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Saturday, October 22, 2005

BREAKING NEWS: SMURF VILLAGE BOMBED

[ UPDATED ]

TopStoryLive Breaking News Coverage

SMURF VILLAGE BOMBED

Multiple bombs dropped
At least one death reported
Mushroom houses in flames, ruins
Children left to die
Everysmurf in chaos

TAKE ENG SOT: BREAKING CUTIN OPEN	(TAKE ENG SOT)
(MR. VOICE)	(ANNOUNCER)
	From XXXXXXX News, this is Breaking News.
TAKE ANCHOR IN NEWSROOM	(ANCHOR)
*cg breaknl Bombing at Smurf Village; 1 Death Reported	I'm XXXXXXX live in the XXXXXXXX Newsroom.
	Right now we're working breaking news out of the Smurf Village.
	We've just received word that several bombs have been dropped on the area; there is no word where the bombs came from, or who is responsible for the bombing.
	The bombs have exploded in the center of the village.
	Several houses are heavily damaged and on fire; it appears that many Smurfs are hurt.
	We're also getting some pictures just back from the village now.
TAKE VO	(TAKE VO)
*cg breaknf Bombing at Smurf Village; 1 Death Reported	As you can see these show the process of the bombing, even before the bombs dropped. It was a normal day -- and then, as some eyewitnessmurfs are telling us, the bombs dropped out of the sky all of a sudden.
	Again, many Smurfs are hurt after the explosions, and we've gotten reports that at least one Smurf has been killed.
TAKE NEWSROOM	(ANCHOR ONCAM)
*cg breaknl Bombing at Smurf Village; 1 Death Reported	We're looking into if any help is on the way to the Village, as you may know it is very difficult to find in the forest, being very well hidden.
	Once again, to recap: There's been a bombing at the Smurf Village.
	Several bombs have hit the area.
	At least one Smurf is killed.
	Several Smurfs are hurt, and buildings have major damage.
	Count on XXXXXXX News to stay on the story.
	We'll bring you updates throughout the day with the latest details, and more tonight on XXXXXXXX News at 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11.
	I'm XXXXXXXX. We're going to return you now to your regular programming.
TAKE ENG SOT: BREAKING CUTIN CLOSE	(TAKE ENG SOT)
	(ANNOUNCER)
	Stay tuned to XXXXXXXX News for further developments on this breaking story....

---

Can you IMAGINE it?

The topic is all over the blogosphere: how there's a new ad, a commercial, out there that shows the Smurf Village getting bombed.

The ad is for UNICEF.

Not drink-too-much-sarsparilla-and-stumble-home bombed, but bombed with missiles.

Toonopedia on The Smurfs Mushroom Village on The Smurfs
The Smurfs are a Belgian property, and owned by the estate of creator Peyo. I first saw them (and taped them copiously) when I was a kid around, oh, say, 1983, when they were on NBC on Saturday mornings. They've had a movie (The Smurfs and the Magic Flute which seems, in 20/20 hindsight, to have been was dubbed for English-speakers), an album (The Smurfs All Star Show), and countless stuffed toys in their images:
Papa Smurf (red, with beard)
Brainy Smurf (glasses)
Hefty Smurf (barbell and arrow-through-heart tattoo on muscle)
Handy Smurf (pencil behind ear)
Greedy Smurf (baker's hat and bib)
Vanity Smurf (flower behind ear and mirror)
Jokey Smurf (an exploding present)
Clumsy Smurf (eyelids at half-mast)
and of course Smurfette (long blonde hair and high heels).
Then, with a second wave of characters to infuse new blood around the late 80's, Smurf kids who actually got to wear different clothes, like Sassette (with red hair in pigtails and purple overalls), and the one with the yellow T-shirt that was too big for him.

The ad doesn't feature all of those characters familiar to American fans, but a viewer gets the point.

The ad opens with the usual "La, LA, la-la-la-la, LA, la-la-la-la!" singing of the little blue chorus offscreen, as we move through the forest to see the Smurf Village looking nice and normal.

Cut to scores of cartoon missiles, complete with blasting cap nipples on the one end and guiding fins on the other.

They hit, and explode.

Smurfs start running around screaming. Houses are on fire, blown up, Smurfs are walking wounded, prone on the ground, under debris.

Cut to a medium shot showing Baby Smurf in the foreground.

Fade out... and fade up a title card in German reading a message: Don't let war destroy the world of children.

When looking for the video clips that are out there of the ad, the only video that I could find was very choppy, and not full motion (practically a slideshow with full audio track). Most of the clips are actually a full package from a German news organization that feature child soldiers (in countries that conscript their children at a very young age), who've been hurt in battle, even lost their limbs.

MSNBC's story
MSNBC mildly related story: "Hair-raising PSA shunned by broadcasters"

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 10/22/2005 03:57:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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