Gender-Flipped Villain Pitch: Dr. Claw (Inspector Gadget)

I've been sitting on this for over a month, and the inspiration for this involves something that dates back nearly six months prior. So in the end of June of this year, MeTV Toons launched. I remember being so excited for this, because from what I read, MeTV Toons is what Cartoon Network and Boomerang used to be: showing the classics, mainly (for my liking) the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons. However, to my disappointment, MeTV Toons would not hit my cable company's lineup of channels, well... it wouldn't until sometime in September.

I've been enjoying the channel a lot, and part of that MeTV Toons lineup just happens to include Inspector Gadget. We all know Inspector Gadget, don't we, folks? The cartoon was one of the many shows cooked up by DIC Entertainment, who gave us cartoon lovers a lot of good stuff during the 80s and 90s. Regarding Inspector Gadget, the titular character was a half cyborg detective who was bumbling, fumbling, and immensely naive, yet somehow, Gadget got the job done. In short, he was basically the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs.

Fittingly, the character was voiced by the late, great Don Adams, and yes, Gadget was based on Adams' other memorable character, Maxwell Smart. Of course, the subject of this story is Gadget's main foe, the diabolical leader of MAD himself, Dr. Claw. Claw was your typical spy movie/spy show villain; head of a big bad organization, sending any an all operatives to carry out his orders, all while he had the best seat in the house... with his face hidden and only showing that clawed, spiked arm. Even the voice was typical of villains from spy movies. Claw's memorable voice was provided by the iconic Frank Welker, who has done it all in cartoons. At some point, Claw was also voiced by the late Don Francks, whose daughter, Cree Summer, provided the voice of Gadget's niece, Penny.

Inspector Gadget went on to become a franchise, and got the live action treatment back in 1999 with a big screen film. The film starred Matthew Broderick in the title role, Michelle Trachtenberg played Penny, while Dr. Claw was played by Rupert Everett, so yes, we got a face and a whole body for Claw. However, I watched the film, and, well... it was a film. That's about all I can say. We received a sequel a few years later that was straight-to-DVD, and I can see why.

Before I deliver my idea for a gender-flipped version of Dr. Claw, I do want to state that the franchise did give us a big bad villainess at some point:

The Inspector Gadget franchise also included the short-lived Gadget Boy & Heather series that aired between 1995 and 1998, and the series centered on a younger equivalent of the character, simply known as Gadget Boy. He is aided by Agent Heather, who I thought was Gadget Boy's big sister when I first saw this, but she's actually an aide/nanny of sorts for Gadget Boy. As for foes, Dr. Claw was not part of this. Instead, the big bad was Spydra, a six-armed, masked criminal villainess who wants so badly to take down Gadget Boy. I forget exactly when I first saw this show, I know it was a Saturday morning, but I also know this: I loved Spydra; still do. She was loud, fiendish, uproarious, had a killer look, and had a beautiful maniacal laugh.

As for Dr. Claw, gender-flipping must happen with this character. I do have one choice for who could play the female Dr. Claw, and I do think it's a good one.

I'm a huge fan of "ironic casting," and because of that, I pictured Elaine Hendrix as a gender-flipped Dr. Claw in an imagined Inspector Gadget film reboot of sorts. Hendrix is best known for her villainous role in the Parent Trap reboot, but that's not why I chose her. I chose Hendrix because she appeared in the straight-to-DVD Gadget sequel as G2, another cyborg detective working alongside Gadget (who was played by French Stewart in the sequel). Now, here's an added bonus to my vision of female Dr. Claw: in my idea, Hendrix would actually playing a female version of Chief Quimby, who would actually be Dr. Claw in secret.

Now, here's the thing. I would recently learn that I wasn't the only one who actually cooked up the concept of Quimby being Claw. But from my experience watching these crime/spy type projects, I see this quite a bit: high level members of law enforcement suddenly being revealed as the big bad. Hendrix could definitely shine as an evil and corrupt criminal villainess for sure, but I want to go back to what inspired me to have a female Quimby actually turn out to be Claw. I said seeing the cartoon on MeTV Toons was an inspiration. Let me be more specific. We all know the recurring gag. Gadget receives the mission from Quimby, reads it, then... "This message will self destruct." It gets tossed in Quimby's direction, and blows up in the Chief's face. In recent weeks, every time I see that, I think, "Just for that alone, Quimby would want Gadget knocked off."

And you know what, just as a bonus treat, I'll share my casting ideas for Spydra, too:

Now if it were up to me, Spydra would be a big bad in another Gadget project, and the only way I would put Spydra and female Claw together if it was a big bad supervillainess team up--one should not be working under the other. I actually had two choices for who could play a live action Spydra. Jeannie Mai is one choice, because for one, I want to see her play a villainess so badly. Plus, Mai could definitely act out Spydra's maniacal demeanor and attributes to absolute perfection. A second choice I had was pop singer Dua Lipa, because other than Spydra's insanity, the supervillainess is also a bit on the sultry side as well. Either one would be epic as Spydra; either Jeannie Mai or Dua Lipa would absolutely be golden as the deliciously wicked Spydra.

So that's my pitch for a female version of Dr. Claw, and the added pitch for Spydra as well. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!