History Main / WhyAmITicking

** Cassandra in ''Series/StargateSG1''. Done to Ry'ac, Teal'c's son by the BigBad in yet another effort to wipe out Earth, even if it was a virus bomb instead of a nuclear bomb. Also, Teal'c plants an explosive in an enemy Jaffa's symbiote pouch when he's on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

** And the infamous "tumor bombs" of the ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode "[[Recap/StargateAtlantisS03E17Sunday Sunday]]", in which malicious alien biotechnology causes some {{red shirt}}s to become afflicted with... yeah. Sheppard and [=McCay=] both lampshade the ridiculousness of their situation. It's mainly a plot device to allow Beckett to perform a heroic surgery [[spoiler:as his final act before getting killed off by the bio-bomb, though he does save the patient]].

** In ''[[Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth Children of Earth]]'', [[spoiler:the bad guys kill Jack, surgically implant a bomb into his stomach, and then set him free once he comes back to life to re-enter the Hub. The team gets all of two minutes warning before Jack blows up into itty bitty pieces, taking out the entire base.]]

* In ''Series/TheFerals'', Rattus believes he's swallowed a bomb that some terrorists planted in the cake factory Joe works in. (Joe had brought a pile of them home, but Rattus convinced a sleepwalking Derryn to steal them and scoffed the lot.) [[spoiler:It turns out that Rattus swallowed Joe's watch, which had been left beside the cakes... but then Derryn, sleepwalking again, shows up with the real bomb moments later.]]

* Riddick in ''WesternAnimation/DarkFury'' has a small bomb implanted into his neck. During the big fight scene he ''cuts it out with a knife and throws the activated bomb at his captors''. Bad ass.
* In the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox'', the Rogues manage to capture Flash inside the Flash Museum. Zoom details his plans.

** Fortunately for them, the Justice League arrives and disarms the bombs.
* A unique variant in the "Stink Bomb" story of the movie ''Anime/{{Memories}}'': a hapless employee at a pharmaceutical company accidentally ingests some funny red-and-blue capsules (instead of the blue-and-red ones that would have cured his flu.) As a result, he constantly emits from his sweat glands a ''HIGHLY'' toxic gas that can kill any animal instantly and short out electronics. Worse, its range, toxicity and density increase as he gets more stressed out, which is kind of a problem when the Japanese Self Defense Force and the American military send whole fleets to catch him. He doesn't catch on that there's anything wrong with him until literally the final second of the story.

* Happens in one of the later seasons of ''Series/{{Alias}}'', when Will is abducted and has a small bomb implanted in his head. Neither he nor Sydney realize the bomb is there until it starts ticking, making this trope quite literal.
* In the Season 5 premiere of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Wolfram & Hart's client threatens to detonate a virus bomb hidden somewhere in L.A.; it turns out to be inside the client's own son.
** Illyria was also one of these in a later episode.
* ''Series/CaptainPowerAndTheSoldiersOfTheFuture'' had a rare ''heroic'' example of this. When confronted with a questionable ally, Power locked an explosive cuff on him and informed him that it would be detonated if he tried to run or turn traitor. No surprise the series was produced by JMS.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks "Victory of the Daleks"]] gives us [[spoiler:Professor Edwin Bracewell, who was [[RoboticReveal created by the Daleks]] to back up their proof of them being his "creations". The Daleks also created Bracewell as a bomb, should things start to go wrong. Thankfully, the PowerOfLove manages to stop him from detonating.]]
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]]: Alien headhunter Tzim-Sha has his data coil implant DNA bombs in the Doctor and her new friends as a means of eliminating them as witnesses. During the final showdown with the Doctor, he activates them, only to discover that the Doctor removed them earlier and tricked him into absorbing them into himself when he interacted with the data coil.
* One episode of ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'' featured Nikita interrogating a captured informant, who had information about the identity of a suicide bomber with a bomb implanted inside their body, sent to destroy the agency. Nikita develops a bond with the informant, but eventually realizes that the informant herself ''is'' the suicide bomber, when a brain-scan shows a reaction when she looks at a reflection of herself in a computer monitor. The agency then seals the informant up in a metal blast coffin to die alone in the dark, while Nikita looks on.
* Ratus of ''Series/TheFerals'' gets this after gorging himself on cakes from a factory later discovered to have been targeted by terrorists. They were certainly more innocent times.
* In Season Four Episode Two of ''Series/TheFlash2014'' titled [[Recap/TheFlash2014S4E2MixedSignals "Mixed Signals"]], the villain of the episode, Ramsey Deacon, traps Barry in his now tech enhanced suit and sets off the Babble Protocol, a self destruct device put in place by Cisco.

* ''Series/GetSmart''. This trope happens literally when KAOS agents plant a bomb in android Hymie, then send him to a CONTROL conference. The bomb is revealed when Hymie steps up to the microphone to give a speech.
-->'''Max''': Hymie, what's that ticking noise?\\
'''Hymie''': It's a bomb, Max.\\
'''Max''': A BOMB? Why didn't you tell me?\\
'''Hymie''': I didn't want to alarm you, Max.

