The Smurfs

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Smurf statue in Brussels (at Galerie Horta)

The Smurfs (in the French-speaking original: Les Schtroumpfs ) are comic characters that were designed in 1958 by the Belgian draftsman and author Peyo (Pierre Culliford, 1928–1992), initially as goblin-like secondary characters for his comic series Johan et Pirlouit (mostly Johann and Pfiffikus ). This was published in Spirou magazine at the time . From 1959, Peyo published there independent comics with the Smurfs.

Based on the comics, the Smurfs quickly became popular: initially in French and Dutch, from the late 1960s also in the German-speaking area and in other European countries. The final breakthrough to international success came with the animated TV series, which was produced in the USA from 1981 and marketed globally. At the same time, PVC figures, movies, music recordings, radio plays and video games with the Smurfs ensured their growing distribution and corresponding sales. In 2013, these were estimated at 25 million comic albums, 300 million characters, 40 million records and CDs and 8 million DVDs sold worldwide. There are also countless licenses for products with Smurf motifs.

The Smurfs in the original version

The Smurfs

The Smurfs are very small (they fit easily in the hand of an adult human) and have a rich blue complexion. Peyo once said that a smurf is roughly the size of three apples on top of each other, but this should not be taken literally, as the original "haut comme trois pommes " corresponds to the German phrase "Dreikäsehoch" . They are usually uniformly dressed with white trousers (which also encircle the feet in the manner of tights) and a white Phrygian cap . The Big Smurf (Papa Smurf) stands out from the other Smurfs with its white beard and red clothing. All other Smurfs are beardless. Exceptions to white uniform clothing, such as the gardener's smurf (straw hat), the chef's smurf (chef's hat) or the handicraft smurf (dungarees), only appear in later albums. Other peculiarities of the Smurfs are a small, blue stubby tail and their language, which is characterized by the fact that certain sentence components are rather arbitrarily replaced by the term "Smurf" and derivatives such as B. "Smurf" be replaced. The Smurfs' favorite food is sarsaparilla , mainly its leaves. Their fruits are sometimes translated as “smurfberries” in German, especially in the cartoon episodes and video games. The Big Smurf also uses various parts of the sarsaparilla plant to make ointments, potions and medicines.

The original name of Schtroumpf is only indirectly a word creation by Peyo: When he wanted to ask for the salt shaker while eating and he couldn't think of the term, he said: "Passe-moi le ... le Schtroumpf" instead of: "Passe-moi le sel. “A few months later, on the occasion of their first appearance, he was looking for a name for his little blue goblins, and he remembered the“ Schtroumpf ”pun. According to his own statement, he was not aware that there is an identical term in German called “stocking”. The German name Smurfs first appeared in the broadcast of black and white short films as part of the program for sport and games voltage of the Bavarian Radio mid-1960s on. The Smurfs only made their German comic debut a few years later in Fix and Foxi No. 20/1969 within the story Prinz Edelhart and the Smurfs .

The Smurfs in Johan et Pirlouit

Peyo, who was enthusiastic about the Middle Ages , drew a significant part of his comic book adventures against the backdrop of this era. Starting in 1946, he designed stories about the page Johan. Johan, initially drawn as a blonde, was portrayed with black hair from 1952 for a publication in Spirou magazine . In another story about this page ( Le lutin du bois aux roches , album 1956), drawn in 1953/54 , the lively little Pirlouit appears for the first time, and from then on he loyally stands by Johan. The blonde Pirlouit was Peyo's favorite character (Peyo 1990: "Pirlouit était mon personnage préféré. J'aime bien les Schtroumpfs aussi mais mon préféré c'est quand même Pirlouit" ("Pirlouit was my favorite character. I also like the Smurfs, but I prefer Pirlouit. ”)) Since then the series has been called Johan et Pirlouit (Johann and Pfiffikus).

Another recurring figure is the magician Homnibus (from 1955), who later acts as a link to the world of the Smurfs and thus appears from time to time in their adventures. The magician Merlin in the Disney film The Witch and the Wizard (1963) is designed in a similar way, with a characteristic blue gown and long white beard . On October 23, 1958, Les Schtroumpfs (The Smurfs) appeared for the first time in an important supporting role as part of the ongoing adventure La flûte à six schtroumpfs (with Spirou still La flûte à six trous ) . With a similar dramaturgical meaning, the Smurfs can also be seen in three other adventures drawn by Peyo with Johann and Pfiffikus . In 1970 Peyo released his last album with Johan et Pirlouit ( Le sortilège de Maltrochu ). After Peyo's death, his studio produced four new volumes in the series (from 1994 to 2001). The Smurfs reappear in two of them.

The Smurfs in the comic

In 1959, Spirou editor-in-chief Yvan Delporte suggested that the author Peyo draw a short story exclusively with Smurfs. To do this, they invented the format of mini-récits , small notebooks that you could make yourself from a double page of a Spirou issue. Peyo saw interest in Smurf stories as a passing fad. After all, Peyo devoted himself much more to the Smurfs, probably also because of the response from the readership, and mainly designed their adventures. These six first mini-stories were later redrawn for the albums. Peyo is basically considered to be the creator of the Smurfs; Yvan Delporte, Gos and others also worked on the stories in drawing and text. The last Schlumpf album on which Peyo officially participated ("The Financial Smurf") was released in 1992 shortly before his death.

