Transcript #4

MuggleCast EP4 Transcript


Intro


Andrew [Show Intro with music in background]: This is MuggleCast – Episode 4 for August 28, 2005. That’s right, there are spoilers.

Hey, everybody! Welcome to Episode 4 of MuggleCast. We’re joined this week by me, Andrew Sims.

Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.

Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.

Eric: And I’m still Eric Scull.

Andrew: Let’s get things started by taking a look at the past week’s topic stories with Micah.


News


Micah: Thanks, Andrew.

Let’s begin with our top news story…

Start spreading the news (don’t worry, I wont break out singing Frank Sinatra), but Warner Bros. announced Friday that the Big Apple will host the U.S. premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on November 12, 2005. The world premiere will take place a week earlier, on November 6th in London.

Speaking of Goblet of Fire, on Wednesday, Warner Bros. officially released the international trailer with amazing shots of the Quidditch World Cup and all three tasks in the Triwizard Tournament. Listeners can check out this new trailer by logging on to the film’s official website at www.gobletoffire.com.

Staying with the topic of movie premieres, Katie Leung (who portrays Cho Chang) and Robert Pattinson (who portrays Cedric Diggory) both recently attended the Dukes of Hazzard premiere in Leicester Square, London. Hopefully, they weren’t taking any acting lessons.

Finally, wrapping up our movie news for this week, Tom Felton (who portrays Draco Malfoy) will supposedly stay on through the filming of the seventh Harry Potter movie. He spoke about it while hosting the 3rd Annual Junior Carp Tournament, saying: “I’ll keep doing it as long as they
want me to.”

In other news, a Dutch Harry Potter fan named Dennis just couldn’t wait for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, so he made his own rendition entitled Harry Potter and the Torch with Green Flames, which he started writing back in January of 2004. And while publishing of his creation was forbidden, it was uploaded onto the Internet (in Dutch for those who wish to read).

Moving from the Netherlands to France, the French cover of Half-Blood Prince was released on Tuesday, which is similar in style to the American deluxe edition. The book is due out in France on October 1st.

Finally, if you didn’t have a chance to participate, on Thursday MuggleNet staffer Jamie Lawrence hosted a chat with Matthew Lewis (who portrays Neville Longbottom). You can log on to MuggleNet to check out the transcript.

Before we leave two birthday announcements to take make: one to Rupert Grint the actor who portrays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films turned 17 and to MuggleNet senior staff member Ben Schoen who turned 16, both on Tuesday. Happy birthday to both of you. And I’d sing happy birthday, but I assume you want to keep your ratings up.

[All laugh]

Of course you can get more in-depth news, pictures, videos, and audio clips of all the things mentioned by logging on to MuggleNet.

That’s all the news for this August 28, 2005, edition of MuggleCast, back to you guys.


General Announcements


Andrew: All right, thanks Micah. And also a big thanks to him for doing all of our transcripts. He’s been transcribing each episode for you guys. So in case you want to go back, look over it, or read it instead of listen. It’s a big help. Thanks again, Micah.

Guys, I have some excellent news. We actually have a use. And I have proof. Because Eric Nelson, a 6th grade teacher at the school that he teaches, he’s going to use our show to illustrate how literature discussions should go and how they can be enjoyable.

Eric: How they should go?

Andrew: Yeah, he’s going to use our show to teach his class.

Eric: That’s awesome!

Andrew: Isn’t that cool?

Eric: That’s awesome.

Andrew: I know.

Eric: Hello, class of…wait, what’s his name?

Andrew: Mr. Nelson.

Eric: Mr. Nelson. Hello Mr. Nelson’s class!

Andrew: You! Yeah you, you in the front row. Keep quiet!

Eric: Ooh!

Andrew: Okay.

[All laugh]

Eric: That’s me. [referring to the kid in the front seat]

Andrew: All right, so I think that’s really cool. And we want to know how you guys are listening to our show.

Eric: Oh yes.

Andrew: So send us e-mail. It’s pretty fun because some people listen to it before school.

Eric: And on their way to school even.

Jamie: On the way to school.

Eric: There was that person who commented that they do it on their way to school.

Jamie: On their iPods.

Eric: Very nice.

Andrew: Yeah, so people take us everywhere.

Eric: We are honored. We are honored.

Andrew: It’s cool.

Eric: It should be MuggleCast everywhere…every household in America and across the world in Great Britain.

Andrew: We’re pretty much just taking over the world. Let us know how you listen to the show. Email us at mugglecast at staff dot mugglenet dot com.


Contest Announcement


Andrew: All right before we get to our main discussion topics and voicemails of the week we have a pretty big announcement, right Eric?

Eric: That’s right, Andrew.

Andrew: Well, why don’t you tell us what it’s all about?

Eric: All righty then. Okay. Those truly dedicated, slash BORED fans out there will remember that back in Episode 3 of MuggleCast, Ben had shared a funny thought with us about how Lord Voldemort could be killed without a wand once he was mortal again in Book 7. He said that it would be quite funny if Harry had put on some earmuffs and pulled out a Mandrake, causing Voldemort to die instantly upon hearing it’s cry. I found this funny mostly because of its high improbability, yet undoubted effectiveness if it did indeed actually happen. Ben’s comment was met with many laughs, we are certain, and in reply I said that it would be funny if we had a list (much like our 101 Ways to Annoy Lord Voldemort), which would state possible ways for him to be killed that were just as obscure or unlikely as a Mandrake’s song.

