Reporter's Inside Stories

Reporter: Now we come to the most important Smurf to influence Empath's life...heck, he's been an influence to every Smurf's life here. Of course, we're smurfing about Papa Smurf, the great Smurf, the "ol' red, white, and blue", as some Smurfs are fond of calling him. Even though he's nearly four times the average adult Smurf's age around here, Papa Smurf still has what it smurfs to keep a village running and a community like ours smurfing. Most of the time, he's too busy smurfing around with his experiments in the lab to smurf any time for interviews, but today I was lucky to find him off-duty, in a manner of smurfing.

(Papa Smurf is found sitting on a rocking chair, with a pipe in his mouth.)

Reporter: I hope I'm not desmurfing you, Papa Smurf, because I just want to get a story about how you influenced Empath's life.

Papa Smurf: (takes pipe out of his mouth.) Yes, well, as long as you're not smurf any questions that I don't feel like answering, Reporter, since those kind of questions are smurfonal.

Reporter: You got it. Now I understand you were the first Smurf to meet Empath when he was in Psychelia. What made you decide to go to Psychelia to meet him?

Papa Smurf: Let's just say a little bird dropped by to smurf me a message. It was from the Psyche Master. He wanted me to smurf to Psychelia to see how Empath was smurfing over there, so I went.

Reporter: Now how did Empath smurfed up in Psychelia in the first place? That is, if you don't mind smurfing me!

Papa Smurf: (sighs heavily) I was responsible for bringing him there mysmurf. It was basically because every one of my fellow Smurfs in the village back then feared Empath's newborn abilities, since another Smurf centuries ago possessed the same abilities and had threatened to take over the minds of every Smurf in the village. Somehow their parents resisted his efforts, but they still feared the likes of him. That Smurf ended up leaving the village to create his own race of people, and now he's known as the Psyche Master.

Reporter: Whoa, another long-lost Smurf without a cause!

Papa Smurf: Back then, Empath almost became a lost cause. I couldn't believe that the Psyche Master made me believe that Empath had died all those years ago.

Reporter: So how did it feel to have Empath back again after all those years?

Papa Smurf: I wish I could smurf that I was happy about it -- until Empath started smurfing at me so strangely and called me a "savage being." I smurf that the Psyche Master has smurfed up Empath's mind so badly with some strange ideas about Smurfs. That was how I got the Psyche Master to allow Empath to visit us for a full year every ten years.

Reporter: That night when Empath went to smurf you about his dream, and you smurfed him the truth about his origin then, he got so angry with you. Why didn't you smurf him the truth about it sooner?

Papa Smurf: First off, it was a condition of the Psyche Master that I was not allowed to smurf anything of my relationship to Empath before his 150th birthday. And secondly, in case you forgot, I had to be the Papa Smurf to 97 other young Smurfs like yourself. I had to smurf everything I could to bring this community together, not smurf it apart. And that meant making Empath feel like all his fellow Smurfs were his brothers.

Reporter: I remember back then when you smurfed to all of us that you needed us to help make this village a family that works and lives together. I thought that would have been impossible to accomplish, since I had just lost my Mama and Papa Smurf back then.

Papa Smurf: Well, I'm glad to smurf that you've accomplished a lot since then. Your parents would have been proud of you, just as I am now.

Reporter: Strangely, I don't even smurf about them anymore. I guess I have been so used to calling you Papa Smurf all those years, you feel like you're my only real parent.

Papa Smurf: Not that I wish that to be the case, but thank you for smurfing that.

Reporter: You're welcome, Papa Smurf. Now getting back to Empath -- that night when you smurfed him that you were his real father, he smurf so angry with you that he hit you in the smurf. I mean, no other Smurf has ever dared to smurf you like that!

Papa Smurf: Unfortunately, there's a first time for everything!

Reporter: And knowing you, it would hopefully be your last time. Truth to tell, it almost became your last time when you smurfed Empath from killing himself inside a volcano. Somehow you've managed to escape the smurfs of death again. Have you finally felt you've made peace with Empath enough to forgive and forget?

Papa Smurf: We came to realize how much each other was hurt, even more so when Empath smurfed to his knees to ask for forgiveness, making me feel like I was the Psyche Master. I decided to smurf down on my own knees and tell him how sorry I really was for smurfing a mess out of his life. Time and love has helped heal those wounds between us, so now we are back to where we were before, only now stronger and smarter.

Reporter: And perhaps wiser as well. Which leads me to my next question -- which is about Empath being your assistant counselor. Are you training him to be the next leader of the Smurf Village or what?

