The only example I can think of is Star Trek (I know...) This effect can be seen a lot in damaged ships. Panels going on and off, blinking lights, sparks,etc. Now, I don't want sparks shooting out (well, maybe....no)
I have looked at timer chips such as the 4060 and the 4777, but as I mentioned earlier, I am not very experienced at scratchbuilding circuits. Maybe once I build my hard drive chaser I will understand a little better. Heck, I had one of those RadioShack 100 in 1 electronics kits, and I never did figure out the the flip-flop chip was for. :P