Monday, May 16, 2016

Rein-Toon-Ation: Gadget & the Gadgetinis (2001)

Inspector Gadget gets a promotion and a new base of operations in the fourth series in the franchise to date, Gadget & the Gadgetinis, the first incarnation of the series not to feature the original voice of Gadget, Don Adams.

Maurice LaMarche succeeded Adams halfway through the previous series, Gadget Boy & Heather, and one must assume this might've been because Adams was in declining health. The 60's icon would pass away in 2005. Anyway, Gadget is now a Lieutenant, and while his perpetual pre-teen niece, Penny, is still around, her dog, Brain, isn't, having retired from field duty due to some trauma from repeatedly being mistaken for enemy agents, a running gag in the original series. Chief Quimby and Gadget now work for a French intelligence agency, but Dr. Claw is still the main villain. The Gadgetinis, Digit & Fidgit, were created by Penny to serve as her uncle's assistants. Kind of like doubling down on the old gags, no?

Let's take a look at the series opener.





Even aliens can be mistaken. Reportedly, there's a reboot of the franchise, which is airing on Netflix here in the US.

Rating: C.

6 comments:

Silverstar said...

I'm a tad fuzzy on the details, but the new Inspector Gadget series was originally set to air on Boomerang, tying in to the channel's rebrand last year, but Turner Broadcasting somehow screwed up the deal, and as a result, the new Gadget show airs on Boomerang internationally but not in the US, where it airs on Netflix.

Getting back to Gadget and the Gadgetinis, it's a series whose existence I was unaware of until someone brought it up on The Big Cartoon Database. Never seen Gadgetinis, so I have no opinion on it.

hobbyfan said...

Something tells me someone at Turner got their financials mixed up, and.....!

I had read the Inspector Gadget Wikipedia page some time back, and that was how I knew of Gadget & the Gadgetinis. I will be covering Gadget Boy & Heather another time.....

Mesterius said...

"...in the final series in the franchise to date, Gadget & the Gadgetinis..."

Uh, hobbyfan, are you not aware that a new CGI Inspector Gadget TV series has been airing globally since early 2015? Here's one of the zillion trailers you can find around the web for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPHMiQ0PZmY The series is airing on Teletoon (the channel which commissioned it) in Canada, on Netflix in the United States and on Boomerang in nearly every other country.

The first season of 26 half-hours has now been released in its entirety, with Season 2 (another 26 half-hours) in production as we speak. In other words, this latest reboot has already become a reasonable success.

hobbyfan said...

Ok, I wasn't sure when the current series had or would start, and I will update the original post. Thank you.

Mesterius said...

No problem, cool to see that you fixed it already. :)

I'm a fan myself and have been following the developments of this latest reboot ever since it was announced on my own blog, nexttime-gadget.blogspot.com. You can find the latest updates regarding Season 2 in this post, where I link to and quote some official press releases/announcements: http://nexttime-gadget.blogspot.com/2016/04/dhx-has-started-promoting-upcoming.html

hobbyfan said...

Here in the US, as Silverstar noted, the current series airs on Netflix. Eventually, we'll get to it.