"The Pussywillow Pixies" is a Season 4 episode from the Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters[]
- Clumsy Smurf
- Pussywillow Pixies
- King Bullrush
- Hunters
- Slop
- Sludge
- Slime
- Wartmongers
- Slag the Jester
- Papa Smurf
- Brainy Smurf
- Smurfette
- Greedy Smurf
- Hefty Smurf
- Azrael
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis[]
Clumsy enters a land in which the pixies are chased by the frog-like creatures Wartmongers.
Plot Summary[]
In a mysterious part of the Smurf Forest known as Pussywillow Hollow, a group of winged female pixies are fleeing for their lives from a trio of reptilian humanoid hunters. They manage to elude them by hiding among the branches with their wings folded over them, appearing as buds, but then one of the pixies falls off the branch and into a puddle, attracting the attention of the hunters. While the other pixies scold the one who fell into the puddle for her carelessness, the hunters show up to scare them away. However, Pansy cannot fly because her wings are wet, so the other pixies encourage her to run until her wings are dry. Eventually, she manages to take off while leaping off a huge leaf, leaving her pursuers to fall into a puddle with one of them pounding his fists, saying "I hate those Pussywillow Pixies!"
Meanwhile, Brainy leads Clumsy on an expedition to go find pussywillow pollen for one of Papa Smurf's experiments when Clumsy bumps into Brainy while he figures out which direction they should go. Brainy then scolds Clumsy for his not being aware of what's going on, but Clumsy spots Azrael appearing in a bush behind Brainy and tries to warn his friend about the cat. Brainy simply thinks Clumsy is just being rude for interrupting him until he hears Azrael squealing behind him, and then they both run for their lives. Brainy ducks into a tree while Clumsy dives into a thick bush, where he gets caught in the antlers of a deer that emerges. Azrael is scared off by the deer before it runs off with Clumsy into an area beyond a body of water surrounded by a thick mist. Clumsy finally falls off the deer's antlers and lands in a giant flower that closes in on him. He peeks out and sees that he is in a place where everything is huge. Then he hears the croaking of a toad and fearfully hides himself back inside the flower, not wanting to know what it was.
In another part of this same area, the Pussywillow Pixies are checking to see if there any Wartmongers nearby, and seeing that there are none, the elderly leader of the group named Elderberry says that they should move on. A young pixie named Acorn asked if they have to, and the elder asks her if she wants to be in Toad Castle serving King Bullrush his breakfast. She says no, but she also says that she's tired and hungry. Elderberry tells Acorn that she shouldn't complain or else a big bad Smurf will come and get her, which Acorn says she's too big to believe in. Another of the young pixies agrees with Acorn, and so Elderberry says that they could rest, but only for a little while. However, they barely get any rest when the Wartmongers show up again, this time armed with bubble guns that encase their prey in unbreakable bubbles. Fortunately, of all the Pussywillow Pixies that the Wartmongers have captured, only Pansy got away by falling into a flower.
Back into the village, Brainy tells Papa Smurf about Clumsy going into the land covered in fog that was past Toad River, which Papa Smurf says that no Smurf has ever ventured there except for Clumsy. Smurfette fears the worst, and so Papa Smurf has her and Hefty pack up for their journey into the land beyond the fog with Greedy bringing along enough food. Papa Smurf hopes that they will find Clumsy before something in that land finds him.
Meanwhile, in Pussywillow Hollow, Clumsy finds a giant flower that looks like something he would want to give to Smurfette for a kiss. He tries to pull it up by the roots, but in doing so he causes Pansy to fall out of its blossom. After briefly introducing themselves, Pansy tells Clumsy that she was hiding out from the Wartmongers, but the scariest creature of all is a Smurf. Clumsy becomes fearful of her mention of a Smurf being a scary creature until he realizes that he is a Smurf and tells her that, which makes her fly away in fear.
At the bank of Toad River, Brainy says that they will have to wait until the fog lifts before they can cross it. Papa Smurf tells Brainy that the fog never lifts, for it covers a mysterious and dangerous land. He tells his gathered Smurfs that they will have to build a raft in order to cross the river.
In the royal courtroom of Toad Castle, King Bullrush is enjoying his meal when the three Wartmonger hunters arrive with the captured Pussywillow Pixies. The king gloats in that they again have captured the six escaped pixies when he notices that there is only five. One of the Wartmonger hunters tells the king that one of the pixies has escaped, which angers the king to the point where he slams his fist down and causes a bowl of food to be spilled on a Wartmonger's head. The pixies say that they will serve the king no more and that they will escape the first chance they get. The king shows them how he will prevent them from escaping: by having his court jester Slag appear with a pair of scissors, with the king telling the pixies that he will simply clip their wings. As the pixies are taken into the dungeon, Elderberry says that Pansy is their last hope.
Meanwhile, out in the hollow, Clumsy finds Pansy hiding within the blossom of another flower, telling him to leave her alone. Clumsy tries to tell her that she can trust him, and Pansy says that since she was a little pixiling, she heard that Smurfs turn into hairy, red-eyed monsters whenever they get angry. Clumsy tells her that he has never turned into such a form, as far as he can remember. Then the sound of a croaking toad causes Pansy to flee from her hiding spot, telling Clumsy that he should fly away as well. Clumsy doesn't see the need to run away until he comes face to face with a giant toad, and then with Pansy's help he heads toward the bog and swings across the vine to the other side, landing just short of land. Pansy pulls Clumsy out by using a stick, then they both run off heading toward Toad Castle, with Clumsy wanting to help Pansy rescue her fellow pixies from the Wartmongers.
