The Jetsons

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The Jetsons
Rosie, George, Jane, Judy (top) Astro, Elroy (bottom)
Genre	Animated situation comedy
Creator(s)	William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Starring	George O'Hanlon Penny Singleton Janet Waldo Daws Butler Mel Blanc Jean Vander Pyl
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	24 (1960s); 51 (1980s)
Production
Running time	30 min. (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	1962–1963 (season 1) – 1985–1987 (seasons 2–3)
Links

The Jetsons was a prime-time American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and aired on Sunday nights on ABC from September 23, 1962 to March 3, 1963. It was the first animated color series on [ABC]] Like The Flintstones, it was a half-hour family sitcom projecting contemporary American culture and lifestyle into another time period. 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 1985 and 1987. The series was extensively merchandised and followed by two made for-TV movies and one feature film.

1 Synopsis
2 Time period
3 Cast
4 Episodes
5 DVD Releases
6 Trivia
7 The Jetsons today
8 The Jetsons in other languages
9 See also
10 Reference
11 External links

[edit] 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. George's work day consists of pressing a single computer button. 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 and Muttley later on could (voice actor Don Messick played all). Astro's catch phrases were "Ruh-roh!" and "Right, Reorge!"

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.

[edit] Time period

Though no dates are ever specified, The Jetsons was originally supposed to take place “one hundred years in the future”^[1] (which would be circa the 2060s). Jetsons: The Movie confirms this by placing the series “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, though it was used for comedic purposes, the Jetsons claim to live in “the magnificent far-off year of 2002”, and to have come “back in time” to 2004.

[edit] Cast

George Jetson - George O'Hanlon
Jane Jetson - Penny Singleton
Elroy Jetson - Daws Butler and, also voiced, Patric Zimmerman
Judy Jetson - Janet Waldo
Astro the Dog - Don Messick
Rosie the Robot Maid - Jean Vander Pyl
Henry Orbit - Daws Butler (Howard Morris in a few of the original episodes)
Orbity - Frank Welker
Uniblab - Don Messick
Cosmo G. Spacely - Mel Blanc
Mrs. Spacely - Jean Vanderpyl
RUDI - Don Messick
W.C. Cogswell - Daws Butler

[edit] Episodes

Main Article: List of episodes of The Jetsons

[edit] Films (1987-2009)

The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987)
Rockin' with Judy Jetson (1988)
Jetsons: The Movie (1990)
The Jetsons (live-action film) (announced, 2009)^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Further Appearances

Astro also appeared on the Saturday morning cartoon Space Stars in the segment Astro and the Space Mutts
The Jetsons: Father & Son Day (Spümcø, Macromedia Flash)
The Jetsons: The Best Son (Spümcø, Macromedia Flash)
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Shaggy Busted" (2002)
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Back to the Present" (2004)
In Robot Chicken as a parody of the movie I, Robot where Rosie is accused of murdering George.

[edit] 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, Sugust 1997 – April 1999)

[edit] 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)
The Jetsons: By George, in Trouble Again (DOS, 1990)

[edit] DVD Releases

On May 11, 2004, Warner Home Video released Season 1 of The Jetsons on DVD for the very first time in Region 1. It is not yet known if Season 2 & 3 (1980's episodes) will ever be released on DVD.

Cover Art	DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
	Season 1	26	November 8, 2004	Commentary on 2 episodes The Jetsons: The Family of the Future Space Age Gadgets Rosie the Robotic Maid Nuclear Family Album

[edit] Trivia

A shot of the show's opening title card.

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.
Two characters on The Jetsons bear striking resemblances to characters from other Hanna-Barbera cartoons - Cosmo Spacely, George's boss, looks like Magilla Gorilla character Mr. Peebles, the owner of the pet shop where Magilla lives; and Spacely's business rival, W.C. Cogswell, resembles Mr. Slate, Fred Flintstone's boss on The Flintstones.
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 (The Flintstones), which greatly resembled the Jetsons' future. 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 as a significant influence on The Jetsons.
The Jetsons lived in the Skypad Apartments. Yet, unlike The Flinstones' familiar "Bedrock," their hometown's name is never explicitly stated. In the opening, however, Judy is seen attending "Orbit High School."
The Jetsons still use paper money, not electronic funds transfer using a card, thumbprint or retina scan.
Computers use vacuum tubes (which still burn out from overuse) instead of microchips in the future. Integrated circuits were only available commercially for around a year before the Jetsons first aired.
The Jetsons still use records and tapes, instead of compact discs (which were introduced in the early 1980's).
The syndicated version features an opening jingle that sounded like "The Jetsons" door bell with the words "Hanna-Barbera Presents" under the "Hanna-Barbera Swirling Star" logo from the 1980's (the "Hanna Barbera Presents" logo was also used for The Smurfs and Challenge of the GoBots).
There are plans for a live action version of The Jetsons, to be produced by Warner Bros.
The interior of Los Angeles International Airport's Theme Building was redesigned to have a "Jetsons" motif because the Theme Building's exterior had influenced the architecture seen in the show.
The style of space age architecture and design circa the 1950s and 1960s that is reminiscent of The Jetsons is known as "Populuxe" or "Googie".
The Jetsons are the stars of a commercial for Electra-Sol dishwashing detergent.
The design of the setting year is the same design used for the Warner Bros. short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century.
For whatever reason, Boomerang is only airing the episodes from the first and second seasons.
The lead/solo trumpet part for the Jetsons theme song was played by Bud Brisbois.
The Cat that lives with the Jetsons is in episode 22 V-22 February 17, 1963 Dude Planet and is referred to as "The Cat."
Boomerang is airing mainly 1962 and 1984–85 episodes on weekdays, while the remaining episodes (mainly 1980s or newer episodes) are aired on weekends.

[edit] The Jetsons today

Although the show is no longer in production, some characters are still being used for various Electra-Sol commercials.
A Jetsons Live-action movie is scheduled for 2009. Danny Devito was in talks to play Mr. Spacely.

[edit] The Jetsons in other languages

[edit] See also

[edit] Reference

Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, by Michael Mallory, 1998, published by Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., distributed by Publishers Group West. ISBN 0-88363-108-3

^ The Jetsons: Did you Know…?. Did You Know?. Gemstone Publishing (May 16, 2003). Retrieved on 2007-03-12.

[edit] External links

The Jetsons at the Internet Movie Database (1962–1963, 1985–1988)
- The Jetsons Christmas Carol at the Internet Movie Database (December 1985)
- The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones at the Internet Movie Database (November 9, 1987)
- Jetsons: The Movie at the Internet Movie Database (July 6, 1990)
- The Jetsons at the Internet Movie Database (2009)
Review of a screenplay for a live-action Jetsons movie
Jetsons fan site
The Jetsons at TV.com
The Jetsons at BCDB.com
Full episodes of "Jetsons" free at AOL Video

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