MuggleCast 158 Transcript
Show Intro
[Intro music plays]
Andrew: Hey Mason, did you know that on July 1, Yahoo! Domain renewal pricing increased to $34.95 per year?
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Andrew: Today’s podcast is also brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of spoken word entertainment. What are you listening to after today’s episode? How about a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up? Log on to www.AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast today for details.
[Harry Potter theme starts]
Jim Dale: [as Professor McGonagall] This is Professor McGonagall welcoming you all to MuggleCast hoping you all enjoyed – Dobby! Dobby, come here! Here! Dobby! [as Dobby] Yes, I’d just like to say how very pleased I am to introduce MuggleCast to all of you! Thank you! Thank you!
[Show music begins]
Andrew: Because game shows! Surgeries! Travels! Oh my! This is MuggleCast Episode 158 for September 15th, 2008. Looking into the future.
[Show music continues to play]
Andrew: All right, we did it! We came back with another show, and some of you guys thought we weren’t going to do it.
Matt: I didn’t.
Andrew: I did.
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: I knew it. See, it wasn’t so bad of a wait, was it, audience? [imitating audience] “No, no. It was great!”
Matt: [imitating audience] “No!”
[Andrew says something unintelligible]
Matt: [in a high pitched voice] “We’re going to get the pitch forks out and kill you!”
Andrew: You know, it’s been almost a month now and a lot has happened since we were last podcasting. Micah, you’ve been sort of keeping track, since you are the MuggleCast News Anchor. What’s been going on with all of us?
Micah: Well, you know, it actually has been a lot of different things going on. I don’t think you could possibly put together a more random list of stuff that I have…
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: …right here, but one of our co-hosts moved over to England, be it for a short period of time. One of our…
Matt: Who is this person?
Micah: I can’t reveal…
Andrew: He’s going to tell us later.
Matt: Oh.
Micah: I can’t reveal that. You guys have to – you know, you have to guess.
Matt: It’s a game.
Micah: Yeah, speaking of games, one of our co-hosts was a contestant on a nationally televised game show. I guess they’re trying to move on with their career a little bit.
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Micah: One of our co-hosts went under the knife.
Andrew: What?
Micah: We’ll talk about that a little bit later. And another one got their own personal trainer. I don’t know who that was. [cough] Andrew, but…
Andrew: Smart person, whoever that was.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: He’s trying to stay fit.
Micah: And one of them went to a screening of the sixth Harry Potter film.
Andrew: What?!
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: But it’s not coming out until July!
Micah: I know.
Matt: What?!
Micah: How does that happen?
Andrew: No fair!
Micah: I don’t know how that happens.
Andrew: And one of us went to a live Harry Potter podcast that wasn’t MuggleCast.
Matt: Repeat, not MuggleCast.
Andrew: Wasn’t. Dun-dun-dun…
Matt: [makes dive-bombing airplane noise]
Andrew: So we’ll let everyone try to figure out who matches up with what, you know, event. In the meantime, it’s just us three for right now. Laura will be joining us later on. And we’re going to call Eric; his computer’s not working, so we’re going to give him a call and talk to him about which one of those – I almost spoiled it – which one of those he was involved in. I’m Andrew Sims.
Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Matt: And I’m Matthew Britton.
[Show music continues]
Andrew: All right, so before we get to the news, let’s reveal all these. Which one should we reveal first?
Micah: Well, I think it’s pretty obvious who went to the screening of Half-Blood Prince.
Andrew: Yeah, it was Eric. Of course.
Matt: Of course, Eric. If you have any type of web face – MySpace, Facebook, sort of Twitter-ish…
Andrew: Or just go to MuggleNet.
Matt: Or that.
Andrew: We’ll call him in a bit to figure out what – how the hell that happened.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: How about the game show? Who went on a game show?
Matt: I believe that was me.
Andrew: Oh. That was you?
Matt: Yeah. I think so.
[Price is Right theme music plays]
Andrew: Ah yes.
Matt: Ah yes. That’s right.
Andrew: Ah, it was this one.
Matt: It was that one.
Andrew: [laughs] It was The Price is Right.
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: Matthew Britton, come on down!
Matt: Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!
Andrew: You’re the next contestant on The Price is Right!
Matt: Oh my God! Ahhh!
Andrew: So we went on Tuesday, this past Tuesday, and we got the interview process. Just a real quick story: went through the interview process, and Matt and I were there and John.
Matt: Noe.
Andrew: Yeah. Our friend John Noe and Bre Bishop. And we were all there, and we all got interviewed in a group together, and, you know, we came out of it feeling really good. We’re like, we both did really good.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: You and I in particular.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Even John and Bre were saying that.
Matt: Because we knew when they were going to interview us. We had to be really, you know, enthusiastic and…
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: …really personable and stuff.
Andrew: We were. We were all over it. So we did really good, but, unfortunately, we can’t tell you the full outcome, but Matt didn’t get picked until the very end – the very last round.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: So you can sort of gather what happened from there, but…. [laughs]
Matt: It was so much fun. I mean, because you – you really can’t hear yourself.
Andrew: Yeah, well…
Matt: You can’t hear them call your name.
Andrew: Yeah, so they wrote it on a big piece of paper, and they flashed it.
Matt: And I got to take the piece of paper with my name on it home.
Andrew: It’s awesome. It’s awesome. That episode will be airing November 5, so if you want to see Matt get called down, and you’ll see me in the audience, flabbergasted when Matt gets picked.
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Andrew: And also John and Bre. We’re – if you’re looking out into the audience, we’re in the top left corner. We were all the way in the back corner.
Matt: Literally in the back, but it’s right where the big Price is Right sign is.
Andrew: So you’ll of course see us when Matt gets called down.
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Andrew: So anyway. In other news, one of us – the person who got a personal trainer, that was me. It was only for a couple weeks, but I am going to gym now. I’m going to be more active in my life.
Micah: It’s good.
Andrew: Micah, which – thank you – which one were you?
Micah: I was the one who attended a podcast that was not MuggleCast.
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: Why? Why? How could you do this?
Micah: Well, you know, it was – it was – I think it was like Wednesday night in the city, and it was after work, and I figured, you know what? I know PotterCast is in town, you know, Sue, John, and Melissa were all there, and I hadn’t seen them in a long time. I think it had been…
Andrew: Sure.
Micah: …not since the J.K. Rowling – it was like a reading, I think, at Carnegie Hall.
Andrew: Yeah. In October.
Micah: So it had been quite a while since I saw them, and it was a good opportunity go listen to them and hang out, and it was a good time.
Andrew: Good.
Matt: Cool. Cool.
Andrew: And Laura was the one who went under the knife.
Matt: That’s right.
Andrew: She had to have a little surgery, unfortunately, but she’s all better now.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: It’s all good. And was that it? Oh no.
Micah: There’s one more.
Andrew: What was the other one, Micah? Yeah.
Micah: One of us picked up and moved to England. I guess that kind of limits the remainder of the hosts to choose from.
Andrew: Elysa.
Matt: Elysa. Yeah. She’s now…
Andrew: At Oxford.
Matt: She’s taking a semester at Oxford in England.
Andrew: Mhm. And funny story: her roommate was actually a girl who came to see us at Portus.
Matt: Really?
Andrew: But it was completely random. Like they didn’t, you know, sign up together or say they want to be together. They just happened to be picked together to be roommates.
Micah: [laughs] Yeah, right.
Andrew: And it’s just – how does that happen?
Micah: She’s just stalking Elysa.
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: [gasps] Oh my gosh, Elysa Montfort.
Andrew: It’s crazy. There’s a picture of them together from Portus on Facebook. But that was crazy. So that’s what’s been…
Micah: What about everybody else? I mean – what about Jamie and Ben?
Andrew: Jamie – Jamie’s – Jamie’s getting a job.
Matt: Oh, really?
Andrew: Getting job because he needs some money, so he’s getting a job there in the U.K.
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: Ben’s back at Notre Dame, and I think that covers everyone, so that’s what’s been going on with us.
Matt: What’s going on with Kevin? Do we know anything about Kevin?
Andrew: Kevin’s at school.
Micah: No, Kevin’s got a job.
Andrew: Okay. Kevin’s got a job.
Micah: Yes. He has graduated.
Andrew: Oh yes.
Matt: Of course Kevin graduated.
Andrew: I’m living in 2005 still. Well, so that’s what’s been going on with everyone, and we hope all of our listeners have been doing very well as well.
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News: Alan Horn’s Statement
Andrew: And there’s been a lot of news over the past month since we’ve last spoken to you. One of the big things, and there was actually a Muggle MiniCast about this, which was Micah and Eric – Alan Horn issuing the statement about the Half-Blood Prince delay.
Matt: Uh-huh.
Micah: So, I guess, what are your guys thoughts would probably be the best question to ask, because you can listen to 35 minutes worth of Eric’s and my thoughts, but mostly Eric’s thoughts…
Matt: Yeah.
[Everyone Laughs]
Micah: …on the Muggle MiniCast.
Andrew: Well, Warner Bros, actually tipped a couple of the fan sites off beforehand, because they wanted to get this announcement up online as soon as possible, because, as everyone knows, there was this huge fan outrage. I think it was stu – well, okay, when someone from WB called me they were like, “Yeah, keep an eye out, I’m going to be sending you a statement from Alan Horn soon.” And I’m like, oh geez, if they;re letting us know about this beforehand, this must mean they’re doing something for the fans. You would think, because why would they warn us beforehand?
Matt: Yeah, it’s definitely something big.
Andrew: Yeah. So that;s what we thought. But, you know, then we get the statement. I think it was stupid. This is just an apology. It’s just adding more fuel to the fire.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: There was nothing in the statement that could calm the fans down. You know, [mocking Alan Horn] “If I might offer a little silver lining.” It was just ridiculous.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: It was stupid, they shouldn’t have said anything.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: Matt?
Matt: I agree with you on that. But there was this one statement that he said – like, “we care about our Harry Potter movies.” Or something.
Micah: Fans.
Andrew: We care about the fans.
Matt: What?
Andrew: We care about the fans.
Matt: No, they didn’t say “we care about the fans,” they said, “we care about the movies.” Not the fans.
Micah: No, they were talking about the integrity of the films and trying to do the best they possibly could with them. And I think there was also part…
Matt: Yeah, I know.
Micah: …he referenced Harry Potter fans as well. Let me see if I can find it.
Andrew: “Please be sure that we share your love for Harry Potter and would certainly never do anything to hurt any of the films.”
