History Main / RealWorldEpisode

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'', in the two-part GrandFinale of TheNineties [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries animated series]]. One of the Spideys of the interdimensional Spider-Man team (led by "our" Spidey) was not Peter Parker, but an actor who played him. In his world, we met Creator/StanLee, voiced by... Stan Lee. He had created Spider-Man for a comic book and was surprised to find that there was a world where his creations were real. He also found Madame Web quite fascinating (she was voiced by Stan's real-life wife, Joan B. Lee.)

* In a metafictional sort-of inversion, one Marvel Comics FifthWeekEvent was comic books based on what they would look like if published in the MarvelUniverse itself. The writers there didn't know the secret identities of most characters, suffered from the FantasticRacism against mutants, and could not do comics based on what the heroes are really doing, so most such comics were very different from the real versions.

* Notably used in a ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' [[http://www.kristensheley.com/bttf/interactiveII.html fanfic,]] where accidental interaction with the creators and actors changes them to earlier drafts. Interference with Michael J. Fox's audition causes Marty's appearance to change to that of [[TheOtherMarty Eric Stoltz]], flying past Bob Gale causes the [=DeLorean=] TimeMachine to revert to a refrigerator, and tearing off a page establishing the [[MacGuffin almanac]] from the sequel's screenplay wipes out all the events stemming from Marty buying it in 2015.

* The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Far Beyond the Stars", where Sisko wakes up as a ScienceFiction writer in the 1950s, and Deep Space Nine is just a story he's been writing. Of course no one wants to read a story where a black man commands a space station...

* The premise of the ''Series/RedDwarf'' ReunionShow. Unlike most examples, several of the people they run into in the "real world" fairly easily work out what they are, and don't find it especially outlandish that a group of fictional characters might pop out into the real world. Of course they ARE Science Fiction fans. [[spoiler: As it turns out, the "real world" is a drug-induced hallucination]]. (Strictly, it's not the ''real'' real world; it's one where the series is still going, and is more popular than ever.)
** And where people stopped using DVD and went back to VHS. And where ''Series/CoronationStreet'' is a real place.

* This is the premise of the live-action ''Film/FatAlbert'' movie.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheScoobyDooProject'', a [[SurpriseCreepy surprisingly dark]] parody of ''Film/{{The Blair Witch Project}}'' and other FoundFootageFilms, makes good use of the RogerRabbitEffect and allows the animated teenagers themselves to be treated as if they, too, were extensions of the real world, and not just [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight Unusually Uninteresting Sights]]. At one point, however, Shaggy notes how eerie the forest look.

* An episode of ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'' had Amanda Bentley, played by Victoria Rowell, win a trip to the set of ''Series/TheYoungAndTheRestless'', in which Victoria Rowell also starred. Other regular characters from within the show and real actors from ''The Young and the Restless'' playing themselves, plus actors playing fictional ''The Young and the Restless'' crew, commented on [[ActorAllusion how much Amanda Bentley looked like Victoria Rowell]].

* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'':

** Ed and Hohenheim towards the end of the 2003 anime version of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''; they never meet Hiromu Arakawa, but [[WordOfGod she has confirmed]] that [[spoiler:they really did end up in our London, and UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne and UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo were at least partially the result of all the alchemy that was going on in their world.]] The big plot twist was [[spoiler:that the other side of the Gate is 'our' world]].

* Flirted with in ''ComicBook/TheSandman''. Dream's normal home is, of course, the Dreaming, but he can visit the waking world (the "real" world) whenever he wants. The last book in the series is titled "The Wake" and it's narrated in the [[SecondPersonNarration second person]], implying you (the reader) are watching current events.

* One of the final episodes of ''Series/{{UFO}}'' has Ed Straker finding himself in an alternate reality where he is an actor filming a TV series called UFO, with other characters from the series using their actors' real names.

