The future that never was

[Little Nemo]

It's funny. I don't remember any of these things happening.

1963: Last survivors of a nuclear war die out in Australia. On the Beach (1957) Nevil Shute
1970: Robots and suspended animation coming into common use. The Door into Summer (1956) Robert Heinlein
1982: Sale of robots to the public is just beginning. Robbie (1939) Isaac Asimov
1991: Uprising of the sentient ape underclass. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
1996: Eugenics War ends with 37,000,000 dead. Star Trek (1967)
1997: The President's plane crashes in the New York prison colony. Escape From New York (1981)
1997: Jupiter 2 interstellar spaceship is launched. Lost in Space (1965)
1999: Attempted coup by the nuclear weapons base on the moon. The Long Watch (1949) Robert Heinlein
1999: Big explosion at the lunar nuclear waste site sends the moon out of Earth orbit. Space: 1999 (1975)
2000: Competitive cross-country racing allows pedestrian killing. Death Race 2000 (1975)
2001: Mission to Jupiter encounters alien life-form. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2007: Earth launches its first interstellar attack against the Taurans. The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman

No fanwanking or retconning.

Feel free to add more examples. Alternate histories don't count.

[RealityChuck]

1955 -- The rocket to the moon turns out to be an elaborate fraud, and the perpetrators are captured and lynched. "The Rocket of 1955" by Cyril M. Kornbluth (1939)

[billfish678]

I've got a twofer. The one about going to the moon with a material that shielded gravity. In one version of the movie they went there twice. Once in the 50s give or take, where they fought it out with the lunites. Then, they (not the same they that went the first time) went again decades later with conventional rockets and once of the main characters was now an old man worried about the new guys running into the asshole lunites.

[cmkeller]

1984: World is controlled by Big Brother

[Randy Seltzer]

1997: Skynet becomes self-aware, and begins attempting to exterminate humanity. The Terminator (1984)

[Superdude]

The year: 1994. From out of space comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction! Man's civilization is cast in ruin!
Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn...
A strange new world rises from the old: a world of savagery, super science, and sorcery. But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice! With his companions Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sunsword against the forces of evil.

-Thundarr the Barbarian

[RandMcnally]

2009: After The Great Panic and a year of shoring up, zombies are defeated after nearly wiping out humanity.

[Sampiro]

What era did Q replicate (the judge scene) in "Encounter at Far Point"?

[Czarcasm]

I chaired a science fiction convention a few years back with that theme- "Days Of Futures Past".

[SirRay]

Capricorn One, the first manned mission to Mars, is 'launched', or at least the American public (and the world) thinks so - the mission is actually faked on a sound-stage.
Now, while the exact date is not specified in the movie, the recovery ship for the returning Mars craft (which burns up in decent) is specified - the USS Oriskany (CV-34) (and it briefly is shown in the movie, so there is no question it was the old Carrier Oriskany and not a future ship which shares the name). Unfortunately, the USS Oriskany was decommissioned in 1975, 3 YEARS before the movie was released - major d'oh! moment.
The Oriskany was sunk as an artificial reef in 2006, and since as of 2011 I have heard no mention of a Mars mission named Capricorn 1, I think this counts as meeting the OP's criteria (I like to mention this as my father served on the USS Oriskany during Korea, and he kind of liked the brief mention of the Oriskany in the movie)

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

What era did Q replicate (the judge scene) in "Encounter at Far Point"?

According to Memory Alpha the trial scene was set in 2079.

[The Other Waldo Pepper]

The world was devastated in a nuclear war back in November of '87 -- but we're going to be okay, because Buck Rogers already launched for deep space in May of that year and is coming back to lend a hand with his forgotten 20th-century know-how.

[Voyager]

1999: Population of New York 36 million, infrastructure crumbling. Harrison, Make Room, Make Room, 1966. I don't know if [i[Soylent Green[/i] is set in the same year, but I suspect so.
1975: Overlords arrive on Earth, just before the launch of the first Moon rocket. Childhood's End, 1953.

[El_Kabong]

1898: Martians launch massive invasion of Earth, starting with England; nearly take over but are decimated by exposure to terrestrial infections.

1938: Martians launch another invasion, this time spreading out from Grover's Mill, NJ, but are quickly decimated by exposure to terrestrial infections.

1953: Martians launch third wave of invasion, beginning in Southern California, but after early successes, are decimated by exposure to terrestrial infections.

2005: Aliens (possibly Martian) activate war machines buried on earth thousands of years previously; again score much early success but in the end are decimated by exposure to terrestrial infections.

Clearly, those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.

[billfish678]

Originally Posted by El_Kabong

Clearly, those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.

Damn thats funny. So what you are sayingis they were stopped by those "damn, dirty apes"? The US has the middle east. Mars has the Earth

[monkeylucifer]

The year: 1994. From out of space comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction! Man's civilization is cast in ruin!
Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn...
A strange new world rises from the old: a world of savagery, super science, and sorcery. But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice! With his companions Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sunsword against the forces of evil.
He is Thundarr, the Barbarian!

