PotterCast 124: We Miss Melvin Already Transcript

News Talk (0:00 - 17:33)

John Noe (JN): Does everybody know what time it is?

Sue Upton (SU): It's PotterCast time! Woo-hoo!

JN: (sings) Everybody grab your tools, 'cause its time! (SU laughs) Just kidding, it's PotterCast guys, episode 124 and we're going to have a heck of a week because this is a PotterCast without our fearless leader, what's her name?

SU: Melvin, Marvicious...

JN: Melvin! (SU laughs) I'm gonna use that from now on! I'm gonna give Melvin a call and tell her how we did. (SU: Okay.) But this is without Melvin, this is John.

SU: And this is Sue.

JN: We are talking about Harry Potter and everything else this week, it's gonna be a fun time. We've got lots of segments that I'll tell you all about after we hear from our favorite bookstore friends at Borders.

Borders Ad:
SU: Haven't read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet? Don't worry, Borders is here to help. Pick up your copy of this summer's smash hit soon. You won't be able to hide from the spoilers forever. You can count on Borders to have it in stock and ready to take home tonight, along with the audio book version. Even if you've read the book, the Harry Potter fun doesn't have to end yet. Visit BordersMedia.com or click on the Borders banner at the top of the PotterCast page to find out more.

JN: Awesome, awesome. And if you've managed to hide from spoilers this long, you're a better man than I because, hell, I think I survived the spoilers up until two hours before midnight (SU: I know.) the night the book came out, and I just couldn't stay off the comment boards. Well when Jo names a character after you you're dying to tell the world about it. (SU laughs) That's pretty much true, that's pretty awesome.) That killed me. I'm sorry, I appreciate it Jo, but that post, the comments, that was what spoiled me.

SU: So you're blaming Jo.

JN: Aw, you know, I'm always quick to blame somebody, aren't I? (SU: I know.) Sorry. But, an awesome show, even sans Melissa. (SU: Mm-hm.) We have a Scribby Five with our lovely love Scribby gals (SU: Mm-hm.) And we're back with Canon Conclundrums recorded earlier in the week before the madness, with Mr. Vander Ark. (SU: Mm-hm) And we have a Bit by Bit, taking the canon bits at a time. (SU: Yay.) What's the topic this week Sue?

SU: Oh, we love those crazy sevens. The number seven is back with "The Seven Potters."

JN: Everybody watch your pants, we're putting on Seven Harry's. (SU laughs) And we've got, on top of that, a Phoenix Files, where we take similar to Bit by Bit, a bit of the Order of the Phoenix film at a time.

SU: And we talk about one of our, I'll say, one of my favorite (JN: Yeah?) people- actresses, her name is Evanna Lynch and we talk about Luna! I love Luna.

JN: Who's here to join us this week, a special guest! The thestrals! (SU: What?)

SU: The thestrals are here?

JN: The thestrals are here! (laughs) Sorry, not Evanna Lynch. The thestrals are here in the form of our favorite assistants, they are senior staff, Lizzie and Chloe, who will be our guest hosts of the week, so it's not just crazy Sue and I the whole week. (SU: No.) But, they do a great job. (SU: Walk away.) You'll hear from them soon. That's the show and a half for you right there. I guess we can talk about the news, right?

SU: We do have news. Guess what everyone! It's official now, we've seen it, the official photos of Hagrid's Hut have now surfaced! (makes trumpet noise)

JN: It's back! How big's the hot tub?

SU: Theres no hot tub.

JN: Oh, what the hell are they doing, they sleep in the hot tub 'til Deathly Hallows.

SU: (laughs) I dunno, poor Hagrid man, he's just losing out on the hot tub action I guess.

JN: Pimp My Hut returns with Hagrid's Hut getting yet another makeover. Actually it doesn't look that much different this time. (SU: No it doesn't.) I'm very disappointed. (SU: I know.) I wanted aluminum siding or something.

SU: (sighs) You know, I was too. And this is a question, and this kinda ties into another thing. (JN: Okay.) We've seen- we saw the first- there's like three or four photos of this hut being built. (JN: Okay.) And we also have a wonderful, I have to say a wonderful feature from a company named Rising Sun (JN: Yeah.) out of Australia, and they do some of the special effects. And they did the thing about Harry, but they also showed how they shot- they took a shot of the trio running down the hill (JN: Yeah.) and then they added in Hogwarts, but then they added in Hagrid's Hut!

JN: Interesting. I mean, it's just a matter of locations, then. I guess they just didn't have that sort of hill nearby where they made the hut, which is kind of silly 'cause they move that hut every dang time, so they can just move it to a hill if they want it near a hill. (SU: I guess.) Whatever, I'm not the master of this stuff yet, maybe one day.

SU: You will be though! For those of you who don't know, John is studying...

JN: An aspiring visual effects student.

SU: He is. But it's very time consuming, very meticulous, very painstaking work, that these companies do (JN: Yeah.) and what was neat about this features is that you can actually see, they have it on their website, we have links on our website.

JN: It's really, really cool. Put that stuff on the DVDs guys, come on! All the other big effects movies usually have that stuff in there, where's that cool stuff? Thank you so much, Rising Sun, was it you said? (SU: Yes, yes it was.) For doing that. And it was so cool, you guys should all check it out. (SU: Yeah, definitely.) Do it for everything else so I can learn how you did it.(SU: Yes.) Actually have a better idea about that stuff.

SU: Yes, give us all your secrets now!

JN: We shall do the movie for you. (SU laughs) Only on PotterCast.

SU: Speaking of movies, I do have to commend, we have had our readers- as we talked about last week, filming was taking place in Lacock in Wiltshire, England and they did the scene where Harry and Dumbledore apparate outside of Slughorn's home where he's hiding at the beginning of the book. (JN: Yes.) Yes, and we saw so many fantastic reports from readers who went to the scene and wrote down all these details, and they sent in all these fabulous pictures we have all these fabulous pictures and we had them first, and I just want to say thank you! You rock. Leaky readers rock! So that was amazing.

JN: Hey, Sue? Do you know why they're filming that part of the film now?

SU: Ah, no. Why?

JN: Because they can, can, can!

SU: Because they can, can, can! Yahoo!

JN: Because they can, can, can!

SU: But, I thought what was neat in the photos that we were talking about...Dumbledore was wearing a cast on his hand and (JN: Yeah.) we're just talking about special effects, they're are actually going to put that in. Right, John?

JN: They are. They are going to add that in I presume if not for every shot (SU: Yeah.) it at least looks like some of the shots are going to have a digital replacement for his gross hand.

SU: Doesn't that give you hope, though? When you hear these details about them saying, "Here's Dumbledore with his withered hand." I mean, they could've just (JN: Yes.) done away with that. There's no need for them to put that in there.

JN: Yeah. They could've just painted it black with finger paint or something but they actually have millions of dollars in their budget. (SU: Oh. Look at that.) So, they don't have to give up crap like that. (SU laughs) Look at them. Congratulations. What else is going on?

SU: Speaking of- I have to say this, because Mr. Gambon has given another interview and he says...

JN: Oh, yes. (laughs) Poor guy. (SU: Please.) I think there's like five stages of (SU laughs) dealing with Gambon. First of it is like, "What the heck was that?" Then it was anger like, "Oh, my God. Did he just do that?" (SU: Yeah.) And then confusion. It's like, "Why did they let that in?" (SU laughs) Then it's like, "Oh, this poor guy doesn't read the Internet. He doesn't know what the hell he's doing is wrong." (SU: I know. But...) So, it's like, the poor guy- What did he say? He doesn't even watch his movies.

SU: He doesn't watch his movies. He hadn't watched the Harry Potter films. (JN: Oh.) And, he's like, "Oh, wait. I might've seen one." Oh, okay. Thanks.

JN: I mean, that's like Jo saying, "I wrote the book but I've never read them." (SU laughs)

SU: You know, the man is an excellent actor. He did a fabulous turn on play. (JN: Yeah.) He did the one and didn't even speak a sound.

JN: I'm starting to develop more theories about this whole thing. (SU: Oh, no!) It's like you got somebody on set like Michael Gambon, and granted you've got all kinds of talented British actors out there. (SU: Yes.) But, who's the person on set that you think is going to be more reserved about giving too much direction to? (SU: Yeah.) Probably the guy who is twenty years older than anybody else over there. (SU: Right, right.) Who's been doing this longer than anybody. (SU: Mm-hm.) And you tell him, "You're going to be an old wizard." He's going to be like, "Michael Gambon, Michael Gambon, Michael Gambon." He'll be like, "Arrestrio Momentum! (SU laughs) Michael Gambon, Michael Gambon, Michael Gambon." (SU: Yes.) So, there's only so much you're going to get from this guy. And, considering what we found out about Deathly Hallows, like I said before, I like this Dumbledore better than the hippy love Dumbledore that so many people thought he was before Deathly Hallows came out. So, rock on, Gambon. It's okay. You don't need to watch the movies. (SU laughs) We're watching them plenty for you.

SU: Yeah, we get enough, we'll track you enough. But, they just- When he gives these interviews you just- I actually cringe every time one of these pops up and I just think, "Oh, no. Please, please don't let him say this." (JN: Yeah.) But then...

JN: I just want him to wear a new dang outfit. Just for once. (SU: No. No, I don't think so.) Does he have other clothes? Does this poor guy just have his own purple uniform he wears all the time?

SU: Well, we learned that he was a stylish guy in the books. (JN: Hm.) He had like on a red suit or something.

JN: I mean, tell me what 117 year old gay man only has one outfit? (SU: John!) Explain this to me.

SU: I don't know. Most, most, regardless of what they are, they're sexuality, (JN: I mean.) people have more than one attire. (JN: Exactly.) Although, look at Sirius Black. The whole time he didn't bother to get a new...

JN: Hey, he rolled it with that fur robe.

SU: Oh. (laughs) That's right. (JN: Who picked that out for him?) Naked underneath, though, but he still had it. That's true. I guess that's true.

JN: Aw. You know when you spend half your life as a dog (SU laughs) and running around naked anyway. (SU: I guess.) You probably don't have too much attachment to your clothes.

SU: Well, I'm not going to complain about- (JN: Hey!) Okay, I'll be good. Okay, we're moving on. Speaking of people dressing there is a stylish dressed doll now that you can own, John. (JN: Is it?) Voldy wears Prada, baby.

JN: Oh, my God. They decided to reinforce their decision of putting him in a suit by immortalizing it in a doll. (SU: In a doll.) Awesome. (SU laughs) I've always wanted dress up Voldemort. To be honest I had dolls growing up that I mostly just took their clothes off and made them, (SU laughs) you know, kiss each other, or pull their heads off like most boys do with their sister's dolls. Now, you can do it with Voldemort and it's great. (SU: Yeah. I mean...) This is awesome. Did they have other dolls out like this somewhere to this that you can make them interact with?

SU: They do, well they have- Tonner makes these high-end dolls and we've had several of them. We've had Harry, (JN: Uh-huh.) Ron, Hermione. But, this one of Voldemort, I mean he has the whole black suit on. (JN: Oh, my Gosh.) He's got the dress patent leather shoes. (JN: Yeah.) The whole thing. But I mean who wants (JN: Pimped out.) a sharp dressed Dark Lord? maybe not, I don't know. (JN: He's not very scary.) One-hundred and fifty bucks for that thing, too. I'm like, "Come on."

JN: He's like, "I'm going to an interview Voldemort. (SU laughs) I will then kill the guy if I don't get the job." (SU laughs) Why- he hates Muggles. He hates Muggle clothes, too!

SU: (laughs) Why would he be showing up in a Prada suit? I don't know. Maybe it's just me.

JN: I mean, what's his face? Archie here who knew so little about Muggles he wears a dress to the Quidditch World Cup. (SU: Yeah.) You got somebody like Voldemort who utterly despises Muggles but is very fashionable in their fashion. (SU laughs) He gets it. He may like to torture them but Lord help him if he doesn't know what the best suit to wear is.

SU: I guess Bella must've helped him pick that out, I guess. I don't know.

JN: Yeah, she dressed him nicely.

SU: (laughs) Okay, there's one more piece of news that's kind of fun. That Miss Jo is not actually done writing. She's actually...

JN: No, look at her! She decided, (SU laughs) "I'm going to tell everybody I'm done writing books but I'm going to secretly write Beedle and the Bard."

SU: Beedles of the Bard. (sings) (makes trumpet noise) And not only (JN: Beedles of the Bard.) did she write them, but she didn't write it for everybody. She just wrote-

JN: Yeah, that's no fair. (SU: No...) Come on, no one likes a clique. (SU laughs) Nobody likes to be like, "Neener neener neer neer. I wrote a book and you're not allowed to read it, unless you have a million dollars to spend at Sotheby's."

SU: Yeah, Jo is writing- she's handwritten (JN: Yeah.) these long books by hand (JN: Yeah.) and she's auctioning one off for charity. I think it's December 13th is the date and they put this- it's encrusted in jewels and everything. (JN: Yeah.) Woo woo! But-

JN: Is it time to start the "Get a Beedle" campaign on Leaky?

SU: (laughs) You know, people actually said that right away. They're like, "Oh, can we do that?!"

JN: Well seriously, I mean it's like, you know, (SU: Yeah.) I would have much rather had a Beedle and the Bard book than a ninety-three word card.

SU: Yeah. I think I would have. (laughs)

JN: And isn't that money going to the charity, anyways, (SU: Yes.) that they- (SU: Mm-hm. All the money.) that Sotheby's is getting?

