The latest film from Neil Blomkamp immediately struck audiences over a certain age as incredibly familiar - the story of a law enforcement robot who is reprogrammed by an Asian scientist to learn and perform good acts could have been lifted directly from a synopsis for Short Circuit. Long before Blomkamp introduced the world to Chappie John Badham introduced science fiction fans to another loveable robot, Number 5. Whereas Chappie was designed for policing, Number 5 was originally created by the fictional NOVA Laboratories for use in the military before being whisked away by a more compassionate scientist. Nearly thirty years after the release of Short Circuit and military robots are very much a reality, with defense research organization DARPA heavily invested in the manufacturing of killing machines. Whether or not they go as far as Terminator-style cyborgs remains to be seen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj83dL72cvg
