Most likely. I think GRRM has the same deal with HBO, but at the same time he actually told the producers how he plans to end his saga. I wonder if the possibility of it being spoiled by the show keeps him awake and writing at night.

 

I always got the impression DH was specifically written to make a good movie at the expense of the story. Movies 3-6 were utter crap in my opinion... Well done artistically and the actors were great, but incoherent plot, poor casting and tons of things about the books that don't translate well to film made them "meh" at best.

Plus, as has been mentioned, the series wasn't finished and movie makers having no clue what is significant, had to rely on hints from Jo. Not only was she trying not to give too much away, but she became effectively stuck with whatever she told the movie makers. We know she changed her mind about things she said in interviews, so this probably happened a few times.

HBP was my favorite of the books, I'd love to see a polished version with the teen romance angst crap cut out. I'm still almost positive the chest monster was an aborted "Ginny slipping him Love Potion" arc, why else would Amortentia even be brought up?

 

(Seriously? HBP was the worst. Though it had some nice worldbuilding and a dramatic ending, a lot of it was intensely frustrating. Two things signed HBP's death warrant for me: no-one believing Harry about Malfoy, when they had always believed him in the past, and Harry's increasing incompetence with magic. The romance was great in comparison.)

 

I liked HBP, but that's neither here nor there. I agree with the whole no one believing Harry thing, because a kid couldn't possibly be dangerous... noooooooo. I think the whole theme to the story was sort of giving the world a false sense of security, since in the dark times, hogwarts was a bastion of good and justice, and nothing bad could ever happen there (lol). That's why all the trivial stuff like romance, and quidditch, got pushed to the forefront, to take the edge off the bigger picture, and then, it's all swept out from under us as Dumbledore get's axed, and the Harry get's to say 'told you so!'

I guess I agree with the whole magic incompetence thing. In the past, it was Hermione spurning him on to get him to learn shit, and then, she gets switched out for Snape's book. I would rather Harry learned some shit from Dumbledore. It wasn't just Voldemort he had to worry about after all, and if he got in a fair fight with a Death Eater, he would get his ass kicked, let alone an unfair fight which would be far more likely. Focusing at least on how to survive against the minions would be a helpful skill to have. Otherwise, it's just lolPROTEGO and lolEXPELLIARMUSSSSSSSSSSSS!

 

It was so awful that I literally threw HBP across the room. I did finish it on the next day (curiosity etc), but still...
Firstly, false sense of security? Somehow that doesn't work for me - Fudge being summoned into prime minister's office, dementors breeding, giants smashing and whatnot - doesn't sound so secure.
Secondly, Harry. I mean, what the hell - the previous year he's all serious about learning magic, teaching some defense stuff, failing occlumency etc. Suddenly he takes a step back, relaxes, does some usual angsty teenager stuff... What about that psychotic band of wizards known as Death Eaters, not to mention Voldemort himself? Having his ass served by some members of inner circle should have been a wake-up call, but nooo what does he do? Nothing, that's what... I was expecting some serious magic, growing in strength and character, that's all.
There were some good points too: horcruxes - an interesting plot device, it's as if Rowling was planning them from the beginning (somehow I doubt that), Slughorn and his celebrity collection, new potions and spells.
All in all? IMO, the worst book in the series (mostly due to the failed expectations and lack of, well, everything).

 

Looking at it now, yes, HBP was rather weak. But at the time of reading it I didn't really see all the flaws I do today.

 

I liked HBP a lot. It had a lot of flaws in terms of what it did for the overall story, but the narrative flowed really naturally--or at least it felt like it did when I read it for the first time. I'm not talking in terms of "plot element X reminds us of plot element Y" but more in terms of how naturally one chapter connected into the other or in terms of how well it made the reader aware of the passage of time between a page and another. I think that book 5 was a bit stiff in that regard. I don't know, maybe that's just me and nobody even cares about that or disagrees that book 6 did that well.

