What movies have a text prologue using a sequence of dates?

January 3, 2024 8:37 AM

A text prologue with a progression of dates explaining how we got to Now is an SF trope that I swear I've seen more than once.

At the moment I'm only finding one example.

Do you know of others? Ones that simply state the date don't count (e.g. Zardoz, Blade Runner)... it must be a series of dates explaining the history that led to the current period of the movie.

For example...
Escape from New York (1981)

posted by kokaku to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

Not SF, but The Kingdom has a prologue that explains the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and oil using a series of dates.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 8:49 AM on January 3, 2024

Red Dawn has this but without dates, just a series of bad events.
posted by johngoren at 8:50 AM on January 3, 2024

The opening to Blade Runner kind of has this?
posted by xedrik at 9:03 AM on January 3, 2024

In Terminator 2 I know there is some sort of litany of the date Skynet goes live and the date it becomes self-aware, but I can't remember if it is strictly in text or in voice over with text.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:12 AM on January 3, 2024

The opening of Idiocracy has a progression of years, but doesn't have specific dates. Idiocracy intro
posted by TheAdamist at 9:17 AM on January 3, 2024

You might want to poke around the Opening Scroll trope.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:51 AM on January 3, 2024

Not one of the Star Wars movies included dates in the opening crawl.
posted by Lexica at 10:20 AM on January 3, 2024 [1 favorite]

2010 The Year We Make Contact gives the back story with a series of date/narrative exposition.

Buck Rogers, the series, starts with a date on screen and some exposition voice over, followed by the date advancing to the "present" while images on screen show what's changed.
posted by justkevin at 10:44 AM on January 3, 2024

No actual dates onscreen but the opening montage to Soylent Green is worth mentioning - it’s amazing. Explains the history perfectly.
posted by whatevernot at 11:06 AM on January 3, 2024 [2 favorites]