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This is a list of fictional stories that, when composed, were set in the future, but the future they predicted is now present or past. The list excludes works that were alternate histories, which were composed after the dates they depict, alternative futures, as depicted in time travel fiction, as well as any works that make no predictions of the future, such as those focusing solely on the future lives of specific fictional characters, or works which, despite their claimed dates, are contemporary in all but name.
Work | Form | Year of publication/ release |
Year set | Predictions |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. April 2000 | Film | 1952 | 2000 | Austria is still being closely watched over by the Allies, 55 years after the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. |
"11:59" (from Star Trek: Voyager) | TV series episode | 1999 | 2000–2001, 2012 | This episode accurately predicted that the Y2K bug would not turn off "a single lightbulb." The Millennium Gate, a self-contained biosphere, was completed in 2012. |
12 Monkeys | Film | 1995 | 1996–1997 | Scientists are sent back in time to try to stop the spread of a virus. Per the opening titles in the film, "Five billion people died in 1996 and 1997, almost the entire population of the world. Only about 1 percent of us survived."[1][2][3] |
12 Monkeys | TV series | 2015–2018 | 2017 | In the TV series, the scientists are sent back to 2015 to try to stop the virus pandemic from happening in 2017.[4] |
1900, or the Last President | Novel | 1896 | 1900 | Depicts a world in which political uprisings cause the collapse of the US in 1900.[5] |
Nineteen Eighty-Four | Novel | 1949 | 1984 | Set in a dystopian future in which totalitarian superstates exist in a state of perpetual war. Refers to several dates throughout the latter half of the 20th century, including a nuclear war in the 1950s. Adapted into several media, including twice for film; once in 1956 and once in 1984. |
1985 | Novel | 1978 | 1985 | Written at a time when trade unions in the United Kingdom had reached a peak of power prior to the union-breaking policies of Margaret Thatcher, it predicts a 1985 in which the UK is completely in thrall to unions, and unions exist for every conceivable profession. |
"1990" | Song | 1973 | 1990 | In 1990, poverty and starvation are rampant in the US. |
1990 | TV series | 1977–1978 | 1983–1990 | A bureaucratic dictatorship has ruled the UK since it went bankrupt in 1983. Magna Carta, the Constitution and habeas corpus were "thrown out." There was a failed coup to overthrow the regime in 1986. The UK's currency is the Anglodollar. The government is attempting to curb population. The House of Commons has only 400 MPs and only 20% of the population voted in the last general election. The House of Lords was abolished and converted into a dining club. By this time, the UK has a king. There were major riots in 1985 as a result of 18,000 houses being demolished and ghettos being established in their place. The Isle of Man declared independence prior to 1990. At this time, the United States had its own equivalent of the National Health Service. The series correctly predicted that parliamentary speeches would be televised by 1990. |
1990: The Bronx Warriors | Film | 1982 | 1990 | Similar to Escape From New York, depicts a portion of New York sealed off from the rest of the city and handed over to street gangs. The sequel Escape from the Bronx is set sometime after this and was released in 1983. |
"1993" | Song | 1977 | 1993 | Song by Boz Scaggs from his 1977 album Down Two Then Left. Predicts simulated reality. |
"1996" (from Screen One) | TV series episode | 1989 | 1996 | In 1996, there is widespread terrorism and civil disobedience in the UK. |
2001: A Space Odyssey | Film, novel | 1968 | 2001 (and other eras) | Depicts a turn of the 21st century in which space travel is routine, China is a monarchy, the Moon has been colonized and artificial intelligence has reached superhuman levels. HAL 9000 is activated in 1992 (film) or 1997 (novelization). Predicted digital newspapers/the newspad and the population exceeding six billion.[6][7][8][9] |
"2001 & A Bit" (from The Goodies) | TV series episode | 1976 | 2001 | In 2001, cricket has somehow died out, and the sons of the Goodies must find a way to revive it. |
2010 | Film | 1984 | 2010 | Sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey film. The United States is about to go to war with a still-extant Soviet Union. The film correctly predicted that the 2008 Summer Olympics would be held in Beijing.[10] |
2010: Odyssey Two | Novel | 1982 | 2010 | Sequel to the 2001: A Space Odyssey book; the Soviet Union still exists in 2010. |
2012 | Film | 2009 | 2009–2012 | See also: 2012 phenomenon.[11] |
2012: Supernova | Film | 2009 | 2012 | See also: 2012 phenomenon. |
2019, After the Fall of New York | Film | 1983 | 2019 | Post-apocalyptic film in which nuclear war and radiation have rendered the populace infertile. Survivors head to New York City to rescue the last allegedly fertile woman on Earth.[12] Inspired by Escape From New York. |
2020 Texas Gladiators | Film | 1984 | 2020 | Neo-Western set in a post-apocalyptic Texas. |
2020 Visions | Comic | 1997 | 2020 | Accurately predicts New York City will be the epicenter of a pandemic in the year 2020. It additionally predicts Ellis Island becoming a plague colony, Florida becoming an independent state, Detroit being ruled by Sharia law, and unlicensed children becoming illegal.[13] |
2020 | Webseries | 2013 | 2020 | Based on the White Paper "Project 2020: Scenarios for the future of Cybercrime" published by the ICSPA, Europol and Trend Micro. |
2061: Odyssey Three | Novel | 1987 | 2006–2022 | In 2007, the spaceship Tsien was built. In the 2020s, a major earthquake occurs in California and two nuclear bombings occur in a war. Predicted the end of apartheid in South Africa (albeit in the early 21st century instead of 1994) followed by a mass exodus of Afrikaners and capital flight.[14] |
20th Century Boys | Manga | 1999–2006 | 2014–2015 | The second major part of the story occurs in 2014–15 where society has become a dystopia ruled by the Friend Democratic Party. The live-action film series sets some of its events in 2015. |
7th Dragon 2020 | Video game | 2011 | 2020 | Dragons invade Tokyo. The sequel, 7th Dragon 2020-II takes place in 2021. |
A for Andromeda | TV series | 1961 | 1970–1972 | Scientists discover and decipher a signal from outer space. |
A Philosophical Investigation | Novel | 1992 | 2013 | Violent criminal acts (by men only) can be more-or-less accurately predicted with brain scans. Other predicted technologies include smartphones, video calls, and virtual reality. |
Absolon | Film | 2003 | 2010 | In 2010, a virus wiped out half of Earth's human population. |
The Absolute at Large | Novel | 1922 | 1943 | A reactor is invented that can annihilate matter to produce cheap and abundant energy. Unfortunately, it produces something else as a by-product, the Absolute. This leads to an outburst of religious and nationalist fervor, causing the greatest, most global war in history. Some of the more prominent political changes the war causes include expulsion of the Russian army to Africa (via Europe) by the Chinese invasion, the conquest of East Asia by Japan that cuts the Chinese conquests in Russia and Europe down to the limits of the former Austro-Hungarian empire, and the Japanese conquest of North America. The latter happened because the United States were exhausted by a bloody civil war between the supporters and opponents of the Prohibition. |
The Abyss | Film | 1989 | 1994 | Set in a submersible drilling platform. |
Acción mutante | Film | 1993 | 2012 | A dystopian future in which the beautiful rule and the disabled become terrorists. |
Action Comics #396–397 | Comic | 1971 | 1980s–1990s | In the 1980s, there was a crewed mission to Saturn. In the 1990s, the US National Sea Frontier Project established a giant marine laboratory on the ocean floor. By this time, flying cars were common. Climate control resulted in the Arctic being defrosted. Construction workers were equipped with anti-gravity pulse rays to move heavy objects. Banks had bulletproof glass cages which could be erected to prevent robbers from escaping. Lampposts were equipped with automatic fire sensors which alerted the fire department, which used hovercraft that shot out fireproof foam. Ships had flotation collars which could keep them adrift in the event of an emergency. An instant fertilizer existed which allowed crops to grow in seconds. |
Adrenalin: Fear the Rush | Film | 1996 | 2007 | Boston is quarantined after the outbreak of a deadly virus. |
Aeon Flux | Film | 2005 | 2011 | A pathological virus kills 99% of the human population in 2011. |
"Age of Peril" (from Tales of Tomorrow) | TV series episode | 1952 | 1965 | In 1965, lie detector results are the primary means of securing convictions. |
Akira | Manga, Anime | 1982–1990 | 2019 | Set in a dystopian, post-WWIII Neo-Tokyo in the midst of civil unrest and government corruption.[12]
Made into a film and video game in 1988. Correctly predicted that the 2020 Summer Olympics would have been held in Tokyo. Additionally, graffiti in the film references the 2020 Olympics, saying "Just cancel it." Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the quote began to be used online in reference to the potentially hazardous Olympic gathering, both as a serious wish and as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek reference. |
Alien Nation | Film | 1988 | 1991 | Set in a world where aliens have landed in 1988 and are being integrated into society. |
Alien Nation | TV series | 1989 | 1995 | Based on the film of the same name. Aliens arrive in 1990. See also Alien Nation: Millennium |
Alien Soldier | Video game | 1995 | 2015 | In 2015, "A-Humans" live on "A-Earth" and create superintelligent cyborgs. |
"All You Zombies" | Short story | 1958 | 1963–1993 | Space colonisation is routine and a Temporal Bureau safeguards the human race through time travel. Complete sexual reassignment is possible, even allowing fertility. |
Americathon | Film | 1979 | 1998 | The US federal government is bankrupt and holds a telethon to avoid foreclosure and return to its original owners; the film accurately predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union.[6] |
Amerika | TV miniseries | 1987 | 1997 | By 1997, the United States has lost World War III and has been occupied by the Soviet Union for ten years. |
The Angel of the Revolution | Novel | 1893 | 1903–1904 | The Brotherhood of Freedom, an association of anarchists, socialists and nihilists, established a Pax Aeronautica over Earth using aircraft. Correctly predicted the first heavier-than-air flight would occur in late 1903. |
An Anglo-American Alliance | Novel | 1906 | 1960 | In 1960, the United States and the British Empire are the world's major colonial powers. Technological advances include prenatal sex discernment, suspended animation and a cure for laziness. |
Anno Domini 2000, or, Woman's Destiny | Novel | 1889 | 2000 | In 2000, female suffrage has been achieved throughout the British Empire, which has become an Imperial Federation. Ireland has become an independent state. As a result of Emperor Albert's refusal to marry the daughter of the President of the United States, war breaks out between the Federated British Empire and the United States. The Empire wins the war and the defeated US is reabsorbed into the Empire. Correctly predicts the spread of female suffrage and Ireland becoming a sovereign state. |
"The Answer" | Short story | 1959 | 1969 | In 1969, a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union devastated the entire Northern Hemisphere. |
"Any Last Werdz" | Song | 1993 | 1999 | Armageddon occurs in 1999. |
The Apple | Film | 1980 | 1994 | The Rapture occurs in 1994. The planet is run by the music industry.[15] |
Arc Light | Novel | 1994 | 1999 | In 1999, Russia and China are at war for control of Eastern Siberia and North Korea invades the Demilitarized Zone. Russia launches a nuclear strike at the United States, which retaliates, and World War III begins. |
"Armageddon 1970" (from Imagination) | Novella | 1952 | 1959–1970 | In 1959, a handgun called a grenade pistol was invented. Prior to 1960, the first artificial satellite Albertus, named after Albert Einstein, was launched by the United States. In 1960, the Soviet Union collapsed due to internal causes precipitated by the launching of Albertus. An "almost Carthaginian peace" was imposed on Argentina after it dropped an atomic bomb on London. By 1970, the United States held unrivaled power among the other nations of the world to the point that there was little possibility of another country successfully attacking or sabotaging the US. |
Armageddon 2001 | Comic | 1991 | 2001 | In 2001, Earth is ruled by an oppressive tyrant named Monarch, a former hero who became evil and killed all of his comrades. |
Armed Police Batrider | Video game | 1998 | 2014 | Police wear mechs. |
Assassin's Creed | Video game | 2007 | 2012 | See also: 2012 phenomenon.[16] |
Assassin's Creed II | Video game | 2009 | 2012 | See also: 2012 phenomenon. Assassin's Creed III was released in 2012.[16] |
Astro Boy | Manga | 1952–1968 | 2003 | A world in which humans and androids coexist. Celebrations were held in Japan for Astro Boy's birthday of April 7, 2003.[17] |
The Astronauts | Novel | 1951 | 2003 | By 2003, Communism has emerged as the worldwide form of government. Humanity is engaged in numerous gigantic engineering projects such as the irrigation of the Sahara, the construction of a hydro-energetic plant over the Strait of Gibraltar, climate control and the thawing of the Antarctic and the Arctic. |
Atomic Knight | Comic | 1960–1964 | 1986–1992 | Initially set in a post-apocalyptic United States following a nuclear war which broke out on October 9, 1986. The war wiped out most of humanity and destroyed the majority of plants and animals. The radiation caused dogs to significantly grow in size which led to them being used as steeds.[18] |
Back to the Future Part II | Film | 1989 | 2015 | In 2015, hoverboards, self-lacing Nike shoes and flying cars are commonplace. The Jaws film franchise has reached its (fictional) 19th installment, directed by Max Spielberg, and pop culture from the 1980s is considered 'retro', as with Café 80s. The Chicago Cubs defeat a fictional Miami Gators team for the 2015 World Series (in reality, the Cubs would be eliminated in the League Championship Series, but would come back to win the series the next year). October 21, 2015, the "future" date arrived as in the film, was celebrated as "Back to the Future Day".[19][20] |
Barb Wire | Film | 1996 | 2017 | Predicts a second American Civil War in 2017 with martial law declared in all major cities in the nation except for one.[21] Computer technology that reads people's thoughts, retinal scans that serve as a biometric passport.[22] The comic that it was based on takes place in an alternate version of present-day Earth. |
"Battlefield" (from Doctor Who) | TV series episode | 1989 | 1997 | The United Kingdom has a king and a lemonade costs five pounds. The Dying Days sets this story in 1997. |
Battlefield 2 | Video game | 2005 | 2007 | Depicts a war between the United States and China, with battles taking place on Wake Island. Several Middle Eastern states have joined to form a superstate known as the "Middle Eastern Coalition". |
Battlefield 3 | Video game | 2011 | 2014 | Takes place during the "War of 2014" in the Iran-Iraq area.[23] |
Battlefield 4 | Video game | 2013 | 2020 | Takes place during the fictional "War of 2020" between the United States, China, and Russia. |
Battle for the Planet of the Apes | Film | 1973 | c. 2001 | A nuclear war took place between 1991 and the "turn of the 21st century." |
Battle in Outer Space | Film | 1959 | 1965 | Depicts a terrestrial counter-attack against invading mind-controlling aliens from the Moon. |
The Battle of Dorking | Short story | 1871 | ~1875, ~1925 | Depicts an invasion of the United Kingdom by Germany. Set a short but undetermined amount of time after the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), but narrated by a veteran 50 years afterwards. Established the invasion literature genre and predicted a Civil War in an independent Ireland. |
BattleTanx | Video game | 1998 | 2001 | In 2001, a pandemic kills a majority of the world's women. |
Beast Wrestler | Video game | 1991 | 2020 | Beasts and dragons fight 1-on-1. |
Berlin Without Jews | Novel | 1925 | 1920s–1930s | A dystopian novel prophesying in uncanny detail Hitler's rise to power and the subsequent implementation of anti-Jewish laws, rendering the German capital emptied of its Jews. |
Berserker | Novel | 1967 | 20th century | Extraterrestrial radio transmissions are detected before the end of the 20th century. |
Beyond the Time Barrier | Film | 1960 | 2024 | Nuclear testing destroyed the Earth's ozone layer in 1971. By 2024 the entire human population is sterile. |
Bicentennial Man | Film | 1999 | 2005–2021 | The android robot "Andrew" is brought online on April 3, 2005.[10] The remainder of the film is set decades and centuries in the future. |
The Black Cloud | Novel | 1957 | 1964 | Earth is "invaded" by a giant, sentient black interstellar cloud. |
"Black Easter" (from Screen Two) | TV series episode | 1995 | 2000 | In 2000, a civil war in Russia results in a vast migration of refugees to Western Europe. |
Blade Runner | Film | 1982 | 2019 | Based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Set in a future in which interstellar travel has been achieved and synthetic humans are employed as slave labor. A Voight-Kampff machine is used as a tool to determine whether the subject is a human or not.[12] Los Angeles is also portrayed as heavily polluted.[24] Roy Batty's incept date is listed as 2016. The 1997 video game also takes place in November 2019, the same as the film.
