than just David Heyman there. You’d think it would be completely…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: …lined with Warner Brothers executives. Potter is their baby, you’d think that everyone would be there, trying to get a – trying to gauge a reaction.
Eric: Well, the thing is too, though – I don’t know how big the theater is, and you want to fill it with as many hardcore people of different, diverse backgrounds as you can. I mean, it wouldn’t just be Heyman, I kind of agree with you, but it could be, you know, like a few executives, I guess.
Andrew: They are adjusting this movie down to – they will be fixing this movie down to like July – July 8th or 9th.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Because I remember last year, with each premiere, the movie was a tad different in some spots. Goblet of Fire – not last year – with Goblet of Fire. They keep changing the movie even in between premieres and stuff, so, you know, they’re – it’s good that they’re very picky about what they’re putting in.
Jamie: But then, don’t you think there’s a sort of a very, very fine line that needs to be drawn between giving people exactly what they want…
Kevin: And being somewhat creative.
Jamie: and for the hardcore fans which makes up a big part of the sort of general audience? It would be…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: …canon films. And I don’t think films should be canon. They should be films and they should be different to the books. Or – or it would be pointless to watch the films because they’d be exactly as the books come. So, I don’t think – I don’t personally think they should change the films and change and change and change them until, you know, they’re exactly as all the hardcore fans want them.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah. I agree with that.
Eric: There are more film representations of books that completely destroy the books than there are completely canon books. I mean there are, for instance, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, you know, the movie might have nothing at all to do with it…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …and so you know often, at least in Uni, you get books and you can’t just read the movie – watch the movie…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …because the movie’s completely different and complete crap. So, I think there does have to be a line drawn at least between…
Jamie: Yeah, there has to be.
Eric: …what you’re giving the fans and, you know? And even if it is perfectly canon, I think a movie’s still special and fun to watch even if it was perfectly canon, because it still is a visual representation with all the effects.
Jamie: It is, it is.
Eric: It’s just another way of looking at your favorite…
Jamie: No, no of course it is.
Eric: … medium or…
Jamie: Of course it is.
Eric: … your favorite thing – plot.
Jamie: But when Jo sells the rights to Warner Brothers, she doesn’t give them a right to produce her work completely as it should be. She gives them a creative license – it’s a creative license mandate that she’s giving them to produce a, you know – to not what they want but to their, sort of, you know, to their ideals.
Andrew: We’re going to be talking about some of those changes today. We have a list of stuff that we want to go over with some of the stuff we’ve read in the reviews, but, I mean, people have just got to realize now, we’re five movies in and these hardcore fans that are expecting the movies to mirror the books are just – they’ve just got to move past that, because, especially some of the stuff we’re going to talk about today, there’s some big changes that people have been complaining about but I, you know, I just read these changes and it immediately makes sense because you’ve got to realize that they make these changes for time…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: … and they make it for continuity and all that so…however, some of the changes are just flat out stupid.
Eric: Yeah, I mean there are – there is a difference between paying homage to the books…
Laura: Yeah, there is a couple of them, that’s like…
Eric: … and completely – completely destroying fact of the…you know? And getting things wrong and actually doing things incorrectly.
Jamie: Shouldn’t we point out, Andrew, that there’s a huge spoiler warning for this main discussion?
Andrew: Right now, my editor self from the future is going to tell you what time on the podcast…
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: …to fast-forward to…
[Jamie coughs]
Andrew: … so you know exactly where to go to if you want to skip all of this. Okay, so the time you want to go to is:
Future Andrew: 51:19, back to you, Andrew.
Andrew: All right, thank you, Andrew.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Thank you, Toots.
[Laughter continues]
Andrew: No, thank you, Toots.
Jamie: That’s hilarious.
Most Detailed Film Yet
Andrew: I read a lot of good stuff here. Some stuff is really getting me excited. One reviewer described this film as the “most detailed film yet.” Most detailed film yet.
Jamie: Oooh.
Andrew: David Yates to thank for this? Perhaps. I mean, we don’t have much to go off of, but the opening scene, apparently, is just like the book.
Eric: Except for the dementors.
Andrew: Writes one reviewer, “The film opens as the book does with Harry sending the dementors fleeing with his Patronus curse and the Dursleys giving him a hard time. Both Fiona Shaw and Richard Griffiths are in top form although they are in it all too briefly.”
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: Which is a shame.
Eric: Again…
Andrew: Because I like the Dursleys.
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: The Dursleys just get shelved.
Dieting Dementors
Andrew: The dementors, being a little thinner.
Jamie: Well, they haven’t had any…
Andrew: Kind of interesting.
Jamie: … souls to eat, so, you know, they’re suffering from malnutrition.
Andrew: They’ve been on Slimfast.
Jamie: Yeah, exactly.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: They’ve had a soulless meal.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Oh!
Eric: Oh.
Laura: That’s okay they should be huge in the next movie then, Half-Blood Prince.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] Oh, but…
Jamie: Do you think they speak to each other? I wonder if they’ve got names. “All right, John, how’s it going? Had any souls recently?”
[Laura and Andrew laugh]
Jamie: “No, it’s been a bit dry on my end. How about you?”
Andrew: Yeah. “What kind of Slimfast you been drinking?”
Eric: “Well, I’m feeling particularly…”
Andrew: [Speaks in a silly voice] “Oh, I’m a fan of strawberry.”
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: “I’m feeling particularly hallow today.”
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: But interesting that they would change it. Maybe they got some new graphic designers working on it so… Or maybe David Yates wanted to give them a new look.
Eric: Did they say thinner or did they say different, because the one I’m reading says different. Not just thinner.
Andrew: Well, I think one review said they were more like skeletal.
Eric: Oh, that’s, that’s not bad. I mean it’s not horrible…
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Here’s a question I’ve been wondering ever since the movie came out. Now, it’s my opinion, I think that if the Lord of the Rings movies hadn’t happened, then the dementors would have looked a lot, lot more similar to the Nazgul, except floating. I think they’d be floating Nazgul.
Kevin: I don’t know about that.
Jamie: Rather than…
Laura: Yeah.
Jamie: …the way they were in the…
Laura: That’s a lot how I imagined them, too.
Jamie: Yeah, same here.
Kevin: I always imagined them being…
Jamie: Yeah, exactly.
Kevin: …less solid. Like…
Jamie: I agree.
Kevin: I don’t know.
Andrew: More transparent?
Kevin: You know, like – exactly.
Eric: Oh, it’s true, it’s true.
Kevin: I mean, they’re always described as being very, like, wispy, kind of, but…
Laura: Yeah. I just kind of took that as meaning they were very frail-looking.
Jamie: Yeah.
Kevin: I don’t know. I think – I think them changing it isn’t that big of a deal. I mean, he could just be matching the setting. They all have their own style of…
Laura: Well, I think that, so long as there’s some sort of resemblance between these and the ones we saw in the third movie, it’s fine, because…
Jamie: But, yeah. Exactly.
Laura: …they’re still going to be –
Eric: Yeah, like, if there’s the opportunity to…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: … think that they’re a different creature, that’s an issue.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: I don’t think there will be.
Eric: Oh, okay.
Jamie: But didn’t they make the choice earlier on in the movie sequence that there wasn’t going to be huge continuity between them?
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Because, if they wanted huge continuity…
Kevin: Throughout, yeah.
Jamie: … they would have kept the same director.
Kevin: That’s true.
Laura: There hasn’t been a large amount of continuity between the movies. [laughs]
Jamie: And, I mean, Movie Two and Movie Three are so different.
Eric: You know, they keep the same actors. They don’t re-cast every film.
Kevin: Yeah, but I think what –
Jamie: They don’t have to do that, though. That would be as silly as calling yourself “Toots!”
Laura: There have been a couple of re-casts, haven’t there, though?
Kevin: Well, what I was going to say is I think what Jamie said, is what – you know, the rule of thumb they’re using – I think it was Jamie. So long as the people are able to identify each element from the previous movie coming through to the current movie…
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: …it’s not going to be a problem.
Andrew: Yeah, although what I find interesting about this is that each reviewer seemed to point out – they all pointed out that the dementors looked different. So, I mean, it’s probably noticeable to a point where you might want to talk about it.
Laura: Well, what I think is really important to remember is that we did get these reviews from hardcore fans.
Andrew: That’s true.
Laura: Obviously, if they weren’t, they wouldn’t have sent them in to MuggleNet.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Laura: So of course they’re going to notice differences in what the dementors look like in Movie Five and in Movie Three.
Jamie: Yeah.
Less Lupin and No. Mrs. Black
Andrew: Yeah. Moving along, though, “Lupin does not show up with the Advance Guard and receives very little screen time.” That’s disappointing, you know, that he doesn’t show up with the Advance Guard. [laughs] What’s going on with that?
Laura: Yeah, it is. I don’t – I don’t see why they couldn’t have him come. There’s no reason not to.
Eric: No, the fact that he doesn’t get any screen time – I wonder, though. They didn’t say specifically if Harry has to go into Umbridge’s office at all to talk to Lupin and Sirius through the fire? Like we don’t know if that happened or not.
Laura: I don’t think anyone said anything about that.
Jamie: No.
Eric: We just…
Andrew: Hm. Well, that would – that’s interesting that nobody pointed that out. I wonder if that means he did and it was just fine, or he didn’t and nobody cared.
Laura: You know what, though? Somebody did note that the movie put a lot into establishing the relationship between Harry and Sirius, so I’m betting they had at least one scene where he went and talked to him in the fire.
Andrew: That’s good.
Eric: But, despite the development between Harry and Sirius, there’s no – there is a Black family tree, apparently, but there’s no Mrs. Black and Grimmauld Place is smaller than imagined.
Andrew: Mhm.
Laura: You know what, though? That doesn’t bother me as much because Mrs. Black’s portrait, while it’s funny, it really doesn’t really contribute all that much to the plot, so I think that that’s…
Kevin: Yeah, and it could be very distracting.
Jamie: Exactly. It’s…
Laura: …an okay thing to cut.
Andrew: Did the reviews say it doesn’t show up at all?
Laura: Yeah, they said that it’s not in there at all.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, the portrait of Mrs. Black is gone – I think it’s because they already cast Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix, and they couldn’t re-cast her as Mrs. Black, because I…
Jamie: Probably, yeah.
Eric: … pictured her as Mrs. Black.
Grimmauld Place
Jamie: She’d have been perfect as her, but it’s this next point that really gets me is this one that “Grimmauld Place only appears because Moody hits his stick a few times.”
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: I think this is atrocious, because…
Laura: What is that?!
Jamie: That’s awful, because there are certain things – they’re of certain importance to the series as a whole that you have to put them in, and that’s – the Fidelius Charm…
Laura: That’s pretty cheap.
Jamie: …is so important, because that’s how the Potters got betrayed, and I’m sure it’s going to show up again, and I think that’s – that is just ridiculous.
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: I was trying to think up an excuse for that one, like it would add too much time onto the film, but there’s just, like, no…
Kevin: They could get away with explaining that for, like, five minutes.
Andrew: No, no, yeah.
Laura: All they would have to do is do…
Jamie: Or five seconds.
Kevin: Yeah.
Laura: All they would have to do is do a close-up on a piece of parchment paper with the writing on there.
Andrew: Right.
Laura: And then… That’s all! That’s all they would have to do. They probably spent more time having Moody beating his staff.
Jamie: And then Dan goes, “What is this?”
No Prefect Subplot
Andrew: Another thing, no prefect subplot. Does anyone care about that, though? I mean, it’s a shame, but you got to cut something.
Laura: It’s another thing that could go.
Eric: It just gives Harry the opportunity to be…
Jamie: It’s the anger thing, as well. They’re taking out his anger.
Eric: Yeah.
Jamie: Like, you know, the prefect subplot plays one thing that, you know – I bet they’ll take out the stuff when he and Neville – sorry, he and Seamus argue.
Eric: That’s true.
Laura: Yeah, they’ll probably lose all that, but…
Jamie: And it’s – you know, I mean, his anger’s important.
Laura: Yeah, it is.
Jamie: Again, it’s one of those things where – but I mean, his anger’s really important in that it’s, you know? Righteous anger isn’t the thing that carries him through, it’s his parents dying and his love and stuff like that.
Laura: But you know what? They’re probably…
Jamie: The anger’s only there to show that.
Laura: They’re going to use Umbridge as the figure for him to project his anger onto for the whole of the movie.
Kevin: Yeah.
Jamie: Oh yeah, completely.
Laura: Like, in the book, we saw everybody – he hated everyone, but he’ll probably just use Umbridge in the film, just because it keeps it a bit more manageable.
Jamie: Yeah. Yeah, I bet he will.
Andrew: Yeah. The O.W.Ls and Neville’s parents are put into the background. O.W.Ls – another thing. I mean I guess it’d be kind of cool to see them taking the O.W.Ls, but it’s not like…
Laura: But it doesn’t really bother me, honestly.
Kevin: Not that it’s going to matter.
Andrew: They’re not going to – yeah, and, like, Movie Six, I don’t think they’re really going to put in the scene where they get the results back. Like, who would even care?
Jamie: No, I don’t know.
Eric: “Oh, I got a W. Well, what does that mean?”
Jamie: But also…
Andrew: You know?
Jamie: Can I – last show, I used a movie term, a MacGuffin, which I, I think, used in incorrect context, and somebody wrote in and told me, so I’d like to point out that the O.W.Ls are a MacGuffin. Their only point is the move the plot forward.
Andrew: Oh.
Jamie: Like, because, you know, Harry gets bored of doing his thing and falls into his dream and then he collapses off the thig and, you know, blah blah blah.
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: Yeah. So, hopefully, I’ve used that in the right thing this time.
Kreacher and the Ministry
Andrew: Kreacher receives little screen time, which, I guess, is a shame.
Eric: If they’re going to…
Andre: I would have liked to see…
Laura: Well…
Eric: If they are going to design a new elf and they are going to, like, put him in the movie. [sighs]
Andrew: Well, we’ve heard that those house elves take a lot of money and time, too.
[Jamie laughs]
Laura: Yeah, but this is something I take kind of an issue with, because Kreacher was a huge part of the plot piece.
