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"Sideshow Smurfs" is a Season 1 episode from the Smurfs cartoon show.

Characters[]

Locations[]

Synopsis[]

Smurfette and Clumsy are captured by a mean showmaster, and it's up to the Smurfs to rescue them.

Plot Summary[]

Sideshow Smurfs

Clumsy is just showing why he's... called by that name!

Out in the Smurf Forest, Clumsy is carrying a pile of logs and Smurfette is carrying some blossoms on a stem when she notices a patch of crysanthesmurfs along their path. She tries to grab some when Clumsy bumps into her, causing her to fall into a hole, and when Clumsy tries to find out where Smurfette went, he also falls down the same hole. When Smurfette wonders if there's way to get out of the hole, Clumsy tries to climb up the side to reach the opening but ends up falling back down. The only thing he feels that he and Smurfette can do at this point is yell for help. After a while, though, Smurfette believes that it's no use, that nobody is around that can hear them.

Then, they both hear something coming near the hole. Clumsy thinks it's Papa Smurf, but Smurfette says Papa Smurf doesn't growl. They look up to see the face of an angry dog looking down into the hole at the two Smurfs that are in it. Then as the dog tries to dig up his prey, a big man grabs the dog and pulls him away from the hole, asking if he's found a rabbit down a hole that he won't share with his master. The man reaches down into the hole and grabs the two Smurfs, wondering what these creatures are that he sees.

After Clumsy and Smurfette introduce themselves, the man who calls himself Bombast is fascinated by them that he thinks they could make him a fortune as part of his traveling show. Smurfette tries to tell Bombast that neither she nor Clumsy can do tricks (even though Clumsy tries to do a cartwheel), but Bombast tells Smurfette that he has trained his dog Bluster and he will be able to do wonders with her and Clumsy. After Bombast locks them away in a cage and gets his wagon to move onward, Smurfette picks some flowers and starts pulling petals from it in order to leave a trail for Papa Smurf to find them, but Bombast eventually finds out what Smurfette is doing and crushes the flowers underneath his feet so that nobody can find her.

At night, the Smurfs are out in the forest trying to find Clumsy and Smurfette when Hefty comes across giant footprints and Jokey notices wagon tracks. Papa Smurf realizes that these were made by a human and that Clumsy and Smurfette have been "smurfnapped", so they must follow the trail wherever it leads. Along the wagon trail they find the crushed flowers and a bunch of other wagon tracks, which makes the other Smurfs wonder which tracks they will follow now. Papa Smurf sees that the wagon tracks on this road lead to a human village, a place of many dangers, which is where they must go.

Sideshow Smurfs 2

Bombast is trying to teach the Smurfs a trick.

The next day, Bombast has pulled over to a spot on the road where he uses a whip to train his captive Smurfs into doing tricks for him. During a practice where Clumsy tries to catch fruit that Smurfette throws to him, presumably to juggle, the fruit goes splat on Bluster's face, making him angry enough to growl at the Smurfs. Bombast whips his dog, warning him not to endanger his stars, and has him fearfully back away. Smurfette tries to get Bombast to ease up on them, but he is too eager to have her and Clumsy be ready to perform for the public and tells her that they will just have to keep training until he finds something they are both good at.

As the Smurfs continue following the wagon trail to the human village, Bombast has already entered it, telling his mule to go faster because every second that's wasted is money lost. Smurfette notices how big everything in the human village is, and Clumsy is wondering how Papa Smurf will ever find them in such a place. Soon the other Smurfs have reached the village and are now hiding themselves in an alley. Papa Smurf goes to scout out the territory when he finds himself running for cover while avoiding a wagon wheel. Greedy says there are so many wagons that they will not know which one to even look for. Papa Smurf says they will just have to look at all of them, and so they start out to find the wagon that has Smurfette and Clumsy in it when they get hit from behind by a deluge of water poured out of a barrel. The Smurfs are lucky to have survived the deluge, but then they notice Grouchy is missing... until Grouchy pops his head, saying, "I hate crowds.".

At Bombast's wagon, the show master returns with an armful of posters with Clumsy and Smurfette's likeness of them, saying that these will attract people to watch his new performers... something that makes Bluster rather angry and jealous at his master. Bombast tells his dog to watch over his new stars and pronounces woe unto his pet if any harm should befall them. Bombast passes by Papa Smurf and his group of Smurfs hiding behind a barrel as he goes to hang his posters around town.

Sideshow Smurfs 3

Bluster is fondly looking at the days when he was the star attraction.

