# Futuristic Sci-Fi Movies Set in a Year That Has Come to Pass **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223 "2006-01-09T22:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wayward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wayward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wayward)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/41 "2006-01-10T12:30:07Z")
I think I’m going to officially feel old when we catch up with back to the Future II in ten… no, wait, **nine** years time. I’m still holding out for hoverboards ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/42 "2006-01-10T12:55:16Z")
Lots of books and stories setr in years that have passed, like Fredric Brown’s neglected gem **The Lights in the Sky are Stars** , set at the end of the 20th century (and including the countdown to midnight 1999/2000, which was 50 years away when the book was published). It’s about an _aging_ retired astronaut, which I found kinda neat. But the OP asked for movies. Most of the ones that sprang immediately to mind have been said already. But I just watched the not-all-that-bad, condired-as-a-kid’s-movie **The Phantom Planet** , which set, IIRC, in the 1980’s. Other 1950s space flight movies were also set in a future which has passed, but I can’t recall exactly which ones named the year – things like **Conquest of Space**. I don’t recall if **Destination Moon** named the year, but, implied or stated, it’s certainly past. **2001** , of course, has already been mentioned, but the film is also interesting because it gives the explicit date of HAL’s activation. The dates given in the movie and the book differ by five years. I was actually at the Computer Museum in Boston on the date given in the book, and was surprised that they weren’t aware that it was HAL’s birthday until I told them. I thought there’d be a celebration, or something. By the time the date given in the movie rolled around, the Computer Museum had ceased to exist. But MIT Press gave HAL a birthday party, which was also the time for a realease ofa book with a title like **Hal’s Children**. **2010** is coming, but I’ll bet no one will do anything for it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/43 "2006-01-10T14:43:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I was actually at the Computer Museum in Boston on the date given in the book, and was surprised that they weren’t aware that it was HAL’s birthday until I told them. I called the mayor’s office in Urbana, Illinois; they were similarly uninformed. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/44 "2006-01-10T15:08:23Z")
> [@Khan](#): > > Tokyo was destroyed on July 16, 1988. Then, too? How many times does that make it? And why don’t they just _move_ to a Godzilla-free zone? [Things to Come](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028358/plotsummary), released 1930: > [@](#): > > A global war begins in 1940. This war drags out over many decades until most of the people still alive (mostly those born after the war started) do not even know who started it or why. Nothing is being manufactured at all any more and society has broken down into primative localized communities. In 1966 a great plague wipes out most of what people are left but small numbers still survive. One day a strange aircraft lands at one of these communities and its pilot tells of an organisation which is rebuilding civilization and slowly moving across the world re-civilizing these groups of survivors. Great reconstruction takes place over the next few decades and society is once again great and strong. The world’s population is now living in underground cities. In the year 2035, on the eve of man’s first flight to the moon, a popular uprising against progress (which some people claim has caused the wars of the past) gains support and becomes violent. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/45 "2006-01-10T15:12:01Z")
They made a film about the future for the 1939 World’s Fair that depicted “the world of 1960”. we didn’t get all the neat stuff they showed, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/46 "2006-01-10T15:47:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No . . . It ain’t 20 minutes into the future **yet!** 😃 What about now? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/47 "2006-01-10T15:53:36Z")
[Worth a click](http://www.retrofuture.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/48 "2006-01-10T16:01:29Z")
**Demolition Man** begins in the savage flaming criminal-ruled hell that is Los Angeles, 1996. Thank goodness it’ll be reborn as utopian San Angeles by 2032! And there’ll be no murders after 2010! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/49 "2006-01-10T16:07:28Z")
But every restaurant will be a Taco Bell. And you’ll have to learn how to use the shells. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/50 "2006-01-10T16:32:27Z")
Not a movie, but the book **Down To A Sunless Sea** has the Earth wiped out by nuclear war in 1985, a little while after America ran out of oil and regressed to something very like barbarism. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/51 "2006-01-10T16:35:18Z")
