What did I literally just tell Trevor? Take these snippets and make an article and it can be a Guest Post. Stop posting them here.
This is not the place to work on drafts. Use a PM.
"To Introduce our Guest Star, that's What I'm Here to Do..." The Hensonverse Fan Contribution Thread
- Thread starter Geekhis Khan
- Start date
This is not the place to work on drafts. Use a PM.
PIGS...IN...SPAAAACCCEEEE!!!!
Review of Pigs in Space (2007) - A Cosmic Muppet Classic!
By Rob Napier for At the Theater blog, 7-27-2007
Guest post by @Trevor807
In the latest Muppet cinematic adventure based on a series of sketches on The Muppet Show and set in the distant future of 2017, the crew of the USS Swinetrek, Captain Link Hogthrob (Steve Whitmire), First Mate Miss Piggy (Eric Jacobson), and Dr. Julius Strangepork (voice by Jerry Nelson, puppetry by Matt Vogel) fight a war against Dearth Nadir (“played” by Gonzo the Great, performed by Dave Goelz) and his army of rats.
Directed by Paul King and written by Kirk Thatcher and Joey Mazzarino (who also does some puppetry in this film) from a screenplay by Thatcher, Mazzarino, and the late Jerry Juhl (who passed away in 2005 and receives a dedication at the beginning) with Kevin Clash, Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, and Martin Baker as executive producers, Pigs in Space is a thrilling cinematic parody of sci-fi works such as Star Wars and Star Trek, even featuring actors from both works such as Mark Hamill, Rosalind Chao, and LeVar Burton.
This but as a big-budget Hollywood movie.
Please read this section at your own risk if you haven't seen the movie. If you have, then continue reading.
The movie opens up with an announcer (Nelson) reciting the title (“PIGS….. IN….. SPACE!!!!!!!”) and introducing the Swinetrek crew, using new adjectives to describe them like how they were introduced in the second season of The Muppet Show. Then we see the crew themselves doing their morning routine, and then arriving in their respective positions. Classic Muppet antics ensue, with Link, of course, being a male chauvinist pig (literally) towards Piggy, who karate-chops him after he makes a joke at her weight. Suddenly, they get a call from S.N.O.R.T. (Spatial Nadir Opposition Revolution Team) leaders Kermit (Whitmire) and Fozzie (Jacobson), who tell them to fly back to Earth for a meeting. They're told that the mysterious Dearth Nadir and his Cosmic Rodential Army and Zonal Empire (C.R.A.Z.E.) are up to their old tricks, and that they must seek out the former soldier Ken (Mark Hamill), who was a general in the Third Pork-Rodent War many years ago.
The Swinetrek crew spends the first act seeking Ken, and meet up with Scooter (David Rudman), who gives them intel on Dearth and C.R.A.Z.E., while Statler (voice by Nelson, puppetry by Whitmire) and Waldorf (Bill Barretta) provide their usual brand of commentary throughout the picture. They also later meet Zondra (Fran Brill), who becomes the leader of the S.N.O.R.T. squadron.
Dearth, meanwhile, schemes with his second-in-commands, Grand Admirals Rizzo (Whitmire) and Pepé (Barretta), the latter only being there as a favor to the producer, at their EVIL Lair. (EVIL stands for “Evil Villain’s Immoral Lair”, so that would make it “Evil Villain’s Immoral Lair Lair”, like how DC Comics is “Detective Comics Comics”, or how the “M” in ATM machine stands for “machine”. Heck, even the redundancy of the acronym is lampshaded!) Dearth, of course, gets his ideas from doing wild stunts with cultural aspects such as reciting Shakespeare and playing classical music on his trumpet.
Finally, the party finds Ken in his hideout, where he teaches the Swinetrek crew and Scooter the ways… of yoga. And also some fighting moves.
Several rats bring in the tough and snarky Princess Rose (Rosalind Chao), daughter of an unidentified royal, for interrogation in which she would get tickled with a feather unless she squeals, but she manages to escape after a few minutes using a blaster she tricked a rat into giving him. Someone better tell C.R.A.Z.E. that they need better employees.
In the second act, the heroes stop at the planet Koozebane (a staple in the Pigs in Space sketches), where they meet up with Scooter’s friend, a bounty hunter named Peter (LeVar Burton) who agrees to help them with the fight for a price: 62 cents. The six, after checking their wallets, pay their money to Peter and he joins in. Just then, they meet Rose, and arrive back at S.N.O.R.T. to attend a briefing for the upcoming battle, with many familiar Muppets in attendance (plus a few rogue rats). Link, being Link, tries making his usual sexist remarks towards Rose, who karate-chops him to Piggy’s approval, and Zondra bonds with Rose due to both of them being tough girls.
Back at the EVIL Lair, Dearth, Rizzo, and Pepé deploy hundreds of fighter jets (all piloted by rats) above space to send a message to S.N.O.R.T., starting the climatic space battle. Notably, the C.R.A.Z.E. fleet is animated with CGI from Disney’s Digital Division, while S.N.O.R.T.’s less powerful fighters are initially live-action models. Dearth brags about his higher budget and better technology, even boasting that he gave his jets “the Special Edition treatment”, a hilarious reference to George Lucas’ Special Editions of the original Star Wars trilogy. (Incidentally, Lisa Henson, Jim’s daughter and Disney’s chairwoman, worked with Lucas on those.) As the trio scheme, Rose works her way through the EVIL Lair by distracting many rats, while Ken sacrifices himself by crashing his jet into the power source of one of C.R.A.Z.E.’s jets, causing it to blow up.
The third act stands out as the film’s finest scene, in my opinion: as Scooter checks in and relays info to the Swinetrek, S.N.O.R.T. is finally able to deploy CGI jets as well, and after Link (as usual) tries forcing Piggy to cook food for S.N.O.R.T.’s fighters in the Swinetrek’s kitchen, Piggy karate-chops him and steals a fighter jet so she could participate in the space battle. She winds up being the best of the team, even taking down Dearth’s fighter jet, along with Rizzo and Pepé’s jets. (Don't worry, they all have parachutes. And spacesuits.) More celebrities make cameo appearances fighting for both sides as "celebrity fighters", including Jude Barsi, John Cleese, Bryan Cranston, Jane Kaczmarek, Tom Kenny, Sylvester Stallone, Tim Curry, and Ashley Tisdale. Meanwhile, Rose arrives at the trio’s office, and is able to power down the EVIL Lair just by pulling a plug, with the trio realizing that they could've prevented this by simply using a more complex power source.
Dearth, Rizzo, and Pepé are arrested and placed in cages where peanuts are pelted at them (naturally, only Dearth loves it), Ken comes back alive and well (because his ship also had a parachute and a spacesuit) but leaves for another film and promises to come back another day, and the Swinetrek’s crew, along with Scooter, Zondra, Rose, and Peter, are met with a ceremony by Kermit, Fozzie and other S.N.O.R.T. members, who give Link, Piggy, Dr. Strangepork, Scooter, and Zondra medals, also revealing that Rose is the daughter of King Sam (Jacobson). In Piggy’s case, however, she is given two for being an excellent fighter, leading to Link accusing Kermit of favoritism. Kermit, however, demotes Link to First Mate for his incompetence and poor leadership, and promotes Piggy to Captain. Piggy, of course, takes the liberty of forcing Link to cook and do laundry. Harsh? Yes. Sweet revenge? Also yes. And Dr. Strangepork, of course, is careful enough not to crack jokes at Piggy’s weight or gender, lest he get karate-chopped. The movie ends with the Swinetrek crew off on another adventure.
After the credits, Statler and Waldorf provide one last crack about space, while in the middle of space and wearing spacesuits.
Thatcher and Mazzarino are both Muppet veterans, and this shows in their screenplay, which captures the good old-fashioned humor the Muppets are known for. References to science fiction and fourth wall breaks are abundant. Michael Giacchino composes the music with all the seriousness you’d expect out of, say, Star Wars, even utilizing the London Symphony Orchestra, adding another layer to the comedy. And King, the director, shows himself to be well-versed in mixing irreverence with sentimentality, as well as understanding what makes the Muppets tick.
Making this film more significant is that this is Jim Henson’s swan song as Rowlf the Dog (who made a cameo as S.N.O.R.T. squadron fighter Gray Seven), having originated the role 45 years ago and continuing to perform the character even when his duties with Disney throughout the '80s and '90s forced him to give up his other roles. Henson stated in a recent Associated Press interview that, due to his increasing age (70 as of this writing), he believed Barretta was “fully ready” to take on Rowlf full-time. Don't worry, though: he will continue to consult on Muppet projects for the foreseeable future. And said retirement even receives a cheeky wink in the film when Rowlf comments after shooting down a C.R.A.Z.E. fighter, “Whew, maybe I oughta retire when this is all over”.
In the end, I’m rating this film the full five stars. It's a solid addition to the Muppets’ filmography, and if the box office returns are good, I would expect a sequel or two to arrive in a few years’ time. After all, that's what happened with Star Wars. People loved it and we got sequels, plus prequels, plus an expanded universe, plus George Lucas making that mint off of merchandising sales because of short-sighted decisions from the now-separated 20th Century Fox. Maybe Disney could make a mint off of merchandising sales for Pigs in Space this holiday season. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Until next time, this is Rob Napier, and I’ll see you at the theater!
PIGS IN SPACE
Rating: 5/5
Directed by Paul King
Rated PG
Runtime: 102 minutes
Cast:
By Rob Napier for At the Theater blog, 7-27-2007
Guest post by @Trevor807
In the latest Muppet cinematic adventure based on a series of sketches on The Muppet Show and set in the distant future of 2017, the crew of the USS Swinetrek, Captain Link Hogthrob (Steve Whitmire), First Mate Miss Piggy (Eric Jacobson), and Dr. Julius Strangepork (voice by Jerry Nelson, puppetry by Matt Vogel) fight a war against Dearth Nadir (“played” by Gonzo the Great, performed by Dave Goelz) and his army of rats.
Directed by Paul King and written by Kirk Thatcher and Joey Mazzarino (who also does some puppetry in this film) from a screenplay by Thatcher, Mazzarino, and the late Jerry Juhl (who passed away in 2005 and receives a dedication at the beginning) with Kevin Clash, Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, and Martin Baker as executive producers, Pigs in Space is a thrilling cinematic parody of sci-fi works such as Star Wars and Star Trek, even featuring actors from both works such as Mark Hamill, Rosalind Chao, and LeVar Burton.
This but as a big-budget Hollywood movie.
Please read this section at your own risk if you haven't seen the movie. If you have, then continue reading.
The movie opens up with an announcer (Nelson) reciting the title (“PIGS….. IN….. SPACE!!!!!!!”) and introducing the Swinetrek crew, using new adjectives to describe them like how they were introduced in the second season of The Muppet Show. Then we see the crew themselves doing their morning routine, and then arriving in their respective positions. Classic Muppet antics ensue, with Link, of course, being a male chauvinist pig (literally) towards Piggy, who karate-chops him after he makes a joke at her weight. Suddenly, they get a call from S.N.O.R.T. (Spatial Nadir Opposition Revolution Team) leaders Kermit (Whitmire) and Fozzie (Jacobson), who tell them to fly back to Earth for a meeting. They're told that the mysterious Dearth Nadir and his Cosmic Rodential Army and Zonal Empire (C.R.A.Z.E.) are up to their old tricks, and that they must seek out the former soldier Ken (Mark Hamill), who was a general in the Third Pork-Rodent War many years ago.
The Swinetrek crew spends the first act seeking Ken, and meet up with Scooter (David Rudman), who gives them intel on Dearth and C.R.A.Z.E., while Statler (voice by Nelson, puppetry by Whitmire) and Waldorf (Bill Barretta) provide their usual brand of commentary throughout the picture. They also later meet Zondra (Fran Brill), who becomes the leader of the S.N.O.R.T. squadron.
Dearth, meanwhile, schemes with his second-in-commands, Grand Admirals Rizzo (Whitmire) and Pepé (Barretta), the latter only being there as a favor to the producer, at their EVIL Lair. (EVIL stands for “Evil Villain’s Immoral Lair”, so that would make it “Evil Villain’s Immoral Lair Lair”, like how DC Comics is “Detective Comics Comics”, or how the “M” in ATM machine stands for “machine”. Heck, even the redundancy of the acronym is lampshaded!) Dearth, of course, gets his ideas from doing wild stunts with cultural aspects such as reciting Shakespeare and playing classical music on his trumpet.
Finally, the party finds Ken in his hideout, where he teaches the Swinetrek crew and Scooter the ways… of yoga. And also some fighting moves.
Several rats bring in the tough and snarky Princess Rose (Rosalind Chao), daughter of an unidentified royal, for interrogation in which she would get tickled with a feather unless she squeals, but she manages to escape after a few minutes using a blaster she tricked a rat into giving him. Someone better tell C.R.A.Z.E. that they need better employees.
In the second act, the heroes stop at the planet Koozebane (a staple in the Pigs in Space sketches), where they meet up with Scooter’s friend, a bounty hunter named Peter (LeVar Burton) who agrees to help them with the fight for a price: 62 cents. The six, after checking their wallets, pay their money to Peter and he joins in. Just then, they meet Rose, and arrive back at S.N.O.R.T. to attend a briefing for the upcoming battle, with many familiar Muppets in attendance (plus a few rogue rats). Link, being Link, tries making his usual sexist remarks towards Rose, who karate-chops him to Piggy’s approval, and Zondra bonds with Rose due to both of them being tough girls.
Back at the EVIL Lair, Dearth, Rizzo, and Pepé deploy hundreds of fighter jets (all piloted by rats) above space to send a message to S.N.O.R.T., starting the climatic space battle. Notably, the C.R.A.Z.E. fleet is animated with CGI from Disney’s Digital Division, while S.N.O.R.T.’s less powerful fighters are initially live-action models. Dearth brags about his higher budget and better technology, even boasting that he gave his jets “the Special Edition treatment”, a hilarious reference to George Lucas’ Special Editions of the original Star Wars trilogy. (Incidentally, Lisa Henson, Jim’s daughter and Disney’s chairwoman, worked with Lucas on those.) As the trio scheme, Rose works her way through the EVIL Lair by distracting many rats, while Ken sacrifices himself by crashing his jet into the power source of one of C.R.A.Z.E.’s jets, causing it to blow up.
The third act stands out as the film’s finest scene, in my opinion: as Scooter checks in and relays info to the Swinetrek, S.N.O.R.T. is finally able to deploy CGI jets as well, and after Link (as usual) tries forcing Piggy to cook food for S.N.O.R.T.’s fighters in the Swinetrek’s kitchen, Piggy karate-chops him and steals a fighter jet so she could participate in the space battle. She winds up being the best of the team, even taking down Dearth’s fighter jet, along with Rizzo and Pepé’s jets. (Don't worry, they all have parachutes. And spacesuits.) More celebrities make cameo appearances fighting for both sides as "celebrity fighters", including Jude Barsi, John Cleese, Bryan Cranston, Jane Kaczmarek, Tom Kenny, Sylvester Stallone, Tim Curry, and Ashley Tisdale. Meanwhile, Rose arrives at the trio’s office, and is able to power down the EVIL Lair just by pulling a plug, with the trio realizing that they could've prevented this by simply using a more complex power source.
Dearth, Rizzo, and Pepé are arrested and placed in cages where peanuts are pelted at them (naturally, only Dearth loves it), Ken comes back alive and well (because his ship also had a parachute and a spacesuit) but leaves for another film and promises to come back another day, and the Swinetrek’s crew, along with Scooter, Zondra, Rose, and Peter, are met with a ceremony by Kermit, Fozzie and other S.N.O.R.T. members, who give Link, Piggy, Dr. Strangepork, Scooter, and Zondra medals, also revealing that Rose is the daughter of King Sam (Jacobson). In Piggy’s case, however, she is given two for being an excellent fighter, leading to Link accusing Kermit of favoritism. Kermit, however, demotes Link to First Mate for his incompetence and poor leadership, and promotes Piggy to Captain. Piggy, of course, takes the liberty of forcing Link to cook and do laundry. Harsh? Yes. Sweet revenge? Also yes. And Dr. Strangepork, of course, is careful enough not to crack jokes at Piggy’s weight or gender, lest he get karate-chopped. The movie ends with the Swinetrek crew off on another adventure.
After the credits, Statler and Waldorf provide one last crack about space, while in the middle of space and wearing spacesuits.
Thatcher and Mazzarino are both Muppet veterans, and this shows in their screenplay, which captures the good old-fashioned humor the Muppets are known for. References to science fiction and fourth wall breaks are abundant. Michael Giacchino composes the music with all the seriousness you’d expect out of, say, Star Wars, even utilizing the London Symphony Orchestra, adding another layer to the comedy. And King, the director, shows himself to be well-versed in mixing irreverence with sentimentality, as well as understanding what makes the Muppets tick.
Making this film more significant is that this is Jim Henson’s swan song as Rowlf the Dog (who made a cameo as S.N.O.R.T. squadron fighter Gray Seven), having originated the role 45 years ago and continuing to perform the character even when his duties with Disney throughout the '80s and '90s forced him to give up his other roles. Henson stated in a recent Associated Press interview that, due to his increasing age (70 as of this writing), he believed Barretta was “fully ready” to take on Rowlf full-time. Don't worry, though: he will continue to consult on Muppet projects for the foreseeable future. And said retirement even receives a cheeky wink in the film when Rowlf comments after shooting down a C.R.A.Z.E. fighter, “Whew, maybe I oughta retire when this is all over”.
In the end, I’m rating this film the full five stars. It's a solid addition to the Muppets’ filmography, and if the box office returns are good, I would expect a sequel or two to arrive in a few years’ time. After all, that's what happened with Star Wars. People loved it and we got sequels, plus prequels, plus an expanded universe, plus George Lucas making that mint off of merchandising sales because of short-sighted decisions from the now-separated 20th Century Fox. Maybe Disney could make a mint off of merchandising sales for Pigs in Space this holiday season. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Until next time, this is Rob Napier, and I’ll see you at the theater!
PIGS IN SPACE
Rating: 5/5
Directed by Paul King
Rated PG
Runtime: 102 minutes
Cast:
- Steve Whitmire as Captain Link Hogthrob, Kermit the Frog, Grand Admiral Rizzo, Statler (puppetry), the Newsman, Beaker, Lips, and Other Muppets
- Eric Jacobson as First Mate Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Marvin Suggs, King Sam, and Other Muppets
- Jerry Nelson as Dr. Julius Strangepork, Statler, Sgt. Floyd Pepper, Robin the Frog, Lew Zealand, and Announcer (voice)
- Dave Goelz as Dearth Nadir (Gonzo), Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, Beauregard, and Other Muppets
- Bill Barretta as Grand Admiral Pepé, Waldorf, Dr. Teeth, the Swedish Chef, Sal Minella, Bobo the Bear, and Other Muppets
- David Rudman as Scooter, Janice, and Other Muppets
- Fran Brill as Zondra and Other Muppets
- Mark Hamill as Ken
- Rosalind Chao as Princess Rose
- LeVar Burton as Steve
- Kevin Clash as Clifford and Other Muppets
- Matt Vogel as Dr. Julius Strangepork, Sgt. Floyd Pepper, Lew Zealand, Robin the Frog (puppetry), Sweetums, and Other Muppets
- Peter Linz as Dr. Phil Van Neuter and Other Muppets
- Jim Henson as Rowlf the Dog
- Additional Performers: Dave Barclay, Jennifer Barnhart, Rickey Boyd, Wayne Brady, Warrick Brownlow-Pike, Julianne Buescher, Tyler Bunch, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Alice Dinnean, Artie Esposito, Dan Garza, Louise Gold, Geoff Felix, Andy Heath, John Kennedy, Donna Kimball, Drew Massey, Joey Mazzarino, Kathryn Mullen, Brett O’Quinn, Nigel Plaskitt, Karen Prell, Mike Quinn, Martin P. Robinson, John Tartaglia, and Victor Yerrid
It’s probably supposed to be a hand to remind Trevor to not post his drafts here
I doubt it is. Geekhis already reminded me. Who knows why Kirbopher put a pointed hand there?
*sells all my interest in the hensonverse which wasn’t much to begin with now that @Geekhis Khan just drew the last straw to @KPyall
Dance Your Cares Away...
Waggle Rock: Welcome to the Rock! (2003)
Post from the Puppets Galore! Netsite by F. R. Argyle, April 3rd, 2013
Hi guys! Today is the start of Waggle Wednesday, with an new article posted every Wednesday of this April, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Waggle Rock!
And what a way to start off this commemoration, with the first feature-length movie of the franchise, after the many short films that had appeared before many Disney films from 1987 to 2002.
Waggle Rock: Welcome to the Rock! released in theatres on April 18th, 2003, on the 20th anniversary of Waggle Rock’s first ever episode on the launch of the Disney Channel, and was directed by the late Jerry Nelson in his first feature-length movie directorial debut, having had directed the 2002 Waggle Rock: Gozer Power short film[1].
He took the directing job, because Nelson felt his experience with the original show meant he was uniquely qualified to direct a Waggle Rock movie (while Karen Prell, who directed multiple TV episodes with the Muppets, could have directed, an later interview stated that she felt she was not ready for a director’s role of a feature-length film yet, and did realise that Jerry was passionate about his wish to direct the movie, so she remained as a producer alongside Kathryn, Steve, Dave, Jane Henson and Jerry Juhl, who wrote the film). This would lead to Jerry directing The Muppets Return, and it’s short film, The O.D.D. in 2005 (even though at that point, he had stepped down from puppeteering and was sticking strictly to voicing his characters), which is a story for another time[2].
And Jerry also directed the infamous Muppets in Space! short that appeared before the film, famous for simply three words: Muppets in zero-g! But again, that’s a story for another day[3].
