MuggleCast 153 Transcript
Show Intro
Andrew: Today’s podcast is also brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of spoken word entertainment. What are you listening to after today’s episode? How about a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up? Log on to www.AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast today for details.
[Intro music begins]
Andrew: Hey, Mason, did you know that on July 1, Yahoo! Domain renewal pricing increased to $34.95 per year?
Mason: $34.95 per year? No way! Ridiculous! That’s not a deal at all.
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[Show music begins]
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 continues]
Micah: Because we are live from Portus in Dallas, Texas, this is MuggleCast Episode 153 for July 11th, 2008.
Andrew: Yeah! All right!
Matt: Woo!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: That’s good.
[Show music continues]
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Whoa!
Matt: Yes!
Andrew: Geez. Wow. Oh, man. Okay. Wow. Thank – you really did not have to do that.
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: Thank you. Welcome, everybody, to MuggleCast live at Portus!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Thanks for staying up so late. Let’s introduce the round table of hosts that have come out this evening. Let’s start here to my right – no, sorry, let’s start to the left.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Just screwed that up. The lovely Elysa Montford!
Elysa: Hi.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Hailing from Maryland.
Elysa: Hey, guys.
Andrew: This is new the newbie table over here. They haven’t done a live podcast before, so go easy on them.
Matt: Please.
Andrew: Second, hailing from Southern California, Mr. Matt Britton!
[Audience cheers]
Matt: Hi.
Andrew: To my right, the lovely, insightful [raises voice] always thought provoking, blah, blah, blah, Laura Thompson.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: And last, but not least, MuggleCast news anchor Micah Tannenbaum!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Do you have an intro for us, Micah?
Micah: I do. All right. Because we are live from Portus in Dallas, Texas, this is MuggleCast Episode 153 for July 11th 2008.
Andrew: Yeah, all right!
Matt: Woo!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: That’s good. That was good. How is everyone enjoying Portus today? Everyone…
Audience Member: It’s amazing!
Andrew: Oh my God, I know! [laughs] Portus has been a lot of fun. Who went to the Wizard Rock show last night with the Mudbloods and the Moaning Myrtles?
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Some awesome music. I love The Moaning Myrtles, they are the sweetest people. You know, I come to their show and they don’t come to mine. I’ll remember that. Thank you, thank you.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Nah, I’m just kidding.
Matt: Because you’re not any good.
Andrew: And the Mudbloods were there too. Who went to the opening feast last night? Oh my God.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: The food there, Laura and I went. The food was awesome. Mexican, right?
Laura: Yeah, it was fantastic. Who else loved it? Let’s just gives a round of applause for the people here at Portus who are making this happen for us.
[Crowd applauds and cheers]
Andrew: Yay food!
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: So we’re going to treat this like a normal MuggleCast episode. So we’ll start with the news. There hasn’t been much news this week. I mean I’m sure you’re all checking MuggleNet regularly, right? Ha, yeah, ten dollars for Internet. Okay, so…
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: Micah, what’s been going on in the news? There’s only one story that’s worth discussing, right?
Micah: Well, I was kind of disappointed because there were no pictures this week.
Andrew: No… [laughs]
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, but what happened? What actually happened this week?
News: Teaser to be with Dark Knight
Micah: Well, there was a little bit of a story, and apparently IMAX confirmed it, that the trailer for Half-Blood Prince, the teaser trailer, will be with Dark Knight.
Andrew: Wait, wait, a teaser – teaser trailer. Fifteen seconds preview for Half-Blood Prince coming with IMAX…
Matt: That’s not even a teaser though, that’s fifteen seconds.
Andrew: I don’t even think it’s going to – go ahead. Was someone going to say something? I didn’t even think – that doesn’t even count. I mean it sucks. I don’t know.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Is anyone going to go see The Dark Knight in IMAX?
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Oh my God, it’s going to be an awesome movie. Yeah, that’s going to be a lot of fun. I don’t know, but it’s just kind of disappointing.
Laura: Sorry, sharing a mic here. Anyway, now do we know anything about The Mummy? Has there been any other news on that, or…
Andrew: No.
Laura: Okay, I’m going to just state – say here, that I will be officially ticked off if it comes out with The Mummy.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: I’m going to be so mad because that movie looks like it’s going to suck.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: But that’s exactly – somebody e-mailed us and said the reason why Half-Blood Prince teaser trailer is going to be with The Mummy is because the movie does suck, and Universal knows that.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Just saying. I don’t know. That’s what the source said.
Micah: Well, they have to sell tickets.
Andrew: Huh?
Micah: They have to sell tickets.
Andrew: They have to sell tickets, yeah. How you going to do it? So anyway, that was the news this week. Is there any other news stories anybody wanted to discuss? Any hot topics? No, nothing, right? Yeah. Boo, boring.
[Audience member says something]
Audible Advertisement
Andrew: Yeah, we’ll take questions later on during the show. But anyway, today’s podcast 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. On the summer road tour the co-hosts and I listened to a few audiobooks from Audible to pass the time. It’s a fantastic listening experience and it’s a great way to so some reading. Log on to www.AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast to get a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up today. Again go to www.AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast for your free audiobook.
Epilogue-by-Epilogue: “Epilogue”
Andrew: As everyone probably already knows we do Chapter-by-Chapter, and last week we did the final chapter, so this week we’re going to do the epilogue.
Matt: Yes.
Andrew: And we came up with a discussion for it. There’s not – well, go ahead, Laura.
Laura: Okay. So, as we kind of discussed on our previous show, we are going to do a one time series, Epilogue-by-Epilogue.
[Andrew laughs]
Initial Reactions
Laura: So we’re going to start – it’s nineteen years later. What were all of our initial reactions when we finished the final Harry Potter book?
[Matt laughs]
Laura: How did you guys feel? Micah Tannenbaum, you want to start us off?
Micah: I think I said this when we first went over Deathly Hallows. I wasn’t really thrilled with the epilogue. I thought it was kind of weak.
[Audience member groans]
Andrew: Whoa!
Micah: [laughs] All right. I just didn’t feel like there was a whole lot of substance to it. I felt that there could have been a little bit more. I know everybody is going to say, “well that’s what the encyclopedia’s for, and we’ll find out more information as time goes along,” but I was really disappointed. I was looking for a little bit more, and I thought it was kind of cheesy, to be honest.
Some Audience Members: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: I don’t know. I mean – I cried through the whole thing anyway, so it doesn’t really matter what I think!
[Andrew, Micah and audience laugh]
Andrew: Yeah. No. I was – it’s just that we are – our expectations were so much more, I think. Didn’t everyone think it was going to be like something more? I mean, I don’t even – I can’t remember what I thought now, my mind’s just so thrown off by it, but it was good. It was fun. It was cute. It was – I think it was what it was supposed to be. It was just supposed to screw up any future fan fiction. Right, Elysa of MuggleNet Fan Fiction?
[Audience laughs]
Elysa: Yeah. Exactly. I mean – I was sort of in shock when I read it, I think, but I have to agree with Micah. But looking back on it in retrospect, I think the only reason that maybe I didn’t like it as much at the time is because of the fan fiction aspect, because it really ruined it. And for those who don’t know, I’m one of the head moderators on MuggleNet Fan Fiction, so I have to deal with this a lot, so now everything is alternate universe these days because of the epilogue.
Laura: Ron and the Giant Squid.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: That’s all I’ll say.
Andrew: Matt, what do you think about it?
Matt: I thought it was okay. It – it seemed really like J.K. Rowling wrote this, like, when she first wrote the first book. Like she – like this was something that she wrote a long time ago. It was something that she wrote right after she wrote the last chapter. It seemed kind of disconnected from the story a little bit. It was just kind of like, “Oh, I’m going to throw that name in this and take someone else’s character and put it in that name,” and it was okay. I don’t think it was a let down, but it was okay.
