History Main / BBCQuarry

* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'': During the events of "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho027TheOneDoctor The One Doctor]]", [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] '''still''' manages to land in one, where a ''[[Series/TheWeakestLink Weakest Link]]'' {{expy}} is playing.

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

*** The outside of the tomb on Telos in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen "The Tomb of the Cybermen"]] is a clear example. It cuts to a studio shot as soon as they reach the entrance.
*** Particularly jarring when used for Gallifrey, as when Susan described it early in the series she gave a beautiful description about it having red grass and silver trees (the description quoted word-for-word by the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E3Gridlock "Gridlock"]]). Yet when the Fourth Doctor actually goes there in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin "The Deadly Assassin"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime "The Invasion of Time"]], it's shown to be a complete dump (literally). The revival series did a bit of a FixFic on this by showing it as breathtakingly gorgeous, though the area where the Doctor grew up has fallen victim to desertification.
*** 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.
*** Wookey Hole, a fascinating cave system in Somerset, is used for both the caves in the Fourth Doctor serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen "Revenge of the Cybermen"]] and the Tenth Doctor serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]].
*** 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/DoctorWhoS28E8TheImpossiblePlanet "The Impossible Planet"]] and prominently again in the Series 3 episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]].
*** Despite its rarity in the new series, the Minisode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33ShortRainGods "Rain Gods"]] is an alien planet shot in a non-CGI-enhanced quarry thanks to the limited budget of Minisodes compared to usual episodes.

*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth "The Dalek Invasion of Earth"]], the first ''Doctor Who'' story to have significant amounts of location filming, used a quarry for scenes set in an actual quarry. Albeit one on future Earth run by the Daleks.

*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath "The Green Death]]", [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons "Terror of the Zygons"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom "The Seeds of Doom"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear "The Hand of Fear"]] feature contemporary-Earth scenes set in actual quarries. "The Hand of Fear" used it as a subversion of the trope by beginning with the Doctor and Sarah Jane walking out not knowing where they are and suddenly getting into a scrape involving yellow diggers who then inadvertently unearth the eponymous Hand of Fear from the quarry. The Series 5 episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E8TheHungryEarth "The Hungry Earth"]] is also set in a literal quarry in Wales.
*** Justified for Skaro in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks "Genesis of the Daleks"]], as the planet is a war-blasted wasteland when the Doctor and his companions arrive.

*** Creator/TomBaker's lampshading on [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks "Destiny of the Daleks"]] provides (one of the) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS0bCSLx8JI page quotes]].

** The new series has also added some variety (or possibly an aversion) to the quarry game: the quarry-like lunar setting in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E7KillTheMoon "Kill the Moon"]] was actually Timanfaya National Park, near a volcano on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

* The the ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'' game ''Small Magic'' party passes through one during their journey. Alan claims to see [[Franchise/PowerRangers a group of colourful people fighting a monster]] before Josh vetoes that because of the [[RunningGag "no crossovers"]] rule.

* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'': During the events of [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho027TheOneDoctor "The One Doctor"]], [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] '''still''' manages to land in one, where a ''[[Series/TheWeakestLink Weakest Link]]'' {{expy}} is playing.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

->[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E1DestinyOfTheDaleks "Oh, look! Rocks!"]]

The ISO Standard alien planet set, as used endlessly in ''Series/BlakesSeven'', ''Series/DoctorWho'' and even ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1981'' TV series. It was a disused or rented quarry, full of interestingly dull rocks and fascinatingly monotonous scenery, the perfect alien-landscape-on-a-budget — the British equivalent of KirksRock. As a bonus, since shooting in a quarry means you're below the surrounding ground level, anachronistic structures/features aren't readily visible and don't require expensive sets or more expensive post-production work to conceal.

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Bob, Jean, and Voluptua visit the BBC Quarry [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/1146163 here.]] It returns in [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/764 later strips.]]

