List of fiction employing parallel universes
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of fiction employing parallel universes or alternate realities
In season 2 the main plot is manage to stop warriors from the other side, the shapeshifters. At the end of the season, the 3 main characters cross to this parallel universe. A character from the other side attempt to create a machine to destroy our universe, in order to save his own world. The main character, Olivia, remains trap in the parallel universe by the end.
In season 3, in odd-numered episodes the episode takes place with Olivia, in the parallel world, while the other characters are in even-numbered episodes. In episode 8 the two story arcs collide, resulting with the end of the appearance of the parallel universe, but the upcoming war remains.
between different comic companies' characters.
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
Books
- Margaret CavendishMargaret CavendishMargaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was an English aristocrat, a prolific writer, and a scientist. Born Margaret Lucas, she was the youngest sister of prominent royalists Sir John Lucas and Sir Charles Lucas...
, Duchess of Newcastle, wrote The Blazing WorldThe Blazing WorldThe Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World, better known as The Blazing World, is a 1666 work of prose fiction by English writer Margaret Cavendish, the Duchess of Newcastle....
(1666), a book far ahead of its time, in which the heroine passes through a portal near the North Pole to a world with different stars in the sky and talking animals.
- Edwin A. Abbott, mathematician and theologian, wrote FlatlandFlatlandFlatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott. Writing pseudonymously as "A Square", Abbott used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to offer pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture...
(1886), also known as Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. It recounts the story of a two-dimensional world inhabited by living geometric figures: triangles, squares, circles, etc., and explores concepts of other dimensions (or universes) including Pointland, Lineland, and Spaceland. A feature film adaptation of this novella was made in 2007 called Flatland The FilmFlatland (2007 film)Flatland , is a 2007 computer animated film based on the 1884 novella, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott. The film was directed and animated by Ladd Ehlinger Jr. in Lightwave 3D. The screenplay was written by author Tom Whalen...
.
- Murray LeinsterMurray LeinsterMurray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history...
's story "Sidewise in TimeSidewise in Time"Sidewise in Time" is a science fiction short story by Murray Leinster that was first published in the June 1934 issue of Astounding Stories...
" (1934), showing different parts of the Earth somehow occupied by different parallel universes, was influential in science fiction.
- H. Beam PiperH. Beam PiperHenry Beam Piper was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.He wrote under the name H. Beam Piper...
, the author of the Paratime series, wrote several stories dealing with alternate realities based on points of divergence far in the past. The stories are usually written from the perspective of a law-enforcement outfit from a parallel reality which is charged to protect the secret of temporal transposition.
- Fredric BrownFredric BrownFredric Brown was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He was born in Cincinnati.He had two sons: James Ross Brown and Linn Lewis Brown ....
's What Mad UniverseWhat Mad UniverseWhat Mad Universe is a science-fiction novel, written in 1949 by the American author, Fredric Brown.-Synopsis:Keith Winton is a journalist for a science-fiction review. With his glamorous co-worker girlfriend, Betty, he visits his friends one day in their elegant estate in the Catskills,...
recounts the adventures of a science-fiction editor of the late 1940s who is thrown into a parallel universe that reflects the fantasies of his most annoying letter-to-the-editor writer (an adolescent male, naturally).
- Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
's novel The Gods ThemselvesThe Gods ThemselvesThe Gods Themselves is a 1972 science fiction novel written by Isaac Asimov. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1972, and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1973....
depicts scientists in our universe who find a way to "import" small amounts of matter from a universe having different physical laws, with unforeseen consequences.
- K. A. ApplegateK. A. ApplegateKatherine Alice Applegate is an American author, best-known as the author of the Animorphs, Remnants, Everworld and other book series, although some of the books in these series are ghostwritten by other authors. Applegate's most popular books are science fiction, fantasy, and adventure novels...
's series, EverworldEverworldEverworld is a fantasy novel series written by K. A. Applegate and published by Scholastic between 1999 and 2001. It consists of twelve books.-Premise and Plot:...
(1999–2001): Several teenagers travel into a parallel world occupied by the mythological beings of Earth.
- Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's series The Dark TowerThe Dark Tower (series)The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
has doors that send travelers to different parallel Earths, or, as termed in the story, different levels of the Tower. King also frequently utilizes this idea in other stories, such as The MistThe MistThe Mist is a horror novella by the American author Stephen King, in which the small town of Bridgton, Maine is suddenly enveloped in an unnatural mist that conceals otherworldly monsters. It was first published as the first and longest story of the 1980 horror anthology Dark Forces. A slightly...
, From A Buick 8From a Buick 8From a Buick 8 is a novel by horror writer Stephen King. Published on September 24, 2002, this is the second novel by Stephen King to feature a supernatural car...
, The Talisman, Black House and InsomniaInsomnia (novel)Insomnia is a novel written by Stephen King and first published in 1994. Like It and Dreamcatcher, its setting is the fictional town of Derry, Maine. The original hardcover edition was issued with dust jackets in two complementary designs...
.
- Robert A. HeinleinRobert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
's novel The Number of the BeastThe Number of the Beast (novel)The Number of the Beast is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1980. The first edition featured a cover and interior illustrations by Richard M. Powers...
is focused around a 'time machine' that also proves to be able to travel sideways and other directions in time, allowing for crossing into other realities, even ones previously considered fictional by the protagonists.
- S. M. StirlingS. M. StirlingStephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.-Personal:Stirling was born on...
's novel Conquistador is based on travel between parallel universes, with a group of 20th century Americans having found a means to secretly colonize a world where civilization never advanced past the classical era.
- Globus CassusGlobus CassusGlobus Cassus is an art project and book by Swiss architect and artist Christian Waldvogel presenting a conceptual transformation of Planet Earth into a much bigger, hollow, artificial world with an ecosphere on its inner surface...
is a book describing a utopian project for a universe contrary to ours, it describes an antipodeAntipodesIn geography, the antipodes of any place on Earth is the point on the Earth's surface which is diametrically opposite to it. Two points that are antipodal to one another are connected by a straight line running through the centre of the Earth....
to the 'real' world.
- The Wheel of TimeThe Wheel of TimeThe Wheel of Time is a series of epic fantasy novels written by American author James Oliver Rigney, Jr., under the pen name Robert Jordan. Originally planned as a six-book series, the length was increased by increments; at the time of Rigney's death, he expected it to be 12, but it will actually...
by Robert JordanRobert JordanRobert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. , under which he was best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Reagan O'Neal and Jackson O'Reilly.-Biography:Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina...
series features not only one cyclic universe, but many. In one particular instance, Rand al'Thor's, the main protagonist's mind, is deluged by possibilities for his own life, and in all of these possibilities he dies before defeating the Dark One and is taunted by him a moment before death. Also in the Wheel of Time universe, Tel'aran'rhiod, the world of dreams, is said to touch this world and also many other worlds. Dreamers, those who walk the dream and can control the world of dreams to some extent, can go to a place where they see a vast darkness filled with countless pinpricks of light. These pinpricks of light are said to represent not only the dreams of those sleeping in this world but also the dreams of sleepers from other parallel worlds. Some of these parallel worlds are called Mirror Worlds, and represent what could have been had various events in history happened in different ways. Mirror Worlds can be physically visited through the use of a device called a Portal Stone, but the less likely the existence of the Mirror World was the less substantial and real it felt to the visitor.
- Diana Wynne JonesDiana Wynne JonesDiana Wynne Jones was a British writer, principally of fantasy novels for children and adults, as well as a small amount of non-fiction...
' ChrestomanciChrestomanciThe Chrestomanci series is a children's fantasy series by Diana Wynne Jones. The word "Chrestomanci" may be derived from the Greek khrestos, meaning "useful," and -mancy, "divination."...
series revolves around the duty of the Chrestomanci to regulate magic in the twelve related worlds. These worlds have alternate histories, in which some people may exist only in a few worlds. It is necessary that the Chrestomanci must exist in only one, because this gives him the nine lives needed for his role. Other works of Jones' that include parallel universes: The Magid series; Deep SecretDeep SecretDeep Secret is a 1997 novel by Diana Wynne Jones. It is the first in the Magid series.-Plot:The multiverse, shaped like a lemniscate, contains Ayeward and Nayward worlds. It is the task of the magids to urge the worlds in an Ayewards direction. In Ayeward worlds, magids can operate openly...
and The Merlin ConspiracyThe Merlin ConspiracyThe Merlin Conspiracy is a fantasy novel for young adults by Diana Wynne Jones, published in 2003 by HarperCollins.-Plot:In a parallel universe, Roddy , daughter of two magicians who serve the King of Blest, has traveled with "the King's Progress" her entire life...
in which the multiverse is shaped like an infinity sign and contains Ayewards and Naywards. The Derkholm series: Dark Lord of DerkholmDark Lord of DerkholmThe Dark Lord of Derkholm is a fantasy novel written by Diana Wynne Jones, which won the 1999 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature. It takes place in a parody of a high fantasy world similar to that first explored in Jones' humorous guidebook in the Rough Guide model, The Tough Guide...
and its sequel Year of the GriffinYear of the GriffinYear of the Griffin is a 2000 novel by British children's author Diana Wynne Jones. It is the sequel to The Dark Lord of Derkholm and is mainly centred on the exploits of a group of students during their first year at the University.-Plot background:...
in which Pilgrims come from a parallel world for Mr. Chesney's offworld tours. In Howl's Moving CastleHowl's Moving CastleHowl's Moving Castle is a young adult fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986. It won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and was named an ALA Notable Book for both children and young adults. In 2004 it was adapted as an Academy Award-nominated animated film by Hayao...
