MuggleCast 145 Transcript
Show Intro
[Intro music begins]
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Andrew: This week’s podcast is also brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of spoken word entertainment. Get a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up today. Log on to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast today for details.
Jim Dale: [as Professor McGonagall] This is Professor McGonagall welcoming you all to MuggleCast hoping you all enjoyed – Dobby! Dobby, come here! Here! Dobby! [as Dobby] Yes, I’d just like to say how very pleased I am to introduce MuggleCast to all of you! Thank you! Thank you!
[Show music begins]
Micah: Because we’re yarning for some new Half-Blood Prince news – who comes up with this stuff? This is MuggleCast Episode 145 for May 11th, 2008.
[Show music continues]
Andrew: It’s time for another MuggleCast, and Matt’s going to kick off the show with a story!
Matt: That is right. Okay, guys. I got a story to tell you because I almost thought I wasn’t going to be on the show this week. It turns out that a couple of days ago my San Diego police department actually raided the entire school – the dorms and the fraternities – for drugs, and…
Andrew: Wow!
Matt: …about 96, I think, people, were arrested for marijuana and all the other drugs and stuff. I mean it’s insane!
Andrew: What’s marijuana?
Matt: I don’t know. And I got a call in the next couple of hours after they did the raid from an officer asking if they could talk to me, and so I called them back and the officer asked me if I worked on a website and I answered, “Why, yes I do, actually.” And he goes, “Is it entitled Harry Pothead?” And I go, “No, it’s a Harry Potter website.” And he goes, “Well, I have reason to believe that you are helping selling drugs with the Harry Potter website called Harry Pothead.” [laughs] And I started freaking out, like, “No, no, no, no, no, no! No, no! It’s a Harry Potter website; we’re Harry Potter geeks. We don’t do anything but talk about Harry Potter!” And then all of a sudden I started hearing laughing in the background, and it was my dad!
[Micah laughs]
Andrew and Micah: Oh!
Andrew: Ding!
Matt: My dad got somebody from work to call me, and they had me on speaker in front of the entire conference room!
[Micah laughs]
Matt: [laughs] His entire work was…
Eric: Ah…
Matt: …listening to me.
Eric: …you’ve been…
Micah: Ah, I like your dad.
Eric: Yeah, I like your dad too.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Matt: [laughs] My dad’s a jerk. It’s cool, it’s cool. I mean I did tell the officer though, that I would never do drugs because, you know, MuggleCast is my anti-drug after all anyways.
Andrew: Bingo. Bingo.
Matt: Yeah, so there’s my story.
Andrew: So that’s something. Matt, when I first heard about that San Diego story, I seriously thought I may never speak to you again.
Matt: Why?
Andrew: Well, because it was close to 100 kids. I mean, you know.
Matt: So, you thought I was one of them?
Andrew: Based on the way you act on the show sometimes, yes.
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: I wouldn’t put it past you.
Matt: [laughs] Well, can’t argue with that.
Andrew: Sorry. Anyway, we have a jam-packed show this week. So, we need to get right into it. I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I’m Eric Sober.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Matt: And I’m Matthew Britton.
[Show music continues]
News: BBC’s Helicopter
Andrew: All right, Micah. Hit us with the news this week. What’s going on?
Micah: Lots of news this week, surprisingly.
Andrew: [sings] Hallelujah!
Micah: I know last couple of weeks we’ve been a little bit of a drought.
Andrew: Roller coaster effect, remember?
Micah: And we can thank BBC illegally flying a helicopter…
[Matt laughs]
Micah: …over Leavesden Studios for the first piece of news.
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Eric: Can we prove it was illegal? Did they…?
Micah: No.
Andrew: No, it’s not illegal.
Micah: I can’t prove it’s illegal. But I’m pretty sure it’s not legal.
Matt: What’s with all this legal issues with Harry Potter news so far?
Andrew: Well, I don’t think it’s illegal. I mean – and if it was, WB would’ve had it taken down by now.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: For all we know, WB could have asked them to do this.
Matt: Yeah. Well I mean, it’s something. I mean, they’re not going to give us any publicity stuff for the film.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Right.
Micah: Well, maybe they just didn’t film anything that was of any big issue to WB.
Andrew: Well, yeah. So, set up the story a little more, Micah. What did they do, exactly?
Micah: Well, they put about a two-and-a-half minute video online that people can go check out. And they have arial shots of certain places that are clearly identifiable and then some other pieces of sets that we’re not quite sure what they are. I mean, certain things that you can easily make out are Privet Drive, Hagrid’s Hut, and then Hogwarts Express, with the actual station stop.
Eric: Hogsmeade Station.
Micah: Hogsmeade Station. But some of the others are up in the air. I mean, you can kind of take a guess as to what they are. Based off of, I think – didn’t we get some Order of the Phoenix DVD previews? In one of the shots that they had, it looks similar to the set that was shown in this video that I thought was the orphanage. I forget who was talking during that video clip from the DVD, but they were actually showing part of the orphanage set.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: So…
Andrew: I think that was Stewart Craig, the set designer. I know what you’re talking about.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: And I did see that too…
Matt: In that video thing? Yeah. That was Stewart Craig.
Andrew: …in the DVD previews.
Eric: Hm.
Micah: So, I think that was sort of the one where they were overhead. It almost looked like a long corridor.
Andrew: Right.
Micah: And on either side there were a bunch of little buildings.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: Yeah, there was also, what – there was a court yard at Hogwarts, clearly.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: And wasn’t there…
Micah: Oh, right.
Eric: … – wasn’t it the Burrow? Or….
Matt: Yeah, I think it’s the bureau. Or, the Burrow.
Andrew: The bureau?
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: The big, tall vanity. Whether….
Micah: Wrong series.
Eric: Yeah, wrong series. And it kind of reminds me of the Borrowers with Tom Felton. But it’s the Burrow [laughs].
Andrew: Yeah, and you know what’s weird is that, well, people were saying that’s the Gaunts’ House. And that was only because CBBC was calling it the Gaunts’ House. But I think that was just Lizo [pronounces Lee-zo] just trying to take a wild guess. But…
Eric: Lizo. [pronounces Lie-zo]
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: I think it has to be the bureau because it has, you know…
Andrew: You said it again!
Eric: Burrow. [laughs]
Matt: I said bureau! I mean Burrow.
Eric: Burrow!
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: It’s the Burrow. It’s not the bureau. That’s a vanity, bureau. Like you sit in front of the mirror and you put make up on.
Eric: You put clothes inside a bur – a bureau.
Andrew: What have you been doing this week, Matt?
Eric: Dude.
Matt: Geez, I’ve been sick all week, sorry. Give me a break.
Eric: You work at the Gap, don’t you?
Micah: It’s all the drugs he hasn’t been able to elude from the police officer.
Matt: A bureau is not a vanity, either, but…
Micah: Part of the reason why I still question the whole Gaunts’ house is because we haven’t heard any sort of casting news, as far as…
Eric: The Gaunts.
Micah: …those people being cast for Half-Blood Prince.
Andrew: Yeah, you’re right.
Eric: Merope, Morphine, and Marvolo Gaunt.
Andrew: And I’ll tell you why Betting-Man Andrew would say this is the Burrow. Because…
[Matt sighs]
Andrew: …Betting-Man Andrew would bet that there is tall grass around the Burrow in this season.
Matt: And there’s also a barn.
Andrew: Yeah, I don’t get the barn…
Eric: It looks like a shed.
Andrew: It looks like a shed.
Eric: It looks like a greenhouse, like a silo. I figured it’s a shed.
Andrew: It’s probably…
Matt: It’s probably a barn. I mean, you could probably put CGI barn around it or something.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Well, that’s the other thing. I was wondering why the Burrow was – I mean, it’s only like the first level, or so, and then it kind of cuts off. I guess the rest is CGI.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And the other thing is, too, there’s something that looks like it might be a narrow lane with trees, or something, completely covered by blue screen, in this video, in Hagrid’s hut, is as well. In a lot of these sets, they really only need a – You guys have seen Privet Drive where all the other houses are hollowed out? Like, a lot of these are exterior shots.
Andrew: Those are just the back of the houses because we don’t need those.
Eric: You won’t see them and it’s really cool. I love set work. I love looking at this kind of stuff from…
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Micah: Well, the trees, though, that could definitely be the Gaunts’ house, if in fact they’re filming it, because I don’t really think that will apply to the orphanage, because obviously the orphanage is in the middle of the city and we know that they’ve already filmed Slughorn’s house.
Matt: But that house looks so familiar to the Burrow, too.
Andrew: I think it is the Burrow.
Eric: He said it right.
Andrew: I think you’re right.
Mat: It just has…
Andrew: I just wonder…
Matt: …the grass and everything.
Andrew: I just wonder about the timing of this video because it just seems like it was a BBC chopper just flying across Hertfordshire one day and happened to catch a glimpse of the sets and be like, “Oh, this could be good to film.” Or was this planned? [laughs]
Matt: It looks like it had to have been planned because look at all the footage he got from it. It doesn’t look like they were just passing through.
Andrew: Oh, no, no, no, no, but I’m saying they were passing through on another assignment and were like, “Hm, this would be good to put on later.” So, they took, like, 20 minutes.
Eric: I don’t know that it matters.
Andrew: It doesn’t matter, I just wonder why is this the only – why is this our best look at Half-Blood Prince at this point? [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, we haven’t really gotten any of those promos, any kind of special images, anything…
Matt: Nothing.
Eric: …at this point.
Matt: We got yarn.
Eric: We’re only – Well, we are half a year away, still. Six months away.
Andrew: Well, I guess since Matt talked about that let’s…
Matt: Oh, I’m sorry.
Andrew: …mention that next, Micah. No, no it’s fine.
Micah: Well, I know absolutely nothing about this so I’m going to defer to Andrew about the yarn.
News: Harry Potter Yarn
Andrew: There’s this site, OpalSockYarn.com, and they’re a yarn company. And if you look around their site they do different yarn themes. Like for example, there’s Rainforest, and there’s different birds on each type of yarn collection and it represents the colors of the bird or the rainforest creature. So some time this past week they added a category called Harry Potter Fall ’08, and if you look there are eight yarn – what are they called? What’s the collection of yarn called?
Eric: Spools.
Andrew: Spools. Yeah, thank you.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Yarn spool. And each one has a different Harry Potter character, but if you look at these pictures, these are pictures from Half-Blood Prince, and on each yarn spool label it says Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in German. Now, I’ll tell you why these are legitimate, because one of them has a picture of Tonks on it, and it’s got a new – Tonks has a new hairstyle. It’s a – what would be a good way…
Matt: It’s a little bit – it’s kind of reminiscent of a Demi Moore haircut when it was short.
Andrew: Okay, good.
Matt: Like a boyish haircut.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s sort of boyish. Yeah. And this one proves it’s legit because – well, I mean I guess I can’t prove anything, but I’m just saying if I was a betting man, in this Burrow scene we were just talking about, this is the hairstyle Tonks has, and there’s one more Tonks story that we’ll talk about in a second. So isn’t this funny how our first glimpse at the characters in Half-Blood Prince comes from a German yarn company?
