History Main / MisterSandmanSequence

* To drive home the fact that ''Film/TheDish'' is centred around the Apollo 11 mission, it opens with a montage of the Apollo program up to that point (including the Apollo 1 disaster) set to Russell Morris's "The Real Thing", eventually segueing into an establishing shot of the Parkes radiotelescope.

A scene in a PeriodPiece that hits the viewer with as many period signifiers as possible. The scene exists to quickly establish the "feel" of the time period and will almost always feature a period song (typically [[NothingButHits one that is still popular in the present]]) playing on the film's soundtrack. More or less, it's PopularHistory condensed into a sequence usually less than two minutes long.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSLtBkFHlwk A 2009 Pepsi commercial]] depicts 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, returning UsefulNotes/WorldWarII soldiers in the '40s, hippie protesters in the '60s, etc. The ad is accompanied by a remixed version of Music/TheWho's "My Generation"; in a nifty touch, the arrangement changes with each scene to reflect that given era.

These are most commonly and generally best utilized by films and TV shows about TimeTravel (especially when the characters [[ProgressiveEraMontage frequently travel between different eras]], making quickly establishing the time period a necessity).

* To drive home the fact that ''Film/TheDish'' is centred around the Apollo 11 mission, it opens with a montage of the Apollo program up to that point (including the Apollo 1 disaster) set to Russell Morris's "Come and See the Real Thing", eventually segueing into an establishing shot of the Parkes radiotelescope.

** "Mr. Sandman" is played once again in Part II, when Marty tails young Biff to retrieve the [[TimelineAlteringMacGuffin Gray's Sports Almanac]], though it's shorter than Marty's first walk into 1955 Hill Valley and doesn't have the same emphasis on 1950s culture. Ditto for the scene after Part III's cold opening, which uses the quinessentially-1950s ''Series/HowdyDoody'' on Doc's black and white television to briefly remind viewers that they're still in 1955.

** Similar sequences appear for [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2015 Hill Valley]], [[BadFuture 1985-A Hill Valley]], and [[TheWildWest 1885 Hill Valley]], in movies [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII two]], and [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII three]] respectively. 1985-A is set to "I Can't Drive 55" by Sammy Hagar, but the other two don't get songs. The 1885 sequence includes a small harmonica bit of the BTTF theme tune, when Marty is looking at the courthouse in construction.

* ''Film/TheDeparted'' has a strange use of one of these: In the opening scene, Music)]{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} are on the soundtrack, all the cars look ancient, and Nicholson is doing a voice-over about Kennedy... for a scene that apparently takes place in 1989. You'd think that if they really wanted music to set the scene, they could've had Marky Mark call in a connection there.
* ''Film/ADogsPurpose'' uses this. For example, you can tell Maya's portion takes place in TheEighties by "[Music/AHaTake on Me]]" being used.

* The mall montage in ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh'', set to "We Got The Beat" by Music/The GoGos is another presumably unintentional, then-present-day example.

* Creator/ErnestCline's ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'': Within seconds of Wade[=/=]Parzival teleporting to Middleton, James Halliday's virtual recreation of his mid-'80s childhood hometown within [[TheMetaverse the OASIS]], he immediately notices "A woman with [[EightiesHair a giant, ozone-depleting hairdo]] bobbing her head to an oversize Walkman. A kid in a gray Members Only jacket leaning against a wall, working on a Rubik's Cube. A [[TheQuincyPunk Mohawked punk rocker]] sitting in a plastic chair, watching a ''Series/{{Riptide}}'' rerun on a coin-operated television."

** "[[Recap/BlackMirrorMazeyDay Mazey Day]]"'s setting of 2006 is established by a radio station talking about the birth of Suri Cruise. The opening minutes feature Windows XP on a thick laptop, an iPod Shuffle playing Music/{{Amerie}}, and news about UsefulNotes/TheIraqWar.

* Parodied in the ''Series/{{Stella|US}}'' 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 "UsefulNotes {{RONALD REAGAN}}."

