History Main / BleakBorderBase

* ''Film/{{Ravenous}}'' takes place primarily at Fort Spencer, which is an example of this trope; it's in the mountains of the Western U.S. frontier of the 19th century. However, as the story goes on, it becomes very clear that the danger comes from the other settlers, and not the native people on the other side of the border.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' story ''Discworld/SoulMusic'', Death spends a short time in a parody of the outpost from ''Literature/BeauGeste''. By the time Albert shows up, it's been attacked at least once and likely won't be around much longer.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, this happens to an incompetent and utterly undiplomatic diplomat, who Lord Vetinari cannot sack as he is a Selachii and the old noble families have privileges. Sir Michaelmas Selachii is sent to a sucession of remote out-of-the-way postings in underfunded consulates in places where nothing of importance is there for him to wreck or provoke Incidents in. He is first sent to [[DarkestAfrica Howondaland]] where he provokes his hosts with cutting references about their version of the Code FourOneNineScam. He is then posted to the Uberwaldean backwater of Muning where he completely fails to spot a war brewing that had Disc-wide consequences. After that he becomes Ankh-Morporkian consul in En-el-Sams-La-Reisa - a remote Klatchian desert oasis whose name translates as That Place Where The Sun Shineth Not.[[note]]As the place is characterised by baking heat and remorseless sun, the name is figurative and metaphorical[[/note]] It is possible Vetinari, by this time, was very pissed off indeed. Elsewhere, a vainglorious and incompetent Army colonel, inexplicably sent to a sensitive jungle frontier where he fails to spot another war brewing, is shunted sideways and appointed Military Attaché to Aceria - a Discworld country otherwise known as the Great Outdoors, where nothing is likely to happen, ever, in a [[{{Eagleland}} post-colonial undeveloped prairie populated by the unwanted, tired, huddled, poor, dregs of every other nation]].

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[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Webcomic/{{Freefall}} features Ice Station Azkzban, located at the South Pole, where its isolation and -40° temperatures make it [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02625.htm a very undesirable assignment]]. It also houses one of the biggest secrets on the planet, [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman, creator of the protagonist Florence and the reason 450 million robots are sentient individuals instead of mindless tools]].

* ''Film/{{Ravenous}}'' takes place primarily at Fort Spencer, which is an example of this trope; it's in the mountains of the Western U.S. frontier of the 19th century.

Related to CitadelCity. The main difference is that it is more obscure, and is usually a military or similar station rather then being a whole city. Typical of a {{Western}}. If it is RecycledInSpace it might be a [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale whole planet]].

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' story ''Discworld/SoulMusic'' DEATH spends a short time in a parody of the outpost in ''Literature/BeauGeste''. By the time Albert shows up, it's been attacked at least once and likely won't be around much longer.

* [[Webcomic/{{Freefall}} Freefall]] features Ice Station Azkzban, located at the South Pole, where its isolation and -40° temperatures make it [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2700/fc02625.htm a very undesirable assignment]]. It also houses one of the biggest secrets on the planet, [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman, creator of the protagonist Florence and the reason 450 million robots are sentient individuals instead of mindless tools]].

** A rather interesting one is BRP ''Sierra Madre.'' As you might have guessed by the name, the outpost is actually a ship permanently ran aground on a shoal since 1999 to enforce Philippine claims in Spratty Island dispute. China doesn't take too kindly to the outpost existence and has tried to use tier coast guard to prevent resupply, but the Philippines just air drops in supplies and new personnel (fortunately you can at least leave by boat).

* The plot of ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' comes about from the protagonist voluntarily assigning himself to the frontier because he wants to see it before it's civilised. He finds his superior has gone insane and blows his brains out right after assigning him, so no-one else knows he's been sent there. The soldiers manning the post have deserted for want of supplies and reinforcements, and from fear of the surrounding Indian tribes.

* The plot of ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' comes about from the protagonist being the only soldier assigned to one (thanks to an administrative error - to whit, the major who gave him the orders committed suicide the moment he left) and befriending some nearby Sioux (and a wolf).

