MuggleCast 100 Transcript
Show Intro
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Andrew: Today’s MuggleNet podcast is brought to you by Borders. In May, thousands of Harry Potter fans descended upon New Orleans for the Phoenix Rising conference. Borders was there to take in the sights and share a lively discussion of the series that has bewitched the world with some of Harry’s most dedicated fans. Listen in and watch the action yourself. Check out the Phoenix Rising Borders Book Club discussion at BordersMedia.com/HarryPotter or click the Borders banner at the top of the MuggleNet page.
[Show music starts]
Nearly two years, over fifty thousand fans, and exactly 99 episodes later, this is MuggleCast Episode 100 for July 21st, 2007.
Hagrid: Oh, are we live there? Are we live? Hello everybody, how are you? Okay? So you’re all ready to go be beemed around the world and be on TV in front of at least a million people, are you? Yes? I think that’s wonderful. Well, hello! Now my name’s Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of grounds and keys at Hogwarts. But you knew that anyway, didn’t you? Did you? Do we have any witches amongst us, do we? Hands up if you’re a witch. Anybody a witch over here? Oh that’s nice. There’s quite a few of ‘em, that’s lovely. Hands up if your mother is a witch? Okay, I see a few married ones here, so we ought to say hands up if your mother-in-law is a witch. We’ve got a few. It’s nice to see you. We’re having a wonderful time tonight. Having a lie-down in a dark room. And get ready to see the fate of Rubeus Hagrid. But there’s a problem. There is a thief in the audience, everybody! And someone has stolen this man’s hair.
[Audience laughs]
He spent all morning doing his hair and then he came out without it, didn’t you? Well nice to see you, my friend, and thanks for coming tonight. And all these people in the front row, you must be the rich people, are you? I’m glad we’re all tuned in together, everybody! You’re great, great people over here. Now, would you like to meet the MuggleNet panel, everybody? Yes?
[Audience claps]
Okay. Now I’m not sure just if we’re actually going live now or not, but anyway, I don’t give a monkey’s ear, everybody. But let’s just see how loud every single person can clap their hands at the same time. Clap!
[Audience claps]
Now that’s – that was absolutely rubbish, everybody. Now you see, you have got to show some enthusiasm. But not just cheer, don’t cheer, just clap! Clap! Okay, that’s better. Now you’ve got to cheer. Cheer! Now you’re going to clap your hands and cheer at the same time. Go! Okay, so when I say every each one of their individual names, that’s the sort of reaction we want from each of them because they’re absolutely nervous. They’ve drunk all sorts of muggle juice while they’re waiting in the wings. So, first of all – we have a wonderful guy by the name of Jamie!
[Applause]
Jamie: Thank you very much.
Hagrid: There’s our lovely Jamie, nice to see you, Jamie. And then an even bigger cheer now you’ve warmed up for Andrew!
[Applause]
Hello, Andrew. Nice to see you.
Andrew: Nice to see you too.
Hagrid: Oh dear. Now then. Can you cheer for our Eric?
[Applause]
We want love, don’t we, everybody? But nobody ever loves me, do they? It’s not fair, is it? I know, I know – what about Laura?
[Applause]
Chase me, Laura, chase me! Oh, come on. Oh, she’s got a lovely dress, everybody! Bless you. You look lovely. Give her a big cheer. That’s our girl, Laura.
[Applause]
Hagrid: Should we introduce you as well? What do you think?
Kevin: I guess.
Hagrid: I think, I guess, well okay then. Well, ladies and gentlemen, to introduce the last but not least, shall we? The last one of all – give him a great big cheer, and all you people in the back, you’re going to go wild for the one and only Kevin!
[Applause]
Come on, Kevin! Big hugs, big love, Kevin! Nice to see you. Now listen over here – I’m going to go on one of them computers and watch this from the big screen. So for me, Rubeus Hagrid, I’ll leave you with the panel now. Have a wonderful time tonight, and I’m sure we’ll see you lot throughout the night. I’ll see you later on. Bye bye everybody! Good luck, guys!
[Applause]
Andrew: Thank you, Hagrid. Round of applause for Hagrid, everybody!
[Applause]
Ben would be very jealous. I’m sure one of his life-long dreams is to become a real-life Hagrid. Welcome, everyone, to the live MuggleCast podcast Episode 100!
[Audience cheers]
Oh my gosh, you know, it was two years ago in August when – er, okay! I can’t hear what you’re saying. Hi, everyone in the back! Hello, everyone on the fifth floor! You know what? Actually, it’s this camera over here, hello everyone on the fifth floor. Hey – they’re cheering upstairs. All right! So it was two years ago when we decided to start this little podcast, and who listened from August 2005 on?
[Some Audience Members cheer]
A select few. Not everybody was very sure about the podcast. Everyone was like, “What’s a podcast?” And people still ask us, “What’s a podcast?” Well just listen, how about that? So we’re here now and we’re celebrating our hundredth episode and what a better place to be than here in Waterstone’s, the largest bookstore in England, if I’m correct. Is that right?
Audience: In Europe.
Jamie: I think so, yeah.
Andrew: In Europe! In Europe, England – same thing.
[Audience laughs]
Or not – I don’t know my geography. So, of course we’re all here. Ben and Emerson are in Chicago reporting for us and Micah’s in New York City. So, there are a few things that we’d like to talk about obviously. We need to warn you first: No spoilers, okay? Nobody spoil us or anyone else in the audience because that’s the last thing we want to hear. We’re so close!
[Applause]
There was a terrible, terrible leak that happened a few days ago, and then just the other day the New York Times posted their review, and even Jo commented on it, so that wasn’t very good. We’ll talk about that in a minute. So no spoilers, seriously. We’re three hours and forty-four minutes until the big release, so we can all wait. There’s more cheering from upstairs!
Early Readers
Andrew: All right, so, Jamie – how did this whole thing start for you back in – did you start reading back in ’97 or was your teacher…
Jamie: I was in – wow, that sounds weird, hearing my voice so loud.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: I started back in highschool – secondary school, for all you Americans out there and I know there are some…
[Applause]
Jamie: Good.
Andrew: Who’s been reading the books since ’97? Or, who started reading in ’97? Yeah, a few people, a few people. Now – what’s that?
Jamie: I started – yeah, when I was in secondary school, our teacher came in and she brought the book and you know – when you’re in your first year of secondary school, you’re like, “Storytime? That’s so last year,” and everything like that. So everyone was like, “I don’t want to listen to this teacher read this book.” And teachers think they’re so good at doing impressions and they’re not at all. But even though my teacher couldn’t do it at all, I really enjoyed the book. So we read the first chapter, and the next day, we read the second chapter, third chapter, fourth chapter, and I got hooked as did everyone else in my class. So then I went and bought the second one, third one, fourth one, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Andrew: Yeah. Laura, how about you?
Laura: I actually received the first three books for my eleventh birthday in 1999. So, I thought that was very fitting, that it was age eleven. At that time, I really didn’t read as much as I should have and I think that’s one thing that Harry Potter has really done for me and a lot of people, it’s really made us enjoy literature. I burned through those books in the space of a week and for an eleven-year-old, I think that’s fairly astonishing.
Andrew: Yeah. Eric, how about you?
Eric: I was actually, at first, a little bit skeptical about the books. I, like Laura, didn’t really read too much at the time.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: But I went with a friend and his mother who took me to see the first movie when it came out in November of 2001.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: So, I’ve not nearly been a fan as long as some other people. But the movie is what did it for me. Afterwards I said, “What was that?”
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Because it was amazing and I was hooked. So I got the movie when it came out and then I leeched off my friends for the books – the first three books. And then I bought my own set of the first four books the day Goblet of Fire came out in paperback.
Andrew: Eric, I hate to put you on the spot, but you in the blue, can you stand up please? Can you stand up for just a second?
Eric: Oh no, oh no…
Andrew: Eric, I think, has the same exact shirt.
Eric: Oh gosh.
Andrew: And he bought it for the podcast in LA in October and we said, “Eric, isn’t that a women’s shirt?” because it was really tight against his body.
[Audience laughs]
And we’re like, “Eric, are you just trying to show off your little muscle area here?” But now we see it is a women’s shirt. Thank you.
Eric: Well, I think it’s – to be fair I think it was a youth size, because I…
Andrew: But it was a women’s shirt. Right? Let’s just…
Eric: I’m pretty sure it was unisex.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: You don’t understand though. By tight, we don’t mean tight. We mean like it was spray-painted onto his body. It was unbelievable how tight this thing was.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Kevin, lastly, how did you get into the books?
Kevin: I was actually given the books by my friend. She gave me books 1 through 3 right before the release of Goblet of Fire, so I blew through those right before the release. I think it was one week and I went through all three.
Jamie: You know what’s weird? When people talk about how long it takes them to read the book, it starts off really high and then when they find out that everyone else has read it quicker than them, it suddenly comes down and down and down and down.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: So, I’m sure when it first started, I read it in like three weeks and now I read it in four hours or something like that.
Andrew: Yeah, and there was that time that you may have heard about on the show that Jamie went on the BBC, and you said you read it – you were planning on reading the book Order of the Phoenix, the longest book in the series, in, how much time?
Jamie: Four hours, and I think I didn’t even start for four hours, because we went to Burger King afterwards instead. So…
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: So what’s everyone’s plan? As soon as you get the book, what are you doing?
Audience: Reading…
Andrew: No, I mean – [laughs] obviously.
Jamie: That’s an awful idea.
Andrew: Are you reading together? I mean what’s happening with us is that we’re going to get the book here and of course we’re going to run back to the hotel room and all read together. And actually read through it – we’re not going to stop. And then once we’re done, we’re going to record a little episode of MuggleCast of initial reactions and then throw that up.
Jamie: And then we might sleep. At some point. Actually no, no, no.
Three Questions
Andrew: Yeah, I’ve been napping all day to make up for tonight. But okay – so there are a few things we’re going to talk about here. We do want to talk about the book. A few last minute theories – I know all of you have them in your minds. We do want to go through a couple of questions first, hand-raising, to see how many people think – three questions. Go!
Jamie: The thing about these questions is since it’s so close to the book people have been speculating over these things for months, years, so we just want to find out what everyone thinks on these three questions. Three very, very important questions and then we’ll see in three hours and fourteen minutes if you’re right or not.
Andrew: [to panel] And you guys raise your hands too. [to audience] First of all, Snape – good or bad? I’m sorry, Snape good, raise your hands. Okay that’s a lot of people. Hopefully you didn’t read the spoilers. Not that I know, but – Snape bad? Okay, so we have a Snape good majority here, I assume it’s the same on the fifth floor.
