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Tintin and Moomins: Plot Similarities?

snowybella
Member
#1 · Posted: 15 Jan 2018 05:01
(Sorry if this is the wrong section of the forums, but for me, only this section seemed acceptable for the topic!)


One night, I was thinking about all my beloved Tintin, Asterix and Moomin books, when I suddenly had a new idea: are there any plot similarities with Tintin and Moomin?

The next day, I decided to work with The Shooting Star and my Special Collector's Edition of Comet in Moominland, because they both involved comets, or meteors, as Professor Photsle says on the top of page 11.


So far, I have found (in no particular order):

* Both have the heroes going to an observatory, complete with a huge telescope

* The end of the world almost occurs, because the comet-meteor either narrowly missed it or changed direction

* Both Tintin and Moomin ecounter giant insects and creatures, the former with a spider and a moth, the latter with an octopus and a swarm of grasshoppers

* There is a warning beforehand, in Tintin it is Philipulus the Prophet, and in Moomin, the forest creatures all make a symbol of a shooting star.

* Plants become dangerous (Tintin gets knocked out by a huge apple from an apple tree on the meteorite, Moomin rescues Snorkmaiden from a poisonous bush)

If we include the Tintin Belvision cartoon (The Star of Mystery), then we can say that both involve caves (Tintin on the meteorite, Moomin shelters in one), and if we say that the Moomin comic strip has to be included too, then we can add that both have floods, and the heat increases.



Now everybody can see how obsessive I am with Tintin and Moomin...

snowybella
number1fan
Member
#2 · Posted: 16 Jan 2018 20:33
I used to watch The Moomins when I was very young. I'd no idea of this comparison. I would certainly go back and watch this one.

The Shooting Star I believe came first in 1942, with The Moomins: Comet in Moominland published four years later.

It certainly would seem to be a coincidence.
snowybella
Member
#3 · Posted: 17 Jan 2018 01:06
I have now come to the conclusion that Comet in Moominland is like an extremely slowed-down version of the first 10 pages of The Shooting Star, with added danger getting to the observatory (crocodiles, caves, eagles, etc.) and a bit more drama.


Finn Family Moomintroll & Flight 714

I don't think any other Tintin book is alike to this particular Moomin book, but if we assume that the Hobgoblin is an alien (like Mik Kanrokitoff, he could well be seeing he can go into space), and if his flying panther is actually a space-ship in the shape of a panther (possibly, the panther flew him to the Moon), then we have a grand total of 2...

Moving on:

Moominsummer Madness & Castafiore Emerald (I don't have all the Moomin books yet)

This book is noticably similar to The Castafiore Emerald, because (in no particular order):

* People shelter in other people's houses (Castafiore in Marlinspike, Snufkin, the Woodies and Little My in the Fillyjonk's house)

* Both Marlinspike and the unamed theatre are like a stage in itself (Castafiore acts for the television crew, Moomin's family act for spectators), but I think this point is cheating

* The Little Hemulen is like a more timid version of Irma!

* They both take place in a similar part of the season (Tintin in Spring, Moomin around Midsummer)

* Birds are essential to the plot (Tintin and the Magpie, Moominpappa sends pamphlets for his play using birds thus enabling Moomin's jailer to find one and Moomin a chance to escape when the jailer goes off to see it and leaves the Little Hemulen to guard his prisoners)


number1fan

I used to read the Moomin comic strip when I was young, they are such fun. I still have those 3, old, cloth-spine volumes of the Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, and I added Volume 3 to my collection only a few months ago. I tried watching the Moomin cartoon that was on television once, but the part in Finn Family Moomintroll when Moomin comes out of the hat and (according to memory) he looked like a pink Mymble put me off, I'm sorry to say. I'm sure they're good, though! By the way, thanks for the useful information about the publication dates. I wonder if it was a coincidence, or maybe Tove read The Shooting Star and unconsciously copied some of the plot details?
Furienna
Member
#4 · Posted: 1 Jul 2019 23:39
snowybella:
By the way, thanks for the useful information about the publication dates. I wonder if it was a coincidence, or maybe Tove read The Shooting Star and unconsciously copied some of the plot details?

I don't really know right now when "Tintin" was published for the first time in Finland. But it seems more likely that the similarities are coincidences.

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