TOP TEN Lists - This Week: "Blank Check" Media Projects.

Everywhere in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Hobbiton, the dwarven holds, Laketown, The elven realms, all the spectacular landscapes.

 

That's what she said! (sorry, I couldn't resist).

 

This Top Ten has been rather quiet. Let me see what I come up with. I think I'm drawn to these locations more as an outside fan, than as a "character" in the story or world.

1. Millennium Falcon (Star Wars): It may not be a "location" per se. It probably wouldn't be the most comfortable. It's totally for nostalgia reasons; as a kid I wanted to be on that thing flying around the galaxy.
2. Bag End (LotR and/or The Hobbit): To fellow Hobbit/LotR geeks, do I really need to explain?
3. Hogwarts-in general/Gryffindor Common Room-if I need to be more specific (Harry Potter series): Hogwarts just seems fun, with a surprise around every turn (hopefully not a troll). The Gryffindor Common Room reads, and looks on screen, like a comfy and fun hang out. However, I know it would be loud and smelly with a bunch of teenagers. Ha ha.
4. Mos Eisley Cantina (Star Wars): Once again, more nostalgia than anything. But it looked so exciting, unique, scary, and cool as a kid. On some level, I think it could be fun to hang out there.
5. Bridge of the Enterprise NCC-1701-D (Star Trek: The Next Generation): As much as I like OG Star Trek, I really grew to love Next Gen. Whereas the original Enterprise bridge looked more compact (for obvious reasons), the Next Gen Enterprise had a nice expansive layout. There was more flowing design, wood accents, warm colors, and touch screens. It felt noticeably "updated" and more comfortable/livable. Obviously, the bridge is the most regular scene, and I think it would be exciting to be there.

Those are the first that sprang to mind. I'll consider more, a little later.

 

Yeah i also considered Blade Runner and Labyrinth.

 

I was almost certain I'd be the only one with the Cube in my list. It's such a small budget and less known movie... but an absolute gem. Canadian too!

 

Indeed!

 

No surprises here from my side:

Rivendell
Perfect place to stay for a quiet place (at least while no councils are held ) Great place to enjoy the nature all around.

The Shire
Nice rolling hills, a very care free and jovial atmosphere all around. And food, lots of great food.

Minas Tirith
Such a massive layered city is a sight to behold in itself.

Erebor
From one large city to the other, this time build into the mountain. The clean and detailed carvings all around makes this a feat of great craftmanship.

Lothlorien
Who doesn't love treehouses to the max level?

Greyhavens
Outstretched elfish structures in a still water enclosed bay, a serene sight and great place to enjoy the surroundings and

Elvenking's Halls
Combining the Treehouse esthetics with the Cave city vibe.

Fangorn
I love forests, a vast and old forest will be incredible to explore.

Beorn's House
Just a moment to feel a small kid again, plus an awesome interior for a B&B

Edoras
House of the horse-lords nice looking wooden structures mostly build to efficiently hold people and horses. The rolling hills around it creates a feeling of freedom to do and go whatever you like.

Honorable mentions would be:
Moria, Helmsdeep and Isengard (before the industrial age )

Grrr, !mrahil

 

not at all

Grrr, !mrahil

 

I'm lacking motivation for a lot of things these days. There have been several good locations mentioned already. Let me see...

Hoth, Dagobah, Cloud City (Star Wars-ESB): I'm totally stealing this one from @Killer Angel, but it's a great pick. For big fans of OT Star Wars, these locations are etched in our memories. I think the locations in ESB best captured the theme that Lucas had of traveling to unique and alien worlds in SW.
Rivendell (LotR/The Hobbit): Very much like Bag End, who wouldn't want to spend time in the "Last Homely House west of the Mountains?"
The Labyrinth (Labyrinth): I love the look and design behind the Labyrinth. It's a very weird, surprising and magical place, Alice in Wonderland.

 

Time for me to jump into the fray.

1. The Shire, Middle Earth. [LOTR] - Who wouldn't want to live here? It's beautiful and instantly gives you a feel for the Hobbits that inhabit it. Even my wife, who isn't a LOTR fan, loves the Shire. We always talk about going down to New Zealand one day to visit Hobbiton.
2. Hallelujah Mountains, Pandora. [Avatar] - Everything on Pandora looks absolutely amazing. A feast for the eyes, but of them all, the Hallelujah mountains are the coolest in my book.
3. The Cube. [Cube] - one of the most intriguing locations for a movie. It is mysterious, dangerous and unknown... but
   Spoiler

