History YMMV / ShortCircuit

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** "Music/HoldingOutForAHero" is ''the'' classic heroic power ballad of the era, helped tremendously by playing in the climax of the second film.
** In terms of music actually written for the ''Short Circuit'' universe, Charles Fox's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sM4gJDkW3U score for the sequel]] is delightful; as is David Shire's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW_dl8g99q4&list=PLohYzz4btpaTLJCUyFSCXs76F_5Y4Z0SK&index=10 music for the original.]]
* CatharsisFactor: After a whole movie of the kindhearted Johnny 5 patiently enduring FantasticRacism, it can be very satisfying to see him [[LetsGetDangerous get genuinely pissed off and kick the asses of the thieves who nearly killed him]].

* DemographicallyInappropriateHumour: 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...

** 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.''

** Creator/MichaelMcKean probably shouldn't be [[spoiler:hanging around with a robot, especially fixing it in a Radio Shack]], [[Series/BetterCallSaul all things considered]]...
*** For that matter, Chuck [=McGill=] once acted more like his "Slippin' Jimmy" brother hustling in the city.

* {{Moe}}:
** To make a not-quite-humanoid robot moe is an achievement, but Johnny Five is just that for fans. The robot's deep respect for life, loyalty to his friends, and fondness for movie quotes all make him pretty lovable.
** Toy company purchasing agent Sandy, from the sequel. Her enthusiasm for novelty toys that her boss dislikes and the way she's eventually charmed by Ben's awkward flirting are pretty cute.
* MoralEventHorizon: If using Johnny 5 to steal the Vanderveer collection isn't enough for Oscar Baldwin and his men, they certainly crossed the line beyond the point of redemption when they [[spoiler:[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown brutally smash him to near death]]]].
* {{Narm}}: Oscar Baldwin saying a dying Johnny 5 is "divine punishment from God" in the sequel comes across as gratuitous in writing, considering the makeup the robot is wearing.
* NarmCharm: ''Both'' movies. No one's ever gonna put them on the same level as ''[[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial ET]]'' or anything, but despite a lot (and we mean a ''lot'') of corny humor and questionable casting (see ValuesDissonance below), the films remain popular guilty pleasures and beloved nostalgia pieces.
* OneSceneWonder: The Los Locos gang from part II:
--> "Los Locos kick your ass, Los Locos kick your face, Los Locos kick your balls into outer space!!"

* SignatureScene: In the sequel, Johnny 5's infamous [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beatdown]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The movies have swear words, and even Johnny getting slaughtered by Oscar's goons, especially the bleeding would probably not fly by today as PG.

* CommonKnowledge: There is a common misconception that one of the main characters drops an f-bomb. The scene where Benny gets mad at Fred for letting Johnny Five out has him saying "Now you stop backing up, you untrustworthy person", but "backing" sounds more like "[[PrecisionFStrike fucking up]]". Though because Benny has a thick accent and an earlier scene had a black guy saying "motherfucker", you really can't blame it.

* ValuesDissonance: Fisher Stevens -- a white actor -- is playing Ben, an Indian character. Not much thought would be given to that in the 80s, of course, but try making that casting choice in the 2010s (and onward). Creator/AzizAnsari pointed this out on his show ''Series/MasterOfNone,'' and then had [[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/arts/television/aziz-ansari-on-acting-race-and-hollywood.html?_r=0&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Television&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article an amicable talk with Stevens on the subject for the New York Times.]]

** Creator/MichaelMcKean probably shouldn't be [[spoiler:hanging around with a robot, especially fixing it in a Radio Shack,]] [[Series/BetterCallSaul all things considered...]]

* WTHCastingAgency: Both Austin Pendleton (Howard) and Fisher Stevens (Ben) have gone on record as saying that while they enjoyed working with him, they thought Creator/SteveGuttenberg was miscast as Newton Crosby; in the script, the character was written as an awkward introvert who is more comfortable around machines than people, but the amiable and outgoing Guttenberg simply didn't match this description.

