Put That Smurf Under A Microscope!

Of course, when discussing this specific tendency of Brainy’s character in prior instances, the focus has always been on the 80s cartoon as opposed to the comics, wherein I had made a point to distinguish the differences in apparent characterisation between the comics and cartoon counterpart. Yet here, we have a scene from the comics that wouldn’t be entirely out of place in the show. That being said, it is not necessarily a contradiction of what we know about or expect of this character based on the history of the comics, though it does seem to be something additional that hadn’t really been showcased much before in the comics – only in the cartoon.

Little things like this seem to be a continuing trend in the comics following Peyo’s death. While there were already potential instances of the tone of comic Brainy being set by the cartoon counterpart while Peyo was still alive, questions about the direction the character takes and how “true” or otherwise it is to the pre-existing material, and how influenced it may be by the cartoon or by new factors entirely being introduced can only increase post-Peyo. After all, with the original creator no longer at the helm dictating the character’s iteration, we can’t know what level of agreement or disagreement he may have had about the portrayals in further comic installments, and how different or similar things might have been if he was still involved.

Pretensions of intellectualism already slot in neatly with existing features of Schtroumpf à lunettes – it is not something out of place, so it is something that can be incorporated quite readily into his character. A few instances in this era of the comic also pop up where he seems to have some displays of cowardice, something that was definitely an element of his in the cartoon. It is unclear whether things like this are mere coincidence – whether comics Brainy can have/display these traits independently or whether there was any bleed-over effect involved.

There are multiple instances of Brainy being a stickler about language and grammar, with it becoming something of a repeated theme across several comics… (This is an incomplete selection of examples!):

And then, of course, in the Wild Smurf comic (Le Schtroumpf Sauvage), Brainy has a My Fair Lady-type plot trying to educate Wild Smurf in an attempt to make him more “civilised”. Language is only one element he touches on – really, he has here a focus on etiquette and the rules of conduct in society, which can often go hand-in-hand with moralising and are very on-theme for his character. Brainy appears to be the most offended by Wild’s egregious display of poor table manners :P. He works very hard to take on a teacher/mentor role to help Wild learn the ways of smurf life.

In the Gambler Smurfs comic, Brainy’s hypocrisy comes out once again. He is fickle, poised to reprimand the smurfs over gambling, only to get drawn into it himself (and lose everything very quickly!). After Papa Smurf bans the activity and discovers that the smurfs secretly continued with it, he is shocked to find Smurfette part of the group, exclaiming that Brainy “seems to be the only serious smurf in the village!”…

...Only to find that Brainy had also continued gambling behind his back after it was banned.

This scene of course indicates that Papa takes it as a given that Brainy wouldn’t be involved in this and wouldn’t have been going against his orders – Papa Smurf trusts Brainy and expects him to be better behaved compared to the others. This can be contrasted against the Brainy of the 80s cartoon show: I have already touched on how cartoon Brainy skewers more towards “troublemaker” than the comic versions’ “responsible one”. We can compare this comic moment in Gambler Smurfs (Papa trusting and expecting Brainy to be obedient) to the cartoon moment in the 80s show’s “The Master Smurf” episode, where Papa is desperate to keep the crown out of Brainy’s hands (not trusting Brainy, having an (accurate) expectation of Brainy recklessly wanting to don the powerful crown if given the opportunity).

Papa: Does, uh, Brainy know you found this crown? Miner: Aye, Papa Smurf Baby: [“Uh oh” noise] Papa: Then we are in trouble!

It is certainly seen as more surprising, more of a deviation from the norm for comic Brainy to misbehave!

The Smurfs and the Book that Tells Everything in 2008 is very on theme for the decades worth of appearances we now have in the comics for Brainy, wherein he is all about following what the titular book says. It is notable that his story here culminates in needing to finally reject the book’s words and throw it away when it blatantly crosses the line in expecting him to sacrifice Baby Smurf. It goes to show how wrapped up he is in doing things in an “orderly” way and following instructions(/rules) for the story to make such a point of him needing to break away from doing so. This installment also features Brainy being a bit cunning and manipulative in how he gains a monopoly over the book and gets other smurfs to do his bidding – intentionally choosing a smurf he deems to have lesser intelligence to assist him so he can be more easily and readily ordered about and not clue in to the extent of the situation’s inequality.

Speaking of intelligence, in La Grande Schtroumpfette, in light of Papa Smurf declaring that he would be selecting a stand-in leader for the duration of his temporary absence, Brainy remarks to himself that he would/should be chosen because he is the most intelligent:

While this manages to slot in neatly enough with everything that’s come prior to this point so as to be readily believable, this particular emphasis on intelligence specifically had not actually been the case with comics Brainy at all previously – this seems to mark the very first instance, in this comic released in 2010. He could have easily, and very believably, been thinking instead that he would be the best leader and would be chosen due to something like “I am the most well-organised” or “I am the most morally upstanding (and therefore the best influence)”! It seems to be a bit of a new angle, a new direction, and I have no doubt it’s influenced by the 80s cartoon’s legacy and the representation(s)/associations of the character in the English-speaking world. The timing also coincides with when the 2011 smurfs movie would have been in production. Which brings us to…

The (2011) Movie

The movie is very clearly its own, separate canon apart from everything else. The Brainy that we get here does, on the surface, share some things in common with the character’s other iterations – he is verbose, pedantic about words, and even similarly enough has a shade of spouting Papa’s words and emphasising etiquette: “I’ve got a message! Always chew with your mouth closed. Papa taught us that!”. But he distinctly lacks the overly-bossy, arrogant and self-imposing demeanour we have come to expect, instead coming across as far more meek and peaceable – more “toned down” and… dare I say, generic? He whips out stock-standard Nerd Phrases like “My calculations indicate…” which don’t ring true for a resemblance to other versions of Brainy’s speech prior to this point. The character is not given much chance in the movie to have spotlight or be distinctive, and in the absence of much space to signpost to the contrary, it appears we are potentially meant to simply accept at face value the name of “Brainy” is supposed to be accurate in this particular case, when it had always been a misnomer before. That being said, because of how little room the character is given to manoeuvre within the film, we also aren’t given any concrete demonstration of smarts either, so it remains somewhat ambiguous. But we have, of course, shifted back once more into the English-speaking realm where the English-anointed name of “Brainy” is paramount, where he is no longer distinguished by namesake only as being a glasses-wearing smurf. Audiences exposed only to this film and no other media would likely take the name at face value, and this is once again its own novel direction for the character, distinct to what had come before. Brainy’s arguable lack of distinctiveness in the film in and of itself also betrays something of a break from what had come before, as he is typically a smurf who demands attention and spotlight, so his relative lack of it in the movie is notable.

In All The Smurf’s A Stage, he dubs himself as “Brainy Smurf: Manager to the Stars!”. He promises much, but doesn’t exactly deliver. When it comes to undertaking negotiations in his managerial role, Brainy instantly falls flat and fails to secure any kind of good deal, instead declaring, “I’ll make you all stars of the play, but that’s my final offer!”. (“Final offer”… as if it’s any kind of hard sell!). That is not how you negotiate, Brainy! The others already weren’t going to put up any fight or seemingly make any demands at all, and then you went ahead and promised them above and beyond what was needed, not to mention that the play didn’t have three starring roles to spare. And yet, he’s totally clueless about all this. He thinks he’s doing a good job. He’s unable to properly step outside his own mind for a second and properly survey or even understand the situation. The scene is very deliberately written this way, of course – that’s the entire joke. The writers know exactly what they’re doing and they know Brainy tends to be rather hopeless in the skills department, in contrast with what he’d like to believe.

In Sassette’s Tooth, when the other smurfs find out about Gargamel’s plot, Snappy wonders: “But who’d be silly enough to fall for a trick like that?”

Cue the group collectively exclaiming in realisation: “Brainy!”

Yeah, they know the score.

When Brainy Smurf, by some miracle or other, is actually able to get his way, his suggestions, when implemented, do not work.

In The Answer Smurf, when the smurflings follow Brainy’s advice for building their treehouse, it’s obviously structurally unsound and readily crumbles. (Handy’s machine is also having issues thanks to Brainy’s input. Brainy’s advice backfires. A lot.)

And let’s not forget Papa For A Day. There is a rather amusing set-up wherein the ironic words of “how much worse can it possibly get?” are voiced. And then, of course, this is immediately followed by...

...Brainy taking his turn in the role of Papa Smurf. This juxtaposition between scenes is very intentional.

Brainy’s supposedly “easy, step-by-step” plans are contradictory, self-defeating nonsense. Nails are to be hammered into the very same place they are to be removed from – instructions that undo other instructions. It even proves to be dangerous, with his own instructions sending him hurtling to the ground!

“Oh, well, it looked good on paper…”

This is a smurf who really doesn’t know what he’s doing.

In Predictable Smurfs, we’re also treated to a scene where Brainy states: “Using Brainy Smurf’s Boat-Building Bible, I have perfected a pod totally impervious to water penetration! In short, this boat is –” (at this point, Brainy notices with some alarm that his boat is sinking) “-Unsinkable!”

Grandpa chimes in with the following response: “Yep, just like last year!”. Not only does Brainy run rampant with making mistakes, but he doesn’t seem to learn from them (and this is widely known and understood by other smurfs). He’s prone to making the same mistakes over and over. An example of this kind of thing which I especially liked can be found in The Smurf Who Could Do No Wrong:

“Face it, Grandpa, you were just lucky in our first 326 games, but now, I, Brainy Smurf, have finally come up with a foolproof strategy to win!”

THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX GAMES. I love that. I tend to forget just how large the amount of games that have already taken place actually IS. And then the sheer size of the number always leaves me taken-aback. He seemingly didn’t win ANY of those games?? It certainly rules out Grandpa merely being “lucky”, but that doesn’t deter Brainy from claiming luck as a paper-thin excuse anyway, of course! (An additional fun thing to note here is that Brainy’s comics counterpart has also been depicted as losing at chess, but I digress!)

How informative do you think his endless supply of books on any and every subject really are? Not very. In Land of Lost and Found, he makes basic mistakes e.g. looking through the telescope incorrectly, despite having authored a work titled “Brainy Smurf’s Guide to the Stars”. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Brainy boasting about authorship of a book with a subject matter he’s clearly inexperienced with is very par-for-the-course – we are especially stripped of any benefit of the doubt when he’s writing or in the process of writing book(s) on topic(s) he cannot reasonably know about if he has only just become acquainted with the subject at hand. Brainy’s vast library of literature writ by his hand is not indicative of knowledge (as he would be wont to claim), but is instead indicative of a kind of graphomania.

To help illustrate this, we can talk about Archives of Evil.

I don’t just want to talk about how Brainy’s typical approach of “doing things completely wrong/incorrectly with total confidence” is on stark display within this episode, I also want to discuss what the episode seems to (try to) do with its ending – the statement it seems to be making.

First, though: we are treated to some rather amusing scenes when Brainy misconstrues what he is reading, unable to realise that it’s not a book of spells, it’s a cookbook. One should think the difference would be obvious, but this is Brainy Smurf…

And then we get the ending, and the way that Nemesis is defeated. Papa Smurf bluffs about the value and power of the book in his possession, so naturally Nemesis steals it so that he can absorb its contents – this is precisely what Papa wanted him to do. The book happens to have been created by Brainy.

“I now possess pure-”

“-ignorance?!”

[...]

Papa: Nemesis thought he was absorbing powerful magic, but Brainy’s book was so full of, eheh…

Papa: ...pure ignorance, the evil knowledge Nemesis absorbed fled for its life!

Nemesis is defeated by none other than the sheer power of Brainy’s ignorance. That’s it. That’s the episode resolution. (I love it).

Brainy appears to remain largely oblivious (or should I say ignorant) to the actual implications of all of this. He puts on his usual self-aggrandising spin instead, choosing to proudly proclaim, “In other words, I, Brainy Smurf, once again saved the day! Naturally, I knew what I was doing all along!”

Brainy wants to be (perceived as) a fountain of knowledge, but in the end, he’s really a fountain of ignorance.

It’s interesting to note that in Reckless Smurfs, it’s Brainy and Snappy who are (initially) the only ones unaffected by the spell that makes smurfs reckless. As discussed in a previous post (when I talked about Love Those Smurfs), whenever the village falls victim to some magic or other, any unaffected smurfs will typically already exhibit the traits brought out by the spell in a significant enough capacity for ironic purposes, and this is no exception. Snappy in this episode had a clear theme/plot line of being too reckless as a tie-in to the overall story, but what of Brainy? Well, we already know Brainy has impulsive and reckless tendencies in general, but if that wasn’t enough, the story makes a point of calling attention to this – Brainy scolds Snappy for not thinking enough about the consequences of his actions, only to cause himself to become stuck and in need of assistance for failing to do just that. In fact, it seems that Brainy and Snappy remained exempt from the effects of the Daredevil Dust because of Brainy’s reckless lack of attention to his surroundings, as it is what causes their delay, preventing them from being amongst the victims at time of “infection”.

(And of course, Brainy’s self-perception continues to be hilariously inaccurate, as he can be found referring to himself as a “responsible smurf” in Jokey’s Joke Book, for example.)

Now let’s turn our attention to Brainy’s bureaucratic inclinations – this has been discussed in prior post(s), but these latter seasons of the cartoon show also offer up plenty more examples of it. In Smurfing For Gold, Brainy tries to deal with Gargamel by drawing up a contract.

(A side note, Papa also imagines Brainy trying to solve an issue through a contract (specifically, a treaty) in the season 5 episode Papa’s Day Off).

In Locomotive Smurfs, he writes a schedule for the train and checks tickets. In Gargamel’s Quest, he turns to petitioning as a means to attempt to achieve his goal at the time.

As also discussed previously, Brainy is someone who often likes to Get Involved with things (i.e. taking advantage of the latest fad in the village, so long as he’s not the designated naysayer for that episode), getting in on the “ground floor” and taking charge in some capacity – this is often combined with his bureaucratic leanings.

In A Hole In Smurf, Brainy doesn’t hesitate: he positions himself as an essential go-to, having a proper counter and set-up at the ready in no time to distribute the sheets that smurfs need to mark their golfing scores. He’s leapt at the opportunity to formalise it all, taking the idea of golfing that’s taken the smurfs by storm, and giving it more structure and sense of being official. He’s also involved in scheduling – what times courses are available, who golfs when, etc.

Unsurprisingly, he’s also taking the opportunity to hawk his new book on golfing as well.

In The Smurfy Verdict, it’s Brainy who takes it upon himself to start lawyering all over the place, etc.

He likes to be at the centre of things, such as the numerous instances where he takes on a detective role to investigate the latest mystery that has presented itself to the village. This allows him to take charge of a/the narrative, put a spotlight on himself while also trying to satisfy his own curiosity.

And in Season 9’s Like It Or Smurf It, we see Brainy’s sense of showmanship – something he’s exhibited before in the show, but it really comes out here, when he takes on a game show host-type role.

All in all, seasons 6 and beyond are very much a continuation of the character we have already been well-acquainted with from the previous seasons, and so we get to see more of the traits that have already been expressed before – such as carelessness, cowardice, etc. I’ve mentioned his tendencies towards melodrama and exaggeration before (just one example: in Smurf Pet, he claims, “I had to risk life and limb as I was attacked by vicious Nebbits”, which really goes beyond misconstruing what actually happened and reaches into outright fabrication), and this can sometimes combine with his naysaying – there are instances where he assumes The Worst in a given situation/crisis and reacts accordingly, assuming that they’re all doomed – in other situations his reactions may not be quite so severe, but he can still be quite negative in a more low-key manner, leaning into sarcasm instead to bemoan a given situation or other. He can be very cynical sometimes.

But all the groundwork has already been laid, in previous seasons. Seasons 6 and beyond are just a continuation. Brainy vies for power, Brainy is inclined to be sneaky and deceptive at times to try and get what he wants, he is unafraid to shift blame onto others for his own mistakes, etc etc etc.

Essence of Brainy is a great character study for how we can use it to reverse-engineer a description/analysis of Brainy Smurf. While stripped of his essence, he acts opposite to his usual self in order to serve as a narrative contrast, so by looking at his portrayal in the episode while stripped of essence, we can then ask: what does this tell us about Brainy in his usual incarnation?

Brainy as depicted without his essence is meek, lacking strong opinions on things, and polite.

So Brainy as a character is overconfident, opinionated, imposing, inconsiderate, overbearing and rude.

In the season 8 intro sequence, he really does just shove Handy out of the way so that he can look through the telescope instead, ahaha. And I just thought: isn’t that a small but good/accurate encapsulation of his character? He’s rude, he’s pushy, he’s self-serving, and so on and so forth. We know the routine by now, in the latter half of the show.

Take this exchange from Jungle Jitterbug:

Brainy: “[Vanity’s] back to normal, all right – the most self-centred smurf of all!”

Jokey: [chuckles] “Next to you, Brainy!”

Yeah, pretty much. :P

This post isn’t all-encompassing; there are many other episodes/scenes that could be discussed, but I’ve mentioned before that these posts are not meant to be a completely comprehensive rundown, but rather to provide more of a scaffold, an outline of the Brainy Smurf character and its evolution.

Finally, we have to mention the comics for a moment!

The Smurflings comic was released in 1988, and I daresay the influence of cartoon Brainy on his comics counterpart is quite palpable – for one, we get a being-tossing-out-of-the-village gag!

Brainy as depicted in this comic also seems to be quite mean-spirited in actively wanting the smurflings’ concert to flop.

And… Hmm, the vibes just feel different here compared with the earlier comics Brainy. I really think the influence of cartoon Brainy is seeping in – which would especially make sense considering that the episode of the cartoon introducing the smurflings came first, before this comic, so the situation is rife with opportunity for cartoon Brainy to have a bleed-over effect!

I just don’t think this would really be in the earlier incarnation of Schtroumpf à lunettes’s particular style/approach. I’m welcome to hearing other opinions on this, but yeah. (I think cartoon Brainy is a bit of a Bad Influence in this respect, ehehehe).

And… Well, I think that’s about it? Brainy’s famous 80s cartoon iteration sketched out – and a hint on how it’s even started to make an impression on other media he’s featured in, too!

The situation seems to call for some kind of sweeping summary/statement/conclusion, and there were some things I toyed with discussing, but ultimately, I really don’t know if I could do it all justice, so I’m going to be a touch light on closing off this post.

But this nevertheless certainly closes a huge and far-reaching, impactful chapter in the Brainy Smurf timeline. Next, we’ll take a look at how Brainy’s character/characterisation proceeded after the end of the 80s cartoon show! Thanks so much for reading! ^_^

By this point, the basis of Brainy’s distinct 80s cartoon personality is more than established as the know-nothing know-it-all - a bluffing egotist desperate to project an illusion of knowledge who is also prone to indulging in melodrama. He is someone who loves to boss around others, to criticise and critique, to needlessly complicate and bureaucratise… He loves rules, he loves procedures, and he loves enforcing such structures. Continuing these trends, seasons 3-5 are abundant with demonstrations of all of these facets, and more.

