Episode #87: Our Worst Episode Ever: Plus: Twilight vs. Harry Potter
We always get comments about how when they listen to our podcast, people feel like they’re getting a glimpse into our lives. They usually follow up with a statement about how they love the rapport the two of us have. Well, for those of you who like HPProgs for the intimate way we welcome you into our lives then this is the episode for you. After we discussed the new Twilight Book, “Breaking Dawn,” Greg and I proceeded to have a general potpourri episode with some content and a lot of personality (pseudonym for annoyance at each other). We also discussed an exciting new contest that is in the works!
NOTE: There are “Breaking Dawn” Spoilers on this episode so if you haven’t finished the book yet, you might want to listen to the first few minutes and then skip to minute 20 or so not to hear them.
As always we can’t wait to hear your thoughts: on the Breaking Dawn review, the Beedle the Bard News and contest, our short fandom discussion and everything else we talked about. You can leave comments here on the blog or call our voicemail at 206-337-0357 in the US or 07092899490 in the UK. Please make sure to keep the message as close to one minute as possible and try to speak loudly and clearly.
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You can listen to the episode with the player below, or download directly as an mp3.
Tags: Beedle the Bard, Breaking Dawn, Half Blood Prince Movie, Harry Potter, Harry Potter Podcast, Stephanie Meyer, Steve Vander Ark, Twilight, Twilight vs. Harry Potter
August 8th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Are there Breaking Dawn spoliers in this episode? I havent finshed the book yet. Almost there but not yet.
August 8th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Yes there are. Thanks for reminding me. I am going to put that on the post now.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I can’t listen to this podcast yet cuz I’m not even close to finishing BD.
But yeah, everyone over at muggelnet is having a hissyfit on Stephenie being on MuggleCast.
August 9th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Hello Penny and/or Greg,
I’m currently downloading this episode and I am looking forward to hearing it as I am a big fan of the rapport. Haha.
I’m pretty sure I haven’t posted before but I do keep up with the show, however the order in which I’ve been listening to the podcasts has been a bit muddled lately. For example, this morning I listened to episodes 80 and 86. Something I think Greg mentioned in one of these episodes about listener “ebbs and flows” prompted me to leave a comment for once. I thought you might like to know that I’ve been with you guys, albeit quietly, since episode 13 or so. You guys took my podcast virginity, and actually I’ve stayed loyal to this podcast only ever since. Its been a great journey so far, especially because of the passion you guys have for the podcast even with the book series coming to an end. I’d like to thank you for “the intimate way we welcome you into our lives”. You guys are hilarious. It’s actually a little embarassing as I often listen to the podcast on the train and must look a little crazy laughing away by myself. But I really can’t help it.
Thanks again and PLEASE keep on prognosticating,
Tim.
August 9th, 2008 at 4:52 am
some one told me that they were thinking of putting Lindsay Lohan to play Harry’s mother in the 7th and or 8th movie i don’t know witch one but what would you think if they did do that?
August 9th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I do not think this was your worst episode ever, if you had released that 2 minute episode you started that definitely would have been the worst! I really liked this episode because it gave me insight into the Twilight series, which I have not yet read.
August 9th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Only 105 more pages of BD until I get to listen to this episode. I’ll listen to it tomorrow.
=)
August 9th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Thomas, if they put Lindsey Lohan in as Lily, I think the appropriate response would be “AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will never happen though since she’s not British.
August 10th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Lindsey Lohan? really? That would be so stupid on their part.
***SPOILER***
Penny, I have to say that Jacob imprinting on Renesmee (btw I like her name) is a totally amazing twist that I 100% loved. I was content with the ending but it was kindof a let down in the meadow. Ya know?
August 10th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Okay, I know I’ve posted three other comments before this and I’m sorry for taking up space but I just wanted to say thankyou so much for having a good podcast.
