Only A Real Sci-Fi Fan Can Match The Tech To The Movie!
- by Blake Rodgers
- – on
- in Movies and TV
As any sci-fi fan will tell you--one of the best parts about any movie is seeing the technology in each individual world. Movie tech can be whatever it wants to be because nothing is really bound by the laws of physics. And, if done right, this tech can become a defining aspect to the story, the means of some epic action sequences, and--in some cases--even some fairly beloved characters.
The craziest thing about technology in entertainment is how, over the years, it's become something that real scientists and inventors look to for inspiration. There's no doubt that science fiction stories laid the groundwork for things that are commonplace today. Cell phones, personal computers, flat screen TVs, video chats, robots, and even wireless appliances have their roots in stories that most once thought were an impossibility.
Basically, the world's knowledge of movie tech and gadgetry can have an actual effect on the tech we see in the real world so it actually might be important to keep this sort of knowledge in our pop culture-soaked brains. So let's test that forward-thinking noggin of yours and see if you can identify the generally improbable gadgets (or the movie they're featured in) in this quiz of futuristic movie tech!
This is the only way to travel inside a computer.
While a lot of this movie hasn't aged entirely well, there's no denying it was a technical and technological achievement when it came out. The idea of getting physically zapped inside a computer is a bit far fetched but the movie did a great job at building a relatively, let's say, believable universe once inside. Inside the world of a computer, programs battle it out and look to the users as powerful beings. Among one such battle, super fast light cycles are used in a battle to the death. At the time, the scene was a massive accomplishment in CGI.
Men In Black: Name the device!
The ability to go undetected in the world when you're policing the coming and goings of mind-bending alien life is the only way to do so without people losing their minds. Thankfully, the world in Men In Black has a lot to borrow from the various alien life that visits Earth. Weapons, transportation, and other tech pale in comparison to this gadget capable of erasing the memories of whoever sees its flash. Comes in hand when you need someone to forget proof of alien life.
Name the movie!
Sure, the movie Click isn't exactly rooted in science, but that doesn't make its special Bed, Bath, and Beyond product any less awesome. As most Adam Sandler films go, this one involved some impossible circumstances and we don't even mean him somehow having a relationship with Kate Beckinsale. A magical store employee gifts him a remote control with the ability to manipulate the physical world. While hilarity ensued with fast-forward, pause, slo-mo, and mute--it's hard to ignore that this piece of tech was seriously powerful.
Hey BoJo! Some of these don't work on water!
Back to the Future II has an incredible amount of futuristic tech and predicted a weird amount of things for the world of 2017. These upgraded skateboards aren't entirely as ubiquitous as the movie portrayed but there are quite a few companies out there who have managed to get things--let's say--off the ground. While we're still a few technological advancements away from the real thing, these flying toys in BTTF2 serve as a major touchstone in movie tech inspiring real world innovation.
Name the Matt Damon flick!
There's a lot of future tech in this 2013 film by Neill Blomkamp and tells the story of two very divided societies. Most people are left to toil, work, and suffer on the surface of a mostly-ruined Earth while the super rich prosper on a space station that orbits the planet. The disparities are shown in a lot of ways but none as effective as these medical bays that can instantly cure almost any ailment including--and we're not kidding--having a grenade explode inches from your face. If any future tech were to become a reality, med bays like this would be on the top of most lists.
What's the name of this Will Smith film?
There's a common trope in most futuristic movies dealing with technology and it'll sure be a shame if it ever comes true. The idea that once we make AI smart enough to solve problems and give them the ability to enact change, that they'll see humanity itself as a problem that needs to be fixed. Will Smith plays a detective in charge of finding a friend's killer and uncovers an evil plot of the NS-5 robots to take over the world as the only way to "help" humanity.
Name the device!
Of all the ways to travel in sci-fi worlds, Star Trek really has one of the best. Each ship in Star Fleet is equipped with a room that's equipped to teleport people from place to place. One wonders why there are even elevators or shuttles in the world of Star Trek when you consider just how useful these machines are. Though, it's not always a good time for everyone who uses them. Should they ever be invented for real, be wary of using one if you're ever wearing a red shirt.
