History Main / WeirdnessSearchAndRescue

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Doctor does this occasionally. He travels through time and space in the TARDIS dealing with various disasters of all sorts though.

* Rufus gave ''Film/BillAndTed'' the time machine, showed them how to use it, and tended to turn up for advice when the boys found themselves in trouble. He was from the future of prosperity, peace, and excellence that they ushered in, and had a vested interest in helping them because without them his future would not exist.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In the story "A Matter of Minutes", the foreman of a group of people (played by Adolph Caesar) takes time to explain to a couple who end up 'outside time' how time really works, even showing them an animated computer graphic prepared for such an event.

* In the ''Series/EerieIndiana'' episode "The Lost Hour" an old Milkman saves Marshall from [[TimePolice the Garbage Men]] in an empty, alternate dimension of Eerie. [[spoiler: The milkman implies that he's an older version of Marshall.]]

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In "Future's End" ''Voyager'' finally gets back to Earth after falling through a space-time rift, but in 1996. At the end of the episode a member of Starfleet from the future appears to send them back to the correct timeline (they get a bit worried at first, since the entire thing had started with the same future Starfleet member showing up and trying to destroy ''Voyager''). Subverted when Captain Janeway asks if they can return to the correct time, but stay on Earth. Citing the Temporal PrimeDirective he has to refuse, and they're [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption sent back to the Delta Quadrant on the other side of the galaxy]].

* In the short "A Matter of Minutes" from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'', the foreman of a group of people (played by Adolph Caesar) takes time to explain to a couple who ended up 'outside time' how time really worked, even showing them an animated computer graphic prepared for such an event.
* In the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "Through the Looking Glass", Moya enters starburst without enough energy to finish the task. She gets stuck halfway and split across four partial dimensions that are interconnected through localized rifts. Crichton eventually makes contact with a "gatekeeper" from outside the universe whose job is to repair breaches, and tries to help him navigate Moya out.

** In Season 3, Sam finds himself in a TimeLoop, forced to watch Dean die over and over again. [[spoiler: Eventually, Dean's death appears permanent and Sam hunts down TheTrickster responsible and forces him to restore Dean.]]

* Played with in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' when the goddess Othinus decides to deal with Touma Kamijou, the only person who was the potential to stop her. She sends him tumbling through the multiverse, going through several worlds hostile and alien to him, including a world where he's Public Enemy #1, a world where someone else is in his place, and a world where he never existed. She explains that she intends to break his will by showing how insignificant he is in the universe, but he lampshades how she never abandons him and takes time to explain the situation in each world, when all she had to do to get rid of him is to abandon him. Eventually, she comes to care for him, pulls a HeelFaceTurn, and returns them to the original world. The Will of the Misaka Network, who has RippleEffectProofMemory, also gives Touma some advice and encouragement.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

[[folder: Video Game ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

This can often be a type of BigGood. If TimeTravel is involved you can expect them to be a member of the TimePolice. This sort of character may overlap with MrExposition or HeroSecretService. Contrast OrpheanRescue, when the hero fulfills this role for someone else.

* ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons'' would have Dungeon Master pop in OnceAnEpisode to dispense advice to the characters lost from our world.

** In Season 4, Sam and Dean find themselves working ordinary office jobs with no memory of their real, monster-hunting lives or each other. Sam does have dreams of their real life, and the two eventually team up to hunt a ghost. [[spoiler: Eventually, both of them decide to quit the office work and become ghost-hunters. At that time, it's revealed to be a SecretTest by the angel Zachariah, who tells Dean that he's a hunter by nature and no matter what will always come back to it.]]

** Also in Season 6, the brothers

* In ''Discworld/NightWatch'', Lu-Tze helps Sam Vimes after he's sent back in time (even as much as telling the other Time Monks he just feels like helping him out) even though they're pretty busy fixing the world's {{Continuity Snarl}}s. It's strongly implied that Vimes was sent back in the first place because he was over [[AlienGeometries the Library]] when [[Discworld/ThiefOfTime the Glass Clock broke reality]], so Lu-Tze feels somewhat responsible.

This can often be a type of BigGood. If TimeTravel is involved you can expect them to be a member of the TimePolice. This sort of character may overlap with MrExposition. Contrast OrpheanRescue, when the hero fulfills this role for someone else.

