I Couldn’t Wait For The Future After Watching Beyond 2000 As A Kid

Published May 24, 2020 8:30 PM EDT

There probably hasn’t been a better time than now to escape within our own minds to simpler and frankly more optimistic times. Thinking of all the pop culture influences that were impressed upon me growing up, one weekly science magazine show was absolutely must-watch TV for me. It had a sense of mystery and cutting-edge intrigue about it, and the presenters and production were really fantastic, pulling in various personalities from around the tech world to showcase different technologies that could become staples in the millennium to come. It felt like truly an international affair. And that opening theme and sequence—unforgettable. It made you want to warp into a future that simply couldn’t come fast enough. That show was Beyond 2000.

From what I understand, the show, which originated from Australia, had a remarkably long run under various monikers. It started off in 1981 as Towards 2000 , then became Beyond 2000 in the mid-1980s. It ran under that name with one multi-year hiatus until it was canceled in—you guessed it—1999. Apparently, it came back again in 2005 under the name Beyond Tomorrow , but I don’t remember it.

And yeah, once again, that opening and soundtrack. It stuck with you! It’s amazing how something like that still lingers in your head after all these years. I remember clicking on to Discovery channel as a kid and seeing two versions, an earlier one that had more live-action scenes and a later one that relied heavily on CGI, which looked pretty damn slick for television of the time period.

The hour-long show covered all types of future-tech topics, with a heavy dose of transportation-related segments. Everything from maglev trains to virtual reality to renewable energy to advanced robotics to cutting-edge defense tech was featured. The quality of the segments was great and included on-location, in-depth looks at what were mostly experimental technologies, some of which have come to fruition in the two decades since the original run of the show ended. In fact, for all the Popular Science hyperbole of the pre-internet age, Beyond 2000 was remarkably grounded and well-curated.

Memories can be a generalizing enigma, but what I remember most is watching a smart dude with a mustache and an Australian tech reporter lady showing me all the fantastic stuff that was just around the corner. In an age when everything wasn’t available at our fingertips via a robust internet, this was heady content. The show was one part dreamer’s toybox and one part hard science reporting on the coolest topics around. For the techie, this was appointment television—if you missed it, there was no on-demand option, and good luck hitting the right episode on reruns.

Looking back, it’s so interesting to think how much power even a syndicated cable show like this actually had at shaping technological expectations. How many young people were influenced by one of its segments? I think plenty.

Some of those segments that have survived online make you realize just how long it takes to realize a technological dream. Decades have passed between when some of these concepts were presented in a developmental state and they have just now matured into a usable consumer state. Then there are some ideas that were just a bit too ambitious for the tech and marketplace realities of the time.

Failure is the mother of innovation as they say.

Regardless of where many of the ideas presented on Beyond 2000 ended up, this show, and others like it, certainly gave us great hope and excitement for the future. Today, we are maybe a bit too well informed to buy into some of the most overtly wide-eye concepts floating around. While that may be a good thing overall, it certainly doesn’t help with coalescing an optimistic view of technology like we once had, for better or worse.

I would argue that every day is something like a Beyond 2000 episode for all of us now, but often in a darker sense. Things are moving so fast now and technology is so deeply integrated into our everyday lives that what is just around the corner often seems like not such a great thing. This is especially true in a brave new era where the discussion is turning to the possibility that the intelligent machines will destroy their makers in the end.

As such, looking back and reviewing clips from Beyond 2000 is welcomingly reminiscent of a more innocent and optimistic time when it came to mankind’s relationship with technology and the possibilities that it would usher in a grand new millennium.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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发布于美国东部时间2020年5月24日晚上8:30

或许现在正是我们逃离现实，回归更简单、更乐观的时光的最佳时机。回想我成长过程中受到的所有流行文化影响，有一档每周播出的科学杂志节目绝对是我必看的。它充满神秘感和前沿科技的魅力，主持人及制作团队也堪称一流，汇聚了科技界的各路精英，展示各种可能在未来千禧年成为主流的技术。这档节目真正展现了国际视野。而它的片头曲和开场动画——令人难忘。它让人恨不得立刻穿越到那个迫不及待想要到来的未来。这档节目就是《超越2000》（Beyond 2000）。

据我所知，这部源自澳大利亚的剧集播出时间很长，也曾用过几个不同的剧名。它最初于1981年以《迈向2000》（Towards 2000）为名开播，然后在20世纪80年代中期更名为《超越2000》（Beyond 2000）。之后，它以这个名字播出，期间曾中断多年，直到1999年——你猜对了——被取消。据说它在2005年以《超越明日》（Beyond Tomorrow）的名字再次回归，但我对此毫无印象。

没错，又是那段开场和配乐。真是让人印象深刻！这么多年过去了，还能对它记忆犹新，真是不可思议。我记得小时候打开探索频道，看到了两个版本，一个是早期版本，真人拍摄的镜头比较多；另一个是后期版本，大量运用了电脑特效，在当时的电视制作水平来说，画面相当精美。

这档时长一小时的节目涵盖了各种未来科技话题，其中交通运输相关内容占了很大比重。从磁悬浮列车到虚拟现实，从可再生能源到先进机器人技术，再到尖端国防科技，无所不包。节目内容质量上乘，不仅包含实地拍摄的深度报道，还深入探讨了当时大多处于实验阶段的技术，其中一些技术在节目首播后的二十年间已经得以实现。事实上，尽管在互联网时代之前，《科普》杂志的宣传往往夸张浮夸，但《超越2000》却出人意料地务实且内容丰富。

记忆有时像个谜，难以捉摸，但我印象最深的，是看着一个留着胡子的聪明小伙子和一位澳大利亚科技女记者，向我展示那些即将面世的奇妙科技。在那个互联网还不发达的年代，这些内容令人兴奋不已。这档节目既像是梦想家的玩具箱，又像是对最热门话题的硬核科学报道。对于科技爱好者来说，这档节目是必看的——错过直播，没有点播服务，重播时想找到想看的那集更是难上加难。

回想起来，像这样的有线电视联播节目竟然对塑造人们的科技预期产生了如此巨大的影响，真是令人感慨。有多少年轻人受到其中某个片段的影响？我想肯定不少。

有些在网络上存活下来的产品会让你意识到，实现一个技术梦想需要多么漫长的时间。有些概念从最初的开发阶段到如今成熟并可供消费者使用，中间经历了数十年的时间。还有一些想法，在当时的科技和市场条件下，显得过于雄心勃勃。

正如人们常说的，失败是创新之母。

无论《超越2000》节目中提出的许多想法最终走向何方，这个节目以及其他类似的节目无疑都曾带给我们对未来的巨大希望和憧憬。如今，我们或许因为了解得太多，反而难以接受一些过于天马行空的理论。虽然这总体上可能是一件好事，但无论好坏，它都无助于我们像过去那样对科技抱持乐观态度。

我认为，对我们所有人来说，每一天都像是《超越2000》的一集，只不过往往更加阴暗。如今科技发展如此迅速，它已经深深融入我们的日常生活，以至于即将发生的事情往往看起来并不那么美好。在这个勇敢的新时代，人们开始讨论智能机器最终是否会毁灭它们的创造者，这种情况尤为突出。

因此，回顾《超越 2000》中的片段，令人欣慰地回忆起人类与科技之间更加纯真乐观的时代，以及科技将引领我们进入一个崭新千年的可能性。

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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