Zel-kun’s Words

I’m not sure why, but as I was stuck in traffic today, I started humming the theme to ‘Inspector Gadget.’  Admittedly, it’s pretty catchy.

Do do do do do, Inspector Gadget, do do do do do, whoo hoo.

Not exactly complicated lyrics, but I heard it enough as a kid, being one of my favorite cartoons.  I used to get a kick out of all the different devices he had grafted onto him.  Every time I watched, I kept hoping he’d actually do something right for a change.  But sadly, that day never happened.

After realizing I was humming the theme song, I drifted off into analyzing the series.  The world of Inspector Gadget is frightening and confusing if you think about it.

You have this famous inspector.  He’s obviously well-respected and has gone far in the police force.  As we see in the show, however, he’s completely helpless.  It’s amazing he gets out of bed in the morning, really.  Sure, his niece actually solves the crimes for him, but consider this…

How did he even GET into the police force in the first place.  He would have flunked out of the academy… if he managed to pass the entrance exam at all.

Logically, since his niece is too young to have helped him through the academy, and since it’s highly unlikely he had someone else helping him, we can theorize that at one time, Inspector Gadget must have been a competent person.

So sometime before the start of the show, Gadget must have lost his competency.  Either he had some sort of stroke, aneurysm, or other type of brain-effecting event.  Since all of the aforementioned events would have led to his dismissal from the force, I conclude that it was the operation that gave Gadget his gadgets.  Whether Gadget volunteered, or an event similar to the ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ happened, there’s no way of knowing.  But one thing is for sure, afterwards, he was not the same Gadget he was.

So now, we have an incompetent, air-headed, clumsy, and generally idiotic enforcer of the law, complete with a built-in arsenal, which he has little control over.  Throughout the show, he accidentally cuts, zaps, burns, electrocutes, and crushes people randomly through the misuse of his gadgets (I remember when he tried to use his ‘Gadget Pen’ and ended up shooting a laser).  In any normal world, he would have been decommissioned, and likely been forced to undergo an operation to remove the gadgets from him.

Instead, you have Penny, his precocious niece who used her computer book (more fantastical then than it is now) to ‘help’ her uncle solve crimes and take all the credit.  This allows Gadget to keep his important position, and continue to put many innocent people at risk.

He is truly a dangerous individual.

I’m suddenly reminded of an episode of ‘Robot Chicken’ which demonstrated what would happen if Gadget went completely insane.  It was pretty funny to see him trying to massacre Penny.  But it is bound to happen, he will snap.

Zel-kun out.