In watching this collection of The Smurfs episodes, I’ve discovered the reason behind people hating cats. Everyone claims they had some atrocious childhood incident with a cat the size of a mountain lion (it’s always a huge cat)with not claws, but talons. Out of nowhere, this mountain lion-sized house cat with hawk talons, terrorized the victim. But this is not actually true. The reason is Smurfs. Every Saturday morning in the 80s these people would watch a show that made cats out to be horrible creatures! That darned Azreal.
For either a Smurf fan or a child, these five episodes are a nice sampling of the joy of The Smurfs. You get a couple of fun stories, a few laughs, ideas for nicknames for friends (the Smurf method of naming was stolen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by the way) and of course a thousand different ways to use the word “smurf” in a sentence—so its educational, really.
“We must smurf our winter chores.”
“Heavens to smurf-atroid!”
“What in the smurf?”
Episodes:
"S-Shivering S-Smurfs"
The first episode was probably my favorite. It’s short, a little cheesy and very smurfy. Tracker warns it’s going to snow, but because it’s so warm none of his fellow Smurfs prepare for it, causing them all to get sick. Tracker must brave an encounter with Gargamel and Azreal to get medicine to cure his pals. All is well that ends well, and The Smurfs usually does—it’s a cartoon meant for kids after all.
"Turncoat Smurf"
Papa Smurf looks like Santa Claus. He’s the only one in the village who wears red pants and cap, as opposed to the normal white pant/cap ensemble, and he has a white beard. Either way, Santa—I mean Papa Smurf—puts himself in a trance to rest and Brainy decides to assign all the Smurf’s duties about the village—the others neglect their chores and when Brainy has too much on his plate, he leaves a pile of dirty clothes by the stream and Gargamel finds them. The others misconstrue this as an act of Smurf deception and think Brainy has teamed up with Gargamel! Brainy convinces his pals he hasn’t smurfed them and all is restored in the village.
For whatever reason, Brainy is my least favorite Smurf. So if you like him as a character, then this would be a great episode, but he annoys me to no end. (Possibly its that his glasses are not too separate circles connected by a bar across the nose, but just two circles smashed together—its hard to say.)
"The Smurf Who Couldn’t Say No"
Scaredy asks Pushover to take a torch to light it from the Foxfire in the swamp. Pushover accidentally extinguishes the fire and the Marsh Monster is awakened! Scaredy goes to look for Pushover and the pair must relight the swamp’s fire. Scaredy learns that it’s okay to be scared sometimes, and Pushover learns it’s okay to say “No!”
Apparently the show also took it upon itself to teach moral lessons to its audience. Great for any child.
"The Haunted Castle"
In this one, Papa Smurf, Smurfette and Brainy head off in search of some plants, but because of rain they hide and pass time in a castle, only to run into some human friends, Johan and Peewee. The ghost of the castle reveals that he was sentenced to haunt the castle until water flows again in the area and the rightful heir resumes the household. The smurfs and friends set off to find water and when they do it causes multiple men to claim to be the true heir.
"The Black Hellebore"
Aside from the s-play in the first one, this was definitely the coolest title and therefore can be assumed to be the best episode. Again however, its lack of Smurfs in the story makes it pretty unappealing. Johan and Peewee are in trouble back at the castle because the king’s life is in danger by a madman who wants gold. A few Smurfs make an appearance as they are brought in for help, but much like the last one it’s disappointing to watch a smurfing Smurf-less Smurfs episode!
Aside from the variety of episodes and educational material within the show, the best part of the 80s television series is just that those little guys are really cute. The tiny bodies with the little white pants and droopy caps. Adorable. Really the best part of this DVD is that you get a smurf lot of blue!
DVD Bonus Features
The disc has minimal extras as there's mainly a section featuring trailers from other cartoon shows like the lovable Scooby Doo, Where are You! The other section is Smurf-related and it invites you to choose a character to learn more about; offering the goods on three characters, including Papa Smurf.
"The Smurfs: True Blue Friends" is on sale February 17, 2009 and is rated NR. Children & Family. Directed by Bob Hathcock, Carl Urbano, George Gordon, Rudy Zamora. Written by Peyo and Yvan Delporte (concept). Starring Don Messick, Lucille Bliss, Paul Winchell.
