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*** Actually, he gets called a pervert several times throughout the series.
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** The [[Mooks recurring M.A.D. Agents]] we see in every episode have names, although they were only used on their design sheets and in the scripts of the episodes. The names of the M.A.D. Agents are: Fred(big man, crooked nose, flat head), Lenny(big guy, bulbous nose), Dick(skinny man), Slick(resembles Dick, but with white hair, a mustache, and a goatee), Pops(A bald, hunched-over man with a large chin), Bruce(muscular man with a large chin), Squirt(short man with scrunched-up face), and Jarvis(fat, balding man).
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** The [[Mooks [[{{Mooks}} recurring M.A.D. Agents]] we see in every episode have names, although they were only used on their design sheets and in the scripts of the episodes. The names of the M.A.D. Agents are: Fred(big man, crooked nose, flat head), Lenny(big guy, bulbous nose), Dick(skinny man), Slick(resembles Dick, but with white hair, a mustache, and a goatee), Pops(A bald, hunched-over man with a large chin), Bruce(muscular man with a large chin), Squirt(short man with scrunched-up face), and Jarvis(fat, balding man).
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** The [[Mooks recurring M.A.D. Agents]] we see in every episode have names, although they were only used on their design sheets and in the scripts of the episodes. The names of the M.A.D. Agents are: Fred(big man, crooked nose, flat head), Lenny(big guy, bulbous nose), Dick(skinny man), Slick(resembles Dick, but with white hair, a mustache, and a goatee), Pops(A bald, hunched-over man with a large chin), Bruce(muscular man with a large chin), Squirt(short man with scrunched-up face), and Jarvis(fat, balding man).
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** Penny wore one in a wild west themed episode, and Gadget didn't recognize her either.
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* SnoopingLittleKid: exactly what Penny is, as she is frequently wandering around in the enemy's current base of operations in her attempts to stop them
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* SnoopingLittleKid: exactly Exactly what Penny is, as she is frequently wandering around in the enemy's current base of operations in her attempts to stop themthem. Sometimes she joins forces with another SnoopingLittleKid and they work together.
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merging natter and fixing up a bit
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* BusmansHoliday: Gadget frequently finds himself assigned to cases while off duty.
** Don't forget: He's ''[[CatchPhrase always]]'' [[CatchPhrase on duty!]]
* CallingYourAttacks: Go-Go Gadget Copter/Mallet/Phone/Scissors/Laser/Skates/Radar/Arms/Legs/Coat/Binoculars/Key/Whatever!
** Don't forget: He's ''[[CatchPhrase always]]'' [[CatchPhrase on duty!]]
* CallingYourAttacks: Go-Go Gadget Copter/Mallet/Phone/Scissors/Laser/Skates/Radar/Arms/Legs/Coat/Binoculars/Key/Whatever!
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* BusmansHoliday: Gadget frequently finds himself assigned to cases while technically off duty.
** Don't forget: He's ''[[CatchPhrase always]]'' [[CatchPhraseduty, even though one of his catchphrases is "I'm ''always'' on duty!]]
duty!"
* CallingYourAttacks:Go-Go Every time Gadget Copter/Mallet/Phone/Scissors/Laser/Skates/Radar/Arms/Legs/Coat/Binoculars/Key/Whatever!is going to use one of his gadgets, he says, "Go-Go Gadget Copter/Mallet/Phone/Scissors/Laser/Skates/Radar/Arms/Legs/Coat/Binoculars/Key/Whatever!"
** Don't forget: He's ''[[CatchPhrase always]]'' [[CatchPhrase
* CallingYourAttacks:
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Changing trope name per TRS
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* EfficientDisplacement: If Gadget crashes through a wall, the hole left behind will even include his ''hair.''
** FridgeBrilliance: His hair is cybernetic as well.
** FridgeBrilliance: His hair is cybernetic as well.
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* ImpactSilhouette: If Gadget crashes through a wall, the hole left behind will even include his ''hair.''
** FridgeBrilliance: His hair is cybernetic as well.
** FridgeBrilliance: His hair is cybernetic as well.
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* KarmaHoudini: Dr. Claw always gets away no matter what, although it is sometimes subverted(e.g., in "Gone Went The Wind", he gets caught in the explosion of the Sneezooka while making his getaway and is trapped at the bottom of the arctic waters at the end of the episode). There were also some episodes in the first season where the [[MonsterOfTheWeek M.A.D. Agent of the week]] was not seen or mentioned as being arrested by the end of the episode, such as The Rat in "M.A.D. Trap". Things got worse in the second season, which mainly consisted of three-episode story arcs with the same M.A.D. Agents, each one avoiding capture in the end(The Great Wambini, Professor Dummkopf, Dr. Spectrum, Dr. Null and Dr. Void, Thelma Botkin). Only two agents of the week in the second season were ever arrested: The Ninja in "The Capeman Cometh" and Dr. Noodleman in "Gadget's Gadgets".
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* PsychopathicManchild: The Grappler.
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* PsychopathicManchild: The Grappler.Grappler from "Gadget Meets the Grappler" is a Type A. He is a childlike brute who obeys orders in exchange for candy. His sweet tooth was used by Penny to stall him from his mission of destroying Gadget and eventually get him to betray M.A.D.
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** Subverted in a few episodes when Gadget saves Brain from falling to his death, usually when Gadget thinks he's a MAD agent and is trying to capture him.
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** Subverted in a few episodes when Gadget ''Gadget'' is the one who saves Brain. Notable examples include ''Photo Safari'' (when he saves himself, Penny and Brain from falling to crashing after MAD agents sabotage their plane), ''MAD Trap'' (when he saves himself, Penny and Brain from being burned alive by a fire), ''The Bermuda Triangle'' (when he uses his death, usually when copter to escape from an exploding ship and takes a disguised Brain with him), ''The Great Divide'' (when he saves himself and Brain from being crushed by a cave-in), ''Did You Myth Me'' and ''Tree Guesses'' (in both episodes, Gadget thinks he's a MAD the disguised Brain is an enemy agent and is trying catches him before he'd fall to capture him.his death).
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* TheAbridgedSeries: Has a relatively good one [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCAZW8e9xu8 here.]]
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* TheAbridgedSeries: Has a short but sweet relatively good one [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCAZW8e9xu8 here.]]
** And a newer but promising one [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-_THyst_90&feature=plcp here.]]
** And a newer but promising one [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-_THyst_90&feature=plcp here.]]
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* TheAbridgedSeries: Has a relatively good one [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCAZW8e9xu8 here.]]
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** Gadget himself is not exempt, although it doesn't happen to him nearly as often.
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* NoOSHACompliance: The record factory from "A Star Is Lost". The [[ConveyorBeltODoom conveyor belt]] that carries Gadget, Penny, and Rick Rocker is an especially notable example; there's absolutely no reason for the conveyor to begin at any point before the actual record press (To say nothing of the size of the press itself).
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* NoOSHACompliance: The record factory from "A Star Is Lost". The [[ConveyorBeltODoom conveyor belt]] that carries Gadget, Penny, and Rick Rocker is an especially notable example; there's absolutely no reason for the conveyor to begin at any point before the actual record press (To say nothing of the size of the press itself). Ditto for the ice factory in "Quimby Exchange"
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* PowerCrystal: The ruby in "The Ruby", and the weather control crystal in "Weather in Tibet".
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* TheWallsAreClosingIn: Occurs in at least two episodes: "The Curse of the Pharaoh", and "Haunted Castle", the latter involving SpikesOfDoom.
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* WeatherControlMachine: "Weather in Tibet".
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** Actually played straight, written "finaud", [[http://definition.ptidico.com/finaud.html it means a sneaky person under a harmless or dumb appearance.]]
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** Actually played straight, written "finaud", "finaud", [[http://definition.ptidico.com/finaud.html it means a sneaky person under a harmless or dumb appearance.]]
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* DarkerAndEdgier: Disturbing RobotChicken spoof is disturbing...
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* DarkerAndEdgier: Disturbing RobotChicken spoof [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-E8IA_sxcQ is disturbing...]]
* [[MagicSkirt Magic Trench Coat]]: Despite spending an inordinate amount of time on his head, Inspector Gadget's trench coat almost never falls down around his body, but instead stays up near his knees. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-JHfXVlkik Just watch the opening sequence.]]
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** Actually played straight, written "finaud", it means a sneaky person under a harmless or dumb appearance. [http://definition.ptidico.com/finaud.html]
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** Actually played straight, written "finaud", it means a sneaky person under a harmless or dumb appearance. [http://definition."finaud", [[http://definition.ptidico.com/finaud.html]html it means a sneaky person under a harmless or dumb appearance.]]
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* AbhorrentAdmirer: Gadget encountered one in the episode "Prince of the Gypsies".
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** In "Funny Money", Gadget mentions wanting to cook his specialty using blueberries and cabbage, which he previously tried to do in "Gone Went The Wind".
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* BiggerBad: In the episodes "Gadget Meets the Clan", "Gadget and Old Lace", and "Gadget and the Red Rose", we are introduced to Dr. Claw's mentor [[PunnyName Les Renowned]]. He isn't really much of a threat, but considering he taught Dr. Claw everything he knows....
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* CatchPhrase: "Wowsers!" "Go-go Gadget..." "Inspector Gadget is always on duty!" and "I'll get you next time, Gadget... Next time!"
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* CatchPhrase: "Wowsers!" "Go-go Gadget..." "Inspector Gadget is always on duty!" "Stop in the name of the law!" and "I'll get you next time, Gadget... Next time!"
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* [[MyNameIsNotDurwood My Name Is Not Capman]]
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* [[MyNameIsNotDurwood My Name Is Not Capman]]
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* {{Nephewism}}: Penny.
** Set to be averted in the upcoming ''Son of Inspector Gadget''.
** Set to be averted in the upcoming ''Son of Inspector Gadget''.
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** In "Race to the Finish", Gadget has his pen come out his middle finger, and flips some people off in the process. The people even react as if Gadget intended to flip them the bird!
