The Jetsons is a animated American sitcom that was produced by
Hanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
, originally airing in prime-time from 1962–1963 and again from 1985–1987. It was Hanna-Barbera’s
Space AgeThe Space Age is a time period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events. The Space Age is generally considered to have begun with Sputnik...
counterpart to
The FlintstonesThe Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
, 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
futuristicRetro-futurism is a trend in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced prior to about 1960...
utopiaTechnological utopianism refers to any ideology based on the belief that advances in science and technology will eventually bring about a utopia, or at least help to fulfill one or another utopian ideal...
in the year 2062 of elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions.
The original incarnation of the series aired on Sunday nights on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from September 23, 1962, to March 3, 1963. It comprised 24 episodes, and was re-run on Saturday mornings for decades. At the time of its debut, it was the first program ever to be broadcast in color on ABC-TV;
The Flintstones, while always produced in color, was broadcast in black-and-white for its first two seasons.
The continuing popularity of
The Jetsons led to further episodes being produced for syndication between 1985 and 1987.
Premise
George Jetson is married and lives with his family in the Skypad Apartments in Orbit City, where all homes and businesses are raised high above the ground on adjustable columns in the
GoogieGoogie architecture is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced by car culture and the Space and Atomic Ages....
style, reflective of Seattle's
Space NeedleThe Space Needle is a tower in Seattle, Washington and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over...
and the
Theme BuildingThe Theme Building is a landmark structure at the Los Angeles International Airport within the Westchester neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles. It opened in 1961, and is an example of the Mid-Century modern influenced design school known as "Googie" or "Populuxe."The distinctive white building...
of the
Los Angeles International AirportLos Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
. George is married to Jane, the
homemakerHomemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
, and the couple have two children, teenage daughter Judy, and preteen son Elroy. Housekeeping is seen to by a robot maid, Rosey, handling chores not otherwise rendered trivial by the home's numerous push-button
Space AgeThe Space Age is a time period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events. The Space Age is generally considered to have begun with Sputnik...
-envisioned conveniences. The family has a dog named Astro, who talks with an initial
consonant mutationConsonant mutation is when a consonant in a word changes according to its morphological and/or syntactic environment.Mutation phenomena occur in languages around the world. A prototypical example of consonant mutation is the initial consonant mutation of all modern Celtic languages...
in which every word begins with an "R", as if speaking with a
growlGrowling or growl is a low, guttural vocalization produced by predatory animals as a warning to others, as a sign of aggression, or to express anger. Low or dull rumbling noises may also be emitted by human beings when discontent with something or angry...
.
Jetson's
workweekThe workweek and weekend are those complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest respectively. The legal working week , or workweek , is the part of the seven-day week devoted to labor. In most Western countries it is Monday to Friday. The weekend comprises the two traditionally...
is typical of his era: three hours a day, three days a week. His boss is Cosmo Spacely, the bombastic owner of Spacely Space Sprockets. Spacely has a competitor, H. G. Cogswell, owner of the rival company Cogswell Cogs (sometimes known as Cogswell's Cosmic Cogs). Jetson commutes to work in an aerocar that resembles a flying saucer with a transparent bubble top. Daily life is leisurely, assisted by numerous labor-saving devices, which occasionally break down with humorous results. Despite this, everyone complains of exhausting hard labor and difficulties of living with the remaining inconveniences.
Characters
George JetsonThe following is a list of major characters in The Jetsons. The Jetsons is an animated television comedy produced by Hanna-Barbera and first broadcast in prime-time on ABC as part of the 1962–63 United States network television schedule. Additional episodes were produced from 1985–1987, with the...
: age 40, is a loving family man who always seems to make the wrong decision. He works "full-time," 9 hours a week, at Spacely's Sprockets as a computer engineer. He is married to Jane and together they have two kids, Elroy and Judy. George is the protagonist of the show.
Jane Jetson: age 33 (self-reported in the first episode), is George's wife, mother of their two children, and a homemaker. Jane is obsessed with fashion and new gadgetry. Her favorite store is Mooning Dales. She is also a dutiful wife who always tries to make life as pleasant as possible for her family. Outside of the home, she is a member of the Galaxy Women Historical Society and is a fan of Leonardo de Venus and Picasso Pia.
Judy Jetson: age 16, is the older child in the Jetson family. A student at Orbit High School, she is a stereotypical teenage girl whose prime interests include: clothes, going out, and revealing secrets to her digital diary.
TiffanyTiffany Renee Darwish , known popularly as Tiffany, is an American singer and former teen icon. She is most notable for her 1987 cover version of "I Think We're Alone Now", originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells in 1967. Released as the second single from her eponymous album, Tiffany,...
did the voice of Judy Jetson in the 1990 movie.
Elroy Jetson: age 7½ (self-reported in the first episode), is the younger of the two children in the Jetson family. He is highly intelligent and an expert in all space sciences. A mild-mannered and good child, Elroy attends Little Dipper School where he studies space history, astrophysics, star geometry and math.
Rosey: age 45, is the Jetsons' household robot. She's an outdated model but the Jetsons love her and would never trade her for a newer model. Rosey does all the household chores and some of the parenting. She is a strong disciplinarian and occasionally dispenses advice to the family. Excluding a scene from the closing credits, Rosey appears in only two episodes of the original 1960s show, but makes many appearances on the 1980s show.
