| Author | Message | ||
     Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
I saw a poster yesterday for a film with what (for me) should be an almost perfect pedigree. Produced by Spielberg and Peter Jackson, directed by Spielberg, written by Steve Moffatt, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead etc) and Joe Cornish, Starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg But I still have no interest whatsoever in seeing it... Purely from the title - The Adventures of Tintin. Sometimes the pedigree of writers, directors and actors just isn't enough... This must be the film that Moffatt was writing when the BBC offered him the Dr Who post full time and he quit Hollywood where he'd just been given his big break writing for Speilberg. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
It sounded perfect ... until you mentioned TinTin. I never enjoyed the cartoons when I was younger, so the thought of a film version leaves me cold too. But you never know, it might be OK? | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 92.232.184.206 |
Yes, it was the film Steven Moffat was writing. Don't judge Tintin on the cartoons, Caroline! The books are superb and often hilarious. But the hilarity often comes from their wordiness, and previous adaptations (at least the ones I've seen) have cut the dialogue down to the bone, leaving them quite dry and dull. I regularly used the Canadian Tintin cartoon to get my children to sleep... Given the scriptwriters on this adaptation, I don't think dull dialogue will be a problem. I'm very excited about this. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
I hadn't thought about the books, Stephen. I guess I thought Tintin was more a "boy" thing when I was a kid (which is strange that that should put me off as I was always into "boy" things anyway) - I didn't like the cartoons so I didn't think to even try the books. I might actually try this film! | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
To echo Stephen's words above: the books are mostly a delight. I'll definitely give this a go, although I'm not too keen on the animation style. For a short while a few years back I thought Andy Serkis was stalking me. First we saw him at the seafront in Brighton, and then - a couple of months later - on a coach and plane journey back from Egypt. It was a particularly choppy and fraught flight, and all I could think was that the fucking headlines in the morning would all be: "Gollum dies in plane crash" and not a jot about the rest of us. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.4.19.77 |
The Tintin books are wonderful and I am proud to say I own, and regularly reread, the entire collection. Anyone who thinks Alan Moore invented the concept of the graphic novel needs to read and appreciate the genius (yes, genius) of Hergé. And that is why I am with Weber and have no interest whatsoever in watching this latest attempt to turn a flawless 2D comicbook legend into some kind of 3D watered down imitation for the popcorn market of today! The cartoons were crap too but at least looked like the books. This project leaves me entirely cold. | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Much of a knee-jerk reaction there, Stevie? Sure, it'll undoubtedly be watered down, but there's no harm in waiting to see how it turns out before you dismiss is completely. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.4.19.77 |
I've come to the conclusion that graphic novels (which is what the Tintin books are) should not be adapted for the screen as they already exist as a visual artform designed to work as a read (in speech bubbles) and simultaneously studied 2D display. The effect of the works just can't translate to a purely visual format, imho, without losing at least half the original effect and all of the subtlety. Adapting purely prose works is a different matter entirely... | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.145.130.220 |
Go on Stevie, top ten Tintin books... You know you want to | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.46.90 |
Like Stevie, I read and reread the entire collection (except for the more recently published early titles and Alph-art) as a young boy and loved them. I still go back to them every few years. Tintin is brilliant. I'm looking forward to the films but I doubt they'll match the joy I got (and still get) from the books. Stevie, I too would be interested in seeing a top 10 Tintin list from you! Here's mine, off the top of my head, in no particular order: Tintin in Tibet The Crab with the Golden Claws The Secret of the Unicorn Red Rackham's Treasure The Seven Crystal Balls Prisoners of the Sun The Calculus Affair Flight 714 The Blue Lotus The Shooting Star The last one on the list I had to include for its sheer weirdness. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 82.27.23.42 |
