Inspector Gadget was a cyborg; he had various "gadgets[?]" built into his anatomy, including binoculars, a laser, rocket-powered roller skates, and extensible arms and legs. He could activate each gadget by saying the phrase, "Go-go gadget arms!" (for example). The gadgets would often malfunction in humorous ways.
The cartoon was made in France, by Dic studios. Don Adams, the voice of Inspector Gadget in the American version of the cartoon, also played Maxwell Smart, the lead character in Get Smart, giving both shows a certain resemblance to US viewers.
Each episode, Dr. Claw was foiled not by Inspector Gadget, but by his young niece Penny and her dog Brain. Inspector Gadget invariably got credit for solving the crime, and everyone believed that he had in fact stopped Dr. Claw single-handedly.
Dr. Claw was always depicted sitting in a high-backed chair facing away from the audience, and was thus never seen except for his right arm. He had a cat, Mad Cat. At the end of every episode, Dr. Claw would escape, and yell, "I'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time!"
The theme music for the show was composed by Shuki Levy[?].
In 1999, Matthew Broderick starred in a live-action movie, also called Inspector Gadget, based on the cartoon series. In 2003, French Stewart[?] starred in the straight to DVD sequel, Inspector Gadget 2.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump