Asterix and Obelix: The Big Fight is the newest animated project based on the French Asterix comics by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, which date back to the 1960s. This new series is primarily an adaptation of the seventh album in the series, Asterix and the Big Fight (“Le Combat des Chefs”) although some changes were made to the story and it includes a couple of references to other comics, as well as some new, and original stuff. This title was previously also adapted into an animated movie in 1989, although that feature was only loosely based on the comic and had even more differences than this series. This series contains a few changes and filler-like material, but I think it works for the most part as a pretty faithful re-telling of the comic.

This new Asterix limited animated series premiered on Netflix earlier this month. It’s directed by Alain Chabat (who previously directed the live-action adaptation of Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, in 2002). Chabat also voices the main character Asterix here, in the original French version. Asterix’s English voice was provided by Haydn Oakley. Obelix on the other hand, is voiced by Gilles Lellouche in French, and by Ben Crowe in English. Animation is provided by the French studio TAT, and this is done in CGI, similar to the last couple of Asterix animated movies.

For those not familiar with the premise of the comics, the stories are mainly set in the year 50 B.C., when the Roman Empire has conquered most of the known world at the time… with the most notable exception being a small village of Gauls who have managed to hold out against the Romans until now. This is of course the village where Asterix and Obelix, and several other characters, live in. Lead by chieftain Vitalstatistix and his wife, Impedimentia. The secret to their success is a magic potion (created by their druid, Getafix), which grants those who drink it super strength for a short amount of time. Obelix is never allowed to have any of this potion however, because he already has permanent super strength as a result of falling into the cauldron with the potion when he was little.

The stories mostly focus on Romans trying to conquer the Gauls, but to no avail. Or the Gauls traveling the world and interacting with different civilizations, and commenting on their cultures. There are lots of gags spread throughout the comics, some of them containing anachronisms and stuff like that there. Obviously as the stories have been adapted throughout the years they have also been updated every once in a while, and as such you can see and hear more modern gags and music, as well as references to stuff that just didn’t exist back when the comics debuted. As a naming pattern, most if not all of the Gauls have names that end with “-ix”, while the Romans have names that end in “-us”. Note that I will be using the English versions of the characters’ names in this review, rather than the original French ones (i.e., the druid is Getafix, not “Panoramix”). Most of the character names are also puns, or indicative of their personalities. The fact this show is on Netflix doesn’t go unnoticed but it’s a gag that I will not spoil here.

The first episode of the series features an extended flashback, to around 28 years earlier that depicts the often mentioned moment of young Obelix falling into the magic potion pot, resulting in him gaining permanent super strength. Asterix and Obelix’s childhoods weren’t depicted in the story this is based on, so all of this was some original stuff. It works for the most part; I didn’t think showing how Obelix got his super strength was really needed, the running gag explanation was enough, but this was harmless enough and might help as an introduction for new viewers. The rest is done fairly well, with the origins of the magic potion, or the animosity between the main characters and Cassius Ceramix, the son of a neighboring village chief, who is a bully and will play a bigger role as an adult.

Episode two is when the story really starts, with the introduction of a new character, Metadata, a young Roman girl who is an original creation for this show. She suggests to Caesar to use an old Gaulish tradition to conquer them – the Big Fight, where a village chief can challenge another one to a battle, and if he wins he takes over their village as well. In the comic it was a male Roman who had this plan; however Metadata’s arc will go in a different direction by the end of the series, so she’s not simply a replacement for that character. Alongside her uncle Fastanfurius, she is sent to make the preparations. The plan is to use the chief of an already conquered village, who is devoted to Rome. Technically if successful the result would be villages of Gallo-Romans, but that’s still more in line with Caesar’s plans. And wouldn’t you know it, the Gaul they chose for this, is none other than Cassius Ceramix all grown up into a muscle bound brute, and now chieftain of his own village. The other part of the plan is to make sure Getafix won’t make the magic potion, by kidnapping him. This part doesn’t exactly goes as planned, since Asterix and Obelix interfere and the latter throws a menhir to scare off the Romans, which lands on top of the druid. He seems unharmed but has kind of lost his mind in the process. For those not familiar with the term, a menhir is basically a large stone monolith the likes of which Obelix carries around on his back effortlessly (it’s his job after all).

The third episode features a couple of fun montages, like the now distracted Getafix trying to make the magic potion again, to some disastrous, but humorous results. Their test subject is Roman soldier Potus, who accidentally ended up in their village while trying to spy on them. His skin changes color a bunch of times after tasting the potions, with his final taste allowing him to float safely away back to the Roman camp. The other montage is a training montage, with Vitalstatistix trying to get into shape for the Big Fight, but is similarly not too successful in his attempts. Asterix & Obelix are sent to find Apothika, another healer and old friend of Getafix, who might be able to help. Apothika is a goth (literally!), who also acts as sort of a psychiatrist and even offers some couple counseling for Asterix & Obelix after seeing them bickering. She agrees to come to their village to help but when she asks what exactly happened to Getafix, the over zealous Obelix swiftly demonstrates, by dropping another menhir on top of her. Similar to Metadata, Apothika is a gender flipped version of a character from the comics, in this case Psychoanalytix.

