Top Secret Mission
"The cows in Metro City area have suddenly stopped giving milk. Suspect Dr. Claw's involved. Go to Metro Dairy Farm and investigate."
Synopsis
Inspector Gadget comes home from the supermarket with food and bad news for his niece Penny and dog Brain--the store was out of their usual brand--Metro Dairy Farms--so they'll have to make do with expensive dairy products from the mysterious New Foods Dairy (whose logo is a sinister and slightly familiar-looking bullhead with red eyes). Conveniently enough, Gadget is ordered to Metro Dairy Farms to find out why the cows there have suddenly stopped producing milk. The inspector heads out to the country to investigate, but Dr. Claw has something to hide and sends out four separate MAD agents to intercept him! Meanwhile, Penny noses around a refrigerated New Foods Dairy truck and is trapped inside. Once the truck reaches its destination--the dairy itself--the little girl escapes and discovers the whole operation is run by Dr. Claw. A scan with her computer book locates a rotating satellite-type dish atop a silo that is sending a signal to cows at other dairies in the area that has somehow dried up their milk-making parts. Up the road a piece, Gadget (with Brain's help) avoids the pitfalls from Claw's agents--a phony cop who tries to run him off the road, an unlikely farmer who gives him wrong directions, an agent driving a thresher through a booby-trapped covered bridge, and an assassin dressed in drag--and eventually makes his way to New Foods Dairy (thinking it's actually Metro Dairy Farms). Busy with their own evil-dairy-farm chores, the MAD agents let loose a relentlessly persistent and vicious bull to finish off the police inspector. Gadget gets tossed around a bit by the bull, but manages to avoid serious injury. And from his computer console, Claw spots Penny by the sound wave dish and dispatches an agent to take her out--but it's too late: she's already disabled the dish and contacted Chief Quimby, who arrives just in time to take all of the MAD agents (including the bull!) into custody, thus putting an end to Claw's evil scheme.
Quotable Quote
"It's so nice to just sit and enjoy the view!" --Inspector Gadget, drinking in the beauty of a bucolic landscape.
Notes
A pretty strange plot--Dr. Claw getting involved in the farming industry in an attempt to establish a monopoly on local dairy products--but not a bad episode. With 65 episodes to cover in the first season alone, it's understandable that the writers employed settings with traditional cartoon comic potential for some (circus, movie set, amusement park, haunted house, etc.). Having said that, though, this is their second farm episode ("Down On The Farm" is the other.).
Be On The Look-Out For...
...a tribute to the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. Or maybe not. But that scene where Brain is dressed as a scarecrow and crows slowly and ominously start descending on him is ever so slightly reminiscent of the horror film The Birds.
...a rare Hat Gadget: "Go Go Gadget Parachute!" Doesn't the good Inspector usually use his Gadget 'Brella to slow down his descents from the sky? Clearly, the never-seen-again Gadget Parachute was written in for this one scene in particular, where the red fabric of the 'chute attracts an angry bull.
...a cute, although cartoony, subplot with Madcat. He's more disturbed than usual by Claw's fist-pounding temper in this episode (Claw also idly plucks a whisker from his pet's face) and tries to put a stop to it by tying the gloved arm to the chair when his evil master is distracted (The cat is caught in the act, though.). Finally, after painting the surface of Claw's desk with super-glue (into which Dr. Claw slams his hand during one last angry outburst), the nasty little feline acknowledges his victory by snickering at the camera with a laugh that would make Hanna-Barbera's Muttley proud.
MAD Agent Count
Seven: All regulars. Eight if you count the bull.
Unanswered, Nit-Picky Questions
Why are the cows at New Foods Dairy (none of which we ever see, by the way) immune to the sound waves that affect all other bovines in the area?
Ridiculous Safety Tip
Dairy products are important to everyone's diet.
"Do Unto Udders"