La Schtroumpfette (lost Belgian animated TV special based on "The Smurfs" comic; 1969)
Early 1960s production photo of Les Schtroumpfs. The same team behind the 1961 TV series also worked on the 1969 Special.
Status: Lost
Background Information
In 1961, Belgian production studio TVA Dupuis made a TV series starring The Smurfs called Les Schtroumpfs which was the first animated appearance of The Smurfs. The series had a total of 9 episodes aired between 1961-1967 which aired on RTB (Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française, Belgian Community Radio Television in English).
In 1965, the first animated feature film starring The Smurfs was made called Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs which selected 5 out of the 9 episodes. Some of the episodes were made in color but faded over time. Currently, some of the episodes can currently be seen at Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels, Belgium.
The Special
In 1969, TV Dupuis made a TV special starring The Smurfs which adapted Peyo's comic La Schtroumpfette (The Smurfette in English) first serialized on weekly Belgian magazine Spirou on April 7th, 1966, and published in 1967. The production behind this special is unknown and the 1969 TV Special might have aired only once in Belgium. The only known information was that it was made by the same producer of the 1961 TV Series with some of the same production crew.
La Schtroumpfette would also mark Smurfette's first animated appearance before the 1981 Hannah-Barbera series (and in one of the 1978 National Benzole commercials featuring The Smurfs). Unlike the 1961 series, no existing screenshots of the 1969 TV special exists. Due to very little information about the special's history, it became the most obscure adaptation of Peyo's work and is completely forgotten in Belgium.
Gallery
See Also
- Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs (partially found Belgian animated film; 1965)
- The Smurfs (found animated National Benzole commercial series; 1978)
- The Smurfs Australian BP commercial (lost advertising material; 1980s)