Haven't read Tintin in years. Enjoyed the books as a kid but I seem to recall preferring Asterix. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Stu, loved the Asterix (the little star) books too for their wacky humour and artwork but the finely etched attention to detail in the artwork of Tintin and the strength of the plots, that never talked down to children and involved the death of central characters (as well as a plethora of Fortean material), was much superior. They have not dated one iota since original publication and repay innumerable re-reads for their subtle character development and continuity alone. They represent one of the highest peaks of the comicbook artform, imho, and will last forever - all down to Hergé's unbending vision and natural storytelling genius. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Huw, I was always drawn to the weirder Tintin books and they may even be partly responsible for my abiding interest in all things Fortean. Here's my Top 10: 1. 'Tintin In Tibet' (1960) - the abominable snowman sequences are sublimely weird and oddly touching. 2. 'The Shooting Star' (1942) - giant mutations on a remote island, what's not to love? 3. 'Explorers On The Moon' (1954) - attention to scientific detail that would have made Heinlein proud (and probably did) and a thrilling two-part adventure to boot. 4. 'Destination Moon' (1953) - as above 5. 'The Broken Ear' (1937) - always loved the jungle adventure ones and this was one of the most weird with its tale of a cursed South American idol. 6. 'The Black Island' (1938) - Tintin in a kilt investigating a remote Scottish island said to be haunted by a hideous beast. 7. 'Flight 714' (1968) - another weird jungle adventure and the most paranormally themed of all the books with more than a touch of Lovecraft about it. 8. 'The Crab With The Golden Claws' (1941) - one of the funniest of all the books that introduces the immortal Captain Haddock in all his alcoholic splendour, brilliant desert adventure as well. 9. 'The Secret Of The Unicorn' (1943) - utterly beguiling two part quest for buried treasure with Haddock in best ever form. 10. 'Red Rackham's Treasure' (1944) - as above. But every one of the 24 books is a work of sheer brilliance and choosing those ten is one of the most difficult things I've had to do in quite a while. How can these films even hope to compete... sigh. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Never liked Tintin when I was a boy - always thought he seemed too effette, with his little doggy. With that in mind, the film doesn't appeal at all. Asterix, though, I loved. Obelix was my favourite character. I haven't read these since I was about 12. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.116.56.66 |
Flight 714 was primarily influenced by the theories of Erich von Däniken, whose Chariots of the Gods was a bestseller in '68-'69, when the Tintin adventure was first publsihed. I like the eye for detail in this story, e.g. the Japanese wartime debris littering the coastline of the island. Odd that no-one seems to like The Jewels of Bianca Castafiore (or whatever it's called in English). Cokes in Stock is another favourite of mine. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.77.171 |
Snowy has a cameo in Bryan Talbot's Grandville where the Tintin adventures are an opium-induced dream. http://www.google.com/imgres?q=bryan+talbot+snowy+tintin&hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tb nid=Q7gpxMuea5fLdM:&imgrefurl=http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/bryan-talbo ts-steampunk-menagerie-welcome-to-grandville/&docid=Y6CmAQNuAJPHXM&w=502&h=343&e i=1-w3Tvm7Hcuq8AO_hPX7Ag&zoom=1&biw=1280&bih=909 | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 217.20.16.180 |
Another interesting Tintin-inspired comic on the go at the moment is Charles Burns' X'ED OUT, which seems to be recasting a lot of Herge's images into some kind of Lynchian nightmare. | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 92.232.184.206 |
Stu, I was lucky enough to share a table with Bryan Talbot at the FantasyCon banquet last year, and he said that's the bit of Grandville that *everyone* talks to him about. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 81.100.119.165 |
>>Never liked Tintin when I was a boy - always thought he seemed too effette, with his little doggy. Whereas Dogmatix made Obelix and Asterix look really butch. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
It wasn't just the doggy that made him fey; it was the whole brown suit blonde quiff look he had going on - like a gay Hitler Youth. I much preferred Obelix's skintight pinstripe pantsuit. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.45.222 |
I never really got into Asterix as a kid - it had plenty of slapstick, but none of the sophisticated humour, characterisation, cultural references and imaginative plotting that was so evident in the Tintin books. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.45.222 |
Stevie, I liked your list, by the way. I almost put 'The Broken Ear' on mine - great story, and you're right, there's something special about the jungle ones (evoking the atmosphere of different locales was another thing Herge did extremely well). | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
sophisticated humour, characterisation, cultural references I'm sorry, Huw, but when I was 8 years old these meant nothing to me - all I wanted was a belly laugh and some nice drawings. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
I wonder if now's the time to own up to the fact that I used to like Scooby Doo ...?  | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
