Plot of Oil Spill by James Cameron
Number 5 (voiced by Tim Blaney) Fumbles (voiced by Tim Robbins) is one of five prototype robots ROVs proposed for Cold War Evil Drilling use by the U.S. military British Petroleum, although the scientists mainly responsible for creating them, Newton Graham Crosby, Ph.D. (Steve Guttenberg) Muhammad Bashar (Jamie Fox) and his partner Ben Jabituya (Fisher Stevens) Juan Valdez (Paul Rodriguez), are more interested in peaceful uses of their artificial intelligence, like playing musical instruments planting coral gardens. While a demonstration in takes place on the grounds of the developer's company, Nova Laboratories in Damon, Washington Haliburton in Houston, Texas a lightning storm forces an end to the presentation. A power surge hits Number 5 Fumbles while it is recharging and alters its program, causing a malfunction. An associated accident causes it to be taken off company grounds and it wanders away, unable to communicate and not knowing where it is.
Number 5 Fumbles finds itself at the home of animal-lover Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy) Indira Patel (Eva Mendes) in Astoria, Oregon New Orleans, Louisiana, who initially thinks the robot ROV is an extraterrestrial visitor, but then determines that the robot ROV was built by Nova Haliburton. After she helps it satisfy its cravings for "input" (due to its malfunction), and explains the nature of life and death to it, Stephanie Indira and the robot ROV realize the power surge has brought the robot ROV to life. The robot ROV subsequently gains a respect for life, rejecting the destructive nature of its military BP programming, as well as a fear of the disassembly that awaits it back at Nova Haliburton, believing it to be akin to death.
After several narrow escapes from a troop of soldiers corporate thugs led by Nova's BP’s security head Captain Skroeder (G. W. Bailey) Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) — who in his attempt to destroy the wayward robot ROV disobeys orders from Howard Marner (Austin Pendleton) Dick Cheney (Josh Brolin), the director of Nova Haliburton— as well as from Stephanie's Indira’s unscrupulous ex-boyfriend Frank George, Stephanie Indira and the robot ROV finally convince Newton Muhammad of the robot's ROV’s sentience, but are cornered by the full weight of Nova's BP’s security and the army, who seemingly destroy the robot ROV. Unbeknown to the soldiers, the robot ROV they destroyed was a copy built by Number 5 Fumbles from spare parts, and with the robot's ROV’s "destruction," the project that spawned it is ruined and Skroeder Agent Smith is fired. Number 5 Fumbles (who renames himself "Johnny 5" Moon Unit after hearing the song "Who's Johnny?" “Give Peace a Chance” throughout the movie) leaves for Montana San Francisco with Stephanie Indira and Newton Muhammad, who has subsequently quit his job gone to work for the Sierra Club after siding with the robot ROV.
I certainly don’t claim to know what the heck they are doing at the moment.
But to the unknowing layman, such as myself,
these seem like some pretty trivial connections that
shoulda-coulda-woulda been easier to make while topside.