Old movies that managed to get the future (our present) right

[maczero]

After reading Green Lantern Wannabe's thread, I got to thinking about the opposite of what he was mentioning. You ever notice how old sci-fi movies over-estimated the future technological advancements. For instance, Robocop told us we would have armor plated cyborg police officers by the mid-90's. I mean it's the year 2008, where's my flying car, my robot maid, and my vacation home on the moon?

Seriously though, is there an old movie about the future that accurately depicts our present day society (technology, social trends etc.)?

[BoosterBronze]

I dont think anyone really predicted the 'information age' of the internet. I mean seriously, who ever sat down and imagined 'blogging?' If they did, people would have said they were dumb.

[Agent Helix]

RoboCop actually got a LOT of things right. It wasn't seriously predicting cyborg policemen, but the satire focusing on culture and corporate entities has proven to be pretty chillingly accurate.

[Jmacq1]

Not that I can think of, off the top of my head. At least not beyond those that are only set in the vague "near future."

Yeah, the internet/information age is really the one thing that none of the old sci-fi folks seemed to see coming. While we lag behind their vision in terms of flying cars, moon colonies, laser guns, et al....I think we can safely say that global communications is one area where we tend to have outstripped almost anything conceived by those folks back in the day.

[BoosterBronze]

The president of the universe sat on Moon Base 8, reading the reports on his Read-O-Screen about the newest fleet of space-ships. Suddenly his robot servant hovered into the room and handed him a letter from the Czar.
"I've been looking forward to this all week." He exclaimed, pleased that the space-post was so efficient and fast.


Yeah, it was more or less like that.

[Totoro Man]

there was some old movie in the 80s called "Looker" where I -think- the premise was that human actors would be replaced by computer generated imagery. while it hasn't happened on that scale-- it's kinda happened.

plastic surgeons, computer-generated people on film... not a fantastic film by any means. but I think SOME of the predictions turned out accurately.

I only thing I remember about seeing that film on TV as a kid was... "hmm, this Albert Finney guy is an interesting actor".

[JDogindy]

In some of these cases, it's not predicting the actual thing, but rather a slight variation of it.

2001: A Space Odyssey screwed up on some things, and I mean BIG things, but it was accurate on some approaches.

And RoboCop looking at corporations gaining a foothold into government is eerily true now.

[Green Lantern wannabe]

Thanks for the compliment. :)

Star Trek, the old series, got it right, at least temporarily - Kirk was seen using something that looks like 3.5" floppies, and his communicators are, for the moment, like our cell phones. Dick Tracy's watch phones will almost certainly come true.

Galactica 1980, the short-lived fiasco, had the heroes googling information on their watches, so that came true. At the same time, Salvage I, another series, had the heroes making a private spaceship from spare parts - Virgin Galactic is not using spare parts from NASA, but it will probably fly something similar into sub-orbital space soon. SpaceshipOne has already done so.

[HomerJay]

I have to echo the sentiment that ROBOCOP appears to have done the best job of any movie that I can think of. It got it right to the point where a lot of the parody in it has lost much of it's absurdity over time.

I think the secret is not going over-the-top with the technology and taking current infrastructure into account. Mainly because of the cost of rebuilding existing infrastructure, we are LONG way from having flying cars or routine space travel.

[Agent Helix]

And another thing about RoboCop. The biggest technological McGuffins, obviously Robo himself and ED-209, are presented fairly realistically in that they look plausible in the film. The detached servo arm that Miguel Ferrer shakes hands with, the big console controlling 209, it may not have come to pass, but it doesn't look hokey or ludicrous by today's standards.

[Dreadstar]

In Demolition Man they tongue-in-cheek suggested that all restaurants would be Taco Bells. I'm not yet ready to discard that, considering the Yum Corps. financial position.

[Agent Helix]

In Demolition Man they tongue-in-cheek suggested that all restaurants would be Taco Bells. I'm not yet ready to discard that, considering the Yum Corps. financial position.

Man, Demolition Man is hilarious to rewatch, especially when it starts off in the grim future hellhole of 1996. Ah, the dystopian Clinton years.

[Green Lantern wannabe]

Man, Demolition Man is hilarious to rewatch, especially when it starts off in the grim future hellhole of 1996. Ah, the dystopian Clinton years.

