History Main / WhatYearIsThis

** Less common in the new series: the Doctor and his companions prefer to determine the year through NewspaperDating or otherwise deducing it from the environment. When he tries this trick straight (in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E7TheLongGame "The Long Game"]]), he is mocked. Luckily to him, he happens to be talking to news reporters, who, after his insistence, have him MistakenForSpecialGuest and thus provide all the exposition he requires.

--->'''The Doctor:''' You there, boy, what day is this?\\

* Subverted on ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'', when a man wakes up from a coma. The first thing he says after "I sure could use a cheeseburger" is to ask the nurse how long he was asleep. "Counting today...twelve years."

* Averted in ''Series/AlteredCarbon''. The protagonist Takeshi Kovacs lives in a future where your memories and personality are [[SoulJar recorded on a cortical stack]]. If you die they can be [[BodySurf implanted in a new body]] or even transmitted via SubspaceAnsible to another planet. So his first questions on being resleeved are how long was he in storage (250 years) and which planet is he now on? (Earth) Then he demands a mirror to see what body he's in. It's not the one he was born (and died) in.

* Averted in ''Series/AlteredCarbon''. The protagonist Takeshi Kovacs lives in a future where your memories and personality are [[SoulJar recorded on a cortical stack]]. If you die they can be [[BodySurf implanted in a new body]] or even transmitted via SubspaceAnsible to another planet. So his first questions on being resleeved are how long was he in storage (250 years) and which planet is he now on? (Earth) Then he demands a mirror to see what body he's in. It's not the one he was born and died in.

** Another take on this trope is the Doctor (who has SeenItAll) telling the date from the technology around him, e.g. in "Kill the Moon".
-->'''Courtney:''' This isn't the moon. Where are we?
-->'''The Doctor:''' On a recycled space shuttle. 2049, judging by that prototype version of the Bennett oscillator.

** In ''VisualNovel/{{Remember11}}'', Kokoro is told by Satoru that she is time-traveling, and asks this of people to confirm or disprove it. She gets conflicting results. [[spoiler: The conflict is due to the fact that ''several'' of the characters are unknowingly time traveling (or have time-traveled), so the people she asks aren't necessarily all from the same time period]]

* Used in ''NanQuest'' when it's discovered that [[spoiler:people entered the hotel at vastly different times]].

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/NightWatch'', Vimes averts this -- mostly because he doesn't ''know'' he time-traveled until later. Later in the story Dibbler (who is not a time traveler) asks him what year it is.

* TheOtherWiki used to have [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_year the answer]] to the question, but not anymore.

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''
** Appears in ''Film/TheTerminator'', although questioning under gunpoint is required to receive the (incomplete) answer. The questioned police officer, whom Kyle Reese has just disarmed, gives him the date and day of the week, but balks and looks confused when Kyle demands to know the year.
** ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines''. The Terminator is shown via RoboCam checking his own internal clock against a watch he's picked up.
** ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' recreates the scene from the first film, but this time, the cop calmly gives Kyle the full date [[spoiler:[[OffTheRails because he's a T-1000 who was sent back even further, and was waiting for Kyle to arrive]]]].
* A variation appears in the movie ''Film/{{Jumanji}}''. Finally released after spending twenty six years trapped in a board game, Alan jumps on the hood of Carl's police car and demands, "What year is it?". Carl replies, "It ''was'' brand new", referring to the make of the car.
* Parodied in the film of ''Film/TheSpirit''; when asked what year it is in the AnachronismStew setting, the title character replies "This year!"
* The Romulans asks "What is the current [[AlternativeCalendar Stardate]]?" to Captain Robau at the beginning of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' [[Film/StarTrek prequel/reboot]]. Modified from the norm: he is not uncertain of the date -- he is certain of an incorrect date. He is just asking that question because he figures Captain Robau is screwing with him. [[spoiler:When he finds out they're in the wrong year, the Romulan commander kills Robau in a fit of rage.]]

* Averted in the film ''Film/TimeAfterTime''. H. G. Wells travels through time to 1979 San Francisco. He runs down the street and asks random people what year it is, but they all think he's some kind of kook and don't answer. [[NewspaperDating Eventually he finds a newspaper with the date on it]].

* In ''Film/BlackKnight'', Creator/MartinLawrence's character Jamal finds himself in TheMiddleAges in England. When he finally realizes that it's not a theme park, he asks a servant girl if it is a certain date. She confirms that it is. He then, just to make sure, asks if the certain year is correct. She is a little confused that his year starts with a 2 and replies something that starts with "It is the year of our Lord..." Needless to say, Jamal is a little freaked out, especially since he'd just witnessed a beheading.
* In ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice'', the bad guy (Alfred Molina) comes out of his [[SealedEvilInACan can]], and immediately asks David, "When am I?" David misunderstands, tells him ''where'' he is, and he has to repeat the question.
* In the ''Film/DarkShadows'' movie:
-->'''Barnabas Collins:''' What is the year?\\
'''Willie Loomis:''' 1972.\\
'''Barnabas Collins:''' "1972"?

