555: Difference between revisions

[[File:555number 330 5485.jpg|link=Ghostbusters|frame|Who you shouldn't call?]]

 

 

Virtually all US phone numbers on fictional programmes are made up of the following:

There are exceptions: the exchange prefix 555 ''is'' valid for toll-free +1-800 numbers (e.g. 1-800-555-xxxx, but not any other freephone prefix like 1-888, 877, 866, 855, 844 and 833). The prefix may also be a valid exchange in some other country outside the North American Numbering Plan; this happened often in Australia before that country's local numbers were lengthened to eight digits.

 

 

Alternatives include "invalid" or incomplete numbers, one of the most famous of these being "Call BR 549" from ''[[Hee Haw]]''. The ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' episode "Harold's Kitty" does both: Arnold's number is 555-123.

This also appears in [[Easter Egg|Easter eggs]] in various media, where a creator or studio will hide their own number somewhere in a work, {{spoiler|such as the number on a control panel in Monsters Inc, which is Pixar's telephone number.}}

 

 

Some motion pictures have used telephone numbers starting with '1' as, in North America, real telephone numbers ''cannot'' start with a 1 or a 0, due to technical requirements.<ref>('1' is a common prefix for long-distance calls and '0' is the operator)</ref> Sony Pictures Legal Department permits its TV shows to use any area code (except 800 or 888) followed by a "1" or "0" as the first digit of the seven-digit phone number. (e.g., [310] 074-2566, [213] 177-4305) Many major studios share this policy on advice from their lawyers. In contrast, almost ''all'' numbers in many European countries start with 0, which is omitted when one dials internationally.<ref>(This is because in these countries, all area codes start with a 0, allowing the phone system to recognize non-local calls and make the appropriate connections for them.)</ref>

Aircraft tail registration numbers [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N88892 N88892], [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N9748C N9748C] and [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N9747P N9747P] are reserved for cinematic use as well. Some of these numbers may have originally belonged to a small private plane which was written off in a non-fatal collision or accident; the tail number of the destroyed plane is retired, only to constantly re-appear on fictional aircraft in cinema or other media.

 

 

An actual invalid US Social Security number would start with three zeros (000-12-3456) or use "00" as the two center digits (123-00-3456). While neither of these or anything similar is valid, a Social Security number ending in four zeros could be valid. Also, no valid Social Security number will start with 8 or 9, although the Internal Revenue Service assigns identification numbers for individuals who are required to pay taxes but do not have valid Social Security numbers using the same format starting with 9 (9##-##-####). Some Railroad Retirement System numbers (private retirement system used by railroads before they dumped their passenger operations onto Amtrak, and before the SSN became a ''de facto'' citizen ID number) did start with 8 or 9, which is why they are never used for Social Security.

A variant exists for postal addresses; when a real street is used for a character's address, the actual house number usually doesn't exist. This is much less noticeable than a fake telephone number because only a viewer who's very familiar with the city in question will pick up on it.

 

 

[[I Thought It Meant|Not to be confused with]] [[Kamen Rider 555|A Kamen Rider of similar naming.]] [[wikipedia:555 timer IC|Or a popular timer IC of the same name]]. Also, not to be confused with [[Number of the Beast|666]].

 

{{examples}}

* A liquor brand once ran a series of billboards that resembled personal ads, complete with real phone numbers. Those who called heard a recorded message about the product.

* There was a television ad in the 1980s about an old guy who drove a very old, reliable car. The point was that this brand of car would last forever if you serviced it fastidiously. If you didn't believe that, you were invited to call the old guy at his real phone number.

* LifeLock, a company offering identity theft protection, not only offered a $1 million guarantee that your identity would not be stolen, but also dared thieves to do so in its advertising. Todd Davis, the owner, placed his real Social Security number (457-55-5462) in commercials, averting this trope. Inevitably, within days of the commercial airing, [http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2008/06/securitymatters_0612 someone was able to take out a $500 payday loan in his name].

 

* In ''[[Initial D]] Fourth Stage'', the URL of the racing team Project D is "<nowiki>http://project.d</nowiki>". ".d" is not a valid real-life top-level domain.

