movies

The Sci-Fi Years That Weren't

POSTED BY Fred Topel | FRIDAY JANUARY 15 AT 9:30 PST 
General - Movies

Can you believe it’s already 2010? When we used to think about that number, it seemed like a year far off in the future. So did a lot of other years when sci-fi writers and filmmakers set their stories in the future. Here are some of the best sci-fi years that didn’t turn out as planned, and looking ahead some speculation about where we’re going.

1984 (Set in 1984)

Fortunately, Big Brother did not take over our lives in 1984 as George Orwell predicted. That didn’t happen until the ‘90s. Ha ha! Okay, while we don’t have giant eyes telling us what to do, there are plenty of technologies monitoring our activities and politicians judging what’s good and bad.

Escape from New York (Set in 1988)

1988 is the year that Escape from New York said New York was turned into a walled off prison. Not only didn’t that happen, but it got totally cleaned up too. Now you can’t even find a decent peep show on the street anymore.

Demolition Man (Set in 1996)

In Demolition Man, John Spartan (Stallone) comes from a war torn 1996 Los Angeles. Back in 1993, it might have seemed that post-riot L.A. would only get worse, but I live here and it’s actually still okay. Also, there’s no cryogenic industry at the level where you could freeze prisoners indefinitely and thaw them out in the future. The most disappointing part of all though is that Taco Bell still isn’t a fine dining establishment. 

Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (Set in 1996)

Here’s one you may have forgotten. Back in the early ‘90s, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man was set in the near future of 1996. Only in the future could Don Johnson and Mickey Rourke be action heroes. It took another 12 years for Rourke to find his footing but Johnson still has to live off Miami Vice and Nash Bridges residuals.

Predator 2 (Set in 1997)



Now I’ll give you that Predator might have had a hunt here and escaped unnoticed, but Predator 2 set his hunt in a “future” L.A. overrun by Jamaican drug lords in a heat wave. Sorry to disappoint you, but law and order has maintained the balance in the city, and the weather is still a pleasant 72 degrees.

Strange Days (Set in 1999)



Strange Days promised that by this year we would be able to trade memory downloads of hot women in lesbian three-ways. Dammit, where are my lesbian virtual reality downloads? They did call it for Y2K. As in the real world, as everyone predicted the end of the world at midnight on New Year’s Eve, everything continued on as normal.

2001: A Space Odyssey (Set in 2001)

As brilliant as Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke were, they were wrong about NASA’s prospects for the new millennium. We did not make it to Jupiter by then, nor have we had to deal with an ambiguous monolith or sentient, overly-emotional HAL 9000 computer system.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (Set in 2003)

Even though Terminator 2 said that Judgment Day was in 1997, they prevented it. Terminator 3 said they only postponed it, and according to their present day, the machines still rose up. So far, all our iPods and DVRs are living in harmony with us. Also, I wouldn’t take T3’s word for anything. They also said that 9 years after T2, John Connor would be 23. Terminator logic hurts my brains.

Paycheck (Set in 2004/2007)

Either date you start, Paycheck suggested technology that hasn’t existed yet. We can’t go into your brain and pinpoint specific memories to erase, or even erase a set block of years but leave the rest intact. Much as I’d like to erase a few of the more embarrassing years, I’ve gotta keep the bad with the good.

2010 (Set in 2010)

Perhaps it’s not fair to pick on 2010 after 2001 didn’t happen. There was no Discovery mission to follow up nine years later. Still, to be complete, there is no Discovery on a path to crash into a Jovian moon. Also there’s no Soviet Union anymore for NASA to team up with.

Looking into the future now...

2012 (Set in 2012)

The Mayans. End of the world. You believe that?

Escape from L.A. (Set in 2013)

Boy, John Carpenter really has to think further ahead. He set Escape from L.A. in 2013 where the City of Angels is now an island slum. Granted, we all expect it to happen someday, but there’s only three years to go and L.A. is still attached. Even if it broke off tomorrow, we’re looking at at least 2017 before Kurt Russell can surf Wilshire Blvd.

Back to the Future Part II (Set in 2015)

Back to the Future Part II suggests that we’ll have flying cars by the distant future of 2015. For them to be in regular use in five years, I think we’d have to have seen some prototypes by now. I’m fine with this though. The day they let average drivers pilot flying vehicles is the day I lock myself indoors permanently.

Blade Runner (Set in 2019)

We love Blade Runner but it’s a little late to think that we could still get Tokyo-esque architecture breathing fire into the Los Angeles sky by then. Maybe if they break ground on that pyramid building now, but there doesn’t seem to be anything of the like on the zoning board. For that matter, put me down for a replicant once they go on the market.

Minority Report (Set in 2054)



If psychic precogs emerge in the next 40 years, perhaps Minority Report will be onto something. The whole preventative crime stopping sort of hinges on that macguffin. Folks more tech savvy than me can tell us if we’re within reach of those motion sensor air video screens and single user jet packs.
 

