[The Smiler] Construction Updates and Ride Speculation

[TheMan]

I was quite on my own initially in supporting the name, as I totally got the reference of what they were creating and trying to do. Made absolute sense to me.

So I find it of no surprise, that now the theme itself has been taken way over the top and is ridiculous for X-Sector that I also find myself in the minority of opinion.

Seems that wherever this ride goes, I end up in the minority opinion - so be it.

I don't like Gerst as a rule, next I expect to absolutely love the ride whilst the majority find it (insert reason here). That is how this development has gone for me.

Lost any real integrity the last week or so theme/marketing wise. From something brilliantly intelligent, with a fantastic story and filler attraction to support it - to being completely detached from reality at all, and yet still insisting on using "psychological" terms in ways that can actually be applied to most coasters that are built.

This is without question a dumbed down version of where they were going. This will no doubt make it more mass marketable which is the ultimate goal, I get that, and I like the ride theme and concept as a stand alone attraction.

If I change my mind upon riding etc, then great, I will happily sit here and commend it. The same way I went from vociferously defending the concept, to shaking my head in disbelief at a great opportunity missed - no matter how good it is, that will always be the case.

As for some of those (not all) criticising me for now being critical of it, you may wish to regale yourselves of the past attitudes and fierce critiquing of the theme/name/concept earlier on (when it actually made sense).

I don't forget these things.

 

[Dar]

I, and quite a few others, liked the name from the off. For me, knowing the background to the ride from the MoJ and the Sanctuary, it makes sense.

What has changed since last week in terms of theme? All that I can think of is that the story we've all considered has been made "official" by confirming the Ministry's involvement in X-Sector. Granted, the stuff in the Mail was a bit OTT, but that's par for the course now. At least this looks to be capable of living up to any hype.

 

[TheMan]

I, and quite a few others, liked the name from the off. For me, knowing the background to the ride from the MoJ and the Sanctuary, it makes sense.

What has changed since last week in terms of theme? All that I can think of is that the story we've all considered has been made "official" by confirming the Ministry's involvement in X-Sector. Granted, the stuff in the Mail was a bit OTT, but that's par for the course now. At least this looks to be capable of living up to any hype.

Concept, The OTT Spider (read: Car Wash), the fact all of a sudden MOJ always used X-Sector, the nonsense press releases appearing more and more frequently, and more hints of gimmicks being used.

That doesn't add to what looks to be a brilliantly designed ride, it detracts from it. The theme should support a coaster, not overwhelm it garishly.

I maintain - once it is open, then I will fully judge it, but based on where we are in just over a week I have gone from loving it, to wondering what on Earth they are doing.

And not many people liked the name, let's not go there, that's easily enough picked apart.

 

[GaryH]

MrMan, I have a lot of respect for you - but , if I can be Frank (or whatever other name you wanna call me), maybe your reading too much into this at the moment, after all, as we saw with Thirteen, marketing speak can be OTT sometimes, how about we just wait and see what the actual ride is like and the go from there? Then have a nice cold beer in the tavern afterwards and swop notes on what we think lol!

 

[aru]

I

 

[Martin]

Couldn't care less about the marketing. For all we moan about Thirteen's, does it actually matter when you're on the ride. You're not thinking "I wish Morwenna wasn't on shrooms when she did this", you're thinking "Wooo this is fun!/Not bad this/This is gash" depending on how much you like the ride.

I don't care what Alton do in the press, I don't ride the marketing, I ride the ride.

 

[aru]

I am loving the updates from AT and the general build-up and debate, but I am getting VERY bored by some of the rambling comments about the same thing, over and over.

AT are building an entertainment product, which is meant to be fun. Some people are sucking the fun out of this and whilst I don't mind constructive criticism, deep and minuscule analysis is just seems like a load of hot air to me.

 

[CoasterCrazyChris]

What we need is more construction updates....

Hopefully they will start coming thick and fast now mid-March is approaching and the full opening season gets in full swing.

 

[rightbackgranty]

I feel you do speak a lot of sense TheMan, and whilst I understand your concerns, I dont think that in the long term any of the things that we are seeing in the media will impact on the ride.

Thinking back to thirteen - a lot of the community felt that, irrespective of its obvious success, the marketing was over the top and together did not create a coherent storyline. I have always seen the "story" of the ride as an enchanted/evil forest that had forced the abandonment of a wing of the Towers was disrupting the construction of a new ride at Alton Towers. Whilst the advert hinted at this it completely overplayed the fear factor. In addition, the wraiths (whilst a welcome addition to the ents department) in my own mind made little sense to the overall story. Add that to the "every ride you've ever wanted in one" marketing bumpf and "a recently undiscovered crypt" it just came across as messy.

