History Main / SlowElectricity

Subtrope of YouFailPhysicsForever. Step-sister to SlowDoors. A product of RuleOfCool.

In fiction, outages - or repowered structures - often come on light by light, system by system, dramatically, with a strange thumping noise. TruthInTelevision: this is known as a cascading failure when it is an outage, and systems often power up slowly if turned on via breaker.

* In the 2009 ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' movie starring Creator/RobertDowneyJr and Jude Law, there is a scene where Holmes is fighting a giant man in an abandoned warehouse with the aid of an electric cattle prod. At one point his opponent is hanging on to a pipe on the wall for support, and Holmes touches the far end of the pipe with the cattle prod. Although it moves quickly the movement of the electricity (well, the magic blue sparks showing where the electricity is) as it races down the pipe is clearly visible.

* Perhaps justified [[AWizardDidIt given the genre]], but [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX dodging lightning]] by jumping out of the way seems {{egregious}} enough to be listed here.

* ''Film/CloseEncoutersOfTheThirdKind''. During the massive electrical blackout early in the movie, the lights in urban areas go out in successive blocks, with the blackout appearing to be "spreading".

* ''Film/CloseEncoutersOfTheThiedKind''. During the massive electrical blackout early in the movie, the lights in urban areas go out in successive blocks, with the blackout appearing to be "spreading".

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}} 2'' the lighting abruptly goes out in the Enrichment Center's maintenance areas [[spoiler: after Chell and Wheatley escape GLaDOS]]. However, given Wheatley's coinciding dialogue, it's probably just GLaDOS turning each light off manually.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Technically an AvertedTrope in the [[Recap/RevolutionS1E1Pilot pilot episode]]: everything goes out in a single moment, not all at the exact same time, but pretty close. ...and then it spins back around to Creative License Science, since the "power outage" causes planes to immediately fall out of the sky, Smartphones and computer tablets to deactivate, and a good few blocks worth of cars to stop working altogether. (Creator/JJAbrams is involved - doubtlessly a lot of twists, retcons, and outright hand-waving are soon to follow).

* ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'': In one episode, the case involves several reactors being taken down in an attempt to create a cascading failure. The shot of the shutdown when it occurs is basically the same thing as most shows/movies show though, but it's a bit more valid then a full electrical failure causing the skyline shutdown sequence.

* One engineer working on the electronics of the then new B2 bomber invoked this trope for a demonstration by having the power indication lights of the various electronics turn on in sequence rather then simultaneously from a single master switch. This was either to limit power-on current or just to make a [[RuleOfCool more impressive visual presentation]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'': Overture'' ends with lights in a hallway clicking off one at a time, before Philip gets kidnapped.

* ''Penumbra: Overture'' ends with lights in a hallway clicking off one at a time, before Philip gets kidnapped.

* In TheHungerGamesCatchingFire, Katniss winds Beetee's wire around an arrow and shoots it into the dome overhead. The charge from the lightning strike on the tree can be seen following the arrow upward.

* ''{{Smallville}}'': The episode "Idol". The Wonder Twins' attack on a criminal causes a blackout during which the lights of Metropolis turn off in segments.

* In the 2009 ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' movie starring RobertDowneyJr and Jude Law, there is a scene where Holmes is fighting a giant man in an abandoned warehouse with the aid of an electric cattle prod. At one point his opponent is hanging on to a pipe on the wall for support, and Holmes touches the far end of the pipe with the cattle prod. Although it moves quickly the movement of the electricity (well, the magic blue sparks showing where the electricity is) as it races down the pipe is clearly visible.

* ''New Adventures of {{Superman}}'': Explosives under a light-beam cage were deactivated by having Lois setting off the explosives and Superman destroy the wall panel circuit before electricity reached the destination. This is PostCrisis, so Superman is ''fast,'' but '''not''' "here to Alpha Centauri in three seconds" fast.
* ''NUMB3RS'': In one episode, the case involves several reactors being taken down in an attempt to create a cascading failure. The shot of the shutdown when it occurs is basically the same thing as most shows/movies show though, but it's a bit more valid then a full electrical failure causing the skyline shutdown sequence.

** ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions''. Inside the Oracle's apartment building, the overhead lights go off (with clunking sounds) as a warning of Agent Smith's approach. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nHJS1ZB1LA#t=0m13s Watch it here]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}} 2'' the lighting abruptly goes out in the Enrichment Center's maintenance areas [[spoiler: after Chell and Wheatley escape GLaDOS]]. However, given Wheatley\s coinciding dialogue, it's probably just GLaDOS turning each light off mqnually.

* In ''VideoGame/Portal2'' the lighting abruptly goes out in the Enrichment Center's maintenance areas [[spoiler: after Chell and Wheatley escape GLaDOS]]. However, given Wheatley\s coinciding dialogue, it's probably just GLaDOS turning each light off mqnually.

* Quite a few ''{{Minecraft}}'' contraptions end up working this way, but that's justified because it's difficult ''not'' to use a lot of repeaters in the not even electrical but "[[AppliedPhlebotinum redstone]]" circuits as the power gets further away from the input.

* ''GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex 2nd Gig'' episode "Embarrassment". At the end of the episode, the crew of a Coast Guard ship sees the lights of Nagasaki going out in sections after the city's power is cut, apparently by the refugees. Justified in that the city had many relay power stations holding up the entire grid, and when the cascade began, it was slowed down by each station's failsafes eventually giving out by trying to overcompensate for the adjacent stations.

* In ''ProblemSleuth'' electricity takes ''several hundred years'' to get across [[spoiler:the fan cord]] in order to [[spoiler:turn on the fan]]. However, this is {{justified|Trope}}, as, thanks to [[AWizardDidIt GPI]], [[spoiler:the fan cord now '''stretches across the entire length of the imaginary universe. Twice.''']] As the comic points out, electric current can only travel at the speed of light.

[[folder: Film ]]

* Even in the future, power is slow: In ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'', the HardLight barriers in the holding cells fail sequentially instead of all at once.
* In the movie ''My Science Project'', the protagonists' car can and does go faster than the electricity running through power lines. This is a plot point, allowing them to cut off power that would have run to an alien spacecraft.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by [[BigBad Syndrome]] in ''TheIncredibles'', since he has a weakness for designing his buildings with dramatic flair.

* An episode of ''Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus'' does this in an episode about computers, with the electricity that flows between the different parts of a computer slowed down immensely so that the kids could follow them. [[ItMakesSenseInContext While riding skateboards]]. The producer even lampshades this in the phone call at the end of the show, noting that electricity's speed would be nearly instantaneous to a human. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality But that wouldn't make for an entertaining episode]].
* The animated version of ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks''. In the episode "The Passion of Rev. Ruckus", as Uncle Ruckus is delivering a sermon he's struck by a lightning bolt. This causes the lights of the city to go out a section at a time, much like ''Film/TheMatrix'' example under "Film".[[/folder]]

* The {{Bollywood}} movie ''Mohabbatein'' features a scene where a student is caught coming back to his room after curfew. He's walking in a dark hall when the light right over his head comes on, then the next one in the hall, then the next one... when the last light comes on, it reveals the headmaster starring at him disapprovingly.

** The same thing takes place in the second game, ''Lights Out'', in the lighthouse of Fetch Rock. The first three floors light up one by one in time with some dramatic music. The main lamp doesn't turn on, [[spoiler: because of the insane sentient space probe that's sapping its power while trying to figure out how to go home.]]