History Main / DaydreamSurprise

* Used repeatedly in ''ComicBook/{{Serenity}}: Better Days'' to show what the crew plan to do with their share of the treasure. Because of River's... [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} condition]], the illustration of hers is [[http://fandomania.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/serenity2-003.jpg surreal to say the least]].

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Compare/Contrast AllJustADream, where the daydream is used as a TwistEnding, and DangerRoomColdOpen, where the opening scene is an engineered training simulation that may include a certain amount of fakery such as feigned "deaths". Somewhat related to FeverDreamEpisode. TheFinalTemptation can be a dramatic version (although in that case it's often explicitly a vision from the start). Bullying creators may include those scenes in a trailer, for increased effect; a reason why you should NeverTrustATrailer. If the "snap-back" involves finding out that a character has been doing the thing they were imagining in real life, then this trope overlaps with ActingOutADaydream.

* In ''[[WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC]]'', Franchise/SpiderMan and Green Goblin are trapped by a gang of possessed DarkerAndEdgier superheroes. Until Green Goblin unleashes a can of high-grade Whoop Ass on each of them, single-handedly saving the day and delightedly elating that he "beat 'em all!"... until Spider-Man brings him back to reality.

** ''[[ComicBook/DaredevilBornAgain Born Again]]'' has an exceptionally depressing version when a close-to-rock-bottom Matt briefly fantasizes about an over-the-top DeusExMachina HappyEnding before realizing he hasn't even gotten up from his flophouse bed:

Creators sometimes like to tweak the audience, and what better way than fudging the reality of the work itself? Or maybe they want to give the fans a little taste of something long awaited, but without actually committing it to canon. Enter the Daydream Surprise. The work's perspective subtly shifts inside a character's head, and while viewers ''think'' they're seeing the story play out, they're really just seeing that character fantasize. Usually, a nearby character will then snap the daydreamer back to reality, and the viewers suddenly find out that the last 20 seconds were all just a ''big fat lie''!

* [[DaydreamSurprise/LiveActionFilms Films - Live-Action]]

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

* At the end of the "Murdock Papers" story arc in ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'', Matt [[spoiler:is on trial for being Daredevil, and is asked what he pleads. He then knocks over a table, runs away to Paris with his wife, finds his wife killed by Bullseye, kills Bullseye, spends several years traveling, ends up in Japan with Elektra...and then it cuts back to the courtroom, where he pleads not guilty]].
** Decades earlier, ''[[ComicBook/DaredevilBornAgain Born Again]]'' did an exceptionally depressing version, where a close-to-rock-bottom Matt briefly fantasizes about an over-the-top DeusExMachina HappyEnding before realizing he hasn't even gotten up from his flophouse bed:
-->''"I walk out and a kind stranger gives me a ride uptown to the Kingpin's headquarters and I punch the Kingpin out and he begs for mercy and gives me my life back and surrenders to the police and everybody knows it is me who beat him and there's a parade."''

* Used repeatedly in ''[[{{Series/Firefly}} Serenity: Better Days]]'' to show what the crew plan to do with their share of the treasure. Because of River's... [[CloudCuckooLander condition]], the illustration of hers is [[http://fandomania.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/serenity2-003.jpg surreal to say the least]].
* In ''ComicBook/SinCity: That Yellow Bastard'' when a corrupt officer is trying to force Hartigan to sign a false confession, he briefly imagines snapping his handcuffs and killing his tormentor with a single punch.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** ''ComicBook/NewKrypton'': After ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} kills [[spoiler:Pa Kent]] in ''ComicBook/SupermanBrainiac'', Supes suddenly takes off, breaks into Brainiac's prison cell and punches his head into a bloody green pulp. Cut to Clark just sitting there in the funeral parlor, with Lois asking if he's all right.

** In ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSupergirl'', [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Linda Danvers]] is sitting in her home's living room when she suddenly develops an uncontrollable deadly gaze. Before she can react, she has killed a potted flower, her parents' goldfish, and her parents themselves. Horrified, Linda decides leave Earth, but as heading spacewards she kills a mailman and ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog by accident. Then she decides to atone for her accidental murders by exterminating an alien race of evil, world-ravaging monsters. Afterwards, she collapses, crying... and suddenly she is sitting in her living room again, and she can see her parents entering the room. Linda remembers she was exposed to Red Kryptonite earlier, and she realizes it was all just a hallucination.

* One issue of ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' had him disagreeing with Charles Xavier's decision to present Geldoff, a Latverian youth who was genetically engineered into a mutant, to the UN and the scientific community as proof of immoral and illegal genetic research. We then see him taking out the entire ''ComicBook/XMen'' team on his lonesome and escaping the mansion with Geldoff... only for Xavier to telepathically appear in his daydream and ask him if that's really a good idea.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Spies in Disguise}}'', as Walter talks to Lance in the airplane and drones on about the facts of being a pigeon, the latter suddenly snaps at Walter and ejects him and his bird Lovey out of the airplane. As Lance does an EvilLaugh after he seemingly killed Walter, we switch back to Lance with both Lovey and Walter still in the same plane with him, the latter still talking about pigeon facts.

* In ''Literature/HarleyQuinnReckoning'', one of the recurring aspects of Harleen's mental problems is that when she's particularly upset and angry, she has vivid {{Imagine Spot}}s of engaging in cathartic violence, which are always narrated as if they're actually happening before narrator-Harleen stops and says that actually she only imagined that and in reality she did something more restrained. [[spoiler:The last one, in which she pictures going to town on the villain of the novel, is a subversion, instead ending with her stopping in shock at the realization that this time it's actually happening]].

Creators sometimes like to tweak the audience, and what better way than fudging the reality of the work itself? Or maybe they want to give the fans a little taste of something long awaited, but without actually committing it to canon. Enter the Daydream Surprise. The work's perspective subtly shifts inside a character's head, and while viewers ''think'' they're seeing the story play out, they're really just seeing that character fantasize. Usually, a nearby character will then snap the daydreamer back to reality, and the viewers suddenly find out that the last 20 seconds were a ''lie''!

* This trope is seen several times in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', mainly by Bunny and Ducky's during the plans for their "Plush Rush"(and in the after credits stinger).

Creators sometimes like to tweak the audience, and what better way than fudging the reality of the work itself? Or maybe they want to give the fans a little taste of something long awaited, but without actually committing it to canon. Enter the Daydream Surprise. The work's perspective subtly shifts inside a character's head, and while viewers ''think'' they're seeing the story play out, they're really just seeing that character fantasize. Usually, a nearby character will then snap the dreamer back to reality, and the viewers suddenly find out that the last 20 seconds were a ''lie''!

* This trope is seen several times in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', mainly by Bunny and Ducky's during the plans for their"Plush Rush"(and in the after credits stinger).

