Transcript #163

MuggleCast 163 Transcript


Show Intro


[“Boom Boom” by John Lee Hooker plays]

[“Innuendo” by Queen begins playing]

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[Song continues]

[Show music plays]

Andrew: And good morning, ladies and gentlemen! 9:30 a.m. here on a Friday morning here on the West Coast, and just a half an hour ago, Warner Brothers released a brand new Half-Blood Prince trailer. And surprised the fans. Isn’t that right, Matt Britton?

Matt: Yes, they did. Yup, yup, yup.

Andrew: We found out about it last night, but of course they wanted to make it a surprise to the fans. So here we are, a half hour later after the trailer came out. Of course this is a big surprise to the fans, and, frankly, this trailer is awesome.

Matt: Yeah, it is pretty – it’s pretty awesome awesome.

Andrew: Matt and I are here. Eric will be here later on, Micah will be calling in later on. And who knows, maybe a couple of surprises. Penny Gershman from HP Prognostications is going to be joining us very shortly. But right now I want to take some of your calls, because what has happened is, fans were completely surprised by this. It came out of the blue. So start calling in now. The number 1-218-20-MAGIC in the United States. If you’re in the United Kingdom or in Australia, you know the numbers: 020-781-44-0677 in the United Kingdom and in Australia 028-003-5668. So, right now, let’s get in here Penny Gersh from HP Prognostications. I’m going to call her via our little Skype tool.

[Matt hums along with music]

Andrew: Very exciting. Matt?

Matt: What?

Andrew: What was…

Penny: Hey, guys!

Andrew: Hey, hello!

Matt: Penny, hey!

Andrew: Good morning.

Penny: What’s up?

Matt: Oh nothing, just watching the new Half-Blood Prince trailer.


Initial Reactions to Trailer


Andrew: Your initial reactions to the trailer?

Penny: Oh my gosh, I love it!

[Everyone laughs]

Penny: What can we say? I mean, it looks like everything that we wanted it to look. It’s – there’s dark, there’s light, it’s funny, it’s – I’m so excited. [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, I know.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Matt, what really stood out for you in this trailer?

Matt: Hermione’s hair.

Andrew: [laughs] Hermione’s…

Matt: It’s actually messy.

Andrew: I know!

Penny: Me too.

Andrew: You can’t help but notice. It was almost like obnoxiously sort of messy.

Matt: It was like – yeah. It was almost like, “You know what? Screw it. I’m going to make the fans happy.” And she just goes in the bathroom and just scrubs her hair.

Andrew: Right.

Penny: Well, the thing is though, I’m wondering – I mean it’s not like that in the entire trailer, so I’m wondering if perhaps maybe there’s some kind of potions accident or something that made her hair like that.

Matt: Maybe.

Penny: Except what excited me though was that we always hear about how Hermione’s hair is so bushy, and we’ve never seen it, except for maybe in the first scene in the first movie.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: So it’s exciting to actually finally see it.

Matt: But we only see it in that one scene. So – I mean – we know in the book that she get – that Hermione’s a little jealous of Harry, so maybe she was like up all night trying to study and trying to one-up Harry, and then she probably just didn’t have time to do her hair.

Andrew: Maybe.

Penny: With the Felix Felicis or something.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: It is kind of – Penny, could – I don’t know of you saw my IM, but can you put on headphones, if you have some?

Penny: Yeah, you want to cut me off for a few minutes?

Andrew: Sure.

Penny: Because I had headphones on and then I couldn’t hear you guys, so…

Andrew: Sure.

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: All right. So…

Matt: So, Andrew, what did you think about the trailer? I mean, what was your favorite part? What really stood out?

Andrew: The beginning. No, I have to say – well, you brought this up to me while we were talking when we first saw the trailer – the color in this is very – I want to say saturated?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: It just looks very warm…

Matt: It looks like an inkwell painting or something.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, it’s funny, because I guess we’re – in a way we’re comparing it to the trailer that leaked a few weeks ago.

Matt: But this one actually had all the CGI in it.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. [laughs] The Quidditch, too, looks quite surprising, because there’s that one funny shot of Ron just like.

Matt: “Whoo!”

Andrew: He’s sort of like in X formation…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …with his body. [laughs]

Matt: “Yeah!” That’s probably when he has the Felix Felicis.

Andrew: Do you think so?

Matt: Yeah, because he’s having a good time. It’s the only time we ever see him happy.

Andrew: Oh, that’s right.

Matt: Because he’s always nervous. But also in the Quidditch scene you can see Ginny.

Andrew: You can?

Matt: I never knew that was Ginny.

Andrew: Where?

Matt: At the very end.

Andrew: Of what?

Matt: You see “Weasley.” If – when they’re all in formation, she’s the last person to join the crowd.

Andrew: Really?

Matt: Yeah, it says “Weasley” and she has long red hair.


Call: Comic Relief


Andrew: Sasha, good morning, you’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Oh, hold on, let me just mute first.

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: Oh, thank you.

Caller: I just wanted to say that I’m really happy with this trailer. I think…

Matt: Mhm.

Caller: …compared with some of the other ones this one has so much comic relief than all the trailers for the other movies…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: …and I think it’s really great for such a serious film that I was expecting it to be.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, I agree with you, it is a good balance.

Andrew: Question though. I want your reaction though. When you first heard or saw that there was a new trailer, how did you react?

Caller: I was jumping up and down.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Caller: I was really, really excited.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Caller: I mean, it’s been really slow with the news and everything with Harry Potter.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Caller: About time for a trailer.

Andrew: Yeah. All right, Sasha. Thank you.

Matt: Thank you so much, Sasha.

Caller: Yeah, you too.

Andrew: All right, bye.

Matt: Bye.


The Trailer Was a Surprise


Andrew: All right, Penny, you’re back. Penny, we were just talking about how much of a surprise it was.

Penny: The trailer in general?

Andrew: Yeah. What were your reactions when I told you?

Penny: That they brought it now?

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Penny: Okay. Well, first of all, my first reaction was that this movie is coming out in July, so it’s still once again, as much as we – you know – we thought this was going to happen by the end of this month, it’s a really long time away, so that was my first reaction of, “I’m excited, but once again, this kills me because we’re not going to see the movie until July.”

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Right.

Penny: Also, because we had just had that leaked trailer a few weeks ago, I was sort of surprised that this one came out. I don’t know if you guys felt that same way.

Andrew: Me too, but here’s the big thing with this trailer. [laughs] This really brings it full circle. They’re releasing it – they’re putting it in front of Twilight, which is kind of funny.

[Matt laughs]

Andrew: And when we were told about this yesterday, I was on the phone with WB, and I was like, “So you going to put something in the beginning of the trailer that’s like ‘Yeah, so you were supposed to see this movie with Twilight, but – or to see this movie today, but here’s a little trailer anyways. Sorry. LOLs.'” [laughs]

Penny: Yeah, and in some ways – in some ways it’s offensive to the Harry Potter fans, but in other ways, it’s great, especially for the ones who are going to go see it. I mean, how many of us are going to go see it the Twilight movie anyway?

Andrew: Right.

Matt: Yeah, totally.

Penny: So many.

Matt: Nobody.

Penny: It’s – yeah, nobody. None. [laughs]

Andrew: I think…

Penny: Go ahead.

Andrew: I think this is a – quite frankly, a pure gift from Warner Brothers, because anyone seeing Twilight is not on the fence about seeing Harry Potter. You know everyone seeing Twilight is going to see Harry Potter, so why is WB doing this? I think, in a way, it’s to say, “Hey look, we’re sorry, you know, we delayed the movie, here’s a new trailer.”

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: And I think that’s great.

Penny: Can you imagine what the fans’ reaction’s going to be when they go in for Twilight and they first see this trailer?

Andrew: [laughs] I know.

Matt: Oh, I would – I would laugh my freaking butt off if that happens.

Andrew: Well…

Penny: It’s going to be amazing.

Andrew: Yeah. And if [laughs] they’ll like the trailer so much, they’ll be like “Oh, crap, I wish this came out before Twilight.”

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Penny: Hopefully Twilight will be able to live up to the trailer, but that’s another discussion.

Andrew: Yes…

Matt: Yeah.


The Focus on Slughorn


Andrew: …that is. This trailer had a pretty heavy focus on Slughorn. It was only a minute – what, about a minute and a half?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: And there was a big focus on Slughorn and Ron. Matt, what’d you think of that?

Matt: Of what? I’m sorry.

Andrew: Just the big focus of Slughorn and Ron.

Matt: The Slughorn? Well, I mean, it’s about time. It’s the one character that we really introduce, and I think it was needed.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: I mean, it’s not really heavily focused, we just see – the only reason why you probably think it’s heavily focused is because you actually hear them introduce him in the trailer. Like, this is Professor Slughorn.

Andrew: Yeah.


The End of the Trailer


Matt: What I really like about this trailer though, is that there’s no narration; it’s Dumbledore speaking over everything. It just seems a little more dramatic that way, I think.

Andrew: Yeah, definitely. What also I thought was interesting – this is just a random thing, but it was an initial reaction sort of thing. At the end of this trailer – you know with the trailer that leaked, at the end there’s that very last clip: “Well, I am the Chosen One.” At the end of this trailer there’s music, and it just sort of trails off, and you’re expecting a clip at the end. But…

Matt: Yeah!

Andrew: But then it just goes pfft, July.

Penny: I had the exact same thought, exactly.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Oh, it’s like, you tease!

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: You know what? In some cases I think it’s more powerful this way. The last trailer was so serious, and then you got that last clip thing, and then it shows the – that, “I’m the Chosen One” clip, and it’s almost just sort of like a letdown.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Penny: After that one.


The Half-Blood Prince


Matt: The very last clip, though, you see, right before Harry Potter, is Snape conjuring some spell that has some green stuff coming out.

Andrew: Oh! I got so excited when I saw Snape in this trailer. [laughs] He looks…

Penny: One that I just realized is there’s still no mention of the Half-blood Prince or anything having to do with that plot-line.

Andrew: You’re right, yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: But, I mean, there are some really cool shots in this trailer.


The Cave Scene


Matt: Yeah. We get to see the Inferi.

Andrew: Crawling up to Dumbledore! I mean, oh my God! That’s so cool! What’s the time code on that?

Matt: Oh, I’m on QuickTime, so it doesn’t have a time code.

Andrew: Oh. Okay. Right. 1:33. You see these guys crawling out of the lake up to Dumbledore. Oh man, is that cool.

Matt: It’s kind of…

Andrew: And then there’s the shot of Harry grabbing on to Dumbledore’s hand.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: And Harry protecting Dumbledore. Oh man!

[Penny laughs]

Matt: It’s pretty freaking sweet.

Andrew: It’s really great.


Hermione Crying


Matt: Can we talk about for a second how sad it was – I mean, we only saw it for a clip – but Hermione crying.

Andrew: Oh yeah! [laughs]

Matt: Was it – that was a good cry.

Andrew: Yeah, I’m laughing – go ahead, Penny.

Penny: I completely disagree with you there.

Matt: Really?

Penny: I think that – I thought that – I think that it looked like – I think that it could potentially be a powerful clip, but I thought that Emma Watson just didn’t pull off crying.

Andrew: I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. I agree with Penny there. [laughs] The laughing is – I mean I guess we don’t know the context of it, though, so we don’t know…

Matt: Well, I’m looking at it in HD and her eyes are all red.

Andrew: If this is where Dumbledore died or something, then I’ll be crying along with her… [laughs] …because – I don’t know. You don’t feel for her, Penny?

Penny: Oh, I completely feel for her, I just don’t…

Matt: I don’t…

Penny: …like her…

Matt: I don’t think her – this is – oh, sorry, Penny!

Penny: No, go ahead.

Matt: I don’t think this is the death of Dumbledore. I think this is when she gets upset with Ron.

Penny: I was actually trying to figure that out, because she’s wearing that little Hogwarts t-shirt…

Matt: The Gryffindor tee, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, it’s a little dressed-down thing.

Penny: Pajamas? It might have been pajamas or something, I don’t know.

Matt: But, then again, everyone was in pajamas when the Death Eaters stormed the castle.

Penny: Right, that’s what I was thinking.

Matt: Huh. I just don’t know.

Andrew: Yeah, because I guess if it was when Dumbledore died, she may have been dressed in something a little nicer.

Penny: No! Because it was the middle of the night, wasn’t it?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: There’s no what?

Matt: It was in the middle of the night.

Penny: Yeah, it was the middle of the night.

Andrew: No – oh, sorry, I’m meaning before the funeral. How about the shot of Snape turning around and seeing Draco, and – I don’t know who those are down there – attacking Hagrid’s hut.

Matt: It’s Bellatrix conjuring the fire. On the left.

Andrew: On Hagrid’s hut?

Matt: Yes, see her on the left?

Andrew: Oh! Oh yeah, damn, you can hardly see her. And finally, we’re also seeing shots of Millennium Bridge, which they were filming at a few weeks ago. Sorry, what am I saying? Over a year ago they were filming at Millennium Bridge and we had countless amounts of pictures and such.

Matt: It’s very sombre music too, during the trailer. It’s – you hear a piano being played the entire time.

Andrew: Yeah. I don’t know.

Matt: It’s awesome. I hate these trailers; they just get me too excited.

Andrew: Why?

Matt: Well, the Harry Potter trailers; they’re like the best trailers of any movie franchise I’ve ever seen.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: But, it just gets me too excited, and I have to wait another five months.

Andrew: Yeah, well, Eric’s going to be joining…

Penny: Longer than five months.

Andrew: What’s that, Penny?

Penny: It’s longer than five months.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Oh.

Andrew: Eric’s going to be joining us soon. And yeah, like – the thing is, whenever you get these trailers, yeah, you do get excited, but then I can’t help but think, “Oh, people already saw this.” And like their excitement is sort of already over.

Matt: Well, Eric’s going to tell us if there’s any change.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Because I – I don’t think that the whole CGI part, with the – with the memory at the – at the orphanage when
Dumbledore was walking, I don’t think they had that inkwell effect.

Andrew: What’s the inkwell effect?

Matt: You see – it’s just like all these little – smoke coming out from everyone.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Everywhere. I – because that wasn’t in the trailer. Or in the teaser trailer. That – it was just pure black
and white.


Ron as Comic Relief


Andrew: Yeah. And what did you guys think of – does Ron do the “in love” thing a lot, or are we going to get sick of
it throughout the movie?

Penny: Yeah, my question was, in the first four movies, Ron was used as comic relief all the time.

Andrew: Yes.

Penny: And then the fifth one I thought they did a really good job transferring that to that Nigel kid…

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: …and Ron was able to be a little more serious. And I’m a little bit nervous that they’re going to go back to using him…

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: …as comic relief.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Well, we really only see him in that one scene where he is under the Felix Felicis.

Andrew: Right.

Matt: So I don’t think that was really fair of them to give that one shot of him for us.

Andrew: And, oh, and then we actually see Luna with her Spectre…

Matt: Yes!

Andrew: …things. Which look…

Penny: They look awesome.

Andrew: Yeah, they did.

Matt: They look amazing.

Andrew: They look so cool.

Matt: I’m really excited that they – that they added the gargoyles in front of the castle. Those will just be so
much more awesome for the big battle in Deathly Hallows.

Andrew: Why? Do you think they’re going to come to life? But, I mean, the way – they change things in this movie very frequently.

Matt: But they’d never done that before. I mean, they’ve never shown the gargoyles at the entrance gate.


Slughorn and Young Tom Riddle


Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. I liked the flashback of Slughorn when he’s talking to young Tom Riddle, correct?

Matt: Where he tells him to get out?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Penny: Didn’t he…

Matt: “It’s a lie!”

Andrew: It like – no, go ahead, Penny.

Penny: In the book, wasn’t – didn’t he originally give a messed up memory he – changed the memory, correct?

Matt: Yeah.

Penny: So do you think they’re going to do it like that?

Andrew: I think so because doesn’t Dumbledore say in this…

Andrew and Matt: “Its a lie.” Yeah.

Penny: Yeah, right. Okay.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Because…

Andrew: “It’s a lie!”

Matt: Yeah, because it’s – it ends right when he says, “Get out.”

Andrew: Right.

Penny: I honestly haven’t watched it enough times to really…

Andrew: I know.

Penny: …absorb it.

Andrew: I know. There’s so much – like…


Pacing of the Trailer


Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: As I watched – another initial reaction thing I had – as I’m watching the trailer, it sort of started off a little slow. Like in terms of clip-wise. But then as you start getting to the end, it picks up more and more and it’s like…

Matt: Well, thats what a typical trailer does though. I mean it just shows you a climatic – or as just as many
scenes as they can probably push in.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. It’s really cool.

Matt: It’s really cool though. I just love that one scene where – that one shot with Harry and Hermione on Dumbledore’s office looking out to the Great Lake. It’s – I mean, I’m afraid its going to be another, “I’m scared for you” kind of scene, but it looks really nice. It’s just the whole saturation you said, Andrew, just about the way everything looks. It just looks – it looks really nice. I really – I’m really liking this.

Andrew: Yeah. And the music I thought was more epic than ever.

Matt: Yeah. It’s really nice. I really love the whole – the whole piano stuff they’ve been playing into it. Like right after – I think it was with – when Dumbledore and Harry go through – what is it called when – when you – when you transport?

Penny: Apparate.

Matt: Apparate! Thank God, oh geez. It’s still early. When Dumbledore and Harry Apparate, and they land in the office, there’s this little piano thing going on with really high pitched keys.

Andrew: Mhm.

Matt: It’s just so cool. It’s just like – it’s like you’re just all stepping into this huge epic story.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: Yeah, and I think it definitely feels more powerful than any of the other ones before, and I think that – and obviously that’s very symbolic for what’s happening in this one. Especially because Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows were really, you know, two parts of one story.

Matt: Yeah.

Penny: And you know – and that really just – it’s the climax of the story.

Matt: Yeah. So basically, this is like part one of the three-part story.

Penny: Exactly.

Matt: Because you get introduced to all the Deathly Hallows and then it just all goes out from there.

Andrew: Right.

Matt: Or not the Deathly Hallows, the Horcruxes.

Penny: [unintelligible] …Horcrux, didn’t we?

Andrew: You’re a movie ahead.

Matt: Yeah. I’m sorry, I’m just really excited for the next movie.

Andrew: I feel like calling Ben or someone and pranking them into thinking like – just be like: “Ben, we just got this trailer and at the end it says November 21st.” And then, “Warner Brothers surprised everyone and said that the movie actually is coming out November 21st.”

Matt: They wouldn’t believe that.

Andrew: I think he would.

Matt: No, he wouldn’t.

Andrew: I think he would.

Matt: No, he wouldn’t.

Andrew: But he’d be cursing too much. [laughs] We obviously can’t put that on.

[Andrew and Matt laughs]

Matt: Isn’t it cool, though, we got to see Seamus get exploded again? It’s been a couple of movies.

Penny: Yes.

Matt: I thought it was really cute.

Penny: It’s come full circle, sort of.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah. It’s like, “We’re going to bring back a couple things that you loved from the other films.”

Andrew: Exactly.

Matt: What do you think about the Death Mark? Above the castle? It’s a little different…

Andrew: Dark Mark?

Matt: The Dark Mark. You know what? I fail.


Call: The Death Eaters


Andrew: Let me try – hold on – let me try one more call. Karen, good morning. You’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Hey, guys!

Matt: Hey!

Andrew: Hey! What’s going on?

Caller: Not much. I can only talk for a minute because I have to go to class, but it was really awesome.

Andrew: Isn’t it?

Matt: Isn’t it?

Andrew: What was your reaction when you found out that the trailer was online?

Caller: I was kind of in disbelief and then I like clicked it and I wanted to wait for the whole thing to load before I watched it because I didn’t want it to stop in the middle…

Andrew: Right.

Caller: …but then it was taking – because I clicked like one of the really big ones – and so it took like a minute to load and so I was getting so nervous, and then I watched it, and it was amazing.

Andrew: Right. [laughs] Yeah. It’s very exciting. So you have class or something in a few minutes or something?

Caller: Yeah, I can talk for like a minute though.

Andrew: Oh, okay. Well, when you go to class are you going to be spreading the word? Because I mean this was WB’s…

Karen: Yes.

Andrew: …intention. They need – wanted a big boom. A big “Oh my God.”

Matt: Mhm.

Caller: Yes.

Andrew: Was there anything else that stood out in the trailer for you?

Caller: I thought it was really awesome how they had all the black smoke everywhere, and then they had – when they had all the black smoke like going through London, were those Dementors? Or were those Death Eaters, do you think?

Matt: Those are Death Eaters, I think.

Andrew: Yeah, I think so too.

Matt: Yeah. Which is kind of bothering me, because why would they do that when the Muggles never really saw anything? I thought the Death Eaters were like in the crowd when it happened.

Andrew: Anyway, any other reactions, Karen?

Caller: I’m just going to be kind of a nerd here and say that the design on the back of The Quibbler is kind of amazing.

[Andrew and Karen laugh]

Matt: Isn’t it?

Caller: Because I watched it in ridiculous high quality.

Matt: You can see the big 3-D thing coming out. It’s so cool.

Andrew: They should print legit Quibblers or something.

Matt: I think that’d be really cool.

Caller: They totally should.

Andrew: Yeah, to promote the movie and hand them out at theaters or something like that.

Penny: I’m sure they will.

Andrew: That’d be very cool. Yeah. All right, Karen, thank you. And for everyone who doesn’t know – I don’t know if we ever said this, I think we did – but Karen designed our excellent Portus shirts, but we had a Portus printing shirt problem so that never turned out. But, Karen, thanks for doing that for us.

Matt: Aw, thanks, Karen.

Caller: Yep.

Andrew: We’re sorry it didn’t work out. All right, well thanks for calling in, Karen.

Caller: Mhm. Talk to you guys later.

Matt: Have fun in class.

Andrew: Okay, bye.

Caller: Bye.

Andrew: Thank goodness I did not have class today. Penny, do you have class today?

Penny: Do I have class today? Do I have work today?

[Andrew laughs]

Penny: No, I only work the beginning of the week.


Call: Bellatrix


Andrew: Oh okay. Shivani, good morning. You’re on MuggleCast Live.

Caller: Hi.

Andrew: Hi. How are you?

Caller: I’m good.

Andrew: What was your initial reactions to the trailer?

Caller: I was blown away. I was actually studying for a physics exam I have today so I had no idea I’d see a trailer.

Matt: [laughs] God, physics.

Caller: So that was amazing.

Andrew: Awesome.

Caller: I actually wanted to bring up that one scene on the tower where Bellatrix conjures the Dark Mark.

Matt: Uh-huh.

Caller: Because when I – from what I remember, she’s not supposed to be there.

Andrew: Why wasn’t she supposed to be there? Just because she was hiding? I’m forgetting.

Caller: Well, on the tower, isn’t it just Malfoy, Fenrir Greyback…

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Is that even the Astronomy Tower?

Andrew: It must be.

Caller: It has to be Hogwarts.

Andrew: Yeah, because Fenrir’s there. Isn’t he in that shot there?

Matt: Oh yeah.

Andrew: [burps] Excuse me. [laughs] You know what? WB makes these subtle changes just to make it work with the plot more, so maybe that was why. I mean, in all honesty, it does look pretty, in Mikey’s words, “epic” to see her casting it from atop the tower, don’t you think?

Matt: Yeah.

Caller: Right, but do you think that will change anything with the fact that Snape is supposed to be there and she’s not supposed to be know like the full details of that?

Andrew: That’s true.

Matt: Well, Snape’s not there though. Maybe this is afterwards, after the fight, and she could have climbed up on the Astronomy Tower and that’s how they left or something.

Andrew: In the…

Matt: Because I don’t remember Bellatrix – does Bellatrix leave with Snape?

Caller: At the very end, yes.

Matt: Oh, geez.

Andrew: The way I always pictured it in the book – weren’t they on the top top? Like there wasn’t even sort of like a cove like this. It wasn’t like a window looking out. Wasn’t it on top where you could just – like there was no walls?

Matt: Mmm, no.

Andrew: Isn’t that how it’s illustrated in the book?

Matt: I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I don’t know.

Andrew: Well…

Matt: The very top of the Astronomy Tower? Where Dumbledore got killed?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Well, no. Dumbledore got thrown through the window, I think.

Andrew: Was it? Because when I read the book, I always pictured it as being the very top. Because they were looking out with binoculars – sorry, telescopes.

Matt: Yeah, you’re right.

Andrew: I don’t know.

Matt: I don’t know.

Andrew: All right.

Caller: Yeah, I thought he fell over, I guess, the battlements or something. I think he just fell right over. There wasn’t a window.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s what I thought too. All right, well, Shivani, thank you for calling in. Oh, and what was your initial reaction when you came online and you saw it?

Caller: Surprise, completely. I thought – we just got the leaked trailer not long ago, so it’s kind of a shocker to have like two trailers so soon.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. Well, it’s very exciting, and, Shivani, you have a good day.

Caller: You too. Thank you.

Matt: Bye.

Andrew: Bye. All right, there was Shivani who enjoyed the trailer very much. If you do want to call in and get your opinions here on the show, our phone-line doesn’t seem to be working, so use the MuggleCast Skype name. It’s just MuggleCast, and you Skype call it. The number does not seem to be working. If you are just joining us, there’s 160 people now, and when we first started the show there was like 50. Of course, the Half-Blood Prince trailer was released this morning by surprise to all Harry Potter fans, and everyone was very excited, including our next caller, Sophie. Good morning.


Call: Hermione’s Hair


Caller: Hey, what’s up?

Matt: Hey.

Andrew: Hey, what’s up? You were…

Caller: Sorry.

Andrew: …surprised – plug in your headphones or something so there’s no feedback, please.

Caller: I turned down the volume.

Andrew: Oh perfect, even better.

[Sophie laughs]

Andrew: So your reaction: You go online, you see a headline, “New Half-Blood Prince Trailer.” How do you react?

Matt: What goes on through your mind?

Andrew: What goes through…

Caller: [laughs] Oh my gosh, I was so excited. I got your guys’ update on Facebook.

Andrew: Oh, perfect. I knew those were handy! I never knew if anyone was looking at them. [laughs] Well that’s great.

Caller: Yeah, so immediately I logged onto MuggleCast, and I was downloading the HD one, so that sort of took awhile, but it amped me up. I was ready.

Andrew: It’s worth it right? The HD quality?

Caller: Yeah, it was amazing, I loved it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: It was so much better than the last two.

Andrew: Oh my God.

Matt: Yeah. I have to say, there’s no fire in this. I’m so relieved.

Andrew: No, there is. There’s the shot of Dumbledore.

Matt: But not as much.

Andrew: Oh, oh I get it. [laughs]

Matt: Not in every other scene.

Andrew: If you count the fireplace shots and stuff, there is a good amount of fire. I’m just kidding.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Anyway, Sophie, was there anything that really stuck out to you or anything?

Caller: I really liked the Hermione and the frizzy hair. I know you guys already talked about that.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: I appreciated seeing it. I think everyone else did too.

Andrew: That’s the news of the day, isn’t it?

Caller: [laughs] Everyone’s freaking out.

Andrew: Anyway, Penny and Sophie, Matt and I, quite honestly, we don’t have long hair. We don’t know how to manage that. Sophie, by your Skype picture, it looks like you do have long hair.

[Sophie laughs]

Andrew: What do you think it took for them to do that, and why do you think it’s taken so long?

Caller: I don’t know. Like personally, with my hair, that would never happen, because it doesn’t work like that.

Andrew: [laughs] Are you saying Hermione had a bad hair day?

Caller: Maybe. She might have woken up on the wrong side of the bed.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: I don’t know, but it must have taken probably like an hour to get it that frizzy.

[Andrew laughs]

Penny: They could just have stuck a ton of spray in her hair while it was wet, and she woke up and it was frizzy like that.

Matt: Or blew up like five balloons and started just rubbing it against her hair.

Penny: I don’t think this was like a major CGI effect or anything that we’re dealing with.

Matt: I don’t know. Her hair is pretty pixelated.

Caller: I also want to say, I love Harry and Ginny. Finally like a bit longer of a scene with them maybe?

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: Still not focusing on them very much.

Penny: No, they’re not, and I just also hope that like within Order of the Phoenix, the way that they did Cho’s kiss was you almost thought that he was going to end up with Cho, and there was such drama leading up to it.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Penny: I really hope that they do a decent job with the Ginny one, because that’s the one that’s important.

Caller: I hope that they have really good chemistry, because I know she really played like the little awkward-in-love-with-him girl really well, but I’m excited to see how she’s going to play the actual girlfriend.

Andrew: Yeah, back very quickly to this bushy hair. If you look at the shot, Seamus is also like pretty scruffed up, so maybe there was like some sort of like explosion or something and that’s why her hair is bushy. [laughs]

Matt: Yeah, maybe.

Penny: Unfortunately, though.

Caller: I think you just have a thing for this bushy hair.

Andrew: Yeah, I do.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: What can I say?

Matt: Well, maybe she had to look different by comparison because Lavender’s on the other side of Ron.

Andrew: That’s true too. Lavender’s…

Penny: But then they shouldn’t have given Lavender Brown curly hair, but…

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Or blonde.

Andrew: She’s got the bow to differentiate I guess.

[Sophie laughs]

Penny: Yeah, but have you seen how many comments on YouTube for the last trailer? People have been going crazy about “Ron and Hermione kissing,” and I’m like …

Caller: I know, they totally did that on purpose.

Penny: …no, that’s not her.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I don’t think they realized what they were doing actually. [laughs]

Caller: I think they’re trying to play up like if you haven’t read the books, you’re going to be like a dumb fan and be like, “Oh my god, Ron’s kissing Hermione!”

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah, it’s like, “Oh you’re a fan of the movies, you’re not a fan of the books.”

Caller: Exactly. [laughs]

Andrew: Sex sells.

MuggleCast 163 Transcript (continued)


Ron’s X Formation


Penny: Which brings us to the – can we talk about it? That Ron scene on the broom?

Andrew: What? What about it exactly? [laughs]

Penny: It made me really uncomfortable. [laughs]

Andrew: Just that his position? His X formation?

Penny: Yeah. Just take a look at it.

Caller: I thought it looked adorable.

Matt: Yeah, we’ve seen it. I’ve seen it.

Andrew: Sophie thinks he looks adorable.

Caller: I do.

Andrew: Sophie.

Matt: He looks…

Caller: Me and my friends are really happy that we’re finally seeing him playing Quidditch. [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah. The CGI looks a lot better too compared to other films, and I was saying this the last live show, they didn’t have Quidditch in Movie 5, so hopefully they would have upped the quality of the Quidditch CGI-wise, and it certainly looks like they’ve done that.

Caller: Yeah, it [unintelligible].

Andrew: Plus it’s snowing, which gives it a nice effect. It makes the – the snow really makes the Quidditch players stand out a lot too and as they’re playing, because it’s white against the red.


Apparition


Caller: And also with the CGI, the Apparition looks amazing.

Andrew: It’s very cool.

Matt: Yeah. I really like it.

Caller: Really like bendy. I don’t even know what that is. [laughs]

Andrew: Well, it’s sort of like – I have to replay it again. I have to find it.

Matt: I keep thinking like, it looks like a straw just sucking them all up.

Andrew: Exactly.

Caller: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, here, I found it. It’s about – oh geez, I don’t even know what I’m looking at now. I think I passed it. It’s about fifteen – yeah here we go – fifteen seconds in. Just grabs the arm. Yeah, it’s like a straw. It’s kind of cool.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: It’s sort of like a transition you would see in iMovie when the video gets sucked into the center.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: The transition. I don’t even know if any of you guys have seen that in iMovie HD, but there’s lots of that. All right, well, Sophie, thank you for calling in.

Caller: You’re welcome.

Andrew: All right. And, Sophie, I can’t hang up on you so feel free to hang up on me.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Caller: Good to talk to you.

Andrew: Good talking to you too. Oh geez.


Fenrir Greyback


Matt: You know what? We get to see Fenrir Greyback too. His full-on face in this trailer.

Andrew: Yeah. What do you think about it? I mean, we sort of saw it.

Matt: He looks all – yeah, but there’s actually light showing on his face.

Andrew: He’s scary.

Matt: Yeah, he’s not a very attractive man.

Andrew: [laughs] He’s not supposed to be either.

