- "And as Papa Smurf always says..."
Brainy Smurf (original French name Schtroumpf à Lunettes) is one of the main characters of the Smurfs comic books and the Smurfs cartoon show, who has appeared on the show throughout its entire run.
Character
Brainy is the village intellectual who's not afraid to share his "wisdom" with his fellow Smurfs, even though it usually results in his being booted to the village limits or whacked in the head with a mallet. He is also a very prolific author of many books, usually with his name in the title, and he is Papa Smurf's apprentice and assistant in his laboratory. He is easily identifiable by his glasses and his books.
His character was voiced by Danny Goldman and Barry Gordon in the cartoon show, and by Fred Armisen in the 2011 movie.
Personality
Brainy is the most self-centered of the Smurfs, even more so than Vanity Smurf; he annoys almost everyone, up to and including Papa Smurf. Brainy has a penchant for showing off, claiming that he knows everything about everything, although the only things he knows well are things about himself...and even that is debatable. Brainy even claims to be his own favorite subject. Despite this, he is well-liked whenever he's not being a bossy know-it-all...which is all-too-frequently the case.
His house is filled with of stacks of books all written by himself. The books are either manuals, encyclopedias, or -- his personal favorites -- Quotations Of Brainy Smurf Volumes 1 through 32 (and still counting). Brainy always wants someone to read them, but even the nicest people turn them down...or merely pretend to like them for Brainy's benefit.
Role in the Village
Apart from being Papa Smurf's apprentice, Brainy doesn't really have a job other than the village annoyance. While he does know how to work some spells or make potions, Brainy always over-estimates himself and does things completely wrong.
Trouble-Trouble-Trouble
Brainy causes a lot of problems for the Smurfs sometimes. This is mostly because all he does is make things worse.
An example is when he forced everyone to be so quiet, that not even a needle can drop, only because Papa Smurf wanted some peace and quiet to get some sleep. He went so far to make everything quiet, he cast a sound-proof barrier around the village that made no sound get in or out, but this also prevented anyone else from entering.
He also believes that he is smarter than everyone else and that he should be in charge. Sadly, most of his ideas go wrong, and he usually finds a scapegoat for the mishaps he causes.
His heart, however, is always in the right spot; in the The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything adventure he uses "The Book That Tells Everything" to benefit the others and when - thanks to a dam break - he and Baby Smurf were stranded on a little sliver of land in the torrent. Brainy asked the book for help and it responded by telling him that it was too important and that he should give up Baby. Enraged by that prospect, Brainy tossed the book into the river before grabbing Baby and swimming to the shore.
- "It was awful Papa Smurf, that miserable book actually told me to sacrifice Baby Smurf." - Brainy after reaching the shore saving his own life and that of Baby, thus showing that whatever his flaws, when push comes to shove, he actually knows the right thing to do.
In the comic book version of "King Smurf", Brainy was also the first to protest against the jailing of Jokey Smurf, saying to the others that good old fashioned reasoning would show King Smurf the error in jailing Jokey. He went into the castle and started a lecture about how humor shouldn't be considered a crime and that there really was no reason for Jokey to be jailed and that he and the other Smurfs with him didn't agree with the jailing...which led to Brainy being thrown out of the castle and the other Smurfs deciding that a good old fashioned riot would work far better than reasoning.
Relationship with Others
Where Brainy usually ends up in the cartoon show.
- "We have this annoying Smurf who lives in our village who wears spectacles and is always going that we 'Should beware' and that we're 'Not supposed to be like that" and 'I'll tell Papa Smurf about that if you don't.' We all dislike him because of his constant meddling."
- "What?! But I..." (He's forcibly silenced)
- Astro Smurf to Papa Smurf (as Grandpa Swoof) talking about how life is in the Smurf village.
Brainy is the least liked out of all the Smurfs. This is proven in the episode "The Masked Pie Smurfer". A masked Smurf has given every Smurf a chance to get back at someone they dislike by just giving him some Smurfberries. In exchange for the berries, the Masked Pie Smurfer will throw Pie at the designated Smurf's face. Unfortunately for Brainy, he was a main target.
