History Main / SignificantReferenceDate

* ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'': Humanity confirmed made first contact with an alien species, the Vulcans, on April 5, 2063, [[PopCultureHolidays which has since become an unofficial holiday, "First Contact Day"]], for ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fans. According to co-writer Creator/RonaldDMoore, he chose April 5 because that was his oldest son's birthday.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': Filmore's license plate number, 51237, is [[Creator/GeorgeCarlin George Carlin's]] birth date.

* ''Film/DoctorStrange'': Stephen Strange's car crash happens on February 2nd (on Film/GroundhogDay). It is significant since both movies involve time loops.

* ''Series/TheMiddle'': In "The Guidance Counselor", guest star Creator/WhoopiGoldberg gives her character's birthday as Nov 13th, same as her own.

** The clone cadet unit that Boba infiltrates is the 322nd Unit. There's also the similarly numbered 332nd Company that joins Ahsoka in the Siege of Mandalore. 3/22 is the date ''Film/ANewHope'' started filming.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'': May 9th (5/9) is officially recognized by the Japanese Anniversary Association as [[https://en.dragon-ball-official.com/news/01_33.html "Goku Day"]], because "five" and "nine" are respectively pronounced "go" and "ku". Ironically, InUniverse, May 9th also happens to be "King Piccolo Day", the day in which Goku's one-time ArchEnemy successfully took over the world.

* In ''VideoGame/Splatoon2''[='=]s RhythmGame Squid Beatz 2, one bonus song that can be unlocked is "Splattack!", the main theme of the original ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}''. When played on Hard mode, the chart has exactly 528 notes, referencing ''Splatoon''[='=]s initial release date of May 28, 2015, or 5/28.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Turning Red}}'': While bearing no plot impact, May 18, the day of the 4Town concert is also the day Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington State in 1980. Bear in mind, pun not intended, that the events of this film took place 22 years later and far from the volcano.

* ''Series/Babylon5'': "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BabylonFiveS03E22ZHaDum Z'Ha'Dum]]", the third season finale, is preceded by two episodes in which a series of ominous captions count down the days until Event Z. The two episodes begin with captions reading, respectively, "Z Minus 14 Days" and "Z Minus 7 Days" -- which are also how long the audience had to wait for "Z'Ha'Dum", the episode in which Event Z occurred.

** In Series 5, Amy's wedding [[spoiler:and the date from which the cracks in time radiate]] is revealed in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]] to happen on the broadcast date of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]], June 26, 2010.

* Some of the characters' birthdays in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' reference the release dates of the earlier games in the series or holidays. Nearly all of the second generation characters' birthdays are the same as the Japanese release dates for most of the games in the series. [[note]]Japanese-only releases do not have a region assigned to them.[[/note]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' episode "Daniel's Fish Dies; Daniel's Strawberry Seeds", a VerySpecialEpisode about death, aired on February 26, 2020, one day before the 17th anniversary of the death of Fred Rogers, the star of [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood the show it was spun off from]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' episode "Daniel's Fish Dies; Daniel's Strawberry Seeds", a VerySpecialEpisode about death, aired on February 26, 2020, one day before the 15th anniversary of the death of Fred Rogers, the star of [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood the show it was spun off from]].

** Episode 18 aired on Children's Day. [[spoiler:Kiritsugu kills his father]].
** Episode 19 aired on Mother's Day weekend. [[spoiler:Kiritsugu kills his adoptive mother]].
** Episode 24 aired on Father's Day weekend. [[spoiler:Kiritsugu kills his wife and child]].

* The HD version of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' has domesticated [[{{Mooks}} Egg Fighters]] in the Eggmanland entrance called "EF-[[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis MD]][[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 1991]]"[[note]]The "MD" designation was left unchanged in North American releases, despite the Mega Drive being called the Sega Genesis over there.[[/note]], "EF-[[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast DC]][[VideoGame/SonicAdventure 1998]]" and "EF-[[UsefulNotes/Xbox360 XB]][[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 2006]]".

* ''Film/DoctorStrange'': Stephen Strange's car crash happens on February 2nd (on Film/GroundhogDay). It is significant since both movies are about time loops.

* In ''Series/WandaVision'', Agnes states that her wedding date is June 2nd. June 2, 1692, was when the Salem witch trials started, [[spoiler:hinting at who she really is.]]

** The 23rd of November, the date of the show's first broadcast, crops up a lot, especially in the [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] and in {{Milestone Celebration}} stories:
*** The 25th anniversary serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E3SilverNemesis "Silver Nemesis"]] is set on the 23rd of November 1988.

*** Clara Oswin Oswald's birthdate in [[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen "The Snowmen"]] is 23rd November 1866. [[spoiler:The ''original'']] Clara Oswald's birthday is also revealed in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E11DarkWater "Dark Water"]] to be November 23.

* The TVLand special ''[[Series/BradyBunchSpinOffs Brady - An American Cronical]]'' note Brady events as taking place on the original broadcast dates.

* ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'': The numbers on Finn [=McMissile's=] license plate are that of [[Creator/MichaelCaine Michael Caine's]] birthday.

** In "The Excelsior Acquisition", Sheldon finds a traffic summons concerning an traffic incident that occurred on 11/16, the airdate of "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency", in which the violation happened.

** Buffy identifies herself as a "Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius". Since her first two birthday episodes, "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E13Surprise Surprise]]" and "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E12Helpless Helpless]]" both aired on January 19th, this is taken to be her actual birthday; this is canonised in the comics.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E4Help Help]]", Tara's [[spoiler:tombstone shows her date of death as May 7, 2002 - the date "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E19SeeingRed Seeing Red]]", her death episode, aired. Considering this, it's something of an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] that her shown date of birth, October 16, 1980, ''doesn't'' match up with the airdate of her birthday as shown in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E6Family Family]]" (November 7). On the other hand, "Help" itself aired on October 15th, and night passed before the GraveMarkingScene, making it consistent with a birthday pilgrimage.]]

!!!'''In General:'''
* ''Series/TheMiddle'' and ''Series/ModernFamily'' both have episodes titled "Leap Day" that originally aired Feb 29, 2012.
* ''Series/AccordingToJim'', ''Series/PushingDaisies'', ''Series/DesperateHousewives'', ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' and ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had {{Halloween episode}}s broadcast on October 31st.

!!!'''In General:'''
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'', ''WesternAnimation/TheAddamsFamily'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' had {{Halloween episode}}s aired on October 31st as well as ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[='=]s second and tenth ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' episodes.

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E4Help Help]]", Tara's [[spoiler:tombstone shows her date of death as May 7, 2002 - the date "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E19SeeingRed Seeing Red]]", her death episode, aired. Considering this, it's something of an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] that her shown date of birth, October 16, 1980, ''doesn't'' match up with the airdate of her birthday as shown in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E6Family Family]]" (November 7). On the other hand, ''Help'' itself aired on October 15th, and night passed before the GraveMarkingScene, making it consistent with a birthday pilgrimage.]]

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E4Help Help]]", Tara's [[spoiler:tombstone shows her date of death as May 7, 2002 - the date "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E19SeeingRed Seeing Red]]", her death episode, aired. Considering this, it's something of an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] that her shown date of birth, October 16, 1980, ''doesn't'' match up with the airdate of her birthday as shown in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E6Family Family]]" (November 7).]]