February 25, 2015
#1491: Stories of the Past and Future explain
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Date of publication
[A logarithmic scale running horizontally, from 3000 BCE to past 2015 CE.]
Years in the future
[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 1 billion down to 0.]
Stories set in the future (science fiction, prediction)
Stories set in 2015
[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled “still possible”; the lower side is labelled “obsolete”.]
[From left to right.]
Memoirs of the Twentieth Century [1700, 265 years in the future]
Looking Backward [1888, 112 years in the future]
Golf in the Year 2000 [1892, 108 years in the future]
The Time Machine [1895, 800 thousand to 30 million years in the future]
Enoch Soames [1916, circa 60 years in the future]
1984 [1949, 35 years in the future]
A Week in the Wales of the Future [1957, 76 years in the future]
The Jetsons [1962-63, 100 years in the future]
Star Trek [1966-69, 300 years in the future]
2001: A Space Odyssey [1968, 33 years in the future]
Space: 1999 [1975-77, 24 years in the future]
2010: Odyssey Two [1982, 28 years in the future]
Transformers (TV series) [1984-87, 20 years in the future]
2061: Odyssey Three [1987, 74 years in the future]
Star Trek: The Next Generation [1987-94, circa 500 years in the future]
Back to the Future Part II [1989, 26 years in the future]
Zero Wing [1989, 112 years in the future]
Terminator 2 (1995 portion) [1991, 4 years in the future]
3001: The Final Odyssey [1997, 1004 years in the future]
Enterprise [2001-2005, 150 years in the future]
This chart [2015, 0 years in the future]
Years in the past
[A logarithmic scale running vertically, from 0 down past 1 billion to “Big Bang”]
Stories set in the past (History, Period Fiction)
Stories written X years ago and set 2X years ago
[A line divides this region into two. The upper side is labelled as follows.]
Former period pieces
Stories set in the past, butcreated long enough ago thatthey were published closerto their setting than to today.
Modern audiences may notrecognize which parts weresupposed to sound old.
[From left to right.]
The Epic of Gilgamesh [circa 2100 BCE, 600 years in the past]
The Iliad [circa 800 BCE, 450 years in the past]
History of the Peloponnesian War [circa 390 BCE, 10 years in the past]
Book of Genesis [circa 500 BCE, 4000 years in the past]
Ashokavadana [circa 100 BCE, 300 years in the past]
Gospels (various estimates) [circa 250 CE, 24 to 75 years in the past]
The Pillow Book [1000 CE, 5 years in the past]
Water Margin [circa 1300, 195 years in the past]
Richard III [circa 1590, 115 years in the past]
Julius Caesar [1599, 1650 years in the past]
King John [circa 1600, 500 years in the past]
Henry IV [circa 1600, 190 years in the past]
King Lear [circa 1606, 3000 years in the past]
Henry VIII [circa 1612, 105 years in the past]
The Last of the Mohicans [1826, 69 years in the past]
Rip Van Winkel [1819, 31-51 years in the past]
A Tale of Two Cities [1859, 60 years in the past]
Moby-Dick [1851, anywhere from 4 to 14 years ago]
“Some years ago–never mind how long precisely…”
Les Miserábles [1862, 30 years in the past]
Treasure Island [1883, 130 years in the past]
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court [1889, 2000 years in the past]
Gone with the Wind [1936, 70 years in the past]
Lest Darkness Fall [1939, 550 years in the past]
Casablanca [1942, 1 year in the past]
Oklahoma! [1943, 37 years in the past]
The Ten Commandments [1956, 1400 years in the past]
The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957, 13 years in the past]
Gunsmoke [1952-61, 80 years in the past]
The Flintstones [1960-66, 100,000 years in the past]
Catch-22 (book) [1961, 18 years in the past]
The Great Escape [1963, 20 years in the past]
Asterix
Lawrence of Arabia
The Music Man
Bonnie and Clyde
2001: A Space Odyssey (prologue)
American Graffiti
Patton
Catch-22 (movie) [1970, 27 years in the past]
Chinatown
Blazing Saddles
Apocalypse Now
Happy Days
Grease
M*A*S*H
Annie (play)
Roots
Chariots of Fire
Star Wars (IV-VI)
Annie (movie)
The Right Stuff
Back to the Future
Gandhi
Platoon
Dirty Dancing
Back to the Future Part III
The Wonder Years
JFK
The Sandlot
Schindler’s List
Raptor Red
Apollo 13
Star Wars (I-III)
The Big Lebowski
Evita
Saving Private Ryan
The Prince of Egypt
Freaks and Geeks
Hotel Rwanda
I Love the ’80s
That ’70s Show
Pearl Harbor
Ice Age
I Love the ’90s
United 93
300
10,000 BC
Year One
The Wolf of Wall Street
I Love the 2000s
Mad Men
Downton Abbey
Star Wars (VII-IX)