...that 1950's vision of the sci-fi future that you see in games like the Fallout series, I think is pretty cool. Or the wild west x sci-fi vision of the far flung future in space like in Firefly is pretty awesome too. Doesn't make any logical sense I agree, but makes for a visually interesting movie/game/tv show. But I can't imagine that in a world where faster-than-light travel is possible, Bakelite is still the pinnacle of composite material technology.
Occasionally there are times when retro gadgets make sense in sci-fi, like in battlestar galactica where the analog tech was genuinely a good idea to defend against the cylons.