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In episode 6 of ''Anime/{{Another}}'', Sakakibara randomly jumps up from his desk, grabs Misaki's hand and the two of them indulge in a hilarious dance in the middle of class. None of the other students take notice. Cut to Sakakibara staring off into space with a stupid grin on his face. Due to the seriousness of the show before that though, MoodWhiplash may occur.
* ''Manga/{{Change 123}}'': Happens at least two times, first time (chapter 3) it's about Kosukegawa confessing to Motoko that he loves her (back when he was still too shy about it), second time (chapter 43) he has an angst-driven fantasy about getting bolder with her.
* How [[spoiler:Midnight]] is finished off when his illusions backfire on him in ''Manga/FairyTail''.
** A hilarious one happens where [[spoiler:Lucy declares her undying love to Gray and tries to lay him down]]. Thank you, [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel Juvia]].
* In ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'', Madarame starts talking to Saki about the latest episode of ''Anime/KujibikiUnbalance'', to which she responds with increasing interest, then enthusiasm, and then finally full-on fangirlism -- and then we snap back, she's still reading her shoujo manga, and Madarame berates himself for coming up with such an out-of-character fantasy for them.
* Worked repeatedly into the same episode of the second season of ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', it leaves even the character (let alone the viewers) questioning whether his fantasies are real or not. One of the more bizarre episodes of the series.
* The multi-layered brainhack/dream sequence in ''Anime/GhostInTheShell [=II=]: Innocence''. The first run-through is pretty normal (for [=GitS=], anyway), but as Togusa completes each iteration it gradually gets more and more bizarre, until Batou snaps him out of it before the place is levelled by a passing warship. [[strike:ItMakesSenseInContext.]] It Makes Sense after watching 5-6 times, with notes. It is very pretty though.
* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'':
** When Onizuka is having a job interview with Uchiyamada and the latter is rejecting him with insults, we are shown our hero punching the vice-principal in the face and totally beating him up. He was just daydreaming this.
** Uchiyamada also has a waking nightmare when Onizuka catches him being TheChikan; in the fantasy, he loses his job and reputation, stabbing Onizuka in a fit of murderous rage.
** Teshigawara fantasizes about showing Fuyutsuki his StalkerShrine of her, and her being into it. Then it cuts back to show that he's imagining it.
* After her mother asks if she's got a boy she likes, Hinagiku of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' has a dream of Hayate confessing to her. After she wakes up, she fights with herself about whether she actually likes him like that. [[spoiler:She doesn't realize she does until halfway through the next season. From the manga it's been stated that she loved him at first sight though.]]
* One episode of ''K-On'' features this courtesy of Azusa, who's suffering from heatstroke and keeps nodding off. At several points the episode almost imperceptibly segues into something bizarre, such as the other light music club members rushing down a waterslide while balancing pots of yakisoba on their heads, only for Azusa to then wake up and realize she'd only dreamt it.
* ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'' also does this constantly throughout the series. The daydreamer is, with one or two exceptions, always Godai, and it almost always involves him getting into a prone position with a willing Kyoko. He never actually manages to get there because he always bows his head in real life and bumps into to something at the last moment, usually a lamppost, and that snaps him back to reality.
* Used ambiguously in ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'': Akito is stranded in a drifting shuttle with two of his would-be love interests, where their chances of survival would increase dramatically if one were to bail out. The camera cuts to the outside while Akito immediately names Yurika as the jumper: "You're a real burden on my shoulders." When we cut back inside, there's none of the shock or offense you might expect, but some dialogue later on implies that he did indeed make his thoughts known. What probably happened was that he asked Yurika to jump, and she made up her own (surprisingly plausible, for [[CloudCuckoolander Yurika]]) reason for why he said that; she's a lot more capable of surviving in space than inexperienced civilian Megumi.
* ''Manga/NinjaNonsense'' has [[DirtyOldMan Onsokumaru]] and the ninja gang planning to peep on Shinobu and Kaede while they're in the changing room. We then see Shinobu and Kaede in the changing room, and SkinshipGrope begins complete with "seductive" music and some...interesting sound effects. Then Kaede and Shinobu ask [[TokenMiniMoe Miyabi]] to join them... at which point it cuts back to Onsokumaru saying "And that's what I expect it to be like!"
* This happens in ''Manga/OnePiece'', on the voyage to Impel Down. Boa Hancock demands an absurd amount of food to be delivered to her cabin that's also off-limits. We cut to what looks like Hancock and Luffy sharing a meal, with Luffy looking suspiciously suave and spouting cliche'd romance lines. We next see Hancock huddling in the corner sighing at the thought of it actually happening while Luffy gorges himself as expected.
* This is a favorite gag of Creator/RumikoTakahashi's ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. Often interrupted as another character spots the daydreamer acting out the dream and makes some loud noise to bring him or her back to reality.
* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'': The first episode goes to commercial with Mugen and Jin fighting inside a burning building. Coming back from the commercial, it seems Mugen's still fighting, but then it gets all weird, with fire being cold and Jin in a bathtub. He eventually comes to and realizes he'd been knocked out and tied up along with Jin. This results in a very amusing and just-slightly-naughty exchange:
--> '''Mugen''': I remember a dream. There was fire all around me.\\
'''Jin''': It wasn't a dream.\\
'''Mugen''': Oh yeah? So you ''were'' in a bathtub with your ''thing'' hanging out?\\
'''Jin''': Now ''that'' was a dream.
* ''Manga/SchoolLive'' famously has one that encompasses almost the entire [[spoiler:first]] chapter/episode.
* ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'': After supper, the scene cuts to Anna walking through the marsh to the mansion and seeing Marnie for the first time. Then the scene cuts to Anna in her bed, revealing the whole sequence to be a dream of hers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Ripley being killed by a chestburster in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. It's a proper nightmare and not a daydream, but you don't find that out until she wakes up.
* After Alistair Smythe make a crack that he's Spider-Man in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'', Max Dillon, obsessed with Spider-Man ever since the wall-crawler saved him, has a daydream where he slams Smythe against a wall, but in reality, he does nothing. A deleted scene has him similarly having a daydream about yelling at [[AbusiveParents his asshat of a mother]] after she mocked his singing [[KickTheDog when he hummed "Happy Birthday" on his own birthday]].
* The first joke of ''Film/AnalyzeThis'' is Dr. Ben Sobel listening to a neurotic patient vent about a breakup and responding, "Well, what I think you should do is stop whining about this ''pathetic loser.'' You are a tragedy queen! 'Oh, Steve doesn't like me! Steve doesn't respect me!' Oh, who gives a shit, GET A FUCKING LIFE!!!" Cut to Ben still quietly sitting at his desk.
* Following on the previous film, ''Film/AnalyzeThat'' has Dr. Sobel daydreaming that he finally snaps as he's delivering an euology on his father's funeral and rants about how much of an asshole his father (who was [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter an even more renowned psychologist]] and [[WellDoneSonGuy gave him absolutely jack shit in respect]]) truly was [[HiddenDisdainReveal before making clear that he always hated the guy and he can burn in hell for all he cares]] while in reality he droned out the cookie-cutter kiss-ass speech he wrote down for the occasion.
* In ''Film/{{Andhadhun}}'', Akash protests against the prepared statement the police asks him to sign, instead saying that he's not blind and revealing everything that happened. After that daydream is over, he does indeed sign the statement.
* When praying in ''Film/BlackDeath'', Osmund [[spoiler: sees dead Averill calling his name, then he's brought back to reality by Ulrich, who does the same]].
* In ''Film/BloodSimple'', Abby believes that Marty appears in her apartment, but it turns out to be a dream.
* ''Film/TheBody2012'': At one point, Álex finds a filled glass of wine at the hospital and a dead-looking Mayka emerges from behind his back. Then we cut to Álex waking up, revealing this scene to be a dream sequence.
* The "escape" scene at the end of ''Film/{{Brazil}}''. Although, unlike Winston Smith in ''1984'', Sam Lowry actually does escape - according to his captors. "He's got away from us"...
* ''Film/BridgetJonesDiary'': Bridget Jones is talking to Mark at the launch party when her coworker Perpetua walks up to them. Bridget introduces them to each other with thoughtful details: "Mark's a prematurely middle-aged prick with a cruel raced ex-wife. Perpetua is a fat-arse old bag who spends her time bossing me around." Then the voiceover says, "Maybe not," and we cut back to reality, where Bridget gives a much more ordinary introduction.
* In ''Film/CampSlaughter'', Mario is attending a rehearsal for an amateur Shakespeare performance of ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' when the drama coach gets so frustrated by the poor fight choreography that he decides to show them how to do it by slaughtering the entire cast one by one. Then, Mario wakes up and sees it was all just a dream.
* At the end of ''Film/TheChase1994'', Charlie Sheen gets out of his car and is riddled with bullets...or not. A clue was left for the observant viewers: he lights a cigarette with a lighter that, in reality, was thrown out of the car long ago.
* ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' has a fake-out. It's like punching the audience for being so credulous with their WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. Then again, this could be said of almost every musical number, that they're all part of Roxie's imagination.
* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', Bruce [[spoiler:imagines a conversation with (the deceased) Ra's al Ghul.]]
* In ''Film/DeathGrip'', Kenny fights a group of skateboarding kids at a baseball diamond. The fight is elaborate and showy, and he sustains a fair amount of damage. Then, we cut back to before the fight and it ends with an anti-climactic punch.
* ''Film/DieAnotherDay'':
** After Bond is reinstated back into [=MI6=] and the base is suddenly attacked. He makes his way through shooting the assailants until he gets to one holding M hostage... so he promptly shoots her to get to the assailant. Q suddenly appears and chastises Bond on his performance while taking off the VR glasses. The whole thing being a training simulator.
** The end abruptly jumps to Bond walking in on Moneypenny in her office, where things quickly begin to get steamy... until R shows up wondering why Moneypenny is using his virtual reality machine.
* ''Film/DressedToKill'' opens and closes with a tense Hitchcockian shower scene. Each time it's revealed to be a dream sequence.
* ''Film/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh'': Infamously, Brad has a ADateWithRosiePalms while daydreaming about his crush [[LustObject Linda]] (Creator/PhoebeCates) [[SexySurfacingShot emerging from the pool]] and taking off her bikini top... until the ''real'' Linda [[CaughtWithYourPantsDown walks in on him]].
* Happens frequently with protagonist Troy in ''Literature/FatKidRulesTheWorld'' . The very first scene has him attempting suicide by jumping in front of a fast-moving city bus: When it appears he's been hit, he explodes into LudicrousGibs, which cover a passerby on the sidewalk with blood as the bus-driver merely wipes off the mess with his windshield wipers and drives on. Cut back to Troy still on the sidewalk working up the nerve to do it - this time he really does run out in front of the bus, but is tackled and saved at the last second.
* Harry Deane sees PJ Puznowski in the bar in ''Film/{{Gambit}}'', approaches her, and explains the scheme. They quickly con Shahbandar out of his money and ride off into the sunset. Then we cut back to where he hasn't approached her yet, and very little turns out to go as planned.
* ''Film/{{The Girl Next Door|2004}}'' uses this a few times: The first time, the protagonist imagines skipping school and getting pulled over by the police, while the second time he imagines a faculty member walking in on his [[spoiler:GetRichQuick sex-education video production]].
* In Kenneth Branagh's version of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}},'' the title character (eavesdropping on Claudius' soliloquy from the other half of a confessional) imagines stabbing Claudius through the ear; the scene snaps back as Hamlet reconsiders his plan.
* ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'': Harold, returning home from a long day at work, gets into an elevator with his sexy neighbor and successful chats her up. We then cut back to reality, where the scene actually plays out as an UncomfortableElevatorMoment.
* An homage to ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' is found at the beginning of ''Film/HostelPartII'', which practically duplicates the scene. Both movies start with the protagonist from the first movie hospitalized, then being killed off in the theme of the movie series... only to reveal it was AllJustADream. Though in ''Hostel 2'', the protagonist ends up getting killed a minute later.