There's no shame in that, Caroline... Unless you have a secret fondness for the Scrappy-Doo years.  I had and enjoyed Asterix and Tintin books as a kid, and still get a lot out of both now. They're really very different beasts. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
To be honest, I was always more of a Peanuts kid, myself. Charlie Brown was my kind of guy. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.44.192 |
"I'm sorry, Huw, but when I was 8 years old these meant nothing to me - all I wanted was a belly laugh and some nice drawings." Yeah, but you're a philistine, Zed...  Have you read the books? I think you would like them if you gave them a chance. There's a lot of odd stuff going on in some of the books that will appeal to genre fans and one of them (The Seven Crystal Balls) actually gave me nightmares as a child. Hope you're feeling better, by the way. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Huw, I've never even been to Palestine. I'm not really a comic book guy, Huw - I really like a handful of comic books (Hellboy, Watchmen, 30 Days of Night, The Punisher, courtesy of Stu Young), but on the whole it's a medium that I'm not really drawn to as much as some of you guys. To be honest, I'd rather read pure prose. I'm feeling better than I did a week ago, thanks...still not great, though. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.116.57.22 |
one of them (The Seven Crystal Balls) actually gave me nightmares as a child No kidding, Huw? I bet it was the passage where Tintin dreams about the accursed mummy of Raspar Capac entering his bedroom . . . Hergé did an awful lot of research for his books. He and colleague Bob De Moor (who did most of the background drawing) would visit ships, war museums etc. The magnificent airplane for Flight 714 was designed by Roger Leloup, who has his own sf comic, "Yoko Tsuno". But reaaly the words 'comic' or 'cartoon' don't do these works fully justice. I suspect the Anglosaxon world is missing out on a lot of great European work. Some of it filtered through via Heavy Metal, but I don't think that exists anymore. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 82.14.61.162 |
Tintin and Asterix crossovers. From the original books. http://crossover.bureau42.com/zasterixtintin.html | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.44.192 |
"No kidding, Huw? I bet it was the passage where Tintin dreams about the accursed mummy of Raspar Capac entering his bedroom . . . " That was exactly what gave me nightmares, Hubert! Gary, I'm not a big comics fan, either. Like you, I like some a great deal (Hellboy, etc.), and I like a lot of Alan Moore and some of Neil Gaiman's stuff, but I'm not an avid follower of the form. I prefer novels and short stories. My parents introduced me to Tintin at a youngish age (must have been around 10 or 11) and I've been captivated by the richness of the stories ever since. As Hubert said, the words 'comic' or 'cartoon' just aren't appropriate when discussing Herge's work. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I couldn't agree more! I've dug out and been re-enjoying some of the books, yet again, this last few nights and they are a pure joy. The sheer beauty and intricacy of the artwork, Hergé's natural storytelling gifts and almost obsessive observance of continuity, the richness of the characters, the educational value of the cultural references (that excited me to want to visit and understand all these places and peoples as a youth) and that all important high weirdness factor are incomparable in the comicbook form, imho. If I were to relist my Top 10 again it would already have completely changed. I'm gonna give 'The Seven Crystal Balls' & 'Prisoners Of The Sun' a re-read over the weekend, Huw. | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.176.232.245 |
I love the comic books (while I believe that a few other classic Belgian comics are better still), and I am mildly curious about the movie. However, I also think that the almost realism of Tintin's face is somewhat creepy. It turns out that my sentiment is not unique. Scientists call this the "uncanny valley", the feel of unease when seeing an almost real android. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 2.24.18.30 |
"However, I also think that the almost realism of Tintin's face is somewhat creepy." I know exactly what you mean. I loved Prisoners of the Sun and the Seven Crystal Balls as a kid (I was about 11 when I read them), but the physicality of Tintin's expressions (blushing, nauseated, sweating, furious) made me uncomfortable at that awkward pre-puberty age. I should have gone back to the books a few years later, but never got round to it. The Asterix books played a crucial part in my early development as a punster. They went downhill after a while, but the early ones were richly inventive and superbly translated. Calling the druid 'Getafix' was a bit too pointed for children's TV, so he became 'Panoramix' in the adaptation – a great loss. My favourite names were the fishmonger (Unhygienix) and his wife (Bacteria). I once read an Asterix book in German – it had a character called Machtnix.  | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.202.126 |
I need to read some Asterix again (after I've reread Tintin, perhaps). Right now I'm off to see Suede live in Taipei...  |