Gadget and the Gadgetinis

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Go Go Gadget Spin-Off!

Gadget and the Gadgetinis (2001-2003) is a short-lived Spin-Off series to the classic Inspector Gadget. This installment featured Gadget as a lieutenant for WOMP [World Organization of Mega Powers] aided by a pair of robot sidekicks, the titular "Gadgetinis", named Digit and Fidget, built by Penny.

Tropes used in Gadget and the Gadgetinis include:
  • Artistic Age: It's supposed to take place two years after the original show... but Gadget looks ten to twenty years younger.
  • Bare Your Midriff: A now older Penny wears a belly shirt, although you don't see her navel until she sheds it for a bikini in one episode.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: The Gadgetinis to both Gadget and, occasionally, Penny. General complaining ensues.
  • Character Exaggeration: Gadget is much, much more oblivious and incompetent this time around (which, considering the original, is saying something), to the point where he is actively an unrestrained menace for everyone around him, and can't do anything without putting himself and others in danger.
  • Characterization Marches On: While Gadget is more or less the same character but somewhat exaggerated, Penny has changed somewhat to fit the situation: she's more stern and in control of things, a bit less patient and more intense about what she's doing. Which makes sense for someone whose realized years ago she had to be in control of a whole detective operation and stop her Uncle from killing himself on a daily basis.
  • Continuity Nod

Gadget: "This reminds me of the time I saved Christmas..."

    • In "Claw's Nephew", Dr. Claw's mother briefly mentions his frozen brother Dr. Thaw, who was first seen in "Ice Folly".
    • The episode "Face to Face to Face" features a callback to the original Inspector Gadget episode "Weather in Tibet". The episode features The Chameleon, one of the M.A.D. Agents in said episode, as the villain, albeit having a drastically modified design.
    • In the episode "Sasquatch Watch", Penny searches through her database and we get to see the profiles of M.A.D. Agents from some of the previous episodes.
  • Daydream Surprise: One episode begins with Nozzaire dreaming he's at Gadget's funeral. You can tell it's Nozzaire's fantasy after just a few seconds, but it's still pretty harsh, given that it consists mostly of Nozzaire cutting out of the funeral to celebrate while Penny sobs over her uncle's casket and ends with Nozzaire doing a jig on Gadget's grave. See Jerkass below.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Digit
  • Distaff Counterpart: GG
    • Girls Need Role Models: The assembled crowd at WOMP meets GG for the first time: "As the lead scientist of the team who developed this innovation, may I introduce you to Super Gadget Girl! ...or, if you prefer, "Super GG" for short, WOMP's very own fembot. The ultimate female crimefighter, programmed under the supervision of 20 of the world's most skilled female scientists. She has superior sensory functions, incredible physical strength, and instincts beyond any human ability... but her most unique feature is her emotionality flexifier." (During the speech, the highly impressed Gadget can be seen standing and saluting.)
  • Evil Twin: One episode features the World Leaders (and Gadget) being kidnapped and replaced with evil clones of themselves.
  • Expy: Colonel Nozzaire is similar to Chief Quimby from the original series, if only for both having moustaches and informing Gadget on the plans of Dr. Claw and his M.A.D. Agents (the main difference being Nozzaire is far less patient with Gadget, and would be happy to see the back of him). The titular Gadgetinis Fidget and Digit both fill in Brain's role of protecting Gadget from danger and helping Penny find out M.A.D.'s scheme.
    • On another note, the M.A.D. Agent Wally from the episode Reality Bites shares some similarities with Coconuts from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog(both are short with round heads, both have degrading jobs and desire promotions, and both are voiced by Ian James Corlett. Also note that both cartoons were made by DiC.)
  • Funny Foreigner: Col. Nozzaire
  • Fun with Acronyms
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Penny. Incredibly Lame Pun not intended.
  • Hacker Cave/Mission Control: Penny's Room.
    • Penny herself plays Mission Control more often in this show, instead of actually sneaking around herself as in the original. Her role is still largely the same, though.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Maurice LaMarche as Gadget.
  • Hollywood Genetics: According to the show, both Gadget's parents had black (as in, the same color as the lines to draw them) hair. Hair that dark is homozygous dominant regarding darkness, meaning that both Gadget and his mysterious sibling both have black hair. Fine. But it is impossible for a black-haired person to have a blonde child (Penny) because blonde hair is more recessive than dominant regarding darkness -- even if Penny's other parent passed down all recessive genes, the lightest hair color she could have is somewhere in the brown area.
  • Island Base: MAD Island
  • Jerkass: Col. Nozzaire. Gadget falls under the "grossly, irresponsibly oblivious" camp, to the point where at times it seems few characters besides Penny (who, much like the original show, doesn't seem to mind his stupidity too much... most of the time) can stand to be around him for long.
  • Jump the Shark: Done quite literally in "Meet Super G.G.", as Gadget jumps on their heads.
  • My Nayme Is: Nozzaire's name is said "NO-Z-Air" not "Nosehair"
    • Gadget's misspelling of Nozzaire's name is kept in the Italian dub even with tha name change. Nozzaire's new name is Renault, a french car brand, but Gadget calls him "Peugeot"... ANOTHER french car brand!
  • Kid Detective: Penny, naturally. She's less of a Snooping Little Kid this time around, delegating much of the actual leg work to the Gadgetini's most of the time, but she's still the hypercompetent detective we know and love.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Occasionally

