13 Top Secret Facts About The 'Short Circuit' Movies

The '80s were the heyday for movie robots, from cute droids like R2-D2 to cold-hearted killers like the Terminator and ED-209.

But none of the decade's big screen robots have a place in our heart like Johnny 5, the mischievous machine from Short Circuit one and two. Odds are you have a worn-out tape of one of the movies stashed in your crawlspace right now, but you probably didn't know these 13 facts about the films.

1. The Johnny 5 robot really short circuited

There were 15 working versions of Johnny 5 on set, and while most worked fine the fifth model actually went haywire.

“It was almost spooky," remembers designer Eric Allard. "It went up in a puff of smoke and we used that one to solve the electronic difficulties. After we rebuilt it, it became the best, most reliable robot we had for the duration of the shoot. He seemed to actually exceed his battery life!”

I guess Johnny 5 was alive after all.

2. Two of the Johnny models gave their lives for the film

To film just one shot from the parachute scene, a pair of Johnnys were launched off a bridge and dropped 180 feet, "disintegrating" when they hit the ground. Ouch!

3. Fisher Stevens went all-out for his role

When the scientist character Ben was re-written as an Indian man, Stevens was replaced by Bronson Pinchot, who played Balki on Perfect Strangers. Then, he got his job back, and went totally method for the part.

“I went to India and I studied Hindi. I got into Yoga. And this is in 1985. I lived with Indian people. I really immersed myself. I used to be a total method actor, so I was really deep in the deep end."

As crazy as that sounds today, it sort of worked. Indian audiences were convinced "Fisher Stevens" was really Bollywood actor Javed Jaffrey, and Jaffrey was forced to release a statement denying the rumors.

4. It took a dozen people to make Johnny 5 move

Sometimes just one or two puppeteers were required for small scenes, but full-body shots usually required a team of people. The most complex scene, the "Three Stooges" fight, took 18 people controlling the robots at the same time.

“That was an absolute nightmare!" remembers director John Badham. "The Three Stooges sequence was just horrendous, horrible. We were training people right and left. If you had been on the set, I might have grabbed you, put some controls in your hand, and said, ‘Here, you do this part.’”

5. Short Circuit was filmed in the same town as The Goonies and Kindergarten Cop

The picturesque small town of Astoria, Oregon has attracted Hollywood movies multiple times. It was also the basis for the original Silent Hill video game.

When Johnny 5 steals the van, the path he drives down is the same one the kids from The Goonies ride their bikes on.

6. Johnny 5 was designed to look as futuristic as possible

Along with making the military robot look like an actual battle-ready machine, director John Badham wanted Johnny to seem like he was from "50 or 100 years in the future."

The biggest influence on Johnny's design was a piano playing robot from Japan's 1985 Tsukuba Expo, who used his camera "eye" to read the keys.

Designers Syd Mead and Eric Allard also say they tried to avoid making Johnny look like any other famous movie robots...

7. But some famous robots look a lot like Johnny 5

Fans of the Short Circuit movies love to point out how much Pixar's Wall-E resembles Johnny 5. From the tank treads and the telescoping neck to the binocular eyes, there sure are a lot of similarities.

Wall-E director Andrew Stanton says he only saw Short Circuit once, but admits he may have been "subconsciously influenced" by Johnny 5's design. We'll take his word for it, but just look at these two side-by-side.

8. Does the sound of Johnny's laser seem familiar?

It's actually the noise from Ghostbusters when the Proton Packs power up.

9. The movie was more like RoboCop at first

Writer Steven Wilson revealed that originally Johnny was a human being, "who had been mechanized until only his brain remained intact." But his co-writer said to idea was "grisly" and it was cut from the script.

They also thought of including aliens who gave Johnny his intelligence, but in the end a bolt from the blue was the easiest way to get the movie started.

10. The dance sequence was a reference to the director's past work

Johnny copies his best dance moves from John Travolta's performance in Saturday Night Fever after catching it on TV. Short Circuit's director, John Badham, also directed Saturday Night Fever.

The complicated dance between a Johnny 5 model and Ally Sheedy took two weeks to choreograph, but took just two fairly easy days to film.

11. Wes Craven recycled Johnny's body

One of the Johnny 5 models had its chassis turned into the robot from Wes Craven's horror flick Deadly Friend.

12. Test audiences didn't fall in love with the movie's romantic side plot

Ally Sheedy's relationship with Johnny 5 was much cozier in the original cut of the film, but audience backlash made Badham cut many of their scenes out of the final version. Test audiences booed and hissed whenever Sheedy hugged or kissed the robot, because obviously they hadn't seen Bicentennial Man yet.

13. Two of the biggest stars didn't show up for the sequel

Fans were confused when both Steve Gutenberg and Ally Sheedy were left out of the second Short Circuit adventure, but they both had their reasons.

Gutenberg turned down the sequel because it didn't have a script when he was asked to sign on, and says he's regretted the decision ever since. As for Sheedy, producers decided she was "too expensive" for the sequel, but she still recorded 10 second of dialogue for Johnny 5's tape recorder in the second movie.

Do you still love these movies? I think it's time to re-watch them!