How does a VW Bug last for thousands of years?

[billfish678]

Originally Posted by monkeylucifer

[How does a VW Bug last for thousands of years?

Maybe it was a Woody.

[CalMeacham]

2001: Mission to Jupiter encounters alien life-form. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The Jupiter mission was eighteen months after the monolith on the moon emitted its squeal.



2000: There's a burgeoning space industry with laid-off and retired astronauts around the spaceports. Fredric Brown's The Lights in the Sky are Stars.


I'll have to scour my books later -- there are plenty of examples, especially around the year 2000.

[kunilou]

August 1985: Warsaw pact forces invade West Germany, Norway and Turkey. After the Soviet Union launches a nuclear strike at Birmingham, England, and suffers a retaliatory strike on Minsk, a rebellion overthrows the Communist government.

But there's a more important, more fundamental issue here:

WHERE THE HELL IS MY FLYING CAR??????

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

1980: Earth is under constant attack from aliens who want our resources ("UFO" 1970 series)
1980: Flying cars, and the first manned trip to mars ("Just Imagine" (1930))

[Frodo]

1999: A gigantic alien space fortress crashes on Macross Island.

[SirRay]

Originally Posted by kunilou

August 1985: Warsaw pact forces invade West Germany, Norway and Turkey. After the Soviet Union launches a nuclear strike at Birmingham, England, and suffers a retaliatory strike on Minsk, a rebellion overthrows the Communist government.

Except for the date and the nuclear strikes, I thought at first you were going for Tom Clancy's 'Red Storm Rising' (this case, the invasion of Western Europe was a fient so the Warsaw Pact could grab Middle Eastern oil resources). For both, there was the same rebellion-overthrows-warriors in USSR government, and then everythings all nice and peachy (except for the death and destruction of course).

BTW, anyone else remember that nuclear explosion going off in the Florida Keys?(True Lies)

[Don Draper]

On "Doctor Who" - The Cybermen invaded Earth twice during the late 20th century - in London circa 1972, and Antarctica in 1986.

[JohnT]

2010 - The countries of Earth ban aluminum (David Brin's Earth).

[Bryan Ekers]

1999: Hey, where'd the moon go?

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

The Jupiter mission was eighteen months after the monolith on the moon emitted its squeal.

I wasn't sure about that one. I knew there was an eighteen month gap between the second and third parts of the story. But without watching the movie again, I couldn't remember if 2001 was the year the monolith was found on the moon or the year the giant space baby was encountered out by Jupiter.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by Voyager

1999: Population of New York 36 million, infrastructure crumbling. Harrison, Make Room, Make Room, 1966. I don't know if Soylent Green is set in the same year, but I suspect so.

No, I checked because I was thinking about including Soylent Green in the OP. The movie was set in 2022.

[BrainGlutton]

The Tales of Future Past website has much of this kind.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

I'll have to scour my books later -- there are plenty of examples, especially around the year 2000.

Mack Reynolds is a good example. He wrote several books specifically set in the year 2000.

[audit1]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

I wasn't sure about that one. I knew there was an eighteen month gap between the second and third parts of the story. But without watching the movie again, I couldn't remember if 2001 was the year the monolith was found on the moon or the year the giant space baby was encountered out by Jupiter.

The Film 2010 establishes the Discovery mission was in 2001 so the moon monolith was found in 1999. Of course the whole joint Russian/US mission to Jupiter in 2010 and Jupiter turning into a star seems not to have made CNN.

[Chronos]

Semi-relevant XKCD

[Tapiotar]

Sometime in the 1930's Bronson Alpha destroys the Earth. A few scientists work hard to perfect space travel and colonize companion planet Bronson Beta. (1933)

[Bri2k]

Missed the Wandering Sickness in 1967
Things to Come 1936

Bri2k

[RealityChuck]

1960 -- The first mechanized road is built between Cincinnati and Cleveland ("The Roads Must Roll" by Robert Heinlein, 1940)

1996 -- The Year of the Domino, where the US government relocated to Hammarskjold Center, on Mars and the superpowers are the Brazilian Union of the Americas and the Pan-African League (American Flagg!, 1983).

2000 -- The US is turned into a socialist utopia (Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, 1888).

[The Other Waldo Pepper]

Originally Posted by audit1

Of course the whole joint Russian/US mission to Jupiter in 2010 and Jupiter turning into a star seems not to have made CNN.

Was it a Russian/US mission, or a Soviet/US mission?

[OttoDaFe]

2007: Flying saucer crashes in Grinnell, Iowa. Agents of an ultra-secret government agency sent to investigate disappear. Slug-like aliens with the ability to control their "hosts" nearly take over but are decimated by exposure to terrestrial infections a disease which originally infected an extraterrestrial human colony.

Oh, and there are flying cars.

[Washoe]

Originally Posted by kunilou

But there's a more important, more fundamental issue here:

WHERE THE HELL IS MY FLYING CAR??????

