This just in! Far into the production of the new TV series, DHX Halifax has decided to add one last detail to Gadget's CGI design - the long-neglected mustache from the pilot episode! According to vice-chairman Michael Hirsh, one of the co-producers of the original season 1: "We always felt Gadget looked better with the mustache, as per Bruno Bianchi's original vision, but at the time we had to remove it because the MGM Studios claimed it was too close to their detective character, Inspector Clouseau. Today, however, Inspector Gadget is a well-known brand in its own right, and obviously there is no risk of our new series being confused with the Pink Panther movies. So we felt it was finally time to bring the mustache back for a new generation of fans."
But why make this change so late in the production process? Says Hirsh, "We've actually been debating back and forth for a couple of years now whether the mustache should be part of the new design. At first, we admittedly did decide against it, as evidenced by the character designs and animation released so far. But over the past few weeks, the creative team here at DHX Halifax has really gotten vocal in defending the mustache, and everybody sort of said the same thing - let's do this! So, yes, we're revising the already completed animation to get the mustache included. It's funny how things come full circle", Hirsh muses. "Back when we did the original series, we had to remove the mustache at the eleventh hour. Now, we're doing last-minute revisions to get the mustache back in there! It's all worth it, though. The mustache will make a huge difference to our new reboot of Gadget."
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| The new mustache design hews closely to the original 1982 pilot episode. |
I really don't have words to describe my reactions to this, but I'll try. I'm just baffled. I want to stay open-minded towards DHX's creative decisions, but this one - bringing back a major design detail not seen since the original show's pilot episode - really came out of nowhere. I think I'll just have to wait and see how this works. Seeing as Gadget has a new voice sounding somewhat different from Don Adams, I guess it's not impossible that the mustache could work as well, but...
...what? You want me to admit what? Okay, okay: I'M KIDDING. NONE OF THIS IS TRUE. Sorry if I gave someone a heart attack. It's just that, well... fellow fan Cortoony and I have been having this tongue-in-cheek discussion in the comments to this other post about how wonderful it would be if DHX had revived Gadget's original mustache for their new design. One thing led to another... and suddenly Cortoony did an awesome-looking edit of the CGI design with the mustache added to it. It looked so real that it just inspired me, and I had to do this what-if post. So, yeah, that is of course Cortoony's edit we're seeing at the top of this post. My apologies to DHX Media and Michael Hirsh - and thanks, Cortoony, for the terrific mustache rendition of the new Gadget. Cortoony's original upload can be seen here, by the way. (Yes, I mirror reversed his image to match the officially released character design even more. That's how shrewd I am.)
