History Main / TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has you traveling to 65 million BC, and in the conclusion of that part of the plot, a giant asteroid falls to the planet. Justified in that the asteroid that wiped out the remainder of the Reptites is actually [[{{Cosmic Horror}} La]][[{{Big Bad}} vos]].

* While they don't often involve time travel, many dinosaur documentaries are fond of ending their stories [[KillEmAll by having the asteroid impact]]. (If said documentaries are made by TheBBC it's a pretty safe bet that they'll use StockFootage from ''WalkingWithDinosaurs'' to save money.)

But wait, wasn't the Cretaceous period 79 million years long? Wouldn't it be better to go visit it any other day but the one guaranteed to kill you? And if the TimeTravel in question was random, it's pretty astounding that EVERY protagonist gets sent back to the exact same date.

This is when TheThemeParkVersion of prehistory reveals its dark side for time travelers. No matter how sophisticated the method of time travel used, the arrivers will always have to complete their tasks before the asteroid arrives. There is no way around it, sometimes even if you're observing [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying Jurassic or Triassic dinosaurs]].

This need not apply only to the K-T extinction. Fiction loves to Flanderize history into simple compact events and travelers headed to other periods may find themselves in the midst of other disasters, like arriving in Manassas only to find [[TheAmericanCivilWar a civil war is breaking out]], or visiting Roman Italy only for a volcano to erupt. Such a visitor is not looking to change history or see said famous event, they just want to take a stroll and breathe in the surroundings when... HOLY COW! This 20th century ship I'm on is called Titanic!

But wait, wasn't the Cretaceous period 79 million years long? Wouldn't it be better to go visit it any other day but the one guaranteed to kill you?

This need not apply only to the K-T extinction. Fiction loves to flanderize history into simple compact events and travelers headed to other periods may find themselves in the midst of other disasters, like arriving in Manassas only to find [[TheAmericanCivilWar a civil war is breaking out]], or visiting Roman Italy only for a volcano to erupt. Such a visitor is not looking to change history or see said famous event, they just want to take a stroll and breathe in the surroundings when... HOLY COW! This 20th century ship I'm on is called Titanic!

* ''Disney/{{Dinosaur}}'': Since it's a dinosaur movie, we do get the obligatory meteor strike to kick off the plot, but the meteor damage appears to be confined to a relatively small area, and the dinosaurs manage to survive by migrating to the nearest fertile area. It's like the filmmakers just assumed that giant meteors were a regular occurrence in the Cretaceous Era.

* ''Disney/{{Dinosaur}}'': Since it's a dinosaur movie, we do get the obligatory meteor strike to kick off the plot, but the meteor damage appears to be confined to a relatively small area, and the dinosaurs manage to survive by migrating to the nearest fertile area. It's like they just assumed that giant meteors were a regular occurrence in the Cretaceous Era.

This need not apply only to the K-T extinction. Fiction loves to flanderize history into simple compact events and travelers headed to other periods may find themselves in the midst of other disasters, like arriving in Manassas only to find [[TheAmericanCivilWar a civil war is breaking out]], or visiting Roman Italy only for a volcano to erupt. Such a visitor is not looking to change history or see said famous event, they just want to take a stroll and breathe in the surroundings when... [[SelfDemonstratingArticle HOLY COW! This 20th century ship I'm on is called Titanic!]]

* This happens many times during ''Literature/TheMagicTreehouse'' series. It's justified because the books are usually meant to take them to a specific event like the Pompeii eruption, but Jack and Annie [[IdiotBall often don't bother to read further in the book]] until said disastrous event is happening.

This need not apply only to the K-T extinction. Fiction loves to flanderize history into simple compact events and travelers headed to other periods may find themselves in the midst of other disasters, like arriving in Manassas only to find [[TheAmericanCivilWar a civil war is breaking out]], or visiting Roman Italy only for a volcano to erupt. Such a visitor is not looking to change history or see said famous event, they just want to take a stroll and breathe in the surroundings when... HOLY COW! This 20th century ship I'm on is called Titanic!

-->'''Idris:''' No, but I always took you where you needed to go.

* ''TheMagicSchoolBus'' book ''In the Time of the Dinosaurs'' has them escape from the asteroid at the end of their day in the Cretaceous, though also after visiting other periods. It's averted in the corresponding animated episode however, where there is no asteroid because Ms. Frizzle sends them back ''67'' million years in the past.

* In an episode of ''BetweenTheLions'', Walter and Clay Pigeon get transported inside a book about dinosaurs. At first they believe they've scared off a T-rex with their roars, but then Lionel turns the page and [[OhCrap they realize the T-rex was actually running from the meteor.]]

* ''EVOSearchForEden'' ends the dinosaur era with a massive meteor bombardment.