[Eric and Matt laugh]
Eric: That’s not even what I’m thinking about. I’m totally going to be ordering plenty of this Hedwig memorial yarn here…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: …because there’s a spool with Hedwig on it…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: … right now, and I think it’s going…
Micah: Well, yeah, you know they made it from the actual bird.
Matt: That’s right.
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: After she exploded.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: This is kind of clever, though. I mean the color schemes match each character.
Eric: Yeah.
Matt: Mhm. I…
Micah: The bottom line is there’s a market for everything.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: That’s what it comes down to.
Andrew: This reminds me of the Harry Potter grapes a few years back. Do you guys remember those?
Eric: No. I don’t remember those.
Andrew: I remember Emerson posted it on MuggleNet. I think it was for Prisoner of Azkaban or Goblet of Fire, and it was just a regular carton of grapes but it had a picture of Harry on it… [laughs] …from one of the movies. This stuff.
Eric: Actually, I know you can’t tell how big the characters are going to be based on this yarn, but there is one for Draco. There’s Draco yarn, Dumbledore, Remus, Tonks…
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: …Hedwig and…
Matt: I’m surprised there’s no Snape yarn.
Eric: Yeah, you know…
Matt: …I mean…
Eric: …that’s not…
Matt: …or you know, greasy yarn.
Andrew: [in a sarcastic voice] Pretty greasy. Hm-hm-hm.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: No, that’s really kind of – that’s upsetting. You’re right, Matt. It’s worrying, rather…
Matt: Yeah…
Eric: …that there’s no Snape.
Matt: …it’s kind of scary how this is like the only update we’ve gotten for any publicity of this movie besides that other official photo we got of the trio.
Eric: Yeah, message to WB: We’re talking about yarn at length here on MuggleCast. You’ve got to give us something. Give us something we can work with, guys. Seriously.
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: So let’s move on then.
Eric: No, but I mean, I like the yarn. I think it’s awesome, and if I can buy this stuff, I will.
Andrew: What else is going on, Micah?
News: Tonks in Only One Scene
Micah: Well, you guys mentioned before Natalia Tena. She was at Collector Mania and she mentioned that the only scene that she’s in that has been filmed is going to be an attack on the Burrow. It’s her only appearance in Half-Blood Prince and I see that “an attack on the Burrow” is bolded in question marks and exclamation points following it here, but we already knew that this scene was going to be added. WB mentioned, I guess now it’s a couple months back, that they were going to be adding a scene to Half-Blood Prince that was not in the books, and I believe they mentioned it had to do with something occurring at the Burrow. So there you have it.
Matt: Hmm. Well, that is kind of upsetting, too, because we’ll never get to see Tonks save Harry from the train, and we don’t get to see her new Patronus. We don’t really get to see anything.
Eric: Yup, but that actually – to me, that’s kind of a relief. The whole angsty Tonks thing didn’t really fit, and in the end, it was just Harry’s mind that misled him. It had nothing to do with her being upset about Sirius’ death. It was all her about Remus, so we’re going through the book reading this stuff about Tonks, and she has a new Patronus and Harry’s really concerned about it, and it turns out to be just for a separate reason anyway. It’s really no point to add it into the movie, I think. Except her finding him on the train and saving him. You’re right, that was pretty worthwhile.
Micah: Right. Well, the train scene is in there, too.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: We know that for a fact.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah, we know that he does get cursed by Draco, just now we have to find out how he leaves from the train.
Eric: Pretty worrisome.
Micah: Yeah. And they removed the whole Remus story line, which to some people is obviously going to be an issue, as is almost anything left out of the movies, because Natalia said in the interview that by the time this Burrow scene comes along, it’s just automatically assumed that the two are together.
News: The Added Scene
Eric: But it’s an attack on the Burrow by Death Eaters, is what her article says here.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: And an attack by the Death Eaters, well, wait a minute, why are the Death Eaters attacking the Burrow? What is that supposed to signify? Because I mean the Death Eaters attack the Burrow in Book 7 when the wedding happens. It’s kind of preemptive.
Andrew: Well, we talked about this on Episode 133. I’m just looking at the show notes. That was on February 23, and I remember we talked about this because there was a new interview – oops, I hit my mic – there was a new interview with one of the direc – I think it was David Baron, who talks about it being added as a pacing scene, so let’s not get into it. If someone wants to listen – if you want to hear our discussion about it, listen to Episode 133. What else is going on, Micah?
News: Harry-Cho Kiss Nominated
Micah: Well, as I’m sure a lot of people out there are excited about, because geez, I know I am…not.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: The Harry-Cho kissing scene is being nominated at the MTV Movie Awards.
Andrew: I hate awards. We should just make a rule that Harry Potter – we can’t talk about awards in Harry Potter scenes anymore. I mean Harry Potter news anymore.
Micah: Well, see, this is why people don’t take the movies seriously.
Andrew: Why?
Micah: And I’m not trying to – well, because they’re nominated for this, as opposed to some of the other stuff that goes on in the films.
Andrew: Like Best Picture? [laughs]
Micah: Well, Best Picture – we actually talked to Jim Dale about that, and he made a great point in that there’s not enough time to develop the characters and for them to give a big performance to actually be nominated for Best Picture, but some of the other stuff that goes on could warrant awards, and I just think – I don’t know, this type of a thing demeans the film a little bit.
Andrew: You’ve got to keep in mind who MTV appeals to. The girls who are watching this, the MySpace generation, as some may call it, they love the kissing thing, so that’s why MTV has a Best Kiss category. [laughs]
Matt: Yeah, well, I mean, MTV. I mean, look, if you look at all the nominees for the MTV Movie Awards, I mean it’s not like it’s the most grandest scale of movies.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: I mean, look under Best Picture. Juno, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, I Am Legend, Superbad, and National Treasure.
Andrew: Hmm.
Eric: And – and the whole thing, why – why jump the gun here? Why nominate the Harry/Cho kiss? Were there really not that many kisses in other movies that we had to…
Andrew: People like Harry Potter.
Eric: …because, I mean, I’m looking forward to the – I’m looking forward to the Harry/Ginny kiss in Half-Blood Prince, I’m not interested in this Harry/Cho kiss. That’s so – so last year.
Andrew: Anything else in the news, Mic-er?
Micah: I could give a bleep about any of that. But, you know what, I have a heart of stone. Uh, anyway…
Eric: It’s our hero, Micah, it’s our hero, and his love interest!
News: Casting
Micah: Last bit of news is all movie related. Some final pieces of casting information. I’m sure we’ll probably get maybe a couple of others based on some of the people who have been cast this week. Or last week. Tony Coburn has been cast as young Lucius Malfoy, and he’s going to appear in that role sort of in a back in time scene with Professor Slughorn in the Slug Club, and he’s also going to appear in the film as an extra when Dumbledore gets knocked off the Tower.
Andrew: Mmm.
Eric: Or perhaps when they’re crowding around his body once it’s landed.
Micah: And then Theresa Mahoney is being cast as Sophie.
Andrew: Oh, Sophie!
Eric: Oh Sophie, we know who that is.
Micah: Yeah, remember her? Big role in the books. Huge role.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: But – but it’s compelling. It’s compelling, it really is, because I think – now this is just the impression I got from that article talking about Theresa Mahoney being cast – but I imagine Sophie being maybe the Muggle Prime Minister’s assistant who says, you know, “Thanks, Sophie,” or “Take no further calls, Sophie,” you know, when – when he’s about to go into his office and speak with Fudge and Scrimgeour. So I, you know, I…
Micah: Who’s yet to be cast as far as I know, right?
Eric: I don’t know but I – I always imagined it as being maybe the Minister’s assistant who he refers to, you know – who only needs a first name basically.
Andrew: Well, hold on. First we’ve got to say in – in her credits, this was revealed on her profile on CastingCallPro.com, her credits for Half-Blood Prince are “boardroom hyphen opening scene.”
Eric: Right.
Andrew: So this also lays to rest – and I wrote this on MuggleNet – this also lays to rest that the opening scene will be – is presumably in a boardroom where the Prime – Muggle Prime Minister is having this meeting.
Micah: Right.
Eric: Or a boardroom which seems to follow that it would be like the book.
Andrew: Which is – right, which is relatively true to the books.
Micah: Well…
Andrew: I can see a boardroom like a meeting. They’re having a meeting about this. It makes perfect sense.
Micah: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: I think it goes back, too, when David Baron was saying about wanting to sort of keep the whole idea that there is a lot going on in the outside world in addition to everything that’s taking place in Harry’s world and, you know, that’s why he kind of showed what’s happening in the Burrow and, you know, the whole idea of that scene with the bridge blowing up and things like that.
Andrew: And for once they’re actually staying true to the book in the beginning.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: Well, they did that with Goblet of Fire but – hopefully, but it seems like this is pretty solid evidence, I do declare.
Eric: “Lumos Maxima!”
Micah: And the final bit of casting news as far as new roles are concerned, a Slytherin student, a Death Eater, and a Slughorn Ball graduate have all been cast. I know, you guys, this is very exciting news.
Andrew: I’m not saying – well, it’s not exciting, but it – it puts little pieces of the puzzle together. I mean at least with the Slughorn Ball graduate, sort of.
Matt: And it – and it does give us some hope that, you know, they’re still, you know, casting people.
Andrew: Theresa Mahoney was the biggest part of that little news item though, I think.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. But…
Micah: Right. So that means that – that Christmas party that Slughorn had will be in the movie.
Andrew: Right.
Micah: So, are we going to get to see – did they cast a – no.
Andrew: Slughorn?
Micah: Senguini? The vampire?
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: They did?
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: They did, I think that’s on IMDB.
Andrew: That was actually on that casting site too. So that guy is actually on the casting site. So, yeah.
Eric: So yes, they did. So that’s interesting.
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: [laughs] Senguini. Reminds me of Ratatouille. The other thing guys, about the – about all this news that we’re not getting from Half Blood Prince, I was just thinking about what the alternative would be, and if we were getting swamped with images and all that this far in advance, I don’t know if I’d like it as much, actually. But if you guys think about it, didn’t they have like, clips form the movie that streamed online…
Andrew: Yeah, we’re just…
Eric: I mean, all sorts of crazy stuff.
Andrew: …looking for something to complain about, frankly.
Eric: I just – yeah, I just actually hate that stuff that they stream online – parts of the movie ahead of time and stuff. So maybe it’s good that we’re not getting anything in this movie.
Andrew: Well, I mean, it does get sort of out of control closer to the release.
Micah: Yeah. But you’re also seven months away from the film, so that’s not really – you shouldn’t be expecting to get a whole lot right now, right?
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: No, you’re right.
Matt: You know, seven months – I mean we need at least a teaser poster.
Eric: Well, it’s six months, actually. It’s six months and about ten days from the time this we’re recording.
Matt: Oh, six months? Oh, well, we’re overdue. Oh. Warner Brothers, come on, get with the program.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Well, the one sort of little side note here is that the Twilight teaser trailer came out the other day and that movie’s coming out in December.
Matt: Yeah, and two teaser posters.
Andrew: And two posters. But it’s a separate movie company.
Matt: Yeah, they all do it differently. I mean it’s MTV Films, too, so…
News: Interview with Jessie Cave
Micah: So the final piece of news. Eric, this interview with Jessie Cave who plays Lavender Brown.
Eric: Yeah, man.
Micah: Tell me about it.
Eric: Oh. Well, she says that the kissing scene between her character, Lavender Brown, and Rupert Grint’s character, Ronald Weasley, happened on her third day of filming and it was embarrassing.
Andrew: Aww.
Eric: And I just wondered – it’s a funny interview – no it’s not, it’s actually a little blurb, and it has a picture of her, and I was wondering if you guys think we can expect to see her in all those kind of background scenes.
Micah: I sure hope so.
Eric: Hanging around Rupert like, you know, just like holding onto him and he doesn’t really want her to be there. They have a lot of room for comedy, you know, with that.
Audible.com
Andrew: I want to tell everyone that this week’s episode of MuggleCast is brought to you by Audible.com, the leading provider in spoken word entertainment. Audible has over 35,000 titles to choose from, to be downloaded and played back anywhere, just like MuggleCast. Log onto AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast to get a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up today. Again, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast for your free audiobook.
Eric as
Mason: Oh yeah, Andrew.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: And we said a few weeks back that includes Twilight. It actually does not.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: With this special MuggleCast promo, you get a credit, but Twilight is actually two credits. So…
Eric as Mason: Oh, so that’s only half the book, Andrew.
Andrew: You can get half the – well, you can’t really get half the book, but…
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: …you get it for half the cost. So there you go.
Eric as Mason: Half price. All right.
Andrew: AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast. And I see you’re trying to be Mason.
Eric: Yeah, I know, I know.
Announcement: Podcast Alley
Andrew: Is that what you’re going for? Moving onto some announcements. Don’t forget to vote for us on Podcast Alley. It is MuggleCast May as everyone knows, and that means if the month starts with an M that means you have to vote for us to make us number 1. Right now we’re number three. It’s okay.
Matt: Not bad. Not bad.
Andrew: Not bad. Doesn’t compare to MuggleCast Mapril, where we were number one every month, but…
Micah: Everyday.
MuggleCast 145 Transcript (continued)
Announcement: Follow MuggleCast on Twitter
Andrew: Everyday. Sorry. [laughs] And also, as I announced last week, we now have a MuggleCast Twitter at Twitter.com/MuggleCast. You can get the latest updates about the latest MuggleCast episodes there. For example, last week, once we finished recording, I let everyone know that MuggleCast 144 was just finished, and then I also posted when MuggleCast 144 went online. And everyone who was following got to see what segments we were doing early, so you become a – you know, we’re not doing an ad for them, we just like Twitter. Matt and I like Twitter. It’s fun.
Matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It gets kind of addicting after a while.
Andrew: Even though you don’t – you’re a Twitter poser. You don’t really use it as much as I do.
Matt: Oh, okay. I’m sorry.
Muggle Mail: Harry Potter Off Bestseller List
Andrew: [laughs] Anyway, it’s time for Muggle Mail this week. Who wants to take the first e-mail?
Eric: I will. Okay, first Muggle Mail comes from Andrea Nero from 18 of Taconic, New York. No more of those Schenectimy people, Micah.
Micah: Schenectady?
Eric: Yeah, that one.
Andrew: 12345.
Eric: Another place in New York entirely. It says:
“Hi, Micah…”
Micah: I actually drove past Schenectady on Monday and I took a picture of the sign.
Andrew: Mm, great. Everyone cares.
Eric: Oh, that’s the picture you said you were going to show me.
Andrew: Oh, really?
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Oh, awesome. Awesome.
Andrew: You should post it on MuggleCast.com.
Eric: Yeah, man.
Andrew: But anyway…
Eric: Okay, first Muggle Mail comes from Andrea Nero, 18, of Taconic, New York. She says:
“Hi Micah…I just wanted…”
Micah: Hi.
Eric: [laughs] Hi.
“I just wanted to send this in because I was just listening to Episode 144. When you and the other hosts were discussing how ‘Harry Potter’ has gone off the bestseller list for the first time in a decade, you mentioned that everyone should just be impressed that it was there for so long now that it is off – or not that it is now off. It reminded me of a quote from Dr. Seuss, which says, ‘Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.’ You do a great job on the show. I always enjoy your insight. Thanks.”
Micah: Aw, that’s nice.
Eric: I agree.
Andrew: That was great. Great point.
Micah: Thank you, Andrea.
Eric: That was…
Micah: Your check is in the mail.
[Eric and Andrew laugh]
Muggle Mail: MuggleCast on iTunes
Matt: Our next Muggle Mail comes from Sarah from Australia in regards to iTunes. She says:
“Hey, MuggleCasters, this is an e-mail regarding Episode 144. Eric and Andrew were talking about the download problems, and I found that 1) If iTunes has not updated the new episode, go into the podcast section on iTunes, right click on the MuggleCast title, and select ‘Update Podcast.’ Then it should automatically download the new episode. And 2) If they don’t like the older episodes being in a song format in their iPods, they should put all the MuggleCast files in a playlist. In that file, right click on the file, go to ‘Get Info,’ and then in the options tab check the ‘Remember playback position’ and ‘Skip when shuffling’ boxes. When you update your iPod, this playlist will become also like a podcast list. Keep up the great work. Sarah.”
Eric: See, it’s good that Sarah…
Andrew: Thanks, Sarah, for that good suggestion.
Eric: …sent that in because I didn’t really know how to do that with – I mean, the problem always is, if you add MuggleCast episodes as a song in your library, it’ll come up when you shuffle, and I had not known about this skip when shuffling option.
Matt: But it still won’t come with all the other episodes, will it?
Eric: And it still won’t, no but…
Andrew: But if you put them on a playlist then it’s like a, you know…
Eric: Yeah, exactly.
Andrew: Micah, next e-mail?
Muggle Mail: Invisibility Cloak
Micah: Sure. The next mail comes from Michael Ravier, 22, from Paris, France. He says:
“Hello, MuggleCasters, I’ve just been listening to your last episode, and I wanted to clarify a couple of things about the Invisibility Cloak. The Cloak protects itself against spells but not the people under it. For example, in ‘Half-Blood Prince,’ Draco manages to stun Harry through the Cloak because Harry is the one targeted by the spell. However, in “Deathly Hallows,’ the Death Eater thankfully tries to summon the one thing that wouldn’t answer the Summoning Charm, which is Death’s Invisibility Cloak. I think that, had he summoned anything beneath the Cloak, like a wand, it would’ve gone right to him, possibly taking the Cloak away in the process.” – which he thinks is a funny picture – “By the way, I live in France, and I don’t think I’ve missed a single show for two years, so you can now officially say you’ve got fans here too. I’m going to D.C. next year for my studies, so I hope you’ll come by for a live show. Love you all, especially the very clever Laura. Michael.”
Micah: Ooo, Laura’s got a little love interest in Paris.
Eric: Yeah. Those French are so romantic. [laughs] She’s in France.
Micah: She flew over already. Wow.
Andrew: Luckily for Michael, Laura is very close to D.C., so…
Micah: She is. Look at that.
Andrew: Have to bring back the MuggleCast dating service for her.
Micah: All right.
Muggle Mail: Dumbledore Seeing Beneath Cloak
Andrew: Next e-mail comes from Kim, 20, of Texas. She writes:
“Hello! First off, I’m a big fan of the show and you guys are doing an awesome job. After listening to Episode 144, I’ve one rebuttal: during the chapter discussion you asked about the Invisibility Cloak and how Dumbledore might’ve seen the trio under it in ‘The Prisoner of Azkaban.’ I actually remember Jo answering this in her big online chat in July, so I copied and pasted the Q&A here. And this girl asks Jo, ‘Why is it that Albus Dumbledore can see Harry under the Invisibility Cloak at certain moments? During the series, is the Cloak only infallible to those who do not own a Deathly Hallow?’ J.K. Rowling responds, ‘Dumbledore, who could perform magic without needing to say the incantation aloud, was using Hominum revealo, the human presence revealing spell that Hermione makes use of in DH.’ Hope that clears it up. I guess Dumbledore always did find the loopholes. Hope summer treats you well and thanks for reading. Kim.”
Andrew: So that’s a nice – that’s – thank you for clarifying that. Well, it is Jo’s answer, so…
Eric: [laughs] So we’d hope it would. I thought that the Hominum revealo spell made all the human bodies, like, jump or light up or do something crazy, because when Hermione used it in Deathly Hallows it made like a thumping noise upstairs. Or when the Death Eaters used it in Xenophilius’s house, it made like a loud noise letting them know that there were humans.
Matt: Did it do a noise? I always thought it was just like – just a little something that signifies that they’re there, like a halo or something.
Eric: Yeah, well, made Hominum Revealo – yeah. Reveal the humans.
Matt: Is it only to the person that makes the spell? Does the spell?
Eric: Hmm.
Micah: Right. Well, the other thing is, that Dumbledore, for example, in Hagrid’s Hut Chamber of Secrets – he would be saying it nonverbally, so chances are that if you’re doing it nonverbally I doubt it would just make a noise or reveal the person right there. It’s probably only to – to him to be able to see.
Matt: Yeah. Kind of like a compass or something that points you in the right direction.
Eric: Actually, that’s a good comparison. Yes, these two things about the Invisibility Cloak were really interesting Muggle Mails. Appreciated them getting sent in.
Muggle Mail: Comparing Dumbledore and Grindelwald to Leopold and Lobe
Eric: Last e-mail comes from Mel, 15, and their comment is:
“Hi, I would like to start by saying how much I love MuggleCast. Now for the real comment-ish type thing: while I was listening to Episode 144, I noticed how similar the story of Dumbledore and Grindelwald was to that of Leopold and Lobe. Compare Dumbledore to Leopold and Grindelwald to Lobe. Like Lobe, Grindelwald was purely evil, was convinced that he was a superman. Convinced a dear friend that the two of them could do something that no one else could do, and was eventually killed, murdered, in prison. Like Leopold, Dumbledore was gay, was convinced he could do the impossible, and had a sense of guilt for being involved in a murder. Also Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Leopold and Lobe were all geniuses at least in the academic sense. Please discuss what you think about this. I’m not really trying to start any rumors about what the story was based on, but I would still like to hear if it could be conceivable or if I’m just overreaching. Thank you for all of your time spent reading this, Mel.”
Andrew: I think we have another lawsuit.
Eric: [laughs] No, no, not at all. I actually read into this article after I got this e-mail, and they were actually two men from Chicago, and they committed this bad crime – kidnapping, murder – and there wasn’t exactly that many similarities that I found between the two. I mean I can understand why this e-mail was sent in, but I felt that Dumbledore was a lot more regretful about the whole crime, and they didn’t actually – it should be said that Grindelwald and Dumbledore didn’t actually commit this crime, whereas Leopold and Lobe actually took this guy, killed him, buried him, you know, and did this whole – it lasted a really long time, and the Leopold and Lobe trial was mostly famous for the defense attorney they hired, which was talking about the death penalty and tried to shame the system for justifying – for the justice that Leopold and Lobe were going to face, so I can see the comparisons, but I didn’t really think it was terribly similar. But it’s an interesting story anyway just to read. I enjoyed reading it.
