Unintentional Period Piece needs a threshold.

As this is acknowledged in-universe, it probably passes the "special circumstances" test. However, I don't see anything that actually makes it a UPP - the Trump example doesn't count as he's still POTUS as of the work's release, which was today. (That also needs a rewrite for ROCEJ reasons, of course.)

Animatics makes topical references. They are not unintentionally referencing Present Day events. It's a Lampshade Hanging of something but not of unintentionally making topical references.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

Where do edutainment shows fit into this, like WesternAnimation.Schoolhouse Rock, Series.Bill Nye The Science Guy and Series.Police Camera Action due to Technology Marches On, for example some of the 1990s episodes of the last two shows do show their age in terms of science tech / law enforcement tech? Or political/sociology for the first?

Don't forget about the original Magic School Bus cartoon from the 1990s.

Edited by Nen_desharu on Dec 2nd 2020 at 9:29:56 AM

Kirby is awesome.

The "Matches On" tropes cover those things.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

Unintentional Period Piece needs to have broad markers that makes it emblematic of its time such that it resembles a Period Piece. Educational material is not standard scripted fiction and would generally be exempt (same with things like news broadcasts or documentaries, barring extreme examples), and as already said those kind of examples fit better under the Marches On tropes.

Based on this, then WesternAnimation.Schoolhouse Rock shouldn't have this in its Trivia page, even though it is scripted fiction as a way of education/entertainment?

Edutainment is as eligible as anything else for UPP.

"$7.50 once a week" is something that would mark a work for UPP, while "Pluto is a planet" doesn't.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

Bringing up the following example from Ready Player Two:

• Unintentional Period Piece: The out-of-the-blue allusion to Sonic.exe really dates this story, but bizarrely, while Sonic.exe had its heyday in the early-mid 2010s, this book came out in 2020, with Sonic.exe being very old news by the time the book came out. So, in a way, it was dated by the time before the story even came out; try wrapping your head around that.

"Already a period piece by release" has been judged as exceptional before, but a single offhand reference does not an UPP make.

I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.

Bringing up the following example from Norm of the North:

• Unintentional Period Piece: The movie takes place in a modern New York City and has a lot of references to current culture. One of the selling points was the fact that Norm is a polar bear that can twerk. Many critics and viewers have called it the worst case of Were Still Relevant Dammit since Annie (2014).

No. The work is from 2016, way too early to call.

Unless twerking became a dead trend before the movie wad released, I'd say cut it.

Were Still Relevant Dammit is specifically for Long-Runners, also.

Rock'n'roll never dies!

Would Series.Casualty episodes set during The '90s and 2000s with Coolest Club Ever and Ibiza-esque dance music, references to Ibiza superclubs, Dont Stay In.com Fictional Social Network parodies, women wearing day-glo gear and Bare Your Midriff fashions, references to molly (MDMA) drug and ecstasy, a Ripped from the Headlines and oblique reference to death of Leah Betts count as unintentional period pieces, given the decline of nightclubs in general and how dance music isn't as prominent now?

I also seem to remember Series.Peep Show having a lot of sedan and stationwagon cars used - the main characters drove a sedan IIRC, but due to the decline of them and crossover SUVs replacing them, could that make the show partially an Unintentional Period Piece of the 2000s?

Or is that Society Marches On?

Edited by Merseyuser1 on Dec 10th 2020 at 1:55:18 PM

This precludes "unintentional period piece" and "marches on" because it is set in a specific era.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

I have only seen one mention so far in this thread of the Coronavirus pandemic. This has had a short-term UPP effect on a lot of media that was produced in 2018-19 for release in 2020.^note Obligatory XKCD link.
The virus has caused very rapid and very drastic changes to just about everybody's lives in ways that cannot be easily overlooked, so stuff that was made as late as this March already looks oddly quaint. If these changes wind up being permanent then just about everything produced in the last decade could be a UPP, if not then it will be the series made in 2020 - and which do address the pandemic - which display this effect.
We have Animation Lead Time, but there doesn't seem to be a corresponding live-action trope. The Great Politics Mess Up doesn't quite fit either as the phenomenon is more than just political.

a COVID sub-folder (either on the main page or under "special cases") would be my preference i think. that being said it'd have to be ones that are heavily affected and aren't just "characters don't wear masks/engage in physical contact". like for example mario and sonic at the 2020 olympics

As it's not yet known what will change in society post-COVID, it's impossible to call anything a UPP right now. Even the Olympics game isn't one, as the 2020 Summer Olympics will still be known by that name when they are (probably) held in the summer of 2021.

Bringing up the following example from Grant Morrisons JLA:

• Unintentional Period Piece: This was DC Comics during The '90s, where they were knee-deep in experimenting with how much they could screw around with the status quo at the time. This means that JLA ends up being a premiere time capsule for everything about 90s DC from Superman's infamous mullet, to his Superman Blue electric form, to just Kyle Rayner's presence in general (and calling his generation "the Jerry Springer generation"), to Aquaman's barbarian look, etc.

• 90s DC — this needs to be 90s America, not "X Age of Comic Books".
  • from Superman's infamous mullet, — were mullets big in the 90s? Then it counts
  • to his Superman Blue electric form, — no, this isn't an unintentional reference to a short-lived pop culture trend
  • to just Kyle Rayner's presence in general — no, this isn't an unintentional reference to a short-lived pop culture trend
  • (and calling his generation "the Jerry Springer generation"),— that might count
  • to Aquaman's barbarian look, etc. — that doesn't count as a short-lived pop culture trend.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

Technically Superman's mullet is a Superman example, not a JLA example.

I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.

That's one of the issues we've run into, anyone with a sharp enough eye can determine the film stock that was used, printer quality for the comic book or character designs that historically place it in a certain time period. That's just not the trope, it needs to be based on the broad look, tone and language used that reflects the time and place of society in which it was made. Something like dated visual effects might work (ie the Bullet Time sequence in The Matrix that was heavily aped in the years following) but it can't be a self-referential dating like the Superman Red/Blue period.

Edited by KJMackley on Dec 27th 2020 at 3:24:51 AM

Bringing up the following example from Doctor Who 2021 NYS "Revolution of the Daleks":

• Unintentional Period Piece: Some aspects of it come off this way as a special written in late 2019, filmed in early 2020 and released in January 2021, such as the obvious inability to predict the COVID-19 Pandemic that should otherwise be a very visible part of January 2021 when the episode is presumed to take place. On top of that, much of the special's focus is on political charictures of UK Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump. By the time the episode finally aired, both figures were falling out of public relevance: May had resigned from her post in mid-2019 ^note Although many of the politics revolving around Brexit that governed her tenure remain very relevant, especially given that the final trade agreement between the UK and EU happened only a couple days prior to airing, while Trump was voted out of office just two months prior.