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"Flighty's Plight" is a Season 7 episode from the Smurfs cartoon show.

Characters[]

Synopsis[]

While teaching Flighty about making decisions, Brainy, Hefty, and Sassette get captured by Balthazar, so Flighty must make a right decision and save them.

Plot Summary[]

In the Smurf Village, the Smurfs are having fun kicking around a smurfball. Sassette then kicks the ball to Flighty and tells him to pass it to Brainy, but Flighty just stands there and ponders whether he should kick the ball to Brainy or not. Brainy gets impatient waiting for Flighty to kick the ball, and the appearances of Angel and Devil Smurf do not help much at all, even as the two find it very difficult for Flighty to make up his mind to have any influence over him. Sassette gets so upset with Flighty that she asks him why he didn't kick the ball, but when Flighty tries to explain himself, Sassette just walks away, not wanting to listen to his answer.

Flighty then walks off, saying to himself that it would be easier if he could make up his mind. Brainy conveniently overhears this and offers to help Flighty by taking him through a three-step program on how he could make fast decisions. In the first step, Brainy offers Flighty two books from his bookshelf and asks his fellow Smurf which one of the books he's going to read first. Flighty thinks the book in his right hand might be good and then thinks the book in his left hand might be good also. Brainy then tells Flighty that both books are good choices because they are both written by him.

For the second step, Brainy takes Flighty into a maze that was constructed in order for him to find his way to the exit. All throughout the day and into the night Flighty takes his time trying to figure out which way he wants to go, and this gets to the point where Handy suggests Brainy should go in and find him. Brainy goes into the maze to try finding where Flighty is and ends up getting so lost that he bangs on the maze walls for help, not realizing that Flighty is standing on the other side of the wall around the corner. Baby Smurf then goes into the maze and successfully comes back out with Brainy and Flighty following him, with Brainy saying that the maze is so easy that even a baby can go through it. Hefty, who at this point had joined Handy outside the maze waiting for Brainy and Flighty to come out of the maze, thinks that a better way for Flighty to make a fast decision is to put him in a pressure situation, and that would mean having him undergo a survival course, which is something Brainy says is the fourth step of his "three-step program".

Meanwhile, in Gargamel's castle, the evil wizard is not only starving but also freezing as Scruple scrounges around for the last piece of coal to heat the place, with Scruple pointing out that his master is behind on his bills. This makes Gargamel so mad that he pounds on the table in frustration, but in doing so he causes the last potato to fly off his plate and be eaten by Azrael. Scruple decides that he's going to pack up and go elsewhere, possibly to Gargamel's godfather Lord Balthazar, which makes the evil wizard think it's a brilliant idea, if only because by working for Balthazar, his pupil will really be working for him.

Out in the Smurf Forest, Brainy and Hefty take Flighty to a place far enough from the village where his survival course will start. Brainy explains that Flighty's goal is to find his way back to the village, which Hefty says will teach him to make decisions once and for all. Hefty tells Flighty that all he has to do is "follow the stars", but after Hefty, Brainy, and Sassette leave him alone in the forest at night, Flighty just stares up in the sky and wonders which star he should follow. Fortunately, the other three Smurfs haven't gone too far from Flighty, with Hefty saying that they should keep an eye on him regardless.

Outside Lord Balthazar's castle, Scruple prepares for his undercover job as a poor peasant cleaner looking for shelter. Gargamel tells his pupil that the gold-making formula is located in Balthazar's spell room in a big gold book. Scruple reminds Gargamel of the deal they made, that he gets half the gold. Soon the young apprentice knocks on Balthazar's door, which is answered by the evil sorcerer who looks down in scorn on the ragged peasant pleading for shelter and who starts work cleaning his castle. Balthazar reluctantly allows Scruple to do his work in the castle, and Scruple is so pleased to have gained entry that he's already thinking of sleeping on satin pillows once he finds the gold-making formula.

Meanwhile, Flighty is still undergoing his survival course when he hears the sound of thunder, realizing that it's probably best not to be out in the open in case lightning strikes. He finds himself outside Lord Balthazar's castle and sees that, though the place looks dangerous, it's probably the only safe place he could be instead of being out in the forest during a thunderstorm. Hefty, Brainy, and Sassette see that Flighty is making decisions, but ones that are leading him to danger instead of safety, and so they follow him across the drawbridge into the castle in order to find him and get him safely out. As the three Smurfs hide and watch Lord Balthazar seal the front entrance door shut, saying that he loves thunderstorms, they soon see Flighty and carefully go after him.

