Hergé's Adventures of Tintin

King Ottokar’s Sceptre had 8 episodes of thirteen minutes, while The Broken Ear had 7 episodes. They were broadcast on RTF. ‘King Ottokar’s Sceptre’ aired from 28 November 1957 to 15 January 1958 on each Thursday. ‘The Broken Ear’ aired from 4 July 1959 to 15 August 1959 on each Saturday. In these two series, everything is done in semi-animation mode with a majority of still images and a few rare character movements. Only the episodes of The Broken Ear have a little more animation. Hergé finally got more involved than expected in the scripts and the drawings. Some of the boxes of the comics had undergone some small alterations as well as totally new images, notably in The Broken Ear. Likewise, the script has sometimes been changed. For example, at the beginning of ‘King Ottokar's Sceptre’ (episode 1), in the Syldavian restaurant "Klow", Tintin does not ask to go to the toilet but asks to phone. These visual and oral changes were deemed necessary to make the whole thing more captivating for viewers.

The French version starred Georges Poujouly as Tintin and Jean Clarieux as Captain Haddock. In the US dub, Larry Harmon and Dallas McKennon both voiced Tintin, with Paul Frees as Captain Haddock. In the BBC’s UK dub of the series, Gerald Campion usually voiced Tintin, with the exception of The Broken Ear, where Peter Hawkins voiced all the characters.

On the advice of R.T.F., the production was entrusted to Anne-Marie Ullmann, who was prohibited from retouching the drawings provided by

Hiatus and new adventures

Leblanc then hired Ray Goossens, a professional from cartoon advertising, recommended to him by Van Milleghem.

Under the leadership of Goossens, Belvision renounced 16 mm in black and white, and equipped itself for 35 mm in color. They went from semi-animation to “full animation” by using the system of layers with pins and the tracing of images on cels.

In 1960, Raymond Leblanc managed to involve Télé-Hachette, the subsidiary of the French publisher, in his film projects on Tintin. The goal is to produce five useful minutes per week. This is how Belvision attracted from 20 to 120 people in a few weeks.

Hergé participates more in the development process, and supervises a lot of meetings between his collaborators (Bob De Moor and Jacques Martin) and those of Belvision.

Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin, which was directed by Ray Goossens and produced by Belvision and Télé-Hachette between 1959 and 1964, can be considered as the first real cartoon adaptation of the Adventures of Tintin.

It brings together 8 stories of Tintin.

• Destination Moon
• Explorers on the Moon
• The Crab with the Golden Claws
• The Secret of the Unicorn
• Red Rackham's Treasure
• The Shooting Star
• The Black Island
• The Calculus Affair

“Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin” were the opening words to each episode. Each adventure was divided into small episodes of about 5 minutes preceded by a summary and followed by the announcement of the following episode. Each one ended with a teaser that encouraged the viewer not to miss the next episode.

The Calculus Case

Several liberties were taken in the adaptation and the script quality was sometimes poor. After 89 five-minute episodes, Télé-Hachette was dissatisfied with the result and decided, in 1963, not to renew the contract with Belvision. Nevertheless, Raymond Leblanc decides to produce a new adaptation despite everything, alone with Belvision. It was The Calculus Affair, on a screenplay by Greg and Bernard Fredisch, in thirteen five-minute episodes. Not coproduced by Télé-Hachette, The Calculus Affair has always had a special status and is considered a feature film (like Tintin and the Temple of the Sun or Tintin and the Lake of Sharks). After being released on VHS in the 1980s, it was released on DVD in France on 14 May 2008, in a remastered edition, in the Tintin animated feature set at Citel Vidéo. ‘The Calculus Affair’ DVD was reissued in 2011 in the 23rd volume of the Tintin collection by Hachette editions.

Changes from the books

Most stories in the television series varied widely from the original books, thus changing whole plots.