In Love Those Smurfs, it’s no coincidence that it’s Vanity, Snappy and Brainy who are the only smurfs not affected by the spell of self-love – naturally, in plots like that, the writers tend to have the unaffected smurfs be the ones who already exhibit given trait(s) that a spell would invoke.

We’re told that Brainy’s very first word was gobbledegook, a perfect encapsulation of… Well. One only has to look at the false diagnoses he loves to throw around:

Brainy: My diagnosis concludes that Baby Smurf has a severe case of grumpirumpititus, aggravated by rumpus moisitosis, aggravated by- Papa: Brainy! There’s no such thing. Brainy: Oh. [Laughs sheepishly]

Of course, it’s not all bad. Episodes like Papa’s Family Album and The Dark-Ness Monster certainly show Brainy’s capacity for greater depths.

That said, in these seasons, Brainy really does not hesitate to show off how exceedingly overconfident he is – considering himself a “smurf of all trades”, such as in The Gingerbread Smurfs, assuming himself to have sufficient standing to posit himself as a better baker than Greedy Smurf despite an obvious lack of expertise, to say the least.

Funnily enough, there was one episode that made me go “Huh, Brainy’s characterisation here reminds me a lot more of his comics version, and isn’t (usually) what I’d strictly expect of him in the show…” and what do you know, I then noticed that Peyo himself indeed worked on that episode! I refer to Smurf the Other Cheek and Brainy’s lecture on “the virtue of cleanliness”.

Of course, bossiness and lectures and what have you are nothing new for Brainy, but it’s really the subject matter that made it rather reminiscent of comics Brainy for me. It’s a lecture on virtue, which comics Brainy has really based himself around – cartoon Brainy will lecture others on anything and everything (including virtues, as this very episode demonstrates), however, the “anything and everything” lack of focus makes the sudden lecture on virtue all the more noticeable when it’s coming from cartoon Brainy. And while cartoon Brainy has shown a love of bureaucracy, order, procedure, etc. – all of that is still different from something like cleanliness. A concept like order certainly has its overlaps with cleanliness, but I would argue that you cannot deny they are still two separate, different things. He hasn’t really shown any strong focus on the theme of cleanliness on its own specifically prior to this point. But espousing virtues of all kinds – the theme of virtue – is a very comics Brainy thing.

All this to say: I felt that Peyo’s influence really showed through there! Both comics version and cartoon version already have their subtle influences on one another, perhaps.

One point of clarification: although cartoon Brainy does have a sort of lecturing-on-virtues theme when he, say, chastises Lazy for laziness, Greedy for gluttony, etc – but I would argue that the point of those interactions always seems to be more focused on a theme of bossiness and telling others what to do as opposed to promoting traditional virtues when 80s cartoon Brainy is the one carrying it out. He will just as readily tell Handy how he should build things, how Painter should paint, how Tailor should make clothes – and none of those things have anything to do with virtue.

The virtue/morality/prig theming is, basically, a lot more prominent with comics Brainy.

Another episode I’d like to take a look at is the one in which the smurflings were introduced. In their introductory episode, they burst onto the scene in a challenge of tradition and convention- they buck traditional smurf attire for their own preferences and also challenge other areas of smurf life with novel and unique approaches.

What they bring to the table is fresh and new. They are a force of change.

Of course, this analysis doesn’t have the smurflings as its focus – rather, what the smurfings bring about, what they represent, has been elaborated on here in order to contrast it with our dear, hapless Brainy. More specifically, I would like to highlight how the episode itself contrasts the smurflings’ arrival and their ways with Brainy. He is cast as the traditionalist, all about structure, rules, all about enforcement of the orthodox and of conventional procedures, “old-timey”. Someone who will freely declare “smurflings should be seen and not heard”.

If the smurflings are a force of change, then Brainy, as an opposing force, is one aspiring to an enforcement of a perceived or constructed status quo. Indeed, he gets outright referred to as “old-fashioned” within the episode.

Though smurfs like Tailor balked at the smurflings turning their backs on traditional smurfwear, everyone seems caught up in the thrill of the moment when the smurflings begin performing onstage – that is, everyone except Brainy. The look on everyone’s faces is akin to surprised delight, meanwhile Brainy is more baffled and disapproving. The new musical style confuses him, and he simply can’t abide by it.

Brainy: Papa Smurf, what kind of music is that?? Papa: Er, I don’t think there is a name for it, Brainy. Clumsy: Oh, gosh, it’s so new, it doesn’t even have a name!

Brainy: I’ll give it a name, it’s phooey. Papa: Now, now, Brainy, the uh smurflings are merely – aheh – expressing themselves.

And on that cue –

A wave of gasps goes up amongst the crowd that sounds somewhere caught between pleasant surprise (as one can see the smiles remaining on the smurfs in the back of the image) but almost bordering on scandalised as well, as Brainy and Papa’s expressions both turn to shock – Papa himself is momentarily stunned. Yes, as it’s then shown, the smurflings are expressing themselves – in this moment, not just through their music, but also through dance.

Brainy: Papa Smurf, that is not the dance of the hundred smurfs we’ve all grown to know and love!

Brainy sounds truly affronted – upset. He finds this new style of dancing an insult to what he knows. He is entrenched in the Old Ways, inflexible and not ready to adapt. In contrast, Papa is more welcoming of the change the smurflings bring and represent – speculating that he may be a smurf “ahead of his time”, which is a ready contrast and indication that Brainy is someone rigid and steeped in the past, seeing as Papa has only just been speaking to Brainy who had reiterated his distaste for the smurflings’ music at the episode’s end. He really doesn’t “get” it – it being the new style.

It's testament to the fact that Brainy is truly the resident naysayer, ready to (try and) shoot things down that no smurf else seems to have a problem with, to enforce norms and standards and, in this case, presents a push to “stick to what is known”. This is not to say he always presents with the latter viewpoint – but rather, that this is his role within this episode, and can indicate much about his positioning within the show, and tell us something about his character overall.

Quotations From Brainy Smurf

Finally, I would like to address another point of interest which this post’s title draws upon directly: Brainy’s authoring of his own works. I would also like to comment that the overall title of this post (“Quotations of Brainy Smurf”) is actually something of a misnomer when it comes to a consideration of how these works are actually referred to in-canon; the title of this section (“Quotations from Brainy Smurf”) is actually used with far greater frequency.

As mentioned previously, Brainy writing his own books is a phenomenon that is nowhere to be found within the first two seasons. The third season marks the beginning of references made to “the complete works of Brainy Smurf” (Episode: The Smurfs’ Time Capsule), his memoirs (Episode: Greedy and the Porridge Pot) and, of course, Quotations from Brainy Smurf (Episode: The Golden Smurf Award). (We also get a reference to “Quotations of Brainy Smurf” in A Chip Off The Old Smurf). And for the whole of season 3… that seems to be about it!

Season 4 is more abundant with references to this aspect of Brainy, now that the concept has been introduced by the writing team in the previous season – they pick it up and really run with it! Of course, within the canon of the show itself, we are lead to believe that Brainy has been writing books of his own for most of his life, and that it’s simply an aspect of his character that had not been made salient previously (nor would it have really been present in the minds of the writers prior to its introduction).

It’s not until season 5 that we’re shown Brainy actually branching out into different realms of subject matter beyond mere quotations and journal-ing and memoir-writing. It’s not enough for him to merely write about himself, or to impose his “wit and wisdom” and his quotations onto others: Brainy Smurf will write a book on just about anything, as he is under the unassailable assumption that he is an expert on all things and thus all things are under his purview to be written about. Whether it’s Brainy Smurf’s Secrets to a Successful Future or Games According to Brainy Smurf, he’ll have just the book you’re looking for! Or at least… that’s what he’ll claim, anyway.

Brainy: Mrs Porcupine, when it comes to babies, I wrote the book!

Designated Naysayer

To return to the earlier mentions of naysaying –

Fundamentally, Brainy Smurf fulfilling the role of the naysayer is done alongside being a prolific complainer. He is someone who loves to complain and will typically be written to oppose whatever thing he can be presented as being the most annoying or foolish for opposing in a given scenario. Because that’s the other thing – he is almost always supposed to be the smurf who is In The Wrong – whether that’s playing the role of the fool who falsely believes obvious untruths or the overly skeptical and oblivious fool who can’t notice the obvious, just as an example. It matters not whether he seemingly contradicts himself with his stances at different times (readily and eagerly believing in supernatural phenomena in episodes operating within a framework that suggests such a thing is ridiculous, then refusing to believe in the supernatural in episodes where it makes the most sense to do so) because the only thing of paramount importance (from a writing perspective) in these cases is that he’s usually being an antagonistic against something, whatever that something is.

(And of course, the writers frequently “have their cake and eat it too” by throwing in a nice layer of hypocrisy – when he tries to act like the staunch skeptic, he will often be the first to become afraid by something seemingly supernatural. When he does believe something that turns out to be false, he will claim he knew the truth from the beginning!)

He will support something when it’s counterproductive to do so and oppose something when it is the best solution, because Brainy is someone who is always readily available to act as an antagonistic force on the whim of the writers.

