French Detective Cartoon
Deidamia Bassiti
Outside of the episode titles, much of the humor in these shorts is derived in part from the surreality of the villains and situations, and also from the stylized animated slapstick, the brunt of which is endured by the Inspector, who is often bested by his nemeses, forcing him to face the wrath of his supervisor, the blustery and ill-tempered Commissioner (based on Herbert Lom's portrayal of Commissioner Dreyfus, if somewhat more violent) who holds him in well-deserved contempt.[1]
The Inspector is a senior detective for the Sret and assisted in most earlier episodes by Sergeant Deux-Deux, who is voiced by Pat Harrington Jr.; In The Pink Panther Show bumpers, he is instead voiced by Marvin Miller. Though his actual name is never mentioned, the character is clearly based on Inspector Jacques Clouseau from The Pink Panther films (to the point its design was later reused in the opening credits of the 1968 Inspector Clouseau film, implying that both inspectors are in fact one and the same).[2] But in slight contrast to the completely inept live-action Clouseau, the animated Inspector is more competent, though still prone to bad luck and poor judgment.
The Inspector's young and timid assistant, Sergeant Deux-Deux (pronounced "Doo-Doo"), is a slow-talking Spaniard and gendarme. Like the Inspector, he is voiced by Pat Harrington Jr., and in bumpers for The Pink Panther Show, he is voiced by Marvin Miller; in "La Feet's Defeat", he is instead voiced by Don Messick, and the character is given a younger appearance and more naive personality. He frequently utters the exclamation "Jole Frijoles" ("Holy Beans") in exciting or extreme situations, and often replies to the Inspector in his native tongue, saying "S", only to be admonished by the Inspector who often tells him, "Don't say 's', say 'oui'", which sometimes leads to confusing situations between the two. Deux Deux usually responded afterwards by intoning: "S, I mean oui, Inspector." In one cartoon, Deux Deux said "ouisick" instead of "seasick". On a couple of occasions, when the Inspector is incapacitated, Deux-Deux himself almost effortlessly manages to apprehend the culprit. He thinks of the Inspector as his hero.
The Commissioner, as his name implies, is the commissioner of the French police force and the boss of the Inspector and Sgt. Deux-Deux. The Commissioner is a heavily built, blustery, ill-tempered, bullying, bald man dressed in a suit and a black tie. He was voiced by Larry Storch in his first two appearances, then by Paul Frees from 1966 to 1967 (sans 1967's "Canadian Can-Can", where he is voiced by Mark Skor), and by Marvin Miller in all remaining appearances. He is usually angry in his interactions with the Inspector, for instance because of the Inspector's failure to complete his missions or because the Inspector has inadvertently caused him physical harm. The short "That's No Lady - That's Notre Dame" introduces his wife (voiced by Diana Maddox) who refers to him as 'Henri'. Despite the Inspector's general incompetence (which the Commissioner acknowledges) the Commissioner never actually fires him, or at least not permanently.
Pat Harrington Jr. provided voices for both the Inspector and Deux-Deux; (in "La Feet's Defeat", Deux-Deux is voiced by Don Messick and sports a younger, more naive appearance.) The Commissioner was voiced by Larry Storch for his first two appearances, before Paul Frees took on the role up until "Bomb Voyage", and voiced the character one last time in "Le Escape Goat". In "Canadian Can-Can", the Commissioner is voiced by Mark Skor, who also voiced the evil face of Two-Faced Harry, the short's antagonist. The Commissioner was then voiced by Marvin Miller for his remaining appearances.[1] Miller also assumed the role of both the Inspector and Sgt. Deux-Deux in the wraparound bumpers produced for the inaugural season of The Pink Panther Show.[1]
The theme music heard during the titles of the cartoon was the instrumental "A Shot in the Dark" by Henry Mancini, from the 1964 feature film of the same name (the second entry in the Pink Panther live-action film series). Additional music in the cartoons was composed initially by William Lava, then Walter Greene. Two shorts had their own unique arrangement of the theme music during the opening sequence, Napoleon Blown-Aparte and Cock-A-Doodle Deux Deux.[1]
A DVD set titled Pink Panther and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection released on January 27, 2009, by MGM contains the previously released set of the first 17 shorts and a second set of the last 17 shorts.