Jim Henson served as executive producer and consultant, while performing Shantus the Storyteller as well as Chairgozer Nyloc (Filling in for the series’ Chairgozer Dross, and a Gozer who has the most fabulous beard!) in very brief, but memorable appearances.
So, dance your cares away as we get right into the movie!
The film starts off with the Richards family, comprised of daughter Carol (played by Evan Rachael Wood), sons Joe (played by Haley Joe Osment) and Jack (played by Daryl Sabara), their mother Jean (played by Jodie Foster) and their new stepfather George Stevenson (played by Mark Harmon), visiting the home of Doctor Donald Richards, Jean’s father, at his seaside home, near an automated lighthouse[4] on Hunt Peak (which, along with the name of Richards, is a tribute to deceased Muppet performer Richard Hunt) for spring break.
“Doc Don”[5], played by the late David Ogden Stiers, essentially fulfils the role of Gerry Parkes’ eccentric tinkerer and inventor from the original show, “Dan”, with his ever-faithful dog, Sprocket, by his side.
Meanwhile, after reading the post-card from his Uncle Traveling Matt, who as usual, has gotten himself in a spot of bother on a golf course (believing that the holes are Waggle holes that have shrunk, somehow), Gobo starts writing in his diary (which he plans to recite to his uncle when he returns) about the state of Waggle Rock, which basically gets new audiences all caught up on how things stand at this moment or fans of Waggle Rock who need to remind themselves of certain events that happened (namely Gobo’s trips into outer space and what he’s observed while avoiding Sprocket, Red’s friendship with Cotterpin Gozer, Mokey getting new friends for her plant Lanford, Wembley seeking advice from the Trash Heap about the boredom he’s feeling and his inability to think of new songs lately, and Boober, well, still doing laundry and cooking).
But with the Richards family moving in, Gobo has a few encounters with Carol, Joe and Jack, and thus, a friendship starts forming as Gobo starts coming up for more visits (out of sight of the parents, of course). And also, not all is well within the Richards family, as Carol, Joe and Jack are dealing with the recent loss of their father and still coming to terms with that, along with their mother’s marriage to George. And soon, the Richards’ story-arc within the film is to come to terms with “the new normal”.
However, trouble arises on the horizon, with businessman Eric Corpman (played by Phil Hartman, who clearly is having a blast in the role) is doing his utmost to force Doc and his neighbours to leave, in order to take over the land and build an elaborate mansion (as his other one, inherited from his family, is crumbling apart and he really does not want to spend money to renovate it). But Doc and his few remaining neighbours, all refuse to leave, and Corpman, being the stereotypical evil businessman that he is, plans on flooding them from the ground and ruin their houses, basically.
Problem is, in order to flood Doc’s home, Corpman is pumping water into Waggle Rock![6] And thus, everywhere gets flooded, the Great Hall, the Gozerdome and even the Krog’s Garden.
With this emergency, the Waggle Five, Cotterpin Gozer and Junior Krog, after awkwardly getting together and learning of each other’s predicament, all head to the Trash Heap, who advises them to act fast and travel into Outer Space to prevent Waggle Rock from being flooded completely.
So, with Marjory working her magic to bring Waggle Five, Cotterpin and Junior together with Carol, Joe and Jack, out in Outer Space, the race is on for our unlikely team to stop Corpman’s dastardly plot, all culminating with our heroes sneaking into Corpman’s power plant to shut down the pumps as well as prevent Corpman from adding toxic waste into the water (after he discovers the existence of Waggle Rock, and spitefully seeks to go further to get his mansion, by killing all the greenery and make everyone ill), with Uncle Traveling Matt coming in on a hot-air balloon for some timely assistance[7]!
In the aftermath, Corpman is arrested by the authorities after his scheme is stopped dead in it's tracks, and our heroes return to Waggle Rock (with the Waggles all singing “Hip Hip Hooray”, of course), with the Richards family also concluding their story-arcs.
Months later, Gobo and the Waggles receive a postcard from Carol, Joe and Jack, who tell them about how their lives are going, in addition to leaving them a gift in the form of an MP3 player (with instructions) that includes a playlist of songs, to which the Waggles press the play button, before the end credits start and we’re treated with an David Bowie cover version of the Waggle Rock theme song.
And at the end, Marjory appears to essentially break the fourth wall, advising that the movie’s over, and it’s time to go home, with Philo and Gunge adding the customary "The Trash Heap has Spoken!".
Overall, the film plays out just like an extended episode of Waggle Rock (with a much bigger budget, improved sets and effects, mind you), with the awesome songs that you’d expect (both old familiar ones from the show and some very good new ones) and very heartwarming moments throughout. Sure, it’s not going to be winning any Oscars, but it’s a feel-good film that makes you feel happy and warm, puts a smile on your face and proves that the Waggles certainly have not lost the magic, for as a wise Trash Heap once said, “You cannot leave the magic!”.
Stay tuned, for the next Waggle Wednesdays will cover the 2006 Waggle Rock video game and the two Waggle Rock short films (2009’s Waggle Rock: Mokey’s Tree Day and 2010’s Waggle Rock: Boober in Outer Space) before finishing with the 2012 sequel, Down in Waggle Rock, directed by Karen Prell.
Muppet Performers[8]:
[1] A short film that details new recruit Lugnut Gozer (performed by Jerry Nelson), who after a really bad day on the work crew, is motivated by Cotterpin Gozer and her friends with a singalong, which appears before 2002’s At the End of the World.
[2] Guest post coming soon! Oh and The O.D.D. is a reference to the the O.M.D., featuring various Disney and Muppet dogs, of course.
[3] The Muppets in Space! short basically have the Muppets launching off into space and getting into their usual antics on an space station. Behind the scenes, the Muppet performers go to the USR, or more specifically, the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City in Moscow, to film the short’s zero-g performances on a set built in the cargo hold onboard an Ilyushin Il-76MDK “vomit comet”, basically similar to how 1995’s Apollo 13 filmed on board a NASA KC-135 reduced gravity aircraft for the weightlessness sequences.
[4] The lighthouse being a nod to OTL’s Fraggle Rock’s UK version, which had the Fraggle Rock lighthouse (filmed at St. Anthony’s Lighthouse near Falmouth, Cornwall), lived in by Sprocket and Fulton Mackay’s the Captain as the human host (before Mackay’s death lead to his replacement by firstly, John Gordon Sinclair’s P.K, then Simon O’Brien’s B.J).
[5] The “Don” being a tribute to Don Sahlin.
[6] Elements of this plot are similar to the OTL Fraggle Rock season 5 episode “The River of Life”.
[7] In OTL, a Fraggle Rock spinoff consisted of Traveling Matt along with two new Fraggles (along with Doozers in new vehicles) exploring the world in a hot air balloon was being explored and considered.
[8] As Waggle Rock in this timeline was made at Disney, rather than OTL’s Fraggle Rock being a international co-production between the US, UK and Canada (where a lot of Fraggle Rock’s puppeteers were based), I had to change around the performers for the Krogs to fit with this timeline, so basically, Kathryn Mullen does the face and voice of Ma Krog in TTL rather than Myra Fried or Cheryl Wagner, while Martin P. Robinson does the body of Pa Krog rather than Gord Robertson. As compensation for this, I did keep Gerry Parkes and Rob Mills around and Trish Leeper still performs as the body of Ma Krog in the TTL series.
Post from the Puppets Galore! Netsite by F. R. Argyle, April 3rd, 2013
Hi guys! Today is the start of Waggle Wednesday, with an new article posted every Wednesday of this April, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Waggle Rock!
And what a way to start off this commemoration, with the first feature-length movie of the franchise, after the many short films that had appeared before many Disney films from 1987 to 2002.
Waggle Rock: Welcome to the Rock! released in theatres on April 18th, 2003, on the 20th anniversary of Waggle Rock’s first ever episode on the launch of the Disney Channel, and was directed by the late Jerry Nelson in his first feature-length movie directorial debut, having had directed the 2002 Waggle Rock: Gozer Power short film[1].
He took the directing job, because Nelson felt his experience with the original show meant he was uniquely qualified to direct a Waggle Rock movie (while Karen Prell, who directed multiple TV episodes with the Muppets, could have directed, an later interview stated that she felt she was not ready for a director’s role of a feature-length film yet, and did realise that Jerry was passionate about his wish to direct the movie, so she remained as a producer alongside Kathryn, Steve, Dave, Jane Henson and Jerry Juhl, who wrote the film). This would lead to Jerry directing The Muppets Return, and it’s short film, The O.D.D. in 2005 (even though at that point, he had stepped down from puppeteering and was sticking strictly to voicing his characters), which is a story for another time[2].
And Jerry also directed the infamous Muppets in Space! short that appeared before the film, famous for simply three words: Muppets in zero-g! But again, that’s a story for another day[3].
Jim Henson served as executive producer and consultant, while performing Shantus the Storyteller as well as Chairgozer Nyloc (Filling in for the series’ Chairgozer Dross, and a Gozer who has the most fabulous beard!) in very brief, but memorable appearances.
So, dance your cares away as we get right into the movie!
The film starts off with the Richards family, comprised of daughter Carol (played by Evan Rachael Wood), sons Joe (played by Haley Joe Osment) and Jack (played by Daryl Sabara), their mother Jean (played by Jodie Foster) and their new stepfather George Stevenson (played by Mark Harmon), visiting the home of Doctor Donald Richards, Jean’s father, at his seaside home, near an automated lighthouse[4] on Hunt Peak (which, along with the name of Richards, is a tribute to deceased Muppet performer Richard Hunt) for spring break.
“Doc Don”[5], played by the late David Ogden Stiers, essentially fulfils the role of Gerry Parkes’ eccentric tinkerer and inventor from the original show, “Dan”, with his ever-faithful dog, Sprocket, by his side.
Meanwhile, after reading the post-card from his Uncle Traveling Matt, who as usual, has gotten himself in a spot of bother on a golf course (believing that the holes are Waggle holes that have shrunk, somehow), Gobo starts writing in his diary (which he plans to recite to his uncle when he returns) about the state of Waggle Rock, which basically gets new audiences all caught up on how things stand at this moment or fans of Waggle Rock who need to remind themselves of certain events that happened (namely Gobo’s trips into outer space and what he’s observed while avoiding Sprocket, Red’s friendship with Cotterpin Gozer, Mokey getting new friends for her plant Lanford, Wembley seeking advice from the Trash Heap about the boredom he’s feeling and his inability to think of new songs lately, and Boober, well, still doing laundry and cooking).
But with the Richards family moving in, Gobo has a few encounters with Carol, Joe and Jack, and thus, a friendship starts forming as Gobo starts coming up for more visits (out of sight of the parents, of course). And also, not all is well within the Richards family, as Carol, Joe and Jack are dealing with the recent loss of their father and still coming to terms with that, along with their mother’s marriage to George. And soon, the Richards’ story-arc within the film is to come to terms with “the new normal”.
However, trouble arises on the horizon, with businessman Eric Corpman (played by Phil Hartman, who clearly is having a blast in the role) is doing his utmost to force Doc and his neighbours to leave, in order to take over the land and build an elaborate mansion (as his other one, inherited from his family, is crumbling apart and he really does not want to spend money to renovate it). But Doc and his few remaining neighbours, all refuse to leave, and Corpman, being the stereotypical evil businessman that he is, plans on flooding them from the ground and ruin their houses, basically.
Problem is, in order to flood Doc’s home, Corpman is pumping water into Waggle Rock![6] And thus, everywhere gets flooded, the Great Hall, the Gozerdome and even the Krog’s Garden.
With this emergency, the Waggle Five, Cotterpin Gozer and Junior Krog, after awkwardly getting together and learning of each other’s predicament, all head to the Trash Heap, who advises them to act fast and travel into Outer Space to prevent Waggle Rock from being flooded completely.
So, with Marjory working her magic to bring Waggle Five, Cotterpin and Junior together with Carol, Joe and Jack, out in Outer Space, the race is on for our unlikely team to stop Corpman’s dastardly plot, all culminating with our heroes sneaking into Corpman’s power plant to shut down the pumps as well as prevent Corpman from adding toxic waste into the water (after he discovers the existence of Waggle Rock, and spitefully seeks to go further to get his mansion, by killing all the greenery and make everyone ill), with Uncle Traveling Matt coming in on a hot-air balloon for some timely assistance[7]!
In the aftermath, Corpman is arrested by the authorities after his scheme is stopped dead in it's tracks, and our heroes return to Waggle Rock (with the Waggles all singing “Hip Hip Hooray”, of course), with the Richards family also concluding their story-arcs.
Months later, Gobo and the Waggles receive a postcard from Carol, Joe and Jack, who tell them about how their lives are going, in addition to leaving them a gift in the form of an MP3 player (with instructions) that includes a playlist of songs, to which the Waggles press the play button, before the end credits start and we’re treated with an David Bowie cover version of the Waggle Rock theme song.
And at the end, Marjory appears to essentially break the fourth wall, advising that the movie’s over, and it’s time to go home, with Philo and Gunge adding the customary "The Trash Heap has Spoken!".
Overall, the film plays out just like an extended episode of Waggle Rock (with a much bigger budget, improved sets and effects, mind you), with the awesome songs that you’d expect (both old familiar ones from the show and some very good new ones) and very heartwarming moments throughout. Sure, it’s not going to be winning any Oscars, but it’s a feel-good film that makes you feel happy and warm, puts a smile on your face and proves that the Waggles certainly have not lost the magic, for as a wise Trash Heap once said, “You cannot leave the magic!”.
Stay tuned, for the next Waggle Wednesdays will cover the 2006 Waggle Rock video game and the two Waggle Rock short films (2009’s Waggle Rock: Mokey’s Tree Day and 2010’s Waggle Rock: Boober in Outer Space) before finishing with the 2012 sequel, Down in Waggle Rock, directed by Karen Prell.
Muppet Performers[8]:
- Jim Henson as Shantus the Storyteller and Chairgozer Nyloc.
- Jerry Nelson as Gobo Waggle, Marjory the Trash Heap, Architect Gozer, Lugnut Gozer, Pa Krog (face/voice).
- Steve Whitmire as Wembley Waggle, Flange Gozer, Sprocket.
- Dave Goelz as Boober Waggle, Uncle Traveling Matt, Large Marvin Waggle, the Oldest Waggle of the Rock, Wrench Gozer, Philo.
- Kathryn Mullen as Mokey Waggle, Cotterpin Gozer, Ma Krog (face/voice).
- Karen Prell as Red Waggle, Modem Gozer, Wingnut Gozer, Fluffinella.
- Kevin Clash as Junior Krog (face/voice), T-Nut Gozer and background Waggles.
- John Tartaglia as Sprocket (right hand performer), Gunge and background Waggles.
- Matt Vogel as Gobo Waggle (right hand performer) and background Waggles.
- Alice Dinnean as Ma Krog (body) and background Waggles.
- Martin P. Robinson as Pa Krog (body) and background Waggles.
- Rob Mills as Junior Krog (body), Lanford and background Waggles.
- David Ogden Stiers as Doctor Donald “Don” Richards.
- Jodie Foster as Jean Stevenson.
- Mark Harmon as George Stevenson.
- Evan Rachael Wood as Carol Richards.
- Haley Joel Osment as Joe Richards.
- Daryl Sabara as Jack Richards.
- Phil Hartman as Eric Corpman.
- Jerry Nelson as golfer (cameo)
- Steve Whitmire as Ned Shimmelfinney (cameo)
- Dave Goelz as Hot-air balloon man (cameo)
- Kevin Clash as Corpman security guard (cameo)
- Kathryn Mullen as Doc’s neighbour 1 (cameo)
- Karen Prell as Doc’s neighbour 2 (cameo)
[1] A short film that details new recruit Lugnut Gozer (performed by Jerry Nelson), who after a really bad day on the work crew, is motivated by Cotterpin Gozer and her friends with a singalong, which appears before 2002’s At the End of the World.
[2] Guest post coming soon! Oh and The O.D.D. is a reference to the the O.M.D., featuring various Disney and Muppet dogs, of course.
[3] The Muppets in Space! short basically have the Muppets launching off into space and getting into their usual antics on an space station. Behind the scenes, the Muppet performers go to the USR, or more specifically, the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City in Moscow, to film the short’s zero-g performances on a set built in the cargo hold onboard an Ilyushin Il-76MDK “vomit comet”, basically similar to how 1995’s Apollo 13 filmed on board a NASA KC-135 reduced gravity aircraft for the weightlessness sequences.
[4] The lighthouse being a nod to OTL’s Fraggle Rock’s UK version, which had the Fraggle Rock lighthouse (filmed at St. Anthony’s Lighthouse near Falmouth, Cornwall), lived in by Sprocket and Fulton Mackay’s the Captain as the human host (before Mackay’s death lead to his replacement by firstly, John Gordon Sinclair’s P.K, then Simon O’Brien’s B.J).
[5] The “Don” being a tribute to Don Sahlin.
[6] Elements of this plot are similar to the OTL Fraggle Rock season 5 episode “The River of Life”.
[7] In OTL, a Fraggle Rock spinoff consisted of Traveling Matt along with two new Fraggles (along with Doozers in new vehicles) exploring the world in a hot air balloon was being explored and considered.
[8] As Waggle Rock in this timeline was made at Disney, rather than OTL’s Fraggle Rock being a international co-production between the US, UK and Canada (where a lot of Fraggle Rock’s puppeteers were based), I had to change around the performers for the Krogs to fit with this timeline, so basically, Kathryn Mullen does the face and voice of Ma Krog in TTL rather than Myra Fried or Cheryl Wagner, while Martin P. Robinson does the body of Pa Krog rather than Gord Robertson. As compensation for this, I did keep Gerry Parkes and Rob Mills around and Trish Leeper still performs as the body of Ma Krog in the TTL series.
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Genuinely shocked by how little it took to make him do a complete 180.
Carpenters Hammer
Hey-yo, hey-yo, we have a BIIIGG ANOUNCEMENT!
Carpenter's Hammer, a Hensonverse Timeline in a week, has just launched!
Is Starts Here
One Week Only!!! for posting. After that it sticks around indefinitely, of course.
Carpenter's Hammer, a Hensonverse Timeline in a week, has just launched!
Is Starts Here
One Week Only!!! for posting. After that it sticks around indefinitely, of course.
You're a Wizard, Harry!
A Touch of Magic (2001)
Post from From the Paper to the Pictures Net-log, by Quill S. Creen on January 1st, 2021.
And welcome once again to From the Paper to the Pictures, where we discuss adaptations of books into film, tv shows and video games!
And we return from our Christmas hiatus, after our post of Isaac Asimov's Foundation two weeks ago, to give every single one of you a special gift for New Year's Day!
Starting from today, we now cover the infamous Harry Fletcher films, released by Penguin Pictures that firmly established the new film studios as a viable European competitor to many of the American studios, that still grows strong to this day.
Development:
With the inevitable success of the Harry Fletcher books by Jo Rowling, it was going to be inevitable that they were heading for the big screen.
While the story of how the books got to the big screen is really incredible, there’s not enough room for that on here, but long story short, after a Disney publisher examined the book (which was known under the draft name of The Philosopher’s Stone), really liked it and expressed strong interest in acquiring the whole rights, discussions were good, but Rowling politely declined, for she “wanted a British publisher”. Understanding this, the Disney publisher put in a good word for Rowling with Penguin Books (but Rowling, in gratitude for this, did allow for Disney’s Fantasia Books to acquire the US rights) and from then on, Rowling got a publisher for A Touch of Magic: A Harry Fletcher Story, which was first published on July 31st, 1997 in the UK[1].
Then, one copy in late 1997 ended up in the hands of film producer David Heyman, who was really impressed with Rowling’s writing, and saw the opportunity for his then-fledging film production company, Cherub Pictures[2], a position that became reinforced after the releases of the second and third books.
In 1999, discussions with Heyman (bolstered by the 1999 adaptation of Diana Wynn Jones’ The Ogre Downstairs[3]) lead to Rowling making a deal for the film rights to her books.
With the publishing rights of the books under Penguin Books (via their Puffin label), it was only natural that the wider Penguin Entertainment Group, would acquire the film, TV and theme park rights[4] for a sum of a reported £1 million.
Part of the deal was that Rowling insisted that the cast of the films remained British and Irish, that foreign actors were not to be cast unless the characters were specified as such, and prominently, the rights of the characters themselves still remained fully with Rowling (thus, preventing any non-author-written works or Penguin producing any films not based on books she authored), as well as retaining the right for final script approval and control over merchandising.
Discussions began for the search for a director, with names such as Chris Columbus, Terry Gilliam, Frank Oz, Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, Mike Newell, Alan Parker, Wolfgang Petersen, Rob Reiner, Ivan Reitman, Tim Robbins, Brad Silberling, M. Night Shyamalan and Peter Weir being considered[5].
Although a fan of the books, Columbus had to regretfully decline as he was working on another Penguin Pictures film, the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda[6], while Ron Howard was busy with Revenge of the Sith, and Oz was directing the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Eyes of the Dragon for MGM.
The choice came down to Gilliam, Newell and Parker.
Gilliam took himself out of the running for he was at that stage of taking a break from big-budget films after having directed Watchmen in 1998, before Alan Parker, director of Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Fame, Pink Floyd - The Wall, Birdy, Come See the Paradise and The Commitments, was chosen to direct A Touch of Magic.
Steve Kloves was chosen to write the screenplay.
Often having received synopses of books proposed as film adaptations which he never read, Harry Fletcher caught his attention and became an fan of the series after buying the first book. In his meetings with Penguin Pictures, he was strongly insisting that the film had to be British and stayed true to the characters.
Even though Kloves was nervous with his first meeting with Rowling, things went well after revealing that Hippolyta was his favourite character.
Rowling still remained involved with a large amount of creative control (in which she had a line include in the script removed after revealing that it would directly contradict an event in Order of the Phoenix: A Harry Fletcher Story, which was then unreleased at that point), to such an extent that she was given a producer’s credit[7].
Casting:
The search for the lead roles of Harry, Ron and Hippolyta began via an open casting call.
Around a total of 1,000 were considered for Harry Fletcher, while around 900 were considered for Hippolyta.
Then the decisions were made:
10-year old Eric Tate-Tyler[8], who had only been acting in school plays before acting in advertisements, was spotted by Rowling on television and the casting director asked for him to audition, to which he was cast as Harry Fletcher in 2000.
Out of around 100 candidates for Ron Hedgeley, Thomas Brodie-Sangster[9] (who would also get his first acting roles in two TV films in 2001) was the favourite, between him and William Moseley[10], who would end up starring as Randolph Faulkner in Order of the Phoenix.
The role of Hippolyta Granger was given to Rebecca A. Morrison[8], an 11-year old child actress from Birmingham, who only appeared as an extra the year before and was just getting into supporting roles on TV, before, according to her own words, going to the audition “on a lark, never hoping I would get the role” and impressing everyone, including Rowling, in spite of some executives raising concerns over her slight Birmingham accent.
Rupert Grint, who had auditioned to play Harry Fletcher, instead got the role of Nevil Potter, Tom Felton, who had auditioned for Ron Hedgeley[11], was cast as Draco Malfeus, while Anna Popplewell was cast as Scorpia Spinx.
Harry Melling and Joshua Herdman were considered for Jared Parkinson, but lost out to Vincent D. Floyd[8], instead taking the roles of Gregory Crabbe and Herbert Goyle, while Meredith Lloyd-Owens[8], who was considered for Lavender Parkinson, was cast as Pansy Goyle.
Other students cast were Devon Murray as Shane Finnigan[12], Alfie Enoch as Gary Samuels[13], Francis J. O’Connell[8] as Bill Hedgeley, Raleigh Corrie[8] as Percy Hedgeley and twins Kieran and Morgan Tilly[8] as the twin tricksters Tom and John Puckle.
Juno Temple[14], a budding child actress at this point, got the role of Ginny Hedgeley, a clearly important role for later (especially in the 2nd novel) but for now, she merely appeared with the rest of the Hedgeleys at King’s Cross.
Even though Richard Harris was asked to take the role of Alban Dumbledore, prior commitments with The Lord of the Rings films, in which he played Gandalf, prevented him from taking the role, and thus, after Peter O'Toole, Sean Connery and Patrick McGoohan passed on the role[15], Scottish actor Ian Richardson of House of Cards fame, was cast as the headmaster.
Rowling’s favourites, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Miriam Margolyes and Robbie Coltrane were cast as Professors Aife Minerva, Severus Snape, Pomona Sprout and groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid[16].
Tim Roth had auditioned for Leonidas Scrimwick while David Thewlis auditioned for Quirus Quirrel, but lost out to Liam Neeson and Ian Hart. However, both of them would later be cast as Alectos Fenrik and Romulus Lupin in The Prisoners of Azkaban[17].
Mike Edmonds portrayed the Gringotts goblin, Griphook, whilst the other Goblins were portrayed by the likes of Warwick Davis, Jimmy Vee, Deep Roy, Kiran Shah, Kenny Baker and Malcolm Dixon[18], and Michael Kilgarrif voiced Bower the Centaur.
As for the ghosts (and one poltergeist), John Cleese was cast as Nearly-Headless Nick, Rowan Atkinson as the Bloody Lord, Emily Mortimer as the Grey Lady and Mark Addy as the Fat Friar, while Tony Robinson was cast as Professor Binns and Rik Mayall portrayed Peeves[19].
And even Rowling was given a cameo, appearing as the “helpful muggle” who points Harry in the direction of Platforms 9 and 10 at King’s Cross, telling him “good luck” while giving him a smile[20].
Cast List:
Filming proved quite a challenge, when executives pleaded with the filmmakers to make various changes to make it “less British” and "more marketable".
Rowling, Kloves and Parker fought their ground over the executives’ insistence to replace Ron or Hippolyta with an American character, make Harry to be more of “a wisecracker”, as well as combining the set pieces from various books into one movie rather than adapt each book individually, and even more so, change the names of the houses to “something children can actually pronounce”[23].
But there was one battle that Rowling had lost: in that a song written for the film would play. Rowling disliked the whole idea, insisting that no commercial songs of any type should be used in the films, but had to relent, after making the executives insist that they appear only during the end credits[24].
Nonetheless, filming began on 29th September 2000, at Pinewood Studios[25], which Penguin Entertainment Group owned.
Initial discussion over the Hogwarts Express came down to choosing the locomotive for the film, of which were there around four candidates:
Filming did take place at King’s Cross Station, albeit at Platforms 4 and 5 instead of the real Platforms 9 and 10 due to being in a separate building from the main station, while due to temporary buildings obscuring the façade of the real King's Cross station, St Pancras railway station was used for the exterior shots.
Goathland railway station, on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and both Haworth and Oxenhope railway stations on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway were used for filming the Hogwarts Express in motion and stopping and departing from Hogsbury[27] station, while London Zoo was the location for the scene of where Harry releases a snake.
Opportunities to film at Canterbury Cathedral for shots at Hogwarts were scampered after Canterbury rejected offers to have filming of Hogwarts take place there, thus an amalgamation of shots were filmed at Gloucester Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Alnwick Castle, and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as Loch Duich (for the Hogwarts lake), Burnham Beeches and Black Park (for the Dark Forest)[28].
Over at Pinewood’s sound stages (including the Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage), sets were built by production designer Stuart Craig and set designer Stephenie McMillan, of the Hogwarts Great Hall, Diagon Alley, Gringotts, the Gryffynhart common room and dormitories, and Privet Road (where it turned out to be much cheaper to film rather than use a real street[29]) as well as the double-deck interiors of the Hogwarts Express.
Filming was concluded on 5th July 2001.
Design and Special Effects:
The London Creatureworks provided the creature effects as did Thunderbird Studios, whilst Thunderbird Studios’ own digital division, Thunderbird Digital, provided digital effects alongside Framestore, animating the ghosts, poltergeists and portraits with digital puppetry.
Fluffy's three heads were created with animatronics for close-up shots, whilst the rest of his body and his heads in distance shots were animated with CGI, with the mountain troll created by visual motion capture.
Norbert, hatching from his egg, was created as an animatronic, as was the Devil's Snare (with the majority augmented with CGI) and the giant Chessboard pieces.
An 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts was built by a team of around 86 artists and crewmembers for exterior shots, with models of Gloucester Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Alnwick Castle, Oxford and Cambridge University built to ensure more integration between the model and on location shots, while for the nighttime boat crossing of the lake, a matte painting was used.
Music:
James Horner was offered the chance to do the score, but declined the offer[30]. John Williams was asked, but he was busy with Revenge of the Sith, so Trevor Jones was chosen upon Rowling’s recommendation[31].
British singer Ellen B. Sanderson[8] sang the end-credits song, “Let the Magic Shine”[32].
Differences from the book:
Okay, so I'm not going to analyse every scene by scene and note every differences from the chapters of the book, but I'll go through the broad strokes of it all by giving you a sort of synopsis of the books, while detailing a few changes in the film afterwards.
In the film, several minor characters have been removed (namely Janus Malfeus, due to an agreement that he could appear in the second film, where he has more prominence), whilst the book’s first chapter told from Vernon Parkinson’s viewpoint, is absent from the film as Parker and Kloves felt it “slowed the film down”. Harry’s attempts at getting the letters are reduced to a montage, while after Vernon declares they are moving, the scene immediately cuts straight to the disused home on a rock in the sea, where Harry, before going to bed, simply says that Vernon should just let him read the letter, only for Vernon to snap angrily back at him and tell him to go to bed.
Hagrid’s explanation about the death of his parents to Harry is moved, from the disused home on the rock in the sea, to after they shop at Diagon Alley. Harry’s first encounter with Draco at the Longbottom Cauldrons shop in Diagon Alley is removed (with the first meeting between Harry and Draco instead taking place on the Hogwarts Express), while following his trip to Diagon Alley, the scene immediately cuts straight to the Parkinsons dropping Harry off at King’s Cross.
The Sorting Ceremony is done out of order (rather than alphabetically in the novel) and shortened down, with only Harry, Ron, Hippolyta, Draco, Scorpia, Nevil, Pansy, Shane and Gary shown.
The Hogwarts lessons are condensed down into a montage, with only Charms, Broomology and Potions shown extensively.
The Quaddach matches are condensed, with the Gryffynhart and Slythryus match and the Gryffynhart and Corvidious match both combined into one match, while the Gryffynhart and Burleighnohn match is shortened to have Harry in pursuit of the Golden Snitch, only to deliberately allow Burleighnohn’s seeker catch the snitch.
Instead of Harry organising many of his Gryffynhart classmates to take Norbert away by hand for a pickup and thus getting caught by Filch, Harry, Ron, Hippolyta and Draco are put in detention after being spotted by Draco at Hagrid’s hut after hours. Scrimwick is much harsher and takes away 100 house points each, still meaning Harry’s popularity with Gryffynhart falls significantly.
The confrontation with Nevil and Percy is different in that Harry is cornered at the entrance to Gryffynhart Keep, only for Ron and Hippolyta to surprise them with the Full Body-Bind Curse.
The Philosopher Stone defenses are different: Instead of effortlessly enchanting Fluffy to sleep, the harp suddenly stops after they open the trapdoor and Fluffy awakes (Harry hasn’t been given a flute for Christmas, thus he doesn’t use it), prompting Ron, Harry and Hippolyta to make a quick getaway. The garden maze is omitted, instead, the trio land on the Devil’s Snare directly, in which Hippolyta’s directions were to relax, after which the plant would release Harry and Ron. However, Ron, being the last one trapped, and being afraid, couldn't calm himself down enough, prompting Hermione to cast the Fire-Making Spell.
After passing the knocked out troll, the Rainstorm Room is shortened for time. And while the Chessboard scene was fully shot, it was heavily trimmed in the final cut to reduce the movie’s running time, while at the end, is Snape’s potion riddle, which Hippolyta solves easily to allow Harry to cross an empty chasm into the next room.
The epilogue in which Harry, Ron and Hippolyta hug before departing for their families at King’s Cross is instead omitted, and the film ends, with the Hogwarts Express departing Hogsbury station, while Harry in his cabin, looks out of the window with a smile, with Hogwarts reflected in the window.
Release, Reception and Legacy:
The world premier took place at Odeon Leicester Square in London on the 10th of November, 2001, while officially releasing on the 14th of November in the UK, with the film released on the 20th in the US and Canada.
A Touch of Magic, became a critical and commercial success, grossing up to around $972 million at the worldwide box office, before reaching $1 billion on subsequent re-releases.
The Harry Fletcher films became one of Hollywood’s major “tent-pole” blockbusters, akin to James Bond, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, the Marvel Movie Universe, Jurassic Park, and later, the DC Cinematic Universe, Red Sails, Transformers and the Lord of the Rings films (with the first one, Fellowship of the Ring, releasing in the same year).
Harry Fletcher would lead the way in the “Second British Invasion”, and prompt more adaptations of Terry Pratchett’s work after an increase in popularity for his older Discworld adaptations, not to mention that along with Columbia’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, fantasy adaptations for the big screen (as well as the small screen) proved very viable and profitable.
After the release of Dragonlance: The Legacy of Raistlin in 2000, Disney continued on with somewhat modest sequels, which led to a live-action TV series by Ted Raimi, while starting in 2006, Universal released a film series based on the Chronicles of Narnia and Warner Bros. released the How to Train an Dragon films[43] in 2008.
And that’s the first novel/first film done!
Next week, we will be covering the next one in the series, 1998’s The Heir of Salazar: A Harry Fletcher Story, which it’s film adaptation was released in theatres in 2002, this time directed by Chris Columbus. But until then, stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where we give extensive coverage to Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire, on Orion+[44].
[1] In OTL, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (or the Sorcerer’s Stone for you Americans out there) was first published in the UK on 26th June 1997.
[2] OTL’s Heyday Films, which was initially known as Cherubs.
[3] In OTL, David Heyman did plan on producing a film based on The Ogre Downstairs but this never came through.
[4] As described by the WestCOT post, Disney created a partnership with Pearson PLC to add a Harry Fletcher land, so I took it to mean that Pearson PLC generally holds the rights to do Harry Fletcher theme parks in the UK, while Disney goes into a partnership with Pearson PLC to add the Wizarding World of Harry Fletcher or gains the licence to do Wizarding World of Harry Fletcher abroad, as long as it is in partnership with Pearson PLC and vetted by Jo Rowling.
[5] Yes, Terry Gilliam, Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, Mike Newell (who would get to direct Goblet of Fire), Alan Parker, Wolfgang Petersen, Rob Reiner, Ivan Reitman, Tim Robbins, Brad Silberling, M. Night Shyamalan and Peter Weir were all considered to direct the first film, whilst Frank Oz was offered to direct Chamber of Secrets but had no interest in it. Petersen and Reiner had pulled out of the running of the first film, while Ron Howard had been offered but had just directed How the Grinch Stole Christmas and didn't want to jump right into another difficult and expensive fantasy movie, before the choices came down to Silberling, Columbus, Parker and Gilliam. Even though Gilliam was Rowling’s first choice of director, Warner Bros. instead chose Columbus, and the rest is history.
[6] With butterflies affecting the 1996 film, Penguin Pictures adapts the novel and has Christopher Columbus direct, starring Emma Watson as the titular character, with Joely Richardson as Miss Honey, Richard Griffiths as Mr Wormwood, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs Wormwood and Pam Ferris as Miss Trunchbull.
[7] In OTL, Rowling would not be credited as a producer until both Deathly Hallows movies.
[8] Fictional.
[9] Auditioned for Ron Weasley in OTL.
[10] Auditioned for Harry Potter in OTL. Later, he would be cast as Peter Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia films.
[11] Unlike in OTL, in which Tom Felton auditioned for Harry Potter. To think, Tom Felton almost ending up as Harry Potter!
[12] TTL’s Seamus Finnigan. In the Harry Fletcher series, Shane Finnigan is in Corvidious.
[13] TTL’s Dean Thomas. In the Harry Fletcher series, Gary Samuels is in Burleighnohn.
[14] Juno Temple auditioned to play Luna Lovegood in Order of the Phoenix but lost out to Evanna Lynch.
[15] True as per OTL. Sean Connery passed on Dumbledore, along with passing on Gandalf and Morpheus, while Patrick McGoohan was in ill health at the time. Peter O'Toole was actually requested by Richard Harris' family to portray Dumbledore after Richard Harris' death, but the studio feared that O'Toole would also die before the series was completed, so they rejected the idea.
And with Richard Harris being busy with Gandalf means he is unable to portray the role of Dumbledore for the first two films, I did consider Christopher Lee (and strongly considered Peter O'Toole), but wanted another actor to have the chance, and thus I chose Ian Richardson as I liked that idea a bit more. And yes, Ian Richardson’s Dumbledore will utter, “You may very well think that, but I couldn’t possibly comment”.
[16] Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane were Rowling’s favourites for McGonagall and Hagrid in OTL so no reason why that should be different here, whilst Miriam Margolyes and Alan Rickman were her favourites for Sprout and Snape due to the Terry Pratchett’s Discworld adaptations meaning she could see the two of them as Sprout and Snape.
[17] Tim Roth was initially cast as Snape in OTL, but at the same time, was filming Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, so had to choose one or the other. And David Thewlis did audition for Quirrell but lost out to Ian Hart in OTL.
[18] Mike Edmonds, Deep Roy, Kiran Shah portrayed Goblins in the first film (albeit uncredited).
[19] Rik Mayall was indeed cast as Peeves, but his scenes were cut from the first film in OTL. In here, Peeves makes the odd appearance every now and again in the background, until when the trio sneak to the Philosopher’s Stone, and Harry makes an impersonation of the Bloody Lord, to keep him away.
[20] Rowling was offered to play as Lily Potter in the first movie in OTL, but she declined as she felt she was “not a good actress”. Here instead, given that I have plans for her as a guest star on Too Late with Miss Piggy (yes, I’m planning out a complete guest star list for that), I feel maybe she would have been more comfortable, doing a short cameo like I described here.
[21] Danielle Taylor (who later became Danielle Tabor) portrayed Angelina Johnson in the first three films before being replaced by Tiana Benjamin in the fourth film, before returning to portray her for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
[22] In OTL, Crabbe and Goyle actors Jamie Waylett and Josh Herdman, were both considered for the role of Dudley Dursley, but lost out to Harry Melling, so I reckoned Harry Melling would be ideal for the reverse instead, cast as Vincent Crabbe’s counterpart in TTL.
[23] True as per OTL! And I’m pretty sure that in TTL, there would have been people begging to change the names of the houses, given that during development of the first Thor film, people were concerned about actually concerned about actually pronouncing Mjolnir.
[24] Oh, yes. True story. In OTL, Bruce Springsteen written a ballad after reading the Harry Potter novels “I'll Stand By You” and made it available for the first film, only for Rowling’s contractual stipulation that no commercial songs of any type be used in the Harry Potter film series to put a damper on any such thing. It wouldn’t be until 2019’s Blinded by the Light film, that the song would see the light of day.
[25] With the Harry Fletcher films done by Penguin Pictures instead of Warner Bros., none of their filming is done at Leavesden Film Studios, so say goodbye to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter (an alternate attraction will have to be established instead). On the other hand, they have the 007 Studio available!
[26] Taw Valley was almost chosen to become the Hogwarts Express in OTL but was rejected by Chris Columbus for she looked “too modern”, a reasonable explanation as Taw Valley was built in the 40s and rebuilt to modern standards in the late 50s, whilst Olton Hall (which has lead to the joke of “...the Hall that thinks it's a Castle”, due to the Hall class being similar to the earlier Castle class) had been built in the 1930s and hadn’t been changed since then.
[27] Instead of the village of Hogsmeade, Hogsbury is instead a town.
[28] Gloucester Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Alnwick Castle, and the University of Oxford were used for filming scenes of Hogwarts, whilst I added the University of Cambridge, as well as Loch Duich, replacing OTL’s Loch Shiel, while Burnham Beeches and Black Park would be on hand to use to film scenes in the Dark Forest, due to their proximity to Pinewood.
[29] True!
[30] True as per OTL.
[31] Rowling will recommend Trevor Jones ITTL due to his work on The Dark Crystal films and on The Dark Crystal prequel series.
[32] Fictional song.
[33] The choice of Lavender as the name for the daughter of the Parkinsons is deliberate as Lily and Petunia are flowers, and thus since OTL’s Lavender Brown is not in Harry Fletcher, it allowed me to use the name of Lavender for another character.
[34] Originally, Rowling planned to introduce the character of Rita Skeeter (who was known as Bridget) in Philosopher’s Stone, trying to interview Harry Potter in the Leaky Cauldron on his 11th birthday, and had appeared on the first draft, only for Rowling to cut the character for later, for Harry was taking too long to get to Diagon Alley and Rowling wanted such a character to appear later when Harry’s fame starts oppressing him, by at which point, Rowling’s experiences with journalists she encountered since her fame influenced Rita Skeeter. Here, Bridget Teller appears in a brief role, but is much warmer and understanding, when Hagrid tells her to leave Harry alone, thus she’s essentially a different character from Skeeter. Stay tuned for the 4th novel, when that comes!
[35] According to Rowling, the choice of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was, in her own words, one that “presented itself without much conscious thought, and I liked it so much that I took it at once”. This makes the decision butterfly-prone ITTL, and given that 7 is a prominent number that Rowling liked to use, I felt that Platform 9/7 (pronounced “Nine Seven”) makes it just as unique as Platform 9¾.
[36] Given the huge amount of students that travel to Hogwarts, I felt that the most logical explanation for how all the students fit into the carriages was that the carriages are actually charmed to be larger inside than outside. It wouldn't be out of place for Rowling to do this, since in OTL, she had the Weasleys borrow a tent with a similar charm for the Quidditch World Cup in Goblet of Fire (which was then used in the Horcrux hunt in the seventh book).
[37] 13151820 are numbers on the alphabet, spelling out Mort, a reference to how the door is “out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a painful death”, and given that Mort means death, well, makes sense, doesn’t it?
[38] Bill Hedgeley, or William “Bill” Richard Hedgeley, is a combination of Oliver Wood character in Philosopher’s Stone and Charlie Weasley (his role in working with dragons).
[39] Puckle was originally Hermione’s surname, only for Rowling to find that the name did not fit her.
[40] Since Geekhis Khan did not mention the Head of Gryffynhart House in his post about Harry Fletcher (with TTL’s Professor McGonagall being the head of TTL’s Ravenclaw House), I took it upon myself to create one. Leonidas invokes the Spartan King as well as Leo coming from the Greek word for Lion while his surname is a combination of the Scottish surname Scrimgeour (which is believed to probably mean "skirmish", from the French escrimeur, meaning "swordsman”) and wick (the advice in charms “swish and flick”), basically an strange combination of Rufus Scrimgeour and Filius Flitwick.
[41] This brief appearance in the novel will be referenced in future, as around the time in which Janus used his influence to get Draco into Harry, Ron and Hippolyta’s study group.
[42] TTL’s equivalent to Gryffindor Tower, the entrance is still concealed by the portrait of The Fat Lady, who requires a password, but with two security additions: two stone lions flanking the portrait, who would roar loudly if anyone was trying to intrude or force entry.
[43] TTL’s equivalent to How to Train Your Dragon.
[44] A Direct Viewing service owned and operated by Orion Pictures.
