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Topic: The Smurfs film will have more females
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Shaney Smurf
Super Smurf
Member # 1345
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posted 01-16-2008 07:51 AM
According to this great new article I found the Smurfs film will have more female Smurfs. I think that's great in a way, but I'm not completely sure what to make of it. Although I always wished there were more Smurfettes in the village I'm also a stickler for keeping things the same, I have never liked change. So, I'm wondering if this could change the story line too much.
Here's the link which contains a photo slideshow as well as the text pasted below for posterity.
http://tinyurl.com/yoyq2t
Smurfs braced for movie and more females
Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:59pm EST
By Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Envisaged as secondary characters for a single cartoon album, the blue gnomes widely known as the Smurfs will celebrate their 50th anniversary this year with a movie deal and an invasion of new female characters.
Smurfs -- known in the original Belgian comic strip as Schtroumpfs -- may only be as tall as three apples and do little more than forage for food and mend the village dam, but the business they have created in over 30 languages is put at some $4 billion, generating $5-12 million in royalties per year.
They will mark 50 years with a series of new comic adventures, statuettes, an exhibition at Brussels' cartoon museum, a set of commemorative stamps and, in a reflection of changing times, more females in their mushroom cottage village.
Blond-haired Smurfette, originally created by evil sorcerer Gargamel to foster jealous rivalry in the community, has been the single love interest for almost every other Smurf for years.
"There have been dramatic changes in socio-cultural values in the past 20 to 25 years," Hendrik Coysman, head of Smurf rights holder IMPS told a news conference on Monday. "One of these is girl empowerment."
"So, there will be a greater female presence in the Smurf village and this will, of course, be a basis for new stories and this will probably turn upside down certain traditional situations within the village."
Nine Culliford, the widow of Belgian cartoonist Peyo who was instrumental in choosing the color blue, argued that her husband Pierre had never been overtly political, but avidly read the newspaper and made his creations address current themes.
Notable among them was the 1973 story of the conflict between northern and southern clans divided by language, echoing the ongoing dispute between Belgium's Dutch-speaking north and French-speaking south.
Thierry Culliford, Peyo's 52-year-old son, argues the Smurfs are otherwise timeless, explaining their continued appeal.
"They live in the Middle Ages ... They don't live in the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s so the clothing or their look doesn't change ... After 50 years we see they are still popular with children."
The Smurfs will be brought into the modern age, nonetheless, with a computer-animated 3-D style movie.
IMPS has agreed a deal with Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom. A script is being written and further details are set to follow in the coming weeks.
Coysman also has hopes for a 26-episode series of half-hour shorts to add to the 272 that Hanna-Barbera made in the 1980s to propel the Smurfs around the world.
The 50th anniversary could also mark a return for Johan and Peewit, the characters that first stumbled across the vibrant village and the curious "Smurf" language in "The Magic Flute" cartoon album in October 1958.
Posts: 493 | From: NY, USA | Registered: Mar 2006
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
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posted 01-16-2008 11:49 AM
New female characters...that's interesting news. Hopefully it may be something along the lines of what Raven Child's been working on with her Smurfette Village trilogy of stories, perhaps, though on a less dramatic scale.
Of course, the news about a 26-episode series of half-hour shorts is even more interesting. Could only wonder what they would contain. A continuation of the original series where they left off with the "time-travelling" season, with perhaps a possible conclusion? Or maybe something that ignores everything we've seen in the cartoon series entirely? Who knows? The only thing I know for sure is that Don Messick will surely be missed as the quintessential voice of Papa Smurf...as will Paul Winchell as Gargamel.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Shaney Smurf
Super Smurf
Member # 1345
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posted 01-16-2008 07:27 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Vic George 2K8:
New female characters...that's interesting news. Hopefully it may be something along the lines of what Raven Child's been working on with her Smurfette Village trilogy of stories, perhaps, though on a less dramatic scale.
Of course, the news about a 26-episode series of half-hour shorts is even more interesting. Could only wonder what they would contain. A continuation of the original series where they left off with the "time-travelling" season, with perhaps a possible conclusion? Or maybe something that ignores everything we've seen in the cartoon series entirely? Who knows? The only thing I know for sure is that Don Messick will surely be missed as the quintessential voice of Papa Smurf...as will Paul Winchell as Gargamel.
Yeah, I'm real interested in that 26 episode series as well. I just hope it's good. I doubt it will be anywhere near as good as the original series, but I hope it will still be good nonetheless.
I was also wondering if it would pick up where the original series left off, but I doubt it. It will most likely be entirely different than the original series. I really don't care one way or the other, I just hope I like it, that's all I have to say.
Don Messick and Paul Winchell's voices will be missed, but don't forget about Hamilton Camp who voiced Harmony and Greedy. He died in October of 2005, the same year as Paul Winchell. Three good voice actors from the Smurfs gone. The rest are pretty much still working, I wish they could reprise their rolls for these upcoming Smurfs movies and series.
At any rate, I'm still pushing for John O'Hurley for Papa Smurf. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Posts: 493 | From: NY, USA | Registered: Mar 2006
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Smurfy1For2
Blue Believer
Member # 1224
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posted 01-20-2008 06:17 PM
Maybe they just mean Sassette and Nanny will be in the movie too??
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u wished u rocked as i
Posts: 1971 | From: Fairfield, VA | Registered: Nov 2005
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