MuggleCast 248 Transcript
Show Intro
[“Hedwig’s Theme” plays]
Micah: Because after seven years we’re still going strong, this is MuggleCast Episode 248 for January 22nd, 2012.
[Show music begins]
Andrew: This week’s episode of MuggleCast is brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks, with more than 100,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction, and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast.
[Show music continues]
Andrew: Just a little editor’s note before we get into the show, Eric lost his audio file for about the first fifteen minutes so you’ll notice he’s missing but he comes on about fifteen minutes from now. So if you hear strange edits it’s because we had to take out the blank spots where he was talking but we lost his audio. So just to clear that up. Enjoy the show.
Welcome to MuggleCast Episode 248. It is a new year. This is our seventh year of Harry Potter podcasting. I don’t know if you guys know this but coincidentally there are seven books by JK Rowling, and seven tweets by JK Rowling as well.
Micah: [laughs] Is that how you want to start off 2012, talking about Twitter and JK Rowling in the same sentence?
Andrew: [laughs] I’m sorry. Actually, a correction: There is actually eight.
Micah: Oh.
Andrew: So…
Micah: Good.
Andrew: I thought there were seven. There are seven years of Hogwarts and seven years of MuggleCast. Ahhh, that’s perfect! Seven years of Hogwarts, seven years of MuggleCast.
Micah: So you’re saying this is it.
Andrew: So that means we have to finish – yeah. [laughs] We have to be done. I’m Andrew Sims.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Andrew: What’s going on in the news this month, Micah? [laughs]
Micah: [laughs] Well, now that everybody has stopped crying since you said that we’re ending the show this year…
Andrew: What? Oh, I see.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah.
News: Daniel Radcliffe Hosts Saturday Night Live
Micah: First thing to talk about that Dan Radcliffe obviously has a lot going on right now, The Woman in Black coming out soon, but he hosted Saturday Night Live back on January 14th. And there was only one Harry Potter skit. His opening monologue poked a little bit of fun here and there at Harry Potter but one Potter skit. What did you guys think overall? Did you get a chance to watch Saturday Night Live?
Andrew: Yeah. I liked it. I thought it was a really good show. I personally think Saturday Night Live hasn’t been that great overall the past year or two other than a couple of the stars, but Dan did a great job. They had some good skits for him. I thought the Harry Potter skit was actually pretty funny. I mean, it was slightly easy of a theme to write, like, oh, Harry has been – Harry is desperate to still be at Hogwarts and be living at Hogwarts, and he’s just like a creep now and – that was kind of an easy thing for them to do. But overall it was good. He did a good job on the show.
Micah: I think the only thing that would have made that better is if they had at least one other celebrity from the series show up.
Andrew: Hmm.
Micah: And I thought it was actually going to be when they showed Snape and possibly had Alan Rickman, but…
Andrew: Oh! Yeah, that would have been good.
News: Deathly Hallows – Part 2 Wins 4 People’s Choice Awards
Micah: That would have been good. But I agree with you. Overall I liked it. I thought it was pretty well done. Other news, Deathly Hallows – Part 2 cleaned up at the People’s Choice Awards back on January 11th. It won for Favorite Movie, Favorite Action Movie, Favorite Ensemble Movie Cast, and Favorite Book Adaptation. The series was also nominated in the category of Favorite Movie Actor for Dan Radcliffe which he did not end up coming away with, and [laughs] Favorite Movie Star Under 25. Now, this was a category people seem to take the most issue with when we were announcing it on Twitter, because Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Tom Felton were all nominated in this category and they only had one other person that they were going up against, and that person won. And I think what most people were able to deduce was that they split the vote.
Andrew: Yeah. Even so, I still don’t understand how one of them couldn’t have pulled ahead of this actress who won it. It just still doesn’t seem to make sense to me because Tom Felton was promoting voting for him on his Twitter – it’s just odd. It’s very odd. The thing though is that the People’s Choice Awards aren’t really that epic of an awards thing. It’s just like some lame award show on CBS that they do just to make a quick buck. And Daniel Radcliffe was in New York rehearsing for that. I guess Tom Felton – if any of those four were going to show up, I would have expected him to but not Rupert or Emma.
Micah: Well, just to…
Andrew: It’s not that big of a deal of an award show.
Micah: Yeah. I was just going to say to your point, you look at the categories that they won in and the only one that was announced on the show was Favorite Book Adaptation. So they didn’t even announce – for an award show, Favorite Movie. [laughs] I mean, how do you go through…
Andrew: Yeah, it does seem odd.
Micah: …a whole award show and not announce Favorite Movie? Usually, that’s one of the last things.
Andrew: I think this award show is swayed a little bit because it just seems very odd that CBS shows – this award show was hosted on CBS and yet CBS shows had won particular awards like Best New Comedy and Best New Drama, which just seemed odd to me because they’re both on CBS and it’s like – I don’t know, there’s a conflict of interest here.
News: BAFTA and Oscar Nominations for Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Micah: The BAFTAs. I believe initially the Potter series was long-listed for eleven awards, eleven BAFTAs, but the announcements were made – actually by Dan Radcliffe – earlier this week and Deathly Hallows – Part 2 was nominated in four categories: Production Design, Sound, Special Visual Effects, and Makeup and Hair.