* ''Film/TheKillingRoom'' (2009). An NSA psychiatrist is recruited to observe an experiment, and is shocked to find it's part of a lethal MindControl program. She steals the swipe card to the titular room, slips into the room and frees the two subjects who are still alive. As they're fleeing down the corridor and the RedAlert goes off, we cut back to her watching the subjects through a double-sided mirror, being unable to go through with it. The head scientist then demands the return of his swipe card.
* One of the most poignant uses of this trope forms a substantial portion of the latter half of Martin Scorsese's ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'', in which Christ is allowed to descend from the Cross, marry Mary Magdalene, and live out the rest of his days as a mortal man. On his deathbed, however, he realises this was a trick by the devil, and renounces the illusion of His mortal life, returning instantly to the Cross.
* A DeletedScene in ''Film/{{Lolita}}'' (1997) has Humbert swimming with his wife after she decides to send her daughter OffToBoardingSchool (meaning Humbert [[{{Ephebophile}} won't be able to be near her]]). Humbert pulls her underwater until she drowns, coldly brushes aside her drifting legs, then resurfaces... and his voiceover admits that [[EvenEvilHasStandards he couldn't do it]].
* ''Film/TheMaidenHeist'' opens with one. It involves Creator/ChristopherWalken with GunsAkimbo. It is ''awesome''.
* The Dutch film ''Majesteit'' ends this way. The queen reads the first few lines of her ''Prinsjesdag'' speech, stops, announces she steps down from the throne then and there and walks away. When she gets to the door she looks back and sees herself still sitting on the throne, reading out her speech normally. Because the queen of the Netherlands did not in fact step down in 2003, we know the version in which she walks away is a daydream, but the camera stays with her nonetheless, following her through The Hague.
* A RunningGag in ''Film/MajorGromPlagueDoctor'' which has the CowboyCop hero pulling some badass stunt, only for reality to ensue and he gets killed, so we SmashCut back to him saying "Think, think!" as he tries to think up a better plan.
* Twice in ''Film/MeAndEarlAndTheDyingGirl'' does a scene between Greg and Rachel turn out to have been a figment of Greg's imagination. The scene then cuts back to what really happened.
* ''Film/MeanGirls'':
** The DVD edition has an alternate version of the anti-clique workshop scene.
--->'''Ms Norbury:''' Nothing you wanna apologise for?\\\
'''Cady:''' ...No.\\\
'''Cady:''' ''(as narrator)'' And then she said it. The worst thing you can hear from any adult.\\\
'''Ms Norbury:''' Your parents have been eaten by cannibals!\\\
'''Cady:''' ''(as narrator)'' ...Uh, OK, the second worst.\\\
'''Ms Norbury:''' I'm really disappointed in you, Cady.
** One of the final scenes counts, as there's a brief spot of the freshman Plastics getting hit by a bus before it's revealed they actually stepped back just in time.
* The ending of ''Film/MrBrooks'' where [[spoiler: the eponymous character is killed by his daughter]].
* Done a twice in ''Film/MonsterInLaw''. Viola imagines slamming Charlie head-first into a cake, and later, Charlie imagines whacking Viola in the head with a frying pan.
* ''Film/{{Next}}'', as might be imagined in a movie with a precog as the protagonist, does this a lot. (Such as [[spoiler: ''everything after Nick Cage sleeps with Jessica Biel'', which comes out to about ''two-thirds of the movie'']]). In fact, it's the main gimmick of the movie: his precognition is frequently represented as a "daydream", and if he wants to change what happened, it then becomes the "surprise".
* ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'':
** ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'': Subverted. At one point during Lisa's journey into Freddy's lair, a wound on her leg is suddenly infested with insects. She frantically tries to get them off until she realizes that nothing is there, as it was another dream. Except she was ''never asleep''--Freddy's powers are just [[RealityWarper starting to reach into the real world]].
** ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet4TheDreamMaster'' has the protagonist being coached to "lucid dream" herself out of the scary setting and onto a tropical beach. When the shift happens in her dream, she's wearing a bikini and lounging on a towel. It's quickly subverted when the glove "swims" like Jaws through the sand straight toward her.
* In a scene in ''Film/OneHourPhoto'', Sy drives up to the Yorkin house while the family is away. This is followed by a montage of him breaking into and exploring the house, and doing mundane things like going to the bathroom. This culminates in him sitting on the couch watching a football game, while drinking a beer and wearing a sweater he hadn't had on before; all just as the family's coming home. They walk in and see him before he can escape, but instead of reacting with shock or outrage, they chat with him like he lives with them and they were merely surprised to see him home. The camera then cuts back to Sy, still sitting in his car, revealing that the whole scene was just a daydream.
* ''Film/PointOfOrigin'': When Orr is arrested, he [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lmGg8llb-M daydreams that he fights back]] by pulling out [[GunsAkimbo dual handguns]] (one of which is [[HandCannon an absolutely massive revolver]]) and blasting all of the cops away in a display of acrobatic GunFu. In reality he is actually being dragged to the patrol car in front of his wife and child.
* ''Film/{{Requiem for a Dream}}'':
** Marion dreams about stabbing, with a fork, the hand of a man she absolutely detests while she is on a date with him.
** Harry fantasizes himself and Tyrone playing keep-away with a police officer's firearm, the policeman in the middle.
* A very long version occurs before the climax of ''Film/RomyAndMichelesHighSchoolReunion'', where Michelle daydreams an entirely different ending to the film, culminating in a [[DistantFinale 90-year-old version]] of Romy flipping her off over videophone for ditching her at the reunion.
* ''Film/SomeoneGreat'': In the end, Jenny sees [[spoiler:Nate comes back to "their spot" and asks to give their relationship another shot]]. She wakes up, revealing it to be a dream.
* In ''Film/TrueLies'', the briefest daydream ever: trained spy [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Harry]] is driving along listening to the chatter of the schmuck in the passenger seat -- who he knows is messing around with his wife. Harry, without taking his eyes off the road, elbows the guy in the face and kills him. Then suddenly we're back to the guy rambling on and laughing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/AndyRichterControlsTheUniverse'' had this almost as a reoccurring theme, to ridiculous lengths. The show even started with an extended one. They were also ''[[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]'' A LOT.
* In one of the later episodes of the ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' reboot, Tigh shortly after [[spoiler:finding out he's a Cylon]], shoots Admiral Adama in the CIC. Everyone panics. Then he looks up and it turns out that was all in his head.
* The ''Series/Batwoman2019'' episode "A Narrow Escape", opens with Kate Kane playing ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' with a sane version of her twin sister, the supervillain Alice. The building lights keep flickering intermittedly until Alice suddenly wakes up strapped to a chair in Arkham Asylum as a doctor gives her electroconvulsive therapy.
-->'''Dr. Butler:''' Let's try this again. You live in a fantasy. Fantasy is not reality. [[CrapsackWorld This is your reality, Alice.]]
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
** In "The Infestation Hypothesis", Penny gets a chair that was thrown away and Sheldon becomes obsessed with getting rid of it. Penny convinces him that she had the chair cleaned, so he takes a seat, and is suddenly swarmed by cockroaches. He them wakes up from his dream.
** In the episode where Penny asks about Sheldon's "deal" regarding his sexuality, one of the theories they have is that Sheldon reproduces asexually, and that one day he will eat too much Thai food and split into two identical copies. TheStinger depicts just that, which turns out to be Leonard's nightmare.
** On "The Recombination Hypothesis" one of these takes up the entire plot, as Leonard imagines the ramifications of hooking up with Penny again. In the end he decides to go ahead anyway.
** One scene depicts Sheldon passionately kissing Amy. This, of course, was Amy's daydream.
** Played with, probably not intentionally, in the series finale. When Amy is giving her Nobel acceptance speech, Sheldon's attention wanders and when she finishes she has to call his name. Because she is no longer speaking into the microphone her voice is not amplified and sounds normal, and for a split second this troper thought Sheldon was going to snap back to reality and find that the whole Prize scenario was a daydream. Fortunately, it wasn't.
* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': Brittas has one of these in “UXB” where Laura declares her love for him and snogs him. Naturally, the audience don’t find out that this is a daydream until it immediately cuts to the door opening again and the ''real'' Laura coming in.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** PlayedForDrama in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E16TheBody The Body]]". Buffy imagines that the paramedics are able to revive her mother, rush her to the hospital in an ambulance, and get the "good as new" seal approval from the doctor; cut back to shot of Joyce lying dead on the floor.
** Used as a LoveEpiphany in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E4OutOfMyMind Out of My Mind]]". After yet another double-cross Buffy turns up at Spike's crypt determined to stake him once and for all. A pissed off Spike rips off his shirt to expose his manly body and tells her to get on with it, whereupon they start making out passionately as Spike tells Buffy he loves her... only to wake up in bed with an expression of horror on his face.
** Seen from the outside in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E8TheDarkAge The Dark Age]]" - Buffy walks into a computer class as Ms. Calendar says "Okay, guys, the first thing we're going to do is - Buffy!" Xander sits up saying "What, did I fall asleep just now?"
* In the spinoff to ''Buffy'' ''Series/{{Angel}}'', "[[Recap/AngelS05E10SoulPurpose Soul Purpose]]", featuring a tidy resolution of all of Angel's problems, emotional personal or supernatural, turned out to be a fantasy constructed by a spell to orchestrate the removal of his soul.
* ''Series/{{Burnistoun}}'': In the first sketch of the first series, Scott is harassed by a pair of thugs who threaten to pull a knife on him. He responds by chucking a bottle of ginger at them and perfectly hits one in the head. This leads to him being featured on a TV programme and making it into the Guinness Book of World Records. At the end of the sequence, this is revealed to be in his imagination, and when he actually tries to chuck the bottle of ginger he spills it all over himself instead.
* A trailer for ''Series/{{Castle}}'' sees Beckett and Castle at a trendy pool bar, Beckett wearing a ''very'' figure-enhancing red dress and sexily flirting up a storm with the very appreciative Castle... until Beckett snaps Castle back into reality. Turns out they're at a murder scene, involving some poor bastard who's been impaled on a pool cue, and Castle was just indulging in a fantasy.
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'': In the season 2 episode, "Animal Pragmatism", Leo gives Piper a Valentine's Day card. He put it in her purse, where he was sure she would find it. Although Piper still had feelings for Leo, she was still going out with Dan Gordon. In the card Leo stated he was not going to give up on Piper because the two of them belonged together. After reading the card, Piper walks across the room to Leo and kisses him passionately, before the scene fades back to reality revealing it was just a day dream. She then looks at Leo and they smile at each other.
* Used frequently on the Canadian sitcom ''Series/CornerGas'', [[spoiler:most notably in the fourth season finale, which plays out as if it's the final episode of the entire show, with characters moving away, character arcs being resolved, a BittersweetEnding and the eponymous gas station being taken over by a megacorporation as Dog River goes from being a small town to a proper city...before it's revealed that all of this is just a prolonged daydream sequence on the part of Hank]].
* A ''Series/CrimeStory'' episode ended with idealistic public defender David Abrams representing the street thug who beat up his (Abrams') girlfriend. While questioning him in his cell, Abrams pulls out a gun and empties it into the guy...then he snaps out of it.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' has this occur several times, but a prominent example is the episode "Sniper Sniped": [[spoiler: The ScaryBlackMan protector of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek UnSub's]] target we had followed throughout the episode was in reality the [[MonsterOfTheWeek UnSub]] himself, a mercenary ColdSniper using a kind of "focusing technique" so as to keep alert until the time the victim exposed herself]].
* In an episode of ''Series/DarkAngel'', a {{Mook}} pulls a gun on Max. She effortlessly knocks the gun away and defeats her opponent, then goes home to celebrate. While she's ''in the middle of having sex'', she starts to feel a pain, then collapses from being shot in the chest by the mook.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'':
