“What year is it now? I forgot.”

– Jamie

“Patrick, it's Hitler! Yes it is Hitler! Patrick, you must take a picture of me with him!”

– Shirley White, American time traveler

“Truly the light is sweet; and what a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to see the Sun.”

– Peter Stenning

“Of course, it's the 15th of May.”

Intergalactic travel on Star Wars Day

“Our grandfathers always lived on Earth, and we are the first people ever to undertake such a journey. You can be proud that you’re here. Your grandfather, who volunteered to come, was a great man, and we’ve got to do everything to make sure that the Station keeps running.”

– Dr Francis (from Thirteen to Centaurus, J.G. Ballard, 1962)

A ship travels the universe, on its way to Centaurus. On board is a group of people, fourteen in total, one of them a teenager named Abel. His recurring nightmare about a glowing disc prompts to sessions with the on-board psychologist, and the only one with knowledge of Earth, Dr Francis.

And November 9, January 14, and January 21.

Something nuclear on International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day

 

In a state of delirium, engineer Prokop chases his stolen chemical formula, worried it may be used for mass destruction

 

With the experience of yet another world war, and two devastating applications of science biggest terror, Karel Čapek's 1922 novel Krakatit [“Krakatoa”] anticipated and moulded the decades to come.

 

And R.U.R. is now, just around the corner.

Eggs for Easter Sunday.

“The walls of the room seemed to hold stories untold, whispering in the quiet.”

– Doris Lessing, The Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)

In a dystopian Britain, D (Julie Christie) survives taking care of a sullen teenage girl, and visiting a mirage behind the walls.