History UsefulNotes / ThePentagon

* Every so often, TomClancy sends Ryan-verse characters to or from this. When important minor characters have job titles like 'Admiral', it's not unusual.
* While the Pentagon is not featured in the [[HonorHarrington HonorVerse]], the Havenite military's headquarters is in an eight-sided skyscraper known as The Octagon, in an obvious nod. [[spoiler: At least, until it is blown up by the Committee of Public Safety to put down Citizen Admiral McQueen's attempted coup.]]

* ''{{StargateSG-1}}'': Some episodes. The season 6 episode "Disclosure" takes place in the Pentagon.

Since the military's top brass does most of its planning there, and since the building is so easy to spot from the air, it was one of the targets of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The structure survived in part because it had recently been retrofitted with kevlar. Well before that, however, the exact center of the building was a potential target of Soviet missiles; in fact, [[FunnyAneurysmMoment until the past decade]], the cafe at the center of the structure was informally referred to as the "Ground Zero Cafe". Even before the ColdWar, when the Pentagon was built in [[TheThirties the late 1930s]], it was designed to be able to withstand a naval bombardment by battleships, being fairly close to the sea. Also, in terms of floor space, it is the largest office building in the world, and with good reason when you consider how massive the United States military is.

Since the military's top brass does most of its planning there, and since the building is so easy to spot from the air, it was one of the targets of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The structure survived in part because it had recently been retrofitted with kevlar. Well before that, however, the exact center of the building was a potential target of Soviet missiles; in fact, [[FunnyAneurysmMoment until the past decade]], the cafe at the center of the structure was informally referred to as the "Ground Zero Cafe". Even before the ColdWar, when the Pentagon was built in [[TheThirties the late 1930s]], it was designed to be able to withstand a naval bombardment by battleships, being fairly close to the sea.

The distinctive shape and design of the Pentagon and its relationship to other stock mystical symbols as pentagrams lead some to imagine that the building [[SealedEvilInACan is holding something inside]] besides a garden. For instance, early Internet culture half-jokingly spoke of the CosmicHorror Shub-Internet, cause of all network slowdown, lurking beneath the Pentagon. In fact, the reason the Pentagon is a pentagon is rather more mundane: the original site of the Pentagon (Arlington Farm) was defined by local roads as an irregular pentagon, and the building was designed for maximum use of space; however, it was soon realized that it would block the view of DC from Arlington Cemetery, so they chose another site instead. Since this site didn't have the same constraints but there wasn't enough time or resources to conduct a major redesign, they elected to just change it to a regular pentagon. It helped that {{FDR}} liked the design.

* ''ThirteenDays'': Two scenes; first, when the navy commander who made the low altitude reconnaissance flight over Cuba is questioned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and second, when the CNO, Admiral Anderson, clashes with Secretary of Defense [=McNamara=] in the NMCC.

* Being [[ArcNumber five-sided]], it was inevitable that Pentagon cropped up in TheIlluminatusTrilogy: in the books, [[spoiler:[[CthulhuMythos Yog-Sothoth]] has been trapped within the pentagon formed by its walls (he was also trapped in a similar construct back on Atlantis), but the walls are blown up later in the trilogy and he escapes]].

The distinctive shape and design of the Pentagon and its relationship to other stock mystical symbols as pentagrams lead some to imagine that the building [[SealedEvilInACan is holding something inside]] besides a garden. For instance, early Internet culture half-jokingly spoke of the CosmicHorror Shub-Internet, cause of all network slowdown, lurking beneath the Pentagon.

* In ''{{Fallout 3}}'' the headquarters of the Brotherhood of Steel in the East is in the ruins of the Pentagon.

Since the military's top brass does most of its planning there, and since the building is so easy to spot from the air, it was one of the targets of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. The structure survived in part because it had recently been retrofitted with kevlar. Well before that, however, the exact center of the building was a potential target of Soviet missiles; in fact, [[FunnyAneurysmMoment until the past decade]], the cafe at the center of the structure was informally referred to as the "Ground Zero Cafe".

U.S. Military Headquarters, located in Virginia near Washington, D.C. Nobody ever mentions its street address, but it actually has one: 47 N Rotary Road, Arlington, Virginia, 22211 .

* ''{{JAG}}'': In some episodes, usually the in Secretary of the Navy's office, and at least once in the NMCC. The real office of the Navy's Judge Advocate General is located in the Pentagon building, but in this series it's located at a separate location in Falls Church, Virginia.

