A standard plot/MythArc for SpeculativeFiction: The OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, frequently his friends, and sometimes his enemies are all transported (often [[SummonEverymanHero summoned]]) to another world -- distant planet, a MagicalLand, AlternateUniverse, [[TheTimeOfMyths the past]], TheFuture -- where they find they have an important role to play in Events of Significance that are occurring at the same time as (or sometimes because of) their arrival. Usually there is no hope of their [[ClosedCircle finding a means to return home]] until after the great threat facing them has been defeated; occasionally, they will then question whether [[IChooseToStay they even ''want'' to leave]] (they typically do).

A blend of FishOutOfWater and FailureIsTheOnlyOption, with a large dash of heroism. The inverse of AlienAmongUs. Often overlaps with DownTheRabbitHole and YouCantGoHomeAgain. May involve FantasticRomance.
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!!Examples

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[[folder:Anime]]
* ''AbenobashiMahouShoutengai'': After the first episode, the heroes fall from world to world, each one based on one of the main characters' [[{{Otaku}} geekish]] hobbies.
* The first and fourth seasons of ''{{Digimon}}''.
* ''ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'': Makoto, Jinnai and Nanami are pulled into El Hazard.
* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'': Used in TheMovie; in an inversion, they are trapped in ''our'' world, having originated from another, where [[strike:magic]] alchemy is fairly commonplace.
* ''FushigiYuugi'': Miaka and Yui get pulled into a mythical world inside a magical book. [[spoiler: Same went to their predecessors, Suzuno and Takiko]]
* ''MagicKnightRayearth'' does this to Hikaru, Fuu and Umi.
* ''[=~Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure~=]''
* ''TheTwelveKingdoms'': Youko Nakajima and her friends Asano and Yuuka get dropped in the middle of a mostly hostile fantasy world by a WhiteHairedPrettyBoy''/''MysteriousProtector. Though, this is apparently common enough for the locals to coin terms ("Kaikyaku" for Japanese people, "sankyaku" for Chinese) and for the government to have a regular policy in dealing with them. For example, The Kingdom of En has a standard naturalization/citizenship process while Kou just tries to round them up and kill them.
* ''VisionOfEscaflowne'': A rare example of the other world not being treated as another dimension of some sort -- they get stuck on an invisible moon, just past the actual one.
* ''AuraBattlerDunbine'', but then it twists it by having all the people from the other world get sent to ''Earth''.
** TheWingsOfRean, made by the same director and in the same setting, is like-wise, although both are more like "people from Earth get sent to another world who then get sent ''back'' to Earth and then get stuck there with otherworlders."
* ''MonsterRancher''
* ''KyouKaraMaou'': Though Yuuri isn't really ''trapped'', and can go back and forth between the two worlds with relative ease, he only considers himself trapped when he returns to his native world.
* Season 3 of ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}''
* ''NowAndThenHereAndThere'' (aka ''ImaSokuNiIruBoku''). This is an exceptional example of this trope because the creators [[{{Deconstruction}} threw out every convention associated with it from episode 1]]. Shu sees a strange young girl sitting on a smokestack on his way home from school and goes to meet her. As he is introducing himself he and the girl are attacked by people teleporting in from the distant future in pursuit of that girl. True to the genre Shu picks up a stick and fights to defend the girl. He immediately gets his ass handed to him and both he and the girl are dragged forward billions of years where Earth is a dying desert planet orbiting a sun in the early stages of nova. What follows is a relentless thirteen episode trip through the ninth ring of Hell.
* Kagome from ''InuYasha'' in the first few episodes. Afterward she's able to go between the other world and her own at will.
* Subversion: Yukinari from ''GirlsBravo'' gets trapped on the planet Seirun in the first episode, but is returned to Earth in the same episode.
* ''SpiritedAway''.
* In ''{{Death Note}}'', Ryuk is stuck in the human world until the Death Note he dropped in the human world is destroyed or the owner dies. However, this was intentional on his part, since his Shinigami Realm was so boring.
**Shouldn't this be under AlienAmongUs?
* The ''MahouSenseiNegima'' manga has Negi and a group of his student get stuck in the Magic World after [[spoiler: Fate destroys the gateway between worlds.]]
* ''ThoseWhoHuntElves'' do so because the elves hold the secret to the spell that will return them to Earth.
