Hergé | the m0vie blog

“You Shiver In Such An-tici-pation”: Upcoming Releases and the Waiting Game…

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Darren

It’s a bit of a defunct popular witticism that the actual purpose of the internet is not to increase global communication or facilitate and encourage the development and spread of ideas, but exists solely for pornography. I don’t think that’s necessarily true (in fact, it only accounts for 1% of the internet). Instead, I’d argue that the internet exists primarily to provide spoilers, casting calls, plot summaries, set pictures and gossip around all the upcoming releases. In an era where even fictitious characters have facebook and twitter accounts, it sometimes feels like information overload, with constant updates about the status of a given project and director and cast.

All at sea?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bloggers, Captain Haddock, Crab With the Golden Claws, critics, film discussion, green lantern, Hergé, internet, Red Rackham's Treasure, review, Secret of the Unicorn, spoilers, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, tintin | 6 Comments »

Tintin: Explorers on the Moon (Review)

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Darren

In the lead-up to the release of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, I’m going to be taking a look at Hergé’s celebrated comic book character, from his humble beginnings through to the incomplete post-modern finale. I hope you enjoy the ride.

The one thing I really admire about Explorers on the Moon is the fact that – for an adventure that takes the iconic boy reporter off te surface of the planet and launches him into outer space – it’s a remarkably low key affair. In fact, most of the book is devoted to nice character moments for the ensemble, and to explore some of the wonderful research Hergé did to put his story together. There’s no great mystery on the moon, none of the aliens that would later appear in Flight 714. Instead, Hergé seems to accept that launching his cast out of the planet’s atmosphere was enough of a radical deviation from the norm as it was. So what we get is a strange situation where Explorers on the Moon feels like one of the more grounded adventures in the series.

"Can you hear me, Major Tom?"

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Captain Haddock, Cold War, Comics, explorers on moon, Explorers on the Moon, Hergé, King Ottokar's Sceptre, lunar, moon, steven spielberg, the adventures of tintin: explorers on the moon, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, The Calculus Affair, tint: explorers on the moon, tintin and the explorers on the moon | Leave a comment »

Tintin: Destination Moon (Review)

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Darren

Destination Moon is an interesting entry in the Tintin canon, in that it really feels like Hergé’s relaxing just a bit. Since around about The Broken Ear (or even Tintin in America), most of Hergé’s stories have been relatively plot-driven, with a central mystery and a story built around solving that mystery. Destination Moon, on the other hand, is an adventure that feels far more episodic in nature, with Hergé taking a central plot (the race to land a man on a moon) and then building a variety of small adventures around it, from attempts to hijack a test rocket through to Professor Calculus’ amnesia and beyond. The story is somewhat leisurely plotted, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The author is clearly enjoying having a little bit more narrative freedom than he’s used to, and also having a great deal of fun taking a fantastical core concept and demonstrating how much research he’s put in.

It's out of this world...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, Broken Ear, Captain Haddock, Comics, Destination Moon, Hergé, King Ottokar's Sceptre, Land of Black Gold, moon, rockets, Shooting Star, space flight, steven spielberg, the adventures of tintin: destination moon, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, The Calculus Affair, tintin: destination moon, world war ii | 3 Comments »

Tintin: Land of Black Gold (Review)

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Darren

Land of Black Gold is certainly an interesting Tintin story. It was begun during the Second World War, but suspended while Hergé’s paper, Le Soir, was investigated under suspicion of collaboration. Following the war, the author returned to complete the work, updating the adventure to remove some of the more obvious political elements, and to retroactively insert some of the more modern characters into the tale (Captain Haddock has a small role, and Cuthbert Calculus appears only via letter). However, despite all this interesting shuffling around, and the fact the story was begun in one political climate and finished in another, it’s surprising how relevent Hergé’s exploration of Middle Eastern politics remains.

Thompson and Thomson get their just deserts, eh?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Black Island, Captain Haddock, Hergé, Land of Black Gold, nazis, oil, second world war, Shooting Star, steven spielberg, the adventures of tintin: land of black gold, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the land of black gold, tintin and the land of black gold, tintin: land of black gold, world war ii | Leave a comment »

Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun (Review)

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Darren

I have to admit to really liking the two-part Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun adventure, to the extent that I’m actually eagerly anticipating Peter Jackson’s adaptation that may never materialise. The two-parter really just takes the best aspects of Hergé’s Tintin mythos, brewing up a pop culture stew that can be served as a mystery story or an adventure into a mystical and unknown world. The idea of discovering a long-lost tribe of ancient Inca is certainly an appealing one, and would make for a gripping turn-of-the-century adventure. Using that premise as a starting point, Hergé leads us and Tintin in the heart of Amazon, filled with excitement and danger and mystery.

