Hergé | the m0vie blog

The Adventures of Tintin: The Seven Crystal Balls (Review)

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Darren

To celebrate the release of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in the United States later this month, I’ll be taking a look at some of nineties animated television show. Check back daily!

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

I’ve always had a soft spot for The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun. When I was younger, originally watching the show and reading the books, they were my favourite adventure, along with Cigars of the Pharaoh. Perhaps it was the exotic nature of the adventure, with Tintin setting off to far-off ports, or the fascinating occult and unexplained elements. I found it somewhat fascinating the Spielberg chose to make The Secret of the Unicornas his first film, since he makes the case that Tintin is a hero who shares a lot with Indiana Jones. I’d make the case that this adventure here is the one that most perfectly captures the strange occult vibe that Lucas and Spielberg tried to recreate with their whip-weilding explorer.

Not quite the boy scout he used to be...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Adventure of Tintin, Hergé, Secret of the Unicorn, Shooting Star, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the seven crystal balls, the seven crystal balls, tintin, Tintin: The Seven Crystal Balls, Unicorn, United States | 3 Comments »

The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham’s Treasure (Review)

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Darren

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

It’s quite strange, given how lukewarm I was to The Secret of the Unicorn, that I am undeniably fond of Red Rackham’s Treasure. At a time when Hergé seemed to be aiming for fantastic escapism, perhaps to avoid dealing with wartime reality, I think that Red Rackham’s Treasure perfectly encapsulates a lot of what was fun about Tintin, at least for my inner child. There’s hidden treasure, untouched tropic islands, walks along the ocean floor, submarines and even a shark attack! It’s all very light and whimsical, but it’s pure adventure all the way through, with a giddy enthusiasm sustaining the narrative.

Pushing the boat out...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, Captain Haddock, Hergé, Red Rackham's Treasure, Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: red rackham's treasure, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, tintin, Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure, Unicorn, United States | Leave a comment »

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Review)

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Darren

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here and our review of the film here.

I have to admit that I was never a big fan of The Secret of the Unicorn. I know it’s strange, given how much praise and respect the film gets in various critical circles, and near universally high esteem that fans of the series seem hold for the adventure. I don’t hate it, and I don’t dislike it. I am just not especially fond of it, especially compared to some of the adventures around it. While the animated adaptation does make the case for The Secret of the Unicornas a solid Tintin adventure, I do have to be a bit disappointed with the transfer quality on the blu ray disc.

If it ain't broke...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: animated, cartoon, Hergé, pirates, the adventures of tintin, the adventures of tintin: the secret of the unicorn, the secret of the unicorn, the unicorn, tintin, tintin: the secret of the unicorn | 1 Comment »

The Adventures of Tintin: The Shooting Star (Review)

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Darren

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

I like The Shooting Star. It’s one of the stranger entries in the series, and so it tends to divide fans – much like the equally surreal Flight 714. Part of the reason I enjoy it so much is the wonderful atmosphere Hergé generates early in the story, as if channeling his own fears and uncertainties about a Europe that was (at the time) on the brink of war. I also enjoy the way that the adventure allowed Hergé to cut loose with his imagination – the final few pages allowing the artist to indulge his own zany imagery in a manner similar to the wonderfully odd dream sequences in Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Crab With the Golden Claws. The animated adaptation does a decent job of translating the story from one medium to another, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed with it.

Magic mushroom...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: animation, Hergé, the adventures of tintin: the shooting star, the shooting star, tintin: the shooting star | 2 Comments »

The Adventures of Tintin: King Ottokar’s Sceptre (Review)

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Darren

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

In a way, King Ottokar’s Sceptre feels like the end of an era. King Ottokar’s Sceptre is the last adventure in the series that Tintin would spend alone (save for the company of the loyal companion, Snowy). Although Hergé began work on The Land of Black Gold next, the next completed story (The Crab With the Golden Claws) would introduce Captain Haddock, who would follow Tintin for the rest of the series. It was also the last story that Hergé completed before the outbreak of the Second World War, and the sense of paranoia is palpable. After this story, Hergé would remove a lot of the more overt political commentary from the series, preferring to offer more subtle and biting commentary. I’m delighted to say that the animated adaptation retain pretty much all of the spirit of Heré’s original story, which I was a little worried about given how deeply rooted the story is in the European politics of the thirties.