Objective Moon

Unlike in the comic where two other saboteurs are parachuted and shoot Tintin,

The story begins in a port where Tintin sees men throwing a body into the sea. It is there that he decides to investigate. In this version, the crab cans are used to conceal diamonds and not opium. First mate Allan, to be the master on board, drugs Captain Haddock, not with whiskey, but with drugs. Tintin already knows Captain Haddock, although this is his first appearance in the comic strip. After their plane crash, Tintin and Haddock, who wander in the desert, are captured by a looter named "Ahmed the Terrible". After their escape, Ahmed tracks them down but dies falling off a cliff. The pilot of the plane also pursues Tintin and Haddock in the desert before being shot down by Ahmed. Bunji Kuraki was absent and the Karaboudjan was renamed not ‘Djebel Amilah’ but ‘Tangiers’. In this version, Allan is arrested in Captain Haddock's boat and Allan’s entire men die when Tintin throws a bomb at them accidentally (only Allan survives) while in the comic they are all arrested.

The Secret of the Unicorn

At the beginning, bandits try to steal the boat bought by Tintin, but give up because of the presence of a police officer. While chasing a mouse, Snowy breaks the boat, and a parchment appears. While Tintin walks through it, the light in his home goes out, and then he gets knocked out. The bandits finally leave with the boat. While walking, Tintin sees the boat in a store window. The seller tells him that he has owned it for a long time, and that he cannot sell it. Tintin buys it from him, but a man steals the package. The Thom(p)sons intervene and return the package to Tintin. On returning home, Tintin discovers another parchment in the boat, and decides to go to Captain Haddock. The Bird brothers kidnap Tintin after having knocked him out during the night before sequestering him at their home in the cellar. In the comic, in the cellar, one of the Bird brothers has a weapon while, in the series, the Bird brothers have two weapons. Tintin and his friends chased Max Bird by car. They fight in a pumpkin farmer’s truck and pursued him by a plane. After this pursuit, they succeed in gathering the three parchments and set out in search of Red Rackham's treasure.

Red Rackham's Treasure

In this version, Max Bird escapes from prison with the help of an accomplice. He participates in the search for the treasure, while he no longer appears after his escape in the comics. Professor Calculus already knows Tintin, even though this is his first appearance in the comic strip. During the trip, Max Bird's accomplice succeeds in stealing the plans that lead to the treasure. Although he is not hard of hearing in this series, Professor Calculus has the time of this episode some hearing problems following the explosion of a failed device. Upon arrival on the island, Tintin and his friends are attacked by the natives. They continue their research and discover a fetish of Sir Francis Haddock. Thompson and Thomson, who transport it, are kidnapped by the natives, who bear a strong resemblance to the

The Calculus Case

This adaptation is loosely based on the book.

More generally, Tintin's home is located in New York, resulting to be American instead of Belgian (Perhaps, for one of those reasons, "Tintin in America" is not adapted), Captain Haddock does not have a penchant for whiskey (and prefers drinking coffee instead), Professor Calculus does not have hearing problems and wears a yellow trench coat instead of green trench coat, Thomson and Thompson are brothers and their moustaches are identical, and Snowy has a red collar in some episodes.

Stories not adapted

Some of the Tintin books were not included in the animated series. The stories are Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Tintin in the Congo (although only one scene was adapted), Tintin in America, Cigars of the Pharaoh, The Blue Lotus, The Seven Crystal Balls, Prisoners of the Sun, Land of Black Gold (although only one scene was adapted), The Red Sea Sharks (although only one scene was adapted), Tintin in Tibet and The Castafiore Emerald. Reasons for not adapting stories such as Flight 714 to Sydney, Tintin and the Picaros and Tintin and Alph-Art are that they were not written at that time.

Broadcasts and releases

• This series was broadcast in the UK from 1962 by the BBC. (Note:
  colour television
  had yet to appear in England and therefore, the series aired in black-and-white)
• This series has aired in repeats on non-network syndication in the United States from 1963 to 1971. Several video releases were made, in both English and French. To date, no DVD set has been released, though The Calculus Case was released on DVD as a full-length film.
• The series was directed by
  Greg, who later became the editor of Tintin
  magazine.
• The first two black-and-white episodes were produced at a time where junking took place. Due to poor reviews, it is rather not unlikely that they are lost episodes. Only screenshots are available.

