{"id":23,"date":"2022-04-24T19:48:33","date_gmt":"2022-04-24T19:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/?p=23"},"modified":"2022-04-24T19:48:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-24T19:48:36","slug":"s01e09-wheres-papa-smurf-whos-heftier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/s01e09-wheres-papa-smurf-whos-heftier\/","title":{"rendered":"s01e09: “Where’s Papa Smurf?” \/ “Who’s Heftier”?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Where’s Papa Smurf?” (“Le schtroumpf invisible”)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Invisible<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Summary:<\/strong> An accident in the lab renders Papa Smurf invisible to the other Smurfs. The only cure for his condition is to get a whisker from Azrael. Meanwhile, without their father figure present, the rest of the Smurfs have a party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comments:<\/strong> In superhero comics, I’ve never been much of a magic fan. It always seems too easy for the writer. They can make up anything<\/em> they want to move the plot in any direction without having to think twice about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, there are magic systems that can be put in place to prevent things from going overboard, but it’s still the same: Add an extra word that sounds vaguely like Latin, maybe a colorful plume of smoke, and an exotic ingredient from nature. Boom! Your plot is fixed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a series like The Smurfs, it doesn’t bother me. I see through the plot mechanics and can appreciate the story opportunities that open with the proper creative twist. We see a lot of this happening in this series. Certain spells need certain ingredients and that’s the plot point. They aren’t looking for something common like salt and pepper. It’s always an ingredient that will be difficult to get and will challenge a particular character right where it hurts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, Brainy is the one that caused the accident, so he will be part of the team that has to go to Gargamel’s place to steal the whisker. Luckily, they have a secret weapon: Papa Smurf is invisible! That should help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It does, but thankfully the writers don’t play it easy here, either. The story would be really boring if Papa Smurf walked in, unseen, grabbed a whisker, and left. No, he has to mix the potion there on the spot, which seems like a ridiculously bad idea when you think about it. But it’s what leads to the danger of the episode, as he starts to become more visible and the frantic escape sequence begins. It’s good stuff that’s well-choreographed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Papa<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This episode also helps bring to light what Papa Smurf’s character is. While he can be the charming father figure who knows what’s right for a village filled with people who are essentially his children, he’s also a blustery authoritarian figure. He starts this episode by installing dozens of signs outside his house with a drawing of a Smurf with the prohibit sign (the circle slash). He’s working on a dangerous potion and he doesn’t want anyone near the house. The best way to scare people off is to set up a garden of signage, I guess. And, it turns out, it’s still not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also useful for the series production people for keeping the episodes universal. You don’t want to have to edit words on those signs for every language they translate the series into. The old circle-slash gets the job done and lowers the translation costs for the episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papa Smurf is also the guy in charge of making sure the Village runs smoothly. He’s part mayor and part father. And as much as the other Smurfs respect him and his wishes, they’re also kids who don’t always want to do their chores. When Papa Smurf’s absence is discovered, they all put down the work they were doing and go have fun — playing soccer, mostly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he gets back, of course, all it takes is one withering glare for them to fold like cheap accordians and get back to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story starts with Brainy on his Smurfy Segway Scooter, running around town as if he’s the Assistant Mayor, telling everyone what Papa Smurf would say and urging everyone back to work. Basically, he’s an annoying brown noser who thinks being smart means he should be in charge of everyone else. I don’t know that he does anything productive, otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Brainy<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The plot is set up pretty quickly. You know something is going to interrupt Papa Smurf’s potion mixing, and the second Brainy’s Segway spins out of control, you can see the ultimate collision coming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But credit to the writers and storyboarders on this episode, in particular, for finding a way to stretch that sequence out in an entertainingly crazy way. Brainy doesn’t fly off in a straight line. Oh, no, he’s all over the Smurfs Village (around polls, exploding out of chimneys, etc.) before he finally crashes into Papa Smurf’s place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Papa<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I like the way they showed the invisible Papa Smurf. While he’s invisible to the other Smurfs, we as the viewer still get to see him. It’s done with a neat effect where there’s a bit of translucent color along his edges, almost like the shadows of his body are all we see, and then the opacity slider is pulled down to 10% after that. It’s a big help for younger viewers to help them see what’s going on, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn’t realize it until afterwards, but they only made him purely invisible (even to the viewers) in a couple of sequences that we