Pshaw. We all died from nuclear fallout way back in 1964 in Nevil Shute’s _On The Beach_. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/52 "2006-01-10T16:39:32Z")
The Gerry Anderson series **UFO** (1969) was set in the year 1980. One ep actually included a reference to then-Congressman Gerald Ford! ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/53 "2006-01-10T16:42:02Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > ITR champion writes: > > \> Orwell set 1984 in 1984 as a homage to this book. > > Cite? That’s not what I’ve read. Like Otto, I’ve read that it comes from flipping the last two digits of 1948, when Orwell wrote the book. It was mentioned in the introduction to my copy of _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_. In fact, I’ve seen this factoid in two different editions. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/54 "2006-01-10T19:13:53Z")
“[Factoid](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=factoid),” eh? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/55 "2006-01-10T19:26:11Z")
I’ve mentioned this before on other threads, and it doesn’t QUITE fit in under “Come to Pass” but it’s so funny. There’s a grade B SF flick called [Fatal Conflict](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0279809/) that stars Kari Wuhrer. She’s an undercover cop on the trail of an interstellar bad guy. At one point she obtains cred as a criminal by actually going to an interstellar women’s prison. To introduce the prison scnes, there’s a matte painting of some bubble domes on a rocky plain, and it’s captioned: Alpha Centuari Prime Women’s Correctional Facility 2029 That’s right, this movie predicts interstellar travel within 30 years (it was released in 1999). And just about the FIRST thing we’re gonna do when we get into outer space, apparently, is build women’s prisons. Well, it makes sense to ME … ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/56 "2006-01-10T22:59:01Z")
Husband and I were just watching _Airplane 2_ the other night (the one with the lunar shuttle and William Shatner!), and I’m pretty sure that the date given in the beginning of the movie was something in the 90’s or maybe 2000. I can’t confirm it on IMDB however. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/57 "2006-01-10T23:46:17Z")
In the first few seconds of 2005, my husband demanded a flying skateboard like those featured in the aforementioned _Transformers: The Movie_. The TV show _Quantum Leap_ was supposed to have kicked off in 1999, where we’ll all drive awesome concept cars and even hookers will be able to afford earrings with flashing lights. Also, everyone will wear lots of lame. (I don’t know how to put the accent over that, but it’s lam-ay, the shiny, metallic material my prom dress was made of in 1994.) ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/58 "2006-01-11T00:48:10Z")
> [@cbawlmer](#): > > In the first few seconds of 2005, my husband demanded a flying skateboard like those featured in the aforementioned _Transformers: The Movie_. > > The TV show _Quantum Leap_ was supposed to have kicked off in 1999, where we’ll all drive awesome concept cars and even hookers will be able to afford earrings with flashing lights. Also, everyone will wear lots of lame. (I don’t know how to put the accent over that, but it’s lam-ay, the shiny, metallic material my prom dress was made of in 1994.) It’s truth in advertising without the accent, as it has always been pretty damned lame as well. And I suppose hookers COULD afford earings with flashing lights…they would be pretty cheap to make with current LCD technology. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/59 "2006-01-11T00:58:57Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [Worth a click](http://www.retrofuture.com/). Clicked on, wandered around the site and… HuH? Cecil, you didn’t really say this, did you? You sly old dog! > [@](#): > > The proposition of sex in space remains a source of playful speculation and we have on good word that the deed has been done. > > Over at NASA headquarters, a veil of secrecy has descended on the subject. Serious inquiry is generally rebuffed (the company line: astronauts are “professionals”) and officials are notoriously reluctant to discuss any details involving “s-e-x.” > > The last time NASA was repeatedly questioned on the matter was in 1992 when married partners Mark Lee and Jan Davis (below) flew together on Space Shuttle mission STS-47. > > As usual, officials at NASA seemed determined, at all costs, to avoid addressing “the interstellar nasty,” as columnist **Cecil Adams** has so colorfully termed it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223/60 "2006-01-11T01:58:11Z")
I just watched the 1960 version of _The Time Machine_ last night. The time traveler briefly stops off in 1966, when he sees London destroyed by atomic satellite weapons. His time machine is then entombed by lava from volcanic eruptions triggered by the bombs where it remains for thousands of years until erosion uncovers it. Of course, most of the action in the film takes place about 80,000 years later, so we still have a while to go for that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-set-in-a-year-that-has-come-to-pass/339223.md?page=4)