My Geeky Trivia

By Geeky Gem

For the final week of my current trivia run, I thought I would touch upon a series of films that I hold close to my heart as do many other people. It has become one of the biggest franchises to grace the world of movies, had it not been for the huge success of the original book we would not have these wonderful movies with us today. I am of course talking about Harry Potter, do you really think I could not do this as a subject matter. They have to be among some of favourite books and the movies are there to make that rich world come to life. Without further ado here is some Harry Potter trivia. I hope you enjoy this and will welcome Hmsbeefnuts back next week with open arms.

Philosophers Stone

The hut used for Hagrid’s home has since been torn down for fear that fan’s of the movie would swamp it.

The Tabby Cat that Professor McGonagall turned into ran away but came back two days later.

Chamber of Secrets

Hugh Grant was originally cast as Gilderoy Lockhart.

Fourteen Ford Anglia’s where made for the scene where Harry and Ron crash into the Whomping Willow.

Prisoner of Azkaban

The cast were told that all the sweets in Honeydukes were covered in lacquer, when in fact they weren’t they just didn’t want sweets to go missing during takes.

The director Alfonso Cuaron had never read the book or seen the first two movies when he took the job.

Goblet of Fire

There was at least one full size dragoon that was built on set, it even breathed fire.

When the contestants enter the area for the third task the girls from Beauxbatons are dancing the Macarena.

Order of the Phoenix

The radish earrings that Luna is wearing were actually made by Evanna Lynch.

Padfoot, Sirius Black’s canine form, was played by a Scottish Deerhound named Cleod.

Half-blood Prince

Jessie Cave beat over 7000 girls to get the role of Lavender Brown, Ron’s love interest from the book.

Mr Weasley’s shed of Muggle artefacts contains, among other things, two Remington Noiseless Portable Typewriters and an HP Laserjet 4.

Deathly Hollows Part 1

This movie was originally to be released in 3-D, this idea was scrapped just weeks before the movie came out, due to the difficulty of converting the film into the format.

There were 40 versions of Slytherin’s locket made for the scene in which Harry and Ron try to destroy it.

Deathly Hollows Part 2

Most of this movie takes place of the course of a single day from the raid on Gringotts to the Battle of Hogwarts.

For the scene at Gringotts over 210,000 coins were made for inside the vault.

And there we have an epic journey that barely scratches the surface of Harry Potter trivia that is out there. Well that would appear to be the end of my four week run, next week Hmsbeefnuts will be back with his own brand of trivia and I will be putting my feet up and mocking him.

Page Vs Picture

By Geeky Gem

Here we are again for another  Book vs. Film. This week we are going to carry on with our journey though the world of Harry Potter, with, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book in J.K Rowling’s series. This book follows Harry and his friends though their second year at Hogwarts, as they try and find out what, and where, is the Chamber of Secrets. Let’s get to it shall we?

 

While Harry awaits the start of a new term at Hogwarts, he has heard little from anyone all summer, and feels like his friends don’t want to know him. When he finds out this all down to a house elf called Dobby, the adventure starts and Harry returns to Hogwarts, to find out there is mysterious secret chamber at Hogwarts, housing a creature hell bent on killing students. Is the evil Lord Voldemort back or is it something else that lurks in the chamber. Harry and friends have to work together to find out. We also find out why Hagrid got expelled.

 

Again, with this book, as with the first, I just couldn’t put it down. I am also nearing the end of my re-read of this book, I re-read book one at the tail end of last year, and that’s saying something for me as I hardly ever re-read books, not since I was little, and read The BFG, like 20 times. So now we move onto the film.

Chris Columbus takes the helm again for this film. Having directed number one he was a good choice. Steve Kloves writes the adaption for the film too. This film was released in 2002, the idea being, to get a film out a year, for the run of the franchise, so that they could keep the cast, and not recast them, as otherwise, the child actors would have aged too much. Which I think was a good idea, because you felt like you were not only watching the character’s grow up, but the cast too. This also marks the last appearance of Richard Harris as Dumbledore, sadly, he passed away a few weeks before the film came out. However, it does introduce a few new characters that will shape the rest of the films and the story.

Some of my favorite parts are with the Ford Anglican. I love that car. It has its own personality and sometimes reminds me of Herbie. I chose to believe the Ford Anglican is still living in the Dark Forest, ready to fend off any giant spiders that dare to get to close.

As I said last week, one of my favorite characters was cut from the film because that actor was a naughty boy. However, one of my other favorite characters is in this film. Dobby the House Elf, voiced by Toby Jones. Who was recently seen in Captain America as Dr. Arnim Zola. He will also be in this year’s release of The Hunger Games. (Hopefully I will get to do a Book Vs Film for this). Anyway back to Dobby. Dobby is the house Elf of the Malfoy’s and although he has a much bigger part in the books than in film, he is a very lovely character. The CGI work on him is fantastic, and is not far from how I pictured him when I read the book.

Another new addition to this film, is Gilderoy Lockhart, played by Kenneth Branagh. The new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. Looks like Snape was passed over for the job again then. Lockhart has written a lot of books on how he beat or captured certain creatures. We later find out he lied, but has a talent for memory charms. He also cause’s all the bones in Harry arm to vanish when he breaks it in a Quidittch match, when Dobby’s Bludger tries to kill him.

Other favourite parts of mine are, Hermione making the Poly Juice potion, and what happens in the Chamber. They brew the potion in girl’s toilet, as no one every goes in there, thanks to Moaning Myrtle. As for the Chamber it’s self, the fight between Harry and the Basilisk is really good, and thanks in part to Fawkes and the sword of Godric Gryffindor, Harry wins the fight. I understand this is a family film, but I would have liked the Basilisk to be a little scarier. This would have made me really happy. The other thing I really like about Chamber, is that this is when you really see the relationship between Harry and Ginny begin.

Now it’s that time again, where I have to answer the question I posed myself, which is better, the book or the film? Again this is a tough one. I know I said that last time as well, but I wouldn’t be doing these if it wasn’t a hard choice. I like the book, I really do, but the film takes what I had imagined and puts it on the screen.

Right, so down to business, who does the point go to this week? Again, for the second time in a row, I think the point has to go to the film. The reason being for the excellent execution of key moments.

So that makes it Book 0 – Film 2.

Next week, can Book pull it back? We’ll find out when we get into Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. See you soon, happy watching and Happy reading.