Well, just finished. I was expecting Biff Tannen to turn up at one point. Lots of unexpected things happened. I enjoyed it though, I don't really know why people are so down on it. Though I suspected there was more to Delphi than met the eye... I didn't expect it to go that for. I don't think it's ridiculous at all, it sounds like just the sort of twisted thing that Voldemort would have done, especially given the way that Rodolphus Lestrange seemed fine with it.
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Spoiler Thread
- Thread starter orthodoxy1095
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About halfway through and it's pretty bad so far. The plot synopses that were posted online were correct. As others have said it reads like a bad fanfiction, has a bunch of nonsensicalities, and retcons some fairly major elements of the HP universe (especially regarding time travel).
I hope that now this is out people will stop pointing to the positive critical reviews as if that really indicates anything. Something something Phantom Menace reviews.
I hope that now this is out people will stop pointing to the positive critical reviews as if that really indicates anything. Something something Phantom Menace reviews.
She has them all. On constant loop.
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The fact that Albus and Scorpius end up in an "alternate" future after their first trip into the past is already a retcon because that would have been impossible under the model of time travel depicted in Prisoner of Azkaban, in which the closed loop model of time travel is of major thematic importance since that's how Harry realizes he can cast a full Patronus.
Yeah that's a totally valid point that I hadn't considered. However, whose to say that time-turner works in the same way as the one in the play though?
brandonh83
Banned
Haven't read it but from the sounds of things, if they do more movies I'm cautious to believe it'll have anything to do with this.
The implications of alternate universe time travel instead of closed loop go way beyond what spells might have been used to enchant the time turner and affect the basic physics of the world.
Also, regardless of how exactly they work, just the idea that time turners can be used to go back years instead of just hours strains the already tenuous internal logic of their use past its breaking point (for me) since it begs the question of why no one ever used them to try to undo Voldemort's evil actions before.
Also, regardless of how exactly they work, just the idea that time turners can be used to go back years instead of just hours strains the already tenuous internal logic of their use past its breaking point (for me) since it begs the question of why no one ever used them to try to undo Voldemort's evil actions before.
It's a minor point in the story but since you haven't gotten that far yet,
they didn't exist before, the one in the play is the first that can go back more than a few hours
Warner Brothers are contracted to only make Harry Potter movies that are straight adaptations of JK Rowling's works, which is why we haven't seen ghastly spin-offs from the studio like "Dobby Begins: A Harry Potter" in an effort to milk the franchise further.
Of course, a film adaptation could always try to adapt the story outline from this new play more loosely (Fantastic Beasts style)...but in all honesty, I think the play's whole central premise is so outright baffling, I'm not even sure how they'd be able to make a good film out of the material that's there.
Then again, in accordance to all the glowing reviews its been getting, the play itself is supposed to be pretty great, so...
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
The biggest one is totally changing the way Time Turners function.
Some smaller ones, though they're not technically retcons since they were never in the books. But they were clearly stated by Rowling in interviews.
-Albus in Slytherin
-McGonnagal still running Hogwarts when Albus begins attending
Fair enough.
It's not necessarily a major one, but apparently the Trolley Witch is actually the Terminator, is 200 years old or something, can turn her hands into claws, and the snack foods she sells are secretly explosives.
I think this one bugs me the most if only because it's the most fanfiction-y.
In the Epilogue we're shown an Albus who has spent weeks if not longer fretting about being put in Slytherin and he's relieved to find out that he can ask the Sorting Hat not to be, but apparently he changes his mind in the course of a train ride, I guess because his cousin was being an asshole to Scorpius...? The idea that everyone thought Scorpius was Voldemort's kid and hated him as a result was pretty WTF too. You'd think a supposedly smart character like Rose wouldn't believe it but whatever.
brandonh83
Banned
Yeah, maybe they'd do like a very skeletal version of it. I think in this case not many would complain about changes lol
I don't really understand how those last two are retcons? I thought the 7th book ended with the same scene the play opens with? Or was this is some other media?
edit: Ah, that bit about the sorting hat... I wonder if striking up a friendship with Scorpius is what swayed him.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Like I said, they're not technically retcons, as they weren't in any books. But Rowling commented on this during interviews following the release of the last book.
I think their freindship would have been far more interesting had they been in different houses. Try to show people can be friends with Slytherin. Or heck, if she's set on putting Albus in Slytherin, put Scorpius in Gryffindor. He has none of the qualities of a Slytherin in this story. He was more a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw.
The whole time I was reading it I was honestly thinking that they could easily adapt this into a film if they had the will. Maybe a two part film like the how play is also split into two parts. There's nothing baffling about the central premise.
I think the fact that he was put in Slytherin is more about his relationship with Harry, which is actually what the play is really about: parents and children, and parents who are not like their children.
xXCrazyCostaXX
Member
Okay I just finished it. Would have made more sense to flesh it out into a novel or just make it a movie like fantastic beasts. I know it's a play and probably works great as that but a lot of the character surprises would work great in film if she could get everyone back. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours
matrixman92
Member
haha, i said the exact same thing to my friend. We got liquid metal on the hogwarts express!
swearing-circle
Member
This is what my friends said when they went to go and see it although, I haven't seen it myself.
I finished reading it. If it makes sense, I liked it but didn't think it was very good.
There is basically no character development for the most part of the book, there are tons of time-travelling cliches and the overall plot sounds like a bad fanfic.
But the character were fun and it was nice to revisit Hogwarts, so ¯\_(ツ
_/¯
There is basically no character development for the most part of the book, there are tons of time-travelling cliches and the overall plot sounds like a bad fanfic.
