Short Circuit: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

[[File:ShortCircuitMovie1.jpg|frame]]

 

{{quote|''"Life is NOT a malfunction!"''|'''Stephanie Speck'''}}

* [[Become a Real Boy]]: One of the plot points of the second movie is Johnny Five's quest to be recognized as sentient. {{spoiler|He eventually is, and becomes a naturalized U.S. citizen alongside Ben at the end.}}

* [[Berserk Button]]: Do not mistreat Johnny Five's friends, and do not treat him like a mere machine. He WILL find you, and he WILL deal the most humiliating yet nonviolent punishment imaginable. Stephanie's ex-boyfriend and {{spoiler|Oscar}} both found that out '''FIRSTHAND'''.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Johnny and Ben. You do ''not'' want to be around Ben if something's happened to Johnny on your watch. Just see [[Berserk Button]] above to see why it's an equally bad idea to take Johnny lightly.

* [[Big Stupid Doodoo Head]]: "I've got an error message for you! I'll scramble your RAM!!" Quoted by Saunders, apparently unsure of how to properly insult a robot. Johnny is understandably less than impressed.

* [[Brick Joke]]: One of the phrases that Johnny passes to Ben during his date with Sandy is misinterpreted as Spanish, which Sandy translates into "Your mother sleeps (makes love with) with my dog". At the movie's climax, Johnny uses the same phrase to taunt a crook.

* [[Bus Full of Innocents]]: Howard is scared that the malfunctioning Number 5 might attack one.

'''Ben''': [[Open Mouth, Insert Foot|Nun soup?]] }}

* [[But I Read a Book About It]]: Newton's response when Ben asks if he's ever seen a woman naked.

* [[California Doubling]]: The sequel takes place in the USA, but was shot in Toronto. It was rumoured that the crew had to go out of their way to add litter to the shots to maintain to the illusion of an American city, but it kept getting cleaned up by City Services when they were on break.

* [[Candlelit Bath]]: Parodied.

* [[Changing of the Guard]]: From Newton Crosby and Stephanie as the main human protagonists to Ben and - [[Character Development|eventually]] - Fred.

* [[Characterization Marches On]]: Ben graduates from a [[Chivalrous Pervert]] to a three-dimensional protagonist between films.

* [[Do-Anything Robot]]: Let's see... Johnny has a parachute, "multi-frequency remote control" that allows him to control anything electric (within range), and a [[Swiss Army Weapon]] that extends to {{spoiler|cut through solid steel bank vault walls}}, unlock cars and unscrew their radios, and help build little toy robots.

* [[Does Not Know His Own Strength]]: Johnny, in the second movie. When he wants to push past someone (usually [[Con Man|Fred]]) he tends to toss him halfway across the room. Not to mention the trouble he gives the two police officers when they arrest him for trashing the bookstore.

* [[Do Not Pass Go]]: In the second movie.

* [[Every Helicopter Is a Huey]]: Although the helicopter that chases down and destroys the {{spoiler|decoy Number Five}} is not a Huey, but a JetRanger, this trope is lampshaded:

'''Howard:''' "Well, why wasn't I notified?" }}

** This is likely Skroeder's mistake, as "Huey" is a specific model of helicopter, not the catch-all term for helicopters Skroeder seems to think it is.

* [[Failing a Taxi]]: Johnny launches a grapple magnet to [[Mundane Utility|capture a taxi]] for Ben.

* [[Fake Nationality]]: Fisher Stevens as Ben. Lampshaded when Newton asks where's he's from.

'''Ben:''' Oh, them. Pittsburgh. }}

* [[False Friend]]: {{spoiler|Oscar}}. You really ought to see it coming, but he's so jolly that many viewers don't.

** {{spoiler|Oscar's}} goons {{spoiler|destroying the No.5 replica}} early in the second film.

** And at the police station:

Yeah, battery fluid maybe. }}

* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]: All the military robots.

* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: S.A.I.N.T. Touches on nightmare fuel, given the root is '''S'''trategic '''A'''rtificially '''I'''ntelligent '''N'''uclear '''T'''ransport.. The SAINT series are nuke delivery platforms, designed, [[Chekhov's Skill|as explained at the start of the first film]], to be para-dropped into enemy cities, use their maneuvrability, intelligence, and weaponry to safely deliver their nuclear payload to their target, and then blow themselves up.

* [[Gang-Bangers]]

"Los Locos [[Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon|kick your balls into outer SPAAAAAACE!]]" }}

* [[Geek Physiques]]: Ben and his bank robber counterpart, Saunders, are both portrayed as weaklings.

* [[Granola Girl]]: Stephanie. Takes in all manner of poor and homeless animals (and one sentient robot), runs a truck that she sells natural food out of, and expresses her deep displeasure with the military and their weapons.

* [[G-Rated Drug]]: Apparently, knowledge is this to a newly sentient robot. [[Played for Laughs]], of course.

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Howard Marner is hinted at undergoing one at the conclusion of the first film by {{spoiler|firing Schroeder}}.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Newton and Ben. (Ben lampshades this a couple of times.)

