# What science fiction works have been set in the closest future? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924 "2017-03-24T16:45:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/1 "2017-03-24T16:45:19Z")
I don’t love the phrasing in the thread title, but I can’t quite figure out a better way to say it. Elaborating: What works of science fiction —books, movies, TV, whatever —take place in a future that’s closest to the time that they were created? Example: _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ was published in 1949 and set in (drumroll!) 1984, so there’s a 35-year gap between creation and the depicted future. Caveats: SF set in the past or alternate present doesn’t count. I’m thinking of works set solidly in the future (based on when they were written), even if the goal wasn’t explicitly to predict the future. The works don’t have to be hard SF. Chronology is based on the main action of the work —in other words, original _Star Trek_ isn’t “set” in the 1990s even though events from that decade are mentioned in the series. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/2 "2017-03-24T16:49:41Z")
Back to the Future II was released in 1989 and focuses on a visit to 2015 (26 years in the future). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/3 "2017-03-24T16:51:08Z")
J.D. Robb’s(Nora Roberts) _In Death_ police procedural series is set about 40 years in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/4 "2017-03-24T16:51:15Z")
Max Headroom was set “20 minutes into the future,” and very little in its short run was improbable in our world. Much of its dystopian humor has come to pass. And the remainder seems to be on the immediate horizon. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/5 "2017-03-24T16:51:47Z")
Max Headroom took place 20 minutes into the future. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/6 "2017-03-24T16:52:51Z")
Zing! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/7 "2017-03-24T16:56:28Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Max Headroom took place 20 minutes into the future. Nice tag line…but not even close. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/8 "2017-03-24T16:57:52Z")
Mystery Science Theater 3000 takes place “Next Sunday, AD”. Pretty soon, if not as soon as Max Headroom. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/9 "2017-03-24T17:11:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Nice tag line…but not even close. It was actually about 20 years, by canonical references. And very recognizably our world. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/10 "2017-03-24T17:17:07Z")
Logan takes place 12 years in the future. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/11 "2017-03-24T17:19:42Z")
DC Comics’s "Atomic Knights series was published starting in 1960 and took place in 1992 (with the nuclear war that serves as the series’s background said to have occurred in 1986). The first appearance of DC’s character Tommy Tomorrow was published in 1947 and took place over a three year span from 1954 to 1960. (Later appearances changed the character to being further in the future.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/12 "2017-03-24T17:26:18Z")
“The future, Conan?” “Let us all look into the future—all the way to the year 2000.” Yes, I couldn’t help thinking of the “In the Year 2000” bit that they kept doing on _Late Night with Conan O’Brien_ even past the actual year 2000. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/13 "2017-03-24T17:27:41Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > “The future, Conan?” > “Let us all look into the future—all the way to the year 2000.” > > Yes, I couldn’t help thinking of the “In the Year 2000” bit that they kept doing on _Late Night with Conan O’Brien_ even past the actual year 2000. Also the Flight of the Conchords song “Robots” which takes place in “The distant future, the year 2000.” (Song released in 2008) ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/14 "2017-03-24T17:34:17Z")
Alien Nation (1988) takes place in 1991. The movie Strange Days (1995) takes place in 1999. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/15 "2017-03-24T17:48:03Z")
Cyril Kornbluth’s “The Rocket of 1955” was published in 1939, so 16 years. “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis was written in 1935 and showed a future that began in 1936. “The Golden Kazoo” by John G. Schneider was published in 1956 about the election campaign of 1964. (It is probably the most accurate bit of future extrapolation in the genre.) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/16 "2017-03-24T17:48:48Z")
**Twelve Monkeys** was released in 1995. Most of the film happens in 1996 even though there are scenes that take place about 30 years later and (briefly) in 1917. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/17 "2017-03-24T17:56:26Z")
Came to say _Max Headroom_, see that has already been taken care of. While no date is specified, William Gibson’s Blue Ant trilogy (really? that’s the name Wikipedia gives for it?) takes place barely into the future (much less than the Sprawl and Bridge trilogies.) Same goes for Charles Strosseses Halting State duology and Neal Stephenson’s _Reamde_. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/18 "2017-03-24T18:20:23Z")
A lot of films and books about nuclear war, impending nuclear war, and the aftermath of nuclear war are set in the near future. Most don’t mention specific dates though. The film _On the Beach_ was released in 1959 and set in 1964. _Seven Days in May_ was released in 1964 and set in the early 1970s. _Quantum Leap_ debuted in 1989 and the “present” where Sam comes from and where Al lives is supposed to be the mid-late 1990s, I think. The various film adaptations of _I am Legend_ are mostly set about 5 years after they were released. _Omega Man_ (1977 - 1971 = 6 years), _The Last Man on Earth_ (1968 - 1964 = 4 years), _I am Legend_ (2012 - 2007 = 5 years). The novel was set about 20 years after it was published. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/19 "2017-03-24T18:27:36Z")
the movie **Things to Come** was made in 1936 and predicts events starting in 1939. It has a war between Britain and an un–named enemy (who is almost certainly Germany, from the things they say) fought with lots of tanks (which wells himself had partly predicted much earlier), so he got it pretty correct. London (the stupidly named “Everytown” in the film, which nonetheless features things that look an awful lot like London landmarks) gets pretty badly beaten up by aerial bombing. where wells failed was in predicting a war that lasted for decades, effectively destroying European civilization until it was rescued by the Technocrats. This entire thread is a little odd. There are plenty of novels that start “today”, or even in the recent past, but are definitely science fiction, whether they extend to a Far Future or stay in the Near Future. How do you tell a Science Fiction novel set today from one set only a decade, or a year, or only a day in the future? How about a Science Fiction work set in the past? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924/20 "2017-03-24T18:29:28Z")
_Terminator 2_ was released in 1991 but set in 1995, mainly (I gather) so a character who was conceived in the original 1984 movie could be a plausible 10 year-old, though that was offset by them casting a 14 year-old actor. There wasn’t anything particularly futuristic about the setting itself, indeed the video games shown at the mall arcade scene would have seemed borderline-outdated in 1995. For plausible near-future projections, I nominate the 1987 British series _Star Cops_, set in 2027 when commercial exploitation of orbital and lunar space was fully underway. They didn’t invent or imply a gizmotronic artificial-gravity system, nor anything else that would strain our understanding of physics. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-works-have-been-set-in-the-closest-future/782924.md?page=2)