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

The ISO Standard alien planet set, as used endlessly in ''Series/BlakesSeven'', ''Series/DoctorWho'' and even ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' TV series. It was a disused or rented quarry, full of interestingly dull rocks and fascinatingly monotonous scenery, the perfect alien-landscape-on-a-budget — the British equivalent of KirksRock. As a bonus, since shooting in a quarry means you're below the surrounding ground level, anachronistic structures/features aren't readily visible and don't require expensive sets or more expensive post-production work to conceal.

* The movie version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' used the BBC Quarry during the Vogsphere sequence as a MythologyGag.

* Magrathea in the TV version of ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' was a quarry in Cornwall that 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. Rather apt, since Magrathea was home to a species of world-builders.

* Spoofed as far back as the original ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' 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 Creator/DouglasAdams -who was a scriptwriter for ''Series/DoctorWho'' 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.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'''s all-purpose valley, forest, and village. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in at least one episode.

* The climax of the BMovie ''The Curse of King Tut's Tomb'' was set in the "Egyptian Underworld": recreated by a marble quarry with a CGI stormy red sky.

* The German SF series ''Series/{{Raumpatrouille}}'' {''Space Patrol'') used a colliery spoil tip as most of its alien planets.

** In the Philip Hinchcliffe era, the Doctor was very prone to landing his TARDIS in the woods.

** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' offers a {{Justification}}: Thanks to the show's overarching theme of VideoGames, the {{Transformation Trinket}}s have the ability to perform a "stage select", which lets the Riders move the battle to another location. While the bog-standard quarry hasn't appeared in early episodes, similar locales like a scrapyard and a vacant beach have shown up. (The quarry did turn up eventually.)

* Magrathea in the TV version of ''Series/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' was a quarry in Cornwall that 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. Rather apt, since Magrathea was home to a species of world-builders.

* Referenced InUniverse with the Piranha Pit map in ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}''. One of Callie's blurbs about the map mentions a lot of sci-fi and fantasy movies being filmed there.

* Spoofed as far back as the original ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' 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/DoctorWho'' 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.

* ''Radio/TheburkissWay''s parody of ''Series/BlakesSeven'' was called ''Blake's Set In Old Gravel Pit''

** Lampshaded a couple of times:

'''Shane/Red Ranger:''' Not another rock quarry!

*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons "Terror of the Zygons"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom "The Seeds of Doom"]], and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear "The Hand of Fear"]] feature contemporary-Earth scenes set in actual quarries. At least one of these examples used it as a subversion of the trope by having the Doctor and Sarah Jane walk out not knowing where they are and suddenly getting into a scrape involving yellow diggers. The Series 5 episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E8TheHungryEarth "The Hungry Earth"]] is also set in a literal quarry in Wales.

*** An elegant LeaningOnTheFourthWall lampshading occurs in the Past Doctor Adventures book ''Drift'':

** Another reasonably common setting is a refinery, a set ''especially'' common during the Jon Pertwee era. About a third of his stories included refinery settings doubling for research facilities or mining operations.
** In the Hinchcliffe era, the Doctor was very prone to landing his TARDIS in the woods.

** In Tom Baker's novel ''Literature/DoctorWhoMeetsScratchman'', the Doctor thinks the hell dimension looks like a quarry, and calls Uxarieus a "chalk-pit of a world".

*** The new series has also added some variety (or possibly an aversion) to the quarry game: the quarry-like lunar setting in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E7KillTheMoon "Kill the Moon"]] was actually Timanfaya National Park, near a volcano on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

*** The outside of the tomb on Telos in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E1TheTombOfTheCybermen "The Tomb of the Cybermen"]] is a clear example (shot at a time when simply doing location shooting at all was impressive enough to be SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome, admittedly). Cuts to a studio shot as soon as they reach the entrance.

----

!!!'''In General:''''

The ISO Standard alien planet set, as used endlessly in ''Series/BlakesSeven'', ''Series/DoctorWho'' and even ''Series/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' TV series. It was a disused or rented quarry, full of interestingly dull rocks and fascinatingly monotonous scenery, the perfect alien-landscape-on-a-budget -- the British equivalent of KirksRock. As a bonus, since shooting in a quarry means you're below the surrounding ground level, anachronistic structures/features aren't readily visible and don't require expensive sets or more expensive post-production work to conceal.

