Line #194 Film/Tomorrowland


1	[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b967a372d3d91cc50152d0ce48f059f7.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:298:Remember Tomorrow?]]
3	''Tomorrowland'' is a 2015 film produced by [[Creator/{{Disney}} Walt Disney Pictures]] and directed by Creator/BradBird and produced by Creator/DamonLindelof. The film stars Creator/GeorgeClooney, Creator/BrittRobertson, and Creator/HughLaurie, and is inspired by the Tomorrowland area found at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks. The first teaser trailer was released on October 9, 2014.
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5	In 1889 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, a group of visionaries put aside their differences to discuss how to make the future happen: Creator/JulesVerne, Gustave Eiffel, UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla and UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison. They established a secret society, known as Plus Ultra, to figure out how and where to change the world. Eventually, Tesla's experiments uncovered an alternate dimension, which would become their living laboratory: A realm that would become known as Tomorrowland. The Tomorrowland we know in the parks was a cover story/orientation space created by later member Creator/WaltDisney, who was also giving lucky Plus Ultra inductees the opportunity to visit the real thing via a portal hidden beneath the 1964 New York World's Fair installation of ''Ride/ItsASmallWorld''.
6
7	In the present day, a young aspiring astrophysics student and daughter of a NASA scientist, Casey Newton (Britt Robinson), stumbles upon the secret when she is given a mysterious pin by a youth named Athena (Raffey Cassidy). She leads her to a jaded ex-boy genius named Frank Walker (George Clooney), who first journeyed to Tomorrowland at the World's Fair. Evading agents seeking to maintain a post-60s masquerade of Plus Ultra's activities, they set out to Tomorrowland to find just what's been keeping the world away from the future.
8
9	A prequel novel, ''Before Tomorrowland'' was released in April 2015. It tells the story of a mother and son who stumble into a conflict between Plus Ultra, Nazi scientists and an embittered cyborg around the 1939 New York World's Fair.
10
11	(Note: ''Tomorrowland'' is not connected with a [[Creator/DisneyChannel Disney Junior]] animated series, ''WesternAnimation/MilesFromTomorrowland''.)
12	----
13	!!The film provides examples of:
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15	* ActionGirl: Athena, who rescues Casey [[spoiler:from the Sci-Fi memorabilia store with gadgets, a blaster, and her fighting skills. However, she is revealed to be an Audio-Animatronic®, aka a robot.]]
16	* AnAesop: "Feed the right wolf." In other words, look for solutions and refuse to give up rather than surrender to despair and hopelessness.
17	** "Never give up." As a child, Frank refuses to give up on his jet pack when his father tells him he'll never fix it. He also refuses to give up after Nix rebuffs him. His pamphlet for The World's Fair has "I'll never give up!" scrawled on it. [[spoiler:In the end, Frank sends out a new wave of recruiter animatronics with pins, telling them to "Find the ones who haven't given up. They're the future."]]
18	** Casey retells her father's parable about the "two wolves" to encourage him not to lose hope. An EstablishingCharacterMoment montage has her attending classes in which teachers list numerous problems in the world while she struggles to get them to acknowledge her question, "What's the solution?"
19	** "Don't be so obsessed with your destination you forget to watch where you're going." This is figurative with Casey's [[WindmillCrusader attempts to keep NASA's last shuttle gantry from being dismantled]] - which get her arrested. It becomes very literal when she finds the Tomorrowland pin, is dazzled with wonder and starts blindly wandering the virtual landscape - [[WatchOutForThatTree into walls]], [[StaircaseTumble down staircases]] and into lakes [[spoiler:until it runs out of power and she has to find her way to Tomorrowland for real]].
20	* TheAestheticsOfTechnology: Best demonstrated by the methods used to reach Tomorrowland. UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla's designs are {{Steampunk}}; a wood, brass and steel spaceship out of Creator/JulesVerne. The equipment Frank finds under the 1964 World's Fair is RaygunGothic. The modern "bridgeway" is basically [[EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture a giant IPod]].
21	* AllThereInTheManual: Much of the film's backstory is explored in ''The Optimist'' ARG and the novel "Before Tomorrowland".
22	** A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHE0UjBSbfI&t=387s deleted scene]] explains that Nix was able to turn Frank's invention into the best clean energy source ever discovered, and it is now Tomorrowland's primary source of power. [[spoiler:This neatly explains why he doesn't want to turn it off]].
23	* AlternateRealityGame: ''The Optimist'', which established the film's universe back in 2013.
24	* AlternateUniverse: Tomorrowland is this, with accessibility through dimensional portals of various sophistications. The "T lapel pins" are more of a VR thing.
25	* AntiHero: Frank is a cynical old Jedi master-type character who's seen the pins for what they really are and is quite rough around the edges.
26	* ApocalypseCult: [[spoiler:How Governor Nix sees the world he was born to. He warned everyone the end was coming and they turned it into ''entertainment'']].
27	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When one of her teachers recites one of the calamities facing the world, Casey asks him [[ExactWords "Can we fix it?".]] He is completely speechless after this.
28	* ArtificialOutdoorsDisplay: The Monitor can show anywhere on Earth in a full 3-D display.
29	* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
30	** You cannot extract DNA from hair. Hair is all protein. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], though; if there's a skin cell on the hair, it can provide DNA, and the scanner in question is from Tomorrowland (which is centuries more advanced than the rest of the world).
