History Main / AmbiguousTimePeriod

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frankenweenie}}'': At first glance, the setting seems to be somewhere between TheFifties and TheSixties. You can tell it from the look of the cars, clothes, or domestic electrical. Plus Mrs Frankenstein is an {{Housewife}}, there is (save for Toshiaki and Nassor) a MonochromeCasting as if the segregation was still in effect, there are no cell phones (but there are phone booths), people film in super 8... It make sense if you consider that Victor is an AuthorAvatar, and Tim Burton was a kid in TheSixties. And yet, Pluto demoted from its planet title is evoked (it happened in 2006). Also, Bob suggest to use a computer simulation rather than him as a guinea pig for the scientific experience of Toshiaki. And the Barbie doll Weird girl is seen playing with have a contemporary look.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'': Once again the setting seems to be somewhere between TheFifties and TheSixties due to vehicles and clothes look, the cell phones absence, or the black and white TV sets. Until DNA tests, in use for paternity tests since TheNineties, are mentionned.

* ''Film/Batman1989'' loves this trope. Reporters use very old fashioned cameras and a lot of the film's elements seem to be from TheForties, and yet Batman himself has very modern technology; far better than anything that existed when the movie was made! The closest the franchise comes to explicitly addressing this is in the 1989 original, when a character is shown reading a newspaper from 1947 - but the scene is also set in a newspaper office, where archived newspapers are certainly not uncommon. The costume designers for the Burton/Schumacher films even [[WordOfGod admitted]] that, as least as far as the costumes are concerned, the second film, ''Film/BatmanReturns'', is set in an alternate 1947 with modern/futuristic technology.

* It is hard to pinpoint exactly when ''Film/FinalGirl'' is supposed to be set. The cars and the dresses the women wear all point out to [[TheFifties the late 1950s]] and [[TheSixties the early 1960s]], but the television in William and Veronica’s motel room is in color with a digital display and the guns they use are far more modern than that.

* The U.N.I.T. stories in classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' take place sometime in TheSeventies, or Is it TheEighties? Not even The Doctor knows for sure. ''Not even UNIT itself knows for sure.''

* On ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'', an adaptation of ComicBook/ArchieComics, there are laptops, but old style cars are commonplace. A local gang are referred to as "greasers", and Jughead dresses in an emo style rooted in TheNineties. The football uniforms look largely dated, but the students use modern slang, and attitudes towards sexuality and race are modern as well. The dialogue even explicitly states that the timeline takes place in the present day. The Season 2 premiere featured the Riverdale General Hospital, with doctors and nurses wearing 1950s-style uniforms. Really, it's a healthy mix of TheFifties and the 2010s. {{Lampshaded}} when the drive-in is torn down because the times have changed.

* ''Series/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina'', like its sister show ''Riverdale'', has modern attitudes mixed with technology, cars, and fashions of TheSixties. The characters reference '50s movies as being old, and some have cell phones; however TV's are still '60s models, and Sabrina's aunts still use rotary phones.

** ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' was originally set in 1988, but starting from the 1990 English localization and carrying into all later releases, this is changed to an ambiguous point in TheEighties. However, since the game doesn't include anything that'd particularly date it specifically to the ''late'' 80s in the first place, it feels closer to 1980 or 1981 than to 1988, aiding the ambiguity in later releases.
** ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' is set in "[[TheNineties 199X]]", and goes out of its way to avoid any particular trends from the decade in order to feel just as applicable to 1999 as to 1990. Consequently, the game includes not only elements that would feel contemporaneous to audiences in the game's initial release year of 1994, but also elements indicative of the post-80s cultural hangover that marked the early 90s and even aspects that were phased out by the 19''70''s, such as rotary phones and elementary school-age girls in bows and dresses.

* The [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] in Madotsuki's room suggests that ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' could take place as far back as TheEighties (though one of the {{dream land}}s is a clear {{homage}} to ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'', which was released in Japan in 1989), but it could otherwise be set anywhere between then and the TurnOfTheMillennium (when the game was made). [[AmbiguousSituation Just one of the many ambiguous details this setting has to offer]].

** ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4'' unambiguously takes place in TheEighties, before the events of [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys the first game]], but beyond that, it's unclear as to just ''what'' year it takes place in. At first, it would appear to be 1987 due to the teasers prior to the game's release featuring the number, toys of the Toy animatronics from [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 the second game]] (which happens in '87) appearing, and the entire game [[spoiler:building up to what looks like the Bite of '87]]. However, an EasterEgg reveals a TV advert/program that has a copyright date of 1983 -- this, along with Fredbear having a restaurant open (when by 1987 it had been closed for years) seemingly suggests it happens on that year instead. Then the Halloween update added Nightmare BB (whom Scott considered canon unlike the other new animatronics), who looks like his Toy bretheren, seemingly putting it in 1987... only for ''Sister Location'' [[spoiler:to have an EasterEgg involving the rooms from ''4'' appearing by typing "1983" on a keypad in the Private Room]].

