User:Serendipodous/20th century in science fiction

Science fiction has predicted the 20th century in many varying forms. Since emerging as a genre in the 19th century, it has examined possible paths the 20th century might have taken. This list concerns only predictions of the 20th century, rather than contemporary works set in the 20th century, which would be too numerous to list.

Unknown or multiple dates

• Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil is set "somewhere in the 20th century"
• HG Wells's 1936 film Things to Come covers the years from 1940 to 2036.
• In Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men, the Anglo-French War occurs within a century of World War I.
• The 1987 TV series Max Headroom is set "20 minutes into the future".

1900s

The events of HG Wells's 1898 novel The War of the Worlds take place "early in the 20th century"

1930s

• In Karl Capek's 1921 play, R. U. R., the synthetic protoplasm that makes robots a possibility is discovered in 1932. The play itself takes place some decades after that.

1960s

• Jules Verne's 1863 novel Paris in the Twentieth Century take place in 1960.
• The 1960 film The Time Machine predicts a nuclear war in 1966.
• The 1964 film The Last Man on Earth is set in 1968.

1970s

• Anthony Burgess's 1960 novel A Clockwork Orange is set in 1970.
• Robert Heinlein's 1951 novel The Man Who Sold The Moon is set in 1978.
• The 1975 film Death Race 2000 predicts the collapse of the United States in 1979.

1980s

• The 1973 film Westworld is set in 1983.
• George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is set in the year of the same name, 1984.
• Both the 1966 Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet and the 1985 serial Attack of the Cybermen depict a conflict between Earth and its sister planet Mondas in 1986.
• The 1985 film Lifeforce depicts an alien invasion arriving with Halley's Comet in 1986.
• The 1978 series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century opens in 1987.
• The 1978 film Escape From New York predicts a 400% crime rate increase by 1988.

1990s

• The 1988 film Alien Nation is set in 1991
• In the 1967 Star Trek: Original Series episode "Space Seed", the Eugenics Wars are mentioned as having taken place between 1992 and 1996.
• The 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgement Day takes place in 1995
• The Isaac Asimov short story Robbie was set in 1996.
  • The film predicts a future AI takeover and nuclear war in 1997.
• The 1996 film Twelve Monkeys predicts the release of a deadly virus in 1997.
• The 1990 film Predator 2 takes place in 1997.
• Escape From New York takes place in 1997.
• The 1987 film The Running Man takes place in the ruins of "the great quake of 97".
• Robert Heinlein's short story, The Long Watch is set in 1999.
• The future events in the 1989 TV series Quantum Leap take place in 1999.
• In the Judge Dredd continuity, the The Volgan Republic of Asia invades western Europe in 1999.
• In the 1996 film, Escape From LA, a massive earthquake floods the San Fernando Valley in 2000, rendering Los Angeles an island.
• Death Race 2000 takes place in the year 2000.

Category:Fiction set in the 20th century