History Main / FakeTown

* The massive Boeing Plant 2 aircraft factory in Seattle had a fake town build on its roof to make it impossible to identify as a single building from the air, complete with lawns, trees, fences, and cars. The builders also added little street signs like Synthetic Street and Burlap Bulevard.

* In ''Film/TheTrumanShow'', the entire town of Seaside, Florida is a fake town populated by paid actors created to serve as the location set for a show that stars the unwitting Truman Burbank as protagonist, who was adopted as a baby by a corporation who turns his entire life into a 24/7 reality TV show. Several buildings are not even completely functional, but mere empty facades. [[spoiler:Later in the film, as he starts to suspect something is wrong, he begins to catch glimpses of camera operators, stage crew, and backstage areas. Eventually, Truman steals a boat and sails until he punctures the boundaries of the self-contained dome and finds an exit]].

"[[OhCrap ...oh it can't be good...]]"]]

* In WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania Dracula constructs one of these, complete with zombie actors playing humans, to convince Mavis that the outside world is dangerous.

* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals: Zero Hour,'' the [[TerroristsWithoutACause GLA]] Demolition general can build "Decoy Structures," whose special ability is to explode.

* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals: Zero Hour,'' one [[TerroristsWithoutACause GLA]] general can build "Decoy Structures," whose special ability is to explode.

* The Potempkin Gang in ''VideoGame/WestOfLoathing'' is a [[TwoGuysAndAGirl trio]] of bandits who built a false town out of planks and paint. The girl and one guy are wracked with guilt, while the other knows that the second you try to enter a building, the jig is up and keeps you away from them. The object of the town is to beat them by getting them all in front of one propped up on a [[ExplodingBarrels barrel of dynamite]](DEAD), or held up by a rope (OR ALIVE!).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E19RosesRoom "Rose's Room"]], Steven's attempt to leave the titular room [[HolodeckMalfunction just causes it to make a fake version of Beach City]], [[AGlitchInTheMatrix one riddled with errors]]. [[GeniusLoci The room's intent]] may have been [[LiteralGenie accidental]] or [[StealthMentor deliberately deceptive to prove a point]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In a DeletedScene from ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Pacha is making his way out of the palace when he walks into a room with a replica of his village. He then watches as Kuzco's guards attack it, as a run-through for when they level the real village to make room for the emperor's new summer home.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheAvengers'' has the episode "House Of Cards" in which a Soviet spymaster has trained sleeper agents to pose as impeccable British citizens. This training includes a very London-like town where the agents are given immersion training in British mannerisms. The regimen is so intense that one trainee makes the mistake of addressing his commander as "comrade," which nets him a bullet to the head.

* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967''. In the episode "[[Recap/ThePrisonerE14LivingInHarmony Living in Harmony]]", Number 6 is a sheriff in a TheWildWest town. At the end of the episode it's revealed that the town was a fake created by the Village leaders to trick Number 6.

* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967''. In the episode "Living in Harmony", Number 6 is a sheriff in a TheWildWest town. At the end of the episode it's revealed that the town was a fake created by the Village leaders to trick Number 6.

** Episode "Errand of Mercy". When Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet Organia, they arrive in a small town with medieval technology and peasants. At the end of the episode they learn that the entire town was an illusion to give the Federation and the Klingons AFormYouAreComfortableWith.
** Episode "Spectre of the Gun". The Enterprise landing party ends up in the town of Tombstone, Arizona in the year 1881. At the end of the episode they learn that the whole town is a telepathic illusion. This is {{foreshadowed}} during the episode by depicting the exteriors of buildings as facades and the interiors of buildings not having walls.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Whiskey Peak appears to be a peaceful town that welcomes pirates, but it is actually a trap to capture pirates set up by a group of bounty hunters part of a group called Baroque Works.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "Stopover in a Quiet Town" a man and woman wake up in a completely deserted town. As they explore it they regularly hear a young girl's laughter. At the end they discover that the town is actually [[spoiler:the toy of a gigantic alien girl who is keeping them as her playthings]].

* As revealed near the end of ''Anime/BloodC'', [[spoiler:the entire town where the protagonist Saya lives in is actually an experiment set-up designed by the BigBag who is trying to test if he can restore Saya's ability to feed on humans. All the inhabitants in the town are paid actors with some acting as Saya's classmates. One clue on how eerie and fake the town is whenever there's an Elder Bairns attack, some would complain that they were never warned about it]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': episode "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E4TheTownWhereEveryoneWasNice The Town Where Everyone Was Nice]]" takes this trope UpToEleven with [[spoiler:an entire Brazilian town populated by fake people. They're puppets on the end of the tendrils of an intelligent, carnivorous plant. Turns out that it had invited Donald Duck's old band to be entertained so that the flower could eat them together with visiting tourists]].

* In ''Film/TheTrumanShow'', the entire town of Seaside, Florida is a fake town populated by paid actorsm created to serve as the location set for a show that stars the unwitting Truman Burbank as protagonist, who was adopted as a baby by a corporation who turns his entire life into a 24/7 reality TV show. Several buildings are not even completely functional, but mere empty facades. [[spoiler:Later in the film, as he starts to suspect something is wrong, he begins to catch glimpses of camera operators, stage crew, and backstage areas. Eventually, Truman steals a boat and sails until he punctures the boundaries of the self-contained dome and finds an exit]].

The solution? In case there's no need to spend too much in on it, slap up some plywood billboards made to look like the fronts of buildings. As long as no one looks behind it, the illusion should be effective. For a version not as dependent on viewing angle, you could also slap up empty shell buildings made from cardboard or other cheap materials. It doesn't need to be structurally sound, it just needs to hold up long enough to fool whoever it needs to fool. Or, should the fake town really need to look realistic, build up actual houses and roads, perhaps install even a power grid and water network; make it look like in all a thriving and inhabited place, except for the fact no one is supposed to actually live there.