I Puffi

There's no competition there. This is THE series of my childhood. I considered myself the biggest fan ever. I bought every kind of Smurfs merchandise I could afford and even dressed up as Papa Smurf at Purim (the Jewish equivalent of Halloween).

The series was cute without pushing it. The Smurfs were charming and adorable. The storyline were child friendly, but still clever and inventive. I will never forget my favorite episode where a spooky mosquito bites a smurf and turns him to a purple zombie who then bites other smurfs, turning them all to zombies one by one. It was quite spooky and the climax was better than many horror-thriller movies I've seen. Classic magical stuff.

*Sigh* Today's series are either too quirky or too mushy.

This is one of the more famous cartoons of the '80s. Like He-Man, Thundercats, G.I. Joe and Transformers, this cartoon was pure '80s. The difference here is that Smurfs was a Saturday morning toon, opposed to being an after school weekday toon like the others. And it was probably the best made Saturday morning toon of the '80s. Waking up at 6 in the morning to see these toons was a treat that kids in the '80s will always remember.

Wow I feel old because I actually remember watching the very FIRST episode of Smurfs as it originally aired in 1981. I must have been about 5 or 6 years old. It's a vague memory, but it's there. My older sister who was 11 at the time watched it with me with just as much passion and awe.

I'm really surprised to find out that this series ran through the entire '80s and even into 1990. That's really something. No wonder this show has so many fans that are a lot younger then me. I always wondered why this series has so many fans so much younger then me, and finding out that "The Smurfs" ran into 1990 explains that part. I guess I thought this show must have been cancelled around 1986 or 1987, because I remember I stopped watching this show at that time when I was around 11 years old. It's a great toon and it's too bad they don't release these on VHS or DVD.

I used to watch the Smurfs back when I was at least 5. And the appeal of the show hasn't dimmed. BTW: I'm 18 now.

Recently I read (or should I say "smurfed"?) one of the original Belgian comics, "L'Oeuf et les Schtroumpfs" ("The Smurfs and the Egg", where a giant egg begins to grant wishes), which also featured "Le Centième Schtroumpf" ("The 100th Smurf", where Vanity's mirror creates a new Smurf) and "Le Faux Sctroumpf" ("The False Smurf", where Gargamel disguises himself as a Smurf). And I enjoyed them all, despite the fact that they were in French (a language I studied in school)

And the cartoon is still a "smurfy" cartoon. Worthy of a smurf next time it comes on.

I used to love The Smurfs when I was a kid. They were a true highlight. I've been hearing lots of stuff lately that they were socialists and all the stuff about stereotyping, but I think that's digging in a bit too deep. The show was obviously aimed at kids. What do kids care about such things? I didn't. I thought the Smurfs were cute and the episodes were all good. For some reason, I've never been able to get such episodes as "The Purple Smurfs" and "Forget-Me-Smurf" out of my mind. Those episodes made huge impact on me. I think every kid would be enchanted by these little blue creatures. I loved them.

*** out of ****

I'm really surprised when I see that so few user comments on such a hallmark show. To me the Smurfs defined the 80's. And most importantly, it was what a cartoon should be - plain and simple fun, a touch of morale lessons and most importantly, very little violence.

When you consider other cartoons that were popular in the 80's like Thunder Cats, the Smurfs come out way up ached, in all departments. What makes the Smurfs more interesting than its counterparts is the fact that it also was intellectual, not just a shallow action adventure cartoon, so even grownups can have fun watching it.

If you ever get a chance to watch it, don't miss it.

Trust me.