* The Trocadero sequence in ''Theatre/ShowBoat'' (which takes place on New Year's Eve, 1904) uses only period music. The overture to its SpiritualSuccessor, ''SweetAdeline'', is a medley of tunes from TheGayNineties.

* The WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} ''WesternAnimation/TheNiftyNineties'' (set in TheGayNineties, so no "Music/{{Nirvana}} Smells Like Teen Spirit]]") is a protracted Mister Sandman Sequence. Mickey and Minnie have a MeetCute in the park in period clothing, go on a date to a vaudeville show, then go for a ride in an old-fashioned runabout.

* In Alison Bechdel's collection of ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor'' comics, the introduction where she explains herself and the comic contains flashbacks with a box that name-drops a song for each decade: "that disco mix of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' theme" for [[TheSeventies 1977]], "Physical" by Music/OliviaNewtonJohn for [[TheEighties 1981]], and "She's All I Ever Had" by Music/RickyMartin for [[TheNineties 1999]].

Compare SpinningPaper and EiffelTowerEffect. When a scene in a work set in the present day becomes this in hindsight, then you've got an UnintentionalPeriodPiece. See also ProgressiveEraMontage. Contrast RightNowMontage, which uses SliceOfLife moments as establishing scenes. Has nothing to do with the Music/{{Metallica}} song. [[note]] Which is "Enter Sandman", not "Mister Sandman". [[/note]]

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the first scene of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E78OnceUponATime Once Upon a Time]]", Woodrow Mulligan is walking through the Harmony town square on March 10, 1890 and complains about the high prices of sirloin steak (17c per lb) and ladies' hats ($1.95). The speed limit for bicycles is then shown as being eight miles per hour.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. In "Little Green Men", Quark and his family crashland during a trip to Earth and somehow end up in [[RoswellThatEndsWell Rowell]] in July 1947. After Quark revives after the crash, we get a panning shot showing a twentieth century hospital room that includes an oscillating fan. A US Army soldier then [[EverybodySmokes lights up a cigarette]], picks up a rotary dial phone and informs his superiors that one of the "Martians" has just woken up.

* Creator/IainBanks's ''Literature/DeadAir'': The novel starts at a party in London. One of the guests asks the host if he's flying to UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity on Concorde, which turns out hasn't started flying again yet. So sometime between July 2000 and November 2001. The narrator notes the host's [=PS2=], so we've narrowed down the scene to a single year - 2001. By the end of the chapter we know exactly when the party was.

Compare SpinningPaper and EiffelTowerEffect. When a scene in a work set in the present day becomes this in hindsight, then you've got an UnintentionalPeriodPiece. See also ProgressiveEraMontage. Contrast RightNowMontage, which uses SliceOfLife moments as establishing scenes. Has nothing to do with the Music/{{Metallica}} song.

** Similar sequences appear for 2015 Hill Valley, alternate 1985 Hill Valley and 1885 Hill Valley, in movies [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII two]], and [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII three]] respectively. Alternate 1985 is set to "I Can't Drive 55" by Sammy Hagar, but the other two don't get songs. The 1885 sequence includes a small harmonica bit of the BTTF theme tune, when Marty is looking at the courthouse in construction.

** "Mr Sandman" is played once again in BTTF Part II, when Marty tails young Biff to retrieve the Gray's Sports Almanac, though it's shorter than Marty's first walk into 1955 Hill Valley and doesn't have the same emphasis on 1950s culture. Ditto for the scene after Part III's cold opening, which uses the quinessentially-1950s ''Series/HowdyDoody'' on Doc's black and white television to briefly remind viewers that they're still in 1955.

* ''Series/TheNanny'': In "Fran's Roots", a flashback to Fran Fine's childhood in the early 1970s starts with Fran's mother Sylvia ([[TimeShiftedActor played by]] Creator/Fran Drescher) singing the theme to ''Series/{{Maude}}''.

* ''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.

