S01E26 — Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

SPOILER ALERT: This episode and transcript below contains major spoilers for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Featuring hosts Timothy Haynes, Donna Haynes, Rebekah Edwards, and T. Josiah Haynes.

As we continue the SUMMER OF POTTER, our family of four dives into our thoughts on the most major differences between the second Harry Potter book and film.

All I’ll say here is that not *everyone* is a big fan of Christopher Columbus…

Listen to the other episodes in our Harry Potter series:

Final Verdicts

If you haven’t listened to the episode yet, we recommend waiting to read our verdicts. (But you’re probably grown, so do what you want!)

The Chamber of Secrets movie condenses key moments and simplifies complex storylines, trading some of the book’s suspense and depth for added visual drama. The book maintains a darker, creepier tone that deepens the mystery and enriches character development.

Tim: The book is better

Donna: The book is better

Rebekah: The book is better

Josiah: The book is better

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Full Episode Transcript

Prefer reading? Check out the full episode transcript below. It’s AI-generated from our audio, and if we’re being honest… no one sat to read the entire thing for accuracy. (After all, we were there the whole time.) 😉 We’re sorry in advance for any typos or transcription errors.

[00:00:00] Rebekah: Hey, welcome to the book is better podcast. We are a family of four who reviews book to film adaptations. And this is a clean podcast, safe to listen with family and friends. So put it on in the car with your kids if you like. Uh, if you Enjoy this podcast. We encourage you to join our discord server. It’s free.

There’s a link in the episode description and you can give us your listener questions there, interact with us hosts, and just kind of, you know, get into all sorts of shenanigans. Uh, for this episode, I need to give a spoiler warning because we are going to spoil yet again, basically the entire Harry Potter universe.

So probably you’re not going to talk about like, I don’t know, the new movies. We probably won’t talk about cursed child, but just expect that if you don’t want anything about Harry Potter spoiled, it will be. Um, and you know, it’s been out for a while, so I’m judging you if you’re still someone who hasn’t seen it, which I shouldn’t say cause somebody just told me yesterday they’d never seen the movies and I’m trying to get them to watch them.

So, um, today we’re going to cover some, uh, no judgment. Yes, you’re correct. I should not judge. Uh, today we’re going to be discussing Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets. 

[00:01:09] Josiah: Um, which is, 

[00:01:12] Rebekah: I’m just going to tell you ahead of time my least favorite Harry Potter book. Um, but that’s okay because it’s still got, you know, it’s still good.

It’s my least favorite of my favorite series. So it’s like, how little can you like it? You know? Uh, so today as we introduce ourselves, our fun fact is. The basic one, which Hogwarts house would you be in and why? So I’m Rebecca, I’m the daughter slash sister of the pod. And I used to want to be in Gryffindor cause I think everybody reads it and wants to be one of the three major characters who are Gryffindors.

But I’ve taken several tests and all of them rate me the same. I’m a football because I am loyal and kind. And I care about friendship above all else. And like, I’m smart. So I could be a Raven call. I’m not really. Brave, honestly. So I don’t think I would be in Gryffindor. I’m definitely not cunning, so I would not be in Slytherin.

And, uh, but I love it. And just, I’m wearing glasses made of rainbows right now. So if that makes any sense, uh, that’s why I’m a Hufflepuff. 

[00:02:19] Donna: Well, I’m Donna. I’m the wife and mom of the podcast crew and I have taken a test, I don’t know, maybe two or three times. And I don’t know why, but it does put me in Gryffindor and I Because like you said, I’m not.

You’re brave. I mean, I guess, I don’t know. I never consider myself brave. I’m not a risk taker, but I’m not sure. I think those two things are separated here. I don’t think brave and risk taker mean the same thing. Um, but I do. You are bold and do the right thing. Maybe that’s, I mean, I’ll do, because I thought before, Like you said, Oh, Gryffindor, who wouldn’t want to be, I mean, there’s a lot of people out there that would never want to be in Gryffindor for whatever reason.

And I’ve even talked to random people like I was buying something related to Harry Potter and the girl at the counter was like, Oh, you like Harry Potter. And I said, I do. I said, this is for one of my kids, but, but I enjoyed it a lot too. And she’s, oh, well, what house are you in? And I said, well, the last thing I think slither, or I said, Griffin, Gryffindor.

And she was like, uh, I’m Slytherin and I don’t know if she like, she was a nice person, but you could tell she was completely a hundred percent into this. And I was like, okay, Dark Witch, just important 

[00:03:43] Rebekah: to her that she was in Slytherin. 

[00:03:45] Donna: Yeah. 

[00:03:45] Rebekah: And then she decided that since you’re a fake Gryffindor, that she could not be friends with you.

I know. Maybe don’t get that serious about it, folks. Hmm. We’ll see. Yes. A chill. 

[00:03:56] Tim: My name is Tim. I am the husband and the dad of this house. Um, and I would, I’ve never taken a test. Uh, for this, but I think shocker, probably Hufflepuff is where, where I would land for most of the same reasons as Rebecca, you know, they’re nice.

Am I 

[00:04:20] Rebekah: correct in thinking that he’s wrong? 

[00:04:22] Tim: What do 

[00:04:22] Josiah: you think I’m going to say? I’m taking an Hogwarts house test. 

[00:04:24] Rebekah: He said he thought he would be in Hufflepuff. 

[00:04:30] Josiah: You don’t 

[00:04:30] Rebekah: think so? He’s 

[00:04:31] Josiah: a Gryffindor. 

[00:04:32] Rebekah: You are like quintessential Gryffindor. 

[00:04:35] Josiah: Oh. 

[00:04:35] Rebekah: You are like so concerned with doing the right thing and like, and loving the people around you, like to the point that you would lay your life down for them and like, Like powering through the hard times because it’s the right thing to do follower.

It’s so funny Most people don’t want to be in Hufflepuff and I love that you want to be in Hufflepuff with me But it’s just cracks me up because most people are like, oh I got Hufflepuff. That’s a dumb place And so everybody wants to be in Gryffindor the fact Oh mommy, right? Go ahead. I know what you’re gonna 

[00:05:05] Donna: say I was gonna say the fact that I will power through hard things 

[00:05:08] Rebekah: I like that.

