Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #278, Hogwarts Goes Hollywood
Show Intro
[Show music plays]
Andrew Sims: This is MuggleCast, your Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts podcast covering everything about J.K. Rowling’s magical world. This week’s episode is brought to you by Audible.com. Audible is the leading provider of audiobooks with more than 150,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, nonfiction, and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast. Welcome to MuggleCast Episode 278! Micah, Eric, and Selina are all here today. Hello, everybody.
Selina Wilken: Yay! Hello.
Eric Scull and Micah Tannenbaum: Good morning.
Selina: Good afternoon.
Andrew: Good morning. Good afternoon. Worldwide podcast. This is our May episode of MuggleCast. As everybody knows by now, we’re doing these monthly. We’re doing a new episode every month until Fantastic Beasts Part 3…
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: … Newt Scamander versus that new kid named Voldemort down the street. [laughs]
Selina: Part 3 Part 1.
Andrew: So we’re actually going to start today’s episode with some Fantastic Beasts news, and man, later in the show, we’re going to talk about J.K. Rowling on Twitter because she has been busy on Twitter.
Selina: And it’s awesome. It’s amazing.
Andrew: [laughs] And we’re also going to play Make the Music Connection, and we are going to do This Month in Harry Potter History, and a couple other things today.
News
Andrew: So first of all, looking at the news, there wasn’t too much news over the past month, but there was some big Fantastic Beasts news. Of course, in case you’re living under a rock, this is the Harry Potter spinoff that’s coming next November. Oh, I just remembered something we should actually add in here. So we found out this week that J.K. Rowling has finished the Fantastic Beasts script finally. I mean, it kind of surprised me, because this project was announced September 2013, and here we are May 2015 and she’s still… she’s been working on it all that time, maybe even earlier than that. But it’s done now.
Eric: Yay!
Micah: And it’s about time.
Selina: But is it done? Or is it just ready for other people to edit it?
Andrew: See, that’s the thing. I think it’s done-done, I’m hoping. Because I think that’s why it’s taken so long, because she’s worked with Steve Kloves to put together this script. So now that the script is finished… on the last episode, we told everybody Eddie Redmayne was in the running, but he wasn’t ready to commit because he didn’t get to read the script because J.K. Rowling was still working on it. So now it’s finished, he did get to read the script, and he’s reportedly very happy with it, according to Variety.
Selina: He approves. Redmayne-approved.
Eric: Redmayne’s stamp of approval.
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: So it seems like he’s going to be… he could take the role. So negotiations are starting now.
Eric: Huh!
Andrew: He’s going to have to commit to at least three movies. I don’t know how they sign him on to potential future movies, but I don’t know. So does everybody…? Selina, what do you think of Eddie as Newt?
Selina: Well, Andrew… [laughs] Actually, I said it on Twitter – and you had a really good reply – that we can’t really say much about Eddie as Newt, because we have no idea who Newt is. So it ultimately comes down to whether we were fans of him, and I guess, confession time, I’m not really that big of a fan.
Andrew: You’re not alone.
Selina: Yeah, I know. I mean, and that… but ultimately, I mean, even though I’m not a huge fan, and I think… also, because you said on the last show, you were like, “Yeah, if you’ve seen Jupiter Ascending…”
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Selina: And that’s the last film I saw him in, so that might be coloring my view. I’m really afraid of this really over the top, sort of intense… but no, I mean, people like him, and he’s probably going to be great. I was actually going to say this – and I’m just going to get it out of the way now – that I was thinking, “What is the connection between Eddie Redmayne and Harry Potter in my mind that I couldn’t place?” And I was looking through old pictures from when I covered the red carpet opening for the Studio Tour, and he was one of the people on the red carpet all the way back in 2012…
Eric: No kidding.
Selina: … and he was one of the few random actors that showed up for this and were on the carpet with Steve Kloves and all of that.
Eric: Ahh, right.
Selina: And David Heyman.
Andrew: Between that and that clip that I shared on Hypable where he’s talking about missing a chance to become a Weasley, I get the impression that he’s a really big Harry Potter fan.
Selina: Yeah, and he’s been courting them for a while. He’s not going to say no to this.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Andrew: Right, right, so it’s kind of a dream job for him.
Selina: And just imagine him getting the script and be like, “Hmm…” And inside, he’s just so excited.
Andrew: “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…”
[Selina laughs]
Eric: Yeah, like, play coy so that they give you a salary increase. [laughs]
Andrew: Right, right.
Eric: They’ll pay you more if you don’t immediately jump on a couch.
Selina: I like that he’s a fan. That’s great.
Eric: Well, that matters to us as fans, because we’re like, “Hey, we want to see someone’s dream come true.” Like Evanna Lynch, when she was cast in Harry Potter. We want to see also someone who’s passionate, working extra hard in the way that only someone who’s genuinely passionate about their work can bring to the screen persona.
Andrew: And we know he’ll do it justice. He’ll want to not let down Harry Potter fans.
Selina: Yeah, exactly.
Eric: Well, and there’s enough, I think, pressure creatively from the production team to actually make this a worthwhile film.
Andrew: Yeah, I agree.
Micah: I agree with Selina, though; I think it’s hard to really put any sort of judgment down right now in terms of how he’s going to play a character we really know nothing about. It’s just like any other character that’s going to get cast in these films; unless we have some sort of preconceived notion of them, because they end up appearing in the Potter films – maybe they’re younger versions of certain characters – it’s really going to be difficult for us to sit here and judge how we think they’re going to portray these roles, because we don’t really have any context to compare it to. Which I think is a good thing, because when we had the Potter films, we had three – and I think Eric mentioned this on the last episode – relative unknowns coming into it with Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, and they did an amazing job, and they really created the characters that we came to appreciate, and they created their own versions of the characters. Maybe not the characters we had in our minds, but I think that now we’re faced with the popularity of these films and the fact that you can’t really do any sort of spinoffs without incorporating higher profile celebrities.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s a good point. I have a little bonus scoop exclusive for MuggleCast this week.
Eric: Oooh.
Micah: You’ve been cast.
Andrew: I have been cast!
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Eric: Eddie said no; Andrew said yes.
Selina: Are you Jacob?
Andrew: Yeah, but I played coy to get my contract, the big pay day.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: No, so they are casting right now – all these roles, not just Newt – and I heard from somebody who is somewhat involved with the casting process. Now, please take this with a grain of salt, but they are looking to cast an American for some sort of president role. Now, it’s not clear if this is like a President of the United States or a president of a school, but a president of a school would be particularly interesting because that would mean…
Selina: Oh, the Salem Witch Academy or something.
Eric: What school, yeah.
Andrew: Right, right, a magical school in the United States. So again, it’s just the president. I think it may be a female role.
Selina: Or it could be the Minister of Magic in America.
Eric: The equivalent, yeah.
Andrew: Oh!
Selina: The President of Magic.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: Oh, I didn’t think of that.
Selina: I hope that’s their title.
Eric: Democratically elected President of Magic. Go democracy! Go America!
Andrew: It just doesn’t sound as nice as Minister of Magic.
Selina: [laughs] It sounds awesome.
Eric: Yeah, President of Magic.
Andrew: So they are looking for some sort of presidential role, and it’s not a big role. So yeah, that makes a lot of sense now.
Eric: I love the idea that they’re… well, they can cast Americans in these films. Now we know Micah and I have a shot.
Selina: You guys must be excited about that.
Andrew: Well, I had been thinking if it’s a president of a school, kind of like a headmaster of a magical school, that would be a big deal, because J.K. Rowling has never said that there’s a wizarding school in America, as far as I know.
Selina: Yeah, she has. Salem Witch Academy.
Eric: Well, she said that’s a thing that exists. I wonder, too, if it’s for young ages, though. The Witch Academy, to me, seems like an all-female tertiary education school, but there aren’t any of those in the Harry Potter books either, specifically. Nothing to do for people after they’re 17.
Selina: Right.
Micah: It’s mentioned in Goblet of Fire, right? As they’re walking through the camps they mention Salem.
Andrew: You’re right.
Selina: You had to one-up me, Micah. [laughs]
Andrew: You’re right; I’m looking at it now.
