Rat lovers unite! Scabbers in the Films

[RageTheBat]

(If this topic has been made, I'll eat my Sorting Hat)

I have loved rats most of my life. I know a lot about them, and even feel a special bond with every (domesticated) rat I come across. I do not own one, but that's only because my mom hates rodents (And pets in general).

Enough background.

Was I the only rat lover who was somewhat enraged that they kept using a robotic Scabbers in the newest edition in the HP movie library, The Prisoner of Azkaban? I know my rats. Even if the "rat" they used was male (Males are known to be mellow and at times even lazy; the opposite for females), I doubt a real rat would be as stiff and unmoving as most of the scenes showed Scabbers.

They most certainly used a robitic rat in at least 90% of the scenes.

The only reason I can think of that they used a fake rat was that, when holding a rat, it usually likes to climb or keep moving, and one is forced to constantly move his hands to keep the little bugger still. You can train rats to things that even dogs can't do. Why not hire a decent rat trainer and train a rat to be still?

It's not so much that they used mechanical rodents, but more that I could tell. Every time he was a robot, Scabbers was slow-moving, and all around fake-looking. Even non rat fans know that rats are quick and always moving.

Had they used CGI, I think, even though I still would be able to tell, it would have been a bit more realistic. Plus, as far as I know, using a computer for a creature rather than a puppet is a bit less expensive, though that's only an assumtion.

Don't flame me for my pickyness, I just needed to vent. Scabbers (Though not nessisiarily Pettigrew; confusing, I know) is one of my favorite characters, and to see him as an obvious puppet and not even a true rat sitting in Ron's hands saddens me. Just wondering if anyone else felt the same...

[glugunkwen]

The only reason I can think of that they used a fake rat was that, when holding a rat, it usually likes to climb or keep moving, and one is forced to constantly move his hands to keep the little bugger still.

I think another reason they used a rat puppet was for the real rats safety - no animal cruelty and all that.

I did read somewhere that Rupert Grint got to keep the rats that played Scabbers in PoA b/c he liked them so much - don't know if it's true or not.

[Alorra Spinnet]

I think another reason they used a rat puppet was for the real rats safety - no animal cruelty and all that.

I did read somewhere that Rupert Grint got to keep the rats that played Scabbers in PoA b/c he liked them so much - don't know if it's true or not.
The "fake" Scabbers was very obvious,at least to me. I think Rupert wanted to keep a rat but, his mom wouldn't let him.

[Dottie]

RATS! :love: I run the Duke City Rat Rescue in my city, and you'd be surprised how many phone calls I get where people want to abandon their rats. :( One time, I had a girl dump over 20 rats on me! Yeeesh! But right now, there are two permenant residents. Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. Others that have been dropped off and are remaining here until someone wants to adopt are my PEW Elenaor Roosevelt and my rex dumbo odd eyed Mike Tyson.

So, four rats is a nice number for now, since I nearly run a zoo with all these animals. :lol:

[Sredni Vashtar]

I won't tell you what my snake does to rats.

As for the animatronic scabbers, I wasn't really bothered by it. I really empathised with Ron when he was bitten, though, because rats bite really, really hard and draw all kinds of blood.

[Dottie]

I won't tell you what my snake does to rats.

As for the animatronic scabbers, I wasn't really bothered by it. I really empathised with Ron when he was bitten, though, because rats bite really, really hard and draw all kinds of blood.


Correction: Scared rats bite really, really hard. :p Pet rats do not. :)

[RageTheBat]

Also, let it be known that if you treat a rat right, they'll do almost anything you want them to. Well, at least, if Ron were to pull a "Dr. Evil/Mr. Bigglesworth," and just kept petting Scabbers, he might have stayed still... most of the rats I've encountered love to be pet and stay relatively still while they are... though it might depend on the gender and the temperment of the rat itself. Anyway, I'm just rambling, and as Glugunkwen mentioned, it might be because of animal cruelty they decided on a puppet. I'm just sort of bummed because, not a lot of movies center their attention on a rat (I think I can name them all on one hand), and now there's a new one... with a fake rat...

[Rachelle]

I didn't really notice Scabbers looking like a puppet too much in PoA, but there were a few scenes where Ron was holding an obviously CGI rat. It's face and such looked a little too "catoonish". They did that obviously because they couldn't get a real rat to act like they wanted it to.

