Future Shocks
Across the decades, some of Doctor Who’s more far-out predictions about the future have remained fantastical. Some, however, have been prophetic…
Astrid’s pilot licence in The Enemy of the World (1967-68).
The Doctor (David Tennant) lights the Olympic flame in Fear Her (2006).
One of the eponymous aliens in The Ice Warriors (1967).
When all five missing episodes of The Enemy of the World were recovered in 2013, one detail that drew attention was a shot of Astrid’s pilot’s licence, which was due to expire at the end of 2018. At the time, it seemed unlikely that, within five years, global politics would be redrawn under the control of the World Zone Authority, or that Europe would be reachable by rocket from Australia in two hours. And, indeed, neither of these things came to pass.
Of course, in 1967 no one expected anyone to be watching The Enemy of the World when 2018 rolled around (it’s incredibly fortunate we even could, as the tapes were wiped and the serial was thought lost forever). Not only did we watch it, but new Doctor Who was still being made, telling new stories set in the actual world of 2018. This combination – of Doctor Who’s basic premise and its remarkable longevity – creates a problem other shows don’t have. Because Doctor Who bounces around in time, it’s found itself catching up with its imagined futures.
The thing is, humans aren’t generally very good at predicting the future. Stories set there often seem plausible when first created, but when we look back on previous predictions we’re surprised if someone got it right, because mostly they don’t. This can be true of even the simplest things.