Jamie: I’m going to plead the fifth on this – I’m not going to answer these questions now. I’ll abstain.
Andrew: Okay. Harry – live or die? Harry live? I’m bad at this. Okay, this might be a split. Harry die? Are some people not raising their hands?
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: Okay. Undeclared, I guess we’ll go for. Harry and Ginny getting together. Together? Not together? [laughs] Ha, Kevin! All right, interesting. Any other questions? “Yes or no” questions.
Jamie: No, I was just going to say that those three questions are always sort of pivotal to the book. Those are the three things that everyone asks. Is Harry going to die? Is Snape good or bad? Are Harry and Ginny going to get together?
Kevin: Will one of the trio die?
Andrew: Will one of the trio die?
Kevin: Yes.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s true too. Will anyone die? Obviously.
Jamie: Jo’s finally realized she hates death, doesn’t want to write about anyone dying, so it is a fairytale now. Everyone lives happily ever after. That’s the ending.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: So we’re going to talk a few theories and then at the end of the show, we’re going to get you guys to voice your own theories. Laura has one we’ll start with. She triple checked this with us because she though it might be a little out-there – she didn’t want to sound like a fool. So…
Jamie: Yeah.
The Night at Godric’s Hollow
Laura: I thought it might be a bit stupid, but hopefully, you guys like it. So one of the big questions that everybody has had is, “Who was at Godric’s Hollow the night the Potters were killed?” Now, I was thinking it would be a complete twist if it was Dumbledore. Not because he’s evil – I just saw several eyes go very wide.
[Audience laughs]
Not because he’s evil at all, but because he knew the prophecy was self-fulfilling and knew there was nothing he could do to stop their death, but that perhaps he could be there to help aid Harry in any way.
Andrew: If you agree with that theory, hand in the air. Or think it’s feasible.
Jamie: Or think it’s possible.
Andrew: Or a little possible. Or I want to give Laura a chance so I’ll put my hand up.
Jamie: Or perhaps in a separate universe, it might happen occasionally once in a while. Put your hand up for that one.
Andrew: Come on. Anyone want to second her theory up here on the panel? Jamie? Eric? Kevin?
Jamie: I think it’s good.
Andrew: I think it’s a good idea, yeah.
Eric: Well, Jo did say on her website it’s very important why Dumbledore had James’ invisibility cloak. Because he returned it to Harry, as we all know, in the first book with a message that said, “Your father left this in my possession before he died.” But as we know, or as we’ve heard from JKR, Dumbledore can turn invisible without a cloak, so why was he with it?
Andrew: Yeah, good point. Eric, you got anymore crackpot theories while we’re on this subject?
Eric: Not for this part of the show.
Andrew: Okay. All right. So we’ll get to more theories later unless anyone – we’ll just discuss everyone else’s. We do want to talk a little bit about Movie 5 since we haven’t talked about it enough – not.
Eric: Well, some of us haven’t.
Order of the Phoenix Movie Talk
Andrew: Yeah. Some of us haven’t, that’s true. Who here – everyone’s seen the fifth film, right? Order of the Phoenix? Oh, I see you heding out over here? No? Uh-oh, Pickle Pack member has not seen the fifth film. Oh geez. [laughs] Okay so, everyone happy with it?
Audience: Yeah!
Andrew: Round of applause for the fifth film? Anything?
[Applause]
It was good, it was pretty good. Let’s hear from people who…
Audience Member: Who is Nigel? Who’s Nigel?
Andrew: Who’s Nigel?
Audience Member: Yeah, who is the character Nigel? He’s pointless. He’s not even in the books.
Andrew: People are questioning…
Eric: He’s cute.
Andrew: Yeah they made their token “cute little child.”
Jamie: Do you know what happens? In these cases when you see someone and you don’t know who they are and their acting is questionable, you usually find out that they’ve got the same last name of one of the producer or director…
Andrew: Good point, good point.
Jamie: I saw in Star Wars, there was this Star Wars episode – what was it? Three. When Anakin Skywalker is killing all of the young ones, there’s this guy, this kid who comes up to him and he’s like, “Oh no. What are we going to do?”
[Audience laughs]
And I didn’t check it, but I’m 100 percent sure that his name is John Lucas or something like that.
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: It’s not even that his acting was bad, it was the fact that there was no character named Nigel in the book. And there were so many other characters that they could have used instead of having someone called Nigel. Who is Nigel?
Andrew: Yeah. He was the cute little kid in Dumbledore’s Army, give him a break.
[Audience Member laughs]
Andrew: See, he’s listening to this podcast now – he’s here in the audience and now he’s walking out down the elevator crying. Thank you, ma’am, thank you. Anyway…
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: Sorry, Nigel!
Eric: In those cases, though, I think it seems to be the storytelling aspects of the movie. The directors are making the choice to convert some characters, obviously, into one character. Yes, it’s true that there is no Nigel in the books, but when I saw the movie, I tried to focus more on the storytelling. I knew longest book into shortest movie – there were going to be plenty of things wrong with it and I originally went into the movie thinking it was going to be bad and I loved it because I just focused on the storytelling and tried to see it as a movie and unlike all the other movies, I really, really, truly liked it.
Audience Member: It’s my favorite as well.
Jamie: I want to talk about…
Eric: Really?
Audience Member: Yeah, it’s my least favorite book but I really liked the film.
Michael Gambon
Jamie: I wantto talk about one person, because every person I speak to says, “Oh, I didn’t like this character, I’ve never liked him,” but I think Michael Gambon, to me, is Dumbledore. Does anyone agree with that?
[Mixed reaction from audience]
Andrew: I used to think so and I’ve said on the show numerous times that I “love Michael Gambon, he’s an angry Dumbledore, it’s great.” But now in the fifth film, I can’t appreciate it as much.
Jamie: What you’re talking about, that one thing you’re talking about is that horrible line…
Andrew: No, I’m not talking about that.
Jamie: …where everyone got reduced to tears and punched the TV screen when Dumbledore walked away from Trelwaney being sacked and all the students are around and he says, “Don’t you have any studying to do?” And he deserved to be shot for that line. That was atrocious.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, I just can’t get over…
Eric: We aren’t advocating that!
Jamie: No, we’re not advocating shooting or anything.
[Audience laughs]
No. He deserved something, though, for that.
Andrew: I just couldn’t really get over Dumbledore being so angry. I wanted him to be a little calmer. I miss Richard Harris now. I mean, he’s – you know?
[Applause]
A lot of people agree with us.
Kevin: I think what it is is that he has a power that Dumbledore is supposed to have but he has none of the quirkiness of Dumbledore. He’s not personal in any way.
Audience Member: There’s no twinkle in his eye.
Kevin: Exactly.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, there you go. No twinkle.
Kevin: So, you’re looking at him going, “Wow, he would be really great if just he would…”
Audience Member: Smile.
[Audience laughs]
Kevin: Smile! Or add a wink or something to show some personal contact.
Audience Member: He’s too Gandalf.
Kevin: Exactly.
Andrew: Someone just pointed this out to me: where are the half-moon glasses? Where are the glasses? He doesn’t wear glasses.
Kevin: Oh, you’re right, yeah.
Jamie: He should have gone to Spec Savers.
Andrew: He should have gone to Spec Savers.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: Can I just ask can everyone right in the back hear? No?
Andrew: Can everyone hear?
Jamie: Yes? No?
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: That sounds like a “No.”
Andrew: Oh.
Jamie: Can…
Andrew: Can we boost in the back or something? But…
Kevin: You want me to check?
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: Just don’t know what to check.
The Battle Scene
Andrew: Megaphones! OK, so a few things we want to talk about with the movie. The battle scene.
Jamie: OK, the battle scene I thought was unbelievable. And I’ve made this comparision so many times. If you listen to the show you will know this comparison, but…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: I just think it’s so good. [laughs] I can’t stop saying it. If anyone’s seen the first Pokemon film. Has anyone seen it?
[Audience laughs and cheers]
Jamie: There’s – Right at the end, Mew versus Mew-Two.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: They’re, like, throwing elements at each other. They’re, like, throwing water. You know, and that just what the Dumbledore – Voldemort fighting was like. They were throwing things at each other. It was also like, and I’ve completely lost my – oh yeah! Captain Planet, when they had…
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: The different rings, you know?
Andrew: [sings] Captain Planet, he’s our hero…
Female Audience Member: The Avatar.
Jamie: Sorry?
Female Audience Member: The Avatar. They were fighting like the Last Airbender. There are Water Benders and Earth Bending and Fire Benders. That was the exact same thing.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. So that was good. Anyone seen it in IMAX yet? Is it playing in IMAX over here?
Laura: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah, it is.
Jamie: Do we even have IMAX’s over here?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] Are we that far advanced?
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: We haven’t seen in IMAX yet. Nobody’s really convincing us to go see it. I mean…
Laura: Oh, I’m going to see it.
Female Audience Memeber: I thought it was amazing in IMAX. I saw it the first time in IMAX and I was blown away. I thought it was amazing.
Andrew: Really? Really? Some people said the effects were a little too digital. They were a little too unrealistic.
Female Audience Member: Oh yeah, the prophecies falling was crap.
Andrew: Really?
[Audience laughs]
Female Audience Member: It was just like all these – it was rubbish.
Andrew: Really?
Female Audience Member: But the rest of it was quite good.
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: On that note about England, I told Laura a few months ago that we only got electricity in the last five years. And she still doesn’t believe me. Can you believe that?
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: It’s unbelievable
Andrew: But, any other thoughts on the battle scene? It was good. It didn’t follow the book too much, though.
Kevin: Well…
Laura: I thought it was very good.
Kevin: But…
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Well going into – When I first went to see the movie, I was really nervous about the battle scene. Because I knew they had to use a lot of digital effects.
Andrew: Mhm.
Kevin: Because there’s no way you can represent that scene. But I think they pulled it off quite well. I mean, they really nailed it.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: I thought so too. And I have to clarify a little bit. Initially when I saw the film, I really wasn’t sure if I liked it. At the LA Podcast I pretty much sat there and was somewhat negative about the film. But I did go and see it again, and I do quite like it now. Still not a fan of the Sirius death scene, but it’ll do.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Audience claps]
Sirius’ Death
Eric: You know what? I was kind of hoping that maybe Sirius might make an appearance in Book 7. And I guess it’s still possible because the books don’t necessarily follow the movies, but it is true. Whereas I did like the end battle scene in Movie 5. And the thing again with making movies, the Brain Room and all the other rooms would have been interesting to see. When I was reading the book, and I read the book at that time. So, I was there when it came out. And I thought that alone, the whole Department of Mysteries could be a two-hour movie, easily. And it was interesting, but I really liked it.