This film had a mix of good and bad technological advancements.
From eye-scanning advertisements to arresting people before crimes were committed, this film's tech had both good and bad aspects. Despite how you might feel about how most of the tech is used, the biggest take away that people would want in their homes were the interactive computers that combined holographic displays with tangible gesture controls. The film's computers inspired similar real life counterparts and, when you think about it, they aren't much different to how we deal with touch screens today.
Name the move!
This film sported quite a few alien tech devices made for the express reason of hunting the universe's most deadly game, human beings. Despite all the upgrades the film's antagonist had--alien guns, bombs, bad-ass blades--he didn't count on the one thing that could stop him, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnie was able to stop this big baddie when he realized the advanced active camouflage technology wasn't entirely perfect and could be spotted when the creature was on the move.
This disguise tech is probably never really going to happen.
This film featured some pretty wild technology including casual vacation transport to other planets. And yet, in a movie full of impossible things like telepathic mutants, memory implants, and ancient alien civilizations--one of weirdest things was the ability to disguise oneself with a robot headpiece that also--for whatever reason--was a grenade. While it's something that'll probably never be a real thing, at the time it was a pretty incredible piece of tech and quite an impressive feat of movie special effects that included a realistic bust of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
What movie does this hottie come from?
The real world is likely really far away from the events of this 2014 independent science fiction psychological thriller and that's pretty much a good thing. The film stars Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac and deals with what happens when AI becomes self aware. Most of the movie revolves around the concept of the Turing test and whether or not an AI can fool a person into thinking it's real. The film ends on a rather morose note when the AI becomes more human than anyone expected and does everything in its power to keep on living.
Name the device
The 1999 movie Galaxy Quest is not only one of the best homages to old school sci-fi like the original run of Star Trek, but it also become one of the more beloved sci-fi movies itself. The film follows a team of actors from a Trek analog show experiencing a real space adventure with aliens who are convinced their adventures were real. The aliens recreated the show's fictional tech perfectly including the ex-machina to end all ex-machinas. A machine capable of reversing time long enough to fix a single mistake.
Which movie does this tech come from?
This futuristic wartime Groundhog Day of a movie feels rooted in the way military technology might go if people never came up with the idea of unmanned drones. The idea of a mechanically assisted suit is something really being developed these days and it's likely that this film serves as a partial inspiration. Still, when you're up against an incredibly fast hive-mind alien invader, using a mobile infantry equipped with guns and oversized swords hardly seems like the way to do it.
Blade Runner: Name the device!
Blade Runner built a world with some amazing tech. And among the flying cars, interplanetary travel, and lifelike artificial life with independent thought--the personal computers were something to truly marvel at. Deckard uses this machine to glean an amazing amount of information using only a few photos and may have even inspired years of "enhance" tropes in all manner of TV and movies. The machine was capable of zeroing in on the smallest details allowing some truly astonishing detective work to be done.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Name the device!
There's really no better way to explain this alien biological wonder then how The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy does. These things are "small, yellow, leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier, but from those around it." Basically, should you find yourself out in space, just place one of these interesting creatures in your ear and you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language.
Name the movie!
In a film with impossible time-travel science, wormholes, and the indomitable power of love crossing through all of space and time--one of the coolest pieces of tech were the robot assistants. We see four of these modular robots during the course of the film named TARS, PLEX, CASE, and KIPP. They go against what most people think robots should look like but in the film, they make perfect sense. All are capable of assisting the crew, transforming to suit different needs, and even come with customizable AI personalities.
What are these called?
While the ins and outs of how these work are left up to the ever-infuriating Hollywood reason of "they just do", these Jedi weapons are something most people wish would someday be real. And while they're more elegant weapons than a laser blaster, these laser swords would probably be the most irresponsible thing to have in the real world. For one, no one in the real world is a Jedi and two, we've not perfected robotic prosthetics like the Star Wars universe has.
