My Commentary on World Screen's Inspector Gadget Reboot Clip, Part 1: The New Theme Song

Does anyone still care about this? I sure hope so, 'cause I finally finished it! Of course, 99.99% of the people reading this will undoubtedly have watched World Screen's 3-minute clip of the new series by now. This video - the first extended preview that DHX released of their Gadget reboot, as a teaser for October's MIPCOM market - was posted online at the end of September, and that's also when I reported about it and promised a full commentary. A lot of unforeseen delays got in the way of that promise, but I always intended to keep it.

When I suddenly and unexpectedly found the World Screen video months ago, it was something of an indescribable moment for me. I had been gathering the smallest little snippets of information related to the new TV series for 2 1/2 years... and suddenly, here was a full, three-minute clip of an episode! I think, partly, that's why I felt I couldn't just jot my thoughts down together with my news post - it was just so big. In retrospect, I really should have. I hated falling behind with the commentary for as long as I did; and the delay of course led me to become more ambitious than I would have otherwise, causing me to take even longer to finish. Sigh. In fact, I realized as I was finalizing this that it was long enough to divide naturally into three posts/parts - which I'm also doing to give each part more focus. The first subject of discussion here is one that's especially close to me personally. Hope you enjoy it... or, well, get something out of it.

THE NEW THEME SONG

I'll have to get this off my chest first - and those who know what I think of the original series' music will probably not be very surpriced. I think the new theme song is not right. I'm not going to call it terrible, but it is, frankly, a huge disappointment to me.

And here is why: IT'S NOT THE ORIGINAL COMPOSITION. It's not the wonderful theme written by Shuki Levy. Just to be 100% clear, I'm not talking about the orchestration here, but about the actual melody. The song. Sure, there is a refrain in the new theme song sounding superficially close to the classic Inspector Gadget theme... but that refrain is in truth not emulating Levy's composition. Instead, as many fans have already remarked on both here and elsewhere, it's emulating "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by famous Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.

And before anyone starts arguing that "In the Hall of the Mountain King" has the same melody as "Inspector Gadget" - because, believe it or not, some people on the internet do - let me just say right away that it doesn't. Yes, there are indeed some very obvious similarities. It might well be that Levy was inspired by Grieg's piece when he wrote the Inspector Gadget theme... though to be fair, I've never heard Levy himself confirm this anywhere, and someone writing it on Wikipedia without a documented source doesn't make it a fact. For all we know, Levy might have channeled Grieg without being consciously aware of it... or it might even have been sheer coincidence that the pieces sound so alike. But I digress.

My point is: regardless of the similarities, there are also important differences between Levy and Grieg's pieces -- differences enough to make the "Inspector Gadget" theme and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" two SEPARATE and UNIQUE compositions. For one thing, while the refrain in both compositions starts out similarly, the Inspector Gadget refrain uses less beats, and ends up becoming a different melody. (Not sure if "beats" is the proper musical term here, but hopefully you get the point.) And of course, there are many other differences aside from the refrain. Let's listen to the new Inspector Gadget series' theme song again... and then, let's compare it to both Edvard Grieg's original masterpiece and Shuki Levy's original masterpiece:

The New Series Theme Song as heard in the World Screen video (embedded from Behind The Voice Actors):

In the Hall of the Mountain King ('I dovregubbens hall') by Edvard Grieg:

Inspector Gadget Theme (1983) by Shuki Levy (embedded from Levy's site):

In the new series' theme song, especially near the end, it's painfully clear that the composer is adapting "In the Hall of the Mountain King" rather than "Inspector Gadget". Not just the main refrain, either: The beats at 00:32 in the intro, where Dr Claw slams his fist into the desk and Talon does a surpriced take, are lifted directly from the tail end of Grieg's piece.

You might argue, "Why expect a reboot to use the original Inspector Gadget theme, when the soundtrack music is owned by a different company?" Well, there is that... but that situation is a bit different than it used to be. Yes, it's true that the original music for Inspector Gadget - including the famous theme song - has always had separate owners from the TV series. Back in the 80s, the music's owner was Haim Saban and Shuki Levy's company Saban Records, through which the score was produced. This posed a problem for the Gadget franchise later. Due to a conflict that occurred between DiC and Saban in the early 90s, Saban stopped providing music for DiC's shows in 1991 - and none of the Gadget reboots and spinoffs that DiC produced after that point could use Shuki Levy's original music or compositions, including the famous theme song. For a long while, it seemed like this would always be the case...

...however... a few years after DiC was purchased by Cookie Jar (in 2008), I was suddenly filled with hope regarding the theme song situation. Cookie Jar, then later DHX, put out a couple of pretty cool official iOS games. The first, 2010's "Inspector Gadget - M.A.D. Dash", used Levy's theme song outright; the second, 2013's "Inspector Gadget - M.A.D. Grab", used a remade theme song adapted directly from Levy (part of that remake can be heard in this animated ad). Finally, it seemed to me, someone in charge had realized how important Shuki Levy's theme song is to the Gadget franchise -- and more importantly, had spent the necessary dough to licence the music from its current owner. Today's owner, by the way, is Warner Chappell, as seen in the below end credits snapshot from the "Inspector Gadget - M.A.D. Grab" game:

So: If DHX can afford to license Shuki Levy's theme song for a low-budget iOS game, then they should certainly be able to afford it for a full-fledged, high-budget TV series. Which leads me to believe (or at least speculate) that it was actually a creative choise by them to do a similar-sounding, yet different theme song for the reboot series, rather than something they had to do because of copyrights. Maybe I'm wrong and it still has something to do with copyrights -- but as I said, I just don't get why DHX would NOT pay the music fee for an actual TV series, when they DID pay the fee for a little iOS game. It makes no sense. 

In truth, this makes no sense either way. The new theme song is nowhere near as good, catchy or memorable as Levy's amazing original. To me, the 1983 "Inspector Gadget" is one of the greatest theme songs ever composed for television. I'm far from the only one of that opinion either. So what on earth were they hoping to achieve by doing a different-yet-obviously-similar song? The mind boggles. 

The worst part is, the superficial similarities make the new theme song come off as cheap. Now, based on my thoughts above, I can't quite get myself to believe that they did this to save money. But considering that the new theme song sounds superficially close to the 1983 theme, but different - and also considering that it adapts a similar-sounding piece of public domain, classical music - it does kind of give off that feeling. And that's never a good thing, regardless of the reasoning behind the scenes.

Well! That's how I feel about the new Inspector Gadget series' theme song. Have I made it loud and clear yet that I'm very disappointed? I had really, genuinely, expected an actual remix of Shuki Levy's work; and the substitute offered is nowhere near good enough. Now the question remains... will I rant my way through the rest of this commentary as well, or will I actually find something I like in parts 2 and 3? Only one way to find out. Tune in tomorrow for... Part 2: The Intro Sequence!

Incredible News: Inspector Gadget Fans Are Getting Their Due At Last [APRIL FOOLS]

UPDATE (April 3): Sorry, folks. This was all an April Fools' post. I thought I might as well state it outright here, since the date has now passed (and because more people than I had expected ended up believing it). If anyone has feedback or thoughts on this post, I'd appreciate hearing it in the comments section.

