The Future is Yesterday: Toronto City Hall

Toronto City Hall is one of Canada's most familiar landmarks, so much so that the modernist building has permeated popular culture, particularly science fiction. Here it appears as a generic futuristic building in Gold Key's Star Trek #5. The building also pops up in a second-season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as one of several possible destinations cycling through an Iconian teleportation gateway. I always wondered why Picard didn't say, "Oh look, we can go right back to Earth if we wanted to." At the very least, he should have wondered why the Iconians were so interested in travelling to Toronto. Actually, since the Iconians in the episode are long extinct, the portal must predate Toronto's existence; at the time the portal was targeted, it could have led to some North American First Nations tribe, empty wilderness, or perhaps even Pangaea itself. It's nothing more than coincidence that the portal eventually points to the heart of Toronto.

The architects must have been proud when and if they saw this episode, for it implies that their creation is still standing in the 24th century. Here's hoping!