History Main / DesertedIsland

** In one episode it's revealed that Stan kidnaps his mother's boyfriends and maroons them on an uncharted island to prevent anyone from [[OedipusComplex getting close to her.]]

* Castaway Island: A larger island with enough flora and fauna for Literature/RobinsonCrusoe and his [[{{Robinsonade}} marooned imitators]] to strut their stuff.
* Treasure Island: The favourite spot for {{Pirate}}s to bury [[PirateBooty their treasure]], usually found by means of following a map. [[TalkLikeAPirate Yarrr!]]
* [[IsleOfGiantHorrors Monster Island]]: The abode of monsters. If it's a LostWorld, the heroes might escape with a dinosaur to show off; if it's covered in Eldritch Ruins, they'll be lucky to escape with their sanity intact.[[note]]Also, [[NonIndicativeName despite the name]], [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons it's actually a peninsula.]][[/note]]
* IslandOfMystery: An island containing combinations of monsters, mad scientists, castaways, ancient temples and other mysterious phenomena.

In past centuries such islands could be found in every ocean, but these days it takes loads of {{Phlebotinum}} to keep them hidden. Note, however, that even though in this day and age about any island you can set foot upon was probably already visited by a human being, that doesn't mean you'll find any signs of human presence left on it. There are absolutely tons of islands that hardly ever see anybody visit them for a variety of reasons: maybe they're just too far away from the nearest inhabited place, maybe there's just nothing interesting on them to find. In fact, the very name "deserted" implies that somebody must have been there to desert it in the first place. At any rate, while your chances of finding yourself on one of them are minuscule compared to, say, the 18th century sailors, it's still 100% possible and does happen every once in a while.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'', B.E.N. is Marooned on a [[strike:desert]] ''planet''. It's [[ThatsNoMoon actually a]] BigDumbObject.

* ''Videogame/MonsterHunter'' has a map ''called'' the Deserted Island. Subverted, in that it's supposed to be devoid of human life, but still has a spot of civilization, Moga Village, thriving on it. This is because during the events of ''Monster Hunter tri'' and ''[[UpdatedRerelease Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate]]'', [[spoiler:the village received an order to evacuate the island due to a series of earthquakes threatening to level the village, but the village's inhabitants refused to leave, instead sending out the PlayerCharacter to hunt and defeat the source of the earthquake, which as it turns out is a massive underwater Elder Dragon.]] The map [[ArtifactTitle remains named such]] in ''Monster Hunter Generations'' despite taking place chronologically after ''3'' with several returning characters explicitly stating they're visiting from Moga, but the name was presumably kept for nostalgia or Guild bureaucracy purposes.

** IslandOfMystery in ''Recap/TintinTheBlackIsland'', which is the location of the long-abandoned ruins of the castle of Benmoor, rumored to be the home of a supernatural monster that devours anyone who sets foot on the island. It's actually a ScoobyDooHoax perpetrated by the evil Dr. Mueller, to hide his counterfitting scheme.

* The isle of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande Queimada Grande]], aka Snake Island, off the coasts of UsefulNotes/SaoPaulo, UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}. The reason it's a desert island? It's home to the only colony of ''Bothrops insularis'' (golden lancehead pit viper), one of the most lethal venomous snakes in the world. The only humans who are allowed to set foot on the island are some scientists and a specially trained team that performs maintenance of the isle's automated lighthouse once per year.

* The isle of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande Queimada Grande]], aka Snake Island, off the coasts of UsefulNotes/SaoPaulo, UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}. The reason it's a desert island? It's home to the only colony of ''Bothrops insularis'' (golden lancehead pit viper), one of the most lethal venomous snakes in the world.

* The isle of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande Queimada Grande]], aka Snake Island, off the coasts of UsefulNotes/SaoPaulo, UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}. The reason it's a desert island? It's home to the only colony of ''Bothrops insularis'' (golden lancehead pit viper), one of the most dangerous venomous snakes in the world.

* The isle of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_da_Queimada_Grande Queimada Grande]] off the coasts of UsefulNotes/SaoPaulo, UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}. The reason it's a desert island? It's home to the only colony of ''Bothrops insularis'' (golden lancehead pit viper), one of the most dangerous venomous snakes in the world.