Micah: I’m just providing a reference to Selina’s point.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, okay, so there’s that. Keep that in mind. And then I just wanted to mention… this isn’t exactly news-related, but Wizarding World Hollywood is being constructed right now, and I want to let anybody know who is in LA or maybe visiting LA soon, you can see Hogwarts from the 101 and the 134 freeways in the Hollywood area.
Selina: Oh, isn’t that the dream, though?
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: I get giddy every time I drive by it…
Selina: So amazing.
Andrew: … because you can see Hogwarts very clear. I don’t know if they’re going to try to…
Selina: “You can see Hogwarts from my house!”
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Well, so get this. So I just moved yesterday, very close to Universal, and I had a couple of friends over and I took them up to the rooftop because there’s a rooftop patio, and you can see Universal and you could almost see Hogwarts! There’s a tree or two blocking it, and I was so upset.
Eric: Okay.
Micah: So you will be able to, then, in the near future.
Eric: As soon as you get a chainsaw…
Selina: When you chop down the tree.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: Exactly! I’m seriously considering finding those trees and cutting them down. But I could see the Universal parking structure and part of the Simpsons land, and it’s… I was drinking last night, so I didn’t have the most steady look, so I’m going to go up today and double check.
[Everyone laughs]
Selina: Don’t fall off.
Andrew: No, it’s a safe roof. But yeah, so…
Micah: Can you Periscope the next time that you’re driving down the freeway and show us all?
Andrew: Yeah, you know what? I actually Snapchatted it a couple weeks ago, so add me as @AndrewSims on Snapchat, and I’ll show it to you. [laughs]
Micah: Now all of our listeners are going to add you on Snapchat.
Andrew: Perfect! That’s exactly what I want.
Eric: Periscope is a new video thing? Is that what that is?
Andrew: What?
Eric: Periscope. Is it a new device, or…?
Micah: Yeah, it’s a livestreaming app.
Eric: Oh, okay.
Andrew: Come on, Eric. Aren’t you on top of this stuff?
Eric: No, I’m not on top of this. I feel like I’ve been under a rock since I got back.
Andrew: It’s like Meerkat.
Eric: Oh, okay.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: You just confused him even more.
Eric: Well, do that next time you’re driving, and don’t crash.
Andrew: Will do.
Expo Patronum
Andrew: So Eric, the MuggleNet Expo happened last month. How’d it go?
Eric: It did. It went really, really well. Actually, almost a month ago now, April 18 was a Saturday, and we occupied the London Suites section of the Excel Center in London for MuggleNet Live: Expo Patronum. And coming out of the day, our big number one feedback was that the event was a huge success, so we’re really happy about it. What I was doing during the day was live tweeting some of the updates from the panels. Basically, we had almost… well, actually, 17 members of the cast and crew of the Harry Potter films, notably Warwick Davis and Nat Tena, but also MinaLima, the graphic artists were there. The art director, not Stuart Craig, but one of the men who worked with him, Gary Tomkins, was there, and he actually worked on The Fifth Element and The Mummy Returns, so I was able to pick his brain about that stuff too. But in general, we had about 200 fans show up. So it was actually, I think, less than we were expecting originally, but it was a more intimate setting, and everyone really, I think, cast and talent wise, responded to the more intimate setting. So everyone had a really lovely time. And I just wanted to say that there’s some coverage up on our Twitter, or #ExpoPatronum and Twitter @MuggleNetLive, and you can just see what went on that day. And there’s a couple posts on MuggleNet summarizing and that kind of thing, and just go check them out if you’re interested because it turns out we actually just had a lot of fun. And I got to go to London again, which, I hadn’t been out of the country in eight years, so I was really, really happy to be able to do that.
Andrew: Cool.
Micah: They finally let you out, is what you’re saying.
Eric: They finally let me out, yeah. [laughs] Ever since that ill-fated Episode 101 of MuggleCast, where I said I didn’t like the book, so they let me back in. So that’s good.
Andrew: I have something interesting I just spotted on Twitter that we are going to discuss in a moment, but first, it’s time to tell everybody that today’s episode is brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks, with more than 150,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including audio versions of many New York Times bestsellers. For listeners of MuggleCast, Audible is offering you a free audiobook to give you a chance to try out their great service, and I’m going to recommend a book that Selina and I have spoken about multiple times on Hype, our Hypable podcast. It’s called Ready Player One.
Eric: Oooh.
Andrew: Have you heard about this, Eric? I feel like you would like this book.
Eric: I have heard about this.
Andrew: Okay.
Eric: I heard… the analysis from my friend was that this guy who is really into the ’80s – I mean the author – had a lot of really cool… just a lot of nostalgia, and basically put everything he loved into this world where the whole world loves it, everything that he loved as a kid, which is cool. It’s totally cool if you’re an author of a book to do that.
Andrew: Yeah, and it’s kind of set within a video game type world. I’m normally not into sci-fi, but this is really appealing to me so far. I’m about 10-11 chapters in. Really enjoying it.
Selina: It’s basically like you can live in any fantasy world that you want, and this guy just jumps from one geeky world to an even more geeky world all the time on this Internet. It’s perfect for everyone who listens to this show.
Andrew: Yeah, and I was skeptical at first because on the back of the book it billed itself as something something something… it was comparing itself to Harry Potter, and I was like, “Uh, that’s kind of cheap.”
Selina: That’s always dumb.
Eric: Publishers have to do that.
Andrew: Right. But I do kind of understand it now; I see the Harry Potter elements. It’s just so detailed and so thought out and so smart, and just such a great read. So this is by Ernest Cline. It’s very popular right now. The audio version, audiobook version, is narrated by Will Wheaton!
Eric: Nice.
Andrew: One of the biggest nerds in the world right now.
Selina: Who’s mentioned in the book, I’m pretty sure.
Andrew: Oh, awesome.
Eric: Well, that’s cool. [laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, there’s a ton of pop culture references, so it’s fun to come across them. So you can grab this book for free on AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast. You have to use that special URL to get the free book deal, and I think you’re going to enjoy it, especially this summer. Maybe you’re out on the beach, spending more time outdoors, and instead of carrying a book, you can listen to a book, just like you do MuggleCast.
Eric: Now, it will be a Spielberg… oh, I interrupted your ad. I’m so sorry.
Andrew: No, it’s okay!
Eric: [laughs] You were about to say Audible.com/MuggleCast.
Andrew: AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast.
Eric: And it will be a movie, right?
Andrew: Yes, so listen to it now before it gets adapted by Spielberg, because he is the one directing it, which is really cool.
Eric: Yeah, that’s super cool.
The Casual Vacancy
Andrew: So I teased right before this ad that I saw something interesting on Twitter. The WB Tour London just tweeted a photo of Michael Gambon on the Great Hall set today.
Selina: Awesome.
Andrew: Why is Michael Gambon back at Leavesden? Hmm? Hmm? Costume fitting for Fantastic Beasts?
Micah: It’s a Saturday; maybe he just felt like going over and checking out his old stomping ground.
Andrew: No way.
Selina: But that’s not as fun. [laughs]
Andrew: No way. He’s there for a Fantastic Beasts costume fitting. He’s one of the characters that could conceivably be in Fantastic Beasts.
Micah: Definitely.
Eric: I think he should narrate Fantastic Beasts. “In the old days…”
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Speaking of Michael Gambon, though, I wanted to ask – and I forgot to put this into our doc – but did anybody watch The Casual Vacancy?
Andrew: Oh!
Eric: Right, it aired on HBO, didn’t it?
Andrew: No, I didn’t.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: You know what? I don’t even want to now. [laughs] So actually… funny you mentioned that. I retweeted something the other day; the ratings for The Casual Vacancy in the US were really bad.
Selina: Oh no.
Andrew: 268,000 people watched part one, 175,000 people watched part two, and 143,000 people watched part three. That’s really low.
Eric: It might not mean that it’s bad; it might just mean that it’s not an American thing, maybe?
Selina: It’s so depressing.
Andrew: I’m sure that’s part of it.
Eric: It might be almost too British for American viewers, maybe.
Micah: It’s not a happy story.
Andrew: Did you watch it, Micah?