view as if we were the other Smurfs. When Papa plays jokes on them by fooling with their soccer ball in the middle of a game, we don’t see him because we’re seeing that scene as if we’re one of the Smurfs who wouldn’t see him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’a a fun episode, both in the plot mechanics and in the visuals that the invisible Pape Smurf provides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Title Translation:<\/strong> The French title is an easy translation and a pretty obvious title: “The Invisible Smurf.” I like it better than the English title, though, which is more obtuse. By hiding the invisibility part, you’re hiding the most important part of the episode. You could argue it’ll be more surprising to the viewers, but that’s not the point of the episode. The fact that he turns invisible isn’t the big plot twist in the end. (“I see dead Smurfs…”) It’s the basis of the episode, and they pull it off quickly and effectively so they can get to the hijinks based on it. That’s good enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The French title also feels a bit like a tip of the hat to the classic Universal monster movie, “The Invisible Man.” They should have kept it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Credits:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Script:<\/strong> Peter Saisselin and Amy Serafin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storyboard Supervision:<\/strong> Alexandre Viano<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storyboard: <\/strong>Bruno Issaly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director: <\/strong>William Renaud<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Who’s Heftier?” (“C’est qui le plus costaud?”)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Wimpy<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Summary:<\/strong> Wimpy Smurf challenges Hefty Smurf to a challenge to see who the strongest Smurf is. Hefty promises Smurfette he won’t humiliate Wimpy and in so doing accidentally loses. Smurfette tries to find a way to put things right without hurting anyone’s feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comments:<\/strong> I didn’t like this episode. This is the first one I’ve seen that just didn’t ring true for me. It asked me to make too many leaps in logic and accept too many bad ideas. I’ve said before that this is a simple kid’s show and we shouldn’t overanalyze everything, but there are some things in this episode that just don’t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters: At one point, a group of Smurfs circle around Wimpy to point and laugh at how weak he is. They muscle shame<\/em> him:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Smurfs
What the Smurf?!?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Smurfs may not be automatically angelic, but they’re also not bullies whose hive mind makes everything worse. This isn’t funny. It’s just mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A minute ago, they were all cheering very happily for Wimpy for doing his first push-up. Then, at the next available opportunity, they turned their back on him and, in the worst possible way, called him the weakest Smurf of all through pointing and derisive laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get that Wimpy needed to be so utterly humiliated that his next move to challenge Hefty wouldn’t defy all logic, but this just makes everyone else in the scene look bad to get there. I just don’t buy it. It’s silly (and not in the good way).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge happens in the same obstacle course we see in episode 4, “Smurfs in Disguise.” Wimpy is consistently far behind Hefty, but Hefty slacks off to keep it close. Hefty evens carries Wimpy through parts of the course. It’s all in full view of the gallery of Smurfs watching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hefty<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Hefty accidentally falls and Wimpy rolls to a win, it feels weird that the Smurfs in the crowd would lend any credence to it. They’re not stupid. They know Wimpy didn’t really win the race. They look puzzled for a moment and then snapped immediately, lemming-like, to the “rules” they knew they had to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only way out of it was to concoct a crazy scheme to get Wimpy (now “Heftier”) to not want to be the strongest one anymore. OK, that part I get. I like taking the story to extremes for the joke. Silliness is to be rewarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then — well, the ending is just nuts. If you’ve seen the episode, you know what I mean. It goes one step past where the story needed to go. It’s just stupid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m sure six-year-olds loved it, though, so who am I to judge?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Title Translation:<\/strong> The French title is “Who’s the Toughest?” There’s not much difference, then, between the French and English titles here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Credits:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Script:<\/strong> Peter Saisselin and Amy Serafin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storyboard Supervision:<\/strong> Alexandre Viano<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storyboard: <\/strong>Lionel Brousse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director: <\/strong>William Renaud<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Papa Smurf turns invisible and the rest of the Smurfs party. Hefty faces a challenge from Wimpy and — loses?!? It’s not the series’ finest moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12,6,2,17],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-brainy","tag-hefty","tag-smurfette","tag-wimpy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/04\/wheres_papa_smurf_header.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipelinecomics.com\/smurfstv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}