History Main / InTheDoldrums

->'''Inventor:''' Nobody has any time here. No time at all.

* Trope Namer (kind of; see RealLife below) and possibly the TropeCodifier is ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth''. It's home to the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification anthropomorphic personifications]] of boredom, and you get there by not thinking.

* Some people end up in one in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' when they die, an apparently infinite dusky desert. The afterlife they ultimately end up in is at the "end" of the desert. Some march on resolutely, others just stay there with different results ([[spoiler:[[Literature/GoingPostal Anghammarad]], being a golem,]] enjoyed finally being free, [[spoiler:[[Literature/SmallGods Vorbis]]]], having no clue what to do, was paralyzed with fear for a century).

* The "Room of Spirit and Time" from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' ("Hyperbolic Time Chamber" in the dub) is an infinite WhiteVoidRoom where a year passes for every day outside. This, combined with increased gravity and wildly fluctuating temperature, can have an erosive effect on your sanity - Goku is mentioned to have tried it when he was younger, only to barely last a month.

* Trope Namer (kind of; see RealLife below) and possibly the TropeCodifier is ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth''. It's home to the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification anthropomorphic personifications]] of boredom, and you get there by not thinking.
* In the Creator/StephenKing novella ''Literature/TheLangoliers'', the characters are stuck in between seconds. The resulting dead world acts in this manner, but it is fated to be eaten by {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* Some people end up in one in Literature/{{Discworld}} when they die, an apparently infinite dusky desert. The afterlife they ultimately end up in is at the "end" of the desert. Some march on resolutely, others just stay there with different results ([[spoiler:[[Literature/GoingPostal Anghammarad]], being a golem,]] enjoyed finally being free, [[spoiler:[[Literature/SmallGods Vorbis]]]], having no clue what to do, was paralyzed with fear for a century).

** On [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E18DeathWish "Death Wish"]], the Q continuum was described this way by a Q who had become so bored with his omniscience that he wished to commit suicide. In order to back up his statement, he led the crew to a part of the continuum inhabited by a group of Q who did absolutely nothing but sit in one spot - having done ''literally '''everything''''.

* ''{{Series/Supernatural}}'': Crowley invokes it when he reshapes hell into a long, long, long queue. And when you reach the end of it? You start it again.

* The Guardian's realm looks like this in ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney''. It turns out to be a FisherKingdom--in [[VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney the sequel]], the replacement for the first game's ailing Guardian adds plant life and a proper sky.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' ends with Squidward in an endless expanse of white emptiness, until he mentioned he was, at last, alone. [[RoomFullOfCrazy Cue voices saying "alone" and the word itself appearing in different colors and sizes.]]

* In''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', the PhantomZone where Superman and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} keep their Kryptonian enemies imprisoned is an endless, completely empty dimension.

* The interior of the house in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves''.

* Some people end up in one in Literature/{{Discworld}} when they die, an apparently infinite dusky desert. The afterlife they ultimately end up in is at the "end" of the desert. Some march on resolutely, others just stay there with different results ([[spoiler:[[Discworld/GoingPostal Anghammarad]], being a golem,]] enjoyed finally being free, [[spoiler:[[Discworld/SmallGods Vorbis]]]], having no clue what to do, was paralyzed with fear for a century).

Overlaps a bit with {{Mordor}}, but the key feature is the bareness, not the evilness.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'', the PhantomZone where Superman and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} keep their Kryptonian enemies imprisoned is an endless, completely empty dimension.

* Some people end up in one in Literature/{{Discworld}} when they die, an apparently infinite dusky desert. Some march on resolutely, others just stay there with different results ([[spoiler:[[Discworld/GoingPostal Anghammarad]], being a golem,]] enjoyed finally being free, [[spoiler:[[Discworld/SmallGods Vorbis]]]], having no clue what to do, was paralyzed with fear for a century).

* In the Franchise/{{DCU}}, the Phantom Zone associated with the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' franchise.

* Some people end up in one in {{Discworld}} when they die, an apparently infinite dusky desert. Some march on resolutely, others just stay there with different results ([[spoiler:[[Discworld/GoingPostal Anghammarad]], being a golem,]] enjoyed finally being free, [[spoiler:[[Discworld/SmallGods Vorbis]]]], having no clue what to do, was paralyzed with fear for a century).

