"It's terrible, Papa Smurf! It's terrible!"
"It can't be! It can't be!!"
"It can't be! It can't be!!"
For a generally lighthearted, saccharine show, this version of The Smurfs had a surprising amount of moments that can make you feel unsmurfy.
- Smurfette's Heel Realization moment in her debut episode:Smurfette: Oh, I'm so ashamed! I almost led you all to Gargamel's clutches, and you've been all so nice to me! Whatever you do to me, I deserve it! Throw me out of the village, abandon me in the forest, or send me back to Gargamel!
- It doesn't help the fact that all of the Smurfs are reduced to tears for that. Even Grouchy.
Grouchy: I hate sad!- The sequel to this episode, "Smurfette Unmade" has this in spades where Gargamel has put her under a spell to turn her back to her original appearance with a malicious personality, something he should have done.
- If that wasn't enough, this bit of dialogue which cues Smurfette's My God, What Have I Done? reaction:
Papa Smurf: Our Smurfette is lost... forever. - In "The Hundredth Smurf", Vanity throws Vanity-Mirror out of his house as he finds him insufferable. It's sad to see Vanity-Mirror leaving the village. Who said that Vanity doesn't also have his cruel side?
- The episode "Squeaky", where Smurfette takes an old mouse to raise and he dies after a few days. She falls into depression and locks herself in her house, until she runs away from the village, because she doesn't want to see her friends die.
- Depending on which version you watch it can make it sadder. The original cut has Squeaky die right after saving Papa Smurf from a lab fire and passing out from the smoke. The syndicated version cut this out and just... seemingly has him die one night in his sleep.
- Grouchy (of all Smurfs) going out of his way to save Baby Smurf from being given back to the stork in "Once in a Blue Moon", running into the wilderness, only to eventually end up returning to the village because keeping Baby exposed to the elements would probably end up killing him. In spite of his hatred of everything, Grouchy had come to love Baby Smurf.Grouchy: I hate giving up...
- Hefty's dillema during the first half of "Hefty & The Wheelsmurfer" can be difficult to watch if you have a similar passion for athletics. The episode starts when Hefty gets in an accident that leaves him with a broken leg. The poor smurf is often seen shedding tears of both pain and dismay as he learns that he won't be able to do the sort of athletics he enjoys doing for at least a few weeks. Fortunately though, this episode takes a turn towards heartwarming when Handy builds him the titular Wheelsmurfer - a wheelchair which enables Hefty to be out and about again without having to use his legs.
- The episode "Clumsy Luck", when everyone believes Clumsy was crushed by a meteor when he had been quarantined from the others due to belief his bad luck was rubbing off on the others. If that's not bad enough, there's the context behind the page image. Papa Smurf returns home early from visiting Homnibus after witnessing the meteorite land near the village. The first thing he sees is the rest of the Smurfs holding an impromptu memorial service for Clumsy, and Smurfette running into his arms in tears. It takes Brainy bluntly stating that Clumsy has "smurfed the bucket" for Papa Smurf to realize one of his little smurfs is lost forever... as far as he knows.
- In the Halloween Episode "All Hallows Eve" Mother Nature gives fall colors around the Forest, but she accidentally turns Lazy Smurf from blue to red. When she's unable to change him back at the moment, poor Lazy is afraid of going back to the village in fear of getting laughed at, and cries alone.
- In "Hats Off to Smurfs", when the magic hat's spell takes a turn for the worse and Vanity's face fills with green goo, he shocks himself, repeatedly says "I HATE ME!" and breaks all his mirrors, saying he will never see himself again. He gets depressed and spends a few days locked in his house.
- "Stop and Smurf the Roses," where Laconia the beautiful young wood elf is apparently killed after the evil Chlohydris kills all of the flowers (her life's source). When the Smurfs think that reversing her death-like state is irreversible, they tenderly lay her in a lilypad and prepare to lay her to rest... until the Heartwarming Moment comes when Papa Smurf is able to restore all the flowers to life.
