The Smurfs: Season One – Volume One (Warner DVD)
Picture:
B Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Smurfs (Episodes): A-
WHAT THE
SMURF?! Finally available on DVD is The
Smurfs: Season One – Volume One.
After years of waiting, one of the most famous 1980’s cartoon series
appears on a volumized 2-Disc DVD set.
Clumsy, Hefty, Grouchy, Handy, Brainy, Lazy, Smurfette, Papa Smurf and
all the rest of your favorite Smurfs appear in this first set that contains 9
original episodes with 19 individual stories total. From the origins of Smurfette to how tall a
Smurf is (3 apples); it is all here on this terrific 2-Disc set.
For those
who did not live through the 1980’s or were too caught up in your Red Pleather
Jacket to remember it, here is the Smurfed up version of what the classic
cartoon was about. There is a village of
small and gentle creatures known as The Smurfs who just go along with their
happy lives, with the occasional interruption from the evil wizard Gargamel who
would love nothing more than to eat a smurf.
Why does Gargamel want to eat a Smurf?
Who the Smurf knows, maybe he was not hugged enough as a small
wizard. There never was much to The
Smurfs, but became one of the most beloved cartoons to ever grace
television. Each episode seems to infuse
a message of love and understanding, but is so shrouded in Smurf goodness it is
not distracting in the slightest.
This
reviewer has always loved The Smurfs and I am sure you guys and gals out there
have many of the same questions we all do.
Why is there only one girl Smurf and all those male Smurfs? Well,
Gargamel created Smurfette (the first girl Smurf) and for whatever reason all
the male Smurfs are in love with her, even though they have always lived
without girls in their species. Still
confused? Me too. There is also the question of the no shirts,
the mushroom houses, and why each Smurf is a personal stereotype? Like a tootsie-pop, the world may never know.
The
Smurf-tastic features of this 2-Disc set are well presented and to the
point. The picture is presented in its
original 1.33 X 1 Full Screen aspect ratio.
The picture’s colors are bright and solid. In fact the picture is so bright and crisp
that the cartoon could even be confused for a newer series. The sound is a bit worse than picture to this
reviewer’s ears, but adequate. The sound
is presented in its original Mono track in Dolby Digital 1.0 and is crisp &
clear, but tends to be a bit light and this reviewer had to turn up the sound
to hear it clearly at times. The extras
are nothing fantastic, but good enough for a first volume of many. The extras include an additional episode
entitled ‘The Smurf’s Springtime Special’ where the Smurf’s save mother nature
from the evil Gargamel, as well as a second feature a ‘Smurfs: Music Video’ where many Smurf clips are set to the classic
Smurf theme song. There is no smurfing
around here, the set is smurfarific.
As a side
note, don’t be confused that the innards of the package state that the extras
are contained on Disc-2 Side B; the studio managed to squeeze all of the extras
onto a one sided Disc and never changed the package art.
This is a
must buy for any fan of the series or for anyone with children. The
Smurfs are just as good now as they were 25 years ago. So go out and grab The Smurfs and join the rest of us in wondering if ‘Smurf’ is an
adjective, a noun, or a verb. No one
Smurfing knows.
- Michael P Dougherty II
