Alternate Timeline: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''[[The Spock|Spock]]''': You are assuming that [[Big Bad|Nero]] knows how events are predicted to unfold. The contrary - Nero's very presence - has altered the flow of history...thereby creating an entire new chain of incidents that cannot be anticipated by either party.
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'''Spock''': Precisely. Whatever our lives might have been, if the time continuum was disrupted, our destinies have changed.|''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]''}}
A specific type of [[Alternate Continuity]] in which the two continuities diverged off from a previous installment in the franchise. The two continuities are mutually exclusive, but both [[Canon]]. They share identical backstory, but the outcomes of the story in either continuity may turn out very differently. Often caused by [[Time Travel]]. Unlike plain vanilla [[Alternate Continuity]], these kinds of timelines do not necessarily happen due to [[Adaptation Decay]] or [[Adaptation Distillation]] in moving from medium to medium, but were often chosen deliberately by creators to take a franchise in a new direction while preserving the original material. This can oftentimes prevent a [[Dork Age]]. Didn't like that last installment? It was in an
The most obvious difference between an
{{examples}}
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* The finales of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' and ''[[The End of Evangelion]]'' (arguably) diverge at Episode 25. ("Arguably", because in the opinions of some fans, they merely present the same events from different points of views.)
** ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'', meanwhile, diverges quite considerably from [[The Original Series]]. It's especially notable in the second movie, but it starts a good deal before.
* ''[[Dragon Ball]] Z'' has at least three of these, where the divergences were Future Trunks and Cell time traveling. As a result, Trunks can't actually [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]] - but he can stop it from happening elsewhere, then take the skills he's gained back to his own timeline and curb-stomp the enemies he used to be powerless against. Both fans and official guidebooks have also speculated on the existence of a fourth timeline. According to Cell, he killed Trunks and stole his time machine because Trunks destroyed the androids Cell was supposed to absorb. Since the Future Trunks that the series focuses on knew when Cell would appear to kill him, the Trunks who was permanently killed and had this time machine stolen must have visited a timeline where Goku didn't die of a heart disease, but Cell never surfaced and the androids were presumably defeated somehow. The most accepted theory was laid out in one of the guidebooks, that Bulma built a remote control that was used to defeat the androids there and that Trunks took it back to his world to use there,
* [[Pokémon Special]], when [[Deus Ex Machina|Celebi]] sends [[The Dandy|Ruby]] and [[Wild Child|Sapphire]] to another timeline where Norman, Courtney, and Steven are still alive. This creates one timeline where everyone is alive, and another where [[Fridge Horror|Ruby, Sapphire, Norman, Steven, and Courtney are dead and nothing is left that can stop the end of the world]].
* ''[[Mirai Nikki]]: Paradox''. It actually turns out the be very important to the main timeline in the last chapter, however.
* The ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As Portable]]'' [[Video Game|game]] series splits off from the main ''[[Lyrical Nanoha]]'' continuity at the end of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As]]''. Here, {{spoiler|Reinforce Eins}} does not perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], causing [[Humanoid Abomination]] [[Evil Twin
* [[Fullmetal Alchemist]] did this. The first [[Anime]] took its own storyline when it [[Overtook the Manga]].
* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' shows that there is at least {{spoiler|five (and it is implied that MANY more occured offscreen)}} of these as a result of {{spoiler|Homura Akemi trying to [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]}}.
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* The ''[[Godzilla]]'' series has done this several times to the point where each of the movies from Godzilla 2000 and onward (with the exception of the two with Mechagodzilla) are their own continuity branching off from the original.
* In ''[[Triangle]]'' Jess gets stuck in a [[Groundhog Day Loop]] of her co-passengers getting killed by a masked killer. The first Jess tries to break the chain by meeting the Jess from the next loop. This creates a new timeline where the other passengers died differently by getting killed by a different masked killer. {{spoiler|Subverted in that the two timelines play off at the same time and each influence each other. For example the new timeline eventually causes the second Jess to have her own story, which we don't see, where she eventually killed some of the passengers as the second masked killer which eventually made the first Jess turn into the first masked killer}}
* In ''[[Sliding Doors]]'', the movie shows two
* It's almost certain that there are two continuities in the original [[Planet of the Apes]] franchise. The first is the continuity that led to the society of the original film, possibly as described by Cornelius to the committe in ''Escape''. The second is the altered continuity that the birth of their son, Caesar, sparked. It appears that the ape revolution was greatly sped up with his arrival. However, fans are split as to whether the continuities ultimately re-merge when history reaches the point where the original film was set, and humans will again end up mute wild animals and the world destroyed by the Alpha-Omega bomb or whether history was changed for good by the end of 'Battle' and Caesar forged a new future. The editing of 'Battle' didn't help things, the theatrical release had a hopeful tone, but the unedited version on most DVD releases clearly sets up the beginnings of the mutant society of 'Beneath'. The TV series likely exists in one of these continuities somewhere, while the animated series, Planet 2001 don't, and and Rise may or may not. 'Rise' is a [[Continuity Reboot]], but there have been statements by the [[PT Bs]] contradicting that and painting it as a prequel as well.
* The alternate timeline (and preventing it) make up about half of the plot of [[Back to The Future|Back to the Future Part II]].
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** Well, for a series with that much [[Time Travel]], it's a wonder it didn't develop [[Alternate Continuity|alternate continuities]] sooner.
* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Eureka]]'', where Henry explains to Sheriff Carter ''exactly'' why they can't accurately predict the future after {{spoiler|hitting the [[Reset Button]] on the past five years to undo Henry meddling to keep his wife from dying in the past}}, since the differing actions alone will cause a [[Ripple Effect]] to make the timelines gradually diverge. And then something different happens.
** It should be noted that [[Eureka]] has now gotten ''two''
* The ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' episode ''Bowling'' played with this, the divergence being which parent took the kids bowling instead of staying at home. The conclusion?
{{quote|'''Lois''' / '''Hal''': "Next time, you take 'em."}}
* ''[[Frasier]]'' did an episode that was in fact inspired by the movie ''[[Sliding Doors]]''.
* The fourth season of ''[[Fringe]]'' takes place in an
** It's also worth noting that, according to the time-sensitive Observers, the first three seasons ''already'' took place in an
* The ''[[Community]]'' episode "Remedial Chaos Theory" explores 6 alternate timelines, each different depending on which number Jeff rolls on the Yatzee die. We then see the main timeline, which is {{spoiler|where Abed catches the die instead of letting it roll.}}
* The ''[[Scrubs]]'' episode ''My Butterfly'', where the cast explored what different events resulted from a butterfly landing on an attractive woman's chest or alternatively, an unattractive man's chest.
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