[Spinning off from this thread]jock123:
Karaboudjan kommented:
The whole notion of aliens in the firmly reality-based Tintinverse is absurd I've seen this complaint levelled at 714 before, possibly even by myself; however, on reflection, the whole canon is littered with the supernatural and fantastical: Calculus's pendulum can apparently dowse, which is bunk; the Inca can control the explorers using dummies with pins in, and release them by burning the dolls; the clairvoyant lady at the music-hall is actually psychic; and, in Tibet, the old monk really levitates; and is the yeti any more rooted in the rational than alien life?
Add to this the non-supernatural, but still unrealistic physical impossibilities (e.g. Haddock doesn't become a bloody pulp when rolling down a mountain, but instead is transformed into a giant snow-ball; Tintin can do a drop from a trestle bridge, which would have made a Hollywood stunt-man faint, in the worst possible posture, and while carrying a fox-terrier, and survive unscratched etc.), and the Tintiniverse is pretty improbable.
These are just a few examples off the top of my head - there are undoubtedly more...
Addition: Tintin produces an old man disguise out of nowhere; teaches himself to speak elephant; kills a rhino with a brace and bit and eplosives...
I'd like to say that I wholeheartedly agree and would like to bring up a topic about this. Why are people sooo offended by the inroduction of Aliens (who we don't even see) in
Flight 714? How is this more far-fetched than
everything that happens in
Seven Crystal Balls (the psychic, the curse, the shared nigthmares, the thunderbolt, the voodoo....)?
While we can say that most of those things are damn near impossible, can anyone justifiably say that the presence of Aliens and UFOs is impossible?
Personally, I think
Flight 714 is a masterpiece of science-fiction writing that is unfairly bashed (that means you, Michael Farr!) a lot of the time.