Matt: Yeah, well, you know, it’s all…

Andrew: Is he wearing a tie? What is that thing? I’m looking at 1:34.

Matt: Yeah, I’m at it too. I think he’s shirtless.

Andrew: Oh, that’s right. That’s his hair. Duh.

Matt: [laughs] Bushy hair.

Andrew: They should have made him sort of like the Joker character. You know how Dark Knight, Joker was this crazy guy?

Matt: You want him to cut his lips?

Andrew: No! [laughs] No, but just like insane somehow.

Matt: Well maybe. I mean, we haven’t seen anything from him. All we see him is just turning to the side a little bit.

Andrew: Yeah. True, true.

Penny: Wait, is that him though? And I don’t have anything time stamped, but in – it must be – I think it must be near the Burrow scene probably, but there’s somebody just in the middle of all these high, tall grass.

Matt: Yeah, that’s him.

Andrew: In this new trailer?

Penny: That’s right?

Matt: Flicking off this white spell.

Penny: Yeah, is that what it is?

Matt: Yeah.

Penny: He almost looks like he’s got like a Klingon forehead a little bit. Do you see that?

Matt: It’s his hair. I mean, his whole face is pretty much covered with hair. I think that’s what it is.

Penny: Uh-huh.

Andrew: What’s the time stamp of that, Matthew?

Matt: It’s a 1:34.

Andrew: Oh, I see. Maybe they forgot to put makeup on his wig to cover the seams so that’s what – doesn’t it sort of look like a hair net? Like, at the cafeteria?

Matt: Yeah.

[Andrew laughs]

Penny: I will say that he does look scary, which is good.

Matt: Yeah, he does not look like someone I want to hang out with.

Andrew: Fenrir the lunch lady.

Matt: He has a huge gash between his left nostril all the way down to his chin.

Andrew: Yeah, so he is kind of Joker-like. I know that sounds weird, but…

Matt: Oh, it’s not a gash it’s just – just a something – a piece of hair on the film or something.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: It might be a piece of blood also. I think I remember in the book it said that he smelled of blood and…

Andrew: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Penny: So…

Andrew: There’s another Joker comparison. Joker loves blood. Sorry, I just miss Dark Knight a lot right now.

Matt: Yeah.


Favorite Trailer


Andrew: Penny, how would this trailer rank in your opinion of the top trailers? Of the Half-Blood Prince trailers, and then we’ll go round the table about favorite trailers overall.

Penny: This is definitely my – I mean – you can’t compare this without these two because it’s a trailer, not a teaser, first of all.

Andrew: Right.

Penny: And I think they just did a great job, really just getting a lot of the movie.

Andrew: Absolutely. Oh, I guess it’s my turn. [Andrew laughs] I think – yeah, this is my favorite too. And I have to say, the first trailer, the teaser trailer, left such a mood. It had such a theme to it. But this one is more of the classic trailer that we all like to see with tons of different action, whether it’s love and lust. And, Matt, you said this is your favorite trailer too?

Matt: I – well, no I didn’t, but yeah, it is.

Andrew: Well, you said it’s one of yours. Eric!

Eric: Hello.

Andrew: Good morning, Eric.

Matt: Hello, Eric.

Eric: Good morning! Good morning, Matt! Good morning, Andrew! Good morning, Penny!


Eric Joins the Show


Andrew: Hold on. Hold on, let me call you. Sorry, I did that by accident, I’m sorry. [laughs] Geez. Eric is now joining us via Skype. Hi, Eric.

Eric: Hello.

Andrew: Eric, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the new trailer came out this morning.

Eric: Sweet.

Andrew: Have you watched it yet?

Eric: No I have not. I have just gotten home.

Andrew: Technically, though, you could say yes because you’ve already seen the movie.

Eric: Well…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: …it’s the way they splice them.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: It’s not the scenes.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. And for any of you who doesn’t know, Eric was lucky enough to catch a screening of Half-Blood Prince[laughs] …it’s so weird to say, two months ago. It was two months ago, right? About two months ago?

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: Guys, you have it in a zip it’s so big?

Andrew: That’s what WB gave it to us as.

Eric: Dude, that’s awesome.

Andrew: Look at the Quicktime versions. Those aren’t zipped.

Matt: Geez. [unintelligible] is just amazing.

Eric: Okay. So what have you seen? I mean, what…

Matt: Oh, we’ve seen the whole movie so far. I mean, it has everything.

Eric: I mean, overall, what’s your one word impression of this trailer?

Matt: Epic.

Andrew: Adrenaline. Yeah, towards the end – Matt and I were watching it together, and towards the end it really picks up and you start getting really excited.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: It’s like BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Matt: And my essential reaction I can’t really say because we’re live and it’s censored, but let’s just say I said every word in the Bible. And in the dictionary.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Wow. That must have taken you like a bajillion hours.

Andrew: Yeah. I must have been really focused because I didn’t hear a single one.

Eric: Hmm. Well, it is loading here, this MOV. How long is it?

Andrew: It’s about a minute and a half.

Matt: It’s about a minute and forty-five seconds.

Andrew: Yes. Now let’s get some more callers in. Guys, please call in, username Skype. For some reason our phone numbers aren’t working, but Skype the username MuggleCast to get people’s reactions. Since this was a big trailer surprise, on MuggleNet I made a post along with the trailer post, I said tape your initial reactions, because those are always fun to watch. Nicole! Good morning! You’re on MuggleCast Live!


Call: The Music


Caller: Hi!

Everybody: Hey!

Caller: Oh, that was a surprise. I didn’t think I would get through. [laughs]

Andrew: Oh trust me, there are not many calls coming in right now.

Matt: Everyone’s in class.

Caller: Yeah, I know, I’m lucky. I literally turned on the computer and I saw that it was on. It was amazing.

Andrew: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so was that your initial reaction? Did you scream? Was there any sort of – did you pee your pants? What happened exactly?

Caller: Well, I was in my Corporate Accounting class, and I looked on Twitter, and I saw a thing announce it, and I go back to my room, and I literally had to read it like four times, I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was old or something.

Andrew: Nice, nice. Anything you want to discuss concerning the trailer?

Caller: I loved the music, especially the end. It’s just – “Hedwig’s Theme,” it just sounded different. Like it sounded more intense I think.

Andrew: Was there “Hedwig’s Theme” at the end?

Matt: At the very end. It’s always at the very end.

Andrew: I missed it. Hold on, hold on, let’s play it right now. I have that technology; we can do that. Hold on. Let’s listen. [pause] Apparently I don’t have the technology because it’s not working! [laughs]

Matt: Yeah, you definitely have that technology. Wow. [laughs]

Andrew: Oh wait, wait, I muted the trailer, that’s why. Shut up. Okay, hold on.

Matt: Wow.

[Music starts loud]

Matt: Oh geez.

Andrew: Okay.

Matt: You already passed it.

Andrew: Shh. Oh I did?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh gosh.

Matt: Do you want me to do it?

Andrew: No!

[Part of trailer plays]

Matt: [imitating Hermione] I’m scared for you.

Andrew: [imitating Harry] Fight back!

Matt: Here it is.

[“Hedwig’s Theme” plays]

Andrew: Oh man!

[Audio ends]

Andrew: That’s sick. I didn’t even notice that.

Penny: Yeah, I don’t know how I missed that.

Matt: That’s because I was screaming when it was happening.

Andrew: That’s like military style.

[Matt imitates the song]

Andrew: That was because I was too busy cleaning up my pee from my pants, I guess.

Matt: Oh, gross.

Andrew: Tend to spaz out when that happens. Well, Nicole, thank you for calling in.

Caller: Thanks for taking my call!

Andrew: You are so welcome. Have a good day.

Caller: You too.

Andrew: And there was Nicole, who peed her pants when she saw the trailer. Now here’s someone who was calling in earlier and I’m going to get him in now.

Matt: Eric, have you seen it yet?

Andrew: Eric’s on hold.

Matt: Oh.

Andrew: Meaning it’s his fault, not mine. Okay. Michael’s missing his chance. Sorry, Michael. It’s about time that they mixed up the “Hedwig’s Theme” a little bit to match the…

Matt: They always mix it.

Andrew: They don’t make it like that.

Matt: Yeah, they do.

Andrew: They do the classic little piano or whatever they do.

Matt: Sometimes they do it. In the teaser trailers they do it. And like the other trailers – Prisoner of Azkaban did it, I think – no, no, not Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix.

Andrew: Yes.

Penny: I like how they give “Hedwig’s Theme” its own personality in each movie.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: Mike, good morning, you’re on MuggleCast Live!

[Silence]

Andrew: Mike, good morning.

Matt: Michael?

Andrew: Good morning, Mike. Mike, hello? Goodbye, Mike. [laughs] Let’s see. What else is there to discuss? For anyone just joining us, there is close to 200 people in here right now. The Half-Blood Prince trailer was just released this morning. Surprised the fans. This was the intention, and the trailer is going to be coming out with Twilight, ironically enough, on the same day Half-Blood Prince was scheduled to be released on November 21st. Michael, good morning, you’re on MuggleCast Live!


Call: Length of the Movie


Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hey.

Matt: Hello.

Andrew: What is your reaction to the trailer?

Caller: Hey, how’s it going?

Andrew: Pretty good.

Caller: The trailer was really good. I’d like to know how much – do you guys know how long the movie’s going to be, actually?

Andrew: No. That would be a question for Eric, who has seemed to disappear, but I think they’re aiming for two and a half hours, isn’t that right?

Matt: I think I heard something like that, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. So it’s going to be a little bit longer than these trailers.

Matt: Well, yeah, I – that’s usually the case. The trailers are usually shorter than the films.


Call: The Inkwell Effect


Andrew: Right. Let’s take another call. Anthony, good morning! You’re on MuggleCast Live.

Matt: Anthony.

Caller: Hey, how you doing?

Matt: Hey.

Andrew: Pretty good.

Caller: Hey, I’m here.

Andrew: You are here, good morning! What was your initial reaction to the trailer?

Caller: How are you guys doing?

Andrew: Pretty good.

Caller: I thought it was pretty good. What did you guys think about the fog – what did you guys think about the fog sequence though? When Dumbledore was walking over to the orphanage?

Matt: Yeah, that’s what I was talking about too. Well, I used the inkwell effect, but fog works better than what I described, because they were confused.

Andrew: Yeah, the ink makes it – sorry, which scene are you talking about exactly?

Matt: The memories in the Pensieve.

Andrew: Oh. Yeah, it’s really cool because it matches…

Caller: When Dumbledore goes to the orphanage.

Andrew: Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it’s really cool because it sort of sets the tone for a memory. Because in flashbacks previously, there hasn’t been – like in Chamber of Secrets, of course, that wasn’t a memory, but it was – it was like black and white, and I thought that was sort of a lame way to illustrate the flashback…

Matt: Well, in Goblet of Fire they didn’t even do that. He just fell into a room.

Andrew: Right. Yeah. So, yeah, I think that’s a very cool effect to give the people an impression that they’re in a memory.

Matt: Because it’s kind of fuzzy.

Caller: Did – in one section, it also looked like Bellatrix was casting the Dark Mark at Hogwarts. Did you guys see that?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, we discussed that earlier. But a caller was saying she’s not supposed to be there. Do you have any sort of reaction to that? I mean…

Caller: You guys were talking a couple of months ago how Bellatrix was only casted for the beginning sequence with Snape, so I was kind shocked to see her at Hogwarts.

Andrew: Right.

Caller: So I didn’t know if you guys had any insight as to that.

Andrew: Well, I was speculating that maybe that was just one of those things they had to change to go along with the plot a little more.

Matt: Mhm.

Caller: Oh.

Andrew: I mean…

Penny: These are the people that put in the Burrow scene. I don’t think it’s going to – it’s that crazy to think that they put in Bellatrix into the scene.

Andrew: Right. Yeah. They’ve done some crazy…

Caller: Overall, I thought it was a great trailer.

Andrew: Definitely. Your favorite yet? Your most favorite?

Caller: Actually, yeah. It’s my favorite trailer out of all the movies, because it’s filled with everything. It’s got the love sequence, it’s got the horror sequence and everything later, so…

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Got to say it’s definitely well balanced.

Andrew: Definitely. Eric, we had a caller in here a few minutes ago who was wondering how long the film is. Do you remember like the exact time?

Eric: No, and I’m sure it’s changed. Unfortunately, I don’t.

Andrew: Well, give us a ballpark. Two and a half hours?

Eric: Yeah, I don’t want to say.

Andrew: [laughs] What? Is it like a surprise? Is it going to be like five hours or something? Let’s put it this way: I had to pee three times.

Matt: Oh, we get to see the Death Eater siblings in the trailer as well. Along with Bellatrix and Fenrir.

Penny: The Carrows?

Matt: Yeah, the Carrows. Yeah, because there’s a female Death Eater and a male Death Eater too with them. They were both in that scene when they killed Dumbledore.

Eric: Gosh, can I just say how good it is to see an actual official released trailer?

Andrew: I know! Really.

Eric: My gosh! In High Definition. Come on!

Andrew: In like thirty different formats.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: Oh my God! That’s amazing!

Matt: No lightening inserted in anything.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Yeah. No creepy lightening shot.


Micah Faxes in His Input


Andrew: I just received a faxed statement from Micah Tannenbaum in the MuggleNet – MuggleCast news office. He says, “I think it was more all-inclusive than the last trailers. Showed more of the sex and comedic side that we heard about in previous reports, and it’s nice we’ve finally moved on to something of substance for the sixth film before we start getting DH news.” That was an official statement from Micah Tannenbaum.

Matt: Well, thank you, Micah.

Eric: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sex?

Matt: Can we send him like a fruit basket or something?

Andrew: Yeah, we should’ve proofread that. I don’t know about that word “sex.”

Eric: Hang on, sex? But that’s what Micah said, right? Sex.

Andrew: But – yeah. But David Heyman has described this movie as “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll.” Your thoughts, Eric?

Eric: [laughs] Well, I guess if David Heyman said it, there’s got to be sex in this movie. I…

Andrew: [laughs] Would you disagree with that?

Eric: Well, no, not exactly, but, I mean, romance, you know, there are so many different ways of saying it. Micah just faxed in his brutal analysis there, and…

Andrew: Yeah. Well, it’s not brutal.

Matt: It’s not sex, it’s sex appeal.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s what he was talking about. [laughs] This isn’t Harry Potter X-rated.

Matt: God.


Call: Ron’s In Love


Andrew: Let’s get another caller in here. Katie, good morning. You’re on MuggleCast Live. Hello, Katie.

Matt: Good morning, Katie. Afternoon.

Caller: Hi.

Matt: Hi! There she is.

Andrew: How are you?

Caller: Oh, I’m doing all right! I didn’t expect anyone to pick up.

Andrew: Hey, no problem. But listen. You were just surprised by the trailer this morning. Your initial reactions when you saw that the trailer, a brand new trailer. Your reaction, please.

Matt: Thoughts!

Caller: Well, actually, I just got a text message from my friend. She was all like, “Hey, check it out, there’s a new trailer,” so I just got finished watching it.

Andrew: Awesome.

Caller: I like it. I burst out laughing at the part with Ron, when he’s under the love potions – like, “have you actually met her?” He’s like, “No…” [laughs]

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, exactly.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Any…

Caller: And…

Andrew: Go ahead.

Caller: No, go ahead.

Andrew: I was just going to say, any other reactions to the trailer? What – is this your favorite one yet, or what? You are speaking for the fans. Represent them well, please.

Caller: [laughs] I’d say probably my favorite one so far. There was so much happening, and I’ve only watched it twice, so I’ll probably have to watch it again to get… [laughs] …get a better gage on it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: But what I saw, I liked.

Andrew: And…

Caller: Same as always, I can’t wait to see that.

Andrew: Definitely. Did – did – what was I going to say? Oh. Does this make you any more excited for the film, or has it changed your thoughts about the film? Or what?

Caller: Oh, more excited than ever, definitely.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: All right, Katie. Well, thank you for calling in.

Caller: Well, thank you! You guys have a great day.

Andrew: Thanks, you too. Bye!

Matt: Bye.

Andrew: And again…


The Dumbledore Debate Continues


Matt: How epic is it when Dumbledore says, “It is also a lie!”

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah!

Matt: It’s like, whoa, geez! [laughs]

Penny: Did you guys talk about Dumbledore when I was on hold or anything?

Andrew: Not really.

Matt: No. We can…

Andrew: What were your…

Matt: Your thoughts on Dumbledore, please, Penny.

[Andrew laughs]

Penny: [laughs] Sorry, but, to me – because I have never been a Gambon fan, so…

Andrew: Oh, yeah.

Penny: Could we talk about that?

Andrew: Yeah, it’s time for our weekly Has-Gambon-Changed-At-All talk. [laughs] Let’s get into that.

[Penny laughs]

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, what do you think of him, Penny? I mean, do you think he’s changed in this trailer, or what?

Penny: I think he’s changed, and hopefully he’ll continue to change, but I still just don’t think he’s Dumbledore.

Andrew: Oh.

Penny: I think one big thing that I’ve always loved about Dumbledore, especially in Half-Blood Prince, which is I think my favorite book, is that he’s just got that vulnerability, especially at the end.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: And I just don’t see Gambon playing it.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: Ooh. Ooh, ooh. Can I chime in?

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Sure, why not?

Eric: Okay, I got to say, Penny, I am totally with you on Michael Gambon. I too have not liked him at all in the past. He has had very, very, very precious few redeeming qualities. But in this movie, by the time the end credits close, you will have seen more of his dying, decaying hand and more vulnerable Dumbledore than you could possibly ever forget.

Matt: I – I’m kind of with him.

Eric: No, they – they do – in this movie, I don’t know why – I think it’s because he had this hand, that Michael Gambon was able to really sort of bring it forward. But I did get a pretty good sense – it made me a little bit happy to see a more – a weaker, sort of more vulnerable, as you put it, Dumbledore in this film. And it might still not be what many people would love, maybe not still Richard Harris, but in this trailer – yeah, in this trailer – this trailer might overlook it, but there is a lot of – a lot of vulnerability on the Michael Gambon side, and Dumbledore. And it’s a bit interesting that they – I’m looking at the very beginning of this trailer, and when they – when they Apparate. Did you guys talk about that special effect? Did you say…

Andrew: Yeah, it’s very cool, isn’t it?

Eric: They show it now. That’s – that’s – it was just awesome. To me that was straight out of the book.

Matt: Mhm.

Eric: The twisty-turny sort of – I don’t know, maybe that’s just me. But that line there, where Dumbledore asks Harry, you know, “Do you wonder why I brought you
here?” And Harry says, “After all these years you just sort of go with it”?

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: That is one of my complaints. Not that the line exists. Many people would probably be upset that the line exists, but I – I’m upset that they showed it in the trailer because the trailer by definition is zippy and has to condense everything. And that’s not – the scene they show when he says that, obviously it’s a voice over, he doesn’t say it in that sequence. It’s – I mean he responds to Dumbledore that way, but it just – they should have left it in the movie because it’s much slower pace. I don’t know, they were looking for an early punch line, maybe. But that’s my one complaint that that line – that line gets better treatment in the film. They should have just left it there.

Andrew: Well, yeah. And I have to say that this – I really do agree that Dumbledore is getting – Michael Gambon is getting where he should be. He does seem very
vulnerable in these trailers. Especially these end scenes where you see these people crawling up to him and you see Harry protecting him. He looks fantastic!

Eric: In the – you mean in the cave?

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Yeah. The cave is pretty cool.

Andrew: Eric, now, here’s a very important question.

Eric: Yeah.


Is The Trailer Representative?


Andrew: Is this trailer representative of the movie? Because I don’t want to get excited that this going to be some action packed, amazing thing. The music always
hypes you up when you watch these trailers. Does this trailer live up to the hype of the movie? Does it represent it well?

Eric: Well, let me put it this way: I liked Movie 5, but I was with my girlfriend who hated Movie 5. And it’s got the same director, same script treatment, same everything. So it was interesting going into it. I loved and my girlfriend both loved this movie, and we hadn’t seen any of the completed special effects or many of them. And so you’re looking at the Quidditch and – or I’m looking at the Quidditch, and the cave scene, and the Inferi, and all of that stuff, and seeing all
these completed special effects. And I liked the movie without them, and so did my girlfriend, who didn’t like, along with many other people, David Yates’ flashes and montages in the previous films, which were not in this movie at all. This movie is so different of a movie, yet so awesome and true to the book. It’s probably the truest to the book, I think. It totally feels like it’s true to the book. It doesn’t feel like it’s skipping around.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: It goes at a slow pace, but you’re able to – to feast your eyes on these wonderful effects which happen in Quidditch, and the Burrow scene, and the end
scene. The fight scene at Hogwarts looks amazing! Just from these tiny clips in the trailer. It’s – yes, I would say this trailer is not only representative
of the movie, but a darn – darn good one. I mean, WB must be sighing relief hearing – to hear all these fans now saying that it’s their favorite so far ever. I mean that’s just got to be a good feeling, because – and in my opinion, too, I share it, that this trailer is a success. It’s a win. It’s made of win…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: …and is going to be exactly what they needed, I think.

Andrew: Yeah, and…

Matt: We have been talking with Eric Scull of the Behind the Scenes on the trailer in film.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Woot!


The Trailer is a Sorry Gift


Andrew: This is WB’s gift to the fans, I think. It’s a sorry gift.

Eric: Well, it’s about time.

Andrew: Because it’s coming out…

Eric: It’s not only a sorry gift.

Andrew: Right, well, it’s coming…

Eric: Basically with…

Andrew: Yeah. Well – well, I say it’s a sorry gift because it’s coming out with Twilight, which comes out the same day that the Harry Potter
trailer…

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: Well really!

Penny: I think it’s a last ditch effort gift for them.

Andrew: I mean, yeah. [laughs]

Penny: I mean, not…

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, could that – wait, I mean, put it this way: what else could they have done that’s better? I mean, you know.

Eric: Well, right. If it is a last ditch effort.

Matt: More pre-screenings.

Andrew: More pre-screenings? [laughs]

Eric: At least it’s a successful effort, I think.

Andrew: One listener just IM-ed me over Skype chat and said it’s a lame sorry gift. But I don’t – I don’t know. I think this is a good gift!

Eric: Who’s going to still be mad? Who’s going to still be angry?

Matt: Yeah, the whole thing about angry about being delayed – that’s over with. Just – just accept it.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, you know – and what would be a better gift, like a scene? But I don’t want to see a scene. I want to see a trailer.

Matt: Yeah, I think…

Eric: I don’t want a scene too.

Matt: I really don’t want another trailer for a few months. I want to still be able to actually see the movie when it comes out or not. See everything with the TV spots and all the behind the scenes footage and all the ten million trailers they’re giving us.


The Harry-Ginny Kiss Scene


Andrew: Yeah. People also want us to discuss the kiss scene. The Harry-Ginny kiss scene. Right? Was it the Harry-Ginny? Yeah. It comes up very quickly and it’s
towards the end. I – what’s there to discuss? People in the chat, feel free to add some feedback. One listener said to me people who haven’t read the books will be
incredibly confused.

Matt: Well then, who cares?

Andrew: Which I guess is true.

Matt: Who honestly cares? If you haven’t seen – I mean, I’m tired of the movies trying to acclimate it towards people who haven’t read the books – can do that. Just understand.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: They need to…

Matt: If they really want to get the movie, read the freaking book!

Andrew: Penny?

Penny: Yeah, and does this person mean that they’re going to be confused by the trailer or confused during the book?

Eric: During watching the movie, I think.

Penny: I mean, during the movie I mean.

Eric: Yeah.

Penny Why would they…

Eric: I think that’s what they mean. But yeah, I don’t know why either, because, to be honest, he does linger over Ginny for a while in the movie.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: And it’s made quite clear. It – just because it doesn’t happen exactly like it does in the book. I mean, I think these people went and spoiled themselves on all those spoilerific – which were not mine – reviews of the pre-screening film and are all angry. I mean, to be honest, I watched this trailer just while I was on the show here, and I missed the Harry-Ginny scene
in the trailer the first time, completely. I didn’t even know it was in there, and then I was – I have it paused and I’m simply looking through scenes and I see that it is in there in whatever incarnation, but yeah, I don’t know what there is to talk about it.

Andrew: I don’t think people will be confused as much as they’ll be intrigued.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I mean, so what? They’re – I mean, you know.

Eric: Bonnie Wright is intriguing.

Andrew: [laughs] Yes. Well, them staring at each other and going in for the kiss is intriguing. What’s up with this? Why is Bonnie going in for the – why is Ginny going in for the…

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: …kiss? Why is Harry just standing still?

Eric: She’s more of a man than he is!

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, apparently!

[Eric laughs]

Matt: She’s a Gryffindor, she’ll go for it.

Andrew: Well, I mean, I guess we’ll have to see the context around this one. Go ahead, Penny.

Penny: She’s also the more experienced one.

Matt: Oh yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, I guess so!

Matt: She’s going out with everybody and their mom!

Eric: That’s true, you know, we needed a girl on to recognize that for what it was!

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: It’s experienced kissing.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm. Well also, I think why people were kind of upset – because it was kind of a little too obvious that Harry liked Ginny. Was – that in the book, we only found all about that Harry kind of liked Ginny by inside his mind.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Because he never made it obvious, but the audience knew, so how can the audience know if they’re not, you know, reading from inside Harry’s mind?


Call: A Caller is Pleasantly Surprised


Andrew: Exactly. Let’s take another call now. Riviere, I think I got your name right? Good morning.

Caller: Yeah. How are you?

Andrew: I’m good. How are you?

Caller: I’m very glad to be on the show because I am from France, so I can usually never join your live chats.

Andrew: Oh, yes. We’re broadcasting nice and early this morning.

Caller: [unintelligible] …so it’s great.

Andrew: Awesome. Now, you will represent the fans from France. When you first saw this trailer, what were your reactions, please?

Caller: I was really happy to see that the trailer really sticks to the movie. There are many steps you usually don’t get in the movies that they included. Like I wasn’t expecting to see the Death Eater attack on London, or even Draco when he looks in the mirror. I was really like – it was like I was reading the movie again. The [unintelligible] again.

Andrew: The book.

Matt: Yeah.

Caller: The book I mean. [laughs]

Andrew: That Draco shot was really cool!

Matt: Yes! He was in the bathroom, right?

Eric: It’s at 1:32 in the bathroom. Yeah, he’s looking
into the mirror. I think that’s so – I have it paused there at the moment, 1:32, and, like you said as well, the attack on London, the Death Eaters scene is just – even with completed special effects, looks amazing! You see the bridge begin to break away, and it’s just – it’s exciting, and…

Caller: Yeah, and did you see this kind of [unintelligible]?

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: I think it was kind of the same smoke. I don’t know if they used the same effects. Anyway, no,
it was really great, and even seeing Voldemort at a different age, it was – I don’t know. I think they’re going to put a lot of [unintelligible].

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Riviere, if you had to respond to this trailer in French, what would you say?

Caller: In French? It was – I don’t know, [speaks French]. Unexpected.

Andrew: Unexpected? All right. [laughs] Is that what that word meant? All right, thank you, there’s our French lesson for today.

Caller: Just one thing, maybe. They show [unintelligible] too much, because in the end when you see Snape, I think he’s in front of Hagrid’s hut?

Andrew: Yeah he is, yeah.

Caller: And it burns when all the Death Eaters are around. So maybe it gives away too much of the story, but apart from that, I was really happy to see this.

Andrew: Yeah. All right, Riviere, thank you.

Caller: Thank you.

Andrew: All right, goodbye.

Eric: One thing they do have a lot of in this trailer too, is character treatment. That’s what I liked about the movie too, the character treatment, that they seem to pay attention to everyone’s character. Instead of trying to advance the plot, advance what happens, they focus more on everybody’s character. Everybody gets a chance to act in this film; it’s really quite nice, instead of saying – instead of it being a movie like in the earlier movies where Ron and Hermione might have one or two prominent lines and the rest are just throwaway lines to advance the plot, here they’re actually – you can see that the actors have only gotten better and they’re allowed to do stuff with their characters. It’s pretty neat, which is kind of also why there are these scenes where Harry’s like, “Well, I am the Chosen One,” or “After all these years you just go with it.” Surely that was written in the script, but it’s just more focus on where these characters are at.

Andrew: Right. Right. All right, Inger – we’ll get another call in here – Inger, good morning, you’re on MuggleCast Live. We’re live, its 10:30 AM, it’s a Friday, the trailer just came out an hour and a half ago, what were your thoughts?

[Feedback plays]

MuggleCast 163 Transcript (continued)


Call: Character Development and Special Effects


Andrew: I love hearing myself. All right, quick PSA to everyone who’s joining us. When you call in, please wear headphones so your – our stream can’t be picked up by your mic, and please have a question prepared and, you know, all that. So thank you for that. Let’s take another – let’s take a call. Jenny, good morning, you’re on MuggleCast Live, hello.

Caller: Hey!

Andrew: Hey!

Caller: I was so excited. I got a text message from Twitter that you guys were doing the live show.

Andrew: Awesome.

Caller: And I love the new trailer. The sixth book was my favorite book because of all the character development…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: …and from the scenes I’ve seen in the trailer and from what Eric just said, I’m really excited to see this movie.

Andrew: Yes. Yeah, that’s actually a great point. There’s a lot of character development in the book and we’re really seeing some advancements in this – in this movie. What did you think of Hermione’s bushy hair? That’s a hot topic this morning.

Caller: I noticed that.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: I really have no opinion one way or the other on Hermione’s bushy hair. I think it looks fine.

Eric: Oh God, I’m trying to find it. I’m trying to find it.

Andrew: I just got an instant message from my friend: “Hermione’s hair is hot, I think. And Ron is just straight up hot.” That was from my friend Alex Vogelson back in New Jersey. So a lot of people are very interested in the hair. Jenny, was there anything else that really stuck out to you?

Caller: A lot of the special effects in the trailer. The Millennium Bridge collapsing looks amazing!

Andrew: Yes, it does.

Caller: And I also love the sort of fog-like, inky, very fluid effects with the memory.

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: The memory sequences.

Andrew: Definitely. So – and you know what? Hallelujah, we got a trailer that didn’t have any corny effects in it.

Caller: I know, it’s amazing.

Andrew: The first trailer – yeah! The first trailer had those stupid titles, that I swear to God, they made in iMovie, or they had someone very basic do some very basic Photoshop stuff. And then the second trailer we had that shot of McGonagall sending up that [laughs] stupid lightening bolt.

Eric: Yeah, well, to be fair that was a leaked trailer.

Andrew: Right. Right.

Eric: [laughs] That one wasn’t – you can’t pin that trailer on…

Andrew: Right.

Eric: But…

Andrew: But it did come out, and we did see it, so…

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: And they – and they didn’t take it down.

Eric: It was kind of – it was kind of funny. But the other thing – it’s been mentioned twice now, and Jenny also mentioned this too, the Millennium Bridge collapse. I think it’s hilarious that it’s the Millennium Bridge that is collapsing, because when the Millennium Bridge was first opened, it was deemed unstable.

Andrew: Really?

Eric: They let the first load of people on it – or, however, and it started shaking [laughs] and people got scared and ran off, so they actually had to close the Millennium Bridge. Is that how that happened I think?

Caller: Yeah…

Andrew: Wait.

Caller: …any tour you go on in London, they’ll tell you that. I think the bridge cost 10,000 pounds to build because the first 6,000 pounds was to build the bridge and then the other four was to take out the wiggle.

[Everyone laughs]

Caller: Or something to that effect. I forget the exact numbers.

Andrew: The wiggle.

Caller: But, yeah, they paid – they paid a lot more money to keep it from shaking.

Eric: Yeah, which is hilarious, because you see it just rip and tear. [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah, that – I guess that’s very ironic then, isn’t it?

Eric: That’s an inside one.

Matt: It’s scary as you-know-what, to be honest. I mean, could you imagine being on that bridge when it’s like wobbling on all sides?

Andrew: That’s like an earthquake. That’s like a California earthquake.

Eric: That’s the thing. I think the Queen was there when they opened it. I mean, maybe not on the bridge, but there was some serious – some serious issues when they opened it in time, I guess in schedule for the millennium, and had to close it then for another year.

Matt: Yeah, well, there’s nobody on the bridge when it collapses, so that’s good.

