The G Dog  | 27 Jun 2014 8:50 a.m. PST |
Bear with me on this, but recently, it seems that a number of films focus on depicting San Francisco bearing the brunt of some devestating attack. Star Trek the reboot – Nero uses the mega-drill just off SF. Star Trek Into Darkness – "Khan" crashes the dreadnought into downtown SF (and wipes out the historical site of Alcatraz prison in the process). Pacific Rim – the first big monster attack devstates SF over any other coastal location.
Spoiler ALERT
Godzilla (2014) – - Big G and his counterparts lay waste to the city by the bay. Are there other movies where SF get beat on? Why San Francisco? Is there some bad blood between the LA area and SF that pushes Hollywood to smack it's northern neighbor? |
| The G Dog | 27 Jun 2014 8:51 a.m. PST |
And right after I post this, I found this list link |
| Coelacanth | 27 Jun 2014 9:05 a.m. PST |
They don't hate San Francisco – quite the contrary. She's just so picturesque. Ron |
| willthepiper | 27 Jun 2014 9:09 a.m. PST |
SF is a lot more photogenic than LA. You could blow up downtown LA and most people (i.e., anyone who has never been there) wouldn't recognize it as anything but a generic US city. Whereas SF is very recognizable from countless movies and TV. Blowing up SF makes it personal. And how does SF compare to NYC in the gettin' blowed up stakes? I'd guess that NYC has to endure far more cinematic hostility! link |
 Saber6  | 27 Jun 2014 9:30 a.m. PST |
RE: Star Trek, all the Federation HQ are in the Bay Area |
| jpattern2 | 27 Jun 2014 9:31 a.m. PST |
What the others said. Other than the Tower Records building and the Hollywood sign, there's not much instantly recognizable architecture in LA.
Similarly, NYC has many distinctive landmarks (Empire State Building! Chrysler Building! Flatiron Building! Central Park!). Same for DC. But Chicago only has the Sears Tower (okay, maybe the El, too), Seattle has the Space Needle, St. Louis has the Arch, but not much else that's visually distinctive in those cities.
Hence, SF, NYC, and DC bear the brunt of the damage. |
| The G Dog | 27 Jun 2014 10:52 a.m. PST |
RE: Star Trek, all the Federation HQ are in the Bay Area
Why is that? Not to go wildly off topic, but who decided that Federation headquarters would be in the bay area? Franz Joseph? Or was it mentioned in TOS? |
| Streitax | 27 Jun 2014 11:04 a.m. PST |
If the bad guys/creatures blowed up LA real good, we'd have to award them some kinda medal or sumthin'. |
| Terrement | 27 Jun 2014 11:26 a.m. PST |
I think you are looking at it the wrong way. SF has some very scenic and photogenic areas that look good on film, and the real question should be, "Why don't filmmakers like other cities besides SF for filming, as they seem to like being there a lot to make movies?" They get to eat the food (especially REAL sourdough bread), see the sights, enjoy what the city has to offer, they bring $$$ to the city, and the city gets its props on the big screen. JJ |
 Saginaw | 27 Jun 2014 11:50 a.m. PST |
Looks like Tokyo has Frisco (and any other city on earth) beat by the proverbial "mile": link
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 Parzival | 27 Jun 2014 12:05 p.m. PST |
"You could blow up downtown LA and most people … wouldn't care." Fixed that for you.  |
| gladue | 27 Jun 2014 1:15 p.m. PST |
The Golden Gate is sufficiently iconic that destroying it is a big deal. That explains most of the monster movie attacks. The San Francisco earthquake has put destruction of the city in people's minds, so that combines well with the bridge. Alcatraz is famous and very isolated, so you can do something like The Rock there and there only. It's a coastal city where the "city" is right on the coast. LA is all port and not much else on the coast. Notice how "monsters attacking from the ocean" tend to choose NYC or SF for this one. Tokyo fits too. The Star Trek movies are just because they decided to base Star Fleet there. Apparently Rodenberry chose SF because it was a center of secular humanism that he was trying to show in Star Trek and it's where the United Nations was created. |
| PaddySinclair | 27 Jun 2014 4:29 p.m. PST |
The G Dog wrote: "Why is that? Not to go wildly off topic, but who decided that Federation headquarters would be in the bay area? Franz Joseph? Or was it mentioned in TOS?" The dedication plaque on the Enterprise in TOS states it was built at the San Francisco fleet yards and later "The Motion Picture" showed that that was where Star Fleet Command was based. JJ had the USS Vengeance crash through Alcatraz as a nod to his cancelled TV series… |
| Mithmee | 27 Jun 2014 5:29 p.m. PST |
Well it is unlucky to have the Golden Gate Bridge located right outside of it. Hollywood just loves to destroy it. but who decided that Federation headquarters would be in the bay area? Hollywood Because it gives them something to destroy in the future there. |
| Old Slow Trot | 01 Jul 2014 6:41 a.m. PST |
And L.A.'s City Hall ,which got blasted in the 1953 version of "War of The Worlds",and other movies. S.F. also figuring in an episode of the series version of "Planet Of The Apes" ,when the main characters find what's left of the BART(Bay Area Rapid Transit) line. |
| Mardaddy | 06 Jul 2014 7:40 p.m. PST |
Regarding SF as the HQ of the Federation… Think of what was going on in SF during the formative Star Trek series years. And think of the *message* of peace, tolerance, harmony and anti-materialism Roddenberry and the writers tried to send with each episode. SF, being the HQ of the hippie movement, was a natural pick even before considering the iconic locale for its landmarks (which proves fortuitous decades later for Star Trek movies trying to destroy it.) |
| Tumbleweed | 06 Jul 2014 8:27 p.m. PST |
Because it's easy for an LA-based film company to send a second unit right up the coast for stock footage, then add the special effects in the studio? |
| Old Slow Trot | 07 Jul 2014 6:44 a.m. PST |
S.F. also bought it in this one movie,c/o a meteor,small compared to what was on approach. Starred Ice-T . |
| Jemima Fawr | 07 Jul 2014 12:52 p.m. PST |
Don't forget Monsters v Aliens and various earthquake films. |
| Smokey Roan | 07 Jul 2014 5:16 p.m. PST |
It's not the bridge I want to see destroyed, it's the people! :) |
 javelin98 | 09 Jul 2014 1:49 p.m. PST |
I thought Paris was the perpetual ground zero for SF catastrophes! Armageddon, Mars Attacks, Edge of Tomorrow, Independence Day, War of the Worlds (the 50's version), 28 Weeks Later, one of the GI Joe live-action movies, and even that stupid puppet movie from the early 2000s (America Police or something like that). Paris and the Eiffel Tower seem to be a magnet for disaster. |
| Old Slow Trot | 10 Jul 2014 6:33 a.m. PST |
And an accidental downing of the the Eiffel Tower at the end of "The Great Race" courtesy of Prof. Fate's car cannon. |
| Caesar | 18 Jul 2014 2:33 p.m. PST |
LA is basically a big suburb and SF is a lovely city. |