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}''

* In an episode of ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger''[[note]]specifically, the debut episode of the SixthRanger[[/note]], the MonsterOfTheWeek wears a collar that provides him with a BeehiveBarrier. After the Gokaigers discover its [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]], TheEvilPrince fits the collar with a bomb in the hopes that it'll kill the Gokaiger. Also qualifies as ShootTheDog (or [[MoralEventHorizon worse]]) since the MOTW was LockedOutOfTheLoop and didn't ''know'' he was a suicide bomber.
* ''Series/MartialLaw'': Sammo gets knocked out once, and when he wakes up he's strapped to a jacket that is a time bomb.

** One episode found Hawkeye operating on a soldier which had a ''live grenade'' forced into his body during combat. Cue massive OhCrap from the entire operating room when they realized what was happening. As noted under RealLife, this is very much a TruthInTelevision risk of modern combat.

* In a ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' sketch, the Lunch Counter Monster eats a machine with a bunch of fancy equipment. At the end, the still-speaking device concludes that all of those parts are needed to perform its main-function; to be [[IAteWhat the most powerful explosive in the world]]. The Monster [[OhCrap puts a hand to its ear as it hears a ticking before exploding]].

* ''Franchise/{{Stargate|Verse}}'':

** The ending of the third season. Archer and BigBad Dolim duke it out... [[spoiler: and Archer plants one of the small bombs the crew were planting to take out the reactor of the Xindi version of the Death Star on Dolim's AwesomeButImpractical uniform (if Xindi-Reptilian uniforms were more like Starfleet ones, he coulda just yanked it off.) Archer presses the button and steps behind a pillar. Dolim looks down. Goodbye, Dolim.]]
** Happened earlier with some religious cultists worshiping the Sphere Builders. In this case, the worshipers had chemically-triggered explosives implanted in their bodies. That one then led to a nice case of Why Am I ''Not'' Ticking when the crew manages to neutralize the chemicals.

** Captain John Hart had this happen to him twice in the second season. In [[Recap/TorchwoodS2E1KissKissBangBang "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"]], he falls victim to a trap set up in the MacGuffin and a bomb that is encoded to his DNA attaches itself to his chest. He'll explode in ten minutes, as Ianto gleefully follows him with his stopwatch. He clearly doesn't explode, as in the finale, [[Recap/TorchwoodS2E13ExitWounds "Exit Wounds"]], he reveals that a wristband has been "molecularly bonded" (read: fused) to his wrist that contains remote-detonated bombs to ensure his obedience to [[spoiler:Jack's long-lost brother Gray, who still bears a bit of a grudge and is trying his best to kill Jack and his team.]] Keep in mind that Captain John was a ''guest star'' and thus had this happen to him ''every single time he was on the show''.

* ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' examples:
** ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' have the revived Red King swallowing six hydrogen bombs, ready to explode anytime, making him difficult to deal with since any attacks could result in the bombs going off and causing a meltdown. Ultraman deals with it by using the Ultra Mind to lift Red King into the air, and [[OffWithHisHead sever the monster's head]], where the bombs are still lodged in it's neck, taking the monster elsewhere so it can detonate harmlessly.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* In ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons'', the Mysterons' first attempt to murder the World President involves killing and cloning Captain Brown in order to turn him into a human bomb. The President narrowly manages to escape after seeing smoke rising from Brown's neck.
* In ''Series/TheFerals'', Rattus believes he's swallowed a bomb that some terrorists planted in the cake factory Joe works in. (Joe had brought a pile of them home but Rattus convinced a sleepwalking Derryn to steal them, and scoffed the lot.) [[spoiler: It turns out Rattus swallowed Joe's watch, which had been left beside the cakes... but then Derryn, sleepwalking again, shows up with the real bomb moments later.]]
[[/folder]]

* Kenny Everett's spoof ''Captain Kremmen of the Star Corps''. In a plot possibly inspired by Creator/PhilipKDick's "Impostor" (see Literature above), the evil Thargoid aliens surgically implant a bomb in Kremmen in order to destroy their enemies at a peace conference. The bomb is set to explode when Kremmen says the TriggerPhrase: "A bomb? In me? Don't be silly!" The bomb destroys the ''entire universe''. [[spoiler:It was AllJustADream]].

* In the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' universe during the [[ChurchMilitant Word of Blake]] Jihad, a large group of B-list characters were killed off during a strategy session when former [=WoB=] POW Fitz Donner suddenly exploded. It turned out that when he'd been captured by the Blakists they'd stuffed him full of explosives and let him be "rescued" in order to get him into the same room as the people he killed.
* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' campaign supplement ''The Fungi from Yuggoth'', section "By the Bay: Part II''. Cthulhu Mythos cultists detect Philip Jurgens as a spy and implant a small radio-activated bomb in his head. At a later time, the cultists detonate the bomb and his head explodes, killing him.