Back at the wagon, Bluster sighs as he looks at his poster, remembering when he was the star attraction, while Clumsy tries to push Smurfette through the cage bars but is unable to slip her through it. Smurfette then says it's no use, and Clumsy says that Bluster would certainly be glad if they were gone, which gives Smurfette an idea. They both speak about how Bluster could be the star of the show if he could let those two Smurfs go, and this entices Bluster to open the cage for them to jump out and escape.

Bluster then practices for his moment of stardom while Clumsy and Smurfette try to run as far from Bombast as they can, but they get no further when they run into him hanging up posters. They try to hide by jumping into a sack, but the sack contains nails that hurt them, and what's worse is that it is Bombast's sack of nails, which he picks up and carries with him. Meanwhile, the other Smurfs are beginning to wonder if they will ever find Clumsy and Smurfette again, to which Papa Smurf says he is sure they will find them... at least he thinks.

Back at the wagon, Bombast scolds his dog for letting his two stars escape and threatens to do something to him so that fleas won't even bite him. Then Bluster notices Clumsy and Smurfette peeking their heads out of his master's nail sack as they quickly take off. Bombast tells his dog to chase after them, which he does until the two Smurfs lure him around a mule that kicks the dog back toward his master. Smurfette continues to make a run for it until she notices that Clumsy is just standing there laughing at the dog and his master, then she runs back and tries to get him to run as well. But quickly Bombast catches them and tells his two captives that the show must go on.

Then, rain starts to pour on the human village, and while it rains, Gargamel and Azrael are taking a walk through it, with Gargamel glad that such gloomy days keep the peasants away. However, Bombast is upset that it has to rain on his performance day because nobody will be out to watch it... and then he notices Gargamel walking through the village. Clumsy and Smurfette recognize the evil wizard as he in turn recognizes them on the show master's stage.

Sideshow Smurfs 4

Gargamel wants to get his hands on the stars of the show.

Bombast tries to get his performers to get over their stage fright so they can perform their best, but as he opens the curtains to present the show being started, his audience of one is gone... but Clumsy and Smurfette see that the wizard has gone backstage to capture the two Smurfs. He doesn't get far with them, though, when Bluster waits outside to growl at the star-stealer, and neither does he get past Bombast when he runs into him, accusing the wizard of trying to get a free show.

Papa Smurf and his group of Smurfs, in the meantime, barely escape an avalanche of fruit pouring out of a wagon that Greedy tries to search through and are now ready to give up the search for Clumsy and Smurfette when they hear Bombast dealing with Gargamel trying to view his "little blue pets" without paying the price. Papa Smurf realizes that Bombast has the Smurfs they're looking for, so they sneak their way toward his wagon while Gargamel tries to negotiate a price for the two Smurfs, which Bombast isn't interested in selling. Then Gargamel sneaks behind a wagon and blows a bit of dust inside it that causes Clumsy and Smurfette to fall asleep so that Bombast would be more willing to sell them now that they can't perform.

Soon, Bombast has a crowd of people gathered around his wagon, and he is about to start the show with his two Smurfs as the performers. But after he opens the curtains, the crowd boos when he notices that his performers have fallen asleep. Gargamel then shows up to again offer a price on the Smurfs, but Bombast suspects trickery on Gargamel's part and takes him backstage to deal with him. Meanwhile, Papa Smurf leads his group of Smurfs into Bombast's wagon to carry Clumsy and Smurfette out of there and escape with them. Bombast pounds Gargamel's head into the ground repeatedly while Azrael is being chased around by Bluster. Then a little later on, Bombast presents to his crowd Gargamel and Azrael as his latest performers, but his latest act is so bad that the crowd not only hits the performers with tomatoes but also the show master himself.

Upon being revived, Smurfette is glad to see Papa Smurf again, and Clumsy is glad to be out of the show business, while Handy watches Gargamel being pelted by tomatoes, wishing that he was out of the show business. Soon, as the Smurfs make their way back to their village, they hear a dog barking from behind them that makes them hide out in a log for safety. Then they see that it is Bombast and Bluster chasing after Gargamel and Azrael, threatening to get payment from their hides. As the Smurfs cheer while watching Gargamel getting his just dessert, Papa Smurf says that all good shows need a happy ending.

Trivia[]

  • The comic book story "The Jewel Smurfer" has Jokey be the Smurf who was taken by a couple of show masters and be the star entertainer, though he was also forced to steal.
  • This is one of the few episodes before Season 9 that doesn't feature the Smurf Village.

Goofs[]

  • When the Smurfs are returning home after saving Clumsy and Smurfette, Smurfette is missing when Papa hears Bombast, Bluster, Gargamel, and Azrael coming their way, but after it cuts to them and back to the Smurfs, she reappears. Also, Papa says to hide behind the log, but after it cuts to Bombast, Bluster, Gargamel, and Azrael then back to the Smurfs, they're inside the log.

Videos[]

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