31	** Losing "90% of your blood sugar in 1/100th of a second" ''is'' survivable. The [[http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/highest-blood-sugar-level/ highest ever recorded]] in someone who ''survived'' was 2,656 mg/dl, and people are known to still be conscious at 27 mg/dl - let's just HandWave that powder Frank and Casey ate beforehand was some kind of ultra-tech "hyper sugar" meant specifically for this purpose. The catch is that climbing back up again is a living hell; Frank warns "You're gonna wish you were dead" but people usually have to lie very still for some time while their body assimilates the cup of honey or whatever they gulped down to save their lives - in many cases people have had to be ''hospitalized''.
32	* AwesomeButImpractical: Nix's view of Frank's jetpack.
33	* BaitAndSwitch: The rocket launched from the Eiffel Tower makes the audience think the Tomorrowland is located on a distant planet. [[spoiler:In reality they only make it to high orbit because that iteration of the technology is so primitive it needs a "running start" to make the jump to a parallel universe]].
34	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: As revealed by ''The Optimist'' and additional media, Tomorrowland was founded by a secret society called Plus Ultra formed by UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla, UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison, Creator/JulesVerne and Gustave Eiffel at the Exposition Universelle in 1889. Over the years, Plus Ultra has also counted UsefulNotes/AmeliaEarhart (who survived the crash), Creator/MarkTwain, Creator/RayBradbury, and Creator/WaltDisney himself amongst their membership, with Disney's parks being Walt's way of preparing people for what Tomorrowland had to offer.
35	* BenevolentAI: Athena, who wants to find Dreamers and fix the world. [[spoiler:She even performs a HeroicSuicide at the end of film to save Frank and destroy the Monitor]].
36	* BlackComedy:
37	** In the "Blast from the Past" shop, Hugo shoots the blaster into the ceiling to show Casey they're serious. A dead bird then falls out of the sky.
38	** Athena (the little girl [[spoiler:robot]]) [[spoiler:getting run over by a pickup truck]]. She walks it off.
39	** Athena [[spoiler:right before she has Frank drop her self-destructing body in the Monitor to destroy it]], she tells Frank why he could never make her laugh: "You're not funny."
40	* BrickJoke: Frank uses a jetpack in the beginning and at the end of the film, and both times he performs an epic {{Slapstick}} crash landing.
41	* CharacterBlog: The Blast from the Past store [[https://twitter.com/BlastFromPast has a Twitter account]], part of the film's lead-up viral campaign.
42	* CharacterFilibuster: Governor Nix's speech [[spoiler:about society's obsession with dystopia/post-apocalyptic fiction generating complacency with the Earth's degrading state]].
43	* ChekhovsGun:
44	** The one 1-kiloton explosive that Frank gives to Athena as an "insurance policy". [[spoiler:Although its intended use fails, it still brings about the villain's downfall by destroying the teleport gate and pinning him under the remains]].
45	** The tachyon-induced glimpses of the near future. [[spoiler:One glimpse shows Casey how to activate the explosive, while another one warns Athena that Nix will try to shoot Frank, giving her enough time to take the blast herself.]]
46	* ChildProdigy: Frank Walker used to be this before he went to Tomorrowland.
47	* TheChooserOfTheOne: Athena senses in Casey the qualities she's looking for and gives Casey the means to see Tomorrowland. [[spoiler:This is actually her job, Frank was her first personal candidate; later after her passing, we see that Frank and Casey have set up a whole slew of new young recruiter units out to do exactly as she did.]]
48	* ClingyMacGuffin: The pin only works if the user is wearing it or holding it. [[spoiler:It can also be encoded to the DNA of a specific person so only they can use it]].
49	* CrapsackWorld: Our mundane world is this, with societal unrest, climate change, threats of nuclear armageddon, etcetera and this complacency with humanity's self-destruction is associated with the widespread popularity of apocalyptic/dystopian science fiction. Additionally, the continued decline of NASA is a major part of Casey's story, with Neil Degrasse Tyson's "[[http://thirdmonk.net/knowledge/neil-degrasse-tyson-we-stopped-dreaming-imbalance-nasa-military-budget.html We Stopped Dreaming]]" speech being one of the major points of inspiration for the film's writers.
50	* CrazyPrepared: Frank's house has secret escape routes, traps including magnets and laser cutters for robots and an escape pod for insurance. Lampshaded by Casey once it's all over: "You were ''actually prepared for that?!?''"
51	* CreditsGag: The filming locations credit includes "Tomorrowland".
52	** Which is true in a manner of speaking, scenes were shot on location at the ''Ride/CarouselOfProgress'' attraction at Walt Disney World's Tomorrowland, but these ended up getting deleted.
53	* CurseCutShort:
54	** Casey when Athena suddenly shuts down mid-conversation.
55	-->'''Casey:''' '''''SON OF A-''''' <''engine revs''>
56	** Similarly, Frank mutters a "Son of a-" when he sees the flaming combine Casey has set rolling towards his house.
57	* DespairEventHorizon:
58	** [[spoiler:Governor Nix]] crossed it when his warning to the people of Earth was completely ignored, triggering his FaceHeelTurn.
59	*** More than that, [[spoiler:it was triggered by ''humanity in general'' crossing it and simply deciding to stop trying.]]
60	** [[spoiler:Casey comes close to one when she sees what Tomorrowland has become, until her EurekaMoment pulls her out of it.]]
