History,CuriositiesSEP 19, 2026

70 Images Of A Future That Didn’t Quite Arrive, But Sometimes Got Surprisingly Close (New Pics)

Viktorija Strelciunaite, Cas Wilmot and Rugilė Žemaitytė

I might be showing my age here, but I can’t be the only one who fondly remembers The Jetsons—you know, the futuristic cartoon with flying cars, robot housekeepers, and, of course, Astro the talking dog. I remember being in awe of their futuristic world, especially the idea that one day we might actually live like that. If you know what I’m talking about—or if you’ve ever found yourself enthralled by some fantastical vision of what the future might look like—this list might be just for you.

We’ve rounded up some of the most interesting posts from r/RetroFuturism, spanning decades of visions of what the future would hold. Some got a whole lot closer than you’d expect, while others are a reminder that the future rarely arrives the way we picture it (alas, I’m still waiting on talking dogs). But they’re a pretty fascinating mix of nostalgia and imagination either way.

#21 Moon Base Gaming Room - Paul Alexander, 1960

Retrofuturistic image of a futuristic living room with a couple, showing past imaginings of the future.

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And perhaps that’s why these visions continue to hold our attention. They’re snapshots of what people in different eras thought was possible, exciting, desirable, or just around the corner. Looking at them now means seeing both the future they imagined and the present they were living in.

#22 Subsurface Lunar Colony. Robert Mccall. Circa 1977

Retrofuturistic image of a sprawling futuristic city with elevated walkways and flying vehicles, how people in the past imagined the future.

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#23 'Moon Base Central Plaza'. Pat Rawlings. 1986

Retrofuturistic image of a future city inside a dome with flying people and lush greenery, showing imagined future.

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#24 'Blade Runner'. 1982. Concept Art By Syd Mead . Interior Of A 'Police Spinner' Flying Vehicle

Retrofuturistic image showing a person inside an imagined future cockpit with multiple screens and controls.

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As the BBC points out, “Today, the rate of change is so incredibly fast, it can be hard to imagine the future.” Maybe that’s part of what makes these older visions so compelling: they remind us of a time when people seemed perfectly willing to imagine futures that went far beyond an even smaller phone or the next update to a familiar technology. But who knows? A few decades from now, someone might look back at our own visions of tomorrow and find that some were surprisingly on the money, while others were charmingly off the mark.