History Main / RippleEffectIndicator

* The Divergence Meter in ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' measures the difference between the current timeline and the reference alpha timeline. However, major changes in the timeline can make it RetGone.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E11AndWhenTheSkyWasOpened And When the Sky Was Opened]]", ''The Daily Chronicle'' initially features the headline "Three Spacemen Return from Crash; All Alive" and a photograph of Colonel Ed Harrington, Colonel Clegg Forbes and Major William Gart. After Harrington ceases to exist, the headline changes to "Two Spacemen Return from Crash in Desert" and only Forbes and Gart are pictured. When Forbes likewise ceases to exist, the headline reads "Lone Spaceman Completes Journey; Lands in Desert" and only Gart appears in the accompanying photo.
** The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E49BackThere Back There]]" has a man at a club of patrons insisting time is fixed and no one can change it. When he leaves, he enters a fog bank and finds himself on April 14th, 1865. Naturally, no one believes his claims Abraham Lincoln is going to be killed except one policeman but it's not enough to stop the killing. Whisked back to the present, Peter is brushing off what happened as a weird dream that confirms his beliefs. But when he enters his club, he's thrown to discover that William, formerly an attendant, is now a full wealthy member. It turns out William's great-grandfather was the cop who'd believed Peter and his attempts to stop Lincoln's death got attention. Instead of a forgotten patrolman, he became Chief of Police, a councilman and very wealthy investing in real estate. Peter realizes that while some historical moments are fixed, other parts of history can in fact be altered.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E92PersonOrPersonsUnknown Person or Persons Unknown]]", although there's no confirmation that the plot is time travel induced, David Gurney finds a picture of himself with his wife Wilma taken before he vanished but she vanishes from the picture before he can show it to Dr. Koslenko to prove that he does know her.

** A variation in "Little Boy Lost". Kenny is the son that Carol Shelton would have had in the potential future where she stayed in the US and married her boyfriend Greg instead of going abroad on a photography assignment. When she decides to take the assignment, Kenny disappears from the photos that Carol took at the zoo.
** Another variation in "Opening Day". After Joe Farrell kills his love rival Carl Wilkerson in a HuntingAccident, Carl's image in a photograph of him and his wife Sally is replaced by one of Joe as he has become her husband. The next day, Joe himself drowns as he thinks that Carl is trying to kill him. The photo then reverts to its original state.
** In "The Card", after the Wolfes' cat Boris [[RetGone ceases to exist]], his bowl and pillow disappear from their front porch. Linda initially believes that her husband Brian and her older children Matt and Evan are pulling a prank but it later becomes apparent that they don't remember ever having a cat. After the credit card company takes the children away, Matt and Evan's room has turned into a study while the baby B.J.'s nursery is used for storage. Brian's image later disappears from a photograph of him and Linda and the name on her card changes from "Mrs. Linda S. Wolfe" to "Miss Linda S. Wilson." After Linda herself disappears, the card is entirely blank.
** In "Extra Innings", Paula gives Ed Hamner a 1910 baseball card showing a player named Monte Hanks, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Ed and whose stats are identical to Ed's first two years in the Major Leagues. The card allows Ed to travel back in time to 1910 and assume Hanks' identity. While there, he scores a home run. After returning to 1988, he shows Paula the card and it now says that Hanks scored eight home runs in 1910 instead of seven. After Ed goes back to 1910 for the third time, Paula rips the card in half as she knows that he would rather remain in the past. That night, the stats on the card change before her eyes. As Hanks, Ed played in the Major Leagues until the early 1920s. When Paula turns the card around, there is a new photograph of a smiling Ed with the caption "Batting Champion."
** Another variation in "Street of Shadows". After Steve Cranston and Frederick Perry [[FreakyFridayFlip swap lives and identities]], Steve's image replaces Perry's in a photograph with the film star [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Lana Taylor]] and on his driver's license.

[[quoteright:320:[[Film/BackToTheFuture https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marty_hand_5658.jpg]]]]

* Marty's photo of himself and his siblings in 1985 serves as this in the original ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. As the time to get his parents falling in love draws closer, his siblings from the eldest on down vanish from the photo and reappear once he succeeds. Variations of this trope occur throughout the series enough that by ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Marty has gotten savvy about it, taking a photo of the grave of the person whose death he's trying to prevent before going to the past.

* ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': While trapped on prehistoric Earth, Ford and Arthur encounter a hovering spacecraft that keeps appearing and disappearing as they discuss how to react to its presence. They eventually figure out that it has traveled back in time, and that whatever they do next will determine whether the future will be one in which the spacecraft exists and makes the journey; as long as they can see it, they're on the right track, but if it disappears, that's a sign that whatever they're planning to do will result in a future where the spacecraft never visited them in the past.

[[caption-width-right:320:Oh no, [[SpecialEffectsFailure Marty's being infected with bad green screening!]]]]

* On ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', Piper goes back in time to prevent a series of events that will cause the deaths of Phoebe and Paige. She tracks down her younger self who naturally assumes Future!Piper is some demon using an illusion spell. Future!Piper proves it's her by giving a ''hard'' pinch to Past!Piper's arm and then pulling up her shirt to show a huge bruise on the exact same spot.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Gettysburg", Vince Chance has a book entitled ''Great Battles of the Civil War''. While on the Gettysburg battlefield for the re-enactment, he looks at the section on the battle and finds a photograph of several injured Confederate soldiers taken after Pickett's Charge featuring a nearby rock in the background. He and his friend Andy Larouche are later sent back in time to 1863 by Nicholas Prentice. Andy attempts to change history by preventing Pickett's Charge so that the Confederacy will win at Gettysburg. However, Lt. Winters believes that he is a DirtyCoward and a traitor so he shoots him in the chest at point blank range. Andy dies within about a minute and Prentice returns Vince to the present. When Vince looks at the same photograph, he sees Andy's body is now lying against the rock.

* The third season episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' "Yesterday's Enterprise" pulled off a clever example: The ''Enterprise'' encounters a NegativeSpaceWedgie, and Worf is called to the bridge. The camera shows Worf at Tactical, beginning a step to Picard. Camera pans to Picard, Time Ripple happens, and then the camera pans back to reveal Tasha Yar at Tactical, [[RetCon just as she's always been.]] Once the timeline is corrected, the camera pans back to reveal Worf at Tactical.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In "Year of Hell", a Krenim scientist is using a temporal weapon to change history for his race's benefit. Voyager is being harassed by a poorly-armed Krenim vessel commanded by a weaselly xenophobe who rather pathetically demands that Voyager leave their space (which they don't even own). When the temporal shift occurs, he's suddenly a SmugSnake commanding a powerful warship with temporal torpedoes that can pass right through Voyager's DeflectorShields. When the timeline is finally restored to normal, the Krenim commander has a professional demeanor, politely but firmly insisting that Voyager take another course around the disputed area.

* When time aberrations disrupt the development of RockAndRoll, the Legends notice many objects changing around the Waverider. Mick's pet rat is no longer named Axl, because [[Music/GunsNRoses Axl Rose]] never became a famous rock star. Zari's copy of ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' becomes ''[[BigBand Trombone Hero]]''. And Nate's hair is no longer in a Pompadour, because apparently they modeled it after Music/ElvisPresley.