History Main / FrozenInTime

* {{Disney}}. Scrooge [=McDuck=] will forever remain a Gilded Age character with roots in the Klondike - which would make him, oh, about 135 years old now.

** The original JusticeSocietyOfAmerica (and [[ComicBook/AllStarSquadron related Golden Age DC characters]]).

When the concept behind a series is so tightly bound to a particular period of history that the series ''cannot'' leave that era, it is Frozen In Time. This can be a sliding scale; some series can slip a lot (''Film/TheDarkKnight'' is just a Batman story--not "Batman in the 21st Century"), some can only slip a little bit (''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' started in Victorian times and got updated to World War II for the wartime films, but is usually considered Victorian), and some can't slip at all.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* In ''{{Cyborg 009}}'', Albert Heinrich/004's {{Backstory}} involves his attempt to cross the BerlinWall. In order to keep this in continuity in the 2001 series, the writers had the first four cyborgs created in the 1960s, then put into [[HumanPopsicle Suspended Animation]] for 40 years, at which point the project was continued and the rest of the team 'recruited'. Notable mainly since this was one of the few time sensitive plot points they went out of their way to keep.
* The anime ''Anime/ZeroZeroNineOne'' takes place in an alternative universe where the Cold War never ended--because the source manga [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp was so tied to the Cold War]] that the background had to be kept.

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* A number of superhero characters have origins and backstories tied to WorldWarII in some fashion, though their "current" adventures are usually subject to ComicBookTime:
** In {{Comicbook/XMen}}, {{Magneto}}'s backstory is irrevocably wedded to the Holocaust. Hence, he keeps getting older (albeit with periodic de-aging due to AppliedPhlebotinum or similar plot devices) as his flashbacks feature him younger.

** CaptainAmerica's case is a bit more complicated than most. Intimately tied in with WWII, the character actually lasted a little into the 50's, fighting commies. When he was brought back in the 60's, it was decided Cap had been [[HumanPopsicle frozen]] towards the end of the war, and all appearances since then had been a fake. The freezing has been convenient for writers since then, since they can just expand the number of years he was frozen as needed to have him unfrozen in the modern era: around 20 years originally, more than half a century for the UltimateUniverse, and almost 70 for the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.
** NickFury and the HowlingCommandos all fought in WorldWarII. The "Infinity Formula" has been used to explain Nick Fury's continued youth and vitality, but there's no such explanation for the other Howlers, most of whom have also been shown in the "modern" era.
** Marvel's original ''ComicBook/TheInvaders''. There are explanations for why the characters have survived to the modern time, but the series itself remains tied to WorldWarII.
* Comicbook/ThePunisher's origin is closely tied to his status as Vietnam veteran and the issues they faced when they came back from the war, and attempts to update his backstory to modern times (such as making him a veteran of Desert Storm instead) have not been well received.

When the concept behind a series is so tightly bound to a particular period of history that the series ''cannot'' leave that era, it is Frozen In Time. This can be a sliding scale; some series can slip a lot (''Film/TheDarkKnight'' is just a Batman story--not "Batman in the 21st Century"), some can only slip a little bit (Franchise/SherlockHolmes started in Victorian times and got updated to World War II for the wartime films, but is usually considered Victorian), and some can't slip at all.

Sometimes caused by BrieferThanTheyThink. See also: AlternateHistory, NotAllowedToGrowUp, & RetroUniverse. Not to be confused with TimeStandsStill. Also, this is not a Disney/{{Frozen}} fanfic about time travel. Not to be confused with the 2014 CGI Christmas special of the same name.

* ''{{Hogans Heroes}}'' - 6 seasons, all supposedly taking place between 1942 and 1945. Of course, most of these were not in chronological order anyway - historical background details in three episodes in the 5th season place the show at 1943, 1945, and 1944 in that order.

* ''{{Asterix}}'', comprising 34 books published between 1959 and 2010, canonically starts years after Vercingetorix's rendition at the Battle of Alesia (52 BC) - which, as per ''Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield'', happened early enough for Chief Vitalstatistix/Abraracourcix to have fought in it as a young man, and have become fat and weary since then - but is set before the death of Caesar in 44 BC. ''Asterix in Spain'' (1969), set right after the Battle of Munda in 45 BC, is the only book with a canonical date on it, while ''Asterix and Son'' (1983) introduces Caesarion (born 47 BC) as a baby and mentions that Caesar has been away on campaign (Munda actually being the last battle he fought in real life).