* ''Literature/TheCoralIsland'', an 1857 novel about three plucky British boys stranded on a tropical island. ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' was a take that to it; ''Creator/RobertHeinlein'' book''Literature/TunnelInTheSky'' was a take that to ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies''

* Daniel Defoe's ''Literature/RobinsonCrusoe''.

* ''Series/GilligansIsland'' takes place on one and many episodes involve attempts to leave. Unfortunately, many of these are screwed up by Gilligan himself.

These islands come in five main varieties.

In past centuries such islands could be found in every ocean, but these days it takes loads of {{Phlebotinum}} to keep them hidden. Note, however, that even though in this day and age about any island you can set foot upon was probably already visited by a human being, that doesn't mean you'll find any signs of human presence left on it. There are absolutely tons of islands that hardly ever see anybody visit them for a variety of reasons: maybe they're just too far away from the nearest inhabited place, maybe there's just nothing interesting on them to find. In fact, the very name "deserted" implies that somebody must have been there to desert it in the first place. At any rate, while your chances of finding yourself on one of them are miniscule compared to, say, the 18th century sailors, it's still 100% possible and does happen every once in a while.

* Frequently used in old adventure strips in ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', a good example being the strip The Shipwrecked Circus.

* In ''Film/{{Castaway}}'', Creator/TomHanks's character washes up on one.
* The protagonists of ''Film/DeepRising'' end up on one in the ending, only to hear the roar of yet another monster somewhere inside.
* The protagonist in ''Film/CastawayOnTheMoon'' winds up on an unusual example. It's deserted all right, and it is an island--but it's ''right in the middle of Seoul'', under a bridge spanning the Han River. The protagonist winds up getting stuck there for months, because after all, who's looking for people on an island under a bridge? (See ''Concrete Island'', in Literature, for a grittier take on this.)
* This is Silva's hideout in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' and where James Bond first meets him.

* In ''Film/Siren2010'', the island where the protagonists discover Silka has no one on it aside from her.
* ''Film/ABCsOfDeath2'': "E is for E[[spoiler:quilibrium]]" features two castaways on a deserted island whose friendship is jeopardized when a woman washes up on the beach.
* ''Film/TheLittleHut'' involves three people--husband, wife, husband's buddy who desperately wants sex with the wife--washing up on a deserted island when their yacht sinks. Comic merriment ensues.

* Ibn Tufail's Arabic novel ''Hayy ibn Yaqzan'' (also known as ''Philosophus Autodidactus'') from the 12th century is possibly the UrExample, about a boy abandoned on a deserted island and raised by an animal.
** A spiritual successor was Ibn al-Nafis' Arabic novel ''Theologus Autodidactus'' from the 13th century.
* Daniel Defoe's ''Literature/RobinsonCrusoe''.
* ''Literature/BabySittersClub Super Special 4: Baby-sitters' Island Adventure''. The island was somewhere off the coast of Connecticut.
* In Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/SmallFavor'' and ''Literature/TurnCoat'', we have the island that [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] names "Demonreach". It was not only abandoned decades ago, but removed from government records, and Harry says he'd bet that no flight lanes pass within 5 miles of the place. This island, to be clear, is on Lake Michigan, within relatively easy reach of Chicago if you know how to avoid rocky shoals or something. Its desertedness is justified by magic, namely the fact it's a GeniusLoci and isn't very friendly.
** ''Literature/ColdDays'' establishes that the GeniusLoci psychically broadcasts an inexplicable feeling of overwhelming dread that increases the closer you get to the island, effectively causing anyone who might stumble across the island to steer well clear of it without ever knowing that they're doing so, or why.
* Johann Wyss' ''Literature/TheSwissFamilyRobinson'', explicitly named after ''Robinson Crusoe'', takes place on a rather lush and serviceable desert island.

* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies''
* [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] quite cleverly in ''The End'', final book of Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents, which takes place on an island where "everything eventually washes up on the shores"(its coastal shelf is very cluttered), including a whole band of castaways with [[MeaningfulName names alluding to stories of this genre]].
* Creator/HPLovecraft: R'lyeh, when above water, as in "Literature/TheCallOfCthulhu".