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  1. Says:
    January 15th, 2010 at 10:12 am Judgment day was August 29, 1997.
  2. Says:
    January 15th, 2010 at 10:36 pm The Flying car is here!! www.terrafugia.com
  3. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 04:02 am Nice post. Of course, you're right, but to be more fair to some of these stories, several were written decades before they became movies. Paycheck, for example, was written in 1952, and Minority Report in 1956. I'm just saying, in these cases, I still agree with you, but you can't really blame the original writer, it's the filmmakers that--though they often change things from the source material--strangely choose to keep the dates of the original stories.
  4. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 04:04 am If the average driver gets a flying car then locking yourself indoors only offers a building sized target. unless you live underground
  5. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 04:04 am You forgot A Scanner Darkly from 2006 set in 2013. Though it's only about surveillance and drugs but still very futuristic
  6. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 04:18 am I think the most interesting thing in Back to the Future II is the thin panel display TV that they have hanging on the wall. That was pretty much dead on.
  7. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 04:43 am Don't forget the original (animated) Transformers, set in 2005 here and 2010 in Japan. I'll admit, I could do without the one piece leisure suits, but damnit I want my transforming exosuits, 30 foot tall robotic babes, and rocket powered hoverboards!
  8. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 04:56 am Escape from new york was 1997
  9. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 05:27 am Wow, ytou really picked some good ones. RT www.online-anonymity.se.tc
  10. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 06:07 am Demolition Man was set in 2032, as far as cryogenics, yes there are places to do this. They are just not commonly known.
  11. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 06:20 am I like how you use a picture of the crappy pinball machine for Demolition Man. Sandra Bullock's image looks like a bad tattoo.
  12. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 07:17 am You're going to hide indoors when people start flying cars? That just means that you'll never see them coming. If you were outside, at least you'd have a slight chance at seeing it coming and getting out of the way.
  13. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 09:15 am How can you have an article this and not include the "Mad Max" series, "A.I.", "Logan's Run", or the "Planet of the Apes" series?
  14. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 09:37 am Star Trek 2: Wrath of Khan - Khan was supposed to be a genetically engineered mastermind from 1996 ... frozen and sent into space with his cronies....
  15. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 10:37 am Lately, I too have been thinking about how far the scientific immagination thought we would have come at this point. Feels like we're really in slow motion compared to some other times in history. I mean...Jules Verne wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and we came up with the Nuclear powered sub...but we're not on Mars yet? No "Moon City" even? Why can't we figure out this whole faster-than-light-flight thing?
  16. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 01:19 pm No "The Final Cut?" No "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind?" No "Gattica?"
  17. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 04:54 pm 12 Monkeys!
  18. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 05:01 pm hehe nice one. But it would be way more entertaining seeing "the sci-fi years that WERE" : )
  19. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 05:50 pm Minority report has been close on lots of things. Biometrics are coming all pervasive, and advertisers are certainly going the direction of the totally invasive personalized advertisements shown. From google sharing your search prefs, to facebook announcing your purchases to your friends and advertizers, it's going there. Then there is e-ink and associated techs that make the kind of interactive hard copy seen there believable already. And finally, we may not have precogs, but I remember some news on slashdot a couple years ago about scientists being able to determine intent by scanning brain... of course it was intent based on a very narrow set of lab parameters... and yet who knows where that testing intent can lead? Maybe we will all be mandated to wear RFID tags, with GPS implants in our buts, and a permanent brain-scanner checking for murderous intents...
  20. Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 10:18 pm 2010 (the book) predicted the world a local call away. Vonage made this pretty close to true with their $24 unlimited rates to most of the world including India and China. No I don't work for them.
  21. Says:
    January 17th, 2010 at 03:51 pm Minority Report also got the motion sensor air video screens pretty damn close -- see the upcoming "Project Natal" add-on for the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, supposedly coming by the end of this year.
  22. Says:
    January 18th, 2010 at 08:08 am 1984 should not be on the list. If you read the book, Winston Smith does not really know what year it is. Its 1984 only because the government says its 1984. If Big Brother says 2 + 2=5, then it equals 5!
  23. Says:
    January 18th, 2010 at 03:51 pm no Space 1999? That one seems obvious.
  24. Says:
    January 18th, 2010 at 04:01 pm you forgot "Soylent Green", its set in 2022. lolz if you didnt see it already, you gotta!!
  25. Says:
    January 19th, 2010 at 10:31 pm Forgot 2005 from Transformers The Movie, I'm sure I would've seen Grimlock on the news.
  26. Says:
    January 21st, 2010 at 12:17 am A LOT of old sci-fi movies, especially in the 1980's, liked to set things in 1997, or would say that's the year the nuclear holocaust happened, etc. Not sure why that year, but it kept popping up. Some people in their comments mentioned movies like "Eternal Sunshine...," "Gattaca" and "Mad Max," but those movies never gave a date for when their events happen. "Eternal Sunshine..." is supposed to be contemporary to more-or-less now, the tech in it is just little known about. When Carrey's character finds out about it, he's amazed it's even possible.
  27. Says:
    January 27th, 2010 at 08:25 am We would be a LOT further along with the science gadgets except that the following things are slowing down our progress: 1.) Patent abuse 2.) DRM stupidity 3.) Government restrictions and corporate favoritism that limits startup market entry.
  28. Says:
    February 8th, 2010 at 01:01 am oh, and "Feejack" (1992) with Emilio Estevez and Mick Jagger set in new york of 2009 :DD
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