S01E30 — Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

SPOILER ALERT: This episode and transcript below contains major spoilers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

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

Why, exactly, is this such a bad movie created from such a fantastic book? (Oh, sorry, they let Rebekah write this episode description so I guess we’re getting my opinion up front…)

Find out what we think about the adaptation of this bomb-dropping Harry Potter penultimate novel as we continue this SUMMER OF POTTER!

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 Half-Blood Prince book dives deep into Voldemort’s backstory, intricate character dynamics, and pivotal memories, creating a richly layered story. The movie opts for a faster pace, adding unnecessary action scenes while cutting critical lore and emotional depth.

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. Uh, we are a family of four reviewing book to film adaptations. And, uh, this is a clean podcast, but we do get into some dark subject matter. So it may not be appropriate for the youngest of listeners. Spoiler alert for this episode, we’re in the middle of the summer of Potter, which means that we will spoil Harry Potter and we’ll probably not just spoil, uh, Half Blood Prince, which we’re talking about today, but we’re also going to spoil like the ending of the plot of the whole series, et cetera.

We probably won’t talk about Cursed Child. Or fantastic beasts, but, uh, just in case be aware of that. And as we get started, we like to introduce ourselves and give a little fun fact about ourselves. Uh, so you get to know us better. So my name is Rebecca. Today’s fun fact is who was a favorite teacher or teachers that you had during school and why were they your favorite?

Um, like I said, my name’s Rebecca and, uh, I would say one of the favorite teachers I had looking back, okay. Was my fourth grade teacher at the Christian school I was at for a couple of years. I was very briefly there and most of it was a very bad experience, but my fourth grade teacher was named Mr.

Popkey. I don’t even remember why I liked him so much. He was just very nice. Like I always felt very supported and I actually got to meet his family. Um, I thought, I wish you, you guys should tell me if you remember any of this. I met his family and I think I knew his daughter who was like an adult, she was like in college.

And I was in elementary school before 9 11. And so we went to pick up his daughter at the airport. And that was the only time I can remember going to an airport terminal and waiting for people to exit the plane because like, you can’t do that now. Uh, you have to wait outside of the airport. So it was not a dream.

I remember this like very vividly. No, I remember. very sweet 

[00:01:59] Josiah: teacher. No, I remember this. I remember Mr. Popke, he beat cats. 

[00:02:03] Rebekah: What? No! That’s, what are you talking about? 

[00:02:07] Josiah: No, no, I don’t remember that. Mr. Popke, if you’re listening to this, 

[00:02:09] Rebekah: I’m really sorry. I’m going to look up Mr. Popke. I’m going to find him on the internets.

[00:02:13] Josiah: All right. Well, while you’re doing that, my name is Josiah. I am the son of a cat. Of my mom and dad and the brother of my sister. Oh yeah. I’m 

[00:02:24] Rebekah: the daughter slash. No daughter slash sister. Anyway, go ahead. 

[00:02:29] Josiah: I would say, you know, I had a, I had a few really, really good teachers on a, on a very sad note. One of my, one of my most influential teachers just passed away recently.

Mr. Brian Bone, he, uh, really impacted, uh, thousands of, of kids and, uh, he was a genius marching band director and concert band teacher as well. He poured a lot into me and gave me a lot of opportunities and his influence is still within me today. Very nice. 

[00:03:06] Donna: Okay. So I’m Donna. I’m the wife slash mom of our group.

I did have a teacher in college. He was actually my advisor, uh, Steve Farnsley and Steve and I are still friends on Facebook and we. Yeah. Uh, follow each other and keep up with each other and just chatted this week, just about a few things similar to what TJ said. And it’s interesting that they were both band directors that, that we would bring up, he was a cool person.

And even though he gave me direction and I was only in college two years. You know, he let me know he was disappointed that I wasn’t coming back to school. And he cared enough to say that too. I think that that’s the important part. Um, but in the two years that we spent together as student and advisor, you know, he, again, he poured into me, he was real with me.

And I think that’s what made the difference. As much as he corrected us for taking The bust of Mozart and kind of stealing it off the pedestal outside the, the music department theater. And we kind of held it for ransom. Kudos and, and shout out to Steve. I’ll tell him to listen to the episode when it comes out.

Well, 

[00:04:20] Tim: my name is Tim. I am the husband and father of our crew. And. I’m going to go the long route here. Mrs. Howard was my first grade teacher. I did not, there was not kindergarten when I, when I was in school. 

[00:04:36] Donna: My first grade teacher, 

[00:04:37] Tim: she was awesome. Um, I don’t remember anything about the class. I just remember her name and the fact that I enjoyed it.

And on the first day of class. One of my friends who lived close to me, uh, in my neighborhood, and his birthday was one day after mine, um, he ran away when we were out on the playground, and they were telling us which teacher’s room we were going to be in. We were all standing out there in lines, and he ran away.

I remember that. That’s the only thing I remember about him. Uh, first through third grade. Wow. Then in high school, I had a couple of, uh, professors that, uh, taught history that were really neat. Uh, I appreciated them in their life, in, in my life. And another professor or teacher at, in high school that was the yearbook advisor.

And he is actually the one who took me to, uh, Charleston to meet the then Prince Charles, uh, when he was a single man. And then when I was in college, my men’s choir director, Fred Mund and the drama teacher Robbie Little were both very important and influential and I made friends with them. That was different being an adult, uh, in college and being able to befriend your, uh, your professors.

So that’s, that’s my story. 

[00:06:00] Rebekah: Okay. Josiah, why don’t you tell us? What Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is all about. 

[00:06:06] Josiah: Oh yeah, that’s what this podcast is about. It’s about teachers. Not just historical remembrances. It is about teachers. My favorite teacher from my school days has got to be Severus Snape.

I gotta tell ya. Okay, so, still to this day I get Severus, Snape, and Sirius Black. A little confused whenever I’m reading and hearing their names. So, bear with me. Guess what? Harry has to learn how to live life post Sirius’s death at the end of the last book. He finally snogs Ginny. Ron and Hermione get weirder, try to out jealous the other one.

Snape finally gets his dream job. Michael Gambon continues to share some part of his personality while, interestingly, portraying Dumbledore. 

[00:07:00] Rebekah: That is a word you could use for it. 

[00:07:02] Josiah: Voldemort is still on the move, but What war? We’ve still got school! Harry accidentally acquires a used potions textbook once used by the Half Blood Prince.

He doesn’t know who that is yet. He chooses to utilize its multitudes of corrections to the accepted formulas, and finds himself the new Potions Master’s star pupil. Dumbledore has one on one sessions of important memories. Harry learns about Horcruxes and the need to destroy them to defeat Voldemort.

Harry is obsessed with Draco Malfoy and knows he’s up to no good. But of course, everyone dismisses his obsessions until the final scenes. of this book where it all Avada Kedavra is in their faces. 

[00:07:49] Rebekah: Yes. Clever. All right, so let’s talk about some of the major differences to the plot and timeline and a reminder, if you’ve been listening to our Potter series, um, I will put a link in the episode description about, uh, that has like all of the changes from book to film because we are only covering the ones we find most interesting or impactful and they’re still done.

So, uh, mom, you want to get us started? I would love to. 

[00:08:15] Donna: The book opens. With a chapter where Fudge meets the Muggle British Prime Minister. And he describes the events related to Voldemort’s return that have led us to this point in the series. This is a long conversation that they had. It’s so long. And in one respect, I like listening to it.

When I get to listen to this book, I have to listen to the books in order. By the way, I can’t jump in the middle and start. I go back to one and listen to all. So when I get to this point, it is long, but I still listen through it. And pick up little things here and there, whatever, but it’s basically, it’s basically an overview of everything that’s gone on.

And they make the deal about the prime minister being all freaked out and, and about fudge and, and he’s the only one that knows, blah, blah, blah. Uh, and he said, well, what if I just told somebody. And Fudge says, Oh, what are you going to, who’d believe you, what are you going to tell them? And so it, my dear boy, are you going to tell anyone?

Yes, exactly. And so it’s kind of an interesting thing there where they do have a, an in with the British prime minister for the, to the Muggle world. So I think that is an interesting part of it, even though the chapter is very long. Um, they cut this completely out of the film. Uh, there are some scenes with the Death Eaters wreaking the havoc in the city of London that come up and, and, you know, fudge, oh, this was us.

And the British prime minister, he’s like, I’m getting blamed for all this. And he’s, he’s angry, whatever. They do show you some of the scenes of the havoc that, that goes on, uh, but they just don’t bring the prime minister. I totally get that. It would have been new person, set up, set to go through all of it when it’s really a book thing, which I totally get that.

[00:10:14] Josiah: I am a big fan of this scene on first read. Um, I don’t think I’ve re read the series. I think I’ve only read it through once now that I’m thinking about it. Yeah, I like this scene when it came up, it made the world feel more real. You read this and you say, Oh wow, this, this makes it. And of course it’s all fantasy and make believe, but it just makes the Harry Potter world feel more like whenever I see the British prime minister in the news, A little part of me thinks, oh, are they considering how this affects the magical wizarding world or something like that?

I think the main point of this chapter is to introduce Rufus Scrimgeour as a new character. And I think It is a wonderful introduction to him as a character. However, I don’t think that there’s a good payoff for Rufus Scrimgeour. He gets, like, one good scene in the entire series. 

[00:11:23] Rebekah: I do disagree that there’s no payoff because So we meet him at Christmas in the book, during this book, that’s when he tries to get Harry to back them up.

And that’s when Harry shows in the scar, 

[00:11:34] Josiah: which I like as part of the book six plot, because what you lose in the movie, it’s not perfect in the book, but what you really lose completely in the movie is that there is a war going on outside the school. No, 

[00:11:45] Tim: it’s just school. 

[00:11:46] Rebekah: Yeah. Right. Um, 

[00:11:49] Tim: film. It’s just cool.

Well, 

[00:11:50] Rebekah: he shows the scar and points out that Umbridge is still working at Hogwarts. Yeah. Yeah. But then in the seventh book, you have this scene where he brings all of 

[00:11:58] Tim: she’s working at the ministry, 

[00:11:59] Rebekah: the ministry, sorry, but in the seventh book, he’s the one that comes to bring Dumbledore’s, um, the things that he leaves in his will to the three kids, he comes to bring those.

He’s like, And they have this very intense conversation. He burns a hole in Harry’s, uh, shirt, like, cause he’s so upset with him. But then it’s near the end of the seventh book that you also learn that Rufus Scrimgeour’s last act in office before he was literally killed because he was the minister of magic was to refuse to give away any information about Harry Potter, even though he did know some about what had happened.