From a diegetic perspective, one can also argue that this is one realm where Brainy’s hypocrisy shines through and that even beyond a Doylist framework, the explanation from a Watsonian point of view is that he is a smurf that likes to be antagonistic “for the sake of it” and enjoys fulfilling this role.

Comics (until 80s Cartoon)

More prudent

Sense of duty

More rules-obsessed

More earnest/sincere

More obedient

Aims to project image of moral superiority

More sycophantic(?)

Mallet gag less implied to be “deserved”, treated as more of a knee-jerk “pragmatic” reaction of the other smurfs in response to his rambling

Both

Overly talkative

Annoys the others

Sanctimonious

Always lecturing others

Desire for power and authority over others

Tattletale

Dramatic

Bossy

Usually spouting quotes/sayings

Busybody

Tries to take charge of situations

80s Cartoon

More hypocritical

Reckless

Troublemaker

Known to readily break/bend rules

Dishonest

Manipulative

Cowardly

Scheming

Selfish

Smug

Tries to project an image of being smart.

Papa Smurf’s self-appointed assistant

Meet 80s Cartoon Brainy: A Summation of His Characterisation in the First Two Seasons

Brainy Smurf is big on bluffing. He is always insisting that he “knew it all along” or that’s “just what [he] was about to suggest!”. He is regularly clueless but desperate to insist to those around him that no, he totally understands the situation clearly. With a fake-it-till-you-make-it attitude and an unwarranted overconfidence to boot, he’s always ready to put his off-the-cuff assumptions and poorly-informed guesses into action, and it unsurprisingly tends to be a source of all kinds of trouble befalling everyone.

Even when it’s not a matter of him being actively aware of his cluelessness and merely trying to cover it up, he still loves to make a show of his claim to his supposed knowledge at each opportunity he can find. He is always trying to project and impose on others, with rather questionable success, an image of someone that is knowledgeable and knows what he’s talking about… whether or not this is remotely true being another matter entirely.

He is seemingly always ready to exaggerate, downplay or be outright dishonest, whichever tool serves him best when trying to boost his status and/or avoid blame or save face.

Brainy is depicted as cowardly, scheming, manipulative, meddlesome and selfish.

He has a massive ego.

He’s constantly acting like a know-it-all.

He also often acts very dramatic.

Brainy is a smurf who likes to Get Involved with things – and with the organisation of things - in an “official” or authoritative capacity where possible – or, at least, something that is given an outward veneer of being official, whether it’s acting as referee or reading out decrees or calling everyone to attention so that Papa can make an announcement – some sort of role or position distinct from what the others are doing is something he tends to flock to.

There are many examples of this throughout the first two seasons, one being his involvement as a director in the Robin Smurf play and the role he plays both imparting an introduction at the start and also closing off the play at the end.

Another example can be found in the episode Clumsy Smurfs the Future. Once the genuine nature of the artifact Clumsy found was established, Brainy immediately tries to take charge despite any of what his previous attitude to the situation had seemed to suggest:

“As Clumsy’s official agent and representative, I have a short list of rules.”

[Unfurls lengthy parchment]

“Official” agent and representative?! Brainy pulled those titles out of absolutely nowhere and this is the very first time he’s trying to make this assertion – his typical bluffing attitude at work. He will throw a bunch of nonsense at you in an attempt to confound you enough to gain some sort of leverage. But this also shows us that he is someone who loves to bureaucratise things (especially as a means of benefitting and conferring some sort of illusory status upon himself).

This love of being Involved with things on some level of perceived importance – and of needlessly creating titles and positions for himself when previously, there were none – can be said to suggest the self-appointed nature of his role as Papa Smurf’s assistant, which has its existence only as a self-appointed role later confirmed. He takes a lot of pride in the assistant role and in many episodes demonstrates a genuine respect and reverence for Papa Smurf as well.

He also arguably shows hints of Purple Prose at times, which goes hand in hand with a theme of needlessly complicating things (see: bureaucratisation), and also fits in nicely with just how overly-talkative he is shown to be in general.

Greedy: Does that look like a winter sky to you, Brainy?

Brainy: Actually, now that you mention it, no! It’s kind of an azure sky with a few high clouds, a bright sun that-

(Episode: S-Shivering S-Smurfs)

Brainy is highlighted as a hypocritical and often unreliable smurf. He is also known to demonstrate a severe lack of self-awareness:

“Clumsy, you talk too much and too loud. Just because Papa Smurf said there was no cure for Lazy, and he was going to smurf off in a few days, is no reason to blab, and furthermore-!”

[Kicked out of the village]

“Leave it to Clumsy to spill the beans…”

-Brainy in Smurf Me No Flowers

Compare & Contrast

Some general notes first: The mallet-to-the-head gag is instead swapped out for Brainy being physically kicked out of the village when he annoys another smurf(s) too much (usually accompanied by some sort of snarky quip!). His habit of condescendingly saying a character’s name thrice when addressing them becomes established. No claim to being Papa Smurf’s assistant had been made in the comics either.

Let’s perhaps first look at some similarities between 80s Cartoon Brainy (hereafter referred to as “Brainy (Smurf)”) and comics Brainy up to the time the 80s show began airing (hereafter referred to as “Schtroumpf à lunettes”).

Both Brainy and Schtroumpf à lunettes are depicted as overly talkative, annoying, and sanctimoniously lecturing/criticising/admonishing other smurfs over their behaviour. They both seem to have a desire for power and authority over others. They’re both tattletales, they can both act rather dramatic at times. They’re both bossy and always spouting quotes/sayings.

But there are differences that are even entwined with the similarities…

Schtroumpf à lunettes trends towards being overly prudent and rule-obsessed; Brainy, in contrast, has a streak of recklessness about him, exacerbating the latter’s hypocrisy when he acts impulsively despite preaching the opposite to others. Both canons incorporate a sense of irony when it comes to the character – like getting so wrapped up in lecturing someone about, say, always being aware of your surroundings that they lose awareness of said surroundings – however, when it comes to Brainy, this irony usually crosses over into the realm of hypocrisy. The irony that gets played with when it comes to Schtroumpf à lunettes is generally portrayed as an unwitting or oblivious contradiction between words and behaviour (for example, sitting on the wrong side of a branch getting sawed off as he lectures a smurf on not doing just that is shown as a foolish, but innocent mistake), meanwhile Brainy will routinely contradict his own relentless lectures in a far more conscious and knowing capacity; there is more blame situationally placed upon the latter – the humour derived instead from the fact that he’s knowingly breaking the rules and standards that he holds everyone around him to, as opposed to a more oblivious or innocent depiction of contradicting his words with his actions in an unwitting way.

Note that Brainy also gets the “oblivious/innocent contradiction” treatment, my point here instead specifically being that Brainy in plenty of other instances is frequently shown to be hypocritical and at fault in ways that Schtroumpf à lunettes had not.

Schtroumpf à lunettes seems to have a greater “sense of duty” (as it is referred to in the 1976 movie) and consistency about him. If we go back to La Soupe Aux Schtroumpfs for a moment – Schtroumpf à lunettes offering himself up to go into the soup seems more born of a desire to be involved and to demonstrate that he is readily obedient and available when Papa Smurf calls upon volunteers. While it is an impulsive action, it’s more depicted as “sense of duty – or at least, superficially demonstrating a sense of duty - to the point of being nonsensical/precluding actual awareness of the realities that a situation would involve” (and also something very very foolish) as opposed to anything approaching hypocrisy and recklessness. I get the impression it’s not really born from recklessness as much as it’s born from plain old obliviousness to the situation – it’s not entirely spur of the moment, after all, seeing as he continues to try and insist that he be allowed to go into the soup even after the others try to deter him.

Arguably, when he is about to give Gargamel instructions to get to the village in the same comic, it is also out of a “sense of duty” – because when someone asks you for something that you can provide, you should - you’re supposed to provide it, right? (Again, it’s impulsive and foolish and unthinkingly done as well, but the “sense of duty” aspect of the character is perhaps more saliently entwined with the intended understanding of it?).

This exact scenario also takes place in the show too, in the episode adaptation of the comic –

“Oh, it’s very simple, just turn left at the Big Oak and follow a little path-”

Ohoh, and one may immediately notice the difference in their expressions as they say this. Schtroumpf à lunettes seems earnest, while Brainy seems keen to impulsively and smugly blurt out the information just to show off. Both are acting unthinkingly in terms of giving Gargamel that kind of knowledge, though seem to be prompted by different motivations.

These different potential readings step into the realm of speculation, but I find it interesting speculation nonetheless that seem to highlight stark differences between the two different iterations of the character.

So, to return to the subject of hypocrisy and consistency… The single biggest demonstration of hypocrisy by Schtroumpf à lunettes had been in the King Smurf comic, committing voter fraud and readily doing a 180 on his words and opinions and such. But apart from that, we just don’t seem to see Schtroumpf à lunettes readily breaking rules and causing trouble in other instances the way that Brainy does - Schtroumpf à lunettes is more readily pigeonholed as too goody-goody for his own good, meanwhile Brainy, while he does try to follow rules, seems to generally think that he’s nonetheless above them and that they’re mainly just for forcing on other smurfs. Schtroumpf à lunettes is the “boring” one that wants to go by the book most of the time – while Brainy will be scheming away at something or other that winds up wreaking havoc on everyone. (Papa just knew Brainy had messed up in The Magnifying Mixture! Did I miss the context for that? Yet his suspicions bulls-eyed on the truth!)