* R.L. Stevenson's ''Literature/TreasureIsland''.
* Creator/JulesVerne's ''Mysterious Island'' appears to be deserted, but the resident castaways eventually learn that [[spoiler: Captain Nemo has retired there.]]

* Justified in the Literature/HarryPotter stories, as islands populated by magical creatures are sometimes made Unplottable as part of TheMasquerade.

* The titular ''Literature/NimsIsland''. It's portrayed as a kid-friendly paradise. Most of the time.
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'', Professor Maxon chooses one to restart his experiments. (Conveniently away from the law.)
** Burroughs reused the trick with Ras Thavas, who lives on a solid patch of land in the Great Toolnolian Swamp in the Barsoom novels ''Literature/TheMasterMindOfMars'' and ''Literature/SyntheticMenOfMars''. Guess what he's doing in the latter (or, more accurately, just before the latter actually starts).
* The Isles of Syren in ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'', which also double as [[TownWithADarkSecret Islands with a Dark Secret]].

* ''Literature/DrFranklinsIsland'' appears to be this when the protagonists get to shore. They call each other "prisoners in paradise" and struggle to survive. As the title suggests, though, it does belong to [[MadScientist someone]], who waits until people stop looking for them.
* The island in Enid's Blyton series Literature/TheFamousFive.

* Henry De Vere Stacpoole's original novel ''Literature/TheBlueLagoon'', also the novella ''[[http://www.erbzine.com/mag18/robertson.htm Primordial/Three Laws & the Golden Rule]]'' that inspired it, were just two of [[http://www.erbzine.com/mag18/1899.html a type of story popular in Victorian times]]: "strand innocent toddlers on a Crusoe-type DesertedIsland and see how they live, with plenty of resources but without parents or culture". ''Literature/{{Tarzan}}'' and ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' are probably the two best known versions of this.

* J.G. Ballard's 1974 novel ''Concrete Island'' has Robert, a rich architect, stranded on the terrain below intersecting freeways after his car plunges off a bridge. It's frustrating because he can see his office building from here, he tries to flag down passing cars for help but he's so messed up from the crash they assume he's just some homeless guy, so he starts living off the leftovers they throw out the window and figuring out a way to escape. He discovers the remains of one of the many small towns / city districts that were destroyed to build the freeways in the first place, with a few other people living there. Does he really want to leave, or is it like one of the other people says, was he on an 'island' long before the crash?

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' takes place on a "deserted" island that's about as deserted as UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.

* ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'' - the flamboyant Buddy Cole, musing on his three 'desert island picks', finds himself on one with his favorite book, record, and person - Oscar Wilde, who quickly gets shunned when his wit isn't up to scratch.

* ''Series/MythBusters'' had an episode ("Duct Tape Island") which used this plot as a setting to test various survival methods using DuctTapeForEverything. (The episode itself had several obvious signs that the island was ''far'' from deserted; these were [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by the hosts. As they admitted in their Aftershow--and as could be deduced by depictions of the island in their animated 'blueprint drawings'--the actual setting was [[spoiler:a beach on the island of Oahu, the most populated island in the Hawaiian chain. They also admitted that most of their nights, they'd slept in a hotel. The builds themselves were all real, though]].)
* ''Series/GoodEats'' has a special on tropical cuisine in which Alton Brown is stranded on a deserted island. [[spoiler: He's in Hawaii and stumbles across a pineapple farm among other signs of life, until finally running into a surfer on vacation.]]
* The third season finale of ''Series/{{Scorpion}}'' has the team trapped on an island and work on ways to escape. They finally do after three weeks.
* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. In "Pharsalus", Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo [[PlotArmor survive the sinking of an entire fleet]] and struggle ashore, only for a RevealShot to show they've actually washed up in a tiny island with no food, water or shelter. However as they wait to die, Vorenus notices that the corpses of the other victims have become bloated from the gasses of decomposition and so float easily, so they use them to construct an improvised raft that carries them to the mainland.
* ''Series/GeneralHospital''. In the summer of 1992, teens Jason and Karen went out for a boat ride (with Jagger, Jason's rival for Karen's affections, stowing away below deck), got caught in a storm, and ended up on one of these (implausibly in the middle of either Lake Erie or Lake Ontario, given GH's upstate New York setting).
* ''Series/MagnumPI'' "Operation Silent Night" has Magnum & friends stranded on one that the Navy uses for gunnery practice. But they're not gonna do that on Christmas Eve... right? Higgins' first survival step is to weave a sun-hat out of palm fronds. He also has some clever ideas for how to leave the island if TC can't fix the radio. Meanwhile Rick is convinced he's going to die in quicksand and imagines his own funeral, and Tom is determined to play Santa for his friends no matter what.
* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'''s season 3 premier, Lex Luthor has been trapped on a remote Caribbean for nearly three months, following his private jet crashing on the way to his honeymoon. He's originally under the impression that he is sharing the island with another castaway, Lewis, who is quickly becoming malevolent. However, the climax reveals Lewis is actually his ImaginaryFriend, and the trauma of the whole ordeal has done a number on Lex's sanity.

