Trope 2000

"It's a name, followed by a big number!" —Buford, Phineas and Ferb: Summer Belongs to You!

Want something to appear cool, edgy and cutting-edge? Why, just put "2000" on the end of it, or some other arbitrary multiple of one thousand.

A trope that rose to prominence in the lead-up to the new millennium. Since that was a decade and a half ago, suffice to say that this is a Dead Horse Trope. But don't be surprised if in a thousand years, we start seeing Trope: 3000.

For a similar device, see Title: the Adaptation. Compare Super Title 64 Advance. May be coupled with Thing-O-Matic. For another area with arbitrary multiples of 1000, see Pinball Scoring.

Examples of Trope 2000 include:

Anime and Manga

• The original name of Tokyo Mew Mew's cute mascot was "R2000".
• Pokémon 2000. In it's defense, it was released (in the US) in the year 2000.

Comic Books

• British sci-fi comic 2000 AD (est 1977, but still going strong).
• There was a "future Archie" set of comics, usually one-shots within the digests, called Archie 3000.
• Camelot 3000.
• The Simpsons comics featured the Destructo-Kat 3000 and the Baked Bean-O-Matic 3000 Electro-Flatulator.
• Alien Pig Farm 3000

Film

• There's porn somewhere titled Climax 2000.
• Death Race 2000
  • The "2000" was understandably dropped from the 2008 remake, although "3000" and "2020" were apparently considered as alternatives at various points during the production.
• The sequel to the first Blues Brothers movie was Blues Brothers 2000.
• Fantasia 2000. Though in that case, it was released just before 2000.
• Dracula 2000 and the similarly-titled but unrelated Dracula 3000.
  • The title alone got it green-lit by Miramax. When Harvey Weinstein had the meeting to set the film in motion, he was asked if the script was any good. He said it was awful, but "it's called Dracula 2000!"
  • Known as Dracula 2001 in the UK, because it wasn't released there until then.
• Godzilla 2000, which was actually released in the US in 2000.
• Escape 2000, a film shown under that title by Mystery Science Theater 3000 (see below) but originally titled Escape from the Bronx.
  • In some markets, the original title was Bronx Warriors 2 — you wouldn't know it from watching the film, but it was a sequel.
  • This has no relation to the Australian film Escape 2000, known in other countries as Turkey Shoot or Death Camp Thatcher.
• Rare non-English example - Shaolin Soccer creator Stephen Chow was previously in From Beijing with Love (an Affectionate Parody of James Bond movies), and one of the inventions created by not-Q was dubbed the "Kill-You-Dead 3000". It was really a bunch of dangerous items roped together - picture a keychain with a knife, stick, glass bottle etc.
• Holocaust 2000; Later released on DVD as Rain of Fire, a different but equally Non-Indicative Name.
  • At least "Rain of Fire" doesn't sound like they were rounding up Jews and Gypsies into turn-of-the-millennium concentration camps.
• Cherry 2000
• Heavy Metal 2000

Literature

• From Harry Potter, the Nimbus 2000.
  • Subverted in that the next year's model is the 2001 (as opposed to the 2100, 2500, 3000...)
    • It actually makes sense (car models are referred to by year, after all) until you realize the books they appear in take place in 1991 and 1992, respectively.
• The Nineties gave us the Cyberpunk Subculture magazine, Mondo 2000. According to the editors, the name was deliberately chosen to give the magazine an "expiration date", embracing the fact that this morning's "Cutting Edge" is tomorrow's Zeerust.
• In Honor Harrington, the Solarian League Navy has a program called "Fleet 2000", which is supposed to be a significant upgrade of combat capability. While there are improvements in the hardware, much of it is merely window dressing, modifying the outwardly visible aspects of the hardware like displays and such to be more photogenic.

