Line #36 Main/SpeculativeDocumentary


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5	[[quoteright:275:[[Series/ItCouldHappenTomorrow https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_it_could_happen_tomorrow_xlg.png]]]]
6
7	->''"The result is speculation built on fact. What I offer is not a firm prediction - more an exploration of possibilities."''
8	-->-- '''Dougal Dixon''', ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture'', Author's Introduction
9
10	This genre openly combines elements of traditional documentaries with SpeculativeFiction. While the pure {{Documentary}} is entirely based on fact, the Speculative Documentary adds elements which are either an interpretation of actual events based on a combination of speculation and extrapolation from known science, or completely fictional. While a Speculative Documentary can also be hard science fiction, a DocumentaryOfLies, or {{Mockumentary}}, the Speculative Documentary takes a very scientific approach to asking "what if" that differentiates it from other fiction. While hard science fiction places at least some importance on {{characters}}, {{plots}} and [[JustifiedTrope justifying]] [[SpeculativeFiction fantastical]] elements, and the Mockumentary uses a documentary style to tell a dramatic or comedic fictional story, the Speculative Documentary [[HandWave handwaves]] any [[SpeculativeFiction fantastical]] elements and downplays characters and plots to focus on implications and educating viewers about [[RealLife real]] science. Most dinosaur documentaries fall into this category, due to how little we know about their paleobiology.
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12	This often overlaps with SpeculativeBiology in the case of documentaries dealing with alternate evolution or alien worlds.
13	----
14	!!Examples:
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	[[folder:Envisioning the Distant Past]]
18	[[index]]
19	* ''Literature/AllYesterdays''
20	* ''Series/AnimalArmageddon''
21	* ''Series/ClashOfTheDinosaurs''
22	* ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'': A show that uses SCIENCE! to figure out who would win in a fight between ancient or modern warriors who would never normally meet on the battlefield.
23	* ''Series/DinosaurPlanet''
24	* ''Series/DinosaurRevolution''
25	* ''WesternAnimation/ForgottenBloodlinesAgate''
26	* ''Series/JurassicFightClub''
27	* ''Series/LifeOnOurPlanet'' (one half this, one half NatureDocumentary)
28	* ''WesternAnimation/MarchOfTheDinosaurs''
29	* ''Series/MonstersResurrected''
30	* ''Series/PlanetDinosaur''
31	* ''Series/PlanetOfDinosaurs''
32	* ''Literature/{{Prehistoria}}''
33	* ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet''
34	* ''Series/PrehistoricPredators''
35	* ''Literature/RaptorRed''
36	* ''WesternAnimation/SeaMonstersAPrehistoricAdventure''
37	* ''Franchise/WalkingWith''
38	** ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs''
39	** ''Series/TheBalladOfBigAl''
40	** ''Series/ChasedByDinosaurs''
41	** ''Series/SeaMonsters''
42	** ''Series/WalkingWithCavemen''
43	** ''Series/WalkingWithMonsters''
44	* ''WesternAnimation/WhenDinosaursRoamedAmerica''
45	[[/index]]
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Envisioning the Distant Future]]
49	[[index]]
50	* ''Series/TwentyFiftySeven'': A 2007 docu-drama that tries to predict what technology and society will be like by that year.
51	* ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture'' (1981) by Scottish paleontologist and geologist Creator/DougalDixon, which speculates on animals and ecosystems that might arise after human existence.
52	* ''Literature/AllTomorrows'': A chronology of future descendants of humanity evolving millions of years in the future.
53	* ''Film/EvacuateEarth'': A 2012 Magazine/NationalGeographic Channel special about a hypothetical HomeworldEvacuation as a rogue neutron star approaches the solar system.
54	* ''Series/HowToSurviveTheEndOfTheWorld: A 2013 Magazine/NationalGeographic series based on ''Film/EvacuateEarth'' about how humanity could survive various extreme but hypothetical natural disasters.
55	* ''Literature/TheFutureIsWild'': An animated series describing the animal life of three periods of the Earth's future history.
56	* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperland Hyperland]]'': A documentary about hypertext and surrounding technologies, still cutting-edge at the time it was aired.
57	* ''Series/ItCouldHappenTomorrow'': A SpeculativeDocumentary series where the results of a serious weather incident like a hurricane or tornado, or natural disaster like an earthquake or levee break, would affect a major American city.
58	* ''Series/LifeAfterPeople'' explores what would happen to the Earth if humans disappeared without a trace.
59	* ''Website/OrionsArm'': A collaborative sci-fi setting describing future {{Transhuman}} civilization.
60	* ''Film/TheSingularityIsNear'': A film about artificial intelligence and the future of humanity.
61	[[/index]]
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Envisioning Alien Worlds]]
65	[[index]]
66	* ''Series/AlienWorlds2020'': A miniseries using imagined alien lifeforms as a means to describe ecology, biology and the future of humanity.
67	* ''Literature/BarlowesGuideToExtraterrestrials'': A portrayal of the more imaginative aliens of science fiction in the form of an animal field guide.
68	* ''WebAnimation/{{Brackenwood}}'': The "Brackenwood Wildlife Documentary Series" shorts describe the nature and habits of the fictional creatures of the setting, such as Fatsacks and Prowlies.
