Pop Culture Examples List

 

Okay, I will search for examples of "anomaly" across various fictional media, focusing specifically on cosmic, dimension, time, space, void, and wormhole themes. I will follow the structure you provided, aiming for at least 12 examples per category where feasible, listed chronologically.

Here are the results:

 TV Shows (Live-Action)

1. The Twilight Zone (Original Series) (1959) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Frequently features reality-bending anomalies, spatial distortions, and time loops presented as inexplicable breaks from normalcy (e.g., "The Odyssey of Flight 33" features time displacement).
2. Doctor Who (Classic & Modern) (1963 - Present) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The TARDIS travels through the Time Vortex, encountering numerous fixed points, paradoxes, spatial rifts, temporal anomalies (like the Reapers), and dimensional instabilities created by events like the Time War. Cracks in time were a major anomaly/plot point.
3. Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) - Source: Fandom, IMDb - Encountered various spatial anomalies, energy fields, and distortions in spacetime that defied known physics, often posing dangers or causing strange effects on the crew and ship (e.g., spatial rifts, negative space wedgies).
4. Blake's 7 (1978) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Features travel through hazardous space often containing spatial anomalies, gravitational distortions, and unknown phenomena deviating from standard space conditions.
5. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) - Source: Fandom, IMDb - Explored numerous temporal anomalies (causality loops like in "Cause and Effect"), spatial rifts (leading to fluidic space), subspace phenomena, and wormholes (like the Bajoran wormhole, a stable anomaly).
6. Quantum Leap (1989) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - The premise involves Sam Beckett uncontrollably leaping through time due to an experiment gone wrong, embodying a personal temporal anomaly.
7. Twin Peaks (1990) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Features the Black Lodge, an extradimensional space operating outside normal time and physics, acting as a recurring dimensional anomaly.
8. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) - Source: Fandom, IMDb - Centered around the discovery and strategic importance of the Bajoran Wormhole, a stable spatial anomaly connecting the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants, inhabited by non-linear beings.
9. The X-Files (1993) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Investigated various phenomena including spacetime distortions, time slips, and extradimensional entities presented as unexplained anomalies challenging conventional science.
10. Star Trek: Voyager (1995) - Source: Fandom, IMDb - The ship's journey home involved navigating numerous spatial anomalies, temporal distortions, chaotic space regions (like the Nekrit Expanse), and encounters with extradimensionals.
11. Stargate SG-1 (1997) - Source: Fandom, IMDb - Utilized the Stargate network, an ancient technology creating artificial, albeit temporary, wormholes for interstellar travel. Also encountered natural spatial anomalies, time-dilation fields, and extradimensional beings.
12. Farscape (1999) - Source: Fandom, IMDb - John Crichton is flung across the universe via an unexpected wormhole, and later gains innate knowledge of wormhole physics, treating them as navigable, sometimes unpredictable anomalies.
13. Lost (2004) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The Island itself is a massive spatio-temporal anomaly with unique electromagnetic properties, causing time shifts, flashes, and containing pockets of energy that defy physics.
14. Fringe (2008) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Investigates "Pattern" events often involving dimensional breaches, reality warping, temporal paradoxes, and unstable soft spots between parallel universes, treated as scientific anomalies.
15. Dark (2017) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - Explores complex temporal anomalies, paradoxes, and causality loops centered around cave passages that function as wormholes connecting different time periods.
16. The OA (2016) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - Deals with interdimensional travel and near-death experiences that open pathways to other realities, suggesting dimensional boundaries are anomalous and potentially traversable.

