''Potter Puppet Pals'' is a puppet show

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

parodying the ''Harry Potter'' novel series by J. K. Rowling, created by

Neil Cicierega Neil Stephen Cicierega ( ; born August 23, 1986) is an American musician, filmmaker, YouTuber, and animator. He is known as the creator of '' Potter Puppet Pals'', " The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", and various music albums under the ...

. The series was initially posted on Newgrounds, and featured Flash animated characters, but it eventually began being uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, with real-life puppetry. The YouTube videos were initially posted on Cicierega's personal channel, then moved to a channel called "Potter Puppet Pals", exclusively made for the purpose of uploading the series.

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, and

Ron Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

is depicted as a kind naive boy who is frequently taken advantage of by Harry. 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. Some characters are depicted in humorous ways, such as Neville Longbottom (a butternut squash with a crudely drawn face) and Cedric Diggory (a foot with the face of

Robert Pattinson Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor. #Filmography, His filmography often sees him portraying eccentric characters across a diverse range of genres. Known for starring in both major studio productions and in ...

, the actor who portrayed him in the ''Harry Potter'' film series, drawn on the sole). Throughout the course of the series, multiple characters are seemingly killed off, such as Neville in "Neville's Birthday" when Harry explodes him with the power of words, and

Voldemort Lord Voldemort ( , in the films) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the ''Harry Potter'' series of novels by J. K. Rowling. He first appears in '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997) and returns either in pe ...

in "Harryween" when

Ron Weasley Ronald Bilius Weasley is a fictional character in the ''Harry Potter'' series of novels by J. K. Rowling. He is introduced in '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' as a first-year student on his way to the wizarding school Hogwarts. ...

, dressed as a unicorn, stabs

in the stomach with his horn; neither have made appearances since.

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 his name to it, followed by Albus Dumbledore,

, Hermione Granger, and

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

. Towards the end, Ron discovers that the source of the ticking is a pipe bomb that explodes as Harry and Hermione celebrate, letting

Lord Voldemort Lord Voldemort ( , in the films) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the ''Harry Potter'' series of novels by J. K. Rowling. He first appears in ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997) and returns either in pers ...

sing his name by himself to the tune of " Lollipop". At the New York premiere of '' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2'', Alan Rickman was interviewed by MTV and quoted as saying " 'Potter Puppet Pals''is very beautifully done, that little piece of work. Can you get rich from that? I hope they did." Daniel Radcliffe suggested 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 Works based on Harry Potter 2000s parody films Fantasy parodies Web series featuring puppetry American parody films Unofficial adaptations Films about witchcraft Fantasy web series