Most Smurf fans I've encountered on the Internet seem to be most interested in all the collectibles. I still have a few somewhere up in my attic, but my main draw to the Smurfs is the 80s TV cartoon. Who else here was into the TV show? Who is your favorite Smurf from the show? Your favorite episode? Your favorite human friend of the Smurfs?As my name indicates, I get a huge kick out of Brainy. He's the Smurf everyone loves to hate. He's firmly convinced that he knows everything, and no amount of screwing up can dissuade him from his notion of his superior intellect. Most of my favorite Smurf cartoons are centered around one of Brainy's misadventures. Examples: The Answer Smurf, Smurfiplication, Essence of Brainy, Monster Smurfs, Tailor's Magic Needle, and of course, King Smurf.
As far as the Smurf whose personality is the most appealing, I'd have to go with Handy. He's intelligent, creative and resourceful, and he's always coming up with those Smurfy inventions. Plus, he's kinda cute with that little peak on his cap and those overalls.
My favorite classic first-season episode is probably The Clockwork Smurf, where Handy first creates Clockwork, and Clockwork ends up rescuing then-Prince Gerard from his evil aunt's clutches. For Smurfs episodes of a later vintage, it's probably a tie between The Gingerbread Smurfs, another Brainy-plays-with-magic-and-makes-a-big-mess episode, where Brainy bakes a magical gingerbread smurf that comes to life, multiplies and wreaks havoc on the village, and Fire Fighting Smurfs, where Snappy accidentally causes a huge forest fire.
In general, my favorite episodes were the ones where the Smurfs developed a problem within the village (usually created by either Brainy or Jokey), and had to solve it, rather than the ones where they battled an enemy from elsewhere. (Examples: The Masked Pie Smurfer, Waste Not Smurf Not, The Astrosmurf, and numerous Brainy-related ones cited above.) And when they did deal with outside foes, the best ones dealt with good old tried-and-true Gargamel.
The most amusing takeoff on a movie had to be Smurfing For Ghosts, where Brainy and Clumsy go into business as ghostsmurfers. It even had background music that was VERY similar to the theme from Ghostbusters.
My favorite human friend is probably King Gerard. He was such an innocent soul. What the heck kind of family did he come from, when it seems like every one of his relatives wanted to steal his crown? First Aunt Imperia imprisons him and tries to prevent his coronation, then Uncle Leopold nearly drowns Clockwork Smurf in the fountain, then Cousin Malcolm the Mean turns Gerard into a stag. Somebody find this boy a decent family!
I don't know if I'd say I have a least favorite Smurf. The Smurflings could be annoying at times, but I didn't dislike them. As a female, I sometimes got annoyed with Smurfette's obsessing over dresses and flowers and her "oh boo-hoo" every time something upsetting happened. Sassette was a tomboy and more my speed, but geez, if her voice were any higher, only animals could hear it. It actually hurts my ears to listen to her. And Hefty's macho, often belligerent attitude got on my nerves a bit, but he was basically a smurfy guy underneath it all.
Oh, and I couldn't stand the Wartmongers. Of all the villains, they were definitely my least favorite.
And what happened to the handful of Smurfs who disappeared after the first couple of seasons, never to be smurfed from again? I know Natural Smurf became Nat Smurfling, but what ever became of Sloppy, Scaredy, Tracker and Tuffy?
Anyway, I just thought I'd share some thoughts on the TV show, if anyone here is into that, and I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts, favorites and least favorites.
Brainy Smurfette
P.S. Does anyone here know if there are any web sites out there devoted to the TV show, other than Vic George's summary of all the episodes?
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"As Papa Smurf always says..." *BONK*
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