For those who grew up in the 70s, 80s and 90s, the year 2000 was like a monolith, a catchword for all things futuristic. As it approached, the enthusiasm for a new millenium (pedants begone) and the trepidation about the Y2K bug made it seem more like some sort of destination, something to arrive at, that wouldn’t simply pass us by like any other day, week, month or year.
With each passing year since then, it seems weirder. We’re almost a quarter century since that time. Many (most?) of us on this forum have now lived more of our lives on this futuristic side of that milestone than the other.
Hopefully, now that 2015 is long gone, so have the photoshops of the Delorean’s readout claiming that this year is the year of Back to the Future II (altogether now, “Where’s my hoverboard?”) but which works of fiction in our past were actually set in 2022?
Disappointingly, not that many great ones, but having raised the idea, let’s take a look anyway:
Videogames
CyberballVarious - 1988
Long before Frozen Cortex, there was Cyberball. Robots playing American Football. In 1988, this had to be the zenith of cool ideas. The idea was, of course, significantly better than the execution, but the same could be said for most computer games back then.
SkyhammerJaguar - 2000
Who doesn’t remember this G Police-inspired first-person (in an aerial vehicle) shooter? Anyone here have a Jaguar? Anyone here have this game that was released four years after the console was discontinued?
Perfect DarkGame Boy Colour - 2000
This prequel to the N64 classic sees Joanna Dark complete her training, and get sent on her first mission, in South America. The bad guy, Mink Hunter, is not a mink hunter, although it would be nice to think they chose that name because mink hunters are bad guys (probably).
Year Zero? - 2007
This was an alternate reality game based on the Nine Inch Nails album of the same name. That’s a sentence you probably didn’t expect to read when you opened this thread.
Dead Rising 4Win/XBO/PS4 - 2016
Not that far in the future when it came out. Not much has changed, but the world has been overrun by braindead humans fixated on their own needs. So, yeah, not much has changed.
Earth Defence Force 5Win/PS4- 2017
Even less far into the future, but with more outlandish ideas as to what that future looks like. The fifth (or arguably eighth) game in the franchise, set three years earlier than the third (sixth) game but five years after the first (fourth).
Movies
Soylent Green1973
Honestly, this is the big-hitter on this list of films. There’s not much point in reading the others. The Dark Side of the Moon1990 Alien Intruder1993 Time Runner / In Exile (as the title suggests, it’s not all in 2022) 1993 No Escape1994 Deham2001 Deathwave/2022 Tsunami 2009 The Purge2013 Tihe Purge: Election Year (well, a bit at the start of it) 2016 Blade Runner Black Out 20222017 Duckweed2017 Geostorm2017 Unterwerfung (“Submission”) 2018 TAmong the Shadows2019 Bill & Ted Face the Music2020 Justice League Dark2020 Safer at Home2021 The Tomorrow War (again, a time travel thing, so some of it) 2021 A Year-End Medley2021 Jurassic World Dominion2022Actually, that'll be the present by the time it comes out.
’Tempyfodder’
Future GPX Cyber Formula SIN1998-2000
Japanese animated series about racing machines.
Aruvu Rezuru: Kikaijikake no Yōseitachi 2012-13
Japanese science fiction novel about mechanised fairies.
Other
I don't really know any of these, but they might mean something to other forumites.
The Grel Escape (Dr Who spin-off audio drama) 2004 The Uncertainty Principle (Dr Who spin-off audio drama) 2012 Breaking Dad (play) 2014 Be Our Guest (episode of TV show American Horror Story) 2016 Homecoming (TV show, split between 2018 and 2022) 2018-2020 The Silence (novel) 2020 The Penthouse: War in Life (Season 2) (South Korean TV show) 2021
Not just the words, it's the concept too. Great thread really, I was thinking about that looking at the 2022 in the background in Jools Holland. 2022 is definitely a made up future year for plot reasons. Can't believe it's here.