So. I think that there’s payoff in that you find out Harry sticking to his guns the way he did, like, end up, even though Rufus is kind of like a controversial character, he ends up defending Harry in the end. I don’t know. I thought it was really good. 

[00:12:51] Josiah: That’s a little bit of a payoff. I just, I just think that.

The character is not utilized enough. The other minister makes it feel like he’s going to be the new sort of secondary villain. 

[00:13:08] Rebekah: Yeah, true. It does seem a little. 

[00:13:12] Josiah: But on Rowling’s official website, did you know that she says she had tried To start the concept of the other minister, this chapter in books one, three, and five, but couldn’t make it work until book six.

[00:13:28] Rebekah: That is not surprising because it does, it works here and I cannot imagine it working in those. 

[00:13:35] Josiah: I don’t really think there’s much of a change to the, from book to film, so we might not really talk about the scene of Narcissa and Snape. That’s 

[00:13:44] Rebekah: interesting. Bellatrix. Yeah. Yeah. That’s all pretty similar. Um, that’s moved later in the film is only change, but yeah, there’s, there are basically three beginnings.

Well, so in the book, the first time we meet Harry, so this is at this point, the third beginning of the book, um, he’s at the Dursley’s, he’s waiting for Dumbledore to arrive, hasn’t packed his stuff up, yada, yada. And he knows Dumbledore sent him a letter. He’s going to pick him up for school, um, which in this film, the Dursleys are again cut entirely.

We miss the connection between Dumbledore and Petunia Dursley learning that it was, uh, Dumbledore that sent her a howler. Uh, that they couldn’t let Harry leave in the previous book. Um, he describes like what happened a little bit since he left Harry on their doorstep. This is the one time that Dumbledore kind of makes them feel a little guilty for mistreating Harry and not treating him like their own son.

Uh, it’s also the chapter where Dumbledore shares that Sirius left all of his estate to Harry and that Harry is also now Creature’s Master, who he then sends to Hogwarts because he doesn’t want Creature hanging out with him. Him being Creature’s Master does come up a lot in the subsequent books, uh, or in book seven specifically, but also a little bit in six.

So none of that happens in the film at all. opens entirely. No other minister spinners end. And the, the, the, sorry, the Severus scene is put later. Instead, Harry is out exploring London and hits on a waitress at a cafe right before Dumbledore meets up with him. It is, it literally is maybe the stupidest possible thing you could have replaced all of that with.

[00:15:29] Tim: Um, he’s out by himself, wasn’t that this horrible thing when Voldemort’s out looking for him? 

[00:15:36] Rebekah: Instead of Dumbledore picking him up at the house, talking to him about the ministry pamphlets about how to protect yourself from Voldemort and in theory being impersonated and all these other things discussing Voldemort’s return.

None of those happen, the conversation is instead replaced by Dumbledore musing that he may have stolen a wondrous evening from Harry. Ugh. 

[00:15:59] Donna: Woof woof. So I think another piece of what’s left out by, by leaving out the visit to the Dursleys and, and all that. I do think the. Dumbledore, Petunia, Petunia, um, connection.

I thought that was very important in the book. It’s a reminder to you as are Petunia’s other things that she mentions later that we don’t see in the movies, there’s a connection there and I kind of hate that they miss it because. One of my, one of the funnier conversations they have that is about something serious is when, um, Vernon is, they’re trying to figure out, you know, Vernon’s trying to figure out what’s going on and I think it, I think they have it in book, uh, five.

Yeah, I think it happens in five where he and Dudley are attacked and they’re having that whole conversation and Petunia knows terms and she knows what Azkaban is and she and she says the word to mentors and so I get You have to, you have to weigh what you can put into a film and what you can’t and actors and that kind of thing.

Uh, but one thing that happens in this scene in six, another come, another statement that Dumbledore makes is just to say, Harry, I would ask that when you’re at the burrow, that you not go wandering off. Because the, the Weasleys are going through a great deal of inconvenience to host you and they’re happy to do it.

They want to do it, but it may, it means all their mail is searched. It means that nothing comes into their house that isn’t looked over and, and scrutinized. And so would you respect them? And then you contrast that. With things that will come up later, where people have to, people begin, the order members begin to realize that Harry is their last, greatest hope.

And so, you know, there’s a lot in there that, that could be, but again, I think we’ve talked about this on a number of occasions. It’s easy to forget when I’m watching the films that millions of people that watch these films are not the book, are not book readers. Very true. I’ve, I’ve talked to a lot of people who have never read the series, but they watched the films.

And I look at that and think, how do you even know any, you really don’t know anything about it. But then I forget you, you still get a full story from this film. Um, it’s 

[00:18:36] Tim: just, 

[00:18:37] Donna: yeah, but once you go back and see the book again, it’s like, Ooh, wow. Yeah. 

[00:18:44] Tim: Without some of those things. I don’t think it’s as rich a world.

Yes. It’s not as not as wonderful and you can still get into things. Well, with all of those other things not taking place, um, the first thing that they do after Harry and Dumbledore get together. Uh, Dumbledore takes him to meet, uh, Slughorn. And after meeting Slughorn, Harry asks in the movie why Dumbledore took him there.

The headmaster says that he’s invited Slughorn back to Hogwarts, and that it’s imperative that he should return. He mentions to Harry that he should let Slughorn collect him, um, cause he likes to collect people. In the book, Harry doesn’t ask this question. He tells Dumbledore he’s learned not to ask, and it’s not until a much later chapter that Harry realizes he should cozy up to the new slash old professor.

[00:19:40] Donna: It is kind of creepy if you talk, if you think, really, you think about what he’s saying. Oh yeah, this teacher, well, he collects. students. He wants to feel important by gathering influential people in his circle. 

[00:19:53] Tim: He gets to know important people or people he thinks will become important so that he has a connection to them.

[00:20:00] Donna: But one of Slughorn’s lines later is, well, you know, um, I only taught one of them. I would have liked to have had the set. It’s like, okay, creepy man. Um, in the film, Slughorn states, He never taught serious, but that actually can’t be right. It’s a continuity problem because teachers all had one subject and they taught all the students that subject.

The only difference was when Trelawney and. Uh, for ends split up the, um, their, the class, their class. That’s the one exception. And so in the book, the statement from Slughorn was I was the head of Slytherin said Slughorn, oh, Oh, now he went on quickly seeing the expression on Harry’s face and wagging a stubby finger at him.

Don’t go holding that against me. You’ll be Gryffindor like her, I suppose. Yes, it usually goes in families. Not always, though. Ever heard of Sirius Black? You must have done. Been in the papers for the last couple of years. Died a few weeks ago. Slughorn would have had all the Black family under. Him in Slithering house except for Sirius.

Not that he didn’t teach him. So there’s a little continuity error there. That’s not the end of the world. But I thought it was interesting. 

[00:21:27] Josiah: That reminds me, Lur stays at the borough in the book, not in the film. 

[00:21:34] Tim: Yeah. 

[00:21:34] Josiah: And we don’t develop the relationship between, and Mrs. Weasley. Nor Ginny’s annoyance with her, as in the book.

Honestly, in the movies, Fleur and it’s Bill that she gets with, right? Honestly, Fleur and Bill’s relationship is a background element of the film. Really only there for book fans. I don’t think that anyone who’s a movie only watcher would really know what was going on. 

[00:22:05] Donna: But you’re right. They don’t build that relationship.

Yeah. Where there could have been some very interesting things there with Molly and Flim and all that. 

[00:22:15] Rebekah: When we see the Weasleys, like when we first get there and Harry’s with Ron and Hermione, uh, Hermione, this is something that really doesn’t matter, but it bugs me. Hermione has her signature little fire thing, um, that she does while they’re sitting there talking.

Hermione would not have done that. That is a rule that they’re not allowed to do. Underage, all of them underage. The rule for underage magic says that they’re not allowed to do that. And it al like, I remember being in this movie and like I remember being really annoyed all at the beginning because. I hated the scene at the cafe and I hated the scene at the da, da, da, da, whatever.

And so it’s like, okay, well, we finally are getting to the Weasleys and I’m fine with it. And then I’m like, oh my gosh. And I got so mad because then they like broke the underage magic rule. And honestly, if it was Ron’s signature thing, I’d be like, yeah, I’d be like, okay. They probably like, I could see them just being like, ah, nobody will know.

Cause we’ve learned before that it’s only because of adult wizards stopping their kids that. Whatever, but it’s just interesting to me that they immediately break that too. So that really, that was a little annoying. 

[00:23:22] Donna: I think we find as we go along though, as the books progress though, that Hermione’s only a rule follower when it suits her and when she thinks it’s better, she’ll, I mean, she imprisoned Rita Skeeter in a glass jar for a year.

So, you know, even though we think that’s a cool thing because Rita Skeeter is such a horrible person, that’s, that’s like kidnapping and imprisonment. So, when she could have just told on her and, you know, but that’s just my two cents. 

[00:23:56] Tim: Uh, in the book, the students receive their OWLs, the results over the summer.

Uh, but in this case, all of the main three get the results while they’re at the Weasleys in the film. Uh, or excuse me, in the book, the results aren’t shown in the film, although McGonagall mentions Harry’s E in potions when seeing him shortly after the start of term. That’s why he ends up in potions class when he didn’t think he was going to end up in the next level.

That’s why he ends up getting the book that he, uh, has to borrow from the cabinet of used books instead of purchasing one at Flourish and Blotts and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. It’s interesting that that is barely talked about, and it, it leads to the title of the whole book and film. 

[00:24:45] Donna: Yeah. 

[00:24:46] Tim: The Half Blood Prince.

[00:24:48] Donna: As we talk about missed opportunities, again, I know, Some of these things wouldn’t fit, but I wanted to see them in my head. I want to create them visually. So, but I think this is a massive miss opportunity. They left the line on the cutting room floor. So I wish I hadn’t read that too. It, I, they actually did use, have this filmed, but then it got cut in an edit.

Um, and it does appear on the DVD second disc of special features. So if I really wanted to see it, I could go access it. Um, so here’s the quote set against the dull poster muffled shop fronts around them, Fred and George’s windows hit the eye like a firework display, casual passers by were looking back over their shoulder at the windows and a few rather stunned looking people had actually come to a halt.

The left hand window was dazzlingly full of an assortment of goods that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced, and shrieked. Harry’s eyes began to water just looking at it. The right hand window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple like those of the ministry, but emblazoned with flashing yellow letters.

