Tintin Forums

Regarding the Belvision series, I've found some interesting info on the
Greg-site. About the first draft, made by "producteurs américains" (Hanna & Barbera?), Greg says that he and Hergé were watching a screen test;

"L'écran s'est allumé et nous avons vu un avion à l'intérieur duquel se trouvait un type plutôt musclé qui avait effectivement une petite mèche blonde. Ce personnage s'est tourné vers les spectateurs et nous avons alors découvert un grand "T" sur son tee-shirt. Puis, en balayant l'air de la main, il a dit : "Hi ! My name is Tintin !" Très sobrement, Hergé a lancé
"Coupez!" et je n'ai jamais vu la suite... Il s'est ensuite adressé aux producteurs américains en ces termes: "Je veux bien que vous brodiez sur mes histoires, mais vous allez travailler avec mon scénariste". C'est ainsi que je suis devenu, pendant plus de cinq ans, l'adaptateur européen de ces dessins animés."

Babelfish translates this as: "The screen ignited and we saw a plane inside whose was a rather muscular type which had indeed a small fair wick. This character turned to the spectators and we then discovered great "T" on its tee-shirt. Then, by sweeping the air of the hand, he said: "Hi! My name is Tintin!" Very sobrement, Hergé launched "Cross!" and I never saw the continuation... It was then addressed to the American producers in these terms:
"I want well that you embroider on my stories, but you will work with my scenario writer." Thus I became, during more than five years, the European adapter of these animated drawings."

Roughly, this must have been the original intro of Belvision's version of the Moon-adventure, but with quite a different visual look. Just imagine Tintin as a "muscular type" with a large "T" on his T-shirt! I'm not sure of the accurancy of the translation
"mèche blonde" as "fair wick" but I suppose it means that the tuft of hair was rather small in this first draft.

Anyway, this would be a nice extra on a DVD-release as a "cut scene", a rare occurance in animated films.

"Meche blonde" in this case means "light tuft (of hair)" My best translation of the French text is:

"The screen lit up and we saw a plane, in which there was a very muscular type of guy who had the trademark blond quiff. The character turned to the audience, and then we noticed a large letter "T" on his T-shirt. Then, waving his hand in the air at us, he said "Hi, my name's Tintin!" In a very restrained manner, Herge said "Cut!" and I didn't see the rest. He then told the American producers something like this: "I can definitely see that you've embellished my stories, but you'll have to work with my script writer." So that's how I became, over the course of five years, the person in charge of the cartoon versions."

Hope this helps...

Thanks, Danagasta!

There was also an earlier version of Explorers that was B&W, it was in the Belvision Documentary at the Tintin Festival.