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The Cities You Can Never Leave
Tattoos That Say 'I'm A Futuristic Bad-Ass'

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Golem100
09/16/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
Mega-City One from the world of Judge Dredd.

New York from Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within.

New York from Soylent Green

The City of Gold and Lead from the Tripod series.

Rockford Falls from Population 436.
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Golem100
09/16/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
Thanks for the tip on "The Forest of Hands and Feet". I'll be looking for that today.
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MrLister
09/15/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
How about the whole 1950'3 Earth in Alastair Reynolds' "Century Rain"? Better than a little city, that.
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Roklimber
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
Does the cube in The Cube satisfy your definition of a city "that will never let you leave" ? I think so.
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MargaretMoony
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
Hey, I love how the village from "The Forest of Hands and Teeth" is on this list!
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AutonymousPrime
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
Also the planet encompassing city of Chung Kuo! with England as your garden, how could this NOT be a city you could never leave? ^_^
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Chip Overclock
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
DARK CITY + BluRay + DIrector's Cut = Awesomeness
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Edited by Chip Overclock at 09/14/09 6:14 PM Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred

jstimson
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
For the World is Hollow, and I have Touched the Sky
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RavenNemain
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
The Savage Reservation in Brave New World? Maybe World Staters can come and go, but there is no way they would let any of the "savages" out.
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Grey_Area
09/14/09

@RavenNemain: Was that a city? I recall the Reservation being more rural.
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RavenNemain
09/14/09

@Grey_Area: I was thinking more in the idea of "settlement;" some others on the list don't really qualify as cities, either. (ex. the Village)
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Edited by RavenNemain at 09/14/09 7:22 PM RavenNemain was starred RavenNemain was unstarred

All hail the Winslow! Hi!
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
I've posted a few times before, but finally decided to set up an account.

Gurren Lagann has a nice sequence of spiraling cities at the end of the world, starting with the cave of Jeehta Village, where expansion is threatened by horrific beastmen and their giant robots.

Although it isn't strictly an isolated city, FLCL's Mabase is structured to create that sense of isolationism, with some really neat monologues on the yearning to leave.

Okay, okay, I'm a Gainax fanboy. Sue me.
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All hail the Winslow! Hi!
09/14/09

@All hail the Winslow! Hi!: Aha! I found the FLCL quote I was looking for:

When you're in a town like this all covered with smoke, you forget that there's a world outside. Nothing amazing happens here. And you get used to that, used to a world where everything is ordinary. Every day we spend here is like a whole lifetime of dying slowly. But now Haruko is here. That's how I know there really is a world outside.
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aassddff1234
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany
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SpaceHospital
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
How about the mega-cities that appear in Isaac Asimov's work? Enormous, enclosed cities where billions work without ever breathing fresh air and eat yeast prepared in a variety of ways to taste like real food. In "I, Robot" urbanities of the mega-cities think the "Spacers" are weird - because they live outside the dome in single-family dwellings and eat food they grow in the ground. Those crazy Spacers.
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VidorSilus
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
However, the "city" of Zion (The Matrix trilogy), isn't even a real city, either, but another extension of "The Matrix". We never actually see the "real world" in the movies, only what everyone thinks is the real world. They kind of beat you over the head with this, although many people didn't seem to get it due to the length of "The Architect"s' long speech. Even Morpheus commented that it seemed unlikely that the Machines could build one Sentinel for every Human in Zion.

And that's why I loved the trilogy.
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Shai_Hulud
09/14/09

@VidorSilus: Wow. I never got that. I was like "WTF???" when I saw it in the theater. Never bothered watching it again. Though that explanation does open up more plot-holes...
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trilobyte
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
What was the name of the small city in the movie 'Zardoz'?
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cletar
09/14/09

@trilobyte: Zardozville.
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paulgo
09/14/09

In reply to The Cities You Can Never Leave
What about the City of Gold and Lead from the John Christopher book of the same name?
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Golem100
09/16/09

@paulgo: Good point. The only way "out" was by receiving your "happy release".
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