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Recap / The Smurfs S 7 E 42 Skyscraper Smurfs

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"The apartment life's for me!"

Throughout the 1980s especially, condominium and high-rise rental apartment communities became the rage. The prospects of companionship, convenience, reasonable rates and other amenities (central air and heat, cable television and much more) enticed many young folks to find their way of living was in an apartment.

Architect Smurf uses these pitches to convince his fellow Smurfs that high living was the life for them, and for a brief time they become "Skyscraper Smurfs." But will a disaster lead to the Smurfs' doom?

Architect, discouraged that his attempt to design a new storehouse for the Smurfs has been edited by Papa Smurf and Handy so that it ends up looking no different from the current storehouse, and that his fellow Smurfs can't see the ingenuity he put into the design, goes out into the forest to think when he feels ants on his behind in the place where he was sitting. Then he sees an ant colony near the place where he was sitting and he gets an idea. With Handy's help, they design a structure out of a hollowed tree.

Behold: The Smurfominium! That's a condominium that contains 102 units (one for each Smurf) that gives each of the Smurfs their own living space, without having to work to maintain their own houses. The Smurfs, at first skeptical, agree to move in, one by one. All except for Papa Smurf, who says his house is just fine.

At first, all is bliss for each of the Smurfs, but then the problems come. There's no heat in one of the units, then several of the units are flooded out (by water or mud). Harmony is too loud trying to practice his horn, while Brainy and Hefty cause the elevator to malfunction ... and then Brainy drives Hefty nuts by rambling on from one of his volumes of "Quotations from Brainy Smurf." Architect and Handy run themselves ragged tending to each of the problems.

One evening, as Architect is called to fix a pipe in one of the apartments and, while trying to load logs in the furnace, he forgets to shut the gate, causing an ember to ignite some of the wood outside the furnace.

That night, as Architect and Handy are finally relaxing and admiring their masterpiece, they soon see smoke and realize the building is on fire! As the Smurfs are jumping from their apartments — don't worry, all of our little blue friends escape with little more than minor burns — the Smurf Fire Brigade is called into action. Just as Papa Smurf asks if all of his Smurfs have been accounted for, Handy and Architect are still inside. And Architect (stubbornly) will not abandon his creation, despite Handy trying to talk him into escaping. Then, a huge log crashes into the patio floor, causing Handy to fall through. Handy hangs on for dear life and screams for help, forcing Architect to realize that his friend's life is in danger ... and that his creation, already lost to fire, is no longer that important. Architect pulls Handy to safety, then both jump to safety, shortly before flames reach the top of the Smurfominium structure and swallow it whole!

The next morning, the Smurominium is in smoldering ruins, and Architect is mourning the loss of his greatest creation. He vows to build a bigger and better Smurf skyscraper, but the other Smurfs — although their time in their new homes was brief — realize that single-unit living was better than living in a skyscraper.

And when Brainy points out that Smurfominium life is for the birds ... for once he's right. Literally, as by spring, several families of birds have made nests in the burned-out tree stump that once was a Smurfominium!

Tropes associated with this episode

  • Continuity Nod: The smurfominium is one of the things Dreamy mentioned dreaming about in "Gargamel's Miss-Fortune".
  • Elevator Failure: Brainy and Hefty overload the elevator car with their things, causing the cab to stall in between floors. Which is the perfect recipe to drive Hefty to insanity when the only way to pass time ... is to listen to Brainy droll on and on and on and on and on ... until eventually Hefty becomes claustrophobic and breaks out of the elevator using one of his dumbbells.
  • Fireman's Safety Net: Papa Smurf and a few Smurfs use this to rescue the Smurfs jumping out of the burning smurfominium.
  • Floorboard Failure: Smurfette deals with the roof of her apartment giving way as the floor of Greedy's apartment also gives way.
  • House Fire: The dramatic part of the episode, after an ember from the furnace ignites wood in the basement.
  • Literal Metaphor: Brainy says near the end of the episode that smurfominium life is for the birds...and that metaphor becomes literally true when Architect sees what has happened to the ruins of his creation.
  • Shout-Out: This short borrows many elements from The Towering Inferno, in particular the many issues that arise inherent in tall structures — including a hastily-built structure and substandard materials used in construction) and the climatic fire scene ... although, unlike the movie, there are little more than very minor injuries.
  • Trash the Set: The smurfominium is destroyed by a fire and is never rebuilt.

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