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* HeelFaceTurn: Nervous Nick Defecto in "The Quimby Exchange", The Grappler in "Gadget Meets the Grappler".
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* SpotTheImposter: Dr. Claw hired a MasterOfDisguise named Presto Changeo to infiltrate a police conference disguised as Gadget to eavesdrop as a spy. When the real Gadget confronts Presto Changeo in the conference room, no one can tell who the real Gadget is until our hero stands next to Chief Quimby. Gadget's mallet activates by itself and bonks Chief Quimby on the head, and the Chief immediately orders that the ''other'' guy be arrested, since the one next to him is obviously the real Gadget.
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* SpotTheImposter: Dr. Claw hired a MasterOfDisguise named Presto Changeo to infiltrate a police conference disguised as Gadget to eavesdrop as a spy. When the real Gadget confronts Presto Changeo in the conference room, no one can tell who the real Gadget is until our hero stands next to Chief Quimby. Gadget's mallet activates by itself and bonks Chief Quimby on the head, and the Chief immediately orders that the ''other'' guy be arrested, since the one next to him is obviously the real Gadget.Gadget.
* StageMagician: The Great Wambini and The Lesser Wambini from the episodes "Magic Gadget", "Wambini's Seance", and "Wambini Predicts".
* StageMagician: The Great Wambini and The Lesser Wambini from the episodes "Magic Gadget", "Wambini's Seance", and "Wambini Predicts".
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Forgot to readjust the end-parentheses. Fixed it now.
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* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City ([[{{Megamind}} Not that one.]] Or [[FinalFight that one.)]] [[{{Film/AstroBoy}} No, not that one either.]]
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* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City ([[{{Megamind}} Not that one.]] Or [[FinalFight that one.)]] ]] [[{{Film/AstroBoy}} No, not that one either.]]]])
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* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City ([[{{Megamind}} Not that one.]] Or [[FinalFight that one.)]]
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* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City ([[{{Megamind}} Not that one.]] Or [[FinalFight that one.)]])]] [[{{Film/AstroBoy}} No, not that one either.]]
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* FearlessInfant: Gadget was shown to be one in a flashback of the final episode, where he is seen as a baby witnessing crime boss Spuds Malone gun down people with his potato gun the Red Rose and being completely unfazed by the chaos.
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* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City ([[{{Megamind}} Not that one.]])
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* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City ([[{{Megamind}} Not that one.]])]] Or [[FinalFight that one.)]]
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Actor Don Adams provided Inspector Gadget's voice, and much of the inspiration for the character was drawn from Adams' live-action portrayal of bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in ''GetSmart''. Also carried over from the live-action show was the manner in which Gadget received his orders from his superiors. Chief Quimby would contact Gadget on a [[ShoePhone built-in telephone]] and arrange a meeting, giving Gadget his intelligence on a self-destructing sheet of paper. Later on in the series veteran voice actor {{Maurice LaMarche}} would take over the role of Gadget.
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Actor Don Adams provided Inspector Gadget's voice, and much of the inspiration for the character was drawn from Adams' live-action portrayal of bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in ''GetSmart''.''Series/GetSmart''. Also carried over from the live-action show was the manner in which Gadget received his orders from his superiors. Chief Quimby would contact Gadget on a [[ShoePhone built-in telephone]] and arrange a meeting, giving Gadget his intelligence on a self-destructing sheet of paper. Later on in the series veteran voice actor {{Maurice LaMarche}} would take over the role of Gadget.
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* ActorAllusion: The show is practically a cartoon version of GetSmart, so who better to be Gadget's voice than Don Adams himself?
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* ActorAllusion: The show is practically a cartoon version of GetSmart, ''Series/GetSmart'', so who better to be Gadget's voice than Don Adams himself?
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* {{Expy}}: Gadget himself is an expy for his voice actor's most beloved role: [[GetSmart Maxwell Smart Agent 86.]]
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* {{Expy}}: Gadget himself is an expy for his voice actor's most beloved role: [[GetSmart [[Series/GetSmart Maxwell Smart Agent 86.]]
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* HeyItsThatVoice: Who better to voice a bungling, inept police agent than the man who played [[GetSmart Maxwell Smart]]?
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* HeyItsThatVoice: Who better to voice a bungling, inept police agent than the man who played [[GetSmart [[Series/GetSmart Maxwell Smart]]?
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* ParentalObliviousness: Gadget has no idea that it's his neice solving his cases and saving the world.
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* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City
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* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro CityCity ([[{{Megamind}} Not that one.]])
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/InspectorGadget.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Go-Go Gadget Caption!]]
-->''Go, Gadget, Go!''
A light-hearted mix of {{Robocop}} and [[ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]], Inspector Gadget was an animated crime-fighting police detective who traveled the world "solving" crimes.
His namesake body was loaded with an assortment of non-lethal slapstick crime-fighting tools that he could activate by saying aloud "Go-Go Gadget..." and then naming the tool he wanted to use. Among the most prominent were his telescoping arms, spring loaded legs, inflatable trench coat and a hat that contained a [[HelicopterPack helicopter propeller]] that allowed him to fly. Gadget also had a laser [[ArmCannon built into his hand]], but never used it to actually blast any living thing.
Actor Don Adams provided Inspector Gadget's voice, and much of the inspiration for the character was drawn from Adams' live-action portrayal of bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in ''GetSmart''. Also carried over from the live-action show was the manner in which Gadget received his orders from his superiors. Chief Quimby would contact Gadget on a [[ShoePhone built-in telephone]] and arrange a meeting, giving Gadget his intelligence on a self-destructing sheet of paper. Later on in the series veteran voice actor {{Maurice LaMarche}} would take over the role of Gadget.
Gadget's nemesis throughout the series were agents of the MAD organization: a global crime syndicate with operatives just about everywhere who specialized in the looting of national treasures and world financial markets. Swiss gold reserves, the Amsterdam diamond exchange and Egyptian artifacts were just some of the financial and cultural properties targeted by MAD at some point. It also gave excuses to send Gadget and company to exotic locales such as the Amazon River, the Andes Mountains or the African savannahs.
By the second season, the action focused less on traveling the world and stayed localized to Gadget's Metropolis-esque home town of Metro City. These episodes featured MAD scientists (both [[MadScientist literally]] and [[IncrediblyLamePun figuratively]]) inventing new technologies for MAD agents to commit mundane crimes with a sci-fi twist. A machine that hypnotized normal people into robbing banks, shrink-rays, plant-growing chemicals and a teleporter that sent users though normal phone lines were all featured.
Pulling the strings of the MAD cabal was the nefarious Dr. Claw, a (mostly) never-seen BigBad who ended each episode defeated, declaring he'd get Gadget the next time.
Much of the actual detective work of the series was performed by Gadget's niece, Penny, and the family dog Brain, who was a master of disguise. The duo would solve the case behind the scenes using Penny's high-tech "computer book" (a laptop before such a thing was invented which could receive data seventeen years before wi-fi became a consumer technology) while Gadget's gadgets would send him careering about the landscape like ''Series/RemingtonSteele'' on roller-skates. Penny would have many close scrapes and exciting adventures of her own. She would oftentimes get captured and either imprisoned or tied up, and require rescue, or manage to escape on her own.
Penny and Brain never took credit for their work, leading others to regard Gadget as a brilliant detective, and several comical attempts on his life were made by MAD assassins. Gadget would [[TooDumbToLive invariably mistake these assassins for helpful allies and would always assume the disguised Brain was an enemy agent.]]
Indeed, Penny's role in the cartoon's plot is so vital that the show actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6MR14mFtIw works pretty well if you remove Gadget himself from it and focus only on Penny]].
Despite its many varied locales and plots, the show was StrictlyFormula, using the above-mentioned plot elements in literally every single episode, albeit sometimes with creative variations. For example, sometimes Penny makes friends with other kids who help her out with her investigations. Gadget could also show more isolated moments of competence if the plot required it. In fact, if the show were any more formulaic, they would simply show the same episode over and over.
A total of 86 episodes were produced by [=DiC=] for syndication between 1983 and 1985. Gadget stayed in syndication well into the 1990s before being largely retired. Maurice [=LaMarche=] also made a Live-Action appearance as Gadget on ''TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow''.
The new century has seen two feature films about the titular detective, staring Matthew Broderick and French Stewart respectively. While they kept much of the whimsy of the classic series, they just didn't quite pull it off as far as fans were concerned. (The Matthew Broderick film made the major mistake of actually showing Dr. Claw's face, instead of keeping him out of the spotlight and relying on Frank Welker's awesomely creepy voice.) There was also a spin-off series called [[GadgetBoyAndHeather GadgetBoy (& Heather)]] which shares little in common with Inspector Gadget but bionic implants, and also a more faithful spin-off called ''GadgetAndTheGadgetinis''.
----
!!!Go-Go Gadget Tropes!
* AccidentalHero: Although Penny and Brain are typically the ones who actually realize what's going on and save the day, Gadget's screw-ups are often an enormous help to them. Of course, he ''intends'' to solve crime and stop the bad guys, but he only ever succeeds accidentally ([[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass with a handful of exceptions]]).
* ActionHoggingOpening: The opening shows Gadget being more competent than he is in the actual show. The same goes for Gadget Boy in his show's opening.
* ActorAllusion: The show is practically a cartoon version of GetSmart, so who better to be Gadget's voice than Don Adams himself?
* AdultsAreUseless: Were it not for a 10-year-old girl and her pet dog, the world would have fallen to MAD years ago. However, when Gadget knows Penny is in danger, he becomes [[LetsGetDangerous scarily]] [[PapaWolf competent]].
* AllThereInTheManual: Merchandise of the show released in the early 1990s revealed that MAD stands for '''M'''ean '''A'''nd '''D'''irty.