Andrew: Hmm.
Micah: Not necessarily – maybe with the exception of Sound and Special Visual Effects, the categories I would have thought would have made their way through to the end here. Not even Best Movie?
Andrew: The Best Film nominees were The Artist, The Descendants, Drive, The Help, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I can see why those – I mean, all five of those have been quite popular this award season. So maybe Harry Potter was long-listed for Best Film. I can’t particularly remember.
Micah: Yeah, I think…
Andrew: But they’ll take what they can get [laughs] at this point. They need whatever they can grab so if it’s going to be Best Hair and Makeup, okay.
Micah: Yeah…
Andrew: The ones that matter…
Micah: …the Oscars…
Andrew: Mhm.
Micah: …which are going to be announced on the morning of January 24th and…
Andrew: 5:00 AM Pacific.
Micah: You’ll be awake, right?
Andrew: I hope you guys are up! I got my alarm set already.
Micah: I’ll be at work, 8:00 AM.
Andrew: It’s pretty exciting actually, I have to say, because – I mean, there’s just been so much anticipation with Warner Bros. pushing Harry Potter so much. So the big question is going to be: Did all that advertising, and all that campaigning and kind of lobbying pay off? And I have to think once the nominees are announced and let’s say Harry Potter did grab a few nominations, I think WB may try to kick off another campaign.
Micah: Yeah, we…
Andrew: And it’s exciting for Harry Potter fans because it’s the last chance, so it’s like it’ll be exciting to see if all this hard work from WB paid off. [laughs]
Micah: We know as of right now that it’s been shortlisted for Visual Effects and Makeup. I don’t know if it’s been short-listed for anything else. Do you guys – off the top of your head, have you heard anything?
Andrew: I think it’s just those two. They’ve been announcing shortlists one by one and they haven’t been announcing all the shortlists, so…
Micah: But then the big ones get announced on the 24th.
Andrew: Yeah, everything will be announced that day. I think the only other shortlist that was announced – there may be one other, but I know earlier last week there was – they announced the shortlist for Best Foreign Film or Foreign Language Film or something like that. Obviously Harry Potter is not in that.
Micah: Right. And just to go back real quick to the BAFTAs, it was nominated – or long-listed, I should say – for Outstanding British Film, it didn’t make the final cut, and also for Supporting Actor for Alan Rickman, that did not make the cut. So that’s interesting to see how that translates over for the Oscars.
Andrew: The awards will be held Sunday, February 26th on ABC in the United States.
Micah: Can I make a prediction though?
Andrew: What?
Micah: I’m going to say that if Alan Rickman is nominated for Best Supporting Actor that’s he’s going to win, because it doesn’t make sense to me to nominate him otherwise. They haven’t nominated any Potter actor or actress in that category at all throughout eight movies – or seven, I should say.
Andrew: Are you kind of saying that he’s kind of like the attractive male or female that enters the bar? Like he’s going to be picked up? He or she.
Micah: I don’t know if that’s how – yeah, sure. Why not?
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Andrew: Well, I don’t see how else you could mean that. I mean, if he’s going to walk into the bar – in this case, for this metaphor’s sake I’m referring to the nominations – he has to win.
Micah: Well, let’s just take a look here for a second. Of the awards that WB is pushing for – the categories, I should say, that they’re pushing for – what do you think is the best chance for them to win?
Andrew: Best Film! No, I’m kidding. I think Best Supporting Actor. I would have to look at the list again, to be honest with you. But I think Best Supporting Actor is a good one.
Micah: And Visual Effects possibly?
Andrew: Oh yeah, definitely. I think there’s something with sound, right? Sound Design or something like that?
Micah: For Desplat?
Andrew: Yeah. Visual Effects – oh, you just said that one. Okay. Well, we’ll have all the answers in – not all the answers, [laughs] we’ll have some answers in a few days. What else is going on in the news?
News: “Should JKR Win a Nobel Prize?” Asks The Huffington Post
Micah: There was an interesting article while we’ve been off enjoying the holidays, about JK Rowling. And it was in The Huffington Post and it asked the question: Should she win a Noble Prize in Literature? What do you guys think?
Andrew: I would say yes. Well, let’s look at who this award gets awarded to. Quote: “The person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” I think that’s right. I don’t want to be paraphrasing Keith here, but I mean – well, I will paraphrase Keith. He says, “Certainly, the Harry Potter series has inspired people around the world to read and this does follow the guideline of ‘an ideal direction.'” I think he’s right. I mean, it has inspired millions of people to read when they wouldn’t have been. And not just to read. I mean, everybody reads. But just to really love reading again. So yeah, I could see her doing that. She definitely deserves it.
Micah: The question is: When are these awards – or excuse me. When is the Noble Prize normally awarded?
Andrew: Isn’t that a once-a-year thing?
News: The Woman in Black Premiere and Release Dates
Micah: I would think that she’s probably been nominated at some capacity before this. That’s it really for the news. I mean, I mentioned earlier the piece about The Woman in Black. It’s going to be in theaters February 10th, it premieres actually on the 24th of this month, so I’m sure a lot of people are going to head out to the theaters to go check that movie out. But just another project. It looks pretty creepy, I got to be honest with you. Why is it not being released in October or something like that?
