Tintin Forums

If a modern Tintin adaptation were to go forward, would you rather have a creative team adapt Hergé's 24 books or alternatively let them make new Tintin adventures?

I can see the potential in both, since I wouldn't shut down an entire suggestion surrounding a new Tintin series comprised of all new stories.

But I'll always lean to the adaptations of Hergé's work, first and foremost.

The fact we've only had one writer try to make a new Tintin story, which faithfully used Hergé's notes for Alph-Art is a testament to why Herge's work is so revered and subsequently untouchable.

It's an interesting subject, but I think that it would help if you maybe gave a little more detail, and set some terms in advance?

An adaptation, structly speaking, has to adapt something, some source, so there is very little choice but to adapt the Hergé books we have, unless you were to include some new presentation of the few original stories for other projects completed in Hergé's lifetime, but as collaborations or by other hands: for the two live-action films Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece, and Tintin and the Blue Oranges; the animated feature Tintin and the Lake of Sharks, or the stage shows Tintin aux Indes - Le Mystère du Diamant Bleu and M. Boullock a disparu.
Further options might include uncompleted material, such as Alph-art itself, or Le ThermoZèro, or possibly the Tintin-less Dupont et Dupond - Détectives.

Alph-art and the two movies have recieved adaptations of sorts in the form of the two work-in-progress versions of Alph-art, and the story-books with photos for the films. Likewise, Lake of Sharks exists in slightly differing forms as strip- and book-adaptations.

It's also not true to say that only one writer has attempted to create "new" Tintin – I am presuming here that you are refering to the completed version of Alph-Art by Rodier? – there have been many, many such works. While we can acknowledge that they exist, we won't be discussing them here (other than very generally), to avoid copyright issues.

And finally, are you thinking along the lines of books, or adaptations for screen or stage?

I think that there's probably a good discsussion to be had on this, but I'd like for a little bit more clarity from you about the direction you were intending the thread to take.

jock123 , I did not get that discussing something becomes a copyright issue , copyright is about copying something , not discussing. I think copyright discussions at america is effecting the europeans without europeans were understanding whats going on. Copyright fear has became an universal issue because american media is bombarding the email accounts right wing thought and posts. People with B1 english only follows the discussions from headlines and most importantly they think everything in america is worth to care because they want to live in usa ONE DAY.

It would be interesting to see the books adapted to the modern day scenario and see how the adventures turn out, not unlike the BBC Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. I believe the stories are timeless enough that most of the main plot points can remain the same while introducing Tintin to the modern audience.

Given the sales figures, I do not think that modern audiences are very bothered by the old-fashioned feel of adventures set in the 1930s to 1970s.

I hate it when publishers think that stories are so old-fashioned that they have to be adapted for modern readers. Shakespeare and Dickens are sometimes hard to read, but that, I believe, is part of their charm and why they have lasted so long.

Some critics were very hostile of the way British publishers kept getting Herge to update stories like "Black Island" and "Black Gold" to modern times or take out references to the British Mandate of Palestine. They felt that it took out a lot of their charm and the "historical" interest in that period.

I have often wondered if the fact that "Blue Lotus" was only published in English after Herge's death was due to the British publishers vainly trying to convince him to take out references to the Japanese occupation and the International Settlement, but for me it made little difference, in fact it encouraged me to find out more about the situation in China in the 1930s. Do you really think that that story would work in modern times now that then-weak, foreign-occupied China is a major global superpower?

The "James Bond" films have always been adapted to the time of their release, but I have always found the Connery films - when he has to figure a lot of things out for himself - more appealing than when Craig simply uses his mobile to call HQ in order that they can give him info in record time.

If Herge's stories were adapted to modern times (i.e. the Internet age), I have a feeling that a lot of the appeal of "Tintin" would be lost.

Many of Tintin's adventures are about travelling, a lot of it on foot: in a scorching desert ("Crab"); a thick jungle ("Prisoners"); or just walking along never-ending country roads ("Island", "Affair").

Set in modern times, Tintin simply has to use a mobile phone and:
he could call for a rescue helicopter which would take him and Haddock to the nearest town, no camels or ambushes by tribesmen;

again, a helicopter could take him and his companions to the Temple of the Sun in just a few hours - and, among other things, we would be deprived of Haddock's misadventures with the jungle animals :) ;

on country roads, a brief internet search with your mobile and you could have a local taxi come to pick you up.