Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Episodes: 104
Duration: approx 5-20 min (per episode)
The Smurfs: Season 5 & 6 (DVD) – Series Review
It’s only been slightly more than a month since we received the rerelease of the third and fourth seasons of The Smurfs. This cartoon reigned supreme in many countries during the period of 1981 till 1990, especially in Belgium, where The Smurfs originated from. Peyo’s little blue critters would become legendary figures, be it in comic books, animated series, games or even the fairly new CGI film or the live-action versions. We revisited the old cartoons as they are being rereleased by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, dubbed in Dutch and French. These low priced editions allow children to enjoy these antiquated cartoons, albeit with inconsistent quality.
Nothing has changed in the story department of the short-but-sweet episodes of The Smurfs. We always get treated to a problem, which will eventually get solved over the course of five to twenty minutes. The themes can range to problems in their own little community, how to have respect for adults but that children also deserve respect in return. Of course, there are also actual adventures to experience, where Smurfs go explore, get kidnapped, and so on. The story value of the episodes is always quite nice and still very relevant in 2020. We still regret not being able to pick the English spoken dialogues, as well as subtitles. Nonetheless, as a local release, it will serve its purpose quite fine.
Just like the previous seasons, this one is plagued by inconsistencies. The quality will often sway between nearly HD and barely watchable. We again think that certain popular episodes were remastered at a certain point, where others didn’t have the proper source material available anymore. It’s also weird seeing a nearly HD image at the beginning of an episode, to then go to subpar VHS quality for the rest of the cartoon.
Conclusion
The fifth and sixth seasons of The Smurfs are still a nice trip down memory lane, especially seeing these nice-looking editions are available at a fairly low price. Nonetheless, the quality remains very dodgy, even on these later seasons, with odd design choices of what has been remastered. It’s still a nice way of introducing your children to the universe of The Smurfs with harmless cute and entertaining stories.
The Smurfs: Season 5 & 6 (DVD) – Series Review,
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