History Main / UnstuckInTime

A form of [[MentalTimeTravel Mental]] TimeTravel,

** Captain Picard in the last episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. A a variation happened to Worf in one episode, where instead of being Unstuck In Time, he keeps traveling between [[AlternateUniverse parallel universes]]. (Unstuck in timelines?)

* Happens twice to Dr. Manhattan in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. As a result of the accident that creates him, he's able to perceive the entirety of his life at once. [[spoiler: In the climax, the BigBad bombards him with Tachyons, rendering him unable to see present events. Since the character can exist in multiple places and times simultaneously, this is confusing, even for him.]]

* According to one of the [[MentalTimeTravel noncorporeal time travelers]] in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''[[ShinMegamiTensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]'', ''corporeal'' time travelers run the risk of precisely this happening to them. [[spoiler:This is what happens to the BigBad, who due to mucking with the timeline, apparently destroys the timeline that leads to the events of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', negating his own existence and only remaining extant due to his possession of his ancestress, Kaya Daidouji. When the bond is severed, he's thrown into a TimeAbyss.]]

* A frequent occurance in ''Franchise/StarTrek''.

* The TropeNamer is the opening line to Creator/KurtVonnegut's ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive'', referring to main character Billy Pilgrim. It may be worth noting that there is a common AlternativeCharacterInterpretation that he is ''not'' in fact an actual example of this trope, and is instead experiencing PTSD flashbacks (and also hallucinating aliens as a coping measure).

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:{{Live-Action TV}}]]

** Captain Sheridan, as explained by Zathras in ''War Without End''.

* According to one of the [[MentalTimeTravel noncorporeal time travelers]] in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''[[ShinMegamiTensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]'', ''corporeal'' time travelers run the risk of precisely this happening to them. [[spoiler:This is what happens to the BigBad, who due to mucking with the timeline, apparently destroys the timeline that leads to the events of ''ShinMegamiTenseiI'' and ''ShinMegamiTenseiII'', negating his own existence and only remaining extant due to his possession of his ancestress, Kaya Daidouji. When the bond is severed, he's thrown into a TimeAbyss.]]

->''All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber.''
->-- '''Kurt Vonnegut''', ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive'' (the TropeNamer)

the person who is Unstuck In Time not only travels through time in his own body, (and [[BodySurf possibly in others]]) but he does so randomly. Without any knowledge of where he will wake up... or when.

Compare [[AnachronicOrder Non Linear Storytelling]] and RandomTransportation.

* Near the climax of ''Film/Arrival'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:comprehending the alien language causes one to experience one's entire life holistically]]. Accordingly, Louise [[spoiler:uses information she will receive in a conversation the next year]].

* Viki from the ''{{Suikoden}}'' series is well known for this: each time she sneezes (typically during a victory banquet), she ends up teleporting herself somewhere else, at a different time. It makes extremely confusing to guess if the Viki of one game jumped from the preceding one or the following one into the current game you are playing.

* Captain Picard in the last episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Also, a variation happened to Worf in one episode, where instead of being Unstuck In Time, he keeps traveling between [[AlternateUniverse parallel universes]].
** Unstuck in timelines?
* Miles O'Brien in the episode "Visionary" of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.
** His case was not random, though. It was quickly determined that he always jumped 6 hours into the future, every 6 hours, and landed a short distance from where his future self was.
* Kes, in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', except she was traveling backwards in time from the end of her life, and the timeline that was shown never actually came to be, since Kes got off the ship long before then. It did, however, provide some foreshadowing for the upcoming Year of Hell storyline.

* In ''Destiny'', you find yourself entering the Vault of Glass, an entire cave system that is Unstuck In Time, to rescue a Guardian from it. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: there was nothing you could have done]]; because of the Vault and the strange things it does to time, [[spoiler:even though the Guardian you're looking for is speaking to you in real time, he's also been dead for centuries and all you find is his bones]].

* In season 5 of ''PersonOfInterest'', [[spoiler:the Machine]] loses her ability to perceive time. The results are every bit as disastrous as you'd expect, since [[spoiler:she can no longer place people's actions in context. Thankfully, Harold fixes the problem by the end of the episode]].

* Tracer, the mascot character of Overwatch is this. Due to a failed experiment with an teleporting jet, she became unstuck, shifting forward in time semi-randomly. It is only with a special chronal accelerator built into her armor that she was able to become a functioning human again. This is the source of her in-game abilities.

** Some ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' characters specialize in time manipulation and have become briefly UnstuckInTime as a result of stressful situations. Involuntary time travel has been seen in characters plummeting to their death or giving birth, for example.

* Captain Picard in the last episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Also, a variation happened to Worf in one episode, where instead of being UnstuckInTime, he keeps traveling between [[AlternateUniverse parallel universes]].

** Side effects of being UnstuckInTime is probably what Daniel was suffering before coming to the Island. He seems to improve once arriving, either due to the Island's healing properties, or because [[spoiler:Desmond is his constant]].

* In the InteractiveFiction game ''[[http://adamcadre.ac/if.html Shrapnel]]'', [[spoiler:the player is left UnstuckInTime as the result of a TimeCrash caused by the accidental destruction of a time traveler's time machine.]]

* In ''Destiny'', you find yourself entering the Vault of Glass, an entire cave system that is UnstuckInTime, to rescue a Guardian from it. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: there was nothing you could have done]]; because of the Vault and the strange things it does to time, [[spoiler:even though the Guardian you're looking for is speaking to you in real time, he's also been dead for centuries and all you find is his bones]].

* Tracer, the mascot of [[Overwatch]] is this. Due to a failed experiment with an teleporting jet, she became unstuck, shifting forward in time semi-randomly. It is only with a special chronal accelerator built into her armor that she was able to become a functioning human again. This is the source of her in-game abilities.

* Tracer, the mascot of ''VideoGame/Overwatch'' is this. Due to a failed experiment with an teleporting jet, she became unstuck, shifting forward in time semi-randomly. It is only with a special chronal accelerator built into her armor that she was able to become a functioning human again. This is the source of her in-game abilities.

* In ''VideoGame/Destiny'', you find yourself entering the Vault of Glass, an entire cave system that is UnstuckInTime, to rescue a Guardian from it. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: there was nothing you could have done]]; because of the Vault and the strange things it does to time, [[spoiler:even though the Guardian you're looking for is speaking to you in real time, he's also been dead for centuries and all you find is his bones]].