History Main / NegativeSpaceWedgie

* ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato2199'' has an episode where the ''Yamato'' falls into a dimensional rift that slowly drains power from the ship's otherwise unlimited Wave Motion Engine. They are able to escape with the aid of a Garmilan ship towing them out after blasting an exit with their WaveMotionGun. Even in that universe's own science, it doesn't make sense. The WaveMotionGun is the Wave Motion Engine [[AllThereInTheManual fired in reverse]]. The TechnoBabble describing the firing sequence of the cannon is a process of the engine diverting power backwards. If using the Yamoto's WarpDrive didn't work, using the WeaponizedExhaust shouldn't have either.

* ''Creator/HarryPartridge'': The Starbarians 2017 April Fools episode features the heroes' ship getting trapped in a space vortex that [[PaintingTheMedium changes their own art style drastically]].

* Though ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsV'' takes place on Earth, a vaguely described storm mysteriously zaps [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ the ZZ-era Londo Bell]], [[LightNovel/FullMetalPanic Mithril]], and [[Literature/MobileSuitGundamHathawaysFlash Hathaway Noa]] into the Anno Domini universe. We eventually get an answer to this. [[spoiler: One of the Singularities that the [=DRAGONs=] generated to cross from the [=UC=] dimension to the [=AD=] dimension pulled the aforementioned parties along for the ride.]]

* UsefulNotes/{{Black Holes}} ''in general'' could be seen as a case of this.

* Black Holes ''in general'' could be seen as a case of this.

[[caption-width-right:320:Not even the ''Enterprise'' crew ever encountered space tornadoes.[[note]]But the ''Voyager'' crew [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E21RealLife did]].[[/note]]]]

** Micro black holes - Black holes that unlike ones that have masses at least some times larger than the Sun could have been much less massive, as in as massive as Earth or even less. Emission of Hawking radiation would have destroyed most of them.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Warp rifts are tears in spacetime through which the Warp can enter realspace, exposing anything inside or in close proximity to them to the raw stuff of Chaos. Their presence invariably results in temporal and spatial anomalies, complete shutdowns of interstellar and psychic communications, isolation of whatever is caught in them from FTL travel, and, at worst, hordes of daemon spilling into realspace through the weakened and thinning fabric of reality.

Not necessarily this trope — or at least forgivable or {{justified|Trope}} — is where the phenomenon is the premise of the movie or series. In the case of a series, it must be the same phenomenon at the beginning of each episode rather than same-but-different variations. For stand-alone works, they can occur once to set the plot in motion, and perhaps a second time to conclude the story; additional appearances to create additional plot points are more a manifestation of this trope.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'': The Angel of Death manifests in this manner before descending to Earth to bring about the 10th plague (the death of the firstborn Egyptians).

** The propensity for ''Star Trek'' to use this is lampshaded in "Hear All, Trust Nothing". When Freeman learns that a captain has been pulled away from diplomatic duties to investigate something called a brown hole, she protests, "That's not even a thing!" [[spoiler:The admiral who notified Freeman of the situation, Les Buenamigo, later turns out to have been an InsaneAdmiral who was sabotaging Freeman's career to get his pet project off the ground, suggesting brown holes legitimately aren't a thing but Starfleet Command is [[SeenItAll too used to bizarre spatial phenomena for anybody to question it]].]]

** The propensity for ''Star Trek'' to use this is lampshaded in "Hear All, Trust Nothing". When Freeman learns that a captain has been pulled away from diplomatic duties to investigate something called a brown hole, she protests, "That's not even a thing!" [[spoiler:The admiral who notified Freeman of the situation, Les Buenamigo, later turns out to have been an InsaneAdmiral who was sabotaging Freeman's career to get his pet project off the ground, suggesting brown holes legitimately aren't a thing but Starfleet Command is so used to bizarre spatial phenomena that nobody questioned it.]]

** The propensity for ''Star Trek'' to use this is lampshaded in "Hear All, Trust Nothing". When Freeman learns that a captain has been pulled away from diplomatic duties to investigate something called a brown hole, she protests, "That's not even a thing!"

** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E19RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell That Ends Well]]", radiation from a supernova reacts with radiation caused by Fry putting a pan of Jiffy Pop popcorn in the microwave, creating a swirly red wormhole that sends the Planet Express crew back in time.
** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E14TimeKeepsOnSlippin Time Keeps on Slippin']]", the Planet Express crew removing chronotons from a star cluster ends up disrupting time.
** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E9TeenageMutantLeelasHurdles Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles]]", exposure from age-reversing tar makes the characters younger; this is eventually cured by diving into the Fountain of Aging.

** "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E15MobiusDick Mobius Dick]]" had [[BermudaTriangle the Bermuda Tetrahedron]] and its anomalous fourth-dimensional space whale.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThreeTwoOnePenguins'', the Doom Funnels of Space Colony Double-Wide.

* According to some scientists, the extreme conditions that took place just after the Big Bang could have created some objects worthy of this trope -note that evidence of their existence is weak at best and nonexistent at worst-. Enter:
** Magnetic monopoles - subatomic particles with [[ExactlyWhatitSaysOnTheTin just one magnetic pole]] thought to be way more massive than any other.
** Cosmic strings - Long filaments ''very'' dense thus massive, as in having been thought to have formed the scaffolding of the present web-like structure of the Universe before fading away in the form of gravitational waves.

** ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Almost all modern versions of the Four's origin story have them getting their superpowers from one during their mission into space. Oddly enough, a Negative Space Wedgie is used because it's a more "plausible" alternative to their original origin, which simply had them getting their powers from [[ILoveNuclearPower ordinary cosmic radiation]], which really exists (but, admittedly, has never given any real astronauts super-powers, ''so far as we know'').

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' has Imaginary Space, empty dimension spaces created by dimension faults that appeared during the finale of the first season. They will cease all magic when you enter them then suck you in with their strong gravitational pull. No one knows what will happen after that, but [[BigBad Precia]] believed that falling into it would lead to the lost civilization of Al Hazred, kinda like drowning in Atlantic Ocean would lead you to {{Atlantis}}.

* ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato2199'' has an episode where the ''Yamato'' falls into a dimensional rift that slowly drains power from the ship's otherwise unlimited Wave Motion Engine. They are able to escape with the aid of a Garmilan ship towing them out after blasting an exit with their WaveMotionGun. Even in that universe's own science it doesn't make sense. The WaveMotionGun is the Wave Motion Engine [[AllThereInTheManual fired in reverse]]. The TechnoBabble describing the firing sequence of the cannon, is a process of the engine diverting power backwards. If using the Yamoto's WarpDrive didn't work, using the WeaponizedExhaust shouldn't have either.

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' features a strip where the crew of the Enterprise encounters the floating head of Zsa-Zsa Gabor. Kirk immediately orders Sulu to raise shields, natch.

* ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': When black-and-white-striped sphere-shaped Leliel invades Tokyo-3 Asuka nearly falls into its shadow (a Sea of Dirac), [[spoiler:but she gets rescued by Shinji. To kill him the three Eva pilots surround it with their energy barriers while the army drops almost thousand nukes on it.]]

* ''Film/TheFinalCountdown'': An anomaly teleports the USS ''Nimitz'' back to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and then [[spoiler:returns the carrier to its present day just as its air group is about to engage the Japanese fleet and prevent Pearl Harbor]].

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' dealt with these occasionally, though the technical explanation always come from Ax, who referred to it as a "Sario Rip", which tended to cause time travel of either a day or millions of years. There are several instances where Ax ''postulated'' a Sario Rip that didn't pan out due to more mundane explanations, but these didn't usually seem to involve time travel, thus probably meaning translated from the original Andalite, 'Sario Rip' means space wedgie.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E7TheSpaceMuseum "The Space Museum"]] has the characters arriving [[JustOneSecondOutOfSync intangible due to a TARDIS glitch that has sent them onto a different "time track"]]. In this state they come across their own corpses, before time catches up to them and they are bumped into the normal universe.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts "Army of Ghosts"]] has one found by the Torchwood organisation, who actually build their London headquarters around it. The plot kicks off when they decided to try and use it as an energy source, not remotely considered this might be a ''bad'' idea. Cue several million Cybermen from an alternate universe invading Earth through the crack.