Elsewhere in the castle, Scruple has made his way into Lord Balthazar's spell room, saying that he can't keep cleaning forever, when he sees the big gold book that Gargamel says contains the gold-making formula. But no sooner does he pull it off the shelf that Lord Balthazar catches the young cleaner, asking him what he's doing with the big gold book. Scruple innocently answers that he was just trying to clean it, but fortunately a knock on the front entrance door saves the boy from any further explanations. He sees an old lady with a broom outside the castle and slams the door on her, saying that he doesn't want any, but soon finds out that it's Gargamel disguising himself to see how his pupil was doing in finding the gold-making formula. Scruple shoos Gargamel away in order to keep his master from giving him away.

Meanwhile, Hefty, Brainy, and Sassette are still sneaking through the castle in search of Flighty, with Brainy saying that they haven't run into any trouble yet. But speak of the devil, Scruple appears and scoops up the three Smurfs inside a sack. He heads into Lord Balthazar's study just as the evil sorcerer gets fed up with a worthless crystal ball that was claimed to give its user the ability to see the future and shows the Smurfs he has captured. Lord Balthazar sees the Smurfs as worthless and orders Scruple to throw them out, but Scruple tries to convince Balthazar that the Smurfs sometimes can tell the future, though only when they're energized by lightning. Lord Balthazar then takes the sack of Smurfs from Scruple's hands, saying that he will take them to the observation tower where they will be closer to the lightning. Scruple sees that Balthazar has bought the story, which gives him time to go back to the spell room and grab the big gold book.

As Scruple runs off with the book, Flighty is still looking for a way out of the castle when he sees the young boy approaching and hides under a carpet to avoid being seen. But then Lord Balthazar comes around, and Scruple hides the book under his cloak as the evil sorcerer tells him that he has the Smurfs secure in the tower and that at any time they should be struck by lightning. After Lord Balthazar sees the young apprentice out through the front entrance, Flighty realizes that he has a decision to make: to save his friends and risk getting caught, or to save himself and lose his friends. Angel and Devil Smurf also show up to help Flighty make a decision, and Angel's reasoning wins out over Devil's in that Flighty finally makes the right decision.

Outside the castle, Gargamel meets up with Scruple and is pleased that his young apprentice got his hands on the gold-making formula. But when Gargamel hears that Scruple gave Lord Balthazar a bag of Smurfs in order to get his hands on the book, the evil wizard becomes less than pleased, saying that Smurfs are worth more to him than a bag of gold. As Gargamel drags Scruple back toward the castle entrance with the young boy still holding the book, Lord Balthazar hoists up the sack of Smurfs to the top of the tower where they will be in perfect position to be struck by lightning.

Soon, however, his attention is diverted to a bit of noise outside the tower, and as he opens the door to see what that noise is, Flighty sneaks in through and sees his fellow Smurfs in danger. Lord Balthazar collides with two walking suits of armor, and in them were Gargamel and Scruple, trying to sneak their way back in. As the evil sorcerer throws the two trespassers out of his castle for his moat monster to deal with, Flighty climbs up the chain to get his fellow Smurfs out of the sack. Lord Balthazar returns to the tower and sees that one Smurf climbing the chain, saying to himself that with him he'll see ever further into the future. As he climbs up the chain to capture that Smurf, Flighty loses his fellow Smurfs from the sack, and the four of them use the sack as a parachute to glide safely down before lightning strikes the chain and shocks Lord Balthazar, giving the four Smurfs time to escape.

Meanwhile, outside the castle, Gargamel and Scruple climb out of the moat, with the evil wizard being glad that at least he has the gold-making formula in the big gold book. Both the master and his apprentice fight over who should have ownership of the book, but as the book drops out of their hands and opens to a page, they see that the gold-making formula is gone, with Scruple saying it's too bad that the formula wasn't written in waterproof ink. This makes Gargamel so mad that he bangs his head with the book in frustration, saying that he hates the Smurfs.

Trivia[]

  • This is the only Season 7 episode not to feature Papa Smurf.

Videos[]

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