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' was created with this in mind so it can appeal to a varying amount of age groups. The series could take place in TheNoughties just as easily as it could take place in TheSeventies. Small references here and there, especially in later seasons, heavily imply that it takes place in the 2000s, though. The fact that it crossed over with ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' further imply it taking place in the 2000s.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' achieves this largely by virtue of being a {{Long Runner|s}} where the characters are NotAllowedToGrowUp -- the earlier seasons in particular had deliberate elements of RetroUniverse, but the show has been on so long and is such a venerable property that the established continuity often doesn't fit with the generally present-day setting. So, for example, flashbacks to Marge and Homer's high school days are still set in TheSeventies (except for one widely-disliked episode that had them as college students in TheNineties and another episode set in the 2000s) but flashbacks with Bart and Lisa as little kids are generally set in the PresentDayPast -- although earlier episodes established their birth years as 1980 and 1984 respectively ("present day" Bart and Lisa are ten and eight, so that gap doesn't make sense either). It's probably best not to think too hard about it. This gets lampshaded in an episode where Homer's first kiss is revealed to have happened when he was Bart's age. It may have been in TheSixties, TheSeventies, or even TheFifties, as he puts it.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' has a look that blends [[{{Zeerust}} retro-futurism]] inspired by TheFifties with [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture technology similar to the 2000s]]. In the episode [[Recap/MyLifeAsATeenageRobotS1E8 I Was a Preschool Dropout]], Jenny tells Brad she was only born five years ago (from their time) and Brad then begins to list a number of events that all happened at that time. One of these was "Super Bowl 100". Given that 2002, the year the series and episode were made, was also the year of the 36th Super Bowl, and in-series five years had passed since "Super Bowl 100", this would make the show take place in 2071. Add 64 to 36 to get Super Bowl 100, which makes the year 2066 (2002 + 64), plus five years since Super Bowl 100 makes it 2071.

* ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' attempts a knowing lampshade of the trope by showing young Bruce Wayne and his parents walking home from a movie theater that is showing both 1940's ''Film/{{The Mark of Zorro|1940}}'' and 1981's ''Film/{{Excalibur}}''.

* ''Film/TenThousandBC'' appears to be set in prehistoric times, with the main character encountering both a wooly mammoth and a saber tooth tiger. However, he ends up somewhere that appears to be ancient Egypt or at least Mesopotamia (an emperor is having a large pyramid built). Based on the hints in the story, the civilization is meant to be an {{Atlantis}}-like place that gets destroyed in the events of the movie, but inspires the later, historical civilizations.

* ''Film/TheAvengers1998'': Steed might just love driving a 1930s car, but that doesn't explain how other people do in that movie universe that has otherwise very 1990s designs and very late 1990s electronics.

* The ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series in general refuse to give an exact calendar, not even a fictional one, in any shape or form. The events in each game happen in a vaguely described "modern times" with the presence of technology and fashion that could be from anywhere in the eighties to the 2000's and beyond, most evident in ''2'', ''3'' and ''5'' with its initial urban settings before Dante and friends traverse the more demonic locations. The lack of cellphones in the series is the greatest barrier in any attempt to assume when the series could take place, since cellphones rapidly change over time moreso than most other tech, thus seeing a model on-screen would greatly help any assumption. The indication of days and dates passing in ''5'' was the first time the series ever had something close to a calendar being taken into consideration.

* It's difficult to read exactly when the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series takes place. The models of the cars and Dante's rotary phone imply that it must be the 50s or 60s, but then Dante's boombox (right next to a jukebox, mind you) means that it must be at least the late 60s, then Nero shows up in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' with some very modernized-looking cordless headphones and it really becomes impossible to determine the time period.

* {{WesternAnimation/Ratatouille}}: Once again the setting seems to be somewhere between TheFifties and TheSixties due to vehicles and clothes look, the cell phones absence, or the black and white TV sets. Until DNA tests, in use for paternity tests since TheNineties, are mentionned.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frankenweenie'': At first glance, the setting seems to be somewhere between TheFifties and TheSixties. You can tell it from the look of the cars, clothes, or domestic electrical. Plus Mrs Frankenstein is an {{Housewife}}, there is (save for Toshiaki and Nassor) a MonochromeCasting as if the segregation was still in effect, there are no cell phones (but there are phone booths), people film in super 8... It make sense if you consider that Victor is an AuthorAvatar, and Tim Burton was a kid in TheSixties. And yet, Pluto demoted from its planet title is evoked (it happened in 2006). Also, Bob suggest to use a computer simulation rather than him as a guinea pig for the scientific experience of Toshiaki. and the Barbie doll Weird girl is seen playing with have a contemporary look.

