History Film / ShortCircuit

* CharacterDeveopment: Ben graduates from a ChivalrousPervert FunnyForeigner to a three-dimensional protagonist FunnyForeigner between films.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Quite a bit for what is a fairly family-friendly series.
** In the first film, upon entering Stephanie's home while she's taking a bath, Number 5 has this to say...
--> '''Number 5:''' ''Niiiiice'' [[UnusualEuphemism software]].
** In one scene in the second film (when Fred is getting his loan from the Loan Shark in a bar), it is very obvious that it is a ''stripper'' bar, and the woman dancing in the background, while somewhat out of focus, ''bares her breasts and jiggles them to her audience.''

--->'''Johnny Five''': [[BilingualBonus "Tu mama hace el amor con mi perro."]] [[spoiler:[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Your mother makes love with my dog]].]]

In the first film (1986), Number Five short-circuits during a routine maintenance check and flees his birthplace of NOVA Robotics. With mobile tank treads, hair-trigger tactile response, dodgy AI and packing serious heat, Five is the grandaddy of corporate liability. In a panic, NOVA deploys its private security force to recapture and/or destroy the robot while his original programmers (Creator/SteveGuttenberg and Creator/FisherStevens) try to stall them. Sure enough, Number Five pulls into a nearby town and befriends a GranolaGirl named Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy), who mistakes him for an extra-terrestrial and NOVA for an evil government agency. Meanwhile, Number Five is adapting... learning... and willfully ignoring commands.

* FrickinLaserBeams: All the military robots. In the sequel, Johnny replaces his with a [[UtilityBelt Utility Pack]].

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: When ''Short Circuit 2'' plays on television, it cuts a lot of scenes for time. Many of the cut scenes are the ones where Johnny wanders around New York observing things for himself, including a scene where he trashes a bookstore. This is jarring because he refers to visiting a bookstore at least twice in later scenes.

* RedOniBlueOni: Fred and Ben.

* {{Adorkable}}: Just about everyone, admit it. Most notably: Ben, Newton and Johnny.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Ben graduates from a ChivalrousPervert FunnyForeigner to a three-dimensional protagonist FunnyForeigner between films.

* AbsenteeActor: Newton and Stephanie, despite being the main human actors of the first film, do not appear with Johnny 5 in the sequel (though Ally Sheedy gets a voice cameo reading a letter as the latter).

* LoanShark: 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.

In the first film (1986), Number Five short-circuits during a routine maintenance check and flees his birthplace of NOVA Robotics. With mobile tank treads, hair-trigger tactile response, dodgy AI and packing serious heat, Five is the grandaddy of corporate liability. In a panic, NOVA deploys its private security force to recapture and/or destroy the robot while his original programmers (Creator/SteveGuttenberg and Fisher Stevens) try to stall them. Sure enough, Number Five pulls into a nearby town and befriends a GranolaGirl named Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy), who mistakes him for an extra-terrestrial and NOVA for an evil government agency. Meanwhile, Number Five is adapting... learning... and willfully ignoring commands.

The second film (''Short Circuit 2'', 1988) centers on Benjamin Jabituya (now inexplicably called Benjamin "Jahrvi"), who helped program Number Five and was blackballed as a result. Living out of a truck, Ben now hustles little NOVA-inspired toys in Manhattan, but he's having problems getting production up to speed. So, Stephanie sends Number Five, now calling himself Johnny Five, who is a one robot production line. Unfortunately, Ben's business partner Fred Ritter sees other opportunities. But all this takes a back seat to Johnny being manipulated by thieves to help in a bank heist, which shatters Johnny's naiveté and leaves him wanting revenge.

* GeneralRipper: Skroeder decides (without bothering to listen to the guy who built it) that recovering Number Five requires loads and loads of military firepower aimed in the general direction of the robot regardless of the presence of innocent bystanders.

* MachineBlood: Johnny 5 is leaking battery fluid after being damaged by the villains. His friend Ben outright says he's bleeding to death, and he even applies a makeshift tourniquet.

* BloodlessCarnage: The attack against Johnny 5 in the second movie, although there is a lot of SymbolicBlood in the form of battery fluid.

