Tintin Forums

Yes, this is the same film, although curiously two dubbed versions exist of this - the one that you have, which was aired on television used British actors (the same as in the film The Temple of the Sun), and another using American voice artists. The American version was released on video by Virgin Video in 1989.

I think it's an interesting film, and the animation quality is a considerable step up from the earlier Belvision attempts such as The Secret of the Unicorn. It helps to demonstrate the distance that Belvision came in their work, and the skills that they acquired.

Incidently, "Cass-ta-fure" is the French way of pronouncing the Milanese Nightingale's name ! :o)

I was particularly interested by the fact our two heroes use language which, although colourful, is never used by Herge, and must therefore be counted as inferior.

For instance, Tintin, who as we know favours "Gosh!", "Crumbs!" and, most infamously, "Great snakes!", used "By Jove" (in beautifully modulated RP) rather a lot.

Archie, on the other hand, used phrases which don't altogether smack of authenticity- the only genuine one they kept in was "blistering barnacles" (because it's the best known?) The only one I liked was "suffering catfish", which I'm certain he never used.

And why were the Thom(p)sons brothers? And why is Snowy wearing a collar?

I was particularly interested by the fact our two heroes use language which, although colourful, is never used by Herge, and must therefore be counted as inferior

I think it would be more accurate to say that the cartoon has phrases not used by Michael Turner and Leslie Londale-Cooper, the English translators. The original French phrases are quite different to the English ones.

I haven't seen either the the British or American dubs of The Calculus Affair but I think the phrase “suffering catfish” might have been used in one of the Golden Press editions (like “thunderation!” which was in Lake of Sharks, I think). Perhaps the translators to the cartoons used both the American and English books as reference to cater for both markets? Either way those cartoons are always going to be inferior when compared to the books. They were cheaply and quickly made, basically a sideline to the Raymond Leblanc empire!

.Incidently, "Cass-ta-fure" is the French way of pronouncing the Milanese Nightingale's name ! :o)


Castafiore is an odd name because "casta" in this sense is a type of nut-tree--the full Italian word for it is "castagno,"but old Italian names tend not to have the whole word intact. "Fiore" is flower, so it's literally "chestnut flower"--chestnut trees have gorgeous blossoms. This would be more sensible for a regular Italian name, as they have neat meanings when you translate them, and many come from nature.
On the other hand...."casta" means social group, but generally refers to the upper-crust. It could be "the delicate flower of the upper class."

As for "Topolino," it's literally "little mouse." Topo means mouse, and "-lino" is added to denote that something is little, but in a good, non-insulting way. It's also the Italian name used for Mickey Mouse.
Just thought I'd add these.

"Flower of the gentry"... I'd always seen La Castafiore as being nouveau riche, since she makes so many social gaffes, but since Herge always took great care with names, this must have been deliberate...

... unless he was being ironic, of course. Think of Wolfe (not sure if that's the right spelling)- he really is (as Archie would put it) "a wolf in sheep's clothing". But he makes up for it in the end.

Flower of the gentry"... I'd always seen La Castafiore as being nouveau riche, since she makes so many social gaffes, but since Herge always took great care with names, this must have been deliberate...
It wouldn't surprise me at all if he meant to be sarcastic. I just didn't know if he spoke real, true Standard Italian or not.
As for the social stuff, don't ask me about that ^_^ I always thought it was too stuffy!!!!

Courtney

Karaboudjan
Dear Karaboudjan

I am writing about Swiss hotels on film -- not so recondite as it might at first seem -- and would be very interested to know if the version of The Calculus Affair you saw and have represents faithfully the scene in the Cornavin hotel (e.g. is the room number represented, and is it the same): I would be interested to know in what ways the hotel is represented, and -- lastly -- would like to be able to reference the film exactly (date, director...).

Any help in this would be deeply appreciated, and acknowledged.

thanks, roroldam

One thing I don't quite see is how Snowy gets to be with the Thom(p)sons in the car when they find Tintin before they go to the opera house.
Last time we see Snowy before this, he is chained next to Captain Haddock and we never see him escaping.
It appears that he did but he must have been lucky since he somehow found the Thompsons.