Other technologies regularly used include video calling, voice identification, virtual assistants, smart key, and flying cars. There is a machine that can zoom in on sections of a camera photo, and a blow dryer that dries hair in seconds.[24] |
"The Blessington Method" (from Alfred Hitchcock Presents) | TV series episode | 1959 | 1980 | By 1980, life expectancy has significantly increased. (Ironically, Alfred Hitchcock himself would die in 1980.) |
Blue Comet SPT Layzner | Anime series | 1985–1986 | 1996 | By 1996, the Cold War has intensified and nuclear tensions loom. At this time, both the United States and the Soviet Union have bases on the Moon and Mars. |
Bombshell | Film | 1997 | 2011 | Nano-engines are a potential cure for cancer. Bombs are inserted into people as kidney transplants.[11] |
A Boy and His Dog | Film | 1975 | 2024 | Nuclear war has ravaged the world. Genetic engineering has granted dogs sapience and telepathy. |
Breaking Dad | Play | 2014 | 2022 | The Irish economy has recovered from the post-2008 downturn, with the recovery dubbed the "Celtic Phoenix." Fianna Fáil are returning to dominance, with Bertie Ahern about to be re-elected Taoiseach aged 71.[25][26] |
Brick Mansions | Film | 2014 | 2018 | A district of Detroit is sealed off to protect the city from criminals. Same director and concept as District 13.[27] |
The Broom of the System | Novel | 1987 | 1990 | The "Great Ohio Desert" (G.O.D.) is constructed.[28][29] |
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century | TV series, film | 1979 | 1987 | Buck Rogers's spacecraft was frozen in May 1987, after which he was frozen and not revived until 2491. A nuclear war broke out in November 1987. |
Bullet Witch | Video game | 2006 | 2013 | Post-apocalyptic world invaded by demons.[30] |
Burn-Up Scramble | Anime | 2004 | 2023 | Features a secret squad of the Tokyo Police called Warrior.[31] In a later episode, there are genetically modified humans called New Warriors. |
Call of Duty: Ghosts | Video game | 2013 | 2015–2017 | Predicts Latin America unifying into a single superstate called the "Federation of the Americas" and launching an invasion of the United States with the goal of occupying and annexing it. Also kinetic weapons in space are a reality by 2017. |
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare[32] | Video game[32] | 2007[32] | 2011[32] | Depicts a coup d'état in Russia and a civil war following a coup d'état in a republican Saudi Arabia that had abolished the monarchy sometime prior to 2011. The United States intervenes in the war to stop the coupists, who then detonate a nuclear bomb during a battle with the US Marines, killing tens of thousands of US servicemen.[32] |
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized | Video game | 2009 | 2016 | Set in the same setting as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 |
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2[32] | Video game[32] | 2009[32] | 2016[32] | Depicts a terrorist attack at a major international airport in Moscow that is framed on the US Central Intelligence Agency by the attack's perpetrators. Under the impression the US orchestrated the attack, the Russians subsequently declare war on the United States in retaliation and World War III erupts, with the Russian Armed Forces invading the East Coast and devastating Northern Virginia and Washington, DC in a fierce battle with the US Army. The International Space Station is destroyed by a stolen Russian nuclear bomb detonated in the atmosphere above the US Eastern Seaboard by the UK to devastate the invading Russians via the subsequent electromagnetic pulse.[32] Correctly predicted a terrorist attack on an international airport in Moscow happening by 2016 and the US deploying tanks to Afghanistan by 2016. |
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[32] | Video game[32] | 2011[32] | 2016–2017[a] | Depicts World War III between the Russians and NATO, with fierce battles taking place in India, New York, France, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and a Russian-occupied Czech Republic.[32] |
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Defiance | Video game | 2011 | 2016 | Russia, embroiled in World War III with NATO, invades Alaska, Nevada, and Maryland. |
Call of Duty: Strike Team | Video game | 2013 | 2020 | The game is set during the Black Ops story arc. It depicts a false flag operation by mercenary forces under the disguise of Russian spetnatz in Alaska, the War in Afghanistan still ongoing and the start of a Second Cold War between the US and a coalition led by China called SDC. |
Captain Future | Pulp magazine series | 1940 | 1990 | Initially set in 1990, but left vague in later issues. Set in a space opera future in which the Solar System has been colonised, sentient androids exist, and brains can be kept alive in tanks. Correctly predicted that Pluto would have moons named Charon, Styx and Cerberus. |
Carnage | Film | 2017 | 2021 | Mockumentary depicting the future transition of the entire world to veganism. In 2021, a global outbreak of swine flu hikes the price of meat. |
Cauldron | Novel | 1993 | 1998 | Depicts a war in Western Europe involving a neo-imperialist France. |
Cherry 2000 | Film | 1987 | 2017 | In 2017, the United States has fragmented into post-apocalyptic wastelands. There are also sexbots.[21][33] |
Childhood's End | Novel | 1953 | c. 2000 | Set in the late 20th century,[34] in which the United States and the Soviet Union are competing to launch the first orbital weapons platform. Aliens arrive and put a stop to it. |
The Children of Men | Novel | 1992 | 1995–2021 | In 1995, global human sperm count falls to zero. By 2021, the United Kingdom abolishes democracy. |
Close Combat: First to Fight | Video game | 2005 | 2006 | In 2006, the Lebanese prime minister falls ill and leaves the country for medical treatment. Taking advantage of the power vacuum, Syria invades Lebanon and Iranian-backed terrorists launch a rebellion against the Lebanese government. The United States and NATO, under the auspices of the United Nations, dispatches military forces, among them the U.S. Marine Corps, into Lebanon in order to repulse the invading Syrians and Iranians and restore order to the country. Correctly predicted a war happening in Lebanon in 2006. |
Cities in Flight | Novel | 1956 | 2013–2018 | By 2013, civil liberties in the West have been severely eroded due to the Cold War, coming to resemble the Soviet model. |
Class of 1999 | Film | 1990 | 1999 | In 1999, North America's inner cities have become unpoliceable "free fire zones" and military androids are assigned as schoolteachers. The sequel, Class of 1999 II: The Substitute (1994), is also set in 1999. |
Click | Film | 2006 | 2017–2023 | About a man (Adam Sandler) who finds a magic remote control which he can use to 'rewind' and 'fast-forward' through his life at will. One of the years he 'fast-forwards' to is 2017, where Michael Jackson is still alive (he died in 2009) and Britney Spears is still married to Kevin Federline (they divorced the year after the film's release). He also clicks forward to 2023, but events there only concern his family or Morty.[35] |
A Clockwork Orange | Novel | 1962 | 1970[36] | Juvenile delinquency is countered by extreme aversion therapy. The film adaptation was released in 1971. |
"The Collapse of '98" (from My Life and Times) | TV series episode | 1991 | 1998 | In 1998, the US economy collapsed. There are fifty million people unemployed in the United States. |
Code Name Phoenix | TV film | 2000 | 2020 | Global peace has prevailed, and a sinister new threat to world stability is exposed with a genetically engineered virus that can stop the human aging process. |
Code 18 | Video game | 2011 | 2018 | By 2018, personal jet packs and time travel are routine. |
Command and Conquer: Generals | Video game | 2003 | 2013, 2021 | Set in 2021. Predicted the rise of an Islamic State-like terrorist organization called the "Global Liberation Army" in the early 2010s.[37] |
Comrade Dad | TV series | 1984–1986 | 1999 | In 1999, the United Kingdom is a Communist state, having been invaded by the Soviet Union several years earlier. London has been renamed "Londongrad."[38] |
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes | Film | 1972 | 1983 and 1991 | A plague from space killed every dog and cat on Earth in 1983 which led to apes being domesticated and eventually turned into slaves. This in turn led to Caesar's revolution against humanity in 1991. |
Corridor 7 | Video game | 1995 | 2012 | A crewed expedition to Mars returns with an artifact which is examined in a top-secret facility. It opens an interdimensional portal from which alien creatures invade the installation.[39] |
Cosmic Voyage | Film | 1936 | 1946 | In 1946, the Soviet space program succeeds in launching the first crewed mission to the Moon. |
Cowboy Bebop | Anime series | 1999 | 2021 | The first astral gate, allowing interplanetary travel in a matter of hours, is constructed in 2021. The majority of the series is set 50 years later. |
Creepozoids | Film | 1987 | 1998 | Post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, six years after a nuclear war.[40] |
"Cricket" (from Play for Tomorrow) | TV series episode | 1982 | 1997 | A cricket team has a computerised Wisden Almanack and is secretly an eco-terrorist group.[41] |
"Crimes" (from Play for Tomorrow) | TV series episode | 1982 | 2002 | In 2002, prisons are overcrowded, the threat of nuclear war constantly looms, and all activities are controlled and restricted. |
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean | Manga, Anime | 1999–2003 | 2011 | The story is set in Florida in 2011. The protagonist is Jolyne Cujoh, who is the daughter of Jotaro Kujo. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being involved in a car accident and framed for murder. She is imprisoned at Green Dolphin Street Prison in Florida, nicknamed the "Aquarium", but her father decides to give Jolyne the powers that start the whole story. |
Crimes of the Future | Film | 1970 | 1997 | Cosmetic products have wiped out all sexually mature women on Earth. Men engage in body horror and paedophilia. |
Cyberball | Video game | 1988 | 2022 | American football is played with robots and an exploding ball. |
Crysis | Video game | 2007 | 2020 | The game begins on August 7, 2020, when North Korean forces led by General Ri-Chan Kyong take control of the Lingshan Islands. |
Crysis 2 | Video game | 2011 | 2023 | Takes place three years after New York City was destroyed in the events of the first game.[42][43] |
Cyberpunk (role-playing games) | Board game | 1988, 1990, 2005 | 2020 | Depicts a world in 2013 where cybernetic implants are common among humans, the world is connected through a "Net", the United States collapses and reforms, the Soviet Union continues to exist, Moon colonies are established, the fictional city Night City is developed between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Y2K does not cause disaster, the United States leads two wars in Central America, nuclear wars are fought between multiple fictional Megacorporations, and at least 17% of Americans are homeless.[44] Cyberpunk 2020 (1990) is set 7 years after the original where self-aware human clones are created. Cyberpunk 2020 states that the Soviet Union splits but does not dissolve.[45] (Excluding Cyberpunk Red (2020)) |
Cyberpunk 2077 | Video game | 2020 | 2023 (Portion) | Set in nearly the same world as the Cyberpunk 2020 board game (1990) but 57 years in the future. Portions of the game's story are set in or before August 2023, in which there is a fourth "corporate war" and a megacorporation "Araska" is bombed with fissile material in a terrorist attack by the character Johnny Silverhand from the role-playing games, killing ~500,000 people. Cyberpunk Red (2020) also tells this story.[46] |
Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys | Album | 2010 | 2019 | Concept album by the band My Chemical Romance set in a post-apocalyptic California. |
Damaged Goods (from Doctor Who) | Novel | 1996 | 2014 | On November 11, 2014, blood tests for HIV became compulsory in the United Kingdom. |
Dan Dare (original stories) | Comic | 1950s | The late 1990s | Depicts an interplanetary war between Earth and Venus.[47] |
"Dance of the Dead" (from Masters of Horror) | TV series episode | 2005 | 2008 | In 2008, terrorists developed a biological weapon called "Blizz". They used this weapon in local weather patterns in the United States. |
Dark | TV series | 2017–2020 | 2020 | In the fictional village of Winden, Germany, the disappearances of several children, teenagers, and adults are linked to a time portal in a cave system that only opens once every 33 years. On June 27, 2020, Earth is ravaged in a nuclear apocalypse that leaves very few survivors. |
Dark Angel | TV series | 2000 | 2019, 2020 | Set in a dystopian future after a terrorist electromagnetic pulse attack wipes out much of modern civilization. Genetic augmentation of humans is now mastered. The second half of Season 1 and the first half of Season 2 are set in 2020. Predicted the ubiquitous presence of remote aerial drones. |
"Dalek" (from Doctor Who) | TV series episode | 2005 | 2012 | The Doctor travels to 2012 in this episode, to a Museum of "Alien Artifacts". A throwaway line suggests that scientists have found the cure to the common cold. |
The Dawn of All | Novel | 1911 | 1973 | Alternative version of Lord of the World in which the Church fares much better, and the world becomes Catholic, with the exception, at first, of Germany and the Far East. |
The Day After | TV film | 1983 | c. 1989 | Depicts the events of a devastating nuclear explosion, hinted to take place in 1989, in the small town of Lawrence, Kansas. |
Daybreakers | Film | 2009 | 2019 | A world in which vampires have become the dominant species, and there is a shortage of human blood and humans in general.[12] |
Day of the Cheetah | Novel | 1989 | 1996 | The Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union is still extant; planes are now flown using brain-computer interface. |
Dead End Drive-In | Film | 1986 | 1995 | Predicts the collapse of the global economy and the forced segregation of the unemployed.[48] |
Death Machine | Film | 1994 | 2003 | Cyborg super-soldier and mechanical Warbeast.[11] |
Death Note | Manga, Anime | 2003–2006 | 2009–2010 | The second major part of the story takes place in 2009–2010 (2012–2013 in the anime), when crime around the world has decreased significantly due to the mass killing of criminals by "Kira". |
Death Race | Film | 2008 | 2012 | Remake of Death Race 2000, but set in a private prison. |
Death Race 2000 | Film | 1975 | 2000 | Predicts the collapse of the United States economy in 1979. The remaining form of entertainment is a transcontinental car race where innocent bystanders can be hit and killed for points.[10] |
"Death Ship" (from The Twilight Zone) | TV series episode | 1963 | 1997 | By 1997, Earth ships are exploring planets to see if they are suitable for colonization. |
Defenders of the Earth | TV series | 1986–1987 | 2015 | |
Demolition Man | Film | 1993 | 1996 | Main characters are cryogenically frozen in 1996 and wake up in 2032. Also predicted a "Great Earthquake" in 2010 that merged parts of Southern California.[10] |
Demon Lord 2099 | Novel series, Manga, Anime | 2021–Present | 2023 | In January 2023, Earth merges with the fantasy world of Alneath in an event called the "Fantasion", resulting in Earth becoming populated with various fantasy creatures, as well as Earth's industry merging with Alneath's magic to create magical engineering known as "magineering". The rest of the series is set in the year 2099.[49] |
Deterrence | Film | 1999 | 2008 | Depicts Colin Powell as a former US president and Donald Trump as a candidate running for US president; Uday Hussein is the leader of a still-extant Ba'athist Iraq which then invades Kuwait. |
Destroy All Monsters | Film | 1968 | 1999 | All the world's kaiju are confined to an island called "Monsterland". Initially "the close of the 20th century" in the Japanese version, 1999 in the subsequent English-dubbed version. |
D/Generation | Video game | 1991 | 2021 | On June 27, 2021, a courier with a personal jet pack is trapped in a genetics lab with a horde of rogue biogenic weapons. |
Dino Crisis | Video game | 1999 | 2009 | A science experiment creates a rift in time that unleashes dinosaurs into the modern era. |
Dinosaur War Izenborg | TV series | 1977 | 1986 | Talking dinosaurs return to conquer Earth. The US film edit, War of the Super Monsters, is set in the year 2000. |
District 13 | Film | 2004 | 2010 | A district in Paris is walled off from the rest of the city.[50] |
District 13: Ultimatum | Film | 2009 | 2013 | Sequel to District 13.[50] |
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Novel | 1968 | 1992, 2021 | 2021 in later editions. The inspiration for the film Blade Runner. Set in a post-nuclear future in which synthetic humans are employed as slave labour. |
