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The Smurfs (1981 TV series)

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The Smurfs
International title card
Genre
Created byPierre "Peyo" Culliford
Directed by
  • Bob Hathcock (Season 1–2, Season 5)
  • George Gordon (Season 1–4)
  • Rudy Zamora (Season 1–6)
  • Carl Urbano (Season 1–6, Season 8)
  • John Walker (Season 3–4)
  • Oscar Dufau (Season 3–4, Season 9)
  • Alan Zaslove (Season 4–5)
  • Don Lusk (Season 5–6, Season 8–9)
  • Jay Sarbry (Season 6–9)
  • John Kimball (Season 7)
  • Bob Goe (Season 7–8)
  • Paul Sommer (Season 7–9)
  • Gerard Baldwin (Special 2–6)
  • Ray Patterson (Special 7; also supervising director)
Voices of(See Voices or Characters)
Theme music composer
  • Mireille Delfosse (Worldwide version)
  • Hoyt Curtin (Season 1–8, U.S. version)
  • Tom Worrall (Season 9, U.S. version)
Opening theme
  • "The Smurfy Way" (Worldwide)
  • "La La Song" (Season 2 only, U.S.)
Ending theme
  • "The Smurfy Way" (Instrumental)
  • "La La Song" (Instrumental)
Composers
  • Hoyt Curtin
  • Clark Gassman (Season 9 only)
Country of origin
  • United States
  • Belgium
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons9
No. of episodes256 (418 segments)[1] (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Gerard Baldwin (Season 1–3; supervising producer, Season 4–5; Special 2–6)
  • Bob Hathcock (Season 4–6)
  • Don Jurwich (Season 7; Special 7)
  • Walt Kubiak (Season 7)
  • Paul Sabella (Season 8–9)
  • Iwao Takamoto (creative producer, S01–05)
  • Associate producers:
  • Bob Hathcock (Season 3; Special 5)
  • Larry Latham (Special 6)
  • Charles Grosvenor (Season 6)
EditorGil Iverson
Running time22 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC
Release12 September 1981 (1981-09-12) –
2 December 1989 (1989-12-02)
Related
Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs (1965)

The Smurfs (syndicated as Smurfs' Adventures) is an American-Belgian animated fantasy-comedy television series that aired on NBC from 12 September 1981, to 2 December 1989. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, it is based on the Belgian comic series by the same name, created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo (who also served as story supervisor of this adaptation) and aired for 256 episodes[1] with a total of 418 stories, excluding three cliffhanger episodes and seven specials.

History

In 1976, Stuart R. Ross, an American media and entertainment entrepreneur who saw the Smurfs while traveling in Belgium, entered into an agreement with Editions Dupuis and Peyo, acquiring North American and other rights to the characters, whose original name was "les Schtroumpfs". Subsequently, Ross launched the Smurfs in the United States in association with a California company, Wallace Berrie and Co., whose figurines, dolls and other Smurf merchandise became a hugely popular success. NBC President Fred Silverman's daughter, Melissa, had a Smurf doll of her own that he had bought for her at a toy shop while they were visiting Aspen, Colorado. Silverman thought that a series based on the Smurfs might make a good addition to his Saturday-morning lineup.[3]

The Saturday morning cartoon The Smurfs, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with SEPP International S.A. (from 1981 to 1987) and Lafig S.A. (in the years 1988 and 1989), debuted on NBC in 1981. The series became a major success for the network and one of the most successful and longest running Saturday morning cartoons in television history, spawning spin-off television specials on an almost yearly basis. The characters included Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy Smurf, the evil Gargamel, his cat Azrael, and Johan and his friend Peewit. The Smurfs was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy Awards, and won Outstanding Children's Entertainment Series in 1982–1983.[4]

In 1989, NBC changed the format of the show, removing some of the Smurfs from the forest and omitted the Smurf village. These changes were adopted to a lost in time format similar to The Time Tunnel. The show was cancelled because of decreasing ratings due to viewers being displeased with the change.[citation needed] In addition, NBC executives prepared a Today weekend program for Saturdays as well as programmings for teenagers such as Saved by the Bell, which came later on and led to the elimination of Saturday morning animated children's shows. The show continued through 2 December 1989 on the NBC network.