Anime/Cartoons

1. Getter Robo (1974) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Features Getter Rays, an anomalous energy source enabling advanced technology, potentially linked to cosmic/evolutionary forces beyond full understanding.
2. Space Battleship Yamato / Star Blazers (1974) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The Yamato navigates diverse and often hazardous cosmic phenomena, including space storms and warps that function as spatial anomalies during its journey.
3. Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Features Angels, beings of unknown origin often phase-shifting or existing in ways that defy conventional physics, alongside reality-warping events like Third Impact, representing cosmic-level anomalies.
4. Cowboy Bebop (1998) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Hyperspace gates form a network for travel, but instability (like the Astral Gate accident) can cause massive destruction, highlighting the danger of artificially controlled spatial anomalies.
5. Digimon Adventure (specifically related to the Digital World) (1999) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The Digital World exists in a separate dimension linked to Earth's communications network, with time flowing differently and distortions sometimes occurring between the realms, acting as a dimensional anomaly.
6. FLCL (Fooly Cooly) (2000) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Features "N.O. channels" which act as hyperspace conduits/anomalies, allowing giant robots and other objects to emerge from characters' foreheads in surreal, physics-defying ways.
7. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Haruhi unconsciously creates "closed space," pocket dimensions reflecting her mood, which are significant spatial anomalies investigated by the SOS Brigade.
8. Gurren Lagann (2007) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Spiral Power allows for physics-defying feats, culminating in battles that manipulate probability, space-time, and dimensions, treating universal laws as malleable anomalies.
9. Steins;Gate (2011) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Centers on the manipulation of time via "D-Mails" and time leaps, creating diverging worldlines (Attractor Fields) and dealing with temporal paradoxes and convergence points as anomalies within causality.
10. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (2011) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Features "Witch Barriers," labyrinthine pocket dimensions created by Witches, representing spatial anomalies born from despair, existing outside normal reality.
11. Space Dandy (2014) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The crew hunts rare aliens across a universe filled with bizarre spatial anomalies, dimensional rifts, wormholes, and planets operating under unique, often nonsensical physical laws.
12. Rick and Morty (2013) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Constantly features interdimensional travel via portal gun, encountering countless alternate realities, cosmic entities, and physics-breaking phenomena presented as commonplace anomalies within the multiverse.
13. Gravity Falls (2012) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The town of Gravity Falls is a nexus of paranormal activity and anomalies, including dimensional rifts (leading to Bill Cipher's Weirdmageddon), unstable portals, and creatures defying natural laws.
14. Infinity Train (2019) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The train itself is an enigmatic, seemingly infinite dimension or anomaly that appears to beings undergoing emotional turmoil, composed of countless pocket-universe cars with unique rules.

c. Video Games

1. Chrono Trigger (1995) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Features temporal "Gates" created by an external entity (Lavos) or specific events, allowing travel through time, representing anomalies in the normal flow of history.
2. Half-Life (1998) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The "Resonance Cascade" creates dimensional rifts (portals storms) linking Earth to the borderworld Xen, an unstable interdimensional anomaly.
3. Planescape: Torment (1999) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Set in the Planescape multiverse, travel between planes often involves natural portals or conduits, representing stable dimensional anomalies connecting fundamentally different realities.
4. System Shock 2 (1999) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Encounters reality-warping effects and psionic phenomena caused by The Many, blurring the lines of space and sanity aboard the Von Braun, including faster-than-light travel anomalies.
5. Half-Life 2 (2004) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Continues the theme with unstable Combine portals, teleportation anomalies, and the lingering effects of the Resonance Cascade disrupting local physics.
6. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (2007) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The Zone is filled with dangerous "Anomalies," localized physics distortions (gravitational, electrical, chemical) resulting from the Chernobyl disaster, creating valuable but deadly "Artifacts."
7. Portal (2007) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The Portal Gun creates localized, artificial wormholes connecting two points in space, allowing for instantaneous travel and physics manipulation, a controlled spatial anomaly.
8. Mass Effect series (2007) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Features the Mass Relay network for FTL travel (stable anomalies), alongside hazardous spatial anomalies, dark energy phenomena, gravitational distortions, and encounters with extradimensional Reapers.
9. Dead Space (2008) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The Markers are alien artifacts that induce dementia and create Necromorphs, but also seem linked to broader cosmic/dimensional phenomena hinted at as reality-warping anomalies. ShockPoint Drives create micro-wormholes for FTL.
10. BioShock Infinite (2013) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Features "Tears," interdimensional rifts allowing glimpses and passage into alternate realities, representing anomalies in the space-time continuum exploited by Elizabeth.
11. Control (2019) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The Oldest House is a shifting dimensional nexus ("Place of Power") filled with Objects of Power and Altered World Events, which are essentially contained anomalies that warp reality according to paranormal rules.
12. Outer Wilds (2019) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Features a solar system caught in a 22-minute time loop anomaly, numerous quantum objects behaving unpredictably, black holes, white holes, and remnants of advanced Nomai tech manipulating spacetime.
13. Returnal (2021) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Selene is trapped in a time loop anomaly on the alien planet Atropos, where environments shift and reality distorts with each cycle.
14. Destiny series (2014) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Features paracausal powers (Light and Darkness) that defy standard physics, Taken incursions from other dimensions, Vex manipulation of time, wormhole-like Ascendant portals, and vast cosmic anomalies related to god-like entities.

