01x02 - Virginia/Florida

[bunniefuu]

[siren]

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ We're going on a visit ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ Come on,
let's go with him ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ What's that, you ask?
What is it? ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ Well, no one
wants to miss it ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ We're going on a visit ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ Have fun,
let's go with him ♪

♪ New places,
new faces ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

♪ Inspector Gadget's
field trip ♪

Gadget:
Inspector Gadget here.

I did the breaststroke
all the way from Spain,

across the atlantic ocean,

to the east coast
of Florida...

And boy,
are my swim fins tired.

We're in historic
St. Augustine, Florida,

america's oldest city.

I've landed on
the same beach

where spanish explorers
touched ground

back in the 1500s.

Like the explorers,

I'm here to investigate
a very curious place:

the fountain of youth.

America's oldest city

is a strange place
for a fountain of youth.

Let's investigate.

Gadget:
this is no fountain.

This is a fort,
complete with moat,

kind of like a private river
that surrounds it.

The fort is called the...

...and it's considered
the jewel of St. Augustine.

If you don't believe me,

check out the diamond-shaped
ramparts at each corner.

That's so they can sh**t
cannons in all directions.

This former fort is now
a national monument.

Gadget: the fort's name
is spanish

because it was built
by the spaniards

starting in the year 1672,

and the fort
was never conquered.

Man: stand clear!

Make way for
the king's servants.

Gadget: St. Augustine
is a time warp.

About 500 years ago,
in the year 1513,

spanish explorer
don juan ponce de leon

sailed here and named
the area la Florida.

Legend has it
ponce de leon

was on a search for gold
and mystical waters

that would make him
young forever.

I suppose vitamins,
exercise,

and a good night's sleep
didn't occur to him.

Ponce de leon planned to call
the mystical water the fountain

of youth. Only, he would have
called it that in spanish.

Then in 1565,
a spanish conquistador named...

...followed ponce de leon
and sailed to la Florida.

Menendez de aviles
settled St. Augustine

and declared the rest of la
Florida a spanish territory.

Man: as you probably
already know,

St. Augustine
is the oldest

continually populated city
in the united states.

Gadget: if you're looking
for the oldest anything,

St. Augustine has
the market cornered,

at least in the united
states. There's the

old jail that was used to house
old jailbirds in the 1800s.

My second cousin,
turnkey Gadget, used

to work here as night
guard and alarm system.

They had to let him go when
they caught him picking

his own pocket.

Here's the oldest store museum.

No, it doesn't
sell old stores.

It does have more than

and shows what life
was like in the 1800s.

Back then, you could
come here for medicine,

having a tooth pulled,

getting a haircut,
catching up on the gossip,

or even buying
some groceries.

This is the oldest
hardware store,

called the spanish
quarter museum.

Spanish colonists spent
thousands of hours over

red-hot anvils, hand-fashioning
and hammering out

every single tool, piece
of equipment, and nail...

And loving it.

Look. over there.

It's the oldest wooden
schoolhouse in the usa.

This school is so old

the chalkboard collects
social security.

That's either a
dunce cap, or he

stuck his head in a very
large pencil sharpener.

Robot: sometimes the children
are unruly in class.

Then they must spend time
under the stairway there.

We call it the dungeon.

Gadget: wowsers!

Dunce caps and dungeons.

And people call these
"the good old days."

That's either the world's
largest candy cane

or strangest barbershop.

Actually, it's...

Though it looks
pretty heavy from here.

Let's get to the bottom--
uh, top of this.

Of course, the top is...

And there are no plans
to put in an escalator.

Wowsers!

Would you believe all that light
comes from this tiny bulb?

Actually, a small bulb
like this works

because the light is reflected
through these prisms.

When we come back,

we'll meet a state pet
you don't want to pet,

but first, an Inspector Gadget
field trip fact.

It took Menendez
and his fleet

from Spain to Florida.

Today, that same journey
takes just 9 hours by plane,

or Gadget copter,

and another 9 hours
to find your luggage.

Gadget:
Inspector Gadget here...

On the case
in St. Augustine, Florida,

still seeking the missing
fountain of youth.

Wonder if it's here
at the alligator and bird farm.

Go, go, Gadget gator cam!

Alligators,
crocodiles, and birds.

Oh, my.

That's what you'll find
in many parts of Florida.

