"Micro-Whacked", Way to Die #539, is the third death to be featured in "Death Watch", which aired on January 27, 2010.
Plot[]
A drug addict named Dennis abused everything from pain killers to antidepressants to cocaine to crystal meth.
"There was no substance that he hadn't, or wouldn't, abuse. His brains weren't just fried, they were burnt to a crisp."
Dennis, being the poster boy for what not to do, tries a random combination of drugs each night. One night, Dennis takes a combination of pills that drastically slows down his perception of time. Dennis tries to talk on the phone, but they can't keep up with him. He tries to listen to music, but with his perception of time skewed, it's also too slow. Finally, Dennis tries to watch his lava lamp. Not moving fast enough for him, Dennis decides to put the lava lamp in the microwave. After a few minutes of microwaving, the lava lamp explodes and Dennis is killed by a combination of the boiling hot liquid and the shards of glass embedded in his head and his skull.
"It was an overdose of bad."
Transcript[]
(Opens with Dennis cutting lines of cocaine in his room)
Narrator: Dennis was a full-on snorting, shooting, pill-popping druggie. There wasn't any substance he hadn't, or wouldn't, abuse. His brains weren't just fried; they were burnt to a crisp. This freak was the all-time poster boy for what not to do.
Dennis: And two of these! Because there's one of those, there's got to be two of these.
Dr Kim Henderson:
Dennis: Yes! Yes! Yes!
Narrator: On any given night, he could be found mixing and matching a medicine cabinet full of mind-numbing substances. After scraping together a mixture of prescription painkillers, antidepressants, cocaine and crystal meth. He was off to the races.
(Sped up footage of Dennis snorting and popping pills)
Narrator: Nothing could keep up with him.
Dennis: YEAH!
Narrator: His music felt too slow...
Dennis: No! No! Faster! Faster!
Narrator: His phone was no match for his mouth...
Dennis: (Rapidly babbling)
Narrator: Even his stoner relic from the 60s, a lava lamp, failed to move fast enough for this wasted speed freak.
Dennis: What-what is wrong? Come on!
Dr. Steven Kim:
Dennis: Go! Go! Go! Go! Move man, move! Ah!
(Dennis grabs the lava lamp and turns around to face his microwave)
Narrator: Dennis decided to nuke it, to bring his lamp up to speed.
(Dennis closes the door and sets the timer before pressing "start" as the microwave turns on)
Dennis: Yeah! Yeah! (laughs)
Dr. Steven Kim:
Dennis: Oh yeah! Boil baby! Boil!
(The lava lamp goes critical and explodes, flinging the door to the microwave open and blowing Dennis back)
Narrator: It was an overdose of bad.
(CGI recreation is shown, the lava lamp exploding as shards of glass and globs of hot wax go through the viewport of the microwave and embed themselves into the human's face)
Narrator: The lava lamp exploded, imbedding a shard of glass into Dennis' forehead, while his face was drenched in a blistering coat of superheated lava liquid.
(Cuts to Dennis on the floor, shards of glass stuck in his head and second degree burns on his face, spasming out before dying.)
Narrator: The lesson here?
(Flashback)
Narrator: Drug abuse is bad for you and will eventually kill you. Putting a lava lamp into a microwave, that'll get you there in no time at all.
(Explosion)
Narrator: Time's up. Dennis.
Interviewees[]
- Unfortunately unknown actor - Dennis (lead: indeed victim)
- Dr. Kim Henderson - Toxicologist
- Dr. Steven Kim - Biochemist
Quotes[]
"Oh, yeah. Boil, baby! Boil!" -Dennis yelling at his microwave to cook his lava lamp, right before it explodes and kills him.
Trivia[]
- This is the first of the only two deaths that take place on October 21 of a certain year, the second and final death to be on the day itself is Hummus Among Us. Coincidentally, both segments that took place on October 21 of a certain year leave not a single survivor behind, except in this one, it features the death of a serial and impatient drug abuser alone (Dennis), while the victims featured in the latter death comprise of two Libyan rebels and black-market arms dealers (Habib and Hadal) together with two Al-Qaeda operatives.
- In 2004, Phillip Quinn, who was a 24-year-old from Kent, Washington, was killed while heating up a lava lamp on his kitchen stove. The lamp exploded and a shard pierced his heart. Link: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lava-lamp-death/
- In 2014, YouTube user MicrowaveMeShow uploaded a video of microwaving a lava lamp where he referenced both lava lamp deaths "1000 Ways To Die" and "Mythbusters" and nearly ended up as a third casualty himself when he opened the door after it failed to explode after 20 minutes in the microwave.
- Similarly, in 2010, YouTube user Jogwheel uploaded a video of microwaving a lava lamp and mentioned the death. Due to the dangerous nature of this experiment, they took the proper safety precautions to avoid harm.
- While you can heat up lava lamps to get them moving faster, of course, with Dennis' death, it's very obvious that it's stupid and dangerous.[1]
Segment Nicknames[]
- Micro-Waxed (Spike TV)
- Light Lava Offed
- Fast Ended
- Slowed Down
- Boiling Brain
- Lava Lamed (a pun on the very thing Dennis puts into his microwave, his "Lava lamp", which eventually take him out)
Foreign Names[]
- Micro-Aniquilado (Micro-Annihilated) - Latin American Spanish dub
- Micro-porrazo (Micro-hit) - European Spanish dub
- Kahamanalin Palasakanit Mikroondas (Perception Hazardous Microwave) - Lazoran dub
Goofs[]
- The CGI shows a shard of glass entering Dennis's eye, however his corpse doesn't have one.
- Dennis is shown putting the microwave on 10 minutes in one shot, but in the next shot it's already at 9:03.
Gallery[]
