The Adventures of Tintin is an animated television series based on the Franco-Belgian comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, drawn and written by Hergé. Produced by Ellipse-Nelvana. It debuted in 1991, and all 39 half-hour episodes were produced over the course of three seasons.
History[]
The series was directed by Stéphane Bernasconi, with Peter Hudecki as the Canadian unit director, and produced by Ellipse in France, and Nelvana in Canada, on behalf of the Hergé Foundation. It was the first television adaptation of Hergé's books for over twenty years, earlier, the Belgian animation company Belvision had been responsible for some loose prior adaptations; Hergé's Adventures of Tintin. The vast majority of the books were adapted for this series, except for Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo, along with the incomplete Tintin and Alph-Art. Philippe Goddin, an expert on Hergé and Tintin acted as an adviser to the shows producers. Writers for the series included Toby Mullally, Eric Rondeaux, Martin Brossolet, Amelie Aubert, Dennise Fordham and Alex Boon.
Production[]
Traditional animation practices were used on the series. The original comics were faithfully adhered to throughout all phases of production, with countless frames from the original books being transposed directly to the screen. In the episodes Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon, 3D animatronics were used for the Moon rocket - an unusual step for the early 1990’s. The rocket was animated in 3D and every frame of the animation was then printed, recopied onto celluloid, hand painted in gouache, and then laid on top of a painted background. The rocket seen in the title sequence is animated using this 3D process. Artistically, the series opted for a consistent look, unlike the books, which were drawn over the course of 47 years, Hergé's style advanced throughout from early works like The Blue Lotus and later ones such as Tintin and the Picaros. Nevertheless, future episodes such as the Moon story and Tintin in America clearly prove the artists' development over the course of time. The series was filmed in English, but remained faithful enough to the originals to have all visuals (road signs, posters, literatures and settings) remaining in French.
Changes from the books[]
Certain areas of the stories posed significant challenges for the producers who had to adapt features of the books to a younger and more modern audience. Nevertheless, this series was a much more faithful retelling of the books than the previous television adaptation. The frequent instances of violence, death, and the use of firearms were toned down or removed completely. The use of text as a major part of the plot, such as the use of newspaper articles or writing on the wall, was largely cut so these scenes would not have to be reanimated for every language in which Tintin was aired. The radio and television are both used more frequently in the TV series to make up for the omission. The newspaper parts in the TV series are shown either in French or the articles are read aloud.
Captain Haddock's penchant for whisky posed a problem for audience sensitivities. While the original books did not promote alcohol, they featured it heavily, with much humor based on drinking. However, in many countries where the producers hoped to sell the series, alcoholism was a sensitive issue. Therefore, international versions of the series had some alterations. "The Crab with the Golden Claws" is the only episode where Haddock's drinking is not significantly downplayed though it still played a pivotal role in several other episodes. In "Tintin in Tibet", Haddock is seen taking a sip from a flask of whisky to set up a scene in which Snowy, Tintin's dog, is tempted to lap up some spilled whisky and subsequently falls over a cliff. In "Tintin and the Picaros", Haddock is the only person taking wine with dinner, foreshadowing the use of Professor Calculus' tablets to "cure" the drunken Picaros. Haddock is also seen drinking in "The Calculus Affair" and "Explorers on the Moon", setting up the scene where he leaves the rocket in a drunken state. He does not hide the bottle in an astronomy book, as he does in the book, but keeps it in the refrigerator, making it less obvious for young viewers that it is alcohol.
Throughout the books, Snowy is frequently seen to be "talking". It is understood that his voice is only heard through the fourth wall, but this verbal commentary is completely absent in the television series. The only time it is maintained is in the ending of "Flight 714", when he "speaks" with Tintin's voice.[citation needed]
The character Jolyon Wagg only appeared in three stories ("The Calculus Affair," "The Seven Crystal Balls," and "Tintin and the Picaros") despite being in all but one installment of the book series.
Awards[]
The series was received well enough to attain several awards on its part. It won a Sept d'Or Award in 1993 for the Best Children's Program category. In the same year the show was also awarded the Best animated series prize at the Gemini Awards.
