Flight 714

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Flight 714 (Vol 714 pour Sydney), first published in 1968, is one of a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero.

Flight 714 is the twenty-second in the series.

An active island volcano and friendly aliens figure in the plot. Indeed, the story does appear to have been influenced by the "ancient astronauts" literature popular at the time in addition to the mythology of a hidden ancient city in the south pacific. In addition Laszlo Carreidas, a business and aircraft tycoon who refuses to shake hands ("it is extremely unhygienic," he says) brings to mind Howard Hughes, though Carreidas is actually based on Marcel Dassault.

In this album, Hergé chose to ridicule some of his own characters (notably Allan and Rastapopoulos). This was the beginning of a process he would continue in the next and final complete book, Tintin and the Picaros. Many fans were disappointed by this and considered Hergé was damaging his own legacy.

Storyline

While changing flights in Jakarta on their way to Sydney for an international conference on space exploration, Tintin, Captain Haddock and Calculus happen upon their old friend Skut, who is now the chief pilot for eccentric millionaire Laszlo Carreidas. A short time earlier, the Captain had erroneously taken the somewhat disheveled Carreidas for a tramp and surreptitiously slipped him a five-dollar bill. When introduced to Carreidas, the Captain inadvertently shakes the hand of the millionaire's secretary, the tall, aloof Spaulding.

Unable to politely refuse Carreidas's offer of a ride on his prototype private jet, Tintin and his friends join the millionaire on the way to Sydney. Carreidas plays Battleship with the Captain, defeating him repeatedly by cheating with a hidden closed-circuit television camera and monitor. Unbeknownst to Carreidas and the others, Spaulding and two of the pilots have been recruited to hi-jack the plane and bring it to a deserted island in the South Pacific. Skut is not involved. After a rough landing, our friends are escorted out of the plane, and a terrified Snowy breaks out of Tintin's arms and runs off. Armed guards shoot at him, and a mortified Tintin takes him for dead.

A moment or two later, to Tintin's further shock, it turns out that the mastermind of the plot is none other than the evil Rastapopoulos, who declares that since "it's a bore to stop being a millionaire," it would be easier to simply take Carreidas's fortune. Accordingly, he has hatched an elaborate scheme to kidnap Carreidas and extract his Swiss bank account number. Captain Haddock's corrupt old nemesis, Allan, is working as Rastapopoulos's henchman. As for Tintin, the Captain and Calculus, Rastapopulous actually had no idea they would be accompanying the crotchety millionaire, but is nonetheless delighted to have the opportunity to exact revenge, and makes it quite evident that a very grim fate awaits our friends.

Everyone is bound and held in World War II-era bunkers.

Meanwhile, Rastapopulous takes a defiant Carreidas to another World War II-era bunker and has him strapped to a chair, to be subjected to the tender mercies of the malevolent Dr. Krollspell (a name possibly alluding to Adolf Hitler's quack doctor, Theodor Morell--"Kroll" is also the name of the Berlin Opera House where the Nazi Reichstag met). The corrupt doctor injects the millionaire with truth serum, so as to enable Rastapopulous to pry Carreidas's Swiss bank account number out of him. Unfortunately for Rastapopoulos, this plan quickly flounders. For Carreidas proves more than willing to tell the truth--about everything except the Swiss bank account. To Rastapopulous's fury, Carreidas launches into long disquisitions about his greedy, unscrupulous nature, boasting how he first stole a pear in 1910, at the age of four, and has generally led a life of perfidy. Realizing the serum is defective, Rastapopulous becomes enraged and accidentally injects himself with the serum, becoming intoxicated.

With the help of Snowy, who is not dead after all, Tintin and his friends manage to escape the bunker they are held prison in and find the bunker, high on the volcano, where Carreidas is held prison. Tintin captures Krollspell and Rastapopulous and escort them to lower grounds. However, the serum wears off and Rastapopulous tries to escape. Haddock chases him unsuccessfully while they discover a hidden entrance. Knowing that they are in danger, as Rastapopulous is gathering the locals to pursue and kill them, they decide to enter the cave and they discover a large path, leading to the inside of the volcano. They enter the core of the volcano by triggering a mechanism. Rastapopulous and allies are not far behind, but they can not find the trigger mechanism which give them entrance to the core, so they use explosives to make their way.

Penetrating deeper into the volcano, Tintin and friends meet a rather strange man, who immediately notes that they are all in great danger, because the explosion has made the volcano unstable and it will soon erupt. They follow the stranger, who has the power to influence their minds, as he knows exactly where to escape. It is becoming hotter as they find their way out of the core of the volcano, and there is even a flow of lava that is threatening them, but they find a way up that leads to an exit. Carreidas, in great stress, is hindered by Haddock and pushes him off the stairs. but Haddock can find something to grab, nearly escaping an imminent death by falling into fresh lava. The strange fellow uses his mind trick to calm Carreidas down.

Soon they find the way out and the stranger puts them all under his hypnosis. Next thing they remember is that they are freed, and safe, but they cannot remember what happened to them.

Hergé's error

Hergé made an error when drawing the story. It was only meant to be 62 pages long, but when he finished, it was found to be 64 pages long. Two pages were removed. The two omitted pages were meant to have appeared toward the end of the story, and covered the rescue of Tintin's group from an erupting volcano.

The omission meant that the reader now sees a cliffhanger. At the bottom of one page a seaplane-set reporter watching the raft holding Tintin's group exclaims (in the English translation), "They'll be boiled alive like lobsters! We've got to do something." On the next page ("Thousands of miles away, several days later"), the story switches to Jolyon Wagg's living room as his family watches a TV interview of Tintin and associates.

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