* In ''{{Zero no Tsukaima}}'', the male protagonist is "accidentally" summoned to another world by the female protagonist in a summoning ceremony.
* Long-runnning shoujo series ''Red River'' and ''Ouke no Monshou'' both feature this trope, a girl from modern day trapped in Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt respectively.
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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The tag line of the late Steve Gerber's [[MarvelComics Marvel comic]] ''HowardTheDuck'' was "Trapped in a world he never made!" A native of a TalkingAnimal world of anthropomorhic ducks, Howard fell through a portal and wound up in AnotherDimension--namely, the MarvelUniverse version of Cleveland, Ohio.
* CrossGen's ''Negation'' featured a RagtagBunchOfMisfits trapped in an alternate universe that did not obey the laws of physics. At least one character started out convinced that it was AllJustADream.
* This is the raison d'etre for the Marvel comic series ''The Exiles''. Superpowered beings lost from their dimension, world hop until they get to go home.
* This was Adam Strange's origin in DC Comics. An archeologist who accidentally discovered an alien transport system, Adam became the number one hero of the planet Rann. His problem was that the Zeta beams which teleport him are only temporary and he has started a family on Rann. He has since been able to stay there permanently, but on occasion where he finds himself on Earth and this trope applies there.
* Mike Grell's DCU comic ''TheWarlord'', a deliberate homage to {{Pellucidar}} (in setting) and {{Barsoom}} (in tone).
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[[folder:Film]]
* ''{{Tron}}'': In an attempt to recover evidence that proves CorruptCorporateExecutive / [[TheCracker Cracker]] Ed Dillinger stole his promotion-worthy ideas for video games, PlayfulHacker Kevin Flynn ends up physically [[TeleportersAndTransporters digitized]] into {{Cyberspace}} by the DeusEstMachina Master Control Program.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* L. Frank Baum's ''TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''. Most of the first six-odd "Oz" books by L. Frank Baum fell under this trope, with Dorothy finding her way back to Oz only to get back to Kansas by the last page, though eventually Baum just had Dorothy (along with Uncle Henry, Aunt Em, and Toto) move to Oz full-time and continue her adventures there. Whenever another human came to Oz from the outside world after that point, they generally ended up staying (Oz after the {{wicked witch}}es died and Ozma took the throne being a much more utopian place to live, occasional monsters and baddies notwithstanding).
** Of course, it's implied even pre-Ozma that Oz was a much better place to live then Kansas; and Dorothy only kept going back home because she didn't want to ditch her family. That certainly is her only reason after meeting Ozma, whom she has a very close relationship with.
* The ''JohnCarterOfMars'' series and the ''{{Pellucidar}}'' series, by EdgarRiceBurroughs.
* Lewis Carroll's ''AliceInWonderland'': One of the [[OlderThanRadio earliest]] and most famous versions of this trope and a template for many later stories.
* Stephen R. Donaldson is fond of this one. It's the premise of:
** The ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant.
** ''Mordant's Need'': a woman from the 'real world' is trapped in a {{fantasy}} realm where ''any'' reflective surface can access another universe.
* ''{{Neverwhere}}'' by NeilGaiman.
* In {{Diana Wynne Jones}}'s ''Charmed Life'' this is what happens to Janet and her eight analogues in the other worlds in Series Twelve - when Gwendolen escapes from World 12A, she pulls Janet in from World 12B, and so on all around the circuit. [[spoiler: Janet is the only one who doesn't find the change to be an improvement, and when she realises this, decides to stay in 12A for the sake of the others.]] Janet's parents [[AdultsAreUseless don't notice the change]].
* GuyGavrielKay's ''TheFionavarTapestry''. The five main characters are transported to Fionavar at the beginning of the first book, ''The Summer Tree'' and return to their own world at the end of it; then they go back near the beginning of the second book, ''The Wandering Fire'', and stay there through to the end of the third, ''The Longest Road'', when their various fates are resolved. At the end of the trilogy the score stands with [[spoiler: two going back to our world, one choosing to stay in Fionavar, one dead in a HeroicSacrifice, and one sailing off to eternity with Lancelot and KingArthur as she is, in fact, Guinevere.]] The books are somewhat eclectic.
* In StephenKing's ''TheDarkTower'', Roland draws his ka-tet from [[BigApplesauce New York City]] at various points in time to his own world.