Papa Smurf: Being an assistant counselor is part of that plan, Reporter, though whether Empath wishes to accept that role when the time smurfs or not is his decision to make.

Reporter: Why not Brainy? After all, you are training him to be a sorceror.

Papa Smurf: Brainy is pretty much busy enough trying to smurf everything about sorcery. What he needs to smurf right now is how to obey orders in addition to giving them, which I feel he has trouble smurfing except with Empath. He's very good at smurfing Brainy straight about what's expected of him.

Reporter: Okay, what about Empath's friend, Polaris Psyche? You weren't very comfortable about the idea of having one of those people smurfing in our village.

Papa Smurf: No, I wasn't. Polaris reminded me a bit too much of the people that tried to resmurf Empath in the Psyche Master's image. Before Empath even started a smurf a friend out of Polaris, he thought that, like himsmurf, Polaris was nothing more than a smurfless drone of the Psyche Master. Even I shamefully admit that's how I smurfed about Polaris when Empath smurfed him into the village when he was exiled from Psychelia, but Empath somehow smurfed more in him than I would ever bother trying to smurf.

Reporter: So you don't see Polaris as any kind of threat to us anymore?

Papa Smurf: Surprisingly, Polaris has proved himsmurf to be very loyal and trustworthy. And he's starting to make some friends here as well. I just can't smurf the point of continuing to hold my prejudices against Psyches when it comes to dealing with Polaris for much longer. He may have been created by the Psyche Master, but he is nothing like his former leader.

Reporter: By the way, what do you think about what Smurfette's doing with herself? I mean, she's got an album smurfing out sometime soon. Sounds like she's smurfed control of her own life now.

Papa Smurf: Well, it's about time it happened! I didn't think Smurfette would ever find something to apply herself to -- not that she doesn't smurf a good job doing things like caring for Baby Smurf, but she's a Smurf first and foremost. If there's anything she wants to achieve in the world, I won't smurf in her way of getting it done.

Reporter: Most Smurfs in the village have been seeing Empath and Smurfette together a lot. I mean, Smurfette never went with a single Smurf for two straight years before that! Do you think Empath and Smurfette may be falling in love? And if so, what is your opinion about it?

Papa Smurf: (chuckles) Unless something smurfs wrong between the two of them, whatever relationship Empath and Smurfette may be smurfing is not any of my business. Personally, I'm just glad that Empath is getting along well with Smurfette. She is the first adult female Smurf that Empath had ever smurfed in his lifetime.

Reporter: Some time ago, Papa Smurf, you had those...kind of feelings for Smurfette...the kind that no younger Smurf would or should ever expect an older Smurf like you to have. Have you gotten completely over those feelings for Smurfette?

Papa Smurf: Smurfette already smurfed me how she felt about me, so now I don't have those kind of feelings for her anymore. Personally, I'd rather be a Papa Smurf to her than anything else. That doesn't mean that I don't love her, just that I now know how I love her.

Reporter: One last thing: as you're approaching the halfway mark to your next century, how do you manage to smurf so active all those years?

Papa Smurf: Age has nothing to do with it! As I once smurfed to a former smurfheart of mine, "You're only as old as you think you are, if you think at all..." And the best way to smurf young is just to appreciate and enjoy what you have in your life. Like smurfing care of Baby Smurf, the one Smurf that smurfed me that one thing I wished I could have smurfed with Empath...smurfing my time with a baby, watching him grow and gently guiding him along the way, hearing him smurf his first words, teaching him to walk, all the wonderful and sometimes surprising things that can happen. Baby Smurf makes me feel as young as I was when Empath smurfed into the world. All he needs now is a name, which right now would take a miracle for some inspiration.

Reporter: Speaking about your former smurfheart, you think you'll ever see Flowerbell again?

Papa Smurf: That's one question I do not wish to answer right now, Reporter.

Reporter: Sorry about that, Papa Smurf. It's just that you haven't met anyone like her in six years. You must get lonely for someone like that.

Papa Smurf: I appreicate the thought, Reporter, but I'm smurfing all right by myself right now. With all my little Smurfs, some good friends like Homnibus, and my Imaginarium, how can I ever be lonely for someone? I'd rather pass away a happier Smurf seeing all my little Smurfs creating happy lives for themselves and smurfing this little community together. Of course, it wouldn't hurt either if they had found -- knock on Smurf -- other female Smurfs somewhere in the world to settle down with and smurf a new generation of young Smurfs. And I would like to smurf Baby Smurf growing up and finding himself something that he can smurf me proud of, whatever it is. Then I can think about retiring my identity as Papa Smurf and maybe start calling myself Grandpa Smurf. (Chuckles at that thought.) Is there anything else?