Movies

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - The Monoliths represent unexplained cosmic anomalies, guiding evolution and ultimately transporting Bowman through a stargate sequence – a visual representation of a spatio-temporal anomaly.
2. Solaris (1972 / 2002) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - The planet Solaris is a sentient ocean that manifests physical duplicates of the crew's memories, acting as a massive, reality-bending psychological anomaly.
3. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The Millennium Falcon hides in an asteroid field cave which turns out to be the inside of a space slug (Exogorth), a biological spatial anomaly. Hyperspace travel itself involves traversing an alternate dimension.
4. The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - Based on the legend, depicts a military experiment causing a ship to become invisible and creating a temporal/spatial anomaly linking 1943 and 1984.
5. Event Horizon (1997) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - A starship's experimental gravity drive created a rift in spacetime, exposing it to a chaotic, malevolent dimension, turning the ship itself into a haunted spatial anomaly.
6. Contact (1997) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - An alien civilization provides plans for a machine that generates a stable wormhole, allowing Ellie Arroway to travel across interstellar distances, encountering cosmic phenomena.
7. Dark City (1998) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - A city exists in perpetual darkness on a massive space habitat where aliens ("Strangers") experiment on humans by altering reality and memories nightly, a contained environmental anomaly.
8. The Matrix (1999) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - "Glitches" (like déjà vu) are described as anomalies within the simulated reality indicating changes made by the system. Neo himself is referred to as "The Anomaly."
9. Donnie Darko (2001) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - Involves a stable time loop, tangent universes, and предназменачение (predestination paradoxes), centering around a jet engine falling from an anomalous tangent universe.
10. Primer (2004) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - Accidental discovery leads to the creation of a machine enabling limited time travel, resulting in complex causal loops, paradoxes, and temporal anomalies as timelines fracture.
11. Interstellar (2014) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - Features a traversable wormhole near Saturn (placed by future humans), time dilation near a black hole (Gargantua), and culminates in Coop entering the Tesseract, a higher-dimensional construct existing within the black hole's singularity – a massive spatio-temporal anomaly.
12. Arrival (2016) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - Alien Heptapods perceive time non-linearly, and by learning their language, humans begin experiencing time in an anomalous, non-sequential way. Their ships represent advanced technological anomalies.
13. Annihilation (2018) - Source: Wikipedia, IMDb - "The Shimmer" is an expanding, iridescent field created by an extraterrestrial entity, refracting DNA and physics within its borders, creating biological and spatial anomalies.
14. Doctor Strange (2016) & Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Feature manipulation of dimensions (Mirror Dimension, Dark Dimension), time (Eye of Agamotto), and travel between parallel universes (the Multiverse), all presented as magical, reality-bending anomalies.

 

Comics

1. Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics) (1961 - Present) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Regularly encounter cosmic entities (Galactus, Celestials), dimensional rifts (Negative Zone), and space-time anomalies during their explorations.
2. Doctor Strange (Marvel Comics) (1963 - Present) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Master of the Mystic Arts deals constantly with extra-dimensional threats, tears in reality, magical anomalies, and cosmic beings operating outside normal physical laws.
3. Green Lantern (DC Comics) (1940 - Present, modern concepts mostly post-1959) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Patrols space sectors, often dealing with spatial rifts, wormholes (both natural and technologically created), threats from anti-matter universes (Qward), and cosmic anomalies threatening stability.
4. Silver Surfer (Marvel Comics) (1966 - Present) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Travels the spaceways encountering bizarre alien worlds, cosmic phenomena, black holes, beings existing outside time, and reality-warping events tied to cosmic entities.
5. Legion of Super-Heroes (DC Comics) (1958 - Present) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Future setting involves advanced space travel, time travel paradoxes (major plot points), encounters with beings from other dimensions/times, and universe-altering Crisis events often presented as anomalies.
6. Adam Warlock (Marvel Comics) (1967 - Present) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - His story involves cosmic quests, the Soul Gem (containing a pocket dimension), battles against entities like Magus (often involving time/reality anomalies), and the Infinity Gauntlet's reality warping.
7. Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC Comics) (1985) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - The Anti-Monitor's entropy wave destroying parallel universes represents a multiverse-level destructive anomaly threatening all existence.
8. Watchmen (1986) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Doctor Manhattan's existence itself is an anomaly; his quantum nature allows him to perceive time non-linearly and manipulate matter, operating outside conventional physics.
9. The Sandman (Vertigo/DC Comics) (1989) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Deals with the Endless, anthropomorphic personifications of concepts like Dream, Death, Destiny. Their realms (like The Dreaming) exist outside normal space-time, representing fundamental conceptual anomalies.
10. Transmetropolitan (Vertigo/DC Comics) (1997) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - While primarily cyberpunk, it features advanced future tech sometimes causing temporal/spatial side effects, info-cults worshipping data phenomena, and societal weirdness presented almost as informational anomalies.
11. Planetary (WildStorm/DC Comics) (1998) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - "Archaeologists of the Impossible" investigate the secret history of the 20th century, uncovering dimensional incursions, alternate realities, time distortions, and strange physics as hidden anomalies.
12. Saga (Image Comics) (2012 - Present) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Set in a galaxy filled with bizarre planets, magic coexisting with technology, and travel that sometimes involves navigating strange cosmic phenomena or dimensions (like the Timesuck).

