The Smurfs (1996 TV series)

The Smurfs is an American traditionally-animated fantasy comedy-adventure television series based on the created by. Every episode contains mostly two 11-minute Smurfs segments. During the second season, an 11-minute Johan and Peewit segment would appear occasionally along with a Smurfs segment. However, only four segments featuring Johan and Peewit were produced. There would sometimes be a one 22 minute segment for a half-hour special. The series is produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, in association with Lafig S.A. and Studio Peyo. The series premiered September 7, 1996 on ABC, but later moved on to Disney Channel for the last two seasons.

Episodes
Note: Most of the episodes are rated TV-Y7 with some TV-G.

The Smurfs

 * Don Messick (season 1) as Papa Smurf, Dreamy Smurf, Azrael
 * Scott Innes (season 2-3) as Papa Smurf and Dreamy Smurf
 * Jonathan Winters as Grandpa Smurf
 * Danny Goldman as Brainy Smurf
 * Bill Callaway as Clumsy Smurf, Painter Smurf
 * Michael Bell as Grouchy Smurf, Handy Smurf, Lazy Smurf
 * Frank Welker as Hefty Smurf, Poet Smurf, Azrael (season 2-3)
 * June Foray as Jokey Smurf, Mother Nature
 * Mary Kay Bergman as Smurfette
 * Alan Cumming as Gutsy Smurf
 * William Christopher as Angel Smurf
 * Arte Johnson as Devil Smurf
 * Richard Gautier as Wooly Smurf
 * Kip King as Tailor Smurf
 * Henry Polic II as Tracker Smurf
 * Hamilton Camp as Greedy Smurf, Harmony Smurf
 * Bernard Erhard as Timber Smurf
 * Marshall Efron as Sloppy Smurf
 * Alan Young as Miner Smurf, Farmer Smurf, Scaredy Smurf
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Vanity Smurf
 * Nancy Cartwright as Baby Smurf
 * Charlie Adler as Natural 'Nat' Smurfling
 * Julie McWhirter as Sassette Smurfling
 * Pat Musick as Snappy Smurfling
 * Noelle North as Slouchy Smurfling
 * Jim Cummings as Gargamel
 * Janet Waldo as Hogatha

Johan and Peewit

 * Michael Bell as Sir Johan
 * Frank Welker as Peewit
 * Jennifer Darling as Princess Savina
 * Colin Fox as the King
 * Alan Oppenheimer as Homnibus
 * Tress MacNeille as Dame Barbara

Additional Voices

 * Billy West
 * April Winchell
 * Andrea Martin
 * Dan Castellaneta
 * Jeff Bennett
 * Kath Soucie
 * Jess Harnell
 * Rob Paulsen
 * Wayne Allwine - Mickey Mouse
 * Edward Hibbert
 * Jim Cummings
 * Charlie Adler
 * Cree Summer
 * Jackson Beck
 * Sid Raymond
 * Arnold Stang

Development
After the film's success based on merchandise promoting the film, Walt Disney Television Animation have made the decision to reboot the series with Lafig S.A. and Studio Peyo. Sony have wanted to revive the series as early as 1994, but Columbia/TriStar Television (who distributed shows such as DragonTales) prevented Sony from ever getting their hands on the tiny blue creatures. In addition, this allowed Disney to do their own version of The Smurfs, based mostly on the original comics with a few elements leftover from the 80s Hanna-Barbera cartoon (with the notable exception of the time-travel storyline, which got The Smurfs cancelled in the first place).

The Disney crew have wanted to make the show as true to the original comics as possible, with the inclusion of new characters like Gutsy Smurf in the series.

Still under construction...

Writing
Thierry Culliford is the main writer, script supervisor and story editor of the series. Tom Reugger, Doug Langdale, John Benkhe, Rob Humphrey, Jim Peterson, Thomas Hart, Steve Roberts, John Loy, Yvan Delporte, Len Janson, Charles M. Howell IV, Doug Booth, Glenn Leopold, Michael Reaves, Alan Burnett, Gordon Bressack, John Bates, Ted Pedersen, Paul Dini, Ron Campbell and Earl Kress are the only team of writers to ever enter production for the Disney version and/or return from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon to work on the Disney reboot.

Voices
Most of the cast reprised their roles from the Hanna-Barbera version, with the notable exception of Lucille Bliss (who was replaced by Mary Kay Bergman as the voice of Smurfette, respectively). Newcomers, such as Alan Cumming as the voice of Gutsy Smurf, came from the feature film to work on the series. Scott Innes, Jeff Bergman and Frank Welker came in to take over for Messick in season two after he finished doing his characters in season one.

Animation
Animation was mostly outsourced to WDA's Australian, Japan and France subsidaries. Other episodes were animated entirely or collaborating with WDA's subsidaries at Toon City Animation in the Philippines and Tama Productions in Japan. A few episodes in the second season were animated at Rough Draft Korea and/or Wang Film Productions. Unlike the Hanna-Barbera version, this version had a higher budget of animation (double than that of the standard for television animation) The show takes 25,000 drawings to animate the series instead of the usual 10,000, making it more unique in which the characters would move more fluidly.