Eric: It doesn’t really explain…
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah. [laughs] And it kind of worries me when I hear that he receives little screen time because I wonder if they used some other cheap tactic…
Eric: Yeah, exactly, or…
Laura: …to get Harry to the Ministry, you know? Instead of him…
Eric: Well, we’ve already heard that…
Laura: …trying to contact Sirius in the fire and get Kreacher…
Eric: …we don’t know why the Death Eaters are at the prophecy hall.
Laura; Yeah, they just show up.
Eric: Yeah, they said they just kind of show up and you wouldn’t know who they were if you hadn’t seen or heard previous movies. So, that must mean that Harry is not having dreams of Voldemort, or that, you know, how does the Order…
Laura: No, I don’t think they’d leave that out.
Eric: But how does the Order get…
Laura: I think that…
Eric: …to the Ministry then, or how does Sirius get there, or how does, you know? That’s a serious issue. And they have Thestrals, I guess, but none of the reviewers actually talked about Thestrals.
Andrew: I still, I’m still kind of upset over no screaming portrait of Mrs. Black. It seems like she would be an awesome part of the film.
Laura: It’d be funny, but again…
Jamie: She would.
Laura: …that would be a lot of money…
Jamie: The fun stuff…
Laura: … to put into that.
Jamie: Yeah, and the fun stuff is tailing off now in these films, it has to be serious.
Kevin: Yeah.
Jamie: Although it has to be entertaining and it still has to get, it still has to you know, and impress the fans and be serious.
Kevin: And she would require an explanation and that takes time.
Andrew: Yeah. One reviewer actually said that it is not as serious as the book, which kind of surprised me because all of what Dan has…
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: … been saying and the director has been saying, Oh, it’s going to be the darkest movie yet.
Laura: They say that with every movie.
Kevin: Now, but just because it’s…
Andrew: They do. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: And then also the hatred between Sirius and Bellatrix is never explained.
Laura: And then she, but then she…
Eric: It should be.
Laura: …throws him through a veil and it’s like…
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: According to one of the reviewers it wasn’t very well explained what the veil meant.
Eric: Right, and Sirius kind of falls into it.
Laura: He just falls in and that’s it, and you don’t really…
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: If you haven’t read the books you don’t really understand. According to the reviewer.
Kevin: Yeah, but…
Jamie: They didn’t explain it in the book, did they? They didn’t actually say what it did.
Eric: Well they didn’t say what it was.
Kevin: Well, in the books…
Laura: Yeah, but…
Kevin: But I think that were referring to them explicitly stating, you know, he’s dead. But I think based on the other character’s reactions, you know, someone watching the movie who hasn’t read the book should be able to get that impression.
Jamie: Well, we’d hope, we’d hope that they leave that scene in where Lupin, you know, holds…
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Harry back and he’s like, he‘s dead…
Laura: That’s what I’m thinking.
Jamie: … there’s nothing you can do.
Laura: I’m kind of worried they left that out.
Kevin: Does it…
Jamie: Let’s just hope they don’t.
Andre: Yeah.
Putting Off Plot Elements
Kevin: Does it seem like the directors are sort of putting certain plot elements off for other directors?
Eric: Yeah, well, and what’s going to happen is they’re going to continue doing it for the next two movies and then oops.
Kevin: Right. It seems as though there are certain plot elements that [clears throat] excuse me – that they have to explain…
Eric: They’re just not going to.
Kevin: But they aren’t going to and they’re just going to let the other director that picks up the movies explain it.
Andrew: Well see…
Kevin: And they’re going to put it off. You know what I mean?
Andrew: That’s why I thought David Heyman has been on for all five films so far, and then definitely the last two. So he can sort of provide the continuity that the series needs.
Eric: But, I mean, just the fact that they did…
Laura: Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen.
Eric: Yeah, Snape’s worst memory. You know, they have the Potters as kids, but how does that even work? Because we didn’t even know, actually, if you follow the movies, that Sirius and Remus and James and Wormtail were all friends at school as children. I don’t even think they say…
Laura: Well…
Eric: …that in the PoA movie.
Laura: I think that was implied, because…
Eric: Well, maybe implied, but..
Laura: …in the Shrieking Shack scene though Sirius yelled at Peter that you should have died for your friends as they would have done for you.
Eric: Oh, one line. Whoop-dee-do. So now we get to have this really cool memory scene completely wasted.
Laura: Well, they established it.
Eric: Well, I know, I know. But it’s just, you know, that’s what Kevin was saying. It’s just they’re kind of putting things off. And things like the Fidelius Charm, you know, some of that stuff is not going to be in the movies and it‘s not going to make it there. And we’re going to end up seeing they have to change things…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …not just to fit time but to fit the previous movies.
Michael Gambon
Andrew: Michael Gambon, this is from one of the reviewers, Michael Gambon has calmed Dumbledore right down and it works. I’d go so far as to say it’s reminiscent of Richard Harris.
Eric: That made me…
Kevin: Yeah. [laughs]
Andrew: That makes me really excited. [laughs] Because, I mean, I really like angry Dumbledore, and I know we’ve had these discussions on the show already but it will be interesting to see how Michael Gambon can portray a calm Dumbledore and do it right.
Eric: I’m going to put myself out there and say that’s that most exciting thing I’m looking for.
Andrew: [laughs] I think I agree with you, actually.
Kevin: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Laura: I don’t know, I think he’ll do a good job.
Eric: No, no, seriously. Not because like, it’s not like it’s a big deal. I mean we are getting to the point in the series where Dumbledore has to be powerful and strong and stuff, so… But it still will be nice if he can portray the, you know, the calmer side when he has to instead of being irate all the time. I mean, from what we hear the battle with Voldemort is freaking awesome. We actually haven’t heard anything…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …about the Wizengamot trial, and we’ve heard that the Ministry is really cool, but we haven’t heard anything about the Department of Mysteries. If they had the twelve-door room, if they had the brain room, the astronomy room, the big thing with the shell and the veil. We actually haven’t heard anything about that.
Laura: You know what? Eric, I’m putting, I’m just going to bet one this and say there is going to be a lot cut out of the Department of Mysteries. I don’t think that, I mean…
Jamie: Yeah.
Laura: A lot to the rooms that they went into, especially like the planet room where Harry didn’t even go, that’s going to get cut, we’re not going to hear anything about that.
Eric: Well I think that is safe to say.
Laura: That’s automatically gone.
Kevin: But, I’m interested to see what they do put in. Because what they do put in is going to have to be either directly related to…
Eric: The future.
Kevin: …the plot, or directly related to the future plot.
Eric: Right, because J.K. does approve these things.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Right. So we may be be able to assert certain…
Andrew: [laughs] Assertions.
Eric: [laughs] Assert certain assertions.
Kevin: Assertions, yes.
Eric: Quiet, Toots
Laura: But, I mean, do you think – we’ll definitely see the Hall of Prophecy and of course we will see the Death Chamber, but do you think they are going to bother leaving in the Time Room or any of that?
Andrew: I don’t think – you see, the reason I think that these reviewers didn’t mention any of this because it’s not in there.
Laura: Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.
Andrew: I think that would have been something to talk about. Either it is not in there or it’s not worth discussing.