Chapter-by-Chapter: Chapter 29, “The Lost Diadem”
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, thank you, Mel, for that. Well, moving right along. Let’s get into Chapter-by-Chapter as we do every week for the past so many episodes now.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: We are going to talk about Chapter 29, “The Lost Diadem,” and gosh, another really short chapter. I was going right through it and then before I knew it I was on the last page. I was like, “Wow. That came quick.” This is the episode – or this is the chapter where Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Hogwarts. There’s my five second summary.
Neville’s a Tough Guy
Andrew: The chapter kicks off with Neville – well, the trio talking to Neville, and what we really see here is that Neville has changed a lot. He’s been living rough. He’s a tough guy now.
[Matt and Laura laugh]
Andrew: You know, when we were first introduced to him in the first few books, he was just this kid that could easily be bullied around, and he was a little punk.
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: And kind of dorky looking.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I mean he still is dorky looking, but now he’s a big tough guy. He’s got a lot of – how do you put it in an appropriate way?
Matt: He’s butch!
Eric: He’s buff.
Andrew: He’s buff. He’s tough. That’s what I’m trying to say.
Eric: Yeah, man. And what we found out, actually, in this chapter also, is that it’s in his genes, baby! We’ll get into that later.
Andrew: What, with his grandma writing to him?
Eric: [laughs] Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Well, not only that, but I mean his parents. We’ve known his parents were the other couple who really defied Voldemort so many times. You know, so, yeah, it’s totally in his genes, but Neville’s a stud – quoting Ben Schoen.
Matt: He’s very assertive now. He’s very much a leader than we’ve seen him since the last book.
Eric: Yeah, and his hair is longer than ever, which was actually said in the last chapter – at the very end of the last chapter, but his hair is really long, and he is the leader or the main proporter of Dumbledore’s Army, and has been this whole year when Harry has been absent.
Matt: He’s basically replaced Harry as the trouble-maker at Hogwarts.
Eric: Not that Harry was a trouble-maker, but yeah.
Matt: Well, he kind of was.
Eric: He kind of was. That’s true. That’s true.
Matt: He didn’t really, you know, follow the rule at Hogwarts much.
Eric: I think Neville did the intentional things though. I respect Neville more, in fact, for that, for going out there and graffiti-ing the walls and stuff. That was – that’s really cool.
Andrew: So everyone has heard of what they’ve been up to and between their – has heard about Gringott’s, escaping on the dragon, and Terry Boot has even gotten in to trouble for shouting about it at dinner. So, doing all these things brought everyone hope that they were on the move and they were doing something for Dumbledore. And someone even says that.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: So I mean, you know, I think already at this point the trio’s starting to get a little worried. Like, “Okay, we just got to get out of here. We need – we got stuff to do.”
The Room of Requirement
Eric: So, wait, actually, let’s talk about how they came to the – they end up in the Room of Requirement, ’cause they’re walking down the passage at the beginning of the chapter and they don’t know exactly where they are when they – when, you know, when the door opens up. But it turns out they’re in the Room of Requirement, which actually has this passage, which looks old, looks like it had been there for years or so, even though it hadn’t been. We find out that it was just recently. Neville was hiding out in the Room of Requirement ’cause he was about to be put in, you know, he’s in a lot of trouble and he needed food. And instead of providing him directly with food, which the Room of Requirement can’t conjure for specific reasons, it actually gave him a passageway to the Hog’s Head, where he went out and found Aberforth. And he’s like, “I need food,” and Aberforth gave him food and from then on it was – there was a passage. Okay. So Neville informs Aberforth that more people will be arriving via direct Apparition into the Hog’s Head, which is how they actually are going to get to Hogwarts without setting off the alarms all over Hogsmeade like Harry did.
Matt: Well, let’s talk a little more about the Room of Requirement since you talked about it.
Eric: Yeah.
Matt: Since Neville was responsible for keeping it to where no one would get in, he’s actually the one to get all the loopholes and keep the Carrows and – oh, what’d he say? “By the way, I don’t want any Carrow supporters to get in.”
Eric: Yeah.
Matt: And what I was curious was, wouldn’t that mean that Snape would be able to get in the Room of Requirement if he walked past it? Because, I mean, he’s not on the Carrows’ side.
Eric: I get the feeling that Snape would be taking a backseat to all of this, ’cause there’s certain things like – like the graffiti that says “Dumbledore’s Army: Still Recruiting,” which, you know, Snape – they mention that Snape was really irritated by that, but it can’t really be making his job any easier because he’s clearly got to punish people for this, but, you know, he’s in this double agent role so it’s – it’s got to be something like that. Like, I think Snape would probably steer clear of the Room of Requirement, but it’s a good…
Matt: Well, I’m not saying that he would, but I’m saying is it possible for him? Is it a possibility that he has the accessibility to get into the Room of Requirement?
Eric: It would depend on whatever loopholes they closed. I mean…
Matt: I mean, unless he said – unless they said, “Snape cannot get into this room.”
Andrew: Well, he could also – they – he could also know about the Room of Requirement, but since he’s not on Voldemort’s side, he could just be letting them slide.
Eric: Yeah, possibly.
Andrew: Without telling anyone, you know, he just keeps that in his head.
Eric: Well, the thing that’s said is that Neville really gets this room and “gets” is in parentheses. And I really like that about this characterization – how Neville really, kind of, understands Hogwarts. He’s really found his niche. He’s really found his thing that really, you know – that he really likes in Hogwarts and it’s the Room of Requirement, which is now, you know, the headquarters for any kind of rebellion that’s going on at Hogwarts.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And so that was really cool.
Andrew: So it raises a lot of questions about the Room of Requirement. And we later find out that Draco’s been using it as well. So is it possible that the Room of Requirement can be duplicated?
Matt: Yeah, that’s what I – that’s what I’m thinking because if someone uses the Room of Requirement, is there, like, a “Do Not Disturb” sign in it to where no one else can use it?
Eric: Well, we – that question was answered in Book 6 because there’s a few times when – when Malfoy’s in the Room of Requirement and Harry, you know, is trying to follow him and find out where he’s going. And I think one time he finds a broom closet, which is completely different from – you know, Draco’s already in the room. And it’s mentioned in this chapter of Book 7 that as long as one person stays in the Room the Room remains open. So…
Matt: No, but what I mean is, if someone needs a Room of Requirement of their own will it form to them?
Eric: I wonder. I don’t think so. I – I think…
Matt: Or will it form for somebody else?
Andrew: I think if someone’s already in that room…
Eric: Yeah, I think it – yeah, I think it would probably not.
Matt: But I’m saying, does it not exist if someone’s already in it? Like does the Room of Requirement not work for anybody else who wants to get into a Room of Requirement for their own purpose?
Eric: I’d have to reread Book 6 to figure out exactly.
Andrew: It may just not activate.
Eric: Yeah, I just don’t – don’t think it works.
Dumbledore’s Army and Hogwarts
Andrew: Do we want to talk about the Order real quick? Or sorry, the Army?
Eric: Yeah – yeah, we got to talk about what the Army’s doing, because this is – this is really relevant and…
Andrew: They’re not doing much though.
Eric: Dude they totally are though.
Andrew: What are they doing?
Eric: They’re – they’re I mean…
Matt: But what’s worth discussing?
Eric: What’s worth discussing is how Hogwarts is different. Not necessarily what the Order’s doing, but what Hogwarts is like now because, I mean, we’ve been – I just got to say it – We’ve been away from Hogwarts this entire book and it was a welcome reunion in my mind. I was just – I was so happy to be back.
Andrew: Yeah, I think everyone was looking forward to it, but I – I remember, we had so many debates over whether they would be going back to Hogwarts or not.
Eric: Yeah, we did. It was kind of annoying – it’s kind of annoying to think of actually. [laughs] But…
Andrew: Yeah. And of course we all wanted to see Hogwarts again, but we’re not seeing Hogwarts. We’re not seeing what we fell in love with so much.
Eric: Well we’re seeing a little bit of Hogwarts we never saw before, which is what’s so cool about the end of this chapter. We’ll get into it in a minute, but I think what’s important is how the Carrows and how Snape as Headmaster and how that whole thing is going, you know, with the Ministry practically in Voldemort’s hands, how Hogwarts is – is so close to falling. It’s – or so close to being evil. I mean, do you guys want to talk about the classes and things? Like – like I think it’s pretty significant.
Matt: No, I’m cool.
Eric: You’re cool? Well, instead of Defense Against the Dark Arts there’s Dark Arts where they perform the Cruciatus Curse on other students who’ve earned detentions. And the only other really significant thing I guess is the…
Micah: The Muggle Studies?
Eric: Yeah, Muggle Studies is instead more like why Muggles are animals and why it is right for us to take them over. Is pretty much what’s being taught by Alecto Carrow. So…
Andrew: What is their intention in doing this?
Micah: Well, it goes back to all the stuff that we’ve talked about. At least in my opinion related not just to World War II but to a lot of the sort of prejudicial things that take place in the world as a whole. And this was kind of their way of showing – or they, I should say, Jo’s way of showing that it sort of reaches out to all areas. It’s not just, you know, we see it at the Ministry but Hogwarts is exempt from it. Hogwarts now, we’re starting to see throughout this entire period of time, is falling under the same sort of thing that Voldemort was able to do at the Ministry and other places in both the wizarding and the regular world. And it just kind of shows you the sickness that exists in people when they’re actually having these Death Eaters teaching class, and saying that Muggles are equivalent to animals.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: And they should be treated as such.
Eric: Exactly, Micah’s…
Micah: I mean that’s a very – that’s a very elitist view on the world. Very similar to the Nazis and how they treated the Jews. And so – and it wasn’t just the Jews, obviously; there were other classes of people at that time as well that were treated in the same way. And, you know, it goes also, what you guys were talking – the change that we saw in Neville, for example. You know, he actually stands up to the Muggle Studies teacher, asking, you know, how much Muggle blood do you have in you? That’s actually, for the first time, really, we’re starting to see Neville as a different character. I know you mentioned that before but, you know, it takes some balls to stand up and say something like that.
Eric: Oh, it does! I mean, especially because we know that Voldemort has Muggle blood in him. You know, he’s half Muggle, actually, and it’s just so hypocritical for the whole system and that’s why Neville’s line was so good and just what you’re saying, Micah, is totally right. I mean, by making something seem less than human, by calling it less than human, by believing that something – that someone, rather, is less than human, you can do so much to hurt and harm them and not be guilty about it, and it’s sick. It’s very, very sick.
Andrew: I think it’s an inspiration to Harry, too. I mean, not just seeing all of his old friends – seeing what they’re going through, what classes they have to deal with right now, but it gives Harry a new reason more than – a new reason that’s very important why he needs to complete Dumbledore’s task.
Eric: Exactly.
Andrew: Even after hearing what Aberforth had to say about Dumbledore’s – Dumbledore making him do this just for Dumbledore’s pleasure.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: So they do communicate through the coins that we first saw in Half-Blood Prince.
