Some Polar Fiction Films

  • North Pole Christmas stories omitted
  • More details on individual films can be found on IMDB
  • My non-fiction film list is here
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are those of LK and do not reflect the views of Barnard College
.
Fiction Films
PoleYearTitleCommentsTopic
N 1912 Conquest of the Pole France; George Melies online
N 1922 The Man from Beyond Silent film about a man found frozen in Arctic ice after 100 years; when defrosted they don’t tell him so much time has passed. Written by Harry Houdini.
S 1929 The Lost Zeppelin early talkie about trip to South Pole online
N 1930 Arctic Antics Disney Cartoon
S 1931 Dirigble directed by Frank Capra, with a pre-King Kong Fay Wray, loosely based on the crash of the Italia
N 1933 S.O.S. Iceberg Germany/USA; with Leni Rieffenstahl
N 1935 She Underground kingdom in Russian arctic ruled by ruthless ice queen
S 1937 La Femme du bout du monde France; ship seeking radium ore on lost Antarctic Island finds an inn run by woman and her insane husband
N 1941 Mutiny in the Arctic US; with stock footage from SOS Iceberg
N 1942 The Arctic Giant Superman Cartoon
N 1944 Return of the Ape Man Bela Lugosi; mad scientists revive the frozen body of a prehistoric caveman found in the Arctic
N 1950 Tapahtui kaukana Finland; young woman and father ski across Lapland
N 1951 Arctic Fury Doctor in Alaska crashes plane while investigating plague from the North spread by wandering Eskimos.
N 1951 Go Home Dead Man Episode S3E32 of TV show ‘Suspense’. Jackie Cooper delivers packages for smugglers to the Arctic.
N 1951 Valley of the Eagles UK; Wife and assistant of Norwegian scientist steal his invention and head North across Lapland to sell it to Russia
N 1951 Blunder Episode S1E2 of ‘Tales of Tomorrow’. Scientist working on a new kind of nuclear reactor in the Arctic makes a mistake.
N 1951 The Thing from Another World Aliens at North Pole
N 1952 Lost in Alaska Abbott and Costello help a prospector in Alaska
N 1953 The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms nukes in Arctic thaw out carnivorous dinosaur, which heads south and destroys Manhattan
N 1953 Back to God's Country Rock Hudson defends himself against two villains in Alaskan wilderness
N 1953 Islands in the Sky John Wayne crash lands in Labrador
S 1954 Hell Below Zero Murder on a whaling ship in Antarctica
N 1955 Top of the World Jet pilot at observation post in Alaska
N 1955 Science Fiction Theater Episodes Y.O.R.D. (S1E4; men at North Pole weather station become psychic), Dead Reckoning (S1E21; Trouble on plane in the Arctic) and Dead Storage (S1E24; Frozen mammoth in the Arctic moved to research station and thawed)
S 1957 Land Unknown prehistoric world in deep Antarctic crater
N 1957 Deadly Mantis Arctic iceberg breaks up and releases giant praying mantis
N 1958 Terror in the Midnight Sun Sweden; Monsters/aliens in Lapland
N 1958 The Blob it gets dumped in the Arctic at the end
N 1959 The Atomic Submarine Ships mysteriously disappear on the Arctic Sea; a specially-equipped submarine is sent to investigate
N/S 1959 On the Beach Nuclear war in Northern Hemisphere spreads radiation around the Earth. Submarine crew finds rad levels still lethal in Barrow Alaska. Australia awaits the radiation from winds and considers if Antarctica is safe (its not). Everyone dies.
N 1961 Reptilicus Denmark; frozen prehistoric creature found in tundra of Lapland
N 1961 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Nuclear submarine under Arctic ice cap surfaces to melting ice and the sky on fire from a meteor shower.
N 1961 Operation Ice-Tickle Animated; episode S2E22 of Popeye the Sailor. Popeye and Brutus race to the North Pole to win a date with Olive
N/S 1962 The Day the Earth Caught Fire Americans test a nuclear weapon at the Earth's South Pole just as Soviets explode a device at the North Pole
S 1962 Yosei Gorasu Japan; also called Gorath. Powerful jet engines installed across Antarctica, to push Earth out of the way of a giant killer planet. Original version had a giant walrus attack the Antarctic base.
