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This poo poo comes out tomorrow!!! Discuss it here. I'm picking up my copy at 8am. I already know the overall plot thanks to tumblr people not #keepingthesecret, though. But remember to #KEEPTHESECRET in this thread by using spoiler tags I guess! The cursed child is every kid who is expecting this to be a new novel rather than a script book.
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Jul 30, 2016 04:56
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I'm considering picking it up while I'm out and about today, but I also maybe want to give it a few weeks so I can hear some more general impressions before I drop money on it, given what I've already heard about the (alleged) plot.
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Jul 30, 2016 21:56
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I didn't even know this was happening until last week. I'm a dumb Harry Potter fanboy, so I'll buy it tomorrow.
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Jul 31, 2016 01:11
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Got my copy. It's a pretty barebones book. Just the script, and a cast-list at the end (it spoils what characters show up, hence why no list of characters at the beginning). This is just the rehearsal edition though. I'm thinking that the final edition (published next year) will have forewords and photos and production notes and all that cool stuff. Reading the script is actually kind of cool, though. It's well written, both the dialogue and the stage directions.The characters feel right. I'm not far in so far, but they went a cool direction with Albus Potter. His story is quite compelling. Edit: Perfect example about how even the stage directions feel well written: "There's a silence. A perfect, profound silence. One that sits low, twists a bit and has damage within it."
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Jul 31, 2016 04:18
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Hedrigall posted:Edit: Perfect example about how even the stage directions feel well written: That's bad writing mate
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Jul 31, 2016 05:53
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I'm a bit disappointed by how short it is... I've only been reading for about 45 minutes and im already 25% of the way through. Also, wtf is up with the trolley witch? That poo poo made me think I was reading a crappy fan fic.
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Jul 31, 2016 06:24
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Well, it'll only be as long to read as the play is to watch, so of course it'll feel short? I just finished it and can definitely get where the "fan fiction" complaints were coming from. I felt it finished stronger than it started as the character arcs concluded and there were some nice emotional moments (As cheesy as it arguably was, the gang standing with Harry as they witnessed his parents deaths was moving to me, and Albus/Harry's arcs felt surprisingly satisfying by the end, after I initially felt quite cold towards them both. But a lot of the main plot felt a bit goofy and cheap - The return of time turners didn't sit well with me at first - Didn't Rowling destroy them in Book 3 because they were such a potential plot-fucker-upper? And Voldemort having a child with Bellatrix? He always seemed very much the asexual type to me. Delphi felt pretty underdeveloped. Definitely found some of the dialogue to be clumsy, but I'm happy to chalk that up to the rehearsal script. The moments with alternate history Snape/Hermione/Ron certainly scratched some kind of mental itch to hear from Snape regarding his heroic exploits, were also a bit cheesy and his voice didn't feel quite right. I guess I appreciate that returning to past plot points is more or less a necessity (fans need it to feel like a Harry Potter story and not just some random exploits of new characters), but I think the handling of it was a bit clunky and could be done more elegantly. I do think it would play a lot better on stage, and I would love to see how they handle the theatrics of magic and time travel in a live situation. Unfortunately I'm not going to be in the UK any time soon. Some things that either were minor plot holes or simply went over my head: Did Hermione not bring up Ron's "baby or a holiday" appearance at work with him the evening of the polyjuice adventure and trigger some confusion/suspicion? How did Albus get his wand back in the church, didn't Delphi snap it on the tower at Hogwarts? Anyway, I went in with low expectations and enjoyed much of it but see where the complaints would come from.
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Jul 31, 2016 08:45
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Hedrigall posted:Got my copy. It's a pretty barebones book. Just the script, and a cast-list at the end (it spoils what characters show up, hence why no list of characters at the beginning). Please refer to him with his full name, Albus Dark'ness Dementia Raven Potter.
