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Blinkenlights: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:IRAC 01.jpg|thumb|400px|link=Wonder Woman (TV series)|Blinkenlights, 1970s-style.]]
{{quote|ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENSPEEPERS!
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As computers became more ubiquitous, the trope faded from the public consciousness, having been supplanted by [[Extreme Graphical Representation]]. ([[Real Life]] 21st-century mainframes don't even have diagnostic lights any more, at least not where people can see them.) Nowadays it's used in works that purposefully invoke [[Zeerust]], always paired with [[Beeping Computers]].
For the more modern meaning of "blinkenlights" as lighting up particular windows in a building in order to send messages, see [[Skyscraper Messages]].
Not to be confused with illumination for [[Nursery Rhyme|Winken, Blinken and Nod]].
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* The Q-Bomb in ''[[The Mouse That Roared]]'' was covered in Blinkenlights.
* Lampshaded at Alpha Beta Base in ''[[Airplane II: The Sequel]]''. They don't know what all those lights do, they just keep blinking on and off.
* The Bat Computer in ''[[Batman: The Movie]]''.
== [[Literature]] ==
* In the very first scene in ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]'', the self-aware computer Mycroft ("Mike" to his friends) is described as using his blinkenlights to laugh:
{{quote|"You asked what I knew." His binary read-out lights rippled back and forth — a chuckle.}}
* Cyclops, the AI supercomputer from the 1985 novel ''[[The Postman]]'' by David Brin, has blinkenlights which turn out to be a plot point. {{spoiler|The main character remembers news stories about the few AIs from just before the Apocalypse, and how their blinkenlights never fall into any kind of repeatable patterns. He realizes that Cyclops is a figurehead when he notices patterns where there should be none.}}
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
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* In the ''[[Space: 1999]]'' episode "Voyager's Return", the device built to override Voyager's computer has blinkenlights that flash when it is connecting to or connected to the spacecraft... but not when the connection is terminated.
* ''[[Knight Rider]]''{{'}}s KITT had a simplified set of Blinkenlights inset into his front bumper.
* IRAC from the 1970s [[Wonder Woman (TV series)|''Wonder Woman'' TV series]] had blinkenlights where one would expect to see a monitor screen, and - as shown in the page image - also where one wouldn't expect to see lights at all.
== [[New Media]] ==
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