History Main / TimeTravelEscape

* This was clearly an UnbuiltTrope during ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', as this is not even suggested as a way of preventing Edith Keeler's death in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E28TheCityOnTheEdgeOfForever The City on the Edge of Forever]]".

* In the first ''Comicbook/{{Cable}}'' limited series, Cable is trapped by [[BigBad Stryfe]] in a self-destructing base, and Stryfe designed the base to block Cable from using his space station to [[{Teleportation}} bodyslide]] out. But Stryfe failed to cut off access to Cable's ''time machine'', which he uses to escape 2000 years into the future.

* In the first ''Comicbook/{{Cable}}'' limited series, Cable is trapped by [[BigBad Stryfe]] in a self-destructing base, and Stryfe designed the base to block Cable from using his space station to [[TeleportersAndTransporters bodyslide]] out. But Stryfe failed to cut off access to Cable's ''time machine'', which he uses to escape 2000 years into the future.

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* Ultra-Man, a member of the [[Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse Global Guardians]], originally fought the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] in the 1940s. He was brought to the present when a villain's superweapon accidentally ripped a hole in the Time-Space Continuum.
** Freddy Mercury is alive in 2010 in the Global Guardians Universe because some unknown [[TimeTravel time-travelling]] metahuman faked the singer's death and brought him to the future, where there is an AIDS cure.
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* Inverted in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'''s ''Discworld/NightWatch''. Vimes (posing as Sergeant Keel) becomes the subject of this, and is replaced by the corpse of the previously-murdered Keel while Vimes gets to go home.

* In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E20 Profile In Silver]]", a 1985 episode of the ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'', a time traveller from 2172 goes back to observe the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but inadvertently prevents it. This creates a new timeline that ends in the human race being destroyed by nuclear war. The time line is ultimately restored by the traveler taking Kennedy's place in the motorcade while the president is safely returned to 2172.

* ''Webcomic/TimesLikeThis'' does this to UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc: After Cassie & Matt [[http://www.timeslikethis.com/index.php?id=352 pulled her from the stake]] just before she burned up (and leaving a [[DecoyGetaway dummy behind to get incinerated]]), Joan now lives in the present time as Joan Arquette.

* In the Season 3 finale of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Emma and Hook have accidentally traveled back to the past, where Emma rescues a woman who is sentenced to be executed by the Evil Queen. Realizing that her presence would change the course of history, they decide to take her back to their time with them. She turns out to be [[spoiler:Maid Marian, the (formerly) deceased wife of Robin Hood, [[{{Irony}} who is currently in a relationship with the Evil Queen's reformed future self, Regina]], causing this relationship to be shattered. The trope is subverted, it's revealed that the Evil Queen's even more evil sister pulled a KillAndReplace on Marian in the moments before she was taken to the future.]]

* In the Season 3 finale of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Emma and Hook have accidentally traveled back to the past, where Emma rescues a woman who is sentenced to be executed by the Evil Queen. Realizing that her presence would change the course of history, they decide to take her back to their time with them. She turns out to be [[spoiler:Maid Marion, the (formerly) deceased wife of Robin Hood, [[{{Irony}} who is currently in a relationship with the Evil Queen's reformed future self, Regina]], causing this relationship to be shattered. Much later, it's revealed that the Evil Queen's even more evil sister pulled a KillAndReplace on Marion.]]

* In the Season 3 finale of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Emma and Hook have accidentally traveled back to the past, where Emma rescues a woman who is sentenced to be executed by the Evil Queen. Realizing that her presence would change the course of history, they decide to take her back to their time with them. She turns out to be [[spoiler:Maid Marion, the (formerly) deceased wife of Robin Hood, [[{{Irony}} who is currently in a relationship with the Evil Queen's reformed future self, Regina]], causing this relationship to be shattered. Much later, it's revealed that the Evil Queen's even more evil sister pulled a [[KillAndReplace]] on Marion.]]

* In the Season 3 finale of Series/OnceUponATime, Emma and Hook have accidentally traveled back to the past, where Emma rescues a woman who is sentenced to be executed by the Evil Queen. Realizing that her presence would change the course of history, they decide to take her back to their time with them. She turns out to be [[spoiler:Maid Marion, the (formerly) deceased wife of Robin Hood, [[{{Irony}} who is currently in a relationship with the Evil Queen's reformed future self, Regina]], causing this relationship to be shattered. Much later, it's revealed that the Evil Queen's even more evil sister pulled a [[KillAndReplace]] on Marion.]]

Our heroes have travelled through time to witness some important historical event. While they are there, observing the event (but of course not actually interfering), they meet, befriend, or otherwise become aware of John Doe. From their previous studies of history, they know that John Doe is scheduled to die at such-and-such a date, and such-and-such a time. In order to preserve the timeline, they have to let him die.

A subtrope of SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong. May require TrickedOutTime. Contrast YouWillBeBeethoven.