* ''Film/FlightOfTheNavigator'' is a rare case where [[InvertedTrope it's the time traveler who's asked this question]], as at the time he didn't know he had traveled eight years into the future.
* ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow''. The first time he dies in the invasion only to wake up the day before back in barracks, Will Cage asks his sergeant what day it is.
* A variant in the failed Creator/GeneRoddenberry pilot ''Genesis II'' (1973), when the protagonist wakes up from suspended animation:
-->Dylan Hunt (haltingly): "Year...? Say... year...?
-->Primus Kimbridge (slowly & deliberately): "It is the year twenty-one hundred and thirty-three."

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E2TheAwakening The Awakening]]", the Fifth Doctor asks an English medieval peasant this question, and in an amusing nod to the times, the man's reply is something along the lines of "Wait, wait, I know this..."
** Less common in the new series: the Doctor and his companions prefer to determine the year through NewspaperDating or otherwise deducing it from the environment. When he tries this trick straight (in "The Long Game"), he is mocked. Luckily to him, he happens to be talking to news reporters, who, after his insistence, have him MistakenForSpecialGuest and thus provide all the exposition he requires.
** Subverted in "The Stolen Earth":

** Played straight in "The Next Doctor":

'''The Doctor:''' Right, nice year... bit dull.
** In "Marco Polo", the first Doctor asks Marco what year it is, leading Marco to ask The Doctor exactly how long he has been travelling.
** In "The Big Bang", Amy works out the year by looking at the height and hairstyle of her child self.
** In ''The End of Time'', when The Doctor travels back in time to before he first met Rose to anonymously greet her one last time as someone who's down one too many drinks.

'''The Doctor:''' Well...\\

'''The Doctor:''' 2005...\\
'''[Rose awkwardly nods]'''\\
'''The Doctor:''' Tell you what...bet you're gonna have a really great year.
* ''Series/QuantumLeap'', though Sam tries to be subtler about it.

* Three times on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** In "The Neutral Zone," the season one finale, one of the trio of {{Human Popsicle}}s the crew rescued asks for the date, which Data gives as 2364, the first time an exact year had ever been given for the "present day" of Star Trek.
** Inverted towards the end of "[[GroundhogDayLoop Cause and Effect]]". Captain Picard asks Captain Morgan Bateson what date it is so he can determine when tbe ''U.S.S. Bozeman'' was caught in the time anomaly; Bateson declares that it's 2278 (90 years ago).
** And in the series finale "All Good Things...", Picard enters the first scene by approaching Worf and Troi and asking for the date. A confused Worf gives the stardate. Picard tells them that he's bouncing between three points on his personal timeline ([[spoiler:thanks to Q]]) and had to reorient himself. As a BookEnd, Picard asks them again at the end. That time, he just chuckles and declares he needs a good night's sleep (he relays the story the next day.)
%%* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': "Past Tense, Part I"
* And in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', we have "Eye of the Needle," where a Romulan on the other side of a wormhole was asked this question through a communications beacon. He gave the year as 2351, which tipped the main characters off that they shouldn't go through the wormhole or else they'd end up twenty years in the past.
* Gotten around in ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', where the Professor would ask people to settle a bet, in a tone that sounded like he already knew the incredibly obvious answer.

* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/SevenDays''. The hero finds himself in a civil war battle, which is far further back than the one week the time machine can go. He grabs someone and asks, "What year is this? 1861?" The guy responds, "Dude, what are you talking about?" The hero realizes he just landed in the middle of a reenactment.

* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'':
** Sam Tyler to Gene Hunt. Answer: 1973. Almost dinnertime. He's 'aving 'oops.
** The [[Series/LifeOnMars2008 American version]]: ("1973, or, as our Chinese Brethren call it, the Year of the Fist!")
* A fellow in a Brazilian show had a variation of this -- he'd ask what the current composition of the national soccer team is.

* Faith, on awaking from her coma in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''.
-->'''Faith:''' What day is it?\\
'''Girl:''' Friday.\\
'''Faith:''' What date? The date!\\
'''Girl:''' February 25th.\\
'''Faith:''' What year?
* Caroline asks [=DeWitt=] this question in ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' for entirely non-time-travel related reasons: at the time, she's both amnesiac and being confronted with the implausibly futuristic mind-altering technology that's the premise of the show. [[note]]This is also an ActorAllusion, because Caroline is played by the [[Creator/ElizaDushku same actress]] as Faith from the above ''Buffy'' example. Some would say it's an [[ObligatoryJoke echo]] of that scene.[[/note]]
** Various other characters, upon being wakened with their "real" personalities, have asked what year it is because they knew time would have passed while they were dolls.
* Played completely straight in the 1991 ''Series/DarkShadows'' in the 1790 segment.

