History WesternAnimation / InspectorGadget

** One memorable aversion, from "The Coo-Coo Clock Caper":
--->'''Clockmaker''' to Penny, 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!"

* ClockworksArea: Again, "The Coo-Coo Clock Caper," where the insane Clock Maker (a M.A.D. Agent working for Dr. Claw) has Gadget fastened to the gears of inside the clock tower on top of his family. Too bad that [[spoiler: the Clock Maker didn't count on [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the rigged watch he gave Gadget causing his gadgets to malfunction in the wrong place at the wrong time]], resulting in the destruction of the factory and the Clock Maker's arrest.]]

* CreepyTwins: In the episode "Dry Spell", M.A.D. agent Kirk Boulder was assisted by a pair of identical trolls, one wearing orange and the other wearing blue. Whenever the one in orange said something, the one in blue would repeat it... [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker changing the order of the words]].

* AlcoholHic: Gadget lets out one "Race to the Finish".

* CreepyTwins: In the episode "Dry Spell", M.A.D. agent Boulder was assisted by a pair of identical trolls, one wearing orange and the other wearing blue. Whenever the one in orange said something, the one in blue would repeat it... [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker changing the order of the words]].

* HypnotismReversal: In the episode "Snakin' All Over", the [=MAD=] Agent of the episode, Professor Venom, has a variety of snakes that do his bidding. One of them is a cobra that hypnotizes people into a helpless, stupefied state wherein they don't move. In the climax of the episode, Penny defeats the cobra by showing it a mirror, causing it to hypnotize itself.

* TheAllegedHouse: "Snakin' All Over" takes place at the Firstpenny mansion. The gate comes off its hinges when Gadget touches it, the doorbell falls apart when he rings it, and [[RakeTake a loose board in the front porch, when he steps on it, swings up and hits him in the nose]].

* TheAllegedHouse: "Snakin' All Over" takes place at the Firstpenny mansion. The gate comes off its hinges when Gadget touches it, the doorbell falls apart when he rings it, and [[RakeTake a loose board in the front porch, when he steps on it, swings up and hits him in the face]].

* TheAllegedHouse: "Snakin' All Over" takes place at the Firstpenny mansion. The gate comes off its hinges when Gadget touches it, the doorbell falls apart when he rings it, and [[PlankGag a loose board in the front porch, when he steps on it, swings up and hits him in the face]].

---> "I haven't seen this much snow since that episode in the Arctic!"

--> '''Gadget:''' Never take your dog to the olympics.

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 ''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 Creator/{{Maurice LaMarche}} would take over the role of Gadget.

** There's a good chance that Metro City is somewhere in Canada. In the 2015 CGI series, Chief QUimby is Canadian, with a tiny Candaian flag on his desk. The first season was co-produced by the Canadian studio Nelvana, and Metro City is shown to be so generic that either an American or a Canadian kid could imagine it as being in their neck of the woods. One episode, "Tree Guesses", is explicitly set in [[CanadaEh the Canadian wilderness]].[[note]]At the beginning of the episode, Penny says: "What lovely scenery in Canada! I'm so glad you rented a cottage here, Uncle Gadget!" This comment could be taken to indicate that they have come over from the United States. Or it could simply serve to indicate the Canadian setting explicitly for that episode, without negating that Metro City is also in Canada. A middle-of-the-road possibility is that the comment was inserted deliberately in order to [[CanadaDoesNotExist obscure the question]] of which country Metro City is located in.[[/note]]

** There's a good chance that Metro City is somewhere in Canada. In the 2015 CGI series, it explicitly is in Canada; if it is in the same continuity as the 1983 series, it would logically have been there in the original series as well. The first season was co-produced by the Canadian studio Nelvana, and Metro City is shown to be so generic that either an American or a Canadian kid could imagine it as being in their neck of the woods. One episode, "Tree Guesses", is explicitly set in [[CanadaEh the Canadian wilderness]].[[note]]At the beginning of the episode, Penny says: "What lovely scenery in Canada! I'm so glad you rented a cottage here, Uncle Gadget!" This comment could be taken to indicate that they have come over from the United States. Or it could simply serve to indicate the Canadian setting explicitly for that episode, without negating that Metro City is also in Canada. A middle-of-the-road possibility is that the comment was inserted deliberately in order to [[CanadaDoesNotExist obscure the question]] of which country Metro City is located in.[[/note]]

There were a number of changes made in the second season. Penny and Chief Quimby were recast, and a new character was introduced, Corporal Capeman, who dresses like a superhero and believes he can fly, though he can't. He acts as a sidekick to Gadget, who he idolizes, and is (somehow) even dumber than Gadget. The episodes were now organized into groups of three, with a single MAD agent acting as a recurring antagonist for three episodes at a time. Additionally, the action focused less on traveling the world and stayed localized to Gadget's Metropolis-esque home town of Metro City, though there was a series of three episode where Gadget and company travelled through time. These episodes featured MAD scientists (both [[MadScientist literally]] and [[{{Pun}} 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.

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 [[{{Pun}} 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. The second season also introduced a new character, Corporal Capeman, who dresses like a superhero and beleives he can fly, though he can't. He acts as a sidekick to Gadget, who he idolizes, and is (somehow) even dumber than Gadget.

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 [[{{Pun}} 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. The second season also introduced a new character, Corporal Capeman, who dresses like a superhero and beleives he can fly, though he can't. He acts as a sidekick to Gadget, who he idolizes, and is (somehow) even dumber than he is.

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 [[{{Pun}} 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.

* IAmTheNoun: In "Snakin' All Over," Gagdet is to meet up with a "securiy force" to help him protect a rare coin collection. He ends up meeting an old man who proclaims the he ''is'' the security force. Less egotistical than many examples of this trope, as he has been guaridng the coins all by himself for 73 years.

* InspectorOblivious: Gadget is a terible officer who regularly dismisses important clues, then goes chasing after ridiculous ones. He only suceeds because his neice and his dog help solve his cases and keep MAD agents from killing him, though Gadget is unaware of their help.

** Penny's French name, 'Sophie', is a French variant of the Greek 'Sophia', which literaly means [[http://www.behindthename.com/name/sophia wisdom]]

** "The Japanese Connection": A triggered alarm (by a bungling Inspector Gadget) led CLaw to leave his project seat to deal with the intruder himself, returning only because he found no one. Inspector Gadget was ''this'' close to encountering him face to face.

** ''Inspector Gadget: MAD Time Party'' (2023) - An upcoming party/open-world game for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, where Gadget must contend against his ancestors to build a time machine to travel back in time and rescue Metro City from MAD's reign.

His namesake body was loaded with an assortment of non-lethal slapstick crime-fighting tools that he could activate by [[ByThePowerOfGreyskull 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 {{helicopter p|ack}}ropeller that allowed him to fly. Gadget also had a laser [[FingerFirearms built into his finger]], but never used it to actually blast any living thing.

* SomebodySetUsUpTheBomb: The opening credits end with Gadget handcuffing himself to Dr. Claw's wrist only to discover that it is a fake arm attached to the chair and the chair has an IncrediblyObviousbomb sitting on it.

* OffModel: The first season split most of the animation between TMS and Creator/WangFilmProductions (some episodes were animated by Creator/{{AIC}}, Creator/ToeiAnimation,[[note]]uncredited[[/note]] Creator/OhProduction and Creator/AjiaDo). The second season's animation was largely done by Creator/KKCAndDAsia (a studio that was partially owned by [=DiC=] and founded by co-creator Jean Chalopin) with help from some minor Japanese studios that were never heard from again ([[Creator/NakamuraProductions except]] [[Creator/SunshineCorporation for two]]). This trope, of course, comes to play because of this. (The Wang episodes had noticeably lower-quality animation compared to the Japanese-animated ones. As did the majority of Season 2's episodes to Season 1's)

** ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget2015'' - A CGI ContinuityReboot which introduces Dr. Claw's teenage son as another antagonist.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* SuccessSymbiosis: Either M.A.D. or Gadget himself would capture or sideline Penny and Brain, who had to help Gadget despite their predicament or escape to save him.

** ''Inspector Gadget: MAD Time Party'' (2023) - An upcoming party/open-world game for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, where Gadget must contend against his ancestors to build a time machine to rescue Metro City from MAD's clutches.

** ''Inspector Gadget: MAD Time Party'' (2023) - An upcoming party/open-world game for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/PlayStation5, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, and UsefulNotes/Steam, where Gadget must contend against his ancestors to build a time machine to rescue Metro City from MAD's clutches.