After the debacle of 2001 - remember PanAm? - I wonder why they put the future in 1996. It would have been better to say 2096, when no one seeing the movie would be alive.


BTW, speaking of hilarious - you should see the A&E documentary on the making of Star Wars. They had British body-builder David Prowse as Darth Vader for the Episode 4, actually the first movie, and they showed clips of him speaking in a Scottish accent. It was really funny to listen to the dialogue, and I wish they would release that version without James Earl Jones dubbing in.

[HomerJay]

In Demolition Man they tongue-in-cheek suggested that all restaurants would be Taco Bells.
Maybe that's why we'd poop differently to the point where we use 3 shells to clean up.

[The Zapper]

Brain Candy. Prescription drugs are out of control, and it seems like every one is on some.

[Naetnalta]

For instance, Robocop told us we would have armor plated cyborg police officers by the mid-90's.
No it didn't. Robocop was still considered a peculiarity to the people in that movie. You have to judge their world by what was commonplace. Robocop predicted that police departments could be owned by corporations, and that big gas-guzzling cars would be the hottest thing. Neither of those is correct. However, there have been advancements in prosthetics, including robotic prosthetics, and there's an exoskeleton that magnifies human strength (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=real-life-iron-man-exoskeleton), built by a company called CYBERDYNE!

[kalorama]

Robocop predicted that police departments could be owned by corporations, and that big gas-guzzling cars would be the hottest thing. Neither of those is correct.

They were the hottest thing (in the form of SUVs) for a long time, until gas prices skyrocketed.

And while private domestic police departments aren't owned by corporations, the outsourcing of police and military duties in Iraq to "private security contractors" is a close parallel.

[maczero]

No it didn't. Robocop was still considered a peculiarity to the people in that movie. You have to judge their world by what was commonplace. Robocop predicted that police departments could be owned by corporations, and that big gas-guzzling cars would be the hottest thing. Neither of those is correct. However, there have been advancements in prosthetics, including robotic prosthetics, and there's an exoskeleton that magnifies human strength (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=real-life-iron-man-exoskeleton), built by a company called CYBERDYNE!Even if he was the first, he still existed in their world. The technology that led to his development still existed in their world. Think back to 1995 when the movie was supposed to take place, and ask yourself were we at that level of development with robotics?

[the goddamn batman]

Dick Tracy's watch phones will almost certainly come true.


No way. If anyone was going to do that, they'd have done it already. We'll get Star Trek communicators before we get the watches.

[Green Lantern wannabe]

No way. If anyone was going to do that, they'd have done it already. We'll get Star Trek communicators before we get the watches.

We already have ST communicators, sort of. And the wrist phones may come about yet - unless the plug-ins become more popular.

[kalorama]

We already have ST communicators, sort of.

Yeah, today's flip phones with walkie-talkie capabilities are pretty much indistinguishable from Trek communicators.

[ultramandingo]

..............im pretty sure Idiocracy (2006) is going to come true - and it wont take 500 years for it to happen - " Welcome to Carl's Jr. Would you like to try our EXTRA BIG ASS TACO? Now with more MOLECULES! "

[Corrina]

Yeah, today's flip phones with walkie-talkie capabilities are pretty much indistinguishable from Trek communicators.

I think that might be a case of life imitating art, at least design wise, especially given that some of the first phones were called Star Tac phones.

[Omega Alpha]

Great movies about the future focus not on the gadgets or technology, but in people and society as a whole, and those never change, or at least not enough to the point of being unrecognizable.

[Jared]

The only tech that really jumps out at me in Blade Runner as being way too futuristic is the fact that they apparently have starships in the early 21st century. At the time it was made, surely that still must have seemed far fetched. I can only rationalize it be suppossing that its world has a vastly different history from the real one.

If anyone remembers it by then, I suspect I Robot will seem utterly absurd when it catches up with its setting. And let's not forget the most horribly blatant product placement ever, with Will Smith shilling for "classic" shoes from his childhood that just happen to have come out when the movie did.

[Green Lantern wannabe]

OT, but I have always thought I, Robot would have been great if done in a Metropolis setting.

[Superbeast]

And another thing about RoboCop. The biggest technological McGuffins, obviously Robo himself and ED-209, are presented fairly realistically in that they look plausible in the film. The detached servo arm that Miguel Ferrer shakes hands with, the big console controlling 209, it may not have come to pass, but it doesn't look hokey or ludicrous by today's standards.

