The Black Island

Totally Tintin

This week on Totally Tintin, Dave is really excited to be talking about The Black Island – one of his favourite Tintin stories! Ian thinks it’s pretty good too and that’s because it is! Forgers, a mysterious German doctor and more airplanes than you can shake a stick at; Tintin travels the length of Great Britain to crack the mystery of the Black Island!

The-Black-Island

6 thoughts on “The Black Island”

  1. What are you, Ian, Snowy’s agent?
    I’m no expert on dogs but I believe Great Danes can have a black and white “splotched” coat.
    I believe the part of the plane you were thinking of in the Scottish crash was the canopy.
    The Tiger Moth was the training plane used by the RAF (and other’s, including Canada) before and after WW2. It may have been chosen for Tintin because as a reliable and steady training aircarft it was easier and more believable for a novice pilot (as in the mechanic) to fly without crashing. I think it’s also signifigent for the story that the Tiger Moth used for arial aerobatics.
    I would call the device for the gorilla’s broken arm a “sling” or “arm sling”.
    I must say I disagree with Dave’s assertion that Tintin’s blankness prevented people from identifing with him. It’s that very blankness that allows so many people of diverse backgrounds too identify with the character, put themselves in his place.
    In a few books the role of “bitchy sidekick” will be taken up by Captain Haddock.
    I have these books so memorised that when you discuss a particular panel I can usually visualize it in my head without having to look at the book.
    You haven’t reached my favourite Tintin book yet, I’m anxious to see what you have to say about that.
    Thanks for the shout out!
    Keep up the good work!

  2. One thing I was wondering about. When the Thompson’s plane showed up at the air show just how many hours had they been flying? Early television was broadcast live! In that time Tintin had flown to Scotland, crashed, made his way to the Black Island and was in the middle of his adventure and the plane was still in the air! How much fuel did the Tiger Moth carry?

  3. Takes a while to make time to listen to these, however a few things;
    England is not the whole of the UK/Britain as David keeps saying.
    Lomond is pronounced like low-mond not lom-ond
    and Ian was right about sporran ; spor-an rather than spo-ran
    Beach landings continue on some Scottish islands today; https://youtu.be/nQJEZqyLI08

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