Micah: I actually turned on part three at one point, and then it got towards the end where, as Selina mentioned, it gets really, really dark. So I couldn’t bear to watch a certain part of it, and I just turned it off. And I’d rather have watched it from the beginning, but I almost wonder if they did themselves a disservice by breaking it up into three parts, because if people weren’t captivated by that first showing, then they probably just said, “I’m not going to watch it anymore.” So at some point I think… and HBO is doing a airing every once in a while where it shows them all in a three-hour span, so maybe if I have three hours, I’ll sit down and watch it.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Micah: But the book was enough for me. And I doubt I’ll ever go back and read the book again. It was just one of those that I read it, I’m done, and if I happen to catch it on TV in the future, maybe I’ll watch it, but I don’t think I’ll make a point of doing it.
Andrew: It’s also on HBO Go, I’m sure, so if you wanted to just watch it whenever you want it.
Eric: Yeah, or HBO now, I guess. I don’t have it yet. I’m going to sign up and see if I can. I will watch it. I did see when I was going through Twitter, also, an ad for it with Michael Gambon’s character – I guess he plays Howard Mollison – and it had a quote from him, and it’s this photo of him… it’s him behind the lectern in the Great Hall, behind the owl with the wings.
Selina: Aww, that’s so cute.
Andrew: Yeah, you’re talking about the thing on Twitter today.
Eric: Yeah, the thing on Twitter that you’re mentioning, and it’s a really lovely photo of Michael Gambon.
Micah: Isn’t he done acting, though?
Andrew and Eric: Stage acting.
Andrew: Because he’d have to memorize the entire play.
Selina: It’s a really sad story.
Eric: Yeah, it is a really sad story. But he’s very…
Andrew: Good actor?
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Eric: No, I was just going to say… no, he’s got a smile on. It’s just a winning smile. I just like this guy now.
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Eric: It’s so funny because when I was coming up with words, I was just thinking through the last 277 episodes where we kind of talked shit all over him. [laughs] But no, I think it’s a really sweet photo.
Andrew: By the way, last week I offered my copy of The Casual Vacancy. I said I could sell it to somebody. Some people actually hit me up on Twitter; it was like, “So is your book still available?” And yeah, I still have it, but now I think I want to do something fun with it involving the listeners. I don’t know what, though.
Eric: You know what you’ve got to do? You’ve got to cut out the word “Pottermore” out of the pages, and have it do a stop motion animation where they dance around your new apartment, and there’s Hogwarts in the background on the roof.
Selina: That’s the most random suggestion. [laughs]
Eric: Do you remember the Pottermore ad, though, when it first came out, and the words were coming out of the book pages?
Selina: Ohh, I get it.
Andrew: Yeah, that was clever.
Fandom Story
Andrew: So I thought this week we could do a little fandom story. Maybe try to do these weekly where somebody just tells a story that they remember from fandom, because we’ve done so many things over the years that I thought maybe… and I don’t think we’ve told many of them on the show, because we’ve always been too preoccupied with news or just other things. So Eric has a story involving HP Fan Trips. I remember these guys.
Eric: Yeah, they’re technically still going on. I think they’re in their 12th year, maybe? But it was the first time that I ever went to London. So when I was in London last month for Expo Patronum, I just had a lot of really good memories, and last night, there were some friends in town, too, who were talking about the old… I don’t know, just the first Potter days, like getting into Potter. And I just remember how hard it was to convince my parents to let me go to London. In fact, I wanted to go the year prior, because when Book 5 came out, Emerson and Jamie held sort of a party at Waterstones, the Waterstones where we eventually were at for Book 7 in Piccadilly Circus in London.
Selina: I was there.
Eric: And I went there last month and just kind of sat and read inside Waterstones again…
Andrew: Oh, cool.
Eric: … and remembered when we had all the pillows and everything were all set up and stuff. But back in… oh, there’s the train. One sec.
Andrew: [laughs] The pillows. Eric remembers the most random things.
Eric: The blue pillows that everybody sat on!
Andrew: Yes, I know what you’re talking about.
Selina: I remember the pillows.
Micah: Didn’t you almost break the ceiling too?
Selina: Yeah, we did! That was a good time.
Eric: The people on the fourth floor broke the ceiling.
Andrew: They were stomping. Selina, did I know you were there?
Selina: Yeah, we talked about this before. I had no idea who you guys were; I was just there for Harry Potter, and I was like, “Oh, cool! A podcast!” [laughs]
Eric: That’s awesome. Were you on the fourth floor, then?
Selina: I was on the floor that broke the ceiling, yeah.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: Yeah, I remember… I think one of the lights went out.
Eric: Oh, it flickered, yeah. Because we were on the third floor podcasting, and they had TV set up on the third and the fourth floor. You know how any concert, you have a screen of what’s going on? And I think, Andrew, it may have been you who said, “Are there people alive up there up on the fourth floor?” Trying to rile up the crowd, and they all started stomping in joy in response. And then the ceiling tile… a piece of it came off and hit Jamie or something on our… we were up on the panel and the light flickered. It was terrifying.
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: That’s funny.
Eric: But just remembering, getting back to 2003, and I wanted to go and join Emerson and Jamie in London, and my parents said no. The Internet, too, just the idea of having a website or… I’d say, “Oh, I work for a website.” “Oh, you work. Do you get paid?” was always… it’s a very adult approach. And they just didn’t really understand, or have a concept – gosh, parents, they just don’t understand – of what MuggleNet was doing.
[Andrew laughs]
Selina: People still don’t.
Eric: Yeah, and it’s true. I imagine that it’s gained slightly more, I don’t know, acceptance in general culture to go places for things like this, but I couldn’t go. And then the next year I ended up… Emerson was offered a trip on HP Fan Trips, which at that point was a six-day tour of London and York – we went to Oxford, Scarborough – but Emerson couldn’t go because he had finals, so he asked me if I wanted to go, and I went. But my parents said yes, and I had to have a chaperone because I was still under 18. But really, I remember seeing London for the first time and it was through this trip, and it was always related to Harry Potter, which is why going back there last month for Harry Potter was very special. But I just remember the struggle at first convincing my parents to go, and eventually they relented, and I was able to… I had my robes made, my Gryffindor robes I had made for that trip because we had received promo images of Movie 3, which at that point… that was when they renovated the way the robes look.
Andrew: Eric, by the way, has worn those robes in the heat of Vegas, in the heat of New York, in the dead of summer… [laughs]
Selina: I hope you wash them.
Eric: They’ve gone everywhere. They’re heavy; they have a heavy material that lies long lasting. I still have…
Micah: Can I ask, how much does it cost to dry clean those ropes?
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Micah: And what’s the reaction from the dry cleaner when you take them in?
Eric: Well, I don’t actually speak with the dry cleaner; I speak with a little Asian lady who takes my slip and gives me a receipt. But it’s generally positive. See, now there are robes everywhere that you can get, but even those robes back then were hard to come by. Setting up the whole trip – seeing London for the first time, getting the robes – was an ordeal. I had to get a passport, which at that time was just very new to me. And it took months to get, of course, and this, that, and the other thing. But it was really just… I loved travel, and a lot of the reason that I’ve ever traveled – and the reason I traveled last month – was because of this book series and all the hubbub around it.
Selina: It’s amazing.
Eric: And I know we all have very similar stories.
Andrew: Yeah, my first time flying was to fly to Las Vegas for Lumos 2006.
Eric: There you go.
Andrew: That was all about Harry Potter.
Selina: You know, every time I go to London now, I always go back to that alley by Waterstones, because yeah, I was there for the book, just because it was the Waterstones.
Eric: And they had all those cameras.
Selina: Yeah, I wanted to go to where J.K. Rowling was, but we couldn’t get tickets for that, obviously, because it was all the little kids. God. [laughs]
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Selina: So me and my family, we just stood in line in that alley. And I always go by and I’m like, “Aww, good times.”
Andrew: Aw, that’s cute. Okay…
Eric: I just remember…
Andrew: Go ahead.