Thank you so much for pointing out this bit about two different dubbings in existence for "The Calculus Affair"! Last week I bought the 3-DVD box set including "The Temple of the Sun", "Lake of Sharks" and "The Calculus Affair" and I did notice that the voices in The Calculus Affair sound the same as those in "Temple of the Sun".
The information I could find on voices for Belvision Tintin cartoons in English varies among websites but the general points are that

-either Larry Harmon or Dallas McKennon voiced Tintin (or maybe both?)
-Paul Frees voiced the Captain and every other character (although I don't suppose this extends to Castafiore who sounds female)
-according to some websites that claim that Dallas McKennon voiced Tintin, he is also credited as the voice of Calculus and Larry Harmon is credited as the announcer

But either way I was puzzled because as far as I know neither Larry Harmon nor Dallas McKennon are British whereas the voice I can listen to as Tintin in the "Calculus Affair" sounds quite British. I haven't seen the other Belvision cartoons in English (except the ones in the box set) so I don't know what the voices were like but perhaps Larry Harmon, Dallas McKennon and Paul Frees aren't the ones in the British dub of the "Calculus Affair". Any extra information on voices in the English-dubbed versions of this movie and the Belvision cartoons would be greatly appreciated. I do recall Peter Hawkins being mentioned but I have no idea which character(s) he voiced.

It is strange that at some point in this episode, Prof Calculus says: "My homeland is Syldavia" and the Bordurian wicked naval officer stereotype replies: "From now on you live in Borduria".
It had never occurred to me that Professor Calculus may be from Syldavia even in the animated version as he still lives with Tintin and Haddock at Marlinspike but during the first part of the movie, Calculus explains to Tintin, Haddock and the Thompsons that only two men (including him) can operate his machine and the other fellow is a friend who "lives in Syldavia" and whom he has "never met".
A couple of minutes later we see Tintin with Haddock and Calculus traveling in an aeroplane to Syldavia to meet Prof Bretzil (called Topolino in the album, as it has already been pointed out, and this change is probably because he lives in Syldavia in the movie so they wanted to give him an Eastern-European name).
This means that Marlinspike is not really in Syldavia and so Tintin and company do not live in Syldavia in the cartoon version.
So I still don't quite understand what Professor Calculus meant.


Precisely and I believe that this is also the title of the Italian Disney "Mickey Mouse" magazine.


Regarding the Thompsons, it is debatable whether they are brothers or not in the books. I do believe they are referred to as twins a couple of times in the books and based on their resemblance and the fact that they live together and go everywhere together, I have always thought they were brothers, despite their different surnames which is the reason why others think they are not. If they are not brothers, my personal theory is they might be cousins and so they are still related.
I guess Belvision thought that they could ignore the surnames and concentrate on the fact that these two are nearly identical which is good enough to make them twins as it complicates things much less.
And as for Snowy wearing a collar, maybe they thought that he looks cute like that and after all he is a dog and should be wearing a collar even if Tintin in the books usually spares him the trouble.

It may also have been a labour-saving device for the animators. Most TV cartoon characters wear shirts (or ties at the very least) to save the artists having to animate the whole body when a character is talking; this way only the head moves.

Very good point !
I watched it again last night and the Calculus's exact words regarding Prof Betrzil are that he is a "Syldavian scientists" and not "he lives in Syldavia" and when Tintin asks him where he is at that moment, Calculus answers that he lives in the mountains hundreds of miles away, which is more ambiguous.
One could either say that they fly to Syldavia to meet him or that they are already in Syldavia but in a diferent part of the country; yet "hundreds of miles" could imply a much greater distance.
Plus, when Tintin jumps out of the ambulance in Borduria and the two policemen stop him and ask him for his papers he gives them some club membership card which clearly states that Marlinspike is in Brussels, in the province of Brabant (though I must confirm the latter name as I can't remember it very well right now)

It should be noted that in the original script which is one of the files that the disc includes as an extra, Calculus actually says about Bretzel that he is a "Swiss scientist" (and not Syldavian) and that he lives "a few hundred miles away" so it could be assumed that they travelled from Brussels to Switzerland to see him (Switzarland is not too far from Brussels) which is closer to the plot in the book I think.