Les aventures de Tintin

I readily concede The Adventures of Tintin by Herge in book form ("graphic novels," now?) remain peerless. Even animation has its limits trying to capture what the young reader's mind is readily inspired to supply. I know of but have seen only one episode of the Franco-Canadian animated adaptation of the graphic images, but even so I cringe at the news of feature-length live-action film adaptations.

The Belgian animated series was reportedly disavowed by the artist-creator, but understand that to many in my generation Stateside the Belgian animated series dubbed into American English and broadcast in the mid-1960s was in fact the true introduction to Tintin and Snowy, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, Thomson and Thompson, and many other memorable characters as well as their predicaments. "The Calculus Affair" remains the adaptation that I'd remembered most vividly. IT IS NOT the version I'd recently found on all-region DVD, dubbed into English and Hindi and paired with "The Broken Ear."

When broadcast Stateside the English-dubbed "Affair" from the original Belgian animated series differed in its voice characterizations from the other episodes in that series, with a hard-edged, straight-on, and dryly humorous style. I got the distinct impression the adapters knew what it was about very well indeed. Yet my brother and I still quote lines from it, especially the prison camp ("I thought you liked hot chocolate." "There will be a slight change in the menu tonight." "I am a patient man—but this is too much!").

(UPDATE: Some years after this posting I located this episode as an hour-long "animated movie in remastered version" on NTSC DVD. I agree with most of the user reviews for "L'affaire Tournesol" (1964), and if I didn't hear the aforesaid lines quite as I had recalled I thought I could blame a later re-dubbing into English, including one character's reference to Niki Lauda, a motor racing World Champion from the late Seventies. All the same it was good to see it again.)

Suffice it to say I accepted the invitation from the original animated series to view and read more by Herge. I do so to this day with fondness and respect for an artist's timeless style, stories, and attention to detail.

When my parents and I moved into a new house when I was five, we found a new video store. During the few months that this video store was opened (I think that it moved to a new location), I mostly rented what I was familiar with: compilations of Looney Tunes cartoons. But I also rented something else: a video called "Adventures of Tintin: Objective Moon". I found it very enjoyable. I later watched other Tintin videos. But I eventually started reading the books - I now own a copy of every book in the series - and I found that the videos altered a number of things...by which I mean that they often changed entire plots.

It's only recently that I've found out that the videos were from a TV series in the early '60s. I guess that by that point, the books' fans were so familiar with Capt. Haddock and Prof. Calculus that the show's creators decided to include them in episodes based on books in which they didn't originally appear, along with other changes that clearly updated all action to the early '60s. The show apparently irritated Tintin purists due to its deviation from the books' plot lines (Capt. Haddock doesn't drink, and Prof. Calculus doesn't have a hearing problem). I, on the other hand, find "Les aventures de Tintin d'apres Hergé" ("Hergé's Adventures of Tintin" in English) to be a pretty funny series. Currently, the only episode that I haven't seen is the adaptation of "The Calculus Affair", which is apparently the most altered episode.

Anyway, it's pretty fun. I hope that it gets released on DVD someday - why do disaster movies get released and then get special edition releases while this show still hasn't gotten released? - and I'm eager to see what Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson do with the upcoming movie "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn".

Our heroes embark for the moon. In the rocket of the Professor Calculus, there are two stowaways (Dupont and Dupond) and a spy. Will Tintin and his companions come back to earth? I saw the first episode " objective the moon " (objectif lune). It lasts 81 minutes. It is an old-fashioned curiosity which will please essentially the "tintinophile". I would put a note of 5/10 for this episode. This episode is the synthesis of two albums " Objective the moon " and " We walked on the moon "("Objectif lune" and "On a marché sur la lune"). The spy benefits from the voice of Roger Rudel which doubled Kirk Douglas for the French versions. "The secret of the Unicorn" is the fifth episode of the series. Tintin buys the model of a boat for the Captain Haddock. There are two other identical models. The main matt of every model of "The Unicorn" hides a parchment. Tintin ignores the existence of its three parchments which indicate the lattitude and the longitude of the famous treasure of "Rackham Le Rouge". A stranger steals the model bought by tintin. It is the beginning of the treasure hunt... We always find same old-fashioned charm but fights and action scenes are badly adjusted. The car of our heroes falls in a ravine and they go out of it all unhurt! This episode lasts 36 minutes. The sixth episode, " The treasure of Rackham the red ", lasts 83 minutes. It is doubtless the best episode of the series because it is full of humor and new developments. It is in this adventure that Tintin and Haddock are going to find their definitive accommodation : "Le château de Moulinsart" imaginary and partial replica of the castle of Cheverny. I would put a note of 7/10 for this episode.