''Asterix and Obelix All at Sea'' (, "Obelix's

galley A galley is a type of ship optimised for propulsion by oars. Galleys were historically used for naval warfare, warfare, Maritime transport, trade, and piracy mostly in the seas surrounding Europe. It developed in the Mediterranean world during ...

hip In vertebrate anatomy, the hip, or coxaLatin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) (: ''coxae'') in medical terminology, refers to either an anatomical region or a joint on t ...

) is the thirtieth volume of the

Asterix ''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...

comic book series a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

, by

Albert Uderzo Alberto Aleandro Uderzo (; 25 April 1927 – 24 March 2020), better known as Albert Uderzo (), was a French comic book artist and scriptwriter. He is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the '' Astérix'' series in collaboration wit ...

. The album was dedicated to Uderzo's grandchild, as well as to the American actor

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...

Plot summary

A band of slaves led by Spartakis (a parody of

Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...

) has taken over

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's personal

, prompting Caesar to send his Admiral Crustacius, whom he frequently berates as the “Silliest Sausage in Rome”, to recover the vessel. After some arguing about a safe place to disembark, the slaves set sail for the only place safe from the Romans: the village of indomitable

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

s. The four outlying Roman camps rehearse a parade to welcome Crustacius, who is pursuing the slaves. Believing the Romans are about to attack, the Gauls prepare for battle.

Obelix Obelix ( ; ) is a cartoon character in the French comic book series ''Asterix''. He works as a menhir sculptor and deliveryman as well as one of the primary defenders of the Gaulish village, and is Asterix's best friend. Obelix is noted for his ...

is (as usual) denied Getafix's magic potion and sulks off. When Asterix asks Getafix why he denies Obelix a serving, Getafix replies that too much of the potion may incur side effects beyond his knowledge. As the Gauls return victorious, with Asterix personally beating up Crustacius’ adjutant Vice-Admiral Nautilus who was in charge, they find Obelix snuck away and drunk an entire second cauldron of magic potion, turning him into

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

. The former galley slaves are granted refuge, while Getafix tries to revive Obelix. Ultimately Obelix returns to life, but as a child and deprived of his usual strength. He is kidnapped by Roman soldiers and put on a ship bound for Rome, where Crustacius intends to use him as a bargaining counter for the return of Caesar's galley. Asterix,

Dogmatix Dogmatix ( ; ) is a fictional white terrier dog who is a companion to Obelix in the ''Asterix'' comics. ''Dogmatix'' is a pun on the words '' dog'' and '' dogmatic''. In the original French, his name is a pun on the expression '' idée fixe'' ...

, Getafix and the former slaves set out in pursuit and rescue Obelix at sea. Crustacius and Nautilus, as well as Caesar's galley, are handed over to the

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

, who plan to ransom them to Caesar. Spartakis and his crew take the Gauls to

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

(the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

), but the Atlanteans, despite having the secret of eternal youth, cannot restore Obelix's adulthood. The Gauls head homeward, while the freed slaves remain on Atlantis as children forever. On Caesar's galley, the pirates unwittingly give Crustacius a dose of magic potion from a barrel inadvertently left behind by Getafix. He expels the pirates and plans on using his new strength to usurp Caesar; however, he makes the same mistake as Obelix and becomes a statue. Nautilus's ambition of obtaining a promotion for bringing back the galley is dashed when he forgets to remove the

Jolly Roger Jolly Roger was the England, ensign flown by a piracy, pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the latter part of the Golden Age of Piracy). The vast majority of such flags flew the motif of a human skull, or � ...

flag upon approaching Rome's harbour and the vessel is attacked and sinks. On their way back, the Gauls are intercepted by another Roman galley and Asterix is knocked unconscious by a catapult stone. Seeing his friend about to be thrown to the sharks, Obelix recovers his strength and size, and rescues him. Obelix then propels the galley into the Roman camp of Aquarium, before returning to the village for a feast. Crustacius’ petrified corpse is installed in the

Circus Maximus The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian language, Italian: ''Circo Massimo'') is an ancient Roman chariot racing, chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine Hill, Avent ...