Andrew: Let’s go through it, Laura.
House Unity
Laura: All right, so I think one of the most important things that we saw wrapped up in this epilogue was the issue of House unity. Here we see that Harry tells his son, Albus Severus – and we’ll get on the subject of names in a few minutes.
[Audience laughs]
Laura: I just saw all of your faces turn.
[Audience laughs]
Laura: So anyhow, he tells him that he didn’t care what House his son ended up in, and he frankly said that, “I knew a great man, the man that I named you after, who was in the Slytherin House.” Now, do we really think all the House rivalry is gone? I mean really.
Matt: No. I hope not. There wouldn’t be nothing to read or anything.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s half the fun.
Laura: That’s the point, I think.
Matt: Oh.
Laura: There is nothing left to read.
[Andrew and Audience laughs]
Laura: But, I mean, really, you have to consider, doesn’t it seem a bit too optimistic to say that there are no other Draco Malfoy-ish characters at Hogwarts, who are kind of perpetuating this idea of Gryffindor versus Slytherin? Really?
Matt: Yeah. But there is one, so does it really matter?
Laura: [laughs] Way to take the wind out of my sails there. Anyhow…
Andrew: Really.
[Audience laughs]
Laura: So do we think that there are any characters at Hogwarts like this at this point, and let’s just, you know, set aside the fact that there is no other book for a second, and think, you know, could be another character at Hogwarts who’s perpetuating this kind of stereotype? Or do you think that anyone who sort of disagrees with the overall sentiment of the school would choose not to go there?
Matt: What?
[Audience laughs]
Micah: I think a couple of people in the crowd mentioned Scorpius. And it’s certainly a name just by itself that would, you know, lend to evil doings at the school.
Andrew and Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: All right. Nothing else, no?
Andrew, Matt, and Micah: No.
Matt: Well, I like the fact that J.K. Rowling put Harry’s son, James, kind of has a Fred Weasley quality to it. It’s kind of like bringing back the dead of Fred Weasley.
Elysa: He kind of has a James Potter quality about him, honestly. I mean…
Matt: Yeah, but, I mean, no one cried for James because he already died before the book started.
[Audience laughs]
Elysa: Speak for yourself! I cried for James!
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: He was in the first ten seconds of Sorcerer’s Stone.
Elysa: You have no heart, Matt.
Laura: Elysa’s a Marauder fan girl.
[Andrew and the Audience laughs]
Elysa: I’m a big Marauders fan, so…
Laura: So, anyhow, unless anyone has anything else they want to say. Yes? No?
Andrew: No, let’s continue.
Closure with Draco
Laura: Thank you, Andrew. So we have this great moment of closure between Draco and the trio. And actually, what it says is – let me actually look here. “Draco caught sight of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny staring at him, nodded curtly, and turned away again.” Now, did we expect more or less of him?
Andrew: I just – what – it is…
Matt: Backup.
Andrew: …nineteen years later. I mean, is this the first time they met after that? After – from nineteen years?
Matt: No.
Andrew: Yeah, see. That’s what I’m saying. I get what J.K. Rowling’s doing. She trying to tell us, you know, ’cause otherwise how would we know? So he would have to do it again, but, I don’t know. It’s like, get over it, Draco, right? I mean…
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Well, Draco’s getting bald, isn’t he?
Andrew: Yeah, he is.
[Elysa and Audience laughs]
Matt: Then he must be pissed off.
[Audience laughs harder]
Matt: I mean…
Andrew: I wonder if he has long hair. He’s starting to get long hair like his father.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: No?
Matt: No. No. No.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: But I mean, would you expect any of you – that Draco might be a little more, I don’t know, nice? I mean, they did save his life.
Matt: No.
Elysa: No.
Elysa and Matt: No.
Matt: No. Draco’s just – I mean, Draco didn’t repent his – I mean, he didn’t repent at all after he got saved, like, twice by Harry. He’s staying.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: He’s staying. He’s a dick.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Everyone is a Weasley Somehow
Laura: Okay. So this one was kind of something that I wanted to let Elysa field because it was an observation she made. So this is one little segment we titled, “Everyone is a Weasley Somehow.”
Elysa: One big happy Weasley family, right?
[Audience cheers]
Elysa: Right.
Andrew: How, Elysa? Enlighten us.
Elysa: Well, I mean, Harry marries Ginny, and Hermione marries Ron, and I don’t know if anyone has noticed this, but there’s actually been a lot of speculation on, like, the forums – thank you Matt.
[Audience laughs]
Matt: You’re welcome.
Elysa: There’s been a lot of speculation on the forums and the fan fiction site that, I think it’s Albus and Rose, are going to get together. And there’s been a whole bunch of stories about that. So, I mean, it’s sort of never ending, isn’t it? The whole Weasley thing?
Matt: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, I mean you have Teddy Lupin making out with, Vic – Victoire. I think that’s right?
Elysa: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Laura: I don’t speak French…
Elysa: That’s right.
Laura: I don’t speak the French thing, but…
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Matt: That’s like scary, kind of close to being a family, too. There’s isn’t many other options than that.
Laura: Yeah, I mean, I’m from Georgia, so I’ve seen that. I’ve seen some people where I live, who are, you know, they’re a little close for family, but hopefully they don’t do that in Britain. I don’t know.
Andrew: England? Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Matt: And Britain.
[Audience and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Yes.
End of the Epilogue
Laura: So, just to kind of wrap up what we think, because we’re going to let you guys get your say in here in a few minutes, what did we all think of the way the epilogue ended? Essentially, the last sentence of it is, “The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.”
Andrew: I talked about this last week. I just wanted her to end the book with scar! Like – and I’m not going to get over that. The second to last sentence had scar in it; you could’ve reworded it.
Matt: Yeah, they could have just said, “All was well…”
Matt and Laura: “Scar.”
Andrew: Yes, exactly!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Would anyone have complained?
Matt: Yes.
Andrew: No. No. Why?
Matt: It’s stupid!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I don’t care if it’s stupid!
Laura: Okay, Andrew Sims, Okay. Please just, on the spot, reword the last sentence of Book 6…
Andrew: Yeah, see, and I was going to do this…
Laura: …with scar as the last word.
Andrew: Well, I don’t know.
Laura: There’s no way you can do it!
Andrew: I need a couple more energy drinks. “The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years.” “Nineteen years had…pained…scar.”
[Audience and Laura laugh]
Andrew: “All was well – all was well, because no pain for nineteen years came from the scar.” There we go! I did it! Right, right?!
[Audience cheers]
Laura: New York Times best-selling material right there.
Matt: Is that even proper grammar?
Laura: I don’t think so.
Andrew: Ah, it was close. It was close enough.
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: That’s going to be the title of this show. Actually, it won’t fit on MuggleNet, so no.
[Someone says something unintelligible]
Quote Quiz from Epilogue
Andrew: What? Okay. Go ahead, intro it.
Laura: I don’t think I have the right voice for that, Andrew. I’m pretty sure there’s a special…
Andrew: Laura wants me to do Quote Quiz, which means I have to loosen my Quote Quiz throat, get back into the…
Matt: Quote Quiz for…what?
Andrew: I’m going to let everybody…
Matt: Are we going to do Quote Quiz for, like, the back of the cover, or something?
Andrew: Yes! Yes!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Okay, so it’s time for Quote Quiz! [echoes]
Matt: Oh, do it again, do it again, do it again.
Andrew: I don’t want to pop the mic. Quote Quiz! [echoes]
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Close enough, okay? So, what are we going to – Quote Quiz for the epilogue? Oh, you have one here already! Perfect. I didn’t look at these before we started, probably should have done that. Okay, so we’re going to quiz you, and then somebody will try to figure out who said it. So, “Don’t let it worry you, it’s me, I’m extremely famous.”
Audience: Ron!
Andrew: Oh, okay, wait! There are people sitting here reading the book!
[Everyone laughs]
Matt: Oh, you cheaters!
Andrew: Yeah, okay, I trust some people, yeah. All right, so that’s how we play Quote Quiz. [echoes]
[A few audience members laugh]
Andrew: Boy, you guys – wow, thanks a lot for the support.
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: Just kidding. [laughs]
MuggleCast 153 Transcript (continued)
Audience Involvement with Epilogue-by-Epilogue
Laura: So now we’re going to wrap up our one-time installment of Epilogue-by-Epilogue. And we’re going to give you guys a little bit of a say, because we know you guys have opinions too. So what we’re going to do is I’m going to ask a pretty general question, and if your response to the question is positive, I want you to scream as loud as you can. And I mean, we’re not playing around.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Let it all out. Seriously.
Matt: Don’t kill yourselves though.
Laura: Yeah, please don’t do that. That wouldn’t be good. And then after the screaming has subsided, if your answer to the question is negative, just yell, “no” as loud as you can.
Matt: Why don’t you just say “yes” and “no”?
Laura: Because it’s more fun to scream.
Andrew: Yes, it’s fun when you scream.
Laura: And it’s mean to boo.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Laura: Okay.
Andrew: All right, so what’s the question?
Laura: All right, question number one: what did you think of the kids’ names, Albus Severus, Lily and James and Scorpio?
Matt: So…
Elysa: Hugo. And Hugo.
Laura: Well, cheer if you liked it; cheer if you liked it.
[Audience members scream]
Laura: There we go. That’s what I’m talking about. And now everyone else is no, right?
Andrew: That was like two people.
Audience members: No!
Matt: No.
Andrew: But doesn’t it pay tribute to the characters who we’ve come to love so much? I mean, that’s the whole point of it.
Matt: No, no, no.
Andrew: Scorpius, yeah, even I admitted last year that was a weird name, but – it sounds like an animal, a scorpion.
Matt: I think that’s what it’s from.
Laura: Sounds like Mortal Kombat.
Andrew: Too many people yelling. Call the MuggleCast hotline if you have a comment.
Matt: Yeah.
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Andrew: Okay, what’s the next question?
Micah: All right, second question: did you think the epilogue provided enough information and closure? Yes?
[A few audience members scream]
Micah: Or no?
Most of Audience: NO!
Laura: That’s a big no.
Matt: I’m going to have to say they say no.
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] And last: do you think that Albus and Rose will get married?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: How many of you – okay, we’ll start with that. Do you think Albus and Rose will get married? If yes, scream.
[a few people scream]
Laura: Oh, wait. [laughs]
Andrew: Laura…
Laura: Well, I mean, this was Elysa’s fault anyway.
Elysa: Hey, why are you blaming…
Laura: We’ve already established that there’s a close family connection here.
Matt: Just because she beamed at him doesn’t mean they’re going to, you know, get together. [whispers] Yeah, but you wrote it in.
Andrew: [unintelligible] Elysa. Anyway, does anybody have any thoughts about the epilogue? You can come up right now and talk into the MuggleCast microphone, and then – no? You want to just move on?
Laura: Is it too late?
Andrew: This guy right here? This guy came up during Fandom Forecast and plugged our Chicken Soup segment, right?
[A few people cheer]
Andrew: Come up to the MuggleCast microphone! A short-cabled microphone. Here you go.
Audience Member: Thanks. I think as far as the epilogue goes, I think it wasn’t what, I guess – and Jo’s good at this – what we had expected. I mean, personally, I didn’t expect an epilogue. I expected the end of the book. “Scar.” That’s it.
[Everyone laughs]
Audience Member: But, I mean, it just seemed like she tried to pack so much stuff into it. It really didn’t fit together well for me. I mean, I like the way that she had, I don’t know, I guess, tried to fit stuff in, but it just seemed like it was too condensed, too crammed. Like Albus Severus? I mean, I felt sorry for the kid. I think it was on one of your live episodes last summer during the tour that a little kid comes up, and he goes, “I feel sorry for the kid named Scorpius.” And I mean, what’s with the name anyway? Sounds like it’s from The Mummy or something.
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: But, I mean, it just didn’t provide enough of the detail for me, I guess. I don’t know.
Andrew: This girl right here in the pink. Come on up. What’s your name, where are you from? And what’s your thoughts about the epilogue? Nice boots.
Kate: Thanks.
Matt: They’re made for walking.
Kate: I’m Kate, I’m from Austin. I may be one of the only people who like the epilogue. Sorry. My sister and I have debated well into, like, four o’clock in the morning about this, but I think that there is a lot of like – I think no matter what she had written, we all would hate it. Because cognitive dissonance, like we don’t want it to be over, so no matter how she ends it, we’re all going to be like, “Well, crap, it’s over.” And I think that, like, she had to give a slice of life, but she couldn’t give – like people are saying it’s got either too much or it’s got too little. So it’s like, what do you want? Do you want her to tell – like, write another book about them as adults? Of course. Or do you want her to, like, give us just a little snapshot? And it did feel kind of corny and it did – but the whole thing’s about, like, family and love, and it felt like she brought a lot of those themes back. But I agree with what you said, that it felt like she wrote it a long time ago. Like, she came up with this theme, and then she stuck with it, and had those notes from forever ago and was like “Oh right, that’s how I wanted to end it.” So, that’s…
Andrew: All right, thank you.
Matt: Good.
Andrew: And you. And then we’ll take one more.
Corey: Hi, I’m Corey from Las Vegas.
[Audience cheers]
Corey: And I just wanted to say that when I first read the epilogue, I hated it, like any other fan. But by that point in the morning, I was shaking and crying, and it didn’t matter what Jo had written.
Matt: Aww.
Corey: And I think that’s kind of how we all felt. But now that I look back, I kind of have really reflected, and I think I’m happy as I could be with it. ‘Cause Harry got what he wanted, he had a sense of family. Sure, people were still pointing at his scar, but it wasn’t like everyone in the world knew, and it wasn’t constantly eyes flashing to his scar. People knew who he was, but he was finally happy. So, I was really happy for him. So. And everyone.
Matt: Aww.
Andrew: All was well. All right, one more. This girl all the way down. We’re going to take some more questions. Yeah, yeah, come on up. Start thinking about other questions, we’re going to take general questions too after this, through the rest of the show.
Rachel: Hi, I’m Rachel.
Matt: Hi Rachel.
Rachel: Hello. I’m with – I’m another person who’s, like, a minority in the fandom, I guess. I don’t know why, but liked the epilogue. I mean I understand that it was corny, sort of, but that was the way she wanted to end the book, and, really, we have to remember, it’s her frickin’ book. [laughs] She can end it however she wants to end it. She wrote it, she created these worlds, she created these characters, she knows how they think, she knows how they work. No one knows them as well as she does ’cause she created them. Without her we wouldn’t have it, so really – I mean, we can criticize all we want. We can write our own versions, that’s why fan fiction is awesome, but, really, in the end, that’s how she wanted it, so that’s how it ends, and we’ve got to come to terms with that.
Andrew: All right, any thoughts from the panel before we move onto some general questions? No? Okay, we’ll take general questions. You can talk about Portus, you can talk about the theme park, you can talk about Dumbledore being gay, whatever you want. So here, let’s – let’s turn this into a round table; let’s make this really intimate. [whisper] What’s your question? Hi, Sarah.
General Question: Making Basilisks
Sarah: Hi. Okay, so my question is, I was reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and stuff, and in the book it says that you can create a Basilisk by putting a chicken egg under a toad. So, I think that’s pretty easy. And if Voldemort had known this, I think he would have, like, made so many more Basilisks. So, why wouldn’t he have made more Basilisks? What’s your opinion?
Matt: Well, why a toad?
[Everyone laughs]
Sarah: I don’t know, I didn’t write the book.
Laura: Why a chicken egg?
Micah: Why not a goat?
[Everyone laughs and the Audience cheers]
Andrew: Of course you had to get that in there!
Audience Member: We love you, Mikey!
Andrew: He was – Micah, yeah, his name’s Micah last time I checked.
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: He had a very special connection to Nagini. I don’t know if he wanted a few more of them around. What do you guys think? You know, it’s just like the bathroom question: why don’t you ever see him use the bathroom? It’s like the same thing.
[Audience laughs]
You know, there’s always those. Good point, though.
Laura: Yeah, and I think – sorry, Andrew – I think the thing is, he did have a special connection to Nagini. I mean, the thing about Voldemort was he highly prized things that were rare. And so I think for him to have created an army of Basilisks, he wouldn’t have been as prone to make Nagini into a Horcrux, I don’t think.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: All right. Next question. Thank you. [makes panting noise] Hold on, let’s get somebody in the back. I’ve been picking – okay, this girl in the Pickle Pack shirt right there. Yes. Pickle Pack member. Gak gak Pickle Pack! Hello, ma’am. What’s your name, where are you from?
General Question: The Trace
Susanna: My name’s Susanna, and I’m from Sherman, Texas. And I’ve always had a question about the Trace. It was never really clear to me if it’s on the area where a wizard lives, or on the wizard itself, because in Book 5, they could Apparate and Disapparate all around Privet Drive. But then in, like, Book 7, they say that – they’re asking Harry if he still has the Trace on him when the Death Eaters turn up in the diner. And then in Book 6, Dumbledore says that they can only track magic. So I’m just really unsure about what’s going on there.
Matt: Hmm.
Andrew: Panel? Any ideas?
[Matt groans]
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: No, I want to be fair to everybody.
Matt: Well, Book 7 is just – everything went haywire anyway, so. The Trace…
Andrew: Does anyone…
Micah: I don’t know about the Trace as far as Book 7 was concerned. I just think it had to do with saying Voldemort’s name, didn’t it? In the diner? Very early on…
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: …they just weren’t aware that…
Matt: Right, they weren’t aware of the taboo. I think the Trace just goes around like – maybe just by – like maybe when a wizard is young they give off a different kind of magical essence or something? And maybe they can just hone in and trace it, maybe? No?
Andrew: Anybody else?
Elysa: No.
Andrew: No, I don’t know.
Laura: Well, yeah, I think that…
Matt: I tried, okay? I don’t see you doing anything.
[Elysa laughs]
Laura: No, I think you’re right, Matt. I think it would have to make the most sense to say that it actually traces the witch or wizard because – I mean, how else would that work? Maybe it’s a book mistake, if they were performing magic elsewhere and they weren’t getting caught for it, but I’m not really remembering exactly what the – at what point that happened. If anyone can tell me…
Matt: In Book 5 when the Ministry gave Harry the Howler about underage magic, they were already going to send it anyway because they sent the Dementor at him. So I think Umbridge pretty much just sent that owl because she was already waiting for him to conjure that Patronus.
Laura: Yeah, I mean, I just – I think it would seem like it would be so difficult to monitor what people were doing if you were only monitoring, like, a certain area – a parameter of where they lived. It would just make more sense to have everybody who was underage on the same wavelength there. Monitor them all. It would be like saying – okay, and this is going to get a little ridiculous – but it would be like saying that all people under 21 only get carded within five miles of their home.
Andrew: Mhm.
[Laura laughs]
Matt: No, people under 21 only get carded when they don’t have their cards.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: That’s true.
Andrew: All right, another question. Slacky-Quacky here. Andrew Slack from the Harry Potter Alliance. A lot of people may know him.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Is this a question or are you going to plug your campaign?
Andrew Slack: No!
Andrew: I don’t care, I’m just kidding.
[Matt laughs]
General Question: James and Lily
Andrew Slack: I’m definitely not going to plug my campaign. Total question and it’s – it’s – thanks for the applause, that was very sweet, thank you. So, this is like burning – eating at me for the last couple of weeks. All right, so why did James and Lily not just Apparate with Harry, or take a Portkey, or do some kind of magical transformation to get out of there? You know, Voldemort was coming in so what’s the deal? Because that’s sort of the – that’s sort of a hole in the entire series.
Andrew: Well, I mean, that’s the thing though, because, like, if they did Apparate, this whole thing never would have happened!
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: I know, it’s a good question, I totally understand. And like with the podcast, we always have to take it from the perspective that, like, it actually is real. But, I mean, can there be an explanation? I’m sure Jo would make up something on the spot.
Andrew Slack: Is it because of the spell on the house or that you can’t Apparate with a baby? Or I…
Andrew: Maybe.
Matt: Well no, because they can Apparate out of Grimmauld Place.
Andrew: What’s that?
Matt: They could – they could Apparate our of Grimmauld Place, too.
Andrew Slack: They could Apparate to the house, but they couldn’t Apparate throughout the house.
Matt: Throughout?
Elysa: I thought they had to Apparate, like, right on the front door – right on the front stoop, on the step, they couldn’t go in.
Andrew: Right.
Matt: Oh right. Oh right, right, right.
Audience Member: My answer is that…
Andrew: Are you J. K. Rowling?
Audience Member: …they took about…
[Everyone laughs]
Audience Member: Yes, I am! They took about – James had put his wand down on the couch when Voldemort came in. Don’t you need a wand to Apparate and Disapparate?
Andrew: Oh.
Audience Member: Because Lily didn’t have her wand – yes, it’s in the book.
Andrew: If it’s noted, then Jo probably put that in there for that exact reason.
Audience Member: Because that’s what I couldn’t [unintelligible].
Andrew: Oh, okay, that’s tight. Hello.
Audience Member: Hi.
[Everyone laughs]
Audience Member: So, I’ve just got to clear this up, I’m not J. K. Rowling either, but you can’t Apparate in and out of Hogwarts. You can’t – it’s a safety thing! You can’t Apparate in and out of the Burrow when they were trying to protect it from Voldemort. I mean, you don’t want Death Eaters, like, Apparating in and out of your house when they’re trying to get you, even though, like, it’s under the Fidelius Charm, so is all the other places you can’t Apparate in and out of. So, I mean, even, like, Dumbledore can’t Apparate out of Hogwarts, so why should Lily and Harry be able to? Or Lily and James?
Elysa: Hmm.
Andrew Slack: Fred and George Apparate all the time. Fred and George Apparate all throughout Grimmauld Place. Do they ever Apparate in and out of Grimmauld Place? You can Apparate in the place, and in Hogwarts you can too when they were learning Apparition.
Audience Member: But they – they put the charm in the Great Hall so that they could practice it.
Andrew: Right.
Andrew Slack: Okay, so it makes sense. What about a Portkey though?
Andrew: See, but this is…
[Audience laughs]
Audience Member: Well, see, you have to authorize those and if – if the Ministry was under Voldemort’s control they would know they authorized a Portkey.
Micah: Yeah. I just don’t think there was enough time.
Matt: Yeah, this is all – I mean, okay, if Voldemort came through their door…
Andrew: Yeah, there’s not enough time.
Matt: …under the Fidelius Charm – I mean, it’s like, holy crap.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, you’re panicking.
Matt: It’s not like your initial reaction is to Apparate.
Andrew: And I don’t think James and Lily would necessarily want to run away.
Elysa: I think they would for Harry.
Matt: Well, James told Lily to take Harry and run. I mean, that’s not exactly just stand there and fight.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Okay, so there’s the flaw.
Laura: Okay, so let’s do a little test. I believe I’ve seen some guy dressed up as Voldemort walking around during this convention? Let’s have him walk in the door right now…
Andrew: See if you can get out?
Laura: …and start brandishing his wand and see what everyone here does.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: All right, another question? I’m going to keep taking questions from the – from the back. I’ll get to you guys.
Matt: Aww…
Andrew: Come on up. Ooh!
[Audience laughs]
General Question: Secret-Keepers
Ray: Hi, my name is Ray, I’m from Atlanta. And this is sort of going along with what was just said. I think a better question is, why wasn’t James his own Secret-Keeper? Arthur did it for the Weasleys, Bill did it for Shell Cottage. I don’t think there were, like, advances in secret keeping technology…
[Audience laughs]
Ray: …so I don’t understand. Any thoughts?
Matt: Because if James died it would be broken. Yeah, but I mean, you kind of need the security, the trust of their best friend, which, you know, betrayed them. But if you have the Secret-Keeper as yourself, then you run the risk of getting killed. That endangers your son.
Elysa: Yeah, I think it’s for the same reason, maybe, that they didn’t make Sirius the Secret-Keeper, because maybe it was just too predictable.
Matt: Yeah, and James – and wasn’t Sirius going, you know, visiting them a lot too?
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Wouldn’t that – you know?
Elysa: Yeah.
Matt: Because he goes in and out a lot.
Micah: I thought Wormtail was just the most unlikely candidate.
Elysa: Right, exactly.
Micah: That’s why they picked him.
Elysa: He’s not…
Andrew: Right.
Elysa: He wasn’t as predictable as Sirius.
Andrew: Right.
Matt: ‘Cause he’s a rat.
Andrew: He is the weak one.
Elysa: Yeah. They know that now.
Andrew: But at the same time, you wouldn’t expect him to be the Secret-Keeper.
Ray: What I thought was, like, the reason they went into hiding was to be in hiding, and James wouldn’t be leaving the house. Like he would stay at there, and if he needed things, other people would bring it to him. But I don’t know, maybe he did leave. Like it’s not, I guess, that clear…
Matt: Well…
Elysa: It is James Potter after all.
Matt: Well, I mean, they are the top people. James and Lily were the top on Voldemort’s list, so, you know, they need someone who was on the down low, you know? I think she has a really good comment. Let her go up.
Andrew: Okay, what’s your really good comment?
Audience Member: Okay, just in response to that, in Deathly Hallows, we find the note that Lily sent to Sirius, and it talks about how lonely James was. And so I don’t think that they would want to make James the Secret-Keeper because I think they know he would go insane if he couldn’t see anybody outside his family. And so they would want to make it so somebody – so other people can come in and visit him, making the weight much more bearable.
Laura: Yeah, and I…
Matt: And we also know that Sirius isn’t really the most patient person in the world, so if he was the Secret-Keeper, he would probably, you know, not stay in one place for very long. He and James would go out and do stuff.
Laura: Exactly, and I mean, I don’t know, it just – it would just bother me, I think, if James was the Secret-Keeper, because we know that he and Sirius were both so reckless. And at the same time, I mean, I hate to take this from a literary standpoint again, but then the plot would have stopped at Book 3. [laughs] So…
Andrew: Thank you, sir. What’s your name, where are you from?
Emily: I’m Emily K., and I’m from Bangladesh.
Matt: Where?
Emily: Bangladesh.
Andrew: Bangladesh.
Emily: You guys read my mail once. [laughs]
[Audience cheers]
General Question: Dying for Your Kids
Emily: Okay, this is kind of like the same kind of question, like kind of a ridiculous question. But since, like, Voldemort was, like, in power and everything, and he’s, like, killed a whole bunch of people. And I’m just kind of wondering, like, has no one ever died for their kids before, ever? Like I guess this kind of has to do – I guess this kind of has to do with the prophecy, and maybe that’s like the reason, but I was just kind of like – no one ever died for their kid, and then no one’s ever been protected before, you know?
Matt: Well, probably no one ever died protecting their kid from Voldemort.
Emily: Well, he’s killed a lot of people.
Matt: Right, but, I mean, not everyone’s as brave as James and Lily is either.
Emily: But if he happens to breaks into somewhere, and there happens to be like a kid, and he kills their mom, and their mom’s like, “Noo!” [laughs]
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Everything has to be…
Matt: Yeah.
Elysa: Maybe they did – maybe that did happen, but then no one ever tried to kill the kid afterwards, so we just didn’t know that he had that protection.
Audience Member: And that he gave her a choice.
Matt: That’s true.
Andrew: Oh…
Elysa: That’s true too.
Andrew: [laughs] Good question though, ma’am. Okay, right back here. Yeah, you. You in the purple. We’re matching today. Did we coordinate? Was that you? No. Oh, yeah. You’re famous now because you have the Portus shirt and they took a picture of you earlier. Yeah, what’s your name? Kelly. Where are you from?
Kelly: My name’s Kelly, I’m from the Dallas Fort Worth area. Whoo!
[Audience cheers]
General Question: Disappointments of Book 7
Kelly: Okay, I have an individual question for y’all. Although Deathly Hallows is like an amazing book, I was wondering what ya’ll’s biggest disappointment was about it.
Andrew: For the book as a whole?
Kelly: Yeah, or like one thing that didn’t happen or whatever.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. What this girl said right here, the Veil.
[Matt sighs]
Andrew: I just wanted to learn so much more about it – like, it’s such an important point in Book 5, and you always thought you would see more of it.
Laura: Yeah, I have to echo those thoughts exactly. I…
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Laura: …was ticked off. I mean, I don’t know how many of you heard the three series part of my Department of Mysteries thing, but I was all about the Department of Mysteries being in this book, and it wasn’t, and I was really, really upset.
Andrew: Maybe it just would’ve taken too much time to explain, so Jo didn’t want to go into that point.
Matt: Well, she’ll probably put it in the encyclopedia.
Laura: But she alluded to the fact that she was going to though, because essentially, even when they talked about the Love Room, and Dumbledore saying, you know, what’s beyond there is something Voldemort couldn’t possibly comprehend. It just seemed to allude to the fact that Harry’s going to go back there, and death is such an integral part of these books, and…ugh!
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. I don’t know. Micah, what was bothering you about Book 7?
Micah: Um…
Andrew: You got all the goat you needed.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: I don’t know. I was hoping for the goats, you know, to charge into the Great Hall next to Kreacher and, you know, start attacking some Death Eaters.
Andrew: Yeah, that would’ve been cool.
[Matt makes goat noise]
Micah: No, I mean, we obviously talked about the epilogue before – that was kind of disappointing for me anyway. But, yeah, I mean, kind of echoing similar things that have already been said by both you and Laura about the Department of Mysteries and the Veil and not learning much about either of them.
Andrew: Yeah. Who didn’t go? Elysa?
Elysa: Well, I’m sort of really – I mean, obviously the plots are amazing, but I’m really character driven, so for me, I was sort of upset to see the discourse that was transpiring between Harry and Remus Lupin. Like when Harry and Lupin got into that big argument – honestly, I was sort of thinking, “What’s this about?” Like, where did Remus – I mean, Remus is – in my mind he’s really courageous and has a lot of wisdom, and I always figured that he was sort of – he was sort of, you know – the token, smart, intelligent man of the Marauders, so I’m thinking, why is he behaving this way, sort of, out of nowhere like that? And why are he and Harry having this big fight? That bothered me.
Andrew: Were you on the episode we discussed that chapter?
Elysa: No, I don’t think so.
Andrew: I think we talked about being stressed, didn’t we?
Matt: I think so. Well, I mean, his wife is pregnant.
Andrew: Yeah. And I think Harry was right to have an outburst. I forget what we said. I don’t know. I think it was stress, right, guys? I mean…
Laura: I would think so. I mean, just the whole idea of bringing another human being into that kind of environment would be extremely terrifying.