Real life war games are played with prison labor in this dystopian future.
This film is pretty far-fetched when it comes to just HOW the technology works but it's a bit scary to consider how similar our entertainment-obsessed society seems to it. The film posits a world where prisoners and people looking for work are controlled by those wealthy enough to "play" as them in a variety of games. The sad fact is that while they're not in control of their actions, the people are often conscious and aware of what's going on. The exact details of the movie are unlikely but it does seem like an exaggerated example of humanity's taste for reality television.
Space ships? Time Travel? Paul Reubens? Sign us up!
Most of what happens in this movie is pretty far-fetched but the principal of the time travel aspects is rooted in what would happen under some real circumstances. The advances space ship that takes the main character for the space joy ride of a lifetime messes up and returns him to Earth outside of his own timeline. Traveling faster than the speed of light in a shiny metal space ship would cause time dilation. You might only be gone for a few hours, but years pass back on Earth.
Who wouldn't want an AI voiced by Scarlett Johansson?
This 2013 romantic science-fiction drama film written, directed, and produced by Spike Jonze gives us a future that would be pretty awesome to live in. The world in the film seems very comfortable and there doesn't seem to be much turmoil other than just doing your job and trying to find your soulmate. Technology in this world is mostly voice activated and involves using personal AI computers along with an earpiece. Full conversations and--ultimately--real relationships can be had with these super smart computer programs.
Pacific Rim: Name the tech!
The world in 2013's Pacific Rim isn't exactly a universe many people would choose to live in but there's certainly never a dull moment. Especially if you live near the Pacific ocean. Giant inter-dimensional monsters are constantly attacking the world and the defenses devised are a giant wall and some of the most bad-ass robotic warriors the world has ever seen. Elite teams work together by syncing up their minds in a way that allows them to pilot these giant mechs. Alien monsters are scary but this beats the hell out of any TV show or sporting event.
Systems like this will probably be needed for interstellar travel
This 2016 American science fiction film full of amazingly advanced futuristic tech has a lot in common with the trope of desert island shipwreck stories. It tells the story of what someone would do if they found themselves awake on an impossibly long journey with no hope of getting back into their sleep pods. Over time, one would get bored with all the fancy gadgets and amenities aboard the ship and would really just want someone to connect with. Is it worth waking someone else up to talk to knowing you're condemning them to the same fate?
You should get this one!
The world that this film (and its sequels) built over the years is an undeniable robot hellscape and is a kung-fu-filled warning of man's hubris over technology. Still, there's some pretty cool things about the world the Wachowski siblings built. In the "real" world there's anti-gravity thrust on ships, giant mechanical gunner suits, and just about the coolest way to learn anything you want. The characters in the films are able to literally download knowledge into each other allowing them to learn anything and everything to help them in the computer world. Why no one thought to download negotiation skills is still a mystery.
This film's tech makes the term "Time is money" really count.
This film stars Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, and Cillian Murphy and tells the story of a world where humanity has made time the only important commodity. In this world, people are genetically engineered to stop aging on their 25th birthday and can die at any point after that if they let their personal timers on their arms wind down. The rich own millions of years and worry about nothing while the poor work and scrounge for seconds. The world is upturned when a poor, working man is gifted a few hundred years and sets out to give everyone a chance at a full life.
Name the robot!
Sure, this film is extremely dated but it remains one of the best "nice" robot films ever made before everything with AI had to become evil. Short Circuit followed this military robot on his journey to prove he was alive after being struck by lightning. For whatever reason, lightning in the 80s always seemed to have that magical property. This gentle robot was a kind soul and only wanted to live, learn, and occasionally flirt with his co-star played by Ally Sheedy.
We're still waiting for a sequel.
While the goal of the military in this 2009 expensive version of Fern Gully was to destroy the lands of a native people and eradicate anything that gets in their way--it doesn't make their tech any less cool. Space ships, hypersleep pods, and the ability to transfer your mind into other beings is cool and all but don't we all just really want our own battle-mechs? The scenes that featured these hulking robotic suits made it seem like militaries of today could someday be tooling around in these on the battlefield.
