Transcript #188

MuggleCast 188 Transcript

Show Intro

[“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” is ending]

[Intro music begins]

Andrew: Broadcasting live on Ustream to Potter fans across the world…

[Intro music continues]

Andrew: …this is MuggleCast Episode 188 for December 29th, 2009.

[Show music begins]

Andrew: Yes! Ladies and gentlemen, it’s December 29th, 2009. We’re just two days away from the New Year, and what better way to celebrate than by looking back at the past year? We’re going to do that with you guys tonight, and by “we” I am referring to some of the greatest people in podcasting. First up, Laura Thompson. Hello, Miss Laura!

Laura: Hey Andrew, how are you?

Andrew: I’m great, how are you today?

Laura: I’m good.

Andrew: Oh, you’re a lady of few words tonight.

Laura: I am. Sorry.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: That’s okay, I’m saving it for the show.

Andrew: I see. We’re also joined by Eric. Hey, Eric.

Eric: Hey, Andrew. How are you doing?

Andrew: Good. Are you happy I put in that song that you requested tonight? You requested…

[Show music ends]

Eric: Oh yes.

Andrew: …that fine show tune. And also online: Micah Tannenbaum!

Micah: What’s up?

Andrew: And last but not least – [laughs] – Mikey Bouchereau. What’s up, Mikey?

Mikey: What’s up, homey? [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, I put a…

Mikey: What’s so funny about my name?

Andrew: Nothing’s funny about your name. I put a picture of you in the chat and you’re wearing a Santa hat.

Mikey: No – I’m wearing my Santa hat. That was my Christmas card from last year.

Andrew: Yes, it was. Yes, I went on Facebook and I stalked you. So anyway, like I said, we have a great show planned for you guys tonight. We wanted to do a Year in Review show, but we also wanted to make it interesting and unique and different. So what we’re going to do tonight is we’re going to look back at the biggest stories of the year. But we’re going to do it in a unique way. We’re going to – we have different categories outlined, and we’re going to let you guys decide which story in each category wins the Best of the Year award. And so we’ve got nine of those categories and we’re going to go through those. And then we also are going to look at the best moments in MuggleCast history. And we’re also going to have a fun little trivia giveaway. So all around, it sounds like an amazing time. Wouldn’t you guys agree?

Mikey: That sounds kind of awesome.

Laura: Definitely, yeah.

Andrew: “Kind of awesome.” I would…

Mikey: I’m kind of excited. I am excited – not even kind of!

Andrew: [laughs] But first, as always, Micah Tannenbaum is going to update us with the latest news in the Harry Potter world. Micah, what’s been going on?

News: Deathly Hallows: Part I Cast List

Micah: Well, late last week, Warner Brothers released a list of Deathly Hallows: Part I cast members…

Andrew: Yes.

Micah: …in a little bit of a 2010 preview kit for members of the press. And being a member of the press, Andrew, I know you received this. And there were several new Potter cast members to note, many of whom were confirmed over the course of the last few months…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …including Bill Nighy, who will play Scrimgeour, Rhys Ifans who will play Xenophilius Lovegood, Ciaran Hinds who will play Aberforth Dumbledore, Jamie Campbell Bower who will play Grindelwald, and David O’Hara who will play Albert Runghorn – Runcorn, sorry. But the biggest name on the list was Miranda Richardson…

[Laura laughs]

Micah: …who…

Andrew: Right.

Micah: …of course, Order of the – or, not Order of the Phoenix, Goblet of Fire – why am I blanking on her name.

Eric: Wasn’t she quoted as saying…

Andrew: She – yeah.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: She was…

Eric: She was quoted as saying…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: “I will never have anything to do with the Harry Potter series again.”

Micah: Yeah.

Eric: “It’s childish…”

[Laura laughs]

Eric: .”..ridiculous and I don’t want anything…”

[Everyone laughs]

Eric: “…to do with it.”

Andrew: Is that why you were laughing…

Micah: I don’t…

Andrew: …Laura?

Micah: …think it was that bad.

Laura: I don’t – yeah, I don’t think it was that bad. But it was definitely very weird what she said. I remember watching the interview.

Andrew: It was…

Laura: It was…

Andrew: …our…

Laura: …up on the website.

Andrew: Yeah, it was our…

Laura: Yeah!

Andrew: …interview with her and we asked, are you – somebody asked, “Are you going to be back for Potter?” Or, “Are you going to be back again?” And she is, like, “No.” And Emerson’s, like, “Why?” [laughs] She gave this – here, let me read the quote real quick. Do we – oh, is it on the main page right now? Maybe not. But basically, it was just weird. She was talking out of her butt, to be quite frank.

Laura: Yeah, it was like she had no idea what she was talking about.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Pretty much. I almost wonder if she was mid-negotiation, or if they had an issue…

Micah: Oh, here we…

Laura: …with her on the Goblet of Fire. I have no idea.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Yeah, here is the quote, Andrew. Did you find it?

Andrew: Yeah. She says…

Micah: Or – I have it.

Andrew: She says: “Why aren’t I coming back? I don’t know. Partly because it’s always nice to see new people. And also because they’ll have a different angle on the story. It’s never going to be the book on film exactly. The book is one thing, the film is another. They’ll take certain aspects from the book and, you know, make it something that they hope will be commercial and people will want to see.”

Eric: What does that have to do with her being back?

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: I don’t know. It…

Eric: Her giving a reason that it’s always fun to see new people seems like a reason she would be back.

Andrew: I really think at the time she just didn’t enjoy it. I hate to say that…

Eric: You know what this reminds me of?

Andrew: …but – what?

Eric: This reminds me of – Laura, you know this – the Miss Teen U.S.A. of a few years ago who, was asked that one question about peace…

Laura: Oh, right!

Eric: …I think it was.

Laura: Right.

Eric: And she…

Laura: Miss South Carolina…

Eric: Yeah, just kept talking.

Laura: …wasn’t it?

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Miss South Carolina, yes.

Andrew: And she starts…

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: …blabbering.

Eric: It was just…

Laura: Yeah.

Eric: The answer was so incoherent. It had nothing to do with the question. And she was trying her best, but – I’m happy to see Miranda Richardson back. I think it’s going to be great.

Andrew: Yeah, I mean she played a great Rita Skeeter, there’s no doubt about that.

Laura: Yeah I agree; she was awesome.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: So no reason to dwell on that. What else, Micah?

News: Trelawney’s Role

Micah: Well going along with this Movie 7 news, we never posted this because it was never confirmed but there was a lot of talk about – with Emma Thompson not playing Professor Trelawney; that Nicolette Sheridan was going to take over the role…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …and that raises the sexiness level of Professor Trelawney…

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Micah: …to I don’t even know what. I don’t know if – it goes off the scale.

Andrew: Well, we should probably first say, that’s been a rumor, we never posted it. I don’t think any fan sites posted it.

Micah: Right, that’s what I said.

Andrew: Oh, okay. It showed up on this Nicolette Sheridan fan site, and it’s weird because it wasn’t even a fan site. It’s just – it looks like a cheap way to make a quick buck off of her or something, but anyways, so this fan site said “She’ll also be playing Trelawney in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” and we tried to confirm it and the agents didn’t get back to us. I’m just going to go with no.

Micah: We just wanted to throw it out there, just in case.

Andrew: Right, right, just in case. Then we’ll be like, “told you so.” But in the mean time…

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: In the meantime, we wait to hear. So you think she’ll look really sexy?

Micah: In more Movie 7 news…

Andrew: Hmm?

Micah: Well, I’m just saying, Trelawney in general, I don’t think was ever a very attractive character…

Andrew: No.

Micah: …but if you put Nicolette Sheridan and some of her attributes into the role of Professor Trelawney…

[Laura and Mikey laugh]

Micah: This is a PG podcast so I can’t really go any further than that, but I’ll leave it there.

Andrew: Emma Thompson’s attractive though, and she was Trelawney.

Micah: She is.

Andrew: Yeah. I’m not sure what you’re saying, Micah.

Micah: Not that…

Andrew: But I guess we…

[Laura and Mikey laugh]

Mikey: Micah, I’m – honestly, I think you’re digging yourself a hole here my friend.

Andrew: Yeah, let’s just leave it there.

Mikey: Let’s continue, what else do we have from the news, Micah? What else do we have here?

News: Bill Nighy

Micah: Well Movie 7 news, we mentioned Bill Nighy earlier, he did an interview recently where he talked about playing the Minister of Magic in Movie 7. And a lot of people liked this interview because it seemed as if they were staying true to the books again, and that Nighy was really involved in this character and he was quoted as saying, “Scrimgeour is a tragic figure. He knows what’s coming, it’s a very moving thing to play. He’s also very powerful and has had a very complicated progress to the top. And he has an interesting relationship with Harry, who views him initially with contempt, but then it’s softened by subsequent events. There’s a scene where he delivers Dumbledore’s legacy to the three children. He gives them all the things Dumbledore has left them and that’s when it’s indicated that he may not be around for much longer.”

Andrew: Right. So that’s…

Mikey: Wow.

Andrew: …it’s good – it’s good to hear from him.

Micah: So, it’s good to see all these characters.

Laura: Yeah, I really liked that because it shows that he’s invested in his character, and that he’s really paying attention to the story which – sometimes I kind of get the idea from some of the adult actors when they sort of talk out of their butts about this, that they really have no clue what’s going on so…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: …I really enjoyed reading this.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: You hear him saying words like, “legacy”…

Laura: Yeah, he’s awesome.

Eric: …referring to Harry Potter. You know, shows that – also that – with the Deathly Hallows split that occurred, that Movie 7 they’re able to show these little things, these little character things how Scrimgeour’s character is tragic and may be portrayed as such on – the movie just gives me goose bumps.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: To see that they’ll have that much time with – since they’re doing two movies instead of trying to condense it into one, that they’ll have time to show that.

Andrew: What else is in the news, Micah?

News: The Best of…

Micah: Well, if people have been checking out MuggleNet over the course of the last week or so, there’s been a few lists that have come out related to the “Best of the Year” and the “Best of the Decade” – and in any newspaper I think if you pick it up or you go on any website, all these people are putting together the “Bests of the Decade” lists…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …and Half-Blood Prince – we’ll start with “Best of the Year.” Half-Blood Prince did pick up a couple of different titles and Yahoo! Movies actually, today, released their top ten trailers of 2009, but surprisingly Half-Blood Prince only came in at number five.

Andrew: Well – hold on, hold on. Most viewed, right? It was the most…

Micah: Most viewed, yeah.

Andrew: Top five most viewed.

Micah: Most viewed trailer of 2009.

Andrew: So, yeah. And so I think that plays a role in why Harry Potter wasn’t number one. Or a little bit higher up the list. But all these lists, it’s sort of just like, “Oh, we get it now.” I mean, we have no room to talk because we’re doing a list or two tonight, but [laughs] it’s like, “Shut up already!” you know, and it really is…

Micah: It is interesting.

Andrew: It is interesting.

Micah: Number five is not exactly at the top though. And yeah, it’s specific to Yahoo! Movies, on their website, but they’re a pretty big website and for Half-Blood Prince to be all the way down at number five I think is – it’s kind of surprising.

