History Main / TrappedOnTheAstralPlane

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** Tear-jerkingly referenced in ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'', after Supergirl died during ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. A younger Supergirl time travels forward to visit Superman, and is surprised that she's not a ghost. Superman covers by saying that present-day Supergirl is [[ExactWords "in the past."]]

* At ''Literature/WarriorCatsTheBrokenCode'', [[spoiler:after Bramblestar loses a life, he is unable to return to his body since some unknown being has begun to possess it, leaving his spirit stuck and running desperately around the territories, visible only to Rootpaw]].

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Subtrope of LayeredWorld. May overlap with PhantomZone, SpiritWorld and AstralProjection (often combined with PowerIncontinence or AnAstralProjectionNotAGhost). If the trapped character finds someone who ''can'' see the astral plane, expect them to ask "YouCanSeeMe"

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'': During the ''Urban Warfare'' arc, the Neo Diamond Cutters are sucked into a mobile portal that [[BigBad Eggman]] has running around Eggperial City, and are dumped into a blue-tinged alternate dimension. While they're still able to see and hear everything in the prime universe, they're unable to interact with it, and are capable of phasing through objects. They decide to put this to good use and scout the city completely unimpeded while waiting for Sonic and the others to figure out how to get them back.
* ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}:
** Pre-Crisis, when they would travel back in time to a time when they were already around they would turn into ghostlike beings, able to see the world but not interact with it.

* In ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'', Secret spent most of the series trapped between the world of the living and that of the dead as a result of [[spoiler:her evil brother sacrificing her as part of a ritual to gain powers. The final issue has her turned back into a normal girl.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'': One arc had a supervillain's organization kidnap baby Jenny, them and their base overlapping with New York while being invisible and intangible explained away as existing at different vibrational frequencies.
* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'':
** The [[BodySurf Body Surfer]] supervillain called the Silver Brain was banished to another plane of existence years ago by Samaritan. He keeps escaping by possessing the denizens of that other realm and riding their bodies back to the physical world.
** The Jayhawks were believed to be [[TotalPartyKill killed in battle]] against The Master. In actuality, they're trapped as spirits in an intangible state, only able to watch as history passes them by.
* In ''ComicBook/DeathDefyingDoctorMirage'', the original Doctor Mirage, Hwen, has been trapped in the Deadlands for over four years after misplacing an artifact that belonged to one of the Deadlands' more powerful locals. The first arc involves his wife Shan making a journey to find him and bring him home.

* As long as there are believers, the Guardians in Creator/DreamWorksAnimation's ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'' are large and strong and able to influence events on Earth. However, to nonbelievers, the Guardians are invisible and immaterial, almost to the point of being nonexistent. Also, as their believer count dwindles, so does the Guardians' size and strength.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': Miguel, in a attempt to borrow a guitar from his idol during the Dia de Muertos, becomes invisible to the human world, but starts to see the dead, in skeleton forms, including members of his family.

* What happens to Dalton in ''Film/{{Insidious}}'', where his soul is trapped in The Further and the other characters have to help him get back into his body before some other malevolent spirits try to take possession of it for themselves.

* In ''Literature/TheSkinJackerTrilogy'', children who get lost on their way to the afterlife ([[spoiler:or who are in a coma]]) go to Everlost, which is the same as Earth, except invisible to living humans, and the only "solid" objects in it are places and objects that were greatly loved and/or left their mark on history. Certain children can interact with the living world by "possessing" living humans or "ripping" objects out of the living world into Everlost.
* ''Literature/SophiesWorld'' has a variation on this, in which [[spoiler: all fictional characters, including Sophie herself]] exist in a world on top of the "real" one, able to observe real people, but generally not being able to interact with them.
* This is indicated to be Sauron's ultimate fate at the end of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Technically [[CompleteImmortality he cannot really die]] until Arda itself is unmade by the creator God, but his second defeat and the destruction of the One Ring has reduced him to a powerless spirit unable to build another body for himself, still wandering the world but unable to influence it in any way. Meanwhile, his former boss Morgoth is trapped in the VoidBetweenTheWorlds outside Arda.
* The ''Zack Files'' book "I'm Out of My Body...Please Leave A Message" features the title character Zack and his best friend Spencer screwing around with a book that allowed them to astral project. While they eventually get the hang of it and leave their bodies, they end up unable to figure out how to return and the book is mostly about them attempting to reenter their bodies.
* At the start of the seventh ''Literature/WarriorCats'' arc, [[spoiler:after Bramblestar loses a life, he is unable to return to his body since some unknown being has begun to possess it, leaving his spirit stuck and running desperately around the territories, visible only to Rootpaw.]]

