Episode 200 Topics Include:
- A feature length audio commentary for Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
LISTEN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW TO LEARN HOW TO SYNC UP THE COMMENTARY WITH THE FILM
Running Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes
Episode Songs:
Neville - MC Chris
This Podcast May Include Some Explicit Language
...It Also Most Likely Contains Some Spoilers
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i listened without watching the movie at the same time (i haven't seen the movie, period) and it was still totally entertaining. i'm going to rent the movie and listen to this again, too.
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how glad I am to hear this! I think our biggest worry was that not only would no one listen to it while watching the movie but that they wouldn't listen to it at all. Thanks Ross!
Deletei rented the movie and watched it with your commentary! pretty fun. i've only seen the third movie so i was totally lost, but it seems so weird how they don't explain ANYTHING in these movies. like the splinching thing, i looked it up and it's a term from the books that means when a wizard loses part of their body when teleporting, but it's like they throw that stuff in there ONLY for people who have already read the books, otherwise it's nonsensical. i guess it still serves as world-building and hinting at this bigger wizard culture, but at the same time if you hadn't read the books that scene with Ron makes no sense.
ReplyDeletei'm with Rian on how the magic changes from scene to scene depending on what it needs to be for the plot, but i can forgive a lot of that because it's so widespread. doesn't make it better but it is what it is and when dealing with fictional powers i think if the emotion and character are well-done then the inconsistencies don't matter as much. i wouldn't want total logical superpowers getting in the way, i guess, since half the time if the powers functioned as they really would (though who can even determine that?) then you don't have a story. it's no different than how characters' powers change all the time in X-Men or something, in fact i can't really think of a fictional world where magical/super abilities DON'T function inconsistently. definitely can be frustrating, though, especially if scenes contradict each other like in one scene Magneto, for example, can control a bunch of cars but then in a subsequent scene why doesn't he just bring down the girders in the building he's attacking?
First off, thanks for listening to the episode, Ross. Second, thanks for actually taking the time to get the DVD and watch the movie WITH the commentary! Did everything work out okay? I never did watch the movie again with the commentary to make sure all of the timing was right.
DeleteOn the topic of the magic/powers, it seems that we pretty much agree on the subject, but my main problem is that there are NO rules to the magic in Harry Potter. To use your example, if you ask me to name the powers of ANY X-Men character (presuming I'm familiar with him/her), I can easily tell you what their powers are in a sentence or two. Sure, there may be variations or limitations to their abilities from time to time depending on who's writing the story or whatever, but Magneto can control metal, Cyclops shoots laser beams from his eyes, Colossus turns to metal, Nightcrawler teleports, Kitty Pryde becomes intangible, Storm controls the weather, and Professor X has telepathy. What can Harry, Hermione, Ron, and/or any other character in the Harry Potter universe do? I have no idea.
That's where my problem lies. There is no limit to, or definition of, what the Potter characters are capable of, which I find very frustrating. If Cyclops is locked in a room, he can try shooting the walls with his optic blasts. The walls could melt or be blown away by the beams, or the beams could have no effect at all. If Harry and company are locked in a room...who the hell knows? Can they teleport out? Maybe? Maybe not? Maybe an Elf can teleport in and out even though they can't for some reason? Maybe Hermione can wave her wand and create a door in one of the walls just like that wreath she creates on Harry's parents' grave? Maybe that doesn't work? There's really no way to logically tackle the situation unless you are J.K. Rowling and you make up whatever you want to just because you feel like it. That's what I don't like. I want some rules or some guidelines or something.
If I can't anticipate the danger a character is in because I have no way to judge that character's ability to deal with the danger at hand, I don't feel any tension. Sure, there are always going to be unconventional ways to use a superpower/magic ability...I can deal with that. What I can't deal with is not even knowing what the character(s) can do in the first place. This is exactly why I felt absolutely no emotion during the final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort at the end of the final Potter film (which I know you haven't seen). I had no idea what either character brought to the fight, so I was basically just sitting there wondering why the two of them were just shooting never-ending beams of light at one another instead of conjuring weapons or some kind of Final Fantasy shit.
Maybe I'm alone in this corner, but I think that absence of "logic" is a major flaw of the Potter franchise.
ahh, i see what you mean about the character powers, totally. i get it now. i'm with ya. like the story could conceivably end with Harry casting an Instant Death spell on Voldemort and winning in one hit and you could never question it because who knows what spells he knows or is capable of or what side of the bed JK Rowling woke up on that morning. definitely saps a lot of the tension when you don't know what the stakes are because they're always changing. maybe it's better in the books?
Deletei wonder if that gets boring to write, too, like if you can write your characters able to do basically anything at any given time depending on what your plot is, there's no real problem-solving or challenges in figuring out how to have your characters get out of something or beat an adversary or solve a mystery. "oh, well in this scene he has the Open Lock spell so he can get out!"
gotta call you out one nerd thing, though: Cyclops's eye beams wouldn't melt the walls because his beams don't create heat! they're not lasers, they're heatless impact beams of concussive force! ;)
I think the biggest problem in all of the Harry Potter movies is that the film makers assume you know everything that is going on and everything about the world. There is way too much assumption going on. Like, I've read some of the books and a lot of Rian's complaints are dealt with in the books but the movies just assume you've read the books and already know that.
DeleteI feel like I know the characters and have a connection to them so I can blindly look over the faults. When they are pointed out, as Rian so graciously does, there is no arguing them but I still love the movies and have a lot of fun with them.