** ''Bio-Tech'' has rules for "bio-bombs", people or animals born with bodies made of explosive compounds. In a weird variation, the same book lists cow milk that turns into an explosive when curdled as a near future technology.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' had "cortex bombs" that were implanted into victims' heads or other areas of the body to compel obedience to the people who implanted them or ensure their death when desired. They ranged in size from "kink bombs," which weren't powerful enough to kill the bearer but were useful for taking out key pieces of cyberware, to "cranial nukes," which were powerful enough to take out the bearer and everyone in the bearer's vicinity and damage the surrounding area. The Super Nintendo adaptation fits the main character Jake with a mid-level bomb, just enough to make [[ChunkySalsaRule Chunky Salsa]] of his skull and take the goodies within his NeuroVault with it.
* The ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' TCG has 'Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings' effect, which places string counters on everyone on the field, even his allies, and causes them to blow up.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', Church literally asks "why am I ticking" after his idiot teammate accidentally activates a hidden bomb the other side had planted inside Church.

* LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}}: In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeR1RFvzCnU&t=16m47s this]] [[VideoGame/TroubleInTerroristTown TTT]] episode Zylus hears beeping when Ben walks near him so he tells Ben to get away from everyone because there is a bomb on him. Ben does so only for Zylus to realize that [[OhCrap he can still hear beeping]].

* In one episode of the {{Claymation}} series ''WesternAnimation/BumpInTheNight'', main character Squishington goes on a gorge-fest with the lights off and, feeling ill the next morning, discovers he's ticking. He tentatively suggests that it might just be a clock, only for main character Mr. Bumpy to declare that nobody would be stupid enough to eat a clock, even in the dark, before cheerfully reasoning that it must be a bomb. HilarityEnsues before Squishington finally hiccups/vomits up the source of the ticking... an alarm clock. Which promptly explodes, scorching, but otherwise not hurting, the two.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents: WesternAnimation/{{Wishology}}'': Timmy tricks Destructionator into [[CannibalismSuperpower consuming all the bombs he had stuffed into Earth]], then revealing he'd stolen the detonator while they were fighting up in space. Destructionator barely has time to react before he explodes.

* In "Beauty of the Obese, Part 2", ''WesternAnimation/{{Stripperella}}'' has to save [[PunnyName Enorma]] Ray, a supermodel that has been booby-trapped. Literally. As in, her breasts are ticking time bombs. With actual sound effects, no less!
* An old ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short had Jerry impersonating an escaped white lab mouse who had consumed a highly unstable explosive and could detonate at the slightest touch, just to mess with Tom's head. Naturally, the ''real'' lab mouse eventually shows up too.

** From ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime''. After [[spoiler: Makeshift disguised as Wheeljack]] gets tossed back through the ground bridge to the Decepticons, he gleefully states he knows the location of the Autobot base...only for the bomb that was strapped to his ass to start beeping.
** Also from Transformers (this time [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers the '80s cartoon]]), Megatron punishes Swindle for selling his teammates for parts by planting a bomb in his head. He has to retrieve and repair his teammates in order for the bomb to be deactivated.

*** Later on, he uses the control he was given over his explosive metabolism to turn his ''other'' arm into a [[IncrediblyLamePun hand]] grenade to use on some pursuing troops. He ends up with one whisk arm and one relatively normal robotic arm, as the crew cook and diplomat.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':
** Hank becomes a living bomb in the episode "Ice Station Impossible" after exposure to the experimental "Goliath Serum" which boosts the metabolic rate of living things to explosive levels. An ant exposed to it in a test film detonates with enough force to destroy a tank, so you can imagine the destruction potential with a human being. [[spoiler:Rusty and his fellow scientists seemingly make a cure before Hank explodes. Professor Impossible claims all they made was ranch dressing and the serum just doesn't work on human. It's unknown what actually happened, but Hank did show all the expected symptoms.]]

* ''Anime/VoltesV'': In one episode, [[spoiler:Zuhl]] tries to murder his liege Prince Heinel, confirming Katherine's suspicions that he was TheMole. A ''very'' pissed off Prince Heinel orders him to go to Big Falcon, the HomeBase of his enemies, and kill the Voltes team if he wants to clear his name. When [[spoiler:Zuhl]] arrives at Big Falcon, their robot detects a ticking sound from his shackle and disposes of it. He then realizes that Heinel never had any intention of forgiving him and wanted to kill him, along with all of Big Falcon. When Ippei admonishes him for bringing danger to their doorstep and grabs his staff, ready to beat him. However, he hears a ticking sound coming from that too, and realizes Heinel snuck a bomb in there too, throwing it out the window as it explodes. Realizing that Heinel pulled out all the stops in trying to kill [[spoiler:Zuhl]], the Voltes team all burst out laughing.