** Dexter figures out [[spoiler:Miguel]] was playing him for a fool all along, he screams in rage, knocks his computer monitor off his desk, and throws his chair through the lab window--in broad daylight, in the middle of the police station. Then the camera cuts, and he's sitting calmly at his desk, waving cheerily to [[spoiler: Miguel]]. For all his charm, Dexter is a sociopathic murderer--that's a moment when we see what's often going on inside his head.
** In another episode, Debra's therapist points out that she's always talking about how much she loves her brother, and that they're NotBloodSiblings, and wonders whether she has feelings for him that way. She tells her therapist to fuck off... later that day, there's a scene between the two of them that's ''full'' of IncestSubtext. Then it... rapidly becomes text. Then it turns out Deb was dreaming it. Quoth Deb, upon waking up: "[[SirSwearsalot fuck]]".
* ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'': One episode focuses on a couple planning to kill the bride's father ''during their wedding'' and frame her stepmother. The first act appears to show the whole thing play out perfectly for them, with Mark and co falling for everything. Then after we see them arrest the stepmother we cut to the couple in bed, revealing the whole sequence had been them discussing how their plan would go down. As per the UnspokenPlanGuarantee while they successfully murder the father the frame goes badly wrong.
* ''Series/{{Dickinson}}'': Emily is seen apparently going to bed with Sam, then it turns out she's just imagining this.
* ''{{Series/Euphoria}}'': In "Trouble Don't Last Always" we see Rue with Jules in an apartment happily together, and so the audience can think very briefly that they got back together after Season One. It's very quickly shown to be, as you'd expect, just Rue imagining this however as she gets high.
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' featured one in an episode with Artie getting out of his wheelchair and finally dancing. A '[[DreamBallet Daydream Ballet]]', if you will.
* In season one of ''Series/{{House}}'', Dr. House tells Vogler that he has a stage four cancer before suddenly waking up. The small, sad, disappointed noise from the audience was heard three and a half kilometres away.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** One episode had a RunningGag of a character saying something sensible, then the film stops and the narrator says "...is what (character) should have said", and the scene starts over with what the character really said, which wasn't sensible at all.
** One episode has Ted finally rage out on Stella for what she did. Then the camera snaps back to him in the cab with his friends, who cheer him for the speech he has planned out. When he gets out of the car, though, he sees her with her daughter and Tony and can't bring himself to do it.
* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': Dennis has one of these in "Mac & Dennis move to the suburbs." After weeks of psychological torture involving a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking noisy pool filter, bad morning commute traffic, and weeks spent in Mac's company]], Dennis completely snaps on their friendly next door neighbor (who is implied to be a figment of Dennis' imagination, anyway), [[FullFrontalAssault stripping completely naked]], delivering an absolutely chilling threat, and [[HellIsThatNoise screaming like he has been demonically possessed]].
-->'''Wally''': Hey, buddy. Haven't seen you for a bit. You've probably been staying inside to avoid this, uh, heat wave, huh? Boy, it's been hot.\\
'''Dennis''': It's hot, huh? Yeah. It is super hot. Yeah. It's getting real hot around here. So hot, Wally. But you don't really know what hot is, do you? Hot's a storm. You ever been in a storm, Wally? I mean, a real storm? Not a thunderstorm, but a storm of fists raining down on your head. Blasting you in the face. Pummeling you in the stomach. Hitting you in the chest so hard you think your heart's gonna stop. You ever been in a storm like that, Wally?\\
'''Dennis''': ''(prolonged horrifying scream of primal rage)''
* ''Series/JandaKembang'':
** In episode 5, Salmah visits Malik's shop and he proceeds to hold her hand tenderly. Without a warning, the scene is revealed to be Malik's imagination and he is actually holding another customer's hand.
** In episode 24, Rais wakes up in front of Neneng's shop who acts unusually nice to him and even assures him that it's not a dream. Surprise, it is a dream, as revealed when Kemal throws water at Rais who is actually sleeping in Kemal's home.
* Pretty much every LifetimeTimeMovieOfTheWeek centering around a {{Yandere}} VillainProtagonist will have a scene of this nature where it at first appears that the object of their obsession is declaring their love to them, only to reveal it as a fantasy.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' plays heavily with dreams and reality, such as Kate's vision of Claire in the season 4 finale, or Eko's vision of Ana-Lucia immediately following her death. Another form of the trope was the teaser for "Catch-22," in which Charlie is killed by an arrow to the throat. This turns out to be one of Desmond's precognitive "flashes," which will actually occur later if he doesn't prevent it.
* A nice little incidental use of this in the Series 1 finale of ''Series/MadMen'' contrasted Don's hopes for his family with the reality of his isolation from them.
* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "The Screwfly Solution", Alan heads home on a flight, and arrives there at night. He and his wife Anne put their daughter to sleep, and then make love to each other. Alan becomes violent, starts strangling Anne, and pulls a knife on her. Then he wakes up back on the plane. Alan then realises he's been infected by the virus he's investigating which turns sexual feelings into violent ones.
* ''Series/Miranda2009'' has this occasionally, with events such as Gary suddenly walking into the room, proclaiming his undying love for her, and kissing her... only for it to snap back and reveal Miranda's just daydreaming. Subverted on one occasion in which Miranda kisses Gary, and then realises she ''wasn't'' daydreaming and ''actually did that''.
* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' used it quite often (together with Imagine Spot), regarding Detective Murdoch and Dr. Ogden's WillTheyOrWontThey and on-again-off-again relationship:
** In the episode "Still Waters", Murdoch stumbles over saying, "Can I ask you a question?" and when Dr. Ogden says, "Yes?", he kisses her. Cut to a moment later, and Murdoch actually asking to have his bathwater back.
** In the Season 3 finale, Murdoch steps out of a jewellers with a ring, heads for the infirmary, and asks Dr Ogden to marry him. Then it flashes back to the jewellers, and Murdoch really does go to the infirmary, only to find she's already left for her new job in Buffalo.
** In season 4 when Julia is engaged to Dr. Garland, she meets William in the morgue and they discuss the case that was just solved and which involved HemoErotic and KissOfTheVampire craze. Julia gets aroused and they end up violently making out. It turns out it was just Julia's fantasy.
* Happens in one episode of ''Series/ANeroWolfeMystery'', when the client mentions Nero Wolfe's daughter:
-->'''Wolfe''': I have no daughter. This is flummery!\\
'''Archie''' ''(narrating)'': At least, that's what I ''thought'' he'd say. What he actually said was this:\\
'''Wolfe''': I have no daughter. She died.
* The ''Series/NewsRadio'' episode "Daydream" is a series of these as the characters deal with a broken air conditioner with a series of heat-induced hallucinations.
* Used for dramatic effect in an early episode of ''Series/{{Outlander}}'' where it appears Claire tells Mrs. Fitz that she's a time traveler and Mrs. Fitz accuses her of witchcraft. Claire then snaps out of her daydream and realizes that telling anyone the truth could have disastrous [[BurnTheWitch consequences]].
* Used constantly on ''Series/{{Passions}}''. Part of these scenes would usually be used in the [[NeverTrustATrailer next episode preview]].
* In the pilot of ''Series/{{Profit}}'', G&G security chief Joanne is walking down the company's hallways when suddenly Jim Profit walks up to her from around the corner and shoves her up against the wall as he strangles her. Joanne quickly startles awake from her nightmare.
* A Season One episode of ''Series/PushingDaisies'' sees waitress Olive Snook realize that a customer had been proclaiming his love for her just before he returns to the Pie Hole and sweeps her off her feet. Blink, and she's back holding his left-behind coffee cup.
* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode “Blue”, Lister has a dream where Rimmer (who had gone off to be Ace) returns and acts friendly towards Lister, culminating in the two kissing. Naturally, the audience isn’t shown that this is a dream until after the kiss.
* ''Series/RoyalPains'' did this in the Season 1 finale, with Divya [[spoiler:imagining standing up to everyone at her engagement party and breaking it off, but really going through with it]].
* ''Series/{{The Sandman|2022}}'', "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E07TheDollsHouse The Doll's House]]": On a transatlantic flight, the recently widowed Lyta strikes up a conversation with the handsome man seated across the aisle. After she mentions her recent troubles, he asks how she's holding up, and she says that clearly she's not holding up very well, considering [[TheReveal she's having an impossible conversation with her dead husband]]. Then a flight attendant wakes her up, and we see that the seat across the aisle is actually occupied by someone else entirely.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'':
** It makes liberal use of both Daydream Surprise and the Imagine Spot. J.D. is quite the MrImagination.
** Subverted in the episode "My Best Laid Plans". On a date with Molly, when he's in a relationship with Kylie, J.D.'s InnerMonologue says he knows exactly what will happen if he brushes the hair out of her eyes, and we get a speeded up sequence of them kissing, leaving the bar, going back to J.D.'s place and they're just about to take their clothes off when we snap back to reality, and J.D.'s monologue says "But I didn't". ''Then'', when he accidentally lets slip to Kylie he was seeing Molly, the inner monologue says he knows exactly what will happen if he doesn't say the right thing, and we get a similar speeded up sequence of them arguing, and J.D. leaving and going home. Instead of another snap-back, the monologue just says "And that's what happened."
** This was subverted in one episode where Dr. Cox punches out Dr. Kelso. Both the audience and J.D. expect this trope, but are surprised when there's no snap back to reality. The event actually happened!
* In "That's My Dog", Season 4 of ''Series/SixFeetUnder'', David imagines the hitchhiker he's picked up coming out to him, calling him cute then propositioning him for an on-the-side relationship. Blink and it cuts back to him offering David a drink of water, saying to the daydreaming David: "Hello? Where did you go?!"
* In ''Series/TheSopranos'' episode "[[Recap/TheSopranosS5E12LongTermParking Long Term Parking]]", the viewers see Adrianna driving her Ford Thunderbird out of New Jersey with her suitcase, but then a few seconds later we realize that she was daydreaming, and [[spoiler:is back in Silvio's car on the way to her execution]].
* ''Series/{{Sorry}}'': The episode "Curse of the Mummy" has a scene in the middle of the episode where Timothy falls down the stairs as he's trying to escape from his mother with Muriel. From there, the episode gets more bizarre, ending with a sequence where the train is pulling away with Muriel on it and without Timothy. It is only then that we find that everything since Timothy fell down the stairs had been AllJustADream and he had never left the house at all.
* Done frequently in ''Series/{{Spaced}}'', starting with the second episode, when Tim wakes up, finds the flat is bright and airy and his ex-girlfriend (who chucked him out) is making breakfast. She laughs at his dream that "you dumped me and I moved in with a girl I hardly know"...and then a monster attacks him. He wakes up for real, and the awful truth hits him.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** An instance in the episode "Grace".
** Done confusingly at the end of "The Other Guys", with the end of the episode having a fake kiss between a main character and the NonActionGuy the episode was based around. The confusing part is that they forgot to mention if it was the entire episode that was the dream, or just the kiss at the end. It took {{Word of God}} to sort that one out.
** Used several times in "200", in which the show parodies itself by featuring the writer of an in-universe show [[StylisticSuck loosely based on their exploits]]. In one notable scene, the Stargate starts acting up, and the characters run around trying to fix it with no success, ending with the entire SGC blowing up. Cut to SG-1 complaining about how contrived that would be; the actual problem was solved with minimal difficulty. The [[PreviouslyOn opening sequence]] could also count, as the last recap is from a fake episode where SG-1 meets the [[Franchise/StarWars Ewoks]] -- er, ''Furlings'' -- which somehow leads to their planet exploding. Sam interrupts the recap by complaining, "Now ''that'' never happened!"
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'':
** The "stinky" scene. Malcolm Reed images that he's lying in Sickbay after being rescued from a shuttle accident, and is about to snog [[MsFanservice T'Pol]] when he wakes up back in the shuttle.
** T'Pol dreams she's having a ShowerOfLove with 'Trip' Tucker, only to suddenly turn into a Trellium-D zombie and attack him. This is a sign of her breakdown in emotional control as a result of the drug.
* A variation of this occurs in the pre-title sequence of the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Hollow Pursuits". Reginald Barclay is initially portrayed as an arrogant tough guy who scares his superiors and is popular with women. Then he's called in for duty ''outside'' the holodeck that this scene takes place in, and it turns out that he's actually quite meek. It happens again at the end of the episode when Barclay announces he's "leaving" the crew and it turns out he's instead speaking to the holographic version of them, as he is determinedly breaking away from using the holodeck recreationally.