* Crops up in ''Radio/BleakExpectations'' as one of many tropes it parodies when Pip Bin washes up on one. He starts to GoMadFromTheIsolation after a few days until he finds a "primitive" human[[note]]who turns out to be his best friend in need of a bath[[/note]] who saves him from starving by revealing it is a ''dessert'' island and the beach is made of apple crumble. There it veers into {{Robinsonade}} until the BigBad, Gently Benevolent, turns up with an army of dinosaurs and calls it a LostWorld.

* The first game in the ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'' series. The island's also a ForbiddenZone--since it's not that near anywhere, it was used for scientific research until something [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]] and the entire place was abandoned. Naturally, you're about to find out ''why'' it was abandoned.
* ''VideoGame/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnline'' has numerous "wild islands" scattered across the sea. These islands have few, if any, human inhabitants on them, and are mostly used as either weapon training grounds for new pirates or as a hotspot for certain quests.
* ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Emerald]]'' has Faraway Island, a deserted island in the middle of the ocean that has nothing of interest, except for [[spoiler:[[GameBreaker Mew]]]].

* ''VideoGame/TheSims2'' has a spin-off called Castaways revolving round the player's sim getting stranded in such an island. The mobile phone version is essentially the same.
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness'' has your character stranded there with a few other survivors. In a bit of a subversion, other ships DO find them, and there are, in fact, at least two other people already living on the island. The main point of the game is to fix the island up so that it can become populated.

* ''Dyscourse'' has the player character and five other plane crash survivors on a fairly typical Castaway Island. Whether they make it ''off'' the island depends on how you deal with clashing personalities and various events.
* ''Videogame/MonsterHunter'' has a map ''called'' the Deserted Island. Subverted, in that it's supposed to be devoid of human life, but still has a spot of civilization, Moga Village, thriving on it. This is because during the events of ''Monster Hunter tri'' and ''[[UpdatedRerelease Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate]]'', [[spoiler:the village received an order to evacuate the island due to a series of earthquakes threatening to level the village, but the village's inhabitants refused to leave, instead sending out the PlayerCharacter to hunt and defeat the source of the earthquake, which as it turns out is a massive underwater Elder Dragon.]] The map [[ArtifactTitle remains named such]] in ''Monster Hunter Generations'' despite taking place chronologically after ''3'' with several returning characters explicitly stating they're visiting from Moga, but the name was presumably kept for nostalgia or Guild bureaucracy purposes.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'' is located on a one and Tom Nook has convinced the Player and some of the villagers to purchase some land there. It's a castaway island and can either stay that way or become more civilized if the player so chooses. Unlike many other deserted island stories, there is an easy way off with a sea plane.
* ''VideoGame/VacationStory'' has the players that survived the plane crash end up on a large, but mostly empty, island to explore.
* ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'': The predicament the player character finds themselves in at the start of the game, sitting in a small EscapePod floating in the ocean on an alien planet, is pretty much a sci-fi spin on the FarSideIsland variant. There's a more literal example that you find and journey to later on.

* Done in the WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker short ''Fair Weather Fiends''.

