I had just posted an entry about Herge’s The Adventures of Tintin a month ago when the copy of Flight 714 (#120 for 2009) I mooched arrived and I couldn’t resist reading it straightaway. I also recently acquired The Pocket Essential Tintin (#121 for 2009) at a Goodwill sale in Tiendesitas, and decided to read it right after Flight 714.
In The Adventures of Tintin: Flight 714, Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus are en route to Australia to attend an international astronautical congress. At a stopover in Jakarta they run into their friend Skut (from Red Sea Sharks) who is now a pilot for the multimillionaire Laszlo Carreidas. Carreidas invites the party on his private plane, and the next thing they know, they’re adrift at sea in a rowboat with no recollection of what happened.
Of course, the book details all that happened in between: the plane is hijacked by people planted by the evil Rastapopoulous; the group is taken captive in a tropical island; Snowy helps the group escape and a chase ensues; Tintin hears voices that leads them into an underground cave; a volcano explodes and aliens come to their rescue!
Flight 714 isn’t among my Tintin favorites because of the convenient alien ruse that I think was just too easy (coughlikeKingdomoftheCrystalSkullcough) in combination with the erupting volcano and the memory erasure, but it does have its moments, like Captain Haddock at the airport, Prof. Calculus’ usual misheard antics, Carreidas cheating at battleships with Captain Haddock; Carreidas and his hat; and Captain Haddock with a roll of tape (lol, what is it with him and sticky tape?).
Oh and the copy I got was the old Methuen edition – I just have to say the colors of the new Little Brown ones are so much brighter and clearer.
Here is the cartoon episode:
Thanks to teamcanada07 for the videos. You can check out his channel for more Tintin episodes.
The second book in this review is The Pocket Essential Tintin by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, a slim volume that I got for a bargain price of P20 (around $.040)!
The book lets us know more about Herge and the origins of Tintin (in a kiddie supplement of a Belgian Catholic newspaper in the ’20s), key characters in the books.a review of the Tintin titles, and adaptations of Tintin comics in film and television.
The book was okay, although it didn’t contain information that I wouldn’t have found elsewhere. I think I would even have gotten more information just surfing on the Internet.
I also didn’t like the fact that they actually reviewed each Tintin comic. I felt that they should have been more objective about it and should have stopped short of rating the comics, because the book is supposed to be a guide and the authors could pass on their biases on the comics to the readers.
The book is also a bit too dry, considering it talks about a very fun adventure comic series. It’s okay for a backgrounder, but fans of the series will definitely want more.
***
My copies: Flight 714, Methuen edition, paperback; Pocket Essential Tintin, mass market paperback
My rating: Flight 714, 3/5 stars; Pocket Essential Tintin, 2/5 stars
Hello, Blooey! When I was young, I used to love Tintin. Now, when I scan through them at bookstores, I noticed how wonderfully dated they are. They do make interesting pieces in one’s bookshelf though.
The old-fashioned quaintness adds to Tintin’s charm! :)
If you’ve ever wondered why the end of Flight 714 is so abrupt, it is because Herge miscounted the number pages he needed.
Tintin Albums are 62 pages long but when Herge planned out Flight 714 To Sydney he did it for 64 pages. Only near the end was the mistake noticed and he had to lose two pages from the end of the story.
The book was written about the time Erich von Däniken’s Ancient astronauts theory was very popular. The inclusion of the aliens in Flight 714 is just one of a number of examples of Herge incorporating popular culture in his books.
Ohhhh. That’s interesting to learn!
Wow Chris, you’re such an expert on Tintin. You should write your own Tintin fan book!
I just love Tintin Adventures. I hope maganda ang kalalabasan ng movie version.
Hey don’t forget the whole “alien thing” was pretty new way back in 1969. Herge might have even been the first to do an alien abduction theme. Cliché is not Cliché until it is over used a’la Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
@Ray-ann – yup, I hope so too! I really can’t wait to see it!
@Allan – you’re right :) Haha, and I still enjoyed this book in spite of that!
This is actually one of my favorites. I like Carriedas’ character, and pretty much anything with Rastapopoulous lol
I love the two-part stories: Secret of the Unicorn & Red Rackham’s Treasure, Destination Moon & Explorers on the Moon. Oh, and King Ottokar’s Sceptre too!
I liked King Ottokar’s Sceptre too. I also liked The Calculus Affair :)