"I remember that sound! That's a bad sound!"
— Gwen, Galaxy Quest
"We're doing an early warning incantation. If anything hellgodishly powerful comes within a hundred feet of the shop, then screechy siren things will, you know, screech."
— Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"I'm not sure this is a Code Red. Hey, is there a Code Pink? We need more codes."
— Also Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Lt. Barf: Captain, we are being hailed. I recommend we go to Red Alert!
Captain Pinchhard: We haven't even met them! Isn't that a little premature?
Lt. Barf: Every week we encounter aliens who try to destroy or take over the ship. It would save a lot of time if we assumed the worst now.
Captain Pinchhard: We haven't even met them! Isn't that a little premature?
Lt. Barf: Every week we encounter aliens who try to destroy or take over the ship. It would save a lot of time if we assumed the worst now.
Rose: What's the emergency?
The Doctor: It's mauve.
Rose: Mauve?
The Doctor: Universally recognised colour for danger.
Rose: What happened to red?
The Doctor: That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings! All those red alerts, all that dancing...
The Doctor: It's mauve.
Rose: Mauve?
The Doctor: Universally recognised colour for danger.
Rose: What happened to red?
The Doctor: That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings! All those red alerts, all that dancing...
...to say nothing of the guards' color codes, which include Red Standby Alert (apparently meaning stand around and do nothing), Red Mobilisation (wander around outside the house), and Blue Mobilisation (allow the President and his daughter to escape in a vintage car accompanied by two terrorists).
Rimmer: Step up to Red Alert.
Kryten: [dead serious] Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb.
Kryten: [dead serious] Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb.
"THIS IS THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK BY HIDEOUS WAVES OF ROCK MUSIC FROM THE MOON! ALL RESIDENTS ARE REQUESTED TO FLEE MINDLESSLY, WHILE MEMBERS OF THE POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS WILL ASSEMBLE IN THEIR UNION HALLS FOR CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS! THIS IS A RECORDING."
But now something occurred that focused the attention of the watcher more closely on his instruments. A facet of his panel had flashed a color at the lowest end of his visible spectrum. How the being registered that color cannot be said; the inhabitants of Planet III would have termed it red.
— The Secret of the Ninth Planet, by Donald A Wollheim
She was about to tell it no, that she'd rather die alone, contemplating what might have been, when the alarm trilled down the cavernous halls of the Eluder Ship. A cold shiver ran down her spine as a cacophony of voices warned in ninety languages simultaneously, "Gravitational collapse imminent, my beloveds! Please take your positions inside your transitional shells!"
Angry rainbows flared across the floor and ozone and ammonia soured the air, warning those who communicated by color or smell. Betsy's mind skipped and stuttered like the ancient film playing on her wrist as a warning to the telepaths skirted the fringes of her consciousness. Still more warnings she could not perceive with her natural senses no doubt flooded the chamber now.
Angry rainbows flared across the floor and ozone and ammonia soured the air, warning those who communicated by color or smell. Betsy's mind skipped and stuttered like the ancient film playing on her wrist as a warning to the telepaths skirted the fringes of her consciousness. Still more warnings she could not perceive with her natural senses no doubt flooded the chamber now.
— The History Within Us, by Matthew Kressel
"Attention, all personnel: Stealth protocol. Run silent. Black Alert."
