The Smurfs
Encyclopedia
| The Smurfs Les Schtroumpfs |
|
| Created by | Peyo Peyo Pierre Culliford , known as Peyo, was a Belgian comics artist, perhaps best known for the creation of The Smurfs comic strip.-Biography:... |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Genre | Action/adventure Adventure An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports... , Humor |
| Publication date | October 23, 1958 |
| Status | Ongoing |
| Country of origin | Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
| Original language | French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
| Publisher | Dupuis Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. is a Belgian publisher of comic books and magazines.Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic albums and magazines. It is originally a French language publisher, but publishes many editions both in French... |
| Formats | Original material for the series has been published as a strip in the Belgian comics magazine Spirou Spirou (magazine) Spirou magazine is a weekly Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company... , and as a set of graphic novels. |
| Main character(s) | Papa Smurf Papa Smurf Papa Smurf is a male fictional character from The Smurfs. At 542 years old is the third-oldest Smurf after Grandpa and Nanny, and well above the typical age of the other Smurfs, which are approximately 100 years old... |
| Number of books published: | 29 |
| Website: | official website |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Peyo Peyo Pierre Culliford , known as Peyo, was a Belgian comics artist, perhaps best known for the creation of The Smurfs comic strip.-Biography:... and Studio Peyo |
| Artist(s) | Peyo Peyo Pierre Culliford , known as Peyo, was a Belgian comics artist, perhaps best known for the creation of The Smurfs comic strip.-Biography:... and Studio Peyo |
| Creator(s) | Peyo Peyo Pierre Culliford , known as Peyo, was a Belgian comics artist, perhaps best known for the creation of The Smurfs comic strip.-Biography:... |
| Reprints | |
| The series has been reprinted, at least in part, in Dutch Dutch language Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second... , English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... , and German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... . |
|
The Smurfs (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Les Schtroumpfs, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
: De Smurfen) is a comic and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
franchise centred on a group of small blue fictional creatures called Smurfs, created and first introduced as a series of comic strips by the Belgian cartoonist Peyo
Peyo
Pierre Culliford , known as Peyo, was a Belgian comics artist, perhaps best known for the creation of The Smurfs comic strip.-Biography:...
(pen name of Pierre Culliford) on October 23, 1958. The original term and the accompanying language came during a meal Peyo was having with his colleague and friend André Franquin
André Franquin
André Franquin was an influential Belgian comics artist, whose best known comic strip creations are Gaston and Marsupilami, created while he worked on the Spirou et Fantasio comic strip from 1947 to 1969, during a period seen by many as the series' golden age.-Franquin's beginnings:Franquin was...
at the Belgian Coast. Having momentarily forgotten the word "salt", Peyo asked him (in French) to pass the schtroumpf. Franquin jokingly replied: "Here's the Schtroumpf — when you are done schtroumpfing, schtroumpf it back..." and the two spent the rest of that weekend speaking in "schtroumpf language". The name was later translated into Dutch as Smurf, which was adopted in English.
Johan et Pirlouit
At the time he came up with the creative idea for the Smurfs, Peyo was the creator, artist, and writer of the Franco-Belgian comicsFranco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...
series titled Johan et Pirlouit (translated to English as Johan and Peewit
Johan and Peewit
Johan and Peewit is a Belgian comics series created by Peyo. Since its initial appearance in 1947 it has been published in 13 albums that appeared before the death of Peyo in 1992. Thereafter, a team of comic book creators from Studio Peyo continued to publish the stories.The series is set in...
), set in Europe during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and including elements of sword-and-sorcery. Johan serves as a brave young page to the king
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
, and Peewit (Pirlouit, pronounced Peer-loo-ee) functions as his faithful, if boastful and cheating, midget
Midget
A midget is a short person with relatively average bodily proportions in comparison with other human beings. The term is often improperly used to describe a person with the medical condition dwarfism. The two terms are often used synonymously because both terms originate as words defining small...
sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
.