Andrew: Sure enough, as we should have expected, the suggestion brought about instantaneous emails flooding our inboxes…

Eric: Instantaneous!

Andrew: …with fan ideas on how to kill Voldemort that most likely wouldn’t happen in the books. It is due to this tremendous response that we here at MuggleNet have decided to form the first official exclusive competition…

Eric: Wait, wait, wait, wait! Drum roll. Drum roll… [makes fake drum roll]

Andrew: [Laughs] I guess I’ll do it. MuggleCast’s “Funny Ways Voldemort Won’t Die” contest!

Eric: Yes, that’s correct! We are welcoming fans to send in their ideas on how they’d like to see the Dark Lord taken care of that are very unlikely, but just as effective as the next suggestion! Upon receiving all the entries, a list will be created that will go on MuggleNet in the near future. Not just that, BUT, the top twenty winners as chosen by the MuggleCast Staff will be posted separately for a short period of time, and MuggleNet fans will be able to vote on their favorites! Then at a preset time, the top three choices will be listed and numbered respectively, and their entrants will be awarded a prize! The prize will be determined at a later date. Now, quickly, for the rules!

Andrew: If you already sent emails suggesting improbable ways to get rid of him, DO NOT WORRY! Your email and suggestions HAVE been saved and WILL be read by us for acceptance. If you have not entered you are more than welcome to by using our Contact Us form on the MuggleCast section of the site, though we ask that you do please be sure to include your name and email address or some way to contact you if you have won. And we DO ask that you send only one – your favorite – entry to us. This is important because we know we’re going to be getting a lot of entries. Just take your time and pick out one really good one.

Eric: This is our way of keeping the numbers low – we at MuggleCast have enough to do with planning and receiving all the topic suggestions and voice message questions and just broadcasting the show as is, that we cannot possibly sort through dozens of entries by the same person. The only exception to that rule is what we are going to do now.

Andrew: A very dedicated fan named Cydni sent us a list of one hundred and one ways to improbably kill, or otherwise annoy Voldemort. Because of the nature of the contest, we only paid attention to those that ‘improbably killed’ him, and have these top seven choices to offer you as examples of what we’re looking for!

Eric: No 1. An example for a way Voldemort could improbably be killed…

1. Throw him to the crazed fan girls. (7)
2. Bewitch him to workout to Buns of Steel. (17)
3. Have Dudley sit on him. (79)
4. Make a Voldemort Voodoo doll and put it through the washing machine. (43)
5. Make him listen to Lockhart talk about himself for the rest of forever. (95)
6. Bewitch him into asking Hermione to the Yule Ball in front of Ron. (45)

And No. 7, Andrew would you like to do the honors. Example No. 7 of how to improbably kill Voldemort…

Andrew: 7. Feed him McDonald’s for a year. (101)

Eric: That’s right. [Eric proceeds to go crazy with drum rolls and tapping and other noises]

As you can see, each choice presents a sort of edge to the parameters of what we’re looking for, and we’ll look for the same creative edge when judging. Right, Andrew?

Andrew: That’s right, Eric.

Eric: If you’d like to enter the contest through email and not our contact form, you can send all entries to Voldemort at staff dot mugglenet dot com. Isn’t that a funny e-mail address? I thought so too.

Andrew: Yeah, I like it.

Eric: Yeah, it’s cool because Voldemort works here now. We think that should be it and we will announce the end date for the competition as well as those that made the list some time on the near future. Good luck, fans!


iTunes Explanation


Ben: In case you guys haven’t noticed, this last week we were up at the top of iTunes and then we got knocked completely off iTunes. And I’d just like to let everybody know as a reminder, if you want to know what happened with that, in case you haven’t already listened to it, you can listen to the Special Edition of MuggleCast/PotterCast.

Eric: Which by the way was fabulous. I thought it definitely had a lot of direction to it, more so than the Forbidden Episode which we recorded the night before that.

Ben: Right, we were joined by Melissa from PotterCast, which is The Leaky Cauldron’s similar named Podcast. And we’ll have her on the show sometime. Those of you who haven’t listened to it yet, go ahead and take a peek at it. It’s pretty interesting.

Andrew: While you’re at it, subscribe to us on iTunes.

Ben: Ten times. I’m kidding. Do not click subscribe more than once. Actually it doesn’t matter because iTunes fixed the hack in their music stores.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: If you feel like clicking subscribe a bunch of times, go ahead because it is not going to do anything like it used to.

Andrew: [Laughs] Yeah.


Spy on Spartz


Ben: Oh, and for those of you…the current Emerson status report, Emerson is in the shower right now…

Eric: Ben dude, you’re watching him in the shower?

Ben: [Laughs] No, his away message says he’s in the shower. If you guys want to stop by Emerson’s dorm…

Andrew: So that’s a new feature here on MuggleCast.

Eric: Where’s Emerson?

Andrew: Each week we’re going to let you know where Emerson is. You can only find this here. EmersonSpartz.net – while they have some good information, they don’t have what we have.

Ben: We have insider information.

Andrew: We’ve got the goods.


Main Topics


Andrew: So moving on to the main discussion of the week. My fellow MuggleCasters: Ralph Fiennes – is he good for the role of Lord Voldemort in the upcoming movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? Ben Schoen?

Ben: Have we even seen any pictures of him?

Jamie: No, we haven’t.

Ben: So we haven’t seen any pictures of this guy as Voldemort, so we don’t even know…

Eric: Well, we’ve kind of seen the face he makes.

Jamie: Yeah.