** Other pieces of merchandise say it stands for '''M'''alevolent '''A'''gency of '''D'''estruction.
** This is the second time in cartoons that a criminal organization called itself "MAD." The first time was on 1966's ''Tom Of T.H.U.M.B.,'' a segment of the ABC ''King Kong'' show. MAD in that case stood for '''M'''aladjusted, '''A'''nti-social and '''D'''arn mean.
** [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys Where'd Inspector Gadget get those wonderful toys?]] According to his action figure, the hospital installed them while treating him for injuries he'd sustained from slipping on a BananaPeel.
*** This also is explained as where he got the toys in the Live Action Adaptation. Only with a billboard instead of a banana peel.
* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: At the end of each episode, as per the standard at the time, Gadget, Penny and Brain would teach the kids a generic life lesson like "exercise is good for you" or "always wear a seatbelt".
* {{Animesque}}: Seeing that {{TMS}} ([[CuckoosNestStudio and]] [[ToeiAnimation a]] [[NakamuraProductions few]] [[{{AIC}} other]] [[OhProduction Japanese]] [[{{Sunrise}} studios]]) worked on this series, this is a given. Season 2 more so than season 1.
* ArchEnemy: Dr. Claw.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Emerald Duck, MacGuffin of the episode of the same name, which activates a certain DoomsdayDevice.
* ArtificialLimbs
* BadassFamily
* BeleagueredAssistant: Poor, poor Brain...
** Subverted in a few episodes when Gadget saves Brain from falling to his death, usually when Gadget thinks he's a MAD agent and is trying to capture him.
* BerserkButton: Doctor Focus reacted badly to anyone who called him a MadScientist. And then there was the fact that Dr. Claw would burst into fits of rage whenever he saw, or even simply had to ''mention'' Gadget.
* BigBad: Dr. Claw.
* BoundAndGagged: Happens to Penny frequently.
* BusmansHoliday: Gadget frequently finds himself assigned to cases while off duty.
** Don't forget: He's ''[[CatchPhrase always]]'' [[CatchPhrase on duty!]]
* CallingYourAttacks: Go-Go Gadget Copter/Mallet/Phone/Scissors/Laser/Skates/Radar/Arms/Legs/Coat/Binoculars/Key/Whatever!
* CartoonBomb: Gadget ends up handcuffed to one of these in the opening.
* CartoonJuggling: In the circus episode, Penny does a true cascade with apples.
* CatchPhrase: "Wowsers!" "Go-go Gadget..." "Inspector Gadget is always on duty!" and "I'll get you next time, Gadget... Next time!"
** While it's more a generic exclamation than a CatchPhrase, Penny's "OH NO!" is used so recurringly and with the same exact tone it may as well be one.
* ChariotRace: Inspector Gadget helps one of his ancestors win a chariot race in the TimeTravel arc of the series.
* ClimbSlipHangClimb: Repeatedly happens, most notably in the opening sequence of "The Coo-Coo Clock Caper."
* ComicBookAdaptation: Back in 2011, one made by Viper Comics surfaced, and is closely based on the original TV Show.
* ConservationOfCompetence: For the bad guys, many of the henchmen are incompetent, and for the good guys, Gadget, who is usually only competent when Penny and Brain are captured.
* ContextSensitiveButton: Penny's watch.
* ContinuityNod: In the episode "The Amazon", we are introduced to Professor Von Slickstein, the scientist that gave Gadget his gadgets. He later returns in the episodes "Tyrannosaurus Gadget", "Gadget's Roma", and "Gadget's Clean Sweep" to help Inspector Gadget, Penny, and Brain go back in time to prevent M.A.D. agent Thelma Botkin from killing Gadget's ancestors, although in those episodes Slickstein has a different voice and his name is pronounced differently(Slick-STEEN instead of Slick-STINE).
* ConveyorBeltODoom: Near the ends of the "Quimby Exchange" and "A Star is Lost" episodes.
* CoolCar: Gadget's minivan transforms into a police interceptor car, and also had built-in gadgets.
** And the MAD-mobile, which could transform into a jet or a submersible. And packed weaponry to boot.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Dr. Claw crept into this territory in a few episodes. MAD would set up perfectly legitimate businesses like dairies or hotels, and then the EvilPlan would be to wipe out the competition by some underhanded means.
* CowardlySidekick: Subverted in the later episodes of Season 2, where the cowardly Gadget gets a cocky caped man named Corporal Capeman (who can't fly) as a sidekick, at which point some say the show JumpedTheShark. Worth noting that Gadget is pretty dumb, but Capeman is [[TheDitz even dumber]].
* CoveredInGunge: Happens to Gadget, almost as often as Penny getting BoundAndGagged. Milk, cheese, [[ITasteDelicious Dutch]] [[EverythingsBetterWithChocolate chocolate]], mud, crude oil; you name it, he's probably been covered in it at some point.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: Dr. Claw invents numerous super advanced technologies to... rob banks and steal valuable objects.
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: ...or at least your intelligence.
* DaChief: Quimby.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Disturbing RobotChicken spoof is disturbing...
* DeathRay: In the episodes "Unhenged" and "The Ruby".
* DeathTrap: Countless types used by MAD in every episode, although no one dies from them, and they often backfire on MAD agents.
* DefectiveDetective
* DependingOnTheWriter: The extent of Gadget's bumbling, in some episodes he nears success if not for one particular blunder or misunderstanding, in others he's outright TooDumbToLive.
** Brain can also be a rather cheerful and enthusiastic assistant when not suffering under Gadget's aforementioned incompetence, or a NervousWreck driven to wit's end by his abuse. It's worth noting these two character examples were sometimes actually reversed [[CharacterizationMarchesOn in a few early episodes]], with Gadget being semi competent and occasionally annoyed by Brain's bumbling.
--> '''Gadget:''' Never take your dog to the olympics.
* DetectiveAnimal: Brain.
* DeusExMachina: Gadget personified this.
* DevelopmentHell: A DarkerAndEdgier ContinuityReboot was planned to premiere in 2009, but so far nothing has come of it except for [[http://inspector-gadget.net/news/new-inspector-gadget-in-2009 some concept art]].
** It may have been scrapped due to [=DiC=] getting bought out by Cookie Jar Entertainment around that time.
* DiabolicalMastermind: Dr Claw.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In episode 1-6 "Health Spa", Gadget looks in his rearview mirror and sees someone (Brain) on a scooter following him. He automatically assumes it is a MAD agent and fires missiles and uses an oil slick against despite the fact that the only thing this person is "guilty" of is being behind him on the road.
* DistressedDamsel: See BoundAndGagged above.
* DoomsdayDevice: The Crystal Weapon, the earthquake machine, the weapon in "The Japanese Connection", etc.
* [[DoAnythingRobot Do Anything]] [[strike: Robot]] Cyborg
* DubNameChange: Penny and Brain are named "Sophie" and "Finot" in the French version of the show.
** For some reason, the characters bear their French names in the German version too.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Gadget, while still bumbling, was far more competent in the pilot, and used his gadgets with clever, deadly accuracy as well. This interpretation reappeared in a handful of early episodes (eg. "Haunted Castle") but ultimately faded in favor of his InspectorOblivious persona.
* EdutainmentShow: ''Inspector Gadget's Field Trip''
* EfficientDisplacement: If Gadget crashes through a wall, the hole left behind will even include his ''hair.''
** FridgeBrilliance: His hair is cybernetic as well.
* {{Expy}}: Gadget himself is an expy for his voice actor's most beloved role: [[GetSmart Maxwell Smart Agent 86.]]
** When Gadget is electrocuted during one of the end of episode safety tips, he even gets out a, "Would you believe..."
** And Dr. Claw is, of course, an expy of JamesBond's faceless, cat-stroking arch-nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
** On the DVD containing the first 32 episodes, Andy Heyward (character creator) commented that Gadget and Brain are Expies of earlier characters called Blue Falcon and Dynomutt. BF was a bumbling superhero; Dynomutt was his hyper-competent dog.
* ExecutiveMeddling: In the pilot episode, "Winter Olympics", Inspector Gadget had a mustache. DiC Entertainment had to remove the mustache for the rest of the series after MGM threatened to sue them for Gadget looking too much like [[ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]]. In later airings of the pilot, a scene was redubbed explaining that Gadget's mustache was fake.
* ExpressiveHair: Gadget's hair droops when he's sad, disappointed, or surprised. For example, when Gadget goes through in-universe MoodWhiplash in the episode M.A.D. Trap.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Dr. Claw.
* EvilPlan: Dr. Claw has a new one every time.
* TheFaceless: Dr. Claw in the cartoon. Bodiless, too. The only parts of him that were ever shown were his forearms.
** A Dr. Claw action figure was released during the 1990's that [[RuinedFOREVER showed his face]], as did the Super NES game released by Hudson Soft.
** In one episode, set in Japan, we see Claw's shadow, but it's a generic, blob like shape that gives no indication of what he looks like. However, another shot of the same shadow later on suggests that he seems to be wearing a hood/cloak of some kind.
* FakeBrit: Gadget in the {{pilot}}. This was dubbed over with Don Adams' rendition in later airings.
* {{Fanboy}}: Corporal Capeman, who pretty much personifies the word down to the dorky demeanor, extreme clutziness and geek glaases.
* FilmFelons: MAD once used a fake film production as an excuse to spy on a military base. (Hey, they were filming!)
* TheFool: Gadget often obliviously keeps himself out of danger, and in some cases, even outright saves the day, due to well timed slapstick bumbling.
* ForgottenSuperweapon: Oh, once an episode a loyal viewer can think of a gadget Gadget could have used which would have saved him some time. The Gadget laser is one incredibly underused gadget, but it ''is'' a kid's show.
* FurAndLoathing: An actress has a white fox wrap, and she's a MAD agent.
* GenreSavvy: Quimby will panic EVERY time he receives a message ending with "This message will self-destruct." When Gadget pulls this trick on him, TheScottishTrope [[MadeOfExplodium comes into play]].
** In one episode, he even tries to deliver Gadget's assignment in a ''helicopter'', landing on a ledge to keep Gadget away from him. Needless to say, this backfires on him.
** In "M.A.D. Trap" Brain tries to get Gadget to follow him by disgusing as a crook, knowing he will once again mistake him for the real deal and give chase. Ironically it takes a while for Gadget to notice.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Gadget uses his middle finger as a flashlight in the opening sequence.
** The "Movie Set" episode, in particular anything involving Lana Lamour.
** Actually happens quite a bit. In "Race to the Finish", Inspector Gadget gets drunk when a M.A.D. agent gives him a funny drink. In "Busy Signal", he comes across a woman in a bathrobe, who calls him a "pervert".
* GirlishPigtails: Penny.
* GrandFinale: ''Inspector Gadget's Last Case''.
** Only for the original series however, as this served as a lead up to ''GadgetAndTheGadgetinis''. ''Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever'' seems to take place last chronologically so far (despite a few continuity issues).
* GRatedDrug: In "Race to the Finish" at a pitstop a MAD agent gives Gadget a mysterious liquid that makes him drunk.
* {{Hammerspace}}: The only explanation for how all those gadgets fit into Gadget's body, plus where Brain must keep all of his costumes.
* HeyItsThatVoice: Who better to voice a bungling, inept police agent than the man who played [[GetSmart Maxwell Smart]]?
** Penny was also one of the first roles for CreeSummer. She would later voice Penny in a ''RobotChicken'' parody of the show. (It sounds a lot more like her recent roles, though.)
** FrankWelker as Dr. Claw. The voice he uses here is actually a little electronic modulation away from the voice of [[{{TransformersGeneration1}} Soundwave]]. He uses the exact same voice for Soundwave in ''[[{{Film/Transformers}} Revenge of the Fallen]]''.
* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Agents of M.A.D. often wear jumpsuits with the M.A.D. logo emblazoned on the chest in public. Despite this, Gadget ''never'' realizes that they are his enemies.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: One episode where Doctor Claw entered the MAD Mobile in a race against Gadget and the Gadgetmobile had him successfully drug Gadget and win the race, only to get himself disqualified after he switched to jet mode and left the track.
** Another episode involved the device that a MAD agent had given Gadget that caused his gadgets to go haywire every hour caused the destruction of the agent's own clock factory when Gadget's gadgets went crazy while he was in one of the agent's deathtraps.
* HollywoodDensity: Averted; Penny realizes that a gold brick is a fake because she can lift it.
* HollywoodMirage: In ''Arabian Nights''.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Apparently, many of Gadget's gadgets, such as the Mallet, the Sail, the Copter, the Phone and many more are actually all kept in his hat. And then there's Brain, who seemingly carries around an array of disguises despite being a dog with no visible means of holding his outfits.
* HyperCompetentSidekick: Penny, who really doesn't care where the credit for the victories go, as long as her Uncle Gadget (and the world) is safe.
** Brain is this for Penny as well, as the dog always manages to get the job done, no matter how difficult things could be.
* IdiotBall: Brain in the pilot. When Gadget is sensibly trying to dispose of some dynamite, Brain keeps bringing it back to him.
* IdiotHero: If Inspector Gadget was real, frankly, you'd wonder how he even works those gadgets without somehow finding a way to fatally impale himself on the spoon he eats cereal with.
* InTheStyleOf: Just for fun, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oib0JvkDzYk a dubstep remix of the opening theme]]. Go Go Gadget Subwoofer!
* InspectorOblivious
* InternationalCoproduction: Between DICEntertainment in both the USA and France, {{Nelvana}} in Canada (first season only), TMSEntertainment in Japan and CuckoosNestStudio in Taiwan.
* InvincibleIncompetent: Gadget thwarts Doctor Claw again and again, almost solely on the strengths of his {{Hyper Competent Sidekick}}s and his own slapstick luck.
* KidDetective: Penny.
* KidnappedScientist: M.A.D. seems to do quite a bit of this...
* KillSat: The evaporator ray in ''Focus on Gadget''.
* KindheartedSimpleton: Gadget means well in his antics and is trying to save the day, he's just completely inept about it.
* LampshadeHanging: In ''Last Case.''
--> (after Gadget figures out Claw is behind the recent crime wave) Penny: "Um... Uncle Gadget, Claw's been behind every crime this city has ever had."
* LaughablyEvil
* LaughWithMe: An inversion; Dr. Claw frequently punishes his cat for laughing with him.
* LawfulStupid: Gadget to a 'T', so much that he thinks childish students sticking out their tongues are suspicious, and that the high-school chemistry teacher is training students in making explosives. He could be stopped in his tracks if MAD agents did something as simple as putting up a red traffic light in the middle of nowhere. Capeman as usual was even worse, once calling a tow truck on the Gadgetmobile for being illegally parked while on a case. Naturally, the truck driver is a MAD assassin who puts the two into a DeathTrap.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Examples include the [[http://www.coucoucircus.org/da/generique.php?id=1268 main theme (Gadget's theme)]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pez-y0183jM Penny's theme]], [[http://www.coucoucircus.org/da/generique.php?id=179 Brain's theme]], Claw's theme, the Cuckoo Clock theme, the chase theme, and several {{Recurring Riff}}s not associated with a particular character or event. Some of the more commonly used background music shared something in common with some background music from She-ra, Princess of Power. Not surprising since both shows had the same composers, Haim Saban and Shuki Levy. Several pastiches of real songs were used, in fact the main theme is based on ''In The Hall of the Mountain King''.
** "Petite Sophie" from the French soundtrack is Penny's theme with lyrics added.
* LetsGetDangerous: Very, ''very'' rarely, Gadget showed competence and was able to avert disaster all on his own. [[PapaWolf This tends to happen particularly when Penny is in danger]].
* LostSuperweapon: In the "Emerald Duck" episode, the WaveMotionGun-like Crystal Weapon, which can level mountains and, if left uninhibited, destroy the entire planet. It even turns on Dr Claw himself.
* MagicalDatabase: Penny's computer book knew everything.
* ManchurianAgent: "Going my way?"
* ManInAKilt: Brain wears a kilt most of the Loch Ness episode, and you can see up the kilt many, many times. He's not wearing anything under it, but then he ''is'' a dog.
* MeaningfulName: Brain, of course. Averted by the French version, where he's given the generic name of "Finot".
** Actually played straight, written "finaud", it means a sneaky person under a harmless or dumb appearance. [http://definition.ptidico.com/finaud.html]
** Penny's French name, 'Sophie', is a French variant of the Greek 'Sophia', which literaly means [[http://www.behindthename.com/name/sophia wisdom]]
* {{Mooks}}: MAD agents wore suits with the word "MAD" on them!
* MonsterOfTheWeek: Dr Claw had a new special MAD agent almost every week, who would try to carry out their assignment, get arrested, and never be seen again.
* MrExposition: Chief Quimby.
* MushroomSamba: The Crazy Gas in "NSF Gadget" causes astronauts to hallucinate and see visions of space monsters.
* [[MyNameIsNotDurwood My Name Is Not Capman]]
* NeverSayDie: "Finish off", "Destroy", "Put to sleep permanently", "Dispose of", etc. were used in place of "Kill". Occasionally subverted, for example, when Dr Claw offers Rick Rocker "a life or death contract", while he's StrappedToAnOperatingTable.
** Not always used. One memorable example:
--->'''Clockmaker''' to Penny Gadget, while the latter is tied in a {{deathtrap}} that will activate at five o'clock: "[[WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve When the clock strikes five]]...GUESS WHO WON'T BE ALIVE!"
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Go-Go-Gadget!
** Granted being Gadget, they were only useful to the plot in a handful of instances.
* NiceHat: Gadget's hat contained a personal helicopter, police lights, etc. The hat was also partially sentient, as it could be seen using a robotic hand to stop and warn Gadget about impeding danger or a bad decision, all by itself.
* NoOSHACompliance: The record factory from "A Star Is Lost". The [[ConveyorBeltODoom conveyor belt]] that carries Gadget, Penny, and Rick Rocker is an especially notable example; there's absolutely no reason for the conveyor to begin at any point before the actual record press (To say nothing of the size of the press itself).
* NonFatalExplosions
** To the point that in one episode, Gadget survives a friggin' volcano eruption. To picture this correctly: he was standing on top of the volcano, leaning on the edge of its mouth and gazing inside it.
* NonHumanSidekick: Brain.
* NotableOriginalMusic
* ANuclearError: One episode features an attempt to fire an American nuclear missile at a city. See the entry for the reason why this is nonsense (said episode has said missile stationed in a ''farm silo'' as sort of a parody.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Brain's French name of "finaud" and the lyrics of the French version of his [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRPiuBsrXks&feature=related theme song]] both allude to his hiding his competence behind his harmless outward appearance.
* OffModel: The first season split most of the animation between TMS and Cuckoo's Nest (some episodes were animated by {{AIC}} and ToeiAnimation, with minor work by [[OhProduction Oh! Production]]). The second season's animation was largely done by DiC themselves with help from some minor Japanese studios that were never heard from again. This trope, of course, comes to play because of this.
* OnceAnEpisode: Chief Quimby has the [[ShoutOut self-destructing message blow up in his face]].
* PapaWolf: When he ''knows'' Penny is in danger, Gadget becomes virtually unrecognizable (and unstoppable) as he becomes the superhero he is ''supposed'' to be.
** This is pretty much the entire plot of the SNES game, in which Penny gets kidnapped and you have to rescue her.
* PaperThinDisguise: Both Brain and the MAD agents use these regularly. Penny can generally see through them, but Gadget ''NEVER'' can. (This is why he always thinks Brain is a MAD agent, and never realizes he's ''his own dog''!)