** One memorable subversion occurs in the Eleventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]]: they encounter a "cold star", which radiates cold instead of heat. [[spoiler:It turns out that cold stars are too ridiculous even for the Whoniverse: the Doctor (correctly) says they're completely impossible and the only reason they encountered one was because they were in a dream.]]

** And, of course, the episode in which [[LivingShip Moya]] gave herself a Negative Space Wedgie. During her pregnancy, she attempted to Starburst too quickly after her last trip, and ended up stuck.

** In season 2 the gate sends them into the past. They initially think this was caused by a very weird negative space wedge but it turns out the gate connection was established through a star. Its later revealed that the gate is probably supposed to prevent this issue automatically, flaws in their dialing system allowed it to happen.

** In the Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel, "Q-Squared", Q is the mentor of Trelane, the aforementioned Squire of Gothos (who is in actuality a fledgling Q himself). It turns out many of the anomalies encountered by Kirk, Picard and Co. are just creations of Trelane for 'fun'. The scientist assigned to the central plot-complicating N-S-W is understandably miffed, since it throws her entire theory into the garbage. This eventually leads to discovery of THE Negative Space Wedgie, the Heart of the Storm, wherein parallel-timeline hilarity ensues.

* The first radio drama episode of ''Series/SpacePatrolUS'' (same franchise, different media from the TV show) dealt with a portal to another dimension surrounded by magnetic flux, which dragged any unlucky space ships into itself. It's stopped by [[spoiler: catching it with a ring of supercobductive metal, then applying a "like" charge to crush it back to quantum size.]]

* The game ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' is set in a post-apocalyptic future where the entire Earth and surrounding space has basically become this. The game is further sub-divided into various other sub-settings, one of which, Phase World and the Three Galaxies, employs this trope in its purest form.

* ''TabletopGame/VorTheMaelstrom'' takes place entirely ''inside'' the titular Maelstrom. Earth has been swallowed by a hole in the fabric of the universe, and trapped in an faux solar system orbiting a black hole... or something like that. Over the course of the next few decades or so it will tumble to its center, where it will be destroyed. Luckily, there are plenty of other planets plunging to their doom, many in orbits that will take centuries or even millennia to decay. Catch is there are '''''LOTS''''' of other lifeforms trapped in the Maelstrom as well, all fighting for possession of the safest worlds -- and more are appearing all the time. If there's a way out, none of those who have escaped have been able (or ''willing'') to return to share the secret. Enjoy your LastStand.

* In ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' this can happen to Jumpships if something bad happens during their jump, at which point they either disappear for and jump hundreds of years to the future, or create a mini black hole sucking in both them and anything near by.

** Abyssal Deadspace, a region which can only be accessed by using an item to rip a temporary hole in reality. All abyssal space has an effect which significantly improves one aspect of a ship, and weakens another. And unlike the W-Space effects, abyssal effects also apply to non-player character ships. Also, the pocket of abyssal space is of limited size, destroying ships that try to leave, and will collapse 20 minutes after being entered, obliterating the ships inside. Somehow, this space is still consistently inhabited by a faction of (non-player character) humans, indicating that the region's instability is probably self-inflicted by pilots, ya know, ripping holes in reality to get in.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}'' is a MMO entirely based around this concept. The world is a dangerous place with an especially fragile space-time continuum and dimensional portals can open anywhere, letting in all kinds of elemental EldritchAbomination from the planes of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Life and Death. Everything pouring out of the portals wants to inhabit the world with the kind of result you'd see from an [[Literature/{{Discworld}} ocean trying to warm itself around a candle]]. The two player factions have differing opinions on what to do about the portals: one wants to simply seal them, the other wants to use them to gain powers and knowledge to defend the world even more effectively from portal incursions.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'': There is ''something'' weird going on around the planet Mira. People keep crashing on the planet for no adequately explained reason, those that repair their tech enough to try to go off-planet always have something mysteriously go wrong, [[TranslatorMicrobes everyone can understand each other's speech despite speaking different languages]], and the planet itself is not on any known star charts... even those made by civilizations that have mapped out entire galaxies. One highly advanced scientist confirms the existence of some kind of space-time anomaly around the planet, but is unable to explain anything about it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' features Void fissures, disturbances across space which beam-in corrupted units from Orokin towers hidden in the Void and turn any unfortunate passersby (except the Tenno and their companions) into another corrupted troops. These fissures are of special interest for the Tenno as they can collect reactant dropped by the corrupted to open Void relics, containing parts necessary to build [[SuperPrototype Prime gear]]. There are also electromagnetic anomalies or radiation hazards that can make sortie missions extra difficult.
* ''VideoGame/ThePersistence'': Wandering into the orbit of a massive black hole caused the ''Persistence'''s systems to go haywire and creating a whole bunch of monsters.