* Manga in general place symbols like Xs and triangles over some of the phone numbers displayed outside a business or an address book. Same can go for license plates since Japanese plates are mostly numbers.

 

* In the "Sam Spayed" story in ''[[Garfield His 9 Lives]]'', he once has to call the number 555-1234. (He's not good at remembering numbers.)

 

 

* ''The [[Last Action Hero]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this trope when Danny pinpoints it to convince Jack Slater that they're [[Trapped in TV Land|inside a movie]]. Naturally, it doesn't convince him.

{{quote|'''Danny:''' "See? All the phone numbers start with 555!"

'''Slater''': "That's why we have ''area codes.''" }}

** Of course, even if they did use area codes, only 10 million people could be serviced with only the 555 prefix, which isn't enough to cover the LA metro area, let alone the rest of the country. If any area code-prefix-suffix combination is used, the North American phone system has a 10 billion number capacity.

* ''[[Live Free or Die Hard]]'' used the Class C private IP version (192.168.x.y).

* In the 2008 TV film based on the 1959 play ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (and set in that time period), the for-sale sign outside the Youngers' new home lists the phone number as "KL 50148".

* A typical example appears in ''[[The Ref]]'' when Gus gives Lloyd's number to Murray.

* Monument Taxi in ''[[True Lies]]'' has 555-2439. Another 800 number is written on their cars, too, for some reason.

 

* [[Junie B. Jones]] on Telephone Numbers: "Its name is 555-5555. It's hard to remember, because I keep forgetting the 5."

* [[Warren Ellis]]' novel ''[[Crooked Little Vein]]'': When told to call (555) 555-5555 for help, Mike demonstrates his detective skills by pointing out that the number won't work, as it's only used by Hollywood. To which the Chief of Staff responds, "We gave it to them. It works for us."

* [[Nero Wolfe]] lived on West 35th Street, Manhattan; the number varied, but consistently put his house in the river.

* The [[Babysitters Club]] could be reached at KL5-3231.

 

 

* ''[[iCarly]]'': 1-555-SEND-ME-A-SACK

* ''[[24]]'' once used the illegal IP address version.

* A "KL5" phone number can be seen on a background poster in ''[[Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide]]'', raising the question of how many members of the target demographic would even ''recognize that as being a phone number''.

* The KACL studio number in ''[[Frasier]]'' is 555-KACL.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': The Doctor's mobile phone number 07700 900461 was given out, causing thousands to [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1032510/Dial-doctor-2-500-Dr-Who-fans-try-ring-Time-Lords-mobile.html try contacting him using it].

** Subtly lampshaded in one episode when the detectives themselves have this one pulled on them. The detectives have had a suspect's vital information given, and it lists an address. When an officer reads that address off to Detective Briscoe, he says a line to the effect of "The middle of the Hudson River."

** Another perp's home address was the Police Academy. One even had the gall to use the business address for One Police Plaza as his address. Sometimes, criminals ''do'' think of these things.

* As noted above, for quite some time it was subverted with ''[[Scrubs]]''. Calling Turk's new cell number actually brought fans to a phone on the set, giving fans a chance to provide feedback or even just have a friendly chat with the cast and crew of the show.

* ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]'' had ''several'' domains bought out and fake websites assembled with background data and character notes. As the show was made during the late 90's, it was one of the first to make extensive use of this, but considering the [[Gene Roddenberry|family]] behind it, it's not too shocking.

* ''[[Cold Case]]'' has 215-555-0196 in the episode ''Saving Sammy''.

* A Terry Gilliam-animated "commercial" on ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' features Shrill Petrol with the new miracle ingredient GLC 942-4075 (after 6 PM, 942-4047).

* 165 Eaton Place, the Bellamys' house on ''[[Upstairs, Downstairs]]'', doesn't exist. For the exterior scenes in the show, the producers used the real house at 65 Eaton and painted a "1" next to the address (as well as the adjacent houses).