Eric: Yeah. Yeah, they had to make a point to do that. No one falling in the water or whatever, but…

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Well, actually, in the books, people fell in.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: In the movie, I’m not entirely sure they don’t in the movie, to be honest, because it’s shaking, and there are…

Matt: Well, I’m just seeing it in this…

Caller: It’s a little hard to tell in that like…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: …four second clip you get of the bridge collapsing.

Matt: You can see in the corner there’s a few people running off the bridge, but they’re almost already off it when it’s starting to break.


Emma Thompson


Andrew: Right. Hey, real quick, here’s something that hit the news the other day: Emma Thompson not coming back for Deathly Hallows, and she said she doesn’t feel like she’s creatively attached to it?

[Jenny laughs]

Andrew: And I couldn’t believe that, because she’s such a good Trelawney!

Matt: Yeah…

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: …but I can understand what she means by it.

Eric: I understand too.

Andrew: Why? What does she mean?

Matt: They didn’t give her anything!

Eric: Well, it’s not even a matter of what they gave her. She worked with everything she got. Since Movie 3 she’s created a memorable character, and I’m sure she’s
enjoyed doing it, but the question was whether or not to go on with Harry Potter Movie 7 or the sequel to Nanny McPhee, which she wrote, which she acted in.

Andrew: That I understand.

Eric: She was in it, and wrote it, and had much more creative development. So if it’s a question of doing your own sequel or starring as one of the ten million
British actors and actresses in this British film, you know, instead of doing a unique British film on your own – the sequel to Nanny McPhee, which was very
different altogether, and – you know, it’s Emma Thompson’s baby in a way, so would you go to your baby or go to someone else’s baby and have, maybe, a few, really good, but a few good lines?

Andrew: Yeah, but Micah brought up a good point to me I mean, what would it take to get her in there, for what, like the one scene, the Battle of Hogwarts?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I think that’s the only one that matters, and how long would it take her? Two, three days?

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: I mean, look, nothing against Emma Thompson. She’s great and I can completely understand this whole Nancy McPhee thing, it’s her movie.

Matt: It’s Nanny McPhee.

Eric: Nanny!

Andrew: Nanny.

Eric: McPhee. [laughs]

Andrew: Oh, well, I typed in the news post: Na – oh no, Micah typed Nancy. That idiot.

Eric: It’s Nanny McPhee.

Andrew: I’ll fix that right now.

Eric: Your fake attempt at sincerity there, Andrew, has failed.

Andrew: What? No, no, I just – the post says Nancy McPhee, and that’s what I was reading from. [laughs]

Eric: It’s Micah’s fault.

Andrew: It is.

Penny: The reason why it bothers me that she’s not going to be in it is I think one of the best parts of the seventh book, in the end during the Battle of Hogwarts, was that everybody came back, and they all – you know, from the beginning of the series, everybody had their role and, you know, so whoever it was – Sprout and Neville come with the Mandrakes, and Trelawney’s throwing down the crystal balls, and it just – it felt, once again, like the book came full circle, and I’m scared we’re not going to get that feeling in the movie.

Eric: Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be looking for news that Chris Rankin will be or won’t be returning…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: …because if he returns in Movie 7, it’s a good bet that I’m going to enjoy the end scene, but if Chris Rankin doesn’t come back – he plays Percy Weasley – if he doesn’t come back, that’ll be a little upsetting. But they haven’t really shown any of the falling out with the Weasley family because he hasn’t been – I don’t think he’s been in a movie since, what, 4? Or possibly 3. Was he in – yeah, he was in Movie 5 because he was with Fudge, so…

Andrew: Right.

Eric: …hey, they kind of haven’t forgotten about Chris Rankin there, which is good, but – yeah, you’re right, totally right, Penny, on that full-circle effect.

Andrew: Jenny, thank you for calling in.

Caller: Thanks for taking my call.

Andrew: You’re welcome.

Eric: You rock.

Matt: Awesome.

Andrew: She rocks. Nathalie, hello. Good morning, you’re on MuggleCast Live!

Caller: Hey!

Andrew: Hey! What’s going on?

Caller: Hi.

[Feedback plays]

Eric: Oh God, there’s like a fifteen minute delay.

Andrew: Yeah, there’s a little delay there. If you’re listening to the show, put on headphones. Then call us and listen to us through the Skype call, not the stream.
It’s a very technical process, I guess, but you got to do what you got to do.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: So, what is it, it’s 10:40 right now, we’ve been going for an hour and ten. What are we doing here?


Quidditch


Eric: Have we talked about Quidditch yet?

Matt: A little…

Andrew: A very little.

Matt: I think we touched it, yeah.

Andrew: Very little. What were your thoughts? What did you want to bring up? I brought up earlier how the special effects have certainly improved.

Eric: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, they were never bad for Quidditch, in my opinion, but they’ve just done so much more – because they could do so much more, they’ve done so much more, I guess, if that makes sense. I mean, actually, what you really notice, I guess – and the only Quidditch scene so far that’s really upset me as far as special effects is the scene in the rain in Prisoner of Azkaban, which didn’t exactly do anything much for me, but they’re in the rain – or is it the snow? I think it’s the rain, yeah, it’s the rain, or no – whatever. They’re in heavy precipitation in this Quidditch pitch – yeah, yeah, it is snow – and
it was so good to see the Hogwarts grounds covered in snow and a Quidditch game. It was just beautiful school sports. It totally fed into the scene and environment, and yeah, they’ve totally done it all out in the special effects, which look great.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Definitely. You know, and we’ve seen the Quidditch before, I’ll say it again. We’ve seen the Quidditch before and I’m really counting on some very great improvements CGI-wise.

Eric: Yeah. I’m inclined to even say like – you said you’ve seen Quidditch before. I’m going to say not like this you haven’t.

Andrew: Oh. So I guess the special effects were done when you saw it.

Eric: Not always. Harry is lecturing or talking to his team on the Quidditch pitch and there’s a giant blue screen behind them.

Andrew: [laughs] I wish I could have saw that.

Eric: It’s hilarious, because he’s in character and it’s seamless because some scenes, you know, some angles were completed and some other ones weren’t, so…

Andrew: Well, maybe they painted the Quidditch pitch blue. Would you be upset if you like – you saw the movie and it still was the blue screen?

Eric: Well, no because…

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: …you can see the…

Andrew: I’m just kidding. I’m just…

Eric: …the poles. Yeah, you can see the – yeah. It was hilarious but it was cool. It was insight into the process, I think I mentioned on a previous episode, because Harry’s in character – Dan is in character. In between the scenes you can’t even tell. It’s not like all of a sudden because there’s a blue screen, there’s
Dan. You know what I’m saying? But you can totally notice the big giant blue – it’s hilarious.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: So it’s good to see that they worked on the Quidditch effects and – yeah. Like David Heyman said, the movie’s nearly done.

Andrew: It’s done, he said, except for one tweak.

Eric: That’s what I said earlier, yeah.

Andrew: Have we discussed that on MuggleCast yet? I don’t know. I can’t…

Eric: The tweak?

Andrew: Matt, did we discuss that?

Matt: No.

Andrew: Well, I can’t remember if it hit the news after we recorded or not, but yeah. They said they have – they’re not going to put the movie together until six weeks before to prevent any pirating, which I thought was interesting and very crucial. I mean, they probably learned a little lesson with this other trailer leak.

Eric: But seriously, you want pirating? I mean, look at this trailer. It just – it’s that simple, because – and I’m – not to say that everything in the movie is captured in this trailer, because it’s not, but…

Andrew: What do you mean pirating? Look at the trailer, it’s pirating? What do you mean by that?

Eric: No, no, I’m saying if you want to look at an early copy of the movie…

Andrew: Oh.

Eric: …I think the trailer – this trailer – I’m so proud of it, that it really highlights some great stuff, and whets, W-H-E-T-S, peoples’ appetites just perfectly.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Maybe that didn’t make sense. I’m sorry.


Seeing Twilight For the Trailer


Andrew: No, it – no, it makes sense. Changing the subject a bit, Penny, I’m sure you were probably planning on seeing Twilight anyway, right?

Penny: Mhm.

Andrew: Are you going to see it any earlier now that you know that the movie’s coming out?

Penny: That I know the trailer’s coming out?

Andrew: Yeah. Sorry, that’s what I meant.

Penny: That’s actually a really good question, because I was – I’m actually in December going up to New York to see Equus with some friends, and I was going to
see Twilight with them then.

Andrew: Oh. So you were going to wait.

Penny: And now, I don’t know. I might have to go see it now.

Andrew: You know, I just realized this. Summit must be so happy that there’s a – that Harry Potter is being put before their movie. That’s got to boost sales, right?

Penny: Summit is the winner in this whole thing.

Andrew: [laughs] Yes, they are.

Eric: Yeah.

Penny: That’s the bottom line.

Matt: Yeah. Pretty much.

Eric: Best line ever. Yes. Summit wins.

Andrew: I mean, man, did they luck out. They got the Harry Potter date, the Thanksgiving date that everyone is always after. Yeah, and now they got the Harry Potter trailer coming out before their movie. They must be ecstatic.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: Really.

Eric: I know. I have…

Andrew: You know what? I want to hear – people, if you’re – if you don’t want to see Twilight, but you want to see the trailer, call in. I want to know what people think, you know, because there’s these people out there who are like, “Twilight,
my God, I definitely don’t want to see that.” But now that the Harry Potter trailer is before it, are people going to go buy a ticket and then just see the trailer and then leave? [laughs]

Eric: That would be funny but completely useless because Summit would have your money.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, I don’t think they really care about giving Summit the money.

Eric: Okay, well, yeah. Right, right, right. But, I mean, seeing the trailer in a theater – I mean,
I already had midnight tickets for Twilight not because I enjoy it as a book series, because I haven’t read the books, but I was interested in the movie, so I got midnight tickets. And so that’ll be cool. But people – because of all the different formats that this movie trailer was released in, the highest of definition, I think that’ll prevent people from going to see Twilight just for the movie, because to be perfectly honest, computer resolution’s amazing, and, you know, with all these different high definition versions of this trailer, really I could wait. I could
hold off from seeing it in theaters if I didn’t want to go see Twilight.

Andrew: Mhm. I mean, plus, you get this HD version online. You don’t really – who needs to see it on the big screen anymore? I mean, it looks just as – it looks better at home on your computer screen, in my opinion.

Eric: Well, except for surround sound. That’s…

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: …the main thing, you know.

Andrew: And plus, it is cool music. So you’ll want to hear that in surround sound.


Seeing Movie 6 in an IMAX Theater


Penny: Plus, there’s the whole audience thing, and that brings me to a question that I wanted to ask you guys. After seeing this trailer, though, how excited are you now about seeing this – the movie in an IMAX at Azkatraz?

Andrew: Oh, yes. What’s it? [laughs] I almost called it Portus.

Eric: Can words describe it?

Andrew: No! No, and they should play all of the trailers before the actual movie to get us really excited. [laughs]

Eric: What?

Andrew: They should play the music before – they should play the trailers before the movie because the music was awesome.


Back to the Amazing Music


Eric: Oh God, the music! Have you guys heard that “Hedwig’s Theme” at the end of the trailer?

Andrew: Yeah, we were talking about that earlier. Let’s listen to it again for anyone who was just joining us. We’re discussing the new Harry Potter trailer, and let’s listen to the end right here.

[“Hedwig’s Theme” plays]

Andrew: [laughs] And it’s so funny because you’re totally expecting another shot to come right after that, and as I said at the beginning of the show, it’s just like, pfft, July.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: It sort of just drops you. [laughs]

Eric: Yeah, I was expecting another scene too.

Andrew: It’s very cool music. I like that random “Harry!” call in the middle. Did you guys hear that? Right when – let me play it again real quick. And you don’t see anyone calling “Harry.”

[Trailer clips plays]

Andrew: Right there. “Harry!” There’s no shot of anyone calling him. It’s kind of just to add to the action, but I thought it was…

Eric: I think that’s Bellatrix.

Andrew: No, that was a dude.

Eric: Oh, well, what – do you have a time stamp or what?

Andrew: It’s when the bridge is collapsing or like going crazy. It’s right around 1:36. My friend – I’m talking with her over instant messenger – has a good strategy over what we were talking about earlier. She’s going to buy a ticket to a different movie, catch the trailer, then go watch a different movie. So to avoid watching Twilight. [laughs] That’s what she…

Penny: [unintelligible] Twilight.

Andrew: I know. [laughs] That’s funny.

Eric: Yeah, that’s a completely disembodied voice. I don’t even know who’s shouting that.

Andrew: Hold on. Hold on, your mic’s off. Go ahead, Matt.

Matt: The person who cries out “Harry” is Mr. Weasley during the Burrow scene.

Andrew: How do you know that?

Matt: Because it’s from the leaked trailer.

Andrew: Well, thank you, Matt Britton.

Matt: When you see Mr. Weasley calling out for Harry.

Andrew: There we go. Which totally doesn’t fit with that shot. The bridge collapsing. [laughs]

Eric: Oh, the bridge collapsing.

Matt: Is Harry on the bridge?

Andrew: Yeah, people are going to think Harry’s on the bridge.

Matt: It’s like, “Harry, no!”


Snow


Andrew: By the way, they have a great shot in here of the Hogwarts Express traveling through the snow.

Matt: There’s a lot of snow in this.

Andrew: Yeah, I was just going to say that. Snow is in this film. The last trailer was fire now it’s snow.

Matt: Geez. Next year it’s going to be all water all the time.

Andrew: What’s – I mean, God, it’s like all of the Captain Planet super heroes. Wind! Fire! Water! None of them were snow granted, but you get the point I’m trying to make.

Eric: Earth, fire, water, heart, go planet.

Andrew: Yeah.


The Astronomy Tower


Eric: The Astronomy Tower. The daytime view from the Astronomy Tower. I think that’s an awesome view. I’ll be taking stills of this for sure or I’ll find stills from this trailer, because quite a few good ones.

Andrew: Yeah, Matt actually took some stills before we started to get them up on MuggleNet, which we do have to do soon.


Dumbledore Under the Umbrella


Eric: What about Dumbledore walking into this memory carrying the umbrella?

Andrew: What?

Eric: Do you guys have a comment on that?

Andrew: What’s the time code on that?

Eric: When he’s approaching the – it’s 49 seconds.

Andrew: Oh, you mean he’s holding the – oh. Is that? That’s Dumbledore? I didn’t even realize that.

Penny: Isn’t that Dumbledore…

Eric: Yeah, Dumbledore is traveling the – sorry?

Penny: Isn’t that Dumbledore of the memory?

Eric: Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew: Is it raining? I mean, can it be as simple as that?

Eric: Well, yeah. It’s not for effect. [laughs] It’s not like they said, “Michael Gambon, we’re going to give you an umbrella.”

Andrew: I know, but it certainly doesn’t look like it’s raining.

Eric: Oh, that’s true. Well, it’s kind of – well, that’s because the memory itself is the opposite of dissolving, I think, at the moment. If you look – oh, I was going to say that one car had windshield wipers going, but it’s dark and dreary for sure.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: So it might as well be raining.


Call: Trailer Before Twilight


Andrew: It really is. Let’s try to get Nathalie back in here. Nathalie, or I guess I should say Nathalie [pronounces like “Natalie”], good morning.

Caller: Hi.

Andrew: Hi.

Caller: How’s it going?

Andrew: Pretty good. How about you?

Caller: Pretty good. I actually work for you on Twilight Source.

Andrew: I know.

Caller: I’m one of the forum – yeah.

Andrew: I know, I know. Well, it’s good to finally talk to you. [laughs]

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Hey, what are your thoughts on the trailer?

Caller: I was really excited. At first I saw it and I thought it was just the leaked one, but WB had actually released it. But when I started to see that it as a new one I was really excited.

Andrew: That’s why I put “Warner Brothers releases” at the very start of this headline so nobody was like, “Oh my God, another one leaked out?” Because of course this was by complete surprise. And it’s just like the first trailer where they’ve surprised fans, isn’t it?

Matt: Yeah.

Caller: Oh yeah, for sure, because usually it’s like we know kind of two or three weeks in advanced…

Andrew: Yeah.

Caller: …because they’re like, “We’re definitely going to release it like three or four weeks…”

Andrew: With a certain movie.

Caller: “…with this movie.”

Andrew: Right. Yeah. So that was cool. This is – and I’m wondering if this is like another one of their last minute decisions or something.

Matt: Yes.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Because I mean, the Twilight

Caller: Yeah, maybe they worked it out from people with Twilight to have more people go see the movie.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, how does this work? Does WB have to pay for it to be in front of – because they said they’re clear; it’s going to be before Twilight. So do they pick – Penny?

Eric: Usually…

Andrew: Or Eric, sorry.

Eric: Oh, you’re asking Penny.

Andrew: No, no, I thought I heard Penny. But, go ahead, Eric.

Eric: Oh, do they – oh.

Andrew: No, I don’t think so.

Eric: Well, I – working in a movie theater for a year, I ended up being a projectionist for a short amount of time before I left, but usually trailers go – certain studios will have trailers that go with their films, and that’s why it’s so interesting that you say that they this trailer will be in front of Twilight, because as far as I know, they don’t have anything to do with each other, besides the fact they’re both fantasies, which is the other thing that trailers are usually grouped by. But, strictly speaking, I mean, there are rules handed down for all movie theaters who want to buy the movie. And by buy I mean show it. You have to purchase the print that they can’t put certain trailers in front of other movies and all sorts of rules like that, so I don’t really know what’s going on, but I don’t think that Warner Brothers paid Summit. I…

Matt: No. No. I don’t think so.

Eric: …think Summit paid Warner Brothers.

Caller: Oh, sorry. I think maybe they made like a deal. Like not maybe money but Summit probably went like “Oh, well, we could use your trailer if you want to release it.”

Matt: No, no, no. I think Summit was tickle-pink to actually have the option to have a Harry Potter trailer in the beginning of their movie.

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah, of course, they’re…

Matt: It was either Twilight or even 007 that came out today.

Eric: God, I’m going to see that today.

Andrew: Me too.

Matt: Oh geez, so am I.

Andrew: Very excited about that.

Matt: But, yeah – I mean, who would not want a Harry Potter trailer in the beginning of their film? Just to get the people in there just to see the trailer itself.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s what we were saying.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: I mean, Summit, oh my God.

Matt: No, yeah, they hit the jackpot really with this, because that’s the only really big movie of next summer that a lot of people are wanting to see.

Andrew: Yeah. Speaking from a Harry Potter fan perspective right now and not Twilight fan – although I am a Twilight fan, but putting that aside – Summit is really lucking out with all this hot topic merchandise with the timing of the film release and now this trailer. I mean, they must all be sitting around a table right now having a round of drinks, because this will – I honestly think this would easily add – people who are on the fence about seeing Twilight and are Potter fans will now be like “Oh, well, okay. I’ll go see the movie and I get to see the Harry Potter trailer. Cool.” The…

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: Another million right there. Smack. Done. Game over.

Matt: Aren’t they all – aren’t Twilight and Harry Potter fans pretty much the same?

Caller: Aren’t people – a lot of people go see movies just for the trailers. Like…

Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. That’s true.

Caller: So…

Andrew: Well, yeah, exactly. So that’s why Summit will be so excited.

Matt: That’s what I did with Happy Feet. I just saw the trailer and then left.

Andrew: Really?

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: You didn’t see Happy Feet?

Matt: No.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: Eric’s all still upset.

Matt: [imitates Eric] You didn’t see the penguins dancing?

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: And actually, this is one of the rare times where a Harry Potter trailer premieres without a WB movie, because Goblet of Fire trailer premiered with Happy Feet, Half-Blood Prince trailer – what did that premiere with? The teaser?

Matt: Umm…

Eric: Oh, um…

Matt: Um, um. Um. Um. Um.

Caller: Wasn’t that with Star Wars?

Eric: Dark Knight?

Andrew: Oh. No, no.

Eric: Wasn’t it the Dark Knight?

Andrew: Was it? Or Star Wars?

Penny: That was just a fifteen second clip with Dark Knight. I’m a…

Matt: That was the teaser for the IMAX film.

Andrew: Oh, right, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt: But…

Andrew: Well, point is, they got a – this was one of the rarer times where WB’s putting a trailer before a non-WB movie, so…

Eric: I don’t know, are they trying to help out Summit? I mean…

Andrew: [laughs] I doubt it. Well…

Eric: I say you already got my release date, you know, seriously. But they gave the trailer. Summit is just so – I mean, I’m going to see the Twilight movie because I haven’t read the Twilight books, and now with the Harry Potter trailer in front of it, it’s just amazing and easy.

Andrew: Yeah.

Penny: Well, I think that’s why Summit…

[Audio problems]

Andrew: Nathalie, we’re going to let you go. But thank you. Ooh, getting some heavy feedback there.

Penny: I think that’s why Summit lucks out, is because Joe Harry Potter fan, who wants to just see the trailer, is more likely – because he’s a Harry Potter fan – is more likely to sit through the Twilight movie…

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Penny: …as opposed to somebody who wants to just, say, see – let’s say it was going to be in front of – well, I don’t know. I lost my train of thought.

Matt: Wasn’t it The Mummy that premiered with a teaser for this film?

Penny: Yeah, maybe.

Andrew: No.

Matt: The Mummy

Eric: I think so.

Matt: Yeah, the third Mummy movie.

Eric: Yeah, I …

Matt: I don’t know which movie premiered with Order of the Phoenix though.

Andrew: Well, that’s lame. Oh, that’s right! Yeah, because The Mummy was doing so bad, or The Mummy was so bad.

[Eric and Matt laugh]

Matt: Of course I’m right!

Andrew: It got such bad reviews. And remember? I was like, “WB’s definitely putting the trailer before this movie because it’s so bad.”

Eric: [laughs] Yeah, that’s right.

Andrew: And it ended up doing bad. I mean – yeah, so …

Eric: That’s so upsetting to me because I love The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, and I haven’t seen the third one, but I’m going to. [laughs]

Andrew: Okay, are we done here? What’s going on? I’m not sure what to do.

Eric: Well, if there’s anything else you can talk about.

[Andrew laughs]


The Announcer Voice


Eric: Let’s do another run through the trailer quick and see if there’s anything else we can talk about. Oh guys, did you talk about the announcer voice?

Andrew: No. Was there an announcer voice in this one?

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: “Warner Brothers Pictures presents.” That’s it.

Eric: The whole way it was some other guy.

Matt: It was Dumbledore!

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: No.

Matt: Yes, it was Dumbledore talking.

Eric: Michael Gambon?

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Now what’s the time code? We’ll play it.

Matt: Well, are you – are you being serious?

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: There’s no …

Matt: There’s no announcer in this. There’s no – I mean only – the only announcer guy says, “Warner Brothers Pictures presents.” And then it’s just still Dumbledore talking.

Eric: Hang on I’m watching now.

Andrew: I think the funniest scene in this trailer was when Harry and Slughorn clink glasses and then Ron starts to drink and he just passes out.

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: [laughs] That’s pretty funny.

Matt: It’s too bad though. He’s sort of dying when that happens, but …

Andrew: Yeah. Well, all right, I think – I think we’re finished here.

Matt: Okay.

Andrew: I know Matt’s rushing to get out because he has to go to work, but…

Matt: Kind of.

Andrew: I think – I think we’re good.

Eric: Yeah, there is an announcer guy. It starts at – it starts at 40 seconds: “This year…”

Andrew: 40 – oh okay. Hold on, we’ll play it. It starts at forty seconds?

Eric: 40 seconds.

Andrew: All right, here we go.

Trailer

Ron: Can you introduce me?

Announcer: This year …

Hosts

Andrew: Oh.

Matt: Oh yeah.

[Trailer Clip plays]

[Andrew and Matt acknowledge and laugh at the announcer]

Andrew: LOL.

Matt: Oh me.

Andrew: I see what you’re saying.

Matt: I stink. I fail.

Andrew: That’s funny, I didn’t even – you don’t even notice those things. I mean, not like it’s a big deal.

Penny: Yeah, I didn’t think…

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: It’s all – all our minds are prepped for movie watching; we just take it in.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: [imitating announcer] “In a world with magic.”

Andrew: Okay, well, I think this is our initial – is our initial reactions from the trailer, and I’ll say anyone who wants to call in with their thoughts. I’m looking forward to seeing reaction videos as I posted on MuggleNet with this news post. Well, it’s too late now for anyone listening to this, but when people record – when they watch a trailer for the first time we want them to record their reactions and then send them in to andrew at staff dot mugglenet dot com and – oh excellent, we’ve already gotten four or five reaction videos. So that’s …

Eric: Why aren’t they listening to MuggleCast?

Andrew Well – well…

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: I don’t know, good point. Well, there’s only four or five, so that’s okay.

Eric: I know. I know. It’s a joke.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: Ha-ha.


Call: Snow Theme


Andrew: Well, we’ll have another episode – another MuggleCast episode out soon. Oh wait, let’s get one more caller in here. This guy’s name is Andrew so that’s why I’m taking him. Andrew Carol, good morning, you’re on MuggleCast live.

[Feedback plays]

Andrew: Okay, here he goes.

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hello! Good morning.

Caller: Good morning. Actually, it’s the night. It’s in France.

Andrew: Oh, I’m sorry.

Eric: You got a guy from France call.

Matt: It’s our second guy.

Andrew: Second guy from France.

[Caller says something unintelligible]

Andrew and Matt: Yeah.

Caller: My little host brother was asking me if you guys could speak French.

Andrew: No.

Matt: No.

Andrew: Oui, oui, that’s about all I can do.

Caller: [laughs] Yeah, the trailer was good.

Andrew: Well, was there anything that really stuck out to you in particular?

Caller: I like the snow.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: Kind of reminds me of Christmas.

Andrew: The snow was nice. We had fire last time. Now we have frozen water theme.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: That was nice. All right, well, Andrew, thank you for calling in with your thoughts.

Matt: Thanks, Andrew.

Caller: Yes, snow is nice.

[Caller and Matt laugh]

Andrew: All right, thank you.

Eric: Au revoir.

Andrew: Au revoir.

Matt: Au revoir.

[Caller laughs]

Matt: Overall, I suck.

Andrew: Eric, you’re so good at your French.

Eric: I know.

Matt: You must eat a lot of fries.

[Andrew and Eric laugh]

Andrew: All right, yeah.

Eric: Yep.


Show Close


Andrew: Yeah, okay, so I think we’re going to wrap it up today. Penny, thanks so much for joining us today. It was wonderful.

Penny: Thanks for having me. I had a good time.

Andrew: Penny from Harry Potter Prognostications. That’s HPProgs.com, right?

Matt: Yep.

Penny: Mhm. You got it.

Andrew: Excellent.

Eric: HP Progs is so cool.

Andrew: Yes, it’s a lovely podcast, and we should have you on more often.

Penny: Absolutely.

Andrew: You’re a wonderful host, and, frankly, I’m sick of Laura. It’s time to get a new female co-host.

[Eric and Penny laugh]

Penny: No, but I like Laura!

Andrew: I’m just kidding.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Penny: So far all the girls are always in or around Maryland, which is weird.

Andrew: Yeah. Laurie. [laughs] Laurie. Laura hasn’t joined us today because she was in class unfortunately. So – all right, guys, well, thank you very much for joining us. We’ll see everyone again soon. Hope everyone enjoyed the wonderful surprise given to us from WB. And I think we can all agree Summit is the most happiest about this decision today.

[Eric laughs]

Penny: Summit is the winner.

Andrew: They are. Summit is full…

Eric: But the fans should take away – the fans should take away how awesome this film is.

Andrew: Definitely.

Eric: Based on the trailer.

Andrew: Absolutely. And this show, in case you missed the beginning or something, will be released on the feed very shortly. I’ll do it right after we sign off.

Eric: Did you need me to record in Audacity?

Andrew: Yeah. You weren’t doing – no, I’m kidding. [laughs] I’m kidding, yeah.

Eric: Okay.

Andrew: LOL. Funny joke.

[Andrew and Eric laugh]

Andrew: All right, guys, thanks, everyone, for listening. Penny, again, thank you. Eric, thanks for joining in, even last minute, I love doing these last minute shows; they’re always – they’re always so much fun.

Eric: Touche.

Matt: Yes.

Andrew: Oh, you know what? Let’s end on something fun. We talked about Matt being on Price Is Right.

Matt: Oh, no.

Andrew: What?

Eric: I haven’t seen it. Where is it?

Andrew: Oh, well, here, you get to listen to it. It’s on YouTube, but here, we’re going to end with this. All right, here we go.

[Price Is Right clip plays]

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Andrew: He gets called down and gets to say two words on The Price Is Right: “650, Drew.”

Matt: Hey, that’s two more words than you had.

Andrew: That’s very true.

[Everyone laughs]

Penny: You’ve seriously fulfilled every one of my dreams as a child with that.

Andrew: [laughs] I know.

Matt: I didn’t really get the chance to win anything though. Now I have to wait another ten years before I can go back up there.

Andrew: Here’s the shot where he blew it.

[Price Is Right clip plays]

Andrew: Oh. For some reason I didn’t include “650, Drew.” [laughs] What!? I isolated all these different clips.

Matt: I don’t know anything about soccer equipment! How could I…

Eric: How much was it? How much was it?

Matt: It was like two grand.

Andrew: Yeah, it was over two grand.

Eric: Oh, oh, okay. I would’ve lost too.

Andrew: Here, let’s hear Matt’s voice on The Price Is Right. This’ll be exciting.

[The Price Is Right clip plays]

Andrew: [laughs] “650, Drew.”

Matt: Yeah, I’m a stud.

Andrew: [laughs] You stole that from me because I told you my dream was always to go down there and say the price “…Drew.”

Matt: I didn’t say “the price, Drew.”

Andrew: Anyway, if you want to see video of it, Matt coming down, getting called down, it’s actually on my YouTube channel, YouTube.com/Sims89. Subscribe to me too! Rate, comment, woo-hoo!

Eric: If they ask you to pull it, will you?

Andrew: Yeah, but there’s hundreds of Price Is Right clips on there. I don’t think…

Eric: Oh okay, just in case. I wonder what the timeline is between – I have to see it.

Andrew: Well, the show’s already out. It’s not like…

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: …I released it before.

Eric: Okay, cool.

Andrew: All right, guys, that wraps up MuggleCast today. We’ll see everyone again soon. Thanks again, Penny, for the millionth time. We’re trying to wrap this up.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: All right, guys, the show will be on the feed later. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. This has been MuggleCast Live, discussing the brand new trailer released by Warner Brothers. All right. Goodbye, everyone!

[Music begins playing]

Eric: He’s Andrew Sims, I’m Eric Scull, and on The Price Is Right is Matt Britton.

Matt: That’s me.

Andrew: And from HP Progs is Penny. Goodbye, everybody! Have a great Friday!

Matt: Have a pleasant tomorrow.

[Song continues]

Episode 163: OMG Bushy Hair!

  • We’re live on Ustream 30 minutes after the new HBP trailer is released!
  • Matt and Andrew provide their initial reactions.
  • Joining us is Penny Gershman from HP Prognostications!
  • Hermione… has… BUSHY HAIR FINALLY!!!
  • We take lots of live calls from our audience to see what everyone else thinks.
  • Does Michael Gambon finally GET it?
  • What were some of the best scenes?
  • Eric joins in with his thoughts and compares it to the film as a whole.

Download Now Running time: 1:36:03, 44 MB

Transcript #162

MuggleCast 162 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins]

Andrew: Hey, Mason. Did you know that on July 1st Yahoo! Domain renewal pricing increased to $34.95 per year?!

Mason: $34.95 per year? No way! Ridiculous! That’s not a deal at all.

Andrew: You’re right. It’s not. And I do need a deal.

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Andrew: Today’s podcast is also brought to you by Audible.com, the Internet’s leading provider of spoken word entertainment. What are you listening to after today’s episode? How about a free audiobook download of your choice when you sign up. Log on to www.AudiblePodcast.com/MuggleCast today for details.

[Harry Potter theme plays]

Jim Dale: [as Professor McGonagall] This is Professor McGonagall welcoming you all to MuggleCast hoping you enjoyed – Dobby! Dobby, come here! Here! Dobby! [as Dobby] Yes, I’d just like to say how very pleased I am to introduce MuggleCast to all of you! Thank you! Thank you!

