Muggles

Am I the only one of us Muggles that think that Harry has jumped the shark? I just read on J.K. Rowling's site that although she knew it would be hard to end the seven book series when she started, it was just as hard as she thought it would be when she finished Deathly Hallows.


Here's a thought. How about un-jumping the shark and keep writing the books!!!! Show us what Harry does as an adult. Does he become an Auror? A professional Quidditch player? Ack!

Pinning it Down

Long before I saw this picture of Daniel Radcliffe in Equus showing off his Nimbus 2000, I knew that J.K., Harry and crew had jumped the Hogwarts dormatory. However seeing Daniel as a young man in that picture gave me pause to consider exactly when Harry Potter Jumped The Shark.


I have narrowed it down to the time between book four - Goblet of Fire and book five - Order of the Phoenix. In my humble estimation, book four had it all, a World Quiddich Festival (to replace the boring summers spent at the Dursley's), a revival of Voldermort followers, a competition of other wizard schools (who knew?) and a yet another face off between the "child who didn't die" and "he who shall not be mentioned". This book was the quissential Harry Potter.


Pheonix became formulatic. Harry is stuck at the Dursley's. He gets rescued from that dysfunctional situation (as usual) and spends the rest of the summer at the Weasleys. They go to school, something evil and sinister appears, Harry and crew save the day and make Malfoy look foolish in the making.


Book six - The Half-Blood Prince was just more of the same except that Dumbldore died (or did he?). That was a crushing blow for me. It was bad enought that poor Richard Harris, who portrayed Albus in the frist two movies, had passed, leaving my mind picture of Dumbledore all screwed up. But then J.K. kills his ass off in book six. For me, it not only had Jumped The Shark but Quint, Hooper and Chief Brody were in hot pursuit.


I know that I will not only buy Book seven - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows but I will sit down and read it and finish it the first day I get it. Rumor has it that at least two characters get killed (one possibly Harry, himself). It won't change my mind about Harry jumping the quaffle and it leaves me rather sad.


Your thoughts?

Has Harry Jumped The Quaffle?

My adventure with "the boy who lived" is a strange one. It started in 1999 just after the release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. My wife, who had been reading the first two books with my son, had just finished the third, Azkaban. She had been encouraging me to read them and I was equally resistant, insisting that they were kids' books.

So one day after I had just finished the latest Alex Cross novel by James Patterson and I had nothing else to read, I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and I finished it that day. I had discovered Potter crack. The next day I knocked out Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in short order and moved on to Azkaban. I couldn't get enough. J.K. Rowling had me wanting more and more and I couldn't wait for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to come out.

When Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out in July 2000, I read all 734 pages in one sitting. I enjoyed this book immensely and it is probably my favorite Harry Potter book of all six that I have read. Little did I know that it was the beginning of the end for me.

I could hardly wait for the long anticipated screen version of Chamber. When it finally came out, we, as a family waited in line to see what Christopher Columbus, the director was going to do with the screenplay of the novel. I, personally, thought that Chamber was and still is the best of all the Potter films. I was not dissappointed. It was everything that I had hoped it would be. All of the characters from Robbie Coltraine as Hagrid

to especially Richard Harris (may he rest in peace) as Albus Dumbledore were simply perfect.

This was the pinnacle for me. Fonzi was revving up his bike and I didn't even know it.