science

Fun with Mr. Future

Fun with Mr. Future is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Fun with Mr. Future rather than just read about it. In short: Fun with Mr. Future is a 1982 live-action/animated short film from Walt Disney Productions directed by Darrell Van Citters.

Key takeaways

Fun with Mr. Future belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Fun with Mr. Future to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Fun with Mr. Future from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Fun with Mr. Future is a 1982 live-action/animated short film from Walt Disney Productions directed by Darrell Van Citters.

Plot An audio-animatronic talking-head replica of Abraham Lincoln (voiced by Phil Proctor) hosts a tour of what the future will look like via retro-style animation.

Production Fun with Mr. Future originally began development as an Epcot television special, whose crew included Darrell Van Citters, Mike Giamo, Joe Ranft, Mike Gabriel, Tad Stones, and Brian McEntee. At the time, this team was also involved in the development stages of what would become Sport Goofy in Soccermania (1987) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). After Disney shelved the Epcot special, Tom Wilhite allowed them to use footage from the project and edit it into a new animated short. The resulting work marked the directorial debut of animator Darrell Van Citters, who began his career at the Disney studios.

Release Disney released the film in Los Angeles on October 27, 1982. No other public screenings took place until October 2010, when New York's Museum of Modern Art featured it in a program commemorating the publication of John Canemaker's book, Two Guys Named Joe. According to Tad Stones: "[Working on it] was a lot of fun but I couldn't even tell you where you find it now. It's one of those gems even Disney doesn't know it has. I went to a comic convention and was surprised to see its cels for sale".

See also List of Disney animated shorts "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" - sung at the end of the film The Jetsons

References

External links Fun with Mr. Future at IMDb Fun With Mr. Future on YouTube D23 article

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Fun with Mr. Future

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Fun with Mr. Future claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Fun with Mr. Future before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Fun with Mr. Future ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Fun with Mr. Future

In research: Fun with Mr. Future appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Fun with Mr. Future in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Fun with Mr. Future is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1980s Disney animated short films, 1980s rediscovered films, 1982 American animated short films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Fun with Mr. Future outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Fun with Mr. Future in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Fun with Mr. Future means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Fun with Mr. Future out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Fun with Mr. Future in simple terms?

Fun with Mr. Future is a 1982 live-action/animated short film from Walt Disney Productions directed by Darrell Van Citters.

Why does Fun with Mr. Future matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Fun with Mr. Future?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Fun with Mr. Future.