Jamie: I thought it was a huge shame that Fawkes didn’t come when Dumbledore was fighting Voldemort. Because I thought that underlines their connection completely. You know, and the fact that Fawkes would die for Dumbledore and that kind of stuff. So that was a big shame.
Andrew: Kevin?
Kevin: What I was going to say about the Sirius death scene is that in order to explain the Veil, it would have taken, like Eric said, a long time. Probably ten, twenty minutes out of the film. And the reason why they used Avada Kedavra is it removes any doubt in, someone who hasn’t read the book, any doubt in their mind that he’s dead.
Andrew: Exactly.
Kevin: Without having to explain what the Veil is. Without having to explain, you know, that he’s dying when going through the Veil. It just completely cuts it out.
Andrew: Yeah. They took a lot of shortcuts in the movie.
Jamie: Kevin, Kevin. Is he dead?
Andrew: Yes.
Jamie: No, no. Kevin. Kevin, Kevin, is he dead?
Kevin: I think so.
Jamie: Kevin – I don’t think he’s dead.
Eric: But talking about Sirius, Gary Oldman in this film I thought did wonderful.
Andrew: Oh, Gary Oldman was great. Whoa, hold on.
Audience cheers.
Andrew: Someone over here disagreed. You don’t like Gary Oldman?
Female Audience Member: He’s too short.
Andrew: He’s what?
Female Audience Member: He’s just too short.
Andrew: Too short?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Oh, come on now. Come on, that’s judging.
Female Audience Member: He should be a little taller.
Eric: Sirius, Sirius is clearly, clearly a few inches taller than Gary Oldman.
Andrew: [laughs] Gary Oldman was great. His performance in Order of the Phoenix I really liked. You didn’t like it at all? Or were you like, “Oh wow,” you were holding up your tape measure, “I don’t like this guy.”
Eric: It was like Umbridge in that scene with Flitwick.
Andrew: Yeah. What about it?
Eric: When Umbridge measures Flitwick.
Luna Lovegood
Andrew: Oh yeah. [laughs] Right. Right. Yeah. Another character, Luna Lovegood. Evanna Lynch.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Evanna is not here tonight. She’s at J.K. Rowling’s…
Jamie: Oh.
Andrew: …book event. The Natural…
Audience: History Museum.
Andrew: Yeah. Sorry, I couldn’t remember the name. But that’s a big event. We’ve a couple people from MuggleNet going. Jerry right here, just by coincidence, he works for MuggleNet. He got a ticket just by putting your name in the hat right?
Jerry: It can happen.
Andrew: It can happen. [laughs]
Jamie: So if you want his ticket, he’ll be outside. So you can mug him after the show.
[Everyone laughs]
Jerry: 2,000, you know?
Andrew: For 2,000?
Jerry: We’re hocking outside.
Andrew: But what time do you have to be there?
Jerry: 4:30 in the morning.
Andrew: Yeah, so.
Jerry: There are some at 7am, though. She’s signing all night. She’s being very generous.
Andrew: And you’re going to get, what? The 1200th signature? So, it’s going to be like a line.
Jerry: Yeah.
[Audience laughs]
Jerry: An “X” and a thumbprint.
Andrew: Seriously, how is she doing that? 1700? Come on. That’s a lot.
Eric: Well, she doesn’t have anything to write anymore, you know?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Well, that’s true. [laughs] Good point.
Eric: So she can go all out.
Andrew: Yeah, good point. [laughs] Anyway, Evanna Lynch. She was perfect in this role. I mean she came into this movie as a fan. And everyone has just been so happy with her portrayal. Laura?
Laura: Yeah, you know we were talking about this a little earlier. And amongst ourselves, we all agreed that every time she was on screen with any of the other actors, any of the Trio, she took the screen away from them. She really, really did. She has got a knack. She’s fabulous.
Andrew: You were saying, that one scene with the Trio? The one scene with the Trio, you said that she took away from it. I mean, she took away from them.
Laura: No, no, no. I’m saying that every scene that she was in with them, it was just her presence somewhat overwhelmed theirs. Like, I thought she was actually better than them in some of the scenes.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: What I think it was with that is that she nailed the character so much that you see the other characters and you know that they’re not Harry and they’re not Ron. They’re their portrayal. But she nailed Luna. So, you see her and you just can’t help but imagine the real Luna from the book.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: I thought, also, that the scenes with Luna were Luna’s scenes. Not necessarily in Evanna’s acting power, which I thought she did do a great job. I thought those scenes, though, were dedicated to introduce the character and to further the character. So, that the audience did know that they were Luna’s scenes. So the narrative was focusing on Luna at those moments. But she still did an amazing job as Luna.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah and Jo loved her too and eveyone loves her.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: So, she’ll be back for – she told us that she’s going to – the Quidditch scenes are back in Half Blood Prince and she’s going to be commentating the game. So…
[Audience cheers and claps]
Audience Member: Are they going to have the lion hat?
Andrew: Are they going to have the lion hat?
Eric: They so should.
Andrew: How can they not? Evanna would make it herself, I believe. There was one of those at…
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: …Lumos.
Eric: I definitely want the lion hat.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. At Lumos last year, it’s a Harry Potter convention. They’re the same people that are doing Prophecy this year. There was some woman walking around in that Luna hat, that you took a picture with. [laughs]
Jamie: Yeah, and the earrings as well. And…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: It roared.
Jamie: And, like the carrot thing.
Eric: It roared. Yeah.
Jamie: Sorry?
Eric: She actually got a roaring lion.
Jamie: Oh, yeah. Yeah. She did. It roared. How do you make one of those?
Eric: Yeah.
Jamie: I have no idea.
Andrew: Time.
Fidelius Charm
Jamie: I was going to say one more thing, which I didn’t like about the film. Because it underlined the entire Harry Potter books as a series. Is when Harry went to Grimmauld Place. And the Fidelius Charm, which is a very complex piece of magic. That requires deft skill, you know, concentration, magical power, age, wisdom. And you can’t make it happen by tapping a stick once or twice.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: And that reminds me. For anyone who’s seen Aladdin, Jaffar. He looked like Jaffar at that point.
Andrew: Yes.
Jamie: And Mad-Eye Moody could not be any further away from Jaffar.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: He isn’t an evil sorcerer. He’s not. He’s not a bad person. You know? He didn’t like Jasmine.
Andrew: I was really into Aladdin as a kid. And I had one of those – Well, what was it called acutally?
Eric: A snake staff.
Andrew: Jaffar’s staff. Yeah. And it lit up eyes. It was really cool.
Jamie: I was going to say, did you point it at people’s eyes and hypnotize them and bring them under your control?
Andrew: I tried to. But it would never work when I was trying to get some food out of the kitchen from my mom.
Jamie: I wonder why.
Umbridge
Andrew: [laughs] Any other scenes we want to talk about? Or portrayals? Kevin?
Kevin: Yeah, Umbridge.
Audience: Umbrigde.
Andrew: Umbridge, of course.
Andrew: Umbridge was perfect. Did anyone see – I love this, and I love talking about it. Me and Emerson were on the red carpet in LA, and [laughs] Emerson asked her, “Can you do a quick, ‘MuggleNet. Haha.'” thing. Did anyone see that? Anyone watch the video on MuggleNet? Hilarious. I loved that. Sorry. OK. [laughs] So anyway, back to Umbridge. Her portrayal is perfect. I mean, you just hate her.
Kevin: Yeah, you do.
Laura: You just want to hit her by the time the film is done. She disgusted me, but I loved her at the same time.
Jamie: Now we’re advocating shooting Dumbledore and hitting Umbridge. Going all out this podcast.
Laura: You know, for some reason Jamie, I think that hitting someone is a little less serious than shooting them.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: It depends – we really shouldn’t be getting into this. It’s keeping off on a tangent. But it depends where you hit them.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: If you shoot them in the foot and really hard punch to the – like, if Hagrid punched me in the thing, I’d probably die.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: But if you shot me in the foot, I probably wouldn’t.
Andrew: Yeah. OK.
Jamie: You need to think outside of the box, you see, in these things.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: But speaking of box, or actually plates. The plates with the kittens on them. In the movie? The cute kittens? I thought that was an extra step that they took in the movie that really sold it for me. Was that they had photo shoots of actual kittens. And they filmed so many of them. And actually, you know put them up against blue screens and who knows what else they did.
Andrew: Yeah, those were all real cats. Those weren’t digital effects. They actually got real cats in there and filmed every single one doing something. And – yes?
Jamie: What about the after-party and the toilet?
Andrew: Oh yeah. At the Order of the Phoenix after-party in LA, you would go into the bathroom – someone told me about this before, and so I wasn’t really surprised. But, you go into the bathrooms there and the cat portraits are on the wall. And not just that, they actually meow in the bathroom. So, it’s like…
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: You’re sitting there, doing your thing, and then you just hear, “Meow.”
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: That isn’t actually true. Andrew just got a bit drunk and stumbled onto the set and tried to take a wee there.
Andrew: I did not. It was an open bar, I didn’t go near it. So, Eric any thoughts on Umbridge?
Eric: Oh, what?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: [laughs] Any thoughts on Umbridge?
Eric: Yes, yes. I’m sorry, I was paying attention.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: The Umbridge thing – It was brought to my attention – I really liked her in the movie and I really thought it was well done. The only difference between the book and the movie that I recognized was that Umbridge seemed slightly unbalanced and slightly less sane in the movie. In Imelda Staunton’s portrayal of her, she seemed really unbalanced. Like, “I don’t really like children.” You know, and it was a great line and stuff. I was happy that they turned, “I must not tell lies” into a catchphrase in the movie. When Harry says, “Sorry Professor, I must not tell lies.”
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, that was really good.
Eric: So, yeah. But with her portrayal of Umbridge, the only difference was that in the books she seemed even more evil. As far as the Ministry and stuff. And they pulled back and made really made it kind of an actual human more character, I thought, for Imelda there. So…
Laura: You know, I don’t know. I thought she was pretty evil. Especially during that one scene when Fred and George are comforting this one child. You know, because his hand is all cut open. And she comes by and she’s sort of like, “You know naughty children deserve to be punished.” And she just said it in such a way that made you want to punch her. I was appalled at her.
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: Punch as opposed to shooting her?