* In the ''Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers'' episode "Mario in real life!? (200 vid special)", Mario winds up activating a portal within [=SMG4's=] computer, which eventually sucks him and most of the major/recurring characters into [=SMG4's=] real-life house. Soon enough, the real-life [=SMG4=] has to deal with the characters' antics while trying to help them get back home.
* In the ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' Season 14 episode "Red vs. Blue vs. Rooster Teeth"", the Reds ([[AndZoidberg plus Caboose]]) end up jumping through a malfunctioning teleporter. Meanwhile, at the Rooster Teeth studio, Miles Luna ends up accidentally spilling an energy drink on the Xbox they're using to generate the show, while Burnie Burns flips the switch to shut off power to spite Miles. The combination results in the Reds (plus Caboose) ending up in the studio, face-to-face with their creators, who are, understandably, freaked out. Sarge immediately assumes the other people are "the enemy". The same accident results in the Reds (plus Caboose) being sent back... along with Burnie Burns.

* Played fairly straight in most ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' continuities, mostly ''[[Anime/DigimonTamers Tamers]]'', and {{subverted|Trope}} in ''[[Anime/DigimonDataSquad Savers]]''. The Digimon that appear in the "real world" often suffer a loss in [[PowerLevels power]], but they somehow manage to exist despite being made of data. Also, they can still use special attacks and evolve.

* Played fairly straight in most ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' continuity, mostly ''[[Anime/DigimonTamers Tamers]]'', and {{subverted|Trope}} in ''[[Anime/DigimonDataSquad Savers]]''. The Digimon that appear in the "real world" often suffer a loss in [[PowerLevels power]], but they somehow manage to exist despite being made of data. Also, they can still use special attacks and evolve.

->'''Sam''': [[SelfDeprecation Well, I mean, according to that interviewer, not very many people do.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CloseEnough'' has its season three HalloweenEpisode, where one of the segments is Candace having a nightmare where she literally pushes through the fourth wall and ends up in Cartoon Network Studios, which produces the show. To her building horror, she meets various members of the show's cast and crew, including creator J.G. Quintel ([[AuthorAvatar who looks exactly like her dad]]) and her own voice actor, before running out the building and realizing that she's a fictional character.

* Franchise/TheDCU, prior to ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', had Earth Prime, a world that is in fact ''our'' world, with no superpowers or anything. Comicbook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/TheFlash occasionally ended up here. Earth Prime got its own version of Superboy shortly before being destroyed in the Crisis.

* An early issue of Creator/GrantMorrison's deservedly famous run on ''Comicbook/AnimalMan'' builds to a climax in which the title character (a.k.a. Buddy Baker) freaks out because he can see the reader(s). At the conclusion of a long MindScrew StoryArc (which involves one of the few characters who can remember ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', as well as UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} version of DC continuity), Buddy has a long metaphysical conversation with Grant Morrison in person, who says that, at this point, he can't think of anything else to do with the comic than hand it over to somebody else.
** It is heavily implied that the last issue of Morrison's run on ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol'' also takes place in the same world as his last Animal Man issue, i.e. the real world. Aside from the fact that the world seen in the Doom Patrol issue apparently has no superheroes, it also shares the same colour scheme with the final issue of Animal Man. And if we take into consideration Morrison's later DC comics, it seems the final issues of Doom Patrol and Animal Man both take place [[spoiler:inside the infant universe Qwewq, which is revealed to be our universe]] in ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman''. This also means that [[spoiler:the final fate of our universe is to get speared by Frankenstein]] in Morrison's ComicBook/SevenSoldiers!

* Flirted with in ''Comicbook/TheSandman''. Dream's normal home is, of course, the Dreaming, but he can visit the waking world (the "real" world) whenever he wants. The last book in the series is titled "The Wake" and it's narrated in the [[SecondPersonNarration second person]], implying you (the reader) are watching current events.