Edit: The HBO Dune adaptation mention had to be removed, due to @Nathanoraptor making me aware that he was already working on a guest post on Dune (so sorry!). And thus, a special thanks to @Nathanoraptor for his suggestion as a replacement: Isaac Asimov's Foundation.
Post from From the Paper to the Pictures Net-log, by Quill S. Creen on January 1st, 2021.
And welcome once again to From the Paper to the Pictures, where we discuss adaptations of books into film, tv shows and video games!
And we return from our Christmas hiatus, after our post of Isaac Asimov's Foundation two weeks ago, to give every single one of you a special gift for New Year's Day!
Starting from today, we now cover the infamous Harry Fletcher films, released by Penguin Pictures that firmly established the new film studios as a viable European competitor to many of the American studios, that still grows strong to this day.
Development:
With the inevitable success of the Harry Fletcher books by Jo Rowling, it was going to be inevitable that they were heading for the big screen.
While the story of how the books got to the big screen is really incredible, there’s not enough room for that on here, but long story short, after a Disney publisher examined the book (which was known under the draft name of The Philosopher’s Stone), really liked it and expressed strong interest in acquiring the whole rights, discussions were good, but Rowling politely declined, for she “wanted a British publisher”. Understanding this, the Disney publisher put in a good word for Rowling with Penguin Books (but Rowling, in gratitude for this, did allow for Disney’s Fantasia Books to acquire the US rights) and from then on, Rowling got a publisher for A Touch of Magic: A Harry Fletcher Story, which was first published on July 31st, 1997 in the UK[1].
Then, one copy in late 1997 ended up in the hands of film producer David Heyman, who was really impressed with Rowling’s writing, and saw the opportunity for his then-fledging film production company, Cherub Pictures[2], a position that became reinforced after the releases of the second and third books.
In 1999, discussions with Heyman (bolstered by the 1999 adaptation of Diana Wynn Jones’ The Ogre Downstairs[3]) lead to Rowling making a deal for the film rights to her books.
With the publishing rights of the books under Penguin Books (via their Puffin label), it was only natural that the wider Penguin Entertainment Group, would acquire the film, TV and theme park rights[4] for a sum of a reported £1 million.
Part of the deal was that Rowling insisted that the cast of the films remained British and Irish, that foreign actors were not to be cast unless the characters were specified as such, and prominently, the rights of the characters themselves still remained fully with Rowling (thus, preventing any non-author-written works or Penguin producing any films not based on books she authored), as well as retaining the right for final script approval and control over merchandising.
Discussions began for the search for a director, with names such as Chris Columbus, Terry Gilliam, Frank Oz, Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, Mike Newell, Alan Parker, Wolfgang Petersen, Rob Reiner, Ivan Reitman, Tim Robbins, Brad Silberling, M. Night Shyamalan and Peter Weir being considered[5].
Although a fan of the books, Columbus had to regretfully decline as he was working on another Penguin Pictures film, the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda[6], while Ron Howard was busy with Revenge of the Sith, and Oz was directing the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Eyes of the Dragon for MGM.
The choice came down to Gilliam, Newell and Parker.
Gilliam took himself out of the running for he was at that stage of taking a break from big-budget films after having directed Watchmen in 1998, before Alan Parker, director of Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Fame, Pink Floyd - The Wall, Birdy, Come See the Paradise and The Commitments, was chosen to direct A Touch of Magic.
Steve Kloves was chosen to write the screenplay.
Often having received synopses of books proposed as film adaptations which he never read, Harry Fletcher caught his attention and became an fan of the series after buying the first book. In his meetings with Penguin Pictures, he was strongly insisting that the film had to be British and stayed true to the characters.
Even though Kloves was nervous with his first meeting with Rowling, things went well after revealing that Hippolyta was his favourite character.
Rowling still remained involved with a large amount of creative control (in which she had a line include in the script removed after revealing that it would directly contradict an event in Order of the Phoenix: A Harry Fletcher Story, which was then unreleased at that point), to such an extent that she was given a producer’s credit[7].
Casting:
The search for the lead roles of Harry, Ron and Hippolyta began via an open casting call.
Around a total of 1,000 were considered for Harry Fletcher, while around 900 were considered for Hippolyta.
Then the decisions were made:
10-year old Eric Tate-Tyler[8], who had only been acting in school plays before acting in advertisements, was spotted by Rowling on television and the casting director asked for him to audition, to which he was cast as Harry Fletcher in 2000.
Out of around 100 candidates for Ron Hedgeley, Thomas Brodie-Sangster[9] (who would also get his first acting roles in two TV films in 2001) was the favourite, between him and William Moseley[10], who would end up starring as Randolph Faulkner in Order of the Phoenix.
The role of Hippolyta Granger was given to Rebecca A. Morrison[8], an 11-year old child actress from Birmingham, who only appeared as an extra the year before and was just getting into supporting roles on TV, before, according to her own words, going to the audition “on a lark, never hoping I would get the role” and impressing everyone, including Rowling, in spite of some executives raising concerns over her slight Birmingham accent.
Rupert Grint, who had auditioned to play Harry Fletcher, instead got the role of Nevil Potter, Tom Felton, who had auditioned for Ron Hedgeley[11], was cast as Draco Malfeus, while Anna Popplewell was cast as Scorpia Spinx.
Harry Melling and Joshua Herdman were considered for Jared Parkinson, but lost out to Vincent D. Floyd[8], instead taking the roles of Gregory Crabbe and Herbert Goyle, while Meredith Lloyd-Owens[8], who was considered for Lavender Parkinson, was cast as Pansy Goyle.
Other students cast were Devon Murray as Shane Finnigan[12], Alfie Enoch as Gary Samuels[13], Francis J. O’Connell[8] as Bill Hedgeley, Raleigh Corrie[8] as Percy Hedgeley and twins Kieran and Morgan Tilly[8] as the twin tricksters Tom and John Puckle.
Juno Temple[14], a budding child actress at this point, got the role of Ginny Hedgeley, a clearly important role for later (especially in the 2nd novel) but for now, she merely appeared with the rest of the Hedgeleys at King’s Cross.
Even though Richard Harris was asked to take the role of Alban Dumbledore, prior commitments with The Lord of the Rings films, in which he played Gandalf, prevented him from taking the role, and thus, after Peter O'Toole, Sean Connery and Patrick McGoohan passed on the role[15], Scottish actor Ian Richardson of House of Cards fame, was cast as the headmaster.
Rowling’s favourites, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Miriam Margolyes and Robbie Coltrane were cast as Professors Aife Minerva, Severus Snape, Pomona Sprout and groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid[16].
Tim Roth had auditioned for Leonidas Scrimwick while David Thewlis auditioned for Quirus Quirrel, but lost out to Liam Neeson and Ian Hart. However, both of them would later be cast as Alectos Fenrik and Romulus Lupin in The Prisoners of Azkaban[17].
Mike Edmonds portrayed the Gringotts goblin, Griphook, whilst the other Goblins were portrayed by the likes of Warwick Davis, Jimmy Vee, Deep Roy, Kiran Shah, Kenny Baker and Malcolm Dixon[18], and Michael Kilgarrif voiced Bower the Centaur.
As for the ghosts (and one poltergeist), John Cleese was cast as Nearly-Headless Nick, Rowan Atkinson as the Bloody Lord, Emily Mortimer as the Grey Lady and Mark Addy as the Fat Friar, while Tony Robinson was cast as Professor Binns and Rik Mayall portrayed Peeves[19].
And even Rowling was given a cameo, appearing as the “helpful muggle” who points Harry in the direction of Platforms 9 and 10 at King’s Cross, telling him “good luck” while giving him a smile[20].
Cast List:
- Eric Tate-Tyler as Harry Fletcher.
- Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Ron Hedgeley.
- Rebecca A. Morrison as Hippolyta Granger.
- Tom Felton as Draco Malfeus.
- Anna Popplewell as Scorpia Spinx.
- Rupert Grint as Nevil Potter.
- Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid.
- Ian Richardson as Albus Dumbledore.
- Alan Rickman as Severus Snape.
- Maggie Smith as Aife Minerva.
- Liam Neeson as Leonidas Scrimwick.
- Miriam Margolyes as Pomona Sprout.
- Terry Jones as Mylor Silvanus.
- Tony Robinson as Cuthbert Binns.
- Zoë Wanamaker as Rolanda Hoch
- David Bradley as Argus Filch.
- Ian Hart as Quirus Quirrel.
- John Cleese as Nearly Headless Nick.
- Rowan Atkinson as the Bloody Lord.
- Emily Mortimer as the Grey Lady.
- Mark Addy as the Fat Friar.
- Rik Mayall as Peeves.
- Jennifer Saunders as The Fat Lady.
- Danielle Taylor[21] as Olivia Wood.
- Siobhan Allpress[8] as Catrìona Peregrine.
- Georgina Leonidas as Hannah Spinnet.
- Kieran and Morgan Tilly as Tom and John Puckle.
- Luke Youngblood as Jordan Lee.
- Harry Melling[22] as Gregory Crabbe.
- Joshua Herdman as Herbert Goyle.
- Meredith Lloyd-Owens as Pansy Goyle.
- Henry Quilley[8] as Dickon Flint.
- Devon Murray as Shane Finnigan.
- Alfie Enoch as Gary Samuels.
- Julie Walters as Molly Hedgeley.
- Francis J. O’Connell as Bill Hedgeley.
- Raleigh Corrie as Percy Hedgeley.
- Juno Temple as Ginny Hedgeley
- Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Vernon Parkinson.
- Fiona Shaw as Petunia Parkinson.
- Vincent D. Floyd as Jared Parkinson.
- Holliday Grainger as Lavender Parkinson.
- Alison Doody as Bridget Teller.
- John Hurt as Mr. Ollivander.
- Mike Edmonds as Griphook.
- Michael Kilgarrif as Bower (voice).
- Jo Rowling as Helpful Muggle (cameo).
Filming proved quite a challenge, when executives pleaded with the filmmakers to make various changes to make it “less British” and "more marketable".
Rowling, Kloves and Parker fought their ground over the executives’ insistence to replace Ron or Hippolyta with an American character, make Harry to be more of “a wisecracker”, as well as combining the set pieces from various books into one movie rather than adapt each book individually, and even more so, change the names of the houses to “something children can actually pronounce”[23].
But there was one battle that Rowling had lost: in that a song written for the film would play. Rowling disliked the whole idea, insisting that no commercial songs of any type should be used in the films, but had to relent, after making the executives insist that they appear only during the end credits[24].
Nonetheless, filming began on 29th September 2000, at Pinewood Studios[25], which Penguin Entertainment Group owned.
Initial discussion over the Hogwarts Express came down to choosing the locomotive for the film, of which were there around four candidates:
- The Southern Railway (SR) West Country class 21C127 Taw Valley (which had already been given a maroon paint make-over with Hogwarts Express nameplates added to promote the release of The Dark Mark: A Harry Fletcher Story in 2000[26]).
- The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4900 Class 5972 Olton Hall.
- The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 No. 45212.
- The GWR 4073 Class 5051 Drysllwyn Castle.
Filming did take place at King’s Cross Station, albeit at Platforms 4 and 5 instead of the real Platforms 9 and 10 due to being in a separate building from the main station, while due to temporary buildings obscuring the façade of the real King's Cross station, St Pancras railway station was used for the exterior shots.
Goathland railway station, on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and both Haworth and Oxenhope railway stations on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway were used for filming the Hogwarts Express in motion and stopping and departing from Hogsbury[27] station, while London Zoo was the location for the scene of where Harry releases a snake.
Opportunities to film at Canterbury Cathedral for shots at Hogwarts were scampered after Canterbury rejected offers to have filming of Hogwarts take place there, thus an amalgamation of shots were filmed at Gloucester Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Alnwick Castle, and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as Loch Duich (for the Hogwarts lake), Burnham Beeches and Black Park (for the Dark Forest)[28].
Over at Pinewood’s sound stages (including the Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage), sets were built by production designer Stuart Craig and set designer Stephenie McMillan, of the Hogwarts Great Hall, Diagon Alley, Gringotts, the Gryffynhart common room and dormitories, and Privet Road (where it turned out to be much cheaper to film rather than use a real street[29]) as well as the double-deck interiors of the Hogwarts Express.
Filming was concluded on 5th July 2001.
Design and Special Effects:
The London Creatureworks provided the creature effects as did Thunderbird Studios, whilst Thunderbird Studios’ own digital division, Thunderbird Digital, provided digital effects alongside Framestore, animating the ghosts, poltergeists and portraits with digital puppetry.
Fluffy's three heads were created with animatronics for close-up shots, whilst the rest of his body and his heads in distance shots were animated with CGI, with the mountain troll created by visual motion capture.
Norbert, hatching from his egg, was created as an animatronic, as was the Devil's Snare (with the majority augmented with CGI) and the giant Chessboard pieces.
An 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts was built by a team of around 86 artists and crewmembers for exterior shots, with models of Gloucester Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Alnwick Castle, Oxford and Cambridge University built to ensure more integration between the model and on location shots, while for the nighttime boat crossing of the lake, a matte painting was used.
Music:
James Horner was offered the chance to do the score, but declined the offer[30]. John Williams was asked, but he was busy with Revenge of the Sith, so Trevor Jones was chosen upon Rowling’s recommendation[31].
British singer Ellen B. Sanderson[8] sang the end-credits song, “Let the Magic Shine”[32].
Differences from the book:
Okay, so I'm not going to analyse every scene by scene and note every differences from the chapters of the book, but I'll go through the broad strokes of it all by giving you a sort of synopsis of the books, while detailing a few changes in the film afterwards.
A Touch of Magic: A Harry Fletcher Story (released in 1997).
In the prologue chapter, Vernon Parkinson and his wife Petunia, of 4 Privet Road (in Whinging in Surrey), are quite proud to be “perfectly normal” (or at least, their own kind of normal).
On the beginning of the week, an Monday, on the 1st of November, the day begins with Vernon getting dressed for work at his drill-making firm of Grunnings, gossiping about their neighbours with Petunia, who is not only expecting their second child but raising their one-year old son Jared before noticing a cat lurking around in their garden.
While Petunia tries shooing it away, Vernon heads off to work, where he notices a large amount of people in odd cloaks in a joyous mood, celebrating “the defeat of He Who Shall Not Be Named” and toasting to “Harry Fletcher - The Boy Who Lived”.
Vernon is concerned as the Fletchers are his in-laws, via Petunia’s estranged sister, and he worries about other people finding out about them and their “abnormality”.
Returning home, the afternoon news is full of stories of unexplained owl behaviour, shooting star and firework displays and other various strange activities. Vernon asks Petunia if she has heard from her sister recently, only for her to tell him no, and answers that their nephew is named “Harry”, which worries Vernon completely. The cat appears again, and Vernon chases it off.
Later that night, when everyone has gone to bed, Alban Dumbledore arrives at Privet Road and uses a device to snuff out the street lights, before greeting a cat (the same one lurking around the Parkinsons) that transforms into a human woman named “Aife Minerva”.
They both discuss the latest events, in which Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord known as “You-Know-Who” or “He Who Shall Not Be Named”, has killed George and Lily Fletcher, and tried to kill their infant son Harry. Somehow, Harry has survived the attack and Voldemort has seemingly died (although Dumbledore is doubtful of this).
Soon, Rubeus Hagrid arrives on a flying motorcycle (given to him by Sirius Black), transporting Harry and handing him to Dumbledore.
Despite Minevra’s pleas for Dumbledore not to leave him with his only living relatives, given their behaviour, Dumbledore is adamant, and leaves Harry on the doorstep of 4 Privet Road, Whinging in Surrey, with a letter to the Parkinsons, before restoring the street lights and vanishing.
Ten years later, after the Parkinsons find Harry on their doorstep, Harry Fletcher lives in a Cupboard under the Stairs at 4 Privet Road in a miserable, friendless life with his uncle, aunt and his two cousins, Jared and Lavender[33], thinking that his parents abandoned him just after being born, and that his scar is a birthmark.
Jared and Lavender are spoiled, rotten children whose favourite pastime is to torment Harry.
After an incident on Jared’s 11th birthday, where Harry talks to a snake at the zoo and makes the glass vanish, causing Jared to fall into the enclosure (for which Harry is locked away in the cupboard with no meals for a week), a letter arrives for Harry (something he regards as odd as Harry has never had a letter, for he has had no friends). It is decorated in Red, Green, Blue and Yellow and the address is written in Silver, with a wax seal on the back, with an Lion, an Snake, an Owl and an Bear surrounding an H.
However, when Jared steals it and gives it to Vernon, Harry notices that both his aunt and uncle grow increasingly concerned, and order Jared, Lavender and Harry out of the room immediately, even going so far as to snap at Jared angrily when he protests.
Later, the letter is burned and Vernon has Harry given Jared’s “second bedroom”, but the letter addressed to Harry still arrives the next morning, this time knowing that he resides in “The Smallest Bedroom”.
Harry attempts to get the letter, only for Vernon to rip it apart.
Determined to see what his letter says, Harry tries to get to read them as they continue to arrive, even after Vernon nails the letterbox shut.
After one day results in a storm of letters flying through the chimney, Vernon get so determined that he furiously has his family leave the house and travel to a hotel on the outskirts of Cokeford, only for the letters to arrive there as well, prompting Vernon to travel to a disused home on a rock in the sea, in the midst of a storm, where he believes no letters will reach them.
Harry, unable to sleep due to the storm, starts counting down the minutes on the clock till October 31st, his eleventh birthday.
Then, when the next day begins, someone knocks on the door loudly, and then a giant knocks the door off it’s hinges, despite Vernon angrily pointing a rifle at him and shouting at him to begone, only for the giant to grab the rifle and destroy it before throwing it away, then picking Vernon up and throwing him across the room into an empty couch.
Soon, the giant greets Harry, presents Harry with a birthday cake and delivers the letter to Harry, before introducing himself as Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts.
Hagrid is shocked when Harry, who is clueless at what he’s saying, asks what is Hogwarts, and gets angry at the Parkinsons for not telling Harry anything about the world he came from, only for Vernon to reveal that it was “for his own good”, and that they had tried to “stamp out that abnormality” ever since they took him in, with Petunia inadvertently revealing the lies they told about his parents were not true. Hagrid is outraged at the very suggestion that George and Lily Fletcher did not love their boy, and reveals that the “birthmark” is an actual scar inflicted on the night his parents’ died, from the spell used to kill his parents, which somehow backfired on the man who killed Harry’s parents, a Dark Wizard known as Lord Voldemort (or “He Who Shall Not Be Named”).
Soon, Harry finally reads the letter, learning that he has been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and that the term starts on the 1st of September.
Vernon insists that whatever Hagrid is spewing is a load of nonsense, and that Harry will not “be going to that crackpot school”, for he’s to go to somewhere more distinguished: Stonewall High, before making the mistake of insulting Dumbledore, only for Hagrid to threaten him. When Jared tries to steal Harry’s birthday cake (despite having been warned by Vernon not to eat it previously), Hagrid points his umbrella in his direction and makes him sprout a pig’s tail, making Petunia and Lavender scream.
When Vernon angrily attempts to attack Hagrid, he swishes his umbrella at them and puts the Parkinsons to sleep (“ruddy good riddance”).
In the morning, Harry goes with Hagrid to what seems like an ordinary alleyway in the middle of London at first, but after tapping an upside-down archway behind a pub, reveals “Diagon Alley”, part of a hidden Wizarding community in London, where they both go to Gringotts Wizarding Bank, run by Goblins, to get money for Harry to buy school supplies (from, as well as collecting an important item that Dumbledore wanted Hagrid to retrieve.
After getting a wand from Ollivander’s (that curiously is said to be “the brother of the one that gave [Harry] that scar”) and a snowy owl by the name of Hedwig, Harry and Hagrid get a drink at the Leaky Cauldron, where Harry is made aware of how famous he is in the wizarding world, meeting many people including Doris Crockford, Mr and Mrs Diggle, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Quirus Quirrel and Daily Prophet reporter Bridget Teller[34], before returning to Whinging, with Hagrid giving Harry a ticket to access Platform 9/7[35] at King’s Cross station.
On the 1st of September, Harry is dropped off at the station by the Parkinsons and is at a loss at how to get to the Platform by around 11 AM, until he notices the Hedgeley family using the word “Muggle”. Following them, Harry manages to get onto the platform, located at a particular spot between Platforms Nine and Ten, and is amazed to find the Hogwarts Express, a large, red steam train pulling ten passenger carriages (which appear to be bigger inside than outside, containing stairs to an upper floor that have windows in the roof)[36].
After Bill and Percy Hedgeley help Harry lift his trunk into the train, he soon looks for a compartment to enter when he comes across Hippolyta Granger, Ron Hedgeley and Scorpia Spinx. Scorpia exits the compartment after a short introduction (aiming to cause some mischief), leaving Ron and Hippolyta before Nevil Potter comes around to ask if anyone has seen his pet cat Terence. Hippolyta goes to find him while exploring a bit more of the train, leaving Harry and Ron to discuss their anxieties about Hogwarts as well as Ron to introduce Harry to elements of the wizarding world like Quaddach, confectionary like Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Gum Rats, Sugar Quills, Liquorice Wands, Chocolate Bird Cards (Harry’s card bearing the picture of Alban Dumbledore), Fudge Frogs, Toffee Toads and Caramel Cauldrons, as well as the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet, which Harry notes a brief article noting a break-in in Gringotts.
Hippolyta comes back, just as word spreads about Harry Fletcher’s presence on the train, and numerous students come to see for themselves, including Draco Malfeus (whom Harry had briefly met in Diagon Alley), who arrogantly tries to form a friendship with Harry by “figuring out the right sort”, only to be rejected due to his arrogant manner. This almost leads to a fight until the Hogwarts Express arrives at a station, where Hagrid escorts the first-years into boats across a lake towards Hogwarts, a large castle on a lone island in the middle of it.