N 1963 On Duty USSR; (Pri ispolnenii sluzhebnykh obyazannostey). Arctic pilots in post-war Soviet Union.
S 1964 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TV series; some episodes have Antarctic sea monsters, Antarctic tropical oases, etc
S 1964 Quick Before it Melts Reporter and photographer and Russian in Antarctica, `light romantic comedy' (awful)
S 1966 The Navy vs the Night Monsters Unusual trees in Antarctica which turn into killer acid-secreting monsters
N 1966 Gammera the Invincible Nuclear blast unleashes giant fire-breathing flying turtle from hibernation below the arctic ice. Many sequels.
S 1966 Dr Who: The 10th Planet BBC TV, S4 story 29 (1st Dr); Cybermen arrive at the South Pole. 4th episode `missing'.
N 1967 King Kong Escapes Japan/US; Evil genius creates a mechanical King Kong to dig for a radioactive element found at the North Pole, then abducts the real King Kong to assist. (Ends with both Kongs facing off at Tokyo Tower)
N 1968 Ice Station Zebra Rock Hudson, Oscar nominated North Pole cold war tale
N 1969 The Red Tent Italy/USSR; about 1928 airship expedition to Arctic, Sean Connery as Amundsen
S 1971 Mr Forbush and the Penguins UK; US title `Cry of the Penguins', starring John Hurt and Hayley Mills
N 1971 Belaya zemlya USSR; TV mini-series, Soviet and German soldier in far North in bad weather
N 1972 The Arctic Story Animated, episode S1E13 of ‘Sealab 2020’. Rescue of two scientists in the Arctic.
S 1973 72 Degrees Below Zero USSR; Fuel freezes and its cold at Vostok station
N 1973 A Cold Night’s Death TV movie (also called The Chill Factor). Mysterious deaths at an isolated Arctic research station where scientists study monkeys.
S 1973 Scott of the Antarctic Monty Python episode S2E10 online
N 1973 Frankenstein: The True Story UK; TV movie. Ends in Arctic.
N 1974 The Final Program Scientists head for abandoned underground Nazi fortress in the Arctic to run a program designed to create perfect, self-replicating humans
N 1974 The White Dawn in 1896, 3 whalers are stranded in Arctic and teach their bad habits to the Inuit
N 1974 The Island at the Top of the World Disney, secret Viking tribe in Arctic
N 1974 Night Stalker: Primal Scream TV, arctic drillers find murderous ape-man
N 1975 Distant Early Warning TV movie; Aliens at Arctic research station
S 1975 Love Doll Report: An Adult Toy Japan; softcore porno, scientist develops robot sex doll for workers in Antarctica, but falls for the doll’s live model
S 1976 Dr Who: The Seeds of Doom BBC TV, S13, 6 episodes, (4th Dr); alien pods found in Antarctica turn humans into giant carnivorous plants.
S 1976 Seventy-Two Degrees Below Zero USSR TV film; Midwinter trek between Vostok and Mirny stations
N 1976 Spy Story UK; Framed British spy running from KGB, MI6 and CIA to investigate an Arctic conspiracy
N 1977 Terror of Frankenstein Sweden/Ireland; ‘small cast and low budget’. Ends in Arctic.
S 1977 Cosmos: War of the Planets Italy, UFO appears above Antarctic Sea
N 1977 Nanook Taxi Inuit comedian hires on to drive a taxi
S 1977 The People That Time Forgot Antarctic expedition finds primitive warriors and prehistoric creatures
N 1978 What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! TV short; Snoopy has a nightmare of being a sled dog in the Arctic
N 1978 Superman Teenage Clark Kent finds a crystal and constructs the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic
N/S 1979 Rupan no nankyoku hokkyoku daibôken Japan; Animated, S3E37 of 'Lupin the 3rd'. Scheme to move penguins from South to North Pole to cover up intended theft of the Vatican Crown visiting the North Pole
S 1979 Hard Water, Parts I and 2 TV show ‘Salvage’ episodes S2E1 & S2E2. Attempts to tow an iceberg from Antarctica to provide water to California city
S 1979 Adventures of the Polar Cubs Japan; animated. 2 polar bear cubs have adventures at the North Pole
N 1979 Bear Island Accidents and murders in a group of people on a barren Arctic island
S 1980 Virus (Fukkatsu no hi) Japan/USA; Antarctic residents only survivors of biological apocalypse (why not the Inuit?). Depressing!