* CSLewis's ''[[{{Narnia}}The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe]]''; a slight twist here is that the characters age significantly during their stay in Narnia, then are returned to their original ages when they leave. The other Narnia books tend to follow this pattern as well, except for ''The Horse and His Boy''.
* ''Un Lun Dun'' by China Mieville
* In AlanDeanFoster's ''{{Spellsinger}}'' series, the main character is summoned by a powerful wizard looking for another powerful wizard. Apparently, an engineer would be the closest thing to the alternate world's wizards. Unfortunately, the summoning spell latched on to the main character's job title...'''sanitation''' engineer. Fortunately, he does turn out to have magical abilities in that world.
* Similarly, in L. E. Modesitt Jr's ''Spellsong Cycle'', the main character is summoned because of her skills as a singer.
** The author seems to like this trope, since in his ''Recluce Saga'' series this combined with LostColony is used in two books.
* ''TheMerchantPrinces'' series, by CharlesStross.
* In MarkTwain's ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'', the aforementioned ConnecticutYankee, Hank Morgan, gets whacked over the head with a crowbar and finds himself in [[KingArthur Arthurian]] England.
* Actually inversed with ''ThePrincess99'', where an alien biker chick from the future finds herself stuck in the human world in the 1920s.
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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''LifeOnMars'': Though we are LeftHanging as to the true nature of the ''world''; is it TimeTravel, an alternate reality, or AllJustADream?
** And of course the sequel ''AshesToAshes''.
* ''DoctorWho'': Rose is trapped in a parallel world, [[spoiler:but returns with knowledge of "the Darkness" threatening to destroy the multiverse (as her universe is ahead of ours). She is then forced to remain in her parallel world to take care of the clone-Doctor, despite wanting to stay with the real one. Former boyfriend Mickey, however, decides to leave the parallel world for the real one.]]
* A staple premise of series by Sid and Marty Krofft such as ''The Lost Saucer'', ''Liddsville'', ''Dr. Shrinker'', ''LandOfTheLost'' and ''H.R. Puffnstuff''.
* ''{{Farscape}}'', where Crighton travels through a wormhole to another part of the universe. His overriding goal for most of the series is to get back to Earth...but when he finally does, he leaves very shortly to go back to the other side of the universe.
* ''TheTimeTunnel'' - two guys trapped in the past (or occasionally the future).
* Likewise ''QuantumLeap''
* The Sterling family in the short-lived series ''[[http://tinyurl.com/6o6kjh Otherworld]]''.
* ''Fat Guy Stuck in Internet'' is about...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a fat computer programer trapped in a surreal cyberspace world]].
* The first season of ''StargateAtlantis'' -- trapped in the Pegasus Galaxy. This is a variation, because the expedition went to Atlantis knowing full well that they might be stranded there.
* ''StargateInfinity'' -- generally trapped away from Earth and the rest of polite galactic society since their iris codes had been revoked.
* According to early reports, ''StargateUniverse'' is taking this tack as well, stranding the heroes on a space ship headed away from known space
* ''StarTrekVoyager'' -- Trapped in the Delta Quadrant.
* While ''GilligansIsland'' may not really count as "another world", the island of ''{{Lost}}'' is sufficiently weird that a case could be made.
* This happens a ''lot'' in the Polish/Australian children's series ''{{Spellbinder}}''. Paul gets trapped in the Spellbinder universe, Kathy's family gets trapped in the Land of the Dragon Lord, and Mek and Kathy end up trapped in first the Land of the Immortals and then the Land of the Moloch.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''DragonQuestIII''. Combines Alternate Dimension with Time Travel, as [[spoiler:Your hero turns out to be the legendary Roto, heroic ancestor of the DragonQuest 1 and 2 Heroes.]] This also means that 90% of the game is the ''prologue''.
* ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance''. And its sequel.
* ''FinalFantasyX''. [[spoiler: However, it's revealed that Tidus's world wasn't even real to start with.]]
* [[AnotherWorldTheGame Another World]], where the story starts with the protagonist accidentally teleported to an alien world.
* ''TheDig'' involves a group of astronauts who get transported to an alien world.
* ''Outcast'', with a lot of TimeTravel causing the issue.
* The ''PokemonMysteryDungeon'' games combine this with InvoluntaryShapeshifting, turning your human character into a Pokemon and stranding them in a world full of other talking Pokemon.
* ''{{Nox}}'', with the protagonist's character class affecting (among other things) whether or not he returns from the titular fantasy world back to present-day Earth, or stays there.