Eric: Right. But there has to be a separate entity. It can’t just be the Ministry has a door in the lobby that goes into the Department of Prophecies – the Hall of Prophecy.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Do you know what I’m saying? Like, it has to be a separate…
Laura: I’m sure they’ll have all the doors and stuff, but we’re not going to see as much stuff as we did in the book.
Eric: But since there’s no hospital and no Neville’s parents, we should also infer that there’s no Arthur Weasley attack? Do you think? And then there’s no dream where Harry is the snake and there’s no… So, will they even separate the Department of Mysteries at all? Or will it just be like, “Welcome to the Ministry. To your right is the Hall of Prophecy where you can smash anything. Oh, by the way, hear the whole prophecy even if it wasn’t intended for you,” because, apparently, all the Death Eaters…”
Jamie: “Enjoy your stay.”
Eric: Yeah, “Enjoy your stay.”
The Prophecy
Laura: Yeah. Apparently, all of the kids hear the prophecy, don’t they?
Eric: Yeah. Uh-huh.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And it’s changed! And it’s changed!
Jamie: Oh, that is ridiculous. That is absolutely outrageous.
Eric: It’s changed, it’s completely different.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah they like…
Kevin: Yeah, that… Oh1
Andrew: Wait, which one did they cut out? I forget now.
Eric: They cut out like the most important…
Andrew: They cut out the line in the prophecy. Yeah.
Jamie: Sorry. Are they all mad or something? That’s like cutting out…
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: …something ridiculously big. It’s absolutely stupid.
Andrew: I just don’t understand why. They must have a really good reason.
Jamie: It’s like two seconds, as well. It’s two seconds that it takes.
Laura: And apparently they have Lucius drop the prophecy. Not Neville.
Andrew: Oh. What!?
Eric: Yeah, well…
Laura: Yeah, I read that.
Eric: …Lucius drops it and it smashes and everybody just listens. There must be a collective intake of breath as…
Andrew: See, Jason Isaacs is such a big fan. Why wouldn’t he protest that? Be like, “No I am not doing this.” [laughs]
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: Well, because he’s not in the sixth movie.
Laura: Well, if you think about it for one second, though…
Andrew: I was joking. [laughs] He’s an actor, that’s what he gets paid to do.
Laura: Well, I kind of – I mean, thinking about it, though, it kind of goes along with the plot that Voldemort is ticked off at Lucius in the sixth book.
Jamie: Yeah, it does. Yeah.
Andrew: Oh.
Laura: It gives more of a motivation if he is the one who broke it in the movie, I suppose.
Andrew: That’s true.
Laura: It makes more sense to people who haven’t read the books. Byt still…
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, that’s what they’re really doing it for. They’re doing it for the people who haven’t read the books. They have to gear towards people that way. I think.
Eric: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, they do.
Snape
Eric: Well, they said also, moving on, Snape is not in this movie. Like, he’s in it but he’s not in it enough to appreciate. You know…
Andrew: But Snape’s worst memory is quote, “So perfect, the actors have nailed the performances. Alan Rickman is again great as Snape, but has so little screen time that it is hard to appreciate.”
Eric: Hard to appreciate, right.
Andrew: I can’t wait for that scene. That’s going to be so good. I love Alan Rickman!
Kevin: Yeah, me too.
Laura: That’s the one I am looking forward to most.
Eric: I am incredibly excited for that.
Draco
Eric: But at the same time also, Draco has about one line. He does the Umbridge thing…
Laura: What else is new? [laughs]
Eric: No, “what else is new” is exactly what I was pointing out, Laura. I mean, they have to change this. I mean, I understand…
Andrew: The problem I see with that…
Laura: They’re not going to.
Andrew: Go ahead, finish, Eric.
Eric: No, I mean for Book 6. I mean for Book 6.
Andrew: Exactly, yeah, that’s what I was going to say. The problem I see with that is that he plays such a big role in Book 6. He’s just going to come out of nowhere. He’s been sort of like…
Eric: Luckily, luckily…
Kevin: Yeah, in the shadows…
Eric: …even though he does play a big role in Book 6, this is kind of disappointing too, there might not be hope. Because even though Draco does play a big role in Book 6, he’s usually off sulking in a girl’s bathroom somewhere. And so, even though he’s a big character, Harry didn’t see him much at all, even in Book 6, besides being on the train, which is a great scene and I hope they keep it, where Harry’s spying on Draco and them. But later crying in the bathroom and then obviously the end where he is about to kill Dumbledore.
Back to Snape
Eric: But Snape, you know, Alan Rickman. I mean, he is constantly giving us this great performance consistently throughout each movie, but he is not in it long enough to really matter, so I really hope Movie 6 opens up with Snape, and I really hope they finally mend this because they kind of – if they continue to take out Alan Rickman even when…you know what I am saying, right?
Andrew: Yes. I do see what you are saying. You want to talk about a little casting right now? Since we’re sort of on the topic about characters.
Casting: Evanna Lynch
Andrew: One reviewer describes Evanna Lynch’s performance as, “The most perfect casting one could hope for. Her interaction with Harry and the others is straight out of the pages of the novel.” This really what we’ve been hearing since the beginning of her casting. And J.K. Rowling loved her and, you know, as I have met her, I can say that she is – she is great, she is really a great girl in general, but she is so perfect for the part. It’s really going to be great to see her in the film.
Casting: Imelda Staunton
Andrew: But, moving along. Imelda Staunton, as Umbridge, is described by another reviewer, “One of the most evil creations you will ever wish to see. Staunton has the mannerisms and the voice down to a tee. And I found myself feeling exactly how I felt whilst reading the book. A sense of sickening sweetness. To be blunt, you just want to slap the bleep, which is exactly how you should feel. Her detentions with Harry, which is, thankfully, are exactly like in the book are delightfully evil.” Now, that’s great. That’s another big part I am really looking forward to.
Laura: Yeah, I can’t wait to see Imelda Staunton. Ever since I saw her picture I thought she looked great.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: And I am really, really excited to see her.
Andrew: Yeah, and I don’t know if we’ve brought this up on the show before, but as the movie progresses, her outfit turns into a darker shade of pink. Or is it a lighter shade?
Laura: Does it?
Andrew: Yeah, she starts off in a light pink dress and with each scene, I think, it gets darker. It just progresses throughout the movie. It gets darker and darker.
Laura: Oh, that’s so cool.
Andrew: Yeah.
Plot Change: Cho Tattles on the D.A.
Andrew: Another big change: Jo is – Jo is the one who tattled on the D.A., not her friend and that’s the reason why her and Harry…
Eric: Cho.
Andrew: What did I say, Jo? [laughs]
Laura: Yes.
Kevin: Yeah.
Eric: Jo, Cho.
Andrew: Another big change. [laughs]
Eric: Jo Rowling just comes on the set.
Jamie: Jo, yeah.
Andrew: Another big change, Cho is the one who tattled on the D.A. not her friend and that’s the reason why her and Harry broke up. [laughs]
Jamie: But that’s so bad.
Andrew: Because Cho getting jealous, just falling apart thing like in the book, the scene with Rita Skeeter, wasn’t even in the movie. Rita Skeeter. That’s a shame because I like her, too.
Eric: But!
