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Parc Astérix: General Discussion

I just had a quick question about OzIris: I have never been on the ride myself, but my understanding it that it is a B&M inverted coaster that opened in 2012.

I remember reading in John Wardley's 2013 book that the name "Osiris" had originally been suggested for the 1994 B&M inverted coaster at Alton Towers, until they eventually settled on the "Nemesis" name instead.

My question is: does anybody know whether Parc Asterix took inspiration from Alton Towers when naming their ride? Or is it simply a coincidence?

The part that makes me doubt whether it was plagiarised is that John Wardley's book wasn't released until after OzIris had already been named, and thus I'm not sure how Parc Asterix would have found this out (unless John Wardley had already said it in a prior interview and/or they heard it directly from B&M ?).
 
Secret Weapon said:
I just had a quick question about OzIris: I have never been on the ride myself, but my understanding it that it is a B&M inverted coaster that opened in 2012.

I remember reading in John Wardley's 2013 book that the name "Osiris" had originally been suggested for the 1994 B&M inverted coaster at Alton Towers, until they eventually settled on the "Nemesis" name instead.

My question is: does anybody know whether Parc Asterix took inspiration from Alton Towers when naming their ride? Or is it simply a coincidence?

The part that makes me doubt whether it was plagiarised is that John Wardley's book wasn't released until after OzIris had already been named, and thus I'm not sure how Parc Asterix would have found this out (unless John Wardley had already said it in a prior interview and/or they heard it directly from B&M ?).
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It'll be named for a character in the Asterix and Obelix series. Iris I believe. The whole park is themed to the series with the attractions being names of characters, locations etc.


Osiris is the Egyptian god of the underworld which is probably why it was a name played about with for Nemesis (which is also a Greek goddess, whose name is the origin of the modern meaning of the word.)
 
Thanks for your help!

John Wardley said in his book that Nick Varney specifically wanted a name that ended in "is", but he didn't specify why (maybe he just thought that it sounded majestic?).
 
Secret Weapon said:
Thanks for your help!

John Wardley said in his book that Nick Varney specifically wanted a name that ended in "is", but he didn't specify why (maybe he just thought that it sounded majestic?).
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Just had a quick flick through my copy, he states that they were struggling with naming it and were going through names including ones from Greek and Egyptian mythology, got a bit drunk, Nick stated that he didn't care what it was called so long as it ended with -is, where John questioned "like Osiris?", and they both blurted out Nemesis.

Perhaps they saw it as thinking of a name for it was their personal nemesis of the project?
 
to be fair John has told the story slightly different on a number of occasions, the consistent bits are the alcohol and Varney insistent that the word end in “is”. In some tellings John joked “what like psoriasis”?

Osiris is a fairly well known Egyptian deity, and the Asterix IP often involved ancient Egypt in the comics so I doubt the naming legend of another invert that opened 15 years earlier had anything to do with the naming.
 
Secret Weapon said:
My question is: does anybody know whether Parc Asterix took inspiration from Alton Towers when naming their ride? Or is it simply a coincidence?
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Electric Elly said:
It'll be named for a character in the Asterix and Obelix series. Iris I believe. The whole park is themed to the series with the attractions being names of characters, locations etc.


Osiris is the Egyptian god of the underworld which is probably why it was a name played about with for Nemesis (which is also a Greek goddess, whose name is the origin of the modern meaning of the word.)
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To be more specific, OzIris is entirely themed around the Egyptian magician Iris from the animated 1976 film, The Twelve Tasks of Asterix.

 
I still don't understand why they didn't just stick with the original name of "Secret Weapon" for the 1994 AT ride, instead of calling it "Nemesis".

I assume that it's because Secret Weapon specifically referred to the missile-like appearance of the Arrow pipeline coaster, whereas Nemesis referred to the serpentine-like appearance of the B&M track (based on comments made by John Wardley in interviews).

Others have suggested that perhaps it's because nuclear bunkers had gone out of fashion once the Cold War ended, and aliens were now in fashion instead (see: The X-Files).

I also still don't understand why Nick Varney was so determined to have an "is" name, but - for what it's worth - part of me wishes that he and John Wardley were still in charge of naming rides, as I personally found some of the new ride names a bit strange (specifically "The Smiler", which even John Wardley said that he found bizarre).
 
Secret Weapon said:
I still don't understand why they didn't just stick with the original name of "Secret Weapon" for the 1994 AT ride, instead of calling it "Nemesis".
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I'm sorry to say you won't find any answers here, since this topic is exclusively about Parc Asterix, so by all means make an inquiry in the Talbot Street section of the forum instead.
 
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