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E24TheNextPhase The Next Phase]]", due to a transporter malfunction, Geordi & Ro are phased out of sync with the rest of the universe. They can see everyone else but nobody can see them, so people think they're dead. Eventually, they manage to find a way to contact the rest of their crew members, who then manage to phase them back.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E2RealmOfFear Realm of Fear]]" Lt. Barclay thinks he's seeing things while being tranpsorted and thinks he has Transporter Psychosis, but he's actually seeing some people trapped in whatever they transport through when using the transporter. Barclay grabs one of them and hauls him back into reality, and then some security officers are sent in to rescue the rest.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS02E010VanishingPoint Vanishing Point]]", Hoshi Sato is terrified of using the first generation of transporters. When she does use it, her worst fears are realized when she slowly starts to vanish from existence. Eventually, she fades away, still being able to travel the ship but nobody around her being able to hear or see her. Eventually, she discovers that a group of aliens are somehow involved, [[spoiler:which all turns out to be [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] when she emerges from the transporter, [[AllJustADream the entire thing having been a nightmare]] she experienced in the split second before she rematerialized.]]
* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' episode "Gillian of the Spirits". This happens to Quinn when the wormhole gets struck by lightning. Particularly unfortunate as the slider got fried during the transition and his friends have trouble repairing it without him.
* ''Series/Charmed1998'' had more than one example, including "[[Recap/CharmedS6E16TheCourtshipOfWyattsFather The Courtship of Wyatt's Father]]" where Piper and Leo ended up on another plane thanks to a plot of Gideon's, and "[[Recap/CharmedS7E16TheSevenYearWitch The Seven Year Witch]]" where Piper was badly wounded by some demons and ended up on the astral plane, where she met Cole.
* ''Series/{{Stargate SG1}}''
** In one episode Daniel ends up on another plane thanks to a crystal skull that was also an alien teleport device. Only his grandfather, who had been exposed to the device before could see him. For a while he thought he'd died, before the truth came out.
** In another episode, Carter and Mitchell get stuck in another plane of existence and can only communicate with the rest of the world by tapping the keys on the device that trapped them there in the first place. They tried communicating with Daniel since he'd been in that situation before, only to be ignored by him, showing that it was a different plane from the crystal skull incident.
* ''Series/SpaceCases'':
** In the episode "Nowhere Man", Harlan is accidentally blasted into another dimension, becoming incapable of interacting with the physical world or being seen by his teammates. The only thing he can interact with is an instrument that was blasted with him... and it's showing imminent danger. His plight isn't discovered until Radu's superhuman hearing picks up his pleas for help. The other kids ultimately find a way to restore him.
** At the end of the first season, [[spoiler:Catalina is shunted off into another reality in an explosion]]. As a side-effect, [[spoiler:her friend Suzie, previously believed to be imaginary, ends up physically manifesting aboard the ''Christa'']].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Whatever happens to the Fourth Doctor and Romana when they're abducted by the Time Scoop and trapped in the Vortex in [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors "The Five Doctors"]] at least overlaps with this trope. The Time Lords seem to be able to get a wobbly picture of wherever they are but there's no way to directly interact with them. When they return it's as if they had not left (at least in the [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion Special Edition]]), but it's not clear if events they experienced were reversed or if they had nothing happen to them, nor how involved Rassilon was in pressing their reset button.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'': The first world the game starts in has huge holes in it that let you see another world far below, but the hero and Carver can't interact with the real world until the first MacGuffin is found.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': The Banish spell makes the target untargetable by regular weapons, but slows them, makes them unable to attack and take more damage from magic and spells.

* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': A monster temporarily causes this in Heartful Punch during Chapter 19. After the monster touches her, she finds that her girlfriend can no longer see or hear her, and when she tries to get her attention she ends up [[{{Intangibility}} phasing right through her]]. The only one who seemingly ''can'' perceive HP in this state is the BigBad herself, who eventually [[VillainousRescue frees her]] by absorbing the monster.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''Website/SCPFoundation'', #451 "Mister Lonely". He's a former agent, who can be detected by the Foundation but he can't perceive them. At first, he thought that everyone else had vanished.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' episode "As The Netherworld Turns", Iago and Abu are sent to the Netherworld by the Eye of Gazeem, an artifact they find in Jafar's old lab. They can't interact with anyone living and no one can see or hear them, and the only way they can communicate is through people's dreams.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Aang ([[GodInHumanForm being the Avatar and all]]) is more spiritually-attuned than most, and has had to travel to the Spirit World on several occasions. During at least one instance, Aang was in danger of being permanently trapped there with no knowledge of how to escape. Luckily for Aang, he's bailed out by [[{{Reincarnation}} his past Avatar incarnation]], Avatar Roku.
* In the debut episode of the [[AstralProjection Sheep Talisman]] on ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', Jade messes around with the Talisman and ends up stuck in the Astral plane after [[BigBad Shendu]] astral projects his spirit into her unoccupied body. Fortunately, she's able to [[DreamWalker enter Jackie's dreams]] and alert him to what happened.
* In the ''Franchise/TransformersAlignedUniverse'' opening two [[OurWormholesAreDifferent groundbridges/spacebridges]] within close proximity to each other will cause them to warp the space between them, sending anything between them into the 'Shadowzone'

** This ends up being the way the heroes defeat [[EvilGenius Soundwave]] - since he is directly connected to the villains' spacebridge's systems, [[ThinkingUpPortals he can summon a portal anywhere he wants, that goes anywhere he wants, with great speed and accuracy]], and it's often that the heroes attack Soundwave and [[WeaponizedTeleportation find themselves stepping right into a spacebridge that beams them right off the battlefield or into a trap]]. So they feint an attack to get him to open his to defend his front, whereupon they open their own behind him, sending him straight to the Shadowzone.
** Not that this stops Soundwave forever - [[WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise2015 years later]], he's finally near a groundbridge when it is opened, and surprises everyone present by opening his own completely unannounced. While he is re-trapped at the end of the episode, he has proven that any activation of a groundbridge runs the risk of him escaping again.

A character has somehow been transferred to [[LayeredWorld another plane]] of existence. Not [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascended to a higher one]], mind you. This is just an invisible world sitting "on top" of the one we live in. Beings trapped in it can observe our world and move around in it, but are unable to interact with anything or anyone. Their friends will not be able to see or hear them, and they will [[IntangibleMan pass straight through]] any solid objects they come across.

** Teen superteam the Jayhawks were presumed dead when caught in a massive explosion. Actually, they've been trapped in an intangible state all that time, only able to watch, and unable to get anyone's attention.

* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity''
** The [[BodySurf Body Surfer]] supervillain called the Silver Brain was banished to another plane of existence years ago by the Samaritan. He keeps escaping by possessing the denizens of that other realm and riding their bodies back to the physical world.
** Teen superteam the Jayhawks were presumed dead when caught in a massive explosion. Actually, they've been trapped in an intangible state all that time, only able to watch, or get anyone's attention (all the more impressive give the vast array of beings in Astro City who deal with the intangible all the time).

* As long as there are believers, the Guardians in Creator/DreamWorks' ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'' are large and strong and able to influence events on Earth. However, to nonbelievers, the Guardians are invisible and immaterial, almost to the point of being nonexistent. Also, as their believer count dwindles, so does the Guardians' size and strength.

* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', the [[BodySurf Body Surfer]] supervillain called the Silver Brain was banished to another plane of existence years ago by the Samaritan. He keeps escaping by possessing the denizens of that other realm and riding their bodies back to the physical world.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', #451 "Mister Lonely". He's a former agent, who can be detected by the Foundation but he can't perceive them. At first, he thought that everyone else had vanished.

* Whatever happens to the Fourth Doctor and Romana when they're abducted by the Time Scoop and trapped in the Vortex in [[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors "The Five Doctors"]] at least overlaps with this trope. The Time Lords seem to be able to get a wobbly picture of wherever they are but there's no way to directly interact with them. When they return it's as if they had not left (at least in the [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion Special Edition]]), but it's not clear if events they experienced were reversed or if they had nothing happen to them, nor how involved Rassilon was in pressing their reset button.

* Magus from ''WebComic/ElGoonishShive'' is actually from [[TheMultiverse another universe]] altogether, but a spell gone wrong caused him to end up in the spirit plane of the "main" [[FanNickname Gooniverse]], which is also inhabited by immortals.

* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS02E010VanishingPoint Vanishing Point]]", Hoshi Sato is terrified of using the first generation of transporters. When she does use it, her worst fears are realized when she slowly starts to vanish from existence. Eventually, she fades away, still being able to travel the ship but nobody around her being able to hear or see her. Eventually, she realizes that a group of aliens are somehow involved, [[spoiler:which all turns out to be [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] when she emerges from the transporter, [[AllJustADream the entire thing having been a nightmare]] she experienced in the split second before she rematerialized.]]

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': In "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS4E7DealsWithOurDevils Deals with Our Devils]]", after Coulson, Fitz and Robbie got caught in an explosion created from a Darkhold experiment, they are stuck and falling into Hell Dimension. They see the real world in a sephia tone, which gradually gets darker, and can't interact with it except for subtle influences in electronics. To make things worse, the Ghost Rider isn't too keen on being dragged down with Robbie and possesses Mack.

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