Selina: So many memories. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, those alleys. This is a fun segment. Yeah, no, there were news outlets from all around the world, obviously covering the final Harry Potter book. It was huge; it was absolutely huge, and so there were news outlets. We spoke to a few of them, I think, on the way out after the after party, and I just remember being a wreck. Jamie especially was a wreck. He was just sobbing.
Andrew: Oh, yeah, Book 7. Yeah, Jamie.
Eric: Because it was all over.
Andrew: We still have pictures of him because people were taking pictures while he was crying. Oh man, that was crazy.
Eric: But really, it was the end. We didn’t know what the future held. And if you had told me that we still would have been doing MuggleCast eight years on, I don’t know what I would’ve thought.
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Micah: That is pretty funny.
Selina: I don’t know; it’s just amazing. [laughs]
Eric: Yeah, yeah.
Micah: Still strong, yeah.
Eric and Selina: Yeah.
Pen and Paper Are My Priority
Andrew: So let’s move on. It’s now time for Pen and Paper Are My Priority, where we look at what J.K. Rowling has been tweeting over the past month. First of all, she’s been really busy on Twitter for the past month. [laughs] Continuing to love Twitter. One of the biggest things, I think, though, was on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, which was on May 2, she apologized for Fred’s death. She said, “Today I would just like to say I’m really sorry about Fred. *bows head in acceptance of your reasonable ire*” and that tweet went viral. She got 51,000 retweets. And then one of the readers – because they’re never satisfied – said, “What about Tonks and Lupin?” And she said, “I thought I might apologize for one death per anniversary. Fred was the worst for me, so I started with him.” So I guess every year now she’s going to start apologizing for people’s deaths.
[Eric laughs]
Micah: Well, I think she should do more than just the same thing every year; she should come up with something a little bit different. But I’m not a big fan of this, and the reason why… just I’m not a big fan of authors apologizing for certain things that they do in their work unless it’s extremely controversial, so I don’t think that she should necessarily be going back and apologizing for killing off a character.
Selina: Well, I don’t know if that’s what she’s doing. I think it’s more… I just saw it as her being like, “I’m sorry that I caused you so much pain.” You know what I mean?
Andrew: Yeah, kind of like, “Sorry for your loss.” That type of…
Micah: Which is really her loss.
Andrew: Because she did say, “I’m really sorry about Fred.” She didn’t exactly say, “I’m sorry for killing him.”
Selina: “I wish I hadn’t killed him.”
Eric: “I wish I hadn’t killed,” or “Sorry that I killed him.” It’s just kind of like, “This death caused you pain that could have been avoided if I hadn’t written that. I did write that; I’m still standing by that I wrote that, but as a result of standing by it, I’m sorry.”
Micah: So it’s more of an “In Memoriam.”
Selina: I think so.
Eric: I’m a terrible Harry Potter fan who doesn’t remember the date of the Battle of Hogwarts, and so I saw that this morning; “Yeah, oh, May 2.” Isn’t that MuggleCast T-Shirt Day?
Andrew: [laughs] No, sometime in June.
Micah: Eric is confusing all his dates.
Eric: Yeah, all my dates are… I’m getting old, guys.
Andrew: “The Battle of MuggleCast T-Shirt Day.” Something like that.
Eric: I’m no longer the spring chicken that I once was. But no, May 2. So I read this tweet, and I was like, “Oh, okay.” Then later in the day it was starting to get coverage, and I was like, “Oh, it is the Battle of Hogwarts day. All right, cool. That’s why she apologized.”
Andrew: But I do know what you mean, Micah. It’s not right for her to start going back and changing things or saying she should have done things differently.
Eric: If you were that sorry about it…
Micah: It just reminded me of the Harry/Hermione comment…
Selina: I was just going to say… [laughs]
Micah: … from earlier in the year or late last year; I forget when it was. And I’m not saying that she can’t change her mind about things or be vocal about the series, but when you start to talk about the main themes and tenets of the series… and Fred was such an integral part, obviously, and was part of a family that we really enjoyed. And I’m not trying to be tough here, but I’m just saying I don’t like it. Let’s take a series that a lot of us read and watch on television in Game of Thrones. Could you imagine if an author like George R.R. Martin started going back and apologizing for all the people that he killed? He’d be doing it for the rest of his life.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: But it’s just… I don’t know; maybe I just interpreted it in a different way, but I don’t like the idea of an author going back and apologizing for what they did, because the whole point was that they were using it to tell part of the story and to reach the ultimate end game here, which was Harry finally defeating Voldemort, and the reality that there are casualties of these battles and of wars and the parallel to that in modern day society and history. So I just wasn’t a big fan of that, and I’m not a big fan of her apologizing for more of them in the future.
Selina: Yeah, I know what you mean, and that it’s sort of… it puts the legitimacy of the story a little bit at risk. The whole Harry/Hermione thing, I was completely with you. I was like, “Well, you can’t go back and say, ‘I wish I did things differently,'” because it makes the world she created feel less real. But I do think for this, she was just saying, “Sorry that I did this to you.”
Andrew: Yeah, I think that’s what happened as well.
Eric: In a jovial way of saying, “I’m a murderer.”
Selina: [laughs] Yes. I don’t think she would take it back. You know what I mean? I really don’t think she would.
Andrew: I don’t think so either.
Eric: Andrew, you sourced on Hypable a couple of responses that she got for that, and I just love this one. There’s a guy who’s winning at Twitter. First of all, his Twitter name is Rowling Stone, meaning as in J.K. Rowling, Rowling Stone. And his handle is @OhForFawkesSake.
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Eric: And he just said… right? Some people win at Twitter. And his tweet is “You’re going to be apologizing for years,” and then it’s the emoji where a flood of tears is coming out of the face. So yeah, I mean, if J.K. Rowling keeps this up, it’ll be a long… May 2 every year; “Who’s she going to apologize for this year?” It’ll be like a big contest.
Andrew: I like that she “celebrates” this day. Last year she held a moment of silence on Twitter for the Battle of Hogwarts, which is so great because it’s a fictional thing, and who even knows that it’s May 2? It wasn’t explicitly said in the books, I don’t think.
Micah: Not Eric.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Just the fan websites. It’s not… yeah, not me. But if she does podcast… what the hell?
Selina: Podcast? [laughs] Freudian slip.
Eric: [laughs] If she does apologize – J.K. Rowling, call us – if she does apologize for another character, who’s the next one you want it to be? Because another one of these responses says, “Fred was never as bad as Dobby! Never!” So who…?
Selina: But he didn’t die at the Battle of Hogwarts.
Eric: No.
Andrew: I would say either Dobby or Hedwig. Again, not Battle of Hogwarts, but…
Selina: Hedwig was my worst death.
Andrew: Yeah, Hedwig was really bad. So moving on in these tweets, she also responded to somebody who was feeling really down one day…
Eric: This was huge.
Andrew: Yeah, this person tweeted J.K. Rowling randomly, and he or she said, “This may get lost in the noise, but what would you say to someone who has failed to find meaning and wants to finally give up?” So this poor person is feeling suicidal, it sounds like, and J.K. Rowling sent him or her a few tweets. She said, “I would say look at this, and look at this, and look at this,” and she shared three different pictures, one of the sky at night…
Eric: It’s like the cosmos at night, almost. It’s this crazy shot; I don’t know if it’s from the desert, like Utah, or…
Andrew: One of a blood red moon, one of a… what is that, an otter or something holding a stuffed animal?
Selina: No, that’s a sloth, right?
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Yeah, so just three adorable pictures. And then she also said, “The world is full of wonderful things you haven’t seen yet. Don’t ever give up on the chance of seeing them.” So just really inspirational. I know, Selina, you wrote a story about this on Hypable, didn’t you? What did you have to say about this?
Selina: I think I just wrote a little bit how it’s nice of her to take this time to reach out to individual people, and how ultimately she’s reminding… she’s not trying to understand this person’s suffering. She’s not trying to trivialize it by saying, “Oh, it’s all going to get better.” She’s just saying, “Sometimes when you’re struggling, just maybe look outside of yourself and maybe just step out of your own head for a little bit and look at how wonderful the world is.” And I think as someone… J.K. Rowling herself has said that she has struggled with depression before and has been in these really, really low places. I think the fact that she’s able to speak about it this way and give this really… I mean, it’s brilliant. It’s perfect advice, because it’s not saying, “This is what you do, and then your life is going to be amazing.” She’s just saying, “Just take a breath and look up at the sky and marvel.”
