"The Incredible Shrinking Wizard" is a Season 4 episode from the Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters
- Gargamel
- Azrael
- Papa Smurf
- Smurfette
- Baby Smurf
- Natural Smurf
- Handy Smurf
- Brainy Smurf
- Clumsy Smurf
- Painter Smurf
- Tailor Smurf
- Grouchy Smurf
- Jokey Smurf
- Lazy Smurf
- Vanity Smurf (Does not speak)
- Hefty Smurf (Does not speak)
- Mother Nature (Mentioned only)
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis
Due to his own magic pollution, Gargamel shrinks every time when he does something bad and enlarges every time when he does something good.
Plot Summary
As Papa Smurf, Handy, Smurfette, Brainy and Clumsy watch Baby Smurf play around with tiny Smurf figures in a toy village that Handy had created for Baby, Nat alerts the village leader to an ecological danger: the Smurf River is polluted, causing strange mutations with the fish that live in the river. The Smurfs detect that the pollution is coming from a runoff on a hill, and so Papa Smurf and Smurfette follow the runoff to its origin... Gargamel's muck pond. They watch in hiding as Gargamel dumps all his failed potions into the muck pond, fussing and fuming at how they failed in helping him catch the Smurfs. Then suddenly, Azrael finds himself distracted by the Smurfs he sees nearby and chases them all around Gargamel, causing him to fall into the muck pond. As the Smurfs escape, Gargamel spits out the icky water and curses Azrael for his action.
Back at the village, Papa Smurf works on a Anti-Pollution Solution to clean up both the polluted river and the polluted muck pond that caused it. Brainy tries to offer Papa Smurf his assistance, but the only thing Papa Smurf wants Brainy to do is watch after Baby Smurf, which he grudgingly does with the help of his friend Clumsy.
At Gargamel's castle, Gargamel wakes up when he hears a noise, he realizes that Azrael, who is screaming for him to let him in, the evil wizard becomes angry with the cat and adds that he feels horrible. Gargamel gets up and opens the door for Azrael, then the evil wizard tells the cat that it was his fault that he fell into the muck pond, throws a book at him and adds that he has a cold. Suddenly Gargamel starts to shrink, he senses that something is happening and discovers that he's shrinking, evil wizard declares that everything is the cat's fault and begins to chase Azrael while hitting him with a broom and Gargamel shrinks more and more. Gargamel realizes that he's as small as a Smurf and can't even reach his potions to heal himself, so Azrael takes advantage of the fact that Gargamel is the size of a Smurf to try to eat him, the evil wizard runs away from the cat and escapes through the chimney.
Gargamel runs into the forest and looks for someone who can help him, then he realizes that there is only one wizard who can help him... Papa Smurf, surprised by having to ask the Smurfs for help, Gargamel starts yelling at them for help. Gargamel complains that he should have disposed of his substances more carefully and gets his frustration out by messing with a bird, causing him to shrink to the size of a mouse. A hungry owl then tries to eat Gargamel, and he quickly runs into a hole to hide... only to discover that it is the home of a weasel! After Gargamel manages to get away from the weasel, he soon finds himself in the hands of Baby Smurf, who is busy playing outside with Brainy and Clumsy watching over him. Seeing Gargamel in a condition that would make Brainy a hero, the bespectacled Smurf brings him home to the village and puts him inside Baby's toy village while he gets Papa Smurf, much to Gargamel's dismay.
After the village leader examines him, Gargamel asks if there is a way to restore himself to normal size. Papa Smurf suggests that they may try the same formula he used to clean up the polluted river, and soon they bring him out into the forest where they would safely dump a bucket of the formula upon the evil wizard. However, the bucket prematurely falls, dousing Gargamel and hiding him inside the bucket. Papa Smurf worries that he has crushed him, but fortunately Gargamel is fine, although he is still small. Gargamel complains about Papa Smurf, he declares that his solution it's a failure and insults the village chief, causing the sorcerer to shrink to the size of a bug.
Meet Gargasmurf!
Papa Smurf notices that Gargamel shrinks every time he does something bad, so he thinks that Gargamel will grow if he does something good. He tests this hypothesis out with having Gargamel rescue a butterfly stuck in a spider's web, which he does only to be briefly stuck before he grows somewhat to break through it. After another test which brings Gargamel up to Smurf-size, Papa Smurf decides to have the other Smurfs help the wizard become a part of the village for the time being so he could learn how-to do-good deeds that will bring him back to normal.
Soon, Tailor stitches up for Gargamel a Smurf suit, which makes the other Smurfs call him "Gargasmurf", a name that he detests hearing. Then throughout the day, Gargamel goes through doing various tasks around the village, trying to do good deeds despite his own evil nature getting in the way. Gargamel is unable to bear the situation and the only Smurf he can stand being with is Baby Smurf, Gargamel begins to talk to him about his problems and Baby Smurf encourages him, but Gargamel thinks that he will remain the size of a Smurf forever. When Handy is stuck under one of his machines he was repairing, Gargamel tries to lift it up, and as he does, he grows and grows until he almost becomes his normal size. Taking advantage of this growth spurt, Gargamel flings Handy's machine toward the Smurfs as they flee for safety, but his evil actions cause him to shrink back to Smurf-size. Papa Smurf decides for the safety of the village that Gargamel must stay outside the village until he returns to normal size.
The day after, the Smurfs decide to have a beach party along the river. Gargamel watches woefully as he is no longer big enough to be a threat to the Smurfs but is now being threatened by everything in the forest that's bigger than he is. Soon he sees Azrael sneaking his way onto the happy scene, scaring away most of the adult Smurfs while he is ready to pounce on Baby Smurf unaware. Gargamel bravely comes to the rescue of Baby Smurf and lures the cat away from the Smurfs, but as he does, he grows back to his normal size. The Smurfs watch from safety as Gargamel, now covering himself up with a bush, angrily chases after Azrael.
That night, as the Smurfs drift off to sleep, Gargamel vainly tries to find his way back to the village, but unable to remember the way at his normal size, he curses as he falls into a hole in the ground.
Trivia
- In the syndicated version of the episode, the entire soundtrack was in 2x higher than usual in pitch octave.
- This episode was available on the VHS tape of Pappy's Puppy.
- Clumsy claims Papa Smurf never says "shut up", but in "A Mere Truffle", Papa Smurf told Brainy to "smurf up".
Goofs
- When Gargamel is running away from the weasel, he is missing the top of his head for a few seconds.
- Papa Smurf dumps a whole flask into the river, and in the next shot, the flask is full. He then dumps a full flask into Gargamel's pond.
Videos
