Amazon.com now has the three previously mentioned Tintin Meccano sets available for pre-order. As I suspected, the boxes they will hit the shelves with are not the same boxes shown in our original coverage.   They still don’t reveal much as far as new images go, but there is one new image of Tintin and Snowy. Well, more or less. Somebody somewhere made sure that not only Tintin’s face but Snowy’s as well were blurred, but it’s still a new image of Tintin and Snowy. This is what is shown in the upper left corner of the new box covers:

While still a frozen posture of Tintin running, this image in my opinion looks more natural than the Tintin shown on the cover of ”Empire”, which many complained looked wrong because it was created specifically for the cover of the magazine instead of being taken out of the film. This one would appear to have been created specifically for advertising purposes (although there is a possibility that it was cut out of a shot from the movie).

But unlike Empire’s Tintin, this Tintin comes right out at the viewer. The edge of Tintin’s hair and of his shoes even come out from the background a bit along with Snowy’s foot, convenient since the movie will be in 3D. At least to me, this image conveys much more kinetic energy than any other image we’ve seen of Tintin. Snowy looks great as well. The makers of this image did a wonderful job of capturing the action in this image and keeping it dynamic. It’s a bit early to comment much more about this image at this point because they still haven’t shown the characters’  faces yet. One more thing to look forward to…

While you wait, check out these images of the covers of the new Meccano sets, and new images of the sets themselves. As always, fans’ opinions on these new toys will differ…

The Seaplane:

The Unicorn:

The Jeep:

Note also the logo on the boxes, once again true to Hergé’s artwork.  Also, the text on the boxes is in French.

Even with the new boxes I still wonder if they won’t come out with others since only two images from the film are on the boxes, and none show the original version from the film of what they are selling. Outside of maybe The Unicorn, I don’t know if I would have recognized the other two sets being Tintin related at all. It still surprises me that the first Tintin merchandise we know of is from Meccano since this will be, to my knowledge, their first sets based off of a movie at all. For being made out of Meccano pieces, I think they did pretty well recreating Hergé’s vehicles. However, I have a hard time seeing many people spending 30, 40, and 50 pounds respectively for these sets.  But you can be the judge of that yourselves.

Very special thanks to Britto for finding this great info!

Sources: www.tintimportintin.com

www.amazon.com

I will be away from my computer until Easter Sunday, so if any major news like a trailer release date or something like that comes out, and you don’t read about it here, that’s why. Or any other news. Those of you who do such a good job finding news please continue to do so. Sometimes I slap myself in the face for not having seen the news already, and other times I can’t figure out how you find the great stuff. However you find it, I will appreciate any comments you leave with any info you find.  Should I get a wifi connection while i’m away at a restaurant or something, I will try to post on whatever you find.

I’m not expecting much huge news for a while though. Confirming my suspicions that the actors have been told to reveal as little as possible, I found this in an interview with Nick and Simon:

So what sort of voices do Thomson and Thompson have?
Pegg: That would be a spoiler.

I guess so. Can you describe in the broadest sense then?
Pegg: Well they are a pair of bumbling detectives …

Frost: You can’t see it but there are people here from Herge’s estate pointing rifles at us so we can’t really say anything about Tintin.

Almost every time I read an interview with them I laugh at some point.

Also,even if it’s not news, if you find a neat Tintin drawing out there (or make one) feel free to let me know. Like this one from example from ”The Ephemerist”:

I like the ”new” look it has to it. It almost reminds me of Disney channel cartoons like ”American Dragon” or something like that. It is easy to see how, if Tintin were still drawn today, this could be his new style.  If you feel imaginative and creative, or find something Tintin related somewhere else, this blog has always loved to give credit to such fun drawings. I haven’t done it lately because there has been a lot of news, but I will be doing it more often now.

Sources: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10719037

http://www.sparehed.com/

On April 12,1961, fifty years from today, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to journey into space. Today he has rightfully earned a fun animated logo on Google in honor of Russia’s great accomplishment, that if you recommend you check out if you read this today. I thought it would be fun for us Tintin fans to remember that Tintin and his crew went out into space over ten years earlier, on March 30, 1950! Even Snowy beat Laika as the first dog in space, seven years before the launch of Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. And just so that it doesn’t look like I’m trying to make the Russians look bad,  Tintin of course also beat the Neil Armstrong and the rest of NASA to the moon almost 20 years before they landed on 20 July 1969. It truly is fascinating how much Hergé figured out in advance. I know it would never make for a very good movie now, but Destination moon and Explorers on the moon continue to be my two favorite books in the series. Why not go check them out on more time?