* Literature/HonorHarrington is sent to a place like this in ''On Basilisk Station''. The book notes that this status is due largely to politics: The Opposition in the Manticoran Parliament didn't want the Star Kingdom turning imperialist so they forced through laws severely limiting the RMN's presence in the Basilisk System. Then the Opposition-aligned Janacek Admiralty started using it as [[ReassignedToAntarctica a dumping ground for COs they didn't like]].

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' (and ''Series/GameOfThrones'', its live-action adaptation) the Wall at the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms is a desolate icy land and the Night's Watch manning it is largely composed of criminals and disgraced noblemen. By the time of the first novel their main stronghold, Castle Black, has been reduced to a crumbling ruin and their numbers a fraction of the strength they need.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, this happens to an incompetent and utterly undiplomatic diplomat, who Lord Vetinari cannot sack as he is a Selachii and the old noble families have privileges. Sir Michaelmas Selachii is sent to a sucession of remote out-of-the-way postings in underfunded consulates in places where nothing of importance is there for him to wreck or provoke Incidents in. He is first sent to [[DarkestAfrica Howondaland]] where he provokes his hosts with cutting references about their version of the CodeFourOneNine scam. He is then posted to the Uberwaldean backwater of Muning where he completely fails to spot a war brewing that had Disc-wide consequences. After that he becomes Ankh-Morporkian consul in En-el-Sams-La-Reisa - a remote Klatchian desert oasis whose name translates as That Place Where The Sun Shineth Not.[[note]]As the place is characterised by baking heat and remorseless sun, the name is figurative and metaphorical[[/note]] It is possible Vetinari, by this time, was very pissed off indeed. Elsewhere, a vainglorious and incompetent Army colonel, inexplicably sent to a sensitive jungle forntier where he fails to spot another war brewing, is shunted sideways and appointed Military Attaché to Aceria - a Discworld country otherwise known as the Great Outdopors, where nothing is likely to happen, ever, in a [[{{Eagleland}} post-colonial undeveloped prairie populated by the unwanted, tired, huddled, poor, dregs of every other nation]].

* [[Webcomic/{{Freefall}} Freefall]] features Ice Station Azkzban, located at the South Pole, where its isolation and -40° temperatures make it a very undesirable assignment. It also houses one of the biggest secrets on the planet, [[spoiler:Dr. Bowman, creator of the protagonist Florence and the reason 450 million robots are sentient individuals instead of mindless tools]].

* The titular location of ''Assault on Precinct 13'' (both the [[AssaultOnPrecinct131976 original 1976 film]] [[Film/AssaultOnPrecinct132005 and its 2005 remake]] is a police precinct that is on the most desolate part of the suburbs (Los Angeles in the original, Detroit in the remake) and is being decommissioned, to boot.

* The titular location of ''Assault on Precinct 13'' (both the [[AssaultOnPrecinct131973 original 1973 film]] [[Film/AssaultOnPrecinct132005 and its 2005 remake]] is a police precinct that is on the most desolate part of the suburbs (Los Angeles in the original, Detroit in the remake) and is being decommissioned, to boot.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' frequently features such locations. There are earthbound examples like the Arctic base in The Ice Warriors, or the Antarctic base in Seeds of Doom, as well as dozens of isolated and obscure colony worlds.

* Fort Briggs in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', a lonely outpost in the northern mountains.

!!Examples

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* Rorke's Drift in ''Film/{{Zulu}}'', which was a missionary station in Natal used as a British Army supply depot and hospital.
* The plot of ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' comes about from the protagonist being the only soldier assigned to one (thanks to an administrative error - to whit, the major who gave him the orders committed suicide the moment he left) and befriending some nearby Sioux (and a wolf).

