Tag Archives: Tintin quiz

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Cinephilia Quiz 2: Tintin

Hi all,

Today’s quiz is not really about Cinema but about Tintin. As a matter of fact Tintin’s adventures are no less than any blockbuster action adventure flick and secondly Spielberg is coming up with his Tintin film very soon. So, I think it is the right time to dedicate a set of questions to arguably the greatest comic book ever created.

Rules:

Put your answers as comments.

They are being moderated and will be published only after the deadline.

You can make multiple attempts and in case of conflicts your last answer will be taken as final.

Every question is worth 10 points irrespective of difficulty level (for ease of calculation).

Prizes:

After a three month cycle, the top three cumulative score holders will be given certain prizes. The nature of prizes are still being decided. (Please moderate your expectations, my resources are limited!!!)

Deadline:

24 hours from the moment of publishing.

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Questions:

1. Connect these two pictures.
Clue1: It has nothing to do with the official canon of Tintin.
Clue2: Don’t let Budweiser lead you to other alcoholic beverages, especially Loch Lomond and Johnny Walker.

2. Connect again. The lady in the first image is directly related. Rest are completely symbolic and this list is not exhaustive.

3. P is a journalist turned author who became popular during early 20th century for his work in horror and detective genres. Arguably his most famous work is Q, that has seen multiple film and stage adaptations over the years. He has also been called the Conan Doyle of his country due to his contribution towards detective fiction. But what is relevant here is a lesser known novel R written by him in 1915 which was the basis of a Tintin book S, so much so that both have a character named T with somewhat similar roles. Identify P-T.

4. Sitter of the day, what is this and what product produced from it gives us the name of a Tintin character?

5. George Orwell once wrote,
A particularly interesting detail is that out of the 100,000 tons allotted to the Stationery Office, the War Office gets no less than 25,000 tons, or more than the whole of the book trade put together. […] At the same time paper for books is so short that even the most hackneyed “classic” is liable to be out of print, many schools are short of textbooks, new writers get no chance to start and even established writers have to expect a gap of a year or two years between finishing a book and seeing it published.

How did the events referred to in the above paragraph affect Tintin publications OR what distinguishable characteristics of the Tintin books did it lead to? (The question may look vague but it is easily guessable)

6. The following transition occurred in two different editions of a single Tintin Adventure owing to the changing socio-political scenario of the world. Some other changes include the alteration of the name of an important character and complete removal of two particular characters. Identify the particular Tintin adventure for half marks and explain these changes for full marks.

7. Another sitter: His connection to Tintin is merely coincidental. Nevertheless, identify this officer of Royal Navy who participated in the Anglo Dutch wars and also became an Admiral later on.

8. What is the occasion?

9. The person on the right is believed to have inspired something in literature, which in turn inspired the person on the left to create something. Use the bottom pic as a clue and connect them to a Tintin character.

10. Arthur, Benedict, John, Joseph, Peter, Alfred… some common English names. Connect them to a single Tintin character who appeared only once.
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Answers:


1. Tintin in Thailand, is an unauthorized copy of Tintin. It is created by someone with a pseudonym Bud E Weyser which is again a play on Budweiser. Herge foundation is fighting a legal battle against it.

2. Snowy’s name in various languages. The lady is believed to be Herge’s first girlfriend who was called Milou, which was Snowy’s original name. Rest are symbolic.
Terry Giliam: It is called Terry in various languages.
A band called Mi Lu Bing: It is scalled Mi Lu in Vietnamese (Which is again derived from Milou).
Milo: It is also called Milo in some other languages.

3. P – Gaston Leroux
Q – The Phantom of the Opera
R – Bride of the sun
S – Prisoners of the sun
T – Huascar

4. Cassava roots. Tapioca is prepared from it. General Tapioca.

5. Orwell was referring to the papaer shortage which was common during and after WW-II. This also affected Herge and he was forced by his pubisher to use smaller frames and limit number of pages which led to the standard 62 page format for all books that we are now familiar with.

6. “The Shooting Star”. Published during the Nazi regime, the original version had American Villains. Later on it was changed to a fictional country called Sao Rico. The main financier of Tintin’s adversaries was named Blumenstein which sounded too Jewish. It was later changed to Bohlwinkel although that also sounds Jewish. Two Jewish characters were removed completely. The stereotypical Jewish men were seen hoping that the disaster will save them from to pay off their creditors. Some references to the God were also removed to avoid offending the church.

7. Sir Richard Haddock. Although, it is claimed that Herge became aware of him only after creating the character of Sir Francis Haddock.

8. Presenting the “Light of Truth” award in 2006 to Bishop Desmond Tutu and Herge Foundation. Tintin is the only fictional character to have received it, obviously for his exploits in Tibet.

9. Bianca Castafiore’s favourite song, the Jewel Song from Faust, an opera by Charles Gounod (pic 1) which was inspired in Goethe’s Faust which in turn was apparently inspired by the life of Doctor Johannes Faust (pic 2). Pic 3: Marguerite’s garden in the original production, where the Jewel Song is sung.

10. The English names, when converted to Italian, gives us Arturo Benedetto Giovanni Giuseppe Pietro Arcangelo Alfredo Cartoffoli da Milano, the Milanese driver in “The Calculus Affair”, who appeared only once in a memorable chase sequence.