We don't have ED 209 or Robocop but we have had the robot dog, basic transforming robots, computers playing chess against grandmasters and winning, bomb disposal robots, motion detection based CCTV and weapons, weapons capable of firing variable rounds and high speeds, then there is this nex disaster relief robot prototype...
http://dvice.com/pics/Daniel-Shankland-II-Disaster-Relief-Robot.jpg
So who knows, hopefully soon we'll have massive recycled helicopters on legs. *crosses fingers*

[Rik Levins]

In the early Sixties, I read a novel called "Simulacron-3", by Daniel Galouye, that takes place in a computer-generated artificial reality.

The novel eventually became a movie called The Thirteenth Floor, which came out around the same time as The Matrix, and had a number of similarities.

Ironically, some people complained that 13th Floor was ripped off from Matrix, not realizing that it was written thirty-five years earlier. But it pretty accurately foresaw the whole concept of virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

[KenK]

In Demolition Man they tongue-in-cheek suggested that all restaurants would be Taco Bells. I'm not yet ready to discard that, considering the Yum Corps. financial position.

Let's not forget President Schwarzenegger. Another decade could be all he needs to get that constitutional amendment that would allow him to run. :biggrin:

[howyadoin]

I dont think anyone really predicted the 'information age' of the internet..Never heard of William Gibson?

[ForeverTaskmaster]

Class Of 1984. When that movie was released it was mocked. It was too unrealistic with all those youngsters being packed.

[StoneGold]

Sadly, the most prescient movie isn't SF. Network. I think I might actually hate Paddy Chayefsky for giving some network executive bastard the idea for the modern newscast, even if he was presenting it as a bad thing.

[Green Lantern wannabe]

You know, those old IBM computers are junk now, but they bring back a certain feel I had at that time, when I was young, of how high tech represented the boundless future, and anything was possible. Today, with Windows crashing all the time, and with one breakthrough after the other, it's all getting a little mundane - no excitement of like the 1970's and '80's.

[The Xenos]

Never heard of William Gibson?

I read an interview a couple of years ago in Time where Gibon said that if he was rewriting Neuromancer, he's have more bionics in it. He'd integrate computers more into the human body because he sees the fields of computers and biology colliding in the near future.

[Ontir]

THX-1138 pretty accurately predicted modern TV. So did Network!

[frankiedetroit]

The Truman Show predicted accurately that everyone could broadcast their lives 24/7 and people wouldn't be able to turn it off. That didn't happen with one single show, but when you consider how many people watch other people living their 'regular' lives (not game shows like American Idol or Survivor but the documentary-style ones), whether on TV or online, those shows are watched by millions 24/7.

And Escape From New York accurately predicted that Isaac Hayes would be the Duke of New York, A#1, which he is.

[The Batman]

THX-1138 pretty accurately predicted modern TV. So did Network!

THX-1138 also predicted a society that is distracted by rampant consumerism and made up of people who constantly using prescription drugs to keep themselves on an even keel.

Otherwise I agree the Robocop did a surprisingly good job. Maybe not on the specific details, but in it's commentary on a world where corporations wield incredible influence, people are treated as expendible hardware, and the gulf between the rich and the poor is deep and wide.

Well that and cyborg policemen in Detroit.

http://www.matusiak.eu/numerodix/blog/wp-content/uploads/robocop_in_action.jpg

[brundlefly]

The Truman Show predicted accurately that everyone could broadcast their lives 24/7 and people wouldn't be able to turn it off. That didn't happen with one single show, but when you consider how many people watch other people living their 'regular' lives (not game shows like American Idol or Survivor but the documentary-style ones), whether on TV or online, those shows are watched by millions 24/7.

Similarly, in 1999 EDtv foreshadowed the wave of "follow so-and-so around all day" VH1 drek reality shows like Hogan Knows Best, My Fair Brady, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, etc.

[Typo Lad]

You can, in fact, buy watch phones. They're ugly and expensive, but they exist.

[maczero]

You can, in fact, buy watch phones. They're ugly and expensive, but they exist.I was thinking they existed but I'm guessing the idea didn't catch on. Talking into your wrist doesn't seem too ergonomical.