Books

1. H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos (various stories) (Primarily 1920s-1930s) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Features Great Old Ones and Outer Gods from beyond space and time (like Yog-Sothoth, who is the gate), non-Euclidean geometry in alien cities (R'lyeh), and entities whose very existence is an anomaly to human understanding.
2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (1962) - Source: Wikipedia - Introduces the concept of the "tesseract," a fifth-dimensional means of folding space for instantaneous travel, presented as a geometric/spatial anomaly.
3. Dune by Frank Herbert (1965) - Source: Fandom, Wikipedia - Guild Navigators use spice melange to navigate folded space for FTL travel, perceiving safe paths through what would otherwise be hazardous spatial anomalies. Prescience allows seeing through time's anomalies.
4. Ringworld by Larry Niven (1970) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - The Ringworld itself is a massive artificial construct defying conventional planetary formation. The novel also features stasis fields (temporal anomalies) and variable sword tech.
5. Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (1972) - Source: Wikipedia - Centers on "The Zone," an area contaminated by alien artifacts exhibiting bizarre and dangerous physical properties (anomalies) leftover from a brief extraterrestrial visit. This inspired the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.
6. Gateway by Frederik Pohl (1977) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Humanity discovers an asteroid full of functional alien Heechee ships pre-programmed to travel to destinations via FTL, often encountering unknown cosmic anomalies, making trips a dangerous gamble.
7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Features the Infinite Improbability Drive, which travels instantaneously by jumping through every conceivable point in the universe simultaneously, a humorously extreme spatio-temporal anomaly. Wormholes and bizarre cosmic events are common.
8. Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons (1989 onwards) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Features the Farcaster network (wormholes), the terrifying Shrike (which manipulates time and space), mysterious Time Tombs moving backward through time, and vast cosmic entities, all forms of anomalies.
9. Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks (1990) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Part of the Culture series, which features hyperspace/ultra-space travel, Minds (hyper-intelligent AIs capable of manipulating spacetime), orbitals, and encounters with bizarre cosmic phenomena and civilizations existing in different dimensional strata.
10. Permutation City by Greg Egan (1994) - Source: Wikipedia - Explores digital realities ("Copies") and the concept that consciousness can exist within simulated physics, leading to anomalies where the simulation's rules diverge or allow manipulation of virtual time and space.
11. Blindsight by Peter Watts (2006) - Source: Wikipedia - Humanity encounters an alien intelligence that is non-conscious but highly intelligent, representing a profound biological and cognitive anomaly. The mission involves navigating complex orbital mechanics and relativistic effects near a brown dwarf.
12. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000) - Source: Wikipedia - A house is discovered to be internally larger than its external dimensions, containing a shifting, impossibly vast, dark labyrinth – a localized spatial anomaly.
13. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (2008) - Source: Wikipedia, Fandom - Features Trisolarans from a chaotic three-star system (a gravitational anomaly), sophons (proton-sized supercomputers capable of dimension manipulation and real-time communication across lightyears), and later books explore pocket universes and manipulation of cosmic laws.
14. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015) - Source: Wikipedia - While focused on uplifted spiders, it involves relativistic interstellar travel, hibernation across millennia, and the eventual discovery of ancient, reality-adjacent alien technology representing anomalies beyond human understanding.