Retro-futurism describes the return to the to fanciful depictions of the future produced many years ago called futurology. These may be based on a lack of scientific knowledge and a great deal of imagination and speculation.

A great deal of attention is drawn to fantastic machines and architecture, the logistics of which are realistically impractical. The retro-futuristic design ethic tends to solid colors, streamlined shapes, and mammoth scales. It might be said that retro-futurism is the ultimate development of googie design.

The setting retro-futuristic stories is usually a utopian society; its spirit of optimism and embracing of the status-quo is a complete contrast with cyberpunk. Retro-futurism is also different from steampunk, although the two had things in common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when modern technology as we know it was still young.

Retro-futurism has appeared in some examples of postmodern architecture. In the example seen at right, the upper portion of the building is not intended to be integrated with the building but rather to appear as a separate object - a huge flying saucer-like space ship only incidentally attached to a conventional building. This appears intended not to evoke an even remotely possible future, but rather a past imagination of that future - perhaps as seen in the science fiction movies of the 1950's or the pulp novels and comics of the 1930's.

Film and Literature

• Astro Boy
• Buck Rogers
• Futurama
• The Jetsons
• Metropolis
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
• Star Trek: The Original Series
• Zot
• science fiction covers from pulp magazines

Artists who have worked with a retro-futuristic style

• Richard Arbib (1917-1995) [1964 World's Fair, Newsweek ]
• Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986) [Mechanix Illustrated]
• Jack Coggins (1911-) [ Spaceship to the Moon ]
• Gene Colan [ Guardians of the Galaxy ]
• Lee Conrey (1883-?) [ American Weekly ]
• Howard M. Duffin [ Amazing Stories ]
• Kenneth Fagg [If]
• Frederic W. Freeman (1906-1988)
• Russ Heath (1926-) [Humbug]
• Matt Jefferies [ Classic Star Trek ]
• Alexander Leydenfrost (1889-1961)
• Frank Rudolph Paul (1884-1963) [ Amazing Stories, Science Wonder Stories ]
• Leo Rackow (1901-1988)
• Stewart Rouse [Modern Mechanics]
• Norman Saunders (1907-1988) [Modern Mechanix]
• Alexander Schomburg (1905-1998) [Satellite Science Fiction]
• James B. Settles [ Amazing Stories ]
• Malcolm Smith (1910-1966)
• Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) [ Astro Boy ]
• Edgar Franklin Wittmack [ Popular Science ]

Books on Retro-futurism

• Astrofuturism: Science, Race, and Visions of Utopia in Space ISBN 0812218477
• Future Perfect ISBN 3822815667
• Out of Time: Designs for the Twentieth Century Future ISBN 0810929392
• Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future ISBN 0801853990