DRAFT:WATSONIAN DATE

Submission declined on 29 December 2021 by Clarityfiend ( talk).

This draft's references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article. In summary, the draft needs multiple published sources that are:

in-depth (not just passing mentions about the subject)
reliable
secondary
independent of the subject

Make sure you add references that meet these criteria before resubmitting. Learn about mistakes to avoid when addressing this issue. If no additional references exist, the subject is not suitable for Wikipedia.

Neologisms are not considered suitable for Wikipedia unless they receive substantial use and press coverage; this requires strong evidence in independent, reliable, published sources. Links to sites specifically intended to promote the neologism itself do not establish its notability.

If you would like to continue working on the submission, click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window.
If you have not resolved the issues listed above, your draft will be declined again and potentially deleted.
If you need extra help, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors.
Please do not remove reviewer comments or this notice until the submission is accepted.

Where to get help

If you need help editing or submitting your draft, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors. These venues are only for help with editing and the submission process, not to get reviews.
If you need feedback on your draft, or if the review is taking a lot of time, you can try asking for help on the talk page of a relevant WikiProject. Some WikiProjects are more active than others so a speedy reply is not guaranteed.

How to improve a draft

Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia – a basic overview on how to edit Wikipedia.
Help:Wikitext – how to use the markup
Help:Referencing for beginners – how to include references
Wikipedia:Article development – how to develop your article
Wikipedia:Writing better articles – how to improve your article
Wikipedia:Verifiability – make sure your article includes reliable third-party sources

You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article.

Improving your odds of a speedy review

To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags.

Add tags to your draft

Editor resources

Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
Easy tools: Citation bot ( help) | Advanced: Fix bare URLs

Declined by Clarityfiend 2 years ago. Last edited by Gavinmccalmont 2 months ago. Reviewer: Inform author.

Resubmit

Please note that if the issues are not fixed, the draft will be declined again.

Comment: The only "Watsonian date" cited in the real world refers to John Watson, not films. Clarityfiend ( talk) 20:33, 29 December 2021 (UTC)

A Watsonian date is a fictional calendar date in a film that is presented to orient the viewer to the film's timeframe. The term Watsonian^[1] refers to narrative structural elements that only exist in the fictional universe ( diegesis)^[2] of a film. The Watsonian date includes either the month and year or more specifically, the month, year and day. The Watsonian date may occur before or after the film's release date, such as July 1, 1880 or March 20, 2370, for example.

The term "Watsonian" originates from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which the main character, Dr. Watson, is an author who creates a story within a story^[3], or an embedded narrative.^[4] This is also called the " in-universe" perspective.

To be categorized as Watsonian, the date has to be employed within a work of fiction. The date may be conveyed in several ways. It may be viewed on-screen as a text caption, as part of the production set, or may be spoken by a fictional character. Documentaries or other nonfiction films, such as biopics, docudramas, and historical dramas that are based on fact are not qualified as Watsonian. Dates that are depicted within nonfiction are factual, whereas Watsonian dates are created by the authors to complement the fictional setting.

Watsonian date categories and types

Watsonian dates include at a minimum a year. The dates may also include all three units of time: day, month and year. Clock time of day may be optional. The dates may also include other unrelated fictional time units that are complex, such as the stardate from Star Trek^[5], which qualifies as a Watsonian date. Units of time that are day and month only are not qualified as Watsonian because the date makes the year impossible to determine within the in-universe perspective.

Motion picture date categories

Month, Day and Year: The date is presented by showing the month, day and year, which determines the exact time period the film is set in. When fictional events are depicted in the film, time can be skipped over hours, days and years as the film progresses in order to maintain the pace, running time and setting of the film. This category allows those events to have a specific starting point in order to predict possible outcomes and expect when the end will occur. For example, "May 13, 2057" or "September 22, 1915."^[6]
Month and Year: The date is presented by showing only the month and year, which can only approximate the time period within an entire month without a clear beginning date. But it maintains the context of a basic point in time that the film is set in. For example, "January 2030" or "December 1948".
Month and Day: The date is presented by showing only the month and day without revealing the year, which makes this category the most difficult to determine. The Watsonian date can only be determined by searching for the calendar date that matches with the same name and number of the day in the same month. The date may come before, after or within the year of the film's release. For example, "March the 14th, Monday (March 14, 2022)" or "October the 5th, Friday (October 5, 2012)".

Motion picture date types

Captioned: On-screen text added as a layer of film editing, usually displayed at the bottom, center or corner of the film shot of the scene.
Visual: On-screen visual elements of the production set, such as a calendar on a wall, an email typed on a computer or a video being watched on a phone or TV screen.
Mentioned: The date is only spoken by a character without being displayed in the production set or onscreen as text.

Watsonian date uses

Watsonian dates are used in fiction to introduce the viewer to the film's "total world of the story—the events, characters, objects, settings, and sounds that form the world in which the story occurs".^[7]^[8] For example, the 1965 TV series Lost in Space used a captioned date on-screen at the very beginning of the first aired episode to immediately orient the viewer to the "future" timeframe. Another example, the Robert Zemeckis film Back to the Future used a movie prop newspaper with a date that orients the viewer to the "past" timeframe.

Watsonian dates are used to help the viewer understand the scene's context based on the character's past or future, or to shift back and forth in time in service of the film production. If the date occurs in a previous year, it allows the viewer to see a fictional story within a historical period. The story is then narrated and observed through the perspective of a character who was in that period. By doing so, the viewer is oriented to a fictional reality as if it is happening now instead of assuming that it already has been or it will.^[9] If the date occurs in a future year from the viewer's present moment, it allows the viewer to visualize the realism of that future. The viewer's predictions and interpretations can be more precise as real-world events unfold and build towards that possible future.^[10]

Some calendar dates are used on-screen in nonfiction to highlight factual and significant events. The events are displayed on-screen like a fictional work by using similar calendar date types that are visual, captioned, or mentioned. For example, the Ron Howard docudrama film Apollo 13 presents calendar dates on-screen, such as "July 20, 1969" in the style of a fictional film to show the dramatic element of Armstrong landing on the Moon or "April 11, 1970" to show the launching day of the mission itself.

Plot engagement

The Watsonian dates are presented to build awareness of the fictional present time of the film and build mystery and suspense around the unfolding events within a singular timeline in a film.

The Watsonian dates are presented within the film by being written into the screenplay to create the basis of the film's diegetic story. It is created to superimpose visually for the viewer, to have the actor mention it verbally or to have it presented on a production set for fictional context.^[11]^[12] This allows the film production to create an in-universe narrative by integrating the three motion picture types (visual, captioned and mentioned) of the Watsonian date into the film.

The year is most often depicted in films to establish and support the basic setting of the past and future period without the month or day. However, the Watsonian date allows the film to be depicted at a specific point in time so the viewer can observe the fictional setting within a real-life environment in its current status. Doing so gives the audience the geographic location and era in which the story takes place and the audience will be efficiently engaged in the plot, thus reducing confusion of where and when it takes place.^[13] In both past and future tense, the viewer can see what events have happened to make the past become the present and what events will happen to make the present become the future.

Fictional holidays

The dates can also be used to create fictional holidays, where the characters celebrate a fictional event that has great significance within the film's in-universe perspective.^[14]^[15] The fictional holiday date allows the viewer to explore the depth of the in-universe perspective and the structure of the film's narrative. For example, First Contact Day is a fictional holiday depicted within the Star Trek franchise, where people celebrate April 5^[16], the day where humans have their first encounter with aliens and create their first warp ship, which is presented in the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact. Another example, the Purge is a fictional holiday depicted within the franchise of the same name, where every year from March 21 to 22, people celebrate it by committing legalized crimes across America. Even though it is a government-sanctioned event and not an original tradition within America or around the world, the Purge is informally described as a holiday within the franchise.

List of films with Watsonian dates

This list is incomplete. Make additions to the list and document all column data. The elapsed time mark that varies between film versions (director's cut, extended, original) should be stated in the NOTES column.

