While The Walking Dead had a major impact on the popularity of zombie outbreaks in pop culture, the animated series Smurfs was one of the first projects to introduce the concept to children. Premiering in September 1981 on NBC, Smurfs followed the adventures (and sometimes misadventures) of a tiny blue humanoid species of the same name. Like many of the ’80s’ most iconic Saturday morning cartoons, it began as a comic before Hanna-Barbera Productions adapted it into animation. The comics were the inspiration for many of the early episodes. Spanning nine seasons and 258 episodes, comprised of a whopping 417 segments, Smurfs was one of the longest-running Saturday morning cartoons in history.
With so many episodes of Smurfs, some naturally stand out over others. These are the kind that tend to come up in conversations among fans of the series. Episodes such as “My Smurfy Valentine,” “Smurfily Ever After,” and “The Smurfic Games.” But there are also some episodes that are lesser known and not often discussed. One of those episodes is “The Purple Smurfs.”
A G-rated Zombie Apocalypse
The Walking Dead premiered on Halloween 2010, introducing audiences to its world of the undead. But 29 years earlier, on the same date, Smurfs aired a zombie apocalypse of its own. Airing on October 31, 1981, the segment “The Purple Smurfs” within episode 24 told an unsettling story that was unlike anything that had previously been in the series. In the segment, a purple fly bit Lazy Smurf on the tail as he walked through the forest gathering supplies. This bite makes Lazy turn purple, and his mind goes blank, essentially turning him into a zombie. After Lazy failed to return with the requested supplies, Brainy Smurf was sent to look for him. Brainy encounters the zombiefied Lazy and runs back to the village to alert Papa Smurf, who knows the cause but not the cure.
Lazy is captured by the other Smurfs so that they can try to cure him, but he manages to escape and begins biting others. Then they begin biting their fellow Smurfs as well, creating a purple zombie Smurf apocalypse. Papa spends multiple days in his laboratory searching for a cure, finally discovering that pollen from a particular flower works after capturing a purple fly and trying to feed the flower to it. A purple Hefty Smurf overhears Papa talking about this cure and rallies the other zombie Smurfs to put a stop to it and turn the remaining Smurfs, including Papa. He succeeds in that way, but in setting the lab on fire to destroy it, he accidentally causes it to explode. This sends a wave of pollen through the village and cures all Smurfs of their purple plague, ending the zombie apocalypse.
Born from a Controversial Comic
“The Purple Smurfs” was a unique episode, but one also born from a controversial story. In 1963, the Belgian artist and creator of Smurfs, Peyo, published the first album of the original French comic. It contained three comics, including one called “The Black Smurfs.” This comic story served as the original inspiration for “The Purple Smurfs,” even bearing a similar title. The comic was a bit different from the episode, however. The comic was noticeably more violent, with the biting depicted more graphically. When the story was adapted to fit the standards and practices of NBC and the expectations of the young audience, the violence was toned down from how it was in Peyo’s work.
The controversy with that issue, however, came not from the violence, but from the art. As the title suggests, the Smurfs in the comic did not turn purple. Instead, the fly bite caused them to turn black. While this was not viewed in a negative light at the time of publication, times had changed by the 1980s. The Smurfs changing from their natural blue to an artificial black color was considered by some to be racially insensitive, with the change being compared to blackface. Blackface, the practice of painting white entertainment performers black, was still controversial at the time and would not be completely classified as racist until later. The creatives behind the series opted to respect the changing tide and alter the color of the fly and the infected Smurfs. The story became acceptable for air and became one of the first zombie apocalypse stories for children to air in a Saturday morning cartoon.
Have you seen this episode of Smurfs? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
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