The Jetsons

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Template:Infobox television 

 | runtime = approx. 0:30 (per episode)
 | creator = William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
 | starring = George O'Hanlon (voice)
Penny Singleton (voice)
Janet Waldo (voice)
Daws Butler (voice)
Mel Blanc (voice)
Jean Vander Pyl (voice)
 | country = USA
 | network = ABC
 | first_aired = 1962 (original series) - 1963 (original series), 1984 (new series) - 1987 (new series)
 | last_aired =
 | num_episodes = 75
 | imdb_id = 0055683

|}} The Jetsons was a prime-time American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and aired from September 23, 1962 to March 3, 1963. Like The Flintstones, it was a family sitcom projecting contemporary American situations into other time periods. While the Flintstones lived in a world with machines powered by birds and dinosaurs, the Jetsons lived in a utopian future of elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions.

The original series of 24 episodes was made 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 1984 and 1987. The series was extensively merchandised and followed by three films.

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Synopsis

George Jetson worked 3 hours a day and 3 days a week for a short, tyrannical boss named Cosmo G. Spacely, owner of the company Spacely Space Sprockets. Typical episodes would involve Mr. Spacely firing and rehiring or promoting and demoting George Jetson. Mr. Spacely had a competitor, W.C. Cogswell, owner of the rival company Cogswell Cogs. All homes and businesses were raised high above the ground on narrow poles, in a style reflective of the architecture of Seattle's Space Needle and the distinct Theme Building of the Los Angeles International Airport. George commuted to work in a flying saucer with a transparent top. Daily life was characterized as being comically leisurely due to an incredible sophistication and number of labor saving devices. Despite this, characters would often complain of travails and difficulties of living with the remaining inconveniences.

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

The family dog Astro could mumble, just as Scooby-Doo later on could (voice actor Don Messick played both). Astro's catch phrase was "Ruh-ro!"

Names of locations, events, and devices were 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.

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Time period

Though no dates are ever specified, The Jetsons was originally supposed to take place in the year 2062, which is a hundred years after the show's debut. Jetsons: The Movie pins the series as taking place "late in 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. In season 2 of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, the Jetsons claim to live in "the magnificent far-off year of 2002", and to have come "back in time" to 2004.

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Cast

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Episodes

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Season 1 (1962-1963)

  • In the original closing credits, George came home and tried to walk Astro, the family dog, but when Astro noticed a cat by the electronic dog walk, Astro began to chase it and George got caught into the dog-walk. Astro and the cat both looked on as George cried "Jane, stop this crazy thing!" This was a counterpart to The Flintstones' closing credits in which the saber-toothed cat put Fred Flintstone out for the night.
# Production Airdate Title Notes
1 V-01 Sep 23 1962 Rosey the Robot
2 V-02 Sep 30 1962 A Date With Jet Screamer Featured the catchy tune "Eep, Opp, Ork, Ah-ah!", later performed by the Violent Femmes.
3 V-03 Oct 07 1962 Jetsons Nite Out
4 V-04 Oct 14 1962 The Space Car
5 V-05 Oct 21 1962 The Coming of Astro First appearance of Astro.
6 V-06 Oct 28 1962 The Good Little Scouts R.U.D.I.'s only 1960s appearance.
7 V-07 Nov 04 1962 The Flying Suit
8 V-08 Nov 11 1962 Rosey's Boyfriend
9 V-09 Nov 18 1962 Elroy's TV Show
10 V-10 Nov 25 1962 Uniblab
11 V-12 Dec 02 1962 A Visit From Grandpa
12 V-11 Dec 09 1962 Astro's Top Secret
13 V-13 Dec 16 1962 Las Venus
14 V-14 Dec 23 1962 Elroy's Pal
15 V-15 Dec 30 1962 Test Pilot
16 V-16 Jan 06 1963 Millionaire Astro
17 V-17 Jan 13 1963 The Little Man
18 V-18 Jan 20 1963 Jane's Driving Lesson
19 V-19 Jan 27 1963 G.I. Jetson
20 V-20 Feb 03 1963 Miss Solar System
21 V-21 Feb 10 1963 Private Property
22 V-22 Feb 17 1963 Dude Planet
23 V-23 Feb 24 1963 TV or Not TV
24 V-24 Mar 03 1963 Elroy's Mob
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Season 2 (1984-1985)

