The episode "No Brainer" was, to me, very sad. Think back to the 80s classic episodes. Penny and Brain ALWAYS had each other's backs. They were loyal, inseparable best friends. Now, in this episode, we see that Brain has retired and is living alone. That, to me, is heartbreaking. Loneliness can be worse than death. Their friendship should not have been tossed aside, just because Brain was sick of Inspector Gadget. I would think his love of Penny would outweigh his frustration with her Uncle. After all the adventures they had together, all the times they saved each other's lives, Brain and Penny should never have been split up. Two stupid robots are no replacement for a living dog who loves Penny. That episode soured me on the whole series.
4 Reviews
Where are they now?
Chip_douglas10 July 2004
Inspector Gadget was unique amongst eighties cartoons. It was one of the few series not blatantly pushing a toy series (there were some based on the cartoon, not vice versa) and managed to be funny and exciting at the same time. By comparison, product driven shows like He-Man and Thundercats had their comic relief represented by silly sidekicks, while other cartoons funnies like Heathcliff and Denice the Menace were aimed at a younger audience. After the senseless 1995 Gadgetboy series, DIC dusts off their flagship property once more for a new, original series. Not better of course, but still interesting.
Gadget has been promoted to Lieutenant, Penny is a bit older, and Brain has retired from crime fighting (actually to get away from Gadget). To replace him Penny has constructed two miniature versions of her uncle called Gadgetinis. Apart from being almost as dumb as their inspiration, these two only have one distinguishing character quirk: orange Fidget thinks of himself as human and blue Didget keeps reminding him he is not. Penny basically uses the two of them as spyware to keep track of her uncle, which I find a bit disturbing.
Dr. Claw now wears a golden gauntlet, and many of his new schemes are hatched solely to eliminate Gadget. For the first time you can see some legs sticking out beneath his chair and we occasionally get a glimpse of other members of the Claw dynasty. To keep up with contemporary comedy fads, many plots feature gross out humour involving slimy things. The Lieutenant has to report to Colonel Nozzaire at WOMP headquarters at the start of each episode. Like Chief Quimby (who has also had a raise) before him, the French Canadian Colonel continually gets unintentionally hurt by Gadget. Unfortunately (for him) he has to suffer twice per caper, and this shtick gets tired really fast. Sure the gag with Quimby's exploding messages was the same every week, but at least he appreciated Gadget's work and kept his dignity at the end of each episode.
Other updates include octopus like tentacles springing from Gadget's sleeve, another one to separate himself at the waist and even a coffee- and washing machine in the stomach (!?!). The Gadgetmobile has been traded in for a mini that morphs into a plane and his personal Gadgetcopter now comes with a built in safety helmet. For some reason he also insists on wearing green sunglasses that do not match his new dark blue overcoat. Meanwhile Penny has forsaken her computerbook in favor of a laptop (which seems like a step back to me). The new theme is catchy enough to stick in your mind indefinitely, but unlike the classic one, you find yourself wanting to shake it.
7 out of 10
Gadget has been promoted to Lieutenant, Penny is a bit older, and Brain has retired from crime fighting (actually to get away from Gadget). To replace him Penny has constructed two miniature versions of her uncle called Gadgetinis. Apart from being almost as dumb as their inspiration, these two only have one distinguishing character quirk: orange Fidget thinks of himself as human and blue Didget keeps reminding him he is not. Penny basically uses the two of them as spyware to keep track of her uncle, which I find a bit disturbing.
Dr. Claw now wears a golden gauntlet, and many of his new schemes are hatched solely to eliminate Gadget. For the first time you can see some legs sticking out beneath his chair and we occasionally get a glimpse of other members of the Claw dynasty. To keep up with contemporary comedy fads, many plots feature gross out humour involving slimy things. The Lieutenant has to report to Colonel Nozzaire at WOMP headquarters at the start of each episode. Like Chief Quimby (who has also had a raise) before him, the French Canadian Colonel continually gets unintentionally hurt by Gadget. Unfortunately (for him) he has to suffer twice per caper, and this shtick gets tired really fast. Sure the gag with Quimby's exploding messages was the same every week, but at least he appreciated Gadget's work and kept his dignity at the end of each episode.
Other updates include octopus like tentacles springing from Gadget's sleeve, another one to separate himself at the waist and even a coffee- and washing machine in the stomach (!?!). The Gadgetmobile has been traded in for a mini that morphs into a plane and his personal Gadgetcopter now comes with a built in safety helmet. For some reason he also insists on wearing green sunglasses that do not match his new dark blue overcoat. Meanwhile Penny has forsaken her computerbook in favor of a laptop (which seems like a step back to me). The new theme is catchy enough to stick in your mind indefinitely, but unlike the classic one, you find yourself wanting to shake it.
7 out of 10
gadget and the eh....
jakelovesdmartel31 August 2012
Warning: Spoilers
so i just heard about this recently and was very skeptical since i'm a huge fan of the original cartoon from the eighties, but i decided to suck it up and check it out.
I was pretty disappointed with a number of changes they made to it, and i understand that it can't be completely the same, but regardless, it felt too different to be any good.
the good - well, its still inspector gadget so it gets some free points for that, and a number of things are reveled in this one that weren't explained in the original (not sure if that's good or bad).
the bad - firstly, brain is virtually non existent in this series, and apparently hates gadget. What?? come on how can one of the main characters just get taken out like that? Second, Not only does penny not have her super cool computer book and only sports a laptop now, but she really doesn't do as much here, plus she doesn't even look a whole lot like the penny we remember. And thirdly, gadget's tiny robots get really annoying really fast (still arguably better than capetard though). To me, gadget is funnier and works better solo.
This show is definitely better if you haven't seen the original first. 2/10 for too many negative changes
I was pretty disappointed with a number of changes they made to it, and i understand that it can't be completely the same, but regardless, it felt too different to be any good.
the good - well, its still inspector gadget so it gets some free points for that, and a number of things are reveled in this one that weren't explained in the original (not sure if that's good or bad).
the bad - firstly, brain is virtually non existent in this series, and apparently hates gadget. What?? come on how can one of the main characters just get taken out like that? Second, Not only does penny not have her super cool computer book and only sports a laptop now, but she really doesn't do as much here, plus she doesn't even look a whole lot like the penny we remember. And thirdly, gadget's tiny robots get really annoying really fast (still arguably better than capetard though). To me, gadget is funnier and works better solo.
This show is definitely better if you haven't seen the original first. 2/10 for too many negative changes
Just as good as the original, maybe better
georgehazard7311 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Really don't know why ratings are so low. Much like the original series, Gadget and the Gadgetinis follows after the original series where Penny is older and Brain has been replaced by twin mini replicas of Gadget himself. Brain and even Chief Quimby appear later in the series too. The Gadgetinis are probably the highlight of the show as just about everything they say is hilarious. Colonel Nozzaire is also pretty funny when he gets involved in Gadget's mishaps. Claw may not be quite as sinister as he used to be but the voice fits him quite well as does Gadget's new voice. Claw also still has Mad Cat and a chair that resembles the one he had in the original series. Unlike the original series, however, Claw is actually shown in more detail. There is actually an episode where you see more of his body. Even so, you don't see his face but it doesn't matter because even if that isn't your thing, the rest of the show should be more than enough to compensate for it.
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