INSPECTOR GADGET (2015)
Serving as
a sequel to the original
series, Inspector Gadget sees Gadget (Ivan Sherry) being brought out
of retirement when his arch-nemesis, Dr. Claw (Martin Roach), is thawed out of
the icy prison he was trapped in by his nephew, Talon (Lyon Smith), and resurrects MAD.
However, Gadget wouldn’t be on the case alone—this time, his niece Penny (Tara Strong) and her dog Brain (Scott McCord) would be his
partners as agents-in-training. The series was produced by DHX Media (now WildBrain), who had come to own the DiC Entertainment library
and the rights to Gadget. The show, now rendered in computer animation,
followed the same basic premise of the original in that Gadget, while equipped
with a powerful assortment of gadgets, was completely inept and it was Penny who
usually foiled MAD’s schemes (a fact Gadget and Claw were oblivious to).
However, being older and an agent meant Penny could fight back and not need
rescuing, nor did she have to work in secret. Talon had his own issues with
trying to get Claw to stop being so old-fashioned and to avoid the mistakes
that lets Gadget win. Penny and Talon shared a mutual attraction that couldn’t be
acted upon due to their being on opposing sides. Penny also a gained a new best
friend and fellow agent, Kayla (Katie
Griffin), whose cheerful disposition and motormouth tended to cripple any
MAD goons she came across.
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| Promotional artwork of Brain, Gadget, Penny, MAD Cat, Dr. Claw and Talon. |
Inspector
Gadget debuted on January 3, 2015, airing on Teletoon (and later the DHX-owned Family Channel) in Canada, as well as on Boomerang and DStv internationally. It was originally
intended to air on Cartoon Network
in the United States but became a Netflix
exclusive first airing that March (Cartoon Network Arabic would
air it in the Middle East). This time around episodes (excluding the first)
were comprised of two 11-minute segments rather than a full half hour. Gadget’s
boss, Chief Quimby (Derek
McGrath), still delivered his missions from peculiar hiding spots, but they
were updated to exploding holograms. The theme by series composers Asher Lenz and Stephen Skratt was a
stylistic update of the original, played over an opening sequence that followed
virtually the same beats. Ultimately, Gadget ran for 52 episodes over 4 seasons.
In November of 2017, the series came to American airwaves on Universal Kids.
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