The thin bar of sun light passed over them just like when your document scanner light bar scans your document to your computer. I got a chuckle….
+1 on the above
I got it about half a second after I posted it.
But there are rules…
In Star Trek-like shows, the officers on the ship’s bridge will sometimes be scanned by some higher intelligence, making the room light up a bit like in this Frazz cartoon — as if a thin slice of light gets shined (from left-to-right) on every person.
In fact, it happened this last Thursday on the most recent episode of “The Orville,” if I’m not mistaken.
“In Star Trek-like shows, the officers on the ship’s bridge will sometimes be scanned by some higher intelligence, making the room light up a bit like in this Frazz cartoon”
It’s cheaper on the effects budget to just have your science-officer intone “we are being scanned”.
In earlier Star Trek-like shows, before the advance of technology, we would of course have seen someone on the bridge say “we’ve been photocopied” or “we’ve been traced with carbon paper.”
““we’ve been traced with carbon paper.””
Nah. To make it more sciency-fiction, like, we’ll substitute a more exotic element than boring old carbon.
“We’ve been mimeographed! (and boy, does that smell good!)”
Comics I Don't Understand 
The thin bar of sun light passed over them just like when your document scanner light bar scans your document to your computer. I got a chuckle….
+1 on the above
I got it about half a second after I posted it.
But there are rules…
In Star Trek-like shows, the officers on the ship’s bridge will sometimes be scanned by some higher intelligence, making the room light up a bit like in this Frazz cartoon — as if a thin slice of light gets shined (from left-to-right) on every person.
In fact, it happened this last Thursday on the most recent episode of “The Orville,” if I’m not mistaken.
“In Star Trek-like shows, the officers on the ship’s bridge will sometimes be scanned by some higher intelligence, making the room light up a bit like in this Frazz cartoon”
It’s cheaper on the effects budget to just have your science-officer intone “we are being scanned”.
In earlier Star Trek-like shows, before the advance of technology, we would of course have seen someone on the bridge say “we’ve been photocopied” or “we’ve been traced with carbon paper.”
““we’ve been traced with carbon paper.””
Nah. To make it more sciency-fiction, like, we’ll substitute a more exotic element than boring old carbon.
“We’ve been mimeographed! (and boy, does that smell good!)”