Matt: Right.
Andrew: Yeah. So, the statement was just worthless. We shouldn’t really spend any more time on it.
Matt: It really was.
Micah: Well, I just wanted to go back to what you were saying about the silver lining, because I thought that was the worst part of the entire statement. I felt if he had removed that line of the silver lining where he says that…
Matt: Silver lining – it’s a shorter wait from this movie to Deathly Hallows.
Micah: Right. I thought if that sentence was left out the statement was fine.
Andrew and Matt: Yeah.
Micah: It was overall, like you said, an apology first and foremost. And I just don’t really think it did anything for the average fan. Yeah, it was great that he came out, he made a statement, he’s the president of Warner Bros. You have a very high official doing that because of the situation, but what does that do, having to wait now – what is it? – maybe more like ten months, but even still, nobody is happier about it after the fact.
Matt: No, it doesn’t make anybody feel reassured at all.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s just really disappointing. And then there’s that other news that the push back decision was made about three to four weeks before they made the official decision, which was August 17th. So they had made it between July 17th and August 17th, and just, you know…whatever.
Matt: I wonder what made them want to change it. I mean, if it’s something that happened three to four weeks before, why – I mean, what sparked it?
Andrew: They realized that The Dark Knight was making a ton of money.
Matt: Right.
Andrew: Because that was right after The Dark Knight came out, so, now that’s almost the top grossing film of all time.
Matt: Why can’t they just say that? I really don’t get it.
Andrew: Well, because that comes off…
Matt: The whole Alan Horn statement just dug WB into a deeper hole.
Andrew: Yeah. Anyway – well, no, it dug them a big pile of money, the whole Dark Knight thing.
Matt: Yeah, but I’m talking about hatred from the fans.
Andrew: Well, I think at this point now, mid-September, I think everyone is relatively calm.
Matt: Yeah. Well, because we accepted the fact that there was really nothing we could do except wait another ten months.
Andrew: Yeah. So speaking of Half-Blood Prince, Micah, what was our big surprise among MuggleNet staff members?
MuggleCast 158 Transcript (continued)
Eric Reviews HBP
Micah: Well, the big surprise would be that Eric actually attended a screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last week in Chicago. And it was also attended by David Heyman and David…
Andrew: Alan Horn!
Micah: Horn, yeah.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: You know, it would be interesting to know kind of the interaction that took place between Eric and somebody like Alan Horn. But I don’t really know if he spoke that much with him. We can ask him, I’m sure. But I’m kind of wondering what went on between him and David Heyman, because he said he did have a conversation with him after the film was over.
Andrew: Well, how about this? Let’s find out. Let’s give him a call.
Micah: All right.
Andrew: All right, here we go.
Micah: I care more about that than what he thought about the movie.
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: Yeah, honestly.
Andrew: Yeah.
[Phone rings]
Eric: Hello?
Andrew: Hello, Eric.
Eric: Hey!
Andrew: Hey, we’re recording MuggleCast.
Eric: Hey.
Matt: Hey.
Eric: Oh wow!
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: Oh my God, oh my God, I’m going to be on MuggleCast?
Andrew: Yeah…
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: …I know, it’s a first for you. So, we just started talking about the screening. And I guess we’ll ask you a couple questions about it and then, you know, you can get into you’re whole big thing. But first of all…
Eric: Sure.
Andrew: …I think, what every one has been asking, is, Eric, how the hell did you, you out of all the people in the world, out of all the people in the wonderful city of Chicago, end up seeing this movie?
Eric: [laughs] Well, if that’s what everyone wants to know, I mean, I must assure everyone that it was random. I know I got a lot of e-mails myself too, saying “Oh, sure it was random, that you just happen to see that,” but no, really. The story is, I got an e-mail from MovieTickets.com, which is where I buy my tickets. You know, I buy my tickets online…
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: …before going to the movies, at the movie theater, which is where they had – which is where they ended up having the screening. So, through whatever demographic diagnostics they ran, I was one of the guys they sent the e-mail to, saying “There is a screening of a movie. It’s expected to be PG-13.” They didn’t say what it was. We got the call and RSVPed. You can bring yourself and a guest. And I was like, “Okay, well, okay, that sounds interesting.” I didn’t know what it would be. No clue at all. So I called up Kristen. I said, “hey do you want to go see a movie this Saturday?” And she was like sure. So I called them, gave them our name and our age, and then we basically got – they said fine, just show up. Print this thing out and show up at the theater. So…
Andrew: Because, I think…
Eric: Yeah. It was completely random.
Andrew: I think in the past what they’ve done is, they’ve actually just, like, if people are walking in the movie theater, or like walking in the street, they just pull them aside and are like, “Hey, we need help screening a movie, can you help us out?” So this is a….
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: …new, high-tech way.
Eric: Yeah. Well, there’s that too. Someone next to us in line had seen Tropic Thunder the previous weekend and they got pulled aside. So, it was kind of a variety of different ways they got sort of people to show up.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: But they certainly didn’t have a shortage of people. There were a couple hundred there. I don’t know if they had to turn anyone away, but…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: I [unintelligible] did if you RSVP online you get turned away, so I didn’t get turned away though. Yeah, there were – there were tons of people in the theater too. And we didn’t know what it was going to be, and that was actually the shock of it all.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah.
Eric: Because we heard them saying that the demographic was fourteen to seventeen year old girls.
Andrew: [laughs] Twilight.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: That’s exactly what I thought! I thought it was going to be Twilight.
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: We were sitting in line, and the girl in front of us had this Twilight button on and, I don’t know, maybe you guys will get a kick out of this. It said – what was it – “‘Breaking Dawn…'” “I was bitten by ‘Breaking Dawn.'”
Andrew: “Took my breath away,” or something?
Matt: No, “I was bitten by ‘Breaking Dawn.'”
Andrew: Oh, okay, yeah.
Eric: “I was bitten by ‘Breaking Dawn.'” So we we’re like, okay, this is probably going to be Twilight. You know, that’d be cool, ’cause it was still a month away from that. We went into the whole thing thinking it was Twilight, and then, you know, turned out to be David Heyman was walking up the side, and I had seen him on the – was it the Goblet of Fire red carpet premiere that you did, Andrew, where you were on the red carpet and you ran it on an iPod video and put on the feed?
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: Yeah, that’s how I recognized David Heyman. I was like, “Andrew met him.” It was like, “Oh my God, David Heyman.” So…
Andrew: So that’s when it hit you. That’s when you realized, this must be Harry Potter.
Eric: Yeah, I vapor locked, ’cause we were in the theater.
Andrew: You what?
Eric: By that time we were in the theater.
Andrew: You what? What?
Eric: Vapor locked. Vapor locked.
Andrew: Oh, okay. [laughs]
Eric: I was just – I was so shocked because we weren’t expecting it, you know. Some one else said they heard that it was next summer’s blockbuster, which was exciting. But they also said, oh – [talking to someone else] what was the other information?
[Female talks in background]
Eric: Oh, that it was filmed in Chicago. So there was all this stray…
Andrew: Batman II.
Matt: [laughs] Yeah.
Eric: …guess work going on. We were like, this is next summer’s Johnny Depp movie? You know, what are we thinking?
Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric: It kind of made sense after we got to the line, and I saw David Heyman, and I was like, “Wow, that’s David freaking Heyman.”
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And he actually ended up sitting, like, three feet from me.
Andrew: Nice.
Micah: So if you had to decided to go to dinner, you would’ve been really pissed off.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Instead of going to the movie.
Eric: [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. That – if I would’ve found out – ’cause, I mean, you know, all of – different websites have gotten reports that night even. But if I had not gone to that screening, if I had chosen, well, it’ll probably be just a crap movie, or maybe if, I don’t have any novel interest in seeing this. If I had chosen that, and then found out that there was this screening in Chicago – I did not know that they screened it in Chicago first. Or, because of the delay, would be screening it, you know, any time soon.
Andrew: Right, that’s the really surprising thing. A lot of people were surprised at how early that they screened it. Do you have any idea why? I mean, because a lot of people are hoping now, they’re going to take all this extra time to really enhance the movie and make it fantastic. So do you think that’s why they still kept it, you know, screening in September?
Eric: Yeah. I think it’s – I think it’s a variety of different reasons. Number one, they wanted people to know that the movie – or I guess they wanted people to know – probably one of the added benefits that – to let people know that the movie was in a somewhat completed form, that it wasn’t as delayed as some people were maybe speculating.
Matt: That the movie existed?
Eric: That the movie was delayed because it wasn’t completed or, you know, something like that. It still wasn’t completed. The CGI was, you know, not at all complete and stuff, but I think they wanted – I mean, people will know at least that the movie’s not in any bad shape, so they wanted to sort of maybe [unintelligible] some of the people who are still angry and still very confused and worried out there. One of the other things, I think the reason is, is that they – lost my train of thought, but I think that’s definitely one of the bigger reasons.
Andrew: So you get in there. They announce that it’s going to be Harry Potter. What was the reaction of the audience? Like was everybody like, “Oh My God!”
Eric: Yeah. It was that huge.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: David Heyman didn’t make the announcement. It was one of the associates. You know, they have these guys who don’t work for the theater. They’re independent. I think it’s Movie View, they said. It was like a website I had to go to.
Andrew: Uh-huh.
Eric: But it’s these other guys that come and sort of organize everything and, you know, they pass out cards and surveys at the end of the film and all – but the lights dimmed, and we were expecting Twilight. Somebody else said, “Wait a minute. What if it’s High School Musical 3?”
Andrew: Ooooh.
Matt: Ooooooh.
Eric: And everybody, “Ooooh.”
Andrew: That’s a good idea too. I would’ve been excited.
Eric: Wow, that would suck. And Kristen and I were like…
Matt: PG-13? Really?
Eric: Yeah, well, we were like, we’d walk out. You know, like…
Andrew: Why!?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: [singing] “What time is it!?
Eric: No, no, no, no. It was crazy though. I mean, when the lights dimmed, no one had any clue, and I really mean that. Some people – that Leaky reader said they were sworn to secrecy but they knew. I don’t believe that for a second. I mean, I think that, really genuinely, no one knew. There was just – ever since the time we got in line for an hour and by the time we got in the theater and the movie started, no one knew. But the lights dimmed and the guy said, “You guys are going to be the first audience ever to see the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
Andrew: God, that’s so cool.
Eric: And everyone was in an uproar. Everyone.
Andrew: That is so cool.