In 1958, Spirou magazine
Spirou (magazine)
Spirou magazine is a weekly Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company...
started to publish the Johan and Pirlouit story La Flûte à six trous ("The Flute with Six Holes"). The adventure involved them recovering a magic flute, which required some sorcery by the wizard Homnibus. In this manner they met a tiny, blue-skinned humanoid creature in white clothing called a "Schtroumpf", followed by his numerous peers who looked just like him, with an elderly leader who wore red clothing and had a white beard. Their first appearance was published in Spirou on October 23, 1958. The characters proved to be a huge success, and the first independent Smurf stories appeared in Spirou in 1959, together with the first merchandising. The Smurfs shared more adventures with Johan and Pirlouit, got their own series and all subsequent publications of the original story were retitled La Flûte à six Schtroumpfs (also the title of the movie version of the story
The Smurfs and the Magic Flute
The Smurfs and the Magic Flute is a 1976 Belgian animated film starring the Smurfs, directed by their creator, Peyo. Though the film premiered in 1976 in Belgium, and 1979 in the United Kingdom, an English language version was not released in the United States until 1983, in the wake of the...
).
With the commercial success of the Smurfs came the merchandising empire of Smurf miniatures, models, games, and toys. Entire collecting clubs have devoted themselves to collecting PVC
PVC
Polyvinyl chloride is a plastic.PVC may also refer to:*Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military honor*Peripheral venous catheter, a small, flexible tube placed into a peripheral vein in order to administer medication or fluids...
Smurfs, and Smurf merchandise. McDonalds have recently produced a range of Smurf toys, including all of the famous characters, including Papa Smurf and baby smurf.
The Smurfs
The storylines tend to be simple tales of bold adventure. The cast has a simple structure as well: almost all the characters look essentially alike — mostly male, very short (3 apples high), with blue skin, white trousers with a hole for their short tails, white hat in the style of a Phrygian capPhrygian cap
The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia. In the western provinces of the Roman Empire it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty, perhaps through a confusion with the pileus,...
, and sometimes some additional accessory that identifies a personality (for example, Handy Smurf wears overalls instead of the standard trousers, a brimmed hat, and a pencil above his ear). Smurfs can walk and run, but often move by skipping on both feet. They love to eat sarsaparilla
Sarsaparilla
is a perennial trailing vine with prickly stems that is native to Central America. Common names include Sarsaparilla , Honduran Sarsaparilla, and Jamaican Sarsaparilla...
(a species of Smilax
Smilax
Smilax is a genus of about 300-350 species, found in temperate zones, tropics and subtropics worldwide. In China for example about 80 are found , while there are 20 in North America north of Mexico...
) leaves, whose berries the Smurfs naturally call "smurfberries" (the smurfberries appear only in the cartoon; in the original comics, the Smurfs only eat the leaves from the sarsaparilla).
The Smurfs fulfill simple archetypes of everyday people: Lazy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, Brainy Smurf, and so on. All Smurfs, with the exception of Papa, Baby, Smurfette, Nanny and Grandpa, are said to be 100 years old. There were originally 99 Smurfs, but this number increased as new Smurf characters appeared, such as Sassette and Nanny. All of the original Smurfs were male; later female additions are Smurfette and Sassette - Smurfette being Gargamel's creation, while Sassette was created by the Smurflings.
Language
A characteristic of the Smurf language is the frequent use of the word "smurf" and its derivatives in a variety of meanings. The Smurfs replace enough nounNoun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s and verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s in everyday speech with "smurf" as to make their conversations barely understandable: "We're going smurfing on the River Smurf today." When used as a verb, the word "Smurf" typically means "to make," "to be," "to like," or "to do."
Humans have found that replacing ordinary words with the term "smurf" at random is not enough: in one adventure, Peewit explains to some other humans that the statement "I'm smurfing to the smurf" means "I'm going to the wood," but a Smurf corrects him by saying that the proper statement would be "I'm smurfing to the smurf"; whereas what Peewit said was "I'm warbling to the dawn." So "I'm smurfing to the smurf" is not the same as "I'm smurfing to the smurf."
