The Harry Potter Official Thread

[Cassie]

YES I KNOW!!!!!!!!
I saw it this morning! I DIED!


I just sat there, squealing throughout the WHOLE thing! Biting my nails! OH MY GOD!
You have no idea how happy this kind of thing makes me.

This trailer has to be the best of the many we've had so far.
I downloaded it in HD, I'm watching and re-watching it over and over, I have been for over half an hour now.

Oh my God, the Katie Bell scene is so scary! I don't know if I'm going to be able to watch it without covering my face. It's not horror scary, but it's just so much more dramatic than I ever expected it would be.
And when Draco says 'I have to do this', oh my God, I sympathise with him so much, I just want to cuddle him. {rolleyes} I sympathised with him in the book throughout that whole scene so no doubt I will with the film.
When Hermione starts slapping Ron with the book, bwhahahaha, that's hilarious. And Ron barely reacts, st like 'WTF'.
The inferi are just plain weird, in a good way.
And when Ginny tells Harry to take his hand, I'm not a huge H/G shipper, but man, that was cute!

THIS FILM WILL BE EPIC.

Now I am done. 8)

[saminsim]

(17-04-2009 09:46 AM)Cassie ㋡ link Wrote:YES I KNOW!!!!!!!!
I saw it this morning! I DIED!


I just sat there, squealing throughout the WHOLE thing! Biting my nails! OH MY GOD!
You have no idea how happy this kind of thing makes me.

This trailer has to be the best of the many we've had so far.
I downloaded it in HD, I'm watching and re-watching it over and over, I have been for over half an hour now.

Oh my God, the Katie Bell scene is so scary! I don't know if I'm going to be able to watch it without covering my face. It's not horror scary, but it's just so much more dramatic than I ever expected it would be.
And when Draco says 'I have to do this', oh my God, I sympathise with him so much, I just want to cuddle him. {rolleyes} I sympathised with him in the book throughout that whole scene so no doubt I will with the film.
When Hermione starts slapping Ron with the book, bwhahahaha, that's hilarious. And Ron barely reacts, st like 'WTF'.
The inferi are just plain weird, in a good way.
And when Ginny tells Harry to take his hand, I'm not a huge H/G shipper, but man, that was cute!

THIS FILM WILL BE EPIC.

Now I am done. 8)

ROFLMAO i know i felt exactly the same except the part when you said you want to cuddle Draco.

[b-rad]

Can we discuss? XD

[Cassie]

The trailer or the chapters? XD

Well we're so badly behind with the chapters, so lets start on them!
I'll just start with chapter one first.

Chapter One - The Boy Who Lived
So, to round-up this chapter, we're introduced for the first time to the Dursleys, we learn that Vernon Dursley is a 'big, beefy man with hardly any neck', whereas Petunia Dursley is quite skinny and loves to pry on the neighbours. We also learn that they have a baby, who we all know is Dudley Dursley, and that they think he is quite possibly the greatest child on Earth. {rolleyes}

There's not that much time spent on the Dursleys as a whole... we get a basic description of their personalities and lifestyle, then we jump to Vernon Dursley and a majority of the chapter focuses on his journey to work, right? I don't have my copy with me at this second but I'm almost certain. We follow him to work through morning traffic, and he spots people sporting very strange 'get-ups'. It's funny how well this chapter encapsulates Mr Dursley personality throughout the whole series. When I first read these books, as a young child, I actually presumed that Petunia was a really nice lady, and it was just Uncle Vernon that was the terror. I don't really know what gave me this idea... maybe because I was little and didn't read into things correctly. Although in my defence it doesn't really go into much detail about her personality at the beginning of the chapter, so you could sort of form your own opinion. It's only later in the chapter when Vernon and Petunia are having that dicussion about Harry that we realise she is pompous and overbearing.
Maybe it was the name Petunia, which sounds flowery and sweet to me, or maybe it's because the book say she was blonde (although this differs in the films of course as she is brunette), and to me blonde hair symbolised a good character then, innocent and kind. Haha, I was a teeny bit off. Although in DH, she did seem like she wanted to say something nice to Harry before she left, but this is a whole different bag of chips so I'll leave off that for now.

Personally I thought the beginning, with the Dursleys, is only slightly dull - I prefer the second half of the chapter, where we meet Dumbledore and McGonagall. LOL, I remember I had a ton of trouble pronouncing so many names in this book when I first read it, and it began with these two right here.
I adore Dumbledore's personality throughout this chapter. He has the best lines. 'It is lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs.' Also, 'scars are useful. I have one myself above my knee, which is the perfect map of the London Underground.' [sorry of those quotes were a little off as they're from memory {unsure}]. LOL. Classic Dumbledore rigth there. Instantly we know he's a quirky character, a good character. I was a little iffy about McGonagall when I first read this, but later in the chapter we can see she is a nice character. A little stubborn, but genuinely nice all the same.

Hearing of Lily and James Potter's death is saddening in this chapter, and knowing Harry has to live with teh cruel characters we were introduced to earlier is yet worse. I remember being all 'poor little Harry' when I first read the book, haha. But you know what I love most about this whole scene? HAGRID'S ENTRANCE. On SIRIUS' BIKE. Mwhahaha, I love this. Obviously it means nothing to you when you first read this book for the first ever time, as we have no idea who Sirius is until book three. But I like this reference to him, I like it a lot. I like how he is 'young' Sirius Black, because he WAS very young during this scene, in fact he was about 21, right, consdering he was the same age as Lily and James Potter, and they died when they were 21, correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, yeah, I do love this line.