Since then, Studio Peyo and his son Thierry Culliford, as creative director, have produced new Schlumpf albums almost every year, plus many short stories (with eight or four pages) as well as 220 one-pager ( Schtroumpferies ) and short, strip-long jokes. Five albums with these comic strips were released in French from 2007 to 2012, and in 2013 they were once again combined into two anthologies ( 300 gags schtroumpfs 1 & 2). In German they are only included as a selection in the Toonfish-Verlag Schlumpfereien series , along with some of the new Schtroumpferies .

In addition to the four new Johan et Pirlouit albums already mentioned, there were also seven volumes from another series by Peyo, Benoît Brisefer (German: Little Winni or Benni Bärenstark ). A new series of albums has recently started, "The Smurfs and the Lost Village", based on the movie of the same name from 2017.

The Smurfs in film and television

The 1975 movie: The Smurfs and the Magic Flute

After an attempt in black and white by the animation studio Dupuis TVA at the beginning of the 1960s, and after a number of Franco-Belgian comic series with Tintin , Asterix and Lucky Luke had already been filmed, the Smurfs came up with the filming of their debut story La flûte in 1975 à six schtroumpfs to the cinema. The German version opened in German cinemas in October 1976. The originally sparse portrayal of the enchanted land of the Smurfs is much more colorful and extensive in the film. In contrast to the comic, four Smurfs stay with Johan during the sea voyage and the final battle against Mathieu Torchesac alias Bruno Böse. In the comic, the Smurfs say goodbye in a field at the end, in the film this scene takes place in the castle. The film music, with the use of the flute, comes from three-time Oscar winner Michel Legrand . Some other comic stories by Johan are included in the television series produced from 1981, the Smurfs usually play a larger role in comparison to the corresponding comic stories (if they are there at all). The DVD of the film was released by a German provider in February 2007 (without a French soundtrack).

The Smurfs (TV series)

From 1981 to 1989 Hanna-Barbera prepared the Smurfs for television. The total of 272 episodes also include 18 episodes with Johann and Pfiffikus, e.g. B. Johann and Peewit in Schlumpfhausen . During the German adaptation of the US TV series , short names were created for the little Smurfs, partly according to the English templates , due to the shorter names in the US version and the desired synchronization .

The representation in the television series differs in some details from the comic world of the Smurfs (since 1958, currently 38 albums, 5 albums Schtroumpferies and many other short stories). Minor characters appear such as Snotty Nose ( Bolvamel ) or the witch Hogatha as well as Grandpa Schlumpf and Grandma Schlumpf, who are not in the regular albums ( Les Schtroumpfs , Schtroumpferies ), but can be seen in some short stories (Grandma and Grandpa 1998 in Visiting Opaschlumpf , Hogatha 1991 in Hogatha's Talisman , Snot nose 2000 in The Smurfs and the Giant Carrots ). In the comic, Gargamel wants to make gold when he first appears (in Le voleur de Schtroumpfs , German: The Captive Smurf ) with the help of a spell for which he has to boil a Smurf. This motif is never mentioned again on television.

In the comic, the names of the Smurfs in the French original and in the Carlsen translation remain unaffected by the television series. Grand Schtroumpf is the Great Smurf , political interpretations of the name Papa Smurf , which is usual in the German dubbed version of the television series, are therefore irrelevant for the comic and for the authors.

The Smurfs (2011)

The second cinema film about the Smurfs is an American 3D film from 2011 by director Raja Gosnell with a mixture of real and computer animation.

When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the Smurfs from their village, a group accidentally flees into the real world. Left to their own devices, the Smurfs try to find their way in the urban jungle of New York . On the way they get to know two people, played by Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays , who help them.

On the occasion of the premiere of the film in Júzcar ( Spain ) all facades of the village were colored blue for marketing purposes . At the end of 2011, the residents voted to keep the blue color, making Júzcar the first Smurf village in the world.

The Smurfs 2 (2013)

This movie from 2013 is the sequel to the 2011 first part The Smurfs .

The evil magician Gargamel creates the two smurfy, but naughty beings Hauie and Zicki, called the louts, in order to get to the magical Smurf essence. When he realizes that only a real Smurf can fulfill his wish, he kidnaps Smurfette to Paris. While the louts try to get Smurfette on their side, Papa Smurf, Clumsy, Muffy and Beauty set out into the human world to save Smurfette.

The Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017)

The reboot The Smurfs - The Lost Village was released in cinemas on March 26, 2017, and in Germany on April 6. In contrast to its two predecessors, this film is based exclusively on computer animation, without human actors. Directed the production of Sony Pictures Animation led Kelly Asbury .

A new animated TV series based on this is currently in the works. We are talking about 52 episodes of 11–13 minutes each, and the broadcast in Germany is planned for KiKA from 2021 .

The Smurfs and their world

The Smurfs and the Smurf Village

Smurf house (in the amusement park Ankara , 2007)

The Smurfs live in the Smurf Village (Schlumpfhausen) in the Haunted Land. The initially sparse representation of the country ( La Flûte à 6 schtroumpfs 1958, Le Pays maudit 1961) later gave way to dense forest, the lush vegetation of which protects the Smurfs from the sorcerer Gargamel who lives nearby. Smurfs can act out according to their interests or inclinations. Some aspects of civilization such as currency, newspapers, poverty, religion are unknown to them or are only tried out briefly and mostly unsuccessfully. Some Smurfs appear again and again (Spectacled Smurf , Joker Smurf , Craft Smurf ), others only appear for the duration of a story (Financial Smurf , Doctor Smurf , Schtroumpf reporter ), recognize the nonsense of their actions and disappear again into their anonymity.

In the land of the Smurfs there is initially only one person, the warlock Gargamel with his cat Azraël. The name for it, Le pays maudit (Eng. With Kauka: "Bewunschenes Land", Carlsen: "Verwunschen Land"), is mainly limited to the time before 1962. In the albums up to 1992, the Smurfs' Village is considered to be remote and difficult or impossible to reach, contact with the outside world is limited to a few people (Johan, Homnibus).

Whatever the structure of the Smurf population, they are hardworking and building bridges and dams. The Smurfs or the Big Smurf know how to make magic flutes with six holes. Both the Great Smurf (Papa Smurf) and Gargamel are skilled alchemists . It is often the Great Smurf who proves to be the better magician both to Gargamel and to the magician Homnibus, who lives outside the enchanted land. Failure attempts and laboratory explosions occur in all of them.

  • Politics: The comic adventures certainly provide some approaches for political interpretations or interpretations, none of which has been confirmed by the authors so far (see the albums Le Schtroumpfissime (1964) and La Menace Schtroumpf (2000)).
  • When communicating with people, when traveling out of the Haunted Land or when transporting Smurf babies, storks come to the rescue.
  • Buildings: In the early stories, the Smurfs' dwellings resemble hollowed-out mushrooms. Later representations suggest that the mushrooms were replicated.

Language of the Smurfs

Smurf language ( Le langage schtroumpf ) is the name given to the way the Smurfs speak. It is not actually a fictional language , just inserting the word "Smurf" instead of the correct word. Examples: "Today we have really smurfy weather", "Smurf not around here like that!" Or "The smurf in the house saves the room smurf". There are also deliberately comical moments. For example, an otherwise unclothed Smurf, who is supposed to hand over his towel, says: Mais… Grand Schtroumpf, on va voir mon Schtroumpf! (1968, Les Schtroumpfs et le Cracoucass ; German about "But ... Big Smurf! Then you can see my Smurf!").

The Smurf language suits the creative linguistic inclinations of young readers. Similar to self-invented secret languages, it creates a group feeling and makes the readers feel connected to the Smurfs (after all, they speak the "language" of the Smurfs). In the albums, the Smurf language is reserved for the Smurfs. Thus, while communication with the Smurfs is often quite difficult for people in the comic stories, the reader of an album can usually easily follow the language or the events.

However, in the more recent German versions of Carlsen or Bastei, the word "Schlumpf" is used more often than the original version. Word creations are also increasing. Texts from Les Schtroumpfs noirs (album version from 1963, each sheet 2, the Big Smurf has to do with a lazy Smurf), “Ou est encore passé ce fainéant?” And “Et va plutôt me ser une grande perche dans la forêt ! ” , In Carlsen's“ Where's the Smurf fur again? ”And“ Smurf I'd rather have a Smurf from the forest! ”In La Schtroumpfette (1966), after the Smurfette kisses a Smurf, “ C'est comme ça qu'on attrape des microbes " on" Everything full of smurfs "(sheet 8) and " Il faudrait des volontaires pour l'accompagner " on" We need smurfs willing ".

Number of Smurfs

The representations of the authors and the views of the readers diverge over the number of Smurfs. While the latter on many websites and fan displays tend to meticulously add up the Smurfs, what with Grandma Smurf, Grandpa Smurf (which never appeared in the 25 actual comic albums), Smurfette, Sassette, Baby Smurf and the Wild Smurf (also Tarzan Smurf) leads to a number of 106, the authors left no doubt that for them it is a community of 100 Smurfs (documented in 1962 in Le centième Schtroumpf , 1964 in Le Schtroumpfissime , 1969 in Le cosmoschtroumpf , 1995 in Le Schtroumpfeur de Bijoux and in Interview 2003 with Luc Parthoens, author and draftsman from Studio Peyo, on the occasion of the album release by Le Schtroumpf reporter ). The Parthoens interview also reveals the important and necessary existence of anonymous Smurfs for the dramaturgy.

