The Adventures of Tintin (TV series)

*The Adventures of Tintin*
The Adventures of Tintin
Genre	Action; Adventure; Mystery; Comedy drama;
Based on	Characters; by Hergé
Developed by	Stéphane Bernasconi
Voices of	(English version); Colin O'Meara; David Fox; Wayne Robson; John Stocker; Dan Hennessey; Susan Roman; (French version); Thierry Wermuth; Christian Pelissier; Henri Labussiere; Yves Barsacq; Jeanas Pierre Moulin; Susan Roman;
Theme music composer	Ray Parker; Tom Szczesniak;
Composers	Ray Parker; Jim Morgan; Tom Szczesniak;
Country of origin	France; Belgium; Canada;
Original languages	French; English;
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	39 (13 in each season)
Production
Executive producers	Michael Hirsh; Patrick Loubert; Clive A. Smith; Phillipe Gildas; Pierre Bertrand-Jaume; Simon Hart;
Producer	Robert Rea
Running time	22 minutes (approx. per episode)
Production companies	Nelvana Limited; Ellipse Programme;
Original release
Network	FR3/France 3 (France); Global Television Network (Canada); Nickelodeon/HBO (United States);
Release	2 October 1991 –; 28 September 1992

The Adventures of Tintin is an animated television series co-produced and animated by French animation studio Ellipse Programme and Canadian studio Nelvana Limited. The series is based on the comic book series of the same name by Belgian cartoonist Hergé (French pronunciation: [ɛʁʒe]).^[1] 39 half-hour episodes were produced over the course of three seasons, originally airing in France, Canada and the United States between 1991 and 1992. Beginning in 1992, the series was syndicated to various other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, Brazil and Indonesia.^[2]

History

The television series was directed by French director Stéphane Bernasconi, with Peter Hudecki as the Canadian unit director. Hudecki was the primary director but could not be credited due to co-production restrictions. It was produced by Ellipse (France) and Nelvana (Canada) on behalf of the Hergé Foundation.^[3] The series' writers included Toby Mullally, Eric Rondeaux, Martin Brossolet, Amelie Aubert, Dennise Fordham, and Alex Boon. It was the second television adaptation of Hergé's books, following the Belgian animation company Belvision's Hergé's Adventures of Tintin.

Production

The series used traditional animation techniques^[4] and adheres closely to the original books, going so far as to transpose some frames from the original books directly to the screen.^[5] In the episodes "Destination Moon" and "Explorers on the Moon", 3-D animation was used for the moon rocket — an unusual step in 1991. Each frame of the animation was then printed and recopied onto celluloid, hand painted in gouache, and then laid onto a painted background.

Artistically, the series chose a constant style, unlike in the books. In the books, the images had been drawn over the course of 47 years, during which Hergé's style developed considerably. However, later televised episodes, such as the "Moon" stories and "Tintin in America", clearly demonstrate the artists' development throughout the production of the television series. The series' original production language was English, but all visuals (road signs, posters, and settings) remained in French. Backgrounds in the show were more detailed and more cinematic shots were featured than in the original books.

Reception

Along with fans, critics have praised the series for being "generally faithful" to the originals, with compositions having been actually taken directly from the panels in the original comic books.^[6]

Hergé's cameo appearances

Hergé, the creator of Tintin, makes cameo appearances reminiscent of Stan Lee and Alfred Hitchcock in each episode of 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 a passerby checking his watch in "The Blue Lotus", a reporter in "The Broken Ear", or a technician in "Explorers on the Moon". His letterbox can be seen next to Tintin in "The Crab with the Golden Claws". He also appeared as a gangster in "Tintin in America" and an asylum inmate at the in "Cigars of the Pharaoh", along with his fellow artist and collaborator Edgar P. Jacobs.^[7]

Music

The underscore music and the main title theme for the series were written by Ray Parker and Tom Szczesniak, and recorded by engineer James Morgan. Excerpts from the score were released by Lé Studio Ellipse on CD and cassette in conjunction with Universal Music Group on the StudioCanal label. It is now out of print in both formats.

Releases

Online platforms

Since its remastering into 1080p widescreen high definition, Amazon Prime and Netflix have both made the series available in certain territories.

Home video

In 2012, Shout Factory released all 3 seasons of the show on DVD.