List of films with Watsonian dates
Year	Film	Watsonian Date	Elapsed Time (hh:mm:ss)	Date Type	Notes
1935	Captain Blood	June 20, 1687	01:04:54	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by main protagonist Peter Blood when he's declaring rules within "articles" that he and his crew will follow as they begin their new lives as pirates. This fictional date is a previous year that takes place during the historical Golden Age of Piracy, which began three decades earlier. Because Blood and his men are considered buccaneers within the film, the date takes place after the buccaneering period and before the Pirate Round period, which supports the fictional setting of the date. As a non-fictional date, no significant events or any events related to pirates occurred.
1960	Psycho	December 11, 1959	00:02:15	Captioned	This Watsonian date is captioned at the beginning of the film as "Friday, December the Eleventh" as a starting point of the film's timeframe, where Marion Crane's mischievous actions inadvertently bring her face to face with Norman Bates as an unexpected enemy, which leads to her death and causes a conflict between Bates and her friends. The year is not seen or mentioned in the film. But it is indicated to take place in the previous year 1959 when a filming shot shows a license plate that says "Arizona 59" during the scene when Marion is trading her car for another. And as a non-fictional date, December 11 is a Friday in the previous year before the film's release, which supports the context of the Watsonian date.
1968	2001: A Space Odyssey	January 12, 1992	01:54:13	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by the supercomputer HAL in the scene when main protagonist David Bowman is disconnecting HAL's circuits. HAL reveals the date as the day when he first became operational as he's conversing with David in his dying moments.
	Planet of the Apes	July 14, 1972 March 23, 24, 26 and 27, 2673	From 00:00:43 to 00:02:20	Visual	The first elapsed time is a close-up shot of the chronometer within Taylor's spaceship that has the “Earth Time,” which shows the year 1972, which is when he and his crew left Earth. It also has the “Ship Time,” showing how many years have passed as the ship is traveling through time, showing the year 2673. The elapsed time progresses for two minutes as the day on the Ship Time is changing quickly. In the second elapsed time, the date appears when Taylor escapes his sinking spaceship and he looks at the chronometer and sees how much further into the future he went.
	Planet of the Apes	November 25, 3978	00:09:49	Visual
1973	Day of the Jackal	August 2, 1963 August 5, 1963	00:24:47 00:33:10	Visual	This film has several Watsonian dates that take place in previous years in a historical period. A few of the dates have no significance to the film but have been mentioned and viewed on screen for fictional context. August 2 and 5 are seen on calendar props. August 2 appears on screen as "Agosto 2," which is Italian and Spanish for August and is a starting point for the film's timeframe when the Jackal travels to Genoa in Italy to meet a gunsmith. August 5 also appears on screen as "Aout 5," which is French for August. It is a day when an OAS member is captured and interrogated by the French authorities within the film's timeframe. August 13 is mentioned and seen on another calendar prop in the film. It's mentioned in the same scene when the Jackal is meeting the gunsmith and it appears on calendar props in the second and third elapsed time in later scenes when the French authorities are investigating the Jackal and the assassination plot. However, in the second elapsed time, the calendar is blurred out in the background. The name of the month is small and unrecognized, but the number 13 is enlarged and recognized. August 14 is mentioned twice in the film. In the first elapsed time, the Jackal mentions it as the day when he was going to return to Genoa to reunite with an associate after finishing his mission. Twelve minutes later in the second elapsed time, a French investigator mentions the date when he's reciting a message regarding the assassination plot to kill President Charles de Gaulle. August 25, which is the day that the French celebrate the liberation of Paris, is mentioned by main protagonist Claude Lebel when he discovers that it's the day when the Jackal will attempt to kill the president. He mentions that August 25 is a Sunday. As a non-fictional date, August 25, 1963 was on a Sunday and no other significant events occurred on that day.
		August 13, 1963	00:25:36 00:35:39 00:37:51	Mentioned Visual Visual
		August 14, 1963	00:27:54 00:39:54	Mentioned
		August 25, 1963	1:58:21	Mentioned
1978	Halloween	October 31, 1963 October 31, 1978	00:02:15 00:07:09	Captioned	The first date is seen on screen as "Halloween Night, 1963." Despite not showing any of the categories, it does represent a calendar date informally, since Halloween is always celebrated on October 31. The second date is viewed on screen as a full calendar date. Both dates represent the certain time when Michael Myers' dark unknown intentions surrounding the holiday compel him to commit his killings. The film was released six days before the fictional events within the film.
1981	Das Boot	November 2, 1941	00:38:41	Visual	This Watsonian date is seen on a piece of paper when a crew member is writing a letter, where it indicates how far the submarine has gone into its mission by time. The date is shown during the middle of the film, which spans from October to December in 1941.
1982	Blade Runner	November 2019	00:03:00	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears right after the rolling text. Because the film's popularity inspired fan-based predictions about the year 2019 and the technology that was presented in it, some of the technologies in the film, such as digital billboards, voice-activated technology and lie detectors, have already been invented. Other technologies in the film, such as flying cars and artificial consciousness, which is related to the idea of replicants, have not yet been invented.
1983	Christine	September 12, 1978 October 9, 1978 November 5, 1978 November 23, 1978 December 16, 1978	00:05:05 00:27:37 00:42:00 01:06:03 01:12:52	Captioned	In the first elapsed time, the Watsonian date appears as a full calendar date at the very beginning of the present day sequence of the film, right after the scene that shows where the car was manufactured. For the rest of the elapsed times, the other dates are shown only as month and day and they represent how long the movie's timeframe is and where the characters are at in their own story arcs. This is currently the earliest Stephen King film adaptation that has a Watsonian date.
1984	The Terminator	May 12, 1984	00:08:45	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by a policeman when Kyle Reese holds him at gunpoint and asks the date moments after traveling back in time. The policeman mentions the date as "12th, May, Thursday" while the year is captioned five minutes earlier in the elapsed time 00:03:45. This date is the starting point in the franchise's timeframe, where the Terminator going back to 1984 causes future events to unfold throughout the film series. However, May 12, 1984 is actually a Saturday. According to the Terminator wiki website, there was a writing error in the screenplay for the date. It was originally supposed to take place in 1983 until the year was changed, except for the month and day, which led to a mismatch. May 12 is a Thursday in that previous year. Despite the mismatch, the date was invented with its own fictional setting within a historical period. As a non-fictional date, the only unrelated significant event that occurred was the opening of the Louisiana World Exposition.
1984	2010: The Year We Make Contact	December 6, 2001	00:02:37	Visual	This Watsonian date is seen at the beginning of the film within the opening text that explains the events of the first film, which is a mission report made by Heywood Floyd, supporting character from first film and main protagonist in this film. Despite being unable to indicate when the first film took place exactly, it's possible that the date took place sometime shortly after the climax of the first film where Floyd and other people of Earth had learned of the events.
1985	The Breakfast Club	March 24, 1984	00:02:08	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned as "Saturday, March 24, 1984" by Anthony Michael Hall's character Brian at the beginning scene after the opening credits. This date takes place a year before the film's release and it represents one whole day where the main characters change their lives by bonding with each other during detention. As a non-fictional date, March 24, 1984 is a Saturday and no significant or historical events occurred.
1985	Back to the Future	November 5, 1955	00:37:06	Visual	This Watsonian date appears during a scene when Marty McFly takes out a newspaper from a garbage can and sees the year on it, moments after he travels back in time to 1955. The date is in a previous year, but it presents a fictional setting within a historical period. But as a non-fictional date that has already passed, no significant or historical events occurred on this date.
1986	Aliens	June 12, 2179	01:22:23	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by Ripley as "6-12-79" when she confronts Burke about him being responsible for the Aliens taking over the colony. The number 79 reveals the decade of the year only, but it doesn't reveal the century exactly. But it's already been established by fans and people alike that the movie does take place in the year 2179.
	Maximum Overdrive	June 19, 1987	00:00:43	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears in an opening text as the day when a mysterious comet passes by Earth and becomes the cause of the machines coming to life and killing people. This fictional date takes place one year after the film's release, presenting a near future where a cosmic event can lead to an unexpected global disaster.
	Top Gun	November 5, 1965	00:46:17	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by Tom Cruise's character Maverick when he briefly tells Charlie about how his late father disappeared and died while flying an F-4 during the Vietnam War. Despite being mentioned only once, the date is part of Maverick's background, revealing what events occurred that led him to becoming a pilot.
1988	Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers	October 30, 1988 October 31, 1988	00:00:03 00:11:46	Visual	The first date is seen at the very beginning of the movie before the opening credits. The second date is seen after Jamie Lloyd has her nightmare of Michael Myers. Like the first film of the franchise, the dates represent the certain time when Michael Myers would continue his killing spree for evil purposes in his hometown. And the dates symbolize as a classic ten-year anniversary with a new set of murders that uphold the notoriety of his crimes.
1989	Ghostbusters II	February 14, 2016	00:09:16	Mentioned	This Watsonian date, which is Valentines Day, is mentioned during the scene where Peter Venkman is in a televised interview with two people, one of whom is a woman who makes a whimsical prediction of when the world will end.
1989	Back to the Future Part II	October 21, 2015	00:04:40	Visual	This Watsonian date appears on a chronometer in the DeLorean time machine when Marty, Doc Brown and Jennifer Parker are flying through a cloudy sky in the beginning scene.^[17] The year on the Watsonian date has been acknowledged by fans of the movie and they have acknowledged that it has passed.
1990	The Hunt for Red October	November 1984	00:00:21	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears in the opening text that explains the fictionalized story of the Typhoon-class submarine Red October going missing and then sinking in the ocean, as a prelude to the film.
	Back to the Future Part III	September 2, 1885	00:17;23	Visual	This Watsonian date appears on the chronometer of the DeLorean time machine when Doc Brown sets the date in order to send Marty back to 1885 to rescue his 1985 self and send him back to the present. This date is the starting point of the main events of the film, where Marty goes back in time and then days later, he and Doc work to send the DeLorean back to the present, where they restore history to normal and save Doc from a terrible fate.
