History UnintentionalPeriodPiece / The90s

* In the ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' series, ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers Space Quest IV]]'' references the Platform/AppleMacintosh interface, 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch floppies, [=CD-ROMs=], and a variety of well known games, game designers and game companies of the 90s, including Creator/{{Sierra}}'s own games. ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation Space Quest V]]'' references Dynamix, a game development company that is no longer operational, and the old Sprint logo. ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVIRogerWilcoInTheSpinalFrontier Space Quest VI]]'' references [[Series/FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]], those [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxwin9XFbnQ Encyclopedia Britannica commercials]] starring an annoying kid, [[Platform/MicrosoftWindows Windows 3.1]], and Music/MCHammer. The rivalry between ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' is acknowledged, and there is an unintentional reference to a game that would be released two years later, ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII''.[[note]]At the time, it was a common joke that ''Street Fighter III'' would never come out, with Capcom instead releasing [[CapcomSequelStagnation endless updates of ''Street Fighter II'' instead.]][[/note]]

* In the ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' series, ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers Space Quest IV]]'' references the Platform/AppleMacintosh interface, 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch floppies, [=CD-ROMs=], and a variety of well known games, game designers and game companies of the 90s, including Creator/{{Sierra}}'s own games. ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation Space Quest V]]'' references Dynamix, a game development company that is no longer operational, and the old Sprint logo. ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVIRogerWilcoInTheSpinalFrontier Space Quest VI]]'' references [[Series/FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]], those [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxwin9XFbnQ Encyclopedia Britannica commercials]] starring an annoying kid, [[Platform/MicrosoftWindows Windows 3.1]], and Music/MCHammer. The rivalry between ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' is acknowledged, and there is an unintentional reference to a game that would be released two years later, ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII''.

** As mentioned under The80s, it bridged that decade and The90s and is a great example of just how long it took for Eighties style to die out (It took until 1995-96, although nobody wanted to associate with 80s culture in 1989). One great example is the 1993 episode "The House Meet the Mouse" where the Tanner family visits [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney World]]. The most current movie at the time was {{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}} in 1992, and later attractions such as Animal Kingdom (opened in 1998, five years later since the episode premiered) are not mentioned. Later in the episode, Danny and Vicky are in a restaurant where the former is about the propose the latter, until they got a call from the restaurant's owner that Michelle is missing. While losing a child is still a great concern, [[TechnologyMarchesOn with cell phones being more affordable nowadays]] and even some kids around Michelle's age carry them]], the problem could be resolved quicker by simply calling her.

* ''Film/TheCrow'': While the source material was published in 1989, the film's entire aesthetic is very much a product of the industrial-gothic boom of the early-to-mid 1990s.

** Beyond just being an obvious product of the mascot boom, the graphics, dialogue, and heavy-handed GreenAesop all date ''VideoGame/ AwesomePossumKicksDrMachinosButt'' squarely to the early-to-mid '90s.

* There are portions of ''Film/CantHardlyWait'' that may have not worked had it been made a decade or so later. For instance, Amanda could've theoretically, simply looked Preston up on Website/{{Facebook}} and figured out who he was. Meanwhile, the subplot involving Denise and Kenny being LockedInTheBathroom could've been solved much sooner had they just called somebody on their cell phones for help. Speaking of which, Preston is seen using a Bell Atlantic phone booth. Bell Atlantic would change its name to Verizon Communications in June 2000. The movie also implies that being interested in computers like in William's case automatically makes you (at least in [[JerkJock Mike's]] point of view), nerdy and uncool.

** The film's premise is based on cable access shows that have been completely supplanted by Website/YouTube and other online media.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hacx}}'' dates from the time in the '90s when hackers were a new and exotic concept, romanticizing its protagonist as an outlaw of the digital frontier, complete with a muscular physique [[PrisonsAreGymnasiums that he built up while in prison]]. It also features out-of-place CG, CRT monitors with every computer, and cyberspace levels that evoke Website/GeoCities websites in their graphic design.