* ''VisualNovel/KokoroNoDokiDokiSenpai'' makes no mention of its time period, although based on the backgrounds and characters' clothes it can reasonably be assumed to take place sometime in modern-day Japan. Its sequel, ''VisualNovel/KokoroBakaMonogatari'', explicitly takes place during 201X.

An ambiguous time period is where the series takes place at a certain time in the past or future and in the same [[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway universe as ours, except for the story elements added by the author]], but doesn't state anything specific. This is either because the time period is completely unmentioned, or because it's mentioned but elements of the story or WordOfGod state that the fiction uses a [[AlternateCalendar different calendar than ours]].

* ''Film/TheRoom'': The dressing of the main set is nondescript and not specific to a certain period. Johnny specifically avoids mentioning what film he, Lisa, and Denny are going to see. The only thing that ties it to a specific period is the cassette recorder Johnny uses to record telephone calls but given that he is shown taking it out from a cupboard, it could simply have been put in storage.

* ''Literature/{{Crictor}}'' was first published in 1958, but takes place during an unspecified time period. The style of dress favored by Madame Bodot and all the background characters (long dresses with high collars, sailor suits for the children, everyone wears a hat while outdoors) resembles the 1900's - 1910's. The copious use of gas lamps throughout the story also indicates late 1800's or early 1900's. Early automobiles and a toy pickup truck appear in the story, and Crictor climbs a utility pole to rescue a kite for a pair of children (though whether the utility pole holds telegraph wires or electrical wires is another question). Crictor also helps a pack of boy scouts learn to tie knots, though scouting didn't begin in France until 1911.

** ''Fiery Tail'': We don't even know when the main character was born, but it's vaguely implied to be in the near-future. From that moment on, even more unspecified time has passed, but given that Earth went through [[ColonyDrop being hit by a swarm of asteroids]], a new ice age as a result of that and then recovered fully from it, there is a good chance thousands, if not millions, of years have passed, while human survivors were stored on [[SleeperShip Space]] [[TheArk Arks]] for the duration.
* ''Literature/HumanResources2018'' when not set in the far future, takes place in some vague time period with bunny-ear t.v. sets, cheap motels and no cell phones.

* Leave it to ''Manga/AkameGaKill'' to get ''really'' confusing about this. Most of (non-Teigu-related) technology seen in the series is Industrial Revolution-level at the very most--there are steamships, for example. But then you have the headphones Chelsea wears, Lubbock mentions working at a bookstore that sells manga, and both Seryu and Najenda have cybernetic armor.

** One of Dorothy’s songs uses the phrase “thumbing for a hitch,” and she makes a thumbs-up gesture as she’s singing—a reference to something that first arose in the 1930s, but this could be interpreted as simply one small anachronism if one supposes the story’s setting to be turn-of-the-20th.

** One of Dorothy’s uses the phrase “thumbing for a hitch,” and she makes a thumbs-up gesture, a reference to something that first arose in the 1930s, but this could be interpreted as simply one small anachronism if one supposes the story’s setting to be turn-of-the-20th.

->'''Mallory''': What year do you think this is?!\\
'''Archer''': I... yeah. Exactly. Good question.

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'':
** ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4'' unambiguously takes place in TheEighties, before the events of [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys the first game]], but beyond that, it's unclear as to just ''what'' year it takes place in. At first, it would appear to be 1987 due to the teasers prior to the game's release featuring the number, toys of the Toy animatronics from [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 the second game]] (which happens in '87) appearing, and the entire game [[spoiler:building up to what looks like the Bite of 87]]. However, an EasterEgg reveals a TV advert/program that has a copyright date of 1983 -- this, along with Fredbear having a restaurant open (when by 1987 it had been closed for years) seemingly suggests it happens on that year instead. Then the Halloween update added Nightmare BB (whom Scott considered canon unlike the other new animatronics), who looks like his Toy bretheren, seemingly putting it in 1987... only for ''Sister Location'' [[spoiler:to have an EasterEgg involving the rooms from ''4'' appearing by typing "1983" on a keypad in the Private Room]].

* ''Kill la Kill'' is a li'l ambiguous about when the show takes place. While the show does barrow aesthetics of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, the flashbacks implies that the show takes place in an AU version of 2013-2014: Ragyo's hair and clothing style is consistent with the 1990s.

* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' could take place in 1899 (when its [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz source material]] was written) just as easily as it could in 1939 (at least in Oz, where the Emerald City's technology is state-of-the art by 1930s standards and the skirts on the women are shorter than the 1890s would have allowed). The simple costumes, rural setting, and old technology (including a horse-drawn carriage) are all pretty vague. Miss Gulch's outfit in particular evokes more of a turn-of-the-century appearance. Of course, it helps that the state of Kansas (except for Kansas City, of course) is even in the 21st century [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere a fairly sleepy place where things tend to stay the same]].