Eric: Laura, just for arguments sake, punch her where?
[Everyone laughs]
Jamie: Oh, oh. I forgot…
Eric: Because sometimes it can be worse than shooting.
Jamie: And Oldman’s too short. So he deserves some sort of punishment as well.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Yep. This is just evil now.
Eric: Stretching.
Jamie: Stretching, yeah.
Andrew: But there was another Umbridge scene when you go into her office for the first time – maybe it wasn’t the first time. When Harry was called in to do the lines. It’s close-up of her desk and the pens. And one’s just a little crooked, so she just takes her finger and slides it just a little bit. It was perfect. Those little touches you can really appreciate with Michael Goldenberg as the screenwriter. So, any other scenes we want to talk about?
MuggleCast 100 Transcript (continued)
Bellatrix, Lucius, Neville and Death Eaters
Audience Member: Bellatrix.
Andrew: I thought – oh, Bellatrix. Oh man, she was nuts, wasn’t she? There’s a couple of Bellatrix in the queues down there. Sorry, I was going to say lines, but I have to say queue.
Kevin: Was she at the LA premiere?
Andrew: Bellatrix. No, she was only at the England premiere.
Kevin: Because at the UK premiere – she’s just as wild in person as she is on screen.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, she had this crazy dress on.
Kevin: She looks crazy.
Andrew: Crazy.
Kevin: You’re afraid to walk up to the woman.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Yeah.
Andrew: You got to give them a lot of credit when they show up to the premiere in character. [laughs]
Kevin: In character.
Andrew: Yeah, she was a nut job.
Eric: Helena Bonham Carter is really good in the movies that she does. And I was worried at first that, you know, Bellatrix was going to take away from some – I mean she’s obviously a very figurehead of the Death Eaters. But I also like Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy in that movie.
[Audience cheers]
Eric: And I felt they gave him a sufficient enough role as well, so that Bellatrix and Lucius – you really got the sense of the Death Eaters by playing up his role as well as her’s.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And it was just – and also, paying attention to Neville’s backstory
Audience: Yeah.
Eric: In the movie was very nice.
Jamie: I’ve just got to say, though, I didn’t like those masks. The Death Eater masks.
Everyone: No.
Jamie: They, ugh.
[Comment from Audience Member]
Jamie: Huh? Exactly. They looked like rabbits.
Andrew: Each Death Eater had their own individual design.
Laura: That was the point of them.
Andrew:I guess they just thought it was cool.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: I guess maybe to separate the Death Eaters, I don’t know, but…
Audience Member: They changed them from the last film.
Andrew: Yeah, they did change them. I do want to say one thing about Helena. She was quoted, she did an interview, I think it was a few days ago, about the film. And she was actually upset with the way that her character ended up in the movie. She said that she wanted to have that pink hair but they wanted to change it. The directors decided to change it to not confuse her with Umbridge. And, I don’t think that would have confused, makes her too much…
Eric: Tonks?
Andrew: What?
Laura: I would think they wouldn’t want to confuse her with Tonks, not Umbridge.
Jamie: I can’t think of any two characters that are less alike, really.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Maybe I’m thinking about the wrong interview. But, either way, either way – maybe it was Tonks. She was upset that – the hair. Whatever. I’m lost now.
Eric: Just quickly speaking of the Death Eaters. The way that they flew in kind of, in the dark shroud. Like I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt about that until the Order made their entrance. Pure, white light. “Get your hands off my godson.” Uh! You know. That was – I loved that so. It was very well done.
Andrew: The other line I loved. I loved, I loved, you could totally appreciate. Is when – oh god, what’s his name?
Audience Member: Sirius.
Andrew: No, not Sirius. Sorry, get back to me in a minute. I’ll think of it. I’m totally blanking now.
Half-Blood Prince Movie
Jamie: Why don’t we talk a bit about Movie 6? Because we haven’t discussed that. And say…
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Jamie: Obviously Book 7 is coming out soon. And do you think that – that’s going to be dark, obviously. It’s going to be a bloodbath, she said. So do you think that Movie 6 is going to be affected by that?
Andrew: I’m very happy that Yates will be on for Half Blood Prince.
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: He’s very excited about that, he said himself. But there’s something – I think it really makes a difference when a director directs two films in a row. We’ve only seen that with Chris Columbus, of course. And I thought he did a good job carrying Movie 1 into Movie 2. So, I’m looking forward – although, Laura’s like, “Oh but Movie 1 and Movie 2 sucked.”
Laura: No, no, no. I do think the first two movies sucked. Sorry, but I will not deny that Movie 1 led in very well into Movie 2.
Andrew: Yeah, but Yates is going to be able to carry this darkness from Order of the Phoenix into Half Blood Prince. And when there’s more continuity, which I think there will be. The only one thing affecting this is that Goldenberg will not be screenwriting it.
Laura: Yeah, you know I wish he was. I thought he was fabulous.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Really, I mean, I think for the first time we really got a script that was true to the books, true to the characters. Especially Ron. I mean, we actually saw Ron as he should be in this film. Not because of Rupert Grint. Because I mean, Rupert is fabulous. He’s been fabulous in all the films. But we really saw a script that did him justice. So, I was very glad about that.
Jamie: Are we talking loud enough? In the back? Okay, good. Sorry, I’m being paranoid.
Andrew: Okay, Eric?
Voldemort on the Platform
Eric: Flashbacks in Movie 5, I thought were handled well. Because it really got – especially the scenes, well with the Mirror of Erised were kind of creepy with Voldemort and…
Jamie: Apart from when Harry’s at Platform 9 3/4 and Voldemort’s standing there in a suit.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: Because everyone else is walking past – do you know what it’s like? It’s like on aeroplanes when you look at the pictures of the people putting on the oxygen masks on and they’re smiling. You know?
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: Because normally when they drop down you aren’t going to be happy. And it’s just like that. All these people are walking Voldemort, completely ignoring him. Whereas Harry was like, “Oh no.”
Andrew: Harry was just having a vision, I guess. It was a mirage.
Jamie: No, but I mean, he must have realized he was having that because everyone else – you know, if Lord Voldemort materialized and you’ve feared him for 15 years, you don’t just hurry up and catch your train.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Right. But he just gets in the zone. Because just imagine you’re standing right here and Voldemort show up right there. What are you going to do? You’re not going to be like, “Does everyone see him?” Or are you just going to stare at him and be like…
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: You wouldn’t just walk past him carrying your suitcase, you’d be like…
Andrew: No, no, no. I’m saying if you, personally, saw Voldemort standing right there. What would you do? Would you be like, “Hold up everyone, do you see him?” Or at first be like…
Jamie: I’d check myself into a hospital immediately. Because he’s a fictional character, so I’d be very worried.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Good point.
Jamie: Thank you.
Laura: I thought it was somewhat of a commentary on the fact that nobody believed that Voldemort was back. That he could sort of just be standing there at the train station. And everyone would walk past him and not have the slightest clue. That’s what I thought it was.
Eric: Brilliant. Brilliant. It was absolutely brilliant, yeah.
Andrew: I think from a director’s stand point it was also just because to get Voldemort in there early. To start scaring people early in the movie.
Eric: Oh especially, some of the sequences where he was just running down the corridor and going, “Rawr!” right at the screen, it was really good. And with Movie 6 I felt, since Movie 5 paid attention to the same recurring actors for Lily and James and all of those flashbacks, I actually have immense trust in them doing the Voldemort childhood whole backstory. And I think it will be interesting to see how that plays into the rest of what’s going on in the movie. But I wouldn’t pick a better team.
The Lack of Marauders
Kevin: I was disappointed in, and probably all of you were. The Marauders. Where are the Marauders? You know, you’re sitting there thinking – it’s a pretty pivotal piece of information, at least for Harry. He needs to know who his father’s friends were.
Andrew: Right.
Kevin: And they never included it.
Laura: And you didn’t even really see Lily, did you? No she didn’t appear.
Female Audience Member: They cast it. They shot it.
Andrew: Exactly.
Female Audience Member: It must be a deleted scene or something.
Andrew: Yeah.
Female Audience Member: They have to put it in. It was like two seconds.
Andrew: People really got their hopes up because we had…
Female Audience Member: It’s my favorite chapter in the entire series.
Andrew: And these pictures leaked online. We were like, “Check out these scenes!”
Female Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: From the flashbacks. It was like, “Cool. We’re going to…”
Female Audience Member: They cast Lily. There’s a picture of her yelling at James.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And those scenes were just very quick, anyways.
Eric: I’m not too terribly certain that you can blame Movie 5 for the lack of the Marauders, though. Because they took it out of…
Female Audience Member: They never mentioned it in The Prisoner of Azkaban. And I thought that was such an important part of the film and they completely left it out. They didn’t explain it.
Eric: That was such an important part. So, I think, yes I was a little bit disappointed that they turned it into just a quick memory. But that scene did wonders. I thought that Alan Rickman did wonders when he came back and he kicked Harry out. And was just – I mean, yes, I’m disappointed it wasn’t a longer scene. But I would say that Movie 3 should have included a lot of the Marauders early on. And now they’ve just got to keep moving ahead with what they’ve got to show you.
Back to Half-Blood Prince: Slughorn, Riddle and Other Casting
Andrew: Yeah. So anyway, book – back to Half-Blood Prince, which we were going to be talking about. Two new roles that we want to talk about, Slughorn, who has not been casted yet, and then also Tom Riddle, who – there were open casting calls, and I believe David Heyman said that they did find someone, but the contract wasn’t done yet, so they weren’t ready to announce. I mean…
Jamie: Also, the thing with Voldemort and Tom Riddle is that he’s completely different ages in all different parts of the book.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: So, you need a child one, you need one when he goes and gets the job, one where he’s working at Borgin and Burke’s and goes see Hepzibah Smith, so you need all different ones, and Christian Coulson now is getting a bit old. Because, you know, he…
Andrew: Yeah, he’s definitely out. He’s definitely not coming back.
Jamie: You couldn’t have an eleven-year-old with a full face of stubble.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: So, it wouldn’t work. But, it’s going to be interesting to see who they cast, but I know a lot of people want Henry Cavil, is that – no, no, no maybe not. There was this petition, just before Christian Coulson got passed, for this guy. He’s a very good – he’s a good actor. Has anyone seen The Count of Monte Cristo? The film he plays the – can’t remember his name. But, yeah, he’d be good. But Slughorn, I just have no idea. Is…
Audience Member: See, I think that Richard Griffiths could have done it really well and…
Jamie: Yeah. He really could have.