[Show music begins]

Micah: Because we’re talking politics Potter style, this MuggleCast, Episode 162 for November 5th, 2008.

[Show music continues]

Andrew: Okay, this is our third show released in just eight days. We’re really pumping them out right now because first we had the Halloween show. Oh, no, no, no. First we had the live show – the live trailer discussion show, and then we had our Halloween show, and now we’re having our election show. All these themed podcasts that have to be out at a certain time. You know, while everyone’s still into it. So, Micah and Elysa are here. Hello, ladies.

Elysa: Hey.

Micah: Hello.

Andrew: Good to hear from you two.

Micah: Ladies?

Matt: Hey, why am I separate?

Elysa: Ladies.

Andrew: Because you’re not a lady. What?

Micah: I was going to congratulate you on the Phillies winning the World Series, too, and then you call me a lady?

Andrew: I’m not a baseball fan. I just support my home team.

Micah: Yeah, but, no, you’re a Phillies fan.

Andrew: My mom texted me today. She’s like, “I’m going to send you a Phillies shirt.” And I was like, “Oh great,” but I’m thinking like, “Why? I’m not a baseball fan.” Whatever. I’ll wear it to the gym.

Matt: It’s a free shirt.

Andrew and Micah: Yeah.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: So we have this great show. We just finished recording the discussion because Laura was involved in it too, but unfortunately she didn’t have as much time to be on the show. But that’s okay. So we have this awesome political discussion, related to Potter politics, and a whole lot more. So let’s get started. I’m Andrew Sims.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Matt: I’m Matthew Britton.

Elysa: And I’m Elysa Montfort.

[Show music continues]

Andrew: Okay, Micah, what is in the news this week?

Micah: Umm…

Andrew: What? You don’t know?

[Elysa laughs]

Andrew: Aren’t you prepared?

Micah: How am I not prepared? Sorry! I’m tired. We just discussed…

Andrew: Yeah, wah.

Micah: All right, well, anyway. Try that again. I’m sorry.


Andrew Admits He Was Wrong


Andrew: Well, here, while you’re preparing, I’ll start with this, because this is my story. On last week’s episode – well, actually it was Episode 160 – I was speculating a lot about whether or not WB would be asking for the trailer to be removed. And this isn’t really news because it wasn’t removed, but the trailer wasn’t removed! Which was kind of surprising because I heard that WB was considering it, and it looks like it never happened, so… [laughs] Just – I’d just like to admit that I was wrong. And I do make mistakes, so sorry.

Elysa: Hmm. I was surprised about that too though.

Andrew: But I think – well, thank you, Elysa. I think that it just got spread all over the Internet so quickly that…

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: …it would’ve been impossible for them to take it down.

Micah: Yeah, I think the Internet is so fast that, once it spreads – it did happen over the weekend, like you mentioned, and clearly, people are not working at WB as hard as we thought on the weekends, because, if they were, they would’ve been taken down.

Andrew: Well, I was right about that.

Micah: You were right about that, yeah.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: I was wrong about that. I thought that they would’ve had somebody would would’ve been on this. Because you think when something like this would happen, they would be alerted to the problem, regardless of whether they’re working or not. Even if you’re at home on the weekends, all these people have Blackberries. They would know what was going on.

Andrew: Well, yeah, but they’re not checking them as frequently because it’s the weekend, and they have their personal phones with them when they’re out and about.

Micah: I guess. I guess. It was interesting, though, to me that Monday morning rolled around and, all of a sudden, they’re aware of it, but they really couldn’t do anything about it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: In the future, if you’re going to leak trailers, do it on the weekend.

Andrew: Well, that’s exactly what I was saying also. These pictures that come out every – there was a time back in May and June where a new Half-Blood Prince picture came out every Friday, and it seemed very strange. But when you think about it, it was every Friday because then – WB – that’s essentially the weekend, even though they do work on Friday’s, but WB, they can’t put it together to say, “Hey, take this down,” before they clock out for the weekend, so.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: It was kind of interesting to watch. And exciting. I know I was up early to check my e-mail to see if there was like, “Please remove immediately!”

Micah: Well, what was funny was, I did think that we had gotten something because I checked my e-mail that morning and I saw something. I’m like, wait, it’s from Scholastic not from Warner Bros., so…

Andrew: Well, that – yeah.

Micah: It threw me off a little bit.

Andrew: That’s what happens, though. Whenever there’s a big movie thing, or vice versa – whenever there’s a big movie thing, the book people come out with some announcement. Whenever there’s a big book thing, the movie people come out with some announcement to remind them that they’re still alive, and while the fan sites are active.

Micah: Well, I was nervous because you told me, “Make sure you check your e-mail tomorrow morning,” because, obviously, we have that time difference. You know, a three hour difference. So if anything did come along, you wanted me to get something up there as fast as possible or take down the trailer. And I was just sitting there all morning, and all of a sudden I saw this e-mail from the guy over at Scholastic – I forget his name – and then I thought that it was from Warner Bros., but – so I got played. I got Punk’d.

Andrew: [laughs] It is still online and, as the saying goes, once it’s on the Internet, it’s never off. It never leaves because people save these things to their computers and forget about it. It’s digital!

Micah: Who does that?

Andrew: It’s digital, baby!

Matt: Digital!

Andrew: Did anyone else save a copy?

Micah: No.

Andrew: I saved a copy in case they were going to take it down. Elysa, what were your thoughts on the trailer? You weren’t on the show, so what did you think of it?

Elysa: No, I wasn’t. I thought it was incredible! I loved it. I mean, I don’t know what else to say. I thought it was brilliant. It exceeded my expectations for sure.


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DH Hype Overshadowing HBP Hype


Micah: Something that happened this week was Robbie Coltrane, who plays Hagrid, did an interview, and he discussed a little bit about Deathly Hallows and his, I guess you would say, motorbike scene. But that’s not really what I wanted to focus on. I’m wondering now with Half-Blood Prince not coming out until July, and filming starting to take place for Deathly Hallows, are we going to see a lot of Deathly Hallows hype overtaking Half-Blood Prince? Is this maybe something that Warner Bros. didn’t think about before they decided to move the date, because I guess it wouldn’t make as much of a difference if we were somewhere in the middle with all these films, but we’re talking about the final film in the Harry Potter series start to film in February. Is this going to be a problem for Half-Blood Prince?

Andrew: I don’t really think so, because when filming starts, typically don’t see much. I mean, there’s going to be the occasional interview where they’re like, “Yeah, we just starting filming. It’s going great. It’s going to be the darkest one ever. Whatever. Sex, drugs, and Harry Potter.”

[Matt and Micah laugh]

Andrew: But I don’t think there’s going to be too much of a mix.

Micah: Yup.

Andrew: I’m looking at Half-Blood Prince background information. They started filming September 2007, and of course that was right after the final book came out, so I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of mixing though. I think it’s a good point though.

Micah: Yeah, that was the one thing that came to mind. There really isn’t a whole lot to the interview. He actually did two interviews, but that was really what came to mind when I was looking. I was thinking to myself, “Hey, is this going to have any impact for Half-Blood Prince?”


News: David Heyman Interview


Micah: But somebody else who also did an interview this week was David Heyman with ComingSoon.net. And he talked about Half-Blood Prince. He said the film is complete except for a little tweak that they think that they are going to have to make. So, interesting to maybe learn down the line what that tweak is going to be.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Well, he also noted that it’s going to be a little inconvenient to stop filming for a week when they have to go do press for Half-Blood Prince.

Micah: Well, he can complain to Warner Bros. then.

Andrew: Yeah. He only said a week, though, which kind of surprised me, because the premieres themselves are usually two weeks apart, and around both of those premieres, doing interviews and such – although I guess the U.K. premiere isn’t hard to get to, I mean, it’s an
hour drive down from Leavesden Studios, so. I don’t know. That was – he does seem – when you read this interview, don’t you get a little feeling of frustration from him?

Micah: Well, didn’t he do an interview before this, though, where he talked about the film being pushed back and he said that he didn’t really see a problem with it?
I forget the exact…

Andrew: Yeah, he did. Yeah…

Micah: …quote.

Andrew: …yeah, yeah. He said – he reiterated what he said in this interview, too, which is that “WB is so good to us that we can’t complain.”

Matt: You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

Micah: Right.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Well, maybe it’s because for a lot of these people that are involved in the movie, I would think that their schedules are dependent upon all these releases and events that they have to go to once the film is finally complete. And so if you’re planning everything for November, and then all of a sudden you get thrown into the middle of July, I mean they’ll be working on Deathly Hallows, but who knows what
else he could have been working on at the time also, or will be working on at the time, because I’m sure he doesn’t stick solely to one film.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Right.

Micah: Maybe that’s what he’s frustrated about. But he’s always seemed to identify more with the fans, too, if you think about it, even from the interview you guys did
with him, I think it was for Goblet of Fire. He always seems to identify with the fans, so maybe he’s just as upset about it getting pushed back.

Andrew: Yeah, definitely.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Wouldn’t it be funny if like the Dark Knight DVD did so well, because they’re in a new fiscal year now – at least in the U.S. they are – wouldn’t it be funny if the Dark Knight DVD did so well for this fiscal year that they’re like, “Oh, you know what? Yeah, we’re set for 2009 too, so you’ll see HBP in 2010.”

Micah: [laughs] Yeah, that wouldn’t be good…

Andrew: No.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: No, that’d be bad.

Micah: To put it lightly.

Andrew: But it’s kind of surprising though. I mean, you know, it’s how easy a film can be moved just because another film in the same fiscal year does so well.

Micah: Right, and something of the magnitude of Harry Potter. This…

Andrew: I may be – yeah. Just a little disclaimer, I may be wrong about that fiscal year, because in the U.S. it’s from – it starts in October and ends in September, and obviously Half-Blood Prince came out – would come out in November, which is not the same fiscal year as Dark Knight, so I don’t know what I’m saying.

[Elysa and Matt laugh]

Andrew: The point is that it’s amazing how quickly they would move this just because one film does extremely well.

Micah: Right, right.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah: All right.

Andrew: I mean, Arthur – there’s got to be some big WB films coming out in 2010 other than Harry Potter, and Harry Potter‘s got a November release in 2010, so…

Micah: For now.

Andrew: …frankly I’m scared. Yeah, for now.

Matt: I don’t – no, they’re not going to delay any more movies.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Micah: Well…

Andrew: Yeah, well, six months ago WB said they would have…

Micah: …I’m not really sure they had any good reason to delay this one, to be honest with you, so…

Matt: No, and I agree with you totally on that, Micah. I really think that it wasn’t that great of a reason. It was – I mean, it’s all about money, but still, I
mean, they should have a good movie every year.

Andrew: Well, they did. Dark Knight. So that’s why they’re pushing the Harry Potter back. [laughs]

Matt: Well, I know. I mean they should have already planned that for the next year.

Andrew: Mmm.

Matt: Just shows you how much faith they had in Dark Knight.

Andrew: Yeah. Anyway, what else is going on?


News: Jo Updates Site


Micah: All right, J.K. Rowling updated her site

Matt: Oh!

Micah: …this past week, finally. Even though she hasn’t updated her journal on the home page since about December ’07…

Andrew: Yeah, I noticed that. Kind of old.

Micah: So she’s trying to go for the whole year without making an update to that. But she did update the news section with her official plans for the Beedle the Bard release on December the 4th, and she will be holding a tea party.

Andrew: Awww. La-dee-da.

Micah: Yeah. Isn’t that exciting?

[Andrew and Elysa laugh]

Micah: Sorry. [laughs]

Andrew: No, it’s nice, it’s nice.

Micah: It’s different. It’s, you know…

Andrew: Yeah, well, Jo’s done a couple tea parties for Beedle the Bard, I’m pretty sure already.

Matt: I love tea.

Andrew: Yeah, yes you do. But you know how Jo has sort of done, like, something for Christmas every year for the fans, like on her fansite? Maybe there’ll be something this year. I can’t think of what, but maybe some sort of exclusive or something. You know? You know what I’m saying?

Micah: Right, but…

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: …it’ll be interesting to see how well this book does in the hype and excitement that surrounds it. Clearly it’s not going to be the level of one of her
previous seven books, but the difference this time I think with the money going to charity, the Children’s High Level Group, I think a lot of Potter fans will want to contribute in that way.


Andrew’s Cryptic Announcement


Andrew: Oh yeah, it’s a great cause. And speaking of that, nothing is official yet. Well, actually it is, but we can’t officially announce it yet. If you live in the U.K., specifically London, or if you can get to London easily for a Beedle the Bard midnight release, I would strongly recommend you keep your plans cleared. Or if you’re in the U.S. and looking for a good reason to go to the U.K., not just for a book release, but a certain Harry Potter podcast doing a certain midnight release for a certain book coming out in December. So…

[Micah laughs]

Matt: Wow, geez.

Micah: Well, that was vague.

Andrew: I know.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: I’m just saying.

Matt: Geez. Way to be cryptic, Andrew.

Andrew: If by chance we were to do something like that I would keep your plans clear. Announcement coming in the next couple weeks. If something were to happen.

[Elysa and Matt laugh]

Micah: I would hope that the next couple of days – the next couple of weeks you’ll already be at the event.

Andrew: That’s true. People need time to book their train tickets and stuff, so in the next week or so you should hear from us and from the bookstore starting in “W” and ending in “aterstones.”

Matt: Ooh.

[Elysa and Micah laugh]

Matt: I mean, how many more Harry Potter books is J.K. Rowling going to write? I mean, this is the – this is probably like the only relevant book…

Andrew: I hope she writes more related to this. Or Harry Potter related.

Matt: She might, but who knows what she’s going to do? I still want to see what kind of books she’s been saying she’s going to write about.

Andrew: You know what’s – sorry, what?

Matt: Well, in that suspenseful book that she was saying she was writing. I haven’t heard anything about that.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Anyway, what?

Andrew: And I think that – is that all for the news this week? I think it is.

Matt: Yep.

Andrew: Cool.


Announcement: Vote for MuggleCast in the Podcast Awards


Andrew: All right, moving onto announcements this week. Don’t forget to vote for us in the…

Andrew and Matt: Podcast Awards.

Andrew: The 2008 Podcast Awards are happening right now and voting is going through, what, November…

Micah: 6th.

Andrew: There’s a few more days left. Sixth.

Matt: Do you – do you have to vote everyday?

Andrew: You don’t have to vote everyday, but you should to help us win. You can vote once every 24 hours. So if you vote at 3PM one day you cannot vote before 3PM the next day. So you have to vote at 3:01PM.

Matt: Oh, that makes sense.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: MuggleCast is nominated in Entertainment and our other Twilight podcast, Imprint, is nominated in the Cultural Arts category.

Elysa: Woot!

Andrew: So feel free – woot woot – so feel free to vote too for other podcasts, too, in the other categories, and thank you so much for your support.


Muggle Mail: Harry Potter Books in School


Andrew: Let’s move onto Muggle Mail. Elysa, do you want to take the first one?

Elysa: Sure. This one’s from Jason Millis:

“This sort of goes with Micah’s idea at the end of the debate subject. Many schools have a program that kids can choose a book to read for a reading project. I think that would be a great place to put the book in the curriculum. That way kids could choose. They should only use Book 1 in the curriculum, wherever they put it, because the suspense could push them further. When they do it – or when they do it at our school rather, they give us an excerpt, sometimes a chapter to read, and see if we want to read the book. Kids might respond to that because they may know someone who reads the books or have seen the movies. The kids could tell their friends about them and their friends would read it too. The parents would also have less of a case against the school districts because their kids aren’t being forced to read them. I wouldn’t have enjoyed the books as much if I did have to read them. I think it was sort of like when I practice my violin. I enjoy practicing when I decide to, not when my parents say ‘go practice.'”

Andrew: Yeah. So I think that’s a pretty interesting way of looking at it.

Elysa: Yeah, that’s a good point.

Micah: Yeah. I don’t even remember my point from the last episode, to be honest. [laughs]

[Elysa laughs]

Micah: It feels like so long ago with all the episodes we’ve recorded over the last week.

Andrew: That’s true.

Micah: Yeah, no, this is an interesting point.

Andrew: Everyone liked your feedback about it the most, Micah, judging by all the e-mails we got about it.

Micah: What can I say? I should be a moderator more often.

Andrew and Matt: Yeah.

Elysa: You should. You should take Jim Lehrer’s place.

Micah: Yeah.

[Andrew and Matt laugh]

Matt: I don’t know who he is. Okay.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: He is a news anchor on PBS.


Muggle Mail: “Forced” to Read Harry Potter Pays Off


Matt: Our next email comes from Corey, and he writes:

“Hi guys. Strangely enough, Micah’s suggestion at the end of one of the books being mandated in one of my classes was how I got into the series. I, too, had dismissed the series as hype at first but was required for a children’s literature class in college to read ‘Sorcerer’s Stone.’ I bought the book, and even though the course was cancelled, due to low enrollment, I figured I’d see what all the fuss was about. Around six years later, one attempt at dressing up this year, and devouring just about everything I could get my hands on in relation to the series, I’m still a ‘Potter’ geek at 26 and am really grateful I was ‘forced’ to read the first one. Thanks again, and you guys still rock.”

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, I’m just – whenever I read a book – I remember in Rowan I had a literature class, and I would read these books, and I always thought to myself, I would enjoy this a lot more if I could read it on my own time, just taking my time with reading it, and not having to pick a book apart and write summaries of it and stuff like that. It just – sometimes that kind of thing can turn you off from reading a book.

Micah: Right. I still think the first book should be mandated, just because I think the role that it’s played in our culture over the last couple of years – decade, whatever you want to call it at this point. But to me, I think, though, when you look at how many fans there are of Harry Potter, I think the next generation, our children, we’re probably going to have them read it anyway. If you think about it, it’s not going to be something that they’re going to be forced fed in school. It’s going to be something that we’re either going to read to them or, at some point, have them read themselves just because we know the importance of it.

Matt: Well, I definitely think that in college it’s going to be required for certain types of classes.

Micah: I agree.

Matt: Like in Corey’s case.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: We’ve already seen some Harry Potter classes in schools that actually do this in colleges. There’s the occasional news report about it and there’s the occasional news story, so it is happening.

Matt: Do any of you guys have a certain book that you were forced to read in class but then you just read it at a later time in your own pace and you actually liked it?

Andrew: No, but when I read a book in class I feel like I would enjoy it more if I wasn’t been pressured into reading it by certain dates and such. That’s what really turns me off. But then again, teachers have to do that or else they’ll never know who’s…

Matt: They’ll never read it.

Andrew: Exactly, so you can’t win.

[Micah laughs]

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: Unless you’re really studious. And final e-mail from today. Micah, you want to take that?


Muggle Mail: Rowling as a Man


Micah: Sure. It comes from Harry Parker-hill, Boston, England. Does that mean Boston in New England or Boston, England?

Andrew: Boston in England, I think.

Micah: Oh.

Andrew: There’s a Boston in England, right?

Micah: Sure.

Elysa: Sure.

Micah: Anyway. [laughs]

“Hey, just responding…”

Matt: I think he meant New England.

Micah: Yeah. I don’t think Harry knows where he lives, but thats okay.

“Hey, just responding to your discussion
about J.K. Rowling as a man. I think that if she were a man the books wouldn’t even have been written, and here’s why: we all know that J.K. went through her depression after her disastrously short marriage and pregnancy, and this is really what made her write the books, because she had nothing else to lose. But if she were a man, she would never have gotten pregnant, I hope, and therefore would have been able to go out to work. Consequently…”
[laughs] “…she wouldn’t have been able to put the idea on paper purely because she would’ve had to work for a living. Thanks for the great show, Harry.”

Andrew: I mean, you guys laugh, but I think she does bring up…

Matt: She does bring up a very good point.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, her daughter is what partly defined her. Her relationship with her sister did that too, so – I think that was an interesting perspective and, actually, Harry was not the only person who sent that in. And
by the way, Boston, there is a Boston in England. I just looked it up on Google Maps.

Micah: Yeah. But I just don’t like the point of where she talks about – oh, sorry, he talks about her getting pregnant and therefore would’ve been able to go out to work. I’m pretty sure she still worked when she was pregnant, or at
least attempted to, and even after she had the child, was working as well. I could be wrong on that, but I just don’t see how that would deter her from writing the series if she wasn’t pregnant. You know what I mean?

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

Micah: This idea that she would’ve worked for a living – she still does work for a living. She
writes. You know, that’s an occupation last time I checked.

Matt: Well, it definitely wouldn’t have been the same book.

Andrew: Yeah. It’s just an interesting perspective. I think that…

Micah: I don’t think so. Anyway.

[Andrew, Elysa, and Micah laugh]

Andrew: All right, well, I appreciated it, Harry. Thank you.

Micah: I kid.

Andrew: All right, Laura is joining us now. Hi, Laura!

Laura: Hi everybody.

Elysa: Thompson!

Andrew: How are you doing?

Laura: Good, good. Thanks for letting me join you so last minute here.


Main Discussion: Politics in Potter


Andrew: Oh, well, anything. We’d do anything for you. So this week, as I mentioned earlier, we are going to have our “Politics in Potter” discussion, and…

Matt: Should we really talk about politics? Can’t we just stick to the Harry Potter please?

Andrew: This is – yes…

Matt: Thank you.

Andrew: …average MuggleCast fan. No, this is – we’re going to be sticking to the Harry Potter politics. We’re not going to be getting…

Matt: Oh.

Laura: Well, no promises.

Andrew: Well, at times we may want to.

[Andrew and Matt laughs]

Andrew: All right, so, Micah and Laura, you guys created this whole discussion, so throw it over to you guys.


Parallels to Regimes


Micah: Yep. Well, as you mentioned, it’s timely to be discussing politics on the Potter series, and I guess we divided it up into some major themes that we’ll be going through, but there is a statement that was made by J.K. Rowling on the Harry Potter series as a whole, and I’m not quite sure when she made it, but it must have been close to when the series was over. She said:

“I wanted Harry to leave our world and find exactly the same problems in the Wizarding World. You have the intent to impose a hierarchy, you have bigotry, and this notion of purity, which is this great fallacy. But it crops up all over the world. People like to think themselves superior, and if they can pride themselves on nothing else, they can pride themselves on perceived purity. So yeah, that follows a parallel to Nazism. It wasn’t really exclusively that. I think you can see in the Ministry, even before it’s taken over, there are
parallels to regimes we all know and love.”

So, with that being said, what regimes that we all know and love do you guys think she’s talking about?

Andrew: Well, one we’ve discussed on the show all the time: World War II. Just the parallel between Nazi Germany and Voldemort and his Death Eaters, correct?

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah, that’s really strong.

Micah: I think she may have been focusing on some other regimes that are a little bit more contemporary.

Laura: I was thinking…

Andrew: Like what?

Laura: …a lot of the press, and how corrupt our – and not just ours, but press all over the world – is. So – and we can get more into that later.

Matt: Do you mean more like press as in media press?

Laura: Media, news outlets, newspapers, any kind of news outlet where you go to get stories and where you go to get your updates. It is all corrupt. And I will tell you why. Later.

Micah: [laughs] So you’re going to give us a little bit of a speech on why the media is corrupt?

Laura: Yes.

Micah: Is that what you’re saying?

Laura: Mhm.

Micah: Cool.

Matt: I have a feeling Laura’s going to be talking a lot about propaganda too.

Laura: Yeah.

[Micah laughs]

Laura: Courtesy of my propaganda class. That class is awesome. But anyway, go ahead.

Micah: I just thought she did a really good job when she said that she wanted Harry to experience the same things that take place in the real world. And I guess that’s what we’re going to be talking about here. But the first major theme that we all wanted to talk about – and, Andrew, you just alluded to it a little bit – was racism, ethnic cleansing, and Nazism and their role in the Harry Potter series. And we’re probably going to spend a majority, I would say, of the discussion on this, because it plays such a huge role. Does anyone else want to take the first point? Talking about really where this all got its origin from that we learn about in the series?

Laura: Sure. I mean, as we all know, the origination of that idea of blood purity comes from Salazar Slytherin – or at least as far as we know. I’m sure he was influenced by somebody else, but that’s really where we see that sort of ideology take its flight. And he was essentially saying that he only wanted a school where pureblooded witches and wizards were able to learn. Of course, the other founders didn’t agree with that so he was able to have his House. And we actually have a quote from the sorting song where it says, “We’ll teach just those whose ancestry is purest,” and that he took only pureblood wizards of great cunning, just like him. So what do you guys – can you draw any sort of parallels to anything contemporary or maybe somewhat contemporary based off that? Like do we have anything sort of like that going on now?


Parallels to Schools


Andrew: We really don’t. I mean, the only thing that would come to mind to me – but this doesn’t even seem that similar – is just like all boys’ school or all girls’ schools or – and this is even a further stretch – but like special education schools where schools just tailor to one specific group of people. And the purebloods were a specific group of people, so I don’t know. Is that a good connection? Or is that…

Laura: No, I think it’s valid.

Micah: Yeah. I think it’s interesting you brought up schooling, because there’s also schools that obviously you can get into based upon your last name or your class status that maybe people who are not as high up in social standing or don’t have that same last name wouldn’t be admitted entrance into that particular school.

Andrew: Mhm.


Parallels to Darfur


Micah: I was thinking more along the lines of what’s going on in Darfur.

Elysa: Mhm.

Micah: And just the overall practices that are being used there in terms of ethnic cleansing and things along that line. I mean, certainly all of this got its beginning with Slytherin, and he even created the Chamber of Secrets with the intention of someday having an heir who would be able to open it and purge the school of those who are not pureblood. And that just whole notion is a really scary thought.

Matt: Yeah.

Elysa: And you know what? Just in relation to the genocide in Sudan that you were just talking about, that sort of reminds me of the government’s creation of the Janjaweed militia, because it was sort of created for the precise purpose of eradicating those of different ethnicities, so it reminds me a lot of the Chamber of Secrets, the creation of that for the pure, explicit purpose of ethnic cleansing reminds me a lot of the Janjaweed.

MuggleCast 162 Transcript (continued)


Parallels Between Salazar Slytherin and Politicians


Laura: You know what kind of bothers me about this whole scenario, is that Slytherin actually created this with the attempt of letting an heir do it for him. And I’m still kind of confused as to why he didn’t do it himself if he was so hell bent on it. And it almost gives him a god-like reverence to his followers, you know?

Elysa: Mhm.

Laura: To anybody who would look up to Salazar Slytherin, it’s like…

Andrew: He’s the original?

Laura: Right. Like he – it’s almost like a god-like way, and I really – I see a parallel, and I’m not going to name specific names, but there have been people – politicians and terrorists otherwise – who have stated that they were meant to do something because of either a god or someone who lived a very long time ago. And I think that’s kind of an unsettling sort of parallel. I don’t know.

Matt: I think that the reason why Salazar Slytherin made the Chamber of Secrets was because at that time when he made it, he knew that he couldn’t do the things that he wanted to do because he couldn’t – wasn’t a good match against Godric Gryffindor and the other founders. So he knew that he would have to do something. So after he would have to leave, someone else could finish the job for him.

Elysa: Mhm.

Laura: Yeah. It’s just – I don’t know. It’s hard for me to understand why he did it the way he did, just because he did leave the school eventually anyway, so it just seems like it would make more sense if his overall goal was to purge the world, and the school more specifically, of people who weren’t pureblooded, then I think that he would just set the monster loose and then leave, but…

Elysa: Right.

Micah: Right. But I mean, this gets into a deeper discussion, I guess, about all the Hitler references and the Nazi references that I’m sure we’ll talk about a little bit later on, but with Slytherin, his mindset was just that only those of the purest blood and nobody else. And that’s a pretty prejudicial stance to have on anything.

Andrew: Oh, he’s just being naive if he assumes that forever and always after he created Hogwarts was just purebloods, that wizards – other wizards would never be educated. I mean, somebody would stand up and do something. Wouldn’t he have thought that?


Dehumanization


Micah: Yeah, but what’s interesting is even some of the greatest characters in the series that we tend to identify with a little bit more, those that are on the supposed good side, identified with that type of thinking early on in their life, and particularly Dumbledore. And I know we’ll talk about him right now. But he was somebody that we saw and we learned about in King’s Cross that had a very, very sort of issue. A big issue with power. And he himself thought about how great it would be to have this power over Muggles and people who weren’t of the wizarding blood.

Laura: Yeah, and there were sort of – and I mean, okay. There was sort of a similar attitude held here in the United States for a period of time, when it comes to control of certain groups and what they’re doing. When we were having a great influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe, particularly, the United States was actually sterilizing these people to keep them from breeding, because they didn’t want – yeah, this was the time – it’s sort of a parallel to now, because now we have such a great influx of immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries, and people really – or there’s at least a very large sentiment against these people who are coming, and it’s the same way people felt particularly against the Irish when they came here. So it’s sort of like that same idea of putting them – making them their own group, and sort of dehumanizing them, and then making it okay to deny them their basic human rights, which is what I think Slytherin was doing, or attempting to do, by not allowing Half-bloods and Muggle-borns education.

Elysa: Mhm.


Those Who Want Power Should Not Have Power


Micah: Yeah, and I mean, like I said, he wasn’t the only one that thought along these lines. I know we have a quote here about Dumbledore and Grindelwald, but anybody want to read it?

Laura: The quote is, “It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they will wear it well.”

Andrew: Well, and it’s also been discussed that Harry has a lot of qualities. That quote reminds me of this. Harry Potter has a lot of qualities like Salazar. They were both Parselmouths, they were both resourceful, they had a lot of determination. I mean, these qualities – what is Dumbledore trying to say here exactly?

Laura: Well, he’s basically trying to say that people who desire power and desire to be leaders are probably not the best people to do it, because they become easily corrupt.

Andrew: Oh.

Laura: Which kind of – I mean, just looking at the election, I always kind of felt like anybody who would want to run for President must be somewhat of an egomaniac, because – whoa.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Because that is quite an undertaking, and it’s like – it makes you wonder, what is the motivation behind the people…

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: …who are running for a public office?

Andrew: And – well, that’s a good point, because you have to wonder – they always say, you know, “I’m doing it for you guys!” But are they really? I mean…

Matt: Mhm.

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: Is there anyone out there who’s that in love with the people of America so much that they would take a role as huge as President?

Elysa: I mean, I don’t know. Honestly, speaking as someone who has plans to be a politician one day, I can personally say that that’s my motivation. I’m not kidding.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: But you’re special, Elysa.

Elysa: Maybe that’s really naive.

Laura: You’re special, though.

Elysa: I am. It’s because I’m a badger, isn’t it? I’m a Hufflepuff.

Laura: Yeah.

Elysa: I know. But in all seriousness, I think – I mean, I think there’s a distinction to be made as well. I think that seizing power and – is completely different than putting yourself up for a vote and respecting the rules of democracy and of a republic. But you see with Voldemort, and every other dictator in the world, whether Stalin, or Hitler, or Mussolini, they’ve all seized power and taken it for themselves through a revolution or revolt on that, you know, oftentimes, is completely ignore the rule of law, so I think there is a really big difference between trying to take power for yourself and then to trying to just integrate into a political system.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah: Right.

Matt: Well, I think what J.K. Rowling meant when she did that quote was that she meant – she meant to say that leaders, the great leaders, are born when problems arise and when a leader is needed. I don’t think – I think she means that when you seek power for too much – for more than personal gain, like Andrew said, you just get easily corrupted and you just get – there’s no balance between them.

Elysa: Mmm.

Micah: I think, Elysa, what you said too, the difference between those people you brought up and Dumbledore down the road is that he admits himself that he learned that he was not to be trusted with any sort of power. And…

Elysa: Right.

Micah: We see him tell Harry specifically that he would have never taken the role of Minister of Magic for fear of him being corrupted by that power. Just because of the other things that he enlightens with Harry. And he says – and I’ll just read this quote here real fast. But he says:

“Grindelwald. You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me. Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution. Oh, I had a few scruples. I assuaged my conscience with empty words. It would all be for the greater good, and any harm done would be repaid a hundredfold in the benefit for wizards. Did I know, in my heart of hearts, what Gellert Grindelwald was? I think I did, but I closed my eyes. If the plans we were making came to fruition, all my dreams would come true.”

So…

Laura: Oh, Dumbledore.

Micah: And that’s Dumbledore speaking.