Also - dear DHX Media, La La Land Records, Michael Donovan, Michael Hirsh and Michael V. Gerhard (that's a lot of Michaels in one place): Please don't take this April Fools' post in the wrong way. It's simply wishful thinking from a very dedicated fan, who among other things thinks Inspector Gadget could have easily gotten better treatment on home video than Cinedigm gave it. As for the new series that the team at DHX Halifax is putting together, I'm excited to see it regardless of who you hire to compose or to play the voices (as long as they're good). All I want from the reboot is for it to be a great series. (That said, Frank Welker as Dr Claw would be incredibly cool.)

                                                             -----

I have gotten wind of some very exciting news today, all sent to me via e-mail. They will be announced on their respective, official web sites in a few days, but I've been graciously allowed to share them here first:

News Flash Number One is somewhat related to last year's DVD release of the series, the "Inspector Gadget Megaset" from Cinedigm and Flatiron Film Company, which was also released as four separate volumes. I've neglected to cover this DVD release here on the blog so far (mostly due to lack of time), but Cinedigm's DVD editon has a LOT of problems - among them, audio dropouts throughout several episodes (the audio suddenly disappears for a few seconds, then pops back in); tracking problems at the bottom of the picture in many episodes; one safety tip missing from "Art Heist"; pixillated image quality in "Gadget Goes West"... just to mention a few of the set's amateurish technical issues. Happily, DHX Media is now well aware of Cinedigm's shameful DVD treatment of the series, which is why they e-mailed me today to say they are preparing to properly remedy the show's home video problems once and for all.

As we speak, DHX are in the process of remastering all 86 episodes from the original show in full, high definiton, slated for a collector's edition Blu-ray and DVD release early next year, to coincide with the debut of the new TV series on Teletoon Canada. As DHX's Chief Executive Officer Michael Donovan said in the press release they sent me (which will be posted on DHX's site in a day or two): "We're extremely happy to bring the classic Inspector Gadget series to HD, giving the Inspector's original adventures a new lease of life in the 21st century. As one of the most evergreen properties to emerge from television animation over the past 30 years, Gadget was really a no-brainer for high-def restoration. We're only sorry we haven't done this earlier. The restoration will be done to the highest standards possible - you've never seen the show like this before." While the remastering is not yet ready to be shown to the public, DHX sent along this publicity still from the episode "Snakin' All Over" as an indication of the expected picture quality.

Tentatively planned special features include:
* "Behind The Gadgets" - this 2-hour documentary will delve deeply into the creation, development and production of the series. Including in-depth interviews with creators Jean Chalopin, Andy Heyward and the late Bruno Bianchi, writers Peter Sauder (season 1) and Eleanor Burian-Mohr (season 2), voice actors Frank Welker and Cree Summer and a handful of TMS's Japanese animation crew members, whose names are yet to be revealed.
* All 4 versions of the pilot episode "Winter Olympics" (Version 1 starring Jesse White; Version 2 starring Gary Owens; Version 3 starring Don Adams and Version 4, the syndicated Don Adams cut with the Frank Welker redub explaining Gadget's mustache).
* The original commercial bumpers for both the pilot episode and the standard series. Additionally, the episodes "Winter Olympics" and "Monster Lake" will both include an option to watch with or without the bumpers inserted.
* Audio commentaries for 10 hand-picked episodes by Jean Chalopin, Andy Heyward and Peter Sauder.
* "Original Production Art" - development sketches, model sheets and a selection of storyboards presented in full 1080p HD.
* "Original Pencil Animation" - pencil tests from the original series, presented in full 1080p HD from re-scanned pencil drawings. Including pencil animation from "Bermuda Triangle", "A Bad Altitude" and several other vintage episodes.
* "Brian Lemay's Character Designs" - season 1 designer Brian Lemay was the most prolific designer of secondary characters and props on the series. While we have seen many of Brian's great model sheets on his personal web site over the years, this exclusive featurette will be the most complete tour yet of his work. All model sheets presented in full 1080p HD, with video and audio commentaries by Mr. Lemay himself.
* "Composing For A Klutz" - legendary composer Shuki Levy talks at lenght about the sensibilities and inspirations he brought to the task of composing for Inspector Gadget. Levy also goes into detail about key compositions such as "Chocolate Factory" and "Mad Art Museum", and plays several of them in front of the camera.

News Flash Number Two. DHX's Executive Chairman Michael Hirsh, who famously co-produced season 1 of the original show, e-mailed me with another press release today containing some intriguing news about the upcoming reboot TV series. Most prominently, Shuki Levy has now been officially hired as the new show's composer. "We thought, with the original show's music being as great as it is, why reinvent the wheel? Wonderfully enough, Shuki Levy responded enthusiastically to our request. He is now excited to revisit one of his major works from the era of 80s television cartoons, updated ever so slightly for modern tastes."

The same reasoning, according to Hirsh, lies behind DHX's decision to hire Frank Welker to reprise his role as Dr Claw. "We briefly considered auditioning Brian Drummond, who was used by DiC in their various Gadget reboots from the 2000s; but the general opinion of the entire creative team at DHX was, he sucked. So we just had to go to Frank, the only voice actor who has truly portrayed Dr Claw convincingly over the years. He has started recording for us and is loving every minute of it. I'm thrilled to say Claw in our new series will sound just as gleefully evil as he did in the original, if not more so."

News Flash Number Three. Finally, La La Land Records wrote to inform me that the complete, missing master tapes for Shuki Levy's original score music have been found at last. La La Land is currently working towards releasing a fully remastered CD box set in the United States next year, including approximately 150 tracks. "This will be one of our major releases for 2015," comments La La Land co-founder Michael V. Gerhard. "Shuki Levy is an immensely gifted TV composer, responsible for so many catchy, memorable synth scores which have yet to be properly represented on CD. After bringing numerous famous animated scores to compact disc, including the likes of Batman: The Animated Series, Levy's incomparable Inspector Gadget soundtrack is a new high point for La La Land."

Well, those are the news I had to share with you today. I'd say all of these announcements were way overdue, but better late than never. Stay tuned to see the press releases on the sites of DHX and La La Land within the week.

CD Review: Télé 80's "Inspecteur Gadget - Edition Speciale: 30e Anniversaire 1983-2013"

Télé 80's revised Inspector Gadget CD is in many ways a remarkable soundtrack release. It is the most complete collection so far published of Shuki Levy and Haim Saban's score, containing all the compositions officially known to survive today, which were originally released on multiple vinyls and cassettes during the 80s. I do have a few nits to pick with the CD (which I'll get back to later), but overall, this is well worth the money of any fan.

To start with my first impressions, the edition is very nicely designed. The cover illustrations may not be original, but who cares... they're the finest to ever grace a soundtrack release for this series. And the disc itself (below) is fittingly rendered in the style of a 45 rpm vinyl, with the show's colorful logo contrasting the black, white and blue. (The logo's coloring is one thing Télé 80 changed from earlier previews, for the better in my opinion.)

