New Inspector Gadget iTunes Game Teased on New Official YouTube Channel and Facebook Page

Well, that's a lot of news jammed into one headline. Guess I'll start with what I find most interesting. As the below video points out, "Something's brewing on iTunes"...



...and that something, I believe, is an all-new iOS game starring Gadget! This will be the first video game based on the show since the hit "Inspector Gadget - M.A.D Dash" (2010), which became popular enough to push a new TV series into production. This new game, set to be released in two days, is apparently a sidescroller like M.A.D Dash but otherwise looks pretty different. Let's have a closer look at those flashing images from the video:

I must admit I find this art style both kind of charming and kind of sloppy-looking. It's great that they're using the original series designs, but the drawing style and rendition of those designs seem a bit off, particularly the faces of the M.A.D agents.

Also, here's an amateurish mistake: Gadget's springs are not supposed to come out from under his shoes... they're supposed to be an extension of his legs, which is why this gadget is called "gadget legs". At least the gadget copter looks okay...

Blundering slapstick, always an important part of the Inspector Gadget franchise.

And the cartoony frame below actually makes me curious to see the gameplay in motion.

I guess I'll give this game a shot. It's nice to see DHX Media doing something new with the Gadget franchise (the in-the-making TV series excluded), and timing-wise this ties in well with the series' 30th anniversary. Which brings me to the next piece of news - the YouTube channel that posted the game's teaser video:

Simply titled "Inspector Gadget", at least in the account name, this is not a fan-made tribute channel as I first suspected when I stumbled upon it. Its banner (above) acknowledges Gadget's recent anniversary with "INSPECTOR GADGET - Celebrating 30 Years", whereas the beginning of the info section reads, "Welcome to the OFFICIAL Inspector Gadget Channel". DHX has actually given Gadget his own channel.

Furthermore, when checking out one of the channel's videos, I quickly discovered the link to the official Facebook page. In fact, if you try typing the url "inspectorgadget.com", you will now be redirected to this Facebook Page. As we can see below, it shares the YouTube channel's logos and banner tagline, and its info section reads (direct quote): "H!i Welcome to my official Facebook page. Penny and Brain got me this for my 30th Birthday." Yeaahhhh... this Facebook page is apparently run by Inspector Gadget himself. How... amusing.

Both the YouTube channel and Facebook page have been online since September 27, so it appears that DHX is doing a concentrated effort to create more online awareness of Gadget (and using the 30th anniversary as a springboard for that). This is a great initiative, of course, but I'm a little confused as to whom they're targeting. So far, the Facebook site and YouTube channel consist mostly of short clips and screenshots from classic episodes, many of them accompanied by Gadget's "personal" comments. I guess this might be mildly entertaining for kids. However, as a 30-year old brand, Inspector Gadget has quite a lot of older fans - and almost nothing currently featured on the Youtube or Facebook sites seems particularly geared towards them. (The YouTube channel has one full episode, and the Facebook page features an ad for the new DVD release of the series, but still.) How about some original production artwork on Facebook? How about some rare videos on YouTube, like for instance high-quality versions of these bumpers? There is so much unrealized potential here...

As of now, I'd say the game teaser is the one somewhat interesting thing to be seen on the two sites. But who knows? Maybe that could change with time. Come to think of it, maybe these official outlets for Gadget could even become the first places to feature trailers and previews of the upcoming CGI TV series.

UPDATE (October 19, 2013): The game, entitled "Inspector Gadget M.A.D. Grab", was finally released to iTunes on October 18, after a four-day delay from the date announced in the teaser video (a new video has been added to the YouTube channel to mark the launch). The game is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and is currently available for free, so GRAB it while you can!

MAJOR NEWS: New TV Series In Production Thanks To the Success of the "M.A.D Dash" Video Game

I really haven't got much time to blog at the moment, but when you come across information like this, it's hard not to. You might argue that it isn't exactly "news", as the quotes I'm presenting here are almost three months old already; but for some reason, I only heard about this a little while ago. And extremely few web sites seem to have even mentioned it so far. Read on to get the full story...

I've neglected to write much here about XMG Studios' hit mobile game Inspector Gadget: M.A.D Dash, mostly because I haven't yet had an opportunity to play it (I own neither an Iphone nor an Ipod Touch). But the previews and videos I've seen of the game generally look great, and its popularity has grown steadily since the release in December of 2010, easily making M.A.D Dash the most successful Inspector Gadget video game ever created. Still, the latest result of its success is something I would never have dreamt of.

A bit of context: Back in January, at the Mobile Games Forum 2012, XMG's CEO and co-founder Ray Sharma held a lecture about "transmedia" in the mobile game industry... using his Inspector Gadget: M.A.D Dash as an example of a mobile game that had successfully crossed over into non-game medias. Here's what Sharma had to say, according to a January 26 article by Jon Jordan of Pocket Gamer Biz:

"Go, go, again 

In terms of XMG's history, when it released its Inspector Gadget iOS game in late 2010, and you could buy the ringtone and unlock the 10 most popular TV episodes too. 