In the animated series, only some words (or a portion of the word) are replaced with the word "smurf." Context offers a reliable understanding of this speech pattern, but common vocabulary includes remarking that something is "just smurfy" or "smurftastic."
In Schtroumpf vert et vert Schtroumpf (see Smurf Versus Smurf), published in Belgium in 1972, it was revealed that the village was divided between North and South, and that the Smurfs on either side had different ideas as to how the term "smurf" should be used: for instance, the Northern Smurfs called a certain object a "bottle smurfer," while the Southern Smurfs called it a "smurf opener." This story is considered a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
on the still ongoing taalstrijd (language war) between French- and Dutch-speaking communities in Belgium.
Smurf village
When they first appeared in 1958, the Smurfs lived in a part of the world called "Le Pays Maudit" (French for "the Cursed Land"). To reach it required magic or travelling through dense forestForest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s, deep marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es, a scorching desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
and a high mountain range
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
. The Smurfs themselves use stork
Stork
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae. They are the only family in the biological order Ciconiiformes, which was once much larger and held a number of families....
s in order to travel long distances, such as to the kingdom where Johan and Peewit live, and keep up-to-date with events in the outside world.
In the Johan and Peewit
Johan and Peewit
Johan and Peewit is a Belgian comics series created by Peyo. Since its initial appearance in 1947 it has been published in 13 albums that appeared before the death of Peyo in 1992. Thereafter, a team of comic book creators from Studio Peyo continued to publish the stories.The series is set in...
stories, the Smurf village is made up of mushroom-like houses of different shapes and sizes in a desolate and rocky land with just a few trees. However, in the Smurf series itself the mushroom-like houses are more similar to one another and are located in a clearing in the middle of a deep forest with grass, a river, and vegetation. Humans such as Gargamel
Gargamel
In the fictional world of The Smurfs, Gargamel the sorcerer is the sworn enemy of the Smurfs and the main antagonist in the show and comic books. While described as a wizard in the narration, Gargamel is not depicted as possessing real magical powers to speak of...
are shown to live nearby, though it is almost impossible for an outsider to find the Smurf village except when led by a Smurf.
Smurf economy
The Smurfs' communityCommune
Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
generally takes the form of a cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
, sharing, and kind environment based on the principle that each Smurf has something he or she is good at, and thus contributes it to Smurf society as he or she can. In return, each Smurf appears to be given their necessities of life, from housing and clothes to food without using any money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
in exchange.
Characters
Papa Smurf is the leader of the community. Other Smurfs are generally named after their personality disposition, for example, Brainy, Greedy, Vanity, Lazy, Clumsy, Hefty, Jokey, Dreamy, Grouchy, or their profession, for example, Poet, Actor, Handy, Harmony, Farmer, Clockwork, Painter, Tailor, Miner, Architect, Reporter, Timber, Barber and Doctor Smurf. Other Smurf characters include Gutsy Smurf and Smurfette. Smurfette was created by Gargamel to lure the other smurfs. Papa Smurf then changed her into what we see today. The non-Smurf characters who would appear later would include the evil GargamelGargamel
In the fictional world of The Smurfs, Gargamel the sorcerer is the sworn enemy of the Smurfs and the main antagonist in the show and comic books. While described as a wizard in the narration, Gargamel is not depicted as possessing real magical powers to speak of...
, his cat Azrael, and the page Johan and his young friend Peewit. Lord Balthazar is Gargamel's godfather. Balthazar despises the Smurfs and is actually more cold-hearted than Gargamel, in addition to being a more powerful sorcerer. He lives in a large castle whose moat houses a fearsome dragon called a Moat Monster.
Legacy
The Smurfs was named the 97th best animated series by IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
. They called it "kiddie cocaine" for people growing up during the 1980s.
The 50th anniversary of the Smurfs and the 80th anniversary of the birth of its creator Peyo
Peyo
Pierre Culliford , known as Peyo, was a Belgian comics artist, perhaps best known for the creation of The Smurfs comic strip.-Biography:...