Mikey: I can tell you one thing…

Eric: Wasn’t there – wasn’t there another top ten list? Yeah, where Half-Blood Prince was like number ten? Twilight made number four, but Half-Blood Prince was like, bottom of the list.

Andrew: For what? What – what was that?

Eric: Did you guys – is that one of the lists we have listed here?

Andrew: What…

Eric: I have to research. I just heard about it today.

Andrew: Okay. Well, I mean…

Eric: Just one of those…

Andrew: Most viewed, that was the one Yahoo! was referring to. Transformers beat Harry Potter in the top ten box office movies of 2009 on Yahoo! Movies. You know, Micah…

Micah: That was domestically. I think we should – we should clear that up though, I mean…

Andrew: Right. Internationally it did better…

Micah: The Transformers made more money here in the United States than Half-Blood Prince did, but what was interesting was looking at the comments and everybody was ripping the American public for going to see Transformers…

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: …more than they saw Harry Potter, and I think the thing is, is people are forgetting that America contributed a third of the 900 million dollars that went towards this movie being successful and being the number eight grossing movie of all time.

Andrew: Right. So, yeah.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: Micah, you’re very passionate about this. It’s almost like you’re getting angry. [laughs]

Micah: Well, it’s funny when you read these comments of people. They’re just – they’ve got a…

Mikey: Micah…

Micah: …such venom that they’re spewing.

Mikey: …did you see Transformers?

Micah: I did not.

Mikey: That’s why you don’t understand. I saw that movie. Trust me, I understand where everyone else is coming from. That movie was…

Andrew: Oh, because it was bad?

Mikey: Oh, it was so bad.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: See, I heard that.

Mikey: And I love Transformers. I grew up with it, I grew up with the cartoon, and I was so disappointed. It was sad. Like, the movie was just…

Eric: I keep hearing that it was that horrible. Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Mikey: It was – it was sad.

Andrew: On the other hand, though…

Micah: These lists are so subjective.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. On the other hand, though, Harry Potter did very well on USA Today‘s top books – Top Ten Books of the Decade, did very well with the list by the Telegraph, which called it – which called J.K. Rowling the author of the decade. In many, many reports, Harry Potter was the – who called – oh, Entertainment Weekly called Harry Potter the Entertainer of the Decade, and I think they’re absolutely right. I mean, as we all can agree, Harry Potter definitely revolutionized the reading and entertainment and franchises. It’s just unbelievable.

Eric: Many industries, yeah.

Micah: Well, with USA Today, and I hate to keep digging on people, but I’m going to continue to do it, the facts in this USA Today article were completely off.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: And…

Andrew: Name them. What…

Micah: …they called Goblet of Fire the third book in the series…

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: …which isn’t true. And then they spelled the name of the seventh movie wrong, or the seventh book wrong…

Andrew: [laughs] And you emailed…

Micah: …and so I decided – I e-mailed the guy who wrote the article…

Andrew: Mhm.

Eric: Oh, God, no.

Micah: …and – because what happened was, he gave six of the top ten spots, six of the top ten spots on this list to Harry Potter books…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …but none of them came in higher than number 3. Order of the Phoenix came in at number 3.

Andrew: Which…

Micah: And I said, “So, hey, what’s up?” Go ahead.

Andrew: Which is very weird, because number-wise, all-time number wise, Harry Potter is number one in the decade. What is it? I think 450 million worldwide according to…

Eric: Are you counting the whole series or what?

Andrew: I think so, yeah, which can’t compare – I think that’s according to Wikipedia or something. So, yeah, that article on USA Today was so – was way off, and he replied to you, right?

Micah: He did, and this guy, Bob Minzesheimer, he said on the last question first…

Laura: You fail at journalism, Bob. [laughs]

Micah: …which was about how he put together the list, he said the list was based on all sales within the decade, regardless of when the book was published. For example, To Kill a Mockingbird came in at about 25 or so, and he said he would double-check the Potter facts that I said were wrong…

[Eric laughs]

Micah: …and “Appreciate your close reading. Potter fans unite. Cheers.”

Andrew: [laughs] Bob is getting attacked in the live Ustream chat right now, everybody who’s listening in live. Bob fail. BobFail L-O-L.

[Everybody laughs]

Andrew: It’s a BobFail. So anyways, that’s very sad. But at least he learned his mistake, Micah. You know?

Micah: He did. But he didn’t correct the article [laughs] so I don’t know how much he actually learned.

Andrew: Well, anyway, what else is going on?

News: Half-Blood Prince Final Figures

Micah: Well, we talked a little about Half-Blood Prince earlier, the final numbers came out for the movie and it finished with 934.5 million dollars. And that solidifies that it is number 8, for right now, on the all time box-office list.

Andrew: Yeah. That is so impressive!

Mikey: Wow.

Andrew: But I guess there’s not much else to say.

Mikey: That’s a lot of money.

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: That’s a big number.

Micah: It’s a lot of money.

Andrew: And what else is in the news, Micah? [laughs]

News: How to Succeed Without Really Trying

Micah: You played the song earlier, Andrew. Dan Radcliffe participated in, last week I think it was, in a table reading of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Andrew: That’s right.

Micah: And it’s a musical. I don’t honestly know much more about it.

Andrew: Well, here’s the thing about it.

Micah: I know Eric does.

Andrew: Here’s the thing about this story. This new report has revealed, like you said, that he participated in a table reading. And this guy who was there in the audience watching it said, he said that he was really impressed by Dan. And he said – there’s some quote about his singing – but did anyone else picture Dan Radcliffe as a singer? Like I never knew he – [laughs] sung before. So…

Laura: Yeah, I knew that he played instruments and stuff, but I didn’t know he sang.

Andrew: Yeah. What, Eric?

Eric: It’ll be fun to watch. I wasn’t – the lead role doesn’t require that much musical, vocal talent. It’s not that difficult, in other words, to do that. Because that was a role I picked up in high school and I had to have vocal training for it but I was allowed to keep some of my vocal faults, in other words, because the music wasn’t that too challenging. So I’m sure Dan will do a great job, but as far as this story goes, of him participating in this table reading, before this news story came out I think it was just a rumor or something, but I know we’ll be rating news stories throughout this show but in my opinion this is my favorite news story of this year.

Andrew: [laughs] I think you see potential to go and train him. Like you’re going to write to him and be like, “Hey Dan, listen.”

Eric: “Dude, I have to…”

Andrew: “…I’m very involved in the Harry Potter community…”

Eric: No, I just…

Andrew: “…and I feel that I can help you out. This could be very beneficial to both of us. Please Dan, please.”

Eric: I’m just passionate about this musical when I heard that it was going to be revived and that Dan Radcliffe could be in the lead role. I just, I get excited.

Andrew: Good.

Eric: I will have the first ticket to see it. It’s just…

Andrew: I’ll be front row! Eric Scull. You heard it now. He’ll be front row, opening night. Standing by the stage door after the show. Congratulating Eric Scull – or, Dan Radcliffe.

Eric: It’s a great musical. It is a great musical.

Andrew: I’m glad you’re happy.

Eric: And not enough people know about it. Which is why I was glad you played that song, so thank you.

Andrew: [laughs] You’re the biggest fan boy for this upcoming thing going on here.

Eric: Of this production, yup.

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Patrick Doyle

Andrew: Anyway, that does it for the news. We’re going to, like I said at the beginning of the show, we’re going to look at some of the best moments of 2009 in MuggleCast history and we’re going to play them throughout the show. And we’re going to play the first one now. First clip is from episode 170 where – when we interviewed the Goblet of Fire composer, Patrick Doyle. Matt and Micah conducted this interview, Micah, do you want to set this clip up?

Micah: No, this was just part of our interview with composer, Patrick Doyle. He was talking about how he really came up with the – what was it – the “Harry Potter Waltz” on a whim.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: It was kind of just out of nowhere.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: And obviously it went on to become a lot of people’s favorite song from that film.

Andrew: Right. Okay. So let’s go back in time and listen to it now. [time-travelling noise]

[Andrew plays a clip from Episode 170. To view the transcript for this interview, click here .]

Andrew: So, there you go. That’s a little piece of MuggleNet’s – he talked so fast, I don’t know how you guys could’ve understood him. And speaking of that, Matt’s going to join us now. Matt, hello. Are you on mic yet?

Matt: Yeah yeah, I’m fine.

Andrew: Hey!

Matt: Yeah, I’m here. Hey.

Andrew: Hi, Matt!

Matt: Hi!

Andrew: And that is one of the moments…

Eric: The chat exploded, Matt.

Andrew: …in MuggleCast history.

Micah: Well, how the transcribers could possibly understand what he was saying, I have no idea.

Andrew: Did they get it transcribed?

Micah: No, they did a pretty good job. Yeah.

MuggleCast Year in Review

Andrew: Oh, well, good job, transcribers. But that was very hard. So anyway – okay. This, I’m really excited for. We’re about to start our Year In Review. This is actually the second time we’re doing these MuggleCasties Awards, and…

[Dramatic award-type music plays]

Andrew: …basically, it’s a very exciting event. This is our second annual event, as I said before. And how it’s going to work is, I’m going to place a poll live on Ustream right at this moment. We’re going to do it for each category, and then listeners will be able to vote live and decide which item wins in that category. Sound fun?

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: Sounds fun. Really fun.

Eric: Andrew! You got rid of the Emma Watson poll.

Laura: Sounds awesome.

Andrew: We did get rid of it because we had to leave it for Ben, but maybe we’ll do it the next episode. I didn’t have the stuff prepared.

Eric: Okay.

Andrew: So…

Laura: I don’t think I want to know.

Best Potter Video of 2009

Andrew: [laughs] So our first category…

Mikey: Oh…

Andrew: …for today is Best Harry Potter video, and the first option is going to be “A Very Potter Musical,” which was that Harry Potter musical that that acting troupe created a few months ago. It really took the fandom by storm, because it was very well written. Then we also have the Deathly Hallows – the first Deathly Hallows trailer, of course, came out with the Half-Blood Prince DVD. And we also have Half-Blood Prince, the fourth trailer. And the final nominee is the “Wizarding World Fly Through” for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Theme Park.

[Music ends]

Andrew: I’m going to put the poll up now, and listeners, begin voting.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Andrew: Now we wait.

Eric: Andrew.

Andrew: Yes?

Eric: I meant to ask you about this. Fourth – the fourth video had scenes in it that weren’t in the movie like the black smoke Death Eaters were approaching Hogwarts and all that. I don’t recall actually seeing this trailer in theatres or at all before the movie.

Andrew: Can you – hold – the Half-Blood Prince – the fourth trailer, you’re referring to?

Eric: Yeah, yeah. The one you have listed on the Year in Review.

Andrew: Oh. It was in theatres. Trust me.

Matt: Yes.

Eric: Okay.

Andrew: Okay…

Eric: People can’t see the poll.

Andrew: Well…

[Music ends]

Andrew: …the results are in. Oh sorry. I guess I should have explained how. In the video window, there’s a little poll button guys, and you click that, and then you can vote. Actually, these results are very surprising. 52% of the vote goes to – 52% of the audience has voted for “A Very Potter Musical,” the Harry Potter Musical.

Matt: It’s huge!

Mikey: I agree 100% for that.

Laura: I kind of figured.

Andrew: Really?

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh. Really?

Eric: Like I said, I had to convince you guys to keep that in the Impact category.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: It’s that big a deal.

Ben: Well, think about it, Andrew. That shows the Potter community. Everything else was produced by Warner Bros. and this was made by Harry Potter fans, just like you and me.

Andrew: That’s true. Just like us.

Mikey: And it’s huge!

Laura: Not to mention…

Eric: And it was taken down by Warner Bros.

Mikey: Yeah!

Laura: I mean, this thing was huge. I know people who – I was sort of expecting, when I watched it, that it would be sort of just like a viral thing, within the Potter community, but I know people at my school who are not involved in Harry Potter at all, who had seen it.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, it’s big. It was well written, it was well designed, it was entertaining, the music was good. It was just all around good. What were you going to say, Mikey?

Mikey: I was going to say; didn’t it also get picked up by a couple of news channels too? Like I remember…

Andrew: Probably.

Mikey: Maybe that’s just – Yeah, no, I think it got picked up. So it was pretty big, not just in our community. But the fact that it was made by fans, I think makes it just that much more of an impact.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: It was a college group. It was a college theatre group.

Mikey: Yeah!

Eric: The University of Michigan’s theatre department came up with this musical. And I know someone who…

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: …goes to that school, and some of those guys are still there, the rest graduated, but it’s absolutely awesome. I haven’t seen the video, but everyone tells me I should.

Andrew: 35% of the vote goes to the Deathly Hallows trailer 1 and 14% went to the Half-Blood Prince trailer. Only 2% went to the “Wizarding World Fly Through”.

Matt: Aw.

Eric: Which I watched, and I thought it was cool.

Most Interesting Potter Star on Twitter

Andrew: Okay, our next categories in the second annual MuggleCasties Awards is “Most Interesting Potter Star On Twitter”. As we all now, Twitter really exploded this year and a few big Harry Potter stars all started using the social networking service. Our first nominee tonight is Tom Felton. Arguably the most followed Potter star on Twitter.

Matt: Arguably, yes.

Andrew: Probably not arguably, probably statistically.

Eric: Can you summarize interesting things that he’s done this year, that he’s tweeted about?

Andrew: No.

[Everyone laughs]

Matt: Well, he toured the Half-Blood Prince set. Hello!

Andrew: But if you…

Micah: Well why don’t you let people vote and then we can discuss.

Andrew: Very well. Okay, here we go. The poll has just begun.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Andrew: Once again, the Most Interesting Potter Star on Twitter. Oh, the rest of the nominees!

Matt: Yeah, [laughs]

Andrew: Sorry. Tom Felton, Matt Lewis, Warwick Davis and J.K. Rowling. Now, J.K. Rowling hasn’t tweeted much, but she’s J.K. Rowling, so…

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Mikey: Exactly. See…

Laura: I have to say, I only followed one of…

Andrew: Go ahead, Laura.

Laura: I was just going to say, I only follow one of these people.

Andrew: Which one is that?

Eric: Really?

Laura: Well I don’t want to say it, because I don’t want to influence the voting.

Eric: It’s Warwick Davis, isn’t it?

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: Well you know what? I follow Warwick Davis, and honestly that’s who my vote would go for. Just because he constantly – when he’s bored, he’ll just put questions. And I tweeted at him at couple of times and he’s responded to my questions.

Laura: Oh, nice.

Matt: Wow.

Eric: Oh, wow.

Mikey: He’s like, @mikeybouchereau.

Matt: [laughs] Well, that is you Twitter name, Mikey.

Mikey: And I, of course, asked him about Star Wars.

Andrew: All right, well, the results are in.

[Drum roll sounds]

Andrew: Like that drum roll? Wasn’t it cool? Tom Felton wins…

Mikey: That was kind of cool.

Andrew: …Most Interesting Potter Star on Twitter…

Matt: Aw.

Andrew: …with 67% of the vote. J.K. Rowling…

Mikey: Yeah, that doesn’t…

Andrew: …received 21% of the vote, Matt Lewis received 9%, and Warwick Davis, Mikey’s favorite, only received 3%.

Matt: Oh, so close, Mikey. I’m sorry.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Mikey: Well, see, hold on. I knew that was going to happen because I don’t know how many people actually follow Warwick Davis that are Potter fans. Seriously, I knew Tom Felton was going to win but follow Warwick Davis. He is so interesting to follow. He posts some really weird stuff. And of course, he also posts stuff while on the set. He’ll tweet in between takes in his trailer and he’ll walk. He’s like, “Today I’m dressed up as Flitwick.” He actually plays a couple characters in the Potter universe.

Eric: Yeah. It’s pretty cool.

Mikey: I like Warwick Davis.

Andrew: I think J.K. Rowling should have won.

Matt: Come on! The most interesting non-tweets of all time was J.K. Rowling.

Eric: Yeah, non-existent tweets? Yeah.

Matt: Did you see tweet she didn’t tweet? It was amazing!

Eric: Yeah, I saw that tweet she didn’t tweet every day.

[Mikey laughs]

Most Shocking News Story of 2009

Andrew: Okay, well it’s time now for our next category. This is an interesting one. Most Shocking News Story. The nominees are: Jamie Waylett convicted of Cannabis possession, J.K. Rowling gets a Twitter account…

[Laura and Matt laugh]

Andrew: …Dan Radcliffe to appear naked in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and a former Bush administrator official reveals J.K. Rowling did not receive the Presidential medal because the books promoted witchcraft. The poll is beginning now and the results are coming in.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Andrew: I’m going to restart the Skype conversation, guys, so you can hopefully get this fixed. Matt, do you want to comment on these stories?

Matt: Well first of all, I thought when you said Jamie Waylett convicted of a cannabis possession, I thought you said Jamie Waylett converts to cannibalism at first.

Andrew: [laugh] No, I don’t think he’s eating his own yet.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: So yes. The results are coming in.

Laura: Oh, wow. Sounds so much better now.

Andrew: It does? Well good.

Mikey: Yeah, it’s clean.

Eric: Now, remember this is Most Shocking.

Matt: This is fun. It’s like watching one of those carnival games with the horses.

Andrew: Okay…

Laura: I don’t think the last one is very shocking.

Andrew: [laughs] Laura can’t resist.

Laura: I’ll shut up now.

Micah: Oh, you liberal.

Matt: Oh, you Democrat agenda.

Andrew: Okay, well the results are in, and the winner of the most shocking news story – [drum roll sounds] goes to – I almost had to stare at it for an extra second because the results are so close. Dan Radcliffe to appear naked in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

[Trumpets sound]

Matt: Really?

Andrew: Yeah, that received 36% of the vote.

Matt: This was shocking?

Andrew: Yes. Jamie Waylett convicted…

Eric: I don’t think it was.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …of cannabis possession received 30% of the vote. Former Bush administrator blah, blah, blah received 25% of the vote, and J.K. Rowling getting a Twitter received 9% of the vote. Analysis, Micah Tannenbaum.

Micah: The cannabis… I think it was probably more shocking that he wasn’t coming back for the final two films because of it than the fact that he got convicted of it.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: I still would expect that to be a lot higher.

Andrew: Eric, what’d you think?

Eric: Yeah.

Laura: Those pictures were pretty shocking.

Eric: It’s roughly – what pictures? [laughs]

Laura: The pictures of him with his plant.

Eric: Are you joking? Were there pictures?

Laura: [laughs] Yes!

Eric: No!

Matt: Oh, I thought you were saying Daniel Radcliffe naked or something.

Laura: No.

Eric: No, it’s roughly 30%. I mean…

Matt: Awkward silence.

Eric: Even the Bush administrator got 25% of the vote here. So I think that’s pretty close. I mean, it’s closer than it could be.

Matt: Mhm.

Eric: So, I don’t know, just overall this was not as shocking – none of these stories are as shocking as Dumbledore being gay.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: But some were close.

Andrew: Well, nothing…

[Laura laughs]

Eric: It didn’t happen this year.

Andrew: Will anything ever be a more shocking story than Dumbledore being revealed as gay?

Matt: No.

Eric: No, in fact, I think that should have been a poll option even though it didn’t happen this year.

[Andrew, Laura, and Matt laugh]

Eric: We should just have it run over…

Mikey: Wow.

Eric: It was that shocking that it could actually win a category that it doesn’t even fit into.

Andrew: All right, well…

Eric: Oh, sorry, we spoiled people. People in the chat say that we spoiled them, that they didn’t know Dumbledore was gay.

Matt: Oh God.

Andrew: Well, then you’re severely behind in news.

Laura: Then why are you here?

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Oh snap, Laura!

Eric: Yeah, we’re reviewing news of 2009.

Mikey: Wow.

Matt: Oh man, Momma’s going to crack the whip. [makes whipping noise]

MuggleCast 188 Transcript (continued)

Biggest Impact on the Fandom in 2009

Andrew: Okay, well, it’s time now for our next category, “Biggest Impact on the Fandom.” The nominees: Warner Brothers announces an end date to the movie series. Deathly Hallows Part II will be in theaters July 15, 2011. Next story, the IMAX release of Harry Potter 6 is pushed back two weeks due to an existing agreement with IMAX to show Transformers. Fans everywhere were confused and angry that W.B. did not think before rescheduling the date. We discussed that on the show a lot, I remember.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: June 21, an acting troupe – next category – an acting troupe produces and releases a Harry Potter musical on YouTube. It goes viral for several months. It is removed citing infringement by Warner Brothers and is a huge hit with Harry Potter fans for its great music and funny dialogue. And the final nominee in the Biggest Impact Story on the Fandom for 2009, Azkatraz, a Harry Potter conference held by “Harry Potter Education Fanon,” takes place in San Francisco, California. That night Wizard Rock bands play a concert on a four hour dinner cruise circling Azkatraz – Alcatraz Island. Or Az…

Eric: Alcatraz Island. Sorry.

Andrew: Yeah, somebody wrote Azkatraz Island.

[Mikey laughs]

Andrew: I was like, “What?”

Eric: That was me, my bad.

Andrew: Alright, well let’s…

Eric: It was July 17th of this year.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Andrew: All right, the poll is now open. Results are coming in by the second.

Matt: I’m going to vote myself.

Andrew: No, you can’t vote! It’s against the rules.

Matt: No, no, I’m doing it.

Micah: I’ve voted every poll so far.

Mikey: I’ve been voting, Andrew.

Andrew: Oh, well, then we have to…

Mikey: So am I. Come on, how do you think we got two percent for Warwick Davis? Come on.

Andrew: We have to…

Eric: Yeah, you were one of the five people.

Matt: He was the one vote.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Mikey: Hey!

Andrew: Mikey has like ten computers around him to make sure he gets his – to make sure he bumps up Warwick’s category – nominee.

Mikey: Hey, I’ve also got my iPhone going. You know, I’m all over the place with Warwick Davis here.

Andrew: All right, the results are in. The winner of the “Biggest Impact on the Fandom!”

[Drum roll sounds]

Andrew: Warner Brothers announces the Deathly Hallows Part II release dates. I guess that makes sense.

Mikey: Wow.

Matt: I’m surprised it wasn’t like, a landslide.

Laura: Yeah, it does.

Andrew: For what?

Matt: For all the voting.

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: I mean, really?

Eric: Really?

Matt: Oh, sorry.