S 1980 Antarkticheskaya povest USSR; 3.5 hr TV movie
S 1980 La elva leve! Norway; Sami man goes on hunger strike to try to save a salmon river under threat from electrical power construction
N 1980 Superman II Superman takes Lois Lane to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic
N 1980 Last of the Red-Hot Dragons Animated; TV short. Animals heading to Noahs Ark get stranded at the North Pole
N 1981 Ice Station Camel Animated, S1E10 of ‘Danger Mouse’. To the North Pole to change rotation of Earth.
S 1981 The Intruder Within TV movie; oil riggers in Antarctica find murderous prehistoric creature
N 1982 World War III TV movie starring Rock Hudson. Soviets try to take control of Alaskan pipeline
S 1982 The Thing Aliens at remote Antarctic base. Classic!
N 1982 Flight of the Eagle Swedish, with Max von Sydow. Engineer S. A. Andrée sets out to become the first man at the north pole in 1897
S 1983 Antarctica Japan: "Nankyoku Monogatari"; dogs left at Antarctic base
N 1983 Gone Went the Wind Animated; short, episode S1E39 of 'Inspector Gadget'. Gadget is sent to stop a M.A.D. scientist in a lab at the North Pole who invented a destructive weapon and is testing it on Inuit villages.
N 1983 Never Cry Wolf Researcher studies wolves in the Canadian Arctic
N 1984 Iceman Prehistoric man found in Arctic Glacier
S 1984 Brass Monkeys Australian TV series; female doctor joins Australian Antarctic base (13 episodes)
N 1985 Orions Belt Norway; Svalbard Seamen find a Soviet listening station and become targets of Americans and Soviets. Filmed in Norwegian and in English
N 1986 Dot and the Whale Animated; Dot and her friend the dolphin go to Antarctica in search of Moby Dick
N 1987 Count Duckula British; animated, adventures of vegetarian vampire duck, some episodes in Arctic (S1E6, S2E9)
N 1993 Captive in the Land Sam Waterson and Russian survive plane crash in Arctic
N 1993 Salmonberries k.d. lang as an androgynous Eskimo ?
S 1993 The Forbidden Quest Netherlands; in 1905, a Norse ship sails to Antarctica
N 1993 Ordeal in the Arctic US/Canada TV movie; Canadian military flight from Greenland to Canada crashes in the Arctic
N 1993 Map of the Human Heart AUS; Inuit man goes to WWII Dresden and back to North, excellent Arctic weepie
N 1993 X-Files: Ice TV; X-files does `The Thing'. (Episode S1E8). Stick with the movies
N 1994 Iron Will Disney Arctic
N 1994 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein US/Japan/UK. Kenneth Branagh as the scientist and director, Robert De Niro as the monster. Starts and ends in the Arctic
N 1994 I, Frankenstein US/AUS. Victor Frankenstein chases his monster to Arctic but freezes to death. Monster survives 200 years and joins in war of Gargoyles vs demons.
N 1995 Zero Kelvin Norway; European aspiring writer and psycho trappers in Greenland
S 1995 Super Atragon Japan, anime; UN team sent to investigate microwaves being generated at the South Pole
S 1995 Neon Genesis Evangelion Japan, anime; TV series 1995-1996, 2 movies, 11 vols of Manga. Antarctica hit with mysterious. explosion in 2000. 15 yrs later its ice has evaporated, sea levels rose 60m, half of humanity died, etc
N 1997 Insomnia Norway/Sweden; Swedish investigator tries to solve a murder in Arctic Norway. Filmed in Nyksund and Tromso, Norway.
N 1997 Smilla's Sense of Snow Denmark/Germany/Sweden; mysterious death of Inuit boy. Arctic, meteorites, etc.
N 1997 Kayla Canada/Germany; 12 year old depressed son of missing polar explorer wants to compete in dog sled race
N 1998 When the Light Comes Intl. production; student and trapper spend winter together in Svalbard
S 1998 Stargate TV series, various episodes about Antarctic Stargate placed on Earth by aliens 5-10 million years ago. Eg Solitudes (S1E18), Frozen (S6E4), Lost City (S7E21)
S 1998 X Files movie incl. Aliens in Antarctica
N 1998 Heart of Light Greenland/Denmark; `The first feature film shot totally in Greenland'
S 1999 Sometimes They Come Back for More TV movie; terror at CIA outpost in Antarctica
N 1999 Survivor TV movie, Canada; oil rig crew finds ancient murderous monster
N 1999 Avalanche (or Escape from Alaska) Canadian/American; After an avalanche kills her husband, a woman fights contruction of an oil pipeline across northern tundra because she’s worried about more avalanches
N 2000 Nest S6E620 of ‘The Outer Limits’. Ancient polar mites cause leader of Arctic expedition to go psychotic and kill colleagues
N 2001 Trinity UK; in a remote arctic research station, government agents discover mysterious genetic scientist
S 2001 Boa 100 foot snake terrorizes the staff and prisoners at the world's highest-security prison, in Antarctica. Princeton paleo-biologist to the rescue.
N 2001 No Such Thing Foul-mouthed, fire-breathing misanthropic monster from Iceland brought to New York. Starts slow but the monster is great!
S 2001 Deep Freeze Antarctic drilling station under attack. “All the exterior shots of the Antarctic facility & helicopter is footage taken from John Carpenter's The Thing.”
S 2002 Scorcher Earth plates shifting after nuclear accident, worldwide disasters, minor scene(s) of Antarctica on fire
N 2002 The Fast Runner Canada; Inuit epic (also called Atanarjuat, first film ever released totally in the Inuktitut language)
S 2002 Dead Ringers: Weakest Explorer UK, parody of The Weakest Link with Scott et al. S1E4 YouTube
N 2002 The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear Denmark/France; animated, fabulous
S 2002 The Ice Crawlers monsters at Antarctic oil drilling facility
N 2002 Relic Hunter: Under the Ice ancient Indian mummy found at Arctic base
S 2002 Yukikaze Japan, anime. Aliens invaded Earth through dimensional portal over Antarctica
N 2002 Arctic Blue Rutger Hauer as a homicidal trapper in Alaska
S 2003 Veritas - The Qwest Episode Antarctica (S1E2); team searches for ancient power source in Antarctica
N 2003 The Snow Walker Canada; white pilot and Inuit woman survive plane crash
S 2003 Alien Hunter Aliens at South Pole
N 2003 Regeneration S2E23 of Star Trek TV series 'Enterprise'. Arctic research team discovers some Borg in the ice
N 2003 Deep Shock giant killer eels spawning under North Pole
S 2003 Angels in America HBO TV film version of Tony Kushner play, character dreams of Antarctica.
S 2004 Stargate Atlantis TV series spinoff; secret base, abandoned by the original builders of the Stargates, is found buried in Antarctica
S 2004 Debiruman (Devilman) Japan, accidental release of a demonic species from Antarctica, whose numbers spread via an infection
N 2004 Deep Evil TV, alien microbe in Siberia and Alaska
S 2004 Uncle Scooby and Antarctica TV, (on Vol 10, Monstrous Tales); gang flies to the South Pole to look for amphibious menace
S 2004 Retrograde Dolph Lundgren time travels back 200 years to the Nathaniel Palmer icebreaker in Antarctica, to prevent meteoritic off-world bacteria from killing off humanity
N 2004 True North artist Isaac Julien; short film inspired by Matt Henson story
S 2004 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea not Disney animated TV movie. One captive adventurer is a young woman disguised as a man. Reaches Antarctica?
