Top Secret Mission
"Suspect MAD plot at eccentric invention convention. Hurry to convention and investigate."
Synopsis
Inspector Gadget cuts short his bowling game with his niece Penny, his dog Brain, and Corporal Capeman after Chief Quimby tells him he's needed as security at a local convention. Everything seems relatively normal there and Gadget doesn't even notice he's already been on the receiving end of the first of four treatments that will shrink him to the size of a mouse. Conventioneer (and MAD agent) Professor Dumbkopf is the culprit, and wielding his miniaturizing ray gun, he follows Gadget home to finish the job. Aware only that his clothes seem a tad larger than normal, an unconcerned Gadget takes a nap on his bed. When he wakes up another two sizes smaller, he realizes something's amiss--but attributes it to being held prisoner in an oversized house. Dumbkopf hasn't faired too well, himself--he can't seem to keep the ray gun in his possession and has been reduced to the same tiny size as the inspector. Give the guy credit, though: Small or not, he still intends to shrink Gadget even further. And while watching over his master has always been Brain's forté, he's really got his work cut out for him this time: The impatient Capeman sees the dog as an enormous nuisance, and keeps thwarting Brain's protective efforts by kicking him out of the house. Meanwhile, Penny has snuck into Dumbkopf's lab to get the shrink ray's antidote. It's locked in a safe, of course, but she manages to bring it home and restore her uncle to normal size just as Chief Quimby appears. And what about Professor Dumbkopf? He'll be back to tangle with Gadget again--but for now, the mini-professor escapes in Penny's toy plane.
Quotable Quote
"I must have been captured in my sleep and brought to this MAD replica of my house." --Inspector Gadget, completely unaware of the real evil that's befallen him: Horrible writing.
Notes
The animation in this outing rivals that of some first season episodes and the direction's great here, too. One nice touch that showed that someone still cared: Inspector Gadget gets in the Gadget Van and his coat sleeve is slightly jostled by the gear shift. It's subtle--a very small detail in a very quick shot--and that's what makes it so wonderful. So it's too bad that it was wasted here in yet another terribly-written second season episode. In this installment, and in a number of other later ones, the plot is simply Claw's attempts to be rid of Gadget. This isn't how the unseen, gloved villain behaved originally. First season episodes have Dr. Claw focusing on his latest grandiose, evil scheme and almost completely unconcerned with Gadget until he interferes. As the police inspector becomes an increasing nuisance, so grows Claw's frustration and wrath. Second-season episodes completely over-simplify the characters to where Dr. Claw is simply obsessed with Gadget, who is now a complete and total idiot.
Be On The Look-Out For...
... eccentric inventions. Examples at the convention include an instant hair-growing solution, a self-watering garden, a freezing ray, a device that cuts off all power in a three-block radius, an instant remote-control electrical storm cloud, pterodactyl-in-a-jar, and a robot dog that bears a resemblance to the real ones that Sony debuted just recently--more than fifteen years later!
...a cartoon cameo. Inspector Gadget made numerous cameos on DIC's other popular series from this era, "Cats and Company" (aka "Heathcliff and Friends" or "Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats"), but here's an instance where someone from that show appears here: Penny must have been a fan, because she's got a doll of little tough cat Riff Raff in her room--and it briefly traps the miniaturized professor.
...dejá vous. If the sight of a tiny detective who talks in slightly nasal tones seems familiar, you might be remembering Hanna-Barbera's Saturday morning offering "Inch-High Private Eye." This half-hour craptacular ran blessedly for just one season, 1973-74, and starred Lennie Weinrib as the voice of Inch-High, a tiny, trenchcoat-wearing private dick obviously patterned after Don Adams' Maxwell Smart character.
...product placement. Well, not really. Gadget is shrunk down to about the same size as the very cool Inspector Gadget action figure that Galoob Toys released around 1984. A later scene shows a wind-up Gadgetmobile. A toy Gadgetmobile is rumored to have been actually manufactured--and if so, it's extremely rare. Penny could probably pay for a semester of college if she still has it just by listing it on eBay.
MAD Agent Count
One: Professor Dumbkopf
Unanswered, Nit-Picky Questions
Why on earth was Capeman introduced to this show? As though second-season episodes weren't bad enough! He is without a doubt the most irritating, unpleasant, and unnecessary character in any cartoon from the 1980s. And that's including Orko, Brainy Smurf, all of the Care Bears plus the Shirt Tales, and Scrappy-Doo.
Ridiculous Safety Tip
Feed your pet fresh food in a clean dish and for God's sake, don't bother him while he's eating!
"The Incredible Shrinking Gadget"