MuggleCast 155 Transcript
Show Intro
[“Princes of the Universe” by Queen plays]
Mason: You’re just one minute away from listening to the best Potter team in podcasting, live! But first, here’s a piece of information you need to know. Have you always wanted to make an impact online? Now’s your chance! GoDaddy.com has domain names for as low as a $1.99. But that’s not all. GoDaddy.com also offers world class hosting and fast and easy website builders. Plus, by you being a listener on MuggleCast Live, you can save an additional ten percent on any order by entering code “muggle.” Oh, yeah, that’s “muggle,” M-U-G-G-L-E, Muggle! Some restrictions do apply but feel free to see the site for details. I want you to get your piece of the Internet at GoDaddy.com.
[“Celebration” by Kool and the Gang plays]
Andrew: Because we finally have a teaser trailer, this is MuggleCast, Episode 155 for July 31st, 2008.
[song continues]
Andrew: Hey now, everybody! Celebration! A teaser trailer, finally. 7 PM on the East Coast, July 20th, 2008, this is MuggleCast, coming at you live this evening with discussion of the teaser trailer. Oh, geez, one thousand people at the moment. Joining me tonight is the best team in Potter podcasting, starting with the lovely Laura Thompson.
Laura: Aw, thank you, Andrew.
Andrew: Good evening, Laura.
Laura: Good evening, Andrew.
Andrew: You sound beautiful this evening.
Laura: So do you, dear.
Andrew: What’s that?
Laura: I said, “so do you, dear.”
Andrew: Thank you. Next up, MuggleCast news anchor, Micah Tannenbaum! Fresh from New Orleans. Good evening, Micah.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Woah!
Micah: How are you doing?
Andrew: I’m great! How was New Orleans?
Micah: It was a lot of fun.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Did you party it up?
Micah: Little bit, little bit.
Andrew: Meet anyone?
Micah: All work, Andrew, all work.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Ben Schoen is also here… [laughs] …holding down the fort at the MuggleNet offices. How are you doing, Ben?
Ben: [laughs] I’m doing great, how are you doing, buddy?
Andrew: Pretty good. Doing Spy on Spartz later on, maybe? Is Emerson around?
Ben: No, he’s not, actually. I’m in his house all by myself.
Andrew: Ooh. Okay.
Ben: I’m selling his boxers now on eBay.
Andrew: Selling Emerson…
[Andrew, Ben and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Did you wash them or no? I would buy them, they just – you couldn’t wash them.
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: Joining us by phone is Elysa Montfort. Hello, Elysa.
Elysa: Hey, Andrew. Hi, guys.
Andrew: Hi. Joining us by phone because, you know, Elysa puts a lot of dedication into the show but sometimes, you know, you just can’t go to a library and stake yourself out there. She presents herself with a very dangerous task every episode…
Elysa: Yeah.
Andrew: …when she does go out to the library. Anyway, the teaser trailer came out and this is what we’re here to discuss. I hope everyone’s seen it by now because otherwise we’re in trouble! No? Okay.
Micah: Maybe.
General Thoughts on Teaser Trailer
Andrew: What did you guys think? Was everyone happy in general? Laura, let’s start with you. We’ll start with general thoughts; we’ll just go around the table. Let’s hear Laura first.
Laura: I thought it was fantastic! I mean, I don’t want to get too much into it because we have a few talking points we’re going to use here, but I really loved the focus they’re putting on Tom Riddle. I think that was my favorite part of it and, frankly, I’m just glad to know that we’re actually having a movie come out, because for a while I was doubtful.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: So…
Andrew: Well, you know what? And the trailer leaked online early on MSN. They leaked it like forty-five minutes early.
Elysa: What?
Andrew: And at the trailer, at the end, it said “this year” instead of, like, “November” or anything, and I started getting worried because I was like, “Oh no, maybe they are going to change the date!”
Laura: Oh, my God.
Andrew: “Maybe it is going to be delayed!” But then, you know, the U.S. one did come out and it said “November.” Ben, how about you? What did you think of the trailer?
Ben: I thought it was great, I thought it was good. I mean, everybody seems to be in awe of it and I just hope that the movie’s actually as good as what we saw there.
Andrew: Yeah. Micah?
Micah: The pictures finally moved.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: So, yeah, I was really impressed and even more so than that, Michael Gambon may redeem himself with this movie for me.
Andrew: Oh, yes, thank you. Definitely.
Micah: He seemed…
Laura: I’m surprised to hear that coming from you, Micah.
Micah: Yeah, I know, I know. It’s kind of hard for me to say that, but he looks like he’s doing a good job in this movie in particular. So we’ll se what happens. Like Ben said, will it all live up to the hype of this teaser trailer?
Andrew: Yeah. And Elysa?
Elysa: Yeah, I agree with Micah. I mean, just the five seconds we saw of Dumbledore with the fire spell and everything. That was exactly how I imagined it. And also what Laura said, the focus on young Tom Riddle. I wasn’t expecting that, honestly, so I was pleasantly surprised.
Trailer: Scene-by-Scene
Andrew: Yeah, it looked really good. So what we can do is we can just play the trailer through and then we can talk about the different parts of it. There was a – well, here, let’s start with the trailer. We’ll just start from the beginning and then go through the whole thing.
[Trailer audio begins playing]
Andrew: Okay, so there’s the eerie music at first. Goes to the field.
Dumbledore: What you are looking at are memories.
[Trailer pauses]
Andrew: Okay, we’ll stop right there. Doesn’t Michael Gambon already sound different than how we’ve ever heard him before?
Ben: I don’t know.
Laura: I don’t think so.
Andrew: Really?
Laura: Everyone thinks he sounds different. I don’t get it. He just sounds gentler in this part.
Ben: Yeah.
Laura: I mean – but Harry’s had these conversations with Dumbledore in his office before and Michael Gambon has portrayed them beautifully I think. I really don’t see any difference.
Andrew: I just – it sounds like he has a different inflection in his voice. He just sounds like – “The memories” – I don’t know, it just sounds better. Because he does…
Micah: He seems a lot more caring.
Ben: Do you have a clip? Do you have a clip to play from an older Michael Gambon clip? So we can compare it.
Andrew: No, but when we get to it later, there’s a different part in this trailer where he does sound different. Where he sounds like how he has sounded. Let’s continue.
[Trailer continues]
Dumbledore: In this case pertaining to one individual.
[Trailer pauses]
Andrew: Come on. How does he sound normal there?
Micah: He sounds more in character to me.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: From somebody who didn’t like Michael Gambon as Dumbledore after Richard Harris passed away. He does sound much more in character and, you know, a very much different individual than from when he shook Harry. “Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?” Type thing.
[Andrew roars]
Elysa: I agree.
Andrew: Laura, what were you going to say?
Laura: The only difference – okay, the only difference is that he’s not yelling at the collective student body like he did in Order of the Phoenix. There’s a slight echo to his voice, too, and I think it’s just an effect on it. I don’t…
Andrew: He just sounds so much more magical.
Ben: So what Laura’s saying is it’s the room they were in, it’s not him.
Andrew: [laughs] It’s the echo.
Laura: No, seriously! There is an echo to his voice. Listen to it.
Andrew: I hear an echo.
Ben: Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, do you think that Gambon is a more convincing Dumbledore?
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: Is that what you and Micah are saying?
Andrew: He just sounds cooler.
Ben: So you’re saying that based off of one clip, huh?
Andrew: Yes!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Keep in mind that this is actually the first film we’ve seen since J.K. Rowling announced that Dumbledore’s gay. So maybe…
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: …Michael Gambon is taking that into account.
Laura: Are you saying he sounds gay?
Ben: Oh no.
Andrew: Well, let’s put it this way. We have heard reports that he’s been a little more, how do you say, flamboyant? On the set. He’s been taking advantage of Jo’s revelation. I don’t know, just saying.
Laura: I would love to see that.
Ben: How do you – I mean – why would he take advantage, because…
Andrew: Not taking advantage but…
Ben: …like Dumbledore – no, listen – Dumbledore was gay all along. The way that Gambon portrays Dumbledore, based on how he read in the book, if he was supposed to be gay…
Andrew: I’m kidding. It was a joke. [laughs] I’m just kidding. But you never know. You never know.
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: Let’s continue.
[Trailer continues]
Ben: Please.
Dumbledore: This is perhaps the most important memory I’ve collected.
[Trailer pauses]
Andrew: “I’ve collected.” Okay, we’ll keep going.
[Trailer continues]
Dumbledore: I’d like you to see it.
[Trailer pauses]
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Are you going to stop every two seconds?
Andrew: Okay, sorry! Okay.
[Trailer continues]
Mrs. Cole: In all the years Tom’s been here he’s never once had a visitor.
Tom: You’re the doctor, aren’t you?
Dumbledore: No.
Tom: Who are you?
Dumbledore: Well, I’m like you, Tom. I’m different.
Tom: Prove it.
[Trailer pauses]
Andrew: Was anyone scared when that fire just came out of nowhere?
Laura: Well, you and Matt were.
Andrew: I shook, yeah.
Laura: I have to say, you guys win the award for girliest reaction to a trailer.
Andrew: Oh, are you talking about Matt and I’s trailer reaction video?
Laura: Yes!
Andrew: YouTube. Link available on MuggleCast.com. It’ll become a quick classic. But – yeah. I have a confession to make about that. That wasn’t the first time we actually watched it.
Laura: No!
Andrew: That was the fiftieth. [laughs] Well, some people actually believed that that was the first time, but we’re pretending it is for…
Micah: That’s false advertising.
Andrew: Well, that’s all part of the joke though. I mean…
Micah: Oh. I was scared.
Andrew: Yeah, weren’t you?
Micah: I was more scared by the look in young Tom Riddle’s eyes, by the fact that the cabinet just burst into flames. He seemed to really enjoy it.
Andrew: I know.
Laura: That kid – I mean I know Ben’s going to yell at us for basing these assumptions off one snippet of trailer, but this kid looks amazing.
Andrew: He does. He really does.
Laura: He really does. I mean, just the inflections of his voice. He just sounds so dead. So lacking in emotion. And the only part where there is the slightest amount of emotion in his voice is when he talks about being able to hurt people when they’re mean to him.
Andrew: Right. Yeah, he just looks so disturbed and you could just look at his eyes and – we’ll get into logistics of this whole trailer, but we’ll move along here.
[Trailer continues]
Tom: I can make things move without touching them. I can make bad things happen to people who are mean to me. I can speak to snakes too.
[Trailer pauses]
Andrew: And this part was awesome too. Where Dumbledore just – he’s walking out of Tom’s room and just pauses right there. Didn’t you guys love that?
Laura: Yeah, it was really good. It was basically one of those “Oh crap!”
Andrew: Yeah, exactly. At first, the first time I watched this, I was a little afraid that they edited this to make it look like Dumbledore is walking out and then stops when he says that. And I hope that’s actually how it is in the film. You know what I mean? How they change around the scenes sometimes to make it look cooler or something?
Elysa: Right, yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, I really hope that’s not how they – they don’t change it in the film. Anyway, we’ll continue.
[Trailer continues]
Tom: They find me, whisper things.
Harry: Did you know, sir? Then?
Dumbledore: Did I know I’d just met the most dangerous dark wizard of all time? No.
[Trailer ends]
Andrew: [with a lisp] Yes, of course I did!
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: So, the trailer as a whole, did you think it was good how it focused on one topic this time? ‘Cause I mean, like in the past, they’ve sort of focused on Umbridge, but this trailer was really – it just felt so different compared to past teaser trailers, right?
Laura: Yeah, I agree, and I’m hoping that what this means is they’re going to put a strong focus on the history behind Voldemort and Tom Riddle in the film. I mean, one of the big differences a lot of us noticed is there’s virtually no Trio in this; Hermione doesn’t appear in it and Ron’s in it for a split second.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: So I really appreciated that because I’ve noticed in the past they have a habit, in the trailers, of using Hermione to explain what’s going on and using Ron to provide the laughs.
Andrew: Mhm. Yeah, and there was…
Laura: So it was nice to see a change of pace.
Andrew: Yeah, and there was no Hermione in this either. You know…
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: …I know exactly what you’re talking about, and that does get kind of annoying, doesn’t it?
Laura: Mhm.
Micah: It seemed that there was finally a focus on the story for once, and maybe they’ve actually paid close attention to the books. The only knock on it that I would say is there was really nothing to do with the Half-Blood Prince himself in this trailer.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Right, that is true.
Andrew: I wonder if that’s one of things that they’re going to keep a surprise, because I know with Order of the Phoenix, they kept Sirius’s death a whole secret, so maybe they want to stay away from the Half-Blood Prince because it ultimately leads to Snape killing Dumbledore?
Ben: Well, I think that – I mean, is it just me or in the book, wasn’t the Half-Blood Prince – I mean, that wasn’t the main important part.
The Title, Half-Blood Prince
Andrew: No, it wasn’t. That was one of the things that bothered me about Half-Blood Prince. It was called Half-Blood Prince and it didn’t really focus much around Snape.
Ben: Yeah, so why would the trailer focus around something that’s just an underlying plot?
Andrew: Well, I don’t know. Why did you think so, Laura?
Laura: Why did I think they centered around Tom Riddle or…?
Andrew: No, not around the Half-Blood Prince. Or was that Micah who said that?
Micah: I said that.
Andrew: Oh. Yeah, well, I mean…
Ben: Because the book didn’t either.
Andrew: Yeah, I mean, that was ultimately Jo’s mistake and we really can’t blame the movie.
Ben: How is it a mistake?
Laura: I don’t think it’s a mistake!
Andrew: Okay, okay!
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Sorry, I take that back. I don’t mean Jo’s mistake, I just mean her doing.
Ben: Her doing, yeah. It was her decision.
Andrew: So, I guess…
Ben: Andrew, do you think it’s a mistake, though? Was that a Freudian slip?
Andrew: Yes. Now you’re going to ask me title would I have called it and I don’t know. It should have been called Harry Potter and Snape Kills Dumbledore. Just don’t even make it a surprise.
Ben: You got that from a t-shirt from Hot Topic.
Andrew: Yes, that was quite popular.
[Ben laughs]
Elysa: I mean, I was always sort of under the impression, though, that part of the reason it was called Half-Blood Prince is because Jo was sort of trying to trip us up. Because I know a lot of people were just assuming, beforehand, that it was Voldemort, and I think that – well, I know for a fact, actually, that a lot of people who don’t read the books are seeing the trailer, looking at the title, and making the exact same connection. So maybe it’s just like a head fake. That’s what I always thought it was.
Andrew: Oh, yeah.
Ben: Mmm.
Andrew: You’re probably right. Well then, also, the teaser’s a little misleading because – well, I don’t know – because young Tom – young Voldemort’s talking about, you know, making people – he can control people and start crap, and it starts going to those flashes of Ron passed out and Ginny’s wand getting knocked out of her hand.
Ben: Ah!
Andrew: And, by the way, that’s actually the new scene that’s been much publicized. So…
Ginny’s in Water
Laura: Yeah, what was – I just have to ask, I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but what was with Ginny, like, standing in water?
Andrew: It’s a rainy day.
Laura: Really rainy, apparently.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Was it water? I couldn’t even…
Laura: Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was.
Andrew: Let me load up my trailer.
Laura: But yeah, it’s like she’s standing in a bathrobe in water.
Elysa: Really?
Laura: Yeah!
Elysa: It looked like she was standing in a cornfield or something that…
Andrew: Well, it’s weird. What they have now is – it’s at the Burrow, and the house is surrounded by tall grass, I guess you would call it. And, I mean, I think the only reason it’s there is to, like – so Greyback can hide.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: And so the place goes up on fire more easily. That’s the only reason I can think of, though. I’m looking at the Ginny shot and you don’t even see her feet.
Laura: Really? I thought I saw – maybe I’m blind. I don’t know, but…
Andrew: I think you’re a bad trailer watcher.
Laura: You know what?
Andrew: Oh! Okay. Yeah, something – okay, maybe that is water. It’s a rainy day. No, you’re right. You’re right. It is water.
Laura: Okay. And I’m the bad trailer watcher? Thank you.
Andrew: Sorry. [laughs]
Laura: No, about the cornfields, I do have to say it kind of looks like they’ve picked up the story and dropped it in the middle of, like, Kansas.
[Andrew and Ben laugh]
Ben: [unintelligible]
Andrew: Well, that’s where they’re filming now. Yeah, I think the only reason they did that is one, so Greyback can hide, coming in.
[Laura laughs]
Andrew: Because, like, you know, it – well, I guess we’ll see in the film. But then also, you know, the place – there is like a fire scene that occurs. And I’m looking at the trailer and Harry’s running through all that tall grass, so…
Ben: Mmm.
Laura: Yeah.
The Hogwarts Express
Andrew: Was anyone annoyed at the beginning how – I’m jumping around now – how at the beginning there’s a shot of the Hogwarts Express, and it’s going through – it looks like a – it’s not a desert, but it kind of looks like a desert. It’s just some flatlands.
Laura: It’s part of that tall grass, I think. The same kind of…
Andrew: Oh, is it? Whatever happened to the days when the Hogwarts Express would glide smoothly through rolling hills of Scotland?
Micah: Well, Ben, this really was…
Laura: I don’t know, maybe they were just trying…
Ben: That was back before the book – they were PG, man.
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: PG 13. This is – this is the hardcore Hogwarts Express.
Andrew: [laughs] It’s just – the whole trailer as a whole has a very dark feel to it. It just seems like the whole film doesn’t – give us a break at least with the Hogwarts Express. Make that look happy before it gets all dark.
Movie 6 Shot in Kansas
Micah: It really does seem that it was shot in Kansas.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: I’m starting to get that feeling now, because this is two different shots. First the cornfield, now kind of this open terrain. Ben, did you just loan them some of your backyard or something?
Ben: Yeah, actually.
Andrew: Ben, I think I can see you and your mom out here.
Ben: Yeah.
[Ben, Elysa, and Laura laugh]
Andrew: In the tall grass or something.
A Darker Film
Ben: Is it just me – is it just me, or is each time anybody who does the film is asked about the film in comparison to the other films…
Andrew: It gets darker.
Ben: Yeah, this one – [in English accent] “this one’s a bit darker.”
Andrew: It’s always darker!
Laura: Every time, yeah.
Andrew: But in all reality…
Ben: It is a bit darker. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. And this one definitely is taking the cake. I think it’s getting darker faster than it did with previous films. Because nothing – nothing’s happy. We haven’t seen any happy – that was the other thing. I was looking at MuggleNet today, and, you know, we have all these thumbnails on each news post, and the whole page – the whole home page right now is covered in Half-Blood Prince news, so it’s all Half-Blood Prince pictures, and there’s not one, like, joyous, happy, photo that’s been released. They’re all, you know, dark photos, they got brownish tints to them because it’s low lighting…
Laura: Well, what do you expect them to do? Be like, “Yay! Dumbledore died!”
Andrew: No, but we don’t…
Laura: “Smile!”
Ben: You think the [unintelligible] are depressed?
Andrew: [laughs] Maybe they are. “Oh my God, we got two more films to go after this.”
Ben: Oh, man.
Andrew: Maybe that’s what they’re thinking. Like, Slughorn’s party, like that’s going to be purple and green, and that’s all good, but it just seems like everything’s so dark.
Ben: Dark.
Andrew: Dark.
Laura: Well you know what’s interesting about that? Wasn’t it – I don’t know, I think it was Emma Watson who said in an interview that this movie was supposed to be a lot more comic than the previous one.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure she did. And thus far I’m not seeing any comedy.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: You know, if they’re saving it. But usually they don’t. They usually take all the lame comic moments and throw them together in the trailer.
Andrew and Elysa: Yeah.
Andrew: Well, also, there’s been that quote floating around from David Heyman, I think it was, describing the film as – it’s more “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll”-ish. Course there’s no drugs or sex, but it’s just more – I guess what he’s trying to say is it’s just darker and cooler, and maybe that also does include being funnier. I mean, you got to keep in mind, this trailer – I don’t think it’s supposed to be representative of the movie as a whole at all. I mean it’s very obvious they’re just focusing on the darker side of this film.
Laura: Well, I think they’re trying…
Ben: I just hope the humor in this film is a lot more, I don’t know, not as childish or forced as it is in some of the other films, I think.
Andrew: Mhm. “Why couldn’t we follow the butterflies? Why couldn’t he have said follow the butterflies?”
Laura: “I love magic.”
Ben: Oh, and – yeah, the “I love magic” thing.
Laura: That was pretty bad.
Ben: That was such a corny moment. I just hope they shy away from that.
Andrew: That was Goblet, right?
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, when he goes in the tent. Okay, so it’s a different director, so maybe – I haven’t seen – David Heyman, or Yates – hasn’t done anything very corny, has he? I don’t think so.
Ron’s Film Character
Laura: No, I really can’t think of anything. Honestly, I really appreciate Yates, just because of what he’s done for Ron’s character.
Andrew: Mhm.
Ben: What did he do for Ron? Elaborate.
Laura: Okay, well, you know how up until pretty much the fifth movie Ron was constantly used for comic relief, and he always looked scared…
Elysa: Mhm.
Laura: …and in every promotional photo he looked like he was about to wet his pants…
Elysa: Yeah.
Laura: …and now Order of the Phoenix comes out, and suddenly Ron is, I think, a more believable character. They’re not just using him for comic relief. It just felt like they were using the fact that he was such a direct contrast to Hermione from the books, and just taking that to the full extreme, and giving him all the corny lines, and making him the laugh material. So…
Ben: So you’re saying David Yates gave Ron some fortitude.
Elysa and Laura: Yes.
Andrew: I like how Ron’s always sleeveless now in these films.
Ben: Oh Jesus.
Andrew: Like when he’s sleeping and stuff, he’s all, you know, we can see all his arms, his full arm.
Laura: He’s buff.
Ben: Well, that’s just so when Laura goes to the movie she can be like, “Oh my God, Rupert with his shirt off! Oh my God!”
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: I guess that the sex they’re talking about. More skin bared than ever!
Ben: That would have been Goblet of Fire, with…
Andrew: Oh yeah, with…
Ben: But then again, Dan was like thirteen then, so…
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Ben: Fourteen, fifteen, don’t – I don’t know. Someone’s going to correct me.
Andrew: Yeah. Just wait till DH; DH he’s going to be naked all the time. Mmm.
[Ben and Andrew laugh]
Ben: They might as well film the whole movie naked. Sorry. Andrew’s crazy.
Andrew: Did anything stand out that was really different or really similar to the book? Did anyone…
Ben: The title. The title…
Andrew: Oh yeah.
Ben: …at the beginning was really good.
McGonagall in the Trailer
Andrew: No, but just like the scene with McGonagall, she’s like addressing all the students it seems. Does any one know what that is? What’s going on?
Laura: It looks like they were all milling around her. I didn’t really notice that she was making an announcement.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: I mean, it didn’t look like she was – that she was directing anything towards them. I think it just looked like she was walk down a crowded corridor.
Andrew: Well, she’s talking too. If you watch it, she is opening her mouth, and she’s reading – she’s holding a piece of paper and saying something.
Laura: Hm.
Ben: Hm.
Laura: I don’t know.
Andrew: I don’t know. It’s a stumper. But that was kind of a cool shot, ’cause it’s hard to notice McGonagall at first, unless you’re actually looking at the very bottom.
Micah: Yeah, I didn’t even notice she was there until you just said that.
Andrew: Really?
Elysa: Neither did I honestly.
Andrew: You see what you learn when you podcast? What – did anyone notice anything else that’s very similar or anything?
The Orphanage
Laura: Well, I mean, I don’t know about the similarities but, I mean obviously, you have the orphanage scene, and I just think the orphanage looks fantastic.
Andrew: Yeah, it really does. And we were talking about this…
Laura: I did notice, it kind of had a similar style to the Department of Mysteries, with the dark brick.
Mikey: The very uniformed dark brick, you mean?
Laura: Yes.
Mikey Joins the Show from Work
Andrew: Mikey B. is joining us now, by the way.
Mikey: Hi, everybody.
Ben: Another one of So. Cal.’s finest.
[Andrew laughs]
Mikey: So, guys, I’m sorry to distract. I’m calling from work. I’m actually working right now.
Ben: No way.
Mikey: Yeah.
Ben: Where do you work?
Mikey: Right now I’m working on Jack Black footage.
Andrew: What a show off. You’re such a show off.
Ben: Get him out of here.
[Andrew and Ben laugh]
Andrew: No I’m just kidding.
Mikey: Bye, guys.
Mikey’s Thoughts on the Trailer
Andrew: Mikey, can we have your thoughts…
Ben: Autograph?
Andrew: …about the trailer?
Mikey: Yeah, no, I loved the trailer, dude. It was pretty – you know, I saw it at first… [unintelligible] …the little one.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed watching the little one. And then last night I watched the 1080p one and… [laughs]… I felt better about it.
Titles During Trailer
Andrew: Yeah. Hey, hey, here’s something I can talk about with you that nobody else will really be able to appreciate. Those titles during the trailer are so bad!
Mikey: Well, you know, yeah – like, so those titles are in the trailer. I went back after watching it on the MSN because I was totally kind of underwhelmed. I was like eh, that’s kind of cool, but, you know, it’s creative editing. You know, I’m kind of jaded more and more with editing every day now that I’m working every day on a television show and stuff. But when I looked back at the, you know, Order of the Phoenix trailer versus the Half-Blood Prince one, Order of the Phoenix looks way more polished, and the titles look super crisp with the gold…
Andrew: Well, yeah.
Mikey: …texture.
Andrew: The title looks so last minute.
Ben: That’s why I go to the movies. To see the titles.
Andrew: No…
Mikey: But again – but it’s a style thing. And, you know, the titles came up just a generic background, it looked kind of like a soupy, you know, type of background. It was all blue and dark. And it looks scary looking. But when I actually looked at the titles, like, frame by frame, ’cause of course I would do something that ridiculous.
Andrew: Mhm.
Mikey: The titles are just as finished as Order of the Phoenix and all the other films, it’s they added this weird outline to them. And it just looks really amateur…
Andrew: It does.
Mikey: …like something right of like…
Andrew: I would do that.
Mikey: …[unintelligible] movie or something.
Andrew: Right out of an Andrew Sims video.
Mikey: Yeah, a Sims video, and I love Andrew, but, you know, I don’t what him editing the Harry Potter movies.
[Andrew and Mikey laugh]
Andrew: But it’s just, yeah. I – we don’t have to get into it because it’s just – it’s not up to WB standards. And it looks like an amateur trailer. And we’ve seen so many fake trailers floating around – I’ve seen so many. Like, if you go on YouTube and search for Half-Blood Prince trailer, people make these fakes, and these titles look like they’re, you know, the real ones.
Mikey: Yeah, they look like the fake trailer titles and…
Ben: So – so are you saying it might be a hoax by WB?
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: That we still don’t have the real trailer. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?
Andrew: Exactly.
Mikey: Truthfully, truthfully me and Andrew, since we live so close together, we actually went down to the studio, filmed a bunch of footage, and that’s – this trailer that everyone’s been watching was cut together on my computer. That – that’s what it is, guys.
Andrew: There he is, showing off again. What a show off.
Mikey: I’ve given it up….
[Andrew laughs]
Mikey: I’m giving it up now, saying sorry, guys, I lied to all of you. But I wanted something new, and there you go. Hope you like the trailer.
Andrew: All right, well…
Mikey: And just so everybody knows, I didn’t really cut it, so don’t be like “Mikey cut it!” I didn’t.
Andrew: All right, well, thank you, Mikey, for checking in with us.
Mikey: I can stay for a while.
Andrew: Oh. Okay. All right.
Mikey: I just have to zone out every once in a while.
Ben: That’s Andrew trying to kick Mikey out.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I was not!
Ben: You’re still welcome here.
Mikey: Ben, I loved – we talked last night, and it was like “yeah, Ben, what’s up?”
Ben: Yeah, that was all like a two second IM chat.
The Younger Dumbledore
Andrew: All right, so let’s move along now. All right, we talked about the trailer having different feel to it. Let’s talk a little more about Michael Gambon again, because he really does – he’s really featured in this trailer. Was everyone – actually, I heard a lot of complaints about – people weren’t happy with how he looked in the flashbacks. The younger Dumbledore. Would anyone agree with that? Not up to par how he should look?
Laura: Why? What was wrong with it?
Andrew: Well, people just said he looked – I don’t know.
Mikey: I think he look’s darker than he should. Like I’m – when I looked at it, I liked the way he looks, and it definitely helps set a tone, and the fact that, like, the way he lit the dresser on fire, it’s super kind of dark. And that’s the whole mood they’re going for. So I’m wondering if that’s creative editing. But the Dumbledore in the book and everything to me is, you know, he’s kind of, you know, he’s Dumbledore! You know, odd, [unintelligible], you know, everything. He’s goofy! And…
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: …this one seemed really dark, and even like his hair, which had like a tinge of grey, and it looked black; it looked dirty almost…
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: I don’t know, he just seemed really darker than the Dumbledore I like. But he’s Michael Gambon, what can I say?
Andrew: It’s – I think a lot of people are also comparing it to the Richard Harris, young version of Richard Harris, where he had the short beard, and it was still white hair, I think. I mean it was a black and white flashback so we didn’t really know, but…
Laura: Yeah, you know, they might have… [sighs] It might have been beneficial for them to try to mirror that a bit more as opposed to going in a different direction. I don’t know, I mean, I guess they’re figuring that most people won’t notice the discrepancy there, but I don’t know. It would have been nice.
Andrew: Anyway, Micah, you were talking about you think Michael Gambon’s redeeming himself. Why?
Ben: Because we saw 30 seconds of him act.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: No, but it does make…
Micah: Which is more than he’s acted in the last couple films, so…
Laura: Oh, Micah…
Micah: No, no, no.
Mikey: He’s kind of telling the truth though, guys.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: The whole look of it doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t understand what people are getting upset about. I think, you know, the flashback scene is fine, but he just seems a little bit more at ease with his role in this movie as opposed to movies that he’s done previously, in my opinion, and yeah, I understand it’s thirty seconds, but just those thirty seconds he seems a lot more serious. I don’t know in terms of the role that he’s playing, I mentioned before the scene in Goblet of Fire or, you know, Laura mentioned in Order of the Phoenix when he comes out and tells everybody to go do their school work – that’s not Dumbledore in terms of how he’s portrayed in the books. He would never do something like that. This Dumbledore seems a lot more calmer, a lot more Richard Harris-like than I think we’ve seen in the past.
Andrew: Hm, yes, exactly.
Ben: Ah, well, did you think that had anything to do with the screenwriter?
Micah: Could be.
Mikey: Uh, yeah. [laughs]
Andrew: Well, wouldn’t it have to do with the – I just – I just think the sound of his voice is so different especially in the beginning, and that’s what really made the difference for me. So, I almost wonder if it’s David Yates saying to him, “Look, act a little lighter. Be a little chippier.”
Elysa: Well, you know what I read? I read – actually, I think it was after Order of the Phoenix came out, that Michael Gambon hadn’t read any of the books since he started filming when he took over for Richard Harris.
Andrew: Right.
Elysa: He hadn’t read any of them, and, I mean, I agree with Micah; I think you can tell. I didn’t like Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, not at all. I mean Richard Harris aside, I just didn’t think he portrayed him very well. But he did say – and I can’t remember where I read it, I think it was a few weeks ago – that he actually read Half-Blood Prince. I think that probably played a huge role. I mean, I think you can tell – I agree with you, Andrew, like, in his voice. I feel like it’s more – more solemn almost…
Andrew: Mhm.
Elysa: It had a very calm, easy way about him, even when, no matter what his emotion was – happy, or sad, or depressed – he was always sort of very stable, and you can hear that in his voice, even in the, you know, twenty seconds of the trailer or whatever.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: Now, now, hold on a second. Where did – where did you hear that he read Book 6? Did anybody else hear that?
Andrew: I feel like I did. We have to look into that though, because I mean, that is really important.
Ben: That’s a big deal, yeah.
Laura: Yeah, that would be interesting.
Mikey: That would be huge if he actually read a Harry Potter book and decided to act like, you know, the Dumbledore from the book.
Ben: I feel like it would’ve been made a bigger deal, is the only thing.
Andrew: I feel like it’s…
Ben: Everyone bashed him so much.
Elysa: Yeah, I don’t know if he read the whole thing, but I know that – I don’t think it was he that said it, I think it was actually Daniel Radcliffe was like, you know, well, for the Slughorn scene where they go and they try to get Slughorn to teach, that they were actually referencing parts of the book, that he and Dan had worked together referencing parts of the book.
Andrew: Mmm.
Elysa: I don’t know if he read it cover to cover, but…
Ben: We should find out.
Elysa: He at least read parts of it. Yeah, I’ll look for that.
Mikey: We could…
Laura: They’re very…
Mikey: We should call them up.
Andrew: You could also blame it on the director, because you know, what would it take to just give him – surely somebody must have told him about Dumbledore before. They couldn’t have just handed him the script and said “Go!” I think somebody would have to explain to him…
Ben: Of course.
Andrew: …who Dumbledore is.
Ben: Or you get it through reading the script, you know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Right, and I mean also there were two other movies to work off of, as well. Not to say that he should have taken Richard Harris’s portrayal and tried to copy it, but, I mean, I think he saw those and he read the script, and not that is preferable to reading the books, but I don’t see that reading those things would give him a bad portrayal of Dumbledore. I think there are valid points brought up with some of the lines he was given, but I think we need to remember that he didn’t write the script, someone else did, so that’s not really his fault, and I think he takes a lot of crap off people for that.
Andrew: Let’s talk about the good parts of Dumbledore…[laughs]…a little more.
[Laura laughs]
Clips of the Cave Scene
Andrew: The scene in the cave that there’s a couple of quick clips of. How amazing does that look?
Laura: It looks awesome.
Mikey: Oh!
Andrew: He’s just…
Mikey: Fire [unintelligible].
Andrew: Yeah. What do you guys think of what he’s standing on? Because it looks like ice, doesn’t it?
Mikey: Oh no, no, no. I went back and actually looked frame by frame to see if I could find Harry. He’s on an island, definitely.
Andrew: Right, but why is it ice? That’s what I don’t get.
Mikey: No, it’s not ice, it’s not ice. Here, hold on, I have the trailer – I happen to have downloaded the trailer.
Andrew: Yeah, I’m looking at it right now. One minute, eight seconds. It’s just – on the set…
Ben: What frame is that? What frame is that on our wonderful image viewer, Andrew?
Andrew: Hold on, I’m going to look it up. Oh…
Micah: Well, didn’t…
Andrew: Point seven eight seconds…
Micah: Wasn’t the cave described to have stalactites and stalagmites and all that kind of…
Laura: Yeah.
Micah: …stuff in it?
Andrew: Oh.
Micah: So maybe that’s what it is.
Mikey: Yeah. If you look – if you look a little bit forward, more towards the end of one minute eight seconds…
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: …Andrew, and you come to the high angle looking down on Dumbledore…
Andrew: Right.
Mikey: …where it flip-flops, you can really see that there’s like rocks and pebbles and other things, and I think the view we’re looking at before, when it looks like ice and blocks and stuff like that – I think that’s just because it’s – it might even be like a grain color to accent the, you know, the – the locket pool, but what happens to the fire, it’s just so bright and it looks like ice now.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: I don’t know, Mikey. That looks a lot like ice. I think I see…
Mikey: It does, but there’s also – but if you look – see, I’m looking at the high-res version. If you look towards the center, about maybe an inch down…
Ben: Oh, sorry…
Mikey: … [unintelligible] of Dumbledore…
Ben: I was looking at the low-res version.
[Andrew laughs]
Mikey: Of Dumbledore, you can see a green tint on the ground still, and when you flip it over to the other way, you definitely see darker colors – darker colors of the ground. And you can see, you know, the darker colors, and some of the stuff that looks like ice now looks has a pigment.
Ben: You’re probably right. You’re probably right.
Mikey: I’m sorry. I am – I went through and looked through this whole thing when I should’ve been working, and luckily no one can hear me through my door.
Andrew: You know…
Ben: The first person to report Mikey to his boss. Nevermind.
Andrew: You know, you can actually see Dumbledore’s boat, I realize, now that I’m going back and forth through it at 1:08, where there’s that high shot going down. If you look over his left shoulder, you can see something tall sticking up, and it’s actually connected to the boat, which is kind of cool.
Ben: Yup.
Elysa: You know what stuck out to me, honestly? And I actually just scrambled to find the page. What stuck out to me was the description in the book on page 576 in the American version, and it’s talking about that scene and he says, “his wand was raised like a torch and from its tip emanated the flames, like a vast lasso, encircling them all with warmth.” And when I saw that scene, I was just so incredibly excited that they had actually captured that.
Andrew: Yeah.
Elysa: Like the lasso sort of movement. You see Dumbledore with his wand sort of circling around his head, and then, like, it’s exactly like it describes in the book.
Andrew: Yeah. They really have. I just hope there’s no, like, corny sound effects during this scene because, like, that was part – part of what ruined Order of the Phoenix for me at the end, just the stupid little noises they had inserted, but yeah, this just looks so – so good.
Elysa: It looks awesome.
Micah: Yep.
Elysa: I love it.
Andrew: Still can’t see Dumbledore’s black – well, actually, that one shot you can see both hands, but neither of his hands look black. So I guess they haven’t done that yet.
Micah: There are those two small clips, too, of him putting the ring on.
Andrew: Yeah! They’re really quick. What else? I loved how there were the quick shots of Voldemort in between the shots of young Tom. It was just so well done, the presentation of this trailer. It was so…
Ben: That’s probably why it took them so long.
Andrew: Yeah. Maybe.
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: I mean, because what happens? They raise you up with this, you know, “I can see snakes” and then – or “I can talk to snakes,” and then they just drop you with that BOOM, when he says something. I can’t remember what he says, but – just really well done. Anything else you guys want to talk about with the initial thoughts about the trailer? Anything else? We’re going to take calls after we go to break, but is there anything else you want to discuss?
Appealing to Both Readers and Non-Readers
Elysa: I just wanted to say that I think it did a really good job appealing to both the fans who have read the books and those who haven’t, just because talking to a lot of my friends in Baltimore, who haven’t read the books, they were saying that it was the first time they felt like they actually knew what was going on from the trailer.
Andrew: Yeah.
Elysa: From watching, and you were saying with like the flashes of Voldemort’s face, like overtop of young Tom Riddle, they were watching the trailer up until that point, and they were thinking well, who is this kid? And then at that moment, of course, it sunk in. So I feel like they did a really nice job of sort of appealing to those who just see the movies. At the same time, they obviously – with the, you know, fire scene and everything else – really appeasing the hardcore fans.
Andrew: Yeah.
Really Good or Just Hype?
Ben: I just have a quick question for Andrew. Do you think that the trailer would have been this well received – do you think that the hype has something to do with how long they made us wait, or do you think it’s really just that good?
Andrew: I think it’s really just that good, just because of how they did this trailer, because it feels – I really think it feels a lot different than teaser trailers that they’ve released in the past. And after the trailer came out, I couldn’t help but to feel a little depressed. Like all the anticipation was over, but then I watched it a couple more times and I was like yeah, this is sweet. I don’t know…
Ben: Now we can’t gripe about it anymore.
Andrew: Did you think it was…
Laura: Now we have nothing to whine about.
Andrew: Yeah, I know.
Elysa: [laughs] Yeah, really.
MuggleCast 155 Transcript (continued)
Theatrical Trailer
Andrew: Well, now we – now we get to bitch and moan about the theatrical trailer, so…
Laura: Yeah. See now when is that going to come out? That really…
Andrew: I don’t know. Let’s start some movie rumors now.
Mikey: Yeah. What about the one that was part of the IMAX one? Did you guys talk about that at all?
Andrew: Yeah. It was terrible.
Laura: Yeah. It was basically nothing.
Andrew: Yeah. It…
Mikey: I like the line, and I thought that was kind of cool. It was like all mysterious, but it was just kind of like totally lacking. Like why would you put something like that before one of the biggest – the biggest movie opening of all time so far?
Andrew: Yeah. I just – I was so disappointed by that. It was just ridiculous.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Do you think…
Ben: So do you guys think it’s going to beat the Dark Knight?
Andrew: No. [laughs]
Laura: Yeah…
Elysa: No.
Ben: Come on, Potter fans. Let’s start a rally. Let’s do it.
Andrew: Yay.
Ben: Everybody go see the movie ten times in theaters.
Andrew: I’m really keen on starting…
Mikey: Ten times the opening weekend and to have all your friends go with you.
Andrew: I’m going to predict right now that the theatrical trailer will be released with…
Mikey: I call Clone Wars.
Andrew: Dude, that’s like two weeks away. [laughs]
Mikey: Yeah.
Ben: With Mikey going with the bold call.
Micah: I mean, we’re already into August, right? How…
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: You think like – like – like…
Ben: How long do you need?
Laura: …September? Early October?
Ben: Yeah…
Andrew: High School Musical 3. Done.
Laura: Oh God, no!
Elysa: Oh, geez.
Micah: I will not go see that movie.
Andrew: That’s one month before…
Ben: Andrew’s going to be at the midnight release.
Andrew: That’s one month.
[Laura laughs]
Mikey: Andrew, Andrew. We’ll go see it together. We’ll go see it.
Andrew: I already have my – my tickets booked for – for that film.
Elysa: Oh, for what? High School Musical?
[“What Time Is It?” by High School Musical cast begins playing]
Andrew: Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Laura: No!
Andrew: Here’s one of my favorite songs.
Laura: Turn that off.
Andrew: [sings] Summer time. It’s time for a trailer. What time is it? Time for a trailer.
[Music stops]
Andrew: I don’t know. Maybe. I’m putting my money down on High School Musical 3. Either that or the Chihuahua movie – Beverly Hills Chihuahua, with the worst trailer ever made.
Elysa: Yeah.
Andrew: Chihuahua! Don-don-don-da-don-don-don.
Laura: Oh yeah, we all…
Elysa: That’s terrible.
Laura: …saw that together. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: We all about died. Anyway…
Was It Worth Waiting For?
Andrew: Other – other trailer things to talk about? Anyone? Ben, how about you? I mean – well, I’ll ask everyone. Do you think it lived up to the hype in the long wait? Do you think WB made it any different because of the wait, or what?
Ben: I don’t think so. I mean, do you think they were still working on this? Do you think that this was, like, the eleventh hour and their editors just finished it? “Yes, tomorrow we can do it.”
Andrew: [laughs] The eleventh hour.
Ben: Yeah.
Andrew: Well, no. I think it’s been ready for a while. I think they just didn’t know when to release it.
Ben: Do you think they were just trying like to – perhaps they have someone different who’s in charge of marketing now or something. And they decided to stall on releasing the trailer.
Andrew: Maybe. I just think – because there were so many different rumors for this trailer, and so many strong rumors, and that’s why I think that they actually didn’t know what movie they were going to release it with. And our initial Mummy rumors – and it is coming out with The Mummy on Friday – our initial Mummy rumors said that Universal really wanted the trailer with The Mummy because The Mummy – they’re thinking it’s not going to do well in theaters, so they wanted The Half-Blood Prince teaser to boost ticket sales. And I think that makes sense. I’m not a Mummy fan. [laughs]
Elysa: Yeah.
Ben: Are you going to go see it, though? Are you going to go see the trailer in theaters just to get a…
Andrew: I may see it. I may plan it right so I can just hop in, see the trailer, and then go to Batman.
Ben: Oh, that’s illegal, Andrew. That’s illegal.
Andrew: [laughs] Is it illegal? Is there actually a law? I mean…
Ben: You have to have a ticket to enter the theater.
Andrew: Eh, that’s true.
Ben: You can’t just stroll…
Andrew: I do have a ticket.
Ben: …up in there.
Andrew: I do have a ticket.
Ben: You don’t have a ticket to The Mummy.
Andrew: I accidentally walked in to the wrong theater.
Ben: Oh, I see. “I thought I was going to the bathroom.”
[Andrew and Elysa laugh]
Andrew: I saw the video and I just couldn’t leave.
Mikey: Wow.
Andrew: So did – what about everyone else? Did you guys think it was worth the wait? Does everyone feel satisfied now?
Laura: I feel really satisfied.
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: Really?
Laura: Mostly because it completely…
Andrew: Grow up, Ben.
Laura: …not what I expected.
[Ben laughs]
Laura: Ben, shut up.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: No, just like – I’m sorry.
[Andrew and Elysa laugh]
Ben: Sorry.
Andrew: Naw…
Ben: Sorry.
Laura: Grow up!
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Anyway – no. It’s really not what I expected.
Andrew: Mhm.
Laura: I mean, from them. Typically these teaser trailers, you know – I was kind of expecting something along the lines of the Goblet of Fire teaser trailer, where they spent half of it using old footage of the kids, you know, and I was really pleased to see that the whole thing was new footage, because I wasn’t quite expecting that. So, they always seem to think to throw in a flashback somewhere.
Andrew: Well, it’s funny – the shots of Voldemort are flashbacks.
Laura: Are they?
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: They’re at least edited to look different.
Andrew: They’re – yeah, they’re at least used properly.
Micah: Laura, I hate to break it to you, but most of the trailer is a flashback.
Andrew: Ooh. Laura, you’re dumb.
[Ben says something unintelligible]
Astronomy Tower or Graveyard?
Andrew: Well, there’s also very quick flashes around Ginny. And there are three separate flashes and they’re three separate frames. And there’s an article on Rotten Tomatoes trying to figure out where that scene is, and somebody suggested it was from the Astronomy Tower. It’s at 1:07. It’s a blue flash. But then someone in the comments said it was actually from the graveyard scene in Goblet of Fire. And it’s one frame so you can’t really tell what on earth is going on. It looks like it’s outside. I don’t think it looks like the graveyard tower to me. But it is – they always love to embed little old clips in these trailers. And I…
Laura: Oh, you know what? It does look like it.
Andrew: Do you see that? It looks like what, the Astronomy Tower or…
Laura: It looks like the graveyard.
Andrew: Do you think so? Because I can’t figure out, like…
Laura: Well – oh, you know what? It – I can see how it can look like both, because there’s, you know – I mean it’s really blurry. I wonder if this is where Dumbledore gets thrown off the Tower. Because it’s a green curse, and then you see sky, and there’s like – it looks like it’s hitting a body. And…
Andrew: Right.
Laura: …it almost looks exactly like it did when they hit Cedric with it in Goblet of Fire.
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: Cedric!
Laura: Hmm.
Andrew: Yeah, I mean it does look like it could be from Goblet.
Ben: Oh, that would be cheap. They didn’t even give us real…
Mikey: What flash are you talking about?
Andrew: It’s at 1:07. It’s not exactly 1:07. It’s after – it’s one frame. You have to go frame-by-frame, because even if you scroll through this trailer – see, because you see something in the background on the left. That’s the clearest thing you can make out. And I just don’t know – that just doesn’t look like the graveyard scene to me. That’s why I’m confused. It almost looks like the Mirror of Erised, but can’t tell.
Ben: So you’re saying that they took a shot from Goblet and put it in this trailer?
Andrew: Yeah. They did it with Order of the Phoenix too. They took the graveyard scenes.
Ben: That’s lame.
Andrew: It’s not that big of a deal.
Laura: It looks like buildings to me.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: Yeah, no. It looks like buildings like in the left, and center.
Andrew: That…
Mikey: And then there’s like all that going on in the center that’s going on with the super white light. I don’t know.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s weird. This is going to sound really weird, but on the left where the hand is – it kind of looks like it’s sticking out there – it looks like Mewtwo from Pokemon. It looks like Mewtwo’s hand.
[Elysa and Laura laugh]
Andrew: It does! What?
Mikey: I’m not even going to respond because I have so much I can refer to Star Wars on this, just because you bring up Pokemon.
Ben: Really?
Andrew: Well, but it’s real quick and I’m already done. So now you’re the one dwelling on it, so joke’s on you.
Mikey: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah.
Andrew: All right.
Mikey: It looks like buildings.
Andrew: It’s almost time to take a break, and we will be taking calls after the break, and we’ve got a couple of other things to get to. Does anyone have anything else to say about it before we go to break? Was anybody disappointed in anything?
No Snape in Trailer
Micah: The only thing I’ll say – and I brought this up before – and I know we kind of mentioned that the Half-Blood Prince was a subplot, but I think nothing focusing on Snape at all on this trailer is a little bit disappointing.
Ben: Uh…
Laura: Eh…
Mikey: I don’t think so, just because no one knew who the Half-Blood Prince was before the book came out, and I think at the same time, they kind of almost want that same mystery, where they’re not like giving anything away before. Again, they’re not really, you know – we know what happens, the book’s out, but for the people that just follow the movies, they don’t know who the Half-Blood Prince is, and, you know, what is the Half-Blood Prince? And now it’s like all of this Voldemort stuff. So they really don’t know what’s going to happen.
Elysa: Yeah.
Mikey: And I think that’s what I loved about Half Blood Prince, where so much happens and, you know.
Micah: I’m just saying…
Ben: For anyone who hasn’t read Harry Potter…
Mikey: Yeah.
Ben: …or, like, at least, like, know the plot from the movies, you know?
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: Well, I’m just hoping that they did that character justice, because they haven’t done him justice throughout the first five movies.
Mikey: You know what? Truthfully, they might have actually waited on this just because, since the seventh book has come out, you know, and Snape is such a big role, they probably – they may have reworked some stuff with him to make him give him that much more justice, ’cause he’s such a huge role in the seventh movie. And book, I guess you could say. Because it is a book.
Andrew: Yeah. There’s a new film with Alan Rickman coming out, and I saw the trailer for it in front of Mamma Mia. Does anyone know about this? I’m going to look it up real quick. But he’s…
Ben: You saw Mamma Mia?
Andrew: Yeah. It was the worst film of all time. In a funny way.
[Laura laughs]
Mikey: Really? Didn’t I tell you that when we were watching Batman? You were like, “I want to see it!” And we were like, “No, please don’t.”
Andrew: I still – well, I still wanted to see it. It was fun but it sucked. So, it’s this movie called Bottleshock, and he plays this guy who comes over from the U.K. in something like – something about tea or something. And Alan Rickman – I love him. He’s an awesome actor. But in every role – lately, at least – it just screams Snape. Like just the way he talks very slowly, and putting it this way. You know what I mean?
Micah: Well, even Jim Dale said he took Snape’s – I mean, he took Snape’s voice from Alan Rickman when he did the audiobooks, and this was, what, probably before…
Andrew: The movies.
Micah: ….Alan Rickman had gotten the role.
Andrew: Right. Because Jim Dale said they were friends.
Micah: Yep.
Andrew: So…
Ben: So…
The Hosts Make Some Phone Calls
Andrew: Before we go to break, Alex Carpenter wanted to get in here with his thoughts. He has a big Wizard Rock show coming up in just about – let’s see, what time it is now. Eight o’clock. So, coming up in an hour or so. We’re going to give him a call. He may be very nervous before the – you know, the pre-show nerves. You know. Ben and I, we never experience that on tour. Or Mikey, because we’re just naturals, but Alex can get a little nervous. So we’re going to give him a call. He’s actually touring on the east coast right now.
Ben: Ooh. Fun.
Andrew: He better answer.
[Phone rings]
Andrew: Does he know who he’s dealing with? We made him who he is.
[Phone goes to voicemail]
Voicemail: Hey, it’s Alex. Sorry I missed your call…
Laura: Ah!
Andrew: Ah, that’s real cool.
Laura: Oh, fail.
Andrew: Real cool. Alex.
Voicemail: I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks. Have an awesome day.
Andrew: Have an awesome day.
Laura: Have an awesome… [laughs]
Andrew: Have an awesome day.
Alex’s voicemail: To page this person, press five now.
Andrew: What a jerk! I texted him earlier. I said…
[Phone beeps]
Andrew: Hey!
Ben: Hey.
Andrew: We’re doing a show! I text you an hour ago, you said, “Sure, I’ll come on. Just call me before nine because that’s…” Give you a call, straight to voicemail.
Ben: The ignore button. That wasn’t even the – that wasn’t even voicemail.
Andrew: Oh, you’re right.
Ben: It rang twice. We got the ignore button.
Andrew: What a jerk. You know what? Sam Friedman’s with him right now. I bet she’s behind this. Jerk. All right, well, call us back if you want.
Ben: Don’t say her name! [laughs] Just kidding.
Andrew: [laughs] Just kidding, just kidding. Sam’s not a jerk. ‘Kay.
Ben: Call her.
Andrew: Oh yeah! That’s a good idea. All right. So we’ll call her and demand that we speak with Alex immediately. We’ll pretend like it’s of great importance. Somebody fill the time.
Elysa: Where is he on the east coast?
Andrew: He’s in – I want to say Providence, Rhode Island.
Elysa: Oh, okay.
Ben: Laura, let’s sing Green Day songs. [sings] Do you have the time…
Ben and Elysa: [sings] To listen to me whine?
Laura: Oh my gosh, this is like – remember when we used to have those big debates about Fall Out Boy?
Sam’s phone: Please enjoy the music while your party is reached.
[“Cupid’s Chokehold” by Gym Class Heroes plays]
Ben: Oh yeah
Andrew: [sings] She’s the only one I got.
Sam: Hello?
Andrew: Hey, this is Andrew. What’s up?
Sam: What the hell? Why did you come up on…? What the hell is going on?
Andrew: I – nothing. Is Alex there? Are you with Alex?
Laura: No swearing!
Sam: I’ll be with Alex in a few minutes. Why, what’s up?
Andrew: I need to talk to him now.
Ben: Go find him, this is urgent.
Andrew: This is urgent.
Sam: You need – you need what?
Andrew: Alex. Need him. Tried calling him, he didn’t answer.
Sam: Okay. Okay. I’ll have him call you as soon as I get back to the place. It’ll be like ten minutes, okay?
Andrew: Oh forget it, forget it…
Ben: We’re live right now.
Sam: What the hell?
Andrew: We’re doing MuggleCast Live right now and he said he would come on and talk about his trailer thoughts, and I called him, and it went straight to voicemail.
Sam: Well, he’s warming up for his show.
Andrew: Oh whatever. Whatever. No, I’m just kidding.
Ben: Nobody warms up for Wizard Rock.
[Andrew Laughs]
Sam: Is that Ben? What the hell is going on?
Andrew: All right. Nothing.
Ben: You don’t even know. You don’t even know.
Andrew: Thank you. Thank you, Sam.
Sam: Okay, bye, I’ll go call him.
Ben: Buh-bye
Andrew: That was Sam Friedman. All right, so we’re going to take a break. When we come back we’re going to be taking your calls. We have a little announcement about a little charity effort we’re doing with the live show today, and much more. Mikey, are you going to stick around, or what’s the deal?
Ben: Mikey, stay.
Andrew: I think Mikey already left.
Laura: Oh, no you know what? He told me he had work to do.
Andrew: Oh, so he just left.
Ben: Boo.
Micah: I think his boss walked in.
Hosts Take a Break
Andrew: These people, the dedication has dropped to the show; I’m very disappointed. From Mikey and Alex, you guys are great. Anyway, all right, we’re going to take a break. When we come back we’re going to be taking your calls, playing Spy on Spartz, baby, and much more. This is MuggleCast live, we’ll be back in just a few minutes.
[“Mississippi Queen” by Mountain plays and fades into “More Than A Feeling” by Boston]
Andrew: [sings] MuggleCast live, Wednesday July 30th. Dun dun dun dun…
Ben: I just want to say whoever put that playlist together should be given an award.
Andrew: Oh, that was me, Ben!
Ben: Oh. Never would have guessed. [laughs]
Charity: Teddy Bears for Hope
Andrew: Thank you. [laughs] Anyway, welcome back, everyone. We have a lot of things to get to in the second half of this show. We’re going to be taking your calls in a minute, so don’t start calling yet please. First of all, we’re kicking off a new little charity thing here on MuggleCast starting today, actually. We’re starting it – today – with this live show. Okay, I got to stop bringing up UStream because it does that. Teddy Bears for Hope. Micah, can you explain this a little bit to the audience please? Micah Tannenbaum?
Mikey: Micah Tannenbaum? Are you there? I’m here, Andrew.
Andrew: Micah Tannenbaum is not here. We’ll get to it in a minute. Visit MuggleCast.com, go click on the banner on the top, it says “Teddy Bears for Hope.” What we’re doing is we’re trying to raise money to send out teddy bears to people who are going through tough situations right now. It’s this charity effort – that’s a friend of Micah’s. We’re looking for five dollar donations from each person because it’s five dollars a teddy bear, isn’t that right, Micah? He tells me he’s back and – oh! He dropped from the Skype conversation, that’s what happened.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Ah, I’m good at this live thing. Micah, can you explain Teddy Bears for Hope briefly? I went through it all, but do you want to explain it a little bit more?
Micah: Sure, basically, we’ve been talking about doing some kind of charitable effort on this show for a pretty long time, and we just couldn’t figure out what to do and we came across this non-profit organization called Teddy Bears for Hope, and really what they do is they provide brand new teddy bears to children around the world whose lives have been ravaged by tragedy. And, you know, one of the areas of course that would come to mind in this country is down in New Orleans. I actually just came from there as Andrew, you mentioned earlier on in the show. And, you know, some of the victims of Hurricane Katrina are in fact children. And what we were thinking of doing was putting up a poll on the site and seeing where our listeners thought these teddy bears would be able to go. And there is a link I believe that you created, Andrew, with a banner on MuggleCast.com. People can go over, they can click on it…
Andrew: Yes.
Micah: They can read a little bit about the non-profit organization, they can check out the non-profit organization’s website. There’s a donate button that’s located on this page, and you can give as little or as much as you want, there’s no set amount. We just want to try and help out in any way we can. And then of course once it’s voted on where these bears are going to be going we will of course follow through and let the listeners know. We’ll get pictures and all that kind of thing and post them up on the site. But this is our chance to give back. You know, the fandom as a whole has always been so good about rallying around important causes. You know, I mentioned New Orleans, we don’t have to do it with New Orleans. We could do it with New Orleans and another place, it really doesn’t matter. We can – we can spread it out. But this is really just a great opportunity for us to give something back.
Andrew: Sure.
Micah: So…
Andrew Tries Calling Alex Again and Fails
Andrew: All right, and that’s going to be going on for the next three weeks. We’re going to be trying to raise money, so – and if it’s a good success we’ll keep it going even longer. I mean, why not? So, we’ll keep you updated on MuggleCast. Switching gears now, Alex is ready. He’s done his practicing. And he wants to call in. So, I’m going to give him a call now. If you don’t know, Alex is the leader of the Remus Lupins, a very popular Wizard Rock band. They’re my favorite, personally. I think they’re excellent.
[Phone rings]
Andrew: I’m calling now. If he doesn’t answer this time, I’m boycotting his music.
[Phone rings]
Andrew: Burn all his albums.
[Elysa laughs]
[Phone rings]
Andrew: Jerk.
Alex’s voicemail: Hey, it’s Alex…
Andrew: This is a joke. He had his chance.
Ben: Ooo .
Andrew Experiences an Earthquake
Andrew: “Call me back as soon as I can…” Before we get to anything else, I’d like to comment on a recent headline in the news.
[“Taps” begins playing]
Andrew: Yesterday there was what many were calling a natural disaster. It was about quarter of noon, yesterday.
Ben: Oh, you make me sick.
Laura: [laughs] Oh my God…
Andrew: And I was stepping out of the shower, minding my own business…
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: …and I opened the bathroom door. Things were great, it’s another beautiful day. Trailer coming up this evening. And I noticed the ceiling begins to shake, and I think to myself, “Geez, the neighbors up there are being noisy.” And before I know it, the walls begin to shake, as well, and little did I know I was in an earthquake. And I just wanted to let everyone know I am okay. I know a lot of people were worried. They may have saw my Twitter or my Facebook. I am okay. Mikey has also survived the earthquake. Did you survive, Mikey?
Ben: I don’t know. He’s working.
Andrew: He didn’t.
[Everyone laughs]
[“Taps” stops playing]
Andrew: But it’s okay. We made it through. I just wanted to update everyone on that situation. Hope nobody minded.
Ben: Oh, I was just…
Andrew: It was very sad.
Ben: Well, it was so funny. I was sitting on the computer yesterday. I wasn’t actually sitting on the computer.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: I was at the computer.
Andrew: I was going to say.
Ben: But yesterday, this was about the afternoon, Andrew comes to me online and he says, “OMG! OMG! OMG!” And I said, “What?” And then he signed off, and then he came back and he said, “There was an earthquake.” I was like, “What? No way!” And then I called his parents, of course, to make sure they knew that Andrew was okay. Yeah, I took the liberty…
Mikey: I remember that. Andrew IMed me and was like, “Mikey! Did you feel that?”
Ben: And then Mikey starts busting out all this data.
[Andrew laughs]
Andrew: He linked to…
Ben: “It felt like a 5.6.”
Andrew: [laughs] It felt like a 5.6. But anyway…
Mikey: Guys, when you live with earthquakes all the time, you just go to USGS. The globe – they check everything.
Andrew: I didn’t know that.
Mikey: It’s just there. The best part, though – Ben, you don’t know this – me and Andrew were talking and he said, “Did you just feel that?” We felt an aftershock at the exact same time.
Andrew: Well, earthquakes are amazing because Mikey and I – he was at work yesterday and it’s like a half hour from where we live, in [unintelligible], and the moment he feels the aftershock, I feel it too, and it’s just surreal to think something under the earth is shaking the ground where we can actually feel it at the same time.
Ben: Haven’t you seen the movie Tremors?
Andrew: No. It’s just surreal to me.
Mikey: I own the Tremors 4-pack with all the movies. It’s pretty amazing, Ben. You should come by and we can watch all four of them.
Ben: Yeah, we can cuddle.
Mikey: Yeah.
Rules: No Shout Outs, Tacos, Twilight, and Mute the Stream
Andrew: [laughs] All right, we are going to start taking your calls now. I just want to lay a couple of ground rules first. We did this last time and it worked out very well, so we are going to do it again. No shout outs, please. You know, it’s great you want to shout out to your friends, but please don’t do it, it slows the show down. No Pickle Pack. I saw in the chat, there’s like a TacoCast or something like that. No taco references. No Twilight references. Even though TwilightSource.com is a great website for all your Twilight needs. And mute your stream while you call. Do not have the stream of the show up while you place your call because then we’re just going to hear it and it’s going to sound bad. Everyone’s going to hear it.
Ben: But, Andrew, then I can’t hear myself.
Andrew: Well, just have it low and be prepared to turn it down the moment I answer your call.
Laura: And you’ll get hung up on.
Andrew: Yes. Have a question prepared before you call, please. Some people place the call and like, “I don’t know, I forgot what I was going to say.” Have a question prepared.
Mikey: I like the people that want to call and just say, like, “So, how you guys doing?” I like that. It makes me feel special that people want to know how I’m doing.
Andrew: But it’s ruining the pace of the show. It’s ruining the pace.
Mikey: Know what? I like it when people want to know how I’m doing, Andrew.
Andrew: Okay, well…
Mikey: I feel like someone cares. Okay, I want to know that people care. But you know what? If you don’t want people to know that, yeah. I care about everyone.
Andrew: Only call in once. Do not make repeated calls. It won’t do you any good. I’m not going to answer if I keep seeing you call, or if your call comes on and you try to call back again. You only get one shot because everyone gets – we’re trying to give everyone a chance. And we’re trying – you know, this is all just to avoid slowing the show down, as I said. All right, so after being all mean with that, let’s start taking a couple calls right now. Hello, Colin.
Call: Audience May Think Voldemort is the Half-Blood Prince
Colin: Hello?
Andrew: Hello, Colin! You’re in MuggleCast Live. What’s going on?
Colin: Awesome.
Andrew: Awesome!
Mikey: Totally.
Colin: Now I’m really here.
Andrew: So, what’s going on? Got any questions?
Colin: What?
Ben: He’s cutting out, isn’t he?
Andrew: Yeah, a little bit.
Mikey: It’s a little bit slow.
Andrew: Do you have any questions, sir?
Colin: I just re-watched the trailer, and I was thinking for a second, doesn’t – to me it gives every thought that, like, that – to make people think that Voldemort is, like, the Half-Blood Prince. It doesn’t mention any…
Andrew: It doesn’t mention any Half-Blood Prince references? I
Mikey: Any Snape references or anything.
Andrew: Is that what you mean?
Colin: Well, the title, and then some [unintelligible], it would make, like, someone who hasn’t read the books think that Tom Riddle’s the Half-Blood Prince, just from the title and…
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: Yeah, but that is the trick, my friend; that is the trick.
Andrew: Yeah, and we were sort of talking about…
Colin: And…
Andrew: Go ahead.
Colin: I know you guys mentioned that earlier about how we didn’t see any Snape, but it bugged me how it just – it’s going to make all like the non-readers think that that is…
Andrew: Right.
Colin: That Tom Riddle is the Half-Blood Prince.
Ben: That makes for a good movie. If they spend the entire movie thinking Tom Riddle is the Half-Blood Prince, and then when they find out what it really is, you know?
Elysa: Yeah, that’s a fair point, because if you think about it, we went into the book not having any idea, but the people who haven’t read the book are going to go into the movie with assumptions. So there is a slight difference.
Andrew: Mhm.
Micah: At the very least I would say…
Colin: I guess that’s kind of the same because… .
Andrew: All right, well thank you, Colin. Micah, what were you going to say, Micah?
Micah: Well, kind of going off what Colin was saying before, at the very least, you know, throw the book in there. Throw the Potions book in there, so there’s at least some tie to the title of the movie.
Andrew: Well, the Potions book was in the very first picture.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: What, Laura?
Laura: Non-readers of the book aren’t going to make the connection between the Potions book…
Ben: Why does it matter? My question is: why does it matter?
Andrew: Well, it doesn’t necessarily matter.
Micah: It doesn’t.
Andrew: It is kind of misleading, but I guess because there is so much focus on Tom Riddle, and then it says Half-Blood Prince, so you do assume.
Alex Carpenter Finally Makes it to his Phone
Alex: Hello?
Andrew: Alex Carpenter.
Alex: There we go. I’m sorry.
Andrew: What’s going on? It’s okay.
Ben: [singing] Lumos 2006.
[Andrew laughs]
Mikey: Hey, buddy.
Andrew: You’re preparing for a show.
Alex: Hey, man. I am. It is a hectic evening. We are in Providence and just setting up for a show, yeah.
Andrew: Are you excited for the show? You’ve been on tour for a while, haven’t you?
Alex: This is like show nine million of this tour here.
[Andrew laughs]
Alex: It’s crazy.
Andrew: So, I…
Alex: For like almost two months.
Andrew: I assume you saw the trailer. What did you think of it? Were you happy…
Alex: Oh man.
Andrew: Yeah?
Alex: It is so awesome.
Andrew: Yeah.
Alex: It’s out of control.
Andrew: Yeah.
Alex: I saw it. I have to admit, I liked it better without audio, like I saw it on an iPhone without audio first…
Andrew: Yeah?
Alex: …and then I heard all the talking and that was cool.
[Andrew laughs]
Alex: Dumbledore, like, just being Gandalf with the fire all around him.
[Andrew laughs]
Alex: That was so amazing.
Andrew: Yeah. Well, we were saying that it’s really true to the books too. It actually looks how it was actually described.
Alex: Yeah, it’s pretty BA.
Andrew: Yeah.
Alex: I have to say. I’m excited to see how the whole thing is realized.
Andrew: Yeah.
Alex: But I’m sure they’re going to cut out everyone’s favorite part because they always do.
Andrew: Which is what?
Alex: Whatever that is.
Andrew: Oh.
Alex: I don’t know. For every person it’s something different. They always cut out everyone’s favorite part.
Andrew: That’s true. Has this trailer inspired you to write any new songs perhaps?
Alex: [laughs] Since last night…
Mikey: Like songs you’re going to sing right now?
Alex: [laughs] I wish it had.
[Andrew laughs]
Alex: Funny about that trailer.
Ben: [sings] Trailer 2008.
Alex: [sings] I’m super excited that Bonnie Wright doesn’t look like a little girl, because it would be creepy…
[Andrew laughs]
Alex: [continues singing] …when her and Dan Radcliffe hook-up… [laughs] …because they’re going to…
Andrew: See, you could turn that into a full-fledged song.
Alex: Were you guys concerned at all about that?
Andrew: What?
Alex: I was concerned because she looked…
Mikey: I totally was concerned.
Alex: …like a little girl in the last movie.
Andrew: Yeah, she did look ridiculous.
Alex: I hope that’s what they accomplished.
Andrew: I agree, thank you.
Alex: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah.
Andrew: She gets attacked in this one, poor girl. But – all right, well, we’ll let you go, Alex.
Alex: Did you guys enjoy it? Did you scream like little fangirls perhaps?
Andrew: Oh, yes. You’re talking about my video on YouTube?
Alex: I enjoyed it. I watched it a couple of times.
Andrew: Oh, yes.
Alex: It kept me laughing on tour.
Andrew: Good. Excellent. Anything to help you and the tour.
[Alex laughs]
Andrew: All right, well, we’ll let you go. Thank you, Alex, for calling in.
Alex: Have an awesome rest of your show.
Andrew: You too. Have a good show, man. Good luck. I’m sure you’ll do fine.
Alex: Thank you.
Andrew: You guys are great.
Alex: All right, bye.
Andrew: All right, bye. All right, that was Alex Carpenter of the Remus Lupins. Good guy. I like that guy. Let’s take another call now going with this voice streak. Hello Nick – no, boy streak, excuse me. Hello, Nick.
Nick: Hi.
Andrew: Hi. Welcome to the show.
Call: The Little Details
Nick: Hi. All right, I have less of a question but a comment. All right, are you ready?
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Now, I love the books and I don’t really like the movies as much, but WB makes it so hard. Dumbledore is supposed to have auburn red hair when he goes to visit Tom Riddle.
Andrew: Ah, yes.
Laura: Harry is supposed to have green eyes.
Andrew: [laughs] But hair is much more obvious, Laura.
Nick: See, is it really that hard to make those little details true to the book? They just have to look at the book.
Laura: But, I mean, does it really matter?
Mikey: Yeah, but at the same time, Harry is not supposed to be Dan Radcliffe, you know, handsome, and Ron is not supposed to be the way – these people are not…
Ben: We all know Hermione is not really that hot.
[Andrew laughs]
Mikey: Seriously, so…
[Ben laughs]
Mikey: …at the same time, you know, they’re trying to sell tickets, man. I totally agree with you in a lot of aspects but it’s movie-making, it’s magic.
Nick: But he just looks stupid. I mean, like, wouldn’t it be so much cooler if he had red hair in the trailer? It would be like, “Wow! He looks so different.”
Andrew: He would look younger.
Mikey: At the same time, you got to…
Nick: He still has gray hair. I mean…
Mikey: But you got to remember, though, at the same time, like, people that don’t read the books, will they know who that guy is with red hair? Will they? Honestly, like…
Ben: That’s probably why.
Mikey: In fact…
Nick: Yeah, that’s true, that’s true.
Mikey: …just a minute ago, like I’m at work, I had two people come to my office, and I showed them the trailer, and they didn’t know who that little kid was until the very end with the flash with Voldemort. Like I knew who it was instantly when I saw him. I was like, “Dude, he looks like, you know, how it should be.”
Nick: Right.
Mikey: You know these two people had no clue who he was. It was like, “Who’s that kid? Is that like Harry’s brother or something?” They actually asked me that.
Nick: Right.
Mikey: And I’m just like, “Watch,” and it wasn’t ’till the very end that they saw the flash that they put two and two together. And I think a character like Dumbledore, because there’s nothing to make it sound like Dumbledore, short of the name, and people sometimes miss audio, like, in a movie. I think that’s one of the reasons they can’t change them that much. They can’t put a different actor in Gambon’s place for that flashback scene.
Andrew: It kind of takes…
Micah: They didn’t put a different character in Harris’ place for the flashback scene when Tom Riddle was in school, either, so it’s movie-making. There’s a lot of decisions made for that.
Andrew: It also kind of takes away from the darkness, I think, because that whole scene is very dark, and who’s this younger Dumbledore with some red hair? I mean…
[Nick laughs]
Andrew: …if you look at the scene, there’s basically two colors. Well, three: black, white, and gray. It’s just a very depleted scene. I mean, just look at even the doors, it’s just a dark green. Everything’s just dark color, and I think it would take away from the style, the color style, that they were going for.
Nick: Right. Which is exactly the same as when they went back in the past in Chamber of Secrets. It was like basically black and white.
Andrew: Right, exactly, yeah. And it’s too much of a distraction. Everyone’s going to be like, “Why does he have red hair? What the hell’s going on?” So…
Mikey: Yeah, again, I know it’s not true to the book, but when you think of it from a visual standpoint, in our minds we can imagine this amazing thing, and, truthfully, everything I imagine in my mind is probably about a hundred times better than what they put on film, but at the same time, I still think some of the stuff they do is way cool.
Andrew: Mhm.
Mikey: So it’s a visual standpoint, what they can actually physically pull off, what they can do, and what makes sense for people that aren’t reading the books, because, again, that’s a huge fan-base for them. You know, this movie reaches out to – my parents don’t read the books, but they go see all the movies. So it’s one of those things where you really have to think about how many people are going to go see this movie.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: You know, not just your core audience.
Nick: You’re right.
Andrew: All right, thank you, Nick, for the call.
Mikey: Thank you.
Nick: All right, thank you.
Andrew: Have an awesome day. I’m going to start taking that. I’m going to steal that from what’s-his-face. No, I don’t want to accept video. Hello, Lucas.
Call: Voldemort is Gay?
Lucas: Oh – hold, on I got to make sure…Okay, am I the only one that thought Dumbledore was going to say that
Voldemort was gay when he was like, “You’re different, like me”?
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Not really. I was…
Mikey: No, but I think I will start saying that.
Laura: No.
Mikey: I think I agree with you on that one, one hundred percent now.
Andrew: Laura?
Ben: There were flames after that.
Laura: Um…
Andrew: “You’re different,” and then he sends up the flames. Yeah, maybe they are trying to say something.
Laura: And then he makes him prove it.
[Ben laughs]
Andrew: Prove it.
Mikey: You know, to [unintelligible], Dumbledore there is like nine years old, or eleven years old, guys. It’s kind of wrong to think that.
Andrew: Yeah, you’re right.
Mikey: Prove it? Really?
Ben: Dumbledore’s only eleven?
Mikey: You had to say that? When Voldemort’s only eleven in that scene, and you say “prove it”? That’s just really wrong, guys. I don’t know if I can stay on anymore.
Andrew: Okay, bye. [laughs] Just kidding.
Mikey: I’m just saying, don’t say those bad things. That’s bad.
Andrew: All right, thank you, Lucas, for that. Take another call now. Hello, caller. [silence] Hello, caller, that’s you. Yeah, Monster Hospital. Yeah, hi.
[Feedback]
Andrew: Hello, Monster Hospital.
Ben: I hear the lag coming through.
MuggleCast 155 Transcript (continued)
Call: Harry’s Birthday and Movie Dumbledore versus Book Cover Dumbledore
Andrew: All right. Yeah, we’re going to take another call. Hello, caller, you’re live. Hello? Hello, Inger?
Inger: Hello?
Andrew: Hi. Welcome to the show.
Inger: Can you hear me okay? Hi.
Andrew: Yeah, hi!
Inger: Hi. Thank you. I just have some comments. First of all, it’s Jo’s and Harry’s birthday today.
Andrew: [gasps] That’s right.
Inger: In Norway, at least.
Andrew: Happy Birthday, Harry. Well, technically, at least. Where do you live, ma’am?
Inger: Norway, Oslo.
Andrew: Norway, okay, yeah. See, us East Coasters still can’t recognize it yet, technically, because it’s not July 31st.
Inger: Yeah, I know. That’s why I reminded you.
Andrew: Oh, well, thank you.
Inger: You’re welcome. And I was just thinking about the fire scene. Dumbledore looks really like on the book cover.
Andrew: Yes.
Laura: Oh, yeah!
Inger: He looks really similar, so if you just look at the picture on the cover. It’s really similar.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, the U.K. cover, she’s talking about.
Inger: Yeah, the U.K.
Andrew: Yeah, I actually – I noticed that too, when I first – well, not when I first saw it, but when I checked it out a couple times. That’s really cool. I wonder if they modeled it after the book cover maybe. Although Harry’s in the middle.
Inger: Yeah, and even the fire looks the same. The circle around it.
Andrew: Yeah. The big difference, though, is that Harry’s not in the middle, unless I’m missing something.
Inger: Yeah, and Dumbledore’s not wearing glasses.
Andrew: [laughs] Right. Yeah, they’ve completely…
Inger: I don’t…
Andrew: Yeah, does anyone…
Inger: Sorry.
Andrew: No, yeah, basically Inger’s talking about how Dumbledore doesn’t wear glasses anymore. What’s up with that?
Inger: Like that’s the easiest thing that they could do.
Ben: He had laser eye surgery.
Inger: Yeah. [laughs]
Andrew: Laser eye surgery.
Inger: Yeah, it’s like magic. Doesn’t need glasses anymore.
Andrew: Yeah.
Inger: That’s stupid. It’s not that hard to just give him glasses, I think.
Andrew: Yeah, and I really liked that about Dumbledore. That really gave him the studious, the wisdom-ish look. I thought that contributed a lot to it.
Inger: Yeah, no, and he looks a lot angrier on the cover.
Andrew: Yeah.
Inger: And his facial expression is pretty good at the end of the trailer as well, I think.
Andrew: Yeah, definitely.
Inger: So I do think he’s redeemed himself. And there’s something else. The last line, it’s from the book, isn’t it?
Andrew: Was that from the book?
Inger: The very last line.
Andrew: Was it from the book?
Inger: I think so!
Andrew: I didn’t know that.
Mikey: Yeah, it was. Like, did you know that? Yeah, that’s from the book.
Andrew: Oh!
Inger: And – and Voldemort at the end when, I understand that people don’t, like, read Harry Potter and aren’t obsessed like us, and that they wouldn’t understand that it’s young Voldemort we’re seeing, but I mean, it’s just – it just looks so extremely silly, like it’s coming from a corner just saying “boo.”
Andrew: Yeah.
Inger: I think it’s just – I don’t like that, but that’s okay, I didn’t like it in the Order of the Phoenix movie either, so…
Andrew: I thought it was kind of cool, but…
Ben: Where did you say you’re from, by the way?
Mikey: Are you talking about the flashes?
Andrew: Norway, she’s from Norway.
Inger: Andrew, I met you in London. Jamie gave me tickets for the show.
Andrew: Oh, awesome! Our big Deathly Hallows release show!
Inger: Yeah, I know.
Andrew: Sweet. Well, Inger, thank you. We’re going to take some other calls now. Great points you brought up.
Inger: Thank you. Bye!
Andrew: Thank you. Bye bye! Yeah, from Norway. Isn’t that crazy, to think about it, we have callers in Norway? Brian Vetter, you’re on MuggleCast Live. What’s going on?
Brian: What is this? No way!
Andrew: What? You called! I answered!
Brian: Aw, this is insane!
Andrew: It’s literally the luck of the draw, because I get so many Skype calls, they just keep popping up. And like, I’ll hit “answer” to somebody, but then, like, five more names show up and then, you know, picked you. So do you have a question, sir?
Call: Draco Malfoy
Brian: Yeah! I was just wondering, is he – is Draco Malfoy in this movie? Like – like, you know, I – I thought, like, he was this huge – I thought he was a huge plot, you know? Like underneath Half-Blood Prince, he’s not – I didn’t see him once.
Andrew: He’s all over this movie. The pictures they’ve been releasing, there’s a lot of Draco pictures so far. I think two official ones now?
Brian: Well, I thought he’d be in the trailer though.
Andrew: Oh. Yeah, well, it’s not really related to…
Ben: It’s just a teaser trailer, too, you’ve got to keep that in mind. We don’t have…
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: But at the same time, you’ve also got to remember, I know Draco’s a huge part of this, but Snape’s not in it either, and he is the Half-Blood Prince, so, it’s a teaser trailer. They’re focusing on one aspect of the story.
Ben: Yeah.
Brian: Right.
Mikey: Jo wrote this amazing story and it’s got all these little weaves of different, like, storylines, and they’re focusing on one small one.
Brian: Yeah.
Elysa: Right.
Where’s Matt?
Brian: And then just the other question I have, you know, is Matt going to be on sometime, or is he just not going to show up?
Andrew: You’re talking about Matt Britton.
Brian: I am.
Andrew: He’s at work right now; he regrets not appearing on today’s live episode.
Ben: Uh-huh.
Laura: We’re all sad.
Andrew: Are you a Matt Britton fanboy?
Brian: Eh, he’s a cool guy.
[Andrew laughs]
Mikey: No, Andrew, I was talking to Matt earlier. He’s like, “I’m actually glad I don’t have to be on the live show.”
Andrew: Oh, he did not say that.
Mikey: I was really sad. I’m like, “Well I’m going to be at work and be on, why can’t you be at work and be on?” He’s like, “I just don’t want to.”
Andrew: He was very sad that he couldn’t be on the show today.
Mikey: Uh-huh. I’m sure.
Andrew: He was very upset. And, unfortunately, he’s not going to be back anytime soon, so – all right, thank you, Brian! Is that all?
Brian: Yeah, definitely, yep!
Andrew: All right, thank you, sir.
Brian: Thanks for having me on.
Statements from Eric and Jamie
Andrew: No problem. You know, speaking of co-hosts that haven’t made it on today, Eric and Jamie have also regretted not appearing on today’s show, and I do have statements from Eric and Jamie, and I’d like to read them now. Jamie’s is actually an audio clip that we’ll play in a moment. Eric provided this…
Ben: Oh, I can’t wait to hear that.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. You’ll like it, Ben. He digs on you. Eric had this statement to say. It was surprisingly short: “The more they focus on the Tom Riddle back story, the happier I become. I am happy.” That’s a statement from Eric today. His people spoke with my people and passed along that.
[Everyone laughs]
Ben: That sounds like a – that sounds like a statement from, like, a lawyer.
Micah: Wait, hold on a second. That was unbelievably short.
Andrew: I couldn’t believe it! Well, because…
Laura: [unintelligible] saying earlier…
Andrew: He called me, and he’s like, “Hey, can you write something down that I want to – that you could read on the show?” I was like, sure, and I’m like – I’m taking out, like, you know, I’m clearing my hard drive out, ready to type up a book, you know, so I have enough room to save the document, and it was just that. It was awesome. Also, we have this clip from Jamie to play to – he’s speaking to all the fans who are wondering where he’s been lately.
Audio of Jamie: Hello, everyone. It feels like it has been years since I’ve spoken to you last. Probably hasn’t been that long, but certainly been a while. I miss everyone. I miss you guys a lot. I feel completely rusty talking into a microphone now because I haven’t done it for so long, but I’m sorry I haven’t been on for so long. I’ve been pretty busy. After I graduated I got back from university and I just haven’t really gotten around to it, but I am going to return with a vengeance now. The real reason is, though, I think Ben’s back on the show after a long hiatus, and I just did not want to steal his thunder for this show, so I thought I’d, you know, let him have a – have one show then I’d come back. Only kidding! Buddy, only kidding. But yeah, the reason I’m not on this live show is because I have a six hour drive early in the morning, so I need to get to bed and get some sleep…
Andrew: Wah!
Audio of Jamie: …so I don’t crash and, you know, cause mayhem, so, I will sign off and hope you guys really enjoy the live show. I’m sad I’m missing it, sounds like it’s going to be an awesome one, and I will catch up with you guys soon.
Andrew: That was Jamie Lawrence.
Ben: Speaking of – speaking of driving though – speaking of six hour drive, Andrew, how’s he going to sit during that six hours? You’ve seen Jamie drive. Is he a good driver?
Andrew: Jamie’s a very good driver; he’s a very cautious driver, he sits up with perfect posture. Leans a little into the wheel. He told me today he got a – he told me, he was like, “Dude I got a Sat Nav.” And I was like, a Sat Nav? What is that? I thought he was talking about like a Saturn car. It turns out…
Ben: He’s probably means, like, a GPS.
Andrew: A GPS, yeah. That’s exactly what he was talking about. So there’s a statement from Jamie and Eric, we thank them both for that. Let’s take another call now. Hello, Viv!
Call: Defense of Michael Gambon
Viv: Hey.
Andrew: What’s going on?
Viv: Hi.
Andrew: Hi.
Viv: Not much right now, actually. I just kind of wanted to comment on you guys kind of being really hard on Michael Gambon.
Andrew: You think so?
Ben: What?
Laura: I agree.
Viv: I do think so.
Laura: You guys are really mean to Michael Gambon.
Viv: They really are.
Ben: Blame it all on me. Blame it all on me.
Viv: No, no. Hear me out here, guys. I think he’s an insanely talented actor, and I don’t think anyone can deny that. Everyone has such a different view on Dumbledore – like, personally, when I read the books, I saw him as kind of like my grandpa, and he acted a lot like my grandpa acted before he died, and that’s how he kind of connected to me, but – and the Richard Harris was a lot closer to my grandpa. My grandpa actually knew Richard Harris, which was kind of cool, but…
Andrew: Oh.
Viv: …when I saw Michael Gambon’s portrayal of Dumbledore, I actually thought it was better because I just – I don’t know, for me Richard Harris was just so, kind of, quiet and not as forward as Dumbledore might be, and so I think you just need to give Michael Gambon a chance.
Andrew: Well, let me start with a rebuttal. I’ve always been flip-flopping with – not with Dumbledore, that would be weird – about Michael Gambon.
[Ben and Laura laugh]
Andrew: I don’t know exactly what to think about him. I like Michael Gambon a lot, and I have said on the show before that I thought he’s better than Richard Harris, and I don’t really want to rip on him because I think he’s really great in this trailer. I mean, you heard me. Did you think I was ripping on Viv – on Viv – on Dumbledore? Michael Gambon?
Viv: No, no, I didn’t, but I’ve been listening to this show for a while and you guys, sometimes you’re just awful to the guy, and he’s just a different Dumbledore, and I like him, honestly. I think he’s going to be…
Ben: Oh, come one. He couldn’t even grow auburn hair.
Andrew: Yeah.
Viv: Could you grow – can you grow auburn hair?
Ben: Oh, yeah.
Andrew: Micah, what do you have to say about this?
Micah: Well, I mean, I’m probably the one that’s been the most critical of him, so I’ll say this, and, you know, the biggest problem is whenever you establish a role and you use somebody like Richard Harris and, unfortunately, he passed away, it becomes very, very difficult to fill that void, and it doesn’t really matter who initiated the role, it doesn’t – Richard Harris was a great actor, but it could’ve been anybody, and once that’s established, you know, it’s very, very hard for somebody else to come in and take their place, and I think people talk about Harris being so quiet. Well, the thing is, you have to remember the first two movies are so lighthearted. They’re not as serious.
Viv: Yeah.
Micah: Harris never got the chance to portray beyond Chamber of Secrets. So, I mean, that’s kind of my take on it, and for me I think it’s very hard for Gambon to fill in that role. With that being said, though, I think in the thirty seconds or so that we saw him here, that he looks like he did a better job in Half-Blood Prince. That’s just my opinion.
Elysa: Well, I think…
Viv: Yeah, I definitely agree with that.
Andrew: Elysa?
Elysa: I think there’s an important distinction, though, because you were saying how he’s a great actor and I was never really a fan of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore myself, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize him as an amazing actor. I’ve seen him in other movies, and I thought he was phenomenal. But I think – I mean, you make a good point that Dumbledore is such a beloved character that people interpret differently. It’s always going to be difficult to take such a figure and put him up on screen and then, you know, expect someone to be able to portray him exactly as every fan imagined. But I just, you know – I like him as an actor, just not as much as Dumbledore, and I just think that you have to draw the line there. There’s an important distinction between the two.
Andrew: All right, let’s leave it at that for now. We have many other callers who want to talk about some other things besides Michael. Thank you, Viv.
Viv: All right. See ya.
Andrew: Bye bye.
Laura: Bye.
Ben: Bye.
Andrew: Bye bye. All right, take another caller now. Macey. Hello, Macey. [static] Hello, Macey. Hi.
Macey: Hello?
Andrew: Hi. Welcome to the show.
Call: Yaxley or Greyback?
Macey: Oh, hi. I just downloaded Skype, so I’m not really sure how all this works, but I was just wondering about – you know the frame that everyone says is Greyback?
Andrew: Yes.
Macey: Well, my friend Maddy and I, we were looking last night, and we compared it to Johnpaul Castrianni, the guy who was just cast as Yaxley.
Andrew: Yes.
Macey: And we did a picture search type thing, and he has a very interesting nose, as you probably saw in the frame, and kind of sunken eyes, and it – his profile from the Google’s pic search or whatever nearly exactly matched the profile that was in the frame. So I was just curious if it was confirmed that it was Greyback or if it could be Yaxley.
Andrew: I’m going to say – well, okay. I’ll put it this way: it is Greyback who attacks the Burrow, so I can’t imagine why they would be showing Yaxley. Although, is it Greyback and Yaxley? See, I don’t know.
Laura: I mean, I have…
Mikey: I don’t think it’s Yaxley.
Laura: I haven’t studied the profiles of these two actors, but I’m looking at the frame right now, and he just looks more like they’re trying to make him look distinctly like a werewolf.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: I mean, he’s got a lot of hair.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: And he just looks very angular, and he just looks like a dog to me. I mean, not in a mean way, but…
[Elysa laughs]
Andrew: I agree.
Laura: It just looks like they’re setting it up to make it obvious that he’s a werewolf.
Andrew: Yeah, I think I agree with you because, like, if you look around his eyebrows, he has a lot of hair in that area. That’s what really gives it away to me, and even on his forehead, it looks like.
Laura: Yeah.
Andrew: Unless it’s a shadow, but – no, it’s not a shadow.
Laura: No, it’s definitely hair.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s Greyback. That’s Greyback at the Burrow.
Macey: Does anybody know how – I was just thinking, how Greyback became a werewolf? Because I know he has all these scars, but the books never mentioned Greyback all scarred up or anything.
Andrew: They may just be adding that to his character – I mean, it looks like there’s only one visible scar on his nose, I guess you’re talking about?
Macey: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, I don’t know, what do you guys think?
Mikey: That’s back story we never got.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: I know Alex Carpenter has written since many werewolf back stories in his songs, but there’s no official back story, so…
Andrew: All right, thank you, Macey, for calling.
Macey: Thank you.
Andrew: Micah, did you have something to add? I didn’t want to cut you off.
Micah: I just wanted to know why Yaxley was cast for Half-Blood Prince.
Andrew: Uh…
Mikey: I think just to build him as a character for the next two.
Andrew: Maybe.
Micah: That makes sense, yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: Just ’cause he – he has a – in scope of important roles, Harry being like a ten and Voldemort being a ten, Yaxley’s about like a four or five. Like, he does some pretty key things…
Andrew: Mhm.
Mikey: …in the last book. You know, he’s the counterpart to Snape, like him and Snape go at it quite a bit, like arguments. So…
Andrew: All right, let’s take another call from Becca. Hello, Becca.
Becca: Hi.
Andrew: Hi. What’s going on?
Becca: How are you doing? Not too much.
Andrew: Mute UStream please, we can hear the stream in the background.
Becca: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew: Can you turn that off? Thank you. Anyway, what’s your question?
Call: Unprofessional Trailer
Becca: It’s kind of more of a comment about how you guys were saying the trailer looked kind of unprofessional. Well, the part I thought was really unprofessional-looking was the part where they show the flashes of Voldemort, and it’s just like a black backdrop, and I thought that looked really crappy.
Andrew: See, but Laura said earlier – well, maybe it wasn’t Laura – that is actually from Order of the Phoenix. Those little flashbacks are from Order of the Phoenix, including those backgrounds that look kind of, like, cloudy. Those clips come in at the very end when Voldemort is in Harry’s mind. I don’t know…
Ben: I think when you’re doing those little flashes that…
Andrew: It doesn’t…
Ben: …you only need to have Voldemort in the shot because…
Andrew: Yeah.
Ben: …it’s such a quick little shot of it that if you had anything in the background it may distract from what they were trying to portray, which was Voldemort, in those scenes.
Andrew: I think that’s a very good point.
Mikey: Yeah, I agree. I’m actually looking at one of the stills. I think the framing in itself is kind of a lame shot, but the fact that they put it in the right position. Even if this shot – you know, the first one where he’s, you know, the wand is up, it looks almost it’s from Goblet of Fire, and they just cut him out and placed him on a black background, which by all means could have easily been done, but it’s one of those things. They had to position them in the right spot, so that way you can get that link between the younger Tom Riddle and Voldemort. Again, I had people here who had no clue who that kid was, so, the fact it’s right underneath his head, like the eyes are almost in the exact same spot, it kind of lets you go, “Is that the kid?” you know, “Is it the darkest wizard?” And of course they go ahead and say that – that “I know I just met the darkest wizard of all time.” So…
Andrew: Yeah. When I first saw these clips in the Order of the Phoenix, I thought they were kind of corny and that, like, the one shot of Voldemort, he’s almost sticking his tongue out. It’s kind of weird.
Mikey: Yeah, I think that’s a style thing that – from the director, though, like…
Andrew: Maybe.
Mickey: …we need to have this kind of creepy, kind of – but at the same time keep it light-hearted, you know what I mean?
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: It’s creepy, and it’s kind of like – if you stick your tongue out, it’s kind of like you’re having fun, maybe? Like you’re joking around?
Becca: Yeah, it was very creepy, it just – yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: And you know what, actually? Only I would notice something like this. I’m actually still on that frame. That frame they used, I think they probably used it – they used it in Order of the Phoenix too. I think that’s actually from the graveyard scene from Goblet of Fire.
Andrew: Mmm…
Mikey: Because if you look at – if you go to 1:18, and you look around the neck on the left hand side, you can see that it’s actually photoed out, so it’s actually cut out of the film, which, of course, I would notice that, like, “Oh, it’s kind of sloppy there,” but it’s a good job still, like I didn’t…
Andrew: Yeah, I think you’re right, actually.
Mikey: If you look around his ear and neck, you can really tell like it’s a super sharp line that shouldn’t be there on film…
Andrew: Yeah.
[Becca laughs]
Mikey:…and the more I look at his head and stuff, it looks like it was cut out. So, even though, you know, this shot has been in multiple, you know, movies, it is, you know, it’s a piece from there, and now that I think about it, they probably, you know, there’s probably a bigger shot, and they just positioned it in the bottom left hand corner to fit the shot, so…
Andrew: All right…
Mikey: There was a lot of work there.
Andrew: …thank you, Becca, for the call.
Becca: All right, thanks, guys.
Andrew: No problem, bye. Okay, let’s take another call now. Hello? Hello?
Caller: Hello?
Andrew: Hi.
Caller: Hello?
Andrew: Hi.
Caller: Hello?
Ben: Hello, hello. How are you doing today? Hello?
Call: Vials in Dumbledore’s Office
Andrew: And that’s what we call an unprepared caller. Let’s take another call now. Hello, Elliot. Hello, Elliot. Elliot, I know you’ve done this before.
Elliot: No, I’m – this is…
Andrew: There you go, you got it now.
Elliot: Yes.
Andrew: What’s going on?
Elliot: Hey.
Andrew: Hey.
Elliot: Nothing much. Okay, I would like to comment on the vials in Dumbledore’s office. Do they look really, like, old grannyish to anyone? Like they’re really weird. I don’t really like them.
Andrew: Old – old what?
Elliot: Old gran – they look like something you’d find in, like, a grandma’s house, like their shape. And there’s, like, lace in the little, like, cabinet thing.
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Well, Dumbledore is 150.
[Andrew laughs]
Mikey: Well, there’s not lace. I’m actually looking at it, there’s not lace, but on the little things it looks like
lace. Like the title, it’s, like, around, like – it looks like it’s a sticker almost, where it’s cut out and it’s made to look like lace, like it’s a design thing.
Andrew: It kind of looks like a bowl.
Mikey: Yeah, no. It looks like something that would be at my grandma’s house. Like, you know, fifteen minutes from where I’m at.
Andrew: Yeah.
Elliot: But then, like – I don’t know, like the shape of the vials too, they’re kind of – like really delicate
looking, and I don’t know if I like that.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s definitely not how I would’ve pictured it, I guess.
Elliot: Yeah.
Laura: No, I think it looks cool, though.
Andrew: They do.
Laura: Definitely a cool prop.
Andrew: They were described on – the USA Today articles as like capsules. Doesn’t really make sense, but…
Elliot: Yeah, yeah. I don’t know.
Mikey: Yeah, I never envisioned them like this, but they do look kind of cool, but I don’t know. Like – I don’t know –
this is my question – I don’t know how functional they look like. If you look at them – like – there’s – it’s like a wine glass bottom, and it looks like a long shot glass.
Elliot: Yeah.
Mikey: It looks like a really elaborate shot glass with a topper, so you can put, like, a shot in it and fill
it up and…
Elliot: Yes!
Mikey: …get the [unintelligible].
Andrew: What’s a shot glass?
Mikey: It’s a shot glass.
Andrew: No, what is a shot glass? I don’t know what that is.
Mikey: But – I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem very functional, like – really delicate. You’re going to put that important [unintelligible].
Elliot: Exactly.
Mikey: What if there is an earthquake? Like me and Andrew just had?
[Elliot and Laura laugh]
Mikey: Those are going to fall and everything is going to be all over the floor, and you’re going to have memories of
Grindelwald mixed with Tom Riddle, and you’re not going to be able to go back to those memories at all.
Micah: They already shot the movie so it’s safe.
Andrew: Actually, when I went on the set…
[Laura says something unintelligible]
Andrew: …I actually did try to swipe one of those.
[Ben says something unintelligible]
Mikey: I know you did, you told me you tried.
Andrew: I tried to swipe one of these little capsules and they actually were spinning. You can’t really tell in
this, but I tried to swipe them, but they were actually glued to the Pensieve so…
Micah: Yeah, WB is not listening.
Andrew: Yeah. No, I’m just kidding. I didn’t really, you know…
Laura: Yeah, you did.
Andrew: Okay, you’re right. All right, thank you, Elliot, for the call.
Elliot: Thank you for taking it.
Mikey: It’s all right, he brought back plenty of souvenirs for the rest of us anyway.
Call: Extending the Movie
Andrew: Nope, just one. All right, let’s take another call. Hello, Logan!
Logan: Hello?
Andrew: Hey, what’s going on?
Logan: Nothing, I was just wondering…
Andrew: Go ahead.
Logan: I was just wondering, you know how everyone’s always disappointed in the movies, like when they don’t
put everything in them?
Andrew: Right. Yes. I’m one of those people.
Logan: Well, anyways, I think it would be kind of cool if for Half-Blood Prince, like, they filmed a really big, long movie that would satisfy everyone, and then they just cut it down to two hours or whatever for the theatrical version, and then they, like, put the whole extended version out when they put it on DVD.
Andrew: Yeah, like Lord of the Rings?
Laura: Rings.
Andrew: Yeah. That’d be cool. I think they’re trying to balance the budget with income. I’m sure there’s a
technical term for that, but I – you know, they’re going to do it with Movie 7 sort of. I don’t know, anyone else
have thoughts about that, doing an extended edition?
Laura: I mean, there are a lot of people who would go out and buy it, that’s granted, but I just wonder if it would
be enough to really make up for how much extra they’d spend filming like a four hour movie.
Andrew: Yeah. Because they are one of the more expensive film franchises to make. I know they’ve said that before. If not the most expensive. I know Spiderman 3, I think it was, was the biggest production-wise. All right, thank you, Logan, for calling.
Logan: Yep.
Andrew: Yep. All right, let’s take – we’ll do two more calls then we’re going to do Spy on Spartz, and then we’ll wrap things up for today. Hello Emily!
Emily: Oh, hi!
Andrew: Hi.
Emily: Hi!
Andrew: Just saw you in San Diego. What’s going on?
Emily: I’m good. Yep, the trailer was awesome.
Andrew: Yeah.
Call: Tom Riddle and the Wardrobe
Emily: I was wondering, in the book it has, like, Dumbledore showing Tom the stuff in the wardrobe and then
having him look at it, and, like, he’s really frightened. But in the movie he’s all like interested in the wardrobe,
and he thinks it’s cool, and it’s kind of creepy. Do you think that will… [cuts out]
Andrew: Sorry, can you say that again? You broke up.
Emily: Oh, sorry.
Andrew: Do you think it’ll be showed – we heard the first part – will it be showed? Is that what you said? The last
sentence?
Emily: Like, yeah, the whole movie. Or like Dumbledore showing him the box of like the stuff he stole.
Andrew: Oh.
Elysa: Oh, right, I remember what you’re talking about.
Andrew: Elysa, do you have any thoughts?
Elysa: [unintelligible], you know, imploded the wardrobe before he could even open it. I don’t know, but I
would be – I think it would be cool to see that. I think they sort of replaced the box of stuff with Tom telling
stories about how he was capable of killing people he didn’t like and stuff like that, because I think the box is
more of a prop to sort of move the story line of Tom Riddle and like his experiences with taking things. [unintelligible] And they just replaced the box with dialogue. So it’d be awesome to see it, but I’m not sure. I wouldn’t put it past them.
Andrew: Mmm. All right, Emily, thank you. We’ll take one more call for today. I’m sorry, guys. We’ve been getting a ton of calls. We were trying to get to all of them but, unfortunately, you know, that’s just the way these things go. Hello, Kate!
Call: Filming Dumbledore and Grindelwald Scenes
Kate: Hi!
Andrew: Hi! Welcome to MuggleCast Live! How you doing?
Kate: Good! Let me mute my thing.
Andrew: Okay. Prepared caller.
Kate: So, I was wondering what you guys thought about Dumbledore and Grindelwald and when he goes back to do that.
Andrew: What do you mean? Dumbledore and – hello?
Laura: Hello?
Kate: Hi.
Ben: Hello.
Andrew: Go ahead. Sorry. Restate your question.
Kate: Hi. I was wondering, when Dumbledore and Grindelwald – do you think they’re going to go back and film – actually have Michael Gambon and someone cast as Grindelwald going back and doing that? Or do you think they’ll have a different actor to do those scenes?
Laura: Um…
Andrew: I don’t know. I really don’t know.
Laura: Yeah.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Kate: Just based on – since Michael Gambon is going back and being a somewhat younger Dumbledore for this, do you think, I mean – do you think he could play a younger Dumbledore?
Andrew: I don’t think he can get any younger.
Laura: Are you talking about for Deathly Hallows?
Kate: Yeah, for Deathly Hallows.
Laura: Oh, okay. I mean, it would depend on how young they wanted to take it. Honestly…
Micah: I’m pretty sure they were in their teenage years, weren’t they?
Andrew: Yeah.
Laura: Yeah, I don’t think he could play a teenaged Dumbledore.
Andrew: No.
Elysa: Oh. Oh, wait. You’re talking about when they were together as teenagers?
Andrew: Right.
Kate: Yeah, and just like – I mean, do you think they’ll include the duel they had or – I mean…
Andrew: I hope so. I think it’d be really interesting to see – you know, actually see it. Because when you see it in the books you can’t tell who killed Dumbledore’s sister. But…
Kate: Right.
Andrew: …you know, and I was always hoping – and I said this on the show – it’d be really cool if Jo had set it up so we – it was descriptive enough where we actually had to figure it out.
Kate: Yeah, and, like, when he actually has the duel and wins the Elder Wand, I mean, since that’s kind of a crucial part, do you think they’ll just add that scene in even though it’s not written in the books?
Elysa: Well, one thing: doesn’t Harry or someone see that scene through – was it Ollivander’s? – or someone goes and sees Grindelwald while he’s in the jail cell. So I imagine they’d at least show that part because that’s sort of important to Deathly Hallows.
Micah: Well, that’s when Voldemort goes to kill him.
Laura: Yeah.
Elysa: Well, okay…
Kate: Yeah, I mean the part where Dumbledore and Grindelwald are dueling for the Elder Wand.
Elysa: Oh. Oh, I don’t know.
Laura: I don’t know. I can almost see them explaining that away with dialogue.
Andrew: Yeah.
Elysa: Yeah. Probably.
Kate: Yeah, I just think it’d be cool to see.
Andrew: Yeah. Oh no, it definitely would be. I’d love to see Grindelwald.
Laura: Mhm.
Andrew: I mean, why’d Dumbledore have a crush on him? We got to know.
[Kate and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Was it looks or was it – no, we know it was more. I was just kidding. All right, thank you, Kate.
Kate: Yep, thank you.
Andrew: No problem. All right, Micah wants to takes one more call because that wasn’t a Book 7 – or Movie 6 call. So, hello, Brad.
Brad: Hi. Hi. Hello?
Andrew: How you doing, sir?
Call: Greyback and Ron
Brad: Good. Yeah, I just had a couple questions. So you were talking about the guy in the grass, the thing that was – the werewolf?
Andrew: Greyback. Yeah.
Brad: At 1:03?
Andrew: Let’s see here. Yeah. Because Greyback attacks the Burrow and that’s where he’s at right now because it’s the tall grass.