History of the Future/Historia przyszłości | Novel | 1829 (first version of the novel) | 2000-2200 | Unfinished novel written by Adam Mickiewicz. The first version of the novel from 1829 presented the world in the year 2000 which was dominated by China, it also shows Poland regaining independence, predicting women's rights worldwide, access to electronic devices, interplanetary communication, and contact with alien civilizations.[51][52] |
Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb | Novel | 1964 | 1972, 1981 and 1988 | A future history of the world, focused on northern California, following a series of nuclear events of uncertain provenance. The world has descended into a post-apocalyptic dystopia in which mutations are common, animals have evolved into higher intelligences and telekinesis exists. |
"Dreams Come True" (from the series finale of Glee) | TV series episode | 2015 | 2020 | In a flashforward to the 2020 United States presidential election, Geraldo Rivera congratulates Sue Sylvester for winning reelection as Vice President of the United States under Jeb Bush as she states her intent to run for president in 2024. |
Doctor Who | TV film | 1996 | 1999–2000 | The Doctor travels to December 30, 1999. The film is set between December 31, 1999, and January 1, 2000.[11] |
Doomsday Machine | Film | 1972 | 1975 | In 1975, Earth is completely destroyed by a doomsday device created by Red China. The last survivors are denied a place on Venus by the intelligent population. |
Doomsday Plus Twelve | Novel | 1984 | 1988–2000 | In 1988, an incident in Saudi Arabia leads to nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. 120 million Americans are killed in the war. |
The Door into Summer | Novel | 1957 | 1970, 2000 and 2001 | World War III broke out prior to 1970 with the United States eventually emerging as the victor. During the war, Washington, D.C. was destroyed and the capital was moved to Denver, Colorado. In 1970, household robots and the use of suspended animation are common. |
Double Dragon | Film | 1994 | 2007 | An earthquake levels Los Angeles in 2000.[53][54][10] |
Droid | Film | 1988 | 2020 | In Los Angeles, the crime rate is up 200%. |
Duke Nukem 3D | Video game | 1996 | 2007 | Set in the early 21st century. Calendars in-game suggest October–December 2007. Depicts shrink rays, jet packs, and bases on the Moon.[16] |
"Dwellers in Silence" (from Dimension X) | Radio drama | 1951 | 1987–2007 | An adaptation of the 1948 short story by Ray Bradbury. On June 18, 1987, Earth was evacuated due to the fallout from a nuclear war. Humanity settled on Mars. By 2007, consideration was being given to repopulating Earth. |
Earth Abides | Novel | 1949 | 1971 | The book opens in the then-contemporary period, in which a measles-like disease has wiped out most of the Earth's population. The second section, "The Year 22", takes place 22 years later in which a primitive community is being forged in Berkeley, California. The final section is set in an indeterminate future date, in which the protagonist of the novel, a college student at the beginning, is elderly. |
Earth Defense Force 2017 | Video game | 2006 | 2017 | In 2013, radio signals from space indicate the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Four years later, aliens invade.[55][56] |
Earth Revisited | Novel | 1893 | 1992 | In 1992, the United States of America and the United States of Europe dominate world affairs and there are no more wars. The city of Columbia, formerly New York, is cleaner, better organized, more peaceful, healthier and generally better than before. Electrification (generated by solar power) and mechanization have brought widespread prosperity and the extremes of wealth and poverty have been levelled. Government has assumed more responsibility: all land is owned by the state and people lease the sites of their palatial houses. |
"Easter 2016" (from Play for Tomorrow) | TV series episode | 1982 | 2016 | The centenary of the Easter Rising heightens the sectarian divisions in Northern Ireland's only integrated teacher training college. |
Edge of Tomorrow | Film | 2014 | 2020 | The United Defense Force (UDF), a global military alliance established to combat an alien invasion of Continental Europe, finally achieves a victory over the Mimics at Verdun using newly developed mech-suits. Alien invasion starts in 2015.[57] |
The Eight Truths (from Doctor Who) | Audio drama | 2009 | 2015 | In 2015, a doomsday cult prophesies the coming of a rebel sun. |
"Elegy" (from The Twilight Zone) | TV series episode | 1960 | 1985 | Much of the Earth was destroyed by a nuclear war in 1985. |
Empire Earth | Video game | 2001 | 2018 | A civil war occurs in Russia. |
"The End" (from Second Chance) | TV series episode | 1987 | 2011 | This episode correctly predicted that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi would die from multiple gunshot wounds in 2011. |
"The End of the World" (from Roswell) | TV series episode | 2000 | 2014 | A character returns to the future to prevent his lover from falling in love with him, since their affair triggers their defeat in an alien invasion. |
"The Enemy of the World" (from Doctor Who) | TV series episode | 1967–1968 | 2018 | In 2018, Earth is being ravaged by earthquakes and floods, causing widespread famine. Overpopulation exacerbates the problem. By this time, Earth is politically divided into zones overseen by the World Zone Authority, a successor to the United Nations. In the novel by Ian Marter, the story is set in 2030. |
En L'An 2000 | Postcards | 1899–1910 | 2000 | Series of postcards predicting what the world might be like in 2000. Depicts battles between dirigibles, radium-powered heaters, winged backpacks, personal aircraft, and phonograph journals. |
"Enoch Soames" | Short story | 1916 | 1997 | By 1997, most words in the English language are spelled phonetically and many of them are pronounced differently than they were in 1897.[58] |
Eon | Novel | 1985 | 2005 | In 2005, the United States and a still-extant Soviet Union are on the brink of nuclear war. |
Escape from L.A. | Film | 1996 | 2000–2013 | The film predicts a massive earthquake that floods the San Fernando Valley in 2000, rendering Los Angeles an island.[11] The US capital is moved to Lynchburg, Virginia after an evangelist from there becomes US president for life. |
Escape from Mars | TV film | 1999 | 2015–2016 | The first crewed mission to Mars is launched on June 4, 2015. |
Escape from New York | Film | 1981 | 1997 | Predicts a 400% rise in crime rate in 1988, prompting the remaking of Manhattan Island into a nationwide maximum security prison with no guards. In reality, crime rates in the US peaked in the film's release year of 1981, were about 20% lower in 1997 and have continued to drop ever since.[59][60] |
"Essence of Life" (from The Outer Limits) | TV series episode | 1999 | 2014 | In 2014, Earth is struggling to rebuild after a devastating plague. |
"Epitaph Two: Return" (from Dollhouse) | TV series episode | 2010 | 2020 | Post-apocalypse in which most of humanity have had their minds wiped. |
El Eternauta | Comic | 1957–1959 | 1963 | Depicts an alien invasion of Argentina. |
Eternity Weeps (from Doctor Who) | Novel | 1997 | 2003 | In 2003, there is a colony on the Moon, there are border skirmishes between Turkey and Iran, and Bruce Springsteen is the US president. |
Event Horizon | Film | 1997 | 2015 | According to the opening title cards, the first permanent colony on the Moon is established by 2015. |
Ever 17: The Out of Infinity | Video game | 2002 | 2017 | A cure for aging has been developed and a deadly virus outbreak occurs. |
Fahrenheit | Video game | 2005 | 2009 | Also known as Indigo Prophecy in North America; refers to the 2012 phenomenon and indigo children. |
Fahrenheit 451 | Novel | 1953 | After 1960 | Early editions listed some time after 1960. Later editions showed after 1990 or 2022, where they started and won two atomic wars. Predicted regular use of earbud headphones,[7] interactive television, video wall screens, robotic bank tellers,[61] the demise of newspapers and the prevalent use of factoids.[62] Also had the Mechanical Hound[63] and technology for complete blood transfusions. |
"Fear Her" (from Doctor Who) | TV series episode | 2006 | 2012 | This episode takes place during the 2012 Summer Olympics. |
"The Final Solution: Slavery's Back In Effect" | Song | 1992 | 1995 | Depicts a racial civil war in 1995 sparked by the attempt of an unnamed president, whose vice-president is David Duke, to reinstate slavery. |
The Fire Next Time | TV miniseries | 1993 | 2017 | In 2017, the greenhouse effect and global warming have resulted in widespread droughts, floods, hurricanes and the outbreak of fires which have wreaked devastation over Earth. |
Firebird 2015 AD | Film | 1981 | 2015 | By 2015, public ownership of motor vehicles and gasoline is punishable by summary execution. |
First Spaceship on Venus | Film | 1960 | 1985 | The Gobi Desert is irrigated in 1985.[64] |
Fist of the North Star | Manga | 1983–1988 | 199X | Mad Max-inspired post-nuclear wasteland in which superpowered martial artists fight each other for dominance. The world is described as having been devastated by a series of nuclear wars in the 1990s. |
Five Nights at Freddy's 3 | Video game | 2015 | 2023 | The action takes place 30 years after the events of the first part of Five Nights at Freddy's (it is believed that the action of the first part of the game was around 1993). In the third part of the game, there are technologies for repelling and detecting animatronics.[65] |
Flashforward | Novel | 1999 | 2009 | The novel correctly predicted that the Large Hadron Collider would be operational by 2009 and that a pope named Benedict XVI would be in office in that year.[66][67][68] |
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said | Novel | 1974 | 1988 | In 1988, the United States is a fascistic police state following a Second Civil War. The black population is nearly extinct and personal aircraft are common. |
The Flying Torpedo | Film | 1916 | 1921 | In 1921, foreign spies steal a radio-controlled flying bomb and plan to use it to attack the United States as a prelude to invasion. |
Folk Songs for the 21st Century | Album | 1960 | 2001–2023 | Nuclear war occurs in the 21st century. |
Footfall | Novel | 1985 | 1995–1996 | The Soviet Union still exists and economically rivals the United States. |
For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs | Novel | 1939 | 1940–1970 | Published in 2003. The novel correctly predicted that Adolf Hitler would commit suicide after his plans of conquest were defeated. |
The Forge of God | Novel | 1987 | 1996 | An alien race destroys the Earth, but a small fragment of humanity is preserved by another alien race. |
Fortress | Film | 1992 | 2017 | The US limits families to only one child.[21][11] |
The Fourth Protocol | Novel | 1984 | 1986–1987 | Correctly predicted that Margaret Thatcher would call a general election in the United Kingdom in June 1987. |
"Franchise" | Short story | 1955 | 2008 | In 2008, the US president is elected via means of a computer, which calculates and determines the most suitable candidate for the post. |
Frankenstein 1970 | Film | 1958 | 1970 | The monster is created using an atomic reactor. |
Freejack | Film | 1992 | 2009 | The main characters travel forward in time to November 2009. Time travel is commonplace and criminals travel back in time to kidnap victims for organ harvesting.[10] |
The Free Lunch | Novel | 2001 | 2023 | Set in a Disney World-like theme park which is troubled by time-travelling dwarfs from the future.[31][69] |
Freeway Fighter | Gamebook | 1985 | 2022 | Mad Max-inspired future in which a virus decimates the world population in July 2022. |
Frontlines: Fuel of War | Video game | 2008 | 2024 | A bird flu outbreak and an energy crisis have caused the world to devolve into two hostile blocs. |
Futurama | Exhibit | 1939 | 1959 | Predicted an automated highway system. |
Future Fear | Film | 1997 | 2018 | Predicted computers with AI voice assistants, a voice-activated record player, bars with automatic electronic bouncer systems, and hand-held laser-guns. |
Future of a New China | Novel | 1902 | 1903–1962 | In 1962, China is a utopia, a world power, wealthy, Confucian and a constitutional monarchy. |
"Future-Drama" (The Simpsons episode) |
TV series episode | 2005 | 2013 | Depicts Bart and Lisa Simpson as teenagers (with a reference to Lisa at age 12), while Homer and Marge have separated. By 2013, underwater homes and 3D holographic recording are possible. |
Future Boy Conan | Anime series | 1978 | 2008 | In July 2008, the Earth's continents are violently torn apart by a nuclear war, sinking most of them under the sea. |
Future Schlock | Film | 1984 | 1990 | As a result of the class wars in 1990, the middle class has mandated that people be middling or dull. Non-conformists are imprisoned in the inner city ghetto.[70][71] |
Futureworld | Film | 1976 | 1985 | Sequel to Westworld and also set mainly in a theme park filled with androids.[72] |
Galactix | Video game | 1991 | 2019 | In 2019, amid devastating global climate change triggered by the final depletion of the Amazon rainforest, Earth is threatened with invasion and enslavement by a powerful force of alien cyborgs, known in-game as the "Xidus". |
Gemini Rising | Film | 2013 | 2023 | A former Homeland Security agent is sent to a remote island where she investigates a retrieved alien spacecraft orbiting Neptune. Attempts to develop a mind-control serum.[35] |
Genesis II | TV pilot | 1973 | 1979 | The film opens in 1979, with the main character entering suspended animation. The bulk of the film (and the subsequent series, if it had been picked up) takes place in 2133.[73] |
Geostorm | Film | 2017 | 2019–2022 | In 2019 a weather control system is constructed to stop climate change. Three years later, a rogue faction weaponises it. |
"Gettysburg" (from The Outer Limits) | TV series episode | 2000 | 2013 | This episode correctly predicted that the first African-American President of the United States would be in office by 2013. |
Give Me Liberty | Comic | 1990 | 1995–2012 | Martha Washington is born in Chicago on March 11, 1995. |
Godzilla: Final Wars | Film | 2004 | 2020 | In later years (around 2020), environmental disasters cause the appearance of giant monsters and superhumans, dubbed "mutants", who are then recruited into the Earth Defense Force (EDF) to battle the monsters. |
The Golden Book of Springfield | Novel | 1920 | 2018 | In 2018, the residents of Springfield, Illinois are working to transform the city into a utopian paradise. |
Golf in the Year 2000 | Novel | 1892 | 2000 | A man falls asleep in 1892 and wakes up in the year 2000; trains are supersonic and golf and politics are the only activities not yet dominated by masculinized women. |
Gorath | Film | 1962 | 1976–1982 | In 1979, a crewed spacecraft reaches Saturn. In 1980, scientists invent nuclear jet engines to attempt to move Earth away from a runaway planet on a collision course with it.[74] |
The Great Air Robbery | Film | 1919 | 1925 | Depicts air pirates. |
The Great War in England in 1897 | Novel | 1894 | 1897 | In 1897, France and Russia invade the UK and make several early advances, but the tide is turned when Germany comes to the UK's aid. |
The Guardians | TV series | 1971 | 1980s | Following economic chaos in the 1980s, democratic government in the United Kingdom has been overthrown in a bloodless coup, the Royal Family have fled into self-imposed exile and the UK is ruled autocratically by the Prime Minister Sir Timothy Hobson. Hobson is initially a pawn of a military officer by the name of Roger, who later becomes Minister of Defence. |
Gunbuster | Anime | 1988–89 | 2023 | In 2023, Earth has been in an interstellar war with the extraterrestrial Space Monsters. The main character is training to be a mecha pilot. Time-dilated space travel is possible.[75][35] |
The Guns of the South | Novel | 1992 | 2014 | The plot involves a gang of South African white supremacists who travel back in time to 1864 from 2014 to assist the rebelling Confederates in their war against the US. |
Half-Life | Video game | 1998 | 2000s | A "resonance cascade" at a top secret laboratory opens a gateway to another universe. |
Hardware | Film | 1990 | 2000 | Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth devastated by nuclear war. A scavenger discovers the head of a cyborg in the desert, and it later reanimates and goes on a murderous rampage. |
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man | Film | 1991 | 1996 | A new designer drug, crystal dream, is in common use. |
The Handmaid's Tale | Novel | 1985 | c. 1994 | A misogynistic fanatical religious cult, called The Sons of Jacob, takes control of part of the United States in the 1990s and establishes a totalitarian regime, with the US now named "The Republic of Gilead" and ruthless towards women. The novel was adapted into a TV series in 2020. |