   has a logical/mathematical solution to it
   . It's a puzzle for the characters and the audience alike.
4. The Temple of the Holy Grail. [Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade] - I've loved this ever since I was a kid. A more grownup version of the Goonies. Like the Cube above, it too is a puzzle, and I do love puzzles. It's my favourite part of my favourite Indiana Jones movie. The penitent man shall pass!
5. The Maze. [The Maze Runner] - another puzzle to solve... are we sensing a theme here? I find mazes intriguing and this one is large and diabolical in that it reorientates itself. I can't help but instantly place myself in that situation and analyze how I would approach the problem.
6. Bunker/Hatch, the island. [Lost] - besides the weak ending, this show was extremely captivating. But of all the crisscrossing storylines, nothing captured my attention and intrigue as the bunker. A simple hatch with a mysterious number on it. What is its purpose? Who put it there? What is inside? The show really builds excellent tension around it and I kept watching episode after episode in hopes of its mysteries being revealed. And just when the big question looks to be answered, it only leads to more mystery. Not a fancy location, but one that is endlessly thought provoking.
7. Gargantua black hole and it's orbiting planet. [Interstellar] - straight out of the gae, the CGI presentation of that black whole is awe-inspiring. Then you add in the crucial plot point of the massive effect of time dilation, and it becomes a huge plot point as well. Finally it all comes together in the climax of the film. And that's not even mention the awesome looking tidal waves on the orbiting planet!
8. Hogwarts. [Harry Potter] - I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, but I must admit that the Hogwarts school is a fantastic film location. A place where nearly anything is possible. It really sells the entire series.
9. Naboo And Coruscant. [Star Wars] - We all knew there had to be a Star Wars entry. While the OT is clearly my favourite, in terms of locations, I really like the PT offerings. I'm cheating a bit here listing two, but I had a hard time choosing between the beauty of Naboo and the endless city that is Coruscant. Both are fantastic.
10. The Wall, Westeros. [Game of Thrones] - a gigantic ice wall to protect against what lurks in the far north. Interesting and very visually appealing. It's sheer sense of scale makes what lies beyond instantly ominous.

Honourable mentions: Predator Temple, Antarctica [Alien vs. Predator], Crematoria [The Chronicles of Riddick], Asgard [Thor/MCU], Treasure Room [National Treasure], Ahm Shere [The Mummy Returns], The secret path to the treasure [The Goonies], Ba Sing Se [Avatar: The Last Airbender]

 

Great top pick

Overall a nice list

Grrr, !mrahil

 

Some interesting picks that I really like. I would like to add The Wall to my list as well. A great looming location for an overall strong show. The Wall was in every season. I also like The Lost show reference. Since it did have a rather weak ending, many people forget how enthralling and intriguing this show was. The Island, The Hatch, and The Bunker all lead to more bizarre and captivating questions.

 

OK, I feel like I've come up with a load of good 'uns for my list...

