Smurf essence is a magical substance that appears in three different media presentations of the Smurfs.
1981 TV Series[]
Smurf essence appears in the cartoon show episode "Essence Of Brainy" in the form of a blue liquid that has been extracted from Brainy by Scruple through the use of an essence remover that Gargamel's mother had sent to the evil wizard as a birthday present. Gargamel was so amazed that the essence remover had removed the essence of a Smurf that he intended to use it for his gold-making formula, but Scruple refused to let him do so, as he intended to use the essence for receiving all the knowledge of Papa Smurf's magic from Brainy's essence. Fortunately, the Smurfs managed to retrieve Brainy's stolen essence, though it ended up being doused on Smurfette, Hefty, and Jokey who started acting like Brainy. Papa Smurf found a spell in his books that fully restored Brainy's essence to its original owner.
The Smurfs live-action movie series[]
Smurf essence is a magical substance made from a Smurf that appears in the 2011 Smurfs movie as Gargamel's motivation for capturing the Smurfs. It is usually made from anything that comes from a Smurf, particularly hair. After Gargamel and Azrael arrive in modern-day New York City to chase after the Smurfs, only to lose them as they hitched a ride on a taxicab to follow Patrick Winslow, the evil wizard created an extraction machine made from various parts found inside the basement of Belvedere Castle to extract Smurf essence from a lock of Smurfette's hair so he could use it to track down the Smurfs. However, in his first search for the Smurfs, Gargamel ended up using the drop of essence to restore the youth of Odile's mother and thus had to create another drop. He used the second drop of essence to power up a dragon wand he found in Mr. Wong's Mystical Emporium, which he used to capture Papa Smurf and then create more Smurf essence from Papa Smurf's beard to give the evil wizard more power so that he could reform the machine into an exfoliator for extracting the essence of every Smurf.
In The Smurfs 2, Smurf essence serves as sustenance for the Naughties that Gargamel has created and without it they would die. Gargamel used up the essence he extracted from Papa Smurf in the first movie for his performances in his magic show, becoming a star. Gargamel also created another extraction machine, the Smurfalator, for extracting the essence of all Smurfs. He used what essence he had left to open a portal in time to kidnap Smurfette, but he didn't have enough essence to create a portal big enough for himself, so he sent Vexy to kidnap Smurfette. After she succeeded, Gargamel cut some of Smurfette's hair to get more essence for his magic show. When Patrick and Victor Doyle destroyed the Smurfalator, the Smurf essence exploded in blue sparkles of dust and destroyed the paper containing the secret formula to create Smurfs.
Smurfs: The Lost Village[]
In Smurfs: The Lost Village, Gargamel also seeks out the Smurfs to extract Smurf essence from them so that he could become the most powerful sorcerer in the world. At first, the extracted essence gives him a full head of hair in addition to increased magical power. However, when Gargamel tried to use his magic to turn Smurfette back to her original "un-Smurfy" self, it ended up draining the magic power he gained from the essence and instead blew him far away from his hovel in an explosion.
Trivia[]
- Smurf essence was Gargamel's goal in Smurfs: The Lost Village and the Smurfs Live-Action Film Universe.