"Hello Tomorrow" (from Dimension X) | Radio drama | 1950 | 1991 | In 1991, the Third Atomic War ended. The war left the surface of the Earth uninhabitable due to the high concentration of gamma rays in the atmosphere. The survivors moved underground and eventually established a civilization. |
"The High Ground" (from Star Trek: The Next Generation) | Television episode | 1990 | 2024 | Irish reunification occurs in this year, due, it is argued, to successful terrorist actions. This line was removed from all broadcasts in the UK and Ireland until 2006. |
Highlander II: The Quickening | Film | 1991 | 1999, 2024 | In 1999, an electromagnetic shield is placed around the Earth to protect its ozone layer which was ruined by pollution. 25 years later, a global corporation controls the shield. |
High Treason | Film | 1929 | 1940/50 | Concerns the threat of a Second World War between the "United States of Europe" and the "Empire of the Atlantic States". |
Hong Kong 97 | Film | 1994 | 1997 | Depicts the 1997 transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong. |
Hong Kong 97 | Video game | 1995 | 1997 | Set during the 1997 transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong by the UK.[76] The game correctly predicted that Deng Xiaoping would die in 1997. |
House of the Dead III | Video game | 2002 | 2019 | Set 20 years after the events of the first game, during a zombie apocalypse. |
"The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" (from Doctor Who) | TV series episode | 2010 | 2020 | A group of Silurians emerge in a Welsh village. |
Hunter Hunted | Video game | 1996 | 2015 | The world has been invaded, the human race exterminated and the survivors enslaved and forced to fight other captive aliens. |
"Hyperpilosity" | Short story | 1938 | 1971 | In the Great Change of 1971, a virus infects humanity that causes everyone to grow fur all over their bodies. |
I Am Legend | Novel | 1954 | 1976–1979 | A deadly virus outbreak in 1975 transforms all but one of the human race into vampires. |
I Am Legend | Film | 2007 | 2009–2012 | The film predicted an outbreak of a re-engineered measles virus in 2009 that kills 94% of the populace and mutates 5% into zombie-like "Darkseekers". Also predicted a Batman vs. Superman film,[77][10] to be released in the film's future 2010. |
"I, James Blunt" | Short story | 1942 | 1944–1945 | The United Kingdom is occupied by Nazi Germany in 1944 and 1945. St Paul's Cathedral is razed to make room for a Nazi Party headquarters and guerrilla warfare and any potential dissidence is suppressed through heavy policing. |
I, Robot | Film | 2004 | 2020 | The USR robotics company is founded in 2020. The rest of the film is set in 2035. |
Iceberg (from Doctor Who) | Novel | 1993 | 1994–2006 | The tenth planet Cassius is discovered in 1994. Earth's magnetic field reverses its polarity in 2006. |
"The Illusion of Truth" (from Babylon 5) | TV series episode | 1997 | 2018 | In 2018, the first permanent lunar colony was established in the Sea of Tranquility. |
In 1999 | Play | 1912 | 1999 | Predicts a future in which traditional gender roles are reversed, with women going to work and men staying at home. |
Infinite Jest | Novel | 1996 | c. 2002–2010 | Starting sometime after 2001, each year is given a different sponsor name in a timeline called Subsidized Time, of which one of the years involves the year 2007. The story discusses this going into the ninth year of this format.[78][79][80] |
In the Days of the Comet | Novel | 1906 | After 1906 | A comet lands in 1906, spreading a green fog. Starting in Book II, the narrator wakes up to find a more peaceful and rational 20th-century society. |
Insatiability | Novel | 1930 | 2000 | In 2000, Poland is overrun by the army of the final Mongol conquest. The nation becomes enslaved to the Chinese leader Murti Bing. |
In the Wet | Novel | 1953 | 1983 | Set partially in 1983 where a mixed-race Australian pilot assists a Royal Family who are unloved in a Socialist UK. |
Invasion! | Comic | 1977–1978 | 1990–1999 | A fascist Russia invades the UK. The sequel series Savage, published from 2004 to the present, treats the events as alternate history. |
The Invasion of 1910 | Novel | 1906 | 1910 | In 1910, Germany launches an invasion of the UK. The German forces eventually reach London and occupy half the city. Although London is later liberated, the war is a stalemate as Germany has occupied Belgium and the Netherlands. |
Invasion of the Sea | Novel | 1905 | 1930s | In the 1930s, European engineers and their military escort seek to revive an actual 19th-century proposal to flood the Sahara desert with waters from the Mediterranean Sea to create an inland "Sahara Sea" for both commercial and military purposes. |
The Iron Heel | Novel | 1908 | 1910–1932 | By 1910, the Socialist Party of America has become a major national party. An Oligarchy arises in the US from 1912 to 1932. Japan conquers East Asia and creates its own empire, India gains independence from the British Empire and Europe becomes socialist. Canada, Mexico, and Cuba form their own Oligarchies and are aligned with the United States. |
Iron Man 2020 | Comic | 1984 | 2020 | The world is dominated by megacorporations; virtual reality is the dominant form of entertainment. |
Iron Sky | Film | 2012 | 2018 | Takes place during the administration of a Sarah Palin-like US president; Nazis have been hiding out on the Moon.[81] |
The Island | Film | 2005 | 2019 | Human clones are kept alive and on standby for organ harvesting.[12] |
Islands in the Net | Novel | 1988 | 2023–2025 | The U.S. and the Soviet Union are still around as superpowers, but companies are becoming more important, especially in Grenada and Luxembourg. Successfully predicted use of the internet, data havens, wearable computers / smart watches, drone warfare, end of Apartheid and end of the Cold War. Failed to predict: Soviet Union still around, one-way messaging as more important on the Net, South Africa renamed to Azania and expanding. |
I Spit on Your Rave | Short film | 2009 | 2018 | A virus unleashed during the 2012 Summer Olympics initiates a zombie apocalypse. |
It Can't Happen Here | Novel | 1935 | 1936 | Depicts Franklin D. Roosevelt's loss of the 1936 United States presidential election to a fascist populist. |
It! The Terror from Beyond Space | Film | 1958 | 1973 | The first crewed mission to Mars returns to Earth in this year. |
Jason X | Film | 2001 | 2008–2010, 2024 | Jason Voorhees was captured by the US government in 2008 for experimentation and causes trouble in 2010 when he is cryogenically frozen. The rest of the film takes place in outer space in 2455. Ice hockey was outlawed in 2024.[82] |
The Jagged Orbit | Novel | 1969 | 2014 | Racial tension in the United States has reached such a point that racial enclaves now exist throughout the country and paranoia and unrest are stoked by arms dealers. |
Jane's USAF | Video game | 1999 | 2005 | NATO and Russia are at war in 2005, with the latter invading Germany. |
The Janus Conjunction (from Doctor Who) | Novel | 1998 | 2011 | San Francisco fell into the sea in 2011. |
Jeremiah | TV series | 2002–2004 | 2006 | In 2006, a plague wiped out almost everyone over the age of thirteen. |
Jet Set Radio Future | Video game | 2002 | 2024 | Tokyo is now "Tokyo-to" and is under the thumb of a repressive megacorporation. |
Joe 90 | TV series | 1968–1981 | 2012–2013 | From the producers of Thunderbirds. Follows a young secret agent who can "download" skills into his brain. |
Johnny Mnemonic | Film | 1995 | 2021 | "Mnemonic couriers" carry sensitive information in their brains; the world is dominated by megacorporations. The world is in the midst of a pandemic for Nerve Attenuation Syndrome, an overexposure to radiation from information overload, and that a pharmaceutical company would withhold the cure for profit.[83][84]
Technologies depicted include: Mass surveillance, videotelephony, electronic passports, full body scanners, haptic technology, brain implants. Also shown are a portable fax machine, an electronic whip that slices through flesh, and cybernetic dolphins.[85][84] |
"The Joining" (from The Outer Limits) | TV series episode | 1998 | 2011–2012 | Humanity has colonized Venus by 2011. |
A Journey in Other Worlds | Novel | 1894 | 2000 | By 2000, the United States is a superpower spanning multiple continents. By this time, solar power, air travel and space travel are commonplace. The Arctic Ocean is being dammed and Earth's axial tilt is being adjusted. |
Journey into Space | Radio series | 1953–1958 | 1965–1972 | The rocket Luna lands on the Moon on October 22, 1965, and the first moonwalk is broadcast to Earth over the radio. In April 1971, a mission to Mars is launched from the Moon. |
Just Imagine | Film | 1930 | 1980 | In 1980, personal airplanes are common in New York City, people have numbers instead of names, the US government will only permit people to marry if they are compatible, and babies are readily procurable from vending machines. A crewed mission to Mars is also depicted. |
Kamikaze 1989 | Film | 1982 | 1989 | West Germany is now a totalitarian regime.[86] |
Keitai Denjū Telefang | Video game | 2000 | 2020 | The player searches for Pokémon-esque creatures using mobile phone numbers, and they can be battled with against others. |
Killing Time | Novel | 2000 | 2023 | Information technology has taken over the world. A staphylococcus plague wipes out 40 million people in 2006. In 2020, the first woman American President Emily Forrester is assassinated.[87] The novel concerns a group of people who spread disinformation / conspiracy theories on the internet to undermine the government's influence by disinformation.[88][89] Multiple global conflicts including the United States and Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, the Balkans.[31][89] 2% of the population is in prison. The protagonists also employ an airship. As Daniel Zalewski of The New York Times writes: "First comes the '06 plague,' followed by 'the '07 financial crash', the 'massacre of the Falun Gong cult in 2018' and the 'national E. coli outbreak of 2021.' Put these headlines together, and you've got yourself a dystopia!"[89] |
Knight Rider 2000 | TV film | 1991 | 2000 | In 2000, Dan Quayle is President of the United States. The United States and the United Kingdom are fighting a war, codenamed Operation Tropical Storm, over Bermuda.[90] Conventional handguns have been banned, with law enforcement carrying non-lethal "stun" pistols. Nationwide budget changes have resulted in the adoption of cryonic suspension over standard incarceration for convicted criminals.[91] |
Knights of God | TV series | 1987 | 2000–2020 | The Knights of God, a fascist and anti-Christian religious order, came to power in the UK during a brutal civil war in 2000. By 2020, they rule most of Britain. |
"L.A. 2017" (from The Name of the Game) | TV series episode | 1971 | 2017 | After a worldwide ecological disaster, the population of Los Angeles moved underground due to the toxic atmosphere in 1989. In 2017, the United States is a megacorporation and a police state with its capital in Detroit, and at war with the UK. |
La Foire aux immortels (The Nikopol Trilogy) |
Graphic novel | 1980 | 2023 | Former astronaut Alcide Nikopol wakes up from a 30-year cryogenic sleep in space, teams up with Horus to fight the Paris dictatorship. Other Egyptian gods have been hovering over the city in a spaceship.[31] Two nuclear wars have happened in the meantime. Sequels La Femme piège (1986), and Froid Équateur (1992), as well as a video game Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals (2008) are also set around this time. The film adaptation Immortal, is set in the late 21st century. |
Land of the Giants | TV series | 1968 | 1983 | By 1983, sub-orbital flights are established. |
Last and First Men | Novel | 1930 | Before 2018 | The Anglo-French War occurs within a century of World War I. |
The Last Chase | Film | 1981 | 2011 | In 2011, the United States was a police state. |
The Last Days of American Crime | Film | 2020 | 2024 | An electronic signal is developed that prevents people from committing crimes. |
The Last Man on Earth | Film | 1924 | 1950 | A plague of "masculitis" leaves just one fertile man left alive in a world of women. |
The Last Man on Earth | Film | 1964 | 1968 | An adaptation of I Am Legend. |
Last Rights | TV miniseries | 2005 | 2009 | In 2009, voter apathy is at an all-time high in the United Kingdom, and a new right-wing political party, The Democratic Consensus Party has just been voted into office. Unbeknownst to the public, the DCP has a sinister hidden agenda to do away with democracy and turn the country into a police state. |
The Lathe of Heaven | Novel | 1971 | 1998–2002 | Set in a dystopian future wracked by global warming and overpopulation. The main character can retroactively alter reality, creating alternate realities, so many of the novel's predictions are undone, including a nuclear war in 1998.[92] |
Left 4 Dead | Video game | 2008 | 2009 | A disease known as the "Green Flu" breaks out in the United States, turning those afflicted into mindless zombies. Two weeks after the initial outbreak, the entire state of Pennsylvania is overrun, leaving four survivors to try to escape and reach safety. |
The Legend of Bishin | Video game | 1993 | 2020 | Mount Fuji erupts catastrophically. |
"Letters of Transit" (from Fringe) | TV series episode | 2012 | 2015 | Although most of the episode takes place in 2036, there is mention of a 2015 when the Observers took over the planet and initiated a purge of the populace. |
Lifeforce | Film | 1985 | 1986 | The film depicts an alien invasion timed to the 1986 return of Halley's Comet.[93] |
The Light of Other Days | Novel | 2000 | 2010–2019 | Correctly predicted the United Kingdom deciding to withdraw from the European Union in the 2010s and the destruction of a Space Shuttle in the 2000s.[94] |
Lion-Maru G | Anime | 2006 | 2011 | Set in Neo-Kabukichō, a fictitious version of the real red-light district of Shinjuku, Tokyo. A wave of violent crime is being caused by a new contact lens drug called "Skull Eyes." |
"Lisa's Wedding" (from The Simpsons) | TV series episode | 1995 | 2010 | The episode depicts Big Ben as a digital clock that has not yet been properly set (i.e., it still shows 12:00). Emotional robots are common and car engines make the same sound as the flying cars in The Jetsons. World War III apparently occurred at some point prior to the events of the episode, in which the United Kingdom saved the United States. |
"A Logic Named Joe" (from Dimension X) | Radio drama | 1950 | 1974 | An adaptation of the 1946 short story by Murray Leinster. In 1974, networked personal computers known as "logics" can be found in almost every home. |
"The Long Morrow" (from The Twilight Zone) | TV series episode | 1964 | 1987–1988 | In 1988, the astronaut Commander Douglas Stansfield is sent on an exploratory mission to a planetary system roughly 141 light-years from Earth. |
Looking Backward | Novel | 1888 | 2000 | In 2000, the United States is a socialist utopia. The novel predicted debit cards/credit cards and shopping malls.[7][8] |
Looking Further Backward | Novel | 1890 | 2023 | Sequel to Looking Backward. Predicted that China had invaded a socialist America in 2020.[31] |
The Long Watch | Short story | 1949 | 1999 | In 1999, an international organization known as the Space Patrol has custody of all of Earth's remaining nuclear weapons. By this time, there is a moonbase. |
Lord of the World | Novel | 1907 | 1917-ca. 2000[95] | Since the Labour Party took control of the British Government in 1917, the British Empire has been a single party state. The British Royal Family has been deposed, the House of Lords has been abolished, Oxford and Cambridge have been closed down and all their professors sent into internal exile in Ireland. The Anglican Communion was disestablished in 1929 and, like all forms of Protestantism, is almost extinct. The world now has only three main religious forces: Catholicism, secular humanism, and "the Eastern religions." The novel predicted widespread use of heavier-than-air craft. |
Lords of the Deep | Film | 1989 | 2020 | By 2020, megacorporations have exhausted Earth's terrestrial resources and have begun the exploitation of the ocean floor. |
Lost in Space | TV series | 1965–1968 | 1997 | Jupiter 2, the main ship of the series, was launched on October 16, 1997. By this time, Earth is severely overpopulated. The Robinsons were on a mission to colonize Alpha Centauri. |
MAG: Massive Action Game | Video game | 2010 | 2020 | The second war of the SVER starts off in 2020. |
Make Room! Make Room! | Novel | 1966 | 1999 | The world is overpopulated at 7 billion people, with 35 million people in New York City alone. The inspiration for the film Soylent Green (1973). |
Malevil | Novel | 1974 | The late 20th century | Set in a French castle during the outbreak of a nuclear war. Was made into a film in 1981. |
The Manchurian Candidate | Film | 2004 | 2008 | The film's plot revolves around the then-future 2008 United States presidential election. |
"Man from 1997" (from Conflict) | TV series episode | 1956 | 1997 | By 1997, time travel is in common use. A librarian named B. O. Boyne from 1997 accidentally leaves an almanac from the future behind when he visits 1956. |