1. Naboo (Star Wars Episodes I-III): It's one of those very rare times that @NIGHTBRINGER and I agree on something (along with Coruscant)! I absolutely believe it's the Prequels that showcase the utter best of Star Wars' worldbuilding (one of the pros of allowing George to direct no doubt - the man is no doubt a storyteller). The planets introduced in this trilogy really highlight how the makers really put time into thinking about how a planet shapes the evolution of the creatures that live upon it... and you all know how much I like the Gungans. They're perfectly adapted to living in the jungles and swamps of the planet, and the moist climate that would have to exist for said rainforests and the more temperate grassy plains to flourish. Surely even their most avid haters can't deny the spectacle of their underwater city (and the fact that they managed to grow it from the lakebed like a plant is one of their particular redeeming qualities)? Plus you have the deep waters of the inner core filled with sea monsters, and the Italianate palaces and courtyards of the settled human civilisation (filmed in real-life surviving Renaissance Italian and Spanish locations). Naboo's myriad locations are one of the many things from Episode I that prompted me to first fall in love with Star Wars, and why it continues to remain close to my heart despite Disney's attempts to destroy it.
2. Geonosis (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones): From somewhere especially moist to somewhere about as dry as it could get and probably makes even Tatooine look damp. Geonosis is another classic example of the pinnacle of George's worldbuilding, as once again it shows how a planet's climate often spells life or death for the creatures that evolve upon it. In this case, the Geonosians, humanoid arthropods that need very little, if any, water look to be the sole inhabitants of the planet, and even they prefer to live underground where it is cooler. The Mars-red deserts and alien-built hive spires wouldn't look out of place in 40K, and like real world ants' nests, while they may look quiet and unassuming on the outside, they simply conceal the fervent activity occurring within - the manufacturing of Battle Droids en masse, politics that speaks of Separatism and gladiatorial arena combat... it all goes on here, for a long time right under the Republic's nose. And once one Jedi finds out what's going on and ends up held against his will, all Hell begins to break loose...
3. Coruscant (Star Wars Episodes I-III): My third Star Wars location in a row, and another example of Prequels worldbuilding perfection... a planet that is covered completely by a single city, if we're not careful Coruscant could end up reflecting the fate that awaits our own Earth at some point in the distant future. And like every city, it has its nightlife (not all of it friendly), and both its posh areas and its rough underbelly. It is from here that the fate of the teetering Republic is decided over the course of the first three films in the saga, and how one master manipulator, revered by many as a kindly, democratic older gentleman, turned out to be the biggest threat to democracy in the galaxy.
4. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Harry Potter): Utterly iconic, and wonderfully brought to life over the course of eight films. I've been to see the ginormous model of it used for overarching shots at the studios, and is probably the one thing I've taken the most photos of ever. Everyone wishes they could study there. Need I say more?
5. Erebor (The Hobbit Trilogy): As many of you probably know, my favourite race in Middle-Earth is the doughty, heroic Dwarves, and in the portion of the Middle-Earth timeline we principally care about, the Lonely Mountain is one of the last bastions of Dwarfkind, in between being defiled and occupied by the mighty Smaug and the site of his prodigious (and corrupting) treasure-hoard. The makers of The Hobbit films did a great job in juxtaposing the regal grandeur of the impregnable fortress, and the feelings of abandonment and neglect it shows during Smaug's enforced tenancy. It's just a pity they didn't think of developing it earlier and featuring it, even just as a passing shot, in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as the revived epitome of Dwarf strength protecting the Free Peoples from the Easterlings (which is where the Easterling column Frodo and Sam narrowly avoid are heading in The Two Towers). I'd love to see that forgotten arena of the War of the Ring shown in its own film...
6. Rivendell (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Lord of the Rings trilogy): Of the three Elven kingdoms most prominent in the Middle Earth works, Rivendell is my personal favourite, not least because it features in both trilogies, but also because it aptly fits Tolkien's description of being "The Last Homely House(s) East of the Sea". The elegant architecture, peaceful inhabitants and temperate, well-nourished landscape help to make it an especially appealing resting place when travelling through Middle-Earth.
7. The Shire (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies): Though the Shire has more recently become an advertisement for New Zealand since PJ's films, originally this peaceful home of Hobbits was Tolkien's love letter to rural England, with his Middle Earth stories as a whole being in part an expression of his hatred toward the pollution and grime of industrialisation, and the horrors of warfare he experienced in WWI - and the films' interpretation of the Shire follows the great man's vision perfectly; a land of peace, plenty, harmony and both safety from and blissful and wilful ignorance toward the dangerous world outside its borders. The home of ordinary people living ordinary lives, concerned only with the simple things they can change, as opposed to the bigger things they generally know they cannot... we could all learn a lesson or two from the content and happy peoples of the Shire. No adventures here, thank you... not today!
8. Exegol (Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker): The one location that really stands out for me across the Sequel Trilogy (aside from a brief return trip to Mustafar). Though Episode IX is pretty obviously a mediocre film at best, for me it's the best of the Sequel Trilogy (not saying much, is it? ) pretty much purely because of this. Finally we get to see a Sith planet on film, with lightning-wracked skies and a dark temple where the Sheev has set up his own cloning facility. Watching the opening scene introducing this location for the first time at the pictures, and seeing Kylo verbally spar with the greatest Sith of them all set to the latter's theme tune, made me grin with almost psychotic glee. How absolutely typical it was of the Grand Village Idiot J.J. Abrams to only think of this for the last film of the trilogy, when it could have been the perfect way to introduce a far superior alternative evil to the samey Empire 2.0 at the beginning of VII.
9. Lothlorien (The Lord of the Rings trilogy): Galadriel and Celeborn's kingdom, as opposed to the more homely nature of Rivendell, is probably the location you'd most stereotypically expect to be inhabited by fantasy Elves - a fae, mystical place punctuated by untold magical lights, with houses shaped around the trees that bear them, powerful enchanted artefacts that it is best not to touch if you don't know what you're doing, and the landscape shaped around the forest to befit the wishes of its Elven inhabitants. The only problem is... would they turn the lights off to enable everyone to get to sleep at night?
10. Scarif (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story): An archipelago of sandy beaches is probably the last place you'd expect an Imperial base to be located, but even villains like easy access to a prime holiday spot . It's also probably the last place you'd expect the level of carnage you see in Rogue One to happen.

Honourable Mentions: Khazad-Dum/Moria (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), Pandora (Avatar), Mustafar (Star Wars Episode III, Rogue One and Episode IX), Tatooine (Star Wars Episodes I-IV and VI), Jedha (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Mimban (Solo: A Star Wars Story), Austerlitz (Napoleon), Edoras (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Return of the King), Minas Tirith (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), Kamino (Star Wars Episode II), Diagon Alley (Harry Potter), The Jade Palace (Kung Fu Panda), Gongmen City (Kung Fu Panda 2), Thranduil's Halls (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Dol Guldur (The Hobbit trilogy), Mordor (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), the Nostromo (Alien), Antarctica (Alien vs Predator), Goblin Town (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), The Battlefields of the Future (Terminator), Helm's Deep (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)

 

Nice list, pretty Star Wars and Middle-Earth heavy

This I agree strongly on

Grrr, !mrahil