* ''Webcomic/CaptainUfo''. While setting off to conque Ambrosia, the Widowpunisher's engines break down and trap Ufo's fleet in a temporal bubble.

* [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19479_the-6-most-mind-blowing-things-ever-discovered-in-space.html Here's]] a few real ones and [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19117_7-horrible-ways-universe-can-destroy-us-without-warning.html here's]] a few more, including diamond planets, arcs of space lightning longer than galaxies, unidentified residue of the Big Bang, hypervelocity stars, and gamma ray bursts.
* According to some scientists, the extreme conditions that took place just after the Big Bang could have created some objects worth of this trope -note that evidence of their existence is weak at best and non existent at worst-. Enter:

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1345146/1/Pathways Pathways]]'' sees SG-1 and Crichton meet and learn that their wormholes are actually part of the same [=NSW=]. Carter and Crichton speculate that the Stargate network basically controls the wormholes and keeps the travellers on a fixed route in the same time and universe where the 'wild' wormholes encountered by Crichton require more careful navigation to prevent time travel.

* ''Fanfic/AvengersInfiniteWars'' has the [[spoiler:Guardians of the Galaxy]] observe that the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe is surrounded by a strange anomaly that prevents anyone entering it using conventional faster-than-light travel, requiring them to resort to extreme methods to enter the galaxy to [[spoiler:track down one of Peter Quill’s half-siblings]].

* Practically the entire enemy in ''Anime/StellviaOfTheUniverse''. Consists of the first wave, [[spoiler: second wave, and cosmic fracture]].
* The Unicron Singularity from ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'': a slowly expanding hole in reality that threatened to consume the entire multiverse if it wasn't stopped. Its space- and time-altering properties were used to explain away continuity errors between the English dub of ''Cybertron'' and the dubs of the preceding [[Anime/TransformersArmada two]] [[Anime/TransformersEnergon series]]. Later, the ''Cybertron'' comic series used it to explain away ''every plot hole in every continuity of the franchise'', which includes any other properties that crossed over with it - ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Franchise/GIJoe'', even the ''[[Creator/MarvelComics entire Marvel multiverse]].'' It's possibly the most extreme example of the trope ever.
* ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato2199'' has an episode where the ''Yamato'' falls into a dimensional rift that slowly drains power from the ship's otherwise unlimited Wave Motion Engine. They are able to escape with the aid of a Garmilan ship towing them out after blasting an exit with their WaveMotionGun.
** Even in that universe's own science it doesn't make sense. The WaveMotionGun is the Wave Motion Engine [[AllThereInTheManual fired in reverse]]. The TechnoBabble describing the firing sequence of the cannon, is a process of the engine diverting power backwards. If using the Yamoto's WarpDrive didn't work, using the WeaponizedExhaust shouldn't have either.

[[folder:Comedy]]
* ''Star Drek'', a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parody by [[MonsterMash Bobby Pickett]] & Peter Ferrara, is the {{Trope Namer|s}}.

