History Main / ElderlyFutureFantasy

** In "Arthur the Loser", Arthur wins an opportunity to compete in a ''{{Series/Jeopardy}}''-esque game show, and ties with the undefeated champion. When the final question appears, Arthur realizes the answer, but then starts to wonder if winning will doom him to keep appearing on the show forever, imagining himself as an old man ''still'' competing. This fantasy costs him the time to answer, giving the champion the win instead.
** Buster is infuriated by the Brain being right all the time and imagines himself and the Brain as old men at a retirement home. In his fantasy, the Brain incorrectly guesses it would rain that day, and Buster smugly rubs it in his face that he was finally wrong, only for it to immediately start raining. Buster then wonders if it's possible the Brain will never make a mistake for as long as he lives.
** In "The Feud", Arthur and D.W. argue over salad dressing. He imagines them as seniors still arguing about the salad dressing, with two robots joining in.
** In "Buster's Growing Grudge", Buster gets mad at Binky for stealing a joke he planned to open his history report with, and Arthur worries that he'll never let it go. He then imagines Buster still holding his grudge on his first day of college, as President of the United States, and as an old man.

Characters may have some kind of conflict in one way or another. It could be any kind of bad habit or worse. Whatever the case, more than likely it will be a sustained conflict with both parties at each others' throats, with neither willing to back down from having their way. Meanwhile, one character falls asleep and dreams (or just simply have a fantasy) about the future, where decades have passed and the characters are now elderly. They may be older (and not necessarily wiser), but one thing hasn't change: the problems from long time ago still haven't been resolved.

Whether still living at their own homes or in a retirement home, there will still be some resentment at best and outright fighting at worst. The issues still linger on all these years. And sometimes, one of the characters involved in the conflict will die, more often than not leaving the other character feeling remorseful, regretting how they haven't made up with them. Afterwards it cuts back to the present, with the characters finally making peace with each other and resolving their conflicts.

** [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2009/06/15 This strip]] has Jon talking to Garfield saying as someone gets older, their ears and nose grow in size. Both Jon and Garfield then fantasize over their much older versions of themselves and being horrified of their bigger noses and ears before agreeing they will never grow old.
** [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1995/06/18 Another]] has Garfield and Odie as older versions of themselves. Odie sneezes, making him lose his teeth. Garfield laughs at him, only for Garfield to lose his teeth. Both put each other's teeth in their mouths, and spit them out after realizing they both have the wrong teeth. It's then shown that it was a dream Garfield is having. He then checks Odie's teeth, much to his relief that it was just a dream.

* ''Series/FullHouse'': In the episode "Those Better Not Be the Days", Danny, Jesse and Joey have to deal with DJ and Stephanie taking them for granted; the girls having the dads doing things for them and not once receiving a "thank you". The dads try to give them a taste of their own medicine by playing the "kids" and the girls being the "parents". But it backfires when the girls get fed up with the dads and send them to their rooms (missing the point of the lesson). The dads then have a fantasy with them being much older and the girls still use them without saying "thank you", even beginning to resent the girls. Back to the present, the girls catch the dads and lecture them on not expressing gratitude before it dawns on them that they were guilty of the same thing and they agree to start saying "thanks".