Yes, on a sliding scale of “The Responsible One” to “The Troublemaker”, Schtroumpf à lunettes finds his place closer to “The Responsible One” while Brainy is more akin to “The Troublemaker”.

Both seek to enforce Papa Smurf’s authority and constantly laud Papa’s position, but unlike Schtroumpf à lunettes, Brainy will readily contradict Papa Smurf at times or knowingly go against him. When Schtroumpf à lunettes refuses to stop and listen to Papa Smurf in the Smurfette comic, I’d say it’s meant to be Notable because of how unusual it is. Brainy, meanwhile, may contradict Papa as a matter of course, folding the behaviour into his overarching theme of critiquing others and trying to assert his own suggestions in place:

“Oh, no, Papa Smurf, not fehrite! Quicksilver gives muuuch better results! Further, I believe-“

-Brainy in The Sorcery of Maltrochu

Schtroumpf à lunettes never bluffed anything like Brainy Smurf does constantly. And the wildly selfish streak that Brainy has is just not something Schtroumpf à lunettes had ever really been shown with to this extent. Like, sure, Schtroumpf à lunettes isn’t going to shy away from a little attempted voter fraud in a bid for power, but I can’t really picture him based on what we’ve explored so far spouting off self-centred quotes to this degree, even complete with a devilish laugh at the end:

“I know how to beat this heat – I’ll make a big pitcher of smurfberry juice – and I won’t share it with anybody!”

(Episode: The Magnifying Mixture)

And of course, we have the fact that he is King Smurf in the cartoon-

“I would say thanks if I didn’t deserve every bit of it.”

(Episode: King Smurf)

It’s my opinion these quotes are a bit more out of place for the Schtroumpf à lunettes we have explored so far since so much of his schtick lies in criticising others, not in such overwhelming hypocrisy and egocentrism like this.

Because that’s another thing - EGO. Okay, so, yes, we know Schtroumpf à lunettes was deluded and had a big ego, for sure. But my gosh, I really think Brainy just goes above and beyond anything we’d witnessed from Schtroumpf à lunettes prior to this point.

To explore that further and to better tie together what we have discussed thus far, I think it’s time we talked again about the name change and what identifiable impact it’s had on the character.

The Naming Question

The driving force behind the character’s egoistic attitude undergoes a subtle but important shift from comic to cartoon, where the image the character tries to impress upon others changes thus:

“I know better than you do” -> “I know more than you do”

“I’m better than you” -> “I’m smarter than you”

That is to say, he goes from acting like he’s “a better smurf” to acting like he’s “a more intelligent smurf” than everyone else.

There is a loss of the moralistic/moralising focus of the character. The characterisation of Schtroumpf à lunettes was firmly entrenched in the tradition of the rule-obsessed Prig. Brainy Smurf, meanwhile… yes, he is still priggish, but the priggishness becomes tied up with and muddied with a whole bunch of other additions to the characterisation, and so the sense of superiority that he projects becomes a more generalised sense of superiority bound up in multiple different sources as opposed to a more laser-focus on priggish senses of superiority. Brainy doesn’t just think he’s better than other smurfs in a priggish sense; he thinks he’s better than other smurfs because he has a massive ego entirely independent of that AND he thinks he’s smarter (and therefore thinks he’s better than others for that reason too).

The introduction of the English name “Brainy”, coupled with his glasses, means that Brainy Smurf was no longer a mere prig, but to an English-speaking audience (and writers!) was now ripe to be readily associated with nerd and geek archetypes. His superiority complex now readily calls to mind the trope of the Insufferable Genius (or rather, the Know-Nothing Know-It-All trope).

Throughout the first two seasons, repeated references are made by the character to the concept of braininess/smarts/intelligence as Brainy constantly makes claims that these concepts apply to him. It’s clear that the idea of intelligence is very important to him, something totally absent from the characterisation we have seen of Schtroumpf à lunettes.

“When the only thing smurfs respect is brawn, it’s tough being the brains!”

“Of all the other smurfs, my mind is the sharpest, keenest and most alert.” [immediately collides with Bigmouth]

-Brainy in Supersmurf

Smurfette: There’s only one smurf smart enough to solve this problem and not hurt Clumsy’s feelings.

Brainy: Thank you for the smurfy introduction. I perceive the matter as a conflict of-

Smurfette: I MEANT PAPA SMURF!

(Episode: One Good Smurf Deserves Another)

Schtroumpf à lunettes was never really concerned with being The Smart One or The Intelligent One, he was concerned with being By-The-Book with the rules. Both versions of the character were heavily invested in the idea of being Right About Things, but approaching that goal from different angles/motivations.

All of these references made by Brainy to the concept of intelligence in the show would seemingly be absent were it not for Brainy’s English name. If we imagine for a moment an alternate universe where an 80s smurfs series made with French as the original language with the same budget afforded to the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, featuring Schtroumpf à lunettes, would the same emphasis on this theming be present? Doubtful. We would see a character much more inline with what is presented in the comics, less diluted by further additions to character motivation and self-concept, maintaining an extremely visible priggish theming instead. Now, if we draw upon my previous post and imagine an alternate universe where Brainy’s English name was, say, Morality Smurf instead, we can imagine that the prig theming would likely have been maintained in a far greater capacity, and the character would also be left without reason to make any real mention of the concept of intelligence. And still, we can imagine a Morality Smurf that still heavily resembles the Brainy that we know, just without those references to supposed smarts, replaced with talk of morals instead – a more chaotic and hypocritical Schtroumpf à lunettes, perhaps. (Though even a hypothetical “Morality Smurf” may come to focus too much on talk of morals and not enough on pure pedantic rule-obsession).

If his English name was Tattler Smurf, then naturally it is his tattle-tale behaviour that would get inevitably emphasised and given greater focus in the show. Perhaps in such an alternate universe, the show would have a running theme of “don’t let Tattler Smurf find out”!

If he was Bossy Smurf, he would have his bossiness emphasised, probably with a greater frequency and focus on those typical Brainy scenes where he’s telling others what to do and how to do their jobs, and what have you, and it would tie in well with his bids for power and authority.

You get the picture – as discussed in the last post, regardless of which name was chosen for his English-speaking incarnation, it would cause a shift in focus and framing of the character. And in our case, the character is called Brainy, so the writers, naturally, take note of this and reference the idea of braininess in his dialogue accordingly, thus the character evolves into more of a Know-Nothing-Know-It-All type figure.

Brainy and Books

At the end of this post, I want to take a moment to quickly trace the connection drawn between Brainy and books up until this point.

So you have this one 1973 panel I’ve shown and mentioned in a previous post:

Then there’s the “grammar smurf” he’s carrying around during the events of Smurf Versus Smurf, also brought up by me previously:

Now, once the English name “Brainy Smurf” is bestowed upon him, he’s featured carrying a book of rhymes in the National Benzole commercial:

While this is not a canonical depiction, I nonetheless find it interesting that there was a conscious decision made by the commercial-makers to depict him with a book here.

Now with the advent of the cartoon, a noticeable book theming arises – namely, in one of the key pieces of art for the title cards.

Reading is depicted as one of his pastimes of choice.

Note that this predates “Quotations of Brainy Smurf”. Brainy writing his own books is not a thing anywhere in the first two seasons.

The English name “Brainy” does seem to be largely to thank for this theming. It’s quite easy to make the leap from geek theming -> book lover. This is definitely an evolution of the character; this connection had never really been present before, e.g. in Smurf Versus Smurf the book he carries around isn’t tied back to a love of reading, it’s tied back to a love of rules and particularities. Again, the characterisation focus seems to have shifted.

Brainy getting mallet’d is also a thing that is alive and well in this movie. XD

We have mallet gags, we see him lecturing others, and he’s present in other scenes throughout the movie as well. So that’s a wrap on the movie! For now.

Now let’s turn our attention back to the comics for a moment.

1976 also brings us the Smurf Soup comic, La Soupe Aux Schtroumpfs.

In the beginning, Brainy is shown to be cautious and hushes the other since they’re near Gargamel’s hovel. Papa Smurf strategically deploys Brainy to lecture to Bigmouth in order to stall for time. Brainy seems shocked to note that the others are actually seemingly agreeing with him and encouraging his lecturing for once.

Brainy stupidly offers himself up to go into the soup, not realising that the others who have volunteered will be magically protected. Brainy, you FOOL. Not to mention he was also ready to unthinkingly give Gargamel instructions to get to the village, just like that.

He seems to be very “appearance over content”, unthinkingly prioritising form over substance even to his own detriment or the detriment of others. He doesn’t seem to be thinking through the consequences of his actions beyond the actions themselves. “I must volunteer to go into the soup because Papa requested volunteers, and I must always show myself to be following Papa Smurf’s words, and others are also volunteering…”, not actually thinking through what going into the soup actually entails, and “I know how to get to the village, so I will simply speak those instructions for how to get to the village”, not “it would be bad for myself and the village for Gargamel to have those instructions.”

There is also a collection of one-page comics published the same year;

In the one-page comic “It’s All Fun and Smurfs, Till Someone Gets Smurfed” Brainy is playing chess against another smurf – and loses.

Then there is the comic “Strike The Smurf While It’s Still Smurf” wherein Brainy gets mallet’d by his own reflection! (This comic is incredibly iconic in my eyes, but I may be biased to the extent that I can’t necessarily dissect it in much of the same objective manner that I am usually aiming for in these posts. Its presence on Brainy’s wiki page meant it was one of the first pieces of Brainy content I ever encountered, coupled with the caption seemingly framing the comic as a definitive statement of Brainy’s practically universal ability to annoy – it’s like a suggestion that even he would turn on himself, given the opportunity!)

