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The Smoggies is a 1989 Canadian cartoon produced by CINAR (one of their first productions that wasn't redubbed from another language) which aired in both Canada and the U.S. in syndication (and in French on Radio-Canada as Touftoufs et Polluards) and was later picked up by HBO, where it aired under the title Stop the Smoggies. The Smoggies are a trio of treasure hunters with no regards for the environment. Their pollution is stopped by the Suntots, a tribe of troll-like little people dwelling at Coral Island.
The Smoggies are:
Emma (voiced by Joan Orenstein): The bossy self-proclaimed leader of the Smoggies. Her primary goal is obtaining the Magic Coral of Youth, which she believes to be the source of the Suntots' lasting youth. She won't listen to any suntot claiming the magic coral doesn't exist.
Clarence (voiced by Rick Jones and later Harvey Berger): Emma's husband and the captain of the Stinky Poo, the ship where the Smoggies reside. His inventions usually cause more harm than good.
Polluto (voiced by Walter Massey): Clarence's crewman.
List of tropes in The Smoggies[]
- Antagonist Title
- Big Eater: Polluto eats coal, screws and he once ate a diamond because Clarence told him diamonds were made from coal.
- Polluto also likes drinking oil, which is the reason they couldn't leave Coral Island during the one occasion they wanted to.
- Cast of Snowflakes: There are a lot of Suntots on the island, and each of them have a unique hair colour to go with it. However, the hairstyles for moost of them are identical, making it easy to make background characters.
- Expository Theme Tune: Both the Smoggies and the Suntots get a verse to explain who they are and what they're about. Includes a bit of Breaking the Fourth Wall as well (the Suntots sing to the viewer, "We'll stay young forever/And we want the same for you").
- Green Aesop: The Suntots use all-natural energy sources, while the Smoggies do nothing but pollute. A lot of plots revolve around preserving nature, and the Smoggies desire to destroy it or otherwise pollute.
- He Also Did: The theme song was written by Joe Raposo of Sesame Street fame, who sadly passed away a few months before the show premiered.
- Henpecked Husband: Poor Clarence.
- Hey, It's That Voice: The Montreal-based voice cast can be heard on various other Cinar and Saban Entertainment productions, including a ton of anime dubs (Mysterious Cities of Gold, Adventures of the Little Koala, Samurai Pizza Cats, The Littl' Bits and Maya the Bee among them). Also, Princess Lila is Mina Aino/Sailor Venus.
- I Gave My Word: When the Smoggies decided to leave Coral Island, they needed to replenish their ship's oil supply and their only hope was extracting oil from Coral Island. As part of a deal between them and the Suntots, the Smoggies could extract oil from Coral Island on the proviso they didn't take any oil from the tarbog's pit. When Emma wanted to break the deal, her usually Henpecked Husband invoked this trope.
- Loophole Abuse: Clarence might have given his word he'd not extract oil from the tarbog's pit, but Emma pointed out she didn't give hers.
- Minion with an F In Evil: Polluto
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The Suntots have a rainbow spectrum of possible hair colours. The Smoggies have more natural colours.