** Bill and Hillary are driving through rural Arkansas, they pass by a used car dealership."That's funny," Hillary says. "That dealer has the same name as an ex-boyfriend of mine." "Just think," Bill says, "if you'd married him today you'd be the wife of a used car dealer." Hillary looks at him for a moment. "No." She says. "If I'd married him today I'd be the wife of the President of the United States."

** "Daddy, why doesn't this magnet pick up your floppy disks?" The joke being that floppy disks, as a type of UsefulNotes/MagneticDisk, would be destroyed by magnets. As of 2016, magnetic portable storage devices have been almost completely phased out in favor of flash-based devices like USB drives, which are immune to this sort of erasure.[[note]]At least for private users. Many institutions collecting vast amounts of data, like NASA or CERN, still use magnetic drives for archival since it still has better longevity.[[/note]] While magnetic hard disks are still prevalent on many desktop and laptop computers, they too are slowly being replaced by solid-state drives.

* The 1991 UsefulNotes/LaserDisc ''[[https://youtu.be/m_cIjk5IiPo Choices and Decisions: Taking Charge of Your Life]]'' is full of reminders that it was made in the '90s. So many of the backgrounds and clothes have bright colors and abstract designs. Right from the start, the two people on screen mention that they star in ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' and ''Series/GrowingPains''. Later, we see someone working at a photo development place, which aren't as popular since digital cameras (and later smartphones) take pictures digitally. When a bunch of flags show up to represent world travel, the flags of the USSR and Zaire appear; the former dissolved in 1991 and the latter’s flag was replaced after the government was overthrown in 1997. Later, the {{Parody Commercial}}s include a CD subscription club (which have since [[https://youtu.be/jP0lq8XcRMo been discredited as scams]]) and "the cellular utility belt" (which includes many things smartphones replaced, including a small Sony Watchman portable TV).

* The initial ''ComicBook/BigBangComics'' miniseries published by Caliber Comics runs into an interesting case of this. The series itself is nominally a {{Retraux}} tribute to [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] DC, but issue 4 of the miniseries was meant to take place in the then-Modern Age, at the height of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, with all the gritty storytelling, graphic violence, and exaggerated anatomy associated with the era. With that time in the industry long past, it could easily be read as a pastiche of the Dark Age nowadays. Incidentally, the ongoing that followed the mini would be published by Creator/ImageComics, whose contemporary catalogue helped define the overall perception of 90s comics, though they would wind up GrowingTheBeard in the coming millennium.

* The 1991 novel ''[[Literature/TheRing Ring]]'' by Koji Suzuki, along with its Japanese, South Korean, and American film adaptations (released in 1998, 1999, and 2002 respectively). The story revolves around a cursed [[UsefulNotes/{{VHS}} videotape]] that causes those who watch it to die in seven days, a premise that marks it as being from a time before the rise of DVD, Blu-Ray, and online video. Parodies of ''The Ring'' made in more recent years typically joke about how either the movie would be over in five minutes because [[WhatAreRecords nobody has a VCR]], or conversely, how Sadako/Samara would [[https://xkcd.com/396/ wipe out half the world]] once the video is uploaded on [=YouTube=].

* The Website/{{Newgrounds}} game ''[[VideoGame/{{Pico}} Pico's School]]'' was a BlackComedy parody of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} Columbine High School massacre]] that was based on a number of then-prevalent UrbanLegends about the shooting, in particular the villains being a group of {{goth}}s practicing HollywoodSatanism, spoofing the [[MediaScaremongering moral panic]] aimed at goths and other "alternative" subcultures afterwards. It also spoofed the concurrent moral panic against [[MurderSimulators violent video games]] by aiming to be exactly the kind of game that parents' groups at the time were afraid of.

