Top Secret Mission
"Dr. Claw trying to take over island. Will use as a missile base. Stop him."
Synopsis
It's a beautiful day in the South Pacific, and while Penny and Brain play volleyball on the beach of a tropical island resort, Inspector Gadget is surfing just offshore. A call from the Top Secret Gadget Phone hastens his return to dry land (and away from the jaws of Dr. Claw's mechanical shark) where he learns he must protect this two-island tropical paradise from MAD. Claw's top man this time is the MAD Prophet, a presumably eccentric old kook with wild eyes who loudly preaches doom for the islands and their inhabitants. Gadget soon becomes a believer--and fan--of the Prophet after a trip to his shack, where two of his prognostications--in the form of booby traps meant to harm the inspector--immediately come true. Penny quickly sees through the phony soothsayer's act and realizes he's working for Claw, but before she can do anything about it, she is captured and lowered into the very volcano Claw intends to trigger to erupt with explosives. While Gadget helps with a supposed sacrificial ceremony by loading this volcano with pineapples (that unbeknownst to him contain explosives), Brain rescues Penny. They're barely down the volcano's side to safety before it blows its top. Gadget, at the mouth of the crater when it erupts, fares a bit worse, but he quickly recovers and is intent on finding the Prophet solely to congratulate him on another accurate prediction. The clumsy police inspector crashes into the Prophet and another MAD agent, and effectively captures both of them while disarming a huge bomb meant to take out the larger island.
Quotable Quote
"This is getting serious!" --Inspector Gadget, thinking God-knows-what, after finding the bikini top to Brain's hula dancer disguise.
Notes
Wowsers! A first-rate episode with split-second timing, an exciting plot, and a fantastic villain.
Be On The Look-Out For...
...surely this episode's funniest scene (and perhaps among the funniest in the entire series): Gadget stumbling across the island, politely shielding his eyes, while trying to find the "little hula girl"--Brain in disguise--and return her clothes.
...Don Adams once again borrowing from his Get Smart days ("Would you believe...?") during the safety tip.
MAD Agent Count
Two: One regular and the MAD Prophet.
Unanswered, Nit-Picky Questions
It was implied that the MAD Prophet had already convinced everyone to leave the resort even before the volcano on the smaller island erupted--Gadget was attending a "Farewell Luau" for the islanders earlier that night. So if Claw intended to use the larger island as a missile base and he had already succeeded in scaring people off, what was the point of the huge bomb he intended to detonate there?
Ridiculous Safety Tip
Be careful when changing lightbulbs.
"Volcano Island"