Referenced By / Short Circuit

Live-Action TV

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The robots Sibyl has Russell build for her in "The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and the D" resemble a mix of Johnny Five and the robots from Chopping Mall. Mack even name-drops the film in his Pre Ass Kicking One Liner toward one of them. The resemblance isn't entirely coincidental either — Eric Allard, co-creator of Johnny Five, also built and puppeteered the robots for the episode.
• Community: A Short Circuit 2 poster is shown in Home Economics.

Video Games

• Grand Theft Auto V: One of the radio stations plays the song Bassheads by Gangrene, which includes a whole verse shout-out to Short Circuit
  All systems loaded, revenge of Johnny 5
  Equalizer like blink while I keep the party live
  Impressed to fly robot with my dance steps
  Bunny man, Roger Rabbit and electric slide
  These are robotic sweat drippin' from off my helmet
  To my pelvis and now all of my circuits fried
• Watch_Dogs 2: In one side mission titled "Johnny, Where R U?" the client calls his missing robot Johnny Five and the protagonist says to him "You got good taste in movies".

Web Animation

• Minilife TV: In "A Dark Night", a pre-film trivia question depicts a silhouette of a "lovable robot icon". Michael guesses it's Johnny Five, but it's actually his robot friend, Archie.

Web Comics

• In Shortpacked!, Short Circuit is stated to be Ultra Car's favorite movie. She relates to Johnny Five because it makes her feel less alone in the world, and is also hoping the remake is exactly like the original movie, but better (meaning no Ally Sheedy). Her admiration for the movies culminate in her and Malaya sneaking across the Canadian border to steal Pinocchio and Frankenstein from the World's Biggest Bookstore (referencing a scene from Short Circuit 2) before the bookstore closes for good.
  • Ultra Car's Ultimate Universe counterpart (well, half of her counterpart) Carla in Dumbing of Age is on record as saying Short Circuit 2 is her favorite movie. She emphasizes the '2' part.

Web Original

• The Cinema Snob's 500th episode was 'Choose Your Own Guttenberg', a Gamebooks-style video review centered around the filmography of Steve Guttenberg, presented as if it were Guttenberg's actual life. Short Circuit comes up if the viewer chooses 'Build Robots' at the first fork, in which Steve quits the police force to pursue his passion for building robots. The video ends with the viewer either choosing 'A Very Serious Turn' in which Johnny Five is damaged, setting off a nuke inside him, leading to The Day After or 'The Brain of the Robot is Put Into Twins!' in which Johnny Five's brain is put into a human girl and then is somehow cloned, leading to It Takes Two (1995).

Western Animation

• American Dad!: A robot resembling Johnny Five appears in My Morning Straitjacket.
• The Muppet Babies (1984) episode, "At the Movies" uses extensive footage from Short Circuit 2. Johnny 5, dubbed with new dialogue by a different actor (Greg Berg, where he's Acting for Two in the process), befriends Baby Scooter and accompanies him throughout the episode to help him decide what his favorite movie is.