Eric: Just absolutely, and there were plenty of adults there. There were plenty of guys that could tell, you know, hadn’t seen maybe even any Harry Potter movie before. I mean, seriously, there was that – they very well managed the diverse people thing.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: The demographics and everything?
Eric: Yeah, the demographics. They totally – and I guess that probably went into the MovieTickets.com thing and, you know, they sort of browsed that database, because they got enough different people there that it wasn’t – or maybe it was just good picking the previous weekend, but they got enough different people there, and I think everyone in the audience really liked it. But we were all just so excited. And I didn’t even believe it, but there weren’t any previews, you know, there weren’t any sort of thing going before the movie, so as soon as he said that and everyone was in an uproar, we had to immediately stifle ourselves because the Warner Bros. logo was flying by…
Andrew: Right, right. [laughs]
Eric: …on the screen, you know, and so it was like completely going into it, so it was just amazing.
Andrew: So were all the special effects finished for the most part?
Eric: No. No, it’s interesting. They – I don’t know what kind of ratio I would say, but there were scenes that were still in front of blue screens.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Eric: Like some of them, which were hilarious.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: And so fascinating. I would not actually change the version of the film we saw because…
Andrew: [laughs] It’s so funny.
Eric: …it’s just – because they have a scene where Dan’s on the Quidditch pitch, because they have Quidditch back in this movie, right?
Andrew: Right.
Eric: And ten or fifteen feet behind him is a blue screen. It’s this blue curtain, you know, and it’s just so amazing because the previous scene, they have the CGI finished. Or the previous shot, or frame, or angle. They have the CGI finished, so you’re on the Quidditch pitch, and he’s talking to the team – or tryouts, I think it was – and he’s talking to them and talking to them, and all of a sudden there’s this shot where he is still, you know, mid-sentence, but there’s a blue screen behind him, and so it’s not off-putting or distracting. It’s the fact that the actors can do that without seeing what we’re seeing.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: You know, it’s the film process like that, and certain other scenes were finished. I won’t, you know, give any spoilers away, but…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: And then other scenes were not. It’s just different pieces. It was really interesting.
Andrew: It’s a real – I would’ve said it, it’s a real shame if all the special effects were finished, because then like, you know, then like the movie’s ready to go and you could totally put it out, but it’s actually kind of good to hear that they’re not finished. [laughs]
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: So it’s not like a waste.
Eric: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it isn’t, and that’s the – that’s probably what I was trying to talk about that I forgot about, but having the movie – I mean, if you think about it, they would’ve had to have rushed to completed this deadline had they not known that it was going to be pushed back.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: That it would’ve been – seeing the state the movie is in now, they would’ve needed to have completed a significant amount of things, I would say, to get it out in time. I’m not saying that they couldn’t do it, but the movie was still a bit in pieces, and I think the extra time does give them, as you said, Andrew, that people are hoping they are taking advantage of and people think.
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: Now, Eric…
Eric: Yes, Micah? Who else is on this show, by the way?
Andrew: It’s just Micah, Matt and I for right now.
Eric: Oh cool.
Andrew: Laura will be joining us later I think.
Micah: Yeah, a lot of the reviews that were out there were very negative. Yours was a little bit different. It was – it was positive in nature, and it also kept away from, I thought, spoiling too much of the movies for the fans.
Andrew: Exactly.
Micah: I thought it kind of balanced that really well. But I’m wondering, from you, was there anything that stood out to you more than anything else that you were really happy about for this film?
Eric: That I was really happy about?
Micah: Yeah, because from other reviews that I’ve seen, they haven’t necessarily been the most positive about the sixth film.
Eric: And – and that’s very true. Truer words could not be spoken at this present time, I’ll tell you that much. And all of these – it just upsets me, because when I saw the movie, and I wanted to talk about it, and I wrote up that review that’s on MuggleNet, and I didn’t want to spoil anybody. I – I wanted to give just my absolute, true, happy impression of the movie, and then all of the other reviews were not only spoiling but completely negative. That were ruining complete scenes and nitpicking and just doing all of these horrible things that -that I could not, in a way, respond to without losing a – a good deal…
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: …of the quality that I was trying to do. And it just upsets me that so many people are – are – are angry about all of these changes and sort of how that whole thing …
Matt: Yeah.
Eric: …transpired is very upsetting to me. But overall, I was happy with some of the changes they made. Mainly – well, first of all, I was most happy with the characters. They spent a lot of time, I think – or they showcased a lot. I – I mentioned in my review that Hermione – that Emma Watson, for the first time, jumped out as being my book Hermione in – in a way, which has never happened to me before. You know, usually the sidekicks lines are… [laughs] …or Ron – Ron and Hermione’s lines are changed if different. But seriously, in this – in this – hang on a sec. Yes. In this – in this scene – I mean in this movie, you just get a lot of good characterization among the trio, and you can kind of tell – I mean I thought they were building up sort of toward a Movie 7 sort of thing, because they’ll be focusing on the trio for obviously a great deal…
Matt: Uh-huh.
Eric: …and it just shows how well these actors have grown up and can still work together and still kind of get into their characters. I was happy with that. One of the changes I think, since many people have been spoiled I won’t spoil it, except to say the Sectumsempra scene is in the movie, and…
Andrew: Woo-hoo!
Eric: …not only that, but it’s a battle scene.
Matt: Oh cool.
Andrew: A battle scene?
Matt: It’s a duel.
Andrew: Woo-hoo!
Eric: It’s a battle scene. I will say that, because a lot of people, I mean, are making other spoilers that they’re angry about, and the Sectumsempra…
Andrew: Jerks.
Eric: Yeah, I know, those jerks.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: No, it’s a battle scene. And what it means is – what I mean by that is Harry and Draco – you know, Draco isn’t just crying and then all the sudden gets angry that Harry’s in there and throws a spell at him. It actually is a little bit more elaborate than that. And Tom Felton, my God! They – they give good time for him and he does a good job.
Micah: Uh-huh.
Eric: And this is his last chance to, obviously, but …
Matt: Well, Eric – oh, sorry.
Eric: Yeah.
Matt: I have a question about the reviews that I’ve been reading, and I just – I mean, it may be a spoiler so we may have to cut it out later, but do they – do they cut the entire battle scene at Hogwarts? Because I’ve read two reviews that say they cut it completely.
Eric: The battle at Hogwarts is not in the film.
Andrew: Oh! What? Okay, well, maybe we shouldn’t go into it.
Matt: Okay, I just wanted to know, because…
Eric: Well, yeah, but…
Matt: …I didn’t know if they were going to do it or not.
Eric: Yeah, but I’ll say that to ease your conscious, too, that it’s interesting, too, because you’re probably thinking, well, without a battle scene at the end of the movie, how is the movie anything worth while? How could they stay true to the books the way I claim they have in my review? You know, how does that sort of happen? But I really think they did something really good with it and it’s so interesting that I’m so positive about it when they missed that scene. Something else I’ll say, if we’re being spoiled or cut out or whatever, is Dumbledore’s funeral. A lot of reviews are saying that’s not in it. They didn’t have the Dumbledore funeral scene specifically, but my thoughts on that, while we’re at it, is that they didn’t introduce enough of the characters in the world in the movies, that it would be completely pointless to have all of the characters of the world at the funeral. You know, I just don’t think that that would be anything feasible, anything worthwhile, considering how closed the movies have been.
Matt: Mhm.
Andrew: But, Eric, despite all this, you believe that this is worth the wait?
Matt: Yes.
Eric: Yeah, I strongly do, despite all of the little nit-picky discrepancies. What they’ve done is they’ve really created this movie that flows that – oh, and Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn is a surprised joy.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: Is a surprised joy. I was hooked from the first [unintelligible] minutes, and he’s a surprised joy in – throughout the whole movie. It works well with him in some Slug Club scenes. It worked, and I was surprised with how many things from the book are in the movie.
Matt: Uh-huh.
Eric: Surprisingly enough.
Matt: Well, Eric…
Eric: The Aragog scene is in the movie.
Matt: Oh, awesome. Awesome. Eric, since this is David Yates’ second film for Harry Potter, what would you say is probably his – what do you think he improved?
Andrew: Do you think he’s improved?
Matt: Yeah. What did he probably improve on most since the last movie?
Eric: I think he improved, and I do think he improved quite well. It’s interesting because he wanted – in the last movie I remember reading an article or hearing an interview with him where he wanted to focus more on the characters. And I just think that he’s done better now. And as for camera techniques too, a lot of people didn’t like the montages in Movie 5, you know, like during the DA…
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: …scene they would sort of go through the montage of it having been a few months later. They don’t use that technique at all to pass time in this movie. This movie is, overall, not done like that. I’m not going to say not fast paced, because it’s not slow paced either, but you get to know – you feel that a year is progressing. And that may be done the best out of all the films now, is that the movie progresses in a really gradual, not to say speedy, way. That all of the scenes that happen are just very true to the characters.
Andrew: Cool.
Eric: They’re enjoyable to watch on screen. Maybe that’s what I’m trying to say through my whole analysis of the movie, is that it was enjoyable to watch, and I did enjoy the story as if I had never read the book. And then from having read the book, I enjoyed what I saw that I remembered from being in the book.
Andrew: That’s good.
Matt: I’m glad.
Andrew: That’s good to hear.
Matt: I’m really glad, Eric, that people who have never really seen – or read any of the books will enjoy this movie. Is that what you’re saying?
Eric: Interestingly enough – well, that’s what I’m saying, but also the other thing is that this movie caters to the fans, which you’re wondering, how can things be both? But I really think this movie, like – I say it’s great for – I say it’ll be enjoyable to watch for people who’ve never seen, but even more enjoyable for the people who have read the books, because a lot of those things, even the line about knitting patterns -Dumbledore liking the knitting patterns – that’s in it, and it’s oh-so-funny to watch Michael Gambon say that.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Michael Gambon does a great job in this movie. All of these inside things and all of these – they don’t cut corners as they have in other movies, and they don’t go out of their way to make sure that the outside world knows really what’s going on. They’ve sort of gotten to the point where they can say in the story, and this might be what they have to say, but, look, this is what’s happening in the story. They don’t need any extra things about Horcruxes, this is just what’s happening in the story.
Andrew: Cool.
Eric: This is a movie – this is a story we’ve got to tell and a lot of those scenes, I think, are tailor fit for the fan’s enjoyment – for the book reader’s enjoyment.