Andrew: I thought that – I guess that makes sense. Honestly, I was sad when they released that date. I was like, “It’s the end. It’s the end of the world! It’s the beginning of the end. What are we going to do?” What’s everyone else think?

Matt: Well, I mean, I can’t share my excitement that you did, but yeah, I believe I’m on your side.

Laura: I think it’s bittersweet because of course we really do want to see the final movie, and it will be nice to sort of, have the whole thing wrapped up so we can kind of like, look back on it and reminisce, but at the same time, it does feel very, very soon. [laughs] So…

Andrew: You’re right, which does make it very sad.

Eric: I looked at this news, and I said, “You know what? That’s awesome because its two years ahead I don’t need to worry about it.” [laughs] Living life day to day, as one does, it’s two years ahead.

Matt: I could just see you saying it Eric too. I could just see you looking at your email going, “You know what? That’s great.”

Andrew: [laughs] That’s great news.

Matt: Just saying it out loud.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Eric: That’s two years from now, you know? You don’t need to worry about it.

Andrew: Good stuff. Okay, well it’s time for our next category…

Mikey: I was excited.

Andrew: Mikey I didn’t ask for your opinion.

Mikey: I know you didn’t.

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: I was like, “Okay. I’ll wait. I’ll wait. I’ll wait here. It’s fine. Andrew doesn’t like me today. That’s fine.”

Eric: Still waiting. Still waiting.

Mikey: I was just excited. I feel like Eric here, you know? I saw it, and we already went through the end of everything with the books and we realized it wasn’t the end.

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: I’m just excited to see the movies and I know when they’re all said and done, I think it will be like Laura said. We will reminisce. Again, bringing you back to my Star Wars and Warwick Davis here, I watch those movies all the time still, and I still watch them, and come on, I’m talking about it now. So I’m still going to reminisce about Harry Potter, even when it’s all said and done.

Andrew: Of course! Well it’s time now for our next category. Best…

Eric: Andrew, we should have guest presenters. We should have guest presenters.

Andrew: Like who?

Eric: We should invite people. Well, you know like real award shows have…

Matt: Warwick Davis!

Eric: …Hollywood actors. Exactly! Warwick Davis should tweet the nominees of this weeks – of the next category.

Andrew: I’ll tell you what…

Mikey: I’m doing an “at” tweet right now.

Best Returning Half-Blood Prince Actor

Andrew: Yeah, ask him right now. If you can get him to do it, I think we still have his Skype name from the interview that we did with him many years ago, so we can bring him in here. Anyway, our next category – these next few categories are Half-Blood Prince oriented because as everybody knows, Half-Blood Prince came out this year. So, we wanted to reflect on the movie as a whole, and we got some good general categories or, yeah, general categories. Yeah, so this first category is “Best Returning Half-Blood Prince Actor, Returning Half-Blood Prince Actor.”

Matt: What’s the logic in this?

Andrew: What do you mean?

Matt: “Returning Half-Blood Prince Actor.” What is…

Andrew: As in “not new.”

Matt: You mean someone who hasn’t died yet?

Andrew: No, no, no. New, as in “not new.” “Best Returning Half-Blood Prince Actor.”

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: The nominees are: Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, and Tom Felton. Polls are now open. Ladies and gentlemen, please start voting.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Mikey: Wait, wait. I missed this. What is this one? I’m sorry, I was tweeting Warwick Davis right now.

Andrew: “Best Returning Half-Blood Prince Actor.”

Matt: “Best Not New Actor”

Eric: “Actors that You Enjoyed in Half-Blood Prince.” Yeah, but who are from previous films.

Andrew: Exactly. We wanted to separate them because they’ve done six films now, for God’s sake, with the exception of Michael Gambon. So, who’s really the best? Who’s really learned their role?

Mikey: Why is Michael…?

Andrew: What’s that, Mikey?

Eric: Yeah! I highly disapprove of these results so far.

Mikey: You know how much I hate Michael Gambon, and it’s not that I hate him, it’s just he makes me sad.

[“Jeopardy” countdown ends]

Matt: You just said hate.

[Drum roll sounds]

Andrew: So, nominees are in.

Mikey: I know, sorry.

Andrew: Winners are in. The winner is – oh man, this is close – Tom Felton with 235 votes, Alan Rickman coming in a very close second with 226. Only a ten vote difference there. Rupert Grint comes in with 167 votes, and Michael Gambon in last place with only 70 votes.

Matt: Huh.

Eric: I’m shocked. I am absolutely, utterly shocked. Like I don’t like Michael Gambon’s role in the Harry Potter series at all either, with the exception of Harry – with Half-Blood Prince. With Half-Blood Prince, that was what was most shocking about Movie 6 to me, was how well Michael Gambon did. So, I am surprised that he did not win over more…

Matt: Well…

Eric: …of our MuggleCast listeners than I thought, than – you know, because he’s the last – least voted for.

Matt: Well, you know what, Eric? You and I can vote for Michael Gambon being the best improved out of the franchise.

Mikey: All right…

Eric: Most improved?

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: …he is the best improved. I will say he is the most improved. He gets that little star. He is the most improved…

Matt: [as Mikey] But I hate him.

Mikey: …out of the franchise. No, no, no. I was going to say, both Alan…

Laura: I don’t know. I thought Tom Felton improved a lot.

Mikey: Oh no, he did, and I was going to say, that’s actually who I was thinking it was.

Laura: I see why Tom won the poll.

Mikey: Yeah, Tom and Alan Rickman both did an amazing job in this film. That’s just me.

Andrew: Micah, what do you think?

Matt: Michael?

Micah: I think that since Tom Felton won this award and the Twitter award, that people should tweet Tom Felton that he just won this award.

Andrew: There you go. Yeah, he tweets about winning other awards.

Laura: There you go, yeah.

Matt: Say, “You’re welcome.”

Andrew: Laura, you never revealed who the one person you follow is.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: Who was that?

Laura: Oh right. J.K. Rowling.

Andrew: Oh. Well, I’ve got to say here’s the other thing about Tom. He was hot this year. We discussed MuggleCast – we’ve discussed this on MuggleCast before, he was very attractive this year. No. That’s not what I meant.

Matt: His abs were amazing.

Laura: Sure.

Andrew: What I meant was Half Blood Prince – Warner Brothers was really pushing him on the Half Blood Prince promo campaign. I mean, he was all over America doing interviews.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: When the DVD came out he was doing it again. They were really pushing him this film.

Eric: And the film itself, you know, really made time for him. He’s the villain; he’s the one who has to kill Dumbledore. But, you know, the way the film was made really focused on Tom Felton skulking around Hogwarts and kind of paid more attention to his character then as in previous instalments.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: Installments.

Matt: Installments.

Best Returning Half-Blood Prince Actress

Andrew: Okay it’s time now for our next category: “Best Returning Half Blood Prince Actress.”

Matt: Oh.

Andrew: And we have some great nominees here. They are Bonnie Wright who plays Ginny Weasley, Maggie Smith who plays Professor McGonagall, Emma Watson who plays Hermione Granger, and Helena Bonham Carter who plays Bellatrix Lestrange. Starting the poll now, and here we go.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Matt: Hm. Tom Felton’s not part of the list?

Andrew: No, Tom Felton did not make this list.

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: I vote for Tom Felton.

Laura: He’ll win, don’t worry.

Andrew: Yeah, it’s a shame we can’t have a write-in box. Laura I would nominate you for this category. I would vote for you if you were an actress.

Laura: Oh, thank you!

Andrew: You’re welcome.

Laura: I know, I think I really…

Mikey: Again, the person I vote for is last.

Matt: Oh I’m winning! Go! Go! Go!

[Everyone laughs]

Mikey: I’m losing, again.

Andrew: All right. The winner is…

Mikey: Always. Always.

Andrew: Oh wait I need a drum roll. The winner is…

Mikey: Oh wait, actually I’m not last!

[Drum roll sounds]

Matt: My wife!

Andrew: Helena Bonham Carter with 43% of the vote.

Laura: Woo!

Andrew: Emma Watson coming in second, I guess that’s pretty surprising, with thirty two percent of the vote.

Matt: [as Emma] “What?”

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: [laughs] Maggie Smith comes in with twelve percent, and Bonnie Wright comes in with eleven percent. So interesting results there. Helena’s great, I mean you can’t argue with that.

Matt: Oh man.

Eric: Oh, Maggie Smith’s birthday was just the other day. Yeah Maggie Smith and Bonnie Wright were kind of neck and neck in this poll, and I just wanted to say that that’s awesome. But it also shows how many people didn’t really like Ginny in this film.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, I’ve never really been impressed with her.

Matt: Who?

Andrew: Ginny. Bonnie.

Matt: Oh, yeah.

Laura: I mean, she was okay. But I just – I found her to be kind of flat, in terms of her acting.

Mikey: Yeah. And she’s – just like in Goblet of Fire like her one thing when she comes up to Harry sitting down and stuff like that. Like that’s as much as I see her in any of them, even though she was featured more in this movie. I don’t know. Bonnie Wright really just hasn’t brought the essence of Ginny to me, at all.

Matt: Yeah…

Andrew: And when you watch her in interviews, she’s just sort of like [snores]. It’s just a bore. I’m sorry, Bonnie.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: [sighs] Anyway…

Mikey: I was disappointed Maggie Smith didn’t get as many.

Matt: Yeah, well she wasn’t really in the film as much though. I think that’s the main reason why she didn’t have so many votes.

Mikey: Yeah.

Best New Potter Actor

Andrew: Okay, well it’s time now for our next category: “Best New Potter Actor.” And the nominees are: Jim Broadbent for his portrayal as Horace Slughorn. I wish we had a giant audience applauding for each nominee. You know how at the Oscars, it’s like “Jim Broadbent, Horace Slughorn.”

[Mikey screams and claps]

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: Jessie Cave, Lavender Brown.

[Mikey claps]

Andrew: Oh my God! Helen McCrory, Narcissa Malfoy.

Matt: Boo…

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, young Tom Riddle. Okay. So I’m going to start the poll and here we go.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Andrew: By the way, while the results are coming in, we also have to give a few honorable mentions because there was a few great new actors. David Legeno – Legano – Legeno – something like that, who played Fenrir Greyback. Freddie Stroma…

Laura: He was really great at snarling.

Andrew: Yes, he was. But he was also looked…

Eric: Yes.

Andrew: Freddie Stroma as Cormac McLaggen, and Elarica Gallacher as the waitress. [laughs]

Mikey: Freddie Stroma was not my Cormac McLaggen, at least not in my head, but man, he came across as annoying as Cormac McLaggen was supposed to be.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: He did a great job.

Andrew: Laura, your analysis on this?

Laura: Yeah. I have to say that I agree with Mikey on that. I mean, when I read Cormac in the books, I sort of read him as kind of an unattractive, kind of dense sort of guy…

Mikey: Kind of squat.

Laura: Yeah. I really enjoyed the way that Freddie Stroma played him in the film.

Andrew: Mmm. Okay. Well, the results are in, and the winner is…

[Drum roll sounds]

Andrew: Jim Broadbent with forty one percent of the vote.

Eric: Woo!

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I agree with that.

Matt: I agree.

Laura: I agree totally.

Andrew: Yeah. He looked great. He played the role great. No doubt about that.

