Boomerang Australia Pre-Premieres Inspector Gadget's Reboot In Two Days (December 27, 2014)

Insane world premiere news here, folks! At least I'm pretty sure that's what this is. I have found out that episode 1a of the reboot series - "Gadget 2.0 Part 1" - will get a pre-premiere in Australia before the series' official launch on January 5! Moreover, that pre-premiere is less than two days away! According to the Boomerang schedule on The Official Foxtel Australia TV Guide (navigate to 'Sat 27 Dec' in the link), the 11-minute episode segment will be aired twice on Saturday, December 27; at 10:00 AM in the morning and 5:15 PM in the afternoon.

Even if I won't be watching this myself (unless I find a way to teleport myself to Australia during the next 44 hours), I think it kinda sucks that they will only be airing Part 1 of the series' opening episode... which is of course a two-parter. I can see the reasoning, of course, as they're likely intending this to be an effective teaser for the full-fledged premiere of "Gadget 2.0" on January 5; but I think airing the entire first half-hour could have worked fine too.

By the way -- the episode synopsis I found by clicking on the show title offers at last an explanation of the whole 'Dr Claw in hibernation' mystery from Super RTL's presentation. Believe it or not, it's just as literal as it sounded before:

Gadget 2.0 Part 1: When Dr Claw returns from being frozen in the Antarctic, Inspector Gadget is brought out of retirement to defeat him - again!

Riiight. Claw has actually been frozen in the Antarctic all the while Gadget was retired. I wonder if we'll get to know why and how that happened. For the moment, this sounds slightly better to me than the thought of Claw having been captured by the police (which I had feared that 'hibernation' part of the German synopsis might really mean). Then again, did he end up being frozen during a battle with Gadget, Penny and Brain? I really don't like the thought of him ever having been defeated to such a degree. (Wow, that pun came out of nowhere!)

While we're at it: Foxtel's schedule covers the next 14 days of broadcast, meaning that it also offers schedule and synopsis information for the first three days of Gadget's proper Australian launch: January 5-7. As we know, the series will air every weekday at 4:30 PM, so naturally "Gadget 2.0" gets its full, half-hour premiere in the afternoon of Monday, January 5. Here are the synopses for the next two half-hours (likely the only ones I'll be posting):

Episode 2 - Towering Towers/Game Over Man - January 6, 2015 at 4:30 PM 

Towering Towers: Dr. Claw plots to take over every satellite in the sky, using the antenna on top of the world's tallest building, to cripple the world's communication systems and have access to every hilarious cat video on the internet./Game Over Man: Astronauts are going missing on the Multinational Space Station, and it's up to Gadget to find the truth: is it aliens, or something more sinister?

Episode 3 - Rock Out/Strike A Pose - January 7, 2015 at 4:30 PM 

Rock Out: Gadget and Penny are sent to provide security detail for World Whistling Popstar Nigel St De La Peppertone IV Esquire III, whose army of loyal fans proves to be an attractive target for Dr. Claw./Strike a Pose: Professor Von Slickstein sets out to present at the fashion technology show in Paris, with Gadget as his security against MAD and their plot to steal Slickstein's invention whatever it is.

Etc. New schedules/episodes are added daily at the Foxtel site for those who want to keep up. I might post more episode titles, but I doubt I'll be doing that with the synopses, as they all veer a bit too much into spoiler territory for me. (Admittedly, it's still hard to keep from reading them, especially where the opening episode is concerned.)

One more thing before I leave you...  I found the schedules via Foxtel Insider, a news report on Boomerang's Australian rebrand. Weirdly, the piece doesn't mention the December 27 pre-premiere, and it even erroneously claims that the daily air time in January will be 4:00 PM, while the correct slot is 4:30. Regardless, one interesting thing it does offer is the first, proper television trailer I've seen for the series. This contains a bunch of animated shots we haven't seen before:

Note that the clip at the end, where Gadget puts the finishing touch on his huge 'Dagwood' sandwich, is obviously from the same scene as this image from an earlier Australian press release:

...oh, and... sorry, I almost forgot that I have another last thing to end this post with. If you clicked on the Foxtel Insider link up there, you'll have noticed that the news report is illustrated with an image, and not just any image. It's the one and only... the favorite of every press release maker... the Inspector Gadget reboot series TEMP image! In a poetic effort to add to the screenshot's raw state, Foxtel has even stretched it to the wrong proportions:

Honestly, at this rate I wouldn't be surpriced if the image turns up on future Blu-ray and DVD covers. It certainly seems to have struck a chord with admakers. And why not? Unfinished CGI looks CHARMING! Even more expressive than a rough pencil sketch!

Anyway, to all Australians out there: remember to tune in on December 27 for the exclusive pre-premiere of "Gadget 2.0 Part 1"... or on January 5 if you prefer to watch the whole episode in one go. And, should readers from other countries have heard of other exclusive pre-premieres, please let me know in the comments.