I’ve actually quoted a bit from this before, but up until know hadn’t seen the whole video. You can watch it here. It’s short and doesn’t reveal much, but it’s still Jamie Bell on Tintin. He reveals that he is very confident that the movie will be a hit, and that they really just don’t want to let the fans down. I laughed when he was asked if he had seen any finished footage and if he could talk about a specific scene that stood out to him because he only answered about the scenes we already knew about from the empire photos (something like this: well…there’s a lot of different landscapes in the film..a scene in the ocean…in the dessert…there’s an airplane sequence that’s really fantastic…) Then he said ”this is all stuff from the book, I’m not really revealing anything, but I think for the fans who know it they will know what I’m talking about.”  I hope I can safely speak for the rest of the fans ”who know it” here saying that not one of those 3 scenes actually was in the book ”The Secret of The Unicorn”  as the title of the video suggests but were in ”The Crab With The Golden Claws” and there has got to be more footage out there they could let us see…He must have been tipped off by somebody not to reveal much to the press about the film’s other content.  Sorry, but this isn’t good news for those of us dying to see a trailer…looks like they are going to continue to be very secretive about what gets out and when. This is just a guess,but considering the movie comes out in the fall I don’t expect to see a trailer until late summer. I don’t know if I can wait that long…

There is also an interesting part where Bell is asked if the film could be ”potentially more successful than Avatar”. That would be cool, but as he himself said ”that’s a pretty high bar to break…”. Ha ha ha ha a REALLY high bar… My favorite part is the end ” We just want to create a nice family-oriented action-film with characters that feel like they’re your family”.  That’s the kind of great movie that is so uncommon today, and I’m sure that’s the kind of movie Hergé would have wanted.

The world-famous author and screen-writer will be writing the script for Tintin 2! This is absolutely wonderful news for those who are fans of his popular ”Alex Rider” series (me included). Anthony Horowitz is a wonderful storyteller and a master at keeping the reader interested. His own stories are full of adventure, and in the case of Alex Rider, also center around the action packed life of a teenager. He is also very experienced and is known for putting tons of research into his work. He focuses on the details,and that’s good news for a Tintin fan. Here we have the info straight from the horse’s mouth, while speaking on Richard Bacon’s radio 5 talk show:

I’m working in Hollywood at the moment, I’m writing a feature film even as we speak. I’ve been hired to write Tintin…

The Secret of the Unicorn is being directed by Steven Spielberg and was written originally bySteven Moffat, of course the writer of Doctor Who in this country. He did a couple of drafts then it was taken over by Edgar Wright… they’ve got [that] coming out at Christmas and if that film is a success and works and gets an audience I’m writing the sequel to it, Prisoners of the Sun, which Peter Jackson is going to direct.

So the story of Tintin 2 has officially been chosen. We had heard rumors, especially from Peter, but this had not been confirmed until now.

Although I’ll admit that I was really hoping for ”The Calculus affair”, ”Prisoners of the Sun” is a great choice. Just like ”Secret of the Unicorn” it is a two-part series, and even among Hergé’ s other books it is considered to be a masterpiece. The story revolves around a mysterious ”curse” that puts 7 explorers into the hospital after their return from investigating some ruins in Peru and bringing artifacts back, among them an inca mummy.  One by one the explorers fall into a strange coma, and then Professor Calculus is kidnapped. Tintin and Haddock try to solve the mystery of the curse from the start, and then set off to save Calculus as well.

The book shows us just how far Tintin and Haddock will go to save a friend. They risk everything as they go through one adventure after another on their quest. In one part their train car is disconnected from the rest of the train and they slide down the mountains with no way of stopping their car. In another,they have to sneak onto a ship that says it is under quarantine with armed men on board. In the jungle they face vicious condors and crocodiles. Then they have to cross over a raging waterfall. And to top it all off, they stumble onto a secret hiding place where it turns out the ancient Incan people are still alive, where the whole gang is condemned to die at the stake, lit by the very power of the sun. It is not hard to see why this adventure was chosen to be adapted to the big screen. And I can’t think of a better person for the job to be writing the script than Anthony Horowitz.

