The Smurfs (TV series)


The Smurfs is an American-Belgian animated fantasy-comedy children's 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 and aired for 256 episodes 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.
The Saturday morning cartoon The Smurfs, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with SEPP International S.A. and Lafig S.A., 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 seven 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.
By 1989, the show was in its ninth season and had reached the 200-episode threshold, an extreme rarity when most cartoons were gone after two seasons and 22 episodes. In an effort to come up with new ideas to keep the show fresh, NBC changed the format of the show, removing some of the Smurfs from the forest and omitting the Smurf Village. These changes were adopted to a lost-in-time format similar to The Time Tunnel. The show continued through the end of the season, airing the last original episode 2 December 1989 on NBC.

Episodes

Voices and characters

Outsourced production work was done by Wang Film Productions/Cuckoo's Nest Studios and, only for 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:
A half-hour version for syndication was 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.

Home video

Region 1

released the complete first season on DVD in a two-volume set in 2008. Despite high sales of both sets, 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 five episodes from the second season. 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, but included episodes from the second season instead. Another DVD with both Smurfs Christmas specials was released later that year. It is unknown if Warner Archive will release the rest of the show's complete seasons on MOD DVD.

Region 2

Fabulous Films and Arrow Films have released the first five seasons on DVD in the UK.
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 NameEp #Release date
Complete 1st Season275 July 2010
Complete 2nd Season246 September 2010
Complete 3rd Season311 July 2013
Complete 4th Season281 July 2013
Complete 5th Season251 July 2013
The Complete Seasons 1–51351 December 2014
The Smurfs – Four Smurf-tastic Episodes430 July 2011
The Smurfs and the Magic Flute 011 October 2011
The Smurfs: 'Tis the Season to Be Smurfy45 November 2011
The Smurfs: My Smurfy Valentine48 January 2012
The Smurfs Springtime Special617 March 2012
The Smurfs: The Smurfic Games74 June 2012
The Smurfs Halloween Special61 October 2012
The Smurfs: Love, Smurfette61 July 2013
The Smurfs: Papa Smurf Rocks!61 July 2013
The Smurfs: World Cup Carnival523 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.
DVD NameEp #Release date
Die komplette erste Staffel274 August 2011
Die komplette zweite Staffel244 August 2011
Die komplette dritte Staffel3114 October 2011
Die komplette vierte Staffel2814 October 2011
Die komplette fünfte Staffel2516 August 2012
Die komplette sechste Staffel3916 August 2012
Die komplette siebte Staffel4025 July 2013
Die komplette achte Staffel16 25 July 2013
Die komplette neunte Staffel2625 July 2013
Collector's Edition 2724 July 2013

Region 4

has released various best-of volume collections on DVD.
On 18 June 2020, Nickelodeon ordered the reboot to series.