Andrew: Maybe they couldn’t get it out sooner than now and they just figured, well, let’s just do it – I mean, they also got to look at what else is in theaters at the time, so maybe they don’t want to be competing with other films in particular.
Micah: Like Nightmare on Elm Street 55 or…
Andrew: Yeah. Well, maybe…
Micah: …Halloween?
Andrew: …there’s a – well, no, but seriously.
Micah: I know.
Andrew: Maybe there’s some serious big horror films coming out around October, they just don’t want to compete with that. So – I mean, it’s good they’re releasing it in the winter though, right? Because it’s kind of like a cold movie.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Okay, before we move on with today’s show, we’d like to remind everybody that today’s podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. They are the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks, with more than 100,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature and featuring audio versions of many New York Times Bestsellers. For our listeners, Audible is offering a free audiobook to give you a chance to try out their great service. One audiobook to consider is Catching Fire. It’s the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy and it’s going to be turned into a film in 2013. So that’s still a long way off, but you want to be ahead of the curve because you know everybody will be reading it next year and I can tell you, it is just as great as the first book. If you enjoyed The Hunger Games you will enjoy Catching Fire. And you’ll enjoy Mockingjay too, that’s the third book in the trilogy. So for a free audiobook of your choice such as The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast. That’s AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast.
Make the Music Connection
Andrew: So let’s move on now to a segment we haven’t done in a while: Make the Music Connection.
Eric: Yes!
Micah: Oh baby.
Andrew: In case you don’t remember how this is played – it actually started with a segment Jamie came up with called Make the Connection, but now Make the Music Connection is where we play a song and one of the hosts has to connect it to Harry Potter somehow. Now, these songs are…
Micah: It actually makes a lot more sense. I don’t know, Jamie had you…
[Eric laughs]
Micah: …compare Harry Potter to…
Eric: Whatever he…
Micah: …a helicopter flying upside down at midnight…
Andrew: Yeah.
Micah: …on Christmas Eve or something like that.
Andrew: Running low on fuel.
Micah: [laughs] Yeah.
Eric: It was a little too arbitrary with Jamie’s imagination.
Andrew: Right.
Eric: He got a little creative.
Andrew: So you can take the themes of these songs and sort of connect them to Harry Potter somehow. And you can also kind of interpret it as, well, where would this song be in one of the movies or in one of the books?
Eric: Mhm.
Andrew: So anyway, who wants to go first?
Eric: It’s all you, Micah.
Andrew: Okay, Micah. I know you listen to this song a lot.
Micah: I’ll go first.
Andrew: You’ll like this.
Micah: Hopefully. [laughs]
Andrew: Like I said, we’re doing top forty. There’s a recent song out…
Micah: Oh, we’re doing top forty?
Andrew: …by Rihanna called “We Found Love.” Are you aware of this song?
Micah: [laughs] Oh yes.
Andrew: Okay.
Micah: Top of my iPod.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Okay. Well here, I’ll play a little sample and you have to make the connection.
Micah: All right.
[“We Found Love” by Rihanna (feat. Calvin Harris) plays]
Andrew: All right, so this is “We Found Love” by Rihanna.
Micah: Hmm.
Andrew: Go ahead, make the connection.
Micah: I actually know that song.
Andrew: Oh good. Well yeah, I knew you would. You…
Micah: Yeah.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: Who knows? There was some stuff going on in the Chamber of Secrets which is kind of a hopeless place during Deathly Hallows during the battle.
Andrew: Mhm.
Micah: Between Ron and Hermione, right?
Eric: For a second there, I…
Andrew: And didn’t Chamber of Secrets – in the film Chamber of Secrets, didn’t Harry and Ginny kiss in the chamber? Or no?
Eric: I don’t think they kissed.
Andrew: Or maybe not.
Eric: She’s still like eleven, she’s still like… [unintelligible]
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Okay, so she’s still kind of young but it’s the start of something.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Micah: Okay.
Andrew: When it was very hopeless. It was a hopeless place.
Eric: [laughs] Yeah. For a second there, I thought Micah was going to connect it to two mice in the chamber finding love…
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Eric: …as they’re about to be eaten by the Basilisk, then I was like, “Oh thank God you didn’t do that.”
Micah: That too. We have to respect all creatures.
Andrew: All right, Eric. Now it’s time for your song. Again, another top forty hit.
Eric: Yay!
[“Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5 (feat. Christina Aguilera) plays]
Andrew: All right. So this is “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5, featuring Christina Aguilera.
Eric: Awww. Love that song, can I just say? I rock out to it all the time.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: I’m going to make the connection, I think that – we’re talking about to move like Jagger, to move like somebody who is iconic, and there’s lots of meaning and kick some ass, frankly. Dumbledore moves like Jagger, I’m going to get that out there. It’s Albus Dumbledore, he’s broken and scarred, he’s got all this stuff but he can still take on the badest baddie in the Harry Potter-verse. Dumbledore moves like Jagger.