61	* DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch: [[spoiler:Governor Nix’s]] very last words are [[spoiler:"Oh, bollocks"]], this was enough to get the film a 12A rating in the U.K. despite the film being rated P.G. in America.
62	* DistinctionWithoutADifference:
63	-->'''Casey:''' Is that like a portal to Earth?\
64	'''Governor Nix:''' No, it's a ''bridgeway'' to Earth.
65	* DoomsdayClock: [[spoiler:Frank has one at home. It predicts that our planet has 56 days left to survive due to nuclear war, ecological meltdown and natural disaster. There's also a probability counter, showing the chance of that future coming to be an 100%, until Casey comes along and it drops just a bit]].
66	* DrivingQuestion: From George Clooney's character, inventor Frank Walker:
67	-->'''Frank:''' What if there was a place... a secret place... where ''nothing'' was impossible? A miraculous place where you could actually change the world? [[CallToAdventure You wanna go?]]
68	* EurekaMoment: [[spoiler:Casey has one that shakes her out of her DespairEventHorizon, when she realizes that the Monitor was broadcasting negative images in people's minds, to hasten the End of the World.]]
69	* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Governor Nix is fond of Athena, despite the fact she's working against him. [[spoiler:He is even horrified at shooting her by accident due to her taking the raygun shot meant for Frank]].
70	* EvilBrit: [[spoiler:Governor Nix. He's played by Hugh Laurie, what did you expect?]]
71	* FallenStatesOfAmerica: As implied with the CrapsackWorld, the United States is headed down this road.
72	* FantasyForbiddingFather: Frank's father, who says his attempt to build a jetpack is a waste of time.
73	* FirstLove: [[spoiler:Athena is this to Frank. Which is why he's so bitter when they meet again, he never got over her even after his exile.]]
74	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During Wallace's livestream for ''The Optimist'' ARG, there is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LJrilA1G4A Tomorrow Land DVD]] sitting on his armoire.
75	* FunWithAcronyms: In the expanded materials, the word PIN (in this case Casey's Pin) stands for Proximity Inversion Node.
76	* GadgeteerGenius: Frank Walker, the citizens of Tommorowland, and members of Plus Ultra are this.
77	* GlamourFailure: Two notable examples...
78	** This is how Casey realizes that [[spoiler:Frank’s guard dog is a hologram. It doesn’t leave any footprints]].
79	** The main defect with "atomic T" pins. When touched they show a person [[{{Arcadia}} an idyllic field of wheat]], with [[RaygunGothic some sort of super-science city]] in the background that they can explore. However, they don’t transport the person anywhere, so when they walk they still interact and bump into the physical objects around them on Earth.
80	* GratuitousLatin: Though "Plus Ultra" appears a kludge of TotallyRadical words, in Latin it means "Further Beyond."[[note]]It's a reversal of the Latin phrase "Non Plus Ultra" (nothing further beyond), and represents the society's continuous search for new knowledge. Plus Ultra is also the motto of Spain; ironic, then, that the exterior scenes of the decrepit areas of the Tomorrowland city were filmed at a location in Spain.[[/note]]
81	* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Athena, who, [[spoiler:in addition to her relationship with Frank, is the one who comes up with the idea to [[HeroicSacrifice use her self-destruction to destroy the Monitor]], despite an earlier comment about how she doesn't have ideas]].
82	* HandWave: David Nix's lack of aging between Frank's backstory and the present timeline is explained away as a shake he drinks every morning.
83	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Athena is damaged beyond repair when she takes an energy blast to the chest intended for Frank.]]
84	* HeroicSuicide: [[spoiler:Athena self-destructs to destroy the Monitor.]]
85	* HiddenElfVillage: Tomorrowland. Notably, they didn't intend to ''stay'' secret, they just decided it wasn't a good idea to share everything they created with [[spoiler:a world that they warned of a coming catastrophe, but not only refused to change but ''[[CosyCatastrophe idealized]]'' it. However, Tomorrowland was hardly in an ideal state when Casey, Frank and Athena finally reached it - it was at its height when it was still accepting immigration from Earth. Tomorrowland's isolation was destroying it, and just ''planning'' to bring in new recruits rejuvenated it.]].
86	-->'''Hugo Gernsback:''' Have you ever wondered what would happen… if all the geniuses, the artists, the scientists, the… smartest, most creative people in the world… decided to actually change it? But where? Where could they even do such a thing? They'd need a place, free from politics, bureaucracy, distractions… Greed… A secret place. Where they could build whatever they were crazy enough to imagine.
87	* HistoricalInJoke: According to Frank, Tesla discovered the alternate dimension, and then Edison tried to take credit for it because the two hated each other.
88	* HowWeGotHere: The movie begins with Frank telling his story, with Casey interjecting running commentary, in the present day, before cutting to the main action. [[spoiler:The movie ends where they leave off, revealing that Frank and Casey are telling their stories to a new line of androids, who will take on Athena's role to distribute newly-minted pins to the dreamers of the world, to invite them to Tomorrowland.]]
89	* HurricaneOfPuns: Brad Bird tweeted a picture of the soundtrack album with the message "Another film, another great score by [[Creator/MichaelGiacchino @m_giacchino]], and most importantly, another bunch of crazy-ass cue titles--" which this time around include "You've Piqued My Pin-Trist," "Boat Wait, There's More!," "Home Wheat Home," "Pin-Ultimate Experience," "People Mover And Shaker," "What An Eiffel!" and "Sphere And Loathing." Giacchino stated that his music editor came up with most of the track titles, but Giacchino did admit he named the final cue on the album... "End Credits." The soundtrack also continues Giacchino's RunningGag with "World's Worst [[spoiler:Shop Keepers"]].
