"The Village Vandal" is a Season 6 episode from the 1980s Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters[]
- Brainy Smurf/"Sherlock Smurf"
- Nat Smurfling
- Grandpa Smurf
- Smurfette
- Snappy Smurfling
- Slouchy Smurfling
- Sassette Smurfling
- Gargamel
- Azrael
- Termite
- Puppy
- Papa Smurf
- Jokey Smurf
- Greedy Smurf
- Farmer Smurf
- Lazy Smurf
- Painter Smurf
- Baby Smurf
- Harmony Smurf
- Feathers
- Flutterby
- Fuzzy
- Vanity Smurf (Cameo)
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis[]
A little hungry termite sent by Gargamel wreaks havoc among the Smurfs.
Plot Summary[]
Grandpa Smurf goes walking out in the forest with Smurfette and Nat singing the Smurf song until the elderly Smurf stops singing to hear the tune of a yellow-tailed bristle beak sitting on a nearby tree branch up ahead. Nat and Smurfette are amazed by the amount of knowledge Grandpa Smurf has about nature. However, an unusual tree near the same location also piques their interest until it reveals itself to be a disguise for Gargamel, who was waiting to capture them. The evil wizard only manages to capture Nat while Grandpa Smurf grabs Smurfette and pole-vaults with his cane up into a tree to escape Azrael. Although disappointed that his cat let his prey get away, Gargamel is satisfied with at least having one little Smurf to have for lunch. What Gargamel doesn't know is that he's standing in the right spot for Grandpa Smurf to drop Nat's caterpillar Fuzzy down into his robe to tickle him, distracting both himself and Azrael to deal with scratching his own back while letting go of Nat. The distraction doesn't last for long, as Gargamel with Fuzzy out of his robe chases after the three Smurfs and pounces upon them, only to fall down off a steep cliff. Grabbing onto a root on the cliff, Gargamel says he's glad that he isn't an ounce heavier or else he would end up falling. Unfortunately, Flutterby landing on his nose makes him an ounce heavier, causing him to fall down.
After his landing, Gargamel pounds in frustration upon a log, saying that he lost his lunch because of a butterfly and a caterpillar. As he wonders how he could drive the little Smurfs buggy, he sees a termite leave a hole in the log before him. With an idea in mind, Gargamel takes the termite home with him, putting him in a glass vial while preparing an appetizer enhancer potion that will give the termite an increase in appetite. After giving the termite a bath in the potion, Gargamel feeds it a twig, which is then quickly devoured. Seeing that his appetite enhancer works, Gargamel is ready to send the termite off toward the Smurf Village.
In order to get it there, though, Gargamel waits up in a tree with the termite in a glass cage while he has Azrael try to lure Puppy into the forest by making a loud enough howl. However, Azrael doesn't howl loud enough until Gargamel slips out of the tree and lands right on his cat. Puppy hears this while he was busy burying bones and comes to chase after Azrael, who then runs into a log to escape the dog while Puppy gets himself stuck in the log pawing at the cat. Gargamel slips up from behind and drops the termite into Puppy's fur, then pulls the dog out of the log to let him run back to the Smurf Village carrying the termite with him. Azrael comes out of the log with most of the fur from his tail scratched off. Late at night in the Smurf Village, while Puppy was sleeping in his doghouse, the termite comes out of hiding and starts his work.
By morning, the Smurflings wake up to the scent of Greedy's freshly baked pies that are now sitting on the windowsill to cool. The Smurflings ask Greedy if they could have some of the pies, but Greedy says no before he turns away to do things in his kitchen. As the Smurflings talk among themselves about not having any pie, the termite chews his way through the windowsill and causes it to collapse, spilling the pies on the ground. Greedy returns to see the mess and blames the Smurflings for it, which they quickly try to deny they had anything to do with. Slouchy suggests that they could help Greedy make more pies, and to that end the Smurflings run off to see Farmer to pick more smurfberries for the pies.