Tintin, why don't you come Inca?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, Captain Haddock, edgar wright, Hergé, indiana jones, Jamie Bell, peter jackson, Prisoner of the Sun, prisoners of the sun, Red Rackham's Treasure, steven spielberg, the adventures of tintin: prisoners of the sun, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the prisoners of the sun, the prisoners of the sun, tintin and the prisoners of the sun, Tintin in the Congo | Leave a comment »

Tintin: The Seven Crystal Balls (Review)

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Darren

Apparently, if Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is a success, Peter Jackson will be directing a sequel that will be based on the two-part story directly following The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure. I’m already anticipating that, seen as The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun are probably among my favourite Tintin stories, and I can actually see the rather wonderful conflict between mysticism and rationality playing out really well on the big-screen. It’s pure unadulterated pulp fiction, and it’s pulp fiction done exceptionally well.

Mummy!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, Captain Haddock, Hergé, List of The Adventures of Tintin characters, peter jackson, Red Rackham's Treasure, Secret of the Unicorn, seven crystal balls, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the seven crystal balls, the seven crystal balls, tintin and the seven crystal balls | 2 Comments »

Tintin: Red Rackham’s Treasure (Review)

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Darren

I have to admit to being just a little bit lukewarm to The Secret of the Unicorn as an entry in The Adventures of Tintin. However, the second part in the adventure, Red Rackham’s Treasure, is a much stronger instalment, standing on its own two feet. Part of me has always liked the more exotic Tintin adventures, but I reckon a large part of the appeal of this instalment is seeing Hergé resurrect a genre that has been left fallow for quite a few decades: the good old-fashioned treasure hunt.

Are Tintin and Haddock LOST?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, blue lotus, Captain Haddock, Hergé, King Ottokar's Sceptre, Red Rackham's Treasure, review, Secret of the Unicorn, steven spielberg, the adventures of tintin, the adventures of tintin: red rackham's treasure, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, tintin and red rackham's treasure, Tintin in the Congo | Leave a comment »

Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Review)

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Darren

The Secret of the Unicorn is the basis of the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Adventures of Tintin, as directed by Steven Spielberg. It will form the basis for the film, along with The Crab With the Golden Claws and the second part of this adventure, Red Rackham’s Treasure. While Cigars of the Pharaoh fed into The Blue Lotus and Tintin in the Congo led into Tintin in America, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure represent the first real two-part story in Hergé’s series, and you can feel the writer appreciating the opportunity to spread his adventure over two volumes of the series.

Set sail for adventure!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, blue lotus, Captain Haddock, Crab With the Golden Claws, Hergé, red rackham, Red Rackham's Treasure, review, Secret of the Unicorn, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, tintin and the secret of the unicorn, tintin: secret of the unicorn | 2 Comments »

Tintin: The Shooting Star (Review)

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Darren

It’s very strange to return to material you read as a child. Occasionally – as when reading King Ottokar’s Sceptre – you find a lot more than you remember. However, reading The Shooting Star, I was quite surprised to find the more surrealist elements I so strongly recalled – foreshadowed by the giant mushroom on the cover and the not-so giant spider on the telescope – were pretty much confined to the last ten pages of the adventure. Reading it again, I was incredibly impressed with the atmospheric opening scenes and the wonderful race to the fallen meteorite, both elements downplayed in my memory to giant apples and exploding mushrooms. It’s things like this that make me glad I decided to revisit the series for the occasion.

Tintin scopes out the observatory...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Adventures of Tintin, belgium, Captain Haddock, Crab With the Golden Claws, Hergé, peter jackson, Shooting Star, steven spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the adventures of tintin: the shooting star, the shooting star, tintin: the shooting star, United States | Leave a comment »

Tintin: The Crab With the Golden Claws (Review)

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Darren

The Crab With the Golden Claws is the first of three Tintin stories that were used as the basis of Steven Spielberg’s upcoming The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (the other two being, obviously, The Secret of the Unicorn and its sequel, Red Rackham’s Treasure). The Crab With the Golden Claws was originally written during the Nazi occupation of Belgium, when Hergé feared that his then on-going storyline The Land of Black Gold would have proved too politically charged for the country’s new governing force. So the adventure was essentially written as filler, a bit of light entertainment to take the minds of his headers as far away from the political reality as possible. And it certainly succeeds as one of the lighter and brisker adventures in the series, with one major addition to the franchise’s mythos in the form of Captain Archibald Haddock.