- This article is about the cartoon episode based on the original comic book story of the same name. You may also be looking for the character called Astro Smurf, who in this episode was Dreamy.
"The Astrosmurf" is a Season 1 episode from the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters
- Dreamy Smurf
- Papa Smurf/Grandpa Swoof
- Smurfette/Swoofette
- Brainy Smurf/Brainy Swoof
- Gargamel
- Azrael
- Jokey Smurf/Jokey Swoof
- Grouchy Smurf/Grouchy Swoof
- Clumsy Smurf/Clumsy Swoof
- Greedy Smurf/Greedy Swoof
- Lazy Swoof
- Harmony Smurf (Does not speak)
- Hefty Smurf (Does not speak)
- Handy Smurf (Mentioned only)
- Unnamed Smurfs/Unnamed Swoofs
Locations
- Smurf Village
- Smurf Forest
- Volcano/Planet Swoof
- Gargamel's castle
Synopsis
Dreamy wants to fly into space, so the Smurfs make him think that he landed on another planet.
Plot Summary
Gargamel is busy in his laboratory creating a crystal ball that will enable him to find the Smurfs wherever they are. Upon his successful completion, he asks the crystal ball to find the Smurfs, and it shows him a picture of a deserted Smurf Village. As Gargamel wonders where the Smurfs could be, the Smurfs are all gathered in Dreamy's house celebrating his birthday. Dreamy makes a birthday wish that he could fly to the stars before blowing out the candles, and soon finds himself dreaming that he was flying to the stars to another planet. After a night of pondering on that dream, Dreamy decides to try making that dream into a reality.
At first, Dreamy designs a big enough kite that lifts him up in the sky, but then he finds himself flying into a thundercloud which destroys the kite, sending him back down to the ground, surrounded by heckling Smurfs. Next, Dreamy sneaks into Papa Smurf's laboratory to get a spell book so he could cause a broom to fly, which he does -- but the broom flies off without him, causing Dreamy to chase after it for a while before he grabs it and again flies into the sky with it. But the flight is short-lived as Dreamy crashes into a tree and falls back down amidst more heckling from his fellow Smurfs.
Smurfette finds Dreamy in the forest, saddened by his failed attempts to reach the stars and wondering what to do next, when he sees a leaf falling from a tree and studies it. Suddenly inspiration hits him: he will build a spaceship that will enable him to travel to the stars. And soon the Smurfs are gathered around Dreamy's spaceship, which he enters wearing an astronaut's jumpsuit and helmet, explaining how his spaceship will lift off. After saying his goodbyes to all the other Smurfs, Dreamy sits at the controls of his spaceship, counting down until liftoff, and then starts pedaling away, causing the propellers at the bottom of the ship to turn very rapidly. Brainy scoffs as he sees that the spaceship isn't taking off. After a few minutes, the propellers stop turning, and Dreamy emerges from his spaceship, heartbroken over his failure to reach the stars.
Smurfing there alone, the ship is waiting... |
It was then Papa Smurf decides on a plan to fulfill Dreamy's birthday wish. First, he tells Dreamy that Handy found out what was wrong with his spaceship and that he had fixed it, which makes Dreamy ready to go. However, before Dreamy re-enters his spaceship, Papa Smurf has him drink a bottle of raspberry juice that secretly contained a sleeping potion. When Dreamy pedals away inside the cockpit of his spaceship, the other Smurfs rock the ship and cause smoke to rise up to the cockpit's windows, making Dreamy believe that his spaceship really was flying. Soon the sleeping potion has its effect on Dreamy, causing him to fall asleep. When the spaceship's propellers stopped turning, Papa Smurf has Dreamy taken out of the spaceship before it is dismantled, and then later that night Papa Smurf works on a secret potion that he will later use to fulfill Dreamy's birthday wish.
Meanwhile, Gargamel continues to track down the Smurfs using his crystal ball, noticing that they were now carting Dreamy and his dismantled spaceship over hill and dale. Soon they stop as Papa Smurf directs them to the inside of an extinct volcano, where they reassemble Dreamy's spaceship and place him back inside it. Afterward, Papa Smurf uses his secret potion to change himself and all his little Smurfs into green caveman-like aliens called Swoofs.
Dreamy meets the Swoofs |
Sometime later, when Dreamy awakes inside his spaceship, he finds out that he landed on what appeared to be another planet. As he explores the area, he encounters two Swoofs (who are actually Brainy and Clumsy) who then take him to their village, where he talks with Grandpa Swoof about how he came to their planet. Grandpa Swoof has a private talk with his little Swoofs before he extends the hand of friendship to Dreamy, inviting him to stay for a party held in his honor. However, the reception Dreamy receives from the Swoofs was so favorable, it makes him want to stay with them instead of returning back home -- which makes the Smurfs who really were the Swoofs come up with a plan to get Dreamy to desire returning home instead. But then some watchful Swoofs secretly inform Grandpa Swoof that Gargamel the wizard was nearby. Grandpa Swoof has Dreamy moved into a hut where he would be kept safe, then he goes and casts a spell to cause a rainy thundercloud to appear over Gargamel's head. This makes Gargamel lose his crystal ball, watching it break against the rocks, before he flees in fear from the mountain with Azrael on his head.