Meanwhile, Painter is busy painting a still-life picture of Lazy sleeping away on a hammock when Jokey offers the village artist one of his surprises. At that point, the termite chews his way through the bottom of one of the trees that the hammock is slung across, making Lazy fall to the ground and making Painter mess up his painting. Jokey thinks what he sees is funny, and soon sees something funnier in that Painter's easel had just collapsed. Painter blames Jokey for causing his easel to collapse, which Jokey quickly denies being responsible for.
While Brainy examines what could have caused Painter's easel to collapse, the Smurflings are busy carting a wheelbarrow full of smurfberries that they helped Farmer pick for Greedy's smurfberry pies when the handles of the wheelbarrow suddenly break off as they reach the top of a hill. The wheelbarrow rolls out of control, safely passing by Baby Smurf as he crawls out of the way before stopping dead at a barrel and flipping the whole pile of smurfberries unto Brainy, who says he feels it is his duty to get to the bottom of things.
Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf both show up to find their little Smurfs complaining about things like Farmer's wheelbarrow and Greedy's windowsill falling apart, with the Smurflings being blamed for both and Jokey being blamed for Painter's easel falling apart. Then Brainy shows up wearing a detective's cap and cloak, calling himself Sherlock Smurf and saying he will get to the bottom of the mystery which he will call "The Strange Case Of The Village Vandal".
Brainy is then joined by Nat, who is also hoping to solve the mystery in order to clear his fellow Smurflings' names. Together they examine evidence of damaged wooden things in the village, with Nat noticing that a tree appears to be sawed off. Brainy has a good idea on who it would be, and just outside Jokey's house he could hear the village prankster laughing as he was preparing one of his surprises for an unsuspecting Smurf -- laughter that Brainy thinks would reveal Jokey as "the Village Vandal". Brainy marches right in and demands to see what's inside the box Jokey was just closing up, and Jokey lets him open it, only to find out that it was just one of Jokey's usual surprises.
Suddenly, they hear Smurfette scream, "It's the Village Vandal", and Brainy sees her running toward him with the heels from her shoes, saying that somebody has chewed them off. As Brainy ponders who could do such a thing, he hears Harmony play his horn from the Smurf Theater and approaches him on stage to get him to stop playing his horn. Harmony wonders why he should stop playing his horn while Brainy is playing detective. It is at that point that Brainy declares that he has discovered the identity of "the Village Vandal", and that it's none other than Baby Smurf -- which Brainy only manages to reveal after the Smurf Theater collapses.
As the Smurfs wonder how Brainy could come to such a conclusion, he tells his fellow Smurfs that Baby has appeared at the scene of the crime in every instance. Nat reveals, however, that Brainy is only half-right in that Baby was at the scene of every crime, but only because he was following a termite around -- the real "Village Vandal". Then Papa Smurf and the other Smurfs see that the termite is getting hungrier as he is chewing his way through everything in the village that's made of wood. As Brainy goes into his house to barricade it from the termite to keep it from gaining entry, he turns and sees that the termite is already inside devouring the bookcase full of his creative works. As Brainy dives to save his books as they fall to the ground, his detective cap flies off and traps the termite under it. The other Smurfs show up and are impressed to discover that Brainy has managed to capture the termite.
With the termite under the glass again, Papa Smurf studies the creature and discovers that a magic spell has been placed on the termite so that the more it eats, the more its appetite increases. They make a good guess as to who would want to send a termite into the village -- Gargamel -- and so Papa and Grandpa Smurf fly off with Feathers to Gargamel's castle in order to drop off the hungry termite. Soon the evil wizard has to deal with all the wooden things in his house falling apart while the Smurfs watch from safety at the chaos unleashed upon their enemy. Gargamel screams at the top of his lungs that he hates the Smurfs, and Brainy says, "Elementary, my dear Gargy," as he looks at the viewer through his magnifying lens.
Trivia[]
- Though Grandpa appears in this episode, Scruple does not, despite Gargamel and Azrael appearing in this episode. This episode could possibly take place before Scruple's arrival.
- Brainy says "Elementary, my dear Gargy," a phrase that actually appears in the Psmith, Journalist tale by P. G. Wodehouse.
Goofs[]
- When the Smurflings arrive at Greedy's windowsill, Snappy's pants are blue.
- Before the Smurf Theater collapses, Painter and another Smurf's pants are blue.