90	* {{Hypocrite}}: David Nix, who criticizes Earth for giving up and embracing the Earth's destruction, when he too has given up and embraced the Earth's destruction, to the point that he purposefully tries to sabotage the heroes' attempts to save it. However, it's heavily implied by his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that it was ''humanity'' apathy that lead him to his DespairEventHorizon.
91	* InsistentTerminology: The human robots being referred to as "[=AAs=]" or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio-Animatronics "Audio-Animatronics"]], a MythologyGag as that's the term Creator/WaltDisney coined for all his company's robotic figures.
92	* IWantMyJetpack: That, and a whole lot more, are available in Tomorrowland.
93	** When Nix asked ten-year-old Frank why he built a jetpack, Frank answered "I got tired of waiting for someone else to do it."
94	* {{Jerkass}}: Governor Nix's EstablishingCharacterMoment consists of him being an asshole to a 10 year old kid for no good reason.
95	* JerkassHasAPoint: Kind of. Governor Nix casually dismisses Casey as a "flicker" and in many ways, he's absolutely right. Her [[WideEyedIdealism wide-eyed idealism]] only has the smallest of impacts on the probability of the world being destroyed, reducing it by less than a thousandth of a percent. However, this was the entire point of her character: She's just one little candle flickering in a sea of darkness, but as the old proverb goes, it's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.
96	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Frank is this when he first meets Casey, flattening her with the house defense system. He does eventually get his idealism back.
97	* JustAMachine: Frank originally says this about Athena, but later amends it.
98	* JustGotOutOfJail: The trailer starts with Casey picking up her possessions from a police station property room. Say, what's this pin...
99	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Athena ends up TakingTheBullet when to protect Frank from a ray gun shot from Nix. She then has Frank take advantage of her activating self-destruct mechanism to blow up the Monitor... which then proceeds to fall directly onto Nix.]]
100	* LaserGuidedKarma: When Frank first encounters Casey, he uses a wave cannon ([[spoiler:likely in case of robots]]), pushing her away from the door, and leaves her outside in the rain. When Casey stages a diversion to get Frank out of the house, she turns the tables by locking him out of his house, using the wave cannon on him, and leaving him outside in the rain.
101	* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: Frank and Athena are butting heads like this almost constantly. Made both extra funny and creepy by Frank being (visually) almost four times as old as Athena.[[note]]George Clooney was 54 at the time of filming, Raffey Cassidy only 14.[[/note]]
102	* LittleMissBadass: Athena can even beat up adult-sized robots.
103	* LittleMissSnarker: Athena can be this quite a bit, especially when she's running out of patience [[spoiler:such as lying that she's got an automatic shutoff function if someone asks her too many sensitive questions. She's really just playing dead because she found Casey annoying.]]
104	* LogoJoke: The Disney castle is replaced by Tomorrowland.
105	* MadeOfIron: Frank. As a kid he survives get driven into the dirt at high speeds by his jetpack instead of suffering any serious injuries. [[spoiler:It also takes his body a few seconds to disintegrate when shot with a raygun in a potential timeline, unlike everyone else who disintegrates instantly.]]
106	** Also he doesn't seem to need to replenish his sugar levels due to Casey taking his Coke.
107	* {{Masquerade}}: Governor Nix says that, in the old days, Tomorrowland would work to have the Eiffel Tower turning into a huge rocket dismissed as a hoax. [[spoiler:However, with the world ending in less than two months, he's not going to bother keeping it a secret.]] It didn't stop his [[MechaMook androids]] from atomizing those three cops when they [[HeKnowsTooMuch started asking uncomfortable questions though]].
108	* MeaningfulEcho:
109	** Casey at one point tells her father the story of [[http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TwoWolves-Cherokee.html The Two Wolves]], a story he used to tell her, reminding him that the wolf that wins is whichever you keep feeding. [[spoiler:She later realizes that Governor Nix has been broadcasting apocalyptic images in people's minds, causing them to "feed the wrong wolf".]]
110	** Frank at one point describes the T-pin as "an invitation to a party that never happened." [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, Frank says that they should "put the party back on and print out new invitations."]]
111	* MeaningfulName:
112	** Athena, named after the goddess of wisdom, inspiration, artisans and strategic warfare[[labelnote:note]](As opposed to Ares, god of violent war)[[/labelnote]] among other things, who was born from the head of Zeus. She is the one who seeks out dreamers, encourages them to act on their ideas, and is a pretty decent fighter when she needs to be. [[spoiler:She's also the one to come up with the final means to destroy the Monitor at the end]].
113	** Casey's family name is Newton. Likely after the famous scientist Isaac Newton (although her father, Ed Newton, could double as a nod to Brad Bird's frequent collaborator Ted Newton). Her first name comes from Cassandra, the prophetess whose admonitions were never believed.
114	*** Even more style points, Casey's name comes from Isaac, when spelled backwards is Caasi (pronounced as "Casey").
