Continuity mistake: In one of the first scenes where the robots are being tested on the fake tanks and trucks, you see the robots' lasers being raised from the front. The front of the lasers come up into firing position as opposed to lowering into position. This is not possible considering the lasers are mounted on their backs and the front of the lasers lower into firing position in the rest of the movie. (00:03:05)
Continuity mistake: At the start of the film, Howard is talking to a woman and it's lovely and bright and sunny. Yet just a few seconds later we get a shot of the sky and there are lots of black clouds and it starts raining. (00:07:35)
Continuity mistake: When Ben enters the lab to call Newton for the press-presentation, the red digital clock shows 11:33:55. In the next shot from another angle of Ben, the clock shows 11:10:xx. and the very next moment it has jumped to 11:27:xx. (00:07:45)
Continuity mistake: The robot hand in Newton's lab is supposed to be playing the keyboard, but most of the time its fingers aren't even touching the keys at all. (00:08:15)
Visible crew/equipment: When Number 5 plays with the light switches on the way to the disarming section, a coffee serving robot comes through the corridor, and the reflection of the camera is visible in the coffee pot. (00:12:15)
Continuity mistake: When Johnny 5 is being pushed out of the building by the motorised bin, his mouth guard is off. But later when he is in the truck it is back on, only to come off again after he falls off the truck. (00:12:55)
Continuity mistake: Just before we see Johnny fall off the bridge we see a shot of him speeding past some roadblocks. Look at the size of Johnny compared to the roadblocks. They are practically bigger then him. This was obviously a small replica robot filmed with the camera on the ground, to give off the impression it was the real thing. (00:20:45)
Continuity mistake: The scene where Johnny falls off the bridge, opens his parachute and lands in Stephanie's truck is obviously fake. Johnny doesn't move, yet all the backgrounds do - the scene was obviously filmed infront of a blue screen. (00:20:55)
Visible crew/equipment: When we see a wide shot of Stephanie's truck driving through the town, look closely to the left of Johnny when we see the truck start to go up the hill. You can see one of the puppeteers hiding beside the robot. (00:21:35)
Continuity mistake: When Stephanie and Mrs. Sapeeto are talking after Frank leaves, we can see Stephanie's truck in the background with no Johnny 5 on top of it. (00:24:00)
Continuity mistake: When Johnny is exploring Stephanie's house we see 3 shelves in the background and on the middle shelf is a grey cat. In the next shot there is a black and white cat in its place. (00:30:50)
Continuity mistake: A cat is ontop af a boiling saucepan in Stephanie's kitchen, yet it seems to be rather comfortable. Brave cat. [It is dry ice in the saucepan, so all animal lovers don't worry.] (00:31:45)
Visible crew/equipment: Look REALLY closely at the mirror in the background when Stephanie is trying to control Number 5 from destroying her house. You can see a man leaning over in its reflection. Possibly the director or other crew member. (00:32:15)
Audio problem: When Johnny starts to make impressions of advertisements he has seen on the TV, the TV magically stops making noise throughout this scene. It comes back on when Johnny has finished speaking. (00:34:50)
Continuity mistake: The fence that Johnny falls against starts to break before he even touches it. (00:36:10)
Continuity mistake: When Johnny gets scared of Stephanie's dog, he moves backwards and falls off the porch onto the ground below. His actual framework stays in the same position, but the tracks he uses to move around are strangely upside down. The tracks are made up of long black rectangles with curved edges on the top, but when we see Johnny lying down, the shaved corners are at the bottom. (00:36:15)
Visible crew/equipment: You can see a wire attached to the back of Stephanie's truck in this scene, which obviously stops it from really falling over the edge of the cliff. (00:43:20)
Continuity mistake: When Ben unloads Number 1 from the truck, it is almost fully erect, yet in the next shot, it is in a crouched position. (00:44:50)
Other mistake: During the shot where Newton and Stephanie first argue ("did you say the the robot drove the truck?") in the background Number 1 is missing its treads, leaving the idler wheels and internal chassis of the robot's tread mechanism exposed. (00:45:05)
Continuity mistake: Just after Stephanie's truck stops on the cliff edge, she gets out and goes to talk to Ben and Newton who were following her in their Nova truck. She goes around the back to talk to Ben, and sees him taking Number 1 out. In the first shot of here her arms are by her sides, but when the view cuts to a different angle, she has her right hang on the side of the van door. (00:45:25)
Answer: Astoria, Oregon is just across from Washington state on the Columbia River. The Highway 101 bridge connects Washington to Astoria, and it takes mere minutes to cross. Unlike Washington, Oregon has no state sales tax, so many Washingtonians who live near the border shop there, and their cars would be seen. Also, there are several vintage paddlewheel river boats belonging to a river cruise company based in Astoria. From a distance, they are a similar size, shape, and white color as a Puget Sound ferry. That is probably what you saw cruising on the Columbia River.
raywest ★