History Main / TimeTravelersAreSpies

* In Russia, there is a lot of time travel fiction about WorldWarII and modern people ending up in the Stalinist USSR. Obviously, the first danger you have to deal with after the time hop is the [[StateSec NKVD]]. Different protagonists deal with this danger in different ways: some try being honest and admit to being from the future, some try to play hide and seek with the NKVD, some are forced to admit being spies and sent to the death row, then the proverbial messenger with a pardon arrives, sent by some high Soviet official who decided to believe the time travelers.

* In Russia, there is a lot of time travel fiction about WorldWarTwo and modern people ending up in the Stalinist USSR. Obviously, the first danger you have to deal with after the time hop is the [[StateSec NKVD]]. Different protagonists deal with this danger in different ways: some try being honest and admit to being from the future, some try to play hide and seek with the NKVD, some are forced to admit being spies and sent to the death row, then the proverbial messenger with a pardon arrives, sent by some high Soviet official who decided to believe the time travelers.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Justified in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS07E12TimeAfterTime Time After Time]]" given that it's World War II, and Dean is carrying a fake ID (an FBI badge 68 years out of date) and an electronic device (a mobile phone) displaying the words NO SIGNAL.

* Invoked in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' where Hermione tells Harry that [[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet they can't be seen by their last selves]] because they'll probably be mistaken for villains disguised with a polyjuice potion.

->'''Guard:''' Commander, I have found these spies!
->'''Doctor:''' We're not spies, honest. Didn't you see the last episode? We always coincidentally bungle into battlezones and get suspected of spying.

** "[[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Is_Yesterday Tomorrow Is Yesterday]]". When the ''Enterprise'' accidentally travels back in time to Earth in 1969, Captain Kirk is considered a spy when he's caught infiltrating a U.S. Air Force base. (When an interrogator threatens to lock him up for two hundred years, Kirk ruefully acknowledges, "[[TheSlowPath That ought to be just about right.]]")
** "[[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Assignment_Earth Assignment: Earth]]". When the ''Enterprise'' is purposefully sent back in time to Earth in 1968, Kirk and Spock are arrested as spies when they're caught inside [=McKinley=] Rocket Base.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. Justified in "Time After Time" given that it's World War II, and Dean is carrying a fake ID (an FBI badge 68 years out of date) and an electronic device (a mobile phone) displaying the words NO SIGNAL.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Web Originals]]
* In ''WebOriginal/DriftlessWormhole'', Mateo, an accidental time traveler, gets picked up for spying before he can even find out where he is. The fact that his cell phone is mistake for a spy gadget doesn't help.
[[/folder]]

%%* Happens several times in ''Series/TheTimeTunnel''.

* In ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'', Blaine and the ski patrol mistake the main characters for Soviet spies after finding their cell phones and [=MP3=] players (which they think are [[ShoePhone spy gadgets]]), and their can of Chernobyl energy drink with its [[TheBackwardsR Cyrillic lettering]] (which they think is a bomb).

* Chekov and Uhura in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', in the famous "Noo-klee-ar wessels" sequence. [[RuleOfFunny Somehow]] they don't realize that, if you want to get aboard an aircraft carrier in 1986, the guy with the prominent Russian accent ''probably'' shouldn't be your spokesperson. This doesn't cause them any problems in the end except for a bunch of strange looks, but when the inevitable transporter malfunction strands Chekov next to the reactor of aforementioned nuclear wessel he is assumed to be a Russian spy. His recitation of Name, (Starfleet) Rank, and Number do nothing to dispel this. One of his interrogators ''does'' express some doubts, noting that while Chekov obviously is a Russkie, he's also "a retard or something" because of Chekov's farfetched claims and {{Literal Minded}}ness.

* A frequent plot device in Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Crosstime Traffic'' young-adult series. While not exactly time travel, the protagonists travel to alternate universes where historical events have departed from their own Literature/FutureHistory. In most of the stories so far, they get mistaken for spies. For example:
** In ''The Disunited States of America'' the protagonist [[spoiler:is travelling with forged identity documents in a war zone and steals a uniform in order to infiltrate a military unit -- any of which would get him executed for espionage had he been caught, even though that wasn't his intent.]]
** In ''Curious Notions'' the protagonists [[spoiler: are suspected of being double agents by both the Imperial German occupation government and the Triads in San Francisco due to the actions of their predecessors (selling slightly more advanced technology from the home timeline to the locals -- against company rules precisely because it attracts undue attention from the authorities).]]
** In ''The Gladiator'' the Crosstime Traffic organization [[spoiler:''is'' actually participating in espionage, attempting to subvert the victorious Communist government by reintroducing capitalist concepts to the population in a timeline where the USSR won the Cold War]].

