Trivia and Final Thoughts

War is here, and the official Game of Thrones podcast is back to unpack the new season of the HBO original series House of the Dragon. I'm Jason Concepcion and I'm Greta Johnson. Together we will be discussing every new episode of House of the Dragon with the show's writers, cast, and crew. You will do things that your heart would have recoiled from before you came to the throne . You can watch us on HBO Max or listen wherever you get your bodcasts What is it ? Some kind of cloak . Well, I see them put it on W ow . My body's gone I know what that is . That's an invisibility cloak. Invisible It's really rare who gave it to? There was no name . It just said use it well. Hello and welcome to Harry Potter, the official film podcast as we journey back through the wizarding world and the films that became a cultural touchstone and shaped way too many of my daily references. I'm Rianna Dylan, lifelong Harry Potter superfan, film critic, broadcaster, and like Margot Robbie, I go to bed every night listening to Steven Fry's Dul sit tones read me Harry Potter on Repeat and I have done that since I was twelve. We're making our way through the entire series and you can watch every film along with us on HBO Max. Today we're diving into the second half of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Or Sorcerers Stone . By my side again, the freed to my George as we move towards the conclusion of the first film is actor, gamer and streamer, Cleo Thomas. Hi Cleo. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me back. Who's Fred, who's George? I'm George, you're Fred. Okay, fine. What would that? I like it. I like it. I like it. I've got that one. Now I haven't really asked you this because I have so many like nerdy bits of Harry Potter in my life, like, you know, a dedicated WhatsApp group and the little like bits around my flat that I have, little Lego Draco, I have a Bertie Bots every flavor being clock, things like that. Yeah. A clock. Yeah, it's really difficult to tell the time on it, but I don't care It's the decoration of it . It's all about the aesthetic. What's like your nerdiest Harry Potter thing that you live and breathe? I have the wand. The wand that I got. I also do own a robe . My name is stitched in it. I have one of those too. Perfect. Perfect. We should have won those to this . Next time. Next time. Next time for sure. Yeah, those are my two things that I hold a lot of pride in having. And also, I went to the Harry Potter store in Tokyo. And I brought back a lot of merch , a lot of cool spirit jerseys, some really cool niffler stuff. So there's a lot there's a lot of stuff. Oh, that's really exciting. I love nifflers. We're not getting on to nifflers yet . I do love knifflers. So we last saw Harry opening presents on Christmas Day receiving a very stylish jumper from Mrs. Weasley , which also I've really coveted Ron's for so long because Arfariana works as well. Wow. Why has no one brought me this? So people are failing around you. How has no one got you that? I know, or knitted me one. That's a hint for anyone watching. It couldn't be that long. No way to our heart. That's what you do. Just get her a big sweater, big hor onr froront the of it, you got ta . And then of course Harry gets this family heirloom, the invisibility cloak bearing a message to use it well . So of course Harry immediately uses it to break the rules, to scour the library's restricted section information on the mysterious Nicholas Flamel. And in doing so, Harry stumbles upon Snape and Quirrell having a very shady whisper fight. Sivous I thought . I don't want me as your enemy quarrel . Don't know. What do you mean? You know perfectly well what I mean We'll have another little chat soon when you've had time to decide where your loyalties lie . Okay, I s feelort like of I already know the answer to this. But if you were given an invisibility cloak, what would you do first? Wow. I'm sneaking into a lot of things that I did not have to pay for anymore. Oh, okay. So it's about the money. For sure. For sure. We're getting our way around a lot of stuff. We're taking, you know, movie theaters, we're taking experiences, we're taking concerts . Don't know about flights though. I don't know how we're gonna ask flights. Yeah. Yeah, so what if someone sat on you? Or you just stand ing. Stand in I'll be terrified. That's not gonna work. Don't do that. Nope. So yeah, no, that's all I can go for. I would love to own an invisibility cloak. I think we all would. Yeah. What I love so much about this is that Harry has like stumbled upon this mystery as an eleven year old . The mystery of Nicholas Flamel, theft of the Philosopher's Stone, which he just reads about in the Daily Prophet. It's not like that came firsthand as a story to him. He literally just happened upon it and he decides that it's his problem to solve? Yeah . Why does he do that? Yeah , a curious kid all of all of a sudden really, you know, he doesn't have the factors of being that kind of kid because where he was living with the Dersey, he's like, that's not his life at all. His world was very small. Exactly. So now he's just this is the first inkling of him breaking free to be able to do whatever he wants. So it's just unlimited access to stuff and an invisibility class . Come on man. That's what I think. I think it's just like him getting a chance to just be free for the first time and not be limited by people or thoughts. So he's just living. That's so true actually. Yeah. And also, we just saw Alan Rickman in that clip . He is such a phenomenal severus snake. Yes. Like his voice, his deep voice, is such a unique voice but also his hand movements , like his timing . It's such a that's a decision. That's a choice to make as an actor . And it gives Snape so much more characteristics and charisma. It's all of it from the hand gesture to the moment of whipping his hair back around for the camera, it's all these little intricacies that make Snape great. Why do you think Snape is such a divisive character ? And like, why do we love to hate him, but also just love to love him? So I think in the first part of these films, you hate because he's always on Harry. He seems to be picking at him, just getting at him for a reason. I think we've all had teachers , maybe not even teachers, some other people in the world who just they poke at the needle . Yeah . And I think that connection is why we don't like Snape at first, but then over time when we learn the entire history , you just become so much more like in love with him . And it makes all these little now that when we watch the performances now, you can't help but laugh. You can't help but this level. I feel like you were maybe a snape apologist. Oh , and I have never forgiven him. Why haven't you forgiven Snape? Let's discuss this. Why haven't you forgiven Snape? I just I feel like everything that he does to Harry, especially when he's eleven years old in the Philosopher's Stone, he keeps trying to get him expelled, he keeps trying to take pointss. He' so horrible to him. He's such a bully. I feel like everything he's done up until that point and afterwards is not like negated by the fact that he once loved Harry's mom. His father was picking on him the whole time his dad not . Come on, Snape, grow up. Oh, come on, that's not fair. That's not fair, man. But when it all matter when it's when it was all on the line, where was he? He made sure to do his part to protect that boy. Only because he made a promise to Dumbledore . Always . I am so excited to make our way to the conclusion of the philosopher 's stone, Re you readyady? at the school? Let's do this . Professors , I found this in the restricted section . It's still hot . That means there's a student's out of bed Dashing away from Snape and Quirrell's spat, Harry finds himself face to face with the mirror of Erized. In the mirror, he sees his parents alive and well, smiling and hugging him. It turns out that the mirror shows everyone that which they desire most as Dumbledore bursts Harry's bubble. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live , which is so wise. Basically stop pointing yourself and go to bed. Yeah ., Yeah yeah. And he is kind of haunting himself. Yeah, because he never he's never seen his mommy. Yeah . So this moment where he gets a chance to connect with them in any capacity. The moment we see the hand touch his shoulder and he reaches for it like he's never and yeah Dumbledore being there to as you said burst his bubble let him know kid do this Don't do this to see yourself. Just seeing Harry Potter sitting cross legged in this empty room in front of the mirror just gazing at it. I just think it's such a phenomenal shot because it really shows his isolation in that moment and it reminds us of where he's come from because although he has found his community and everything in Hogwarts , it's not he's still lacking that massive part of himself, his parents. Yeah Couldn't make myself cry. What would you see if you looked in the mirror Berezette? I would see what we're doing here today . I was just gonna say that. Yeah. What we're doing here today my dream. This is the fun, man. Like I love just enjoying life with the things that I really do love. So being here like at this moment and surrounded by all this man, this is what I would have saw. The dream. Yeah. So back at Hogwarts, Ron has been spending a lot of time playing Wizard's chess , which might become relevant later and Hermione hits the library again. The trio learns more about the philosopher's stone, Nicholas Flamel, immortality and unlimited wealth . So this should end well. Okay . Now I want to discuss wizard games because obviously you have wizard chess, which is the same sort of rules as muggle chess, except a lot more violent. A lot more violent. Yeah. What other deeply unhinged wizard games would you invent? Ooh , that's a great question. I've never thought about this . Like what could we like bring magic into and you know, wizard chest it up? I feel like their truth, truthful dear would be so crazy. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like the deads would be horrendous. Yes, yes. I could see that. I think a more brutal version of charades would be fun. Ooh , that look like or like hangman with with a magical I think I feel like there is a hang man in Fred and George's shop later in the series. See, Fred and George. We know. We know we know from the book, there is this game called Gobstones. Okay, which I think is kind of like marbles, the Marble Game Mar bles except that it blows this really smelly spray gas in your face if you lose Gobston . All right, somebody go ahead and get that done. Let's go ahead and hit that next. We need gobstones out there on the market next , please . Meanwhile, Hagrid makes a very Hagrid move and he wins a dragon from a random guy at the pub. Norbert is tiny, cute and illegal. Yeah. Harry and his friends try to fix everything themselves . And again, why? Hagrid is a grownup. He can sort his own mess out. Yeah. Harry once again is like, I'll do this . Harry, along with Draco, end up in midnight detention in the Forbidden Forest, which seems like a perfectly reasonable punishment for eleven year olds. While in forest attention, Dray witnesses a hooded figure drinking unicorn blood on the forest floor. Ferenz saves them and explains that yes , unicorn blood will keep you alive, but your soul will be permanently cursed. With these forest slurps, Voldemort is secretly upgrading himself from ghostly rumour to half life reality. Dumbledore goes on holiday and seemingly all other adults are unavailable, so rather than revise for final exams, the trio decides once again to find the stone themselves in an attempt to stop it from falling into the wrong hands. They sneak out of their dorm itory much to the dismay of poor old Neville and they pop down a trapdo into an obstacle course designed by a bunch of lunatics sorry, professors if you were one of the professors tasked with setting a trial to protect the stone, what do you think your trial would be? I would have them do some kind of twisted version of hopscotch , Tether Ball and Dodge Ball. Wait, what? Yeah, I need all three of those to be Hop Scotch, Tether Ball and Dodge Ball is Tether the ball the one where it goes round? Yes. Which I still don't actually know the rule for that game. It's just like playing tennis by yourself, right? Is it just like playing tennis ? Because when I played it, there was someone else on the other side of the pole. Oh, you had friends . Okay. That was the difference. Okay , understood. I wish we would have went to school together. Me and you could have been great friends. Tetherball friends. Yes. Those were the three then it would be Dodge Ball, Tether Ball, and Hop Scotch. He was a very sporty base.. Yeah I was going more like Harry Ron and Hermione suspended on some sort of bridge over the top of this , I don't know, magical sea creature infested water and then having to get to the other side. Okay. Is that quite dark? That's that's that's exactly what Dumbledore needs back at Hogwarts. Yeah, let's make some upgrades for some more dangerous traps for kids. Let's go for that, you know, wanders off next thing you know. Yeah, you're swimming with the Kelpie. Quite the first trial, Devil's Snare. Yeah. Hermione remembers to relax , which is character growth, I think, for her. Then next come the flying keys and Harry uses his seeker skills to catch one. Everything comes full circle . And then finally, Wizard's chest. Yes. Ron sacrifices himself and drops an absolute all timer. Classic, classic He's going to sacrifice himself. No, you can't. There must be another way. Do you want to stop slate from getting that stolen or not? Harry, it's you that has to go on. I know it . Not me, not Hermione, you . Not me , not Hermione . You listen, bravery. Yes. Brave kids. Gryffindor and him. Yeah, man . Yes, yes, yes. I love it just why has that become so iconic? You know, it takes it takes TikTok to take one thing and then create just this massive it version of it. We've seen so many different edits now. We've got animated versions. We're saying it. Listen, me and my friends, it is a go to on Twitch. Our chats know as soon as they hear or not me, everyone follows suit, not our whining . You 've of those tasks do you think you'd have actually excelled at? I'm gonna have to go with going after the key. Yeah. Harry Potter. Yeah, Harry on the broom. Yeah. I think I would excel at that for sure. Do you have really good hand eye coordination? Sports wise, I got that locked in. Nice. We're good. Okay. Chess wise, if I would have known that was around the corner too, I'd have been