* ''ZanZarah'' is a subversion: its protagonist Amy is tricked into traveling to another world (which she is, of course, supposed to save) but among the first things she finds there is a magical rune that teleports her back to London. [[JumpedAtTheCall Not that she wants to]], since her home is a ''very'' dull place, constituting one bleak location among hundreds found in the game.
* This is the entire premise of {{Myst}}, in which the player stumbles across a mysterious series of worlds after accidentally using a Linking Book. In the opening of the sequel, Riven, Atrus promises that, if all goes well, he might be able to send the player home. Subverted in Myst III and IV, where the player willfully returns to visit Atrus.
* In ''BrutalLegend'', roadie Eddie Riggs winds up in a world based on Heavy Metal album covers after injuring himself and spilling blood on his belt buckle. Turns out that it's a really important belt buckle.
* The Avatar of the later games of the ''{{Ultima}}'' series (from IV onward) is explicitly stated to be a normal human from Earth before he or she is summoned over. According to WordOfGod, this is true of the first three games as well.
* In ''HalfLife'', Gordon Freeman is trapped in a hellish alien dimension until he can take down the [[spoiler: [[BigBad Nihilanth]].]]
* In the first ''{{Persona}}'' game, the party ends up spending a good deal of the game in an [[AlternateUniverse alternate version]] of their city. [[spoiler:It eventually becomes a non-subversion: they were actually trapped in Maki's mind (they've just defeated Kandori in the real world when they learn this). Now, Maki herself has been acting strangely since the whole crisis began, and even told the group she was from the Alternate Universe they were in- [[BreakTheCutie oh,]] [[HeroicBSOD crap.]]]]
* ''{{Harukanaru Toki no Naka de}}'' has the main character and her two friends summoned into a place that looks quite like [[JidaiGeki Kyoto in the Heian period]].
* The expanded backstory of the {{Mario}} franchise indicates that Mario and Luigi are actually from Brooklyn, and accidentally ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom. It's unclear, however, whether they can't get home or just choose to stay.
** If it hasn't been said in-game, it can't count for the game characters themselves.
* The Hero of {{Albion}} ends up trapped on another planet, when losing contact with the factory ship he came with. After he saves the world from the ship's on-board supercomputer that was programmed to destroy it, he essentially traps the entire crew.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Parson Gotti in ''{{Erfworld}}''
* If you count the "Torg Potter" stories as examples, this happens literally over a ''dozen'' times in ''SluggyFreelance''.
* ''FurWillFly'': The protagonist is trapped in another world populated by [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy furries]].
* The main character of Astray3, Emily, transported to another world with almost no explanation as to how. She's not the only one to be magically whisked away like this, either.
* {{Kagerou}} starts out with this trope, and then does really nasty things to it. It's a long story and involved multiple personality disorder, among other things.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* While their trip to Creturia was intentional, the Dimensional Guardians from the web fiction serial DimensionHeroes find themselves trapped in the world until they can find the objects they need to both save the world and return home.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''SamuraiJack'' takes this to extremes, by placing a Samurai from feudal Japan in a far-future sci-fi world populated by countless alien races.
* ''Series/DungeonsAndDragons'': One weird rollercoaster ride later, and the kids are in world resembling a D&D campaign setting.
* ''CaptainN'' involved the main character [[AscendedFanboy Kevin Keene]] being sucked into "Videoland", a world where Nintendo games were real ([[TheyJustDidntCare and often very misrepresented in comparison to their actual video game counterparts]]). Strangely Kevin [[JumpedAtTheCall seems to have no interest in going back to the real world]] and very rarely, if ever, expresses a desire to go home. What must his mother think...
* In ''KingArthurAndTheKnightsOfJustice'', Merlin needs replacements for KingArthur and the Knights of the Round Table, who have been captured by the series' BigBad. His odd solution is to bring a contemporary American high school football team (whose quarterback happens to be named Arthur King) to DarkAgeEurope to become Camelot's new defenders.
* ''Kidd Video''.
* ''SuperMarioBrosSuperShow'', where Mario and Luigi are from Brooklyn, but were transported to the Mushroom Kingdom through a warp pipe.
[[/folder]]
* And after all those examples, let us just say that FanFic writers LOVE this trope when they do crossovers.
** Crossovers, Self-inserts, etc. It's a very common trope for Fan Fiction.
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