This farm is literally crawling
with alligators and crocodiles,


but if you try
to count them,

don't count
on your fingers.

It's also the home
of my friend Gomek,

a 50-year-old crocodile
from New Guinea.

Of course he could be
lying about his age.

Man: we do know this.

He is the largest reptile
on this half of the planet.

Gadget: how do you feed
a one-ton crocodile?

Very carefully.

When gomek says he'd like
to have you for dinner,

he means it.

Gators and crocs
are known people eaters.

See you later, alligator.

In a while, crocodile.

Florida is one of
the hottest states in the u.s.,

so it figures that
we find ourselves

at one of its hottest
attractions: the

dat'l do-it datil pepper world
headquarters in St. Augustine.

They say that datil peppers
are some of the hottest

peppers in the world. At
dat'l do-it, you can see

how they pick and pickle
their prickly peppers.

It's a good thing the pepper
pickers are wearing gloves.

The peppers are so hot

that the picklers
must wear masks

so they won't inhale
pepper dust.

They had a guy named
Peter Piper working here,

but he picked a peck
and retired to Pensacola.

Wowsers!
These peppers are crying.

Maybe they're sweating
because they're so hot.

All the more reason to find
that fountain of youth.

That'll do it for
the datil peppers.

Oh. I guess
I'll try just one.

Yaaaahhhhh!

Water! Water!

Go, go, Gadget
fire extinguisher!

Aha! Could this be
the spot

where don juan
ponce de leon

discovered the fountain
of youth?

It looks more like a leaky
pipe than a fountain.

Actually,
the fountain of youth

is a natural
underground spring

that feeds
these fountains and wells.

It also
quenches the thirst

of the thousands
of youth seekers

who come here each year.

Excuse me. could I have
a sip of that?

Wowsers!
This stuff really works!

Either my Gadgets
just shrunk,

or I'm 12 years old again

and late for science class.

The fountain of youth
still springs eternal

after all these years.

Mr. ponce de leon
would be so proud

if only he'd lived long enough
to be young again.

My Gadgets and I are finally
back to normal again.

If you call a man with hands
in his hat normal.

I hope you had a good time
on our field trip.

Fooling around at the fort,
gawking at the gators,

pickling the peppers,

and sipping
magical waters.

Uh-oh! I think
I picked up an alligator

instead of my suitcase.

Go, go, Gadget legs!

Stay tuned for more
fabulous fun when we return.

Yikes!

Inspector Gadget here

with a top-secret field trip
message from the chief.

"Ye jolly old Englishmen

"of Williamsburg, Virginia,

should watch out
for horse-drawn carriages."

Obviously, the chief is
communicating in top-secret

code. There isn't a jolly old
Englishman's horse in sight.

[horse neighs]

Gadget: except that one.

Look at the strange clothing
on these people.

My keen sense of detection

reveals that we're in Colonial
Williamsburg, Virginia.

Apparently, time stood still
here in the middle 1700s.

That was over

which in dog years
just happens to add up to, uh,

eh, uh...a lot.

Let's take a george
washington's-eye view

at this extraordinary place.

From 1699 to 1776,

Williamsburg was the capital

of england's oldest,
largest, richest,

and most populated
colony--Virginia.

Not only that,

but they serve a mean
Virginia peanut soup.

Guess that makes
Williamsburg

the colony that sticks
to the roof of your mouth.

As you can see, Williamsburg
is full of old shops,

taverns, government buildings,
and homes.

It was also
up to its ears

in old fathers
of the united states.

In old times,
the old fathers got together

in these old buildings

to come up with a new form
of government.

I have no idea
what the mothers were doing.

My great-uncle
quill pen Gadget

actually served
as a human blotter

for the constitution.

I understand he wore clothes
just like this,

which made the owners
of the clothing a little upset.

He changed his name
to old inkblot

and became a town crier,
which was a big drain

on the town
kleenex supply.

Kids had a lot
of interesting games back then.

You can still play this
in colonial Williamsburg today,

since it's a very special place
frozen in time,

though not at all cold.

Here's a blacksmith warming up
for a hard day's work.

The smithy makes all sorts
of practical things,

like horseshoes.

The other things
were considered

less practical
by the horses.

Horse sandals
never caught on.

In colonial days,
they didn't have cars,

so they used horses and
carriages to get around.

