Top Secret Mission
"Blarney Stone - national treasure of Ireland - stolen! Suspect MAD plot to hold for ransom. Must locate at once."
Synopsis
Flying a kite with his niece Penny and his dog Brain, Inspector Gadget stumbles across a four-leaf clover that he hopes will serve him well on his latest mission: Head to Ireland and retrieve the stolen Blarney Stone from Dr. Claw. Gadget soon arrives on the Emerald Isle, and Claw's agents - two diminutive little nasties known as the O'Shea Brothers - waste no time in trying to do him in. But running him off the road doesn't work and an attempt at blowing him up backfires. He's finally knocked off of a bridge and presumed drowned but soon appears in town dripping wet and quite alive. After Gadget beds down for the night at a local inn, one of the phony leprechauns tries to do him in with the blunt end of a shillelagh, but Brain intercedes to save his master. Other attempts on Gadget's life are equally fruitless but the naive inspector credits his good fortune to the protective powers of his good luck piece, not his usual dumb luck or the efforts of his loyal dog. The next day finds Gadget, Penny and Brain at Blarney Castle where the police detective begins his investigation and immediately suspects the landmark's caretaker. Penny, however, knows better and tracks the missing Stone to nearby Celtic ruins. Meanwhile, Dr. Claw grows more and more impatient with the O'Sheas - too busy collecting ransom for the stolen treasure, they've shirked their assigned duties: Destroy Gadget and cut up the Stone small enough to be transported in the MAD jet and resold. An eavesdropping Penny uncovers the plan but ends up trapped in a pit without her computer book or means to get out. Using her watch, she summons Brain (with Gadget in hot pursuit). Once at the ruins, Gadget is fooled into thinking a laser cannon is a camera and poses for a deadly picture - until Brain knocks him down. Penny, mysteriously rescued from the pit, overtakes the laser's controls and traps the MAD agents beneath the huge Blarney Stone just as Chief Quimby arrives. But who knocked Penny's grappling hook down to her? A trio of real leprechauns share a laugh just out of sight.
Quotable Quote
"There's only once chance - my computer book!" --Penny saving the day while the Inspector Gadget writers write themselves out of a corner. This time it's taken over the controls of the laser. How convenient!
Notes
A so-so episode. A plot involving the Blarney Stone and leprechauns was the obvious way to go for an episode set in Ireland. It might have been more interesting had the writers used the Banshee legend as a fake MAD agent villain, but perhaps then they'd be getting too close to Scooby-Doo territory.
Be On The Look-Out For...
...ventriloquism. Climbing a tree to retrieve Penny's kite at the beginning of the episode, Gadget calls out, "Don't worry, Penny, I got it!" Yet his lips don't move. ...drunk Irishmen. What would any show set in Ireland be without clichéd hard-drinking Micks? Listen carefully to the crowd in the pub scene and you can hear someone yell, "Gimme a beer!" Try getting that in a kid's cartoon today
MAD Agent Count
Two: The evil little dwarf-like O'Shea brothers.
Unanswered, Nit-Picky Questions
How did Dr. Claw intend to a) slice up the Blarney Stone into tiny little pieces with a laser that seemed to be designed more for destruction than cutting, and then, b) sell these nuggets - cut from a stolen national treasure - to numerous buyers?
Where did the O'Sheas get a truck with the steering wheel on the left side of the cab in Ireland where steering wheels are on the right?
Ridiculous Safety Tip
Don't fly kites near power lines or trees.
""Luck of the Irish"