Finally, I adore the ending. I love how we are left to imagine these large congregations of witches and wizards celebrating in secret, all over this little baby who's resting in a breezy, silent Muggle neighbourhood in the middle of the night. There's something nice about that last paragraph, if I had my copy I'd quote it and go through it but unfortunately I don't, but I do know I enjoy reading it and it's a perfect end to the very first chapter of a very long adventure.


Characters introduced in order of appearance;
Vernon Dursley
Petunia Dursley
Dudley Dursley
Dedalus Diggle
Albus Dumbledore
Minerva McGonagall [in human form, though in cat form she would be before Dumbledore]
Rubeus Hagrid
Harry Potter

Mentioned but not met:
Lily Potter
James Potter
Madam Pomfrey
Sirius Black
Lord Voldemort

So, there's my thoughts on Chapter One, I'll do Chapter Two either later tonight or tomorrow morning.
Anyone wants to discuss this chapter and further chapters if they wish now?

[b-rad]

(13-04-2009 04:56 PM)Brad. The God of Rares. link Wrote:We are just about to start

I think we should go strait into it! I wish I had my book to reference to.... I love how Vernon is so stressed out about being normal. I don't really think he would be like that if he hadn't met Petunia. I also enjoy how everyone's personalities show right from the beginning. It made me laugh when Harry remarked sarcastically to Dudley's birthday. I also would like to do a book/movie comparison with Dudley. In the book, he is so horrible! Kicking his mother, horrifically stupid, a manipulator, and a tantrum thrower. In the movie it covers that he is Harry's cousin and he is mean. I wish that they had Harry narrate for the first movie, for the first part. That would make everything more clear, and more of his personality could show. I also love Dumblmdor's personality in the first book! Very random, and very curious. It has that perfect conflict with McGonagle's personality. Strict and has to have the facts. It makes for a great mini plot for the story. 
I also want to comment on Petunia's spying. Do you think she is really spying to spy? I think that she is making sure that the neighborhood is completely normal. If she thinks that one of them is magic, or weird, she would have packed her bags and moved far away. But she doesn't want her family to think that's what she's doing, so she just tells them stories like a gossiper.
And I just LOVE how the wizards/witches act on the streets! One old man (that I expect to be that one professor.) just went up and hugged Vernon!!




Wow. That was just the first chapter.....

That was my opinion

Cassie, I love your perspective XD I agree completely on the Dumbledor awesomeness XD I love how he is somewhat careless, but still somewhat serious. "Would you like a lemon drop?"  "What is that?"    LOVE IT!  That is way off, but I love how he talking about lemon drops during that XD

[Cassie]

Whoops, I didn't realise you made that comment! Sorry! {rolleyes}

My response to your comment;
Okay, first I just HAVE to post a response in regard to your Petunia and her infamous spying regimes. You have a GREAT theory there. I never even thought about her spying to make sure the neighbourhood is normal. You never know, she could have been checking to see if her neighbours had any wizard ways, such as toddlers hovering on the lawn on toy broomsticks like at the Quidditch World Cup, haha [I would LOVE kids' toys like that to exist btw]. Honestly, that is a great theory. Props to you.

I know, that random hugging act was hilarious! I THINK that was Dedalus Diggle [I wish I could name my child that, haha]... I forget how I know this, but I'm sure it's been referenced before somewhere or the other. Or maybe I'm completely wrong and it's a random wizard. Either way, great scene. {yes}

Your idea of Harry narrating... genius! I just tried to imagine that in my brain, and it worked. A lot. For the first part, absolutely. Right until the part in the film where we see baby Harry wrapped in his blankets by the doorstep and we zoom out. That would have worked so well, and as you said, gave a better insight into Harry's life and personality. Daniel had a very fitting sort of voice for it, too, back then. It was very.. innocent sounding.

Interesting you should mention that, about Vernon being less stressed had he not married Petunia. It sort of is the opposite of what I said [Vernon being the main bad guy]. I like that. And you know, I think you are right. I DO think Vernon has it in his personality, to be pompous and mean. But Petunia only adds and exaggerates to that with her neurotic ways. {yes}

You know what I love most about Dumbledore, particularly seeable within this chapter? His randomness. Reminds me of us guys. Wouldn't he just fit in perfectly over here on the forums?

Woo, I think we've done pretty well with this chapter so far, some good insights.

[BroadwayBeckons]

(18-04-2009 12:40 AM)Cassie ㋡ link Wrote:[I would LOVE kids' toys like that to exist btw].

Here you are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvK9Prd57Q0

Even though the toy is very inappropriate

[b-rad]

Yeah, Vernon is VERY ordinary,mean, and nasty. But now he has to try (I think anyway) to be normal now, and that that makes him mean and nasty XD

I didnt think of the Petunia thing until I read it XD  

I like this XD

And I remeber that little boy! He made a slug really huge XD

[Cassie]

His awful accents are very distracting.

When I first saw it, I actually thought it could fly.. I guess that means I'm stoopad! Dopey dopey doh! {wacko} {rolleyes}

That's SO inappropriate. It's a vibrating stick, dude. But my little cousin would LOVE it! Do they still sell these things?!

By the way, the Dora the Explorer toy.. I had one of those! XD 'Sept it wasn't Dora inside, it was a random pink squiggly thing.

[BroadwayBeckons]

You can only find them on eBay for an excess of $60 or more