From: Juan F Lara
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 92 20:23:33 EST
Subject: Thoughts on Gadget Hackwrench
Dear friends
Well, here are my thoughts on Gadget.
-> Social Skills <-
Well, Gadget's awkwardness and flakiness troubled me for a long time. I
have an explanation why somewhere below. But this explanation of her character
is a better way to look at her.
^D: Tad tried hard to make Gadget, not absent minded, but extremely focused.
She has tunnel vision when she's working on something.
I like this conception of her character. It emphasizes her science-
oriented mind, and gives her personality some depth.
CM: Don't forget the end of "Gadget goes hawaiian" where she purposefully ducks
both of them and they end up kissing each other.
Did she "purposely" duck them? I thought she was just going to get some-
thing and she ducked at just the convenient moment. She didn't seem to have
the slightest idea they were going to kiss her. At least that's what I thought
Monty's line "That's are old Gadget" was supposed to mean.
-> Beauty and the Beasts :-) <-
BDM: I don't think there's any way she could have gone through that entire epi-
sode without realizing there was something more than regular friendship.
I just can't imagine that either. Granted she's had little contact with
boys, but after the extended period of time she's lived with them I just can't
imagine that she hadn't caught on to what they have in mind, yet.
And besides, a lot of times the munks grab Gadget's hands or arms when
they make a play for her attention. You can't get more explicit than that
without transcending the boundaries of a "family" show. :-) What always bo-
thered me, though, was the dumb look that Gadget usually has when this happens.
Sometimes the munks' actions are downright harassment, and you'd think that
Gadget would have more self-respect than to put up with it. But she almost
never seems to protest, which is a shame.
BDM: Juan also mentioned that he thought she was just steadily treating them as
good friends and nothing else.
Well, I have no impression that Gadget has any serious feelings for the
munks. Whether her mind is preoccupied with Gadgetry instead, or whether the
munks' antics simply revolt her, I don't see her wanting a relationship with
either of them.
DW: At the end of 'Good Times, Bat Times' Chip appeared to be about to
propose to Gadget, and Gadget was *smiling* about it.
"Propose?" That I seriously doubt, since I don't think Chip's feelings
for her have progressed to that point.
From the munks' antics, I'd say that they don't want any serious relation-
ship. All they really want from her is just her attention. I'm sure they en-
tertain lustful thoughts of her all the time ( most people on this net probably
do, too. ;-), but if Gadget ever actually reacted to their attention, I bet
they'd run away scared. They're kids when it comes to relationships, and I
doubt that they could provide any fulfillment for Gadget. That scene in "Good
Times, Bat Times" though seems to indicate that Chip wants to start something
more serious with her, but I don't know.
BDM: You know this very discussion, is what led to our list. This is the first
thing Juan and I discussed after we made the initial contact. I don't
know weather to feel nostalgic or deja-vous.
It makes me feel very nostalgic, mainly because it's exactly a year this
month that Brian and I first started talking. And Gadget was the main motiva-
tion to start reading r.a.a., and my first big posting was my entry into the
Gadget-munks debate. Megazone might remember it as I made references to one of
his postings in mine, call him "Mr. Forsythe".
Basically, I complained about a general lack of positive scientist charac-
ters in cartoondom. Scientist characters were usually geeky bumblers who apart
from their science duties didn't have much else to except serve as comic re-
lief. Woman scientists, in keeping with the stereotype that women are scienti-
fically illiterate, were either unheard of or took the form of mutant space-
cadets such as the brainy Chippette ( name ) in "Alvin and the Chipmunks".
That's why Gadget was such a very amazing character for me. Here was a
female character with a "mind-bashingly high I.Q." in science, and a female who
wasn't designed to look like a geek. Moreover, she has that "intense focus" on
her work that was mentioned. One scene from the premiere that I like was when
Gadget builds chairs for the Rangers. Here we see her gadgetry as her personal
art, and means of self-expression. In gadgetry, she finds personal fulfillment
and satisfaction. She makes a full person out of herself via her creativity in
her inventing, which is truly a breakthrough for a female character. This is
what I like about Gadget.
And that's what I didn't like about the Chip-Dale rivalry. This rivalry
reminded me of how female characters are usually defined by their boyfriends.
