Updated: April 05, 2026

The IBM AN / FSQ-7 aka the Q-7 was a computer built for the Air Force to process data from radar sites. After it was decommissioned, it found its way into a studio props rental house where the vacuum tube guts were removed and the lighting was re-wired to blink in various sequences.

The short lifetime of the SAGE system doesn’t mean that it hasn’t lived on in other ways. Although SAGE systems have been scrapped for decades, those who long to see them are in luck. Countless TV shows and movies used SAGE components as props, most notably in The Time Tunnel ( And just about every other Irwin Allen sci-fi production ), continuing well into the 21st century. Lost, Airplane!, and even Woody Allen’s Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex couldn’t resist the countless blinking lights and rows of switches that only a SAGE computer could supply.

The Q-7 has appeared in Austin Powers, Independence Day, Planet of the Apes, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Sleeper, Sliders, The Six Million Dollar Man, Spaceballs, Wargames, That's So Raven, The Time Tunnel, and many other TV shows and films.