# What are some of the passed Sci-Fi dates? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 3, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354 "2004-07-03T06:21:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/21 "2004-07-03T18:52:02Z")
We’ve missed Second Impact. Which is probably good, because I don’t know how many whiny 14 year-old Japanese teenagers I could handle without having to start killing. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/22 "2004-07-03T18:58:09Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > Most notable, _2001: A Space Odyssey_, still no mission to Jupiter, and no self-aware machines. Speaking of which, HAL9000 became operational on Jan. 12, 1992. (I went to a screening of _2001_ at the American Museum of Natural History on that date; the crowd cheered when HAL mentioned it. 🆒 ) ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/23 "2004-07-03T18:59:49Z")
Well, 1972 was the year that the A-Team was sent to a military prison for a crime they didn’t commit. What? ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/24 "2004-07-03T19:07:02Z")
Oh, and let’s not forget [Buck Rogers](http://www.buck-rogers.com/): > [@](#): > > The year is 1987 and NASA launches the last of America’s deep space probes. In a freak mishap Ranger 3 and its pilot Captain William ‘Buck’ Rogers are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support systems and returns Buck Rogers to Earth 500 years later. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/25 "2004-07-03T20:56:00Z")
Heinlein’s “If This Goes On…” (AKA _Revolt in 2100_) is based on a plotted-but-unwritten Future History story, “The Sound of His Wings,” in which a Religious Right figure is elected President with the aid of Christian-Right televangelists, and proceeds to gradually remove American civil rights and replace it with a theocracy. The story is dated in 2012, and is alluded to in several other stories. It would be injecting political comment into Café Society to comment on the description of that event and its relationship to the real world. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/26 "2004-07-03T22:38:30Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > I know that there have been a bunch in the _Star Trek_ universe, stuff like that Kahn (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHNNNNNN!!!) was supposed to have conquered a fourth of humanity by something like 1994. In the “Space Seed”, they said that from 1992 to 1996, there was a world war known as the Eugenics wars, where a bunch of Genetically engineered supermen tried to take over the world(but records were fragementary). They were defeated, and a group of about 90 were unaccounted for at the end, presumably taking the Unregistered SS Bontany Bay into Space. A guy named Greg Cox wrote two Star Trek Novels about the Eugenics wars, trying to make them more plausible in today’s reality. His perception is that Khan and his fellow supermen were working covertly, and some of the “terrorist” actions during that time were really the Supermen trying to kill each other off without attracting the world’s attention(at which point the world would try to kill them off). At the end, they leave in a NASA prototype sleeper ship, which they rename the Botany Bay. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/27 "2004-07-03T22:58:26Z")
According to the old NES game _Crystalis_, civilization was destroyed on October 31st, 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/28 "2004-07-03T23:00:19Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > According to the old NES game _Crystalis_, civilization was destroyed on October 31st, 1997. Excuse me, October _first_. (Yes, I just popped the game back in to check. :o) ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/29 "2004-07-03T23:12:46Z")
In 1999, a large alien spacecraft was supposed to have crashed on South Ataria Island, making mankind for the first time definitely aware that there is life on other worlds. Ten years later, they have rebuilt the spaceship, re-christening it the SDF-1 Macross. Just in time for the original owners to show up and try to take it back… –Cho Jiku Yosai Macross (Super Dimension Fortress Macross), later re-edited into the first part of Robotech ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/30 "2004-07-03T23:19:54Z")
It should be noted though that the date, 2001, for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, was chosen moreso as a symbolic figure for ‘a new era’ as opposed to an actual date by which the book’s/movie’s material would be factual. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/31 "2004-07-03T23:21:19Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > According to the old NES game _Crystalis_, civilization was destroyed on October 31st, 1997. On a complete tangent: Holy crap that game rocked. Too bad they destoryed the music on the GBC version. I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/32 "2004-07-04T04:35:38Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > According to the old NES game _Crystalis_, civilization was destroyed on October 31st, 1997. 1997 seems to be a popular year for the end of the world. When did Akira destory toyko the first time? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/33 "2004-07-04T05:42:34Z")
Written in 1981 (or at least published circa that year), Stephen King’s “The Jaunt” tells of a futuristic way of travel. It doesn’t specify the year, but, if memory serves, it would have passed by the year 2004, based on circumstantial information. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/34 "2004-07-04T07:50:19Z")
I have an anthology from the '70s (I think) called **The Year 2000** about life in…well, you get it. On the other hand, Heinlein had he '60s down as the Crazy Years. He got that right! (Anyone notice that in 3001 Clarke moved all the 2001 dates back?) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/35 "2004-07-04T08:00:12Z")
> [@Ross](#): > > _Strange Days_ was set at… the turn of the millennium, I think. It was very odd watching it recently to hear the guy on the phone in radio show talking about “2K”, and the DJ, mere days or hours from New Year’s Eve, getting him to explain what he meant. This reminded me of the movie _Office Space_. In that, Peter’s (Ron Livingston) a software engineer helping to correct the coding for the Y2K bug. ---
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/36 "2004-07-04T10:33:57Z")
I’m fairly sure the Peace Authority should have taken over by now. I think it was supposed to happen around the year 2000. I can’t seem to find an exact date at the moment though. (from Vernor Vinge’s “The Peace War”) ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/37 "2004-07-04T13:09:28Z")
> [@MGibson](#): > > 1984 occured in the year…never mind. _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ starts on April 4, 1984 at 1:00 PM. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/38 "2004-07-04T13:42:44Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I have an anthology from the '70s (I think) called **The Year 2000** about life in…well, you get it. I have a YA anthology for 2041. (Most of the stories were written for the anthology; a couple were previously published and heavily modified from their original publications. I actually managed to track down one of them when I found a place selling a bunch of old Asimov’s.) I guess we’ll see how close it is here in 37 years, when I’m 58/59. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/39 "2004-07-04T17:02:48Z")
> [@Rabid Child](#): > > _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ starts on April 4, 1984 at 1:00 PM. Not 1:00! 13:00! You’ll be getting a visit from the Thought Police, you counterrevolutionary Goldsteinite atavist! ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354/40 "2004-07-04T20:54:33Z")
I think Akira started WWIII in early 1988. (The movie was released in 1987.) According to my _Star Trek Chronology_… •1973—Five brutal knife murders in Kiev. •1992—_Chicago Mobs of the Twenties_ was published •1994—Dead people are semi-routinely placed on Cryogenic satellites. •1999—_Voyager VI_ launched. •2002—_Nomad_ probe launched. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-of-the-passed-sci-fi-dates/253354.md?page=3)