 

* Renowned Russian rocker [[Boris Grebenschikov]] has a song about the phone number 2-12-85-06, which was a fake number... until the Russian area code system was changed and "2-" was added to a lot of numbers. There is now a washhouse in St. Petersburg that keeps getting calls from B.G. fans all over the country.

* AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" averts it mentioning the phone number 36-24-36.

* The incomplete form used for a website name in the ''Animainiacs'' song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpzuIDPwEU4 "LA Dot"]"You can find me on my webpage spot w w w dot dot dot

 

* Aversion: The newspaper comic ''[[Dilbert]]'' once had a story line about a "Date-a-Dilbert" service. The cartoonist thought it needed a real phone number, so he put his own number in the strip. It got hundreds of calls, mostly from women who really wanted to date a Dilbert.

* In ''[[Ginger Meggs]]'', one of Ginger's friends has a poster up saying "Missing since 4:00PM Ph: XXXX XXX XXX". The phone number is of a colleague of the cartoonist.

 

* [[Douglas Adams]] used a seven-digit number for a measurement of probability in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''. Due to the Infinite Improbability Drive, the number turned out to also be the phone number of the Islington flat where Arthur met Trillian at a party. Unfortunately, Adams averted the trope and used the number of his own flat, also in Islington. The official script book contains a footnote that the tenant who lives there now has nothing to do with ''Hitchhiker'', and doesn't appreciate prank calls.

** In some editions of the five-book trilogy, Adams writes about how the whole story came to be. The anecdote concludes with a section called "How To Leave Earth." Adams suggests calling (in order) NASA, The White House, The Kremlin, and The Vatican, giving working phone numbers for each, averting the trope.

 

* ''[[Uplink]]'' does both of these. It uses random phone numbers in almost all ranges (02, 05, 06, 07, 08 and 09 from memory) - the avoiding of 01 is almost certainly to force an appearance of non-residential numbers (the only use of telephone numbers is for individual people's voicemail systems). It also uses bogus IP addresses all the way down to 0 and up to 999. It does get one IP address right, though - your own gateway is at 127.0.0.1, the local host loopback IP.

* In the licensed NES game of ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', a clue tells you to call Jessica Rabbit at a certain 1-800 number. (Of course, [[No Fourth Wall|this was an actual number that you, the player, were expected to call in Real Life so you could receive the necessary clues to continue the game]]. Many players, not knowing this, spent hours searching for an in-game phone that the characters could use. [[Guide Dang It]] indeed.)

*** When you consider {{spoiler|her secret in [[Who Censored Roger Rabbit?|the book]]}}, this becomes [[Hilarious in Hindsight]].

* In the ''[[Nancy Drew (video game)|Nancy Drew]]'' computer games, all of the numbers you can call from Nancy's cell phone start with 555. Even the alphanumeric numbers for the 1930s telephone in ''Secret of the Old Clock'' convert to 555.

* The [[Manic Miner]] cheat code "6031769" is said to have been author [[Matthew Smith]]'s (Liverpool) telephone number at the time.

* In his ending in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'', Taskmaster [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|advertises his mercenary training academy]] with the number given as 555-TASK. He still gets lots of signups though, as in the next 'panel' he's rolling in money. Presumably these numbers work in the Marvel universe.

{{quote|Spoony: For those of you playing at home, try calling these numbers and see who picks up!}}

* In the cult NES game ''[[Nightshade]]'', the hieroglyphs in the villain's hideout allegedly say, "Are you reading this? Then so are your customers! Contact Sutekh at [[Card-Carrying Villain|555-EVIL]]"

 

** An early version of an early Homestar cartoon advertising a (fake, at the time) album of Strong Bad's greatest hits featured a real phone number, 1-800-BAD-SONG. The Brothers Chaps had assumed that no one would actually try to call it. They changed the cartoon shortly after a limo company complained that people were calling trying to purchase the album. The new phone number is 1-800-555-SBSINGS.

 

* [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/comic.php?current=1259 Ishmael's mother's number] in ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]''.