115	** Hugo, the [[spoiler:robotic]] proprietor of the Blast to the Past store is named for Hugo Gernsback, creator of ''Magazine/AmazingStories'' and the namesake of the Hugo Awards. His wife, Ursula, is named after Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin, winner of multiple UsefulNotes/{{Hugo Award}}s.
116	** David Nix. "Nix" means "nothing" or "to end." He's content with doing nothing to prevent the end of the world.
117	* AMinorKidroduction: {{Played with}}:
118	** While the movie starts with Frank in the present day telling his story, with Casey interrupting, the story kicks in with a young Frank visiting the New York World's Fair, where he meets Nix and Athena and first discovers Tomorrowland.
119	** After a very brief shot of her in the present day, interrupting Frank again, we cut to Casey as a kid, identifying various stars and declaring that she wants to become an astronaut.
120	* MissingMom: Casey's mom is seen in the intro, then never again, possibly implying she died in between, though it's never explicitly stated. This might also have added to her father's embittered air. However, WordOfGod reveals that Casey's mother (along with extended family members) were [[http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Why-Judy-Greer-Was-Almost-Completely-Cut-Out-Tomorrowland-71536.html cut to streamline the story]]. The Junior Novelization retains Casey's mother and her extended family in the present day time period.
121	* MoralMyopia: Governor Nix has a very [[CharacterFilibuster long and angry rant]] about [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech why the people of Earth deserve doom]], but never stops to ponder that by doing nothing to prevent it, even though he has the means and technology to do so, [[{{Hypocrite}} he's just being as apathetic as they are]]. He has so few craps to give that he doesn't even bother to [[spoiler:stop the Monitor from broadcasting, even though he knows full well it's only making things worse]].
122	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Governor Nix, when he inadvertently shot Athena when she took his raygun shot for Frank]].
123	* MythologyGag:
124	** The pin is a reference to the pins sold at Disney Parks.
125	** Jetpacks were demonstrated at Disneyland's Tomorrowland during the 1950s and early '60s.
126	** Much like [[WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons another Disney film about the future]], ''Ride/SpaceMountain'' appears as part of Tomorrowland's skyline. People have also spotted nods to Epcot's ''Ride/{{Horizons}}'' and the Disneyland episode ''Magic Highway USA.'' During the end credits, Space Mountain and EPCOT's iconic ''Spaceship Earth'' appear side-by-side as part of the landscape.
127	** Tomorrowland's transportation is run by the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, a nod to the Magic Kingdom's version of the Peoplemover.
128	** In a rather obscure reference, there is a scene where Frank and Casey sit under glowing trees which appear to be being used as a power source. This may be a nod to the Magic Kingdom's version of Tomorrowland, namely the in-universe Tomorrowland Light and Electric Company that uses metal palm trees as a light source.
129	** Plus Ultra's origins at the Exposition Universelle and their membership including Creator/JulesVerne, who's known as the Father of Science Fiction ''and'' inspired Creator/HGWells (who, in turn, invented nearly every SF trope) brings classic Tomorrowland attraction ''Film/TheTimekeeper'' to mind, along with the much-loved attraction for ''Film/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea''.
130	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Nix's androids default to murdering witnesses or those who seek Tomorrowland with shockingly little provocation or without non-lethal alternatives.
131	* NerdsAreSexy: Coming from a family of scientists, Casey is definitely a nerd. And a beautiful one, too.
132	* NeverTrustATrailer:
133	** The trailer makes Casey's dad out to be a {{Jerkass}} FantasyForbiddingFather when in the actual movie he's… a NASA engineer who's facing unemployment as Cape Canaveral is getting closed down, but still is a loving and supporting father despite being left a tad embittered and bearing a somewhat fatalistic viewpoint over being on the verge of unemployment. His angry outburst seen in the trailer is entirely justified because he just bailed Casey out after she gets caught [[spoiler:breaking into NASA and sabotaging the demolition efforts, and he plans to ground her for it]].
134	** There's also an in-universe example that doubles as LeaningOnTheFourthWall a bit, especially given that some of the footage was also used in the trailers: [[spoiler:The lapel pin that apparently transports Casey to Tomorrowland is actually playing a sophisticated interactive promotional short, and the real Tomorrowland is largely run-down and mostly abandoned.]]
135	** In relation to the above, one might view the trailer and get the impression that this was going to be a sci-fi movie about a parallel world existing on top of Earth à la ''Literature/TheCityAndTheCity'' - and while it ''technically'' is, the movie is more of an adventure film that just happens to involve some sci-fi elements (the titular Tomorrowland only makes up a small portion of the story).
136	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Governor Nix saw that, the way things were going, the Earth [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt wouldn't last forever]] unless something was done to save it, so he [[spoiler:used the Monitor to subconsciously project the images of doom it had predicted in the hopes that it would scare the people into action. Instead, the only thing it achieved was to [[StoppedCaring desensitize people to the possibility of armageddon]] which actually hastened it dramatically]].
137	* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: A DeconReconSwitch; Frank is a cynical and paranoid outcast because he was ''exiled'' from Tomorrowland after [[spoiler:inventing a machine that showed Earth was coming to an end]], which he believes proves that the optimism that built it was all a lie. After discovering that [[spoiler:the machine broadcasts its predictions, creating a SelfFulfillingProphecy]], he realizes that ''he'' was the one who made it a lie, by giving up on the future. Thus, the past wasn't "better", it was just more ''optimistic'' - despite the myriad problems that those eras faced, people who lived in them believed they would ultimately be solved. The modern world's cynical view of the problems it faces - pollution, sickness, war, hate - has made those problems appear unsolvable, and embracing the optimism of earlier eras will help solve them.