** A quick gag in ''33⅓'': all the Oscar nominees for Best Picture were financial successes except one, so when Frank finds the bomb in the Best Picture envelope, he screams out "it's the bomb", and the producers of the film that bombed come up to collect their award. Since then, the divide between box-office success and OscarBait has only gotten wider. [[note]] (Not to mention being a ShoutOut to Marisa Tomei's surprise 1993 win for Best Supporting Actress , which UrbanLegend holds was an error on the part of the presenter Creator/JackPalance). [[/note]]

67. Do you expect your movie to [[Film/{{Transformers}} make more money in merchandising]] than [[Franchise/{{Cars}} in its theatrical run]]?

** Similar effects happened in a rival show, TNT's ''Bull'' (no relation to the CBS drama): One family is looking for capital for their kids' business, a search engine that's "more powerful than Ask.com, Lycos, or Yahoo." No mention of Google (which was in its fledgling stages at the time), and also set just as the dot-com bubble burst.

** The blues club Frank visits in ''2½'' has photos of the greatest disasters in history, such as the Hindenburg crash, the Titanic sinking and... Michael Dukakis. Unless you were politically active back in 1988, you wouldn't even recognise who he was, let alone know about his failure. It also shows the Hubble Telescope, which turned out to be badly flawed after the initial launch, but after the fixes, was VindicatedByHistory to such an extent few remember it as a failure anymore.

** Much of Eminem's work in the year 1999 and 2000 references the Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal - from the video to "My Name Is" (where he dresses as Clinton as a Lewinsky lookalike gets up from behind the podium, wiping her mouth - something [[SurprisinglyLenientCensor Eminem was amazed he got away with]]), to the lyrics of "Role Model" (which claims Slim's morals were ruined when 'the President got his dick sucked'), to bragging on "Scary Movies" that other rappers will be taken advantage of like Monica Lewinsky. This became enough of a theme that he even mentions it in 2013's "Rap God" to establish his own legacy - "''made a living and a killing off it, ever since Bill Clinton was still in office, with Monica Lewinsky feeling on his [[EvilSoundsDeep nutsack]]...''"

* In the ''Anime/MonsterRancher'' anime, Genki is clearly shown playing a ''VideoGame/MonsterRancher'' game on a UsefulNotes/PlayStation lookalike. Genki also wears a backwards cap like many 90s male characters.

* ''ComicBook/JohnnyTurbo'', a three issue series used to advertise the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16 (AKA PC Engine) in the US. The first two center entirely around "[[Creator/{{Sega}} FEKA]]" trying to trick kids into buying their CD add-on. Johnny himself is based of the console's ''actual marketing manager'' at the time. Beyond the topical subject of the Sega CD, Johnny's clothing has all the trappings - a jump suit with lots of pockets, an "atomic" logo on the belt, a ray gun, LOTS of belts and pouches, and the most damning of all was a sideways baseball cap.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' avoided much of this compared to the other ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' adaptations but still featured many 90s pop culture references and had Sonic owning a UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis (even into the ''Adventure'' arc, when it had been superceded [[UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn twice]] [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast over]]).

* ''Film/{{Airheads}}'' really captures the music scene of the early '90s. Prominent references are made to, among other things, ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'', Rodney King, Creator/BeaArthur, and Creator/{{MTV}} being primarily associated with music. Classic '90s toys like Stretch Armstrong and a UsefulNotes/GameGear are seen. The plot revolves around a band trying to "make it" by getting airplay on a terrestrial radio station, something that is no longer the biggest driver in music success. In addition, a key item in the film is a demo reel recorded to a cassette tape in the possession of someone who can't be easily located because she doesn't have a cell phone.

* ''Series/{{Spaced}}'' perfectly captured the lives of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation generation of kidults and late Nineties "Swingin' Britain".

* The ''Make My Video'' series of games on the UsefulNotes/SegaCD reek of early '90s pop culture and [[TotallyRadical slang]]. The fact that their entire premise is making videos for {{One Hit Wonder}}s such as [[Creator/MarkWahlberg Marky Mark]] and Music/KrissKross really doesn't help.