Eric: We’ve seen that face…

Andrew: …on Regis and Kelly.

Ben: They are saving the Lord Voldemort pictures. I don’t think there’s even going to be any before the movie is actually released.

Eric: I don’t know. Maybe a trailer.

Andrew: Yeah.

Ben: It seems that’s the one guy they’ve been keeping under wraps has been him.

Eric: Obviously they thought him good enough.

Ben: Obviously.

Eric: That’s cool.

Ben: They’ve messed up some characters in the past. Mark Williams who plays Arthur Weasley in the first three movies, he was supposed to be tall and skinny and balding, and he’s not exactly that. I think he does an excellent job portraying the character.

Eric: And Harry’s supposed to have green eyes too.

Ben: Whoever Warner Bros. ended up choosing for the role is still going to be very good. I don’t think we have anything to worry about. [In fake British accent] Jamie, do you have anything to say, mate?

[All laugh]

Jamie [in fake American accent]: Yeah man I do. The thing about Voldemort is that he’s a completely different character to everyone else. Where is it still a book? The entire thing still a book? You can picture Harry, Hermione, and Ron more easily than you can picture Voldemort. And because he’s the bad character it conjures up images of monsters in the dark and things like that. It’s extremely hard to picture him. I think Warner Bros. is going to have to portray him as some type of monster-like figure, the object of people’s nightmares. It’s going to be very interesting to see how they do him.

Andrew: We didn’t get a real look at him in Sorcerer’s Stone. I don’t know who that guy was. I think this is one of the parts of Goblet of Fire that they’ll really try and hype up. Because he hasn’t been in the trailers and I doubt he will be in the full trailer.

Eric: Okay. One of the things about the movies, as you were kind of getting to, is they’re kind of reinventing him every single film. We’ve seen Christian Coulson as the young Tom Riddle, and now we’re going to see Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort in the Goblet of Fire. We’re kind of seeing all different ages for Voldemort, and it’s going to be kind of cool, especially in Movie 6, with the whole background story of Tom Riddle. How many different Riddles are they going to cast? And if Ralph will be in the scene where he comes back to Dumbledore asking to be a teacher, and if they’ll use Christian again? That will be cool to see.

Andrew: That’s an interesting point because he hasn’t been signed on. Especially the Internet Movie Database, they usually have some inside information, but Ralph hasn’t been announced yet.

Ben: But as we get to Movie 6, do you think we might see Christian come back and do the Horcrux scenes, going back in time? Sort of like we saw in the second movie?

Andrew: Yeah. I think that would be great.

Ben: Just to keep the consistency throughout the entire set of movies. I think it would be good if we kept the entire set of actors throughout the entire series. There was the one exception, the death of Dumbledore. Richard Harris who played Dumbledore in the first two movies, and then we had to see Michael Gambon (who also does an excellent job) take over for him. If nothing else like that happens, if there is no other tragedies like that, I think it would be great if we saw the same characters hold throughout the rest of the series of the movies.

Eric: Oh no, I’m very happy that they’ve kept Matt Lewis and Dean and Seamus all throughout the movies. Even if they don’t have the biggest roles, they still there in the background which in itself keeps consistency. And I think one of the things Alfonso did that I liked was make Hogwarts a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, more so than the first two movies did. Which is cool. And I am glad that they kept the main characters as well through that transition so that Goblet of Fire…what we’ve seen from the stills is that it’s still the same way and it’s really good.

Ben: Eric, did you have something else to say about that?

Eric: No, no.

Ben: Okay.

[All laugh]

Eric: Ben come on, Ben…okay, keep that in there…

Andrew: I bad, I’m evil, guys.

Jamie: Eric, Eric, Eric, stop talking now. It’s Eric’s turn, okay? Then Eric, okay? Off to Eric. Off to Eric. We’ve got Eric.

Eric: The story around this is that I did talk, I did notice this, and I talked a little bit more than I probably should have in Episode 3. So I apologize to anybody who thought I talked too much. I apologize.

Andrew: No, people liked you.

Jamie and Ben: We love you Eric.

Andrew: Okay, so anyway that’s another discussion that could easily be a good topic to talk about, which would be the rest of the actors. Are they going to stay on through Movie 7? Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint?

Eric: Rupert’s signed up through Movie 5.

Andrew: Most of them have been signed on through Order of the Phoenix by now, but Eric?

Eric: Hey! Hey! Get Jamie to talk.

Andrew: I thought you had something to say.

[All laugh]

Eric: No! I have nothing to say.

Jamie: Let’s ask Eric. It’s Eric’s turn.

[All laugh]

Eric: Okay, okay. I’m mute.

Ben: If any of the actors are listening to this…Emma, I would just like to clarify when our date is next week…

[All laugh]

Eric: Ben, you don’t get to talk to Emma. You don’t get to talk to Emma. You can’t just address Emma like that.

Jamie: Eric, Eric, Eric.

Eric: I believe it was my turn to talk.

Jamie: Ben has a tiny crush, Ben has a tiny crush on Emma.

Andrew: Hey, Emma.

Ben: Don’t you as well Jamie? Don’t you as well Jamie?

Andrew: It’s nothing compared to other people.

Jamie: Who?

Ben: We get e-mails from EmmaWatsonLover01 all the time.

Jamie: Who’s that?

Andrew: No, I’m not talking about her or him.

Ben: Next topic please.

Jamie: Tell me. This is interesting now…

Andrew: Who, we won’t mention. No, I can’t say. I’ll say after the show.

Jamie: Okay.

Andrew: A big part of this movie is the special effects. There have been a lot of them in Prisoner of Azkaban, Chamber of Secrets, and Sorcerer’s Stone, but there’s going to be a lot more in this movie because of the Triwizard Tournament as well as everything that goes on. Especially Voldemort’s appearance…because Jamie brought this up to me earlier today. You have anything else to say about that, Jamie?

Jamie: This film, especially as you said the Triwizard Tournament, it is a very special tournament. It is a very elaborate tournament and I think it’s going to need special effects to pull it off.

Ben: Only one will go down in history! Only one will reach eternal glory!

Andrew: Thank you, Ben.

Jamie: Exactly what I was going to say. Anyway, before Ben brilliantly interrupted me. The 4th Book especially with the Triwizard Tournament, the entire thing needs a lot of special effects to work out. The second task, half of it is going to filmed underwater, and with the gillyweed (however your pronounce it)…

Andrew: Gillyweed gives him gills.

Jamie: *BEEP* I forgot what I was going to say. Somebody else go ahead.

Ben: You always do this. I swear.

Jamie: It’s not only me. Eric, didn’t you have something to say?

[All laugh]

Andrew: We’re bad. We’re terrible.

Eric: I’ve got something to say…

Andrew: This show stinks. I’m done.

Eric: I can talk. I can say something. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory just came out very recently and it does have a lot of special effects in it also. Maybe not as much as Goblet of Fire, but I thought that was a movie where they had quite a lot of special effects. They blended them nicely with real life.

Andrew: Yeah, that’s a good point. Almost that whole movie was special effects. Including those Oompah Loompahs, they didn’t have two thousand of them in one room.

Eric: Right. It was one guy. It was Deep Roy. So really, that was quite well done.

Andrew: And it really didn’t look like one…it didn’t look fake at all. Tim Burton who directed that film did an excellent job.

Ben: Now back to Harry Potter. About Goblet of Fire, personally I trust Warner Bros. Some people were scared. Chris Columbus said in an interview on the Chamber of Secrets DVD that he was worried…no sorry it was Steve Kloves who said that he was worried about the giant spider scene and how fake and how humorous that was going to look when it was supposed to be scary. In the end it turned out to look pretty cool. It was actually kind of frightening for the smaller children and kids of the younger ages. I have my faith in Warner Bros. I think they are going to turn out another excellent movie based on the special effects and other things we’ve seen. In the trailer so far, I don’t think there’s going to be a problem with it. It’s not going to take away from the movie at all.

Eric: Yeah. And we’ve forgotten that everybody has gotten better at acting…the Trio and everybody. They’ve just gotten better.

Andrew: Yeah. Jamie?

Ben [With fake British accent]: Jamie Lawrence, do you have something to say?

Jamie [With fake American accent]: Thanks, man. Yeah, I do. Yeah. Do you think it’s a case of all films in the 21st Century, they are using more special effects just because computers are catching up with the film world, or do you think it’s just the Harry Potter series that needs that injection of special effects to make it more fantasy-like?

Eric: Brilliant idea, Jamie. I think it’s all movies. Some more so than others. The only point I was bringing up with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is that we’ve seen it can be done. A blend can be made. I have faith in Warner Bros. also. I think it will be fine.

Ben: Okay, we’ve sort of lost our host. Hold on. Andrew fell out.

Eric: Andrew fell out.

Andrew: Yeah, okay Ben. Let’s go. Come on. Let’s go.

Ben: We just finished the special effects topic. On August 23, 2005, we saw the 2nd Book released in the Inheritance Trilogy, Eldest, which is the successor to Eragon. Earlier this week Andrew sat down with Eldest Webmaster Mike, from www.shurtugal.com where we interviewed him about the book, and we saw what his thoughts were about another fantasy book that many of you might enjoy.


Interview with Mike Macauley


Andrew: We’re joined by Mike Macauley of www.shurtugal.com. Shurtugal.com is a website based on the Inheritance trilogy. How are you doing, Mike?

Mike: I’m doing pretty good, you?

Andrew: I’m doing good, thanks. So we brought you on here today because we need to break some news to all these Harry Potter fans. Harry Potter is not the only good fantasy series out there. Right?

Mike: Right.

Andrew: We brought you on to ask you a couple of questions because your site is basically the MuggleNet of the Inheritance trilogy.

Mike: You could say that.

Andrew: Yeah, you could. You went to the premiere of the new book. You’ve gotten pre-released copies. Random House loves you. You’re in a good place right now. So give our listeners a general overview of the Inheritance trilogy.

Mike: Eragon tells the tale of a poor farm boy who’s ironically named Eragon, and that he finds a blue stone when he’s hunting in the nearby mountains. The stone ends up hatching, and it ends up being a dragon’s egg. Eragon bonds with this dragon who he names Saphira, and when his uncle Vrael is killed by Agents of the Empire he sets out on this adventure to avenge his uncle’s death. He realizes that he has to take sides with either the Empire or the Varden (which is the rebel group trying to overthrow the Empire). The book pretty much tells the tale of Eragon’s struggles, and he’s plagued by many deaths and obstacles that get in his way. And it’s a good book, so if you want to know more, I suggest reading it.

Andrew: Or checking out your site. This is definitely a series that would appeal to a Harry Potter fan?

Mike: Yeah, I’d say that.

Andrew: So tell us the story about the author, Christopher. He wrote the first book when he was just fifteen.

Mike: Yeah. Christopher Paolini as you said, he wrote the first story when he was fifteen years old. It actually took him two years because when he wrote the first time, after his family went through and edited it, took a look at it, they realized it pretty much needed to be rewritten. So he spent another year rewriting it. His family who had published books before (mainly educational books), decided that they were going to give up everything they were doing, and they realized the book had potential, so they self-published it. For a few years, they toured the U.S. to try to promote the book, and sell the book wherever they could. Christopher is going to hate me for saying this, but he used to tour in this red swordsmen shirt and these black, as he calls them, pantaloons — a pretty funny outfit for trying to promote his book. When they were on tour they got a call from Random House who offered them a book deal. That was a pretty big break considering all the work they had been doing just to get the book out there.

Andrew: So how did Random House pick up the series?

Mike: Well, Carl Hiaasen who’s a popular author (he wrote the book Hoot among many others), him and his stepson Ryan Hiaasen, they were fly-fishing in Montana. Ryan picked up one of the self-published copies of Eragon at one of the local bookstores. He read it and loved it. He told his father about it and his father told Random House. Random House realized the book had potential and it all went from there.

Andrew: Wow! That’s unbelievable. So I’m not sure if you know this…when Chris and his family got the news, how did they react?

Mike: I’d imagine they were overwhelmed with surprise because that’s a huge break. Of course they had to find an agent and work out the details, and pretty soon Eragon was published by Random House.

Andrew: So tell us about the Eldest premiere. The book just came out a few days ago.

Mike: That released on Tuesday, August 23, 2005. I went into New York City for the book release where Christopher was kicking off his book tour at Barnes & Noble in Union Square. I was there on August 22 too. We did lunch, dinner. I went to Random House. It’s really an amazing place. The next day I actually got a chance to intern at Random House. I helped distribute promotional items for his book tour.

Andrew: Wow!

Mike: We headed down to Union Square. None of us knew what to expect because it is the City, and not the easiest place to get to, and there were around 700-900 fans. Christopher made a presentation and Gerard Doyle, the narrator for the audio book did a reading. Then Christopher signed 700 or more copies of his book, which must have been amazing.

Andrew: 700?

Mike: Well, yeah. 700.

Andrew: Wow! It was basically a big book signing?

Mike: I would say so. Towards the end of the book signing, actually when everybody was finished, I went up to get my copies signed and I looked down at his hand. And one side was purple, looked bruised. And the other side was bright red.

Andrew: Wow! [Laughs]

Mike: And whenever I walked up to him with about 35 copies of the book to be signed, the glare was enough. If looks could kill…

Andrew: [Laughs] If looks could kill, you’d certainly be dead.

Mike: Yes.

Andrew: The book was released on the 23rd, and then wouldn’t you know it, Eldest actually beat Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Amazon’s list of top-selling books.

Mike: It sure did.

Andrew: And it’s worth noting that Harry Potter was actually pushed down to No. 3. Eldest is at No. 1. And then a book titled Why Do Men Have Nipples? is at No. 2. [Transcriber’s note: Since this interview Harry Potter has regained the No. 2 spot on Amazon.com]

[Both laugh]

I guess Oprah promoted it or something. I don’t know what happened, so we’ll see what happens with that. Tell us about the website (www.shurtugal.com).

Mike: I started the site back in December 2003 (about two months after the book was released). And back then I was getting about twenty-five visitors per day. I knew nobody from the Paolini family. I knew nobody from Random House. I’ve been hard at work for the past year-and-a-half, close to two years now. I’ve built connections and I talk with the Paolini family who are a huge help for my website. Without them, I don’t think the site would be anywhere. Random House who obviously just invited me into the City for the book release. It’s been amazing.

Andrew: All right, so that’s about it. Mike, thanks for joining us and we hope people will check out the book. And once again guys, there’s definitely some other good books besides Harry Potter. The Inheritance trilogy is definitely one of them. Thanks Mike.

Mike: Yep. No problem. Thanks for having me.


Voicemails


Andrew: All right. So that was my interview with Mike Macauley. Once again that’s www.shurtugal.com. S-H-U-R-T-U-G-A-L.com. Now, let’s move on to our favorite part of the show…the voicemails.

[Somebody screams WOOOOO!]

I love these because you keep sending in so many and most of them are good. I want to start off this part of the show with a nice voicemail we got from this one kid. You guys definitely have to take a listen to this. This is a classic.

[Audio]: Hello, this is Yoda from the MuggleNet chat room, and I have a very, very, very, very, basic question. Who do you think is R.A.B. in the 6th Book? And thank you and may the force be with you. I’m so alone. This sucks!

[Andrew laughs]

Ben: What did he say there at the end?

Andrew: He said: “I’m so alone. This sucks!” Yoda, I thank you for your question. It is probably one of the best ones we have received. Just for the originality. We’ve already answered this question. Who is R.A.B.? Do you guys want to talk about it anymore?

Ben: No, I don’t think it’s necessary. We pretty much came to the consensus that it’s Regulus Black, and we have about 55,000 trillion, billion other voicemails to get to.

Andrew: Here’s something…wait a second…here’s something I found interesting. Now, I was reading MuggleNet’s world famous editorials and I came across one that points out that if you take R.A.B. and shift each letter forward, S.B.C. is Sirius Black’s cousin. What do you think of that?

Eric: Wow. Okay. And Droobles Best Blowing Gum is Gold Under St. Mungo’s and about a thousand other acronyms.

Ben: That’s not even an acronym.

Andrew: But isn’t that a good theory?