"We did 1 million downloads in a week, and it's reinvigorated the TV brand with a new TV series in production," Sharma revealed."

Yes, really. A mobile game has laid the groundwork for a new TV series. At first I thought this couldn't be true, but the Pocket Gamer Biz site seems genuine enough. Jordan repeats the fact in another article from January 30, again while on the subject of XMG's transmedia success:

"...its Inspector Gadget game was so successful that a new TV series has been commissioned."

And finally we also have this post from Pocket Gamer's Twitter account, posted the same day as Jordan's first article appeared:

pgbiz‏ @pgbiz 

'Son of Inspector Gadge't TV show in production on the back of Gadget iOS game success #mgf2012

Obviously hastily written, but let's ignore the misplaced quotation mark in "Gadget" and take a look at what these words seem to reveal. "Son of Inspector Gadget"? Is that possibly the title for this new TV series that Sharma mentions? The quotation marks in the post certainly seem to indicate it... and if that really is the case, then we can probably assume the following: This new TV series will not be a direct revival of the original series, but rather a continuation - canon or not - set years after the original.

The words "Son of" raise as many questions as they answer, though. Let's say, just for theory's sake, that this upcoming show will literally be about Inspector Gadget's son. Does that mean Gadget actually got married at some point? And got a family? Even more importantly, where do Penny and Brain fit into this picture... they're his family already, remember? Not to mention that I find it extremely hard to see how all of this will be pulled off convincingly. Sigh... part of me wishes that the new show's title could have been "Niece of Inspector Gadget" instead. That certainly sounds much more intriguing to me, as well as easier to fit into the show's established themes/universe.

On the other hand, I could be really jumping to conclusions here. The fourth source of information I came across is from a different source altogether, namely an article by Joost Rietweld on the site Gaming Business Review. Interestingly enough, it seems to slightly contradict the above Twitter post. Published on January 31, here's the relevant quote from Rietweld's piece, "Mobile Games Forum 2012: Industry Shows Signs of Maturing":

"...Sharma was looking ahead by exploring cross-media, or transmedia, strategies. XMG’s mobile game for the somewhat forgotten animated TV series ‘Inspector Gadget’ spun-off a range of side products including best-selling ringtones, up to the point where the game “reinvigorated the TV series”. Indeed, a new season of the series is currently in the making."

Interesting how Rietweld's statement appears to be saying that "the series" - as in "the original series" - will simply be getting a new season. I would love for this to really happen, but it's a bit hard to believe given that almost any revival of a creative property these days insists on changing around everything that made the property great to begin with.
   However... there is one thing which sorta kinda supports the theory that the upcoming TV series MIGHT be a revival of the original series: That's what "M.A.D. Dash" is.

           

For those not familiar with the game, just take a look at the above gameplay video and you'll see what I mean. The design and animation instantly evoke the 1983 series. The game makers use original voice clips, sound effects with an authentic feel... even the theme music is there! (This might not seem like a big deal, but it is. M.A.D Dash marks the first time an Inspector Gadget game has used Shuki Levy's theme song since the late 80s, due to a monetary conflict that arose between DiC and Saban's company. Someone involved in this new game - at Cookie Jar or at XMG - apparently realized how extremely important that music is to the success of Inspector Gadget, and cleared the rights issue. Smart move.) In short, nearly everything about this game seems to cleverly bring back memories of the original TV show... and that accounts for a huge part of its popularity among older gamers.

This is the reason why the "Son of Inspector Gadget" title (true or not) doesn't quite make sense to me. The upcoming TV series is obviously being produced "on the back of the iOS game's success", right? And the game is based directly on the 1983 TV series. Why, then, would they follow up this game's success with a new TV show making a lot of changes to the original series? Wouldn't it, in fact, be logical to give viewers more of the original instead?

I don't know... I'm not gonna pretend I understand corporate logic. I do know, however, that I want more facts about this show! Information so far is pretty vague, with two of the above-mentioned sources even outright contradicting each other. And it's a bit strange that Cookie Jar - whom I at least presume is the production company behind this TV series - hasn't made any official announcements yet. Still, we don't know how far into production the show is... judging by Sharma's direct qoute, the only thing we know is that it IS somewhere in production. Let's hope it gets finished and released. Yes, the new show can wind up being both good and bad; but until we know more, I'm gonna remain enthusiastic about the fact that a new Gadget series is FINALLY being made! Think about it: For the first time ever, we're getting a reboot series without the involvement of DiC -  the company which almost ruined the franchise during the 90s and 2000s with their own, awful Gadget reboots. Cookie Jar has every chance of raising the bar, and I'm hoping they intend to do just that. Whether their new series proves to be a complete reimagining or a faithful recreation of the original... I want to see what they can do with Inspector Gadget.