Andrew: Yeah, it was really great.
Eric: I think about how amazing it is, and it’s sort of a defeatist attitude to say, “Oh, this will get lost in the noise,” but she proved that guy wrong, that guy or girl, and she directly responded to this. And not only that, but the outpouring of support for this person… this person is going to get maybe the help that they need, or the support that they need. If it didn’t come directly from J.K. Rowling, too, there’s her making others aware, and other people were sharing… I don’t know if this was related, but people are sharing beautiful locations that she’s retweeting. I guess a couple days later that happened.
Andrew: To move. Places she can go.
Eric: Yeah, they wanted her to move. Oh, that was more political, okay. But in general, just the idea that she would call out this person who thought that his or her tweet was going to be basically lost, that she found it is even a marvel of its own, because…
Micah: Well, that’s the reason why she probably replied. And I think that this community is certainly the right community to have something like that exposed to, because I do think that they’ll get the support that they need, and it’s just up to them to take it and do something with it. And it was very reminiscent to me of her Harvard commencement speech and just the things that she spoke about there, and I know that it actually was released in book format not that long ago. And I would just say this time of year is the time of year where a lot of colleges graduate, and soon high schools will be graduating as well, and I would just say if you’re having any sort of feeling similar to that person and what they tweeted, then listen to her speech, because it’s an amazing speech. It’s something I go back to and watch every year, and she talks mostly about the benefits of failure and what it meant to her and where she came from to where she is today, and I just think it’s a great thing to listen to.
Andrew: Yeah. So looking at what else she also did on Twitter over the past month… a few days ago, she revealed Moaning Myrtle’s full name.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: Something only somebody on Twitter would ask her. Just out of the blue, someone said, “What was Moaning Myrtle’s last name? My dad asked me and I have no idea. I did some research, but couldn’t find anything.” So J.K. Rowling replied, “Moaning Myrtle’s full name was Myrtle Elizabeth Warren. No relation to the US Senator Elizabeth Warren.”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: And then the next day, I think, right? Or the day before, there was the birth of the… what does that…? Maybe that doesn’t have anything…
Selina: What?
Andrew: I don’t know what I’m saying.
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: I’m trying to connect it to Elizabeth somehow, and it’s not working.
Selina: No, her name is Charlotte.
Andrew: Charlotte, yeah. So then the next day, Rowling reacted to Princess Charlotte’s birth, the second royal baby, and she said, “So royal baby’s name is Charlotte. I’m sad it’s not Victoria.”
Eric: Oh, somebody said that to her, and she quoted it.
Andrew: Oh, okay. And then she said, “I was hoping for Nymphadora, but no, not even a middle name.”
[Micah and Selina laugh]
Eric: Not even a middle name.
Andrew: But the Moaning Myrtle thing was pretty cool. I like when she drops random facts.
Selina: You know what I like? Is just that she does this, and then we post it on Hypable, and then people are like, “Oh my God!”
Andrew: I think it’s one of those things you want to know, but you’ve never thought about before, because you’re always just like, “Oh, Moaning Myrtle’s name is Moaning Myrtle. That’s it.”
Eric: Right. Yeah, the thing I like about it is that she came up with it on the spot, too, apparently.
Andrew: Do you think so?
Eric: No, she actually said so, regarding Elizabeth, because she knew that Myrtle’s last name was Warren, apparently. This is from the Twitter exchange that happened immediately afterwards.
Andrew: Oh, okay.
Eric: Moaning Myrtle’s full name was, yeah, Myrtle Elizabeth Warren. Actually, how she came up with… yeah, she says, “Nothing to do with the United States Elizabeth Warren. I hasten to add, Elizabeth is just one of those classic British middle names,” and then what she said after that was…
Andrew: “I already knew her surname was Warren, but I just thought, what’s a good middle name of the period?”
Eric: “Then, the moment I’d committed myself, I thought, ‘Uh-oh.'”
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Because there were a lot of articles that came out of that tweet.
Eric: Yeah, that… I don’t even know politics.
Andrew: And some people are complaining, like, “Oh, Elizabeth Warren? Why would you use a US senator’s name?” Blah, blah, blah, blah. People complain about anything.
Eric: I had a completely different reaction, too, because I don’t really follow politics and know who Elizabeth Warren is. I thought that Elizabeth Warren was an old Salem witch trial victim, because I used to watch Charmed, the TV series. And actually, I got the name wrong. It’s Melinda Warren, the ancestor of the Charmed sisters – who are the stars of that thing – was named Melinda Warren, and she was persecuted in the Salem witch trials. So I thought J.K. Rowling was actually making a historical Salem witch whole thing, which would have been cool because Moaning Myrtle is basically a victim, a witch victim in the series. But that’s just my mistake, actually.
Micah: We can just rest assured that anytime J.K. Rowling tweets, it’s going to make national news.
Selina: Yeah, exactly.
Micah: This was clearly a ringing endorsement by J.K. Rowling for Elizabeth Warren for President of the United States.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Clearly.
Selina: Well, was it? I mean, Moaning Myrtle is the worst.
Micah: That’s true too.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: So one other thing I want to mention – we can’t not mention this – J.K. Rowling…
Eric: Oh.
Andrew: So the big UK election was held earlier this month, and J.K. Rowling was sharing her political views on Twitter, and she was getting into fights with people, and she actually would battle some people. And at one point somebody replied to her, “F word off, you labor c word. All you lefties are finished in this country, especially you, J.K. bitch face.”
[Selina gasps]
Andrew: And by the way, I said “F word” and “C word.” They spelled this out to her. Now, of course, unfortunately, it’s pretty common on Twitter for butts like these to be doing stuff like this. But J.K. Rowling actually replied to this one, as she did multiple people, but this response is brilliant. She said, “The Internet doesn’t just offer opportunities for misogynistic abuse, you know. Penis enlargers can also be bought discreetly.” She implied that this guy had a small dick!
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Eric: Yeah, or that he wasn’t a man, or a real… if you’re hiding behind anonymity on the Internet…
Selina: I think, yeah, and that he was overcompensating.
Andrew: But it was just hilarious! Like, wow. Because I always see J.K. Rowling as like a mother figure.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: J.K. Rowling could be my mom, I feel like, in some cases. I feel like I grew up with her, and to see her say this, I was just like, “Oh my gosh! Wow!” [laughs]
Eric: Yeah. Well, considering what was said to her, I’m surprised she didn’t do worse.
Selina: It was just so brilliant.
Eric: I mean, she kept it classy. Well, as classy as you can by saying that. But I mean, 17,000 favorites, 10,000 retweets are not enough. She handled this terrible criticism… who the hell says that to J.K. Rowling? Again, I’m getting defensive. That’s our mom!
Andrew: Yeah!
[Micah and Selina laugh]
Eric: Who says that to…? Not just because she’s important, because she’s successful, or is a good writer. Who says that to anybody?
Andrew: It’s just the Internet.
Eric: The fact that that exists, that somebody who has a mother – everybody’s got a mother; you’ve got to come from somewhere – was able to say that to a woman, is disgusting.
Andrew: Agreed.
Eric: And her retweeting that… I mean, somebody texted me and was like, “Have you seen J.K. Rowling’s Twitter today? Something about the c word is… she’s tweeting the c word?” I’m like, “What?!”
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: But it was just that somebody had said it to her, and she retweeted and then offered this amazing response. And it really, just throughout the day, I was blown away by just…
Micah: On Mother’s Day weekend, no less.
Eric: Yeah, Mother’s Day weekend.
Selina: And people came to her defense in a brilliant way. So many amazing tweets, just being like, “You mess with Rowling, you get the army after you.” It’s amazing.
Micah: But she didn’t have to even respond to this. I feel like she made a point of it, certainly, but I’m sure that she gets a lot of tweets that are similar to this, maybe not to the extent that this person decided to go to, but anytime that you’re a celebrity on social media and you put yourself out there, you’re going to open yourself up for criticism. I feel like that’s the case for anybody, not just celebrities, so I shouldn’t say… I’m just impressed with the way that she responded, and the fact that she even took the time to think through what she was going to say. Because we see so many examples from so many different areas when people get into the heat of the moment and say things that they later regret, and she seemed to really have thought this out, and she made light of this person, and good for her.