German translations and edits

The Smurfs from Kauka-Verlag

Rolf Kauka published Johan -Adventure in German for the first time in his Fix-und-Foxi- magazines in 1968 ( his head could already be seen on the cover pictures of The cheerful Fridolin around 1960). Johan, Pirlouit and his goat Biquette are called by Kauka Prinz Edelhart , Kukuruz (the nickname "Cuckoo" is rarely used) and Ricki . The Smurfs started in 1969. Kauka published their adventures as sequel stories in his Fix-und-Foxi books, as albums and reformatted in paperback format. For his first solo publication of the blue gnomes, The Big Smurf Show (1970, FF super 35 ), he has 40 pages of Smurf comics with self-produced drawings (not by Peyo) in poor or noticeably different quality at four Stretched pages and have your own cover pictures made. Since Kauka already had several Smurf stories available, he named them in stories in which they were still nameless with Peyo. In Les schtroumpfs noirs example of Papa Smurf caught a lazy smurf, called the Caucasus of this story at Gammel Schlumpf . With Peyo and Delporte, the Smurf, associated with laziness, only got its name in an adventure drawn later.

Apart from the FF super 35, the comic part of the long Schlumpf stories is a bit inaccurate here, but the content is more or less correctly translated. In contrast to Bastei or Carlsen, Kauka did not emphasize the Schlumpf language more strongly. Due to formatting in sequel stories, the top strip of a sheet is sometimes missing. Outside of the comic section, Smurfs or other minor characters made by Kauka artists can be seen again and again. There are also title pages with Smurfs and Fix, Foxi or Lupo. Furthermore, from 1975 Peyo's material, with additions from Kauka, was used to create short adventures about the Smurfs.

Kauka may also have had some influence on the German dubbed version of the 1976 film adaptation of La Flûte à 6 schtroumpfs : At the beginning, Pirlouit introduces himself as the narrator with his Kauka name Kukuruz , while he is called Pfiffikus as the film progresses. The opening credits also contain the information “The Smurfs smurf every week in Fix and Foxi”. In the course of the theatrical performance, the Kauka publisher Gevacur (Switzerland) released four Schlumpf albums from November 1976. The second, The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (shortened from 60 to 56 pages, the comic for the film), appeared in early January 1977.

Smurfs from 1979, mainly at Carlsen and Bastei

From 1979 to the beginning of the 2000s, the Carlsen Verlag mainly published the albums with the adventures of the Smurfs and the page Johan ( Johann and Pfiffikus at Carlsen) in German. The first 13 regular volumes, which largely corresponded in appearance to the original French albums, were published by Carlsen from 1979 to 1989 and were sorted chronologically apart from minor deviations. The albums with Johann and Pfiffikus are different : Here, preference was given to the later episodes in which the Smurfs are part of the party. Only then were the earlier stories submitted, initially without the first two albums. After a few more volumes were published by Bastei-Verlag from 1992 to 1995, Carlsen reissued most of the Smurfs albums from 1996, but from volume 11 in a different sequence and added five new titles.

From 1982 to 1984 Carlsen also published a Schlumpf series (twelve issues, from No. 3 with the label semic , 44 pages of comics each) with yellow covers, in which the material from the normal issues (sometimes 60 pages of comics) was reprinted in a different compilation.

In 1983 the Favorit Verlag Rastatt published a four-part children's book edition The Smurfs by the Sea, ... in the forest, ... in the snow, ... in the rain , (thick cover cardboard, four cardboard inside pages, bound, Licensed by SEPP, Brussels, © 1983 by PEYO) .

The short stories from Studio Peyo and the Schtroumpferies were mainly published in Germany in the magazine The Smurfs near Bastei, 1991–2002. Bastei also partly laid the classic album material. In contrast to the latter (stories from the first Schlumpf albums were published more than half a dozen times in German) the Schtroumpferies and the short stories have so far mostly only been published in this form in German.

German edits from 2005

Volume 14 , published in 2005, deals with the Smurfs in the well-marketed series Classics of Comic Literature (selected by the FAZ feature section Frankfurter Allgemeine , publisher: Panini ). In addition to some old adventures that have already been published by Kauka or Carlsen, the book also contains three otherwise barely accessible stories from the year 2000. In the translation, the names from the German dubbed version of the television series were sometimes used. The editorial section does not contain any detailed information about the Smurfs that a reader cannot take from the stories contained in the book. For the adventures created in 2000, Peyo, who died in 1992, is named as the scenarioist and draftsman; the stories contain the © Peyo signature that has been used since his death.

From the end of 2005 to August 2009 Panini published the magazine SCHLUMPF MAG every two months . Contrary to the subtitle Comics, Riddles, Games , the magazine did not contain any of the usual comics, only illustrated stories and other material. However, the magazine published an older, remodeled and heavily shortened comic episode under the title Comic Corner . The remaining drawings were printed without speech bubbles with an accompanying text in prose (see comic ).

In 2008, Panini published three issues of SPECIAL SCHLUMPF MAG every two months . There were around 28 pages of comics ( Schtroumpferies and short stories from the 1990s) in each issue .

New start at Toonfish from 2011

Since 2011, all albums of the main series The Smurfs have been re- edited or as German-language first releases by Toonfish, plus the sub-series Die Welt der Smurfs (selected short stories mainly from the 90s) and The Smurfs & the Lost Village based on the animated film of the same name. Added to that come Schlumpfereien , a selection of Schtroumpferies -Einseiter and Gagstrips also from the 90s, as well as six albums in miniature, the mini récits 1959 - present in 62 German first publication. Finally, the four-volume Smurfs compact edition was also published there, which includes all the classic stories of the blue dwarfs from 1959 - 1988, in which Peyo himself was involved, with background information and other images.

In the Toonfish version, the names of the Smurfs are for the most part taken from the television series - apparently at the request of the licensor. So the Big Smurf becomes Papa Smurf or the Spectacles Smurf becomes Schlaubi . In some stories, the ancient Kauka names are used as a kind of surname. For example, in the story The Smurfs and the omniscient book , Muscle Smurf and Craft Smurf introduce themselves as "My name is Hefty, the Muscle Smurf" and "I'm Handy, the Craft Smurf" .

Problems with translations

The translations by Carlsen, Bastei or other publishers are occasionally identical and only differ in the different naming of individual Smurfs or in the current spelling (in this sense, the adaptations by Le cosmoschtroumpf , 1969, by Carlsen and Bastei are the same). The names "Smurfs" and "Gurgelhals" were adopted from Kauka. In the publications from 1995 onwards, Carlsen the magician also got his original name "Gargamel" back.

Sometimes the original text contains untranslatable subtleties of pronunciation in French.

Occasionally there is insufficient processing due to lack of knowledge. Thus, when the Smurfs in Le Schtroumpfeur de Bijoux (1995) found no one at Homnibus, the sentence “Pas même l'ombre d'un Olivier” in Carlsen becomes acceptable to “Not even the shadow of Oliver”, in Bastei (apparently in Ignorance of the Johan adventures and their secondary characters) to "Not even the shade of an olive tree".

Some deficiencies can also be recognized without knowing the original text: In the Bastei version of La Schtroumpfette (1966), Schtroumpf Farceur and Schtroumpf Volant (in Kauka the “Witzboldschlumpf” and the “Flying Smurf”) both receive the name “Surprise Smurf”. While the original Farceur Schtroumpf the Schtroumpf Volant stealing a pie, well you have to go out in the working assumption that the Surprise Smurf himself takes away the cake and at the same time acting in a trial as a defender and even as a juror.

Names in the original and the German adaptations (selection)

Original (with first appearance) German (Rolf Kauka) German at Bastei (B), Carlsen (C) and Toonfish (T) outside of the comic (television, songs, English or German)
Grand schtroumpf (from 1958, La Flûte à 6 schtroumpfs) Big Smurf (from 1969) Big Smurf (B, C), Papa Smurf (T) Papa Smurf
Le pays maudit (from 1958, La Flûte à 6 schtroumpfs) The haunted land (from 1969) The haunted land (B, C), The haunted land (T) .
Village schtroumpf (from 1958, La Flûte à 6 schtroumpfs) Smurf Village (from 1969) Smurf Village (B), Smurf House (T) Smurfs house (Song of the Smurfs, from 1978)
Schtroumpf farceur (from 1959, Les Schtroumpfs noirs) Prankster Smurf (from 1969) Surprise Smurf (B, C), Jokey, the Prankster Smurf (T) Jokey
Schtroumpf à lunettes (from 1959, Les Schtroumpfs noirs) Spectacles Smurf (from 1969) Spectacles Smurf (B), Moral Smurf (C), Schlaubi, the Spectacles Smurf (T) Brainy
Schtroumpf bêta (from 1959, Les Schtroumpfs noirs) Silly Smurf (from 1970) Fool Smurf (B), Clumsy, the Bowl Smurf (T) Clumsy
Gargamel; sorcier (from 1959, Le voleur de Schtroumpfs) Gurgelhals (from 1969) Gargle neck (B, C), Gargamel (C, T) Gargamel
Azraël (from 1959, Le voleur de Schtroumpfs) Uriel (from 1969) Azrael Azrael
Salsepareille (from 1959, Le voleur de Schtroumpfs) Siebenwurz (herb) (from 1969) Sarsaparilla (C, T), Sarseparil (B) Smurfberrys (English) , Schlumpfbeeren (German-speaking television)
Schtroumpf grognon (from 1960, L'oeuf et les Schtroumpfs) Grizzly Smurf (from 1970) Grouchy Smurf (B), Grumpy Smurf (C), Muffi, the Grumpy Smurf (T) Muffy
Schtroumpf bricoleur (from 1962, Le centième Schtroumpf) Inventor Smurf (1971) , Mechanic Smurf (1973) Craft Smurf (B, C), Handy, the Craft Smurf (T) Handi
Schtroumpf coquet (from 1962, Le centième Schtroumpf) Fashion smurf Vain Smurf (B, C), Beauty, the Vain Smurf (T) Beauty
Schtroumpf paresseux (from 1962, Le centième Schtroumpf) Rotten smurf Sleep Smurf (B, C), Fauli, the Sleep Smurf (T) Lazy
Schtroumpf gourmand (from 1962, Le centième Schtroumpf) Tasty Smurf Gourmet Smurf (B), Cake Smurf (C), Torti, the Tasty Smurf (T) Torti
Schtroumpf musicien (from 1962, Le centième Schtroumpf) Music smurf Music Smurf, Trumpet Smurf (C), Harmony, the Trumpeter Smurf (T) Harmony
Schtroumpfissime (1964) Upper Smurf Smurf dissimus .King Smurf
Schtroumpf costaud (from 1964, Le Schtroumpfissime) Muscle Smurf Muscle Smurf, Strong Smurf (C), Hefty, the Muscle Smurf (T) Hefty
Schtroumpfette (from 1966) Smurfette Smurfette (B), Smurfette (C, T) Smurfette (English) , Schlumpfine (German-speaking television)
Schtroumpf poète (from 1966, La Schtroumpfette) Poet Smurf Poet Smurf (B, C), Poeti, the Poet Smurf (T) Poeti
Schtroumpf Pâtissier (Schtroumpf Boulanger) (from 1968, Pâques schtroumpfantes) . Baker Smurf .
Schtroump paysan (from 1969, Le schtroumpfeur de pluie) Gardener Smurf Farmer Smurf (B, C), Farmy, the Gardener's Smurf (T) Farmi
Schtroumpf frileux (from 1971 onwards) Free Smurf Frösti (T) Sneezy Smurf (English) , Kranki (German-speaking television)
Schtroumpf sculpteur (from 1972 in one-sided) Craft Smurf Sculptor Smurf (T) Research
Schtroumpf cuisinier (cook; from 1976, La soupe aux Schtroumpfs) Chef Smurf (T)
Sassette (in the comic from around 1988, Les p'tits schtroumpfs) --- Smurfette, Sassette (T) Sassette
Schtroumpf Mineur (from 1992, Le Schtroumpf financier) Scraper, the miner smurf (T) Dig

