The second theory
"Cyborg with clock mechanism"
At the beginning of the whole project G, its creators faced one fundamental question. "Which energy source to choose?"
There have been many drawings and technical plans in which scientists have considered using a battery. It would be a classic lithium cell, which would be recharged at regular intervals. The idea seemed great, but Professor Von Slickstein immediately rejected it. He had two clear reasons for this.
The first reason was voltage. At that time, the largest commonly used large-capacity battery had a life of about 12 hours and a power equivalent to two current car batteries. This is little energy for all life-sustaining devices and technical components.
The second reason is safety. The human body is full of water and therefore an electric current can pass through it very well. Not to mention that Inspector Gadget's body is full of metal. A small wiring fault or poor insulation of one of the conductors would suffice and a short circuit would occur. Nobody wanted to risk such a danger, so this method was eventually abandoned. Instead, Professor Von Slickstein came up with a completely different idea.
In the final version of the project, a winding mechanism was used as the energy source, the same as the classic pocket watch. It is a gear train, which is driven inside by a classic steel mainspring. All Gadget Inspector has to do every night is wind himself.
This is where the familiar growl of gears that Penny always hears from behind her uncle's chest comes from. It's a beautiful symphony of sounds that often puts her to sleep.
Epilogue:
From the beginning, I've always been convinced that Inspector Gadget is more mechanical. I have some evidence for that :)
- The creators have already stated this in Czech dubbing, where in the episode "All That Glitters" (in Czech "Není všechno zlato, co se třpytí"), Inspector Gadget literally says in the tent "Je čas se natáhnout." it means in English it is time to wind himself (like a watch). In the original, he only says "Time for bed.", but I think the intention was clear. In general, if you are looking at dubbing, other details may appear in it that can be easily hidden in this way.
- Another proof is the fact that when Gadget thought there was something wrong with his gadgets (episode "The Coo-Coo-Clock Caper"), he went to the evil watchmaker to fix it. That's pretty weird. Why would an electronically enhanced cyborg go to an ordinary watchmaker?
- Surely each of you remembers the scene from the episode "A Star Is Lost". Inspector Gadget stands alone on the stage and holds in his hands an electric guitar, from which he then receives a huge electric shock. This would have to immediately fry all its circuits and permanently damage the wiring, but it didn't happen. The only explanation is that he is really mechanical.
- I'm not a big fan of the new version from 2015, but there is also one important piece of evidence. In the second part of the first episode (Gadget 2.0), when Penny doesn't know how to restart Uncle Gadget, Brain pulls a handle out of his hat and winds him.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone for their feedback! I really appreciate all your opinions. That was the intention for creating these theories:D