so this is wayy back in the day before my Existence. I always thought that the Smurfs series was the first appearance of the Smurfs. I may have seen this, but im not totally sure...has it ever aired on TV?
shareIt definitely aired on TV, since 1985 or 86, in syndication. Although I never got to see it in theaters, I watched its TV premiere on WPIX Channel 11 as a special movie event!
And yes, the Smurfs have been around for over 50 years. They started out as a comic-book, after all! It was created by the late, great French-Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford (best know by his pen name, Peyo), and they first appeared in 1958 in the 9th Volume of the Johan & Peewit, "The Flute With Six Holes" (known in trade-paperback form as "The Flute With Six Smurfs"), the story that this film is very faithfully based on! The Smurfs became so popular that they got their own comic-book series in 1959, starting with "The Black Smurf" (localized into "The Purple Smurf" outside French-speaking countries)! Most of the original Peyo comics are now available here in the US from Papercutz! I recommend them. :)