Voice cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Colin O'Meara - Tintin, Lieutenant Kavitch, Fred the Fireman
- Susan Roman - Snowy
- David Fox - Captain Haddock, Sir Francis Haddock
- Wayne Robson - Professor Calculus
- John Stocker - Thompson, Mr. Snowball
- Dan Hennessey - Thomson
- Maureen Forrester - Bianca Castafiore
- Vernon Chapman - Nestor
- Julie Lemieux - Chang
Supporting Cast[]
- Denis Akiyama - Bunji Kuraki, Mitsuhirato, Tharkey
- Harvey Atkin - Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab
- Yank Azman - additional voices
- Barbara Budd - additional voices
- Robert Cait - additional voices
- Graeme Campbell- additional voices
- Ho Chow - Mr. Lee, Cheng Li-Kin
- Elizabeth Dufresne - Mrs. Finch, Mrs. Wang, Mrs. Snowball, Mrs. Clarkson, Mrs. Bolt, Irma, Peggy Alcazar, Madame Yamilah
- Paul Haddad - additional voices
- Graham Haley - additional voices
- Keith Hampshire - additional voices
- David Huband - additional voices
- Marvin Ishmael - additional voices
- Tom Kneebone - additional voices
- Keith Knight - Gustav Bird, Mr. Crabtree
- Michael Lamport - additional voices
- Ray Landry - additional voices
- Peter Meech - Radio Announcer
- Neil Munro - additional voices
- Frank Perry - additional voices
- Frank Proctor - additional voices
- Mario Romano - additional voices
- Ron Rubin - additional voices
- August Schellenberg - additional voices
- Chris Wiggins - Wang Chen-Yee
- Peter Wildman - Hector Alembick, Alfred Alembick
Music[]
The underscore music and the main title theme for the show was composed by musicians Ray Parker and Tom Szczesniak. The music was recorded by engineer James Morgan. Extracts from the score were released by Ellipse on CD and cassette in conjunction with Universal, on the StudioCanal label. It is now out of print in both formats.
A free download of theme song is here: [1]
Hergé's Cameo Appearances[]
- Main article: List of Hergé cameo appearances
Hergé, the creator of Tintin, makes a number of Hitchcock-like cameo appearances in the cartoon series — as he often did in the original books. Most of the time he is just a passing figure in the street, such as when he is checking his watch in The Blue Lotus or a reporter (The Broken Ear) or a technician (Explorers on the Moon). These brief appearances are not sporadic throughout the episodes, rather, he is featured in all of the episodes. His letter box can even be seen next to Tintin's in The Crab with the Golden Claws. Other cameos are less flattering: he is a gangster in Tintin in America and an inmate at the lunatic asylum in Cigars of the Pharaoh.
Episode listing[]
Running order of the TV Series as per original broadcast schedule
Season 1[]
- The Crab with the Golden Claws Part 1
- The Crab with the Golden Claws Part 2
- The Secret of the Unicorn Part 1
- The Secret of the Unicorn Part 2
- Red Rackham's Treasure
- Cigars of the Pharaoh Part 1
- Cigars of the Pharaoh Part 2
- The Blue Lotus Part 1
- The Blue Lotus Part 2
- The Black Island Part 1
- The Black Island Part 2
- The Calculus Affair Part 1
- The Calculus Affair Part 2
Season 2[]
- The Shooting Star
- The Broken Ear Part 1
- The Broken Ear Part 2
- King Ottokar's Sceptre Part 1
- King Ottokar's Sceptre Part 2
- Tintin in Tibet Part 1
- Tintin in Tibet Part 2
- Tintin and the Picaros Part 1
- Tintin and the Picaros Part 2
- Land of Black Gold Part 1
- Land of Black Gold Part 2
- Flight 714 Part 1
- Flight 714 Part 2
Season 3[]
- The Red Sea Sharks Part 1
- The Red Sea Sharks Part 2
- The Seven Crystal Balls Part 1
- The Seven Crystal Balls Part 2
- Prisoners of the Sun Part 1
- Prisoners of the Sun Part 2
- The Castafiore Emerald Part 1
- The Castafiore Emerald Part 2
- Destination Moon Part 1
- Destination Moon Part 2
- Explorers on the Moon Part 1
- Explorers on the Moon Part 2
- Tintin in America
Broadcasts[]
- In Canada, the series originally aired on Family Channel and Global Television Network.