Papa Smurf and a few other Smurfs have just entered the hollow, and the village leader tells them to spread out and search for Clumsy's trail, but to stay in sight. Hefty finds Clumsy's backpack, and Brainy fears the worst has happened to him, but then Papa Smurf sees Clumsy's footprints going off in a certain direction.
In the dungeon of Toad Castle, the captive Pussywillow Pixies ponder their fate with their wings clipped and try to think of how they could escape. They see a window that's small enough for Acorn to fit through, and so she slips through the bars and enters the royal courtroom where she sees King Bullrush and his courtiers all asleep, with the king holding the keys to the dungeon on his belt. She struggles to get the keys off the king's belt, but just as she is about to fly away with them, the king grabs the keys. As Acorn escapes, Bullrush calls for his Wartmonger hunters to go after her.
Meanwhile, out in the hollow, Clumsy is getting tired from all the running and so he and Pansy decide to take a rest. Pansy tells Clumsy that she now no longer believes in any of the superstitions about the Smurfs, which is when Acorn shows up to tell her that the other pixies are still in the castle and that the king is going to clip their wings. Clumsy wonders why the Wartmongers are after the pixies, and Pansy says that the Wartmongers have always wanted the pixies to serve them for centuries. Then the Wartmonger trio shows up and soon the two pixies and Clumsy become encased in the bubble gun bubbles. One of the Wartmongers wonder what they are going to do with their blue captive since he doesn't have any wings and says that they will have to clip off his little blue tail.
Clumsy's capture, however, doesn't go unnoticed. Hefty spots him from a leaf that he, Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy, and Greedy are standing upon. Hefty wonders what they're going to do, and Papa Smurf tells Hefty to break off one of the thorns, for he has a plan.
Meanwhile, the three Wartmongers sing a song about themselves, happy about the prey they have captured, referring to themselves as Sludge, Slop, and Slime. They are soon stopped by the appearance and introduction of Papa Smurf, which makes two of the Wartmonger hunters cringe in fear, but the third wonders why Papa Smurf doesn't turn into a monster. Clumsy tells Papa Smurf that the inhabitants in Pussywillow Hollow believe that Smurfs are monsters. Papa Smurf tells the leader of the hunters that if they don't let their captives go, he might turn them into monsters. Again, two of the hunters cringe in fear, but the third isn't intimidated. Meanwhile, Hefty positions himself close to the hunters so that, at Papa Smurf's command, he pops all three of the bubbles, setting the captives free. Sludge tells the other two to use their bubble guns, but their guns have been snatched by the Smurfs and used against the Wartmongers to encase them in their own bubbles.
The Smurfs and the two pixies reach the gates of Toad Castle. Papa Smurf says they will need to find a way to get past the guards, and so Acorn and Pansy decide to distract them long enough for the Smurfs to cross the bridge and enter the gates. In the courtroom, Slag is ready to clip the wings off the captive Pussywillow Pixies. Meanwhile, Acorn and Pansy rejoin the Smurfs past the bridge and try to sneak their way in, but as they attempt to open a door, they set off a bola net trap that captures them. The Smurfs quickly get tossed into a cell without the pixies, and Papa Smurf is left wondering what they are going to do to escape when Clumsy says he wishes that Smurfs really were hairy, red-eyed monsters. This inspires Papa Smurf with a plan on how to escape and rescue the pixies at the same time.
Soon, just as the two guards posted outside the cell complain about having to serve guard duty in the dungeon, they hear a scary howling from within. They go into the cell to find that the Smurfs have indeed turned into hairy, red-eyed monsters. The guards make a run for it as the Smurfs disguised in vines, moss, and smurfberries for red eyes leave the cell and head for the courtroom where they scare even the great King Bullrush away from his throne. But soon the masquerade is revealed as Brainy's costume is pulled off from him, and King Bullrush orders his men to go after them. Papa Smurf tosses a bowl of slimy food into the king's path, causing him to slip. The Smurfs rush across the bridge with Clumsy trailing behind and the Wartmongers hot on their trail. Then one of the ropes holding up the bridge starts to give, and soon the Wartmongers find themselves falling into the sludgy ravine while Clumsy is rescued by the seat of his pants by the Pussywillow Pixies.
Safely out of the Wartmongers' reach, the Smurfs make their farewells with the Pussywillow Pixies, glad that they have met each other and the pixies glad that the Smurfs really aren't red-eyed monsters. As five of the Smurfs cross through the fog back into the Smurf Forest, Pansy and Clumsy have a private moment with each other to talk, with Pansy wishing that Clumsy didn't have to go. They both realize that they are of two different worlds, but that doesn't mean they can't visit each other. As Pansy leans forward to kiss Clumsy, they both fall off the flowers they were sitting on, and Pansy comments that perhaps they are really alike, as Clumsy laughs.
Trivia[]
- First appearance of the Pussywillow Pixies and the Wartmongers.
- In the syndicated version of the episode, the entire soundtrack was in 2x higher than usual in pitch octave.
Goofs[]
- Papa Smurf has various scenes with white pants.