Tintin Forums

While re-reading Flight 714, something struck me, (and I feel like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner): what was Rastapopoulos' plan to get off the island? Carreidas' jet was to be sunk, (not that it could take off anyway), so......did they have hidden helicopters somewhere that we don't see? A seaplane? They must have had something, as they didn't have a transporter or anything! (Star Trek reference, anyone?)

Purely idle speculation on my part.....perhaps this is one of those instances where Herge took a little "creative license."

Although, the more that I think of it, the more I like the sound of "Beam me up, Allan."

I've always thought that the Sondonesians were the key to Rastapopoulos's escape from the island. Allan tells Tintin et al on Pg22 that 'You'll go back on board the aeroplane which will then be towed out to sea and sunk'. My assumption is that the Sondonesians junks would have been used for this with Rastapopoulos and Allan obviously directing operations.

Of course we find out later from him (whilst under the influence of Dr. Krollspells truth serum) that 'The junks are mined already'. And, 'They'll be blown sky-high long before they see their homeland'. Which puts a bit of a dampener on my escape theory. However, my guess is that Rastapopoulos and Allan would have been dropped off 'en route' and the poor Sondonesians along with Spalding, the aircrew and Dr. Krollspell were left to their fate aboard the mined junks.

But to use your words, purely idle speculation on my part. :-)

Don't forget the mysterious Walter, back in Jakarta.
He seems to be quite high up in Rastapopoulos's organisation - able to over-rule Spalding during that phone conversation when Spalding wants to call the whole thing off.

Presumeably, once Carreidas's bank account had been emptied, and Carreidas, Gino and Skut had been killed, and the Sondenesians blown up, the plan was for Walter to zoom to the island in a seaplane or fast boat. Maybe that's when Rastapopoulos planned to bump off Spalding, Krollspell and the two pilots, getting Walter and Alan to help with the killing.

Then Rastapopoulos would fly off with Alan and Walter to start a new life with a new idenity, using Carreidas's money.

Good theory, Balthazar. I'd completely forgotten about Walter.

Something tells me there was a thread a good while ago now on the identity of Walter. Maybe some conclusion was reached. I could be totally wrong, of course!

Here's that thread:
"Flight 714: Who is Walter, anyway?"

Not much conclusion was reached in that thread (though it does include some classic stuff about spatiotemporal faults from Yamilah!)

I see that Harrock'n'roll rightly pointed out that it's not explicitly shown that the un-named man with the hat and binoculars is the man named Walter whom Spalding phones. The binocular man does say " Spalding was right" the page after the phone call, suggesting that he was the person Spalding was talking to, and personally I'm inclined towards this simplest theory. But I guess it's also possible that Walter is an unseen fixer, who relays Spalding's info to the man with the binoculars.

Oh dear, my memory must be failing me. I actually posted in that first thread stating that 'Walter looks a little like our friend Dawson'. Hmm, upon reflection (and having another look) it seems I was a bit astray with that theory. I see that Yamilah put me straight though!

I guess all in all then, Walter is simply generic villan number xxx.

We must not forget that in The Red Sea Sharks Rastapopoulos had two different submarines, and several boats. The boats were confiscated, of course, but he escaped in his miniature submarine, so he would still have that for escaping in. Perhaps his cohorts all had one too.

That's a very good point, Cigars. I was forgetting his miniature submarine.


I think Allan's the only one of his cohorts whom Rastapopoulos doesn't say he was planning to dispose of, during his drug-induced confession in the bunker. So, assuming he was planning to do this bumping off of cohorts before leaving the island, maybe he'd only need a spare seat for Allan in his own mini sub.

I checked out the book: page 42, frame number 8 features several boats in the background, which leads me to believe that the sea-plane theory is correct. Perhaps Walter was indeed the "outside" contact who was in charge of transportation to and from the island, as well as the liasion with Spalding in Jakarta. Hmmmmm.

It's hard to tell from the picture whether there's more seating in the mini-sub, but perhaps Allan would not have objected jamming himself into the "glove compartment" instead of being left behind.