Characters

Main article: List of The Smurfs characters

Episodes

Main article: List of The Smurfs episodes

Voices

Production

Outsourced production work was done by Wang Film Productions/Cuckoo's Nest Studios and, only for the Season 7, by Toei Animation.

Use of classical music

The Smurfs was noted for its frequent use of classical music as background music or themes for particular events. Notable works found in the Smurfs include:[5][6]

Syndication

The show was formerly distributed by Worldvision Enterprises (now CBS Television Distribution). It is now distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution, as Time Warner is the current owner of all Hanna-Barbera properties, having inherited them in their 1996 merger with Turner Broadcasting. Some episodes are available through the online video service In2TV.

Syndicated airings of the show are usually broadcast under the title Smurfs Adventures. Although each season had its own unique opening song during the original broadcast, syndicated airings usually use a shortened version of the season 4 opening, where Gargamel says, "Ravage the land as never before, total destruction from mountain to shore."[8]

Home media releases

Region 1

Warner Home Video released the complete first season on DVD in two volume sets in 2008.[9][10] Despite high sales of both sets,[11] no further seasons have been released. Warner Home Video later released a series of three single disc releases of The Smurfs in 2009, each containing 5 episodes from the second season.[12][13][14] A two-disc DVD was set to be released in 2011 to tie into the theatrical film with 10 episodes culled from the entire run of the series,[15] but included episodes from the second season instead. Another DVD with both Smurfs Christmas specials was released later that year.[16] It is unknown if Warner Archive will release the rest of the show's complete seasons (as part of the Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection series).

DVD Name Ep # Release date Notes
Season One, Volume One 19 26 February 2008 Re-released on 24 July 2012 as part of Cartoon Network's 20th anniversary.
Season One, Volume Two 20 7 October 2008
True Blue Friends 5 3 March 2009
Smurfy Tales 5 18 August 2009
World of Wonders 5 17 November 2009
A Magical Smurf Adventure 10 19 July 2011
Holiday Celebration 2 specials 11 October 2011
The Best of Seasons 1 & 2 16 12 March 2013 Repackage contain the first discs from the Season One, Volume One, Season One, Volume Two and A Magical Smurf Adventure sets
Smurfs to the Rescue! 6 16 July 2013
Smurftastic Journey 4 15 October 2013 All episodes are on the Season One sets
A Magical Smurf Adventure 2 [17] 6 8 November 2013

Region 2

Fabulous Films and Arrow Films have released the first five seasons on DVD in the UK.[18][19][20][21][22] The company has also released the film The Smurfs and the Magic Flute on Blu-ray and DVD, as well as several compilation DVDs, containing themed specials from the show.

DVD Name Ep # Release date
Complete 1st Season 27 5 July 2010
Complete 2nd Season 24 6 September 2010
Complete 3rd Season 31 1 July 2013
Complete 4th Season 28 1 July 2013
Complete 5th Season 25 1 July 2013
The Complete Seasons 1-5 135 1 December 2014
The Smurfs – Four Smurf Tastic Episodes 4 30 July 2011
The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (Blu-ray + DVD) 0 11 October 2011
The Smurfs: Tis the Season to Be Smurfy 4 5 November 2011
The Smurfs: My Smurfy Valentine 4 8 January 2012
The Smurfs Springtime Special 6 17 March 2012
The Smurfs: The Smurfic Games 7 4 June 2012
The Smurfs Halloween Special 6 1 October 2012
The Smurfs: Love Smurfette 6 1 July 2013
The Smurfs: Papa Smurf Rocks! 6 1 July 2013
The Smurfs: World Cup Carnival 5 23 June 2014

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced the release of the full Series in 9 Season Sets on DVD in Germany, with German sound only, beginning in August 2011.[23]

DVD Name Ep # Release date
Die komplette erste Staffel 27 4 August 2011
Die komplette zweite Staffel 24 4 August 2011
Die komplette dritte Staffel 31 14 October 2011
Die komplette vierte Staffel 28 14 October 2011
Die komplette fünfte Staffel 25 16 August 2012
Die komplette sechste Staffel 39 16 August 2012
Die komplette siebte Staffel 40 25 July 2013
Die komplette achte Staffel 16 (including 16 additional episodes of Johan and Peewit) 25 July 2013
Die komplette neunte Staffel 26 25 July 2013
Collector's Edition (Amazon.de exclusive) 272 4 July 2013

Region 4

Magna Home Entertainment has released various best-of volume collections on DVD.

