10 Predictions About The Future Star Trek Probably Got Wrong

In that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where they stop to pick up three frozen folk from the 1990s on their way to meet the Romulans, one of the former lollipops asks to turn on the "Tee-Vee". Don't have too many martinis, mate, because the holodeck is gonna blow your guitar-pluckin' mind!

Clearly a bit of an in-joke — there's no television in this television show — Data promptly informs Mr L.Q. 'Sonny' Clemonds that, "That particular form of entertainment did not last much beyond the year 2040". TV had indeed been assigned to the history books long before the 24th century, enough for Tom Paris to get a 1950s television set as a zany gift. They do still have news broadcasts, but for 'entertainment,' it's the holodeck and those godawful amateur stage plays.

It seems highly improbable that in just 17 years the real world will have turned off the telly and said so long to streaming. Moreover, that would mean no more Star Trek because of… Star Trek, and we here at TrekCulture would be out of a job. Data doesn't give the reasons for television's terminal decline, but we do know that it was World War III on Earth in 2040. Probably that!