Voldemort’s Vision
Eric: No, it was Order of the Phoenix. Right, so right Harry has – right about now Harry has this flash and it’s Voldemort, and he realizes that the ring is gone, and I thought, guys, at this point, he would begin telling everyone, “okay, wait a minute.” I mean, surely Harry realizes that Voldemort is very, very close to pretty much going full speed to Hogwarts. Why do you guys think – I mean, I think it would make sense for Harry to warn them that, “okay guys, this is kind of it. This is it. We need to…”
Andrew: No, I think if you warned them it would just put them into a panic. I don’t think Harry would want to put all of the kids into a panic. Plus he doesn’t know if he’s definitely – because it even says, Harry doesn’t know if he’s going to go to the Lake or to actually Hogwarts. I mean, it’s still Hogwarts, the lake, but…
Matt: They just know – he just knows he’s running out of time.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, well, surely I think it would be appropriate for Harry to warn everyone. I mean, I don’t think they’ll panic because they’re here for this sort of thing. Think of the world they’re living in. Think of the…
Andrew: Yeah, but they don’t know how it feels until it’s actually happening, so maybe Harry doesn’t know how they’ll react.
Matt: Right.
Eric: Maybe, but I still think it would have been better than to – I mean, he just basically left them all in a room and he ends up pretty S.O.L. at the end of this chapter when one of the Death Eaters touches her death mark – or Dark Mark, so, you know, whatever. I think it would have been more appropriate to warn everyone, but it’s just a thing. I mean, then again he did warn Ron and Hermione. He told Ron and Hermione that he’s close or whatever.
The Ravenclaw Common Room
Andrew: Right. So after all that, Harry and Luna go into the Ravenclaw common room because Cho suggests that – I think it was Cho, right? – that the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw.
Eric: Right.
Andrew: So, here’s one thing I wanted to talk about. To get in, the portrait will ask you a question and the question that was asked to Harry and Luna was, “Which came first, the Phoenix or the flame?” And Luna, as clever as she is, says, “A circle has no beginning,” and then the portrait says “Well reasoned,” and then it opens up. Isn’t this extremely flawed?Because I thought that – you know – Gryffindor has an actual password that only Gryffindors are only supposed to know. But in the Ravenclaw’s case, all you have to do is give them an answer. I mean, is this security trying to suggest that only Ravenclaws can be clever enough to answer these questions?
Eric: Yeah, I think that’s exactly…
Matt: That – it’s pretty biased of them, isn’t it?
Eric: Well, I thought it was brilliant. I thought it was really cool, and I don’t think it’s a portrait.
Andrew: It is cool, it’s just very unsecured.
Matt: Well, it’s a cool idea but it’s flawed.
Eric: Well, it’s not a portrait either, it’s kind of an eagle door knocker sort of thing that talks, like the beak and – when you listen to the response, when Luna says, “I think the answer is a circle has no beginning,” the knocker says, “Well reasoned.” So it’s like listening to their figurative – it is kind of flawed, like, I wonder if anyone can just answer a riddle if you were smart enough. But I was rereading Philosopher’s Stone earlier today and when they get to Snape’s potions, do you guys remember that? Trying to get through the fire etc., Hermione says, “Well, not all these wizards, you know, won’t have an ounce of logic.” And I think that’s probably true, it’s one of the traits that Ravenclaws are prized for is their wit and their logic. I don’t think it’s terribly flawed.
Matt: Well, it’s just – why would Ravenclaw be the only House that’s different from the other Houses entrances?
Eric: Well, we don’t know what Hufflepuff’s entrance is about.
Matt: Well, what would Hufflepuff’s question be? “What’s the best type of Butterbeer Ingredient?”?
Eric: Yeah, man.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Eric: Totally. Even if they got – I mean I was wondering what would happen if the Houses got competitive. But I – I want to say it, can I say it?
Micah: Well, who said there was any sort of password? Look at what happened in Chamber of Secrets. Didn’t they just sort of get into the dungeon because they were Slytherin? There wasn’t any sort of password associated with it, was there?
Matt: Was there?
Eric: I’m not sure; it’s a trap door in the floor.
Matt: It was Draco who let them in.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: Oh.
Eric: But we don’t really know.
Andrew: So, to round up this chapter, Harry goes up and reads what’s on the Diadem, and it says, “Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure”. And then Alecto Carrow sneaks up behind him and says, “You must be really pretty witless then,” and then she summons the Dark Lord.
Eric: Uh-oh!
Andrew: And then the chapter closes.
Matt: [Does impression of Scooby-Doo] Huh?
Andrew: I like the cliff hanger. I had to read over because I forgot what had happened exactly. So, next week…
Eric: Let’s just make something clear. The Diadem is not the actual Diadem, it’s a replica on a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw in the common room. Harry just needed to go and find out what it looked like, so that he can go search for it elsewhere. So it’s not the actual Diadem, it’s like a stone/statue/crown thing.
Andrew: That wraps up the chapter.
Micah: One of my favorite scenes in all of Deathly Hallows next week.
Andrew: “The Sacking of Severus Snape.”
Micah: No, it’s not that. It’s what happens in the Ravenclaw common room right after this.
Matt: Yeah, this is my part too. Isn’t it great? Can we talk about it? Oh, we have to wait until next week.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: No.
Eric: Hey, guys, how many Hufflepuffs does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Andrew: Um…
Micah: I don’t know.
Eric: I imagine this being one of the…
Quote Quiz
[Quote Quiz intro plays]
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Nice transition.
Andrew: “Go and get Flitwick! Get him to open it now!”
Matt: All right, just give me one second.
What If?
Andrew: So, we’re going to do a section we haven’t done in a while, actually. It’s called “What If?” And how we used to do this was, we would all talk about – we’ve only played this segment a few times. We would say, what if a scene happened this way in the books. But this time Matt suggested a “What if?” that is related to the movies. Right, Matt?
Matt: Yes it is, actually.
Eric: I think it’s brilliant.
Matt: It is – oh, you do?
Eric: I do, I really like it. I really like this.
Matt: Oh, cool. Okay, so this week’s “What if?” segment in entitled “What if you could make one decision for the Deathly Hallows film and WB would do it; what would it be?”
Andrew: So, if you could make one decision and they would absolutely do it.
Matt: Yes.
Andrew: No questions.
Matt: No questions.
Andrew: Matt, since it was your question, we’ll start with you.
Matt: Well, the reason why I picked this was because I was looking on a biography of John Williams, and one of his interviews stated that he wanted to – he expressed interest in scoring the last film for the Harry Potter series. And I thought – and I really, really got excited and I really wanted John Williams to be in it. So, my decision would be to have John Williams score the last two parts of the Deathly Hallows film. Or, I mean, the last – the two movies of Deathly Hallows.
Eric: I think that’s a good choice. I think that’s amazing. It would be nice to have him close it out, wouldn’t it?
Matt: Yeah, it would. Just to close out with Hedwig’s Theme, but, you know, his little finale rendition of all the themes in it.
Eric: He could go through all the previous things – he could go through all the previous movies and really complete something that had, like, all these things that tie up. It could be an orchestral genius. I think that’s a great, great, choice. That would be using your “what if” very wisely. I think that’s awesome.
Andrew: Eric, how about you?
Eric: I would want – I think that I would ask them to show Hogwarts before the point where it appears in the books. I know that’s kind of maybe annoying to some people, but I really would like them to switch to Hogwarts maybe a little earlier in the story and see some of the things instead of doing this montage thing. Because, if you think about it, I mean I know David Yates is really good at montages because I liked them in Order of the Phoenix, but if you think about it, the whole second part of the movie there’s not only the montage of what everyone was doing at Hogwarts while the trio was off in the woods, it’s also about Snape. They’re going to have to go through all those Pensieve scenes with Snape and figure out – the whole Snape story is told in this past-tense thing, and it’s just going to be really awkward with – you know, it’ll be disruptive I think to the the story and the narrative if they just do all these montages. By the way, this is what’s been happening. I think what they should do is have some kind of, you know, story that goes back and forth, in a way, maybe minorly between the other characters that aren’t the trio instead of focusing on the trio the whole movie. So, I would ask WB to focus on the other characters who are strong enough. Give the actors a chance to act, you know, give them some scenes in there where they aren’t in the book.
Andrew: Okay. Good idea.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Micah?
Matt: I can see that.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: Yeah, that’s – mine kind of goes off that a little bit, giving the actors a chance to act. One thing that I would really like to see, and because we’ve talked at so much length about this through this entire Chapter-by-Chapter segment, is just really make sure that they’re telling the story from the perspective of all of the, you know, sort of political and social undertones that are going on in this book, and, you know, I believe that they were there for a reason, and J. K. Rowling put them in there specifically to show that even in this world of magic, there’s, you know, some serious issues that are taking place, and I hope they don’t just sort of surpass that and sort of overlook it just for the fact of telling the story, because I believe it’s a huge part of the story, and, you know, they’ve started in in Half-Blood Prince. They’ve felt the need to include bits and pieces of it, so I hope that that continues in Deathly Hallows.
Matt: That sounds good. All right. Andrew, what is your answer to them?
Andrew: I would ask them to use as many lines from the books as possible, and that’s not a very specific request, but…
Matt: No! That’s not a decision. It’s – no, it has to be specific.
Andrew: No. Well, I’ll tell you why. Hold on.
Matt: Oh, okay.
Andrew: Use as many lines from the books as possible. If there is a scene you are keeping in, try to use – my decision is to use ninety percent of the lines in that scene, because they don’t do it very often for one, but when they do do it, and you recognize it, you get a feeling of authenticity, and it feels really – it really connects it, and it feels good. Have you guys ever felt that?
Micah: Well…
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Maybe I’m nuts.
Micah: No, you’re not nuts. [laughs] I mean, it’s hard, but at the same time you’d like to see it because you know that so much – I mean – there are some great lines in this series that are left out…
Andrew: Right.
Micah: …because – and I’m not…
Andrew: And when you hear it in the movie, having remembered, you – having remembered reading, it’s like woah! Oh my gosh! That’s awesome.
Micah: Or having talked about it for 145 episodes.
Andrew: Right. Exactly. So…
Micah: No, you’re right. You’re right. And I’m not just talking about, you know, “You’ve got to admit the man’s got style”, [laughs] which, you know, everybody seemed to love from Order of the Phoenix, but…
Andrew: That was beautiful.
Micah: Yeah. That’s – again, that’s an example of there being a great comedic line in the books, and they put it in the movies, but there’s so many others. Even the ones that came out of this chapter that we were just going over.
Andrew: Right.
Micah: You know, it’s like you said, keep the authenticity. Don’t just discard it because it’s a movie.
Voicemail: Movie 7 Part I Premiere at Theme Park?
Andrew: Anyway, as promised, we are going to get to some voicemails this week as we continue chugging along in this very long episode. Let’s get to first one.
[Audio]: Hi MuggleCast. My name is Laura. I’m 20-years-old, and I’m calling from Provo, Utah. I had a thought about the release date for Movie 7 Part I. Perhaps the reason why the wait is so long between Movie 6 and the first part of Movie 7 is that WB wants to wait until the Wizarding World Theme Park is open. That way they will be able to premiere of the movie at the theme park just as Disney has done for the premieres of The Pirates of the Carribean…
Matt: Pirates of the Carribean.
[Audio]: …Let me know what you think! Thanks. Bye.
Andrew: I think that’s pretty interesting.
Matt: I thought it was clever. I don’t necessarily think that’s what they’re going to do, because…
Andrew: Oh, I think they will.
