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STUDIO: Warner Home Video
MSRP: $14.98
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 103 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Featurette
The Pitch
Tiny blue creatures try to make peace in the Belgian forest.
The Humans
Lucille Bliss, Michael Bell, William Callaway, Hamilton Camp, June Foray
The Nutshell
The Smurfs were created by Peyo for reasons that only opiates can answer. My generation came to know the Smurfs as cartoon filler that NBC always used to anchor its Saturday Morning line-up. Somewhere between Mr. T and the T-Force and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends was always a thirty minute trip to Smurf Village. That thirty minute trip usually resulted in a bathroom break, flipping over to ABC, then CBS and back to ABC. Eventually, I would turn the channel back to see the Ruby Spears swoosh fly across the screen. Today, I take a look at five episodes from the series.
Smurfette in Screamin’ Yellow Dongers.
The Lowdown
Warner Brothers is awkwardly releasing The Smurfs on DVD. Splitting the first season into two volumes, we’re still awaiting the umpteen other seasons to hit DVD. But, what WB has chosen to do is release episodes randomly chosen from the series’ run. There’s no rhyme or reasons to the selections, but it does show how far the show went from its Peyo roots to the Americanized final product. It also shows that you could slap anything onto Saturday Morning Network TV in the 1980s.
Peewit and Johann are the two humans that played into many of the early Smurfs episodes and they seem over-represented on the set. Sure, they connect back to the original Peyo work and the Smurfs film The Magic Flute. But, it puts a damper on those blind buyers that just want to see the big blue gang. The episodes presented follow a typical formula. The humans find the Smurfs at play. The Smurfs introduce a sunny perspective to some grim situation poised by outsides forces. The day is saved.
Three more strokes and we can waterboard any cat we capture. But, what will Pelosi Smurf say? It doesn’t matter, she’ll wait a year too long and then she’ll just grandstand for the rest of the Village.
The main series’ villain Gargamel and his cat Azrael show up in about 80% of the episodes on the disc. Gargamel uses spells and other deceptions to ruin the Smurfs’ day. But, he always ends up getting handed his ass. The only time that Gargamel doesn’t get to play the villain is when Pushover Smurf has to learn to quit being a pussy. Being a six inch tall blue guy doesn’t really do much to cure that problem. So, the cycle continues.
When she queefs, it’s like a gentle breeze blowing through the Grand Canyon.
The show is very one-note and its legions of fans tend to forgive it. By legions of fans, I’m referring to the gatherings of people who seem nostalgic for anything that happened to fall into the pop culture milieu during the reign of Reagan. If you’re a fan of non-threatening creatures who wear their personalities as their names, then you’re in for a treat. Otherwise, you’ll want to move onto heavy fare. I hear that Warner Brothers also released Silverhawks: Season 1 to DVD. You remember that show? It had metal cops in space. Edgy.
There’s always got to be one fuck-up.
The Package
The sole featurette allows you to enter Smurf Village and learn trivia about the little blue guys. The trivia and bio bits will reload after about thirty minutes. So, if you haven’t figured out who Pushover Smurf is, don’t worry.