I was gonna say that the reason dad is a Gryffindor is also outlined by the fact and mom, if you’re both Gryffindors, like you both thought you would be in other houses because to you, it’s not like a flex to be like, no, I would be a Gryffindor. Most people are like, I would be a Gryffindor. And you’re like, no, you wouldn’t.

I would be the straights like, because they have motives that are not nice. And so. That’s hilarious. 

[00:05:36] Josiah: Oh no. 

[00:05:37] Tim: So how about Salazar’s big scary face? 

[00:05:40] Rebekah: Where, Josiah, I already know what house you’re, how do you guys not know what house you’re in already? I can tell you each what houses you’re in. I want 

[00:05:47] Josiah: the extra confirmation.

[00:05:51] Rebekah: Ah, yes. 

[00:05:54] Josiah: Okay. 

[00:05:55] Rebekah: Well, wait, I’m not, we’re not in a hurry. It’s okay. 

[00:05:57] Josiah: See, I don’t know which between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. See, this quiz says I’m 31 percent Ravenclaw and 31 percent Slytherin. 

[00:06:08] Rebekah: You’re a Slytherin. 

[00:06:09] Josiah: Okay. So 

[00:06:11] Rebekah: you’re just, I would say that like that to me defines more of like. Your bent and personhood.

I’m trying to use words other than character because I don’t want to make it sound like you 

[00:06:23] Josiah: have bad character. Well, I’m Josiah. I am Josiah, the brother, son of this group, and I do struggle to choose between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. I am a number Five on the Enneagram, the investigator, such a Ravenclaw, Enneagram number.

But I have a lot of ambition. Oh, this word cloud of Slytherin says traditionalism and determination, cleverness. Oh, I would consider myself cunning. So yeah, I mean, it is. I can imagine myself having a little fantasy about being in Slytherin and making it good from the inside. 

[00:07:12] Rebekah: That is so interesting. It would be so fun 

[00:07:14] Josiah: for me.

And I wouldn’t mind. It’d be like, yeah, I’m just around everyone. Everyone is so evil, but you know, we can like, we can succeed in this world. And we don’t have to do it through evil means. I don’t know. That’s a nice fantasy for me. 

[00:07:31] Rebekah: That’s amazing. Um, not shocking at all. Somehow. I don’t even know how. And if anyone cares, I really liked our names on the pod recording today.

Um, Dad is Timmy DeHouse Elf, uh, Josiah is Salazar’s Big Scary Face, Mother is Severista Snape because she loves Snape, Mother, she loves, uh, Snape and by extension, um, what’s his face, Alan Rickman, um, I’m so sorry I called him what’s his face, 

[00:08:05] Josiah: uh, Rickman. First, he never received an Oscar, now you say this of him.

[00:08:11] Rebekah: And now you’re talking over his moment of silence where we are to honor him with this moment. Joshua 

[00:08:17] Josiah: will edit it. 

[00:08:19] Rebekah: My name is Wormtail’s Lost Toe. Alright, well, uh, Mom Donna, would you like to tell us what happens in the Chamber of Secrets? I 

[00:08:29] Donna: would love to. The Chamber of Secrets picks up with Harry spending a miserable summer with the Dursleys.

Dobby, a house elf, attempts to prevent Harry from attending Hogwarts to protect Harry’s life. Although these attempts actually get Harry into more trouble with the Dursleys and the Hogwarts teachers and end up risking his life a couple of times. This school year, the kids tolerate their bumbling defense against the dark arts professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, as they learn of the legend of the Chamber of Secrets.

As students, the cat, Mrs Norris and even the ghost of nearly headless Nick become petrified of the dark arts. by an unknown perpetrator. They investigate who might be the heir of Slytherin, eventually discovering that it was Voldemort all along, acting through an enchanted diary through Ginny Weasley.

Harry and Ron discover the hidden basilisk’s lair and ultimately rescue Ginny just before her death. Destroying the diary and allowing Hogwarts to remain open for yet another year. 

Da da da da da da da. 

[00:09:41] Rebekah: Also, part of why it is more of a miserable summer than Summers Harry may have experienced in the past is because not only is he with the Dursleys, he gets to communicate with no one from the outside world.

Yes, which you know, we only see one other time. So we like to divide our changes. We’ve got plot and timeline changes. We’ve got settings changes and we’ve got changes to characterization. So let’s start and talk about some of the interesting things we pointed out in the plot and timeline. And as with the last episode of the Harry Potter series that we’re https: otter.

ai Basically a comprehensive list of all changes between the books and films. If you are nerdy like us and care to read all through them. So we’re just going to talk about some of the ones that we thought were most interesting. So one of the things I noticed at the beginning is that in the book, Harry is forbidden from saying the word magic at home.

So this is not in the film at Dursley’s because they feel forced and required essentially to allow him to live there. But one of the things that they do is like try to prohibit him, not just from using magic, because at this point they don’t realize he can’t, but from mentioning it or from like allowing it to exist in their home, which I just thought was fascinating.

[00:11:03] Josiah: I always liked the Dursleys for multiple reasons, but one of the reasons is because the Dursleys, the Dursleys don’t kick him out. And they could, you know, you know, maybe Dumbledore would do something evil to them. But, you know, I think they understand a little bit that he’s family and a little bit that he’ll probably die without their protections or something like that.

You know, they go along with it. And I think that that’s a little nice of them deep down underneath all the mean ness. All the mean part. Yeah. 

[00:11:41] Rebekah: Yeah. 

[00:11:42] Josiah: Well, you know, also at the Dursley’s house, Dobby apparates very quietly in this film, rather than, as in the book, with a loud crack. Now, this is not done consistently across the film.

Sometimes it’s a loud crack, sometimes it’s quiet. But it’s simply not consistent and JK Rowling in her books is much more consistent about this sort of thing. Now we won’t talk about Fantastic Beasts where she throws consistency out the door. Out 

[00:12:13] Rebekah: the window. But as far as her 

[00:12:14] Josiah: original series, I do think she’s a lot more consistent than the filmmakers care to be.

[00:12:19] Donna: Another continuity error that comes up, um, The letter from the ministry that threatens to punish Harry for using underage magic is cut from the film. Yeah, that was weird. Yeah, because into the, in the next film, Vernon knows that Harry can’t do magic outside of school. But there’s no reason for him to know it.