Micah: So, would you say that they’ve compensated with these smaller, more intricate little plot points – you know, they compensated with that after having cut out some of the scenes that you’ve mentioned. Do you think that they were trying to compensate in that way by saying, oh, we’re going to have to really change, say, the Battle at Hogwarts, say, Dumbledore’s funeral, so, we’re going to do is give the fans something that – who reads the books, so they’re going to know, okay, well, this line was used, or this particular scene was used, or this particular item was included. You know what I’m saying?
Eric: Yeah, I think it’s a great question and I’m going to say that, no, they didn’t say that, because what they found through making the movie is almost – I mean, the movie doesn’t lack Dumbledore’s funeral or the Battle of Hogwarts, it’s just kind of a different – like, I wasn’t looking for it, in a way. I wasn’t looking for the Battle at Hogwarts to happen or Dumbledore’s funeral as much. I think what they’ve done is, they have these scenes, which are so wonderful for the fandom. I don’t think it’s made to compensate as much as it is in line with the story that they’re telling. And the movie that they’re making.
Micah: Yeah, but…
Eric: It’s true that some of these scenes don’t get – sorry, what’s your question?
Micah: No, no, I – what I was going to say is, oftentimes how they tell the story is what the problem is, and it has been in the past with a number of criticisms that the other films have received. So, I guess what I’m getting at is, seeing some of these negative reviews, and I’d hate to dwell on that, but, is a die-hard Harry Potter fan going to go in – can you see some of these fans going in and being disappointed in the film based on what you’ve seen left out?
Eric: It will be very interesting. If the fans can get over themselves enough to go see the movie, I will be more than interested in what they have to say about it. And I mean, I know in a way there will be people who do not like this movie, just as there are people who do not like Movie 5, which I liked. And there are people who love Movie 3, which is more than I can sometimes say. And, you know, I know that there will be people who see and dislike the movie for the scenes that are missing but, having said that, I think that anyone who got into the series through the movies will have automatically more respect, and I think that anyone who has ever seen these movies as a separate item will, in fact, be impressed with how much of the book was brought to the movie, just by these big scenes being cut.
Micah: And what about – just to follow up, as far as plot points are concerned, you know, Horcruxes is one thing that comes up a lot in the reviews. Again, did they do that justice?
Eric: I think that they did. I think that they did. What they will – they’ll probably will have to deal with it, obviously, more in Movie 7, when they have to find the rest. And it will be interesting to see the transgres – how that happens in the movie, as opposed to the book. Because the book that at the point – I think Book 7 towards the end is very, you know, linear, but rushed almost, as they find out things in the order they need to, because they don’t have any more time to really do anything. But in this movie there are scenes, and one of the scenes I would have liked to seen in the movie, I think, is the Gaunt house scene, which was not in the film. There are only a few pensive scenes, and that is not one of them, but I – with the movie being what is it, there is a terrific balance. And the movie is dark enough. And that is one point I tried to make in my review. But the movie is very intense, as far as impending doom, and it’s really interesting with how they balance that with all the hormones and all of the snogging going on in the book, which, you know, many people who talk about Book 6 will say there’s either too much snogging or too much Voldemort stuff. So this movie has totally, I think, found a balance. And David Yates as the director has really connected with that adolescent sort of vibe. And Dan still looks like he could pull off a 16/17 year old, I think. I mean, it’s still good in that aspect. Tom Felton looks a bit older, but you’re just happy to see him in the movie, so thats good. [laughs] You know, he gets good screen time. So, overall, yeah, it’s really interesting. I mean, I could talk about this movie, but I just basically enjoyed it, and that is something that I’m having to come to terms with in spite of all these negative reviews.
Andrew: Well, Eric, this has been very informational. And we thank you, the fans thank you. You’ve done the fandom justice, and we all appreciate that. We’re glad to see you like the movie, and we’re glad to hear that you believe it will be well worth the wait. The extended wait.
Eric: Yes [unintelligible]. [laughs]
Andrew: And here’s hoping you get to see Deathly Hallows too. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, yeah. Well – and actually, I did want to talk about – if I could bring up a thing before I leave.
Andrew: Sure.
Eric: I got to meet David Heyman, David Yates, Alan Horn, one of the representatives from WB, Mark Day, the film editor [laughs] and…
Andrew: Wow.
Eric: …David Baron, the other co-producer with David Heyman, on…
Andrew: Was…
Eric: …the movie, after the movie.
Micah: So when are they coming on the show?
Andrew and Eric: What?
Micah: I said, so when are they coming on the show?
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: Was Alan Horn afraid of anyone giving him a good punch? Giving him a good old one-two, you know what I’m saying?
Eric: You know, Andrew, I’ve got to say that’s not funny, because…
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: …to be perfectly honest with you – no, no, no no, okay…
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: And don’t feel bad. Don’t feel bad. Don’t feel bad.
Andrew: Oh, I don’t.
Eric: But – [laughs] – but, to be perfectly honest, we spoke with the Warner Bros. people and they were – to be honest, it’s a bit sad, I think, for our fandom, knowing that so many people at WB have received actual death threats. I mean, think about…
Andrew: That is sad, yes.
Eric: Think about the fandom actually saying, “Oh we’re actually going to send so many death threats, we’re going to storm the gates of WB,” and then think of actually receiving a death threat in your e-mail inbox from someone you’ve never met, from someone who is old enough to have the means to make that sort of thing happen.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s very scary, for sure.
Eric: And they received those worldwide, and that’s not cool. For that I shame the fandom. I mean, not for being angry…
Matt: But that’s definitely something that they should expect.
Andrew: No. No, not death threats. [laughs]
Matt: No, seriously, they should. For something this big, they should expect something to be extreme even though it may not happen.
Andrew: I’m sure they expected a big outlash, but I don’t know about death threats.
Matt: I know – I know – well, this isn’t the first time that something like this has happened.
Andrew: Can you see them sitting down at a meeting and being like “Look, guys, if we do this, we’re going to get death threats.” [laughs]
Matt: No, no, “If we do this, we’re going to get a huge flack.” And they are. I mean, it may get a little more than they anticipated…
Andrew: Yes.
Matt: …but they should’ve expected…
Eric: But seriously, it’s a bit more. I mean, in all the history of Warner Bros., to think that this – I mean, you guys, let’s speak candidly here. You know how crazy some of the fans out there are. But to actually – I mean, that’s all I’ll say.
Andrew: Yeah. Oh yeah.
Eric: It’s got to be scary. But still – no, Alan Horn was there, and they had all seen the screening and they were all, I think, very pleased with all the feedback they got; they got a lot of – they sat for a session afterwards, plus all the surveys we were filling out afterwards. There’s one thing I wanted to talk about; the surveys were very detailed. They mentioned – first of all, in every question they urge you to be as specific as possible, which may just be standard, but they were asking things like, “what scenes do you think moved too slow?”, “what scenes do you think moved too fast?”, “what were your favorite actors?”, “what were your favorite scenes and the least favorite scenes?” All these questions that…
Andrew: Were they general questions? Or were they tailored – were they like, “What did you think of Slughorn?” Or were they like general questions that you hand out at every movie screening?
Eric: No, no, no, it wasn’t as – that’s right, yeah, they were tailor fit.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Eric: They were absolutely tailor fit. I can’t think of many more specific questions except that they really did – there was a lot of room for total explanation and also a lot of guiding where they could get your feedback even if you didn’t be specific. So it was a bit, overall, quite interesting. My favorite scene was the Felix Felicis scene in the movie, which is great.
Andrew: Cool.
Eric: Next to the cave scene, which I quite enjoyed. And yeah, so that – meeting David and – David Heyman afterwards, and David Yates, was a really good experience, and I shook their hands. I even hugged them.
Andrew: Awww.
Eric: And I just – I just assured them. You know, I said I like the movie, and, you know – hopefully – and they said, you know, great, because we really did try to make this a great film, especially for fans, and they said that Jo Rowling had seen about twenty minutes of the movie and she said what she always says, which is – but she said this might be her favorite film so far.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: Oh, that Jo.
Eric: Which is important to mention, but – yeah, it is. It is important to mention. So Jo thinks this might be her favorite film ever, and the film editor and everyone were there, and so – or everyone was there, so everyone did want to see what people thought and were very interested to the core of their soul on what people thought, so I thought that was really fitting. I thought that was very great. They were all very nice people, all very grateful to hear all that. But so – I mean, I sat with – I stood with them and spoke about some of the things that I was concerned about, but basically I think, overall, the final product is going to be great, and it was just such a pleasure because I hadn’t made it to the red carpet premieres. [laughs] I believe I was getting a Mickey Mouse from somebody? Last – Goblet of Fire?
Andrew: Yeah. Well, this obviously is pretty big.
Micah: The gods made it up for you, Eric.
Andrew: The gods, yeah. You were destined.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: It was karma. You do, you know – pay it forward. Pay it forward.
Eric: Honestly, so…
Andrew: Eric, we got to go, but thank you so much. This was very informational.
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew: I hope to see you back on the show soon.
Eric: Absolutely. Just let me know when the next one is and hopefully my computer will be working.
Andrew: Of course, of course. All right. And, Eric, again, we thank you, the fans thank you. I’m sure you’ll get some more feedback from the fans with some more questions. Just one more thing, actually, real quick: are you sad that you can’t wait until July now to see it? Or like – what’s the feeling there? Because a lot of people say, like, “Oh, I wouldn’t want to see it this early because then what do I have to look forward to?” Do you feel bummed?
Eric: Oh, yeah. That’s a good question too. I’ll answer that for sure. I strongly think that the movie that I see in July is going to be different…
Andrew: Yeah, definitely.
Eric: …than what I saw at this past screening. I really believe that. Maybe I’m out of my mind, but I really do think that definitely the finalized version with the finalized – even the look and feel, even the touch, is going to be changed, and different. That’ll come with a completed score, which we haven’t – which we didn’t have. They had kind of in and out of different pieces, so it hasn’t been fit. You know, the scenes that were cut might not remain cut, and there might be more scenes that did get cut and some added in.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: So, we just don’t know from this standpoint. So once the effects are complete – a lot of that does change how you view the movie, how the movie feels, and, you know, I don’t know how those those scenes are going to end up looking, in a way. The way the movie was presented to us, it didn’t even – it didn’t feel like it was completely presentable, like it was completely…
Andrew: Of course.
Eric: I mean it was presentable but not completely fit.
Andrew: Sure.
