Another Sci-Fi Remake: Short Circuit

There’s really nothing cool about this, but it is sci-fi, and that means I get to make fun of Hollywood’s appalling lack of creativity as they once again reach into the far reaches of the, er, ’80s to find yet another movie worthy of rebooting. And when I say “worthy” I of course mean they’re all out of ideas, so why not just be lazy and do something all over again. This time it’s 1986’s “Short Circuit”, a film that spawned a sequel that I must shamefully admit I saw in the theaters. Yes, I was very lame back in the day.

Variety says Number 5’s return to cinema will be coming to you courtesy of the fine folks at Dimension Films, who have tapped Dan Milano (of Robot Chicken and Greg the Bunny) to script the remake.

The original was written by S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, and starred a military robot called Number 5 who became self-aware after a lightning strike. (Sure, why not.) The original had Number 5 falling into the caring clutches of Ally Sheedy and Steve Guttenberg (trust me, they were popular back then), but the sequel was all about Number 5 and his buddy Fisher Stevens. And oh yeah, the evil military was after the bucket of bolts cause it was originally theirs and such.

David Foster, who produced the original, will be producing the remake as well. Says Foster:

“We’re bringing Number 5 into the 21st Century and taking advantage of the improvements in robotics that are so massive that robots are now performing heart surgeries in hospitals.”

Sure, David, sure…