Andrew: I forget the actress who plays her.
Laura: Yeah, Miranda Richardson was very good.
Andrew: Yeah, Miranda Richardson.
Eric: But, but, but, even though Miranda Richardson was good… Sorry, mate.
Andrew: She wasn’t going to come back for the fifth film, anyway. She said that on the red carpet.
Eric: Oh, she said that already?
Andrew: She said she wanted to give someone else a chance. What? Forget her.
Jamie: Oh, I know. But shouldn’t we point out here that – sorry, I was going to say…
Andrew: The Cho thing.
Jamie: Well, yeah, yeah, the Cho thing. Ever since Cedric died she has been all for the battle against Voldemort: fighting for yourself, fighting against the Ministry if you have to, putting all your resources together and, you know…
Eric: Minor detail, Jamie.
Jamie: It’s like a personal fight. It’s like – no, no, no, no, it isn’t because she approves of what Harry does and that’s what the whole series is about, basically. That you fight for what’s right. You don’t fight for what’s easy. And with her tattling on the D.A., it just seems like she is completely against what she believes in in the book.
Kevin: Yeah, completely opposite.
Jamie: I mean, obviously it is a way of cutting out stuff and saving time and money, but it just seems that there are other things they can cut out without – and also, it is quite a big thing, and you can say that some relationships couldn’t recover from such a devastating blow.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: You know? So, even if we thought that they could get together, which obviously they won’t now because it’s Harry/Ginny, as everyone knows, you know? It’s still a thing.
Andrew: I think that was just a cheap way of…
Eric: It really is.
Andrew: …having Harry and Cho break up. Like it’s so…
Laura: You know what? It doesn’t bother me, though.
Andrew: Why?
Laura: Because in the book I felt like she – I don’t know. In the book I felt like she was just as bad by supporting her friend for doing it.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: And I think that this is a way to – It just seems like it’s another way to cut out a part of the plot that, honestly, isn’t going to have any bearing on what happens in the next two movies.
Andrew: That’s true. Yeah.
Laura: Because Cho’s character doesn’t play a big part. They might not even have her back in the sixth film, because you rarely saw her in the book. She and Harry didn’t even talk.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, yeah, it’s definitely a good way to cut down on time. But I just think it’s sort of a corny plot. That’s the reason that they break up. I mean, it make sense, I guess. No, it doesn’t make sense, because if Harry was really in love with her why would they break up just for tattling?
Eric: Well, from what we hear, the Room of Requirement isn’t exciting at all, anyway.
Laura: Well…if…
Andrew: It wasn’t just tattling, it was sort of big. [laughs] But, still…
Laura: Yeah, if someone ratted me out like that I would kick them to the curb like no other, so…
Andrew: Well, you need to sort out your priorities, Laura.
[Eric laughs]
Laura: Oh, I need to sort out my…
Andrew: Awkward.
Laura: Yeah. [laughs]
[Andrew laughs]
Movie Cuts: Rita Skeeter
Eric: Rita Skeeter… Rita Skeeter thing, just quickly. Rita Skeeter doesn’t really bother me because they didn’t really go into the Animagus, beetle-type Rita in Book 4. So they never established that, so through that they can’t established that Hermione kept her in a jar, or that Hermione has any kind of leverage over her, so it would actually be untrue to her character to actually give Harry an interview or anything. And not to mention, they don’t mention about the whole world being against Harry, either. So, that kind of all fits into a nice little package that they can just take out seamlessly, I think.
Laura: So, how are they suppose to, I don’t know. Without that article it just seems so…
Andrew: What article?
Laura: …difficult. Well, the whole article where…
Eric: Well, they have the educational decrees.
Andrew: Oh, you mean the one that – right.
Laura: That Rita wrote.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: But then, why will the whole – rhere’s going to be no unifying of the school on Harry’s side.
Eric: Oh, you know what, that’s true.
Laura: [laughs] Without the article it’s…
Eric: All of her decrees were just worded when Harry proved – or admitted to the world the entire story about what Umbridge was saying was a lie. What the Ministry was saying was a lie. In fact, we know there’s Ministry in here because there is the scene with Fudge and Shacklebolt, which according to one of the reviewers, is really good. So, there’s this whole Ministry thing and Ministry being against Harry and Dumbledore, but actually there’s no – now, I guess, I’m more bothered by it.
Complaining
Laura: We’re such complainers.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, we’re such whiners. I’m sorry.
Andrew: I can hear WB saying, [low mocking voice] “Well, we’ll just not give the movie to you at all.”
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I still think it’s going to be really good.
Laura: [laughs] Yeah, I think so, too.
Andrew: You just got to forget about the book relations to enjoy these films. That’s all it comes down to. Really.
Favorite Movies
Laura: Yeah, I don’t have a problem with cuts that are necessary to be made. I think that, and I know that pretty much everyone here disagrees with me on this, but Prisoner of Azkaban was my favorite of all the movies so far.
Andrew: I don’t see why. [laughs]
Laura: Shut up. Because I felt like it captured the spirit of the story the most out of all the movies. It may not have stuck to every detail. There were certainly things in the movie I didn’t like, but I felt like out of all the films it really, really captured and encompassed what the story was about. And I think that’s what’s the most important thing to be focusing on.
Eric: Suicide.
Andrew: I really don’t – I really think Movie 1 captured the books the best because it was very magical and whimsical and a little Diagon Alley and Hogwarts.
Eric: Listen to this, listen to this, Andrew. It says – yeah, this says – along with what you were saying, I think it’s Zeenat’s review. No, hang on. It’s Triwizard’s review. He says, “As soon as the movie started, I realized that the magic was back.”
Andrew: I read that, yeah.
Eric: “To me it felt like the first two movies.”
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: “Remember the wonderment of seeing Harry and feeling what it would be like to fly on a broom, what the inside of Hogwarts looked like for the first time, all of that mystery was back when it came to the scenes in the Ministry and the Hall of Prophecy.” So, even though they might not have a lot of stuff, they treat it correctly, maybe?
Andrew: Maybe because it’s like new you’re seeing it for the first time in a movie format, so it’s like, “Wow! It’s real.”
Laura: Yeah.
Eric: But, no. Laura’s right. In addition to all of us disagreeing with her actually, Enyafreak does agree with her because at the end of EnyaFreak’s review they say that overall better than Goblet. “Order of the Phoenix was better than Goblet, slightly less good than Prisoner, but quite simply an amazing vision of the novel.” So, I guess their favorite is Prisoner as well. So, you have one person on your side Laura.
Andrew: [laughs] I’ve got a question for you guys. When you see the opening credits and you know you’re going through the clouds, like pretty much all the movies start out with, do you get that feeling of we’re back again? It’s another year?
Jamie: Yeah. It’s exciting.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Very exciting.
Laura: I get excited. Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. Is that it? Anyone got anything else to discuss about the movie?
Laura: No. I think we pretty much…
Andrew: I mean I guess the last thing is…
Laura: Everyone…
Andrew: Huh?
Laura: Everyone seemed to like Helena Bonham Carter a lot.
Andrew: Yeah. That’s true.
Eric: And the big battle. The big battle seems cool. A lot of people said it was very true to the books, which is cool.
Kevin: And…
Laura: But, you know, another person said it was flat.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: I believe.
Andrew: I mean, honestly, we can’t really go off with their final reviews because everyone has their own different opinion on it. You know, even when the final movie comes out we’re going to be getting very contrasting reviews.
Kevin: And things could change. This is just – this is four months out. So…
Andrew: Yeah. Running time about two-and-a-half hours right now.
Eric: Which is…
Andrew: Why can’t they just go to three? I don’t understand!
[Laura laughs]
Eric: Well Andrew, it is still an amazing spectacle. Can you imagine we actually aren’t hearing that many bad things about this movie.
Andrew: No, we’re not. You’re right. You’re right.
Eric: 872 page book and they still made it a two and a half hour movie. This is the longest one. If they can do it with this movie, they can do it with the rest unless Book 7 is as long as I want it to be, which is like 900,000 pages.
Laura: We promise we won’t complain this much on this one.
[Kevin laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. Before we get the e-mails on us complaining, we’re not complaining. We’re just critiquing for the interest of our listeners.
Eric: Yeah. Once we get screencaps of these scenes that we’re hearing about, we will shut right up. I mean, it’s just that simple.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. Yeah.
Eric: I will. I know I will.
Listener Rebuttal: Umbridge’s Hair
Andrew: Okay. Let’s move on to a couple more rebuttals now. This one concerns last week’s show. Caitlin, 20, of Ohio, she writes:
“Hey guys, love the show! During the discussion on Umbridge’s hair color Laura stated that she pictures her Umbridge as brown haired because, “That’s how it is in the books.” Well, I just wanted to point out that on page 642 of ‘Half-Blood Prince’, Umbridge is described as having “iron- colored curls.” This definitely rules her out as a brunette!”
I am not a girl…
Laura: I could have sworn, I could have sworn it said brown.
Jamie: Oooh.
Eric: Go ahead, swear. Go ahead and swear.
Laura: No. This – I am going to look this up right now because this is not right.
Andrew: I am not up on my…
Jamie: Laura, are you saying that you don’t trust a sort of trustworthy listener of the show to tell us the correct information?
Laura: [laughs] No. It’s not that. I think what happened was…
Jamie: Caitlin, you should feel sad. You should feel, you know…
Laura: No, I am not saying Caitlin is wrong. I’m saying that I think that after what happened with the centaurs her hair went gray.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, out of fear because this listener states Half-Blood Prince, which is probably at Dumbledore’s funeral where she had iron-colored curls. So, her hair could have changed.
Andrew: Okay, I’m sorry. Hold on, hold up. I’m not a girl. I’m not up on my hair terms. Maybe Jamie or Eric or Kevin would be aware.
Jamie: Sorry?
Andrew: What are iron-colored curls?
Laura: It means grey!
Jamie: Curls that are iron-colored, Andrew.
Andrew: What is the color of iron?
Jamie: It’s not that difficult.
Andrew: Like silver?
Laura: Yeah, silvery-grey.
Jamie: Silvery-grey.
Andrew: Oh, I thought that sort of meant like, never mind.
Jamie: Like an iron that does clothes? Iron colored. [laughs]
Andrew: Yes. [laughs]
Laura: Shut up, Eric. I care.
Andrew: Yeah, remember that wonderful sale at Wal-Mart?
Laura: Order of the Phoenix, page 203.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: The red one.
Laura: “She looked, Harry thought, like somebody’s maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly mouse-brown hair, in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band.”
Jamie: Okay, I take it back.
Laura: So, I think that…
Jamie: Caitlin, you liar.
[Andrew, Eric, Jamie, and Laura laugh]
Laura: No. No, I don’t think she’s wrong.
Jamie: No, I’m joking. Sorry.
Laura: I think that Umbridge’s hair went grey…
Andrew: You’re both right.
Laura: …after the centaur thing.
Andrew: You’re both right.
Laura: So, yeah. We’re both right.
Jamie: Everyone’s right. Everyone wins. Everyone wins on this show.
Andrew: Aw, I love when that happens. Yeah. [laughs] Except everyone who loses the competitions.
Jamie: Yeah. Then you don’t win.
Eric: Oh, there’s something we didn’t talk about, guys.
Andrew: What?
Firenze and the Weasley Twins
Eric: Firenze? Firenze – it was not mentioned that Firenze took over, but they do have Trelawney’s exit and the Weasley twins.
Andrew: Weasley twins what?
Eric: Exit. When they leave.
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: When they go bang and there’s fireworks over Umbridge’s head and stuff.
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: But they probably still don’t have…
Jamie: Well perhaps – Ah! Well, perhaps those fireworks sort of ended up and all these sparks came down and took out the brownness of her hair and turned it iron-colored.
Laura: [laughs] Yeah.
Eric: Perhaps, Jamie. Perhaps, indeed.
Listener Rebuttal: Tiara and Ron’s Strength
Jamie: Right, okay. This is rebuttal number three from Janie, age it doesn’t say, location UK, subject tiara, episode third of the twelfth oh-six. I don’t know what that means.
Hi, MuggleCasters. Very late response but I’m listening to all past episodes at present. I’m not sure if this has been addressed but, in my opinion, the tiara that the voicemail caller was referring to was the one that Harry put on top of the bust in the Room of Requirement when he hid the Potions book and not Mrs. Weasley’s family heirloom. This was to help him find the book again if he needed to do so. Plus, I have to mention that Ron is not weak. In ‘Order of the Phoenix’ it is Ron who does most of the work. “Couple of Stunners, a Disarming Charm. Neville brought off a really nice little Impedimenta Jinx,” said Ron airily,” page 670 UK Edition. And later in the planet room Luna said,”Four of them chased us,” and that she was dealing with one Death Eater who was grabbing Ginny’s foot and that she “didn’t know what they had hit Ron with.” Therefore I take that to mean that Ron was fighting with the other three Death Eaters on his own. And also, Ron was fighting Death Eaters at the end of Book 6 and survived unscathed…
Wow, she’s written an essay.
…perhaps with the help of Felix Felicis. People seem to think that he is stupid, but he got 7 O.W.L.’s with the same grades…
Laura: You can skip some of it, her point is that…
Jamie: Oh, really?
…as Harry, apart from Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Laura: Yeah, just…
Jamie: Okay, this is – no, let me finish, let me finish.
Both he and Harry did minimal work compared with Hermione and both did really well, just think how well they could have done if they’d studied hard. He’s lazy at and uninterested in schoolwork, but he isn’t an idiot. Plus, it is Film Ron who is a coward; Book Ron is the first one to protect Harry and Hermione. Many examples: spewing up slugs for Hermione in ‘Chamber of Secrets,’ entering the Forest to confront his greatest fear to help Hermione in ‘Chamber of Secrets’…”
Oh, no, sorry, Prisoner of Azkaban.
…defending Hermione against Snape and getting a detention in ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ and Harry against Seamus in ‘Order for the Phoenix,’ plus when there are only two Thestrals, it is Ron Harry…
Oh, god, I can’t even read this stuff. It’s, honestly, it’s like in short-hand.
[Laura laughs]
Jamie: It’s actually – this is the hardest thing I’ve ever read in my life.
Andrew: Yeah, it is.
