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Johnny 5, Alive Again?

Johnny 5	Wall-E	Mars Rover

Although the movie Short Circuit is essentially E.T. with a robot; and although PIXAR's new movie Wall-E has a main character that looks just like Johnny 5, that won't stop the remake-treads from treading:

The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films have acquired the rights to remake the 1986 family classic Short Circuit. Even the original creators, S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, who created the characters and wrote both of the original movies, are back on board again writing the script for the remake. No director has been hired yet, but the producers do claim that it will at least be similar in its theme, with technological advances accounted for. Johnny 5 is still alive!

--Short Circuit Being Remade! « FirstShowing.net

I'm not an expert on the philosophy of robots, but it does seem to me that there is a pattern to the designs of Johnny 5 and Wall-E that keeps them squarely on the canny side of the uncanny valley, but still somehow gives them a certain warmth or human appeal. When watches had the most sophisticated mechanics, people described the universe as a watch. Now the universe is described as a quantum computer.

If a human being is analogous to a robot, what will be the next approximation of human form? I'm guessing nano-bots. The new Short Circuit will probably be a kinder, gentler version of Michael Crichton's swarm of Prey. And Johnny 5 Number 2 will probably be CG. It seems counter-intuitive to make a CG robot, but PIXAR is not the first one to do it.

About J. Ott

John Ott is a writer, filmmaker and futurist. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.