The Smurfs Halloween Special (1983)

 NOPE, I NEVER SAW THE SMURFS BEFORE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE (NOT COUNTING AVATAR) UNTIL I WATCHED THIS SMURFY HALLOWEEN SPECIAL! 

Of course, there's a reason for that.  Mainly because, when this cartoon came out, I was already in college.  That's no real reason, of course, since I still watch cartoons to this day.  But mainly it's because they seemed MUCH too squeaky clean for me.  So, I figured -- since this video was on youtube -- I might as well start with their Halloween special and meet the Smurfs halfway. 

Well, it turns out I was right in my assumption.  If this hadn't been a tad bit about Halloween, I never could've sat through it.  I'm diabetic, you see, and there was STILL much too much sweetness for me.  Turns out Mother Nature (I think that's who she is) grabs her 'red wand' (that's NOT a euphemism!!!) to turn all the tree leaves red for autumn; unfortunately a Smurf named Lazy is asleep under a tree and gets turned red by mistake.  Lazy fears he now cannot return to the Smurfy village because he's not blue anymore and won't be accepted.  Wow, I never knew how racist Smurfs were!!!  Those poor red Smurfs have to pretend they don't exist!  So anyway, stuff happens and stuff and Lazy turns blue again and everyone is once again homogenous and fits in with the mainstream.  At least, that's the message I got from this one.

Yeah, I don't think the Smurfs are for me.  There's a lot of October leaves on the trees but, other than that, there's not much Halloween atmosphere; it's all too bright and pastel-coloured.  On the bright side, there are some awesomely legendary voice actors involved like Don Messick, June Foray, Paul Winchell and Alan Oppenheimer!  Their presence alone raised this WAY higher and makes it totally watchable -- if nothing special.