The first season utilized traditional hand-colored cel animation, while the last two used digital ink and paint for coloring.

Music
The music for the series is composed by Akira Miyagawa, in which the scores are strongly influenced by classic Disney shorts of the 1940s and his later work on the original Japanese dub of Kirby: Right Back at Ya (Kirby of the Stars in Japan). The series used a 35-piece classical live orchestra to fit the mood and times of the Middle Ages.

Reception
The show received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences. It was praised for its gorgeous music scores, wonderful and imaginative storylines, excellent animation and humor (comparing to the Hanna-Barbera incarnation of the series). The series was also praised for being more faithful to the original comics (despite some elements leftover from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, such as Smurfette staying in the village and being a permanent character, Brainy being kicked out of the village for talking too much and the use of smurfy magic). In the present day, the show is considered to be one of Disney's best TV cartoons. Thierry Culliford, Peyo's son explained, "It was the best incarnation of The Smurfs we've ever done for television. We had to continue the cartoon without Hanna-Barbera, but some elements from the 80s cartoon were integrated into Disney's version. We've also kept it closely to the original comics as soon as possible." Several Disney and The Smurfs fans considered the show as a funny, cool and greatest reboot to a well-known 1980s animated series based on a European comic strip. The New York Times called it to be one of the most famous adaptations of the original Smurfs comic book series created by Peyo.

Critics gave the show a 100% for its excellent animation and stronger storylines, despite some being recycled from the 80s Hanna-Barbera incarnation. The music was composed by Akira Miyagawa who used both realistic and synthetic instruments in an attempt to give the music more realism, unlike Hoyt Curtin's interpretation of the music scores which are rough and staccato for Hanna-Barbera's version. Compared to Sony's latest products of The Smurfs, both the 80s Hanna-Barbera and 90s Disney versions are far more better than Sony's version of the franchise.

Still under construction...

Trivia

 * This animated television series is the most popular incarnation of The Smurfs. However, it only lasted for three seasons.
 * Most of the cast reprised their roles from the Hanna-Barbera animated series, while new actors/actresses played other characters and new ones (such as Gutsy Smurf) from the 1995 feature film.
 * Thanks to Disney's lavish budget, we can finally get to see the action of some Smurf (Hefty for example) giving Brainy a swift, sharp kick in the pants out of the village when he goes overboard on speaking his mind and bragging with critiques and dangers (which really annoys the other Smurfs).
 * The show was originally intended to never air in reruns after its original run ended. Disney knew that their version of The Smurfs were among one of their most popular shows on Disney Channel, and they held them separately for future distribution, seeing TV reruns and DVD releases as both rising outlets.
 * Disney had used a mix of Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera sound effects in their reboot and the 1995 feature film both.
 * Disney did a better job writing episodes and animating The Smurfs in the same way as what Hanna-Barbera did previously, but with a higher budget. Disney had very superior story editing and full, high-quality and more fluidly lifelike animation, comparing in contrast to Hanna-Barbera where they wrote their scripts somewhat simpler and had a cheap limited animation budget.
 * Disney used digital ink and paint exclusively for the new opening sequence. This process wasn't used for coloring episodes yet until the second season.
 * Lucille Bliss didn't return to reprise her role from the Hanna-Barbera version and is instead replaced by Mary Kay Bergman as the voice of Smurfette.
 * Paul Winchell was supposed to reprise his role as Gargamel. But due to him being too busy playing Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, he was replaced by Jim Cummings (the current voice of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger). Frank Welker even replaces Don Messick as the voice of Azrael, beginning with the second season.
 * Messick lent his voice one last time as Papa Smurf, Dreamy Smurf and Azrael, before Scott Innes, Jeff Bergman and Frank Welker, respectively, took over the roles in season two.
 * Episodes from season one are all dated 1996, 1997 in episodes of season two and finally, 1998 in episodes of season three.
 * Jackson Beck, Arnold Stang and Sid Raymond (three voice actors from the Paramount cartoon shorts) provided some occasional voices for the show.
 * ABC cancelled The Smurfs after its first season. The show was then moved to Disney Channel and was renewed for two more seasons, following the success of the first.
 * The opening and closing music cues from Season 2 of Hanna-Barbera's version of the cartoon were recycled for the reboot, with permission from Hanna-Barbera.
 * The opening sequence featured Mary Kay Bergman and Jim Cummings dubbing in the new voices as Smurfette and Gargamel (which replaces Lucille Bliss and Paul Winchell's original voices in the opening music cue. Messick re-recorded his voice as Papa Smurf and Azrael.)
 * Mickey Mouse is one of the few classic Disney cartoon characters to make a cameo in the series.