* The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" has [[{{Autodoc}} The Doctor]] (no, not [[Series/DoctorWho that one]]) upgrade his program so he can dream like humans, but a glitch in the algorithm causes him to spontaneously daydream on duty.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. Sam has a dream where Bella knocks on his hotel room door, lampshades their sexual tension, slips out of her trenchcoat to reveal she's wearing lingerie, and snogs him until Dean snaps him out of his fantasy. Bella then knocks on their door wearing a trenchcoat, causing Sam to go wide-eyed when she takes it off...but she's just wearing her normal clothes.
* In ''Series/That70sShow'', episode "It's All Over Now", Jackie comes to the Hub, and when Hyde asks how she is, she says she wants to marry him. He replies he does too, and everybody dances in joy. Next scene: everybody except Jackie is sitting, and Hyde asks her once more how she is.
* Possibly best known from the ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'' episode "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (adapted from [[Literature/AnOccurrenceAtOwlCreekBridge the short story of the same name]] by Creator/AmbroseBierce), in which a Civil War prisoner being hanged from the eponymous bridge manages a miraculous escape, makes his way across miles of hostile countryside to his home, stumbles inside to the welcoming arms of his loving wife... and finishes his drop on the end of the rope and dies.
* ''Series/UglyBetty'':
** When Wilhelmina is privately meeting with Connor and he offers her a drink, she daydreams that he then starts kissing her, jolting back to reality when he asks why she's staring into space.
** Happens twice in one scene when Betty imagines asking Bobby out, and then pushing him against a car and ripping open his shirt. Both times it's revealed to be a daydream and she asks him something much more tame.
* Happens a lot in ''Series/{{Unfabulous}}'', once where Addy ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext throws excrement]]'' at the popular girls for teasing her.
* In ''Series/WolfHall'', Cromwell at one point reaches out to stroke Anne Boleyn's chest after he solves a problem for her, but a moment later we see it's in his head. The series finale starts with a particularly dark one, though, with Cromwell hosting a banquet where the Duke of Norfolk starts complaining he's famished. The servers start laying out food, and then the main course appears: Anne Boleyn, being dragged along the length of the table and smiling dissonantly at Cromwell as he picks up the knife to carve. He plunges it at her face; the scene switches to him lost in thought while eating an ordinary breakfast with his own household.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Workaholics}}'', Adam, high on bath salts, painkillers and alcohol, sings (pretty well, too) a song at Karl's Wedding, dedicated to his new homeless girl, complete with backing from Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers. Only the song cuts out after a minute, the lighting changes and we're back to reality, with Adam drunkenly moaning and yelling at the wedding guests.
* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': In "Babies, Lies and a Resplendent Cannoli", Georgie telling George Sr. about Mandy and George losing his temper turns out to be just Georgie imagining what would happen if he did tell him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/SecondSight''. It starts with the protagonist strapped to a gurney in a hospital, and over time does flashbacks to time he spent overseas with an elite military unit. Turns out the the game's "Real" time frame is the flash backs; the opening sequence and any other part of the game based in the States is [[SpiderSense precognition]]. Revealed somewhat since every time you have a "flashback", and then find yourself back in the "present", something has changed. (Such as the mandatory love interest still being alive.)
* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'' uses this as its tutorial level. After a brief dialogue scene between Riddick and Johns, the ship lands at Butcher Bay. There is a sandstorm going on, and Johns' dialogue is notably stunted and he doesn't respond like a normal human would. He also goes down ridiculously easily when he turns his back on Riddick. This catches the attention of security, so Riddick escapes down a hatch and spends the rest of the level teaching the controls to the player. Just when it appears he's home free, we hear Johns say: "Wake up, Riddick." Then we get to see the actual arrival at the prison.
* The sequel, ''VideoGame/AssaultOnDarkAthena'' opens with Daydream Surprise, taking advantage of of Riddick's Furyan heritage to let him dream about killing enemies he ''hasn't even encountered yet''. It ends in a hallway with the lights going out one by one, while Riddick narrates: "Embrace the darkness." Then he wakes up from cryo-sleep.
* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' opens up with Alex being attacked by a horde of zombies. The player can fight them off, but they'll eventually become too numerous and kill her. That's when she wakes up.
* Franchise/{{Pokemon}}:
** The Pokéwalker has this trope used by the player's Pokemon in the Pokéwalker when it's bored.
* The opening cutscene of ''VideoGame/MyPokemonRanch'' had Hayley explaining the whole goal while she is daydreaming; it shows the Pokemon playing in the ranch and vice versa. '''That''' is when Hayley snaps out of her daydream, and comments that she "was daydreaming again."
* The first ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground'' game opens with you competing in (and winning) a street race [[ATasteOfPower in a fully pimped-out car]]. You're then pulled out of your fantasy by the game's ExpositionFairy Samantha, who invites you to buy your first ''actual'' car.
* The first ''VideoGame/FreddiFish'' game has this in the form of an infamous DummiedOut [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwh9iUtX4Fc cutscene]]. (Which can be produced in-game by adding the value "[=EddieEatsLuther=]=1" in the game's ini file.) At one point in the game, Freddi and her friend Luther meet an irritated eel named Eddie, who threatens to eat the two fish if they don't go away. If the value is set in the ini file, clicking Luther will result in Freddi suddenly ''tossing Luther to Eddie'', who gleefully gobbles the poor fish up (and in a way that's fairly graphic for a kid's game no less) and swims off as Freddi smirks at the camera. After this happens, the scene immediately cuts back to before (with Freddi and the still alive-and-well Luther in front of Eddie) and this exchange occurs:
---> '''Luther''': Whatcha thinking about, Freddi?\\
'''Freddi''': Oh, nothing, Luther...
* ''VideoGame/Destiny2'': The Phobos Warden armor set includes lore in which Commander Zavala is visited by various missing and/or presumed dead characters, who either let him lean on them a little or who’ve come up with a miracle solution to the threat facing the Last City in their absence. The last one in the sequence reveals they were all just daydreams.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'':
** Black Mage [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/01/05/episode-939-total-protonic-reversal/ removing his hat]].
** One of the fake endings has a bizarre version where the whole comic appears to have been AllJustADream, but then ''that'' turns out to be a daydream of Fighter's.
--->'''Fighter:''' [[MindScrew That's what it would be like if this wasn't reality.]]
%% ** Red Mage [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/11/17/episode-625-mis-en-scene/ multi-hasting the bone dragon]] might also qualify. %%% NOTE: Examples are not arguable.
* In ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'', Dr. [=McNinja=] had one involving Ben Franklin, being stalked by the Headless Horseman's horse (long story) as he as [=McNinja=] are boarding a plane. Franklin needs hair to stave off the horse but the airport security won't let him through with it. So Ben starts to go on a rampage cutting people's hair much to [=McNinja=]'s embarrassment. However we find that is all in Ben's imagination considering what to do and he politely carries on without it.
* In the strip [[http://www.chapelchronicles.com/comic/2 Battleship: The Games Continue]] from ''Webcomic/TheChapelChronicles'', Chapel imagines herself in a submarine being sunk by a patrol boat when in reality, her submarine has been sunk in the game.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', it appears that the captain of the empress's guard killed the fake Diva'ratrika starting [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=7670 here]], enraged by the double's distinctly un-Val-like behavior.
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'':
** It had Grace imagine her first day at school. The last row of panels has her admitting that it probably won't be as awesome as she imagines, but she hopes it comes close. It came as such a surprise to some readers that the author devoted an entire [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2007-05-26 filler strip]] to pointing out the hints in each panel that indicated it was all a dream.
** Sarah has [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-04-13 apprehensions]] about Grace!Tedd's experiments.
** The "Superhero Science" sidestory appears to [[http://egscomics.com/egsnp/shs-15 show a kiss between Elliot and Tedd]] before revealing [[http://egscomics.com/egsnp/shs-16 that it was all imagined.]] Unusually, the kiss was imagined by both characters simultaneously.
* ''Webcomic/GuildedAge'' has Frigg fantasize about killing two particularly smug architects [[http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-7-page-16/ here]] after negotiations go south, but she resists ... mostly.
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has a variation [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/scratch.php?s=6&p=005732 here]] - instead of a dream, the perspective switches to a prophetic vision of an [[ForWantOfANail alternate timeline]].
* ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'' does it [[http://www.misfile.com/index.php?page=649 here]]: During her date with what's-his-name, Emily briefly sees Ash in his place.
* Dave confessing his feelings to Helen in ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}''. %% quote? link?
* Played with in ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', where the Order is walking down a corridor and end up encountering Xykon, where, after a quick but tense battle, Roy finally destroys him. However, the audience soon discovers that the Order is actually trapped in a LotusEaterMachine spell courtesy of the corridor's RunicMagic. It takes them a couple of strips to snap out of it.
* ''Webcomic/{{Sunstone}}'' has these thanks to characters fantasizing about outlandish BDSM scenarios. Interestingly the daydreams so far have been reuses of the pin ups the comic consisted of before gaining a continuity, meaning for avid fans these are Daydream Surprises that took ''two years'' to pay off.
* ''Webcomic/ThinkBeforeYouThink'' does it [[http://thinkbeforeyouthink.net/?comic=20100402-another-stab-at-ceramics here]].
* A sequence in ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'', starting [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/human-form/ here]] had Shelly imagine that her boyfriend Justin surprised her in the shower. The sequence includes a few spoilers including the reason why this would be a bad thing.
* ''Webcomic/WeakHero'':
** When Gray comes face to face with Teddy he loses his temper, rushes up the stairs towards him, and ends up getting kicked back down... or that's how it plays out in his imagination. Gray realises that he has to contain his temper, and leaves Teddy alone until he has a better opportunity to fight back.
** During their fight in a parking lot, Wolf slams Jimmy into one of the pillars. Jimmy retaliates, only to be permanently put down by a chokeslam. Or so it seems; Jimmy temporarily blacked out when he hit the pillar and imagined the dire end to the fight. Realising that he couldn't win, Jimmy called off the fight there.
* ''Webcomic/WhatsShakin'':
** Coffinshaker daydreams at times where his fantasies blend into the story layout without notice.
** Coffin mourns the ''[[http://whatsshakincomic.com/2010/09/20/page-3/ death of his butterfly friend]]'' in a funeral scene completely inside his head.
** Coffin has a bit of a 300 fantasy after driving off a horde of villains from the ''[[http://whatsshakincomic.com/2011/04/25/page-33/ edge of a castle]]''.
** Pai has a bit of a blended fantasy moment when she ''[[http://whatsshakincomic.com/2011/02/07/page-23/ first meets Coffin]]''.
* ''Webcomic/{{Yosh}}'' has such a sequence for a monster trapped in an illusion where it's winning the fight... bloodily.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Sometimes happens in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest''. One particular incident was Brad Kavanagh's 'Death'.
* In ''[[WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC]]'', Franchise/SpiderMan and Green Goblin are trapped by a gang of possessed DarkerAndEdgier superheroes. Until Green Goblin unleashes a can of high-grade Whoop Ass on each of them, single-handedly saving the day and delightedly elating that he "beat 'em all!"... until Spider-Man brings him back to reality.
-->'''Spider-Man''': Yeah. That'd be great if that actually happened. ''But we're gonna freakin' '''die'''''!
* This happened in Episode 6 of ''WebAnimation/SteveAndCarlos'' where we're lead to believe Carlos stabbed Steve. But it was just Carlos daydreaming.