Harry certainly wasn’t going to tell them. And I think, yeah, I think that that’s the only way they would have found out is that letter. Um And so I’m going to try not to say this over and over. There were several things that get left out of the film that in my brain would have been a 45 second comment or ad or, and I know there’s more to it than that, that 

[00:13:07] Tim: I get it.

In this Film. Fred and George don’t sneak into the Desley’s house to get Harry’s trunk. Um, in the book they use regular lock picking to get out of Harry’s room and into the rest of the house and cause some other havoc, uh, that doesn’t happen in the film. I thought that was clever. Probably unnecessary for the film.

No payoff. That kinda shows you a little about who they are. Yeah, 

[00:13:33] Rebekah: there was something that I noticed as I was rewatching the movie. I don’t think I’ve actually put it together that it was a change until this time that I was reviewing, but in flourishing blocks, Arthur and Lucius Malfoy have like a tense discussion in the film and they get like, Oh, you know, with each other.

Uh, but in the book they actually fight like they have like kind of a minor fist fight. And it is funny because I feel like on film, it probably would have just looked kind of childish, but, um, I thought it was, I thought the change was actually really well done in that case. They, it was powerful enough to get the point across without kind of undermine, undermining their character.

And remember 

[00:14:14] Donna: Molly’s internal character. Molly says, don’t mess with Lucius Malfoy and Arthur in the books. Do you not think I could take on Lucius, Lucius Malfoy? That is cute. 

[00:14:26] Tim: There is more drama in the film version during Harry and Ron’s trip from King’s Cross to Hogsmeade Station than there is in the book.

Um, in the book, they, they simply find the train and they, they follow it. Uh, but in the film, uh, they nearly get hit by the train. Harry almost falls out. Um, there’s, it’s very intense. Yeah, it’s very intense. But in the book, it was just that they noticed that the invisibility booster wasn’t working and that was the primary drama.

[00:15:01] Rebekah: So weird because the book points out how boring their trip is like literally they take off and they’re like, oh, it’s boring and it’s like, oh, in this very long film, why don’t we add stuff? But it kind of, I guess it does kind of contribute to the charming and quirky nature of like, I wonder 

[00:15:19] Tim: though, um, because a lot of those things, especially like Harry hanging out of the car and, um, Um, those kinds of things take place where everyone on the train on one side of the train could see what was happening.

Oh my. They could have seen it all because it was happening very close to the train, down underneath the clouds and all, so it would have been very obvious. 

[00:15:43] Donna: There’s no scene where Lockhart rebukes Harry for signing autographs in the film. And this was one of those little things that could have been mentioned just in a passing conversation.

Like, Lockhart has gone down to Hagrid’s. Harry and Hermione and Ron go visit him. They don’t know Lockhart’s there. Lockhart comes walking out and when they go in to see Hagrid, he said that Lockhart was telling him how to do something, some part of his gamekeeper job, whatever it was. I don’t remember.

And he was like, if he knows how to do that, I’ll eat bang or something like that. And it was just really cute. But then he says, Hey, Lockhart tells me you’re signing, you’re doing signing photographs of you and him. And where’s mine? And it’s, it’s like a joke. And I thought it was, I thought it was really funny and they left it out.

[00:16:40] Rebekah: Let’s talk about one other little thing they added. For some reason, Lucius Malfoy, a parent, is at the Quidditch game in the second book. Who allowed this? That is the dumbest. That might be the most stupid thing. Yeah, that I noticed in this entire film. It makes no sense. Parents do not attend Hogwarts.

They probably don’t even know how to get there unless they go on the Hogwarts Express and somehow Lucius Malfoy is just like there. He’s on the board of 

[00:17:08] Tim: directors. 

[00:17:09] Rebekah: Yeah, but he has to come for other things, but he’s there to watch a Quidditch game. Yeah, that’s in the film only. That’s a ridiculous add on probably just for more screen time.

[00:17:18] Tim: Didn’t he buy the brooms for the Slytherin team. 

[00:17:21] Rebekah: Yeah, true. So I guess maybe he was there to see his brooms. I guess you can justify it. 

[00:17:27] Donna: The death day party in the book on Halloween is cut from the film. I can see there would have been a lot to go on to put all that together. I can get that. 

[00:17:38] Rebekah: Let me explain what it is for those who haven’t read.

In the book, Harry is invited to nearly Headless Nick’s death day party, which is his 500th celebration of the day he died. And when he gets there, there’s like all sorts of ghosts. There’s a vampire, which is a guy that’s there with his author who tries to get Harry to write a book. It’s like this whole thing and a weird, but like memorable scene for some reason from that is that the food at the party is very, very, very spoiled.

Like it’s all very moldy and covered in. stuff so that the ghost can like go through it. And they’re like, it, you can nearly taste it like that. It is a very interesting thing. And it’s on Halloween, I believe. Um, I love it in the book, but agree with mom. Like I understand why that would get 

[00:18:24] Donna: cut. I love your comment.

I thought it was very appropriate except the vampire and the author come to slug horns. Christmas party in another book. Really? Yeah. 

[00:18:37] Rebekah: I missed that. Not 

[00:18:50] Donna: only is the Halloween, the death day party cut on Halloween, but any development of Harry’s relationship with I mean, they they pretty much pull those out.

Nick, I think, comes up in one of the later movies. They do use John Cleese again and have him around. Um, but they pretty much remove those those out. Another thing was the the kids have to get a book out of the restricted section of the library when they want to to put together polyjuice potions. Um, And so the only way to get into the restrictions section is by, uh, having a teacher’s, uh, a teacher’s signature that you’re permitted.

And it’s a really cute scene in the, in the book because Hermione gets Lockhart’s, uh, permission because he doesn’t even pay attention. He’s just, he can sign something for somebody. And so when they go to the library and, and give the card to the teacher or to Mrs. Lockhart, To Madam Pence. It’s like Hermione doesn’t want her to keep it.

She wants to keep it for herself. It’s a really cute scene, so really sorry they left it out, but um, in the film, it’s just another book in the library. They don’t, they don’t separate it out, and I, again, I can see, this would have been a few minutes of scene, that really doesn’t have a lot of payoff. Um, I think they could have done a little bit more with Ron fawning over Hermione and picking at her because she likes lock art, but.