Brainy seems to always pester Papa Smurf, and if Papa Smurf thinks of a plan, he will always say "That's exactly what I was thinking!" It isn't a secret that Brainy is such an admirer of Papa Smurf, always wanting to be like him in some way, and always defending Papa Smurf's wisdom even if it's only to gain some advantage over his fellow Smurfs. If Brainy Smurf is threatened or mistreated by a fellow Smurf, or if things don't go the way he wants them to, he'll usually spout, "I'm going to tell this to Papa Smurf".
His best friend, and the only Smurf who enjoys Brainy's company, is Clumsy Smurf. At first glance, it would seem that their friendship is only one sided, as Brainy sees Clumsy as an annoyance, but this is proven untrue as at one point, Brainy realizes that he needs Clumsy so that he could feel smart. He also hangs out with Clumsy the most and they're always seen doing jobs together.
Even Brainy's reflection doesn't want to hear him talk!
In the comics, Brainy is also very close with Wild Smurf for whom he has put himself forwards as a mentor figure, trying to teach him how to behave like a proper Smurf. To his credit, Brainy succeeds in teaching Wild Smurf to talk (somewhat) normally and when it becomes clear that Wild Smurf doesn't want to wear normal Smurf clothing, he doesn't press the issue. As a result Brainy and Wild Smurf have a mutual understanding and respect for each other.
Often in the comics, Brainy could be heard off-panel typically yammering didactically, and one Smurf would get visibly annoyed at him and walk to him off-panel. Then a loud *PAF!* could be heard.
Brainy has a habit of saying somebody's name three times. In "Cave Smurfs", when Brainy tried to help Papa Smurf reassemble the time crystals by dropping one on top of the structure being assembled, causing it to collapse, Papa Smurf became so mad that he booted Brainy outside the cave, with him being inside his own book!
In the movie "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute", following more closely to the comic book portrayals of Brainy, he usually gets clobbered in the head by a hammer when he gets too annoying to bear. This is funny because in the original comic book story that the movie is based on, he doesn't even appear at all.
Also in the comics during the Annual Imitate festival, Brainy for once gets to be the one who does the clobbering, when he takes the role of Hefty Smurf and Poet Smurf takes the role as Brainy, the scene shows Brainy trying to lift Hefty's halter and Poet lecturing Brainy and ends with Brainy chasing Poet with a Hammer trying to clobber him.
But deep down, some of the other Smurfs love him and would be horrified if something bad happened to him.
Brainy loves nothing more than to wax eloquently on whatever he's talking about.
He Saved Them Once
In "Papa's Family Album", Papa Smurf explains to the Smurflings about how things were like back when all the Smurfs (excluding Smurfette and Wild) were Smurflings.
Apparently, Brainy was practically blind until Papa Smurf gave him glasses. It was when he got his glasses that he started being the Brainy Smurf we all know and (sort of) love. Once Brainy lost his glasses and Clumsy had to help him until he could get some new ones.
The Smurfs have a lot to thank Brainy for, actually, as it was him who saved their lives. One time, gargoyles under the command of the evil wizard Hotap came and snatched all the Smurflings and separated them from Papa Smurf. Brainy was able to escape before he was put into a machine with the others. The machine was supposed to turn them into gold.
Brainy was able to buy Papa Smurf some time by stuffing a book into the gears, jamming the machine and preventing the Smurflings from dying.
In the movie series
"You know who you really smurfed to see in the movie? You smurfed to see ME!!!"
The Smurfs
In the 2011 Smurfs movie, Brainy is one of the few Smurfs who travel through time to modern-day New York City. Although he still remains somewhat annoying (though not to the extent that he does in both the comic books and the cartoon show), he does become helpful near the end of the movie when he works on the spell to cause the full moon to appear blue so that the time portal can be reopened. After reopening the portal, Brainy got the rest of the Smurfs to join him in New York to defeat Gargamel. He along with Gutsy, Grouchy, and Clumsy play along with Patrick Winslow on Guitar Hero and raps with Gutsy and Grouchy on the song "Walk This Way". After their return to the village, Brainy forms his own band called the Brainiacs, which ironically is one of the few times that he has ever been really popular with his fellow Smurfs.
The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol
In the animated feature "The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol", Brainy plays the role as the Smurf of Christmas Present, showing Grouchy what current effects his refusal to participate in the celebration of Christmas would have on his fellow Smurfs. Brainy noticeably displays a rather analytical approach to describing a problem not normally found with his character in any other interpretation.