To move on, now- it was The Smurf Song that really pushed the smurfs franchise into the international limelight. It’s interesting to note that Brainy is one of the three smurfs showcased in the associated video for it.

Now, the contents of the songs in the album aren’t canon of course, nor do they really showcase any of Brainy’s personality or anything – he’s just a random placeholder smurf that could have been switched out for anyone. I think his presence is merely to provide some variety since his glasses are something different and unique compared to other smurfs that helps him stand out. It showcases some variety in appearance/design. You have Papa’s presence as a very obvious choice – he’s a prominent character being the smurfs’ leader and with a design that makes him stand out very definitively. You need at least one standard, generic-looking smurf, and then instead of having two smurfs of standard design, they throw in the one with glasses as well, so that all three look different.

And although Smurfette had already been introduced to the franchise at this point, she was not nearly as central to the franchise as she would later become – by this point, she was a character that had been established to not live in the village with the other smurfs, so wasn’t really there/around much at all, plus canon still treated her in a very “othering” way wherein she wasn’t a go-to smurf to think of, but rather something “extra” – arguably a bit of an “afterthought” in the franchise’s eyes, if that makes sense. No Smurfette puppet in The Smurf Song, is what that boils down to. I mean, she wasn’t in Smurfs and the Magic Flute either – because she’s still not an established member of the village at this point. So that rules her out from being centred in any promotional/marketing material (unlike what would become the case later on). We’re left with Brainy as a prominent candidate as “smurf with a slightly different design compared to the others, adding in some variety”. Note that the appearance difference itself is the relevant factor here, not his actual character/personality. He could have had any number of different personalities and would still probably get thrown in for that bit of variety he adds.

The Smurf Song’s English translation was a massive hit in 1978. 1978 also brought us petrol commercials/ad campaigns featuring the smurfs for the English-speaking world. And yeah, Brainy’s featured there too.

Again, not canon and therefore nothing really indicative of Brainy’s character, but it’s interesting to note that in general within popular culture, when a bunch of smurfs are depicted outside of the core canon, there seems to be this notion of “just slap a pair of glasses on one of them” – a general awareness that there is a Glasses-Wearing Smurf that like, Exists, even if nothing at all beyond that is known about the character.

There is something I want to draw attention to however…

Now, Brainy is not referred to by name within these commercials. But the Lost Media Wiki shows this material produced showcasing the contents of one of the commercials before it began airing – it’s internally-produced corporate material.

And he has a name.

In English.

Brainy.

Now, smurf figurines were a Big Deal ever since the 60s… in the European market, at least. It would become a Big Deal in the English-speaking market later on too, but the question is… when? From what I’ve managed to find (and I’m welcome to receive any corrections on this, as well as any comments/feedback/additions on these posts in general!), it took The Smurf Song’s rise to fame first to get smurfs enough of a foothold into English-speaking popular culture before smurfs figurines could become much of a thing in these other parts of the world. We know the smurf figurine craze was booming in English-speaking places in 1978.

And why does this matter, you ask? Well, I’m terribly curious about this for one key reason: Brainy’s English name. If you’re pushing the sale of figurines/merchandise in the English-speaking world and Brainy is featured, the question becomes: how does, say, this smurf with glasses figurine get labelled? Because in the European market, he’d been labelled very straightforwardly as “smurf with glasses”. Or would the merchandise even have an English label to begin with prior to this point? A smurf-with-glasses figurine could still be simply treated as just that, the name cast as something of a point of irrelevance.

So far, the National Benzole commercial is the earliest instance I’ve found where Smurf With Glasses has been given the English name “Brainy”. (Naturally, as an extension of that, any Brainy figurines/merchandise associated with that specific marketing campaign would therefore be labelled with that name too. But still, what about before then…? Were there Brainy figurines available in English-speaking countries? If so, what were they called? Etc.)

We’re left with a couple of possibilities:

·       The decision for Smurf-With-Glasses to be called “Brainy” in English had already been made prior to this point, with input from Peyo and co, and the commercial-makers took their cue in his inclusion/naming from this, adopting this name accordingly for their own glasses-clad smurf featured in their commercial

·       The name was chosen in the course of making this commercial/associated marketing campaign featuring the Smurfs for the English-speaking places it would be featured in.

And to that end, if the name was only selected in the construction of this marketing campaign, who had the most influence over what the name would be, and what was the thought process behind it? Inquiring minds would love to know…

Either Peyo and co were consulted/had most of the input, or the commercial-makers/marketing campaign runners had most of the input when it came to his name.

In terms of the latter suggestion, keep in mind that these petrol commercials evidently cared very little for actual smurf canon, so it wouldn’t necessarily be too farfetched. They are only using smurfs as advertising set-dressing with no regard beyond that; “National Smurf” is transparently nonsensical in terms of Smurfs canon, created here to exist only for the commercial(s) itself. Smurfs named things like “Cheery” and “Helpful” were never actually established smurfs either – they’re made up by the people who worked on these commercials. I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that the name “Brainy” was chosen somewhat arbitrarily by the people using smurfs to market the sale of petrol, and Peyo and co didn’t really mind/just sort of OK’d it.

Here’s another point of consideration: if Peyo and co did have input into the English name that was chosen, what was their understanding of the English name and the reason it was suitable? How limited were they by the language barrier in place? How much were they needing to rely on an intermediary to bridge the language gap…?

Let’s think about the character’s existence and what we know about him up to this point and the selection of the name “Brainy Smurf”, and let’s play a game where we try to brainstorm hypothetical alternative English names/descriptors for him. I’m certainly not saying it’s easy. And something always tends to get lost in translation – there’s really not much of a way to preserve a 1:1 when you’re switching words between one language to another.

There are a lot of different factors you have to take into account here – you need a name that “works” in English. That takes “Glasses Smurf” or “Smurf-With-Glasses” off the table right away, because those names sound very clunky in English and don’t have much of a ring to them at all. Or to be more specific, “Glasses Smurf” can have its own charm as a name, but doesn’t really adhere to the -y/-er ending convention they’re going for. Not to mention that part of the appeal of smurfs in the smurfs franchise which was further pushed into prominence for the English-speaking world are their different personalities shining through – so when choosing a name in English, you’d preferably want to try for something that says something about the character as opposed to just a straightforward physical description. Not only that, but you want to choose something that works for children to be able to readily comprehend and understand – that rules out words that are too advanced for a standard child’s vocabulary or too complex. Words/names that are too complex also get ruled out if they’re too much of a mouthful to say.

Another point of consideration is marketing. From a money-making point of view, it’s preferable to have characters with marketable names that can become recognisable and appeal to consumers. (Looking somewhat ahead to the English translations of the movie/the 80s TV series, words that are too much of a mouthful to say also get ruled out from a standpoint of the name needing to get regularly used by the characters, and also if the name is too complex not only would it be difficult to say on the regular, but it would likely strain immersion/believability/suspension-of-disbelief on behalf of consumers, unless an over-the-top name is specifically the joke/part of the point).

So with that in mind, if we briefly go back to the character’s roots as Schtroumpf Moralisateur… Well, we can’t call him Sanctimonious Smurf. That word falls into the “complex” category. (We can’t exactly call him Sycophant(ic) Smurf for much the same reason, HAH).

Let me look at an online thesaurus. Moraliser Smurf, Stuffy Smurf, Goody-goody Smurf, Preachy Smurf, Morality Smurf… Hmm.

Let me throw out a bunch of further random names/descriptors (names that aren’t necessarily good, mind you, just me randomly throwing whatever at the wall)… Finicky Smurf, Busybody Smurf, Blabbermouth Smurf, Tattler Smurf, Fussy Smurf, Bossy Smurf. (Hell, in the Mr Men franchise, Mr Fussy later got the name Mr Persnickety/Pernickety, so why not throw in “Persnickety Smurf” too? Haha).

I’m sure there are more names I can come up with if I really thought on it. Now, all of these names are different – they focus on different aspects and would all frame the character differently for an English-speaking audience –but I’d argue they are all somewhat applicable descriptors for Brainy up to this point in the franchise (and there really is no “perfect solution” here when selecting an English name). One thing to draw attention to, however, is that the vast majority of name suggestions I have offered up here carry negative connotations. “Morality Smurf” is probably the one with the least overt negative connotations attached to it. In an alternate universe where Brainy’s English name was Morality Smurf, the name could seem innocuous enough, and then when you actually learn more about the character you find that a) the name is because he’s always policing others’ behaviour and because he’s seemingly so preoccupied with what one should/shouldn’t do b) the name is something of a source of irony whenever his own behaviour is substandard.

His French name, “Glasses-Smurf”, in its simple act of physical description, is rather value-neutral as a name.

The name “Brainy” has potential negative connotations as well as potential positive connotations. Its adjacent existence to derogatory terms such as “Brainiac” and the dated “Smarty(-pants)” (“Smarty” as a term on its own being something that used to be a derogatory name in the past for a know-it-all), and “wise guy” and “smart alec” and so on… you get the picture. These adjacent terms may get applied to a self-styled know-it-all who insists they’re right and know better than you (without necessarily commenting on the person’s actual level of intelligence). And Brainy is indeed someone who insists he knows better than those around him.

On the other end of consideration, you have the obvious, more positive connotations that come with the word “brainy”: intelligence, academic inclination, being smart.

(The word “intellectual” has also had its own negative connotations attached to it throughout history and has been used as an insult, but I digress).