The boats enter through a tunnel leading into a boathouse, where they are greeted by Professor Aife Minerva and taken to the Great Hall to be sorted into their houses: Gryffynhart, Slythryus, Corvidious and Burleighnohn, explaining that each house has it’s own team for the school’s Inter-House Quaddach Cup and are in a yearlong competition with one another to acquire the most points, which are earned by success in Quaddach as well as given by teachers for academic achievement and lost for student infractions, in order to win the House Cup awarded at the end of the year.
During the sorting ceremony, Harry Fletcher goes to put on the Sorting Hat, which leads to time freezing while the hat discusses his attributes. The Sorting Hat finds it difficult to place Harry, but eventually places Harry (who is quietly saying to himself “Not Slythryus”) into Gryffynhart. Later, Hippolyta Granger is sorted into Corvidious, while Ron Hedgeley is sorted into Burleighnohn (somewhat to Harry’s disappointment and the shock of his brothers), and both Draco Malfeus and Scorpia Spinx are sorted into Slythryus.
After Dumbledore’s speech (where he warns that venturing into the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden, no magic is to be performed in between classes and that “Door 13151820[37] is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a painful death”), the grand feast begins the year, where Harry is in awe at the amount of food as well as the ghosts, before being introduced to his fellow Gryffynharts such as Nevil Potter, Bill[38] and Percy Hedgeley, and twins Tom and John Puckle[39], known as Tom-John. Glancing around the room, Harry takes a look at the teachers talking to one another, only for one of them, whilst speaking with Professor Quirus Quirrel, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who Harry had briefly met at the Leaky Cauldron, to stare at Harry with malevolence, when suddenly, Harry feels an brief but sharp pain in his scar. Learning that the teacher in question is Professor Severus Snape, who teaches Potions and is head of Slythryus House, Harry is also made aware of certain other teachers, namely that Professor Aife Minerva is the head of Corvidious house, the head of Burleighnohn Professor Pomona Sprout and the head of Gryffynhart Professor Leonidas Scrimwick[40], as well as an older man bearing a strong resemblance to Draco talking to him, who is confirmed to be Janus Malfeus, part of the Board of Governors of Hogwarts[41], and learning that Gryffynhart are the House Cup champions for 8 of the last 10 years, with many in the other houses groaning at the thought of them getting 9.
After the feast ends, the students head to their residences, in which Harry and the rest of Gryffynhart is led to Gryffynhart Keep[42].
The next morning, they are told by Professor Scrimwick of the Hogwarts tradition of the Study Group, in which four students, one from each house, are assigned into a single study group to perform their lessons. Lead to a room, the Sorting Hat lists out the four individuals into each study group.
Harry is then placed alongside Hippolyta and Ron, only to be shocked and dismayed when Draco Malfeus is placed alongside him.
Throughout his first day, Harry navigates his new school and classes, namely History of Magic taught by the ghost Professor Binns, Transfigurations taught by Professor Minerva, Charms taught by Professor Scrimwick, Defence Against the Dark Arts taught by Professor Quirrel, Astrology taught by Professor Aurelia Sinistra, Herbology taught by Professor Sprout, Broomology taught by Professor Rolanda Hoch, Care of Magical Creatures taught by Professor Mylor Silvanus and Potions taught by Professor Snape (who seems to really detest Harry).
Later, when reading the Daily Prophet, Harry reads up more on the Gringotts break-in, and learns that it had happened on the same day that he had visited, and the vault the robber targeted was the same one that Hagrid had retrieved the mysterious object from.
Throughout their classes, Harry, Ron and Hippolyta find Draco to be quite obstructive to their lessons.
It comes to a point that Tom-John, as well as Harry’s Gryffynhart classmates, plan for a prank on the Slythryus, and invite Harry along.
Wanting to get even with Malfeus, Harry sneaks out after curfew with them, only for a set of prefects to be searching the area (seemingly having been tipped off about the upcoming prank). Harry tries his utmost to avoid detection, when he encounters Ron and Hippolyta, who are out of their dormitories as well, trying to dissuade Harry from getting into trouble. Trying to sneak back, an near-encounter with Scorpia Spinx leads them to hide behind Door 13151820, where they find themselves before a three-headed dog.
Escaping, Hippolyta notices that the dog was standing on top of a trap door, meaning it was guarding something.
The next day, during a Broomology class, they are taken to their very first flying lesson, with Harry proving to be a natural at the broom.
But after an accident leading to Hoch taking a couple of students to the hospital wing and ordering them to stay on the ground, Malfeus takes the Remembrall of one of the students and flies around with it, only for Harry to go after him (despite Hippolyta’s protests).
When Malfeus throws it, Harry manages to catch it spectacularly and land safely.
Afterwards, Professor Scrimwick takes Harry aside and takes him to Bill Hedgeley (captain of the Gryffynhart Quaddach Team), making him the new seeker of the Gryffynhart Quaddach Team (despite first years not being allowed to do so).
After receiving a Nimbus 2000 broomstick, Harry is introduced to the rules and basics of Quaddach as well as being introduced to the Gryffynhart Quaddach team, comprised of Olivia Wood, Catrìona Peregrine, Hannah Spinnet, Tom Puckle and John Puckle.
In Charms, Scrimwick teaches his students the Wingardium Leviosa spell, and when Hippolyta shows up Ron and Draco at doing it better than them, Draco and Scorpia utter such nasty comments afterwards that Hippolyta runs off in tears.
At the Halloween feast, Harry and Ron realise that Hippolyta is absent and head off to go and comfort her, escaping from Draco’s queries when Scorpia causes a commotion.
On their way to find Hippolyta, Harry and Ron suddenly come across a thirteen-foot troll in the corridors, who pursues them.
Managing to find Hippolyta, they are then trapped in a bathroom, and work together to take down the troll. Pretty soon, a solid friendship forms between Harry, Ron and Hippolyta.
Harry then has his first Quaddach match, Gryffynhart vs Slythryus, where Harry manages to win the match despite all the odds.
Thus, Harry becomes quite popular and starts basking in the attention for quite a while, much to the concern of Ron and Hippolyta.
While spending his Christmas at Hogwarts, Harry receives presents (a flute from Hagrid, a 50 pence coin from the Parkinsons, a Chocolate Bird Card from Hippolyta, a knitted jumper from Ron’s mother and an Invisibility Cloak with an anonymous note telling him that the cloak once belonged to Harry's father and to "use it well”).
Harry ventures out with his Gryffynhart friends on a late-night trek, only to encounter the Mirror of Erised, which shows him his dead parents George and Lily.
Over the coming days, Harry continues visiting, much to the concern of Ron and Hippolyta (who don’t see his parents but see different things).
It is only when Dumbledore visits, after explaining the mirror and what it does, that Harry is convinced to not go looking for it further as it will be moved to a new location soon, and that many people have completely wasted their entire lives, looking before the mirror at “a desire that is completely untouchable” and that while Harry may consider it a blessing to see his parents, “it can be a terrible curse for those wishing something that is impossible”. When Harry asks what Dumbledore sees in the mirror, all the headmaster says, with a sad smile, is himself “holding a pair of socks”.
On his way back to the common room, Harry spots a cloaked figure in the corridors, approaching Door 13151820 when the figure realises he is not alone. Harry is able to escape detection narrowly, but not before noticing Snape lurking around as well.
During the Gryffynhart vs Corvidious match, the match goes well, until Harry suddenly finds his broom jerking around uncontrollably.
Noticing Snape muttering under his breath whilst staring at Harry, Ron reckons that he’s trying to utter a curse to kill Harry, and Hippolyta goes to help. While setting Snape’s cloak on fire, she accidentally knocks over Quirrel.
With the curse broken, Harry wins the match in the knick of time.
Later that evening, while on a late night trek with Ron and Hippolyta, spots Snape speaking to Quirrel of the Philosopher’s Stone.
They visit Hagrid in his hut and try to tell him of all this (namely that Snape seeks to get the Stone by forcing Quirrel to help him, and that Snape tried to kill Harry), only for Hagrid to refuse to believe this and ask why Snape would try to kill Harry. Harry tells Hagrid about Snape getting injured by the dog in the third-floor corridor (having noticed this after Halloween). Hagrid involuntarily reveals that the three-headed dog, Fluffy, is his, and that what the dog is guarding is a secret known only to Albus Dumbledore and a man named Nicolas Flamel.
Later, Harry notices that he read Nicolas Flamel on Hippolyta’s Chocolate Bird Card that she gave him for Christmas, which then reminds Hippolyta that she had read the name in a book she had picked up in the library a while ago.
So, Harry, Ron and Hippolyta discover that Flamel is a famous alchemist, who created the Philosopher’s Stone, which has the powers to turn any kind of metals into gold as well as produce the Elixir of Life, a potion that can make the drinker immortal.
After visiting Hagrid and learning about who is defending the Stone (learning that the three-headed dog, Fluffy, is one of them), Harry, Ron and Hippolyta then discover that Hagrid has a dragon egg, which hatches to reveal a baby Romanian Ridgeback who Hagrid names Norbert.
Hagrid becomes fixated on looking after Norbert, even when he starts growing and becoming more ferocious, to the point that Ron gets bitten by Norbert and Hippolyta’s hair gets set on fire.
Left with no choice after they are sent to the hospital wing (despite their protestations), Harry calls upon Bill for help, who arranges for some dragon keepers to take possession of the dragon, as well as Nevil, Tom-John and the others for help smuggling Norbert to the tallest tower in order for the dragon keepers to arrive and take the dragon.
Although successful, the alarm is raised and Harry along with Nevil, is caught by Argus Filch.
Taken to Professor Scrimwick, where Draco and Scorpia is also, Scrimwick lectures the four of them, and has 50 points taken from their houses each, with a detection given.
After the detention and the reduction in house points, Harry notes that Gryffynhart starts treating him with disdain, thus he starts spending more time with Ron and Hippolyta. Then, one day, they overhear Quirrel sounding as if he is being threatened. Convinced that Snape intends on stealing the Stone soon, Hippolyta suggests going to Dumbledore, but Harry refuses, due to lack of proof.
Then, Harry receives word that his detention will begin at eleven in the evening. Filch takes Harry, Nevil, Draco and Scorpia down to the Dark Forest, located on an adjacent island to Hogwarts, where they are to assist Hagrid and Professor Silvanus in their task in finding out who’s been attacking and killing unicorns for the past month.
They split up, with Hagrid taking Harry and Scorpia, while Silvanus takes Draco and Nevil with him. After questioning centaurs about the unicorn killings, and finding out little from them, red sparks are seen firing in the air, to which Hagrid, Harry and Scorpia head over to Professor Silvanus, only to find that Draco deliberately startled Nevil into sending the sparks. Hagrid then has Draco and Harry go with Professor Silvanus, while Scorpia and Nevil come with him.
Later, after enduring Draco whinging and complaining about how “his father will hear about this”, red sparks are fired up, to which they all rush to, only for Harry and Draco to get separated.
Harry then finds the dead unicorn, along with a cloaked figure drinking it’s blood.
Immediately, the figure pursues Harry, only to be saved in the nick of time by a centaur named Bower who tells Harry that unicorn blood can keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but results in “a cursed life” in the process. He then reveals that the person who was drinking it was doing so to remain alive until they were able to drink the Elixir of Life and wants the Stone. He also asks Harry if he would not know anyone who has been waiting for years to regain power and Harry realises that the mysterious figure was a weakened but still alive Voldemort.
Later, after Bower sends a flaming arrow for Hagrid and the others, before bidding farewell and departing after ensuring Harry is safe, Harry speaks with Ron and Hippolyta in the morning, telling them of what happened in the Dark Forest.
Harry, Ron and Hippolyta manage to barely pass through their exams, due to Draco being an impediment to their progress.
After their Care of Magical Creatures exam, Professor Silvanus is asked afterwards by Scorpia, in which music can put animals to sleep, for one of her pets isn't sleeping very well.
Then, when speaking to Hagrid about the stranger who had given him the egg, Harry realises (after remembering Scorpia asking about certain music putting animals to sleep) that the stranger has gotten crucial information on how to get past Fluffy. So, the three of them head to find Professor Dumbledore, only for Professor Minerva to state that Dumbledore has been called away for an urgent meeting at the Ministry and will not be back until tomorrow morning. Despite revealing that they know about the Stone, Minerva insists no one could steal the Stone as “it’s too well protected”.
With the realisation that Snape is going to steal the Stone tonight, Harry, Ron and Hippolyta plan on going to get it themselves before he can. So, Harry sneaks out, past his Gryffynhart classmates via the Invisibility Cloak, while getting Ron and Hippolyta outside their common rooms, only to be confronted by Nevil, who has summoned Percy. Despite their attempts, Hippolyta curses them in a Full Body-Bind Curse.
After sneaking past Peeves with an impression of the Bloody Baron, the trio enter Door 13151820, where they spot a harp being played.
When it stops, Harry quickly uses the the flute from Hagrid given to him on Christmas to keep Fluffy asleep. Then they open the trapdoor to reveal steps towards a garden maze where the various deadly plants, including the Devil’s Snare, almost kill them, before Hippolyta gets them free.
Then, after passing through a room with a dead mountain troll, the trio end up in an empty chamber, with a door with two locks. They notice two keys, one silver key on a mounting, one gold key on the roof. When Ron uses the silver key, the room suddenly floods via a rainstorm (which Hippolyta recognises as a Rainstorm Charm), and it becomes a struggle as they reach the golden key. They nearly drown until Harry manages to unlock the door with it, to which they enter the next room containing a giant chessboard for a game of Wizard’s Chess. Ron engineers their win, at the cost of sacrificing himself in order to expose the King and allowing a Checkmate.
Then, after Hippolyta solves Professor Snape’s potion riddle, Harry goes on alone.
Harry arrives at the final room, containing the Mirror of Erised, only to find to his surprise, Quirrel is there.
After learning that Snape was actually protecting Harry, in spite of hating Harry due to his hatred for his father, and that Quirrel had actually been the one trying to kill him and steal the Stone, Harry learns that Quirrel is serving Voldemort.
Quirrel asks how to get the stone, only for an voice to tell him to use Harry. Told to look into the mirror, Harry spots his reflection pull the Stone out of his pocket and put it back in, and Harry feels it drop into his own pocket.
After being asked on what he sees, Harry tells him that he sees his parents again, just like last time, only for Quirrel to angrily get more insistent, believing that Harry lies.
However, the voice appears once again and asks to speak with Harry directly. Despite his reluctance, Quirrel unwraps his turban to reveal, much to Harry’s shock, another face where the back of Quirrell's head should be.
Realising that Harry now has the Stone, Voldemort tries to get Harry to give him the Stone, by tempting him to give back Harry’s parents and allowing them to “live forever”, but Harry refuses.
Quirrel prevents Harry from escaping by conjuring up flames in the room, and then ropes.
Harry is helpless, struggling to get free, when Quirrel prepares to kill him, only for the contact with Harry’s skin to start burning Quirrel. Taking advantage of this to get free, Harry manages to grab at Quirrel’s arm and hold on with the blinding pain in his head building, until he blacks out.
Waking up in the hospital ring, Dumbledore tells Harry that Quirrel did not survive, for Voldemort left him to die, and that the Stone has been destroyed.
Despite this, Dumbledore is certain Voldemort will find another way to come back, and explains that the reason why Quirrel could not touch Harry was because Harry's mother had died to save him, protecting him with her love. Harry also told Dumbledore about what Quirrell mentioned to him earlier regarding Snape hating Harry due to hatred for his father. Dumbledore responds that Snape was only grudgingly protecting Harry this year to pay off a debt he owed due to George Fletcher having saved his life during their Hogwarts years.
Receiving a visit from his Gryffynhart classmates, Harry realises he is looking forward to Ron and Hippolyta more than the rest of his house, and is elated when he is visited by them and Hagrid (who gives him a photo album of his family as a gift).
Then, next week, comes the final Quaddach match between Gryffynhart vs Burleighnohn, Harry and his team perform a great game, but in an act of humbleness, Harry deliberately lets Burleighnohn’s seeker catch the Snitch, allowing Burleighnohn to win the Inter-House Quaddach Cup for the first time in 100 years, with Gryffynhart second place.
Then, at the end of the term feast, in which Slythryus is in the lead of the House Cup, Dumbledore awards some last minute points due to recent events, with Harry, Ron, Hippolyta receiving 50 house points each, while Nevil and Percy 10 more points, ensuring that Slythryus, who are seemingly in the lead, only to drop down, and Gryffynhart to gain the lead (with Burleighnohn 2nd, Corvidious 3rd) and become the winners of the House Cup.
Soon, Harry, Ron and Hippolyta all take the Hogwarts Express back for the Muggle world, and upon arriving back at King’s Cross, all say their goodbyes before heading home.
In the prologue chapter, Vernon Parkinson and his wife Petunia, of 4 Privet Road (in Whinging in Surrey), are quite proud to be “perfectly normal” (or at least, their own kind of normal).
On the beginning of the week, an Monday, on the 1st of November, the day begins with Vernon getting dressed for work at his drill-making firm of Grunnings, gossiping about their neighbours with Petunia, who is not only expecting their second child but raising their one-year old son Jared before noticing a cat lurking around in their garden.
While Petunia tries shooing it away, Vernon heads off to work, where he notices a large amount of people in odd cloaks in a joyous mood, celebrating “the defeat of He Who Shall Not Be Named” and toasting to “Harry Fletcher - The Boy Who Lived”.
Vernon is concerned as the Fletchers are his in-laws, via Petunia’s estranged sister, and he worries about other people finding out about them and their “abnormality”.
Returning home, the afternoon news is full of stories of unexplained owl behaviour, shooting star and firework displays and other various strange activities. Vernon asks Petunia if she has heard from her sister recently, only for her to tell him no, and answers that their nephew is named “Harry”, which worries Vernon completely. The cat appears again, and Vernon chases it off.
Later that night, when everyone has gone to bed, Alban Dumbledore arrives at Privet Road and uses a device to snuff out the street lights, before greeting a cat (the same one lurking around the Parkinsons) that transforms into a human woman named “Aife Minerva”.
They both discuss the latest events, in which Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord known as “You-Know-Who” or “He Who Shall Not Be Named”, has killed George and Lily Fletcher, and tried to kill their infant son Harry. Somehow, Harry has survived the attack and Voldemort has seemingly died (although Dumbledore is doubtful of this).
Soon, Rubeus Hagrid arrives on a flying motorcycle (given to him by Sirius Black), transporting Harry and handing him to Dumbledore.
Despite Minevra’s pleas for Dumbledore not to leave him with his only living relatives, given their behaviour, Dumbledore is adamant, and leaves Harry on the doorstep of 4 Privet Road, Whinging in Surrey, with a letter to the Parkinsons, before restoring the street lights and vanishing.
Ten years later, after the Parkinsons find Harry on their doorstep, Harry Fletcher lives in a Cupboard under the Stairs at 4 Privet Road in a miserable, friendless life with his uncle, aunt and his two cousins, Jared and Lavender[33], thinking that his parents abandoned him just after being born, and that his scar is a birthmark.
Jared and Lavender are spoiled, rotten children whose favourite pastime is to torment Harry.
After an incident on Jared’s 11th birthday, where Harry talks to a snake at the zoo and makes the glass vanish, causing Jared to fall into the enclosure (for which Harry is locked away in the cupboard with no meals for a week), a letter arrives for Harry (something he regards as odd as Harry has never had a letter, for he has had no friends). It is decorated in Red, Green, Blue and Yellow and the address is written in Silver, with a wax seal on the back, with an Lion, an Snake, an Owl and an Bear surrounding an H.
However, when Jared steals it and gives it to Vernon, Harry notices that both his aunt and uncle grow increasingly concerned, and order Jared, Lavender and Harry out of the room immediately, even going so far as to snap at Jared angrily when he protests.
Later, the letter is burned and Vernon has Harry given Jared’s “second bedroom”, but the letter addressed to Harry still arrives the next morning, this time knowing that he resides in “The Smallest Bedroom”.
Harry attempts to get the letter, only for Vernon to rip it apart.
Determined to see what his letter says, Harry tries to get to read them as they continue to arrive, even after Vernon nails the letterbox shut.
After one day results in a storm of letters flying through the chimney, Vernon get so determined that he furiously has his family leave the house and travel to a hotel on the outskirts of Cokeford, only for the letters to arrive there as well, prompting Vernon to travel to a disused home on a rock in the sea, in the midst of a storm, where he believes no letters will reach them.
Harry, unable to sleep due to the storm, starts counting down the minutes on the clock till October 31st, his eleventh birthday.
Then, when the next day begins, someone knocks on the door loudly, and then a giant knocks the door off it’s hinges, despite Vernon angrily pointing a rifle at him and shouting at him to begone, only for the giant to grab the rifle and destroy it before throwing it away, then picking Vernon up and throwing him across the room into an empty couch.
Soon, the giant greets Harry, presents Harry with a birthday cake and delivers the letter to Harry, before introducing himself as Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts.
Hagrid is shocked when Harry, who is clueless at what he’s saying, asks what is Hogwarts, and gets angry at the Parkinsons for not telling Harry anything about the world he came from, only for Vernon to reveal that it was “for his own good”, and that they had tried to “stamp out that abnormality” ever since they took him in, with Petunia inadvertently revealing the lies they told about his parents were not true. Hagrid is outraged at the very suggestion that George and Lily Fletcher did not love their boy, and reveals that the “birthmark” is an actual scar inflicted on the night his parents’ died, from the spell used to kill his parents, which somehow backfired on the man who killed Harry’s parents, a Dark Wizard known as Lord Voldemort (or “He Who Shall Not Be Named”).