  • The Smurfs and the Magic Flute has been released, but a new 'Original Collector's Edition'[24] with new packaging released on 2 September 2011.
  • The Smurfs – Time Travellers (3 Disc Set)[25] was released on 5 November 2008.
  • The Smurfs – Smurfette Collection (3 Disc Set)[26] was released on 1 September 2009.
  • The Smurfs – Papa Smurf Collection (3 Disc Set)[27] was released on 4 November 2009.
  • The Smurfs – Favourites Collection (6 Disc Box Set)[28] was released on 29 June 2010.
  • The Smurfs – Just Smurfy 1 (Box Set) (BONUS Figurine)[29] was released on 3 November 2010.
  • The Smurfs – Just Smurfy 2 (Box Set) (BONUS Figurine)[30] was released on 3 November 2010.
  • The Smurfs – Just Smurfy 3 (Box Set) (BONUS Figurine)[31] was released on 1 December 2010.
  • The Smurfs – Just Smurfy 4 (Box Set) (BONUS Figurine)[32] was released on 2 March 2011.
  • The Smurfs – Complete Season 1 (3 Disc Digipak)[33] and The Smurfs – Complete Season 2 (3 Disc Digipak)[34] were released on 24 August 2011.
  • The Smurfs – Complete Season 3 (4 Disc Digipak)[35] and The Smurfs – Complete Season 4 (4 Disc Digipak)[36] were released on 5 October 2011.
  • The Smurfs – Complete Season 5 (3 Disc Digipak)[37] was released on 1 December 2011.
  • The Smurfs – Complete Season 6 (5 Disc Digipak)[38] was released on 4 January 2012.
  • The Smurfs – Complete Season 7 (5 Disc Digipak),[39] The Smurfs – Complete Season 8 (2 Disc Digipak)[40] were released on 1 August 2013.
  • The Smurfs – Complete Season 9 (3 Disc Digipak)[41] was released on 14 August 2013.
  • The Smurfs – Ultimate Collection 1: Limited Edition – Seasons 1–5 (18 Disc Box Set)[42] released on 24 August 2011.
  • The Smurfs – Ultimate Collection 2: Limited Edition – Seasons 6–9 (16 Disc Box Set)[43] released on 2 November 2011.
  • The animated versions of Papa Smurf and Brainy Smurf were featured in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. Hefty Smurf also makes a brief cameo in the beginning of the movie with the other Smurfs, his only line being, "Who Smurfed the bell?" Smurfette is shown on the promotional poster and VHS cover artwork, but was not seen in the special. Harmony Smurf made a small cameo as the Smurfs comic book was flipping through pages.
  • Gargamel and Azrael made guest appearances on Family Guy in 2009.
  • The Smurfs were often parodied in Robot Chicken where Danny Goldman reprises his role of Brainy Smurf while Dan Milano voiced Papa Smurf and Seth Green voiced Gargamel.
  • In the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Guitar Control", a tank can be seen destroying a Smurf house.

