History Main / MisterSandmanSequence

** It can be argued that it's played straight: it's ''a'' post-apocalyptic future, but it's not ''our'' post-apocalyptic future, as 1950s styles and sensibilities seem to have survived all the way up to the Great War in 2077, leading to a heaping helping of {{Zeerust}}.

** This is copied from the 1960 version. (It wasn't in the novel, since HGWells obviously didn't know how the world would change after his time.)

A typical example appeares in the second episode of ''{{Journeyman}}'', where the lead character finds himself on an airplane in TheSeventies. He sees, in the span of about thirty seconds, [[SexyStewardess flirtatious stewardesses]] in orange uniforms, [[EverybodySmokes people smoking]], a kid [[ValuesDissonance playing with]] [[TheWarOnTerror a toy gun]], the film ''[[PlanetOfTheApes Conquest of the Planet of the Apes]]'' being screened, and a newspaper that mentions the [[GeraldFord Ford]] administration, all while [[NothingButHits K.C. and the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight" plays in the background]].

* Vanity Fair Magazine's centennial anniversary in 2013 made 10 videos highlighting each decade by it's significance. Such as Suffragettes in the 1910s, pole sitting in the 1920s, the 1939 New York World's fair, Salinger's literary works in the form of WWII tattoos, and pop culture and innovations in the 1950s and beyond.

* The film version of ''Same Time, Next Year'' accompanies each scene transition with black-and-white still photos of famous people and events from each decade, to depict the passage of time and subsequent changes in the characters' lives and in the postwar society they inhabit.

** The show's [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episodes]] tend to employ these. In "Lisa's First Word," for instance, the flashback to 1983 begins with Marge and a neighbor woman discussing the last episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'', followed immediately by Homer walking down the street singing "[[Music/CyndiLauper Girls Just Wanna Have Fun]]". Slightly subverted when the scene is set with "a young Joe Piscopo was teaching us how to laugh."

** The show's [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episodes]] tend to employ these. In "Lisa's First Word," for instance, the flashback to 1983 begins with Marge and a neighbor woman discussing the last episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'', followed immediately by Homer walking down the street singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Slightly subverted when the scene is set with "a young Joe Piscopo was teaching us how to laugh."

*** Watching it now with 1985 being almost as long ago as 1955 was back then, [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece it now serves the exact same function of establishing a long gone period.]] The introduction to 1985 hits ''all'' the right points of TheEighties in rapid succession to the point that you could believe the movie was written much later and was a deliberate "welcome to your parents' decade" scene just like the 1955 one truly was. It was very prescient about what the future would consider eighties-ish.
*** This makes sense because in storytelling techniques you need to set up what is normal before you can change it later. Since Back to the Future was a time travel movie, it was necessary to set up what the fictitious town of Hill Valley was in the 80s before doing it all over again in the 50s. Marty even has a ''very'' brief one at the end when he checks out the Town Square with all the 80s stuff like XXX movies and Bank of America, to establish that he is in fact back in the 80s (at night the two settings could be seen as very similar).

*** This makes sense because in storytelling techniques you need to set up what is normal before you can change it later. Since Back to the Future was a time travel movie, it was nessecary to set up what the fictitious town of Hill Valley was in the 80s before doing it all over again in the 50s. Marty even has a ''very'' brief one at the end when he checks out the Town Square with all the 80s stuff like XXX movies and Bank of America, to establish that he is in fact back in the 80s (at night the two settings could be seen as very similar).

The trope-namer is one of the best and most well-done examples, ''Film/BackToTheFuture''.

*** That actually occurs in all the Mr. Sandman sequences of the franchise. 2015 has Marty (and his son!) nearly being hit by a future car, 1985A has him dodging a gang of bikers, and of course 1885 has him jump out of the way of a horse carraige, only to land in some horse manure. The only time period that doesn't get one is the original 1985, due to Marty skitching behind vehicles.

** Retro diners are parodied by ''Film/BackToTheFuture II'' which was made at the height of 50s nostalgia: Cafe 80s is this with RonaldReagan and Music/MichaelJackson. Including competing Ayatollah Khomeini and Ronald Reagan as Series/MaxHeadroom expies!

* Any establishing shot of the VietnamWar is bound to use [[Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival CCR]]'s "Fortunate Son."