Eric: It wasn’t like, here’s a completely fit possible version of the movie. That wasn’t it at all. This was still a bit far away from the complete final stages, and so I think, yeah, when I see the movie in July, which I will, it will be different enough that I will be surprised. Plus I’ll have forgotten a little bit by then, and so in a way it’s not really a negative thing that I have to wait even longer for new material. Say Movie 7, I have to wait even longer for it than I did before, but I think the movie will be different.
Andrew: And you know what? They’ll be making changes down to the last few weeks. I remember Matthew Vines from Veritaserum.com, I was in touch with him a lot around Goblet of Fire, and he went to literally, you know, the U.S. premiere, the U.K. premiere, the U.S. screenings, the U.K. screenings, and he said every time he saw it, he saw little changes. They’re changing these films down to the last possible minute. You know, because there’s a lot of pressure. So yeah, I think you will be seeing a – it could be a whole new film depending on that feedback they got. So there you go. All right, Eric.
Eric: And now with the extended time, they’ll have plenty of time to do more screenings, you know.
Andrew: Yeah, of course.
Eric: Chicago – and to answer the first question I was asked completely, Chicago was where they always did their first screenings.
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: That goes back to the days of the first two movies, because Chris Columbus is from Chicago, or one of the suburbs, and they developed good relations with movie theaters…
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Eric: …and basically that was – that’s where they hold their first test screenings. Again, just one of those random benefits of living in Chicago and subscribing to MovieTickets.com, I guess.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, apparently. I guess we all will now. All right, Eric. Thank you very much. We’ll talk to you again soon.
Eric: Thanks, guys. This has been fun.
Andrew: No problem. Yes it has. All right, dude, talk to you later.
Eric: All right. Is the recording going to work?
Andrew: Oh, yeah. We got it all. We’re good.
Eric: Sweet. Thanks so much.
Andrew: All right. No problem. See you, dude.
Matt: Bye, Eric.
Eric: All right. Bye, everybody. Bye, Matt. Bye, Micah. Bye, Andrew.
Everyone: Bye.
Andrew: That was Eric Scull who just recently caught a screening of Half-Blood Prince in Chicago.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: That lucky little boy.
Micah: Plenty more questions, I’m sure, that…
Andrew: We’ll be asking him.
Micah: …we could ask him, too, I mean…
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: …there are so many that came to mind, but maybe people can send in their questions. Obviously…
Andrew: Mhm.
Micah: We’ll have plenty for him next show as well.
Andrew and Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: So, Micah, what else has been going on in the news?
Micah: We’re still on the news?
Andrew: We’re still not through it. [laughs] Yes, we are.
Micah: We’re like 45 minutes into the show and we’re still not done with the news.
Andrew: That was a whole segment. That was a whole big main discussion, I guess you could say. [laughs]
Micah: That’s true.
Andrew: So anyway, what else is going on in the wonderful world of Harry Potter?
News: HBP Video Game Delayed
Micah: Well, let’s wrap up Half-Blood Prince news first. The only other remaining piece of news from the movie actually affects the video game. The Half-Blood Prince video game is in fact going to be delayed, and one thing that Electronic Arts reported was that it is going to be a 120 million dollar loss for them this year. Andrew, you noted that they’re going to make somewhere around 5 billion. In the grand scheme of things, is that a huge hit to take? I would argue it may be when you look at their overall budget for 2008. If they were anticipating that revenue to meet their budget, that certainly could have an effect on it. I mean, in the scheme of 5 billion dollars, 120 million seems very small, but at the same time, you know, to us, that’s a lot of money.
Andrew: Yeah, and I think that, you know, they want to get this game out of the way and get going on the next one, because they’re real passionate about these Harry Potter games. I mean it is a studio in London that works on these, so it’s different from EA’s other big franchises like EA Sports.
Micah: Right. Did they mention anything about how it would affect maybe Deathly Hallows, similar to how everybody had questions, well, now with Half-Blood Prince being delayed, is that going to affect Deathly Hallows at all? You know.
Andrew: It may, but there’s still a two year wait.
Micah: That’s true.
Andrew: So…
Micah: And there’s probably only going to be one game though. The video game is not going to be split into two parts.
Andrew: Oh yeah. But I wonder what – they’ll have to wait to release it, though, because, you know, you can’t release it, a full game, with only half the movie, because then half of it’s spoiled. Warner Bros. has very tight restrictions for them, you know, saying, “You can’t spoil anything in the movie before the movie comes out.” You know, that’s involved in the video game, so…
Micah: And the thing to remember is that it’s not just going to affect, you know, EA. It’s going to really affect anybody else who’s in the merchandising industry that was anticipating this release in November, and was going to use that money towards their budget for 2008. You know…
Andrew: Yeah. It’s important. It sucks for them, you know?
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: I’m sure Warner Bros. probably had to take that into consideration.
Andrew: Warner Brothers should send them a big fat loan of 120 million. [Andrew laughs]
Micah: Absolutely. [laughs]
Andrew: They really should. I mean, you know. And, honestly, I think if EA wanted to they could have released it in November because it’s part of their contract, unless there’s a little clause in there, you know, that says Warner Bros. has the right, but – because they didn’t change it immediately, so they had to be thinking about it.
Matt: And the movies are never really exactly like what the game is anyway.
Micah: Right. Well, I mean I – the reason they waited is they want to release it with the film; however, this is what I wonder about more than anything else: is something like the video game, is the other merchandise because that’s where the franchise as a whole can be hard hit for the movie being delayed, because people can decide, okay, well, you know what? I’m going to go spend my ten dollars to go see the film, but I’m not going to buy any of the merchandise.
Andrew: Oh yeah.
Matt: But also, this is during the Christmas season too, is when, you know…
Micah: Exactly.
Andrew: People buy video games.
Matt: Yeah, so they buy – they would buy the video game for Christmas for their kid or something, but now that that it’s going to be in summer, I mean, it’s just for whenever you want to buy it.
Micah: Right.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: Absolutely.
Andrew: So…
MuggleCast 158 Transcript (continued)
News: The Trial is Finally Over
Micah: And other news: we finally received a verdict in the J.K. Rowling Warner Bros. versus RDR Books trial.
Matt: Oh.
Micah: Everyone is happy about that, right?
Matt: Yay!
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: You know, it’s weird because it’s like – it came out, and it was big news, but then it’s like – I just feel like there was a big – hold on. Let’s get in the mood first.
Matt: Oh.
[Law and Order theme music plays]
Andrew: That’s better. I feel like there was like a big – you know, there is supposed to be a big lead up to this and then it’s – I don’t know. Micah, was it big news to you?
Micah: You know, it just seemed to come in the middle or, I guess, towards the tail end of everything that was going on with Half-Blood Prince, and there wasn’t a lot to it, to be honest with you. I wasn’t…
Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] It was very basic.
Micah: Yeah. I mean – hey, look. I’m really in favor of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. in this case, and, you know, it – why did it take four months to come to a decision? I think probably because the judge has more on his plate than just this case and he’s hearing other cases, he’s writing other decisions, and that’s just what happens. I mean, I was in jury duty at the beginning of this year, and I can tell you the legal process is one that takes forever. I mean, these are some of the – sorry to any lawyers and judges that are listening to the show, but they’re some of the laziest people…
[Matt laughs]
Micah: They’re hard working in the sense that, you know, I’m sure they’re spending many hours when they’re not in the courtroom, but lazy in the sense that they just take forever to get stuff done. I mean, the legal process – oh, let’s go to lunch, take a two hour lunch, you know, they just – they milk the system for all it’s worth.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: So it turns out, Steve Vander Ark is actually…
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: Has been in the process of writing another book! It highlights the places in the United Kingdom that relate to Harry’s world.
Matt: So, like, he’s trying to find Hogwarts or something?
Andrew: Yeah. Sort of. [laughs] And so that’s what he’s doing. And the book is due out kind of soon. I’m not sure when exactly, but it’s a different publisher. It’s not RDR, so that one will not – that’s an actual book. That’s not just copying and pasting information out of Jo’s books.
Matt: Oh. Okay.
Andrew: That one will be okay.
Micah: But was anybody a little bit surprised by his reaction at all to the ruling? I just thought it was a little bit too nice for somebody who decided to go through with this process.
Matt: Well, he also wants his book to sell. I mean, he doesn’t want to be so negative about it. Also, he just wants it to be over with so that he can work on the next book that hopefully will, you know, make money.
Andrew: I know what you mean though. Steve said a few days ago, “I’ve always been a fan” – in response to the verdict – “I’ve always been a fan of Harry Potter and of Rowling, and my hope all along was that we’d find an amicable way to settle this. I’m disappointed, but this is the way it went, and I don’t hold any ill will at all. It was a question of law over a difference of opinion and, in a way, I’m glad that it’s finally over.”
Micah: Right.
Andrew: “In a way”? You should be completely glad that it’s over. [laughs]
Micah: Well, I – the big problem I have here is if this is the kind of response you’re going to have, why do it in the first place? Why, you know, put it – the situation – I don’t know. I’m trying to frame it the right way, but why even go through with all this in the first place? It, you know – it just seems like a very sort of nonchalant response…
Andrew: It is.
Micah: …to something you pressed very hard for. You know.
Andrew: I think it’s just a happy that it’s over with response.
Matt: Yeah. I think it’s something that’s just saying that I just want to move on from this.
Andrew: We have an e-mail here from Susan that relates to this. It’s a MuggleCast listener, Susan.
“Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. Yay! Jo won. I’m so glad the judge had the sense to be in favor of Jo, the rightful owner of the rights to write an encyclopedia based on her book series. And show that Vander whatever not to mess with Jo.”
Vander whatever. [laughs]
“Though I don’t hold anything against Vander-poo.”
Susan, you’re very mean.
“I can’t believe he would say he was ‘disappointed’ that he couldn’t steal Jo’s work and write his stolen encyclopedia. It doesn’t make any sense. Shouldn’t he feel ashamed that he even put Jo through all this? Isn’t she his favorite author that he devoted a whole lexicon too, or is he too distracted by the sadness – his sadness over his lost selfish gains?”
So Susan is saying there, look, why do you disappoint – I’m sure when he figured out the idea to do this book he was thinking about how much money he could make.
Matt: I think he just – the fact that he said he’s disappointed just means that, you know, he lost.
Andrew: Someone else asked, can we allow him back into this fandom again?
Micah: I…
Matt: Well…
Andrew: What do you think, Micah? Matt made a disgruntled face.
