History Main / NotSoRemote

* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': In the episode [[Recap/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriendsS3E3CampKeepAGoodMacDown "Camp Keep a Good Mac Down"]] Mac and the imaginary friend's camping trip [[HorribleCampingTrip goes south]] when Bloo greedily eats all the food. The group is forced to hunt and trap for survival, and both Harriman and Madame Foster end up going wild. The episode ends when Frankie shows up out of nowhere with a ringing phone, revealing the entire camping trip was in the backyard of Foster's home all along.

* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': In the episode [[CampingEpisode "Camp Keep a Good Mac Down"]] Mac and the imaginary friend's camping trip [[HorribleCampingTrip goes south]] when Bloo greedily eats all the food. The group is forced to hunt and trap for survival, and both Harriman and Madame Foster end up going wild. The episode ends when Frankie shows up out of nowhere with a ringing phone, revealing the entire camping trip was in the backyard of Foster's home all along.

* ''Creator/AbbottAndCostello Off to Mars'': Abbott and Costello's rocketship crashes outside New Orleans during Mardis Gras. They assume they're on Mars and the people in costumes are aliens.

* The classic episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E15IShotAnArrowIntoTheAir I Shot an Arrow into the Air]]". The first manned space flight goes off course and crash lands on an astronomical body with breathable air and Earth-normal gravity. The astronauts [[ArtisticLicenseSpace somehow come to the conclusion that they are on an uncharted asteroid]], and without the resources to fix their rocket and limited rations, their hope for rescue or survival looks bleak. With two of the five astronauts having died due to the crash, the remaining three have to try to survive as long as possible. One of them, desperate and scared [[DirtyBusiness feels he has to resort to murder to survive]] and eventually kills the other two survivors for the dwindling water supply. He sets off and shortly finds the sign for the city of Reno, Nevada over a ridge, and [[FreakOut breaks down]] knowing that his partners had died for nothing.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' has a group of school kids watching video of a researcher in Antarctica who's in his tent as a storm rages outside apologizing for not being able to show them more. When a huge shape attacks, the kids scream, thinking the guy's been attacked by a bear. Castle and Beckett are confused when they get the case...until they find the crime scene is a tent on a soundstage with a huge wind machine in a New York apartment. It turns out the "researcher" has been scamming schools for years by getting them to finance his "trips" and then just faking them from his apartment.

* On ''Series/{{Barry}}'', Fuches is shot in the desert, waking up in a quiet desert town with what appear to be Mexican locals tending to his wounds.
-->'''Fuches''': ''(slowly)'' What do...you...and your people...call water?
-->'''Woman''': ''(in perfect English)'' Water. You know you're only 20 miles outside of L.A. There's a Starbucks right over the hill.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}''. In one episode Klinger and Charles are out in a Jeep (Klinger was taking Charles to the airport, as he was going to Tokyo for R & R) when a bad storm breaks out. They take refuge in an overturned truck and find several wounded Greek soldiers inside, whom Charles must treat without adequate medical supplies. The next morning Klinger goes out in search of more resources and discovers that they were only a short distance away from camp the entire time.

* In an episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'', a gate mishap sends O'Neil and Carter into an ice cave. When they dig their way out, they think they landed on [[SingleBiomePlanet an ice planet]]. Turns out they're actually on Earth, in the Antarctic--still pretty danged remote, but less so than they initially thought.
** Not even that remote, they were close (about 30 miles) to [=McMurdo=] Ice Station
* The classic episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E15IShotAnArrowIntoTheAir I Shot An Arrow Into The Air]]". The first manned space flight goes off course and crash lands on an astronomical body with breathable air and Earth-normal gravity. The astronauts [[ArtisticLicenseSpace somehow come to the conclusion that they are on an uncharted asteroid]], and without the resources to fix their rocket and limited rations, their hope for rescue or survival looks bleak. With two of the five astronauts having died due to the crash, the remaining three have to try to survive as long as possible. One of them, desperate and scared [[DirtyBusiness feels he has to resort to murder to survive]] and eventually kills the other two survivors for the dwindling water supply. He sets off and shortly finds the sign for the city of Reno, Nevada over a ridge, and [[FreakOut breaks down]] knowing that his partners had died for nothing.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'', "Quagmire": Scully and Mulder explore a lake at night, and their boat crashes and sinks. They spend quite a long time on a rock, and Mulder even brings out snarks about cannibalism. They are saved by Dr. Farraday later that night.

