History Recap / AsterixAndTheMagicCarpet

In the twenty-eighth ''Asterix'' book, our heroes go on their longest comic book journey so far[[note]] About 7,000 km compared to about 5,000 km in ''Asterix and the Great Crossing''; unless the writers can find a reason to send the Gauls to China or Japan or Australia, it will likely remain their longest comic book journey -- though China has happened, [[Film/AsterixAndObelixTheMiddleKingdom in another medium]][[/note]] as Uderzo's satirical eye turns to UsefulNotes/{{India}}.

In the twenty-eighth ''Asterix'' book, our heroes go on their longest journey so far[[note]] About 7,000 km compared to about 5,000 km in ''Asterix and the Great Crossing''; unless the writers can find a reason to send the Gauls to China or Japan or Australia, it will likely remain their longest comic book journey -- though China has happened, [[Film/AsterixAndObelixTheMiddleKingdom in another medium]][[/note]] as Uderzo's satirical eye turns to UsefulNotes/{{India}}.

In the twenty-eighth ''Asterix'' book, our heroes go on their longest journey so far[[note]] About 7,000 km compared to about 5,000 km in ''Asterix and the Great Crossing''; unless the writers can find a reason to send the Gauls to China or Japan or Australia, it will likely remain their longest journey.[[/note]] as Uderzo's satirical eye turns to India.

** The scenes where Rahazade asks her sister whether she sees anyone coming yet and especially the standard answer the sister gives are a reference to ''Literature/{{Bluebeard}}''.

* BeamOWar: Leads to a stalemate between Watziznehm and Owzat, until Watziznehm outwits his opponent.

* DeadlyDodging: How Watziznehm defeats Owzat.

* ElephantGraveyard: India has one. Elephants visit it daily and trample any non-elephant who dares tread this sacred soil. Hoodunnit sends some goons to kidnap Cacofonix and dump him there in hopes the Elephants will kill him, but [[spoiler:he's saved by the strong elephant odor imprinted on him by the weird treatment prescribed for his voice loss]].

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Cacofonix's bad singing starts summoning rain, just as a country is suffering a drought. For better or worse, this isn't something that just gets introduced in this story and then forgotten about; Cacofonix's singing will continue to cause rainfall (or even thunderstorms) for the remainder of Uderzo's run as writer, which [[spoiler:saves the day in later comics as well]].

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: Hoodunnit says the princess needs to be [[PowerByAForsakenChild sacrificed for rain to come]]. He knows it's utter nonsense, he just wants to eliminate the successor to the throne so he can claim it.

* AnachronismStew: Various influences of Islam appear, such as fakirs, clothing such as niqabs, and certain architectural styles, despite Islam not being introduced to India until the 11th century or even existing in 50 BC.

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Cacofonix's bad singing starts summoning rain, just as a country is suffering a drought. For better or worse, this isn't something that just gets introduced in this story and then forgotten about; Cacofonix's singing will continue to cause rainfall (or even thunderstorms) for the remainder of Uderzo's run as writer.

* ObviouslyEvil: Hoodunnit and Owzat.
* OffWithHerHead: What nearly happened to Orinjade.

* VillainExitStageLeft: The last we see of Hoodunnit and Owzat is the both of them flying away on Owzat's carpet.

* LanguageBarrier: Somehow averted. There are even Indian doctors who speak ''Latin''.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asterixmagiccarpet.jpg]]

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Averted, a monkey actually makes things worse when it abducts Dogmatix while Asterix and Obelix are looking for Cacofonix.

* RaceAgainstTime: Hoodunnit has declared that if no rain falls within 1001 hours, Princess Orinjade will be executed. Half of that time is already up when Watziznehm and the Gauls depart from the village, and they’re down to 30 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds when the protagonists finally get to India.

* OhCrap: Asterix has a mayor one when it turns out the harsh conditions of the journey have caused Cacofonix to lose his voice.

** In the English translation, when Cacofonix regains his voice, he begins singing "With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain", the closing ballad from ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''. A caption credits the song to "[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare a famous British bard]]". In the French version, Cacofonix's rain-bringing song is "I'm singing in the rain", the narration calling it "an old Celtic song on rain".
** There are several references to ''Literature/ArabianNights''. In the original French, the princess is named Rahazade, and the book is entitled ''Astérix chez Rahazade'', a play on the name "Scheherazade"; in the English translation, meanwhile, Owzat jokes that even a thousand and one nights, never mind hours, would not be enough to save Orinjade from the executioner's axe.

* ElephantGraveyard: India has one. Elephants visit it daily and trample any non-elephant who dares tread this sacred soil. Hoodunnit sends some goons to kidnap Cacophonix and dump him there in hopes the Elephants will kill him, but [[spoiler:he's saved by the strong elephant odor imprinted on him by the weird treatment prescribed for his voice loss]].

- -> “These Indians are Crazy!”

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* MagicCarpet: [[CaptainObvious But of course!]] Here, they're fakir-powered, as Watziznehm can make any carpet he sits on fly.

* MagicCarpet: But of course! Here, they're fakir-powered.

** In one panel, the guru Hoodunnit mentions that, like his cousin Iznogoud, he will become Rajah instead of the Rajah. The ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'' series was originally written by Goscinny, like Astérix, and the title character, the [[EvilChancellor Grand Vizier]] to Caliph Haroun el-Plassid of Baghdad, aspired to be "Caliph instead of the Caliph".[[note]] Since Iznogoud never does succeed in becoming Caliph instead of the Caliph, it's only fitting that Hoodunnit likewise fails to become Rajah instead of the Rajah.[[/note]]

* SnakeCharmer: Some snake charmers are seen when Asterix and company visit India.

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