Matt: You think so?
Andrew: They’ll do something with the theme park.
Matt: Well, of course. I mean they’re going to have a movie at the theme park, but they’re definitely either going to have a New York City or an L.A. premiere.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah…
Matt: The only reason why they did that for Pirates of the Carribean is because it originated – that’s where the ride and the whole concept for Pirates of the Carribean originated was Disneyland.
Andrew: Yeah…
Matt: That’s why they didn’t do it at Walt Disney World…
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Although Walt Disney World is bigger, and they could have had more people go to it.
Andrew: Also, like, they had – they had – they had the High School Musical premiere at Disneyland.
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: Well, that’s great.
Matt: Who cares? But…
Micah: [laughs] I just – see, it’s a – in concept it’s great, but you don’t need it. You know what I’m saying? These movies are big enough themselves.
Andrew: It’s publicity though, it’s all about publicity.
Micah: Yeah, it’s publicity, but you know what? The theme park is going to do fine by itself and the movies do fine by themselves.
Matt: It’s going to be crowded anyway by that time.
Andrew: Well, I think they’ll close the park down for the premiere. They’re not going to, like, mix the two together.
Micah: You can have a special premiere there.
Matt: You think so?
Micah: I wouldn’t be surprised.
Matt: Yeah. I’m not surprised that they wouldn’t have it. I’m not saying – I’m just saying it’s not really plausible for them to have the big…
Micah: The success of the movie or the success of the park are not dependent on each other. That’s the point I’m trying to make.
Andrew: Yeah, no, you’re right. You’re right. Next voicemail.
Voicemail: Rowling Has Ghost Writers?
[Audio]: Hello, this is Brianna, 17, from Wisconsin. I just have a question for you guys. My dad just brought up an interesting idea that he thinks that J.K. Rowling uses ghost writers to write her work, because he was saying how could you write the entire 7th book in how many months? I forget how many months. I think it’s totally stupid, but if he came up with this idea, I’m sure that others are thinking this idea too. So I was just wondering what you guys think. Thanks, love the show, bye.
Andrew: Well, I think your dad’s completely wrong.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Of course there’s not ghost writers for the series. It just amazes me how skeptical parents are of J.K. Rowling’s success. One time my uncle told me that J.K. Rowling’s whole homeless story or close to being homeless story was all just a publicity stunt. It’s like, what? No. It’s real.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Sorry you were never that successful.
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: The only response that I could give to it is that parts of the book were already written. This final book, so much of it had already been written prior to…
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: Well, I wouldn’t say about so much of it though.
Matt: No, it has. She actually shows it.
Andrew: Well, Half-Blood Prince came out in 2005, and that was two years. That’s 24 months to write, so…
Micah: And if a lot of it’s already written, I mean she’s just piecing together the information and making sure that everything is set the way that she wants it.
Matt: I remember seeing on a documentary for J.K. Rowling during the release of Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004, and she showed a manuscript, a huge manuscript, of a lot of Book 7 already been written. She shows it.
Andrew: Let’s move on to the next voicemail.
Voicemail: Dementors versus Potion in Cave
[Audio]: Hey, MuggleCasters, it’s Rob from New Jersey. I’m mentioning that in Episode 144 you compared being attacked by a Dementor to Dumbledore drinking the potion in the cave. I think being attacked by a Dementor brings out your saddest memories, rather than your most painful, like the potion. I was wondering what your thoughts are on this. Thanks. Bye.
Eric: I agree.
Andrew: So that was sort of an alternative idea to what we were saying.
Eric: Well, I had tried to paint that last week, too, that Dumbledore was in pain, it was a moment of greatest pain, not necessarily greatest sadness that was kind of – I mean it was the moment where he was – where Grindelwald was presumably attack his brother and sister and he didn’t want that to happen, as opposed to his saddest, which would probably be more along the lines of her funeral, Ariana’s funeral. And eventually, which ended in Aberforth punching him out, but that would be significantly more sad. And…
Micah: I definitely think there’s a means of comparison for sure between the two of them, but I think the sort of examples that Eric gave are pretty good in terms of defining the difference between a Dementor attack versus what he drank. Have we ever determined what it was that he drank? Has it ever been given a name…
Andrew: The potion.
Micah: …by J.K. rowling?
Andrew: I don’t think so. I think it was just the potion, right?
Eric: Yeah. It’s one of Voldemort’s potions, just one of the things that – it’s not like a potion, it’s something Voldemort probably made on his own. We don’t know specifically even what it does. Except that we know what it did to Kreacher, after he took it. You know, it kind of makes him twitch, to the day. A little bit more than he normally would have. And we haven’t seen that in Dumbledore because Dumbledore died shortly after. So, it has some long term effects.
Andrew: And the last voicemail for today.
Voicemail: The Wedding Scene and RiffTrax
[Audio]: Hey, MuggleCast, this is J.Z. from Cleveland. I’m just calling to – first of all, I want to say what a great job you guys are doing. I really appreciate listening to you guys every week.
Andrew: Thanks!
[Audio]: A few things I wanted to bring up. First of all, I was wondering what you guys thought about the rumors that the Bill and Fleur wedding might be replaced by Tonks and Lupin’s wedding for the [unintelligible] of Deathly Hallows. We know that Bill and Fleur aren’t going to be in Half-Blood Prince, so there’s rumors going around that they might be replacing that wedding. I personally think it’s a good idea because I would actually rather see Lupin and Tonks’ wedding, because we didn’t get to see them in the book, and I think it might be fun to see it in the movie. Second of all, I was wondering if you guys ever heard of RiffTrax. It’s a website by the guys from Mystery Science Theater. Do commentaries for movies that are like really fun. They poke fun at them. One of the reasons I’m asking is they have a commentary for Sorcerer’s Stone that is hilarious, and I was wondering if you guys had ever checked that out. And if not, I would suggest it. So keep up the good work and I’ll talk to you guys later. Thanks.
Andrew: RiffTrax has been really promoting themselves on several Harry Potter fansites.
Matt: At IMDB.com they do it a lot too.
Andrew: Really. Yeah. Apparently they’re funny. I remember someone played it in Vegas once, but I just found it annoying because if I’m
listening to the right one, and I think I was, the voices were just annoying to me. Some people love them, though.
Matt: I wasn’t really that impressed by it. I mean, hell, we should do it.
Andrew: Yeah, I mean, it was a clever idea.
Eric: I’m interested. I’ve never heard of them before, so I will check that out. What about his first question?
Micah: Well, part of the problem with that is, if you’re going to remove Bill and Fleur completely from Deathly Hallows, it leaves a gap in the whole scene at the cottage. And Dobby’s death. But who knows how they can manipulate that. They could make that, you know, Lupin and Tonks’ cottage.
Eric: I mean, this is one of the things I think, where we’re just sitting here, and we’re waiting, and the question on everyone’s mind is, “Okay, how are they going to mess up this whole scene? How are they going to butcher the books this time around?” And it’s almost like a game. You almost expect funny game show music to be “Aaugh! Aaugh!” and deedle-deedle-dee, and circus tents playing, you expect a bearded lady to show up. Because it’s like this craziness about Bill and Fleur not being in Half-Blood Prince. We told them! I mean, clearly, they don’t listen to us.
And that’s something I have to get used to, but we warned them that this stuff is coming up and surely they know. They’re smart enough to have read the books, and know that it’s really important for them to be showing these characters. How much of Alan Rickman’s going to be in this movie? Five minutes? Maybe fifteen? And he is the Half-Blood Prince! So, seriously, I’m really worried here, and it bothers me. And if they change the Bill and Fleur wedding to Tonks and Remus, I might boycott the movie. I mean, that’s just – I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.
Andrew: Well…
Matt: All right. Okay.
Andrew: I would pay a lot of money to see you do that.
Eric: Well, that’s the point. If you would pay me a lot of money to see me do that, it might be worth my while.
Matt: This is actually the first time I’ve ever heard this rumor about Tonks and Remus’s wedding being replaced.
Andrew: Yeah, I haven’t heard about it either. I think it’s one of those rumors that goes around on the forums. There are a lot of Harry Potter fan forums and – I mean – like the Live Journal community, stuff like that.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: But I don’t know. It’s hard to say.
Matt: Well, we talked about this on a previous episode and – and I think we came to a decision that if they did bring it up in the next film I – I think it’s possible they can just bring it up and not really have much, you know, lead-up to the wedding.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: You know? Because they don’t really have – I mean – you don’t really necessarily have to know that Bill and Fleur are dating or anything. Because we don’t know anything about – about Bill yet. So we could just say that he was off in France with Fleur or something.
Eric: Yeah, it could be so tastily introduced and only take two minutes. I mean they don’t need to do it what happened in the book. They don’t need to do it like it happened in the book, but they don’t need to butcher it or give the wedding to someone else, is what I mean. You know, you know…
Matt: No, well, they’re – we don’t – they’re not going to. They never said anything that they were, this is just a rumor with the fans…
Eric: You’re right, you’re right, it is.
Matt: …we shouldn’t really jump to conclusions yet.
Eric: But you know WB, they could do anything they wanted to. And…
Matt: But it’s – but it’s looking like they’re at least trying a little harder in the last movie than – than their doing in other films.
Eric: Yeah, it does, but since Bill and Fleur are not returning to Half-Blood Prince, which this voicemailer claims we know for sure, then that’s kind of worrying. Not even at the end of the movie when Bill gets his face taken off? So. I don’t know.
Matt: Well, his face might not even be damaged. And if it’s not – but if it is damaged or not I don’t really think – I mean, I necessarily wouldn’t be really offended by it. I mean, it’s a big plot scene but, you know…
Eric: The whole Remus subplot…
Matt: …they have done a lot worse.
Eric: …in Half-Blood Prince is being cut, so I wonder how much of a role Remus will play in Movie 7. It’s kind of a weird thing because they’ve done this thing where they give Movie 7 two parts, you know, and it’s, like, to be uber-faithful to the books, or is that really the answer? Is it just t o- I mean, ’cause there’s so much they’ve ruined by not including it in former movies that it might not, you know, there might not be a lot they can include into Movie 7. I just – I get really worried when I hear this stuff.
Micah: Well, they could also be using the time to re-explain things that they didn’t explain to begin with.
Eric: Yeah, that would be a blessing. That would be a godsend right there.
Andrew: Well, if you have a question for us, we insist that you do call it in via a voicemail. We like to reserve Muggle Mail for questions about the prior week’s show. Since we use the call rebuttals. Maybe that’s sort of my bad confusing people. But listen at the end of the show for the contact information to call in a voicemail.
MuggleCast 145 Transcript (continued)
Make the Music Connection
Andrew: All right, we skipped this last week but we’re going to get back to it.
[Make the Music Connection sound clip plays]
Andrew: Who wants to go first? Matt, here’s your song.
[“Steal My Sunshine” by Len begins playing]
Andrew: [singing] “Steal My Sunshine” by Len. Make the connection, Matt.
Matt: I’m thinking Dementor attack in Prisoner of Azkaban with Harry and Sirius, because, you know, [sings] “when you steal my sunshine…” Dementors fly, you know, every light goes out…
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matt: …and it gets really dark.
Andrew: That’s a good one, I like it. Who’s next, Eric?
