The Crab with the Golden Claws: Falling prey to a mirage in the middle of the Sahara Desert, a thirsty Captain Haddock — desperately craving a sip — mistakes Tintin for a bottle of champagne! He rushes towards Tintin, lunges for his throat and almost strangles him! After they are rescued a few frames later, Haddock smuggles a whisky bottle atop the camel he is riding. But just as he is about to take a swig, a bullet cracks the bottle. When another bottle is made a target, he loses his rag and runs through the desert screaming out “Revenge… revenge… revenge” and eventually hits himself on the head with his own rifle butt!

TINTIN IN TIBET: If one had to pick a cute Tintin moment, this one would win with a woof. Avalanches caused by Captain Haddock’s gigantic sneezes and an Abominable Snowman on the loose apart, the “Angel Snowy-Devil Snowy” routine is a standout. Entrusted with carrying a very important message from Tintin to the monks at the monastery, Snowy’s conscience does a double flip when he gets waylaid by a delicious-looking bone. As he contemplates whether he should concentrate on the munch or his mission, out pops an angel Snowy complete with a gown and wings and halo, sermonising on being a good dog, while a devil Snowy, flaunting a trident, urges him to enjoy the bone. Snowy being Snowy loses the message and lunges towards the bone.

The SEVEN CRYSTAL BALLS: Egyptian mummy Rascar Capac’s disappearance from Professor Tarragon’s room in The Seven Crystal Balls is a top Tintin moment — action-packed and oh-so-spooky. A storm raging outside, a crack of lightning, a ball of fire comes down the chimney, sweeps across the room (we see books flying as also Tarragon and Calculus) and then explodes with a loud bang, claiming Rascar Capac in the process. It matches the translation from inscriptions on Rascar Capac’s tomb that says: “There will come a day when Rascar Capac will bring down upon himself the cleansing fire. In one moment of flame he will return to his true element….”

FLIGHT 714: Tintin’s arch rival Rastapopoulos hatches a plot to hijack a plane owned by billionaire tycoon Laszlo Carreidas, with Tintin, Haddock and Calculus on aboard. The mission? To gain access to Carreidas’s Swiss bank accounts. Rastapopoulos makes a doctor administer a truth serum to Carreidas, but the effect is far from what he hoped it would be. Carreidas starts bawling like a baby, confessing that he had stolen a pear from a fruit mart at age four and also sneaked out cash from his mother’s handbag. Rastapopoulos flips his lid and in the ensuing chaos, he gets injected with the same truth serum and starts arguing with Carreidas who the bigger “devil” among them is!

EXPLORERS ON THE MOON: The run-up to Tintin and Co. landing on the moon is a series of nail-biting moments. The occupants on board the spaceship pass out, much to the anxiety of Mr Baxter and his team below. When they come to, Tintin is the chosen one to take the first steps on the moon, followed by Captain Haddock who breaks into a little jig and Thomson and Thompson who walk around in circles, discover their own footsteps and insist that they have company on the moon!

PRISONERS OF THE SUN: Tintin, Haddock and Professor Calculus are tied to stakes on a pyre, with the Incas ready to light the fire using the sun’s rays. But the super reporter has a way out. On the basis of a newspaper article that mentions a solar eclipse, Tintin chooses the date and time for their execution. At 11am, when the eclipse is due to begin, Tintin calls upon the Sun God to hide “its shining face” if the sacrifice is not his will and the eclipse sends the Incas into panic mode. Tintin times his request to the Sun God to “show thy light once more”, according to the end of the eclipse. The Incas are floored. Literally. And we cheer for Tintin.

RED RACKHAM’S TREASURE: When Captain Haddock goes underwater to retrieve the long-lost treasure, there are a series of jerks on the tube of the diving suit (supposedly to convey an emergency). Tintin figures something must have gone wrong and prays that it is not sharks. Haddock is pulled out swiftly — he emerges clutching a bottle, which he triumphantly hails as Jamaica rum that is more than 250 years old. He drinks it in a gulp and proceeds to “fetch himself another” by diving off the boat without the headpiece or the air tube. He resurfaces swearing at Thomson and Thompson because they forgot to pump air into his diving suit. ROFL!

DESTINATION MOON: Professor Calculus flies off the handle when Captain Haddock — closeted in a claustrophobic spacesuit — tells him to get serious and “stop acting the goat”. In a fit of rage, Calculus first gives Haddock a piece of his mind and then proceeds to take the pants off anyone who comes in his way — including a cocky security guard who Calculus promptly hoists up and “hangs” on a peg by his shirt collar! A few minutes later, an agitated Calculus loses his memory after falling down a rocket shaft. When everything to make him snap out of his amnesia fails, Haddock comes up with a plan to shock and scare him out of his stupor. He dresses ridiculously as a British royal guard, a ghost with clanking chains, almost blows his own face up and gets spat at in the process while Calculus stares blankly at him all the while. The howlarious moment? When Haddock finally loses it and yells at Calculus to stop “pulling a goat” on them. Voila! The professor regains his memory.

The Calculus affair: Professor Calculus has gone missing in Geneva and his secret weapon of mass destruction is being chased by the Syldavia and Borduria governments. Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock have followed Calculus’s trail to Nyon, to the house of a professor named Topolino. They reach Topolino’s house only to find Calculus missing and Topolino gagged and bound. At such a nail-biting moment, Haddock spots a bottle of vintage wine. Through the next two pages of conversation between Tintin and Topolino, Haddock keeps on singing praises of the wine, dropping hints here and there, hoping that Topolino would invite him to have some. Finally, after much wheedling, Haddock gets to pour a glass but just then the house is bombed! Tintin and Topolino find Haddock under the rubble, cuddling the unscathed bottle of wine — he finally takes a large gulp and passes out. A classic Haddock moment.

TINTIN AND THE PICAROS: Tintin, Haddock and Calculus land up in San Theodoros to rescue songstress Bianca Castafiore, who has been captured by the treacherous General Tapioca. Once there, they become victims of a plot to eliminate them. So they plan a daredevil escape. Their chance meeting with the overthrown General Alcazar — an old friend — and the moments that follow, with Haddock walking around in a trance, Calculus inventing a pill that will keep Alcazar’s men off alcohol and the last-minute rescue of Thomson and Thompson who have been lined up for execution are high on action and entertainment. True-blue Tintin.