You know, you got a give and take there. 

[00:20:25] Rebekah: I will point out that I’m going to just kind of name something else that I wasn’t going to mention later on in our episode. But one of the things that that reminds me of is that in the book, it’s like a very ongoing thing that a lot of like girls and women. are big fans of Lockhart because he’s so beautiful.

But like the students, most of the students and teachers hate him and are constantly annoyed by him and constantly trying to get rid of him. And it’s like this ongoing thing. And he’s like kind of bumbling and weird in the film. Like he is in the book, like they wrote him well in a lot of But I think that they just ended up cutting a lot of things about his bumbling nature and the way that people like perceived him.

Like, I don’t think that they make a big deal about Hermione kind of crushing on him and stuff. I liked it in the book, but understand why it was cut. But I think it just kind of goes along with several other kind of minor changes that they made. 

[00:21:19] Tim: In the film, Harry’s use of parcel tongue makes it seem like he was egging on the snake.

to attack Justin. But in the book, it’s made clear that the snake backed off when Harry began to speak. So there again, that’s a change that kind of changes the motivation. In the book, it’s obvious that Harry’s whatever he’s doing, Whatever he’s saying, the snake is responding and backing off, but in the film, it looks like whatever he’s saying that they don’t understand is causing it to get worse.

[00:21:54] Rebekah: If you’re looking at like the film audience as stupid, which I think In some ways, like it is an audience that is less invested in a lot of ways in the specifics. I guess it makes it clear, like it makes that clearer rather than the nuance of like Harry being offended because, hey, that’s actually not what happened, obviously.

And instead they’re like, no, let’s just make it look like that’s what happened. But 

[00:22:19] Donna: I wonder how many people had not read the books. When they saw the films, because we know a lot of people did see the films first. I wonder how many people were impressed to go back and read the book after they saw the film.

After taking the polyjuice potion in the film, Ron and Harry’s voices don’t change much to match Crabbe and Goyle’s. Which means they have to imitate the voices. In the book though, their voices change. They, they remarked to each other, Oh, that didn’t sound like go, Oh, how do I sound? Oh, dumb. Okay. Now that’s much better.

Um, this creates a small continuity error in the fourth film as Barty Crouch has Moody’s voice as he keeps taking the potion, but then in deathly hallows their voices don’t change when they transform and go to the ministry of magic. 

[00:23:14] Josiah: There 

[00:23:27] Donna: are several days between Haggard’s arrest and saying his, his note to follow the spiders.

And when Harry and Ron actually find the spiders to follow during a herbology lesson, they see them going climbing out a window. Um, but in the film, they see the spiders right away crawling along Haggard’s window. I actually like the way they dealt with 

[00:23:52] Tim: it in the film better. 

[00:23:53] Donna: Yeah, I totally get it.

Really? 

[00:23:56] Tim: The other just drug it out 

[00:23:58] Josiah: too long. 

[00:23:59] Rebekah: Interesting. 

[00:24:00] Josiah: I think I probably agree with you, dad. Harry’s fight with the basilisk in the chamber is much more extended in the film than in the book. Of course, this is a very movie magic sort of thing. Gotta have an extended fight scene. It’s a very visual medium.

And honestly, you want to write out action in your novel, but if it’s, oh, the basilisk snapped at me and I, I went to the right. And he snapped at me and I went to the left. Okay, well that’s about as much as you can write about that action before it gets boring. In novel form. So as long as I agree with that, as long as it’s Harry and the basilisk, it’s tough because there was, was there anyone else in the room?

Was Tom there? What was Jenny’s body there? 

[00:24:49] Tim: Tom was there and Jenny was in the room. Yeah, she was unconscious.

Yeah, her big acting moment. You have to look good for about 20 scenes. 

[00:25:06] Josiah: What you didn’t say, but what you meant was her best acting in the series. 

[00:25:11] Rebekah: Oh my gosh, Bonnie Wright is the worst choice that they made in this entire thing. I like, I’m sure she’s great. I hope she’s having a great life. She’s very famous and rich, so I do not feel bad saying that, but like, I know you have to pick children actors when they’re so young, you don’t know, but oh my gosh, she was the worst.

Jenny was actually a character I loved in the books and I, it was just such a frustrating process to see her in the movies. So 

[00:25:40] Donna: a girl that is born after six boys and it’s her, she’s the only female child. There is no way she would be so calm and laid back and quiet intended would not work. 

[00:25:53] Rebekah: So ridiculous 

[00:25:54] Donna: baby.

Listen, she has a crush on Harry, but baby listener, I’m just going to say right now, Prepare for the episode in book seven because Rebecca is going to pull her hair out. 

[00:26:05] Rebekah: Another inconsistency. I’m interested to know what you guys think of this. So in the film, Riddle says that Harry’s parcel tongue abilities are not able to control the basilisk because it’s trained only to listen to Tom.

So that’s not mentioned in the book. It is a movie only thing, but it’s such a weird thing because it’s not exactly a continuity error, but it does create a conflict in the final film where we learn that Harry’s a horcrux. Voldemort’s 

[00:26:33] Josiah: soul in him. 

[00:26:34] Rebekah: Exactly. So it means technically, wouldn’t it have made sense that he could have told the, the snake what to do?

[00:26:40] Josiah: It would have made a really cool movie moment for Tom to say that he can’t talk to the basilisk and then Harry successfully talks to the basilisk. 

[00:26:50] Rebekah: Yeah. 

[00:26:51] Josiah: As kind of a That would 

[00:26:51] Rebekah: have been amazing. It would have been cool too because of the foreshadowing it could have created. But I think Because it would have been a mystery.

Mom has said this several times. Mom said this several times. I don’t think that Rowling knew or no way. Josiah, maybe you said this. 

[00:27:04] Josiah: Oh yeah, I don’t think she knew about Rowling 

[00:27:06] Rebekah: not thinking she knew what horcruxes were until much later. So it was probably just kind of a hindsight thing, but annoys me nonetheless.

[00:27:15] Josiah: Yeah. I think my conspiracy theory is that JK Rowling invented horcruxes around book four or five. As she, she knew that Harry had to die at the end and then come back to life in some way. And I think that that was her way of making that part of the magic. Yeah. That’s, I can imagine that as a writer’s process.