	Jacob's Ladder	October 6, 1971	00:02:57	Captioned	Because the movie involves the Vietnam War, no major events occurred in the date. This date appears at the beginning scene after the opening credits finish in the original film version that shows only the Carolco logo. The movie is extended by representing the TriStar and StudioCanal logos, which varies the duration time.
1991	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	August 4, 1997	01:17:59	Mentioned	August 29 is mentioned three times. Twice by Sarah Connor when she narrates at the very beginning of the movie and when she and Dr. Silberman are watching a video of herself at the mental institute. It's mentioned the third time by the Terminator when they're driving through the desert. The Terminator mentions August 4 only once as well.
1991	Terminator 2: Judgment Day	August 29, 1997	00:01:18 00:23:46 01:18:10	Mentioned
1993	Demolition Man	November 20, 1996	00:11:	Visual	These Watsonian dates both appear at the beginning of the movie during and at the end of the opening credits. The first date takes place three years after the film's release, which places the film entirely in the near future. The date appears on a computer screen as the day when Sylvester Stallone's character John Spartan is cryogenically imprisoned for crimes he did not commit. The second date remains unpassed and is the seventh closest upcoming year to pass. It appears on a computer screen also and is the starting point of the main events of the film, where the city landscape is now futuristic and Spartan and his nemesis Phoenix resume their old conflict that drastically impacts the peaceful society in San Angeles.
1993	Demolition Man	August 3, 2032	00:12:	Visual
1994	Star Trek Generations	48632.4 (August 19, 2371)	00:51:47	Mentioned	The stardate qualifies as a Watsonian date because it has been determined which modern calendar date it matches with, despite its fictional numbering complexity. Its been proven that the first digit number represents the current century, the second digit number represents the season number of the series, the last three digits progress unevenly and the number after the decimal point represents the minutes of the day. This Watsonian date is mentioned by Picard when he does his captain log, explaining how Data's emotion chip is merged with him, due to it getting overloaded during a confrontation with main antagonist Soran.
1996	Twister	June 1969	00:00:51	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears at the start of the movie during one of the countless years that tornadoes will occur in the United States. It sets a prologue to the film that represents a backstory to main character Jo Harding. As a non-fictional date that has already passed, there were 137 confirmed tornadoes during the same month and year and there was a six-day-long tornado outbreak as well.
	Escape from L.A.	August 23, 2000	00:03:15	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by the narrator at the beginning of the movie and the narrator also mentions the clock time "2:59pm" as well, which makes an addition to the date.
	Star Trek: First Contact	50893.5 (November 23, 2373)	00:04:48	Mentioned	This stardate is mentioned again by Picard in his captain log, stating that the Federation is facing a recent threat by the Borg, whom he has feared for so long ever since he was assimilated by them six years earlier. Both calendar dates at the bottom remain unpassed. The dates are mentioned by Picard, Data and Riker. Based on the future setting of the movie in the mid-21^st century, it is possible that by 2063, space flight technology will be more advanced and civilization will appear as modern as it is today.
		April 4, 2063	00:16:45	Mentioned
		April 5, 2063	01:39:58	Mentioned
	Mars Attacks!	May 9, 1995	00:00:17	Captioned	These Watsonian dates are all captioned on screen in order of the name of the day, the month, the numbered day of the month and the optional clock time. For example, the first captioned date says "Tuesday, May 9 - 6:57pm". These dates appear at different scenes in different locations, showing the different kinds of people who learn, witness and get involved in the arrival of the Martians. These dates are a buildup to the film's climax, where the first date is when humans encounter the first sign of the Martians and the last date is when the Martians launch their invasion and the different kinds of people fight to stop the invasion. The year is not seen or mentioned within the film. But it is indicated to take place in the previous year 1995. As a non-fictional date, May 9 was a Tuesday in 1995. It was a Thursday in 1996, the year the film was released, which supports the fictional context of the Watsonian date. And only a few significant events occurred on May 10, 11 and 13 that are unrelated to UFOs.
		May 10, 1995	00:04:03 00:06:42 00:09:20 00:10:54
		May 11, 1995	00:12:41 00:14:05
		May 12, 1995 May 13, 1995	00:26:44 00:30:54
1997	The Fifth Element	March 18, 2263	00:17:05	Visual	This Watsonian date appears on a touch screen clock belonging to Bruce Willis' character Korben Dallas. The future date is the primary setting of the film, where it's depicted as a dystopic era with advanced technology and a massive, industrialized civilization. It's also depicted as a certain time when as prophesized, the evil cosmic force emerges to destroy life on Earth and Leeloo is resurrected and joins with Korben and others to defeat the evil.
	Contact	November 10, 1974	00:	Mentioned
	Contact	November 10, 1993	00:	Visual
	Event Horizon	January 23, 2040	00:41:57 01:02:47	Visual	This Watsonian date appears within a captain's log video on a computer screen. The date is revealed as the exact point in time when the starship Event Horizon disappeared for seven years. In the first elapsed time, the captain's log shows the crew being onboard the Event Horizon at the time just before they activate the gravity drive in order to travel to Proxima Centauri. In the second elapsed time, the captain's log shows the crew mutilating each other after they use the gravity drive that sends the starship into the unknown hellish dimension.
	Titanic	March 27, 1912	00:50:31	Visual	This Watsonian date has no significance to the film but it appears on the artwork of Leonardo DiCaprio's character Jack Dawson, where it represents a fictional unseen activity that he did before the film from an in-universe perspective. In this elapsed time, Kate Winslet's character Rose is looking at Jack's artwork for the first time and then she looks at a drawing that has the date written beside it, along with a signature from a French individual. The elapsed time of this date is on the DVD version of the film. Other versions of the film are shorter and longer, which varies the duration time as well.
	Titanic	April 14, 1912	00:10:55 00:16:53 01:28:53	Visual Mentioned Visual	This Watsonian date is seen only on Jack's nude art picture of Rose. In the first elapsed time, supporting character Brock Lovett discovers the date on the art picture after its found within a safe on the sunken Titanic. In the second elapsed time, its mentioned by Rose's granddaughter when she briefly observes the picture. In the third elapsed time, the date is written by Jack after he finishes his art. Because the film focuses on a fictional romantic story within a historical disastrous event and because the Titanic sunk during the first two hours of April 15 after midnight, this allows April 14 to qualify as a Watsonian date due to the fictionalized context throughout the film. These dates are on the DVD version as well.
1998	Lost in Space	September 30, 2058 October 1, 2058	00:00:49 01:37:06	Visual / Mentioned	These Watsonian dates remain unpassed. The first date is shown at the beginning of the movie with William Hurt's character John Robinson narrating about humanity building a gateway to Alpha Prime for space colonization. The second date is mentioned by a computerized voice when Will Robinson's future self activates a time traveling portal that reveals the date by showing it as the day their family left Earth for Alpha Prime. This makes the second date the starting point of the film, where the family encounters a few temporal anomalies that surround the day they left Earth and involve consequences of their departure and their relationships.
1998	Deep Impact	May 10, 1998	00:04:	Visual	This Watsonian date appears at the beginning of the film on a document that has the right ascension and declination of the comet that is first discovered by supporting character Leo Biederman. This date takes place two days after the film's release date, which places the film in the near future. When the film skips one year ahead at elapsed time 00:06: and five more months later at 00:, this indirectly has the film set in October 1999 towards the end of the film.
1999	The Green Mile	July 10, 1935	00:25:12	Visual	This Watsonian date appears on a piece of paper that Tom Hanks' character Paul Edgecomb is holding. The elapsed time is a close up shot of the paper, revealing it to be a death warrant. It shows the execution date for death row inmate and minor character Arlen Bitterbuck. In the close up shot, Paul moves around with the paper, where the Watsonian date is visible but difficult to recognize until he holds it still for the shot and the date is seen clearly. The month and day are the only things that appear on screen, while the year partially goes off screen. It's been established that the film takes place in 1935. This date occurs between the beginning and middle of the film, which spans over an unknown number of days. This is the second Stephen King film adaptation that has a Watsonian date.
1999	Bicentennial Man	April 3, 2005	02:02:15	Mentioned	This Watsonian date has passed. It is mentioned at the end of the film when a minor character who is the leader of the fictional World Congress appears on TV and reveals the date to be the day when Robin Williams' character Andrew was first activated as a robot, which was at the very beginning of the film. The leader of the World Congress also reveals Andrew to be 200 years old. Despite not being revealed within the film, this implies the end of the film takes place on April 3, 2205. The date is the exact starting point in the film's timeline than spans over decades, following Andrew as he changes from a robot to a human and interacts with the generations of the family he's known his entire life.
2000	Mission to Mars	June 9, 2020	00:06:18	Captioned	This Watsonian date has passed. It is captioned during a scene when main characters Jim, Woody and Luke are sitting together after a party. Because the film takes place approximately 20 years in the future after the year it was made, it shows us that we have already traveled to Mars. Based on current technology in space flight, a manned mission to Mars has not yet been accomplished. But due to ongoing developments at NASA and other space agencies, a manned flight to Mars is an upcoming endeavor.
	U-571	May 14, 1942	00:09:30	Visual	This Watsonian date is seen on a paper letter held by Matthew McConaughey's character Andrew Tyler. It is virtually the beginning date of the film, which spans over an unknown number of days leading up to the climax and the ending. The film takes place during the historical Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. But it has been confirmed that the setting of the film is entirely fictional due to several inaccuracies seen within it.
	Red Planet	February 5, 2057	00:14:54	Captioned	This Watsonian date remains unpassed. Based on the setting of the movie and based on certain statements from scientific experts, the colonization of Mars is possible. And it is possible that by 2057, Mars will have a few colonies by then. However, the idea of terraforming in the movie is entirely hypothetical and remains beyond our capacity.
2001	Don't Say a Word	November 1991	00:01:26	Captioned	This Watsonian date is the beginning date of the film that establishes a starting point for a mystery that takes place ten years later during the main events of the film. This mystery involves a young woman who has a connection to a criminal who participated in a robbery at the beginning of the film.
	Donnie Darko	October 2, 1988	00:08:22 and 01:42:37	Captioned	These Watsonian dates are all captioned on black screens in between scenes. These dates are a motif in the film, acting as a countdown to October 30th, the eve of Halloween, which is where the world would presumably end as the main antagonist Frank says so. The dates also represent the story arc of the titular character Donnie and how his mental state gradually deteriorates after surviving a mysterious accident and because of Frank's influence. October 2 is shown twice in the film. It is the beginning date of the film, where Donnie survives the accident and meets Frank. And the date is seen again at the end of the film, where Donnie travels back in time to the very same day, after the "tangent universe" ends. These dates are from the original 113-minute version of the film.
	Donnie Darko	October 6, 1988 October 10, 1988 October 18, 1988 October 24, 1988 October 26, 1988 October 29, 1988 October 30, 1988	00:26:08 00:44:50 00:53:14 01:15:47 01:20:55 01:25:48 01:30:13	Captioned
2002	The Time Machine	February 3, 1903 January 18, 1899 May 24, 2030 August 26, 2037 July 16, 802701	00:16:58 00:25:28 00:27:53 00:33:13 00:36:14	Visual	These Watsonian dates are all seen on the calendar dial on the time machine throughout the film. The date at the top is the first to be seen visually when Guy Pearce's character Alexander makes his first attempt at time travel when he goes back and fails to save his fiancée. The second date is seen on the dial right before it begins changing when Alexander begins his journey into the future. The third date remains unpassed and is the fifth closest upcoming year to pass. It is the first distant future date that Alexander arrives in when he explores a futuristic New York City. The fourth date remains unpassed and is the eighth closest upcoming year to pass. It's when Alexander witnesses an apocalyptic event that leads to the distant future of the fifth final date. The fifth date is where he travels thousands of years further and discovers what has become of humanity after the apocalyptic event.
	Reign of Fire	October 19, 2008 August 7, 2010 December 19, 2010	00:08:38 00:09:32 00:09:53	Visual	The film primarily takes place in 2020 as seen on a captioned text at elapsed time 00:11:36. These Watsonian dates appear at the beginning of the film in a previous time period, during a scene of fast-moving shots of video footage and newspapers when Christian Bale's character Quinn is narrating. The first date is seen on a newspaper during a shot that shows a picture of young Quinn being the sole survivor of the dragon attack, which indicates when the film's timeline started. The date appeared on screen four seconds earlier, but this elapsed time is when its seen the clearest. The second date is on another newspaper, which propels the story further to the time when humanity is fighting the dragons around the world. And it presents a futuristic setting that shows the world continuing to be modern as it is. The third date appears on a night vision video footage that shows a ruined city.
	Minority Report	April 22, 2054	00:13:39	Mentioned	This Watsonian date remains unpassed. At 00:02:40, there is a caption text that says “The year 2054." In the first elapsed time, the month and day is mentioned by Tom Cruise's character John Anderton when he prevents a man from committing murder. In the second elapsed time, it appears on a large TV screen on the same day. Both dates and elapsed times associate with the exact point in time of when the film starts and when it takes place.
	Minority Report	April 22, 2054	00:15:38	Visual
	Ghost Ship	May 19, 1962	01:01:38	Mentioned / Visual	The first date establishes a backstory for the fictional ocean liner Antonio Graza by revealing what caused the events of everybody getting killed on the ship. The date is mentioned in the scene where character Sean Murphy is speaking to the ghost of the Antonio Graza's captain and the date is viewed on a picture in the same scene as well. The second date establishes a primary beginning point in the timeframe and it's the day when the Antonio Graza went missing at sea after the passengers and the crew died.
	Ghost Ship	May 21, 1962	00:16:10	Mentioned
	Star Trek: Nemesis	56844.9 (November 5, 2379)	00:25:50	Mentioned	This stardate is mentioned by Picard in his captain log, stating that he and his crew have arrived at Romulus and are facing a few difficulties that could lead to a predicament in their attempt to meet the mysterious antagonist Shinzon.
2003	Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines	July 4, 2032	01:07:58	Mentioned	This Watsonian date, which is Independence Day, remains unpassed and is the sixth closest upcoming year to pass. Because the franchise revolves around robots and an AI takeover, July 4 within the date represents that even in a post-apocalyptic future taken over by robots, we celebrate our freedom from any oppressor, human and robot alike.
	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen	April 9, 10 and 11, 1899	From 00:03:45 to 00:03:51	Visual	These Watsonian dates all appear at the beginning of the film with the full calendar dates seen on graphic pictures of newspapers and the month-and-year-only dates captioned on screen. The dates represent a timeline that shows tension escalating between countries because of the main antagonist and its terrorism. The dates also lead to the present time where the main characters come together to save the world from the antagonist and a world war. With the full calendar dates showing exact moments within the timeline in a historical year, the days within May 1899 are correct. However, the days within April 1899 are one day behind in contrast to the non-fictional dates, which makes it a movie mistake.
		May 1899	00:03:53	Captioned
		May 17, 18 and 19, 1899	From 00:05:00 to 00:05:05	Visual
		June 1899 July 1899	00:05:07 00:13:13	Captioned
	The Texas Chainsaw Massare	August 18, 1973	00:03:00	Captioned	August 20 is mentioned two times, in the beginning and end of the film, when the police are investigating the whereabouts of Leatherface. August 18 is a full calendar date that sets up when exactly the events took place. By observation, the movie takes place entirely within one day, starting from the afternoon to late night.
	The Texas Chainsaw Massare	August 20, 1973	00:02:44 01:31:46	Mentioned
	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	April 1805	00:01:05	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears at the very beginning of the movie. It establishes when the fictional setting took place within the historical Napoleonic Wars that began two years before. The date and the setting explores the crew of the HMS Surprise going on their adventure in South America that is far from the height of the wars while continuing to partake in the event by pursuing a French privateer as their enemy.
	The Last Samurai	July 12, 1876 July 22, 1876 May 25, 1877	00:10:10 00:15:30 01:46:11	Mentioned	These Watsonian dates are in previous years and they depict another fictional setting within a historical period. These elapsed times are when Tom Cruise's character Nathan Algren is narrating in the movie, where the narration are unseen writings of his journal. Apart from when the Meiji Restoration occurred in Japan, the third date took place four months before the samurai were actually defeated in September 1877.
2004	In Enemy Hands	January 1943	00:01:21	Mentioned	At the beginning of the film, a narrator says that in January 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill declared that stopping the U-boats was important to winning the war. Despite the near fictional context of the date, Roosevelt and Churchill did meet each other in Morocco at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 to discuss the next phase in winning the war. Battling the U-boats in the Atlantic was only one of their priorities without having any primary focus on it. June 3 and August 2 and 17 are fictional in the film, but significant events occurred on these dates. June 3, the Zoot Suit Riots occurred in Los Angeles. August 2, the PT-109, commanded by future president Kennedy, was sunk by Japanese destroyer Amagiri. August 17, the Allied invasion of Sicily was completed. The non-fictional context of these events do not involve U-boats or Atlantic battles, which supports the Watsonian dates independently. August 10, 13 and 17 are month and day only.
	In Enemy Hands	June 3, 1943 August 2, 1943 August 10, 1943 August 13, 1943 August 17, 1943	00:02:13 00:05:01 00:41:13 00:54:24 01:12:12	Captioned
	Hellboy	October 9, 1944	00:01:45	Captioned	This Watsonian date is seen at the beginning of the film that takes place during World War II. The date is when Hellboy started out as an infant and came to Earth when the Nazis tried to summon dimensional monsters to win the war. And it's when Hellboy was found and raised by Trevor Bruttenholm who led a group of American soldiers to defeat the Nazis. As a non-fictional date, no significant events occurred related or unrelated to the war.
	Man on Fire	December 16, 2003	02:19:45	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears at the end of the film, revealed as the day when Creasy dies after trading himself for Pita to save her. It appears on screen as "Jan. 4, 1956 - Dec. 16, 2003", in the form like he was a real person who was involved in a real event. But Creasy is in fact a fictional character from the novel itself.
	Alien vs. Predator	October 3, 2004 October 10, 2004	00:01:25 00:38:02	Captioned / Mentioned	These Watsonian dates take place two months after the film's release date. The first Watsonian date appears at the very beginning of the film, setting up a starting point of the story, showing how the underground pyramid gets discovered by a satellite, leading to an expedition team being assembled to explore the pyramid. The second Watsonian date is mentioned in the scene where the expedition team discovers the Predator's blasters within a sarcophagus inside the pyramid. In the scene, an archaeologist member of the team discovers three dials on the sarcophagus that represent day, month and year and are used as a combination lock. The archaeologist discovers that the dials had been previously set to the year 1904, exactly a hundred years ago. By using the numbers of the current future date they are in right now, "10, 10, 2004", the team unlocks the dials and succeeds in opening the sarcophagus. The second date is the day when the sarcophagus is to be opened for the Predators to use the blasters to kill the Aliens in a hunting ritual that occurs every one hundred years.
	The Incredibles	November 15, 1958 April 23, 1957	00:	Mentioned	These Watsonian dates are mentioned by supporting character Edna Mode when she's explaining to Mr. Incredible about the disadvantage of capes. The first date shows a flashback of a superhero getting accidentally launched away by a rocket when his cape gets caught on it. The second date shows another flashback of a superheroine getting sucked into a jet turbine when her cape gets caught in it also. Despite having no significance to the film, the dates, along with Edna's story, pertain to Syndrome's ultimate demise when his cape gets caught in his plane's engine.
2005	The Sandlot 2	March 21, 1986	01:33:05	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is not significant to the film, but it represents how the main characters moved on with their lives after playing on the sandlot and what they did or what had become of them. The date is mentioned by the narrator who reveals it as the day when supporting character Tarqell was abducted by aliens and was never seen again.
2006	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning	August 1939 July 1969	00:00:47 00:06:40	Captioned	The first two captioned dates are only month and year but they establish a basic time period of where Leatherface came from and how he came to be. The third last date appears on a piece of paper within the opening credits, where it appears for only a second before switching to other pictures and footages during the credits. But the date does represent an unseen moment or event that transpired within Leatherface's life.
	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning	June 9, 1967	00:05:46	Visual
	Children of Men	November 16, 2027	00:01:55	Captioned	This Watsonian date remains unpassed and is the fourth closest upcoming year to pass. It appears at the beginning of the film, presenting a near future that looks as modern as the time we are living in currently. And the date presents a time period in the story of the film, where a child is born for the first time after years of infertility and it causes a great conflict that will determine humanity's future.