* ''{{Heartbeat}}'' ran for eighteen years, and when it ended it was still TheSixties.

Sometimes caused by BrieferThanTheyThink. See also: AlternateHistory, NotAllowedToGrowUp, & RetroUniverse. Not to be confused with TimeStandsStill. Also, this is not a Disney/{{Frozen}} fanfic about time travel. Not toe be confused with the 2014 CGI Christmas special of the same name.

Sometimes caused by BrieferThanTheyThink. See also: AlternateHistory, NotAllowedToGrowUp, & RetroUniverse. Not to be confused with TimeStandsStill. Also, this is not a Disney/{{Frozen}} fanfic about time travel.

Sometimes caused by BrieferThanTheyThink. See also: AlternateHistory, NotAllowedToGrowUp, & RetroUniverse. Not to be confused with TimeStandsStill.

* Franchise/SherlockHolmes, of course--originally set in the present day and treated as such until about World War II (with Basil Rathbone fighting Nazis in 1940); most later Holmes stories are set in the original time period, with the notable exception of the BBC's ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''.

[[folder: Literature]]
* Patrick O'Brian's ''{{Aubrey-Maturin}}'' series had normal time for the first seven books-until the author realized he couldn't end the Napoleonic Wars yet and it remained 1813 for the next ten books, even though in one of them the narrative comments the characters have been away from England for "years." In the 18th book normal time resumed.
** He referred to the years as "1812A, 1812B" and so on when speaking out of continuity.

* Franchise/SherlockHolmes, of course--originally set in the present day and treated as such until about World War II (with Basil Rathbone fighting Nazis in 1940); most later Holmes stories are set in the original time period, with the notable exception of the BBC's ''Series/Sherlock''.

* Increasingly noticeable in the ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo Ring Of Fire]]'' SharedUniverse, where due to one-way TimeTravel (of an entire ''town''), the modern technology is from the 1999-2000 era.
* Franchise/SherlockHolmes, of course--originally set in the present day and treated as such until about World War II (with Basil Rathbone fighting Nazis in 1940); most later Holmes stories are set in the original time period.

When the concept behind a series is so tightly bound to a particular period of history that the series ''cannot'' leave that era, it is Frozen In Time. This can be a sliding scale; some series can slip a lot (''Film/TheDarkKnight'' is just a Batman story--not "Batman in the 21st Century"), some can only slip a little bit (SherlockHolmes started in Victorian times and got updated to World War II for the wartime films, but is usually considered Victorian), and some can't slip at all.

* SherlockHolmes, of course--originally set in the present day and treated as such until about World War II (with Basil Rathbone fighting Nazis in 1940); most later Holmes stories are set in the original time period.

** Also Eric & Co. go to see ''StarWars'' midway through the first season, which didn't premiere until May 1977. The show stopped telling us the exact date shortly thereafter.

* AustinPowers is basically JamesBond (literally) frozen in the Swinging Sixties and then thawed out in the modern day.

** StephenKing lampshaded this entire trope in a short story about a private eye set in the late 30s. One day he wakes up and everything in his life that had formerly been static starts changing, and ''it just doesn't feel right.'' Turns out he's a character in a long-running pulp series set vaguely in the late 30s and his author is attempting to break the setting he's established so he can take over his character's life.

See also: NotAllowedToGrowUp and RetroUniverse. Sometimes caused by BrieferThanTheyThink. Not to be confused with TimeStandsStill.

* AustinPowers is basically JamesBond frozen in the Swinging Sixties. That is the core concept.
** ...and then unfrozen in the modern day.

* ''Combat'', which covered the post-D-Day (1944-45) adventures of an infantry platoon ran from 1962-67.

* Eddie from {{The Dark Tower}}. In ''Drawing of the Three'' we're introduced to three characters from "our" world, one each from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Eddie is supposed to represent a person from our current time, which he was in the book. By the series end it was well into the 2000s, making Eddie a historical character much like his fellow Earth gunslingers. This is even lampshaded by the series end, as it got really meta.