But the character were fun and it was nice to revisit Hogwarts, so ¯\_(ツ
_/¯Just finished it, thought it got marginally better in the second half, though it still doesn't feel like like an organic part of the HP universe to me; too many jarring changes and shifts. Not usually a big fan of time travel plots but there have been some I've liked a lot ... this was not one of them. I'm sure that actually seeing it as a theatrical production (especially if the acting and effects are as good as the critics say) would go some way towards making up for the poor story.
Spectromixer
Member
So how did Delphi get the ingredient for the polyjuice potion?
Also, how did Draco have one of the new time turners as well?
Also, how did Draco have one of the new time turners as well?
peanutbutterlatte
Member
From the other thread, my reactions after finishing:
Through his father. Draco explains the other one was a prototype, but Theodore Nott had given Lucius one without the 5 minute limitation.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
I dunno, I guess it's not the optimal way to experience a play, but I've read plenty of scripts and thought they were excellent.
Spectromixer
Member
Oh ok got it. I think I just missed that part while reading.
I have the book in my hands right now. Im at the store.
You just saved me 14500CRC.
Will borrow my friend's
AlfredX1990
Banned
Man, with this book and the No Man's Sky spoilers, Reddit has been extremely entertaining these last few days, I've never seen so many people having a breakdown, not even BvS was like this
I had already read the spoilers so I was prepared for it so I can find some humour in the ridiculousness of it all but even so...the official 8th story Jo, really?
Aaron Strife
Banned
TheZink
Member
I just got to this part. Maybe for the play it was added for fun but if this is cannon it's just ridiculous
Edit: talking about the trolley lady.
I may regret asking this but . . . "the only way" to what?
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Voldemort's secret love child goes back in time to try and stop her daddy from killing Harry's Parents and getting zapped, so they disguise Harry as Voldemort in order to draw her out.
I just can't visualise it all in my head.
Was she... pushing her trolley on top of the train? I've re-read the section several times and I can't make full sense of it.
TheZink
Member
I guess. That's how I pictured it.
I had already read the spoilers so I was prepared for it so I can find some humour in the ridiculousness of it all but even so...the official 8th story Jo, really?
:lol
Sad thing is that image is completely accurate in describing me right now.
I thought the scene must have been a fever dream or something, was completely expecting Albus to wake up in a cold sweat on the next page. When he didn't I had to go back and re-read what had happened two or three times to try to make sure I hadn't somehow invented it in my head. Best as I can figure it she was magically alerted to Albus and Scorpius trying to get off the train and teleported onto the roof, because how else is she supposed to have gotten the trolley up there? I guess maybe there was a hatch large enough for her to have levitated it through?
I have no idea whatsoever what purpose or effect this scene was intended to have. I guess it's meant as comic relief, but it's so completely out of left field even by quirky wizarding world standards that it just leaves me with so many questions that are never addressed. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
They mention how the craft has improved to make better time turners.
Also, if you think about it in the grand scale, the loop still gets closed. Everything returns back to normal in the end. Maybe they operate on a "grand plan" basis in that you can go back and fuck shit up, but somehow that will get reversed by someone else because the grand plan corrects itself.
The more I think about this the more questions keep cropping up. The explanation for Harry regaining his ability to speak Parseltongue makes no sense. It's previously established that he had the ability because of his being Horcrux and Cursed Child itself reiterates that he lost the ability after the piece of Voldemort's soul inside him was destroyed, but he spontaneously regains the ability two decades later because he's not "mentally free" of Voldemort? That doesn't even make sense on its own terms because the play is about Harry reconciling himself to his son, not about mentally disentangling himself from Voldemort.
That's still very different from how it worked in Prisoner of Azkaban. In PoA there was never any version of reality where Harry and Hermione didn't travel back in time. When they went to the Shrieking Shack initially, there was always the other Harry and Hermione sitting there watching them. Going back in time didn't create an alternate past that could later be "fixed", it fed directly into the same past that already existed. It's a fundamentally different way of portraying the concept of time travel; you see both crop up in fiction, but Rowling very clearly went for this model at the time as the mechanics of it are crucial to the climax of PoA and Harry's ability to cast the Patronus.
There is nothing in Cursed Child to suggest that the new and improved Time Turner is able to fundamentally alter the basic rules of time and physics in the HP universe, nor would it make sense even if the play did suggest that. It's a retcon, pure and simple.
Everything in the Daily Beast's synopsis was accurate, so if you thought that sounded like garbage, reading the full script book is unlikely to change your mind.
That's still very different from how it worked in Prisoner of Azkaban. In PoA there was never any version of reality where Harry and Hermione didn't travel back in time. When they went to the Shrieking Shack initially, there was always the other Harry and Hermione sitting there watching them. Going back in time didn't create an alternate past that could later be "fixed", it fed directly into the same past that already existed. It's a fundamentally different way of portraying the concept of time travel; you see both crop up in fiction, but Rowling very clearly went for this model at the time as the mechanics of it are crucial to the climax of PoA and Harry's ability to cast the Patronus.
There is nothing in Cursed Child to suggest that the new and improved Time Turner is able to fundamentally alter the basic rules of time and physics in the HP universe, nor would it make sense even if the play did suggest that. It's a retcon, pure and simple.
Everything in the Daily Beast's synopsis was accurate, so if you thought that sounded like garbage, reading the full script book is unlikely to change your mind.
Vire
Member
In some ways worse because of how terrible the dialogue is.
Kyleripman
Member
I liked it, read the whole thing today. I would've much rather had a regular book to really get into some of the worldbuilding that was hinted at, including Trolley Witch T-1000, as well as to smooth out some of the scenes that kind of jump around quickly, but it was fun and I hope that I get to see the play someday.
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