like, no, thank you . No, thank you. A life size version of Wizard's chest, which I just saw my friend playing in which the guy got up, swung the chair, you know, wrestling style. No, thank you. Yeah . And then the Devil Snare is a very scary , scary thing to be wrapped up in. I know. That's crazy. I know. And they like they run their necks and then they grab them off the face. I'm like never mind. It kind of really reminds me of Jamanji as well, like with the parts coming to life and terrifying the children. Yeah. There is a missing trial that's from the book, which is Snape's trial , where Hermione really comes into her own using logic. So I'd mention this basically because I think about her quote every day. She says, This isn't magic, it's logic, a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't gone out of logic. They've stuck in here forever. And it's basically just trying to figure out there's like a riddle and you have to figure out which potion you can drink which will let you through the fire that takes you into the next room which potion you can drink that will take you backwards and help you escape or one might kill you . And it's just I love it. It's such a like herney like because each of them have their own task where they really come into their own and that's Hermion ae M'ins andes, I really hope that it's gonna be in the TV series. That would be really cool to see. You said this was Snape's trial. Yes, 'cause it's potions. Snape's crazy. I know. It was either you move forward, you go backwards or you die die or you can some might be just water, some might be wine. Okay , but there is definitely fatality in a bottle. But you know, that's no surprise. There is fatality around the corner everywhere at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is crazy. This is the most dangerous place ever. It is. So once through all the trials, Harry goes on alone and finds poor stuttering Professor Quirrell, who gives that perfect villain speech before removing his turban to reveal he's got a bit of Voldemort living on the back of his head . Harry faces the mirror of Erized again , but this time his only desire is to stop Quirrell from getting that stone. Quirrell tries to kill Harry, but he can't touch him thanks to the powerful magic of his mother's love. So after all of the speech giving and the face melting, Harry grabs the stone and Voldemort's spirit flies off. It's not the last that we're going to see of that guy. No. And while Harry's recovering in the hospital wing, Dumbledore visits and spills some tea about what was really going on with Quirrell, Voldemort , and the Philosopher's Stone . But that doesn't matter because it's time for the houseguard. It's the end of term, after all . Gryffindor thinks they've lost to S lytherin until Dumbledore starts handing out points left right and center which is one of my favourite moments in the whole series. Some for Hermione, some for Ron, obviously some for Harry and then a few for Neville. . The Great Hall explodes in celebration, Gryffindor wins, the year has come to a close and it's time to board the Hogwarts Express back home. And this is the moment where I have to not cry each time Harry's different now and he's not going home, not really. That's it. That's all the events that happen in the Philosopher's Stone . So for you, what is like your kind of most memorable moment from this half of the film. The most memorable moment for me , second half of the film is most likely the moment where we get to see Voldemort revealed for the first time. I didn't know what was happening. Yeah, I didn't know what was getting ready to be revealed. I didn't know it was gonna be quirled, involved. I had no clue. So then to see the turbine come off and he turns around, it just looks like grotesque and he's talking the hairy and his fuck. That creeped me out of the kids. That was the one where I was like , wow . This is gone way too far . And I love it. Did you see the reveal coming? I did not, which that's what really threw me off because as the turbine's coming off and then you just see this head in the back of him and he's talking Airy, get that stone. It's insane. It's so violent. It's really dark. It's very dark . And he's down there by himself. Just Harry in it. Yeah . Where was where are the professors? Where are the adults? Where are they? Like you're expecting them to come bursting through the door and they don't. They don't yeah. They don't. They're busy taking care of other stuff running around hardwars. Also, I really love there are those little comedy moments that we get throughout the second half of this. And one of my favourites is David Bradley as Filch because Filch, again, he's just such a revolting looking sad man, isn't he? I just think David Bradley plays him so he's one of the loveliest men in the world . David Bradley. He's like he loves fan interactions like when he goes to football matches he goes, I think with like his grandson and he's always happy to take photos with people. He's so lovely and he's playing one of the most rancid creatures in Harry Potter . The moment where he 's talking to Snape and Quirrel and he's a student out of bed. It's that smile very at the end of that line that's just like creepy so creepy. He's so excited to punish them. Yeah. I think it's really interesting how like their houses are kind of played with. So obviously we know that Harry is Gryffindor with Sadhes of Slytherin . We know that Hermione is Gryffindor with shades of Ravenclaw and even like Neville is Gryffindor with shades of Hufflepuff . But Ron is never really talked about as anything other than Gryffindor. He's a Gryffindor through and through. Yeah . And even like the sorting hat is like, Oh, and Ola Weasley, I know just where to put you. There's no question . And you know, obviously when Draco gets sorted, he is before it touch evenes his head slither in. Yeah . But Ron is the same. Gryffindor. Yeah. And so why do you think he is more Gryffindor than anything else? What do you think he's got that the others don't have that make him pure Gryffindor I think it's everything that we've already touched on with him. It's his, it's his loyalty . It's his courage, it's his wit. That is a Gryffindor through and through. Yeah. And loyalty. I think the fact that he and m herine have called but there're so loyal to Harry throughout. Even when they have moments or they fall out, they always come back together again. Like you know that trust will always be there. Yeah, from the jump from the very first moment. That's Ron. Ron Wasley. Ron Wasley . And also I've just mentioned Neville there. We haven't really talked much about Neville. But he gets those really important ten points in the House Cup. What are these points system first and foremost? What is happen ing? How are we really putting this on the board? What are the stats or actually criteria we're basing this off of? I'm confused. I feel like that's a I think I think Draco would like to know the answer to that as well. I agree because Drake was ready to celebrate with his house. We did it. It's up. We're gonna have a great time. I'm still the guy. Y'all was hyped up by Harry. I don't hear none of that. We won this year. Next thing you know, dumb points, points, points. And then Neville speaks by with how many? ten. ten points. Yes . Because he stood up out of a