Tintin/Fridge

Fridge Logic

• Why doesn't Calculus have his handy listening device anymore after Explorers on the Moon? And why aren't Tintin and Haddock even Lampshade Hanging it?
  • He's seen using his ear trumpet in the background in The Castafiore Emerald -- why this isn't permanent is anyone's guess. He seems quite embarrassed about being deaf though.
  • Because he's not deaf, just a little hard of hearing. And he has enough pride to not feel like he needs to be using it all the time.
• Why are worms, apples and spiders affected by overnight Green Rocks radiation in The Shooting Star, while Tintin and Snowy aren't?
  • It's implied that it was All Just a Dream.
  • Could be taken as a case of Fridge Brilliance, if the phostlite laden meteorite has strange properties, then everything was perceived in an altered state of consciousness. Alternatively, there WAS one mushroom and everything from there on was again all perceived in an altered state of consciousness.
  • What implies that it's a dream or hallucination, the mushrooms and trees (the latter of which the pilot confirmed)? Incidentally, mushroom spores get everywhere, and there's at least four ways it could've gotten onto the meteor (the wind, the Peary, the EFSR plane, or Tintin himself). It could be as simple as: The greater size and mass of Tintin and Snowy prevent an immediate transformation (something might have happened if they'd stayed on the meteor longer) or the specific type of radiation the phostlite emits isn't as effective on larger organisms (it can't penetrate as easily, or it's simply not in a high enough concentration, for example). Either way, everyone involved still should have gotten a decontamination washdown afterwards. Radiation doses are measured in Joules/Kg, right?
• This troper just realised, literally while at my fridge looking for food, that the Incans in Temple of the Sun speak French. ...WTH? They've hung around a mountaintop inaccessible to visitors for thousands of years, and yet they're somehow able to communicate perfectly with a pair of random strangers that waltz into their main hall of worship out of nowhere? I mean, sure if all the other foreigners (Tchang, the Emir, Oliviera) are able to speak easily as they could've learned French or English etc, but the Incas? Just bugs me.
  • In fact, now that I think of it, the only person that's shown to have an accent is Szut, the Estonian pilot... or is it just a case of selective memory on this troper's part? Still doesn't explain the Incas though...
  • Their high priest (the one who sees Tintin stand up for the kid) speaks the local language (and presumably others) and is definitely in contact with the modern world, who's to say the the other Incas aren't as well? As for speaking French, it probably falls under Translation Convention (Tintin asks the mummy what language it speaks in German and Spanish, while presumably the Captain can speak the languages of wherever he's sailed to).
  • In the movie The Adventures of Tintin, Captain Haddock realises who Sakharine is descended from after seeing his face in his mind while recalling a story his grandfather told him - exactly how does Haddock recognise a man who's only ever been described to him (in his childhood, and having spent many years as an alcoholic since) as Sakharine's ancestor?

Fridge Horror

• Fridge Horror: In Bagghar we a sign warning of water shortages. Things are going to get a whole lot worse now that Captain Haddock has drained the dam...
  • Seeing the population eager reactions to the wave of water, perhaps the dam (and government's restriction) is causing the water shortages.

Fridge Brilliance

• Tintin remembers his last time in San Theodoros when he meets up with Gen. Alcazar in Tintin and the Picaros, and this colors his approach. He had to stare down a firing squad, then not, then stare them down again, then gets drunk during a brief reprieve (because why the hell not?), then gets promoted, then gets shot at by his boss (with blanks, and he seems to be aiming high), then gets framed for treason and slated for execution.
  • He first refuses to go to San Theodoros (figuring they'd be arrested quickly if not immediately), goes later only after Haddock and Calculus (they haven't been jailed yet, so the government is waiting for him), meets up with Alcazar and realizes that they've been duped by Pablo (ironically, Alcazar fully trusts Pablo and doesn't immediately conclude that he's a traitor - maybe he learned from what happened to Tintin way back when?), and after making their way through the jungle puts a Batman Gambit into play with the condition that Alcazar's coup be a bloodless one (seeing as how the last time, he had to leave the country after starting a war).
• During Cigars of the Pharoh" every member in the smuggling operation had the mark of an old Egyptian Pharoh on their bodies. Plus they used the Pharoh's tomb as part of their operations. What's the connection? Well Opium has been in use since ancient times, including in ancient Egypt. So if the Pharoh in question was a known user or trader of Opium, so much so that he was remembered fo it thousands of years later, then it makes all the since in the world for Opium smugglers to adopt his symbol as their own.
• Of course the film ends on a cliffhanger! "Always leave the audience hanging" was one of Herge's philosophies.