N 2004 Polar Express Young boy on magical train to North Pole on Christmas Eve
N 2004 No No Nanook/Teenage Idol animated, episode S2E1 of ‘Evil con Carne’. Anti gravity device near North Pole
S 2005 The Avatar Returns animated, episode S1E2 of ‘The Last Airbender’. Village at the South Pole
S 2005 Antarctic Journal Korea: "Namgeuk-ilgi"; filmed in New Zealand
S 2005 9 Songs British glaciologist in Antarctica recalls rock concerts & explicit sex with his girlfriend. R Ebert `as an idea the film is facinating, but as an experience it grows tedious, the concerts lack closeups, the sex lacks content, and Antarctica could use a few penguins'.
S 2005 Madagascar brief funny scene when the penguins reach Antarctica
S 2005 Alien vs Predator in Antarctica. As bad as it sounds
S 2005 The Wild Blue Yonder Alien planet visuals include footage of divers under Antarctic ice cap
S 2006 Eight Below Disney version of 'Nankyoku Monogatari'
S 2006 Happy Feet Dancing Penguins, humans are the `aliens'
N 2006 Dr Who: Terror of the Arctic PODCAST, 8 part audio drama. The Doctor and Christine find themselves with the crews of the lost 1847-1848 Franklin Arctic Expedition. And aliens, of course.
S 2006 Time Warp Trio: Break an Egg kids TV show, 3 boys time-warp to RF Scott's expedition
N 2006 Solar Attack TV movie; after solar CMEs increase and threaten to ignite the increased atmospheric methane, the plan is to nuke the North Pole to release vapor to extinguish methane flares (??)
S 2007 Good Luck Chuck Sexually cursed Chuck falls for penguin scientist, ends in Antarctica
N 2007 Far North UK/France; in Arctic tundra, Soviet soldiers disrupt native people. Starring Michele Yeoh.
N 2007 30 Days of Night Vampires (speaking Klingon?) terrorize Barrow, Alaska. All those long nights and NO ONE ever watched BUFFY???
N 2007 The Last Winter director Larry Fessenden; Arctic thriller; "The Thing meets An Inconvenient Truth"
N 2007 The Golden Compass Arctic
S 2008 At the Mountains of Madness MP3: Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, online
S 2008 Antarctica Israel; group of young gay friends in Israel, one wants to to go Antarctica to free her frozen heart, etc. & aliens. (no actual Antarctica)
S 2008 Frozen Episode S4E11 of the TV series 'House'; the team remotely treats an injured psychiatrist (Mora Sorvino) at the South Pole.
N 2008 Shifting Waters Canada; episode S2E12 of 'The Border', a TV series about Canadian Immigration. Canadian sub trapped under polar ice.
N 2008 Terra Nova Russia; world government deals with overflowing prisons by sending convicts to remote Russian northern island by themselves as an experiment. Murderous violence ensues.
S 2009 Watchman 12 episode animated series. Look on My Works, Ye Mighty (S1E11) and A Stronger Loving World (S1E12) are in Antarctica
N 2009 Nuummioq Greenland; young man has a serious illness and debates leaving Greenland for treatment in Denmark. Professional and amateur actors
S 2009 2K3 Sci-fi; Young pregnant couple in Chinatown NY have visions and journey to Antarctica (?)
S 2009 The Thaw US/Canada; At a remote Arctic research station, students discover that a prehistoric parasite is being released from the carcass of a woolly mammoth
S 2009 The Monopolar Expedition Episode S2E23 of the ‘Big Bang Theory’. The guys plan to work at the North Pole for the summer.
S 2009 Watchmen based on 1986-87 graphic novel; VERY COOL Antarctica CGI. (including a Dome)
S 2009 Whiteout Based on graphic novel. Story moved from McMurdo to new South Pole base, female British agent (& possible love interest) changed to male UN agent, & just not a great film. Good `long-eye' by Tom Skerritt.
N 2009 Fool Me Once Episode S2E4 of TV series `Castle'. Con-artist pretending to be a Polar Explorer is murdered.