The distinctive shape and design of the Pentagon and its relationship to other stock mystical symbols as pentagrams lead some to imagine that the building [[SealedEvilInACan is holding something inside]] beside a garden. For instance, early Internet culture half-jokingly spoke of the CosmicHorror Shub-Internet, cause of all network slowdown, lurking beneath the Pentagon.

[[caption-width-right:350:Your tax dollars at work[[hottip:*: Unless you're not American, in which case its those Americans' tax dollars at work]]!]]

* In ''IndependenceDay'', U.S. Space Command is in the Pentagon. [[hottip:*:U.S. Space Command (1985-2002) was actually located in Colorado Springs, Colorado!]] It even has a picture of the building stenciled on a glass divider.

* WeirdAlYankovic's "Happy Birthday" contains these cheery lines:

The building is such a strong symbol of the American military that it's practically synonymous with it, or with the military-industrial complex. When the Defense Department makes an announcement, newscasters will say "The Pentagon announced today...". When the government pays a military contractor (what to the public seems like) an unreasonably large sum for a mundane item, such as a toilet seat or screwdriver, that's Pentagon Spending. When the U.S. military offers cheap assistance to movie producers in order to make a blockbuster movie showing tanks or fighter planes, that's BackedByThePentagon. Et cetera. In the UK "Horse Guards" (a building, not a group of people) formerly had the same connotations of being synonymous with the military, but this faded when the leadership moved out at the start of the twentieth century.

* ''NoWayOut'': Most of the film takes place in the Pentagon building.

* ''ThirteenDays'': Two scenes; first, when the navy commander who made the low altitude reconnaissance flight over Cuba is questioned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and second, when the CNO, Admiral Anderson, clashes with Secretary of Defense [=McNamara=] in the NMCC.

* Pentagon is a World Wonder in ''{{Civilization}} III'' that gives massive bonuses to your military units.

Architecturally, it's a distinctive, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pentagonal]] building, with 5's as a recurring theme: 5 sides, 5 floors, 5 concentric rings. It has ''17.5 miles (28.2 km) of corridors'', and those five 108° angle corners result in a ''very'' [[AlienGeometries confusing layout.]] The interior is notoriously homogeneous; if you don't read the signs, it's easy to get lost there, since every area looks like every other area. Not to mention that it's easy to forget which ''floor'' you're on, as some of those corridors are actually ''ramps''. [[GetSmart Agent Maxwell Smart]] got lost inside it for several ''days.''

The building is such a strong symbol of the American military that it's practically synonymous with it, or with the military-industrial complex. When the Defense Department makes an announcement, newscasters will say "The Pentagon announced today...". When the government pays a military contractor (what to the public seems like) an unreasonably large sum for a mundane item, such as a toilet seat or screwdriver, that's Pentagon Spending. When the U.S. military offers cheap assistance to movie producers in order to make a blockbuster movie showing tanks or fighter planes, that's BackedByThePentagon. Et cetera.

* ''StargateUniverse'': Homeworld Command is located in the Pentagon.

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* In ''IndependenceDay'', U.S. Space Command is in the Pentagon. It even has a picture of the building stenciled on a glass divider.

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* ''CallOfDuty: Black Ops'' has a short level set in the pentagon where the player receives orders from the President and the Secretary of Defense, Robert [=McNamara=].

[[ParanoiaFuel Your identity has been noted. Have a law-abiding day, citizen]].

[[ParanoiaFuel Your Identity Has Been Noted, Have A Law-Abiding Day Citizen]].

* ''CallOfDuty: Black Ops'' has a short level set in the pentagon where the player recieves orders from the President and the Secretary of Defense, Robert [=McNamara=].

Architecturally, it's a distinctive, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pentagonal]] building, with 5's as a recurring theme: 5 sides, 5 floors, 5 concentric rings. The interior is notoriously homogeneous; if you don't read the signs, it's easy to get lost there, since every area looks like every other area. [[GetSmart Agent Maxwell Smart]] got lost inside it for several ''days.''

It's also ''very'' easy to get lost in. It has ''17.5 miles (28.2 km) of corridors'' and those five 108° angle corners result in a ''very'' [[AlienGeometries confusing layout.]] Not to mention that it's easy to forget which ''floor'' you're on, as some of those corridors are actually ''ramps''.

* ''CallOfDuty:Black Ops'' has a short level set in the pentagon where the player recieves orders from the President and the Secretary of Defense, Robert [=McNamara=].