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If you are around my age, 30-40, you would be very familiar with the Adventures of TinTin (also: Asterix, Lucky Luke and others). As kids, we all used to read TinTin Comic books written and drawn by the amazing Belgian artist Herge’ … I recently found those comics stacked deep in my old closet, I was very excited about them, dusted them off and started reading again, the pleasure of re-reading the adventures of TinTin when you are older is much different than the younger age, you get to notice and analyze many political plots, sometimes you’d find few things more ridiculous than they used to be when you were younger too.

I guess I am writing this blog post on the background of the announcement of the new 3D animated TinTin film that will come out next year, which looks nothing so far but scary and appaling, just give anything to the Americans to ruin it completely. TinTin is very European, the taste of the drawing and even the jokes do not meet or fit the more rude American audience, I think Hollywood is just too desperate to make money out of ANYTHING lately, trying to dig for any old cartoons and comics to survive, I’d say that the last decent attempt in comic-to-film was in X-men trilogy even in the Wolverine film, but again those things are just too American! with Spielberg directing the new TinTin animated feature alongside with his accomplice in this murder Cameron, I have nothing but doubt and fear to the reputation and heritage of this priceless treasure called TinTin. (they can not even say his name right, they call him TinTin, while it must pronounced as TanTan based on French Language which is the original language of the comics and films).

With all this nostalgia going on, I decided to seek the old TinTin animated titles and watch them, it is very refreshing to see your old cartoons again, especially when you’ve read the comics and try to run a mental comparison in your head between the book and the film… Here are few points I made out of sheer observation (just for fun):

1. Back in the days, falling (lots of falling to be precise) was considered a funny act, take Charlie Chaplin for instance: lots of falling, in the books of Herge’ everybody falls a lot and so often especially the two clumsy detectives Thomson and Thompson,
2. The Adventures of TinTin are 10% action and the rest is just luck, in “The black ear” Tintin survived being shot at, trains, cars, plane crash, a Gorilla and of course the mob! which in a way or another, everything happened for a reason and led to the perfect conclusion of any TinTin adventure.
3. No pun intended! “Hey! that’s my pistol!” The mob guy shouted after being tied down by TinTin “I guess I’m tired of using my fingers all the time!” said TinTin…. back in the days, puns were not intended, really! but if you listen closely in both versions (French and English) you will just start realizing so many of them, keep an open mind.
4. It was perfectly fine for an old sea Captain to be friends with a reporter boy (young adult), no one ever questioned anything! but come to think about it, no one had any special partner to be suspicious about anyone else in the adventures.
5. Perhaps TinTin is the only one in the world who can find a disguise in less than 2 minutes anywhere in the world while we all suffer miserably the whole year trying to put a Halloween costume together.
6. Money was never a problem, TinTin just opened his wallet and sprayed money like he inherited a bank, did freelance reporting pay so much back then?
7. Stereotype might be the hallmark and signature of the whole adventures, when you think “The blue lotus” you just think yellow Chinese people dressed like Kung Fu warriors, and when you think “The black gold” you just see a bunch of angry Arabs living in 1001 nights, it just all plays to putting the message to the reader in its simplest best form.
8. Snowy is not just a dog, he is THE dog, and you’d wish if you have such a smart dog of your own, sometimes I just wonder if it all should have been called The adventures of TinTin and Snowy (and Haddock and Calculus). Despite the fact that Snowy really gets himself in trouble or just gets silly looking for bones, still, he is the true savior of this lonely traveler.
9. TinTin’s life insurance must be huge! I’m just saying!
10. If you were TinTin you’d either start thinking “why do these things happen to me?” or just make me as much money as he does, or maybe both. Don’t forget the Captain.
11. Everybody speaks TinTin’s language, whatever it is, wherever he is, we are just living in a one small beautiful world where we all understand TinTin.
12. I know that Lara Croft got special education and training to be, umm well, Lara Croft the famous Tomb Raider with enormous possums, but we never saw TinTin training, is he connected to Chuck Norris in any way? after all they survive everything you throw their way.
13. Back in the days, you never needed a visa to get anywhere! you just catch a ride or find any airplane that you could ride for that sake too.
14. When not in disguise, and if you paid close attention, TinTin’s wardrobe consists of his trench coat (it’s always cold I presume), brown fashionable trousers, white socks, brown shoes, brown hat and an endless stock of white shirts! he surely traveled heavy all the time with that stock of shirts, but hey! he was always in line of fashion WHATEVER he was facing.
15. There are always two guys spying on TinTin, ALWAYS.
16. I do not know what the buzz was all about but Castafiore was a fine lady!
17. Few times, we all had secretly wished that TinTin would not make it, he would just die and that would be the end of it, “In Tibet” for example, the captain was almost sure that he was gone when he fell off the ropes into the raging water fall, he even cried, he did! but you know what happened next… Luck, lots and lots of luck (and stocks of white shirts too!).
18. “Acting the goat” scene from “Destination Moon” might be the most legendary line in the series.
19. TinTin did not meet the captain or the professor untill later in the adventures, they started off as minor characters but Herge was a genius to incorporate them smartly to be major characters even with stories of their own like “Secret of Unicorn/Red Rackham’s Treasure” and “The Calculus affair”.
20. Science was sooooooo cool back then!
21. Although religions were not mentioned in the stories, politics, on the other hand, played a major part if creating stories and sub stories, in “Prisoners of the sun” TinTin had coincidentally joined that Latin American’s country’s riot squad! and in “King Ottokar’s Scepter” everyone was just a traitor to the king, also in “The land of black gold” TinTin helped the Arab king against the traitors, in “The Blue Lotus” Japan simply occupied China, but worry not, TinTin had saved the day.
22. TinTin’s nose is soooo tiny!
23. “Great Snakes” is TinTin’s most famous and ONLY curse line, while you can find full wikis online on the Captain’s curses, the most famous one could be “Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles” or just “Blistering Barnacles”.
24. Snowy never spoke in the animated films, he always had those catchy funny lines in the comics that he thought them to themselves.
25. While digging up on the new not-very-promising 3D animated film on TinTin’s Secret of the Unicorn I came across the fact that there has been at least two live action TinTin films in the 1960s: Tintin and the Blue Oranges (1964) and Tintin and the Golden Fleece (1961) with Jean-Pierre Talbot being TinTin in both films, that actor only did TinTin in his acting career, speak of curses!
26. There is a short Stop motion TinTin film that no body saw!
27. Did I mention that the next 3D Spielberg-Cameron TinTin project will suck big time? I think I did but I can not say it enough. just look at those images, they are scary!

More to come later, that’s all for now folks!

Qatato