, were celebrated by issuing a high-value collectors' coin: the Belgian 5 euro 50th anniversary of The Smurfs commemorative coin, minted in 2008.
In 1998, writer Marc Schmidt wrote a parody article citing the Smurfs as an example of the impact of socialism in continental European culture. French sociologist Antoine Buéno on the contrary described them in a 2011 book as a totalitarian and racist utopia Studio Peyo head Thierry Culliford, the son of Peyo, dismissed the accusations as grotesque and frivolous."
Smurf comics
Since the first appearance of the Smurfs in Johan and Peewit in 1958, 29 Smurf comics have been created, 16 of them by Peyo, the others by his studio. Originally, the Smurf stories appeared in Spirou magazineSpirou (magazine)
Spirou magazine is a weekly Belgian comics magazine published by the Dupuis company...
with reprints in many different magazines, but after Peyo left the publisher Dupuis
Dupuis
Éditions Dupuis S.A. is a Belgian publisher of comic books and magazines.Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic albums and magazines. It is originally a French language publisher, but publishes many editions both in French...
, many comics were first published in dedicated Smurf magazines, which existed in French, Dutch and German. A number of short stories and one page gags have been collected into comic books next to the regular series of 29. English translations have been published in the U.S. by the graphic novel publisher Papercutz.
Advertising
Benco Instant Choco DrinkBenco Instant Choco Drink
Benco Instant Choco Drink is manufactured in the Netherlands. It is a very popular drink mix in Europe. The chocolate flavored crystals can be mixed with milk or sprinkled over ice cream.-References:...
is a popular Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
chocolate drink. The company's mascot is a Benco jar with face, hands and feet. A series of ads in the form of one-page comic strips were published in comics in Europe with Benco living with the Smurfs and using his chocolate drink in order to sort out their problems: like getting Brainy Smurf
Brainy Smurf
Brainy Smurf is a male fictional character from The Smurfs.- Character :Brainy Smurf fancies himself as the all-around-brain of the village. Although he acts as though he is second-in-command behind Papa Smurf, this isn't the case and even Papa Smurf doesn't seem very fond of his sanctimonious...
to stop lecturing the other Smurfs; awakening Lazy Smurf from a deep sleep; or a reward for hard work. A whole adventure published over several weeks had Benco and the Smurfs having to face one of Gargamel
Gargamel
In the fictional world of The Smurfs, Gargamel the sorcerer is the sworn enemy of the Smurfs and the main antagonist in the show and comic books. While described as a wizard in the narration, Gargamel is not depicted as possessing real magical powers to speak of...
's evil plots. These stories were published in Spirou (the Smurfs' comic of origin) and rival publications like Le Journal de Mickey
Le Journal de Mickey
Le Journal de Mickey is a French weekly comics magazine established in 1934 and currently published by Disney Hachette Presse. It is centered around the adventures of Mickey Mouse and other Disney figures but contains also other comics. It is credited with "the birth of the modern bande dessinée"...
(based on Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's world of Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
and Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
). A TV ad was also made.
BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
used them in a series of ads in the 1970s and 1980s.
A Smurf balloon/float continues to be presented in holiday parades such as Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, often shortened to Macy's Day Parade, is an annual parade presented by Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and four years younger than...
.
Smurfs had two cereals in the 1980s: Smurf Berries cereal and Smurfs Magic Berries. Both had animated commercials on Saturday morning. A Smurfs pasta was made in the 1980s as well.
Motion pictures
In 1965, a black-and-whiteBlack-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
87-minute animated film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
called Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs
Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs
Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs is an animated feature film based on the Belgian comic book series "The Smurfs". It was the first animated feature film featuring the Smurf characters. The film was released in 1965 in Belgium...
was released in theatres in Belgium. It consisted of five short cartoons made in the previous years for broadcasting on Walloon TV. German copies and copies with Dutch subtitles are known to exist. The stories were based on existing Smurf stories like The Black Smurfs and The Smurfs and the Egg, and were created by writer Maurice Rosy
Maurice Rosy
Maurice Rosy , is a Belgian comics writer who also worked as artistic director of Spirou during its golden period.-Biography:...
and artist Eddy Ryssack from the small Dupuis animation studios. In total, ten animated shorts were created between 1961 and 1967, the first series in black and white and the later ones in colour.
In 1976, La Flûte à six schtroumpfs (an adaptation of the original "Johan and Peewit" story) was released. Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
provided the musical score to the film. The film would in 1983 be released in the United States (after the animated series became popular there) in an English language dubbed version titled The Smurfs and the Magic Flute
The Smurfs and the Magic Flute
The Smurfs and the Magic Flute is a 1976 Belgian animated film starring the Smurfs, directed by their creator, Peyo. Though the film premiered in 1976 in Belgium, and 1979 in the United Kingdom, an English language version was not released in the United States until 1983, in the wake of the...
. A few more full-length Smurf movies were made, most notably The Baby Smurf and Here are the Smurfs, created from episodes of the Hanna-Barbera television cartoon series.
Sony Pictures has announced plans to begin a trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
of live-action/computer-generated
Computer-generated
The term computer-generated most often refers to a sound or visual that has been created in whole or in part with the aid of computer software...
Smurf films, with the first
The Smurfs (film)
The Smurfs is a 2011 American 3D family film based on The Smurfs comic book series created by Peyo and the 1980s animated TV series it spawned. It was directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, Jayma Mays, and Sofía Vergara. It is the first CGI/live-action hybrid film to...
film released on July 29, 2011. The project had been in various stages of development since 2003. In June 2008, it was announced that Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
and Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation is an American computer-animated film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, founded in May 2002. It is working closely with Sony Pictures Imageworks, which takes care of the digital production...
had acquired film rights from Lafig Belgium. Jordan Kerner
Jordan Kerner
Jordan Kerner is an American film producer, who was born on February 5, 1950 in Los Angeles, California.- Biography :Kerner began his undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California. He subsequently transferred to Stanford University where he graduated in 1972 with distinction and...
produced the film, with the screenwriters including Shrek 2
Shrek 2
Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is the second installment in the Shrek film series and the sequel to 2001's Shrek...
and Shrek the Third
Shrek the Third
Shrek the Third is a 2007 American animated film, and the third film in the Shrek series. It was produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg for DreamWorks Animation, and is distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was released in U.S. theaters on May 18, 2007...
screenwriters J. David Stem and David N. Weiss
David N. Weiss
David N. Weiss is an American writer and labor leader. He is a screenwriter of films, including All Dogs go to Heaven, The Rugrats Movie, Shrek 2, Clockstoppers, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and The Smurfs and has also written for television shows such as Mission Hill...
. The film stars Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Winters
-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
as Papa Smurf, Katy Perry
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...
as Smurfette, George Lopez
George Lopez
George Lopez is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He is mostly known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including the Mexican American culture...
as Grouchy Smurf, Gary Basaraba
Gary Basaraba
Gary Basaraba is a Canadian actor best known for playing American police officers. He appeared as Sergeant Richard Santoro on Steven Bochco's Brooklyn South and Officer Ray Heckler on Boomtown....
as Hefty Smurf, John Oliver
John Oliver (comedian)
John Oliver is a British stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known for his work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, for which he won an Emmy in 2009. He also plays a recurring character, Professor Ian Duncan, on the television series Community...
as Vanity Smurf, Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor, singer, writer, director, producer and author. His roles have included the Emcee in Cabaret, Boris Grishenko in GoldenEye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, Mr. Elton in Emma, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
as Gutsy Smurf, Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris
Neil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
as Patrick Winslow and Jayma Mays
Jayma Mays
Jayma Suzette Mays is an American television and film actress, and singer. Mays' most prominent roles include that of Emma Pillsbury on the American television series Glee, recurring appearances on Ugly Betty and on Heroes as characters named Charlie.- Life and career :Mays was born Jamia Suzette...
as Grace Winslow, a couple in New York who help the Smurfs get back to their village. It was suggested that Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
would play Brainy Smurf, but this "didn't work out" so Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and portraying off-color foreigners in various comedy films such as EuroTrip, Anchorman and Cop Out...
voices Brainy instead.