*** For that matter, Chuck McGill once acted more like his "Slippin' Jimmy" brother hustling in the city.

* EvenBetterSequel: While both films share about an equal amount of corniness and 80s cheese, ''Short Circuit 2'' focusing more on Number 5 coming into his own while also developing Ben beyond an awkwardly cast racial stereotype puts it above the original in many viewers' minds, especially for it having the nerve to show Number 5 be brutally beat to pieces.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The movies have swear words (biggest offender was a black guy in the second film saying "motherfucker"), and even Johnny getting slaughtered by Oscar's goons, especially the bleeding would probably not fly by today as PG.

** Creator/MichaelMcKean probably shouldn't be hanging around with a robot, [[spoiler:especially fixing it in a Radio Shack,]] [[Series/BetterCallSaul all things considered...]]

** To make a not-quite-humanoid robot this trope is an achievement, but Johnny Five is just that for fans. The robot's deep respect for life, loyalty to his friends, and fondness for movie quotes all make him pretty lovable.

* ValuesDissonance: Fisher Stevens - a white actor - is playing Ben, an Indian character. Not much thought would be given to that in the 80s, of course, but try making that casting choice in the 2010s (and onward). Creator/AzizAnsari pointed this out on his show ''Series/MasterOfNone,'' and then had [[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/arts/television/aziz-ansari-on-acting-race-and-hollywood.html?_r=0&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Television&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article an amicable talk with Stevens on the subject for the New York Times.]]

* SpecialEffectFailure: You can see the rods of Johnny's puppet arms in a few shots. These same arm rods can also bee seen when the trio of NOVA robots do their Three Stooges routine.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The animatronics used for Johnny Five are ''still'' quite impressive, and they reportedly took up nearly all of the film's special effects budget on their own.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Music/HoldingOutForAHero" is ''the'' classic heroic power ballad of the era, helped tremendously by playing in the climax of the second film.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Music/HoldingOutForAHero" is ''the'' classic heroic power ballad of the era, helped tremendously by playing in the climax of the second film. [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic Never has a battle between a mechanical death machine and a frumpy old fat man seemed so epic.]]
* CommonKnowledge: There is a common misconception that one of the main characters drops an f=bomb. The scene where Benny gets mad at Fred for letting Johnny Five out has him saying "Now you stop backing up, you untrustworthy person", but "backing" sounds more like "[[PrecisionFStrike fucking up]]". Though because Benny has a thick accent and an earlier scene had a black guy saying "motherfucker", you really can't blame it.

* {{Moe}}: To make a not-quite-humanoid robot this trope is an achievement, but Johnny Five is just that for fans.

* ValuesDissonance:
** Fisher Stevens - a white actor - is playing Ben, an Indian character. Not much thought would be given to that in the 80s, of course, but try making that casting choice in the 2010s (and onward). Creator/AzizAnsari pointed this out on his show ''Series/MasterOfNone,'' and then had [[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/arts/television/aziz-ansari-on-acting-race-and-hollywood.html?_r=0&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Television&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=article an amicable talk with Stevens on the subject for the New York Times.]]
** The TuringTest that Crosby gives Number 5, which is a joke used to exhibit "spontaneous human response" is a bad Jewish joke. And the fact that Number 5 gets the joke despite never having met or interacted with Jewish people.
*** One doesn't need to have interacted with Jews to "get" that joke. For one thing, Number 5 may have run across the [[GreedyJew stereotype]] in some of the books he read; more to the point, though, the punchline is more about the character cleverly taking advantage of the situation than the particular cultural stereotype.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Courtesy of Ben in the sequel. The scene where Benny gets mad at Fred for letting Johnny Five out has him saying "Now you stop backing up, you untrustworthy person", but "backing" sounds more like "[[PrecisionFStrike fucking up]]". Though because Benny has a thick accent and an earlier scene had a black guy saying "motherfucker", you really can't blame it.