Who created the Snorks and do their origins have any overlap with that
of the  Smurfs?

Dear dekreeft27-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. This cartoon was originaly created by Freddy Monnickendam
for a Belgian comic book called "The Snorks".

?The Smurfs? was created by Pierre Culliford (who incidentally is
credited under the single name "Peyo") way back in 1958 for the comic
strip serial in "Le Journal de Spirou" called "Johan & Pirlouit"
(translated to English as "Johan and Peewit"). Back then a ?Smurf? was
originally known as a "Schtroumpf", but in the translation to English
the character became known as a (much easier to pronounce) ?Smurf?.
They are, however, also known by a variety of other names depending on
the host country?s language, but that's our interpretation.

Both Monnickendam and ?Peyo? are (or were, now that Peyo has since
died) originally from Belgium. They were professional colleagues and
both worked extensively on the Smurfs projects, with Monnickendam, of
course, doing the not-so-popular Snork project for about a year (1984)
at the request of the same producers.

It has been said that ?The Snork Maiden? a fictional character in the
writings and illustrations of Tove Jansson in the 1950s, 1960s, and
1970s was the basis for the Snork cartoon characters, but this is not
true. The Tove Jansson and Hanna-Barbera characters had no similarity
or connection whatsoever, other than name.



Now, as for the ?overlap?, clearly there was one but it was, of
course, all behind the scenes. The following links are supplied by:

INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE
http://www.imdb.com/


From 1981 to 1992 Michael Bell was the voice of the "Smurfs?
characters Grouchy Smurf, Handy Smurf, Lazy Smurf and Johan. During
this same period (in 1984) he supplied the voices of ?Snorks?
characters Allstar, Bigweed, Elder and four additional voices.

MICHAEL BELL
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0068407/

Voice-over actors who also participated in both productions at various
times and supplied voices to both shows include:

Frank Welker http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919798/
B.J. Ward http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0911389/
Robert Ridgely http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0725894/
Rob Paulsen http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0667326/
Edie McClurg http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0566052/
Peter Cullen http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0191520/
Rene Auberjonois http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041281/

The overlap doesn?t end there. Other activities by the same people
were also taking place at various intervals during the making of these
programs:

Both shows were produced in part by 
Joseph Barbera http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0053484/
William Hanna http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0360253/
Freddy Monnickendam http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0598353/
(Hey, there?s that guy with the funny name again who created the Snorks!)

Hoyt S. Curtin wrote original music for both shows
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006022/

Jayne Barbera http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006022/ and Jean MacCurdy
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531575/ served as production managers on
both projects.

There may be others that I have missed but I?ve probably abundantly
over-stated my point already. So, the mystery is now solved. How?s
that for two bucks? Not bad huh?


Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any questions
about my research please post a clarification request prior to rating
the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final comments
and I look forward to working with you again in the near future. Thank
you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher


INFORMATION SOURCES

SNORKS
http://www.angelfire.com/me2/80sChild/snorks.html

INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE
http://www.imdb.com/

BIOGRAPHY FOR ?PEYO?
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0678963/bio

WIKIPEDIA ? SMURFS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smurfs

WIKIPEDIA ? SNORKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorks

SNORKS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086802/fullcredits

SMURFS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081933/fullcredits



SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINES USED:

Google ://www.google.com




SEARCH TERMS USED:


SNORKS

SMURFS

---

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 05 May 2004 19:51 PDT

As if this wasn?t already enough, I suppose I should also have
mentioned the most revealing piece of evidence: that Freddy
Monnickendam, the creator of ?The Snorks? was also Executive Producer
of both ?The Snorks? and ?The Smurfs?.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0598353/

Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga

That is impressive and truly groundbreaking research. I award you my
highest rating and will tip you and additional $2.00 for the thorough
research and bonus Smurf info. Thanks