"Tailor's Magic Needle" is a Season 4 episode from the Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters[]
- Tailor Smurf
- Brainy Smurf
- Papa Smurf
- Harmony Smurf
- Clumsy Smurf
- Baby Smurf
- Smurfette
- Jokey Smurf
- Vanity Smurf
- Lazy Smurf
- Grouchy Smurf
- Greedy Smurf
- Handy Smurf
- Hefty Smurf (Does not speak)
- Painter Smurf (Does not speak)
- Farmer Smurf (Does not speak)
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis[]
Tailor and Brainy enchant Tailor's needle to make him work faster, but it looks like Tailor will lose his job because of that needle.
Plot Summary[]
It's "sew" easy to fall in love with a magic needle doing your work... at first.
Harmony summons every Smurf together for an announcement that Tailor is now taking orders for new spring outfits, which makes every Smurf cheer even as Tailor says he'll have them ready next week for his first annual fashion show. Brainy shows up as the first customer, asking for something that will make him look wiser, if that is possible. Clumsy shows up with Baby Smurf, asking for something that will keep the little infant drier. Tailor promises Baby Smurf that he put "tender smurfing care" into every stitch.
And soon, Tailor is at work as he starts stitching up the new outfits and singing happily along as he stitches. Eventually, though, his singing reveals that he's getting tired of being the only Smurf doing a job for a hundred Smurfs and that he only has a few pants finished. He goes outside his shop to find someone who can help him since Papa Smurf isn't in the village, and Brainy happens to appear at his door to offer a solution. He and Tailor go into Papa Smurf's laboratory and look through one of his spell books for a magical solution to Tailor's problem, finding it in a spell for The Magic Needle. Tailor isn't so sure about this, but Brainy simply says to trust him. And so, while standing on top of a rock and holding up a pin cushion with a needle in it, Tailor recites the magic words of the spell, and soon with a lightning bolt, the needle becomes big and starts singing "Sew, sew, sew" as it moves itself through the air. Brainy is now ecstatic that he has given an inanimate object life and is now ready to put the magic needle to the test.
The Smurfs all gather before Brainy and Tailor as he presents the magic needle that will do all the work of sewing for all the Smurfs in less time. Greedy asks Tailor for a new apron, and so Brainy holds up a sheet and tells the magic needle to "Sew, sew, sew", and so the magic needle sews up a new apron for Greedy, who is amazed that it can sew faster than he can eat. After making some more aprons for Greedy, the magic needle helps Tailor sew up new diapers for Baby Smurf when Smurfette shows up with a dress that needs hemming. Tailor says that he can have it ready by that afternoon, but Smurfette decides to have the magic needle do the sewing for her, and so the needle does a quick and proficient hemming job that pleases Smurfette, thanking Tailor for letting her use it. Tailor tells the magic needle about its special care on every stitch that makes the difference. Handy then pays a visit with a pair of work gloves in need of mending. Handy is pleased with this and leaves, thanking Tailor. Starting to feel left out, Tailor says, "Why thank me? I didn't do anything!". Then Brainy shows up with a stack of books, saying that he needs 100 book covers sewn up for the hardback copy of Brainy's Home Journal. Tailor guesses that Brainy also wants to use the magic needle for the job, and Brainy says that he does, adding that with the magic needle Tailor will never have to work again. This makes Tailor so mad that he throws Brainy out of the village along with his stack of books.
Soon, Tailor has Harmony summon every Smurf together to announce that there will be a sew-off to prove that he can work just as fast as the magic needle, a claim that Brainy scoffs at. With Jokey using one of his surprises as the starting gun, Tailor starts work on sewing up a new pair of pants while the magic needle also starts the same work. After a while and another of Jokey's surprises to signal the end of the sew-off, Tailor has finished sewing up a single pair of pants, but Brainy shows that the magic needle has sewn up dozens in the time it took Tailor to sew up one. The village clothes maker is now in tears as Brainy announces the magic needle to be the tailor of the future.
