History Recap / TintinExplorersOnTheMoon

* [[ThrownOutTheAirlock Threw Himself Out The Airlock]]: Wolff decides to leave the rocket and let himself wander in space until his death as a HeroicSacrifice to ensure the others can get to Earth alive.

* VillainHasAPoint: While Jorgen's [[MurderIsTheBestSolution actions]] are firmly villainous, his reasoning proves entirely correct; with three more passengers than planned, plus the various delays encountered, the characters are running out of oxygen, and it's pretty clear that despite Tintin's best efforts, they cannot hope to survive in the current situation. In the end, only after Jorgen's AccidentalMurder and Wolff's HeroicSacrifice do they manage to survive the trip, and even then they only barely make it.

* SneakyDeparture: Frank Wolff has to go about his HeroicSacrifice in a stealthy manner, lest the others wake up and try to dissuade him. Of course, Thomson wakes up and, [[WhatAnIdiot showing the presence of mind expected of them,]] permits him to go down into the hold anyway.

* PratFall: Haddock [[VisualPun when he says his final line]], so he's lying on the ground.

-->'''Thompson:''' Definitely not! Because there are two sets of tracks, [[TooDumbToLive and we're alone!]]

%%RepairDontRespond** More an inversion in this case: a direct ascent (SSTO = single stage to orbit) and landing requires either much more efficient rockets or MUCH bigger spaceships: both are as much out of reach now as they were then. In fact, a manned landing on the moon is impossible today or in the foreseeable future - but wasn't 50 years ago...

* ExactTimeToFailure: Averted. Although estimations are made about how long it will take for the oxygen supply to deplete, it is made clear that it is simply that: Estimations. Even when the characters use spare oxygen tanks to improve their odds, they're not sure how much difference they've actually made.

* VillainHasAPoint: While Jorgen's [[MurderIsTheBestSolution actions]] are firmly villainous, his reasoning proves entirely correct; with three more passengers than planned, plus the various delays encountered, the characters are running out of oxygen, and it's pretty clear that despite Tintin's best effort, they cannot hope to survive in the current situation. In the end, only after Jorgen's AccidentalMurder and Wolff's HeroicSacrifice do they manage to survive the trip, and even then they only barely make it.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Wolff throws himself out the airlock so that the rest of the explorers will have enough oxygen to get back to Earth. Considering that they just ''barely'' make it back alive (and still need supplemental oxygen administered), his sacrifice probably did make the difference.

* AlmostOutOfOxygen: The biggest problem during the book, beginning with the discovery that the Thompsons accidentally found themselves on board during liftoff... and even that doesn't cover the extent of the stowaways on board. It's solved partly by the decision to stay on the Moon for a shorter time, and partly by the HeroicSacrifice of TheMole.

* AlmostOutOfOxygen: The biggest problem during the book, beginning with the discovery that the Thompsons accidentally found themselves on board during liftoff... and even that doesn't cover the extent of the stowaways on board. It's solved in part by the decision to stay on the Moon for a shorter time, and partly by the HeroicSacrifice of TheMole.

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Downplayed example, since the comic isn't especially lighthearted, but Jorgen does stand out among other villains. He puts ''all'' the recurring cast into life-threatening danger, not just Tintin; and is played completely seriously, not facing any of the series' usual {{slapstick}} comedy.

* TheLoad: Thomson and Thompson are easily the most incompetent they've ever been here. Not only do they accidentally stow away on-board the rocket (leading to the oxygen crisis), unwittingly release Jorgen and generally make a nuisance of themselves throughout the storyline, at no point do they ever do anything that even vaguely helps the mission, unless you count Thomson's not stopping Wolff when he sneaks out to eject himself into space (and even then Thomson failed at the job he was actually given).

* SpaceClothes: Enormous bulky amber-colored spacesuits, representing a very endearingly retro vision of lunar operations (the book was published in 1954, a good fifteen years before Neil Armstrong's historic jaunt). When suited up, the characters look like fat [[StarWars C-3PO units]].

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Discovering there were two accidental stowaways (which is by itself a jarring circumstance) would have been enough to abort a real life space mission and force them to return to Earth. In this particular case, with their fictitious spaceship being a nuclear-powered SSTO, the decision would have been even more reasonable given that the logistic expenses of a brief return and a second takeoff would have been minimal, if any. But that, of course, would have removed all the drama from the story.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The book portrays the Moon landing as producing exactly the same amount and direction of pressure they all suffered in the takeoff, that is, vertical and downwards. Going without mentioning that an inverse acceleration should intuitively produce pressure in the opposite direction (''upwards''), a free descent gently decelerated by the main engine acting as a retrorocket would generate infinitely less vertical acceleration than a takeoff, unless they wanted to get propelled into space again instead of performing a landing.

The rocket lands on autopilot in Syldavia, with the entire crew unconscious from lack of oxygen. Despite a brief scare with Haddock, everyone has survived. Calculus makes a grand speech claiming that man will return to the moon prompting an enraged Haddock to vow never to enter a rocket again, claiming that "Man's proper place...is on dear old Earth!"

The rocket lands on autopilot in Syldavia, with the entire crew unconscious from lack of oxygen. Despite a brief scare with Haddock, everyone has survived. Calculus makes a grand speech claiming that man will return to the moon prompting an enraged Haddock to vow never to enter a rocket again, claiming that "Man's proper place...is in dear old Earth!"

** SpaceSuitsAreSCUBAGear: Notably averted, however, despite how classically retro the spacesuit design looks otherwise. There are no vulnerable oxygen tubes on the exterior of the suit.

* SpaceIsNoisy: Deliberately refuted in the original comic. The animated version by Belvision embraced this trope, however: while the meteor was silent in the original comic, in the cartoon there is a meteor shower that makes a lot of noise!

** More an inversion in this case: a direct ascent (SSTO = single stage to orbit) and landing requires either much more efficient rockets or MUCH bigger spaceships: both are as much out of reach now as they were then. In fact, a manned landing on the moon is impossible today or in the foreseeable future - but wasn't 50 years ago...

* TragicVillain: Frank Wolff was the first character in the Tintin universe who wasn't particularly good, but not particulary bad either. He sides with Colonel Jorgen to sabotage the flight, but is more or less manipulated by him. When Jorgen wants to shoot everybody Wolff protests and interferes, killing Jorgen accidentally with his own gun. Wolff is forgiven by Tintin, but later feels remorse and decides to commit suicide by throwing himself out of the rocket so that the others can safely travel home again.

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Downplayed example, since the comic isn't especially lighthearted, but Jorgen does stand out among other villains. He puts ''all'' the recurring cast into life-threatening danger, not just Tintin; and is played completely seriously, not facing any of the series' usual {{Slapstick}} comedy.

* SneakyDeparture: Frank Wolff has to go about his HeroicSacrifice in a stealthy manner, lest the others wake up and try to dissuade him. Of course, Thomson wakes up and, [[WhatAnIdiot showing the presence of mind expected of the twins,]] permits him to go down into the hold anyway.

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: Downplayed example, since the comic isn't especially lighthearted, but Jorgen does stand out among other villains. He puts ''all'' the recurring cast into life-threatening danger, not just Tintin; and is played completely seriously, not facing any of the series' usual {{Slapstick}} comedy.