* Mocked in a [[Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie Fry & Laurie]] sketch about time travel, in which Hugh Laurie, dressed in a deerstalker and cape, reveals he has traveled forward in time ''five minutes'', then asks who the Prime Minister is, and if Noel Edmonds is still alive. (To which Stephen Fry replies "[[TakeThat Not that I'm aware of.]]")
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Asked by [[spoiler:The commander of [[UnstuckInTime Babylon 4]]]] as soon as he is told where Sinclair and Garibaldi came from.
* Played for laughs in the episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' where Sharona, his original assistant, came back. When she arrived, Adrian was rinsing his eyes with water to get the dust out following a vacuum-cleaner accident. When he saw her instead of his current assistant, he rinsed his eyes again and then asked her what year it was.
* Played for laughs on ''Series/{{Haven}}'':
-->'''Duke:''' What year is this?\\
'''Man:''' It's 1955. It's the year you should think about sobering up.\\
'''Duke:''' Actually, I think that it's the year [[INeedAFreakingDrink I start drinking. Heavily.]]
* ''Series/BarneyMiller'', the end of one episode: it's a foggy day out, a locked up old street musician is looking at a long stretch in jail, Barney is depressed over being passed over for promotion again -- then bluesy trumpet music starts playing. The musician was given his horn to play and everyone in the squad room is quietly transfixed. Another guy in lockup asks "What year is this?" and gets shushed.
* In ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' when Jemma is stranded on an unknown planet and encounters the (also stranded) astronaut Will, he asks her for the year, since there is no way to tell time there.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "My Future Self and Me", the phony news tape used to try and convince Stan that his future self has been brought into the past by a freak accident references this trope.

* WesternAnimation/DangerMouse tells Penfold he's going to find out "when we are" as the two traverse time in a grandfather clock in the episode "The Hickory Dickory Dock Dilemma."
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in a short gag from ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'' where [[WesternAnimation/TheJetsons George Jetson]] pops in, stating 'I come from the far future year of 2002!' while Harvey squint at his 2005 calendar.

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in a short gag from ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'' where [[TheJetsons George Jetson]] pops in, stating 'I come from the far future year of 2002!' while Harvey squint at his 2005 calendar.

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in a short gag from ''HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw'' where [[TheJetsons George Jetson]] pops in, stating 'I come from the far future year of 2002!' while Harvey squint at his 2005 calendar.

* A variant in the failed GeneRoddenberry pilot ''Genesis II'' (1973), when the protagonist wakes up from suspended animation:

* Caroline asks [=DeWitt=] this question in ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' for entirely non-time-travel related reasons: at the time, she's both amnesiac and being confronted with the implausibly futuristic mind-altering technology that's the premise of the show.
** Various other characters, upon being wakened with their "real" personalities, have asked what year it is because they knew time would have passed while they were dolls.
* Faith, on awaking from her coma in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Amusingly, Faith and Caroline are both played by the same actress.

* Blokey British TV channel Dave is currently (2012) running a self-advertisment in which a time traveller in full Flash Gordon-esque costume pops out of nowhere on a present day street, strides dramatically to the nearest passer-by and demands "What year is it? Quickly man!" He then goes on to explain that Dave is doing so well and introducing so many cool new programmes and features, that in the future they will rule the entire world.

* TheOtherWiki also has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_year the answer]] to the question, in case any time traveller wants to consult it.

* Appears in ''Film/TheTerminator'', although questioning under gunpoint is required to receive the (incomplete) answer. The questioned police officer, whom Kyle Reese has just disarmed, gives him the date and day of the week, but balks and looks confused when Kyle demands to know the year.

** Subverted in the 4th season finale:
--->'''The Doctor:''' (''after travelling in the TARDIS'') Excuse me, what day is it?\\

* Happens ''a lot'' in those godawful ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' fanfics in which a random fan/21st century girl finds herself in the movie/back in time. It's one of the ways you can tell how bad the fic is; if the main character asks this question, press the "back" button '''immediately'''.

* Asked by Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) in ''Film/{{Contact}}'' after traveling through time and space. Going with Einstein's Theory of Relativity, she assumed that it was many years after her departure. As it turns out [[spoiler: her journey took approximately two seconds in Earth time, while to everyone she didn't go anywhere]].

** ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' recreates the scene from the first film, but this time, the cop gives Kyle the full date [[spoiler:[[OffTheRails because he's a T-1000 who was sent ahead, anticipating his arrival]]]].