History Main / BBCQuarry

The direct American equivalent is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronson_Canyon Bronson Canyon]]. See also KirksRock, HereThereBeLions.

** The BBC Quarry is rare in the new series, which especially in its first three series has more of an emphasis on Earthbound stories (and when they do appear, it's accentuated by CGI backgrounds). It shows up for the first time in the Series 2 episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E8TheImpossiblePlanet The Impossible Planet]]".

* ''GalaxyQuest''. Note: ''This'' quarry is in fact Utah's Goblin Valley, whose unusual rock formations truly look like something you'd find on an alien planet.

->''"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS0bCSLx8JI Ooh look! Rocks!]]"''
-->-- '''[[Creator/TomBaker The Fourth Doctor]]''', "Destiny of the Daleks"

** Subverted in the stories "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom The Seeds of Doom]]", and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]", all of which feature contemporary-Earth scenes set in actual quarries.

** Subverted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]", in which the TARDIS arrives in what turns out to be an actual quarry.
** Likewise for "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]", where the Doctor escapes the Zygon ship after it lands in what is described as "a disused quarry".

** The official number of alien planets that look like Earth quarries is 29. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons And one actual Earth quarry]].

-->-- '''DavidTennant''', ''NeverMindTheBuzzcocks''

* Rather than drive 1500 km into the Australian outback to find a desert wasteland, the creators of the FanFilm ''StarWarsDownunder'' decided to just copy ''DoctorWho'' and film in a gravel quarry outside Ipswich, Queensland. Some background shots for the bluescreen were eventually filmed in Sturt Stony Desert.

** The BBCQuarry is rare in the new series, which especially in its first three series has more of an emphasis on Earthbound stories (and when they do appear, it's accentuated by CGI backgrounds). It shows up for the first time in the Series 2 episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E8TheImpossiblePlanet The Impossible Planet]]".
** The Series 5 episode ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E08TheHungryEarth The Hungry Earth]]'' is also set around a quarry in Wales, and the village nearby.

** In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' story ''[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E5E6DeathOfTheDoctor Death of the Doctor]]'', the Doctor is trapped on a planet that was also filmed in a rock quarry.

** In a rare instance of the BBCQuarry actually mattering, one is the site of the Rider War depicted in the opening of ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'', where every ''Franchise/KamenRider'' from [[Series/KamenRiderKuuga 2000]]-[[Series/KamenRiderKiva 2008]] tries to take down Decade all at once - [[CurbStompBattle and loses]]. It was AllJustADream that female lead Natsumi was having. [[spoiler:So you can imagine the "OhCrap" moment she had when, in the final episode, she realized that they were in that very same quarry. The Rider War starts about two minutes later.]]
* ''Series/RedDwarf'' filmed a scene on a deserted planet in a quarry for "Thanks For The Memory". The fact they filmed it at night made it slightly less obvious.

* Referenced in BBC Radio 4's sci-fi comedy ''{{Nebulous}}'':

* UNISON, the FreedomCity {{Expy}} of UNIT, dealt with alien invaders operating from a base they had constructed in a gravel quarry in central England in 1969.

* In ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Bob, Jean, and Voluptua visit the BBC Quarry [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20061111.html here.]]

** Tom Baker's lampshading on Destiny Of The Daleks provides (one of the) [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS0bCSLx8JI page quotes]].

-->-- '''[[TomBaker The Fourth Doctor]]''', "Destiny of the Daleks"

* Rather than drive 1500 km into the Australian outback to find a desert wasteland, the creators of the FanFilm ''StarWarsDownunder'' decided to just copy ''DoctorWho'' and film in a gravel quarry outside Ipswich. Some background shots for the bluescreen were eventually filmed in Sturt Stony Desert.

** Spoofed in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' parody ''The Curse of Fatal Death'':

** The official number of alien planets that look like Earth quarries is 29. And one actual Earth quarry.

[[folder:Film]]

* Magrathea in the TV version of Series/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy was one of these. Said quarry in Cornwall is particularly noteworthy, as it is now home to ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eden_Project The Eden Project]]'' a collection of artificial biomes housed in the world's largest sealed greenhouse. [[FridgeBrilliance Rather apt, since Magrathea was home to a species of world-builders.]]

* Spoofed as far back as the original ''HitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' radio series, when the characters arrive on the surface of Magrathea for the first time; it's obviously difficult to tell in an audio drama, but it certainly sounds like Douglas Adams -who was a scriptwriter for ''Series/DrWho'' before hitting the big time with this show- had this sort of location in mind. And apart from Arthur, for whom the novelty of walking on an alien world has not yet worn off, none of them are terribly impressed.

** In a rare instance of the BBCQuarry actually mattering, one is the site of the Rider War depicted in the opening of ''KamenRiderDecade'', where every Kamen Rider from [[KamenRiderKuuga 2000]]-[[KamenRiderKiva 2008]] tries to take down Decade all at once - [[CurbStompBattle and loses]]. It was AllJustADream that female lead Natsumi was having. [[spoiler:So you can imagine the "OhCrap" moment she had when, in the final episode, she realized that they were in that very same quarry. The Rider War starts about two minutes later.]]

** Potentially subverted at any given time if one doesn't bother to observe the landscape. Japan has many areas of land unsuitable for development because they actually are naturally that rocky, infertile, and/or geologically unstable. Often these are found right at the bases of mountains, so when the scenes are shot with the mountain behind them it gives the illusion that they're actually below ground-level as you would expect from a rock quarry. And as they aren't owned, it's easy to cordon them off for shooting, especially for enormous battle scenes.

** The Series 5 episode ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS5E8TheHungryEarth The Hungry Earth]]'' is also set around a quarry in Wales, and the village nearby.

** Potentially subverted at any given time if one doesn't bother to observe the landscape. Japan has many area's of land unsuitable for development...Because they actually are naturally that rocky, infertile, and/or geologically unstable. Oftentimes these are found right at the bases of mountains, so when the scenes are shot with the mountain behind them it gives the illusion that they're actually below ground-level as you would expect From A Rock Quarry. And as they aren't owned it's easy to cordon them off for shooting, especially for enormous battle scenes.

** Potentially subverted at any given time if one doesn't bother to observe the landscape. Japan has many area's of land unsuitable for development...Because they actually are naturally that rocky, infertile, and/or geologically unstable. Oftentimes these are found right at the bases of mountains, so when the scenes are shot with the mountain behind them it gives the illusion that they're actually below ground-level as you would expect From A Rock Quarry.

-->-- '''[[TomBaker The Fourth Doctor]]''', ''Destiny of the Daleks''

** Due to the blending of ''SuperSentai'' footage and original footage, ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' actually has ''three'' such quarries: the ''Sentai'' quarry, an American quarry (from seasons one through ten), and a New Zealand quarry (season eleven and onward, after the move to NZ.) Other Saban productions in the same vein also had many a battle taking place in these quarries (most notably ''VRTroopers'', in which all battles are taken back to the [[{{Cyberspace}} Virtual World]] at some point, in an area that is always the quarry.) In ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm,'' it was common for bad guys to call the Rangers out by going to this quarry and waiting. They were always quickly detected, as if the Rangers realized its popularity with villains and kept it monitored.

* Japanese {{Toku}} action series -- including '''every''' ''SuperSentai'' series, and ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' by extension -- set many of their more pyrotechnic fights in a quarry.