Review Smile (2017)

Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
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Your thoughts on this story.....

In the far future, at the edge of the galaxy, there is a gleaming, perfect city. This brand new human settlement is said to hold the secret of human happiness - but the only smiles the Doctor and Bill can find are on a pile of grinning skulls. Something is alive in the walls, and the emojibots are watching from the shadows, as the Doctor and Bill try to unravel a terrifying mystery...







On to the next story....

THIN ICE....

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/thin-ice-2017.2255/


Back to the previous story....

THE PILOT....

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/the-pilot-2017.2026/
 
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Doctor Omega

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Oh yes, I love the Happiness Patrol, but if the modern show is going to recycle it, let's hope they at least pay lip service to the original.... "This reminds me of....."

Or make it an official sequel, saying it is another colony that Helen A. set up somewhere - or something. :emoji_alien:

Mind you, the idea of the totalitarian state trying to control emotion had kind of been done in Doctor Who Weekly....


 
ant-mac

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
I just checked and it has been available online on ABC Iview for about nine hours.

However, the really exciting news is that they are republishing THE POWER OF THE DALEKS! I can't wait to re-watch PT's first adventure again.

Anyway, I could have watched it the moment it became available on the internet, but I'm not in any rush. After all, it's not like it's Classic Who. It's only another six hours to go until it's on TV.
 
Gavin

Gavin

Member: Rank 6
VIP
I'd forgotten it was on :emoji_frowning2:. Not an encouraging sign for the series. I thought it was an OK episode. Nothing special or memorable so far. And once again we get a magic reset button :emoji_angry:.
 
ant-mac

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
SMILE reminded me a lot of a Terry Nation script from Classic Who. Basically, it involved the Doctor and his companion spending the early part of the story wandering about the place, wondering what was going on. About the only thing that was different was the fact that they were not cut off from the TARDIS in some manner and nor was the time ship disabled in any way. I actually liked it a lot, because it was inoffensive and un-challenging. That may not sound like much of a recommendation, but compared to serials like KILL THE MOON, IN THE FOREST OF THE NIGHT or DARK WATER / DEATH IN HEAVEN, it was almost a fucking classic.
 
Gavin

Gavin

Member: Rank 6
VIP
ant-mac said:
Basically, it involved the Doctor and his companion spending the early part of the story wandering about the place, wondering what was going on.
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I hadn't looked at it in that light. I'll have to reconsider it on rewatch. It did (for me) highlight the weakness of the 40 minute episode run time. While the build up exploring the city and working out what was happening was good, the discovery of the cause and the resolution felt very rushed. I wonder what it would have been like as a 2-parter with a cliffhanger happening just as the nanobots disassembled to attack the colonists. With a full episode to resolve the issue it could have been spectacular.
 
ant-mac

ant-mac

Member: Rank 9
To be perfectly honest with you, one of the major reasons why I simply cannot get into New Who is the running length of the average episode. It simply does not feel like DOCTOR WHO to me anymore. For the most part, Classic Who was comprised of episodes that were approximately 25 minutes long - with a handful of notable exceptions. New Who by comparison is made up of 45 minutes episodes and a shitload of other variations. It's all over the place and is a complete bloody mess.

Personally, I would reinstate the 25 minutes long episode and make the Christmas specials - if we have to have them - double length episodes. Special events such as mini-episodes would be proper single episode stories and anniversary specials and alike would be either double-length episodes or 90 minutes long.

As for SMILE, I rather liked the ending. It was not a nice cuddly and warm ending, where everybody got to live happily ever after without a care in the world. It doesn't work like that in real life and it's nice to see a DOCTOR WHO serial that reflects this. Besides, the problems faced by the Humans were of their own making, so as far as I'm concerned, they can all suck it up and deal with it.

Serves them right for appearing in a New Who serial.
 
The Seeker

The Seeker

Member: Rank 6
ant-mac said:
As for SMILE, I rather liked the ending. It was not a nice cuddly and warm ending, where everybody got to live happily ever after without a care in the world. It doesn't work like that in real life and it's nice to see a DOCTOR WHO serial that reflects this. Besides, the problems faced by the Humans were of their own making, so as far as I'm concerned, they can all suck it up and deal with it.
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I hadn't thought of it that way. I was irritated that the robots at the end had dominion over the humans. But you're right, they did create their own problem.
 
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