N 2009 Dead Snow Norway; Nazi zombies loose in northern mountain town
S 2009 Chef at the South Pole Japan; `based on a true story', the chef at Dome Fuji Station in Antarctic cooks fancy food for the 8 men there
N 2009 The Fourth Kind Blair Witch Project style 'documentary' about psychologist whose hypnotized patients claim they have been abducted by aliens in Nome, Alaska. Then her daughter vanishes. African writer/director Olatunde Osunsanmi. Not convincing!
N 2009 Dear Lemon Lima 13 year old Yup'ik girl wins scholarship to snooty prep school in Anchorage
N 2010 Dinoshark Primeval apex predator escapes from ancient Arctic glacier, heads to warm water in Mexico and terrorizes people
N 2010 The Deep US/UK; TV mini-series, 5 episodes. Research sub under the Arctic looks for life forms and source of renewable energy
N 2010 Frost Giant TV movie on SyFy. Descendant of James Clark Ross finds the sunken HMS Fury and releases a nasty alien trapped inside of it. Bad!
N 2010 South Park TV; episodes S14E11-E13; Coon 2: Hindsight, Mysterion Rises, & Coon vs Coon & Friends. BP accidently drills into another dimension & releases monsters; they drill on the moon to fix it & oops, they release Cthulhu (the nasty alien from Lovecraft)
N 2010 How I Ended This Summer Russia; 2 people at an isolated Arctic science station face its impending closure
N 2010 Arctic Blast Australia/Canada. Solar eclipse sends blast of chilled air towards the Earth (!!!) which sets off new Ice Age
N 2010 Polar Storm Comet collides with Earth and un-aligns its axis (??)
S 2011 Ghosts of Antarctica TV; episode S4E14 of 'Destination Truth', Syfy series about paranormal activity
N 2011 On the Ice teenage boys and an accident/murder during a seal hunt in Northern Alaska. Won the best First Feature award at the Berlin Intl. Film Festival
S 2011 Mr Poppers Penguins film adaption of children's book, with Jim Carrey. Businessman fantasizes about exploring Antarctica & receives penguins as a gift.
S 2011 The Thing Prequel to 1982 film. Funny & mean reviews call it an alien copy. Might not have the cultural resonance or the numerous analyses of the earlier films. But it did evoke memories of watching the 1982 film at South Pole in 1985. & the young female Columbia Univ. paleontologist got to kick ass. Prequel e-comic here .
S 2011 Happy Feet 2 sequel to the 2006 film, in 3D.
N 2011 Ice UK/NZ mini-series. In 2020, oil drilling on the Greenland Glacier accelerates its melt and Earth heads to an ice age.
S 2011 The Jungle Bunch: The Movie animated TV movie. Brother, sister & jungle animals help save penguins bullied by walruses in Antarctica (oops)
N 2011 Captain America: The First Avenger Includes WWII era plane crashes in the Arctic
N 2012 Transformers Prime animated, Some episodes in Arctic: Scrapheap (S1E7), Out of His Head (S1E14), Triangulation (S2E13), Rebellion (S3E4)
N 2012 An Enemy to Die For Sweden/Germany/Norway; German expedition with international crew are in Svalbard when WWII starts
N 2012 Alaskaland Nigerian immigrant family in Alaska
N 2012 Ice Quake Ice shelf collapse in Russia leads to concern about huge methane explosion
S 2012 South of Sanity British horror film shot in Antarctica. Doesn't seem to be available
N 2012-14 Arctic Air Canadian TV series, 35 episodes in 3 seasons. Bush pilots in Canadian North
S 2012 Nazis at the Center of the Earth Zombie Nazis at the center of the Earth steal body parts from scientists in Antarctica for transplantation. They bring back Hitler as a giant robot, and then send a swastika-covered UFO-shaped plane to spread flesh-eating bacteria around Earth. Could be the WORST EVER Antarctic movie.
N 2013 Superman Man of Steel Superman discovers his origins at a cave in Arctic
N 2013 Ice Soldiers Canada; scientist finds frozen genetically modified Russians in Canadian North. And defrosts them releasing a threat to the world. (NEVER a good idea to defrost!)
