15 Times TV Sent Us to an Alternate Reality

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TV characters have fantasies, too. Or, maybe just nightmares. Or, maybe they just need to be shown the reality of the "what if..." question they just asked.

What if dogs ruled the earth? What if Superman never existed?

While we don't have the luxury of living in an alternate reality (even though sometimes we might want to), our favorite TV characters can and have.

Check out our list of times TV has taken us to an alternate reality.  

Which is your favorite? What trip did we forget to include? What alternate reality would you like to visit? Let us know in the comments below!

 

 

1. Shadowhunters - "This World Inverted"

During their hunt for Valentine, Clary and Jace get a tip from Meliorn about an alternate dimension. Clary dives right in and finds herself in a world where Valentine is a super duper kind of guy and Izzy and Simon are adorably nerdy. Demons don't exist here and neither do Shadowhunters. Oh, and Magnus is really into Mr. Rogers'-type sweaters.

2. Supernatural - "What is and What Should Never Be"

What if Mary Winchester had never died? Life wouldn't be much fun without Sam and Dean and their monster hunting, that's for sure. In the episode, Dean is taken hostage by a djinn who feeds off his blood while sending him in a dream state where monster hunting doesn't rule the Winchester family. Never have we seen someone so happy to be cutting a lawn.

3. Castle - "The Time of Our Lives"

Imagine a life with no Caskett. Who can bear the thought? But, what would happen if Beckett and Castle never met? In this alternate reality hour, Castle never wrote the Nikki Heat books, because, duh, he never met Kate and squandered the rest of his fortune, Alexis is living with her mother, and everything else we loved was completely messed up.

Luckily, Castle found his way back to reality, and by the end of the epiosde we got ourselves a wedding.

4. Star Trek - "Mirror, Mirror"

Science fiction meets science fiction in this episode of Star Trek that finds Kirk, McCoy, Uhura and Scotty in an alternate universe after a transporter malfunction. They've landed on the Imperial Starship Enterprise which is part of the evil Galatic Empire and features a bearded Spock.

5. Twilight Zone - "The Parallel"

Something's not quite right in astronaut Robert Gaines' world when he returns home from a space trip in this 1963 episode. Sure, he's still married to the same woman and has the same daughter, but he now lives in a house with pretty white picket fence and he's a corporal. With no recollection of how he landed on this alternate universe, he just knows he needs to get home and eventually he does.

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - "The Wish"

What would happen if Buffy never made it to Sunnydale? Well, duh. It would be overcome with vampires, of course! Cordelia's wish comes true after she expresses it to a demon (unbeknownst to her,) and the world goes awry. Luckily, Giles figures it all out and soon the world returns to the way it should be!

7. Fringe

Threats are everywhere, including from alternate universes. Agent Olivia Dunham becomes part of the FBI's Fringe Division and is tasked with saving us from these threats.

8. Family Guy - "Road to the Multiverse"

Not surprisingly, Stewie has a remote control that takes him and Brian on a trippy ride to various alternate universes, including one where the Griffin's live in a Disney version. Eventually they end up in a universe where dogs rule. Brian doesn't want to leave and breaks the remote seemingly forcing them to stay, at least for a bit before heading back to reality.

9. Awake

After a car accident, a detective lives in two realities: one where his wife survived and the other where his son survived. He solves crimes in both realities in order to keep them both of them alive. The series aired for one season on NBC.

10. The O.C. - "Christmukk-huh?"

Ryan and Taylor get injured while putting up Christmas decorations and in their dream state we enter an alternate reality where Ryan doesn't exist.

11. Friends - "The One That Could Have Been"

A two-part "what if" episode that sends us to an alternate reality when Rachel learns that her ex is getting divorced and she wonders outloud what life would have been like had she married the guy. This causes all the other friends to have what-if moments of their own, including one where Monica imagines a world where she is overweight.

12. The Man in the High Castle

What would life in the U.S. be like if the Nazi's won World War II? This question is pondered on this netflix original series based on Phlip K. Dick's Hugo Award-winning novel of the same name. Set in 1962, 17 years after the War ended, it shows us an America divided with Japan controlling the west, Germany controlling the east, and a "neutral" zone right down the middle. Scary stuff, indeed.

13. Smallville- "Apocalypse"

We would imagine every superhero has their doubts, and Superman is no different. When Clark wonders if the world would have been a better place without him, Jor-El shows him how horrible life on earth would be without him.

14. Xena: Warrior Princess - "Remember Nothing"

If you were given the choice to change your past would you? How would that affect your present and future? Xena is given that gift when she wishes she was never a warrior princess, but soon realizes she must return to her former life.

15. Roseanne

It was the twist of all television twists when in the show's series finale it's revealed that we were witnessing Roseanne's alternate reality all along...she was writing a book, and everything we thought was real wasn't really real at all.

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