Television series
The Smurfs secured their place in North American pop culture in 1981, when the Saturday-morning cartoonSaturday morning cartoon
A Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...
series The Smurfs, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with SEPP International S.A., aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
from 1981 to 1989. The show became a major success for NBC, spawning spin-off television specials on an almost yearly basis. The Smurfs was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy awards, and won Outstanding Children's Entertainment Series in 1982–1983. The Smurfs television show enjoyed continued success until 1989, when, after nearly a decade of success, NBC cancelled it due to decreasing ratings and plans to extend their Today morning show
Breakfast television
Breakfast television or morning show , is a type of infotainment television program, broadcast live in the morning...
franchise to create a Saturday edition
Weekend Today
Weekend Today is the unofficial title of the weekend editions of Today, an American morning news and talk show which airs daily on NBC.-History:...
, although they didn't do so until some time later.
In the TV series, many classical masterpieces are used as background music during the episodes, among them Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
's Unfinished Symphony
Symphony No. 8 (Schubert)
Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor , commonly known as the "Unfinished Symphony" , D.759, was started in 1822 but left with only two movements known to be complete, even though Schubert would live for another six years. A scherzo, nearly completed in piano score but with only two pages...
(Symphony No. 8 in B minor), Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
's Peer Gynt and Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
's Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists...
. reruns of the show are played on Cartoon Network sister channel Boomerang.
DVD releases
On February 26, 2008, Warner Bros. released Season 1 Volume 1 on DVD, containing the first 19 episodes. On October 7, 2008, Warner Bros. released Season 1 Volume 2 on DVD, containing the remaining 20 episodes from season 1. Though Warner Bros. has decided to discontinue the season sets and release single disc volume sets instead, they are reportedly still following the correct order of episodes.Magna Home Entertainment
Magna Home Entertainment
Magna Home Entertainment is a leading independent home entertainment distributor headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, operating within Australia and New Zealand. As of February 2009, Magna Home Entertainment became a fully owned subsidiary of Beyond International , one of Australia's...
in Australia has released a 9 disc 50th Anniversary Collection, containing a total of 52 episodes. In September 2009, a Smurfette Themed Collection containing 25 episodes was made available followed by the Papa Smurf Collection in December 2009 containing 26 themed episodes.
In July 2010, both the Smurfette and Papa Smurf Collection were included in a special 'Favourites Collection'. Also releasing at the same time was the Smurfs very first feature film (produced in 1975), The Smurfs and the Magic Flute, available for the first time on DVD, in Australia.
November 3, 2010 saw the release of two "Just Smurfy" collections, each featuring episodes not yet released on DVD to the Australian market. December 3, 2010 saw the 3rd collection hit the market.. A fourth Just Smurfy set was planned for release on 2 March 2011.
Magna Home Entertainment
Magna Home Entertainment
Magna Home Entertainment is a leading independent home entertainment distributor headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, operating within Australia and New Zealand. As of February 2009, Magna Home Entertainment became a fully owned subsidiary of Beyond International , one of Australia's...
in Australia have released Season 1 & Season 2 on 24 August 2011. Season 3 and Season 4 released 5 October 2011. A limited edition 'Ultimate Collection 1' which features the first 5 seasons was released on 24 August 2011. A 'Ultimate Collection 2' which features Season 6 - Season 9 was released on 2 November 2011.
The show is being released on DVD in the UK through a joint conjunction with Arrow Films and Fabulous Films Ltd. The complete 1st season was released in a 4 Disc box set on July 5, 2010. Season 2 was released on September 6, 2010, and the original Smurfs feature film, The Smurfs and The Magic Flute, was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 11, 2010.
Crossovers
Papa Smurf, Hefty Smurf, and Brainy Smurf appeared in the cartoon crossover Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue along with Bugs BunnyBugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
and Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
(from the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
franchise), Huey, Dewey and Louie
Huey, Dewey and Louie
Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck are a trio of fictional, anthropomorphic ducks who appear in animated cartoons and comic books published by the Walt Disney Company. Identical triplets, the three are Donald Duck's nephews. Huey, Dewey, and Louie were created by Ted Osborne and Al Taliaferro, and first...