My favorite thing about the series is that the pacing always feels really nice. It really feels like days and months are passing in just a few pages and by the end of the book it really does feel like an entire year has passed. I probably liked HBP a lot more than I should have because it was a definite improvement in regards to that in comparison to book 5.

Then again I'm one of those people who honestly didn't have much of a problem with way the series progressed, so feel free to ignore my dumb opinions.

As for the idea of a director's cut, I have no idea if she's going to do it or not but let's be frank - there's no such a thing as a writer who reads over something he wrote 5 or 10 years ago and goes "Yup, wouldn't change a thing." I don't think she's kidding, but I don't think she will do it either. We may get some Pottermore content though!

 

I didn't even read DH.
At the time when it came out, I learned accidentally how it ends + info about the epilogue, I just couldn't do it.
Eventually, I read an abridged version somewhere on the internet.

To this day I still haven't read DH, so I highly doubt that I'd read a revised version.

 

With the exception of the camping in the middle, DH was pretty good.

 

This. After how horrible HBP was that it drove me to go through it line by line slamming it, I washed my hands of the whole series all together. Figured I'd watch the moves with the kids for the last book... which was split into two cash grabbing bullshit parts. The first part of DH was so mind numbingly boring not a single person in this house gave a damn about watching the next half.

 

Except he didn't... Hermione was the one saying the 'I told you so' to Harry.

She managed a triple bitch score with that one, too: Not only was she actually wrong, but Harry didn't even remotely deserve it, and her timing was abysmal - corpse!Dumbledore hadn't even stopped twinkling yet when she busted out her completely unjustified 'I was right, you were wrong' dance. :facepalm

I imagine there were even a few rabid hardcore Harmonians who read that and said, "You know what, Weasley can have her."

 

...

Okay, Taure, here's what I want you to do. I want you to buy some male enhancement drugs (you'll need these) and perhaps some flexibility lessons from Glernaj. Then I want you to head to a secluded place, such as the woods (trust me, you're not gonna want anyone to see this). Finally, after waiting for three days and three nights, I want you to take the drugs and use your well-honed flexibility to go fuck yourself!

 

Alternatively, I could stare blankly at your attempt at a joke, shake my head, then walk away.

 

Fuck it this is well overdue; mknote is joining Noxed on my ignore list.

 

If Rowling does some director's cut books, I would read them.
But I would not watch the remake movies that would be spawned in the aftermath.

 

My favorite film of all of them is 3. Nothing captures the magical mood/atmosphere better than that. The only real flaw that film has it's too short unnecessarily.

 

Okay, poor joke was poor.

Still, it's kinda odd to me just how opposite the opinions of two people can be. I don't get the hate levied at HBP - which is my third favorite of the books - nor how anyone can say DH was good; I think it was okay at best, and by far the weakest of the series.

Oh well. Differing opinions and all that.

 

That was what I loved about it. The Horcruxes, Voldemort's backstory, the battle taking place in Hogwarts... I barely even noticed how ooc the characters were because they were all acting like hormonal idiots. Plus I kind of excused Harry's incompetence at the time because I assumed he was doped up on Amortentia throughout the book

Pretty much sums it up for me. I only ever got into fanfiction recently and never gave the series' flaws much thought before then. In fact, I'd go as far as to argue the main draw of HP is the worldbuilding rather than the plots of the books... it gives fanfiction writers and fanartists alike an amazing sandbox to play around in, and enough is left up to interpretation that they can fill in plot holes a million different ways if they so choose.

Sure, DH had its moments, but... 19 years later? The Deluminator? Accio books about Horcruxes? :facepalm

 

In a way, HBP and DH are opposites.

HBP was logical but thematically unsatisfying. Many holes in the world were filled and magic got filled out too. But the hero's journey got unseated in a major way.

DH was illogical but thematically satisfying. The book was full of plot holes, but in the end we had a reasonably kickass Harry (he suddenly knew a load more spells, mastered Occlumency, was casting non-verbal spells, was taking out Death Eaters left and right) and an ending to the saga which fit with all that had come before.

 

Still, I feel that the epilogue was just a betrayal.