Soon, Harry finally reads the letter, learning that he has been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and that the term starts on the 1st of September.
Vernon insists that whatever Hagrid is spewing is a load of nonsense, and that Harry will not “be going to that crackpot school”, for he’s to go to somewhere more distinguished: Stonewall High, before making the mistake of insulting Dumbledore, only for Hagrid to threaten him. When Jared tries to steal Harry’s birthday cake (despite having been warned by Vernon not to eat it previously), Hagrid points his umbrella in his direction and makes him sprout a pig’s tail, making Petunia and Lavender scream.
When Vernon angrily attempts to attack Hagrid, he swishes his umbrella at them and puts the Parkinsons to sleep (“ruddy good riddance”).
In the morning, Harry goes with Hagrid to what seems like an ordinary alleyway in the middle of London at first, but after tapping an upside-down archway behind a pub, reveals “Diagon Alley”, part of a hidden Wizarding community in London, where they both go to Gringotts Wizarding Bank, run by Goblins, to get money for Harry to buy school supplies (from, as well as collecting an important item that Dumbledore wanted Hagrid to retrieve.
After getting a wand from Ollivander’s (that curiously is said to be “the brother of the one that gave [Harry] that scar”) and a snowy owl by the name of Hedwig, Harry and Hagrid get a drink at the Leaky Cauldron, where Harry is made aware of how famous he is in the wizarding world, meeting many people including Doris Crockford, Mr and Mrs Diggle, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Quirus Quirrel and Daily Prophet reporter Bridget Teller[34], before returning to Whinging, with Hagrid giving Harry a ticket to access Platform 9/7[35] at King’s Cross station.
On the 1st of September, Harry is dropped off at the station by the Parkinsons and is at a loss at how to get to the Platform by around 11 AM, until he notices the Hedgeley family using the word “Muggle”. Following them, Harry manages to get onto the platform, located at a particular spot between Platforms Nine and Ten, and is amazed to find the Hogwarts Express, a large, red steam train pulling ten passenger carriages (which appear to be bigger inside than outside, containing stairs to an upper floor that have windows in the roof)[36].
After Bill and Percy Hedgeley help Harry lift his trunk into the train, he soon looks for a compartment to enter when he comes across Hippolyta Granger, Ron Hedgeley and Scorpia Spinx. Scorpia exits the compartment after a short introduction (aiming to cause some mischief), leaving Ron and Hippolyta before Nevil Potter comes around to ask if anyone has seen his pet cat Terence. Hippolyta goes to find him while exploring a bit more of the train, leaving Harry and Ron to discuss their anxieties about Hogwarts as well as Ron to introduce Harry to elements of the wizarding world like Quaddach, confectionary like Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Gum Rats, Sugar Quills, Liquorice Wands, Chocolate Bird Cards (Harry’s card bearing the picture of Alban Dumbledore), Fudge Frogs, Toffee Toads and Caramel Cauldrons, as well as the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet, which Harry notes a brief article noting a break-in in Gringotts.
Hippolyta comes back, just as word spreads about Harry Fletcher’s presence on the train, and numerous students come to see for themselves, including Draco Malfeus (whom Harry had briefly met in Diagon Alley), who arrogantly tries to form a friendship with Harry by “figuring out the right sort”, only to be rejected due to his arrogant manner. This almost leads to a fight until the Hogwarts Express arrives at a station, where Hagrid escorts the first-years into boats across a lake towards Hogwarts, a large castle on a lone island in the middle of it.
The boats enter through a tunnel leading into a boathouse, where they are greeted by Professor Aife Minerva and taken to the Great Hall to be sorted into their houses: Gryffynhart, Slythryus, Corvidious and Burleighnohn, explaining that each house has it’s own team for the school’s Inter-House Quaddach Cup and are in a yearlong competition with one another to acquire the most points, which are earned by success in Quaddach as well as given by teachers for academic achievement and lost for student infractions, in order to win the House Cup awarded at the end of the year.
During the sorting ceremony, Harry Fletcher goes to put on the Sorting Hat, which leads to time freezing while the hat discusses his attributes. The Sorting Hat finds it difficult to place Harry, but eventually places Harry (who is quietly saying to himself “Not Slythryus”) into Gryffynhart. Later, Hippolyta Granger is sorted into Corvidious, while Ron Hedgeley is sorted into Burleighnohn (somewhat to Harry’s disappointment and the shock of his brothers), and both Draco Malfeus and Scorpia Spinx are sorted into Slythryus.
After Dumbledore’s speech (where he warns that venturing into the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden, no magic is to be performed in between classes and that “Door 13151820[37] is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a painful death”), the grand feast begins the year, where Harry is in awe at the amount of food as well as the ghosts, before being introduced to his fellow Gryffynharts such as Nevil Potter, Bill[38] and Percy Hedgeley, and twins Tom and John Puckle[39], known as Tom-John. Glancing around the room, Harry takes a look at the teachers talking to one another, only for one of them, whilst speaking with Professor Quirus Quirrel, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher who Harry had briefly met at the Leaky Cauldron, to stare at Harry with malevolence, when suddenly, Harry feels an brief but sharp pain in his scar. Learning that the teacher in question is Professor Severus Snape, who teaches Potions and is head of Slythryus House, Harry is also made aware of certain other teachers, namely that Professor Aife Minerva is the head of Corvidious house, the head of Burleighnohn Professor Pomona Sprout and the head of Gryffynhart Professor Leonidas Scrimwick[40], as well as an older man bearing a strong resemblance to Draco talking to him, who is confirmed to be Janus Malfeus, part of the Board of Governors of Hogwarts[41], and learning that Gryffynhart are the House Cup champions for 8 of the last 10 years, with many in the other houses groaning at the thought of them getting 9.
After the feast ends, the students head to their residences, in which Harry and the rest of Gryffynhart is led to Gryffynhart Keep[42].
The next morning, they are told by Professor Scrimwick of the Hogwarts tradition of the Study Group, in which four students, one from each house, are assigned into a single study group to perform their lessons. Lead to a room, the Sorting Hat lists out the four individuals into each study group.
Harry is then placed alongside Hippolyta and Ron, only to be shocked and dismayed when Draco Malfeus is placed alongside him.
Throughout his first day, Harry navigates his new school and classes, namely History of Magic taught by the ghost Professor Binns, Transfigurations taught by Professor Minerva, Charms taught by Professor Scrimwick, Defence Against the Dark Arts taught by Professor Quirrel, Astrology taught by Professor Aurelia Sinistra, Herbology taught by Professor Sprout, Broomology taught by Professor Rolanda Hoch, Care of Magical Creatures taught by Professor Mylor Silvanus and Potions taught by Professor Snape (who seems to really detest Harry).
Later, when reading the Daily Prophet, Harry reads up more on the Gringotts break-in, and learns that it had happened on the same day that he had visited, and the vault the robber targeted was the same one that Hagrid had retrieved the mysterious object from.
Throughout their classes, Harry, Ron and Hippolyta find Draco to be quite obstructive to their lessons.
It comes to a point that Tom-John, as well as Harry’s Gryffynhart classmates, plan for a prank on the Slythryus, and invite Harry along.
Wanting to get even with Malfeus, Harry sneaks out after curfew with them, only for a set of prefects to be searching the area (seemingly having been tipped off about the upcoming prank). Harry tries his utmost to avoid detection, when he encounters Ron and Hippolyta, who are out of their dormitories as well, trying to dissuade Harry from getting into trouble. Trying to sneak back, an near-encounter with Scorpia Spinx leads them to hide behind Door 13151820, where they find themselves before a three-headed dog.
Escaping, Hippolyta notices that the dog was standing on top of a trap door, meaning it was guarding something.
The next day, during a Broomology class, they are taken to their very first flying lesson, with Harry proving to be a natural at the broom.
But after an accident leading to Hoch taking a couple of students to the hospital wing and ordering them to stay on the ground, Malfeus takes the Remembrall of one of the students and flies around with it, only for Harry to go after him (despite Hippolyta’s protests).
When Malfeus throws it, Harry manages to catch it spectacularly and land safely.
Afterwards, Professor Scrimwick takes Harry aside and takes him to Bill Hedgeley (captain of the Gryffynhart Quaddach Team), making him the new seeker of the Gryffynhart Quaddach Team (despite first years not being allowed to do so).
After receiving a Nimbus 2000 broomstick, Harry is introduced to the rules and basics of Quaddach as well as being introduced to the Gryffynhart Quaddach team, comprised of Olivia Wood, Catrìona Peregrine, Hannah Spinnet, Tom Puckle and John Puckle.
In Charms, Scrimwick teaches his students the Wingardium Leviosa spell, and when Hippolyta shows up Ron and Draco at doing it better than them, Draco and Scorpia utter such nasty comments afterwards that Hippolyta runs off in tears.
At the Halloween feast, Harry and Ron realise that Hippolyta is absent and head off to go and comfort her, escaping from Draco’s queries when Scorpia causes a commotion.
On their way to find Hippolyta, Harry and Ron suddenly come across a thirteen-foot troll in the corridors, who pursues them.
Managing to find Hippolyta, they are then trapped in a bathroom, and work together to take down the troll. Pretty soon, a solid friendship forms between Harry, Ron and Hippolyta.
Harry then has his first Quaddach match, Gryffynhart vs Slythryus, where Harry manages to win the match despite all the odds.
Thus, Harry becomes quite popular and starts basking in the attention for quite a while, much to the concern of Ron and Hippolyta.
While spending his Christmas at Hogwarts, Harry receives presents (a flute from Hagrid, a 50 pence coin from the Parkinsons, a Chocolate Bird Card from Hippolyta, a knitted jumper from Ron’s mother and an Invisibility Cloak with an anonymous note telling him that the cloak once belonged to Harry's father and to "use it well”).
Harry ventures out with his Gryffynhart friends on a late-night trek, only to encounter the Mirror of Erised, which shows him his dead parents George and Lily.
Over the coming days, Harry continues visiting, much to the concern of Ron and Hippolyta (who don’t see his parents but see different things).
It is only when Dumbledore visits, after explaining the mirror and what it does, that Harry is convinced to not go looking for it further as it will be moved to a new location soon, and that many people have completely wasted their entire lives, looking before the mirror at “a desire that is completely untouchable” and that while Harry may consider it a blessing to see his parents, “it can be a terrible curse for those wishing something that is impossible”. When Harry asks what Dumbledore sees in the mirror, all the headmaster says, with a sad smile, is himself “holding a pair of socks”.
On his way back to the common room, Harry spots a cloaked figure in the corridors, approaching Door 13151820 when the figure realises he is not alone. Harry is able to escape detection narrowly, but not before noticing Snape lurking around as well.
During the Gryffynhart vs Corvidious match, the match goes well, until Harry suddenly finds his broom jerking around uncontrollably.
Noticing Snape muttering under his breath whilst staring at Harry, Ron reckons that he’s trying to utter a curse to kill Harry, and Hippolyta goes to help. While setting Snape’s cloak on fire, she accidentally knocks over Quirrel.
With the curse broken, Harry wins the match in the knick of time.
Later that evening, while on a late night trek with Ron and Hippolyta, spots Snape speaking to Quirrel of the Philosopher’s Stone.
They visit Hagrid in his hut and try to tell him of all this (namely that Snape seeks to get the Stone by forcing Quirrel to help him, and that Snape tried to kill Harry), only for Hagrid to refuse to believe this and ask why Snape would try to kill Harry. Harry tells Hagrid about Snape getting injured by the dog in the third-floor corridor (having noticed this after Halloween). Hagrid involuntarily reveals that the three-headed dog, Fluffy, is his, and that what the dog is guarding is a secret known only to Albus Dumbledore and a man named Nicolas Flamel.
Later, Harry notices that he read Nicolas Flamel on Hippolyta’s Chocolate Bird Card that she gave him for Christmas, which then reminds Hippolyta that she had read the name in a book she had picked up in the library a while ago.
So, Harry, Ron and Hippolyta discover that Flamel is a famous alchemist, who created the Philosopher’s Stone, which has the powers to turn any kind of metals into gold as well as produce the Elixir of Life, a potion that can make the drinker immortal.
After visiting Hagrid and learning about who is defending the Stone (learning that the three-headed dog, Fluffy, is one of them), Harry, Ron and Hippolyta then discover that Hagrid has a dragon egg, which hatches to reveal a baby Romanian Ridgeback who Hagrid names Norbert.
Hagrid becomes fixated on looking after Norbert, even when he starts growing and becoming more ferocious, to the point that Ron gets bitten by Norbert and Hippolyta’s hair gets set on fire.
Left with no choice after they are sent to the hospital wing (despite their protestations), Harry calls upon Bill for help, who arranges for some dragon keepers to take possession of the dragon, as well as Nevil, Tom-John and the others for help smuggling Norbert to the tallest tower in order for the dragon keepers to arrive and take the dragon.
Although successful, the alarm is raised and Harry along with Nevil, is caught by Argus Filch.
Taken to Professor Scrimwick, where Draco and Scorpia is also, Scrimwick lectures the four of them, and has 50 points taken from their houses each, with a detection given.
After the detention and the reduction in house points, Harry notes that Gryffynhart starts treating him with disdain, thus he starts spending more time with Ron and Hippolyta. Then, one day, they overhear Quirrel sounding as if he is being threatened. Convinced that Snape intends on stealing the Stone soon, Hippolyta suggests going to Dumbledore, but Harry refuses, due to lack of proof.
Then, Harry receives word that his detention will begin at eleven in the evening. Filch takes Harry, Nevil, Draco and Scorpia down to the Dark Forest, located on an adjacent island to Hogwarts, where they are to assist Hagrid and Professor Silvanus in their task in finding out who’s been attacking and killing unicorns for the past month.
They split up, with Hagrid taking Harry and Scorpia, while Silvanus takes Draco and Nevil with him. After questioning centaurs about the unicorn killings, and finding out little from them, red sparks are seen firing in the air, to which Hagrid, Harry and Scorpia head over to Professor Silvanus, only to find that Draco deliberately startled Nevil into sending the sparks. Hagrid then has Draco and Harry go with Professor Silvanus, while Scorpia and Nevil come with him.
Later, after enduring Draco whinging and complaining about how “his father will hear about this”, red sparks are fired up, to which they all rush to, only for Harry and Draco to get separated.
Harry then finds the dead unicorn, along with a cloaked figure drinking it’s blood.
Immediately, the figure pursues Harry, only to be saved in the nick of time by a centaur named Bower who tells Harry that unicorn blood can keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but results in “a cursed life” in the process. He then reveals that the person who was drinking it was doing so to remain alive until they were able to drink the Elixir of Life and wants the Stone. He also asks Harry if he would not know anyone who has been waiting for years to regain power and Harry realises that the mysterious figure was a weakened but still alive Voldemort.
Later, after Bower sends a flaming arrow for Hagrid and the others, before bidding farewell and departing after ensuring Harry is safe, Harry speaks with Ron and Hippolyta in the morning, telling them of what happened in the Dark Forest.
Harry, Ron and Hippolyta manage to barely pass through their exams, due to Draco being an impediment to their progress.
After their Care of Magical Creatures exam, Professor Silvanus is asked afterwards by Scorpia, in which music can put animals to sleep, for one of her pets isn't sleeping very well.
Then, when speaking to Hagrid about the stranger who had given him the egg, Harry realises (after remembering Scorpia asking about certain music putting animals to sleep) that the stranger has gotten crucial information on how to get past Fluffy. So, the three of them head to find Professor Dumbledore, only for Professor Minerva to state that Dumbledore has been called away for an urgent meeting at the Ministry and will not be back until tomorrow morning. Despite revealing that they know about the Stone, Minerva insists no one could steal the Stone as “it’s too well protected”.
With the realisation that Snape is going to steal the Stone tonight, Harry, Ron and Hippolyta plan on going to get it themselves before he can. So, Harry sneaks out, past his Gryffynhart classmates via the Invisibility Cloak, while getting Ron and Hippolyta outside their common rooms, only to be confronted by Nevil, who has summoned Percy. Despite their attempts, Hippolyta curses them in a Full Body-Bind Curse.
After sneaking past Peeves with an impression of the Bloody Baron, the trio enter Door 13151820, where they spot a harp being played.
When it stops, Harry quickly uses the the flute from Hagrid given to him on Christmas to keep Fluffy asleep. Then they open the trapdoor to reveal steps towards a garden maze where the various deadly plants, including the Devil’s Snare, almost kill them, before Hippolyta gets them free.
Then, after passing through a room with a dead mountain troll, the trio end up in an empty chamber, with a door with two locks. They notice two keys, one silver key on a mounting, one gold key on the roof. When Ron uses the silver key, the room suddenly floods via a rainstorm (which Hippolyta recognises as a Rainstorm Charm), and it becomes a struggle as they reach the golden key. They nearly drown until Harry manages to unlock the door with it, to which they enter the next room containing a giant chessboard for a game of Wizard’s Chess. Ron engineers their win, at the cost of sacrificing himself in order to expose the King and allowing a Checkmate.
Then, after Hippolyta solves Professor Snape’s potion riddle, Harry goes on alone.
Harry arrives at the final room, containing the Mirror of Erised, only to find to his surprise, Quirrel is there.
After learning that Snape was actually protecting Harry, in spite of hating Harry due to his hatred for his father, and that Quirrel had actually been the one trying to kill him and steal the Stone, Harry learns that Quirrel is serving Voldemort.
Quirrel asks how to get the stone, only for an voice to tell him to use Harry. Told to look into the mirror, Harry spots his reflection pull the Stone out of his pocket and put it back in, and Harry feels it drop into his own pocket.
After being asked on what he sees, Harry tells him that he sees his parents again, just like last time, only for Quirrel to angrily get more insistent, believing that Harry lies.
However, the voice appears once again and asks to speak with Harry directly. Despite his reluctance, Quirrel unwraps his turban to reveal, much to Harry’s shock, another face where the back of Quirrell's head should be.
Realising that Harry now has the Stone, Voldemort tries to get Harry to give him the Stone, by tempting him to give back Harry’s parents and allowing them to “live forever”, but Harry refuses.
Quirrel prevents Harry from escaping by conjuring up flames in the room, and then ropes.
Harry is helpless, struggling to get free, when Quirrel prepares to kill him, only for the contact with Harry’s skin to start burning Quirrel. Taking advantage of this to get free, Harry manages to grab at Quirrel’s arm and hold on with the blinding pain in his head building, until he blacks out.
Waking up in the hospital ring, Dumbledore tells Harry that Quirrel did not survive, for Voldemort left him to die, and that the Stone has been destroyed.
Despite this, Dumbledore is certain Voldemort will find another way to come back, and explains that the reason why Quirrel could not touch Harry was because Harry's mother had died to save him, protecting him with her love. Harry also told Dumbledore about what Quirrell mentioned to him earlier regarding Snape hating Harry due to hatred for his father. Dumbledore responds that Snape was only grudgingly protecting Harry this year to pay off a debt he owed due to George Fletcher having saved his life during their Hogwarts years.
Receiving a visit from his Gryffynhart classmates, Harry realises he is looking forward to Ron and Hippolyta more than the rest of his house, and is elated when he is visited by them and Hagrid (who gives him a photo album of his family as a gift).
Then, next week, comes the final Quaddach match between Gryffynhart vs Burleighnohn, Harry and his team perform a great game, but in an act of humbleness, Harry deliberately lets Burleighnohn’s seeker catch the Snitch, allowing Burleighnohn to win the Inter-House Quaddach Cup for the first time in 100 years, with Gryffynhart second place.
Then, at the end of the term feast, in which Slythryus is in the lead of the House Cup, Dumbledore awards some last minute points due to recent events, with Harry, Ron, Hippolyta receiving 50 house points each, while Nevil and Percy 10 more points, ensuring that Slythryus, who are seemingly in the lead, only to drop down, and Gryffynhart to gain the lead (with Burleighnohn 2nd, Corvidious 3rd) and become the winners of the House Cup.
Soon, Harry, Ron and Hippolyta all take the Hogwarts Express back for the Muggle world, and upon arriving back at King’s Cross, all say their goodbyes before heading home.
In the film, several minor characters have been removed (namely Janus Malfeus, due to an agreement that he could appear in the second film, where he has more prominence), whilst the book’s first chapter told from Vernon Parkinson’s viewpoint, is absent from the film as Parker and Kloves felt it “slowed the film down”. Harry’s attempts at getting the letters are reduced to a montage, while after Vernon declares they are moving, the scene immediately cuts straight to the disused home on a rock in the sea, where Harry, before going to bed, simply says that Vernon should just let him read the letter, only for Vernon to snap angrily back at him and tell him to go to bed.
Hagrid’s explanation about the death of his parents to Harry is moved, from the disused home on the rock in the sea, to after they shop at Diagon Alley. Harry’s first encounter with Draco at the Longbottom Cauldrons shop in Diagon Alley is removed (with the first meeting between Harry and Draco instead taking place on the Hogwarts Express), while following his trip to Diagon Alley, the scene immediately cuts straight to the Parkinsons dropping Harry off at King’s Cross.
The Sorting Ceremony is done out of order (rather than alphabetically in the novel) and shortened down, with only Harry, Ron, Hippolyta, Draco, Scorpia, Nevil, Pansy, Shane and Gary shown.
The Hogwarts lessons are condensed down into a montage, with only Charms, Broomology and Potions shown extensively.
The Quaddach matches are condensed, with the Gryffynhart and Slythryus match and the Gryffynhart and Corvidious match both combined into one match, while the Gryffynhart and Burleighnohn match is shortened to have Harry in pursuit of the Golden Snitch, only to deliberately allow Burleighnohn’s seeker catch the snitch.