- In "They're Smurfing Our Song", Gargamel is about to win against the Smurfs and Laconia who he had captured... when Sassette comes to the window of his hovel - prompting Gargamel to approach - and then she declares that she loves him. Surely an old, evil, irredeemable villain like him would brush her off as foolish and capture her as well. But what's this? Gargamel, the mean and cruel Gargamel as we knew him, actually breaks down crying. And he doesn't even show any signs of trying to fool us either, as much of a manipulative liar he's shown to be. He also claims that no one told him that they loved him. Gargamel basically just opened up to one thing essential for a human being that he's never gotten, revealing in a brief but heartbreaking way that he does possess emotions but is almost unable to properly show them. And in the next scene, with the help of Laconia's woodpipe, he willingly lets his prisoners go and says, "He hasn't been his true self" due to living in hate, essentially implying that the only reason he's "evil" is because he's just really frustrated with the world that denies him the love and respect he longs for. It's hard not to feel sorry for the poor guy, afterwards.
- Grandpa Smurf's apparent death in "Smurfquest".
- Let's not forget "Crying Smurfs", where Weepy Smurf is supposedly killed off. He's actually alive, but the other Smurfs don't know this. Thus, their reactions are heartbreaking.
- "Fire-Fighting Smurfs", where we see Snappy lamenting and crying over the damage done to the forest and animals. The guilt he feels tears your heart out so much.
- The episode "Smurfette's Flower". Smurfette meets a talking flower named Petaluma and takes her home to care for her. Petaluma turns out to be incredibly selfish and demanding, only caring for herself and practically takes over Smurfette's home. Nevertheless, Smurfette still cares for her and does what she can to keep the self-centered flower happy. She eventually sees how uncaring the flower is when she returns Petaluma to the forest and is ignored when she gets stuck in quicksand. Fortunately, the other Smurfs, who didn't trust Petaluma, had come to rescue Smurfette. Later, winter arrives and Petaluma is outside freezing to death. She realizes she was wrong to mistreat Smurfette and calls out for her help. Smurfette hears her flower's cry and goes off to find her. Petaluma immediately apologizes for her behavior, but soon a small whirlwind comes and grabs Smurfette. This time Petaluma comes to her aid and pulls her out of the whirlwind, but unfortunately, the whirlwind grabs Petaluma and carries her off as she says, "Goodbye, Smurfette." And then Smurfette mourns the loss of her flower afterwards.
- The episode "Chlorhydris' Lost Love", where Chlorhydris' long-lost fiance returns to her, but he accidentally sits on the arrows of hate she created, and they turn his love for her into hatred, causing him to abandon her once more. Yank the Dog's Chain was NEVER used more cruelly than it was here.
- Conversely, "Tears of a Smurf" reveals Chlorhydris later married another man and had a daughter, Priscilla. Resenting the love her husband had for Priscilla, Chlorhydris murdered her husband, leaving Priscilla at the mercy of her evil mother. When Priscilla came of age, a prince courted her. Chlorhydris murdered the prince and cursed Priscilla into an old hag.
- In "Gargamel's Time Trip", Gargamel steals Father Time's Time Trap to send himself back in time to make every failure in his past into a success. He accidentally sends both him and Azrael back to the year of his birth where he sees himself as an infant in a crib. Once they hear Baby Gargamel crying, they both hide before a young Mummy walks in to calm down Baby Gargamel. When Gargamel hears his mother telling her son that he will grow up to become a rich and powerful wizard. He briefly cries knowing his mother never forgave him for flunking wizard school and growing up as a failure.Young Mummy: Mummy will take care of you. Someday, when you do well in wizard school, you'll become a rich and powerful wizard! Then you can take care of Mummy!
Gargamel: (crying) She never did forgive me for flunking wizard school. (enraged) I can thank those rotten Smurfs for that, too!