Jamie: It’s interesting. It’s probably just coincidence then.

Andrew: This one theory pointed out that it was one of Sirius Black’s…

Ben: You guys are so NOT Harry Potter sleuths! I swear you guys need to read Galadriel Waters’ books, and there is no such thing a coincidence.

Andrew: Now hold on. Wait a second.

Eric: Wait a second, Ben.

Andrew: You don’t have to read Galadriel Waters’ books just to know your Harry Potter stuff. There’s plenty of stuff in the editorials.

Ben: I’m just saying there’s no such thing as coincidence. It’s one of the five rules of being a Harry Potter sleuth. Right, Eric?

Jamie: That’s isn’t true. That’s not true. Of course there are.

Andrew: No, no. There are such things as coincidences.

Eric: There’s a difference between a coincidence and going way too far.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: The 1st Book is called Harry Potter and so is the 5th Book. That is coincidence.

Eric: It is.

Ben: What? What did you say?

Jamie: I said the 1st Book is called Harry Potter and the 5th Book is called Harry Potter. Now, that is a coincidence. I think they could be part of the same series.

[Eric laughs]

Eric: I think they could be.

Andrew: And that ladies and gentlemen was Jamie’s British joke of the day.

Jamie: Thank you very much.

Andrew: Now, let’s move on to more voicemails. All right, this next one comes from Elan.

[Audio]: Hey, MuggleCast! First of all, I want to tell you that I really like your show. Now here’s my question. When Snape performs the Avada Kedavra curse on Dumbledore (the end of Book 6), why does he fly into the air? We see in Book 4 with Frank Bryce and Cedric Diggory that they just crumple to the floor. Does this mean that Snape actually did not perform an authentic Killing Curse?

Andrew: In Book 6, Snape conjures a killing curse, but Dumbledore flies up into the air. Compare this with Book 4 when Cedric Diggory just collapses to the ground. What is going on, Eric?

Eric: There are a lot of questions about Dumbledore’s death. He flew. Dumbledore himself said there’s no mark, the Death Curse leaves no mark. We’ve seen it before at the beginning of Goblet of Fire with the Riddles’ death. There was nothing wrong with them except that they were dead. It’s the same throughout the books. So yes, Dumbledore flying into the air and over the balcony is quite suspicious and we can treat it as such. I don’t know what it means really. I think Dumbledore is dead. That’s a good question. It’s just speculative really.

Jamie: I think Dumbledore is dead, but I don’t why he flew out the thing. I’d say it’s either just for show because he was such an important character and Jo had to make it clear that he was dead or because he was so powerful. Cedric…he was still at school. He didn’t have the power
Dumbledore had. After Snape killed Dumbledore, he had so much magical power within him that it was just expulsed. All of his power was released from him and he flew backwards over the battlement.

Ben: I think the reason Dumbledore flew up in the air is because I am one of the people who think Snape did kill Dumbledore on Dumbledore’s orders. I think that the real reason that Dumbledore flew up into the air is because Snape felt so guilty about it and had so much hatred built up against Dumbledore for Dumbledore making him do this, that when he performed the curse it set him sailing up into the air. It was all this emotion built up. It all flew at Dumbledore and Dumbledore flew into the air. I think that makes the most sense. That it was just emotion and everything that built up that led to him skyrocketing.

Andrew: Yeah, I agree with Ben. Once again, a lot people think Dumbledore didn’t die, and this is just one of the reasons why. Really, it could just be the way that Snape conjured it. Jamie?

Jamie: The second part of that voicemail asked whether Snape performed an authentic Killing Curse. And I think we should talk about that. That’s quite an interesting point because throughout the book a great deal of emphasis has been laid on the fact that the Unforgivable Curses really are powerful and it takes a great wizard to conjure them. I don’t really think it’s feasible, but you could perform the Avada Kedavra curse (the green light comes out of your wand) and somebody dies, but it’s only a half-wanted curse. I think you’re entire heart has to be in it, whether you want it because you do actually want the person dead and you’ve been ordered to, or because the person who’s going to die ordered you to do it.

Eric: So it’s possible he still did mean it.

Jamie: Yeah.

Ben: That’s what we’re saying.

Eric: Even if he is a good guy.

Andrew: All right, this next one is from Stasia.

[Audio]: Hi guys. This is Stasia. I listen to MuggleCast from Wisconsin and I’m 39. My question for you is why did Harry leave his Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower after Dumbledore was murdered. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to be invisible why chasing Snape and Draco? Thanks, and keep up the great work.

Ben: Personally, what I think the problem is…the reason that Harry left it at the top of the tower is because he was so filled with emotion. He just saw Dumbledore murdered. It wasn’t an issue. He wasn’t thinking. His wits were not about him. He just thought, “Okay, I’m going to chase right after them.” He didn’t think, “Oh, I should be invisible, then chase after them.” He thought, “I’m running. These people just killed the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the head of the Order of the Phoenix. This is the only choice I have.”

Eric: As Ben said, I definitely think that’s the main reason he did that. He could finally move his limbs and chase after Snape. I think he was just worried about that. Two other things. One, it probably wouldn’t have been that smart if Harry had actually put on his Invisibility Cloak. I would actually relate it to driving…actually driving a car. Because it’s not good to be invisible if you’re driving a car because all the other cars, the way they move, is judging on if they can see you and how fast…Basically, if Harry had his Invisibility Cloak on and he was running through the whole battle scene, everybody was looking for a place to run to dodge an attack, they could have jumped right into him and not seen him. It just wouldn’t have been a good idea if he had his Invisibility Cloak on in the middle of that. A curse could have hit him easily. It wouldn’t have been a good idea for him to have it on. The only time he’d be able to use it would be after he’s chasing after Snape, all the way out of the grounds.

