"Smurf A Mile In My Shoes" is a Season 5 episode from the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters[]
- Jokey Smurf
- The Cursed Imp
- Papa Smurf
- Smurfette
- Brainy Smurf
- Clumsy Smurf
- Harmony Smurf
- Dreamy Smurf
- Sea Witch
- Puppy
- Greedy Smurf
- Vanity Smurf
- Painter Smurf
- Flutterby
- Baby Smurf (Does not speak)
- Hefty Smurf (Does not speak)
- Handy Smurf (Does not speak)
- Farmer Smurf (Does not speak)
- Nat Smurfling (Does not speak)
- Snappy Smurfling (Does not speak)
- Slouchy Smurfling (Does not speak)
- Sassette Smurfling (Does not speak)
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis[]
The Smurfs help a cursed imp get the last shell to turn him back to normal.
Plot Summary[]
It begins on the Smurfs' Beach Village, three days prior the rise of summer, where the Smurfs are swimming, surfing, taking sunbaths, and playing. On their activities, Brainy along with Smurfette, Harmony, Clumsy, and Jokey are looking for seashells when they found various ones aligned around a straw house. They wander how it happened when a hideous hermit creature scares them away.
A while later, Jokey found an idea to have mischievous fun and scared his fellow Smurfs disguised as The Hermit. Later he presented in disguise to the real Hermit and made fun out of him if it meant hurting his feelings. Just when Jokey thought it was his best joke ever, Papa Smurf reprimands him and the other Smurfs for making that nasty found on such creature. He scolds them (especially Jokey) to the Hermit's house in order to apologize, and when trying to talk, Papa Smurf discovered that the Hermit was a cursed gnome (Papa Smurf reveals that as a Good Wizard, he learned the Cursed Language "a language only spoke by cursed creatures"). Seven years ago, the once handsome gnome laughs at the Sea Witch, and as punishment she cursed him turning the gnome into a hideous creature unable to speak proper languages and scaring away every being that crosses paths with him. He lost all his friends on the course of those years and couldn't make any new ones after that. He turned on hermit's life and collected seashells because if he collects numerous types of them and put them around him before the first day of summer, he will break the curse. Otherwise, he'll spend hideous for another seven years. Papa Smurf stated that are only three days left before summer rises.
The Smurfs (minus Jokey) felt his despair and offer him their friendship and help, but suddenly a flock of sea gulls (who are the minions of the Sea Witch), attacked the straw house and took the rarest of the seashells meant to break the curse. Unable to leave the beach due to the curse, the Hermit can't track down the sea gulls, but the Smurfs promised him to lift out the curse on him. So, the next morning, Dreamy brings out the S. S. Smurf II and along Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy, Clumsy, Harmony, and a reluctant Jokey, sailed to Smurfberry Island in order to retrieve the seashell. However, Jokey did not stop his joke wave and still teases his fellow Smurfs with very mean pranks ignoring the serious despair of those in need. "Why don't you Smurf a Mile in my Shoes, Jokey?", wished his fellow Smurfs stating that wanting to have fun is no reason to ignore the serious events of those in need.
After a sort of misfortunes, they arrived at Smurfberry Island and with a little luck, they retrieve the seashell before the Sea Witch returned to her laboratory. However, once the Sea Witch found out what happened, she lifted a spell over the S. S. Smurf II in order to sink the Smurfs and fail in their mission to break the course on the Hermit. Trying to sort with the situation, the seashell fell in the sea and Jokey with it, getting both dragged to the shore of a lone island. In there, Jokey began to understand the Hermit's feelings and despair when he became unable to leave the island (even with building a raft), because of the constant pranks of a pair of mischievous mermen who lived near that island. Just when he began to lose hope, his fellow Smurfs found him and rescued him along with the seashell, just in time to help the Hermit lift the curse out of him.
In the end, everybody celebrates after the rise of summer with the aligned seashells broke the curse on the Hermit, turning him once again in the gnome he was before and promising not to make laugh at the expenses of others again. Jokey finally apologized to the Hermit and admitted his error of making nasty fun out of him. The Hermit accepts the apology with no hard feelings but gave Jokey a dose of his own medicine with a shocking hand explaining that once he was a practical joker without sense of feelings, but now he will respect them every time and decides to travel the world. Jokey will try to do that in the future and the Smurfs celebrate the beginning of summer.
Trivia[]
- Second appearance of the Sea Witch and her flock of sea gulls. Her first appearance was "The Last Smurfberry".
- This is one of the final episodes of the series to be animated in-house at Hanna-Barbera Productions, before the studio moved on to have their animation done overseas at Wang Film Productions/Cuckoo's Nest Studio in Taiwan from Season 6 onwards and Toei Animation in Japan for a few episodes in Season 7.
- The entire soundtrack (all except for the title card) is 2x higher than pitch octave in the syndicated version.
- This episode shows that the Smurfs built beach houses, not too far from Smurf Village, to spend their spring breaks and summer holidays. Also, this is one of the few episodes where it doesn't take place in Smurf Village. In the comic books, the Smurfs built a getaway resort called Smurf Paradise which was the closest thing to this beachside village and lasted for the duration of "Bathing Smurfs" before it was torn down by beavers.
- None of the Smurflings have lines in this episode. Hefty, Handy, and Farmer do not have lines either.
- The official English video's title accidentally uses the Polish title: Smerfy.
- The scene in which the Smurfs are partying was used as a scene on a Boomerang promo.
- The hermit imp opens his door only to get into a mirror routine with Jokey dressed as him, similar to Duck Soup.
- Not only does the S. S. SMURF II hit an iceberg but both (Captain) Dreamy and Papa Smurf say, "Iceberg dead ahead!", giving reference to the Titanic.
- Jokey's shipwrecked on an island during a storm caused by the Sea Witch, similar to Robinson Crusoe.
- At the end, the Smurfs are having a beach party where they're "lala"ing to the beat of "Aloha 'Oe", Hawai'i's most common leitmotif.