Andrew: All right, let’s keep moving on. It’s time now for…
Micah: Did you get an answer to your question, Andrew?
Andrew: What was my question?
Micah: I thought you followed up with this person.
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Oh, yes. I reached out to this hater on Twitter, and I said, “Do you have a small dick?” I wanted to investigate and get to the bottom of this. And he unfortunately deleted his Twitter account, but my tweet got picked up by Mic – is that how you pronounce it? – Mic.com. Very, very big website. I was very flattered that they included my tweet there.
Eric: I looked it up because his at reply was still, it seemed to be, active. So I was like, the worst thing about this whole story is that this guy didn’t just quit Twitter; his account’s actually been suspended, according to when I went to it. It’s “Account suspended.”
Andrew: Yeah, I don’t know…
Eric: I wonder if that…
Andrew: I think he may have just deleted it because he was getting so much hate.
Eric: For good reason. Yeah, let a day never go by where he doesn’t feel bad about doing that, if he can feel remorse after saying something like that.
Make the Music Connection
Andrew: So it’s time now for Make the Music Connection, and Eric had an interesting theme for us this week.
Eric: Yes. [laughs] It’s music from my library that I actually owned prior to this segment, unlike last time because it was all current music.
Andrew: No, but it was from the year J.K. Rowling was born.
Eric: Yes, so this is 1965 on M-m-m-m-make the Music Connection.
Andrew: All right, Micah, let’s have you go first. I feel like you never go first.
Selina: I have no idea what this is, so I’m glad…
Andrew: Oh, you don’t?
Micah: I think I went first last time, but that’s okay.
Eric: Oh, let’s intro it! We basically, Selina, using the lyrics, or if we actually know what the song is, the title of the song, the song itself, and apply it to Harry Potter. So when in Harry Potter was a situation similar? Or whose theme song could this be?
Selina: Oh, fun.
Eric: It’s a 20-30 second clip. You’ve never played this! I can’t believe that!
Andrew: We used to do just Make the Connection, and Jamie would pick random things, like [imitating Jamie] “Make the connection between Harry Potter and the bottom of a Big Mac from McDonald’s.” Just completely random.
Selina: [laughs] Okay.
Andrew: But now we’re doing music, because this is a podcast and music works for that. All right, so Micah, here’s the first song.
[“My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music plays]
Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Andrew: All right, so that’s a classic from The Sound of Music, right?
Eric: Yep.
Micah: I would have to go with Umbridge. Just sounds like her theme song.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Eric: What?!
Selina: That’s amazing.
Andrew: That’s an insult to Julie Andrews.
[Eric laughs]
Selina: Oh, wow. That’s not where I was going with that. [laughs]
Micah: But I could see Umbridge just dancing around her office.
Andrew: I was going to say a Weasley twin going around Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.
Selina: But it’s how you conjure a Patronus. You think of your favorite things.
Eric: Your favorite things! Oh, I was going to say Amortentia, but Patronus is even better!
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: Because you can’t smell, I don’t know, geese. That would not smell good.
Selina: [laughs] Maybe.
Eric: She mentions all the cool… I was like, “Yeah.” No, Patronus is great. And of course, Umbridge is… okay, that works.
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: All right, Selina, you’re warmed up now. Here’s the next one.
Selina: Okay. I’m ready.
[“Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs plays]
Uno, dos
One, two, tres, cuatro
Yes, Wooly Bully
Watch it now, watch it
Here he come, here he come
Watch it now, he git ya
Andrew: Okay, this is the most challenging one ever.
Selina: I have no idea what that is.
Andrew: I don’t either. What is it, Eric?
Eric: It’s “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. It’s a sort of nonsensical song. I had to look it up afterwards.
Selina: Okay, I’m just going to go for it. I’m pretty sure I heard the word “kitchen” in there, so I’m going to say this is what the house-elves play when they dance and prepare the food in the kitchen.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Micah: Nice.
Andrew: I can see that.
Selina: I could totally see that.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s a good one.
Eric: The ’60s house-elves were way swinging.
[Selina tries to sing “Wooly Bully”]
Eric: [laughs] Yeah? You know, it’s funny. I love that comparison, and to be honest, I had to look this up after choosing it. The song… apparently Wooly Bully was the name of the artist’s cat, and he was just… and it’s actually the music… they just wrote lyrics as sort of an afterthought. It was basically about having a good time, so I think Selina’s connection totally works.
Selina: Yeah, in the kitchen dancing. House-elf party.
Eric: Love it, love it.
Andrew: All right, Eric, and let’s have you go next.
[“Do You Believe in Magic” by The Lovin’ Spoonful plays]
Do you believe in magic, in a young girl’s heart?
How the music can free her whenever it starts
And it’s magic, if the music is groovy
It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie
I’ll tell you ’bout the magic, and it’ll free your soul
But it’s like tryin’ to tell a stranger ’bout-a rock’n’roll
Andrew: That’s the easiest one.
Selina: [singing] “In a young girl’s heart…”
Eric: The Lovin’ Spoonful. Okay, I’m going to go with Luna. Luna tends to believe in a little bit more magic than everyone else, so I’m going to say… I was going to say young Lily when she found out she was a witch, because they talk about old-time movies and stuff, but that was kind of colored by the negativity of Snape, so I’m going to say Luna.
Andrew: That’s the opening for the upcoming Harry Potter television series, in my opinion.
[Selina laughs]
Eric: I agree. I agree completely.
Micah: If it was made in the 1980s, yeah.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: ’60s. ’65.
Andrew: All right, last one. I’m terrified.
[“You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin” by The Righteous Brothers plays]
You’re trying hard not to show it
But baby, baby, I know it
You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’
Whoa, that lovin’ feelin’
You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’
Now it’s gone, gone, gone, whoa
Andrew: “You’ve lost that loving feeling”? Is that the lyric?
Eric: Yes. The Righteous Brothers.
Andrew: I may need help on this one.
Selina: [coughs] Snape. [coughs]
[Eric laughs]
Andrew: Snape and Lily?
Selina: I got Snape all over that song, yeah.
Andrew: Yeah? Explain that.
Selina: Well, because he… there’s that whole “You’ve lost that loving feeling.” They had that childhood friendship, and it filled him with joy, and then it slowly went away and now there’s nothing but hate and sadness.
Andrew: Hmm. Well, I was going to dispute that, because I mean, he did love her till death, didn’t he?
Selina: That’s true. That’s true.
Andrew: That’s a good one, though.
Eric: Yeah, unrequited love or love that faded is hard to find in the Harry Potter series.
Selina: Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
Eric: Oh, there’s that.
Andrew: I was going to say, Harry and Cho? Harry’s message to Cho, “You’ve lost that loving feeling.”
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: Even though she may have never really had it. [laughs] All right, so that’s how we play Make the Music Connection.
Eric: That was successful.
Selina: That was fun.
Andrew: Yeah, it’s a good game.
This Month in Harry Potter History
Andrew: So another one of our newer segments here: This Month in Harry Potter History. Micah, did you put this together?
Micah: I did.
Andrew: You did a good job.
Micah: Thank you.
Eric: There’s a lot of stuff!
Micah: It’s like I used to do the news or something.
Andrew: So these are all some big things that happened in the month of May in the Harry Potter fandom, so take us through it.
Micah: Yeah, I would just like to say, you know, it’s like I used to do this or something. I don’t know if you know, Andrew, but I actually used to read the news on a podcast back in the day.
Andrew: Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you memorize all these stories.
[Eric and Micah laugh]
Eric: Micah remembers everything he’s ever read.
Micah: I probably have read these all at some point on the news segment…
[Eric laughs]
Micah: … which is pretty scary to think about. But yeah, the first was back in 2006. May the 25th; publishers said that a 2007 Book 7 release for Harry Potter was likely, and they would be right.
Andrew: Yeah, that was… I just miss those days so much.
Selina: Me too.
Andrew: Like, “When is the next book coming?”
Selina: I remember hoping they were wrong. I was so hoping for 2008 release, so we’d have one more year of speculation.
Eric: One of those people. [laughs]
Andrew: But we had plenty of time between Books 6 and 7.
Selina: That’s true, but I wanted more time.
Eric: Well, only two years. Yeah, yeah. Some people weren’t ready, I think.
Micah: I miss J.K. Rowling’s old website, with all the little games we had to play to find out titles and chapters and release dates.
Andrew: Those were truly the best.
Micah: And then these next couple… a lot of theme park-related news was released in May. Back in 2007 on May 30, Universal Studios announced plans to open a Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Florider… [laughs] Florider.
Andrew: Florider.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Micah: That’s just what our Northeastern people call it. After years of speculation and negotiating.
Andrew: I still remember being in my TV tech class and getting news that an announcement was coming, and I was on my teacher’s computer checking this out, and we could look at the livestream that they were doing because the announcement was…
Eric: It was like a meeting.
Andrew: It was Steve Kloves and I think… or not Steve Kloves; Stuart Craig and somebody else. But the event hadn’t started yet, but we were looking at the copyright info at the bottom of the page, and it mentioned Universal, and we were like, “Oh my gosh, they’re about to announce something with Universal? A theme park or something is coming.” So that was really, really exciting, because we did not know what they were going to announce; we just knew it was a Harry Potter-related announcement.
Eric: And this came out two months before the final book, so it was almost a cushion of having something to look forward to. In addition to the remaining movies, because I guess Movie 5 came out… wasn’t it a week before Book 7?
Andrew and Selina: Yeah.
Eric: So we had the remaining movies, but then we also had this theme park to look forward to. This news was perfect for people who were really upset about it ending.
Micah: Definitely. And then just three years later on May 28 in 2010, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park soft opened to the public.
Andrew: And that meant they were testing it, sort of. I wasn’t there for the soft opening.
Micah: You went to the official opening.
Andrew: Yes, yes, the official opening. And whenever they official open the Hollywood one, if I don’t get invited, I’ll just watch the fireworks from my rooftop and cry.
[Andrew and Eric laugh]
Selina: Aww.
Micah: You have that amazing picture – being a bit nostalgic here – when the park opened in Orlando, that amazing shot with the snowman in it, and then the fireworks over Hogwarts.
Andrew: Yeah. I don’t mean to brag, but those pictures I took that night, I’m really, really proud of.
Micah: You should be. They were amazing.
Andrew: Thanks. Okay, what else?
Micah: Well, more theme park news. May 9, 2012, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park was announced to arrive in Japan in 2014. So this is the season, right? We may get more theme park news at some point, just like you were talking about earlier in the episode with LA. It’s possible… this seems to be about the time of year that they do a lot of their releases for theme parks.
Andrew: Yeah, yeah. And so that one is open now, Japan; it’s the second one. And apparently they’re trying to do something unique with each of these, so Orlando has something. Obviously Orlando is most unique because it’s the original and also the biggest. But then this one in Japan has the Hogwarts Great Lake out front, which is really cool.
Micah: Yeah, that is cool. Do they have a giant squid?
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Andrew: I don’t know.
Eric: I don’t think so. Well, the lake, as it happens… it’s kind of funny, because with the lake, it was already… they didn’t build it for the park; it was already in Universal’s territory, but they just built the castle so it was a lot closer to the lake than it is even at Islands of Adventure. But Islands of Adventure has that huge body of water in the entrance to the park too.
Andrew: [laughs] Do you think they should convert that?
Eric: No, I think it’s too late now, but it should always have been sort of the highlight, or a thing where you could maybe boat into the docks and stuff, because they could… riding your boat to Hogwarts is kind of the top Harry Potter fan experience, I think, which they have yet to do.
Micah: You have to go from the train to the boat to the castle.
[Andrew laughs]
Eric: To the castle, exactly, exactly. I think they could probably maybe work that out.
Micah: Yeah, and who knows what the future holds? Because I saw… what was it, last week or two weeks ago, that Universal announced that they’re going to add Nintendo characters to their parks as well.
Selina: New rides and stuff?
Micah: So they continue to expand on that front. And I can’t help but think that Potter had a lot to do with bringing them back to the forefront of theme park experiences.
Andrew: Oh, yeah. It’s such a great one to… it’s so easy to show off to these other potential properties. Like, “Hey, Nintendo, you want to build with us. Look what we did with Harry Potter.”
Eric: Yeah, “Look at the billions of dollars we’ve made just in revenue.”
[Micah laughs]
Andrew: And remember, there is that rumor that Universal was talking to the J.R.R. Tolkien estate about doing a Lord of the Rings thing, and the rumor, which I think is great, was that they asked J.K. Rowling to put a good word in with the Tolkien estate; be like, “Hey guys, they’ll do a good job with it. Take it from me.”
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Nice.
Andrew: And I mean, I think Lord of the Rings would be a great expansion for Universal. If they got Lord of the Rings, holy crap.
Selina: Yeah, for sure. They could do Hobbiton and stuff.
Andrew: Yeah, there’s so much there to work with.
Eric: [whispers] Hobbiton exists.
Selina: I know, but in America.
Eric: It’s called Matamata. No, yeah, you’re right.
Andrew: I don’t know how the Tolkien estate can say no. I mean, that’s such a money maker.
Eric: Lord of the Rings, for me, is all about the battles. Unless you’re going to stage a 700-person war every day in a field, I don’t think it’s worth trying to recreate, but…
Andrew: The battle of the five tourists?
[Selina laughs]
Eric: Yeah, yeah, exactly. There’s a lot in the Shire to be desired in terms of places to eat.
Selina: That’s not very theme park, though.
Micah: There could be cool rides.
Eric: They should make a restaurant that’s slightly too big for everybody, just like you’re a Hobbit.
[Andrew laughs]
Selina: Yes, oh my gosh.
Eric: The Prancing Pony. Is it the Prancing Pony?
Selina: It should be like the reverse Legoland, where it’s not all too small; it’s all too big and you’re all Hobbits.
Eric: All too big, yeah. That’d be pretty cool. I would go to that.
Micah: They could do a barrel flume.
Eric: Ohh!
Micah: So see, there are ideas.
Selina: Flight of the Balrog.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: There are plenty of ideas. All right, and then last bit of history here goes back about exactly a year or so ago, and it ties in nicely to the conversation we were having earlier. Warner Bros. announced the release date for the first Fantastic Beasts film to be November 18, 2016.
Andrew: Excellent.
Selina: Soon.
Andrew: And I saw this come up in my Timehop yesterday. [laughs] And it’s funny; I had been really excited for this announcement when they were going to announce the release date because it’s a big deal, because then you can start the countdown. It’s just really exciting.
Eric: Exactly, exactly.
Andrew: And I’m a big Bruce Springsteen fan, so I was driving to the Bruce Springsteen concert when the news broke, and I said to myself – and I tweeted this, too – I was like, “Gosh darn it, the one time in the past three years I’m driving to a Springsteen show, when I’m offline for a few hours, that’s when this news breaks. What is my luck?”
[Selina laughs]
Andrew: And I pulled over on the freeway – safely, of course – and then I wrote the story up because I had my laptop with me. [laughs]
Selina: Wow. Dedication.
Andrew: Yeah, so I’ll never forget where I was when I learned when Fantastic Beasts will be opening. And since then, we found out that they they’ve also scheduled Fantastic Beasts 2 and 3 for November 2018 and November 2020.
Eric: Every two years.
Andrew: Every two years. Oh, and I forgot to mention this at the very beginning: CinemaCon happened in Las Vegas last week or two weeks ago or three weeks ago, and it’s a conference for movie theater owners, and they get to see previews of movies that are coming to their theaters within the next year. And I went to it for the first time, and I went to the Warner Bros. presentation, and for a fleeting moment – for about two seconds – they flashed the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them title art on the screen.
[Eric gasps]
Andrew: Yes, and it was… I saw that; I was like, “Oh, maybe we’re going to get some Fantastic Beasts news today.” Unfortunately, there was no Fantastic Beasts news that day.
Eric: What does it look like? What is the…?