She is such-and-such's boyfriend, and therefore she is. But Gadget doesn't
need to be someone's girlfriend to define herself. So I regarded any movement
in the rivalry as potentially ruinous for Gadget, and that if she did become
someone's girlfriend, she'd be nothing but someone's girlfriend. All that in-
novation would be lost. I also dismissed Gadget's flakiness as old scientist
cliches that have no place here, and hoped that they would deemphasize this.
In hindsight, I think my views were too dogmatic. They didn't allow any
room for Gadget's flakiness, and I basically saw any instant of Gadget's flaki-
ness as a backward step in her character development. I also suppose that
these views made me look scornfully at any instant of Gadget flirting. I think
that ultimately, I wanted Gadget to be something she wasn't. The character-
ization of her provides a better way to regard her flakiness.
DW: These are the strongest clues I can think of initially. It basically
boils down to Gadget has Chosen. Her Choice is Chip.
In many episodes, I've noticed, too, that the writers seem to have a bias
for Chip over Dale. You pointed out many examples. I suppose the writers have
this inclination because Chip is the show's nominal "lead", and the "lead" al-
ways gets the girl, doesn't he? I also wonder if the producers were hoping to
save some money in that in any love scene between Chip and Gadget, they'd have
to pay for only one voice. ( Tress :-). Hmm. It must be curious to stage a
love scene with yourself. :-)
But I find it a little hard to believe that Gadget would get serious with
someone who has a personality like Chip's. Stephanie describes Chip quite
aptly when she calls him an "asshole". Stephen has also listed some character-
istics of Chip like his short temper, delicate ego, and general abrasiveness.
I can't imagine Gadget willing to put up with all of this in order to go with
Chip. So, I agree with Stephen that any favoritism that Gadget shows for Chip
is only not to antagonize him.
But I could see Tammy still perservering to win Chip's heart, and her in-
defatiguable persistence wearing the poor sap down for him to submit. That
would make a good episode.
-> Zipper. The True Suitor? <-
^D: Note of interest: When RR started, they thought Zipper would steal the show
because he was so cute. But when when it came time to write scripts it
became hard to give him anything to do because of his relative weakness
and lack of a voice.
Well, Zipper is my second favorite character, next to Gadget. Many people
have remarked that Zipper's the bravest Ranger, and the one who puts up with
the most physical harm. Zipper is also very humble and respectful of his
friends, which is in marked contrast to the munks. They did a good job charac-
terizing him, even without a voice. :-)
In fact, I ultimately decided that Zipper should be the Ranger that Gadget
could fall in love with. His courage, humbleness, and general good nature,
these are the characteristics that I think Gadget would value. His humbleness
in particular means that he doesn't have a big ego that would get in the way of
Gadget's engineering pursuits. And I could see Zipper giving Gadget all the
enthusiasm and support that she'd want in her inventing.
I came up with this sketchy scenario for a Gadget-Zipper romance. We'd
have a case during which Chip and Dale, as always, are one-up-ing themselves in
trying to be the hero and making all those passes at Gadget. But here we see
Gadget showing signs that she's getting finally fed up with all this harass-
ment. The case, for a reason I haven't thought up of, yet, obliges Gadget and
Zipper to work together a lot. Actually, Gadget and Zipper have often been
paired off in episodes like "The Luck Stops Here". Gadget's and Zipper's per-
sonalities prove very compatible, and Gadget's time with Zipper provides an
oasis from the munks. Ultimately, I see one scene where Gadget finally reaches
the last straw and lashes out at the munks, running away from them. Later on,
she accidentally stumbles onto Zipper, knocking some things over. They stare
at each other, and smile, somewhat self-consciously. They really start to feel
something between them, even with the species difference. They approach one
another, and then they kiss. It's a small kiss, with some nervousness on both
parts, but it's a very loving and romantic kiss.
Of course, in this scenario, I'm flatly ignoring the species difference,
applying a philosophy that love is an abstract quality that renders virtually
all physical characteristics irrelevent. Brian says this isn't the right atti-
tude, since the mammal-insect difference has to play some role. Oh, well.
I'm curious at the least to hear whatever can be said on a Gadget-Zipper
romance.
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