* In late 2008, Pepsi ran [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSLtBkFHlwk this ad]] set to TheWho's "My Generation" and depicting young folks consuming their product [[ProgressiveEraMontage through the decades]], from the turn of the century to the present. Each decade is shown as you'd expect: flappers in the '20s, hippies in the '60s, and so on.

* Yoshihiro Tatsumi's ''ADriftingLife'' does several of these sequences to illustrate Japan's recovery from WorldWarTwo.
* The very first sequence in ''TaishouYakyuuMusume'' establishes the atmosphere of 1920s Japan. It's all in Koume's head, though.

* ArchieComics did a few stories extolling the virtues of TheGayNineties that where essentially this trope on the comics page (so no soundtrack).
* The LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen was positively littered with visual references to the time periods in which its various arcs were set, especially during ''Century''.
* During their first few minutes in New York circa 1907, the {{Runaways}} read a newspaper about Typhoid Mary, walk past an Emma Goldman expy, and intervene in a fire in a factory staffed by child labor.

* ''Every'' scene in ''TheWeddingSinger'' has enough '80s signifiers to be one of these, but only the opening scene fulfills the purpose of the trope.

* In ''FieldOfDreams'', Ray is briefly transported back to 1972 so he can talk with Moonlight Graham. The first things he sees are a theater marquee for ''Film/TheGodfather'' and a Nixon re-election poster.
* The entire movie ''ForrestGump'' is (and aims to be) one big Mister Sandman Sequence, with the title character blundering his way into nearly every major event and prominent fad of the late 20th century.
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' is set in 1957. To firmly establish it, the opening scene is set to ElvisPresley's "Hound Dog."
** In addition, there are teenagers, both a SweaterGirl, and a guy in letter jackets with a buzzcut, racing in a hot rod.
*** all possibly in {{Homage}} to ''AmericanGraffiti''.
* The mall montage in ''FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh'', set to "We Got The Beat" by The Go-Gos are another presumably unintentional, then-present-day example.
* The AnimatedCreditsOpening to ''{{Grease}}'' includes flashes of numerous iconic '50s pop-culture images.

* ''AngelsWithDirtyFaces'' (1938) features the camera [[SpinningPaper lingering on a newspaper]] with a period-distinguishing headline, before panning out at the beginning of a scene. They do this not once but ''twice'', although it's probably less to establish the period itself and more to show how much time James Cagney's character spends in prison.

* The 2002 film version of ''TheTimeMachine'' had a scene playing with this motif as a kind of TimeCompressionMontage to show how time passes outside the titular machine, in which dresses on a shop's exhibition get shorter and shorter.

* ''MrHollandsOpus'' follows the eponymous music teacher's life through three decades. After each time skip, a montage and song play out to characterize the cultural climate of the time.
* The [[http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2003082265/ trailer]] for ''TheArtist (2011)'' establishes the period with peppy dance number.

** On the other hand, such a [[LongRunners long runner]] has artifacts of its various production time periods that sometimes seem to have walked straight out of this trope. Watch the 6th and 7th Doctor episodes, cringe at the overabuse of EightiesHair and dreadful paleosynth music. Part of it can be blamed on a TotallyRadical attempt to make the show "hip" and appeal to the youth of various periods.

* Naturally, the pilot episodes of ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' and ''AshesToAshes'' both featured these, although the music in both cases was organic to the scene (from Sam's car's 8-track player and the sound system at Alex's boat party, respectively). Even the ''titles'' are [[DavidBowie in on it]].

* Way overdone on ''Series/{{Malcolm in the Middle}}'': a flashback to the 1980's shows the parents decked out in big hair and bright clothes in a room covered in checkerboard patterns while Tears for Fears plays in the background and Hal mentions "the Us Festival."

* Subverted by ''BetterOffTed''. Phil and Lem reminisce about Phil's first day on the job, and a flashback shows Phil wearing tie-dye and Lem with an afro. Then Lem says, "It's a shame your first day had to be during Sixties Week."
* When ConanO'Brien hosted ''LateNight'' Brian Stack had a recurring character who was a traveling salesman straight out of TheFifties. He'd usually make some sort of period reference soon after he arrived.

* Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g&ob=av2e is]] a laundry list of late-20th-century cultural markers rattled off one after the other.
** He stays in chronological order (at least approximately) until he reaches 1963, after which he starts throwing them out more or less at random... 80s, 60s, 80s again...
* [[DonMcLean American Pie]].
* EvelynEvelyn: "The Tragic Events of September."