* ''Film/{{Air|2023}}'', set in 1984, begins with a montage of clips of news and pop culture from that year set to "Money for Nothing" by Music/DireStraits (which is a bit anachronistic as the song was released in 1985, but the filmmakers thought it worked too well that they had to use it).

->''"Let's take a look back at the year 1928. The year when you might have seen Al Capone dancing the Charleston on top of a flagpole."''

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSLtBkFHlwk A 2009 Pepsi commercial]] depicts 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, returning World War II soldiers in the '40s, hippie protesters in the '60s, etc. The ad is accompanied by a remixed version of Music/TheWho's "My Generation"; in a nifty touch, the arrangement changes with each scene to reflect that given era.

* In Alison Bechdel's collection of ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor'' comics, the introduction where she explains herself and the comic contains flashbacks with a box that name-drops a song for each decade: "that disco mix of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' theme" for [[TheSeventies 1977]], "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John for [[TheEighties 1981]], and "She's All I Ever Had" by Music/RickyMartin for [[TheNineties 1999]].

* ''Film/{{Air|2023}}'', set in 1984, begins with a montage of clips of news and pop culture from that year set to "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits (which is a bit anachronistic as the song was released in 1985, but the filmmakers thought it worked too well that they had to use it).
* ''Film/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.

* ''Film/TheDeparted'' has a strange use of one of these: In the opening scene, the Rolling Stones are on the soundtrack, all the cars look ancient, and Nicholson is doing a voice-over about Kennedy... for a scene that apparently takes place in 1989. You'd think that if they really wanted music to set the scene, they could've had Marky Mark call in a connection there.
* ''Film/ADogsPurpose'' uses this. For example, you can tell Maya's portion takes place in TheEighties by "Take on Me" being used.
* An odd example comes in the Film/HammerHorror film ''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 [[PresentDay 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 mall montage in ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh'', set to "We Got The Beat" by The Go-Gos is another presumably unintentional, then-present-day example.
* In ''Film/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.

* ''Invincible'', the 2006 Vince Papale biopic starring Creator/MarkWahlberg, starts out with a tone-setting credits sequence montage of how economically wrecked 1975 Philadelphia was (abandoned factories, people lining up for unemployment, kids playing in abandoned lots, angry workers protesting lockouts, etc.), accompanied very evocatively by Music/JimCroce's contemporary ballad "I Got a Name".

* The scene in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' in which the ''Enterprise'' crew crosses a street in 1986 San Francisco and Kirk is called a "dumbass" by an angry taxi driver. The background music seems to be a standard '80s rock tune. It was a jazz/fusion tune that was created for the movie by the group Yellowjackets which was accurate of music adults listened to in the '80's. Also, an unlucky hoodlum is shown jamming on a boombox with music that fit the style of 80's era punk. The song was written specifically for that scene, and performed by the actor that played the punk. The film's take on this trope is an interesting version, seeing as it was applied to what was then the real-life present day.

* Creator/IainBanks's ''Literature/DeadAir'': The novel starts at a party in London. One of the guests asks the host if he's flying to New York on Concorde, which turns out hasn't started flying again yet. So sometime between July 2000 and November 2001. The narrator notes the host's [=PS2=], so we've narrowed down the scene to a single year - 2001. By the end of the chapter we know exactly when the party was.

* Creator/ErnestCline's ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'': Within seconds of Wade[=/=]Parzival teleporting to Middleton, James Halliday's virtual recreation of his mid-'80s childhood hometown within [[TheMetaverse the OASIS]], he immediately notices "A woman with [[EightiesHair a giant, ozone-depleting hairdo]] bobbing her head to an oversize Walkman. A kid in a gray Members Only jacket leaning against a wall, working on a Rubik's Cube. A [[TheQuincyPunk Mohawked punk rocker]] sitting in a plastic chair, watching a ''Riptide'' rerun on a coin-operated television."

