Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas

Synopsis

At the North Pole, Santa Claus and his elves are preparing toys for Christmas. Doctor Claw sneaks into the toy factory, disguises himself as Santa, and installs mind-control devices on the elves. He activates the devices and orders the elves to capture Santa Claus. His plan is to use the mind-controlled elves to make defective toys, for which the world will blame Santa. Meanwhile, he orders his M.A.D. agents to destroy Inspector Gadget. Several attempts are made during the opening credits, all of which fail.

Inspector Gadget goes about his Christmas activities, unaware that M.A.D. agents are trying to eliminate him. He visits a mall Santa Claus, who is actually Chief Frank Quimby in disguise. The Chief gives Gadget a self-destructing message outlining his mission. Gadget, along with Penny and Brain, heads to the North Pole, assuming Doctor Claw has not yet made his move. Upon entering the factory, Gadget sees nothing wrong and does not become suspicious when he faces the disguised Doctor Claw. Penny and Brain are not fooled, but when they try to warn Gadget, he is hit by a claw from the factory and thrown onto a conveyor belt with defective toys. There, Gadget sings a parody of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" using the things he crashes into. When this does not finish him off, Doctor Claw has Gadget dropped down the same manhole where Santa was dropped earlier. Gadget finds the real Santa but arrests him, thinking he is the fraud.

Penny snoops around the factory and hides in a giant jack-in-the-box. She sees the elves destroying toys and calls Brain to report that Doctor Claw plans to ruin Christmas. Brain reports that the elves tried to eliminate Gadget, who found the real Santa and accused him of being Doctor Claw. The elves find Penny and trap her in the jack-in-the-box. Penny calls Brain to say she will escape and that he must save Inspector Gadget.

Home media releases

The 1993 VHS debut of this special came from Buena Vista Home Video. Lions Gate Home Entertainment, under the DIC Home Entertainment label, issued a second VHS version on October 16, 2001. Sterling Entertainment put out the first DVD in 2004, adding three original series episodes: "The Weather in Tibet," "So It is Written," and "Birds of a Feather." A later DVD from New Video in 2013 dropped those bonus episodes.