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How did the Captain and Calculus begin?

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Voluma
Member
#1 · Posted: 11 Dec 2008 19:02
The thread about how Tintin's adventures all started is a lot of fun. However, it would be just as interesting to speculate about what the Captain and Cuthbert - and maybe the other characters, too? - where doing before they met Tintin! Don't you agree?

I have my own theories that I will share when I am slightly less pressed for time. Meanwhile, I invite you to put forth your own sparkling ideas! This ought to be fun...
Aileea
Member
#2 · Posted: 12 Dec 2008 00:04
No idea for Calculus yet, but recently I thought about the Captain´s past.

I think when he was young, he always wanted to be a sailor, like his father and grandfather and so on before him. After all, there is a great sea faring tradition in his family, just look at Sir Francis. So he went to navigation school as soon as he finished school and finally got his licence.
I think Archie was very proud when he took command of a ship for the first time. He came aquainted with Chester who became his long time friend and which whom he sailed for many years. He sailed all the seven seas and all the things he experienced in those years would surely have made a whole comic series on its own. In fact, I would really have been interested to learn more about Haddock´s years at sea. There are some scenes in the books suggesting that he really experienced a lot, for example when he compares Bianca Castafiore´s singing in "The seven Chrystal balls" with a hurricane his ship was in. Or perhaps the mere fact that he has a nightmare involving pirates indicates that he once had to do with them in real life (or perhaps it´s just a reminder of his ancestor´s adventure).
Then, someday, he became a drinker. There could be many interesting speculations of how and why... I think he always liked the taste of whisky, but one day something happened that troubled him so deeply that he tried to come over it with drinking. I am still thinking about what this could be. Perhaps his mother died and he felt guilty that he couldn´t be with her... has anyone better ideas?
cigee
Member
#3 · Posted: 12 Dec 2008 01:25
My pet theory is that Allan drugged the whisky he supplied Archie with, so that Allan could, in effect, command the ship while the Captain was drunk
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#4 · Posted: 12 Dec 2008 10:42
cigee:
My pet theory is that Allan drugged the whisky he supplied Archie with, so that Allan could, in effect, command the ship while the Captain was drunk

I'm not sure why Allan would need to drug the Captain myself. Certainly, it's tempting to think that Haddock's alcoholism was entirely down to Allan, but I think it's more likely Allan was exploiting and feeding his addiction to the bottle. Allan obviously knows Haddock and his weaknesses well, right down to his beard dilemma, as we learn later in The Red Sea Sharks.

It was sad to see Haddock in such a dreadful state in Crab but I think we can assume that Haddock was a more respectable figure before. After all, he is a nautical captain, which is a very responsible position. The captain of a sea vessel has responsibility for all of his shipmates' well-being. And when at sea, the captain holds complete command, even when there are higher-ranking officers aboard. He even has the legal right to use deadly force to suppress a mutiny or acts of piracy.

I must admit, I much prefer to deduce rather than make stuff up (I'll leave that to others). Unlike Tintin, there is quite a bit of back story already for the Captain from which we can paint quite a rounded portrait. The family pedigree certainly makes him more human than many of the other characters.
Voluma
Member
#5 · Posted: 12 Dec 2008 13:53
Harrock n roll:
I must admit, I much prefer to deduce rather than make stuff up (I'll leave that to others).

Yes, that's very sensible indeed. But personally I'm a storyteller so I've half-deduced, half-invented. I tried to stick to what we already know (actually very little) but I needed a good reason to set the Captain off drinking so here are the results:

Archie had an unhappy childhood; with three older brothers he was forced to fight to be acknowledged, which made him into an aggresive and ambitious person. However, he was subject to wild mood-swings and low self-esteem, and had very few good friends. At sixteen he started drinking, dropped out of school (his mother had insisted on sending him to a normal high-school) and got a low-ranking job aboard freighter. Determined and with no regard for his personal health, he proved himself again and again until he was promoted enough to afford to study navigation. He did well and began to forget about his childhood. He even gave up whiskey for a while and had a load of interesting adventures with interesting people. Just at this point, though, he was sent an unexpected suprise: a fifteen-year-old girl named Annabel, recently orphaned and depending on her father's youngest brother to care for her. He reluctantly agreed and suspended his career to live with Annabel, but their life was not a happy one. Returning to his home city forced Archie to recall his past and he started to drink heavily again, totally neglecting his neice and often terrifying her with his unpredictable moods. When she discovered Archie was being recruited into the navy, she ran away. He was left feeling worse than ever and worked on a number of ships before unexpectedly receiving a job as captain of the Karaboudjan (by someone who sensed an oppurtunity for exploiting certain weaknesses...).