Eric: I’ll go.
[“I’ve Got the Power” by Snap begins playing]
Andrew: [sings] I’ve got the power.
[song continues]
Andrew: “I’ve Got the Power” by Snap.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Eric: Geez, I like that song a lot.
Andrew: No wonder you picked it for yourself. [laughs]
Eric: No, but the thing is though, and I would like to call it cheap myself, but I picked it two, three weeks ago, so I’m actually stumped. I don’t know what I was going to say…
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Eric: …for this song, so I have nothing planned. I think it’s Neville. I think it’s Neville rejoicing that he’s got the power to lead Dumbledore’s Army now. It’s Neville assuming the leadership role, in Dumbledore’s Army, in his seventh year. So, I could see Neville striding around, “I’ve got the power, yeah.”
Andrew: Nice. All right. Apparently I’m up next.
[“Under Pressure” by Queen begins playing]
Andrew: You would.
[song continues]
Andrew: Eric was all clever. He titled this “DBQ Up,” which is something I never heard, and I actually never played this audio file, but it’s actually, of course, “Under Pressure” by Queen. Okay, well…
Eric: I was happy that you didn’t play it.
Andrew: This can be applied to several scenes in the book, but I guess, if I had to make a connection – well, this isn’t exactly what would probably would be my first choice, but how about when Aunt Marge has a lot of pressure in her; she’s about to explode.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Or I mean, you could also connect it to Harry. Maybe when he’s walking in the forest, the Forbidden Forest, and he’s seeing all of his family members, and, you know, at that point he has a lot of rage, but he also has a lot of pressure.
Eric: Mmmm, that’s a good connection.
Andrew: Yeah, I guess.
Matt: Yeah, that’s good.
Eric: Yeah, it was all right.
Andrew: All right, Micah, pick a number, one or two.
Micah: Two.
Eric: [laughs] You just saved yourself.
[“It Ends Tonight” by The All-American Rejects plays]
Andrew: “It Ends Tonight” by All-American Rejects
Matt: [sings] Just a little insight…
Micah: Well, uh…
Matt: Sorry.
Micah: The easiest pick for this would be Harry’s defeat of Dumbledore – [laughs] – I mean of Voldemort.
Eric: [laughs] Woah.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Harry and Dumbledore, they faced, did they?
Micah: No. Yeah, I mean the end scene when Voldemort finally is defeated, the lyrics obviously apply. Or just that whole battle scene, you know, starting with the a…
Eric: The walk in the forest even.
Micah: Yeah, leading up to, you know, with Neville slicing off Nagini’s head.
Eric: Ooh.
Matt: Ooh ouch.
Eric: Great scene.
Micah: Just that whole scene.
Eric: Andrew, you should do that thing, ’cause it’s a fun game show, to show Micah the clip that he almost got ’cause I don’t want to do it again next week.
Micah: Yeah, I’ll do that one too. Go ahead.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Oh, man, Micah, feeling a little good lately.
Micah: I’m generous, I’m generous.
Andrew: All right, here’s song number one that you could have chosen.
[“Dirty Deeds Done with Sheep” begins playing]
Andrew: “Dirty Deeds Done With Sheep” by Bob Rivers. It’s probably the most random song I’ve ever heard.
Micah: Dirty Deeds, huh?
Andrew: Done with Sheep. You obviously know what Eric’s going for there: the goats.
Micah: I don’t think that song would apply anywhere in the Harry Potter series.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: The Harry Potter series is too innocent for that.
Micah: Aberforth, perhaps? His theme song?
Eric: [laughs] Sorry, I’ll stop the goat references.
Micah: That’s about all I can come up with.
Matt: Don’t fuel the fans anymore.
Eric: Yeah, no. I shouldn’t. Two weeks ago it was “Walk on the Wild Side.” Sorry, Micah, but you got All-American Rejects this week so that’s good. If Laura were here she would have the best Make the Music Connection song ever. Gosh.
This Week in MuggleCast History
Andrew: Well, we will save it for her next time. It’s time to do This Week in MuggleCast. This goes all the way back to – I think it was Episode 38, Micah?
Micah: 39, I think. 39.
Andrew: 39. It was in February of that year.
Micah: No, it wasn’t. It was May.
Andrew: Yeah, sorry. What am I thinking?
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: It was in May.
Eric: This week…
Andrew: This was the first time we premiered “Give Me A Butterbeer” and, well, you can listen to it. Let’s go back in time now.
[Everyone makes going back in time sounds]
Andrew: So this week, we are going to try something new that Ben’s been formulating in the back of his mind for a while. It’s called “Give Me A Butterbeer”!
Ben: Y’all ready for this?
Eric: It’s called “Give Me A Butterbeer”?
Ben: Yes. This – yes it is, actually. This segment is inspired by Mr. John Stossel, a co-anchor on ABC News’ 20/20. And I really liked watching it because he’d bring up an issue that’s just in society each week, and he would talk about it and explain how it’s completely bogus – and then at the end, he’d say, “Give me a break!” And so this is a spin-off off of that…
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: …relating directly to Harry Potter and things that people are concerned about. So, let’s go with week one. This time, I’m – this week we’re talking about Internet movie piracy.
“In a move to curb Internet piracy this past week, Warner Brothers signed a deal with popular P2P client BitTorrent, allowing consumers to download hundreds of Warner Brothers productions legally. TV shows will start off at $1.00, and movies will be around the same price of a DVD rental. The president of Warner Brothers stated: ‘We’ve been struggling with peer-to-peer technology and trying to figure out a way to harness the good in all that the technology allows us to do. If we can convert 5, 10 or 15 percent of the…'”
[Andrew makes going back in time sounds]
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I cut the clip a little short because it does go on for a while. But…
Eric: Just listen to the episode if you want to hear it, but…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …that was a great walk back in time.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, I’ll give you a little inside info on that. “Give Me A Butterbeer.” I think I’ve said this before, maybe it was just on PicklePack. But “Give Me A Butterbeer” didn’t last as long as it should have because, when Ben started it, I specifically recommended it to – recommended to him – I said, “Look, Ben, you – don’t do this every” – he was really excited about this segment, he had really gotten into it, and I said, “look, you can’t do this every week or you’re going to run out of things to talk about really quick.” But of course he was like, “no, no, no, I got this, I got this. I’ll be able to come up with stuff,” and sure enough he does it for like five of six episodes and then he runs out of stuff to talk about.
Eric: Mmm…
Andrew: So…
Eric: But still, that was after he had gotten a few classic Give Me A Butterbeers in.
Andrew: I know.
Eric: Do you remember the one about obesity – childhood obesity?
Andrew: Emma Watson.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: There are a few.
Micah: That was the first, though…
Andrew: Yeah, it was…
Micah: That was the very first one he ever did. May 15, 2006, so – Episode 39, two years ago. That’s…
Andrew: Two years ago.
Eric: Wow.
Micah: Crazy.
Andrew: Pretty crazy.
Eric: It’s funny because this segment makes it seem like we do something important every week or – or that we’ve done something so very significant, you know, to the fiber of our being every…
Andrew: Yeah, well, it’s something significant…
Micah: Right.
Andrew: …or something fun.
Eric: Exactly. I like this segment. It’s good.
Micah: As I mentioned to Andrew earlier, we’re not going to get to it because of – because we’ll obviously be moving one week ahead next week, but Episode 90 premiered around the same time last year, and that was of course our big symbol discussion. You know, what the heck is that thing? And what does it mean?
[Eric laughs]
Micah: And little did we know that…
Eric: That it’s the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.
Micah: We should have known that. I mean, how stupid are we? Thinking…
[Eric laughs]
Micah: Looking back on it – I mean – the book is called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Andrew: Because – because there wasn’t much emphasis on it. It was just on the spine of the book…
Eric: Yeah, there was…
Andrew: …of the U.K. edition.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: And then there were that rumor…
Andrew: That was the only place we saw it.
Eric: There was that rumor that it was in the Goblet of Fire movie in Dumbledore’s office.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And we examined the photo of… [laughs]… Yeah.
Micah: Maybe it was. Who knows? It could still have been something inspired by that.
Eric: We’re such geeks.
Create Your Own MuggleCast Segment
Andrew: So, Penultimate segment today. Of course the Create Your Own MuggleCast Segment contest. This week we are announcing our grand prize winner. Came home with first place and will be winning a fifty dollar gift certificate to Alivan’s to get your very own wand, robe, scarf, whatever you want related to the wizarding world. Alivan’s has it at Alivans.com. Matt, who is the first place winner?
Matt: Okay! Our grand prize winner of the Make Your Own MuggleCast Segment contest is Lauren and Shannon from the – actually, the MuggleNet Fan Forums.
Andrew: Yeah! Yay!
Matt: Yay! It’s derrangedfangirl and shannonsims – I think their aliases. Woo!
Andrew: Shannonsims hates me for some reason.
Matt: Oh. It’s probably because you stole her last name.
Andrew: But all right. No, she stole mine.
Matt: Yeah. Okay. It’s called My Generation, and it was a very good segment. It was about how they went into – in D…
Andrew: Well, how about we play it, so…
Matt: Oh, well. If… [laughs]… if you want to do that, that’s fine. Just go do it.
Andrew: Okay. Let’s play it.
My Generation
Lauren: Welcome to My Generation.
Shannon: The new segment on MuggleCast where we talk about the next generation of Hogwarts students.
Lauren: I’m Lauren or derrangedfangirl on the infamous fan forums.
Shannon: And I’m Shannon or shannonsims on the fan forums.
Lauren: Right. So, today we’re going to be discussing the next generation of Hogwarts students, particularly the new generation of Potters.
Shannon: Yes.
Lauren: Let’s start with James.
Shannon: All right. James Sirius Potter II. No. Wait, is it the second if they don’t have the same middle name?
Lauren: No, I don’t think so.
Shannon: Oh.
Lauren: So it’s just James Sirius Potter.
Shannon: Yeah. What do you think of his name?
Lauren: It’s… It’s a pretty good name actually.
Shannon: Yeah.
Lauren: I mean, you know, I guess it goes pretty far into his character, the name.
Shannon: Yeah.
Lauren: His character’s a lot like James Potter in this chapter.
Shannon: Yeah, and also a little bit like Sirius. The whole joking thing.
Lauren: What do we know about him already?
Shannon: Well, we know that he is in Gryffindor and he is, as of the epilogue, going into his second year of Hogwarts.
Lauren: So he’s twelve then.
Shannon: Mhm.
Lauren: And we see a lot of him joking around making fun of Albus, typical older brother I suppose.
Shannon: Yeah.
Lauren: Does he? Who does he remind you the most, Albus?
Shannon: Ummm… I think James and Sirius… [laughs] …but I can see just a smidge of Harry and maybe some Ron.
Lauren: Yeah.
Shannon: And Fred and George.
Lauren: Oh yeah, definitely like Fred and George.
Shannon: And Ginny even says, “You are so like Ron,” after he walks in on Teddy and Victiore snogging.
Lauren: Yeah. Well, they weren’t precisely hiding it, but, yeah, definitely.
Shannon: Yeah. [laughs]
Lauren: How do you picture him when you get a mental image of James? How do you picture him?
