Although they ’re usually considered gag today , the diminutive Smurfs are titans ofpop culture . I ’m not talking about those three hot - action / CG movie that came out last decade , although they made a nerveless billion jointly . I ’m tattle about the ‘ eighty cartoon thatran from 1981 - 89 , had 272 instalment , and has been distributed in more than 100 countries . The Smurfs are beloved around the world — a feat that only become more impressive when you remember howbewilderingly terriblethe sketch could be .

Look , I do n’t want to perforate down here , so to utter . The Smurfs is a show primarily mean for children untried than the oneswatching jumbo robotstrying to beat each other up ; as such , the stories are generally shortsighted , simpler , and sillier . Plus , the Smurfs have a big European fairy narration vibration , which gives their fib even more leeway to be a piddling weird . For example , 1 ) Greedy Smurf , 2 ) a weird vine develop through the village and take form an impromptu telephone meshing , and 3 ) a witch ’s curse do the Smurfs to recede the ability to finger emotion , and the only cure is for Grouchy Smurf to give a queen a squeeze . There ’s no honour or glory in knocking the Smurfs for doing exactly what it set out to do …

… unless they fail at what they set out to do because they just did n’t give a goddamned smurf , such as in “ A swim bladder Full of Smurfs . ”

I mean… come on.

I mean… come on.Image: Warner Bros.

https://gizmodo.com/wait-are-the-smurfs-hunting-for-women-in-the-smurfs-t-1789222218

It start with a host of Smurfs hammering a wooden anatomy and wheels onto a large richness to make a parade float for the Autumn Carnival , a Smurf holiday that has never been mentioned in the show ’s previous 103 episodes , nor will it be in the stay 158 . commit that eight Smurfs are run on the swim bladder simultaneously ( with room to spare ) , it ’s heavy enough that Smurfette is worried they wo n’t witness a bunny rabbit big enough to draw out the float . Peculiarly , no one care that they wo n’t find a bunny willing to pull the float .

Meanwhile , trouble is brewing at Tailor Smurf ’s mushroom cloud hut , where the six Smurfs who will be drive in the float in traditional Autumn Carnival animal costumes are all complaining that their costumes go down on . These costume are functional but avowedly not great , looking like they were hurriedly made even though this is clear an annual holiday . But we do n’t be intimate what Tailor Smurf had going on during the weeks leading up to the fair ; he may have been quite busy with other projects . We do screw all six costume wearers are terrible , rotten Smurfs because we ’re listening to them at the same time gripe , complain , and demand repeated alterations until Tailor Smurf screams and quits , presumably gnarl about how his ex-wife - clients can smurf themselves with a dirty smurf .

Weirdly, the only costumed Smurf not yelling at Tailor in this scene is Grouchy.

Weirdly, the only costumed Smurf not yelling at Tailor in this scene is Grouchy.Image: Warner Bros.

Alas , Tailor Smurf ’s wild resignation is n’t the Autumn Carnival ’s only job . Thanks to his Almanac , the malevolent wizard Gargamel knows the holiday is tomorrow and learns that its main activity is for a bunny girl to pull a ice-cream soda that six Smurfs ride in . So Gargamel think of one of his most pathetic , demeaning plans ever in hopes of abduct enough Smurfs to make gold from , his sole destination in spirit . He place on a bunny rabbit costume and hops into the timber in hopes the Smurfs will choose him to pull the ice-cream soda .

countenance ’s not speculate about why Gargamel had a bunny costume in his closet , or why it ’s so foul and moth-eaten . Let us or else focus on his plan , which does happen to have a few flaws :

The bunny costume does not let in a bunny nerve .

Even Gargamel’s cat Azrael knows the score here.

Even Gargamel’s cat Azrael knows the score here.Image: Warner Bros.

Gargamel ’s brass , in its integrality , is understandably visible through the hole where the costume typeface would go .

Gargamel is roughly 8 - 10 times the sizing of a unconstipated rabbit .

It ’s extremely ridiculous , even for a theatrical role who got tricked into remember he ’d die out twice over the course of the cartoon , but it ’s significantly more pathetic that it works .

So much fun to be had. Just so, so much.

So much fun to be had. Just so, so much.Image: Warner Bros.

https://gizmodo.com/australia-is-the-latest-victim-of-the-global-smurf-crim-5975235

Clumsy Smurf join Nat Smurf — short for Natural Smurf , who somehow make out nature more than all the other Smurfs who live exclusively in nature — in their hunting for a likely float - toting bunny girl . gawky falls into a jam where they find a female parent cony and her four , small , floppy - eared tiddler , but Nat says they ’re too small to do the job . So when the dimwitted ill-chosen spots theDonnie Darko - esque nightmare of Gargamel hopping and blab through the timber , he begs him to pull out the ice-cream soda tomorrow and the genius happily agrees . None of them debate that bunnies neither peach nor talk , a fact established only a minute of arc prior when Clumsy touch the actual rabbits .

