For the flick The Abyss James Cameron wanted it to look as authentic as possible, and CGI was still a new thing, so it was decided to shoot underwater. Their were not tanks anywhere big enough to film in, so after some scouting, the crew came across an abandoned nuclear power plant on which construction was never competed. The studio bought up the property and converted it into a movie set, using the outbuildings as the interiors for the Deepcore station, but they also built a 1/8 scale exterior of the Deepcore set inside of the containment building of the reactor! Inside the reactor they were able to pump in 7 million gallons of water, to a depth of 40 feet, and completely submerge the set. After the movie was completed, it was pretty much abandoned. Over time, people have trashed the interiors, but exterior of Deepcore still exists. Check out links to some pictures and more after clicking

http://www.lysator.liu.se/~hakgu/ab-behind2.html

http://www.snydersweb.com/destinations/abyssTrip.html

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/657052 (which is where the above image comes from)

And some more pictures with some background on getting in side and the state of the site.
http://www.x-plane.com/adventures/abyss.html

And the Google maps satellite view.

Several pictures of the sets construction http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Chateau/1734/abyss4.html

It sounds like Deepcore may not exist much longer, recently it was decided to build a nuclear power plant in the area again, and officials are looking at that property as a location.

Wisconsin State Capital in Madison. I know the building quite well and was really surprised on how closely Serenity matches up to it on width and length. The Capital is about twice as high.

Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, home to the University of Wisconsin Badgers Football team. Something tells me the crew of Serenity are not Badger fans…

Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. For those days when juggling geese just does not cut it.

Jackson Square in New Orleans. Something tells me the crew could get into a lot of trouble down on Bourbon Street.

Stonehenge

Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff, Wales. Their are absolutely no secret organizations or hands of blue located under the plaza.

Torrance High School in Torrance, CA, or some of you Joss fans may recognize it as Sunnydale High where Buffy and friends (and and the not so friendly) went to high school.

The Luxor in Las Vegas, NV. The hotel pyramid side length is 600 feet compared to a side length of 755 feet at the Great Pyramid in Giza. The hotel Sphinx is very close in length to the original.

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex full scale Space Shuttle, booster and fuel tank mock ups. The external tanks could come in very handy if needing to break atmo in a hurry.

USS Intrepid Museum in New York City. The Intrepid was launched in 1943 and saw service until 1974. She’s not as big as the modern supercarriers, 200 feet shorter than the Nimitz class. But still very impressive when on her deck. You can also see the destroyer USS Edson and submarine USS Growler docked at the pier and on her deck many aircraft including an A-12 Blackbird (a Blackbird made a brief appearance in “Trash”), F-14 Tomcat (of Top Gun fame) and AV-8C Harrier which has VTOL (Vertical Take Of and Landing) capability’s just like Serenity.

Statue of Liberty

The Pentagon in Washington DC over the Ground Zero Cafe

The White House

Measurements should all be within a pixel or two of being accurate. The measurements of Serenity come from the QMX Serenity blueprints. Satellite images come from Google Maps. The wire frame model of Serenity is something I had saved long ago, found on a Firefly fan site.

If you want to see how it looks over your own locations, goto Google maps, zoom to the 100 foot level, take a screen shoot and import it into Photoshop or other graphics app. Then download the psd (for Photoshop) or the png (should work for other graphics programs) version of the overlay, unzip, insert the overlay into your image and your done!

(Sorry about some of the images overlapping onto the boarder, I changed the theme to a more narrow one, so a few poke over)

I learned that betrayal is sudden, but inevitable.

I learned that I can wear my pretty floral bonnet and still end someone.

I learned that the Bible is a mite fuzzy on the subject of kneecaps.

I learned that Stegosaurus and a T-Rex can never be friends.

I learned that after a long day, you’ll feel better if your spouse tears your clothes off.

I learned that spaceships are not science fiction but telepathy is.

I learned that, despite being told not to hit someone in the face with a closed fist, sometimes it’s just hi-larious.

I learned that the key to most situations is giving Jayne a heavy stick and standing back.

I learned that “If someone tries to kill you, you try to kill them right back!”

I learned that if someone vows revenge, kick them into the intake of the port engine.

I learned from Jayne the best way to make a girlfriend (or drag-queen friend) feel better about herself. Tell her, “If I could make you prettier, I would!”

I learned form Jayne that it’s best not to kiss’em on the mouth.

I learned that nuthin’ from nuthin’ is uh… nuthin’

I learned that some things need to be translated into Captain Dummy Speak.

I learned to swear in Chinese.

I learned the Bible can be pretty racy when it discusses plows.

I learned: stealing medicine from very sick frontier folk: BAD; stealing medicine from Alliance Hospital and selling to not as sick frontier folk: GOOD.

I learned that strawberries can be very erotic.

I learned that tearing the clothes off your spouse is work… work… work. But hey, somebody’s gotta do it!

I learned “whore” is just another way to say “I Love You”.

I learned that if someone tries to kill me, it’s ok to kill’em back.

I discovered that I’m happy with being just all right.

I learned that if you love it… it will go away.

I learned that while there isn’t always justice in the universe, there always friends.

I learned that no power in the ‘Verse can stop me.

I learned that once you’ve found Serenity, you can’t live anywhere else.

I’ve learned that if I’m still flyin’… it’s enough. Everything else will come in time.

I learned that sometimes it’s better to go to your bunk.

I learned that big, ugly, violent guys look better in red.

I learned that sex is a thing worth surviving for.

I learned that Joss Whedon is an unmercyful god, and sometimes the devil.

I learned the readings of Shang-Yu.

I learned to never trust a woman called Saffron, Brigitte or Yolanda.

I learned that is better to vote on the whole murdering people issue.

I learned that you don’t fix faith, it fixes you.