I was a huge fan of The Smurfs as a kid. I have many happy memories of watching the cartoon on Saturday mornings in the early 80s and collecting the small rubber figurines in toy stores. From 1981-90, the animated series produced a whopping 256 episodes. As they increased in popularity, NBC would broadcast The Smurfs during 90-minute blocks on Saturday morning for 5 straight years.
I recently purchased some $5 DVD collections at Target. The Smurfs was an impulse buy, as I had not watched an episode in years. I wanted to see what my boys thought of the show, having watched the recent feature film. After I got through a few episodes, I realized…man, there were some jacked-up storylines!
I decided I had to find an episode guide and if nothing else, see what insane criminal acts and torture happened in the name of children’s entertainment. What did I find? Smurfs making fun of the afterlife, becoming mutated beasts, and wearing drag. No joke.
Check out these 5 super-creepy episodes of The Smurfs:
“The Purple Smurfs” aka the Hopping Biters
The smurfs begin their day as usual, hard at work on a suspension bridge. After being warned by overbearing foreman Papa Smurf for leaning too much on his shovel, Lazy decides to help by cutting down some trees. After a few minutes, he is tormented by a purple fly with vampire-like fangs.
In a fit of rage, he chases after the fly like an axe murderer, but the fly manages to escape and bites Lazy on his tail. Lazy then turns into a purple, zombie-like “biter” and begins terrorizes the village yelling “G-Nap! G-Nap!” Several smurfs scramble to capture Lazy, tying him up in his house. But Lazy breaks free and begins biting more smurfs, slowing spreading the purple epidemic in the village.
After several failed attempts by Papa Smurf to find an antidote, the purple Smurfs surround his lab. Papa realizes it’s too late as he finds himself as the final blue smurf. All hope is lost as Hefty sets Papa’s lab ablaze and then bites Papa. His lab explodes, luckily mixing the right ingredients to make an antidote smog which covers the village and cures all the smurfs.
“The Heavenly Smurfs” aka Go To Hell, Gargamel!
As Gargamel and Azriel feel today is the day that they’ll finally catch some Smurfs, they stumble upon several who are gathering firewood in the forest and give chase. Gargamel tangles his large net on a limb and falls on top of Azriel, knocking them both unconscious.
Jokey enjoys seeing them in this state and decides to play a joke on them. He shares a plan with the other Smurfs to make Gargamel believe he is six feet under. The smurfs spring into action by making fluffy smoke and heavenly costumes before Gargamel wakes up from his fall. When Gargamel comes to, he asks the heavenly smurfs if he has “passed away.” They affirm his greatest fear and inform him he will be headed to the hot place unless he agrees to start being kind to the Smurfs.
After seeing a couple deviled Smurfs with horns and pitchforks, Gargamel agrees to become a slave laborer to the Smurfs back on “earth.” After a few Smurf angels visit Gargamel that night with a list of chores for the next day, he discovers the whole thing is a trick when some fake wings are left behind.
He keeps up the rouse until the next day at the village and unleashes his own hell. Papa Smurf then uses a floating cloud trick to get Gargamel to leave the village and teach the jokester Smurfs a lesson in the process. Let’s see…tricking people into thinking they are going to Hell so they can work while you live in the lap of luxury… did Jim and Tammy Faye write this episode?
“Smurfette For A Day” aka RuSmurf
When the Smurfs decide to build a new playground for Baby Smurf, Clumsy accidentally falls down a hole which happens to be the home of a worm-eating gnome. Upon meeting the smurfs, the gnome takes a liking to Smurfette. They take him back to the village where Greedy provides some food for the gnome.
Coming on strong to Smurfette again, the little hole-digging perv tells her he’s going to take her as his wife once he finds the “cavern of gems.” With the other Smurfs trying to protect Smurfette and her feeling she can handle the situation herself, Handy devises a plan to lie to Smurfette to get her out of the village and then dress up the strongest smurf in drag to deceive the gnome.
The plan works, as the gnome kidnaps the blonde-haired Smurf with a Hefty surprise and the other Smurfs scramble to attempt her…err…his rescue. Wow. Okay, why didn’t the strongest smurf in the village tell Handy to go sit on his hammer with a plan like that?
“Wolf In Peewit’s Clothing” aka The Smurf Thriller
An evil wizard, who feels his skills were snubbed in the latest wizard power rankings, seeks to cast the ultimate spell that will earn him a little respect. However, this spell requires a special ingredient…Smurf sweat. After disparaging over his lack of Smurf intel (and probably throwing up a little in his mouth) the wizard gets a stroke of good luck by finding a traveling Peewit at his castle door.
The wizard soon learns that Peewit is a friend of the Smurfs and scares up a plan to obtain his missing ingredient. He uses Peewit’s appetite and some wolf gravy (that just happened to be in his pantry) to turn Peewit into a raging werewolf by moonlight. The wizard commands his new pet to bring back 3 Smurfs to complete his spell.
The very next night, the werewolf rampages the Smurf village, leaving the other Smurfs and friend Johan to rescue their friends and defeat the beast. You know what else is creepy about this episode? It debuted just 3 weeks before Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video.
Gargamel’s Dummy aka Chucky Meets The Smurfs
Everyone prepares for a Smurf talent show. Jokey tells everyone he has a “secret act” that’s sure to be a big surprise. He goes around the village, borrowing materials from many Smurfs to build a Gargamel dummy. He gives a good scare to Brainy and everyone agrees the act will be a hit at the talent show.
Later in the forest, the real Gargamel stumbles onto Jokey’s act as he shows Sassette. Less than pleased, Gargamel uses his new spell book to make the dummy come to life and set a trap for the Smurfs. Back at the Smurf Village, the wooden terrorist begins vandalizing huts and for his grand finale, rigs all of Jokey’s exploding presents together to blow the village to Kingdom come.
Jokey then disguises himself as the puppet to trick Gargamel into giving him the reversing spell. I’ve heard that producers rejected the follow-up episode in which a girl dummy created by Smurfette tries to bring the Gargamel dummy back to life.
Yes!! Love it! The Purple Smurf was the best!!
I noticed some of the same things when I tried showing some episodes to my daughter. I did not recall the odd storylines much at all from when I watched them as a kid, but now each one seemed to make me cringe a little. It didn’t damage me at all (that I know of), so they can’t be all that bad.
The Smurfs really were odd in a lot of ways. I didn’t remember specifics like this but I know when my kid wanted to watch it a while back I suggested something else. I loved them growing up though!
Ah, Smurfs. I thought it was just a humble adventure until I read this. Thanks, Jason!