• Larry Harmon as Tintin, Professor Calculus (Objective Moon and The Crab With the Golden Claws)^[1]
• Dallas McKennon as Tintin, Professor Calculus, Other characters (The Secret of Unicorn until Black Island)
• Paul Frees as Captain Haddock, Thomson and Thompson, Other characters, Narrator^[1] (all episodes)
• Lee Payant as Tintin, Professor Calculus, Other characters (The Calculus Case)
• Gerald Campion as Tintin (King Ottokar's Sceptre)
• Peter Hawkins as Narrator (The Broken Ear)

French

• Georges Poujouly as Tintin
• Jean Clarieux as Captain Haddock
• Robert Vattier as Professor Calculus
• Hubert Deschamps as Thomson and Thompson
• René Arrieu as Other characters

Episodes

Season 1: Objective Moon (22 episodes)

1. Espionage
2. Space Pirates
3. The Big Departure
4. Attention... Meteor!
5. Drifting
6. Man in Orbit
7. Lunar Landing
8. Explorers on the Moon
9. Mystery on the Moon
10. Lost
11. Sabotage
12. Moon Sickness
13. Trapped
14. Operation Rescue
15. Buried
16. Prisoners
17. Explosion
18. Dramatic turn of Events
19. Destination Earth
20. More Control
21. Freefall
22. Crash Landing

Season 2: The Crab with the Golden Claws (17 episodes)

1. Suspicions
2. Mystery at Sea
3. Mutiny on the Karaboudjan
4. Escape
5. Adrift at Sea
6. Attack from the Air
7. Crack-Up
8. Thirst
9. Raiders in the Desert
10. Prisoners
11. Desert Dilemma
12. Duel in the Desert
13. Mystery in Morocco
14. Blind Alley
15. Mystery Underground
16. Return of the Karaboudjan
17. Homeward Bound

Season 3: The Secret of the Unicorn (10 episodes)

1. Model Mystery
2. Pirate Attack
3. Battle of Red Rackham
4. Kidnap
5. Trapped
6. Ambushed
7. Battle of Hudson Manor
8. The Crash
9. Captured
10. Duel on the Highway

Season 4: Red Rackham's Treasure (17 episodes)

1. Red Rackham's Treasure
2. Killer Shark
3. Jail Break
4. Stowaway
5. Shipwreck
6. Jungle Jitters
7. Head Hunters
8. Gunfire
9. Operation Rescue
10. Shark Bait
11. Duel in the Deep
12. Demon of the Deep
13. The Eagle's Cross
14. Savage Surprise
15. Vanishing Island
16. Red Rackham's Riddle
17. Treasure Chest

Season 5: Star of Mystery (11 episodes)

1. Star of Mystery
2. Star in the Night
3. Doomsday
4. Bombs Away
5. Man Overboard
6. Torpedoed
7. Time Bomb
8. Crash Landing
9. Web of the Spider
10. Marauding Monster
11. Operation Rescue

Season 6: Black Island (12 episodes)

1. Black Island
2. Miscarriage of Justice
3. Escape
4. Intrigue
5. Mad Men
6. Trapped
7. Murderous Müller
8. Inferno
9. The Ghost of Black Island
10. Fright in the Night
11. The Beast of Black Island
12. The Battle of Black Island

Season 7: The Calculus Case (13 episodes)

1. Frightening Lightning
2. Z Rays
3. Kidnapped
4. Midnight Fright
5. Steel Shark
6. Tracked
7. Operation Opera
8. Bordurian Bullets
9. Dead End
10. Doomed
11. The Big Blast
12. Surprise in the Skies
13. Tank Attack

See also

• List of French animated television series
• List of French television series

References

External links

• Guide to screen adaptions of "Tintin" at Tintinologist.org
• Hergé's Adventures of Tintin at
  IMDb