, while Nautilus and his crew are reduced to sweeping the arena. Asked by Cleopatra why he has “erected” a statue to commemorate his incompetent admiral, Caesar replies that although lions do not eat granite, things may change some day.

Notes

*The character Spartakis is based on actor

and his role in the movie ''Spartacus''. *This is the only album in which two of the pirates are called by their names. *The Atlantean palace in the album has been modeled after the ruins of the

Minoan civilization The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan palaces at K ...

. Connections between Atlantis and Minoan Crete have also been explored in '' Atlantis Mystery'', ''

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis ''Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis'' is a point-and-click adventure game developed and published by LucasArts and released in June 1992 for Amiga, DOS, and Macintosh. Almost a year later, it was reissued on CD-ROM as an enhanced "talkie" ed ...

'', and other fiction. *The young Obelix lacks his usual great strength. This means he must be under six years old, as he was about that age when he fell into the potion and gained his strength (see ''

How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When he was a Little Boy How may refer to: * How (greeting), a word used in some misrepresentations of Native American/First Nations speech * How, an interrogative word in English grammar Art and entertainment Literature * ''How'' (book), a 2007 book by Dov Seidman ...

''). *This album has perhaps the closest thing in the ''Asterix'' series to a character actually dying, as Admiral Crustacius is left trapped in stone form at the end of the story, without Getafix to revert him to normal. *Cleopatra appears in this album alongside

; but her physical appearance is quite different from that seen in the album ''

Asterix and Cleopatra ''Asterix and Cleopatra'' (') is a French comic book story, written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. It is the sixth story in the ''Asterix'' comic book series, and was originally published by Dargaud as a serial for ''Pilote ...

'', in that she is here darker-skinned and shorter-nosed, and is never shown in her characteristic irascibility. *The young Obelix here pronounces the name of Asterix properly; but

lisp Lisp (historically LISP, an abbreviation of "list processing") is a family of programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized Polish notation#Explanation, prefix notation. Originally specified in the late 1950s, ...

s in ''

''. *One of the slaves in Spartakis' group claims that he's the nephew of Anticlimax, the first cousin once removed of Asterix. *The villagers mistaking the large mass of Romans for an attack on the village (which leads to Obelix sneaking a dose of magic potion for himself) is similar to what happened in ''

'', only in that story, the Romans had come to offer a truce, but made the mistake of coming in large forces instead of sending a representative with a small escort (only revealing their intentions after losing the battle they never intended to make in the first place).

In other languages

*Croatian: ''Gali na galiji'' (Gauls on galley) *Czech: ''Obelix a Caesarova galéra'' *Danish: ''Så til søs, Obelix!'' *Dutch: ''De beproeving van Obelix'' *Finnish: ''Obelixin kaleeri'' (also translated into

Savo Savo may refer to: Languages * Savo dialect, forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savo, Finland * Savo language, an endangered language spoken on Savo People * Savo (given name), a masculine given name from southern Europe (includes a list of ...

dialect as ''Opeliksin orjalaeva'', roughly translatable as ''Obelix's Slave Ship'') *German: ''Obelix auf Kreuzfahrt'' *Spanish: ''El mal trago de Obelix'' *Greek: ''Η γαλέρα του Οβελίξ'' *Italian: ''Asterix e la galera di Obelix'' *Indonesian: "Obelix Yang Malang" *Latin: "Navis actuaria Obeligis" *Norwegian: ''Obelix på galleien'' *Portuguese: ''A Galera de Obelix'' (Brazil) ''O Pesadelo de Obelix'' (Portugal) *Polish: ''Galera Obeliksa'' *Serbian: ''Obeliksove nevolje'' (Obelix' Troubles) *Swedish: ''Obelix på galejan''

Reception

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, it has a score of 3.85 out of 5.

References

External links