It is written as a law (somewhere) that any cartoon character can spawn a younger version of itself as the star of an all new animated series because a) young’uns are cute b) the audience that watched and loved the original character will watch and love a juvenile version because c) young’uns are cute. Sort of a circular argument there but this is cartoons we’re talking about and anvils regularly fall out of the sky. Gadget Boy was the little incarnation of Inspector Gadget, the bumbling detective with the thousand bionic, mechanical, telescoping attachments. Little Gadget was as inept as the adult but he also possessed the marvelous arsenal of bionics that aided—or hindered—his investigations.

Heather was Gadget Boy’s sidekick and friend and usually rescued the small detective just as Penny had done with Inspector Gadget. G-9, a robotic dog, replaced the hapless Brain who shadowed the Inspector in the original series and kept him out of trouble. Gadget Boy’s nemesis was Spydra, a mask-wearing female villain who, along with her pet vulture Boris, strives for world domination and schemes to eliminate Gadget Boy.

The show aired in syndication as part of the Amazin’ Adventures II cartoon block but lasted for only 26 episodes. Gadget Boy found a new home soon enough, in the History Channel’s Gadget Boy’s Adventure in History.