I'm rereading Dune and I believe it's set about 20,000 years in the future. That adds wonderfully to the story for me. There's quite a lot of sci-fi that only jumps ahead 20 or 30 years to show its future. What are some other sci-fi books/comics/movies that are set in the far future? Which one's the farthest?
* Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon (Methuen, 1930). * Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon (Methuen, 1937). * The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke (Harcourt, 1956). * Far Futures edited by Gregory Benford (Tor, 1995). * Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Sheffield (Spectra, 1996). * Genesis by Poul Anderson (Tor, 2000). * City at the End of Time by Greg Bear (Del Rey, 2008). TGT
the comic book Dragon's Claws was set in 8162AD. so too were some of the early issues of Death's Head. Warhammer 40,000 and its spinoff media take place in the 41st millennium as the name suggests.
Red Dwarf (3 millions years in the future) Blake's 7 (800 years in the future) Dr Who (take your pick)
It seems like the ones by Olaf Stapledon are the winners. I found a link in there to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_E19_s_and_more. This blows my mind.
Isaac Asimov's Foundation series also takes place in a far future... up to 25,000 years from now, I think. And of course Stephen Baxter wrote a lot of far future stuff. Some of his novels and stories take place millions of years into the future IIRC.
a great many sci-fi books probably do, if you really stop and think about it. Or at least, COULD be considered 'far future'. 3001, the Shannara Series, the majority of the Ender series by Orson scott card, Ringworld, Hyperion, so on and so forth.
Doctor Who: Utopia Travels to "near the end of the universe". I don't think it's specified how far in the future it is, but it's implied to be hundreds of billions. He's also been to the year 5 billion and the year 5 billion I got these for my father for christmas one year with the full intention of "borrowing" them back. I'm shitting myself though because he's a man who ploughs through 6 books a week, and he found them hard going.
Doh! Now that you've said I remember it being mentioned. Should really have hit up a wiki before posting. It would appear that my head is up my arse today.
H.G. Wells-The Time Machine Keith Laumer's Earthblood as well as many of the BOLO stories Niven's Ringworld series Stephen Goldin's Eternity Brigade Vernor Vinge's Peacewar saga-starts near our time and ends up millions of years in the future
the Doctor visited 5 billion in "The End of the World" then he dropped in on 5 billion and 23 in "New Earth" after which he tried 5 billion 53 in "Gridlock"
The Time Machine by Herbert George Wells is set in 801,207 AD. The Traveler then goes 30 Million years into the future before returning to the XIXth Century.
Although more fantasy than science fiction, Jack Vance's Dying Earth tales are set in a distant future when the Sun is close to burning out. Also, Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories are set on the last inhabited continent on an elderly Earth, long after the continents as we know them have disappeared.
Stapledon was the first thing that came to mind for me... I even used him for an av contest once lol:
yep, blanked on the name for that one, but that was the one with "Memory of earth" "ships of earth" etc, right? The Worthing Saga, also by Card, is a good one. Greag Bear has a couple more, too, with Forge of God series, and Eon (part 'present' day, parts arriving from far future)