Tintin Forums

I was going to post this in the 'appearances on TV' thread, but it isn't exactly a current sighting. Some other old gits like me might remember it though!

I'm not too sure of the date, but I'd guess at the late 1970s. What I do remember is that Jeux Sans Frontieres (the international version of the show known in the UK as It's A Knockout) once had an edition where all the silly outdoor games and oversized props were based around Tintin. I'm assuming that this particular edition came from Belgium!

Frustratingly, I can't remember most of the games clearly enough to describe :( I'm pretty sure I remember something with a (Red Sea?) shark pool, and possibly the moon rocket being in there too.

The one game I can recall was loosely based on the Grynde incident in America; one luckless contestant from each country, dressed in blue sweater, plus fours and quiff wig (plus a daft false nose which looked more like Rastapopoulos) had to run along a greased conveyer belt to collect items dangling above it.

The conveyer belt led into a big square fake machine (with cogs on the outside and painted with bold primary colours - very ligne claire in fact!) and when the contestants lost their footing, they were zipped along the belt inside the machine, and came out of the other end inside a giant can of corned beef!

All of the other games were similarly themed, and there was much use of hugely enlarged Herge artwork. The only other thing I can really recall properly is that the UK team's 'joker' card (by playing the joker before a game, their points would be doubled if they won, or something) had a picture of Spalding from Flight 714 on it! I thought that was a bit much!

Anyone else remember this one?

I've got vague memories too - but we only had a black and white TV, so nothing about primary colours from me!

I don't have such clear recollection as you, John, but was there was something about collecting luggage in one of the games? I recall lots of suitcases, and perhaps another conveyor-belt...

Ah, I'm glad I'm not the only old git that remembers this! I actually looked into it some time ago and dug up this site ( http://www.chez.com/jeuxsansfrontieres/1978.htm ) which has some information about it (scroll right down and there are a few pictures too) - it might just jog a few memories.

I remember being really pleased as a kid because I was a big Tintin fan - we didn't have t'internet when I were a lad - so I lapped it up! In fact back in the old days "International It's a Knockout" was one of the highlights of the week... (sad eh?)

My memories of the show are also a bit vague (my only clear memory is of the plastic Tintin wigs, disturbing...) so I thought it might be helpful to summarise some of the info from the site:

It was held in Rochefort, Belgium in 1978 and the game titles translate as: Help !, The Horrible Spider, Al Capone's Gang, Danger Anaconda, Fragile, The Atomique Pile, Here Snowy !, Chang and the Yeti and The Castafiore Rescue. The games were sourced from "The Shooting Star", "America", "Picaros", "The Broken Ear", Destination Moon", "Prisoners of the Sun" and "Tibet".

The team from Germany ended up winning it with the Belgian team coming in joint second with Italy. The UK team from Crewe/Nantwich could only muster a feeble 5th place (out of 7). The French team came last... :)

Hmmm... maybe my suitcases game is actually a memory of another edition? Anyway, thanks for the info, Chris!

I came across this interesting illustration [Broken link removed - Mod.], done as a cover for the journal. The author of the site questions if it is really by Hergé, or is in fact a studio piece by Bob de Moor, but either way it's a nice souvenir of the event.

this interesting illustration

Notice Haddock with the Union flag - which I don't think is a coincidence as Castafiore has the Italian... Perhaps another pointer towards Hergé intending Haddock to be British? I wouldn't put much store by the other flags though...

Ed

jock123 suitcases game

Just a guess but I wonder if the game Fragile involved carrying the Arumbaya Fetish in a suitcase over a slippery conveyor-belt...?

It's quite likely a recording of the transmission has survived given it was broadcast in quite a few countries. It would make for an 'interesting' piece of Tintin Exotica.

I actually saw some of the UK editions on a cable channel (UK gold) a few years back - funny that they kept them. You can imagine the conversation at the BBC storage dept. "Mmmm, we're running out of space for these 'It's A Knockout' tapes... I know, lets wipe a few of these..."

edcharlesadams Notice Haddock with the Union flag - which I don't think is a coincidence

I agree with you there, he would be the obvious choice given his English name. The evidence is mounting...

This dress up of the detectives must be one of the worst ever.
[Broken link removed - Mod.]
Or maybe they were in disguise as something ;-)

Thanks for all the memories, folks :) It looks like my memory's playing tricks on me about the shark pool and rocket, though reading through the list of games, the image of an impressive mockup of Destination Moon's atomic pile popped into my head!

Thanks for the link too, Harrock - this picture shows the fiendish machine from the America-inspired game to the right, pretty much as I remembered it! I wonder what Herge thought of it all?

The cover of the Tintin magazine covering the episode of Jeux Sans Frontières is here. [Broken link removed - Mod.]