History Main / TimeStandsStill

** {{Discussed|Trope}} in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E20Elegy Elegy]]". Professor Kurt Meyers speculates that the motionless people that he, Captain James Webber and Peter Kirby encounter on the asteroid are frozen in time. However, he admits that he does not really believe it himself.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E76StillValley Still Valley]]", the warlock Teague uses BlackMagic to freeze numerous Union soldiers in time.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E90TheFugitive The Fugitive]]", Ben's pursuers freeze Mrs. Gann and the doctor in time so that they can leave with Ben without them noticing.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E124AKindOfAStopwatch A Kind of a Stopwatch]]", Patrick Thomas [=McNulty=] is given a watch with the power to freeze time by a drunken man named Potts.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "A Little Peace and Quiet", a woman named Penny finds a pendant in her garden that can stop time. When she says "Shut Up" out loud, time stops for everyone but her. Saying "Start talking" out loud causes time to start again. She's free to move around, but everything else is frozen in place. A henpecked housewife who is constantly harassed by her demanding husband and bratty children, Penny's happy to use it to get some "me-time," to do her shopping, and other [[MundaneUtility mundane chores]]. Meanwhile, as told through a series of news reports, an increasingly desperate political crisis develops between the United States and the Soviet Union. One night, Penny is taking a relaxing bath and doesn't have a care in the world ... until [[spoiler:air raid sirens begin sounding, and she and her husband hear a panicked news reporter revealing "this is the end," as the Soviet Union has just declared war on the United States and has launched its nuclear missiles. She uses the pendant one last time, a split second before an ICBM detonates over their town. The final shot shows the frozen town, people fleeing and frantically seeking shelter, several looking up at the sky in frozen terror as they are about to be incinerated]].

* ''Manga/TimeStopBrave'': Kuzuno Sekai is a modern teen sent to a fantasy world. His only initial equipment is a video game controller that freezes time when he hits pause and unfreezes it when he hits pause again. He will often freeze time for weeks to figure how to defeat enemies and solve problems.

** Played with in one Franchise/DonaldDuck comic story, "Super Snooper Strikes Back". Donald gains temporary superpowers, and tries to prove it to his nephews by running around the world super fast. But he soon realizes that his super-speed manifests itself by making everything else seem to stand still--so, even though the trip might seem fast to his nephews, it will still be incredibly long and boring to him! He decides to come up with a different test.

* The [[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy Billy & Mandy]] story "Time Waits For No Mandy" (Cartoon Network Block Party #56) has Mandy sending Father Time on a permanent vacation so time will stand still and, ageist as she claims to be, she won't have to go through another birthday.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tstmob2.jpg]]]]

* The final showdown between the titular heroine of Creator/MichaelEnde's ''Literature/{{Momo}}'' and the [[TheMenInBlack Men in Grey]] happens after the local {{God}} stops time in the whole world, leaving only Momo (because she is carrying a certain MacGuffin), the Men in Grey, and a magical turtle (who is a fully-functional MacGuffin of her own right) able to move.

* ''LetsPlay/WitchCraftSMP'': Two of a [[TimeMaster Time Witch's]] abilities revolve around this trope:

* In ''Series/Lucifer2016'', this is the angel Amenadiel's power. Typically, an indicator that Amenadiel has appeared is everything slowing down to a crawl for everyone but Lucifer. One episode involves Lucifer deliberately summoning his brother in order to make use of his ability as part of his plan to punish a killer ([[spoiler:catching a bullet in mid-air and then seemingly teleporting several yards away]]).

* ''Manga/HimechanNoRibon'':

* In ''VideoGame/{{Timespinner}}'', stopping and restarting time is one of the first abilities you get and is necessary to resolve several puzzles and even, in a few cases, evade the attacks of particularly dangerous bosses.* At the end of the game ''VideoGame/{{Tomba}} 2'', the villain freezes time as a last-ditch effort to stop Tomba. He actually says "Even colour is gone!", lampshading the DeliberatelyMonochrome effect of the time stop.

* [[spoiler:Homura Akemi]] of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has the ability to stop time as her main magical girl power. This affects anything or anyone she touches meaning that she can still use her guns but the bullets stop mid-air after being fired, for as long as time remains frozen. [[spoiler:As shown in ''Rebellion'', however, there are two key weaknesses: There is a slight delay between when she activates the source of her power (her shield) and the time stop, so an enemy fast enough to attack the shield can stop it. The second is that anyone or anything touching ''her'' while time is stopped will remain unfrozen as well, i.e. Mami attaching a ribbon to Homura that she holds onto, thus preventing her from being trapped.]]

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', the "Slow Time" [[MakeMeWannaShout Shout]] enables the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] to slow down time to a significant extent, but it seems to slow down player just a little, too.

* Heading to the "Mile High Club" in ''VideoGame/JustCause 2'' causes the in-game time to shift at super-speed towards 3 AM and freeze once it gets there. This continues even after you leave, however; the only way to get time running again is loading a save, either from the menu or after dying.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "No Time For Smurfs", Handy, Brainy, and Clumsy accidentally cause time to stand still when they break Father Time's Sands Of Time hourglass.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': In "Freeze Day", Star casts a spell to stop time, and she and Marco goof around for a good long time (about sixty hours, according to Marco). Unfortunately, in order to start time again Star and Marco have to persuade Father Time to get back on [[HamsterWheelPower the Wheel of Progress]]... and since this is literally the first time in forever he's been able to get off, he's not too keen on it.

** The earlier ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'' came close to the same effect with the eponymous Rider's Axel Form. When [[Series/KamenRiderDecade Decade]] uses Faiz Accel Form, however, it's portrayed as a match for Clock-Up, resulting in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDuYOw3FwDQ an almost DBZ-level fistfight.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Time Out of Joint", the Clock King steals a device that allows him to slow time to a crawl. In addition to committing the usual super-fast crimes, he puts the device to one particularly unique application. By attaching another one to the Batmobile, he slows down its time-frame so that the world around it seems to be moving at a large fraction of light-speed; the first vehicle to even cherry-tap the Batmobile (as it appears to sit motionless in the middle of the highway) will trigger a massive explosion. Batman and Robin disarm the device, and find that [[YearOutsideHourInside several days have passed during the minute or so they were in the field]].

** Fry perceives time slowing down after drinking KlatchianCoffee.
** This happens again with Fry and Leela in the SeriesFinale when an invention of TheProfessor's breaks. [[spoiler:Fry and Leela spend their entire lives together frozen in that same point in time, happily married into old age.]]

* Red Rush in ''WesternAnimation/Invincible2021'' was an {{expy}} of Characters/TheFlash whose powers worked like this. However, unlike the Flash, he [[PowerIncontinence couldn't turn it off]] meaning life was [[AndIMustScream constantly in slow-motion for him]]. Conversations were especially painful for him, as the briefest ones resulted in him needing to spend "hours" to process each syllable. His death at [[BewareTheSuperman Omni-Man]]'s hands was [[CruelAndUnusualDeath especially traumatic]], as he could feel his [[YourHeadASplode skull being slowly crushed]] as his [[EyeScream eyes burst]] and he was helpless to do anything about it.

** VideoGame/MentalOmega: This is the signature ability of [[the Paradox Engine, the Allied Nations' superweapon and mobile headquarters intended as their trump card against the [[DirtyCommunists Soviet Union]], and then against the [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill Epsilon Army]]. The Engine's Time Freeze ability shares the same activation sound as the aforementioned Sigma Harmonizer, but it works for up to 2 minutes right from the get-go, proving to be a ''massive'' GameChanger in the Allies' struggle against their enemies.]]

** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3: [[DownloadableContent Uprising]]'''s Soviet campaign includes a machine called the [[spoiler: Sigma Harmonizer, constructed by Futuretech. It is a large particle accelerator (bearing an uncanny and un-accidental resemblance to the CERN LHC) that can stop time selectively, for certain units in the game...and unfortunately for the player, it's '''your''' units it stops, with the freeze duration getting longer and longer the more times it activates]].

* Franchise/CommandAndConquer:

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3: [[DownloadableContent Uprising]]'''s Soviet campaign includes a machine called the [[spoiler: Sigma Harmonizer. It is a large particle accelerator (bearing an uncanny and un-accidental resemblance to the CERN LHC) that can stop time selectively, for certain units in the game]].

** A stopwatch appears in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' if you pull up five large vegetables. The freeze effect is accompanied by a ticking sound.