Tailor sits alone in his workshop, lamenting his obsolescence in the face of progress, and thinks that he should take up a new hobby like needlepoint when Clumsy comes in carrying Baby Smurf, who is crying. Clumsy says that Baby Smurf has been crying ever since he's been wearing the new diapers made by the magic needle. Tailor offers to dress Baby Smurf in a Tailor-made diaper, and soon he is no longer crying. Tailor is glad to know that Baby Smurf knows the difference.
It takes a pain in the butt to know one.
Tailor goes to Brainy about reversing the spell of the magic needle, which Brainy objects to, saying that would mean Tailor would have to work again. But Tailor insists that he wants to work again, and Brainy sighs and offers to help, saying that Tailor will be sorry. With Tailor standing on the rock, holding the pin cushion with the magic needle in it, Brainy says that to reverse the spell, he needs to recite the magic words backwards. Tailor gives it a try, and soon a lightning bolt strikes, but instead of the needle becoming inanimate again, it turns red and shrieks "Needle, needle, needle" and zips around the laboratory, pricking Brainy in the butt. Brainy gets chased and grabs a book to reverse the spell only for the needle to unstitch it. The needle then causes chaos in the village, such as setting off a few joke presents all over Jokey, who angrily says "Not funny, magic needle, not funny!", then stitching a sleeping Lazy in bed, much to Lazy's delight in sleeping. Then it goes into a Smurf's house and unstitches all the Smurf's clothes, causing them to run outside wearing barrels. The needle unstitches the roof of another Smurf's house, causing it to split and fall apart.
Papa Smurf comes into the village with his travel bag when he ducks out of the way of the magic needle as it zooms past him. As Papa Smurf wonders what that was, Brainy meets up with him and says he can explain everything when Harmony comes along to warn them that the needle is heading toward the dam. They rush there to see that the needle is now poking holes in the dam, causing water to leak. Papa Smurf has an idea and asks Tailor for his brightest piece of cloth with which they can lure the needle into a haystack, something that he says is the only way they can rid the magic needle of its power. Tailor then brings the cloth with him as he, Papa Smurf, and Brainy head to a nearby farm to lure the needle into a haystack. As they get closer to the haystack, the needle stitches Brainy and Papa Smurf into the ground, leaving Tailor as the only Smurf who can dive into the haystack with the needle following him in. Papa Smurf then recites the magic words to make the needle inanimate again, and soon Tailor pops out, saying that he must be the first Smurf to find a needle in a haystack.
Later on, the fashion show takes place with the Smurfs gathered around the Smurf Theater to see Tailor's new spring fashions for his fellow Smurfs, with Jokey, Lazy, and Baby Smurf being his models. Although to us the clothes don't look any different from what they normally wear, the Smurfs all cheer with Brainy saying that Tailor has really outdone himself this time, and Smurfette agrees, saying that nothing can compare to Tailor's "tender smurfing care". Of course, Jokey has to needle the audience by making the Smurfs think that the magic needle has returned to life with his cries of "Needle, needle, needle", which the audience rewards him with a pie in the face.
Trivia[]
- Many foreign DVD releases carry the syndicated Smurfs Adventures repackaging of this episode, as opposed to the rest of the episodes, which were uncut, although this episode has also used the modified intro and credits for foreign markets.
- In the syndicated version, three scenes were shortened with a total of 79 seconds, making this the shortest episode.
- The scene where Handy comes in for his work gloves to be mended was cut.
- It also cuts the scene where the Magic Needle attacks Brainy while trying to reverse the spell, only for the needle to destroy the spell book, then attacking Jokey making his joke presents explode all over him, then sewing up a blanket on the bed with Lazy in it.
- The last scene cuts during the fashion show where Tailor presents Lazy, who was being supported by Hefty, followed by Vanity saying, "What a daring new look!".
Videos[]