Digit (after being told by Penny to warn Gadget about danger): "He never listens to us anyway..."
Penny: "Well, it looks like it's time to call the police, so they can give Uncle Gadget the credit for all our hard work."

  • Magical Database: Penny's computer book has gotten an upgrade into a massive lab that can pretty much find anything she wants.
  • Monster of the Week: In addition to reusing the original series' formula of having several episodes featuring a one-time M.A.D. Agent distinguishable from the other generic agents, this series had some episodes with one-time villains with no connection to M.A.D. or Dr. Claw whatsoever.
  • Mythology Gag: "Super Boss Gadget" contains many Homages to scenes from the original's opening theme.
    • One episode has an explosion which is actually a complete lift of the explosion from the original's opening.
  • No Ontological Inertia Destroying: "The Weather Machine" causes the "default" weather to come back.
  • Not So Above It All: Digit is usually sarcastic and cynical, and frequently scolds Fidget for his childlike antics, but has sometimes been on the same page as him. The two even played a video game together at one point. In another episode, despite having earlier claimed that "robots don't have vacations", he is disappointed when it seems they won't be able to go.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity Claw makes it clear in this series that he believes Gadget's bumbling is an act meant to taunt him.
    • It also leads to the Alternative Character Interpretation that Gadget knows Penny is actually the one solving the cases so he lets her do it..but he takes the credit for it since MAD would easily target Penny if they knew she was the one solving it all.
  • Pulling Themselves Together / Helping Hands/ Losing Your Head: Digit and Fidget lose several body parts. Thankfully they have "Rebuilding Systems".
  • Put on a Bus: Brain and Chief Quimby, though they both make cameos.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: General Sir
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Fidget and Digit.
  • Robot Buddy: The Gadgetinis
  • Shout-Out: The Patrix
  • Spin-Off
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Gadget's father Jules has a near identical appearance and mannerisms to his son. He has also has a hobby of inventing "Gizmos".
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Col. Nozzaire stands in for Quimby while Digit and Fidget take on the roles that would usually go to Brain.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Gadget. Some things never change.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In the later part of "Don't Call Me Gadget", Gadget actually acts with competence as he dispatches the MAD agents on the moon.
    • Although, his increased competence was due to being influenced my an intelligence-reducing/increasing device the aliens attached to his head.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: For a bad girl, Dr. Claw's mom, as shown in "Erasing Gadget", was actually pretty cute once. His father was a huge, homely man with excrutiatingly bad body odor.
  • Weather Control Machine: It occurs in the aptly named episode "The Weather Machine".
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: They never explained what happened to Corporal Capeman, even if he was The Scrappy.
  • Writing Around Trademarks: Doubles as a Shout-Out.

Gadget: Who's that band you're going to see?
Penny: The Main Street Guys.

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