Matt: Yeah, that kind of upsets me. Like he would – he knows – he knows in the back of his mind about what’s really happening but he just chooses to ignore it and just try to – let Grindelwald cloud his mind. And he lets him do it, and he knows he’s doing it.

Andrew: Because he had a fascination with him!

Matt: I know…

Andrew: Like, J.K. Rowling said…

Matt: That’s what upsets me a little bit. But…

Elysa: Well, I mean, here’s the thing, is that at least I think it happens to most people in their lives, at some point. Probably not on such a grand scale as planning a revolution or an oppression of the people. But I think that – I would say the majority of people are fascinated and overtaken by some kind of concept or person, but not everyone – in fact very few people – have the courage and their perspective to look back and realize that’s what happened and to admit to it. So for me, that whole dynamic that Dumbledore plays out here in this scene made me kind of respect him and love him even more, in a way. Because I felt like it just – it proved how wise he was, because a lot of times being wise isn’t about always being right. It’s about being able to admit when you were wrong.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, yeah, but as we discussed before, this just makes Dumbledore a very real person too.

Micah: Yeah.

Elysa: Yeah, exactly.

Micah: But it also shows that even somebody as great as him and as good as him had these ideas in his head, even though it was probably at a relatively young age. But it just shows that how these ideas really can take hold of people, and how power is really a dangerous thing.

Elysa: Mhm.


Parallel Between Deathly Hallows Symbol and Swastika


Micah: But I guess we can move on. And I know we’ve talked about this on past shows, but the Deathly Hallows symbol shows up on the walls at Durmstrang, and it really did remind me of how the Nazis would use the Swastika in different places to instill fear in those – and it’s not just in World War II; it’s obviously still used to this day to sort of represent racism and prejudice and things of that nature.

Elysa: Well, you know what I found the most fascinating about this, is that both symbols begin out – they originated in sort of like a benign fashion.

Matt: Exactly. I was going to say that too.

Elysa: Yeah, the Swastika originally – it actually – originally I think it was sand script for Swastika, which means “to be good.” And it was used all across central Europe and even actually in a lot of Native American cultures. It’s one of the most universal symbols that there are – that there is. And it was transformed completely by this propaganda of nationalism that the Nazis employed, and so now, even though for 3,000 years it existed as a symbol of peace and good nature, in a course of a few years, a decade, now we look back on it and we see it as a symbol of prejudice and hate. And in a lot of ways rightly so, but it’s the same thing with the Deathly Hallows symbol. I mean, essentially, when you break it down, it’s just a wand and a stone and a cloak, and it originated from a legend – a fairy tale, and it was completely transformed by hate.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah: Right.

Laura: Yeah, and another…

Micah: It’s interesting – go ahead.

Laura: Oh. I was just going to say, another – and this sort of relates to the propaganda thing that Elysa was talking about – but another sort of parallel you can see between the two symbols is they are both so simple. Like, the whole point of having a propaganda campaign…

Elysa: Mhm.

Laura: …is you want it to be simple, because you want people to remember it. If the Swastika had had tons of elaborate…

Elysa: Exactly.

Laura: …design, people wouldn’t remember it as well as they do. But it’s stark, it’s simple, and it just sticks in our brains. And what better symbols to use in the wizarding world than a wand, a cloak, and, what, the Resurrection Stone? Which apparently…

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: …is engrained in bedtime stories…

Elysa: Yeah.

Laura: …that you hear from when you’re a child. So… [laughs]

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: But when you say “remember,” do you mean it’s easy to remember for people to use so that they can instill that fear?

Laura: No, it’s – I mean, it’s just easy to remember in general. Like you see it and you know. Who didn’t know what the Swastika was when they were a child? Even if you didn’t know all the history behind it, you still knew it was a bad symbol, because you’d been brought up to think that way. Anytime you saw it on a book somewhere, it was some – a book with a negative connotation about Nazism, for instance. You know?

Andrew: Yeah. But for argument’s sake…

Micah: Right.

Andrew: …I mean, is simplicity really what sticks with people in their mind?

Laura: Yes.

Andrew: Because if you think of something – really?

Laura: Yes.

Elysa: Yeah. Well, when you’re trying to make an argument about something, especially when it’s an irrational argument, and a racist or prejudiced argument, the best way to do it is to simplify and to demonize the people.

Andrew: Hmm.

Elysa: So you take a whole race or something and you simplify them to – so they’re not even really humans anymore. They’re just objectified. And when you objectify something, you are inherently simplifying it. And so that’s why propagandists will always use a lot of really simplistic symbols and signs, and even catchphrases, to get their point across.

Laura: Yeah. And honestly, as bad as it sounds, the Nazis were brilliant propagandists. There’s…

Elysa: No, they were. Can’t deny it.

Laura: …absolutely no way around it.

Andrew: Mhm.

Laura: Why do you think that to this day politicians hold these huge rallies? Because it’s harder to have your own individual thought and to actually interpret what they’re telling you when you’re standing in a crowd of 10,000 people screaming. And that’s exactly what the Nazis did. They gave these people their little Swastika flags, and starting yelling about – you know, Hitler did a lot of yelling. [laughs]

[Elysa and Micah laugh]


Manipulation


Laura: And people took it, because it’s so – if you’re sitting across a table from Hitler, it’s much easier to sort of reflect on what he’s saying. But when you’re shouting at the top of your lungs because you feel that your country’s economy has been driven into the ground because of one race, it’s much harder to reflect on that. And that’s what made them so brilliant in what they did, because they knew how to manipulate people.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Laura: And I think Voldemort did too.

Micah: Well, he played…

Andrew: Yeah, I think you’re right.

Micah: I think he played on their fears and insecurities more than Hitler did. Maybe I could be wrong on that, but I think that maybe that’s a shared characteristic between the two of them, and I think that’s how they were able to motivate. You used the example of, hey, the Jewish people are responsible for all the failures in the economy at the time in Europe, and Voldemort kind of did the same thing, saying, oh, well, if we don’t take care of the non-purebloods, then all these half-bloods and Muggles are going to come along and they’re going to take all the jobs away, or they’re going to really just – I guess take the things away from the purebloods that he believed was their given right.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: Well, and I mean, I think you said that you’re not sure if Voldemort played off their more – their insecurities more than Hitler did, but I think that we just see it more throughout the Harry Potter books than we really saw with Harry.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: But I mean, you’ve got to think about – think about the diary of Anne Frank. I mean, talk about playing off insecurities. There’s some serious insecurity there, so…

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: I think we just read about it more in this book.

Elysa: I think Hitler, more than anything, played off of anger than anything else, because the Nazi people – or not the Nazi people, listen to me. Geez. The German people – [laughs] – the German people, they were really – they weren’t insecure as much as they were angry over the Treaty of Versailles, the War Guilt Clause, and things of that nature. And so I think, more than any other emotion, Hitler fed off of anger and discontent than insecurity, but that’s just my perspective.

Micah: Well, speaking of Voldemort, let’s…

Andrew: Hey, can I bring something up?

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Just before we move on, though.

Micah: Sure.


The Reason for the Parallels


Andrew: I think that the reason that J.K. Rowling brings all these parallels into the books, like the ones we’re discussing right now, is because those – these parallels are really what can be – get – bring the most emotion out of reading them. Because it’s already been proven and tested that these kinds of stories can really bring a lot of emotion out of people. So I think that – I’m not saying that J.K. Rowling’s just going the easy way by using a similar story, but I think that it’s just a proven formula that works, and I think maybe that was her thinking behind it, perhaps?

Micah: Yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t even say that…

Andrew: Or one of the reasons.

Micah: …it’s – that you could call it an easy route. I think that it takes a lot of creativity…

Andrew: No. Oh yeah.

Micah: …to be able to weave that…

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Micah: …into a story, and really – to have people look through it, pick out the comparisons. And maybe there are a lot of things that are in there that are just coincidence, too. But I think, though, knowing her background, knowing that she used to be a teacher, that there are these events that you can compare to what happened in the real world, and they’re there for a reason. And I think the biggest one is hopefully that people learn from them.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: You know, they can draw similar conclusions and comparisons, and they in themselves can learn from it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: I really don’t think it’s a coincidence, to be honest with you, though. I feel like all this stuff was written for a reason.

Micah: Not after the – not after that opening quote about how she wanted Harry to face the same things in his world as – that took place in the…

Andrew: Oh yeah.


Comparing Voldemort and Hitler


Micah: In the real world, so. But I guess we can move on to Voldemort, right?

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: I mean, we can start with the basic facts. We mentioned before that he was the Heir of Slytherin. And something interesting about him was that he himself was a half-blood. And we all know that Hitler wasn’t very representative of the Aryan race that he prized so much.

Andrew: Mhm.

Micah: Blonde hair, blue eyes. If you look at a picture of Hitler, he definitely did not have those qualities. And again, I just thought that that was an interesting similarity. Voldemort himself is so gung ho about purebloods, and yet he himself is a half-blood. Isn’t that somewhat hypocritical?

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: I guess more so what I wondered was, does he no longer consider himself a half-blood once be becomes Voldemort? Is he now Voldemort the pureblood…

Andrew: He’s just Voldemort, yeah.

Micah: …crazy wizard.

Matt: He’s just – he doesn’t even talk about it. I don’t even think he thinks about it anymore. It’s not even an issue in his mind.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, he hates himself for being a half-blood. So, yeah. He would – he’s Voldemort.

Matt: Yeah, he doesn’t even consider himself any type of blood. He considers himself immortal.

Laura: Yeah. And although – I will point out that being blonde-haired and blue-eyed wasn’t really a necessity to be part of the Nazi Party. I mean, I know if you look at any number of Nazi propaganda films like Triumph of the Will, you’ll see all these strapping young blonde-haired, blue-eyed soldiers. But actually, what the Nazis believed was that you could be Aryan and have non-Aryan features, because – and this was how they would put it – your ancestors had mixed with the Slavs, or something like that. There’s actually a really great film called Europa Europa about a young Jewish boy who actually infiltrated the Hitler Youth school, and it’s a true story. And they actually brought him up to the front of the classroom and did all the weird scientific measurements they did that would justify whether you were Aryan or not. And they would sit – and they said that this young Jewish boy was of pure Aryan descent, but that he had – that his ancestors had just mixed around a little bit with Slavs and it really wasn’t his fault. So that’s kind of how they viewed that, but I don’t know. I just thought I’d throw that out there.

Matt: Good.

Micah: Yeah. The next couple points are not mine, so I’m going to defer to whoever put them in there.

Andrew: We’re going to turn it over to Laura.

Laura: I didn’t put that there.

Elysa: I think I – I think I put that…

Micah: [laughs] Or Elysa.

[Everyone laughs]

Elysa: Well, the next point was just that both Voldemort and Hitler had experiences in their youth that contributed to their adult prejudices. Voldemort, obviously, with the orphanage and how he always talks about sort of being ostracized and being the odd man out, and not fitting in, and indeed getting so frustrated and angry about it that he would attack the other students and use his magic against them. But Hitler had a similar experience when he was growing up. Hitler was actually Austrian. He was born in Austria. And when he grew up in his town the economy was terrible, primarily because of the reparations that Austria had to pay after World War I. And he blamed the economy on the Jewish people because there was a high percentage of Jews in his particular town. So he just made this very, again, simplistic though largely inaccurate connection between Jews and the economy. And this experience as a youth and growing up in sort of like an impoverished country is a huge factor for why he had a prejudice against Jews later on in his life.

Micah: And then you also mentioned that they both failed in their initial attempts to seize power?

Elysa: Oh, yeah, sorry, I lost the place in the Google doc.

Laura: Isn’t that when he wrote that huge rambling sentence of a novel, Mein Kampf? Didn’t he write that in prison?

Elysa: [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah exactly. Hitler tried seizing power first with the Beer Hall Pusch, and it failed miserably, and he almost – he contemplated suicide afterwards and was thrown in jail and that’s where he wrote Mein Kampf. But then, of course, later, his second rise to power, he was much more successful, or closer to succeeding in what his ultimate goal was. And I see a parallel with Voldemort as well. Just in that…

Micah: Right.

Elysa: …Voldemort tried to rise to power, failed. And he failed the second time as well, but so did Hitler. But I think the second time they both came closer.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Mhm.

Micah: Right.

Andrew: This is a – these parallels really are – this may sound weird, but I think they are pretty beautiful. Just like comparing the Death Eaters to Nazi Germany.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: It’s just so well done.


Comparing Death Eaters and Nazi Soldiers


Micah: Well, we can talk about them, I guess. [laughs] You know, Voldemort, he organized an army who followed his every word and feared his every act. And Elysa and Laura, you guys are far more informed on this than I am, but I know Hitler did some of the same things. But wasn’t it more because people actually believed in what he said, not that they feared his every act?

Elysa: Yeah. I mean, there was, like I said, there was a lot of anger with Hitler. There was a lot of anger among the German people for the reparations and the War Guilt Clause in the Treaty of Versailles. So it started out initially – I think eventually it definitely evolved into a dynamic of fear and oppression for sure. But I think initially Hitler – what’s important to remember is that initially Hitler was elected. He was appointed as Chancellor and he was elected by his party. He – with the exception of the initial Beer Hall Pusch, from which he tried to seize power, after that he learned his lesson and realized that the only way to actually take power was to do it through democratic means, and he did. And obviously, the only way to do that, through democratic means, is to have the power that people are on your side. So initially he was an extremely popular figure.

Micah: Right. As opposed to Voldemort, who was not.

[Elysa and Micah laugh]

Andrew: Yeah.

Elysa: Right. Yeah, certainly not among the entire magical world as Hitler was with the German people, no.

Micah: Now what about this point about Voldemort sort of mobilizing into somewhat underground manner…

[Laura sneezes]

Elysa: Bless you.

Micah: God bless you.

Laura: [laughs] Thank you.

Micah: [laughs] That’s what she thinks about that.

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: But…

Laura: Sorry.

Micah: [laughs] Him mobilizing into somewhat underground manner, similar to Hitler. I mean, you mentioned very early on he had this Beer Hall approach. I mean… [laughs] …Voldemort wasn’t going around to all the local taverns and pitching his ideas. But…

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: But he kind of went about it in a comparative way. He was – I always have this idea of Voldemort sort of just going from place to place to place in a kind of a very concealed manner and recruiting people that way. You know what I mean?

Andrew: It’s like – and I mean this isn’t really a joke – but it’s sort of like Osama Bin Laden style, how he’s just always hiding in the caves and we can never find him. Similar to how Voldemort can never really be found unless he wanted to be found.

Micah: Right, and – yeah, I mean that’s not a bad comparison, because he didn’t – same with Bin Laden, he didn’t fully show his true power until he was confident that his plans would work. You know?

Andrew: Right.

Micah: You think about 9/11. He didn’t come to the surface fully until he knew that that act was going to be carried out with success.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: It’s always interesting, too, like when you don’t see Bin Laden around for a while, or now a lot of people are concerned about the Korean leader, what’s his name?

Elysa: Kim Jong-Il?

Andrew: Kim Jong…

Elysa: Kim Jong-Il.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, the government there, I read on CNN, released a picture of him smiling the other day to assure people he’s in good health. I kind of always wished that in Harry Potter it would’ve been cool to see some of that like, “Is Voldemort even still alive? Do we even know?” I mean, there’s not that much time in the books to do that because this is only over seven years.

Micah: So moving on to the Death Eaters. We just mentioned briefly before, very similar to the Nazi’s catching on and following Hitler. And what I really want to talk about here was that you had these Death Eaters after the initial fall of Voldemort that went before the Wizengamot, and they eventually were sent off to Azkaban, some of them hoping one day that Voldemort would return to power. And I thought this was a little bit similar to the Nuremberg trials after the war was over. The Nazis were put on trial, some of the higher officials, and eventually once convicted, these soldiers were executed. I wonder why none of the Death Eaters were ever thought to be executed?

Elysa: I don’t know, but I can say that a parallel that I would draw with this is that the Nuremberg trials, as well as what we see with the Death Eaters, is they both – they both take the guilt off of themselves and try and deflect it to their leader. You know, you see a lot of Death Eaters saying, “I was bewitched. I was put under the Imperius Curse,” and everything else like that. And same case at the Nuremberg trials, a lot of the SS and the Nazis, they were all saying, “I was afraid for my life.” Sort of a Peter Pettigrew defense. Like, “What was I supposed to do?” And so I don’t know. I’m not sure if that actually worked. I know that at the Nuremberg trials there were a couple, not all, but there were a couple of people who got off on that defense. So maybe it was the same thing with the Death Eaters, I don’t know.


Muggle-born Registration Commission and “Magic is Might” Statue


Micah: Okay, well, moving on: the last point we have here in this sort of racism/prejudice category was the Muggle-born Registration Commission and the “Magic is Might” statue that showed up in Deathly Hallows, and I think, Laura, you actually put this in here, talking about that the Commission was not just a tie to the way the Nazis rounded up the Jews and other people in World War II…

Laura: Yeah…

Micah: …but there were other examples in history as well.

Laura: Yes. The one that I was primarily thinking of was – again, it actually took place here, and what’s really disturbing is a lot of people don’t know about it, because it’s pretty well covered up. But after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States rounded up Japanese-Americans and put them in internment camps in the U.S., because they thought that anybody who was of Japanese heritage would be a threat to our society after this attack. So…

Micah: Right.

Laura: …it’s sort of like the same idea, the…

Micah: Right.

Andrew: Definitely.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: And in particular, the statue, also, that we see in the hall at the Ministry of Magic, it was really disturbing to me because when I read that description, I immediately thought of the concentration camps. You know, you have these people just really twisted and contorted, all on top of each other, and it was just disgusting, if you think about it. You have these wizards sitting on top of this body of bodies, literally. It’s kind of a disturbing picture to put in your head. I see, Laura, here, that you also mentioned that being anti-Semitic and anti-Muggle-born was already somewhat acceptable in the Harry Potter series up until this point, where we see this Commission. Do you mean just from what we’ve heard from people like the Malfoys and other families, or you could even relate that to Dumbledore, I think, because you look at when you hear from him in King’s Cross, he’s talking about the idea of wizards being triumphant and Muggles being subservient.

Laura: I didn’t actually put the point in there, but I can tell you what I think. I think it’s just another parallel to show. I mean, it is completely inaccurate to say that we live in a society without racism and prejudice. It is very much present in our society, and in many areas, it’s acceptable, which is disgusting. But it’s true. So I think it’s just another tie to our more contemporary society, to make it more prevalent, so…

Micah: Yeah. I think in particular here, you just see it manifesting itself, whereas – and I’ll even bring it up, because I know it’s something that took place recently, but you look at what has gone on at some of the campaign rallies holded – held, excuse me – by Senator McCain and Governor Palin, in terms of the crowd’s response to certain things that were said and what they’ve said about Senator Obama. And the idea that racism, as you’ve just said, it does not exist in today’s society, all you have to do is go and look at something like that, in 2008, this kind of stuff is still going on.

Andrew: Yeah. It was about Obama specifically when they were talking about some of his stances, and I remember hearing that that did end up getting a lot of press a couple of weeks ago, and I remember hearing that once they saw what was going on, or once it started gaining press they, McCain and Palin, adjusted their speeches a bit, I guess to, I don’t know, calm the crowds down or something, but it’s amazing that that really still happens, and even over our presidential candidates.

Laura: And what’s very disturbing is we see the kind sort of scapegoating going on right now that you can also draw a parallel to the Holocaust. There’s been that big flap the past few months about people thinking that Barack Obama is a Muslim. First of all, he’s not. Second of all, who cares?

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Why would it matter if he was? Because currently in our society, people of Arabic descent and people who practice Islam are considered scapegoats. And any time these people want to blame something terrible on someone else, they blame it on someone who is either Arabic or fits a very generic Middle-Eastern stereotype in terms of how they look. And I remember a few weeks ago there was footage of John McCain speaking with a woman who said she couldn’t trust Barack Obama because he was an Arab. And what bothered me more than anything, more than her saying that, was that John McCain responded to her and said, “No ma’am, he is not. He is a good citizen with whom I have disagreements.” So he made a distinction between being an Arab and being a good citizen. And that really, really bothered me. And I’m going to shut up now.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, yeah, I mean, this is the point, you know, that I think Micah’s – we’re all – we’ve all been trying to make, is that it was very real in the Harry Potter fandom too. And it was almost coincidental that Jo brought this up because, really, I mean, there hasn’t been many blatant – unless I’m missing something, or maybe I’m completely off – but there hasn’t been many blatant attempts at racism lately other than – but – well, there hasn’t been any attempts before this presidential election. I mean, am I right or…

Elysa: There was actually – I don’t know, no one’s really sure…

Andrew: Well, there’s the occasional story, like Don Imus having a remark about a woman’s basketball team.

Laura: Well, did you hear about the – the two men who were just arrested because they had an assassination plot? And they were – they were planning to kill…

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: …something like twenty other African-American citizens before they – yeah. It happens.

Micah: Yeah. I think…

Andrew: But you – I mean…

Micah: …Andrew’s referring to other incidents…

Laura: Like…

Micah: …before the election.

Laura: Oh, before the election. Like…

Andrew: Right. Yeah, yeah.

Micah: Yeah, I think…

Andrew: I think it’s coincidental that Jo brought this up a year ago in Deathly Hallows, but now it’s happening again. It seems to be picking up more
than it was actually at about a year ago.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah: Yeah, but I think there are always isolated incidents that are going to make the national media, but you have to remember there are also incidents that take place at the local level, in your local newspaper, that you never hear about – or sorry – that the national audience never hears about. So it still does exist; there’s no question about it. I mean, there are incidents – there was one that just took place on Long Island about a Swastika being spray-painted on a temple or a Menorah being overturned and vandalized. I mean, it does take place; it may not be at the level of – to receive national attention, but it still does happen.

Elysa: Right.

Laura: Mhm. I agree.

Micah: And you know that kind of – those were the final points about the Muggle-borns, saying that they were really responsible, according to Voldemort, for the falling standards of the Wizarding World, and I know Laura alluded to before about how that was similar – or, Elysa did – about, you know, Germany’s failing economy, and the Jews were blamed for that, so there’s another comparison there. And it also says here that in the years prior to the Holocaust, Jews would often be terrorized and have their residences and businesses vandalized, the biggest night of course being
Kristallnacht, which was the Night of Broken Glass, where literally hundreds, if not thousands, of stores and homes were just completely destroyed. And I think Laura here pointed out – there’s a similar incidence with a Muggle family in Goblet of Fire, where they’re tortured at the Quidditch World Cup, and nobody really thinks of it as being against the law. They just see it as happening. And they kind of turn a blind eye because they’re all running for their lives themselves.

Andrew: The final quote we wanted to make here on this topic was that even Ron said that he would tell everyone Hermione was his cousin so Hermione wasn’t known as a Mudblood. And oftentimes, friends of Jewish families would attempt to do this too, so another good parallel and a very interesting and a slightly more hidden one, I think.

Micah: Well, yeah, you brought up Anne Frank before. That’s a…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …perfect example of that.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. It’s an amazing story.

Micah: All right.

Andrew: And movie.

Micah: So we’ve finally moved off our first point there of racism and ethnic cleansing and Nazism.

Andrew: Whoo! Happy Election Day!

[Matt and Micah laugh]


The Evils of War: Innocents Killed


Micah: Yeah, exactly. The remainder of the points, I guess, are a little bit shorter, but one of the things I just want to touch on real fast was the evils of war and,
obviously, with a lot going on with our country, here in the U.S., and others around the world who are helping out, but J.K. Rowling said, “I very consciously
wanted to show what is one of the great evils of war, which is that totally innocent people are slaughtered.” Another great evil of war is that children lose their
families. So…

Andrew: And I mean, this is her talking about the deaths in Book 7, I guess, or just as a whole. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that was – that was one of the – I remember
the first quote when Jo said like oh, it’s going to be a bloodbath, and the press picked that up. And everyone said, well, you know, of course, the press eats that kind of stuff up, but, really, it’s not a surprise because they are going into a war, and innocent people would die, so…

Micah: Yeah. I actually think this was in response to a question about why Remus and Tonks had to die.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Matt: Mhm.

Micah: And it makes sense, if you think about it.

Matt: They were just boring characters.

Andrew: It does make sense, although people…

[Everyone laughs]

Elysa: Matt! Oh, my God! Blasphemy! Kick him off the show now.

Andrew: Banned from the show.

Matt: No!

Andrew: Mic off. No more mic.

Micah: No, we needed a good laugh. This was too serious of a show so far. [laughs]

Andrew: Hey, his mic’s off for ten minutes.

Elysa: I do not find insulting Remus Lupin funny.

Matt: Hook my mic up! Thank you.

Micah: Matt.

Andrew: Okay.

[Elysa and Micah laugh]

Matt: What?

Andrew: Do you have any apologies or anything to say?

Matt: Yeah, I’m sorry…

Andrew: Sorry, your mic’s off. Sorry, can’t hear you.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Joke’s over.

MuggleCast 162 Transcript (continued)


Ministry Corruption: Cornelius Fudge


Micah: All right, so moving away from war – obviously played a big role in the series, but now Ministry corruption, educational reforms, and biased media – huge topics in and of themselves. But this is something I think Laura and Elysa are going to have a lot of fun with, particularly the ignorance of Cornelius Fudge throughout the course of the Harry Potter series. And one interesting thing that J.K. Rowling said was that you should question authority and you should not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all the
truth. And an interesting quote by Dumbledore from Goblet of Fire. He says, “You’re blinded by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius. You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood. You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow up to be.” So, Laura, I’ll let you go off. Obviously, Cornelius – I hate him just as much as Umbridge, to be honest with you, in the series, and he’s just…

Andrew: Of course.

Micah: …a piece of work.

Laura: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know that there’s tons that we can say about him, and I kind of have a very biased… [laughs] …opinion that I put in writing that I won’t share.

Andrew: Yeah, you know…

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: …before I even read that, I realized, is Jo trying to pull any parallels here? I mean, in all seriousness, do you think she is? Like, because everything else in the Ministry seems to be some sort of parallel, so does Fudge have any?

Micah and Laura: Yeah.

Micah: Actually…

Andrew: I mean, we can point the finger…

Micah: Well…

Andrew: …on Jo.

Micah: …the…

Andrew: …instead of us being political, it’s Jo. Go ahead, Micah.

Micah: The bullet point actually got moved down to the Prophet and The Quibbler, but she said in an interview that he was based on the character of Neville Chamberlain, who was a British Prime Minister…

Andrew: Ah, there you go.

Micah: …in the late 1930s, and Chamberlain so hoped to avert another war in Europe that he looked the other way when it came to the Nazi Regime’s atrocities, and allowed Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia, calling it peace for our time. He eventually declared war on Germany when Hitler invaded Poland. Chamberlain was succeeded as Prime Minister by Winston Churchill. So, again, more World War II referencing, and you can clearly see the similarities between Chamberlain and Fudge. Just sort of really turning a blind eye to everything that’s going on and acting in complete and utter ignorance.

Elysa: Well, it seems to me, then, if she’s making this parallel between Chamberlain and Cornelius Fudge, Chamberlain’s known for – what she’s talking about here, this turning a blind eye. The technical term for that is appeasement. So it seems to me that if she’s drawing this parallel between the two, that the character Cornelius
Fudge is a rather strong – rather strong speaking out of against appeasement and the whole concept of appeasing one’s enemies to get peace for oneself.

Laura: Mhm. Yeah, I was just going to kind of throw this little point in here really quickly. I don’t know if any of you remember, but there are a lot of people who try
to draw comparisons between Voldemort and George Bush, and other characters in the series. A lot of – there are a lot of characters people try to compare to George
Bush. But actually, in chapter one of Half-Blood Prince – and this is just my opinion – it’s chapter one, “The Other Minister,” it’s talking about the Prime
Minister of England, and it said:

“He was waiting for a call from the president of a far, distant country, and between wondering when the wretched man would telephone
and trying to suppress unpleasant memories of what had been a very long, tiring, and difficult week…”

Blah, blah, blah, it goes on from there. I think that was her little nod towards our Commander-in-Chief, but that’s just me.

Andrew: I think you have a point there.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: But, I mean, there’s very little…

Laura: It’s very – it’s very subtle, though, that’s what’s great about it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Like, it could be anyone you want it to be, which is probably what’s best about it, but considering the political climate… [laughs]

Andrew: I mean, maybe it’s just a coincidence. I mean…

Laura: [laughs] Elysa…

Andrew: …at least this one could be a coincidence. Or at least, you know, the parallel you’re trying to draw, because there haven’t been any United States-related parallels, I don’t think, in – United States, specifically, parallels in the Harry Potter books. So I don’t know if that would make any difference, but…

Laura: No.

Micah: Right.

Laura: But considering the – considering the relationship that the United States and Britain have…

Andrew: Mhm.

Matt: Mhm.

Laura: I’ll just leave it at that. And Elysa’s informing me…

Micah: If I was a betting man…

Laura: …that I’m going to get death threats, so…

Micah: If I was a betting man, I would say that J.K. Rowling is not too fond of George W. Bush. We should leave it at that.

Andrew: Well, and…

Laura: Yeah. I mean, considering she gave how much money she gave to, what, the Labor Party?

Andrew: Yeah, the Labor Party.

Micah: Right.

Laura: Yeah.


How the Press Manipulates


Micah: Yup. The next part has to do with the press, and I know that, Laura, you put most of the press-related stuff in here. And you were actually – we were talking a
little bit about it before the show, how you feel that the press can often manipulate…

Laura: Mhm.

Micah: …people who read their news.

Laura: Right, of course. What’s really disturbing about the press in general – and it’s really a parallel that we see in Harry Potter – is that all of our media outlets are owned by the same four or five people, who have very vested interests in what those outlets are reporting to us. For instance, one of – one of the most well-known ones is that General Electric owns NBC. So if there’s ever an energy scandal that has anything to do with General Electric you will never hear about it on NBC. Furthermore, I think I was reading that NBC, out of all of the news networks, they cover energy the least.

Micah: Wow.

Laura: So, yeah.

Andrew: Well, NBC’s had those – I remember last year they had the whole Green Week, and I remember some shows actually had the lights off. They had like most of their
studio lights off. And they were trying to send a message about how to conserve energy.

Laura: Right. I mean, I’m not saying that they don’t cover any sort of energy stories, but…

Micah: Well, that’s positive press though.

Laura: Right, yeah, it’s positive press for them. That’s essentially what it boils down to. And a lot of those same tactics are used by the Public Relations Committee. I mean there’s so many instances in which I can think of, that the United States has been at war, and at large the public opinion of it was not good. There was a lot of political dissent. Particularly I’m thinking of when Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait.

Matt: Mhm.

Laura: Am I right on that, Elysa? Yeah? Gulf War?

Elysa: Indeed, indeed.

Laura: And there was a huge, huge public uprising against this; people did not want this to happen. Well, the Public Relations Committee created a quote unquote citizen group called Citizens for a Free Kuwait…

Elysa: Yeah.

Laura: …in order to convince citizens that at the most part, U.S. citizens wanted to free Kuwait, which was a complete success in terms of propaganda at the very least, and I think we see the same kind of tactics used by The Daily Prophet.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Laura: Particularly, in the last two Potter books, where the government completely took over the papers, and it’s very prevalent because now, anytime the government
wants to do something or release something, they don’t do it without consulting someone from PR.

Micah: Right.

Laura: So there’s definitely a huge tie there.

Micah: Yeah, it’s all selective information. I mean – and one of the things that I can think about today is that if you think about it, whenever we hear about events in Iraq or Afghanistan, it will always be about – on, I guess, the more depressing side of things, when there are incidents where soldiers are killed. It’s usually all you hear about is if they’re American, if they’re British,
Australian, so on and so forth, and when you get these counts of people who have been killed, you never hear anything about the number of Iraqis that have been killed
over in Iraq or the number of citizens of Afghanistan that have been killed, and these are regular everyday people. I’m not talking about soldiers. So it’s very selective in terms of the amount of information that you hear.

Laura: Yeah. And actually, isn’t it true that we don’t keep a count at all? It’s like we don’t actually keep a count of how many Iraqi civilians are dying in the war?

Andrew: Yeah, I thought I heard that too.

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: It’s got to be hundreds of thousands now.

Laura: Yeah, it has to be.

