''Potter Puppet Pals'' is a

puppet show Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performan ...

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

parodying the ''Harry Potter'' novel series by

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

, created by Neil Cicierega. The first two episodes were animated, both released in 2003 on

Newgrounds Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company founded by Tom Fulp in 1995. It hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and offices in Glenside, Pennsylvania. ...

. On September 26, 2006, the series was re-launched on YouTube under Cicierega's page as "Potions Class". Six more episodes were released by Cicierega between 2006 and 2009. Approximately one year after the seventh episode was released, a new video appeared on Neil's channel announcing an exclusive ''Potter Puppet Pals'' channel. On the same day, three more videos were released on this page. The ''Potter Puppet Pals'' have made appearances at many Harry Potter parties and conventions, such as the Yule Ball and LeakyCon. Both the original animated episodes, as well as the first seven live-action episodes, have been published to the official ''Potter Puppet Pals'' webpage.

Characters

Much of the humor derived from the series originates from Cicierega's unique interpretation of the principal Harry Potter characters. Some characters are given personalities designed to contrast completely with their attitudes in the Harry Potter books. Cicierega's Harry is portrayed as an extremely brash, arrogant, and vain teenager who is "rife with boyish attitude," while

Dumbledore Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series. For most of the series, he is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts. As part of his backstory, it is revealed that he is ...

is a

nudist Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

. Other times, an aspect of the original stories is blown out of proportion for comedic effect, such as

Hermione Granger Hermione Jean Granger ( ) is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series. She first appears in the novel '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997), as a new student on her way to Hogwarts. After Harry and ...

's love of reading and matter-of-fact approach to problems. In the episode '' Snape's Diary'', Hermione remarks, "I know a thing or two about books, and that's a book!" Later in the same episode, she excitedly shouts, "Here's one of the quills I carry with me at all times!" Throughout the course of the series, multiple characters are seemingly killed off, such as Neville in "Neville's Birthday" and Voldemort in "Harryween", neither have made appearances since.

List of characters

Unseen characters

Episodes

Flash animations

Live-action puppetry

Special episodes

The Mysterious Ticking Noise

"The Mysterious Ticking Noise", released March 23, 2007, was the 22nd most-viewed video on YouTube as of January 1, 2013 with over 137.5 million views. The video was nominated and won in the Comedy category in the 2008

YouTube Awards The YouTube Awards (also known as the YouTube Video Awards) was a promotion run by the video-sharing website YouTube to recognize the best user-generated videos of the year. The awards were presented twice, in 2007 and 2008, with winners being vo ...

with 61.6% of the votes in that category. In the video,

Severus Snape Severus Snape is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series. He is an exceptionally skilled wizard whose sarcastic, controlled exterior conceals deep emotions and anguish. A Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraf ...

hears a strange ticking and, noticing it has a catchy rhythm, begins singing to it, followed by

Ron Weasley Ronald Bilius Weasley is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' fantasy novel series. His first appearance was in the first book of the series, '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', as the best friend of Harry Pott ...

, and Harry Potter. Towards the end, Ron discovers that the source of the ticking is a

pipe bomb A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device which uses a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple low explosives can be used to produce a relatively huge explos ...

that explodes as they celebrate, letting

Lord Voldemort Lord Voldemort ( , in the films) is a sobriquet for Tom Marvolo Riddle, a character and the main antagonist in J. K. Rowling's series of '' Harry Potter'' novels. The character first appeared in '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's S ...

sing his name by himself to the tune of "

Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are ava ...

". At the New York premiere of ''

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2'' is a 2011 fantasy film directed by David Yates from a screenplay by Steve Kloves. The film is the second of two cinematic parts based on the 2007 novel ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow ...

'',

Alan Rickman Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his deep, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakespe ...

was interviewed by MTV and quoted as saying “ otter Puppet Palsis very beautifully done, that little piece of work. Can you get rich from that? I hope they did."

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. He rose to fame at age twelve, when he began portraying Harry Potter in the film series of the same name; and has held various other film and theatre roles. Over his career, Rad ...

also mentioned in an interview by MTV that the cast of the ''Harry Potter'' film series should do a live action version of "The Mysterious Ticking Noise" for a charity. On 23 March 2017, a 4K remake of the original video was posted to the Potter Puppet Pals channel to mark the 10th anniversary of the original.

References

External links

Potter Puppet Pals Website

Potterpuppetpals YouTube Page

Neil Cicierega YouTube Page
{{Harry Potter 2003 web series debuts YouTube original programming Puppets Works based on Harry Potter 2000s parody films Fantasy parodies Web series featuring puppetry American parody films Unofficial adaptations Films about witchcraft