Matt: He was great.

Eric: And people weren’t expecting it, were they? Or was I?

Andrew: What do you mean?

Eric: I don’t think I was. Well, just Jim Broadbent, we had no – he didn’t have the moustache walrus look in the book, so we didn’t know what to expect until after we started seeing him in trailers, etc. And it turns out he’s awesome in the movie.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, he was good. Yep. Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, I mean, he didn’t have – it’s hard to say, he was really disturbing.

Eric: Impact.

Andrew: Hmm?

Eric: Impact.

Andrew: What do you mean?

Eric: And he’s got second place.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: Hero Fiennes-Tiffin had a big impact. Not that big of a scene in the movie, but people gave him this second place award here.

Andrew: Yeah. You just look at him and you go, “Oh…”

Matt: You know, I think…

Laura: He was creepy.

Mikey: Evil!

Matt: Every single one of these actresses – or actors did a really good job. I mean, because…

Laura: I agree.

Eric: Oh yeah.

Matt: Helen McCrory got only four percent of the votes, but she still did an amazing job playing Mrs. Malfoy.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Well, she was in it for like two seconds.

Matt: But those two seconds…

Laura: But…

Matt: Were awesome.

[Mikey laughs]

Laura: Were the best two seconds of your life!

Mikey: Wow.

Laura: Yeah, I have to say, you know, Jessie Cave – I think she deserves some kudos too. Because she was awesome.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Matt: Oh yeah.

Matt and Andrew: She was hilarious.

Andrew: Oh my God, Matt! Oh my God!

Matt: Like, O-M-G!

Eric: She was so close to being second place, it was a very close percentage. We didn’t read the percentages on this one, but she came very close.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: It was within ten votes.

Best Half-Blood Prince Scene

Andrew: Okay, time now for the next category – Best Half-Blood Prince Scene. The nominees are: The Burrow attack…

[Someone applauds]

Andrew: Dumbledore’s death; Ron’s friends visit him in the hospital, where, as Laura just mentioned, Jessie Cave shined; and Slughorn’s ditter – Dinner. [laughs] Poll is now open for everybody to vote.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Mikey: You know, I was surprised there was no clapping after “Dumbledore’s Death,” you know, we just missed it…

[Laura laughs]

Mikey: I was like, there was clapping after, you know, “Burrow Attack,” and then I was like, uh oh, is anyone going to clap after “Dumbledore’s Death”? Because it’s sad.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: No, no clapping. Just tears. Silent tears.

Mikey: That’s why we were all – it was all silent. It was just like, aw.

Laura: Andrew clapped in theaters, though.

Andrew: I did not clap in theaters!

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: But, I was laughing, because I was sitting next to Laura when she was watching it for the first time, and… [laughs]

Eric: Oh no…

Andrew: You and Elysa were just bawling, weren’t you!

Laura: I wasn’t bawling, Elysa was!

Eric: We have a tie, Andrew.

Andrew: Do we? No, we don’t have a tie. Well, close.

Eric: We have a tie. Yes, it’s within one vote, it’s definitely a tie.

Andrew: Yeah. Okay, yeah, this is very close. It’s not going to change. Number one is “Ron’s friends visit him in the hospital.” Sorry, I forgot to drum roll this time.

Laura: Really?

Andrew: But coming in at a very close second is “Dumbledore’s Death.” There’s only a difference of about ten votes at this very moment.

Matt: Oh, wow.

Andrew: Interesting stuff.

Matt: Well, that scene in the hospital is probably one of the funniest scenes in the entire film.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I think Michael Gambon’s part made it the funniest for me.

Eric: Yeah. Definitely the adults. The way the adults…

Matt: Just stand there.

Eric: You know, through that. They’re just quiet the whole time, and you’re aware of them being there, and then…

Andrew: Exactly. I…

Eric: They just watch. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead.

Andrew: As I think I said on an old episode of MuggleCast, it’s so funny watching these big-time actors in this scene, and they just have to watch this teenage nonsense. It’s just hilarious.

Matt: Mhm. I’m surprised you didn’t put the Felix Felicis scene in here.

Andrew: The Felix Felicis scene? Oh.

Matt: Yeah, with him and Slughorn.

Andrew: Yeah, that was good.

Eric: We completely forgot that scene.

Laura: Yeah, I was surprised The Cave wasn’t in here, either.

Andrew: Guys, we…

Matt: Yeah, I’m sur – oh, sorry.

Andrew: We can only put in four, so we had to narrow it down.

Eric: But did you expect the “Burrow Attack” to win best Half-Blood Prince scene?

Andrew: No.

Eric: You should…

Andrew: I guess not.

Eric: You should apologize now. There was no purpose.

Andrew: I blame Micah for that one. Micah, any rebuttal?

[Mikey laughs]

Micah: What? You put it in there.

[Laura and Matt laugh]

Andrew: I didn’t put the Burrow attack in.

Micah: Maybe as best pyro Half-Blood Prince scene after Hagrid’s hut.

Eric: It had the most fire. But even the cave beats that out.

Andrew: You know what that wins? That wins most over-hyped scene. And we’ll have…

Laura: Yes. [laughs]

Andrew: …that category next year. Everyone was like, “Oh my God, this new scene is going to be in Half-Blood Prince.” And it was…

Matt: That was you, Andrew.

Andrew: …the worst thing I’ve ever seen.

Matt: You were saying that. “Oh my God, this new scene!”

[Eric and Laura laugh]

Andrew: No, but the press were doing that, too.

Mikey: I was excited. I was excited for it.

Matt: Yeah.

Mikey: And then I was let down, just a bit.

Matt: Oh, well I stand corrected.

Andrew: The press were like, “There’s this new scene that J.K. Rowling did not write.” And at the time it was interesting, because it was the first time that it was happening, that they were adding a scene. And it looked cool in pictures, and then you see it. I just didn’t think it was that well done.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I don’t know. I don’t know, guys. I’m so confused. But anyway…

Eric: That poor old BobFails.

Andrew: …it’s time for our next category. This is our final Half-Blood Prince category, and then we’re going to have the second annual J.K. Rowling award, okay? And last year, we remember, that went to J.K. Rowling, so I’m very excited to see who it goes to this year.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: Much has changed in the Harry Potter fandom over the past year, so who knows who will win.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: So the nominees for…

[Mikey laughs]

Andrew: …this final Half-Blood Prince category, like I said, best Half-Blood Prince scene – or maybe I didn’t say that, I don’t know. There’s a lot going on in my head right now.

Eric: We just did that.

Matt: We just did that one.

Laura: We just did that.

Andrew: Oh. So we’re done?

Mikey: Andrew, you screwed that up.

Andrew: Oh, okay, we’re done. Sorry! [laughs]

Mikey: Remember it was Ron’s friends visit him in the hospital?

Matt: We just have the J.K. Rowling award.

Eric: Well you omitted it. You omitted a challenge for one of these things.

Laura: I thought I was having some serious d’ˆjâ€¡ vu there for a second.

Andrew: I guess I just suffered from some serious – I don’t know.

Matt: Memory failure.

Micah: Brain fart.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: BobFail.

Andrew: Yeah. All right.

Matt: Oh God, Mikey.

Andrew: Yeah, I just had a BobFail. [laughs]

Mikey: There you go.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: We’re going to start – that’s going to be – we’re going to sell that on a shirt. We’re going to make that big. All right…

Eric: You’re the guy who might – people are asking who Bob is. Latecomers to the show, Bob is the man that Micah reamed…

[Mikey laughs]

Eric: …for stating the facts incorrectly…

[Laura laughs]

Eric: …in print, at the beginning of this episode.

Laura: Micah reams people.

Andrew: Okay…

Mikey: Is he from…

Andrew: …well now that I have…

Mikey: USA Today, right?

Andrew: Yeah

Matt: Is that who he’s for?

Mikey: Yeah. BobFail from USA Today.

Matt: Huh.

The J.K. Rowling Award for 2009

Andrew: Now that I have my head on straight, it’s time for the final category – [laughs] – which is the J.K. Rowling award. And like I said, last year the award went to J.K. Rowling, so it’s very exciting to see who it goes to this year. We’ll start the voting now.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Andrew: The nominees are: J.K. Rowling…

Matt: Oh. [laughs]

Andrew: …J.K. Rowling…

Laura: And Tom Felton.

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: …J.K. Rowling, and J.K. Rowling. All four categories are J.K. Rowling, because, after all, it is the J.K. Rowling award. Very close results, it’s looking like right now.

Matt: [laughs] It’s all even.

[Laura laughs]

Eric: It’s neck and neck.

Mikey: Except the bottom one. The bottom one’s like way behind. 63, 64.

Matt: All right. And the lead is J.K. Rowling, followed by J.K. Rowling. Next is J.K. – oh here comes J.K Rowling coming up to second place.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, J.K Rowling number four is failing very – J.K Rowling number four is suffering from what we like to call a BobFail.

Mikey: You know, that’s also the one I voted for, so it makes sense, you know? [laughs]

Andrew: All right, the winner is in. The winner of the J.K. Rowling Award goes to J.K. Rowling number two. [laughs] Congratulations, J.K Rowling.

Eric: Yes.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: J.K. Rowling, would you like to make a speech?

Eric: That’s the one you said was…

Andrew: No, okay, maybe next year. What’d you say, Eric?

Eric: Number two was the one that Laura said also was Tom Felton.

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Mary GrandPre

Andrew: Okay, well that does it for the Second Annual MuggleCasties Awards. That was fun. That was a good way of looking back at the top stories of the year. We’re actually going to have one more poll thing, but first we’re going to look at another “Best of MuggleCast” moment. This next one is from Episode 172 where we interviewed Mary GrandPre. Of course, as everyone knows, she’s the illustrator of the Harry Potter books in the United States. And here’s that clip now… [time-travelling noises]

[Andrew plays a clip from Episode 172. To view the transcript for this interview, click here.]

[Andrew stops the clip]

Andrew: Sorry, I trimmed this clip wrong. The question I was asking was, “What was the most challenging? Was there any challenges that you encountered?”

[Andrew starts the clip again]

Andrew: And there you go, well, she goes on and on…

Matt: Yeah, she really does.

Andrew: …but it was a very good interview, and we did learn a lot from her, and thanks again to Mary GrandPre for coming on the show.

Micah: Yeah.

Matt: Yay.

Andrew: Anything to say about that, Micah?

Micah: No, I thought it was cool how she didn’t go see the movies because she didn’t want them influencing the characters that she had to draw.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Any of the laser beam stuff or whatever she said.

[Everybody laughs]

Eric: Laser beams? That’s very cool.

Andrew: Yeah. Okay, so…

Eric: She was right, though. But, it took a while to get to that answer.

Number 7: Ultimate Edition DVDs

Andrew: So, we’ll start with story number seven in our opinion. Warner Brothers releases the Ultimate Edition DVDs for Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets, providing hours of never-before-seen material. Have any of you guys gotten any of these DVDs yet?

Eric: No.

Mikey: I got the Blu-ray versions for Christmas.

Micah: No.

Mikey: I’m very, very excited.

Andrew: Oh, you haven’t watched them yet, Mikey?

Eric: That’s very cool.