* In ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'', before the two shuttle crews go to the moon, they stop at the Mir space station to refuel; there, they meet only one guy named Lev. Shortly after, a leak happened and the base is blown to bits, although the crew managed to escape.
* ''Film/TheNextGenerationPatlabor'' continues to follow the [=SV2's=] use of their HQ outside the city since they're now operating on minimal personnel due to the economic recession in the early 2000s.
* ''Film/KingArthur'': Arthur and his dwindling number of warriors serve at a Roman outpost near Hadrian's Wall (the Roman Empire's Northern most border until the end of Roman occupation in 410) in Britain in 467.
* ''Film/{{Saturn 3}}'': The eponymous agriculture research station starts out staffed only by Adam and Alex, later joined by the psychotic Benson and his KillerRobot Hector. This place is visited by a MileLongShip twice a year, and it has periods of 22 days when all radio signals are blocked by the giant planet. As Major Adam lampshades it: "When they want to give the solar system an enema, Saturn 3 is where they stick the tube."

* Kyril Island in ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' is a subversion; it is not an active outpost but a training base and weather observatory. The Cetagandan Ninth Satrapy might have been a villainous version of this toward the end of the Cetagandan War though.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' story ''Discworld/SoulMusic'' DEATH spends a short time in a parody of the outpost in ''Literature/BeauGeste''. By the time Albert shows up, it's been attacked at least once and likely won't be around much longer.
* PlayedForLaughs in the ''Literature/DetectiveJoeSandilands'' book ''The Damascened Blade'' takes place in a British fort on the Afghan border in the 1920s. The presence of motorcars and extended train lines has lately reduced the extremity of loneliness, and the fort is now playing host to a collection of wealthy and high ranking tourists who want to know what life on the frontier is really like, much to the dismay of the garrison.

* The ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' series' first book, ''Vector Prime'', takes place partially on a small, isolated observatory station on the extreme outer edge of the Galaxy Far, Far Away. The place is pretty unimportant until it detects something ''entering'' the galaxy (which turns out to be the advance guard of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion).

[[folder: LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Deep Space 9 is this when Sisko et al. initially arrive, being a starbase on the very periphery of the Federation near an old enemy, the Cardassians, and Bajor, a planet still struggling back to its feet from a 50-year occupation. To make matters worse, the Cardassians trashed the place before handing it over to the Federation, and Sisko himself was considering retiring so he wouldn't have to raise his son out there. However because of the discovery of the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant it rapidly gains importance and loses the bleakness.
* In one episode of ''Series/NYPDBlue'' Andy is reassigned to a practically moribund detective squad where there's only one other detective working.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' begins on the "fringe worlds" of human space, explicitly considered backwater dumps by inhabitants and core worlders alike (and have the strongest DeepSouth InSpace vibe).

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' gives us Camp Forlorn Hope, an NCR military outpost located just south of the Hoover Dam. Not only is the place rather grim, with only tin shacks and sandbags for shelter and cover, but the troops that are there are underequipped, unhealthy and demoralised. To make matters worse, they're not far away from Caesar's Legion, whose recent attacks have limited their efforts to patrol the area. Fortunately, [[PlayerCharacter the Courier]] can make life for them much easier, partly by taking pressure off the NCR further east which allows them to deploy better troops as reinforcements, and partly by doing in the Legionnaires that are harassing them nearby.

* Ord Mantell, the starting planet of the Trooper and Smuggler class in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', is presented as such: a far from civilized world, populated mostly by monsters and military bases, but essential to both sides in the ongoing war because of the resources it allows to control

* In ''[[Machinima/YogscastMinecraftSeries Shadow of Israphel]]'', Knight_Peculier recounts his backstory to LetsPlay/LewisBrindley and LetsPlay/SimonLane in one of these, or rather on top of one of these buried under several metres of sand. The area in question was at one point a prominent Templar outpost, but gradually fell into decline and was eventually submerged entirely.

* Obviously too many to count but some have special historical significance.
* Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin was famous as the last guard station between the American and Soviet sections of Berlin during the Cold War, and the first place for refugees to arrive in a RunForTheBorder. On the other hand it wasn't quite "lonely" being in a major city so it is something of a subversion.