* This happened at least twice in the popular Website/YouTube series Chad Vader, and on both occasions involving the title character murdering his boss in a strange fashion. The first time he gets mad at her for deporting his girlfriend and explodes her head with a bazooka, only for it to cut back to reality. A later scene involves the boss socializing with Chad, who asks her if she'd like to be blown up by a bomb and die, to which she casually accepts. Just as Chad is getting excited over her death, the boss quickly snaps him back into reality.
%% * ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'':
%% ** Done ''very'' darkly in the episode "Without a Hitch" to Flaky.
%% ** Done in "A Sucker for Love (Part 2)", combined with WhyDontYouMarryIt.
* Happens in an episode of ''WebVideo/CaptainDisillusion'', where Cap angrily calls out Mr. Flare for lying about how a particular series of stunts was performed and gives a detailed explanation of the visual effects trickery employed; the whole sequence is eventually revealed to be a daydream (or possibly part of a hallucination).
* ''WebVideo/{{Dad}}'': In "Kiss", Dad is feeling nostalgic over when he first met Mom, and how she used to kiss him on the cheek every day. He claims that he can even feel her kiss at that very moment, and the viewer sees the Mom show up to kiss him, which makes him very happy...until he snaps out of it, with both him and the audience realizing he was just daydreaming.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "Power Animal", a band of gnomes capture Finn and try to use his boundless energy and enthusiasm to power their doomsday device. The last device is powered by Finn's thoughts and imagination, but Finn manages to break out and escape with Jake... then it cuts to Finn, still trapped in a LotusEaterMachine.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}''. Marcus, a [[DirtyCop corrupt Enforcer]] in the pay of Silco, is given one of Jinx's grenades to present as "evidence" to frame another party for the murder of several Enforcers by Jinx. Marcus supposedly pulls the pin, [[TakingYouWithMe killing both himself and Silco]]. Immediately after, we see that it was all in Marcus's head. Silco immediately lampshades it.
-->'''Silco:''' ''(mockingly)'' Hmm? Imagining yourself the hero?
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': Mordecai and Rigby give Muscle Man a fake lottery ticket and try to tell him and he shoves them into a lottery machine, throws it over the wall and explodes. In Season 8, Benson leaves the Space Tree to return to Earth where he gets locked out of his apartment. After a long time passes, he watches the tape his employees gave him and then regrets leaving space and he makes a run for the nearest exit, and he finds out that his miserable life on Earth was a simulation and decides to stay in space.
* ''WesternAnimation/FromAToZZZZ'': The cartoon opens with Ralph Phillips flying around like a bird... then a hummingbird [[CrashingDreams speaking with his teacher's voice]] tells him to pay attention.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
** An episode revolves around Stan's opposition to gay couples raising children. So, when Francine tells him she's agreed to become a surrogate mother for their gay neighbors, he comes at her with (in order) a broken bottle, a chainsaw, a leopard, and a [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs leopard holding a chainsaw]]. It's then revealed she was just trying to imagine his response, but it moves her to put off telling him for ''nine months''.
** Another episode had Stan finding out his boss and daughter are sleeping together. He then suddenly shoots his boss, chloroforms Hayley but notices the mailman and chases him down before killing him. He then sees a blind man who quickly points out he's blind and didn't see anything, getting Stan to back off. We then suddenly cut back to the moment where Stan found about his boss' and daughter's affair, the whole sequence being a daydream... though Stan realizes [[FridgeLogic the bystander in his daydream was lying about being blind.]]
** In the 100th episode, when Stan reads a note saying that Hayley and Jeff had eloped, he gets so mad that the note burns up in his hand and he proceeds to [[Film/SupermanII fly around the world to reverse time.]] It turns out he merely fainted and hit his head on the table, though Stan is still convinced he went back in time and thinks Francine is her grandmother.
** In another episode, though it's night time, Francine imagines killing her family. (Stabbing Roger's neck with a knife, chopping off Stan's head with a butcher hatchet and snapping Steve's neck)
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "Nightmares and Daydreams," a sleep-deprived Aang finally breaks down and confesses his love for Katara...[[ShipTease or not.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' episode "Swimming Fool", Cricket attempts to dive off [[HighDiveHijinks the high dive]] at the community swimming pool. Cricket gets to the top of the high dive, dives off, and hits the pool like a meteorite. When the water clears, Cricket discovers that he has shattered to pieces upon hitting the water and belts out a BigNo. SmashCut back to Cricket still standing at the top of the high dive and deciding against diving off.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', Danny and his father fail to change the filters on the ecto-filtrator as recommended, with disastrous consequences...that turn out to be a computer simulation of what happens to the ecto-filtrator if you don't change the filters on it as recommended. When Danny asks why his father has this computer simulation, Jack replies that it's to remind Danny how important it is to change the filters on the ecto-filtrator.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', Bloo offends a huge friend and is challenged to a fight. After exhausting every possible method of getting out of it, Mac frantically tells him to run far away. Cue montage of Bloo running away, being driven in a taxi, driving a boat, riding a motorcycle and getting on a plane which flies away... which occurs in a thought bubble that Bloo looks into saying "Yeah, that's what I should do."
* It's been mentioned elsewhere, but in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', B-list villain Milo's CorruptCorporateExecutive bosses screw him over once too often, so in a rage, he pulls out a massive gun and terminates them one after another until all are dead...and then we [[IndulgentFantasySegue cut back to reality]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Burns, Baby Burns", the police have Homer trapped in a building, believing that he kidnapped Mr. Burns' long-lost son. The rest of the family watches the siege on TV when suddenly Homer bursts out of the building and is cut down by a hail of gunfire. The Simpsons scream in horror...and it turns out to be Channel 6's computer simulation of the event.
-->'''Kent Brockman:''' Now here's what it would look like if they killed him with baseballs... ''(bonking sounds and Homer's grunts of pain can be heard in the background)''
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** They parodied ''Scrubs'' fondness of the trope, with Peter appearing to shoot himself in the head after hearing something he didn't want to do. Flash back to Peter, who then [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this with, "Oh, I was just having one of those ''Scrubs'' fantasy moments."
** Lampshaded in the episodes "Stewie Kills Lois" and "Lois Kills Stewie". When Peter and Lois go on a cruise without Stewie, Stewie then uses a virtual reality program to see what it would have been like if he had killed Lois in revenge.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode ''Obsoletely Fabulous'', most of the episode is Bender's dream as a reaction to his upgrade.
* ''[[Literature/TheMoomins Moominvalley]]'': In one episode, after an argument with Mrs. Fillyjonk over her cleaning habits, Moominmamma goes over to Fillyjonk's house and dumps a pan of dust over her head. Then it cuts back to Moominmamma, still standing outside her own house.
-->'''Moominmamma:''' Hmm, perhaps I'd better not do that. I won't be able to apologize... [[BaitAndSwitchComment because]] [[OpinionMyopia I'm]] [[NeverMyFault right]]!
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** In the opening of "Out to Launch", Candace works up the nerve to ask [[NiceGuy Jeremy]] out to a dance. In [[OutOfCharacterMoment an uncharacteristically sneering tone]], he turns her down and then starts laughing at her. Everyone in the food court, and eventually ''all of Danville'', [[CircleOfShame starts laughing at her]], too. Then [[EarthShatteringKaboom the Earth explodes]], and we cut to Candace telling her friend Stacy that that's ''why'' she can't ask Jeremy to the dance.
--->'''Stacy:''' You realize that's kind of a worst-case scenario, right?
** In "Isabella and the Temple of Sap" (the POVSequel to "Bubble Boys"), when Isabella asks Phineas "What'cha doin'?", he sudden confesses his love for Isabella. Then he turns into a centaur (for some reason - a play on AllGirlsLikePonies perhaps?), Isabella jumps on his back and they ride away together. Turns out she was just daydreaming, and she didn't even hear his real response. Apparently, she and her fellow Fireside Girls refer to this as her going to "Phineas-Land."
** In "Summer Belongs To You!", Phineas frustrates Isabella so much with his ObliviousToLove behavior that [[YourHeadAsplode her head explodes.]] He reacts with a horrified "Isabella!" Of course, she's just so frustrated that she's ''imagining'' her head exploding, and Phineas's shout was just him trying to get her attention.
* Midway through the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "Mama's Girl", Spinelli has become the laughingstock of the school after accidentally calling the kids' teacher Ms. Grotke "Mama" and announces that she is going to run away from school/home. When T.J. asks her where she could go, Spinelli says "somewhere far far away" where no one will ever call her a "mama's girl" again. We then cut to Spinelli alone in a tower somewhere in the Alaskan tundra with no one for miles. Just as she's getting used to her new surroundings a voice suddenly calls: "Is mama's little girl ready for school?" Cut to Spinelli [[AllJustADream waking up in bed]] to the sound of her mother telling to get up.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' episode "Twister's Cuz", Sam is nervous about the new "Sky Torpedo" thrill ride at the Ocean Shores amusement park. A while after the characters arrive at the park, Sam is shown hesitating to get in a mini-rocket vehicle, but Otto and Reggie keep pushing him to do it, and the demented ride operator locks him into the car, laughs at him, and starts the ride. Sam buckles up, and then the ride elevates the carousel far over the ocean and begins spinning the vehicles faster and faster. It then tilts to the side as it goes even faster, and then the screw nut holding Sam's vehicle in place pops out and sends his vehicle flying, to which it leaves a path of destruction as it careens through the park, flinging Sam to his impending doom. Otto then starts crying out Sam's name, only for it to ripple back to reality as Otto snaps Sam out of his fantasy.
* The ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' episode "The Lounge Singer" did this. Filburt gets all nervous after his singer idol Buddy Gecko accidentally breaks his Walkman and motivational tapes that have been helping him with his stage fright. Buddy assures him the tapes were all a sham and to go out there, as "[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong what's the worst that could happen]]?" Filburt goes out on stage and nervously says "Ahem..." but the audience immediately starts booing and ProducePelting him, and then chase him with TorchesAndPitchforks to a [[Film/Frankenstein1931 windmill]], and then a SpinningPaper announces the U.N. declares "Filb" is a menace to society, and they bomb him to death. His gravestone reads "Here Lies FILB, [[GraveHumor He was a lousy singer.]]" Buddy Gecko then knocks over his gravestone, which is then blown up by lightning. It then ripples back to reality, showing Filburt is alive and well, and had only imagined the whole ordeal, and hasn't gone on stage yet.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'':
** "Evillustrator" starts with [[ContinuityNod two previous akumatized villains]] chasing after Marinette and successfully capturing her...only for her to be saved by a superhero version of her classmate Nathaniel, with her [[RescueRomance confessing her love for him]] right after. Naturally, this is quickly revealed to be Nathaniel's daydream (which he's also drawing as a comic).
** "Frozer" begins with Adrien (as Cat Noir) presenting a rose to Ladybug and professing his love. He then reveals his secret identity to her and suggests that the two run away to an island together and adopt a hamster...then it cuts back to reality, with Cat Noir still presenting the rose to Ladybug, who rejects it.
*** Interestingly, the same episode ends with Marinette (a.k.a. Ladybug) confessing her love for Adrien. He admits he feels the same way, and she starts talking about getting married and adopting a hamster...and then she snaps back and it turns out she didn't say any of that.
* The ''WesternAnimation/WhateverHappenedToRobotJones'' episode "Jealousy" has a scene where Robot appears to punch Finkman's head off, but it subsequently turns out that Robot was only fantasizing about beating up Finkman.
* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E5DogSprayAfternoon Dog Spray Afternoon]]", when Helen is going to kill Shampagne, she throws a stick into a busy street for him to fetch as he breaks free from his leash. The camera zooms in on Helen's face as we hear Shampagne panicking in the steet, but then the camera zooms out to reveal she was just imagining it before she does it for real. But she's unable to do it for real after remembering how Cole took care of Shampagne.
* The ''WesternAnimation/MegaManRubySpears'' episode "Electric Nightmare" opens with Wily attacking a power plant, Mega Man coming to stop him, and Wily seemingly destroying Mega. It turns out that this is just a "game" Wily and his bots are playing to prepare for the real attack.
[[/folder]]