I just wasted 35 minutes of my life listening to “Bitten:Twilight podcast” and it’s hosted by three people(2 girls and 1 boy) and they sound about 12 years old and they talk too fast and get way over excited and it’s very overwhelming to listen to. So thanks for being older and mature while you’re prognosticating. (BTW I dont mind it when Greg eats on the show, I only notice it when Penny brings it up, but whatever, =] )If you wanna know what I’m talking about just look em up on Itunes. Go to podcast and put in Twilight and search all the Twilight podcasts and go to “Bitten:Twilight podcasting” and I listened to the Jacob episode and about 40 seconds in you’ll know what im talking about.
=)
August 10th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you. While I do feel like a bit of a tool that I am the only one who is bothered by eating on the podcast, I am greatly appreciative of your concern for my feelings. I am also quite impressed with your culinary skills Greg.
I know you guys think this was a terrible episode, but I really enjoyed. Keep up the great work.
Thanks again…you’re a peach!
August 10th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
first off loved the episode! secondly I haven’t read the twlight series yet,but i’ve read another series by cornelia funke. they are called inkheart and inkspell, they deal with magic and fairytale like settings also. they rate second best to harry potter for me and i think everyone who enjoys fantasy should try them.
i also have an idea for a t-shirt. put your logo in gold letters on a black t-shirt, i think that that would be awesome. then maybe write if you thought harry potter was just for kids think agian… on the back. well that’s all.
love the podcast!
jessica
PS greg good job on the muffins!
August 10th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Speaking of Funke…has anyone ever read the works of Tobias Funke?
Also, next Harry Potter event…I am definetly making and bringing muffins for everyone!
August 10th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
OMG the Cornelia Funke books are AMAZING!!!! i have read both of them many a times and they are awesome!!!
P.S. i like banana nut muffins!!!
August 11th, 2008 at 9:32 am
I think its pathetic the way some people are comparing twilight to harry potter in terms of quality. Harry Potter is ridiculously better; its insulting to even put them in the same category. Anyway, good books: The gap series by stephen r. donaldson, absoloutely amazing!! Harry Potter is my first and greatest love, but the gap series is awesome in its own. warning, the first book is a little disturbing, but its still good. Books 3, 4, and 5 will blow your mind though.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I hope a “Dork Lord” tee shirt is in your new tee lineup! I have been wanting one for awhile now.
August 11th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Sarah B.: I’ve had a few dork-like t-shirt ideas. Stay tuned.
Haven’t read the gap series by Donaldson, but I did read The Mirror of Her Dreams books when I was in high school and recall them being very excellent.
August 12th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Yeah! My 9 year old son is very excited with me about your tee ideas! lol I forgot to mention that I loved the podcast this week. I am one who loves the “real life” episodes with you and Penny. Penny- I for one hated BD. I had such high hopes for the book and I could never get into it. The only part I liked was the very end where Bella could open her mind for Edward. I kept reminding myself that I hated OotP the first time I read it as well, but I never outright just hated it like I did BD. At least I wanted to turn the pages in OotP and I had to make myself read BD. (I now love OotP after rereading it a few times. I liked it more with each reread!) The sad part is I have no desire to reread BD at all.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Greg and Penny: It’s been busy, and I intend to catch up right away on the gazillions of podcasts that I have missed. I feel guilty! But I just wanted to drop by and let you know how awesome you and your fans are. Someone mentioned this above, but I am going to again. . . The Mugglenet podcast did an interview with Stephenie Meyer that HP fans response was horrible and disgusting. It is a shame that so many fans cannot open their minds to other books. It seems that the mugglenet users are peeing all over everything, marking their territory. It’s sickening. SO, props to you guys for both being open minded and amazing, and props to everyone on here is openminded enough to appreciate other books.
Awesome job. Love!
August 14th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Hey guys! I just listened to the podcast, and I wanted to put in my two cents about Twilight. And I’m going to try to not put in spoilers, though I hope everyone has finished by now….
