History Main / ColdSleepColdFuture

* H.G. Wells' ''When the Sleeper Wakes'' shows Cold Sleep ''producing'' a Cold Future, as the protagonist awakens to a dystopian world ruled by the trustees of [[CompoundInterestTimeTravelGambit his own now-vast fortune]].

* In Queen's song '' '39''. A careful listener may discern that it is a song about time dilation and its effects on explorers ("The Volunteers") in a particular instance.

-> ''My God, it's the future!''\\
-- '''Philip J. Fry:''' ''{{Futurama}}''

* ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has an episode (''The Neutral Zone''), in which three late 20th century humans are revived in the middle of a showdown with the Romulans. Two of the three adapt fairly quickly to a future that is better than their past but the third was a wealthy financier who reacts badly to the loss of his money, prestige and power.

* ''PitchBlack'': Congrats, you've awoken to crash land on a desert planet with neverending daylight and a vicious convict for company. Don't worry, the sun goes down eventually...

* In ''TheLegendOfZelda: OcarinaOfTime'', the hero Link is placed into an enchanted sleep for seven years, to allow him to safely reach adulthood and deal with the problem of Ganondorf. When he wakes, he finds that the country of Hyrule has been overrun by the BigBad and his hordes of evil. The real King's been murdered, the Princess is missing, and he's got to make everything right again. Subverted somewhat in that once he does fix all the problems, [[spoiler:he gets sent back in time so he can live out his childhood properly.]] Of course, then he ends up Groundhogging his way through Majora's Mask and reliving the end of the world over and over and over and over and over and...

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'': While Aang is frozen the Fire Nation wipes out his people (the Air Nomads) and conquers most of the world. Fire Nation culture changes to be brutal, nationalistic, prejudiced and joyless.

* ''{{Gargoyles}}'' puts the titular characters in the magical equivalent of Cold Sleep (i.e. a sleeping spell that can only be broken by raising Castle Wyvern above the clouds), and while Manhattan in 1994 isn't exactly a CrapsackWorld, Goliath quickly points out that it's just as savage as 994 Scotland.

* In StanislawLem's ''ReturnFromTheStars'', astronauts who have completed a century-long interstellar exploration mission return to an Earth where violence and risk-taking is so foreign to the population that the returning astronauts are regarded as nothing more than dangerous beasts.

* Philip Francis Nowlan's novella ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_2419_A.D. Armageddon 2419 A.D.]]'', which was the basis for BuckRogers. Anthony Rogers is exposed to radioactive gas in a coal mine and remains in suspended animation for 492 years. When he wakes up he discovers that America has been invaded and conquered by the Han.

* In ''{{Transmetropolitan}}'', cryonically preserved humans are known as "Revivals" and have become their own caste of unwanted social misfits, revived more out of a begrudged sense of duty than any real desire to have yesterday's people cluttering up today's world. Revivals almost inevitably become depressed, insane and suicidal as a result of the social neglect they face from a future that doesn't care for them.

* Somewhat similar: ''DoctorWho'' and his companions arrive on "The Ark in Space" where the future of humanity is cryogenically frozen. It's mentioned that emotionality is not encouraged in this future society, which doesn't stop the characters from emoting wildly merely because they're being absorbed by [[BodyHorror Wiirn]].

*** You may be confusing 616 Pym, [[NeverLiveItDown who only hit Jan once]], with the Ultimate Pym, who was [[CompleteMonster quite abusive to Jan on more than a few occasions]]. That was defiantly a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Ultimate Cap.

* In StanislawLem's ''ReturnFromYheStars'', astronauts who have completed a century-long interstellar exploration mission return to an Earth where violence and risk-taking is so foreign to the population that the returning astronauts are regarded as nothing more than dangerous beasts.

** [[FlatWhat Wut]]. The first time Ripley wakes up, an genre-redefining horror of an alien has infiltrated the ship. The second time she wakes up a whole colony has been destroyed. The third time she wakes up her two friends are dead, she's marooned on a prison planet and [[spoiler:freaking pregnant with an alien]]!!!
*** The first time she wakes up, she was sleeping through an FTL interstellar journey that would have only taken a few weeks subjective time. The second time is the 50 year jump, and her technical skills and language remain every bit as useful as they were prior to the sleep and the political and cultural environment she finds herself in seems quite compatible with what she left. RipVanWinkle she ain't.

* In StanislawLem's ''Return From the Stars'', astronauts who have completed a century-long interstellar exploration mission return to an Earth where violence and risk-taking is so foreign to the population that the returning astronauts are regarded as nothing more than dangerous beasts.

[[CaptainAmerica http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nothip.jpg]]
[[caption-width:400:It ''has'' been [[GoodIsOldFashioned a long time]] since [[CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority defending the establishment was cool]], hasn't it?]]

--> ''My God, it's the future!''\\
-- '''Philip J. Fry:''' {{Futurama}}

* Pitch Black: Congrats, you've awoken to crash land on a desert planet with neverending daylight and a vicious convict for company. Don't worry, the sun goes down eventually...

*** The first time she wakes up, she was sleeping through an FTL interstellar journey that would have only taken a few weeks subjective time. The second time is the 50 year jump, and her technical skills and language remain every bit as useful as they were prior to the sleep and the political and cultural environment she finds herself in seems quite compatible with what she left. RipVanWinkle she ain't. [[DisContinuity We never find out what happens after she goes into hypersleep on the Sulacco at the end of ''Aliens'']].

* ''{{Gargoyles}}'' puts the titular characters in Cold Sleep for a thousand years, and while Manhattan in 1994 isn't exactly a CrapsackWorld, Goliath quickly points out that it's just as savage as 994 Scotland.

* In Stanislaw Lem's ''Return From the Stars'', astronauts who have completed a century-long interstellar exploration mission return to an Earth where violence and risk-taking is so foreign to the population that the returning astronauts are regarded as nothing more than dangerous beasts.