Harry started to laugh. He heard a sort of weak moan beside him and looked to see Mrs. Weasley, gazing dumbfounded at the poster. Her lips moved silently, mouthing the name, you know, you know, they’ll be in the poster and Rebecca, if you, 

[00:26:30] Tim: if 

[00:26:31] Donna: you can put this in the, in the notes. I don’t, I, I pulled up a poster for our notes because I thought it was so interesting.

Why are you worrying about, you know, who you shouldn’t be worried. You should be worrying about, you know, poo, the constipation sensation that’s gripping the nation. 

[00:26:57] Tim: Oh my. Somehow the word 

[00:27:00] Donna: gripping is the best part of that. Yes. 

[00:27:03] Tim: That’s great. Yes. 

[00:27:04] Donna: I love it. 

[00:27:05] Tim: And some of those things that are a little lighter are the things like the slug club that, that Professor Slughorn starts.

Um, there’s no slug club on the Hogwarts Express in the film. Uh, there’s no mention of Hermione and Ron as prefects, which means there’s no reason for Harry to, Sit with Luna and Neville on the train. Uh, there’s no conflict whatsoever in the film about Harry not wanting to join the Slug Club. And Slughorn’s repeated attempts to invite him despite his many quidditch and other conflicts.

Yeah, we lose all of that. It 

[00:27:41] Rebekah: was very odd to me that it’s like Dumbledore’s like, let him collect you. Or should I let him collect me? That was, I did not like that in the film. And I did feel like it was a little odd. Like we see the slug club, obviously a little later, but I don’t know. It didn’t. It didn’t feel like as impactful as when we kind of learned about it in the book and why he did it and who he invited and it creates, it’s actually one of the reasons that I think Ron ends up dating, um, Lavender Brown because I think that he’s like so upset.

set that Harry and Hermione keep getting asked to go to the slug club. And like, there’s this conflict because, yeah, because Hermione and Harry are being treated as important and they’re being treated as like a pair or not a pair, but like they’re being invited to things together and he’s jealous. And so I think there’s a lot of underlying impact that that has.

And even his sister. 

[00:28:40] Donna: I mean, even his sister gets to go, um, and, and Ron does try to throw out some comments here and there and tries to impress important. Yeah. And so, yeah, I agree. It’s, it’s a, an odd not to have it in the film, but then to throw in a party is kind of a, yeah, there’s like a dinner party and then a party 

[00:29:03] Rebekah: party.

[00:29:04] Donna: Yeah. There’s no lead up to it. 

[00:29:07] Josiah: Hey, in the book, there’s actually an ongoing concern of many students that Dumbledore has developed a withered hand. In the film, no one but Harry ever seems to notice how realistic he doesn’t terribly interesting. 

[00:29:22] Rebekah: He doesn’t ask about it. He notices visually and then never says anything, which is so weird.

In the book, they talk about it at the welcome feast, I think. Um, and Hermione’s like, Oh, what do you think happened? And Harry’s like, it wasn’t like that when he visited me in the summer. There’s continuity there that’s different. 

[00:29:40] Donna: And, and Harry, and Harry tries to ask him about it in one of their first meetings together.

Yeah. And Dumbledore’s like, you’ll hear the whole thing. It’s a wonderful story, 

[00:29:50] Tim: but I don’t have time to, yeah, to tell you right now. Well, although Tonks had been introduced in a previous movie, so we had the character already and we’d seen her in the film. Yeah. Uh, it is Luna, not Tonks, who discovers Harry petrified under his invisibility cloak in the film.

Uh, she also repairs his broken nose with the, uh, Epi Episkey. Episkey. Bleh. Spell. Uh, which is the same one that in the book Tonks had used. 

[00:30:21] Josiah: Dad! That reminds me, in the train incident. So the end of the book, Tonks is sulking in the background throughout the the entire novel. She’s been assigned to Hogwarts as a protective auror is why she’s around.

Harry and the others wonder why her personality has become so sullen, why she can no longer cast Patronus. Musing if it has to do with guilt about Sirius’s death, if she could have been in love with Sirius Black, we learn in the end of the book, of course, that she was in fact in love with Sirius’s friend Remus Lupin, who had frequently spurned her advances due to the large age gap.

In the film, The pair seem to already be together, as we see at the Weasley’s home, but Tonks is very much a more average looking character than the person we saw in Order. Not very sulky, honestly, cut Tonks from the films, nothing changes. 

[00:31:14] Rebekah: She also is not in, like, she’s not in the film except when you see her at Christmas.

And in the book, she’s not only watching over Hogwarts. She and Harry run into each other because she heard that someone, uh, was killed by a werewolf and she’s worried that it’s serious or that it was Lupin, although you don’t know that till later. And she, like, is at the end scene, they’re in the hospital, and Molly Weasley says something about, like, that she thinks Remus is being ridiculous about this, and he’s like, Ah, Dumbledore just Oh, we, we can’t talk about that right now.

And she’s like, Dumbledore would have been happy to know there was a little more love in the world. So Molly Weasley is like the whole time been trying to talk Remus into accepting Tonks who loves him. So 

[00:31:58] Donna: if you look at the whole picture of what you’re doing, especially a book adaptation, it would be hard for me to look at a character and go, their story buys us nothing because I don’t think that way, but I’m also not a script writer.

So yeah. I 

[00:32:14] Rebekah: I was just going to say, I also noted her appearance being so normal because I didn’t recognize her the first time I saw the movie when we see her at Christmas. I didn’t even understand what was happening because her hair wasn’t pink. 

[00:32:28] Josiah: Tonks was not used in the movie. Not used well, badly, just not used.

She was there. To the point where she and Remus, spoiler alert for the next book, for the last movie, She and Remus die in the Battle of Hogwarts, but when I was reading the books for the first time after I saw the movies multiple times, when I was reading the books, it was a twist to me that they died because they weren’t characters in the movie.

I didn’t even know who died in the movie. And so when Remus and Tonks were dead, after they just had a kid. It was so heartbreaking to me because I didn’t even know it happened, even though I’ve seen the movies multiple times. 

[00:33:10] Rebekah: Yeah. That’ll be a TV show win. I have a feeling that will be a big win. That 

[00:33:17] Josiah: they die 

[00:33:18] Rebekah: once they hit.

No, the win will be getting to know them, not that they die. Sorry. Sorry, fictional characters. 

[00:33:30] Donna: Oh my. To go on to a little lighter part of this. Uh, of, of a change is a little on a lighter note. Yes, exactly. Miss out in the film, the whole funny process of finding a new quidditch announcer, the lead Jordan’s left school and Zachariah Smith’s up and he’s salty and Luna Lovegood, it comes in at one of the later ones.

One, I think it’s funny that she even agreed to announce a game, but, um, she comes in and her stuff is gold and I love, I love it in the book. Has almost nothing to do 

[00:34:11] Tim: with Quidditch, but yes. 

[00:34:12] Donna: Yeah, exactly. She’ll say a few things there. Wish I could mimic voice as well, but I can’t. 

[00:34:20] Rebekah: Hold on. I pulled it up too.

You want me to try? 

[00:34:22] Donna: Uh, do any of them. There’s, there’s several 

[00:34:25] Rebekah: lines. 

[00:34:25] Donna: Yeah, I’ll do it. 

[00:34:27] Rebekah: And that’s Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle, said a dreamy voice echoing over the grounds. He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it.

Smith has been quite rude about Gryffindor. I expect he regrets that now he’s playing them. Oh, look, he’s lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him. I do like her, she’s very nice. 

[00:34:53] Tim: And 

[00:34:56] Rebekah: then she goes, now that big Hufflepuff player’s got the Quaffle from her, I can’t remember his name, it’s something like Bibble, no, Buggins.

It’s Cadwallader, says Professor McGonagall out the other side, Luna. I love it so much. It’s so cute. 

[00:35:16] Donna: Yeah, and it endears Luna to you. It reminds you that she is her own person. I mean, I do like that they have kept Luna in the films. Oh yeah, for sure. I know she’s one of the main six. But there’s so much about her, they kind of make her a little more dreamy feeling and not nearly as silly.

Like I think they try to keep her a little more ethereal, like whatever, when I think she could have used a little sillier thing, you know, 

[00:35:50] Josiah: well, speaking of Dark and hopeless. Oh, yeah. Hagrid is notably missing in the books during the welcome feast and at many meals when the main three characters visit him to learn why and to apologize for not continuing with care of magical creatures.

They learn that Hagrid has been spending time with his half brother, Grop, and that most significantly, Aragog, the Acromantula, is sick. And he may be dying. Is Aragog a he? Aragog is a he. Aragog is a he. He has a 

[00:36:22] Rebekah: wife, uh, m m m Aragogga? It’s not Aragogga, but it is, I don’t remember the name. 

[00:36:30] Josiah: Well, in the film, all of this is cut.

We don’t learn of Aragog’s illness until the scene where we learn he has already died. There’s no conflict between the three kids and Hagrid regarding their dropping his class. The, I mean, probably charitably, I think it probably works in the film to cut most of the grop stuff. He is in the fifth, uh, movie, but I think that that’s one of those plot lines that doesn’t have a good payoff.

I think we decided in a, in the fourth episodes podcast for Goblet of Fire that what ends up happening with the giant subplot is there aren’t as many giants fighting for Voldemort, which is one of the least satisfying outcomes I could think of for a whole subplot. 

[00:37:20] Rebekah: In previous films, They obviously show that Hagrid is a teacher and he teaches care of magical creatures.

But in the books, there’s this like really large emphasis on the fact that he’s not a great teacher and that he teaches them using really dangerous animals. And a lot of people don’t enjoy his class and the substitute teacher does a much better job and blah. It goes on and on and on. We don’t need a grubbly plank.

Exactly. So it goes on a lot. I think in the films. Again, charitably, probably, um, other than him picking a book out that they could not understand how to open. Really he doesn’t do a lot else that’s like crazy. The little bit that you see him in care of magical creatures is basically later in the fifth book, his lesson is used to introduce you to Thestrals, but we don’t see him as like a quote unquote bad teacher.

And so it’s not as interesting that they dropped his class. They really drop all that stuff where they like discuss new class schedules, what you can and can’t take. Like all that is book only and for good reason, in my opinion. 

[00:38:25] Tim: Another change in the plot is a Slughorn’s Christmas party. Um, in the book, Harry meets a litany of interesting characters, uh, including Eldred Warple, an author, and Senguini, a vampire.

Warple even offers to write Harry’s memoir, as he did for Senguini, uh, before rebuking the vampire for looking too long at one of the students. But none of this occurs in the film. We, we only get, uh, this is where we get, uh, Hermione is on a date with Hansy, whatever his name is. McLaggen, she’s trying to hide McLaggen.