On April 26, 2016, Kino Lorber released The Inspector: The DePatie-Freleng Collection on DVD and Blu-ray - this 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray release set collects the 34 (17 for each disc) classic shorts, along with retrospective featurettes focusing on DePatie-Freleng Enterprises.[4]
The Inspector was revived in 1993 for the syndicated series, The Pink Panther, voiced by Brian George. The Inspector often works alongside the Pink Panther when he is depicted in law enforcement.[1]
A back-up feature starring the Inspector appeared regularly in The Pink Panther and the Inspector comic books published by Gold Key comics, and he also starred in his own title. He also appears in the computer game The Pink Panther: Passport to Peril, where he hires the Pink Panther to help him fight crime. The Inspector and Deux-Deux also appear in the 1981 story record A Pink Panther Christmas from Kid Stuff Records, in which they try to capture The Pink Panther while he is helping Santa Claus.
Gadget (by Dr. Claw)Mr. GadgetDefective GadgetryGadget BoyUncle Gadget (by Penny)Uncle John (by Penny in the 1999 film)Lieutenant Gadget (in Gadget and the Gadgetinis)Professor Gizmo (by lady tourist in the original series episode All That Glitters)
Inspector Gadget is heroic, mild-mannered, determined, brave, curious, nice, and kindhearted, although he's also dim-witted, bumbling, gullible, incompetent, clumsy, and clueless. He also has a horrible judge of character and he thinks that the bad guys are his allies and his allies are his enemies.
He loves his niece Penny with all his heart and would do anything to protect her from harm. In fact, whenever he sees Penny in danger, he becomes competent and goes out of his way to rescue her and save the day.
He is generally incompetent and gets on by not only his simple luck, but also Penny and Brain's unknown assistance. Gadget thwarts Dr. Claw's daily schemes, often with secret help from Penny and Brain. The two closest times Gadget ever gets to capturing Claw is during the intro where he enters Claw's lair and handcuffs a decoy glove, only to have a bomb explode in his face; and also, and one time in a high speed pursuit car chase, where he almost catches the M.A.D. Mobile with the Gadget Claw (from the episode "The Amazon"). However, this is meant to demonstrate that Dr. Claw always manages to escape justice and that his face is never seen.
The few moments in which Gadget shows himself to be intelligent and have common sense are in the first season, when at the end of each episode, he gives important lessons about being careful when using tools, preparing properly when riding a bike, not trying dangerous things to unless you know what you are doing and several messages aimed especially at children.
In the live action film, he is portrayed as being very useful and competent. He takes his job as a police inspector seriously and has an excellent detective skills and street smarts that helped him catch Dr. Claw and his associates with little assistances from Penny and Brain.
In the live action sequel, he is back to being an incompetent bumbling inspector like he was in the cartoon series and got more assistances with Penny and Brain and made her his assistant in the end of the movie.
In the original cartoon, Gadget has straight black hair protruding from both sides, and a large nose. He wears a light-gray Mackintosh raincoat and trilby hat with a lighter-gray stripe in the middle, blue pants, light-gray shoes, and dark brown gloves(which also function as his replacement hands). In the live-action films, he wears no gloves or blue pants.
Though very alike in appearance, there is controversy as to whether they are related or not. Snowy himself seems to be inclined towards the former, he mentions offhand in Destination Moon that "This is it!...Sensational appearance of the Thomson twins!" [1] They are distinguishable by their moustaches. Thompson's moustache is straight while Thomson's turns up. They believe almost anything and are quick to jump to conclusions at first glance. In the episode The Land of Black Gold, the detectives mistakenly take a substance called "Formula 14," believing it to be aspirin. This chemical causes their hair to grow rapidly and change colour and they hiccup continuously. They have also arrested Tintin in the episode The Black Island for robbery.
Herg was inspired to make the Thompsons after seeing a particular magazine cover, on the March 2, 1919, issue of Paris weekly Le Miroir. The cover was a photograph of two detectives with bowler hats and thick moustaches; one of the detectives is handcuffed to anarchist, Louis mile Cottin (who they just arrested for the attempt assassination of French Prime Minster, Georges Clemenceau) and the other detective is tending to their umbrellas. In addition, Herg's father and uncle were extremely similar-looking and prone to both dressing in similar dark suits.
Thomson and Thompson first appeared in the original black and white newsprint version of Cigars of the Pharaoh. The two were only identified as X-33 and X-33A, their Interpol code names.[2] In later stories, and the revised colour version of the story, they finally were given names. In French, they were called Dupond and Dupont.
Originally, this was their first-ever appearance, but they were retroactively added to the redrawn colour version of Tintin in the Congo. They are visible in the right corner of the first panel, with one of them saying, "Seems to be a young reporter going to Africa."[3]
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