Matt: Well, no, I’m just – I’m saying, who has the keys to let someone back into the fandom?
Micah: Yeah, exactly.
Andrew: [laughs] Jo.
Matt: He’s never really left the fandom. If he’s still a fan of Harry Potter then he’s in the fandom.
Andrew: No, but I mean, like, say he shows up at Azkatraz 2009, which is quickly approaching in July? Will fans go up and greet him and be like, “Oh my God, can I take a picture with you?”
Matt: Well, I mean, I’m sure that’s not going to happen.
Andrew: Micah, will you take a picture with Steve if he shows up at Azkatraz?
Micah: Probably more likely he’ll want to take a photo with me, but…
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Micah: No, I’m just kidding.
Andrew: You’ll say, “Yeah, but I need $20 first please.”
Matt: Well, I mean – okay, if we see him – if any of us saw him at, like, a Harry Potter convention, would we just turn away and walk away or would…
Andrew: I would hide because we’ve said too many bad things about him on this show. [laughs]
Matt: I don’t think – I think – I think we’ve been – we haven’t been as angry as, you know, other…
Andrew: Outlets?
Matt: There we go.
Micah: I think the big thing that a lot of people miss in this, and maybe that’s why you’re saying it was more of a “I’m happy this thing is over” statement, is really RDR. I think RDR pressed this more than Steve pressed it. If that makes sense. I mean, all throughout the whole trial and when we really did that one episode where we focused solely on what was going on, we said, you know, if you look at everything that went on from the beginning going all the way back to – to when the lawsuit was first filed, and even before that, it seemed that RDR was not doing anything to be in compliance with WB or J.K. Rowling, that they wanted to…
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: …take this to the courtroom. And, you know, they still can go beyond – you know, they can obviously file for an appeal based on the ruling, it seems like, so it – it may be a matter of time to see if they’re going to pursue anything further.
Andrew: Yeah, and let’s all remember, too, that there was that clause in Steve’s contract from RDR that said, look, Steve, if, you know, WB decides to take this to court we will protect you. You cannot get out of it. So yeah, he really had no choice. I – I would think – I would hope that if WB took him to court and he had the option to just say, like, look, forget it. I’m not going to do this book. I don’t want to face going to court, that he would have actually done that. That would, I guess, really define his position in the fandom at this point. Okay, anything else, Micah, this week?
Sorcerer’s Stone Anniversary Edition is Released Next Week
Micah: Yeah, one final piece of news.
Andrew: Oh my God.
Micah: [laughs] Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone…
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: …Anniversary Edition is going to be released next week.
Andrew: It’s been released.
Micah: Well, it’s been released ahead of schedule for some people. But there’s some bonus material that was promised. There was obviously a new drawing of the cover art by Mary GrandPre. But, Andrew, you know a little bit more about what this bonus material is, having gotten information from people who received the book early.
Andrew: Yeah, we originally got an e-mail from someone saying, “Hey, my book arrived already,” and I was like, “Wow! That’s weird,” because it’s not supposed to come out until September 23rd. Long story short, as it turns out, Amazon received permission to start shipping it early, so they did. They sent out e-mails to all the people who pre-ordered and said, “You’ll be receiving it this week between September 11th and the 15th.” So people got their copies, and they were happy with it, I guess. But the thing was, they were – the fans – this book has been promoted as having bonus material from J.K. Rowling. And the only additional thing in this book is a sketch of Snape drawn by Jo back in ’92 or ’93, she wrote. And she wrote how Snape looked Count Dracula-ish. So it’s kind of disappointing, because it’s just one thing and people were, like, expecting maybe like a foreword or maybe something more from Jo in some way.
Micah: Are we sure that that’s it?
Andrew: That’s it. Yup. I’ve gotten numerous e-mails about it, and that is the only thing.
Micah: Right.
Matt: Well, I mean, it’s still a drawing by J.K. Rowling.
Andrew: Yeah, but it’s not like, you know, an original painting or anything. [laughs] It’s just – I mean we’ve seen lots of sketches from her before. People were just expecting more. Like, why would you buy this book again?
Micah: Right. And I know on Amazon I looked up the price. It’s like sixteen bucks to buy the hardcover edition, but I was wondering, didn’t we see a price – is there like a special edition of this book, too, that – that was selling for enormous…
Andrew: No, you’re thinking of Beedle the Bard.
Micah: Oh, okay.
Andrew: Beedle the Bard is going for, like, a hundred.
Micah: Yeah, that was crazy.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Micah: But I just – I mean, if you’re a collector then you’re probably going to pick it up. You know, if you’re somebody, in addition to liking the series, that gets the U.K. edition and the U.K. adult edition and – and, you know, picks up all these books from all over the world and different covers. Yeah, you know, you’re probably going to buy this.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: But I guess – yeah, it seems a little bit disappointing in terms of value.
Andrew: Yeah. So people actually took pictures of the book and sent it into us. And I actually forgot how small Sorcerer’s Stone was. I mean, that book’s really thin. I’m just so used to these books being so thick, but whatever. Just something that I thought.
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: So apparently it is in bookstores now, in most bookstores. So, you know, stop by, send in your feedback and tell us what you think.
Micah: So it’s actually out there?
Andrew: Yeah, it’s actually getting out there.
Matt: In the mainstream?
Andrew: In mainstream bookstores near you.
Matt: Awesome.
Andrew: I don’t know everywhere at this point, but someone who works at a bookstore actually e-mailed us and said, you know, this actually isn’t leaked or anything. That was the suggested release date, apparently. But since people are already getting it they’re allowed to put it out.
Matt: Huh.
Andrew: So, they’re doing it. And people are buying. And kind of getting disappointed.
Matt: Awww. It’s still Sorcerer’s Stone. It’s still the book.
Andrew: Is that it, Micah?
Micah: That’s it for news.
Andrew: All right.
Matt: Awesome!
Announcement: Podcast Alley
Andrew: Thank you. Let’s move on to some announcements. Hey, it’s a new month and we’re still a podcast, so vote for us…
Andrew and Matt: On Podcast Alley.
Matt: It is going to be Mugglecast Meptember.
Andrew: [laughs] Meptember. Yeah! We’re number six right now. That’s good, that’s good. I like…
Micah: Isn’t that great? We’re off – that we’re off for a month, but your still in the top ten on Podcast Alley?
Andrew: [laughs] People are still voting for us, yeah.
Matt: That’s awesome.
Andrew: That shows the dedication of our fans.
Matt: Thank you.
Andrew: Thank you.
Matt: That’s really nice.
Andrew: But, I mean, we could be higher, so…
Matt: Well – yeah, but…
Andrew: I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding. If you get the joke still.
Matt: Thank you.
Announcement: Teddy Bears for Hope a Success
Andrew: Micah, the past few episodes we were promoting our charity drive, Teddy Bears for Hope. How did that turn out?
Micah: It turned out really well. I actually sent the money over to the organization today. And they’re going to start dispersing the teddy bears, I guess, in the next couple of weeks or so. And the total amount raised was about $1,600. So that’s awesome.
Andrew and Matt: Wow.
Andrew: That’s really good. Thank you.
Micah: Plus whatever we made from that site. I think it was SearchKindly.org. They had a little bit of a pull up for one of the weeks we do this charity drive, and of course everyone from MuggleNet went and voted over there. So I think we probably picked up another $100. So about $1,700 in total.
Andrew: That’s wonderful. How many bears does that equate to?
Micah: That equates to probably…
Andrew: You said it’s $5 a bear?
Micah: Yeah, it’s around there. It could be a little bit more, a little bit less. So you’re probably looking at about a little over 300 bears.
Matt: Yeah.
Micah: Which…
Andrew: It’s great.
Micah: Which is cool. And we’ll keep everyone posted on where they end up going and get some pictures from when they’re delivered.
Andrew: Yeah, that’d be great. Definitely.
Micah: And post about it on both sites. So it’ll be cool.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: That’s so cool.
Announcement: Azkatraz in July
Andrew: All right. And reminder: Azkatraz is coming up quickly. It’s in July. It starts the day after Half-Blood Prince comes out, which is really awesome.
Matt: Ooh.
Andrew: They have some really good plans. We can’t announce anything yet, but we are going to be very involved. And it’s going to be awesome.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: Imagine seeing this film with tons of hardcore Harry Potter fans at midnight.
Matt: And then coming back to a…
Andrew: A Harry Potter [unintelligible]…
Matt: …really nice…
Andrew: …hotel.
Matt: Really, really nice hotel. We can’t stress that enough. It is a really sweet hotel. And just going back after the movie and just discussing it with all these diehard Harry Potter fans.
Andrew: Yeah, so it’s going to be really something special.
Matt: I mean, has that ever been done before?
Andrew: No. Registration is open, and actually, I don’t know if we should say. If you register, please put in the referral area MuggleNet or MuggleCast, if you do decide to register this early. Please, please, please put MuggleNet or MuggleCast. It will help us out very much in being there at Azkatraz. So thank you.
Announcement: Matt’s Birthday
Andrew: Happy Birthday, Matt.
Matt: Oh, thank you.
Andrew: Turned 23 on September 11th.
Matt: [imitating Jamie] “Oh, I’m so old, Andrew.”
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: Jamie’s back, huh?
Andrew: I just want to be a kid again.
Matt: [imitating Jamie] “Oh, oh, hey, Micah.”
[Micah laughs]
Matt: [imitating Jamie] “Laura, Laura, don’t even start with me. I’m so old.”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: On September 23 we’re having a, I would say little birthday party, but it’s going to be a big birthday party, here at the MuggleCast Studio tonight.
Matt: Yeah, we got a bunch of…
Andrew: All day.
Matt: We’ve got a bunch of Wizard Rockers coming to our apartment, and…
Andrew: Ah, man.
Matt: It’s going to be awesome.
Andrew: Star-studded.
[Andrew and Matt laugh]
Matt: Bring out the red carpet.
Announcement: Harry Potter Election
Andrew: For Alex Carpenter [unintelligible] to make his appearance. And one last thing. We want to do a little teaser about – before we get into the rest of the show. Micah and I are working on a new thing for MuggleNet, and since we’re not doing the new show weekly right now we wanted to promote it. As everyone knows, the presidential election is coming up, so, you know, it’s a big election this year, so we wanted to do something Harry Potter related with this election. And, Micah, do you want to sort of – we’ll just give a teaser right now. I don’t really want to get into it too much, but…
Micah: No.
Andrew: What are we doing? What are we putting together?