She’s trying to hide from him. So we get, we get what is probably. Most interesting to a mid teenager audience. 

[00:39:20] Donna: Yeah. Which makes sense. Whoopi McClaggen throws up on Snape. 

[00:39:24] Rebekah: That is in the book and the film, and I think it was one of the funniest things that they added that I was so glad made it in. I do. I really like that part in the book.

And I love the conflict with McClaggen. I didn’t even put this anywhere in our character changes. But McClaggan is like in the film and he’s good comic relief, although we missed some of the most funny parts, um, which I’ll mention a little bit later with him, but this was a really good addition. Okay. So it is at this point, I want to talk about one of the most significant, um, Or it’s not the most, it is the most, not just one of them.

Uh, significant changes from book to film here, and these are the memories. When I think about the Half Blood Prince book, like what it’s about, memories. Is what I think is like, you see all these memories. So, uh, there’s a bunch of memories Dumbledore shows to Harry over the course of, I think, five meetings total over the school year.

And he calls them their private lessons. And this is where he educates Harry about Voldemortids. It, who Voldemort is, his origins, and horcruxes, like, in general, uh, near to the, the end part. In the film, we do see a short memory in Harry and Dumbledore’s single meeting. They only meet once, and then one second, uh, second time, technically, after Harry gets Slughorn’s real memory.

In that single meeting in the film, we see Dumbledore, uh, greeting Tom Riddle at Wool’s Orphanage, and we see, like, child Tom Riddle. So we’re gonna go over the set of memories I’ll cut from the film, and I wanna know which ones you think, okay, I’m glad that we, like, did without these, versus the ones that you think were a loss from the film.

[00:41:06] Josiah: Well, here’s the first one. The House of Gaunt. In this chapter of the book, the memory starts as Harry and Dumbledore follow an RR, Bob Ogden, as he goes in to question Morfin Gaunt about an attack on a muggle. The Gaunts are Voldemort’s, uh, maternal. family. Morphin lived with his father Marvolo Gaunt and his sister Maropi.

We see the abusive father and brother and the weak and hopeless Maropi and even Tom Riddle Sr., Voldemort’s dad, who rides outside on a carriage passing by the house. The Gaunts plot together using partial tongue and eventually attack Ogden who runs away. Dumbledore shares after they leave the memory that these were Tom Riddle’s relatives on his mother’s side, postulating that Merope Gaunt, once relieved of her brother and father after their arrests, may have used a love potion to hoodwink his mother.

Riddle, which is how she may have gotten pregnant and having tricked someone with a love potion. I do believe, is it here or somewhere else where it’s established that that can create a loveless baby? 

[00:42:24] Rebekah: It is here. I’m pretty sure. Cause he said there’s like a few other ways that she could have done it.

Like she could have cast imperio and there’s no way to know for sure if she did that. But, uh, I think Dumbledore says like, I. believe it would have seemed most romantic to Moroppi because during that time, Tom Riddle senior would have believed himself to be in love with her. And they did get married, like they actually get married and then she gets pregnant.

So, and she doesn’t have the baby until a year later. So like they, I think Dumbledore also suggests that she ended up having the baby with him, maybe as a way to hope that he would stay with her, even if she stopped giving him the love potion. To answer the question, this is the one I think more than any of the others that I think was such a loss.

Like, I was so disappointed that they lost this. There’s so much of the lore, the backstory, that does, I think, matter and makes the last book’s plot less interesting, like, that you get here. I understand a lot of the others that they cut, but man, this one sucked to lose. 

[00:43:33] Tim: Part of what you get in this one, he got rid of all of his relatives.

He got rid of everyone because he is so obsessed with this pure blood notion And he only wants purebloods, but he’s not a pureblood. But he got rid of everybody that could have proven that. And I think this is, I think this is an important one. I’m sorry that it went away. It didn’t have to be as long in the film as it was in the book.

But I think it could have been written in and beautifully done in a minute, two minutes. You could have gotten a lot of this stuff in. 

[00:44:10] Donna: I think part of the, part of this memory. And I will say all these memories, I love them in the book because it showed you what a clever teacher Dumbledore was. He didn’t just give Harry information.

He gave him things that would help him discover, that would help him to develop who he was and what he was going to have learn to think. And just give him a list of stuff 

[00:44:36] Rebekah: to know. He showed him memories. To learn to 

[00:44:38] Donna: think for himself. Um, but I had a question about this particular memory. They note that Marvolo’s ring has the Peverell coat of arms on it.

Do they, do you think they sufficiently use that? To tie the Slithering Voldemort line to the potter line. ’cause here 

[00:45:00] Rebekah: Harry was sufficient. No, it’s only ever suggested, and I don’t, I think the way they, I don’t have it that she wrote it, was that it was like a, maybe because they talk about the three brothers in the next film and movie or in the next film and book and um, they basically suggest that Harry was a descendant of the brother that got the invisibility cloak.

Whereas, maybe Slytherin was a descendant of the brother that got the wand, I think. 

[00:45:29] Tim: I thought it was the ring. 

[00:45:31] Rebekah: Yeah, see, I, again, it’s like. Don’t know. I don’t think they do it sufficiently, but. 

[00:45:36] Tim: There’s the, the, the stone is what gives you life. The stone is what brings 

[00:45:43] Rebekah: someone’s basically like their aura back, doesn’t actually raise them from the dead.

But, 

[00:45:49] Donna: and the reason this question came to me at this point, I hadn’t really thought about this before, but at this reading, after all the other times I’ve listened to it, I In this session of the book, I went, Oh my gosh, how much more impactful is it that Harry and that Harry being the chosen one, how much more impactful is it that he and Voldemort came from the same line of brothers?

Like that, to me, would have been an even another really crazy development of this story. They’re related. They’re distantly related. And how two men from the same bloodline could come to this. And both of them be born of a muggle and a wizard. I know Lily was a witch, but both of them have muggle in their background.

And then come to this end where one was the most evil and the other was the one who stopped him to defeat him. 

[00:46:54] Tim: That actually seems a little more like a classic kind of. Conflict, you know, it’s brothers that go against each other and this, that, and the other. I think I disagree, 

[00:47:05] Rebekah: actually, with your thought process there, Mom, just because, to me, I think it’s interesting that we don’t know.

Like, I think what makes it interesting is like, whether, like, we don’t know for sure, like, that’s interesting, but the ultimate truth was that it, their backgrounds only mattered, So, like, in so much as we needed them to understand, like, how he did her cruxes and how to end those, I actually do think it’s interesting, like, that they, they don’t tie that all in.

But, you know, that’s just my opinion, obviously. 

[00:47:38] Donna: And also that it, well, also to your point, it, it does pull it together that, uh, and this is to back to one of Dumbledore’s quotes. It’s not who, it’s not who your parents were. It’s the choices you make in life and you’re shaped by your background. You’re shaped by your childhood, but when you become an adult, you’re in it, you take responsibility for your decisions.

And some of those decisions are hopefully, let me take what I’ve learned and, and do the best with them, even if it’s learning from the mistakes of the past. I mean, that, you know, it can be both sides. It can be, let me take the best of my background, but also let me look at the lesser great parts and learn from them.

[00:48:31] Rebekah: Because even the trauma that you suffer, like being kept in a cupboard under the stairs, like or being in an orphanage as awful as that is. Like those things don’t preclude you from like needing to make better choices to be a good person in the future. 

[00:48:47] Donna: So in the chapter, the secret riddle, there’s a memory that is shown in the film, but it’s, it’s cut drastically or significantly in the book.

Dumbledore shares a memory of meeting Mrs. Cole, the orphanage director. And learning about Tom Riddle may be hurting the children, like that’s suggested, even those, even you can tell she’s afraid to really say it very clearly. In the film, we just, we see a photo of the cave that’s posted on Riddle’s wall in his room.

And then in a deleted scene, Dumbledore shares in the movie. About Tom hurting children at the cave while he and Harry stand at the entrance, but they, but they cut it. It didn’t, didn’t make the screen. The full memory includes Tom Riddle asking if his father was a wizard and lamenting that his mother couldn’t have been one as she wouldn’t have died.

And that is a pretty, that’s a pretty serious statement. That line gets me every time. Yes. 

[00:49:50] Tim: Well, the chapter entitled A Sluggish Memory. It includes two memories. First, we see Morfin Gaunt’s slightly altered memory in which Tom Riddle visits him in the old Gaunt shack. Morfin tells Riddle about Merope’s betrayal and Slytherin’s stolen locket.

The memory ends abruptly, after which Dumbledore tells Harry that it seems as though Voldemort then framed him for the deaths of the Riddle family. In which, at which point, Morfin was sent to Azkaban for the murders, and that’s where Morfin died. In the film, there’s no mention of the fact that Tom Riddle killed the only remaining family members he had on his father’s side, although he does say it in the graveyard scene at the end of the fourth film.

Then The other memory in this chapter, we see Slughorn’s fake memory. This is also included in the film, but the book adds more nuance and detail as usual, as you might expect. 

[00:50:50] Rebekah: I actually do now that I’m thinking about it, Slughorn’s fake memory is probably one of the closer in terms of like book to film, it’s not changed quite as much, but, um, I, again, I know they, if they cut the first one with the Gauntz, they have to cut this one with the Gauntz.

I think this one was less of a loss, although, um, I just find it confusing because it’s not really setting us up for the last two films very well, because this is a section that like tells you why the locket is one of the horcruxes that they’re looking for. And so it’s like at the end of this film, they go looking for the locket, they find the fake one, you find out it’s fake at the end, whatever.

Who cares? Who cares? Like, do they tell us why he’s looking for this locket? 

[00:51:37] Tim: Well, if they’re not setting it up for the, for the last films very well, perhaps they’ll have to change the plot of this last film. Okay. Well, there’s also, there’s 

[00:51:49] Donna: also the memory about him seeing Hepzibah. So that’s in the next one.

Oh, that’s right. We have more memories to come in six. See, there’s a total, 

[00:52:01] Rebekah: if you count Slughorn’s memory as a single one, even though they see it twice, they see it fake and then unaltered. There are six memories in the book and the only two that are included is a brief version of them meeting Voldemort and then Slughorn’s memory.

And so they cut four of them and all four of them have to do with essentially Voldemort’s motivations and decisions about horcruxes and like how he got into all this. The final chapter where they discuss more memories other than Slughorn’s new one is Lord Voldemort’s request. Um, the first memory in this chapter is of an elderly house elf, Hokie, um, during when Voldemort visits Hokie’s master, who is a witch named Hepzibah Smith by, uh, and he was like a young adult at this point.

