The type of errors that can appear in a Smurf cartoon episode include:
- Continuity errors: where something appears in an episode that doesn't line up with the continuity of the story being told, or when a story element in a later-season episode doesn't line up with something told and established in an episode from an earlier season. As far as continuity between episodes, such as Smurfette's origin being shown in production and/or broadcast order sometime after other episodes where she normally appears, it should be noted that production and/or broadcast order isn't always the same as actual in-universe continuity, and that the episodes themselves are usually shown as self-contained stories rather than interconnected stories where elements from one story flow into another. (In fact, before Smurfs Adventures, episodes from previous seasons would be rebroadcast in later seasons.) A good way to rectify this situation is that an origin story could actually be a flashback to when that character first appeared in the universe of their stories without the story being lampshade as a flashback. An example of this is the Teen Titans episode "Go!" which establishes the origin of the Teen Titans in a later season.
- Art problems: where certain items or persons aren't drawn correctly or are miscolored. This can lead to some embarrassing situations such as the problem with Papa Smurf's kimono in the Season 9 episodes "Karate Clumsy" and "Papa's Big Snooze". In "Jokey's Medicine", Hefty Smurf is seen without his heart tattoos and doors would open incorrectly. Throughout season one, Clumsy's droopy hat would sometimes be misdrawn as a normal Smurf hat and Handy's overalls would be misdrawn as normal Smurf pants. Issues due to the incorrect placement of cels can also occur, such a character oddly shifting out of place or temporarily missing a body part.
- Audio-editing errors: where a scene or an entire episode's audio track is pitched higher or lower than normal. For example, one of the worst offenders of unusually higher pitch is "Mud Wrestling Smurfs", while one of the worst offenders of deeper pitch is "Smurfette For A Day". These errors can be slightly harder to notice than others, depending on how much the pitch is changed and what characters are present.
- Voice errors: when a scene or a character's voice sounds much different than what they're supposed to or when a character is animated to a wrong voice. A notable example comes from "The Smurfette".
- Audio/video synchronization errors: where the audio track doesn't line up correctly with the video track, as was in the case of "The Magnifying Mixture" during its original Saturday morning airing.
- Character errors: where a character appears twice in the same scene despite already being there or not being present before. Notable examples include "Smurf-Fu" when Dimwitty appears on the back of the fire brigade truck with Clumsy but was already captured by Bigmouth and "Crashing Gargamel's Party" where something similar happened as Dimwitty is on the back despite being with Smurfbegonia at the time.
- Confusion-based errors: where the confusion of animators and editors leads to things such as a character being incorrectly animated to say another character's line(s) or one being present in a scene when they shouldn't be. An example of the former can be found at the end of "Bewitched, Bothered, And Be-Smurfed", where Brainy is seen saying Handy's line ('Wow, that's a relief!'), while an example of the latter can be found in a scene from "The Blue Plague" where, due to the re-usual of animation, Papa is seen watching over work on the dam when he is supposed to be away from the village.
- Geographical errors: where certain elements that appear in the episode don't line up with the actual location of where the episode takes place if the episode takes place in a real-world location. Bear in mind, though, that the setting of the Smurfs cartoon show is highly based on fantasy and that artistic liberties will be taken, such as the inclusion of skunks in the Smurf Forest where presumably European forests, even in medieval settings, wouldn't normally have skunks.