* ''Series/HomeImprovement'': In the episode "Future Shock", Jill feels strained by Tim's morning routine of exercise, breakfast and shower time when it interferes with Jill's school days. Jill has a nightmare where both her and Tim being elderly and Tim thoughtlessly ruining Jill's paperwork, which would have gotten her psychology degree (and on top of this, the boys still live with them and haven't aged beyond teenagers). Afterwards, Tim has his own elderly dream where his exercise left him in very good physical shape, but Al and Heidi quit Tool Time and Wilson runs out of advice for Tim. Jill dies after trying to exercise so she can be like Tim. Tim wakes up and realizes he needs to be more flexible for Jill.
* In an episode of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Reese is close to flunking out of high school, and unemployed, Lois has a nightmare where she and Hal, who are senior citizens, are being terrorized by a middle aged Reese who demands they cook his meals and do his chores, which leads to Lois demanding that he get a job and graduate high school. When he ignores her demands, she kicks him out, and he lives in the backyard with a hobo, but when she gets hurt trying to evict him, Reese tends to her, and Lois says he can stay, but pleads with him to at least look for work and help with expenses if he's not taking his education seriously, and Reese considers it. Reese then has nightmare, where he's a middle aged man, being terrorized by an elderly, morbidly obese Lois who demands he do everything around the house. Reese then tells Lois that as soon she recovers she will have to fend for herself, because as soon as he starts earning enough money, he'll move out of the house and live his own life.
* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "The Dream", Miss Brooks dreams she has finally married Mr. Boynton. They had a daughter named Cleo. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Conklin have a son, Osgood Junior. Walter Denton marries Harriet Conklin, they have several children but Walter takes about twenty years to finish high school. Ultimately, many years later, the now elderly Mr. and Mrs. Boynton nee Brooks are still happily married. ''And'' still living with Miss Brooks [[CoolOldLady friendly landlady]] Mrs. Davis, who is well over a hundred year old. The only problem is Cleo, who is running around with the wild Osgood Conklin Junior. Mr. Boynton finds to his horror that Cleo is secretly married to Osgood Junior and they have a child named Osgood Junior Junior. [[spoiler:In TheMovie GrandFinale Miss Brooks finally gets to marry Mr. Boynton for real.]]
* ''Series/ShakeItUp'': "Reunion It Up" features a double version, with both Rocky and [=CeCe=] imagining what their life could be like if their friendship broke up. In Rocky's fantasy she imagines [=CeCe=] went on to be a rich successful dancer (who due to plastic surgery still looks young) whilst due to never having [=CeCe=] to push her into doing things outside her comfort zone, she never amounted to anything and is still a background dancer on Shake It Up Chicago. In [=CeCe's=] fantasy she imagines that Rocky went onto have an important professional career and become a wealthy businesswoman, whilst without Rocky to be her common sense, she failed at everything she ever tried and is now an elderly homeless woman with no prospects.

** During their ''Pokémon [=FireRed=]'' playthrough, Dan and Arin think about what their show will be like in the future, where they're crotchety old men, their show is now available in liquid form, and Dan and Arin fight over how Arin talks to Suzy. Then a normally-aged Barry walks in and asks why they all talk like old men, because they're only three years into the future -- Dan and Arin just got jaded really quickly.
* An episode of ''WebVideo/PotterPuppetPals'' has Harry sharing some of his strangest dreams and nightmares with the audience. One of his nightmares as simply that he was middled-aged, which he found an absolutely disgusting experience.

* ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'': In "Float Trippers", the Jelly Beans are hanging precariously over a waterfall after Raj's missing retainer goes over it, and Raj announces that he's going to let go for it. A horrified Lazlo asks Raj if a stinky old retainer is more important than his friends, resulting in him imagining himself on his 100th birthday, with the retainer being his only "friend" at the party.

** In "Say it Isn't Sew", Bloo goes with Madame Foster while Mac and the rest of the imaginary friends go to the fair on the Foster's bus, in the hopes that he will get to the fair quicker. Madame Foster takes a very long time at the craft store, and Bloo has to stay in the daycare with Chauncey, a middle-aged man who has been waiting decades for his own mother to finish her errands. Eventually, Bloo falls asleep, and has a dream where he's elderly and asks Madame Foster, who is now a living skeleton, if they can leave now. Madame Foster tells him that they won't be leaving ever again.