So he was out of Hogwarts working for Borgin and Burkes. It’s Tom Riddle was, um, he was working for Borgin and Burks to get dark magical objects. I think Dumbledore describes it as like he had a job that is hard to describe, but very few people could have done. Like he’s a charmer who can have an eye for like dark significant objects that would be appropriate for the store.

Um, Smith is, you know, very overweight, kind of icky as described. Um, but she kind of hits on Tom Riddle while he’s there, Riddle realizes at that meeting that she wants to kind of tell him a secret. So he responds well to her and then she tells him that she owns the original cup of Helga Hufflepuff, who is one of her ancestors.

So here we add in, you know, we get to the point where we realize like these founders objects are important. Then Voldemort, or sorry. The last memory that Dumbledore then shows Harry is of Tom Riddle. This is another memory of Dumbledore’s. Um, at this point, it’s ten years, I believe, after he graduates from Hogwarts.

Riddle is now being called Voldemort by the followers in his circle. He comes back and he asks again to fill the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. When he first left school, he asked the then headmaster if he could have the DADA job. The headmaster said, no, you’re too close to the, basically you’re too young.

You’re too close to their age. Um, come back after you’ve gotten some more experience. Uh, Dumbledore refuses him the job for the second time and, um, basically calls him out. Like, I know what your followers call you. I know. That what you’re doing is not necessarily good in a lot of ways, he says this. And then, uh, in the present, Dumbledore tells Harry that since that happened, no one has been able to hold that job for more than a year.

Um, the film, we also never hear that this position is cursed. Obviously, it’s not only this memory where the fact that they have a new defense teacher every year. Um, this is not the only time this comes up. There’s a lot of conflict around the fact that JK Rowling wrote it into Half Blood Prince that this position was cursed, but.

It seemed a little unbelievable because of the first year professor, Quarrel, um, there was no mention that he was, this was his like first year. They actually said he’d been a professor. And so then that was kind of like retconned as, that’s why they called 

[00:55:18] Tim: his turban ridiculous. Right. He went away. Right.

It was retconned that he went 

[00:55:23] Rebekah: away and came back, but it was a little bit of a stretch there. 

[00:55:28] Tim: The first one. The of the House Elf Hokie and Hepzibah, I, I think that was a big loss. Um, the second one about the cursed position seems to me like it, it could have been dropped as a memory and instead, you know, mentioned in passing, could have mentioned to Harry.

You know, since the second time Tom Riddle came back and asked for the position, I haven’t been able to keep someone more than one year. I think the position is cursed. You could have taken care of that in 30 seconds and not had the whole memory. 

[00:56:04] Josiah: I think that’s reasonable because it is an interesting piece of the entire series that they have a different data instructor every year.

I think that it is. its own payoff to say, Hey, did you notice this weird thing? How they weren’t able to keep a teacher or there may actually be a reason for it. And it would be quick. Like you said, yeah, I think that that would have been in a totally acceptable edition. Very quick. And I mean, I think cutting a lot of these memories.

What it adds up to is the book is so fascinating you getting to learn all about Voldemort’s backstory. Right. And in the movie, they just don’t care. 

[00:56:43] Tim: Yeah. You get that he was an orphan. And that’s his motivation. I mean, that’s a lot of his motivation. He was an orphan. 

[00:56:52] Rebekah: I wish they’d spent more time making the memories a significant part and considering Like losing other years like 

[00:57:00] Tim: here’s where they could have found the time.

Okay. I’m about to rant. Go ahead. Daddy. A movie adds a scene that is ridiculous and unnecessary and really out there. It is at the borough. Where the Death Eaters attack and burn the entire Weasley house down. Nothing strange about that except that Bella Trix Lestrange taunts Harry that I killed Sirius Black.

I killed Sirius Black over and over before disappearing. None of that happened in the book. The burrow was under a large number of protective enchantments as of the beginning of this book. And it would have been unrealistic to a significant degree. So why not take something that was in the book, the memories that are important to the plot, and replace it with this crazy, outlandish thing?

[00:58:03] Rebekah: I, this goes back to something Josiah says that I just dislike. And if this is the thing about movie making, I just don’t like it, which is we need to put action in the films. And we’ll discuss later that the action at the end of the book. Was removed for a different reason. So it’s like they had to come up with a way to get action into the film, 

[00:58:28] Tim: but if it had been action, some of those memories had the opportunity for action when the aurora comes and he’s fighting, you know, you could have made there’s a scuffle.

[00:58:38] Rebekah: Whatever 

[00:58:39] Tim: those could have been done in a way that added action. Yeah. 

[00:58:44] Rebekah: Josiah, what do you think about this? 

[00:58:46] Josiah: I mean, I think the sixth movie might be the worst movie. 

[00:58:51] Rebekah: OK, good. I thought you were going to advocate for the moviemakers here. I was going to be mad. 

[00:58:55] Josiah: No, no. I think that the book, it’s probably my favorite Harry Potter book.

Spoiler alert. Learning the backstory of Voldemort is very fun. And. Really adds to the layers of the story. Starting out with the minister and Narcissa, Narcissa serious, having their two chapters really expands the world. Ginny who we haven’t really talked about very much. Uh, I can’t believe we haven’t talked much about Ginny yet, which I think is one of the changes.

[00:59:30] Rebekah: Are you giving your final verdict? This is all about, I just wanted to know what you thought about this 

[00:59:33] Josiah: scene. So I think that one of the biggest changes There’s like four big tents of bad changes, and one of them is that you lose all of the memories, and another one is that the book is interesting without needing a lot of action.

And in the film, they aren’t confident enough in their own story, so they feel like they need to add this stupid scene. 

[01:00:03] Rebekah: I also wonder if it’s because of the target audience. I don’t know. Like they underestimate how interested the target audience is willing to be even without action and a lot of movement and stuff.

But yeah, this was, sorry, mom, I think you were going to say, it was also 

[01:00:19] Donna: uncomfortable. Just even Jenny running out through a cornfield in a white bathrobe. So weird. Stupid. Leave her in her clothes. Why? You brought her out there in front of Harry in a bathrobe, which is kind of weird. They weren’t there yet.

Like they were getting closer, but they hadn’t really developed that a ton in the movie either. There’s so much in the book about Harry seeing Jenny here and there, and, and have, beginning to have these feelings for her. And it’s almost like the book, the movie just, it’s almost like the movie says, Okay, we’ve, we’ve got to form a, Bond here between them.

Let’s bring her out in front of him in a bathrobe to, is this where she ties his shoe? Yeah. Creepy. She bends down that bathrobe, that bathroom should have fallen flip off her unless she had it tied tight in a, in a knot and then to run out through the cornfield and fight. And they’re out there. I’m like, And she and Harry can run through fire, a fire ring, but Thompson Lupin can’t, the, the big R people that are much more mature.

[01:01:29] Rebekah:

[01:01:29] Donna: love Harry 

[01:01:30] Rebekah: runs past him and, and Lupin goes, Harry, no, like what, what I play Hogwarts legacy. If you wanted to ask him back to you, you could have just done that. Like come on. It was so weird. 

[01:01:45] Donna: Yeah. And then the whole thing about 

[01:01:47] Josiah: living things. 

[01:01:49] Donna: You know what, now that I say that, I think 

[01:01:51] Rebekah: you might only be able to do that in Hogwarts Legacy.

I don’t think that’s part of their magic 

[01:01:56] Josiah: system. I think they change it in Fantastic Beasts. He Accio’s the little gold sniffing possum. 

[01:02:04] Donna: Yep. 

[01:02:06] Josiah: I think I’m a little upset about this change during the Christmas holiday in the book, The New Minister of Magic, Scrimgeour comma Rufus. He visits the borough with Percy Weasley, resulting in a disagreement.

Between the Minister and Harry, and the end of a fight in which Percy was picked on by Jenny and the twins. Get over yourself, Percy. This is totally, this is totally omitted from the film. I do think that omitting Rufus Scrimgeour doesn’t really solve the problem of Rufus Scrimgeour not quite having enough to do.

Cause this is the thing he has to do. And if you’re going to take, if you’re going to remove Cornelius Fudge at the end of the previous movie, it just makes sense in the world that there’s a new Minister of Magic, but why, why would you give him nothing to do? So I don’t think it was perfect in the book, but this is, this is one of his two scenes.

Yeah. Yeah. 

[01:03:01] Tim: Yeah. 

[01:03:02] Josiah: And so it sucks that it was, that it had to be taken out. I think I get it, but it just, it’s like two wrongs don’t make a right necessarily. 

[01:03:09] Rebekah: Honestly, you could have cut out the slug club altogether and made this scene. Like the slug club doesn’t really have a lot of, the slug club doesn’t really matter because of how they use it.

Um, it’s barely used to have any like impact on the story or plot in some way, but this could have been used to at least like give you like bring you into the fact again, there’s a war like the minister of magic knows that if Harry’s on the ministries. side that people will support. Like, anyway, yeah, 

[01:03:41] Josiah: I do think slug club is fun.

[01:03:43] Rebekah: It is, but like slug club and Quidditch in this, the only things they’re used to do. Yeah. The only things both of those are used to do is further the romance angle, which is not really great. 

[01:03:55] Donna: So Ron’s poisoning in the book version occurs on the morning of his birthday because he eats the chocolates that he thought were a gift to him that spilled on the floor.

But it was actually something that Harry had spilled on the floor when he was trying to clean stuff out and get something out of his trunk. From Remilda Vane. Remilda. Remilda. That is Such a great scene, whereas in the film, it happens on the evening of Valentine’s Day. In the book, Fred, George, Arthur, and Molly come to visit Ron after the near death experience.

This is cut from the film. I am glad that they let Rupert Grint do this goofy thing about when he was under the spell. He’s a good, funny man. And he works well. Um, he does the funny man well, and I thought this was cool, um, that, that they put that much in it. Um, you know, the day change, who cares, I guess.

[01:04:57] Tim: To be good to the screenwriters, I thought this was a change that was inconsequential. I think we still get the, the important part of that and it didn’t really matter which day it happened. And it also didn’t really matter if. You know, Fred and George and Arthur and Molly came to visit Ron after it happened.

I think the change was satisfactory. 

[01:05:19] Donna: Right. I agree with that. 

[01:05:21] Tim: Uh, another change, the Quidditch scene, uh, commentated by Luna in the books is also the one in which the moronic McClagan, serving in Ron’s place while he’s in the hospital wing, knocks Harry off the broom with a bludger and sends Harry to Madame Pomfrey.

