Thanks for
smurfing on by. I was bored the other night so for some reason the
Smurfs popped into my head. I decided to go on a little smurf adventure
and read on them. Well as I went on my journey I found it really
hard to find some good sites on the smurfs. I was just looking for
some images and that turned out to be a great task. The purpose
of my smurf web site is for the smurf fans that want to see pictures or get pictures of the smurfs. If you want the theme song to the smurfs please click
here
For those few
of you who are unaware of what Smurfs are or where they came from,
here you go. The Smurfs were created by Belgian cartoonist Pierre
Culliford (a.k.a. Peyo) and introduced to the United States
in the
late seventies. |
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NBC president
Fred Silverman bought the rights to the Smurfs and turned them into
one of the most successful cartoons ever to hit the air. The first
episode aired September 12, 1981. The cartoon featured the adventures
of the Smurfs who lived in the mushroom cottages of Smurf Village
with their 542-year-old leader, Papa Smurf. Their lives would have
been perfect were it not for the villainous Gargamel, an evil wizard
who spent his days trying to capture the Smurfs. Gargamel's cat
Azrael added to the menace, always looking for a snack.
The original characters - including
Brainy, Jokey, Vanity, Grouchy and Clumsy-were later joined by Grandpa
Smurf and four Smurflings; who got caught in Father Time's grandfather
clock (which works in reverse) and they become youngsters. Gargamel,
too, got a friend in the form of the unscrupulous Scruple.
In 1982 the characters Johan and
his aide Peewit were given their own segments during the expanded,
90-minute Smurfs, but the two humans were not as well received as
their blue friends, and thus did not last. Despite its incredible
popularity, The Smurfs actually encountered some controversy. Some
adults considered the show sexist in its use of the one original
female character, Smurfette (who was created by Gargamel in a plot
to catch the Smurfs.)
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Perhaps the most memorable feature
of the show was the use of the word "smurf" in every possible tense
and construction. For instance, it wouldn't be unusual to hear a
Smurf say something like, "It's such a smurfy day, I think I'll
go smurfing in Lake Smurf." In any case, the show won two Emmys
as Outstanding Children's Entertainment Series in 1982 and 1983
and, in 1987, actually did a message episode. In an anti-drug show,
Poet Smurf became addicted after rubbing a witch's magic orb and
required the help of Papa and the gang to overcome his problem.
The Smurfs were also featured alongside Bugs Bunny, Winnie the Pooh,
Garfield, Alf, and others when they came together to present an
anti-drug message to the youth of America. "Cartoon All-Stars to
the Rescue" was simulcast on several large networks Saturday morning,
April 21, 1990.
The Smurfs hit the silver screen
in 1984 with The Smurfs and the Magic Flute. The film was actually
a dubbed version of an older Belgian feature, and our teeny weeny
heroes didn't even appear until a ways in. The film flopped, but
the cartoon continued to rule Saturday morning for the better part
of the decade. |
In 1989, in an attempt to save the
nearly decade-old show, the producers had the Smurfs leaving Smurf
Village to visit various times and locations. Fans were smurfed
off. The show was cancelled after that season, ending August 25,
1990, surviving only in the syndicated package titled The Smurfs'
Adventures shown world-wide to this day.
Please click
here for the smurf pictures that I do have. If you do have some
smurf pictures I do not have please feel free to email them to me.
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