* The end of Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' involves the protagonist travelling back to the time of his own childhood and dealing with the difficulties thereby. Despite being a 2000+ year old pansexual incestuous time traveler speaking what, after 2000+ years, might as well be a foreign language in a ''very'' alien culture, he encounters no problems. However, his plan to escape having to fight in WWI is to hustle pool and flee to Brazil. He then realizes that that might get him killed by German or French agents as a spy.

* Occurs in Connie Willis' ''Literature/DoomsdayBook'' when the main character travels to the 14th century and immediately falls sick with influenza. [[spoiler:In her delirium she constantly talks in Modern English which none of the contemps can understand, leaving one character to suspect her of being a French spy (UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar between England and France being in full swing at that time).]]

* A common plot in modern Russian alternate history fiction is "modern guy falls into WWII". The first thing that happens to the protagonist is always captured by the NKVD because of this trope, or an attempt of such. How the protagonist convinces StateSec that he means no harm (or dodges them altogether) is the first plot twist in such stories.

* Pops up a few times in ''Literature/TimeMachineSeries'' gamebook series, such as being taken for a Mexican spy during the Mexican-American war.

** Naturally this happens whenever the Doctor and his companions turn up in a war zone. In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames The War Games]]'' they're detained by British World War One soldiers and accused of being German spies. They then escape only to get caught by the Germans who plan to execute them as British spies. Later a British officer they've convinced of their bona fides gets his brainwashing restored and [[BrainwashResidue immediately accuses them of being German spies]], to the everyone's confusion as [[DressingAsTheEnemy they're pretending to be the alien villains at the time]]. To cap this off the BigBad also accuses them of being spies working for a rival. The only person who believes they are time travelers turns out to be a renegade Time Lord who’s acquainted with the Doctor.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E1TheMasqueOfMandragora "The Masque of Mandragora"]], Duke Giuliano accuses the Doctor of being a spy, and proves himself a [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim lot smarter than most villains]] by ordering his immediate execution. Another noble opposed to Giuliano fortunately rescues him.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang "The Talons of Weng-Chiang"]]. Magnus Greel thinks the Doctor is a Time Agent sent to recapture him for his war crimes. Although at first he dismisses the possibility when told by his underling about the Doctor asking a lot of questions, saying that a Time Agent would already know the answers.
** This is a plot point in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani "The Caves of Androzani"]]. His unexplained presence on Androzani Minor leads [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Morgus]] to assume the Doctor is a spy for the President, leading to several fatal errors on his part.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E8ColdWar "Cold War"]], the Doctor and Clara materialize on board a Soviet nuclear sub. Naturally, the crew assumes they're Western spies, despite the TARDIS turning their speech into flawless Russian. This leads to an exchange where Clara says she doesn't even speak Russian... [[TranslatorMicrobes while speaking Russian]]. They decide to cut to the chase and admit they are time travellers, since no other explanation would work.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]] plays it much more literally than the show usually does, with the Thirteenth Doctor and her "fam" called in to help [=MI6=] when intelligence agents around the globe are felled by an alien-connected conspiracy, complete with a BlackTieInfiltration and Yaz and Ryan posing as reporters at one point.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In an ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' story, Jughead accidentally travels back in time to UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. He is mistaken for a Confederate spy with inferences made about the S on his shirt standing for "Spy" or "South".

* It has happened a few times on ''Series/DoctorWho'':

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang "The Talons of Weng-Chiang"]]. Magnus Greel thinks the Doctor is a Time Agent sent to recapture him for his war crimes. Although at first he dismisses the possibility when told by his underling about the Doctor asking questions, saying that a Time Agent would already know the answers.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang "The Talons of Weng-Chiang"]]. Magnus Greel thinks the Doctor is a Time Agent sent to recapture him for his war crimes.

-->-- Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Unrealistatrons