, though it does not play a major part in the plot, the wizard Howl is actually from our world. In A Tale of Time CityA Tale of Time CityA Tale of Time City was first published in 1987 by British author Diana Wynne Jones. It tells the story of a girl, Vivian Smith, who is kidnapped while being evacuated from London during World War II and caught up in a struggle to preserve history...
, the main character, Vivian, is kidnapped and taken to Time City, a city out of time and space. Along with her new friends and past kidnappers Jonathan and Sam, she hunts through time and space for the polarites that are gradually being stolen. In A Sudden Wild Magic a group of benevolent witches set out to stop the magicians of Arth who steal ideas, technology, and innovations from Earth. In HexwoodHexwoodHexwood is a 1993 fantasy/science fiction novel for young adults. It is by British author Diana Wynne Jones.The book was dedicated to author Neil Gaiman, who later wrote a poem about the honor and gave it to her.- Plot summary :...
, the machine Bannus sucks potential Reigners from all over the universe into the Wood. In The Homeward BoundersThe Homeward BoundersThe Homeward Bounders is a fantasy novel by Diana Wynne Jones with the chilling premise that there is a vast series of parallel universes, all of which serve as the game-boards for a race of demons that delight in war-games and fantasy-games...
Jamie is made into a Homeward Bounder by "Them" which means he must constantly travel from world to world until he finds his home again.
- John DeChancieJohn DeChancieJohn DeChancie is an American author. A Pittsburgh native, he is most famous for his comic fantasy Castle series, and his science fiction Skyway series...
's Castle Perilous series tells of a huge magical castle containing portals to 144,000 worlds, including Earth.
- Stephen R. DonaldsonStephen R. DonaldsonStephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, most famous for his Thomas Covenant series...
's Mordant's NeedMordant's NeedMordant's Need is a fantasy two-part book series by Stephen R. Donaldson, comprising the novels The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through .-Sypnosis:...
series, which includes The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through, follows a heroine who can pass into another world through mirrors.
- In The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series, also by Stephen R. DonaldsonStephen R. DonaldsonStephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, most famous for his Thomas Covenant series...
, main character Thomas Covenant is transported to another world called The Land. Each time he travels to The Land corresponds to an injury in the real world that leaves him unconscious. While in The Land, time passes at a different rate from that on Earth: where a year may be spent in The Land, mere minutes will have passed on Earth. In The Land there is great power and magic wielded by the Lords of Revelstone, the rulers of The Land, who fight against The Land's ancient enemy, Lord Foul. Lord Foul was imprisoned in the Land by the Creator after corrupting the Land during its creation. He constantly seeks to use Covanent's Wild Magic in order to break the Arch of Time and gain his freedom. In the First Chronicles, Covenant finds another man, Hile Troy, from his world who has entered the Land. Troy worked for the Defense Department for the United States, and employed his knowledge in leading the armies of the Land against Foul. In the Second and Last Chronicles, he is accidentally accompanied to the Land by a doctor, Linden Avery. Linden is forced to accept what Covenant tells her about the Land, as she has never been there before.
- H. G. WellsH. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
wrote what is apparently the first explicit paratime novel, Men Like GodsMen Like GodsMen Like Gods is a novel written in 1923 by H. G. Wells. It features a utopian parallel universe.-Plot summary :The hero of the novel, Mr. Barnstaple, is a depressive journalist working for a newspaper called the Liberal. At the beginning of the story, Barnstaple, as well as a few other...
(1923), complete with a multiverse theory and a paratime machine.
- In C. S. LewisC. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
' classic Chronicles of Narnia series (1950–1956) children come and go between our world and Narnia, a land populated by talking animals. In The Magician's NephewThe Magician's NephewThe Magician's Nephew is a fantasy novel for children written by C. S. Lewis. It was the sixth book published in his The Chronicles of Narnia series, but is the first in the chronology of the Narnia novels' fictional universe. Thus it is an early example of a prequel.The novel is initially set in...
the Wood between the Worlds gives access to several worlds. In The Last BattleThe Last BattleThe Last Battle is the seventh and final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. It won the prestigious Carnegie Medal in Literature in 1956.-Plot summary:In The Last Battle, Lewis brings The Chronicles of Narnia to an end...
it transpires that all the worlds are joined together by a form of heavenHeavenHeaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
.
- Phillip Pullman's His Dark MaterialsHis Dark MaterialsHis Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman comprising Northern Lights , The Subtle Knife , and The Amber Spyglass...
series (1995–2000) deals with two children who wander through multiple worlds, opening and closing windows between them. The final book elaborates the same idea (as C.S. Lewis') that all the worlds share a common heaven, and in this case, underworldUnderworldThe Underworld is a region which is thought to be under the surface of the earth in some religions and in mythologies. It could be a place where the souls of the recently departed go, and in some traditions it is identified with Hell or the realm of death...
.
- Jasper FfordeJasper FfordeJasper Fforde is a British novelist. Fforde's first novel, The Eyre Affair, was published in 2001. Fforde is mainly known for his Thursday Next novels, although he has written several books in the loosely connected Nursery Crime series and begun two more independent series: The Last Dragonslayer...
's Thursday NextThursday NextThursday Next is the main protagonist in a series of comic fantasy, alternate history novels by the British author Jasper Fforde. She was first introduced in Fforde's first published novel, The Eyre Affair, released on July 19, 2001 by Hodder & Stoughton. , the series comprises six books, in two...
series is set in a parallel universe which is very similar to ours but has (amusingly) different history. For example Britain and Russia are still fighting the Crimean WarCrimean WarThe Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
in 1985. As the story develops, the world of fiction also emerges as another parallel universe and the characters learn how to move between them.
- In L. Neil SmithL. Neil SmithL. Neil Smith , also known to readers and fans as El Neil, is a libertarian science fiction author and political activist. He was born on May 12, 1946 in Denver...
's The Probability BroachThe Probability BroachThe Probability Broach is the first novel by science fiction writer L. Neil Smith. It is set in an alternate history, the so-called Gallatin Universe, where a libertarian society has formed on the North American continent, styled the North American Confederacy.-Plot summary:Edward William "Win"...
series of novels' characters from several different universes end up in one universe where American history took a different turn in the aftermath of the Revolution, with Albert GallatinAlbert GallatinAbraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin was a Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, politician, diplomat, congressman, and the longest-serving United States Secretary of the Treasury. In 1831, he founded the University of the City of New York...
assisting the western Pennsylvania farmers of the Whiskey RebellionWhiskey RebellionThe Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...
, which culminates in George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
's execution and the rise of a libertarian republic under a revised Articles of ConfederationArticles of ConfederationThe Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...
.
- In James P. HoganJames P. Hogan (writer)James Patrick Hogan was a British science fiction author.-Biography:Hogan was born in London, England. He was raised in the Portobello Road area on the west side of London...
's Paths to Otherwhere (1996), scientists at the Los Alamos Laboratory create a machine QUADAR which allow them to swap conscious with people in parallel universes. They explore various parallel universes.
- In Kia AsamiyaKia Asamiyais the pen-name of Japanese manga artist Michitaka Kikuchi whose work spans multiple genres and appeals to diverse audiences.He is well known for using influences from American comics, television, and films in his work, and describes himself as a big fan of both Batman and Star Wars...
's manga novel Space Battleship Nadesico, written alongside the series Martian Successor NadesicoMartian Successor Nadesico, is a science fiction comedy anime TV series, and a later manga series created by Kia Asamiya. The manga, published in English by CPM Manga, is significantly different from the anime....
but altering severely as the course of the story runs, the Jupiterians that are attacking Earth come from a parallel universe, the portal of which is in the red storm visible on Jupiter as a red spot. In their world, Japan won World War II, and because of their strong religious Shinto beliefs, their Gods did not die out, and they were able to use this magic to help strengthen their technology. However, their sun died out prematurely, and so they have come to our world to steal the energy from our sun to save their world.
- Neil GaimanNeil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
's novella CoralineCoralineCoraline is a horror/fantasy novella by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and Harper Collins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novella, and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers...
deals with a parallel universe called the "Other World" in which Coraline's surroundings are the same but the people who are supposed to be her parents are actually evil impostors. The novella spawned a film of the same nameCoraline (film)Coraline is a 2009 stop-motion 3D fantasy/horror children's film based on Neil Gaiman's 2002 novel of the same name. It was produced by Laika and distributed by Focus Features. Written and directed by Henry Selick, it was released widely in US theaters on February 6, 2009, after a world premiere at...
that deals with the same plot and use of parallel universes.
- Sergey LukyanenkoSergey LukyanenkoSergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko is a science fiction and fantasy author, writing in Russian, and is arguably the most popular contemporary Russian sci-fi writer...
's novel Rough DraftRough DraftWritten in 2005, Moscow, Rough Draft by Sergey Lukyanenko is a fantasy novel of the "parallel world" genre, the first of a duology.The sequel of this novel is Final Draft.-Plot introduction:...
(2005) takes place across the multiverse of at least 22 worlds (it was implied that there were actually more worlds that haven't been discovered yet) linked together by a series of tower-like transfer points.