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Jul 31, 2016 08:50
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The dialogue in this is impressively terrible. Like really impressively terrible. The scene where Scorpius talked to Snape was like below bad fanfiction. ' The 'voices' for the returning characters are just awful. Ron in particular is basically a completely different character with the same name. The newer characters were slightly better in that they at least had their own characters but Scorpius Malfoy talking almost exactly like Xander from Buffy is completely bizarre. Some of it might play out better with good actors playing the lines at least but man. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 09:13 on Jul 31, 2016 |
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Jul 31, 2016 09:11
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I really enjoyed how the plot was an incoherent mess and the dialogue was laughably bad from beginning to end
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Jul 31, 2016 14:11
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I'm about halfway through and from the quality so far I'm expecting the plot to be resolved by Dr Who, Deadpool and Sherlock Holmes turning up in the Tardis and telling Albus and Scorpius they've been very naughty boys.
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Jul 31, 2016 14:40
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Got it on my Kindle, read it this morning, it's not very long for a hyper-fast reader like me. It was... eh. Obviously it's a play, but I think if JKR really wants to make this 'the real 8th story' she needs to adapt it herself to a book or get a ghostwriter to do it.
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Jul 31, 2016 14:48
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Yeah, the voices of all the characters ended up sounding a bit samey. Everyone was very emotional and touchy-feely "let's talk about our problems and say we love each other" so they kinda had one-note. I wouldn't totally consider it canon but more of a high-level fan-fiction "what-if" story. If you like it enough, you can include it in your personal "story" of Harry Potter, but it could just as well be filler. I'm probably going to have the same feelings about the Fantastic Beasts movies. One scene that didn't fit: Uhhh, could we please cut Albus open-mouth kissing his aunt multiple times when he was transformed? Just have him distract her by blocking the way. We know it was a full-on kiss because she tasted fish in his mouth. Felt like some kind of fetish creeping into the story.
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Jul 31, 2016 16:37
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This absolutely stinks and indulges in so many terrible fanfiction tropes. The dialogue is mediocre, especially the humour, and characters are either drawn badly or have that thing where they're way stupider than they need to be for the sake of the plot. But you can see how it's probably really cool live with all the effects and stuff. Can't loving believe that Daily Beast synopsis wasn't made up
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Jul 31, 2016 16:49
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Duke Jeffrie posted:
Both Albus and Scorpius stole wands/potion ingredients from Bathilda Bagshot's house in Godric's Hollow, they mention how it was well-known that she didn't believe in locks. Why she had multiple wands in her house is another question though
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Jul 31, 2016 17:11
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It felt like they were using the Time-Turner thing to address the complaints about the whole time travel plot point that's hung over the series since POA by adding some real weight and consequence to their use, but they ended up just doubling down on the ridiculousness. The whole thing felt very Star Trek-y, and not in a good way.
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Jul 31, 2016 18:31
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pastor of muppets posted:It felt like they were using the Time-Turner thing to address the complaints about the whole time travel plot point that's hung over the series since POA by adding some real weight and consequence to their use, but they ended up just doubling down on the ridiculousness. The whole thing felt very Star Trek-y, and not in a good way. Sometimes when they came back, they experienced some injuries or something. Was that to try to explain that time travel takes an unknown toll on your body like Old Biff coughing in BttF2 when he came back after changing his past? Seemed a little inconsistent. Then again, it's always odd in time travel stories that they're changing their own past but they don't have the memories of the new timeline. Like, where did evil Scorpius' consciousness go when good Scorpius arrived in the bad timeline? Edit: also, how do you pronounce Delphi? Is it Del-Fee or Delf-Eye? JazzFlight fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Jul 31, 2016 |
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Jul 31, 2016 19:01
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Yeah this was laughably bad. The plot sucked, the dialogue was goddamn awful, and none of the old characters acted like themselves. The character arcs of Albus, Scorpius and Harry weren't bad, but would have been much better served without the lovely "HELLO I AM SPEAKING AS THE HUMANS DO LET ME TELL YOU OF MY FEELINGS" dialogue. It's especially bad when there were a few actual scenes from the legit books which they re-wrote to be shittier. And those Dumbledore's Portrait scenes were just loving awful. The whole time-travel aspect felt really lovely and poorly handled, and the resolution of the "oh no our time machine was destroyed" thing was really bad - Malfoy just out of nowhere turns up and is all "oh yeah I had another, better one lying around" and that's it, plot resolved. gently caress off. Would have been much better if they'd dropped the time travel in favour of just having it focus on the characters and their relationships. Maybe showing Harry's relationship with his other two children would have helped with his "Harry is a lovely dad" plot, or helped with the "Albus is so misunderstood and alone" plot. Seriously, drop all the time travel poo poo and just have Delphi be a dark wizard trying to avenge Voldemort or whatever by going all Palpatine on Albus, but then they decide to be a family and save the day with the power of love and it would work much, much better and allowed for much more characterisation, imho. Also, what kind of insanely kinky poo poo is Lucius Malfoy getting up to that normal time turners were "too vanilla" for him?
