The Jetsons

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The Jetsons
File:Jetsonslogo640x480.jpg
The Jetsons title card
Voices ofGeorge O'Hanlon
Penny Singleton
Janet Waldo
Daws Butler
Mel Blanc
Don Messick
Jean Vander Pyl
Theme music composerHoyt Curtin
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes75 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time22-25 minutes
Original release
NetworkABC (1962–1963)
Syndication (1985–1987)
ReleaseSeptember 23, 1962 –
October 27, 1987

The Jetsons is a prime-time animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The original incarnation of the series aired on Sunday nights on ABC from September 23, 1962 to March 3, 1963. Like The Flintstones, it is a half-hour family sitcom projecting contemporary American culture and lifestyle into another time period. While the Flintstones live in a world with machines powered by birds and dinosaurs, the Jetsons live in a futuristic utopia of elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions.

The original series, comprising 24 episodes, was produced between 1962 and 1963 and was re-run on Saturday morning for decades. Its continuing popularity led to further episodes being produced for syndication between 1985 and 1987. The series was extensively merchandised and followed by two made for-TV movies and two theatrical feature films.

Plot

George Jetson works 3 hours a day and 3 days a week for his short, tyrannical boss named Mr. Cosmo Spacely, owner of the company Spacely Space Sprockets. Typical episodes involve Mr. Spacely firing and rehiring or promoting and demoting George Jetson. Mr. Spacely has a competitor, S.K. Cogswell, owner of the rival company Cogswell Cogs. All homes and businesses are raised high above the ground on adjustable columns, in a style reflective of the architecture of Seattle's Space Needle and the distinct Theme Building of the Los Angeles International Airport. George commutes to work in an aerocar that vaguely resembles a flying saucer with a transparent top. Daily life is characterized as being comically leisurely due to the incredible sophistication and number of labor saving devices, which occasionally break down with humorous results. George's work day consists of pressing a single computer button. Despite this, characters often complain of exhausting hard labor and difficulties of living with the remaining inconveniences.

Other Jetson family members include Jane Jetson, the wife and homemaker; teenage daughter Judy and genius preteen son Elroy. Housekeeping is seen to by a robot maid, Rosie; she only appears in two episodes of the original 1960s show, excluding her appearance in the closing credits, but makes many appearances on the 1980s show.

The family dog Astro can mumble and say his words beginning with R's, like later cartoon dogs Scooby-Doo and Muttley could speak (voice actor Don Messick played all three, all of which were created by H-B). Astro's catch phrases are "Ruh-roh!" and "Right, Reorge!" or "Rats Rall Right Reorge!" In the first episode of the '80s show, an alien named Orbity joined the family.

Names of locations, events, and devices are often puns or derivatives of contemporary analogs with explicit futuristic or space-age twists. The same technique was used in The Flintstones with archaic or stone-age twists.

Differences between the 1960s version and the 1980s version

Besides the increased presence of Rosie and the addition of Orbitty, further differences between the 1960s version and 1980s version include the following:

  • Although the 1960s episodes were retrofitted with title cards, those episodes are distinguished by 1960s style animation, music, and references (similar to The Flintstones and other Hanna-Barbera shows of that period).
  • The cast members have a slightly softer vocal tone in their 1960s era performances since they were about twenty years younger when originally working on the series.
  • Whereas the 1960s stories were basically 1950s sitcom plots in a futuristic setting, the 1980s stories delved into fantastic, sci-fi cartoon territory. In other words, the '60s episodes were more "sitcom-y" while the '80s episodes were more "cartoon-y" in style.
  • The opening credits featured a rerecorded version the Jetsons theme song, which features the use of synthesized drums to create percussion typical of 1980s music.
  • The closing credits are static picture captions (like most of Hanna-Barbera's shows of the time). This format replaced the original credit sequence described above when the 1960s episodes were rebroadcast.

Time period

Though no dates are ever specified, The Jetsons was originally supposed to take place in the year 2062.[1] Jetsons: The Movie contradicts this by placing the series "at the turn of the 21st century". In the movie The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, Elroy wanted to time travel into the future to visit the 25th century, indicating the Jetsons live no later than the 24th century.

Voice cast

Rosie (robot), George, Jane, Judy (top)
Astro (dog), Elroy (bottom)

Minor repeating characters

  • Montague Jetson is the kindly but eccentric grandfather of George Jetson.
  • Arthur Spacely - Mr. Spacely's son - Dick Beals

The Jetsons media

Episodes

Main article: List of The Jetsons episodes

Films

In May 2007, director Robert Rodriguez entered talks with Universal Studios and Warner Bros. to film a live action film adaptation of The Jetsons. He had also met with Universal Studios to direct a film adaptation of Land of the Lost. Rodriguez was uncertain which project he would pursue next, though the latest script draft for The Jetsons by Adam Goldberg was further along in development.[2]

