I am participating in the Get Rec’d: A Movie/TV/Book List Challenge and this is the twenty-third week’s entry.  I have decided to be bold and list a response for all three categories; a movie, a television show, and a book.

Week 23: Looking Forward To The Future

The future doesn’t always have to be bleak. Some timelines are bright and shiny with only a few problems usually for the main characters.

Movie: Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)

From IMDB: While drinking at their local pub, three social outcasts attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum. Chris O’Dowd, Marc Wootton, Dean Lennox Kelly

The trailer for Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel popped up on my radar long before I could find a way to watch the movie. It’s not clear if there was a theatrical release, but HBO showed it when HBO Go first launched. While the film itself portrays a few things going wrong, the future in this movie shows both the ability to travel through time and that you can have a career policing time jumps. Also, as stated by one of the characters, “everyone in the future is American.”

Television: Star Trek: Next Generation (1987-1994)

From IMDB: Set decades after Captain Kirk’s five-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers set off in a new Enterprise on their own mission to go where no one has gone before. Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes

and bonus:

As dated as this future may be, Star Trek: Next Generation shows a future that seems positive. The food replicators can make everything taste like chocolate; the holodecks provide endless entertainment when off duty, as well as science and knowledge, being good qualities to have. A reporter once asked, “surely by the 24th century, they would have found a cure for male pattern baldness.” Gene Roddenberry responded. “No, by the 24th century, no one will care.”

Book: The Martian (2011) by Andy Weir

From Goodreads:  Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

I’m cheating a bit by using this because in Week 2: Favorite Introduction of a Main Character  I used Mark Watney as my example. My intent was not to repeat, but The Martian has a future setting. Not only does the U.S. go to Mars, people care about it. Besides, when something does go wrong, they can save everyone and go back again. Not all futures need to have jetpacks and flying cars. A world where we are exploring the stars is a great future to have.

Coming Up Next

Next week will be “Favorite Ensemble Cast of Characters”

What are your picks? Let us know in the comments.