The Shooting Star
Original French title
L'Etoile Mysterieuse
Plot
Professor Phostle calculates that a giant meteor will hit the Earth and end the world. A self-styled prophet, Philippulus, takes to the streets to warn that the end is nigh. Instead the meteor passes by, dropping a small piece in the Arctic Ocean. It contains an unknown metal, and Tintin and Snowy sail with Phostle's European expedition to recover it, on the polar ship Aurora under Captain Haddock. A rival ship, funded by the banker Bohlwinkel, races them there.
Publication history
First published in Le Soir between 20 October 1941 and 21 May 1942.
The book appeared in 1942.
English editions
- 1961 - Methuen (London).
- 1978 - Magnet (London). Paperback.
- 1990 - Mammoth (London). Reprint of the 1978 Magnet edition. 62p. ISBN: 0749704616.
Trivia
- Page 2: the door bell that is first seen in frame 6 disappears in frame 9 (but reappears again in frames 11 to 14).
- Page 4: the long focal distance of the telescope will only make anything on the lense invisible, not magnified.
- Page 21: Captain Haddock's sleeve cuff stripes change in number - see frames 4 and 10.
- Cameo: page 20, frame 8: Quick and Flupke leading the way.
- Cameo: page 21, frame 2: Scientist, Auguste Piccard (first from the right).
- In 1954 Hergé changed the original flag of the competing expedition from the American flag to the flag of Sao Rico. [BP, page 71] The American flag can still be seen on page 35, frame 7:
© Hergé / Tintinimaginatio
Characters
- Björgenskjöld, Eric
- Bohlwinkel
- Bolero y Calamares, Porfirio
- Cantonneau, Paul(Professor)
- Chester (Captain)
- dos Santos, Pero Joas
- Flupke - see Q for Quick and Flupke
- Frank
- Haddock, Archibald (Captain)
- Hayward
- Johnson
- Payne
- Philippulus the Prophet
- Phostle, Decimus (Professor)
- Quick (and Flupke)
- Schulze, Otto
- Snowy
- Thomson and Thompson
- Tintin
- Wings (Major)
Title in other languages
- Basque - Izar misteriotsua
- Bengali - Ulka Rahasya (Literal meaning: The mystery of asteroid.)
- Breton - Ar sveredenn gevrinus
- Catalan - L'estel misterios
- Chinese - 神秘的流星 (Shen mi de liu xing)
- Danish - Den mystiske stjerne
- Dutch - De geheimzinnige ster
- Faeroese - hin gátuføra stjørnan
- Farsi/Persian - Sitarihyi asrar amiz
- Finnish - Salaperäinen Tähti
- Galician - A estrela misteriosa
- German - Der geheimnisvolle Stern
- Greek - To mystiriódes ástro
- Hebrew - Kochav Ha'shavit
- Hungarian - A titokzatos csillag
- Icelandic - Dularfulla stjarnan
- Indonesian - Bintang jatuh [Indira edition title] / Bintang Misterius [Gramedia edition title]
- Italian - La stella misteriosa
- Japanese - ふしぎな流れ星 Hushigina nagare boshi
- Korean - Shinbi-eui Puol
- Lëtzburgesch - Den onheemleche stär
- Portuguese - A estrela misteriosa
- Russian - Zagadochnaya zvezda
- Spanish - Le estrella misteriosa
- Swedish - Den mystiska stjärnan
- Turkish - Esrarengiz yildiz
- Vietnamese - Sao bâng
Next album: The Secret of the Unicorn
Credits
Originally created by Jesper Jühne. Maintained by Irene Mar.
Characters list compiled by Irene Mar and Etienne Chevalier.
Contributors and sources: Etienne Chevalier, Chikahiro Masami, Kirill Polsatchev, Peter Szabo, Syaiful Bahri, BP= Tintin and the world of Hergé by Benoît Peeters. London: Methuen, 1989.
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