Manhunter: New York | Video game | 1988 | 2004 | The world has been conquered by aliens in 2002. The sequel Manhunter: San Francisco is also set in 2004. |
The Man Who Rocked the Earth | Novel | 1915 | 1916 | In 1916, World War I had an even more devastating effect than before. Germany conquered Holland, Denmark and Switzerland, Italy annexed Dalmatia and the Trentino and a "Slav republic" was formed which was composed of Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania, Montenegro, Albania and Bulgaria. The United States remained neutral, as did the newly formed United States of South America which was composed of the Spanish-speaking South American republics. The monarchs of Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom all voluntarily abdicated and those countries became republics. |
The Man Who Sold the Moon | Novel | 1951 | 1978 | By 1978, the Moon has yet to be landed on and a self-described "robber baron" bluffs and schmoozes his way towards purchasing it, particularly through cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos and that the equatorial countries that the Moon passes over must have a claim to its land. |
"Mars Is Heaven!" | Short story | 1948 | 1960 | In 1960, the first exploratory spaceship from Earth arrives on Mars. In the Dimension X radio adaptation in 1950, the first Earth ship XR-53 lands on Mars on April 20, 1987. |
The Martian Chronicles | Short stories | 1947–1950 | 1999–2026 | Short stories about humans living on a terraformed Mars.[96] A 1997 edition of the book advances all the dates by 31 years, thus running from 2030 to 2057. |
Martian Gothic: Unification | Video game | 2000 | 2019 | Survival horror game set in the first colony on Mars. |
"The Martian Death March" (from Dimension X) | Radio drama | 1951 | 1997 | By 1997, humanity has colonized Mars. |
Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future | TV movie | 1985 | 2004-2006 | In a dystopian cyberpunk Britain, Network 23's top rated investigative reporter Edison Carter (Matt Frewer) must navigate a dangerous path through corporate greed and hired goons to expose a dark secret at the very top of his own network. No explicit date is given on-screen, but Bryce Lynch's employee file reveals he was born on the 7th of October, 1988. Lynch's apparent age of 16 to 18 indicates a setting of between 2004 and 2006. |
Mega Man 2 | Video game | 1988 | 200X | By the 2000s, artificially intelligent robots are common.[97][16][98] |
Memoirs of the Twentieth Century | Novel | 1733 | 1997–1998 | Predicts the dominance of Catholicism in the 20th century. The novel correctly predicted that the Ottoman Empire would collapse in the 20th century and that a British monarch named George VI would reign during that century. |
Memory Run | Film | 1995 | 2015 | The world is a corporate republic, and body transplants are in beta.[99] |
Men into Space | TV series | 1959–1960 | c. 1975–1985 | The series was not set in a specific era, but clues throughout the scripts indicated that it took place in the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, with the first Moon landing somewhere around 1975. |
Men Must Fight | Film | 1933 | 1940 | Predicts a Second World War between the United States and "Eurasia". |
Metal Fırtına | Novel | 2004 | 2007 | Depicts a war between the United States and Turkey that culminates in Turkish terrorists detonating a nuclear bomb in Washington, D.C. |
Metal Gear | Video game | 1987 | 19XX | 19XX is later identified as 1995. Walking mechs, androids and human cloning are routine.[97][100] |
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake | Video game | 1990 | 1999 | Set four years after the original Metal Gear.[101][102] |
Metal Gear Solid | Video game | 1998 | 2005 | In 2005, terrorists seize control of a military nuclear storage base in Alaska. Depicts a giant mech called "Metal Gear", rail guns, cyborg ninjas, optical camouflage, nanomachines and high frequency swords. |
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty | Video game | 2001 | 2007–2009 | The introduction mission is set in 2007, but the rest of the game is set in 2009. Reanimated corpses are placed in cybernetic exoskeletons. Portable rail guns exist. The President of the United States is a clone who resigns and forms a paramilitary group.[101][100][16] |
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots | Video game | 2008 | 2014 | Set nine years after the events of the original Metal Gear Solid[103] and five years after Sons of Liberty.[104] The world is in perpetual war called "War Economy". Battlefields are safer with a system of information and nanomachines. PMCs are commonplace and fight in wars instead of armies. A new camouflage called "Octocamo" is developed by DARPA. |
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance | Video game | 2013 | 2018 | Set in the same war-torn future as Guns of the Patriots. Cyborgs are now commonplace despite being discriminated, most skyscrapers in Denver are more than 1 km high, holograms are commonplace, prototyping is done with virtual simulation, and real AI was developed. |
México 2000 | Film | 1983 | 2000 | By 2000, Mexico is a utopian society. |
"Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" | Song | 1976 | 2017 | In the story of this post-apocalyptic song by Billy Joel, a man moves to Miami after New York City is devastated by a disaster in 2017. |
"Millennium" (from My Life and Times) | TV series episode | 1991 | 1999–2000 | In 1999, there are numerous doomsday conspiracy theories that the world will end in 2000. |
"Millennium" (from The X-Files) | TV series episode | 1999 | 1999–2000 | Depicts New Year's Eve 1999 and New Year's Day 2000. References the Y2K phenomenon. |
"The Mind of Simon Foster" (from The Twilight Zone) | TV series episode | 1989 | 1999 | In 1999, the United States is experiencing a severe economic depression. |
Mirrorman | TV series | 1971–1972 | 1980 | In 1980, an evil alien race known simply as the Invaders are about to take over the Earth, using assorted daikaiju (giant monsters) and other fiendish plots. |
Mission to Mars | Film | 2000 | 2020 | The crewed Mars I mission is launched. |
Moon Child | Film | 2003 | 2014 | Predicted collapse of Japan's economy where citizens have to move to China.[11] |
Moonbase 3 | TV series | 1973 | 2003 | By 2003, five world powers have established colonies on the Moon: the United States (Moonbase 1), the Soviet Union (Moonbase 2), Europe (Moonbase 3), China (Moonbase 4) and Brazil (Moonbase 5). The European Moonbase 3 was established in 1995.[105] |
Moon Zero Two | Film | 1969 | 2021 | Set on a Moon base. The date is seen in the arrival gate as May 9, 2021. Flights to Mars and Venus are commonplace. |
Moving the Mountain | Novel | 1911 | 1920–1940 | In 1920, the United States adopted a system of economics described as being "beyond Socialism", a strain of nationalism that answered all the questions posed by socialism without actually being socialist, renovating its society and culture. In 1940, the US is a country with no poverty or prostitution, "no labor problem – no color problem – no sex problem – almost no disease – very little accident – practically no fires," a place in which "the only kind of prison left is called a quarantine," where problems of deforestation and soil erosion are being remedied, and in which "no one needs to work over two hours a day and most people work four...."[106] |
Nano Breaker | Video game | 2005 | 2021 | The United States has established an island facility called Nanomachine Island to research and develop nanotechnology for implementation in military and civilian life. |
Native Tongue | Novel | 1984 | 1991 | The novel is set in the 22nd century, but after the United States repealed women's rights in 1991. |
NeoGeo Battle Coliseum | Video game | 2005 | 2017 | The Federal Government and the WAREZ Conglomerate vie for world domination via the Battle Colosseum event. |
Neon Genesis Evangelion | Anime series | 1995 | 2015 | Children in giant mechas fight giant alien monsters. Followed by a clip show film, Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth and a direct film sequel, The End of Evangelion. |
"The Neutral Zone" (from Star Trek: The Next Generation) | TV series episode | 1988 | 1994 | Cryonics had become very popular and a cryonic satellite was launched into Earth orbit. The remastered version of this episode places these events in 1994. |
Never 7: The End of Infinity | Video game | 2000 | 2019 | Visual novel that takes place during a time travel experiment. |
The New Barbarians | Film | 1983 | 2019 | Post-apocalyptic film where two gangs clash over whether to destroy settlers or defend them.[12] Inspired by the Mad Max films. |
News from Nowhere | Novel | 1890 | 1952 | In 1952, a violent revolution in the United Kingdom overthrew capitalism, which eventually resulted in the creation of a socialist utopia. |
Night of Power | Novel | 1985 | 1996 | In 1996, there is a race war in New York City. |
Night Probe! | Novel | 1981 | 1989 | In 1989, the world is in the throes of an energy crunch and the United States is on the brink of financial disaster. |
Nineteen Ninety-Four | Radio series | 1985 | 1994 | Household appliances are artificially intelligent. Household robots are common if ineffective. Government departments are privatised. Job interviews are predetermined by publicly available romantic and voting preferences. Jobs are gamified. The Lake District is underwater after a meteorite strike. Floppy disks are still in use. |
The Ninja Warriors | Video game | 1987 | 1993 | In 1993, the US president declares himself dictator and institutes martial law. |
"No Contact" (from Dimension X) | Radio drama | 1950 | 1962–1987 | In 1962, Louis Thorson became the first man to walk on the Moon. By 1972, travel to the Moon and other planets in the Solar System was routine. By 1982, humanity was exploring other parts of the galaxy. |
No Escape | Film | 1994 | 2022 | Set on a private prison on a former island resort. |
The Noah's Ark Principle | Film | 1984 | 1997 | In 1997, all weapons of mass destruction have been decommissioned. There is a European-American weather control space station FLORIDA ARKLAB in orbit of Earth. |
North Atlantic '86 | Video game | 1983 | 1986 | Warsaw Pact forces have successfully overrun most of Western Europe by the end of August 1986. |
"Number 12 Looks Just Like You" (from The Twilight Zone) | TV series episode | 1964 | 2000 | Set in a world in which people can purchase their adult bodies, but everyone goes for a small number of popular options. Rod Serling opens the episode stating, "For want of a better estimate, let's call it the year 2000".[107] |
The Old Grey Hare (from Looney Tunes) | Cartoon short | 1944 | 2000 | The Voice of God (Mel Blanc) transports Elmer Fudd through time to the (then) far-off future year of 2000, when "smellevision" has replaced television and "Bing Crosby's horse still hasn't come in yet". |
"The Old Man in the Cave" (from The Twilight Zone) | TV series episode | 1963 | 1974 | This episode takes place in 1974, ten years after the United States has been devastated by a nuclear war. |
The Old New Land | Novel | 1902 | 1923 | By 1923, a Jewish state officially named the New Society has risen as European Jews have rediscovered and re-inhabited their Altneuland in the Land of Israel. In reality, the State of Israel was established in 1948. |
Omega Cop | Film | 1990 | 1999 | Society all but collapses after Earth is devastated by a series of solar flares. |
The Omega Man | Film | 1971 | 1977 | An adaptation of I Am Legend. |
Omega Race | Video game | 1981 | 2003 | By 2003, space combat using lasers is routine. |
On the Beach | Novel | 1957 | 1963 | The northern hemisphere has been devastated by World War III; the inhabitants of the southern hemisphere await the arrival of fallout. |
On the Beach | Film | 1959 | 1964 | The film of the novel. |
On the Beach | Film | 2000 | 2007 | Predicts a nuclear war between the United States and China over Taiwan that renders the Northern Hemisphere uninhabitable. |
"On Thursday We Leave for Home" (from The Twilight Zone) | TV series episode | 1963 | 1991–2021 | In 1991, people fled from Earth due to perpetual war, and set out to colonize another planet. In 2021, a rescue ship arrives to take them home. |
"One Way to the Moon" (from The Time Tunnel) | TV series episode | 1966 | 1978 | The first crewed mission to Mars is launched in 1978. |
Outcast | Video game | 1999 | 2007 | Interdimensional travel is invented. |
"The Outer Limit" (from Dimension X) | Radio drama | 1950 | 1965 | On April 10, 1965, the United States is testing a cosmic ray bomb which is many times more powerful than a nuclear bomb. By this time, 20 other countries have nuclear weaponry. Videophones called vidiscreens are widely used. |
OutRun 2019 | Video game | 1993 | 2019 | Racing game involving rocket-powered cars. |
Outside | Album | 1995 | 1999 | An album by David Bowie which tells a nonlinear murder mystery in 1999, when murder and the mutilation of corpses is an accepted art form. |
The Outward Urge | Novel | 1959 | 1994–2194 | A future history from 1994 to 2194 at 50-year intervals. Depicts a missile attack on a British space station in 1994. |
Pacific Rim | Film | 2013 | 2020 | In 2013, a rift to another dimension unleashes gigantic creatures onto the Earth, which humans fight with mechas. Whether this film qualifies as a prediction or alternate future depends on whether the rift opens before or after July 2013. |
Parable of the Sower | Novel | 1993 | 2024 | By 2024, society has destabilised due to climate change and wealth inequality. |
Parasite | Film | 1982 | 1992 | Post-apocalyptic future in which Earth is run by a class called Merchants. |
Paris in the Twentieth Century | Novel | 1863 | 1960 | Written in 1863 and published in 1994. Predicted gas-powered cars (and gas stations), fax machines, electric street lighting, maglev trains, the record industry, the internet, WMDs and many other things. |
"Patient Zero" (from The Outer Limits) | TV series episode | 2001 | 2015 | By 2015, a devastating plague has wiped out more than three billion people worldwide. |
"Past Tense" (from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) | TV episode | 1995 | 2024 | Most US cities are home to "sanctuary districts"; designated regions for homeless and destitute that have proliferated as wealth inequality increases. |
Patlabor | OVA | 1988–1989 | 1998–2002 | Robots called "Labors" are integrated into society. The film adaptation, Patlabor: The Movie, is set in 1999. |
The Peace Keepers | Video game | 1993 | 2015 | After the "economic wars" of 2011, the Deutschland Moldavia corporation rules most of the world. |
Perfect Dark (Game Boy Color) | Video game | 2000 | 2022 | Terrorists pay for cybernetic enhancements. Alien contact has been made. |
Perfect Dark | Video game | 2010 | 2023 | Two alien races involved in an interstellar war join rival companies on Earth.[108] Predicted: Anti-gravity devices, holographics, first sentient artificial intelligence computer.[109] |
Perfect Dark: Initial Vector | Novel | 2006 | 2016, 2020 | The world is dominated by megacorporations. Canada is quarantined after a deadly flu epidemic in 2016. |
Perfect Dark Zero | Video game | 2005 | 2020 | A large percentage of the world is controlled by corporations.[110] |
Perry Rhodan, "The Third Power" story arc | Novel series | 1961–1962 | 1971–1975 | The first moon landing discovers a crashed alien ship, and, after dealing with its occupant, returns alien technology to Earth, the desire for which nearly triggers a world war. |
The Phantom Planet | Film | 1961 | 1980 | The United States has bases on the moon. |
Philip Dru: Administrator | Novel | 1912 | 1920–1935 | Philip Dru leads the democratic western United States in the Second American Civil War against the plutocratic East. After becoming a benevolent dictator and an acclaimed leader, he steps down, having restored justice and democracy. |
Phoenix Point | Video game | 2019 | 2022 | An alien virus mutates all life on Earth. |
"Pilot" (from Odyssey 5) | TV series episode | 2002 | 2007 | Earth is destroyed on August 7, 2007. |
Plague 99 | Novel | 1989 | 1999 | In 1999, the majority of the population of London is wiped out by a plague in a matter of weeks. |
Platinumhugen Ordian | Anime | 2000 | 2020 | Japanese high school students can pilot Mechas. |
Play for Tomorrow | TV series | 1982 | 1999 | BBC series offering many alternate views of the future, several set in 1999:[41]
|
Policenauts | Video game | 1994 | 2010–2013 | Beyond Coast, mankind's first fully functional space colony, is completed. Three years later, five policemen from Earth are chosen to enforce the law among the first wave of general immigrants, becoming the titular Policenauts. The main story is set 27 years later in 2040, when one of the original Policenauts, Jonathan Ingram, is now working as a detective in Old Los Angeles after an accident during a space walking experiment left him stranded in space for 24 years in suspended animation, preserving his youth. |
