"Poet's Writers' Block" is a Season 5 episode from the Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters[]
- Poet Smurf
- The Wildebeests
- Princess Wildly
- Sassette Smurfling
- Painter Smurf
- Vanity Smurf
- Brainy Smurf
- Hefty Smurf
- Handy Smurf
- Clumsy Smurf
- Greedy Smurf
- Baby Smurf
- Harmony Smurf
- Papa Smurf (Does not speak)
- Lazy Smurf (Does not speak)
- Farmer Smurf (Does not speak)
- Nat Smurfling (Does not speak)
- Snappy Smurfling (Does not speak)
- Slouchy Smurfling (Does not speak)
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis[]
Poet tries to free a princess from her curse, but he doesn't succeed thanks to his writers' block.
Plot Summary[]
Poet was relaxing one day, when Sassette came along and asked him what he was doing. He answered her that looking around the forest and everything on it was pivotal in order to have inspiration to make art and write his poems (in a manner similar how Painter needs his inspiration for his masterpieces). Soon, he found inspiration in his pep talk with Sassette and wrote a poem dedicated to her sweet nature and personality.
Sassette shares Poet's poem with the other Smurfs and soon, almost every Smurf in the village want Poet to write a poem dedicated to every aspect on every Smurf (mainly Vanity's beauty, Brainy's "wisdom", Hefty's strength...). And to make matters worse, Brainy suggest an on-stage recital within an hour. Poet however, found difficult to write and have inspiration in less than an hour and for the first time in his smurfy life, begins to suffer that capacity limit called "Writer's Block", meaning that he's stuck in a way without inspiration. All the other Smurfs try to help him get inspiration showing him things related to their paths and attributes, but Poet's still stuck in the block of his writer mind and leaves the village in anger.
Trying to get free from his writer's block, he stops resting near a waterfall and when he fails once more to get inspired, he littered his paper and is captured by a group of gnu-like creatures called The Wildebeests. They present him to their king who demands what was doing on his domains. Poet explains that he's trying to get free from his writer's block and regain his ability to write poems. The king thinks that Poet is probably the one who can solve a tragedy that covered the kingdom in sadness and despair years ago; long before the events of Poet's arrival, Princess Wildly, the king's beloved daughter was cursed by a wicked sorcerer whom she refused to be married. The sorcerer put on her a curse that made her unable to have any emotional feeling (no happiness, no anger, neither could smile), and that event made the Wildebeest Kingdom heartbroken and sad. Only if the princess can break in tears with a sad poem, the curse would be lifted. But even with some time to spend in his work, Poet failed in making the princess cry, so the Guard Captain by the king's orders, took Poet to the Hungry Wolves Hill to be devoured by them, along with a jester and a minstrel that also failed to lift the curse on the princess.
Before accepting his no-way-back fate, Poet plead for one final wish; write a farewell letter to his fellow Smurfs (adding also that Clumsy could find it behind a rock, because of his rock collecting hobby). Thinking in the sad things would happen if they can't see him again, Poet's farewell letter even made the Guard Captain cry when he rode it to the king. Next thing made, the king rode the farewell letter to his daughter with cries in his eyes, that even the princess felt sorry for Poet's fate and for the first time in years, dropped a cry from her eyes and the curse broke out for good. The king soon yells in joy for his daughter as she's finally curse-free and the kingdom celebrates. Before tragedy strikes, the king ordered Poet, the jester, and the minstrel to be spared and everyone thanks Poet for making two things in the sake of the wildebeest; lifting out the curse on their princess and showing them that a little time for their own and a reflex from the heart, are the tools we need to write a beautiful poem. With this adventure, Poet finally breaks his writer's block and returns to the village.
In the end, he tells his adventure to his Smurfs family and next night, he steps on the stage reading a long poem wrote to every Smurf in the village "not one individual directly", whom everyone acclaims. Even Handy states in tears of joy "the best poems in life, came from the heart".
Trivia[]
- First and only appearances of the Wildebeest race. Although physically real in the Smurfs' world, only Poet interacted with them. However, the other Smurfs know them because Poet talked about them.
- Although he appears, Papa Smurf has no lines in this episode.
- This is one of the final episodes to be animated in Hanna-Barbera's main house studios, before moving animation works overseas to Wang Film Productions/Cuckoos Nest Studio from Season 6 onwards and Toei Animation for a few episodes in Seasons 7 and 8.
Videos[]
