Gadget & the Gadgetinis facts for kids

Gadget & the Gadgetinis
Genre	Comedy Adventure
Created by	Jean Chalopin
Developed by	Jean Chalopin
Directed by	Bruno Bianchi
Voices of	Maurice LaMarche Brian Drummond Ellen Kennedy Tegan Moss Colin Murdock Teryl Rothery Alvin Sanders
Country of origin	France
Original language(s)	French English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jacquline Tordjiman
Producer(s)	Bruno Bianchi
Running time	About 22 minutes
Production company(s)	SIP Animation DIC Entertainment Corporation
Distributor	Buena Vista International Television
Release
Original network	M6 (France) Fox Kids (Worldwide) Channel 5 (United Kingdom)
Picture format	Animation
First shown in	United Kingdom
Original release	September 11, 2002 (2002-09-11) – November 29, 2003 (2003-11-29)
Chronology
Related shows	Inspector Gadget

Gadget & the Gadgetinis is a TV series spin-off of the 1983 series Inspector Gadget. The series was a co-production between Fox Kids Europe, DIC Entertainment Corporation, French animation studio SIP Animation, French broadcaster M6 Métropole Télévision, the British Channel 5 UK and the Italian Mediatrade S.P.A. The show was first screened at MIPTV 2002.

Gadget & the Gadgetinis is currently a property of WildBrain, which holds the rights to most of DiC's library.

Plot

Having been recruited by an elite international peacekeeping group called the World Organization of Mega Powers (WOMP), Lieutenant Gadget (promoted from his previous position of Inspector), now fights crime with a pair of mechanical assistants called the Gadgetinis, small robot versions of Gadget who were created by Penny (due to Brain retiring from active duty) and who are the unintended victims of Gadget's bumbling.

Characters

• Lt. Gadget (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) – Now working for WOMP as a Lieutenant, Gadget is still the same cyborg he was in the 1983 series, except he has been upgraded with several new gadgets. He is usually blind to MAD's interference in missions or their presence, sometimes making it easier for them to continue with Dr. Claw's evil plans, but they are nearly always thwarted, usually by accident. Gadget's appearance is somewhat different from his original design, as his hat and coat are now dark grey, his gloves are yellow, his tie and pants are a brighter blue and looks a lot younger. He also wears green sunglasses in most episodes.
• The Gadgetinis (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) – Fidget and Digit are two small robots created by Penny who are miniature versions of Gadget. They frequently aid Gadget on his missions and each one has their own arsenal of hidden gadgets and devices, including video communicators in their chest-pieces. Penny created them after Brain ran away. Fidget is the most easily spooked of the pair and is colored orange. He does things robots cannot do, such as feeling pain or sneeze, which Digit usually questions. Digit, the blue robot, is the smarter, sarcastic, and more literal of the Gadgetinis. He often reminds Fidget that he is a robot when Fidget does something that robots can't do.
• Penny (voiced by Tegan Moss) – Gadget's know-it-all 12-year-old niece is the creator of the Gadgetinis. Instead of secretly following Gadget, she contacts the Gadgetinis to offer advice and information from home. She usually does this from the attic, using her laptop computer and many other hi-tech tools, which replace her computer book and video watch. She also usually corrects Fidget about being a robot when he does something robots can't do, isn't as patient as she was in the original series, and has a bit of a short temper. Penny wears her hair in pigtails as she did in the original 1983 series.
• Colonel Nozzaire (voiced by Colin Murdock) – Colonel Nozzaire is a former member of the French Foreign Legion and Gadget's new superior. Nozzaire hates Gadget and hardly tolerates him, because he is extremely stupid, repeatedly hurts him and/or wrecks his office. Nozzaire constantly tries to partake in missions himself, only to get captured by M.A.D. or become badly injured as a result of Gadget's interference or incompetence.
• General Sir (voiced by Alvin Sanders) – The leader of WOMP, the General assigns missions to Gadget. He is completely oblivious to Gadget's incompetence and antics. General Sir favors Gadget over Nozzaire because he's kinder than Nozzaire.
• Doctor Claw (voiced by Brian Drummond) – Unlike the original series, viewers can actually see his legs and torso from time to time, his gauntlets are now gold with black joints and knuckles, and with the M.A.D. logo printed on them. Most of the time instead of banging his hand on his desk and hitting his cat, he scratches the arm of his chair when angered. In addition, he also has a brother named Doctor Thaw and a nephew named William who is Doctor Thaw's son.
• MAD Cat (vocal effects provided by Ellen Kennedy) – Doctor Claw's pet cat.
• Maryland Claw (voiced by Teryl Rothery) – Doctor Claw and Doctor Thaw's mother and William's grandmother. She first met Claw's father in jail, the same day Gadget's parents met. Maryland has higher authority over Claw, even going as far as to stop him in his evil deeds. Doctor Claw once had his M.A.D. agents turned invisible so that they could try to rob her house, apparently to get some childhood trophies from her. Like her son, only Maryland's right hand is seen. Though in the episode "Erasing Gadget," her face does appear when Gadget travels back in time.
• Ms. Miffet – Secretary of General Sir. Just like Nozzaire, she hates Gadget and his antics because they often hurt or annoy her.
• Brain – After years of Gadget constantly mistaking him for M.A.D. Agents and trying to apprehend him, Brain is now phobic and nervous when he hears Gadget's name and has taken refuge in a shack by a lake.
• Chief Quimby – Now he's an agent of WOMP working as General Sir's top informant of the Cryptic Intelligence Agency (a parody of the real-life Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA). He uses self-destructing messages, much like the previous series.

Episodes

Broadcast

The show was broadcast across various European countries on Fox Kids starting in late 2002, and remained on some stations after the Jetix rebranding.

• In the United Kingdom, the show aired on Channel 5, who were one of the co-producers. They first aired the show in August 2002, a month before it aired in France on M6.
• In the United States, the show was planned to air on Fox Family; but since Fox Family Worldwide was purchased by Disney, it never did.
• In countries where the channel operated from, it also re-ran on Jetix Play.

Merchandise

An event was held at Quick restaurants in France in April 2003.

Video game

A video game was released for the PlayStation 2 and PC in November 2004, developed by Eko Software and published by Hip Games, who had acquired the Inspector Gadget video game license after acquiring Light & Shadow Production in February of that year. It was first unveiled at E3 2004, following an announcement on May 5, 2004, only released in PAL regions, much like with Mad Robots Invasion. In this game, Doctor Claw intends to spread a harmful gas with which he can control terrestrial populations to its will.

In Gamestorm.it, the game's gameplay was mostly criticized for its unoriginality, as well as the character designs and the music. The controls and the game's appeal to children received praise, however.