- I, QI, QI, Q may also refer to the popular children's book series by Roland Smith.I, Q is a 2000 Star Trek novel by John de Lancie and Peter David, set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation fictional universe...
is a 2000 Star TrekStar TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
novel by Peter DavidPeter DavidPeter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
and John de LancieJohn de LancieJohn de Lancie is an American actor. He has been active in screen and television roles since 1977, though he is best known for his recurring role as Q on the various Star Trek series and as Frank Simmons in Stargate SG-1....
in which God attempts to destroy the multiverse in a large multi-universe maelstrom which the protagonists attempt to stop from within a newly created universe caused by the maelstrom.
- In D. J. MacHale's The Pendragon AdventureThe Pendragon AdventureThe Pendragon Adventure is a young adult series of science fiction/fantasy novels by D. J. MacHale. They follow the chronicles of Bobby Pendragon, a teenager who discovers that he, as well as his two best friends, Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde, must prevent the destruction of the universe.The...
series there are ten different parallel universes (including our own), called territories, that are part of Halla, which is described as being every time and place that ever existed. Certain people, called Travelers, are able to go between the territories through portals known as Flumes. It is claimed that by traveling through a Flume, Travelers land on their destination territory exactly when they need to be there, suggesting time travel.
- In Robert J Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax series (2003) a parallel historical universe exists in which it was Neanderthals not Homo sapiens who survived to become the dominant species. In a quantum physics experiment gone wrong a Neanderthal scientist is accidentally transported into the universe of Homo sapiens. Eventually a portal between the two universes is established and travelling to an alternate universe becomes a controlled event.
- Michael Lawrence's The Aldous Lexicon (2005–2007), comprising A Crack in the Line, Small Eternities and The Underwood See, concerns comings and goings between initially two, later many parallel realities.
- In The Man Who Folded HimselfThe Man Who Folded HimselfThe Man Who Folded Himself is a 1973 science fiction novel by David Gerrold that deals with time travel. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1973 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1974...
(1973) by David GerroldDavid GerroldJerrold David Friedman , better known by his pen name David Gerrold, is an American science fiction author who started his career in 1966 while a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one...
, paradoxes caused by time travelTime travelTime travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
result in the creation of multiple universes.
- In Mirror Dreams (2002) and Mirror Wakes (2003) by Catherine WebbCatherine WebbCatherine Webb is a British author, educated at the Godolphin and Latymer School, London, and the London School of Economics. She was 14 years old when she completed Mirror Dreams, which was written during her school summer vacation...
, there are mirror universes, one a magical universe where technology barely works, the other a scientific universe where magic barely works. The inhabitants can physically visit each other's worlds in dreams.
- In the Stravaganza series by Mary Hoffman various people travel between present-day EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and an alternative, somewhat magical Renaissance Italy called Talia.
- In the Alastair ReynoldsAlastair ReynoldsAlastair Preston Reynolds is a British science fiction author. He specialises in dark hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle, where he read physics and astronomy. Afterwards, he earned a PhD from St Andrews, Scotland...
novel Absolution GapAbsolution GapAbsolution Gap is a 2003 science fiction space opera novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds. It takes place in the Revelation Space universe and is a direct sequel to Redemption Ark.-Plot summary:...
, (2003) a race called the "Shadows" drives the action. They claim to be from a parallel universe which has been overrun by a rogue terraforming system that has destroyed their entire universe. They have sent instructions to our world on how to build machinery to let them across. The characters eventually decide not to do so as a race which tried previously was wiped out by alien races aimed at stopping the Shadows. It is implied at the end that the Shadows are in fact from a future version of our own universe.
- In The Divide trilogyThe Divide trilogyThe Divide trilogy is a fantasy young adult novel trilogy by Elizabeth Kay, which takes place in an alternate universe. The three books are The Divide , Back to The Divide , and Jinx on The Divide...
by Elizabeth KayElizabeth KayElizabeth Kay, born July 9, 1949 in London, is an English writer. She is the author of The Divide trilogy, a series of children's fantasy novels, originally published by Chicken House Press, then picked up by Scholastic Books-Biography:...
(2002–2006), Felix Sanders crosses into a parallel universe where magic and magical beings exist while science and human beings are considered mythical.
- Andrew CrumeyAndrew CrumeyAndrew Crumey is a novelist and former literary editor of the Scotland on Sunday newspaper. He was born in Kirkintilloch, north of Glasgow, Scotland. He graduated with First Class Honours from the University of St Andrews and holds a PhD in theoretical physics from Imperial College, London. In...
's novel Mobius DickMobius DickMobius Dick is a novel by Andrew Crumey.It features a parallel world in which Nazi Germany invaded Britain and Erwin Schrödinger failed to find the wave equation that bears his name. This world becomes connected to our world due to experiments with quantum computers.The science-fiction plot...
(2004) features a parallel world in which Nazi Germany invaded Britain and Erwin SchrödingerErwin SchrödingerErwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger was an Austrian physicist and theoretical biologist who was one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, and is famed for a number of important contributions to physics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933...
failed to find the quantum theory equation that bears his name. The parallel worlds become connected due to experiments with quantum computers. The same alternate world (in which post-war Britain falls under Communist rule) also appears in his novels Music, in a Foreign Language (1994) and Sputnik CaledoniaSputnik CaledoniaSputnik Caledonia is a novel by Andrew Crumey, for which he won the Northern Rock Foundation Writer’s Award. It depicts a Scottish boy who longs to be a spaceman, is transported to a parallel communist Scotland where he takes part in a space mission to a black hole, and returns to the real world...
(2008).
- In Darren ShanDarren ShanDarren O'Shaughnessy , who commonly writes under the pen name Darren Shan, is an Irish author. Darren Shan is also the main character in Shan's The Saga of Darren Shan young-adult fiction series. He also wrote The Demonata series as well as the stand-alone books, Koyasan and The Thin Executioner...
's Demonata series (2005-) a boy can open windows to parallel worlds with his hands. A part of the story also plays in one of these parallel worlds, the Demonata.
- Harry TurtledoveHarry TurtledoveHarry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...
's Crosstime TrafficCrosstime TrafficCrosstime Traffic is a series of books by Harry Turtledove. The central premise of the stories is an Earth that has discovered access to alternate universes where history went differently. "Crosstime Traffic" is the name of the company with a global monopoly on the technology.-Background:The...
series of books (2003–2008) by Harry TurtledoveHarry TurtledoveHarry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...
centers on an Earth that has discovered access to alternate universes where history went differently. "Crosstime Traffic" is the name of the company with a global monopoly on the technology.
- Pet ForcePet ForcePet Force is a series of books for young readers. It is a spin-off of Garfield, in which the main animal characters of the comic series are portrayed as comic book superheroes...
, a series of children's books by Jim DavisJim Davis (cartoonist)James Robert Davis is an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the comic strip Garfield, which he signs as Jim Davis. He has also worked on other strips: Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, U.S. Acres and a strip about Mr...
and a spinoff of GarfieldGarfieldGarfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie...
, one of his comic strips. The series contains five novels and takes place in a parallel universe and features alternate versions of the comic strip's main characters.
- Michael CrichtonMichael CrichtonJohn Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
's TimelineTimelineA timeline is a way of displaying a list of events in chronological order, sometimes described as a project artifact . It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labeled with dates alongside itself and events labeled on points where they would have happened.-Uses of timelines:Timelines...
(1999) tells the story of historians who travel to the Middle Ages to save a friend of theirs who already traveled back in time before them. The book follows in Crichton's long history of combining technical details and action in his books, addressing quantum physics and time travel. The time travel mechanism incorporates the concept of the multiverse.
- Brad Fear's novel A Macabre Myth of a Moth-Man (2008) features a definition of "The Butterfly effectButterfly effectIn chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions; where a small change at one place in a nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state...
" just after the prologue, stating that the events of the book take place in an alternate version of the year 2001. It further explains that the 'defining moment' which caused this parallel universe was a polish scientist being stung by a bee in 1944. A new timeline stemmed from this event.
- Mark Ian Kendrick" in the novel "The Rylerran Gateway" (2008) tells a story in which the protagonists go through a mysterious gateway to another Universe where, among other things, Spain defeated England under Philip II and became the higher power on Earth and in the Galaxy.
- In Diana Tavares's Sacred Maiden novel, the characters fight a war that occurs between our world, the Scientific World, and the Mystical World, where all creatures of myth exist and live with magic, instead of technology.
- Tonke DragtTonke DragtAntonia "Tonke" Johanna Dragt is a Dutch writer and illustrator of children's literature. Her book De brief voor de Koning was chosen as the best Dutch youth book of the latter half of the twentieth century.-Biography:...
's novel "The Towers of February" (De torens van februari) is a coming-of-age novel in diary form for young adults, about a boy who slowly discovers that his memory loss is due to having passed into a parallel universe. The reader slowly discovers that the book is not set in our world. The difficulty to travel between both worlds can be seen as symbolic for reaching adulthood and can be taken literal at the same time.
- Greg EganGreg EganGreg Egan is an Australian science fiction author.Egan published his first work in 1983. He specialises in hard science fiction stories with mathematical and quantum ontology themes, including the nature of consciousness...