* Teddie is set up to fill this role in ''Videogame/{{Persona 4}}'' but he's just as clueless as everyone else as to what's going on. Still, he does lead the group to the people inside the TV until [[spoiler:Rise]] takes over the job.

* A TimeTravel focused ''CarmenSandiego'' game had these.

* In ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'', the living poet Dante is given a free pass into and out of Hell to report on what he sees there, and is given the soul of Roman poet and satirist Virgil (a man who was in hell because he had the misfortune to live and die before the mission of Christ), as his tour guide.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Gargoyles'' one can move between any body of water (and we do mean any. In series, a swimming pool counted, and in the Comics, a large pot for boiling water for laundry did the trick) and the shores Avalon by invoking the spell. However, returning back isn't so precise. Avalon will send you to the real world, but it's not going to be your original location, but somewhere random (body of water still applies) with some weirdness going on. It's implied through the repeated description of the process ("Avalon doesn't send you where you want to go, it sends you where you need to be") that there is some consciousness making the arrival choice. Like wise, it's random as to how long this keeps happening, but all three onscreen uses do eventually wind up in the correct location (Tom finding the rest of the Manhattan Clan, King Author returning to England (only to be transported to another location by other magic, and Goliath and crew getting back to Manhattan). Of course, "where you need to be" is still in effect, so that means weirdness is about to go down.

* Rufus gave ''Film/BillAndTed'' the time machine, showed them how to use it, and tended to turn up for advice when the boys found themselves in trouble. He was from the future of prosperity, peace, and excellence that they ushered in, and had a vested interest in helping them because without them his future would not exist.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'' The Doctor does this occasionally. He travels through time and space in the TARDIS dealing with various disasters of all sorts though.
* In the short "A Matter of Minutes" from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'', the foreman of a group of people (played by Adolph Caesar) takes time to explain to a couple who ended up 'outside time' how time really worked, even showing them an animated computer graphic prepared for such an event.
* In ''Series/QuantumLeap'' it was implied that [[MysteriousBacker some conscious force]] (possibly even God) was guiding Sam' jumps to ensure that he did the most good. This was a {{deconstruction}} since this mysterious guide was [[UnknownCharacter never actually seen or had a voice]] (although they met someone who ''might'' have been them). It only made itself known by directing events like an actual deity would and, of course, when it did more or less directly interact with the main character, it was a total MindScrew.

* In the ''Series/EerieIndiana'' episode "The Lost Hour" an old Milkman saves Marshall from [[TimePolice The Garbage Men]] in an empty, alternate dimension of Eerie. [[spoiler: The milkman implies that he's an older version of Marshall.]]

When dealing with authority figures it can be justified (after all, the ruler of a country still has some responsibility to all their subjects and the police are supposed to serve the public, why should the ruler of a multiverse or the TimePolice be any different?) as well as heroes (a good hero will always help the needy, time travelers should be no exception) however when gods or [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien other higher beings]] are involved it can invoke a bit of FridgeLogic (although they might have their reasons). The helper in question might not actually be that more powerful than the protagonist, but have a job dealing with much more important problems.

Some heroes have the misfortune of ending up in a strange place: maybe in the past, or in a world [[UnPerson where they never existed]] or (if they're really unlucky) a world where they're a completely different person (and their best friend hates their guts, while the villains have them under their thumb). From the narrative's point of view, TheHero's predicament is usually important to ''them'', but mean a lot less in the bigger picture. Luckily, people who are [[TimeTravel thrown back in time]] or TrappedInAnotherWorld will find a member of the TimePolice, another traveler (with more experience) or even a ''god'' who'll help them get safely home. This invokes a bit of FridgeLogic, as anyone who can help them has to be extremely powerful (being capable of traveling to and fro) and is usually implied to have more important things to worry about than one displaced peon (assuming that one person out of place ''isn't'' considered a [[ForWantOfANail serious problem]], of course).

* In ''Discworld/NightWatch'', Lu-Tze helps Sam Vimes after he's sent back in time (even as much as telling the other Time Monks he just feels like helping him out) even though they're pretty busy fixing the world's {{Continuity Snarl}}s. It's strongly implied that Vimes was sent back in the fist place because he was over [[AlienGeometries the Library]] when [[Discworld/ThiefOfTime the Glass Clock broke reality]], so Lu-Tze feels somewhat responsible.

* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''

* The Three Bald Doctors in StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Insomnia}}''. Two of them, Clothos and Lachesis, were benevolent; the third, Atropos, was decidedly not.