* The [[WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}} Dethklok Home for Wayward Kittens]] is populated only by handicapped mutants. [-[[KillerRabbit "RELEASE THE KITTENS!"]]-]
* Originally Dinobot Island in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', to give the Dinobots somewhere to live away from civilization. By season 3 it's gotten rather crowded, now home to Meltdown's labs, Blackarachnia [[spoiler: until she teleported somewhere]], and [[spoiler: Scrapper. The other Constructicons are probably around somewhere too.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' used this plot for shipping between Jimmy and Cindy. The pair argue whether there is an actual line around the equator or not, so they go to check in the hover car... cue falling off of it and ending up on a deserted island and growing closer to each other. By the end of the episode Cindy didn't even ''want'' to leave the island and suggested she and Jimmy stay there forever.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has Peter, Joe, Cleveland, and Quagmire become stranded on a lone island after being shipwrecked, causing their friends and family back home to believe they had died in the storm. The guys pass the time by playing the "who would you rather do" game and at one point, try to start an orgy to satisfy their sexual urges. Naturally, a cruise liner passes by when this happens and everyone stops to take a look as if it was part of the tour.
* The ''WesternAnimation/GerryAndersonsNewCaptainScarlet'' episode "[[PunBasedTitle Fallen Angels]]" saw Destiny and two other pilots [[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard on a Deserted Island]] after being shot down.
* One shows up in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' episode "Island of Deception".
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Where There's Smoke", after [[PlayingWithFire Volcana]] is defeated, Superman decides a normal prison wouldn't be able to hold her, so he strands her on an island instead. He regularly visits and gives provisions. She is grateful and treats it like a GildedCage. Later, she manages to escape.
* The ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatiansTheSeries'' episode "Shipwrecked" has Lucky and Scorch end up on one after falling overboard on a cruise.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'' episode "Hate and Let Hate", Otto gets stranded on an island that had previously been inhabited by Hermando De Soto and his health spa after Tuddrussel and Larry accidentally forget about him after the mission was complete.

* Rottumerplaat is a tiny island off the coast of the Netherlands - off limits to the general public. In 1971, two authors stayed on the island one week each (the island has a small living quarter). Each day they had a short contact by radio with the main land (this contact was broadcasted). One author, Jan Wolkers, absolutely loved it. The other, Godfried Bomans, went almost mad. The stay may have contributed to the decline of his health; Godfried Bomans passed away less than half a year later, aged 58. (Jan Wolkers would live on for another 36 years, reaching the age of 81).

* Treasure Island: the favourite spot for {{Pirate}}s to bury [[PirateBooty their treasure]], usually found by means of following a map. [[TalkLikeAPirate Yarrr!]]
* Monster Island: The abode of monsters. If it's a LostWorld, the heroes might escape with a dinosaur to show off; if it's covered in Eldritch Ruins, they'll be lucky to escape with their sanity intact.[[note]]Also, [[NonIndicativeName despite the name]], [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons it's actually a peninsula.]][[/note]]

* The protagonist in ''Film/CastawayOnTheMoon'' winds up on an unusual example. It's deserted all right, and it is an island--but it's ''right in the middle of Seoul'', under a bridge spanning the Han River. The protagonist winds up getting stuck there for months, because after all, who's looking for people on an island under a bridge?

* A princess and an ambassador flee to an island in the fairy tale "''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/aulnoy/1892/princessmayblossom.html The Princess Mayblossom]]''. The island is full of plants and animals that offer food to the princess. However, the ambassador is desperate to get food - and the princess must keep her food gifts away from him. But when she does, the ambassador decides to [[ImAHumanitarian eat the princess]], which results in the princess murdering him in self-defense. [[spoiler:She does get off the island and gets her HappilyEverAfter.]] Unlike most examples, this island seems to be in a temperate climate.

** Burroughs reused the trick with Ras Thavas, who lives on a solid patch of land in the Great Toolnolian Swamp in the Barsoom novels TheMasterMindOfMars and SyntheticMenOfMars. Guess what he's doing in the latter (or, more accurately, just before the latter actually starts).

* In ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'', the deserted island scenes are pleasant enough to be {{Beach Episode}}s. One time ("We're Shipwrecked") is the Axis Powers just there in no rush to be rescued, another time ("We're Shipwrecked Too") has America and England having a difficult time trying to deal with the island and [[{{Tsundere}} each other]]. The Drama CD version has the entire up-until-then cast, in a combination of the two strips.