* In the ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' series, ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers Space Quest IV]]'' references the UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh interface, 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch floppies, [=CD-ROMs=], and a variety of well known games, game designers and game companies of the 90s, including Creator/{{Sierra}}'s own games. ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation Space Quest V]]'' references Dynamix, a game development company that is no longer operational, and the old Sprint logo. ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestVIRogerWilcoInTheSpinalFrontier Space Quest VI]]'' references [[Series/FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]], those [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxwin9XFbnQ Encyclopedia Britannica commercials]] starring an annoying kid, [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 3.1]], and Music/MCHammer. The rivalry between ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' is acknowledged, and there is an unintentional reference to a game that would be released two years later, ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII''.

* ''Webcomic/SabrinaOnline'' wears its 90s origins pretty proudly, with early strips making reference to another [[Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch Sabrina]] and nods to then current ''{{Franchise/Transformers}}'' lines, not to mention the title character's UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} fanaticism and [[TechnologyMarchesOn dated tech]]. An infamous later series of strips from 2010 involves {{Imageboards}} and a [[MemeticMutation canine Trollface]]. On the other hand, Amiga computers do still have a dedicated fanbase of retro enthusiasts and [[{{Demoscene}} demosceners]] and the Creator/WarnerBrothers-esque style is of high-enough quality that it's barely a concern a decade on.

* [[http://toastytech.com/evil/ Internet Explorer is EVIL!]] was created in the midst of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v%2E_Microsoft_Corp%2E Microsoft's antitrust case]]. It features humor relating to the trial, Internet Explorer, and [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 98]]. There are references to Lorena Bobbitt, Tonya Harding, and the defunct airline [=ValuJet=] (which was in the news at the time of the site's creation for its often dangerous attempts at cutting costs), with a dash of anti-[[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney]] humor for good measure.[[labelnote:*]]Microsoft released an Actimates Barney doll.[[/labelnote]] According to the owner, the site was preserved so visitors could relive the controversy surrounding Microsoft's anticompetitive practices during that time. The late '90s web design also helps -- the owner removed the autoplaying MIDI music years ago, but the fire [=GIFs=] are still intact.

*** When the park opened, the Universal Studios globe was in view of the Nickelodeon Studios façade. The original globe was removed in 1998 when Universal Studios expanded to include Islands of Adventure and [=CityWalk=]. The new globe which has the current Universal logo is much further from the former Nickelodeon Studios soundstages. Although live action shots of the soundstages and globe were discontinued, the "pencil sketch" variant still maintained the original setting despite it no longer being accurate.

* ''Fanfic/DayOfTheBarneyTrilogy''. Even ignoring the fact that it was an early ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' HateFic, it's very obvious the story was started before Season 2 of the show had been aired, as BJ, the third dinosaur after Barney and Baby Bop, is nowhere to be seen.

** Lead single 'You Get What You Give' mentions {{Music/Beck}}, {{Music/Hanson}}, Music/CourtneyLove and Music/MarilynManson which places its writing to 1997 when the four were the most successful. Beck ended up being the only one of the four mentioned who continually maintained relevance throughout the years.

* ''Literature/MsWiz'''s first couple of entries were published in 1988, but the books define the 90s in several ways. Specifically the early 90s - as a Halloween episode has Ms Wiz going as a HotWitch, and Mrs Thompson remarking how unusual that is; marking this as happening before the explosion of witch stories in pop culture that came along in the latter half of the decade (or before the sexy Halloween costume idea in general took off). Another book has Ms Wiz conjuring up apparitions of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, using the librarian's book about the Royal Wedding as inspiration (the couple divorced in 1996). ''Ms Wiz Goes Live'' also has a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed parody of Jimmy Savile, who was still presenting children's TV until the mid-90s (and this being before he was exposed as a notorious sexual predator). ''Ms Wiz Supermodel'' has a fashion show, and the clothes described are a mixture of 90s and 80s fashion holdovers. Later books in the series have Ms Wiz using a cell phone that is an obvious 90s model.

* ''Manga/GunsmithCats'': The series clearly happens in TheNineties, not only cause the fashions and hairstyles... but also because the action takes place in Chicago, and the entire animation team visited the city to scout locations and take reference photographs. And their attention to detail was so accurate that many Chicago fans of the series can identify the specific time-period the anime was made by certain key features, most notably the construction scaffolding that surrounded the Field Museum of Natural History during that building's renovation.