Brad: Oh. They’re attacking the Burrow. Okay. I couldn’t figure that out.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Brad: And what’s the crap with Ron being dead? I mean, he’s just lying on the ground like he’s dead.
Andrew: Well, that’s when Harry goes to save him with the – how do you pronounce it? The bezoar?
Elysa: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: The bezoar.
Brad: That’s going to be in Slughorn’s office?
Andrew: Is that in Slughorn’s…?
Mikey: Well, yeah, that’s in Slughorn’s office when they have the wine that’s…
Laura: Yeah.
Mikey: …poisoned.
Andrew: Yeah. I’m just trying to look at the scene to see if you can tell. Actually, it kind of looks like the Gryffindor common room.
Elysa: Yeah, it did.
Brad: Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.
Andrew: Because of the fireplace. Actually, the fireplace was open though. Hmm. Plus, Ron’s in his PJs. Harry almost looks like he has a leather jacket. He kind of looks cool. From the back.
Mikey: But he’s got track pants on. You can see the stripe on the left hand side.
Andrew: He must have been jogging.
Mikey: Yeah. But you know though? That day, that whole bezoar thing, that happened like super early in the morning. Because remember Ron was affected with Romilda Vane and the cauldrons? Chocolate cauldrons? And so they went – it was like super early – I can imagine them still in their PJs, going down to see – and actually, I think they were in their PJs when they went to go see Slughorn.
Brad: Yeah, they were. Wasn’t it on Christmas Day or something?
Mikey: Yeah, it was. Yeah, because it came out of Harry’s trunk and Ron assumed it was his Christmas gift.
Brad: And Slughorn hadn’t gone down to breakfast, so it must have been early.
Mikey: Yeah, it must have been early. They’re in their PJs and it must be his office. We think. We think. You know, we can’t say for sure.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: If I was a betting man – if I was a betting man I would say that was his office.
Andrew: What else did you have to say, Brad?
Brad: Just one more thing. So could the attack on the Burrow be early in the morning, ’cause could that be Ginny in her PJs, defending the Burrow?
Andrew: Yeah. It’s either late at night or early in the morning. Yeah. That’s all there is to say about that, really. I mean, it’s so hard to tell with these scenes because their so friggin’ quick, but yeah, she’s in her bathrobe actually. It looks like she just got out of the shower or something.
Mikey: Yeah I mean…
[Brad and Elysa laugh]
Andrew: What?
[Brad laughs]
Andrew: I think it’s in the morning because I can see the newspaper on the doorstep.
Brad: Yeah.
Andrew: I’m completely kidding. [laughs] All right, Brad, thank you for calling.
Brad: Thanks.
Ben: Thanks, Brad.
Spy on Spartz
Andrew: We’ll help find answers to your questions soon. All right, it’s time now to play Spy on Spartz. It’s an old segment we haven’t done in a while and Ben’s prepared to Spy on Spartz. I’m just going to enter Emerson’s phone number, which I’m always tempted to sell because I know you can make a good amount of money from…
Ben: I’ll sell it. One dollar.
Andrew: 2-1-9-blah-blah-blah. Do-do-do. Oh, people, okay, we’re not taking anymore calls. I’m sorry, everyone. A lot of people are calling. I can’t even type in Emerson’s phone number. All right. Here we go. Going to add to conference. Ben, are you ready?
Ben: I was born ready.
Andrew: Okay, it’s calling now.
Mikey: Yeah, Ben.
[Phone rings]
Andrew: This is very exciting.
[Phone rings]
Emerson: Hello?
Ben: Is Emerson there?
Emerson: Speaking.
Ben: Emerson?
Emerson: Yeah?
Ben: No, put Emerson on.
Emerson: This is Emerson.
Ben: No way.
Emerson: Yeah. [laughs]
Ben: Oh, okay, it is Emerson. I can tell by the laugh. What are you doing?
Emerson: Eating pizza, like, five feet away from you.
Ben: What?
Emerson: Eating pizza, like, five feet away from you.
Ben: Is it good pizza?
Emerson: Why’d you call our house phone?
Ben: I didn’t call the house phone. MuggleCast called the house phone.
Emerson: Oh. [laughs]
Ben: So how’s all that MuggleNet work going?
Emerson: How’s what?
Ben: How’s MuggleNet going?
Emerson: It’s good.
Ben: It’s good. What have you been doing? We’re trying to spy on you. We’re trying to Spy on Spartz.
Emerson: Well, we were up at Gold Lake and we went out today. I was water – like wake boarding, and we went tubing out in the lake all day, it was awesome.
Ben: Is that why your face was all sunburnt when you walked in?
Emerson: Yeah. I’m like – my face looks like an apple. Just straight red.
Andrew: Emerson, this is Andrew now. What’s it like living with Ben? Is there any, like, ablutions he has that are really annoying?
Emerson: Well, I mean, he walks around naked all the time, which is a bit absurd.
Andrew: Oh! Geez.
Ben: They get used to it. They all adjusted.
Andrew: [laughs] Was it hard to adjust to?
Emerson: I can put up with living with Ben Schoen, you know.
Andrew: Yeah. Does he eat a lot of your food?
Ben: I smell sometimes too.
Andrew: Does he eat a lot of your food?
Emerson: Yeah, we just have to – my dad has to make a run to [unintelligible] every day just to keep him happy.
Andrew: That’s rude.
Ben: They put a lock on the fridge.
Andrew: [laughs] Change it daily because he’d just bite it and open it up anyway.
Ben: Yeah, I eat the lock too.
[Emerson laughs]
Andrew: All right, well…
Ben: So we’re not going to call you back ever again unless you’re doing something interesting, so I guess I kind of live with you, so I guess I’d know.
Emerson: [laughs] Yeah, you would know.
Ben: Yeah.
Emerson: Are you spying on me?
Ben: Well, enjoy…
Emerson: [unintelligible] …over the past year you’ve been Spying on Spartz.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: Oh yeah, I’m actually writing a book. I’m actually writing a book about the – I’m actually writing a book about it.
[Emerson laughs]
Andrew: It’s an investigation.
Ben: Mhm. Into the Spartz home.
Emerson: It’s going to be our next bestseller, right?
Ben: All right, all right, the beauty of Spying on Spartz is, we can hang up on Spartz.
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: Do it, Andrew.
Andrew: All right, he’s gone. Thank you, Emerson. That’s how we play Spy on Spartz.
Ben: See? He’s the webmaster and he has control over MuggleNet, but on MuggleCast we can just cut his mic – cut him out. Just like that. I just hope he doesn’t come in here.
Andrew: And punches you. I hope he does but he won’t. And we learned something about Ben too, so there you go.
Mikey: I’m naked.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s gross. Is that true or was he just kidding?
Ben: Let’s not go there, Andrew.
[Andrew laughs]
Mikey: It’s true!
Ben: I mean – I’m saying if your only clean boxers are down in the basement, you know…
[Andrew laughs]
Ben: …you think nobody’s home and you’re already dried off you don’t need a towel. I mean, things happen.
Watch Andrew 24/7
Andrew: Here’s an idea we’re kicking around in the apartment right now, because it’s me, Matt, John from Leaky, and his girlfriend Bre, all living here, and we’re considering the idea of putting up a live cam in the living room that just streams 24/7.
Ben: Oh.
Andrew: Like doing, you know, so they can watch us, you know, just hang out. Is that a good idea or is that stupid? Is that too far?
Ben: That would be called a fandom stunt.
Andrew: [laughs] I don’t know. Well then, I was – you know, we could charge access to additional rooms. What?
Mikey: Andrew, can we make it, like, “when two Harry Potter sites collide. The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet living together. Andrew Sims.”
Ben: Then show Andrew…
Elysa: It’d be like Big Brother.
Ben: It will show Andrew, like, going up into John’s room and, like, plugging a flash drive into his computer.
Andrew: [laughs] Copying all his…
Ben: Extracting all his files.
[Elysa laughs]
Mikey: All the Leaky website. The next day MuggleNet looks like Leaky and – yeah. That’d be funny.
Andrew: You know what we should do?
Ben: No, we won’t downgrade.
Mikey: [laughs] Andrew, if you do that, I have to give you, like, fake challenges.
Ben: Sorry. I love you, everybody.
Andrew: Um…
Mikey: The daily challenge for the houses: Muggle vs. Leaky.
Andrew: Yeah, see that’s a good idea.
Mikey: Day: Make my hija burrito.
Ben: Make my hija burrito?
Mikey: They can make me food, and they can cook and clean my apartment, and…
Ben: Mikey, Mikey, how far away do you live from Andrew? How long of a walk?
Mikey: It’s like 37 steps.
Ben: Really? Geez.
Laura: He’s got a… [unintelligible].
Mikey: Yeah, but I’m upstairs.
Ben: Have you ever gone Spy on Sims?
Mikey: You know what I’ve had to do? Andrew was driving to work one day and his tire blew, and every single person in that apartment – John, Bre and Matt – were like dead asleep. Andrew was calling them and they wouldn’t answer. I went there and knocked on the door for like five minutes. I finally went up to Matt’s bedroom window and started knocking on his window. He wouldn’t get up, so I went to John’s and took the screen off, and I’m like, “John, open the door!”
Andrew: Somebody should’ve called the cops on you. That’s, like…
Mikey: They all knew – everybody in the apartment complex knows who I am. I’ve been there for a long time.
Ben: Everyone does?
Mikey: Majority.
Teddy Bears for Hope
Andrew: [laughs] All right, well, we do have to wrap this up today. It’s been a long show. Micah, one more time lets talk about [stumbles over words] – our new charity effort. I’m sorry. [laughs] I for – Teddy Bears for Hope. So once again, you go to MuggleCast.com and click on the banner at the top and that’s where you can find information about the charity non-profit organization, isn’t that right?
Micah: Yes it is, and some people have already started to donate…
Andrew: That’s awesome.
Micah: …so very generous of all you guys out there. We appreciate it, we’re going to be – as Andrew mentioned before – the hosts will be making contributions as well.
Andrew: I didn’t mention that, but yes.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: Laura said you did, so…
Andrew: Oh.
Micah: I think that’s – yeah.
Laura: Oh, yeah, sorry, Micah.
Micah: You know what? Any amount that you can give. It doesn’t matter how small or how large, you know, every bit, penny makes a difference, and, you know, this is something we have been looking to do for a while, and we just hope that, you know, everyone out there can do a little bit to contribute.
Show Close
Andrew: Yeah. All right, well, I think that does it. Panel, thank you for coming on today, it was a wonderful discussion.
Ben: You’re welcome, Andrew!
Andrew: We’ll have this show later tonight for everyone’s listening pleasure. I think that’s it. I hope I’m not forgetting anything. We got to everything, right?
Micah: I have a story.
Andrew: You have a story?
Ben: He just got back from New Orleans.
Micah: From New Orleans.
Andrew: We don’t have time. Goodbye, everyone! No, I’m just kidding. What’s the story?
Micah: Well, you know how work likes to make fun of me for doing this show from time to time?
Andrew: Yes.
Micah: And we were all out at dinner, and I had gotten there late, and I guess one of the things that they wanted to do was to, you know, get the people that were sitting at the tables around and in on the joke, the waiter in on the joke and be like, “Hey! You’re Micah from MuggleCast, blah blah blah.”
Ben: Ha-ha!
Micah: And really pull one over on me.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: So, they were sitting at the table – they were planning this whole thing out, and the guy at the table next to them overheard him, and I guess he was from Philadelphia. And he actually turned to him and he said, “Oh, are you talking about that Harry Potter podcast?”
Andrew: Oh my gosh!
Micah: “Because I’ve listened to it before, you know, and it was written up in our Philadelphia newspaper recently.”
Andrew: Right.
Micah: So, apparently, you want to make fun of things…
Andrew: Wow, talk about karma.
Micah: It gets back to bite you.
Andrew: Yeah, it showed them. Now they won’t make fun of it anymore because it actually happens!
Micah: There you go.
Ben: Did they – did they – did they actually pull the joke over on you? How did you find out about that?
Micah: Well, the guy – when I had showed up and the guy started – I guess they were trying to plan it out at the table when I was there still, and the guy overheard him when I was at the table, and I thought, “Okay, this is a big joke, he’s joking around,” because then, you know, five minutes later the waiter starts, you know, in on his part of it, and I actually found out later that the guy who was at the table next to us was legitimate. He wasn’t a joke. So…
Andrew: Wow.
Micah: Just goes to show you there’s a lot of people out there that listen to the show.
Andrew: Yeah.
Mikey: You know, I had a very similar experience. I was at Leaky Cauldron’s Disneyland day, ’cause I was the only one living in California at the time, and when I was there we went on Winnie the Pooh ride, and they were like making a joke like how Leaky’s here but no one from MuggleCast or MuggleNet’s there, and I’m like wearing my MuggleNet shirt and someone’s like, “Wait, are you from MuggleNet and MuggleCast?” And I’m like, “Yeah.” And they’re like – and they give me this like special citizen one – and I’m like, “You know all the people from Leaky?” And they’re like, “Oh, I don’t listen to that podcast.” I felt really bad.
Andrew: Owned!
Mikey: They were making fun of me for, like, the whole day, and, like, that night they were still making fun of me. One of the employees at Disney like totally pwned them going like, “Oh, but that’s Mikey from MuggleCast.”
Andrew: Ah, that’s awesome.
Mikey: Wow. It was just totally, like, a random thing. Who would have known?
Andrew: I know, seriously. Well, it’s amazing how, you know, quickly…
Mikey: People listen.
Andrew: Yeah, exactly.
Mikey: Thank you for listening, everyone. Please. Thank you.
Ben: Yeah, thank you so much.
Andrew: It’s been fun. Like I said, the show will be going out tonight on the stream, so I think that’s it. We had about 1,400 people listening during the peak of the show. Well, actually, through most of the show, so thank you, ladies and gentleman.
Ben: Thank you.
[Show music begins]
Andrew: Andrew – yeah, that’s me. Micah, thank you. Mikey, thank you. Elysa, thank you.
Mikey: Yeah, I’m at work still.
Andrew: I know, good job. You’re a real slacker.
Mikey: I’m actually working. Like right now I’m transferring, like, 26 gigs of data. So.
Ben: No. No wonder your voice is cutting out.
Andrew: [laughs] Ben, thank you.
Mikey: Is it?
Andrew: No, it’s not, it’s fine. Laura, thank you.
Ben: It’s been real, Andrew.
Laura: You’re welcome.
Andrew: It’s been real.
Ben: It’s been good – it’s been good to do this again.
Andrew: Well, I hope everybody enjoyed the trailer. We will do this again once the theatrical trailer is out. Yes, Mikey?
Mikey: Hey, are we going to hang out tonight? What are we doing? Let’s go dinner.
Andrew: I want to see Dark Knight in IMAX.
Mikey: Tonight?
Andrew: Well, maybe. No, actually not tonight. Matt doesn’t get off ’til 10.
Mikey: Yeah, yeah, let’s go to dinner. Let’s go bug Matt at work.
Andrew: Okay. I’ll do that. I haven’t been there in a while. All right, thank you, everybody!
Mikey: I’ll stop by at 7:30.
Andrew: All right.
Mikey: Bye, guys!
Andrew: Good night, everyone!
Elysa: Bye!