But the The Jetsons was just a cartoon.

[Nobody]

How are any of us around? In 1986 an alien ambassador told the UN that we would be destroyed over our small talent for war. After the UN drafted a world peace treaty the ambassador said we misunderstood and that we needed to show a greater talent for war in order to be of use to them. - A Small Talent for War.

[Raguleader]

Originally Posted by kunilou

August 1985: Warsaw pact forces invade West Germany, Norway and Turkey. After the Soviet Union launches a nuclear strike at Birmingham, England, and suffers a retaliatory strike on Minsk, a rebellion overthrows the Communist government.

But there's a more important, more fundamental issue here:

WHERE THE HELL IS MY FLYING CAR??????

Avery Brooks has been demanding to know that for over a decade.

[WotNot]

"The seeds of the Little War were planted in a restless summer during the mid-1960s, with sit-ins and student demonstrations as youth tested its strength. By the early 1970s over 75 percent of the people living on Earth were under 21 years of age. The population continued to climb—and with it the youth percentage.
In the 1980s the figure was 79.7 percent.
In the 1990s, 82.4 percent.
In the year 2000—critical mass."

[Scuba_Ben]

Originally Posted by Don Draper

On "Doctor Who" - The Cybermen invaded Earth twice during the late 20th century - in London circa 1972, and Antarctica in 1986.

Oh, those actually happened. The invasions were quickly smashed.

[ruh-roh]

You know - a starship circlin in the sky - it ought to be ready by 1990
They'll be buildin it up in the air ever since 1980
People with a clever plan can assume the role of the mighty
and HIJACK THE STARSHIP
Carry 7000 people past the sun
And our babes'll wander naked thru the cities of the universe
Cmon
free minds, free bodies, free dope, free music
the day is on its way the day is ours
Kanter/Slick, 1970

[Little Nemo]

1980: Oregon, Washington, and Northern California secede from the United States and form the new nation of Ecotopia. Ecotopia (1975) Ernest Callenbach

[Voyager]

Originally Posted by The Other Waldo Pepper

Was it a Russian/US mission, or a Soviet/US mission?

Actually, it was a Soviet mission with a few US passengers, because the US didn't have a spacecraft ready. So Clarke was pretty accurate in that regard, anyway.

And while we're on the subject, HAL is already old technology - and there should have been an HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois (where I used to live) 15 years ago or so.

[The Other Waldo Pepper]

Originally Posted by Voyager

Actually, it was a Soviet mission with a few US passengers, because the US didn't have a spacecraft ready. So Clarke was pretty accurate in that regard, anyway.

Well, except for the "Soviet" part.

[Corner Case]

Originally Posted by billfish678

Maybe it was a Woody.

200 years, but it is a Volkswagen, after all.
Sleeper, 1973
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
^{So where's my healthy deep fat?! In the glove box of my flying car?!}

Collossus: The Forbin Project, 1970
"The voice of World Control" is broadcast to the general population of all countries. It declares that Man has a choice between the peace of a human millennium under its authority or one of "unburied dead". In a final remark, addressed to Dr. Forbin, the machine says, "In time, you will come to regard me not only with respect and awe, but with love."

Paris in the Twentieth Century, Jules Verne, 1863
Verne predicted in 1960 "Mutual assured destruction", Skyscrapers, Gasoline-powered automobiles, High-speed trains, Calculators, The Internet (a worldwide "telegraphic" communications network), Electric chairs (criminals "executed by electric charge"), and Computers. However, he also predicted all of Europe entering a winter of unprecedented ferocity. All agriculture is compromised and food supplies are destroyed, resulting in mass famine. The temperature drops to thirty degrees below, and every river in Europe freezes solid. All industry grinds to a halt.

[Nobody]

Originally Posted by Raguleader

Avery Brooks has been demanding to know that for over a decade.

The link is in a spoiler box, NSFW due to language.
Tim Wilson - "Jetpack"

SPOILER:

YouTube link

[monkeylucifer]

Originally Posted by Corner Case

200 years, but it is a Volkswagen, after all.

Watch the video clip I quoted. The narrator absolutely says two thousand years later. Ookla is totally throwing a VW Bug in that. There is no way that a car like that would be physically intact after 2,000 years. I know it's a silly cartoon from my childhood and I'm okay with that....but two thousand years?!?!?!?!?!

P.S. If I still was part of an RPG group I would totally run a campaign based on Thundarr using Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future to simulate that type of future. It would be so f-ing EPIC!!!!!

[The Other Waldo Pepper]

We're getting pretty close to 2015, and while we could theoretically get cracking on ubiquitous flying cars while abolishing all lawyers and cranking out a dozen JAWS sequels in time to match the holographic billboard in BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II, it's looking like Queen Diana is already off the table.

[Phea]

Forget science fiction, what about the stuff that SCIENCE has been wrong about?
Y2K.... never caused any problems.
The killer bees never got here.
Aids hasn't infected a third of the population.

There are more, but I gotta run.