Matt: Well, he’s freaking out because he’s a werewolf too.
Elysa: Right. I felt like it was more to do with the fact that he was, you know, self-deprecating than it did the actual atmosphere of the moment. And, I felt like, for me, it was a character point for Harry, trying to develop him as an adult now, as being able to stand up to people he had previously respected and felt were heroes, but sacrificed part of the character that we had all come to know as Remus Lupin.
Laura: I don’t know, though, I liked seeing that he was more human, you know? I mean, we had always kind of regarded him as this wise, professor-like figure, and I think like Dumbledore, I really appreciated seeing that he did have flaws, but I mean, I have to say, if I found out that I was going to be mothering technicolor werewolves, I think I’d be kind of scared too.
[Audience and Andrew laugh]
Laura: So…
Andrew: Yeah. Good question. Thank you, ma’am. Right here. You’re dressed like Narcissa? Oh, yeah, hey now. All right, what’s your question, Narcissa? Oh look, you even have a button of your husband on there. How nice.
Matt: Aww.
[Audience laughs]
General Question: The Epilogue
Narcissa: All right, I’m thinking about the epilogue still, because I’m stuck on that, because that was my biggest disappointment of the seventh book, and I just – as like, a fan fiction writer, I was, like, “How could she have made this better, how could she have made this worse, how could she have made this go down better with us?” And I was, like, maybe it was the setting, like, the Kings Cross setting, kind of took us back to like Book 1. Little kids, you know, John Williams music playing…
Matt: Ooooh, yes.
Narcissa: …and whatever, but what if it had been set in their workplace? Like, we’d seen Ron and Harry leaving their workplace as adults, talking as adults. Maybe that would have helped us kind of jump nineteen years and not have that kind of jarring, this is bad fan fiction, kind of quell against the epilogue.
Andrew and Matt: Yeah.
Narcissa: Do you think it would have helped at all if we had seen them in their more adult roles, like in the Ministry jobs they had?
Matt: I think Christmas would have been a great thing, to have them all together..
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Matt: Because Christmas in the Harry Potter series is, like, the biggest get-together. And it’s kind of just, like, a subtle thing. You know?
[Audience member says something]
Matt: Yes!
Laura: Right.
Andrew: Well, I think it’s also like – I’m trying not to – somebody’s going to say this too, but it’s coming full circle. I mean, you know…
Matt: Didn’t he already come full-circle at King’s Cross, though?
Andrew: What?
Matt: I mean, full circle for what? Harry being introduced?
Andrew: Full circle for Harry being introduced, yeah, into the Wizarding World, and then…
[Audience member speaks]
Andrew: Yeah, right. Right. Yeah, I see.
Elysa: Well, I think people like, you know, myself and you and others, who are immersed in the fan fiction world, were really at a disadvantage, because we’ve seen pretty much that exact epilogue written a thousand times, in a thousand different ways, by a thousand different authors, so to see it actually become canon, I think if we hadn’t been expecting it, if we hadn’t seen it a million different times before, it wouldn’t have been quite as bad. I think, you know, being a part of fan fiction sort of ruined it.
Micah: And I think it goes back to what Matt was saying before; it was very disconnected from the rest of the book and the rest of the series all together.
Andrew: Yeah. All right, thank you, Narcissa. Next question. Hello, what’s your name, where are you from?
MuggleCast 153 Transcript (continued)
General Comment: The Veil
Masel: My name’s Masel, I’m from Washington D.C.
Laura: Woo! Represent!
Masel: [laughs] First of all, I want to say, thank you, guys, for this podcast, because it got me through my last year of school.
Laura and Matt: Awww.
Masel: And second off, I don’t really have a question, I have a comment about the Veil and why she maybe alluded to it, but you didn’t see it in the Department of Mysteries, because if you think about it, when Harry dies he goes through the Veil. Whenever you die, the Veil isn’t one stationary place, it’s this translucent thing, it leads to another universe, so he crossed over through the Veil. And then the whole King’s Cross station – I know a lot of people like to think that, well, Harry may have already known this stuff. There’s no way in heck he could have known that stuff. I mean, he wasn’t, you know – he didn’t have telepathic powers or he wasn’t psychic. He couldn’t have known that stuff. So he had to cross through the Veil in order to get that information from Dumbledore. So he actually died, but he had a choice to go back. So that’s where your Veil is. It wasn’t as point blank as you’d like it to be, but he had to cross through the Veil to get that information.
Elysa: Good point.
Andrew: Yeah. That’s really interesting. I just – hold on, don’t go. I’m not done with you yet. Hey! Come back!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I just feel like – but there needs to be some explanation ’cause what’s the – okay, the whisperings of the dead. But maybe the whole end – when you started to talk, I thought you were going to say this – maybe it’s just that Jo wants to keep it a mystery ’cause it’s the Department of Mysteries, so don’t explain an answer to everything, ’cause then suddenly then it’s really not the Department of Mysteries. You know what I’m saying?
Masel: I don’t know. Maybe, you know, that was the Department of Mysteries’ way of offing somebody when they got the capital offense, but…
[Everyone laughs]
Masel: Oh, I said that maybe that was just the Department of Mysteries’ way of offing somebody when you got, you know, when they receive the capital offense. Because if you – if you, like, noticed, in the movie, they, you know, had Bellatrix A.K. Sirius so you’d know he was dead, but in the book, he just got hit by, like, a Stunning Spell and went through, and there was no coming back. So maybe that was just their version of, like, the electric chair or…
Matt: It’s the movie version. It’s…
Masel: …the, you know, lethal injection.
Matt: It doesn’t make sense.
[Audience laughs]
Matt: No, the movie versions of everything don’t make sense from the book versions.
Masel: Right. But, I mean, that was just their way of killing people. That’s the way I see it.
Matt: Yeah, they just wanted Gary Oldman dead, pretty much.
[Audience and Andrew laugh]
Laura: Matt Britton!
Matt: What?
Andrew: You know, we were watching that on HBO last night or two nights ago – woo! – and, yeah, just the way he goes through. Bad. Okay, anyway, hi, what’s your name, where are you from? Nice shirt.
General Question: Why Didn’t Voldemort Use Legilimency?
Genesis: I know. I made it myself. Okay. ‘Sup, ya’ll. My name is Genesis. And I’m from here. Yay me. Okay – okay, I have two comments and question, is that too much? Too much? No?
Andrew: Do one question.
Genesis: One question? Fine.
Andrew: Wait. Hold on. Is there something really important on your cell phone about to happen?
Genesis: Yeah. My comments and my questions.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Oh wow! Well researched.
Genesis: Yeah, I know. Okay. Well, let me see my question. Okay. So, why do you think, like – why didn’t Voldemort use Legilimency, like, against Narcissa, you know, when he was asking, like, if Harry was alive or not? Why didn’t he use, like, Legilimency – I cannot spit that out – okay, you know, to tell if he was actually alive? You know, I think that was, like, kind of a big flaw.
Laura: Because he’s so arrogant, I think. Something that we’ve talked about on the show time and time again is that Voldemort’s arrogance has really led to his downfall, and I think the idea that this is what? What number time is it that he’s killed Harry or tried to kill Harry? And he’s failed again, so just the thought that this time he tried to kill him and failed in front of, what, twenty, thirty people? I don’t think he would want to face up to that. I think if he found out Harry was still alive, he’d like to let everyone think he was dead and take him off and kill him in some dark corner somewhere.
Genesis: Yeah. But, like, I thought that he could always tell when somebody was lying. You know, because – like, I’m just saying I thought he could always tell.
Matt: Yeah.
[Audience member speaks]
Matt: Yeah.
[Audience member keeps speaking]
Andrew: No, thank you. All right, let’s take a couple more questions. Aw, pajamas.