** Gadget himself did this once. His disguise consisted of a fake mustache and glasses. Everyone saw through it. EVERYONE
** Chief Quimby would sometimes wear one when giving the secret message to Gadget.
* PlotDrivenBreakdown: All the time. At least once an episode the wrong gadget will activate, a gadget will outright not work when he needs it, or do something else.
** In fact, it was a surprise whenever a gadget worked correctly.
** The malfunction often involved, instead of whatever gadget was requested, a [[DropTheHammer big hammer]] coming out of Gadget's head and bonking either him or some other object/person in the area (which occasionally actually turned out well).
* PluckyGirl: Penny.
* PoliceAreUseless: Gadget, despite being hailed as Metro City's best detective, has never come close to actually solving any of his cases, and on the rare occasions where other police or military personnel get involved, they aren't much better.
* PuttingAHandOverHisMouth: Often happens to Penny when she gets captured.
* PsychopathicManchild: The Grappler.
* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation
* {{Revival}}: ''GadgetAndTheGadgetinis''
* RightHandCat: Mad Cat.
* SanitySlippage: The rages Dr. Claw flies into whenever one of his plans is thwarted, or even when he simply has to ''mention'' Gadget's name seem to get worse as time goes on.
* SavingChristmas
* TheScottishTrope: "This message will self-destruct."
* ShoePhone: Well, the phone itself is in his ''hand''...
** All three main characters have one of these: Penny has a watch phone, and Brain has a collar phone.
* SilentSnarker: Brain, and occasionally M.A.D. Cat.
* SinisterSurveillance
* SmartBall: Gadget, who could show competence whenever it was necessary to advance the plot. Several of MAD's attempts to derail the train in ''Basic Training'' were thwarted by Gadget himself, while in ''The Ruby'' Gadget defeated the tigers Dr. Claw sent after him on his own.
** In one episode, Dr. Claw's so fed up with Gadget ruining his plans that he enlists one (or more, not sure) agent with specifically killing him. Gadget is lured into an abandoned warehouse full of death traps; Penny is aware of the death order issued by Claw but both her and Brain are unable to directly intervene to save Gadget from the traps. The inspector though picks up the Smart Ball and counters each trap or attempt at killing him, managing to escaping the warehouse in the end, all traps deactivated or destroyed. And he was perfectly aware of the situation, all along!
** Since you actually control Gadget in the SNES game, he's only ever as stupid as the player. But this might be [[PapaWolf justified by the fact that the plot involves Penny being kidnapped]].
** During the pilot episode, Gadget had the Smart Ball glued to his hands all the time, at the point he's completely unrecognizable.
** Also in the GrandFinale, "Inspector Gadget's Last Case". He's still somewhat bumbling, but significantly less so than usual. Penny and Brain get less screentime.
* SnoopingLittleKid: exactly what Penny is, as she is frequently wandering around in the enemy's current base of operations in her attempts to stop them
* SpannerInTheWorks: Despite being a complete and total nimrod, Gadget often helps Penny and Brain save the day through his clueless bumbling.
** A literal case of this is when he becomes trapped inside a giant robot Loch Ness monster. He finds the inner workings, and while attempting to make some 'minor adjustments', he gets caught inside and makes the robot to go haywire.
* SpinOff: ''GadgetAndTheGadgetinis''.
* SpinoffBabies: ''GadgetBoyAndHeather''.
* SpeechImpairedAnimal
* SpotTheImposter: Dr. Claw hired a MasterOfDisguise named Presto Changeo to infiltrate a police conference disguised as Gadget to eavesdrop as a spy. When the real Gadget confronts Presto Changeo in the conference room, no one can tell who the real Gadget is until our hero stands next to Chief Quimby. Gadget's mallet activates by itself and bonks Chief Quimby on the head, and the Chief immediately orders that the ''other'' guy be arrested, since the one next to him is obviously the real Gadget.
* StrangeSalute: Gee, no wonder Dr. Claw's henchmen are so stupid: punching themselves repeatedly in the head and all...
* StrictlyFormula: Albeit played with in several episodes. Sometimes Gadget shows competence, sometimes Penny is kidnapped and doesn't contribute at all, sometimes Brain openly accompanies Gadget, sometimes Penny has another SnoopingLittleKid helping her, sometimes Dr. Claw intervenes directly in the action, and so on.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: Dr. Claw seems to have cameras everywhere, including ''Gadget's house''.
* SwissArmyAppendage: Gadget, in all versions.
* TalkingToHimself: Frank Welker plays both Dr. Claw and Brain. (This is why Dr. Claw [[HeyItsThatVoice sounds just like]] Soundwave from ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''; in fact, in about four [[TransformersGeneration1 G1]] episodes and ''[[{{Film/Transformers}} Revenge of the Fallen]]'', the vocorder fails, and he really sounds like Dr. Claw.)
* [[TelescopingRobot Telescoping]] [[strike:Robot]] Cyborg
* TechnologyMarchesOn: Modern viewers raised on cellphones, laptops and wireless internet probably don't see what's so special about Penny's computer book or communicator watch.
* ThemeSongPowerUp: Penny gets these a lot.
* ThisPageWillSelfDestruct: Chief Quimby gives Gadget the mission each episode, Gadget reads said line, and then gives the message back to Quimby. Cue the explosion.
** At the end of the SNES game, [[SequelHook Gadget receives a message saying]] [[LeftHanging Chief Quimby has been kidnapped]]. With Quimby not around to have the paper thrown in his face, it instead blows up in Gadget's face.
* TooDumbToLive: Even ''with'' the anonymous help of his niece, Gadget sadly defines, nay, '''personifies''' this term.
** Here's an example from the ChristmasEpisode:
--->''The Gadgetmobile is dropped through the air by a plane.''\\
'''Gadget:''' Go-Go Gadget Plane!\\
''Gadget emerges from the car in helicopter mode.''\\
'''Gadget:''' Not Gadget Copter, Gadget ''Plane''! Gadget ''PLANE''!\\
''The copter goes back into his hat, and the mechanical hand throws out a paper airplane.''\\
'''Gadget:''' Not...''exactly what I meant.''
** To be fair, at the end of one episode, he was shown as alarmingly competent. Not only does he show awareness of what's happening to him, but he also manages to save Penny AND Brain, PLUS his gadgets were working perfectly. If he showed this level of competence all the time, he'd be a force to be reckoned with.
* TrickedOutShoes: His hat deserves all the credit it gets, but Gadget's shoes shouldn't be overlooked. They can turn into everything from roller skates to skis to ice skates to magnets on command.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Bounces around with Gadget himself. Sometimes no one seems to notice Gadgets obviously strange appendages, sometimes onlookers stare with a confused expression. However no one freaks out or asks questions.
** When Penny appears to her uncle at the end of an episode, Gadget says "Penny?" but never reprimands her for not staying home - even if he's on the other side of the world from Metro City.
* VillainExitStageLeft
* WeWillMeetAgain
* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: ...and where does he ''keep'' them?
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Putting aside the [[IncrediblyLamePun actual snake episode]], Penny and Brain are afraid of ghosts, which gets the better of them when they investigate a MAD base in Dracula's Castle. Penny gets over it with the help of Gadget, but Brain doesn't and stays afraid of ghosts through the whole series.
----
''I'll get you next time, Gadget... NEXT TIME...''\\
''MMRRREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAOOOOOOWWWW!''
----
[[caption-width-right:350:Go-Go Gadget Caption!]]
-->''Go, Gadget, Go!''
A light-hearted mix of {{Robocop}} and [[ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]], Inspector Gadget was an animated crime-fighting police detective who traveled the world "solving" crimes.
His namesake body was loaded with an assortment of non-lethal slapstick crime-fighting tools that he could activate by saying aloud "Go-Go Gadget..." and then naming the tool he wanted to use. Among the most prominent were his telescoping arms, spring loaded legs, inflatable trench coat and a hat that contained a [[HelicopterPack helicopter propeller]] that allowed him to fly. Gadget also had a laser [[ArmCannon built into his hand]], but never used it to actually blast any living thing.
Actor Don Adams provided Inspector Gadget's voice, and much of the inspiration for the character was drawn from Adams' live-action portrayal of bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in ''GetSmart''. Also carried over from the live-action show was the manner in which Gadget received his orders from his superiors. Chief Quimby would contact Gadget on a [[ShoePhone built-in telephone]] and arrange a meeting, giving Gadget his intelligence on a self-destructing sheet of paper. Later on in the series veteran voice actor {{Maurice LaMarche}} would take over the role of Gadget.
Gadget's nemesis throughout the series were agents of the MAD organization: a global crime syndicate with operatives just about everywhere who specialized in the looting of national treasures and world financial markets. Swiss gold reserves, the Amsterdam diamond exchange and Egyptian artifacts were just some of the financial and cultural properties targeted by MAD at some point. It also gave excuses to send Gadget and company to exotic locales such as the Amazon River, the Andes Mountains or the African savannahs.
By the second season, the action focused less on traveling the world and stayed localized to Gadget's Metropolis-esque home town of Metro City. These episodes featured MAD scientists (both [[MadScientist literally]] and [[IncrediblyLamePun figuratively]]) inventing new technologies for MAD agents to commit mundane crimes with a sci-fi twist. A machine that hypnotized normal people into robbing banks, shrink-rays, plant-growing chemicals and a teleporter that sent users though normal phone lines were all featured.
Pulling the strings of the MAD cabal was the nefarious Dr. Claw, a (mostly) never-seen BigBad who ended each episode defeated, declaring he'd get Gadget the next time.
Much of the actual detective work of the series was performed by Gadget's niece, Penny, and the family dog Brain, who was a master of disguise. The duo would solve the case behind the scenes using Penny's high-tech "computer book" (a laptop before such a thing was invented which could receive data seventeen years before wi-fi became a consumer technology) while Gadget's gadgets would send him careering about the landscape like ''Series/RemingtonSteele'' on roller-skates. Penny would have many close scrapes and exciting adventures of her own. She would oftentimes get captured and either imprisoned or tied up, and require rescue, or manage to escape on her own.