[Deliah]

Mmh. I saw part of an interview with a guy from the zoo in Berlin, who talked about the rat comming from that zoo ...

About rats: I love rats, they are such inteligent animals, I used to have 2 and my cats respected them ... hehe ... but they don't live very long and I can't deal very well with the death of pets, thats why I won't adopt a new one.

[RageTheBat]

They did that obviously because they couldn't get a real rat to act like they wanted it to.

There's actually very few things rats can't do. Could you name a scene where this theory might be true? I can't ever remember anything in any of the movies that Scabbers had to do that a CGI rat did... I suppose using a computer is cheaper than hiring a rat trainer, though the owl trainer bill must have been through the roof...

[Dottie]

There's actually very few things rats can't do. Could you name a scene where this theory might be true? I can't ever remember anything in any of the movies that Scabbers had to do that a CGI rat did... I suppose using a computer is cheaper than hiring a rat trainer, though the owl trainer bill must have been through the roof...

Personally I just think it was them being lazy or they didn't budget for the rat, so yes I agree. If you're patient enough with a rat, you can teach it to roll over, litter train it, make it fetch, sit still...they're just as good as dogs sometimes with training. ;)

[RageTheBat]

Personally I just think it was them being lazy or they didn't budget for the rat, so yes I agree. If you're patient enough with a rat, you can teach it to roll over, litter train it, make it fetch, sit still...they're just as good as dogs sometimes with training. ;)

I'm glad to find that I'm not crazy in my love of rats. :rotfl: BTW, I added you to the friends/watch/buddy list... thing that this forum has. You're pretty cool. :cool:

[Dottie]

I'm glad to find that I'm not crazy in my love of rats. :rotfl: BTW, I added you to the friends/watch/buddy list... thing that this forum has. You're pretty cool. :cool:

Oh! :blush: Thank you, I'm flattered. I will add you to mine as well. And no, I can't think your crazy, not with how many rats I have and how far I travel to save rats sometimes. :lol: My two permenant rats, they came from California! If you want to hear a rat story...

There was a guy there who wanted to breed rats. He honestly had good intentions, just not the proper knowledge to back it up. He didn't realize rats can have up to 13 in a litter. So he started off by buying ten males and ten females. Immediately, using 10 babies a mother as an average, he had 100 rats! And then he didn't seperate those babies, and then 100 babies with ten babies each...he had a rat EPIDEMIC. Thankfully people would pick up bins of tons of rats and drive them cross country to rescues. :D

Also, I'm sort of glad that they don't have many real live rats in PoA or any of the movies. I'm not sure if anyone knew this, but after Willard was over they started boxing up rats to be shipped off to pounds to be put down! :upset: Thankfully, most of these hundreds of rats were also rescued.

[RageTheBat]

I'm not sure if anyone knew this, but after Willard was over they started boxing up rats to be shipped off to pounds to be put down! :upset: Thankfully, most of these hundreds of rats were also rescued.

Wow... and that's one of my favorite movies, too!! O_o

Anyway, I'm on a friends computer, so finding AIM might be hard... if I do, however, I'll add you there, too. :D

[RJBradbrook]

in the scence where Mrs. Weasley chases the Train to give Ron the rat she hand him this stiff looking robbo thing. its huge and doesn't even bend when Ron holds it around the middle, despite the fact that it sticks out about two inches either side of his hand.

[Alorra Spinnet]

Went to see again on Sat. They did use the real rat more often then I thought they did, but the animatronic was always very obvious. Unlike Buckbeak, where you can't tell where the animatronic, CGI, and real horse rear start and stop. (at least I can't! :p )

[marji]

i read somewhere they used about 10 rats--oh yeah and i don't like rats becaause they infested my yard and it was creepy

[Sredni Vashtar]

I hate to say it to a bunch of rat lovers (hey some of them are very cute), but there are a lot of reptile owners who like seeing a glut of rats on the market.

You'll be happy to know that I refused to buy a baby rat the other day because it licked my finger and acted all cute. I just couldn't, in good conscience, take it home. I bought a half grown albino mouse instead. I told the lady at the store to allow that rat to grow up and sell it as a pet because he was just so dang cute.

It's rare for me to feel this way, though. Rats is rats.