| A Star is Lost | |
|---|---|
| Season 1, Episode 11 | |
| Air date | September 23, 1983 |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous "The Ruby" |
Next "All That Glitters" |
"A Star is Lost" is the 11th episode of the first season of Inspector Gadget.
Synopsis[]
The episode opens up in Gadget's home. Gadget decides to play the cello; Penny and Brain excuse themselves, so Gadget decides to play the cello alone. The Top-Secret-Gadget-Phone then rings and Penny tells her uncle that it is ringing. Gadget stops and answers and the caller turns out to be Chief Quimby, who's hidden inside a piano. Quimby gives Gadget an assignment. The message reads: "M.A.D. plans to control people through Rick Rocker. Protect Rocker from Dr. Claw. This message will self-destruct." Gadget throws the message back to Chief Quimby and the message explodes in his face. Claw monitors the events at Gadget's house through his monitor.
Gadget finds Rick Rocker, the singer he is assigned to protect from Claw . Rocker tells Gadget that the crowds chasing him are his fans. Gadget tries to turn on the Gadgetmobile's radio for Rocker, which results in Rocker being thrown out of the car. Later, Penny comes home from school and tells her uncle that she has just met Rick Rocker. Gadget tells her that Rocker is his current assignment. Penny tells him that a M.A.D. agent attacked Rocker near her school; the agent said he was a police inspector. Gadget realizes that Claw has struck again.
At the concert, Gadget won't let anybody backstage and he frightens Rocker even more. The M.A.D. agent calls Dr. Claw, who orders him to eliminate Gadget; but as usual, the agent fails. Later, Claw captures Rocker. Inspector Gadget ends up onstage and gets the attention from Rocker's fans. After shocking himself with Rocker's electric guitar, Gadget is put in the hospital. With crowds of Gadget's fans surrounding the hospital, a nurse (Brain in disguise) engineers his escape.
Meanwhile, Penny follows Rocker to Claw's hideout - an old warehouse - where she's found and locked up. After Brain comes to her rescue, she finds out that Claw plans to use Rocker for his mind-controlling record...thus controlling his fans. Gadget and Brain arrive at the warehouse, where the Inspector sees a lot of Claw's instruments; he decides to play them, not knowing that the instruments are boobytrapped to eliminate him. Luckily, Brain saves Gadget; elsewhere, Penny finds her idol...only to fall asleep with him from the power of Claw's record. Inspector Gadget sees the record and, despite falling asleep himself, breaks its spell by collapsing onto it. As Gadget, Penny, and Rocker flee Claw's studio, he traps the threesome with rolls of tape and puts them on his deadly record-press. Gadget activates his coat to inflate, break free from the tape and escapes, while Brain saves Penny and Rocker. Then, just at that moment, the police arrive and Claw makes his escape. A large bang is heard and Brain is seen holding a long rod with a hook on the end to puncture Inspector Gadgets coat which has him floating at the ceiling and unable to descend on his own.
At the concert that night, Gadget tells Penny (as well as the audience at home) about wire safety: Never touch electric wiring with wet hands ― or dry hands for that matter. Gadget also says to make sure the power is off when doing electrical work. At the end, Rocker dedicates his newest song to Penny; Brain has to sit on his young mistress's shoulders in order to see the show clearly.
