Terrible Ticking: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Will it stop Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?"''|'''The Master''', ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'', "Last of the Time Lords"}}

A character goes mad from a [[Brown Note|sound that only they can hear]]. Because of this, they may go [[Ax Crazy]] and try to destroy the source of the sound, or at least what they ''think'' is the source of the sound -- orsound—or end up resorting to [[Headphones Equal Isolation]], abandoning the world in favor of just getting away from the horrible noise.

Named for ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', for [[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration]], but one of the more common uses is for new telepaths to go mad from all the voices around them.

Compare [[Brown Note]] (where anyone can hear the sound) and [[Out, Damned Spot!]] (the visual version of this trope). And, of course, [[Hearing Voices]], which is technically a subtrope.

* [[Yu-Gi-Oh!|Yami Yugi]] gives this as a punishment to a karaoke-obsessed bully after he loses a Shadow Game to him.

* In ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'', it's not uncommon for one of the characters to start hearing footsteps, or occasionally a [[Hearing Voices|voice]] saying "I'm sorry" over and over. This is usually a sign that that said character is about to go off the deep end. Most of the time someone ends up dead. {{spoiler|Much to the unhappiness of the being that was making the footsteps and apologizing.}}

* In [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]]'s ''Rats in the Walls'', the hero starts going crazy because he keeps hearing rats within the walls. Of course that's just the beginning, and it gets a lot weirder from there.

* Inverted in the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' novel ''The Clockwise Man'' - everyone could hear the ticking ''except'' Repple.

* [[Cats Hate Water|Aquaphobic]] villainess Queen Tsarmina of the ''[[Redwall]]'' series is driven to insanity by the sound of dripping water, which her minions [[ItsIt's Probably Nothing|assume are the normal noises from the underground lake]]. {{spoiler|Subverted in that it's not her imagination; the good guys have dammed the river and are causing said lake to overflow and slowly flood the castle.}} Also, in the same series, Gabool the Wild is kept awake by the sound of a stolen church-bell in his hall ringing on its own, though on one occasion it's not his imagination; his drunken followers throw apples at the bell while he's out of the room.

* In ''Brain Twister'' (aka ''That Sweet Little Old Lady'') by [[Randall Garrett (Creator)|Randall Garrett]] and Laurence M. Janifer, telepaths invariably go mad from the voices. Most of them wind up comatose or raving -- theraving—the one notable exception being the titular little old lady, who would be able to easily pass for sane if she didn't keep confiding in people that she's actually [[Napoleon Delusion|Queen Elizabeth I]].

== Live -Action TV ==

* Mr.In Hecklesthe onseries 3 finale of ''[[FriendsDoctor Who]]''., Itthe mustMaster beclaims notedto thathave been hearing the levelsound of noise isn't indrums in his head, it'sall morehis oflife afrom casewhen ofhe [[Malevolentwas Architecture]]8. creating absolutely teethgrindingDuh-duh-duh-DUM. acousticsDuh-duh-duh-DUM.

** In the finale of series 4, it's revealed that {{spoiler|he wasn't just insane, the Time Lords ''put'' the drumming in his head as part of a plan to try and save themselves from death in the Time War.}} It's noted that the rhythm of four drumbeats is the same rhythm as the double-beat of a Time Lord's two hearts. Interestingly, it's also the same underlying beat found in the famous [[Theme Song]], so one wonders if that was intentional...

* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', the ticking clock sound effect that plays whenever Sylar's up to his old tricks evokes this trope. Even though it's not literally a ticking he can hear, it symbolizes that he can see how everything works in a way no one else can, which drives him batty.

* Season 3 of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' had the telepath variant.

* The song "All Along the Watchtower" does this to four {{spoiler|Cylons}} at the end of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (TV)|Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'s'{{'}}s third season.

* In the televised miniseries ''[[I, Claudius]]'', Caligula goes mad, partly due to the sounds of running horses which only he can hear. (The series implies he was nuts from the beginning, and only got worse after he suffered an illness.) Caligula himself claims that, as a god, he hears many things that keep him from sleeping, and that's one reason he acts so strangely.

* ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]''. An alien (disguised as a human) plants the sound of a music box in Counsellor Troi's head so she won't be able to detect him. The sound drives her to madness, so he removes it once his identity is revealed.

* The beeping that Freddy hears in the back of his head in the "iGoToJapan" episode on ''[[I CarlyiCarly]]''. He doesn't know it, but the beeping is the tracking device in action that Mrs. Benson had implanted in his head when he was a baby.

* An episode of ''[[Tales Fromfrom the Crypt]]'' had [[Danny De VitoDeVito]] as a crooked night club owner who murders a reporter ([[Fran Drescher]]) who threatens to expose him; shortly afterwards, his conscience starts nagging him that everyone will find out. Sure enough, he goes out into the club and everyone is staring at him, causing him to confess. {{spoiler|It turns out, all they were staring at was the bloody wad of tissue paper and Q-tips he shoved in his ear to try and silence his conscience.}}

** [[Florence and The Machine|There's a drumming noise inside my head / And it starts when you're around / I swear that you could hear it, it makes such an almighty sound]]

** [[Florence and The Machine|As I move my feet towards your body / I can hear this beat / It fills my head / And it gets louder and louder]]

* [[Anthrax|]]: (Time!) Got the time tick-tick-tickin' in my head / (Time!) Got the time tick-tick-tickin' in my head / (Time!) Got the time tick-tick-tickin' in my head / Tickin' in my head / Tickin' in my head / Tickin' in my head]]

* [http://xkcd.com/740/ This] ''[[Xkcdxkcd]]''. It keeps you unt-tsing all night long.

* In an episode of Disney's ''[[The Legend of Tarzan (Animation)|The Legend of Tarzan]]'', Tarzan's animal friends go crazy, complete with the [[Madness Mantra]] "Stop the ringing!" Turns out the local trading post had installed a long-range radio tower, and something in the equipment was generating an ultrasonic noise that was doing this to Tantor, Terk, and the rest. The humans couldn't hear it, but it was driving the animals nuts for miles.

* Mr. Krabs in the ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'' episode "Squeaky Boots". He unloads a pair of old boots on SpongeBob and is driven crazy by their constant squeaking. He steals them one night and hides them, but then he starts to hear squeaking everywhere until he is driven to madness, a [[Whole -Plot Reference]] to ''Tell-Tale Heart''.

** The same thing happens in ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "Lisa's Rival."

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