* [[Loan Shark]]: Fred uses one to sponsor his business with Ben, with thirty days to pay up. When the jewel thieves first confront Fred and Ben with ski masks, Fred first thinks it's the loan shark's henchmen.

* [[Lock and Load Montage]] / [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: Johnny Five goes through this after {{spoiler|being beaten and left for dead by the villains, out of sheer anger that they merely kidnapped his friends, but flat out tried to kill HIM}}. He even dons a mohawk-like set of spikes for the occasion.

* [[Locked in a Freezer]]: Ben and Fred in the second movie.

* [[Magical Defibrillator]]: One such is used to recharge Johnny Five's dying battery.

* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: Ben keeps calling Johnny "Number Johnny Five". He doesn't really seem to mind though.

* [[No Sympathy]]: Crosby taking No. 2 (without permission) on his hunt for No. 5, causing Howard to wet his drawers some more.

'''Ben:''' [[And a Diet Coke|Plus we are needing gas money.]] }}

* [[Oblivious to Love]]: Ben's love interest, the woman representing the toy company he had a deal with, doesn't even notice his (poor) attempts at romancing her until Johnny bungles their date.

* [[Pig Latin]]: Used by the sequel's villains to fool Johnny -- the ''one'' language he doesn't know how to translate.

** He's managed to work it out by the second time they try this trick on him.

* [[Pinocchio Syndrome]]: He even picked a copy of the novel of ''Pinocchio'' while at a bookstore, determining that it required a more careful read.

* [[Playing Cyrano]]: Johnny Five to Ben during the latter's date.

** Radio Shack doesn't just sell electronics. It SAVES LIVES.

* [[Race Against the Clock]]: Fred, when repairing Johnny in Radio Shack.

'''Johnny''': "Fifteen minutes you have to get good." }}

* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: Probably originally meant for combat mode, Johnny's back-lit red "eyes" are usually a telltale sign you've managed to tick off the normally happy-go-lucky pacifist robot.

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Fred and Ben.

* [[Reference Overdosed]]: Johnny doesn't really know when to hold back. Then again, being as young as he is, he doesn't really have his own experiences to know anything beyond references.

* [[Run for the Border]]: {{spoiler|Oscar}} and his cronies devise a clever plot to smuggle the jewels into South America. Each one is hidden inside a cheap, plastic toy dinosaur; "Our gift to the Brazilian National Orphanage."

* [[Running Gag]]: Skroder seems rather obsessed with food...

'''Skroder''': Well let me tell you I've got three of them. Three dandy little Skroders, and I want them to be adults, not barbeques. }}

** He also mistakes Number 5 for a coffee machine.

* [[Strange Syntax Speaker]]: Johnny {{spoiler|after getting mutilated by Oscar's mooks.}}

* [[Suicidal Overconfidence]]: {{spoiler|Johnny heatedly goes after Oscar, ignoring the fatal gash in his battery. He doesn't bleed to ''death'', but he cuts it pretty close.}}

'''Johnny''': "[[Electronic Speech Impediment|Derf]], [[wikipedia:The Rains of Ranchipur|a life-form's gotta do what a life-form's gotta do.]] Stand aside." }}

* [[Super Prototype]]

** The Italian adaptation got a [[Lucky Translation]] here. Translated back into English, Johnny 5 says he has "improved memory, 500 megabytes ''online''", without any mention of ''storage'', which leads viewers to think he was talking about RAM, not hard drive space. Of course, technology has still marched on from computers with 512 megabytes of RAM, but it took a lot more time.

** For a more justifiable version of this trope, see Benjamin's lament that neither he nor Fred is carrying a phone.

* [[They Would Cut You Up]]: "NO DIS-ASS-EM-BLE!"

* [[Tinman Typist]]: Justified. One of Newton's side projects is teaching robots to play piano. And [[Flipping the Bird|give the finger]].

* [[Unwitting Pawn]]: Johnny, in the second movie. ''Twice.'' In the beginning he steals just about a dozen car radios after being decieved by a gang to believe that he was helping them do their jobs as the "Department of Car Stereo Repair"; and later when {{spoiler|Oscar tricks him into digging into the bank vault, thinking it was to create a safe place for Ben.}} Don't worry, [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|he fixes it.]]

* [[Violently Protective Girlfriend]]: Maybe not violent, but Sandy [[Took a Level In Badass|takes a level in badass]] when she believes Ben is in touble, impressively decoding his voiceless-phone messages to use as directions, and demanding that the taxi driver break the law to move faster.

* [[Voice Changeling]]: Johnny, like most [[The Terminator|self-aware robots from the Eighties]], can mimic anyone's voice.

* [[We Used to Be Friends]]: Newton calls out Howard Marner on this, claiming that back when they were both scientists, Howard would have realized the value of Johnny Five's sentience. Howard bluntly replies, "[[Only in It For the Money|I'm a businessman now.]] I'm not a scientist anymore."

* [[You Are Number Six|You Are Number Five]]: He starts as just a number, but gives himself the name Johnny Five. Ben calls him "Number Johnny Five".

* [[Your Mom]]: Invoked in the first movie as a taunt to Number Five's pursuers.

** And in the second:

 

{{reflist}}