Sunday, December 20, 2015
"New Inspector Gadget, Season 1, Volume 3" Is Now On iTunes Australia in 1080p HD
Quick reminder: Episodes 14-20 of the reboot series are now available on the Australian iTunes in full 1080p HD, as "New Inspector Gadget, Season 1, Vol. 3". As mentioned before, this third volume was released to iTunes on December 14, about 1 1/2 month after the physical DVD release.
Monday, December 14, 2015
NBC Print Ad for Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (and Noel)
Speaking of Brain disguised as a reindeer, as we were the other day, how about checking out a piece of promotional art for the 1992 special Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas? 'Tis the season after all. Clipped from a vintage TV Guide, this is a combined ad for Gadget and the concurrent Christmas special Noel, as the two of them premiered back-to-back on NBC that year.
I find this particular promo piece interesting for several reasons. For one thing, it makes the Gadget special look a LOT better and more entertaining than it was. The characters look great, as if we're right back in a 1983 episode; and then there's their seasonal clothing. Penny dressed up as an elf? Santa Gadget? Hell yeah... THIS I wanna see! Of course, the actual special gave us none of what this artwork teases, and the crude animation from Hung Long Animation Company couldn't hold a Christmas candle to the original show.
There is however a specific reason why the above promotional drawing looks so good - it was based directly on a 1983 model sheet. Namely this one...
I'd like to provide a little more context on the print ad while I'm at it. It appears to have run in a number of TV magazines in 1992. Here it is from two other TV Guide publications:
The below press kit from NBC - dated November 20, 1992 - was up on Ebay sometime last year. It includes separate artwork and a written press release for both specials. Quite clearly, this is what the TV Guide ad was put together from:
And finally, in case you're wondering: yup, the Gadget artwork does exist in color. Way back in 2006, this full-color promotional cel was sold on Ebay. Gotta say these colors look nice...
 |
| (Via RetroNewsNow) |
I find this particular promo piece interesting for several reasons. For one thing, it makes the Gadget special look a LOT better and more entertaining than it was. The characters look great, as if we're right back in a 1983 episode; and then there's their seasonal clothing. Penny dressed up as an elf? Santa Gadget? Hell yeah... THIS I wanna see! Of course, the actual special gave us none of what this artwork teases, and the crude animation from Hung Long Animation Company couldn't hold a Christmas candle to the original show.
There is however a specific reason why the above promotional drawing looks so good - it was based directly on a 1983 model sheet. Namely this one...
 |
| (For more original-series model sheets, go here.) |
I'd like to provide a little more context on the print ad while I'm at it. It appears to have run in a number of TV magazines in 1992. Here it is from two other TV Guide publications:
 |
| (From the Toledo-Lima Edition of TV Guide Magazine; via Vintage Toledo TV.) |
The below press kit from NBC - dated November 20, 1992 - was up on Ebay sometime last year. It includes separate artwork and a written press release for both specials. Quite clearly, this is what the TV Guide ad was put together from:
(A small contradictory detail: the headline of NBC's press release says the two specials will premiere on December 4, but the first paragraph says December 3. Just for the record, December 4 is the correct premiere date. For evidence, see this extract from the December 4, 1992 edition of The Cincinnati Enquirer, which tells us that Gadget aired at 8pm and was followed by Noel at 8:30 (search through the OCR text).)
Friday, December 11, 2015
Brain's Secret Christmas Mission
Okay, this just amuses me too much not to share.
Over at Instagram, the user Claudia González Iglesias has posted this photo of a reindeer Christmas display in a shopping mall, accompanied by the following caption (via Google Translate): "Kids say they are reindeers... but for me it is the dog in Inspector Gadget with antlers! Is he on a secret mission??"
I do believe Claudia is right here, folks. To the ordinary child, these may look like reindeers, but we seasoned Inspector Gadget fans know better. Brain, I'm sorry, but your cover has been blown...