Further information: The German terms are not clear even within a publisher. In the Bastei translation (1993) of La Schtroumpfette (1966) , Schtroumpf gourmand is called the “baker's smurf”. In the short stories of around 2000 he is again called Feinschmeckerschlumpf. In this bastion translation from 1993, Schtroumpfette was called Smurfette as in TV, and in the later bastion adventures as in Kauka Smurfette .

Game and collectible figures

Since 1965, Schleich GmbH from Schwäbisch Gmünd has been producing Smurf figures from hard rubber under license, with the exception of the period from 1975 to 1977 when the rival company Bully temporarily acquired the license and the molds. However, Peyo was increasingly dissatisfied with Bully's business conduct and after a protracted legal dispute withdrew the license from the Swabian plastic doll manufacturer, so that Schleich resumed the production of Smurf figures from 1977 and has been their sole manufacturer since 1980.

In the 1980s, smaller Smurfs were the first figures to be included as a collection series of children's surprise eggs . Both forms of the figurines became collectibles in the 1990s. From 2000 onwards there were also collectible figures from McDonald's as well as plush animals and toys in the Happy Meal.

magazine

The first magazine in Germany specifically dedicated to the blue elves was published monthly from January 1991 to January 2002 by Bastei, naturally under the title “The Smurfs”. It was originally based on the Belgian magazine “Schtroumpf”, but with 132 issues and two special issues it had significantly more issues than this one. In terms of content, primarily a mixture of short comics and employment pages with the Smurfs in the center, there are also other works based on the work of Peyo, namely new versions of Pierrot et la lampe under the title "Benny and the lamp".

Panini not only brought several sticker albums with the Smurfs onto the market, but also the magazine “Schlumpf Mag” every two months from the end of 2005 to August 2009, with a marginalized comic share, but with a gimmick .

Since 2012, the Blue Ocean publishing house has been publishing the magazine “ die SMURFS ” every two months with comics, puzzles, coloring pages and games about the residents of Schlumpfhausen. The magazine is aimed primarily at children between the ages of four and nine. In 2015 there was also a special edition under the title Smurfette , which was aimed directly at girls and made four editions.

Smurfs and Music

The actual musical career of the Smurfs began in 1975 with the soundtrack for the movie "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute", which only appeared on record in France and Belgium. Ten years earlier, however, there had already been La Valse et La Marche des Schtroumpfs ("The Smurf Waltz" and "The Smurf March"), melodies for the early cartoons that also appeared on a single.

In 1977, the Dutch composer and crooner Pierre received Kartner aka Vader Abraham to write for advertising purposes a song about the Smurfs, in which he sang all the vocals himself, which included the "Smurfs" for which the pitch of his voice by the order, pitching was increased electronically - a procedure that has since been common for all songs with Schlumpf participation. Kartner's song under the title 't Smurfenlied became the best-selling single in the Netherlands in 1977/78, so that various foreign-language versions soon followed, usually sung by Vader Abraham. The German version, "The Smurfs Song", was also a great success in 1978 and took first place in the German single annual charts. Some follow-up singles and the corresponding LP “Vader Abraham in the Land of the Smurfs” also benefited from it. The Smurf Village also owes the name “Smurfs house” to the “Song of the Smurfs”, which had not been used before.

Following the same principle as “The Smurfs Song” - simple, catchy melodies with equally simple lyrics and above all “Smurfs voices” - a few more LPs and singles followed in the 80s, only partly with the participation of Kartner alias Abraham (e. B. "Hit parade of the Smurfs" 1980). This type of smurf music received a new boost from 1995, again based on the Netherlands, through the infiltration of the techno scene. Programmatic titles such as "Smurf the House", "The Smurfs Go Pop" or "Tekkno ist cool" showed the way: Countless songs with simple, often child-friendly lyrics to driving beats took up current topics and chart hits and were "slumped", that is, interpreted by "Smurf Voices". The result was as successful as it was highly controversial, with some high chart placements, the boundaries of the cover versions (e.g. the Unheilig hit “Born to Live” as “Born to Smurf”) between parody and rip-off were often blurred. Ultimately, one can say that the mass success of Schlumpf techno not only brought the music style as such, but also the Smurfs to a certain extent discredited.