chair? Because he stood up to his friends . And that's hard. And we, you know, we see him like always being bullied. He's always being laughed at, not by not just by Slytherins but by his own house as well. That's also true. And the fact that you have like this really tight knit trio, right at the end of the film, they are solid . And then Neville is just still on the periphery. Like who is his best friend? He doesn't have one . And yet, despite that, despite it would be so much easier just to try and go along with the flow and to fit in and to keep quiet, he decides to stand up because he again is a true Gryffindor equally. Wow. You have you have convinced me . You have convinced me. I no longer have any issue with the point system that was given up. I mean no, Dumbledore is completely whack for like just handing them out, but he's he's also a griffind also. Oh yeah, he was definitely playing favorites You know what? Thanks. Thanks, Dumbledore. Thanks OG. I feel like how he needed it. The first time in his life he's ever been the favorite, so let him enjoy that moment. Do you have a standout performance from the second half of the Philosopher Stone? Daniel Redcliffe. I mean, yeah, Harry South. It's his movie. So yeah, it's it's him, man. Understanding like we talked about in the first episode, the responsibility that was going to come with being the title character of this franchise , being the face, being the Harry Potter is, you know, that's a lot to put on a young kid before before they even really know what's to come next, right? I think about, you know, I relate it to myself being able to have a role that is going to stand the test of time , right? That comes from a book that's being adapted. It's going to film. And forever , forever, you will be associated with that character. Forever. How do you find that? Do people like obviously still come up to you and say, Oh my god it's zero. Yeah. And how do you react? Are you like always happy to like talk about it or yeah, I am because it lets me know that I did my job well , you know and it's one of those things the fact, that this film and this story has made people feel good throughout this entire time . We've now technically entertained two generations of people twenty years at twenty year run , and even older than that, you know, so it's a very great thing to have a roll like that on my resume and I can relate to the Harry Potter or Daniel Radcliffe way of looking at it just the same. Like I've made the jokes before. I'm like, I'm the black Harry Potter. I'm taking that I'm taking that on as a little marker for myself because the parallels are there. Now only got one. He's got an entire shot . But it's Daniel Rancliff for sure,, man. Like for him to be only ten, eleven years old, this is this film is going to become a massive run. He doesn't even know what's ahead of him . And he did an incredible job. You'll be okay, Harry. You're a great wizard . You really are Not as good as you . Me, books and cleverness . They are more important things , friendship and bravery . And Harry, just be careful . That moment, this the scene between Hermione and Harry and she , she's letting him know like it's one that's going to be okay . I got Ron. Yeah . You're the one as he just said, it's on you now. It's you who has to go on. But you're also like that bond between them is so at the core of everything going forward, but they don't have that from the very beginning. They do not like Hermione . As you said in I think the previous episode, like she is a snob and she does. She talks about books and cleverness as almost being the most important thing. She doesn't break rules . And then suddenly she just relaxes a bit because of their influence . And also they step up their game too. So they all just make each other raise their game. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. And also the fact that she acknowledges that Harry is just such a great wizard not because of his magical prowess, but because of his bravery and his ability to be a true friend shows as much growth on her part as his , the fact that she's like, there are more important things. Yeah. And she would not have said that on the first day on the Hogwarts experiment. No, she would ask, why are you here? Yeah. Why are you why are you here? Yeah. Yeah, she was a snob, as we just mentioned, but man, she's all around the three of them in this film go on such a great character development, man. By the end, you're just like, you're locked in. Yeah. You fallen in love. And also, like we were saying before about Harry sort of being like kind of the straight character. Right. He has to react to things . All this weird and wonderful strange world that he's entered and he has no idea what's coming around the corner literally sometimes . And he just has to kind of react to it in a really natural normal way that a muggle child would react to it, right? He's not like Ronnie, he's not grown up with a not grown up with all of this family around him and all of this love, but all of this understanding of the wizarding world . So he actually has a really tough job because it's not like he's super wacky himself and it's not like you know he has loads and loads of things to kind of bounce off on . It's just him reacting in the moment . And I think the epitome of that is the final scene with Hagrid because it's like the buildup of all of this emotion and everything that we've gone through with him on this journey throughout the entire film. And it reaches this emotional climax and we're all kind of devastated A that the film is over, that he's having to say goodbye to the place that he loves, to the person that he loves, even if it's temporary . And even more impressive is that that day of filming was their very first day of filming. Whoa . Right? How did he bring that much emotional health to the role on day one? First day of considering that's the bit that always makes me cry, I have like the capacity that he has for holding onto that love is just amazing for a ten year old. Yeah , get her a box of tissue . She's tearing up already guys . But also how gorgeous that Hagrid gives him a little memo of his life to take back with him that gorgeous book of photos of him and his friends and his parents as well , which again, Chris Columbus being, the genius that he is, uses that to open the next film. Chris , that's why you're the guy, man. That's why you look what you've done. Look, we're just two people with microphones geeking up water years later , man. Jabo done. So much has been set up in the first film of the series, so now I feel like we are required to discuss some of our favorite Easter eggs from the philosopher's stone that's going to pay off further down the line. So before we go any further, I mean, I'm sure everyone listening, watching , you know this, but there are going to be spoilers for all of the films. Literally, literally . So one of my favorites is when again because everything for me comes back to Quidditch apparently, I'm not going to mention a word. Don't worry . And it's when Harry catches the snitch in his first ever quidditch match. And he famously is like , I mean, he does it so well. Daniel Radcliffe plays this so well when he's like surfing the wind on his broomstick and then he catches the snitch in his mouth and you're like, oh that's a really fun