Andrew: So it looks just like the cover, but it’s a brown and gold theme instead of the red and gold. So if you look at the cover… I’m pulling it up right now…
Eric: You’re talking about the US version of the book?
Andrew: Yeah, the US edition of the Fantastic Beasts book. It’s red and gold. It’s Gryffindor colors.
Eric: Yeah, it is.
Andrew: So it’s basically that logo, the text laid out the same way, but it’s brown, yellow, gold theme. There’s no red in it.
Eric: It’s more earthy.
Selina: Awesome.
Micah: So speaking of cons, though, do you think that we’ll get some information at San Diego Comic-Con this year? Or is it too early?
Andrew: I think it’s too early. I mean, by Comic-Con standards, I guess it’s not that early, but…
Eric: Maybe Eddie Redmayne will walk around as a Death Eater and no one will know.
Andrew: Yeah, I guess they could have Eddie Redmayne.
Selina: They might do a poster reveal, a proper logo reveal or something like that.
Andrew: Yeah, they could. I mean, last year they had the Batman v Superman cast members, three of them, come out on stage. They didn’t talk; it was really lame. But they did come out, and that was almost two years in advance; that was about a year and a half in advance. And by July, we’re going to be year and a half away, so maybe they could have Eddie Redmayne there.
Selina: Find out who Jacob is.
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, and who’s playing the President of Magic in the United States.
[Everyone laughs]
Selina: Very important.
Listener Feedback
Andrew: So actually, speaking of Fantastic Beasts, we forgot to get to this earlier in the show. We asked people on Twitter what they think of Eddie Redmayne as Newt, now that we have the news. Chris said, “I’ve never seen him in anything, but he has the right look for what I imagine Newt will look like.” Maya says, “I’m excited. I think he’ll be great for the role.” Christina says, “We don’t really know if he will take on the role. He seems like a good actor. I’ll have to see him in the role to really decide.”
Selina: He’s all right. He’s got an Oscar; he’s okay. [laughs]
Andrew: And Kristen says, “Honestly, I’d rather have somebody else play Newt.” #NotMyNewt! Start the campaign.
[Eric and Selina laugh]
Andrew: I think I trolled J.K. Rowling on twitter with that one a few weeks ago. [laughs] I don’t know why. So that’s it for this week’s episode of MuggleCast. I’d like to plug the show I’m doing weekly with Matt, Laura, Elysa called Millennial. It’s over at MillennialShow.com. You can listen for free, but we also have a Patreon set up where you can pledge as little as $2 a month to get bonus content, and we’re doing a bunch of fun stuff there. And I know, Selina, you’re a new listener to Millennial, and I appreciate that.
Selina: I am. I heard my name the other day; I was so excited.
Andrew: We were talking about you.
Selina: Telling my stupid lie story, of all things.
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Andrew: Hey, a listener brought it up; it wasn’t our fault. So you can go to MillennialShow.com. And speaking of Selina, she is now the host of Hypable’s Hype. Tell us about that briefly.
Selina: Yeah, filling Andrew’s shoes. Well, we brought back Hypable’s Hype, which is Hypable’s flagship show about general entertainment news across films and books and TV shows and music. All the biggest stories, we bring them up in a news show format way, with other fun segments as well. And we’ve been talking a lot about Marvel lately because of all the Marvel news. We bring up Fantastic Beasts and J.K. Rowling and all that stuff. And it’s me, and it’s Marama from Hypable, it’s Pamela from Imprint, and it’s Kyle from a bunch of other shows, and sometimes it’s Andrew. And it’s a lot of fun, and that’s called Hype, and it’s on Twitter at @HypableHype in one word, and we hope you’ll check it out.
Andrew: And it’s weekly. It’s now weekly.
Selina: It is weekly. It’s a good way to sort of sum up everything that’s happened in fandom, all the biggest stories, because we do make sure we include everything. So if you want to make sure you’re caught up on pop culture, and you scroll through Hypable but you think you might miss stuff, it’s a really good way to just make sure you’re all caught up.
Andrew: Awesome. Micah and Eric, want to say anything about Game of Owns?
Eric: Yeah, we’ll take turns plugging. Micah, you go.
Selina: Two plugs right after each other. [laughs]
Micah: I like how you did that. You said, “I don’t really have anything prepared, so I’m just going to let Micah go explain it.” No, but we’re in the middle of Game of Thrones Season 5.
Selina: Woo!
Micah: Actually just passed the halfway point, and Episode 6 is this Sunday, and it’s crazy to think that the season is almost over. But we do a podcast…
Selina: It’s so good.
Micah: Yeah, it really, really is – called Game of Owns, and we release two times a week. We record directly after the episode on Sunday evening for an early Monday, sometimes Tuesday release, and then do a follow-up episode later on in the week to take all of the owns that people send in, and that’s really key moments, really great lines that characters have, or just situations where you feel like one character owns another. And we get a lot of great submissions in, so we’re looking forward to the rest of the season. And then, of course, in the off season of the show, we go through the books and release weekly, so a lot of great stuff going on over there with the show being in full swing.
Andrew: Cool.
Eric: We also have a Patreon for Game of Owns, Patreon.com/GOO. Fun goo. One thing I want to plug that I forgot to mention earlier is just that on the reminiscing segment, when I was talking about HP Fan Trips, I actually, as a 16-year-old, part of why I was able to go along was I had to develop web videos. Basically, I videoed the whole thing, basically the whole trip, and I turned them into – at the time – six, I think, videos of summarizing each day of the tour, because it was HP Fan Trips’ first tour, first time doing that. And I will say, they are on YouTube. If you want to check them out, it just says HP Fan Trips; it’s under my personal YouTube channel. And I kind of don’t know why I’m plugging them, because they’re actually extremely embarrassing. I thought I was funny. I thought I was cool.
[Andrew and Selina laugh]
Eric: And they’re actually a bit painful for me to watch, so I won’t be rewatching them, but you certainly can. Just add that little bit of extra “This is me when I was 16 and in love with Harry Potter.”
Andrew: Go easy on him.
Selina: Aww.
Eric: Yeah, go easy on me! But go check them out. I just figure why the hell not?
Andrew: Are you sweating in your robes? I’ll watch that.
[Selina laughs]
Eric: I’m not sweating, but I do… it’s before they had the cart at Nine and Three Quarters, because now when you go to King’s Cross in London, they have a cart that’s embedded in the wall, and it was just a blank wall at that time that was labeled “Nine and Three Quarters.” But I actually… so several of the girls who were with me, I took all their handbags, put it on an actual baggage trolley, and ran into the wall.
Andrew: Did you actually run into the wall? Or did you pretend?
Eric: Yeah, I ran into the wall. I ran into the wall. It looks better in slow motion, but I actually ran into the wall, toppled over, hurt my knee pretty badly…
Andrew: [laughs] Okay, wait, there’s video of this?
Eric: Yeah, there’s video of this.
Andrew: Okay, I’m sold.
[Selina laughs]
Eric: Day four, part two, I think it is.
Andrew: Okay, I’ll be watching that.
Eric: Yeah, so that was… it was a blast. But yeah, to be young and in love with Harry Potter, it’s something that… I’m really looking forward to Fantastic Beasts. I hope that an entire new generation is able to… I know they’re just films and not books first, but I hope that young kids are able to be as passionate about Fantastic Beasts – or even still about Harry Potter – as we were, because that was just a blast.
Andrew: And we will… if you have any stories of your own, dear listeners, that you would like to submit, let us know; we’d love to hear them and read them. You can send them to MuggleCast@gmail.com. We’ll also remind you on social media, hopefully get some of your stories that way, because we want to hear about people’s fandom experiences over the years, whether it’s past or present. It’s interesting and inspiring, and yeah, good podcast material, I think. All right, thanks, everybody, for listening. Micah, Eric, Selina, it was a pleasure.
Selina: Thanks for having me on again. Always fun.
Andrew: No problem.
Micah: Yeah, always fun.
Eric: Always fun.
Andrew: I’m Andrew.
Eric: I’m Eric.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Selina: And I’m Selina.
Andrew: We’ll see everybody next month for Episode 279! Goodbye!
Eric and Selina: Bye.