Far, far away, in a little mushroom village, live a group of little blue pixies called Smurfs who wear short trousers and white bonnets. Only as tall as three apples, they speak in 'Smurf', a language that only they understand. The Smurfs are carefree, peaceful creatures that live in harmony with nature. But they have a nasty habit of wanting to act like man, which causes them 1,001 problems...

The Smurfs: Complete 5th Season contains all 25 episode from the show's fifth season which was originally broadcast between September and November 1985. The episodes are not in the original broadcast order, which in this instance causes a little bit of a problem as Sassette appears in an episode before she's actually been created.

This season sees the introduction of the aforementioned Sassette (in a bid to add another female Smurf) and three Smurfs are transformed into Smurflings (young Smurfs) in a bid to make the show a little more accessible to young teenagers. A Puppy is introduced as well as handful of new Smurfs - most notably Wooly and Marco.

Highlights in this season include:

The Masked Pie-Smurfer: Who is the mysterious Smurf who masquerades as the Masked Pie-Smurfer? Brainy is hot on the case as he investigates which of his fellow Smurfs is playing practical jokes on all of the other Smurfs. A mysterious note is put up around town offering to throw a pie in the face of any Smurf of your choice (for a small fee). Oddly, Brainy Smurf seems to be the recipient of the majority of the pies.

Dreamy's Pen Pals: Dreamy Smurf decides he want to visit his alien pen pals, the Smoofs. However, Dreamy is unaware that the Smoofs don't actually exist, and that the other Smurfs pretended, in an earlier episode, that his space rocket was going to the moon, when in actual fact they just moved it to a quarry and dressed as Smoofs. Should they tell Dreamy and make him think he's a laughing stock, or should they build a set so that the Smurf village looks like the Smoofs village?

Happy Unhappiness Day: Every year, for just one day, the Smurfs must stop doing things that make them happy - so that they will appreciate their happiness for the rest of the year. However, this isn't as easy as it seems.

Brainy's Smarty Party: Brainy throws a party but won't allow the Smurflings to attend, so they decide to have their own party. But as more and more Smurfs fall soul of Brainy's rules, they are ejected from the party and join the Smurflings party instead... until Brainy is the only guest at his own party.

The Comet is Coming!: Papa Smurf sends a message back to the Smurf village to let the Smurfs know that tonight is the last night they will be able to see a comet that only comes around every 100 years. However, the message is damaged and the Smurfs think that Papa Smurf is warning them that this is their last night as a comet is going to crash into the Earth.

Gargamel's Time Trip: Gargamel goes back in time to the day, as a young wizard, he first met the Smurfs.

Extras are identical to the previous season box set extras: I Smurf the Smurfs (16 min, 43 sec feature that interviews z-list celebrity fans and experts about the Smurfs. There are also interviews with cast and crew from the series); Character Biographies (text based); and Smurf Info (12 min text based featurette where text, that covers just about every aspect of The Smurfs, scrolls up the screen).

So, another interesting collection which even though it has less episodes, over three discs rather than the usual four, still retails for the same price. But to be fair you're getting a lot of Smurf for your money.

7

Darren Rea