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': The Kent Brockman quote at the top of the page is from "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie."
** The show's [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episodes]] tend to employ these. In "Lisa's First Word," for instance, the flashback to 1983 begins with Marge and a neighbor woman discussing the last episode of ''Series/{{Mash}}'', followed immediately by Homer walking down the street singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."
** Slightly subverted when the scene is set with "a young Joe Piscopo was teaching us how to laugh."

** Lampshaded in "My Mother the Carjacker." Channel 6 news anchor Kent Brockman shows a montage specifically to show viewers what the 60's were like, set to "All Along the Watchtower." Brockman then calls it a "shrill, pointless decade."
*** Although that was partly his own fault, since his montage included such ludicrous images as Series/{{Batman}} dancing the Batusi and JohnWayne saying [[LaughIn "You bet your sweet bippy."]]

* Every retro-themed diner/restaurant posits that TheFifties were populated entirely by [[ElvisPresley Elvises]], {{Marilyn Monroe}}s, and {{James Dean}}s.
** Retro diners are parodied by ''Film/BackToTheFuture II'' which was made at the height of 50s nostalgia: Cafe 80s is this with Ronald Reagan and Michael Jackson. Including competing Ayatollah Khomeini and Ronald Reagan as MaxHeadroom expies!

Compare SpinningNewspaper, EiffelTowerEffect. See also UnintentionalPeriodPiece and ProgressiveEraMontage.

* In ''BreakingBad'', a flashback to the Cousins' childhood features an early closeup of an '80s "brick" portable phone.

* Parodied in the ''{{Stella}}'' short "Birthday," when Michael and David flash back to when they met Michael Showalter in the 80s; the first shot is of a calendar that says "FINAL EXAMS," "SYNTHPOP," and "RONALD REAGAN."

** The show's [[WholeEpisodeFlashback flashback episodes]] tend to employ these. In "Lisa's First Word," for instance, the flashback to 1983 begins with Marge and a neighbor woman discussing the last episode of ''[[MASHTheSeries M* A* S* H]]'', followed immediately by Homer walking down the street singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

** The [[{{Retcon}} 90s episode]] contains references to Grunge rock, VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog, toys/BeanieBabies, and a scene where Comic Book Guy finishes explaining why Lord of the Rings can never be made into a movie [[HilariousInHindsight (which was a REAL discussion at the time.)]]

** The [[{{Retcon}} 90s episode]] contains references to Grunge rock, SonicTheHedgehog, BeanieBabies, and a scene where Comic Book Guy finishes explaining why Lord of the Rings can never be made into a movie [[HilariousInHindsight (which was a REAL discussion at the time.)]]

-->--'''Kent Brockman''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* An odd example comes in the HammerHorror film ''DraculaAD1972.'' The film opens with a prologue set in 1872 and then jumps into an opening title montage of scenery from 1972 London to demonstrate that this is indeed 1972 now. What's weird about it is that the movie was released in 1972, the audience should really know what it looks like. The probably explanation is that Hammer really wanted to hammer (sorry) it home hard that this Dracula movie was not a PeriodPiece.

** Retro diners are parodied by ''Film/BackToTheFuture II'' which was made at the height of 50s nostalgia: Cafe 80s is this with Ronald Reagan and Michael Jackson. Including competing Ayatollah Khomeiny and Ronald Reagan as MaxHeadroom expies!

** The [[Retcon 90s episode]] contains references to Grunge rock, SonicTheHedgehog, BeanieBabies, and a scene where Comic Book Guy finishes explaining why Lord of the Rings can never be made into a movie [[HilariousInHindsight (which was a REAL discussion at the time.)]]

* ''Series/{{New Girl}}'' features this trope whenever there's a "Fat Schmidt" flashback to their late 90's/early 2000's college years. A bulbous iMac monitor and a Napster poster are in nearly every shot.

* ''Series/New Girl'' features this trope whenever there's a "Fat Schmidt" flashback to their late 90's/early 2000's college years. A bulbous iMac monitor and a Napster poster are in nearly every shot.
* Way overdone on ''Series/Malcolm in the Middle'': a flashback to the 1980's shows the parents decked out in big hair and bright clothes in a room covered in checkerboard patterns while Tears for Fears plays in the background and Hal mentions "the Us Festival."