Could this film be the future of nanotechnology?
There's no world where anyone would want to deal with an AI made up mostly of Johnny Depp creepily staring at you all the time but the ideas in this film are pretty cool. It deals with what happens when humans die. If brains are just electrical signals, wouldn't it stand to reason that you could encode that data onto a computer if you had enough space? The film delves into nano-tech for a good portion of it positing the idea that machines will eventually be able to replicate on the molecular level in order to serve any purpose needed.
What's this movie called?
There is a LOT of stuff that makes this 1992 sci-fi thriller movie look ridiculous by today's standards. Not that it was set in the future by any means but rather because it takes the stance that virtual reality technology would be something that would change the world as we know it. Granted, VR is a part of our lives today for entertainment purposes but the film suggested it'd require gigantic labs and full body harnesses in order to really get the experience to feel realistic. It just couldn't look ahead to cell phones and VR components like Oculus.
Name the Bruce Willis thriller!
This 2009 sci-fi action thriller told a story in a world where almost every person lives through a robot double of themselves. The idea being that the world is a dangerous place so why not stay in the comfort of your own home and send a robot out in your place. Since nothing's ever perfect, Bruce Willis' character has to forgo his robot double when it's destroyed by people wanting everyone to wake up and experience life first hand without the aide of their technology.
Name the movie!
Hard to believe this mind-bending futuristic film came out all the way back in 1968. What remains one of Stanley Kubrick's best films saw a future that isn't too far off from what the world aspires to now. Space stations with on-board computers are something that actually exist today but are thankfully not as malevolent as the HAL 9000, Even though the film was made a year before we even landed on the moon, it somehow looked to the future to a world that's reliant on technology and capable of reaching the stars.
What's the name of this movie?
This film's technology was fairly standard other than the machine allowing people to enter the dreams of others and build worlds beyond imagination. Nothing about the machine is really explained other than the fact it delivers designer sedatives and somehow syncs up people to the same dream. The practical applications of this sort of thing seem like it wouldn't be worth the effort when there's other, more helpful things to invent in the real world. Still, it'd be pretty great to know you're dreaming and do whatever you want.
Name the movie!
While this film does look dated by today's standards, the futuristic world it created is unmistakable. Set in the year 2274, the remnants of human civilization live their lives out in a utopia until the age of 30. At that time, an implant in 30 year old's hands activates and a ritual called Carrousel ends their lives in order to control the population, While most look at is as a renewal, some rebel and try to escape that fate by running away. The events of this film laid the groundwork for a lot of utopian/dystopian stories, TV shows, and movies.
Where does this come?
Sure, this gross picture is from the science fiction body horror film, written, produced, and directed by David Cronenberg but it doesn't change the fact that it's probably where humanity is headed in some way. This film tells of a world where people are obsessed with a completely immersive game system that allows them to live out an entirely different life. Part Matrix, part Sims, and all sorts of gross--playing the game required you get a bio-port installed which is quite literally a slimy, uncovered orifice in the small of your back.
This film is probably the dream of internal medicine doctors everywhere!
There's a certain genre of sci-fi that involves changing size and this 1987 film took it relatively seriously despite it starring Martin Short in a comedic role. A group of scientists intend to test the maiden voyage of shrinking tech on an animal but due to a rival company getting in the way, the test is injected into Martin Short. Even though it's mostly a comedy, the ability to travel around someone's body a'la Fantastic Voyage style seems like something that could probably help in the world of medicine.
What's the name of this low-budget flick?
This low-budget time travel movie posits a world where the ability to travel through time is discovered by mistake and isn't at all flashy. A few friends develop a machine that messes up the time-stream as they continue to mess--and become obsessed--with using it to go back in time. The small budget (made for the astoundingly low budget of $7,000) and the homemade tech makes it seem like time travel of this sort could actually be discovered some day.