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / monthly data
(Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK NL NL
1977 In Smurfenland - - - - NL1 (23 weeks)
NL
1978 Vader Abraham in the land of the Smurfs DE3
platinum
platinum

(34 weeks)DE
AT3 (8 months)
AT
- - -
German version of In Smurfenland
Father Abraham in Smurfland - - - UK19 (11 weeks)
UK
-
English version of In Smurfenland
1980 Hit parade of the Smurfs DE1
platinum
platinum

(22 weeks)DE
AT1 (3½ months)
AT
- - -
Het smurfenfeest - - - - NL21 (6 weeks)
NL
De Smurfen
1981 Hit parade of the Smurfs 2 DE1
gold
gold

(13 weeks)DE
AT2 (1½ month)
AT
- - -
1983 The latest hits from the land of the Smurfs DE13 (5 weeks)
DE
AT17 (½ month)
AT
- - -
1984 Merry Christmas from the Smurfs DE16 (10 weeks)
DE
- - - -
1986 The super hit parade - - CH22 (1 week)
CH
- -
1990 Together forever - - - - NL36 (13 weeks)
NL
Vader Abraham en De Smurfen
1995 Ga je mee naar Smurfenland - - - - NL1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(47 weeks)NL
Irene Moors & De Smurfen
Smurf the House - - - - NL2
platinum
platinum

(41 weeks)NL
Irene Moors & De Smurfen
Tekkno is Cool - Vol. 1 DE1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(55 weeks)DE
AT1
Triple platinum
× 3
Triple platinum

(27 weeks)AT
CH6th
platinum
platinum

(21 weeks)CH
- -
Megaparty - Vol. 2 DE6th
Triple gold
× 3
Triple gold

(39 weeks)DE
AT1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(29 weeks)AT
CH14th
platinum
platinum

(17 weeks)CH
- -
Smurf house party - - - - NL3
platinum
platinum

(19 weeks)NL
De Smurfen
1996 The Smurfs Go Pop - - - UK2
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(33 weeks)UK
-
The Smurfs
Everything banana! - Vol. 3 DE2
Triple gold
× 3
Triple gold

(42 weeks)DE
AT1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(22 weeks)AT
CH3
platinum
platinum

(35 weeks)CH
- -
Christmas party - - - UK8th
platinum
platinum

(9 weeks)UK
-
The Smurfs
Party house hits - - - - NL10 (12 weeks)
NL
De Smurfen
Full of Winter - Vol. 4 DE2
platinum
platinum

(19 weeks)DE
AT1
platinum
platinum

(16 weeks)AT
CH1
platinum
platinum

(20 weeks)CH
- -
Surprise - - - - NL83 (4 weeks)
NL
De Smurfen
1997 The Smurfs Hits '97 Vol. 1 - - - UK2
gold
gold

(11 weeks)UK
-
The Smurfs
Balla Balla - Vol. 5 DE6th
gold
gold

(19 weeks)DE
AT1
platinum
platinum

(16 weeks)AT
CH6th
gold
gold

(23 weeks)CH
- -
The Smurfs Go Pop Again - - - UK15 (7 weeks)
UK
-
The Smurfs
Crazy galactic! - Vol. 6 DE4th
gold
gold

(22 weeks)DE
AT2
platinum
platinum

(16 weeks)AT
CH3
platinum
platinum

(21 weeks)CH
- -
1998 Greatest hits - - - UK28 (6 weeks)
UK
-
The Smurfs
Fat parties! - Vol. 7 DE2
gold
gold

(21 weeks)DE
AT1
gold
gold

(16 weeks)AT
CH4th
gold
gold

(22 weeks)CH
- -
Feest! - - - - NL15 (12 weeks)
NL
De Smurfen
Oh you Smurfette! - Vol. 8 DE16 (5 weeks)
DE
AT9
gold
gold

(8 weeks)AT
CH13 (5 weeks)
CH
- -
1999 Super Summer - Vol. 9 DE6 (14 weeks)
DE
AT2 (17 weeks)
AT
CH9 (12 weeks)
CH
- -
Now it's bang - Vol. 10 DE15th
gold
gold

(13 weeks)DE
AT4th
gold
gold

(17 weeks)AT
CH10 (15 weeks)
CH
- -
2000 Totally spaced! - Vol. 11 DE3 (8 weeks)
DE
AT2
gold
gold

(12 weeks)AT
CH10 (8 weeks)
CH
- -
Caught cold! - Vol. 12 DE16
gold
gold

(10 weeks)DE
AT3
gold
gold

(13 weeks)AT
CH19 (14 weeks)
CH
- -
2001 3,2,1 Smurfenhits! - - - - NL8 (9 weeks)
NL
De Smurfen
The fat 13! DE30 (8 weeks)
DE
AT7th
gold
gold