Also, Harry does not put on the sorting hat in the film to discover the sword. That’s the Sword of Gryffindor, right? Correct. In the book, he puts it on his head. And it bonks him on the head, and that’s how he knows the sword is coming out, whereas in the movie, he draws it with dignity. He doesn’t get bonked on the head like a doofus.

He draws it from the hat like a hero. In the film, and this is consistent in Deathly Hallows part two, where Neville in the book has it on his head and Neville in the film draws the sword from it, not on his head. 

[00:28:20] Rebekah: Here’s my one issue with this. Okay. I, I like that it’s consistent across the two movies that it happens.

I don’t mind that it doesn’t bonk him in the head. Cause I feel like that would have been a lot harder to show on screen. My one issue is that in the movie. The hat is on the ground. Harry’s not holding the hat. Like, it’s on the ground and the sword appears in it. And it just is really weird to me because the whole point is that the sword presents itself to a worthy Gryffindor.

But like, technically Harry wasn’t even physically possessing it in that moment. Like, he didn’t have the hat on his person. And so it just, it felt very weird to me as someone, I care about this stuff. And so maybe it’s something most people wouldn’t care about. But that, it did bug me. Thanks. 

[00:29:06] Donna: Um, so on a lighter note about relationships or ships, as I found that apparently they’re called now.

[00:29:15] Tim: Is that just to try and confuse people? But 

[00:29:17] Donna: remember, I’m brought different, so you gotta give me some grace there. 

[00:29:21] Tim: Skippity, skippity. Yeah, 

[00:29:23] Donna: you guys 

[00:29:23] Rebekah: are 

[00:29:23] Donna: old. 

[00:29:24] Tim: Ships are things that float on the ocean. 

[00:29:27] Donna: Oh, are they? But shippers are people, also people that put boxes in the mail. They are. But, um, in this case, um, in this ship that we’re going to talk about, Hermione Bay.

Hugs Ron and Harry in, in the booktelling after being cured from her petrification. She runs and grabs them and hugs them in the film. She hugs Harry and then steps back and hesitantly shakes Ron’s hand, which kind of seems to foreshadow this romantic tension that they’re going to build through the movies.

And I would say I agree. They did through each movie work a little bit and a little bit to build up on it. So, I mean, I can definitely see that. 

[00:30:14] Tim: I was watching a YouTuber today that was reviewing the movie and he made a comment, uh, about that relationship that, that the film made it very obvious that the arguments and things that they were involved in were obviously more of a romantic relationship that they didn’t yet know was a romantic relationship.

[00:30:35] Rebekah: Well, this leads very nicely into one of our first listener questions for these episodes in our discord. Oranges and kindness asks, how do we feel about the Ron slash Hermione slash Harry shipping controversies? Do we agree with the Harry Hermione shippers? And for context, for those of you who don’t know, there are a lot of people, including J.

K. Rowling herself, who at one point have said, if I had to do it again, I’d probably make Harry and Hermione get together. Um, and so a lot of people believe that like, it doesn’t make sense that Harry ended up with Ginny and that Ron and Hermione shouldn’t have been together. So lightning round, short answers.

What do you guys think about this? 

[00:31:17] Tim: I don’t think that Harry and Hermione would have, would have made it together. I think that it was the wrong kind of relationship. I just, I just think that, that their interaction with each other lent itself more to very deep friendship and trust, but not, uh, not all the way into a romantic relationship.

[00:31:38] Josiah: I don’t think that Ron and Hermione are prepared for a long term marriage. Uh, but it’s cute for them to get together as kids. 

[00:31:50] Rebekah: I think that the, uh, the relationship between Harry and Hermione, especially in the very, I would say Deathly Hallows part one in the film, there was a moment where they’re dancing that I’m like, why are these two not the ones that love one another?

But I think at the end of the day, well, as someone who likes to think of myself somewhat like Hermione, I have my own Ron. Um, and so for me, I think it’s sweet because it feels like familiar, but also I think if I am like a Hermione, the idea of being with someone like Harry makes me overwhelmed because she needed someone that could like bring light heartedness to things and Harry’s not great at being light hearted.

Ron was more willing to make things funny and joke and yeah, he, he creates a good ground. 

[00:32:41] Donna: Uh, I definitely. Would not put Harry and Hermione together the only I agree with what you all said But the one thing I would add is in this group of three, Harry has bravery, keen intuition. He’s not, he’s, he has a safe, he has a savior complex.

I mean, no question. 

[00:33:05] Josiah: He’s popular. 

[00:33:06] Donna: Hermione has book knowledge. She has this incredible, it almost seems like she has an eidetic memory sometimes when you’re reading through these. Ron is the awkward, tries to solve everything with a joke, not as swift book knowledge wise. He’s the last of the boys in his family.

He’s the put upon one. So to me, to put Harry and Hermione together would have just been a huge slight to Ron. I mean, in like the big picture of the book world, I thought it would just make him look like the stupid third wheel. 

[00:33:44] Rebekah: Um, going into setting changes, they didn’t really change a lot, um, in this film.

Um, it takes place mostly at Hogwarts, uh, so there’s not a lot that’s different there. Um, one thing I did kind of note that I put in settings, uh, when I was taking notes is there’s a few different spells that they add or change and do things differently. I particularly try to pay attention to this because I like it when, again, consistency is important.

Uh, really a priority. So in the dueling scene, there’s a spell called Rictusempra. And that one in the book is described as creating an uncontrollable tickling sensation, which would have been really funny in that scene. But in the movie it’s used, Harry throws Malfoy into a backflip with it, kind of like a stunning spell.

No. Um, the book mentions during that same scene, the spell Tarantallegra, uh, which is supposed to make people dance wildly, but that’s completely left out of the film. And it’s interesting cause that’s used in multiple books after this. Like they talk about that spell and they use it against people as kind of a, a jinx that doesn’t hurt anyone, but it makes them unable to attack you.

And then there’s, uh, an Arania exome spell, which is found by Harry. In Tom Riddle’s diary, uh, and then they use it on the spiders in the forest, but that’s all in the film, and that is not in the book, so. 