I've seen a few online commenters wishing that this "special edition" would contain some actual "special features", like a booklet with background information. I would love to see something like that myself, but let's face it: The main reason this disc is called a 'special edition' is really to separate it from Télé 80's first, lackluster Gadget CD from May 2012 (which was just called "Inspecteur Gadget"). This new CD is special in that it contains more music than any earlier soundtrack collection, but aside from that detail, it's simply a perfectly normal, good-quality CD.

But just that is not bad at all. The music is the most important thing, and almost all of it sounds terrific. If you have only heard these tracks as the fan-ripped MP3s which have been circulating on the web for years, you owe it to yourself to pick up this disc. Speaking for myself, I had never heard tracks like "Gadget in Japan", "Gadget on Mars", "Arabian Desert" etc. in such great, clear quality before. Actually, nearly all of the tracks have great quality but those were some of the standouts for me, as I had only experienced fan-ripped versions of them (from the French Saban LP) earlier.

After listening and re-listening through the disc, I must admit I'm no longer so sure about my previous theory - presented in detail in this post - that 16 of the tracks are sourced from ABC Music's master tapes for the older Australian LP and CD (from 1986 and 1995, respectively). Mainly, I'm beginning to doubt that theory because two tracks sound slightly different from both ABC's Australian collections and Saban's earlier French collections. "Mad Art Museum" and "Rodeo" (tracks 6 and 9) actually play a few seconds longer than I've heard them play before. The extra run time doesn't add much - just more repetitions of the music as it fades out - but still, the difference is there.

In addition, there is the aforementioned stereo difference in one track that was also on ABC's Australian releases: "Gadget Closing", or "Inspector Gadget (Ending TV)" as it's called on Télé 80's CD (track 28). The theme sounds almost completely alike on ABC's and Télé 80's editions, except that the stereo in the opening and closing is jumping around more in Télé 80's version. Where exactly do these nuance differences come from?

Maybe part of the anwer can be found in a Facebook comment written by Télé 80 on October 13, where they state that Shuki Levy himself provided the master tapes for their new CD. ("Masters fournis par Shuky Levi himself.") Judging by that comment, it would appear that Shuki Levy has actually preserved the master tapes for one or more of his original Gadget LPs from the 80s. (I'm still not sure if it means that ALL 30 tracks on Télé 80's CD are sourced from masters. I felt like I could hear some very slight noise on a few tracks, which I'm wondering might indicate that those tracks were remastered from vinyls.) Whatever the case, an alternate source for master tapes than what I first thought might go some way towards explaining the various small differences.

For me personally, the most interesting part of the CD comes towards the end, simply because some of those tracks are so rare. I've already talked about rarities like the instrumental theme for Brain and the alternate Mad's Theme, but I do want to put the spotlight once more on the following: Track 27, "Inspector Gadget (Opening TV)", gives us the English-language opening theme in true stereo, something I've hoped to see for the longest time, and which i believe no official release has ever done before. It sounds very good. And track 29, "Inspecteur Gadget (generique du film)", is a fun - and strange - theme song which I had never heard before at all. Sourced from this Saban single, it's a version of the French theme that was made for the French-released film "Les dossiers secrets de l'inspecteur Gadget" (1987), where three season 2 episodes were combined to make a theatrical feature. This version has a very different voice than the usual one by Jaques Cardona... much more nasal and kind of sounding like an exaggerated cartoon voice. As a little-known part of Saban's Gadget history (so little-known that the singer is unknown, according to Télé 80), this is a welcome addition.

Unfortunately, an annoying technical error also appears at the very end of the disc. Track 30, the extended English-language "Inspector Gadget Theme", is noticeably sped up from what it's supposed to sound like. The original running length of this song is 02:50, but on Télé 80's new CD it clocks in at 02:44, six seconds too short. The sound is flatter and emptier as a result of the time compression, and the stereo effects have become severely distorted, sometimes disappearing altogether. Below is an audio wave comparison of the version on the Télé 80 CD (Track 1, top) vs. the version on my Australian 1995 CD (Track 2, bottom), showing off the differences in pitch and run time. It's interesting to note how much higher the waves go in the properly pitched version from the Australian CD, which has much more prominent stereo and deeper sound throughout.

The pitch error on Télé 80's version of the track is pretty obviously a digital one. This specific theme has actually been released on CD three times before (30 years of Funtastic TV Toons, 1990; Inspector Gadget - The Music, 1995 and Inspecteur Gadget, 2012), and it sounded good on all of those editions... even on Télé 80's first "Inspecteur Gadget" CD from 2012. As such, the pitch problem would likely have been an easy fix had it been discovered in time. I noticed that, in last summer's preview of the booklet, track 30 is listed with its correct run time of 02:50. In the final, printed booklet (below), the run time has been changed to 02:44. So apparently someone "corrected" the booklet information after the CD had been produced and the pitch mistake on track 30 had been made, rather than thinking to double-check if something could have gone wrong with the digital processing.

I have to say, after waiting for over a year to hold this revised CD in my hands, it was more than a little frustrating to come across an obvious error like this. Especially after I've been reporting about and advertising for the CD - and also have been mailing suggestions to Télé 80 - for so long that I sort of feel personally involved with it. And it's unfortunate as well because Télé 80's new publishing contract doesn't allow them to reprint any CDs, or release music for digital download, so I doubt they'll be able to correct this mistake.

Don't get me wrong, though. On the whole, this CD has been produced with the very best of intentions, and 99% of the time it delivers to those intentions. I know that Télé 80 worked to make a good CD this time around. They have much better quality control now than on their first few CDs, but somehow this slipup still happened. I'm describing it in detail here because it would be irresponsible not to do so... but I'd still like to point out that, ASIDE from that mistake, this is the best soundtrack release Gadget has ever had. Until the lost master material for the rest of the score is uncovered, this is likely just about the best you'll find. So my conclusion after all this is - buy it while you can.

On that note: despite the fact that the CD was printed in just a few hundred copies last fall, it's still very much available, not only on the French Amazon, but also in Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Spain, Italy and even Japan. (Yikes! What does that tell us about the number of sales so far?) Most of these Amazon sites have it in stock, and all of them sell it for a good, reasonable price. Friendly advice, by the way: Do not buy it from the two marketplace sellers on the American Amazon.com, who somehow have the nerve to demand more than 95 dollars even though the CD is cheaply available everywhere else.

Inspector Gadget's Australian Soundtrack CD from 1995

Yes, really. Take a look below at what is probably the rarest Inspector Gadget soundtrack edition of all time: an official, 1995 CD reissue of ABC Records' 1986 LP, "Inspector Gadget - The Music"!

I actually bought this many months ago, but only now have I found the time to write a proper blog post about it. I know what you're thinking: how can this possibly be real? But bear with me and let me explain. I didn't believe it at first, either.

When I first spotted this CD on Ebay (sometimes last October), I was certain that it was simply a bootleg rip of the Australian LP. The cover looked completely homemade - as if someone had just snapped a crappy photo of the LP art and slammed it on a CD cover. Plus, I had never even heard of a 1995 CD reissue of the Australian LP, and could find virtually no proof of its existence online. (I did find one vague clue, but not enough to fully convince me of anything.) How could this CD exist when nobody had ever heard about it?

