The Purple Smurfs

The Purple Smurfs
Network	NBC
Premiere date	October 31, 1981
Starring	Don Messick Michael Bell
Music composed by	Hoyt Curtin
Voice director(s)	Gordon Hunt
Episode navigation
← Previous	Next →
Title card
Second title card
International version.

"The Purple Smurfs" is the sixteenth episode of The Smurfs season one, and the twenty-fourth episode overall. It aired on October 31, 1981 on NBC. It was voice directed by Gordon Hunt.

A purple fly bites Lazy and makes him the first victim of an epidemic involving violent, Purple Smurfs. Papa and the remaining population quickly rush to create a cure in response.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor

Locations

• Earth
  • Smurf village

Objects

• Purple Smurf antidote

Production

Development

"The Purple Smurfs" is adapted from a comic titled "The Black Smurfs" ("Les Schtroumpfs noirs" in French), created by Peyo and published by Dupuis in 1963. The diseased Smurfs are made purple instead of jet black, due to worries of possible racial connotations. Smurfette also appears in this episode, but not existent in the original story.

Music

The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin, with musical supervision by Paul DeKorte.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: September 12, 1981 on NBC

Behind the scenes

• According to the website TV Tropes, the original comic of which this episode is based on is described as "the zombie apocalypse". The Black/Purple Smurfs are essentially infectious zombies, nine years before George A. Romero's Night of The Living Dead made it the standard.
• The original comic served as the origin of Grouchy Smurf's behavior, as he was initially a normal Smurf before becoming the first victim of the viral invasion. The cartoon never explores that detail and instead makes Lazy Smurf the first one to become a Purple Smurf.
• For similar reasons, the English translation of the original comic carries the Purple Smurf recoloring from the animated cartoon.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	La Mouche Bzz	The Fly Bzz

Home availability

• In the United States:
  • October 7, 2008: Warner Home Video releases The Smurfs: Season One, Volume Two on DVD.