Short Circuit 1 & 2

[muppetfan89]

I just watched these two films for the first time, and while they were good movies, I was more impressed with the effects that were used to make the robot Johnny 5 come to life. It was all puppetry.

I actually like the effects in the first film better than the ones in the second one. The second film had good effects, and was advance technology at that time to make Johnny 5 really come to life. However, I feel that the first film's effects were more pure, becuase of the fact that puppetry was used. It was more practal puppetry, because they used mechancial rod and cable operated puppetry, marionette puppetry and bunraku puppetry, but very little of electrical/radio controlled puppetry. Once again the effects in Short Circuit 2 were good, but they weren't traditional puppetry.

Although, either way I feel what they did in both films is alot better than the effects we see today. I mean CGI looks fake and isn't pure to me. I hope if/when the remake comes out that they use the original effects and not make Johnny 5 CGI. To me it would take away the idea of the character being what he says he is, alive.

 

[RedPiggy]

I'm a fan of most any robot flick ( ), but I loved these movies. Would it be more expensive to use an actual robot than CGI or vice versa? After all, there's no real reason for Bumblebee to have a robot version if most of it's going to be CGI anyway. And yet they did. There is, I agree, a certain amount of realism that even the best CGI can't really match.

 

[practicecactus]

These movies had a big impact on me as a kid. I use the sequel for my argument contrary to 'no sequels are better than their original'.
If you haven't seen this on youtube yet, I highly recommend it.
Truely fantastic design. I like the second movie more because he gets a lot more screen time and has great character. You quickly forget it's it's an inanimate object, and that's what good puppetry is all about.
I don't think the remake will have that magic from the 80s.

 

[Melonpool]

That was great! When I was a kid, I made a Number Five out of a couple of the Robotix sets I had. If I remember correctly, the head was made out of poster board (with a couple of film cannisters with Yatzee chips for the eyes), as was the laser gun, but the bulk of the body was functional using the crude Robotix motors. I think I made his tool arm out of Legos. I think the treads were all made out of cardboard so it looked more like the movie.

I had that thing built for years, but I don't think anyone ever took a single picture of it. It ran through D batteries like nobody's business, too!

I still have the Robotix. Maybe I'll rebuild him one of these days?

Steve

 

[muppetfan89]

I have seen that video, it's truly inspiring to see something that seems so complex be made into simple rods, cable controls and mechancial rigs. That's true puppetry right there. I'm not a huge fan of radio controlled puppetry, for some reason, I feel it's just like driving a remote control toy and not really using one's puppeteer skills, but that's just me.

I also think the second one is better. I don't know why. I think it's because the story seems a little better, funnier, and actually pretty touching.

 

[practicecactus]

Yeah, I don't really like radio controlled animatronics as well but cable operated doesn't look move much better either, in my opinion. At least with cables the speed can be controlled more, but for Number Five it works because he is a robot after all.
For close ups he was just the top half being operated like any other puppet. It's pretty ingenius too that all the parts were interchangeable. An arm could be operated on it's own for a close up and then put on the free roaming radio controlled version.

 

[muppetfan89]

Yeah, I don't really like radio controlled animatronics as well but cable operated doesn't look move much better either, in my opinion. At least with cables the speed can be controlled more, but for Number Five it works because he is a robot after all.
For close ups he was just the top half being operated like any other puppet. It's pretty ingenius too that all the parts were interchangeable. An arm could be operated on it's own for a close up and then put on the free roaming radio controlled version.

I agree it is an ingenious idea.

Seeing how it was operated kind of reminded me The Dark Crystal. A great deal, if not all the characters, were mechanically/cable operated.

While it is hard to get some movement out of it, it's also pure traditional puppetry. Plus, for some scenes in Short Circuit, when cable operated puppets were used, the director John Badham would shoot at 12 frames per second, rather then 24 frames per second. So, in the end Number 5 did get the same speed of movement as a human actor, but at a slower pace.

I believe Frank Oz had to do the same thing with Little Shop of Horrors. Any scenes with the plant were shot at 12 frames per second, since foam and cable puppets move a little slower. Then, in the finished film, it looked 24 frames per second.

It's amazing what you can do with film and other art forms such as animation and puppetry.