When “Inspector Gadget” made the leap from animated show to a live-action movie in 1999, changes were made to the vehicle. Later in the same season, the device is used to track down Gadget when he goes missing in “A Star is Lost.” In the “Monster Lake” episode, Gadget and Penny make use of GPS while on assignment in Scotland. GPS mapping became consumer-ready in 1994 but was predicted nine years earlier during the cartoon’s first season. In the real world, automated parking wouldn’t be available until the Lexus LS 460 sedan was unveiled at the Detroit International Auto Show in the mid-2000s and included a self-parking feature. When it finds a parking spot, the car’s wheels turn 90 degrees, allowing it to roll sideways into the space. It is a problem until Gadget orders “go-go gadget car” and the vehicle raises itself on extended, stiltlike legs to drive over the traffic. But art thieves aren’t the only enemies they need to battle, they also need to deal with New York City traffic and tight parking. Neither have become common in the real world of automobiles, but several of the vehicle’s other abilities have.įor instance, in the episode “Art Heist,” Inspector Gadget and Penny, his niece and the real brains behind their investigations, arrive in Manhattan to prevent a robbery at the Museum of Modern Art. With a shout of “go-go Gadgetmobile,” Inspector Gadget would summon his police car to do battle against the evil work of M.A.D., an acronym for “Mean and Dirty.”Īmong the Gadgetmobile’s cool features was the ability to disperse hilarious gas to make the baddies laugh uncontrollably, and a battering ram and glue rockets that fired out of the police car’s hatchback. The original animated Gadgetmobile, which premiered 40 decades ago, was a boxy minivan, reminiscent of a 1980s Toyota TownAce, that could transform into a police car that resembled a Lotus Esprit S2 or Toyota Celica Supra P-Type. Rather than a vehicle that ran on gas and electricity, “it was a hybrid in that it could be different kinds of vehicles.” “The Gadgetmobile was a hybrid, but hybrid meant something very different from what it means now,” said Thompson.
INPECTOR GADGET. ARTOON SERIES
The cartoon, which debuted on television in late 1982, introduced viewers to a bumbling cyborg police inspector (voiced by “Get Smart” star Don Adams) fighting crime using a series of outrageous gizmos, including the Gadgetmobile, a transforming car with a mind of its own. In the realm of future technology predictions about cars, an unlikely animated series looms large, “Inspector Gadget.” “If you go on to become a tech developer or whatever, that’s part of what you draw on.” “The culture one grows up with becomes part of the stuff that’s in your head,” said Thompson about the influence of cartoons on technology.
Universal currencies and videophones are only two examples from the world of animation that started as the stuff of science fiction but is now part of everyday use. Animation is one of the richer places where you are able to do all that stuff.” With live action, you actually have to be able to make it, and make it look like it is actually functioning. “With animation all you have to be able to do is draw it. “Animation has always had the potential to do things that would be a lot harder, and take a much bigger budget, to do with live action,” said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of TV, radio and film. Almost 60 years ago, “The Jetsons” introduced viewers to a futuristic videophone that looks similar to today’s Zoom or FaceTime. “Star Trek: The Animated Series,” for example, forecast Federation Credit, an electronic form of currency similar to bitcoin and other digital currencies. Where would we be without Saturday morning cartoons? They entertained us, helping to pass the time on weekends, and, if that wasn’t enough, often ignited our imaginations with a glimpse into the future.
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