Sorry, I’m not going to be unbiased on this one. Short Circuit is my favorite movie. When I found out there was a novelization of it, combining my two favorite things–books and Short Circuit–I hit the ceiling. I’m sorry, it’s going to have to really try to be horrible to get me to dislike it. Like it’s going to have to have some scene where Number 5 says something anti-semitic.

I really do like novelizations of movies, even if I don’t read them anymore. Yeah, they can be cash tie-ins, but you get to see all the tiny little details you might miss in a 1/2 second shot. Yeah, the emotional impact is lessened but the immersion is increased. Plus novelizations usually include elements from the shooting script, which means deleted scenes (before we had DVDs for that).

For example, the construction of the robot is a little different. Instead of a grasshopper body, it’s stockier like a barrel, with three arms and an antenna. Instead of equalizer lights, it has a grill for its voice. And the faux-Indian guy Ben is called “Chigger”. No idea where that came from. Overall, it’s a fun and fast read, but ironically, the movie is better. It fixes all the problems involving pacing, humor, and likability.