Gallery: So Area 51 Is Real — These Screen Versions Are Still Way Cooler
01Independence Day
Anyone near the internet has undoubtedly seen a peculiar, if exciting, bit of news: The Central Intelligence Agency *finally* acknowledged the existence of Area 51. The Nevada installation has been the subject of decades of speculation about what might be hidden there. Autopsied aliens? Spaceships? Jimmy Hoffa? OK, maybe not that one. It turns out [Area 51](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51) was... wait for it... a [testing site for planes](http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/us/area-51-documents/)! Wha? Yes, after years of being the perfect punch line to jokes about little green men and the perfect plot device for movies and TV shows about them, it turns out Area 51 was just another government testing site. A testing site for aerial surveillance programs, mind you, not alien surveillance programs. "It marks an end of official secrecy about the facts of Area 51," said Jeffrey Richelson, a senior fellow with the National Security Archive, which obtained [the documents that revealed Area 51](http://www.gwu.edu/sites/www.gwu.edu/files/downloads/U2%20%20history%20complete.pdf) through a Freedom of Information Act request, [told *The Las Vegas Sun*](http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/aug/15/government-acknowledges-area-51-declassified-spy-p/). "It opens up the possibility that future accounts of this and other aerial projects will be less redacted, more fully explained in terms of their presence in Area 51." This is disappointing. For years movies like *Independence Day* and TV shows ranging from *The X-Files* to *The Simpsons* have made Area 51 sound like the coolest (or at least funniest) place in America. Now all those great wildly-speculative scenarios are meaningless because — we can't believe we're typing this — the truth is out there. What's going to be the handy go-to for a secret government site when a cheesy Hollywood movie needs a plot twist now? Thanks for nothing, CIA. Mulder and Scully are side-eyeing you so hard right now. *Anyway*. Sigh. Now that our dreams of a secret encampment of extra-terrestrials in jars in the middle of the Nevada desert — and any potential franchise based on them — are crushed, we'd like to remember the good times. Here are some of the best Area 51 references from movies, TV and videogames over the past couple of decades. (Yes, we're aware ["Area 51" is a rap group](http://www.area51music.org/), a [metal band](http://www.area51music.org/), and "the [most popular dance](http://area51livemusic.com/) band for special events in the Santa Barbara area since 1994" but we're focusing on screen entertainment here.) Check out the best of the best above, then pour a little out for the poor screenwriters who are going to have to cook up whole new alien conspiracy black sites now. __Above:__ *Independence Day* ------------------ Roland Emmerich's popcorn-flick masterpiece is packed with great first encounters (Will Smith face-punching an alien will never not be funny). But the best may be when the president (played by Bill Pullman at the height of awesome) is told for the first time that Area 51 is a real thing. It gets even better when he actually goes there and discovers its being run by a scientist played by Brent Spiner, who ultimately gets used by an alien like a puppet (above). *—Angela Watercutter*
02The Simpsons
*The Simpsons* -------------- While attempting to go to a museum exhibit of the Orb of Isis, young feminist Lisa gets on the wrong bus and gets lost. She winds up outside of a heavily-guarded space that she believes is Area 51 only to be told by the guard that it is, "[Area 51-A](http://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Area_51-A)." The map at the location reads: "You are here. We are not." *—Angela Watercutter*
03The X-Files
*The X-Files* ------------- You'd think a show that was all about aliens and high-level government conspiracy would be all about Area 51, but the *X-Files* only saw the inside of Area 51 once, in the season-six two-parter "Dreamland." There aren't any aliens to be found—despite its trappings, "Dreamland" is strictly non-Mythos; Mulder ends up body-swapped with a Man in Black, a high-level government operative who then tries to seduce Scully, and everyone's memory gets wiped at the end. In "Dreamland," the clandestine purpose of Area 51 remains something of a mystery—Mulder's body-snatcher doesn't have *that* much clearance—and we leave knowing only that it's a testing ground for mysterious experimental aircraft that may or may not be extraterrestrial in origin. *—Rachel Edidin*
04Area 51
*Area 51* --------- If you went to an arcade in the late '90s, you probably encountered the classic light-gun game *Area 51*, in which players had to take down first genetically altered soldiers, then actual alien invaders. The game was remade in 2005 as a first-person shooter, starring David Duchovny—because really, who else are you going to cast as your quirky, paranoid, alien-fightin' protagonist—and featuring friendly aliens, genetically engineered viruses, and a singularly bleak ending. *—Rachel Edidin*
05Raiders of the Lost Ark
*Raiders of the Lost Ark* ------------------------- The Indiana Jones films make a couple references to "[Hangar 51](http://indianajones.wikia.com/wiki/Hangar_51), the place where the Ark of the Covenant is placed, along with presumably many other government secrets, at the end of *Raiders of the Lost Ark*. The name is a subtle and brilliant wink at the concept of Area 51. *—Angela Watercutter*
06Futurama
*Futurama* ---------- Although most of *Futurama*'s "Roswell That Ends Well" focuses on time-travel tropes like those in *Terminator* and *Back the Future* (Fry becomes his own grandfather), as the title suggests the gang finds themselves stuck back in time and Bender the subject of the [Roswell UFO incident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident) – a UFO that some believe ended up at Area 51. Oh, and Zoidberg gets hit on by President Truman. *—Angela Watercutter*
07Doctor Who
*Doctor Who* ------------ It was, naturally, only a matter of time before the Doctor found himself in America in the 1960s investigating an alien invasion. And *of course* he would find himself imprisoned at Area 51. And because this is *Doctor Who*, the episode "[Day of the Moon](http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Day_of_the_Moon_(TV_story))" also makes references to Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 mission and a quip from the Doctor to President Nixon advising him to record everything that goes down in his office. *—Angela Watercutter*
08Paul
*Paul* ------ In Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's buddy comedy *Paul*, two British chums looking to examine America's great alien sites stumble upon and actual alien (the Seth Rogen-voiced Paul) near Area 51. It was the ultimate in stoned alien conspiracy theories.*—Angela Watercutter*