Ultimately though, the mess of marketing plays on my mind an indiscriminate amount these days. I think that this is what will happen with the smiler - I don't think that queueline TV's will be ramming a story down our throat, I dont think there will be anything resembling a "proper" pre show - I very much think that the story, in the end, will be down to each persons interpretation.

I see all of the marketing at the moment as something to get people through the door, and nothing more.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Once again late to the party, but all I can say that I like the new backstory for the area as while some on here say that it ruins the theme of X-sector, it does fit with the article talking about human experiments, NOT mental hospitals as some are fearing that the area will be turned into. The Smiler will most likely be it's own theme that it won't clash with Oblivion's. We have to remember that compared with Dark Forrest, which has little or no backstory, that this is a step in the right direction in terms of story, which we can only hope now with this that future attractions or areas will follow this pattern.

It's rather ironic now that since I first became part of the fan community, everyone moaned about 'Blivy getting a repaint, which now after so long, it finally does (better late than never I'd say) but despite this, people are now getting their arms up about various matters over predicted theme changes. :

Can we just be glad that X-Sector and our beloved B&M diver got quite a load of TLC?

 

[Deleted member 583]

Christ Almighty.

If the ride was the originally planned "worn down facility" theme it was looking to be I wonder how this discussion would be going.

X-Sector...whilst it is a great theme, is tired. It would be impossible to install such a HUGE ride as The Smiler and leave the rest untouched. It'd be absurd to do such a thing in fact.

Maybe Towers should just stick to adding new types of crab in Sharkbait Reef. It'd cause less of a stink.

 

[TheMan]

MrMan, I have a lot of respect for you - but , if I can be Frank (or whatever other name you wanna call me), maybe your reading too much into this at the moment, after all, as we saw with Thirteen, marketing speak can be OTT sometimes, how about we just wait and see what the actual ride is like and the go from there? Then have a nice cold beer in the tavern afterwards and swop notes on what we think lol!

Sounds great to me Frank.

I feel you do speak a lot of sense TheMan,

If you had stopped there I would have agreed entirely with your post - Jesting obviously.

I have said what I want to say, and I agree with much that has been said in the last few posts - including, construction updates, and this discussion went on long enough. I am not professing to be right, just expressing my deep disappointment over the last few days, after really buying deeply into everything beforehand.

The only way we will know for sure, is when we finally get to experience the all singing all dancing 90s disco raving car wash complete with rainbow stairs for ourselves. Right

Now, had someone said, they will build a crazy record inverting, double lift coaster, with some mad crazy rave car wash, rainbow stairs and trippy cheesy effects as some bonkers experiment by a mad scientist to correct behaviour - I'd have said:

"Wow, the designer must be a fun-ghi (or at least influenced by one!)"

I just don't like pretending it is something it isn't.

Now, who is for a roller-disco?



EDIT:
I do give up on trying to talk with anyone who still clearly didn't get the original concept though. Makes me wonder if this was a bit more common place, and they took notice of how people were reacting and decided to up the ante a bit... on the whole it worked.

 

[Dylan]

I'm tending to agree with some of TheMan's comments in the last few pages. I've mostly scanned through this thread recently, avoiding arguments about restraints etc, but I have some concerns about theme of this ride.

When the initial link to The Sanctuary was mentioned, I was very excited about what they were going to do with the theming elements of this ride.
Since the release of the logo, the name, the concept art and especially the game, I have become more and more disappointed in the direction this is taking. To me, it looks cheap and tacky. An impressive coaster, plonked onto a slab of concrete with a lot of yellow lettering painted onto said concrete (something which would be ridiculed if it were at any other park).

I'm hoping the finished product will change my opinion, and I have no doubt it will be a very impressive coaster, but we seem to be heading down that gimmicky route again. What on earth is going on with the spider thing? Car wash element? Giant needles? Really? I feel like I'm looking at something completely different to what most people seem to be talking about.

 

[Sam]

X-Sector as an area theme has had its day.

It was never particularly good to begin with and it's tired now.

Let it go.

 

[7thHeaven]

In terms of the Smiler fitting in with X-Sector and Oblivion, whilst enthusiasts may want this, and want The Smiler to be just an extention of the area, its not what sells, and its not what gets people to visit the park. In my opinion, they have done excellently in selling this ride. If in all the papers/adverts, you just saw rehashing of the lord of darkness story, and rehashing of the x-sector style, oblivion colours, then how is that going to encourage people to visit the park? This ride is their biggest ever investment, so of course they want it to stand on its own, of course they want it to outshine Oblivion and become the focus of the area. By just extending the already existing x-sector story, it would be nothing new. Not to mention the current X-sector theme is dated.