Audience Member: … he’s I think he’s the only person I can think of…
Andrew: Yeah, why not? They do that in drama plays.
Audience Member: Yeah, I mean, obviously they didn’t know Slughorn when they cast the first movie…
Jamie: Yeah.
Audience Member: …and they put him as Vernon, but I think he could have done Slughorn better than anyone else.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, if you cut him out of Half-Blood Prince as Dursley.
Audience Member: [laughs] Stick him in different clothes.
Andrew: Yeah, exactly, nobody will know the difference.
Eric: I was reading an article awhile ago where they just did a prediction of, you know, who would make good actors, and whatever, and I saw – I think that Elizabeth Hurley as Bellatrix, which would be interesting, because I would have liked to see Helena Bonham Carter as Merope Gaunt. They’ve got to cast the Gaunts as well in this film if, you know? But for Slughorn, Bob Hoskins? Does anyone know? Played Smee in Hook.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: His family is in the audience tonight.
Audience Member: He was on John Ross the same night Jo was, and she was all, like – and he was all, “Haven’t you written me a part yet?” And she was like, “Oh no!” because she met him before Book 6. Apparently there’s someone in Book 7 that she thinks he could play in the seventh movie.
Andrew: Oooh!
Eric: That’s a really good rumor. So, Bob Hoskins – now, he’s British, right?
Audience Member: Yeah, oh yeah.
Eric: Yeah?
Audience Member: I’d probably say – I don’t know which one she meant.
Audience Member: Yeah, I don’t know which one she meant.
Andrew: So, okay, you want to move on now to a segment that we play often on the show?
Jamie: Yeah.
Andrew: One quick final thought over here.
Audience Member: What about Dame Judi Dench for Helga Hufflepuff or that woman…
Jamie: Hepzibah Smith.
Audience Member: Smith, Hepzibah Smith.
Jamie: Hepzibah Smith is supposed to be a very large…
Audience Member: Yeah, but I heard she was going to be in “Six.” I don’t know where I heard or read that, but…
Andrew: I didn’t – Judi Dench, is she English?
Audience: Yes!
Andrew: Oh, okay, all right.
[Audience yells]
Audience Member: And it’s Dame, Dame Judi Dench.
Andrew: I’m sorry! I don’t know! Give me a break! Give me a break! Okay, I hit a nerve, I see that. I’m sorry, gee. If I asked you guys who Kelly Ripa is, would you know? Okay, thank you! Everyone knows who Kelly Ripa is in America.
Jamie: It could be like a friend of yours whp no one knows.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: No! It’s not, she’s a big T.V. star. Anyway, okay, okay. So, Judi Dench.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I thought Judi Dench played Madame Hooch, but that’s just my own confusing…
Audience Member: No, that was Zoe Wanamaker.
Eric: Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Make the Connection
Andrew: Okay, so we’re going to play a segment now that we do on the show a lot. It’s a pretty recent segment, and everyone seems to like it.
Jamie: I hope everyone likes it.
Andrew: What’s it called?
Jamie: Make the Connection? Anyone know it?
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Live.
Jamie: Okay, now – huh?
Eric: Making the Connection?
Jamie: Yeah, yeah, so we’re going to make the connection, and I’ve been quite harsh on everyone here, since, you know, it’s Book 7 and everyone’s friends here, so they won’t be angry at me for very long. So, Laura, do you want to go first?
Eric: Do you want to explain it first?
Jamie: Okay, yeah, yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Sorry. For everyone who doesn’t listen to the show, or doesn’t know this section, basically, Making the Connection is you have to make a connection, any connection you like, between Harry Potter and something completely random. It can be absolutely anything. I started off, sort of, doing objects or something like that, and now I’ve gone into ridiculous acts that I don’t know how I thought of in a million years. So, yeah, and it can be incredibly difficult when there’s literally no connection at all, and you have to pull one out of somewhere. So, Laura, do you want to go first?
Laura: Yeah, I’ll get it over with.
Jamie: Okay.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Jamie: That’s a good one, because this one is going to be pretty tough. Okay, Laura, you have to make a connection between Harry Potter and setting a pillow on fire using only friction.
[Audience laughs]
Laura: Okay. Well, I would say that setting a pillow on fire using only friction would be a project that would take a very long time, and it would be quite difficult. And of course, Harry is trying to find the Horcruxes which is also a very long and tedious project.
[Audience cheers]
Jamie: Well done, that was pretty good. Okay, Eric, yours is a Little Mermaid reference. So, you have to make the connection between Harry Potter and using a fork as a hair brush, and you get extra points if you can name what the object was called in the Little Mermaid that – when they used a fork as a hairbrush.
[Audience laughs]
Eric: That object was called a Dinglehopper.
Jamie: No!
Eric: No, no, no, no.
Jamie: I believe the pipe was called a Dinglehopper, when Scuttle had these two objects, the pipe was the Dinglehopper.
Eric: Oh no.
Jamie: In fact, if anyone knows I have a ticket to the VIP party afterwards, so if anyone knows, the first person to shout it out gets a ticket to the VIP party.
[Audience Members shout out]
Andrew: [laughs] Back there.
Jamie: Who was that over there?
Audience Member: The pipe was a Snoreflack, because it takes a really long time…
Jamie: Oh, it was a Dinglehopper!
Eric: Oh, do I get the VIP!?
Andrew: [laughs] Jamie’s cleared.
Eric: Do I get the VIP pass?
Jamie: Can we just forget the last two minutes ever happened, please?
[Andrew and audience laugh]
Eric: So, I am…
Jamie: You can have half of the VIP ticket, so you can come for half the time.
Eric: So, I am making the connection?
Jamie: You are, yeah.
Eric: All right, well, there are mermaids in the Black Lake, of course, and they even make it into the movie a little bit, so that was quite good. So, I predict that maybe with, the bird’s name, Scuttle? Scuttle, right? Scuttle? The mermaids obviously can’t communicate to humans especially with Dumbledore gone, because, you know, he was the only one that could speak Mermish. So, now they’re going to have to use other means of communication in finding out what’s going on in the wizarding world, obviously, now that they can’t talk to Dumbledore. So, I think they might enlist the help of Hedwig.
Jamie: I thought that was very good, Eric, but one particular thing that stood out for me was that you referred to the Little Mermaid instead of the actual act of using the fork as a hairbrush.
Eric: The actual act of…
Jamie: Yeah.
Eric: …using a fork as a hair brush.
Jamie: I mean, don’t worry, this isn’t really important, but…
Eric: Well, I…
[Audience laughs]
Eric: Well, as you can – what do you think the House-Elves brush their hair with?
[Audience laughs]
Eric: Do you think they have a hairbrush sitting around down underneath the kitchens, or do they have forks?
Jamie: They have forks.
Eric: This causes quite a bit of concern, of course, for some of those students that are eating from those forks.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: Yeah. This is all very true. Kevin, are you ready?
Kevin: I guess. [laughs]
Jamie: For your one, you have to make the connection between Harry Potter and going to Starbucks and finding out that they’ve run out of espresso.
[Audience laughs]
Kevin: Oh my god. Well, I guess, it would be similar to going to Hogsmeade and finding out they have no Butterbeer.
[Audience claps]
Jamie: Good. Okay, and, Andrew, your one is – and there’s a story to tell after he’s done this, but your one, Andrew, is Harry Potter and pulling out your iPhone, Apple iPhone…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: …at every available opportunity.
Andrew: I don’t pull it out…
Jamie: Yes, you do!
Andrew: It’s always conveniently with me, that’s all.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: It’s just convenient.
Jamie: Go for it.
Andrew: It’s worthless over here though, so, I mean, because I don’t get the signal. Okay, I – what does it have to do with again?
Jamie: Hurry, stop trying to stall and just do it. Harry Potter and pulling out your Apple iPhone at every available opportunity, emphasis on the “every available.” I’m not saying you do this, or anything, but, you know…
Andrew: I got this, I got this. All right. In every available opportunity Percy Weasley, as a Prefect, will always lay the smackdown on students. Yes, no? People aren’t happy with that?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: I thought that was good. He pulls out his…
Jamie: That was okay.
Eric: As a Hogwarts Prefect?
Andrew: Yes, exactly. Sorry.
Eric: Pulls out his badge, Big Head Boy.
Jamie: The backstory…
Andrew: Sorry, I’d like to see you come up with something better. Jerks.
Andrew’s iPhone
Jamie: Oh! In fact, there is a challenge we’re going to take up in about two minutes, but first of all, this iPhone. Andrew, when he went back home he bought an iPhone.
Andrew: Okay, so I did.
Jamie: Now, I heard about this before I even saw this thing. He brings it out at every opportunity he can.
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: So, I’ll say to him, “Andrew, what’s the time?” “Oh, let me pull out my Apple iPhone, and check for you…”
Andrew: [laughs] No.
Jamie: “…and I’ll…”
Andrew: The only reason this joke exists is because we were doing a panel on Book 7 at Enlightening last week, and I had my phone out because I had just gotten it, and so I liked to click it. [laughs]
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: And it rang. It was on the highest ring possible. I was like, “Sorry, that’s my Apple iPhone.”
Jamie: Yeah. No, no, no, that isn’t true. You bring it out all the time. Like, you’ll bring it out just to bring it out, and then put it back in your pocket, or…
Andrew: That’s not true.
Jamie: …you’ll pretend you’re checking something. So, you’ll bring it out, look at it, frown, then put it back in your pocket.
Andrew: That’s not true. I do listen to MuggleCast on it, though, I hope everyone else with their iPhones…
Jamie: And he tries to be clever – I’m sorry, Andrew. He tries to be clever because that is obviously a phone as well as an iPod, right? So, what you can do is pick it up and use it as a phone, but he insists on plugging his headphones in and then holding it out like…
[Andrew laughs]
Jamie: …a businessman on a train, or something like that.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: So, I don’t know. I’m…
Andrew: I listen to this song a lot.
Jamie: I like the iPhone – see he’s showing off his musical capabilities, now. So…
[Spice World by the Spice Girls plays]
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Oh. I like it!
[Audience claps]
Jamie: So, anyway…
Andrew: Good song, good song. I’ll be there when they’re touring.
Jamie: Yeah, me too.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: Okay.
Jamie: We should – we should open for them. We could do like a podcast, and then the Spice Girl could come out.
Andrew: Yeah.
Make the Connection: LIVE
Jamie: Oh, okay. I have two VIP tickets here and we’re going to do a Make the Connection live, so we’re going to bring two people up, and the person that does the best, we’ll vote on it with an audience cheer, wins the tickets. So, who wants to do it? Okay, there, and there. So, you want to come up?
