The red alert sound comes from Star Trek, the science fiction franchise created by Gene Roddenberry that began with the original television series in 1966. Aboard the Enterprise, red alert meant the ship was facing attack or a serious emergency, and the klaxon warned the crew to report to battle stations. The sound was reused across later Star Trek series and films, becoming one of the franchise's most recognisable audio cues. Online, editors and meme makers adopted it as shorthand for sudden danger, using it to exaggerate small crises and to signal that a situation has suddenly gone wrong.