Elysa: Well, I know that – I know that the reason that it’s not being counted as closely as it would be otherwise is because they’re arguing that of course it’s difficult to count when you’re talking about civilian casualties who are being bombed from the push of a button you know, so – and I don’t know. I can say a lot more on that, but I’ll…

Andrew: I did a whole paper on the ethics of journalism a while ago, and it was just really interesting and eye-opening to see how pick and choosy, so to speak, that the media is. And The Daily Prophet is definitely a beautiful representation of the real life media in today’s society. It’s terrible. It’s so bad and that’s why things like YouTube and podcasting – I just sounded like Sarah Palin when I said [with Sarah Palin accent] YouTube.

Elysa: [Sarah Palin accent] YouTube.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Laura and Micah laugh]

Matt: [as Sarah Palin] Well, I can see YouTube from my chair.

[Laura laughs]

Elysa: [as Sarah Palin] Maverick.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: It’s – they’re growing so quickly and people love them so much because it’s true free speech and – whereas with, like Laura said, with NBC not reporting on energy
as much, with just average people reporting on whatever they want because they’re not limited by a boss overhead. That’s the beauty of podcasting specifically.

Micah: Yeah. Even today we can rattle off a number of different news outlets and newspapers that tend to lean one way or the other, and it’s kind of scary though because it’s all crafted to that particular audience, and say you don’t know any better, what are you really learning? You’re not learning the truth at all. You’re learning a skewed version of the truth.

Laura: And one thing that I noticed, and it wasn’t just something that The Daily Prophet did, it was something that was performed by the Ministry, calling what they were doing to Muggle-borns the Muggle-born Registration Commission. It’s giving a very terrible act a much nicer name, in order to convince people, or at least to put their minds at ease, that maybe what’s going on isn’t so terrible. And it’s sort of like all the names that we see given to all of these terrible things that are happening now. Like conservatives – instead of calling it “global warming,” they say “climate change” and it’s not the war in Iraq, it’s Project Iraqi Freedom. And it’s very disturbing how just giving something a positive connotation completely changes the way a lot of people think about it.

Micah: Yeah, no, you’re absolutely right.

Elysa: Well, that reminds me of George Orwell. I just had to throw that out there.

Laura: Oh, yes!

Elysa: 1984

Laura: Oh, the Ministry of Truth.

Elysa: The Ministry of Truth and NewSpeak and euphemisms and the whole – yeah, that’s very Orwellian. And I also just wanted to bring up really quick that I think the beauty of The Daily Prophet dynamic is that The Daily Prophet is supposed to represent, theoretically, just like all newspapers and press and media, at least in Western democracies, is supposed to represent a beacon of information and truth, and they’re supposed – the people behind it are supposed to have good intentions. So I think The Daily Prophet really exemplifies how evil isn’t – doesn’t just come from bad people, that evil isn’t necessarily a person or a tangible object; it’s also when someone with good intentions does something wrong. So, people who are trying to do something good, who are trying to put the truth out there, are not doing it because they think they’re doing something good when it’s really only hurting everyone else. So I think The Daily
Prophet
‘s lesson is that you can’t – even people that you think you can trust in war times, you can’t because the propaganda’s machine is always rolling.

Micah: Yeah. Well, wasn’t it Sirius who told Harry the world isn’t separated into good people and Death Eaters?

Laura: Yes.

Elysa: Right, exactly!

Micah: Or something along those lines.

Elysa: Exactly. I think that’s what The Daily Prophet‘s lesson is. I think that’s just another example of that in the story.


Corruption: Educational Decrees


Micah: All right, so, moving on to the last piece of corruption, I guess you could say, is Dolores Umbridge and her Educational Decrees.

Andrew: Ugh!

Micah: [laughs] Your favorite character, Andrew!

Andrew: Yes. Yeah, no, she really is.

Micah: So, apparently education is extremely corrupt, particularly here in the United States. Laura, would you care to enlighten me?

Laura: Oh. [laughs] Well, I was thinking specifically in terms of the area where I’m from. I know that as a homeschooler, during three years of high school, I really got to experience how corrupt, at least my local educational system, was. For starters, they really tried to discourage me from leaving the public school system. And I later found out that a lot of the reason they discouraged students from homeschooling and pursuing a GED is because they lose funding for those students. For every day that you’re in school, the school gets a certain amount of funding. Also, I think that a lot of educational boards gear what the local school systems are allowed to teach in terms of what the general consensus of the area is, which is really, I think, something that Umbridge did. She came at such a time of fear for people, because Voldemort was uprising, there was a lot of uncertainty, and when you take a large mass of uncertain people, it’s very, very easy to bend them to your will and say, “Look, I’m just doing this to protect you. I’m doing this to protect your children.” And that’s all you have to do in order to convince them that what you’re doing is right.

Micah: Laura, couldn’t you say, though, that that’s really similar to how certain people that are in power in politics in our country today have used certain events
that have taken place in the past to their own advantage?

Laura: Yep.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Absolutely.

Andrew: Leave it at that.

Micah: Without getting too political!

Laura: Right, I don’t want to name any names or anything, but I feel like 70% of the country knows who you’re talking about.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: I think that Umbridge is a definition of a politician who really wouldn’t be able to get away in the real world with all the things that she does. Because I know the Ministry was corrupted so they were on her side, but the things that she was doing, namely, I mean, the Muggle-born Registration Committee – I mean, that was huge. I just think that she would never get away with the things she did in the real world.

Micah: Yeah. And she was…

Andrew: At school or in the Ministry.

Micah: And she was the perfect example of a “yes man.” You know. She just followed everything to the T. It’s like she was brought up to never question authority and anything that was laid out is exactly how it has to be done. So the government tells you this, or in this case the Minister is giving her ground rules, you have to follow everything exactly to the T. And I think that’s what annoyed so many people reading about her.

Laura: I don’t know what – I don’t know if you’ll agree with me on this, Andrew, but just like based off your point of wondering whether or not she would get away with
that type of thing, I think there is one place in current society where she would get away with that, and that place is called Guantanomo Bay.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Laura: I’m pretty sure…

Andrew: Yeah, we can agree on that.

Elysa: Where we are all going.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: But anywhere else…

Elysa: We’ll all be there together.

Laura: [laughs] I know!

Micah: Yeah, I think that wraps up our political discussion. At least for now. I know we have some more talking points that we could get to in another episode, but I feel like we’ve exhausted it.

Andrew: We’ve talked long enough today, yeah. Laura, Elysa and Micah, great job on coming up with this discussion, by the way.

Elysa: Thank you.

Laura: It was mostly Micah.

Andrew: It’s been in the works…

Micah: You could easily spend an entire episode on one of these things.

Andrew: Oh yeah, definitely.

Laura: Yeah.


Laura Leaves to do School Work


Andrew: There’s a lot to talk about and there’s a perfect time to discuss Potter politics. All right, so, Laura, we’ll let go of you for now. You’re busy with school; that’s understandable. But…

Laura: Yes.

Andrew: …we thank you for coming on…

Laura: Well, thank you for having me!

Andrew: …in this time of politics.

Matt: [imitating Laura] Oh, no problem!

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: And we’ll talk to you later.

Laura: All right, I’ll see you guys around.

Matt: All right. Bye, Laura!

Elysa: Bye, Thompson!


Make the Music Connection


Andrew: It’s time to do something fun now. We’re going to do Make the Music Connection.

Matt: Make the M-m-m-mu – oh, sorry.

Andrew: Make the M-m-m-music Connection!

Micah: I actually thought that was the sound bite, Matt.

Andrew: I’ve gotten feedback that people prefer I just do it live rather than playing the prerecorded sound effect, so…

Matt: That’s good.

Andrew: Make the M-m-m-music…

Matt: Connection!

Andrew: I forget how I used to do it anyway. Anyway, Matt’s got the songs this week.

Matt: This one is for Micah.

Andrew: You ready? Okay, here’s the first one.

[“It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” by R.E.M. plays]

Andrew: “It’s End Of The World As We Know It.”

Micah: I don’t know. I think that would be a really cool song to play after McGonagall casts that spell where all the statues and portraits and everything else in Hogwarts comes to life and they go running down…

Andrew: But that’s not the end of the world! That’s the beginning, the beginning of something new! That’s good, Micah.

Matt: That’s good.

Andrew: All right, how about, Elysa, you next.

Matt: Okay.

Elysa: Okay.

Matt: Elysa, this one’s for you.

[“Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake plays]

[Elysa laughs]

Andrew: “Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake.

Elysa: Yeah, you know, the first thing comes to mind…

Andrew: Make the connection.

Elysa: …is Neville. I see Neville after he slays Nagini, and he’s all feeling proud of himself and he’s like doing some Michael Jackson pop and lock moves to the song as he walks away.

Matt: He moonwalks across Voldemort. [laughs]

Elysa: Or even when he’s dancing by himself in Goblet of Fire. Awww.

[Andrew laughs]

Elysa: Awww, Neville.

Andrew: That’s good.

Matt: That just seems like a song that I can see Neville listening to in the bathroom while he’s getting his hair done or something, just looking at himself like, yeaaaah!

Elysa: [laughs] Exactly!

Andrew: All right, and how about me?

[“I Want It All” from High School Musical 3 plays]

Andrew: Oh geez. I love this song. This is “I Want It All” from the new hit movie High School Musical 3,
of course, as everyone knows. I saw Micah get excited as soon as the song started playing.

Micah: Oh yeah. I was actually dancing here. You couldn’t see it. And singing along, to be honest.

[Andrew laughs]

Elysa: You sound exhilarated.

Micah: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: If I had to make a connection between this, it would be in Book 7 when Harry and Hermione – well, the trio is learning about the Horcruxes and they’re deciding to go out on a mission and actually go and get them all. To leave the Burrow and go get them all. So that’s how you play Make the M-m-m-music Connection.

[Matt makes strange sound effect]


This Week in MuggleCast History


Andrew: Okay, we’re going to now go to This Week In MuggleCast History. This is a fun one. Oh, I love this one. This goes back to Episode 62, November 5, 2006. And this was when Jo announced that she had a third title for Book 7. And this also led into some predictions about when the book would be released and the predictions were very off, and I don’t think I was on the show because you never hear me talking.

Ben: She said she has a third title for Book 7. We were all there at Radio City Music Hall the second night – well, some of us were. And she said how that morning, or that day during the – while she was in the shower, she thought of a second title for Book 7, and now she has a third one and she said that it is ahead by a short nose, or “perhaps that should be a vowel and two consonants.” So, what do you guys think about the whole title stuff?

Eric: I think she added three letters.

Kevin: I think she’s teasing us.

Micah: Yeah, I mean, now there’s not just two; now there’s three. She just likes messing around with us.

Jamie: Oh, I feel…

Ben: I know. Hopefully, hopefully we’ll get to know what the other two titles are.

Jamie: I know what it is. It’s…

Ben: What?

Jamie: She’s just added the word “the” to it. That’s two consonants and a vowel.

[Eric and Kevin laugh]

Jamie: I bet it’s something, something, and something, and then, oh, sorry, “Harry Potter” and something, and then she’s added “the” into it. I bet that’s it. In fact,
I will eat…

Eric: You know what that…

Jamie: Actually, no I won’t.

[Everyone laughs]

Eric: You stop right there.

Ben: “I will eat.” [laughs] I love those bets.

Eric: Yeah.

Jamie: Although, I just think it means that she favors this title above the other two and that it’s just got a few more letters than the other two, as well.

Ben: Right, but if she didn’t release the title this – on Halloween, when do you think we can see it? I mean, when do you think we will see it?

Jamie: Christmas, maybe?

Eric: I don’t want to wait that long.

Ben: I don’t know.

Jamie: It’s like a month.

Eric: I think maybe something like this. Guy Fawkes Day.

Jamie: Huh?

Ben: Yeah, but what about…

Eric: It’s Guy Fawkes Day today.

Ben: Today?

Eric: Maybe by the end of the night she’ll release the title.

Ben: I doubt it.

Kevin: Maybe Christmas?

Ben: So, what do you think this means for the timing of Book 7? I still think it’s going to be 2008.

Jamie: Yeah, I agree.

Kevin: Yeah, I do, too.

Jamie: Of course, all the way, 2008.

Andrew: [imitating Jamie] 2008, for sure. For sure, 2008.

Matt: Oh right.

Elysa: Right.

Andrew: See, I thought was funny because kind of off there. But what was the other – there was – one of the titles was Harry Potter and the Elder Wand, of course Deathly Hallows. What was the third one? Did she ever say?

Micah: I feel like she did. I don’t know if I can…


Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul


Andrew: She must have. Because that’s kind of a big question. Okay, well, we’ll wrap up today with Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul. This comes from Jessica:

“Dear MuggleCast: Hi. My name is Jessica Hernandez and I’m 11 years old. This is my first Chicken Soup, so here goes. MuggleCast has helped cope through my summer.
I was visiting my grandma and auntie in Mexico, but my sisters couldn’t come so I felt lonely. Also I was in a car accident on September 19th, Hermione’s birthday. It
was pretty serious but nobody needed to be hospitalized. But ever since then I can’t be in a car without freaking out, so I bring my mp3 player in the car to calm my nerves down. Your podcast helped me through these things. Thanks. Love, Jessica, your number one fan.”

Thank you, Jessica.

Micah: Thank you.

Elysa: Awww.

Andrew: We’re glad you’re okay.

Micah: Yep. I actually found out that other title.

Andrew: What is it?

Micah: It was Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.

Andrew: No.

Matt: No.

Andrew: No.

Matt: No.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Where you reading that?

Micah: From J.K. Rowling’s live chat.

Andrew: Wow.

Micah: She said the other two considered were, Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and
Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest. Referring, I guess, to the brothers.

Elysa: I definitely like – yeah.

Andrew: What were you saying?

Elysa: I definitely like Deathly Hallows more.

Matt: How can you be torn between those though? the Deathly Hallows sounds so much better.

Andrew: I was…

Elysa: Yeah, it really does.

Andrew: I was a real fan of The Elder Wand. I thought that was a really, just sort of like a badass title, I just thought.

Micah: Yeah. Well Deathly Hallows only sounds good because that’s actually the title that was chosen. If she chose any of the other two I would still think we
would say, “Oh Deathly Hallows, psh, why the hell would she use that?”

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] That’s true. I was never really a fan of this title.

Micah: Why?

Elysa: Really?

Matt: Really?

Andrew: I don’t know, Deathly Hallows. Eh, it’s cool, but I don’t know. I – when I first – when I heard she wanted it – after I read it when I heard she wanted to do Elder Wand I thought it was like – I don’t know.

[Show music begins]


Contact Information and Show Close


Andrew: But I liked it. But anyway, I think that wraps up this very long show for today. We had a great discussion on the election and this is our third show, as I said at the beginning, in eight days, so we’ll be back in a couple of weeks.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: At least with an announcement containing – related to Beedle the Bard. But let’s remind everyone…

Micah: Do…

Andrew: What?

Micah: I was just going to say we’ll do another live show when another trailer leaks out in the next couple of weeks.

Andrew: Oh yeah. [laughs] Whenever a trailer leaks we’re there for you.

Okay, well, if you would like to send something to the P.O. Box it’s MuggleCast, P.O. Box 3151, Cumming, GA 30028. If you want to leave a voicemail question, which we’ll get back to next week, if you’re in the United States you can dial, 1-218-20-MAGIC, if you’re in the United Kingdom you can dial 028114 – sorry – 81440677, and if you’re in Australia, you can dial 0280035668. You can also Skype the username MuggleCast, but just remember, no matter how you wish to call us, keep your message under 30 seconds and eliminate as much background noise as possible, please. You can also visit MuggleCast.com for a handy feedback form, although it’s now available at Mugglenet.com/Feedback. Or just use anyone of our first names at staff dot mugglenet dot com. And don’t forget to also visit the MuggleCast website for the community outlets,
including the MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Frappr, Last.FM, the fanlisting and the forums at MuggleCastFan.net. And also follow us on Twitter, Digg the show at Digg.com, and vote for us once a month at Podcast Alley

Okay, once again, I’m Andrew Sims.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Matt: I’m Matthew Britton.

Elysa: And I’m Elysa Montfort.

Andrew: We’ll see you next time for Episode 163. Buh-bye!

Micah: Bye.

Elysa: Bye.

Matt: Bye.


Blooper


Matt: Sorry, so back to your History class. I’ll go back to sleep.

Andrew: Ooh!

Elysa: Ooh – ouch!

Laura: You know you love it, Matt. You know you love it. You do.

Episode 162: Potter Politics

  • We’re back for our 3rd new episode in 10 days!
  • Micah updates us on the latest news stories.
  • David Heyman’s thoughts on the film delay.
  • Jo’s Beedle the Bard plans and our Beedle the Bard plans.
  • MuggleMail addresses last week’s hot topics.
  • Main Discussion: Potter politics.
  • We draw several comparisons between the politics of the real world and the wizarding world.
  • Racism, Ethnic Cleansing, Nazism, Evils, Corruption, Biased Media, Education Reform, oh my!
  • Make the Music Connection, This Week in MuggleCast History, Chicken Soup.

Download Now Running time: 1:38:59, 45.3 MB

Transcript #161

MuggleCast 161 Transcript


Show Intro


[Intro music begins]

Andrew: Hey, Mason, did you know that on July 1st, Yahoo! Domain renewal pricing increased to $34.95 per year?

Mason: $34.95 per year? No way! Ridiculous! That’s not a deal at all.

Andrew: You’re right. It’s not. And I do need a deal.

Mason: You need a deal? I got the deal you need, Andy! Check this out: transfer your domain to GoDaddy for as little as $6.99 and get a free one year extension plus guaranteed renewal pricing. GoDaddy.com makes transferring easy and offers loads of extras, including hosting, a five-page site builder, and much more. Oh yeah! Plus, as a listener of MuggleCast, enter code “Muggle” – that’s M-U-G-G-L-E – when you check out and save an additional 10% on any order. Some restrictions do apply. I want you to see the site for the details. Get your piece of the Internet at GoDaddy.com.

[Harry Potter theme plays]

Jim Dale: [as Professor McGonagall] This is Professor McGonagall welcoming you all to MuggleCast hoping you enjoyed – Dobby! Dobby, come here! Here! Dobby! [as Dobby] Yes, I’d just like to say how very pleased I am to introduce MuggleCast to all of you! Thank you! Thank you!

[Show music begins]

Andrew: Because how could we not have an episode on Halloween, this is MuggleCast Episode 161 for October 31st, 2008.

[Halloween music begins playing]

Andrew: All right. We’re here for MuggleCast Episode 160. Elysa’s here. Good morning, Elysa.

Elysa: Thanks. Good morning.

Andrew: Laura is here. Good afternoon, Laura.

Laura: Thank you.

Andrew: And Micah’s here. Hi, Micah.

Micah: What, I don’t get good evening?

Andrew: Good evening, Micah.

Laura: Wow, you sounded so unhappy about that.

Andrew: [imitating Micah] What, I don’t get good evening?

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: And also here, joining me in the MuggleCast studio, it’s been a while, Ben Schoen.

Ben: Hey, everybody. I’m back. I’m live here in southern California, and I’m out of school this week. Came out to see Andrew.

Andrew: What do you think of the MuggleCast studios?

Ben: It’s very impressive. He has a – he has a very nice setup here. I’ve got a real microphone. I feel like I’m doing a real radio show right now or something.

Andrew: Ben required that I deepen his voice prior to recording.

Ben: No. Whatever!

[Ben and Elysa laugh]

Ben: The thing is, he was trying to deepen his because got jealous of my voice.

Andrew: I felt there was too much of a contrast so we had to deepen voices. Anyway, so now we’re good. We got our EQ set. We got a lot to get to this week. This is our Halloween themed show. We’ve got some Halloween stuff going on for everyone this week and a lot more. So I’m Andrew Sims.

Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Elysa: And I’m Elysa Montfort.

[Show music plays]


News: Scholastic Employees Answer Questions


Andrew: All right, Micah, what is in the news this week?

Micah: There’s not a whole lot in the news this week, Andrew, and, in…

Andrew: It’s so dead.

Micah: …fact, it’s kind of disappointing.

Andrew: It really is.

Micah: But I guess one of the things that we can talk about was that Scholastic allowed their employees to do a little bit more of an in-depth interview and give away some of the secrets behind the Harry Potter series in terms of how everything gets put together. And…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …we have three questions here that some of the people over in Scholastic were willing to answer, and I guess we’ll go through all three of them. Do you want me to take the first one, or do you want to go ahead?

Andrew: Sure. Go ahead. Go ahead. These were interesting because it sort of came out of the blue. I don’t know if Scholastic was like, “Oh it’s a really slow time in news. I guess maybe we should do something.”

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: “We should contribute for once.”

Micah: Maybe they just wanted to one up Warner Bros. since Warner Bros. took the movie away. So they decided, “We’ll give people some inside information on the Harry Potter series.”

Ben: What a great replacement for the movie.

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: Exactly. Well, they do what they can. I mean, they can only do so much.

Ben: Yeah.

Micah: You know what I mean?

Andrew: So I’ll read the first question. It was from Rachel Coone, Director of Marketing. She said, “In your opinion, what has been the best idea for marketing Harry Potter?” And she wrote, “The most brilliant idea came from Jo Rowling. For Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Jo wanted to make sure that every fan had the opportunity to read the book at the same time. Strict on sale date was established. This date is what led to the midnight parties and the unified celebration worldwide.” And that was pretty interesting, because to think that it was actually Jo’s idea to put the books on sale at the same time so you could have that sort of big celebration, which has really defined the Harry Potter fandom.

Ben: Yeah, you know, the – everyone – when people think of Harry Potter they think of lining up outside your local bookstore at midnight and…

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: …kids dressed in robes and stuff.

Andrew: Yeah, and now all the books do it.

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: Twilight, Eragon. Those – all those big series.

Ben: Well, it’s just a great thing because those are the moments you remember.

Andrew: Mhm.

Ben: Next question comes from David Sailor, a Creative Publisher at Scholastic. “Each book has a different dominant color. How did you decide which color would be good for each book?”

Andrew: This is David answering.

Ben: David answering, my bad. “For most of the books I had a color scheme in mind, based on something that came through in the story. For example, on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, there were specific scenes in the book that dictated the color palate that Mary and I wanted to use. Because J.K. Rowling’s descriptions are so clear and easily imagined, it wasn’t hard to come up with a color scheme. And from the beginning, the palate of the books was based on the jewel tones of Mary’s artwork. Ruby reds, deep amethyst purple, dark sapphires, and emeralds.”

Andrew: And I thought the cover stuff was some the most interesting because there’s a lot involved in deciding these covers. There’s nothing much to really say with these, is there? [laughs]

Ben: Well, the first one was worth talking about.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: How about this last one? Maybe we – I have no idea.

Andrew: All right, and the last one was also to David Sailor. It said, “The cover has changed a lot from Sorcerer’s Stone to Deathly Hallows. Was that a conscious decision? If so, why?” And this is something I’ve always wondered, because they went from the multi-colored covers to the one color, and then back to multiple colors.” And he said, “The biggest change in covers came from Order of the Phoenix where Mary and I though that a more monochromatic look was good for the book based on a particular scene in a revolving room that emphasized the blue candlelight glowing all around Harry. This was also the first book where it felt that Harry was truly growing into the man he would become. He was feeling angry for various good reasons, and the tone of the book became – began – to get more intense. It felt like a shift in the cover was the right thing to do – it felt like a shift in the cover was the right thing to do for Order of the Phoenix.”

Ben: Man, after that, I don’t even need to see the movie anymore.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: You think they – nobody ever complained or anything, but it was such a huge change, just how the series had the multiple colors and they went to that one.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: I would almost think that must’ve been a hard decision to make.

Elysa: Mhm.

Andrew: Because then the covers…

Micah: I think people ultimately care more about the content and what’s inside the book than…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: …what’s on the cover.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: But that’s just my opinion.

Laura: There was a lot of discussion sparked when that cover came out.

Andrew: Really?

Laura: Yeah, I remember just like – I mean, this was before I worked on MuggleNet, but I remember reading the comments and people were going crazy. Like, wondering what this meant. So, it was definitely a pretty big thing for people.

Elysa: Yeah.

Micah: We don’t overanalyze.

Andrew: Is Scholastic cutting back? It’s probably cheaper for them to print in a same color palate.

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: Maybe that’s what they were doing.

Laura: God, these people. All they ever think about is money.

Andrew: Those cheapos.

Ben: Andrew’s onto it.

[Andrew laughs]

Andrew: So that was really it. There’s a lot more. It was kind of funny in these interviews. The same questions were asked, pretty much, of each person, and they alway ask the question, “Did you get to read the book early?” And four out of six said, “Oh no. Nobody can read them early.” But there’s like two people who were like, “Yeah, I got to read it early.” [laughs]

Ben: Yeah, they probably now are going to be sued.

Andrew: It looks kind of weird. Kind of looks strange.

Ben: Kind of shady. I bet some of them were like, “Oh, we’re not supposed to say that, I don’t think.”

Andrew: Yeah.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: And the other ones, “We broke the embargo.”

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: “Oh no!”

Andrew: So that was really it. There wasn’t much other news to discuss this week.

Micah: Yep.

Andrew: Sorry to say.

Micah: It’s been very, very slow, I would say, over the last couple of weeks. It’s just little things here and there, but nothing worth talking about, unfortunately.

Andrew: Doesn’t it seem unreal now that Half- Blood Prince would’ve been released just a month ago?

Micah: Yeah. Yep.

Elysa: Yeah, for sure.

Micah: Yeah, it would’ve been a lot busier.

Andrew: You know what I mean?

Micah: A lot busier.

Andrew: Like, we…

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: …would be getting ready for a premiere.

Ben: It’d be more than just the one, short trailer.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Laura laughs]

Ben: How many pictures would’ve been released?

Micah: Thousands at this point.

Andrew: Well, all these – too many.

Ben: Too many.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah. Well, because from all the sticker books and all that, you know.

Ben: Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I’ve seen a lot. I was just wondering if…

Andrew: I saw you had a folder. You’re collecting them all.

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: You just browse through them when you’re bored.

Laura: Yeah, I hear Micah’s actually papering his walls with all these Half-Blood Prince pictures. He loves them so much.

Andrew: Is that true, Micah?

Micah: No.

[Laura laughs]

Micah: Maybe a little bit.

Laura: God, you couldn’t even play along with me.

Ben: No, absolutely not.

[Andrew and Ben laugh]

Andrew: Well, thank you, Micah, for that news.

[Laura laughs]


Announcement: Micah is Now a Senior Staff Member


Andrew: Hey, speaking of Micah, Ben, would you like to do the honors with our first announcement?

Ben: This is such a wonderful announcement I am very happy to make. Micah Tannenbaum joined MuggleCast back in 2005, and initially you started off just
transcribing, right, Micah?

Micah: Yup.

Ben: And then you started doing the news, and then he moved over to helping on the main site, and he’s been around quite a while now, and he has now earned the status of senior staff member.

Laura: Aww.

Ben: So congratulations, Micah!

[Hosts clap]

Laura: Congratulations.

Elysa: Congratulations, Micah.

Ben: We’re all so proud of you.

Andrew: Senior staff member.

Ben: You’ve earned it.

Micah: Thank you. Ben, I heard you were really excited about this too. Andrew was telling me about your e-mail.

Andrew: I had to check with the senior staff to make sure this was a good decision. And what did you write?

Ben: I wrote that I strongly support this decision.

Andrew: I strongly support this decision.

[Laura laughs]

Ben: Because Micah’s the man.

Andrew: Then Jamie came to me and said, [with a bad British accent] “I can’t believe he
said it like that. He’s trying to be so business like.”

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: I miss Jamie. I think we all do.

Andrew: [laughs] I’m looking at my first e-mail from Micah. It was the transcript – first transcript he sent to me dated August 14, 2005.

Micah: Wow.

Andrew: Congrats, Micah.

Ben: Too many typos.

Micah: Over three years ago.

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: Just kidding, Micah.

Micah: What’d you say?

Ben: I said your first transcript had a lot of typos, but I was kidding.

[Micah laughs]

Ben: But, Micah, I have a question. When you first started transcribing, was it hard for you to, like – how long did it take you to differentiate between the voices? Were there any two that confused you or anything like that?

Micah: Well, I think the thing to keep in mind was back then it was only three people.

Ben: Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.

Micah: And maybe you and Kevin a little bit. Andrew definitely…

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: Well, I guess by saying Andrew was easy to differentiate…

Laura: That’s mean.

Micah: …he had a higher pitched voice than you or Kevin.

Andrew: [in a nasally tone] Well, thank you.

Ben: I miss Kevin. When’s the last time Kevin’s been on an episode?


Announcement: MuggleCast at Azkatraz


Andrew: A couple weeks ago. Maybe about a month or two. All right, well, moving along, we have another exciting announcement and that’s that MuggleCast will be at Azkatraz 2009. We are going to be doing a special podcast event. So here’s what’s happening: the movie comes out the seventeenth. Azkatraz starts on the eighteenth. So, this worked out beautifully for Azkatraz. So what they’re going to be doing is
having a midnight viewing of Half-Blood Prince on July 17th – the night of the sixteenth, but the seventeenth. And then following – immediately following the podcast – the movie – the first time all these Harry Potter fans have seen the movie, so it’s going to be really exciting – we are going to be
doing a post-Half-Blood Prince live podcast where we discuss the film.

Ben: Yeah!

Andrew: Yeah. So, it’s going to be cool.

Laura: That’s going to be so fun.

Ben: That sounds, actually, quite exciting.

Andrew: Because this midnight viewing is going to be with diehard – like when you go to the midnight viewings, they’re pretty diehard fans. But midnight viewing at a Harry Potter convention?

Ben: Oh, man.

Andrew: That’s a whole new level.

Ben: That’s just pure madness.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah, and magic. So, more details will be announced about that soon, but for now we do recommend you sign up – you register – fast, because it’s going to be a great event. It’s in San Francisco. Ben and I were talking about it yesterday. Ben will be there,
everyone will be there.

Ben: When is it?

Andrew: [laughs] July 18th.

[Laura laughs]

Ben: Oh, July 18th, okay. That’s when the movie comes out.

Andrew: Yeah, the seventeenth.

Ben: They pushed it back.

Andrew: Right. Right. [laughs]

Ben: Do you want to talk about that? Isn’t that new?

Andrew: It’s a little old, yeah.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Ben: Oh darn.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Ben: I’m kidding.

Andrew: But, yeah. So sign up for Azkatraz. HPEF2009.org, I believe is the URL.

Ben: So, can we tell them where the podcast is happening?

Andrew: We don’t know yet.

Ben: Oh, we’re not doing it on Alcatraz?

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: Why not? Let’s make a petition for it.

Andrew: They may be doing something on Alcatraz.

Ben: I heard there might be a Wizard Wrock around.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly. But, I don’t…

Ben: Is that inside information?

Andrew: That is.

[Andrew and Ben laugh]

Andrew: So, to register, you go to HP2009.org. Then they have links there to register. In the referral area, where it says, you know, “How did you hear about us?” put “MuggleNet” or “MuggleCast.” That’s really important so they know where you came from. So, thank you for that.


Announcement: Ministry of Magic Election Coverage


Micah: The Ministry of Magic elections are still rolling along. I think we completed our first primary this past week, and Hermione absolutely destroyed the competition. In all the races…

Ben: But, it brings up the question: do you really think she’s old enough? Do you think she has the experience?

Andrew: Well, because we’re – I think what we’re trying to tell people is that you’re voting for Hermione today. So how old would she be? Like, young twenties, right?

Laura: No, late twenties.

Andrew: Late twenties. Okay. So yeah.

Ben: All right, but does she have the experience?

Andrew: Oh. She may.

Ben: She may.

Andrew: I think she does.

Ben: Is – who – else is running against her?

Andrew: It was Hermione versus Lucius, and Hermione won by, what was it, 91%?

Micah: Yeah. [laughs]

Ben: That’s like…

Andrew: Which is weird, because Lucius had won the round before, so…

Ben: Who did he beat?

Andrew: Who did he beat, Micah?

Micah: He beat Dolores Umbridge, which wasn’t much competition, obviously.

Andrew: Yeah, guess not.

Ben: Yeah, wow.

Micah: But Hermione took out Harry in her first round with a pretty high percentage of the vote.