* Way back in 2002, someone wrote a story called the [[http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/chapter.cfm?stid=339 Fanfic Lounge.]] It took place in [[GoodGuyBar a lounge made for fictional characters]] so they could relax between fanfics. While We're not sure how many spin offs were made, this one was about ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' cast, along with Creator/ElijahWood and Creator/OrlandoBloom, being gathered in the lounge in order to find a solution to the problems plaguing LOTR fanfiction. IIRC, this is where the LOTR cast discovers their fictional status, and Orlando Bloom and Elijah Wood are just as weirded out at meeting their fictional counterparts. The story featured the culture shock scenario for the LOTR cast, and contained such gems as: [[spoiler:Boromir trying to open a can of Mountain Dew with a dagger, the cast becoming confused at references to future events in the books/movies (the cast was taken some time before the splitting of the Fellowship), and perhaps the best part, the cast being informed of the existence of Yaoi slash fiction, and being informed of who is frequently paired with who.]] The two RealLife actors also experience their own variant, when [[spoiler: Elijah Wood is nearly torn apart when he accidentally walks into a room used to hold OP characters (and then later identifies ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' as being among them), and Orlando Bloom becoming horrified when he's told that the body he's currently inhabiting was pulled out of an NC-17 fic, explaining why he was missing his shirt (hard to explain, you'd have to read it).]]
* Appears in [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4413991/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Soul_of_the_Hero Harry Potter and the Soul of the Hero]], where the author and Harry have a conversation for the sake of heroic DeusExMachina.
* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NwdIJMALxxi6egHz832IuNIHy1J7JAqulJFoGeLM5tY/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1 My Little Dashie]]. An {{inversion}} of the fandom's usual {{Self Insert Fic}}s, the story involves Rainbow Dash arriving into the real world (as a filly), and becoming essentially the narrator's adopted daughter.

* The premise of ''FanFic/TheBookKeeper'' is that Wilson Bridges can meet characters from books. They briefly enter the real world, and Wilson comforts them, before they disappear back into their stories.

* Believe it or not, this occurs in ''Film/{{Goosebumps}}''. Every monster R.L. Stine ever created is locked inside their manuscripts, and he has dedicated his life to protecting the world from them. Then someone opens one of the books...

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* About half of the episodes of Creator/DiCEntertainment's ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3'' had the characters visiting Earth in some way. In this continuity, Mario and Luigi are plumbers from "the real world" who discovered the Mushroom World on a plumbing job, and Earthlings are drawn with the same art style as the Marios. Even though this would make the Mushroom World a ParallelWorld as real as Earth, [[UpTheRealRabbitHole Bowser, Peach and Toad refer to Earth as "the real world"]] [[UpTheRealRabbitHole even though the Mushroom World is]] ''[[UpTheRealRabbitHole their]]'' [[UpTheRealRabbitHole real world, and is as real to them as the 'real' real world.]]

* About half of the episodes of Creator/DiCEntertainment's ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3'' had the characters visiting Earth in some way. In this continuity, Mario and Luigi are plumbers from "the real world" who discovered the Mushroom World on a plumbing job, and Earthlings are drawn with the same art style as the Marios. [[UpTheRealRabbitHole Yet Bowser and Peach and Toad refer to Earth as "the real world" even though the Mushroom World is as real to them as the real world.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CloseEnough'' has its season three HalloweenEpisode, where one of the segments is Candace having a nightmare where she literally pushes through the fourth wall and ends up in Cartoon Network Studios, which produces the show. To her building horror, she meets various members of the show's cast and crew, including creator J.G. Quintel ([AuthorAvatar who looks exactly like her dad]]) and her own voice actor, before running out the building and realizing that she's a fictional character.

** In the episode "The Road to the Multi-Verse", Stewie and Brian get transformed into Live Action versions of themselves in one universe.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/GarfieldAnimatedMovieTrilogy Garfield Gets Real]]'' is based on the premise that every ''Garfield'' strip we've ever read has been made using props in a studio, and Garfield has never actually been in the real world the comic strips makes it look like he lives in. And then he travels there.

* The first season finale of ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone2019 The Twilight Zone]]'' is about various characters who are '''making''' an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. While the cast are filming, however, one of the scriptwriters is stalked by a mysterious blurred figure later revealed to be none other than [[spoiler:Rod Serling himself]].

-->'''Dean''': ...why?
-->'''Sam''': I don't know.
-->'''Dean''': [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs No, seriously, why? Why would anybody want to watch our lives?]]
-->'''Sam''': [[SelfDeprecation Well, I mean, according to that interviewer, not very many people do.]]

'''Dean:''' Ya think?!\\\
'''Sam:''' I mean, here, wherever here is, this ''Twilight Zone'' Balthazar zapped us into. For whatever reason, our life is a TV show.\\
'''Dean:''' Why would anybody wanna watch our lives?

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