For those of you wondering how this will tie in with ”Red Rackham’s Treasure” being the second movie (or at least the beginning of it), I’m not sure how it will play out.  It looks like they will introduce Calculus at the beginning of the movie and then kidnap him almost right afterwards. Just how much of Red Rackham’s Treasure, if any, will be in the movie? We will see. All we know is that Calculus HAS to be in Tintin 2,and we do not believe he is in Tintin 1 because he has not been cast. I think they will either tie in Red Rackham’s treasure at the very beginning of the film like they are doing with The Crab with the Golden Claws for the first movie, or take Calculus out of the ending of The Secret of The Unicorn-Red Rackham’s Treasure for Tintin 1 and have them find the treasure in the basement, then introduce him for Tintin 2 at the start of the film.  However they do it,  I’m sure they know how much the fans love Calculus and will make sure we have plenty of time to see him in the movie.

Very special thanks to Britto and Pro-man who found this information!!! I really appreciate it! Keep up the excellent work!

Sources: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/04/08/anthony-horowitz-confirms-his-involvement-in-tintin/

Photo: http://www.kjoek.nl/schrijvers.php?schrijversid=dfef2f3cc4480f5c43a

Poor Tintin.  His misinformed author made him racist during his visit to the Congo and the world still never forgave him 80 years later. Well,at least Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo hasn’t. Many of you knew this already,but for those of you new to the story, this Congolese citizen has been pushing that something be done about ”Tintin in the Congo” . What many of you may not have known is that his case against the book,which for months know has seemed to have been forgotten,  has been reopened. Belgium’s government has accepted the case,and if Bienvenu get’s his way, the book will only be published with a warning to the reader on the front about it’s racial context and an article about the historical context of colonial Congo. Moulinsart,of course,will be fighting hard to be able to continue selling the book as they are. Ironic isn’t it? Moulinsart has been a nightmare to so many people over copyright laws, and now they have their own nightmare to deal with.

This isn’t the first time Tintin in the Congo has gone through something like this. The book has already been banned from libraries in the UK and in America.  The book has been accused of all sorts of things, and people want it banned not only because of it’s allegedly racist content,but also for it’s diverse sections containing cruelty to animals. However, I think anybody who has read the book will have to agree that the accusations are true. They have simply gone a bit overboard. The book does show the black people as way way inferior people than Tintin,and I personally dislike the part where Tintin indirectly makes a train fall of the tracks and then forces the Congolese people to put it back up.  As far as violence goes, Tintin kills all kinds of animals from snakes to lions, and in the original version even blew up a rhinoceros with a stick of dynamite!  Yes, he really did. Hergé later redrew that part so that Tintin just makes the rhino run away from a camera flash.

But the racist side of the book simply represents Hergé’s stereotype about Congolese people. He couldn’t go to the Congo so he based his info off of what he saw and read. And so he had some very wrong ideas. It wasn’t just him though!  All of Europe had a completely different view of black people in the 1930′s!  The book was not a conscious effort to make the people of the Congo look bad. Nor is it filled with inappropriate jokes towards the black people by Tintin or anybody else. The book just portrays the world of the Congo as Hergé honestly thought Tintin would see it. Sure he was wrong…but should the book be against the law? Nobody is reading the book and honestly thinking it’s like that today,and I doubt many believe it was ever like that at all.

And to those who fight against the cruelty to animals part of the book, I ask them why on Earth it is such a big deal in the first place. I have yet to find people so devoted to ban or put a warning label on some of our culture’s latest video games that have got to have much more influence and certainly more people influenced by them than those who read Tintin in the Congo concerning violence…toward humans. Why aren’t we letting our kid’s read Tintin in the Congo because they kill animals but we tell them it’s OK to let them slit the throats of all kinds of  people in Assassin’s Creed and other video games filled with blood and gore? Hunting big game was normal when the book was written,and the killing’s in the book actually remind me more of the Looney tunes. Again,I don’t believe anybody is going to want to go out and shoot a lion after reading the book. But hey,if it offend’s you, it IS pretty cruel.  But is it bad enough to ban the book? Worse stuff is practically shown on Cartoon Network…

So if you do buy the book before the trial is over,or have a copy already, enjoy the ”original” publication and make sure you understand what it is you are reading. Tintin in the Congo is one of Hergé’s primitive works based on erroneous information. He was sorry he wrote it later on, and didn’t mean to hurt anybody’s feelings. He tried to make up for it later. Nobody remembers the gypsy protecting Tintin with the peace sign on his motorcycle helmet, or the one that risked his life in Tibet to save a Japanese boy. These books, and many others, are the one’s Hergé would have liked us to remember most.