One evening as a kid, during a free-movie-channel weekend, my father was flipping through channels and suddenly stopped on one movie. The film had just begun, showing a small robot running through the streets and a department store. I was unfamiliar with what I was watching, but my dad was excited, grabbing a blank VHS tape and immediately recording the movie. From that night on, alongside Howard the Duck, Short Circuit 2 (1988, PG) (known to me as Robot Johnny 5, as I had never seen the opening title) was a constant at my house.

The thing about this movie was that it was a sequel I had not seen then, and still have yet to see more than once to this day. This didn’t bother me at that age, being enthralled by Johnny 5, and having already gotten a short description by Ben at his introduction. This bothered me even less than the fact that it’s main supporting Indian character (Ben Jahveri) was played by a white American.

While I have never seen it, according to IMDB, the description of the original movie, Short Circuit (1986, PG), is as follows:

Number 5, one of a group of experimental military robots, undergoes a sudden transformation after being struck by lightning. He develops self-awareness, consciousness, and a fear of the reprogramming that awaits him back at the factory. With the help of a young woman, Number 5 tries to evade capture and convince his creator that he has truly become alive.

The first movie featured Steve Guttenberg and Ally Sheedy, with Fisher Stevens as Number 5’s creator, while the sequel features Michael McKean as Fred Ritter, alongside Stevens. This time Jahveri is making toy versions of the robots he previously created for the government, only to discover Number 5, the robot that was struck by lightning, is still around and has mailed itself to Jahveri’s doorstep. Johnny, as he calls himself, is happy to help manufacture the toy robots, and creates several security systems to prevent one group from regularly robbing their building. Meanwhile, Jahveri attempts to sell his robots to a toy company, at the same time seducing the representative who found his product, Sandy (Cynthia Gibb).

The main joy of Short Circuit 2 is seeing Johnny 5 learn to interact with the world, learning about street gangs, the police, bookstores, religion, and even hatred and prejudice from humans around him. Each of these ideas are just as important, if not more important, almost 30 years later. As Johnny proclaims while being dragged away at the police station, “I am alive. Read my lip lights. I think therefore I am… Hath not a robot eyes? Hath not a robot hands, dimensions, senses, affections, passions. If you prick us do we not bleed?” Perhaps Siri will not, but I’m not sure about a Roomba.

Like last week in Electric Dreams, this movie also takes the concept of the rise of AI to a new level that has only recently started to become reality. Short Circuit shows the importance of raising children to be kind, loving adults in a safe environment. In New York City, Johnny is exposed to a plethora of confusion, having never seen the city before. He is tricked by a gang to break into cars, Ritter constantly tricks him into doing his dirty work, and Jahveri forces him to stay inside. Not once is Johnny allowed to learn on his own without problems.

Rewatching the movie as an adult, I give it 4/5 stars, mainly due to the faulty casting in the first movie that carried over to its sequel.

You can check out Johnny’s trailer for the film’s video release on YouTube.