| abstract
| - Benjamin Jahrvi (Fisher Stevens) has moved to New York City where he is selling toy versions of Johnny 5 on the street. Struggling department store buyer Sandy Banatoni (Cynthia Gibb) sees the toys and orders 1,000 units. Ben is helped by con artist Fred Ritter (Michael McKean) with the project. Fred borrows money from a loan shark for equipment, hires temporary workers and rents a warehouse to build the toys. Unfortunately, the warehouse is the base of operations for a couple of thieves hired by bank teller Oscar Baldwin (Jack Weston) to tunnel into the bank vault across the street. They plan to steal a set of jewels known as the Vanderveer Collection, worth $37,862,000. The thieves try to scare off Ben and Fred, trashing their equipment and chasing away their temps which makes it impossible to meet the deadline. A large crate arrives from Ben's friends Stephanie and Newton, containing Johnny 5, sent to help Ben with his business. Johnny can build the toys rapidly, giving Ben time to study for his U.S. citizen's test. Considering Johnny's thirst for data, Fred is sworn not to reveal their location to Johnny, believing that the robot would go nuts if he knew he was living in a major metropolis. When Fred accidentally lets it slip to Johnny that he is in the city, the robot leaves the warehouse to explore the city, annoys everyone, and inadvertently makes friends with Oscar himself. Fred, having learned that Johnny is worth $11,002,076.17, tries to sell the robot to a few businessmen. When Johnny learns that Fred plans to sell him, he escapes and wanders through the city. Johnny soon realizes just how lonely he is because of his inability to convince anyone that he is alive. Johnny is later found and retrieved by Ben from the police's stolen-goods warehouse after being put there for trashing a book store for input. The two have a heart-to-heart conversation, and Johnny encourages Ben to ask Sandy out on a proper date. After an awkward start, Ben and Sandy make a connection. The thieves, pressed for time, lock Ben and Fred in the freezer of a Chinese restaurant, while Oscar persuades the overly trusting Johnny to help finish the tunnel leading to the bank. Johnny completes the tunnel, breaks into the safe, and unlocks the safe deposit box that holds the Vanderveer Collection. Johnny figures out Oscar's true intentions, but after being chased through the city, he is savagely attacked and severely damaged by the thieves causing his system to malfunction. Although Johnny manages to get away, he is leaking battery fluid and losing power, a condition that will kill him in two hours unless proper repairs can be made. Ben and Fred manage to escape from the freezer with Sandy's help, but when they return to the warehouse, Ben and Sandy are captured by the police mistaking them as being the ones responsible for the robbery. Fred escapes, though, and attempts to find Johnny. After a long search, Fred finds Johnny in an alleyway. Fred is startled by how damaged Johnny is, and helps patch him up enough to reconnect his main battery and memory, just enough for Johnny to make the remaining repairs himself. It isn't until Johnny learns from Fred that he and Ben were locked up in a freezer, that the robot becomes enraged at the fact that they were simply locked up and he was attacked by Oscar's gang after being merely used and seeks vengeance on Oscar. Despite his injuries, Johnny is determined to bring Oscar and his gang to justice. After a chase he corners them at a construction site near the Hudson River. Oscar's gang is captured, but Oscar himself flees by stealing a boat. Johnny uses a crane to capture Oscar from the moving boat, who is then arrested and the diamonds are returned. The effort drains Johnny's remaining power reserves and kills him, causing Ben (who was released along with Sandy by two police officers who found Johnny earlier at a church after hearing the police have arrest the wrong suspects) to frantically use a defibrillator in an effort to save Johnny. Ben succeeds, and manages to keep the robot running long enough to make full repairs. The final scenes show Johnny has become a celebrity, his face on the front pages of newspapers and magazines everywhere. As a result of this newfound fame, his look-alike toys have become a hot commodity, allowing Sandy, Ben, and Fred to go into business for themselves. The film concludes with Ben becoming a US citizen, which he shares with a newly-restored and gold-plated Johnny, officially recognized as a living, thinking citizen with all the associated rights and privileges. Asked how he felt about his new status, Johnny enthusiastically jumps into the air, shouting that he feels "alive!"
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