Micah: Do you think he really has moves like Jagger though?
Eric: I think – well, I don’t…
Micah: I mean, I think Jagger twenty years ago.
Eric: Jagger twenty years – yeah, I think…
Micah: Even the third year.
Eric: Maybe in another life?
Micah: You think he could break it on the dance floor?
Eric: Dumbledore? Yeah, absolutely. If not, he could totally stun everybody and make them think that he did.
Andrew: All right, fair enough.
Micah: Good enough.
Favorites: Future Potter Story Jo Could Write
Andrew: Now, let’s move on to Favorites. This is future Potter story that Jo could write, that’s today’s theme. So what story would you want to see her write if she continued in the Potter world? So only one. You can only pick one. It has to be your favorite idea. Does anyone want to go first before we get to Twitter responses? We got a ton of responses on Twitter.
Eric: So favorite imaginary upcoming book?
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. So if Jo – the pen and paper thing that she keeps talking about. Let’s say it’s actually Harry Potter.
Eric: Oh my God, I’m so tired of that.
Andrew: What would you…
Micah: Can we talk about that for a minute? We touched on that a little bit earlier but – I get the whole idea of having an official Twitter account because there are people out there that are going to pretend to be you. But really, what’s the point?
Eric: I’m confused. [unintelligible] …post a news post about you.
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: Okay, but that’s besides the point.
Micah: All right.
Andrew: Let’s focus on the Favorites segment. Go ahead, Micah. If you would like to see one Potter book be released now, what would you like it to be?
Micah: It could be about any of the characters?
Andrew: Yeah, it may be a group of characters or maybe something like Fantastic Beasts.
Micah: Which adds to the story. I’d like to see something about the Marauders, more in-depth – what their time at school was like. We got a little bit of a taste from that – didn’t she release something a couple of years ago which was kind of a scene…
Andrew: Beedle the Bard?
Micah: …with James and…
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: No, it was for charity.
Andrew: The prologue. Or no, the prequel.
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, yeah. It was basically – it was very short, and it was James and Sirius on Sirius’s motorbike outrunning Muggle police.
Micah: The cops. Yeah.
Eric: [laughs] Yeah. That was cool.
Micah: Yeah, I would like to see more stuff like that because my favorite book was Prisoner of Azkaban, and I really like the whole backstory that you got on the Marauders and Harry’s parents and things like that. So I’d like to see more from that time, learning more about those characters.
Eric: Yeah, I’m going to be quite annoying by the time this Favorites segment is done. I’m just going to echo everything you said.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: It think the Marauders are where it’s at. If they do – because any story after Harry’s journey – she does this nineteen years later. Nothing significant really happens in those nineteen years. Voldemort is the baddie of this Harry Potter series and with him gone, there’s really nothing to write about. It wouldn’t be interesting whereas if you’re writing about the Marauders, you’re leading up to something. You’re leading to their eventual demise and redemption by the hand of their kids.
Andrew: But let’s say that…
Eric: Which is good. Yeah.
Andrew: Let’s say that Jo did decide to write a post Book 7. Could she create another enemy that is as epic as Lord Voldemort’s story? I’ve wondered that recently and I don’t think so, actually. [laughs] But that is the type of story I would like to see.
Eric: Okay, so…
Andrew: I would like to see another – maybe not another seven-book Harry Potter series but multi-book Harry Potter series with an archenemy that has to be defeated, and that would be a challenge for Jo because we really aren’t aware of any others.
Eric: Right.
Andrew: Unless she started writing about existing people who we read about, maybe Death Eaters or something and one of them ended up going bad again. Something like that.
Eric: It’s very interesting. I mean, you could make the argument that first it was Grindelwald, right?
Andrew: Right.
Eric: Before it was Voldemort, there was Grindelwald so there is this history of dark wizards that exist that she could just do another one.
Andrew: And let’s face it, there has to be. If we’re speaking realistically, what, is there never going to be evil again in the wizarding world? No, of course not. There has to be more evil. And Jo could write about that.
Micah: Yeah, it would be interesting to see how it gets created, knowing that Voldemort existed and he created these Horcruxes, and that was his means of sort of preserving life and essentially going undefeated for the time that he did. What is the new route that she’s going to take us down in terms of – what makes this new person not defeated – not defeat-able I guess, if that’s even a word. But – you know what I mean? Like what’s their dynamic going to be that’s going to make them last throughout all these books without somebody just going up and killing them?
Eric: Maybe there are vampires.
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Or shapeshifting werewolves.
MuggleCast 248 Transcript (continued)
Listener Tweets: Future Potter Story Jo Could Write
Andrew: Like I said, we got a lot of responses on Twitter. eldestsonicwand wrote:
“The wedding of Hermione and Ron, and Harry and Ginny.”
Eric: Huh. Do you think it was a double wedding?
Andrew: [laughs] No.
Eric: Do you think it happened…
Andrew: I don’t think that would be appropriate. maisaguevara wrote:
“The rebuilding.”
That’s all she wrote.
Eric: Hmm.
Andrew: That would be interesting, actually. Thomassholan wrote:
“The encyclopedia and only the encyclopedia. The story is over and any other books telling a story would be done solely for the money.”