138	* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: Plus Ultra was the benevolent kind, working behind the scenes to make a better future for everyone. Unfortunately, by the time of the movie, they relegated their work to the utopian city of Tomorrowland while the "for everyone" part of the plan [[MotiveDecay fell by the wayside]].
139	* TheOner: Casey's first full look into Tomorrowland, what Frank calls "a commercial," is this.
140	* PaperThinDisguise: Athena briefly tries passing herself off as a Girl Scout to explain why she wants to see Casey. Her brother doesn't buy it because 1) she's not even wearing a uniform, and 2) the "Girl Scout cookies" Athena is holding are a box of Oreos.
141	* ThePollyanna: Casey. Her boundless optimism breaks all of ''once'' in the entirety of the film. And even then, it takes but a few short ''seconds'' to snap her out of it.
142	* PrecisionFStrike: Nix says, "Oh, bollocks!" as his last words.
143	* PortalCut: Used to defeat one of the robots near the end.
144	* ProductPlacement:
145	** The World's Fair features a number of brands, which is probably true to life. A Greyhound-branded shuttle drives past Frank when he arrives. Disney's ''Ride/ItsASmallWorld'' ride factors into the plot.
146	** After they go through a portal, Frank offers Casey a Coca-Cola, which she chugs, then she grabs a second one and chugs that as well.
147	** Casey's little brother can be seen using what looks like a PSP or PS Vita.
148	* QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything: Downplayed. While never explicitly mentioned, the tachyon broadcasting antenna seems to be influencing how wave functions collapse.
149	* RaygunGothic: Tomorrowland's primary architecture style seems to be this, with very Wells-esque touches.
150	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn7Pn6pVkaQ Nix's speech]] about the state of the modern world to the heroes at the climax is essentially this towards society as a whole.
151	--> '''Governor Nix''': Let's imagine, if you glimpsed the future, were frightened by what you saw, what would you do with that information? Would you go to... The politicians? Captains of industry? And how would you convince them? With data, facts? Good luck. The only facts they won't challenge are the ones that keep the wheels greased and the dollars rolling in. [[spoiler:But, what if? What if there was a way of skipping the middleman, and putting the critical news directly into everyone's head? The probability of widespread annihilation kept going up. The only way to stop it was to show it, and to scare people straight. Because, what ''reasonable'' human being wouldn't be galvanized by the potential destruction of everything they've ever known or loved? To save civilization, I would show its collapse. But, how do you think this vision was received? How do you think people responded to the prospect of imminent doom? They gobbled it up! Like a chocolate eclair! They didn't fear their demise, they repackaged it! It can be enjoyed as video games, as TV shows, books, movies – the entire world wholeheartedly embraced the apocalypse, and sprinted toward it with gleeful abandon. Meanwhile, your Earth was crumbling all around you. You've got simultaneous epidemics of obesity and starvation! Explain that one! Bees and butterflies start to disappear, the glaciers melt, algae blooms... All around you the coal mine canaries are dropping dead and ''you won't take the hint!'' '''In every moment there is the possibility of a better future, but you people won't believe it. And because you won't believe it, you won't do what is necessary to make it a reality!''' So you dwell on this terrible future, you resign yourselves to it. For one reason — because [[EvilIsEasy that future doesn't ask anything of you]] ''today.'' So, yes, we saw the iceberg, we warned the Titanic. But you all just steered for it anyway, full steam ahead. Why? Because you ''want'' to sink. You ''gave up.'' That's not the ''Monitor's'' fault. That's ''yours.'']]
152	* ReedRichardsIsUseless: A DiscussedTrope. While the founders of Tomorrowland went so far as to travel to another dimension to be able to work in peace towards a better tomorrow, once they found solutions to all the problems back home they decided not to share them, so essentially that "better tomorrow" is relegated to the tiny elite of Tomorrowland while the Earth is left to rot. Casey calls Nix out for isolating Tomorrowland instead of revealing the existence of the fantastical realm to the world as its founders originally planned and not doing anything to help prevent it; Nix reveals that [[spoiler:they ''did'' try - just as people on Earth ''are'' trying - only to be rebuffed by the [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney rich]] and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections powerful]], who only care about business as usual and status quo. So he modified the Monitor to directly broadcast that information to the world at large... only for them to turn it into a ''[[AfterTheEnd genre]]'', which they proceeded to [[CosyCatastrophe idealize]] even as the signs of it approached. This drove Nix right past the DespairEventHorizon, which is why Tomorrowland turned its back on the world it came from]].
153	* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: [[spoiler:Just Athena. The later robots sent to hunt her down are creepy. Even the robots built to succeed her mission don't have her liveliness. However, her successors are fresh off the assembly line while she had decades to [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming become more human]]. Given some time and care, the new recruiters are more than likely to become like her eventually.]]
154	* RuleOfSymbolism: When Casey uses the monitor to peer into the future, she watches as the gantry she was protecting is dismantled. [[spoiler:Just as the gantry is completely gone - symbolizing how mankind no longer plans to launch rockets, and thus has given up the future - the prediction dissolves into static, and when it clears an indeterminate time later, [[ApocalypseHow the entire world is in ruins]].]]