I agree. Uh, this scene isn’t in the film, uh, another laughable kind of thing that we miss, uh, probably not super important to the plot, but it was one of those light moments, I think. 

[01:05:50] Josiah: It’s nice to have a lighthearted moment, but cut all Quidditch. One of the better Quidditch scenes, though. 

[01:05:55] Rebekah: True. I do like that they used that to confirm that while Ron didn’t do amazing during tryouts either year, he still was the best choice, so it felt a little bit less nepotistic.

Another little thing that I thought was really interesting that they cut, Harry’s obsessively following Malfoy for several weeks. Like, he decides that Malfoy’s a Death Eater, thinks that he has the Dark Mark on him. In the film, even when like Snape asks why he thinks that it’s Malfoy behind the like locket that nearly kills uh, Katie Bell, he, Snape, in the book, he’s like, I think Malfoy’s a Death Eater.

And he says something about following him in Diagon Alley. In the film, he’s just like, I don’t know. I just have a feeling like That’s the whole thing. Um, and so there are several, several weeks where all of his friends are really annoyed with how Harry is like not doing well in classes. He’s like shirking his duties.

He almost messes things up even in potions, um, because he’s trying to open the room of requirement. And, uh, it was interesting to kind of get rid of that entirely. That’s, that has nothing to do with the plot of this movie. 

[01:07:05] Tim: So, during one of the Harry and Dumbledore meetings in the book, they discuss that the Hogwarts founders treasures may have been used as horcruxes.

Dumbledore also suggests Nagini may be a horcrux. In the film, we only see the ring and the diary, which was destroyed in Chamber of Secrets. Mentioned as horcruxes. Also, the film Dumbledore says upon seeing the true slughorn memory, that the horcruxes can be the most commonplace of objects, which is diametrically opposed to how he describes them in the book.

The portkeys could be any commonplace object, but these would have been something important that wouldn’t have been simply thrown away or used. Or allowed to be taken away by somebody, they would be important. 

[01:07:59] Rebekah: Harry, Harry himself says, Oh my gosh, they could be anything, an old boot, a tin can, whatever. And Dumbledore says, You’re thinking of port keys.

And then in the movie, Dumbledore says, They can be the most commonplace of objects, the horcrux. Um, also I will correct myself. I made this note. Um, we also see the locket mentioned as a horcrux, although it’s not made super clear that it’s Slytherin’s locket, I don’t think. No, 

[01:08:24] Tim: no, it’s just, um, just a locket.

[01:08:25] Rebekah: That was my bad. The whole thing that makes this such a big deal is that the magic of Hogwarts is like. This ongoing theme, like, in the entire series, it’s not just the Wizarding World, it’s not just Harry Potter that’s magic, Hogwarts is the center of magic, exactly. It’s the love 

[01:08:43] Josiah: of Lily, sort of thing.

It’s not just a magic 

[01:08:45] Rebekah: system. Okay, well, no, that’s, you’re going off in a place I don’t like. What are you talking about? No, 

[01:08:50] Josiah: that saves Harry. Not Snape, the love of Lily that saved Harry. Oh, 

[01:08:54] Rebekah: okay, yes, then yes, I agree with you. Another small thing, I just wanted to mention this because in the midst of the darkest scene, well, the second darkest scene of the book, I laugh so hard.

Uh, so we don’t see the scene in the film where Harry must return his books to Snape after attacking Malfoy. So what happens in the book is that he gets attacked by, by Malfoy in the bathroom on the seventh floor, I believe near the room of requirement. And Malfoy, I think was crying, I think is how that all started.

And so Malfoy almost casts an unforgivable curse on him, which is why Jenny, um, like backs Harry up later on to Hermione. So in the book, like Snape says, go get your school books because he casts occlumency on him and sees the copy of advanced potion making drift to the top of his head. He runs, uh, as fast as he can, and in the book, goes to the room of requirement, ditches the book, Advanced Potion Making, that has the Half Blood Prince’s notes in it, asks Ron for his copy, runs back to Snape, and Snape starts looking through, and, you know, he’s like looking through the books, and it’s very slow and creepy, and he goes, Uh, who is Rooney Walls live and I don’t 

[01:10:07] Tim: know why, but that is, 

[01:10:10] Rebekah: it’s literally during this like super dark scene and it is, it is one of the funniest moments in the book.

I love me. Oh, hard. Rooney. Why? It’s what my friends call me. And so anyway, um, in the film they change this a lot and they change it in a way that doesn’t seem consistent with, you know, education, punishment. Um, normal anything. So Harry, uh, cuts someone up, you know, assaults them and then walks off and it’s cool.

And Snape helps Malfoy and that’s it. Snape doesn’t give him detention for the rest of the year. There’s no consequences or anything for walking down the halls several 

[01:10:51] Tim: times in the other ones. 

[01:10:52] Rebekah: Exactly. So in the film, Harry Gryffindor Tower. He’s with Hermione and Ginny. And Ginny says, you have to get rid of it today.

And he’s talking, she’s talking about the book because there’s been this very brief underlying thing, which is book and film, where Hermione and Ginny basically don’t think that he should be using the Half Blood Prince’s book because you don’t know if it’s dangerous to use, you know, non official instructions or whatever.

So then 

[01:11:19] Donna: Ginny was possessed and making the, yeah, exactly. 

[01:11:25] Rebekah: Exactly, which is not made clear in the film, which is another like you possess Jenny for a whole film and can’t use it again. Like it’s weird. So then he and Jenny go to the room of requirement, make it into the room of hidden things, which by the way, Harry still doesn’t know at this point that Malfoy is using it as the room of hidden things.

It’s the same place. Um, and then she hasn’t put the book down and then they kiss. And it’s so bad, um, in the book, their first kiss happens after the final Quidditch match of the season. Harry’s in detention, so he can’t play. Ginny has replaced him as Seeker and, uh, she comes in from the game. He’s caught up with emotion when he comes in from detention, uh, finds out they win and 

[01:12:08] Tim: that motivation for the kiss sounds better to me.

Makes more sense. Caught up in the moment. Oh no. 

[01:12:15] Rebekah: Yeah. This one’s creepy. Ooh. Assaulting someone. That does it for me, buddy. 

[01:12:20] Donna: Um, also, there is no explanation in the film for how Harry and Dumbledore get across the crashing sea from the rock where they arrived at the cave entrance at their destination. In the book, they swim across, but the waves don’t seem to be quite as significant.

In the film there, the inferior in the lake, pull Harry down into the water briefly, whereas, uh, he does not get pulled into the water in the book. It’s much less clear in the film that Dumbledore was greatly weakened after the events of the cave where the book makes quite a big deal of normal when he wakes up, I mean, this thing that happened in the cave was a lot of stuff.

And then he just gets back up and they go back and he tells Harry, just promise not to say anything. I’m good. 

[01:13:09] Rebekah: Yeah, I’m good. Let’s go. Yeah. 

[01:13:11] Donna: He doesn’t stop him. Like he doesn’t do the curse. Why would they not have Dumbledore do the curse that freezes Harry? There is nowhere in any of the films or any of the books where Harry they don’t do that.

No. Harry could never have stood there and not acted. 

[01:13:31] Tim: I’m That’s what I was going to mention. Dumbledore doesn’t freeze Harry under the cloak, and that, that doesn’t make any sense. They’re in the Astronomy Tower. Harry sees all of the events unfold, but he’s never seen by the others. Um, and he’s only able to move once Dumbledore dies.

In the film, Dumbledore tells Harry to hide. On the floor below and Snape catches him and persuades him to be quiet before going upstairs a little to kill Dumbledore. Yeah. None of, none of that. Yeah. Snape, Snape shushes him. And he listens. That makes sense in the film. That was very poorly done. 

[01:14:13] Donna: And Harry’s been talking back to Snape at this point.

He started. Like challenging him, saying things in classes, whatever. 

[01:14:20] Rebekah: I will also point out that in the book, Harry and Dumbledore land back. They operate back into Hogsmeade in the film. They operate back to the castle. Yeah, no one would have known that they were there. The only reason that they knew they were there is because we find out later that it was Madame.

It was murder that was under the imperious curse that was done by Malfoy that she let Malfoy know that they were back and that’s how he knew to come up and threatened to kill Dumbledore and all this stuff. Yeah, this was, uh, it’s so bad. Like it was so 

[01:14:54] Josiah: structurally, I think it’s very anticlimactic to go straight from that horcrux into the astronomy tower.

There’s no buildup, there’s no transition. It’s just like. We’re on to the next scene. 

[01:15:06] Donna: So at this point in the film where we’re here, we’re Dumbledore’s about to meet his demise. That’s supposed to happen at the hand of Draco. We find out, finally find out that’s the plan. That’s what Voldemort gave him to do.

So we had a listener question from K Von 212, who’s one of our wonderful, who is our most, 

[01:15:28] Rebekah: Hey, It’s wonderful. She’s our most faithful listener. I think she’s the only person other than the people on this pod. Well, three of the people on this podcast and Josh who have listened to every single episode. And so Kalina, we love you.

I’m so glad you’re in the discord. We’re just shout out gorgeous. She’s a photographer in Nashville. If you’re getting married and live in the middle of Tennessee area, hire her. Yes, ma’am. Vintage Scarlet photography. Okay, go ahead. Get in the discord losers. All right, go ahead, mom. 

[01:15:56] Donna: But Kayvon212 asks, Do we think Draco actually would have killed Dumbledore if Snape hadn’t walked in?

[01:16:04] Rebekah: No! He pulls, he literally, she says he sets his wand, like she, he starts to drop his wand. He had decided not to kill Dumbledore. I am convinced that that was written that way on paper. 

[01:16:16] Tim: I don’t think that he would have been able to do it, and I think that’s why he, one of the reasons he was crying in the bathroom.

He just, he wasn’t up to it, but he knew that if he didn’t do it, Voldemort was gonna kill his family. 

[01:16:29] Rebekah: Well, among other things that annoy me and don’t make any sense, uh, in the book we get a great deal of explanation as to who the Half Blood Prince is. You know, the book title that everyone’s trying to figure out?

Well, who cares? Because in the film, it’s boiled down to a single line. In which Snape says, I am the Half Blood Prince before disappearing into the night. So apparently if you don’t, because you don’t explain this, it’s like, oh, so Snape calls himself Prince. So he’s a little bit of a cuckoo person.

Absolutely 

[01:16:58] Josiah: no explanation. I can’t believe they never mentioned his mom. It’s so weird. Wow. 