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1334292658064280100
%% Please use the Image Pickin' forum to suggest a new pic.

!! By the nature of this trope, expect spoilers.

!!Examples

* ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'' also does this constantly throughout the series. The daydreamer is, with one or two exceptions, always Godai, and it almost always involves him getting into a prone position with a willing Kyoko. He never actually manages to get there because he always bows his head in real life and bumps into to something at the last moment, usually a lamppost, and that snaps him back to reality.
* One episode of ''K-On'' features this courtesy of Azusa, who's suffering from heatstroke and keeps nodding off. At several points the episode almost imperceptibly segues into something bizarre, such as the other light music club members rushing down a waterslide while balancing pots of yakisoba on their heads, only for Azusa to then wake up and realize she'd only dreamt it.
* After her mother asks if she's got a boy she likes, Hinagiku of Manga/HayateTheCombatButler has a dream of Hayate confessing to her. After she wakes up she fights with herself about whether she actually likes him like that. [[spoiler: She doesn't realize she does until halfway through the next season. From the manga it's been stated that she loved him at first sight though.]]
* ''Manga/{{Change 123}}'': Happens at least two times, first time (chapter 3) it's about Kosukegawa confessing to Motoko that he loves her (back when he was still too shy about it), second time (chapter 43) he has an angst-driven fantasy about getting bolder with her.
* This happens in ''Manga/OnePiece'', on the voyage to Impel Down. Boa Hancock demands an absurd amount of food to be delivered to her cabin that's also off-limits. We cut to what looks like Hancock and Luffy sharing a meal, with Luffy looking suspiciously suave and spouting cliche'd romance lines. We next see Hancock huddling in the corner sighing at the thought of it actually happening while Luffy gorges himself as expected.

* How [[spoiler:Midnight]] is finished off when his illusions backfire on him in ''Manga/FairyTail''.
** A hilarious one happens where [[spoiler:Lucy declares her undying love to Gray and tries to lay him down]]. Thank you, [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel Juvia]].
* ''Manga/SchoolLive'' famously has one that encompasses almost the entire [[spoiler: first]] chapter/episode.

* One issue of ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' had him disagreeing with Charles Xavier's decision to present Geldoff, a Latverian youth who was genetically engineered into a mutant, to the UN and the scientific community as proof of immoral and illegal genetic research. We then see him taking out the entire ''ComicBook/XMen'' team on his lonesome and escaping the mansion with Geldoff... only for Xavier to telepathically appear in his daydream and ask him if that's really a good idea.
* At the end of the "Murdock Papers" story arc in ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'', Matt [[spoiler: is on trial for being Daredevil, and is asked what he pleads. He then knocks over a table, runs away to Paris with his wife, finds his wife killed by Bullseye, kills Bullseye, spends several years traveling, ends up in Japan with Elektra...and then it cuts back to the courtroom, where he pleads not guilty.]]

* Used repeatedly in ''[[{{Series/Firefly}} Serenity: Better Days]]'' to show what the crew plan to do with their share of the treasure. Because of River's... [[CloudCuckooLander condition,]] the illustration of hers is [[http://fandomania.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/serenity2-003.jpg surreal to say the least.]]
* ''ComicBook/KidPaddle'': Is Kid's father acting even remotely cool in any strip? Yeah, then spoiler warning, it's one of these.
* In ''ComicBook/SinCity: That Yellow Bastard'' when a corrupt officer is trying to force Hartigan to sign a false confession, he briefly imagines snapping his handcuffs and killing his tormentor with a single punch.
* ''ComicBook/AggretsukoOni'': Haida sees Retsuko ditching the office chair race for him after he crashed thanks to Tsunoda's banana peel, only to reveal on the next panel that it was just his imagination. Cue his embarassment.

* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' refers to these as "counterfactual scenarios", a term the author Adam Warren borrowed from the alt-history community because he felt it was amusingly pretentious-sounding.
* The 45th issue of ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' has The Female retaliate to a boy taking her lollipop by tearing his face off. This turns out to be a daydream with Frenchie discouraging her from retaliating violently so as not to blow their cover.

--> ''...Someday it will all come true...(I wish!)''

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'', as Carl and Russell float over a city, Carl attempts to lower Russell to the ground (and thereby not have to put up with him) on a bedsheet harness, only for the 'rope' to be too short, and Russell falls screaming. Switch back to Carl, still standing behind Russell inside the house, and he mutters "Well, that's not gonna work."

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheCroodsANewAge'', Grug is being annoyed by Phil Betterman attempting to get his attention and [[RunningGag hurls a stick into his eye as he screams]]. Then we return to reveal it's just Grug happily daydreaming this event while Phil is still trying to get his attention.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Spies in Disguise}}'', as Walter talks to Lance in the airplane and drones on about the facts of being a pigeon, the latter suddenly snaps at Walter and ejects him and his bird Lovey out of the airplane. As Lance does an EvilLaugh after he seemingly killed Walter, we switch back to Lance with both Lovey and Walter still in the same plane with him, the latter still talking about pigeon facts.

---> '''Ms Norbury:''' Nothing you wanna apologise for?\\\
'''Cady:''' ...No.\\\
'''Cady (as narrator):''' And then she said it. The worst thing you can hear from any adult.\\\
'''Ms Norbury:''' Your parents have been eaten by cannibals!\\\
'''Cady (as narrator):''' ...Uh, OK, the second worst.\\\
'''Ms Norbury:''' I'm really disappointed in you, Cady.

* A RunningGag in ''Film/MajorGromPlagueDoctor'' which has the CowboyCop hero pulling some badass stunt, only for reality to ensue and he gets killed, so we SmashCut back to him saying "Think, think!" as he tries to think up a better plan.

You wrestle the lipstick from her hands and scream “You whore!” and write mean things on the mirror. Then you stuff her head in the toilet and prevent this horrible story from actually happening.\\

* ''Series/{{The Sandman|2022}}'', "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E07TheDollsHouse The Doll's House]]": On a transatlantic flight, the recently widowed Lyta strikes up a conversation with the handsome man seated across the aisle. After she mentions her recent troubles, he asks how she's holding up, and she says that clearly she's not holding up very well, considering [[TheReveal she's having an impossible conversation with her dead husband]]. Then a flight attendant wakes her up, and we see that the seat across the aisle is actually occupied by someone else entirely.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'':
** It makes liberal use of both Daydream Surprise and the Imagine Spot. J.D. is quite the MrImagination.
** Subverted in the episode "My Best Laid Plans". On a date with Molly, when he's in a relationship with Kylie, J.D.'s InnerMonologue says he knows exactly what will happen if he brushes the hair out of her eyes, and we get a speeded up sequence of them kissing, leaving the bar, going back to J.D.'s place and they're just about to take their clothes off when we snap back to reality, and J.D.'s monologue says "But I didn't". ''Then'', when he accidentally lets slip to Kylie he was seeing Molly, the inner monologue says he knows exactly what will happen if he doesn't say the right thing, and we get a similar speeded up sequence of them arguing, and J.D. leaving and going home. Instead of another snap-back, the monologue just says "And that's what happened."
** This was subverted in one episode where Dr. Cox punches out Dr. Kelso. Both the audience and J.D. expect this trope, but are surprised when there's no snap back to reality. The event actually happened!
* Happens a lot in ''Series/{{Unfabulous}}'', once where Addy ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext throws excrement]]'' at the popular girls for teasing her.
* Done frequently in ''Series/{{Spaced}}'', starting with the second episode, when Tim wakes up, finds the flat is bright and airy and his ex-girlfriend (who chucked him out) is making breakfast. She laughs at his dream that "you dumped me and I moved in with a girl I hardly know"...and then a monster attacks him. He wakes up for real, and the awful truth hits him.
* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' used it quite often (together with Imagine Spot), regarding Detective Murdoch and Dr. Ogden's WillTheyOrWontThey and on-again-off-again relationship:
** In the episode "Still Waters", Murdoch stumbles over saying, "Can I ask you a question?" and when Dr. Ogden says, "Yes?", he kisses her. Cut to a moment later, and Murdoch actually asking to have his bathwater back.
** In the Season 3 finale, Murdoch steps out of a jewellers with a ring, heads for the infirmary, and asks Dr Ogden to marry him. Then it flashes back to the jewellers, and Murdoch really does go to the infirmary, only to find she's already left for her new job in Buffalo.
** In season 4 when Julia is engaged to Dr. Garland, she meets William in the morgue and they discuss the case that was just solved and which involved HemoErotic and KissOfTheVampire craze. Julia gets aroused and they end up violently making out. It turns out it was just Julia's fantasy.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** An instance in the episode "Grace".
** Done confusingly at the end of "The Other Guys", with the end of the episode having a fake kiss between a main character and the NonActionGuy the episode was based around. The confusing part is that they forgot to mention if it was the entire episode that was the dream, or just the kiss at the end. It took {{Word of God}} to sort that one out.
** Used several times in "200", in which the show parodies itself by featuring the writer of an in-universe show [[StylisticSuck loosely based on their exploits]]. In one notable scene, the Stargate starts acting up, and the characters run around trying to fix it with no success, ending with the entire SGC blowing up. Cut to SG-1 complaining about how contrived that would be; the actual problem was solved with minimal difficulty. The [[PreviouslyOn opening sequence]] could also count, as the last recap is from a fake episode where SG-1 meets the [[Franchise/StarWars Ewoks]] -- er, ''Furlings'' -- which somehow leads to their planet exploding. Sam interrupts the recap by complaining, "Now ''that'' never happened!"

* Used for dramatic effect in an early episode of ''Series/{{Outlander}}'' where it appears Claire tells Mrs. Fitz that she's a time traveler and Mrs. Fitz accuses her of witchcraft. Claire then snaps out of her daydream and realizes that telling anyone the truth could have disastrous [[BurnTheWitch consequences]].
* Possibly best known from the ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'' episode "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (adapted from [[Literature/AnOccurrenceAtOwlCreekBridge the short story of the same name]] by Creator/AmbroseBierce), in which a Civil War prisoner being hanged from the eponymous bridge manages a miraculous escape, makes his way across miles of hostile countryside to his home, stumbles inside to the welcoming arms of his loving wife... and finishes his drop on the end of the rope and dies.