Further appearances

Parodies

File:Fgjetsonspoof.png
Jane and George Jetson as they appeared on Family Guy's parody of The Jetsons.
  • Family Guy, George is shown walking Astro on the automatic dog walker and gets stuck. Later, he chastises Jane for not hearing him screaming for help for 45 minutes. The show's opening was spoofed in another Family Guy episode, "Meet the Quagmires". As in the original series (and drawn more like it), Jane takes George's wallet instead of the money he gives her. However, George catches Jane trying to take his wallet and stops her from leaving his car. He then promptly reprimands her. Later in the episode, Jane falls from the sky to her death. Unlike the previous spoof, which featured the Jetson characters in Family Guy versions, this version featured them in their original designs. Family Guy also featured Elroy Jetson, only older and drunk. A drunk Elroy stumbles out of a bar and asks his cab driver, an older and somewhat bitter Bamm-Bamm Rubble, to take him to Astro's grave.
  • The Fairly Oddparents, in the Nickelodeon TV movie Channel Chasers, when Timmy Turner first went in TV, he went into a cartoon that is a spoof of The Jetsons, but instead was called "The Futurellis." Two parodies of George Jetson and Astro can be seen in this TV movie.
  • Animaniacs, in the show's episode "Star Warners" (a parody of the Star Wars trilogy), you can see "alien" versions of the Jetsons, who were trying to watch something funny on TV.
  • Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law, In one episode, the Jetsons hire Harvey to sue the people of Earth because of the future effects of global warming. They claim to be from the future, even though they give their local year as 2002, two years in the past, and much is made of their humorously obsolete technology when compared to modern day electronics. They struggle with the lack of a conveyor belt, and insist the jury be replaced by a large supercomputer.
  • Robot Chicken, in a parody of the movie I, Robot, Rosie is accused of murdering George Jetson.
  • In an episode of Rugrats, during a flashback sequence where Stu and Drew Pickles (as toddlers) try to turn the channel to Blocky and Oxwinkle (an obvious parody of Rocky and Bullwinkle), they encounter a program called "The Stetsons", featuring flying hats in space.

Comics

  • The Jetsons #1-36 (Gold Key Comics, January 1963 – October 1970)
  • March of Comics #276 (1965), #330 (1969), #348
  • The Jetsons #1-20 (Charlton Comics, November 1970 – December 1973); 100-page no-number issue
  • Spotlight #3 (Marvel Comics, 197x)
  • The Jetsons #1-5 (Harvey Comics, September 1992 – November 1993); Big Book #1-3, Giant Size #1-3
  • The Jetsons #1-17 (Archie Comics, September 1995 – August 1996)
  • The Flintstones and the Jetsons #1-21 (DC Comics, August 1997 – April 1999)

Games

  • The Jetsons' Ways With Words (Intellivision) (1984)
  • The Jetsons and the Legend of Robotopia (Amiga, 1990)
  • The Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper (NES, 1992)
  • The Jetsons: Robot Panic (Game Boy, 1992)
  • The Jetsons: Invasion of the Planet Pirates (Super NES, 1994)
  • Jetsons the Computer Game (Amiga) (1992)
  • Mealtime Malfunction (Apple)
  • Space Race
  • Flintstones Jetsons Time Warp (CD-i) (1994)
  • The Jetsons: By George, in Trouble Again (DOS, 1990)

DVD releases

DVD Name Ep # Release Date Additional Information
Season 1 24 May 11, 2004
  • Commentary on 2 episodes
  • The Jetsons: The Family of the Future
  • Space Age Gadgets
  • Rosie the Robotic Maid
  • Nuclear Family Album

Trivia

  • The Jetsons' phone number is VENUS-1234. (See Telephone exchange names for more about this number convention.)
  • An episode of Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones, featured (via the Great Gazoo's help) the Flintstones and Rubbles visiting 25th century Bedrock, which greatly resembled the Jetsons' future.
  • George Jetson was ranked #4 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).
  • The style of space age architecture and design circa the 1950s and 1960s that is reminiscent of The Jetsons is known as Googie architecture. The Jetson’s apartment building is reminiscent of the Space Needle that was the futuristic symbol of the Century 21 Exposition commonly known as the Seattle World's Fair.
  • The lead/solo trumpet part for The Jetsons theme song was played by Bud Brisbois.
  • In 2003, New Zealand Internet Service Provider, Xtra used The Jetsons to advertise their Broadband product. The advertisement began with George flying into the present time in New Zealand, flying past the Parliament Buildings in Wellington. George stated "This Broadband is as good as anything we have in the future." The advertisement continued to show the benefits of a Broadband Internet connection over a Dial Up connection. The advertisement ended with George saying "It's the way of the future, but some people will never get used to progress," showing Fred Flintstone using a computer made out of stone with a real mouse. [1]

The Jetsons today

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Jetsons: Did you Know...?". Did You Know?. Gemstone Publishing. May 16, 2003. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Borys Kit (2007-05-09). "Future or past for Rodriguez?". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-07-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Further reading

External links

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