Asterix in Britain (Astérix chez les Bretons) is a Danish/French animated film released in 1986; the fifth Asterix feature film, and the last from Dargaud Films. It is based on the book of the same name. The theme song The Lookout is Out was performed by Cook da Books and was based on Plastic Bertrand's "Astérix est là" (the theme song from the previous film, Asterix Versus Caesar) but with a slower tempo, played with acoustic guitars and brand new English lyrics.
Plot[]
Asterix and Obelix must travel to Britain with a barrel of Magic potion, to help a rebel village fight against the Roman Empire, which has conquered the whole country.
Cast[]
| Character | Original Dub | English Dub |
|---|---|---|
| Asterix | Roger Carel | Jack Beaber[1] |
| Obelix | Pierre Tornade | Bill Kearns[1] |
| Anticlimax | Graham Bushnell[1] | |
| Totalapsus | Pierre Mondy | Herbert Baskind[1] |
| Chateaupetrus | Maurice Risch | Jimmy Shuman[1] |
| Stratocumulus | Roger Lumont | Ed Marcus[1] |
| General Motus | Nicolas Silberg | Sean O'Neil[1] |
| Captain Redbeard | Michel Gatineau | Patrick Floersheim[1] |
| Getafix | Henri Labussière | Robert Watson Barr[1] |
| Vitalstatistix | Henri Poirier | Allan Wenger[1] (uncredited) |
| Julius Caesar | Serge Sauvion | Gordon Heath[1] |
Additional Voices[]
- Original: Paul Bisciglia, Bertie Cortez, Ian Marschall, Judy Martinez, Edward Marcus, Martine Messager, Joseph Nyavri, Laurence Riesner, Christopher Wells, Michel Gatineau (Fulliautomatix), Albert Augier (Phoenician merchant), Gerard Croce (Mr. Fiddlesticks), Alain Doutey (Wine seller), Michel Elias (Olive Escartefix aka Gaulix), Pierre Mirat (Cervoise seller)
- English: Steve Gadler, Peter Hudson, Mike Marshall, Ken Starcevic, Judy Martinez
Uncredited[]
- Original: Roger Carel (Dogmatix), Georges Atlas (Geriatrix, English chief Mykingdomforanos), Yves Barsacq (Unhygienix)
- English: Jerry Di Giacomo (Additional Voices), Thomas Pollard[1] (Pirate Lookout)
Changes from the book[]
The movie contains many changes from the original story:
- Dogmatix comes along with the heroes for the journey and gets a subplot involving him following the barrel thief to his house. (In the book, Obelix leaves Dogmatix behind in the village before leaving for Britain.)
- Caesar's role in the film is larger, and he has more screen time. (He had only a one-panel cameo appearance in the book.)
- Some of the characters (such as the Roman army officers and the British pubkeeper) have different names and designs. Stratocumulus is a character from the book but in the film he bears the character design of Centurion Tonsillitus from Asterix and Caesar's Gift. Governor Encyclopaedicus Britannicus of the book is replaced in the film by General Motus, who bears the name of a Roman from Asterix and the Banquet and the character design of Centurion Arteriosclerosus from Asterix and the Soothsayer.
- Asterix and Obelix meet the pirates on their way to Britain.
- In addition to the regular principal pirates, including the captain and the African lookout, there is a teenaged rookie pirate whose sole purpose in the film is to have his comrades explain their phobia of Gauls, as well as make inane comments whenever their ship is sunk (instead of the old peg-legged pirate as in the comics).
- Asterix does not get tea from Getafix, but from some Phoenicians who Obelix saved from the pirates.
- The search for the stolen barrel of potion is shorter than in the book.
- Stonehenge makes an appearance in the movie.
- In the book, Asterix found out that the barrel was sold to the rugby team by the Pubkeeper, whilst in the film the rugby team were simply the first on the list.
- During the meeting with the pirates: On the way back, the captain sank his own ship, much like in the book Asterix and Cleopatra.
- In the English dub, Fulliautomatix and Impedimenta were renamed to Blacksmix and Instantmix respectively.
- In the book, the uniform of the rugby team that had the magic potion, Camulodunum, was white and blue, identical to Colchester FC's current colours.