Short Circuit (1986)
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An experimental military robot gains sentience after a lightning strike and escapes to discover the world.
The story
Robotics experts Newton Crosby and Ben Jabituya develop S.A.I.N.T. units for the military. During a demonstration, a unit named Number 5 is struck by lightning, granting it rudimentary sentience. The robot escapes the facility and finds itself in Astoria, Oregon, where it is discovered by Stephanie Speck. She mistakes the robot for an alien and takes it home, where it begins to develop a personality and learn about the world. However, the robot's owners at NOVA Robotics soon discover its escape and order its recovery, leading to a conflict between the creators who want to protect the robot's new consciousness and the corporation that wants to dismantle it.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After escaping NOVA's facility, Number 5 is taken in by Stephanie Speck in Astoria, Oregon. As the robot develops a personality, it learns about the concept of death and realizes it will be dismantled if captured. When NOVA tracks the robot, it escapes into a food truck and eventually flees back to Stephanie. A bounty on the robot attracts Stephanie's abusive ex-boyfriend, Frank, whom Number 5 defeats. Stephanie and Number 5 then go on the run to find Newton Crosby to prove the robot's sentience. While Crosby tries to convince the corporate leadership of the robot's unique status, the company sends security and other robots to capture it by force. Number 5 outwits the other robots and eventually convinces Crosby of its sentience. When the military arrives to destroy the rogue robot, Number 5 leads them away, appearing to be destroyed. However, it later reveals it had created a decoy of itself. The film ends with Crosby and Stephanie taking Number 5 to a ranch in Montana, where the robot chooses the name 'Johnny 5'.
- First release year
- 1986
- Runtime (minutes)
- 98
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Badham
- Writers
- S. S. Wilson · writer; Brent Maddock · writer
- Cast and characters
- Ally Sheedy · Stephanie Speck; Steve Guttenberg · Newton Crosby, Ph.D.; Fisher Stevens · Ben Jabituya; Austin Pendleton · Dr. Howard Marner; G. W. Bailey · Captain Skroeder; Tim Blaney · Number 5
- Genres
- science fiction; comedy
- Themes
- artificial intelligence; sentience; human-robot interaction
- Tone and mood
- comedy; adventure
- Setting
- Astoria, Oregon during the Cold War era.
- Premise and plot tags
- robot; sentient AI; escape; buddy comedy
- Franchise connections
- Short Circuit
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics but was a box office success.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 50 · scale: 100 · review count: 12
- Awards and nominations
- Saturn Awards · Best Science Fiction Film · 14th · nomination
- Production trivia
- The robot's design was inspired by a short film featuring a robot named PAL.; The character of Ben was originally not intended to be portrayed as Indian.; The scene where Number 5 mimics John Travolta's dance moves is an in-joke because the director also directed Saturday Night Fever.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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