The Smurfs

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The Smurfs
The Smurfs title card.png
On-screen title card.
Network NBC
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Original release September 12, 1981-December 13, 1987
Starring Don Messick
Lucille Bliss
June Foray
Danny Goldman
Frank Welker
Paul Winchell
Executive producer(s) Joseph Barbera
William Hanna
Producer(s) Gerard Baldwin
Music composed by Hoyt Curtin
Director(s) George Gordon
Bob Hathcock
Carl Urbano
Rudy Zamora
Second title card
Smurfs' Adventures title card.png
On-screen title card in syndication.
Third title card
The Smurfs international title card.png
On-screen title card for international markets.

The Smurfs is an American-Belgian animated fantasy comedy TV series produced by Hanna-Barbera and SEPP International for NBC's Saturday morning children's programming. It ran from 1981-1989, airing 259 episodes (split into 417 segments), and an additional seven specials within that time, making it Hanna-Barbera's longest consecutive running series, without any title changes (succeeding The Flintstones, which ran from 1960-1966 in prime-time). It is based on the works of Belgian comics artist Peyo, first appearing in 1958.

The Smurfs is about the lives of a race of the same name; tiny, blue humanoids, wearing Phrygian caps, who live in a village of mushroom-shaped houses. Their names are based on adjectives that emphasis their personalities, such as "Jokey" Smurf, who pulls pranks. Their leader and mentor is the wizened Papa Smurf, who unlike the others, dresses in red, instead of white. One of the main gimmicks of the show is that their kind is almost entirely made up of males, with Smurfette, being the exception (although a couple of others were added towards the series run). Their primary antagonist is the human, Gargamel, who knows of the Smurfs' hidden existence and wants to melt them into gold.

The narrator refers to the show as The Smurfs, while the card refers to it as Smurfs. When the show went into syndication in 1986, it was renamed Smurfs' Adventures.

Production

Development

Music

The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin until season nine, when he was replaced with Tom Worrall.

Episodes

Title Number Air date
"The Astrosmurf" 1x01 September 12, 1981
"Jokey's Medicine" / "Vanity Fare" 1x02 September 12, 1981
"St. Smurf and the Dragon" 1x03 September 19, 1981
"Sorcerer Smurf" / "The Magical Meanie" 1x04 September 19, 1981
"Bewitched, Bothered and Be-smurfed" 1x05 September 26, 1981
"King Smurf" / "The Smurfs and the Howlibird" 1x06 September 26, 1981
"Soup a La Smurf" 1x07 October 3, 1981
"All That Glitters isn't Smurf" / "Dreamy's Nightmare" 1x08 October 3, 1981
"Romeo and Smurfette" 1x09 October 10, 1981
"The Magic Egg" / "Smurphony in 'C'" 1x10 October 10, 1981
"Sideshow Smurfs" 1x11 October 17, 1981
"Supersmurf" / "Paradise Smurfed" 1x12 October 17, 1981
"Sir Hefty" 1x13 October 24, 1981
"The Fake Smurf" / "The Baby Smurf" 1x14 October 24, 1981
"Painter and Poet" 1x15 October 31, 1981
"Haunted Smurf" / "Purple Smurfs" 1x16 October 31, 1981
"The Fountain of Smurf" 1x17 November 7, 1981
"The Magnifying Mixture" / "Foul Weather Smurf" 1x18 November 7, 1981
"The Hundredth Smurf" 1x19 November 14, 1981
"The Abominable Snowbeast" / "Gargamel, the Generous" 1x20 November 14, 1981
"The Smurfette" 1x21 November 21, 1981
"Spelunking Smurfs" / "Now You Smurf 'Em, Now You Don't" 1x22 November 21, 1981
"The Smurf's Apprentice" / "Smurf-Colored Glasses" 1x23 November 28, 1981
"The Clockwork Smurf" 1x24 December 28, 1981
"Fuzzle Trouble" / "Smurfette's Dancing Shoes" 1x25 December 5, 1981
"The Smurfs and the Money Tree" 1x26 December 5, 1981
"The Smurf Who Couldn't Say No" 2x01 September 18, 1982
"The Adventures of Robin Smurf" 2x02 September 18, 1982
"The Cursed Country" 2x03 September 18, 1982
"Sister Smurf" / "S-Shivering S-Smurfs" 2x04 September 25, 1982
"The Black Hellebore" 2x05 September 25, 1982
"Revenge of the Smurfs" 2x06 September 25, 1982
"The Three Smurfketeers" 2x07 October 2, 1982
"Heavenly Smurfs" / "It Came from Outer Smurf" 2x08 October 2, 1982
"The Sorcery of Maltrochu" 2x09 October 2, 1982
"Squeaky" / "The Kaplowery Scroll" 2x10 October 9, 1982
"The Goblin of Boulder Wood" 2x11 October 9, 1982
"Gormandizing Greedy" / "Waste Not, Smurf Not" 2x12 October 9, 1982
"Johan's Army" 2x13 October 16, 1982
"The Lost City of Yore" 2x14 October 16, 1982
"The Magic Fountain" 2x15 October 16, 1982
"The Imposter King" 2x16 October 23, 1982
"For the Love of Gargamel" / "The A-maze-ing Smurfs" 2x17 October 23, 1982
"The Haunted Castle" 2x18 October 23, 1982
"Smurfs at Sea" 2x19 October 30, 1982
"One Good Smurf Deserves Another" 2x20 October 30, 1982
"The Blue Plague" / "The Last Laugh" 2x21 October 30, 1982
"The Raven Wizard" 2x22 November 6, 1982
"The Ring of Castellac" 2x23 November 6, 1982
"The Sky Is Smurfing! The Sky Is Smurfing!" / "Turncoat Smurf" 2x24 November 6, 1982
"Return of the Clockwork Smurf" 2x25 November 13, 1982
"The Littlest Giant" 2x26 November 13, 1982