whimsical silly way of catching the snitch and then like films later , it comes back as that's the only way to open the snitch, which contains one of the Deathly Hallows. Yeah. And I was like, wait, that was seeded from the very beginning. The very beginning that was placed, man. Isn't that so cool? It's really cool. It's like when you get those moments, right? Because I think any storyteller works hard to have moments like that . And that one in particular was probably the coolest out of them all. Yeah. I think about like for me the Deluminator, right? Oh yeah, like when we first turned this movie on, you see Dumbledore walking through the neighborhood, bringing other lights to him. And then as you mentioned, films later now, it's a Ron's possession and that's how he finds his way back and he was gifted to him through Dumbledore. I love that aspect of it. We also see the more of the Deathling Hallows with the Invisibility Cloak . And I guess because this one has so much emotional weight to it as well. And we don't realize that until so much later that this is the thing that has kept Harry safe, this is his connection to his father and the whole story of the three brothers and how the invisibility cloak is the one thing that doesn't cause like death and destruction . I just find that so moving that that's a thing that has been gifted to Harry . Yeah at, the very beginning. To protect him from what his journey's getting ready to be. Yeah, it definitely plays a key part in Harry's story for sure. 'Cause when we think of the elder one, we think it's preserved, it's his dog. Yeah. Dark, yeah Yeah. So like a trail of destruction behind it. Also, I really love this idea, which only kind of I thought about recently, the whole idea of Harry being a seeker, like specifically a seeker , not a chaser , not a beater, not a keeper. When we're talking about, why is he trying to solve mysteries? It's like he's always seeking the answer to something. That's his role in everything . Like from it's not just about like his hand eye coordin ation, the fact that he can see the snitch even when Oliver Wood is looking around, like he's lost it already. That's not his job. And the fact that he's just, yeah, I can find the answer. I can find those little kind of key bits that open that unlock mysteries . Yeah. I was like, God, like that is in there. Yeah . It's in the terms that they use for Quidditch It's wild because Harry, as we mentioned, this is the first film and he even gets a chance to come to Hogwarts, he's this isn't him at all at all. So it's literally him finding himself as the story goes on. And then also like you mentioned with him sitting in front of the mirror, he's still alone in a lot of ways . Yeah . He has a big weight on his shoulders as far as destiny, responsibility , and yet we got one heck of a story out of him . He sure did. It is time now for Al Post. So an has o arwlrived from a fellow potter fan and I think you're definitely going to have some thoughts on this. This is a hot take from Susanna V from Columbia. This is her speaking. Are you telling me that all of the brilliant professors at Hogwarts designed the hardest obstacles they could think of to hide a super powerful stone , and then three, eleven year olds, eleven beat them in one night. My friends and I can't even finish an escape room without asking for hints . But sure, these kids who, two out of three of them found out magic was real less than a year ago, can handle it in the safest place in the wizarding world . By the way, not a great marketing slogan for a school, a place where trolls get in, basilisks live in bathrooms, and someone tries to kill Harry every semester. Hey, Dumbledore, I'm sure there were better places to hide that thing. agree with her. Susano is not wrong. Can we please get a video chat with her going? That's great. That is fantastic . You're so cross. Yes . She's right . She is right, but also these are three very brilliant eleven year old s. Is it can we let's throw a theory out there? Can we say that Dumbledore may have taken the difficulty down a notch on those three trials? Did he help behind the scenes? Did he was already pulling strings. Oh , well you mean like he was just literally in the shadows? Yes. No because he loves to send Harry on a quest. Good point. And he makes life as difficult as possible for Harry, but in order that he can overcome, like the fact that he can, he kind of has to prove it to himself. But also like the quidditch thing , the like the finding the keys, that is very tailored to Harry , right? You even said you could could do do that that.. I Yeah, I could do that. I wonder if somebody , obviously, Quirrell could do it. Quirrell got there too. That's true. That is true. It is the thought of Quirrell doing that with that robe on though. Yeah. The visual of that him having to like come up out of it and then get off a room is a whole different experience visually . But she's right. She is right. We've been talking about this. Like Hogwarts is not the most safe place to be , especially for Harry Potter. And then you got Snape putting up tests together that could potentially kill kill a student. I feel like I really freaked you out with that. Dad with that trial. That got me that trial is way too far snake. McGonagall was the one who transfig ured the chess pieces and they literally like clubbed Ron unconscious. Also true, okay? So McGonagall are like one of our heroes. Listen, no, we will have no shade on McGonagall . Okay. Ever ever . I really love Susanna's point about escape rooms because I love an escape room. Same, but I do not get through them without clues. It just proves that we're not as like smart as we think we are. Those are very humbling. Yeah, maybe it's you Susanna. Maybe it's not them. Maybe it's Yo. A you now we do really want to hear from you . Keep an eye on our socials at Harry Potter for your choice to send in your favourite moments, your burning questions and your hottest takes. All right, I feel like we need to take a real minute to talk about the music because it is so transportive. John Williams is one of the most extraordinary composers film has ever had. Yeah. I know that you mentioned music kind of being one of the things to really draw you into the Harry Potter films. Why do you love it so much? I think it's the moment we even see the Warner Brothers logo pop up at first. We hear, which I believe is headwicks now. Yeah. It's that. It's the knowing that John Williams, you know, put together incredible incredible themes like Jaws, Star Wars, ET, Jurassic Park, Home Alone, like he's got bangers . He's got bangers when it comes to the film side. He just manages to evoke such a sense of wonder with everything that he does because those films that you mentioned, you know, they don't have magic in them , but there is something about the music that makes them feel magical . So he was like the perfect choice for this, right? Yeah, I guess collaborating again with Chris, right? As far as from home alone to this aspect, they have a dynamic that they've built together. So there's a lot of trust in that as well. I really do wonder when was the first time Chris heard the headwicks theme and also if there's were there other iterations? Was there a different version that we've never heard before? I would love to listen to those. Also, I think he did