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

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:Films -- Animated]]

[[AC:Films -- Live-Action]]

[[AC:Folklore and Mythology]]
* Sheol in early Jewish myth, and Hades in Greek myth, were both places like this: neither good nor bad, just gray.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

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

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'', the properties of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Waste Grey Wastes of Hades]] replace all emotions with hopelessness and gloom, and cause colors fade to gray.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' ended with Squidward in an endless expanse of white emptiness, until he mentioned he was, at last, alone. [[RoomFullOfCrazy Cue voices saying "alone" and the word itself appearing in different colors and sizes.]]

[[AC:{{RealLife}}]]

* There's an episode of the ''CareBears'' like this, called "Drab City," where the titular bears find a town where everything is depressing and colorless, and all the people are apathetic. As they travel through the town, they begin to turn gray and depressed as well.

* The Muddletop Moors in Alan Dean Foster's ''{{Spellsinger}}'' novel ''The Day of the Dissonance''. It's overcast all the time, food is tasteless and anyone traveling through it gets so bored and depressed that they just lie down and die. It turns out that the depression is caused by the telepathic broadcasts of the intelligent giant fungi who live there. But of course, [[TheHero Jon Tom]] provided some magical entertainment to the fungi and passed through the moors safely.

* Trope Namer (kind of; see RealLife below) is ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth''. It's home to the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification anthropomorphic personifications]] of boredom, and you get there by not thinking.

* In ''{{Planescape}}'', the properties of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_Waste Grey Wastes of Hades]] replace all emotions with hopelessness and gloom, and cause colors fade to gray.
** The same is basically true of Dollurh in ''{{Eberron}}'', except while only some evil people wind up in Hades, '''everybody''' winds up in Dollurh.

* The Rakatan prison in VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic is a big blank whiteness with a single prisoner being the only remarkable feature. Talking to him reveals that there were others as well who got trapped by accident and eventually ran off into the endless void.

* One episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' has a man who only wants to read be the sole survivor when everyone else on earth is killed off. He finally has all the time in the world to read! [[spoiler: And then he breaks his glasses.]]

* The titular setting of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''Warrior's Gate''. A subversion of sorts as [[spoiler: doing nothing is the only way to ''get out.'']]

* On ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', the Q continuum was described this way by a Q who had become so bored with his omniscience that he wished to commit suicide. In order to back up his statement, he led the crew to a part of the continuum inhabited by a group of Q who did absolutely nothing but sit in one spot - having done ''literally '''everything''''.

[[AC:{{RealLife}}]]
* "The Doldrums" is originally a nautical term for areas with no wind, where the ship can't move. The longer the ship stays there, the more the sailors' refuse piles up around it (termed "sailing under [[ToiletHumor Admiral Brown]]"), so when the wind finally does pick up, the ship's movement is blocked. Obviously, no longer the case with modern sailing, but a huge problem back in the day of tall ships.

The Doldrums is a place with the distinguishing characteristic of being boring. But this isn't your standard, run-of-the-mill boring. This is advanced boring. Here is a place that defies the normal properties of space to create a barren wasteland. Its [[YesButWhatDoesZataproximetacineDO properties may include]] lack of purpose, loss of memory, [[YearInsideHourOutside time dilation]], [[AlienGeometries space dilation]], lack of living things, and [[EverythingFades Involuntary Fading Disorder]].

* In the {{DCU}}, the Phantom Zone associated with the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' franchise.

* In the Creator/StephenKing novella ''Literature/TheLangoliers'', the characters are stuck in between seconds. The resulting dead world acts in this manner, but it is fated to be eaten by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]].
* The interior of the [[color:blue:house]] in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves''.

* The Rakatan prison in KnightsOfTheOldRepublic is a big blank whiteness with a single prisoner being the only remarkable feature. Talking to him reveals that there were others as well who got trapped by accident and eventually ran off into the endless void.

* All ''{{Minecraft}}'' maps have an upper and lower Void. The upper Void is simply the sky in the overworld and the End, while in the Nether it's the open space 128 meters above the bedrock ceiling. The lower Void, in all dimensions, is an infinite drop into black oblivion that kills entities (including players) that go past y-64.

* Richard of ''LookingForGroup'' gets locked in one called "the Infinite Plane of Suck."

* In the Creator/StephenKing novella ''TheLangoliers'', the characters are stuck in between seconds. The resulting dead world acts in this manner, but it is fated to be eaten by [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]].

* The interior of the [[color:blue:house]] in ''HouseOfLeaves''.

* {{Supernatural}}: Crowley invokes it when he reshapes hell into a long, long, long queue. And when you reach the end of it? You start it again.