Lure of the Orb (The Smurfs, 1981)
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"Lure of the Orb" is an episode of The Smurfs. It aired November 29, 1986 on NBC.
Summary
Allura tempts a number of Smurfs into using the orb to gain energy to increase the energy of the jobs, but they end up making a big mess. It's up to Hefty to bring his friends back to normal.
Why It Rocks
- Unlike Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, this episode used subtlety in its message of avoiding drugs (despite how dated it was).
- The Smurfs also have a bigger role here when compared to the crossover special. In Cartoon All-Stars, they were part of the search for Corey's piggy bank and disappear for most of the special afterwards.
- Good animation and voice acting.
- The villain character of Allura is able to tempt the Smurfs into using energy from the orb and make them go wild in their workload. Her fate is split into two different endings, with the frog ending more suitable to fans in later years.
- The episode had two different endings: one in North America and one in international airings.
- In the ending for North America, she turns back from a beautiful maiden into a witch as a result from the exploding gift box.
- In the ending for the international market, she was transformed into a frog and was never to be seen again. This is the version that ended up in the Smurfs video on YouTube.
- A handful of Smurfs were addicted to the orb and were tricked into being Allura's slaves. Fortunately, they were able to give it up by the end of the episode.
- Hefty was brave enough to save his fellow Smurfs from being held prisoner by Allura as her servents. He was also the one to point out the select number of Smurfs who get addicted to the orb, to which Papa Smurf agrees.
- Funny moments, such as the goof-ups that the select number of Smurfs make due to their addiction of the Orb. Even Poet's poems have turned laughable for all the right reasons.
- The foreign version had the select number of Smurfs chained, which fixed the problem from the North America edition.
- The Orb is a reference to the topic of drug abuse (mainly cocaine), which explains why Poet, Farmer, Harmony, Painter and Handy are acting so hyper and why they're rushing over their hard work in the first place.
Bad Qualities
- This episode almost got the series cancelled due to Hanna-Barbera going against Peyo's wishes. Thankfully, Delporte got Peyo to wise up and production resumed as normal.
- Brainy Smurf didn't appear in this episode, as he would've been one of the Smurfs to react to the selected number of Smurfs using the Orb.
- In fact, Grandpa, Snappy and Nat are completely absent from this episode. The only Smurflings to appear are Slouchy and Sassette (albeit in brief cameos).
Trivia
- As mentioned above, there are two different endings for this episode.
- Despite being dropped after its first airing on NBC, this episode aired in reruns on Boomerang in the US and was released on DVD in the UK and Australia.
Video
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