Micah: We’re just putting together a little bit of an election. We’re going to have fun with this. It’s going to be completely – well, I’m not going to say it’s not going to relate in any way to what’s going on in the current election. You may see some themes there.
Andrew: Some words. [laughs]
Micah: Some words.
Andrew: Like “maverick.” [laughs]
Micah: Exactly. But, you know, we’re going to get a couple of staff members involved with this, and I think we can reveal, we’re going to use eight characters with the ultimate goal of one from each party facing off in the final election. And we’re going to use come cool little social networking tools and probably some other technology – audio, video – to spice it up a bit. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I mean, that’s the whole point of it, you know, give people some laughs. Let them enjoy what we’re doing, and it’s not to make a mockery of the election as a whole. Maybe in a little bit of a way to poke fun at some things that have gone on, but just to kind of lighten the mood a bit, I guess you could say, because it’s been a very serious last couple of weeks, at least here in the United States with everything that’s going on with this election.
Andrew: But it’s – I don’t know if you said, it’s going to be an election for the Minister of Magic.
Micah: Oh yeah. That’s true.
Andrew: And – yeah. They’re characters from Harry Potter, so we’re putting together something really fun. It’s going to be kicking off September 23rd, but we’re going to have a formal announcement on MuggleNet.com a few days before that, so keep an eye out on the site. It’s going to be a fun thing, you know. Get kids involved in sort of a Harry Potter election, so it’ll be fun. And we’re doing some good work on it. So I think that’s it for announcements this week, and the news, and the opening. Good bye, everybody.
[Micah laughs]
Matt: Bye, guys.
Andrew: That was a long show.
Micah: Oh. Oh, that was awesome.
[Matt laughs]
Muggle Mail: The Pre-screening of HBP
Andrew: Let’s move on to some Muggle Mail that reflects on things we’ve actually already talked about. First one comes from Adrianna. She writes:
“Hey MuggleCasters, I just have a few comments about the screening of ‘Half-Blood Prince.’ First off, I’m torn between the idea of seeing the movie before the finished product. I’d want to put them again IMAX 3D. I think I’d hold out. But out of curiosity, why are they releasing the screening so close to the date that it would’ve come out on. It almost feels like a slap in the face. Like, ‘Ha-ha, November 21st, just kidding. July 17th. However, you can see the unfinished version in September.’ Okay, I just feel we’re being teased way too much, or maybe I’m just jealous. Love the show. Love the hosts. Special love to Matt and Andrew. P.S. I knew J.K.R. would win.”
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: Thank you, Adrianna. I think it’s a really good idea that they’re still screening it on time because this gives them a lot more time to fix the movie and get it exactly how they like it and how the fans like it.
Micah: But isn’t it a little bit odd to be screening it now? I mean, that’s my only issue here. If Eric – like he said before, he was watching scenes like with Harry on the Quidditch pitch where there’s blue screens behind what’s happening. It seems a little bit odd to me that, here you are in September, and you were expecting to release this film in November, and you had your producer, you had your director saying in the interviews that the movie’s complete, that there’s nothing wrong with it. That nothing needs to be redone. That seems a little bit odd to me.
Andrew: Well, I think they seriously considered – maybe these scenes are finished in special effects. Obviously, they slowed it down once they realized that, you know, they have an additional eight months to complete this.
Micah: Yeah, but at the same time, they realized this in, what, August? That they were going to, you know, delay the movie until November. The question is how much – I’m sorry, to July. But then how much in advance did they know that this change was going to happen? You mentioned it was only three to four weeks.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: But it’s just the time frame is not matching up for me.
Andrew: So yeah, I see what you’re saying.
Micah: That’s the thing.
Andrew: I see what you’re saying. I think they will be doing many more screenings, you know, once they reach a few milestones. Like the special effects being done, the soundtrack being done, because that’s all things they have to ask people about.
Micah: Right, but my question is, when normally would a screening have occurred for a movie released in November?
Andrew: I think right now.
Matt: I think it really depends on the type of budget the movie has.
Andrew: No, actually, you know what? And this is a true story. I swear to God, I read an article back in July saying that they were going to do screenings in August, and that was before the film came out – or they announced the film delay. And I remember this so well because I thought to myself, oh man, they’re screening this in August in Chicago? That’s when Terminus is. I wonder if a lot of Harry Potter fans are going to end up seeing it there. So, yeah, they were definitely going to be screening it in August, but they pushed it, you know, I guess a couple weeks back to September, so yeah. I think this is normal. But if it was still slated…
Matt: August to November – I mean, August to September is, what, one month?
Andrew: No, no. Yeah, it was probably just a couple weeks they delayed it by. I’m not saying that, you know, it made any difference, but maybe they delayed it that much to get a certain part of the film completely finished. But I do think that if it wasn’t delayed, the people that saw the screening, including Eric, would’ve seen a lot more complete, definitely.
Matt: Well, they see it now, it just gives them all the more time to change it.
Andrew: Mhm. Exactly.
Matt: I mean, if they screened it, what, three months before the movie is now going to be released, that gives them only three months to change everything, and I would much prefer that the people behind the movie have – can actually take their time and, you know, make it the way that they really want to instead of just having to do it under the gun and have to just spit this version out that they really – aren’t really proud of.
Micah: Right, and that’s what leads me to believe, maybe they knew further in advance that they might have to change the date because of something not being finished the way that they wanted it to be. It just…
Matt: Right.
Micah: My thing is, it just seems like if you’re going to screen a movie now, ten months in advance, as opposed to what would’ve been a couple of months, something must not have been right there. Maybe I’m wrong, but…
Andrew: I think with – sorry, go ahead.
Micah: No, it’s just what I said before. It’s just not matching up for me.
Andrew: I think with all this – I think with the film – with them screening the film this early, this really puts a lot of pressure on them, because they have so much time to perfect this. And that’s what they need to do. I doubt they’re going to go back and film more, so they got to work with what they have. But, you know, that could…
Matt: They probably have a whole bunch of – of footage though.
Andrew: Yeah.
Matt: To work with.
Andrew: Of course, but I mean, like, if they wanted to add the Hogwarts Battle, you know.
Matt: I think they already filmed it.
Andrew: Or the Dumbledore funeral. I mean, God, with all this more time use a little more money from Dark Knight and put it into… [laughs] … put it in the Dumbledore funeral. But whatever.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: I think, you know, this is just a lot more pressure. Now you really have to perfect it, and that’s why they’re starting to do these screenings so early.
Muggle Mail Rejected
Andrew: Next e-mail comes from Lucy:
“Hi. I just wanted to say, as I’m sure others have, that it’s very promising that they’re screening the film now. It suggests that they will use…”
Actually, you know what? We don’t need that.
Muggle Mail: A Call for Action
Andrew: One more e-mail today from Gregory Bosk, 20, from Newport News, Virginia. He writes:
“My friends at MuggleNet, as one of the premier sites for ‘Harry Potter’ fans around the world, you hold a significant amount of sway in the minds of not only readers, but Hollywood producers and filmmakers. I am a concerned fan who is enraged by the fact that the movie is to be postponed. I feel it is unnecessary for us to wait an entire eight months for the movie to be released when it is, supposedly, finished with production. Is there anything you can do, anyone that you can contact, anywhere that you can go to get things in motion? I am sure you are all as upset as I am. We need to move into action and motivate others to do the same. We need to let these greedy Hollywood producers that it is the fans that control the market, and we demand the movie to be released as planned.”
Micah: All right, Gregory. [laughs] Listen, buddy. If I held sway over Hollywood movie producers, I would be in the damn movie, okay?
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: So the idea that we have any control over this is – is, you know…
Matt: Well, you know what? Wait.
Micah: …minimal.
Matt: Let me get Alan Horn on the phone.
Micah: Call him up. I mean, I understand what he’s trying to say, but it’s kind of – we don’t – we – I don’t know.
Andrew: The reason I included this is because a lot of fans do think that we have a lot of power, but really we don’t. And we don’t want – like, people ask well, why don’t you post petitions and stuff like that? We are on the good side with Warner Bros., you know. We have to stick with them. They do a lot for us and we’re – they do a lot for us and they do a lot for the fans, and we have to be appreciative of that. So…
Matt: And just because we don’t have the same viewpoints as a lot of the fandoms do doesn’t mean that we’re – that we’re sucking up to WB also. I mean, I get a lot of e-mails saying that, well just because, yeah, okay, you have to suck up to WB, that’s why you’re saying this and that. But really, we have to see both sides of it. We can’t just see, like, one side of – of the whole decision-making.
Micah: Yeah exactly. Then we’d be Fox news.
Matt: Yeah. Yeah! Then we’d be Fox!
Micah: No, but Matt’s right. I mean, the fact of the matter is, it was just like the case between Steve Vander Ark and J.K. Rowling. We couldn’t sit for a whole episode. Obviously, a lot of us favored the opinion of, of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros., but we couldn’t sit there and not try and come at it from Steve’s position, which we did do, and, you know, and it’s kind of like the same thing here. We need to see it from both sides. Obviously, as fans we’re not happy that the film got moved, but we also need to understand it from Warner Bros.’s perspective, that it’s a business decision, and that’s the reason why this film was moved, and, you know, while we can all be upset and all be angry, you know, we’re not going to change the fact that…
Andrew: Right.
Micah: …that the movie is going to be coming out next July.
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. And there’s really nothing more to say. I just think that, you know, sorry, guys, but, you know, we don’t have any more power than you guys do. So. Let’s move along now. That’s all for e-mails. Very short with the e-mails this week, but I just want to say that we do have a working feedback form. It’s now available on MuggleNet.com. So visit MuggleNet.com to get all the feedback – to leave us feedback. MuggleNet.com/Feedback. You can contact any one of us there, and also you can send us rebuttals and stuff like that. So we’ll get more e-mails soon.
This Week in MuggleCast History
Andrew: This Week in MuggleCast History is up next. It is actually two – not two years ago, a year ago this week that we had our twelve hour live show.
[Matt gasps]
Andrew: Which I still tell people about. They’re like, you did a live show for twelve hours? What did you talk about? I don’t even know what we talked about.
Matt: I think you guys called me.
Andrew: Yes, we did.
Matt: That was the first time I was ever on the show.
Andrew: We spoke with you and Alex Carpenter.
Matt: You also ordered a pizza.
Andrew: Yes, that was fun. And my number accidentally got out on the air. Or no, my address did. That was a mistake.
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: But anyway, let’s play a quick clip from it. Just the introduction, you know, to relive it.