Mikey: Yeah, I got them – well I thumbed through the book, I haven’t had time to watch them. I actually just got them today because it missed Christmas.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Mikey: But I opened them up, looked through the books that come with it, and I am thoroughly impressed! I am so excited.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: So much so that I feel bad that I bought Half-Blood Prince already, the three-disc one, because I really want to get all of them in a – you know – Ultimate Edition.

Eric: As excited as you are, you cannot prepare yourself for the awesomeness of those DVDs.

Mikey: I really can’t! I know I can’t. I’m so excited. I saw it today and I was like, “Oh my God, oh my God!”, and I kind of didn’t want to come on the show because I wanted to watch them but then I said, you know what, I have to come on the show and talk about how awesome these DVDs look. Did you see that they have the little insert – has actually the picture of all eight of the DVD Ultimate Collector’s – the colors of them and everything?

Andrew: Yeah! Yeah, that’s really cool! I mean, it’s just going to be really exciting to have these all on your shelf, just all complete. Here are the movies, here are the past ten years of my life sitting on a shelf.

Eric: Yeah.

Mikey: It’s going to take up a whole shelf! They’re wide discs, they’re wide boxes.

[Andrew and Eric laugh]

Mikey: It’s like an inch and half thick! I am super excited!

Matt: You’re going to need a bigger shelf.

Mikey: Exactly.

[Eric laughs]

Mikey: One thing I will say is the Ultimate Editions – you want to make sure you buy them sooner rather than later because the digital copy is only good until the end of 2010.

Andrew: That’s right.

Eric: Oh digital copy!

Matt: You got a full year.

Mikey: I know, yeah I know, but still. It’s one of those things where you’re not going to get the full Ultimate Edition experience.

Eric: Experience.

[Matt laughs]

Mikey: Not being able to take it with you in your iPod and your Zune and everything else because that’s part of the Ultimate Edition.

Number 6: Harry Potter Exhibition

Andrew: Again, we are looking at the top seven stories of the year right now. Story number six is the Harry Potter Exhibition. To the delight of fans everywhere, Harry Potter: the Exhibition debuted in Chicago, giving them – giving the fans – the unique opportunity to experience the movies firsthand. It then moved onto Boston, and its next stop will be Canada in Toronto. Eric, I know you’ve been there. I think you’re the only one in our little posse here that’s been there.

Eric: I’ve been there three times.

Andrew: Ah, show off! Tell us about it.

[Eric laughs]

Eric: It was cool! Seriously, one of the most exciting parts of the Harry Potter tour exhibition was actually the end. They had positioned the Bloody Baron costume.

Andrew: Oh.

Eric: If you can imagine that far back, way back in Sorcerer’s Stone for that little scene where he’s flying across the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. The outfit for that – and pretty much the whole exhibition went like this: it was a showcase of the craftiness and immense detail that went into these movies, and of course there were interactive games like the Quaffle toss and things like that, which are still touring, and I won’t say too much about it – you know, we did a report…

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: …but it was awesome. It was just really awesome to see these items that were in the films, you know, set up somewhere set up from the films, not seeing them on screen, and my God. The costumes from – Prisoner of Azkaban were so small.

Andrew: Aw.

Eric: The trio was ridiculously small.

Andrew: Yeah. Overall…

Eric: Yeah, so it was really cool.

Number 5: Half-Blood Prince Trailers

Andrew: I – really great idea for Warner Brothers to do, and it will be moving into Toronto next year and who knows where it will move on to next year. Number five in our list of the top seven stories of the year, the Half-Blood Prince trailers. All 450 million of them, as Micah writes in our Google Doc. There were a lot of Half-Blood Prince trailers, and I think the best one was the one that we put in the award show. Half-Blood Prince – excuse me – Half-Blood Prince trailer number four, just really good stuff, and the reason why it’s in this list is because – the fandom, you know, whenever a new trailer goes out, the fandom just goes crazy. Everybody’s really excited by the trailers because there’s suddenly all this new material. So what else? Anyone have anything else to say about the trailers? All our live shows…

Laura: Now, I can’t remember…

Andrew: Hm?

Laura: I can’t remember if this was the fourth trailer, but the one that wasn’t completely finished, but the one with McGonagall’s lightning bolt aimed at the sky.

Andrew: That one.

Laura: Do you guys remember talking about that?

Andrew: That wasn’t the fourth one; that was the one that leaked.

Eric: The fire – that was the fire trailer, I believe.

[Eric laughs]

Laura: Yeah. Okay.

Matt: Yeah, it was the fire-themed trailer, when everything was on fire.

Andrew: Yeah, that was the one that leaked. According to Warner Brothers – it leaked in Japan – according to Warner Brothers, it wasn’t finished, so that effect when the wand goes off – and every time I see that scene in the movie now, I think of that corny little…

Laura: [laughs] Me too!

Andrew: …like lightning – Windows Movie Maker lightning bolt they inserted on the thing.

[Andrew and Eric laugh]

Andrew: Yeah, it’s very funny. Hopefully no more of that nonsense with the next film, with the trailers. Okay. Story number four. Here’s how it’s going to work now…

Micah: No.

Andrew: What? Oh, you’re correcting it…

Micah: No, I was trying to stop you from saying what story number four was.

Andrew: Okay, so here’s what’s going to happen – and Micah you can read the nominees while I’m creating this poll. To select the final four stories, you know, ordered from least to best, the best stories – I’m wording this terribly – we’re going to let everybody on Ustream right now vote. And Micah, why don’t you read each of those stories and the poll will begin once you finish.

Micah: All right, so these are in no particular order, but the four stories are: In one of the most debated topics of the year, Half-Blood Prince receives a PG rating; Universal Studios Orlando announces the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will open in the spring of 2010 and releases concept art of three park rides and various other stores and shops. With the release of the Half-Blood Prince DVD, we get our first glimpse at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; and the final one that you can vote on is after waiting an additional eight months, Half-Blood Prince is released worldwide. It makes $58.4 million in the first twenty-four hours and finishes as the number eight highest grossing film of all time.

Eric: Wow.

Andrew: So there we go, and how – how this is going to work is, we’re going to order the stories based on how many each story gets. So the story that receives the most votes will be deemed the top story of 2010 – or 2009, so on and so on. Voting is now open. I’m excited for this. Let’s get the music up, here we go.

[“Jeopardy” countdown plays]

Andrew: You know – oh boy, results are coming in. It seems to be almost unanimous at the – unanimous…

Matt: [Pretends to stumble over word “unanimous”]

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Nomi-nomi-nomony…

Mikey: You know, I’m surprised that the Deathly Hallows trailer is like, in the end.

Andrew: It’s not even in here.

Mikey: Well, no it is – Half-Blood Prince DVD release with the Half-Blood Prince trailer.

Andrew: Oh right, right.

Mikey: Or not the Half-Blood Prince, the Deathly Hallows trailer.

Andrew: Right.

Mikey: And that’s like losing, by a lot. I was excited about that!

[Everyone laughs]

[“Jeopardy” countdown stops]

Mikey: Again, I picked another losing one!

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Mikey, you’re just a loser, what can I tell you?

[Matt laughs]

Mikey: Aw.

Matt: I think they’re doing this on purpose to you, Mikey.

Andrew: Okay.

Laura: That was Warwick Davis’s favorite, though.

Andrew: Yeah, he voted with you.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Okay, the stories – or the results are in.

[Drum roll sounds]

Andrew: And the top story of – oh wait, how should I do this? Should we go four to one? I guess we have to.

Mikey: No, start from…

Eric: Four to one?

Mikey: Four to one.

MuggleCast 188 Transcript (continued)

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Episode 176

Andrew: MuggleNet.com, check it out. [sniffs] Now it’s time for our third best MuggleCast moment. This one is from Episode 176. It was, I think, our really only live MuggleCast-only show this year. It was in New York City right after the premiere of Half-Blood Prince. It was Episode – Episode 186 – uh oh. I think I’m having a BobFail right now. [laughs] I don’t see it! Where did I see it?

Eric: Do you mean live? Hang on, live as in “in person” because we did one at Azkatraz after Half-Blood Prince, didn’t we?

Andrew: Right, well no – that was a Leaky Mug. I was referring to MuggleCast only.

Eric: Oh, right! Got you.

Andrew: Oh, this is so embarrassing. I don’t… [sighs]

Mikey: [laughs] BobFail! BobFail!

Laura: Oh, BobFail!

Andrew: I know I have it, hold on. Let me…

Mikey: Oh, Andrew, come on! Where’s your professionalism, really?

Andrew: Here it is!

Mikey: Warwick Davis would be sad. Warwick Davis would be sad at you right now.

Andrew: Oh, it’s saved in the MuggleCast Podcast folder, silly me. All right, [laughs] here it is right now… [time-travelling noises]

[Andrew plays the clip from Episode 176. To view the transcript for this episode, click here.]

Andrew: So there we go – one of the little moments – Ben’s storytelling.

Matt: I love how Ben talks because basically he can work – he can say anything to a crowd and they’ll just laugh at him. If he…

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: If he says the part where Harry blows up Hedwig, if he reads that chapter but in his own way, the whole crowd’s going to be going [giggles like a little girl].

Andrew: Well, he’s a great storyteller.

Eric: I’m sure Ben would tell you it’s probably both a blessing and a curse, you know. I mean, is he going to propose to Emma Watson one day, and is she going to laugh at him?

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Well, that’s going to suck.

Andrew: Yes. The answer is yes.

[Eric laughs]

News Stories of 2010

Andrew: Okay. So 2009, out of the way. Forget it. We’re done talking about it now. All these lists and all this nonsense, this voting. It was fun.

Mikey: Wow.

Andrew: But now it’s time to look at what is there to look forward to in 2010. And there are a few things we’ve listed.

Mikey: I don’t…

Andrew: And we’ll just go through the list, no particular order. The opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park.

Matt: Ooh!

Andrew: I mean this has been…

[Mikey makes strange clapping noises]

Andrew: What the – what was that?

Mikey: That was me clapping.

Andrew: Oh.

Mikey: But I think I messed up.

Andrew: [laughs] I see.

Mikey: I didn’t yell with it. I didn’t go “YEAAAH!”

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: [laughs] I just did clap, and it sounded bad.

Andrew: The theme park has been – it was rumored since, I don’t know, 2004, 2005. There were rumors going on forever. Universal Orlando announced it in 2007, and now it’s so close to opening. And we’re only a few months away. We don’t have an exact date yet, but we do know its Spring 2010.

Matt: All right. Oh, it’s going to be awesome.

Andrew: Very cool.

Matt: Oh! So excited.

Andrew: Deathly Hallows: Part I, hello! Obviously that’s going to be one of the big stories of the year. And one of the biggest films of the year, without a doubt.

Eric: Oh, yeah. Though actually, I went to see Avatar just yesterday in theaters, which was awesome, and I saw all these previews for all these new 3D movies that are coming out. There’s at least four or five – Alice in Wonderland will be a big hit. So I don’t know exactly where Deathly Hallows will fall, but I’m sure it’ll be a top film just like Half-Blood Prince was this year.

Andrew: Yeah, definitely. The Lego Harry Potter video game. Eric, I think, just added this, didn’t you?

Mikey: Yes!

Eric: Oh, love it.

Micah: No, I put it in there.