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' features a strip where the crew of the Enterprise encounters the floating head of Zsa-Zsa Gabor. Kirk immediately orders Sulu to raise shields, natch.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'''s final boss: a giant multidimensional rock, composed of the big-crunch singularity from the Ancients' Universe when they escaped into Gina's. Her goal as the protagonist is to use the ancients' tools to synch the giant mass or something before everyone in her universe is stoned to death.
* Almost all modern versions of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'''s origin story have them getting their superpowers from one during their mission into space. Oddly enough, a Negative Space Wedgie is used because it's a more "plausible" alternative to their original origin, which simply had them getting their powers from [[ILoveNuclearPower ordinary cosmic radiation]], which really exists (but, admittedly, has never given any real astronauts super-powers, ''so far as we know'').
* Marvel Comics also has The Crunch, a giant tear at one edge of the universe (just on the edge of Andromeda, as a matter of fact), next to which sits the Kyln, an ancient cosmic prison of unknown origins. It's a surprisingly pleasant pale blue colour. ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}'' begins with something coming out of it - a large, unstoppable army.
* A rash of these kicks off the plot of ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' vol 2., where due to two very nasty wars space has been pretty badly messed up, and the team has to prevent ''things'' from outside of reality getting in. Or worse... However, other things start taking place, meaning the team is unable to prevent the creation of The Fault, a NSW several light-years across. It also happens to mess up physics and time, meaning things that are blatantly impossible can happen inside it. It also causes any Kree who enters it to be turned into a [[BodyHorror hideous writhing blob of flesh]]. And that's before getting into [[EldritchAbomination what's on the other side of it]]...

* Played with in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''. Jeft insists that the four go after the third piece of the Vasyn right away, even though Paul is asleep and will be for several hours, because a “dimensional static storm” will prevent them from going for several days if they don't go now. Later, when Varx mentions that he's never heard of such a thing, Jeft says “There are a lotta things you never heard of.” It becomes clear later that [[spoiler: he simply lied to the four and whisked them away while Shag and Varx were conveniently out of the room]].

* Mentioned by name in ''Fanfic/TheNextFrontier'', although it's actually useful; it turned out to contain the key to a working AlcubierreDrive.
* ''Fanfic/AvengersInfiniteWars'' has the [[spoiler:Guardians of the Galaxy]] observe that the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe is surrounded by a strange anomaly that prevents anyone entering it using conventional faster-than-light travel, requiring them to resort to extreme methods to enter the galaxy to [[spoiler:track down one of Peter Quill’s half-siblings]].
* The ''Series/{{Farscape}}''/''Series/StargateSG1'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1345146/1/Pathways Pathways]]" sees SG-1 and Crichton meet and learn that their wormholes are actually part of the same [=NSW=]. Carter and Crichton speculate that the Stargate network basically controls the wormholes and keeps the travellers on a fixed route in the same time and universe where the 'wild' wormholes encountered by Crichton require more careful navigation to prevent time travel.
* "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8749227/1/Through-The-Looking-Glass Through the Looking Glass]]" features ''Battlestar Galactica''- both the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 original]] and [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 reimagined series]] versions- finding one that causes two characters to essentially 'swap' universes; a Number Eight Cylon ends up in the original series, while Athena Adama is displaced into the reimagined universe and is subsequently enlisted into the fleet (interestingly, although Commander Adama and Lee Adama don't ''look'' like their counterparts in Athena's world, their DNA still matches up enough for Doc Cottle to confirm that Athena should be considered another Adama).
* In ''Fanfic/LostInTheWoods'', Q actually has to combine his own powers with the latest spatial anomaly the ''Enterprise'' is tracking to send them into the parallel universe the crew will come to refer to as ‘[[Series/{{Firefly}} Alliance space]]’, as part of his latest 'test' of the crew.
* ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'': Leliel, a black-and-white-striped floating sphere whose shadow is an alternate dimension and its true body, shows up in the first episode fittingly named after it. Shinji [[spoiler:intentionally falls inside it and tries ripping it apart from within like his mother did [[PeggySue the first time around,]] but he has no idea of how she did it, so he has to wait till Yui decides to go berserker.]]
* In ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, this is the result of certain types of FasterThanLightTravel being used too frequently--mainly that such FTL engines are causing breaches between parallel universes. This ends up letting in [[spoiler:the Flood, who have mixed with Reapers]], which for obvious reasons poses problems.
* ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': When black-and-white-striped sphere-shaped Leliel invades Tokyo-3 Asuka nearly falls into its shadow (a Sea of Dirac), [[spoiler:but she gets rescued by Shinji. To kill him the three Eva pilots surround it with their energy barriers while the army drops almost thousand nukes on it.]]