Penny and Brain never took credit for their work, leading others to regard Gadget as a brilliant detective, and several comical attempts on his life were made by MAD assassins. Gadget would [[TooDumbToLive invariably mistake these assassins for helpful allies and would always assume the disguised Brain was an enemy agent.]]
Indeed, Penny's role in the cartoon's plot is so vital that the show actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6MR14mFtIw works pretty well if you remove Gadget himself from it and focus only on Penny]].
Despite its many varied locales and plots, the show was StrictlyFormula, using the above-mentioned plot elements in literally every single episode, albeit sometimes with creative variations. For example, sometimes Penny makes friends with other kids who help her out with her investigations. Gadget could also show more isolated moments of competence if the plot required it. In fact, if the show were any more formulaic, they would simply show the same episode over and over.
A total of 86 episodes were produced by [=DiC=] for syndication between 1983 and 1985. Gadget stayed in syndication well into the 1990s before being largely retired. Maurice [=LaMarche=] also made a Live-Action appearance as Gadget on ''TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow''.
The new century has seen two feature films about the titular detective, staring Matthew Broderick and French Stewart respectively. While they kept much of the whimsy of the classic series, they just didn't quite pull it off as far as fans were concerned. (The Matthew Broderick film made the major mistake of actually showing Dr. Claw's face, instead of keeping him out of the spotlight and relying on Frank Welker's awesomely creepy voice.) There was also a spin-off series called [[GadgetBoyAndHeather GadgetBoy (& Heather)]] which shares little in common with Inspector Gadget but bionic implants, and also a more faithful spin-off called ''GadgetAndTheGadgetinis''.
----
!!!Go-Go Gadget Tropes!
* AccidentalHero: Although Penny and Brain are typically the ones who actually realize what's going on and save the day, Gadget's screw-ups are often an enormous help to them. Of course, he ''intends'' to solve crime and stop the bad guys, but he only ever succeeds accidentally ([[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass with a handful of exceptions]]).
* ActionHoggingOpening: The opening shows Gadget being more competent than he is in the actual show. The same goes for Gadget Boy in his show's opening.
* ActorAllusion: The show is practically a cartoon version of GetSmart, so who better to be Gadget's voice than Don Adams himself?
* AdultsAreUseless: Were it not for a 10-year-old girl and her pet dog, the world would have fallen to MAD years ago. However, when Gadget knows Penny is in danger, he becomes [[LetsGetDangerous scarily]] [[PapaWolf competent]].
* AllThereInTheManual: Merchandise of the show released in the early 1990s revealed that MAD stands for '''M'''ean '''A'''nd '''D'''irty.
** Other pieces of merchandise say it stands for '''M'''alevolent '''A'''gency of '''D'''estruction.
** This is the second time in cartoons that a criminal organization called itself "MAD." The first time was on 1966's ''Tom Of T.H.U.M.B.,'' a segment of the ABC ''King Kong'' show. MAD in that case stood for '''M'''aladjusted, '''A'''nti-social and '''D'''arn mean.
** [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys Where'd Inspector Gadget get those wonderful toys?]] According to his action figure, the hospital installed them while treating him for injuries he'd sustained from slipping on a BananaPeel.
*** This also is explained as where he got the toys in the Live Action Adaptation. Only with a billboard instead of a banana peel.
* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: At the end of each episode, as per the standard at the time, Gadget, Penny and Brain would teach the kids a generic life lesson like "exercise is good for you" or "always wear a seatbelt".
* {{Animesque}}: Seeing that {{TMS}} ([[CuckoosNestStudio and]] [[ToeiAnimation a]] [[NakamuraProductions few]] [[{{AIC}} other]] [[OhProduction Japanese]] [[{{Sunrise}} studios]]) worked on this series, this is a given. Season 2 more so than season 1.
* ArchEnemy: Dr. Claw.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Emerald Duck, MacGuffin of the episode of the same name, which activates a certain DoomsdayDevice.
* ArtificialLimbs
* BadassFamily
* BeleagueredAssistant: Poor, poor Brain...
** Subverted in a few episodes when Gadget saves Brain from falling to his death, usually when Gadget thinks he's a MAD agent and is trying to capture him.
* BerserkButton: Doctor Focus reacted badly to anyone who called him a MadScientist. And then there was the fact that Dr. Claw would burst into fits of rage whenever he saw, or even simply had to ''mention'' Gadget.
* BigBad: Dr. Claw.
* BoundAndGagged: Happens to Penny frequently.
* BusmansHoliday: Gadget frequently finds himself assigned to cases while off duty.
** Don't forget: He's ''[[CatchPhrase always]]'' [[CatchPhrase on duty!]]
* CallingYourAttacks: Go-Go Gadget Copter/Mallet/Phone/Scissors/Laser/Skates/Radar/Arms/Legs/Coat/Binoculars/Key/Whatever!
* CartoonBomb: Gadget ends up handcuffed to one of these in the opening.
* CartoonJuggling: In the circus episode, Penny does a true cascade with apples.
* CatchPhrase: "Wowsers!" "Go-go Gadget..." "Inspector Gadget is always on duty!" and "I'll get you next time, Gadget... Next time!"
** While it's more a generic exclamation than a CatchPhrase, Penny's "OH NO!" is used so recurringly and with the same exact tone it may as well be one.
* ChariotRace: Inspector Gadget helps one of his ancestors win a chariot race in the TimeTravel arc of the series.
* ClimbSlipHangClimb: Repeatedly happens, most notably in the opening sequence of "The Coo-Coo Clock Caper."
* ComicBookAdaptation: Back in 2011, one made by Viper Comics surfaced, and is closely based on the original TV Show.
* ConservationOfCompetence: For the bad guys, many of the henchmen are incompetent, and for the good guys, Gadget, who is usually only competent when Penny and Brain are captured.
* ContextSensitiveButton: Penny's watch.
* ContinuityNod: In the episode "The Amazon", we are introduced to Professor Von Slickstein, the scientist that gave Gadget his gadgets. He later returns in the episodes "Tyrannosaurus Gadget", "Gadget's Roma", and "Gadget's Clean Sweep" to help Inspector Gadget, Penny, and Brain go back in time to prevent M.A.D. agent Thelma Botkin from killing Gadget's ancestors, although in those episodes Slickstein has a different voice and his name is pronounced differently(Slick-STEEN instead of Slick-STINE).
* ConveyorBeltODoom: Near the ends of the "Quimby Exchange" and "A Star is Lost" episodes.
* CoolCar: Gadget's minivan transforms into a police interceptor car, and also had built-in gadgets.
** And the MAD-mobile, which could transform into a jet or a submersible. And packed weaponry to boot.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Dr. Claw crept into this territory in a few episodes. MAD would set up perfectly legitimate businesses like dairies or hotels, and then the EvilPlan would be to wipe out the competition by some underhanded means.
* CowardlySidekick: Subverted in the later episodes of Season 2, where the cowardly Gadget gets a cocky caped man named Corporal Capeman (who can't fly) as a sidekick, at which point some say the show JumpedTheShark. Worth noting that Gadget is pretty dumb, but Capeman is [[TheDitz even dumber]].
* CoveredInGunge: Happens to Gadget, almost as often as Penny getting BoundAndGagged. Milk, cheese, [[ITasteDelicious Dutch]] [[EverythingsBetterWithChocolate chocolate]], mud, crude oil; you name it, he's probably been covered in it at some point.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: Dr. Claw invents numerous super advanced technologies to... rob banks and steal valuable objects.
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: ...or at least your intelligence.
* DaChief: Quimby.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Disturbing RobotChicken spoof is disturbing...
* DeathRay: In the episodes "Unhenged" and "The Ruby".
* DeathTrap: Countless types used by MAD in every episode, although no one dies from them, and they often backfire on MAD agents.
* DefectiveDetective
* DependingOnTheWriter: The extent of Gadget's bumbling, in some episodes he nears success if not for one particular blunder or misunderstanding, in others he's outright TooDumbToLive.
** Brain can also be a rather cheerful and enthusiastic assistant when not suffering under Gadget's aforementioned incompetence, or a NervousWreck driven to wit's end by his abuse. It's worth noting these two character examples were sometimes actually reversed [[CharacterizationMarchesOn in a few early episodes]], with Gadget being semi competent and occasionally annoyed by Brain's bumbling.
--> '''Gadget:''' Never take your dog to the olympics.
* DetectiveAnimal: Brain.
* DeusExMachina: Gadget personified this.
* DevelopmentHell: A DarkerAndEdgier ContinuityReboot was planned to premiere in 2009, but so far nothing has come of it except for [[http://inspector-gadget.net/news/new-inspector-gadget-in-2009 some concept art]].
** It may have been scrapped due to [=DiC=] getting bought out by Cookie Jar Entertainment around that time.
* DiabolicalMastermind: Dr Claw.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In episode 1-6 "Health Spa", Gadget looks in his rearview mirror and sees someone (Brain) on a scooter following him. He automatically assumes it is a MAD agent and fires missiles and uses an oil slick against despite the fact that the only thing this person is "guilty" of is being behind him on the road.
* DistressedDamsel: See BoundAndGagged above.
* DoomsdayDevice: The Crystal Weapon, the earthquake machine, the weapon in "The Japanese Connection", etc.
* [[DoAnythingRobot Do Anything]] [[strike: Robot]] Cyborg
* DubNameChange: Penny and Brain are named "Sophie" and "Finot" in the French version of the show.
** For some reason, the characters bear their French names in the German version too.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Gadget, while still bumbling, was far more competent in the pilot, and used his gadgets with clever, deadly accuracy as well. This interpretation reappeared in a handful of early episodes (eg. "Haunted Castle") but ultimately faded in favor of his InspectorOblivious persona.
* EdutainmentShow: ''Inspector Gadget's Field Trip''
* EfficientDisplacement: If Gadget crashes through a wall, the hole left behind will even include his ''hair.''
