History Main / IntangibleTimeTravel

* This happens in the [[AssassinsCreed Assassin´s Creed franchise]] by using [[GeneticMemory the Animus to relive the protagonist´s ancestors´ memories]]. This is also played with as [[AbusivePrecursors Those Who Came Before]] ''were counting on this'' and used it to led the protagonist to [[spoiler: sacrifice himself to save the planet from a devastating solar eruption.]]

* Azmuth did this once in an episode of ''Ben10UltimateAlien''.

* In ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', after the Senior Angel assigns Clarence to go to Earth and talk George Bailey out of committing suicide, the two travel to various key moments in George's life Clarence can observe what kind of man he is and how he has come to be in his current situation. For all intents and purposes, they appear to be literally watching the movie along with the viewers at home, MST3K-style, and the Senior Angel can even pause the "footage" to explain certain events in more detail.

* In ''PrincessResurrection'' [[spoiler:Hiro]] traveled back in time as a spirit [[spoiler:thanks to a ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' car]]

* In ''TheInvisibles'', the team use The HandOfGlory, a mystical artifact, to fold time down to a point. At that moment, they receive {{flashback}}s and {{flashforward}}s of events in their lives and the lives of others. In each instance, they are literally invisible to the people around them.

* The [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' comics had instances where Superman went intangible whenever he time-traveled under his own power. Of course, this was only in some issues; the writers [[TimeyWimeyBall changed the rules whenever it was convenient]]. This eventually calcified into a hard rule of time travel in TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks--travelers heading to a time they already existed in would be reduced to intangibility, but would remain solid and able to interact with others if there was no other copy of themselves around (the idea being that by making it impossible to physically be in two places at once, the universe was preventing [[TimeParadox paradoxes]]).

* ''MiraiNikki'' had this when Murumuru showed Yuki the "true" behind Yuno´s secret [[spoiler:...killing her current timeline version in the past and proceeding to impersonating her. However, Yuki´s desire to save this alternative Yuno in this vision was strong enough to defy the trope and make the second world Yuno hear (or at least sense) him in some way and even (in a very sad scene) call him for help by writing with her blood in a wall, but all in vain...]]

* The time travel based [[RealTimeStrategy RTS]] game ''{{Achron}}'' has this in the gameplay. The player is able to freely look at any point on the timeline, but if the time you are looking at is too far in the past you will be unable to make any canges to it.

The argument goes that if TimeTravel were possible, we'd know about it, because we'd always be running into people asking "WhatYearIsThis". But who says time travel has to be a ''physical'' thing? An infrequent but recurring trope is that of IntangibleTimeTravel, in which people travel through time only as observers -- as spirits or projections, but not as physical beings.

Sometimes this isn't time travel at all; the "traveler" is having a vision or visiting someone's memory. Other times, the line gets blurred.

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* ''MiraiNikki'' had this when Murumuru showed Yuki the "true" behind Yuno´s secret [[spoiler: ...killing her current timeline version in the past and proceeding to impersonating her. However, Yuki´s desire to save this alternative Yuno in this vision was strong enough to defy the trope and make the second world Yuno hear (or at least sense) him in some way and even (in a very sad scene) call him for help by writing with her blood in a wall, but all in vain...]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

* The [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' comics had instances where Superman went intangible whenever he time-traveled under his own power. Of course, this was only in some issues; the writers [[TimeyWimeyBall changed the rules whenever it was convenient]]. This eventually calcified into a hard rule of time travel in TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks -- travelers heading to a time they already existed in would be reduced to intangibility, but would remain solid and able to interact with others if there was no other copy of themselves around (the idea being that by making it impossible to physically be in two places at once, the universe was preventing [[TimeParadox paradoxes]]).
** Used to heartbreaking effect in ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'' by Creator/AlanMoore, the last [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] {{Superman}} story -- the Legion of Superheroes comes to bid Superman farewell, and Supergirl, being a member, comes with them. The story takes place after Supergirl's death, and Supergirl wonders why she didn't turn intangible and asks Superman what she's like when she grows up. Superman tells her that "Supergirl is in the past", assures her that she grows up to be beautiful... and breaks down sobbing when they leave.

[[folder:{{Film}}]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

* In the {{Odd Thomas}} series, the titular character has come to the hypothesis that the insubstantial wraiths that gather when some really bad shit is going to go down are actually dicks from the future who enjoy watching human suffering. They aren't totally intangible, though, as upon knowing your knowing about them, they will rectify the situation by making sure you are no longer around to know.
* Creator/PeterFHamilton's short story ''If At First...'' takes Einstein's theory of not moving one single atom back. Somebody moves his mind back to his childhood years, overwriting the previous pernality, and using his knowledge of future events, alters time. One guy uses it to advance the technological level of society, and the other guy uses it to become a rock star, plagiarizing songs not written yet.

* [[spoiler: Rock]] of ''Literature/WarriorCats'' can travel through time like this. And he can also interact with time travelers.

* In Elizabeth C. Mock's Literature/TheChildrenOfMan series, this is known as "stepping" and is one of the abilities granted by purple magic.
** [[spoiler: At one point, the hero tries to use his magic to save the Love Interest's baby boy while in the past. The backlash nearly kills him, and ends up briefly stripping his magic of its colors, causing him to transform into one of the bizzare [[NonElemental colorless]] mages known as Grays.]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' Peter sort of does this, but not intentionally as he couldn't control his abilities. He travels back in time but turns invisible, only one character knows he's there and his past self isn't aware of him.
* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E21AllHellBreaksLoosePartOne "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" (S02, Ep21)]], the Yellow-Eyed Demon takes Sam back to see what happened on the night of Sam's 6 month birthday in a dream where no one can hear or see them.

