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Flight 714: Calculus goes gaga (mentally, not musically)
I've just come across a site which displayed Herge's initial rough work when he was planning "Flight 714"; rough sketches similar to the ones published in the official release of "Alph-Art".

In these it appears that he was planning on having Flight 714 itself being caught in a hurricane and being forced to land on an airstrip on an island. There the passengers and crew are held at gunpoint by Japanese soldiers who are unaware that the war has been over for fourteen years (which indicates that he planned it as far back as 1959, about the time of "Sharks" and "Tibet").

However, the odd thing is the treatment of Calculus. When the plane hits rough weather, he complains about "the state of the roads in this country" and when Haddock points out that they are on a plane, he asks: "If we are on a train, then why is it shaking? Has an axle gotten loose? We ought to have taken the plane." Haddock just groans.

This is rather odd since Calculus is supposed to be deaf, not blind or stupid. He ought to know and be able to see that he's on a plane. It's almost as if Herge was thinking of turning him into a literally "mad" scientist, like Dr Sarcophagus of "Cigars".

(P.S. Yes, yes, I know. This was the early stages and Herge still needed time to actually develop the humour. Even so...)

I feel like Calculus is portrayed as existing in a world of his own. For instance he completely ignores Haddock's writing "we are not interested in your machine", puts on the Inca bracelet for no particular reason, doesn't notice that Nestor has been tied up by Abdullah, and praises a cigar smoking Peggy Alcazar on her "exquisite femininity"*.

So that scene makes sense to me, Tintin and Haddock made the travel arrangements and Calculus is thinking about something else.


* He also calls her "weak" which I'm surprised she let him get away with. I'm pretty conflict averse and much less assertive than she is, but I'd be very offended if a man called me that and tell him so.

This proto-plot is mentioned in the recently released The Art of Hergé (vol 3) book (recommended reading!), which is an English translation and abridged version of the Chronologie books.

It says that on their way to an international conference hurricane "Barbara" forces them to make an emergency landing on an island near Borneo where there is a landing strip built by the Japanese during the 1941-45 Pacific War. "Ragged and vengeful" Japanese soldiers are still on the island who are not aware that the war is over.

There was a precedent for this of course as stragglers were still holding out around the Pacific, refusing to believe the war was over (see Japanese Holdout on wikipedia).

Personally I thought this was very interesting and went some way to explaining the Japanese wrecks that can be seen in the final books, as mentioned by Robbo in the thread Flight 714: fact and fiction in the details.

I'm not sure I set much store by the portrayal of Calculus you mention mct16. As you say, this story was still 'in the works', but remember you're talking about someone who puts up an umbrella in the house because he thinks it's raining, has a bath with his clothes on and thinks that he's in a film when he's about to be sacrificed by Incas. Not so out-of-character as far as I can see.

Does that book mention anything about the gap between the seaplane pilots spotting the rubber dinghy and the sudden switch to Wagg and his family watching the TV, even in rough draft form? Many have been wondering about that. :)

It does mention that Hergé had been planning to make more of the volcanic eruption but had to cut it back because he'd overrun, but there are no drawings or rough sketches in The Art of Hergé to show what he was actually planning (and I don't own the relevant Chronologie book, sadly). It also mentions that he later regretted showing the spaceship.

In retrospect, it might have been better if he'd have left the whole spaceship scene out and showed a huge eruption leaving us wondering what had happened to the characters. It could still have been wrapped up with the television interview, but the whole extra-terrestrial bit could have been left open to interpretation.

I never liked the intervention of the aliens myself, but it would have been a bit too much of a plot gap if the reader had to figure out for himself how Tintin and friends get from the volcano to the rubber dinghy.

Well, I wasn't suggesting that every mention of aliens be expunged from the book entirely, just the depiction of an actual spacecraft.

It could have been that Kanrokitoff simply summoned a helicopter piloted by some friends by way of that wee transmitter of his...

On the subject, here's a BBC article on one such straggler and a radio interview with a relative who wrote a book about him.

There's a scene that has had me bothered for years. In "Explorers", when Calculus, Haddock and the Thom(p)sons set off in the tank, Calculus announces that it is to explore the cave where they expect to find radium or uranium. When he talks to them on the radio, Tintin states that he is going to mend "the radios on our space-suits".

How did they know that there were radium or uranium deposits in the cave? and only Snowy's radio was damaged in the incident so why "radios" as in plural? It's a couple of issues that had me scratching my head for decades. (One of these days, my penchant for getting every detail right will drive me crazy: prepare to change my username to "Rameses II".)

Recently, I read the story in copies of Tintin magazine from the 1950s which included scenes not included in the book:

When Tintin and Haddock enter the cave they are carrying guns (debated here) and large green boxes. A panel not included in the book shows that these are Geiger counters and Haddock points out that they are reacting furiously to radioactive material.

The cave incident includes a couple of pages with extra scenes: Haddock cannot lower the rope enough to reach the ice so Tintin picks Snowy up in order to tie him to the rope only to lose his balance and again fall down the sheet of ice, dragging the rope with him.

This time, Tintin's radio is damaged and he cannot talk to Haddock any more. He remarks to Snowy that they are probably doomed to perish, but then climbs back up the ice. He tries to lasso a ledge but fails.

Then he sees another rope coming down with a stone attached to it. Tintin even exclaims "But... but... am I dreaming?", somewhat astonished that Haddock even thought of going back to the tank for another rope and lowering it to him.

Tintin ties Snowy to the rope and Haddock gets him out but then the stone gets caught on a ledge and Tintin is panicking because it is not returning and he cannot communicate with Haddock.

Adds extra tension, what with both radios being unusable, and explains my query.

Where can I find this? I've been looking all over the internet but can't locate the scene, or any others mentioned here. I would especially like to see the deleted panels from Prisoners of the Sun. Is there a website where they have deleted Tintin strips?

Moderator Note: The short answer is no; if it isn’t on the official Tintin.com site, it probably isn’t available legally, and we can’t allow links to unofficial or unauthorized reproductions.
Many of the deleted sections have been republished over the years, so you could look for books with them in. Fortunately for you the entire Inca saga – including the “missing” episodes – was collected in a single volume in its original format, which has been in at least two editions, both of which appear to be available through Amazon.fr (othe retailers may have it too).
Some of the Moon sections were included in Benoît Peeter’s Le Monde d’Hergé, but that may be harder to find.

The Tintinologist Team