History Main / DesolationShot

* An Italian film dubbed in English despite being filmed in English called ''WarriorsOfTheWasteland'' had probably the most [[{{Narm}} unintentionally goofy]] DesolationShot ever, with burned mannequins in plastic silver armor holding ray guns strewn around the rubble of long-dead cities.

* The opening of ''Terminator2JudgmentDay'' pans across the devastated Los Angeles.

[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC: ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Fanfiction}}]]

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]

[[AC: {{Music}} and Music Videos]]

[[AC: VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* Happens in the Challenge Of The SuperFriends episode History of Doom, after the unexpected interaction between a Solar Flare unleashed by the Legion of Doom to destroy the Hall of Justice and Superfriends interacts horribly with the Superfriends protective planetary force field to kill all life on Earth. The episode starts with the desolation shot (complete with the stock blowing newspaper declaring the end of the world) before moving forward with visiting aliens looking over the ruins looking to find out what happened.

* There was an episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' that began in a thriving small town on a pastoral planet. Then the Crystalline Entity showed up and destroyed everything. There's a shot panning right across the desolate, smoking landscape, with Riker in front of it, looking at it. Cut to opening credits.

** In another episode, there is a disturbing shot of a devastated planet, a former Federation colony, with exactly one undamaged house surrounded by a square of perfectly manicured grass. The plot is our heroes' attempts to remove the residents of that house from that planet. Interestingly, that view came from above: there are no desolation shots from the house.

* In the [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure Season 3 finale]] of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', both [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eaFzKBqW9zY/UCacSOrgUVI/AAAAAAAA0DQ/cQ1PrvsKk5g/s1600/313_l03_ext_carousel_boutique_rundown.jpg Carousel Boutique]] and [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-The1riQKtNo/UCacS1UMEOI/AAAAAAAA0DY/vz-D4r_V6Og/s1600/313_l05_sweet_apple_acres_dilapidated.jpg Sweet Apple Acres]] fall into desolation and ruin [[FisherKing within hours of the Mane Five's cutie marks being switched]].

In an apocalyptic movie, the camera will sweep over once-populated areas, showing what was once a teeming place.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}''. In the beginning, the only true life on Earth appears to be a cockroach and our hero. And since our hero is a robot...
** A unique Desolation Shot due to the fact that it's done to the tune of the song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eeiohJn1sQ Put On Your Sunday Clothes.]] Juxtaposition ftw.

* [[http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ06/DisplayOQ06.html?page=33 The scene]] in ''ElfQuest'' where Cutter and Skywise return to the burnt out remains of the forest that used to be their home. Incidentally, the scene is drawn in charcoal, appropriately enough - that is, burnt wood.

* ''YTheLastMan'' has a couple: one just after the {{Gendercide}} strikes, sweeping over several unrelated places around the world (Tokyo Stock Exchange, a farm in Idaho, a football ground in Sao Paulo, and so on); and another when 355 and the new President abandon their car, showing the Interstate highway filled with crashed cars.

* The Fall of Coruscant in the NewJediOrder provided ample opportunity for these, including sequences throughout the ''Enemy Lines'' duology about a recon team returning to the ruins.

* Shots like these are played for laughs in many episodes of ''MegasXLR''.

** In episode 22 of ''MacrossFrontier'', after the [[spoiler:devastating Vajra attack on the Frontier]], Ozma and Cathy ([[spoiler:on the run after President Glass' murder]]) walk across a district of the city that was all but razed. There's even an EmpathyDollShot of [[MythologyGag a small Ranka doll in Chinese garb]].
* The opening narration to ''FistOfTheNorthStar''.

* [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eaFzKBqW9zY/UCacSOrgUVI/AAAAAAAA0DQ/cQ1PrvsKk5g/s1600/313_l03_ext_carousel_boutique_rundown.jpg Two]] [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-The1riQKtNo/UCacS1UMEOI/AAAAAAAA0DY/vz-D4r_V6Og/s1600/313_l05_sweet_apple_acres_dilapidated.jpg teaser pics]] that are apparently from the finale of season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' show [[spoiler:both Carousel Boutique and Sweet Apple Acres in a state of ruin]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'''s intro movie has this, as does the intro for ''VideoGame/FalloutTacticsBrotherhoodOfSteel''. The trailers for ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' do it as well.

* The intro to ''[[FreeSpace FreeSpace 2]]'', after the battle flashback, is a series of incredibly depressing Desolation Shots followed by a CrowningMomentofAwesome featuring a huge Terran-Vasudan fleet led by the [[CoolShip GTVA]] ''[[CoolShip Colossus]]''.

!!'''Examples:'''

[[quoteright:330:[[Film/TheRoad http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Road.jpg]]]]

* The alternate ending to ''[[Franchise/EvilDead Army of Darkness]]'' had a shot like this.

* ''Magnetic Rose'' and ''Stink Bomb'', the first two parts of KatsuhiroOtomo's ''Memories''. In ''Magnetic Rose'', it's when the mansion's holograms fail and its ruin is revealed. In ''Stink Bomb'', it's when the protagonist sees all the dead animals. What really gets him, though, is how sunflowers and cherry blossoms are in bloom at the same time.

* ''{{R-Type}} Final'' does this, starting with a pan over a crashed space colony. Indeed, the title screen does it too, showing [[spoiler:the control rods of a Force Device jutting out from underwater, implying that the player's ship won't survive the game]].

* SuperDimensionFortressMacross after [[spoiler:The Zentraedi destroy most of the earth's surface]] absolutely revels in shots of cratered, ruined deserts. One particularly memorable shot featured the dessicated, bullet-ridden corpse of a Zentraedi, his severed hand clutching [[{{Narm}} a singing Minmei doll]].

* TheFilmOfTheBook ''TheAndromedaStrain'' shows the town of Piedmont, New Mexico after the title disease wipes out the population, especially while the two scientists are walking around in their protective suits.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'''s intro movie has this, as does the intro for ''VideoGame/{{Fallout Tactics|BrotherhoodOfSteel}}''. The trailers for ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' do it as well.
* ''FinalFantasyX'' has a memorable one when the group finally makes it to Zanarkand.

* In the intro CutScene to the first ''{{Halo}}'' game's last level, you see how Halo has been turned into a desert wasteland by the Flood. In ''Halo 2'', you see a Flood-infested High Charity.

* Happens in the end of ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Adventure]]'', right before the final boss battle with Chaos.

* Heavily done in StargateAtlantis, since the Wraith obliterates any world that resists them.

* ''TheHappening''. Or st least some trailers of it.

* ''Land of the Dead''.
* ''NightOfTheComet'', a comedy about how almost all life on Earth was reduced to red dust by residue from a comet tail. Had a number of shots of buildings and neighborhoods, with the red dust blowing along the ground.

* ''HalfLife 2: Episode One'' is deliberately set up with these types of shots to highlight the devastation of City 17 in the wake of the Combine Citadel's destruction. Similar shots are used again in Episode Two, to highlight the second and much more destructive explosion.

* The Earth [[BookEnds portions]] of ''MassEffect3'', most prominently including an exploding human dreadnought. Also, the view from Menae (a moon of Palaven, the turian homeworld) of Palaven visibly burning -- Garrus even mentions that one particularly large firestorm was his home city.