* Barragan Luisenbarn's Segunda Etapa in ''Fanfic/{{White}}'' allows him to manifest black holes through his upgraded battle-axe, which he proceeds to use on Gremmy Thoumeaux to fatal effect when the Vandenreich launch their initial invasion into Hueco Mundo.

* Enki Bilal's ''Film/{{Immortal}}'' has one appear right on Earth's surface, in Central Park, New York. This phenomenon called the Intrusion causes arctic atmosphere around the area, kills any human trying to enter, and brought some aliens, at least Jill and John from outer space, acting as a some kind of wormhole. Though John didn't create the Intrusion, it's implied that he brought it to Earth.

* The electromagnetic storm from ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001''.
* An anomaly teleports the USS ''Nimitz'' back to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII in ''Film/TheFinalCountdown''. And then, somewhat anticlimactically, [[spoiler: it returns the carrier to its present day just as its air group is about to engage the Japanese fleet and prevent Pearl Harbor.]]
* The Nothing in ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'' is basically a Negative Space Wedgie that devours Fantasia. This is pretty much the basis of the movie and the first half of the novel. Consequently, it's the "forgivable" or {{justified|Trope}} version.

* The ''Literature/{{Antares}}'' novels have the Antares Nebula - a highly radioactive supernova remnant. After two years of research (not to mention a lot of money), the good guys develop a radiation shield that can handle it, enabling them to transit the nebula.

* The premise of the Russian multiple-writer series ''Literature/DeathZone'' is the sudden formation of a negative space wedgie in five cities of the former [=USSR=] (three in Russia and two in Ukraine) that obliterate the cities (including Saint-Petersburg) and create anomalous zones full of bio-mechanical monsters, gravity anomalies, toxic atmosphere, ever-present nanites that infect any exposed body part, and an enormous tornado at the center of each zone that links all five with another dimension. If you survive several days in the Zones, you're already elite. If not, then you're likely walking around as a mechanical zombie.
** One of the novels reveals that the cause of all this is the reactivation of an old [[SovietSuperscience Soviet wormhole generator prototype]], the original test of which resulted in the Chernobyl catastrophe of 1986. The other culprits are escaped [[GreyGoo terraforming nanobots]] and a pissed-off [[AIIsACrapshoot AI]].
* An Earth-based variant in Taylor Anderson's ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' in the form of a strange-looking squall that sends the USS ''Walker'' and the USS ''Mahan'' to a parallel Earth where evolution took a drastically different turn. They later find out that other ships were transported centuries earlier and a few show up later.
* The witch rings from ''Literature/LoyalEnemies'' form naturally in random places and are usually dormant power sources. If the proper rite is made, though, they become portals into another world, and most of those other worlds they connect to are filled up to brim with [[OurMonstersAreDifferent darklings]]. They can be opened from ''both'' sides, which is why people prefer to stay away from them.
* In Creator/ABertramChandler's ''Nebula Alert'', a nebula turns out to be one of these having both the effect of increasing hostility among the crew and passengers as well turning out to be a portal into the author's other series. Chandler's work had many NSWs explained by space "breaking down" on the rim of the galaxy.
* ''Completely'' averted in Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/StarmanJones''. Although the characters do get lost during warp and end up on a fantastic planet, about half the book is spent just describing the advanced math and technology (and work shifts, and computering, and configuration of seats in the cockpit) behind space travel, and the disaster happens ''only'' because the characters make mathematical mistakes and are too proud to admit it and start over again.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Riven}}'', the eponymous age is literally coming apart at the seams due to Gehn's shoddy descriptive writing, only barely held together by Atrus's corrections, and once the player breaches the seal on the Star Fissure at the end, [[CollapsingLair it completely unravels]].

* OurWormholesAreDifferent

The outer space equivalent of the MonsterOfTheWeek, except it isn't necessarily a creature — it can be the nebula that conveniently zaps your stardrive, or the planet with the radiation that makes you age too fast, or, well, any of a hundred similar things from ''Franchise/StarTrek''. It's [[UnknownPhenomenon unexpected, unexplainable]], and puts the cast in an artificially-heightened state of crisis for 25 minutes plus commercials — until they find or invent the [[ReversePolarity necessary cure, solution, fix, and/or repellent spray]].