Sunday, 20 February 2011

The Predictions of Robert Zemeckis

[This post contains plot spoilers for the Back To The Future films; if you haven't seen them, why not? Go and watch them, then come back]

Last night I watched Back To The Future II (and III). Those of you who have seen it will remember that Marty and Doc Brown travel forward to 2015. Seeing as we're not far from that year, I thought I'd look at a few of the things that Zemeckis predicted we'd have, and whether he was right or not.

Welcome to geek central, by the way!

Okay, so let's start with the obvious:
Fashion: Mostly wrong. However, self-tying laces might not be so far off: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38884033/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/
Flying cars and hoverboards: No. I wish, but no.
Inflation: At one point, Old Biff takes a taxi to follow the DeLorean out to the sticks. It costs him $170. If the USA is anything like the UK, that prediction wasn't far off really. Well, maybe a little, but frankly, it doesn't sound all that insane, does it?
Video games: This is the one that really spooked me. In the '80s nostalgia bar, two boys manage to power up an old arcade point-and-shoot game. Answering their musings as to how it works, Marty steps in and shows them, getting a perfect round. At this point, the boys turn to him and say "You mean you have to use your hands? That's like a babies' game!" and walk off in disgust. 8-10 years ago, when I first saw the film, I thought 'hah, that's funny, but totally wrong.' Now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the XBOX 360 Kinect. Think about that.
Flat-screen TV: Okay, so they probably filmed it using a projector or green-screen or something, but they had them. The future McFly family aren't that well-off, but still have at least two home cinema systems, which is a bit daft, and Marty Junior split it into 6 channels simultaneously, which is more daft, but not far off.
Communications: Future Marty gets fired from his job, and receives multiple faxes to that effect. Apparently there's a fax machine in every room of the house. The kids have TV and phone built (with caller ID, I might add) into their visors/glasses, but they still use fax. It seems no-one saw the internet coming, nor catching on in the way it did.

Just a few little observations for you to ponder. Leave a comment if you think of anything I missed.

J.R.

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