Inspector Gadget (French: Inspecteur Gadget) is an animated children's science fiction comedy series created by Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin and was originally produced and syndicated by DIC Audiovisuel and Lexington Broadcast Services Company. The show revolves around the adventures of a clumsy, dim-witted police officer from Metro City named Inspector Gadgeta police inspector with various bionic gadgets built into his bodywho is sent on missions to thwart plans by his nemesis Dr. Claw, the leader of an evil organization known as "M.A.D.", while unknowingly being assisted by his niece Penny and their dog, Brain. It stars the voice of Don Adams as the titular character.

Inspector Gadget debuted on December 4, 1982, as an exclusive pilot. The series is the first cartoon show to be syndicated by DIC, which specifically created the series to help the company expand into the North American market. This is the first animated series to be presented in stereo sound. It originally ran from 1983 to 1985, broadcasting 86 episodes over two seasons, and remained in syndication into the late 1990s. The series proved to be a success for DIC, not only launching the Inspector Gadget franchise—including additional animated productions such as a 2015 sequel series and two live-action films—but also encouraging the company to produce additional programs such as Heathcliff. In January 2009, IGN named Inspector Gadget as the 54th best in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows.

Since 2012, the rights to Inspector Gadget have been owned by WildBrain (formerly DHX Media) through its in-name-only unit, Cookie Jar Entertainment. Cookie Jar had purchased DiC and its library of shows in 2008, and was itself acquired by DHX Media in 2012.

Premise

Inspector Gadget, the titular character of the series, is a world-famous cyborg police inspector who works for a secret police organization that combats crime across the globe, with each of his missions focused on thwarting the criminal schemes of M.A.D. ("Mean And Dirty")a criminal organization led by the nefarious Dr. Claw, and conducted by his agents. Missions that he undertakes often occur in a foreign locale, or within the fictional city of Metro City. Despite the fact that Inspector Gadget is equipped with numerous gadgets to help him, including a personal vehicle that can morph between a family minivan to a compact police car, he is ultimately incompetent and clueless on each mission—proposing ludicrous theories behind a crime or mistaking M.A.D. agents for friendly locals. He often uses a gadget that he did not call for, and is sometimes prone to causing trouble inadvertently for those around himan example of this is a running gag, inspired by the "self-destruct" message, in which Inspector Gadget is given briefing messages from his boss Chief Quimby, who primarily hands them to him while in disguise, only to have them unintentionally returned to him before they detonate.

In reality, the investigations are often conducted by Inspector Gadget's niece, Penny, who has a talent for investigation despite her young age and regularly thwarts M.A.D.'s plans, at the same time ensuring that her uncle remains out of harm's way, as Dr. Claw frequently instructs his agents to get rid of Inspector Gadget before he can stop them. Even though Inspector Gadget is incompetent, he always escapes danger due to luck, either from a misfired gadget, or from the secret assistance of the family dog Brain, who usually shadows him in disguise; on most occasions, his disguise often causes Inspector Gadget to chase him in the mistaken belief that he is a M.A.D. agent. While Penny remains in contact with Brain during her investigation, she is often placed in danger and either escapes by recalling Brain to help, or using her own technology. Despite the pair's involvement, both make it certain that Inspector Gadget is seen to have completed the mission in Quimby's opinion; yet in most cases, it is either Penny and Brain's background activities or just luck through which Inspector Gadget actually completes a mission. Dr. Claw always vows revenge on Inspector Gadget for thwarting his schemes, and flees the scene on most occasions having been on site to oversee his plans.

Like many cartoons made in the 1980s, Inspector Gadget always ended each episode with a public service announcement advising how to handle a situation, such as the danger of dealing with strangers.