155	* ScrewDestiny: Casey pretty much says this word for word in a conversation with Frank about what she would do if he could tell her exactly when she'd die; that yes, she'd want to hear it, but only so she could refuse to believe it. [[spoiler:This causes the probability of an ApocalypseHow to drop from 100% to 99.9994%]].
156	** Athena does this later when [[spoiler:she sees a tachyon image of Nix shooting Frank, TakingTheBullet for him]].
157	* SelfDestructMechanism: When one of Tomorrowland's androids (sorry, [[InsistentTerminology audio-animatronics]]) suffers catastrophic damage, [[DefeatEqualsExplosion they will self-destruct shortly after]]. However, despite having the technology to [[NoBodyLeftBehind atomize matter]], the self-destruct is more akin to [[StuffBlowingUp ten pounds of C4 going off]], quite likely with the intention of [[TakingYouWithMe taking out whoever destroyed the AA in the first place]].
158	* SelfFulfillingProphecy:
159	** Discussed when Frank asks Casey a hypothetical question in which, if it were possible for her to know the exact moment of her death, would she want to know. Casey ponders this, thinking out loud about whether accepting your death would be what brings it about in the first place. She comes to the conclusion that the correct response is that she should know, but refuse to believe. This answer is what causes [[spoiler:the 100% probability of doom to go down by 0.0006%]].
160	** Frank later refers to the trope by name upon the discovery that not only is [[spoiler:the Monitor, the machine Frank built, predicting the end of the world]], it is also actually [[spoiler:the thing that is making it happen]]. Governor Nix, in an attempt to prevent disaster, [[spoiler:zaps the prediction into people's minds so that they can try to keep it from happening. Instead, it made people accept the idea and even embrace it]], thus ensuring that the disaster does happen, much to his disgust.
161	* ShoutOut:
162	** Literally all over the place when Casey visits the Blast From The Past shop, as sci-fi/fantasy collectibles of every type fill the place, and the ''Franchise/StarWars'' theme plays when Hugo steps out of his room. Notable are the figures of WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant and [[Franchise/TheIncredibles Mr. Incredible]], since their films were directed by Creator/BradBird.
163	** The Monitor is essentially a disproportionate homage to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trylon_and_Perisphere Trylon and Perisphere]] of the 1939 New York World's Fair.
164	** Some of the futuristic images during the end credits animation resemble images from either ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' or another film called ''Film/JustImagine'', or possibly both films. And another image even seems to refer to ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons''.
165	** Athena adjusting her translator by turning a dial near her neck, during which her voice switches to speaking different languages, including Japanese, harks back to the scene with Dug the dog's translator collar in ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'', from Brad Bird's colleagues back at Creator/{{Pixar}}.
166	** A very small, easy-to-miss one is during Athena's playback of her journal recordings in her final moments. The year of Frank's banishment from Tomorrowland was ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'', also the signature title among dystopia fiction.
167	* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: Frank's exile from Tomorrowland helped harden him into a pessimistic loner. [[spoiler:He regains a measure of optimism before it's all over.]]
168	** However, Frank truly lost his idealism when [[spoiler:he found out Athena, his first love, was actually a robot. This was what led to his exile.]]
169	** SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: In contrast to Frank, Casey maintains this attitude.
170	* SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer: Athena is almost entirely absent from the trailers despite being one of the three main protagonists and appearing in most of the film.
171	* SlidingScaleOfFreeWillVsFate: Besides the [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism idealism debate]], the level of inevitability the future has is a major plot point, with Nix being firmly on the Fate side of the scale, and Casey on the Free Will side. [[spoiler:The events of the film, particularly Casey's ability to make the supposedly inevitable ApocalypseHow future (which is itself a SelfFulfillingProphecy) "flicker" to a better one, and Athena changing a tachyon vision by TakingTheBullet for Frank, suggest that the Free Will viewpoint is more accurate]].
172	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Refreshingly for a modern-day summer blockbuster, firmly and unironically on the "idealism" end of the scale. There are a few references to grimmer, darker media (such as a very b-looking movie called 'toxiCosmos 3') being the result of people [[spoiler:affected by the Monitor's announcement of the apocalypse.]]
173	* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: [[spoiler:Frank and Casey end up asking this once Nix is dead and his plot to destroy the world is undone. They decide to begin rebuilding Tomorrowland with help from Casey's dad, a NASA engineer, and start sending out new pins to the dreamers of the world, to invite them to Tomorrowland.]]
174	* SpiritualAntithesis: The movie is best described as Creator/{{Disney}}'s take on ''VideoGame/BioShock'', only with Rapture working instead of going to hell.
175	* SteamPunk: The Eiffel Tower rocket has lots of brass, gears, and very much fits the aesthetic of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.
176	* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: Athena was built for finding special people and giving them a special pin. All she needs for that is to be a charming little girl. She's also kitted out with gear and superhuman abilities that rivals or surpasses the Terminator, including having X-Ray vision.
177	* SupernaturalProofFather: Casey tries to convince her father that the pin is showing her another world but it doesn’t work on him, as it only make him think Casey was fooling around, prompting him to confiscate the pin from her, reprimand her and then seemingly ground her. {{Justified}} because Athena was earlier seen encoding it to Casey’s DNA.
178	* TakeThat: Against apocalyptic, "Bad Future" science fiction. The film argues that the genre's popularity is proof of mankind "giving up" and embracing imminent destruction rather than fighting against it.