Andrew: Talk into this microphone right here.
[Audience claps]
Andrew: First – yeah, can you come over here? First, say your names and where you’re from. Here, hold on, wait a second. I think – yeah, talk into this mic.
Nina: I’m Nina. I’m from Norway.
Andrew: Oh, Norway – oh wait a second, were you one of the people out front here? In the front of the queue?
Nina: Mhm. Not like way in the front, no.
Andrew: Oh, okay. How long have you been – were you waiting in the queue line?
Nina: No. We were standing with people from Norway who were waiting in the queue line.
Andrew: Okay, yeah. There’s been people there for three days now. Since Wednesday, at 2 PM?
Eric: Big shout out to people in the queue line right now!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: And what’s your name, and where are you from?
Joe: Hi, I’m Joe, I’m from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Andrew: Glad to see you came dressed up for the event.
Joe: I have my hat there.
Andrew: You had to?
Joe: No, I have my hat.
Andrew: Oh, you have your hat, too. Oh, nice, nice, nice. Okay, Jamie?
Jamie: Okay…
Andrew: Oh, wizard’s hat, I see.
Jamie: Okay, so, since we’re in a bookstore, okay, and it has to be something to do with books, you have to make the connection between Harry Potter and the Waterstone’s Business Strategy book section. Go!
Nina: Well, they’re having a lot of Harry Potter fans here, and a lot of media people, and it could be similar to Rufus trying to employ Harry into the Ministry as their poster boy. Yeah, that’s my connection.
[Audience claps]
Andrew: Round of applause.
Joe: What is it?
Andrew: Huh?
s
Joe: What is…
Jamie: What’s what?
Joe: What is like the business thing?
Jamie: [laughs] Oh, that thing there. It’s a strategy.
Andrew: Jamie just looked at the closest sign and filled in the blank.
Jamie: Okay, yeah, and your’s is, I was standing outside yesterday, just taking a look at the queue, and I saw two people from Sky News, which is like a Satellite T.V. station here, and the camera man had a very nice shirt on, so could you make a connection between Harry Potter and the Sky News camera man’s very nice shirt, please?
Joe: Well, business strategies usually help you get money, and money usually makes people happy, and reading the Harry Potter books make people happy, too.
Jamie: I’d have to say that was good, but it wasn’t your question.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: There was – do it? I saw a guy with a very nice shirt on, okay? So, it’s a connection between Harry Potter and – let’s make it a bit easier – Harry Potter and wearing nice clothes.
Joe: Well, everybody likes – everybody likes nice clothes, too.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: And everyone likes Harry Potter too. Round of applause, please?
[Audience claps]
Jamie: Okay, so, let’s judge this thing. If you thought that the first one was the best, cheer it up, please.
[Audience cheers]
Jamie: And if you thought the second one was the best?
[Audience cheers]
Jamie: I think we have a winner. There you go, Nina. Thank you very much. Well done.
Andrew: Thanks for playing. There’s a – what’s next Jamie?
MuggleCast 100 Transcript (continued)
What is After Harry Potter?
Jamie: What is next? We have a schedule that we try to – okay, we’re going to talk about what’s next, because in all these newspapers, and in all interviews with Potter fans, you always see, “What’s going to happen after the seventh book comes out? Is Harry Potter over? What are you going to do? Is your life over?” You know, what’s going to happen? So…
Andrew: I think there’s a group on Facebook, that like: “My life ends on July 21st,” or something like that.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: I hope they don’t mean it literally, but I…
Jamie: I hope they don’t mean it literally.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, and that’s what I’m saying. Who – what’s your…
Jamie: I just wanted to ask what – does anyone have any thoughts about what’s going to happen to, like, the fandom, what’s going to happen to all the Harry Potter fans, because I’ve always associated Harry Potter with the books, you know, obviously, and the movies are good, but they’re a completely different franchise. Even though the movies are going to carry on, and I’m still going to look forward to them, because we’ll talk about them, theorize about them, I think Harry Potter is going to be over in three hours, thirty minutes now, so, does anyone have any thoughts on that?
[Audience Member says something]
Andrew: Hold on, let’s say it into the mic.
Audience Member: They’re all going…
Andrew: [responding to an Audience Member] Is there a special helpline? There is a special helpline, isn’t there? Yeah, yeah, it’s going to be like, “Buy these books!”
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Buy Mugglenet.com’s What Will Happen in Harry Potter Book Seven!
Audience Member: Yeah, seriously. Waterstones – it was on the news. They’ve set up a helpline.
Audience Member: There’s a donation to set up a line at Childline for people to call in.
Jamie: Is there a specific Harry Potter number at Childline?
Audience Member: Yes.
Audience Member: It’s in the paper.
Andrew: Can we see it real quick? But I think one thing that’s going to be missing is the hype. For the past ten years we’ve always had this great hype to look forward to like, “Oh my god, what’s going to happen in Chamber of Secrets?!” And now Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and now this book, and I think that that’s going to be gone, and we’re going to be missing that the most. Because, think about it now, how much longer do we have, about three hours now, three hours to go? Two hours, fifty-seven minutes, if that clock’s right, and think about how much hype is going on now. What the – is going to happen in the final book? So, I think that’s going to be gone. There’s still going to be that movie hype, but it’s just not the same as the book hype, because we know what happens in the movie.
Jamie: But don’t you think even though, even after all those seven books are out, Jo’s still – she cannot write everything. She can’t explain absolutely everything we’ve been theorizing, because the Harry Potter fandom is not small, and people theorize about everything. You know, some of the fan fictions you read are just…
Audience Member: Wrong.
Jamie: Wrong, yeah. Wrong in every possible way, but people love theorizing about every minor detail. So, you know, she can’t explain everything. So people will still talk about what happens if this happens, what happens if that happens, what happened to this character, what happened to Nigel! That’s would be the important question here.
Audience Member: What did happen to Nigel?
Jamie: What will happen to him? So, yeah, do you think people are still going to theorize and stuff?
Audience Member: Star Trek has survived and Star Wars has survived. As long as there are Harry Potter fans it will survive. We have the fan fics. There are a huge amount of really good fan fics out there, and well, if we keep on having people like MuggleNet or other internet sites…
Andrew: Don’t mention the other one.
Audience Member: I’m not going to mention them, don’t worry!
Andrew: Don’t name that one.
Audience Member: No. But…
Jamie: That other podcast.
Audience Member: To be very sincere, I’ve felt a little scary sometimes when you say, “No, I was not able to do the podcast because I need to do some work from school.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: And I have to go here, and I have to there,” and all of this, and I think, “Oh my God, what’s going to happen when these kids are going to the university? They have three tests, and they have to do their Master’s Degree, and there’s no more MuggleNet.” You see? You take me out of a depression.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Audience Member: Nothing else worked. You worked, and I really need the MuggleNet.
Andrew: Ah, well, thank you, that’s very nice. That’s very nice.
[Audience claps]
Andrew: I’m sorry, ma’am, but September 1st, I’m done, we’re all done.
Jamie: I’m going to have to phone that special number now, after you’ve said that, because that’s just depressing. Yeah. I don’t think we’re going to stop doing it.
Andrew: No, no, not at all. We’re not going to stop at least in the foreseeable future, but I think that MuggleNet will definitely always be there as a resource. I mean, at the – we’ve been asking ourselves, “What’s going to happen when this book comes out? How many people are still going to visit MuggleNet? How many people are still going to listen to the podcast?” So, will everyone still listen to the podcast once we’re done, please? Please?
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: [laughs] Okay, good.
Eric: That’s five of you.
Andrew: I didn’t hear the fifth floor, can we hear the…
[Distant cheering]
Andrew: Okay, okay. [laughs]
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Just checking. All right, just wanted to make sure they’re still alive up there.
[Panel laughs]
Andrew: Oh God, they’re going to start kicking down the ceilings, it looks like.
Eric: Stomp!
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Bad idea, I’m sorry I encouraged that. Please stop.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Oh no, oh no. Bad idea. Oh man. There’s a lawsuit coming, I can smell it. Oh God. Okay.
Jamie: If we stop doing this show, it’s because we’ve had to pay for loads of light fittings, and everything every place we go to. Wow.
Andrew: That’s slightly embarrassing. Okay, anyway, what do you think is going to happen after the…
Laura: I think that, definitely, I think after Book 7 comes out things are going to change, there’s no doubt about that. We’re going to know all the answers, and even if Jo puts out a special book, I don’t think the theorizing is going to be quite the same, because it’s all going to be about the little things, you know, the little loose ends. I mean, you could always theorize about what could have been, but it really depends on if you like that sort of thing, that tends to be more restricted to fan fiction authors, which – props to fan fiction authors. I think that fan fiction is a wonderful outlet, but…
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: I think that the fan sites will become eventually, not immediately, but eventually they’ll become somewhat archival? Kind of if you see some of the Lord of the Rings fan sites?
Kevin: Yeah, I think so too, and I also think that what will happen is it’s going to carry a loyalty, sort of like Lord of the Rings, or Narnia, for example, where there’s still groups of people who remember, you know, wanting to get the books, and the experience leading up to it, but I don’t think it’s going to be the exact same fandom.
Jamie: Harry Potter is a very uniting force. You know, if you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’re forever a Harry Potter fan.
Andrew: Right.
Jamie: You know, I mean, when people ask about what we do, and the podcast, and I always say, and Emerson says the same, that we run it with our friends.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: Because, you know, we’re lifelong friends now, and I know all of you because of Harry Potter. We’ll have made lifelong friends. So, I think it’s all going to carry on and the fandom won’t die, just because the books stop coming out.
Andrew: Yeah. As for J.K. Rowling writing another Potter book, I mean, she’s been quoted in an interview, “Never say never.” However, what is more feasible is her writing another series and there was an article I was reading the other day that said Jo – Jo said that it’s a possibility. She has an idea for a book. I think she’s writing – I think she’s working on another children’s book right now. It’s just like a younger children’s book. It’s not in the same sense as Harry Potter, but definitely would not rule it out for Jo.
Eric: No, and it’s hard to imagine the Harry Potter Lexicon being completed because, you know, that’s obviously relied specifically on what’s canon content and stuff like that. But our site does not. Our site and our podcast can rely on pretty much anything as long as there’s current events in Harry Potter…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …you know, to go on. And I’m certain that for a while after the Book 7 is released will be wow, the shock and awe episodes of MuggleCast and the rest will be, you know, possibly looking back and seeing where things might’ve been influenced before.