Andrew: Oh. Yeah, I mean, it should be exciting. Micah, do you like those games?

Micah: You know…

Eric: I love them.

Micah: I’ve never played them before, but this game looks really cool. And compared to some of the EA games that have come out for Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, which have been terrible, I think this game is actually looking to be pretty good.

Andrew: Yeah. Harry – possible Harry Potter Exhibition stops. We know, like I said earlier, it’s going to be opening in Toronto, and I got to imagine from there it’s going to keep going back west. I would – I hope L.A., maybe somewhere else up north, maybe San Francisco?

Eric: Maybe Forks, Washington.

Matt: Oh.

Andrew: [laughs] Forks, Washington. Maybe, I mean, who knows? I was kind of surprised by when they announced Toronto. That – I don’t know.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Also to look forward to in 2010, maybe a book announcement by J.K. Rowling?

[Everyone makes “Ooh”-ing noises]

Micah: No

Eric: No, no.

Andrew: Micah, you don’t think so?

Eric: No.

Micah: No, she’s…

Andrew: Why not?

Micah: She’s busy.

Matt: Of course. Why do you think she got a Twitter account?

Micah: Did we hear much from her in 2009?

Andrew: No, but she did say on her Twitter that…

Micah: I thought all she did was Tweet.

Andrew: She did say that [laughs] – she did say on her Twitter account that pen and paper are her priority a moment – are her priority.

Micah: Well clearly she’s only pressed the computer button once. Pen and paper better be the priority.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Micah, you obviously don’t understand the importance of that Tweet.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: Clearly I don’t.

Eric: Go back and read the filters and all the metaphors that she had inside that Tweet.

Micah: Uh-huh, yeah. Okay.

Eric: Twitter is insane.

Matt: Micah, do you want to list names? Do you want to list names about this as clearly something that upset you?

Andrew: Well look, it may not be a Harry Potter book, but I certainly think there’s going to be some sort of book announcement from her relatively soon. I’m not saying in the next month, but in the next year, there’s got to be something. I mean, we’re in the new decade now! It’s time to roll into something new, know what I’m saying?

Matt: No.

Eric: It’s true.

Andrew: Other stories, more Lady Gaga songs. I don’t know who added this – I’m going to guess Eric, but…

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: That’s on par. Lady Gaga’s very big, as we know from the MuggleCast audience. Lady Gaga – another big possibility in 2010: Lady Gaga guest-hosting MuggleCast.

Eric: Oh, nice. Nice.

Andrew: I completely agree. And don’t forget, we are going to…

Laura: There we go.

Andrew: Ben and I are going to do that “Bad Romance” Lady Dumbledore and Fawkes collaboration – that’ll be coming maybe in the next month.

Matt: Oh, awesome. Or year.

Eric: It’s going to be great.

Andrew: Next story…

Mikey: Wow, I’m excited!

Andrew: Here’s a bittersweet story. Actually, I’m not too sure about Emerson – he hasn’t announced a date yet. But Mikey’s getting married in 2010. Congratulations, Mikey.

Mikey: That’s true.

Eric: Congratulations!

Laura: Aww!

Matt: Our little Mikey’s getting married!

Laura: Congratulations!

Andrew: Wonderful.

Mikey: I think Emerson’s getting married next year, too. I think they’re engaged.

Andrew: I don’t – well yeah, they are engaged. But he hasn’t set a date yet, so I mean, you know, we don’t want to say he’s getting married, [laughs] just in case. Obviously he will be, we just don’t know if it’s this year.

Eric: This year.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Keep digging, Andrew. Keep digging.

Andrew: That’s all I’m saying! Some people…

Eric: We don’t think it’s going to last, that’s what he’s saying.

Andrew: No.

Eric: That’s not true, Andrew. How dare you insinuate that!

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Some people have a long engagement, that’s all I’m saying. Do not put words in my mouth. I love Emerson and Gaby, they’re a wonderful couple. And this final story – this list went completely out of whack. Eric, Ben, Laura and Micah stay single and throw a badass series of bachelor/bachelorette parties. Yes!

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Oh, you guys are funny.

Mikey: So Andrew, are you getting married too?

Eric: That wasn’t for live ears to hear.

Andrew: No. I don’t know who wrote this list. I’m not responsible for the contents of its message.

Mikey: Well, if – you’re obviously left out from this.

Best MuggleCast Moments in History: Emerson Spartz

Andrew: Anyway, it’s time for Best Moment number four.

[Laura and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: And this moment comes from Episode 183. Speaking of Emerson, actually, this is when he made his first appearance on the show – pre-recorded appearance. We’ve been doing this podcast since 2005 and he’s never been on a recorded episode of MuggleCast like this one, or like a regular episode that we do – he’s never co-hosted. So this was his first appearance. And let’s go back in time. [time travelling noises]

[Andrew plays the clip from Episode 183. To view the transcript of this episode, click here.]

Andrew: And Emerson, a man of few words. But he did a great job on that show and he really enjoyed his time on it. He says he wants to come back. So he will come back. Hey listen we have a fun thing to do now, whoa, whoa, whoa. We’re going to get into a Trivia Giveaway.

Trivia Giveaway!

[Matt gasps]

Andrew: So how this is going to work is we have some trivia questions prepared, and we’re going to be giving away copies of the Half-Blood Prince DVD. Now listen, we assume most of you have a copy of the Half-Blood Prince DVD. If you do…

Micah: So don’t call in if you do.

Andrew: Not that this is going to stop you guys because I know it’s not. I shouldn’t even say that – [laughs] – don’t call in if you don’t – if you don’t have a copy of the Half-Blood Prince DVD.

Eric: Wait. What?

Matt: What? “Don’t call in if you have don’t have a copy?”

Andrew: Don’t call in…

Micah: If you “do.”

Matt: If you do have a copy.

Andrew: Right.

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: Call in if you do not have a copy of the Half-Blood Prince DVD.

Eric: So this could be a Catch-22 because…

Matt: Why? What are we going to do…

Eric: … people would have to admit that they’ve gone this long without the DVD.

Andrew: Which is embarrassing to admit.

Matt: Well, then this would be a really exciting trivia contest then.

Andrew: So, feel free…

Mikey: So, these are the people who…

Matt: Need it.

Andrew: Feel free. People can begin to call in now. And we’re going to ask a trivia question, and we’ll see if you can answer them. You’re going to have ten seconds to – to – to give us an answer. And the first copy is just going to be an – a U.S. edition, single disc copy of Half-Blood Prince. Hello Laurie.

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hi, welcome.

Caller: Hi! Oh, my God!

Andrew: Be honest, do you have a copy of the Half-Blood Prince DVD?

Caller: No.

Andrew: Oh, okay. Well…

Micah: Oh!

Laura: Wow!

Andrew: Then you’re a perfect contestant.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: So Micah is going to read the first question to you. And…

Caller: Okay.

Andrew: …you have ten seconds to answer. Now I got to be honest, these are pretty difficult. So don’t – don’t sweat it too much if – if you don’t know the answer. I mean these are – these are very hard.

Micah: We don’t want to…

Matt: We can help you.

Micah: …hear keys on the keyboard typing either.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Caller: Can I say hi though? Can I say hi – I’m shaking right now.

Andrew: Oh sure, where are you calling from?

Caller: Oh god! Newfoundland.

Andrew: Oh, wow.

Caller: Canada.

Eric: Oh, wow, nice.

Andrew: What time – oh, Canada.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: What time is it there?

Caller: It’s about eleven.

Andrew: Nice. The night is young in Canada.

[Caller laughs]

Andrew: All right so, Micah, go ahead, read the question, and Laurie will try to answer.

Micah: Okay. What was the name of Hepzibah Smith’s house-elf in Half-Blood Prince?

[“Jeopardy” countdown begins]

Caller: Oh my gosh. Oh.

Andrew: It’s a difficult one.

Laura: That’s hard.

Caller: Oh, it’s – it’s like Dobby, it’s a different name. It’s [laughs] can I pass?

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: They only get harder.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Hokey?

Andrew: That’s correct. [laughs]

Caller: No – really?

Andrew: I think. Is it correct?

Micah: Yeah, that’s correct.

Andrew: That’s correct.

Caller: Wooo.

Matt: Yay!

[“Jeopardy” countdown stops]

Andrew: Oh, hold on, let me do the winner…

[Trumpets sound]

Andrew: Yay!

Caller: Yay!

Mikey: Yay!

Andrew: People were saying it in the chat, but that’s okay.

Eric: Yeah, the chat can count, right?

Mikey: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, sure, whatever – it’s a collective effort. Congratulations, you win a single-disc copy of the Half-Blood Prince DVD. And…

Caller: Oh my gosh!

Andrew: Could you do us a favor – let’s see, how should we do this?

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: E-mail Andrew at staff dot mugglenet dot com with your mailing address.

Caller: Okay.

Andrew: And can you include your Skype name too, just in case there are no posers – in case somebody pretends to be you.

Eric: [laughs] I’m emailing you right now.

Caller: Okay, I…

Andrew: Sound good?

Caller: Okay. [laughs] Yeah. Thank you so much.

Andrew: Hey, no problem. And thanks for listening!

Caller: No problem, thank you! Thank…

Andrew: Oh.

Eric: Aww.

Andrew: Laura – Laurie’s very excited. That was sweet. Well, there we go. We have our first winner. Okay…

Mikey: Yay!

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: I like winners.

Andrew: Okay.

Matt: Yeah, we don’t do losers.

Andrew: [laughs] Next caller. Logan, hello!

Eric: Logan?

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hey, you’re on MuggleCast Live! What’s up?

Caller: Nothing.

Andrew: [laughs] Where are you calling from?

Caller: Minnesota.

Andrew: Minnesota.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: You said that with a pause. Are you sure?

Caller: Yes, I’m positive.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay, all right. [laughs] Okay, so, we have a question for you. Eric, you want to read this one?

Eric: Sure, which one?

Andrew: And you’ll be winning a two disc edition of the Half-Blood Prince DVD.

Caller: Okay.

Andrew: Pick any, Eric. It’s up to you. One of the ones that you emailed Micah.

Eric: Yeah, yeah, I’m looking at it right now. Okay, Logan, your trivia question – I’m trying to see – I’m trying to guess your skills.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Who – okay – here’s the question…

Matt: Leave it to Eric to…

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: I’m sorry – these are so hard.

Eric: Sorry.

Andrew: These are so hard. I feel bad. [laughs]

[Laura laughs]

Eric: Who is – okay, here’s the question. Who is the original author of Advanced Potion Making?

[“Jeopardy” countdown begins]

Andrew: You may receive help from the chat, I mean this is impossible, otherwise [laughs] we’re going to be here all night.

Caller: Oh no! I exited the window!

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Oh no!

Eric: Take it back in time! Take it back in time!

Caller: Oh my gosh! Is it…

Matt: Oh, I know it!

Caller: It’s okay, no – yeah? Something – I don’t know. I lose.

Matt: No, you…

Andrew: If you want to…

Eric: It’s okay – it’s okay. We have another question, right? We’re only giving away three DVDs, right? And I made six questions. So…

Andrew: Right. Okay, okay. One more question.

Laura: It’s the Half-Blood Prince.

Andrew: Load up the chat.

[Everyone laughs]

Matt: The Half-Blood Prince!

