Fortunately Asterix is there to hold him back and explains to the terrified Romans that it is typical “barbarian” behaviour. A couple are shopping in the village when Obelix suddenly rushes at them roaring like a huge monster and apparently threatening to tear them apart. Thus Asterix comes up with an alternative plan to get the Romans to leave. The villagers are in disunion and some are adapting to Roman ways, which was Caesar’s intention.īashing Roman soldiers is one thing, but Getafix insists that civilians are not to be attacked since they are in fact innocent pawns in Caesar’s scheme. In addition, they start to engage in price wars, literally since there is an actual fist-fight over the issue. These Romans then go shopping at the village which, before too long, turns into a market town with the inhabitants opening a variety of shops to cater to the Romans. Since the freedom of the slaves depends on constructing at least one building, the Gauls allow the work to proceed.įinally, the first building of the Mansions of the Gods is built and inhabited by Roman families.
Upon hearing that the slaves are getting better pay than they are, the Roman legionaries also go on strike demanding similar and better conditions for themselves (a common occurrence among French strikers). Instead they insist on better working conditions, regular pay and being freed with the consent of their masters after completing the first building of the Mansions of the Gods (the negotiations seem similar to that of modern-day employers and trade unionists).
Taking this remark literally, Asterix gives them magic potion with which to fight back.Īlthough the slaves are given magic potion in order to rise up, they do not stop work and leave, as Asterix intended. Obsessed with getting the work done, an increasingly erratic Squaronthehypotenus threatens to work the slaves to death. With the help of Getafix’s magic, Asterix and Obelix sabotage the plan by planting instant-growth trees, magically enhanced by one of druid Getafix’s potions, thus repairing the damage. He begins by getting an army of slaves of various races and countries to pull down the trees in the forest.
The project is led by the architect Squaronthehypotenus. The colony is to be called the Mansions of the Gods. With the intent to wipe out the Gaulish village by any means necessary, Caesar concocts a plan to absorb the villagers into Roman culture by having an estate built next to the village to start a new Roman colony. It was originally serialized in Pilote issues 591-612 in 1971 and translated into English in 1973. That said, diehard fans of the original cartoons will no doubt lap this up, particularly those who devoured the original adventures back in the day.The Mansions of the Gods is the seventeenth volume of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). Certainly, CGI improves the action-orientated sequences, but it also somehow adds a soulless quality – our eyes are, after all, meant to watch analogue images, not digital ones. The merits of CGI and 3D have ben endlessly discussed, and after watching MANSION OF THE GODS the 3D feels like a gimmick, adding nothing to the original. But in this specific case, the underlying ideologies are so complex that they might detract from the enjoyment for anyone not interested in labour laws, equality and racial harmony. This is hardly unique: most modern animation classics are equally loved by adults – not only parents – and the younger audience. MANSION OF THE GODS falls between two stools: whilst the action will keep younger audiences occupied, the rather complex plot with its very adult connotations is rather secondary to the main target audience. But the development goes both ways: the villagers find the apartments appealing and only a pact between the exploited black slaves, who build the mansions, and Asterix and the druid Getafix (with the usual physical assistance of Obelix) avoid the villagers losing their independence. This time he wants to undermine the spirit of the villagers by building huge luxury mansions around their village and populating them with Romans, who soon find the villagers quaint and since everything is so much cheaper than in the capital of the empire, trade breaks down the barriers. Dir.: Louis Clichy, Alexandre Astier | Voices of Roger Carel, Laurent Lafitte, Alain ChabatĪnimation 3D based on the comic book of the same title by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo from 1971Īfter some sadly failed attempts at live-action, our Gallic heroes re-emerge as the original cartoon figures: this time in 3D and with lively CGI action.īeastly Caesar plots in Rome (again) the downfall of the last village in Gaul not under his control.