A Review and Analysis of Episode 52 of the Cartoon Inspector Gadget "Follow That Jet"

Follow That Jet is the 52^nd episode of the famous cartoon Inspector Gadget and this one is another one of the show’s strong episodes following a very solid episode called Funny Money. In the set of episodes 50-59, Follow That Jet is one of the best ones as the hero Inspector Gadget is assigned to go and investigate why the jets are suddenly vanishing from a US Air Force base. The episode Follow That Jet is similar in the plot in terms of it being like a GI Joe cartoon. That is another popular animated cartoon in the 1980’s.

Wild Bill also known as General William Crazy is a general in the US Air Force that finds Inspector Gadget down on the floor in the room where all the members of the Air Force are before they depart on their mission to track down the stolen jets. Once so many of the jets get stolen, he gets so upset that he is not able to sleep. This leads us to one of the memorable moments of the episode.

Inspector Gadget’s main foe Dr. Claw has a plot whereby he is making those jets vanish because he set up a mind control scheme that controls the pilots’ minds and these pilots are then in a sort of trance where they are instructed to do whatever Dr. Claw tells them to do. In the air force base the organization known as MAD has set up what looks like an arcade style game but it is actually a device that if somebody pushes the button in the center, they will be hypnotized and they will be under the spell or trance of Dr. Claw. Once the person is under this spell, they will be forced to do Dr. Claw’s bidding and bring those jets to him. As part of the mind control scheme, Dr. Claw has also created mind control drugs which produce the same trance like effect in the person who is given that drug.

Later on in the episode, Gadget’s brilliant niece Penny is able to reach the base where Dr. Claw is using the stolen jets and she is able to gain access to the mind control medicines and she takes them away before Dr. Claw’s agents can use them again. In addition, Penny realizes that she has to get those pilots back to the base and she uses her computer book to control one of the planes and return it to the main base. Meanwhile, since General Crazy has been put under Dr. Claw’s spell because he pressed that button on the video game style machine, he takes off in another jet and he tries to get rid of Inspector Gadget by ejecting him out of the airplane. Gadget however quickly realizes that he is in the air and dropping down and he uses his arms to get a hold of the plane and he eventually gets himself back in there. He brings the plane down to the ground and lands it as General Crazy snaps out of the trance and he wonders what is going on. If we combine plot style elements by making the episode feel like a GI Joe cartoon combined with the fun animation of Inspector Gadget, we get one of the best episodes of the first season of Inspector Gadget.