"The Answer Smurf" is a Season 7 episode of the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters
- Brainy Smurf
- Slouchy Smurfling
- Papa Smurf
- Smurfette
- Sassette Smurfling
- Nat Smurfling
- Snappy Smurfling
- Hefty Smurf
- Handy Smurf
- Poet Smurf
- Gargamel
- Azrael
- Grouchy Smurf
- Lazy Smurf
- Greedy Smurf (Does not speak)
- Painter Smurf (Mentioned only)
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis
Brainy's spell makes everyone except for Slouchy to ask him about everything.
Plot Summary
Papa Smurf and Smurfette visit Slouchy in the Smurflings' playhouse as he lies sick in bed with a stuffed-up nose, with Slouchy wondering if he has to stay in bed because it is the day that his fellow Smurflings are building a tree house. Papa Smurf says that it takes a lot of rest of get over "smurfalopolitis", which is the sickness the young Smurfling has. Smurfette tells Slouchy that Lazy will keep him company, as she gestures to Lazy sleeping in the lower bunk across from Slouchy's. She tucks Slouchy in bed and tells him to do what Papa Smurf says, and Papa Smurf himself says that he will see how his little Smurfling is doing after he returns from gathering herbs. After Smurfette and Slouchy wave Papa Smurf goodbye, Papa Smurf heads into the forest, saying that he looks forward to spending some time by himself. But no sooner after he says that does Brainy show up carrying an overloaded backpack full of equipment, saying that he is all set to travel with Papa Smurf, even showing the book Around The Forest With Brainy Smurf that he has written for the occasion. Papa Smurf then tries to reason with Brainy that if they both go out into the forest, then there will be no one left in the village that the other Smurfs can turn to when they need help. Brainy realizes that his fellow Smurfs need him more than Papa Smurf does on that occasion and then decides to turn back and stay, while Papa Smurf heads off into the forest, hoping to get there before Brainy changes his mind.
Meanwhile, Hefty, Poet, and Sassette have already gathered outside Papa Smurf's house, waiting for the village leader to deal with their various problems -- namely, Sassette needing help with the Smurflings' treehouse, and Poet needing help with his latest poem. Brainy shows up, telling the other Smurfs that Papa Smurf has gone into the forest and that he himself is available to answer any questions that his fellow Smurfs have. After Sassette asks when Papa Smurf is coming back and Brainy answers the following day, she and the other two Smurfs decide they will come back the following day, with Hefty sarcastically thanking Brainy for the "answer". Brainy mutters "Don't mention it" as he turns the other way.
Out in the forest, Gargamel is testing out a new invention that he has created for capturing the Smurfs -- a gun-like device with a blue-colored magnet attached to one end of it, saying that this device will attract objects that are colored blue like the Smurfs. To test it out, Gargamel raises up the Blue Magnet Gun and aims it toward a bush full of blueberries, which then are pulled toward the magnet, pelting the evil wizard and his cat Azrael with blueberries. The both of them are revulsed by being covered in blueberry juice, but then, seeing that his Blue Magnet Gun works, Gargamel then says he wonders how the Smurfs will react when they find out they are "attracted" to him, bellowing an evil laugh afterward.
Back in the Smurf Village, Smurfette is happily singing the Smurf song while trimming a bush when Brainy shows up, telling Smurfette that her bush-trimming lacks a lot of creativity, and then takes over the trimming from there, sculpting the bush into a likeness of himself with a book. Smurfette is so disgusted with Brainy's efforts to "help" Smurfette that she says if she wants Brainy's help, she will ask for it, before she walks off. Nat, Snappy, and Sassette have gathered together all the necessary tools and equipment they would use for building their treehouse when Brainy shows up, telling them that they lack his expertise in building treehouses as he takes the Smurflings' plan for the treehouse and looks over it, trying to tell them how they could improve on building it when he notices that they are no longer there to listen to him. The Smurflings hide out on top of the treehouse and wait for Brainy to go away, disappointed that even the Smurflings wouldn't want to listen to him. Handy is showing Hefty his new smurfberry picker when Brainy shows up to offer his opinion about Handy's invention. Hefty feels insulted by Brainy's comments, but Handy says that Brainy has "inspired" him to build a new feature into his smurfberry picker -- a "Brainy tosser". Brainy then gets picked up by the smurfberry picker's picking arm and gets catapulted out of the village.
Upset by his fellow Smurfs not wanting his help with anything, Brainy decides to take matters into his own hands to compel his fellow Smurfs into asking for his help. In Papa Smurf's laboratory, Brainy mixes up a magic formula that will help him achieve that particular end. After reciting some magic words, Brainy makes a scent come from the cauldron he is mixing the formula in, and it drifts out of the window of Papa Smurf's laboratory into the rest of the village. Nat, Snappy, and Sassette are the first to inhale this scent, and then decide that they should ask Brainy about their treehouse building. The three Smurflings run into Poet to ask where Brainy is, and then Poet inhales the magic scent and decides that he needs Brainy's help with his poem more than the Smurflings do. Soon Brainy is surrounded by all his fellow Smurfs wanting to ask him for his help in various things, like Handy's new invention and Poet's poem, and Brainy then tells all his fellow Smurfs that they should all take a number because he has more than enough answers to go around.
Eventually, Slouchy gets up from his bed, tired of being in bed all the time, and got dressed to go outside to see how his fellow Smurflings' new treehouse was going. On his way to find the other Smurflings, however, Slouchy is stopped long enough by Poet to have him listen to his latest poem, The Answer Smurf. Slouchy hears from the poem Poet praising Brainy Smurf for having all the answers, which makes Slouchy ask Poet what makes him think that way. Poet simply answers, "Because he told me". Slouchy says that maybe Brainy's "poetic license" needs to be revoked before he moves on. Slouchy then sees Handy testing out what he calls "The smurfomatic smurfberry juicer", which ends up spraying smurfberry juice into Hefty's face. Handy doesn't understand where there's a problem with his new invention, and it's all because he listened to Brainy, which Slouchy says that is his problem. Hefty, strangely, gets defensive about what Slouchy said of Brainy, with Handy defending his friend by saying that Brainy has all the answers. Slouchy mutters that he thought Papa Smurf said he alone was sick as he walks away.
Finally, Slouchy reaches the Smurflings' treehouse location and sees that his fellow Smurflings have built it rather haphazardly, so he asks them why they built it like that. Sassette simply answers "Because Brainy said so", which makes Slouchy wonder why it's no surprise she would say it. But like with the smurfomatic smurfberry juicer, this treehouse structure ends up collapsing as soon as Nat tries to close the treehouse's door. The three Smurflings wonder what they should do, and Slouchy sarcastically answers "Ask Brainy", to which the other three wholeheartedly agree on. This makes Slouchy feel like he's got a few questions he needs to ask Brainy himself.
Soon, Brainy finds himself overwhelmed by all the attention his fellow Smurfs were demanding of him to answer every single question they have in mind: which of two dresses should Smurfette wear, how to help compose Poet's poem, how to help Handy fix his juicer, and so on. In fact, the overload of attention became an overload on his senses as his vision got all wavy, his fellow Smurfs looking like hallucinations. It became so much for Brainy to handle that he put his hands over his ears, closed his eyes, and said "Please go away!". The crowd of Smurfs wonder where they're supposed to go, and Brainy distracts by saying for them to go into the forest down by the river, where he promises that he will give all the answers. As the Smurfs run off into the forest, Slouchy comes up to Brainy and says he's got a few questions to ask of him, which makes Brainy faint and Slouchy say that they can wait.
Meanwhile, Gargamel is down by the river, hiding out while waiting for the right opportunity to use his Blue Magnet Gun. He sees the Smurfs all gathered together talking among themselves, getting antsy waiting for Brainy to show up. The evil wizard then pops up out of hiding, surprising the Smurfs and causing them to run this way and that, only to be caught and drawn by the blue magnet's pull. Even Hefty, who was with a chain of Smurfs clutched to his legs while he hangs on to a grass stalk, is no match for the magnet. But one Smurf somehow does resist the pull long enough to escape -- Sassette. She says that she'd better get Brainy as she runs back to the village.
At that moment, Brainy and Slouchy are in Papa Smurf's laboratory, trying to read as fast as possible through the spell books in order to find the counter spell. Slouchy says the reason that Brainy's magic scent didn't affect him was that his nose was blocked up. Then soon they see Papa Smurf arriving at the door, and Brainy takes it as a reassuring sign at first until he realizes that the magic scent has also affected Papa Smurf, as he couldn't decide which herb to pick and felt that he needed to ask Brainy. Then Sassette shows up at the door, telling Brainy that Gargamel is using a blue magnet to capture Smurfs. Papa Smurf then asks Brainy what he's going to do, and Brainy simply says he's open to suggestions. Slouchy then says to have Papa Smurf look for the counter spell while he himself has a plan on how to rescue their fellow Smurfs, which requires a visit to Painter's house.
Out in the forest, Gargamel is well-pleased with his catch of the day, saying that soon they will have "a giant smurfasbord", while Brainy and Slouchy prepare a surprise for Gargamel: a giant boulder painted blue. Then Gargamel comes and sees two lone Smurfs standing near the trees, with Slouchy tempting the wizard with "Betcha can't catch us!" Gargamel aims the Blue Magnet Gun toward the two Smurfs, and soon they get pulled, but don't go flying all the way toward the magnet because they have lassoed themselves to the trees. However, Gargamel soon sees the giant blue boulder he was pulling and runs away from it as it rolls toward him, smashing the Blue Magnet Gun and then knocking the stuffing out of the wizard, who then says that he hates Smurfs. As Gargamel is busy with that, Brainy and Slouchy release the captive Smurfs from the wizard's bag, with Smurfette being pleased that Brainy rescued everyone, saying "You're my hero!", Brainy sheepishly says "Mine too!", and Slouchy simply hopes that Papa Smurf has found that counter spell.
Back in the village, Papa Smurf stands next to Brainy, who now appears to have caught Slouchy's "smurfalopolitis" while the young Smurfling in question is all better. Papa says that everything is now back to normal, and that he hopes that Brainy has learned a lesson from all this. Brainy says that he has, that no Smurf has all the answers. But then he says that he would be willing to be the Smurf that has almost all the answers -- a comment that makes his fellow Smurfs so mad at him that they throw him right through the window of Brainy's house. Landing under the covers of his bed, Brainy then asks if that's any way that they should treat a sick Smurf.
Trivia
- According to the episode's production number, it's a Season 6 episode.