Between watching “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” — the final installment in the hugely successful Harry Potter film franchise — and the October launch of J.K. Rowling’s new website, Pottermore, fans will be beside themselves with the lack of new Potter product for the first time since the first book was published in 1997. What’s a Muggle to do?
Besides re-reading all the books and watching the DVDs again, you can get your fix by visiting “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” attraction at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. (Shameless Plug/Disclosure Alert: My wife’s cousin helped design it.)
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Or if you’re cheap like me, you can just check out the numerous parodies on the Internet. Here are some of the best ones:
• Lindsay Lohan portrays Hermione after a, er, growth spurt in between semesters — giving Harry and Ron a new use for the invisibility cloak — in this classic “Saturday Night Live” skit: metatube.com/en/videos/6330/Lindsay-Lohan-Harry-Potter-Parody-SNL
• What if Harry Potter had ADHD? Find out here: youtube.com/watch?v=5B5dLFFVzw4
• Bart and Lisa are young wizards at Springwart’s School of Magickry and fight the evil Lord Montymort (Mr. Burns) in “Treehouse of Horrors XII.” Best line: “Stop zapping yourself!”: videos.sapo.pt/EwBz0Di0uFAZderR2VRB
• Harry, Ron and Hermione battle puberty (aka the monster Pubertis) in this bit from “Robot Chicken,” with Samuel L. Jackson as Dumbledore: robotchicken.wikia.com/wiki/Harry_Potter_vs._Pubertis
• Fans who are having a hard time coping with the end of the film franchise will be able to relate to this Potter-fied spoof of Beyonce’s “Halo”: youtube.com/watch?v=1Y_opQoYVHQ
If that’s still not enough to ease your urge to play Quidditch in the backyard with a broom and a Hacky Sack, or if you find yourself checking the mailbox every day for a letter inviting you to Hogwarts, don’t take it so hard.
Harry Potter is worth too much to simply put on a shelf. Like any successful franchise, we’ll soon be seeing spin-offs in the form of prequels, television series, animated specials and the like.
Just keep George Lucas away from it.
Deputy Managing Editor Rod Harmon may be contacted at 791-6450 or at:
rharmon@pressherald.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