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: All right. Yes. Okay, one more question, go ahead, Eric.

Eric: Oh I…

Andrew: Feel free to look in the chat for help. Matt’s spamming the chat with the answer.

Eric: That’s okay. This is – this is – this is a slightly easier question. What is the name of Katie Bell’s friend who witnesses her cursing – or her getting cursed? Katie Bell’s friend.

Caller: Uh…

Matt: It starts with?

Andrew: [laughs] What does it start with?

Matt: It starts with an “L,” right?

Caller: Oh my gosh.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Laura?

Andrew: No.

Caller: I don’t – oh my God. I’m sorry.

Andrew: The answer is Leanne! And you win a – you win a Half-Blood Prince two-disc edition. Congratulations.

[Laura laughs]

Caller: What? Okay!

Andrew: Yeah. Well, you phoned a friend, and it was me, and I answered.

[Laura laughs]

Caller: Oh! Neat! [laughs]

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: All right well…

Mikey: “Neat”!

Andrew: Congratulations Logan of Minnesota!

Caller: Okay. How are you going to…

Eric: Make sure you send an e-mail.

Caller: Oh, all right.

Andrew: Yeah, send an e-mail with your Skype name and – so I know it’s actually you, because I have your Skype name here, and you – we’ll get it to you in the mail. All right?

Caller: All right. Thanks a bunch!

Andrew: All right, no problem. Poor Logan.

Matt: Yay! He won!

Andrew: We have to do these quick though otherwise we’re going to be here all day.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Because these questions are very hard. These are great questions, but they are very hard! [laughs] All right. One more caller. Hello Julia, you’re on MuggleCast live!

Caller: Oh my God! Hi!

Andrew: Hi.

Matt: Hey.

Andrew: Are you ready for – where are you calling from?

Caller: I’m from Brooklyn, New York.

Andrew: Brooklyn! Represent! Eric…

Caller: Hi Andrew! I love you!

Andrew: Hi! Love you too!

Mikey: Aw.

Andrew: It’s wonderful to have you on the show.

Caller: Thank you!

Andrew: Eric will be reading you…

Caller: Yeah?

Andrew: … the final question and you’ll be receiving a two-disc edition of Half-Blood Prince.

Caller: [shouts] Yeah!

Andrew: Oh. Oh my.

Caller: Sorry.

Andrew: Eric, go ahead.

Caller: What was the question?

Eric: Three questions this time. This is the top prize so does she get three choices if she doesn’t get it?

Andrew: Sure. Yeah.

Eric: All right. Because these are the hard questions.

Andrew: Oh right. Go ahead.

Eric: All right, question is what magical creature do Cormac McLaggen and his Uncle Tiberius hunt while in Norway?

Caller: Oh my God, that’s so hard.

Andrew: Feel free to use chat as the help.

Eric: It’s – it’s alliteration. It’s something in Norway.

Caller: Oh, I hate this. Nogtails?

Andrew: That is correct.

Matt: Yeah.

Caller: Yes!

Eric: Got it.

Andrew: Congratulations. You win a two disc edition of Half-Blood Prince on DVD.

Caller: Yay.

[Andrew and Eric laughs]

Andrew: Well, congrats and hope you’re enjoying the show. And…

Caller: I love you so much.

Andrew: I love you too.

Caller’s Sister: I like you too.

Andrew: Oh hi Julia’s sister.

Laura: Awww, hi.

Andrew: So e-mail andrew at staff dot mugglenet dot com with your Skype name and also your mailing address please.

Caller: Okay, thank you so much.

Andrew: All right no problem. Bye bye.

Caller: Bye.

Mikey: So Andrew do we know if Julia and Logan had a copy of the movie already?

Andrew: No, but…

Mikey: Okay.

Eric: If they didn’t, do you want one?

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Laura: They sounded pretty excited.

Mikey: No, they sound excited so I’m happy for them.

Matt: Aw.

Eric: I thought Mikey was trying to get a copy of the movie. I was like “what”? [laughs]

Mikey: No, come on I bought it the first day. I had to.

Eric: I know man, I know.

Matt: You guys, Ben just tweeted he wishes he was on the live show right now.

Andrew: Aw.

Mikey: Oh, Ben.

Matt: Aw, poor Ben. Where is he?

Mikey: I’m going to text him right now. I’m going to text him.

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Lady Dumbledore

Andrew: He was going to be on, but then he had stuff to do. Okay, well we have one last moment from MuggleCast this year we want to reminisce about. It was from Episode 182. It’s the Lady Dumbledore episode. We all remember this and I was actually surprised that – I know I sound like I’m tooting my own horn but I was playing it back when I was putting the episode together and it was actually really funny.

Matt: Huh!

Andrew: And I’m going to queue it up now. Once again my unpreparedness leaves me without the episode – without the clip – but I know – I remember the time code. So here it is. We’re going to go back in time. [time-travelling noises]

[Andrew plays the clip from Episode 182. To view the transcript for this episode, click here.]

Andrew: That clip was a little long. But – [laughs]

Eric: I’m never sure when you play those clips when it’s you guys actually talking, like if the clips are over and you guys are back.

Show Close

Andrew: Well it’s over now, we assure you all. So there you go, there’s some of the best MuggleCast moments of 2009 and hopefully many more to come. We asked people to send in their best moments and they did so on Twitter, so thanks to everyone who sent in their favorite moments from the show. You know what guys, this wraps up MuggleCast episode 188, our final episode of 2009. It’s been a very fun show. I actually have a semi-sad announcement to…

[Dog barks in the background]

Andrew: … bring to the table here.

Matt: Was that a dog?

Andrew: Laura is going to be studying abroad this semester – this upcoming semester and she’s going to be without internet so we are not going to be seeing her for a good six months.

Laura: Five, but yeah.

Andrew: Oh, five.

Matt: Laura…

Eric: So they don’t have internet in Costa Rica?

Matt: No.

Laura: They do but it’s not readily available everywhere. So…

Andrew: So she’s going to have be in an internet cafes to do MuggleCast and stuff – she would have to be in an internet cafe to podcast and she can’t be sitting in the public podcasting, that’d be ridiculous.

Matt: Right. Well, guys let’s do a tribute to Laura. So let’s pull a Half-Blood Prince and everyone get a pen or pencil and put our wands up in the air.

Mikey: I have a pen here, Laura!

Eric: I have a pen, I’m doing it now Laura!

Laura: Wow!

Andrew: My cup goes up to you, Laura! I’m going to cry, this is a very big moment, guys.

Laura: You guys – you guys never fail to amaze me.

Eric: We have to do “For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow”. We have to sing her off.

[Laura sings]

Andrew: [singing] For she’s a Jolly good, Laura.

Matt: [singing] But it ain’t no lie Laura. Bye bye bye!

[Laura and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: Well, Laura we’ll miss you very much. But we hope you learn a lot in Costa Rica. We’d like to thank everyone who watched us on Ustream tonight, there were many of you, thank you so much. It’s been a very fun show and we want to thank you guys for all the support over the year. It’s been another fun year in…

[Sad, slow music begins playing]

Andrew: … Harry Potter and of course in MuggleCast, and we just thank everyone for their support. Thank you to Ustream, thanks again to all the listeners listening. It’s been a great time. I’m Andrew Sims. Are we even going to try to do an order here?

Laura: No.

Mikey: No.

Andrew: [laughs] No! Forget it!

Eric: We’re MuggleCast.

Andrew: Once again, Andrew Sims, Laura Thompson, Micah Tannenbaum, Mikey Bouchereau, Eric Scull, and Matt Britton all here saying Happy New Year to you all and we will see you in 2010. Goodbye everybody!

Matt: See you Laura!

Mikey: Bye everyone!

Laura: Bye! Happy New Year!

Matt: Bye, guys.

[Andrew sighs]

Mikey: Bye, bye.

[Music ends]

Andrew: All right, that’s a pretty lame way to end it. So, I’m just going to turn on Britney Spears.

Laura: Yeah, I agree.

Mikey: Yeah, that’s – it’s sad!

Matt: Oh yeah, Britney Spears make it so much better, yeah.

[“3” by Britney Spears starts playing]

Eric: That was – yeah.

[Matt sings along]

Andrew: This is better. Oh, hold on.

[Eric and Laura laugh]

Andrew: Okay, there we go. So, thanks, everyone for listening…

[Eric’s cell phone interferes with the call]

Andrew: …Eric, thanks for that interference with your cell phone.

[Eric’s cell phone does it again]

Matt: Eric!

Andrew: What a great way to end the year.

Eric: How do you know it’s me?

Andrew: Because it’s always you, and I see it in your Skype channel thing.

Mikey: [laughs] Bye, guys.

Andrew: All right, thanks everyone!

Laura: All right.

Andrew: Bye!

Micah: He’s got the dog, too.

Laura: All right, bye.

Andrew: Yeah. Eric’s just full of disruptions.

Micah: It’s always his dog.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: Bye everyone!

[Music continues]

MuggleCast

MuggleCast 188 Transcript

Show Intro

News: Deathly Hallows: Part I Cast List

News: Trelawney’s Role

News: Bill Nighy

News: The Best of…

News: Half-Blood Prince Final Figures

News: How to Succeed Without Really Trying

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Patrick Doyle

MuggleCast Year in Review

Best Potter Video of 2009

Most Interesting Potter Star on Twitter

Most Shocking News Story of 2009

MuggleCast 188 Transcript (continued)

Biggest Impact on the Fandom in 2009

Best Returning Half-Blood Prince Actor

Best Returning Half-Blood Prince Actress

Best New Potter Actor

Best Half-Blood Prince Scene

The J.K. Rowling Award for 2009

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Mary GrandPre

Top Seven Stories of 2009

Number 7: Ultimate Edition DVDs

Number 6: Harry Potter Exhibition

Number 5: Half-Blood Prince Trailers

MuggleCast 188 Transcript (continued)

Top Four Stories of 2009

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Episode 176

News Stories of 2010

Best MuggleCast Moments in History: Emerson Spartz

Trivia Giveaway!

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Lady Dumbledore

Show Close

MuggleCast 188 Transcript

Show Intro

News: Deathly Hallows: Part I Cast List

News: Trelawney’­s Role

News: Bill Nighy

News: The Best of…

News: Half-Blood Prince Final Figures

News: How to Succeed Without Really Trying

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Patrick Doyle

MuggleCast Year in Review

Best Potter Video of 2009

Most Interesting Potter Star on Twitter

Most Shocking News Story of 2009

MuggleCast 188 Transcript (continued)

Biggest Impact on the Fandom in 2009

Best Returning Half-Blood Prince Actor

Best Returning Half-Blood Prince Actress

Best New Potter Actor

Best Half-Blood Prince Scene

The J.K. Rowling Award for 2009

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Mary GrandPre

Top Seven Stories of 2009

Number 7: Ultimate Edition DVDs

Number 6: Harry Potter Exhibition

Number 5: Half-Blood Prince Trailers

MuggleCast 188 Transcript (continued)

Top Four Stories of 2009

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Episode 176

News Stories of 2010

Best MuggleCast Moments in History: Emerson Spartz

Trivia Giveaway!

Best Moments in MuggleCast History: Lady Dumbledore

Show Close

News: Trelawney’s Role