Andrew: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to MuggleCast live. Jamie and Laura are here.
Laura: Hey, everybody!
Jamie: Hey!
Andrew: We are live on the Internet! This is our first ever twelve hour podcasting event. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is the first ever twelve hour podcast.
Jamie: I would agree.
Laura: I think that’s a safe guess.
Andrew: That’s a safe guess. Laura’s at college right now.
Laura: I am at college. The only [unintelligible] kind of Internet that’s somewhat not wanting to work today, so here’s hoping that it holds through for me.
Andrew: Well, it’s holding right now, and it’s actually sounding better than Jamie’s connection, but…
Laura: Yeah!
Andrew: Nothing we can do about that.
Jamie: Yeah. [unintelligible] is not particularly good.
Andrew: Jamie, this is twelve hours we’re doing here.
Jamie: This is twelve hours, and I reckon we need to tell everyone that twelve hours is an extremely long time. In twelve hours you can do a lot. You can fly from Heathrow to America twice in a jumbo jet. You can go there and come back. Also, you can go from Heathrow to New York and back twice on Concord. You can drive almost the entire length of the U.K. You can run a very long way. I don’t know how far. If anybody wants to try it, please feel free and then you can write in and tell us. You can cycle a long way. You can even walk a very long way.
Andrew: So we get it.
[Jamie laughs]
Andrew: Can you tell how nervous I was? My voice was so trembling. So [quaking voice] “Hi, everybody, welcome to the show.”
Matt: Awww! You were going through puberty.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Laura’s in college!
Matt: There’s nothing wrong with that.
Andrew: How’s college, Laura?
Micah: He still is.
Andrew: Ehhh!
Matt and Micah: Yeah.
Micah: Oh.
Andrew: That was very nerve wracking, but that was a lot of fun. Micah, you were a part of that, weren’t you?
Micah: I was not a part of that. I was…
Andrew: What!?
Micah: I was at a wedding that weekend in Nantucket. I think I called you guys…
Andrew: You’re always at weddings.
Micah: … at like…
Andrew: Oh, that’s right.
Micah: … eleven o’clock, or you called me, and I had a few beverages and… [laughs]
Matt: Oooh…
Micah: Someone covered that point. It was, you know, all fun.
Andrew: So we had started at 12 PM Eastern on September 15th and we went until 12 AM Eastern on September 16th, so that was a full twelve hours.
Micah: Unbelievable.
Andrew: I wouldn’t – I – in hindsight, I wouldn’t mind doing it again because it was a lot of fun, and we actually did get through it. It’s just a lot of planning.
Micah: Yeah, absolutely.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: I couldn’t imagine that you guys stayed on for that long.
Andrew: Well, yeah, but that was the fun of it, you know? We took, like, ten minute breaks on top of every hour and, you know, I looked at the Google Doc a few days ago to see our schedule and, like, it was so bad. Like, we had each hour planned out, but, like, in some of the hours there was, like, there was just, like, one e-mail to read and that was it! [laughs] I don’t know what we did the whole time. But a lot of people – a lot of our listeners – that were listening, actually did listen to the whole live show, which is insane.
Micah: What was the – like, what was the top number that you received on that show? Where did it peak? In terms of listeners.
Andrew: Listener-wise?
Micah: Live.
Andrew: I completely forget. But I would say at -probably at its peak, was probably, at the very start through most of the afternoon, probably through the night, it was probably 1700 people.
Matt: It’s probably, yeah.
Andrew: Which is really cool that we can get that many live people at each of those times…
Micah: Well, we did quite well with the last live show, too, didn’t we? We had a – was it like 1500 at one time?
Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, it’s great doing those live shows. A lot of people listen to them.
Micah: We should do another live show sometime soon.
Andrew: Let’s go live right now! I’m ready.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Let’s go. It’s too much.
Micah: Maybe our next show.
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: I’m just making this shit up.
Guess the Scene
Andrew: Well, whenever there’s big news, that’s when it’s funnest to – most fun to do a live show, because that’s when everyone’s in to it. So, moving along, we’re going to play a new segment now. This is called Guess the Scene. We’ll just do one so that, you know, give you guys a little tease since Matt obviously picked these and I’m looking at them to play them. That leaves just Micah, so, Micah, if you do really good we can – you know, it’s fun for people to play at home too, so…
Micah: All right.
Andrew: All right, so how this works is I’m going to play a clip from one of the soundtracks and I’m not going to tell which soundtrack it is, and Micah…
Micah: Oh, it’s a soundtrack.
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: You have to guess which – which scene…
Matt: Where in the movie this is being played.
Micah: Oh, okay. Maybe I can do them.
Andrew: Yeah. So, it’s…
Micah: I don’t get told what movie it’s from, though, right?
Andrew and Matt: Right.
Andrew: Okay, here we go.
[Music plays]
[Andrew whispers something unintelligible]
Matt: [whispers] Yeah.
Andrew: [whispers] What could it be?
Matt: [whispers] It’s from Harry Potter, I think.
Andrew: Should we give him a hint?
Matt: Sure.
Andrew: I think we should. This is from Chamber of Secrets.
Micah: Yeah, I thought so. It’s like – it’s almost like Oompa Loompas.
Matt: Oh. Oh, very – oh, you’re close.
Andrew: Trick question.
Micah: Geez.
Matt: A lot closer than you think there, Micah.
[dramatic chord of music plays]
Andrew: Oh!
Matt: Oh.
Andrew: Something just happened.
Matt: Something happened.
Andrew: Any guesses, Micah?
Matt: You can pause it.
Micah: Oh – that’s not – no.
Matt: Oh…
Andrew: All right, so do you have any guesses at all?
[Music stops playing]
Micah: I’m thinking, like, the beginning of the movie.
Andrew: Like a specific scene, though.
Micah: No, no, I know. Yeah, I – I can’t. I’m sorry.
Andrew: Oh, I’m so sorry, Micah. The correct answer we were looking for was when Crabbe and Goyle get the – grab the cakes that are floating in mid-air.
Micah: Oh. Yeah. That was right at the top of my list.
[Andrew laughs]
Matt: You said “Oompa Loompa” so you’re close.
Micah: Yeah, you’re right.
Andrew: You’ve mentioned candy.
Micah: You got another one? I feel like I need to redeem myself.
Andrew: How – how about – yeah, we could do one more. All right, well, we’ll give him a hint to start out. This is from Prisoner of Azkaban. You – you – you said yourself that this was one of your favorites…
Andrew: …so…
Micah: Me?
Andrew: It can’t be too hard for you. Oh, maybe you didn’t. I don’t know. Here we go.
[Music plays]
Micah: Isn’t this how – oh.
[Music finishes]
Micah: I thought this was how the movie starts. Or do I have…
Matt: No.
Micah: No?
Andrew: No. I’m sorry. That was [unintelligible].
[Matt laughs]
Andrew: What we were looking for was from the Dementors hovering outside of Hogwarts. I don’t even remember that.
Matt: Huh?
Andrew: The Dementors hovering outside of Hogwarts.
Matt: Yeah.
Andrew: That’s the answer we were looking for.
Matt: It’s during the castle scene, when it’s raining outside, and all the boys are eating the candy from Honeydukes.
Andrew: Ah! Matt got it!
[A bell sounds]
Matt: Well, yeah…
Andrew: I’ve got to work on my Price is Right [unintelligible].
Matt: …I’m the one who did it!
Andrew: Yeah, I know. I just wanted to play that sound. So that’s how we play Guess the Scene. Hopefully our listeners enjoyed that, who will enjoy it when somebody guesses correctly.
Matt: Or when there’s more of us to play.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s true. This may be hard. This may be a hard game. I think it kind of is.
Matt: It is hard.
Andrew: Good try, Micah. You were the first contestant, so…
Micah: Thanks.
Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul
Andrew: So we’re almost done with the show today. This has been a very long episode. We’ll wrap things up with Chicken Soup. Micah, would you like to read it?
Micah: So this week’s Chicken Soup comes from Granny. She says:
“I was not aware you had a MuggleCast contact problem, so just in case you did not receive this, could not call this one in. I would cry. I have downloaded your shows, not only for the fun of listening to them again. Lots of times you got so close to the truth and yet so far. Just missing it. If I am widowed, you will be there to comfort me. If I go blind, you will be there for me. I thank you for that, and when I was going nuts between Books 6 and 7, you kept me sane. When movies came out, books came out, I was part of it all because you were there. Politics aside, you will grow out of it.”
Not sure what that means, but…
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: “I do love you all. Best regards, from Granny.”
Andrew: That was very nice. She’s a frequent e-mailer and that was a very nice e-mail, I thought.
[Show music begins]
Contact Information
Andrew: Anyway, that does wrap up our show for today. We hope everyone’s enjoyed hearing some more MuggleCast. To send us some parcel mail, you can always use the MuggleCast P.O Box. P.O. Box 3151, Cumming, GA 30028. You can also call in a voicemail question, comment a listener rebuttal to the MuggleCast hotline. Just remember to your question under 60 seconds and eliminate as much background noise as possible. Those numbers are, in the United States, 1-218-20-MAGIC, in the United Kingdom 0208144677, and if you’re in Australia, the number is 0280035668. You can also Skype the username MuggleCast. Don’t forget you can visit MuggleNet.com for a handy feedback form. That’s MuggleNet.com/feedback. There’s also a link where the old feedback form used to be, and you can contact anyone of us there. Or you could just use our first name at staff dot mugglenet dot com. Don’t forget, you can also visit MuggleCast.com for a variety of community outlet links, including our MySpace, our Frappr,, YouTube, Last.FM, Facebook, and the fanlisting and the fan forums located at MuggleCastFan.net. You can also follow us on Twitter.com/MuggleCast for the latest updates on the show, Digg the show at Digg.com, and vote for us once a month at Podcast Alley, which you have all been doing, so you’re all very good listeners. So there’s little pats on the head there.
Show Close
Andrew: So that does it for the show this week. Thank you, everyone, for listening, seriously, and…
Micah: When’s our next show?
Andrew: We will be back soon. You know, it was a good show.
Matt: When will we be back?
Andrew: We will be back next time.
Matt: When’s next time?
Andrew: We will be back next time. So, to wrap up the show today, I am Andrew Sims.
Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Matt: And I’m Matthew Britton.
Andrew: Thank you, everyone, for listening, we will see you next time, for Episode 159. Goodbye!
Matt: Bye.
Micah: Later.