* A Season One episode of ''Series/PushingDaisies'' sees waitress Olive Snook realize that a customer had been proclaiming his love for her just before he returns to the Pie Hole and sweeps her off her feet. Blink, and she's back holding his left-behind coffee cup.
* Used frequently on the Canadian sitcom ''Series/CornerGas'', [[spoiler: most notably in the fourth season finale, which plays out as if it's the final episode of the entire show, with characters moving away, character arcs being resolved, a BittersweetEnding and the eponymous gas station being taken over by a megacorporation as Dog River goes from being a small town to a proper city...before it's revealed that all of this is just a prolonged daydream sequence on the part of Hank.]]
* Used constantly on ''Series/{{Passions}}''. Part of these scenes would usually be used in the [[NeverTrustATrailer next episode preview]].
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'':
** The "stinky" scene. Malcolm Reed images that he's lying in Sickbay after being rescued from a shuttle accident, and is about to snog [[MsFanservice T'Pol]] when he wakes up back in the shuttle.
** T'Pol dreams she's having a ShowerOfLove with 'Trip' Tucker, only to suddenly turn into a Trellium-D zombie and attack him. This is a sign of her breakdown in emotional control as a result of the drug.
* A variation of this occurs in the pre-title sequence of the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Hollow Pursuits". Reginald Barclay is initially portrayed as an arrogant tough guy who scares his superiors and is popular with women. Then he's called in for duty ''outside'' the holodeck that this scene takes place in, and it turns out that he's actually quite meek. It happens again at the end of the episode when Barclay announces he's "leaving" the crew and it turns out he's instead speaking to the holographic version of them, as he is determinedly breaking away from using the holodeck recreationally.
* The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" has [[{{Autodoc}} The Doctor]] (no, not [[Series/DoctorWho that one]]) upgrade his program so he can dream like humans, but a glitch in the algorithm causes him to spontaneously daydream on duty.
* In ''Series/That70sShow'', episode "It's All Over Now", Jackie comes to the Hub, and when Hyde asks how she is, she says she wants to marry him. He replies he does too, and everybody dances in joy. Next scene: everybody except Jackie is sitting, and Hyde asks her once more how she is.
* In "That's My Dog", Season 4 of ''Series/SixFeetUnder'', David imagines the hitchhiker he's picked up coming out to him, calling him cute then propositioning him for an on-the-side relationship. Blink and it cuts back to him offering David a drink of water, saying to the daydreaming David: "Hello? Where did you go?!"

* The ''Series/NewsRadio'' episode "Daydream" is a series of these as the characters deal with a broken air conditioner with a series of heat-induced hallucinations.
* ''Series/RoyalPains'' did this in the Season 1 finale, with Divya [[spoiler: imagining standing up to everyone at her engagement party and breaking it off, but really going through with it]].
%%* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' uses a few in the new season.

* In one of the later episodes of the ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' reboot, Tigh shortly after [[spoiler:finding out he's a Cylon]], shoots Admiral Adama in the CIC. Everyone panics. Then he looks up and it turns out that was all in his head.
* In an episode of ''Series/DarkAngel'', a {{Mook}} pulls a gun on Max. She effortlessly knocks the gun away and defeats her opponent, then goes home to celebrate. While she's ''in the middle of having sex'', she starts to feel a pain, then collapses from being shot in the chest by the mook.
* A trailer for ''Series/{{Castle}}'' sees Beckett and Castle at a trendy pool bar, Beckett wearing a ''very'' figure-enhancing red dress and sexily flirting up a storm with the very appreciative Castle... until Beckett snaps Castle back into reality. Turns out they're at a murder scene, involving some poor bastard who's been impaled on a pool cue, and Castle was just indulging in a fantasy.
* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' featured one in an episode with Artie getting out of his wheelchair and finally dancing. A '[[DreamBallet Daydream Ballet]]', if you will.
* A ''Series/CrimeStory'' episode ended with idealistic public defender David Abrams representing the street thug who beat up his (Abrams') girlfriend. While questioning him in his cell, Abrams pulls out a gun and empties it into the guy...then he snaps out of it.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** One episode had a RunningGag of a character saying something sensible, then the film stops and the narrator says "...is what (character) should have said", and the scene starts over with what the character really said, which wasn't sensible at all.
** One episode has Ted finally rage out on Stella for what she did. Then the camera snaps back to him in the cab with his friends, who cheer him for the speech he has planned out. When he gets out of the car, though, he sees her with her daughter and Tony and can't bring himself to do it.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
** In "The Infestation Hypothesis", Penny gets a chair that was thrown away and Sheldon becomes obsessed with getting rid of it. Penny convinces him that she had the chair cleaned, so he takes a seat, and is suddenly swarmed by cockroaches. He them wakes up from his dream.
** In the episode where Penny asks about Sheldon's "deal" regarding his sexuality, one of the theories they have is that Sheldon reproduces asexually, and that one day he will eat too much Thai food and split into two identical copies. TheStinger depicts just that, which turns out to be Leonard's nightmare.
** On "The Recombination Hypothesis" one of these takes up the entire plot, as Leonard imagines the ramifications of hooking up with Penny again. In the end he decides to go ahead anyway.
** One scene depicts Sheldon passionately kissing Amy. This, of course, was Amy's daydream.
** Played with, probably not intentionally, in the series finale. When Amy is giving her Nobel acceptance speech, Sheldon's attention wanders and when she finishes she has to call his name. Because she is no longer speaking into the microphone her voice is not amplified and sounds normal, and for a split second this troper thought Sheldon was going to snap back to reality and find that the whole Prize scenario was a daydream. Fortunately, it wasn't.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'':
** Dexter figures out [[spoiler: Miguel]] was playing him for a fool all along, he screams in rage, knocks his computer monitor off his desk, and throws his chair through the lab window--in broad daylight, in the middle of the police station. Then the camera cuts, and he's sitting calmly at his desk, waving cheerily to [[spoiler: Miguel]]. For all his charm, Dexter is a sociopathic murderer--that's a moment when we see what's often going on inside his head.
** In another episode, Debra's therapist points out that she's always talking about how much she loves her brother, and that they're NotBloodSiblings, and wonders whether she has feelings for him that way. She tells her therapist to fuck off... later that day, there's a scene between the two of them that's ''full'' of IncestSubtext. Then it... rapidly becomes text. Then it turns out Deb was dreaming it. Quoth Deb, upon waking up: "[[SirSwearsalot fuck]]".
* ''Series/AndyRichterControlsTheUniverse'' had this almost as a reoccurring theme, to ridiculous lengths. The show even started with an extended one. They were also ''[[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]'' A LOT.
* In ''Series/TheSopranos'' episode "[[Recap/TheSopranosS5E12LongTermParking Long Term Parking]]", the viewers see Adrianna driving her Ford Thunderbird out of New Jersey with her suitcase, but then a few seconds later we realize that she was daydreaming, and [[spoiler: is back in Silvio's car on the way to her execution.]]
* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "The Screwfly Solution", Alan heads home on a flight, and arrives there at night. He and his wife Anne put their daughter to sleep, and then make love to each other. Alan becomes violent, starts strangling Anne, and pulls a knife on her. Then he wakes up back on the plane. Alan then realises he's been infected by the virus he's investigating which turns sexual feelings into violent ones.

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' has this occur several times, but a prominent example is the episode "Sniper Sniped": [[spoiler: The ScaryBlackMan protector of the [[MonsterOfTheWeek UnSub's]] target we had followed throughout the episode was in reality the [[MonsterOfTheWeek UnSub]] himself, a mercenary ColdSniper using a kind of "focusing technique" so as to keep alert until the time the victim exposed herself]].
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'': In the season 2 episode, "Animal Pragmatism", Leo gives Piper a Valentine's Day card. He put it in her purse, where he was sure she would find it. Although Piper still had feelings for Leo, she was still going out with Dan Gordon. In the card Leo stated he was not going to give up on Piper because the two of them belonged together. After reading the card, Piper walks across the room to Leo and kisses him passionately, before the scene fades back to reality revealing it was just a day dream. She then looks at Leo and they smile at each other.

* ''{{Series/Euphoria}}'': In "Trouble Don't Last Always" we see Rue with Jules in an apartment happily together, and so the audience can think very briefly that they got back together after Season One. It's very quickly shown to be, as you'd expect, just Rue imagining this however as she gets high.
* ''Series/{{Dickinson}}'': Emily is seen apparently going to bed with Sam, then it turns out she's just imagining this.
* ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'': One episode focuses on a couple planning to kill the bride's father ''during their wedding'' and frame her stepmother. The first act appears to show the whole thing play out perfectly for them, with Mark and co falling for everything. Then after we see them arrest the stepmother we cut to the couple in bed, revealing the whole sequence had been them discussing how their plan would go down. As per the UnspokenPlanGuarantee while they successfully murder the father the frame goes badly wrong.
* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode “Blue”, Lister has a dream where Rimmer (who had gone off to be Ace) returns and acts friendly towards Lister, culminating in the two kissing. Naturally, the audience isn’t shown that this is a dream until after the kiss.
* ''Series/UglyBetty'':
** When Wilhelmina is privately meeting with Connor and he offers her a drink, she daydreams that he then starts kissing her, jolting back to reality when he asks why she's staring into space.
** Happens twice in one scene when Betty imagines asking Bobby out, and then pushing him against a car and ripping open his shirt. Both times it's revealed to be a daydream and she asks him something much more tame.
* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': Dennis has one of these in "Mac & Dennis move to the suburbs." After weeks of psychological torture involving a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking noisy pool filter, bad morning commute traffic, and weeks spent in Mac's company]], Dennis completely snaps on their friendly next door neighbor (who is implied to be a figment of Dennis' imagination, anyway), [[FullFrontalAssault stripping completely naked]], delivering an absolutely chilling threat, and [[HellIsThatNoise screaming like he has been demonically possessed]].
-->'''Wally''': Hey, buddy. Haven't seen you for a bit. You've probably been staying inside to avoid this, uh, heat wave, huh? Boy, it's been hot.
-->'''Dennis''': It's hot, huh? Yeah. It is super hot. Yeah. It's getting real hot around here. So hot, Wally. But you don't really know what hot is, do you? Hot's a storm. You ever been in a storm, Wally? I mean, a real storm? Not a thunderstorm, but a storm of fists raining down on your head. Blasting you in the face. Pummeling you in the stomach. Hitting you in the chest so hard you think your heart's gonna stop. You ever been in a storm like that, Wally?
-->'''Dennis''': (prolonged horrifying scream of primal rage)
* ''Series/JandaKembang'':
** In episode 5, Salmah visits Malik's shop and he proceeds to hold her hand tenderly. Without a warning, the scene is revealed to be Malik's imagination and he is actually holding another customer's hand.
** In episode 24, Rais wakes up in front of Neneng's shop who acts unusually nice to him and even assures him that it's not a dream. Surprise, it is a dream, as revealed when Kemal throws water at Rais who is actually sleeping in Kemal's home.
* Pretty much every LifetimeTimeMovieOfTheWeek centering around a {{Yandere}} VillainProtagonist will have a scene of this nature where it at first appears that the object of their obsession is declaring their love to them, only to reveal it as a fantasy.