- In the United States, the series originally aired on HBO.
- In the United Kingdom, the series originally aired on Channel 4 on terrestrial television, and Family Channel, a channel based on CBN's Family Channel, available through the original Sky system. It was later broadcast on Sky One until the show was purchased by Five. It was also broadcast on Cartoonito from February 23, 2013, alongside the return of ITV's British television variety show Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
- In Iran, the series was set to air in 1992 but ended up airing on Channel 1 in 1997 with a Persian dub full of odd censorship. countless reruns on other channels such as Poya, Ofogh, channel 2 that fix the dubbing issues and home releases of the same version have been made.
- In Brazil, the series originally aired in 1992 on the defunct channel TVA Filmes, as part of the TVA Kids Saturday morning show. Each story had their two parts edited and shown together. In 1994, it premiered on public broadcasting channel TV Cultura. In 1996, it aired on Cartoon Network and the series was on HBO Family for most of the 2000s. In 2012, it premiered on educational channel Futura and it will again be aired by TV Cultura starting in April. It was dubbed to Portuguese by Herbert Richers.
- In Sri Lanka, the series was dubbed in Sinhala and broadcast by Sirasa TV and Rupavahini, along with Lake of Sharks and Temple of the Sun.
- In Israel, the series was dubbed into Hebrew by Elrom Studios, and broadcasted on the Israeli Channel 2, and later on Israel Broadcasting Authority (Channel 1). Children and Teenagers devoted shows. Tintin became very popular among kids and adults in Israel. The show was aired for several years, rerunning many times.
- In Italy, Rai 1 Italia 1 broadcasted the series.
- In Australia, the series was broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as part of their ABC Kids programming block as well as on the ABC2 digital channel. It has been shown in its complete run at least twice, leading to screenings of the Belvision Tintin films. As of October 2010, it is currently being aired on Boomerang.
- In New Zealand, the series was originally aired on TV2 of Television New Zealand. It continued to re-run on TV2 for a few years afterwards. It then featured on Cartoon Network.
- In South Africa, the series was broadcast by KTV, a daily children's programme, on M-Net.
- In India, the series was broadcast by Cartoon Network in the summer of 2000. The original run was followed by many reruns. Doordarshan and Zee Alpha Bangla also showed the series with dubbing. Gemini TV aired the series in Telugu around the same time as Sabash Tintin.
- It has also aired in Arabic in several networks broadcast from Arabic speaking regions. Although the Arabic dubbing was performed in Lebanon, they dubbed it using standard 1 narrative, and was then syndicated. This is a usual treatment of most Arabic dubs of children's productions.
- In Bulgaria, it premiered on 18 July 2005 on Kanal 1 and aired every Monday to Friday at 16:20. Reruns started on 24 December 2005 every Saturday and Sunday at 08:10 and ending on 30 April 2006 and later once more during the summer of 2006.
- In Indonesia, it was broadcast by SCTV, and is aired in B Channel
- In Japan, the series was broadcast By NHK in the spring 1994, and is aired again in 2001–2002 on Japanese speak in broadcast Fuji Television.
- In the Philippines, it was aired in GMA-7 in the mid-1990s as part of the afternoon cartoon schedule.
- In Southeast Asia, the series was aired in Cartoon Network up to about 2004.
- In Portugal, the series was aired in Canal Panda until late 2003.
- In Denmark, the series was aired in the 1990s on the Danish chanel, DR1 and again by DR Ramasjang from 2009 and on.
- In Saudi Arabia, during the 1990s the series was broadcast by the State TV, in English, on channel 2. Later it was broadcast in Arabic on state TV, channel 1.
- In Germany, it was dubbed to German in the 1990s by ATLAS Film. The series was first aired on public channel ZDF betweet October 1993 and June 1994.
- In Sweden, the series was first aired (dubbed in Swedish) on Swedish Channel 1 (Kanal 1; now SVT1) between September 1994 and April 1995. It was then broadcast in the original series episode order. When it was later published in a Scandinavian DVD box (with Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish dubbings), the episodes were arranged in the original album order (for instance, putting the episode "Tintin in America" as the first episode, even though it was the last one in the series).