Andrew: Yeah. I didn’t think about that. Maybe accidentally getting hit. Maybe he did it because he didn’t want to hide and he didn’t want to cower. He just wanted to run after them.

Eric: Yeah. We’ve seen Harry disregard stealth before or not fully appreciate its ability. Even though he does use the Invisibility Cloak often, in Book 3, in Prisoner of Azkaban when they’re in the Time-Turner, he’s so concerned with just finding his Dad that he doesn’t care if he’s seen. He’s bent on seeing Prongs. And one other thing. I’m sorry I don’t want to talk too long, but in
Book 1 (I was just rereading), and in Book 1 there’s a brilliant parallel, which I think Jamie would be proud of. When Harry leaves his Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower, after they return Norbert to Charlie, and it’s really interesting because it is the North Tower, and he left his Invisibility Cloak
up there, and who returns it him, but Dumbledore. And just hours before Draco was up on the North Tower. So it’s real the scene where Draco was there, and Harry was there and he left his Invisibility Cloak, and Dumbledore was connected. It was just really cool parallel I thought.

Jamie: That’s good. I like it. I was going to say about Book 6, I agree with I think it was Andrew. It was just a case that he was so angry with Dumbledore being dead that he just completely forgot it. But also, he had to run to catch up with Snape because they had a head start on him. If you’re running flat out, the Invisibility Cloak is going to flap up and it isn’t going to cover your feet. It would have really been pointless anyway.

Andrew: Yeah. So, basically what we’re trying to say is that it just really wouldn’t work. Okay, this one is from Michelle.

[Audio]: Hi MuggleCast guys! I’d like to propose the idea that the item of Godric Gryffindor’s that Voldemort used as one of his Horcruxes was as Dumbledore said not the Sword of Gryffindor, but the Sorting Hat. I think this makes sense, as the Sorting Hat is an item of great magical power and prestige, both qualities Voldemort was looking for in potential Horcruxes, as well as the Hat having such powerful influences at Hogwarts. Given that the Sorting Hat almost has a mind of its own, and could also prove very difficult to destroy, what are your thoughts on this?

Jamie: I just had an idea that Slytherin, the House; you could classify them as Dark Wizards or followers because Hagrid said there wasn’t a wizard in Slytherin who hadn’t gone bad. So, I was going to say, perhaps he has used the Sorting Hat for one reason, to handpick the people he can pick to follow him as his Death Eaters. But the Sorting Hat was there a long while before Voldemort, so I don’t think he can do that. It would attract him because it is right under Dumbledore’s nose. It’s at the center of Hogwarts. It’s a thing of massive magical power and I think he’d be really pleased to have that as a Horcrux. The problem still remains, how did he get into Hogwarts, get into Dumbledore’s office, and kill somebody just to turn it into a Horcrux? All in a day’s work.

Ben: Also, why couldn’t he bewitch the Sorting Hat so when Harry Potter sits down…

Jamie: That it kills him or something.

Ben: Yeah.

[All laugh]

Eric: I think you guys have created a wide range of things. It brings into question how to make a Horcrux? If you have to kill somebody and make it right there…

Jamie: Yeah.

Eric: I’ve seen it speculated that when Voldemort twitches his wand in Dumbledore’s office, I’ve seen it speculated that that is when he makes the Sorting Hat or whatever a Horcrux. Really, I think that shows the he was just tensing up about to attack Dumbledore. Another question: Could that honestly have gone unnoticed? Could the Sorting Hat hide that? I think as Jamie said, it’s an item of massive magical power, so he’d obviously want that as a Horcrux. Andrew, what do you think?

Andrew: Okay. I have nothing else to say to that. This next one is from Tom.

[Audio]: Hi guys! I’m a huge fan of the show. My name is Tom from Indiana. I was just wondering because you guys haven’t said on the show before…I’ve read the 1st Book fifty times and all the other books, excluding the 5th Book, twenty plus times. How many times have you guys read the books?

Andrew: Holy Moly! He’s read Book 1 fifty times?

Eric: He’s read Book 1…FIFTY TIMES?

Andrew: Yeah. I wonder if he was talking about Half-Blood Prince too because he just said excluding Order of the Phoenix.

Jamie: He’s only a month to read it though. Twenty times in a month?

Ben: He’d have to spend every waking moment…

Andrew: It’s possible. All right so let’s go around the round table here.

Eric: Ben? No, let’s go alphabetical order. Andrew?

[All laugh]

Ben: Andrew just be last, okay? I’ve read the books around ten times each. When I first started reading the books back in 8th grade, which I guess would have been early 2003, when I started reading them, I read them all in order. I was very strict about it. I’d have to go with Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, then Goblet of Fire, and then Order of the Phoenix came out sixth months after I started reading the series. That book I’ve only read four or five times because it’s a monster and it’s hard to find time to read. We all have pretty busy schedules and school and things like that. Half-Blood Prince, I am going to confess I’m a bad boy, and I’ve only read it once.

Eric: Oooohhhh….

Ben: Go ahead and send your hate mail, but I comprehend a lot when I read in case you haven’t noticed.

Andrew: Well, it all started for me when I was 6…

[All laugh]

Jamie: I was bullied in school. I had a really tough time at school, you know? I didn’t like it all.