I had to contact the Ebay seller and persuade him to send me pictures of the back cover and interiors before I could even think of believing that this CD was real. But when he did send those pictures, my scepticism started to wane. The CD was looking more and more official.

Sure, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's music division had changed its name from ABC Records to ABC Music since the original LP. But it was obviously the same company... and the copyright information seemed very legit.

For the record, all the photos you see in this post were taken by me. But even the lower-resolution photos from the Ebay seller showed off some very official-looking details... which convinced me, despite still being slightly sceptical, to take a chance and buy the CD. (Don't even ask me how much I paid for it!)

Thankfully, all my suspicions were thrown aside when the CD arrived in the mail. The cover still looked awful, of course. Not only is it a terrible drawing, but the low resolution of the CD cover looked even worse in real life than on the seller's pictures. However... when I popped the disc into my player and started listening, I discovered something much more important: the music itself sounded fantastic. The tracks on this CD were not ripped from an old LP. The tracks on this CD were original recordings, taken directly from Shuki Levy's master tapes - or at least from top-notch copies of them. And they sounded cleaner and clearer than I had ever heard them before.

And realizing that, something else suddenly dawned on me.

Remember last summer when Télé 80 announced that they had 'found much of the missing Gadget music' and were planning a second CD? In the year that's passed since, they have stated several times that their new Gadget CD is sourced from "masters". Don't bother looking for those statements on their site, by the way... Télé 80 is still in the habit of inexplicably deleting Facebook posts. Below is a snapshot of a now-deleted thread from March 11. (At the time, the upgraded Gadget CD was scheduled for May 27; it was later pushed back to September.)

As we can see, Télé 80 clearly states that the tracks on their new CD are sourced from "Masters". I tried asking if this was true of all the tracks, but they never answered that question. They have not revealed anything about where they found those master tapes, either. But after I got hold of the 1995 Australian CD, it all made sense to me. They got the masters from ABC Music.

Think about it: ABC preserved the master tapes used for their soundtrack edition during the nine years that passed from the 1986 LP until the 1995 CD. Most likely, they have preserved those masters to this very day... and I suspect that, when Télé 80 started doing research for their second Gadget CD last year, it likely didn't take them long to hear about the 1986 LP (which has been listed on Discogs for years) and then get in touch with ABC Music. So, by pure coincidence - because ABC Records happened to take better care of its master material than Saban Records - 16 tracks from Levy and Saban's soundtrack survive on master tapes today!

I've been annoyed before that the Australian soundtrack didn't include more unique background music that was not already on the French LP.  I still am... but now that I know (or at least feel reasonably certain) that these tracks survive on masters today thanks to the Australian soundtrack, the double-dips feel a bit more justified. Of the 16 tracks on ABC's edition, 12 are background music cues; among them awesome compositions like "Mad Art Museum", "Gadget in Trouble", "Sophisticated Gadget", "Ghosts"... just to mention some of my personal favorites.

And here's what I've been wanting to get at all along: If my assumptions are correct, then I'd say there is even more reason to be excited for the new and upgraded Télé 80 CD. Because those specific, 16 tracks - sourced from the ABC masters - ought to sound spectacular. Heck, they might even sound more spectacular on a CD produced in 2013 than on ABC's CD from 1995... although they already sound great there.
   (It probably also means that most of the other 14 tracks on Télé 80's new CD are remastered from vinyls. Not that this is such a bad thing, either, if the job is well done. I think almost all of the Générikids track excerpts sound very good, including the tracks that would logically be vinyl-sourced, like "Gadget on Mars", "Gadget in Japan", "Pharaohs" etc. Plus, I suspect that track 27, "Inspector Gadget (Opening TV)", is also from a master tape, as Shuki Levy has it up on his site. But aside from that, I'd expect the absolutely best-sounding tracks to be the ones that were released on the Australian edition.)

Regarding the 16 Australian tracks: I should point out, for the sake of accuracy, that the Australian track list contains a few title mistakes. Track 6, strangely titled "Inspector Gadget Theme", is actually the fantastic "Chocolate Factory". And "Max's Theme" is not a Maxwell Smart reference, just a clumsy misspelling of "Mad's Theme" (a different orchestration than the one on the French LP, as I mention elsewhere). And here is proof that my Australian CD is as straight a reissue as they come: Not only does it have the exact same content, it even reproduces the track list errors from the original LP - which I also have in my collection. Let's make a quick comparison:

The mistitled track 6 is actually not listed on the LP's back cover (even though it's on Side 1)...

...but it is listed on the LP's label (below). I have a feeling that perhaps Saban forgot to include "Chocolate Factory" in the track list that they provided to ABC... and then later on, some ABC employee discovered that Side 1 included one more track after "Kingdom", and decided to just call it "Inspector Gadget Theme", not knowing its real title was "Chocolate Factory". Just a theory, of course, but it might explain why track 6 is listed on the label, but not on the back cover.

I bought the Australian vinyl early in 2012, long before I knew about the CD reissue. At the time, my plan was to digitalise the LP and share its unique tracks online, as I had no hope that anyone would bother to re-release the music officially. But then I heard about Télé 80's upcoming CD project (the first CD, to be exact) and put my own plans on hold. Which is still the case now. Télé 80's new CD starts shipping from Amazon today, and there's nothing I want more than to see this great music spread legally on a good CD edition. (Which it promises to be, I think - I've already ordered my copy.) Therefore, as tempting as it is, I will not be sharing anything from my "Inspector Gadget - The Music" CD today...

.....ohh, who am I kidding?? I can't resist sharing just a couple of tracks with you! Consider this a teaser for what you'll very likely be getting on the new Télé 80 CD. Here's a track that can be heard on both the French LP and the Australian LP/CD, the eerily beautiful "Ghosts". (Compare with a fan rip from the 1983 French LP here.)



And below is one of the rarer tracks released only on the Australian soundtrack, "Italian Gadget". I'm only sharing the first half of this one, though... you'll have to buy the new CD to get the rest (as well as the instrumental "Brain The Dog", the alternative "Mad's Theme", etc...).



I'm hoping these excerpts give you an idea of the CD's sound quality. At least in my ears, the CD version of "Ghosts" sounds far better than the LP-ripped version... which should bode well for Télé 80's edition.

All that being said, the 1995 Australian CD is still shrouded in mystery. Why is it so unknown compared to the Australian LP? As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I did find one trace of the CD's existence on the site Australian Television Memorabilia, in the soundtrack section for the ABC TV series Swap Shop. Under a listing for Swap Shop's 1989 LP soundtrack, it says: "(Re-issued in 1995 in a double CD pack with “INSPECTOR GADGET”)." The year of release fits, as does the publisher, ABC. I contacted the administrator of the site, but he didn't know anything more about the Gadget CD than what was posted online. Personally, I'm thinking that perhaps this double pack reissue of both Swap Shop and Gadget was a very limited one. The fact that the two CDs were a combined reissue might indicate that it wasn't a particularly widespread release, just two old children's TV soundtracks bundled together in a CD package for the few kids/parents who might want them (the "ABC for kids" logo also seems like a hint in this direction). This is only speculation, though. Maybe we'll dig up some facts in the future.

Learning about this CD's existence has been a fascinating experience. It reminded me that the internet doesn't know everything. But now, at least, the internet knows a little more.

Here are some high-res scans of the CD's cover art, label and booklet to round off...

Pre-listen to Télé 80's New Gadget CD Now

Télé 80's partner GénériKids has launched exclusive online previews - or pre-listens - of the upcoming batch of Télé 80 CDs, including the extremely-long-awaited "Inspecteur Gadget - Edition Speciale: 30e Anniversaire 1983-2013"! GénériKids also specifies that this and the other new Télé 80 CDs are limited to 500 copies only. For various reasons, I didn't get around to write about this before now... but I discovered the previews on Sunday night (or Monday morning, if you will) and listened through all 30 track extracts from the Gadget CD. Overall verdict: I think they sound great! The majority of the music comes across as clear, flawless and vibrant. Admittedly, some slight hissing can be heard on a few tracks (I suspect these are among the tracks that were remastered directly from vinyls, rather than sourced from master tapes), but this does not feel like a big distraction.

As you might notice from my comment on GénériKids' site, I had a different kind of problem with the extract of track 30, the American "Inspector Gadget Theme" (02:50, originally released on ABC's Australian soundtrack edition). Listening to the GénériKids extract on Monday morning, it actually sounded like the track was both sped up and in mono - whereas the original version is in stereo! However, GénériKids seems to have updated this track sometimes after I posted my comment: the stereo is now more noticeable, and the tempo sounds more or less correct. Even so -- comparing with the Australian album version, I do get the feeling that the GénériKids extract still plays just a little bit too fast... and the music feels emptier, somehow, than it does in the Australian release. Maybe it's just me being too nit-picky... but here, check out a YouTube upload of "Inspector Gadget Theme" and compare for yourself. If there really is some problem with the track, it might hopefully just be some technical error with the extract on the web site (GénériKids changing this specific extract after the initial publication might be an indicator of that), so I'll reserve final judgment until I hear it on the CD.
 
I noticed another odd detail in the extract of track 28, "Inspector Gadget (Ending TV)" ("Gadget Closing" on the original Australian edition). I'm not even sure if this is a mistake, but I'll try explaining it to you anyway: Right in the start of GénériKids' track extract, the stereo effect sounds different from the Australian-released version of the song (the Australian soundtrack is presumably where Télé 80 got this track from). In the online GénériKids extract, the second and third notes of the composition are heard in the left and right speaker, respectively - i. e. in the left and right ear if you listen to the song through a headset. However, on the Australian edition of the same song, the second and third notes were both heard more or less in the middle, as you can hear in this extract from my own copy:



So why, then, are the notes in question heard in the left and right speakers in the Générikids extract - when this extract otherwise sounds exactly like the Australian soundtrack version? Did the CD producers remix the stereo? Or is Télé 80's version from a different, original source? I will have to guess/hope the latter, just because - after all - why would the CD producers have any reason to alter the original stereo effects? For that matter, the difference doesn't make the song any less enjoyable. I'm just curious about where the difference came from.

Regardless of the above-mentioned details, I still think we're in for a very good CD edition. Almost all of the tracks sound good and many of them sound fantastic. Not to mention that - unless I'm completely mistaken when listening to track 27 - it sounds like we'll be getting the rare STEREO VERSION of "Inspector Gadget (Opening TV)", the original, American opening theme (which to my knowledge has only been released in mono on earlier CD compilations)!

In other news: Physical production of the CD was finished more than a week ago, according to an August 20 Facebook post by Télé 80. The first (very positive) review has popped up on the French site Animeland. In fact, French fans can actually order the disc right now from GénériKids' partner Génération Souvenirs, while the rest of the world will have to wait until September 30. At least we can already pre-order the CD from Amazon.fr...

UPDATE (September 17, 2013): The CD is actually not yet available from Génération Souvenirs. There has apparently been a delivery delay with all 4 new Télé 80 CDs. Télé 80 has been assuring people on Facebook that the CDs will be in stock "in a few days"... but by this point, they've been saying that for the past two weeks. Meanwhile, Priceminister claims to have the disc in stock for the French fans who want to try their luck there.

UPDATE #2 (September 22, 2013): Génération Souvenirs finally has the CD in stock, after some very unexpected delivery problems: the package originally sent to them from the production factory got lost in the mail according to a recent explanation by Télé 80. Télé 80 also mentioned that they in fact ended up printing only 300 copies of each new CD. Génération Souvenirs will ship orders from Monday onwards.

EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW: The Track List For Télé 80's Upgraded Gadget CD

Yep, you read that right. Télé 80's Christophe Renuad has graciously allowed me to share with you - for the first time anywhere - the planned track list for their upcoming "Inspecteur Gadget" CD, scheduled for release on September 30! Télé 80 announced in March that the new CD would have 30 tracks, but up until now, the actual track list has been kept a secret. We'll get to that list in a moment - but first, I'll just give a brief update on what's been happening with this CD since I last reported on it. (Have patience, you'll be seeing the tracks in no time. ;) Just to be clear, while Télé 80 provided the images seen here, all viewpoints and theories reflected in this post are entirely my own.

As you might have noticed in my news column to the right, this promised, upgraded soundtrack CD has been going through quite a few changes and delays since Télé 80 first announced it back in July  of 2012. At the time, it was scheduled for November of that year, then pushed back slightly to January 2013. Long before we reached January, however, Télé 80's distributon company XIII Bis suddenly went bankrupt, postponing all scheduled CDs indefinitely. Surprisingly, though, these problems led to some happy, unexpected changes. Télé 80 found a new production company (Balthazar Music) and a new production team, and at the same time became an independent label - all of this resulting in increased budgets and production values for their CDs, now targeted more towards collectors. Money is being spent on remastering the music, and cover art and labels look much better than on the old XIII Bis releases. Case in point: The revised cover for the upcoming "Inspecteur Gadget" CD, revealed on Facebook back in March, is in my eyes a vast improvement over the first cover draft. (Notice the tagline "Versions originales remasterisées", which is used on all the new Télé 80 CDs to separate them from the earlier XIII Bis products.)

The new and improved Gadget cover is utilizing illustrations from IDP Home Video's French DVD edition of the series (three box sets released in 2004-2005). I think this is a smart choice: The IDP DVD covers are very well drawn (much better than any of the old LP covers), with faithful, on-model renditions of the characters. Plus, using these illustration elements means that Télé 80 can compose their designs with a lot of freedom, moving around characters and backgrounds to get suitable motives for the CD format.

But enough technical stuff - let's move on to what everybody wants to see. Here it is... the exclusive sneak peek of the track list, as well as the inside part of the CD booklet!

Close-up of the track list (click to enlarge)

The full inside part of the CD booklet (click to enlarge!)

As promised, 30 tracks - and they're all original Levy/Saban pieces as far as I can tell. Everything from the French and Australian LPs is combined at last, and we also get some additional theme song versions. For those who might be more familiar with the English-language titles for these tracks, below is the track list with English titles and explanations added by me. (Note: I decided to use the Australian record as reference for some of the English titles here, as they sounded better than the English titles seen on the French LP.)

1. Inspecteur Gadget / Inspector Gadget [French vocals]. 2:38
2. La chanson de Finot / Brain the dog - The song [French vocals]. 2:02
3. Le thème de Sophie / Penny's Theme [French vocals]. 2:31
4. Gadget sur Mars / Gadget on Mars. 1:30
5. Le fantôme / Ghosts. 1:55
6. Musée de l’art fou / Mad Art Museum. 2:09
7. Gadget au Japon / Gadget in Japan. 2:07
8.  L’usine de chocolats / Chocolate Factory. 2:02
9. Rodéo / Rodeo. 1:38
10. Thème du Docteur Gang / Mad's Theme. 2:14
11. Héros dans la jungle africaine / Heroes in African Jungle. 1:52
12. Gadget chez les Incas / Gadget with the Incas. 0:58
13. Fais gaffe / Look Out. 1:36
14. Gadget en difficulté / Gadget in Trouble. 1:14
15. Désert d’Arabie / Arabian Desert. 1:17
16. Gadget le sophistiqué / Sophisticated Gadget. 1:37
17. Thème du train / Train Machine. 1:57
18. Le royaume / Kingdom. 2:03
19. La course de voitures / Car Race. 1:15
20. Les pharaons / Pharaohs. 1:33
21. Le thème de Finot* / Brain The Dog. 1:10
22. Gadget en Italie* / Italian Gadget. 1:05
23. Thème du Docteur Gang (reprise)* / Mad's Theme [alternate version]. 2:12
24. Thème d’ouverture (Instrumental) / Opening theme [instrumental U.S. opening]. 1:15
25. Le thème de Sophie (Instrumental) / Penny's Theme. 2:29
26. Inspecteur Gadget (Version TV) / Inspector Gadget [French opening theme]. 1:13
27. Inspector Gadget (Opening TV) [U.S. opening theme]. 1:15
28. Inspector Gadget (Ending TV)* / Gadget Closing [U.S. end credits theme]. 0:42
29. Inspecteur Gadget (Générique du film) [?]. 2:27
30. Inspector Gadget Theme* [extended U.S. theme song]. 2:50

22 of the tracks (1-20, 24 and 25) represent the content of Saban Records' original French LP edition: Three theme songs with French vocals, 16 pieces of background music and three instrumental themes. However... fans already familiar with the French LP should probably be particularly interested in the additional music from ABC Records' Australian edition: Tracks 21, 22, 23, 28 and 30, which I've marked with *. "Le théme de Finot" (Brain The Dog) is an instrumental background music theme for Brain, while "Gadget en Italie" (Italian Gadget) is another piece of background music used towards the end of season 2. Both of these are great and especially "Brain The Dog" makes the soundtrack feel more complete, as the French LP didn't include any instrumental themes for Brain. (Note, by the way, that these two tracks have been given new French titles for this CD based on the English-language titles, as they were never released in French by Saban.)

Then we have "Thème du Docteur Gang" (Mad's Theme), which is an interesting chapter in itself. You'll notice that this composition is included twice on the CD, first as track 10, then as track 23 as a "reprise". This is because the French and Australian LPs actually included two different arrangements of this theme. It's the same composition, but orchestrated slightly differently throughout (in addition to the most obvious difference: M.A.D. Cat is meowing in the French soundtrack version, but not in the Australian soundtrack version). It's a curious question why Shuki Levy chose to re-arrange this theme for the 1986 Australian LP, considering it had already been released on the 1983 French LP... but I'm guessing he just did it for his own enjoyment. Whatever the reasons, I love the fact that two versions of this theme exist, and that both versions will soon be available on one CD. (I don't know for certain if track 23 on the CD is the Australian version, but I'm guessing it is since the chronology during the first 20 tracks sticks relatively closely to the French LP).

Tracks 28 and 30 are two of Shuki Levy's original American theme song variants - the latter an extended version of the U.S. theme song, and the former a soundtrack version (in stereo!) of the U.S. end credits theme. These tracks have their natural place on a collector's edition of the soundtrack.

Even better, though, this CD also gives us one English-language theme that was not included on any of the earlier soundtrack albums: Track 27, "Inspector Gadget (Opening TV)". This is the original, American opening theme, to many the most iconic version of Shuki Levy's famous theme song; definitely iconic to anyone who grew up with the English-language version of the series. It's wonderful to see it included. I don't know any technical details, but my hope is that Télé 80 has gotten hold of the stereo version of this theme song, i. e. the version Shuki Levy has up on his official web site. The thing is, there have been a few American CD compilations featuring this song in the past - for instance Television's Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 - 70's & 80's and Toon Tunes - Funny Bone Favorites - but as far as I know, those CDs have always used a mono version of the theme. The version on Levy's site, though, is in stereo, and I assume that's how the theme song was originally recorded. (The stereo/mono difference is easy to notice if you listen to the song through a headset.)

In addition to all that, we get two French bonus tracks which I hadn't seen coming; tracks 26 and 29 to be precise. "Inspecteur Gadget (Version TV)" is the TV version of the French theme song, sourced from (I believe) the storybook record "La Malédiction Du Roi Toutankharton". (Arguably, the end credits theme "Inspecteur Gadget (Fin)" could also have been included from this record -- but having listened to both themes, I will say that the "Fin" theme admittedly sounds almost completely similar to the middle part of "Inspecteur Gadget (Version TV)". Still, as a diehard fan I wouldn't mind getting the "Fin" theme on the CD as well.)

Track 29, "Inspecteur Gadget (Générique du film)", is actually a bit of a mystery to me. At first, I was wondering if it was a French-dubbed version of the Disney movie theme song, but I'm currently speculating that it might be the A-side of this Saban single: "Inspecteur Gadget - Bande originale du film et de la série télévisée". This was a single released in France in 1987, concurrently with a theatrical cartoon feature titled "Les dossiers secrets de l'inspecteur Gadget", which consisted of several season 2 episodes edited together. I had thought that the "Bande originale du film..." single included the same version of the "Inspecteur Gadget" song as earlier French vinyls, but the Discogs listing notes that 'a different (unknown) singer' performs the theme song here, describing the voice as "...closer of "Daffy Duck" (nasal voice)". So, provided that this information is true, it sounds like the French 1987 theatrical feature had an alternative version of the French theme song, which was also released on the 1987 Saban single. Most interesting!... I'm very curious if the "Générique du film" track on the CD turns out to be this theme song. :)

Anything else? Visually speaking, I think the interior booklet is nicely designed, just like the cover. The one gripe I have with the interior motive is seeing Capeman in there. I realize it's a matter of personal taste, of course... Capeman WAS part of the original series (the second season, anyway)... and he's even in one of the episodes where the track "Gadget en Italie" (Italian Gadget) is played. (Still, he's such an awful character! At least I'm glad he doesn't get to stand next to Gadget, Penny and Brain.)
   Otherwise, there are a few (very minor) track title inconsistencies when compared to the French LP: "La course de voitures" was originally titled "La course de voiture", "La chanson de Finot" was originally titled "La chanson de Fino", and "Thème du Docteur Gang" was originally titled "Thème du Dr Gang". As I said, very minor, and it's the kind stuff that only the most nit-picky fans will notice. Still, this is a collector's edition, so maybe those titles could be revised for 100% accuracy with the original LP.

In any case, I'm looking forward to this CD. If the sound quality lives up to the track list, this will be the best and most complete edition of Shuki Levy's Inspector Gadget soundtrack to date! It will of course not contain the 100% complete soundtrack - Saban's master tapes remain officially lost for all the background music that was never released on vinyl - but for the first time, all the score music that survives from various releases over the years will be gathered on one attractive CD. If you're still considering whether or not to buy this, have a look at the classily designed disc label as well. The vinyl design is a great touch.

Oh, that's right: Now that Télé 80 has gone independent, their new Balthazar Music releases are limited to smaller pressings of about 500 copies per CD. So if you plan to get this soundtrack, it might be a good idea to mark your calendar right away for September 30... which, I might add, will be perfect timing for Gadget's 30th anniversary this fall.

Big thanks to Télé 80 for letting me present these news!

Télé 80's Second Inspector Gadget CD Is Coming

On July 12, some rather interesting news appeared on Télé 80's Facebook page. I've had no time to blog about this before now, but better late than never (especially as this will not be released until November):

Yep, the second "Inspecteur Gadget" CD is on its way... and it gives the impression of being a bit more special than Télé 80's first lackluster edition. The Facebook post that announced this "Edition Speciale" CD has since been inexplicably deleted, but thanks to Google Cache, I can still share it with you:

The above screen grab is a cached version of the Facebook site from July 18. When the post was deleted (on July 22 or 23, I think), it had gotten even more comments... some of them asking if one could still make suggestions for the contents of the "Special Edition" CD. Télé 80 responded with an enthusiastic yes, but then deleted the entire thread. Talk about mixed signals to the customers. This is not the first time I've seen Télé 80 delete threads from their Facebook site, and I'm still not sure why they do it.

Anyhow, let's look at the facts revealed so far. Here's the written message in French (posted here for reference, as the original Facebook post no longer exists):

INSPECTEUR GADGET : LE CD N°17 " SPECIAL 30 ANS " ! GRACE A VOTRE AIDE ET A SHUKY LEVY , NOUS AVONS MIS LA MAIN SUR UNE GRANDE PARTIE DES TITRES MANQUANTS ! UN CD DE 26 TITRES SERA DONC DISPONIBLE EN NOVEMBRE + 1 REMIX 2013 ' GADGET MIX DANCE ' ! MERCI ! NOUVEAU VISUEL ! LE CD SORTI EN MAI DERNIER DEVIENDRA DONC "COLLECTOR" AVEC 500 COPIES DANS LE MONDE...NOUS DETRUISONS LES AUTRES !

...and here, with the usual aid of Google Translate and my flickering with the translation options, is what I can make out of it in English:

INSPECTOR GADGET: THE 17TH CD [in the series of Télé 80 Cds], "SPECIAL 30 YEARS"! THANKS TO YOUR HELP AND TO SHUKY LEVY, WE HAVE GOT OUR HANDS ON MUCH OF THE MISSING TITLES! A CD OF 26 TITLES WILL BE AVAILABLE IN NOVEMBER + 1 2013 REMIX 'GADGET DANCE MIX'! THANK YOU! NEW VISUAL! THE LATEST CD RELEASED IN MAY THUS BECOMES "COLLECTOR" WITH 500 COPIES AROUND THE WORLD ... WE DESTROY THE REST!

So, to sum up: In November, Télé 80 will release a special "30th anniversary edition" CD of the Inspector Gadget music by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban. This CD will include 26 original tracks as well as 1 new remix called "Gadget Dance Mix". (Unless this remix is by Shuki Levy himself, I couldn't be less interested in that part.) Presumably, the audio will be in good quality and free of vinyl scratches this time around... as Télé 80 promised much better sound quality when Volume 2 was first announced months ago. Télé 80 also mentions that the Gadget CD they released with bad sound quality in May might become a collector's item, as only 500 copies have been sold around the world at this point, and they intend to destroy the rest. Good riddance, I say. (Though I must admit that a small part of the completist in me would like to get that CD now, seeing as it is the first CD release ever of the show's original background music. Damn my collector's instincts!)

The "new" cover art looks pretty awful (awful enough for people to complain about it in disbelief at the Planete Jeunesse forums)... ironically enough because, once again, Télé 80 reproduces the art from a vintage LP cover, in this case the cover of the 1986 Australian LP "Inspector Gadget - The Music". Still, this is slightly reassuring from one perspective. The Australian record (as regular readers know by now) contains a few tracks that were not included on the 1983 French LP... and I had expressed hope earlier that Télé 80 would look at the Australian LP for their second "Inspecteur Gadget" CD, and get the unique tracks on that edition included. (I even sent them a few e-mails about this, but never got a reply.) The cover image certainly indicates that Télé 80 are at least aware of the Australian record... and the fact that this new CD includes 26 original tracks makes it very likely that some of those tracks have been collected from "Inspector Gadget - The Music" (the French LP contained 22 tracks).

Original cover source: ABC Records' Australian LP Soundtrack, 1986

I find it interesting, by the way, that Télé 80 mentions getting hold of many missing track titles "...thanks to your help and to Shuki Levy". I can understand "your help", as I'm pretty sure a number of fans have helped Télé 80 out with getting good LP copies to rip the music from. But Shuki Levy himself? Does this mean Levy personally helped Télé 80 out with good-quality copies of the original LPs, or with master tapes of his original compositions? I would guess the former, because 26 tracks are no more than what you'd get by simply combining the contents of the French and Australian soundtrack LPs.

In fact, 26 tracks are less than what you'd get if you include every single, unique track from each of those editions... and that worries me a bit. I've calculated that if Télé 80 collects everything that has ever been released of original Gadget music by Shuki Levy, they would end up with 28 tracks! Which leads me to wonder if something is being left out. Let's take a quick look at the tracks that Télé 80 could in theory release, collected from various soundtrack editions and compilations of TV themes:

The French 1983 LP - 22 Tracks

1. Inspecteur Gadget (Inspector Gadget, French vocals). 2:37
2. Le thème de Sophie (Penny's theme, French vocals). 2:30
3. La chanson de Fino (Brain the Dog - the song, French vocals). 2:00
4. Gadget sur Mars (Gadget on Mars). 1:30
5. Le fantôme (Ghost). 1:56
6. Musée de l'art fou (Mad art in Museum). 2:05.
7. Gadget au Japon (Gadget in Japan). 2:02.
8. L'usine de chocolats (Chocolate factory). 2:00.
9. Rodéo (Rodeo). 1:30.
10. Thème du Dr Gang (Mad's theme). 2:12
11. Héros dans la jungle Africaine (Heroes in African jungle). 1:50
12. Gadget chez les Incas (Gadget with the Incas). 1:00
13. Fais gaffe (Look Out). 1:34
14. Gadget en difficulté (Gadget in trouble). 1:11
15. Désert d'Arabie (Arabian desert). 1:15
16. Gadget le sophistiqué (Sophisticated Gadget). 1:40
17. Thème du train (Train Machine). 1:55
18. Le royaume (Kingdom). 2:00
19. La course de voiture (Car race). 1:12
20. Les pharaons (Pharaohs). 1:30
21. Le thème de Sophie (Instrumental) (Penny's Theme). 2:30
22. Thème d'ouverture (Instrumental) (Opening theme). 1:12