's Diaspora (novel)Diaspora (novel)Diaspora, a hard science fiction novel by the Australian writer Greg Egan, first appeared in print in 1997.-Plot introduction:This novel's setting is a posthuman future, in which transhumanism long ago became the default philosophy embraced by the vast majority of human cultures.The novel began as...
is a novel about sentient software intelligences living inside computer "polises" who undertake expeditions throughout the multiverse.
- Alan Dean FosterAlan Dean FosterAlan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...
's SpellsingerSpellsingerSpellsinger is a series of fantasy novels written by Alan Dean Foster. At present the series consists of eight books, and although there was a significant gap between the writing of book six and book seven, it seems unlikely that any more will be written....
series concerns a 20th-century college student who finds himself transported to a world populated by sentientSentienceSentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...
animals and featuring magic, which he learns how to perform himself through a guitar-like instrument.
- Alan Dean FosterAlan Dean FosterAlan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...
's ParallelitiesParallelitiesParallelities is a 1995 science fiction novel by Alan Dean Foster. The story centers on Max Parker, a Los Angeles tabloid reporter whose client accidentally inflicts him with a condition causing him to experience encounters with parallel worlds, dubbed "paras" in this novel...
is a novel about a tabloid reporter whose interview subject inadvertently infects him with a condition making him shift between alternate versions of Los Angeles seemingly at random.
Feature films
- DoppelgängerDoppelgänger (1969 film)Doppelgänger is a 1969 British science-fiction film directed by Robert Parrish and starring Roy Thinnes, Ian Hendry, Lynn Loring and Patrick Wymark. Outside Europe, it is known as Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, which is now the more popular title...
(AKA Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, 1969) - Prisoners of the Lost UniversePrisoners of the Lost UniversePrisoners of the Lost Universe is a low budget 1983 film set in a parallel universe.Three people are transported to another world when an earthquake occurs just as the scientist is experimenting with his "matter" transmitter...
(1983) - Super Mario Bros.Super Mario Bros. (film)Super Mario Bros. is a 1993 American action film directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel. Based on the Super Mario Bros.video game and its entire franchise, the film features Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper and Samantha Mathis. It tells the story of the Mario brothers, Mario and...
(1993) - Sliding DoorsSliding DoorsSliding Doors is a 1998 British-American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Howitt and starring Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah, and featured John Lynch, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Virginia McKenna. The music was composed by David Hirschfelder...
(1998) - The One (2001): Travel between parallel universesMany-worlds interpretationThe many-worlds interpretation is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that asserts the objective reality of the universal wavefunction, but denies the actuality of wavefunction collapse. Many-worlds implies that all possible alternative histories and futures are real, each representing an...
in the MultiverseMultiverseThe multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise all of reality.Multiverse may also refer to:-In fiction:* Multiverse , the fictional multiverse used by DC Comics...
is possible by using "quantum tunnelling" technology, but restricted and policed by the Multiverse Authority (MVA). Alternate versions or "Multiverse Counterparts" (MVCs) of all living persons are connected by an "energy string." Gabriel Yu-Law, a rogue, former MVA agent learns that killing alternate versions of himself in parallel universes divides the "energy" among the surviving MVC's and subsequently embarks on a mission to kill all of his MVC's in order to gain ultimate power and become "The One." He travels to what appears to be our universe to kill his last remaining MVC, Gabriel Law. The task becomes exceedingly more difficult as Law realizes that the energy he shares with Yu-Law has given them both super-human strength and agility. - The Butterfly EffectThe Butterfly EffectThe Butterfly Effect is a 2004 American sci-fi psychological thriller film that is written and directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber and starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart...
(2004): Recounts the story of a young college student who can modify past occurrences in time and in effect, create different parallel universes for himself. - Garfield's Pet Force (2009): Based on the children's book series, which takes place in a parallel universe and stars alternate versions of the main characters of the Garfield comic strips.
- Star Trek (2009)
- Maximum ShameMaximum ShameMaximum Shame is a feature-length dystopian movie, written and directed by Carlos Atanes and released in 2010.-Plot:The end of the world is imminent. A man goes into a parallel dimension, a limbo between reality and fantasy where the normal rules of time and space have ceased to apply. His wife...
(2010)
Television
- The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
1963 episode "The ParallelThe Parallel"The Parallel" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:An astronaut, Major Robert Gaines, is orbiting the Earth in his space capsule. However, at one point the systems malfunction and he blacks out, waking up on Earth...
", was one of the earliest examples of parallel universe as a key plot element on American television.
- Dark ShadowsDark ShadowsDark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
, the 1960s fantasy/horror soap opera, introduced the concept of "parallel time" when the main character, Barnabas, witnesses unexplainable changes in a closed off part of his family's house. During one of these changes, he becomes trapped for a time in a parallel world.
- Star TrekStar TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
featured the recurring mirror universeMirror Universe (Star Trek)The Mirror Universe is a fictional parallel universe in which the plots of several Star Trek television episodes take place...
, a dark reflection of the normal universe in which the regular characters are twisted, self-serving and more than willing to resort to torture and murder to achieve their goals. The mirror universe was introduced in the original Star TrekStar Trek: The Original SeriesStar Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
, and it also appeared in EnterpriseStar Trek: EnterpriseStar Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...
, but was featured most often in Deep Space NineStar Trek: Deep Space NineStar Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
.
- Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
occasionally featured parallel worlds. Examples include "InfernoInferno (Doctor Who)Don Houghton came to Terrence Dicks with an idea for the story based on the real life Project Mohole. A smaller budget for the serial drove the idea of a parallel world, where the studio could use the same actors in multiple roles...
" (1970), where Great Britain has been a republic since at least 1943 (the Royal Family having been executed after a military coup) and is ruled by a totalitarian regime led by a figure reminiscent of Oswald MosleyOswald MosleySir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
who uses the title of "the Leader". The 1980-1981 "E-space" trilogy of episodes ("Full CircleFull Circle (Doctor Who)Full Circle is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1980...
", "State of DecayState of DecayState of Decay is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 22 November to 13 December 1980. The serial was the second of three loosely connected serials known as the E-Space trilogy...
", and "Warriors' GateWarriors' GateWarriors' Gate is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was written by the English author Stephen Gallagher and first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1981...
"). The second series of the 2005 revival of the show made frequent use of the concept beginning with "Rise of the CybermenRise of the Cybermen"Rise of the Cybermen" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode features the return of Cybermen, where they are created on Earth itself. It is the first part of a two-part story, the concluding part being "The Age of Steel"...
" and "The Age of SteelThe Age of Steel"The Age of Steel" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 20 May 2006 and is the second part of a two-part story that was the first to feature the Cybermen since Silver Nemesis in 1988. The first part, "Rise of the Cybermen", was...
", postulating a parallel world with yet another Republic of Great Britain, Zeppelins filling the sky, and an alternate race of Cybermen are created. Since the Time WarTime War (Doctor Who)The Time War, more specifically called The Last Great Time War, is a conflict within the fictional universe of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, travel between parallel universes is supposedly near-impossible, but a breach between the universes makes frequent visits easy in the second series finale "Army of GhostsArmy of Ghosts"Army of Ghosts" is the twelfth and penultimate episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who which was first broadcast on 1 July 2006...
"/"DoomsdayDoomsday (Doctor Who)"Doomsday" is the thirteenth and final episode in the second series of the revival of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 8 July 2006 and is the conclusion of a two-part story; the first part, "Army of Ghosts", was broadcast on 1 July 2006...
". These visits cause increasing damage to the universes and the breach is permanently sealed.
- SlidersSlidersSliders is an American science fiction television series. It was broadcast for five seasons, beginning in 1995 and ending in 2000. The series follows a group of travelers as they use a wormhole to "slide" between different parallel universes. The show was created by Robert K. Weiss and Tracy Tormé...
dealt with a group of mostly-unwilling travellers who ended up "sliding" between various parallel Earths in an attempt to find their way back to their own universe. Plots included an Earth in which the population is controlled through a lottery, an Earth where most of the males were killed by germ warfare, an Earth where dinosaurs are still alive, and an Earth in which the population have been turned into flesh-eating zombies. According to a main character Quinn, there were an infinite number of universes where different single decisions were different and even a world where the Earth formed differently and rotated around the Sun slower, slowing down that timeline.
- FuturamaFuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
has included some parallel universe episodes like "I Dated a RobotI Dated a Robot"I Dated a Robot" is the fifteenth episode in season three of Futurama. It originally aired on May 13, 2001.-Plot:After the crew sees an episode of The Scary Door, Fry decides to do all the things he always wanted to do and the Planet Express crew obliges...
" which features a universe where everyone's a cowboy/girl and "The Farnsworth ParaboxThe Farnsworth Parabox"The Farnsworth Parabox" is the fifteenth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama. It first aired June 8, 2003, as the tenth episode in the fifth broadcast season. The episode was written by Bill Odenkirk and directed by Ron Hughart.- Plot :...
" features boxes which hold a variety of universes inside them.
- Spellbinder series is about a group of teenagers who discover a gateway to a parallel universe, in which one of them becomes trapped. Its sequel "Spellbinder 2: Land of the Dragon LordSpellbinder 2: Land of the Dragon LordSpellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord is a teen, preteen and children's television series, and a sequel to Spellbinder. Both series deal with children travelling between parallel universes, although the only common characters between the two series are Ashka , and her sidekick Gryvon...
" features some of the same characters, who now have a trans dimensional "boat" with they use to travel between worlds.