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

!!Examples

----

*** Particularly jarring when used for Gallifrey, as when Susan described it early in the series she gave a beautiful description about it having red grass and silver trees (the description quoted word for word by the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E3Gridlock "Gridlock"]]). Yet when the Fourth Doctor actually goes there in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin "The Deadly Assassin"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime "The Invasion of Time"]], it's shown to be a complete dump (literally). The revival series did a bit of a FixFic on this by showing it as breathtakingly gorgeous, though the area where the Doctor grew up has fallen victim to desertification.

*** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]", the first ''Doctor Who'' story to have significant amounts of location filming, used a quarry for scenes set in an actual quarry. Albeit one on future Earth run by the Daleks.

*** The stories [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons "Terror of the Zygons"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E6TheSeedsOfDoom "The Seeds of Doom"]], and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear "The Hand of Fear"]] feature contemporary-Earth scenes set in actual quarries. At least one of these examples used it as a subversion of the trope by having the Doctor and Sarah Jane walk out not knowing where they are and suddenly getting into a scrape involving yellow diggers. The Series 5 episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E8TheHungryEarth "The Hungry Earth"]] is also set in a literal quarry in Wales.

** {{Lampshade Hanging}}s:
*** The Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures novel ''The Shadow of Weng-Chiang'': the Doctor is taken to a quarry, and compares it to the landscapes of Gallifrey and Skaro.

*** Lampshaded in the 50th Anniversary Book ''The Roots of Evil'', when the Fourth Doctor is trying to get the VillainOfTheWeek to say where he knows him from — "Does your planet look like a gravel pit? You'll be surprised how many planets look like gravel pits."

* Japanese {{Toku}} action series -- including '''every''' ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' series, and ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' by extension -- [[http://gaijinsentai.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/pedreira-tokusatsu.jpg set many of their more pyrotechnic fights in a quarry]], more specifically, Mount Iwafune in Tochigi.
** Due to the blending of ''Franchise/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 ''Series/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.
** 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.
** Lampshaded a couple of times:
--->'''Cam/Green Samurai Ranger:''' The quarry? What, is it like a monster-con over there?\\
'''Shane/Red Ranger:''' Not another rock quarry!
** [[WebVideo/HistoryOfPowerRangers And also...:]]
--->'''[[Series/PowerRangersSPD Dr. Kat Manx]]:''' The quarry is under attack. \\
'''Linkara:''' It's a fricking quarry. It has rocks in it! Is he attacking the rocks?!
** ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaSteel'' has an instance of the Rangers looking for the MonsterOfTheWeek, and Brody suggests the quarry. "Monsters ''always'' hang out at the quarry!"
** In a rare instance of the BBC Quarry 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 he kicks all their asses]]. 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/KamenRiderExAid'' offers a {{Justification}}: Thanks to the show's overarching theme of VideoGames, the {{Transformation Trinket}}s have the ability to perform a "stage select", which lets the Riders move the battle to another location. While the bog-standard quarry hasn't appeared in early episodes, similar locales like a scrapyard and a vacant beach have shown up. (The quarry did turn up eventually.)

*** Particularly jarring when used for Gallifrey, as when Susan described it early in the series she gave a beautiful description about it having red grass and silver trees (the description quoted word for word by the Tenth Doctor in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E3Gridlock "Gridlock"]]). Yet when the Fourth Doctor actually goes there in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin "The Deadly Assassin"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime "The Invasion of Time"]], it's shown to be a complete dump (literally). The revival series did a bit of a FixFic on this by always showing it as breathtakingly gorgeous.

** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' offers a {{Justification}}: Thanks to the show's overarching theme of VideoGames, the {{Transformation Trinket}}s have the ability to perform a "stage select", which lets the Riders move the battle to another location. While the bog-standard quarry hasn't appeared in early episodes, similar locales like a scrapyard and a vacant beach have shown up.

* The fanfic ''Fanfic/PowerRangersTakeFlight'' adapts a pre-''Power Rangers'' Sentai series, ''Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman'', which used a lot of quarry scenes; so it has many too. Here it also has a large ravine thanks to the Hawkzord crashing there at the start of the series. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when one of the villains remarks "Here we are again... the quarry. Not the most creative choice, but it'll do."

