2000s
Entering the new millennium, science fiction became a lens for dissecting the implications of a rapidly globalizing world. With the internet knitting societies together, sci-fi narratives adopted a global perspective, exploring how technology could both unite and divide humanity. The genre scrutinized the ethics of biotechnology, the perils of AI, and the complexities of virtual reality, forcing characters—and audiences—to grapple with not just potential futures, but the present in which those futures were being forged. The 2000s saw the genre fragment into numerous sub-genres, each reflecting the multifaceted anxieties and hopes of an era coming to grips with its own transformative powers.
The End of the World
03/07/2006
In Doctor Who Season 1, Episode 2, titled "The End of the World," the Ninth Doctor takes Rose Tyler on her first trip through time to witness the destruction of Earth five billion years in the future. They arrive on a space station orbiting Earth, where various alien species, including the last human, Lady Cassandra,…
6.3
The Fountain
11/22/2006
A man’s journey through three interconnected timelines explores immortality, love, and the eternal cycle of life and death as he seeks to overcome the limits of time.
8.7
The Man from Earth
11/13/2007
A retiring professor shocks his colleagues by revealing that he has lived for 14,000 years, prompting an intense philosophical debate on immortality, history, and belief.
8.3
Primer
05/25/2005
Two engineers accidentally discover time travel, leading them into a web of paradoxes, alternate timelines, and moral dilemmas.
9.3
The Butterfly Effect
01/03/2004
A man uses time travel to rewrite his troubled past, only to find that each change causes unforeseen and disastrous consequences in the present.
8
Star Trek
05/08/2009
A vengeful Romulan alters the timeline, forcing a young crew of the Enterprise to navigate a new reality while confronting the concepts of fate and destiny.
5.3
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
04/26/2000
A young hero is trapped in a three-day time loop and must continually reset time to prevent a moon from destroying a parallel world.
7
Terminator Salvation
05/21/2009
In a post-apocalyptic future, John Connor leads the human resistance against Skynet while confronting the mysterious past of a man who may be both human and machine.
6
Timecrimes
06/27/2008
A man accidentally enters a time loop, creating multiple versions of himself and spiraling into a desperate fight to undo his mistakes before his actions cause irreversible consequences.
7.3
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
06/04/2004
Two young wizards manipulate time to correct the past while ensuring they don't disrupt the natural flow of events.
5.7