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Ellipse-Nelvana: Tintin doesn't recognize Allan in "Crab"?

Tintinopolous
Member
#1 · Posted: 4 Feb 2007 10:10
In the Nelvana episode, Tintin doesn't recognize Allan in The Crab with the Golden Claws.
But he does recognized him in Cigars of the Pharaoh.
How could he know who Allan was then but not in Crab? It just doesn't make sense.

I know that The Crab with the Golden Claws was the first episode Ellipse-Nelvana made. Were they planning to do the original version of Cigars of the Pharaoh, when Allan weren't in it?

Is it like this in the newer editions of the books?
Balthazar
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 4 Feb 2007 10:52
I believe that Hergé put Allan into the Cigars of the Pharaoh only when he was redrawing and colouring that adventure in the mid-fifties - Allan doesn't feature in the original black and white Cigars, and so his appearance in The Crab with the Golden Claws is the first time he appears in the adventures as they were originally written and drawn.

However, even in the colour version of the Cigars book, giving Allan this chronologically earlier appearance doesn't cause the plot inconsistency you refer to in the animated version, because in the book version of Cigars Tintin never meets Allan anyway - he's unconscious in the coffin for the whole time Allan is dealing with him.

So it still makes sense in the book version of Crab that when Tintin comes aboard the Karaboudjan to ask questions, he doesn't know or recognize Allan.

I don't know the animated versions well, but I'm assuming from what you're saying that they've tweaked the plot of Cigars to give Tintin a conscious encounter with Allan in that adventure, which I agree would cause a continuity boo-boo if they still have him not knowing Allan when he meets him in Crab.
An example of why they shouldn't have messed with Hergé's plots when making the animated versions, I guess.
Tintinopolous
Member
#3 · Posted: 4 Feb 2007 15:58
Yes. Tintin has pulled off the mask of the drug traffic members except one.

In the English dubbing, before he pulls off the mask he says "And last, but I bet not least" and he pulls off the mask and Allan is revealed.

But in the Swedish before pulling off the mask he says something like "It's gotta be Allan".
And then in The Crab with the Golden Claws he says to Snowy that Allan seemed to have some funny businesses around.

But it is clear now. It's only Ellipse-Nelvana's mistake.

But I think Ellipse-Nelvana should have thought of it before making The Crab with the Golden Claws. Maybe this mistake wouldn't have been made if they would've made Cigars of the Pharaoh before The Crab with the Golden Claws.

And yes, in the animated version Tintin is unconscious except when he pulled off the mask of each member as mentioned above. But what makes it even more stranger in the Swedish dubbing it sounds as if he has met or seen Allan before though he was unconscious during the whole time on Sereno.

Edit: Uhm when Tintin pulls off the mask of Allan, Allan is unconscious, the most scary thing is how Tintin could know who he is.
Vicky
Member
#4 · Posted: 28 Sep 2008 15:20
When it comes to how Tintin knew that it was Alan before removing his mask, I think there is only one answer: from his voice.

Alan was the one who was talking during the meeting and even I recognized his voice while he was talking on the phone. But because Alan is not in the meeting in the album, at first I thought it was the same voice-actor doing another character.

In any case, this is how Tintin must have known it was him.

Of course this is on condition that Tintin had met Allan before and so what puzzles me as well is how Tintin knows Alan anyway since the story of the Cigars of the Pharaoh album takes place before the story of The Crab with the Golden Claws album which is obvious as Tintin becomes acquainted with the Thompsons in Cigars of the Pharaoh whereas in Crab they are already friends.

I suspect however that maybe in the Nelvana cartoon timeline, the story of Cigars of the Pharaoh is supposed to be taking place after The Crab with the Golden Claws, or it may have something to do with the order in which the episodes of the series were shown.

Also, in the episodes of Cigars of the Pharaoh, Tintin appears to know the Thompsons, unlike the album.

This is not the only case of confusion when it comes to who-knows-who in the animated series.

For example in The Red Sea Sharks Tintin sees Dawson and says that he had met him in China, but in the Blue Lotus episodes he never actually met him (unlike the album).

Moderator Note: Ellipse-Nelvana had, as a matter of television necessity, to remove as much time-line related continuity as possible; this was to fit the requirements of broadcasters, who need to be able to run episodes in various ways.
Some stations run series on a virtual loop: they pick a regular slot, and play the episodes or sequences of episodes over and over again. This means that viewers are joining, and leaving, the programme at different points. They also want to be able to plug random gaps in the schedules with something quickly, and the minimum of fuss, by pulling something off the shelf.

First meetings and re-meetings were thus removed or smoothed over wherever and whenever possible. Taking first-meetings out of the equation makes the programme more useful and valuable to a broadcaster, as they can for example stick Red Sea Sharks on, and not have to worry about how or when Tintin met Dawson.

It may introduce new problems for some viewers, but by and large, they helped keep the show on TV.

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