Idk if you guys get Entertainment Weekly, but they gave Breaking Dawn a HORRIBLE review. They gave it a “D” which I thought was a little harsh… but interesting nonetheless. Personally, I enjoyed Breaking Dawn a lot, but I can see where a lot of the criticism came from. I guess that since I never considered it to be anywhere close to the level of Harry Potter, then I wasn’t as disappointed with how everything panned out. I think the close-to-perfect ending was a little too fluffy, but it was nice to read a book with a happy ending.
And for the record, I think Renesmee is an awful name.
I enjoy her middle name, Carlie, much more.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Penny, I agree! Breaking Dawn is not one I will pick up again for a good reread. And that does speak volumes! For several years now, I have heard my husband (the self-proposed Harry Potter widow) say after seeing me propped up in bed with a HP volume, “Aren’t you done with that yet!?! How many times can you read that book?” The answer, not enough…each time I find new things to think on and marvel at. Kudos to you and Greg for giving us all a place to get our HP geek on!
August 16th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Penny, you have voiced my views on Twillight, and the saga exactly!
Congratulations on successfully baking muffins Greg. And Greg, you might not want to admit on a podcast for HP fans that their are parts of the most recent book.
Great episode, and I’ll probably comment more later when I’m done the show.
August 16th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Awesome. You guys talked about the Twilight series. I actually just picked up the books and loved the first 3 books but the last one was so-so for me. It just freaked me out that she got pregnant. It doesn’t make any sense at all…vampires can’t produce tears but they can produce sperm? whatever!
August 17th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hi, guys,
It has taken me a while to comment on this show because I needed to finish BD first. First of all I have to say, it in no way compares to the HP series. Penny, I visualize the HP books as a tapestry. Threads will start, disappear and then reappear later – with the final result a beautiful picture.
I think the series started out strong – I liked Bella’s character. But, that strong, independent character completely disappeared and was replaced by a girl who put herself in a relationship with someone who told her that he was not good for her (not smart). She was so obsessed with him that it was unhealthy. As a mother of a pre-teen girl, I did not appreciate this message.
The author is too heavy handed. Everything is spelled out too explicitly. Bella thinks something and explains it to someone. And, in case you didn’t get it – Bella will think about it later. How many times is the fact that Alice is graceful and Bella is clumsy mentioned? Winking, arm punching, name-calling and stiletto heels were over used as well.
Jacob – I was really upset that he kissed Bella twice with out her consent (the second time threatening to kill himself to get her ‘consent’) and no one seemed to get upset or point out that this is WRONG and Bella still continues to blame herself his misery.
To sum up – I would not recommend this series and I think it is unfortunate that it has gotten so much attention. BTW, there is fan fiction that is better written than this.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Hi,
I’ve been enjoying your podcast for a while now (ever since I broadened my horizons when Snapecast stopped putting out regular episodes). Though I don’t usually wite on boards the Twilight series angered me so much I feel I need to say something. I totally agree with Penny’s ideas about how Bella’s character was diminished in BD. I had really enjoyed the first book and introduced my 11-year old niece to it… By the second book I had to apologize to my sister for that fact… I hated the way Bella became catatonic when her boyfriend left… I had hoped that things would get resolved better when she resisted marrying Edward in book 3 - but what happens??? She marries him right out of high-school - gets pregnant and they live happily ever after… There’s a line in the book that says Bella has what every woman wants : to be frozen at 18… ughhh!!!
August 19th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Greg & Penny! Howdy from hot (and humid) South Texas!
Hope y’all have been doing well since I last saw you at Portus!
***Breaking Dawn Spoilers Within***
Penny–I totally dug the Twilight series…for what it is, that is. I started the series about a week and a half before BD came out, and let me tell ya, I cracked-out on the books in order to finish in time to be ready for the release of BD! (This was all while I was working full time and 2 1/2 weeks out from my wedding date…not recommended obsessive reading behavior!).