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Jul 31, 2016 19:16
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If Bellatrix Lestrange was pregnant with a kid just before the Battle of Hogwarts shouldn't she have been like crazy fuckin' pregnant when Harry and friends were being tortured?
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Jul 31, 2016 19:22
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dordreff posted:Please refer to him with his full name, Albus Dark'ness Dementia Raven Potter.  I feel like that honor should go to Delphi, with her "bluish silver hair." I also take back my comment earlier about Star Trek because that's an insult to Star Trek. On second thought, it reminded me more of that awful Terminator Gynysys movie. All that aside, speaking as someone who really dislikes the movies, I bet it's still a fun experience to see performed live, and the dialogue probably would come across a lot less wooden and contrived in the hands of capable actors.
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Jul 31, 2016 20:20
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Well...I just powered through Cursed Child in about 2 hours...I need to give it a more careful reread in the near future, but I can definitely see where the complaints here are coming from. I'm not quite as cold on it as some other posters here...but I really really wish the book had been much more its own thing, rather than relying so heavily on the time travel aspects of the past.
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Jul 31, 2016 22:28
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Watermelon Daiquiri posted:I'm a bit disappointed by how short it is... I've only been reading for about 45 minutes and im already 25% of the way through. Also, wtf is up with the trolley witch? That poo poo made me think I was reading a crappy fan fic. what really bugged me about that poo poo was she tells you about everyone who ever tried and how nobody has ever escaped the train, and here are two mediocre (can't even get my broom to go up) wizards who are the first by the power of just jumping off the train. Also, admittedly it's been years since I read the other books, has there ever been a ghost that was corporeal the way the trolley witch is? Apparently she's making all her own treats for the trolley (when til the chocolate frog company sues her rear end) also.
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Jul 31, 2016 22:32
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Myrtle Elizabeth Warren
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Jul 31, 2016 22:59
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Time travel will forever be a bad plot device when focused on to much.
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Aug 1, 2016 00:31
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I enjoyed the character of Scorpius. I wonder if Delphi being the daughter of Voldemort is the delusion of a power-hungry, Slytherin orphan who has been brainwashed by two death eaters bringing her up in a cult that's their entire way of life. She says she learned everything by studying Voldemort, and therefore I wonder if she academically obtained the flying skill, rather than it being inherited (although she was Parselmouth). If she were an isolated orphan, she could want nothing more than to impress a father who has power, status, and an reason for abandoment. Sadly, I think she might just be his actual, biological daughter which is the biggest cop-out villain succession in the world. It also comes at the expense of sense. Also gently caress this terrible time travel. It was handled amazingly well in POA [my favourite book in the series] and was used as an 'extra pair of hands' and not to change an outcome. A far better structure and narrative than this pointless "Oh we fixed the timeline now lol" Overall really disappointed. In a play about parenting, children and responsibility, the fact that Delphi never met the real Voldemort is an entirely wasted opportunity. When we hark back to the Narcissa question to Harry after he comes back to life in Book 7 ("Is Draco alive?"), we have a concerned mother frightened for her son. Molly Weasley's words to Bellatrix: "Not my daughter, you bitch!" would be so much more powerful if we knew then that Bellatrix had a daughter!
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Aug 1, 2016 01:26
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It just occurred to me, why would anyone believe the rumor that Scorpius is Voldemort's son? He's the same age as Albus, so he must have been born 7 or 8 years after Voldermort's death. Are people really assuming Draco Malfoy somehow obtained and saved some of Voldemort's sperm or something?