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' goes all out: [http://www.drmcninja.com the main site] for this webcomic currently features his fake phone number (301-555-4982), fake fax number (301-555-4983), fake address (23 Haunted Wood Drive), but then subverts the trope by taking place in the very real Cumberland, Maryland. (After teasing readers to figure out where the doctor practiced, future stories featured the doctor purchasing an MTO sandwich from Sheetz and noting that "The real mayor of Cumberland gave my family a dog once.")

** [[Write What You Know]]: Although the 555 exchange is obviously fictional, 301 is indeed the area code for Cumberland, Maryland.

* In ''[[Girls with Slingshots]]'' unlucky guy Jim gets a number from a girl which contains area code 555. He doesn't realize that it's a fake.

 

* A ''[[Rugrats]]'' Christmas episode had the phone number 555-NOEL. Confused, Angelica just typed in 555-5555... and actually got someone.

** Also, the episode where Angelica thinks she's going to get a baby brother. She calls in to a psychology-type show using the number 555-5555 (again).

** Note that they got this number by using police equipment to ''trace the call.'' There's a reason that this man is the father of [[The Ditz]].

** Another episode featured Marge making a call to Chief Wiggum, which resulted in him getting mad and demanding to know where she lived so that he could arrest her - Marge then slowly comes up with the address 123 Fake Street. This turns out to be an aversion, however, since later in the episode Bart and Milhouse try to hide out from some people at...123 Fake Street. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

** '''Kl'''ondike 5 was used as Homer's number when working as Mr. Plow.

* Used in ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' in the episode ''The Ultimate Enemy''. Mr. Lancer is making a phone call to Fentonworks and dials "555-1221".

* In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Three Kings", when Richard Dreyfuss gives Roy Scheider his phone number, he starts off with 555. At which point Roy just tells him that if Richard doesn't want to give him his real phone number, don't lie.

** Don't forget [[Alan Rickman]]'s answering machine: "Hello. You've reached Alan Rickman at 555-0122."

* In ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', there is an episode where Joker says that after his laughing gas, people are even laughing at a phonebook. Harley Quinn proceeds to read a few entries; all the numbers, naturally, start with 555.

* ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron]]'' had the number for turning in convicts be 555-555-5555.

* Interestingly averted on an episode of ''[[Futurama]]''. The writers didn't want to use a 555 number, so they made a number with one of the digits a Greek lambda (784-36λ9). It also made it seem more futuristic.

 

* Cartographers have always had to worry about others plagiarizing and reselling their maps - the problem being that it's very difficult to legally prove if someone copies their work, and (thankfully) it's also not possible to copyright reality or facts (which is what maps are ultimately based on). [https://web.archive.org/web/20081013203855/http://apb.directionsmag.com/archives/4513-Times-Change-No-More-Fake-Streets-in-Rand-McNally-Maps.html There used to be] a clever solution - the mapmakers would deliberately add a fake street in a nondescript area of the map. A fake street ''can'' be copyrighted, and if another map had the same fake street, it would give the original mapmaker solid proof of copyright infringement.

** It's still in use - Google Maps occasionally includes a one-way street that you can't drive onto, such as [https://www.google.ca/maps/place/45%C2%B026'36.0%22N+75%C2%B038'14.7%22W/@45.4418391,-75.6380798,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d45.443333!4d-75.637415 this one].

* Zig-zagged: circa the 1960s, the telephone number of WCBS in New York City (excluding area code) was 765-4321.

* The IP blocks 192.0.2.*, 198.51.100.*, and 203.0.113.* (2001:db8::* in IPv6) are reserved for examples in documentation.

* As of early 2017, telephone scammers and spammers have been spotted using spoofed caller ID numbers starting with "555". This may be intentional on the part of the scammers—by using such an obviously fake number, they know that thoughtful people won't pick up, leaving only [[Viewers are Morons|viewers who are morons]], thus preventing the 'waste' of hours of phone time on people who won't fall for the old [[419 Scam|'Nigerian Prince' scam]]. (Same reason that even sophisticated email spammers and scammers don't always bother cleaning up their grammar or spelling—anyone who cares is less likely to fall for the scam, so why bother spending effort on attracting their attention?)