Back in Smurf Village , Papa separate the six costumed Smurfs they were acting like smurfholes and to apologize to Tailor . They do so , and it turns out he can roil out six immensely improved costumes overnight as long as Smurfs are n’t being shitty to him .

Papa Smurf weighs the moral implications of whether to let wolves murder the gravest threat to the Smurfs’ existence.

Papa Smurf weighs the moral implications of whether to let wolves murder the gravest threat to the Smurfs’ existence.Image: Warner Bros.

The sun rises on a raw twenty-four hours and the Autumn Carnival , which is not a fair in the slim . The only seeable attraction is the float , which I say could technically be weigh a carnival ride , except that only six Smurfs get to be on it and those Smurfs were selected long ago . More depressingly , the one - ice-cream float parade seems to be the Autumn Carnival ’s sole event . Given that the Cornucopia depend to be a foot long , and the diameter of the entire Smurf Village does n’t seem to be any long than six animal foot max , I ’m pretend the parade would be over in about 30 - 40 seconds . It is almost as cheerless as the sight of a grown adult male in a hare costume getting hitched to the float , and it not occur to a undivided Smurf in the audience that this mutant rabbit has the classifiable face of their most persistent enemy .

Once he ’s dependent in , Gargamel sprints away , cackling over his succeeder , the six Smurfs in the float hollo in terror . Papa Smurf asks Nat to get his “ timberland Friend ” to assist out , which result in a pack of brute chasing after Gargamel , who detaches the float to run aside . unluckily , the wolves are much more interested in consume the horrific rabbit - mutant than saving the float , so the Smurfs clang safely into a brook and Gargamel is cornered at his front doorway .

There ’s real , unearned commiseration to watching Gargamel madly trying to miss being charge apart by wolf and his pitiable groveling when he ca n’t regain his door winder , trying to convince the wolves he ’s not worth eating . And get me ensure you the beast absolutely plan on eating Gargamel awake . It ’s only because Papa Smurf convinces the wolves that this is a rarefied bunny they ’re not allowed to eat that Gargamel hold up . Then the sequence ends with the Autumn Carnival one - ice-cream soda parade , with the rather bleak twist that even though Nat had hold Mrs. Bunny and her children not sinewy enough to draw the float , the Smurfs , with no better option , have impose the rabbits to pull it anyway . It ’s a terrible resolving power to a dim trouble due to a laughable conflict instigated by a half - assed premise .

Grouchy hates all of this. I can’t blame him.

Grouchy hates all of this. I can’t blame him.Image: Warner Bros.

Look , if you make over 200 episodes of a TV series , any TV series , you are in spades allowed some stinkers . You get twice the latitude when those episodes usually have two distinct stories for each one . So I do n’t begrudge these tiny dismal sprites or the hoi polloi who work on the show much at all . But I will say this : If you write any story that hinges on booster who know what coney are suddenly and inexplicably forgetting what rabbits are , it ’s probably deserving smurfing back to the smurfing circuit board .

Assorted Musings:

Either Gargamel shrinks or the horn of plenty rise massively when the wizard gets hitched to the ice-cream float because they ’re all of a sudden the same size of it . This could easily be explain in the narration by a bit of thaumaturgy , and it absolutely is not .

At the very end of the episode , it ’s revealed that the Smurfs do have a marching band that lead the float , and the show build the interesting choice to have them be horrendous . They ’re playing the iconic Smurfs theme , but all discordant and out of rhythm . It ’s a fascinating idea , and absolutely unendurable to listen to .

The 2nd one-half of this season four episode was “ Smurfette ’s Sweet Tooth , ” which Wikipediasummarizesthusly : “ After Smurfette eats her entire year ’s worth of smurfberry confect , she shed a charm to give her the ability to turn everything she touches into smurfberry confect . ” Obviously , it ’s not cool that Smurfette goes Queen Midas in her gluttony for sweets , but maybe Rationing Smurf should be doling out the whole yr ’s supplying at once , hmm ?

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

While I found this whole experience pretty distressing , I did arouse a newfound love for Grouchy , whose only personality trait is to scream “ I HATE [ insert Good Book here ! ” to no one in particular and for no reason . thing Grouchy hates in this episode : Leaves , the carnival , being a anuran , calling the whole thing off , your advice [ to Brainy right away ] , kick . A persona who can angrily and non - ironically yell “ I HATE COMPLAINING ” is one I ’d like to see more of .

https://gizmodo.com/the-14-most-horrible-smurfs-1746847678

For more , make certain you ’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom .

William Duplessie

AnimationWorst installment ever

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