But enough of my babbling. You've heard my theories and thoughts, now it's time to voice your own! What do you think?

The Future of Inspector Gadget, under Cookie Jar (?)

A forum thread on the Bluray.com site got me thinking about Inspector Gadget's potential future. The question discussed in the thread was, will we ever see Inspector Gadget (1983) on Blu-ray? Here's what forum member BluAtreyu (probably someone who worked on the Shout! factory DVD box set) had to say about the matter:

Speaking as someone with a VERY intimate knowledge of this series (I helped put DIC shows on DVD), I know that the masters of these shows are not in the best shape, and would need some heavy restoration to be anywhere near HD quality (we are talking some very heavy repainting, cleaning, sound mixing...).

Add that to the fact that the show has never sold well either as a single disc or box set, the demand is just not high enough to justify the money and time that would need to go into getting these "Blu-Ray ready." Also, INSPECTOR GADGET is now owned by Cookie Jar since DIC is no more, and Cookie Jar just doesn't have the same history and affection for the show that the folks at DIC had. At DIC, it was the Mickey Mouse of the company - at Cookie Jar it is just another title they got in a big bundle of old 80s show titles. 

I'm not saying it will never happen (I love the show and pushed it very hard while I was working on it), but I would SERIOUSLY not hold your breath. 

Sadly, I suspect BluAtreyu is right on this one... but only to an extent. It's true that Inspector Gadget was DiC Entertainment's flagship property, but at the same time, it's no less true that DiC did some awful things to the Gadget franchise during their last 10-15 years with it. The live-action movies, for instance: Sure, they made some quick bucks when released, but in the long run I think they may have damaged the franchise more than they've helped it. Simply because they were awful movies.

It is also true that the Cookie Jar Company (which took over Gadget and the rest of DiC in 2008) does not have that same history and affection for the show... but I think Cookie Jar overall seems like a pretty different animal than DiC. So far, they haven't done anything truly horrible to Gadget; at least nowhere near the awfulness of Disney's live-action movies and DiC's two direct-to-video films from the last decade. This may be partly because Cookie Jar doesn't need to do so much with Inspector Gadget. They are a larger company than DiC ever was, with other titles that are far more profitable and popular among younger generations than a Saturday Morning cartoon from the early 1980s. In that respect, what BluAtreyu says is right: Gadget is more or less one of the titles in "a big bundle of old 80s show titles". And in most countries, the U.S. included, the show still hasn't even made it to DVD in complete form. (France is one of the very few exceptions to this rule.) But that doesn't mean Cookie Jar has declared the franchise dead... it's just hit something of a low spot for the last decade or so.

For Inspector Gadget to get back into the public eye - and to even be considered for the full Blu-ray treatment - I think the franchice needs a serious boost in its popularity, a resurgence of some kind. I'm hoping that Viper's new comic book can help start such a resurgence... but that, I think, is dependent on the comic book improving significantly from its first issue (which had good intentions, but ultimately didn't live up to its potential). Too many times, I think, revivals of Inspector Gadget have failed simply because they haven't been good enough (Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever, anyone?). This has a devastating effect on the franchise as a whole. After all, there's no better way of ruining a popular character's reputation than by putting out a lot of junk with that character's name on it. Keep it up, and audiences eventually grow tired of the character. That's pretty much what DiC achieved when they put out two god-awful live-action movies and two horrendous direct-to-video animated films in rapid succession between 1999 and 2005. (Seriously, Inspector Gadget's Last Case was Gadget's worst moment EVER in animation!)

I do get the feeling that Cookie Jar, ever since they took over Inspector Gadget, has been trying to quietly turn that trend around. They've been trying to replace bad Inspector Gadget products with good ones, or at least better ones than what DiC gave us. Since they gained ownership of the franchise, we've gotten not only a very cool iPhone/iPad game that has actually become something of a hit among gamers... but also, of course, the first issue of a brand new comic book. Both the game and the comic book share a common factor: They are trying to go back to the roots of Inspector Gadget, to find the core that originally made him popular back in 1983. The M.A.D. Dash game even uses Shuki Levy's original theme song as its background music! After years of DiC's ill-conceived and unsuccessful attempts to tinker with the franchise, it's nice to see Cookie Jar apparently taking Inspector Gadget back to basics. If this approach works, and more people start liking the franchise again, then maybe -- just maybe -- we will someday see an HD version of the original series make it to Blu-ray. And even better... maybe a brand new cartoon series starring Inspector Gadget will be produced... and for once, this new series will be both good and successful among audiences. It can all happen. We just need something to start the snowball rolling.

Even if all of this were to happen, though, it's probably still some years down the road. But in the meantime, we can always dream...

Here's hoping that one day, the original show looks as good on Blu-ray as this original cel looks on my laptop!