James Cordell recalls some strange and outré demises
Stone me!
The Colour of Magic, Sky
Power-hungry sorcerer Ymper Trymon was on the cusp of learning the final spell of a powerful tome, the Octavo. First, though, he needed to kill the world’s worst wizard, Rincewind, by casting a spell to turn him into stone. The bumbling Rincewind deflected the spell skywards. A conceited Trymon then slipped on a banana peel and landed under his own spell, becoming TV’s most surprised statue.
Exploding formicidae!
Rick and Morty, Cartoon Network/Netflix/Channel 4
Crocubot (Maurice LaMarche), Vance Maximus (Christian Slater) and Million Ants (Tom Kenny) (Credit: Channel 4/Adult Swim/Cartoon Network)
In the animated sitcom Rick and Morty, an intoxicated Rick laid a series of traps for superhero team the Vindicators, causing dissension in their ranks.
The half-ghost, half-human Alan Rails duly came to blows with Million Ants, a sentient colony of ants. This ended with Supernova propelling the pair into a force field. In the commotion, Million Ants suddenly swarmed into Rail’s mouth and expanded from inside his body, turning the hero into a fleshy balloon that exploded gorily. In the words of Sanchez: “Oof! Didn’t see that comin’.”
Mirror, mirror off the wall
Emmerdale, ITV
After a crashing helicopter devastated the small village of Emmerdale, sisters Val Pollard and Diane Sugden were trapped in a hall of mirrors. In an uncharacteristically selfless act, Pollard let Sugden escape first. Pinned under rubble, she could see a large shard of glass directly above her. With death imminent, the fearless B&B owner lit her last cigarette and waited for the blade to fall.
Talk about a headache
Game of Thrones, HBO/Sky
The Red Viper, Oberyn Martell, faced the murderer of his wife and children in a duel. After impaling the sadistic giant, Gregor Clegane (aka the Mountain), Martell rashly withdrew his spear so that the dying Clegane could confess to his crimes.
The Mountain took the opportunity to grab Martell and knock out his teeth. He then grasped the Viper’s head and inserted his thumbs into the prince’s eye sockets. Confessing his sins as he expired, the villain crushed Martell’s skull to pulp.
The dog who waited
Futurama, Sky
In the 31st century, Philip J Fry was offered the chance to clone the petrified 20th-century remains of his pet border terrier, Seymour Asses.
Fry declined, knowing that Seymour had lived for 12 years after his master left him outside a pizza parlour and had probably forgotten him and lived a full life.
Then viewers saw a heart-breaking montage of the 12 years that Seymour sat waiting for Fry outside Panucci’s Pizza. Seymour would not leave his post until he finally lay down and slept for the last time – one of TV animation’s saddest deaths.