  • For the 1980s incarnation of the show, new characters were introduced, including Orbitty, the Jetsons family alien pet, Spacely's inventive brother Orwell and, George's work computer, R.U.D.I.
  • The closing credits are static picture captions (like most of H-B's shows of the time). This format replaced the original credit sequence described above.
# Production Airdate Title Notes
26 Sep 09 1985 Elroy Meets Orbitty
27 Sep 10 1985 Rosie Come Home
28 Sep 11 1985 Solar Snoops
29 Sep 12 1985 Judy's Birthday Surprise
30 Sep 16 1985 SuperGeorge
31 Sep 17 1985 Family Fallout
32 Sep 18 1985 S.M.A.S.H. Jane can drive.
33 Sep 19 1985 The Mirrormorph
34 Sep 23 1985 Mother's Day for Rosie
35 Sep 24 1985 Jetson's Millions
36 Rip-Off Rosie
37 Fugitive Fleas
38 Far-Out Father
39 Astro's Big Moment
40 The Cosmic Courtship of George and Jane
41 Fantasy Planet
42 S'no Relative
43 Instant Replay
44 Haunted Halloween
45 Future Tense
46 The Wrong Stuff
47 Judy Takes Off
48 A Jetson Christmas Carol
49 Dog Daze Afternoon
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Season 3 (1987)

# Production Airdate Title Notes
50 Sep 01 1987 ASTROnomical I.Q.
51 Sep 08 1987 9 to 5 to 9
52 Sep 15 1987 Invisibly Yours, George
53 Sep 22 1987 Father/Daughter Dance
54 Sep 29 1987 Clean as a Hound's Tooth
55 Oct 06 1987 Wedding Bells for Rosie
56 Oct 13 1987 The Odd Pod
57 Oct 20 1987 Two Many Georges
58 Oct 27 1987 Spacely for a Day
59 Crime Games
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Films (1987-1990)

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Further Appearances

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Comics

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Games

  • The Jetsons' Ways With Words (Intellivision)
  • 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 (arcade game)
  • Mealtime Malfunction (Apple)
  • Space Race
  • Flintstones Jetsons Time Warp (CD-i)
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Trivia

Image:Jetsonslogo640x480.jpg

  • The Jetsons' phone number is VENUS-1234. (See Telephone exchange for more about this number convention.)
  • George and Jane's wedding anniversary is June 2.
  • Elroy is said to be six-and-a-half-years-old.
  • If one does not pay a parking meter, a hand comes out and bangs the violating space car.
  • 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. Ironically, a made-for-television film was made in the 1980s that would pair both the Flintstones with the Jetsons (the aforementioned The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones).
  • The host of the "Love Rocket", a popular show, is named Gamey McGameGame.
  • George's second cousin Phil Richbourg grew up beneath the smog and pollution on Earth's surface.
  • George Jetson was ranked #4 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).
  • Penny Singleton, who played Blondie in the 1940s movie series, was the voice of Jane Jetson. The Blondie comic strip is often cited a significant influence on The Jetsons
  • The Jetsons lived in the Skypad Apartments.
  • The Jetsons still use paper money, not electronic funds transfer using a card, thumbprint or retina scan.
  • Computers use vacuum tubes instead of microchips in the future, which still burn out from overuse. Integrated circuits were only available commercially for around a year before the Jetsons first aired.
  • The opening jingle for Hanna-Barbera sounded like "The Jetsons" door bell with the words "Hanna-Barbera Presents" under the "Hanna-Barbera Swirling Star" logo from the 1980's.
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Reference

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External links

pl:Jetsonowie pt:The Jetsons

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