it without ever having seen the film. He did Hedwig's theme just that was what he was hearing, that's what he was thinking. What? There was no visual to go along with it. That's how much of a genius he is. Exactly where I was gonna use that is a genius. It's a genius to be able to pull off. Wow. I know. And luckily, I sat down with one of the magic makers who brought the music of Harry Potter to life to learn more about the score. So this is Orchestrator Conrad Pope. Now let's see what he had to say. Conrad Pope, thank you so much for joining us on Harry Potter The Official Film Podcast. It's my great pleasure to be with you today to discuss one of my favorite films. First of all, you were an orchestrator on Harry Potter. That's correct. Could you tell us the difference between an orchestrator versus a composer or a conductor. Yes, very simply is that the composer is the gentleman or lady that writes the music . And what they do is that they because in the film business, we have to write a lot of music, like say for Harry Potter, Harry Potter one, I'll just make up a figure, but it's probably pretty accurate. There's about two hours of music that had to be written for that. And it has to be done in a rather short time. When you consider that say,, concert composers can take a year to write ten minutes of music , a film composer might only have two or three months to write two hours of music. And so what is developed is a shorthand that composers can use and that John Williams, he sketches out the music , but it's a very detailed sketch. In fact, you see a few notes on the paper, but those few notes like he might have five notes on the piece of paper, but they're in the brass and the strings and all this stuff. And so it ends up being music for like a hundred people . And I help John John indicates where the note should go. And I basically just put it on paper. I pay very close attention to what he does and I try to understand it and try to make sure that everything's there. So the composer gives me a short sketch that I sort of shorthand that I then put into long hand , so to speak . And then that arrives at a copyist who copies it for the orchestra. So each person in the orchestra has their own part. And so then we go to Abbey Road and then the person that sort of keeps that together is the conductor. In some films the conductor is the composer. Sometimes it's a different person because that's a very special skill. In John Williams' case, he's an extraordinarily skilled conductor, and so my job was simply to translate exactly what John did for the orchestra . And you were working from the very beginning on Philosopher's Stone. Do you remember when you were working on that if you could have ever understood the longevity of the score that you were working on? No, and actually actually I remember working with my colleague, John Neufeld, who was John Williams' main orchestrator at that time . And we did the orchestration for the first trailer. But I understand that John didn't see any footage. Oh yeah, yes, I've heard this. And so the notion that he came up with Hedwig theme that is so iconic and that captures brilliantly this world is amazing to me in that trailer before we even knew what was going to happen . And so the composer has to be able to imagine that world and hear the sounds that sort of evoke the magic, the mystery in Harry's case , not just the magic but the humanity that he's seeking. Yes. I mean, you mentioned Edwig's theme, which has become , that's sort of become the sound of the wizarding world. That's what we think of maybe primarily . But how does something that's really quite specific? I mean, it's about his owl go from something quite small to then something so symbolic. And how often does that happen in your world? Well, I think when you're working for John Williams , you find that it happens a great deal. Right , because it's hard not to think of a John Williams film whose emotional core and in fact very identity is not tied to the music, whether you're thinking of Star Wars or Indiana Jones , or Jurassic Park , or Harry Potter and other films as well. But how it takes flight, I'm not quite sure, but if you think about that theme, it's a very simple theme with single notes that's accompanied by this magical flight and motion that you do sort of see the owl flying but it,'s bey ond that. It's just amazing how iconic it has become. And it's impossible to imagine Harry Potter without hearing the chelest and hearing those swirling strings. So what is that? What is that instrument? It's a cheleste. Always evoke supernatural in my business is just as there are all these cliches for film music and they're cliches because they have an element of truth to the chelest automatically brings you into this world of magic , otherworldliness , of people with extra skills because a bell is a very special sound. And then the strings behind that they build slowly and then finally the wind instruments take up the melody and give it more body and so it takes it from the realm of the magical to the realm of the real and then we're off and running. Fascinating. Obviously Hed,wig them'eds does get probably the most amount of attention , but do you have like a favourite Q or score that you think is underrated? More people should be talking about, more people should be listening to from Harry Potter. One of the last cues I got was one called Leaving Hogwarts and it's the scene where Harry's having to go back to Muggle Land and back to that wonderful family he's from as well as that New York apartment that's under the stairs that he has of about make good money for that in New York . I know thirty square feet and three thousand a month . And so there's a sense of that he's discovered so much connection with so many people at Hogwarts . It's become a place the family that he's never had. He doesn't even know his parents and he discovers it there and he understands what's special in him and he doesn't want to leave , and Hagrid doesn't want him to leave either, but he knows that he must . And that's a very special cue for me because it's next to the last cue I've received. What I normally do is I get John's sketch and I take it to the piano and I try to hack my way through it . And I was very moved. I was brought to tears, I would say , because it was where I finally learned after all that labor that the real magic of Harry Potter is love and finding connection. Yeah , finding your place , knowing who you are . And yet the world always calls. Life beckons us bey ond where we're always comfortable and whatnot. And so there's a sense there with John using his musical vocabulary of holding on to notes and not letting them go have the sense of Hagrid and Harry wanting to hold on to each other and not have to part , but they know that they must . And so that's one of the pieces of music I would really say listen to because you'll find the heart of Harry Potter perhaps even more than Hedwig's theme. And just to round this out is that that cue is what ends in the eighth Harry Potter, I forget, the Deathly Hollows is that when they're at platform nine and three quarters and Harry's taking his son down to go off to Hogwarts has his son that he loves and his son is going to go find himself at Hogwarts too . And there's that sense of hating to see your child go you love them . But part