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)
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: 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: 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)
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)
Visible crew/equipment: When Johnny is blocking Frank's gunshots with pieces of Frank's car, you can see the wires attached to Johnny's arms for the puppeteers to control him. In the last one, you can even see one of the puppeteers' hands. (01:06:25 - 01:12:21)
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: As Johnny runs from the Nova helicopter his chest plate falls down, in the next scene, it's back up again. (01:31:05)
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)
Other mistake: When Johnny is changing his arm in the back of the Nova truck, it's quite obvious that the new arm he 'attaches' isn't realy attached at all. (00:51:50)
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)
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: Crosby's tie was open after the jacket was on, then crossed as he says "but just one dance"
Continuity mistake: Number 5 goes to the kitchen and the position of the skunk and the stuff on the counter changes between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Stephanie runs to the shelf to pick the second volume of the encyclopedia the amount of cats increases/decreases randomly between shots. Also, the amount of books and their position changes.
Continuity mistake: When Stephanie shows her ants and rabbits to Number 5, the amount of cats on the shelf behind suddenly increases between shots.
Continuity mistake: Ben brings a jacket to Newton, who looks at him. A shot later he is looking at the opposite way.
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: During Frank's second visit to Stephanie's home the stack of pancakes J5 is holding decreases from a load to a few over several shots. (01:04:50 - 01:05:20)
Factual error: When Number 5 is watching Saturday Night Fever, he is watching and grooving to the climactic dance-off scene in Saturday Night Fever on TV. Stephanie then enters and the scene on TV shifts to one much earlier in the movie he's supposedly watching. (00:57:15 - 00:59:30)
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 ★