Police Quest: SWAT 2 | Video game | 1998 | 1999 | Terrorists battle police on the streets of Los Angeles. |
The Postman | Film | 1997 | 2013 | Sixteen-plus years after unspecified apocalyptic events, US society has collapsed due to racially motivated attacks by a fanatical militia-like group, culminating in nuclear war and followed by plagues, that collectively left a huge impact on civilization and erased most technology. |
"The Potters of Firsk" (from Dimension X) | Radio drama | 1950 | 1992 | By 1992, humanity has established colonies on other planets. |
Predator 2 | Film | 1990 | 1997 | Depicts a turf war between Jamaican and Colombian drug cartels in Los Angeles in 1997. |
"Preview of the War We Do Not Want" | Novella | 1951 | 1952–1960 | World War III breaks out on May 10, 1952. After three years of fighting, the United Nations emerges victorious over the Soviet Union, which is subsequently occupied. |
Prince of Darkness | Film | 1987 | 1999 | Characters in the present (1987) share a recurring dream which is a transmission from the future (1999), in which the apocalypse is occurring. |
Privilege | Film | 1967 | 1970s | A rock singer becomes the figurehead of a fascist UK government. |
Project Moonbase | Film | 1953 | 1970 | People can live on the Moon.[10] |
Prophecies of Nostradamus | Film | 1974 | 1999 | Examines an interpretation of the prophecies of Nostradamus; in particular Quatrian 10–72: "In the year 1999 and seven months from the skies will come the great king of terror". |
Psychic Force and Psychic Force 2012 | Video game | 1995
1998 |
2010
2012 |
Set in a future where "phychiccers" are shunned by normal humans.[98] |
The Psychotechnic League | Novel series | 1949–1957 | 1958 | Future history series by Poul Anderson concerning the world rebuilding itself after a nuclear conflict in 1958. |
The Puma Blues | Comic | 1986–1989 | 1995–2002 | Predicted a nuclear detonation in 1995. Time skip in issue No. 21 to 2002. |
The Puppet Masters | Novel | 1951 | 2007 and later | The US and the Soviet Union engaged in a limited nuclear war, but are still hostile. The Sino-Soviet split never happened and China is part of the Soviet Bloc. Flying cars and interplanetary travel are commonplace. |
The Purge | Film | 2013 | 2014–2022 | In 2014, an economic collapse presages the election of a totalitarian government. By 2022, the US celebrates an annual national holiday known as "the Purge", during which all crime, including murder, are decriminalized for a 12-hour period. |
The Purge: Anarchy | Film | 2014 | 2023 | The United States is a dystopian country ruled by a totalitarian government known as the "New Founding Fathers". The Purge is being used to save the country's collapsing economy. Most of the film concerns activities near the Sixth Purge on March 21, 2023.[111][35] |
Quantum Leap | TV series | 1989–1993 | 1995–1999 | Sam Beckett is in 1995 when he starts leaping. Other events in the TV series bring the present time to 1999. |
"Quarantine" (from The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)) | TV series episode | 1986 | 2023 | Matthew Forman is put into cold sleep on June 18, 2023, in the hopes that his inoperable cancer can be cured in the future.[112] The majority of the episode takes place in 2347. |
Queen of Blood | Film | 1966 | 1990 | In 1990, a spaceship from Mars crash-lands on Earth. |
Queen of Outer Space | Film | 1958 | 1985 | Venus is inhabited by women. |
"The Queer Story of Brownlow's Newspaper" | Short story | 1932 | 1971 | A newspaper dated November 10, 1971, features references to lower birth rates, an emphasis on psychological motivation in fiction, geothermal energy, the extinction of gorillas and a world government. By 1971, there is also a simplified spelling of English – the name of the newspaper is the Even Standrd as opposed to the Evening Standard – and a 13-month reformed calendar. |
A Quiet Place | Film | 2018 | 2020 | Extraterrestrial sightless creatures annihilate most of Earth's human and animal life. |
Radioactive Dreams | Film | 1985 | 2011 | Nuclear war breaks out in 1996, placing the two main characters in a bunker for 15 years.[113][114] |
Raid 2020 | Video game | 1989 | 2020 | The police force is almost completely corrupt. |
Rats: Night of Terror | Film | 1984 | 2015 | A nuclear holocaust occurs in 2015. |
Real Steel | Film | 2011 | 2020 | Human boxers are replaced by robots. |
Rebuild of Evangelion | Film series | 2007–2009 | 2015 | Reboot of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The first two films take place starting in 2015. |
Reign of Fire | Film | 2002 | 2008 and 2020 | The introductory part of the film, in which dragons are found under London, is set in 2008. The remainder of the film is set in 2020, in a post-apocalyptic Earth overrun with dragons. |
"The Repairer of Reputations" | Short story | 1895 | 1920 | This short story, part of the weird fiction book The King in Yellow, is set in a future New York City where suicide has been legalized and facilitated by the American government, with 'lethal chambers' that provide a painless death readily available to the public. While the United States is a prosperous and militarily strong nation, much of Europe has become anarchic. |
Resiklo | Film | 2007 | 2021 | Earth is invaded by insect-like beings. |
"Resurrection" (from The Outer Limits) | TV series episode | 1996 | 1997–2009 | On July 24, 1997, humanity destroyed itself (as well as all other mammals) in a biological war in what became known as the Day of Silence or the Biocaust. Only a few hundred androids were left to populate the Earth. In 2009, two androids created a human, Cain, from unaffected DNA samples to lead the Second Coming of humankind. |
Revengers Tragedy | Film | 2002 | 2011 | Science fiction adaptation of The Revenger's Tragedy set in a post-apocalyptic Great Britain that has been devastated by a natural disaster. |
Revolution X | Video game | 1994 | 1996 | Takes place in a dystopian future where music, television and video games are banned, and the rock band Aerosmith is kidnapped.[115][116] |
Rig 'n' Roll | Video game | 2010 | 2014 | California has declared independence.[117] |
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky | Film | 1991 | 2001 | Loose Hong Konger adaptation of the Riki-Oh manga. By 2001, all prisons and other correctional facilities have been handed over to the private industry. A nuclear war devastated the planet and the economy, leading to high crime rates. |
Ring Raiders | Cartoon series | 1989 | 1998 | Depicts a future war between time traveling airmen. |
"The Roads Must Roll" | Short story | 1940 | 1945–1960 | In 1950, the first mechanized road was built between Cincinnati and Cleveland. |
"Robbie" from I, Robot | Short story | 1939 | 1982, 1996 | By 1982 (1996 in later reprints), household robots are common. The revised version of the story states the birth year of Susan Calvin as 1982. |
RoboCop | TV series | 1994 | 2005 | In 2005, robotic policemen patrol the streets of Detroit, Michigan.[118] |
Robotics;Notes | Video game | 2012 | 2019 | Visual novel about a boy trying to construct a mecha. |
RobotWar | Video game | 1981 | 2002 | Human soldiers have been replaced by military robots. |
"Future Schlock" (from Rocko's Modern Life) | TV episode | 1996 | 2013 | In a Star Trek-esque 2010s, Filburt's children ask him the meaning of a banana which they found in a refrigerator from 1996. At the end of the episode, Rocko, Spunky, Heffer and Filburt all get blasted off into space in Rocko's house and would return to O-Town in a retconned 2016, in the 2019 special Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling. |
Rollerball | Film | 1975 | 2018 | By 2018, the world is a corporate dictatorship. American football is no longer an active sport and rollerball is the only sport shown on cable television. Books are replaced by summaries on computers. Households have about four television monitors in a room. People are required to stay home to watch sports.[81] The reboot is set only three years into its future and is regarded more as contemporary.[11][10] |
Roujin Z | Film | 1991 | 2020 | Set in early 21st century Japan (c. 2020). A group of scientists and hospital administrators, under the direction of the Ministry of Public Welfare, have developed the Z-001: a computerized hospital bed with robotic features.[119][120] |
"Runaround" | Short story | 1942 | 2005–2015 | By 2005, humanity has established mining stations on Mercury. |
Runaway | Film | 1984 | 1991 | Set in a future in which household robots are commonplace. Predicted domestic robots, video mail, social media, the Internet, voice-activated computers, facial recognition, retinal identification, camera drones, smart bullets, tablet PCs, wireless headsets, and that police officers would use semi-automatic pistols as sidearms (in 1984, most police officers used revolvers). The year is inferred from the main character's age (35) and birthdate (1956). |
The Running Man | Film | 1987 | 2019 | Predicts an economic collapse and totalitarian takeover of the US in 2017. The film itself takes place in 2019.[121][81] Refers to the "Great Quake of '97". |
R. U. R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) | Play | 1921 | c. 2000[122] | The synthetic protoplasm that makes robots a possibility is discovered in 1932. The play itself takes place some decades after that. One of the earliest, if not the earliest, example of an AI takeover in fiction. The 1948 BBC adaptation takes place from 1980 to 1990.[123] |
Saints Row IV | Video game | 2013 | c. 2020 | Earth is invaded and subsequently destroyed by aliens. A small number of survivors, including the President of the United States, are abducted and placed in a virtual world. |
Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell | Video game | 2015 | c. 2020 | The entire universe is reset by God, with no one remembering their previous lives. |
Sealab 2020 | TV series | 1972 | 2020 | The opening narration predicts that underwater sea labs will be able to house 250 people. |
Sealab 2021 | TV series | 2000 | 2021 | Redubbed parody of Sealab 2020 |
seaQuest DSV | TV series | 1993–1996 | 2015–2018 | By 2018, the ocean floor has been colonised. The dolphin Darwin can communicate with humans with a translation device.[124] The first crewed mission to Mars was launched in 2015 and returned to Earth in 2018. |
A Scanner Darkly | Novel | 1977 | 1994 | A narcotics agent wears a "scramble suit" that hides his identity and uses video to spy on a drug-using household. Made into a film in 2006. |
Sci-Fighters | Film | 1996 | 2009 | A convict escapes from the Moon and returns to Earth on the run, carrying a deadly virus.[11] |
The Secret People | Novel | 1935 | 1964 | Correctly predicts Queen Elizabeth II being named as the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, although at the time of the novel's publication, she was only third in the line of succession. |
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World | Film | 2012 | 2021 | An asteroid collides with Earth. The date of the final published newspaper is "March 21, 2021". |
Sekirei | Manga, Anime | 2004 | 2020 | Takes place in Tokyo of the "New Eastern Imperial Capital", where "Sekirei" (women fighters) battle to determine the fate of the world. |
Senran Kagura | Video game | 2011 | 2020 | Female ninjas are commonplace and fight off evil. |
The Sentinel | Short story | 1951 | 1996 | An expedition to Mare Crisium unearths an alien artifact. The inspiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey. |
The Sentinels of the New Dawn (from Doctor Who) | Audio drama | 2011 | 2014 | This audio drama correctly predicted that there would be a widespread Ebola epidemic in 2014. |
Seven Days in May | Film | 1964 | 1974 | Military leaders opposed to a treaty with the Soviet Union plot a coup to take over the United States government. |
Sexmission | Film | 1984 | 1991 | By 1991, suspended animation has been perfected. Begins in 1991, when the main characters enter hibernation, before awakening in 2044. |
Shadowrun | Roleplaying game | 1989 | 2021 | On April 30, 2021, ten percent of the world's population suddenly transform into new racial types, resulting in the ork and troll races. |
The Shadows of Avalon (from Doctor Who) | Novel | 2000 | 2012 | By 2012, the United Kingdom has a king. |
Shank | Film | 2010 | 2015 | London has fallen under the influence and reign of gangs. |
The Shape of Things to Come | Novel | 1933 | 1933–2017 | Contains several books covering future periods including an extensive Second World War, a dictatorship and other dystopian ideas. |
Shattered Union | Video game | 2005 | 2008–2014 | Set in a future in which the United States has split into warring factions.[125] |
Shooting War | Comic | 2006 | 2011 | In 2011, US President John McCain is aggressively pursuing the War on Terror while taking Prozac. |
Silent Mobius | Anime | 1998 | 2023 | Depicts a group of all-female police officers protecting Tokyo from an invasion of extra-dimensional creatures called Lucifer Hawks. The manga was started in 1989 and is set in 2024, but the anime starts with an episode set in 2023.[31] |
SimCity | Video game | 1989 | 2010 | Boston suffers a nuclear meltdown in January 2010. |
SimCity 2000 | Video game | 1993 | 1993–2007 | Malibu is affected by wildfires in November 1993, Chicago by November 1999 suffers from high pollution, a giant monster ravages Hollywood in January 2001, and New York City's Manhattan is affected by a nuclear meltdown in 2007. |
SimCity 3000 | Video game | 1999 | 2020 | Microwave power plants are invented. |
Sin and Punishment | Video game | 2000 | 2007 | In 2007, humanity is undergoing severe global famine. Scientists build bionic creatures to help grow food, but the creatures eventually revolt against them and start a war. |
Sire | Novel | 1991 | 1999 | In 1999, France restores the monarchy and the 18-year-old Philippe Pharamond de Bourbon assumes the throne. |
The 6th Day | Film | 2000 | 2015[126] | By 2015, the creation of duplicate humans, including memory, physique and age, is possible, but illegal. |
The Sky Pirate | Novel | 1909 | 1930s | Several years prior to 1939, France and the UK fought each other in a war in which aircraft were prominently used. |
Slaughterhouse-Five | Novel | 1969 | 1976 | Partially set in a future in which a "Balkanized" United States has been partitioned into twenty separate countries "so that it will never again be a threat to world peace." Chicago has been completely destroyed and rebuilt after being "hydrogen-bombed by angry Chinamen." The novel's protagonist Billy Pilgrim is assassinated with a laser gun. |
Smash TV | Video game | 1990 | 1999 | In 1999, violent reality TV shows are popular with audiences. The contestants fight each other, often to their deaths.[97][127][102][16] |
Snatcher | Video game | 1988 | 1991 (Japanese), 1996 (English) | Predicts the deaths of 80% of the world's population due to a biological hazard in the fictional city of Chernoton, Russia. The original Japanese story depicts this event occurring on June 6, 1991, but the later-released English localization moves the year to 1996. The main story is set 51 years later on the manmade island of Neo Kobe City, where the titular race of androids are secretly killing members of the high echelon of society and disguising themselves as their victims. Inspired by Blade Runner and Akira. |
"Sneak Attack" (from Tales of Tomorrow) | TV series episode | 1951 | 1960 | In 1960, an unnamed foreign power launches 22 robot airplanes carrying hetrodyne bombs and threatens to detonate them in the major cities of the United States unless the US president surrenders the entire nation to this foreign power. Denver is destroyed, resulting in the deaths of 46,000 people. |
Snow Crash | Novel | 1992 | 2000s | California has split into two, hyper-Libertarian independent republics in which no law applies nationwide. Guard dogs are augmented cyborgs. Predicted virtual worlds and Google Earth. |
A Sojourn in the City of Amalgamation, in the Year of Our Lord, 19-- | Novel | 1835 | 20th century | An American anti-abolitionist satire set in a future city where racial mixing of blacks and whites is socially mandatory. Correctly predicts the abolition of slavery in the US by the 20th century. |
Soldiers of Anarchy | Video game | 2002 | 2015 | A deadly virus wiped out most of the human population in 2010. |
Songbird | Film | 2020 | 2024 | A more deadly variant of COVID-19 leads to multi-year lockdowns in the United States, which has devolved into a police state. |
Soylent Green | Film | 1973 | 2022 | Adaptation of Make Room! Make Room! The world is severely overpopulated, and resources are depleting.[128] In 2022, the population of New York City was actually around 18.8 million instead of 40 million.[57] |
Space: 1999 | TV series | 1975–1977 | 1999–2006 | The Moon is knocked out of the Earth's orbit on September 13, 1999. |
