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"Can't Smurf The Music" is a Season 6 episode from the Smurfs cartoon show.

Characters[]

Synopsis[]

Chlorhydris makes all music disappear.

Plot Summary[]

It is another fine day in the Smurf Village, and as we hear the smurfberry bird in the branches overlooking the village singing the Smurf song, Handy also whistles the song while working on fixing a roof, Greedy sings the song while working in the kitchen, and Hefty, Farmer, and Miner sing the song while bringing in the vegetables. Greedy sees that his fellow Smurfs could use a bit of refreshment after doing some hard work, and as they take their glasses of lemonade, Farmer gulps some down and says there's nothing like a happy song and a good glass of lemonade to "smurfen up the day", a sentiment shared by all four Smurfs as they raise their glasses together. Out in the forest, Slouchy is alone with Puppy composing a song that he hopes to sing with his fellow Smurflings at the Spring Festival to let the other Smurfs know about how he feels when it comes to being a Smurf.

Just Blowing Music Notes

Can't hear the music? Neither can Harmony, but you can see it.

As the Smurflings start their practice and the smurfberry bird continues to sing her happy song, Chlorhydris the witch is riding through the forest in her carriage, just having attended the International Hate Convention, which she says has been an inspiration for her to finally rid the world of all love. Then suddenly her ears are assaulted by the sound of Smurfs all singing the Smurf song together, which makes her tell her driver Reeves to go faster. She soon rides out of earshot of the song, which makes her feel relaxed again, only for her mood to be disquieted by Slouchy practicing his song with the Smurflings. Even the smurfberry bird singing her song outside her castle drives her to shutting all her windows closed to make sure none of the happy music would ever penetrate her walls.

Disgusted with all the happiness being conveyed through music being heard in the world, Chlorhydris looks through her spell books to find a way to rid the world of all its music and finds just the spell she is looking for. She goes into her closet to pull out her Uncle Herbert's horn, then outside her castle she recites an incantation while pouring a magic formula into the horn so that it would suck all the music from the world and contain it inside itself forever. As soon as the spell is cast, the smurfberry bird finds that the sound of her song is gone, replaced by musical notes that just get sucked into the horn. Chlorhydris could soon see (and hear) that her musical syphoning spell has worked.

In the Smurf Village, Harmony tries to play his horn, but soon only musical notes come out of his horn with no sound. Handy's whistling music also produces the same effect, as does the Smurflings playing their music outside the village. The Smurfs all gather outside Papa Smurf's house and tell him that all the music is gone, that the only thing they can produce are musical notes with no sound. Papa Smurf realizes that someone must have cast a very evil spell to remove the sound of music from the world, and so he has Harmony play his horn so he can follow where the musical notes are heading to. As Papa Smurf, Harmony, and Miner leave the village to follow the musical notes, the Smurflings arrive to tell the Smurfs the same news they have already discovered. With the village now silent without even music in the episode's soundtrack, and Greedy unable to make dinner because he couldn't whistle while he works, Slouchy goes with Puppy to find out where all the music in the world is going to.

The Magic Horn

Most horns produce music... this one steals it.

Papa Smurf's journey with Harmony and Miner leads the three of them to a horn outside of Chlorhydris' castle where they see (and hear) all the music in the world being sucked into. Papa Smurf briefly touches the horn, which causes him to be zapped back by a magical force protecting it. He realizes that a magic spell is at work with the horn, and so they climb up the tower into the evil witch's observatory, where she is busy happily observing how all the joy and love in the world has been removed. The three Smurfs see that she isn't in her study, and so Papa Smurf sneaks in to look through her spell book to find the spell used to steal all the music in the world. He finds out from the spell book that music is the key to defeating the spell, but as Harmony wonders how they could defeat the spell with all the music gone, Chlorhydris appears in her study and captures Papa Smurf and Harmony before they could get away.

Out in the forest, Slouchy runs into Laconia the wood elf, who is busy collecting pollen from the flowers when she ducks a series of flying musical notes being produced from Slouchy's horn. The young Smurfling explains the dire situation to Laconia, who then tells him through sign language that not all the music in the world has been stolen, and that there's still music inside him. Laconia has Slouchy close his eyes and imagine singing his song, and as he does, he hears his own music being played in his head. The problem, though, is getting the other Smurflings to hear the same song, to which Laconia suggests that he should sing the song in sign language. Slouchy is eager for Laconia to teach him how, but then he sees Miner rushing by him, eager to get to the village, so he and Laconia follow after him instead. He arrives in the village to tell the others that Papa Smurf and Harmony have been captured and that music is the only way they can defeat the evil music-syphoning spell, but Slouchy and Laconia arrive soon after to tell how they can play music in a music-less world.

In Chlorhydris' castle, the evil witch listens and enjoys what she hears: a world that is dead silent because it has no music. Papa Smurf asks if she thinks she can make the spell last forever, and she says she can. When he tells her that music is too powerful even for her to stop, Chlorhydris decides to put an end to Papa Smurf's voice of reason for good and opens up a flaming pit to lower the cage that he and Harmony were put into, to give her adversary a "farewell toast". But then she hears music coming from outside her castle and sees that the Smurfs are there next to the horn singing without using their voices, which they say is singing through sign language. Chlorhydris mocks their efforts, saying that she has stolen all the music from the world. Slouchy counters this by saying she stole only the music that can be heard, not the music that is inside everyone. The evil witch tries to increase the power of the music-syphoning spell, but the Smurfs continue their sign-language singing until the horn eventually breaks, releasing all the music contained within it. With the release of all music, the Smurfs then break into singing the Smurf song, which drives Chlorhydris to the brink of madness, rushing out of the room so as not to hear it. With the evil witch out of the way, Papa Smurf and Harmony are freed from their cage.

Back in the village, the Smurfs all gather at the Smurf Theatre to hear Slouchy and the Smurflings play their song together. Before starting, Slouchy says that even if all the music is gone, he's glad that he still has music inside of him that will always be there no matter what. And so, the story ends with this song: "I sing of a place that is happy and free, where we all live together in one family, where we work for each other and each does their part, where the love that's between us comes straight from the heart. And there's no other place I want to be on the Earth than the place that I live in the home of the Smurf.".

Trivia[]

  • This episode is a noteworthy example of the TV Tropes' Playing Against Type trope for voice actress Amanda McBroom, a singer and songwriter whose character Chlorhydris hates and despises music.
  • The episode’s title is a reference to the song, Can’t Stop The Music by disco group Village People.
  • The syndicated version cuts out the scene where the Smurfs impatiently wait for Greedy to make dinner, only to find out he can't concentrate without whistling.
  • True to the spell casted by Chlorhydris, there is no music soundtrack in the parts of the episode where music has been taken away.
  • This is the only time Puppy and Chlorhydris appear in the same episode.
    • This is the also the only time Puppy and Laconia appear in the same episode.

Goofs[]

  • When Greedy offers lemonade to the Smurfs, he is the size of a Smurfling.
  • In the first shot where the Smurfs gather around for Smurf Theatre, there is a Smurf whose face is uncolored for a couple split seconds.

Videos[]

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