(from DuckTales
DuckTales
DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic book series, it premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on November 28, 1990 with a total of four seasons and 100 episodes...
), Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Pooh (Disney)
Winnie the Pooh is an American Walt Disney Company franchise, based on animated fictional characters who have been featured as part of the Disney character line-up. The Winnie the Pooh franchise is based on A. A...
and Tigger
Tigger
Tigger is a fictional tiger-like character originally introduced in A. A. Milne's book The House at Pooh Corner. Like other Pooh characters, Tigger is based on one of Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed animals...
, Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment from 1988-90....
, the Muppet Babies (Kermit
Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
, Piggy
Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002....
and Gonzo
Gonzo the Great
Gonzo the Great is a puppet character, one of Jim Henson's Muppets. He was developed and performed by Dave Goelz. The character made his first appearance in a 1970 Christmas special entitled "The Great Santa Claus Switch". Known as a "Whatever" , he is considered one of The Frackles...
respectively), Slimer (from The Real Ghostbusters
The Real Ghostbusters
The Real Ghostbusters is an American animated television series based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters. The series ran from 1986 to 1991, and was produced by Columbia Pictures Television, DiC Enterprises, and Coca-Cola Telecommunications. "The Real" was added to the title after a dispute with...
), ALF, Michelangelo
Michelangelo (TMNT)
Michelangelo is a fictional character, one of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . His mask is typically portrayed as orange outside of the Mirage/Image comic series and his weapons are dual nunchaku, though he has also been portrayed using other weapons, such as a grappling hook, tonfa, and a...
(from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American animated television series produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson. The pilot was shown during the week of December 28, 1987 in syndication as a five part miniseries and began its official run on October 1, 1988...
). Smurfette appeared on the promotional poster, but never really appeared in the actual film.
Figurines
From 1959 until the end of the 1960s, Dupuis produced Smurf figurines. But the best known and most widely available Smurf figurines are those made by SchleichSchleich
Schleich is a German producer of toy figurines and accessories. The company is headquartered in Germany. The traditional market for Schleich products is Mainland Europe, with half their sales in Germany...
, a German toy company. Most of the Smurf figurines given away as promotional material (e.g. by National Garages in the 1970s and McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
in the 1990s) are also made by Schleich.
New Smurf figures continue to appear; in fact, only in two years since 1969 (1991 and 1998) have no new Smurfs entered the market. Schleich currently produces 8 to 12 new figurines a year. Over 300 million of them have been sold so far. There are also McDonald's the smurfs figurines starting July 29, 2011.
Music recordings
Over the decades, many singles and albums of Smurf music have been released in different countries and languages, sometimes very successfully, with millions of copies sold. The best known is the single The Smurf Song and its accompanying album, created by Dutch musician Pierre KartnerPierre Kartner
Petrus Antonius Laurentius "Pierre" Kartner is a Dutch musician who sings under the alias Father Abraham, and who has written around 1600 songs.- Early life :...
who sings under the alias Father Abraham, which reached the #1 position in 16 countries. Worldwide, more than 10 million CDs with Smurf music have been sold between 2005 and 2007 alone.
Smurfs on Ice
For several years, the Smurfs were the children's act in the Ice CapadesIce Capades
The Ice Capades was a traveling entertainment show featuring theatrical performances involving ice skating. Shows often featured former Olympicand National Champion figure skaters who had retired from amateur competition....
travelling ice show; for many years after they were retired from that function, the Smurf suits from the show were issued to Ice Capades Chalets, the show's subsidiary chain of ice rink
Ice rink
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...
s, lasting until the show was sold to a group of investors led by Dorothy Hamill
Dorothy Hamill
Dorothy Stuart Hamill is an American figure skater. She is the 1976 Olympic champion in Ladies' Singles and 1976 World Champion.-Early life:...
and the Chalets were sold to Recreation World. The Smurfette suit in particular had a somewhat different hairstyle from what was portrayed in the Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
Smurfs in theme parks
Around 1984, the Smurfs began appearing in North American theme parks owned by Kings Entertainment CorporationKECO Entertainment
Kings Entertainment Company owned and/or operated six theme parks around the world. The company was originally owned by Taft Broadcasting and in the mid 1980s was purchased by a few top-level executives of Taft's....
