The Smurflings' Unsmurfy Friend

From Smurfology

"The Smurflings' Unsmurfy Friend" was an episode that appeared in Season 7 of the Smurfs cartoon show.

Summary

Out collecting honey from a bees' nest while wearing protective clothes, Gargamel is planning to use the sticky stuff to capture Smurfs when he ends up getting his hand stuck on Azrael's tail, much to the amusement of his apprentice Scruple. To make matters worse, a mischievous wood sprite plays a cruel prank on the evil wizard by using the honey to attract the bees towards the terrible trio, sending them running into a nearby pond to escape being stung.

Elsewhere in the forest, the Smurflings have Puppy chase after an Azrael doll in order to have him pull them around in a cart when a bucket falls onto the dog's face, causing him to go out of control until they reach the pond where they all crash. In the midst of this, the same wood sprite now laughs at the Smurflings' unfortunate pratfall, having enjoyed pulling yet another prank. He introduces himself to the Smurflings as Riffle before he spins himself out of sight, leaving behind his hat, but he doesn't go too far when they see him again. He makes a quick apology for his having fun at their expense by magically producing a bouquet of flowers for Sassette, saying that they don't call him "Riffle the Remarkable" for nothing.

The Smurflings decide to take Riffle to the village, where he begins to play his pranks on their fellow adult Smurfs. He first sneaks into Hefty's house while he's busy doing weight lifts and tickles his foot, causing him to drop his weights on his foot while still laughing. The Smurflings think this is funny, but Slouchy doesn't agree. He rushes to tell Hefty when the weights roll out of the strong Smurf's house and straight toward Baby Smurf. Slouchy stops the rolling weights just in time, but now he's starting to think that the wood sprite is nothing but trouble.

Next, while the three Smurflings listen to Harmony's attempt to play a trumpet, Riffle uses a paddle to knock a small round ball into the instrument, causing it to be plugged up. Riffle amusingly says that he'll blow "his blue block off" before he unplugs that trumpet. But after he and the Smurflings walk off, Harmony takes a deep breath and blows the ball right out, sending it straight into a window and breaking Smurfette's new flower vase. This sends her crying to Papa Smurf, who comforts her by saying he's making up some paste to mend his old book covers. As the village leader escorts Smurfette outside, Riffle sneaks into the laboratory to play a prank on him as well. Soon with him and the other Smurflings in hiding, they watch Papa Smurf return to his laboratory with Smurfette as he mixes some chemicals together, only to cause their hairs to stand on end with amusing results.

As Papa Smurf wonders what went wrong with his paste formula, the Smurflings reveal the real culprit behind the prank: a wood sprite named Riffle whom they have found in the forest. The Smurflings just wanted every Smurf to meet him, but Papa Smurf tells them that wood sprites are a constant danger to everyone in the forest due to their thoughtless pranks. Riffle takes offense to this by saying he just likes to have fun, and soon disappears through a floor board, intending to have more fun.

At night, Gargamel is out in the forest with Azrael and Scruple, laying down strips of honey for the Smurfs to get stuck in, when Riffle watches, intending to have some fun with the evil wizard but needing an audience to appreciate his talent for causing trouble. Soon he appears outside the Smurflings' window, calling them to join him in pulling a prank on Gargamel. Nat, Snappy, and Sassette decide to go along with Riffle, while Slouchy chooses not to, saying to his fellow Smurflings that they're making a big mistake.

Back out in the forest, the four of them have finished setting up the trip wire for Gargamel to walk onto, hiding behind some bushes as they watch the wizard get whipped by the branch that the trip wire triggers, sending him ricocheting around some trees. But soon Azrael finds them and chases the four onto a log, allowing Riffle to escape through a hole, but only for the Smurflings to get stuck on one of Gargamel's sticky honey strips. Now the evil wizard has the last laugh as he captures the three Smurflings and stuff them away into his sack to take them home with him. Riffle realizes that his friends are now in trouble and need his help, and that of their fellow Smurfling Slouchy when he tells him what has happened.

In Gargamel's castle, the evil wizard is preparing his captured Smurflings for his meal with his special Smurf marinade when Riffle pops his head up out of a pot, taunting him to capture him. While the wood sprite keeps Gargamel and Scruple distracted and busy trying to catch him, Slouchy sneaks in and rescues his fellow Smurflings when Scruple knocks their cage (and their stewing pot) off the table. But the Smurflings soon see their friend Riffle get caught by the wizard and decide to rescue him by distracting Gargamel. He soon comes running to capture those Smurfs when he slips on his own marinade sauce and falls, loosing the wood sprite from his grip. As they leave Gargamel's castle, Riffle is glad to know that this is one prank he pulled that has a happy ending.

Returning to the village with the Smurflings, Riffle is astounded to find that the Smurflings were willing to risk their necks to save him when Slouchy tells him that that's what friends do. Riffle then confesses that he always wanted friends to play with, but all he knew how to do was to play pranks, to which Papa Smurf says that the wood sprite now knows a better way to impress others. To show his gratitude, Riffle gives eggs to Smurfette and Papa Smurf, with Smurfette's egg hatching flowers and Papa Smurf's hatching a hair brush. He also gives Brainy a quill that never runs out of ink, which surprisingly squirts ink into Brainy's face, but Riffle says that the ink is disappearing ink, which instantly disappears from Brainy's face. Papa Smurf then says that you can't fully take the sprite out of a wood sprite, which makes the other Smurfs laugh with him.

Background Information

• There is an art problem with this episode: At the scene where Smurfette is standing next to a window with her vase, Smurfette seems to be standing right inside the windowsill while the vase seems to be suspended in air.