Jamie: It is Ron Harry chooses to accompany him to the Ministry of Magic.
I don’t understand what the means.
Sorry this is so long but it grinds my gears, Andrew, when I hear Ron being disregarded. Keep up the good work, love the show!
I agree. [takes a deep breath]
Andrew: [laughs] Great.
Eric: All right, Ron love, Ron love.
Andrew: What?
Jamie: Do you know, Janie, that was…
Laura: That’s mostly why I chose that, because you are so mean to Ron.
Jamie: But, Janie…
Andrew: Who, me? Who?
Laura: Yeah, you.
Andrew: How am I mean to Ron?
Laura: You call him weak.
Eric: You said he was kind of the comic relief, kind of not really worth anything, kind of not really…
Andrew: I said that like once.
Eric: Yeah, I know. But this fan faulted you for it.
Laura: Ummm…
Andrew: Sorry.
Jamie: But it is a fair point.
Laura: You should feel horrible.
Jamie: Ron is so close to Harry and Hermione that he’d do anything for them.
Eric: Yeah, it’s really interesting, too – especially to be J.K. Rowling, it must be very interesting – well, I guess for several reasons.
[Andrew and Jamie laugh]
Eric: But it must be very interesting, but the fact that she’s not just writing about Harry’s life, kind of. I mean she is, but she’s also writing about Ron and Hermione’s life as well. I mean, it’s the course of how all the characters survive and live and grow over seven years, you know? I mean, so it’s not actually just Harry, necessarily. So you wonder if she feels strongly about Ron. And she felt strong enough about him to have him kind of sacrifice himself in the chess match in Book 1, you know, that that’s obviously a trait that she would like to either look back on or at least to have established to begin with. So, hopefully she hasn’t forgotten that courageous side of Ron, and we’ll be seeing a lot of stuff about him in the book, more, in Book 7. Or in the movies, at least.
Pokemon Comparisons
Andrew: Yeah. All right, well, everyone might remember that on episode 78 we got into a little Pokemon discussion. And unfortunately last week, I wasn’t on the show, so when I’m not on the show, apparently nothing gets done. We asked everyone to send in some Pokemon comparisons because, honestly, the Pokemon books basically mirror the Harry Potter series.
Jamie: All Harry Potter. It’s…
Andrew: And you don’t believe me? Well, we have some emails now to prove you all wrong. The first one comes from Ginger, 19 of Houston, Texas. She writes:
Pokemon, anyone? The flute Harry, Ron, and Hermione use to put Fluffy to sleep in Sorcerer’s Stone is without a doubt the whittled, wooden, instrumental form of Jigglypuff. And just for the sake of keeping things original, love the show, keep up the great work.
[Jamie sings the Jigglypuff song]
Andrew: Good point, Ginger.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: That’s very good, Jamie.
Jamie: Thank you very much and it also could relate to – it doesn’t really have anything to do with sleep – but in Pokemon: The Movie 2000 which is the story of the Pokemon Lugia…
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: …who is the God of the Sea, and the Prophecy…
Laura: Are you telling me that you actually saw this Jamie?
Jamie: I own this on DVD, Laura. I got it for like 2 pounds.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: And it’s awesome. There’s like a Prophecy, in which when this girl plays this flute and they have these stones set in this thing, then this Beast of the Sea, Lugia, will arise and bring balance to the three legendary birds who are…
Andrew: Really?
Jamie: Yeah, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres…
Eric: Zapdos!
Jamie: Zapdos. But a bit interesting trivia here, they’re called the three legendary birds, yeah? And if you take the last bit of each of their names, Artic-uno, Zap-dos, Mol-tres, in Spanish…Uno…Dos…Tres.
Andrew: Oooh…
Eric: Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh!
Andrew: Catorce! Nice.
Jamie: Yeah, so, apart from, yes, so this flute thing, is it an extremely important thing. The Prophecy, one more link – Prophecy. Yeah, excellent email. I like it very much.
Andrew: Alright, we got another one here, Ashley, Katherine, and Karen, 14 of Tallahassee, Florida. They write:
First off, we wanted to say how we LOVE the show and how we were very excited to here about the idea about Harry Potter being compared to Pokemon. Right away we began thinking and this is what we came up with… Pikachu’s tail is a lightening bolt, much like the scar Harry has on his forehead…
Jamie: Ah, nice…
Andrew: Hoot-Hoot resembles Hedwig since it is an owl, James a member of Team Rocket has the same name as Harry’s dad, Ash, Brock and Misty are like the famous trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione in the ‘Harry Potter’ series.
That’s a big one we got from a lot of people.
The Pokemon Fearow can be portrayed as Fawkes, Arbok is a large snake-like Pokemon that looks like the basilisk and lastly Harry Potter is mainly focused on magical powers. Pokemon also posses magical powers for defense, etc. Hope you thought our comparisons are worth while. We love Eric’s Pokemon singing skills, Andrew is a superfly rapper, and Jamie owns all.
[laughs]
Love Ashley, Kathryn, and Karen.
And Laura is…
Eric: Okay, but just quickly, Jamie, Team Rockets motto, their chant? Their surrender now, or…
Andrew: Or prepare to fight…
Jamie: They’ll be double, yeah…
Eric: To make it double…
Jamie: No, no, no. To rid the world of devastation…
Eric: Devastation…
Jamie: Something, something…
Eric: To predict…
Jamie: To predict something…
Eric: To predict all… Or something within our nation.
Andrew: I used to know that, yeah…
Jamie: Jesse, James…
[Eric laughs]
Eric: Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light…
Jamie: She said it normally and then…
Andrew: Surrender now and prepare to fight…
Jamie: …he came in with his ‘James’…
Eric: Meowwwwth!
Andrew: By the way…
Eric: That’s right!
Andrew: By the way, the song version of that? Excellent.
Eric: Oh really?
Andrew: That’s going to be at the end of today’s show.
Eric: Yes!
Andrew: The Team Rocket song. That will be at the end of today’s show.
Eric: All right.
Dear, MuggleCast…
Wait, this is from Cara Cunningham, age 16 from Georgia. Subject: Pokemon references. They heard of us from the MuggleNet main page…
Andrew: [laughs] Okay, come on.
[Everyone laugh]
Eric: Dear MuggleCast, my sister Anna and I came up with an even dozen different connections Pokemon and Harry Potter. Get to the end for an interesting surprise. First both Ash and Harry have black hair and about the same style. Also the first vowel in both “Harry” and “Ash” is the letter “A” and there are two syllables in both “Potter” and “Ketchem”. Second, Pokemon and Harry Potter both have trios consisting of two boys and one girl.
Which is true, even after Brock leaves, that other guy, that artist guy comes up. So…
Third, both Ash and Harry have to call out the name of an attack in order to use it.
I thought that was cool. Fourth, both Brock and Ron come from large families.
Interesting. Fifth, there is a Gandalf-type character in both – Dumbledore in Harry Potter and Professor Oak in Pokemon.
[imitating Professor Oak] Oooh! I’m Professor Oak!
Sixth, neither Harry nor Ash have siblings. Seventh, both Ash and Harry are brave. Eighth, the Triwizard Tournament was comparable to the Pokemon World Championships.
