Short Circuit

Short Circuit
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Badham
Produced by	David Foster Lawrence Turman
Written by	S. S. Wilson Brent Maddock
Starring	Ally Sheedy Steve Guttenberg Fisher Stevens Austin Pendleton G. W. Bailey
Music by	David Shire
Cinematography	Nick McLean
Editing by	Frank Morriss
Studio	Producers Sales Organization The Turman-Foster Company
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release dates	May 9, 1986 (1986-05-09)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$9 million[1]
Box office	$40,697,761 (domestic)

Short Circuit is a 1986 American science fiction comedy film directed by John Badham, and written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock. The film's plot centers upon an experimental military robot which is struck by lightning and gains a more humanlike intelligence, wherewith it embarks to explore its new state. Short Circuit stars Ally Sheedy, Steve Guttenberg, Fisher Stevens, Austin Pendleton, and G. W. Bailey, with Tim Blaney as the voice of Johnny Five.

A sequel, Short Circuit 2, was released in 1988.

Plot

Protagonist Number 5 is part of a series of prototype U.S. military robots built for the Cold War by Nova Laboratories. The series' inventors, Newton Graham Crosby and Ben Jabituya, are more interested in peaceful applications including music and social aid. After a demonstration of the robots' capabilities, Number 5 is hit by a lightning-induced power surge. Several incidents allow the robot to escape the facility accidentally, barely able to communicate and uncertain of its directive. In Astoria, Oregon, animal-lover Stephanie Speck (who mistakes Number 5 for an extraterrestrial visitor) grants Number 5 access to books, television, and other stimuli, to satisfy his demand for 'input'; whereupon Number 5 develops a whimsical and curious personality. When Stephanie realizes Number 5 is a military invention, she contacts Nova who send out a team to recover him. When Number 5 accidentally crushes a grasshopper and gains an understanding of mortality, he concludes that if Nova disassembles him he will cease to exist. Frightened, Number 5 steals Stephanie's van; but the pair are cornered by Nova, including Newton and Ben. Although Stephanie attempts to reveal his sentience, Number 5 is disabled and captured.

From this, follow several adventurous escapes from the soldiers led by Nova's security chief Captain Skroeder (G. W. Bailey). Having humiliated Stephanie's suitor Frank, and the four remaining prototypes, Stephanie and the robot convince Newton of the robot's sentience; but are cornered by Nova's security and the Army, who destroy a duplicate robot (built by Number 5 himself and unknown to the others) in mistake for their quarry, whereupon Nova's President Dr. Howard Marner fires Skroeder for disobeying orders to capture Number 5 intact. Stephanie leaves with Newton, to emigrate to his family's estate in Montana. Having revealed himself to them, Number 5 (renaming himself "Johnny Five" after the song "Who's Johnny") accompanies Stephanie and Newton.

Cast

• Ally Sheedy as Stephanie Speck, who befriends Johnny Five
• Steve Guttenberg as Newton Crosby, Ph.D., the designer of the prototypes
• Fisher Stevens as Ben Jabituya, Newton's assistant
• Austin Pendleton as Dr. Howard Marner, President of Nova Robotics
• G. W. Bailey as Captain Skroeder
• Tim Blaney as Number 5 (voice)
• Brian McNamara as Frank, Stephanie's abusive ex-boyfriend
• Marvin J. McIntyre as Duke, one of Nova's security officers
• John Garber as Otis
• Penny Santon as Mrs. Cepeda, Stephanie's housekeeper
• Vernon Weddle as General Washburne
• Barbara Tarbuck as Senator Mills
• John Badham as Cameraman (uncredited)

Production

Original Number 5 robot from the first Short Circuit film.

This film was conceived after the producers distributed an educational video about a robot to various colleges. Studying other films with a prominent robot cast (like the Star Wars series) for inspiration, they decided to question human reactions to a 'living' robot, on the premise that none would initially believe its sentience.

According to the commentary in the DVD, Number 5 was the most expensive part of the movie, requiring several different versions to be made for different sequences. Almost everything else in the movie was relatively inexpensive, allowing them to allocate as much money as they needed for the robot character. Number 5 was designed by Syd Mead, the "visual futurist" famous for his work on Blade Runner and Tron.

Mead's design was greatly influenced by the sketches of Eric Allard, the Robotics Supervisor credited for "realizing" the robots. John Badham named Eric "the most valuable player" on the film.

Most of the arm movements of Number 5 were controlled by a "telemetry suit", carried on the puppeteer's upper torso. Each joint in the suit had a separate sensor, allowing the puppeteer's arm and hand movements to be transferred directly to the machine. He was also voiced in real-time by his puppeteer, the director believing that it provided for a more realistic interaction between the robot and the other actors than putting in his voice in post-production, although a few of his lines were re-dubbed later.^{[citation needed]}

During Stephanie's impromptu news interview, director John Badham makes a cameo appearance as the news cameraman.

Soundtrack

Although no soundtrack album was released at the time, El DeBarge had a chart hit with the single "Who's Johnny (Theme from Short Circuit)."^[2]

In 2008 Varèse Sarabande issued David Shire's score as part of their CD Club series of limited edition releases. The DeBarge song was not included or mentioned in the liner notes. The last three tracks are source music.

The booklet claims the end title song is not used in the movie. It is, however, on the soundtrack. The finale mix and end title are combined into one track, but used separately in the film.

Video game

A video game developed by Ocean Software for ZX Spectrum,^[3] Commodore 64^[4] and Amstrad CPC^[5] was also made based on the movie. It featured two parts, one arcade adventure where Johnny 5 had to escape from the lab, and one action part where Johnny 5 escapes across the countryside, avoiding soldiers, other robots, and animals.

Reception

The movie had mostly positive reviews.^[6] Short Circuit debuted at No.1 in the US box office.^[7]

Awards and nominations

• Honored with the Winsor McCay Award [for career achievement]

End credits

The ending credit sequence features parts of scenes cut from the final product, a gimmick that predated the advent of director's cuts and optional deleted scenes in later DVDs. The scenes shown in the credits include an extended SAINT demonstration sequence, which would have included the robots flying remote-controlled airplanes, an encounter with a white, commercially-made Omnibot 2000, and a close encounter with "death" at a scrapyard. The latter two were from a cut sequence set between Number 5's theft of the Nova van in which he was being carted back by Ben, and his second arrival at Stephanie's house.

In that sequence, the Nova van would have run out of fuel near the scrap yard, forcing Number 5 to abandon it and look for another suitable mode of transportation. The Omnibot in the former of the two scenes would have belonged to the scrap yard owner's children, who were to frighten Number 5 away with their comparisons between him and the Omnibot.

Sequel and remake

The sequel, Short Circuit 2, premiered in 1988. There was a script for a possible third movie written in 1989 and rewritten in 1990, but it was found unsatisfactory by the producers, and the project was subsequently scrapped.

In April 2008, Variety reported that Dimension Films had acquired the rights to remake the original film. Dan Milano had been hired to write the script, and David Foster to produce it. Foster said that the robot's appearance would not change.^[8]

On October 27, 2009, it was announced that Steve Carr would direct the remake and that the film's plot would involve a boy from a broken family befriending the Number 5 robot.^[9][10]

For reasons unknown, Carr left the project and on August 4, 2011, it was reported that Tim Hill would direct the reboot instead.^[11]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Short Circuit

• Short Circuit at the Internet Movie Database
• Short Circuit at the TCM Movie Database
• Short Circuit at allmovie
• Short Circuit at Rotten Tomatoes