Favorite Visions of the Future in Literature, Movies and Television that Have Been Rendered Obsolete

[Pyan]

No, you’re all a figment of my imagination - when I close the Chrons, you all cease to exist until I log on again

 

[BAYLOR]

No, you’re all a figment of my imagination - when I close the Chrons, you all cease to exist until I log on again

Yes but , how do we know your not a figment of our imaginations?

 

[Vince W]

I watched Timecop today for the first time in many years, and I'm not so sure that part of that future didn't come true. Ron Silver is eerily familiar as a US presidential candidate as are many of the news clips.

 

[BAYLOR]

I watched Timecop today for the first time in many years, and I'm not so sure that part of that future didn't come true. Ron Silver is eerily familiar as a US presidential candidate as are many of the news clips.

That film gets worse every time I see it . It did spawn a shot lived tv series and a forgettable sequel.

 

[reiver33]

Aside; the original tag line for Timecop was “Turn back the clock and you’re history” - which I thought was neat. Somewhere alone the line it became “His wife died 10 years ago tonight - there’s still time to save her” - duh. These are quotes from memeory though...(I have a thing for tag lines)

 

[BAYLOR]

Aside; the original tag line for Timecop was “Turn back the clock and you’re history” - which I thought was neat. Somewhere alone the line it became “His wife died 10 years ago tonight - there’s still time to save her” - duh. There are quotes from memeory though...(I have a thing for tag lines)

It really is a preposterous film.

 

[Robert Zwilling]

The idea that all aliens look the same instead of just one or two varieties is gone.
Weather control has taken a big step backwards with all the extra moisture in the atmosphere and warming up the planet a degree or two is a lot of energy when you look at the sheer mass of it. Its like the stove is always on the warm setting, never needs to warm up to get started.
Natural global disruption by overpopulation is a work in progress.
Skynet is alive and well in our heads, but that's about it.

 

[BAYLOR]

Logans Run written in 1967 , Pretty much obsolete in all of its projections.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Most SF dealing with ET encounters. Our notions of aliens and UFOs come from a time when we still thought there may be Martians. Given how greatly our known universe has expanded since the 1950s, let alone the 1890s, we should realize that visitors from outer space are much, much, much less likely than we thought back then. Given the immensity of space, even if the exist, they are much less likely to find us -- let alone to come visit -- and us to find them. We are, for all intents and purposes, alone out here.

 

[Robert Zwilling]

We are, for all intents and purposes, alone out here.

That's the funny part, just about everyone out there is also alone, if you figure advanced advancement looks like a pyramid. Can you imagine what it would be like in one of those systems overloaded with stars and planets, to be perhaps a thousand years of travel time from your nearest planetary neighbor also with organized life on it. Maybe you could see the smoke from the smokestacks, send messages that take forever to go back and forth.

 

[BAYLOR]

That's the funny part, just about everyone out there is also alone, if you figure advanced advancement looks like a pyramid. Can you imagine what it would be like in one of those systems overloaded with stars and planets, to be perhaps a thousand years of travel time from your nearest planetary neighbor also with organized life on it. Maybe you could see the smoke from the smokestacks, send messages that take forever to go back and forth.

For example, a Science fiction writer who in 1967 writes a novel set in future times, can only do so based on the reality that he or she currently exists in. The trouble is , their prediction and projections are static , the actual future is not.

 

[Dave]

For example, a Science fiction writer who in 1967 writes a novel set in future times, can only do so based on the reality that he or she currently exists in. The trouble is , their prediction and projections are static , the actual future is not.

Yes and No.

People are still people. Some views and ideas change but many do not. Victorians had views about death that are weird to us now. Dead children would be stood up and dressed up to appear in family photographs. However, views about how we are governed and freedom of speech - very similar viewpoints expressed by some people today, to those from (UK) Civil War period, or Magna Carta, or probably even earlier. We are still driven by sex, personal wealth and power - even those people who think they are not, or who say they are not, that's how they are always brought down. So, in some ways we will react differently in the future, but in most ways we will still be very predictable.

Technology changes and some technology has the capacity to change society - railways, telegraph and telephone, TV, internet and social media - how we deal with technology doesn't change so much - we deal very poorly with the changes brought about. Luddites and Saboteurs try to prevent it happening. You can't write a story about social media back in 1967 because you cannot predict that it will happen, but you could write one about people being obsessed with the lives of celebrities, and being shut-off, listening to their own personal music, rather than communicating with their own family. Ray Bradbury did exactly that in Fahrenheit 451.

Sometimes the predictions just need a little more time to come true. Many books and films in the late '60's and early '70's thought the future world would be run by monopolistic corporations who had more influence and political power than national governments. Rollerball (original version) has a world divided by corporations such as those called Energy and Transport. Well, the world has moved on, now people are worried about Amazon, Facebook and Google. Same old, same old!

 

[BAYLOR]

Well the crew of Moonbase Alpha started their epic voyage exactly 19 years ago today. The nuclear waste accident occurred on 13 September 1999.

Andrew Gaska did a Graphic novel story Space 1999 Aftershock and Awe which treated Space 1999 as an alternate timeline .

 

[BAYLOR]

Strange Days .

 

[Don]

I watched Timecop today for the first time in many years, and I'm not so sure that part of that future didn't come true. Ron Silver is eerily familiar as a US presidential candidate as are many of the news clips.

I re-watch Timecop about once a year. If nothing else, the original MacGyver's side-kick, old what's his name, keeps it amusing.

 

[paeng]

Blade Runner, November 2019.

 

[BAYLOR]

Blade Runner, November 2019.

Now an Alternate timeline.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester was original published in 1953, It projection of the future are pretty much obsolete but it is still a terrific book and, it had an influence on the tv show Babylon 5. I'ts been optioned a number for the Cinema but had never gotten into production. I think iif it were updated , to would make a terrific film , maybe even a terrific tv series.

 

[Guttersnipe]

"The Blessington Method" by Stanley Ellin (1956) has a Utopian 1980 I wish I could see

 

[Dave Vicks]

I noticed SF ignores Global Warming.A lot of Aliens (Visitors) and Zombies instead.