Live Action TV

• In That Peter Kay Thing, Marc Park- an arrogant pop star- releases a Christmas album called, "Christmas 2000", swearing that he's not doing it to cash in on the millennium craze. The interviewer points out that it's actually Christmas 1999.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 was originally going to be titled Mystery Science Theater 2000. Best Brains changed the title because the year 2000 was too soon in the future (though the 2000 was meant to be a version number, someone just thought it meant the year).
• On Will and Grace, Jack has a one-man show called "Just Jack!" which he later updates to "Just Jack 2000!"
• In an episode of Frasier, he throws a party that nobody comes to. It turns out that his neighbor (who lives in apartment number 2000) has lured all the guests to his own party, with a banner reading "Winston Party 2000". Frasier is determined to respond in kind, until it is pointed out that "Crane Party 1901" doesn't sound quite as edgy and 'party of the future'-like.
  • Another episode featured a vacuum cleaner called the Dirt Scourge 2000. When Daphne tries to clean Marty's chair, the vacuum breaks due to sheer ammount of dirt. Frasier quips: "Dirt Scourge 2000, no match for the Dirt Pile 1957."
• There used to be an Australian science and invention documentary series called Beyond 2000. (The format was based on The BBC's Tomorrow's World.)
  • It used to Towards 2000, until the show got a make-over in 1985 and the producers decided 2000 was too close to be aiming "towards" any more. The show still exists, but has changed name again, to Beyond Tomorrow, since "beyond 2000" now also seems old-fashioned...
• Spoof 'retro' BBC series Look Around You, which lovingly recreated the feel of a turn-of-the-'80s science & technology show in the vein of Tomorrow's World, had its "Music 2000" segment "predicting" what music would be like in the year 2000. In 2005.
• As "KITT" is an acronym for Knight Industries Two Thousand, the French title was K2000.
  • And speaking of which: The Movie Knight Rider 2000.
• Home Improvement's "Binford 6100" line of products.
• The children's version of Wheel of Fortune was called Wheel 2000, despite airing in 1997.
• A short-lived remake of the classic Nickelodeon game show Double Dare, that aired throughout the appropriate year, was titled Double Dare 2000.
• In January 1999, The Big Spin was briefly renamed Big Spin 2000.
• In a Myth Busters episode where they test whether one can find a needle in a haystack, Mythbuster Adam Savage creates a needle-finding machine christened the Needlefinder 2000.
• From Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Ryan Stiles has used the name "XK-5000" a couple of times for imaginary inventions.
• In Raggs, every single contraption made has a multiple of 100 or 1,000 slapped on the end of it.
• During the first season of Survivor, Dr Sean made a useless handcrafted fishing pole which he dubbed the "Superpole 2000".

Music and Sound Effects

• One of the band Silverchair's bigger hits was the single "Anthem for the year 2000", which seemed to be a bit of a hit out against governments that promised to fix things in the medium to long term future.
• In a possible subversion or Shout-Out, the sci-fi concept rap album 3030 by Del Tha Funkee Homosapien (Deltron in the album).
• Hum's first album was Elektra 2000
• The Kraftwerk single Expo 2000, filled with repeating soundbytes of different voices saying "the twenty-first century" throughout.
• The Eurodance group Daze had a single Sex 2000 in their 1999 album They Came to Rule.
• E-mu named the second generation of their Proteus sound module Proteus 2000. It was released in 1999.
• Even earlier, in 1991, shortly after having been sold to Young Chang, Kurzweil released a very powerful music workstation named K2000. They did have the models K150, K250, K1000, and K1200 before, though.
• The Prophet 2000, Sequential Circuits' first sampler (with 2000 definitely meaning nothing but hypermodern), was released as early as 1985.
• Japanese synth manufacturers seemed to love four-digit numbers for their virtual-analog synths in the late 90s: Roland JP-8000 (Jupiter-8 meets Trope2000) and Korg MS 2000 (MS-20 meets Trope2000).
• The album Sessions 2000 by Jean Michel Jarre. On the other hand, it was released in 2002, and it contained material recorded during something similar to electronic jam sessions in 2000.
• Alternative Metal band Powerman 5000.
• Andre 3000 (aka Andre Benjamin) of OutKast.
• Most likely deliberately subverted by Flight of the Conchords in their song The Humans are Dead which starts "The distant future...The year 2000..." and goes on to poke fun at various science fiction concepts. (Unless they really did write it when they were very, very young.)
• Pulp's 'Disco 2000' superficially plays this trope straight by using it in the song's name, but truthfully probably subverts it in being a more nostalgic, wistful song than the glitzy, futuristic title would suggest. It does lyrically look forward to the date: "Let's all meet up in the year 2000 / Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown". As sung by a 32-year-old in 1995.

Professional Wrestling

• When Professional Wrestling tag team The Legion of Doom made their WWE comeback in 1998, they were renamed "Legion Of Doom 2000". In reality, the only things that had been updated for the new millennium was their shoulder pads, which now had new and improved Spikes of Villainy, and their manager, having swapped Paul Ellering for Sunny.
• Wrestlemania 2000 actually did take place in 2000, but it was a significant departure from the usual naming scheme; if it had been named like previous and future events, it would have been Wrestlemania XVI.
• The short-lived unsuccessful WWE tag team Tekno Team 2000. They had a futuristic gimmick and were billed as being ahead of their time, but only lasted little more than a year.
• The Obscenely Expensive Jeritron 5000!

Tabletop Games

• Twilight 2000, although that was early 1980s.
  • Justified by the fact that the game was actually set in the year 2000.
• Warhammer 40000 goes twenty times better than the standard, although the current timeline is in or near the 42nd millenium.

