Something light for a Saturday afternoon: Which world landmarks you don’t want to live near in a SF plotline!

This was supposed to be the Friday post: I had a filling replaced and didn't feel well afterwards (actually I got kidnapped by aliens, but the filling thing's what I'm telling everyone). But the dentist has given me the inspiration I needed to finish 'The Journey' in a suitably dark and creepy fashion - the final part will be up this late this evening or tomorrow.

 
However right now it's a beautiful day. The alien sedative has worn off, the trees are singing and the birds are swaying. So I'm going to share something a bit more light-hearted with you:

Writing a story (so the girl on the till at my local supermarket tells me) means researching the location it takes place in. Of course, I'm writing fiction, so my locations are all based in Fiction Land, which I can't visit! The closest I can come to doing an actual research visit is to watch a movie involving that location - preferably and action movie, because everyone knows those are the most scrupulous and accurate genre, right?

Right.

The results of my foolproof, highly scientific , research strategy have been shocking. Shocking!

Some of the best known locations in Fiction Land have been brutally destroyed. Dozens of times over in some cases!

Oh the humanity!

So, as a public service, here are the three top Fiction Land landmarks to avoid living near unless you want to become a collateral smear of red in a badly thought out plotline:

3.       The Eiffel tower.

Did you know the tower was originally meant to be just the bottom arch? For various reasons, that are just a google away, it kept getting built upwards... Well movie script writers have rectified the Parisians mistake and then some: It's been the victim of corrosive nanites, belligerent Martians and a gigantic falling sandwich, to name just a few.

But my personal favourite, for sheer (very) dumb spectacle, has to be death by giant asteroid strike:

2. Big Ben:

There's something about both towers and clock faces that beg for a battering in Fiction Land. So it's no surprise that Big Ben has had its share of nasty endings.

Up there with the best are: Used as a perch by a dragon (Reign Of Fire), good old fashioned death by aliens (Mars Attacks, Independence Day, Dr Who.... the list goes on ), and detonated by a masked freedom fighter (V for Vendetta)....

 

1. The Statue of Liberty:
 

She asks of the world: 'Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free.' What the old torch waving dear has actually received includes: Giant waves, (Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow), her head pulled off by a monster (Cloverfield), buried up to her neck in sand (Planet of The Apes... of course), picked up and thrown by Nuclearman (Superman IV).... but uniquely amongst landmarks she's also gotten off her pedestal and gone looking for some good old fashioned payback.....

 

Much respect Ma'am!