As for Calculus, it's a fair bet that he had genius in his genes, as it were. The son of two scientists, Cuthbert unfortunately lost his hearing in an incident involving an exploding gas oven at the age of two, and was educated by his parents because teachers found him unbearble to teach, despite his obvious intelligence. At university he would often sit through entire lectures with no idea what was going on, but still managed to acheive top marks in the all his exams. Shortly after leaving university he was imprisoned for refusing to work on nuclear weapons. On release Cuthbert was given funding to develop a new super-powerful telescope but he created a water-powered car instead and the funding was withdrawn. His brilliance ensured he was never quite bankrupt but he did have a tendency to invest all his money in his many projects for improving society (quite where the shark-proof submarine comes into that we'll never know).
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#6 · Posted: 12 Dec 2008 14:37
Voluma:
Yes, that's very sensible indeed. But personally I'm a storyteller so I've half-deduced, half-invented. I tried to stick to what we already know (actually very little) but I needed a good reason to set the Captain off drinking so here are the results

...that's not to say I don't enjoy reading other peoples attempts of course, heh heh... ;-.

A little worrying about the Captain terrifying his niece with his drunken moods, but I like the rest!

Voluma:
Shortly after leaving university he was imprisoned for refusing to work on nuclear weapons

This wouldn't quite fit with the timeframe of when Calculus first appeared in Red Rackham, which is the early 1940s. One would think that Calculus was quite a bit older than university leaving age when nuclear weapons were first being developed (although, it's impossible to tell), so I would have thought he might have been imprisoned for refusing to work on developing submarines, or something similar, during the first world war...?

One bit of back story that might be interesting to develop is how the Haddock family came to lose possession of Marlinspike. Of course, Calculus is the one who discovers that Marlinspike is actually the Haddock ancestral home and even buys it back for the Captain. There must have been some fairly reckless Haddocks in between Sir Francis and Archibald who went and lost everything!

Edit: Incidentally, my idea of a back story to Haddock's family was simply a musing and in no way am I encouraging anybody to go and write a fan fiction, or do something else illegal! Something to bear in mind here is that we shouldn't get too carried away with inventing stories involving Tintin for the ol' copyright reason. Musings, contemplation and ruminations are just fine though :-)
Voluma
Member
#7 · Posted: 12 Dec 2008 15:57
Harrock n roll:
This wouldn't quite fit with the timeframe of when Calculus first appeared in Red Rackham, which is the early 1940s. One would think that Calculus was quite a bit older than university leaving age when nuclear weapons were first being developed (although, it's impossible to tell), so I would have thought he might have been imprisoned for refusing to work on developing submarines, or something similar, during the first world war...?

Thanks very much. =) Chronology isn't my strong point.

Ahah, never fear. Musings is as far as it goes. (I have been known to write fanfiction for other, legal things in my spare time, though.) Maybe Marlinspike siezed by tax collectors who were sick of the family's excuses! O_o
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#8 · Posted: 12 Dec 2008 16:16
Voluma:
Maybe Marlinspike siezed by tax collectors who were sick of the family's excuses!

Actually, I think it was because of copyright. After Sir Francis's son tried to publish his diary he was sued by lawyers acting on behalf of the R.L Stevenson Estate, the copyright holders of Treasure Island... ;-)
Voluma
Member
#9 · Posted: 12 Dec 2008 17:25
Harrock n roll:
Actually, I think it was because of copyright. After Sir Francis's son tried to publish his diary he was sued by lawyers acting on behalf of the R.L Stevenson Estate, the copyright holders of Treasure Island... ;-)

:D Seems perfectly possible! I wonder what happened to the poor old house after that. Perhaps it was threatened with demolishion (more than once, I imagine?). Maybe a member of one generation got a job there as a cleaner. Or a gardener. Just to keep an eye on the ol' ancenstral home, as it were...

Now I'm rambling. I think I shall find out if the Tompsons have any backstory whatsoever and compose a mini-biography for them, too. =)
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#10 · Posted: 12 Dec 2008 18:20
Voluma:
:D Seems perfectly possible!

Actually, I made a bit of a mistake with the timeframe myself there. Looks like chronology isn't my strong point either! Treasure Island was actually written 1883, so it would have to have been one of Sir Francis's great grandsons, or possibly great great grandsons. Anyway, I think you get the idea...

And despite the change of ownership, Marlinspike was kept an eye on by the stewardship of the Nestor lineage, discreet senior servants and butlers in the service for over 250 years... ;-)

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