Characters

  • Inspector Gadget (Inspecteur Gadget in French) (voiced by Jesse White in the pilot (1st version), Gary Owens in the pilot (2nd version) and by Don Adams in the pilot (3rd version) and main series): The main protagonist of the series. Despite being brave, well-intentioned and laden with many gadgets in his body, he is frequently absent-minded and clueless, bungles his cases and gets himself into danger, only escaping from trouble and completing his missions with luck (though in the earliest-produced episodes, Gadget was halfway-brilliant, deducing that Dr. Claw is nearby and even became infuriated when he lost his nemesis in a high-speed chase). A policeman by nature, he is a caring family man that often takes risks to protect his niece Penny and their dog Brain, and has a firm disbelief in the supernatural. His character often utters four catchphrases during episodes–"Wowsers!", at times of shock and complete surprise; "Go-Go-Gadget", which is often spoken before Gadget names the gadget he intends to use; "Is that you, Chief? You're where?", uttered when Chief Quimby calls Gadget on his next assignment; and "I'm always on duty", which is also said to Quimby before Gadget leaves for his assignment. He often introduces himself with, "My name is Inspector Gadget", and otherwise it is implied that "Inspector" is his actual first name (rather than a title) and "Gadget" his surname.
  • Penny (Sophie in French) (voiced by Mona Marshall in the pilot episode, Cree Summer in Season 1 and Holly Berger in Season 2): Inspector Gadget's highly intelligent niece. She is the true brains behind Inspector Gadget's investigations, and the one responsible for foiling M.A.D.'s schemes, a fact only known to Brain. Her investigations are conducted in secret, in which she uses two pieces of technology–a hi-tech computer disguised as a book; and a special utility wristwatch, which she frequently uses to communicate with Brain and monitor her uncle's activities. Penny often gets kidnapped by M.A.D. when they catch her snooping into their affairs, but manages to escape with her technology or by calling on Brain for help.
  • Brain (Finot in French) (voiced by Frank Welker): The family's anthropomorphic beagle, assists in investigations by secretly keeping Gadget out of danger, and on several occasions coming to Penny's aid when she needs him. The series' writers designed the character to be highly intelligent and resourceful, often becoming bipedal in order to operate under a number of disguises aimed at fooling Gadget and/or the M.A.D. Agents. A running gag is that Gadget will typically befriend M.A.D. Agents and remain oblivious to their attempts to kill him, while exclusively perceiving Brain as a M.A.D. Agent he needs to arrest. Brain is outfitted with a hi-tech collar that conceals a retractable video communications system linked to Penny's wristwatch, in which he communicates to her through a mixture of pantomime and physical gestures. By Season 2, Brain was using this video link to 'talk' to Penny in dog-talk reminiscent of Scooby-Doo.
  • Chief Quimby (Chef Gontier in French) (voiced by John Stephenson in the pilot, Dan Hennessey in Season 1 and Maurice LaMarche in Season 2): Inspector Gadget's short-tempered boss. The chief of police in Metro City, Quimby specializes in the use of disguises in order to pass on a message containing Inspector Gadget's briefing for his next message, a frequent plot element used at the beginning of each episode, as well as seeing him towards the end to congratulate him on a job well done, never realizing that Inspector Gadget's niece is responsible for foiling Dr. Claw's plots or alerting him secretly to where he and the police need to be. As a running gag, Inspector Gadget is oblivious to the message's self-destruct element and returns it to his boss prior to it blowing up, always unintentionally and occasionally through sheer bad luck on Quimby's part. The character is frequently portrayed with a pipe in his mouth, is often on the receiving end of a mishap from Inspector Gadget's bumbling nature, and is accompanied by his own theme music during his main scene in the episode.
  • Dr. Claw (Docteur Gang in French) (voiced by Frank Welker and Don Francks): The leader of the evil M.A.D. organization. Dr. Claw often operates his schemes via a computer terminal, while accompanied by his pet cat M.A.D. Cat (a reference to James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld), usually either within a base that is often depicted as an old castle, or from within his personal craft the M.A.D. Mobilea black-and-red vehicle that can transform between a car, jet, and submersible, which he always escapes in when his latest scheme has failed whilst he is on location at or near where it is being conducted. Dr. Claw considers Inspector Gadget to be his greatest nemesis, despite being aware of his idiocy, but does know about Penny and Brain's involvement in his missions; however, both he and his M.A.D. agents presume they are simply under orders by Inspector Gadget to spy on their operations, and are never fully aware that they are the real brains behind his schemes being thwarted. The character always uses his catchphrase"I'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time!"at the end of each episode (during the end credits), often to illustrate his desire for revenge against Inspector Gadget. He is never seen, aside from his arms.
  • Corporal Capeman (voiced by Townsend Coleman): Inspector Gadget's sidekick, introduced in the second season. Capeman is a self-proclaimed superhero who acts in the manner of a stereotypical crime fighter; yet, despite being more observant of details than the Inspector, he is equally as inept at interpreting them. Capeman dislikes Brain and is occasionally mean to him, despite Brain getting him out of trouble. Capeman is obsessed with learning to fly and often mistakenly believes he has miraculously acquired the power of flight while in the midst of dire circumstances. Gadget almost always mispronounces Capeman's name as "Capman", while Penny calls him "Capey".

Episodes

Production

Origin

In 1981, Inspector Gadget creator Andy Heyward left Hanna-Barbera and traveled to Paris to work with DIC Audiovisuel after being proposed by the company to do so. As the company wanted entertainment for the United States, Heyward combined ideas to originate Inspector Gadget. As Nelvana was no longer part of the production by season 2, the show was written by the DIC studio employees Eleanor Burian-Mohr, Mike O'Mahoney, Glen Egbert, and Jack Hanrahan. as well as many episodes of the Gadget Boy spinoff series, and Burian-Mohr additionally wrote dialogue for the educational show Inspector Gadget's Field Trip.

Due to various recurring elements in the series, the basic plot of each episode was often the same. The geographic location of each episode differed, and it provided for some variety in the series. The series effectively provided viewers with both comedic and dramatic moments. Despite the censorship standards for American animated series in effect during the 1970s and 1980s, the series also included elements of slapstick comedy. This was nearly forbidden at the time, but the censorship was less strict for a syndicated series.

Animation

Alongside The Care Bears Movie, Inspector Gadget was Nelvana's first foray into animation outsourcing. Most of episodes from the first season were animated in Japan by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, while a few episodes were animated in Taiwan by Cuckoo's Nest Studio, before being finished in post production by DiC and Nelvana. The pilot episode, "Winter Olympics" (a.k.a. "Gadget in Winterland"), was animated by TMS's subsidiary Telecom Animation Film, who had a slightly higher budget than the rest of the episodes. The additional production facilities are AIC, Oh! Production. Sunrise, and Toei Animation who helped with the cel painting process for the TMS-animated episodes.

Nelvana was not involved with the show's 21-episode second season, for which pre-production was moved to DiC's own Los Angeles-based headquarters. The animation and post-production was generally done at K.K. DiC Asia (later Creativity & Development Asia), a Japanese animation house Jean Chalopin co-founded that DiC had some ownership in at the time.

Voice cast

The role of Inspector Gadget went through two different voice actors before Don Adams was cast.