*** Also lampshaded in the Time Trips novella ''Keeping Up With The Joneses'' when the Doctor enters a dimension inside his own TARDIS and asks one of the inhabitants where it is. She says it's Wales:
---->'Yes,' he said. 'Of course. In all the universe, space and time, it turns out however far you go there's mostly Wales.'

* Spoofed as far back as the original ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' 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/DoctorWho'' 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.
* During the events of [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho027TheOneDoctor The One Doctor]], [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] '''still''' manages to land in one, where a [[Series/TheWeakestLink Weakest Link]] {{expy}} is playing.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The second ''Film/MortalKombat'' movie visited the sinister [[AnotherDimension Outworld]] that the BigBad called home. It was filmed [[SpecialEffectFailure in the dark]], and the ground was suspiciously gravelly.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* The climax of the BMovie ''The Curse of King Tut's Tomb'' was set in the "Egyptian Underworld": recreated by a marble quarry with a CGI stormy red sky.

*** The outside of the tomb on Telos in "Tomb of the Cybermen" is a clear example (shot at a time when simply doing location shooting at all was impressive enough to be SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome, admittedly). Cuts to a studio shot as soon as they reach the entrance.

*** Justified in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E4ColonyInSpace Colony in Space]]" as the setting actually is a quarry on an alien world - the colonists are suspicious of the Doctor as they believe he was trying to steal their rocks.

*** Lampshaded in the 50th Anniversary Book ''The Roots of Evil'', when the Fourth Doctor is trying to get the VillainOfTheWeek to say where he knows him from -- "Does your planet look like a gravel pit? You'll be surprised how many planets look like gravel pits."

--->'''The Doctor:''' But now I have grown weary of all the evil in the cosmos. All the suffering. All the torment. All those endless gravel quarries...

--->'Yes,' he said. 'Of course. In all the universe, space and time, it turns out however far you go there's mostly Wales.'

--->'''Fourth Doctor''': You know, usually in any investigation I try to leave no stone unturned.
--->'''Captain Shaw''': That's a commendable work ethic, Doc. Shows dedication.
--->'''Fourth Doctor''': Yes, but it's also very time-consuming when you find yourself in a quarry as often as I do.
*** The new series has also added some variety (or possibly an aversion) to the quarry game: the quarry-like lunar setting in "Kill the Moon" was actually Timanfaya National Park, near a volcano on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

---->'''Cam/Green Samurai Ranger:''' The quarry? What, is it like a monster-con over there?
---->'''Shane/Red Ranger:''' Not another rock quarry!

---->'''[[Series/PowerRangersSPD Dr. Kat Manx]]:''' The quarry is under attack.
---->'''Linkara:''' It's a fricking quarry. It has rocks in it! Is he attacking the rocks?!

* ''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.
** A quarry also pops up as the planetoid Kryten and Rimmer play golf on in a flashback scene in "Blue". And as the deserted planet that becomes "Rimmerworld". The asteroid that Starbug crashes on in "Psirens" also falls within this trope.
** In one of Red Dwarf's [[Literature/RedDwarf tie-in books]], Rob Grant and Doug Naylor talk about how when they were trying to get the show off the ground, they were informed one of the reasons people who commisioned TV shows at the time hated sci-fi was that "you always end up chasing people wrapped in foil through a quarry, pretending it's the planet Qxxyzzzyx."
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' used the same forest setting in two Season Premiers, using the same props (just flipping the order they're interacted with). In another episode, they used a dam that was the back drop for a pivotal episode in ''Series/TheXFiles''.
* Magrathea in the TV version of ''Series/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' was a quarry in Cornwall that 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. Rather apt, since Magrathea was home to a species of world-builders.
* This trope is still in use today, though CGI enhancement makes it more subtle. Quarry in UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland + CGI = The Wall from ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
** All the desert scenes in the second season of ''Game of Thrones'' were also filmed in a quarry, this time in Croatia.
* The German SF series ''Series/{{Raumpatrouille}}'' {''Space Patrol'') used a colliery spoil tip as most of its alien planets.