- Stargate television franchiseStargateStargate is a adventure military science fiction franchise, initially conceived by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Stargate. It was originally released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco, and became a hit, grossing nearly...
(Stargate SG-1Stargate SG-1Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
, Stargate AtlantisStargate AtlantisStargate Atlantis is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off series of Stargate SG-1, which was created by Wright and Jonathan Glassner and was itself...
and Stargate UniverseStargate UniverseStargate Universe is a Canadian-American military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient spaceship Destiny many billions of light years distant from the Milky Way...
) have had several episodes dealing with parallel universes. The first had Daniel Jackson finding a mirror looking device, known as the Quantum Mirror, where by touching the "mirror" he was taken to a parallel universe in which things hadn't gone so well compared to his reality. Another episode has a Samantha Carter and a character killed off in the second episode of the show come through the mirror to request help from the show's normal reality. With the end of that show the Quantum Mirror was destroyed. The next episode, "Ripple Effect", dealing with alternate realities has a lot of different SG1 teams coming through the same Gate. The latest episode, "The Road Not Taken", had Samantha Carter travel to an alternate reality where martial law was in effect.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer and AngelAngel (TV series)Angel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon, in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
have featured both parallel universes, such as PyleaPyleaIn the fictional universe established by the television series Angel, Pylea is a world in an alternate dimension where demons are the dominant life form and humans are treated as animals to be used as beasts of burden or even food...
, and alternate realities, such as one where most of the regular cast were either dead or vampires. Also mentioned, but never seen, is the hypothetical World Without Shrimp and the confirmed-real World With Nothing But Shrimp.
- CharmedCharmedCharmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
, there exists an alternate dimension where all the evil are good and all the good are evil. The reason for this given that there has to be balance in the universe, so there can never be an area where everything is all good and one where it is all bad as this would affect the grand design of life. So for every good thing that the Charmed Ones do for good in this world, it is done for evil in another to keep things balanced. Mostly, everything occurs exactly the same way, mirroring the real world. Some differences are that all WhitelighterWhitelighterA Whitelighter is a fictional character featured on the WB television series Charmed. These beings are former human mortals who are given a second chance at life in order to serve under an angelic group known as The Elders as guardian angels for good witches and other future...
s are DarklighterDarklighterDarklighters are fictional characters in the WB television series Charmed. Darklighters are the demonic counterparts to Whitelighters, fictional guardian angels in the series.-Powers:...
s and vice versa, and that The Underworld is a Garden of EdenGarden of EdenThe Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
-like paradise. The Demon of FearBarbas (Charmed)Barbas, the Demon of Fear, is a fictional character cast as a major foe from the WB Television Network television series, Charmed...
is the Demon of Hope, and Wyatt Halliwell faces a future in which he turns good one day as opposed to one where he turns evil. Some figures, such as the morally ambiguous GideonGideon (Charmed)Gideon is a fictional character on the television show Charmed.- Character's background :Gideon is one of the most powerful Elders and is the headmaster of Magic School, an institution where young magical beings learn magic...
, remain largely similar.
- The Jimmy Timmy Power HourThe Jimmy Timmy Power HourThe Jimmy Timmy Power Hour is a Nickelodeon television film set between The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and The Fairly OddParents universes. It premiered on Nickelodeon on May 7, 2004, and after that it was released on DVD and VHS on May 11, 2004.-Summary:Timmy Turner hasn't done his...
, the main characters move back and forth from the respective universes of The Fairly OddparentsThe Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...
and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy GeniusThe Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy GeniusThe Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, often shortened to just Jimmy Neutron, is an American animated television series, and spin-off of the Academy Award-nominated computer-animated movie, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. The series first officially aired on July 20, 2002, on Nickelodeon...
.
- SmallvilleSmallville (TV series)Smallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network , premiering on October...
episode "Reckoning", Lana Lang is killed in a car crash while being chased by Lex Luthor. Clark Kent journeys to his Fortress of SolitudeFortress of SolitudeThe Fortress of Solitude is the occasional headquarters of Superman in DC Comics. Its predecessor, Superman's "Secret Citadel", first appeared in Superman #17, where it was said to be built into a mountain on the outskirts of Metropolis...
where he uses a KryptonianKrypton (comics)Krypton is a fictional planet in the DC Comics universe, and the native world of the super-heroes Superman and, in some tellings, Supergirl and Krypto the Superdog. Krypton has been portrayed consistently as having been destroyed just after Superman's flight from the planet, with exact details of...
crystal to go back in time and save Lana (creating an alternate timeline to the original events); however the universe 'finds a balance' and Clark's father Johnathan Kent dies instead. More recently, the season 10 episode "Luthor" explores a world where Clark was discovered by Lionel Luthor rather than Johnathan and Martha Kent.
- Charlie JadeCharlie JadeCharlie Jade is a science fiction television program filmed mainly in Cape Town, South Africa. It stars Jeffrey Pierce in the title role, as a detective from a parallel universe who finds himself trapped in our universe. This is a Canadian and South African co-production filmed in conjunction with...
describes 3 parallel universes: Alphaverse, Betaverse, and Gammaverse.
- Red DwarfRed DwarfRed Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
offers several humorous takes on the concept that don't involve an evil twinEvil twinThe evil twin is an antagonist found in many different fictional genres. They are physical copies of protagonists, but with radically inverted moralities. In filmed entertainment, they can have obvious physical differences with the protagonist—such as facial hair, eyepatches, scars or distinctive...
joke, including one episode where women are the dominant gender (Nellie Armstrong was the first person on the moon, and Wilma Shakespeare wrote great plays such as Rachel III and The Taming of the Shrimp), and another where Arnold Rimmer becomes the far more dashing and debonaire Ace Rimmer.
- Kamen Rider DecadeKamen Rider Decadeis the title of the first of the 2009 editions of the long-running Kamen Rider Series of tokusatsu dramas. Decade, as its title suggests, is the tenth of the Heisei Rider Series, having begun with Kamen Rider Kuuga in 2000...
, the Japanese tokusatsu show features ten parallel worlds, nine of which feature alternate versions of Kamen Riders from 2000-2008.
- The O.C.The O.C.The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
episode "The Chrismukkah-huh?", Taylor Townsend and Ryan Atwood venture into a parallel universe in which they never existed, in order to set things straight to get back to their own world.
- FringeFringe (TV series)Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
has a recurring subplot in its first season about a terrorist group called ZFT who seek to prepare 'warriors' for a coming conflict between parallel universes. The final two episodes of the season deal with recurring villain David Robert Jones attempting to travel into a parallel universe in order to kill the mysterious William Bell. Series protagonist Olivia Dunham experiences visions of this other world before traveling there and meeting Bell in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Background details show that in this universe, the White House was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks rather than the Twin Towers.
In season 2 the main plot is manage to stop warriors from the other side, the shapeshifters. At the end of the season, the 3 main characters cross to this parallel universe. A character from the other side attempt to create a machine to destroy our universe, in order to save his own world. The main character, Olivia, remains trap in the parallel universe by the end.
In season 3, in odd-numered episodes the episode takes place with Olivia, in the parallel world, while the other characters are in even-numbered episodes. In episode 8 the two story arcs collide, resulting with the end of the appearance of the parallel universe, but the upcoming war remains.
- Once Upon a TimeOnce Upon a Time (TV series)Once Upon a Time is an American fairy tale drama television series that premiered on Sunday October 23, 2011, on ABC. New episodes air Sunday nights at 8:00 pm ET/7:00 pm CT....
(Which is set to premeire in October 2011) uses a premise in which characters from various fairy tales are transported to a present-day small town called Storybrooke, Maine, where they look like normal people and have no memories of who they were, thanks to a powerful curse that was put on them by the Evil Queen from Snow White. Their pasts will play a important part in the series as the only characters who know their true identities are a bail bondsman and her son, who carries a book of fairy tales to aid them in their attempt to return them back to their fantasy worlds.
Anime
- Buraku Burondo also uses multiple dimensions (parallel universes) as part of its storyline. Most main characters all come from other universes, but end up in the same.
- DigimonDigimon, short for , is a Japanese media franchise encompassing digital toys, anime, manga and video games. The franchise's eponymous creatures are monsters of various forms living in a "Digital World", a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.-Conception and...
features an alternative perceived realityRealityIn philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
called the Digital World. The Digital WorldDigital WorldThe Digital World is a fictional universe featured in the Digimon media franchise. In Digimon anime, manga, video games, and other related merchandise, the Digital World is a parallel universe to Earth that was made from computer data originating in Earth's communication...
is created as a result of the Earth's electronic network, with everything being made up of data instead of matter. Also, certain seasons, games, and manga are set in a different parallel Earth, with its own version of a Digital World. In the second season of the series a third world was introduced near the series finale; this world was a place where the wishes and desires of the Digidestined came true, only for their ideal realities to be shattered after coming to the realization they're not real.
- Dragonball Z, there exists an alternate future timeline where the protagonist, Goku, dies of a heart disease, and without Goku to defend it, the Earth falls victim to a pair of androids who attack the Earth six months later and kill all other warriors who come to its defense. The character TrunksTrunks (Dragon Ball)is a fictional character from the Dragon Ball franchise by Akira Toriyama. Trunks is the half-Saiyan son of Vegeta, the prince of the dying race of fictional aliens called the Saiyans, and Bulma, the heiress of a massive company called Capsule Corporation...