N 2014 Operation Arctic Norway; 3 sibling children accidentally alone in Svalbard
N 2014 Helix Syfy TV series, 13 episodes. Scientists at remote Arctic base are mysteriously infected and become zombies. Biotech company malfeasance? Military weapons development? Alien station leader?
N 2015 Fortitude UK; TV series, 3 seasons. Murders in a small town on a Norwegian Arctic island
S 2015 Polar Adventure China; animated. Penguins want to kick humans out of Antarctica
N 2015 Unnatural Corporation playing with genetic modification creates man hunting creature in Alaska
N 2015 Long Way North Animated; in 1882, young Russian aristocrat searches for her grandfather who hasn’t returned from his last expedition to the North Pole
N 2015 Harbinger Down Mutated tardigrades from old Russian ship attack grad students studying climate change in Bering Sea. (Stars Lance Henriksen from the ‘Alien’ sequels).
S 2016 Mars Fictional series of futuristic Mars expedition. Episodes Power (S1E4, McMurdo as example of living on Mars) and Worlds Apart (S2E1 & S2E2, 2018, Greenpeace protests Arctic oil drilling)
N 2016 Norm of the North US/India/Ireland; animated. Polar Bear Norm is King of the Arctic but is outcast because he can speak to humans. He fights off a developer building condos in the Arctic. 3 direct to video sequels (2019-2020).
S 2016 The Mayakovsky Circumstance episode S1E7 of 'The Magicians'; overbearing teacher in Antarctica. (Other episodes?)
N 2016 Ice Sharks At a remote Arctic base, attacks by prehistoric sharks breaking through the ice
N 2016 Two Lovers and a Bear Canada; Drama, 2 (psychiatric?) lovers in Arctic Canadian town (with polar bears)
S 2016 Ancient Aliens TV series unfortunately on ‘History channel’. Eg Pyramids of Antarctica (S11E1), Return to Antarctica (S14E1), bits in other episodes. Ugh.
S 2017 Ernest Shackleton Loves Me Musical; sleep deprived mother dreams? of Shackleton
S 2017 Soundtrack Brazil; young Brazilian artist gets government grant to go to an Arctic research facility for a month. “Shot on soundstage in Rio de Janeiro using fake snow from London from the same company that supplied it for Game of Thrones”
S 2017 Doraemon: Great Adventure in the Antarctic Kachi Kochi Japan; animated. 100,000 year old gold ring in Antarctic iceberg
S 2017 Twice Upon a Time Dr Who episode S11E0 (13th Christmas special); 12th and 1st doctor meet at South Pole; then aliens, regeneration etc
S 2017 Antarktika German; TV series, 12 episodes. Female surgeon takes job at Antarctic research base; communications with the outside world fail and people go missing
S 2017 Human Traces Mysterious man at remote island in Southern ocean
N 2017 Trapped Iceland; TV series, 20 episodes in 2 seasons. Murders in Iceland
N 2017 Rebecka Martinsson Sweden/Germany; TV series, 16 episodes in 2 seasons, based on the books by Asa Larsson; Stockholm lawyer returns to her Arctic hometown of Kiruna and investigates a murder
N 2018 Arctic Circle Finland/Germany; TV series, 22 episodes in 3 seasons, policewoman in Ivalo, Finland investigates deadly viruses and murder.
N 2018 Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell Giant deadly worms used as weapons at Canadian research facility
S 2018 Cold Skin Monsters on Antarctic island; based on the novel by Albert Sanchez Pinol.
