Asterix Marathon #6 - Asterix and Cleopatra

Another journey abroad, this time travelling to Egypt. Asterix writer Rene Goscinny is purported to have said that this was one of his favourite stories he'd worked on. In fact, the edition I have contains a dedication to him at the beginning of this particular album.

Julius Caesar has infuriated Queen Cleopatra by claiming that the Egyptians are decadent and inferior to the Romans. In response, she makes a bet that she can have a magnificent new palace built within three months. A bumbling and timid architect named Edifis is commissioned to carry out the project, with the promise of a vast fortune if he succeeds or a meal for the sacred crocodiles if he fails. Fortunately, he happens to be an old friend of Getafix, and travels to Gaul to seek his aid. The druid agrees to return, accompanied by Asterix, Obelix, and the newly-named Dogmatix. However, an unscrupulous architect named Artifis is resentful that the queen commissioned Edifis rather than him, and is all too eager to see his competitor get fed to the crocodiles.

I like the sense of jeopardy this one has, about whether or not the palace will be built on time (especially since Edifis is likely to have used a lot of it sailing to and from Gaul). This is mostly offset by Getafix giving magic potion to the labourers, which is in turn offset by the numerous methods Artifis uses to sabotage the construction.

There are plenty of parodies of ancient Egyptian culture, most notably the use of hieroglyphics in dialogue. My favourite use of that is when Artifis' lackey Krukhut bribes the ship captain carrying a consignment of stone to dump the cargo into the Nile. The crew obeys, while their hieroglyphic conversations are translated into West Country dialect with the phrases "Bain't no use argufyin' with me" and "Oi reckon gaffer be crazy". It also explains why the Sphinx has no nose; Obelix broke it trying to climb up. Speaking of which, this album features one of the only times that Getafix allows Obelix to take some magic potion when they're trapped in a pyramid by Krukhut.

This particular album was popular enough to get two film adaptions: a 1968 animated feature, and a live-action adaptation in 2002. I haven't seen the live-action one, but for the sake of nostalgia, I'll discuss the animated film before I go (I saw it for the first time in almost twenty years the other week - gaining closure on a longstanding grudge in my family). They try and keep it a faithful adaptation, but they do pad things out with a few musical numbers that don't really add much (that said, I do like the 20s swing feel of the villain song in which Artifis and Krukhut make a poisoned cake). And they did make a couple of interesting changes to try and expand:

1. The Gauls actually fight the pirates en route to Egypt, and Artifis later hires them to waylay the heroes. This made sense, as the pirates hadn't appeared in the animated films before. In the comics, they had previous encounters with the Gauls and scuttle their own ship rather than fight them again.
2. In the comic, Artifis and Krukhut kidnap Edifis, only for the Gauls to rescue him and imprison their nemeses. This doesn't happen in the film. Instead, Caesar hires mercenaries to kidnap Getafix when he learns the Gauls are in Egypt. Again, I think it makes an interesting change, as it gives Caesar a greater role in the story rather than just the climax in which he lays siege to the building site once Artifis is no longer a threat. It also brings about my favourite moment in which Asterix and Obelix break down the door to Getafix's cell and the Romans block the exit with a giant stone wheel - so Obelix leaves through the wall instead.

Overall, I still get a few laughs from the film, but it's not on par with the comic. And for the record, I won't discuss any of the other adaptations during this marathon. I haven't seen the others, and mainly wanted to discuss this one for the nostalgia factor.

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow evening to look at the next album.