, who lives in the terrible destruction of Earth in this timeline, travels back in time to warn Goku about his disease and to warn him about the androids. As a result of this, in the "standard" timeline, Goku never dies of the disease, and the warriors never die in battle with the androids. Also resulting from this is that there are two versions of the character Trunks - the one from the alternate future, and the one from the standard, or altered, timeline.
- Dual! Parallel Trouble AdventureDual! Parallel Trouble Adventureis a fourteen episode series created in 1999 by Masaki Kajishima and produced by AIC, both well-known for the Tenchi Muyo! franchise. It is licensed in the US by Pioneer LDC, later known as Geneon...
is based on two parallel universes that formed from a critical choice made in the past (each came from the assumption of one of two possible choices) and revolves around a protagonist able to see and later travel from one universe to the other.
- Rockman EXE Beast involves another dimension parallel to Earth named Beyondard, in which there are parallel versions of the characters in the world, where a war between the antagonists Falzer and Greiga are fighting over control, as well as the Synchronizer, Trill. Many Navis from Earth are in this world serving as the lower antagonists for the series, preferring to be called 'Zoanaroids' (strangely, many of the Zoanaroids were already deleted on Earth—a concept used by Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of ShamballaFullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballais a 2005 Japanese animated film directed by Seiji Mizushima and written by Sho Aikawa, and acts as a continuation of the first Fullmetal Alchemist television series...
), then their real name. These Navis had special forms that gave them increased strength and an altered appearance. In this world, a Navi could be materialized within Beyondard without the need of a dimensional area, due to its strange environment caused by an accident. The environment would also cause those using Cross Fusion pain while merged.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion, the final episode of the series presents the main character Shinji IkariShinji Ikariis a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise created by Hideaki Anno. The protagonist of the series , he is the Third Child and pilots the Evangelion Unit 01...
with an alternate universe, wherein the cataclysmic event Second Impact had not occurred and all the main characters live peaceful lives. This universe went on to be the basis for numerous spin-off series, including Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic DaysNeon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Daysis a manga by Fumino Hayashi based on an original story by Gainax. It is an adaptation of the video game Girlfriend of Steel 2, and dramatizes the actions of the Instrumentality from the final episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which featured the show's cast in a high school romantic comedy in...
. It is also stated in the episode that this universe was just one of many possible alternate universes.
- NoeinNoein, also known simply as Noein, is a science fiction anime television series directed by Kazuki Akane and Kenji Yasuda and produced by Satelight...
is a story comprising both of parallel universes and temporal juxtapositions; space and time are distorted (and the perception of such becomes vague), and past and future versions of characters (from different realities) co-exist in the same dimension.
- The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, a tie-in movie to the anime adaptation of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya light novels, features the world being altered by Yuki NagatoYuki Nagatois a fictional character in the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise. She is initially portrayed as an introverted, taciturn bibliophile. She is actually an artificial human created by the Data Integration Thought Entity, and possesses supernatural powers as a result...
so that the main characters who possess supernatural abilities are ordinary humans, with protagonist KyonKyonis a fictional character, protagonist and narrator of the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series and the anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, voiced by Tomokazu Sugita in the original version of the anime, and Crispin Freeman in the English dubbed edition. The name Kyon is actually a...
being the only person who was affected by the alteration.
- Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLETsubasa: Reservoir Chronicleis a shōnen manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. It takes place in the same fictional universe as many of Clamp's other manga series, most notably xxxHolic. The plot follows how Sakura, the princess of the Kingdom of Clow, loses her soul and how Syaoran, a young...
centers on a group of characters traveling through a multitude of alternate realities—essentially parallel universes—on a quest to restore someone's memories.
- Bakugan Battle BrawlersBakugan Battle Brawlersis a Japanese action adventure anime television series produced by TMS Entertainment and Japan Vistec under the direction of Mitsuo Hashimoto. The story centers on the lives of creatures called Bakugan and the battle brawlers who possess them...
- InuyashaInuYasha, also known as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on November 13, 1996 and concluded on June 18, 2008...
is a manga and anime about a young girl that travels back in time to a world full of demons and monsters by falling into a well. There, she meets a half-demon called Inuyasha.
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of ShamballaFullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballais a 2005 Japanese animated film directed by Seiji Mizushima and written by Sho Aikawa, and acts as a continuation of the first Fullmetal Alchemist television series...
depicts two worlds; our world which is well on its way to WWII, and the world of alchemy where a majority of the series' events take place.
Radio
- Fifth Dimension is a radio drama adaption of the short story, "The Plattner Story" by H. G. WellsH. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
. A chemistry teacher is accidentally thrust into a parallel world with alien inhabitants. The regular world continues to be visible, though translucent and intangible. - UndoneUndone (radio series)Undone is a radio comedy broadcast by the BBC on the digital channel BBC 7, written by and starring Ben Moor. It uses a sci-fi theme of parallel universes to poke fun at life and especially the media business in London...
is a radio comedy based on the idea of parallel versions of LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, in particular "Undone". Undone is seen as a place where weirdness is normal, while mundaneness is normal in London, with some "Leakage" between the two. There is also a third version called "Donlon", a more mundane version of London in which everything is genericGenericGeneric or Generics may refer to:* Generic mood, a grammatical mood used to make generalized statements like Snow is white* Generic antecedents, referents in linguistic contexts, which are classes...
.
Comics
Alternate/parallel universes are often used as an explanation for crossoversIntercompany crossover
In comic books, an intercompany crossover is a comic or series of comics where characters published by one company meet those published by another...
between different comic companies' characters.
- Bucky O'HareBucky O'HareBucky O'Hare is a fictional character and the hero of an eponymous comic book series as well as spin-off media including an animated TV series and various toys and video games...
, the science-fiction series is set in a parallel universe known as the Aniverse, where all inhabitants are anthropomorphic animals.
- Caste of the MetabaronsMetabaronsThe Metabarons or The Saga of The Meta-Barons is a science fantasy comic series relating the history of a dynasty of perfect warriors known as the Metabarons. The Metabarons series was written by creator Alejandro Jodorowsky and illustrated by Argentinian artist Juan Gimenez...
features two wars between our universe and alternate ones.
- DC ComicsDC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
has had three major events, the Crisis on Infinite EarthsCrisis on Infinite EarthsCrisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
, Infinite CrisisInfinite CrisisInfinite Crisis is a 2005 - 2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books...
, and Final CrisisFinal CrisisFinal Crisis is a crossover storyline that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics in 2008, primarily the seven-issue miniseries of the same name written by Grant Morrison. Originally DC announced the project as being illustrated solely by J. G. Jones; artists Carlos Pacheco, Marco Rudy and...
, which both heavily revolved around the alternate universes in the DC MultiverseMultiverse (DC Comics)The DC Multiverse is a fictional continuity construct that exists in stories published by comic book company DC Comics. The DC Multiverse consists of numerous worlds, most of them outside DC's main continuity, allowing writers the creative freedom to explore alternative versions of characters and...
. Although the Multiverse was officially destroyed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC continued to publish a number of non-continuity stories under the ElseworldsElseworldsElseworlds is the publication imprint for a group of comic books produced by DC Comics that take place outside the company's canon. According to its tagline: "In Elseworlds, heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places — some that have existed, and others...
banner, telling stories of DC characters in universes with significant differences from the main DC continuity. For example, Superman: Red SonSuperman: Red SonSuperman: Red Son is a three-issue prestige format comic book mini-series published by DC Comics that was released under their Elseworlds imprint in April 2003...
depicted a world where SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
's spaceship landed not in Kansas, but in the Soviet Union.
- ExilesExiles (Marvel Comics)The Exiles are a group of fictional characters that feature in three Marvel Comics series, Exiles, New Exiles, and Exiles vol. 2. The Exiles consists of characters from different dimensions, or realities, which have been removed from time and space in order to correct problems in various alternate...
(Marvel) details the adventures of a dimension-hopping band of superheroes from other alternate universes in the Marvel MultiverseMultiverse (Marvel Comics)Within Marvel Comics, most tales take place within the fictional Marvel Universe, which in turn is part of a larger multiverse. Starting with issues of Captain Britain, the main continuity in which most Marvel storylines take place was designated Earth-616, and the multiverse was established as...
.
- Jenny EverywhereJenny EverywhereJenny Everywhere aka "The Shifter" is an open source, public domain character. She was specifically created to be as such, when her creators could not find any other truly open source, public domain characters....
is an open sourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
webcomic character, being able to 'shift' between realities. Each universe has its own Jenny Everywhere, so she is literally everywhere (that implies other living persons being solely unique). In some stories Everywheres from different universes will meet each other.
- Jinty (comics) published Worlds Apart in 1981. Six girls find their dream worlds becoming reality after being knocked out by a mysterious gas. Each world is ruled by the respective characteristic that sets each girl apart: greed, sports-mania, vanity, crime, intellectualism, and fear.
- L'enfant penchéeL'enfant penchéeL'enfant penchée is a graphic novel by Belgian comic artists François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters, the sixth volume of their ongoing Les Cités Obscures series. It was first published in serialized form in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine À Suivre , and as a complete French volume first in 1996 by...