Over at Instagram, the user Claudia González Iglesias has posted this photo of a reindeer Christmas display in a shopping mall, accompanied by the following caption (via Google Translate): "Kids say they are reindeers... but for me it is the dog in Inspector Gadget with antlers! Is he on a secret mission??"
I do believe Claudia is right here, folks. To the ordinary child, these may look like reindeers, but we seasoned Inspector Gadget fans know better. Brain, I'm sorry, but your cover has been blown...
Friday, December 4, 2015
Two More Bruno Bianchi Drawings
A few months ago, I did a post featuring some latter-day Bruno Bianchi drawings collected off the web. Today, I have two more to add...
The first one - a very nice rendition of Gadget's face - was drawn for none other than Nordine Zemrak, the co-writer of the in-depth DiC history book "Les series de notre enfance". The caption reads, "For Nordine. Best wishes. B. Bianchi". I'm guessing this was done during the period when Nordine and his partner Maroin Eluasti were working on their book. Sourced from Nordine's ink361 page.
The second drawing is also a bit special, primarily because it's the first time I've seen Penny pop up in one of these Bianchi pieces. This was up on Ebay a few weeks ago with the description, "Rare dédicace sur feuille de Bruno Bianchi le créateur de la série mythique inspecteur gadget. Format A4 sur papier dessin type canson. Signé" ("Rare dedication on paper by Bruno Bianchi, the creator of the legendary Inspector Gadget. A4 format, Canson drawing paper. Signed"). As we can see, it has the same year and signature type (B. BiANCHi) as drawing number one in my previous post, suggesting that they were done for the same occasion.
This drawing is very loose, but I love the style on both Penny and Gadget. As with several of the previously seen drawings, Bianchi's linework here has a certain flavor of the classic French-Belgian comic book style, which is fun for me to see. Gadget's character design quite clearly came from that tradition to begin with, and Penny, while rendered simpler than her animated design, is also instantly recognizable.
The first one - a very nice rendition of Gadget's face - was drawn for none other than Nordine Zemrak, the co-writer of the in-depth DiC history book "Les series de notre enfance". The caption reads, "For Nordine. Best wishes. B. Bianchi". I'm guessing this was done during the period when Nordine and his partner Maroin Eluasti were working on their book. Sourced from Nordine's ink361 page.
The second drawing is also a bit special, primarily because it's the first time I've seen Penny pop up in one of these Bianchi pieces. This was up on Ebay a few weeks ago with the description, "Rare dédicace sur feuille de Bruno Bianchi le créateur de la série mythique inspecteur gadget. Format A4 sur papier dessin type canson. Signé" ("Rare dedication on paper by Bruno Bianchi, the creator of the legendary Inspector Gadget. A4 format, Canson drawing paper. Signed"). As we can see, it has the same year and signature type (B. BiANCHi) as drawing number one in my previous post, suggesting that they were done for the same occasion.
This drawing is very loose, but I love the style on both Penny and Gadget. As with several of the previously seen drawings, Bianchi's linework here has a certain flavor of the classic French-Belgian comic book style, which is fun for me to see. Gadget's character design quite clearly came from that tradition to begin with, and Penny, while rendered simpler than her animated design, is also instantly recognizable.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Season 2 of the New Inspector Gadget Series Is Recording Now
The quickest of quick updates to report this: The upcoming Season 2 of the new TV series - in production since July - has now started recording. The current voice actor of Inspector Gadget himself, Ivan Sherry, gave the reveal on Twitter on October 8:
Talon's voice actor Lyon Smith has also shared a few tidbits, including this snapshot from a recording session on October 28:
...and this quick tweet from November 17:
Just to be perfectly clear: This second season of the reboot has nothing to do with what Netflix in the United States is calling "Season 2", which is in reality the last ten episodes of Season 1. Netflix's deal with DHX included only the first 16 half-hours of Season 1 (of 26) when they first launched the series in March... so when the 10 holdover episodes were finally added on August 28, Netflix decided to call them "Season 2". This is a bit unfortunate, not only because of the confusion it leads to among U.S. viewers, but because it will undoubtedly lead to MORE confusion down the road. You can bet that when the real Season 2 hits Netflix US sometimes in the future, it will be called "Season 3". But, ah well, that's marketing for you.