Andrew: Yeah.
Andrew: And we’ve still got some things to look forward to. The Harry Potter theme park for instance, opening in 2010!
[Audience cheers]
Eric: Which will be amazing, and Jo is directly involved in that. J.K.R., since the beginning, has been immensely into that, so there’ll still be content, just in different formats, you know? And HPEF, for instance, the people who did Lumos and Prophecy, are still – have events planned at least until 2010 now. There’ll be gatherings, there’ll be events. It won’t be such as a worldwide book store…
Jamie: We have a theory that with the theme park. We think that the theme park proves that Harry is going to live, because why would you go to a theme park about a dead character, you know?
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: You wouldn’t do it. The atmosphere there would just be dreadful, but we should probably explain to everyone on the fifth floor, when you stomp down, because we didn’t explain it, one of the lights…
Andrew: They might’ve seen it on camera.
Jamie: …is now malfunctioning right under your feet. So…
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Can we get a shot of that, though? We’re not encouraging anymore of this odd behavior, but…
Jamie: No shooting, no hitting, no breaking lights, nothing.
Questions from the Audience
Andrew: But all right, so I think now we’ll start taking some questions from the audience. Just a few because we have to wrap this up pretty soon. And we’ll start taking questions here. Let’s… You have a thought? A rebuttal?
Response to the Fandom
Audience Member: You know how we’re wondering about what we’re going to do when the book ends? Well in Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore says, “I will only be gone from Hogwarts when those who are truly loyal to me stop…”
Andrew: “…have left.”
Audience Member: Or something, and it’s like with Harry Potter. It’ll only be gone when people stop being loyal to the books. So it’s just going to go on forever.
Andrew: That’s true, that’s true.
[Audience cheers]
Eric: The thing with the fandom is that it can only get bigger. There can only be more people who are introduced to the books and once they reach a certain age to read, and read the books. It can only get bigger.
Jamie: And these books are timeless, you know. People forget. It’s just like Lord of the Rings, you know. These books are going to continue to be read for generations to come.
Audience Member: I mean, we’re just going to, like, tell our grandkids to read the books, and we’re going to brainwash a whole new generation and then it’s just going to start all over again and…
Jamie: Right, yeah.
Andrew: Let’s take a question. Yeah. Let’s take a question right over here – yep! Say your name and where you’re from, too.
Cho and Harry in Movie 5
Steph: Hi, my name’s Steph and I’m from Australia. So…
Andrew: Oooh. Come here just for the book?
Steph: [laughs] Ummm, in relation to Movie 5, we were just wondering about the whole Cho thing, like, that was never resolved at the end and how’s that going to transition into Movie 6?
Andrew: Well – yeah, I wanted to bring that up earlier. The way it was resolved was Cho ratted out Harry, Ron and Hermione being in Umbridge’s office. So, that’s – that was explained that way. Cho ratted them out, so the relationship is cut off.
Steph: Yeah, but…
Andrew: I think there’s a shot…
Eric: It was later explained with Veritaserum, though, that Snape actually gave his last Veritaserum to – for Umbridge, so there was kind of that uneasy moment where Harry realized that he couldn’t, shouldn’t be mad at Cho because she was actually forced…
Andrew: Oh really?
Eric: …by Umbridge. Yeah.
Andrew: Oh, I didn’t realize that!
Steph: Yeah, so that’s what I mean. Like, he just didn’t do anything about it and he kind of seems like a bit of an ass.
Laura: It does seem kind of odd because Harry’s supposed to get together with Ginny in the next film.
Steph: Yeah.
Laura: And it does seem a bit odd for somebody who hasn’t read the books to go and say, “Well, why’s he still mad at her? She didn’t do it on purpose.”
Steph: Yeah, that’s what we were just wondering about.
Andrew: I don’t know. Maybe it’ll resolve in the beginning. I don’t know. They always run into problems like this with the movies.
Laura: He’ll walk up and hit her. That seems to be a big thing tonight.
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: The one thing we didn’t talk about, which I thought was dreadful, was the kiss. I thought it was so awkward. It was unbelievable. And this camera panned around their bodies so like, just to show that it was ONLY a kiss, you know. It was, I just…
Andrew: I thought it was nice.
Jamie: I don’t know. I thought it was awful, to be honest.
Eric: That was characterization, though, for the Room of Requirement. She needed mistletoe to appear and it was right above them. I thought that was…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: But yeah, I see what you’re saying.
[Audience Member starts to talk]
Andrew: Hold on a sec for the microphone. Okay.
Harry Potter as a Tool for Teaching
Sarah: I’m Sarah Robles from Las Vegas. I foresee the…
Andrew: Nice.
Sarah: Oh yeah, Vegas. I foresee the books being used as teaching tools. We are already seeing it happen. There’s an analysis of the good, the bad, the philosophy examination, teaching kids to read the books, to dig for the clues.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Yes.
Sarah: And the Church of England is already working on something for the kids to relate, so it is such a massive teaching tool and it’s gotten so many people to read again.
Andrew: Yeah.
Sarah: So, that, just – there’s so many teachers already building classes where their whole theme is going to be based around the Harry Potter series, starting next year, as well.
Jamie: That’s completely true because, you know, the books contain so many messages, moral messages, good versus evil, choices versus fate. You know, all these kind of things disguised as, you know, a fiction novel. So yeah, I can really see that happening.
Andrew: Kevin?
Kevin: I was going to say the gatherings like Prophecy, Lumos, stuff like that – they tend to be leaning towards that, where their sole purpose is to educate people on how Harry Potter can be used to, you know, open the world of literature to children.
Andrew: Right. And it’s really only a matter of time until it gets in the American schools, too. We haven’t seen – we haven’t seen many…
Sarah: It is! It is already is!
Andrew: There are?
Sarah: Yes!
Andrew: Okay. ‘Cause my school…
Sarah: There’s teachers right now and on the fan trip that we’ve been with – that are creating things and just to get those kids to dig for those clues, to find the analysis, to compare the good to the bad.
Andrew: Yeah.
Sarah: Controlling one’s anger to keep bad things from happening – those things are already in the works in the States and all over.
Andrew: Yeah.
Jamie: But there’s the weird thing. To everyone here in school in Britain – school, college, university, you know? We take pretty standard subjects but one of my friends who I met through Harry Potter is taking a class in the U.S. in Harry Potter, which…
Andrew: Who is it? What school is that? Like in my school we have an English curriculum that’s so – I don’t want to say it’s bad, but, none of the kids enjoy and what’s the point of teaching us how to read, how to analyze books when we can’t really enjoy it? Kids always ask our teachers, “Why not do Harry Potter?” It is a deep book, but I don’t think teachers get it yet. Some are starting to – it’s a good point – but it’s just a matter of time before everyone realizes, “Wow, they’re not just children’s books. You can really read into them.” Are you going to be back in Vegas soon?
Sarah: Yes!
Andrew: Will you be at our live podcast on the 24th?
Sarah: If I can get a ticket.
Andrew: Okay! They’re free. It’s free.
Sarah: I’ll get you a tour of the Air Force Thunderbirds in return for it. I have connections.
Andrew: To what? To what?
Sarah: The United States Air Force Thunderbirds. I can get you a personal tour out there.
Andrew: Ohhh, nice! Air Force…
Jamie: One? One?
Sarah: Thunderbirds, comparative to your Red Arrows.
Jamie: Oh really? Okay. [coughs]
Sarah: Yes.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Visit MuggleCast.com for more information today.
Jamie: No, no, no, no. Come talk to us at the end.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Can we – another question. We’ll go over here. I’ve seen you at the March podcast, right?
Bri: My name’s Bri and I’m from West London and…
Andrew: Hi!
Is Anyone Else Making Horcruxes?
Bri: I thought maybe someone else might be making some Horcruxes because Jo said that there might be another form of Dumbledore coming back? I think she said that in an interview. Or a form of someone who has died coming back, and I think that maybe someone who has quite a lot of power and has quite a lot of wizarding knowledge would, like, decide to make one, like Slughorn or Dumbledore for instance, because Slughorn is actually quite scared of death and scared of Death Eaters finding him.
Andrew: Yeah.
Kevin: Well, what I was going say is, I’ve often wondered if other Death Eaters haven’t created Horcruxes. And the reason being is maybe not seven, obviously, but, look at Bellatrix, for example. She’s nuts, and you often wonder to yourself maybe it’s because of her thinking along the lines of Voldemort. She’s also considered his – one of his most loyal servants, so maybe that’s why. I think that’s definitely a possibility.
Bri: And Snape, as well, because he’s also – he’s definitely one, like, a big person in the books. A big role. Maybe, like, he’s in something that Dumbledore might have told him?
Kevin: I think that maybe – I think it’s possible. Absolutely.
Laura: I’m not sure that Snape would fear death enough to want to make Horcruxes. I think it’s definitely possible that there are other wizards in the books who have done it. I’m not sure that we’ll actually see anything along those lines because a lot of the book’s going to be dedicated to finding Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
Bri: Yeah. And also, how does Slughorn know about Horcruxes like that much?
Jamie: And also, I heard a theory the other day that Slughorn could be evil because when Dumbledore and Harry went around to his house and he transferred everything and he was, himself, a chair – unorthodox, but uhhh – and he said, Dumbledore said, “Well, you didn’t finish, did you?” and he said, “No, I didn’t set the Dark Mark above my – above my house.”
[Audience Member says something]
Jamie: And yeah, exactly. Only Death Eaters and evil people know how to conjure the Dark Mark. But, Snape – I’ve always ranked wizards and witches in the Harry Potter community – sorry, in the books in terms of power, and I’ve always had Voldemort and Dumbledore on top and just below them. Sorry no, quite a way below them, but above everyone else by far, was Snape.
Kevin: Yeah.
Jamie: I mean, he’s such a powerful person. It’s unbelievable.
Laura: Definitely.
Jamie: He could do it, but like Laura said, I don’t think he would.
Andrew: Yeah. Let’s take that girl up there with the wand up. Hurry up here real quick, though. And, it does pay to have a wand. This isn’t – what’s your name?
The Real Magic of the Books
Sha: Sha.
Andrew: Ahhh, it’s Sha! I knew it!
Sha: Yeah! Hey! Hey! Hi! [laughs]
Andrew: Sha, where’re you from?
Sha: I’m from the Phillipines.
Andrew: Yes, yes.
Sha: I flew here for this.
[Audience gasps]
Sha: Anyway, I was just thinking that the books are all about magic, right? And we think about magic in such a way that it’s possible to do impossible things, like things like flying or…
Andrew: Yeah.