of love is letting them find themselves too And the idea that this book ends , this series tells you everything you need to know, and that's thanks to Mr. Williams, I would say. Connie, it doesn't make me cry. It makes me cry thinking about it because we're often very glib about these things, particularly the things that we're emotional about . But that's the real secret of Harry Potter. And it's amazing how sometimes we have to find these sort of other worldly dimensions in order for us to safely express these emotions that we're all afraid to show and feel . But that's one of the reasons I love music. Is that music ? We get to show what we feel but don't have to show how we look when we 're doing . But I hope that's not too long winded for you. So when people say that the sound of Harry Potter is like the sound of childhood, that's kind of what they're talking about. Yes, and remember , in every child is the child imagining what it is to be an adult . And it's imagining what might be and not aware of what can't be . And so childhood is wide open and to then also be a wizard and have it wide open , I think that's an amazing power to That is true. How do you avoid because as you say all of these themes you could so easily tip over into overly saccharine or overly sentimental, but it manages to tread the line I think throughout so well . Why do you think that is? You know, when do you know when to pull it back? When do you know when to really lean in to those tender moments? Well, I can't speak for John Williams because he does it so well, but I can tell you about my impression of why he does it so well and something that you're absolutely right because in film music , sometimes the vocabulary that we use it's very tonal, but it can also become very reverential and also very easily identified. What makes John William s, for me, one of the aspects of his music there's tons of things to talk about, but his harmonic language is so remarkable because his tunes he has are things that you can hum m. They're very much what you can remember and sing. But the harmonic realization that underpins these is not just very simple tonal music like classical music . It seems classical and it is, and it's very well composed, but the vocabulary is rich with the dissonances that we have in modern music, the ones that are sort of sweet and tonal . Not everything is always clear that John happens to make the line of these very simple melodies go very long because of how they're underpinned with the harmonies and the other colors and the textures . And so he skirts being very sentimental because he doesn't do things directly. He knows to save that for this moment as opposed to every other. And that's why when it comes to these films they're very careful about picking the composer to get the right solution. Well, as you say, there are multiple composers on the Harry Potter series , multiple orchestras and musicians. So how do you ensure continuity across all eight films when you have multiple people coming in and out. I think they've tried to do a very good job and they've had so many talented composers like Patrick Doyle who wrote a really wonderful score. Nicholas Hooper, then finally with another composer I worked with on this series Alexander Des Plas ma. He came in to finish it off . And what I would say is that at the beginning , the music the wonder and the joy and the wide emotions of childhood . Yeah , because again for kids , they are little people like we all are, and we've only learned to contain our reactions to things as we get older. The prison of adulthood is one of those things where nothing is ever so grand and ever so bad that we can't show up for work . Whereas when you're trying to invent your life, there are so many possibilities and their childhood is so well represented from the first two Askabad where the magic gets crazier everything starts getting darker and darker just as it happens when you're going to adolescence, I suppose . And so I would say that the way of how the continuity is maintained in the films has to do with the character's journey to be generous about it because you're not going to need all the range necessarily that John brings to the opening because you're setting up everything go what it might be . And by the time you get to Alexander's last thing , it's the showdown. Yes. Quite a journey so I can talk about those scores as well. Yeah , but right now at the very first one, that's a remarkable musical universe I'm so happy to be a part of and be an audience of Same . Conrad, thank you so much for joining us. It's been such a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you. It's going to be going home , doesn't it? We're going home home . Not really Now, I hope you've been studying. Okay , because it is time for trivia. You ready? Let's go. What item did Emma Wattson wear only once on the very first day of filming before the director decided her character just looked better without it? I don't know this. She there was a where it was used. You want a clue? Yeah it was something to do with her appearance rather than her clothes . That's pictures like listening, like there's pictures of her here and I'm like, I'm trying to find the another hint is that she is technically I think we,aring, them in this scene, but you can't really see them. Her teeth? Yes. Okay, what about her teeth? So they had like these weird bucks because Hermione is supposed to have really prominent front teeth. And so they tried her with a set of false teeth with like buck teeth at the front. Okay . And it just didn't work. I think Emma Watson found it really difficult to speak with. I'm sure. So then they filmed like one scene and then they took them out and they were like, No without that. Yeah, okay. They didn't re film that one scene. Okay. She is wearing them for it. Shout out to the prosthetics of the teeth for Hermione. I had no clue that is used to write I was unwearing we're learning stuff today. Okay , nice, nice. Next question . Onestly, Hermione genius that she is cast a spell in the first film quite early on. What was it? Occulus Repair. Yes. Easy word. Easy Occulus Rap o. Easy , which again is not a spell from the book. I love it. They've made this up for the movie and it's a really good one because Harry's glass is always in need of fixing. Always cracking these glasses getting lazy. Harry, come on, oh, come on brother. Okay, this is this is one of my favorites. What delicious flavor of every flavored bean does Dumbledore have the pleasure of eating at the end of the movie? Ear wax . It's Earwax. And he the fact that he chews on it takes a second and realizes it wax. Yeah it's my lost . He wax . Come on, Dumbledore has seen it all done it all. He's definitely eating the ear wax. He's so chill so chill. Harry's wand has personality, I think it's fair to say. What type of wood was it actually made from? Does Olivander see it? He does. He does say it. Yeah, yeah. So we know that it's something and Phoenix feather. Yes. I ran the Phoenix. Yeah. I would like multiple choice on this one . Was it A Oak ? Was it B ash? Or was it Coll. Hy? Holly? Yes. Yes, it's Holly. Yes, it's Holly. I really like the character of Ollivander because he's one of those people who you don't know whether or not you trust him or like him. And I just feel like that's such an interesting