The Smurfs (TV series) Saturday morning cartoon "The Smurfs", produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with SEPP International S.A. (from 1981 to 1987) and Lafig S.A. (in the years 1988 and 1989), debuted on NBC in 1981. The series became a major success for the networkand one of the most successful and longest running Saturday morning cartoons in television history, spawning spin-off television specials on an almost yearly basis. The characters included Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy Smurf, the evil Gargamel, his cat Azrael, and Johan and his friend Peewit. "The Smurfs" was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy Awards, and won Outstanding Children's Entertainment
The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow also explained how the film was a celebration of the original Smurfs comic books and comic strips, saying: "When the team at Sony Pictures Animation initially started working on "The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow", we thankfully all shared a very strong vision of the sort of movie that we wanted this home premiere to be. Which was this celebration of the original Smurfs comic books & comic strips that used traditional, hand-drawn animation as a way to harken back to all that strong line work and design. And as someone who started his career in 2D, I'm just