Lake of Sharks: General discussion

So I realize that Hergé did not want any more Tintin stories created after his death - but then what, exactly, is Tintin and The Lake of Sharks?

Was it a movie/ TV show, or what? Was Hergé involved at all with this story?

Thanks,

Gordon

It was a 1972 film written by 'Greg' (pen-name of Michel Regnier, the editor (I think) of Tintin magazine at that time. Hergé had no input into it and the story is highly inferior to the proper Tintin adventures.

The film is still available, if you look hard enough, and the book version is widely available.

Thanks! I have the book and I don't mind the story; at least it is another story!
G.

Oh yes, "I love my donkey"!
I find Soviets and Congo more entertaining than Lake of Sharks.
I have the comic book and the DVD of it.
The comic book is alright, but the movie is not really any good - the storyline has more plot holes than Swiss cheese has... er holes.
I find it disturbing how many people think Hergé wrote and drew it and then wonder why it is drawn differently and isn't very good.

Tintin and the Lake of Sharks is not even mentioned in the list of all the Tintin books in the Guides/Lists tab in the top bar. Why is this?

It's not actually part of the official series - i.e. Hergé didn't write or draw it - so it isn't included. Likewise, the filmbooks of Tintin and the Golden Fleece and Tintin and the Blue Oranges aren't included, as they're not Hergé works.

As a point of interest, I think it was Bob de Moor who did most of (if not all ?) the artwork for Tintin and the Lake of Sharks. It's mentioned in Hergé & His Creation about it taking so long to do, and he being glad to finish it.

It wasn't written by Hergé, it was merely the book of the film done in the style of a Tintin book

But I imagine it should be mentioned somewhere.

Rik

... done in the style of a Tintin book

Heh, that's being quite generous! It features Tintin & Cº, and a number of ideas "borrowed" from other Tintin adventures (and also The Secret Ray) - but even the drawing-style is quite a distance from Hergé's - and I'll never forgive the bright spark who thought to use painted scenery for backgrounds... it's the film *book*, dear, not the film.

That did surprise me - I hadn't noticed. I think it should be included, if only to say why it isn't part of the regular canon.

tintin_fanatic, Lake isn't generally thought to be very good by a lot of fans: it has the flared jeans for one thing, rather weak comedy, and then there are the annoying (to many) children and songs.

On the other hand, the animation is fair (Bob de Moore was originally an animator); the shark sub re-appears; and the art theft/ forgery plot would seem to have been dear to Hergé himself, so it isn't all bad.

Over all, even though I have a soft spot for it myself, I think many Tintin fans prefer to forget about it.

There are seemingly two versions of the Lake of Sharks book - the published one, which renders the settings and characters as they appear in the film, and a very similar one which was drawn by the studio in a style closer to the familiar Hergé one. I have a feeling this second one was done to run as a four panel newspaper strip, but I don't remember if it did.
Anyway, it was not released in favour of the one we now have.

I think the Hergé-style book wasn't ever released as a book (officially) because it could have been mistaken for one of Hergé's albums. I admit, that version is far better than the current one.

Apparently, Hergé did not want the book released, and went through quite some trouble to stop it. The result is that his name does not appear on the cover, and the inside says "Based on Hergé's characters", or something to that effect.