Potter Puppet Pals
Potter Puppet Pals is a puppet show web series parodying the Harry Potter novel series by JK Rowling, created by Neil Cicierega.
The first two episodes were animated, both released in 2003 on Newgrounds. 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 make appearances at some Harry Potter parties, such as Yule Balls 2007 and 2010.
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 is a nudist. Other times, an aspect of the original stories is blown out of proportion for comedic effect, such as Hermione Granger'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!"List of characters
Unseen characters
Episodes
Flash animations
Live-action puppetry
| Shorts | Title | Original airdate | Story | Running Time | YouTube views as of 1 April 2019 |
| 1 | "Magic Can Solve Any Problem" | October 22, 2013 | Harry uses magic to solve problems he has with Ron, Hermione, and Snape, by turning them all into himself. He then points his wand at the camera and turns the viewer into himself as well, though the viewer indicates that they would rather be turned into Ron. | 0:54 | 1.2 |
| 2 | "Dapper Ron" | October 22, 2013 | Ron comes in dressed in a tuxedo and top hat and greets Hermione politely. Hermione hits him on the head and restores him to his normal self. As Ron explains that he was under a curse, Hermione headbutts him, knocking him out of sight. | 0:12 | 0.9 |
| 3 | "Martial Arts" | October 22, 2013 | Snape gives a Defense Against the Dark Arts class. However, Harry thinks the class is on "defensive martial arts" and kicks Snape to the ground. | 0:17 | 1.6 |
| Original airdate | Story | Running Time | YouTube views, as of 1 April 2019 | ||
| Movie | "Harryween" | October 29, 2015 | Snape tells a Halloween story about Voldemort trying to capture a unicorn to drink its blood. However, he mistakenly abducts Ron instead, who dressed up as a unicorn for Halloween. Meanwhile, Harry attempts to choose a disguise to both ease past memories and save Ron. | 13:00 | 1.8 |
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 with 61.6% of the votes in that category.In the video, Severus Snape hears a strange ticking and, noticing it has a catchy rhythm, begins singing to it, followed by Dumbledore, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter. Towards the end, Ron discovers that the source of the ticking is a pipe bomb that explodes as they celebrate, letting Lord Voldemort sing his name by himself to the tune of "Lollipop" by The Mudlarks. At the New York premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Alan Rickman was interviewed by MTV and quoted as saying “ is very beautifully done, that little piece of work. Can you get rich from that? I hope they did." Daniel Radcliffe 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.