I always wondered whether that was, as widely theorized, "supposed" to be a parody of those nightmarish Czech-animated Gene Dietch Tom & Jerry cartoons--
Or, the brief time in the late 80's that Russia tried syndicating some of their moralistic, over-animated Soviet-children's forest critter cartoons to some of the cheaper stations, fooling absolutely no one.
But since nobody remembers the latter--and Groening has spent a lifetime avenging cheap T&J imitations--I'll go with the Dietch parody. Once seen, never forgotten.
God no matter how times I watch this I can’t stop being blown away by how flat-out stupefyingly amazing Henry Thomas was at his ET audition. Seriously...try watching it without wanting to cry!
To be fair, he’s handled having early stardom thrust upon him fairly well up to this point. The best thing for most of these kids is to walk away after the initial storm, after their breakout or, if they can’t consistently work as an actor, once the roles stop coming. Those that struggle on, gabbing parts here and there and don’t have a background support structure that’s also strong enough to handle the pressure, are the ones we sadly read about many years later.
Shuki Levy, a very well-known TV producer and the man who created the Power Rangers with Haim Saban (and who also wrote quite a number of themes/background music for a ton of cartoons in the 80s and 90s) composed the famous Inspector Gadget music we know so well. As IG has been aired all over the world, that theme has often been used and dubbed with different vocals, although the music remains the same.
Interestingly, as his native country is Israel, Levy wrote an entirely different song, (with both new music and lyrics), for the Hebrew-dubbed version. Here it is:
Translated directly, IG’s name is “Detective Hush-Hush” (as in intrigue and mystery). Also, the word on the screen at the very end is the title of the episode: “The Actors”.
Last edited by ShyViolet on October 27th, 2019, 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
Incredibly weird (but cute! ) local Michigan promo for Next Gen, set to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire”. (Probably from around 1990.)
So funny how when I lived there years later, they always advertised The Simpsons by running the clip of Grampa saying sadly: “I was voted the handsomest boy in Albany, NY!” Ha.
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
The french version of the theme (ostensibly the 'original' version) has different lyrics, as well ..
Eh la, qui va là ♫ Hey there, who is that Inspecteur Gadget ♫ Inspector Gadget Eh la ça va pas ♫ It’s not going well Ouh Ouh! ♫ Ooh Ooh! Oh la, je suis là ♫ Hey there, I am here Inspecteur Gadget ♫ Inspector Gadget
C’est moi, que voilà ♫ It’s me, I am here Inspecteur Gadget ♫ Inspector Gadget Ca va être la joie ♫ It’s going to be fun Ouh Ouh! ♫ Ooh Ooh! Au nom de la loi ♫ In the name of the law Moi je vous arrête ♫ I will arrest you Je vous arrête là! ♫ I’m gonna stop you there!
Go Go, Gadget à main ♫ Go Go, Gadget Hand Flash! Gadget au chapeau ♫ Flash! Gadget Hat Hé ho, Gadget au poing ♫ Hey ho, Gadget Fist Oh la Elastico-Gadget ♫ Oh that’s Elastic-Gadget
Les bandits sont là ♫ There the villains are Inspecteur Gadget ♫ Inspector Gadget Ils n’échapperont pas ♫ They will not escape Ouh Ouh! ♫ Ooh Ooh! Si l’inspecteur fait gaffe ♫ If the Inspector watches out Fait gaffe aux gadgets ♫ Watches out for his gadgets Qui marchent ou marchent pas ♫ Which may or may not work
Go Go, Gadget à main ♫ Go Go, Gadget Hand Là-haut, Gadget au chapeau ♫ Up there, Gadget Hat Go Go, Gadget au poing ♫ Go Go, Gadget Fist Qui c’est? C’est Elastico-Gadget ♫ Who is that? It’s Elastic-Gadget