* SymbolicBlood: Battery fluid. Ben doesn't mince words, outright stating that "He is bleeding to death" when they find the [[TrailOfBlood trail of battery fluid.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Oscar]] and his goons may be willing do almost anything to get away with their diamond-stealing scheme, but they draw the line at murder, only imprisoning Ben and Fred in a restaurant freezer to get them out of the way. Unfortunately for them, the fact that they're still willing to savagely beat Johnny Five to death because [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman their standards don't extend to HIM]] is [[RageBreakingPoint the last straw]] that drives him into a state of vengeful fury. Possibly the only time this trope has functioned as a hero's BerserkButton.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: More along the lines of artistic license security guards and not the military; though the way they are organized and act is close to military. While Skroeder was entirely justified in tracking down a rogue robot with a laser weapon, not once do we see him or any of his men working with local, county, State or Federal law enforcement or even mention calling them to warn of a potential danger. As private security guards, they had no legal authority to block public roads, hold civilians at gun point, conduct a "precision operation" on private property or stage gun battles outside of the Nova Robotics grounds. In real life, had Skroeder done any of those things, he and his security people would've been facing arrest on the spot. [[spoiler: Even at the climax where the US Army finally gets called in, there still is no sign of any law enforcement.]]

* MoodWhiplash: Like the first film, ''Short Circuit 2'' is a light comedy. That is, till the scene where [[spoiler: [[BigBad Oscar]]]] has his goons brutally [[spoiler:smash up Johnny 5 in near slow-motion]]. There's even a scene where one of the attackers is hit in the ass with a toy RC plane and goofily hobbles away, then the movie immediately cuts back to [[spoiler:Johnny 5 dying on the sidewalk]].

-->'''Johnny Five''': I am NOT stolen goods! ''(slams fists on the table, yanking the police officers down)''

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Oscar and his goons may be willing do almost anything to get away with their diamond-stealing scheme, but they draw the line at murder, only imprisoning Ben and Fred in a restaurant freezer to get them out of the way. Unfortunately for them, the fact that they're still willing to savagely beat Johnny Five to death because [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman their standards don't extend to HIM]] is [[RageBreakingPoint the last straw]] that drives him into a state of vengeful fury. Possibly the only time this trope has functioned as a hero's BerserkButton.

* FireForgedFriends: Fred treats Johnny like he's his personal butler (partly because Ben kept him in the dark about Johnny's AI), then tries to sell him to some corporate bigwigs, prompting Johnny to unleash the white hot rage: "He is [[IFeelAngry NOT]] my friend!" However, after Johnny is [[spoiler: nearly killed by Oscar's mooks]], Fred [[PetTheDog scavenges the city]] for him and later [[IOweYouMyLife repairs]] him ''single-handedly''. By the end of the movie, they've become an AdventureDuo.

** Johnny himself essentially gets one through the entire second movie, as it's brutally pointed out to him at every turn that, aside from Newton, Stephanie, and Ben, ''not a single human being'' believes he's truly alive. A Catholic priest shoos him out of a church believing him to be nothing more than a telepresence device, the police impound him as stolen property instead of arresting him, and Los Locos, Fred, and [[spoiler:Oliver]] all take advantage of his naieve and trusting nature to get what they want out of him.

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

** Other times, of course, Johnny 5 falls headlong into this. Memorably, in the first film, he tries to cook Stephanie breakfast, literally following the instructions. He beats pancake batter until smooth (not caring that he's splattering it all over the kitchen and himself), and "for crisp yet moist potatoes, brown on one side then turn over." He browns the cardboard box the potatoes are in on one side, then turns it over.

* IAmNotAGun: In the second movie, Johnny has his laser weapon removed in favor of a Batman-esque utility pack.

* InkblotTest: Administered to Number Five by Crosby as part of a TuringTest.

* InsaneProprietor: Manic Mike.

* InstantExpert: Number Five assimilates information at an insane speed, going through every volume of an encyclopedia within seconds. Notably, this doesn't help him learn morality; he's still got the mentality of a five-year old, just a very smart one.

** The first time [[spoiler:Oscar]]'s goons try to beat him up, Johnny grabs the pipes they are using and shouts, "'''Bad''' humans!" before swinging them around and launching them out of the warehouse door.

* LightningCanDoAnything: A single bolt is all that stands between a sufficiently advanced robot and sentience.

* StealthPun: Probably unintentional, but in the second film, Johnny Five, the self-aware robot who insists he's alive, embraces [[The80s the late Eighties]] street gang aesthetic when he begins his RoaringRampageOfRevenge. He uses bits from the Radio Shack Fred fixed him up in to fashion a mohawk, [[SpikesOfVillainy spikes]], [[ChainedByFashion chains]], and other electronic accoutrements that serve no purpose but to make him look edgy and cool. In otherwords, he becomes a CyberPunk.