Title by Number: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{Cleanup|This page has two separate sets of examples, the second of which is set off by what is essentially a five-word description of a particular use of the trope. The examples need to be merged together and those five words turned into a full sentence in the main article.}}
Looking for a good name for your work of fiction? Look no further, just find a number tangentially related to the premise and use that as the title. Supposedly, this makes it sound "mysterious," especially if the number is also used as an [[Arc Number]].
 
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* ''[[5 Centimeters Per Second]]''
* ''[[Eureka Seven]]''. Eureka is the name of the female lead. "Seven" is never talked about.
* ''[[Macross II]]''
* ''[[Macross 7]]''
* ''[[Samurai 7]]''
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* ''[[300]]''.
* The Russian film ''12''.
* ''[[1408|Fourteen Oh Eight]]''.
* Corner cases: The films ''[[Pi]]'' and ''[[Se7en]]''.
** ''Thr3e'', based off the book by ''[[Ted Dekker]]''.
* ''8 1/2'', so called by director [[Federico Fellini]] because he had previously directed six features, two shorts, and one film with a co-director—counting the shorts and the collaborative works as half-pictures, that made this one number eight and a half.
** This was loosely adapted into a musical called ''[[Nine (theatre)|Nine]]''.
** Just to add further confusion, the 3D animated (and unrelated) movie ''~[[9~]]'' is coming out the same year, an adaptation of the short film of the same name. The way to distinguish them is how they're written: word (''Nine'') or digit (''9''), but plenty of sites ignore that and confuse the issue even more.
** It's worth noting that ''[[District 9]]'' came out that year as well, and was playing in cinemas alongside ''~9~'' (the one with stitchpunks).
* ''The Number 23''.
* ''3'', slightly justified as the title of a [[Biopic]] of NASCAR driver [[Dale Earnhardt]] Sr., who used the number for most of his career. The same number can be seen on numerous cars and pickup trucks in the Southern U.S.
** ''Heavily'' justified. Just look at the bumper of any car in the South.
* ''61*'' attached to Roger Maris; nothing to do with his own number (for most of his career, 9), but it's the number most associated with him (for his breaking of Babe Ruth's 60-homers-a-season record, the asterisk being added because seasons were shorter in Ruth's day).
** Also for the perception that the wrong guy broke the record, as most were rooting for Maris' more popular teammate, Mickey Mantle. Note that no ''other'' records held asterisks, and that Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds avoided the asterisk by also breaking Ruth's record in runs per game.
* An upcoming film called ''3993''.
* The movie ''[[21 (2008 film)|21]]'', which is about blackjack.
* The 1979 movie ''Seven'' about a [[Magnificent Seven]] group of hitmen hired to kill a group of seven gangsters planning to take over Hawaii.
* ''[[8mm]]'', and it's direct to video sequel is indeed called ''8mm 2''.
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** Also the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|TNG]]'' episode "11001001."
* An enormous number of episodes on ''[[The West Wing]]'' include numbers, including such titles as Six Meetings Before Lunch, 17 People, and Ninety Miles Away. There are also some named for bills or code names used in the episodes, such as H. Con-172 and 7A WF 83429. The best example of this trope, however, would probably be the fourth season episode Twenty Five.
* The recent ''[[Lost]]'' episode "316."
* ''The [[X Files]]'' episode "3".
* An infamous 1950s game show (along with two revivals) ''[[Twenty21 One(game show)|21]]''.
 
== [[Music]] ==
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== [[Theatre]] ==
* ''[[13|Thirteen]]''
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Sixteen|6teen]]''
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=== Even better, use a year ===
 
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s comic ''[[Marvel 1602]]'' (Also used [[Exty Years From Now]], as it was published in 2002).
* Alan Moore's ''1963'' comic book miniseries, parodying 1960s Marvel series such as the Fantastic Four.
* ''[[Marvel 2099]]''
 
=== [[Film]] ===
* ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' and its unimaginatively named sequel: ''2010: Odyssey Two''.
** See Literature for the novels, which also follow this convention.
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* ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1398918/ 2084]''
 
=== [[Literature]] ===
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]''.
* Eric Flint's ''[[1632]]'' books.
* [[Roberto Bolano]]'s ''2666'' could possibly be a year, although it is not mentioned in the novel itself. It ''is'' mentioned in one of his other novels, however.
* ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' and its unimaginatively named sequels: ''2010: Odyssey Two'', ''2061: Odyssey Three'' and ''3001: The Final Odyssey''.
 
=== [[Live Action TV]] ===
* The ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episodes "1969", "2010" and "2001". The latter two are named as a Shout Out to Clarke's novels mentioned above.
* The ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' episode "1961."
* ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'' was retitled to "Space 2063" (after the year it kicks off) in several European countries.
 
=== [[Music]] ===
* "1985" by Bowling for Soup
* "1979" by [[The Smashing Pumpkins]].
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* "Overture 1383" by [[Yngwie Malmsteen]].
 
=== Theater ===
* ''[[1776]]''
 
=== [[Video Games]] ===
* ''[[1942]]''. Recently remade as ''1942: Joint Strike''.
* ''Street Fighter 2010''
* ''[[20XX]]'', a ''Mega Man''-inspired [[roguelike]].
** And ''20XX TE'', a ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' mod.
 
{{reflist}}