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Sorry, if this already exists, but please tell me if it already does.
But anyway, on to the topic.
The Shooting Star is one of my favorites. It was a great Tintin adventure, I admit that it was a little bit creepy in the beginning but the competition over the meteorite makes up for it. At some points I find it hard to figure out if it's a dream or real. So, that's it. Please, give this a answer. This is DarkPhoenix47, signing out.

I should say it is very much part of Tintin's reality, it's just that, like "Flight 714", it contains elements of science-fiction as well as reality.

Real, I guess.... Yeah its real, not exactly real as we are, but real in his life :D

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I can understand your confusion. For me, what gives the book a surreal, dreamlike quality is the 'predicition' of a giant spider.

It starts with the giant spider seen through the observatory telescope and continues in Tintin's dream of Philipullus 'the prophet' where he shows him 'the judgement'. Of course, the judgement of Philipullus is the only actual dream in the book, I think we have to assume the rest is real!

And the prediction comes horribly true when a real giant spider terrorises Tintin on the meteorite!

I never view The Shooting Star's story this way, Harrock. Come to think about it, it now gives an interesting point of view in reading Shooting Star :D.

Well, near-apocalypse scene, starting from Tintin entering his apartment, was just a dream. The previous scene, like mice came out from sewers, melting asphalt and so on, is real, no matter how odd it might be (which gives this album a surreal touch!). After Tintin's dream with Philipullus, the scenes are real. Or at least that what we can assume.. :D

The Shooting Star cannot be Tintin's dream because of this statement on Wikipedia:
"Philippulus the Prophet drops Tintin's suitcase on the head of Professor Paul Cantonneau, a member of the expedition. Cantonneau was to reappear as one of the victims of The Seven Crystal Balls, which explains how he and Tintin know each other in that adventure."
So, how could Tintin and Cantonneau know each other later, if this adventure were only a dream...?

Moderator Note: It could be that Tintin knew Cantonneau already, and that's why he (or at least his subconscious mind) included him in a dream...?

The Tintinologist Team

The scene where Tintin first lands on the meteorite is a great example of Hergé's brilliance. First, he recalls Philipus and his 'dong! dong!' - only to hear, alarmingly, the ship's dong. Then he settles in, saying he wants to forget the giant spider, and… a spider!

These are disorienting moments that produce a fair bit of subtle tension and contribute to the sense of foreboding. Very well done.

(An amusing version of the same basic trick occurs in Tintin in Tibet, with the recurring 'CHANGS!' in the first few pages).

I have read a theory, that the giant spider on the meteorite was a dream. But I don't think so. After all, see how a fungus grows out of the piece of the meteorite, that Tintin has brought back to "Aurora". So at the least the fungus part was real.