Matt: Oh PJs!
Andrew: It’s like Prophecy.
General Question: Did Snape Die a Virgin?
Megan: Yeah, me and my toad are in our pajamas. All right, my name is Megan and I am from Spinner’s End, Texas. We’ll say that. Quick question, yes/no from everybody. In your professional opinions, did Severus Snape die a virgin?
[Audience laughs]
Matt: Just by the way he dressed, yes.
[Andrew and Audience laugh]
Andrew: Keep it clean, Micah. I know you’re trying to think of something.
Micah: Well, he didn’t shower either, so I mean…
Andrew: Yeah, why bother?
Micah: Exactly.
Andrew: Yeah. Laura?
Laura: Well, I don’t – don’t want to steal Micah’s thunder here, but there’s always a goat.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: No more goats on the show!
Micah: Yeah, we’ve – we’ve run our quota of goats, I think, for the night.
Andrew: Matt Britton?
Matt: I already said it.
Andrew: What?
Matt: Just the way he dressed.
Andrew: Oh yeah.
Matt: I mean really tight clothes, everything’s really touch – I mean…
Andrew: What are you trying to say?
Matt: Closed shut. He has insecurities.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Matt: I don’t think that he wants – I don’t think he wants to be tempted.
Andrew: Okay. [laughs]
Matt: I think it’s just – just Lily.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Elysa Montfort.
Elysa: Naw, I don’t think he did.
Andrew: That’s it?
Elysa: That’s it. That’s all I got. It’s for you, Matt. No, I’m just kidding.
[Audience and Elysa laugh]
Andrew: That’s her clean version.
Elysa: Oh yeah.
General Question: Voldemort Telling Harry About his Father
Andrew: Right here, this guy in the glasses. Yup, you. What’s your name, where are you from, sir?
Juan: My name’s Juan from Woodburn, Oregon. Probably the only one here from there. As Laura mentioned, how arrogant Voldemort is, what I was wondering is why would he – he mentioned to Harry at some point that, you know, your father put up a courageous fight, yet in the memory he walks in, boom he’s dead. Why wouldn’t he say, “Oh, your father was nothing. I walked in and killed him no big deal.” You know what I’m saying? Why wouldn’t he say what really happened instead of saying, no, there was some crazy fight?
Laura: Do you remember – I’m trying to remember what the context of that was, of him telling Harry that his father put up a courageous fight. Because it would make sense if he was saying that to try and sort of coerce Harry to work with him. Wasn’t there some point where he said…
Matt: Or maybe it was sarcasm.
Laura: …they could work together as two dark lords?
Matt: Because he just – yeah, all he did was to tell Lily to run and then he just stood in front of him because…
Laura: That’s true.
Matt: …he didn’t have anything to dual with him, so he just killed him right off the bat, but maybe because – because he was, you know, he – he was insulting Harry in every single way possible in that situation. So, you know, saying it in a sarcastic manner wouldn’t exactly be too far from the situation.
Laura: Yeah, and it could be that he was even mocking Harry by saying – because there have been points where Harry ran away from Voldemort in order to protect himself. Not in a cowardly way, but in order to shield himself, and Voldemort could have said, “Well, even your father put up a courageous fight against me and now you’re running?” You know?
Elysa: Well, I mean, not that Voldemort would be perceptive enough to, you know, define it this way, but just the fact that James even did anything at all, it’s because he didn’t have his wand. Just the fact that he went up and faced him was courageous. So…
General Question: The Trio’s Kids’ Names
Andrew: Thank you. Let’s take this girl in the red right here. Thank you. Okay, hold on. Okay, hold on. Okay, what’s your name, where are you from? Nice Hot Topic [unintelligible].
Archer: Hi, my name’s Archer, I’m from Fort Worth.
Audience Member: Woo!
Archer: And my question is about the epilogue. And I’v heard a lot of disgust and confusion about the names, so if you were Harry, or Ron, or Hermione, what would you have named your kid?
Elysa: Sirius.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Micah, what would you name your kids?
Micah: Remus.
Andrew: Aww.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Pick some cool names.
Laura: You know, it’s not that I mind the names Albus and Severus. But putting them together…
Matt: Yeah…
Laura: It’s so weird! I mean, it’s like light and dark.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Laura: It’s really random. It’s like [unintelligible] that your child has a personality.
Matt: They don’t really roll off the tongue very well either.
Laura: No, and it’s like…
Matt: Albus Severus.
Laura: …usually, if you’re going to give your child an unusual name, it would seem like – I don’t know, I mean, at least if it were me, personally, I’d want to give them some variety. I don’t know, I’m just afraid the poor kid’s going to get made fun of.
Andrew: How about James?
Laura: Yeah, like Albus James. Or James Albus. You know, something…
Andrew: [unintelligible] James.
Laura: Oh, nevermind.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Matt?
Matt: Hedwig?
[Everyone laughs]
[Audience cheers]
Matt: Well, what about Fred?
Andrew: Fred? Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
[Audience member yells something]
Andrew: Oh that’s right, yeah.
Elysa: Yeah, they did name him that.
Matt: Well, then I’m good.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, Elysa?
Elysa: I just say Sirius all the way!
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Elysa: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. All right, I wish we could get to everyone. We’re going to take more questions at the MuggleCast meet-up. Maybe. I think. How about you? Come on up. Well, okay, we’ll do both. Okay. What’s your name, where are you from?
General Question: Snape’s Screen-time
Shevani: I’m Shevani from Dallas, but I go to Austin. Concord.
Matt: Woooo!
Shevani: Exactly. So my question was, we touched on Snape and his virginity. And I was just wondering, not about that, but – so we’ve seen Alan Rickman’s amazing in the movies, but do you think, considering how little screen time he’s got, whether – I mean, Half-Blood Prince is coming out, is his character ever going to really get that kind of thrill across to the audience, because he has had like, what, twenty minutes total? Yeah.
Andrew: Have we seen him in any new pictures yet?
Audience Member: No.
Andrew: No, I don’t think so.
Matt: One. With Draco walking off. It’s not official yet, so we don’t know.
Andrew: [laughs] We can’t comment, sorry. No.
[Audience member says something]
Andrew: What’s up?
[Audience member speaks]
Andrew: SnapeCast.com? I guess I’m – really? Are they official? They’re not official.
Audience Member: They’re official.
Andrew: Released?
Audience Member: Yeah.
Andrew: When?
Matt: Wait, there’s one of the yarn.
Andrew: Oh, there is one on the yarn! Yeah.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: No, yeah. I – yeah. It’s just they always screw that up, so I was so excited for Snape in Order of the Phoenix. Yeah! They looked so cool and the trailer, and then it’s just like five seconds each. Laura?
Laura: Yeah, I mean, I think – and it’s not just Snape that has suffered from this in the movies. I mean, I think Draco is going to suffer as a character. Oh, okay, all right, I won’t [unintelligible].
Matt: Shut up, Laura.
Elysa: I know.
Matt: Geez.
Andrew: Micah?
Micah: Yeah, I mean, I think Alan Rickman has not been portrayed very well. I mean, he hasn’t been given enough screen time throughout the course of the movies, and it’s going to be – it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in Half-Blood Prince.
Andrew: Yeah.
Audience Member: Alan Rickman’s awesome.
Andrew: He’s a great actor, and so is McGonagall.
Matt: Maggie Smith?
Andrew: Maggie Smith, thank you! They’re great actors and then, you know – okay, sorry, I forgot!
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: Geez, wow, sorry! God.
[Elysa laughs]
Laura: We’re the biggest Harry Potter podcast online and you forgot.
Andrew: Yeah, whatever. Sorry, I always forget. I always think of her as Minerva now. I don’t know, it’s just, you see these great actors in these films and…
[Audience member speaks]
Andrew: Robbie Coltrane, too! There’s another one.