Voice artists

English (The Adventures of Tintin)

Colin O'Meara as Tintin, Lieutenant Kavitch, additional voices
Susan Roman as Snowy
David Fox as Captain Haddock, Sir Francis Haddock
Wayne Robson as Professor Cuthbert Calculus
John Stocker as Thompson, additional voices
Maureen Forrester as Bianca Castafiore
Vernon Chapman as Nestor
Denis Akiyama as Mitsuhirato, Bunji Kuraki, Tharkey
Harvey Atkin as Emir Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab
Ho Chow as Mr. Li, Cheng Li-Kin
Keith Knight as Gustav Bird, additional voices
Julie Lemieux as Chang Chong-Chen
Peter Meech as Radio Announcer
Chris Wiggins as Wang Chen-Yee
Peter Wildman as Hector and Alfred Alembick

Additional voices were provided by:

Yank Azman
Barbara Budd
Robert Cait
Graeme Campbell
Liz Dufresne
Paul Haddad
Graham Haley
Keith Hampshire
David Huband
Marvin Ishmael
Tom Kneebone
Michael Lamport
Ray Landry
Neil Munro
Frank Perry
Frank Proctor
Mario Romano
Ron Rubin
August Schellenberg

French (Les Aventures de Tintin)

Thierry Wermuth as Tintin
Susan Roman as Milou
Christian Pelissier as Capitaine Haddock
Henri Labussiere as Professeur Tryphon Tournesol
Yves Barsacq as Dupont, Wronzoff, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, Mohammed Ben Kalish Ezab, Ridgewell, Wang Jen-Ghié, le colonel Alvarez, le professeur Philémon Siclone, le docteur Rotule, le Grand Précieux, Calys, Kronick, Gino the photographer, additional voices
Jean-Pierre Moulin as Dupond, le maharadjah de Rawhajpoutalah, Muskar XII, Chaubet, Boris, Sanders, Philippulus le prophète, Manolo, le photographe japonais, Bohlwinkel, Miller, Walther (voix 1), Jean-Loup de la Batellerie, additional voices
Michel Ruhl as Nestor, le professeur Hornet, Walther (voix 2), additional voices
Marie Vincent as Bianca Castafiore
Michel Gudin as le général Alcazar
Serge Sauvion as Rastapopoulos
Marc Moro as Allan Thompson, Maxime Loiseau, le colonel Jorgen, le colonel Sponsz, Ranko, Pedro, Al Capone, Dawson, Ramon Bada, Bab El Ehr, Hippolyte Calys, Hippolyte Bergamotte, Chiquito, Huascar, Barnabé, Pablo, Hans Boehm, Paolo Colombani, Gino the pilot, Yamato, le général Haranochi, Ivan, Zlop, Himmerszeck, Ragdalam, Isidore Boullu, Matéo, additional voices
Michel Tureau as Müller, Szut, Bobby Smiles, Rackham le Rouge, Mitsuhirato, Baxter, Igor Wagner, Gustave Loiseau, Aristide Filoselle, Nestor Halambique, Alfred Halambique, Marc Charlet, Tharkey, Kavitch, le docteur Krollspell, Tom, lieutenant Delcourt, Walter Rizotto, le fakir, le docteur Finney, Alfredo Topolino, Walter, additional voices
Henri Lambert as Frank Wolff, le Grand Inca, Sirov, le général Tapioca, Alonzo Perez, le professeur Cantonneau, Mac O'Connor, Foudre Bénie, Spalding, Stephan, Kurt, Mik Ezdanitoff, Herbert Dawes, additional voices
David Lesser as Tchang Tchong-Jen
Serge Lhorca as Oliveira da Figueira
Sophie Arthuys as Abdallah, Irma, le fils du maharadjah de Rawhajpoutalah
Patricia Legrand as Zorrino, Lobsang
Jean-Pierre Leroux as Bunji Kuraki, Omar Ben Salaad
Georges Berthomieu as Séraphin Lampion
William Coryn as Didi
Daniel Brémont as Laszlo Carreidas

Episodes

Running order of the TV series as per original broadcast schedule.