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Top 100 Animated Series". IGN. Archived from the original on 19 January 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  2. ^ Nash, Eric (2 December, 2002). "Charles Dupuis, 84, Publisher Who Introduced the Smurfs". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 August 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Barbera, Joseph (1994). My Life in 'Toons': From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century. Atlanta: Turner Publishing. pp. 184–187. ISBN 1-57036-042-1.
  4. ^ Cendrowicz, Leo (15 January 2008). "The Smurfs Are Off to Conquer the World – Again". Time. Retrieved 15 January 2008.
  5. ^ "Orchestral lunacy: George Daugherty bugs out". Montreal Mirror. 10 July 1997. Archived from the original on 29 January 2003. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions!". Astro's Treasure Chest. 20 January 2003. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  7. ^ "Topic: an orchestrated piece in the smurfs, oh and HI!". Smurf BBS. Bluebuddies.com. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  8. ^ Smurfs (1981 TV series)/Intro sequence, smurfs.wikia.com
  9. ^ Lambert, David (26 October 2007). "The Smurfs – OFFICIAL Announcement At Long, Smurfy Last! Full Press Release Is Due Next Week". TVshowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  10. ^ Lambert, David (15 July 2008). "The Smurfs – 2nd DVD Release Announced: Date, Cost, Package Art & Extras! Smurfing your way early this October!". TVshowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  11. ^ Lambert, David (9 January 2009). "The Smurfs – Official Studio Press Release for The Smurfs – Volume 1: True Blue Friends – Single-disc release smurfs it's way home in a matter of weeks". TVshowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  12. ^ Lambert, David (3 February 2009). "The Smurfs – Cartoon-Related Release Date Change #1: Smurfing the DVD Schedule Back a Couple of Weeks – New early-March release date for the True Blue Friends DVD". TVshowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  13. ^ Lambert, David (30 April 2009). "The Smurfs – Vol. 2: Smurfy Tales: Date, Cost, Episodes, Extras, Box Art – New single-disc release scheduled for mid-August". TVshowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  14. ^ Lambert, David (2 September 2009). "The Smurfs – Volume 3: Worlds of Wonder DVD Announced: Date, Contents, Package ***UPDATE: EXTRAS*** – 5 more cartoons Smurf their way into your collection this November". TVshowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  15. ^ Lambert, David (15 July 2001). "The Smurfs – 'A Magical Smurf Adventure': Formal Press Release Before Tuesday's Street Date – 10-episode collection meant to tie in with the new theatrical film". TVshowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  16. ^ Lambert, David (29 September 2011). "The Smurfs – Formal Press Release from Warner for their 'Holiday Celebration' DVD – 2 specials on 1 disc, available this coming Tuesday, October 4th". TVshowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  17. ^ Lambert, David (11 July 2013). "The Smurfs – Announcement for Warner's 'A Magical Smurf Adventure 2' DVD". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  18. ^ "The Smurfs: Complete 1st Season [DVD]". Fabulous Films. 5 July 2010.
  19. ^ "The Smurfs: Complete 2nd Series [DVD]". Fabulous Films. 6 September 2010.
  20. ^ "The Smurfs: Complete 3rd Series [DVD]". Fabulous Films. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  21. ^ "The Smurfs: Complete 4th Series [DVD]". Fabulous Films. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  22. ^ "The Smurfs: Complete 5th Series [DVD]". Fabulous Films. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  23. ^ "Filme & TV " "die schlümpfe"". Amazon.de. Retrieved 11 November 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ "Smurfs and the Magic Flute, The – Original Collector's Edition". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  25. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Time Travellers (3 Disc Set)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  26. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Smurfette Collection (3 Disc Set)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  27. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Papa Smurf Collection (3 Disc Set)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  28. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Favourites Collection (6 Disc Box Set)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  29. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Just Smurfy 1 (Box Set) (BONUS Figurine)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  30. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Just Smurfy 2 (Box Set) (BONUS Figurine)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  31. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Just Smurfy 3 (Box Set) (BONUS Figurine)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  32. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Just Smurfy 4 (Box Set) (BONUS Figurine)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  33. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Complete Season 1 (3 Disc Digipak)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  34. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Complete Season 1 (3 Disc Digipak)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  35. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Complete Season 3 (4 Disc Digipak)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  36. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Complete Season 4 (4 Disc Digipak)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  37. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Complete Season 5 (3 Disc Digipak)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  38. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Complete Season 6 (5 Disc Digipak)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  39. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Complete Season 7 (5 Disc Digipak)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  40. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Complete Season 8 (2 Disc Digipak)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  41. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Complete Season 9 (3 Disc Digipak)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  42. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Ultimate Collection 1: Limited Edition – Seasons 1–5 (18 Disc Box Set)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  43. ^ "Smurfs, The (1981) – Ultimate Collection 2: Limited Edition – Seasons 6–9 (16 Disc Box Set)". EzyDVD Pty Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
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