For some reason I was musing on the scariest and most interesting episode of The Smurfs I ever saw, The Purple Smurfs. I decided to look around and see if anyone remembered the episode in as much detail as I did, or had posted a full synopsis.

It turns out that yes, the episode is well-remembered, but no one has posted a full breakdown of the episode except at a very high level. One interesting site I found last night lists the episode among the best short horror films (that probably wouldn't be recognized as horror or films). And strangely, the author of that list is absolutely right. The Purple Smurfs is essentially an episode of zombie horror.

And it had a big impact on a lot of kids who saw it, including me. The iconic image I remember most is seeing the last blue smurf hemmed in and surrounded on all sides by the feral, GNAPping purple ones, each trying to bite him on the tail (and therefore make him one of them) even as they closed the ring tighter and tighter around him. And there was, surprisingly, no escape.

It was brilliant, I tell you.