Toys

• During The Eighties, the G.I. Joe action figure line featured a subteam called Battle Force 2000 whose purpose was to test experimental, futuristic weaponry and vehicles.

Web Original

• Neopets used this trope a lot when naming their space themed weapons and PetPets, as well as a good portion of the battledome items.

Video Games

• Ultra Super Death Gore Fest Chainsawer 3000
• The original name for the third Gran Turismo game was "Gran Turismo 2000". It was changed to "Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec" when the year 2000 came and went by the time the final version was released.
• Gruntilda of Banjo-Kazooie has a broom called the Lardmaster 2000.
• The first Sim City sequel, Sim City 2000 (1994). The next game followed the theme with Sim City 3000 (1999), but it was later dropped with 2003's Sim City 4.
• Goblin and gnome Schizo-Tech in World of Warcraft beat this trope to death.
• The Poltergust 3000 from Luigi's Mansion, as well as Professor E. Gadd's later Poltergust models.
• BFG 9000 in Doom and BFG 10000 in Quake II.
• The Pip-Boy 2000, manufactured by RobCo Industries/Vault-Tec, is a handheld computer device used by the player character in Fallout 1, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. Fallout 3 has the Pip-Boy 3000, a newer model that attaches to the user's arm.
• Chessmaster *000.
• Team Fortress 2 has the Spytron 2000, with which the Spy makes himself look like other characters, as well as store cigarettes.
  • There is also the Cow Mangler 5000, a sci-fi themed rocket launcher for the Soldier.
  • Then they introduced the "Pomsom 6000" for the Engineer; a sci-fi themed pistol which has the ability to drain 10% of cloak or uber-charge on hit.
• Top Gear 3? Forget that. It's Top Gear 3000!
  • Though the game did try to justify it with a futuristic setting.
• Tyrian, the PC arcade game by Epic Games (then Epic MegaGames), was re-released in 1999 as Tyrian 2000.
• Maimtron 9000, a clockwork Humongous Mecha in Sam and Max.
• The Cybersniff 2000 in Leisure Suit Larry 7.
• The 1989 Pinball game, Black Knight 2000, which was a sequel to 1980's Black Knight.
• Williams' "Pinball 2000" platform, which was their last pinball platform before leaving the pinball business in 1999. It integrated a video screen into pinball. Ironically, after the year 2000, pinball went right back to using the familiar dot matrix displays that they had been using for most of The Nineties.
• Chinese bootleg versions of Raiden Fighters 2 and JET appended 2000 to the end of the title. They were actually released in 2000 though.
• Dune II received a remake/sequel in 1998, titled Dune 2000.
• Capcom vs. SNK Millennium Fight 2000. The sequel is subtitled Mark of the Millennium 2001 (Millionare Fighting 2001 in Japan).
• The Henchman 800 and 1000 in Rayman M/Arena. In an inversion, the 1000 is actually an older model, with the 800 apparently being new and improved in comparison.

Webcomics

• A Modest Destiny brings us the DiveMaster 4000.
• Checkerboard Nightmare lampshades it.

Checkerboard Nightmare: I was living in the year 2000 all this time! I knew it was 2000, but... Man, I blew it! Do you realize we were living in the year 2000?! Vaporware: Yup. Checkerboard Nightmare: I could have tacked "2000" onto the end of so many things. What a waste.

• Jane Crocker's Junior Battermaster's Bowlbuster Stirring Solution 5000, which happens to be her Weapon of Choice.
• Kid Radd has the Gnarlborg 2000.
• Penny Arcade has the Fruit Fucker 2000.

Web Animation

• In the DVD-exclusive Strong Bad Email "Comic Book Movie", Strong Bad refers to the Hollywood cliche of putting comic book superheroes in one color, head-to-toe leather, regardless of whether they wear it in the comic, as "LeatherQuest 2000".