The shoes were
for the horses,

not the carriages.

Most boys drove
their father's carts

at the age of 10,

and they didn't have to take
a driver's test.

As to the minimum driving age
for horses,

your guess is as good
as the old Inspector's.

Wowsers! Look at those
huge horses!

They must wear size 13
triple "e" horseshoes!

Oh. those aren't horses.
They're oxen.

They were used to plow
the fields

and transport heavy carts
to market.

This is the carpenters'
lumber and brick yard,

where they kneaded clay
to be molded into bricks.

Of course they needed clay!

You don't make bricks
out of lumber.

This loaf of clay
can easily be mistaken

for a loaf of bread...

Until you try eating it.

Chewy, but not
very nutritious.

You have to get
your roughage somewhere.

Would you believe these
carpenters are making barrels?

Would you believe

recycling popsicle sticks?

How about making skis
for anthills?

They didn't have machines
to do the work for them

back in the 18th century.
Everything was made by hand,

except the hands.

After watching all that
hand labor, I'm starving.

Let's stop
at the king's arms tavern

for a bite to eat.

Hope they're not serving
the king's arm.

The king wouldn't be
too happy about that.

Come to think of it,
the king wasn't too

happy about a lot of things.

He lived in far-off england,

and the colonies were
out of arms' reach.

After a quick bite
of king's arm--

that's the daily special--

it's nice to relax
with the colonial version

of the hula-hoop.

Only, they did it the hard way
with an iron hoop.

Everyone pitched in to help
in colonial days,

even the kids.

There were vegetables
to be picked,

clothes to wash,
dinner to cook,

and hoops to hula.

Did you know
that the average family

had 6 or 7 kids
all living in a small house

with no indoor bathroom?

Undoubtedly, these kids
are asking directions

to the nearest
public rest room.

No horses allowed.

Welcome back to our field trip
through Williamsburg.

The good news was
there were no public schools

in Virginia until after
the civil w*r.

The bad news is they didn't
get to play hookey.

Most children had tutors

or were schooled at home,

so they still learned
the 4 rs--

reading, 'riting,
'rithmetic,

and raise your hand to go
to the outhouse.

In the 18th century,

half of the population
of Williamsburg was black.

In fact, the first africans
were brought over

in 1619 as sl*ves.

Their hard work was
directly responsible

for the settlement's
success.

everyone was polite.

They all tipped their hats
to one another.

Of course, if I do that,
my Gadgets fall out.

When there's a wig,
there's a way.

A lot of the more
well-to-do people

wore wigs all the time,
even the men!

We can guess that they
wore their hats

to keep your wigs warm,

and they tipped their hats
to cool them off.

The men and women
shaved their heads

so it would be more comfortable
to wear the wigs.

I don't get it.

They shaved off
perfectly good live hair

to cover their heads
with old hair!

And then they powdered the
wig hair to make it look

better, or more old.

Williamsburg was more than
just another pretty face--

eh, place.

It played an important part
in america's decision

to fight for independence
from great britain.

This is the capitol building

where the fifth Virginia
convention met

for an historic decision.

No, it had nothing to do
with powdered wigs.

They voted to break away
from great britain

and become independent.

That brought
lots of changes,

which hopefully included
indoor plumbing.

This also included
building an army

here at the yorktown
encampment.

The american revolution was
a long and difficult w*r.

When the united states
finally won its independence,

this is where the british
troops surrendered

to general and first
president george washington.

On october 18, 1781,

america was born.

Yorktown is now preserved
as a camp

for everyone to visit.

Here are 2 soldiers showing what
they learned at Yorktown-

soldier stuff.

These are either
the bells of freedom,

a cheap remake of The
Hunchback of Notre Dame,

or my Gadget alarm clock
gone haywire.

[g*nsh*t]

Gadget: I'm gonna have to
get that alarm fixed.

You, too, can sign up to learn
solider stuff at Yorktown.

Classes include
marching 101,

musket drills,

and advanced cannon firing.

Mess hall messing around
is optional,

but very satisfying.

That's what happens

when you fail
your solider stuff classes.

Actually, these are tourists
having a good time.

To each his own.

I guess the snack bar
was closed.

Back in revolutionary w*r times,

these stockades are where
the bad guys and gals

were locked up.

I hope you had a good time
on our field trip.

Go, go, Gadget field trip!