* In ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft World Of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor]]'', as the alternate Draenor Archimonde is defeated, he sends the orc warlock Gul'dan to Azeroth's main timeline so he can summon the Burning Legion again there, kicking off the plot of the following expansion, ''Legion''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', history says that three Leaguers were taken to the future for a mission, but only two returned. Turns out that Supergirl decides to stay in the future. The death assumption came from the Legion members misinterpreting their woefully inaccurate records. They only knew it would be three people, not who exactly, and that one never was sent back, which they assumed as a death.

* In the series ''Time Riders'' by Alex Scarrow, Liam, Maddy, and Sal are recruited by 'The Agency' at the time of their deaths and offered the choice of dying, or become a time rider. [[spoiler: They choose the latter and are taken to The Agency's field office which is located underneath an archway of the Williamsburg Bridge in New York City in a two day 'Time Bubble', on 10 and 11 September 2001.]]

** The Cult of Skaro doing this to themselves via "EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT" at least twice, in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks "Evolution of the Daleks"]].

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]] reveals there's an entire organization, the Teselecta, which use this trope to overcome HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct, not to save them, but to punish them. They know that horrible evil dictators have to die at certain times -- they just remove them from their timeline shortly before, and punish them for all the horrible things they've done.

* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' pulls Sarah from a time before she died of cancer. Partially subverted, in that Sarah begins developing cancerlike symptoms about a year later, exactly as she did before Cameron pulled them ahead.

* ''Webcomic/TimesLikeThis'' does this to JoanOfArc: After Cassie & Matt [[http://www.timeslikethis.com/index.php?id=352 pulled her from the stake]] just before she burned up (and leaving a [[DecoyGetaway dummy behind to get incinerated]]), Joan now lives in the present time as Joan Arquette.

* The ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' free adventure "Charge of the Freedom Brigade" introduces the eponymous World War II heroes as [[spoiler:mind-controlled antagonists]] but the ''FreedomCity'' continuity has its own [=WW2=] team, as seen in the adventure provided with their Golden Age source book. The solution? Alternate universe traveller Dr. Tomorrow determined that the Freedom Brigade would be eliminated from the multiverse due to his changes in the main FreedomCity continuity, so he grabbed the Freedom Brigade and brought them to his future, the world of ''Erde'' to help fight Nazis in a world where the Axis won in [=WW2=].

* In ''Comicbook/{{Runaways}}'', when the Runaways go to return to the present from the early 1900s, they bring along Klara Prast, who can control plants and is in danger of a bad fate via her abusive (and much older) husband. [[spoiler:They also plan to bring along a street urchin who Victor fell in love with, but she is too afraid and stays behind.]]

* Averted in ''Videogame/ShadowOfMemories'', where you're explicitly told that you can't solve the problem of being targeted for assassination by time traveling out the way of an attack.

** The same sort of plot happened some time after [[TheFlash Barry Allen's]] death when Barry appears at the current Flash, Wally West's doorstep. Wally is confused but glad to see his mentor come back, but things start to get weird when Barry acts more and more like a {{Jerkass}} KnightTemplar, making Wally afraid that he CameBackWrong. [[spoiler: In reality, the man who appeared was not Barry Allen, but a deluded fan of Barry Allen from the future who went so far as to give himself Barry's face and powers. After his defeat, he returned to the future where he would go on to become Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash, one of Barry Allen's arch-enemies.]]

* In ''Videogame/TimeHollow'', Ethan saves his parents from a burning restaurant 15 years in the past by opening a Time Hole linking that time to the present. Ethan's father carries his unconscious mother through the hole and to safety in the present day. This has some side effects though.

* The ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' free adventure "Charge of the Freedom Brigade" introduces the eponymous World War II heroes as [[spoiler:mind-controlled antagonists]] but the ''FreedomCity'' continuity has its own WW2 team, as seen in the adventure provided with their Golden Age source book. The solution? Alternate universe traveller Dr. Tomorrow determined that the Freedom Brigade would be eliminated from the multiverse due to his changes in the main FreedomCity continuity, so he grabbed the Freedom Brigade and brought them to his future, the world of ''Erde'' to help fight Nazis in a world where the Axis won in WW2.

* In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E20 Profile In Silver]]", a 1985 episode of the ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'', a time traveller from 2172 goes back to observe the assassination of John F. Kennedy, but inadvertantly prevents it. This creates a new timeline that ends in the human race being destroyed by nuclear war. The time line is ultimately restored by the traveller taking Kennedy's place in the motorcade while the president is safely returned to 2172.

* In Margaret Peterson Haddix's ''The Missing'' series, people from the future do this with the missing children of the past (e.g Anastasia), and give them to families in the future. Unfortunately, the time machine went wrong and ended up in an airport in the 90s. When people found it, it was an airplane filled with babies. These babies were put into foster care and adopted by various families.

* In Leo Frankowski's ''The Cross Time Engineer'' series, Conrad tells his [[TimeTravel time-traveling]] cousin Tom that he (Conrad) saw Tom get killed by a Mongol spearman in 1241. Tom's response was "Hmmm... I guess I'll avoid going to Poland in 1241, then." Thus performing this trope on himself.