[00:35:04] Josiah: Wow, they were really going for film only spells. 

[00:35:08] Donna: The only other setting change here, um, in the book, the characters exit the chamber into, back into Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, which is where they entered it.

Then they go to McGonagall’s office, but in the film, Fox carries them outside of a cave entrance in a cliff on the grounds of Hogwarts. I’m not sure why. I’m not entirely sure why. They didn’t just go back out of the room. Yeah. They already had the room. 

[00:35:37] Rebekah: All right. Let’s talk about character differences.

[00:35:40] Donna: We have a listener question from My Own Sweet Chaos, which Every time I read the name quickly, I see my own sweet nachos, and I know that’s right. I just thought I’d throw it out there. Who was your least favorite character in the Harry Potter series? 

[00:36:00] Tim: The Lady in Pink. Professor Umbridge. Professor Umbridge is the absolute worst in the entire series.

Yeah. And that includes the Dursleys. 

[00:36:10] Donna: Uh, on a Graham Norton interview and he says, do people treat you differently in public? And she said, yes. And I don’t know why, because like, apparently she’s a wonderful woman. 

[00:36:25] Josiah: Oh, she was so sweet as Queen Elizabeth, 

[00:36:30] Donna: amazingly trained and good actress. She’s amazing. And so she said she’s had young people.

cross the street, walk toward her and see her and cross the street to get away from her. And she said, 

[00:36:44] Tim: Oh, I just think the character is so over the top. The actress did an excellent job of portraying that. But oh, for sure. 

[00:36:53] Rebekah: Yeah, I think this is maybe a weirdly hot take because I have significant issues with Snape.

I don’t like a lot of the things about Malfoy and how they wrap that there’s a lot of like characters I could name. Umbridge is obviously, you know, horrible, but I think that after reading all of the books and hearing all the nuance, I think my least favorite character is Petunia Dursley. I think that she might be the most.

bad person. And I know that’s like weird because she doesn’t actively do a lot. And so maybe that’s a poor opinion, but she loved her sister until her sister got something that she wasn’t allowed to have. And then she spends the rest of her life either actively or passively supporting like the abuse of her sister’s child out of spite.

She never supports Dudley trying to be more supportive of Harry and like encourages him in that. She never changes her tune. She’s just awful. And like Vernon, it’s almost like he grew up with it. His sister, we talk about her in the next episode, I’m sure. What Marge was awful, like he probably grew up like that, but like she grew up with good parents from what we’ve heard and with a wonderful sister and just like leaned into selfishness in a way that is like evil to me.

[00:38:13] Donna: I think auntie Muriel is horrible. She, she’s funny. She’s definitely comic relief for the beginning of book seven. Uh, over for the wedding and the times that she appears, she’s not in there much, but she’s mean and I love, you know, one of my favorite lines in the whole series is when she says, what is Zeno love good wearing?

He looks like an omelet. Uh, you know, but, but she’s, she’s pretty mean about, uh, In general about people. So I’m going to say I’ll, I’ll go with auntie Muriel cause a lot of the others I could, I could go off on, but she’s in a little minor meanie. 

[00:38:56] Josiah: Well, you guys have taken all the best answers. I’m going to scrape the barrel for, uh, uh, uh, two answer for more minor characters, I would say.

I was so mad because I think what I’m going for is more hypocrite in the fact that Percy Weasley failed his family. He betrayed his family. And I know I have my best friend kind of in my ear, but it’s like if you turn against the people you love, You’re not a human. You don’t have a soul. We’re made. We are made for love and fellowship.

And if the people who love you cannot depend on you, then what are you worth? Anyway, yeah, don’t take that to heart. If you’re struggling with family. 

[00:39:46] Rebekah: Well, I think in this case, that totally makes sense because Percy’s family was good to him and loved him. The worst thing that they did was like, try to stand up against evil.

And in that stand up against like Percy being able to like, Get power in the 

[00:40:05] Donna: book. Neville is very adept at herbology from the beginning. Like they show you little Easter eggs, little pieces and parts of starting in this book that he gets plants. He gets that world. He has a green thumb. You see, you see it.

It just kind of she develops it little by little. But in the film, in this film, especially His bumbling nature is poked fun at in the first herbology lesson when he passes out from the young mandrake cries, and any of those kids could have passed out any of them. Why she did that with Neville, I agree is crazy.

[00:40:42] Tim: Yeah, he doesn’t have a lot of, um, a lot of moments to shine. Until the very end. 

[00:40:49] Josiah: Yeah. Well, when Harry is being questioned by the teachers after finding Mrs. Norris in the film, it isn’t made clear that Argus Filch is a squib or a non magical being born from a magical family. But in the book it is made clear that he is a squib, which is an interesting piece of world building.

I will say that the idea of squibs have essentially no payoff in the book series. It’s just a piece of the world that makes sense. It makes logical sense, but I don’t think there’s ever something that A squib does in the book series to, to prove that squibs are noble to, 

[00:41:34] Rebekah: I disagree because in five, when they try to accuse Harry of using a spell, he wasn’t supposed to use blah, blah, blah.

And he gets set up by Umbridge, Arabella, Arabella fig is the one who gets to speak on his behalf. And one thing that sets them apart from muggles. Is that squibs can see Dementors, but muggles cannot and so like she literally looked after him growing up She was like a nanny for him and like watched after him and had all these things and I I do think I think it Makes sense that it was cut from the films But I like that they introduce it in the book in terms of like setting that up for later things about what happens when someone is born without magic to a magical family.

And they also talk about it when Ariana was growing up, they used like, there were people that suspected her of being a squib and being abused by her family. So I thought it was interesting world building, but I would agree payoff wise, it wouldn’t have made sense to put in the, in the movies. 

[00:42:32] Tim: So in the, in the novel, The basilisk is described by the narrator as shedding a skin of at least 20 feet long.

But the film expanded that with Ron’s statement that whatever shed this must be 60 feet long or more. Um, so, I’ve, I find it, disturbing beyond belief. But that was a huge snake. And I’m sure you know, for the visual medium of the films, they wanted to make it as scary and frightening as possible. I get that.

Yeah. 