[01:17:05] Tim: That’s dumb. Well, in the book, most of the significant communication after Dumbledore’s death occurs in the hospital wing where Bill and Fleur are in addition to Lupin, Tonks, Arthur, and Molly Weasley. Then there’s a funeral scene during which Harry officially breaks off his relationship with Jenny.

In the film, we see a courtyard scene instead where people are staring at Dumbledore’s body. Then they lift their wands to the sky and make the dark mark and clouds go away. It’s never shown that Harry and Ginny’s relationship ends. I think that the, that ending is confusing. I much preferred the book. 

[01:17:49] Rebekah: It, they, I think the last scene is also they’re out like on the, on the bridge and they, he tells them that the locket they found was a fake.

And then the other two do say, like, that they’ll go with him to find the Horcruxes or whatever. So this isn’t technically the final scene, but yeah, they cut the funeral. 

[01:18:07] Tim: You know, one of the things that they miss by not having the funeral and everything, I believe for fans, you don’t get a satisfactory send off.

To Dumbledore, you see him falling through the air and it is not for fans. I don’t think it’s satisfying. I think you need that closure. Well, there’s a couple of setting changes. Not very many, but, um, the Hogwarts express is different. Uh, the Slytherin end of the Hogwarts Express is changed from the previous films where all of them were the compartments and things like that.

Now, uh, it’s seats on either side just like a normal, uh, railroad car, uh, rather than those compartments. And, uh, it has another coach. The previous movie, the prior movie show it with only four coaches or whatever, maybe the, maybe they did that thinking, okay, well, Hogwarts is getting bigger. There are more and more people coming.

I don’t know, but it was one of the setting changes. I thought it was a little strange at the beginning of the movie with. Yeah. 

[01:19:11] Rebekah: Also, the only other setting things I noticed, and I think this popped out to me because I’m replaying Hogwarts legacy. Um, I’m like two thirds of the way through the main story again.

Um, but in the book, Licks Felicis is a happy bubbling gold liquid as described by Slughorn. The film shows it as a clear liquid, which I, I remember in the movie going like, wait, Veritaserum is a clear liquid. Why is this clear? It seemed confusing. As like a little world building thing, um, I, the reason I mentioned Hogwarts legacy is because in the game it’s liquid gold.

So you are like, cause you make it in your room of requirement in the game and stuff. So I thought that was really funny. 

[01:19:52] Tim: Uh, characterization, the slughorn of the films is somewhat less paunchy. than he’s described in the book. Uh, one of the things was he waggles his stubby little finger. Uh, but this actor playing Slughorn is uh, trimmer than that.

[01:20:12] Donna: But would you, would you all agree though that I felt like the actor did him justice? 

[01:20:18] Josiah: Oh yeah, Jim Broadbent is a great actor. 

[01:20:22] Donna: Uh, Fenrir Greyback, the formidable werewolf. 

[01:20:26] Josiah: Oh! Huh. 

[01:20:27] Donna: Oh, werewolves of London, we just aged ourselves, is introduced as one villain in this film. However, he’s actually not the leader of these not really Death Eater Voldemort followers.

Um, and instead he’s, he’s overshadowed by a film only character in the first Hallows. 

[01:20:52] Rebekah: Which we’ll talk about in that episode. I’ll find his name and kind of talk about it. 

[01:20:55] Donna: Also, the film never actually states he’s a werewolf and we don’t hear Lupin say that Greyback is who turned him again. Lupin is in this film in a short measure.

That’s another short 45 second line thing they could have put in there because Harry, When he learns who Fenrir Greyback is, is repulsed that he bit Lupin as a child, there again giving you a little bit of, a little bit more of the emotional pull of all these characters and how they all work together.

[01:21:29] Josiah: Well, in the book, Harry also becomes increasingly angry with Snape from his appointment as a Defense against the dark arts teacher to his supposed role in Sirius’s death. This isn’t really shown in the film. 

[01:21:43] Rebekah: And as a reminder, Harry thinks that Snape is responsible for Sirius’s death because he goaded him every time he had the chance about not doing anything for the order.

[01:21:53] Josiah: Yeah, I think that the book, you’re able to really see Harry and Snape’s relationship parallel Harry’s relationship with the Half Blood Prince. And it’s true. Just not something that translates well to film automatically. They also did a particularly bad job of it, but it’s also something that works better in a book already.

So that was lost and it was done badly. Harry and Snape’s relationship was much. More nuanced and interesting in the book than in the film. 

[01:22:23] Rebekah: So this leads me to another listener question. Forest Fires asks, Why is Half Blood Prince the best book and movie? F 

[01:22:32] Tim: X rest fires. 

[01:22:34] Rebekah: Yeah. It’s not Forest Fires. F X rest fires.

Yeah, but the X is to be. 

[01:22:39] Tim: Is it supposed to be an the internet before? No, we haven’t. What is the internet? What is the internet? They identify as forest fires. 

[01:22:49] Rebekah:

[01:22:50] Tim: identify as a senior adult. 

[01:22:52] Rebekah: So we’re gonna ignore this question because it’s a stupid question. No question is 

[01:22:57] Tim: stupid. 

[01:23:00] Rebekah: Why is it the best? Well, he’s demonstrably wrong.

So I’m sorry. It’s a great book. I would, I would say there’s a very good book. I think the movie loses 

[01:23:10] Tim: it. I think the movie just misses. 

[01:23:13] Rebekah: So, I wanted to just share a quick thing because I have been really poo poo on Snape throughout our whole podcast series of this. And since this book is about Snape’s, uh, potions book, I figure I’ll just say it now.

I know that a lot of people really want Snape to be this awesome, like he was really good the whole time kind of thing. That’s what I get from people. Like that’s the kind of takeaway. And I know that some of the folks on this podcast agree with that take that. Really, his love for Lily redeems him, and he was actually working behind the scenes to help Harry all the time.

[01:23:49] Josiah: Yeah, you’re right. He, I do not think that’s 

[01:23:52] Rebekah: true at all. It’s false because there is just not a case that someone can be. A decent person with integrity and treat Harry the way he treated him far before it was ever something that, oh, was going to get back to Voldemort if he wasn’t actively cruel to Harry, um, in the fourth movie, or sorry, in the fourth book, Snape prevents Harry from telling Dumbledore quickly about, um, about, uh, what’s his face?

I’ve already forgotten his name. Barty. No, the guy’s, Barty Crouch. He stops Harry from telling him about Barty Crouch coming back, which, which he takes enough time that he could have literally caused Barty Crouch to be murdered because he just decided to take so much time to do this. He is mean to him from the very beginning, he’s mean to Harry, regardless of the fact that Harry does or doesn’t do anything, like Harry’s a little bit of a troublemaker, but nowhere near the Weasley twins.

He goes out a couple times at night, and I guess you can make the case for Snape realizing or thinking that Harry was part of stealing supplies from his office. But throughout the books and films, Snape is mean to Harry. He’s mean to him in an unnecessary way. I think he could have been apathetic towards Harry, but I do not like it that we get to the end and Harry names one of his kids after Are you kidding me?

Like, that is insane! 

[01:25:20] Josiah: Well, he’s 

[01:25:21] Rebekah: in his thirties and forties. You can get over it. If you’re a victim in 

[01:25:27] Josiah: this entire series that he can’t get over it, because that is what we do as humans is we don’t get over. We 

[01:25:35] Rebekah: nothing. I do not claim that. That is not who I am. I’m a better person than that. I cannot. It just drives me nuts that we’re expected to treat him as just this like Well, indecent person.

He’s relatable. You loved Lily. You were obsessed with Lily. You continue to love her even though you mistreated her. You called her a terrible name that you knew was going to hurt her. And then we’re mad that she didn’t want to be with you. Then she goes and someone else. You try. To get that person killed, like, 

[01:26:07] Tim: come on.

As has been the case in my life so far, I kind of sit in between the two of you. I, I think he’s a tragic character. I think he made terrible decisions. I think he was rotten to Harry. Unnecessarily, but I believe it’s because he was such a hurt part person and he just didn’t know how to be a good person to other people.

[01:26:31] Rebekah: Then don’t make him a saint. Don’t name your kid. I don’t think Harry should have named his kid after him. Did he name his kid 

[01:26:36] Tim: after Dumbledore? 

[01:26:38] Rebekah: Albus 

[01:26:39] Josiah: Severus. Albus Severus. He named him after 

[01:26:41] Rebekah: Albus and Severus. Dumbledore 

[01:26:42] Josiah: wanted Harry dead. 

[01:26:44] Rebekah: Yeah, Dumbledore wanted Harry dead. He loved him, but he wanted him to die because he knew that it was probably the only way to save the world from a great evil.

Not because he was pining after Harry’s dad. 

[01:26:56] Donna: No, he was pining after Grindelwald, but that’s a whole different story. 

[01:27:03] Rebekah: That is a whole other series. I said we wouldn’t 

[01:27:06] Donna: spoil Fantastic Beasts. 

[01:27:07] Josiah: It’s the secrets of Dumbledore, the closet of Dumbledore. 

[01:27:13] Donna: Remember at the end of this movie, when he stepped up, we’re supposed to believe that Albus was saying, please, Severus, don’t kill me or save me.

He was not. They’d already made the arrangement and Snape said, I don’t want to do this. And he began to get very angry with Dumbledore, as we find out later. I 

[01:27:34] Rebekah: don’t think he was as evil as a lot of the other people that we see. I agree with that. He had, there was some redemption in his story. My problem is being asked to see him 

[01:27:46] Donna: as being good.

Another characterization change as we wrap these up and thanks Fox Rest Forest Fires. Who confounded our lack of internet knowledge. Thanks for the question because we do like this banter. We do really get into talking about this stuff because it’s crazy. Moaning Myrtle, another very sad story character, is the one who actually alerted the teachers about Harry’s attack.

on Malfoy in the book, but they cut Myrtle out of this film for sure. I mean, let’s think about it. She’s getting old. She was 37 in Goblet. So, you know, we gotta, we gotta keep that in mind. But, um, yeah, she’s out of this one. At some point she’s probably going to 

[01:28:31] Tim: look like she’s 37. 

[01:28:32] Donna: Yeah. I mean, she’s a 

[01:28:34] Rebekah: ghost.

Another person I thought was weird to cut, uh, is Professor Trelawney. So she’s not in this film. Uh, she plays a really significant role in the chapter where Harry is rushing up to Dumbledore’s office because they found a Horcrux, and she’s how Harry learns. That Snape, the person we were just talking about, uh, Snape’s the person who, who told a Voldemort about the prophecy, the reason that Harry’s parents were murdered.

