Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14437 in DVD
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 5
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 5

Amazon.com
The Adventures of Tintin adapts one of the world's best-loved characters into a extremely faithful and entertaining animated television series. A Canadian production broadcast in the U.S. on HBO, the series vividly captures the intrepid reporter and his colorful friends (including his dog, Snowy, the blustery Captain Haddock, the brilliant but absent-minded Professor Calculus, and the detective twins Thompson and Thomson) as they travel the world on adventures that mix action, mystery, and humor. The books were originally written in French by the Belgian author Hergé (though Tintin himself is a British character), but the DVD set includes both French and English language tracks as well as French and English subtitles.

The five discs feature two stories each: the two-part space-travel epic, Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon; two of the later adventures, Land of Black Gold and Flight 714; the Scotland-based mystery The Black Island and the political intrigue of King Ottokar's Sceptre; the eerie two-parter The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun, in which an ancient curse leads to a trip to Peru; and two early adventures, The Shooting Star and The Broken Ear. The animated series perfectly captures the look of the books (although The Broken Ear, the book of which had the roughest art, has been smoothed out to look like the rest of the series), and each 42-minute episode has enough time to re-create the books' character and wit, if not the exact layout and pacing. (The exception is The Shooting Star, which underwent heavy editing to fit into a mere 22 minutes.) Tintin fans will love reliving these adventures, and newcomers have a wonderful discovery awaiting them. (Ages 8 and older: moments of peril, threatening themes, alchohol consumption) --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

C'est Magnifique!
I ordered The Adventures of Tintin from Amazon, but I got Les Adventures De Tintin. Not to worry. These DVDs include an English language audio track. I suspect there is no set labelled in English, since this beautiful creation comes courtesy of Nelvana studios in Ontario, Canada. But this box set is an embarrassment of riches; American DVDs should be packaged so well! Within the box are five DVDs, each with their own slipcases, with two episodes per DVD.

As Tintin fans know who may have caught these shows in their brief run on TV, Nelvana has done everything right. Somehow the characters seem right out of Herge's popular comics, which have sold over 200 million copies worldwide. Nelvana wisely refrained from updating the stories, so the first episode, "Destination Moon" takes place before the lunar landings, retaining the period feel of Herge's comic. This blue box containing vols. 1-5 has a companion red box with vols. 6-10. With the two boxes side by side the DVD jackets spell out Tintin, with a picture of Herge's intrepid sleuth and his canine companion, Snowy. Hopefully these sets will come back into print in the US, along with other lesser-known French and Belgian comics like Spirou and Fantasio (the source of the Disney cartoon Marsupilami). For Tintin fans, both francais and anglais, c'est magnifique!

Episodes in this box set (Vols. 1-5) include: Destination Moon/ Explorers on the Moon, Land of the Black Gold/ Flight 714, The Black Island/ King Ottokar's Sceptre, The Seven Crystal Balls/ Prisoners of the Sun, and The Shooting Star/ The Broken Ear.

Episodes in the red box set (Vols. 6-10) include: The Crab with the Golden Claws/ Tintin in Tibet, The Blue Lotus/ The Calculus Affair, Cigars of the Pharaoh, The Secret of the Unicorn/ Red Rackham's Treasure, and The Castafiore Emerald/ Tintin and the Picaros.

Best DVDs ever!
I got both Tintin DVD sets for Christmas and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! I think I've seen each DVD, both in English and in French (it comes with both) at least 3 or 4 times.

Anyone who knows anything about the history of Tintin knows that he evolves all the time. The books we buy today are not the books that were originally published, are not the original strips that were first published in the Belgian Catholic newspaper in which Tintin was born. Everytime Tintin was changed, he was refined- he became less naive, more politically aware, more worldly (as opposed to Belgian). Whether you think this is a good or bad thing is up to you.

While these DVDs are not identical to the comic strips, I appreciate them for a few reasons. First, they're good, clean entertainment. They bring Tintin to life in a wonderful way. Plus, they're a great way to practice my French. You can watch these in English or French with English or French subtitles.

When I visited Chenonceau, the chateau on which Moulinsart was modeled, they had a Tintin exhibit in one of the stables, and they were playing one of these cartoons, in French. It was great.

I highly recommend these for anyone who loves Tintin or who is trying to learn French in a creative manner

Something great from the past.
As a child growing up in Great Britain, I watched all episodes of Tintin during the sixties. Now I have bought this boxed set so that my children can see the show that I enjoyed so much. Now I see that the cartoons have been shortened. In 'Destination Moon,' Tintin and the others were supposed to travel to the moon in a rocket called XM1. But some bad guys took off in it, so Tintin and the others followed in a rocket called XM2. I clearly remember that, even after four decades. Somehow, that part was cut out. Even still, my children love the show as much as I did, so I give it five stars.