"Order Of Merit" is the forty-fifth episode of Season 1 of the CGI TV series, The Smurfs.
Characters[]
- Brainy Smurf
- Jokey Smurf
- Handy Smurf
- Hefty Smurf
- Racing Snails
- Fire-Breathing Salamander
- Bigmouth
- Farmer Smurf
- Clumsy Smurf
- Dimwitty Smurf
- Papa Smurf
- Lazy Smurf (Does not speak)
- Grouchy Smurf (Not seen; heard)
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis[]
Brainy plays the guards once too often and Jokey decides to teach him a good lesson. With help from Hefty and Handy, he invents an imaginary medal that would only reward the best Smurfs: the "Order of Merit"... and Brainy would do anything to get it.
Summary[]
It is the early morning in Smurf Village, where the Smurfs' sleep is rudely interrupted by Brainy, who is ringing the bell. Hefty and Handy are among the Smurfs tired while Hefty carries a nearby Smurf that fell asleep walking. They are sick of Brainy "re-organizing" anytime Papa Smurf goes away. Jokey arrives to tell him that this chore day is going to be different, and they should play along with him. As Brainy assigns everyone to clean, Jokey protests and asks the Smurfs if they had seen Papa Smurf make Brainy the leader in his absence. The Smurfs say none of them have seen or heard it. Brainy says he is in charge because he's the most responsible and dependable. Jokey says he can't say that because he's never won the "Order of Merit". He explains that this is the medal Papa Smurf "won" to become Papa Smurf. Hefty and Handy follow this and say that this is true. Brainy asks how he wins the Order of Merit and Jokey tells him he will unless he leaves them alone for the entire day. He imagines himself with red clothes like Papa Smurf and Brainy agrees. The Smurfs cheer. Hefty worries about since if he wins, they'll have to do chores forever. Jokey tells him he's not going to let Brainy succeed with his impossible challenges.
Later, Jokey has created a wheel and if it lands on something, he will have to do it. When he spins it, it lands on cleaning Farmer's snails. Brainy does not want to do this, saying it will take weeks to clean all of it. Jokey tells him he can always quit, which instead determines Brainy to do this as Jokey wishes him good luck.
Brainy has gone into the pen as the Smurfs comment on if he will do it or not. The glasses-wearing Smurf is disgusted as Jokey rings the bell inside the pen, signaling start. Jokey, Hefty, and Handy leave, with Jokey saying he'll never do it. Just then, he slips on some of the slime and falls into another direction. The Smurfs laugh at him. Brainy gets up and orders the snails into a line, which fails. When he offers them lettuce, they end up devouring it and Brainy is covered in dirt and slime. As he tries more methods, it always fails. The Smurfs laugh some more as the snails have left him. Brainy is covered in even more slime now. He decides to quit until an imaginary Papa Smurf comes in his head and asks him if he thought he would give up. Brainy gets an idea, which is ringing the bell, alerting Clumsy and Dimwitty as members of the Smurf Village Fire Brigade to awaken and get into their fire truck immediately. They drive through the Smurf Village, stopping once only to ask directions and narrowly avoiding a collision with Lazy out on the street, until they reach their destination. They are alerted "fire" and shoot into the snails' lettuce house. The Smurfs cheer as Jokey and crew hear this. The three Smurfs see that the snails are all clean. The Smurfs confirm that it was Brainy that really did this. Brainy calls himself the best and prepares for his next challenge. Hefty and Handy glare at Jokey as the pranking Smurf says the next challenge will be harder.
Jokey spins the wheel once again and the challenge is to find the meanest lizard and tame it.
Run, Brainy, run!
In the Smurf Forest, Brainy fears as he sees a lizard and Jokey tells him he can always quit now. Brainy gets determined again and says he's walking in Papa Smurf's footsteps and he's gonna make him proud. The Smurfs cheer on, but Brainy tells them to shush. When he reads the book on how to tame lizards (one rule is avoid eye contact), he ends up looking at the lizard and it growls. The lizard chases Brainy while Jokey tells Hefty and Handy, who watch in shock, that lizards don't eat Smurfs. Brainy grabs the lizard's back and he searches on how to do the friendship dance. He ends up letting go and he hits a rock. He decides to do the dance his way. He does various dance moves, and the lizard catches on and dances with him. Hefty and Handy glare at him again. Brainy tells Jokey he better get ready for his chores, to which Jokey is angry at this.