Shannon: Okay, so in my mind, he looks – he has the famous Potter black hair. He doesn’t have glasses though. He has Ginny’s eyes, he has kind of Harry’s nose, and he’s got, like, I don’t know why, but I picture him having one of the other Weasley brothers, like brother George’s, their lips. I don’t know.
Lauren: Yeah, I know what you mean. I can’t wait to see this chapter in the movie, because I mean, I don’t love this chapter, but I think it would be interesting to see.
Shannon: They are going to butcher it I think.
Lauren: Yeah, probably.
Shannon: I don’t want to see, like – I don’t want to see Dan all like pretending to be forty or whatever. He’s only twenty-one.
Lauren: How old are they supposed to be? Because, I mean, they left Hogwarts at seventeen, they got married. They didn’t wait too long until they got married, did they?
Shannon: No, but they waited a little bit to have kids. Like they were in their mid-twenties.
Lauren: Oh.
Shannon: I’m just looking at this picture of Dan from My Boy Jack with the mustache, and I am just afraid that they are going to do that.
[Both laugh]
Lauren: Oh god, that’d be really weird. I don’t know. Personally, I’m not really a Radcliffe fan.
Shannon: Nah.
Lauren: Actually, I get a bad mental image of him.
Shannon: There’s one more thing about James in here. Now he seems to be – to pass himself off as like a tough guy. All right, so I found this quote that I think summarizes James because I don’t think he’s really as tough as he makes himself out to be. All right, so here it is: “‘You’ll write to me, won’t you?’ Albus asked his parents immediately, capitalizing on the momentary absence of his brother. ‘Every day if you want us to,’ said Ginny. ‘Not every day,’ said Albus quickly. ‘James says most people only get letters from home about once a month.’ ‘We wrote to James three times a week last year,’ said Ginny.”
Lauren: Yeah, that is quite a good quote. He’s kind of like…
Shannon: He’s an introvert, I think.
Lauren: I don’t know, I sort of think James is actually quite an extrovert, but that he – but I agree with big softy inside.
Shannon: Yeah.
Lauren: That’s – that’s sort of why he reminds me a lot of Sirius, and that could just be because of all Marauder fic I’ve read.
Shannon: Maybe.
Lauren: But I’ve always thought of James and Sirius as being kind of fake arrogant.
Shannon: Yeah.
Lauren: Particularly James, as his defense mechanism, being an interesting parallel I think.
Shannon: Hm, yeah. I don’t know, or maybe they’re just assholes. [laughs] Wait, are we allowed to say that?
Lauren: Yeah, I think we are. Let’s just just roll with it.
Shannon: All right, so now we will talk about Ms. Lily Luna Potter. Now what do you think about her name? I like the Lily part but the Luna, not so much.
Lauren: I – it just doesn’t fit. We see this awesome parallel between her and Ginny…
Shannon: Mhm.
Lauren: …at the beginning. I am going to read a little bit of this just because it’s so funny: “‘It won’t be long now you’ll be going too,’ Harry told him. ‘Two years,’ sniffled Lily, ‘I want to go now.'” That’s just so perfectly Ginny in the first book.
Shannon: Yeah. I know.
Lauren: Do you picture her with red hair?
Shannon: Yeah.
Lauren: I do. Definitely.
Shannon: Definitely.
Lauren: Definitely.
Shannon: I picture most of the Weasley girls with red hair, but the Weasley guys, it depends.
Lauren: I actually picture Albus Severus with red hair, but we’ll talk about that in a moment as well.
Shannon: Yes, we will.
Lauren: So Lily.
Shannon: I like her. I – I’ll – Ginny’s always been one of my favorite characters.
Lauren: What House do you think she’d be in?
Shannon: Gryffindor.
Lauren: Yeah, so do I. And last but certainly no least.
Shannon: Albus Severus.
Lauren: Woo!
Shannon: God. It’s a horrible name.
Lauren: I know, right? I mean, really, if you want your kid to have a serious inferiority complex, name him after the two people who were, like, your idols. I mean…
Shannon: I know.
Lauren: I bet Harry quotes Dumbledore all the time…
Shannon: Oh my god.
Lauren: [unintelligible]
Shannon: “It is our actions, Albus, far more then our abilities.”
Lauren: [laughs] We need Ben.
Shannon: Yeah.
Lauren: I with I could find that and play it. I’ll be Severus. Let’s do a mental image thing.
Shannon: Mini-Harry.
Lauren: Yeah, me too.
Shannon: [laughs] [unintelligible] Except he’s got like one or two small things from Ginny.
Lauren: Yeah.
Shannon: It may be a nose or lips.
Lauren: Do you think he’s in Gryffindor maybe?
Shannon: I think he’s in Gryffindor. Yeah.
Lauren: Why do you think he’s in Gryffindor?
Shannon: Because he’s mini-Harry in my mind, and he’s just – he has to be in Gryffindor because he wants it so bad. And I think that he’d be pretty courageous, but I could see him in Hufflepuff just ’cause he’s so adorable. [laughs] Not a pedophile [pronounces like “pee-do-file”] – ah – pedophile [pronounces like “ped-o-file”] – ah.
[Both laugh]
Shannon: See, you messed me up.
Lauren: Sorry.
Shannon: Now I’ll say pedophile [pee-do-file] all the time.
Lauren: Well, I didn’t do it. It was Jamie. Hey, you know what? It’s not my fault you people don’t speak English.
Shannon: [laughs] Hey.
Lauren: Oh, it’s true
Shannon: I’m American, okay?
Lauren: Exactly.
[Both laugh]
Lauren: So do you think that he could be in Ravenclaw as well?
Shannon: Yeah, ’cause he seems pretty smart. Like, Harry was pretty smart.
Lauren: Yeah, did this…
Shannon: My…
Lauren: Did this tell Harry that he had the ready-wit learning thing?
Shannon: Yeah. It seems that he’d be good anywhere but Slytherin.
Lauren: Yeah.
Shannon: Which I find to be ironic, because that is his biggest fear.
Lauren: Which is why I always want to say…
Shannon: I…
Lauren: …Hufflepuff. Because – I mean not because it’s a fair thing, but because I don’t know that Gryffindor really is the opposite of Slytherin.
Shannon: Yeah. This has been My Generation. See you next time!
Lauren: Bye.
The Prize
Eric: Congratulations, guys.
Matt: Yeah. Woo!
Eric: Or girls.
Matt: Good job, girls! [laughs]
Eric: Learn and chat.
Andrew: Fifty-dollar gift certifi – certificate to Alivan’s that you guys can split.
Matt: Congrats to that. You guys did a great job.
Eric: Woot!
Matt: I thought that was a really good segment.
Andrew: Well, to wrap up the show today, here is another good segment.
Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul
[Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul intro plays]
Andrew: From Anna Swenson, 17, of Phoenix. She writes:
“Hello, gorgeous hosts. I just finished the AP lit…” Oh, sorry, this is the Chicken Soup: AP Edition. “I just finished the AP literature test and I have all of you to thank for the perfect nine I anticipate receiving on my free response essay. Thanks to all of your brilliant analysis and character studies it was easy as boggart banishing to write it – to write about how Draco Malfoy is the minor character in “Deathly Hallows,” that by contrast reveals the virtues of the protagonist: the foil. The reason Chapter-by-Chapters were especially helpful. Not only do I feel like a badass for sticking it to the collage board, I wrote a really good essay. So thanks, and keep up the lovely loquaciousness.” Ooo, man, big words.
Eric: Ooh. I’d love to find out how she stuck it to the collage board.
Andrew: Yeah. I’m not sure. I guess just by listening to a podcast for…
Micah: And…
Eric: Send us your essay.
Micah: …and just to clear things up she’s thanking us in advance for the perfect nine that she anticipates getting, but by comparison, and if for any reason doesn’t get that grade, we’re not to be held…
Andrew and Micah: …responsible…
Micah: …in any way, shape, or form.
[Matt laughs]
Eric: Yeah, we’re not liable, seriously. Yeah, you’re welcome, and all that, but, seriously…
Micah: Sorry, Anna.
Eric: [laughs] …that’s as far as it goes. Unless you get a 9, and then we can add that to our little sayings when you first load MuggleCast.com: “We get people 9’s on their AP finals.” But, actually, I mean I’m sure it took a lot of work on her own, and it’s, you know, we didn’t give, you know….
Matt: I still have faith in you, Anna.
Eric: Yeah.
Matt: I think you did good.
Eric: Absolutely. It’ll be great. Thanks so much though.
Contact Information
Andrew: So to wrap up the show today, it’s time to remind everyone about our contact information. Micah, what’s the P.O. Box?
Micah: It is P.O. Box 3151 Cumming, Georgia, 30028. Send lots of stuff to Laura. She’s going to be home.
Andrew: As I mentioned earlier in the show, you can call in a question to the MuggleCast hotline. If you’re in the United States, you can dial 1-218-20-Magic. If you’re in the United Kingdom, you can dial 02081440677. And, if you’re in Australia, you can dial 0280035668. You can also Skype the username MuggleCast. No matter how you contact us, just remember to keep your message under 60 seconds and eliminate as much background noise as possible. We’ll try to keep with voicemails pretty regularly, so make sure to send those in and send in some good questions about anything related to Potter.
[Show music begins]
Andrew: You can also visit MuggleCast.com for our handy feedback form to send in some Muggle Mail to us, or just use our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com to contact one of us individually. You can also visit MuggleCast.com for a variety of community outlets including our MySpace, our Facebook, our YouTube, our Frappr, our Last.FM, our fanlistings, our forums. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Digg the show at Digg.com and vote for us once a month at…
Andrew and
Matt: Podcast Alley.
Show Close
Andrew: That does it for this week’s episode. I do want to say real quick that not next week – will next week be – let’s see.
Matt: No, it’s the week after.
Andrew: Next week should – will probably be our live episode concerning the trailer – the teaser trailer. We’re going to try to do one live online.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: And then after that, we are going to be taking a week off because I am moving to California.
Micah: Well, congratulations.
Matt: Oh, nice job. Where are you moving to?
Andrew: Thank you, Micah. [laughs] Thank you.
Eric: Well, good on ya’, good on ya’, Andrew.
Andrew: Thank you, everyone. I only say that because there’s going to be a lot of stuff going on. I know everyone else could do the show without me, but I have to edit it, and put it on…
Eric: No, we couldn’t, Andrew, it just wouldn’t be the same.
Andrew: Oh, Eric, you’re – you’re such a charmer. Thank you.
Matt: Aw, you’re such a suck-up.
Andrew: But we’ll be doing our live show the week before that…
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: …and we’ll need a break. We haven’t had a week off in a while, so…
Eric: Yeah. We’re talking five hour long live show here.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, maybe not that long, but…
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: …maybe we’ll do it extra long since we’ll take the week off the following week.
Matt: Yeah. It’ll be good enough for two weeks.
Andrew: Yeah. So that does it for Episode 145. Once again, I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: I am Eric sober.
Micah: Uh, I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Matt: And I’m Matthew Britton.
Andrew: Thank you, everyone, for listening, we’ll see you next week for Episode 146. Hopefully our…
Andrew and Matt: …live show.
Matt: Ho-ho!
Andrew: Buh-bye!
Matt: Bye, guys!