Audience Member: Jason Isaacs.
Andrew: Jason Isaacs!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: He pleaded with Jo to be in the seventh book, the poor guy. All right. Hi.
Matt: He wanted the Paris Hilton wig, that’s why.
[Audience laughs]
Laura: Hi, I’m Laura from Dallas.
[Audience cheers]
General Question: Draco’s Role in the Film
Laura from Dallas: Obviously, my question is about Draco and Half-Blood Prince, the film. So, you know, I will start by saying that I do love Tom Felton and I like what he’s done with the material he’s been given. But we all know that movie Draco is not exactly the same as book Draco. He’s kind of, you know, a little bit pathetic in the movies and, you know, he’s a little bit pathetic in the books, and I love him, really, but he’s, you know. And so I was wondering how you guys think that the writers and Tom Felton are going to be able to portray Draco’s role in the film because it’s such – it’s so much more intense – his part in Half-Blood Prince is so much more intense than it has been in the previous films, so I was wondering what you guys – how you guys thought that the writers and Tom Felton are going to pull that off, especially that last scene with them when, you know, Dumbledore dies.
Micah: You want to call David Heymen?
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: No, I think that they started talking about that in interviews, I think, but it seems like there’s already been a few pictures of him already, and I’m only saying that because when they release more pictures of the characters you know there’s going to be more emphasis on the characters. Obviously, he’s in this book a little more, he’s a little more important. I don’t know, I think they’re going to stick with the character they have; I can’t see them really changing him.
Matt: I can see Tom Felton doing it. I mean, he has this new movie coming out where – it’s not exactly a very light and chipper movie. It’s kind of like dark and, you know, pathetic.
[Audience laughs]
Matt: So I think he can do it if they just give him the right material to act on it.
Andrew: Yeah. Panel?
Laura: Plus, he’s a singer now.
Andrew: Yeah, Feltbeats!
[Audience cheers]
Laura: So he can write some teen angst…
Tangent: Feltbeats
Andrew: Okay, I just want to say this about Feltbeats real quick. I thought he was awesome on iTunes, his live acoustic. YouTube’s Feltbeats, he does, he records himself on his Mac. Acoustic was awesome! And then I downloaded it off iTunes in the professional version; I didn’t like it as much. I don’t know if anyone else bought them, but I thought it was a waste of three dollars when I can watch it for free and for better on YouTube, but…
Matt: Aw.
Andrew: All right. We’re out of time.
Matt: Aw.
Andrew: But to wrap things up – I know, I’m sorry.
Laura: Aw.
A Song for the MuggleCasters
Andrew: These girls – I hope this is good. You’re going to embarrass me.
Singer: No, it’s really good.
Andrew: Okay.
Singer: It’s a song we wrote for the MuggleCasters.
Andrew: So, these two wrote a song for the MuggleCasters.
Laura: Oh, wow, four!
Andrew: Oh, wow. These eighty wrote this song for the MuggleCasters.
[Audience laughs]
Andrew: All right, so, wrap this up, and then we have a few other things to talk about, and then we’ll…
Singer: All right. It’s to the tune of your favorite song ever.
Andrew: What?
Singers: “Good Morning, Baltimore.”
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Oh, my God.
Andrew: Wait, wait, wait. Okay, here, I’ll start you off. I’ll do, like, the beat, and then the rest you can do… [unintelligible]
Singer: Okay.
[Audience laughs]
Singer: All right. Okay.
[Andrew gives the beats]
Singers: [singing] “Oh, Oh, Oh. Woke up Sunday, feeling the way we always do! Oh, Oh, Oh, hoping that you had updated with a brand new podcast, with awesome content, that makes us content. It’s like a message from Jo herself!”
[Andrew laughs]
Singers: [singing] “Oh, Oh, Oh, pulling us into the magical world that we love. We love you, MuggleCast! We wish you with always luck. Mikey, Andrew, Laura and Matt. Kevin, Jamie and Eric, come back.”
[Everyone laughs]
Singers: [singing] “Micah, he gloats, when he speaks of goats, it makes my mind whirl. I’m such a fan girl! We have just one thing to say:”
Singer: “It is our choices, Harry, far more than our abilities.”
[Everyone applauds]
Andrew: All right, that was excellent. Great job, girls! Great job!
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: Exceeded my expectations. Wonderful! Let’s – we’ll be – you should do a professional recording of that and do something with it. I don’t know.
Matt: That was really good.
Andrew: Yeah, I was surprised.
Laura: That was fantastic.
Andrew: Good job.
Singer: Make an album? Do you want me to sign it?
Andrew: I want you to sign it, frame it. No, that was good. That was good, girls.
[One of the singers says something]
Andrew: [laughs] Okay. All right, we do have to wrap things up today, unfortunately.
Everyone: Awwww.
Thank Yous
Andrew: There’s a couple of people we want to thank. Where’d my paper go?
Matt: Right there. It’s right there, right there, right there, right there.
Andrew: All right. First of all, thank you so much to Portus. Round of applause for Portus.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: HPF did an excellent job.
Matt: HPEF.
Andrew: HPEF. I hope everybody is really looking into Infinitus in 2010. 2010.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. Down in Orlando.
Matt: Oh my God! It’s going to be massive!
Andrew: It’s going to be awesome.
[Show music begins]
Andrew: Special thanks to Aziza over here. I love you, Aziza.
[Audience cheers]
Andrew: She’s the press relations person. She’s been working with us, and all the other podcasts, to make this happen.
Matt: She got us Jim Dale.
Andrew: Yeah. Thank you. I hope everyone’s going to be showing up tomorrow for the MuggleCast meet-up from 3-5 PM. That’s going to be in the Common Room. We have our own little room, I hear, so we’re going to, like, party and sing more Hairspray and stuff. It’s going to be awesome.
[Everyone laughs and Audience cheers]
Andrew: Also want to shout out to Stephanie Perez. Her dad came up to me earlier and was like, “She’s a huge MuggleCast fan.”
Matt: Awwww.
Andrew: There she is. Right over there.
[Laura and Matt laugh]
Andrew: Tell your dad he has to put the check in the mail tonight, for that.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: All right, thank you, hosts, for coming out here to Dallas.
Matt: Oh. No problem.
Show Close
Andrew: [laughs] And I think that’s it. We’ll meet and say hi to everyone right now. Also, MuggleCast t-shirts were a – if you haven’t purchased one – oh, quick, really quick…
Matt: Let’s talk about these Portus shirts.
Andrew: So we were supposed to have these Portus shirts, right? We were so excited. The t-shirt person thought – even though I made it completely clear, that we needed it this past Tuesday – she thought we needed them by today, Friday. And she lives like, fifteen minutes from me. So, unfortunately we don’t have a MuggleCast Portus shirt, but Mama Sims over-nighted, for 250 dollars, MuggleCast t-shirts. So we have them for sale in the back. And we’re going to – a few of you have bought them already. So, thank you, everyone, for coming. See you at the MuggleCast meet-up tomorrow, hopefully. All right.
Laura: Thank you, guys, for coming out.
Andrew: So long from Dallas!
[Everyone cheers]
[Music ends]
Blooper
Andrew: Hi, everybody! Now, there’s a problem. You guys screamed a lot when we came up here. That was awesome. But we weren’t recording. Okay? So, okay, I did this a lot on the road tour. I know we can do this. So, on three you’re going to act like a whole curtain just fell, and, like, you know, just confetti just shot out everywhere. It was like, “Boom! MuggleCast!” Okay? It’s going to sound awesome when you listen to it at home. Trust me. All right, ready? One, two, three.
[Audience screams]
Andrew: Whoa! Jeez! Wow! Oh man! Okay, wow! You really did not have to do that. Thank you.