[[folder:NewspaperComics]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* The final dungeon of ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]'' has the eponymous protagonist literally traveling through time, climbing his way through a dungeon where every floor represents a later decade. Many of the [=NPCs=] in this location are ghosts from their respective time periods, but a few are Intangible Time Travelers, and they comment on how dangerous it is to wander through time in corporeal form like Raidou is doing. [[spoiler:The villain actually happens to be such a time traveler, having possessed a girl from Raidou's time period in order to change the past so that the events of the original ''Shin Megami Tensei 1'' and ''2'' -- which some of the aforementioned ghosts are a ShoutOut to -- never happened. More surprisingly, said villain turns out to be Raidou's successor from an unknown number of generations hence.]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
Azmuth did this once in an episode of Ben10UltimateAlien.

[[folder:RealLife]]

* In the short PhilipKDick story ''Paycheck'' a "timescope" exists which gives people the ability to see into the future.

* PeterFHamilton's short story ''If At First...'' takes Einstein's theory of not moving one single atom back. Somebody moves his mind back to his childhood years, overwriting the previous pernality, and using his knowledge of future events, alters time. One guy uses it to advance the technological level of society, and the other guy uses it to become a rock star, plagiarizing songs not written yet.

* The short story "The Men Who Murdered Muhammed" by Alfred Bester has a [[MindScrew very confusing]] variant on this.

* In ''QuantumLeap'', Al is able to project himself into the past, but he is visible only to Sam and a selected few other characters (e.g. young children). Sam has to do the hard physical work of [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong putting right what once went wrong]], and has to partially take the bodyspace of someone already in that time, he can't just appear via a portal.

** Used to heartbreaking effect in "{{ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow}}" by Creator/AlanMoore, the last [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] {{Superman}} story -- the Legion of Superheroes comes to bid Superman farewell, and Supergirl, being a member, comes with them. The story takes place after Supergirl's death, and Supergirl wonders why she didn't turn intangible and asks Superman what she's like when she grows up. Superman tells her that "Supergirl is in the past", assures her that she grows up to be beautiful... and breaks down sobbing when they leave.

* In the movie ''Film/{{Constantine}}'', JohnConstantine goes back in time and sees several scenes from earlier on in the movie, but remains intangible and invisible.

* In "{{Scrooged}}" (as a take off on A Christmas Carol) the characters sees his past and is told it's "like a rerun" and they can't be seen or heard. Too bad because he tries to tell his past self to pick up on the fact that the office slut wants him and to not make the mistakes that caused his girlfriend to leave him.

* ''MiraiNikki'' had this when Murumuru showed Yuki the "true" behind Yuno´s secret [[spoiler: ...killing her current timeline version in the past and proceed to impersonating her. However, Yuki´s feeling to save this alternative Yuno in this vision was strong enough to partially subverting the trope and managing to make the second world Yuno to hear (or at least sense) him in some way and even (in a very sad scene) call him for help writing with her blood in a wall, but all in vain...]]

* MiraiNikki had this when Murumuru showed Yuki the "true" behind Yuno´s secret [[spoiler: ...killing her current timeline version in the past and proceed to impersonating her. However, Yuki´s feeling to save this alternative Yuno in this vision was strong enough to partially subverting the trope and managing to make the second world Yuno to hear (or at least sense) him in some way and even (in a very sad scene) call him for help writing with her blood in a wall, but all in vain...]]

** Used to heartbreaking effect in "{{Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow}}" by Creator/AlanMoore, the last [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] {{Superman}} story -- the Legion of Superheroes comes to bid Superman farewell, and Supergirl, being a member, comes with them. The story takes place after Supergirl's death, and Supergirl wonders why she didn't turn intangible and asks Superman what she's like when she grows up. Superman tells her that "Supergirl is in the past", assures her that she grows up to be beautiful... and breaks down sobbing when they leave.

* In the first collection of ''ComicBook/TheBooksOfMagic'' by NeilGaiman, young Tim Hunter, a potentially very powerful human magician, gets taken back in time in this manner by ThePhantomStranger as part of his education on magic. Later, unusually, he physically travels into one possible future (which people generally tend to see as spirits rather than physical beings) with Mister E.

** Used to heartbreaking effect in "{{Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow}}" by AlanMoore, the last [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] {{Superman}} story -- the Legion of Superheroes comes to bid Superman farewell, and Supergirl, being a member, comes with them. The story takes place after Supergirl's death, and Supergirl wonders why she didn't turn intangible and asks Superman what she's like when she grows up. Superman tells her that "Supergirl is in the past", assures her that she grows up to be beautiful... and breaks down sobbing when they leave.

* In the first collection of ''{{The Books Of Magic}}'' by NeilGaiman, young Tim Hunter, a potentially very powerful human magician, gets taken back in time in this manner by ThePhantomStranger as part of his education on magic. Later, unusually, he physically travels into one possible future (which people generally tend to see as spirits rather than physical beings) with Mister E.

* In Elizabeth C. Mock's Literature/TheChildrenOfMan series, this is one of the abilities granted by purple magic. At one point, the hero tries to use his magic to save the Love Interest's baby boy while in the past. The backlash nearly kills him, and ends up briefly stripping his magic of its colors, causing him to transform into one of the bizzare [[NonElemental colorless]] mages known as Grays.

* In ''TheInvisibles'', the team use The Hand of Glory, a mystical artifact, to fold time down to a point. At that moment, they receive {{flashback}}s and {{flashforward}}s of events in their lives and the lives of others. In each instance, they are literally invisible to the people around them.

* In ''PrincessTutu'' Rue is able to relive her early memories this way when [[spoiler:Uzura turns the gears of the Story backward.]] It's as weird as it sounds.