179	** Actually, this is simply [[CharacterFilibuster Governor Nix's opinion]]. Brad Bird has [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/brad-bird-talks-tomorrowland-reception-829416 gone on record]] that the film is not against dystopian fiction, but against the [[SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers cynicism]] ''behind'' such fiction.
180	* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler:Athena sees a tachyon image of Nix shooting Frank, and dives in front of the blast instead]].
181	* TeenGenius: Casey. Frank is one that grew up and burned out.
182	* TeleportationSickness: The teleporter used to take [[spoiler:the main characters to Paris]] also causes a good loss of blood sugar. While Frank and Athena aren't so badly affected, Casey is.
183	* TeleportersAndTransporters: The main means of transportation between Earth and Tomorrowland. They are also used to take [[spoiler:Casey, Frank and Athena from New York to Paris]]. Some of them can be a fairly rough ride.
184	* ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Building a machine that predicted the future turned out not to be such a great idea. [[spoiler:When people became aware that it had predicted TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, they gave up hope and [[SelfFulfillingProphecy actually brought the world closer to that outcome]].]]
185	* TitleDrop: Done by Frank himself at one point in the movie.
186	* ThisIsNotAFloor: Since Athena hands out her pins without any context or warning whatsoever, thinking that they are transporting the user to Tomorrowland instead of just showing it is a very easy mistake to make. Also a very dangerous one, as Casey discovers by [[WatchOutForThatTree banging into real objects]]. Or [[StaircaseTumble falling down staircases]]. Over and over again [[spoiler:until it runs out of power. While she's waist-deep in a lake.]]
187	* TranslationYes: One of the robot mooks in Paris shouts something at the group in French. Athena translates this to "about what you'd expect."
188	* TurnOutLikeHisFather: Young Frank tells his dad he's never giving up. By the present day, he's given up and is treating Casey the same way.
189	* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:The Monitor predicted [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt inevitable doom]] for the Earth in as little as 56 days but, after it is destroyed and governor Nix dies, [[NoEndorHolocaust absolutely nothing happens at all]]. While it is reasonable that, without its influence, nuclear war could be averted - and it's implied the foreseen environmental collapse is a result of humanity's death throes (see Series/LifeAfterPeople) - if the planet was in such a catastrophic nosedive that TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt was less than two months away, you'd think there would be more consequences, even if they're not world-ending, but when the new recruiter [=AAs=] embark to hand out new pins, they find a world stumbling along as usual. Frank goes so far as to completely {{handwave}} it by saying "We shouldn't even be here, but we are".]]
190	* UnspecifiedApocalypse: [[spoiler:The Monitor predicts a [[{{ApocalypseHow/Class2}} Class 2]] through a combination of nuclear war, societal unrest ''and'' environmental damage. It's implied to [[{{ApocalypseHow/Class3a}} get much worse]].]]
191	* {{Utopia}}: What Tomorrowland was at one point. They are harmoniously multicultural, have achieved a post-scarcity society, and have technology that's borderline magical including interstellar flight that's commonplace.
192	* VillainHasAPoint: Governor Nix's plan wasn't actually evil. At first he believed [[spoiler:showing humanity a possible apocalyptic future would scare them into trying to prevent it. However, he lost faith when instead of trying to prevent the apocalypse, humanity ''embraced'' the idea of it. How do you save someone who doesn't ''want'' to be saved? Even better, why would ''you'' want to interact with them in any way, shape or form? This is why the killer robots attempted to assassinate Casey, Frank and Athena; after it became blatantly clear that Earth didn't want to be saved, it was simply a manner of ''survival'' - if the nihilistic masters and masses could get to Tomorrowland, they'd almost certainly destroy it too. Secrecy was its shield. The robots were simply operating on orders received ''decades'' earlier.]]
193	* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: Governor Nix appears exactly the same after fifty years, thanks to a morning shake which keeps him in perfect health.
194	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The violence is toned down for this PG film by making most of the villains robots, so their deaths don't really count... except for Athena, whom our heroes recognize as a living, sapient being by the end. So all those robots they've been killing were also people.
195	* YouCantFightFate: Nix believes that the future shown by the Monitor is inevitable.
196	* {{Zeerust}}: Tomorrowland, especially in the 1960s.
197
198	!!The prequel novel ''Before Tomorrowland'' contains examples of:
199
200	* {{Expy}}: Werner Rotwang is one to the ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' character of the same name, though InUniverse, he was the one that Fritz Lang named the character after.
201	* GreatOffscreenWar: Rotwang earned his initial prominent place in Plus Ultra when he helped in stopping a RobotUprising enacted by the earliest predecessors to the animatronics with EMP technology.
202	* MindUploading: Henry didn't take to this very well.
203	* PowerSource: Henry's robot body runs on a plutonium power source.
204	* RobotBuddy: The Faustus robots.
205	* StupidJetpackHitler: Much of the book's conflict involves an effort to prevent this, with Plus Ultra agents that defected to the Nazis trying to seize some of that technology.
206	* TheTunguskaEvent: It was a Plus Ultra experiment conducted by Nikola Tesla to open a portal into the other dimension via a super-powered atomic bomb. The devastating results led to them seeking out alternate, less harmful, means of crossing over and the Manhattan Project was just an effort to tone down the original design into something that wouldn't punch holes in the fabric of reality.
207
208	----

Context Film / Tomorrowland