An Animated Adaptation of The Smurfs comic book story of the same name (original French title Le Schtroumpfissime).
In the story, Papa Smurf goes off to find some rare wrinkle root and leaves his little Smurfs to take care of the village dam while he's gone. Brainy takes it upon himself to be the leader of the entire village, but when his direct approach fails to get his fellow Smurfs to follow him without question, he resorts to using Harmony as his official herald and Hefty as his captain of the guard, declaring himself to be "King Smurf".
Soon he has a palace built for himself for all to admire and pay him the proper respect, though only Harmony stays around to praise Brainy with "Long live King Smurf". When Jokey plays one of his "surprise" pranks on Hefty, he gets sent before King Smurf, who after being pranked by Jokey sends him into prison, causing the other Smurfs to revolt and break him out of prison before fleeing into the forest in the middle of the night.
Fearing that the rebel Smurfs would gather more allies to overthrow him, King Smurf orders the other Smurfs in the village to build a high fence around it to protect themselves and to discourage others from joining the rebels. Nonetheless, the rebels storm the gates of the village and break through the defenses, engaging their fellow Smurfs in a civil war that was only stopped by Papa Smurf returning, reminding them of the village dam that they failed to take care of, as it is now leaking.
The Smurfs drop everything and work together to seal up the dam, though it end up costing King Smurf his castle. Brainy sees how wrong he is in assuming such authority upon himself and decides to clean up the mess he has made, with the other Smurfs — realizing they were just as guilty as Brainy — deciding to join him.
As for Brainy's King Smurf clothes, they were used in the creation of a scarecrow.
Tropes associated with this episode include
- Action Girl: Smurfette has this role as the leader of La Résistance.
- Adapted Out: Inverted. Smurfette did not appear in the comic version, as Peyo would not introduce her until later. She appeared in the cartoon version, as the rebel leader.
- Adaptational Villainy: Brainy, who in the original comic book version was a contender for the role of the village leader but was outvoted in favor of the Smurf who became King Smurf, takes on the titular role in this adaptation.
- An Aesop: As Brainy himself says, being a good leader means more than just giving orders.
- Balcony Speech: Brainy as King Smurf gives one after entering his newly-completed castle. Only Harmony remains to give Brainy praise for it.
- Battle-Interrupting Shout: Papa Smurf does this upon his return to the Smurf Village.
- Big Dam Subplot: One of the additions to this adaptation of the story was the village dam.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Jokey does this in the scene where he finds himself a prisoner of King Smurf.
- Composite Character: Brainy and King Smurf weren't the same character in the comic book version.
- Compressed Adaptation: Brainy becomes King Smurf without the election that takes place in the original story. Also, the forest expedition that King Smurf goes on to find the rebel Smurfs has been removed. In fact, much of the story takes place over the course of a single night, to emphasize that while they're busy fighting among themselves, they're forgetting about the dam.
- Drunk with Power: Brainy as King Smurf becomes a dictator after only a taste of authority.
- Edible Ammunition: King Smurf's forces retaliate against Smurfette's rebels by hurling smurfberries at them. In the original comic book story, though, it was tomatoes.
- Gold-Colored Superiority: Brainy wastes no time showing his "superiority" as the de facto leader of the village by wearing a gold-colored suit adorned with royal regalia. Though the episode adaptation does not explain where Brainy gets the suit.
- A House Divided: Possibly the worst in the Smurf's history, as Peyo claims in his narrative; they come close to all-out civil war, and Papa Smurf remarks to Brainy that he's lucky only the castle was destroyed.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: While no human characters actually appear, Papa Smurf is able to shame all of them by telling them they're acting like human beings. The moral was pretty clear.
- Hypocritical Humor: Brainy as King Smurf admonishes his captain of the guard, Hefty Smurf, for failing to have a sense of humor when dealing with Jokey playing one of his usual "surprise" jokes on him. Then after King Smurf pardons Jokey, he becomes the victim of Jokey's prank and immediately has the prankster sent to prison.
- Institutional Apparel: Jokey goes from wearing a regular white hat and pants to a prison-striped hat and pants when he becomes King Smurf's prisoner.
- Just in Time: The Smurfs sealing up the serious leaks in the dam, once Papa Smurf reminded them that this was what they were supposed to be doing (rather than power posturing).
- Ladder Tipping: The rebel Smurfs attempt to break through King Smurf's defenses by climbing up a ladder, but King Smurf's forces douse the ladder with glue, causing the rebels to get their hands and feet stuck on the ladder long enough to get tipped over. In this version, though, the glued ladder also rips a hole in the fence, allowing the rebels to enter through.
- La Résistance: Smurfette leads the resistance group against Brainy's tyranny. Other named members include Greedy, Lazy, and Jokey.
- My God, What Have I Done?: One of the few times Brainy Smurf actually admits he was wrong and vows to make things right. The other Smurfs then follow suit, admitting they also were equally guilty as Brainy.
- Rightful King Returns: Papa Smurf plays this role in the story.
- Short-Lived Leadership: Brainy's reign as King Smurf lasted only a day (or a few days, the length of Papa Smurf's journey into the forest to get some wrinkleroot).
- Storming The Village: The La Résistance group does this near the end of the story.
- Trash the Set: King Smurf's castle is destroyed by the deluge of water from the dam at the end of the story.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm
