Regarding Lawhiney*
(* or however the HECK we're supposed to spell the name of "Gadget's evil twin")

---

Geez, her name is flaming difficult to get right!

I have observed that any two RR fan-fiction writers seldom spell her name the same way. I usually spell it "Lawhiney", just so I can make bad puns about her being 'Whiney. I have seen it spelled: "Lu'whini", "Lawinee","Luwainie", "Lawainee", "Lawaini","Lawhiny","Lahwhinie","Leuani"...heck, there's too many variations to keep track of! Candy said (on her Everything Rescue Rangers page) that the "official" spelling is "Lahwhinie". The "story synopses" from Bjoern's presskit (posted on his site) confirmed this (thanks, Bjoern!). Deborah Walley herself spelled it "Lawhinnie" when she posted at the Acorn Cafe (See "Tales From the Messageboards" for a copy of said post). I ran my copy of "Gadget Goes Hawaiian" (any rabid RR- or Gadget-Fan with a VCR has at least 10 episodes on tape) through closed captioning, and it spit it out as "Louwhiney". I'd like to get ahold of the writer responsible for that episode (that would probably be Julia J. Roberts since *her* name was on the credits.)& ask her why the *heck* she picked that name & inflicted it upon us! Heck, not only do I mess up while writing it, I mess up when I say it sometimes. I have accidentally renamed her "Lust-Whiney" (oh, my!) and "Kuwani" (This tongue-trip bacame the basis for an RPG character of mine.) John Posey once called her "La-Hiney" (hiney--> synomyn for 'butt') and "Law-Hee-nie"

Karl asked around and this is what he found:
I found a website run by a professor - PhD and all! - who was explaining Hawaiian linguistics...
I sent him an email asking his opinion.
You're gonna love this, Kat!
He wasn't sure it derived from "wahini", but thought, depending on the character of the mouse in question, that the pronounciation I sent him (La-wine-ee) might be "La Whiney". B^D

Hey, that's pretty dang close to the way -I- spell it :)
Here is some insight by "charles", who think's he's won the name game:

I cracked the case to the spelling and the meaning of Lawhiney's name.Here we go...In Hawaiian culture,as in any other,there are Laymen and there are Experts.Experts in many things.The Hawaiian word for expert is,"Kahuna"(yes as in,The Big Kahuna).Now,like I said,there are experts in many things:Kahuna aloha-experts in love magic,Kahuna 'ana 'ana-experts in sorcery,Kahuna ho'oulu'ai-experts in agriculture...the lists go on.However,keep in mind that women were not permitted to enter temples or shrines,known as heiau,and the men who were in charge of these places and prayed to their various deities were called,Kahuna pule-experts of prayer.But female prayer experts existed,too and they were called(Big Drum Roll!!),Kahuna pule wahine-woman prayer expert.Now watch this...remember when I posted earlier about the word wahine meaning basically,"woman",in both Hawaiian and Maori tounge?Now if you didn't know how to spell those words and you tried to do so phonetically,it would come out like this:Kaa-hoo-naa-poo-lah-why-nee.See?She was a priestess.Her name is the last part of her title(...le wahine).Lawhiney and every variant created is based on that word fragment!Hahah!I did it!I did it!

Hmm. Comments anyone?

"...you remind me of somebody."

You really should look in a mirror more often, Gadget-luv.

There are two things I have been wondering about--okay, make that three things: 1) Why does Lawhiney look exactly like Gadget? 2) What would happen if she met Rat Capone--and he mistook her for Gadget? 3) How the *heck* was Lawhiney able to talk Gadget into that mess in the first place? (mutant Charm power?? Nah.) Item #3 is still under debate. This is what Aivars Liepa had to say about it:
"As for question 3. Need remember the situation. Gadget had a hard choice to made. her friends was pushing her too far and too fast. And then there is someone with *problems*. She need help. And she agrees to help Gadget too. Why not?"
Hmm. Gadget *does* have a habit of helping people in trouble-- sometimes with little concern for her own safety. (See Regarding Gadget.)
I tried to deal with #2 in "A Game of Rat and Mouse". However, I'm -still- not satisfied with the ending on thhat 'fic. (Since I'm tired of messing with it, I've posted it "as is" and moved on to better things.)
As for #1, there are quite a few possibilities...