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Aug 1, 2016 01:40
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The rumor is literally that the Death Eaters sent Astoria Greengrass, Draco's wife, back in time to get pregnant by Voldemort so they would have a 'worthy heir' to the Malfoy clan.
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Aug 1, 2016 01:43
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Sky Shadowing posted:The rumor is literally that the Death Eaters sent Astoria Greengrass, Draco's wife, back in time to get pregnant by Voldemort so they would have a 'worthy heir' to the Malfoy clan. Oh, I must have missed that. That makes a little bit more sense, though still pretty far-fetched.
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Aug 1, 2016 01:49
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The character who irritated me the most was Scorpius. I get that they were trying to go for an "adorkable" character but it came across as trying way, way too hard. I can see how a good actor might make it more natural but it was very off-putting to me. In general, the only characterization I actively liked was for Ginny and Amos Diggory. They're the only ones who actually felt true to the original novels. I mean, Ron only seemed to care about practical jokes and food. I knew going in what was going to happen because I spoiled myself, but I had hoped that maybe the actual dialogue etc. would be better and give an idea of why everybody who saw the play seemed to love it. It would have been a fun Beedle the Bard-type side story but the fact that it's being billed as the eighth Harry Potter novel just makes it seem so much worse.
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Aug 1, 2016 01:52
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Does it include the line "Stop it Scorpius, you'll ruin Voldemort Day" or similar? That was the best bit about the leaked spoilers which have turned out to be true.
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Aug 1, 2016 01:55
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^^^^^^ Oh yes. Yes, indeed it did.
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Aug 1, 2016 01:56
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cptn_dr posted:Does it include the line "Stop it Scorpius, you'll ruin Voldemort Day" or similar? That was the best bit about the leaked spoilers which have turned out to be true. Yep. DOLORES UMBRIDGE: Have you swallowed something funny in there? Become a Mudblood without any of us noticing? Harry Potter died over twenty years ago as part of that failed coup on the school — he was one of those Dumbledore terrorists we bravely overthrew at the Battle of Hogwarts. Now come along — I don’t know what game you’re playing but you’re upsetting the dementors and entirely ruining Voldemort Day.
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Aug 1, 2016 01:57
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Just finished this. I thought it was preeeeetty bad, though I could see the terrible dialogue being chewed on from a stage. Looking into it, Rowling gets a story credit while Thorne and Tiffany get writing credits. I have a hard time believing Rowling did much beyond scribble some ideas out and left the bulk of the work to the other guys 'cause yeesh. Echoing that every character seems way off, though I thought Ron was okay.
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Aug 1, 2016 02:20
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Wow this is an abortion. This is "fan fiction written by a 13 year old" bad. How did this get made?
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Aug 1, 2016 04:50
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I have to say, reading this as a script instead of regular prose really adds to the whole "bad fanfiction" feel of the book.
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Aug 1, 2016 05:40
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What's worse, this or Methods of Rationality?
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Aug 1, 2016 05:43
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Hedrigall posted:What's worse, this or Methods of Rationality? The latter but only slightly.
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Aug 1, 2016 05:50
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Ok, I kinda like the gag where Hermione apparently got a book by Professor Trelawney banned.
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Aug 1, 2016 06:13
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I haven't read this all yet but the reaction to Ron being a joke in this story reminds me so much of this from last year. It seems like Ron hate has grown a lot since the series finished.
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Aug 1, 2016 09:02
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I just finished it, and I kind of liked it? It definitely reminds me of my middle school days reading mediocre fanfiction, and there's a few things that don't really make sense to me, or i wish were elaborated on. For instance, I don't get when Bellatrix could have possibly had a kid, I would have liked to see Ted Lupin, and I kind of wish some of the alternate future stuff was expanded on. But, I guess that might have been too much for a play. The second half was definitely stronger than the first, I think. Ron's portrayal kind of annoyed me. It felt like he randomly became really eccentric. The worst part was definitely Albus kissing Hermione while pretending to be Ron. That was kind of creepy.
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Aug 1, 2016 09:48
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