** FridgeBrilliance: His hair is cybernetic as well.
* {{Expy}}: Gadget himself is an expy for his voice actor's most beloved role: [[GetSmart Maxwell Smart Agent 86.]]
** When Gadget is electrocuted during one of the end of episode safety tips, he even gets out a, "Would you believe..."
** And Dr. Claw is, of course, an expy of JamesBond's faceless, cat-stroking arch-nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
** On the DVD containing the first 32 episodes, Andy Heyward (character creator) commented that Gadget and Brain are Expies of earlier characters called Blue Falcon and Dynomutt. BF was a bumbling superhero; Dynomutt was his hyper-competent dog.
* ExecutiveMeddling: In the pilot episode, "Winter Olympics", Inspector Gadget had a mustache. DiC Entertainment had to remove the mustache for the rest of the series after MGM threatened to sue them for Gadget looking too much like [[ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]]. In later airings of the pilot, a scene was redubbed explaining that Gadget's mustache was fake.
* ExpressiveHair: Gadget's hair droops when he's sad, disappointed, or surprised. For example, when Gadget goes through in-universe MoodWhiplash in the episode M.A.D. Trap.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Dr. Claw.
* EvilPlan: Dr. Claw has a new one every time.
* TheFaceless: Dr. Claw in the cartoon. Bodiless, too. The only parts of him that were ever shown were his forearms.
** A Dr. Claw action figure was released during the 1990's that [[RuinedFOREVER showed his face]], as did the Super NES game released by Hudson Soft.
** In one episode, set in Japan, we see Claw's shadow, but it's a generic, blob like shape that gives no indication of what he looks like. However, another shot of the same shadow later on suggests that he seems to be wearing a hood/cloak of some kind.
* FakeBrit: Gadget in the {{pilot}}. This was dubbed over with Don Adams' rendition in later airings.
* {{Fanboy}}: Corporal Capeman, who pretty much personifies the word down to the dorky demeanor, extreme clutziness and geek glaases.
* FilmFelons: MAD once used a fake film production as an excuse to spy on a military base. (Hey, they were filming!)
* TheFool: Gadget often obliviously keeps himself out of danger, and in some cases, even outright saves the day, due to well timed slapstick bumbling.
* ForgottenSuperweapon: Oh, once an episode a loyal viewer can think of a gadget Gadget could have used which would have saved him some time. The Gadget laser is one incredibly underused gadget, but it ''is'' a kid's show.
* FurAndLoathing: An actress has a white fox wrap, and she's a MAD agent.
* GenreSavvy: Quimby will panic EVERY time he receives a message ending with "This message will self-destruct." When Gadget pulls this trick on him, TheScottishTrope [[MadeOfExplodium comes into play]].
** In one episode, he even tries to deliver Gadget's assignment in a ''helicopter'', landing on a ledge to keep Gadget away from him. Needless to say, this backfires on him.
** In "M.A.D. Trap" Brain tries to get Gadget to follow him by disgusing as a crook, knowing he will once again mistake him for the real deal and give chase. Ironically it takes a while for Gadget to notice.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Gadget uses his middle finger as a flashlight in the opening sequence.
** The "Movie Set" episode, in particular anything involving Lana Lamour.
** Actually happens quite a bit. In "Race to the Finish", Inspector Gadget gets drunk when a M.A.D. agent gives him a funny drink. In "Busy Signal", he comes across a woman in a bathrobe, who calls him a "pervert".
* GirlishPigtails: Penny.
* GrandFinale: ''Inspector Gadget's Last Case''.
** Only for the original series however, as this served as a lead up to ''GadgetAndTheGadgetinis''. ''Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever'' seems to take place last chronologically so far (despite a few continuity issues).
* GRatedDrug: In "Race to the Finish" at a pitstop a MAD agent gives Gadget a mysterious liquid that makes him drunk.
* {{Hammerspace}}: The only explanation for how all those gadgets fit into Gadget's body, plus where Brain must keep all of his costumes.
* HeyItsThatVoice: Who better to voice a bungling, inept police agent than the man who played [[GetSmart Maxwell Smart]]?
** Penny was also one of the first roles for CreeSummer. She would later voice Penny in a ''RobotChicken'' parody of the show. (It sounds a lot more like her recent roles, though.)
** FrankWelker as Dr. Claw. The voice he uses here is actually a little electronic modulation away from the voice of [[{{TransformersGeneration1}} Soundwave]]. He uses the exact same voice for Soundwave in ''[[{{Film/Transformers}} Revenge of the Fallen]]''.
* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Agents of M.A.D. often wear jumpsuits with the M.A.D. logo emblazoned on the chest in public. Despite this, Gadget ''never'' realizes that they are his enemies.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: One episode where Doctor Claw entered the MAD Mobile in a race against Gadget and the Gadgetmobile had him successfully drug Gadget and win the race, only to get himself disqualified after he switched to jet mode and left the track.
** Another episode involved the device that a MAD agent had given Gadget that caused his gadgets to go haywire every hour caused the destruction of the agent's own clock factory when Gadget's gadgets went crazy while he was in one of the agent's deathtraps.
* HollywoodDensity: Averted; Penny realizes that a gold brick is a fake because she can lift it.
* HollywoodMirage: In ''Arabian Nights''.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Apparently, many of Gadget's gadgets, such as the Mallet, the Sail, the Copter, the Phone and many more are actually all kept in his hat. And then there's Brain, who seemingly carries around an array of disguises despite being a dog with no visible means of holding his outfits.
* HyperCompetentSidekick: Penny, who really doesn't care where the credit for the victories go, as long as her Uncle Gadget (and the world) is safe.
** Brain is this for Penny as well, as the dog always manages to get the job done, no matter how difficult things could be.
* IdiotBall: Brain in the pilot. When Gadget is sensibly trying to dispose of some dynamite, Brain keeps bringing it back to him.
* IdiotHero: If Inspector Gadget was real, frankly, you'd wonder how he even works those gadgets without somehow finding a way to fatally impale himself on the spoon he eats cereal with.
* InTheStyleOf: Just for fun, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oib0JvkDzYk a dubstep remix of the opening theme]]. Go Go Gadget Subwoofer!
* InspectorOblivious
* InternationalCoproduction: Between DICEntertainment in both the USA and France, {{Nelvana}} in Canada (first season only), TMSEntertainment in Japan and CuckoosNestStudio in Taiwan.
* InvincibleIncompetent: Gadget thwarts Doctor Claw again and again, almost solely on the strengths of his {{Hyper Competent Sidekick}}s and his own slapstick luck.
* KidDetective: Penny.
* KidnappedScientist: M.A.D. seems to do quite a bit of this...
* KillSat: The evaporator ray in ''Focus on Gadget''.
* KindheartedSimpleton: Gadget means well in his antics and is trying to save the day, he's just completely inept about it.
* LampshadeHanging: In ''Last Case.''
--> (after Gadget figures out Claw is behind the recent crime wave) Penny: "Um... Uncle Gadget, Claw's been behind every crime this city has ever had."
* LaughablyEvil
* LaughWithMe: An inversion; Dr. Claw frequently punishes his cat for laughing with him.
* LawfulStupid: Gadget to a 'T', so much that he thinks childish students sticking out their tongues are suspicious, and that the high-school chemistry teacher is training students in making explosives. He could be stopped in his tracks if MAD agents did something as simple as putting up a red traffic light in the middle of nowhere. Capeman as usual was even worse, once calling a tow truck on the Gadgetmobile for being illegally parked while on a case. Naturally, the truck driver is a MAD assassin who puts the two into a DeathTrap.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Examples include the [[http://www.coucoucircus.org/da/generique.php?id=1268 main theme (Gadget's theme)]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pez-y0183jM Penny's theme]], [[http://www.coucoucircus.org/da/generique.php?id=179 Brain's theme]], Claw's theme, the Cuckoo Clock theme, the chase theme, and several {{Recurring Riff}}s not associated with a particular character or event. Some of the more commonly used background music shared something in common with some background music from She-ra, Princess of Power. Not surprising since both shows had the same composers, Haim Saban and Shuki Levy. Several pastiches of real songs were used, in fact the main theme is based on ''In The Hall of the Mountain King''.
** "Petite Sophie" from the French soundtrack is Penny's theme with lyrics added.
* LetsGetDangerous: Very, ''very'' rarely, Gadget showed competence and was able to avert disaster all on his own. [[PapaWolf This tends to happen particularly when Penny is in danger]].
* LostSuperweapon: In the "Emerald Duck" episode, the WaveMotionGun-like Crystal Weapon, which can level mountains and, if left uninhibited, destroy the entire planet. It even turns on Dr Claw himself.
* MagicalDatabase: Penny's computer book knew everything.
* ManchurianAgent: "Going my way?"
* ManInAKilt: Brain wears a kilt most of the Loch Ness episode, and you can see up the kilt many, many times. He's not wearing anything under it, but then he ''is'' a dog.
* MeaningfulName: Brain, of course. Averted by the French version, where he's given the generic name of "Finot".
** Actually played straight, written "finaud", it means a sneaky person under a harmless or dumb appearance. [http://definition.ptidico.com/finaud.html]
** Penny's French name, 'Sophie', is a French variant of the Greek 'Sophia', which literaly means [[http://www.behindthename.com/name/sophia wisdom]]
* {{Mooks}}: MAD agents wore suits with the word "MAD" on them!
* MonsterOfTheWeek: Dr Claw had a new special MAD agent almost every week, who would try to carry out their assignment, get arrested, and never be seen again.
* MrExposition: Chief Quimby.
* MushroomSamba: The Crazy Gas in "NSF Gadget" causes astronauts to hallucinate and see visions of space monsters.
* [[MyNameIsNotDurwood My Name Is Not Capman]]
* NeverSayDie: "Finish off", "Destroy", "Put to sleep permanently", "Dispose of", etc. were used in place of "Kill". Occasionally subverted, for example, when Dr Claw offers Rick Rocker "a life or death contract", while he's StrappedToAnOperatingTable.