Keys to the kingdom...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: animated, balkans, Hergé, king ottokar, King Ottokar's Sceptre, nazis, review, the adventures of tintin, The Adventures of Tintin: King Ottokar's Sceptre, thirties, tintin, Tintin: King Ottokar's Sceptre | Leave a comment »

The Adventures of Tintin: The Black Island (Review)

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Darren

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for The Black Island. There are probably multiple reasons for this. Snowy is my favourite member of the Tintin ensemble, and The Black Island is as close as possible to a Snowy-centric adventure. I also tend to enjoy the pulpier stories in Hergé’s series, the ones that have aged so well that they perfectly evoke the serialised fiction of the era without feeling trapped in it – stories like The Cigars of the Pharaoh, which is in series competition to be my favourite Tintin adventure. The Black Island is undoubtedly a product of the thirties, with the German counterfeiting ring in England and the homage to King Kong, but it never feels that old. In a way, the bright colours and wonderful depiction of rural England (and other stereotypical elements like the police constables) always made me think of the British pop culture of the sixties. I think that’s the appeal of the adventure to me, in a nutshell.

And most of it made it to this animated adaptation.

Something to think about...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: england, Hergé, king kong, review, the adventures of tintin, the adventures of tintin: the black island, the black island, tintin, tintin: the animated series, tintin: the black island | Leave a comment »

The Adventures of Tintin: The Broken Ear (Review)

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Darren

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

I have to admit, I was curious about how the animated series would handle some of the more political material Hergé inserted into his work. I admired the way that Cigars of the Pharaoh handled international drug smuggling, but I suspected that broad political satire set in a banana republic might catch some viewers completely off guard. And, to be honest, there’s a lot of other stuff in Hergé’s The Broken Ear that makes it one of the tougher stories to adapt as a cartoon adventure. It’s very close to farce, and while the cartoon acknowledges that this business is a little sillier than usual, it never feels like the episode fully embraces the story it’s trying to tell, instead settling for a fairly generic run-around featuring characters and locales from the origin story.

Spotlight on the fetish...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Comics, general alcazar, Hergé, HG, review, South America, Television, the adventures of tintin, the adventures of tintin: the broken ear, the broken ear, tintin, tintin: the broken ear | 3 Comments »

The Adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus (Review)

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Darren

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

While I think that the early run of stories from Cigars of the Pharaoh were among Hergé’s most impressively pulpy output, populated with opium traders and sinister conspiracies seemingly spanning the globe, I do tend to have rather eclectic taste. For example, I am quite partial to The Black Island and The Shooting Star, two of the oft-malign chapters in The Adventures of Tintin. Similarly, I’ve found myself slightly underwhelmed by widely-praised instalments like The Secret of the Unicorn or The Blue Lotus. It’s not that I think they’re bad (far from it), merely that I feel they aren’t as good. Still, the animated adaptation of Tintin in America managed to construct an engaging little adventure from a disjointed story, so I wonder how this episode will handle its source material?

Shang-hai Noon...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, Black Island, blue lotus, China, Colin O'Meara, Hergé, japan, Orient, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the blue lotus, the blue lotus, tintin, tintin in america | Leave a comment »

The Adventures of Tintin: Cigars of the Pharaoh (Review)

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Darren

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

This is more like it. After a single twenty-three minute episode to cover Tintin in America, Cigars of the Pharaoh gets a bit more space. It’s a very faithful take on the classic story, split over two episodes to retain as much as possible. It’s a good thing, too, as I’d argue that Cigars of the Pharaoh is easily one of the best stories Hergé ever wrote, and certainly the first truly classic entry in the series. So it’s great to see the animated series kicking everything into gear.

Mapping out the show...

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, cigars of the pharaoh, Crab With the Golden Claws, Hergé, Pharaoh, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, The Adventures of Tintin: The Cigars of the Pharaoh, tintin, tintin in america | Leave a comment »

The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America (Review)

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Darren

Note: This is our review of the animated episode, check out our review of the book here.

I remember catching a few of the animated Adventure of Tintin when I was smaller, and really enjoying them. They were a series produced to adapt Hergé’s stories into easy-to-digest half-hour instalments for kids. Naturally, the early adventures (Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo) weren’t deemed suitable for this form of adaptation, so the series jumped right in with the third entry in Hergé’s long-running saga. Which is grand, because I started reading The Adventures of Tintin with Tintin in America.