	Perfume: The Story of a Murderer	July 17, 1738 June 25, 1766	00:05:12 02:14:07	Mentioned	The first Watsonian date shows the day when the main character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was born, establishing a basic beginning point in the story. The second date shows the day that Grenouille dies when he uses his perfume on himself and allows himself to be cannibalized by a crowd that is attracted by its scent.
2007	Paranormal Activity	September 18, 2006	00:00:41 and 00:07:39	Captioned	This film has several Watsonian dates on screen that take place only a year before it was made. These dates appear at each elapsed time and they're seen only during a still shot when main characters Katie and Micah are sleeping at night. These dates are a motif to the film, where they represent moments when the unseen hostile ghost is present and they are depicted as a fictionalized documentary about paranormal investigations. The first date was captioned twice on both day and night.
	Paranormal Activity	September 20, September 22, September 30, 2006 October 2, October 4, October 5, October 6, October 7, October 8, October 11, 2006	00:20:26 00:26:33 00:30:49 00:37:06 00:53:46 01:01:47 01:09:44 01:16:26 01:21:10 01:24:39	Captioned
	I Am Legend	September 9, 2012	01:31:23	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is in the original ending of the movie where Robert Neville dies and two supporting characters Anna and Ethan go to the survivors colony alone.
2008	Journey to the Center of the Earth	August 14, 1997	00:49:31	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by Brendan Fraser's character Trevor Anderson when he's reciting a message that his late brother Max wrote in a diary during his journey underneath the Earth. The date has no significance to the film but it shows how others had made the exploration before the main characters did and what they left behind allowed the main characters to find a way home safe.
2009	Friday the 13th	June 13, 1980	00:01:07	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears at the beginning of the film, showing a scene similar to the ending of the first film in the franchise, where a camp counselor decapitates Mrs. Voorhees. The scene takes place in the same year the first film was produced, where it was likely paying homage to it. However, the first film was set in the year 1979, which doesn't establish a connection between the remake and the first film and allows the remake have its own fictional setting.
	Star Trek	2233.04 (January 4, 2233)	00:06:26	Mentioned	Apart from the stardate used in The Next Generation, this new stardate qualifies as a Watsonian date because it's the least complex and it shows the actual year of when the movie takes place. It's been proven that the numbers after the decimal point indicate the number of days within a year after it begins. The first stardate is spoken at the beginning of the movie by the captain of the starship USS Kelvin.^[18] The second stardate is mentioned twice. First by Spock when he does a log as acting captain of the Enterprise and then by Kirk when he is marooned on Delta Vega.
	Star Trek	2258.42 (February 11, 2258)	01:04:13 01:12:55	Mentioned
	Terminator Salvation	May 21, 2018	00:06:05	Visual	This Watsonian date has passed. It appears right after the opening text of the film, where it's seen at the bottom right of the screen, within the view of a moving drone that attacks a facility controlled by Skynet. The date is the starting point of the primary 2018 setting of the film, which spans over a total of six days until the end of the film. Even though it is a fictional date, the month and day are the same as the film's release date.
	District 9	June 1, 1982 June 3, 1982 July 5, 1982	00:01:53 00:02:00 00:02:42	Visual	The Watsonian dates appear only within surveillance footage, due to the movie being partially filmed as a fictionalized documentary with surveillance cameras everywhere and unseen cameramen following the characters and filming the scenes. The first three dates at the top represent the beginning of the film's timeframe, showing how the aliens first arrived in the 80s and what events had transpired within Johannesburg after their arrival, which led to the events in the film. The rest of the dates take place one year after the movie was filmed. Each August date are seen on and off screen for several minutes during scenes that take place in District 9 and within Johannesburg. September 10 at the bottom is the last date of the timeframe and it represents the end of the major current events within the film.
		August 9, 2010	00:13:12
		August 9, 2010	From 00:20:35 to 00:32:02
		August 11, 2010	From 00:44:19 to 00:47:06
		August 13, 2010	1:07:27 1:13:35
		September 10, 2010	1:43:18
	2012	December 21, 2012	00:12:07	Mentioned	This Watsonian date has passed. It's mentioned two times in the film. The second time its mentioned, it's also presented at the same time in an animated video on a laptop within the film. With the date being significant to the story of the film, the film focuses on the cataclysmic disasters that occur within that date.
	2012	December 21, 2012	00:32:36	Mentioned / Visual
	Inglourious Basterds	June 1944	From 00:38:02 to 00:38:07	Captioned	This Watsonian date takes place during the historical World War II, but it represents the alternate history story of the film. It appears on screen right after the captioned title "Chapter Three German Night in Paris". It appears on screen for five seconds long as two separate caption texts "1944" and "June". The date is a basic setting of where and when most of the film takes place and it depicts the fictional point in time of when the Nazi leadership gets destroyed by the Basterds. This Watsonian date is in contrast to when the Nazis actually surrendered to the Allies a year later in May 1945.
	Daybreakers	April 2019	00:00:50	Visual	This Watsonian date has passed. It's seen only on a calendar at the beginning of the film, which sets it up ten years in a future that appears as normal as it is today and presents fictional futuristic ideas. Even though the exact date is not seen or mentioned, it is indirectly revealed. When Ethan Hawke's character Edward Dalton protects a group of humans from vampire policemen, one of the humans, third protagonist Audrey, finds Edward's ID badge and sees his date of birth, "4/2/74". And then she mentions it as Edward's birthday, which implies that the official beginning day of the film is, in fact, Edward's birthday. The fourth month is April, just like the calendar at the beginning scene and this means the day the film starts at is actually April 2, 2019.
	Pandorum	February 8, 3097	01:	Visual	This Watsonian date appears near the end of the movie on a hologram that shows 923 elapsed mission years of the interstellar ark Elysium, right after Ben Foster's character Bower discovers that the Elysium had already landed on the planet Tanis after its 123-year-long mission and has been underwater for 800 years longer. The year 2174 appears on screen at the beginning of the movie and due to 923 years having passed, the Watsonian date is correctly accurate by year. Even though it has no significance to the film, the date represents how the Elysium's journey became a prolonged, unchecked time period where disaster befell the ark when passengers gave up being colonists and devolved into the mutants all due to the dangers of the fictional Pandorum disorder.
	Avatar	May 19, 2154 May 30, 2154 June 29, 2154 August 13, 2154 August 24, 2154	00:09:39 00:59:56 01:01:50 01:18:16 02:33:31	Visual	These Watsonian dates appear only when Jake Sully is doing video logs during his time on Pandora and the dates keep a record of how long he's been on the planet when he's not mentioning them. The dates are too small to be noticed but are at the bottom of the film shot. The date August 13 is shown twice, during a video log and during a scene that shows the video log on a computer screen fifteen minutes later. There are two versions of the movie: the original 162-minute movie and the extended version that has seven more minutes added to it. These dates are in the original version.
2010	Buried	October 23, 2006	01:11:16	Mentioned	This Watsonian date takes place four years before the film was made. Despite being filmed within a small, isolated place and due to the main character Paul Conroy claiming to be buried in Iraq, the date could be associated with the early years of the Iraq War or the United States' occupation in the Middle East.
	Paranormal Activity 2	August 9, 2006	00:14:41 and 00:19:07	Captioned	The second film in the Paranormal Activity franchise has several Watsonian dates that are in the same year as the first film. And just like the first film, every Watsonian date appears at each elapsed time, showing a still shot of the front door walkway of the Rey household. And every date is a motif that shows increasingly ominous events that lead to the horrifying climax of the film. August 9 is captioned twice on both day and night as well.
	Paranormal Activity 2	August 7, August 8, August 10, August 11, August 14, August 16, August 17, August 18, August 23, August 25, 2006 October 9 October 12, 2006	00:08:15 00:12:58 00:20:44 00:22:36 00:29:10 00:32:45 00:36:35 00:41:39 01:00:24 01:09:19 01:29:14 01:31:49	Captioned
2011	Hall Pass	March 25, 1989	01:39:00	Mentioned	This Watsonian date has no significance to the movie, but it does reveal when main character Rick met his wife Maggie at a young age. And it specifically reveals when Rick lost his virginity to Maggie, which is what led them to fall in love and get married. The clock time "10:30pm" is mentioned along with the date.
	Super 8	April 8, 1963	1:15:16 1:16:19	Mentioned / Visual	This Watsonian date comes before the movie and no historical events occurred on this date as well. This date is mentioned by one of the teenage protagonists and then it's shown visually within a film reel a minute later during the same scene when the protagonists are investigating about a mysterious alien and a scientist they know about. This date creates a backstory to the movie, showing how the scientist became involved with the alien and how it led to the events in the movie.
	Apollo 18	December 25, 1974	00:07:39	Mentioned	This Watsonian date, which is Christmas Day, has passed. Because Apollo 18 was canceled in real life and the film is an alternate history setting that shows the mission being conducted secretly^[19], the date represents an early time when NASA was still at its height of sending men to the Moon before the creation of the Space Shuttle and the ISS.
	Real Steel	August 27, 2020	0:10:02	Mentioned	These Watsonian dates have passed. The first date is revealed separately and indirectly. In the first elapsed time, the year is mentioned by carnival owner Ricky when he's announcing to an audience about a robot fight that Hugh Jackman's character Charlie loses to. Eight minutes later in the second elapsed time, the month and day are mentioned by supporting character Debra as the date that she will return from a vacation to gain custody of Charlie's son Max. The second date is a fully revealed Watsonian date that establishes a proper point in time in the film's storyline. It's seen on a newspaper that Charlie looks at when he's returning home without Max, where he sees a photo of their robot Atom's victory against Twin Cities. It indicates to have taken place shortly after the day of their victory. Despite having no significance to the film, the Watsonian dates represent how over time, Charlie and Max had reached the height of their relationship and then fell on hard times and reunited later on for their final victory.
		August 27, 2020	0:18:23	Mentioned
		August 2, 2020	1:32:58	Visual
	Paranormal Activity 3	September 3, 1988 September 10, September 14, September 16, September 17, September 19, September 21, September 22, September 23, 1988	00:02:47 00:19:16 00:25:47 00:30:33 00:34:45 00:40:29 00:53:47 00:57:49 01:08:58	Mentioned	In the third installment, there are two dates in the beginning scene that are only month and year. Because they're only shown briefly before the movie takes place in the primary 1988 setting, the two dates don't qualify due to being seen already in the previous films. In the 1988 setting, each elapsed time shows the same shot of the two main characters Dennis and Julie sleeping in their bed at night, similar to Katie and Micah sleeping at night as well.
