The Smooze is a gargantuan slime-monster and the secondary antagonist of My Little Pony: The Movie (which took place in "Generation 1" canon, as classified by collectors, making it very different from the current series and more in line with what modern audiences associate Care Bears and other "kid-friendly" cartoons to be like) and it is a minor, non-antagonistic, character in Friendship is Magic (Generation 4).
Biography
Generation 1
The Smooze is a genuinely terrifying being, especially giving the setting it was in - with the ability to grow to gargantuan sizes it spread across all of Ponyland (the original Ponyville) and buried anything (living or not) in its path completely ruining the land and turning once paradise-like fields and castles into barren wastelands. It also threw chunks of itself around that when attached to living beings turned them "mean" and "grumpy" (which despite the childish language is actually a more dangerous threat than one might think as removing living creatures' ability to care about each other can lead to apathy and despair (also without the ability to care for other beings people often develop sociopathic tendencies) ).
The Smooze was semi-sentient, able to form hands and faces but only able to express rage and malice. This is shown with animalistic roars and grunts (as well as limited speech (see trivia). The ponies were originally powerless to stop the beast after the witch Hydia released it. Even the Rainbow being ultimately overwhelmed by the Smooze's power.
Yet just as the Smooze seemed ready to devour the last bit of Ponyland not corrupted by its presence, the Flutter Ponies arrived - using their magic they managed to cast the Smooze away and undo its evil before lifting the mass of slime into the air and dumping it back into the volcano it came from along with Hydia and her two daughters.
Generation 4 (Friendship is Magic)
In season 5 of FiM, a new version of the Smooze appears in the episode, Make New Friends, but Keep Discord. This version of the Smooze is completely different from the one in the original, it is now a green, smiling blob like creature that gets bigger every time it eats something shiny.
When Discord decides to show up to the Grand Galloping Galla, he decides to bring the Smooze as his plus 1 in order to show up Fluttershy's new friend, Tree Hugger. When they get to the Galla, everyone is immediately disgusted upon seeing the Smooze, as he slides around the floor, leaving a trail of slime, and Twilight warns Discord to keep his friend under control. Discord introduces the Smooze to Fluttershy and Tree Hugger, trying to get the attention of Fluttershy and push Tree Hugger away to no avail before neglectfully locking the Smooze outside.
While outside, the Smooze begins to devour the other guest's jewelry and proceeds to grow, angering Twilight and the other guests. When Twilight reminds Discord of what she told him, he states that he "has better things to do than watch that thing all night", only to jump to control his guest when he realizes Fluttershy most likely heard what he said.
He then locks the Smooze in a closet, stating that he will let him out after the Gala is over, not realizing that he locked the Smooze in a closet full of gold and jewels. As Discord is giving a terrible stand-up comedy performance, desperate to make Fluttershy laugh, the Smooze bursts out of the closet, giant sized, and cover the entire room in his slime, unintentionally disabling Princess Celestia's magic.
Tree Hugger then uses calming noises to make the Smooze reform it's self, stating that a gelatinous creature like the Smooze only reacts to vibrations. With Tree Hugger becoming more popular than ever, Discord becomes enraged and tries to banish her into another dimension, preventing Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie from stopping him by throwing a disco ball past them, which the Smooze goes after, absorbing them in the process. After he realizes why Fluttershy brought Tree Hugger and the errors of his ways, Discord removes all of the Smooze's shiny objects and apologizes for neglecting him. Smooze and Pinkie Pie then dance on the dance floor.
Gallery
Trivia
- The Smooze is often compared to a Shoggoth from Lovecraftian lore, though it is unlikely the creators intended it to be this (considering the age group the movie was for) it does share some striking similarities.
- The Smooze, despite being the secondary villain, is arguably one of the most powerful villains the Ponies ever faced and was able to overpower the same Rainbow that destroyed the previous antagonist, Tirek - however it was no match for the magic of the Flutter Ponies.
- The Smooze was seen to have limited intelligence beyond simple rage as it arrogantly states "you can't stop me!" and "don't even try!" during its introductory song (it is also shown as taking delight in terrorizing the animals of Ponyland).
- The Smooze is also compared many times to Hedorah.
- The Smooze is also the inspiration to Pokemon characters: Grimer and Muk.
- The Smooze is voiced by Jon Bauman, who also voiced Iggy from the Hanna-Barbera movie, "The Jetsons meet the Flintstones".
- The Smooze is one of the original villains to be killed, others being Tirek and Lavan.