69	* ''Series/CosmosAPersonalVoyage'' by Creator/CarlSagan, while not entirely one of these, has a sequence depicting life on a gas giant planet.
70	* ''Literature/{{Expedition}}'': An early and pioneering attempt to model and envision a truly alien ecosystem. Adapted as the Discovery Channel documentary "Alien Planet" in 2005.
71	* ''Series/Extraterrestrial2005'': A National Geographic miniseries describing wildlife on two alien worlds.
72	* ''Blog/HamstersParadise'' : A world seeded with hamsters. The documentary part in particular is strong as most early 2022 words material has been slice of life naturalistic pictures on the world's various inhabittants, even even citing ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet'' as an inspiration.
73	* ''Website/{{Serina}}'': A world seeded with canaries, guppies, and a variety of invertebrates.
74	* ''Website/{{Snaiad}}'': A description of lots of vividly imagined alien vertebrates from an Earth-like planet.
75	* ''Literature/TalesOfKaimere'' is a rather unique case in that it is a seed world like ''Serina'' but is flavoured more along the lines of HighFantasy, while retaining proper speculatve evolution of earth organisms harvested into this world.
76	[[/index]]
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Envisioning Alternate Realities]]
80	[[index]]
81	* ''Series/{{Aftermath}}'': A series of documentaries exploring the effects of apocalyptic events, such as the sudden disappearance of humanity, the world suddenly stopping spinning, humanity running out of oil, and others.
82	* ''Website/{{Amphiterra}}'': A project about a timeline where conditions were different enough so that frogs ended up being the dominant lifeform of Earth rather then dinosaurs or mammals.
83	* ''Film/CSATheConfederateStatesOfAmerica'': A historical mockumentary created in an alternate universe where the Confederacy won the American Civil War.
84	* ''Film/DeathOfAPresident'' conjectures the consequences to the United States of America if UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush had been assassinated.
85	* ''WebOriginal/HarDeshur'': Presents complex life on the surface of an alternate universe Mars through the journal of a veteran astronaut, complete with mock-citations and references to fictional scientific papers.
86	* ''Literature/IvoryExtraordinaire'': Deadly safaris on an alternate Earth where elephants out-competed all other big herbivores, and carnivores have grown larger to keep up.
87	* ''Literature/TheNewDinosaursAnAlternativeEvolution'': An attempt to describe what Earth life might be like if dinosaurs never went extinct.
88	* ''Website/{{Specworld}}'': A collaborative project modeling what life might be like if dinosaurs never went extinct.
89	* ''Film/WorldWarIII'': Depicts what might have happened if UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev had been deposed and replaced by a communist hard-liner, causing the Cold War to escalate into an actual war.
90	[[/index]]
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Reverse Engineering Fantasy using Real Science]]
94	[[index]]
95	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}} Tech''
96	* ''The Science of Series/DoctorWho''
97	* ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Science-Harry-Potter-Magic-Really/dp/0670031534 The Science of Harry Potter]]''.
98	* ''The Science of Franchise/StarTrek''
99	* ''The Science of Star Wars''
100	* ''[[http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=54406&display_order=9&mini_id=54078 Star Wars Tech]]''
101	* ''The World of Kong: A Natural History Of Skull Island'' is an illustrated coffee-table book released as a follow up to ''Film/KingKong2005''. It's ostensibly a compilation of discoveries by several research expeditions that took place in the wake of Kong's demise, before the island sank into the ocean and its LostWorld ecosystem vanished forever.
102	[[/index]]
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Mockumentary supported by real science]]
106	[[index]]
107	* ''Film/AfterArmageddon'': Follows the survivors of a deadly global pandemic.
108	* ''Film/TheAgeOfStupid'' portrays Earth in [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture the year 2055]] after runaway climate change ravages the planet. The film is shown from the viewpoint of an unnamed Archivist -- the [[LastOfHisKind last surviving human on Earth]] -- who laments "why didn't we save ourselves when we had the chance?" and plays back real documentary footage from 2008, when the film was made.
109	* ''Film/TheDayBritainStopped'': Explores the aftermath of the collapse of British transportation systems, NextSundayAD.
110	* ''Film/Earth2100'' details the events that led to the creation of the AfterTheEnd CrapsackWorld that the protagonist, Lucy, lives in on June 2nd, 2100.
111	* ''Film/DragonsAFantasyMadeReal'': An attempt to model dragons as biologically possible creatures.
112	* ''Film/MermaidsTheBodyFound'': Despite its gratuitous use of CG, this fooled a lot of people into believing it was real thanks to only having a very hard to spot disclaimer during the credits.
113	* ''Series/PrehistoricPark'': A miniseries describing a zoo for extinct animals retrieved from the past.
114	* ''Film/Smallpox2002'', although it's somewhat off-base about smallpox specifically, it gets the action of a pandemic largely right.
115	* ''Film/{{Supervolcano}}'': Follows the eruption of the Yellowstone caldera as it might happen in real life.
116	* ''Film/{{Threads}}'': Explores the aftermath of a nuclear war.
117	* ''Film/TheWarGame'': Another nuclear war dramatization.
118	[[/index]]
119	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SpeculativeDocumentary