The worst entry of the series to date. Not as offensive as Asterix and the Secret Weapon, just bad. Uderzo was susceptible to flights of fancy and this is his most fantastical yet, with a space ship arriving bringing visitors seeking Getafix's magic potion. He's followed by enemies from the galaxy also seeking potion. The two of them fight it out, while the Gauls mostly look on.Uderzo says at the end he wanted to write this as a tribute to Walt Disney but Disney at least knew the value of a strong story. This is just a collection of weird stuff happening, some way-out sci fi visuals (some of which is admittedly pretty good - a grasshopper-like villain, a big ball spaceship like The Prisoner).There are several large comic panels, as if Uderzo was aware he didn't have enough story and wanted to pad out the running time. The reality of Asterix stories was always a tenuous thing, with its magic potion and perpetual setting of 50BC, but they had their basis in reality - mainly, historical background and analogy with contemporary customs and society. By bringing in sci fi Uderzo totally throws the baby out with the bath water - its just plain silly. More seriously, our heroes are passive most of the time, the artistic styles vary widely and are inconsistent with the normal style of the strip (there's something like a teletubbie, a superman, a grasshopper and spaceships), the story lacks imagination or vitality.
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