* ''WesternAnimation/InnerWorkings'': Throughout Paul's day, Paul's Brain constantly stymies Paul's Heart from engaging in exciting activities, due to imagining worst case scenarios that always end in violent death. When the Brain realizes that Paul and the rest of his body isn't happy, it imagines a scenario where they keep taking the safe boring path for the rest of Paul's life, ending with an elderly Paul crawling into his grave without having ever accomplished anything.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Muppet Babies|1984}}'', "Eight Take Away One Equals Panic," the babies mistakenly think Nanny is going to get rid of one of them. Gonzo imagines what he'll do if it's him, and pictures himself going to live in a garbage dump. He then flashes forward to a hundred years later, when all his friends have been thrown out by Nanny too and come to the dump to join him. In this fantasy they still look like toddlers, except that they all have long gray beards, even the girls. (It is [[CloudCuckooLander Gonzo's]] fantasy, after all.)

** In "The Pest," Gretchen has AnxietyDreams from being pestered by Jeffrey, who has a crush on her, and imagines herself being forced to marry him, having his baby, and finally still being stuck with him in their old age, chained to a rocking chair and trying desperately to escape.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E6ItchyAndScratchyTheMovie Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie]]", Homer punishes Bart from seeing the titular film due to Bart neglecting to watch Maggie, causing Maggie to [[KidsDrivingCars take Homer's car for a joyride]] and crash it into the Springfield Penitentiary. The episode ends 40 years in the future, where Bart has now become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as a result of Homer's discipline. When Bart sees that ''The Itchy and Scratchy Movie'' is playing at the Aztec Theater, he asks the elderly Homer if he can see it, and Homer decides that he can, since he seems to have learned his lesson.

** "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E15TheSecretBoxBandGeeks The Secret Box]]" combines this with a flashback. When [=SpongeBob=] mentions how him and Patrick are supposed to be best friends forever, a montage is shown first of Sponge and Pat playing as babies, then as children, then as adults, then as old men, and finally their graves are shown next to each other with their spirits still laughing together.
* The ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'' episode, "Bushlad's Lament" is set 62 years in the future, where a now 75-year-old Francis X. Bushlad, still having not completed his manhood ritual, has to capture an equally-elderly Taz in order to take his father's place as the Chief of the Mudpeople. When he finally succeeds, the episode's events are revealed to be AllJustADream of the present-day Francis, who berates the writers for this ending and points out the unfired ChekhovsGun of the 16-ton weight that had been dangling over the characters' heads for most the episode. The writers retaliate by [[AnvilOnHead dropping it on him repeatedly]].

[[quoteright:291:[[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oldteeth.png]]]]

!!Examples

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "The Dream", Miss Brooks dreams she has finally married Mr. Boynton. They had a daughter named Cleo. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Conklin have a son, Osgood Junior. Walter Denton marries Harriet Conklin, they have several children but Walter takes about twenty years to finish high school. Ultimately, many years later, the now elderly Mr. and Mrs. Boynton nee Brooks are still happily married. ''And'' still living with Miss Brooks [[CoolOldLady friendly landlady]] Mrs. Davis, who is well over a hundred year old. The only problem is Cleo, who is running around with the wild Osgood Conklin Junior. Mr. Boynton finds to his horror that Cleo is secretly married to Osgood Junior and they have a child named Osgood Junior Junior. [[spoiler:In TheMovie GrandFinale Miss Brooks finally gets to marry Mr. Boynton for real.]]

[[folder:Web Video]]

-->'''Betty:''' I wonder what got into Fred. He's the life of the party!
-->'''Wilma:''' I'm not sure, but I'm gonna have him take naps more often.

* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': In "WesternAnimation/TheOldGreyHare'', Elmer Fudd, frustrated with his inability to catch Bugs Bunny, sits under a tree and is transported into the then-distant year of 2000. Now an old man armed with a laser gun, he goes after an equally-aged Bugs Bunny and upon managing to succeed, Bugs sets up a flashback to when they were young children and how it all began. As Bugs feigns his death and digs his own grave, he manages to trick Elmer inside and bury him alive.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'', "Eight Take Away One Equals Panic," the babies mistakenly think Nanny is going to get rid of one of them. Gonzo imagines what he'll do if it's him, and pictures himself going to live in a garbage dump. He then flashes forward to a hundred years later, when all his friends have been thrown out by Nanny too and come to the dump to join him. In this fantasy they still look like toddlers, except that they all have long gray beards, even the girls. (It is [[CloudCuckooLander Gonzo's]] fantasy, after all.)