I. They're related...

• A. They are twin sisters, separated at birth.
• B. They are sisters. Something happened when they were babies & L was assumed dead.
• C. They are half-sisters (this is the idea behind Aivar's fan-fic, "Sisters").
• D. They are cousins. (Hmm. We don't really know if Geegaw had any siblings...)

E. They are distantly related.

• A. Someone got ahold of an intact strand of Gadget's DNA & created a (flawed?) clone.
• B. Someone got ahold of an intact strand of DNA from Gadget's mom and used it to make a clone.
• C. Gadget had a twin sister who died at birth and some scientist used her DNA in a cloning experiment. (Let's go on to a less morbid category, shall we?)

III. Lawhiney is from another dimension/an alternate universe:

• A. She's really NegaGadget...(Hmm. I don't *think* so, J.P.! However, nothing proves or disproves this theory.)
• B. She's from the "Mirror Universe".

John Davidson elaborates on this:
"Ever read "Dark Mirror"? Lawhiny could still be from a mirror universe. I will explain. We have seen that just because some one has a mirror double that does not mean they will have the same intelligence. Lawhiny might not have had the same upbringing as Gadget. Where Gadget was free to learn, Lawhiny might not of had the chance. But she still would have the potential. Also being fronm the mirror universe does not mean you have to be totally evil."

Hmm. I'm almost *certain* that she didn't have the same upbringing as Gadget. Even though it would explain most of the coincedences, we aren't given enough information in the episode to support (or deny) this. I never said she was totally evil, but I am having difficulty finding her redeeming qualities. (If she has any, she hides them well.)
Paul Stevens responds:
...about this 'Mirror Reality' ... See if gadget is from this reality and Luwainee was from anouther, then your dealing with positive and negative forces here. Their for Luwainee would be the twisted, evil side of gadget, which we know Gadg doesn't have.
Aivars made a similar comment. He pointed out that a 'mirror Gadget' would be a better villain than Lawhiney. Comments anyone??

IV. She could be a small, shape-shifting alien who had gotten amnesia. (Okay, we're starting to get ridiculous now!)Heh, long story. The main thing is, I was only joking.

V. She is an Avatar of Pele.
Charles explains:
And on the subject of myths are the soon to be apparent connections between Lawhiney and Shake'a Bake'a and Pele and her lover,Kamapua'a,which was what the writer of "Gadget goes Hawaiian" was trying to convey as least as far as characterisation was concerned.To simplify matters I will list all actions and traits that they share,starting with the ladies: Pele:(according to some tellings)was kicked out of her homeland due to a fire-related incident. Lawhiney:Was exiled from her village due to a near fire-related incident. Pele:arrived in Hawaii to be a queen. Lawhiney:also wanted to be a queen. Pele:has a firey nature befitting her status as the supreme personification of volcanic majesty and the violent and carnal side of the Female Psyche. Lawhiney:Ditto! Pele:can be gentle,loving and serene as the forests of ferns and flowering trees that she creates and nutures. Lawhiney:has been shown to be very loving to Shake'a Bake'a in her ep,Aivar's "Sisters",Kat's "Farce" series and even to Chip in the OYV series. Pele:can manipulate volcanoes and fire in all its forms and is associated closely with the flame. Lawhiney:has in her ep,manipulated a volcano,knew enough to take Kuwani's Ring of Fire Immunity(did she sense that she would have a need for it?)and to quote Sally Jesse Raphael,"has a name 'flaming' difficult to spell"
And now Shake'a Bake'a and Kamapua'a: Kamapua'a:was very handsome,smart,strong and tall. S.B.:is good looking,strong,tall and smart...well smart enough.:) Kamapua'a:was attracted to Pele for beauty and her nature. S.B.:ditto for Lawhiney,I'm sure. Kamapua'a:has a personality that's completely opposite from Pele's. S.B.:ditto with him and 'Whiney. Kamapua'a:is considered the god of rain and plant life,but particularly of water in general.It's his element. S.B.:does very well in water as he is an accomplished surfer. It is for these lists that I submit to you the following:that Lawhiney and Shake'a Bake'a are more than they seem.The lists go beyond coincidences and I say that The Insipid Islanders are actually the avatars of Pele and Kamapua'a,a part of their spirit made flesh...
I'm glad to know that I'm not the -only- person who considered that as a possibility :)