Which is true…
Jamie: Not really, but okay.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Yeah, yeah. Okay. One of the competitions they were in.
Ninth, both Harry and Ash have a rival: Draco for Harry and Gary for Ash. Tenth…
Andrew: Now, that’s good.
Eric: No, this is good. This is probably, personally, my favorite.
Tenth, you could call Mr. Mime “Ash’s mom’s house elf.”
Jamie: [imitating Mime] Mime, mime, mime.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Mime! Mr. Mime!
Jamie: [imitating Mime] Mr. Mime!
Eric: Jamie beats me on that one people.
Andrew: Yeah, I used to do that all the time.
Eric: I admit it.
Eleventh, ‘Harry Potter’ has dragons while Pokemon has Pokemon like Charizard and Dragonite.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: They also have what was that ancient fossil Kabuto, Kabutops? I thought…
Andrew: Yeah… Something like that.
Jamie: Kabuto, yeah.
Eric: Wasn’t it…what was the…I guess it was… What was the dragon that came out of the cave?
Andrew: I don’t know.
Jamie: Dragonite, Dragonaire and Dragini were the three…
Andrew: Oh yeah. Yeah, those guys.
Jamie: Yeah
Eric:Twelve, Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, is like Voldemort.
That kind of is cool.
Andrew: Sort of. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, sort of. Yeah.
So, now for the surprise. I read on Wikipedia that Giovanni dies protecting his son from a fire. Now, if Voldemort really did accidentally have a son whom he most likely didn’t know about. And since Pokemon is so obviously going to be the key to the end of ‘Harry Potter,’ then it could be that Voldemort dies protecting his son or daughter.
Jamie: Yep, that’s it. We’ve solved it.
Eric: Of course this would mean that Harry Potter doesn’t kill Voldemort…
Andrew: Good point.
Eric: It would therefore undermine the entire Harry Potter series. So by insisting that ‘Harry Potter’ draws its references from Pokemon, you are undermining ‘Harry Potter.’
Jamie: Yeah, that’s absolutely correct.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Well, well… I… Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. And our last email today comes from Elizabeth, 16 of Wisconsin, she writes:
I’ve been thinking about Pokemon/Harry Potter parallels ever since you mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve decided that the Pokemon Psyduck is scarily…
Jamie: He was awesome.
Andrew: …like Professor Trelawney. As you may know, Psyduck is viewed as a useless Pokemon that has no real attacks…
Jamie: [imitating Psyduck] Psy. Psy.
Andrew: …and runs around crazily instead of battling other Pokemon. Similarly, Professor Trelawney is considered a fraud and mostly makes random predictions that don’t come true or have any consequence. However, every once in awhile, Psyduck surprises everyone with a huge burst of power. This is just like the times when Professor Trelawney is “possessed” and actually makes a significant prediction.
That’s a really good one. I really like that.
Jamie: Absolutely. That’s really good, yeah.
Andrew: Good thinking, Elizabeth. She goes on to say: I’m looking forward to hearing more on this topic on future episodes. Love the show!
Andrew: I think we struck a good new segment on the show. With Pokemon Comparisons.
Eric: Pokemon Connections.
Andrew: Keep them coming: mugglecast at staff dot mugglenet dot com.
Eric: What I don’t want to hear, though, is that Wormtail was lowering baby Tokepi into the cauldron…
Andrew: [laughing] Yeah.
Eric: …to make Voldemort. I don’t want to hear that one. I already thought of it. It’s mine, I’m claiming it now.
Jamie: [imitating Tokepi] Toki – Toki…
Eric: [imitating Tokepi] Toki – Toki – Tokepi!
Show Close
Andrew: I do believe that wraps up today’s show. I just want to remind everyone now about our contact information. Of course you can send parcel mail to the MuggleCast PO Box, located at:
PO Box 223
Moundridge, KS
67107
Also call on a question or comment for the show. Just dial, in the United States, 1-218-20-MAGIC. If you’re in the United Kingdom, you can dial 020-8144-0677. If you’re in Australia, you can dial 02-8003-5668. Just remember, keep your questions to about a minute. And we’ll get to some more voicemails within the next few weeks. You can also Skype the user name MuggleCast to leave a voicemail message as well.
[Show music begins playing]
Just remember to eliminate as much background noise as possible. You can also contact any one of us on the MuggleCast website. Just go to MuggleCast.com and click on Contact at the top for a handy Feedback Form. And you can email all of us at our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com. That includes me at toots at staff dot mugglenet dot com…
Jamie: Oh no!
Andrew: And Jamie, just one final reminder. I want to let everyone know that it won’t be a normal show next week, because it’s going to be an out of the ordinary show next week. It’s going to be extraordinary.
Jamie: It will. I can’t wait.
Andrew: Yeah. We’re going to be doing a live Podcast in England next week, sponsored by Alivan’s. Also remember all of our community outlets. There’s the MySpace, the Facebook, YouTube, Frappr, Last.FM, and of course the Fanlisting and the Forums over at MuggleCastFan.net. You can also dig the show over at Digg.com/podcast. And you can vote, once a month, for us at Podcast Alley. And review us on Yahoo! Podcasts. See, ladies and gentlemen, by digging us, voting for us on Podcast Alley, reviewing us at Yahoo! Podcast, reviewing us at iTunes, and joining our MySpace and Facebook, it helps us grow. And we want to grow. And you guys can help us grow by doing all of that. So, we appreciate it very much. So with that, I am Toots.
Eric: And…
Jamie: And we’ll see you next week, because we’re not saying our names.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Bye, everybody.
Kevin: See you later.
Jamie: Bye, everybody.
[Show music ends]
Bloopers
Micah: Thanks, Toots. Oh, he better have a good explanation for that.
Laura: How about from now on we just randomly call you every – like we call you a name of a random radio personality. Like right now, I’ll go ahead and call you Rush Limbaugh. How do you like that?
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: I’ll call her Howard.
Jamie: See, Andrew? You see how these ideas can backfire on you so quickly when you don’t think them through?
Jamie: So, I was just going to say that the reason I haven’t been speaking much is that I’m trying to order a kebab and pizza with my housemate. So…
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Jamie: It’s a very, like, complicated process. So…
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: Which? The kebabs or the pizza?
Jamie: Well, both. They’re pretty complicated. We couldn’t decide whether to get a pizza or a kebab. And then we couldn’t decide which kebab to get. And then we couldn’t decide which place to order it from, because all of these places try to outdo with…
Andrew: Oh, man.
Jamie: Free garlic bread or free delivery and stuff like that. So, you need like a degree just to decide what you wanted. So, but yeah. It’s extremely exciting. The 30 minute wait until it arrives is one of the most exciting times of my life.
Andrew: Are you back now? Are you guys all done and decided.
Jamie: No, no. I’ve still got to order it. No…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: No, you see, I have to order it now. We’ve decided. Now, I just have to order it.
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: So, I’ll be back in about five minutes, extremely excited.
Andrew: Okay. Ummm, what was I going to say?
———————–
Written by: Micah, Allison, Amanda, Briana, Cindy, Eloise, Jessica, Laura, Leah, Mandie, Margaret, Matt, Megan, Shannon, Shelly, and Tina