* ''Shin Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'': Although the show itself is made in TheEighties and it ''shows'', the film was made in TheNineties, and it dates itself when it is mentioned that adult Kyosuke is a war reporter who went missing in action taking pictures in UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars.

** Jesse is constantly railing against "politically correct" language and culture, which was a buzzword of the 1990s. However, there's some degree of ValuesResonance here, as "political correctness" has once again become a hot subject in UsefulNotes/TheNewTens.

* Everything said below about the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' TV series applies doubly to [[Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer the original 1992 movie]], which also showcases the leftovers of TheEighties hanging over into the following decade. Notably, Buffy fits far more into the classic '80s ValleyGirl archetype than she did on the TV show, with both her [[TheFashionista fashion sense]] and her [[TheBrainlessBeauty airheadedness]] highlighted in a way that they weren't on the show. Watching the film side-by-side with the pilot episode of the TV show allows one to see some of the ways in which American pop culture evolved from 1992 to 1997, from the fashion to the music to the slang.

* ''Film/{{Clueless}}'' is a mix of this and ''intentional'' PeriodPiece. Yes, the {{Grunge}} and HipHop fashions and ubiquitous cell phones establish it as a '90s film, but much of the music is from TheEighties, and Cher Horowitz would likely feel right at home in a movie like ''Film/ValleyGirl''. One of the more subtle notes that pins this to the '90s is the character of Christian, who is gay and whose tendency to dress stylishly is cited as clear proof of his sexuality. This firmly places the movie in a period before the metrosexual ideal took off.

* ''Film/FightClub'' has several things that date it, including technology (no one seems to have a cell phone, Project Mayhem plays pranks on stores selling CRT monitors and VHS tapes) and attitudes about airport security (the narrator is surprised and confused when his luggage is held because of a perceived security risk). Tyler's speech about how his generation has "no great war and no great depression" also firmly places it in a time of relative peace and economic prosperity. Most importantly, though, its themes were in large part an exploration of a popular meme in TheNineties, the idea that "traditional" masculinity was in collapse as a result of the ever-growing penetration of technology and the modern world. The film (and the book it was based on) was largely a {{deconstruction}} of those ideas, and of the men's movement that emerged out of them.

** SID 6.7's baggy suits and round tea-shade sunglasses were both fashion trends of TheNineties.

* The early ''Literature/StephaniePlum'' books were written in, and take place in, TheNineties, and almost feel like throwbacks to TheEighties. The title character doesn't get a cellphone until book 3 or so.

* ''Series/TheArsenioHallShow'' is certainly a product of the first half of TheNineties, from the guests to the politics to the music to Arsenio's hair and fashion sense. ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' similarly reflects the second half of the decade.

** As mentioned under TheEighties, it bridged that decade and TheNineties and is a great example of just how long it took for Eighties style to die out (It took until 1995-96, although nobody wanted to associate with 80s culture in 1989). One great example is the 1993 episode "The House Meet the Mouse" where the Tanner family visits [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disney World]]. The most current movie at the time was {{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}} in 1992, and later attractions such as Animal Kingdom (opened in 1998, five years later since the episode premiered) are not mentioned. Later in the episode, Danny and Vicky are in a restaurant where the former is about the propose the latter, until they got a call from the restaurant's owner that Michelle is missing. While losing a child is still a great concern, [[TechnologyMarchesOn with cell phones being more affordable nowadays]] and even some kids around Michelle's age carry them]], the problem could be resolved quicker by simply calling her.

* ''Series/ParkerLewisCantLose'' came along in the middle of that weird period circa 1989-92, when people were still trying to figure out the [[TheNineties '90s]]. Consequently, this essentially meant extending the [[TheEighties '80s]]. Therefore, there were lots of [[ImpossiblyTackyClothes garish clothing]] and weird comic-sans like faux-urban [[UsefulNotes/{{Fonts}} fonts]]. It was also the hey day of Color Me Badd and Music/NewKidsOnTheBlock. That era was ultimately obliterated by the {{Grunge}}/[[AlternativeRock alternative]] revolution come 1993/1994.

* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' is a terrific example of how [[TheEighties 1980s]] pop culture "hung over" into the early-to-mid [[TheNineties '90s]]. Zack's "brick" cellphone is a prime example In the early '90s, the idea of a high-school kid with his own cellphone bordered on ridiculous, and the joke was that he was such a [[HighSchoolHustler hustler]] that he could invest in an executive-level business tool. Now it's the size of the thing that's funny.

* ''VideoGame/StayTooned'' begins with the player character channel-surfing and stumbling across a channel block of cartoons at a time and place the cartoon characters could break out of the TV and invade the real world. The very name of the game is a {{Pun}} on "stay tuned," a message urging viewers not to change the channel during a commercial break, a phrase encountered much less often in later decades once DVR started to catch on, then streaming television. The latter also makes it much less likely for viewers to catch a TV show in mid-series and mid-episode, though both of these concepts still live on and remain understood as of TheNewTwenties in a diminished fashion via broadcast television. One of the rooms you can visit is a high-end A/V room whose TV screen is a large cathode ray tube connected to a VHS and all the electronic equipment being large (by 21st-century standards) and wood-plated. A crucial part of the late game also involves the player character looking for an available pay phone, which were already on their way out when the game was released in 1996.

** Most of the bad movies that Jay Sherman reviews parody real movies that came out over 1991-94. Furthermore, its portrayal of film criticism is a parody of how it existed in TheNineties when it was still dominated by newspaper and magazine writers (most famously Creator/RogerEbert and Creator/GeneSiskel, who had [[Series/SiskelAndEbert their own syndicated film review show]] until Siskel's death in 1999), before the internet revolutionized it and produced a slew of blogs and web shows devoted to film coverage.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' shows cassette-tape systems and boomboxes whenever there's in-universe music. Famously, Helga's father runs Big Bob's ''Beeper'' Emporium, having built his successful business on technology that couldn't be more [[TheNineties nineties]]. Additionally, one episode has Gerald telling Arnold that he'll call him later, saying that he'll ring twice [[note]](ring, hang up after one ring, immediately re-call, a TruthInTelevision technique for phones without caller [=IDs=])[[/note]] to let Arnold know it's Gerald calling. Caller [=IDs=] are standard for phones nowadays. ''[[WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie The Jungle Movie]]'' [[ComicBookTime moves the time period]] to the 2010s, with smartphones and wifi being commonplace (and as such, the [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Patakis are now near-destitute]]).

* Creator/TimBurton's ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' films present a mixed bag. The [[Film/Batman1989 first movie]] (which is actually from 1989, not the '90s, but enough hairsplitting) has held up pretty well, in large part due to the 1940s style in the production design and more (heck, one scene shows a character reading a newspaper dated 1947). The "smooth funk" songs by Music/{{Prince}} on the soundtrack, though, do ''not'' help. Nor do some magazine covers we see: a 1980s-font cover of ''Time'' and a ''very'' '70s/'80s-looking cover of ''Vogue''. And the HellBentForLeather fashion sense of ComicBook/TheJoker's gang looks cheesy today, partly because leather jackets have become not only socially acceptable, but so commonplace that they're hardly noticed anymore.

* Through the entire ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' series, the games compare the player's final score to real historical leaders, with the lowest score being UsefulNotes/DanQuayle, the American Vice President from 1989 to 1993 who became unfortunately known for his poorly formulated and ridiculous remarks. The TakeThat was apparent to American players when the first game was released in 1991, but as the time passed and the former Vice President faded in obscurity, him being the benchmark of the poorest player's performance only remained as a tribute to tradition.

* ''Film/TheFugitive" basically screams "Chicago, 1993" in everything it does. From the cop cars, to the ads and street signs, to the hair styles, even the film quality. Everything is early 90s.