Uh, so professor Trelawney was in for an interview, Snape overheard and only overheard half of the prophecy, whatever. And so Harry. As a normal person at this point, uh, tells Dumbledore, Hey, I’m upset about that. And then they kind of have to like not talk about it, whatever. Um, so she is completely omitted.

That is just not part of the way they introduced the plot for like, they don’t have that Snape thing going on with Harry for the most part, like we already said. We also don’t mention in this book that because Forenzi was brought in in the fifth book, he is now unable to go back to the forest, and so she and him shared divination lessons between years.

Yeah. Um, so obviously it’s a very, very side plot thing, but I did think it was interesting that that was cut. 

[01:29:46] Josiah: Well, here’s another side character that was cut from this film, Amicus Caro, and I’m a big fan of Amicus Caro, because I love the trivia question of, Asking people, do you know who was the defense against the dark arts professor in the seventh Harry Potter book?

So I like amicus and electo caro, but amicus caro is the Death Eater in the book who tells Draco to kill Dumbledore in the film. It is Bellatrix Lestrange who is not mentioned in the book as being at the castle. Orphan Rowell is also cut from the Death Eater scene at the end of the movie. I think this is the least of that scene’s problems, but it is interesting that they give more stuff to Bellatrix, honestly.

It’s probably good that they gave an extra thing for Bellatrix to do. I do think she’s kind of underutilized in the whole series. 

[01:30:36] Donna: Another opportunity for them to color her teeth black and gray. So now we’re going to get into some basic info trivia about the book and the movie. The book released on July 16th, 2005.

The movie release was back at ODEON Leicester Square on July 7th, 2009, and then the rest of the UK and US release and worldwide release happened July 15th. Book rating was 4. 58 out of 5 on Goodreads. The, uh, movie ratings, Rotten Tomatoes, uh, critics gave it an 84 percent Lickster audience score was 78%.

So again, pretty close together. The IMDB rating was 7. 6 out of 10. It’s down a little bit, I think, from some of the others. That is actually 

[01:31:25] Rebekah: lower, I think, than the last one. I 

[01:31:27] Donna: think so. Um, 

[01:31:29] Josiah: as it should be, 

[01:31:30] Donna: yeah, yeah, the production cost, I’m surprised I got an 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah, I thought it was, I thought that was interesting to honestly, um, production cost 250 million.

So we’re continuing to beef up our production numbers a little bit. Opening weekend, uh, just short of 78 million USA. That’s in the U S only USA. Canada gross ended up at three Oh two 302 million international. So, uh, I love that this particular movie, the international so much higher, 632 million, so it doubled the USA Canada gross, which gives us a total of just short of 300 or 935.

[01:32:16] Tim: We’re getting close to a billion dollars. 

[01:32:19] Rebekah: Yeah. So Rowling stated on her official website that she liked Half Blood Prince better than Goblet, Order of the Phoenix, or Chamber of Secrets when they were finished. 

[01:32:27] Josiah: It shows. 

[01:32:28] Rebekah: She said, quote, Book six does what I wanted it to do. And even if nobody else likes it and some won’t, I know it will remain one of my favorites of the series.

Ultimately, you have to please yourself before you please anyone else. Why wouldn’t 

[01:32:40] Josiah: you like it? Dumbledore eyes. 

[01:32:42] Rebekah: I mean, maybe. I love it. I guess that would probably be it. And even I, who don’t love a ton of character deaths, I think there’s so much purpose and use in that character death that like, I didn’t hate this at all because I thought it was, it was done really well.

And I think it’s funny that all of us really like this book. I think she did a good job. Well, multiple places, news agencies, websites, whatever, reported, uh, from the fall of 2006 to the early 2007, uh, period that Daniel, Rupert and Emma all considered not reprising their lead roles, but did change their minds and ended up finishing the series.

That would have been 

[01:33:19] Tim: extremely awkward if they hadn’t finished. 

[01:33:21] Rebekah: My guess is that they were contractually obligated and it wasn’t, uh, it was probably an empty threat. For money. 

[01:33:26] Donna: Could it have been a public, could it have been a publicity stunt? I don’t know. Sure, 

[01:33:30] Josiah: but then again, they have agents and agents like don’t sign anything that commits to seven or eight years so that we can renegotiate in five 

[01:33:40] Tim: and, you know, from the producers standpoint, having them sign for multi year contracts may not have been something they wanted them to do.

What if they turn out to be really bad actors as they grow older? you know, if they wanted to get out of it. 

[01:33:55] Donna: What if they did? 

[01:33:56] Tim: Well, yeah. Okay. This piece of trivia is, is sad. Um, this was actually Daniel Radcliffe’s least favorite movie and the hardest one for him to watch. And he said, yes, I do go back and watch them.

During an interview in 2014, he revealed that he was struggling with alcohol and he can tell in some of the scenes that made it into the final cut. That he was intoxicated, um, and he’s that it’s very difficult to watch that and know how much trouble I was having with alcohol and that it shows. In the film, 

[01:34:34] Donna: the last little bit of trivia too is sad, it was sad at the time, but we see a, a, a good outcome afterward.

Um, Dame Maggie Smith completed filming of this movie while she was going, uh, undergoing radiation therapy treatment for breast cancer. And that, that is a zapping. An energy zapping. Oh yeah. 

[01:34:57] Tim: And so. Kind of literally. 

[01:35:00] Donna: Kudos to her. Yeah. And just shows the depth of who she is as a real, actual real person.

[01:35:06] Rebekah: Well, as we reach the end here, we’re going to go over our final verdicts and like with our other Harry Potters, we’re going to give an idea of what our favorite book scene is from the Half Blood Friends, uh, and let us know if you like how it was, uh, portrayed in the film. So I’ll go first. My final verdict.

This is the worst movie of the whole bunch, probably. Um, I hated this movie so much because of all the changes they made that I thought were bad. However, it is my favorite of the books. I really like Deathly Hallows, but it feels cheating to say that it’s like your favorite book. So, I would say this one and Deathly Hallows are probably equal for me, but everybody thinks it’s cheating.

Um, but I don’t like this one at all. Uh, it’s frustrating to have to watch. I generally, like, if I’m watching the movies in order, a lot of times now I just skip one and two, and then when I get to this one I just watch it when I’m like, washing dishes or something so that I don’t have to pay attention that much.

Um, but yeah, that’s my final verdict. I think my favorite scene in the film is probably the one in the hospital where Hermione, um, Like realizes that Ron saying her name after all of this time apart, because it’s been such a frustrating thing. Um, I think it was actually done pretty well in the film. I was really satisfied with how annoyed Lavender Brown was.

Yeah, I thought all of that went really well, so that’s me. 

[01:36:27] Josiah: Well, I actually I’m glad that I said it earlier in the podcast, because I didn’t want to sound like I was copying Rebecca when I think. That this is the best book in the worst movie. I also believe that. So I do believe that the book is way better.

I think that I don’t know how you would define it as a scene, but I remember the atmosphere of the book really established that Ginny is a cool, popular, sporty kind of tomboy, super pretty and also talented, good at sports. And everyone loves her. And she just seemed like the coolest person, and that is 0 percent in the movie.

The actress, God bless her, was chosen when she was a child, and they didn’t know what she would act like 6, 7 years after she was cast. I get it, and it’s not her fault, but I do think that It completely ruined a huge part of the movie. I mean, what is the movie? The movie is Harry and Ginny, Harry and Snape, Harry and Voldemort’s memories.

Those are like the funnest parts of the movie, and all of them are completely ruined, but Harry and Ginny is one of the huge tentpoles. of the story that completely doesn’t work. So I think that’s kind of my favorite part of the book. I don’t know if it’s a scene, but is how cool Ginny is. And it is not portrayed well in the film.

Gotcha. 

[01:37:58] Donna: So I think overall, I I’m going to watch the movie again if I decide to watch the series. No way around that for me. That’s just a brain hang up I have, I guess. Um, but it has kind of become something to, to make fun of. And I hate that because I am loyal to the series. I love the series. I love the characters, all of the principles involved, but that’s okay.

Um, it’s not the end of the world and I get through it. Well, and look, I’m still, I still rewatch twilight. So if I can do that, the least I can do is not skip out blood prints. Um, I did love the book. I felt like the book was just a standout. I did. I, I enjoy, I find enjoyment from all the books, but this one is standout.

Uh, I am more of a fan of Snape and that’s okay. Everybody doesn’t have to like him. I’m, I’m okay with that too. So, that’s me, kind of agreeing with the other two, and we’ll see what Putter comes up with here. 

[01:39:02] Tim: Yeah, I’m not, I’m not sure that any of us, um, feel drastically different. Uh, about it. I thought the book was really good.

I’m not sure that I would say it’s my favorite, but it probably is my favorite book. Um, it is not the worst film for me. I despised the last one. This one is bad, and I think a lot of the things they left out made it bad. Um, it could have been so much better, um, and I don’t know what my favorite scene, let’s see, I think the favorite scene for me in the book was on the astronomy tower and that Harry couldn’t do anything while he’s watching this happen.

I thought it was a great scene and in the book, obviously, and they did it great in the film. Completely broken and damaged for the film. Uh, and then my least favorite scene in the film we’ve already talked about is the one where they burn down the Weasley’s house. So unnecessary, so crazy, so out of place.

And there were so many things you should have included in the movie from the book. Instead, you added this crazy thing. So great, great book. Well written, um, easy to follow. I liked it. I’ll be honest. It’s more difficult as I’m reading for the next one. I’m reading the Deathly Hallows. It’s harder to read, uh, than, than Half Blood Prince was.

So yeah, I like the book film, not so much. So 

[01:40:36] Donna: probably one of my favorite scenes. Uh, I do like the exchange with. Dumbledore in the Dursley’s at the beginning. Um, I know Vernon never truly realizes what a horrible person he’s been to Harry. I get that, but I think that Dumbledore clearly communicating to him how he was so bad to Harry and so.

You know, I knew he wouldn’t be treated like a wizard, but you far under, under cut what I had hoped. I thought you’d at least give him a home and a place where he felt a part of a family. I loved that scene. Seen in the book and of course it was cut from the film. So you know. 

[01:41:22] Rebekah: Hey, thanks for joining us on this episode.

Next week we will wrap up our summer of Potter. You don’t wanna miss it. And until then, feel free to join our Discord server. It’s totally free. And the link is in the episode description. We hope you enjoyed this one. Till next time, that’s

[01:41:52] Tim: all folks.

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