** The episode "[[Recap/BlackMirrorSanJunipero San Junipero]]" opens with Yorkie down a street lousy with [[TheEighties Eighties]] signifiers: TotallyRadical fashions and hairdos, Series/MaxHeadroom playing on CRT televisions, the radio explicitly announcing "the biggest hits of 1987". [[spoiler: This appears to be deliberate, because it's designed as a nostalgic reconstruction, and all the other eras she 'visits' have similarly exaggerated environments.]]
** "[[Recap/BlackMirrorMazeyDay Mazey Day]]"'s setting of 2006 is established by a radio station talking about the birth of Suri Cruise. The opening minutes feature Windows XP on a thick laptop, an iPod Shuffle playing Music/{{Amerie}}, and news about the Iraq War.

** Played straight: The beginning of "Cabin Fever" contains a number of signifiers that the flashback is to the 1950s. "Every Day" by Buddy Holly plays as a girl in a classic 50s outfit dances and applies bright-red lipstick.

* Way overdone on ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': 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."
* ''Series/TheNanny'': In "Fran's Roots", a flashback to Fran Fine's childhood in the early 1970s starts with Fran's mother Sylvia ([[TimeShiftedActor played by Fran Drescher]]) singing the theme to ''Series/{{Maude}}''.
* ''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.

* Parodied in the ''Series/{{Stella|US}}'' 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."

* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's ''{{WesternAnimation/Anastasia}}'' review notes the unrealistic number of "1920s Paris" things and people shown, as well as the fact that Sigmund Freud shouldn't be there. (Then again, [[ArtisticLicenseHistory neither should the Dowager Empress, nor Anastasia herself for that matter, since she was confirmed to have died along with her entire family in 1918]].)

* The WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} ''WesternAnimation/TheNiftyNineties'' (set in TheGayNineties, so no "Smells Like Teen Spirit") is a protracted Mister Sandman Sequence. Mickey and Minnie have a MeetCute in the park in period clothing, go on a date to a vaudeville show, then go for a ride in an old-fashioned runabout.

** Played with in "Boyz Crazy," when Grunkle Stan reminisces about his youth -- cut to "The Juke Joint," complete with neon lighting, jukeboxes, corny signs, and cherry-on-top milkshakes, plus a bad boy young Stan dressed to resemble James Dean. But it turns out this is not a 1950's diner (Stan isn't old enough for that), but a 1970's diner themed to resemble the 1950's. And Stan dances with his girlfriend, who wears 1970's-style hot pants.

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' has a RunningGag of doing this as over-the-top as possible. One episode has a shot of [=BoJack=] driving down the street in the 1980s, in front of shops selling Rubik's Cubes and 'cocaine mirrors', in a suit, singing along to a song with the lyrics "[[TropeName Generic 80s New Wave beat]]". The exact shot is repeated later in the episode but with inflatable chair shops and teens playing hackey-sack ("Generic 90s grunge song, everyone in flannel..."), and ''again'' two seasons later but with subprime mortgage sellers and flip-phone shops ("Generic 2007 pop song, {{AutoTune}}d so all the voices sound weird..."). Season 4 [[RunningGagged put an end to the joke]] when [=BoJack=] begins to have a flashback to a scene of him driving in 1999 before Hollyhock interrupts him, and all the billboards and stores just say things like "1999 Store!!!" and "Flashback Joke!" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlfK51tN-xo Here's a supercut]].

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/BackToTheFuture https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hillvalley55.png]]]]

** Named for the scene in the [[Film/BackToTheFuture original film]] when Marty [=McFly=] enters Hill Valley in 1955 to find that the town square is completely decked out to reflect TheFifties. The period song "Mister Sandman," as performed by the Four Aces, plays over this scene.

* The entire movie ''Film/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. Of course, both ''Forrest Gump'' and ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' were directed by Creator/RobertZemeckis.

* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' is set in 1957. To firmly establish it, the opening scene is set to Music/ElvisPresley's "Hound Dog." In addition, there are teenagers, both a SweaterGirl, and a guy in a letter jacket with a buzzcut, racing in a hot rod. All possibly in {{Homage}} to ''Film/AmericanGraffiti''.