- In Colombia, the series were aired by the local signal of cable network HBO Olé in 1992. A few years later, was part of the Latin Cartoon Network shows in the late '90s.
Home media releases[]
The full series has been available three times on video, with individual episodes released by Lumiere in 1994 and Mollin Video in 2000, while Anchor Bay released a series of five videos, containing four episodes on each (and five on the last one) in 2002–2003.
The series has also been released twice on Region 2 DVD by Anchor Bay, but unfortunately with no subtitles or extra features. The first was as an exclusive 5-disc DVD release for HMV with soundtracks in English, French and Spanish. The second was a general 10-disc release but with the soundtrack only in English. The limited edition 5-disc set places The Blue Lotus first (presumably from looking at the back of one of the books), however, the 10-disc set is in the canonical order. On 10 October 2011, Anchor Bay re-released the series in a 5 disc DVD set and released it for the first time on Blu-ray, also in a 5-disc set. The Blu-ray features a 16:9 transfer that has been cropped from the 4:3 image.
- In France, the full series has been available for years on video, produced by Citel. At the beginning of 2006, Citel also released the series on Region 2 DVD. The DVDs are packaged in two ways. In one packaging, there are 21 DVDs with one episode per DVD and audio in French and English but no subtitles. A full set was issued in a wooden box. The second packaging has two episodes on each DVD (3 on one). These have audio in French, English and Spanish, and subtitles in the same three languages plus French for the hard of hearing. Some of them also have subtitles in Portuguese. Recently, the series was issued as a partwork by Éditions Atlas in France, with an accompanying booklet featuring information about the episode and behind-the-scenes artwork.
- In Canada, the series has been released on Region 1 DVD on two 5-disc box sets (with all discs individually available), with French and English language tracks with subtitles. Each DVD contains two episodes, arranged in two boxed sets of ten episodes each. Tintin in America is not planned for release. Except for the episodes which, joined together, form story arcs (The Secret of the Unicorn/Red Rackham's Trasure, The Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun and Destination Moon/Explorers on the Moon), the episodes have no specific order on the discs. It is more French than English; for on-screen text, English subtitles automatically appear. The Canadian editions were released in the US on 18 August 2009.
- In New Zealand & Australia, a 6-disc DVD box set of the series was released by Madman Entertainment in 2004, in the order in which the comics were released. The first three discs had four episodes, the last three had three episodes. Each disc comes with information on the comic books, character profiles, and no subtitles.
- In India, the series has been released on both DVD and VCD by Moser Baer Home Entertainment once before. Now the series is available in two formats on DVD and VCD from Eagle Home Entertainment. First is the boxed format, in which there are 21 DVDs with one episode per DVD and audio in English with English subtitles. The full set was issued in a wooden box as part of 80th anniversary celebration by Eagle. The second format is individual episodes sold separately with audio in English with English subtitles. The DVDs are region free in both cases.
- In Spain, it has been distributed on DVD by Selecta Visión. The tracks included are Spanish (Castilian, different from the Latin America dub), Catalan (a regional language in Spain Tintin was dubbed to) and French. Recently, Selecta Visión has re-released the series in Blu-ray, with the same audio tracks, but in 5.1 quality instead of stereo.
- In Brazil, the series has been released on DVD in July 2008. Each season has been released separately on 3 box-sets. There's also a special deluxe collector's edition box-set with all 39 episodes on 9 discs. The series has been released by Log On Multimedia and the region-free DVDs contains audio in English and Portuguese and subtitles in Portuguese.
- In Germany, a Video version was distributed in the 1990s by ATLAS Film. In 2004, it was released on Region 2 DVD, on two 4-disc box sets (with all discs individually available), with German and French language tracks. In 2005, an anniversary edition with all 39 episodes on 8 discs came out.
- On 11 May 2011, Shout! Factory announced that they had acquired the rights (under license from Nelvana) to release the series on DVD in Region 1. They subsequently released all three seasons on DVD, and on Netflix instant streaming in North America but were no longer available via that service as of March, 2014.
Gallery[]
Canonical status[]
Information from the TV series can be considered literary canon in restricted circumstances.