1985 was a one-hour Mockumentary TV special that aired on Metromedia stations in the United States in 1970.
The film was a Gaia's Lament story of pollution bringing things From Bad to Worse. Real Metromedia newsmen — host George Putnam, plus Mark Evans, Bill Jorgensen, Hal Fishman, and a pre-Maury Maury Povich — report on a killer smog leaving 14,000 dead in Los Angeles, a Big Blackout in New York City, lack of clean drinking water in Washington, D.C., and complete collapse of agriculture in the Midwest. It was interrupted every five minutes or so by a slide and voice over that said, "This is just a dramatisation of a news program in the year 1985. The events described here are not actually occurring at this time."
The broadcast starts off slow, with the "news" getting worse as it unfolds. Lots of Stock Footage with a "KTTV NEWS" logo superimposed on it is used to create authenticity. Towards the end of the special, Putnam loses touch with his field reporters and turns to someone in the studio — then the picture fluctuates, breaks up, and the viewer is made to understand that the U.S. government has suspended all television broadcasting due to the extreme crisis, with Putnam cut off mid-sentence.
Although heavily promoted, the special was only aired twice, and is now believed to be lost.
This film provides examples of the following tropes:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The special was filmed in 1970 and set in 1985.
- Apocalypse How: While it's difficult to determine due to the film's status as lost media, the scenario depicted qualifies at the very least as a Class 1, and seems to be in the process of advancing to somewhere between Class 2 and Class 5.
- As Himself: Several real-life Metromedia news reporters, including George Putnam and a young Maury Povich, play themselves in the film.
- Big Blackout: A severe power failure envelops New York City, causing chaos throughout the Big Apple.
- Deadline News: Towards the end of the special, L.A. newsman George Putnam's feed begins to fluctuate, and the studio attempts to re-establish said feed before the picture suddenly cuts to black, implying the U.S. government has shut down all television broadcasting due to the worsening ecological crisis, with Putnam cut off mid-sentence.
- Flyover Country: A decidedly more sinister version of this trope, with worsening crop failures reported throughout the Midwest, presumably as a result of soil contamination.
- Fog of Doom: Due to out-of-control air pollution, possibly exacerbated by excessive road traffic, a massive smog event envelops L.A. and suffocates over 14,000 residents to death.
- From Bad to Worse: As the film progresses, the looming environmental crisis becomes worse and worse until eventually the U.S. government is forced to intervene and shuts down all television broadcasting.
- Gaia's Lament: The film depicted a hypothetical near-future environmental catastrophe brought on by unchecked industrialization, described in a review
by the New York Times as "a harrowing vision of thousands of smog deaths, power failures, depleted rivers, barren lands and smothered oceans." - Green Aesop: The point of the film was to demonstrate what would happen if then-current environmental trends were to continue into the ensuing decade. 1970 was the first Earth Day, and it was around this same time where the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and the EPA were created.
- Just Before the End: The film takes place as the lingering effects of uncontrolled industrialization begin to take their toll on the natural world, leading to human civilization tearing itself apart as famine stalks the less economically developed nations, food riots break out in several Asian capital cities, and the U.S. is hit by multiple ecological catastrophes. One promotional article said, "The total extinction of man is likely."
- Mockumentary: One which described a near-future ecological catastrophe, with bulletins given by real-life newsmen of the day.
- No Ending: The film ends with L.A. station KTTV's feed fluctuating and then being suddenly cut off as the film cuts to black, with George Putnam's coverage ending mid-sentence.
- Overpopulation Crisis: Such a crisis leads to the U.S. government proposing legislations making abortion and sterilization mandatory for its citizens, with large bonuses handed out to childless couples and stringent fines imposed on fruitful ones.
- Phony Newscast: The entire film is presented as a series of simulated news broadcasts, with real-life Metromedia news personnel playing themselves.
- Shout-Out: The title is obviously intended as one to Nineteen Eighty-Four, in keeping with the special's dystopian theme.
- Stock Footage: Footage of real-world environmental destruction is used to depict the apocalyptic events of the film.
- This Is a Work of Fiction: Every five minutes or so, a disclaimer of this nature would appear on screen to assure viewers that none of the events depicted were real, along with streamers appearing in the lower portions of the screen during particularly intense sequences. Despite this, a few viewers still called in to their local stations to inquire if what they were seeing was real, according to the New York Times.