It's official! We're heading into the studio this month for Season Two! @netflix #animation #cartoons #voiceactor pic.twitter.com/fXeRlWDENN
— Ivan Sherry (@The1IvanSherry) 8. oktober 2015
Talon's voice actor Lyon Smith has also shared a few tidbits, including this snapshot from a recording session on October 28:
— Lyon Smith (@lyon_smith) 28. oktober 2015
...and this quick tweet from November 17:
Record day for #inspectorgadget . Playing #talon is such a pleasure.
— Lyon Smith (@lyon_smith) 17. november 2015
Just to be perfectly clear: This second season of the reboot has nothing to do with what Netflix in the United States is calling "Season 2", which is in reality the last ten episodes of Season 1. Netflix's deal with DHX included only the first 16 half-hours of Season 1 (of 26) when they first launched the series in March... so when the 10 holdover episodes were finally added on August 28, Netflix decided to call them "Season 2". This is a bit unfortunate, not only because of the confusion it leads to among U.S. viewers, but because it will undoubtedly lead to MORE confusion down the road. You can bet that when the real Season 2 hits Netflix US sometimes in the future, it will be called "Season 3". But, ah well, that's marketing for you.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Season 1, Volume 3 of the Reboot Out on Australian DVD Now (and on iTunes from December 14)
Yeah, I know. I want this site to be more active too, but for a number of personal reasons (including personal health), I haven't been able to keep up postings as much as I'd like. Still, Universal's Australian DVD releases of the reboot series - which continue to be the only home video releases in the world as far as I know - is a topic I have covered thus far, and so I wanted to notify readers of the latest developments. After a break of four months, Season 1 Volume 3 was finally released to DVD on November 5. Cover art below:
According to several online retailers - for instance Sanity - the disc contains half-hours #14-20, leaving one volume to collect the final six episodes of Season 1. I should add that in addition to buying Volume 3, fans currently also have a chance to win a copy over at Mum's Lounge (yes, I'm very late with reporting that, but hey, still three days left of the giveaway).
So much for physical media. But what about the digital video release - which, until now, has happened concurrently with the DVDs? Well, for whatever reason, Season 1 Volume 3 has not seen an iTunes release yet... and it still won't for a few weeks. I asked about this on the Facebook page of The Viewing Lounge (a home media showpage run by Universal in conjunction with several other distributors), and was told: "It'll be available on iTunes from December 14." So episodes #14-20 ARE coming to the VOD world, they've just been delayed slightly. The upcoming iTunes release is expected to be in full HD like the Season 1, Volume 1 and Season 1, Volume 2 packages were.
...and that is NOT quite all. Because as I was googling about for details on Volume 3's release, I noticed that the low-res cover art for Volume 4 has already popped up a few places. Customers won't have to wait four new months for this one: According to Digitales, Season 1 Volume 4 will come out already on January 14, 2016. Presumably it will contain the remainder of Season 1, half-hours #21-26. So in not too long, the entire first season (i.e. the entire series at this point, even though Season 2 is in production) will have been released to DVD and VOD in Australia. [UPDATE (December 2): I found a higher-res pic of Volume 4's cover than the one I first posted, so I replaced it below.]
Finally, we happily note that the covers for both Volume 3 and Volume 4 look much better than the one for Volume 2, which you might remember featured a bizarrely misplaced and badly edited smile on Gadget's face. Photos of the physical DVD have turned up on Ebay in recent months, so I can now conclude that the worst version of the smile did indeed end up on the final cover. Ah well. It looks awful, but at least three out of four covers came out decent. (And of course, there are also those who prefer the crooked smile on Gadget - each to his own taste!) I still can't understand why it's so important that ALL the main characters smile on EVERY cover motive, though.