The following day, Grandpa Swoof makes Dreamy go through a gauntlet of tests that will determine whether he would be worthy to become a Swoof like them. The first test was to hit a bullseye with a spear while blindfolded and spun around. Dreamy then throws the spear in the wrong direction, but then the cave walls deflect the misdirected spear, redirecting it to hit the bullseye. The next test was to climb up a pole, which was supposed to be a greased pole, except that some Swoof forgot to grease it. The third test was to swim across a lake and back carrying a rock with him, which Grandpa Swoof hoped would end Dreamy's visit. However, as Grandpa Swoof found out, the only rocks that were around inside the volcano were pumice stone, which naturally floated on water. Then comes the final test -- having to live the life of a Swoof. After hearing what this final test would entail, Dreamy realizes at that point that he would be better off going home, and so he goes back into his spaceship where he again falls asleep. When that happened, the Swoofs change back into Smurfs and bring Dreamy and his spaceship back to the village.
When Dreamy awakes inside his spaceship again, he goes outside and finds himself back in the Smurf Village, greeted by his fellow Smurfs, congratulating him for his journey. Papa Smurf asks if Dreamy had any plans to travel to the stars again, and Dreamy says that while the desire to do so was very tempting, he feels that no other place was better than home.
Meanwhile, Gargamel is still being chased by the thundercloud, cursing the Smurfs and vowing that he will get them if that's the last thing he will ever do.
Video Releases
- This episode is available on Volume 1's Australian DVD, the Complete First Season Region 2 DVD, the Complete First Season Region 4 DVD, Smurfs: Box Set 1, Smurfs: 3-Pack Fun, Smurfs: Smurftastic Journey, Smurfs: Ultimate Collection 1, and Smurfs: The Complete Seasons 1-5.
- This is also available on the Smurfs: Adventures Of The Smurfs VHS.
Trivia
- This episode is based on the original comic book story of the same name, with elements that appeared in another comic book story called "The Flying Smurf". The Swoofs that appeared in the original story were orange instead of green, and Smurfette, Gargamel, and Azrael do not appear in the original version; similarly, Handy does not appear in this episode, but appeared in the comic version. The Papercutz reprint of the comic book story, however, changes the Swoofs' skin color to green to match their appearance in the cartoon show, although Grandpa Swoof's (renamed Papa Swoof) beard is still black.
- The episode is referenced by the vision of Smurfette in the waterfall in Season 3's "The Smurf Who Would Be King" and would later be a sequel in Season 5 with "Dreamy's Pen Pals".
- While the comic was released a year after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the TV episode was aired just months after the very first Space Shuttle launch.
- This episode marks the first speaking appearance of Clumsy Smurf in the Smurfs franchise. He had previously first appeared in The Smurfs And The Magic Flute with no lines.
- Once Dreamy falls asleep and the scene changes to Papa Smurf's house, a book that Papa Smurf is using doesn't say anything for a few seconds and then the title "magically" appears on the book.
- One of the more insignificant changes from the original comic book is that Harmony doesn't start reading a recipe he got from Greedy instead of the Astro Smurf news bulletin. This was changed to him standing next to Greedy as he reads the bulletin instead, the gag replaced with a hiccup fit.
- A 1989 episode of the Smurfs (possibly the ninth season of the show with a time-travel storyline) was interrupted by news footage of a US space shuttle reentering Earth's atmosphere. As most watching were young children during a Smurfs episode, the news agency elected to use clips from "The Astrosmurf" to explain what was happening, in particular the scene where Dreamy is boarding his spaceship and Papa asks how it works.
- In international countries, this episode was part of a theatrical compilation film, "Here Are the Smurfs", made around 1983 and 1984. The other episodes included were "The Smurf's Apprentice", "The Hundredth Smurf", "Smurphony In 'C'", and "The Smurfs Springtime Special", and featured Papa Smurf (through voice-over) narrating the stories in-between said episodes.
- This is notably one of the few episodes in which a background Smurf has individual lines: the Smurf who made fun of Dreamy for attempting to fly has three lines in the episode. Another Smurf can be heard saying "Hey! What's going on?" when the broom hits the barrel that which that Smurf was carrying.
- June Foray uses a more feminine sounding voice for Jokey in this episode, despite having his current voice in "The Smurf's Apprentice".
Goofs
- As Smurfette saves Dreamy from Azrael, her body is un-proportional.