Badass Sci Fi’s History of 2020 Future Nows- Part 1
Dystopias, Post-Apocalyptic Wastelands, Cities of the Future, Dragons; Sci Fi has always given us plenty to look forward to, but what happens when we look back at futures that are supposed to be happening now?
Listen, I already know this post is gonna be a friggin train wreck caused by rabbit holes and wormholes on my mental tracks, and I’m not even talking about time travel here, just alternate ‘futures’. So, let’s take Basil’s advice.
What Sci Fi Had in Store for Us in 2020
Just think, you can no longer tell a story without everyone wearing a mask and not have it considered, on some level, science fiction. That, along with the civil unrest surrounding race and authority, has made 2020 an exercise in tolerance and perseverance.
But fear not, there’s still a lot of the year left, and according to these stories (with director/author), 2020 still has a chance to be awesome.
Reign of Fire (2002, Rob Bowman)
In 2020 England, dragons rule the Earth. A rag-tag resistance group, including Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, and Gerard Butler, is humanity’s last hope.
Pacific Rim (2012, Guillermo del Toro Gómez)
2020- Yancy and Raleigh’s final mission together in the Jaeger Gypsy Danger. The Kaiju Knifehead kills Yancy. Raleigh resigns.
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (2014, Doug Liman)
In 2020, after five years at war with the alien Mimics, the United Defense Force launches an attack from Heathrow Airport. Their target is an alien stronghold in France. The mission fails. Everyone dies. Repeat.
A Quiet Place (2018, John Krasinski)
Beginning in 2020, human and animal populations are decimated by sightless beings that hunt and kill anything that makes a sound.
Real Steel (2011, Shawn Levy)
By 2020, oversized robots replace human boxers, including a weaselly Hugh Jackman, who poorly manages robot boxers and rightfully runs away from Kevin Durand (Legion, The Strain) until his son (Dakota Goyo) comes and saves him.
Supervolcano (2005, Tony Mitchell) and Rabbit Hole #1
Next, we have the British-Canadian TV movie that predicted the Yellowstone caldera would erupt and throw North America into a volcanic winter.
Certainly, this one hinks me out. Firstly, I live well within the predicted ash-zone. Secondly, it’s happened many times before, as recently as 630,000 years ago, which on the geologic timescale, ain’t that long.
As a result, we now have the Yellowstone Caldera, formed by the Lava Creek and two other eruptions, waiting to be refilled with magma.
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965, Pavel Klushantsev/Curtis Harrington)
Then, we have a Roger Corman ripoff of the Soviet film Planeta Bur (Planet of Storms, 1962) I’m not nearly as fearful of, but more excited for.
In this one, it’s 2020 and man colonized the moon. Next, they travel 200 million miles to Venus (Venus is an average of 50 million miles from Earth, and at most, 162 million miles, but I guess that’s not a bad shot in the dark for 1965).
Anyway, there are dinosaurs on Venus.
Annihilation Earth (2009, Nick Lyon)
Our next entry, a straight to SyFy gem, posits a theory that in 2020, a terrorist sabotages three particle colliders and destroys Earth.
But hey, it’s got Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi).
2020 Texas Gladiators (1982, Joe D’Amato/George Eastman) and Rabbit Hole #2
Early ’80s? Check. Italian? Check. Post-apocalyptic? Check. Arbitrary Americanized title? Check. Arbitrary American location, even though they surely filmed in Italy? Check. It must involve George Eastman.
This is why I love researching these posts. I’m never far from a random rabbit hole. And this one leads straight to George friggin Eastman.
If you’ve followed Badass Sci Fi, you know I like throwing in a Warriors of the Wasteland (The New Barbarians) reference or GIF whenever possible.
Well, my two favorite Italian, post-apocalyptic, B-movie quotes occur in WotW/tNB. And uttering those lines is the character One, played by none other than George friggin Eastman.
As a result, this guy joins Bruce Campbell, Jeffrey Combs, and Vernon Wells as some of my favorite B-movie actors. I mean, look at his filmography. He even gets featured on The New Barbarians poster, even though he’s the big baddie, and the main protagonist is nowhere to be seen.
Excessive rabbit hole occurrences forced me to split the original post into a series. The good news is, I’ll have at least one more post ready for you very soon. We’re going to Mars!
Until next time, don’t bother me. To prepare you for the next post, here’s Tom Sizemore, sitting on the surface of Mars without a helmet, explaining DNA.
And don’t forget to check out Opposable. Still only $2.99!