* At the end of ''Film/RoadToMorocco'', Hope and Crosby are adrift on a raft at sea. Just as Hope's starting to get wound up about the possibility of them dying out there, Crosby points out New York on the horizon. Hope complains that he's just cut short what could have been the most dramatic scene in the movie.
* At the start of ''Film/JuanOfTheDead'', Juan and Lazero are (sort of) fishing on their makeshift raft, seemingly far out at sea, until it's revealed they're actually in Havana's harbor, maybe ten minutes from shore.
* ''Creator/AbbottAndCostello Off to Mars'': Abbott and Costello's rocketship crashes outside New Orleans during Mardis Gras. They assume they're on Mars and the people in costumes are aliens.
* ''Film/CrocodileDundee 2'' opens with Mic fishing from a small boat. After lighting a stick of dynamite and throwing it in the water, the scene zooms out as a police boat pulls up alongside him, revealing that he's in New York Harbor.
* The Creator/AmandaBynes ABC Family movie ''Film/LoveWrecked'' has Jenny and her rock star crush, Jason seemingly landing on a desert island after a storm. While exploring, Jenny discovers that they're actually on the other side of the island as the huge resort they had left from. She decides to keep it from Jason in hopes that being "stranded" together for weeks will make him fall in love with her. A complication is when Jenny's rival Alexis finds out and also pretends to be marooned to get Jason herself. Eventually, he finally finds out and is at first outraged but later tries to talk them into supporting the "stranded" story as it's good publicity. Having come to realize what a jerk he really is (and how the co-worker who's been helping her is her true love), Jenny tells the media the truth and leaves Jason and Alexis looking like fools.
* ''Film/TriangleOfSadness'': [[spoiler:The cruise ship survivors live off the land of what they think is a deserted island. In the final minutes, it turns out to house a luxury resort on the other side.]]

* ''Literature/TheGirlWhoLovedTomGordon'' by Creator/StephenKing follows nine-year-old protagonist Trisha as she steps off the path and becomes lost in the woods. After walking for hours, she has to make a choice between following her plan to go in one straight line, which would mean wading through what looks like an impassable bog, or turning aside. She chooses to turn; the narrative "pans out" to reveal that the bog leads into a popular vacation lake and if it were summer she would already have been able to see boats.

* The Creator/CliveCussler ''Numa Files'' novel ''Nighthawk'' ends with hero Kurt Austin, buddy Joe and a couple of Russians having bailed out of a runaway rocket craft and landing on an island. They spend a night keeping themselves warm by a fire while playing poker with the gold coins they had recovered. A man in a uniform shows up by boat to ask where they came from and if they're guests of the Ritz-Carlton on the other side of the island. The group all laugh as they use the gold to get the best suites at the place.
** Even better is this is right after Kurt's friends in Washington are feeling sorry about him and Joe "stuck on some remote island, fighting to survive until we can rescue them."

* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'': In the penultimate episode, "What A Witch Wants", Sabrina, Roxy and Morgan are stranded on what they believe to be a desert island. It turns out to be Bermuda.

* ''Series/GoodEats'', of all things. In "Down & Out in Paradise," Alton is abandoned on a tropical beach after a shipwreck, and consequently spends the episode cooking desert island food. Turns out he's in Hawaii and only about a mile from the city, but he had no idea because he had [[BlindWithoutEm lost his glasses]].

* In an episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'', a gate mishap sends O'Neil and Carter into an ice cave. When they dig their way out, they think they landed on [[SingleBiomePlanet an ice planet]]. Turns out they're actually on Earth, in the Antarctic--still pretty danged remote, but less so than they initially thought.
** Not even that remote, they were close (about 30 miles) to [=McMurdo=] Ice Station
* ''Series/DadsArmy''. In one episode the platoon think they've landed in Nazi-occupied France, and only discover otherwise when trying to speak French to a bewildered Englishman.
* A variation on ''Series/VanHelsing''. Scarlett has been stranded on an island with a single lighthouse that's within sight of the mainland but too far for her to swim there. For twenty-seven days, she tries in vain to create a makeshift raft to get there with every attempt an EpicFail. Frustrated, she tosses a book inside the lighthouse bedroom and when she looks under the bed for it...she discovers that for the last month she has been ''literally'' sleeping on top of ''a top-notch inflatable life raft with oars.'' Her YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe reaction to how she could have rowed back weeks ago is priceless.

* Prison guard Sam Schultz from the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoon "Big House Bunny" gets tricked into being locked in a cell, where he's given an escape kit by WesternAnimation/BugsBunny in disguise. Sam tunnels his way out of the cell, emerging in what seems to be a lush jungle. As he parts the leaves, Sam discovers he's actually among potted plants in the warden's office, whereupon the warden dresses Sam down mercilessly.

* ''WesternAnimation/MadJackThePirate'': in the episode "Shipwhacked", Snuk's blunders results in Jack and Snuk washed ashore on an island. They endure several hardships while trying to survive. Just as Jack gives up and begins a lengthy, dramatic monologue about his oncomming demise, Snuk discovers they are sitting next to a luxurious hotel (as in, there are only some bushes between them and the hotel).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland'', the last episode shows that the so called island camp is actually right next to civilization, this shown when Courtney looks over a brick wall and sees a fast food restaurant.

** Not even that remote, they were close(about 30 miles) to McMurdo Ice Station

The characters may appear to be stranded on a DesertedIsland, lost in a HungryJungle, disoriented in the WildWilderness, desiccating in a ThirstyDesert, adrift on the [[LostAtSea High Seas]], abandoned in a PollutedWasteland, or cursed to forever wander TheLostWoods; the only real constant is that they're mistaken about how unreachable they are.