"Little Big Smurf" is a Season 7 episode from the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters
- Snappy Smurfling
- Gargamel
- Azrael
- Scruple
- Papa Smurf
- Hefty Smurf
- Clumsy Smurf
- Bigmouth
- Sassette Smurfling
- Slouchy Smurfling
- Brainy Smurf
- Painter Smurf
- Greedy Smurf
- Mouse
- Farmer Smurf (Mentioned only)
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis
Gargamel makes Snappy bigger than he wanted to.
Plot Summary
In the Smurf Village, Snappy is watching Hefty doing weightlifting exercises in his gym, commenting on what big muscles his fellow Smurf has. Hefty says that exercise is how he became the biggest and strongest Smurf of all, to which Snappy says that someday he hopes to be as big and strong as Hefty, maybe even bigger. However, Snappy's attempt to do some weightlifting with pulley weights makes the pulley snap, causing Snappy to fall back into a set of barbells. Hefty asks Snappy if he is okay, and Snappy with his eyes still going in circles answers that he is, saying that there's no gain without pain.
Meanwhile, in Gargamel's castle, the evil wizard impatiently asks his apprentice Scruple when the stew will be ready, and Scruple checks and sees that it's ready to serve. As he takes the pot off the stove, Azrael sees a mouse on the counter next to the stove that the cat chases after. Unfortunately for Gargamel, he never gets the chance to eat the stew when the ogre Bigmouth pays a visit and eats it all in one gulp, leaving the wizard and his pupil with nothing as he leaves, thanking them for the "snack". But during the visit, as Gargamel backs away from Bigmouth, he accidentally knocks some potions on the floor and on the mouse as Azreal corners it. The accidental mixture of the potions causes the mouse to grow big enough to scare Azrael, chasing him away into the forest as Gargamel and Scruple look on clinging to each other in fright. When he recovers from his initial shock, Gargamel looks at the mixture of the potions on the floor and imagines what a feast he could make by making Smurfs big enough to eat, but Scruple skeptically tells him that he first needs to catch a Smurf.
Out in the forest, Gargamel dumps a batch of the mixed potions onto a smurfberry bush, hoping that a Smurf will be tempted enough to pick big smurfberries from a very big bush. Soon enough, Clumsy and the Smurflings come along with a cart of picked smurfberries that Snappy tries to pull all by himself to show how strong he is when they see the big smurfberry bush full of big smurfberries, with Sassette saying that they have hit the jackpot. Snappy tries to pull one of the berries off the bush, but ends up being pinned down by the berry, and that gives Gargamel ample time to grab Snappy and stuff him inside his bag where he sprinkles the mixed potions onto the little Smurfling. Soon the potions make Snappy grow so big that he ends up being bigger than Gargamel, and with his new size he chases after the wizard, who is now regretting the idea of making a big Smurf to satisfy his appetite. The evil wizard climbs up a ledge and tries to squash the giant Smurf with a boulder that he pushes down, but Snappy picks up a log and bats the boulder away, making Gargamel even more fearful.
Papa Smurf and a few other Smurfs follow Sassette out into the forest where they see Snappy has Gargamel right where he wants him, up a tree and ready to get his revenge on the wizard for all the years he has chased after the Smurfs. Papa Smurf tells Snappy that chasing after wizards like that isn't the smurfy thing to do, and so Snappy relents, sending Gargamel flying into the river as the big Smurfling lets go of the tree. Upon their return to the village, Papa Smurf tells Snappy that he will make an antidote to bring the Smurfling back to his normal size, but Snappy says that he doesn't want to become small because now he is big and strong enough to even lift Smurf houses from the ground -- something which Hefty says that there is such a thing as being too big, given his previous experience with a size-growing formula.
Suddenly, the Smurfs hear and feel the ground rumble, even though there is no visible sign of an earthquake or a storm. Snappy says that it's his stomach, which means that he must be hungry. Papa Smurf orders Greedy to start cooking up a storm, and so the village cook is busy running to and from his kitchen to satisfy the now big Smurfling's appetite while Clumsy has a hose running into the village well to quench Snappy's big thirst. Greedy says that his cupboards are now bare, so he tells Snappy that he better start picking crops. Snappy walks away, saying that being big hasn't been much fun so far, when he sees his fellow adult Smurfs playing smurfball and says that he wants to join in. Unfortunately, Snappy's big size proves to be too much for the adult Smurfs to take as he makes such a powerful kick with the smurfball that it rips right through one of the goalie nets.