* Invoked in an episode of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': Lord Chronos punishes his goon Chucko by stranding him in the Cretaceous at the moment of the meteor's landing. ''At the site'' of the meteor's landing. He even [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVn-G3Ky2pg gets off]] a BondOneLiner.

* This happens many times during ''TheMagicTreehouse'' series. It's justified because the books are usually meant to take them to a specific event like the Pompeii eruption, but Jack and Annie [[IdiotBall often don't bother to read further in the book]] until said disastrous event is happening.

* Intentionally subverted in QuantumLeap, where Sam's time-traveling missions (as determined by an unknown entity) only involved fixing the lives of normal people, never celebrities. The closest that he came to do so was when he tried to prevent President Kennedy's assassination, and succeeded only in saving his wife (who, in this setting, had also been killed.)

* In the ''FamilyGuy'' episode "Road to Germany", Brian and Stewie travel back in time to Warsaw, Poland (though how they got to Poland from Rhode Island is never explained), 1th September, 1939. The date that Germany invades Poland and kicks off World War II. They have time for one Jewish wedding before tanks start rolling in.

-->'''Doctor:''' You didn't always take me where I wanted to go.

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* Invoked in an episode of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': Lord Chronos punishes his goon Chucko by stranding him in the Cretaceous at the moment (and location) of the meteor's landing. ''At the site'' of the meteor's landing. He even [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVn-G3Ky2pg gets off]] a BondOneLiner.
* ''WesternAnimation/BackToTheFuture'' also pulled this out, with Doc Brown and Verne stopping a meteor from hitting to save a dinosaur they befriended, only to find out it was ''that'' one, and without it, Dinosaurs still rule the earth.

* Invoked in an episode of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': Lord Chronos punishes his goon Chucko by stranding him in the Cretaceous at the moment of the meteor's landing. ''At the site'' of the meteor's landing. He even [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVn-G3Ky2pg gets off]] a BondOneLiner.

* In ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "There's No Time Like the Past" this was being done intentionally at first, as a man goes back in time to attempt to warn the people of Hiroshima about a nuclear bomb in 1945 (hours before it hit), prevent the sinking of the Lusitania (hours before it was torpedoed), and kill AdolfHitler before WorldWarII. But when he decides to stop trying to change the past and go live in 1881, this trope still comes into play. He arrives the day before President JamesGarfield is assassinated, but decides to let it happen. Then it turns out he arrived a few days before a huge fire killed some children at the local schoolhouse, and he struggles with whether or not to prevent it, only to end up causing it when he does try to intervene.

* In ''DoomsdayBook'', time travel Kivrin arrives at the start of the Black Death epidemic of 1348, twenty years later than she intended to arrive. The explanation is that history resists people from going to any time but specific dates, hence why she must arrive in 1348.

* Disney/{{Dinosaur}}: Since it's a dinosaur movie, we do get the obligatory meteor strike to kick off the plot, but the meteor damage appears to be confined to a relatively small area, and the dinosaurs manage to survive by migrating to the nearest fertile area. It's like they just assumed that giant meteors were a regular occurrence in the Cretaceous Era.

* In ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "There's No Time Like the Past" this was being done intentionally at first, as a man goes back in time to attempt to warn the people of Hiroshima about a nuclear bomb in 1945 (hours before it hit), prevent the sinking of the Lusitania (hours before it was torpedoed), and kill Hitler before World War II. But when he decides to stop trying to change the past and go live in 1881, this trope still comes into play. He arrives the day before President James A. Garfield is assassinated, but decides to let it happen. Then it turns out he arrived a few days before a huge fire killed some children at the local schoolhouse, and he struggles with whether or not to prevent it, only to end up causing it when he does try to intervene.

* In ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "There's No Time Like the Past" this was being done intentionally at first, as a man goes back in time to attempt to warn the people of Hiroshima about a nuclear bomb in 1945 (hours before it hit), prevent the sinking of the Lusitania, and kill Hitler before World War II. But when he decides to stop trying to change the past and go live in 1881, this trope gets played more straight. He arrives the day before President James A. Garfield is assassinated, but decides to let it happen. Then it turns out he arrived a few days before a huge fire killed some children at the local schoolhouse, and he struggles with whether or not to prevent it, only to end up causing it when he does try to intervene.

But wait, wasn't the Cretaceous period 79 million years long? Wouldn't it better to go visit it any other day but the one guaranteed to kill you?

* ''Series/TheTimeTunnel''. If the protagonists ended up in a place where a historic event took place, they always arrived just before said event occurred. Indeed, the very first episode sends them to the Titanic.

* In ''DawnOfTime'', Dawn and Blue are returned back to their own time just as the asteroid is about to hit. They don't escape the asteroid, but they do manage to get away from the GrimReaper.