[00:43:06] Donna: Yeah. Again, it’s another big action scene that they want to throw in there. 60 feet. Oh my gosh. So as we get into some information about the book and film, Um, I’m going to run through some numbers and just we stated before the franchises crazily rich and and huge. So we won’t get into a lot of that more repeated repeat ourselves, but the book release of Chamber of Secrets came out in the UK on July 2nd, 1998, it was released in the U.

S. on June 2nd, 1999, The movie, you’re a part almost, 

[00:43:46] Rebekah: that’s 

[00:43:46] Donna: wild. Yeah, these first ones had 

[00:43:50] Rebekah: a break like that, which is kind of crazy. 

[00:43:51] Tim: Was it not as popular 

[00:43:54] Rebekah: for the first year or two? Because the first movie was like 2001, so I feel like it had to take off quickly. I 

[00:44:00] Josiah: think the popularity was surprising, but they had probably gotten really popular by now.

[00:44:05] Donna: The movie release was done with a large premiere, again as in a minute. The first book, uh, first film, it was done on Odeon Leicester Square in the UK on November 3rd, 2002, and then the rest of the UK and U. S. worldwide went, uh, out on November 15th, 2002. The book rating in Goodreads is 4. 4 out of five. I can get, I get that.

And again, that’s pretty high for Goodreads. I remember, I remember looking at some of the, the Goodreads score and noticing like the reviews were up in the millions of people. So it’s not something where you’ve got 10 or 15 people that did a review on it and, and it got a good or bad rating, but, Rotten Tomatoes has the movie Fresh 82%.

The box office cost Production was they spent 100 million on the movie. 

[00:45:01] Rebekah: Okay. Sorry. Just a side note. I just want to point this out because I think it’s wild. Okay. This was 2002 was released charlie and the chocolate factory, which was released in 05. So three years apart, not a big deal. Spent 50 million more.

I just, that blows my mind, like how much more money was spent compared to this 

[00:45:23] Josiah: from the first movie. 

[00:45:25] Rebekah: They did because I think we’re, we’ll probably discuss set changes for the third, but that makes sense. Yeah. What was the mom? Do you remember the first movie’s production cost? 

[00:45:33] Donna: Yes. Actually, the production cost was 125 million sets would make sense opening weekend.

The movie in the U S brought in 88. 1. 3 million. Uh, the U. S. A. Canada budget. 

[00:45:48] Rebekah: That’s great. 

[00:45:49] Donna: Over the first rule over the life of the of it being released the first time. It was 261, 988, 000 and international, the gross was 616, 991, so just shy of 617, 000, 000. So that brings the total worldwide gross of the movie 878, 000, 000.

[00:46:16] Tim: Just shy of nine times the budget. 

[00:46:21] Rebekah: Let’s do a quick lightning round of just some of the really cool trivia that we found about this book and film. 

[00:46:27] Tim: Um, there are some connections between this movie and book six, the half blood Prince. Um, some of them include Harry’s visit in Borgan Burks, where he finds the hand of glory and the opal necklace, uh, Tom Riddle’s diary, which is one of the horcruxes, the vanishing cabinet in is in an iteration.

Um, of the room of requirement. And lastly, the first establishing connections between Harry and Jenny. Come up later and continually. 

[00:47:00] Rebekah: Um, in this movie, the actor, uh, Jason Isaacs, who played Lucius Malfoy had a very iconic looking walking stick, which is pretty cool looking, honestly. Uh, I thought there were a couple of fun little things that came up, one of which is he was so fond of it that he tried to take it home offset, but was noticed and asked to return it back to the prop department.

Josiah, have you ever stolen a prop and been told to bring it 

[00:47:24] Josiah: back? I haven’t stolen anything. Oh, good. I haven’t taken stuff. It wasn’t yours without anyone’s ever hoping to bring something back. 

[00:47:33] Tim: I still have a prop, a set. I guess it’s a set piece from hairspray. 

[00:47:38] Rebekah: Um, also, uh, when Draco’s father in the film smacks his hand with his cane, Isaacs didn’t know that there were little fangs on top of the cane.

And so he actually does hurt Tom felt it. And so Tom like shows like a pain to look on his face. And that was a real, uh, reaction, which I think is kind of interesting that really 

[00:47:56] Tim: did hurt. 

[00:47:57] Donna: Who is the oldest actress that portrayed a student and how old was she when Chamber was filmed? Is 

[00:48:04] Tim: there a Pansy Parkinson?

Millicent 

[00:48:07] Rebekah: Bolstrode. Okay, I’m gonna guess Moaning Myrtle and I’m gonna say she was 24. Um, 

[00:48:13] Donna: Shirley Henderson who portrayed Moaning Myrtle

[00:48:22] Rebekah: And she was supposed to be like a fourth year 

[00:48:24] Donna: student. Shirley has a baby. That’s crazy. That’s 

[00:48:26] Rebekah: how they did it. 

[00:48:27] Josiah: Well, Chamber of Secrets, the cast includes four Oscar nominees and one winner. The nominees are John Cleese, Richard Harris, Dame Julie Waters, Sir Kenneth Branagh, and Dame Maggie Smith. I thought it was interesting that three of these, three of these actors don’t appear in any more Harry Potter films.

Uh, Nearly Headless Nick, The First Dumbledore, and Gilderoy Lockhart. 

[00:48:54] Donna: According to a 2003 article in the Guardian, A group of Russian lawyers were planning a lawsuit against Warner Brothers, stating there were quote unquote apparent similarities between Vladimir Putin and Dobby the Elf. 

[00:49:13] Tim: And 

[00:49:13] Donna: I love that. 

[00:49:18] Tim: I think that would have actually, would look worse for Putin than it would for the film.

[00:49:24] Donna: Yeah, I’m like yeah. 

[00:49:26] Josiah: Now it makes me think about. 

[00:49:30] Donna: Yeah, and I will, uh, see what our listeners think when they see some of these posted, uh, ask us to see what our discord community thinks, uh, one theater and manager in Norway, but he complained because during the film’s run, people who had filled up on popcorn named candy had gotten sick during the scene with Ron throwing up slugs and they were vomiting all over the theater.

[00:49:58] Tim: Oh, my word. Well, another another bit of trivia. Some of the score during the Quidditch match around 55 minutes into the movie was the same as in the speeder chase seen in Star Wars Episode two attack of the clones, which had been released earlier in May of the same year when somebody says, Wow, that sounds a lot like something I’ve heard.

They would be correct. I 

[00:50:26] Rebekah: don’t think it just sounds alike. It, um, yeah, 

[00:50:28] Tim: it’s the 

[00:50:29] Rebekah: same thing. Mine is, let’s see, the last thing I wanted to mention was something less gross, just more mean. Uh, when Richard Harris first saw the animatronic fox Phoenix, he thought it was a real bird. And I will read mom’s comment that she made, um, verbatim.

To be fair, sorry, quote Donna, to be fair, he was incredibly old and didn’t live much longer. End quote. Are you honest? don’t know. I didn’t 

[00:50:56] Tim: say that. Hold on. Hold on. That should That should be a compliment, though, to the to the maker of the animatronics. 

[00:51:03] Rebekah: Yeah 

[00:51:04] Tim: that he thought it was a compliment 

[00:51:06] Rebekah: by insulting him for being old.

But listen, listen, moment of silence for Richard Harris. As part of our final verdicts, uh, if you have a favorite book scene from the book, I would love to know what you thought about how it was portrayed in the film. Um, I will go first cause why not? Um, I overall think that obviously I think the book is better than the I mean, it’s just, you know, it’s, it was a great, it was a great movie too, for what it was.

Um, like I said before, it’s technically my least favorite, but I love the series. So least favorite is, you know, on a, on a scale there. Um, I would say that my favorite scene from the book was probably when Harry goes into Tom Riddle’s diary. I feel like it was the first time that it felt like I was reading something that had a much larger, like.

There were a lot more things going on than we had kind of been introduced to in Harry’s POV at this point. And so it was the first thing that took me into this place of like, Oh, there’s like a mission here. Like there’s a, an end goal. And it just, even though like I knew, I read the book after seeing the movie in this case.

So I knew Voldemort was bad and I knew that Tom Riddle was Voldemort and all that stuff. But it, it was one of my favorites. I think that they did a, an okay job in it. In the film with this, like it was it was fine. I didn’t love it, but I wouldn’t say I hated it. Um, anyway, overall thought the book was definitely better.

Um, it was less difficult for me to focus on this one. I found when I was trying to watch Sorcerer’s Stone to review the episode, I’ve gotten to the point where I just don’t watch the first two movies anymore generally because they’re, they just feel so much more childlike. In a way that is not necessarily enjoyable, but this one was a little better for me than like Sorcerer’s Stone.

[00:52:57] Tim: So my favorite scene, I would say is probably at the end of the film, toward the end of the film, when Harry hides his sock in the book. And because Malfoy doesn’t want to, uh, acknowledge his existence or acknowledge that that might have been his fault. His diary. He hands it to his house elf and therefore he hands him a piece of clothing and Dobby is free.

That’s awesome. Um, I would say I, I like the book better. Um, because the, the details I liked better and probably along your line. Uh, it felt less childish, I suppose because of the things that it added 

[00:53:40] Donna: in the book. Yeah, um, I enjoyed the scene in the book with professor bins. Telling them about the chamber.

You get to listen to Professor Benz a little bit. Other than that, he’s just all this boring ghost teacher. That’s kind of a novelty. But in this, you know, he calls, uh, he calls them students by wrong names and it’s funny. It gives him a little bit of a little bit more depth. I thought that was interesting in the movie.

They did this with McGonagall telling them and I get it. They didn’t put bins in the films. Um, but McGonagall, but there’s no humor. It’s just and so to me, it kind of made it flat and it was just, oh, we need to get this factoid out to you. So here’s how we’re going to tell it because we can’t recreate the book in this case.

Um, I do, um, Love the book better than the movie again. Movie was okay. But Chris Columbus, I mean, it was some of the things he’s done. He’s done feel good stuff. I love. But I think this topic and this, I think there was more that could have been done. And as we get into already a new director, I mean, it just changes so much.

So I’m gonna, I’m gonna say book over movie for me as well. 

[00:55:00] Josiah: My favorite book scene from Chamber is a tough because there’s a lot of interesting stuff But I think my favorite thing about Chamber is the suspense horror of it You really don’t get that a lot in any of the other books and I think when Colin Creevey got Petrified and he’s holding that camera up That whole scene is super interesting to me.

I remember reading the book and thinking, Oh, this is scary. This is, there’s a horror movie taking place in the kids school and someone as innocent and as random as Colin Creevey, and it’s also kind of sad because they keep thinking of how annoying he is taking all these pictures. And then it’s the annoying kid who’s petrified, and it kind of reminds me of the Hermione scene from book one, where she was being annoying, but then they took care of the troll together.

And so that might be one of my favorite scenes from the novel. It made me think, oh, this is a different genre than the rest of the Harry Potter books, especially in retrospect. I’d say the book is better. The movie is directed by Chris Columbus. It’s very childlike. It’s 

[00:56:07] Rebekah: a movie that’s the way that I’m gonna tell you the movie is is worse is that it was directed by Chris Columbus and that’s all you need to freaking know.

[00:56:13] Josiah: I don’t really like Home Alone that much. It’s fine I guess but that’s really 

[00:56:18] Rebekah: funny. 

[00:56:19] Josiah: Yeah so the book is it’s so short that it’s not that big a deal that it still has a slightly immature theme, a feel to it. The tone is still childish, but it’s short and it’s scarier than the movie. Which I think is more fun.

[00:56:42] Rebekah: Well, that’s it for this episode. If you had fun listening, please leave us a 5 star rating or review. They help us a ton. You can find us on social on X, Instagram, and Facebook at bookisbetterpod. And to send us feedback, ask us questions to answer on future episodes, Or just have fun with the hosts. You can now join our free discord server.

There is a link in the episode description. Uh, it’s pretty great. So encourage you to join us there. And until next time, bye y’all.

[00:57:13] Tim: We think you’re funny, sweetheart. 

[00:57:16] Rebekah: Daddy. That’s like, when you’re like, special. I know. ’cause my mommy told me. It’s like I’m funny. I know. ’cause my dad whose sense of humor, no one understands, told me, oh man, , 

[00:57:30] Donna: I’m so, I’m, I’m upset. I’m mad on the internet tales special toe. My dad says I’m pretty.

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