Episode four is when the Big Fight between the tribe chiefs is supposed to take place. The Romans have built a big arena complete with fair grounds for Caesar to attend (along with his mommy, since it’s her birthday) and celebrates what he presumes will be his victory. With both Getafix and Apothika out of their minds, the only solution current chief Vitalstatistix finds is… to resign, and name Obelix as his replacement, since he has a chance against Ceramix. Obelix isn’t too pleased with the idea but reluctantly agrees. However things complicate when Vitalstatisix starts thinking about not taking back his role as chief since he feels that was a burden. Asterix thinks Obelix isn’t the right person to remain their leader on a permanent basis. Technically he’s right, but one has to consider how sensitive Obelix is despite his stature and strength. The two have another big argument about this which results in Obelix banishing Asterix from the village. Then, an even bigger upset comes right before the Big Fight in the arena, when Obelix is asked to give a speech. He suffers from severe stage fright and speaking in front of people, and just freezes in place. He’s gone through this since he was little but he’s always had Asterix to help him out, until now. In this state, he just faints even without Ceramix laying a finger on him, and loses the battle.

The plot twist of putting Obelix in charge of the village is something that didn’t happen in the original comic, and could be seen just as an excuse to prolong the show for another episode, but I think it works; it adds a bit more drama and pathos to the story. Overall this episode had a good balance of drama and comedy; apart from the dramatic stuff mentioned already, there are plenty of comedic scenes spread throughout, like the funfair scenes, with Asterix trying to catch up to Getafix and Apothika; or the special sports commentators for the Big Fight, Blackangus and Hannabarbera; or the Romans trying to read Obelix’s name as “Obel-9” or “Obe-59” (you know, in Roman numerals).

The fifth and final episode features the aftermath of the Big Fight… which is technically an even bigger fight, between the still indomitable Gauls and the Romans. Caesar breaks the rules by invading both Asterix and Ceramix’s villages, assaulting them with catapults shooting flaming rocks. Metadata is also disappointed by this betrayal and decides to help the Gauls since she was more fascinated with their traditions than what the Romans had to offer. Getafix is hit with a shield which knocks some sense into him, and now he has his memory back. He sneaks back to the village with Metadata and fixes up some more magic potion but the Romans lead by Fastanfurius get there before the Gauls, and now have access to it. This results in a big, pretty epic fight between Obelix and Potus, along with several other super powered Romans. The Gauls won’t give up the fight despite not having any super strength and make what appears to be their last stand, with some visual cues taken from the Avengers live-action movies, because why not. Without spoiling everything, I will only comment that by the end, most of the plot lines are tied up together nicely enough, in a satisfying manner. It should be kind of predictable the Gauls do come out victorious out of this, Vitalstatistix takes back leadership of his village, as well as Ceramix’s village as well, and they all live happily ever after, more or less. As most stories, the final scenes show the Gauls celebrating with a big feast in their village. Obviosuly, Asterix & Obelix have reconciled and are pals once again.

Bonus: A short cartoon is also featured after the end credits. This one is done in 2D style animation (and in a way, it only makes me wish the entire series was animated like this), and has a more Looney Tunes like vibe to it. It’s about two wild boars who try to steal vegetables from a garden inside the Gaul’s village, but have to get past a guard goose. Boars are usually the main source of food for the characters, and one of Obelix’s favorite dishes. It’s a pretty creative idea for a cartoon and I also liked how this actually took place during events of the series. In the background you could see certain scenes from past episodes, playing out again. It works from the boar’s point of view which like I said, is kind of a novel idea.

Overall, the show was fun. I’ll admit I am not a huge Asterix fan but have enjoyed most of his previous animated adventures, some of his live-action ones, and have also read a few of the comics. This in particular has more than enough differences from the original comic but it works, I think they expanded on the original work in some pretty creative ways and it still remains kind of true to how things played out initially. The CGI animation looks nice, there’s nothing that really stood out to me but it is fine for what it is. Though as I mentioned above, having it done in the same style as the bonus cartoon at the end could have been more pleasant. But as it stands, the show is a fun watch and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of the older comics getting a similar, limited-series treatment.

The voice acting is pretty good,  though I haven’t checked out every dub available, so I cannot vouch for all of those. It sounds fine in French or English, anyway. The character interactions are also entertaining; Asterix & Obelix have plenty of screen time together and it’s usually fun. They do argue quite a bit and for some silly reasons at times but you get the feeling they’re still buddies, and it works. Apart from them the other inhabitants of the village have their own unique quirks, and Getafix’s wackiness also offered some more levity than usual. That’s not counting the Romans, who have likewise provided some humorous scenes whenever they were involved.

Asterix and Obelix: The Big Fight is a pretty good adaptation of the comic, and I think it is worth a watch. All five episodes are available to stream on Netflix.

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