See, I disagree with that.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Maybe Jo is not necessarily doing it for the money but hey, maybe she wants to help out bookstores again. What’s wrong with that?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I mean, look, Barnes & Noble went under and it’s not totally Harry Potter‘s fault.
Eric: You mean Borders?
Andrew: That’s what I said, right? Did I say Barnes & Noble?
Eric: Yeah, Barnes & Noble.
Andrew: Oh.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, Borders went under.
Eric: Hopefully…
[Micah laughs]
Eric: Yeah, Borders totally gone. Well everyday that the Potter books don’t exist in e-book format, that’s presumably helping book sales, right?
Andrew: Yeah, that’s true. So thank you Pottermore for sucking.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: enfermicevic wrote:
“About founders of Hogwarts.”
Eric: That would be interesting.
Andrew: That seems to be a popular one, I think.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: BarOngles wrote:
“James and Lily at Hogwarts!”
AndrewDeFrank wrote:
“Not the kids. Way too cheesy. The last year of Voldy’s first war? Celebration of Baby Potter? Sirius/James at school?”
Eric: Hmm.
Andrew: Lots of good ideas.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: hayleymeghan wrote:
“Albus Severus and his whole first year at Hogwarts.”
catherine0186 wrote:
“The Marauders’ time at Hogwarts.”
ccsmith89 wrote:
“How James and Lily got together.”
[laughs] Here’s a good one. actiongir7 wrote:
“The House-Elf Chronicles.”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: That would be funny. Timeline541 wrote:
“Something from Voldemort’s point of view, before he died obviously.”
10_nov wrote:
“Prequel, all the way! I want the Marauders’ backstory.”
So tons of great ideas. I mean, everybody’s got their own opinion. There’s no clear frontrunner, I would say.
Eric: Yeah.
Andrew: But if anybody wants to look at all the responses, you can just go to Twitter.com/MuggleCast – or just go to Twitter.com and do a search for “@MuggleCast” and then you can see all of our @ replies if you want to take a look at all of them.
Eric: Kind of a good poll question to ask.
Andrew: Yeah, definitely. Now, let’s go on to Muggle Mail. Micah, do you want to take the first one? The first one of our last year?
Micah: [laughs] You’re going to cause problems.
[Andrew laughs]
Muggle Mail: Snow in Hogsmeade
Micah: First one comes from Sabrina, 22, of Rostock, Germany and she says:
“I’m Sabrina, 22, from Germany and 2011 has been a very special year for me because I started listening to MuggleCast. You guys are awesome and I love listening to your show on my way to university. While watching ‘Deathly Hallows – Part 2’ on Christmas Eve (it was a Christmas present, in Germany we get our presents on Christmas Eve)…”
So take that, US.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: She didn’t say that.
“…I was wondering why there was so much snow in the Hogsmeade scene. The trio enters Hogsmeade and there is snow everywhere. The weird thing is it’s May so why would there be snow at that time of the year? And there is no snow in Hogwarts or in any other scene of the movie. I started thinking about the other Hogsmeade scenes in the other movies and realized that there is always snow when they get there. Seems like they only built a winter set and it just looked weird without snow or something. I just wondered what you guys think about this.”
She goes on to say:
“I’m very glad I finally found your podcast! Thank you guys, you help me improve my listening skills in English and as I’ll be an English teacher one day you’ll definitely be part of my literature classes.”
Andrew: Oh cool.
Micah: So that’s cool.
Andrew: Yeah, very nice.
Eric: Something to look forward to.
Andrew: I hate to say this answer, but I think it may be true. They wanted to look like the Wizarding World theme park does, so that when you go to the Wizarding World theme park you’re like, “Oh, I recognize this from the movie.”
Eric: I don’t know, I think – considering it’s only in the film for like five seconds, I don’t think anybody is going to make the connection and be like, “Oh, I got to go to the theme park so I can see that.” Because really the only scene in Hogsmeade is they’re hiding behind some barrels, so what is it about that that makes it – that they couldn’t do it in – because it is springtime, late springtime, heading into summer.
Micah: Yeah. I mean, unless it’s just a place that always has snow. I don’t know. I mean, is that the case in the books?
Eric: Well, no. I mean – yeah, what you’re asking is if Hogsmeade would be…
Andrew: Is like a climate…
Eric: …constantly enchanted to be snowy because it’s picturesque and Christmas-y.
Andrew: Well…
Eric: Which is possible because it could be a movie thing.
Andrew: But what about – let’s say that Hogsmeade is at a higher elevation in England as opposed to Hogwarts, so when it rains it’s always going to be snow.
Eric: Yeah. I mean, it makes sense except Hogsmeade is like a twenty minute walk from Hogwarts.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: So unless it’s like…
Andrew: Uphill.
Eric: …uphill on both ways…
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, up a hill and in the Alpine Valley of Scotland.
Micah: Well, what’s interesting – I mean, I think it’s just a movie thing because when they jump off the dragon, they get out of the water, they’re freezing cold, and then they Apparate to Hogsmeade. So it would make sense in that case that it would be snowing, or at least have some sort of cold weather out. But then I think you just get confused with the whole time elapsing, because – yeah, the final battle takes place in the spring, but for the point of this movie I think they just only created a set that had snow in it. I mean, I don’t really know. It is weird because there’s no snow on the grounds of Hogwarts once you get there.
