2384 – The Man in the High Castle (TV Series 2015–2019)

timespace coordinates: Set in 1962, the series’ main setting is a parallel universe where the Axis powers of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan have won World War II in 1946 after Giuseppe Zangara successfully assassinates United States President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, creating a series of developments that include the Germans dropping an atomic bomb on Washington, D.C. (now renamed “District of Contamination”). The German Reich extends to Europe and Africa and the Empire of Japan comprises Asia, but most of the series is set in the former US and in Germany proper.

Western North America, now part of the “Japanese Pacific States”, is occupied by the technologically less-advanced Shōwa-period Empire of Japan, which has assimilated its formerly American citizens into Japanese culture, although high-class ethnic Japanese are extremely fascinated by pre-War American culture. Japan’s Trade and Science ministers work in the Pacific States’ capital, San Francisco. The Japanese rulers subject non-Japanese people to racial discrimination and grant them fewer rights.

Eastern and Midwestern North America is a colony controlled by the Greater Nazi Reich (GNR) under an aging Führer Adolf Hitler. The colony, headed by a “Reichsmarschall of North America”, is commonly referred to as “Nazi America” or “the American Reich” and its capital is New York City. The Nazis continue to hunt minorities and euthanize the physically and mentally sick. The superior technology of the Germans is highlighted by the use of video phones and Concorde-like “rockets” for intercontinental travel.

The US as depicted in the television series. Though Denver is the capital of the Neutral Zone, Cañon City, Colorado, is a major setting.

A Neutral Zone, which encompasses the Rocky Mountains, serves as a buffer zone between the Japanese Pacific States and Nazi America due to Cold War–like tensions between the German and Japanese blocs. Another buffer zone is present in the Urals.

Films collected by the eponymous “Man in the High Castle” show views of numerous other Earths, including some where the Allies were victorious, some featuring executed Allied leaders (such as Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin), and some where an American resistance is doing well.

The Man in the High Castle is an American dystopian alternate history television series created for streaming service Amazon Prime Video. It was created by Frank Spotnitz and produced by Amazon Studios, Ridley Scott‘s Scott Free Productions (with Scott serving as executive producer), Headline Pictures, Electric Shepherd Productions, and Big Light Productions. The series is based on Philip K. Dick‘s 1962 novel of the same name. (wiki)

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2344 – Butcher’s Crossing (2022)

timespace coordinates: 1874. Butcher’s Crossing, a tiny frontier town in Kansas built on the buffalo hide trade / Colorado wilderness

Butcher’s Crossing is a 2022 American Western drama film directed by Gabe Polsky in his narrative feature film debut, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by John Edward Williams. It stars Nicolas Cage, Fred Hechinger, Xander Berkeley, Rachel Keller, Jeremy Bobb, and Paul Raci. (wiki)

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2310

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On July 2, 1996, an extraterrestrial mothership enters Earth’s orbit and deploys saucers (each 15 mi (24 km) in diameter) over major cities worldwide, including New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Independence Day (1996)

Independence Day (also promoted as ID4) is a 1996 American science fiction action film directed by Roland Emmerich and written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. It stars an ensemble cast that consists of Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, and Harvey Fierstein.

The film focuses on disparate groups of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a worldwide attack by a powerful extraterrestrial race. With the other people of the world, they launch a counterattack on July 4—Independence Day in the United States.

Considered a significant turning point in the history of the Hollywood blockbuster, Independence Day was at the forefront of the large-scale disaster film and sci-fi resurgence of the mid-late 1990s. (wiki)

Censorship   //   imdb

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Twenty years after the War of 1996, the United Nations has founded the Earth Space Defense (ESD), a global defense advanced research program that reverse-engineers alien technology and serves as Earth’s alert system against extraterrestrial threats. Civilization has been restored and relative peace among nations exists following the human race’s victory over the aliens’ attacks, and major cities around the world including Washington D.C. were rebuilt and modernized with amalgamated technologies. After establishing Area 51 as its headquarters, the ESD set up bases on the Moon, Mars, and Rhea, a moon of Saturn, and orbital defense satellites above Earth, as fortifications against future invasions.

Independence Day: Resurgence is a 2016 American science fiction action film co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich, serving as a sequel to the 1996 film Independence Day. It stars an ensemble cast that consists of Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, Travis Tope, William Fichtner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Judd Hirsch. (wiki)

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2290 – Interstellar (2014)

spacetime coordinates:  Set in a dystopian 2067 where humanity is embroiled in a catastrophic blight and famine, the film follows a group of astronauts who travel through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for humankind.

Interstellar is a 2014 epic science fiction film co-written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Matt Damon, and Michael Caine.

Kip Thorne, a Caltech theoretical physicist and 2017 Nobel laureate in Physics, was an executive producer, acted as a scientific consultant, and wrote a tie-in book, The Science of Interstellar. The film has been praised by astronomers for its scientific accuracy and portrayal of theoretical astrophysics. Since its premiere, Interstellar gained a cult following, and it is now regarded by many experts as one of the best science-fiction films of all time. (wiki)

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Cooper : You’re a scientist, Brand. / Brand : So listen to me when I say that love isn’t something that we invented. It’s… observable, powerful. It has to mean something. / Cooper : Love has meaning, yes. Social utility, social bonding, child rearing… / Brand : We love people who have died. Where’s the social utility in that? / Cooper : None. / Brand : Maybe it means something more – something we can’t yet understand. Maybe it’s some evidence, some artefact of a higher dimension that we can’t consciously perceive. I’m drawn across the universe to someone I haven’t seen in a decade, who I know is probably dead. Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that, even if we can’t understand it.

2266 – The Last of Us (TV Series 2023–)

The Last of Us is an American post-apocalyptic drama television series created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for HBO. Based on the 2013 video game developed by Naughty Dog, the series is set in 2023, twenty years into a pandemic caused by a mass fungal infection, which causes its hosts to transform into zombie-like creatures and collapses society. The series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler tasked with escorting the immune teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a post-apocalyptic United States.

The Last of Us is the first HBO series based on a video game, and is a joint production by Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, Naughty Dog, the Mighty Mint, and Word Games. Druckmann, who wrote and co-directed the original game, assisted Mazin with scriptwriting for the nine episodes of the first season. The score was composed by Gustavo Santaolalla, who composed for the game, and David Fleming.

The Last of Us premiered on January 15, 2023. It received acclaim from critics, who praised the performances, writing, production design, and score; several called it the best adaptation of a video game. (wiki)

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2222 – Stargate (1994)

spacetime coordinates: 1994 Earth / desert planet of Abydos

Stargate is a 1994 science fiction adventure film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. The film is the first entry in the Stargate media franchise and stars Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Alexis Cruz, Mili Avital, and Viveca Lindfors. The plot centers on the premise of a “Stargate“, an ancient ring-shaped device that creates a wormhole, enabling travel to a similar device elsewhere in the universe. The film’s central plot explores the theory of extraterrestrial beings having an influence upon human civilization. (wiki)

imdb   //   Cancelled film sequels   //   Reboot

2135 – Prey (2022)

spacetime coordinates:  1719 in the Great Plains

Prey is a 2022 American science fiction horror action film directed by Dan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison, based on the Predator franchise by Jim Thomas and John Thomas. It is the fifth installment in the franchise and a prequel to the first four films.

It stars Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, and Dane DiLiegro. The story revolves around Naru, a skilled Comanche warrior, protecting her tribe from a highly evolved alien predator that hunts humans for sport, fighting against the wilderness and fur traders to keep her people safe. (wiki)

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