History Recap / ASterixAndTheBanquet

* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness: A gaul named Fulliautomatix appears, but he looks nothing like the blacksmith of later volumes.

* RunningGag: Dogmatix, who is not yet given a name here, serves as a literal RunningGag; from his first apperance in Lutetia, he keeps following Asterix and Obelix wherever they go, but they never notice him untill the very end of the story.

* JoinTheArmyTheySaid: Said ad verabitim by a Roman legionaire after the Gauls trash them to cause a diversion for Asterix and Obelix

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Twice in the story, a fellow Gaul betrays Asterix and Obelix by putting a sedative in the wild boar he serves them and then sells them out to the Romans. The first time it works on Asterix and he is arrested, but Obelix frees him later. The second time, Asterix realizes something is up and forces his host [[HoistByHisOwnPetard to eat the boar instead]], confirming Asterix' suspicions when the host promptly falls asleep. Obelix does eat his boar, but somehow [[NoSell the sedative doesn't work]].

* [[Bowdlerise/ComicBooks Bowdlerization]]: In the British album release, Obelix mishears the town name Divodorum and responds that he doesn't care that Unpatriotix has "ordered rum". In some releases such as the Young Telegraph print it's "ordered a drum" instead.

** The locals Asterix and Obelix meet in Massilia are homages to the 1930s Creator/MarcelPagnol stage play-film trilogy ''Marius'', ''Fanny'', and ''César''; innkeeper Drinklikafix in particular is drawn to look like Raimu (stage name of Jules Muraire), the actor who played the third film's title character (also an innkeeper by the port in Marseille in the plays and films) throughout the trilogy, which is why he is initially addressed as "César" by the patrons. The scene of the regulars playing cards is framed to look like a similar scene from ''Marius'', while their boules game visually references ''Fanny''.

* [[Anachronism Stew]] : The entire premise is a mashup of ancient Gaul with modern French regional peculiarities. Most obvious is the itinerary itself, which treats Gaul as synonymous with modern France. In reality, several towns visited are part of modern France but not Roman Gaul (e.g., Camaracum/Cambrai and Durocortorum/Reims would have been part of Gallia Belgica), while parts of Gaul were not part of France (e.g. northern Italy). The towns visited are all portrayed according to modern French stereotypes - the regional foods (champagne, humbugs...), the local cultures (see below), the events (summer holidays in Nice), the characters (Brigitte Bardot on the Promenade des Bretons/Anglais)...

* Anachronism Stew : The entire premise is a mashup of ancient Gaul with modern French regional peculiarities. Most obvious is the itinerary itself, which treats Gaul as synonymous with modern France. In reality, several towns visited are part of modern France but not Roman Gaul (e.g., Camaracum/Cambrai and Durocortorum/Reims would have been part of Gallia Belgica), while parts of Gaul were not part of France (e.g. northern Italy). The towns visited are all portrayed according to modern French stereotypes - the regional foods (champagne, humbugs...), the local cultures (see below), the events (summer holidays in Nice), the characters (Brigitte Bardot on the Promenade des Bretons/Anglais)...

* NationalStereotypes: Well, regional stereotype: The Massilians are a walking ClicheStorm (FunetikAksent, lazy, tend to exaggerate, play pétanque, hold non-southerners to be a bit odd, etc.).

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

Cutting through the forest, the duo smell roast boar, and come to the house of Unpatriotix, a treacherous Gaul who invites them in, feeds them, and then sneaks off to sell them out to the Romans while they nap. However, Obelix goes out in search of more boars, so that only Asterix is there when the Romans arrive; a panicked Unpatriotix is unable to pack and escape before Obelix returns and shakes Asterix' whereabouts out of him: the nearby town of Divodorum (Metz today). Obelix gets himself arrested by knocking out a legionary and bringing his unconscious body to the jail, and soon, he and a magic potion-strengthened Asterix have broken out and hijacked a Roman postal service cart (sporting the then-modern logo of La Poste, France's postal service) to Lugdunum (today known as Lyons).

* LostInTranslation: One of the reasons ''Asterix and the Banquet'' was the fifth ''Asterix'' book to appear in French but the twenty-third to appear in English was the translators' concern that the jokes based on French regional stereotypes (such as the inability of Normans to give a straight answer, the absurdly labyrinthine nature of Lyon's streets, the impossibly long traffic jams which stretch back from the Côte d'Azur at the beginning of every summer, the hot-blooded nature and penchant for exaggeration of the locals in Marseille, etc.) would make little sense to audiences outside France.

However, the Roman soldier was a messenger, and the Roman garrison at Rotomagus is expecting the two villagers, who hide in the river and commandeer a pleasure boat being used by a Roman couple to the first stop on their shopping trip, Lutetia, where they buy a ham[[note]] Jambon de Paris, more precisely.[[/note]] from a pork butcher (and are promptly followed by a small black and white dog). The appearance of a Roman patrol forces them to flee and buy a used chariot from an ancient version of HonestJohnsDealership; when it inevitably breaks down, they knock out the Roman driver of a breakdown chariot before he can turn them over to the authorities, and make their way to Camaracum (now called Cambrai) to buy a bag of humbugs.[[note]] That is, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%AAtise_de_Cambrai Bêtises de Cambrai.]][[/note]] With help from the shopkeeper, they bash in the Roman patrol waiting for them and go back on the road in the stolen breakdown chariot, where legionary Spongefingus, whose chariot has broken down, mistakes them for the genuine article and unwittingly helps them get past a roadblock. Once he has outlived his usefulness, the Gauls literally cut him loose and head for Durocortorum (known as Rheims today) to buy amphoras of the local wine.[[note]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne Champagne,]] naturally.[[/note]] Spongefingus catches up with them, but Asterix pops the cork on one of the amphoras of wine straight into the legionary's jaw, and they are on their way again.

Their next stop is Nicae (Nice as it is now known), where, after dealing with uncommonly long traffic jams as seemingly the entire population of northern Gaul descends on the Gaulish Riviera for the beginning of the summer holidays, they buy an amphora of salad[[note]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salade_ni%C3%A7oise Salade niçoise,]] to be exact.[[/note]] and begin heading toward their next destination when a Roman patrol spots them. They commandeer the boat of a holidaymaker and row up the coast to Massilia (today called Marseilles), leaving the unfortunate holidaymaker to carry his boat back to Nicae on foot. They stop at an inn to buy fish stew;[[note]] Specifically, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouillabaisse Bouillabaisse.]][[/note]] the innkeeper, Drinklikafix, is delighted to meet them and he and his regular patrons offer to help them by holding up the Roman patrol hot on their tail with a game of boules.

** The locals Asterix and Obelix meet in Massilia are homages to the 1930s Marcel Pagnol-penned film trilogy ''Marius'', ''Fanny'', and ''César''; innkeeper Drinklikafix in particular is drawn to look like Raimu (stage name of Jules Muraire), the actor who played the third film's title character (also an innkeeper by the port in modern-day Marseilles) throughout the trilogy, which is why he is initially addressed as "César" by the patrons. The scene of the regulars playing cards is framed to look like a similar scene from ''Marius'', while their boules game visually references ''Fanny''.