Sha: …apparating. But then the true magic is that, to come to think of it, the true magic is that I’m here. I’m from the Phillipines. I saved up my money, not eating and fly ALL the way over here just for the book launch. And I think the true magic is everywhere here. All the people gathered around, congregating like this, like we’re all good friends. I think that’s the true magic of Harry Potter. It transcends from all of…
Audience Member: I LOVE YOU, SHA!
Sha: [laughs] …those things, really. So, that’s all I have to say, I think. Yeah.
Andrew: That’s a good point, very good point.
[Audience cheers
Jamie: I think after that, everyone’s going to need the phone number for Childline now.
Andrew: Read it out loud, real quick. We might as well plug it in.
Jamie: It’s not there, which is useful.
Andrew: Oh, man. Okay. I got a question right here, little girl in the hat!
How to Persuade Friends to Read Harry Potter
Nehan: Ummm, I…
Andrew: What’s your name and where’re you from?
Nehan: Oh, my name’s Nehan and I’m from South Carolina.
Andrew: Oh, hi! South Carolina! Myrtle Beach? Myrtle Beach?
Nehan: Nah, I’m from Columbia.
Andrew: Ohhh. Okay.
Nehan: I have a lot of friends that don’t read Harry Potter because they say that it’s like having to do with witchcraft and that it’s all evil and stuff…
Andrew: “It’s so lame!”
Nehan: Yeah, but…
Jamie: That argument is old. Old! Old! Come up with something new, please.
Nehan: I really want them to start reading those books because they’re really good books, and I’m kind of wondering – do you have any ideas how I could do that?
Jamie: Sorry?
Andrew: Any ideas what?
Nehan: Do you have any ideas how I could do that? To help them, like, start?
Andrew: Oh! How to help them! Ohh.
Eric: Well, they could read a book.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: They could!
Eric: They could read one for themselves, you know?
Andrew: Nah…
Audience Member: Play the audio when they’re asleep.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Everyone laughs]
Kevin: I think I’ve said this before, but I think that coercion works best. Coercion. You know, sneak stuff into their food and say, you know, if you don’t want…
Jamie: Kevin. Kevin, how – what would you sneak into their food to make them read? Would you like – huh?
Kevin: Something that would be vile.
Jamie: The book. They might notice.
Kevin: Something that will make it taste funny.
Eric: Okay, shooting, hitting people, and poisoning their food?
[Audience laughs]
Nehan: Ah, these are my friends.
Eric: Harry Potter fans!
Andrew: In all honesty, I think people see it too much as a children’s book. Like a little – because when you go in the… I guarantee, watch the news tomorrow, and what’re you going to see? Nothing but little kids, because it’s the cutest thing. [in a high voice] “Oh my God! Little kids!” And, a credit to you – it’s a, you know, little kids should be here. They should be enjoying the books just as much as everyone else, but I think too many people perceive it as a children’s book. Like too much of a children’s book.
Eric: That’s – I agree.
Andrew: Which is a shame – that people don’t realize how dark and deep it actually goes. Some people just think they’re too cool for Harry Potter. That’s the other problem.
Jamie: And let’s briefly mention Laura Mallory. Has anyone heard of Laura Mallory?
[Audience boos and groans in response]
Andrew: I’m sure she’s having fun tonight.
Jamie: These people just don’t seem to give up. I think she’s lost the court case like five times now and still she insists.
Audience Member: She hasn’t read the books.
Jamie: Sorry? Yeah, she hasn’t even read the books. Well, her case must be pretty convincing then. I’d love to hear it.
Audience Member: The books have been ten years in the making, so the people who were kids have grown up, so it’s natural that they’re going to want to know how the books end.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: They’re not going to suddenly stop reading because it’s a kid’s book. So…
Andrew: Right, right. Yeah. I do want to take one last question from – well, okay, two more, because we need to go here first and then some of my favorite people over there. There’s like twenty of them here tonight, but, okay, yeah, can we just take this question real quick? Have this guy run everywhere. Okay, now, the girls in the brown shirts and the – what? What the..? Po-Po-PotterCast? What the…? [laughs]
Jamie: Has anyone heard of PotterCast?
Spoilers on MuggleNet
Leaky Staffer: Have you heard of us at all?
Andrew: Melissa Anelli, everybody! Just kidding.
Leaky Staffer: We’re all Leaky Staff.
Andrew: Okay, so what’s your question? We know this, we know this. And don’t say your name again.
Leaky Staffer: We have a very nasty question for you, but we do have to know. Why did MuggleNet post Book 7 spoilers?
Andrew: Okay, wait a second. Wait a second. Waiiit a second!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Hold up, hold up, hold up. Okay.
Jamie: I believe, didn’t we – hadn’t we always operated on…
Andrew: I knew this would happen! Being heckled by these Leaky people.
Jamie: Haven’t we always operated a policy where, if you go on the site, you will not get spoiled. When we posted that, you didn’t get spoiled, did you?
Andrew: No, you did not get spoiled! It was in black, you would have to highlight it to read it. It was there because – okay, what happened, for anyone who doesn’t know, The Guardian somehow got the opening of the book. Like first paragraph, nothing too harmful, and we -I posted it in black font, which means it’s a black background on Mugglenet, which means you have to highlight it to read it.
Jamie: I mean, yeah, it isn’t as though you can do it by accident. You don’t trip and highlight the text, you know?
[Audience laughs]
Jamie: It’s – yeah, you know, people have choices. “It is our choices, Harry, that make the difference.”
[Audience laughs and applauds]
Jamie: You know?
Andrew: That was an exact quote there, so, in that regard…
Jamie: We strongly – we strongly believe that it is our choices that make us who we are, so we think if you want to read this, then go ahead and read it.
Andrew: Yeah! Exactly!
Jamie: That is our justification. Thank you, good night.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]
Leaky Staffer: Okay, guys, guys, seriously. I know you’re – okay, fine…
Andrew: Who’s talking? Oh…
Leaky Staffer: …it’s your choices, but this isn’t official. You can’t post something before it’s official.
Jamie: Really?
Andrew: [laughs] Well, wait. What’d you say?
Leaky Staffer: You can’t post before it’s official, guys. That’s – that’s not on.
Andrew: Well, we said – I put there with the most amount of – I don’t remember what I put, but I put very early on in the beginning of that post, we are very skeptical to read this. Totally harmless. Come on. Why do we have to…? Oh yeah, okay, who read it? Who read it?
Jamie: Andrew, I think we should finish this. Does any here mind us posting it in black text?
[Audience screams, “No!”]
Jamie: Okay.
Andrew: Thank you, thank you.
Eric: Well, wait. We got the public thing, but I think that at that point it was high speculation, wasn’t it?
Andrew: I put, I put this…
Eric: It wasn’t even that is was confusing…
Andrew: …might not be real at all. But anyway, regardless…
Eric: And to be honest, I…
Andrew: One final – one final question.
Leaky Staffer: Where are you going next? Beause we’re heading to the pub if you want to join us.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay! We don’t…
Eric: We’ll drink and we’ll talk about this.
Leaky Staffer: Okay then!
Andrew: All right, one last question over here. We’ll get this guy…
Jamie: They’re leaving now!
Andrew: Oh, now they’re out of here. They’ve made their mess, so they’re leaving.
Jamie: Someone stop the elevators working so they can’t get out.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Okay, this girl right here.
Headmaster Portraits
Audience Member: I’m from West London. I just had a question about the portrait when Dumbledore died. How much do the portraits actually, you know – I mean, does the portrait of Dumbledore know all that he knew in his lifetime?
Andrew: That’s very interesting.
Audience Member: So would he be able to help Harry?
Kevin: Well, I think that we’d said before – I think it’s just a copy of their personality, and not their memory. Maybe, perhaps, the portraits have the ability to store some selective memories that whoever the portrait is of has chosen for the portrait? But I think it’s just simply a copy of the personality. I honestly don’t see the portrait coming into play.
Jamie: They can give advice, though, because Phineas Nigellus, you know…
Kevin: You’re right, you’re right.
Jamie: … was like “Psh, you shouldn’t do that.” So…
Eric: Doesn’t Phineas – Phineas also says, you know, “In my day, as Headmaster…” They never…
Jamie: They also have feelings and emotions and can give thoughts on things, so…
Andrew: Yeah. Okay. What time are we at here?
Jamie: We are at twenty past nine, so we should probably finish it off.
Andrew: We should probably wrap – ah, okay. What?
Eric: Can I say something quick?
Andrew: Oh geez. Oh, yes! [laughs]
Eric: These blue pillows and everything that you see here tonight, everything – if you can hear us – everything you can see. All the TV screens you’re watching, people on floor five, is all because of Waterstones.
Andrew: Oh yes. Yes, we…
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: We want to… We do want to give a great big thank you to Waterstones. Can someone hold up, Joe, would you be able to hold up that – the MuggleNet – or could someone hold up one of those T-shirts that are being given out? Okay, Joe’s going to get them. Joe also worked with us. Round of applause for Joe! He’s been organizing this whole entire event.
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: Jamie and I met with him only a month ago and you guys had great plans for it so, like, yeah. So…
Jamie: Hey, Eric! Eric, that one’s pretty big. Why don’t you get that one?
Andrew: That’ll fit you, Eric.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: There’s a shirt. Five pounds. It goes to supporting this whole event. Please buy one. They’re fantastic. Can I see them? I haven’t even seen them yet. Yeah, they’re awesome! I’m going to buy four!
Jamie: There’re a few specific people we’d like to thank. Joe, here. He’s helped us considerably with the planning. Niri and Alan. Please give a round of applause.
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: Of course the video – the audio/video tech crew that you see all around you this evening. This guy right here. What’s your name?
David: David.
Andrew: David and Sonya. Thank you guys very much for doing the microphones. Greatly appreciated.
[Audience applauds]
Andrew: And uh – oh yeah! By the way, the pillows? You guys can take home. How sweet is that?
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. Nothing else, though. Please don’t take anything else. Ah, we do want someone from floor five to pay for the lightbulb that’s now broken…
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: …and the wiring costs that will ensue. And of course we want to thank everyone else for coming today! Thank you so much for making it out here.
Jamie: We’ll see you in the queue.
Andrew: Yeah, we’ll see you in the queue line.
Jamie: Sorry, Andrew. The “line.”
Andrew: The line. And you’ll see this episode tomorrow night, I think. So check it out online. Thank you guys for coming. Thank you.
[Audience cheers]
[“The Final Countdown” plays]
———————–