"Soup A La Smurf" was an episode that appeared in Season 1 of the Smurfs cartoon show.
Summary
As Brainy and a group of Smurfs go off into the forest to pick smurfberries, being careful not to make any noises around Gargamel's castle, some mysterious thing goes stomping around in the woods, scaring animals and also making the group of Smurfs rather jittery and curious as they see his shadow passing by. This mystery being is headed straight for Gargamel's hovel, the man who is busy trying to perfect his "Smurficide formula" when Azrael alerts him to whatever it is outside that's scaring him. Gargamel angrily chases his cat for disrupting him when he runs into the mysterious being who's bigger than he is -- the ogre named Bigmouth, who's looking for food and wants it now.
The Smurfs try to keep Bigmouth entertained and occupied while Papa Smurf works on something for the Soup A La Smurf
Gargamel tries to feed him with what little he has stored away, but Bigmouth is still hungry -- hungry enough to eat even Azrael. It is then Gargamel decides to take advantage of this ogre's unceasing appetite by offering to make him a dish called "soup a la Smurf", which peaks Bigmouth's interest, and which makes the group of spying Smurfs nervous enough to inform Papa Smurf about this. Upon their return, they told the village about the big ogre who's coming to their village with Gargamel to make soup out of Smurfs, which makes all the other Smurfs fearful until Papa Smurf assures them that nobody else can find their village.
Out in the forest, Gargamel vainly tries to lead Bigmouth to the Smurf Village when he finds out Bigmouth has gone off without him. Meanwhile, Bigmouth spies Smurfette flying overhead on Feathers the crane and decides to follow her to the village. Upon her return to the village, Smurfette's report of the ogre makes the other Smurfs panic, but Papa Smurf tells them to stand their ground, that they will greet the giant with a celebration.
Soon Bigmouth enters the village and picks up Papa Smurf, ready to have him be the first to fill his stomach, when Papa Smurf happily greets him by promising him "soup a la Smurf". While he tells some of the Smurfs to get the big pot ready, Papa Smurf treats Bigmouth to some dinner music by the village symphony orchestra to keep him entertained while he "prepares" the soup for the ogre. Soon, with Bigmouth distracted, Papa Smurf goes into his laboratory to work on a way to keep his Smurfs from becoming the main course! However, the music doesn't distract Bigmouth for very long, as Smurfette tells Papa Smurf. So Papa Smurf has Greedy bake as many goodies as he possibly can while also getting Poet to recite his poetry to Bigmouth. Still Bigmouth cries that he's hungry, so Jokey offers the ogre one of his "surprises" that he ends up eating, only for it to explode in his gullet. All Bigmouth could say is that it's too spicy.
As the Smurfs continue to try keeping Bigmouth distracted long enough for Papa Smurf to work on his formula, Gargamel and Azrael continue to try finding the village on their own, even going as far as climbing up a steep rocky incline and even traveling through a dark cave in the hopes of reaching it. But the distractions are wearing down Bigmouth's patience as well as that of the Smurfs, which leads Papa Smurf to that decision he doesn't want to make: it's time to prepare the "soup a la Smurf"!
In his laboratory, Papa Smurf tells his little Smurfs that, when the water starts to boil, they'll all jump in. Thinking the village leader must be beside himself, they all flee until Papa Smurf calls them back, telling them that he has a special formula that will protect them from the heat, which he then sprinkles on the Smurfs. Soon, in front of a very impatient Bigmouth ready to smash down their village, Papa Smurf gets the water boiling and adds the vegetables and spices as well as the main ingredient: five healthy Smurfs. Those five Smurfs jump in and float around in the soup for a while, protected from the heat by Papa Smurf's special formula, but the soup isn't ready yet. Papa Smurf has Bigmouth go out into the woods to get more firewood to make the soup hotter, and while the ogre goes to get the firewood, the five Smurfs in the soup pot jump out while Hefty dumps a pile of Smurf clothes into the soup and Greedy stirs the pot.
One of the hazards of eating Soup A La Smurf
Soon the soup is ready, and Papa Smurf has Smurfette call Bigmouth back to the village. He returns with the firewood and digests the soup the Smurfs made for him. He says that the soup is too salty, but that's the least of Bigmouth's problems with the soup: it also changes Bigmouth into an uglier ogre with blue skin. Papa Smurf tells Bigmouth that it's a natural reaction to anyone who eats "soup a la Smurf" -- something that Gargamel has failed to tell him. And speaking of Gargamel, he finally finds the village and starts chasing after the Smurfs, but Bigmouth stops him from doing so, wanting Gargamel to make him an antidote to make him handsome again. Gargamel tries to tell Bigmouth that he doesn't have an antidote for "soup a la Smurf", though the Smurfs say that he does, which makes Bigmouth pound Gargamel's head into the ground until the evil wizard finally relents.
Returning to his castle with the Smurfs following, Gargamel tries several different formulas to restore Bigmouth to normal, but each of his tries only makes Bigmouth go from one hideous form to another -- making Bigmouth increasingly mad at Gargamel and making the Smurfs laugh. Finally, Papa Smurf offers a simple solution to Bigmouth -- eating a sarsaparilla leaf. This makes Bigmouth return to his normal appearance, and now that he is back to normal, he turns his attention (and his hunger) on the evil wizard whom he chases out into the forest. Greedy then starts to wonder what "soup a la Gargamel" tastes like, to which Smurfette suggests that it would probably taste greasy, making the other Smurfs laugh.
Background Information
- This episode would also appear as a European Smurf comic book story. It also marks the first appearance of Bigmouth the ogre.