History plays an integral part in the genres of both science fiction and fantasy. Both look back to the past in many different and unique ways. Several examples are undoubtedly worth exploring further.

Regarding fantasy, no other modern example exemplifies the use of history, as much as the books, and TV series, of Game of Thrones. It is located in the epic fictional world of Westeros. Despite this, there are clear influences from medieval history. The most obvious is the War of the Roses. The creator of Game of Thrones, George R R Martin, has stated that most of the controversial events are directly taken from real historical stories.

Medieval iconography is typical throughout the fantasy genre. Works of this type tend to take the weapons and armour of the past and transport them to new fictional universes. The Lord of the Rings series stands out as one of the most famous examples.

The Lord of the Rings takes place in a world of swords and sorcery. Humans coexist with many mythical creatures. It imagines what would happen if magic existed during the Dark Ages.

History is a significant part of the science fiction genre as well. This can be seen in movies, and television shows, that feature time travel. The series Doctor Who follows an alien who has a ship that can transport him, and his companions, to different points in history. Throughout its half-century run, there have been episodes set in prehistory, Ancient Greece, the Tudor times, and many other periods.

H.G. Wells helped to popularise this theme with his novel, The Time Machine. It tells the tale of a Victorian scientist who invents the eponymous machine. He uses it to move forward throughout the centuries, and watch how the world changes around him. The novel deliberately takes place in the past century, to show how different things were in the past.

The most popular time travel film is Back to the Future, and its sequels. In this blockbuster hit, Michael J. Fox plays Marty McFly. He must travel back 30 years to 1955 and uses a time machine car to achieve this task. He must then make sure his parents fall in love, or he will cease to exist. The film looks nostalgically back at the decade of the 1950s.

Often the robots in science fiction will have names such as livi that are acronyms. The most well-known example of this is HAL, from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Despite being set in the future, the story begins in the early days of humanity, before humans evolved. The opening scene shows the dawn of man and quickly cuts to centuries later.