Elysa: Yeah, I was surprised about that.

Ben: Oh really? That’s interesting. I think – I thought people would’ve been all, “Harry’s the man!”

Andrew: The closest tie so far has been between Kingsley and Minerva. Kingsley won with 55%.

Ben: Ooh.

Andrew: So that was a tight race.

Ben: Not really. A 10% margin is pretty good.

Andrew: Yeah, I guess, I guess. But compared to the other ones where it’s 80%, 75, 91. [laughs]

Micah: So who is it then this week? It’s going to be Kingsley against…

Andrew: Versus Molly.

Ben: So are we having a real election November 4th?

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: Oh man. The general election?

Andrew: Yep.


Announcement: Teddy Bears for Hope Update


Micah: Also, just want to do a quick update on Teddy Bears for Hope. We – I think we raised around 15 or
1600 dollars for this, which translated into about – a little over 300 bears. And we started getting them
out to a number of different places. We’ve sent out, as of right now, about 110. So we still have plenty left, and we’re looking into places that they can go out to. The first batch of 30 went to the American Red Cross in
Syracuse, New York. And the next 30 went to – I had to look up, actually, what this stood for, which is the
International Medical Equipment Collaborative…

Andrew: Nice.

Micah: …Care of the International Relief and Development section of that organization. Basically, what that means is that it goes to overseas orphanages. Particularly this one, which is based out of North Andover, Massachusetts, is most likely going to go to Iraq, so…

Laura: Oh, wow.

Micah: …orphanages in Iraq. 30 will go out there. And then 50 went to the Hudson County Child Advocacy Center in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Laura: Wow, that’s fantastic.

Elysa: It really is.

Micah: We hope with some of these places we can get some pictures and things like that so we can post it on the site to show that the money actually went to a worthwhile cause. And we still have plenty more, probably around 200, that we need to find places for. But, it’s been a tremendous success up to this point.

Elysa: Yeah.

Andrew: Cool, awesome. Good work, Micah.

Micah: Thanks.


Muggle Mail: Snape’s Fate After Battle of Hogwarts


Andrew: Okay, well, let’s focus it back to Harry Potter talk. Let’s get into Muggle Mail now. First one comes from Faye, aged 17. She writes:

“Hi, I really enjoyed your discussion on the aftermath of the Battle of Hogwarts, but was
disappointed by the fact that Snape was hardly mentioned. Who went back for his body? Was a funeral held for him? If so, who would’ve attended? Where would he be buried? What sort of recognition would he receive in later years? Just wanted to know what you guys think.”

So yeah, Snape was a very important part of that whole area of the book. So…

Ben: He got recognition because…

Laura: That’s right.

Ben: Harry named one of his kids Albus Severus.

Andrew: That’s true. Yeah.

Ben: So there’s his recognition.

Andrew: But maybe some recognition in the school, or…

Ben: Like a special award?

Andrew: Like a special award or a nice portrait.

Ben: Or like – was Snape’s story still untold?

Laura: No, Harry cleared his name.

Andrew: Yeah. Snape’s story.

Micah: J.K. Rowling did say that he would’ve made sure that people knew Snape’s story and that he wasn’t as bad as everyone thought he was.

Andrew: Hmm. Oh, that’s right. Yeah.

Ben: Yeah. Well, I mean, the fact of the matter, Snape ultimately was heroic, but he still was kind of a – you know what I mean?

Andrew: Yeah, I know what you mean.

Ben: I mean, I hate to talk about the dead, but…

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs]

Ben: It’s just Snape.

Andrew: Yeah. What about these questions that she put in here? Who went back for his body? Was a funeral held for him? I hope some – a very nice funeral was held for him. Although, you know, we were talking about all these different people who died. Did they do just one big funeral or what?

Laura: I’m sure there was some kind of great…

Ben: A mass funeral? [laughs]

Laura: Maybe not a funeral, but I’m sure there was a large memorial service. But I don’t know, I would think that people’s individual families would handle their funerals. And, I mean, obviously Snape has no family,
so I don’t know.

Andrew: You know how sometimes people get buried with some of their favorite things? What do you think Snape
would get buried with?

Laura: Hmm. Yeah.

Andrew: Not shampoo. [laughs sarcastically]

[Micah laughs]

Ben: He’d get buried with…

Andrew: SnapeCast on his iPod.

Laura: [laughs] There we go.


Muggle Mail: Remembering Voldemort


Ben: The next e-mail is from Andrew, 18, from Nashua [pronounces like “Na-Shwa”], New Hampshire.

[Laura laughs]

Ben: What’s so funny? Nashua. [pronounces like “Na-SHOO-a”]

[Laura laughs]

Ben:

“Hey MuggleCasters, I was wondering what you guys thinks about Fred’s funeral and where and when it would have taken place. And speaking of funerals, instead of including Dumbledore’s in the sixth film, could they not merely end the film with a shot of the tomb? I think it would be a simple, yet powerful, ending. In response to the debate in Episode 159, I would have to agree with a point that Eric brought up. Perhaps not a wizarding picture of Voldemort but something I feel should have been – should be done at Hogwarts to remember his example. There is so much to be learned from Voldemort’s example after all. As Dumbledore put it, ‘The next time you have to choose between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to someone like Cedric Diggory.’ ‘Remember’ is the keyword. And yes, Voldemort did many terrible things. I don’t want to sound grim, but sometimes it takes some terrible things to really bring about change.”

Laura: Yeah, but, I mean, couldn’t just learning about him…

Ben: Well, I think – I think Cedric Diggory is an example – like, remembering Cedric Diggory is something that – that should be, always be like – they should always like – you know what I mean? They should have something at Hogwarts dedicated to Cedric Diggory.

Laura: Yeah, of course. Yeah.

Ben: And that’s going to remind people of the destruction that Voldemort did. Like, Cedric Diggory is a positive example because he was a kid who was taken away in his prime, whereas if you put up a statue of Voldemort it’s kind of like – you know what I mean? It’s like the diary of Anne Frank. That’s what Cedric is in this situation, and Hitler is Voldemort. And you’re not going to go to Germany, you’re not going to go erect a statue of Hitler, you know? That’s not going to happen. And you get Hogwarts, you can’t put up something of Voldemort.

Andrew: Yep.

Ben: You put up something that can represent that conflict that happened like Cedric though.

Laura: Yeah. I agree.

Elysa: Me too.

Micah: That’s what we said last week. I mean, in the debate, in particular, we referenced putting up a picture of Hitler in a synagogue or Osama Bin Laden in 9/11 memorials would kind of be the comparison of putting Voldemort up in some form of remembrance at Hogwarts. I just thought the really funny thing about this rebuttal was she mentioned that she had to agree with a point that Eric brought up, and Eric wasn’t even part of the debate.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Oh yeah.

Micah: Just goes to show how much Eric likes to talk.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: Do you think that people still have a problem saying Voldemort’s name?

Elysa: Mmm, nah.

Andrew: Mmm…

Ben: Do you still think he’s referenced as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or since he’s gone now and they no longer fear him?

Micah: We’ve never had a problem saying his name.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: No, I mean – yeah, of course.

Andrew: People in the Wizarding World. I think people wouldn’t be afraid to. They’d be – they’re extremely excited that he’s dead, so – and because I think when they said the name they feared that he would appear or…

Laura: Yeah. It could also be generational, too. Like, perhaps some people who grew up during Voldemort’s reign wouldn’t want to say it, but then maybe more progressive people would and younger people would as well, so…

Andrew: Yeah. It’s sort of like when a really bad thing happens in the world. Like, you don’t – like in our world, you don’t joke about it. Like 9/11, when that happened.

Ben: Yeah.

Andrew: You don’t joke about it. But ten years later…

Laura: Oh, yeah.

Andrew: …you don’t joke about it but you sort of start talking about it.

Ben: Like, yeah, because time heals all wounds.

Andrew: Right. Right. So true, Ben.

Ben: So true.

MuggleCast 161 Transcript (continued)


Muggle Mail: Top 10 Things That Happened to Voldemort’s Body


Andrew: [laughs] Okay, next e-mail:

“Andrew, I know you said you were joking, but I couldn’t resist. It’s a bit morbid but, come on, at least I didn’t suggest sushi. Bad Micah! So, Top 10 Things That Happened to Voldemort’s Body. Number 10: He was sent to the Love Room in the Department of Mysteries. We are told he combusted as soon as it was brought in – as he was brought in.”

Ben: Why isn’t this Ben Schoen’s Top 10 List?

Andrew: Go ahead, you do it.

Ben: [laughs] I’m just kidding.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: No, I’ll do it.

“Number 9: It was sent to Borgin and Burkes and sold as human snake.” Oh…

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: “Number 8: He was stuffed and used as a target for Auror training.” [laughs]

Andrew: Nice. I like that.

Ben: “Number 7: He was buried beside his father with a gravestone that simply said ‘Tom.'”

Laura: Wow, that’s kind of sad.

Elysa: Ouch.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: Ouch is right.

“Number 6: He was handed over to centaurs. We’re really not sure what happened after that.”

Andrew: Hey now!

[Micah laughs]

Laura: Same thing that happened to Umbridge.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: “Number 5: He was thrown to the Inferi in the cave.” Ew.

Andrew: Mmm.

[Laura laughs]

Ben: Inferi. Are you scared of Inferi, Andrew? Is it In-fairy? In-feary? In-fery? In-fiery?

Andrew: A little bit…In-feary? In-fiery? I don’t know. It depends on how you interpret it.

Laura: Inferi. [pronounces in-fear-y]

Ben: Okay.

“Number 4: He was reanimated to sing, ‘Weasley is our King’ while doing the Hippogriff.”

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: Well, I don’t want to see him doing the Hippogriff.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Micah: Well, he did, actually, down in Dallas, Texas at Portus 2008.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Laura: Oh, that’s right! Yeah.

Andrew: Oh God.

Ben: Who – did you guys see a guy who looked like Voldemort?

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah. He…

Ben: The guy…

Andrew: He was at our house last night.

Ben: He was at our house last night!

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: Andrew, notice how I say “our house” like…

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: …we live together now.

Andrew: You’re my roommate.

Ben: I’m moving in. I’m moving in here.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: “Number 3: His reanimated corpse was placed in the Aurors’ office to the constant amusement of Ron. Hermione wouldn’t let him bring it home.”

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: “Number 2: They forgot about his body in the broom closet and a blind Filch found it 25 years later.”

Andrew: Why is he blind?

Micah: [laughs] Yeah, I don’t know.

Ben: Because he got old, dude.

Andrew: Yeah, but he just goes blind? Okay.

Ben: And the number one thing that might have happened to Voldemort’s body is: “Filch mumbled about stupid students and hung Voldemort by his toes in the dungeons.”

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: Ew.

Micah: That was from Myra.

Laura: Hope he didn’t forget about him.

Micah: I don’t think you ever said her name.


Muggle Mail: Studying Harry Potter in School


Andrew: All right, and the last e-mail of the day is actually pretty interesting. And, Laura, I almost sent this rebuttal in to us, but luckily somebody else did. It says:

“Hi, everybody. I know that this is completely unoriginal, but I love your show. Listening to MuggleCast is one of the highlights of my week. This week as I was listening to your podcast, Micah mentioned that Scholastic was coming out with a school edition of “Harry Potter.” Somebody then proceeded to say that studying the books in school would make them get sick of them. Well, I’m here to tell you that studying HP in school does not make you get sick of the books. In fact, it makes you love them even more. The past spring, I was lucky enough to be a part of the senior elective class, AP Harry Potter. We read a book every week of the course and met for three hour time slots weekly to discuss the books. Every member of the class had to write a ten-page paper on the books and present to the class about their findings. My paper on the food in the series was the basis for a guest MuggleCast podcast this past spring when I recorded for you for your contest with my sister, Lindsay. After studying the books in depth for eight weeks, I can say I love them more than ever. There’s so much that my class was able to discuss, and there are many details that I never picked up on or never thought about in a certain way that I can now consider in a different light. Kids who get to study these books in school are so lucky. I envy them for getting to read all the books for the first time. Your show rocks, and so do all of you.”

So, Laura, you actually said this in the show, and I didn’t realize it when were recording, but you had said that people would get bored of the books if they’re read in school. Do you really think that, or were you joking, or…

Laura: I don’t remember saying that. I think I’m going to – yeah, I don’t recall.

Andrew: You did.

Laura: I’m going to pull a Ronald Reagan here. I don’t recall what you’re talking about.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Well, you did say that…

Laura: Oh, okay.

Andrew: …and I was like, “What?” I don’t know, maybe your were talking about something else.

Laura: Well, were we debating? Because like…

Andrew: No. No, we were talking about in the news…

Laura: You know…

Andrew: …the school edition of Harry Potter and you were like, “Oh, kids are going to get bored of them if they’re read in school anyway.”

Laura: I don’t know. I feel like you said it too, though.

Andrew: I said yeah, but I wasn’t listening, I was just like, “Yeah…”

[Elysa and Laura laugh]

Laura: Oh, okay.

Micah: Wow, so you don’t listen when Laura talks, is that what you’re saying?

Andrew: No, no, no, no. I don’t know what I’m trying to say.

Micah: I think what happened was, Laura was saying, wouldn’t it be really weird, because our kids are going to read the Harry Potter series years from now, and…

Andrew: Maybe.

Laura: Yeah, I remember saying that.

Micah: …it will almost be mandatory for them to do it in school. And I think that’s why it came up, and she mentioned that they may not like the series because it’s almost forced fed upon them as opposed to having the option to read it themselves.

Laura: Yeah, thank you, Micah. Thank you for remembering what I said, because I’m clearly clue-free.

Micah: But we’re going to talk about that a little bit more later in the show.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Yes, we have a debate prepared.

Laura: And I’m going to further incriminate myself.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Okay, well, as I said at the beginning of the show, this is our Halloween episode. Did I say that e-mail was from Renee? I don’t know if I did, but thank you for that.

Micah: You did not.


Main Discussion: Discussing Past Predictions


Andrew: Okay. So we’re going to do some Halloween talk for our main discussion this week. Set the mood here first.

[Halloween music begins]

Andrew: Okay, that’s better. So…

Laura: Oh my God.

Andrew: …every episode we discuss – every Halloween episode, we do some Halloween talk, and Micah thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the things we predicted in Episode 61, which was, I guess, our second Halloween episode. We were making predictions about Book 7. So I have these clips prepared now, and we’re going to listen to a few of them, and we also have a nice one from Laura at the end that we can dig into for a minute.


Why Ghosts Stay at Hogwarts


Andrew: Okay, so we’ll go back in time here; we’ll listen to this first clip. This was our prediction of why ghosts stay at Hogwarts:

Andrew: But even so, wanting to stay at Hogwarts, that has to be…

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: …a decision that’s up to the Headmaster. I mean, I would think you would really had to have been a great student…

Micah: Yeah.

Jamie: Yeah.

Andrew: …at the school, in order, you know, for Dumbledore or whoever to say, “You can stay in my school.”

Laura: Is it up to Dumbledore, though? Do you really think he has that much control over…

Andrew: Well…

Laura: …the school?

Andrew: …the current – the current headmaster?

Laura: Peeves is in the school, and it doesn’t seem like it’s too easy to get rid of him.

Jamie: No, no.

Ben: Well, that’s because Dumbledore wants him around.

Jamie: Exactly. There’s a reason.

Laura: No, I think that…

Ben: No, no, no. Dumbledore won’t oust him. They’ve said that before.

Jamie: Of course, that’s true, yeah.

Laura: I know, but, I mean, I don’t think that Dumbledore can say – tell a ghost to get out of his school.

Jamie: Of course he can! He’s so powerful, it’s ridiculous.

Andrew: [imitating Jamie] “He’s so powerful, it’s ridiculous.”

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: But, okay.

Laura: God, way for everybody to rain all over my parade there. God.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Ben: Laura, you’ve come a long way since then. [laughs] I’m just kidding. I’m sorry, I’m sorry…

Laura: Thanks, I think.

Ben: …I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…

Andrew: So, I guess we didn’t really learn more about that in Book 7, right?

Laura: Not really.

Micah: No.

Ben: No.

Laura: That was a lie.

Ben: Then why was that a prediction?

Laura: Because…

Andrew: Well, it was just a discussion.

Ben: Oh.

Laura: Well, no, but Jo was saying we were going to learn more about ghosts, and we never really did.


The Bloody Baron and Grey Lady


Andrew: Okay, well, how about this next question we answered, which was, what happened to the Bloody Baron?

Micah: The Bloody Baron. How do you guys think the Bloody Baron died?

Jamie: [laughs] He got hacked to pieces, considering all the blood on him.

Laura: Yeah. [laughs] That’s what I was going to say.

Jamie: Or he slipped over a blood factory and banged his head on the ground and died, and then that’s why all the…

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: Well, whose or what’s blood do you guys think is on him? It’s described as being silvery. Do you think it belongs to unicorns?

Jamie: Yeah, but he…unicorns…

Laura: I think it’s silvery just because he’s a ghost.

Jamie: Yeah.

Laura: I mean, they’re white and transparent. I think the blood’s just silvery because of the composition of a ghost’s body.

Micah: All right, Laura.

Andrew: [imitating Micah] “All right, Laura.”

Laura: [laughs] Sorry!

Andrew: And the last one, should we do that? What – the impact of the Grey Lady?

Micah: Well, yeah, I mean, they kind of go in hand and hand together, so we can do that.

Andrew: Okay, so this is when we discuss the impact of the Grey Lady:

Micah: The final House ghost, the Grey Lady, from Ravenclaw. We really don’t know a whole lot about her. We don’t really see her that much in the books, but, Jamie, maybe you know something about this. There are various Grey Lady ghost stories that exist in London. Is that true?

Jamie: I have heard a few, yeah. Lady Jane Grey was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII and she reigned as Queen, but she was actually uncrowned and she only reigned for nine days, which is absolutely nothing. And then I think she was beheaded at the Tower of London. So yeah, that’s why her ghost is reported to haunt it. But she is supposed to haunt other castles as well in different places – haunted places. So, I mean, is there anything there? Like, maybe the Grey Lady was only at Hogwarts for nine days and then she got killed?

Andrew: Yeah, I was going to say, maybe – yeah. [laughs]

Jamie: A bit unlikely…

Andrew: Maybe Dumbledore felt bad for her, so he was like, “Come be a House ghost.”

Jamie: Yeah, yeah. “Well, don’t worry, you can become a House ghost.”

Ben: What about Professor Binns? How did he…

Andrew: Can we stay on top of Grey Lady for a second?

Jamie: Yeah, Ben. Yeah, Ben.

Andrew: Not literally. I mean…

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: Yeah.

Jamie: We’d just fall through and hit the ground.

Micah: So it’s possible that Jo took the name from there?

Jamie: Oh, I’m sure she did. Yeah.

Laura: Yeah, there’s really no doubt behind that.

Andrew: That would probably the most reasonable explanation for…

Jamie: Yeah, but she’s a very mysterious ghost. We – I think we hear once that she was floating by or something like that, but we didn’t hear anything about her. Perhaps we’ll find something new in Book 7?

Micah: I think she’s in “Half-Blood Prince,” if I remember. They said some ghost went by as Harry was talking to Hagrid about overhearing the conversation between Snape and Dumbledore.

Andrew: Oh.

Micah: She seems to be around at kind of interesting times, because they said in the movie for “Chamber of Secrets” – and I don’t know if this was in the books too – it was a scene that was cut out where – it’s the first time that Harry goes to open Tom Riddle’s diary.

Andrew: Yeah?

Micah: And he tells the Grey Lady to get lost.

Jamie: No, he doesn’t, does he? Really?

Andrew: It’s a deleted scene.

Laura: Yeah.

Jamie: Oh, sorry. It’s a deleted scene, I see. Sorry.

Micah: [laughs] But I don’t know.

Andrew: Why would they cut that? I mean, what was…

Andrew: So that goes on and on.

Laura: Wow.

Micah: We were – we were pretty close there. I mean, Jamie in particular saying that we would learn something about her in Book 7.

Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

Micah: And we certainly did.


Place of the Final Battle


Andrew: Now there’s one more thing we discussed about on this episode, and – I’ll just play it – we’re talking about where the final battle would be.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Oh God.

Elysa: Uh-oh.

Andrew: Here’s Laura’s thoughts.

Laura: Oh God.

Andrew: Where do you guys think the final battle will take place?

Ben: Hogwarts.

Laura: Not at Hogwarts.

[Laura laughs]

Ben: Hogwarts.

Laura: Not at Hogwarts! Not at Hogwarts. Oh my god.

Andrew: I think it should.

Laura: No!

Ben: Why not, Laura? Why not?

Laura: Every bad fan fiction I’ve ever read in my whole life, they have the final battle take place at Hogwarts, and then…

Micah: Oh, no no.

Laura: …first years are out fighting Death Eaters. It’s ridiculous. No.

Micah: I think it should be at Godric’s Hollow.

Andrew: Yeah. Oh, that would be good. Yeah. You guys want a cool…

Andrew: So, Laura, do you regret…

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: …your statement now or do you still stand by that?

Laura: No, no, I don’t. I mean, she definitely made it fantastic. Like, I completely loved the way she did the final battle. I think the problem was…

Ben: Backtracking now.

[Andrew and Ben laugh]

Laura: Hey, hey, I admit, okay? I admit, I admit I was an ass, okay?

Elysa: No, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, it doesn’t mean you were wrong, though. Because, I mean, I love the way she did it too and I thought it turned out wonderfully, but it doesn’t mean you were wrong, because you were saying that every bad fan fiction is like that.

Laura: It was true.

Elysa: It’s true.

Ben: She’s not calling Book 7 a bad fan fiction. She’s not doing that.

[Elysa laughs]

Laura: No! Not at all. No, seriously, these things would literally – they had the students uniting in this battle front on the front lawns of Hogwarts. Like, it was just so cheesy. Every single one of them was the same.

Elysa: Yeah.

Laura: So when I thought of the final battle being at Hogwarts, I just imagined these fan fictions and I was like, “Oh God, please don’t do it.” [laughs] Because I thought it was going to be awful. But no.

Ben: Wouldn’t it be awesome if Jo wrote fan fiction?

Andrew: She may.

Elysa: Maybe she does.

Andrew: Maybe some rejected chapters from Harry Potter show up on MuggleNet Fan Fiction.

Laura: Wouldn’t that be bad if she submitted something and it got rejected from someone’s fan fiction site?

[Elysa and Laura laugh]

Elysa: Well, there was one story, actually, on MuggleNet Fan Fiction, and it pretty much got everything in Deathly Hallows down pat.

[Laura laughs]

Elysa: I mean, all the major plot points, and we rejected it! [laughs] Not because the plot was bad, obviously…

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Elysa: …but just because it was poorly written. But still, afterwards, you’re like, “Crap! I hope that wasn’t Jo!”

Andrew: It was like when she went into the MuggleNet chat room and was giving theories, but nobody liked them. [laughs]

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: That’s awesome.

Laura: [laughs] Everyone was like, “No!”

Elysa: Yeah.

Laura: “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

[Elysa laughs]

Andrew: And everyone was like, “Give us the chat logs!”

Elysa: Fail.

Andrew: And we’re like, “We don’t have those.” [laughs]

Ben: I wish we did.

Andrew: Yeah. Okay, so that’s what happened with that. And, you know, in a way, it’s almost like – Laura, the directors of the films sort of had the same feelings you did because they’re not having a Battle of Hogwarts in Half-Blood Prince just because there’s one in DH. I mean, is that sort of what you’re saying, is that it would be repetitive, too? Is that one of your ideas?

Laura: Well, no, it wasn’t – well, yeah, I was kind of talking about how every show down was sort of taking place at Hogwarts up until that point, so I was, at that point, hoping that we were going to see something different. I mean, and also you have to remember, I was a huge proponent of something big happening in the Department of Mysteries. So I was really set on the idea of something major happening there.

Andrew: Okay.

Laura: And the thought that it was going to be Hogwarts instead really upset me. But I’m over it now because I enjoyed it.

Andrew: Micah, do you want to take the discussion from here?


Hosts Choose Houses Based on Ghosts


Micah: Sure. Well, I guess we want to stay with the Halloween theme, and it’s kind of different than we have in the past couple of years, because we don’t really have much of the stories to go on in terms of predicting things and basing it off of past books. But this is more of a general discussion, I guess, so let’s start with, if you had to decide which House you would be in based upon the House ghost, which House would you be in and why?

Laura: Hmm…

Andrew: I think I would be in Nearly-Headless Nick’s, and I’m kind of just going to base this sort of just on the movie, but it just seems like he’s the most – definitely one of the nicest ghosts to get along with, and he seems so helpful and pleasant.

Micah: Laura?

Ben: I’d have to agree.

Micah: Or Ben?

Ben: I’d have to agree. I think that – I don’t think you really get to see the other – you don’t really get to develop a relationship with the other ghosts like you do with Nick, you know.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: He’s your boy.

Ben: Through Harry’s interaction with him.

Laura: I mean, I guess also – I’m sure the other students developed relationships with their House ghosts. We just didn’t see it, obviously, because the books are written from Harry’s point of view.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: But I don’t know. It’s hard to choose based on a ghost.

Andrew: I wonder if the ghosts really care to develop relationships with the students, because…

Ben: They’re dead.

Andrew: Well, they’re dead, but they’re going to pass through the school and then they’ll never see them again once they graduate.

Laura: Yeah, that’s true. I don’t know. I don’t know, I’d be all about stalking the Bloody Baron because he’s cool, so…

Andrew: Mhm.

Laura: …Slytherin it is.

Andrew: [laughs] Elysa?

Elysa: I don’t know. I was going to go with Nearly-Headless Nick just because he’s the most lively of the bunch. I just think he’s the most fascinating, but now that feels like a really cliche answer. So I guess now I’ll go with the Fat Friar…

Andrew: And Micah?

Elysa: …because I think he’s one of the few that would go with trying to form a relationship with the students so…

Micah: Well, I maybe…

Elysa: …that’d be awesome.

Micah: …would have to choose the Bloody Baron, but, I mean, nobody’s gone for the Grey Lady at all. But I guess that’s just because she’s a little bit too far out there. But I’ll go with the Bloody Baron. I like that choice.


The Halloween-type Characters Significance in the Series


Andrew: So do you guys think that there were enough of the traditional Halloween characters in the series, such as the ghosts, the ghouls, the goblins, the werewolves, and the vampires? Because it seems like some played a significant role while Jo just managed to fit them in. I mean, they didn’t even really play that big of a role in the books. What do you guys think they added to the series?

Laura: I think they just sort of added – yeah.

Andrew: Right. Oh, I see what you’re saying…

Laura: I don’t know.

Andrew: Yeah, just add to it as a whole…

Laura: Well, Remus is a werewolf.

Andrew: …where they’re trying to sort of set a theme in the books?

Laura: I think they just set the atmosphere of the fantasy setting. Like, I don’t really see much purpose beyond that. I don’t – I mean, I don’t know if that’s what you’re asking, but…

Andrew: Yeah, basically. No, that was it. Micah?

Micah: Yeah. I think what I was trying to get at, though, is it seems like we have Remus Lupin, who’s a werewolf, but then you kind of just have these other ghosts and ghouls. Like the ghoul that lived up in the Weasley’s attic and the goblins at Gringotts. And the vampires; they very rarely make an appearance in the series. I agree with Laura that it set the tone just kind of having them around. They didn’t necessarily play a significant role, but it seemed like she took only a few of those and made them important, whereas the others were just kind of scenery. You know what I’m saying?

Laura: Mhm.

Micah: But why do that? I mean, you have seven books. Why not make them more important to the central plot?

Andrew: Well, because you know why. We’ve read them all now. It’s like – maybe around Prisoner of Azkaban you could argue that, but they’re not that important. They don’t really need to be.

Laura: Yeah, and there’s only like so many times that you can make the plot surround some magical creature. Like, it would – I don’t know. I think it would be weird if you had, you know, the book with Remus and being a werewolf, and then in the next book you had someone being a vampire, and the book after that – you know. I think it would get old.

Micah: All right.

Andrew: Elysa.

Elysa: Yeah, I agree. I mean, if anyone could pull it off it would be Jo, but…

[Micah laughs]

Andrew: Yeah.

Elysa: But really, I think if there had been too much of that, it would have just turned into a freak circus. And it would detour from the writing and from the plot, anyway, if she had purposely went out of her way to incorporate that.

Andrew: Yeah. And the uniqueness that is Harry Potter. Because it would be very generic to have a story about vampires and stuff. And by keeping these people minor, it’s not really a generic story of vampires or werewolves. I think she balanced it perfectly.


Snape Not a Vampire


Micah: Well, speaking of vampires, one of the main theories that was out there throughout the course of the entire series was that Snape was a vampire. And this theory was obviously absolutely crushed by J.K. Rowling, and I just want to know – I guess maybe just even from Elysa, having read a ton of fan fiction, what did you think… [laughs] …when it was finally put to rest? Because I’m sure there were probably hundreds, if not thousands, of stories based solely on this.

Elysa: Yeah, no, there definitely were. Though to be completely honest, I was never quite sure where that came from, because a lot of the stories, anyway, the reasons that they used for – or the motive, rather, that they used for Snape being a vampire seemed a little arbitrary. I mean, they made for great stories, but I didn’t find that much canon to support it. A lot of the times they would sort of use the whole Remus Lupin being a werewolf thing as a basis for the plot, and Snape being a vampire, him being a werewolf, and the whole vampire/werewolf feud, and so – like, that was usually from a fan fic perspective, what – you know, how it came about, but in terms of it being a legitimate theory of him being a vampire, I wasn’t quite certain where that came from.

Micah: I mean, did any of it come from – there are a couple times in the series that she refers to him as being bat-like.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Or having qualities like that.

Andrew: Well, let’s not forget that in Sorcerer’s Stone Anniversary Edition, she described him as somewhat looking like a vampire, but that is Snape. That’s just his appearance.


The Veil


Micah: Okay. One of the other theories that was out there that I know we spent a lot of time talking about, and Laura in particular…

Laura: Uh-oh.

Micah: …because of her love – [laughs] – because of your love of the Department of Mysteries. Halloween being the day where the Veil between the world of the living and the dead is at its thinnest, and its role in Deathly Hallows. We did spend a lot of time talking about this in past shows, and it was kind of disappointing, because it really ended up having – the Veil itself, actually, having very little impact on the final book.

Laura: Yeah, it like – next to nothing. I was so disappointed. [laughs] Anyway. Yeah, I remember discussing this. Didn’t we do like a three part series?

Micah: [laughs] We probably did, yeah.

Andrew and Laura: On the Department of Mysteries? Yeah.

Laura: And I remember we spent a long time talking about that. And I remember it was because someone was theorizing that maybe Voldemort was going to fall on Halloween, that it would go down on the same day it all started.

Andrew: Yeah, because there was some…

Laura: And I forget whose idea that was.

Andrew: I don’t know, but there were – I had brought up a theory saying there was something related to Halloween where some veil was always the thinnest.

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: Do you guys remember when we were talking about that?

Laura: Well, yeah, that’s always been sort of a theory, that, like, the bridge between the world of the living and the dead is at its shortest or at its thinnest on Halloween.

Andrew: So you could, theoretically, hear through it better, maybe? Or look…

Laura: Yeah. Or it would allow people to cross over, I guess. I think that was our – and at this point, did we have the title of the book?

Micah: We probably did…

Laura: Because I feel like that’s where…

Micah: …and there – there were so many different things related to Hallows at the time that we were analyzing, that probably did have something to do with it as well.

Laura: And I feel like we heard “hallows” and then we thought, “Oh, Halloween,” you know?

Andrew: Right.

Micah: All Hallows Eve, yeah.

Laura: Yeah, yeah. I think that’s where it was coming from.

Andrew: Yeah, that was it. That was exactly it. Yeah. So…

Micah: So, we…

Laura: Such a different – like, where does this crap come from? Like, where did we get this crap? [laughs]

[Andrew and Micah laughs]

MuggleCast 161 Transcript (continued)


Over-analyzation


Micah: Well, not only that – you want to go crazy? We spent that whole episode – Laura, I think it was you, me, and Eric talking about the Antipodean
Opaleye, the dragon, because we thought that…

Laura: Oh, my God, yes. [laughs]

Andrew: Oh yeah…

Laura: Oh my God!

