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I could think of a billion such things in comics but this one popped into my head first.

Bruce Wayne record skipping a CD in Batman Returns.

Data in Star Trek the Next Generation needing a wire to connect to the computer instead of wireless. Also in TNG when someone stole a shuttle they could not remotely shut it down. The original series using Floppy discs and print out a paper for reports. TOS Captain pike had a CRT TV in his cabin.


Every film in the 90s and early 00's when it came to someone playing video games used Pac-Man sound effects.

Every Working Designs game ever!

The CRT scan and zoom scene on Bladerunner immediately comes to mind.

What was the date they jumped to in Back to the Future? Hasn't it passed by now? There has to be a ton of "future" movies that used dates that are long gone.

I find it awesome when shows predict future things right! Total Recall for example has the TVs recessed in the walls so they appear flat screen. Video calls, smart watches, & vending machines with sandwiches in the Jetsons also come to mind.

A lot of the quintessential future books such as 1984, 451, Brave New World, etc also predicted the future right... moving sidewalks, government censorship... THE INTERNET!

Every time I see this thread I'm reminded of Wargames as a virtual treasure trove in this capacity. It's a vaguely accurate look at both what computer tech actually was in the early-mid 80s, as well as what the mainstream public's perception of what was thought to be computer tech in the early-mid 80's. Mainframe systems taking up entire rooms and placing your telephone handset on a modem cradle in order to connect to the pre-internet are all fun throwbacks. Plus this movie is essential viewing in the genre of 'Hollywood's version of computer hacking'.

Speaking of quasi-essential Hacker flicks, how about Hackers!? It's sort of like Wargames in that it reflects public perception of computer tech in the 90's except this one is full on fantasy. Still it's a fun piece of 90's nostalgia if you're in the mood.

Both those are awesome. Weird Science also has some early hacking with phone lines.

nullPointer wrote:Speaking of quasi-essential Hacker flicks, how about Hackers!? It's sort of like Wargames in that it reflects public perception of computer tech in the 90's except this one is full on fantasy. Still it's a fun piece of 90's nostalgia if you're in the mood.

As long as you can believe a Powerbook Duo is outfitted with a Pentium Pro (though it's really the PCI bus that makes it so great).

Also has a pre-release version of Wipeout shown in the arcade, so, there's that.



Similar type of era you have Johnny Mnemonic, which probably falls more under the dated references because 80 or 320GB is apparently a lot of storage in its version of 2021. I guess we still have time for the more cyberspace/Neuromancer style web to come to fruition before then though (but probably not).

oh man I loved Hackers when I was in high school.

Segata wrote:Bruce Wayne record skipping a CD in Batman Returns.

Data in Star Trek the Next Generation needing a wire to connect to the computer instead of wireless. Also in TNG when someone stole a shuttle they could not remotely shut it down. The original series using Floppy discs and print out a paper for reports. TOS Captain pike had a CRT TV in his cabin.


Every film in the 90s and early 00's when it came to someone playing video games used Pac-Man sound effects.

Don't forget how TNG had actual buttons on consoles.

TNG didn't really have buttons though. LCARS seemed to be a reconfigurable touch screen system even if the practical effects were just sheets of thin plastic in front of light bulbs.

TOS didn't have floppy disks per se either, they had those colorful rectangular "microtapes," considering floppy discs didn't even exist when TOS first came out that was actually pretty solid future predicting!


Speaking of Star Trek though, PADDs are pretty funny by today's standards since it seemed like you needed a different PADD for every task instead of modern tablet computers that can do pretty much anything. It's always funny seeing people in Star Trek with a stack of PADDs on their desk. It served the purpose of being a visual stand-in for having lots of paperwork but it's hilarious in hindsight. I mean I know you guys can replicate as many as you want and recycle them but calm down a bit.