Western Animation

• South Park, for its 2000 season, suffixed the titles of the first four episodes with "2000" as a parody of this trope.
  • The second episode is called "Weight Gain 4000", which is the name of a bodybuilding supplement used in the episode.
• Futurama's pilot episode was called "Space Pilot 3000", as the hero is cryonically frozen for just under one thousand years on the turn of the century.
• The Simpsons: "Toga! Toga! Toga! 2000!"
  • Another episode featured the Ultrahouse 3000.
• The cartoon Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! includes a character, Widget, who is always creating inventions with a '3000' slapped at the end.
• Dilbert (the animated series): Many of the episodes involve something to do with the design, sale, production, etc. of the "Gruntmaster 6000". The name was created in the first episode, when Dilbert had to come up with a name for a new product, and Dilmom suggested the name. Later, after finding out that the VP wasn't going to like the name they came up with (due to a Noodle Incident in the VP's childhood, only it was promptly revealed), Dilbert suggested "The Gruntmaster". Possible Lampshade Hanging ensued immediately after, when the VP said something was missing, and Dogbert added the 6000 suffix. It is later revealed that the Gruntmaster ended up being a very strangely-designed exercise machine, and during product testing, a family of hillbillies broke a component that created a BLACK HOLE.
• Aaahh Real Monsters sometimes featured machines whose name included a multiple of a thousand. When asked why a machine is named "Thing Y000", the answer is always "Because Thing X999 failed".
• On PB and J Otter, Ootsie and Bootsies' toys were often named in this manner and they would often say that they were "twice as good as (toy with number half that of the newer toy.)"
• The Amazing World of Gumball has a electronics shop called "Ripley 2000".
  • Lampshaded in "The Refund" when Darwin asks "Why is it 2000 anyway? It's not like it's the future anymore."
• In one episode of Phineas and Ferb, Dr. Doofenshmirtz's invention of the week was a Weather Control Machine called the Gloominator 3000-inator. "Summer Belongs to You" has the Sun-Beater 3000, which inspires a bit of Lampshade Hanging from Buford.
• My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, from the episode of the same name.

Real Life

• Possibly the oldest example: the Reggiane Re.2000 fighter, which first flew in 1939.
• The Mirage 2000.
• The Eurofighter Typhoon was known as the EF 2000 for a while.
  • It started out as "Jäger 90" (Hunter 90, fighter [aircraft] 90) in Germany.
• The Annals of Improbable Research kept a collection of these under the heading "Project AIRHead 2000".
• For some horrible reason, number plates in the Australian state of New South Wales had "Towards 2000" as their state motto for a while.
• Windows 2000, named after its year of release. Although this was dropped in the desktop versions with XP and Vista, the server versions kept the year theme with Windows Server 2003 and 2008.
• This trend was once annoyingly common in Internet usernames, to the point where Yahoo! would offer this (and 2001) as an alternative to a taken name during registration.
• Appliance manufacturers also seem fond of this: the TurboFry 2000, among others.
  • Montgomery Ward's store appliance brand was called Signature 2000. Ironically enough, 2000 ended up being the year Montgomery Ward declared bankruptcy.
• Somewhat played straight: Xbox 360. They couldn't just call it the Xbox 2 or some variation on 2; no, they had to have 180 2s to beat Sony's 3. Of course, their other option was Xenon, so maybe it was for the best.
  • It's because it's a revolution. Mind you, the Revolution was named the Wii...
• Lever 2000. Yeah it's soap with 2000 on it. Who knew?
  • Hey, it's for all your 2000 parts. Now, count 'em!
• The PC computer company "Gateway 2000" later changed their name to just "Gateway", as after the year 2000, it didn't seem so cutting edge.
  • Seems like it would also make naming the different models somewhat obtuse.
• The Swedish tilting bullet train X2000.
• The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB/CFF/FFS) introduced their "Bahn 2000" (Railway 2000) concept in the late 1980s, complete with a new electric locomotive class, the Re 460 also known as "Lok 2000" (Locomotive 2000).
• ABB Henschel's Eco2000 locomotive platform from the mid-1990s. All that came out of it were prototypes rebuilt from older locomotives before the ADtranz merger, the German class 101 express locomotive, and its derivative, the New Jersey Transit ALP46.
• The Münch Mammut 2000 motorbike might be a case of Trope2000, too. On the other hand, it could be named after its displacement of roughly 2,000ccm.
• Hamburg's standard harbor ferry class of the 21st century, the "Fähre 2000" (Ferry 2000).
• The MAN truck line F2000.
• In The Eighties, one school's chosen anti-drug curriculum had a goal of making society drug-free by the year 2000. It didn't work.
• There are several firearms with a 2000 in their name, some of the more famous being:
  • The PP-2000 sub-machine gun
  • The FN F2000 assault rifle
  • The Walther WA 2000 sniper rifle
  • The CZ 2000 weapon system
• The Thameslink Programme was originally called "Thameslink 2000". The name change might have something to do with the numerous schedule slips — at the time of writing, it's expected to be complete by 2018.
• In the Philippines, the hardtop version of the 1980 Toyota Corona was marketed as the "Corona 2000" due to its 2000cc engine. That and its body style earned it the nickname "Macho Car".
• In 1999, the Hostess company released Twinkies 2000 to the store shelves. They weren't alone; several processed foodstuffs had special millennium-branded releases that year.
• The Northern German holiday resort Ostseebad Damp, built in the early 70s, used to be named Damp 2000 originally.