 

[CoasterCrazyChris]

X-Sector as an area theme has had its day.

It was never particularly good to begin with and it's tired now.

Let it go.

Well actually X-Sector was one of the best theme park areas ever back in 1998. It was still pretty good even around five years ago, but since then it has really suffered and now it almost feels irrelevant in terms of theme.

I really don't think those who run Alton Towers have the passion to fully restore the area, and I suppose in a way it is not a good thing to try and recreate what has already gone. So with this in mind maybe a new direction is what is needed.

 

[TheMan]

Let it go.

Mate, that made me laugh.

Commercially speaking I do agree with

In terms of the Smiler fitting in with X-Sector and Oblivion, whilst enthusiasts may want this, and want The Smiler to be just an extention of the area, its not what sells, and its not what gets people to visit the park.

Doesn't mean I agree or like it. I have alluded to this though, I know the sense it makes believe me, and can understand why - I will always think with that creativity they could have kept it cleaner though.

I'm not unreasonable, my views may be strong, but that isn't to say I don't consider and indeed understand the other side of this debate - five legged raving car wash or not, it does make commercial sense.

 

[Alastair]

I don't understand why people think everything's got to have novel-esque levels of detail in the backstory. It's a theme park, 95% of people that go would have no idea of the backstory even though they may take in the merest hint of a theme from an aesthetic point of view. As long as the theme isn't a complete clash with the current one (as occured with DF) then I can't forsee any problems. In fact in this case, the theme is brilliant and fits in with the area well anyway.

 

[electricBlll]

I would like to distance myself from some of TheMan's comments, not at all because I think he is wrong, but he dislikes The Smiler's image/concept, whereas I really do. Every recent development has pointed to a prominent, powerful theme full of its own character and humour, and it's absolutely crazy - I love it. I also think so far they have gone to adequate efforts to fit The Smiler in X Sector and not intrude on Oblivion, so the two rides balance really well. So I have no problem with that.

But as I said earlier, they shouldn't be daft and make up useless "backstories" to explain the ride - rides don't need explaining if you theme them effectively! And I understand that The Smiler's concept won't appeal to everybody, and it may come across as goofy or stupid; the only solution for that is to get a sense of humour.

That being said The Man makes very good points that Oblivion as an experience should in no way be undermined by The Smiler's presence. The area on the whole should be re-imagined appropriately at some point, but its character and atmosphere should remain intact. (Yes, it is getting tired, but this DOES NOT mean the theme needs changing. That kind of attitude is what ruined Haunted House, Ug Land, BubbleWorks, etc, which were all still fun rides until they closed. An established ride should be maintained and enhanced, not replaced with something worse.)

What I really hate, though, is the attitude that "oh, it's just a theme park" and therefore nobody should feel passionate about the theme. Really, that's so counter-productive and I can just imagine the people who did Oblivion's Fanta sponsorship saying exactly the same thing. 'Why care about the detail, it's not art, it's just a theme park', as if theme parks are expected to be thought of as tacky, commercial amusement parks with no artistic merit or "magic". No thank you.

 

[Dave]

. An impressive coaster, plonked onto a slab of concrete with a lot of yellow lettering painted onto said concrete (something which would be ridiculed if it were at any other park).

Almost a description of Oblivion really, an impressive coaster themed predominantly using concrete only real difference is the lettering is orange.

As for the back story issue again the contrariness of enthusiasts makes me chuckle, go back 12 months and we get "ohh they never think about theme coherence" and "ohh they never consider a decent back story to unify the theme" and "their themes are always so grimy"

Towers unify a themed area and trickle a little back story into the mix and we get...

"Ohh they are going to steal Oblivions thunder" and "ohh they are silly having a back story" and "ohh no its too quirky"

I like the fact we have a mix of opinion as it would be boring if we didnt but I am starting to wonder if Towers can ever do anything right.

As for the theme, clearly the plans are wrong, the game is indicative but not gospel I would imagine, and the only real concept we have seen is of the Marmaliser. Lets at least give the thing a chance before we decide its crap because its a ride based on a concrete inspired theme, that will detract from the neighbouring B&M that is based on a concrete inspired theme.

I mean its almost as baffling as putting a racing themed ride in a prehistoric land isn't it?