Jokey spins the wheel again and it lands on an ear cleaning. He makes this one up and the quest is to clean Bigmouth's ear. The Smurfs are grossed out and advise Brainy not to do it. Jokey agrees and says he shouldn't do it. Brainy says Papa Smurf did it for the Order of Merit, he should do it too. As he walks off, Handy says this is too dangerous and says to Jokey he should call it off. Jokey tells him and Hefty that one look at the ogre and he will run away.
Near Bigmouth's house, Brainy is about to go in, but starts fearing. Jokey shows Hefty and Handy that he's too scared to go in. Brainy confronts himself, but then Bigmouth opens the door and sees the little Smurf. He is going to gulp him down until Brainy tells Bigmouth by saying it's "National Spa Day" and he's won a free ear cleaning. Bigmouth closes the door and says after the ear-cleaning, he will eat him. Jokey and crew are in heavy shock.
In the house, Brainy cleans all of Bigmouth's earwax and puts it in a barrel. After the cleaning, Bigmouth is impressed, but prepares to eat Brainy. The Smurf stalls him and says he is good with some cucumbers. He also says that cucumbers are good for ogre skin. When Brainy puts the food onto Bigmouth's eyes, he tells him to wait thirty minutes while he cooks himself, which is an excuse to leave. Bigmouth relaxes as Jokey, Hefty, and Handy, who watched the entire thing, are shocked once more.
The Smurfs in the village see Brainy as he puts the ogre earwax barrel on the ground. While they are surprised and observe, Handy says he really does deserve the Order of Merit. Hefty does not want to be doing chores for years and orders Jokey to do something. Jokey thinks of something big and impossible. He then gets an idea.
Jokey spins the wheel again and puts his foot down and it lands on pieing Papa Smurf! The Smurfs are in fear while Brainy is one of the fear-ers, saying if he played a prank on Papa Smurf, he'd be done for. Jokey says this means he quits, and Hefty says he shouldn't mess with Papa Smurf. Brainy walks away in disappointment. Jokey sees the problem is solved... at least until he says he's gonna do it! The Smurfs are extremely worried and this time, Jokey is also worried.
Brainy runs out of the village and goes into the forest, where Papa Smurf comes back from his spa retreat. He goes to the back of his head and is extremely hesitant to do this. After still being hesitant, he actually does it and Papa Smurf demands to know the meaning of this. Brainy distracts him by saying there's a unicorn in the sky. Papa Smurf turns and sees Brainy is gone.
Back in the village, Papa Smurf rings the village bell and demands Brainy's presence. He yells at the Smurfs to tell him where he is. The Smurfs end up disguising as Brainy by putting on glasses. This does not fool Papa Smurf, since all the Smurfs have different voices. He says no berry pie for a month. Brainy - the real Brainy - reveals himself. Papa Smurf demands to know why he did this, so Brainy explains the "Order of Merit" - until he realizes this is a lie made by Jokey. Hefty and Handy escape while Jokey tries to leave, but Brainy calls the lizard, who chases Jokey around the village, breathing fire on him as he runs away.
Trivia[]
- This is the seventh episode in which no female characters appear. The first six are "Joke's On You", "Leaf It Alone", "Adventures In Smurfsitting", "The Curse Of The Smurfs' Treasure", "Pop Out!", and "Forget Me What?".
- This episode reveals that unicorns seem to exist.
- Clumsy and Dimwitty's operation of the fire brigade is reused from "Smurf-Fu", except the footage ends when they pass Lazy. Unlike the other episodes, this episode uses different music.
- Brainy lies to Bigmouth by saying it's "National Spa Day". National Spa Day is actually a real holiday that is celebrated every November of the year.
- One of the Smurfs that disguises as Brainy has the same voice as Dimwitty, though it is unknown if this is Dimwitty or if this is a regular Smurf. One of the Smurfs that disguises as Brainy also has the voice of Reporter Smurf.
- Brainy is flung onto a rock when trying to sit on the salamander, the pose being similar to Chef in "The Round Up".
- The wheel that Jokey uses contains the following:
- Dance with the fire-breathing salamander
- Cleaning Farmer's snails
- Clean Bigmouth's ears
- Pie a Smurfs' face
- The other things that Brainy did not do are:
- Change diapers (supposedly Baby's)
- A spider can be seen on the wheel, possibly touching it.
- A tickle feather on the foot
- A bat can be seen on the wheel too, also possibly touching it.
- The other things that Brainy did not do are:
- Some TV listings call this episode "The Order of Merit".