Tintin Forums

We all know Calculus paid for Marlinspike as thanks to the Captain for letting him try out his shark sub during 'Rackham'.

I have two questions:

1. How much did the government give Calculus for the patent? It must have been a huge amount!

2. Do you think the Captain paid him back after receiving all that Inca treasure after 'Prisoners'?
Maybe they were all great mates and divided all the treasure equally as they had experienced all these adventures together?

I know had that been my situation I would have given Calculus the money back in gratitude of his past gift to the Captain.
We all saw how fond Captain Haddock had become of the Professor after he had been kidnapped.

Don't forget, Haddock might have had enough to pay him back immediately after he and Tintin discovered Red Rackham's Treasure in the cellars of the house. And since they were all mates they probably divided the loot up amongst themselves too.

Anyhow, money is never an issue in the Tintin books. After all, it's never explained in the earlier solo adventures how Tintin finances his adventures around the globe. I guess Hergé felt the question was best solved by having them all get rich and buy a nice comfortable mansion to live in.

Calculus said he'd give Haddock the money as thanks for letting him test out the submarine so he really didn't have any obligation to pay them back.

What I want to know is why Calculus ended up living in Marlinspike. Maybe he miss-heard something the Captain said.

It is funny how in "Seven Crystal Balls" Haddock appears to be quite well disposed towards Calculus especially after all the times he drove him crazy in "Red Rackham".

After Calculus' kidnap, I've always found the scene in which Haddock sits in a state of depression over the lack of news very moving, especially when he suddenly springs into action when a hopeful lead comes up and announces: "We'll pursue them to the ends of the earth and get Calculus back, blistering barnacles" (or words to that effect I don't have my copy on me at the moment).

Haddock may be a bad-tempered so-and-so but he is not entirely selfish. Inviting Calculus to stay at the manor was the least he could do after the help he gave in reclaiming it.

^ Yeah, I view Haddock as just a big, grumpy teddy bear which is why he's my favorite. Yes, Tintin is upset whenever something bad happens to his friends but he doesn't show it as dramatically as Haddock.

It's just that I've always found Calculus's move strange because he already had a nice place where he had his experiments set up. Also, even if Haddock did make the offer to stay with him I wonder if he had to write it out to make Calculus understand or what.

I was really excited when I read Destination/Explorers on the Moon because I thought from now on Calculus would have that hearing aide. He is great comedy relief but it's also a little sad to see him stumbling along, never quite getting the point.

Nice but rather small as he himself points out in "Red Rackham". At Marlinspike though he had plenty of room to do his experiments - as we get to see at the end of "Black Gold"! I suspect that it was after that event that Haddock insisted on him using the little house at the back of the estate.


That is probably how it happened.

In the moon adventures Calculus needed a hearing aid because he was part of a team of scientists working on a common project and communication was important. In the other stories though he tends to work on his own. Being deaf enables him to focus on his work, even if it is something of a frustration for his friends.