Season 1

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboard by
1–2	"The Crab with the Golden Claws"	Stéphane Bernasconi	J. D. Smith, Robert Rea and Christophe Poujol	Stéphane Bernasconi
3–4	"The Secret of the Unicorn"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Christophe Poujol	Bernard Deyries
5	"Red Rackham's Treasure"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Alex Boon	Francois Hemmen
6–7	"Cigars of the Pharaoh"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Aaron Barzman	Christian Choquet
8–9	"The Blue Lotus"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Laurel L. Russwurm and Robert Rea	Raymond Jafelice and Gilles Cazaux
10–11	"The Black Island"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Peter Meech	Christian Choquet and Bernard Deyries
12–13	"The Calculus Affair"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Toby Mullally and Eric Rondeaux	Pascal Morelli

Season 2

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboard by
1	"The Shooting Star"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Peter Meech, J. D. Smith and Robert Rea	Raymond Jafelice, Stéphane Bernasconi and Franck Ekinci
2–3	"The Broken Ear"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Alex Boon, J. D. Smith and Robert Rea	Raymond Jafelice and Jean-Charles Finck
4–5	"King Ottokar's Sceptre"	Stéphane Bernasconi	E. Shipley Turner, Martin Brossollet and Robert Rea	Raymond Jafelice and Gilles Cazaux
6–7	"Tintin in Tibet"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Bruce Robb and Christophe Poujol	Raymond Jafelice, Franck Ekinci and Damien Millereau
8–9	"Tintin and the Picaros"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Bruce Robb and Amelie Aubert	Jean-Charles Finck
10–11	"Land of Black Gold"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Dennise Fordham and Eric Rondeaux	Raymond Jafelice, Damien Millereau and Philippe Fernandez
12–13	"Flight 714"	Stéphane Bernasconi	David P. Scherer and Eric Rondeaux	Raymond Jafelice, Philippe Fernandez, Damien Millereau

Season 3

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Storyboard by
1–2	"The Red Sea Sharks"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Christophe Poujol	Jean-Charles Finck
3–4	"The Seven Crystal Balls"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Eric Rondeaux and Robert Rea	Damien Millereau
5–6	"Prisoners of the Sun"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Christophe Poujol	Frank Nissen
7–8	"The Castafiore Emerald"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Eric Rondeaux and Martin Brossollet	Gilles Cazaux
9–10	"Destination Moon"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Eric Rondeaux and Christophe Poujol	Damien Millereau
11–12	"Explorers on the Moon"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Christophe Poujol	Gilles Cazaux
13	"Tintin in America"	Stéphane Bernasconi	Eric Rondeaux and Robert Rea	Stéphane Bernasconi

References

^ Elsworth, Peter C. T. (24 December 1991). "Tintin Searches for a U.S. Audience". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
^ The Adventures of Tintin (Animation, Action, Adventure), Ellipse Animation, Nelvana, Fondation Hergé, 4 November 1991, retrieved 20 April 2022^{[better source needed]}
^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 428–429. ISBN 978-1538103739.
^ "Popular Belgian comic-strip character 'Tintin' to get mega-boost on U.S. cable TV". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 851–852. ISBN 978-1-4766-6599-3.
^ Lofficier, Jean-Marc; Lofficier, Randy (2002). The Pocket Essential Tintin. Pocket Essentials. p. 90. ISBN 1-904048-17-X.
^ "Hergé's cameo appearances". Tintinologist.org. 27 March 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2016.

External links

Tintin at Citel Video
The Adventures of Tintin at IMDb
Guide to screen adaptions of "Tintin" at tintinologist.org

[1] Elsworth, Peter C. T. (24 December 1991). "Tintin Searches for a U.S. Audience". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 August 2010.

[2] The Adventures of Tintin (Animation, Action, Adventure), Ellipse Animation, Nelvana, Fondation Hergé, 4 November 1991, retrieved 20 April 2022^{[better source needed]}

[Perlmutter-3] Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 428–429. ISBN 978-1538103739.

[4] "Popular Belgian comic-strip character 'Tintin' to get mega-boost on U.S. cable TV". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 25 August 2010.

[Erickson-5] Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 851–852. ISBN 978-1-4766-6599-3.

[6] Lofficier, Jean-Marc; Lofficier, Randy (2002). The Pocket Essential Tintin. Pocket Essentials. p. 90. ISBN 1-904048-17-X.

[7] "Hergé's cameo appearances". Tintinologist.org. 27 March 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2016.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]