According to several online retailers - for instance Sanity - the disc contains half-hours #14-20, leaving one volume to collect the final six episodes of Season 1. I should add that in addition to buying Volume 3, fans currently also have a chance to win a copy over at Mum's Lounge (yes, I'm very late with reporting that, but hey, still three days left of the giveaway).
So much for physical media. But what about the digital video release - which, until now, has happened concurrently with the DVDs? Well, for whatever reason, Season 1 Volume 3 has not seen an iTunes release yet... and it still won't for a few weeks. I asked about this on the Facebook page of The Viewing Lounge (a home media showpage run by Universal in conjunction with several other distributors), and was told: "It'll be available on iTunes from December 14." So episodes #14-20 ARE coming to the VOD world, they've just been delayed slightly. The upcoming iTunes release is expected to be in full HD like the Season 1, Volume 1 and Season 1, Volume 2 packages were.
...and that is NOT quite all. Because as I was googling about for details on Volume 3's release, I noticed that the low-res cover art for Volume 4 has already popped up a few places. Customers won't have to wait four new months for this one: According to Digitales, Season 1 Volume 4 will come out already on January 14, 2016. Presumably it will contain the remainder of Season 1, half-hours #21-26. So in not too long, the entire first season (i.e. the entire series at this point, even though Season 2 is in production) will have been released to DVD and VOD in Australia. [UPDATE (December 2): I found a higher-res pic of Volume 4's cover than the one I first posted, so I replaced it below.]
Finally, we happily note that the covers for both Volume 3 and Volume 4 look much better than the one for Volume 2, which you might remember featured a bizarrely misplaced and badly edited smile on Gadget's face. Photos of the physical DVD have turned up on Ebay in recent months, so I can now conclude that the worst version of the smile did indeed end up on the final cover. Ah well. It looks awful, but at least three out of four covers came out decent. (And of course, there are also those who prefer the crooked smile on Gadget - each to his own taste!) I still can't understand why it's so important that ALL the main characters smile on EVERY cover motive, though.
Friday, September 4, 2015
Teletoon Canada Premieres the New Inspector Gadget Series on September 7, 2015
Here comes the premiere which everyone has been waiting for... or more to the point, wondering about. Teletoon, the network which commissioned the new Inspector Gadget series in the first place, will premiere it on Monday, September 7 at 6 pm in the evening. According to a yesterday press release from Corus Entertainment, the show is slated to air every Monday evening at that time... and checking Teletoon's own schedule for September 7, I see that it will air in a one-hour slot on the premiere day. Here's the most relevant part of Corus' press release, including the longest series synopsis for the reboot that I've seen so far:
NEW SERIES
INSPECTOR GADGET (26 x 22 minutes) – CANADIAN PREMIERE
Premieres: Mondays at 6 p.m. ET/PT beginning September 7.
Everyone's favourite bionic policeman returns! In this new CGI series,Inspector Gadget battles the evil Dr. Claw with all new gadgets - and all new gadget-related chaos! But our loveable, bumbling, accidentally-destructive Inspector's not alone in the fight to take down MAD. His ever trusty police-dog, Brain, is still by his side; and he's getting extra crime fighting help from his new partner: Inspector-in-training Penny! It's a MAD-cap romp as our heroic trio chases crime all over the globe (and tries to keep Gadget's collateral damage to a minimum). From the streets of Paris to the rainforests of Brazil, from the lost city of Atlantis to the moon, there's nowhere they won't go to get their man! And with MAD more powerful than ever with the arrival of Dr. Claw's evil-genius (and totally crush-worthy) nephew - Penny and Brain will need to use every ounce of their training to keep the world safe from Dr. Claw… and Gadget!
And as we can see from Teletoon's schedule, "Gadget 2.0" will naturally be the first episode to air:
So there it is. At (extremely) long last, the reboot premieres in its own country.
Feeling better, stephdumas? ;)
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