Operator Error

The biggest risk to all designs are the operators. Case in point, Inspector Gadget. When people would accidently grab on to the button of his overcoat, he would turn into a floating, bouncing, crazy hazard. This gets into post that I previously abandoned as a draft entitled:

Batman Begins to Annoy me, in which I blame my car problems on the in-flight movie. My point there was that Hollywoood movies and certain Japanese anime suffer from too much explanation. Once the "Why" elements are explained, you say "oh... that was sort of dumb, it was better not knowing."

In this sense, Inspector Gadget was terrific. Who was Dr. Claw? Why did inspector Gadget have all those gadgets? Did Penny accidently kill her parents trying to build a cyborg? Is Chief Quimby really a police officer or is he an informant like Deep Throat from the X-Files?

Like the real Deep Throught, Inspector gadget is less enjoyable when you get to know too many mundane details.

As a final Thanksgiving thought, consider this: Deep Thought, Deep Blue, and Deep Purple.

I rest my case.