SU: Yes. All the money is from the charity itself is going to that Children's Voice that was, you know, it was that Children's High Level Group that she started about the, (JN: Yeah, yeah.) terrible about the children in the cages. And it was just a devastating.

JN: How much did we raise for the first Get A Clue? (SU: Mm.) Roughly.

SU: I don't know, thirty something thousand? (JN: Thirty something?) I don't know, it's probably more than that. (JN: Oh.) Don't quote me on that because I don't know off-hand. (JN: Yeah.) But we raised a lot. But it wasn't enough. I mean we got outbid in like two seconds or something crazy.

JN: Well it was the thought that counts.

SU: Yeah, but I don't know, this will... You know, I mean they're hoping to raise huge amounts of money for this. But, can I just say this though? If fans are interested in this and they think, 'oh we're never going to get this,' you know, and stuff, that Sotheby's also has a 40 page catalogue that has images and a thing from Jo. And excerpts and kind of stuff from the book that you can buy. (JN: Yeah.) And all that money from that will go to the same charity as well. So, and we have links (JN: That's cool.) on our website which is- (JN: That's cool.) so you can do that too.

JN: I just can't imagine that we're not eventually going to get this thing in some form. (SU: I think she will.) I mean the nice, cool thing about it is that she like hand-drew the illustrations (SU: Ah! Yeah.) for these and they've got like jewels on the front. I mean that'll make them valuable in themselves. (SU: Right.) But to deprive us of, you know, Jo's written word like this, more than a 93 word card, (SU: Right. Yeah.) is cruel and unusual. Especially making it so public. Like, fine if you want to make things for your friends, you know, do it. But it's like going to class one day and you're being like, "Hey you six, over here. You're coming to my awesome, super sixteen party." (SU: Yeah.) And everybody else is like, "Cool you're having a party." And they're like, "You're not invited, sorry, (SU: Yeah.) but I'm going to talk about it all over the place."

SU: Yeah, I think eventually. Maybe she'll- it'll come out in the future. She's retaining, like she said, the publishing rights to the book. So I think maybe- the articles never said on- Jo never said on her website she'd never going to release this in the future. (JN: Yeah.) She did not say those words specifically, (JN: Yeah.) so you know...

JN: Who knows, it could be included in the encyclopedia. Who knows how long this book is.

SU: Yeah, exactly.

JN: Did she say how long the book was?

SU: I think it's like 140 pages long.

JN: Holy god. Are you kidding? I though it was like (SU: No.) a Dr. Seuss kind of book.

SU: No! (laughs) But you know if you look at the pages we- she did an interview with BBC and we have that in our galleries. You can watch it. But you can see some of the pages. (JN: Yeah.) And the pages are really- the amount of information on them are not very long. So, (JN: Okay, yeah.) you know...

JN: So it is kind of like Dr. Seuss.

SU: It's just a tale of all the different things that if you haven't read the book... But it's mentioned in the book and it has all of the different tales from the Death Hallows)/i) stuff and little fairy tale things that, you know, Hermione or whatever. (JN: Yeah.) And oh! I think there was something else going on.

JN: Well we did just briefly touch on the encyclopedia. It is the giant pink elephant (SU: Yeah.) in the room, and in the fandom. You know guys, we're not really going to talk about it all too much 'cause it's a serious thing that's going on with the lawsuit now between Jo and WB and our friend Steve from the Lexicon and the Canon Conclundrums. You know you're probably not going to hear anything public now from either of the two of them. It's gonna have to be settled and dealt with in the proper channels. But for our part we wish the situation be resolved as fairly and hopefully as quickly as possible. (SU: Mm-hm.) 'Cause it's a tough thing. Even looking at it as you got a good friend like Steve, and you know we at Leaky would like to consider Jo as a good (SU: Mm-hm.) friend, too. So whenever you see two friends getting into it, it's a tough thing. (SU: Very tough.) We're going to wish everybody involved the best. And again hopefully we get a quick and fair resolution for everybody.

SU: We do have information about the suit on our website. We have the actual, entire suit if you would like to read that. We have the links. We also have the response from the publishers and that information is there. But...

JN: Yeah. As far as Leaky's role in this, all we're going to do is give the fans what we continue to give them, is information about things that are of interest (SU: Mm-hm.) to the Potter fans, so that we report about it as fair as we possibly can from both sides. And for his part, Steve is more than welcome to continue to be welcome (SU: Yes.) on the Canon Conclundrums as per usual. (SU: Absolutely.) There's nothing that said he can't. And we still think he's a pretty smart guy and worthwhile addition to that segment, which you all will probably agree. And with that we're going to hear from some of you guys about the topic we chose for our Bit-by-Bit, our "Seven Harrys," with your fan thoughts.