Star Trek 2009

Yeah, I've visited them and Huell Howser, our local KCET PBX guru of California travelogues, has done a half-hour or hour on Vasquez Rocks with movie and TV stills. They also appeared in Bonanza in many of their episodes. I believe the opening or closing of the old Lone Range TV series was also the Rocks. As far as other sci-fi, the only one I can remember was filmed there was Rocketship XM the 50's B&W moon voyage movie that was rushed into production to counter George Pal's Destination Moon.

I've never been to that area of California. I wish they would film more stuff out here on the East Coast, but I guess our landscape just doesn't look "alien" enough

It doesn't have to be alien looking landscape. Most of "Fringe" is filmed on the East Coast and Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" was also filmed there. New York, of course, is in many sci-fi films but always seems to be the scene of a major disaster from meteors and tidal waves. Of course, it's budgets that outdoor scenes were shot at locales near Hollywood.

My point was that the California landscape was used to depict alien worlds. "Fringe" and "War of the Worlds" actually take place on the East Coast, so it's not surprising that they are filmed here.

Have you seen the British series called "Primeval"? It's a bit ditsy in some ways, but over all, I like it.

thanks for turning me onto this vid wiz...

One of the reasons that i got tired of tee-vee was that i was seeing the same California locales in one series after the other. There's one shallow valley, with sparse grass and live oaks, which is obviously rather arid, and i saw it used in Star Trek, in M*A*S*H and in westerns too numerous to mention. When i was at a friend's house once, and The Dukes of Hazard was on (his kids were watching it); i saw exactly the same locale, and i just rolled my eyes and thought about what a good idea it was to abandon television programs. I spent quite a while in Korea while in the army, and our hospital was just north of the site of the battle known as Pork Chop Ridge. I can tell you for a fact that no M*A*S*H scene i ever saw resembled Korea, but i saw a lot of California scenery that i'd been seeing for over 20 years.

Ah, that explains why Korea in MASH always looked like Star Trek to me.

I watched one episode on the Sci-Fi Channel -- it's quirky and kind of entertaining but I don't know if I'd follow it.

My point wasn't arrived at -- I'm sure there likely are some very alien looking landscapes on the East Coast but haven't been thoroughly scouted and I didn't do a comprehensive search to find any used in a film or TV series. There are several locales around the planet that have been used but more likely sets, sometimes on gigantic sound stages like Shepperton Studios for "2001" and the the over 100 ft. moon landscape at Paramount Studios for "Destination Moon." The later was a state-of-the-art enlargement of a Chesley Bonestell painting in panels that were subsequently hand touched up and various matte paintings of the Lunar surface. Matte painting is on glass with clear areas where scenes shot later on are inserted. Now CGI has basically taken over for alien landscapes with minimal sets the for the actors.

Probably just as well. Earth always looks like Earth to me. The plants and the quality of the light always give it away.

In the movie "Pitch Black" they played with the light to represent the three different suns of the planet. That was interesting, but a lot of people didn't get it and complained that the lighting was "flawed" during filming

You might want to give Primeval another go. The first episode is the weakest, and you have to ignore the adopted flying lizard which they use for "cuteness".

After that you'll find that all the ancient creatures they encounter are pretty accurate representations of the real thing. At least that much of the science in the show is good. Then they get into creatures from the future and again, they do a decent job of extrapolating possible evolutionary results. Someone in their employ knows some real science.

I saw one of the episodes I guess from Season 2 or maybe 3 and it is made by the BBC, after all. I should rent it starting with the first season from NetFlix to catch up by the continuity of the show (they could be Blu-Ray which would be better than Sci-Fi's usual 720p picture).

Yeah, when I moved to L.A. I kept getting weird deja vu -- realized that it was about movie and TV locations that I'd seen. Identified several of them (nowhere near all of them though).

Especially, I now realize that Pasadena stands in for the Midwest frequently -- I recognize Pasadena when I see it on TV, usually.

Vancouver is now a stand-in for many movies and TV series. It's Kansas for almost-Superman "Smallville," and many different locales for "Supernatural." In films, "I Robot" and "X-Men" were filmed there. It's now "Hollywood North." I don't remember the last time Vasquez Rocks was used in a TV series or movie but I vaguely remember seeing it. Southern California is much more built up from those old Hollywood days.

I know it was the locale for "The Wild Wild West" TV series as well.

I think there's only one season of Primeval. At least that's all I've been able to get ahold of through iTunes.

If you're not enjoying it after the third episode then it might not be for you. There is a sub-plot mystery related to the time vortices themselves, which is good, because the "let's catch a dinosaur" plot gets boring pretty quickly.

I guess to even have any hope of representing an "alien" landscape you pretty much have to start with a desert. Otherwise the minute you get an Elm leaf or a Dandelion in the shot you're screwed.

Oceans and Ice sheets can also do it. Anything to avoid biology which is recognizably terrestrial.

I'm not uninterested in what you're talking about, rosborne, but I would stil prefer that this thread be devoted to the Trek movie.

I just saw it!!!

It's a hoot!!!!!

Yes, it's very entertaining.

May go see this one in the theater... (I almost never do, usually wait for DVD).