The Smurfs 2
Brainy Smurf has a brief appearance in the early and late parts of The Smurfs 2, and was one of the three originally chosen by Papa Smurf to journey to modern-day Paris in order to rescue Smurfette from Gargamel (the other two were Hefty and Gutsy), but was accidentally left out as the smurfportation crystals used for traveling through time were instead ingested by Clumsy, Grouchy, and Vanity. Brainy disliked hearing Passive Aggressive Smurf's comment to Papa Smurf about him being chosen as one of the three travelers, saying that it wasn't a compliment.
The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow
In the animated feature The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow, Brainy is the many-times winner of the Smurfberry Hunt, which makes Gutsy jealous and desiring to figure out how he manages to win every year. By following Brainy across the wooden bridge to Smurfy Hollow, Gutsy discovers that Brainy has found a secret patch of smurfberries that he gets his smurfberries from. By making a Headless Horseman figure to cast a shadow with and by using his empty bucket to amplify his voice, Gutsy scared Brainy out of the smurfberry patch so he could collect enough to win that year's Smurfberry Hunt. However, Brainy in his flight ends up captured in one of Gargamel's traps, and with the other Smurfs now wondering why Brainy hasn't shown up at the conclusion of the contest, Gutsy and Smurfette set off into Smurfy Hollow to find Brainy, only to also be captured in traps set up by Gargamel. By working together, Brainy has Gutsy swing his cage into his own until they both broke apart, causing them to fall to the ground. When Gargamel came to see that Smurfette was captured in one of his traps, Brainy and Gutsy also worked together to get her safely out and away from the evil wizard. But just as Gargamel has the three of them cornered, the Headless Horseman shows up and chases after them, sending them toward the covered bridge which Brainy says the horseman cannot cross through. After safely escaping both the horseman and Gargamel, Brainy apologized to Gutsy for keeping the smurfberries all to himself and offered to give up the Smurfberry Hunt award to Gutsy, who in turn insisted that Brainy should have it, and they ended up fighting over who should get the award when it slipped out of their hands and landed around Lazy's neck, therefore declaring him to be the winner.
Brainy Smurf in the 2011 movie bonus A Christmas Carol
Trivia
- Before Grandpa Smurf, Nanny Smurf, and the "non-canonical" Narrator Smurf appeared, Brainy was the only Smurf who needed glasses.
- Despite Brainy being a very common character in the show, he is one of the most least liked Smurfs, basically the Butt Monkey of the village.
- Brainy, along with Papa Smurf and Hefty Smurf appeared in the 1990 drug prevention TV video, Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue.
- Danny Goldman reprised the role of Brainy Smurf for some adult-level "non-canonical" Smurf segments on Robot Chicken.
- Brainy's hair color is red, as indicated by the incredibly long beard he had grown from using a magical hair tonic in "Symbols Of Wisdom".
- Despite being so arrogant and self-centered, Brainy always wants and seek to be respected by the other Smurfs. He would go so far as to use magic to make himself strong to take back their food from Bigmouth, and also risking his life to save a wildcat to prove that he lives up to his word, only to lose consciousness after that.
- In the 2011 movie, Brainy Smurf is depicted with freckles. The only other Smurf, character depicted with freckles is Sassette in the comic books.
- Brainy Smurf was voiced by Fred Armesin, known for being on Saturday Night Live, in the live-action film.
- The only thing Smurfette hates about Brainy more than his endless speaking, is when all the other Smurfs are mean to him. This goes to show Smurfette is one of the few Smurfs who likes him more matter how much talking he does.
- The glass on Brainy's glasses is made from the magic sand of the Sandman.
- Brainy Smurfs gets sea sick easily.
- In the cartoon version, at least, although the Smurfs get really annoyed by Brainy and always throwing him out of the village, they still seem to care about him. Examples such as in "Smurfette's Sweet Tooth" when Brainy was turned into a candy statue, the Smurfs seemed concerned. Also in "Essence of Brainy", they ended up not liking the 'nicer, less annoying' Brainy, and they worked to get the old Brainy back. They love him, though that doesn't mean they have to like him.
- In the original French version of the comics, Brainy's name translates into "Smurf with Glasses". At the time, this name was more appropriate than his English name, as his "intelligence" was mostly in his mind and he was not really smart.