Spaceflight IC-1 | Film | 1965 | 2015 | In 2015, the overpopulated civilized world is controlled by an all-powerful computerized government that is carefully choosing colonists for its newest space launch. The candidates are selected on the basis of their age, health and IQ.[129] |
Space Force | Radio series | 1984–1985 | 2010 | Sequel to Journey into Space. |
Space Probe Taurus | Film | 1965 | 2000 | In 2000, humanity is investigating the feasibility of colonizing other galaxies. |
"Space Seed" (from Star Trek: The Original Series) | TV series episode | 1967 | 1992–1996, 2018 | The Eugenics Wars were fought from 1992 to 1996. During this time, Khan Noonien Singh ruled a quarter of the world. Before this, interplanetary ships and suspended animation had been perfected. In 2018, advancements in sublight propulsion technology make sleeper ships obsolete.[b] |
Spiral Zone | TV series | 1987 | 2007 | On June 18, 2007, a renegade military scientist, Dr. James Bent, uses a hijacked space shuttle to drop his deadly Zone Generators across half of the Earth, thus creating a region called the Spiral Zone due to its shape. Millions of people are trapped in the dark mists of the Spiral Zone and transformed into "Zoners" with lifeless yellow eyes and strange red patches on their skin. |
Split Second | Film | 1992 | 2008 | Global warming causes London to be a flooded city.[11] |
Spooks: Code 9 | TV series | 2008 | 2012 | There is a nuclear attack in London during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. |
Stand on Zanzibar | Novel | 1968 | 2010 | Predicted the decline of Detroit, electric cars, overpopulation, the European Union, in-flight entertainment, Viagra, terrorism, TiVo, reality television and a president named Obomi.[7][130][131][9] |
State of Emergency | Video game | 2002 | 2023 | In 2023, because of an economic collapse, the United States government is overthrown by The Corporation and a totalitarian police state is established. The video game takes place in 2035.[31] |
"Steel" (from The Twilight Zone) | TV series episode | 1963 | 1974 | This episode takes place in 1974, six years after boxing between human fighters was criminalized in 1968. The sport is dominated by robots instead. |
Steel Frontier | Film | 1995 | 2019 | Post-apocalyptic neo-Western.[12] Stars Brion James, who also starred in Blade Runner, another film set in 2019. |
Stranded | Film | 2001 | 2020 | Begins as the Ares crewed spacecraft enters orbit around Mars. |
Strange Adventures No. 1 | Comic | 1950 | The late 20th century | Earth was completely covered by water during the latter part of the 20th century. |
Strange Days | Film | 1995 | 1999 | Events occur near the end of the 1990s; a person's memories in their brain can be recorded on a disc called a "SQUID" that others can steal.[10] |
Street Fighter 2010 | Video game | 1990 | 2010 | Aliens and bionic enhancements.[97][16][98] |
Strike Commander | Video game | 1993 | 2011 | War in the Middle East destroys most oil fields, leading to a global oil crisis and a second Great Depression. As the US begins to collapse, mercenary armies gain massive power, and begin to use high-end military craft like F-16s.[132] |
Strike Gunner S.T.G | Video game | 1991 | 2008 | Aliens invade Earth. |
Summer Day's Dream | Play | 1949 | 1975 | Depicts a world in which a nuclear war has reduced the United Kingdom to a pre-industrial, pre-capitalist state and greatly reduced its population; the United States, Soviet Union and India are the world's great powers. |
Super Baseball 2020 | Video game | 1991 | 2020 | The sport of baseball is played entirely by robots. |
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross | Anime series | 1982 | 2009–2012 | Episode 1 describes events from 1999 to 2009 when Macross first landed. Most of the story takes place starting in 2009. The final episode takes place in January 2012. A feature film, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, was made in 1984 covering the same events. An OVA epilogue subtitled Flash Back 2012 was produced in 1987 and takes place in September 2012. Was adapted into an English language version called Robotech that aired in syndication around 1985. A prequel, Macross Zero, set in 2008, was released between 2002 and 2004, but since many events in the series timeline had already occurred by that point, it could arguably be viewed as alternate history, rather than future. |
Super Force | TV series | 1990 | 2018, 2020 | In 2018, the United States sent a crewed mission to Mars. Some episodes are set in 2020. |
Super Glove Ball | Video game | 1990 | 2005 | Predicted motion control technology for console games.[98] |
Supreme Ruler 2020 | Video game | 2008 | 2020 | The protagonist is on a quest to unify a region of fragmented states into a single government.[133] |
Supermale | Novel | 1902 | 1920s | In the 1920s, certain men are supermales who are capable of prodigious feats of endurance and sexual athleticism. Perpetual-motion food gives cyclists the strength and stamina to keep up with the train. Love machines can make one person fall in love with another. |
Superman No. 128 | Comic | 1959 | 2000 | By 2000, Earth has a world government led by the President of the United Worlds, Mars has been colonized, and space travel is common. All of the planet's oceans were dissolved due to an atomic experiment. |
Superman No. 300 | Comic | 1976 | 1990–2001 | By 1990, the New Empire State Building has regained its status as the tallest building in the world, an impenetrable dome has been built around the White House to protect the US president and a moonbase has been built by the United States, equipped with a destructive laser beam weapon. In that year, World War III was averted by Skyboy, who came to Earth in 1976. 3D television known as Tri-Vision was invented prior to 2001. On January 1, 2001, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. merged to form the huge city of Metropolis. |
Superman No. 400 | Comic | 1984 | 1990s | In the 1990s, World War III was averted by the efforts of Kuhan Pei-Jing. |
Supervolcano | Docudrama film | 2005 | 2020 | The caldera of Yellowstone National Park undergoes a supereruption.[134] |
Surrogates | Film | 2009 | 2017 | Humans live at home and interact with the world through remotely operated androids. |
SWAT 3 | Video game | 1999 | 2003–2005 | World leaders gather in Los Angeles to sign a United Nations treaty abolishing nuclear weapons in 2005; meanwhile various terrorists try to disrupt the treaty signing or use it to garner attention for their causes. |
Sword Art Online | Light novel | 2009 | 2022 | Virtual reality technology has advanced to the point that helmets called NerveGear can directly interface with the player's brain and allow them to see the game world and control their avatars with their minds rather than through displays and controllers. The first game designed for it, a MMORPG called Sword Art Online, launches on November 6 of this year, with the developer revealing that he made everyone unable to logout, and in-game deaths or external attempts to remove the NerveGear will result in real death by means of a microwave pulse to the head.[135][136] |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time | Video game | 1991 | 2020 | The stage "Neon Night Riders" features battles on hoverboards. |
Telerop 2009 – Es ist noch was zu retten | TV series | 1974 | 2009 | As a result of environmental pollution during the 1970s and the 1980s, the natural environment has largely been destroyed in 2009. The use of pesticides killed off plants with only insects surviving, water is scarce and smog is a permanent problem. Germany has partly turned to a steppe landscape and the share of oxygen in the air has fallen to 16%.[137] |
"Tell David..." (from Night Gallery) | TV series episode | 1971 | 1991 | In 1991, homes have one-way security windows, video telephones and technology similar to web mapping services. |
"Ten In 2010" | Song | 1996 | 2010 | In 2010, the world's population is ten billion. |
The Terminator | Film | 1984 | 2021 | In 2021, Kyle Reese begins serving with the 132nd Special Forces Unit of the Resistance under Justin Perry against the machines. |
The Terminator: Future Shock | Video game | 1995 | 2015 | Depicts Judgement Day as occurring in 1995, rather than 1997. |
Terminator: Dark Fate | Film | 2019 | 2020 | The film mainly takes place in 2020 when an advanced Terminator, Rev-9, is sent back in time to kill Dani Ramos, who will become a threat to the machines in the future. The Legion's rise is averted when Rev-9 is destroyed. |
Terminator 2: Judgment Day | Film | 1991 | 1995 | John Connor was conceived on May 14, 1984, meaning he was born early in 1985. The police computer lists him as ten years old. The film predicts a future AI takeover and nuclear war in 1997, with August 29, 1997 being the "Judgement Day".[57] This is averted when the Cyberdyne Systems headquarters is destroyed. |
Terminator Genisys | Film | 2015 | 2017 | First part of the film takes place in 2027, but a later part of the film is set in 2017 when the Terminator from the 1980s has aged.[21] A new operating system, "Genisys", is released worldwide and will eventually evolve into Skynet. |
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles | TV series | 2008–2009 | 2011 | |
The Tenth Planet (from Doctor Who) | TV series | 1966 | 1986 | In December 1986, Earth's former sister planet Mondas returns to the Sol System. The 1985 Doctor Who serial Attack of the Cybermen also references these events. |
Terrahawks | TV series | 1983 | 2020 | An alien force has destroyed NASA's Mars base and threatens Earth. |
The Texas-Israeli War: 1999 | Novel | 1974 | 1983–1999 | In 1983, the nations of the world agreed to the Oslo Disarmament, resulting in nuclear stockpiles being severely reduced. In the early 1990s, the Republic of Ireland declared war on the UK, conquered Northern Ireland and expelled Protestants from that region. In August 1992, Irish commandos introduced LSD into the water supplies of much of the UK. Under the influence of the drug, the Prime Minister and Parliament ordered the use of nuclear weapons against Ireland and her allies, South Africa and China. The Commonwealth backed the UK in the emerging World War III. By the end of 1992, half of the world's population was dead; 90% had perished from plague and famine by 1994. Texas declared its independence from the United States and became the Second Republic of Texas. It went to war with Israel in 1999. |
"There Will Come Soft Rains" | Short story | 1950 | 1985 | In 1985, computer-controlled houses cook and clean for their inhabitants. In that year, humanity is wiped out by a nuclear war. |
"They Have Taken Over" (from NET Playhouse) | TV series episode | 1970 | 1990 | In 1990, the US government has been taken by the youth. It has decreed that the middle-aged are a drain on society's resources. At 55, people are sent to detention camps and given a maximum of ten years to live. |
Things to Come | Film | 1936 | 1940–1970 | Film adaptation of The Shape of Things to Come. A global war breaks out on Christmas Day 1940. The war continues into the 1960s. |
Thrice Upon a Time | Novel | 1980 | 2009–2010 | In 2009, the technology to send messages back and forth through time is invented. In 2010, the Soviet Union still exists, video telephones are commonplace, and all modern automobiles come with an automated control system allowing one to cruise hands-free on most official roads and highways. |
Thunderbirds | Film | 2004 | 2020 | Loosely based on the 1960s TV series, in which a family owns a private space station. |
"Time Bomb" (from Wonder Woman) | TV series episode | 1978 | 2007 | A 22nd-century time traveler refers to a nuclear apocalypse in 2007. |
"The Time of the Ice Box" (from Timeslip) | TV series episode | 1970 | 1990 | In 1990, human cloning has been perfected and longevity drugs are being tested on human volunteers. |
The Trial of Tony Blair | TV film | 2007 | 2010 | After his resignation as British Prime Minister in 2010, Tony Blair is put on trial for war crimes. Hillary Clinton won the 2008 US presidential election. Under the leadership of Gordon Brown, the Labour Party wins the 2010 general election. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Secretary-General of the United Nations. |
The Thirteenth Floor | Film | 1999 | 2024 | A company in 1999 creates a simulated reality of 1937, only to realise that it is in fact a simulated reality generated in 2024. The film leaves open ended whether 2024 is itself a simulation. |
Threads | TV film | 1984 | 1988–2003 | In 1988, nuclear war breaks out between the United States and the Soviet Union, leading to millions of deaths all over the world and society reverting to medieval levels. |
Thundarr the Barbarian | TV series | 1980–1982 | 1994 | In 1994, a runaway planet hurtles between Earth and the Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction and causing radical changes to Earth's climate and geography. |
Thunderbirds | Film | 2004 | 2010 | Loosely based on the television series of the same name. |
Timecop | Film | 1994 | 2004 | Time travel is used to fight crime.[10] Voice-activated self-driving cars are in general use. The film's antagonist is a candidate in the then-future 2004 United States presidential election. It is mentioned in passing that a white supremacist party has qualified for matching funds in said election, leading to calls to end the practice. |
Timecop | TV series | 1997 | 2007 | Based on the film. |
The Time Machine | Film | 1960 | 1966 | George witnesses the beginning of a nuclear war on August 19, 1966. |
Time Out of Joint | Novel | 1959 | c. 1998 | Depicts a nuclear conflict between Earth and the lunar colony. |
Timescape | Novel | 1980 | 1998 | In 1998, Earth is ravaged by ecological disasters such as algal blooms and diebacks on the brink of large scale extinctions. Various other events are mentioned in passing, such as student riots and an event of nuclear terrorism against New York City which took place before the events of the novel. |
TimeSplitters | Video game | 2000 | 2005 (and other eras) | Cyborgs are present in 2005; interplanetary (or interstellar) travel is invented before 2020. |
Time Traveler | Video game | 1991 | 1998 (and other past and future dates) | By 1998, the world has become a crime-ridden punk dystopia. |
Time Under Fire | Film | 1997 | 2008 | A segment is set in 2008. The rest of the film is set in the 1990s and 2077. |
Titan | Novel | 1997 | Early 21st century | Features a crewed mission to Titan during a predicted intellectual Dark Age. |
Tom Clancy's EndWar | Video game | 2008 | 2016–2020 | Predicted the rise of a unified European superstate called the "European Federation". Also predicted that a militarization of space would reach its peak in 2020. |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon | Video game | 2001 | 2008 | Predicts a war between Russia and NATO in 2008 after a coup d'état in Moscow by ultra-nationalists. Correctly predicted a Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008.[138] |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter | Video game | 2006 | 2013 | A civil war in Mexico erupts, orchestrated by Mexicans opposed to the pending ratification of a military alliance by Mexico with Canada and the United States. |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 | Video game | 2007 | 2013 | A civil war in Mexico erupts, orchestrated by Mexicans opposed to the pending ratification of a military alliance by Mexico with Canada and the United States. |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Desert Siege | Video game | 2002 | 2009 | Predicts a war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2009 following a revanchist coup d'état in the former. To protect shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the US militarily intervenes on Eritrea's side and ejects the invading Ethiopians from the country. |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier | Video game | 2012 | 2024 | A paramilitary group seizes control of Russia and launches a nuclear missile at London. |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder | Video game | 2002 | 2010 | Fidel Castro dies in 2006; this is followed by years of violent instability in Cuba. By 2010, Cuba prepares to host its first free and fair elections in decades, but various terrorist groups still pose a threat to the democratization process. The US dispatches special forces to Cuba to safeguard the transition to democracy, and despite efforts by terrorists and even the Colombian FARC to stop it, the transition happens successfully. |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm | Video game | 2004 | 2010 | The United States dispatches special forces to Colombia in 2010 to battle leftist terrorists after the latter attacks United Nations personnel in the country. |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 | Video game | 2004 | 2007–2011 | GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions of the game depict a war between North Korea and South Korea in 2007, with the Xbox version of the game depicting US special forces operating in North Korea 4 years later during a quasi-civil war there to stop a rogue North Korean general from launching nuclear missiles. |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike | Video game | 2005 | 2012 | A civil war occurs in Kazakhstan; the US deploys special operations forces there to help put a stop to it. |