Up to this point, Brainy Smurf has been shown to be pedantic. He’s been shown to be someone who acts like and insists he knows better than those around him. He’s been shown as an insufferable bore, a rule-enforcer, as someone who prattles on and on… but his character had never really had an explicitly academic dimension or connotation to it. Up to this point, there’d been no real association in terms of his name, behaviour, and character, with the concept of intelligence.

Gaining the English name “Brainy” presents an undeniable shift in the framing of this character for English audiences, who he is, his self-perception, his personality.

(That being said, as mentioned before, any chosen English name would have the very same effect in terms of changing the character’s framing, however subtle the shift would be; regardless of whatever hypothetical suggested name from earlier, any of them being chosen also would have changed the framing of the character for English audiences too! Unless his name was preserved as Glasses Smurf/Bespectacled Smurf, but that would present its own challenges as already discussed).

“The Smurfs and the Magic Flute” was translated to English and released in the UK in 1979. Let’s see what this translation has to say about the now-named Brainy Smurf, hmm?

“He’s a very clever chap, about life and such, but our Brainy Smurf often talks far too much!”

Let’s compare this to the translation of the French version from earlier in this post:

"He has a good conscience, and the sense of duty, but Brainy Smurf is a bit talkative."

Hmm… we’ve got “good conscience”, “sense of duty”, “talkative”… Ah, but I don’t see anything about cleverness here, do I?

Now, the reason for this semantic shift is clear enough: this song is specifically pointing out the smurfs’ unique personalities in correlation with their names, and the English version wants to emphasise that. The word “clever” gets thrown in here to help draw the connection to the name “Brainy”… Both this name and the mention of cleverness being completely absent in the original version.

And then in 1967, we reach the Smurfette comic! When the smurfs grow tired of Smurfette, Brainy is shown to be a participant in the mean prank they all play on her. But once her appearance becomes modified, Brainy gets carried away just like all the other smurfs when it comes to fawning over Smurfette.

(I see those love hearts, Brainy. I SEE EM)

Not to mention the picture from the start of this post:

And funnily enough, at one point he’s so focused on Smurfette that he does not stop to listen to Papa Smurf!

But when Smurfette’s ties to Gargamel are revealed, Papa Smurf designates Brainy as prosecutor in the trial of Smurfette! :D

There is something potentially to be said for that. It’s entirely possible that Brainy was only chosen at random to be the prosecutor because he simply happened to be standing nearby. Or perhaps Papa Smurf deemed him suitable for the role as well.

Whichever it is, Brainy indeed gets very into the role. He launches a staunch offense on Smurfette, and is pelted with produce in return. He also objects when a not-guilty verdict is reached. But he does look sad along with the others when Smurfette leaves the village.

Next we have 1967’s version of The Hunger of the Smurfs! We’ve already looked at the mini-story version in Part 1 of this post series; now we get the expanded-upon version. One difference is that this time we can be sure when Brainy is in a scene because he has his glasses now; and Peyo does have him present throughout the story, although the colour of his scarf is totally inconsistent, with him sporting a bunch of different-coloured ones throughout.

One item of note is this little bit here:

In the mini-story version, there’s no smurf saying “Don’t push!” in this bit. While situationally appropriate, it ties into his overall penchant for regulating others’ behaviour and purported mindfulness of the “what one should and should not do” in a situation. Yes, that’s a bit of a stretch to apply that here – it’s just one quick line in a panel – but it still ties into that theme when looked at in conjunction with everything else; a throughline.

In 1968 the expanded-upon version of The Smurfs and the Egg is published, which had originally been published in 1960. Just like with Schtroumpf Noirs, an originally Brainy-less story is updated to now include Brainy, featuring his presence for three panels at the start and then nothing further for the rest of the story.

The expanded-upon version of The Fake Smurf was published the same year, having originally been published in 1961. Again, nothing much of note development-wise for his character occurs, though this panel again reiterates his tendency to try and enforce behaviours for other smurfs, as well as enforcing the authority of Papa Smurf:

Next up we have the updated version of the Hundredth Smurf comic. Interestingly, despite being consistently called “smurf with glasses” in French ever since the name changeover, the updated version of Hundredth Smurf still refers to him as Schtroumpf Moralisateur. That singular panel in the Hundredth Smurf comic is the only early example I’m aware of where he gets labelled with that name! Otherwise, it’s typically Glasses Smurf. [Edit: @schtroumpfcurieux​ has since advised me that he’s also called “Schtroumpf Moralisateur” in 1971′s The Apprentice Smurf as well!]

1968 was also the original publishing date for the comic Smurf Traps. At the start, Brainy warns the others not to cheat at the hide-and-seek game they’re going to play, because cheating is bad.

Gargamel sets tailored traps for each of the smurfs, and what manages to first captivate and then capture Brainy is a very large book promising to be a lengthy Treatise on Morality, showcasing the character’s preoccupation with moral/proprietary rules.

Now it’s time for The Smurfs and the Howlibird, published 1969. Brainy’s character is very well-established at this point; there’s also a layer of irony present when he’s bossing the others around. In the Howlibird story, he’s so caught up in talking about how they should take aim at the Howlibird with “rapidity and precision” and urging the others to hurry it up that he’s ultimately delaying them, and is very particular about the placement of the stone, convinced that only he can fix it up the right way and that the others would be helpless without him.

Then there’s The Astrosmurf, from 1970…

Yep. There’s that most encapsulating word that we keep circling back to: sanctimonious!

In the French panel, the word used is moralisateur, like from his original name;

(Image courtesy of @schtroumpfcurieux)

Another thing that’s quite well-established at this point is that the other smurfs really aren’t big on Brainy. He’s generally a go-to target…

In The Weather-Smurfing Machine (published 1970), Brainy prudently brings along an umbrella, just in case.

And he also has this overdramatic little scene:

And just… gets up straight away, ahahah.

He’s someone inclined to insert himself and try to take charge of situations;

Brainy also follows/suggests following guidelines even illogically so or in a manner lacking common sense;

After all, that broken umbrella isn’t exactly going to do much against the rain. You could try adjusting the shape, but it’s pretty hard to do once they wind up like that.

When “The End” of the comic is announced Brainy rushes in to interrogate this supposed cut-off point as an ending. He declares that “a story must smurf a moral”! Well, they didn’t say he’s a moralisateur for nothing.

The effect of the speech bubble covering Papa really reinforces just how talkative he is.

In the one-page comic of “Master Smurf was Smurfing in a Tree”, part of the one-page comics published in 1971-1972, irony once again becomes involved: Brainy is so wrapped up in warning a smurf that they are sitting on the wrong side of a branch they are sawing off, and instructing them to be prudent, that he himself is now making the same mistake. In the other one-page comic “Careful, The Little Smurf Will Come Out”, when they’re all trying to get a photo taken together, he’s the only one who seems poised:

The comic “Be Smurf To Animals” from the one-page comic collection of 1972’s Histoires de Schtroumpfs seems to be among the first instances where he’s been casually depicted with book in hand, something that would become so iconic to the character:

In 1973’s Smurf Versus Smurf comic, Brainy’s go-to to attempt to resolve the linguistic disputes is to consult his “grammar smurf”:

But… He doesn’t even seem to realise what he’s reading out since he starts going into totally irrelevant stuff:

Brainy continues consulting and reading from the book into the evening, even as a play is being put on for the smurfs. And when the rules of a smurfball game get modified, Brainy immediately intervenes to say Wait You Can’t Play Like That! He’s very much about rules and enforcing them. Rules, rules, rules!

Brainy’s blabbermouthing busybody behaviour escalates the situation before the comic’s end, as he informs both the Northerners and the Southerners of the others’ plan to hold a demonstration.

And I’ll leave this post off here for now! It may come across as a bit abrupt, but we have quite a bit happening on the horizon. In the next post, we’ll look at some more of the comics and then we also have the animated feature film first released in 1976, and then the smurfs franchise beginning to turn their eyes to other countries and looking at becoming more well-known globally... and what that means for Brainy’s character.

The mini-récits are, as the “mini” suggests, comics that are very small and condensed. These comics would later be revised by Peyo and redrawn in their entirety in a much bigger and expanded-upon format.

(French!) Wikipedia lists the mini-récits as follows, in order of publication date:

·       Les Schtroumpfs noirs (1959) ·       Le Voleur de Schtroumpfs (1959) ·       L’Œuf et les Schtroumpfs (1960) ·       Le Faux Schtroumpf (1961) ·       La Faim des Schtroumpfs (1961) ·       Le Centième Schtroumpf (1962)

There is no Brainy Smurf to be found anywhere in the 1959 version of Les Schtroumpfs noirs. We’ll circle back to this later and touch on it in more detail, I promise, but for now you just gotta bear with me as we continue our search for Brainy elsewhere. Onward!

What about next on the list, Le Voleur de Schtroumpfs from the same year? (AKA: “The Smurfnapper”).

Would you believe me if I said that originally, Brainy Smurf did not have glasses? Yes, despite his French name literally being “Smurf with glasses”. Because before he was known as Schtroumpf à lunettes, he was Schtroumpf Moralisateur.

So, without glasses as an obvious visual cue, one of the main ways to identify if a smurf is Brainy or not is by his personality… So let’s take a look at Le Voleur de Schtroumpfs.

Here, my friends, is what I have personally pinpointed as the very first appearance of the Schtroumpf Moralisateur, as the smurf in front holding the bag. He already has his trademark admonishing raised finger!