Micah: The dragon on the cover of the Deluxe Edition, and that means that – I don’t even know.

[Laura laughs]

Micah: We were talking about that Deathly Hallows symbol being – like, reversing worlds, or going through time, or different ends of the Earth.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: We were all over the place. [laughs]

Laura: Oh, I remember, I remember… [laughs]

Elysa: Oh man.

Laura: What happened was that Eric was saying that the scenery on that cover looked like New Zealand. I wonder why.

Andrew: Oh yeah, yeah.

[Elysa laughs]

Laura: And then he’s like, “Well, maybe they go to New
Zealand.”

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Andrew: But you’ve got to remember, that’s all we had to work with, so we had to discuss and pick apart every little pixel of those covers.

Micah: Yep.

Laura: I miss that, though. Those days were really fun…

Micah: That was great, yeah.

Laura: …because we really had no clue what was going on. [laughs]


Significance of Halloween


Andrew: Yeah, yeah. So let’s move along. Do you think J.K. Rowling intentionally made significant events happen in the series on Halloween after the Potters’ death? Micah, can you elaborate a little more?

Micah: Do you want me to answer it, or do you want me to elaborate?

Ben: Well, I think – I think that makes sense, because it’s All Hallows Eve, it’s a – it’s like when the spirits come out of Hell or something like that. Isn’t that what it is?

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: So, I mean, all this evil – all evilness is coming out, and some bad stuff has to happen.

Andrew: Yeah. Well, it also just – it also just sets a very interesting theme. You just – I think it’s part of Jo’s really descriptive writing. You get feeling out of
knowing that all this stuff is occurring on Halloween. Because we all know what Halloween feels like, that sort of spirit.

Micah: Right.

Laura: Mhm.

Micah: I think after the Potters’ death, she chose to really make that a significant date in the series.

[Laura laughs]

Micah: Because if you look at all the different events, I mean, what happens on Halloween in the first book is, that’s when the trio really forms. It’s
when they come together to face the troll. And from that point on, at least through – I think it’s like the first four books – there are significant events that take place on Halloween.

Laura: Yeah, I was just trying to remember, like – I don’t know, I don’t want to back track too much, but Book 1, it’s the troll…

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: …and then Book 2, Deathday party slash whatever. They find the first…

Micah: The first attack, yeah.

Laura: Yeah. Book 3, Sirius broke into the castle. Book 4, Harry…

Andrew: We had a main discussion on this, didn’t we?

Laura: Yeah.

Micah: Probably, yeah.

Laura: Yeah, we did.

Andrew: We did.

Laura: I think we went over everything that had happened. I think this was our first Halloween episode, actually…

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: …that we went over all the stuff that happened on Halloween. That is crazy.

Micah: What was Goblet of Fire? That was the actual…

Laura: Harry was chosen, I think.

Micah: Right, right.

Laura: From the Goblet.

Micah: And then it – nothing happened in the last three books, I don’t think.

Ben: [imitating angry Dumbledore in Movie 4] “Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?!”

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: Oh, we’re joined by Michael Gambon, everybody.

Laura: Yeah. [laughs]

Micah: I guess we could talk briefly about – it’s obviously Rowling’s favorite holiday. It’s a day of both great triumph and tragedy for the Wizarding World. I guess the only real thing to say about that is just that it was the day that Voldemort met his match in Harry Potter, but it was also a day of great tragedy,
because both Harry’s parents were killed.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: That was kind of the only point that I was trying to make there.

Andrew: Yeah. It’s interesting.

Micah: And, actually, somebody brought this up just before, but should Voldemort have fallen on October 31st? You know, would that had brought the story full circle? Better than what happened?

Andrew: I think it was already full circle enough with Remus and Tonks’ kid losing Remus and Tonks. So, I think it would’ve been cool, but I don’t know if it’d be necessary. But I guess when you think about all the events that did happen on Halloween, it would’ve been pretty fitting. Although, if you think about it, let’s see, they were – school had started when they were still searching for the Horcruxes. So don’t you think with the Harry Potter timeline in mind, like…

Micah: You wouldn’t have been able to have a battle at Hogwarts, really. In the way that she wrote it, if you waited until Halloween. I don’t think.

Andrew: Do you – when did this happen, exactly? Was it before Halloween?

Micah: Yeah. I think so.

Laura: Well, technically. No, wait, the final battle at Hogwarts?

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah, that was in June. Like, it was towards the end of the school year, I think.

Andrew: Right. So they had already passed.

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: You know what I’m saying?

Micah: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking, is that they – it would’ve – like, the book started in, what, July?

Andrew: Right.

Micah: Probably. Yeah.

Laura: It would’ve been – it would’ve been a few months long, the timeline of the book.

Micah: Yeah. It would’ve had to have been – it would’ve had to have spanned two Halloweens in order for it to get to where we wanted it to be, you know? We would’ve
passed the first Halloween, where they were in the forest, or something, and then the second one would’ve had to extend beyond that Battle of Hogwarts for it to
actually be worth anything. But that’s what I’m saying. I don’t think that it would’ve worked well for – for her to have to write it that way. It didn’t make
sense.

Andrew: Okay. So I guess we’re going to get into the fun portion of the discussion now. If you had to dress up as a Harry Potter character for Halloween, who would it be? I’ve already done it. I’ve been Harry.

Laura: Dork!

[Elysa laughs]

Andrew: How about you guys? Ben, who would you be if you had to dress up as a character for Halloween? Harry Potter character for Halloween?

Ben: [imitating Hagrid] Rubeus Hagrid!

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: You would fit the character well.

Ben: Thanks, Andrew, because I’m a giant. I’m larger than life.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: I didn’t mean it that way.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Andrew: I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that you’re tall. That’s all I meant.

Ben: This is why I don’t come on, Andrew.

[Andrew laughs]

Elysa: Oh, my gosh! [laughs]

Andrew: MuggleCast 160, Larger than Life. Should be a show title.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: Micah, how about you? If you had to be one character? Actually I – let me guess, let me guess. I would say you would want to be…

Ben: Hermione.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: I would guess you’d want to be Snape.

Micah: That might not be a bad character. I’m trying to think of a really obscure character that would kind of fit.

Ben: Dawlish.

Micah: [laughs] Dawlish. I don’t know.

Andrew: Well, here, we’ll get back to you in a second. Laura and Elysa? How about you guys? You think about it though, Micah.

Laura: I don’t know. I mean, I don’t really – I can’t think of anything. But I will confess I did dress up as Hermione for Halloween in fifth grade.

Elysa: Nice!

Andrew: Well – so yeah. So you would want to…

Laura: Yeah.

Andrew: Wow, fifth grade.

Laura: Yeah.

Ben: Wow.

Andrew: Nobody was really dressing up like Harry Potter back then.

Laura: I was, like…

Ben: I think Laura’s a trendsetter, I think.

[Andrew and Ben laugh]

Laura: Yeah, that’s right.

Ben: She broke the mold.

Laura: That’s right.

Andrew: You should’ve copyrighted the costume design before – before WB got to it.

Laura: Yeah, really. What was I thinking?

[Elysa laughs]

Laura: My dumb eleven year-old self. Like…

Elysa: Aww!

Andrew: [laughs] Elysa, how about you? I could see you dressing up as Tonks.

Elysa: I’m going to go with…

Ben: No.

Elysa: Tonks?

Ben: Bellatrix.

Andrew: Oh, Bellatrix.

Elysa: Bellatrix?! Ouch!

Ben: What?

Andrew: It’s not an insult. Just a…

Ben: She’s a badass.

Andrew: Yeah.

Elysa: Yeah. Actually, I’m going to go with Hedwig.

[Andrew laughs]

Elysa: No one ever thinks of Hedwig!

Ben: I’m going to be a Nimbus 2000.

[Andrew laughs]

Laura: And then we would – and then we would have to blow you up.

Micah: [laughs] Yeah. I mean, he’s nothing more than a puff of feathers. Or she.

Elysa: Oh no! Blasphemy! No!

Micah: Nothing more than a puff of feathers.

Elysa: [laughs] Actually, Thompson, I have a proposition for you.

Laura: Uh-oh.

Ben: Who’s Thompson?

Elysa: Yeah, I was thinking about this. And if I was thinking to be Hedwig, I would totally want to be Firenze. So…

Laura: [laughs] What?!

Elysa: …you know how, like, those old fashioned – those old fashioned horse outfits? Like, could you – would you please do me the honor of being my…

Andrew: Back legs?

Elysa: …backside?

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Elysa: Would you please do that for me?

Laura: Yeah. You know, I’ll just go ahead and go book a flight right now and fly out to England.

Elysa: Yeah!

Laura: It’ll be fun. We’ll walk around the Oxford campus.

Elysa: Yes! Seriously! When? Come on out.

Andrew: As Firenze?

Elysa: Yeah, I think that would totally work. Let’s do it.

Laura: That’d be pretty fun. Maybe we’ll run into Emma Watson and – yeah. She’ll be really impressed by that, right?

Elysa: Probably would.

[Laura laughs]

Elysa: Scare the living daylights out of her.

Andrew: This has been girl talk on MuggleCast.

[Micah laughs]


What If?


Andrew: All right. Well, that’s our Halloween main discussion for now. Hopefully everyone enjoyed it. We’ll do it next year. Grasping for even more straws, unless J.K. Rowling reveals something interesting in Beedle the Bard, maybe. When it comes to Halloween discussion, I mean. Next up we have an interesting What If?, and we haven’t done this in a while. And when Micah originally suggested it, I wasn’t sure if it would offend people. But I don’t think – it’s not offensive. Micah, go ahead. Why don’t
you introduce it?

Micah: Okay, well, the What If? segment… [laughs] …for this week is, what if J.K. Rowling were a man? And I guess…

Elysa: Mmm…

Laura: Oh, I’m so offended.

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: No, but the best two people to ask about this, I really did think, were Laura and Elysa, because I’m interested in what their take would be if she were actually a man and this was a man who was writing the series. Do you think there would be a different reaction to it? Do you think that sales would have been different? Maybe she would have had a little bit more success early on in her career when the series first came out?

Laura: I don’t – I mean, how much more success can you ask for? I mean, she’s been pretty…

Micah: Well, we all know it didn’t take off the way that it obviously blossomed into later on, years later.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah, but I think that’s just being an author, though. I mean, you go to any…

Micah: Well…

Laura: …famous author, they didn’t just – most of them didn’t just take off overnight. I don’t know that it’s gender-specific.

Micah: Well, didn’t they specifically have her name be changed to J.K…

Laura: Yes. They did.

Micah: …Rowling on the book covers?

Elysa: Yeah.

Laura: Yeah, they did that because they thought that, what was it? They don’t think that – there’s some study…

Andrew: Women authors would sell.

Laura: Well, no, that’s not it. They think that women readers don’t discriminate based on sex, but that male readers aren’t likely to pick up books by female
authors.

Andrew: Oh, right. Right.

Laura: And so that’s why they did it. But, I mean, these are also the same people who changed the name of the first book in the U.S. because they thought American kids were too dumb to know what a philosopher was. So…

Andrew: I was too dumb to know what a sorcerer was.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: They should have just kept it. It would have been the same thing. I think that – I think the biggest difference would be the writing style, don’t you think? Because there are differences between a man writing and a woman writing, and I think J. K. Rowling’s extremely…

Laura: Mhm.

Andrew: …clever writing style and her witty remarks from Dumbledore and all that, I think it’s from J.K. Rowling’s feminine qualities. You know what I mean? Or am I way off here?

Laura: Yeah. Well, no, no no. I mean, I think there’s something to be said for that fact, just because if she were a man, she would obviously be a completely different person.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: So, I mean, clearly, the perspective would be different.

Micah: Yeah. I don’t think you would have as many powerful female characters, probably, as you do in this series. I mean, you look across the board, whether it’s
Hermione or Molly – or even Umbridge and Bellatrix – they’re very, very powerful. Ginny too. I don’t know that you would have that in a book that was written by a man.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Mhm. It depends. I mean, some men do write very powerful female characters. It just depends on the guy, I guess.

Elysa: Yeah, I don’t know. I’m tempted to speculate on a whole host of things that might have been different, including what Micah was saying about strong female characters. But, honestly, I feel like it wouldn’t make much difference at all. And I hate using such a loaded word, but I feel like feminism is about equality, not being better, or being worse, or even different intellectually, just equal. So I don’t think it’d really matter. I don’t feel like the characters she created, or the plot she created, or the atmosphere, or the level of creativity, I don’t think any of that is gender-specific, and I think the books would have been just as good and had all the
same positives, or negatives, if she were a man.

Ben: That’s what I learned in my Sociology class at school, was that in society we tend to think – we tend to associate gender roles. Like, you know, men are better at fixing cars…

Andrew: Oh, yeah.

Ben: …or women are better at doing this thing, when the actual studies indicate that it’s completely the opposite way, that gender doesn’t matter.

Elysa: Right.

Ben: It doesn’t affect the quality of work.

Elysa: Yeah. I think the only time it matters is in perception.

Ben: But don’t they say perception is reality?

Elysa: That’s true. I disagree, though.

Andrew: J.K. Rowling has always admitted that she’s been shy. She was very shy, you know, as an author, back in the ’90s, and she still kind of is now. Do you think that would have changed at all? I mean…

Laura: No.

Andrew: …this is a tricky thing to step around, because you don’t want to come off like you’re sexist or anything.

Laura: No, I don’t think so. I mean…

Andrew: Like, you know, only women are shy, which is obviously not the case. I mean, look at Ben.

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: So…

Laura: Hey! Stop insulting my gender.

[Elysa laughs]

Laura: Anyway – I’m just kidding, Ben. [laughs] What I think – okay, here’s what I think. If we’re like taking this – like we’re assuming, right, that it’s exactly her, like same person, just in a male body, right? Like that’s what we’re saying?

Ben: But then it’s not her anymore.

Laura: Right.

Andrew: Yeah.

Laura: Like same personality, like same everything, like carbon copy, but male. Okay.

Andrew: I don’t know. How exactly should we put it, Micah? Like…

Micah: Well…

Andrew: What are we exactly talking about?

Micah: Well, I think we’ve addressed some of the things.

Andrew: Because personality changes.

Micah: We’ve definitely talked about some of the things so far, I mean, in terms of her writing style, in terms of how the readers would choose to accept her or not accept her, or maybe even, would she be a more aggressive person? You know, would she be a little bit more arrogant? I mean, not that she – she’s definitely not an arrogant person, and you mentioned that she’s very shy and reserved. But, you know, if you lend that quality to – or rather, if you changed the gender, does that change completely? I mean, is she somebody that then doesn’t donate to charity or doesn’t do some of the things that J.K. Rowling has been known to do?

Laura: Hmm. I don’t know. I mean – just like – one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly, is extremely shy. I mean, you see this guy interviewed on the news and he’s like in shock, like he – you can tell – he’s completely confused by the idea that people want to talk to him. And it’s – and I like it because it’s very humbling, and you feel like that person actually deserves to be where they are. But no, I don’t think that shyness or any other personality trait like that is gender specific. And I mean, I think assuming like what I was saying earlier, if we’re just saying she’s the same exact person just with a different gender, then I don’t think anything would change. But at the same time, I do think that there are – I mean, I personally feel like if I had been born male, I wouldn’t be the same person. I mean, it’s like – I would probably have some things that were different about me. So – but for the sake of the argument, I was assuming…

Ben: But society conditions you, though.

Laura: Right.

Ben: When you’re born male, your crib and the sheets have to be blue. When you’re female, the sheets have to be pink. And girls play with dolls and boys play with action figures, so…

Laura: I played with Tonka trucks. That’s just me though.

Ben: Yeah, but you’re weird.

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: Thanks, Ben. [laughs]

Ben: Good to be back.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: It’s great to have you back.

Andrew: All right, so is this what we’ve come up with? So, if J.K. Rowling were a man, there really wouldn’t be many differences.

Micah: It’s just…

Ben: I just think you can’t tell because it’s all like – everything was timing, you know what I mean? That’s why Jo was successful was because she – all the pieces fell into place in the right way, and you don’t know that if she was a man, all the pieces would have fell the exact same way because her being a man completely changes who she is as a person.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: You know what I mean? Because…

Laura: Right.

Ben: You know, if you – if you’ve had – if you identify as being female and you identify as being male, you know what I mean? Clearly going to be different, so who knows if the book would have even been published to begin with.

Elysa: Right. I agree.

Ben: Or it could have been even popular, who knows?

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Or it could’ve been Eragon.

Andrew: I think there would be…

Laura: Oh, God.

Andrew: …some changes in personality.

Micah: I mean, it’s a very dicey subject, and you know…

Andrew: Yeah. Oh, definitely.

Micah: …like you said in the beginning, and obviously we’re just trying to come up with some sort of ideas over… [laughs] …a very messed up topic.

[Elysa and Laura laugh]

Andrew: It’s not messed up. It’s a fun topic. We’re shock jocks.


Debate: Harry Potter Mandatory Reading in Schools


Micah: All right, well, it is time for our debate segment this week, and I’d like to thank all of you for coming here today, and I’ll ask the audience to please be quiet during the debate.

[Elysa and Laura laugh]

Micah: Except for this time, when we welcome in our two sides…

[Elysa and Laura laugh]

Micah: …to argue whether the Harry Potter series or one of the seven books should be made mandatory reading in U.S. public schools. On the side arguing that they should be made mandatory, if – are Ben Schoen and Elysa Montfort. On the side arguing that they should not be made mandatory are Andrew Sims and Laura Thompson.

Andrew: That’s me!

Micah: Each side will have two minutes to make their case followed by a one minute rebuttal period. Ben and Elysa, you go first. You have two minutes, and your time starts now.

Ben: Well, my friends…

[Elysa and Laura laugh]

Ben: …I would just like to say that the impact Harry Potter has had on literacy is absolutely undeniable, and I have never met a single person who’s read Harry Potter and said, man, I wish I’d never done that. And the fact of the matter remains that you continue to hear success story after success story that of people who have read Harry Potter, that have gone on to read other things, and Harry Potter sparked their interest in reading. And it’s been proven, through so many – when we’re at these podcasts, doing these events, we’ll talk to parents of kids who say, “My child didn’t read before Harry Potter and now it’s helped them become passionate about learning and passionate about education.” And I think that if the Harry Potter books were made mandatory, you’re going to spread that education and you’re going to make that something that’s important to these kids, and Harry Potter is a great hook to suck them in. Elysa, do you have anything to add?

Elysa: Yeah, I just wanted to say that I agree completely, and I actually found a newspaper article on ThisIsLondon.com talking about Robert Meller’s Primary School, which is in a depraved – a deprived area, has jumped from the bottom twenty-five percent of schools in the U.K. to just outside of the top five percent over the last three years alone after deciding to incorporate the Harry Potter books into their curriculum and making it mandatory reading in their English classes. So that’s hard evidence of what Ben was just saying. And especially in the United States, where we rank number eighteen on literacy rates in the whole world, with countries like Moldova and Lithuania being ranked higher than us, I think it’s extremely important to make literacy and the Harry Potter books mandatory reading and a higher priority in our education system.

Ben: It is all about education, my friends.

Micah: All right. Your time is up.

Elysa: Yeah, forty million adults in the U.S. are functionally illiterate.

Micah: Andrew and Laura, you have two minutes.

[Clapping sound clip plays]

Laura: Okay.

Andrew: Go ahead, Laura.

Laura: So students…

Micah: I said no clapping.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Micah: …by the audience. Only when the candidates entered.

Laura: This better not cost me time.

[Audience booing sound clips plays]

Micah: No, you’re two minutes will start now, but please refrain the audience from clapping in your favor. I’ll have none of that in my debate hall.

Laura: Okay, well, thank you for having us here tonight, Micah.

[Audience cheer sound clip plays]

[Laura and Elysa laugh]

Laura: Oh my God! Okay.

Andrew: Okay, go. That’s it.

Micah: Mr. Sims.

Laura: So…

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Micah: Stop making hand gestures to the crowd.

Andrew: Go ahead. We’re done. Go ahead.

Laura: So first point, students are notorious for hating books they’re forced to read in school. One of the reasons that we all love Harry Potter so much is because we’re allowed to find it at our own pace as opposed to being forced to have a certain amount of chapters read by a certain time. Why do that to kids? Why would we possibly want to destroy the magic that we’ve gotten from Harry Potter by making it something mandatory? Furthermore, it’s great and all that some schools are involving Harry Potter in their curriculum, but there are a number of ignorant people out there who would be adverse to allowing their children to participate in classes in which Harry Potter was being taught, and I don’t sympathize with these people, but rather, I don’t think schools should have to deal with the kind of distraction that could arise from several students refusing to take part in classroom activities. Like think of Laura Mallory, seriously, and think about where I live; people would definitely do it. Furthermore, I’m thinking of Chronicles of Narnia. You couldn’t possibly teach all of the Chronicles of Narnia in school, so they picked the first and most popular book and made everybody read it five million times, to the point where no one wanted to read it any more. And I fear that this would also happen with Harry Potter. Go ahead, Andrew.

Andrew: Yeah, there’s something about making sure that students read a book. Once you read a book, you suddenly lose – it doesn’t come – it’s not as fun for you to read that book. And, like Laura was saying, this would just spark a whole bunch of new debates over whether – it would start with fights in schools with parents versus the administrators saying, oh, you shouldn’t allow – my kid shouldn’t be reading this. I don’t want them to be reading this. It’s sort of like with the flag, the American flag. That one line, “One nation, under God.” That sparked a whole thing because schools were making them say, “One nation, under God.” And, oh, well, you know, I’m Atheist or support a different religion. So that’s why. It would just cause too much of an uproar; it’s better off with people just simply reading it on their own time in a relaxing environment.

Micah: All right, Ben and Elysa, you have one minute rebuttal time.

Ben: All right, well, first of all, I would like to point out that education is the value that we are saying that we should win on because education is the most important thing by far, and, like I said, before I read the Harry Potter books I absolutely hated them. I didn’t think – I heard all about them and I hated all of the hype about it and then when I actually took the opportunity to read it, I loved it. And I think if you made people read these books it can spark their interest in reading, and that will be the most important. On to your point about the controversy that it would cause having the books in the classrooms: fact of the matter is, they’re just books. They encourage children to read. The controversy would be more than worth it because education outweighs any controversy that could possibly be brought up. Not only that, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Huckleberry Finn are two books that are read a lot of times in classrooms, even though they may cause some controversy. It’s like when a teacher shows a rated R movie – a movie that’s rated R or something in the class, they just have to get permission slip signed by the parents. It’ll be fine. If kids can’t participate, that’s fine, that’s their loss. But education wins here. Period.

Andrew: Laura, you want to start again?

Laura: Sure. [laughs]

Micah: Andrew and Laura, you have a minute for rebuttal.

Laura: Okay, it’s not that we don’t think that Harry Potter has educational merit, because we do. But the problem is that Harry Potter has been such a integral part of our lives and it has allowed us grow so much as people and have so many great experiences, and I would frankly hate to see for my children to bring this book home from school one day and be like, “Oh, I have to read this dumb Harry Potter book because my teacher’s making me do it.” I want my kids to be able to pick up those books and find the same magic that I found in them, and I didn’t find that by being forced to read it.

Andrew: Yeah, I mean, look. It’s…

Micah: Thirty seconds.

Andrew: People just cannot enjoy a story when you’re being forced to read it. And parents – Ben was saying that if your parents sign a permission slip or they sign something saying that they can’t read this book, that’s just not acceptable because then those kids…

Micah: Five seconds.

Andrew: …are losing an education when they all could be reading a book that they agree on.

Micah: That concludes our debate for this evening.

Andrew: Micah, who do you think won?

Micah: Well, this is a very interesting topic, and I’m not going to call it my inquisition, as Eric did last week, and spend a lot of time discussing. I think both sides raised very good points. The one thing I was a little bit concerned about, and obviously, you do have to base your opinions strongly on your own experiences, but worrying a little bit about your own personal experience with the series, I thought – you can’t really use that as a basis for the future generations, because they’re not going to have the same experience and they’re not going to go through the midnight release parties or sort of the magic surrounding the series as a whole; it’s just not going to happen no matter how you try to recreate it for them. But another point that I didn’t hear brought up from either side was that these books could be read before your children even get to school, so if you’re worried about preserving the magic of the series, just like with a lot of other fantasy series, certainly one thing that could be done is introducing the books to them before they would have to encounter them at school.

Andrew: But to enjoy it fully, I think you need to read it at at least middle school.

Ben: Well, I think the problem is that you’re going to have a lot of people – the fact of the matter is that if it’s mandated that they have to read it, then you’re going to have a lot more people who actually do read it, and you could gain more interest in the series because there may be kids who never would have read it unless it was assigned in English.

Elysa: Right, I agree.

Andrew: And I think little kids get turned off by the size of the books. My brother’s an example of that. I know that’s not everyone, but people look at some of the sizes of these books and think, “I can’t read all that,” because they’re used to these books where the print is larger and there’s just less pages.

Micah: And I think the other point that was brought up that was strong was the controversial topics. That shouldn’t be a reason why it’s left out of a curriculum. Whether it’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin or even The Diary of Anne Frank, would be another example, not wanting to delve into the whole issue of the Holocaust. I mean, there are so many different books that you could go through that have those sort of racial undertones or some sort of controversial issue attached to them that you don’t want kid’s minds being affected by that. This, I guess, is more of a religious issue than anything else, but I still don’t think that that’s a reason to keep it out of children’s hands and being taught, because there’s so many things within the series itself, I think, that can be taught and are being taught even today at a lot of different colleges and universities. If I had to make a decision – I’m trying to stay nonpartisan as the media always does, you know…

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: That was a bad attempt at a joke.

Andrew: Well, good point.

[Laura laughs]

Andrew: You brought up some valid points.

Micah: I would have to say that it should be. Not the series as a whole, but one of the books possibly mandated for kids to read and then leave it up to the kids.

Andrew: Sure.

Micah: The children. Do you want to explore it further? And then that’s your choice.

Laura: That’s a good middle ground.

Andrew: All right, well, that does it for our debate. And that actually wraps up our show for this wonderful 160 milestone.

Laura: And let me just say, I didn’t agree with anything I said. I was just arguing.

Andrew: Yeah, me too. Me too.

Laura: Yeah, because I know people are going to be like, “Laura! You hate education!”

Ben: So, Micah, who won?

Micah: I said I would have to side with you and Elysa, based on the debate.

Ben: I think I’m undefeated in these things.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Micah: But I’m sure that there’s plenty of stuff that people are going to send in both about the debate and if J.K. Rowling were a man.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: I just think that the point is that education shall overcome everything.

Andrew: Yeah. [singing] We shall overcome.

Ben: All-right-y.


Show Close


Andrew: It’s been a great show! Happy Halloween, everyone. Happy Election Day! Vote no on Proposition 8.

Laura: Happy Halloween!

Ben: Thanks for…

Andrew: Ben, I hope you’ve enjoyed your time in the MuggleCast studio.

Ben: Yeah, thanks for welcoming me back with open arms, everybody. Laura, it’s been great. Eliza -Elysa, it’s been great.

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: Micah, it’s been even better.

Laura: Way to remember your co-hosts names.

Micah: Hey, it’s good to be a member of the senior staff now with you, Ben. I can’t say enough about your endorsement of, you know, my staff…

Andrew: You’re right up there on the same level. He strongly supports the decision.

Ben: First senior staff, next Tannenbaum ’16.

[Andrew and Micah laugh]

Ben: 2016!

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: I’m running his campaign.

Andrew: Well, Ben and I have to go because we’re actually going to go to a Wizard Rock show. It’s a Potter day for us!

Ben: [singing] Fell in love with a girl at the w-rock show.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Wizard Rock with a W, thank you very much. W-rock.

Andrew: We’re going to go see The Remus Lupins and Ministry of Magic.

Micah: Is that the crazy Voldemort dude?

[Elysa and Laura laugh]

Andrew: It is, it is. So we’re looking forward to it.

Ben: He’s not crazy. He’s actually quite a nice guy, Micah.

Andrew: Yeah, he’s cool.

Micah: I meant crazy in a good way. You know, like a cool, hip kind of way.

Andrew: All right, well, if you would like to send something in to our P.O. Box, Ben – no, sorry, Laura, what’s the P.O. Box?

Ben: P.O. Box 223, Moundridge, Kansas – oh wait.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

[Show music begins]

Laura: Oh, my gosh, it’s P.O. Box 3151, Cumming, Georgia, 30028.

Andrew: You can also use the MuggleCast hotline to give us a call. If you’re in the United States you can dial 1-218-20-MAGIC. If you’re in the United Kingdom you can dial 02081440677. And if you’re in Australia, you can dial 0280035668. Or Skype the username MuggleCast, but remember, now matter how you call us, just remember to keep your message under 60 seconds and eliminate as much background noise as possible. Don’t forget, you can also visit MuggleNet.com/feedback to use our feedback form since we could never get the MuggleCast one working.

Ben: I don’t know why.

Andrew: It’s weird. We gave up.

Ben: It just broke out of the blue, didn’t it?

Andrew: Yeah. These people, these people on the staff. Micah, get that working. You’re senior staff now.

Micah: All right.

Andrew: Responsible.

Micah: Where’s Damon?

Andrew: I think that wraps up the show.

Ben: That wraps – that’s a wrap.

Andrew: And don’t forget the community outlets, but you all know them. The MySpace, the Facebook

Ben: YouTube, Frappr, Last.FM, the forums and fanlistings.

Andrew: Follow us on Twitter.

Ben: Twitter.

Andrew: I’m trying to get Ben to Twitter.

Ben: Andrew is so excited for tonight.

[Andrew and Laura laugh]

Ben: He’s going to go to the w-rock show.

Andrew: I’m going to Tweet that right now. So excited for tonight.

Ben: Laura, are you coming out for the w-rock show?

Laura: Yeah, I’m actually going to go down to BWI as soon as I finish here, and I’ll be there in three hours? Four hours?

Andrew: All right, guys, once again…

Ben: Wrap it up.

Andrew: …I’m Andrew Sims.

Ben: I’m Ben Shoen.

Laura: I’m Laura Thompson.

Micah: I’m Micah Tannenbaum.

Elysa: And I’m Elysa Monfort.

Andrew: Thank you, everyone, for joining us. We’ll see you next time for Episode 161. Buh-bye!

Micah: Bye.

Ben: MuggleCast 160 is in the can.

Laura: Bye!

[Everyone laughs]

Andrew: That’s what [unintelligible] said, right?

[Show music ends]


Blooper 1


Andrew: Micah, what’s in the news this week? Hold on, that was bad. That was bad.

Ben: Lay it on me, Micah.

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: That’s what she said.


Blooper 2


Andrew: Okay, that’s all. [laughs]

Ben: No. Snape. Snape’s greasy.

Andrew: [unintelligible] What’s going on?

[Everyone laughs]

Laura: What the hell?

[Micah laughs]

Ben: I’m just chilling. I’m having a good time in the MuggleCast news studio.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Actually, that’s in New York. I want to go visit the news center.

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: Micah, do you have a sweet set-up?

Micah: [laughs] I just – I have a headset and a Macbook. It’s not that exciting.

Ben: Oh. Oh, damn.

Micah: I don’t get the layout that Andrew does with the…

Ben: Well, Andrew has an announcement to make. Andrew, go ahead and tell them.

Andrew: What?

Ben: Andrew’s going to be buying everybody soundboards.

Laura: Oh, really? Great!

[Everyone laughs]

Ben: They’re in the mail, so…


Blooper 3


Andrew: Okay, this last blooper requires a brief set-up. We recorded the episode successfully, and the reason this show was delayed was because we accidentally lost Elysa’s audio. So she had to re-record her voice. So I don’t know if any of you could tell, but when she spoke in this episode, she wasn’t speaking live. She was when we recorded, but we lost her recording, so she had to re-record everything that she said. So this is the little message she attached to the end of her audio file after she finished re-recording and heard the final goodbye of the show. Hope you enjoy.

Elysa: Yes! I’m [bleep] done. Oh, [bleep] on a cracker. Oh, my God, that was painful. Oh, God. God bless you, Andrew. I don’t know if there’s another human being on this planet that could make me do that [bleep]. That was [bleep] ridiculous. Okay. Anyway, this is completely unrelated to the show, so I’m ending this now. Bye!