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands | Video game | 2017 | 2019 | Depicts rural Bolivia as having been taken over by a Mexican drug cartel called Santa Blanca. It also shows optical camouflage as being a prototype. |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six | Video game | 1998 | 1999–2000 | Depicts an attempted terrorist attack on the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia that is foiled by special operations forces. |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear: Black Thorn | Video game | 2001 | 2004 | Terrorists attempt to attack the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, but are foiled by special operations forces. |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown | Video game | 2005 | 2009 | The South African president is kidnapped by terrorists and there is a terrorist attack on the Scottish Parliament in the United Kingdom. |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield | Video game | 2003 | 2005–2007 | A former Croatian Ustase member launches a series of terrorist attacks across the world to exact revenge on the former Allies for defeating the Axis in World War II and in the hopes that said attacks will revitalize the neo-fascist movement. |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Take-Down – Missions in Korea | Video game | 2001 | 2003 | The Japanese yakuza battle special operations forces in South Korea in a gang war. |
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell | Video game | 2002 | 2004–2005 | A nationalistic strongman takes over Georgia in a coup d'état and surreptitiously invades Azerbaijan using special forces; the Georgians then conduct a secretive genocide against Azerbaijanis. Upon learning of this through the National Security Agency, NATO and the United States intervene militarily to depose the Georgian leader and eject the Georgian military from Azerbaijan. |
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory | Video game | 2005 | 2007 | North Korea invades South Korea and an attempted coup d'état in Japan by Japanese ultra-nationalists is foiled by the United States through the National Security Agency. Correctly predicted North Korea becoming a nuclear weapons state by 2007. |
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction | Video game | 2010 | 2011 | Terrorists attack Washington, D.C. using an electromagnetic pulse device and then proceed to take over the White House and hold the US president hostage; predicted a female US president holding office in 2011. |
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent | Video game | 2006 | 2007–2008 | Depicts a civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. |
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow | Video game | 2004 | 2006 | An Indonesian terrorist, angered by the independence of former Indonesian colony East Timor and US support for it, launches a terroristic war against East Timor and the United States, the latter over its support for East Timorese independence and sovereignty. |
The Transformers: The Movie | Animated film | 1986 | 2005 | By 2005, the presence of the Autobots on Earth has elevated human technology to highly advanced levels. |
Trauma Center: Under the Knife and Trauma Center: Second Opinion | Video game | 2005 | 2018 | By 2018, AIDS and cancer have cures. Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, released in 2008, takes place in 2021. |
"Trends" | Short story | 1939 | 1973–1978, 2008 | After a failed attempt in 1973, the first free-return trajectory is made around the Moon in 1978. |
The True Meaning of Smekday | Children's book | 2007 | 2012–2013 [citation needed] |
Aliens colonise Earth and force the human race to relocate to Florida. Later adapted into the 2015 DreamWorks animated film Home. |
The Tunnel | Film | 1935 | After 1940 | The film concerns the building of a transatlantic tunnel. The Channel Tunnel was noted to have been built in 1940. |
The Tunnel Thru the Air; Or, Looking Back from 1940 | Novel | 1927 | 1930–1932 | From 1930 to 1932, the United States fights a major war against Japan. The war began when Japan attacked the East Coast in April 1930. Many American cities were attacked and destroyed but the US emerged victorious on July 4, 1932. |
Tunnel Vision | Film | 1976 | 1985 | In 1985, a new television network called TunnelVision is entirely free of censorship (aided by a new Bill of Rights, written in 1983). George Wallace won the 1976 presidential election and served one term. |
The Turner Diaries | Novel | 1978 | 1983 | 1991 in later editions. Depicts the violent overthrow of the US government by racist terrorists and a subsequent global race war. |
"The Truth" (from The X-Files) | TV series episode | 2002 | 2012 | The final date set for alien colonisation. See also: 2012 phenomenon. |
Twisted Metal 3 | Video game | 1998 | 2008 | The game predicted that Hollywood would be leveled by a great earthquake in 2007.[16] |
Ubik | Novel | 1969 | 1992 | The Moon has been colonised, psychic powers are common and cryonic suspension has been perfected. |
Undersea Super Train: Marine Express | Anime film | 1979 | 2002 | An undersea train connects North America with Japan. |
UFO | TV series | 1970 | 1980 | Depicts a covert alien invasion of Earth. |
The Ultimate Warrior | Film | 1975 | 2012 | In 2012, a virus holocaust has devastated the planet. |
"The Unparalleled Invasion"[139] | Short story | 1910 | 1922–1987 | On May 1, 1976, the United States and other Western powers launch a biological warfare campaign against China, resulting in the destruction of the Chinese population. China is later colonized by the Western Powers. |
Until the End of the World | Film | 1991 | 1999 | An Indian nuclear satellite loses control and heads towards Earth, causing mass chaos. A means of recording dreams is invented.[6] |
Uplink | Video game | 2001 | 2010 | Correctly predicted that computers would have up to 8 CPUs by 2010, though it overestimated processor speed at 200 GHz.[140] |
Urban Strike | Video game | 1994 | 2001 | Predicts a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Towers in 2001.[141] |
Vendetta dal futuro | Film | 1986 | 1997 | In a dystopian United States, an industrialist builds a cyborg and gives him a mission to kill the leader of an ecological faction. However, he fails and takes asylum in Arizona, where he must choose between his human and robotic natures. |
Venus Wars | Manga/Anime | 1986 (manga), 1989 (anime) | 2003–2089 | In 2003, a large comet strikes Venus, dispersing its atmosphere, speeding its rotation and providing it with acidic oceans. Colonisation begins in 2012. By 2089 the two native populations (on Ishtar and Aphrodite Terra) are at war. |
A Very British Coup | TV miniseries | 1988 | 1991–1992 | Harry Perkins, an unassuming, working class, very left-wing Leader of the Labour Party and Member of Parliament for Sheffield Central, becomes Prime Minister in March 1991. The priorities of the Perkins Government include dissolving all newspaper monopolies, withdrawal from NATO, removing all US military bases on UK soil, unilateral nuclear disarmament and true open government. The royal cypher on one of the Prime Minister's red boxes is shown as "C III R," suggesting that the monarch is Charles III, the now-current monarch of the United Kingdom. |
V for Vendetta | Comic | 1982–1985 | 1997–1998 | The storyline of the comic takes place from November 5, 1997, to November 5, 1998. The 2005 film adaptation is set between these dates in 2025 and 2026, but there are references to 2014 and 2015. |
"Vincent Deem 1997" (from Exploring Tomorrow) | Radio drama | 1958 | 1977–1997 | Time travel was discovered in 1977. After the War of 1980, which destroyed all plant life, guns were outlawed all over Earth. In 1997, the credit is the American unit of currency. By this time, health rays, video phones and moving sidewalks are commonplace and supermarkets are equipped with robot cashiers. |
Virtual Light | Novel | 1993 | 2006 | Simulated reality via direct stimulation of the brain's visual cortex has recently been invented. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is now a shanty town. |
Vortex | Novel | 1991 | 1993–1994 | Depicts a civil war in South Africa after a soft coup d'état by reactionaries attempts to forestall anti-apartheid legislative reforms; correctly predicted the end of South African apartheid and South Africa transitioning to majority rule in 1994. |
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet | Film | 1965 | 2020 | In that film, the moon is colonized. A group of men land on Venus, where they find a prehistoric world consisted of plants, various monsters, and so on. |
The War Game | Film | 1965 | 1966 | A pseudo-documentary about the effects of a nuclear attack in Kent. The nuclear war was caused as a result of the Vietnam War escalating. |
The War in Space | Film | 1977 | 1988 | Space combat is routine and a "United Nations Space Force" is established. |
The War in the Air | Novel | 1907 | Late 1910s | Depicts a world war, initiated by Germany against the United States, who later ally with a combined China/Japan empire and the British Empire, respectively, fought using fixed-wing heavier-than-air craft. Predicted the use of military aircraft, a world war before 1920, an attack by Japan against the United States, the denial of rights to US citizens of Japanese descent, and a global financial collapse. |
The War of the Worlds | Novel | 1898 | Early in the 20th century | Predicted laser weaponry and chemical weapons. |
Warday | Novel | 1983 | 1988–1993 | A nuclear attack on New York City in October 1988 resulted in a nuclear war in which the United States and the Soviet Union were both devastated. In the vacuum left by the devastation of the US and the Soviets, the United Kingdom and Japan became superpowers. |
Way...Way Out | Film | 1966 | 1989 | Sex comedy set on competing US and Soviet moon bases. |
Weapons of Choice | Novel | 2004 | 2021 | On January 15, 2021, a fleet under the command of Admiral Phillip Kolhammer is sent back in time to June 2, 1942. Hillary Clinton was a wartime President. |
Weathering with You | Anime | 2019 | 2021 | In June 2021, a continuous rain begins over Tokyo. |
We Can Build You | Novel | 1972 | 1982 | By 1982, electronic organs and androids are mass-produced. |
"We Right Here" | Song | 2001 | 2003 | DMX states the song will still "knock" in 2003. |
Westworld | Film | 1973 | 1983 | Set mainly in a theme park filled with androids.[72] |
When Smuts Goes | Novel | 1947 | 1952 | In 1952, the National Party comes to power in South Africa and institutes a fascist dictatorship. Correctly predicted the rise of apartheid in South Africa and its subsequent end. |
The White Plague | Novel | 1982 | 1996 | The family of the protagonist, John Roe O'Neill, are killed by an IRA bomb on May 20, 1996, resulting in his descent into insanity. He plans a gendercidal revenge and creates a plague that kills only women, but for which men are the carriers. O'Neill then releases it in Ireland (for supporting the terrorists), England (for oppressing the Irish and giving them a cause) and Libya (for training said terrorists). |
Wicked City | OVA | 1987 | End of the 20th century | At the dawn of the new millennium, the human world secretly coexists with the demonic "Black World" – an alternate dimension populated by supernatural demons with a secret human police force known as the Black Guard protecting the boundary. For centuries, a peace treaty between the Black World and the world of humans has been maintained to ensure relative harmony. When a group of radicalized members of the Black World conspire to sabotage the renegotiation of the treaty, the Black Guard must stop them. |
"The Wilderness" | Short story | 1952 | 2003 | In 2003, commercial travel to Mars is common. |
A Wind Named Amnesia | Novel | 1983 | 1999 | In 1999, the world has been reduced to an apocalyptic wasteland due to an inexplicable gust of wind that wiped even the most basic memories, such as speech and civility, from the minds of the world's populace. |
"The Winnowing" | Short story | 1976 | 2005 | In 2005, Earth is experiencing acute famine due to its population of six billion.[142] |
WinSPMBT | Video game | 2005 | 2005–2020 | Part of the Steel Panthers video games, simulates various "historical" battles from 1946 to 2025. |
"With Folded Hands" (from Dimension X) | Radio drama | 1950 | 2006 | An adaptation of the 1947 short story by Jack Williamson. In 2006, household robots called "Mechanicals" are commonplace. |
With the Night Mail | Novella | 1905 | 2000 | Describes the Aerial Board of Control, a supranational organization dedicated to the control and aid of airship traffic across the whole world. |
Witness to the Execution | TV film | 1994 | 1999 | In 1999, US morality has fallen to such lows that the execution of an (innocent) person is treated as if it were the Super Bowl or a similar sports tournament. A fictional television network desires to broadcast the execution as a pay-per-view event. |
The Wizard of Mars | Film | 1965 | 1975 | The first crewed probe to orbit Mars arrives at its destination on January 1, 1975. |
The World a Department Store | Novel | 1900 | 1925 | By 1925, the socialist Coöperative Association of America has eliminated poverty, tenements, slums, litter and other aspects of the old style American economy. Photo IDs are used. Both men and women pursue physical fitness, and work out in gymnasiums. The public school system monitors the schoolchildren's nutritional needs. |
The World Jones Made | Novel | 1956 | 2002 | Post-nuclear world in which evangelism of any ideology whatsoever is outlawed, but a messianic named Jones becomes head of a xenophobic movement. |
The World Next Door | Novel | 1990 | 1997 | Published one year before Mikhail Gorbachev resigned, it depicts a 1997 in which the failure of his reforms leads to a nuclear war between the US and the USSR. |
World War III | TV miniseries | 1982 | 1987 | World War III breaks out in 1987. |
Wurm: Journey to the Center of the Earth | Video game | 1991 | 1999 | A massive earthquake forces everyone to look underground.[98] |
X a.k.a. X/1999 | Manga | 1992 | 1999 | The Battle of Armageddon is preparing to take place in Tokyo. |
X: Beyond the Frontier | Video game | 1999 | 2022 | While the game takes place in 2912, the setting's events are ultimately kicked off by a student of the University of Tokyo accidentally discovering how to create wormholes in 2022. By then, according to supplementary material, a simplified version of Japanese had replaced English as the primary language of science following Japan experiencing an economic boom and becoming the center of research. It also predicted that the International Space Station was going to be completed in 2007, and that by 2011 quantum computers would "dominate the market" and nanotechnology would be about to become practical. |
"The Year of the Burn Up" (from Timeslip) | TV series episode | 1970–1971 | 1990 | In 1990, Earth is ruled by a technocracy and England is covered by tropical rainforests. |
The Year of the Quiet Sun | Novel | 1970 | 1978–2000 | In the summer of 1978, a time travel experiment is conducted by the United States military. In 1980, there are ongoing race riots in Chicago. President Meeks' successful handling of the riots results in him winning that year's presidential election in a landslide. In 1999, Chicago is in the midst of a racial civil war. The city had recently been attacked with a nuclear bomb launched from China on behalf of black guerrillas. |
Years and Years | TV series | 2019 | 2019–2034 | A British family witnesses life unfold over a 25-year period, including economic upheaval, populism, pandemics, species extinctions and new technologies. |
Year Zero | Album | 2007 | 2008–2022 | Album by Nine Inch Nails which predicts several future events, such as a bioterrorist attack and a nuclear war between the US and Iran, ending in 2022 when America is "born again". |
Yesterday | Film | 2002 | 2020 | Korean reunification is a reality. |
Your Safety First | Short film | 1956 | 2000 | In 2000, cars are self-driving, commercial travel to the Moon is common, television is 3D and interactive and life expectancy has increased significantly. |
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders | Video game | 1988 | 1997 | Aliens controlling "The Phone Company" lower the world's intelligence with a low-frequency hum. |
Zombie Nation | Video game | 1990 | 1999 | In 1999, zombies have taken over the entirety of the United States.[98] |
Zombie Strippers | Film | 2008 | 2016 | The film takes place in the fourth Presidential term of George W. Bush. The film was released in February 2008, before Bush left office.[11] |
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