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"Waste Not, Smurf Not" is an episode that appeared in Season 2 of the Smurfs cartoon show.

Characters[]

Synopsis[]

Handy invents a machine that picks all of Farmer's crops and produces food - so many food that the Smurfs start to waste it.

Plot Summary[]

It is the end of a busy day for the Smurfs, several of whom are now tired from having fill up carts with smurfberries and lugging them back to the village. They all wish there was a faster and easier way to gather up food, which inspires Handy to come up with a new invention. All through the night, Handy is at work in his workshop building it, and by morning, he unveils the completed work before his fellow Smurfs, calling it the "smurfomatic picking machine". To demonstrate how it works, Handy turns the key to get it started, and soon it is going through Farmer's fields harvesting corn from the stalks and picking smurfberries right off the bushes. The Smurfs are astounded by this new machine, as also is Papa Smurf, who then says that Handy's machine is going to be very popular.

Later on, though, Greedy is working the tails off his fellow Smurfs Smurfette, Hefty, and Grouchy, trying to keep them one step ahead of the picking machine with his loads of cooking. But it is no use: the picking machine dumps a huge load of smurfberries into the kitchen that buries the four Smurfs in berries! Handy checks up on the Smurfs to see how his new picking machine is working with them, and they say that it's "a little too smurfy". Noticing the problem his fellow Smurfs are now having, Handy is inspired to build yet another machine, and all through the night Papa Smurf could hear the noise of Handy hard at work constructing that machine.

By morning, Handy is ready to unveil his latest labor of love: a "smurfomatic food processing complex" which will make food preparation much easier. To demonstrate how it works, Handy turns the key that gets the machine going, and soon the picking machine docks itself onto a platform which is then raised up to a funnel where it dumps its load of smurfberries. Shortly after, another automatic machine comes out of the food processor to deliver various prepared foods right on the doorstep of every Smurf's house! Every Smurf cheer at this new second invention, and Papa Smurf couldn't help heaping praise on Handy, who then says that from now on they will never have to work for their food again.

176795
Working for your food is hard work.
Smurfomatic Picking Machine
The smurfomatic picking machine is ready to work.
Food Processing Complex 1
Now a better way to make food...
Food Processing Complex 2
...and free delivery on top of that!

Later on, though, as Handy whistles the Smurf song while walking through the village, he finds himself splattered by a cake tossed out of Vanity's house. In fact, Vanity is tossing out a lot of food that seems to clash with how he looks, waiting for something that's more to his style. Greedy himself is also just going through food, taking a bite out of everything and then simply tossing it aside, never being able to decide what he should eat. Handy tries to tell him that he shouldn't be wasting food like that, but Greedy tries to assure Handy that there's no problem because there's still plenty of food.

But then, the automatic delivery machine starts going haywire, tossing food everywhere at everyone nearby. Handy climbs aboard and shuts down the machine, much to everyone's relief, though Brainy tries to take advantage of the situation by claiming he remained calm while everyone else panicked -- a claim that only gets him booted to the village limits. Despite the malfunction of the machine and the mess it made with food, all the other Smurfs simply laugh it off, not taking Handy's concern about wasting food very seriously. This is starting to make Papa Smurf see that his little Smurfs are developing bad habits about the use of food.

Then another problem comes along. The picking machine docks itself onto the platform of the food processing complex and now dumps only a single smurfberry into the funnel. He goes out into Farmer's fields and finds that his fellow Smurf's crops have been picked clean, including the smurfberry bushes, and that new crops won't appear for a few months. This makes Handy go visit his other fellow Smurfs such as Greedy and Vanity to warn them to keep whatever food they have handy, but unfortunately his warnings go unheeded, even with a group of Smurfs who are busy playing a new game called "foodball". He tries to get Papa Smurf to tell his little Smurfs about the food shortage problem, but even Papa Smurf seems to casually dismiss Handy's warnings, saying that he's getting worked up over nothing before he walks off.

Soon, the delivery machine is out making its rounds again, but this time it just goes by every Smurf's house, much to the surprise and consternation of the Smurfs who were expecting yet another food delivery. Hefty decides to take action and grabs hold of the motor key to the delivery machine. Soon it crashes into a Smurf house while other Smurfs gather around it, wondering why they haven't received their food. Brainy and Clumsy decide to take action themselves, going straight to the heart of the food processing machine itself, believing that it's the problem with the machine itself that's behind the non-delivery of their food and not a food shortage. However, as Brainy tries to turn something within the machine, it begins to fall apart, forcing him and Clumsy to immediately exit only to face Handy's anger. Soon, a single smurfberry drops out of the machine, making the Smurfs realize the seriousness of Handy's warnings, but also making them so desperate they fight over who should get the last smurfberry. In the middle of the fight, though, the smurfberry is turned to mush. Also, the food processing machine is now belching out smoke as it is getting ready to explode, making the other Smurfs run for cover before it does.

As Handy laments over all his hard work now being ruined, Papa Smurf appears with a solution of his own. Under the tarp we have seen earlier, the village leader reveals a pile of food that he has stored up that could feed the village for weeks. Papa Smurf has saved this for that moment because he wanted his little Smurfs to learn a lesson about the proper use of food, and that they should use Handy's inventions wisely. As they all agree with Papa Smurf's words of wisdom, the little Smurfs are now ready to gratefully dig in.

Locations[]

Trivia[]

  • A similar-themed story in the comic books, "You Don't Smurf Progress", extends this idea even further when Handy builds robotic machines that do all the work of the Smurfs for them -- until one of the machines becomes sentient enough to reprogram the other machines and have the Smurfs serve them instead.
  • Foodball might be a parody of baseball but with watermelons.

Goofs[]

  • Clumsy is nowhere to be seen after Handy shuts down the delivery machine.
  • Greedy is seen playing foodball with the other Smurfs, but Handy left him at his house seconds earlier.
  • Smurfette is heard when the Smurfs chant simultaneously when Papa Smurf reveals his secret stash of food, but she is not seen.

Videos[]

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