[Typo Lad]

Naw. You use Bluetooth (http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/05/22/cect-wrist-watch-phone-is-borderline-wearable/)

[maczero]

Naw. You use Bluetooth (http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/05/22/cect-wrist-watch-phone-is-borderline-wearable/)Honestly, it doesn't look too bad.

[the goddamn batman]

Similarly, in 1999 EDtv foreshadowed the wave of "follow so-and-so around all day" VH1 drek reality shows like Hogan Knows Best, My Fair Brady, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, etc.

Dudes, The Secret Cinema did that, in like 1968... although, more maliciously. Still, that is by no means an original idea.

[brundlefly]

Dudes, The Secret Cinema did that, in like 1968... although, more maliciously. Still, that is by no means an original idea.

Truth, but Secret Cinema did that, well, secretly; more like the Truman Show, with the subject being unaware that their life was being filmed for an audience. With EDtv, I meant foreshadowing the age of TV crews openly following around fame whores like the Lohans and the Hogans, who are "in on it," and zombified audiences then lapping up the minutiae of their daily existence as "entertainment."

[Toku King]

"Idiocracy".

[the goddamn batman]

Truth, but Secret Cinema did that, well, secretly; more like the Truman Show, with the subject being unaware that their life was being filmed for an audience. With EDtv, I meant foreshadowing the age of TV crews openly following around fame whores like the Lohans and the Hogans, who are "in on it," and zombified audiences then lapping up the minutiae of their daily existence as "entertainment."

Fair enough.

[StoneGold]

Truth, but Secret Cinema did that, well, secretly; more like the Truman Show, with the subject being unaware that their life was being filmed for an audience. With EDtv, I meant foreshadowing the age of TV crews openly following around fame whores like the Lohans and the Hogans, who are "in on it," and zombified audiences then lapping up the minutiae of their daily existence as "entertainment."

In which case, go see Real Life with Albert Brooks from 1979. It got everything right, right down to the producers doing whatever they could to influence the cast to be more interesting.

[brundlefly]

In which case, go see Real Life with Albert Brooks from 1979. It got everything right, right down to the producers doing whatever they could to influence the cast to be more interesting.

That sounds most interesting and I love Albert Brooks. Thanks for the recommendation, StoneGold.

[Paradox]

BoosterBronze should never doubt:

I dont think anyone really predicted the 'information age' of the internet. I mean seriously, who ever sat down and imagined 'blogging?' If they did, people would have said they were dumb.

Actually, I'm rereading "Earth" by David Brin and it's very accurate about "blogging", except that it was used far less frivolously. It's from '90 when there was barely an Internet. And the "information age" stuff is in dozens upon dozens of old sci fi books, with computers with any info you wanted at your fingertips. Heck, they even CALLED it "The Web" back in old Nexus comics from the '80s.

[Augusto]

I was thinking they existed but I'm guessing the idea didn't catch on. Talking into your wrist doesn't seem too ergonomical.

Heeyy! Michael Knight never had a problem!:mad:

http://www.yelims.com/IPB/Invision-Board-France-234.gif

[Julusnc]

The Truman Show predicted accurately that everyone could broadcast their lives 24/7 and people wouldn't be able to turn it off. That didn't happen with one single show, but when you consider how many people watch other people living their 'regular' lives (not game shows like American Idol or Survivor but the documentary-style ones), whether on TV or online, those shows are watched by millions 24/7.

And Escape From New York accurately predicted that Isaac Hayes would be the Duke of New York, A#1, which he is.

He is The Duke A#1 Show Nuff!!!!

[StoneGold]

That sounds most interesting and I love Albert Brooks. Thanks for the recommendation, StoneGold.

Just in case you haven't seen it yet, Real Life was actually a parody of a PBS series that was basically the first reality show, but without all the interesting stuff. Real Life basically projected what the show would be like if a network was doing it. And it was right.

[xarathos]

RoboCop actually got a LOT of things right. It wasn't seriously predicting cyborg policemen, but the satire focusing on culture and corporate entities has proven to be pretty chillingly accurate.

'I'll buy that for a dollar'.

I saw a low-budget film called Time Chasers on Mystery Science Theater 3000 that had about one thing right. You saw kids walking around, riding skateboards with cell phones in their hands. It was one of the later sci-fi era MST3Ks.

I remember the first season wondering what the show was.