2012	Men in Black 3	July 15, 1969	00:20:39 00:28:15 00:32:00 00:34:20	Mentioned / Visual	This Watsonian date is seen and mentioned a few times within the film. The date is where the main events take place leading up to the climax on the day of the Apollo 11 launch on July 16, 1969. The first elapsed time at the top is where Agent J learns about Agent K's conflict with antagonist Boris in 1969. The second elapsed time is when J is in the alternate timeline and learns that K has been dead since 1969 because Boris recently went back in time and altered history. The third elapsed time is when J meets a minor character who helped Boris go back in time. He first finds the date within a logbook filled with other previous time periods that the man helped others go back in time to. J then mentions the date twice as he plans to go back in time as well and save K. The fourth elapsed time is when the minor character is setting the date itself on the alien time-travel device.
	Prometheus	December 21, 2093	00:07:54	Captioned	These Watsonian dates remain unpassed. The first date at the top is the primary setting of the film. It appears during a panning shot of the Prometheus when the starship first appears on screen. In the shot, five captioned texts appear on the screen as a list. The date is the third middle text in the list. The second date is mentioned next in the film by the character Peter Weyland in a holographic video. The date is insignificant to the story of the film, but it establishes an authentic timeframe for the film, which starts in the year 2089 without a Watsonian date.
	Prometheus	June 22, 2091	00:16:05	Mentioned
	Looper	July 15, 2039	01:05:54	Visual	This Watsonian date appears on a piece of a map that protagonist Joe steals from his older self. In the elapsed time, a close up shot shows the date, which are random numbers “07153902935.” Second protagonist Sara divides the numbers 071539 into a calendar date, revealing it as the birthday of her son Cid. The last five digits 02935 are what she claims to be a medical code for Cid when he was born at a hospital. This date is both unpassed and comes before the movie, which takes place in the year 2044. Despite not being associated with the events of the movie, the Watsonian date associates with Cid, a prominent character who is also known as the Rainmaker.
	Paranormal Activity 4	October 31, 2011 November 6, November 8, November 11, November 12, November 13, November 14, November 15, November 16, November 17, 2011	00:02:32 00:24:38 00:31:16 00:40:54 00:46:13 00:52:43 01:00:06 01:04:12 01:11:50 01:16:04	Mentioned	In the fourth installment, there is another date with month and year only and doesn't qualify either. Each elapsed time shows the kitchen of the Nelson household and one showing the bedroom where supporting character Wyatt Nelson sleeps.
	Cloud Atlas	June 15, 1849 September 18, 2144	0:40:08 0:30:03	Mentioned	These Watsonian dates appear and are mentioned in the film within the segments they depict. The dates are mentioned incompletely without revealing a full calendar date, but the years are captioned in the opening scene of each segment, which establishes the basis of the time period the segments take place in. The first date is mentioned in the "Pacific Islands, 1849" segment when main character Adam Ewing writes in his journal about the day he sails to America while narrating it. He mentions the date only as "Friday the 15th". According to the real-life calendar, June was the only month in 1849 where the 15th was a Friday. The second date is mentioned in the "Neo Seoul, 2144" segment when a supporting character, the Archivist, asks main character Sonmi-451 about a day when her friend Yoona-939 was killed trying to escape after assaulting someone. The Archivist mentions the date only as "September 18th". According to the real-life calendar, September 18th in the future year 2144 is a Friday also.
	Django Unchained	May 2, 1858 (May 5, 1859)	01:25:52	Visual	This Watsonian date appears on a bank receipt being signed by Samuel L. Jackson's character Stephen, where the date is supposedly the current day that the scene of the movie takes place in. However, the Watsonian date is chronologically incorrect. The year 1858 is captioned on-screen at the beginning of the film. But within the rising action sequence, the film takes place during the winter, where main characters Django and Dr. Schultz spend their time as bounty hunters until a rolling text at elapsed time 00:58:04 reveals that they traveled to Mississippi after the winter. Because the winter takes place at the end of a previous year and the beginning of a new year, it had become the year 1859 when the two men came to Mississippi to find Django's wife. When Stephen writes the receipt, the month of May is correct, except for the day and year. According to the film's wiki website, Dr. Schultz and main antagonist Calvin Candie both died on May 5, 1859, which is implied to be the very same day that both Stephen wrote the receipt and Django and Dr. Schultz arrived at Candie's plantation.
2013	Oblivion	May 3, 2017	01:44:22	Mentioned	The first Watsonian date has already passed. It is mentioned by a computerized voice when protagonist Jack Harper listens to a flight recorder from a crashed NASA spacecraft. It reveals the starting point of the film's timeframe, where he learns about who he truly is and what caused the events of the film. The second date remains unpassed. And this is the second time that a Watsonian date was narrated by Tom Cruise after The Last Samurai.
	Oblivion	March 14, 2077	00:01:28	Mentioned
	Star Trek Into Darkness	2259.55 (February 24, 2259)	00:10:44	Captioned	This stardate is the only one in the reboot films to appear on screen, while the rest of the dates are mentioned by characters.
	The Purge	March 21-22, 2017-2021	From 00:01:25 to 00:02:43	Captioned	These Watsonian dates are the same month and day as the year goes from 2017 to 2021. They appear within surveillance footage showing Purge activity that spans over a minute and a half.
	Oldboy	October 8, 1993 July 30, 1994	00:02:38 00:22:22	Captioned / Mentioned	This Watsonian date appears at the beginning of the movie, showing how Josh Brolin's character Joe Doucett starts out as a normal guy and then gets imprisoned for 20 years and becomes a changed man determined to get his life and his daughter back. The clock time "3:12pm" is part of the date. The second date is mentioned on a TV screen in Joe's prison hotel room, where its revealed to be the day when Joe's wife was killed by the antagonists who framed him for it.
2014	Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones	June 12, 2012	00:00:41	Captioned	Because this movie is a spin-off in the franchise of the same name, the fifth installment has only one Watsonian date that is set two years before the movie was filmed. Instead of being filmed only within a family's house, the movie is filmed throughout a Latino neighborhood. The second Watsonian date is viewed and mentioned at the same time during a shot that shows a picture of three women. The date comes after Paranormal Activity 3 in 1988, indicating that unseen events have transpired ever since Dennis and Julie got killed and Katie and Kristi were captured by a witch coven.
	Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones	November 3, 1994	00:54:46	Mentioned / Visual
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	March 30, 1999 June 30, 1999 July 18, 1999	00:25:24 00:25:29 00:26:01	Visual	These Watsonian dates are seen within a video that April O'Neil watches that she did when she was a child, where she saw the turtles before when they were being experimented by her father. These dates reveal how the turtles came to be and how April had a more pivotal role in the turtles' lives of becoming ninjas.
2015	Project Almanac	February 18, 2014	00:20:09	Mentioned	These Watsonian dates are mentioned within the found footage perspective of the film. The first date is mentioned by main protagonist David's sister Christina who holds the camera, recording David as he looks at a video of his seventh birthday that was mysteriously filmed by his present self. This is the start of the rising action sequence within the film. The second date is mentioned by David himself, where he records himself stating his plan to repair the accidents he caused from his time travelling antics, which leads to the climax of the film.
	Project Almanac	April 23, 2014	01:20:48	Mentioned
	Unfriended	April 12, 2013	00:00:41	Visual	Due to the film being produced within a computer screen perspective, this Watsonian date appears on main character Blaire's laptop when she watches a video of her friend Laura committing suicide. This date has no significance, but it is a starting point that leads towards the events of the film, where Laura's vengeful ghost starts killing the characters who are connected to Laura's suicide.
	Terminator Genisys	October 2017	00:42:41	Mentioned	This Watsonian date has passed. In the franchise, August was always the month when Judgment Day happens. Kyle Reese says that he and Sarah are time traveling to October 2017.
	Terminator Genisys	August 28, 2017	00:56:32	Visual	At the beginning of the 2017 setting, supporting character O'Brien has a hand-held tablet that says “8/28/2017” on it, which is August 28, the day before Judgment Day, which makes October 2017 a movie mistake. It has already been acknowledged by the people who made the film and the people who have observed and evaluated the film.
	Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimention	November 29, 2013 December 11, December 12, December 14, December 15, December 17, December 18, 2013	00:02:05 00:30:42 00:33:23 00:40:56 00:47:14 01:02:48 01:13:45	Mentioned	These Watsonian dates take place two years before the film was made. This installment has a few other fictional dates from the other films that do not qualify as well due to already being seen. The fictional date of May is on a TV screen within the film, which makes it the second known production set within the franchise to have a date.
	Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimention	May 8, 2010	01:01:10	Visual
2016	Captain America: Civil War	December 16, 1991	00:25:59 01:05:33	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned several times throughout the film by the main antagonist Zemo. In the first elapsed time, Zemo repeats the date three times in the same scene when he's interrogating a former Soviet colonel who was a member of Hydra. In the second elapsed time, Zemo says the date again after he activates the brainwashing programming within Bucky Barnes. In the third elapsed time, it is seen on a computer screen when Bucky, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark arrive at a Hydra base in Siberia to confront Zemo. The date is in Russian, except for the numbers, which allows it to be identified as a date. The date is on-screen and off-screen for two minutes. The third elapsed time reveals the date to be a motif of the film, revealing that Bucky was responsible for the deaths of Tony's parents, which is the primary cause of the temporary end of Tony and Steve's friendship.
	Captain America: Civil War	December 16, 1991	From 02:00:50 to 02:02:34	Visual
	The Shallows	April 26, 2016	00:57:48	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by Blake Lively's character Nancy when she makes a video with a GoPro camera taken from a dead surfer, explaining the details of what has happened to her. The video is a motif of the film, where she uses it to warn others about the shark and leave messages for her family in case she dies. And the video is eventually found on shore, which ultimately leads to her rescue.
	Star Trek Beyond	2263.02 (January 2, 2263)	00:03:58	Mentioned	In the first elapsed time, the stardate is mentioned when Kirk is recording on a captain's log. In the second elapsed time, it appears on a touch screen tablet held by Spock.
	Star Trek Beyond	2263.02 (January 2, 2263)	00:12:03	Visual
	Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children	January 4, 1902 September 102, 1910 December 13, 1934 January 22, 1943 November 4, 1944 June 22, 1963 July 17, 1982 May 6, 1972	00:01:25 01:33:29 00:01:30 00:02:06 00:01:46 01:33:29 00:01:52 00:10:03	Visual	This film currently has the most complex amount of dates and times. This is currently the only film that involves time loops with Watsonian dates presented in it. This film includes the optional clock time, which is a motif that is used several times throughout the story. The first list of dates at the top are shown in the opening credits and most of them have clock times added to them. There are a few other dates that are shown but are not so visible to be determined. The beginning dates are a presentation of how Miss Peregrine and her Peculiar kind, the Ymbrnes, who can manipulate time and are extremely punctual, have created a map of where and when the time loops are. January 2016 is first mentioned as a month and year and then seen on a map with time loop locations, where it has all four units of time: month, day, year and clock time. Because its the present time of the film, it takes place ten months before the release date of the film, which makes it a Watsonian date. September 3, 1943 is mentioned the most in the film and seen twice on a map. Its the primary setting of the film that presents the Peculiars' home and how the time loop is reset daily. However, despite the date being fictional and because it takes place during World War II, a real-life historical event occurred during the war on the very same date, where the Allies began their invasion of Italy. September 2 is shown only once in a close up shot of Miss Peregrine's clock, during the scene where she is resetting the time loop and her clock is spinning backwards to the previous day. The clock switches from Friday the 3rd to Thursday the 2nd, which are the very same days as it was in 1943. In the elapsed time 01:33:29, three of the dates are shown at the same time on a map of time loop locations, with two of the same dates shown earlier in the film.
		September 2, 1943	00:50:23	Visual
		September 3, 1943	00:02:53	Visual
			00:02:53	Mentioned
			00:07:30 00:22:38 00:29:52 01:08:35	Mentioned
			00:50:11	Visual
		January 2016 / January 11, 2016	00:56:16 01:33:29	Mentioned / Visual
	Split	September 18, 2014	01:35:02	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by James McAvoy's DID-afflicted character Kevin during a scene when his original personality briefly returns and meets the protagonist Casey. The date was when Kevin was last conscious, claiming that he was riding on a bus on this date and he couldn't remember anything else after that because his other personalities took control over him.
2017	Alien: Covenant	December 5, 2104	00:06:10	Captioned	This Watsonian date remains unpassed. Similar to the first prequel film Prometheus, the date appears in a list of texts that give details about the Covenant.
	The Hitman's Bodyguard	April 17, 2012	01:38:01	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned by Samuel L. Jackson's character Darius Kincaid as the day when he first met the main antagonist Dukhovich and witnessed the atrocities he's committed. This date has no significance to the film but is used during a court trial by Kincaid to expose Dukhovich of his war crimes.
	Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars	November 7, 2314	01:21:56	Visual	This Watsonian date appears near the end of the film on a touch screen tablet held by supporting character Baba who reads a classified document that mentions about a meteor that struck Mars on this particular date and released the Arachnids to attack the planet. At elapsed time 00:30:33, a narrator mentions the date had occurred three years prior, which makes the movie take place in the year 2317. According to the Starship Troopers wiki website, due to the franchise's timeline being unclear and not fully detailed, the film possibly takes place 25 to 30 years after the first film.
	It	June 1989		Captioned
	It	April 3, 1908		Visual
	Blade Runner 2049	June 10, 2021	00:48:57	Visual	The first date has already passed. It is seen on screen as "6 10 21" early in the movie when Ryan Gosling's character K discovers the numbers carved on a tree, revealing the birthday of a mysterious character who is prominent to the story of the film. The second date remains unpassed. This Watsonian date is complete with day, month and year. It depicts the movie at a specific point in time, where future events are yet to unfold and showing how far the timeframe of the franchise has gone. It appears when K is doing a "baseline test" in the film.
	Blade Runner 2049	June 30, 2049	00:14:35	Captioned
	Logan	August 1, 2026	00:45:34	Visual	This Watsonian date is the second closest upcoming year to pass. The date appears within a video on a cell phone that Wolverine and Charles Xavier are watching about the villainous Transigen organization and the cloned children, including Laura. The date comes before the movie, which takes place in 2029.
2018	Winchester	June 3, 1886	00:	Visual	This Watsonian date is seen in an up-close shot of a newspaper that talks about a Civil War soldier who was killed twenty years before the film. The newspaper is read by Jason Clarke's character Dr. Eric Price right after he encounters the ghost of the soldier who is haunting Sarah Winchester in her mansion. The date has a Thursday beside it, with most of it seen off-screen. As a real-life calendar date, June 3, 1886 is a Thursday. And as a non-fictional date, no events involving the Winchester Company or Civil War soldiers occurred.
		September 28, 1896	00:25	Visual	This Watsonian date is seen at the beginning of the film when Dr. Price looks at a newspaper picture of the mansion when a supporting character explains to him about Sarah and her ghostly encounters and her taking residence in the house. The date has a Saturday within it and as a real-life calendar date, it is actually Monday, which makes this fictional date a writing error.
		April 12-19, 1906	01:	Mentioned	These Watsonian dates are mentioned near the end of the film when Dr. Price writes down his assessment of Sarah's mental health after spending a week observing her in the mansion inhabited with vengeful ghosts. Because the film shows a dramatic aspect of Sarah's ghostly encounters, the fictional dates take place in a historical period, coinciding with real-time events leading up to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that occurs in the film's climax.
	Hotel Artemis	June 21, 2028	00:00:54	Captioned	This Watsonian date is seen at the beginning of the film, representing the future setting of the film and representing the one day that the entire film takes place within from day to night, where the characters confront unfortunate events that lead to an ill-fated climax.
	Ready Player One	November 23 and 27, 2025 December 2, 2025	01:03:11 00:37:04	Mentioned	These Watsonian dates are the closest upcoming years to pass. They are the earliest dates in the film's timeframe and set twenty years before the film, which takes place in 2045. The first date is partially significant to the film, where its mentioned by Tye Sheridan's character Wade Watts when he and his friends are solving the second clue of the contest. The date reveals a past time when James Halliday was together with a woman named Kira Underwood, who became the wife of his friend, Ogden Morrow. The second date is mentioned during a scene showing a video of Halliday and Morrow creating the OASIS. The date takes place six days before the OASIS went live, which makes it indirectly the starting point of the film's timeframe.
		August 12, 2027	00:57:11		This Watsonian date is the third closest upcoming year to pass. It's another date that comes before the events of the film and it's revealed as the day when Wade Watts was born, which was narrated by Wade at the beginning of the film just with the year only.
		January 7, 2040	00:07:54		This Watsonian date comes five years before the film. It's mentioned during a flashback as the day when Halliday died. The date has no significance to the film, but it's another starting point in the timeframe, where Halliday's contest begins, which establishes the beginning of the primary setting of the film.
2019	1917	April 6, 1917	00:00:48	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears at the very beginning of the film, where April 6 fades in and 1917 remains and imposes as the title until the very first scene appears right after. April 6 is fictional in the film, but significant events occurred on this date, such as America declaring war on Germany. Despite the film involving the historical Hindenburg Line and a withdrawal of German forces, the film does not present any other historical events involving the Hindenburg Line, which supports the date's fictional context. As a non-fictional date, April 6, 1917 was on a Friday, which was mentioned at the beginning of the film as well.
2020	Underwater	February 2, 2050 August 7, 2050 August 12, 2050 April 21, 2051	00:01:51 01:29:50 01:30:04 01:30:06	Visual	Because the movie has a futuristic setting about drilling stations set up at the bottom of the ocean, these Watsonian dates represent how far long we would have to go to accomplish such an endeavor. The first Watsonian date appears on a graphic picture of an unknown newspaper that talks about the drilling stations being established at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This date takes place before the film's storyline and represents the public awareness of the stations operating in the ocean. This future date has "Wednesday" written beside it. According to the real-life calendar, the future date of February 2, 2050 is a Wednesday. The second date appears on another unknown newspaper that talks about the two remaining survivors of the monster attacks, which is being called an underwater incident. This future date has "Sunday" written beside it. The real-life future date of August 7, 2050 is a Sunday also. The third date appears on another unknown newspaper and it's seen at the top of the screen for a few seconds before switching to another graphic. The name of the day is barely seen on screen, but since the date takes place five days after, it is most likely Friday. The fourth date appears during a one-second shot of a classified report about the incident.
2021	The Tomorrow War	December 2022	00:01:32	Captioned	This Watsonian date has passed. It appears at the beginning of the movie as the starting point of the film's timeline, showing our current year as the primary past period for soldiers to be sent into the future to fight the aliens.
2022	Moonfall	January 12, 2011	00:01:43	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears at the beginning of the movie, establishing a starting point of when the characters become involved in a dangerous mystery about the Moon and then begin to work together to solve the mystery and save the world from being destroyed. And because the movie goes forward ten years later after this date, it makes this movie set a year before the film was released. As a non-fictional date, no significant or historical events occurred that are related to space or the Moon.
	Jurassic World: Dominion	March 10, 2019 May 2, 1986 June 26, 2007 February 10, 2009	00:01:25 01:06:55 01:07:28 01:08:31	Visual	These Watsonian dates all appear on a computer screen when supporting character Maisie Lockwood is watching videos of her deceased mother Charlotte. These dates primarily show how Maisie came to be, but they also represent the length of the franchise's timeline, revealing unseen story plots that lead to the current events of the film. The first date is seen on a video of Charlotte working in Jurassic Park at the time when it was being built and when the dinosaurs were first being created. The second date is seen on a video of Charlotte explaining her efforts in using dinosaur DNA for medical reasons. The third date is seen on a video of Charlotte holding an infant Maisie, which reveals Charlotte genetically altering Maisie to save her from sickness, which becomes a vital component in the film's story plot.
	Prey	September 1719	00:07:16	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears during the beginning of the movie when main protagonist Naru returns to the village after a failed deer hunt. Apart from the story context of Alien vs Predator, this fictional date represents the Predators' earliest visit to Earth and earliest conflict with humans within the franchise independently. And this date reveals a canon connection within the franchise that is related to a recurring character Raphael Adolini. As a non-fictional date, no historical events occurred within North America or focused on the whereabouts of the Native Americans or the foreigners who occupied their homeland.
2023	Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget	November 4, 1953	00:01:19	Visual	This Watsonian date appears at the beginning of the movie on a newspaper with a picture of the farm that got destroyed by the pie machine explosion when the chickens made their escape. This date reveals when the first film took place and what the true setting of the first film was and what events took place after. The date has Wednesday written beside it and as a non-fictional date, November 4, 1953 was a Wednesday.

