Los Pitufos (1981, Latin American Spanish)

It's the only dubbing of the cartoon made in Spanish, being broadcast both in Latin America and in Spain to date by various television channels.

Adaptation
The original name of the Smurfs: Schtroumpfs, was adapted into Spanish as Los Pitufos (Pitufo, singular). Their Spanish name came from Miguel Agustí, editor-in-chief of the Spanish comics magazine Strong, where they were first published the Peyo's comics in Spanish in 1969. For more than a month, he was looking for a name that could be adaptated until he remembered the character of Patufet, an emblematic figure of Catalan folklore, He is a boy so small, so small, that he when he goes down the street he has to sing a short song so that don't step on his. In Spanish, the name 'Pitufos' became extremely popular, being the exclusive name with which the franchise is associated in the entire Spanish language.

In Spain, the characters became better known through Peyo's comics, but in Latin America, they would be recognized thanks to this animated series.

Broadcast
The dubbing of the series was produced in Mexico by SISSA – Oruga, also being the first country to broadcast it in Spanish. The first channel to broadcast it was Canal 5 of Mexico in 1982. Said channel, except in a few years, has broadcast the series up to the present.

One of the countries where the cartoon was most successful was Chile, being released in the 80s on Televisión Nacional de Chile, and going through various channels, such as Megavisión, and UCV Televisión. Today it continues to be broadcast on the UCV3 channel in Valparaíso.

The series was also very successful in Spain, being broadcast free-to-air by the La 1 channel of Televisión Española (at that time, TVE-1), and other channels such as Telecinco. It was shown on cable television by the Toon Disney and Boing channels.

Los Pitufos were also part of the programming of the newly born Latin American signal of Cartoon Network, in 1993.

Cast

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Trivia

 * The work done in this dubbing is one of the most iconic in history, not only of Mexican dubbing, but also of Spanish dubbing in general.
 * In Chile, the impact of the series on society was such that in that country the word pitufo is used as an idiom, to refer to someone or something small.
 * Many actors usually have up to 4 or 5 different characters in the series. However, the dubbing actors (especially Francisco Colmenero, and Arturo Mercado, who each play more than 4 main characters, and several secondary and episodic characters) use different tones of voice when acting, making it often impossible to distinguish which all those characters are played by the same actor.
 * During its broadcast in the 80s and part of the 90s on Televisa Canal 5, two different opening instrumental themes were used with the title in English "Smurfs", the US version, and the UK/Europe version, both narrated and performed by Francisco Colmenero and Esteban Siller (the latter as Gargamel) respectively, as well as two closing themes based on the opening ones free of interventions. All the titles are kept in English on the screen, and they were read in Spanish by Francisco Colmenero.
 * However, after its return to this channel and to others on the American continent in 2005 and after its recent remastering, the opening and closing themes were completely changed. The current theme song for The Smurfs is based on modern French version of "Smurfingland", which is currently the show's French intro, the song that The Smurfs usually hum in each episode, and whose version dates back to 1998. This is used in France and French-speaking countries as the only main theme, replacing the many themes originally used in the French dub at the time. Until that moment, the song had not been adapted, this time being sung and in Spanish both in the opening and the closing one, which was originally only instrumental. This change would also be applied in Spain, on the Boing channel. There is a possibility that this change has been made due to a licensing issue, since the franchise rights worldwide currently belong to the Belgian company International Merchandising, Promotion and Services (IMPS).
 * The prominent actor Humberto Vélez has mentioned that when he was auditioning for a dubbing project, Francisco Colmenero called him in an emergency to record impromptu. Vélez entered the recording booth and the actor said his first lines, thus marking his debut in dubbing.
 * As in the original English version, different Smurfs were given different local Mexican accents such as the accent from the Mexican state of Yucatan to Farmer Smurf ('Pitufo Granjero' in Spanish), from northern Mexico to Greedy Smurf ('Pitufo Goloso') and from state of Veracruz to Tailor Smurf ('Pitufo Sastre'). As in all languages except French, Artist Smurf ('Pitufo Pintor') has a very thick French accent when speaking.
 * Although in Spain the original series has always been broadcast with the Mexican dubbing, during its original broadcast in Spain it had two different intros with the original music. The first, from Televisión Española, performed by a Spanish singer, who replaces the voice of Francisco Colmenero, but who maintains the lines of Esteban Siller, and another completely sung by Spaniards, a version that is possibly from the Telecinco channel, which includes redoubling from Gargamel's line in the intro, by an unknown actor.