Instead of Harry organising many of his Gryffynhart classmates to take Norbert away by hand for a pickup and thus getting caught by Filch, Harry, Ron, Hippolyta and Draco are put in detention after being spotted by Draco at Hagrid’s hut after hours. Scrimwick is much harsher and takes away 100 house points each, still meaning Harry’s popularity with Gryffynhart falls significantly.
The confrontation with Nevil and Percy is different in that Harry is cornered at the entrance to Gryffynhart Keep, only for Ron and Hippolyta to surprise them with the Full Body-Bind Curse.
The Philosopher Stone defenses are different: Instead of effortlessly enchanting Fluffy to sleep, the harp suddenly stops after they open the trapdoor and Fluffy awakes (Harry hasn’t been given a flute for Christmas, thus he doesn’t use it), prompting Ron, Harry and Hippolyta to make a quick getaway. The garden maze is omitted, instead, the trio land on the Devil’s Snare directly, in which Hippolyta’s directions were to relax, after which the plant would release Harry and Ron. However, Ron, being the last one trapped, and being afraid, couldn't calm himself down enough, prompting Hermione to cast the Fire-Making Spell.
After passing the knocked out troll, the Rainstorm Room is shortened for time. And while the Chessboard scene was fully shot, it was heavily trimmed in the final cut to reduce the movie’s running time, while at the end, is Snape’s potion riddle, which Hippolyta solves easily to allow Harry to cross an empty chasm into the next room.
The epilogue in which Harry, Ron and Hippolyta hug before departing for their families at King’s Cross is instead omitted, and the film ends, with the Hogwarts Express departing Hogsbury station, while Harry in his cabin, looks out of the window with a smile, with Hogwarts reflected in the window.
Release, Reception and Legacy:
The world premier took place at Odeon Leicester Square in London on the 10th of November, 2001, while officially releasing on the 14th of November in the UK, with the film released on the 20th in the US and Canada.
A Touch of Magic, became a critical and commercial success, grossing up to around $972 million at the worldwide box office, before reaching $1 billion on subsequent re-releases.
The Harry Fletcher films became one of Hollywood’s major “tent-pole” blockbusters, akin to James Bond, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, the Marvel Movie Universe, Jurassic Park, and later, the DC Cinematic Universe, Red Sails, Transformers and the Lord of the Rings films (with the first one, Fellowship of the Ring, releasing in the same year).
Harry Fletcher would lead the way in the “Second British Invasion”, and prompt more adaptations of Terry Pratchett’s work after an increase in popularity for his older Discworld adaptations, not to mention that along with Columbia’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, fantasy adaptations for the big screen (as well as the small screen) proved very viable and profitable.
After the release of Dragonlance: The Legacy of Raistlin in 2000, Disney continued on with somewhat modest sequels, which led to a live-action TV series by Ted Raimi, while starting in 2006, Universal released a film series based on the Chronicles of Narnia and Warner Bros. released the How to Train an Dragon films[43] in 2008.
And that’s the first novel/first film done!
Next week, we will be covering the next one in the series, 1998’s The Heir of Salazar: A Harry Fletcher Story, which it’s film adaptation was released in theatres in 2002, this time directed by Chris Columbus. But until then, stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where we give extensive coverage to Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire, on Orion+[44].
[1] In OTL, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (or the Sorcerer’s Stone for you Americans out there) was first published in the UK on 26th June 1997.
[2] OTL’s Heyday Films, which was initially known as Cherubs.
[3] In OTL, David Heyman did plan on producing a film based on The Ogre Downstairs but this never came through.
[4] As described by the WestCOT post, Disney created a partnership with Pearson PLC to add a Harry Fletcher land, so I took it to mean that Pearson PLC generally holds the rights to do Harry Fletcher theme parks in the UK, while Disney goes into a partnership with Pearson PLC to add the Wizarding World of Harry Fletcher or gains the licence to do Wizarding World of Harry Fletcher abroad, as long as it is in partnership with Pearson PLC and vetted by Jo Rowling.
[5] Yes, Terry Gilliam, Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, Mike Newell (who would get to direct Goblet of Fire), Alan Parker, Wolfgang Petersen, Rob Reiner, Ivan Reitman, Tim Robbins, Brad Silberling, M. Night Shyamalan and Peter Weir were all considered to direct the first film, whilst Frank Oz was offered to direct Chamber of Secrets but had no interest in it. Petersen and Reiner had pulled out of the running of the first film, while Ron Howard had been offered but had just directed How the Grinch Stole Christmas and didn't want to jump right into another difficult and expensive fantasy movie, before the choices came down to Silberling, Columbus, Parker and Gilliam. Even though Gilliam was Rowling’s first choice of director, Warner Bros. instead chose Columbus, and the rest is history.
[6] With butterflies affecting the 1996 film, Penguin Pictures adapts the novel and has Christopher Columbus direct, starring Emma Watson as the titular character, with Joely Richardson as Miss Honey, Richard Griffiths as Mr Wormwood, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs Wormwood and Pam Ferris as Miss Trunchbull.
[7] In OTL, Rowling would not be credited as a producer until both Deathly Hallows movies.
[8] Fictional.
[9] Auditioned for Ron Weasley in OTL.
[10] Auditioned for Harry Potter in OTL. Later, he would be cast as Peter Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia films.
[11] Unlike in OTL, in which Tom Felton auditioned for Harry Potter. To think, Tom Felton almost ending up as Harry Potter!
[12] TTL’s Seamus Finnigan. In the Harry Fletcher series, Shane Finnigan is in Corvidious.
[13] TTL’s Dean Thomas. In the Harry Fletcher series, Gary Samuels is in Burleighnohn.
[14] Juno Temple auditioned to play Luna Lovegood in Order of the Phoenix but lost out to Evanna Lynch.
[15] True as per OTL. Sean Connery passed on Dumbledore, along with passing on Gandalf and Morpheus, while Patrick McGoohan was in ill health at the time. Peter O'Toole was actually requested by Richard Harris' family to portray Dumbledore after Richard Harris' death, but the studio feared that O'Toole would also die before the series was completed, so they rejected the idea.
And with Richard Harris being busy with Gandalf means he is unable to portray the role of Dumbledore for the first two films, I did consider Christopher Lee (and strongly considered Peter O'Toole), but wanted another actor to have the chance, and thus I chose Ian Richardson as I liked that idea a bit more. And yes, Ian Richardson’s Dumbledore will utter, “You may very well think that, but I couldn’t possibly comment”.
[16] Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane were Rowling’s favourites for McGonagall and Hagrid in OTL so no reason why that should be different here, whilst Miriam Margolyes and Alan Rickman were her favourites for Sprout and Snape due to the Terry Pratchett’s Discworld adaptations meaning she could see the two of them as Sprout and Snape.
[17] Tim Roth was initially cast as Snape in OTL, but at the same time, was filming Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, so had to choose one or the other. And David Thewlis did audition for Quirrell but lost out to Ian Hart in OTL.
[18] Mike Edmonds, Deep Roy, Kiran Shah portrayed Goblins in the first film (albeit uncredited).
[19] Rik Mayall was indeed cast as Peeves, but his scenes were cut from the first film in OTL. In here, Peeves makes the odd appearance every now and again in the background, until when the trio sneak to the Philosopher’s Stone, and Harry makes an impersonation of the Bloody Lord, to keep him away.
[20] Rowling was offered to play as Lily Potter in the first movie in OTL, but she declined as she felt she was “not a good actress”. Here instead, given that I have plans for her as a guest star on Too Late with Miss Piggy (yes, I’m planning out a complete guest star list for that), I feel maybe she would have been more comfortable, doing a short cameo like I described here.
[21] Danielle Taylor (who later became Danielle Tabor) portrayed Angelina Johnson in the first three films before being replaced by Tiana Benjamin in the fourth film, before returning to portray her for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
[22] In OTL, Crabbe and Goyle actors Jamie Waylett and Josh Herdman, were both considered for the role of Dudley Dursley, but lost out to Harry Melling, so I reckoned Harry Melling would be ideal for the reverse instead, cast as Vincent Crabbe’s counterpart in TTL.
[23] True as per OTL! And I’m pretty sure that in TTL, there would have been people begging to change the names of the houses, given that during development of the first Thor film, people were concerned about actually concerned about actually pronouncing Mjolnir.
[24] Oh, yes. True story. In OTL, Bruce Springsteen written a ballad after reading the Harry Potter novels “I'll Stand By You” and made it available for the first film, only for Rowling’s contractual stipulation that no commercial songs of any type be used in the Harry Potter film series to put a damper on any such thing. It wouldn’t be until 2019’s Blinded by the Light film, that the song would see the light of day.
[25] With the Harry Fletcher films done by Penguin Pictures instead of Warner Bros., none of their filming is done at Leavesden Film Studios, so say goodbye to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter (an alternate attraction will have to be established instead). On the other hand, they have the 007 Studio available!
[26] Taw Valley was almost chosen to become the Hogwarts Express in OTL but was rejected by Chris Columbus for she looked “too modern”, a reasonable explanation as Taw Valley was built in the 40s and rebuilt to modern standards in the late 50s, whilst Olton Hall (which has lead to the joke of “...the Hall that thinks it's a Castle”, due to the Hall class being similar to the earlier Castle class) had been built in the 1930s and hadn’t been changed since then.
[27] Instead of the village of Hogsmeade, Hogsbury is instead a town.
[28] Gloucester Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Alnwick Castle, and the University of Oxford were used for filming scenes of Hogwarts, whilst I added the University of Cambridge, as well as Loch Duich, replacing OTL’s Loch Shiel, while Burnham Beeches and Black Park would be on hand to use to film scenes in the Dark Forest, due to their proximity to Pinewood.
[29] True!
[30] True as per OTL.
[31] Rowling will recommend Trevor Jones ITTL due to his work on The Dark Crystal films and on The Dark Crystal prequel series.
[32] Fictional song.
[33] The choice of Lavender as the name for the daughter of the Parkinsons is deliberate as Lily and Petunia are flowers, and thus since OTL’s Lavender Brown is not in Harry Fletcher, it allowed me to use the name of Lavender for another character.
[34] Originally, Rowling planned to introduce the character of Rita Skeeter (who was known as Bridget) in Philosopher’s Stone, trying to interview Harry Potter in the Leaky Cauldron on his 11th birthday, and had appeared on the first draft, only for Rowling to cut the character for later, for Harry was taking too long to get to Diagon Alley and Rowling wanted such a character to appear later when Harry’s fame starts oppressing him, by at which point, Rowling’s experiences with journalists she encountered since her fame influenced Rita Skeeter. Here, Bridget Teller appears in a brief role, but is much warmer and understanding, when Hagrid tells her to leave Harry alone, thus she’s essentially a different character from Skeeter. Stay tuned for the 4th novel, when that comes!
[35] According to Rowling, the choice of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was, in her own words, one that “presented itself without much conscious thought, and I liked it so much that I took it at once”. This makes the decision butterfly-prone ITTL, and given that 7 is a prominent number that Rowling liked to use, I felt that Platform 9/7 (pronounced “Nine Seven”) makes it just as unique as Platform 9¾.
[36] Given the huge amount of students that travel to Hogwarts, I felt that the most logical explanation for how all the students fit into the carriages was that the carriages are actually charmed to be larger inside than outside. It wouldn't be out of place for Rowling to do this, since in OTL, she had the Weasleys borrow a tent with a similar charm for the Quidditch World Cup in Goblet of Fire (which was then used in the Horcrux hunt in the seventh book).
[37] 13151820 are numbers on the alphabet, spelling out Mort, a reference to how the door is “out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a painful death”, and given that Mort means death, well, makes sense, doesn’t it?
[38] Bill Hedgeley, or William “Bill” Richard Hedgeley, is a combination of Oliver Wood character in Philosopher’s Stone and Charlie Weasley (his role in working with dragons).
[39] Puckle was originally Hermione’s surname, only for Rowling to find that the name did not fit her.
[40] Since Geekhis Khan did not mention the Head of Gryffynhart House in his post about Harry Fletcher (with TTL’s Professor McGonagall being the head of TTL’s Ravenclaw House), I took it upon myself to create one. Leonidas invokes the Spartan King as well as Leo coming from the Greek word for Lion while his surname is a combination of the Scottish surname Scrimgeour (which is believed to probably mean "skirmish", from the French escrimeur, meaning "swordsman”) and wick (the advice in charms “swish and flick”), basically an strange combination of Rufus Scrimgeour and Filius Flitwick.
[41] This brief appearance in the novel will be referenced in future, as around the time in which Janus used his influence to get Draco into Harry, Ron and Hippolyta’s study group.
[42] TTL’s equivalent to Gryffindor Tower, the entrance is still concealed by the portrait of The Fat Lady, who requires a password, but with two security additions: two stone lions flanking the portrait, who would roar loudly if anyone was trying to intrude or force entry.
[43] TTL’s equivalent to How to Train Your Dragon.
[44] A Direct Viewing service owned and operated by Orion Pictures.
Edit: The HBO Dune adaptation mention had to be removed, due to @Nathanoraptor making me aware that he was already working on a guest post on Dune (so sorry!). And thus, a special thanks to @Nathanoraptor for his suggestion as a replacement: Isaac Asimov's Foundation.
Last edited:
Second Life for Second City TV
SCTV Is Back: John Candy Relaunching The Show That Brought Him Fame
By Bill Chase, Entertainment Weekly,
January, 16th 2004
Guest Post by @MNN041
(Image source: AltHistory Wiki)
Beloved comedian and actor John Candy recently announced that he had purchased the rights to the sketch comedy series that gave him his start, SCTV, and had begun developing a revival series for Triad. This new take on the show is set to air on the Fourth of July. Some critics of the proposed reboot have accused this of being a vanity project for John Candy, but Candy himself has denied this.
“I'm not going to be on the show and I'm not writing for it, I'm just going to be a showrunner for it. I wanted to give some new opportunities for up and coming comedians.” Candy told Entertainment Weekly. He also made sure to clarify that this new iteration does not solely focus on the Toronto Second City, also including comedians who have appeared in Chicago's Second City, with production being based out of the Windy City. “Chicago’s always been kind of a second home for me, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to give the comedy scene there a little love.”
Despite this, Candy has been very hands-on with the production of the show, having reportedly met with every potential writer and star personally. Candy has reportedly had final say on choosing the new cast as well.
Candy’s longtime friend Rick Moranis, who of course worked on the original show with Candy has stated that he's had a first hand look at production on this revival and believes that can attest that Candy is “fully committed to delivering a quality product.”
When asked how his new series will fare against SNL, Candy was optimistic, telling US Weekly, “Hey, we did pretty good the first time around didn't we?” Later adding, “We all want to be as big as Lorne is, and ya know, kick his butt a little[1]. I feel like he's up for a challenge.”
In anticipation of the revival, Triad has announced a planned marathon of the original series in August. Candy's revival will have essentially the same format as the original series, and the cast, while ranging widely in terms of notability, is composed entirely of up-and-comers with very eclectic backgrounds.
Along with John Candy's announcement of the revival came the announcement of the cast which consists of the following people: Ryan Reynolds, Alan Tudyk [2], Ivana Miličević[3], Bert Kreischer[4], Will Sasso, Ike Barinholtz, Alex Borstein, Michael McDonald, Debra Wilson, Stephnie Weir[5], Trevor Moore, John Pinette, Amy Poehler[6], Lisa Landry, Derek Mears[7], Sofía Vergara[8], Randall Park, Steve Byrne, Ron Funches, Will Arnett, Cobie Smulders, Hannibal Burres, Mohammed Amer, Dave Sheridan, Amy Hill, and Torrie Wilson[9].
At twenty-six initial members, this revival of SCTV boasts a much larger and more diverse cast than its predecessor and while many may argue that the cast is overcrowded, Candy himself argues that the large ensemble helps explore the comedic potential in a much broader way.
“I sat all these guys down and told them to pitch ideas for sketches, nothing was off the table. It was nothing short of magic watching these kids just bounce ideas of what they thought was funny of each other.” Candy excitedly spoke of his cast.
In addition to Candy's input, the show's writing team includes former writers for In Living Color, David Salzman and Fax Bahr, as well as up and coming comedy writers Devon Shepard, John Crane and Dahéli Hall[10]. While Candy's involvement and enthusiasm are undeniable, some skeptics question whether the revival can capture the same magic as the original without the familiar faces of the original cast. However, with a blend of seasoned talent and fresh comedic voices, this reboot has the potential to carve out its own unique place in the comedy landscape.
Several of the new cast members have expressed excitement and gratitude for the opportunity to be part of the SCTV revival. Ryan Reynolds, a Canadian comic and actor who is a longtime fan of Candy's work, commented, "Joining the SCTV family feels like a dream come true. I grew up watching the original series, and to now be a part of its legacy is truly an honor.”
Amy Poehler, a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade, also shared her thoughts, "SCTV has a special place in comedy history, and I'm honored to be part of its revival.”
Lorne Michaels, the main driving force of SNL for many years, has said he welcomes the competition, telling reporters, “Bring it on.” When asked if he had anything he'd like to say to Candy. “When SNL has competitors we tend to make some of our best stuff. We have to up our game so the audience sticks around, but we're always up for the challenge.”
Time will tell whether Candy's merry band of misfits will be able to recapture the magic of SCTV's heyday and compete with the juggernaut that is SNL. That said, with a cast of interesting newcomers and Candy's ever guiding presence this revival does have interesting potential that will likely bring in viewers.
----------------
SCTV Revival: A Worthy Successor That's Big on Heart and Laughs
By Bill Chase, Entertainment Weekly,
July 6th, 2005
(Image Source: Wikipedia)
John Candy's revival of SCTV premiered two days ago to glowing reviews and already seems to be a ratings hit with audiences. Despite complaints of an overstuffed cast, the show managed to deliver a delightful mix of nostalgia and fresh comedic energy. With John Candy's guiding hand and the diverse talents of the new cast, the revival has struck a chord with viewers, offering a blend of classic sketch comedy and contemporary humor.
The main cast managed to all have phenomenal chemistry with each other, with everyone getting a chance to shine during the sketches, which is no small feat considering the amount of cast members. The show first opens with an intro that humorously implies that this new cast of SCTV are actually the children of people who were shown throwing their TV's out the windows in the intro to the original series.
The first sketch is also a strong one, taking aim at men's rights groups, where several cast members hold fake events for members of these groups, that essentially designed to trick hyper-sexist individuals into going into therapy. Amy Poehler and Dave Sheridan prove to be great anchors for the sketch, with Sheridan simultaneously pulling off the macho tough guy that men's rights groups stereotypically respect while also working as an incredibly patient therapist. Meanwhile Poehler is a treat as the woman who has to feed Sheridan lines to help keep the ruse up.
Much like the original series, this revival series is presents it's sketches through the framing device of being a compendium of programming seen on the station throughout its broadcast day. A given episode could contain SCTV news broadcasts, sitcoms, dramas, movies, talk shows, children's shows, advertising send-ups hawking fictitious services and products, and game shows.
The sole exception to this being the second sketch of the night. One that seemingly pokes fun at the format of SNL. Entitled "Why We Won't Have Hosts" the show demonstrates four hypothetical hosts (played by Alan Tudyk, Trevor Moore, Ivana Miličević, and Alex Borstein) which demonstrate all the ways a celebrity host could go wrong, all of which seem to parody specific bad episodes of SNL taken to with the circumstances of what made those episodes terrible taken up to eleven. Tudyk is clearly Milton Berle, Moore is Frank Zappa, Miličević is Louise Lasser and Borstein is Nancy Kerrigan.
One of the standout moments of the night is a commercial parody for a fictional product called "Reality Check," a pill that promises to make people confront their delusions and face reality head-on. The commercial escalates into hilariously absurd scenarios as various characters take the pill and experience increasingly bizarre revelations that often go beyond them just realizing they're in the wrong during the hypothetical situation.
Of course, there was also the hilarious “Why Me?” Sketch which spoofs the chosen one trope often shown in media, with guys played by Bobby Lee, Torrie Wilson, Debra Wilson, Will Sasso and Steve Byrne being told they are prophesied chosen ones from different entities, and immediately rejecting their quests on for various comedic reasons.
The weakest sketch of the night would probably be the “Punk Donny Osmond”, an obvious parody of the recently released Rolling Stone documentary on Karen Carpenter[11]. The whole joke of the sketch is that it features other acts that were known to be easy listening suddenly shifting into punk starting of course, with Donny Osmond.
When approached for comment, Lorne Michaels, “Tonight, Candy and his merry band of misfits showed they're here to play ball. Well, let's see how long they can keep this up.” Meanwhile former cast member Eugene Levy has also sung praises of the show, saying, "I was skeptical, if only because I thought John overstuffed the cast, but honestly, I think everyone had a part to play in making this one of the funniest hours of television I've seen."
This first outing showcases comedic potential and sets a promising tone for the rest of the series. John Candy's vision for the revival seems to have paid off, as the show successfully combines elements of the original SCTV with fresh perspectives from the new cast. With its witty sketches, talented ensemble, and clever writing, the SCTV revival appears to be a worthy successor to its iconic predecessor. As audiences eagerly tune in to see what comedic delights the show has in store, it's clear that SCTV is back and ready to reclaim its place in the pantheon of sketch comedy greatness.
----------------
[1] This is loosely based on a quote Ted Turner said about his vision for WCW.
[2] Alan Tudyk was at one point a stand up comedian before a really bad incident with a heckler that never ITTL due to butterflies. Since he wasn't in TTL's version of Firefly, this ends up being his big break.
[3] Her Wikipedia page at one point said she was a stand-up comedian, so I decided to include her here.
[4] For the record, no I didn't put Ryan Reynolds and the man who inspired Van Wilder in the same cast on purpose.
[5] There is an equivalent to MadTV called The Mad Show but since that show format (according to @Plateosaurus ) is actually closer to the format of Cartoon Network’s MAD or even actual Mad Magazine, I figured I'd have some of the cast work here instead.
[6] Since her place on SNL was essentially taken by Stephanie Courtney ITTL, I have it so this show leads to Poehler getting her big break.
[7] Despite working as a stunt performer, Derek Mears actually has a background in improv comedy.
[8] Third wave butterflies result in Vergara getting her first film role via a movie that Candy was in. As a result, Candy ends up being impressed by her comedic timing, and she's approached her to be part of the cast.
[9] Wilson's presence here is admittedly a replacement for someone else, but since her entire wrestling career is essentially butterfly bait, and she originally planned to be an actress, I feel like this is plausible.
[10] Much like the cast, a few of MadTV’s OTL writer's end up here instead.
[11] Just figured I'd throw in a reference to the TLIAW that @Geekhis Khan is doing.
By Bill Chase, Entertainment Weekly,
January, 16th 2004
Guest Post by @MNN041
(Image source: AltHistory Wiki)
Beloved comedian and actor John Candy recently announced that he had purchased the rights to the sketch comedy series that gave him his start, SCTV, and had begun developing a revival series for Triad. This new take on the show is set to air on the Fourth of July. Some critics of the proposed reboot have accused this of being a vanity project for John Candy, but Candy himself has denied this.
“I'm not going to be on the show and I'm not writing for it, I'm just going to be a showrunner for it. I wanted to give some new opportunities for up and coming comedians.” Candy told Entertainment Weekly. He also made sure to clarify that this new iteration does not solely focus on the Toronto Second City, also including comedians who have appeared in Chicago's Second City, with production being based out of the Windy City. “Chicago’s always been kind of a second home for me, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to give the comedy scene there a little love.”
Despite this, Candy has been very hands-on with the production of the show, having reportedly met with every potential writer and star personally. Candy has reportedly had final say on choosing the new cast as well.
Candy’s longtime friend Rick Moranis, who of course worked on the original show with Candy has stated that he's had a first hand look at production on this revival and believes that can attest that Candy is “fully committed to delivering a quality product.”
When asked how his new series will fare against SNL, Candy was optimistic, telling US Weekly, “Hey, we did pretty good the first time around didn't we?” Later adding, “We all want to be as big as Lorne is, and ya know, kick his butt a little[1]. I feel like he's up for a challenge.”
In anticipation of the revival, Triad has announced a planned marathon of the original series in August. Candy's revival will have essentially the same format as the original series, and the cast, while ranging widely in terms of notability, is composed entirely of up-and-comers with very eclectic backgrounds.
Along with John Candy's announcement of the revival came the announcement of the cast which consists of the following people: Ryan Reynolds, Alan Tudyk [2], Ivana Miličević[3], Bert Kreischer[4], Will Sasso, Ike Barinholtz, Alex Borstein, Michael McDonald, Debra Wilson, Stephnie Weir[5], Trevor Moore, John Pinette, Amy Poehler[6], Lisa Landry, Derek Mears[7], Sofía Vergara[8], Randall Park, Steve Byrne, Ron Funches, Will Arnett, Cobie Smulders, Hannibal Burres, Mohammed Amer, Dave Sheridan, Amy Hill, and Torrie Wilson[9].
At twenty-six initial members, this revival of SCTV boasts a much larger and more diverse cast than its predecessor and while many may argue that the cast is overcrowded, Candy himself argues that the large ensemble helps explore the comedic potential in a much broader way.
“I sat all these guys down and told them to pitch ideas for sketches, nothing was off the table. It was nothing short of magic watching these kids just bounce ideas of what they thought was funny of each other.” Candy excitedly spoke of his cast.
In addition to Candy's input, the show's writing team includes former writers for In Living Color, David Salzman and Fax Bahr, as well as up and coming comedy writers Devon Shepard, John Crane and Dahéli Hall[10]. While Candy's involvement and enthusiasm are undeniable, some skeptics question whether the revival can capture the same magic as the original without the familiar faces of the original cast. However, with a blend of seasoned talent and fresh comedic voices, this reboot has the potential to carve out its own unique place in the comedy landscape.
Several of the new cast members have expressed excitement and gratitude for the opportunity to be part of the SCTV revival. Ryan Reynolds, a Canadian comic and actor who is a longtime fan of Candy's work, commented, "Joining the SCTV family feels like a dream come true. I grew up watching the original series, and to now be a part of its legacy is truly an honor.”
Amy Poehler, a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade, also shared her thoughts, "SCTV has a special place in comedy history, and I'm honored to be part of its revival.”
Lorne Michaels, the main driving force of SNL for many years, has said he welcomes the competition, telling reporters, “Bring it on.” When asked if he had anything he'd like to say to Candy. “When SNL has competitors we tend to make some of our best stuff. We have to up our game so the audience sticks around, but we're always up for the challenge.”
Time will tell whether Candy's merry band of misfits will be able to recapture the magic of SCTV's heyday and compete with the juggernaut that is SNL. That said, with a cast of interesting newcomers and Candy's ever guiding presence this revival does have interesting potential that will likely bring in viewers.
----------------
SCTV Revival: A Worthy Successor That's Big on Heart and Laughs
By Bill Chase, Entertainment Weekly,
July 6th, 2005
(Image Source: Wikipedia)
John Candy's revival of SCTV premiered two days ago to glowing reviews and already seems to be a ratings hit with audiences. Despite complaints of an overstuffed cast, the show managed to deliver a delightful mix of nostalgia and fresh comedic energy. With John Candy's guiding hand and the diverse talents of the new cast, the revival has struck a chord with viewers, offering a blend of classic sketch comedy and contemporary humor.
The main cast managed to all have phenomenal chemistry with each other, with everyone getting a chance to shine during the sketches, which is no small feat considering the amount of cast members. The show first opens with an intro that humorously implies that this new cast of SCTV are actually the children of people who were shown throwing their TV's out the windows in the intro to the original series.
The first sketch is also a strong one, taking aim at men's rights groups, where several cast members hold fake events for members of these groups, that essentially designed to trick hyper-sexist individuals into going into therapy. Amy Poehler and Dave Sheridan prove to be great anchors for the sketch, with Sheridan simultaneously pulling off the macho tough guy that men's rights groups stereotypically respect while also working as an incredibly patient therapist. Meanwhile Poehler is a treat as the woman who has to feed Sheridan lines to help keep the ruse up.
Much like the original series, this revival series is presents it's sketches through the framing device of being a compendium of programming seen on the station throughout its broadcast day. A given episode could contain SCTV news broadcasts, sitcoms, dramas, movies, talk shows, children's shows, advertising send-ups hawking fictitious services and products, and game shows.
The sole exception to this being the second sketch of the night. One that seemingly pokes fun at the format of SNL. Entitled "Why We Won't Have Hosts" the show demonstrates four hypothetical hosts (played by Alan Tudyk, Trevor Moore, Ivana Miličević, and Alex Borstein) which demonstrate all the ways a celebrity host could go wrong, all of which seem to parody specific bad episodes of SNL taken to with the circumstances of what made those episodes terrible taken up to eleven. Tudyk is clearly Milton Berle, Moore is Frank Zappa, Miličević is Louise Lasser and Borstein is Nancy Kerrigan.
One of the standout moments of the night is a commercial parody for a fictional product called "Reality Check," a pill that promises to make people confront their delusions and face reality head-on. The commercial escalates into hilariously absurd scenarios as various characters take the pill and experience increasingly bizarre revelations that often go beyond them just realizing they're in the wrong during the hypothetical situation.
Of course, there was also the hilarious “Why Me?” Sketch which spoofs the chosen one trope often shown in media, with guys played by Bobby Lee, Torrie Wilson, Debra Wilson, Will Sasso and Steve Byrne being told they are prophesied chosen ones from different entities, and immediately rejecting their quests on for various comedic reasons.
The weakest sketch of the night would probably be the “Punk Donny Osmond”, an obvious parody of the recently released Rolling Stone documentary on Karen Carpenter[11]. The whole joke of the sketch is that it features other acts that were known to be easy listening suddenly shifting into punk starting of course, with Donny Osmond.
When approached for comment, Lorne Michaels, “Tonight, Candy and his merry band of misfits showed they're here to play ball. Well, let's see how long they can keep this up.” Meanwhile former cast member Eugene Levy has also sung praises of the show, saying, "I was skeptical, if only because I thought John overstuffed the cast, but honestly, I think everyone had a part to play in making this one of the funniest hours of television I've seen."
This first outing showcases comedic potential and sets a promising tone for the rest of the series. John Candy's vision for the revival seems to have paid off, as the show successfully combines elements of the original SCTV with fresh perspectives from the new cast. With its witty sketches, talented ensemble, and clever writing, the SCTV revival appears to be a worthy successor to its iconic predecessor. As audiences eagerly tune in to see what comedic delights the show has in store, it's clear that SCTV is back and ready to reclaim its place in the pantheon of sketch comedy greatness.
----------------
[1] This is loosely based on a quote Ted Turner said about his vision for WCW.
[2] Alan Tudyk was at one point a stand up comedian before a really bad incident with a heckler that never ITTL due to butterflies. Since he wasn't in TTL's version of Firefly, this ends up being his big break.
[3] Her Wikipedia page at one point said she was a stand-up comedian, so I decided to include her here.
[4] For the record, no I didn't put Ryan Reynolds and the man who inspired Van Wilder in the same cast on purpose.
[5] There is an equivalent to MadTV called The Mad Show but since that show format (according to @Plateosaurus ) is actually closer to the format of Cartoon Network’s MAD or even actual Mad Magazine, I figured I'd have some of the cast work here instead.
[6] Since her place on SNL was essentially taken by Stephanie Courtney ITTL, I have it so this show leads to Poehler getting her big break.
[7] Despite working as a stunt performer, Derek Mears actually has a background in improv comedy.
[8] Third wave butterflies result in Vergara getting her first film role via a movie that Candy was in. As a result, Candy ends up being impressed by her comedic timing, and she's approached her to be part of the cast.
[9] Wilson's presence here is admittedly a replacement for someone else, but since her entire wrestling career is essentially butterfly bait, and she originally planned to be an actress, I feel like this is plausible.
[10] Much like the cast, a few of MadTV’s OTL writer's end up here instead.
[11] Just figured I'd throw in a reference to the TLIAW that @Geekhis Khan is doing.
Last edited:
That's awesome! What's Red Sails and how did How To Train Your Dragon get under Warner Bros?
Once again, I'd appreciate any feedback on this, especially since this is the first one I totally wrote myself.SCTV Is Back: John Candy Relaunching The Show That Brought Him Fame
By Bill Chase, Entertainment Weekly,
January, 16th 2004
Guest Post by @MNN041
(Image source: AltHistory Wiki)
Beloved comedian and actor John Candy recently announced that he had purchased the rights to the sketch comedy series that gave him his start, SCTV, and had begun developing a revival series for Triad. This new take on the show is set to air on the Fourth of July. Some critics of the proposed reboot have accused this of being a vanity project for John Candy, but Candy himself has denied this.
“I'm not going to be on the show and I'm not writing for it, I'm just going to be a showrunner for it. I wanted to give some new opportunities for up and coming comedians.” Candy told Entertainment Weekly. He also made sure to clarify that this new iteration does not solely focus on the Toronto Second City, also including comedians who have appeared in Chicago's Second City, with production being based out of the Windy City. “Chicago’s always been kind of a second home for me, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to give the comedy scene there a little love.”
Despite this, Candy has been very hands-on with the production of the show, having reportedly met with every potential writer and star personally. Candy has reportedly had final say on choosing the new cast as well.
Candy’s longtime friend Rick Moranis, who of course worked on the original show with Candy has stated that he's had a first hand look at production on this revival and believes that can attest that Candy is “fully committed to delivering a quality product.”
When asked how his new series will fare against SNL, Candy was optimistic, telling US Weekly, “Hey, we did pretty good the first time around didn't we?” Later adding, “We all want to be as big as Lorne is, and ya know, kick his butt a little[1]. I feel like he's up for a challenge.”
In anticipation of the revival, Triad has announced a planned marathon of the original series in August. Candy's revival will have essentially the same format as the original series, and the cast, while ranging widely in terms of notability, is composed entirely of up-and-comers with very eclectic backgrounds.
Along with John Candy's announcement of the revival came the announcement of the cast which consists of the following people: Ryan Reynolds, Alan Tudyk [2], Ivana Miličević[3], Bert Kreischer[4], Will Sasso, Ike Barinholtz, Alex Borstein, Michael McDonald, Debra Wilson, Stephnie Weir[5], Trevor Moore, John Pinette, Amy Poehler[6], Lisa Landry, Derek Mears[7], Sofía Vergara[8], Randall Park, Steve Byrne, Ron Funches, Hannibal Burres, Mohammed Amer, Dave Sheridan, Amy Hill, and Torrie Wilson[9].
At twenty-four initial members, this revival of SCTV boasts a much larger and more diverse cast than its predecessor and while many may argue that the cast is overcrowded, Candy himself argues that the large ensemble helps explore the comedic potential in a much broader way.
“I sat all these guys down and told them to pitch ideas for sketches, nothing was off the table. It was nothing short of magic watching these kids just bounce ideas of what they thought was funny of each other.” Candy excitedly spoke of his cast.
In addition to Candy's input, the show's writing team includes former writers for In Living Color, David Salzman and Fax Bahr, as well as up and coming comedy writers Devon Shepard, John Crane and Dahéli Hall[10]. While Candy's involvement and enthusiasm are undeniable, some skeptics question whether the revival can capture the same magic as the original without the familiar faces of the original cast. However, with a blend of seasoned talent and fresh comedic voices, this reboot has the potential to carve out its own unique place in the comedy landscape.
Several of the new cast members have expressed excitement and gratitude for the opportunity to be part of the SCTV revival. Ryan Reynolds, a Canadian comic and actor who is a longtime fan of Candy's work, commented, "Joining the SCTV family feels like a dream come true. I grew up watching the original series, and to now be a part of its legacy is truly an honor.”
Amy Poehler, a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade, also shared her thoughts, "SCTV has a special place in comedy history, and I'm honored to be part of its revival.”
Lorne Michaels, the main driving force of SNL for many years, has said he welcomes the competition, telling reporters, “Bring it on.” When asked if he had anything he'd like to say to Candy. “When SNL has competitors we tend to make some of our best stuff. We have to up our game so the audience sticks around, but we're always up for the challenge.”
Time will tell whether Candy's merry band of misfits will be able to recapture the magic of SCTV's heyday and compete with the juggernaut that is SNL. That said, with a cast of interesting newcomers and Candy's ever guiding presence this revival does have interesting potential that will likely bring in viewers.
----------------
SCTV Revival: A Worthy Successor That's Big on Heart and Laughs
By Bill Chase, Entertainment Weekly,
July 6th, 2005
(Image Source: Wikipedia)
John Candy's revival of SCTV premiered two days ago to glowing reviews and already seems to be a ratings hit with audiences. Despite complaints of an overstuffed cast, the show managed to deliver a delightful mix of nostalgia and fresh comedic energy. With John Candy's guiding hand and the diverse talents of the new cast, the revival has struck a chord with viewers, offering a blend of classic sketch comedy and contemporary humor.
The main cast managed to all have phenomenal chemistry with each other, with everyone getting a chance to shine during the sketches, which is no small feat considering the amount of cast members. The show first opens with an intro that humorously implies that this new cast of SCTV are actually the children of people who were shown throwing their TV's out the windows in the intro to the original series.
The first sketch is also a strong one, taking aim at men's rights groups, where several cast members hold fake events for members of these groups, that essentially designed to trick hyper-sexist individuals into going into therapy. Amy Poehler and Dave Sheridan prove to be great anchors for the sketch, with Sheridan simultaneously pulling off the macho tough guy that men's rights groups stereotypically respect while also working as an incredibly patient therapist. Meanwhile Poehler is a treat as the woman who has to feed Sheridan lines to help keep the ruse up.
Much like the original series, this revival series is presents it's sketches through the framing device of being a compendium of programming seen on the station throughout its broadcast day. A given episode could contain SCTV news broadcasts, sitcoms, dramas, movies, talk shows, children's shows, advertising send-ups hawking fictitious services and products, and game shows.
The sole exception to this being the second sketch of the night. One that seemingly pokes fun at the format of SNL. Entitled "Why We Won't Have Hosts" the show demonstrates four hypothetical hosts (played by Alan Tudyk, Trevor Moore, Ivana Miličević, and Alex Borstein) which demonstrate all the ways a celebrity host could go wrong, all of which seem to parody specific bad episodes of SNL taken to with the circumstances of what made those episodes terrible taken up to eleven. Tudyk is clearly Milton Berle, Moore is Frank Zappa, Miličević is Louise Lasser and Borstein is Nancy Kerrigan.
One of the standout moments of the night is a commercial parody for a fictional product called "Reality Check," a pill that promises to make people confront their delusions and face reality head-on. The commercial escalates into hilariously absurd scenarios as various characters take the pill and experience increasingly bizarre revelations that often go beyond them just realizing they're in the wrong during the hypothetical situation.
Of course, there was also the hilarious “Why Me?” Sketch which spoofs the chosen one trope often shown in media, with guys played by Bobby Lee, Torrie Wilson, Debra Wilson, Will Sasso and Steve Byrne being told they are prophesied chosen ones from different entities, and immediately rejecting their quests on for various comedic reasons.
The weakest sketch of the night would probably be the “Punk Donny Osmond”, an obvious parody of the recently released Rolling Stone documentary on Karen Carpenter[11]. The whole joke of the sketch is that it features other acts that were known to be easy listening suddenly shifting into punk starting of course, with Donny Osmond.
When approached for comment, Lorne Michaels, “Tonight, Candy and his merry band of misfits showed they're here to play ball. Well, let's see how long they can keep this up.” Meanwhile former cast member Eugene Levy has also sung praises of the show, saying, "I was skeptical, if only because I thought John overstuffed the cast, but honestly, I think everyone had a part to play in making this one of the funniest hours of television I've seen."
This first outing showcases comedic potential and sets a promising tone for the rest of the series. John Candy's vision for the revival seems to have paid off, as the show successfully combines elements of the original SCTV with fresh perspectives from the new cast. With its witty sketches, talented ensemble, and clever writing, the SCTV revival appears to be a worthy successor to its iconic predecessor. As audiences eagerly tune in to see what comedic delights the show has in store, it's clear that SCTV is back and ready to reclaim its place in the pantheon of sketch comedy greatness.
----------------
[1] This is loosely based on a quote Ted Turner said about his vision for WCW.
[2] Alan Tudyk was at one point a stand up comedian before a really bad incident with a heckler that never ITTL due to butterflies. Since he wasn't in TTL's version of Firefly, this ends up being his big break.
[3] Her Wikipedia page at one point said she was a stand-up comedian, so I decided to include her here.
[4] For the record, no I didn't put Ryan Reynolds and the man who inspired Van Wilder in the same cast on purpose.
[5] There is an equivalent to MadTV called The Mad Show but since that show format (according to @Plateosaurus ) is actually closer to the format of Cartoon Network’s MAD or even actual Mad Magazine, I figured I'd have some of the cast work here instead.
[6] Since her place on SNL was essentially taken by Stephanie Courtney ITTL, I have it so this show leads to Poehler getting her big break.
[7] Despite working as a stunt performer, Derek Mears actually has a background in improv comedy.
[8] Third wave butterflies result in Vergara getting her first film role via a movie that Candy was in. As a result, Candy ends up being impressed by her comedic timing, and she's approached her to be part of the cast.
[9] Wilson's presence here is admittedly a replacement for someone else, but since her entire wrestling career is essentially butterfly bait, and she originally planned to be an actress, I feel like this is plausible.
[10] Much like the cast, a few of MadTV’s OTL writer's end up here instead.
[11] Just figured I'd throw in a reference to the TLIAW that @Geekhis Khan is doing.
Based on the breakdown of the cast this was produced in the US because Canadian law would never let this be produced in Canada because it wasn't Canadian enough unless the Broadcasting Act of 1991 was never passed:
Broadcasting Act (Canada) - Wikipedia
Canadian content - Wikipedia
The Funniest Canadian Comedians Of All Time
Who are the funniest Canadian comedians of all time? The best Canadian comedians come in many forms. Some famous Canadian comedians joke about their families while other Canadian comedians generate laughs by poking fun at global politics. A few hilarious Canadian comedians have gone on to become...
www.ranker.com
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The way I currently have it set up, the show is being produced in Chicago. I'll certainly keep that list in mind, though funnily enough, it starts out with a lot of people that were on the original SCTV. Also, on the note of Mohammed Amer, I suppose we could say that his family came to the US for different reasons (maybe his Dad ends up getting laid of for one reason or another and the family moves to the United States because he got a job with an American Oil company).Based on the breakdown of the cast this was produced in the US because Canadian law would never let this be produced in Canada because it wasn't Canadian enough unless the Broadcasting Act of 1991 was never passed:
Broadcasting Act (Canada) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Too bad I did notice this before. This list might help to add more Canadian, just in case:Canadian content - Wikipedia
Edit: Also with no Kuwait/Gulf War as we understand it does Mohammed Amer even come to the US?The Funniest Canadian Comedians Of All Time
Who are the funniest Canadian comedians of all time? The best Canadian comedians come in many forms. Some famous Canadian comedians joke about their families while other Canadian comedians generate laughs by poking fun at global politics. A few hilarious Canadian comedians have gone on to become...
On another note, the show being an American production wouldn't be unprecedented, mostly because later seasons of SCTV were actually produced in America and ironically enough aired on NBC.
Just thought that a formerly Canadian show with I assume two Canadian showrunners (John Candy and Rick Moranis) should have so few Canadians. The two of them can't let SNL take them all can they?