Pop Culture | TV | 80s
We've Still Got Some Big Questions For Inspector Gadget Even After All These Years
Truth be told, I loved Inspector Gadget. The show was one of my all-time favorites when I was a kid, and the theme song still pops into my head from time to time.
But just because I loved it, doesn't mean that I don't think it had some issues. I do, however, have some questions for Mr. Gadget, ones that still confuse me to this day.
(And yes, I know it's a cartoon and it's best to not examine it too closely, but just for fun, let's do it anyways.)
How did Gadget actually get his job?
If he's a detective, that means that he worked up through the ranks as a regular police officer. Was he out there giving people speeding tickets and directing traffic, or did his cyborg enhancements allow him to skip any and all training?
Was he a cyborg before he became a cop?
Maybe this is something that I missed when I was watching the show and one of you can explain, but in the original cartoon, was he a cyborg before he was a cop?
Seriously, when did he become a robot-man?
I know Robocop was popular and all, but why did this guy get to become a robot? If it happened before he was a cop, was he super rich and paid to get all these interesting upgrades?
Was he some kind of lab experiment gone wrong? Who decided that this bumbling buffoon got to receive these awesome robotics while the rest of us had to use or lame non-extendable arms?
Who performed the surgery? Was it Dr. Claw?
He's a doctor right, is he the one who did the surgery and then turned evil because he was so horribly disappointed in his results?
Was he turned mad by the fact that he took a formerly competent cop and turned him into this clueless goofball by adding a literal siren into his head?
Is that why he's so dumb all the time? Was he a good cop before and then this horrible accident happened so they can't fire him?
Where are Penny's parents?
Penny is Gadget's niece, right? So why is she always chasing him around like it's her job to take care of him. She's a 10-year-old kid, it's not her responsibility to make sure her bonehead uncle doesn't fly into an obvious trap.
Needless to say, this young lady is always getting herself in over her head, which means that the dog has to save her.
Yep. The dog.
Without Brain, the whole show would fall apart.
So how did the dog get so smart? Did his brain get switched with Gadget's?
Here's a new theory for you, what if Gadget and Brain were part of a weird experiment by Dr. Claw, and now Gadget has to watch his body constantly do goofy things while he waits until no one is watching to do some actual detective work.
Hey, Chief Quimby, are you okay?
Seriously, I'm worried about you. You are supposed to be the chief of police, yet you're constantly hiding in garbage cans, lockers, safes, and other places that are far too small for a grown man.
I don't think the chief is really in charge of chasing down their individual detectives to assign them tasks, so what's really going on here? Is this all an elaborate scheme, were you actually fired a long time ago? Or were you fired years ago and just keep on sneaking around to avoid facing the facts.
Also, physically, are you okay? You have been exploded over 100 times, and yet you keep making the messages self destruct. What if you just go paperless next time, and tell him the message in person, like you do anyways, why do you need the explosion?
Dr. Claw, can you be nicer to your cat?
He's very frightened when you slam your fist on the table and yell, so please just keep your temper in check when your little buddy is hanging out. He deserves better.
Why is Penny so set on letting her uncle keep his job?
Why doesn't she just go to the police station and say, "Hey, so my uncle is not great at his job seeing as how a 10-year-old and a dog have been doing the majority of the work for the last several years, maybe it's time to retire the robot?"
I feel like a nice pension and maybe a Nintendo is all Gadget would need to keep busy.