featured article

Frightening backdrop
High desert attracts science
fiction films, fans

WRITTEN BY Julie Drake

The high desert landscape, familiar to the people who call the Antelope Valley home, has been a favorite destination for science fiction movies for decades.

“Mostly science fiction has to do with that element of feeling that desolate hopelessness, alone, nobody-can-help-you type of deal,” said Pauline East, film liaison with the Antelope Valley Film Office in Lancaster. “Out in the desert when there’s no light from any other area, they can light to look like moonscapes and it’s very frightening. On location the appeal is that it’s out in the middle of nowhere, but pretty close for them to get to.”

Overall, East said, she fields anywhere from 10 to 70 calls a day for a variety of productions. She estimated about 1% of those calls are for science fiction films. Among the movies that have been filmed here, is the 1954 black and white, Oscar winner “Them!,” which starred James Whitmore in the Cold War-era film about gigantic mutant ants that invade the Southwest. The movie was shot in the rocky buttes of Blaney Ranch near 160th Street East and Avenue Q.

Trekkies also know the Valley as the location for several episodes of “Star Trek” the original series and episodes of the later series.

Vasquez Rocks County Park in Agua Dulce, with its unique, jagged rock formation, has been a favorite Hollywood setting since the age of silent pictures. Four episodes of the original “Star Trek” series were filmed there: “Arena,” where Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) battled the giant Gorn alien captain who destroyed a federation outpost; “The Alternative Factor,” which finds the crew of the Enterprise investigating a massive, galaxy-wide disruption in space; “Shore Leave,” in which the Enterprise crew take leave on a lush planet where their imaginations become reality; and “Friday’s Child,” where, on the planet Capella IV, the Enterprise becomes involved in a local power struggle where the Klingons want mining rights.

In addition to the original “Star Trek” series, at least two episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” were filmed there—“Who Watches the Watchers,” in which the crew of the Enterprise must undo the damage done when a group of primitives observes a Federation observation team and concludes that the Starfleet officers are gods; and “Darmok,” in which Capt. Picard is captured and then trapped on a planet with an alien captain who speaks in a metaphorical language that cannot be translated directly. The two captains must learn to work with each other before the beast of the planet can overwhelm them.

The “Initiations” episode of “Star Trek: Voyager” and the “Unexpected” episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise” also were filmed at the site. At least two “Star Trek” feature films were filmed at Vasquez Rocks,” “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” and “Star Trek,” the much anticipated 11th installment of the popular movie franchise, which will open in theaters Dec. 25.

The Trona Pinnacles near Ridgecrest stood in for the mythical planet Shaka-ri in “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” and also stood in for alien lands in the 2000 thriller “Pitch Black,” and also appeared in Tim Burton’s “Planet of the Apes” remake, in which they served as the backdrop for the climactic ape vs. human showdown.

Last year the big-screen adaptation of the “Iron Man” comic book was filmed at Edwards Air Force Base. The superhero movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. as a billionaire industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered technologically-advanced exoskeleton and becomes Iron Man, was one of the top-grossing films of 2008. Edwards Air Force Base also played host to a movie crew of “Transformers,” one of last summer’s biggest hits. The movie, which is based on a popular line of toys from the 1980s that can morph from cars and other vehicles into robots, grossed more than $700 million worldwide. The film featured several key scenes shot at the base in September 2006 and February 2007.

A production crew for the franchise’s sequel, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” filmed at least three times in the Valley, including once at Edwards Air Force Base and at the Service Rock Quarry at Palmdale Boulevard and 75th Street East, and on the roads around the facility, including Palmdale Boulevard and Avenue T. The movie is set for release in June.

Hollywood crews have returned to the Valley several times for various “Terminator” installments.

The original “Terminator” and its two sequels, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, featured scenes shot in the Antelope Valley. Scenes for “Terminator 2” were filmed in the Hi Vista area.

Hi Vista also provided the landscape for Fox Television series “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” which was filmed at Calvary Baptist Church on Avenue G near 200th Street East.

The series, which is set after the events of the movie “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” stars Lena Headey as Connor, the gun-toting single mother played by Linda Hamilton in the first two films.

In the series, Sarah goes on the offensive against the artificial intelligence entity known as Skynet, which is bent on destroying her son, John Connor (Thomas Dekker), the future savior of humanity.

The show also stars Summer Glau as Cameron, a sexy terminator sent to protect John by posing as a student at his high school. The series, which airs at 8 pm Mondays, on Fox, Channel 11, started its second season Sept. 8.

Last but not least, the finale to Steven Spielberg’s 2005 film “War of the Worlds” was filmed near Agua Dulce at the Mystery Mesa movie location. While the mesa is 380 acres, the actual “War of the Worlds” set only took up about two acres.

Through the years, dozens of movies, many science-fiction, have been filmed in the AV and its outskirts, so many there are too many to mention.