. Each park featured a Smurfy attraction and Smurf walk-around figures. In 1989, in the France region of Lorraine, the Sorépark group opened a complete Smurfpark, named Big Bang Schtroumpf. In 1991, the park is bought by the successful Belgian Walibi Group and renamed Walibi Schtroumpf with new attractions. After the Walibi Group was acquired by Six Flags
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...
, the park was named Walibi Lorraine, and all the Smurfs in the park were removed (2003).
For a number of years Canada's Wonderland had an entire Smurf village to walk through, ending with Gargamel's Castle.
Paramount's Carowinds has an artificial island that, for several years during the 1980s and 1990s, was named Smurf Island that had a complete Smurf village - including toadstool houses which could be entered.
Video games
The Smurfs have appeared in video games made for most major game consoles (including Nintendo's NES, Super NES, and Game Boy systems, Atari, ColecoVision, Sega's Game Gear, Master System, Mega Drive and Mega CD systems, and the original Sony PlayStation) and for the PC. In 2010, the Smurfs expanded into the world of apps for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch with the game Smurf Village.Game titles
- Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (1982)
- Smurf Play & Learn (1982)
- The Smurfs Save The Day (1983)
- Smurf Paint 'n' Play Workshop (1983)
- Smurfette's Birthday (developed for Atari 2600Atari 2600The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
and IntellivisionIntellivisionThe Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
, but never released) - The Smurfs (InfogramesInfogramesInfogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory...
) (1994) - The Smurfs 2: Travel the World (1996)
- The Smurfs 3 (1997)
- The Smurfs' Nightmare (1998)
- The Smurfs (PlayStationPlayStationThe is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
) (1999) - The Adventures of the Smurfs (2000)
- Smurf Racer! (2001)
- The Revenge of the Smurfs (2002)
- The Smurfs' Village (2010)
- The Smurfs Dance PartyThe Smurfs Dance PartyThe Smurfs Dance Party is a dance game developed and published by Ubisoft, exclusively for the Wii. The game was released on July 19, 2011...
(2011) - The Smurfs DS (2011)
- The Smurfs Grabber (2011)
UNICEF
In 2005, an advertisement featuring The Smurfs was aired in Belgium in which the Smurf village is annihilated by warplanes. Designed as a UNICEF advertisement, and with the approval of the family of the Smurfs' late creator Peyo, the 25-second episode was shown on the national television after the 9pm timeslot to avoid children seeing it. It was the keystone in a fund-raising campaign by UNICEF's Belgian arm to raise money for the rehabilitation of former child soldiersMilitary use of children
The military use of children takes three distinct forms: children can take direct part in hostilities , or they can be used in support roles such as porters, spies, messengers, look outs, and sexual slaves; or they can be used for political advantage either as human shields or in...
in Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
—both former Belgian colonies.
In honor of their 50th anniversary in 2008, the Smurfs began a year long "Happy Smurfday Euro Tour" in connection with UNICEF. The Smurfs visited 15 European countries on the day of their 50th "Smurfday" in the form of publicly-distributed white figurines. The recipients could decorate and submit them to a competition. The results of this contest were auctioned off and raised a total amount of 124,700 euros for benefit of UNICEF.
Translations
Both the comics and cartoons have been translated in many languages. In most cases, the original name "Schtroumpf" is replaced by a new term. The most common are variations on "Smurf," while other names are indicative of their gnome-like appearance.External links
- The Smurfs official site
- The Smurfs at the Internet Movie Database
- The Smurfs at MOVIEGUIDE (Why the 2011 movie is not communist)