Tis the Season to Be Smurfy (The Smurfs, 1981)

Tis the Season to Be Smurfy is a Christmas episode (part of Season 7) of The Smurfs. It originally aired December 13, 1987 on NBC.

Summary
Grandpa Smurf and Sassette visit a human village to witness how they celebrate the holidays and end up helping an old couple by having their fellow Smurfs bring some Christmas cheer into the old couple's lives while tracking down a thief in the process.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) This special is noticeably weaker than the other specials in this series. Compared to the previous specials, this one focused on a light-hearted comedic plot as shown in the summary above.
 * 2) * The conflict in this special is rather bland. There are no sorcerers, witches and/or magic to be seen in this special. All we get is Smurfs playing as Christmas elves to cheer up an elderly couple (despite their blue skin and mostly white clothing).
 * 3) Gargamel and Azrael are entirely absent in this special, which is very strange, especially since we could have gotten them instead of the villain in this special.
 * 4) * Neither Lord Balthazar, Chlorhyrdis and/or Hogatha don't appear in this special. Without dark elements to balance out the light-hearted comedy, it's just a typical 22-minute episode with plenty of events happening.
 * 5) The beginning has some mean-spirited moments to Wild Smurf, as Brainy and Vanity yell at him for ruining decorations. Vanity even calls him a "savage Smurf".
 * 6) The beginning song, while good, lasts 52 seconds for some reason.
 * 7) * It's one of the few songs in this special to not have pitch-shifted voices for the Smurfs. For the rest of the special, they do have pitch-shifted voices.
 * 8) This episode relies on a "random events" plot, similar to "another episode. We start with the Smurfs making Christmas decorations, then it jumps to Grandpa Smurf and Sassette in a human village, then it jumps to the villain of the special, then it jumps to the old couple celebrating Christmas, then to the two Smurfs bringing the others to the old couple's home which is how it stays throughout the special.
 * 9) Wasted potential, as the villain doesn't pursue the Smurfs and is unaware of their existence. Hefty and Brainy did interact with him at one point. But they were pretending to be Christmas spirits, so that doesn't count.
 * 10) When this special first came out, it proved to be a disappointment because of the substandard digital ink and paint look and not the story itself. It felt as if the critics were more concerned about the visuals and didn't have time to think about how the story is structured.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Good animation and voice acting as usual.
 * 2) This special does have it's moral of "giving than receiving".
 * 3) There are some funny moments, such as Clumsy tripping over a rock and onto Greedy's candy canes, which goes on the tree and the Smurfs cheer.
 * 4) A few heartwarming moments as well, particularly towards the end.