, the main character in François SchuitenFrançois SchuitenBaron François Schuiten is a Belgian comic book artist. He is best known for drawing the series Les Cités Obscures.-Biography:François Schuiten was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1956....
and Benoît PeetersBenoît PeetersBenoît Peeters is a comics writer, novelist, and critic. He has lived in Belgium since 1978.His best-known work is Les Cités Obscures, an imaginary world which mingles a Borgesian metaphysical surrealism with the detailed architectural vistas of the series' artist, François Schuiten...
' comic book lives on our Earth, but comes from a parallel universe. She is attached to this other universe's gravitational pull and therefore stands inclined.
- Misty (comics)Misty (comics)Misty was a British comic for girls published by Fleetway in London from 4th Feb 1978 until 1984, after merging with Tammy on 19 January 1980. It consisted of a collection of many small strips, with the stories themselves normally being three or four pages long...
published The Sentinels in 1978, whereby two apartment blocks called "The Sentinels" connect the mainstream universe with an alternate reality where the Nazis conquered Britain in 1940. The connection had people stumbling in from both universes, causing terror over mysterious disappearances and mix-ups over parallel world doubles. This culminated in the Gestapo unwittingly arresting a man from the mainstream universe and forces from both universes uniting for a rescue mission.
- Skobek Universe, which houses Toadafrog from Green Frog Studios's comics, which is connected to the actual universe through a wormhole, which is how countries like Korea, Greenland, humans, and concepts such as rock music, classical music, baseball, and the cinema come from.
- Sonic the Hedgehog comic, the Archie version features a multitude of parallel universes, the most prominent ones being the No Zone universe, where Zone cops monitor all activity within the other universes, and the Anti-Universe (AKA "Moebius"), home to Sonic's evil doppelganger Scourge the Hedgehog
- The Adventures of Luther ArkwrightThe Adventures of Luther ArkwrightThe Adventures of Luther Arkwright was a limited series comic book written and drawn by Bryan Talbot.-Publishing history:Luther Arkwright made his first appearance in the mid 1970s in "The Papist Affair", a short strip for Brainstorm Comix where Arkwright teamed up with a group of cigar-chewing...
is based around the concept of parallel universes.
- Yu-Gi-Ohs English version, "Shadow Games" happen in an alternate reality known as the "Shadow Realm".
- Zenith: Phase Three, superheroes from many parallel universes must band together to defend their worlds.
- +Anima+Animais an internationally-published ten-volume manga series by Natsumi Mukai. The story is about four kemonomimi characters — outcasts who are searching for others of their kind.- Plot :...
by Natsumi MukaiNatsumi Mukaiis the creator of the hit manga series +Anima as well as Fortune Quest L and did the story and art of Nui!.+Anima is a manga series based around four children with the powers to change into a certain animal to defend themselves. The four children, Cooro, Nana, Husky, and Senri, travel around the...
is about four anthropomorphic characters; outcasts who are searching for others of their kind. Despite its popularity, the manga ended on its tenth volume.
Games
- Dungeons & DragonsDungeons & DragonsDungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
role-playing gameRole-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
has a thoroughly developed system of planes of existencePlane (Dungeons & Dragons)The planes of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game constitutes the multiverse in which the game takes place.In the earliest versions of Dungeons & Dragons, the concept of the Inner, Ethereal, Prime Material, Astral and Outer Planes was introduced; at the time there were only four Inner Planes...
. A popular campaign settingCampaign settingA campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...
for the game, PlanescapePlanescapePlanescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Zeb Cook. The Planescape setting was published in 1994...
, centers around travelling between these planes. RavenloftRavenloftRavenloft is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. It is an alternate time-space existence known as a pocket dimension called the Demiplane of Dread, which consists of a collection of land pieces called domains brought together by a mysterious force known only as "The Dark...
, a gothic horror setting for Dungeons & Dragons, is based entirely in a single demiplane.
- GURPS Infinite WorldsGURPS Infinite WorldsGURPS Infinite Worlds is a supplement for the Fourth Edition of the GURPS role-playing game, published by Steve Jackson Games in 2005 and written by Kenneth Hite, Steve Jackson, and John M. Ford...
, a supplement for the Fourth Edition of the GURPSGURPSThe Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting...
role-playing gameRole-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
, expands upon the campaign setting of conflict between the Infinity Patrol, which is the time-travel agency on "our" Earth, referred to as Homeline, and Centrum across a multiplicity of alternate historyAlternate history (fiction)Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...
Earths. It won the 20052005 Origins Award winnersThe following are the winners of the 32nd annual Origins Award, held in 2006:-Hall of Fame inductees:* Aaron Allston* Jolly R. Blackburn* Rodger MacGowan* Dennis Mize * Mike Pondsmith* James Ernest-External links:* *...
Origins AwardOrigins AwardThe Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.The Origins Award is commonly...
as Best Game Supplement.
Computer and video games
- City of HeroesCity of HeroesCity of Heroes is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the superhero comic book genre, developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft. The game was launched in North America on April 27, 2004 and in Europe on February 4, 2005 with English, German and French language...
contains a set of levels that include many missions set in parallel universes, including one controlled by Nazis and another with evil versions of the games' well-known iconic heroes.
- Chrono CrossChrono Crossis a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
(2001), the main character must travel between two dimensions, known as "Home World" (the world from which the main character originates) and "Another World".
- Crash TwinsanityCrash TwinsanityCrash Twinsanity is an platform video game published by Vivendi Universal Games and developed by Traveller's Tales, for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. It was released in North America on October 1, 2004, in Europe on October 8, 2004 and in Japan on November 9, 2004...
, the main protagonists (Crash BandicootCrash Bandicoot (character)Crash Bandicoot, or simply Crash, is a video game character and the primary protagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. Introduced in the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot, Crash is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot that was genetically enhanced by the series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and...
and Doctor Neo CortexDoctor Neo CortexDoctor Neo Periwinkle Cortex, often referred to as "Doctor Cortex" or simply "Cortex", is a video game character and the main antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. His name is a play on the term neocortex, an area of the brain...
) travel to the mysterious 10th Dimension, where everything that is good in their dimension is evil, and vice versa.
- Final Fantasy XFinal Fantasy Xis a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth title in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 2001 for Sony's PlayStation 2, and will be re-released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2012...
, TidusTidusis a fictional character from the Final Fantasy series by Square Enix. He was first introduced as the protagonist from the console role-playing game Final Fantasy X in 2001. As the lead character, the player controls Tidus through the game, manipulating his actions through the unfolding storyline...
is transported from his hometown of Zanarkand into Spira, a land where everything is radically different to him. The other characters explain various things to him, and these explanations are actually aimed at the player. As the game progresses, he finds that Zanarkand was destroyed 1,000 years before the start of the game, and the Zanarkand he is from is a just a dream created by the Fayth, the souls of those who died when the city perished.
- Half-Life series features a number of parallel universes from which both hostile and friendly alien species originate. One inter-dimensional alien race, the CombineCombine (Half-Life 2)The Combine, also referred to as the Universal Union, is a multidimensional empire, which serves as the primary antagonistic force in the Half-Life video game series, developed by Valve Corporation. The Combine consist of alien, synthetic, and human elements and dominate Earth...
, conquers Earth and attempts to harvest and enslave humanity. Only in Half-Life and its expansion packs, however, does the player ever visit one of these parallel dimensions; the so-called 'border world', Xen.
- Lost OdysseyLost Odysseyis a console role-playing game developed by Mistwalker and feelplus and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. The player takes control of Kaim, a man who has lived for a thousand years and who has no memory of his past...
, four immortalImmortalityImmortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
protagonists, and one immortal antagonist, are sent from a parallel universe in danger of collapse to observe the game universe's residents and return after a millennium (one year in the parallel universe). The antagonist, wishing to retain his immortality, erases the others' memories and plots to destroy the link between the worlds.
- League of LegendsLeague of LegendsThe BetFred League of Legends was a darts tournament featuring some of the legends of the game of darts which commenced in May 2008. The tournament is broadcast on Setanta Sports in the United Kingdom....
, in the canon, the video game primarily takes place in a continent named Valoran in a world named Runeterra. Normally the back-stories of a few champions state about beings coming from another realm whether summoned or invited by summoners (such as a character based on AnubisAnubisAnubis is the Greek name for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu . According to the Akkadian transcription in the Amarna letters, Anubis' name was vocalized as Anapa...
named Nasus being pulled from his home planet into Runeterra) , or by beings crossing inter-dimensional rifts to arrive in Runeterra (such as void creatures crossing a space anomaly from a lost city named Icathia).
- Marathon InfinityMarathon InfinityMarathon Infinity is the third game in the Marathon Trilogy of science fiction first-person shooter computer games from Bungie Software. The game was released on October 15, 1996 and included more levels than its predecessor Marathon 2. These were larger, and formed part of a more intricate plot...
, a seemingly unstoppable creature, The W'rkncacnter, is unleashed, and the player must transport himself to different parallel realities until he finds the one in which he may prevent the release of the creature. In certain levels the player will appear before the release of the creature, and can then attempt to stop it. Every few levels, usually at the end of a chapter, the player would find himself in a surreal "dream world", in which his surroundings had little to no relation to the W'rkncacnter or even his original reality at all. It is suspected that these levels are not universes at all, but in fact a dreaming interlude before the player reaches his actual destination (this is debatable however since the player can be killed in these levels like any other). After the player succeeds in trapping the W'rkncacnter in a gigantic gravitational field, he is "freed" from the control of the artificial intelligences that had previously governed nearly every one of his objectives, and subsequently teleports to another reality, at which point the game ends. It is unknown what reality the player goes to next, but it is assumed that he is using his new freedom to explore various universes at his own leisure.