(15 weeks)AT
CH26 (4 weeks)
CH
- -
Top of the Smurfs - - - - NL55 (2 weeks)
NL
De Smurfen
2002 We sing Hey Ho! - Vol. 14 DE13 (15 weeks)
DE
AT4 (16 weeks)
AT
CH41
gold
gold

(6 weeks)CH
- -
2003 Smurfhouse is looking for the Super Smurf - Vol. 15 DE22nd
gold
gold

(13 weeks)DE
AT5 (14 weeks)
AT
CH25 (8 weeks)
CH
- -
2004 Jokes in the Schlumpfen Castle - Vol. 16 DE24 (13 weeks)
DE
AT13 (16 weeks)
AT
CH32 (9 weeks)
CH
- -
2005 Hocus pocus Smurfette! - Vol. 17 DE81 (3 weeks)
DE
AT24 (15 weeks)
AT
CH57 (7 weeks)
CH
- -
2008 Wij zijn de smurfen! - - - - NL3
gold
gold

(20 weeks)NL
De Smurfen
Wij gaan naar Smurfenland! - - - - NL24 (6 weeks)
NL
De Smurfen
2011 For the sake of smurfing - - - - NL4th
gold
gold

(18 weeks)NL
De Smurfen
The hits of the Smurfs DE25 (15 weeks)
DE
AT36 (15 weeks)
AT
CH36 (19 weeks)
CH
- -
2012 Wij houden van de smurfen - - - - NL6 (4 weeks)
NL
De Smurfen
Winterpret with de Smurfen - - - - NL97 (2 weeks)
NL
De Smurfen
The hits of the Smurfs Vol. 2 DE45 (4 weeks)
DE
- CH62 (2 weeks)
CH
- -
2017 The dirty album DE31 (6 weeks)
DE
AT27 (6 weeks)
AT
- - -

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

See also

literature

  • Volker Hamann among others: Dossier Peyo and the Smurfs. Reddition No. 69, Edition Alfons, Barmstedt 2018

Web links

Commons : The Smurfs  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. "Quant aux Schtroumpfs, en les créant je pensais davantage aux trolls, aux lutins, gnomes et autres farfadets dont nos legends sont peuplés." ("As for the Smurfs, when I created them, I was thinking primarily of the trolls, the dwarves, gnomes and other goblins that populate our fairy tales." [Peyo, in: Les cahiers de la bande dessinée, no. 54, 1983])
  2. Le monde est à leurs schtroumpfs. Le Point, July 25, 2013, accessed June 14, 2020 (French).
  3. "Would you please give me the ... well, the ... oh the stump next to you?" Instead of "Give me the salt!" ; see The Smurfs Compact Edition, Vol. 1, p. 9.
  4. ^ Peyo: Johann and Pfiffikus Complete Edition . tape 3 . Toonfish, Bielefeld 2012, ISBN 978-3-86869-997-5 , p. 12 .
  5. Peyo forever, 2002, French ( Memento of December 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  6. Peyo: The Smurfs Compact Edition . tape 1 . Toonfish, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-95839-961-7 , p. 12 .
  7. Peyo's biography
  8. BD et Animation: Une Tradition Belge (French)
  9. "The Smurf Village Júzcar" , article at www.merian.de from January 4, 2012
  10. Thorsten Hanisch: The Smurfs in television and film . In: Reddition - Journal for Graphic Literature . No. 69 . Edition Alfons, Barmstedt 2018, p. 61 .
  11. cf. Les P'tits Schtroumpfs (Album 13, The Mini Smurfs )
  12. a b Scenarian Luc Parthoens, 2003: Il s'agit toujours d'un des 100 Schtroumpfs de la communauté. Parce qu'ils constatent les effets pervers de leurs trouvailles, ces vedettes d'un album abandonnent leurs prétentions et retournent dans l'anonymat. http://www.lelombard.com/page.cfm?contentid=966&Section=General (Parthoens answers some questions about the album Le Schtroumpf reporter and the Smurfs - in French).
  13. Schleich GmbH: The Smurfs ( Memento of the original from August 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.schleich-s.com
  14. Schleich GmbH: Company Chronicle ( Memento of the original from September 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.schleich-s.com
  15. André Dahlqvist: (Information about the Bully Smurfs and their production). In: The collectors guide to the smurfs. Retrieved June 26, 2020 (English).
  16. Falk Straub: The history of the Schlumpf figures in Germany . In: Reddition - Journal for Graphic Literature . No. 69 . Edition Alfons, Barmstedt 2018, p. 43 f .
  17. Website of the SMURFS magazine
  18. Peyo: The Smurfs Compact Edition . tape 1 . Toonfish, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-95839-961-7 , p. 23 .
  19. ^ Official German single year charts 1978. Bundesverband Musikindustrie, accessed on June 26, 2020 .
  20. Philipp Kutter: What “The Smurfs” and your children's room had to do with the supposed end of techno. In: www.vice.com. October 25, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  21. Chart sources: DE, AT, CH, UK Singles1 Singles2 Albums1 Albums2 / NL Singles Albums