airyairyaucontraire
I do think the Spielberg Tintin movie (it’s so hard to remember Spielberg directed it for some reason, my brain assumes it’s a Peter Jackson joint) is a good movie but it’s such a curious adaptational choice to combine The Crab with the Golden Claws with The Secret of the Unicorn to create a story about how Tintin meets Captain Haddock for the first time. In the books, the whole reason why Tintin buys the model ship is that Captain Haddock is already his best friend and companion and he thinks he would like it. He wants it because it would make someone he loves happy. It’s just a spontaneous “I saw this and thought of you” gift. He resists other people’s efforts to buy the ship because it’s a present for his friend.
In the movie he has none of that motivation because he doesn’t even know the Captain yet!
(I like how he has little sweat drops of annoyance popping off him in the top right-hand corner)
also while locating this bit to screencap it (in the PDFs of all Tintin books that I keep about my person* for just such an occasion) I was reminded that the story begins with Thomson and Thompson on the lookout for pickpockets and they decide to start at the flea market because Tintin mentioned he was going there today and they hope to bump into him.
look at them pretend to be surprised to see him
I just think it’s cute how everyone’s decisions at the start of this story are driven by how much they love their friends and want to see them and do things that will make them happy
but none of that can be in the movie because they don’t know each other yet!
*well on my computer same thing
Not only were their names changed to sound English, it created a little hassle later on because the translators weren’t aware that Hergé gave Captain Haddock’s villainous first mate the name Allan Thompson. When they got up to translating The Crab with the Golden Claws they didn’t want to imply he was related to one of the detectives which is why in the English version he’s referred to only as Allan with no indication whether that’s his first or last name.
A new wave pop group from England was named Thompson Twins after them, so hey, they were culturally influential.