Muggle Mail: Harry’s Grandparents
Andrew: Next e-mail comes from Ariane, 23, of Sydney, writing about Harry’s grandparents:
“Hey MuggleCast, just wanting to know your thoughts on Harry’s grandparents. From reading the book it seems that both sides of grandparents are dead, however James Potter was only 21 when he died! Why do you think they are never mentioned much? Could Harry have gone to live with them?”
Micah: I remember her saying at some point that they just died naturally, that nothing specific happened to them. They weren’t killed by Voldemort or Death Eaters or anything like that, but they had passed on both sides by the time Harry had been born.
Andrew: Yeah, I don’t see what James’s young age at which he died has to do with it. But yeah, I’m sure that would make sense, that they just died of natural causes.
Micah: Yeah, I’m actually looking at it right now. What happened to Harry’s grandparents? She said:
“This takes us into more mundane territory. As a writer, it was more interesting plot-wise if Harry was completely alone so I rather ruthlessly disposed of his entire family apart from Aunt Petunia.”
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: [continues]
“I mean, James and Lily are massively important to the plot, of course, but the grandparents? No. And because I do like my backstory, Petunia and Lily’s parents: normal Muggle death. James’s parents were elderly, were getting on a little when he was born, which explains the only child, very pampered, had-him-late-in-life-so-he’s-an-extra-treasure, as often happens I think. They were old in wizarding terms and they died. They succumbed to a wizarding illness. That’s as far as it goes. There’s nothing serious or sinister about those deaths. I just needed them out of the way so I killed them.”
Muggle Mail: Seventh-Year Students
Andrew: That makes sense. That makes sense. And plus we would never get to see the Dursleys, so come on. I mean, we still would see the Dursleys but probably not as much if Harry were to be living with his grandparents. Next e-mail comes from Sarah, 17, of Nova Scotia, Canada:
“I know if I were to ask her a question I would ask about the state of Hogwarts post-war…”
This was in response to: If you could ask Jo a question, what would it be?
“…specifically what happened with the students who were in their seventh and final year at Hogwarts. I’ve been wondering lately about the trip since they didn’t even go to Hogwarts for their final year. How about you guys?”
Eric: I always felt bad for the – not only the seventh years but the first years. All the people who were there during Snape’s rule, that final year, because that was kind of like the year where it’s not at all like you would normally get in a year at Hogwarts. No matter what year it is, if it’s your first year or your last year there, do you think that they would have had to redo that year to get proper training for everybody? Or – because I mean, every year of Hogwarts is kind of crucial I think in terms of becoming a better wizard. If you were to ruin it with a year of Dark Arts instead, that would be a little weird, wouldn’t it?
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: I mean, you’d feel like you only got one last year. But then there’s the fact that most wizards – or the wizards we heard about don’t even attend Hogwarts in their seventh year.
Andrew: Yeah. But why – I mean, he sort of – in Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s case they kind of proved themselves. But yeah, the other students, I don’t know. It’s kind of like that year when Dumbledore canceled the OWLs – or what did they cancel? Final examinations? So it’s just – it is a good question. We would have to ask Jo and I don’t know if she would give a very satisfactory answer. She couldn’t say, “Oh yeah, they all went back again.”
[Eric laughs]
Muggle Mail: Fiendfyre & “The Prince’s Tale” Scenes
Andrew: So there’s actually eight years at Hogwarts [laughs] in the cases of the students who we actually knew? Next e-mail is from Shona, 19, of Baltimore:
“I’m an original listener of the show. MuggleCast first came out before I started high school and I’m halfway through college now! Anyway, I just got around to re-watching ‘DH Part 2’ so my e-mail is in response to your commentary. First of all, I just wanted to point out to Eric that in the books as well, Fiendfyre is described to take the form of animals.”
And then she quotes:
“‘Now the fire was mutating, forming a gigantic pack of fiery beasts: Flaming serpents, chimaeras…”
[Andrew attempts to pronounce “chimaeras”]
Eric: Chimaera.
Andrew: Chimaeras?
“…and dragons rose and fell and rose again.’ Also, Micah brought up that he remembers hearing somewhere that ‘The Prince’s Tale’ scenes were shot while filming ‘HBP’. This was based on an interview with Michael Gambon where he claimed to only have shot King’s Cross scenes for this film. I agree with you guys that this seems unlikely. It’s possible Gambon just misspoke.”
I agree, he probably just misspoke. He had to have.
Muggle Mail: Thank You From Listener
Eric: Yeah, yeah, it doesn’t make any sense otherwise. And last e-mail – or no, not last e-mail. Next e-mail comes from Layla…
Andrew: It should be.
Eric: …age 23, [laughs] of LA:
“Hey guys. Long time, first time (smart Andrew).”
I guess she means that you came up with “Long time, first time.”
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: It’s long time listener, first time writer.
“I’ve been listening to you guys for the longest time with some gaps in the middle due to life taking a strenuous turn. I even remember there being a girl on this podcast! Anyways I just finished listening to your last podcast about a month late and I just felt the urge to write. I’m getting my teaching credential right now and started student teaching about a month ago and wow, was I in for a surprise! I come home drained of life and catching up on the podcast has been the best way for me to unwind and relax, and not think about the million things that are going wrong! Please don’t stop! Even if it’s once a month! Take care and thanks for the great shows.”
Andrew: Glad to hear that, Layla. That’s a good Chicken Soup. Glad to hear that, Layla. Happy to help you out. And she’s in LA, right next door to me.
Micah: Come say hi to Andrew.
Muggle Mail: Hogwarts Headmasters
Andrew: Yeah. Next e-mail comes from Jon, 17, of Buffalo. Micah, why don’t you read that one for us?
Micah: Sure. He says:
“Just a quick question I was thinking about: Who do you think is the headmaster of Hogwarts at the time of the epilogue? It could be McGonagall, but if she’s no longer around, is there anyone else we know about who would really be considered for that position? My money’s on Professor Flitwick. What do you guys think?”
Andrew: Hmm.
Eric: Hmm. Do you think it’s somebody we know or somebody we don’t know?
Andrew: Why would it be Flitwick? I would kind of be disappointed if it were Flitwick. I mean, Flitwick was never a headmaster’s right-hand man. I mean, McGonagall seemed to be Dumbledore’s right-hand woman, so it made sense for her to be headmaster. But I don’t know about Flitwick.
Micah: I don’t feel as if that was ever addressed though. I mean, it seemed like it would be a natural question because wasn’t Kingsley announced as the Minister of Magic? So it would make sense that there would be somebody who we know would take over that role, but I don’t know if she’s ever said explicitly who it is.
Eric: Well, in defense of Professor Flitwick, he was Head of House, wasn’t he?
Micah: Ravenclaw.
Eric: Wasn’t he the Head of – was he the Head of Ravenclaw?
Micah: Yeah.
Eric: I think it was. So yeah, I mean, if you’re the Head of Ravenclaw house, that kind of – I don’t know, seems like he would be a shoe in, have your foot in the door for headmaster role. But I don’t know, nineteen years later, that’s a long time to be teaching at Hogwarts. Twenty-five, twenty-six years, I don’t know. I’d get tired of the place if it kept having drama and explosions.
Muggle Mail: Albus Dumbledore
Andrew: Next e-mail is from Mason, 15, of North Carolina:
“Hey, I was just wondering if you guys thought Dumbledore was justified in being so manipulative? Do you think he could have handled certain things in a better way? Thanks guys, you’re doing a great job. Keep up the good work.”
This is a whole main discussion.
[Everyone laughs]
Eric: Please see the episode titled “Pig for Slaughter.”
Andrew: Yes.
Eric: Episode – God, 109 or something. 117, was it? 117 or 120, something like that. Just after the Book 7 release, we…
Andrew: 116.
Eric: 116, we discussed this in great detail.
Micah: Yeah.
Andrew: Lead by Eric, I think.
Micah: Yeah, I think that…
Eric: Supported very well by you guys.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: You guys made the point. We could talk about that for an entire show but I think that’s what makes his character so great, is that he was flawed in that respect.
Andrew: Mhm.
Eric: Yeah, I think we all do think that he could have handled certain things in a better way, but he also handled them in exactly the way that he did and we kind of have to live with that. So…
Muggle Mail: Fluffy
Andrew: Next e-mail is from – the final e-mail is from AurorShield182, 26, of England:
“Was just wondering has JK Rowling ever said in an interview what happened to Fluffy after he was guarding the trapdoor in ‘Sorcerer’s Stone’.”
Eric: They put him down.
Andrew: I doubt that’s right.
Eric: I mean, if I had to guess, I’d say that Fluffy…
Andrew: Fluffy was released into the Forbidden Forest.
Micah: Yeah, there you go.
Andrew: And he ran free.
Eric: [laughs] What?!
Andrew: Yeah.
Eric: [laughs] The Forbidden Forest does not need anymore crazy creatures in it.
Andrew: [laughs] But that’s exactly where he belongs.
Eric: Yeah, okay. Better than the zoo.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: But there’s got to be – but next to Hogwarts, still, a three-headed dog? That’s just one more reason not to wander into the forest.
Andrew: Yeah, but at least we do have an answer, so we know he’s hopefully safe there. Them, they are hopefully safe there. Three heads. Micah, could you read our Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul today to wrap up the show?
Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul
Micah: Sure. Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul comes from Anonymous, aged 18, from France, and he or she says:
“Hello MuggleCast, I was seven when my dad started reading ‘Sorcerer’s Stone’ to me, a chapter at a time before bed. I think we read Books 1 to 4 that way and I read the others on my own, excluding the seventh book which my sister and I read aloud to each other so that neither of us would know what happened to Harry before the other one. Of course she later admitted to me she cheated, staying up all night to finish the book before me. I’m sure you get loads of e-mails like this from people about my age saying the same thing but I’m going to say it anyway: For me ‘Harry Potter’ truly defined my childhood. When I saw the final movie in theaters, I felt not only that it meant the ending of an era, but also the ending of such an definitive part of my childhood and perhaps even my childhood itself. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I found out about you guys only this month and I couldn’t be more grateful. Listening to your podcast, realize…”
What?