** In [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E5WormyPattyHype "Patty Hype"]], [=SpongeBob=] starts his own food stand where he sells Pretty Patties, to no success. As he waits for customers, he falls asleep and dreams that he's still waiting as a middle-aged man, then an old man, and finally dead and buried under a gravestone.
** In [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E20SquidOnStrikeSandySpongeBobAndTheWorm "Squid on Strike"]], Squidward strikes his job at the Krusty Krab, and [=SpongeBob=] joins him, but constantly misinterprets his demands. [=SpongeBob=] eventually declares they'll stay on strike "even if it takes forever!", and a horrified Squidward imagines the two of them as old men, still protesting. As a result, he changes his mind and decides to beg Mr. Krabs for his job back.

** [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E15TheSecretBoxBandGeeks "The Secret Box"]] combines this with a flashback. When [=SpongeBob=] mentions how him and Patrick are supposed to be best friends forever, a montage is shown first of Sponge and Pat playing as babies, then as children, then as adults, then as old men, and finally their graves are shown next to each other with their spirits still laughing together.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': In “Fast Foodie”, after gaining a lot of weight from a steady diet of fast food, Cricket gets stuck in Burger Clown’s kiddie slide, and pictures himself spending the rest of his life there, ending up as an old man (with a long white heart on his ''butt'', somehow)

* An episode of ''WebVideo/PotterPuppetPals'' has Harry sharing some of his strangest dreams and nightmares with the audience. One of his nightmares as simply that he was middled-aged, which he found absolutely disgusting.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "The Dream", Miss Brooks dreams she has finally married Mr. Boynton. They had a daughter named Cleo. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Conklin have a son, Osgood Junior. Walter Denton marries Harriet Conklin, they have several children but Walter takes about twenty years to finish high school. Ultimately, many years later, the now elderly Mr. and Mrs. Boynton nee Brooks are still happily married. ''And'' still living with Miss Brooks [[CoolOldLady friendly landlady]] Mrs. Davis, who is well over a hundred year old. The only problem is Cleo, who is running around with the wild Osgood Conklin Junior. Mr. Boynton finds to his horror that Cleo is secretly married to Osgood Junior and they have a child named Osgood Junior Junior. [[spoiler: In TheMovie GrandFinale Miss Brooks finally gets to marry Mr. Boynton for real.]]

** During their ''Pokémon [=FireRed=]'' playthrough, Dan and Arin think about what their show will be like in the future, where they're crotchety old men, their show is now available in liquid form, and Dan and Arin fight over how Arin talks to Suzy. Then a normally-aged Barry walks in and asks why they all talk like old men, because they're only three years into the future - Dan and Arin just got jaded really quickly.

** In "Stuck In a Tree", Arnold, Eugene, and Harold get [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin stuck in a tree]] and Harold starts to lose hope of ever getting rescued. Arnold then imagines that it's seventy years in the future and they're still stuck in the tree as old men.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'', "Eight Take Away One Equals Panic," the babies mistakenly think Nanny is going to get rid of one of them. Gonzo imagines what he'll do if it's him, and pictures himself going to live in a garbage dump. He then flashes forward to a hundred years later, when all his friends have been thrown out by Nanny too and come to the dump to join him. In this fantasy they still look like toddlers, except that they all have long gray beards, even the girls. (It is [[CloudCuckooLander Gonzo's]] fantasy, after all.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}:

[[quoteright:292:[[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oldteeth.png]]]]

* ''ComicStrip/OffTheMark'': [[https://www.offthemark.com/cartoon/leisure-hobbies/food-drink/1997-12-01 This strip]], based on ''Literature/GreenEggsAndHam'', features an elderly version of Sam-I-Am offering the equally-elderly nameless Tall Guy[[note]]named "Guy-Am-I" in [[WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam2019 the 2019 Netflix series]][[/note]] Green Prunes and Bran, only for him to turn them down.

Something that's often PlayedForLaughs, with the characters becoming crazier and more senile versions of themselves. Also, some characters will age better than others, with the ones who end up on the short side of aging gracefully often looking all wrinkly and feeble and sometimes even being fatter than in the past. And sometimes even being bald (or wearing a toupee).

Something that's often PlayedForLaughs, with the characters becoming more crazier and senile versions of themselves. And some characters will age better than others, with the ones who end up on the short side of aging gracefully often looking all wrinkly and feeble and sometimes even being fatter than in the past. And sometimes even being bald (or wearing a toupee).

** [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2009/06/15 This strip]] has Jon talking to Garfield saying as someone gets older, their ears and nose grow in size. Both Jon and Garfield then fantasize over their much older versions of themselves and being horrified of their bigger noses and ear before agreeing they will never grow old.

-->'''Elderly [=SpongeBob=]:''' I bet old man Krabs is gonna break any day! Nyeh, Squidward? Nyeh, Squidward? Nyeh, Squidward? [[BrokenRecord Nyeh, Squidward?]]

** In "Bart Gets an 'F'", a downplayed version with Bart being an adult with a son, Bart Jr., and the only person who became an elder was Mrs. Krabapple. Bart is held back in the 4th grade well into adulthood with his own son, with both getting in trouble with Krabapple when the son gives Bart the answer to the assignment.

** In [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E20SquidOnStrikeSandySpongeBobAndTheWorm "Squid on Strike"]], Squidward strikes his job at the Krusty Krab, and [=SpongeBob=] joins him, but constantly misinterprets his demands. [=SpongeBob=] eventually declares they'll stay on strike "even if it takes forever!", and a horrified Squidward imagines the two of them as old men, still protesting. As a result, he changes his mind and Mr. Krabs for his job back.

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2020_12_28.png]]]]

[[AC:Comic Books]]

[[AC:ComicStrips]]

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]

[[AC:Web Video]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'' episode, "Bushlad's Lament" is set 62 years in the future, where a now 75-year-old Francis X. Bushlad, still having not completed his manhood ritual, has to capture an equally-elderly Taz in order to take his father's place as the Chief of the Mudpeople. When he finally succeeds, the episode's events are revealed to be AllJustADream of the present-day Francis, who berates the writers for this ending and points out the unfired ChekhovsGun of the 16-ton weight that had been dangling over the characters' heads for most the episode. The writers retaliate by [[AnvilOnHead dropping it on him repeatedly]].

Characters may have some kind of conflict in one way or another. It could be any kind of bad habit or worse. Whatever the case, more than likely it will be a sustained conflict with both parties at each others' throats, with neither willing to back down from having their way. Meanwhile, one character falls asleep and dreams (or just simply have a fantasy) about the future, where decades have past and the characters are now elderly. They may be older (and not necessarily wiser), but one thing hasn't change: the problems from long time ago still haven't been resolved.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'' episode, "Bushlad's Lament" is set 62 years in the future, where a now 75-year-old Francis X. Bushlad, still having not completed his manhood ritual, has to capture an equally-elderly Taz in order to take his father's place as the Chief of the Mudpeople. When he finally succeeds, the episode's events are revealed to be AllJustADream of the present-day Francis, who berates the writers for this ending and points out the unfired ChekhovsGun of the 16-ton weight that had been dangling over the characters' heads for most the episode. The writers retaliate by [[AnvilOnHead dropping it on him repeatedly]].

(Index - {{Elders}}, DreamTropes, DiscordTropes, FantasySequence, AlliterativeName )