** Not always used. One memorable example:
--->'''Clockmaker''' to Penny Gadget, while the latter is tied in a {{deathtrap}} that will activate at five o'clock: "[[WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve When the clock strikes five]]...GUESS WHO WON'T BE ALIVE!"
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Go-Go-Gadget!
** Granted being Gadget, they were only useful to the plot in a handful of instances.
* NiceHat: Gadget's hat contained a personal helicopter, police lights, etc. The hat was also partially sentient, as it could be seen using a robotic hand to stop and warn Gadget about impeding danger or a bad decision, all by itself.
* NoOSHACompliance: The record factory from "A Star Is Lost". The [[ConveyorBeltODoom conveyor belt]] that carries Gadget, Penny, and Rick Rocker is an especially notable example; there's absolutely no reason for the conveyor to begin at any point before the actual record press (To say nothing of the size of the press itself).
* NonFatalExplosions
** To the point that in one episode, Gadget survives a friggin' volcano eruption. To picture this correctly: he was standing on top of the volcano, leaning on the edge of its mouth and gazing inside it.
* NonHumanSidekick: Brain.
* NotableOriginalMusic
* ANuclearError: One episode features an attempt to fire an American nuclear missile at a city. See the entry for the reason why this is nonsense (said episode has said missile stationed in a ''farm silo'' as sort of a parody.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Brain's French name of "finaud" and the lyrics of the French version of his [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRPiuBsrXks&feature=related theme song]] both allude to his hiding his competence behind his harmless outward appearance.
* OffModel: The first season split most of the animation between TMS and Cuckoo's Nest (some episodes were animated by {{AIC}} and ToeiAnimation, with minor work by [[OhProduction Oh! Production]]). The second season's animation was largely done by DiC themselves with help from some minor Japanese studios that were never heard from again. This trope, of course, comes to play because of this.
* OnceAnEpisode: Chief Quimby has the [[ShoutOut self-destructing message blow up in his face]].
* PapaWolf: When he ''knows'' Penny is in danger, Gadget becomes virtually unrecognizable (and unstoppable) as he becomes the superhero he is ''supposed'' to be.
** This is pretty much the entire plot of the SNES game, in which Penny gets kidnapped and you have to rescue her.
* PaperThinDisguise: Both Brain and the MAD agents use these regularly. Penny can generally see through them, but Gadget ''NEVER'' can. (This is why he always thinks Brain is a MAD agent, and never realizes he's ''his own dog''!)
** Gadget himself did this once. His disguise consisted of a fake mustache and glasses. Everyone saw through it. EVERYONE
** Chief Quimby would sometimes wear one when giving the secret message to Gadget.
* PlotDrivenBreakdown: All the time. At least once an episode the wrong gadget will activate, a gadget will outright not work when he needs it, or do something else.
** In fact, it was a surprise whenever a gadget worked correctly.
** The malfunction often involved, instead of whatever gadget was requested, a [[DropTheHammer big hammer]] coming out of Gadget's head and bonking either him or some other object/person in the area (which occasionally actually turned out well).
* PluckyGirl: Penny.
* PoliceAreUseless: Gadget, despite being hailed as Metro City's best detective, has never come close to actually solving any of his cases, and on the rare occasions where other police or military personnel get involved, they aren't much better.
* PuttingAHandOverHisMouth: Often happens to Penny when she gets captured.
* PsychopathicManchild: The Grappler.
* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation
* {{Revival}}: ''GadgetAndTheGadgetinis''
* RightHandCat: Mad Cat.
* SanitySlippage: The rages Dr. Claw flies into whenever one of his plans is thwarted, or even when he simply has to ''mention'' Gadget's name seem to get worse as time goes on.
* SavingChristmas
* TheScottishTrope: "This message will self-destruct."
* ShoePhone: Well, the phone itself is in his ''hand''...
** All three main characters have one of these: Penny has a watch phone, and Brain has a collar phone.
* SilentSnarker: Brain, and occasionally M.A.D. Cat.
* SinisterSurveillance
* SmartBall: Gadget, who could show competence whenever it was necessary to advance the plot. Several of MAD's attempts to derail the train in ''Basic Training'' were thwarted by Gadget himself, while in ''The Ruby'' Gadget defeated the tigers Dr. Claw sent after him on his own.
** In one episode, Dr. Claw's so fed up with Gadget ruining his plans that he enlists one (or more, not sure) agent with specifically killing him. Gadget is lured into an abandoned warehouse full of death traps; Penny is aware of the death order issued by Claw but both her and Brain are unable to directly intervene to save Gadget from the traps. The inspector though picks up the Smart Ball and counters each trap or attempt at killing him, managing to escaping the warehouse in the end, all traps deactivated or destroyed. And he was perfectly aware of the situation, all along!
** Since you actually control Gadget in the SNES game, he's only ever as stupid as the player. But this might be [[PapaWolf justified by the fact that the plot involves Penny being kidnapped]].
** During the pilot episode, Gadget had the Smart Ball glued to his hands all the time, at the point he's completely unrecognizable.
** Also in the GrandFinale, "Inspector Gadget's Last Case". He's still somewhat bumbling, but significantly less so than usual. Penny and Brain get less screentime.
* SnoopingLittleKid: exactly what Penny is, as she is frequently wandering around in the enemy's current base of operations in her attempts to stop them
* SpannerInTheWorks: Despite being a complete and total nimrod, Gadget often helps Penny and Brain save the day through his clueless bumbling.
** A literal case of this is when he becomes trapped inside a giant robot Loch Ness monster. He finds the inner workings, and while attempting to make some 'minor adjustments', he gets caught inside and makes the robot to go haywire.
* SpinOff: ''GadgetAndTheGadgetinis''.
* SpinoffBabies: ''GadgetBoyAndHeather''.
* SpeechImpairedAnimal
* SpotTheImposter: Dr. Claw hired a MasterOfDisguise named Presto Changeo to infiltrate a police conference disguised as Gadget to eavesdrop as a spy. When the real Gadget confronts Presto Changeo in the conference room, no one can tell who the real Gadget is until our hero stands next to Chief Quimby. Gadget's mallet activates by itself and bonks Chief Quimby on the head, and the Chief immediately orders that the ''other'' guy be arrested, since the one next to him is obviously the real Gadget.
* StrangeSalute: Gee, no wonder Dr. Claw's henchmen are so stupid: punching themselves repeatedly in the head and all...
* StrictlyFormula: Albeit played with in several episodes. Sometimes Gadget shows competence, sometimes Penny is kidnapped and doesn't contribute at all, sometimes Brain openly accompanies Gadget, sometimes Penny has another SnoopingLittleKid helping her, sometimes Dr. Claw intervenes directly in the action, and so on.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: Dr. Claw seems to have cameras everywhere, including ''Gadget's house''.
* SwissArmyAppendage: Gadget, in all versions.
* TalkingToHimself: Frank Welker plays both Dr. Claw and Brain. (This is why Dr. Claw [[HeyItsThatVoice sounds just like]] Soundwave from ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''; in fact, in about four [[TransformersGeneration1 G1]] episodes and ''[[{{Film/Transformers}} Revenge of the Fallen]]'', the vocorder fails, and he really sounds like Dr. Claw.)
* [[TelescopingRobot Telescoping]] [[strike:Robot]] Cyborg
* TechnologyMarchesOn: Modern viewers raised on cellphones, laptops and wireless internet probably don't see what's so special about Penny's computer book or communicator watch.
* ThemeSongPowerUp: Penny gets these a lot.
* ThisPageWillSelfDestruct: Chief Quimby gives Gadget the mission each episode, Gadget reads said line, and then gives the message back to Quimby. Cue the explosion.
** At the end of the SNES game, [[SequelHook Gadget receives a message saying]] [[LeftHanging Chief Quimby has been kidnapped]]. With Quimby not around to have the paper thrown in his face, it instead blows up in Gadget's face.
* TooDumbToLive: Even ''with'' the anonymous help of his niece, Gadget sadly defines, nay, '''personifies''' this term.
** Here's an example from the ChristmasEpisode:
--->''The Gadgetmobile is dropped through the air by a plane.''\\
'''Gadget:''' Go-Go Gadget Plane!\\
''Gadget emerges from the car in helicopter mode.''\\
'''Gadget:''' Not Gadget Copter, Gadget ''Plane''! Gadget ''PLANE''!\\
''The copter goes back into his hat, and the mechanical hand throws out a paper airplane.''\\
'''Gadget:''' Not...''exactly what I meant.''
** To be fair, at the end of one episode, he was shown as alarmingly competent. Not only does he show awareness of what's happening to him, but he also manages to save Penny AND Brain, PLUS his gadgets were working perfectly. If he showed this level of competence all the time, he'd be a force to be reckoned with.
* TrickedOutShoes: His hat deserves all the credit it gets, but Gadget's shoes shouldn't be overlooked. They can turn into everything from roller skates to skis to ice skates to magnets on command.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Bounces around with Gadget himself. Sometimes no one seems to notice Gadgets obviously strange appendages, sometimes onlookers stare with a confused expression. However no one freaks out or asks questions.
** When Penny appears to her uncle at the end of an episode, Gadget says "Penny?" but never reprimands her for not staying home - even if he's on the other side of the world from Metro City.
* VillainExitStageLeft
* WeWillMeetAgain
* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: ...and where does he ''keep'' them?
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Metro City
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Putting aside the [[IncrediblyLamePun actual snake episode]], Penny and Brain are afraid of ghosts, which gets the better of them when they investigate a MAD base in Dracula's Castle. Penny gets over it with the help of Gadget, but Brain doesn't and stays afraid of ghosts through the whole series.
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''I'll get you next time, Gadget... NEXT TIME...''\\
''MMRRREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAOOOOOOWWWW!''
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