Eric: I realized?
Micah: Yeah, I think. Okay.
“Listening to your podcast, I realized I couldn’t have been more wrong in thinking that the end of the movies and the books means the end of ‘Harry Potter’. You guys and the millions of other hardcore fans out there all know ‘Harry Potter’ is here for good. Thanks so much for reminding me of this.”
Andrew: Very nice.
Micah: Sorry there’s no name.
Andrew: [laughs] I blame the copy and paster.
[Eric laughs]
Announcement: New Game of Thrones Podcast
Andrew: Well, it’s been another very exciting show, the first one of 2012. I don’t know if you know this, guys, but we’re in our seventh year of Harry Potter podcasting.
Eric: Yeah. That’s pretty crazy.
Andrew: But coming soon – we’re always working on new things. Everybody’s like, “Oh, you guys don’t put out new episodes anymore.”
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Well, Micah has details about a new Game of Thrones podcast coming up from a couple of people you know on this show and more, right Micah?
Micah: Yeah, absolutely. I think – some people know that we started a website called Game of Owns, a play-off of Game of Thrones obviously, and we’re looking to start a podcast in the not-too-distant future and probably going to release its first episode in February. And it’s going to focus primarily I think on the TV show, and we’ll of course have bits and pieces from the book series but we’re going to start with the focus being on the new season of Game of Thrones which is on HBO April 1st. And Eric will be on it, myself, and a few other people that we’re working on the site with. So look forward to doing that and hopefully you guys are either fans or will become fans of the series as a result. So it should be a lot of fun.
Andrew: Yeah, absolutely.
Eric: Cool. Oh, I also…
Micah: And we’re working with Selina who works over on Hypable.
Andrew: She does the Game of Thrones news for us.
Micah: She does the Game of Thrones stuff, so yeah, there you go.
Andrew: Mhm.
Micah: So it’ll be a joint venture.
Andrew: Yeah.
Announcement: Mischief Managed at Ascendio 2012
Eric: Also, it’s interesting that for the Favorites segment, people – Micah and I both felt that we’d like to hear more about the Marauders. There’s an upcoming musical that’s going to premiere at Ascendio in July. For those of you who are attending Ascendio, this musical is called Mischief Managed and it’s about Harry’s children finding the journals of James Potter and Sirius Black – their school journals, like their unknown school journals – and learning about what it was like when James and Sirius and Peter and Remus were at Hogwarts. It’s going to be a musical, and actually I happened to audition for the musical and I secured the role of James Potter. So…
Andrew: Congratulations.
Eric: Thank you! I’m so excited! It’s a really good musical. I just read the script last night actually, and it’s super exciting. It’s going to be a lot of fun. But that’s happening at Ascendio down at the Loews Portofino Bay Resort in July.
Andrew: Nice.
Eric: Just FYI.
Andrew: All right…
Micah: We’ll have all the details on what conventions we’ll be attending this summer probably…
Andrew: In a couple of months.
Micah: …in the next month or two. Yeah.
Show Close
Andrew: So check out MuggleCast.com. It has all the information you need about the show. You can click on the “Episodes” link at the top to get information about this and every other episode we have ever released in our seven years.
Eric: Ever.
Andrew: You’ll also find links to our Twitter which is Twitter.com/MuggleCast, our Facebook which is Facebook.com/MuggleCast, and our fan Tumblr which is MuggleCast.Tumblr.com. Still has too many Eric pictures for my liking, but that’s okay.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, I…
Andrew: Actually, it has been more balanced out.
[Show music begins]
Andrew: It has been more balanced out. [laughs] I’m completely kidding.
Eric: [laughs] No, that’s fine.
Andrew: Yeah, and that is that. So thanks everybody for listening! From Hypable.com, I’m Andrew Sims.
Eric: From MuggleNet.com, I’m Eric Scull.
Micah: And I’m Micah Tannenbaum.
Andrew: See everyone next time for Episode 249! Goodbye!
Eric: It’s time to start planning 250, shouldn’t we?
Andrew: Yeah.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: That’s kind of a big episode.
[Show music continues]
Blooper: Micah’s Confession
Micah: The real reason is that’s the song I got a lap dance to at my friend’s bachelor party. [laughs] But…
Andrew: Oh my God! [laughs]
Micah: That’s the part… [laughs]
Eric: Oh, you can’t say that on the show!
Micah: What? No, you can cut that out.
Andrew: Yeah.
Blooper: Party Buses
Andrew: Wow.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Okay.
Micah: In New York City.
Eric: Wow.
Andrew: Wow, that’s cool.
Eric: Were you buckled?
Andrew: That’s pretty cool.
Eric: Was she buckled?
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: No, you don’t buckle up at a party bus!
Eric: It’s the law! Click it or ticket!
Andrew: Okay, let’s…
Micah: No.
Andrew: Yeah, they clicked.
Micah: We’ll talk about this after.
Andrew: They clicked, all right.
Eric: There’s a blooper.