List of TV Series with Watsonian dates

This list is incomplete. Make additions to the list and document all column data. The elapsed time mark that varies between versions (re-releases or original airing) should be stated in the NOTES column.

List of TV Series with Watsonian dates
Year	TV Series	Episode	Watsonian Date	Elapsed Time (mm:ss)	Date Type	Notes
1959-1964	The Twilight Zone	A Hundred Yards Over the Rim	September 1961	13:36	Visual	One of the earliest Watsonian dates to be recognized on a television series. It appears on a prop calendar in the episode, depicting a future date that takes place five months after the airing date of the episode. This elapsed time reveals the date officially when the calendar is seen in an up-close shot during the climax of the episode when character Chris Horn discovers what year he's in. The calendar has appeared in the background a few times before the elapsed time, but was small and unrecognizable.
		Steel	August 1974	01:22	Visual	This Watsonian date appears on another prop calendar within the episode, depicting a supposed future despite the old era appearance of the episode.
		The Long Morrow	December 31, 1987 January 1, 1988	01:10	Visual	The Watsonian dates only appear on a time dial within a spacecraft piloted by lone character Douglas Stansfield who goes on a 40-year-long mission to a new solar system. The first two dates are seen at the same time when December 31 switches to January 1 on the dial, showing how a new year begins as always and showing the duration of the mission. The last two dates are seen later on, showing how much further the spacecraft has gone in time. Its revealed within the episode that December 31, 1987 was the departure date of the spacecraft, which sets this episode in a distant future date. And due to Stansfield looking older and due to the mission taking 40 years to complete, this implies that it was the year 2027 by the end of the episode.
		The Long Morrow	April 19, 1988 May 1, 1988	12:30 16:44	Visual
1965	Lost in Space	The Reluctant Stowaway	October 16, 1997	00:13	Captioned	Another early era Watsonian date. Because its the pilot episode, it appears right at the very beginning to present the future that the series depicts, even though that future year has passed on.
1968	Land of the Giants	The Crash	June 12, 1983	01:11	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears in the pilot episode as well, creating a beginning date of the series' timeframe and story arc.
1974	Planet of the Apes	"Episode Opening Sequence"	June 14, 3085	00:25	Captioned	This Watsonian date appears in the opening sequence of every episode of the show, where it presents the astronauts traveling through time and crash-landing on the future Earth. A time clock appears in the opening sequence, showing the time speeding forward and always stopping at the same date.
1987 - 1994	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Encounter at Farpoint	41153.7 (February 26, 2364)	02:27	Mentioned	This stardate is the first Watsonian date in the series, with each episode having a new stardate as the series progresses. And the stardates are used as a motif to the sci-fi concept and creation of the series. The date is spoken by Picard in his captain log and is the starting point of the series timeline, where Picard becomes the new captain of the Enterprise and becomes acquainted with his crew as they go on a mission to the Farpoint starbase.
		Time's Arrow	August 13, 1893	19:29	Visual	This Watsonian date only appears in Part 1 of the two-part episode. It appears on a newspaper that Data finds when he arrives in 19th century San Francisco after going back in time.
		All Good Things...	47988.0 (December 27, 2370)	1:01:31 1:27:42	Mentioned	This stardate is the last Watsonian date in the series. The first elapsed time is when the date is mentioned by Worf after Picard asks what the date is after experiencing a temporal anomaly that made him shift between time periods. The second elapsed time is when the date is mentioned by Worf again when Picard returns from the temporal anomaly and remains as the only one to remember it after it disappears.
1999 - 2013	Futurama	Space Pilot 3000	December 31, 1999	00:01	Captioned	The first Watsonian date appears at the very beginning of the episode, where it presents the ordinary modern life that Fry has as a backstory to his character before waking up in the future and moving on to his new life. Despite its fictional setting and while the date remained unpassed when the series was created, December 31, 1999 was a historical moment for people who celebrated the beginning of the 3rd millennium all around the world. The second Watsonian date at the bottom is mentioned by Leela when she and Fry first meet, which establishes the primary beginning of the series.
		Space Pilot 3000	December 31, 2999	04:40	Mentioned
		Game of Tones	March 2, 3013	00:35	Captioned	This is another Watsonian date presented in the series. This date is the only real calendar date to be presented in the episode. There are two other dates that are presented but are entirely fictional. At 00:21 and 00:29, the two dates appear as "Flomuary 24" and "Flomuary 39." According to the Futurama wiki website, Flomuary is 39 days long and was used only in this episode. Its an alternate comic science fiction version of the month February. Despite not being a proper calendar date, Flomuary is a Watsonian month created entirely within the fictional universe of the series.
2000	King of the Hill	Old Glory	May 24, 1974	08:24	Mentioned	This Watsonian date has no significance to the episode but is mentioned by Peggy Hill when she rants about a past time when she received good grades after she briefly gets frustrated with Bobby getting a good grade of his own.
2004	Malcolm in the Middle	Reese Joins the Army: Part 2	January 25, 2002 March 14, 2003 August 9, 2002 December 6, 2002 February 21, 2003 June 27, 2003 July 11, 2003 August 22, 2003	17:02 17:05 18:13 18:19 18:24 18:30 18:34 18:48	Mentioned / Visual	These Watsonian dates are mentioned and visualized simultaneously in the scenes where Bryan Cranston's character Hal is in court for being accused of crimes he committed against the company he works for. The first two dates at the top are the only ones that are mentioned as full calendar dates, while the others are mentioned as month and day only. The dates, starting from August 2002 to August 2003 are mentioned early in the episode, starting at elapsed time 09:18. These elapsed times are more chronologically revealed when mentioned by Hal and when visualized by props in the scenes. According to the episode, Hal reveals that, due to his son Malcolm's deductions, every one of the dates mentioned is a Friday because he claims he hasn't gone to work on Fridays for 15 years. And as non-fictional dates, it is confirmed that each of these dates are Fridays. There are other unimportant Watsonian dates seen in the episode, starting at elapsed time 09:44.
2015	Better Call Saul	Uno	May 13, 2002	12:14	Visual	This Watsonian date appears on the pilot episode of the show, which establishes a beginning point of Saul Goodman's character story arc as the show progressed and presented his very own origin story.
2011 - 2019	The Amazing World of Gumball	The Joy	January 16, 2014	01:21 07:01	Visual	This Watsonian date appears on surveillance cameras at the school Gumball and Darwin go to. The first elapsed time shows the date appearing on a TV monitor in Ms. Simian's office, where she watches gladly as many people at the school are sad because it's Monday. The second elapsed time shows the same date appearing on screen through the surveillance camera perspective, where the students and staff turn each other into zombies because of what Ms. Simian calls an "outbreak of joy". This date represents an exact time period in the series' timeline and it shows within the episode to be roughly the middle of the school year for Gumball and other supporting characters. Because Gumball has been depicted to be going to school since the beginning of the series, this makes the timeline inaccurate by being condensed into several story plotlines throughout different seasons. The year is the only part of the Watsonian date that is the same as the date when the episode first aired.
2011 - 2019	The Amazing World of Gumball	The Best	May 14, 2017	5:34 to 6:11	Visual	This Watsonian date appears in another surveillance footage scene of Gumball and Darwin sneaking into Principal Brown's office through the ceiling as Gumball attempts to get revenge on his classmate Carmen for her criticism of him. This date represents another exact time period in the series' timeline and it shows to be another school year for Gumball and other supporting characters and it is a month before it ends. Despite the timeline being inaccurate with several story plotlines, the date takes place three years after the previous date above, which means Gumball is most likely a junior at his school in the episode. The year of the Watsonian date is also the only part that is the same as the date when the episode aired.
2013 - 2018	Family Guy	Finders Keepers	May 16, 2006	20:00	Mentioned	This Watsonian date is mentioned near the end of the episode by Peter Griffin when he and Lois find a hidden treasure that is actually a restaurant coupon. The date is the expiration date on the coupon, which had expired seven years prior. Despite having no significance, the date pertains to the story of the episode and the resolve of Peter and Lois reuniting after their quarrel during the treasure hunt.
2013 - 2018	Family Guy	Family Guy Through the Years	November 11, 1956 August, 17 1969 March 11, 1973	1:22 9:17 14:34	Captioned	These Watsonian dates are seen at the beginning of every segment of the episode as a fictionalized original airdate for the show itself that takes place in a different era within each segment. Besides from appearing as fictionalized original airdates for the show, the dates also represent the zeitgeist of the historical setting of the fictional segments.
2019	Robot Chicken	Spike Fraser in: Should I Happen to Back into a Horse	August 31, 1997	06:11	Captioned	Because the episodes of this show are both comedic and anthological, this Watsonian date has no significance to the episode, but it is used to reveal what year and setting the segment of the episode takes place in and what reference is made.

References

^ "Watsonian vs Doylist". Fanlore.
^ "Narration and Storytelling: Diegetic Terminology". Slap Happy Larry.
^ "What is a Story Within a Story?". Masterclass.
^ "What Are the Effects of a Frame Narrative". Pen & the Pad.
^ "How Do Star Trek Stardates Work". Mental Floss.
^ "Fictional dates from movies, books and TV shows".
^ Barsam, Richard Meran (2010). Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film (PDF). Dave Monahan (3rd ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-93279-9. OCLC 317920213.
^ "Top 10 Most Important Dates in Science Fiction". Mojo.
^ Carmona, Carlos Ruiz. "The Fiction in Non-Fiction Film". ICONO. 14: 21. doi: 10.7195/ri14.v17i2.1338 (inactive 31 January 2024). ISSN 1697-8293.{{ cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 ( link)
^ "14 Future Sci-Fi Dates to Mark on Your Calendar". EDN.
^ "15 Simple Screenplay Rules You Need to Know". The Script Lab. Rule #3. Slug Lines. January 17, 2021.{{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: others ( link)
^ "How to Write Dates and Times in a Screenplay". Freshman Screenplay.
^ "How To Format A Screenplay: Establishing Time And Place". www.scriptologist.com. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
^ "The Complete Calendar Plug-In of the World's Fictional Holidays". Atlas Obscura.
^ "50 Fictional Days Immortalized in Literature". Literary Hub.
^ "First Contact Day | Holiday | Checkiday.com". Checkiday.com.
^ "Back to the Future Day - History and Why We Celebrate". National Today. 21 October 2020.
^ Orquiola, John (21 August 2020). "Star Trek: How Old Was Kirk When He Died (All 3 Times)". Screen Rant.
^ "Apollo 18 in fiction and fact". NBC News.

[1] "Watsonian vs Doylist". Fanlore.

[2] "Narration and Storytelling: Diegetic Terminology". Slap Happy Larry.

[3] "What is a Story Within a Story?". Masterclass.

[4] "What Are the Effects of a Frame Narrative". Pen & the Pad.

[5] "How Do Star Trek Stardates Work". Mental Floss.

[6] "Fictional dates from movies, books and TV shows".

[7] Barsam, Richard Meran (2010). Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film (PDF). Dave Monahan (3rd ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-93279-9. OCLC 317920213.

[8] "Top 10 Most Important Dates in Science Fiction". Mojo.

[9] Carmona, Carlos Ruiz. "The Fiction in Non-Fiction Film". ICONO. 14: 21. doi: 10.7195/ri14.v17i2.1338 (inactive 31 January 2024). ISSN 1697-8293.{{ cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 ( link)

[10] "14 Future Sci-Fi Dates to Mark on Your Calendar". EDN.

[11] "15 Simple Screenplay Rules You Need to Know". The Script Lab. Rule #3. Slug Lines. January 17, 2021.{{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: others ( link)

[12] "How to Write Dates and Times in a Screenplay". Freshman Screenplay.

[13] "How To Format A Screenplay: Establishing Time And Place". www.scriptologist.com. Retrieved 2021-09-20.

[14] "The Complete Calendar Plug-In of the World's Fictional Holidays". Atlas Obscura.

[15] "50 Fictional Days Immortalized in Literature". Literary Hub.

[16] "First Contact Day | Holiday | Checkiday.com". Checkiday.com.

[17] "Back to the Future Day - History and Why We Celebrate". National Today. 21 October 2020.

[18] Orquiola, John (21 August 2020). "Star Trek: How Old Was Kirk When He Died (All 3 Times)". Screen Rant.

[19] "Apollo 18 in fiction and fact". NBC News.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

Watsonian date categories and types

Motion picture date categories

Motion picture date types

Watsonian date uses

Plot engagement

Fictional holidays

List of films with Watsonian dates

List of TV Series with Watsonian dates

References

Watsonian date categories and types

Motion picture date categories

Motion picture date types

Watsonian date uses

Plot engagement

Fictional holidays

List of films with Watsonian dates

List of TV Series with Watsonian dates

References

Videos

Websites

Encyclopedia

Facebook