N 2018 The Terror TV series; The 10 episodes of Season 1 are a fictionalized account of the Franklin expedition, with an elusive ghost
S 2018 A Place Further Than the Universe Japan; anime, 12 episodes, high school students join an expedition to Antarctica
S 2018 Mask of the Panther Episode S5E9 of 'Avengers Assemble', relic of Wakanda found in Antarctica
S 2019 Where'd You Go, Bernadette? From the novel, woman escapes her family and goes to Antarctica
N 2019 The Sun Above Me Never Sets Russia; young man and old man on isolated Arctic island
S 2019 Godzilla King of the Monsters He goes to Antarctica
N 2019 Arctic Solo survivor of plane crash in Arctic
N 2019 Arctic Apocalypse Glacial melting triggers ice age
N 2019 Arctic Dogs 'computer animated comedy film'; arctic fox dreams of being a lead sled dog; other arctic animals in there too
S 2019 Letters from Antarctica Bulgaria; Woman tells her young son his father is in Antarctica instead of admitting he died
N 2019 The Sun Above Me Never Sets Russia; isolated Arctic island
N 2020 The Steps with No Name Germany; B&W, Former polar explorer becomes allergic to sunlight and lives in a London basement until he experiments with a radiation cure
S 2020 Cold Fusion Animated, episode of 'Archer' (S11E8). Murder mystery in Antarctica
N 2020 The Twilight Zone '8' TV; episode S2E6. Antarctic science station overrun by giant octopus which will end human life on Earth
N 2020 Thin Ice Sweden (Eng. subtitles); TV show, 8 Epsodes. Research ship disappears near Greenland.
N 2020 The Midnight Sky After an apocalypse, George Clooney is a lonely scientist in the Arctic speaking to astronauts on the space station. Based on the novel.
N 2020 The Steps with No Name Germany; B&W, Former polar explorer becomes allergic to sunlight and lives in a London basement until he experiments with a radiation cure
S 2021 Godzilla vs Kong Includes an outpost in Antarctica
N 2021 The North Water UK/Canada; TV mini-series, 5 episodes, based on 2016 novel. In 1859, scheming, rape and murder on a whaling ship. Gory seal slaughter.
N 2021 Compartment Number 6 Finland/Russia; on a train to the Arctic port of Murmansk
N 2021 The Cabin Belgium/Luxemburg; man runs away to Svalbard and decides to stay there
S 2021 Insanity the Lost Child Japan; 12 episodes. Mysterious illness comes from under the South Pole
S 2021 At the Mountains of Madness UK; low budget B&W film. In 1992, Antarctic scientists studying climate change in Antarctica find horror
S 2021 The Head Spain, streams on HBO Max, 6 episodes. Antarctic winter-over team found dead or missing.
S 2021 The Thing: O Regresso Portugal, in English. 'The Thing Returns' Non-official sequel. Available in US??
N 2021 The Halloween Apocalypse UK; Episode S13E1 of 'Dr Who'. Evil in the Arctic.
N 2022 Arctic Void People disappear from Arctic tourist ship, 3 remaining go ashore. Filmed in Svalbard.
N 2022 Titina Norway; animated. Amundsen and Italian airship engineer Umberto Nobile and his dog Titina seek the North Pole by airship
N 2022 Alaska Daily TV series, 11 episodes. NY journalist moves to Alaska and joins Anchorage paper.
S 2022 A Frozen Rooster Mexico; animated, rooster travels to return Spanish penguins & polar bear to South Pole (Oops)
N 2022 Slash/Back Canada; young girls in Nunavut fight a shapeshifting alien invader
S 2023 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Something in a cavern in Antarctica
N 2023 Ice White Japan; animated, episode S1E6 of ‘Shy’. Investigating researchers who lost contact with the Arctic base near the North Pole
S 2023 Blue Beetle Alien artifact found in Antarctica
S 2023 Fast X Black site in Antarctica (Fast & Furious 10; with Vin Diesel)
N 2023 Arctic Armageddon An earthquake in the Atlantic Ocean stops warm water currentsi to the Arctic, global temperatures drop, and scientists try to prevent the Earth from falling into an Ice Age. Reviews bad.
N 2023 24 Hr Sunshine Latvia; man sells his company and joins a tour to the North Pole
N 2023 The Polar Odyssey China; mercenaries looking for artifact in Arctic Circle
N 2024 Arctic Hollow Stranded researcher in cave connecting to hollow Earth
N 2024 True Detective- Night Country HBO, Season 4, 6 episodes. Vanishing researchers in Alaska. Stars Jodie Foster & Kali Reis
N 202X Black Ice In development
S 202X The Thing 'reboot' Reportedly with John Carpenter, based on 'Frozen Hell' (expanded version of original short story)