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Talk:Who's Johnny

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Needless alteration of music video description

[edit]

Why did someone lobotomize the excellent description of the music video written by StolenFaith? Granted, some of it relied on information merely implied (rather than explicitly stated) by the music video, but I would think in this context (namely, an article for a generic if catchy song for a pretty terrible movie) the rules pertaining to original research might be relaxed ever so slightly, particularly since the original description of the video was in no way misleading as to the video's actual content. I strongly recommend that the original music video description (as it appeared prior to the edit of 10:56, 8 July 2013‎) be reverted by someone with sufficient authority to ensure the reversion persists. 174.88.144.198 (talk) 13:01, 12 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Here's the original description (as it first appeared in this revision):

The video features El Debarge singing in a courtroom, where a judge is presiding over the trial of Johnny 5 (the robotic protagonist of Short Circuit). A representative of NOVA, the government defense contractor that created Johnny, sits at the prosecutor's table as El Debarge sings his testimony from the witness stand. Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy) and a cardboard cutout of Newton Graham Crosby, Ph.D. (Steve Guttenberg) are also in attendance as adversarial witnesses for the prosecution, implying that El Debarge is playing the co-lead role of Ben Jabituya, played by Fisher Stevens in the film. The prosecutor's sole question during these examinations is the titular line of the song "Who is Johnny?" She plays a VHS tape, labeled "Short Circuit," containing various clips from the movie. Meanwhile, Number 5 wreaks havoc in the courtroom (only his robotic hand is visible to the viewer) with various hi-jinks, including giving the prosecuting attorney a pair of funny-nose glasses, turning up the ceiling fan to create a windstorm of papers, swapping the judge's gavel for an exploding one and calling the fire department, resulting in the judge being sprayed with water. It is possible that this proceeding is some sort of special tribunal for robot defendants where the normal rules of evidence and procedure do not apply. Stephanie and El Debarge sneak out of the courtroom at the end, covering the camera with a slate on their way out. The prosecutor, still wearing the trick glasses, pops up to deliver the last "Who's Johnny?" Given the fact that she has video evidence of Johnny's entire origin story, this question may be more existential, designed to elicit testimony from the witnesses that demonstrates Johnny, though a cybernetic device, is a fully-formed person for the purposes of the trial. The trial may be a threshold issue proceeding to determine whether the court has jurisdiction over a sentient robot or, if it does, whether Johnny had the requisite input regarding the moral concept of right and wrong to be considered legally sane at the time he committed the crimes depicted on the video tape. The video does not show the outcome of the trial.

Reflect for a moment upon the penultimate sentence: The trial may be a threshold issue proceeding to determine whether the court has jurisdiction over a sentient robot or, if it does, whether Johnny had the requisite input regarding the moral concept of right and wrong to be considered legally sane at the time he committed the crimes depicted on the video tape. That's comedy gold, plain and simple. 65.95.205.26 (talk) 00:57, 14 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]