Andrew: I had a really tough time at school and Harry Potter took me away from that. So, I read it fifty times.

Jamie: Before Order of the Phoenix, I was reading each one, then the next one, the third one, and the fourth one, and I suppose probably five to ten times each for those. Then after the fifth one came out, I was just reading that one, and after the sixth one, I was just reading the sixth one and the fifth one. I haven’t really gone back to the first four for a while now. The last two, I’ve read a few times each. Three to fives times each. I’m planning to go back and read them all in a row soon.

Eric: I came into Harry Potter in the first movie, so I started reading the 2nd Book, and I went from the second to the third, then the fourth, and at that time, that was the day Goblet of Fire came out in paperback, which was cool. But then I did them in order and I think I’ve read the first four books three to seven times. Prisoner of Azkaban I’ve probably read the most. And Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince I’ve read twice each, which is actually kind of bad for Book 5, but as Ben said, it was a monster.

Andrew: And I read each one three times each, excluding Half-Blood Prince, which I’ve only read once. Now, let’s take one more voicemail.

Ben: You’re a bad boy like me Andrew. Jerk. You’re a sorry excuse for a Harry Potter fan. Only reading Half-Blood Prince once.

Andrew: Once I read the books once, I know what goes on.

Eric: That’s no excuse. Anyway, do the last voicemail here.

[All laugh]

Andrew: Okay. Here is our featured voicemail of the week. This one comes from Matt. Could this be Matt from Veritaserum?

Eric: Why do you say that? Who cares?

Andrew: Because I like Matt from Veritaserum. All right, let’s listen.

[Andrew plays wrong audio with female voice. All laugh]

Eric: Is that Matt from Veritaserum? Is that Matt from Veritaserum? I don’t know.

Andrew: Is that Matt? What the heck? I must have numbered these wrong.

Ben: I met him, I met him, and I’m squashing all the rumors. That is not Matt from Veritaserum!

[Audio]: Hey MuggleCast! I think your show is great. If Voldemort was immortal from Horcruxes, why was he drinking unicorn blood in the forest as we saw in Book 1? Thanks.

Eric: This is a good question. Good question. I think it’s got to do with the quality of life. If you look in Greek mythology, there are a lot of characters that become immortal, but they have really bad lives. There was this one, and I’m sorry. All the English scholars and all the Greek scholars please forgive me. I don’t know the names to these guys, but there was a story about a mortal, who went to the gods and asked to be immortal, and they made him immortal, but he kept aging. Even though he never died, he aged and withered away into nothingness. And there are other classic stories of immortality, where immortality is used to torture people. So, I really think it has to do with the quality of life and that’s why Voldemort was drinking the unicorn blood and that’s also why he need feeding from Nagini in Book 4. It all has to do with how strong he is because even though he is immortal. He’s only in possession of one of the Horcruxes, the one that occupies his body.

Ben: Very good point. Thank you. Okay. What I think is extending on what Eric said. Voldemort needed the one Horcrux that he was inhabiting right then, that piece of his soul; he didn’t want it to die. He was having Quirrell drinking the unicorn blood just to sustain him long enough, trying to keep him alive before that Horcrux died. That was the main reason for him drinking unicorn blood, because he wanted to be alive long enough to get the Elixir of Life, which failed, so I guess that Horcrux did stay alive. Once again, he was almost dead. Like what Hagrid said is that you can save someone even when they are an inch from death, but they are going to lead a cursed life. Like Firenze said that it can save you from death, even if you’re an inch away. What happened is he drank the blood just to keep him from dying. He didn’t really care if he ended up leading a cursed life because he’s doomed anyway. That’s just my thoughts.

Jamie: Can’t it be that he wasn’t actually an inch from death, but he was just hanging on to existing as something worthwhile because immortality doesn’t mean that you have to go on existing forever as a human. You could just have a tiny bit in you that’s still existing. He was sort of past death, but he couldn’t die. It’s kind of a Catch 22 situation. The Elixir was just there to strengthen him to a form where he’d still be alive, just as would be if he hadn’t drank the Elixir, but he’d had more will and energy so he could start creating potions that would finally come in the 4th Book. Turn him back into, I would say human…well I don’t think he’s really human, but that type of form.


Show Close


Andrew [Show Close with music in background]: Okay. So I think that wraps up MuggleCast – Episode 4. Once again I’m Andrew Sims.

Ben: I’m Ben Schoen.

Jamie: I’m Jamie Lawrence.

Eric: And still talking, I’m Eric Scull.

[All laugh]

I might as well give into it really. Give into the criticism. It’s great.

Andrew: That’s all for this week’s edition of MuggleCast. Once again, I’m Andrew Sims. If you’d like to send us a voicemail please e-mail voice at staff dot mugglenet dot com. Also, don’t forget our competition runs through Episode 6, so if you’d like to enter, please send in your one entry to Voldemort at staff dot mugglenet dot com. Also, don’t forget comments, suggestions, or we’d also like to know how you listen to our show. Send those into MuggleCast at staff dot mugglenet dot com. See you next week.


Bloopers


Eric: [Typing and muttering semi-coherently]

Andrew: That’s it Eric. Don’t say it. Just type it.

Jamie: Eric’s after Eric, okay? Do not let Eric go before Eric, okay? That wouldn’t be fair. That would not be fair.

Andrew: Okay.

[Eric Laughs]

Jamie: Wait, wait. I think Eric wants to say something?

Eric: Come on guys!