All this is to say that I really, really enjoyed the books, but never (ever) saw them as anything lasting from a literary perspective. Meyer’s writing is pretty weak, and it is obvious that she wrote the books on-the-fly, not having really crafted an overall storyline for the series from the beginning. Instead it seemed more like she thought “Well…Twilight did well, so I guess I need to do some sequels. I guess I’ll figure out a story now.” However, that having been said, she is an imaginative storyteller. I use the term “storyteller” because storytelling seems to be a stronger talent for her than writing. In my mind, that was why so many people obsessed over the books—not because she could rock out with pen and paper, but because she told us a story with which we became captivated. She built an imaginative and interesting world, but didn’t really expand on that world like she could have if she had been a more skillful writer. Still, her characters (while annoying at times) were easy to love and easy to cheer for. That, in my mind, is why she has been successful with this series. That is why I am one of her readers anyway.
Having had this viewpoint of the books going in, BD was pretty much what I expected. Seeing as how Meyer is so interactive with her fans, and often seems to exhibit fan-like behavior about the series herself (playlists, anyone?), I was expecting a fan-fic style, fluffy happy ending. I don’t know…it was kind of a nice change to get exactly what I wanted from my characters for a change. I wanted Bella and Edward to get married and have awesome (married) sex, and I wanted Bella to be “changed”. I got to see her get the guy I wanted for her, and I got to see her as a vampire. Simple and satisfying—like a good pizza. You don’t want to eat pizza all of the time ‘cause it is bad for you, but once and a while…it just tastes fabulous. Like junk food, the Twilight series will continue to taste great to me—but only once and a while.
]***Breaking Dawn Spoilers Within***
Like I said, I enjoyed the books, but if Meyer had left off with just the first book, I probably would have retained more respect for her as a storyteller. I will always think the first book was the best one.
Ok! Sorry to have gone on and on about Twilight. Wow. Long post! Sorry! Next time I post, I promise to post about HP!
Greg—Sorry! I had clever and witty things to say to you about this episode, but alas, I have gone on too long already. Suffice it to say, I don’t care if you eat on the show (I would), and (in general) I love your word choices. I challenge you use the word “onomatopoeic” in one of your next podcasts; it’s just an awesome word to say…
August 21st, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I liked this episode, and I don’t care if Greg eats on the show. As for the Twilight series, I enjoyed it immensely, even though at some points, the reader is jerked back into reality b/c of the hokey lines in the book. I read the series in about a week and a half, and I do think it’s the best series I have read since Harry Potter, though I would never put them in the same category. J.K. Rowling created a world that the reader can become truly immersed in, while with Stephenie Meyer, there were several occasions in her books that made me very aware that I was reading a fictitious story. The fact that the Twilight series is the best one I have read since Harry Potter says a lot about the quality of book series that are coming out these days. That, or I am just not reading the right ones. I liked Bella as a heroine, and while cheesy, I could appreciate the majority of her decisions in the novels. Bella was a strong heroine who knew what she wanted from the beginning; I viewed Edward’s concerns for her desires as protective rather than selfish. Therefore, I didn’t view Bella’s wanting to become immortal as changing herself to satisfy a man. She remained independent through the series, with the possible exception of the last book, where the end was disappointing and extremely predictable. I was hoping for a big battle with the Volturi, but alas…
As for comparison with the HP series, I saw many similarities in the Twilight series, and to me, it seemed like Meyer had read HP and tried to mimic it in certain ways that were to me obviously lifted from HP. Even though there were several plotholes and the dialogue could have been better in parts, as well as the character development, overall, I enjoyed the series. It just seemed as though it were written by an extremely young author.
Love you guys, keep it up. I think I’ve listened to every podcast from the beginning and have always enjoyed it.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
First of all, thanks everyone for the kind words- we are glad that most of you enjoyed this episode- even if we didn’t think it was that great.
I have enjoyed reading all of your opinions on twilight. What is great is that you all gave different opinions on the books, but they were all so well thought out and explained that it makes you understand how everyone can have completely different thoughts on the same books. I love the mature and thoughtful discussions we have here. Thank you all for being part of this:)