- Metroid Prime 2: EchoesMetroid Prime 2: EchoesMetroid Prime 2: Echoes, known as in Japan, is a first-person, action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube video game console. It is the seventh game in the Metroid series, a direct sequel to Metroid Prime, and the first game in the series with...
features the planet Aether, which is struck by a meteor. The strange, energetic substance (called Phazon) within the meteor, along with the force of the impact, split the planet's reality into light and dark dimensions. SamusSamus Aranis the protagonist of the Metroid video game series. Introduced in the 1986 video game Metroid, Samus is a female ex-army soldier bounty hunter usually fitted with a powered armor suit with weapons that include beams and missiles...
, the heroine, must travel between the two dimensions, transferring energy back to the light dimension before the two competing worlds destroy one another.
- Mortal Kombat seriesMortal Kombat (series)Mortal Kombat, commonly abbreviated MK, is a science fantasy series of fighting games created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. The first four renditions and their updates were developed by Midway Games and initially released on arcade machines. The arcade titles were later picked up by Acclaim...
features a massive war between realities, known as "Realms".
- MystMystMyst is a graphic adventure video game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. It was developed by Cyan , a Spokane, Washington––based studio, and published and distributed by Brøderbund. The Millers began working on Myst in and released it for the Mac OS computer on September...
, a people known as D'ni colonized Earth from another universe, and kept traveling to other universes (known as Ages) through Linking Books. According to their cosmology, each universe is a leaf of the Terokh Jeruth, the Tree of Possibilities. Myst also includes the use of Trap Books as empty universes for storing criminals, although they were later retconRetconRetroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
ned to be complete universes of their own, called Prison Ages.
- ParaWorldParaworldParaWorld is a real-time strategy PC game released on September 25, 2006. It was developed by the German company SEK , based in Berlin. The game features more than 50 prehistoric animals, especially dinosaurs and Pleistocene mammals...
is set in a parallel dimension discovered by a group of scientists in the 19th century. This new world is periodically connected to ours via natural gateways. In order to cross into that world, one must predict the exact time and location of the opening rift. ParaWorld is a world where electricity does not and cannot exist, and the word "lightning" is foreign to the natives. As such, technology has not gone beyond steam engines. Most tribes, however, prefer to utilize other means of transportation and warfare - dinosaurs. As discovered by three modern-day scientists who are trapped in ParaWorld, dinosaurs never existed on our Earth, and all the bones found by archaeologists have somehow crossed over through the portals. In ParaWorld, however, they exist alongside human tribes, some of which are similar culturally to ours (e.g. Norsemen, Dustriders (Beduins), and Dragon Clans (East Asia)).
- RuneScapeRuneScapeRuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower, and developed and published by Jagex Games Studio. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering...
has a mirror universe named ScapeRune which players can access through certain random events.
- Silent HillSilent Hillis a survival horror video game series consisting of seven installments published by Konami and its subsidiary Konami Digital Entertainment. The first four games in the series, Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, 3 and 4, have been developed by an internal factor, Team Silent...
horror video game series incorporates a concept of parallel worlds that are related to main character's emotions, memories, fears and other projections of his or her subconsciousness. The most common distinction is between the normal world (as the world is seen in reality) and the evil world (as the world is seen when it is devoured by evil powers). Characters are switching (i.e. altering) between these two worlds numerous times during the game's plot. There is a number of ways in which a character may switch between the worlds (for example, he or she may experience a pounding headache and, after this event, he or she "wakes up" in the evil world). The architecture of the evil world (also referred as an alternative world) is basically the same as the one of the normal, "real" world (for instance, a hospital in the normal world has its equivalent in the evil world). However, images of the evil world demonstrate how the real world would look like if it would be devoured by evil powers (for example, a hospital in the real world is no longer a hospital in the evil world - it is in fact a torture block full of hellish images of pain and suffering).
- Spyro the Dragon seriesSpyro the Dragon (series)Spyro the Dragon is a platform and action game series starring the video game character Spyro, which was originally published by Sony Computer Entertainment and developed by Insomniac Games for the PlayStation....
, an evil sorcerer sends all of the inhabitants of the three realms to their Shadow Realm counterparts, leaving the normal realms empty save for Spyro.
- Star Ocean: Till the End of TimeStar Ocean: Till the End of Timeis the third main game in the Star Ocean series. The game was developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2 console. It was released in Japan, North America, and the PAL territories. The original Japanese release date was in February of 2003 by Enix, its penultimate...
, the characters unknowingly live in a "video game" created by people in another universe called 4D Space. Eventually, the creators of the game see fit to reboot the game server, effectively destroying the universe in the process, however, once the process is complete, the characters find the universe as they know it intact, and all links to 4D space inaccessible. Suggesting that by destroying the universe, contact between the two planes of existence was severed, without resulting in the destruction of either plane.
- Tales of SymphoniaTales of Symphoniais a video game first released for the Nintendo GameCube and later for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. It debuted in Japan on August 29, 2003, selling 953,000 copies, in Canada and the United States on July 13, 2004, and in Europe on November 19, 2004. The game received a Japanese-only PlayStation 2...
, the two world exist next to each other without knowing of the other's existence. The two worlds unconsciously battle for control of the energy the worlds share, something like Metroid Prime 2: EchoesMetroid Prime 2: EchoesMetroid Prime 2: Echoes, known as in Japan, is a first-person, action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube video game console. It is the seventh game in the Metroid series, a direct sequel to Metroid Prime, and the first game in the series with...
, except in that game, the two sides of the war know of each others existence and the energy they must share.
- The Legend of Zelda seriesThe Legend of Zelda series, occasionally called Legend of Zelda or simply Zelda, is a high fantasy action-adventure video game series created by Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is developed and published by Nintendo, with some portable installments outsourced to Flagship/Capcom, Vanpool, and...
include alternate realities: A Link to the PastThe Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastThe Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, known as in Japan, is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console, and the third installment in The Legend of Zelda series. It was first released in Japan in 1991, and was...
and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords AdventuresThe Legend of Zelda: Four Swords AdventuresThe Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, released as in Japan, is the eleventh installment of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series. It was released for the Nintendo GameCube in Japan on March 18, 2004; in North America on June 7, 2004; in Europe on January 7, 2005; and in Australia on April...
include an alternate "Dark World" along with the normal "light" one, and Majora's MaskThe Legend of Zelda: Majora's Maskis an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on April 27, 2000, North America on October 26, 2000, and Europe on November 17, 2000. The game sold approximately 314,000 copies during its first...
is set in a parallel reality of HyruleHyruleThe fictional universe depicted in The Legend of Zelda series of video games consists of a variety of lands, the most commonly appearing of these being , and was created by Japanese video game developer Shigeru Miyamoto.-Hyrule:...
, Termina. Other games feature the same world in two different time periods. In Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess there is a Twilight Realm where Link becomes a Wolf. In Link's AwakeningThe Legend of Zelda: Link's AwakeningThe Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, known as in Japan, is a 1993 action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy...
there exists a kind of alternate universe inside the unconscious, dream state mind of the Wind Fish. There is also a parallel universe in Phantom HourglassThe Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglassis the fourteenth game in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series. It was released after The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii and before The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for the Nintendo DS...
simply called the "World of the Ocean King" by the spirits.
- The Longest JourneyThe Longest JourneyThe Longest Journey is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Norwegian studio Funcom for the PC. First published by IQ Media Nordic in Norway in 1999, it was later localized for and released in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain, Denmark,...
features a story about two parallel universes, Stark and Arcadia. Stark is a futuristic universe with cyberpunk influences, while Arcadia is a fantastic medieval world.
- Ultima OnlineUltima OnlineUltima Online is a graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game , released on September 24, 1997, by Origin Systems. It was instrumental to the development of the genre, and is still running today...
used the parallel universe concept to rationalize the existence of multiple instances of the game world (called "shardShardShard may refer to:* Sherd, a piece of glass, pottery or stone, e.g. sea glass* Elytron, a forewing found on some insect species* Shard London Bridge, a supertall skyscraper under construction in London, UK...
s"), so that players could be partitioned onto multiple servers for capacity reasons.
See also
- Parallel universe (fiction)Parallel universe (fiction)A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
- Multiverse (science)Multiverse (science)The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise everything that exists and can exist: the entirety of space, time, matter, and energy as well as the physical laws and constants that describe them...
- Alternate futureAlternate futureIn science fiction stories involving time travel, an alternative future or alternate future is a possible future which never comes to pass, typically because someone travels back into the past and alters it so that the events of the alternative future cannot occur.An alternative future differs from...
- Alternate historyAlternate history (fiction)Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...
- Alternative universe (fan fiction)Alternative universe (fan fiction)An alternative universe , commonly abbreviated as AU, is a type or form of in which canonical facts of setting or characterization in the universe being explored or written about are deliberately changed.Stories that fall into this definition are usually what-ifs, where possibilities arising from...
- Fantasy worldFantasy worldA fantasy world is a fictional universe used in fantasy novels and games. Typical worlds involve magic or magical abilities and often, but not always, either a medieval or futuristic theme...
- Fictional universeFictional universeA fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
- Imaginary world