In the redrawn, expanded-upon version of Le Voleur de Schtroumpfs published some years later in 1963, this smurf is indeed confirmed to be Brainy:

Here, the smurf who would be Brainy emerges for the first time in smurf canon out from behind the grass, establishing himself upfront as a character who wants to go by the book, insisting they do as they’re told and admonishing his fellow smurf for considering otherwise.

I love how in the redrawn version from a few years later, Peyo makes a point of making his expression less neutral in this same panel, hahaha:

When the other smurf gets captured, he admonishes them for their behaviour.

Then, at the end of the comic, Brainy Smurf-Without-Glasses pulls an “I told you so!” and finishes with one of his trademark holier-than-thou rants:

In the vein of “If only you’d listened to Papa Smurf / You must listen to Papa Smurf…”

And there you have it: there’s a very solid case to be made that this is Brainy’s first appearance. A smurf that is unafraid to unrelentingly lecture others on what they should and should not do. A sanctimonious moralisateur.

The next mini-story pinpointed as featuring Brainy is La Faim des Schtroumpfs or “The Hunger of the Smurfs / The Hungry Smurfs”, published in 1961.

We can tell this smurf in this comic is Brainy due to not only the speech/style/mannerisms, but also because just like with the previous story we looked at, this smurf is redrawn as Brainy with his glasses in the expanded-upon version.

Showing up and getting all “Papa Smurf says we should do X therefore we need to do X…” makes it easy to connect this smurf as being the same one from The Smurfnapper that we just looked at, and it’s easy to conclude that Peyo had the same smurf in mind when he made this comic as well.

After he shows up and has that one piece of Brainyesque dialogue, there’s not really anything of note Brainywise for the rest of the comic. We can safely assume he’s presumably there among the other smurfs, but with the only way to distinguish him in these mini-stories being when his personality is shown, there’s no smurf among the group designated by Peyo for us to know for certain is Brainy for the remainder of the comic.

Next, we have Le Centième Schtroumpf  - the Hundredth Smurf mini-story comic published in 1962, the final mini-story of this fashion featuring our dear Brainy, and for the very first time, he gets a name! How exciting! Well, I think it is, at least.

There! Now named Schtroumpf Moralisateur, he’s telling off Schtroumpf Gourmand for gluttony.

Nothing of note Brainywise for the rest of the comic, but the name itself really sums up Peyo’s thoughts and approach here when writing Brainy into the comics: he’s preoccupied with judging and lecturing sanctimoniously to others about their actions/behaviour.

We now reach 1963, when the expanded version of Les Schtroumpfs noirs (or “The Purple Smurfs” in English) was published, and we can finally circle back to that kinda-tangent I put aside at the very start.

Brainy, it’s time for you to don your glasses!

There you are, Brainy.

Brainy is the smurf who goes off and encounters the first smurf afflicted by the Bzz Fly, quickly rushing back and warning Papa Smurf.

But wait – in the original mini-story version of 1959, the smurf who does this is just some random smurf with no defining characteristics. Although you could try and make some technicality argument that this retroactively makes the smurf who took this role originally Brainy too, I approach this moreso from the view of artist intent. When Peyo was working on the 1959 version, I sincerely doubt he had Schtroumpf Moralisateur in mind for that random smurf. But for some reason, when he expanded on the comic in 1963, he decided to make this smurf Brainy now. It’s interesting, because there’s no real reason for the smurf to be Brainy – it could just as easily have been any other smurf – but he added those glasses in.

Published alongside the new-and-improved Schtroumpfs Noirs story in 1963 is “The Flying Smurf” (Le Schtroumpf Volant).

Our new glassesified Brainy is in this story from the very first panel! This is the first brand-new story featuring a glasses-clad Brainy, and unlike with Schtroumpfs Noirs his personality readily shows through. Papa Smurf sends Brainy and another smurf into the forest to get walnuts, the other smurf gets distracted by an apple which he goes after…

Back at it once more with the lecturing, the admonishing, and the insistence that they strictly stick to their given instructions.

Also, he abruptly starts singing at the top of his lungs, as you do.

The other trait established about Brainy is that he’s the tattle-tale “I’ll tell on you!” type as well.

Despite haphazardly following his fellow smurf around for the majority of the comic insisting on the walnuts, he never does get around to actually getting them for Papa Smurf. He was too busy pestering his fellow smurf about it instead.

Even when the plot of the comic carries over to the next day, Brainy’s still trying to chase this smurf and insist on it, and then he’s confronted like this in the comic’s final illustration.

1963 also brought us the expanded-upon version of Le Voleur de Schtroumpfs (The Smurfnapper). We’ve already covered the mini-story version so let’s just have a look at any notable changes in this expanded version, other than the fact that Brainy now has his glasses.

We have another instance of the updated comic depicting Brainy with a crankier expression than he had originally for the same panel:

That’s the main change of note that I can see.

Also, around this time, some of the comics were adapted into an animated TV series. You can read more about that in the “The Smurfs (1961 TV series)” article on the smurfs fandom wiki, and also on the Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs page on the Lost Media wiki. One of the stories adapted into animation was The Smurfnapper! Much of the footage from the 1960s series is considered lost media, but some of it survives. Some of that surviving footage shows Brainy’s presence in the adapted Smurfnapper story!

I’ll link the footage in a reblog, along with other relevant links.

Brainy’s voice has a very high pitch within this animation, likely chosen to be this way due to his very small size. He’s shown lecturing his fellow smurf as he does in the comic it’s an adaption of, and the smurf is shown plugging his ears in response:

(Because that’s another thing the comics have established by this point: the smurfs looking annoyed when being lectured to or not being interested in hearing what Brainy has to say).

But this voice doesn’t have that certain layer of intentional over-the-top emphasis that Danny Goldman’s performance would later bring to the character in the 80s. Here, the voice sounds more cute than anything, and the lecturing sounds more matter-of-fact and neutral than Danny Goldman would play it as.

And whew, now we’ve reached the King Smurf comic, published in 1965. This is a big one for Brainy.

Papa Smurf leaves the village temporarily and unlike the other smurfs, Brainy is not interested in slacking off or playing games. He’s all business.

The other smurfs aren’t interested in listening to him at all, and then Brainy makes this assertion:

Bossy, bossy! His claim continues to be met with pushback from the others who begin declaring individually that, no, they will be the ones in charge. We have not seen any indication that Papa Smurf has actually granted Brainy any sort of authority. This, coupled with the reaction of the other smurfs and their immediate attempts to make the same claims/assertion of authority on no basis suggests that Brainy was likely making this claim to authority from absolutely nowhere, simply trying to forcefully assume the position of leadership and unsuccessfully trying to get the other smurfs to simply stand down and accept it.

And here, it seems we may have the very first instance of the Brainy-getting-hit gag:

Though it’s introduced in the midst of all the smurfs fighting and harming each other.

You know, I somehow doubt that Papa Smurf would say that and play favourites with his little smurfs :P Sounds like you’re saying whatever and talking gobbledegook in a bid to get elected or you’ve misunderstood Papa, Brainy. He then gets referred to as a “bore” by the others.

Mallet joke kicking into gear XD

Also, Brainy gets christened as Schtroumpf à lunettes for the first time! Peyo’s decided to go with that name instead of the Moralisateur one now that he has glasses.

Oh Brainy. Brainy, Brainy, Brainy… So wrapped up in himself and self-assured in his assumption the others would want to vote for him. Not being the brightest bulb here. I love this gag XD. Totally delusional.

Oh, and he tries to commit voter fraud too. The so-called formerly-named Moralisateur is not above hypocritically bending the rules to benefit himself, it seems.

And once the other guy is elected…

Brainy Smurf, shameless suck-up, everyone. A real sycophant.

Ok bootlicker.

His words of “And like I always say to the Smurf King…” are presumably as empty as his claims that Papa says he’s the smurfiest. The total 180 turn that Brainy pulls here in very sudden supposed support of the smurf he was openly opposing just before (but of course, now that smurf has power, which makes a difference, y’see) reveals a serious lack of actual sincerity and conviction to his character. He talks a big game and makes a big show of a lot of things. But this suggests that much of it is merely empty words and empty gestures. It even calls into question just how sincere his support of Papa Smurf actually is, given how similar his words here are compared to when he’s talking about Papa Smurf. At the end of the day… Papa Smurf holds the power as the leader. And this comic tells us that Brainy’s sycophantic as hell.

Not to mention this line Brainy has earlier in the comic, before Smurf is elected, trying to deter the other smurfs from voting Smurf in:

He claims “Flattery is the smurf of fools”, but he absolutely won’t hesitate to stoop to it himself. Because he’s a hypocrite. You could argue it suggests he may not actually care about, believe, or really pay attention to the very words he speaks.

“Long live the smurf king!”, he declares.

But he finds Jokey’s imprisonment to be wrong, and tries to convince King Smurf on this matter - because he does not abide by his fellow smurf’s wrongful imprisonment.

But King Smurf refuses Brainy’s advice about imprisoning Jokey being a bad idea, so he joins up with the anti-King Smurf league. In secrecy, mind you.

He gets caught and jailed, and eagerly awaits the glory and praise for heroism that will come with his surely speedy rescue. And waits. And waits. Finally, he manages to get out of prison... eventually, towards the end. And there we have the King Smurf comic.

That’s really skipping over what happens as opposed to going into more depth, but my aim here is to not so much do plot summaries as it is to try and pinpoint moments of note when it comes to Brainy’s characterisation over the years.