character to play because we meet so many people in, especially in the world of Harry Potter that either are good or bad. Right, or might appear to be good and then turn out to be bad or might appear to be bad and then turn out to be good. And then Olivander is just complex. Like he admires dark magic, but he's not a bad person. He doesn't use it, but he admires it. He understands it all. Yeah. And I kind of I find that nuance fascinating. That's's a that great way to look at that character. Now, yeah, now I got to look at him. All of them a little bit differently. Anyway, well done, by the way, you did very well trivia. You got four marks. If we're counting that you got the bucket teeth one. Oh, so that's very slithering of you to just like make that seem like I didn't get it right when I obviously did. You needed a lot of help. There'd be a slitherin a head on Gryffindor today. Figures. Yeah. Now, if any of you out there want to try your hand at trivia, you can visit harrypotter. com forward slash quiz and there won't be any half marks allowed. I'm telling you right now. It's time for my favourite segment of the podcast The Anything from the Trolley dear It's never gonna get old. I love that woman who wields the trolley on the Hogwarts Express. Now I'm going to give you some wizard sweets in return for your hottest take or I don't know a burning question you have or a detail that you want to talk about . Okay . What have you got for me? I would like to throw out the fact that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone is too scary for kids. What? It's too scary for kids. Let me explain . Let me give you some scenes I'm thinking about here . The unicorn blood drinking scene. I mean it's when we see the reveal and it's just dripping down. Scary? Yeah . The screaming head in the book in the library. Scary . That's a great moment. Very scary and it's loud. Yeah. I remember in the theater it being very loud . So that's why that stuck with me forever. And then of course, we get into the very ending when we got to see Harry Tudge Professor Kirl's face and hand and then he just falls apart. Yeah, that's scary. Oh my gosh, you know what? I've never really thought about the fact that Harry like sees what happens to Quirl's hand when he burns him and he sees it disintegrate. And he's like, I'm going to kill you. And he just puts it on his face . It's so horrible . And he does. He almost turns to stone and then just disintegrates. I think that there's parts of that film Wait too scary. I will say they are scary. I agree about the unicorn blood drinking scene though because it is horrifying. Horrifying. But it's just so well executed. Like seeing Quirrell Voldemort, even though you don't know who he is at that point just like fleeing because of a centaur. Yeah. And then you realize the power of the centaurs as well. Also true. All right, I will let you choose a sweep from the trolley. What do you fancy? Let me go ahead and get on the old timy classic. Let me get a piece of the birty bot flavor beans here. Let me get in on that. Get some of these morsels y'all got tucked away in here. Which flavor would you absolutely not want to uncover? If there's vomit flour , if there's dirty mop , if there's dirty mop dirty mop . That sounds terrible. But a dirty mop to the tongue to the taste . Right, yeah, okay. That's grim. So I don't really have a burning question, but one of the details that I love so much about Philosopher Stone is the introduction of the ghosts . And when they sort of suddenly appear in the Great Hall just when the first years are sitting down . They are so much fun and they just like pop up willy nilly and nearly Earless Nick just is in the middle of, I think, Ron eating like a chicken wing or like something like that . The whole idea of him being nearly headless as well, like that is talking about horror. Like that's quite a gruesome moment where he pulls his head from his ruff and you literally see like the cross section of his neck and it still makes me gag when I watch it. Yes , yes, and an iconic setup forever, you know, nearly headless. How can you be nearly headless? He said like this showed it like o,h , and even her mind's response to that, like her visual just she's in shock and gross up. Yeah . But I am really excited to see what they're going to do with the ghost in the TV series , especially fan favorite from the book Peves the Poltergeist. Do I get a sweet for that? You do you do. You're the one that made the trialy magically appear here, so you know, this is all you're doing. I want these exploding bomb bones. I've had my eye on them. Okay. It's a real boom . Have you ever tried these? I have not, and I really want to. It's like the perfect combination of like a friend George Sweet of Delight and danger. So are we thinking chocolate would like some there's gonna be something explosive in it, that's for sure. Yeah , pop rocks and chocolate . All right, this has been great, but now Trolley, we'll be gone. So that's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , a story that begins under the stairs and ends on that euphoric note in the Great Hall. Cleo, thank you so much for joining me to talk about all things Harry Potter. It's just been an absolute joy, especially talking about Philosop hers stone. You know what? It has been an amazing time talking about the source for a single with you. And thank you for having me. I had such a blast, man. This was the most fun thing I got a chance to do so far. So thank you so much fun . Talking to a slitherin man, this was a blast . Up next in our series, we're revisiting Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where I'll be joined by producer and gaming personality Naomi Kyle, and we fight Harry at the start of a new term, contending with a house elf who desperately needs boundaries and a school year haunted by an evil diary and even worse plumbing. Join us on our film by film Look Back through the series and re watch every Harry Potter film on HBO Max. In the meantime, we want to hear from you, share your thoughts and keep up the latest from us on social media at Harry Potter . As we make our way through the series, we'll be checking the comments to dissect your burning questions and your hottest takes. Until then, listen carefully. And remember, if the walls start talking, that's not ambience, that is a major problem. See you next time, bye bye Harry Potter, the official film podcast, is produced by HBO Max in partnership with P od People. This podcast is hosted by me Rianna Dillon. Our head writer and lead producer is Angela Paladino, and our associate producer is Emily Mansfield. Our live producer and production manager is Hannah Pederson , casting by Brianna Freypart. Production design done by Liz Klakowski and her team Kevin Fallon, Marcel Banks, Jeff Cross, and Amelia Casarez. Our technical director is Insung Huang, along with camera operator Ni ick Gregoro, Her makeup by Allie Elizabeth. Production assistance by Sam Sanders IV . Our video editor is Susanna Vasquez and the show is mixed by Carter Wogan and Marina Payes. From the HBO Max podc ast team, Alison Cohen Serokach, Michael Glockstadt, Becky Row, Kenya Reyes, and Erin Kelly. Special thanks to Emily Brandon and Reese August from the Harry Potter Digital Team. Thank you for watching and listening and we'll see you next time