VI. It's just one gosh darn *heck* of a coincedence that they look alike.

Strider seems to think so...
Is she really Gadget's evil twin, or is it just a really big coincidence that she looks almost exactly like Miss Hackwrench? My opinion--I think it's just a very BIG coincidence that Lawhiney looks like Gadget.
Ah, yes. To paraphrase Garak, "I believe in coincedence...I just don't trust coincedence." There are just TOO many coincedences regarding those two. They are mechanically inclined (Hey, could anyone else in that village have tapped into the gas lines? I don't think so!), they can be *very* charming when they want to be (Lawhiney's just more likely to "want to be".), they talk to themselves, and their personallities are complete opposites (For example, Gadget is kinda shy; as for Lawhiney, the word 'shy' does NOT apply).

Renaming Stuff
(No, this is NOT about me re-naming her, again.)

Okay, apparently she has a habit of renaming stuff. She renamed Chip three times during the episode in question. We all know how Gadget can spit out technical terminology which goes over the boys' heads. Lawhiney seems to do the opposite of that by oversimplifying. Recall that instead of just saying 'hammer', she said, "...thing you use to pound in pointy-things...". (I assume that 'pointy-things' are 'nails', but those of us with active imaginations can think of other things which are 'pointy' that can be pounded...) So, why did she do it? Was she an airhead or just acting that way? Well, her village seemed very low-tech to me; maybe she honestly didn't know what they were called because nobody ever told her. Aivars assumed that she could read, but I didn't see any books (mouse-sized or otherwise) in her hut (or the village, for that matter). Therefore, she probably didn't learn the names of even the most basic tools by reading about them. I'd say she "oversimplifies" out ignorance (and apathy??) rather than stupidity.

However, you shouldn't assume that she doesn't know how to *use* tools just because she didn't know what to call them. Recall that she stole--er,um "borrowed"-- the repairman's pipe wrench after the switch broke. She must have known which tool in that box she could use to turn the broken valve.

BTW, did anyone else notice the human-sized goggles on the roof of Lawhiney's hut? Or her "color-change lei" (First it's yellow, then lavender, then stays yellow for a while before briefly turning lavender again, then goes back to yellow...)?

The Voice Behind the Mouse
(That would be Deborah Walley, folks ;)
Jaleel once asked Ms. Walley how she got into voice acting. Here's her reply:
"Thing is, I'm not a voice actress. My doing the roles I did on Rescue Rangers was only because my writing partner at Disney was directing them and thought it would be fun to have me do Lawhinnie in "Gadget Goes Hawaiian" ( since I was Gidget in Gidget goes Hawaiian) ... anyway it was kind of a fluke . I'd love to do more."
BTW, Ms. Walley voiced several other one-shot characters for CDRR--including Foxglove!
 

In conclusion...
A poem from Karl...
"Lawhiney, the whiney Wahini.
      As masterminds go, she is teeny.
      She makes bold proclamations,
      Shows great dedication,
      Ends up in that marshmallow scene..."

Quite fitting, don'cha think? ;)
 
 

Special thanks to Aivars for previewing this page & bringing up some points I had not considered. :)
"Thanks" to everyone who expressed their opinons--and allowed me to post them.

Okay, I'm done. Take me back to Kats' Rescue Rangers Page

BTW: The picture shown above is another screen capture, courtesy of Paltiel, & was swiped from Aivar's "Sisters" section. :) Please don't report me to the Thieves' Guild! :) A larger version of it is available at the Gadget Archive.

Okay, so Paltiel has removed some of the Hawaii GIFs... I'll stick JPEG versions of them here (for now).

• Hawaii 1: Lawhiney, after hiding the valve behind her shield.
• Hawaii 2: Lawhiney, commenting on her mental state :D
• Hawaii 3: Lawhiney & Gadget, before the swap.
• Hawaii 4: Lawhiney & Gadget, again (thanx, Aivars!).
• Hawaii 5: Shake'a Bake'a looks on as Gadget crawls out of the sock.
• Hawaii 6: Zipper & Lawhiney at the top of the genuinely artificial volcano.
• Hawaii 7: Gadget can surf!
• Hawaii 8: Chip & Dale are about to kiss each other--because Gadget can move very fast! :D Thanks, Aivars!
• Hawaii 9: Gadget & Lawhiney argue about the surfboard (among other things).

Note:If any of these pics won't load, it's probably because GeoCities is experiencing heavy traffic on their servers. Please try again later.