The Australian 1986 LP - 5 Unique Tracks (16 in total, but many overlapping with the French LP)

23. Inspector Gadget Theme (US theme song, extended version. Also released on the Australian compilation CD 30 Years of Funtastic TV Toons, 1990). 2:50
24. Brain The Dog (background music track; instrumental theme for Brain). 1:08
25. Mad's Theme (misspelled Max's theme on the back cover, this is an alternate version of  "Mad's theme", orchestrated slightly differently from the version on the French LP). 2:12
26. Italian Gadget (background music track). 1:03
27. Gadget Closing (US end credits theme). 0:41

The Original US Opening Theme, which has circulated on various CD compilations of television themes ever since the 1980s, and is no doubt very easy to find:

28. Inspector Gadget Theme (Opening, US version). 1:12

In other words: If the upcoming CD really contains 26 original tracks, it would seem that Télé 80 is leaving out 2 tracks that could have been included.... and this being a French release, it would not surprice me if these 2 leftovers prove to be American themes. I could easily picture the "Gadget Closing" theme and one of the US themes (either the Opening Theme or the extended "Inspector Gadget Theme") being taken out, as these American theme songs do sound slightly similar to one another. Still, all three of these themes are also different from one another - and all of them are unique, vintage compositions by Shuki Levy. For that reason alone, they deserve inclusion on an official soundtrack CD... especially if that CD wants to live up to the subtitle "Edition Speciale".

But maybe I'm jumping to conclusions here. As Télé 80 mentioned in a Facebook comment, the contents of the CD can still be changed and revised. For all I know, that might be why they suddenly deleted the thread announcing this news... maybe they felt that it was too early to give detailed information, considering these details might change before the release. Whatever the case, I truly hope they will include all of the US themes - or more to the point, all the compositions that have been released from Shuki Levy's original score. It would only serve to make the CD more attractive for fans around the world.

My Verdict On The Inspecteur Gadget CD: Wait For Volume 2

Do Not Buy This Lousy CD

Remember my recommendation last week that you should buy/support the new "Inspecteur Gadget" soundtrack CD regardless of what could have been better, like I was planning to do? Well, I have to take that back. Today, I've come to the conclusion that the Télé 80 CD is not worth my money.

Let me explain: I haven't actually bought the CD... but thanks to Itunes, I've been able to listen to excerpts from all 12 tracks of it. (For those who don't use Itunes, try the French music site Qobuz for listening samples.) And honestly - most of the tracks sound pretty disappointing. The worst part is, they COULD have sounded far better if Télé 80 had simply taken the time to locate proper source material (i. e. better LP copies).

First of all, I can confirm that the "crackling of vinyl" mentioned on the Planété Jeunesse forum is very much there... and not only on a few tracks, but on most of them. The French and American theme songs do sound good, but that's probably just because the masters for these main themes have been taken better care of than those for the background music (which are today presumably lost). And that brings me to the main problem with this release. Nearly all of the background music tracks, as well as the awesome soundtrack-exclusive version of Dr Claw's theme (track 6, "Le theme du Docteur Gang"), have a LOT of crackling, and some of them sound embarrassingly bad. (The only exception seemed to be track 5, "L'usine de chocolat" (Chocolate Factory), where I didn't register any scratching noises.) This bad sound quality is particularly disappointing as I know that very good (or possibly even mint) copies of the French LP are still in existence. XIII Bis Records just didn't take the time to find them.

Let's compare, for instance, with the fan-done MP3 rip of the "Inspecteur Gadget: Bande originale" LP that has been circulating on the internet for years ever since originating on this site. There is some subtle crackling on some of the tracks there, to be sure... but generally, the tracks in that rip sound great, and MUCH CLEANER than the same tracks on the Télé 80 CD! (Click here, here and here to listen to some of the fan-ripped background music tracks.) The fact that an unofficial fan rip of the LP sounds far better than an official CD release proves just how amateurish this first "Inspecteur Gadget" CD from XIII Bis Records is. This is not only sad on Télé 80's part, it's downright embarrassing. They better go out of their way to make up for this in the planned Volume 2 CD.

I'll not go into detail about the other reasons not to buy this sloppy CD release, as you already know them from my previous posts: Only 12 tracks on the disc instead of the 25+ tracks that Télé 80 could potentially have compiled from both the French and Australian LPs... the cover image has been flipped for no reason whatsoever... and oh, yes, there actually is one more thing. As you may have noticed, the very last track on the CD is a "US version" of the Inspector Gadget theme. However, this is not the original TV version of the theme, but rather an extended version running for 2:50 minutes. (This version was first released, I believe, as the first track of the Australian soundtrack LP "Inspector Gadget - The Music", before spreading to a few CD compilations of television themes). I don't have a problem with the extended theme song being there, as it's authentic Shuki Levy; but the one version of the American theme that has really stuck in people's minds over the years is undoubtedly the shorter TV version. The extended theme on the CD is good, but not nearly as great... and the theme loses some of its snappiness when the song suddenly starts over again midway through. (Have a listen here to judge the extended theme for yourself.) Bottom line: Both the shorter and longer versions of the theme song deserve to be included on an official soundtrack release; and the shorter (and best) version is of course not included. Probably because the Télé 80 team didn't know about (or didn't bother to research) how popular that original, American TV theme is in the minds of everybody who grew up with it. Again, lackluster work. And speaking of theme songs: Why did Télé 80 change the original title of Penny's French theme "Le theme de Sophie" to "La chanson de Sophie"? As if the mirrored cover image wasn't enough of a pointless change.

All this is sad to say, as I really do like the initiative and good intentions behind the idea of finally releasing iconic 80s TV soundtracks such as Inspector Gadget on CD. But when it's done as sloppily as this, I can't get myself to support it. The only thing giving me a little hope is perhaps that Télé 80's leader Christophe Renaud openly admitted that many of the tracks on their "Inspecteur Gadget" CD were of bad quality - and that they're planning a volume 2 with better sound quality. (I believe I was wrong, by the way, when assuming earlier that Télé 80 was going to search for the lost, original masters: what Renaud meant was probably just that they're gonna find better LP copies to rip the music from.) I won't hold my breath for this... but I really, truly hope that Volume 2 (whenever it comes out) proves to be a big, happy surprice. At the moment, however, there's no hiding that the best way for you to enjoy Shuki Levy and Haim Saban's original Inspector Gadget soundtrack... is the illegal way.