Flight 714 is an interesting Tintin book, if only because it’s the most conventional Tintin story we’ve had in quite some time, while also being one of the oddest books in the franchise. There have been comparisons made between Hergé’s penultimate completed entry in The Adventures of Tintin and the television show Lost, which should give you some inkling of just how strange things get during this particular trip. And, given Tintin’s been to the surface of the moon, things get quite strange. Don't sweat the landing... There’s quite a lot of fuss about Flight 714 when you discuss it among Tintin fans. The most obviously controversial facet is the ending, which involves flying saucers and alien abductions. For some readers, it seems like this is clearly a bridge too far, and it seems to strain the imagination just a little bit too much. Indeed, Hergé himself seems to concede the point just a little bit. “You’re going too far,” Haddock states when the subject of alien life comes up, “we aren’t as gullible as that!” However, I really don’t see it as especially strange subject matter for the stories. Hergé had always had a bit of a fascination with pulp pseudo-science, as any reader can attest. Even if one writes off The Shooting Star as a dream or a hallucination, there’s plenty of very strange stuff that Hergé has included in his books, drawing on the rich urban legends of the twentieth century. While he provided a rational explanation, the Curse of Tutankhamun served as the inspiration of both Cigars of the Pharaoh and Seven Crystal Balls. The Yeti featured in Tintin in Tibet. Even the presence of ball-lightning in Seven Crystal Balls and the suggestion of a secret Inca tribe in South America in Prisoners of the Sun speak of these sorts of pop culture myths that develop over time. Things are heating up... Flight 714 was written in the seventies, and it’s only fitting that Hergé should look to the cultural landscape of the time for inspiration. The “ancient astronaut” theory, which would form the basis of Stargate, was very popular at this point of time, and it was arguably so influential that a lot of us are tangentially aware of it even today. Why is it so strange that Hergé should include some pseudo-science that has its roots in the second half of the twentieth century, rather than just the earlier years? I think it fits quite well, in the context of the story, demonstrating that Hergé isn’t going to leave his characters stranded in a fictional universe fifty years out of date. There is the argument that the aliens effectively come out of nowhere and serve as a rather convenient deus ex machina. It’s hard to argue against that point too strongly. The telepath even engineers the conclusion to the story with some rather convenient plot devices, spotting a floating raft and observing, “Zat is suggestink how adventure can be finishink for Tintin and comrades.” The language is so obvious, though, that it’s hard to believe Hergé didn’t know what he was doing, allowing the character to speak as if we were the author, stumbling across a convenient way to tie up all loose ends. I think that to criticise it as a convenient solution is to miss the entire point. It’s undoubtedly a convenient solution. Everyone was kung-fu fighting... Reading Flight 714 now, after all these years, it’s quite striking. It’s hard to believe my younger self missed all the evidence that Hergé built up over the course of the story, but I think I get it now. It’s easy to embrace Flight 714 at face value, given that it has been a while since we’ve had a relatively straightforward and conventional little story, but I suspect Hergé meant it to be something just the tiniest bit odd. After all, following the playful experimentation of Tintin in Tibet and The Castofiore Emerald, you don’t just go back to standard storytelling. Flight 714 reads as an affectionate parody of a conventional Tintin story. Of course, Hergé is rather gentle, and he has a deep respect and love for his creations, so it is easy to miss – not to mention that the writer has a sharp enough sense of humour most of the time, it can be quite easy to miss when he’s playing with the audience. Still, so many details fit perfectly that it’s hard for me not to suspect that Hergé was being just the tiniest bit cheeky in putting together this story, with a smile on his face as he gently pokes at his familiar plot devices and story elements. Tintin stays ahead of the game... Mr. Wagg remarks of Haddock, “The old humbag, he doesn’t half come up with some comic turns!” He’s not wrong. Hergé has had a bit of fun in the past with the sheer volume of contrived coincidence that it takes to get an adventure to work – with The Castofiore Emerald even featuring a variety of fascinating and provoking elements that refused to coalesce into one central mystery. Flight 714 is just the opposite, it’s a fairly banal journey that proceeds to get more interesting and compl
Parents need to know that The Secret of the Unicorn is actually part one of a two-part adventure rendered in highly realistic comic book/graphic novel style by the Belgian artist/writer Herge in the mid-1940s. This story of a hunt for lost pirate treasure ends in a cliffhanger, with the actual undersea search occurring in the follow-up, Red Rackham's Treasure. Those two books, along with episodes from the unrelated Tintin adventure The Crab With the Golden Claws, are the basis of the Steven Spielberg-directed 2011 animated film The Adventures of Tintin.
Wonderful experience of Tintin. Would love to explore the world with Tintin. Love all the characters in this book.Wish to go to Sydney and experience all the adventures. Love the way Herge has made me experience the lovely place. This is very enthusiastic and also one of the oddest books in the series.
Amazing tour Parents need to know that The Secret of the Unicorn is actually part one of a two-part adventure rendered in highly realistic comic book/graphic novel style by the Belgian artist/writer Herge in the mid-1940s. This story of a hunt for lost pirate treasure ends in a cliffhanger, with the actual undersea search occurring in the follow-up, Red Rackham's Treasure. Those two books, along with episodes from the unrelated Tintin adventure The Crab With the Golden Claws, are the basis of the Steven Spielberg-directed 2011 animated film The Adventures of Tintin.
Naren Kalasagonds 31-Aug-2017 Flight 714 to Sydney (Tintin) (English) Amazing tour Parents need to know that The Secret of the Unicorn is actually part one of a two-part adventure rendered in highly realistic comic book/graphic novel style by the Belgian artist/writer Herge in the mid-1940s. This story of a hunt for lost pirate treasure ends in a cliffhanger, with the actual undersea search occurring in the follow-up, Red Rackham's Treasure. Those two books, along with episodes from the unrelated Tintin adventure The Crab With the Golden Claws, are the basis of the Steven Spielberg-directed 2011 animated film The Adventures of Tintin. this was just mind blowing
This book is a marvelous book in this book we can actually feel the happenings as it is a book of adventures this a really amazing book.In this book my favorite charecter was the puppy as it took many risks and the most popular risk taker TIN-TIN. Thank you and you do not need to say that all fields are mandatory
this book is wonderful It has adventures feeling attached. It makes us to know more about such kind of adventures stories... This is very enthusiastic and so much better..... I suggest thi sbook is very useful to the primary children to make their concentration towards the stories.. So this book helps us to gain the concentration......