Customer Reviews

Destination Moon (The Adventures of Tintin)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Along with its sequel, Explorers on the Moon, Destination Moon is the most fully realised of Tintin's adventures. Published over a decade before the lunar landing of 1969, Herge's vision of space travel is a convincing one. Brilliantly illustrated with Herge's unique cinematic style and featuring some excellent villains, as well as hilarious antics from the Thompson Twins, Destination Moon is a must read.

Although this book is geared toward children, it can be enjoyed by adults too. Destination Moon was the first book I read by Herge, and I immediately went on to read the others. The storylines are wonderful - you really get caught up in them! And the pictures are great! That is one thing I really enjoyed about this book - the pictures! You also have to pay attention to Snowy's antics! What a character! This book is a must-read!

Herge is the greatest comic drawer in the world. Tintin's adventures are good for both children and adults, maybe even better for adults that children. I am just sorry that Americans don't know these books better, I wish Tintin and Asterix were popular in America the same as they are in Europe and other parts of the world.

The first Tintin book I ever owned, and along with the second part (Explorers on the moon) is still the one I love the best. A witty, clever tale with suprise twists and turns, great characters and all those fantastic drawings of the spacecraft itself. These two books played a huge part in starting my love affair with SF, and I'd even say they influenced my decision to write novels of my own (now happily published)
If you want to see how a true master does it, buy this book. Just make sure you pick up Explorers on the Moon at the same time.

I am so excited that Tintin has been brought to life again. I have very fond memories of reading it as a 10+ yr old. I have brought a few copies to read to my 7yr son, mmm, not as easy as I remember. I think I'll have to read them myself and then wait for him to be old enough to read them to himself! Not a bedtime story book! But none the less I am pleased to have a few copies of this amazing adventure book series.

We have been reading the TinTin books to my grandson since he was three (he is now five). He loves them. I do believe we have almost all of them. Amazon's prices on new paperbacks are better than Powell's.

gave this book to my brother for Christmas and he enjoyed it very much. he grew up reading these comics and they were done very well both in drawing and writing.

The problem with Destination Moon is that it's really just a scene-setter for Explorers on the Moon. While the opening books of the other two double-length Tintin adventures, The Secret of the Unicorn and The Seven Crystal Balls, are essentially just the opening acts for the main adventures in their respective storylines, they each have their own strengths as standalone books and, arguably, the build-up in each even surpasses the follow-up. That certainly isn't the case with Destination Moon, which necessarily takes a rather long time to go into the preparations for Tintin and his pals making the first manned journey to the Moon.

Preparation for Destination Moon began in 1946 one must remember, and it was published fifteen years before the first moon landing, so this is quite a leap of imagination all the same. Hergé would research the subject thoroughly for all the latest post-war technical advances in nuclear technology and rocket science in order to make the adventure as realistic as possible, while still retaining the mystique and excitement of what would surely be the ultimate Tintin adventure for a journalistic investigator who has already explored much of the world - a journey into space.

While Hergé goes into the technical detail of the building of a rocket, considering in detail the requirements on board, going as far as to include a full-page blueprint of the rocket, and the technology involved in getting it off the ground, he does however try to prevent this from being too dry by mixing in the usual slapstick fooling around - The Thomsons, Haddock and Calculus all fulfilling their remit in this respect - and, of course, including some espionage elements, which if not leading to a great deal at this stage, do at least set-up well revelations in the sequel Explorers on the Moon.

As hard as Hergé tries to spice-up the story, there's no getting away from the fact that the slapstick and the science don't blend together terribly well. Some moments work however and make a memorable impression - the usually mild-mannered Calculus is revealed to have quite a temper when Haddock accuses him of "acting the goat", the Thomson's encounter with an X-ray machine leading to a hunt for a skeleton which is wonderfully laid-out, and there is some genuine tension on the spy front when a test rocket looks like falling into the hands of an unknown enemy - but the real fireworks in the story are reserved for Explorers on the Moon.

Cuthbert Calculus disappears; no, he has not been kidnapped as you might have thought (this is a Tintin book, after all, and Calculus is easy prey to kidnappers - see The Seven Crystal Balls and The Calculus Affair), he has gone off to Syldavia to help the scientists there build a rocket to explore the moon. The notion that the scientific genius can invite his friends to join him on a space crew, and they will all function in scientific roles, is of course preposterous, but it makes for a fun story. To spice up a relatively dull tale of scientific development there is a bit of mystery: who's the spy? What are Thomson and Thompson doing in Greek national costumes if they're not in Greece? And what use is it to take Snowy to the moon anyway?

Lots of great physical comedy, like when Haddock inadvertently tears apart the chair that Baxter is sitting in, or Snowy's, or the detectives' arresting a skeleton. Calculus with his hearing aid, or pulling his hair out when his radio-controlled rocket gets taken over, is pretty hilarious too. Of course, the classic is when Haddock tells Calculus he's "acting the goat" - Calculus erupts with a furious temper tantrum, showing a withering sarcasm and superhuman strength, all the while chiding Haddock for his clumsiness. Just as funny is Haddock's scared, wide-eyed reaction to his friend's fury - he's totally tongue-tied; nothing like our favourite characters acting out of character. There's also the detectives using reverse psychology on Haddock when it seems like he wants out of the mission (Tintin often uses the same method, usually with the help of a bottle of whiskey as in Tintin in Tibet, but it's interesting to see the detectives be clever in spite of themselves). Of course, the ever-present amnesia episode is interesting enough, but ultimately nothing can delay the inevitable: the moon must be launched into space. So it is, leading to the inevitable part 2: "Explorers on the Moon"!

Belgian artist Herge wrote "Destination Moon" as an adventure for his cartoon hero, the young journalist Tintin, in 1953, sixteen years before Apollo 11 accomplished the real feat. Given that manned space flight itself was still just a concept, "Destination Moon" holds up remarkably well as a well-written tale of science fiction and adventure.

As the story opens, Tintin and his seafaring friend Captain Haddock return to Marlinspike to find that Professor Calculus has been missing for weeks. Calculus sends a timely telegram inviting Tintin and the Captain to the Balkan state of Syldavia, featured in an earlier story. Tintin and the Captain embark on a mysterious trip, sheparded along by unidentified security men to a remote complex deep in the Syldavian mountains. There,they find Professor Calculus, who astounds them by inviting them along on a voyage to the Moon. In an hilarious scene with the nearly deaf Calculus, the two find themselves inadvertantly seconded to the mission.

And what a mission it is. Herge takes the time in this, the first of a two-part story, to imagine the engineering, space suits, and other logistics of a trip to the Moon. He also introduces a sinister plot by outsiders to sabotage the Moon rocket and steal the technology. This plot very nearly costs Tintin and the Captain their lives, and comes close to derailing the whole project. Against this rather grim storyline, the bumbling detectives Thompson and Thomson, and reluctant astronaut Captain Haddock provide more than the usual comic relief. The story ends in a nice cliff-hanger hooking into the concluding portion, "Explorers on the Moon."

"Destination Moon" is very highly recommended to fans of Tintin of all ages.