Sunday, July 29, 2007

Also Found on the "Popeye" DVD...

Was this trailer for an upcoming release that I don't think has been officially announced yet: "The Smurfs, The Complete First Season."

I know, I know. But I watched it as a kid, and many, many others watched it as kids. Including the creator of the movie Donnie Darko. And I have a feeling this is going to sell better than other shows that were actually good.

Interesting question is why kids love "The Smurfs." I attribute it to that whole "village" concept, the idea that the Smurfs lived in a secret village whose location was a secret to most non-Smurfs. That taps into kids' longing to have a secret place where adults can't find them and where adult rules don't apply; even though Papa Smurf is sort of an authority figure, it really feels like they're all kids and Gargamel is from the adult world. This concept was so successful that other cheesy '80s kids shows tried to do something similar; remember how on the Pac-Man cartoon, Pac-Man had a secret "power forest" that the villains were always trying to find.





2 comments:

Bill Peschel said...

Hmmm, it seems there's a movie in the works.

Anonymous said...

I'd be curious to see the DVD, if only to see if they use the original, NBC opening to the show (i.e., the one from my childhood). Whenever I've caught the show on TV since then (and this includes the current Boomerang showings) it's always had the opening from the syndicated "Smurfs' Adventures," which was what the show was called when it went into reruns (presumably because the new ones were still being made).