Meanwhile, Gargamel reaches his lair and slams the door shut behind him, making his apprentice Scruple wonder why he looks like he's seen a monster. Gargamel says that he created a monster with his magnifying formula as he blocks up the windows with boards so that the giant Smurfling can't reach in and get him. But then Gargamel has an idea: he sprinkles the same formula on himself, and suddenly Scruple watches his master grow in size until even his castle isn't big enough to contain him. Gargamel laughs at the thought of seeing how the giant Smurfling would now like being chased.
Back in the village, as Papa Smurf is busy preparing the formula to bring Snappy back to normal size, he sees the door to his laboratory open and Clumsy rolling right in. He tells Papa Smurf that the gust of wind is Snappy snoring while taking his nap, and the breaths coming from the snoring are also blowing away Painter and his easel. Hefty braves his way through the bursts of wind and uses a megaphone to shout into Snappy's ear to wake him up, but as Snappy suddenly jumps up from his sleep, he wrecks a few Smurf houses in his landing, one of them being Greedy's. Papa Smurfs tells Snappy that he will have to live in the forest until the reducing formula is complete, which makes Snappy sad as he agrees with Papa Smurf's wisdom on the matter.
Out in the forest, the giant Gargamel isn't able to find the giant Smurfling that made a fool out of him, but he does find Bigmouth's hovel and sees an opportunity for getting even with the ogre for taking his dinner (for starters). He pulls off the roof of Bigmouth's house and dumps a pile of apples onto the ogre, saying that he hopes that he has saved room for dessert. After Gargamel leaves laughing, Bigmouth eats one of the apples just before his anger with the evil wizard flares.
Meanwhile, as Papa Smurf tests his completed reducing formula on a big sunflower that shrinks it down to less than Smurf size, Sassette and Slouchy try to keep Snappy company out by the brook, with Sassette comforting her fellow Smurf by saying Papa Smurf will make Snappy normal size again. Snappy weeps as he says that he hopes so, though the tears falling from his face are so big that it makes the two other Smurflings run away. But then his concerns turn to an even bigger problem: the giant Gargamel has found him and is now chasing after him. Papa Smurf sees that there are now two giants in the forest, but as he and Hefty flee to escape being run over by either of them, the jar containing the reducing formula slips out of Papa Smurf's hands and falls into the river.
Papa Smurf and Hefty now chase after the jar, hoping to reach it before it goes over the falls. Unfortunately, the jar goes over the falls and breaks, but just as Gargamel reaches the ledge near the falls and captures Snappy, the ground gives away beneath his feet, dropping both of them into the water below. Exposed to the reducing formula in the water, both the wizard and Smurfling shrink back to their respective normal size, and Snappy again flees from Gargamel. Though Gargamel regrets being back to normal size, he comforts himself with the thought of having finally taught Bigmouth a lesson -- that is, until the ogre himself shows up and chases after the wizard.
Back in the village, Snappy feels glad to be back to his normal size and admits that it's better for him to be happy the way that he is, which Papa Smurf says is a very big statement for the Smurfling to make. Then Brainy comes along and asks Papa Smurf if he has any reducing formula left, for the big mouse that was in Gargamel's castle is now in the village chewing away at Brainy's house, to which Greedy says that he thought it was Snappy who was going to eat the Smurfs out of house and home.
Trivia
- Nat is the only Smurfling not to appear in this episode.
- Hefty's previous experience with a size-growing formula was in the episode "The Magnifying Mixture".
- In an interview, Pat Musick states that this is her favorite episode.
- In the comic book story "The Smurfnapper", Gargamel originally had a formula that could make men grow to the size of a giant. However, when the Smurfs inside his castle switched around the contents of his potion bottles, Gargamel ended up drinking the one that reduced him to Smurf size, placing him at the mercy of his cat.
Goofs
- Gargamel shakes apples off a tree into Bigmouth's house, but the next shot shows the actual tree inside Bigmouth's house.
- When giant Snappy returns to the village, Painter's red jacket is missing.