Adorkable: Gadget always tries so hard to accomplish his duty with gusto, despite his constant pratfalls, that you can't help but root for him.
Alternative Character Interpretation: Some people say that Gadget isn't stupid, he's willingly being a distraction so Penny can accomplish the mission. Whenever Penny's safety is threatened (and he knows it!), he suddenly becomes a lot more competent.
Awesome Art: Say what you will about the premise and the repetition of the show, it’s animation is GORGEOUS for 1983. Given TMS Entertainment was responsible for the first season it’s not hard to see why. For a cartoon made in the 1980s it rarely uses any repeating or recycled footage and kept its animation smooth and fluid for the most part even after the studio switch in the second season.
The theme song often plays in the background. No matter what locale Gadget goes to, the local music is simply the theme song reworked to that particular country's musical style. This further ingrains the theme song in your ear and also saves the sound people from having to worry about copyrights. It's so catchy that even the characters frequently hum or whistle it.
The French version has a theme song with lyrics, making it one in its own right.
Broken Base: While the show certain has nostalgia with many audiences, a common point of contention was making Gadget a Useless Protagonist after the first handful of episodes. Some liked the unique Supporting Protagonist dynamic, while others claimed it reduced the main character (particularly one with such a surreal gimmick) into superficial comic reliefnote To the point some fans have literally edited him out of episodes with little detriment to the plot and would have either preferred the earlier dynamic with the more semi-effective Gadget, or a show with just Penny as the main protagonist.
Covered Up: Someone who has grown up watching the cartoon may recognize its theme song better than Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King", which the theme is based on.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Some of the M.A.D. Agents get this treatment, most notably Lana Lamour from the episode "Movie Set". Its probably due to their personalities.
Gadget biting and destroying his pillow during a nightmare in "Bad Dreams Are Made of This" becomes even funnier and more disturbing if you're familiar with the honeymoon scene from a certain infamous vampire love story.
The idea of an assassination attempt via grenades disguised as milk bottles, and the assassin disguised as a milkman, would later be reused in The Living Daylights.
In the episode "Dry Spell", M.A.D. agent Kirk Boulder is assisted by a pair of identical trolls, one wearing orange and the other wearing blue. Orange and blue would later be the respective colors of Fidget and Digit, the titular Gadgetinis from the spinoff series Gadget and the Gadgetinis.
The episode title "NSF Gadget" in the day and age of the internet, with the prefix NSF typically being used in acronyms like NSFW, or "Not Safe For Work", indicating material of pornographic, gory, or generally disturbing nature that is, well, material generally not considered safe to be seen in a public space, such as a work environment. And in an act of serendipity, this show was not spared from works with those labels, particularly Penny (the fact that three separate episodes depict her in slightly revealing bikinis despite her age probably helped in that regard).
Inferred Holocaust: Sometimes occurs either when M.A.D.'s superweapons are tested or when Gadget destroys their large, elaborate secret bases. For example, in "The Bermuda Triangle" Claw's hide-out is a huge, small city-sized ocean-floor complex that must require dozens if not hundreds of crew just for basic operations and daily maintenance. (About a dozen are seen onscreen in any one frame.) Gadget floods the base, and (barely) survives, as does Claw in his personal submarine — But no mention is made of other survivors ...
Memetic Badass: The eponymous hero himself is this in a very bizarre fashion, thanks to OneyPlays, as hes been portrayed as simple being a cyborg with a variety of tools built into him into an outright Physical God capable of doing anything as long as he says "Go Go Gadget" beforehand.
Gadget shows up on a lot of early DiC DVD menus to give instructions, even in series that have nothing to do with him. Some of the things he says have caught on due to a review by James Rolfe and Mike Matei where they make fun of this. Move the glow around the button you want to select!
Speaking of Mike Matei, his infamous review of Minecraft featuring Inspector Gadget titled Minecraft With Gadget that was uploaded to Cinemassacre sometime in 2012. The video has made the series became heavily associated with Minecraft thanks to Gadget famously saying "I love building bricks with Minecrap" and "brown bricks". The video would be frequently used on Silva Gunner's remixes on various video games.
Next time, Gadget! NEEEEEXT TIIIIIIIME!
Once Original, Now Common: The show was one of the first cartoons produced for first-run syndication, as opposed to being aired on one of the major TV networks. This not only enabled a much higher quality of animation compared to what most of the competition (namely Hanna-Barbera or Filmation) were capable of at the time, but the absence of network censors also allowed for stories with higher stakes than what would have been thinkable on a Saturday Morning cartoon. But in an age where these things are the new normal, it may be hard for modern viewers to understand how much of a step up the show really was.
Seasonal Rot: The second season, which has a different film look to it, most of the action takes place around Gadget's neighborhood, many of the voices are different and the plots... Nelvana wasn't involved with this season.
The Problem with Licensed Games: While the games based on this franchise aren't necessarily terrible, they're very forgettable with a few exceptions.
The Scrappy: Corporal Capeman. Not only was he even stupider than Gadget, he would often be a total ass to Brain for no reason at all.
The episode Prince of the Gypsies wouldn’t fly well in today’s world with a better understanding of Romani culture. That said the Romani in question aren’t depicted as conniving or thieves, but still have the stereotypical look and accents to boot.
In "Gadget's Replacement", Gadget accidentally catches a glimpse of a woman in a bikini on a balcony. She calls him both a pervert and a peeping Tom. In "Busy Signal", Gadgets extends his neck up to a window to do some investigating. He spots a woman who, although wearing a bathrobe, was getting ready to take a bath. She also calls him a pervert. Neither of these instances would ever be acceptable on a contemporary children's show.
A MAD agent couldn't dare sneak blunt objects on a plane today, nor could Penny and Brain sneak into the cargo hold of passenger jets to get to destinations under Gadget's nose, without plenty of TSA office visits and permanent inclusion on the no-fly list. Not to mention the chances of Gadget ever getting past airport security what with all the metal and potentially deadly equipment he's got inside him. A fanfic called Euro Gadget (following up from the first live-action movie) points this out and explains it. He has to call the airport ahead of time to let them know- and even then, his extendable limbs accidentally activate while being screened.
At least a few episodes utilize villains of the Yellow Peril variety. Dr. Claw has attempted to partner with this type of villain more than a few times. Needless to say this could never be aired now.
Values Resonance: The moral of Episode 42, No Flies on Us talks of the importance of getting regular vaccinations and regular checkups. With the recent conditions of 2020 this moral has become far more valuable.
has a theme song with lyrics, making it one in its own right.