Tintin Forums

I like the Belvision series alot too cause they explored the characters and the adventures they had and took the characters to another place

That's an interesting remark. I saw only one Belvision ("The Black Island") and I thought that it was very different (in a very bad way) from the original book. It had the feel of some kind of mindless chase adventure instead of dealing with the more intricate features of crime-busting (no references to an unregistered plane or to the signal beacons). I thought that the depth of "The Black Island" was not there. Nowadays, I do not plan to watch another Belvision, but hopefully I'll see an Ellipse-Nelvana, which I heard is much more faithful...

I saw a cartoon version of Island which I assume was Belvision since it certainly was not E-N. I remember there clearly being signal beacons in it.

The one thing I'm annoyed that they took out was the Captain's alcoholism. He doesn't make much sense without it, frankly. It made Tintin and the Picaros very different, because you don't find out about his new aversion to alcohol until halfway through, and it's made all too painfully obvious that it was Calculus.

The one thing I'm annoyed that they took out was the Captain's alcoholism. He doesn't make much sense without it, frankly. It made Tintin and the Picaros very different, because you don't find out about his new aversion to alcohol until halfway through, and it's made all too painfully obvious that it was Calculus.

They didn't completetly remove the captain's alcoholsm, just reduced it alot. For instans Haddock is obviously an alcoholic in The Crab with the golden claws. Also he is drinking whisky in the Calculus Case and Tintin in Tibet. He is also drinking in explorers on the moon. But still, I agree with you, it would have been nicer and closer to his character to have him drink as aoften and as much as in the books.

I think it's time for a new Tintin cartoon. The Nelvana series is okay, but it's not GREAT. The animation feels choppy at times. What needs is a high quality series with a substantial budget. And make the episodes as many parts as they need to be. Television has changed a lot since the nineties. Also gear the series towards adults rather than children so they can remain unedited.

I'd just really like to see a high quality Tintin cartoon. And voice work needs work too.

I like the Nelvana adaptation of Tintin in America. It lays far more emphasis on the gangster theme which makes the plotting tighter and more intense. Capone carries through right to the end instead of being disposed of in a few pages, which makes him a far better villain. And I am very glad they deleted the near-lynching and Black Feet scenes; I find those scenes silly and stereotyped.

The problem is, to my eyes, less why they cut things out (I understand they have to fit long stories in a limited time) than why they wasted time adding stupid bits like interminable snowy jokes or ridiculous action - such as the recurrent happy tintin (frown/smile) punching people with a "excuse me but..." (a very untintin thing if you ask me). The stories were dumbed down by such additions more than any reduction.

For some reason, cartoons always seem to be aimed at very little kids or idiots, in european culture. For instance, Jones/Avery cartoons are dubbed with extremely silly voices, and all the captions and written words are read aloud (even when the word is the same in french), implying that the viewer isn't supposed to be able to read. I feel that people who make/dub/display/adapt animation in Europe fail to understand who it is aimed at. Clearly, animated versions of comics are aimed at an age much below the reader's. Unfortunately, good kid shows are made by not treating kids as kids : Tintin, the Smurf, Spirou, etc, were read by kids, but were written in a "please oneself" mindset, by young adults. I suspect those cartoons were made in a "please kids" (with the assumption that kids are idiots) mindset. The same devastatingly commercial mistake that produced jar jar binks.

That's too bad. A very useless way to ruin an otherwise excellent animation adaptation. I'm irate.

Amilah makes a good point. Another one that stuck with me for years: the part in, I think the Calculus Affair, where Tintin yells at the plane, "DON'T WORRY PROFESSOR! WE'LL SAVE YOU!" I sincerely doubt he'd have done that in the comic. It's a great show, but loses from things like that and the terrible soundtrack. I'd have loved something by a chamber orchestra or something, it'd have added great depth to it.

I hope the films in production will remedy these issues.

ZGDK thinks the E-N's Tintin series isn't great. For me, it's great great enough to consider the fact that this animated series led me to the Belgian hero. It's an honor for me to stay and live as his fan.

What regrets me is that they minimize the idiosyncracies of Thomson and Thompson. Hope to see them funnier than on TV.