Specials

Title Number Air date
"Here Comes the Smurfs" 1 June 19, 1981
"The Smurfs Springtime Special" 2 April 8, 1982
"The Smurfs Christmas Special" 3 December 12, 1982
"My Smurfy Valentine" 4 February 13, 1983
"The Smurfic Games" 5 May 20, 1984
"Smurfily Ever After" 6 February 13, 1985
"Tis the Season to Be Smurfy" 7 December 13, 1987

Cast

In popular culture

  • In the film Field of Dreams, Karin uses a Smurfs glass.
  • In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Career Oppor-Toon-ities" (the "Working Pig" segment), Porky gets a job at a toy store at Acme Mall and tries selling Elmyra "The Muffy Smuffs".
  • In The Cleveland Show episode "Our Gang", Celevand calls Rallo Super Smurf because of the blue costume he's wearing.
  • In the Sugar and Toys episode "Burning Scouts", Smurfs are purple.
  • In the Saturday Night Live episode "John Mulaney/The Strokes", John Mulaney's uses his opening monologue to compare the way Governor Cuomo kept on saying New York like he was a Smurf.

Breaking Bad

  • "A No-Rough-Stuff-Type Deal": Jesse uses the term "smurfs" for his drug buyers.
  • "Dead Freight": Mike talks about putting to work a dozen skells "smurfing" out cold pills.

Comic Book Men

  • "Tough Sh*t": They talk like the Smurfs, which includes bedroom talk, and Gargamel.
  • "Stash Wars": They talk about living in the background of a cartoon, with Brian picking Smurfs, which would put Lazy Smurf out of a job (Gargamel is also mentioned).
  • "Holy Zap Copter": Mike thought The Smurfs was the most outlandish cartoon.

Family Guy

Main article: Family Guy
  • "Emission Impossible": Stewie watches an episode of The Smurfs, where two Smurfs discuss one of them having sex with Smurfette, using the word "smurf" as a euphemism for sex.
  • "Halloween on Spooner Street": A girl dresses up as Smurfette, attending the same party as Meg and her friends.
  • "Guy, Robot": A drunken Peter claims that the mushrooms on his side of the bed are where the Smurfs live.

Riverdale (2017)

  • "Chapter Thirty-Four: Judgment Night": Penny calls Toni a Southside Smurfette.
  • "Chapter Fifty-Eight: In Memoriam": Cheryl calls Jughead an "insufferable Smurf."

Venture Bros.

Main article: Venture Bros.
  • "Careers in Science": Manstrong argues with Baldavitch that Brock has a Smurf living in his genitalia because it's as big as a mushroom.
  • "Are You There, God, It's Me, Dean": Henchmen 24 debates with Henchman 21 or not Smurfette lays eggs, but Henchman 21 counters that they're mammals, as Papa Smurf has a beard.
  • "Past Tense": One of the original Team Venture members mentions Smurfs.

References