Astro the Dog: Astro is the Jetsons' family dog. Prior to being a Jetson he belonged to the fabulously rich Mr. Gottrockets. Astro is one of George's best friends, next to his work computer, R.U.D.I., and is able to speak in a rough sounding English, somewhat like
Scooby-DooScoobert "Scooby" Doo is the eponymous character and the protagonist in the Scooby-Doo animated television series created by the popular American animation company Hanna-Barbera...
, whom Astro "pre-dates" in the "real world" by seven years.
Orbitty: age unknown (probably 2 months), is the 2nd pet of the Jetson family. Orbitty is an alien with spring-like legs. He has the ability to express his emotions by changing color. This character was introduced in the 1980s version of the series.
Cosmo G. Spacely: late 1960s, is George's boss and owner of Spacely Space Sprockets. He is a "little person" with black hair and a bad temper, the antagonist in the series. Spacely always comes up with ideas to bring in more business only for them to backfire. George, who Spacely has known since childhood, gets blamed for most things that go wrong. A series' running gag involves him kicking George out of his office shouting "Jetson! You're
fired-Involuntary termination:Involuntary termination is the employee's departure at the hands of the employer. There are two basic types of involuntary termination, known often as being "fired" and "laid off." To be fired, as opposed to being laid off, is generally thought of to be the employee's...
!" Although, Spacely would later give George his job back in the end of the episode. Mr. Spacely is sometimes helped out by
Uniblab, the company's robot assistant.
Spencer Cogswell: early 1950s, is Spacely's big competitor. He owns Cogswell Cogs company and causes a lot of trouble for Spacely and George. To a lesser extent Cogswell is another of the series' antagonists. He and Spacely are always finding ways to bring each other's businesses down. Cogswell has often tried to steal Spacely's ideas and make them his own to gain an advantage (only for it to backfire on both bosses). He's also not above firing his employees when any little thing goes wrong. Mr. Cogswell's first name of "Spencer" is revealed in the 1980s version of
The Jetsons.
R.U.D.I.: is George's work computer and also one of his best friends, next to his dog, Astro the Dog. His name is an acronym for Referential Universal Digital Indexer. He has a human personality and is a member of the Society Preventing Cruelty to Humans.
Henry Orbit: mid-1960s, is the Jetsons' apartment's repair man. He is always helpful and always in a good mood. His robot
Mac has a crush on Rosey.
Recurring characters
- Montague Jetson, the kindly but eccentric grandfather of George Jetson who constantly annoys the cop every time he meets him — Howard Morris
Howard Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :...
; after Morris' death: Dan CastellanetaDaniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...
- Mrs. Stella Spacely, Cosmo Spacely's wife and Arthur Spacely's mother — Jean Vander Pyl
Jean Vander Pyl was an American actress on radio, television and movies. Although her career spanned many decades, she is best remembered as the voice of Wilma Flintstone from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flintstones...
- Arthur Spacely, Mr. Spacely's son — Dick Beals
Richard "Dick" Beals is an American voice actor. He has performed many voices in his career, which spans from the early 1950s into the 21st century...
- Uniblab, George's mortal enemy — an obnoxious robot who was also his supervisor at work. Appeared in two 1960s episodes, "Uniblab", where he becomes George's supervisor and "G.I. Jetson", where he becomes the Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
of George's platoon. "Cost the government millions ... enough for two officers' clubs", said General McMissile (nicknamed "Old Blast Off")
- DiDi, Judy's digital diary — Brenda Vaccaro
Brenda Buell Vaccaro is an American stage, television and film actress.-Early life:Vaccaro was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian American parents Christine M. and Mario A. Vaccaro , both of whom were pioneers in Italian cuisine...
Voice cast
- George Jetson
The following is a list of major characters in The Jetsons. The Jetsons is an animated television comedy produced by Hanna-Barbera and first broadcast in prime-time on ABC as part of the 1962–63 United States network television schedule. Additional episodes were produced from 1985–1987, with the...
— George O'HanlonGeorge O'Hanlon was an American screen actor, comedian, and voice actor.-Early life and career:George O'Hanlon was born in Brooklyn, New York City on November 23, 1912....
- Jane Jetson — Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton was an American film actress. Born Marianna Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania she was the daughter of an Irish-American newspaperman Benny McNulty — from whom she received the nickname "Penny" because she was "as bright as a penny".During her sixty...
- Elroy Jetson — Daws Butler
Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
(Seasons 1-3), Patric ZimmermanPatric Laine Zimmerman is an American voice actor.He began his career in 1990, providing big voices for the animated television series Tale Spin and Tom & Jerry Kids. He voiced the character of Elroy Jetson in the film Jetsons: The Movie that same year...
(Season 4)
- Judy Jetson — Janet Waldo
Janet Waldo is an American actress and voice artist with a career encompassing radio, television, animation and live-action films. She is best known in animation for voicing Judy Jetson, Penelope Pitstop and Josie McCoy in Josie and the Pussycats...
- Astro the Dog/RUDI/Uniblab/Mac — Don Messick
Donald Earl "Don" Messick was an American voice actor best known for his work for Hanna-Barbera. Perhaps his most well-known voice creations include Scooby-Doo, Papa Smurf, and Dr. Benton Quest....
- Rosey/Mrs. Spacely — Jean Vander Pyl
Jean Vander Pyl was an American actress on radio, television and movies. Although her career spanned many decades, she is best remembered as the voice of Wilma Flintstone from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flintstones...
- Mr. Spacely — Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
- Mr. Cogswell — Daws Butler
Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
- Henry Orbit—Daws Butler
Charles Dawson "Daws" Butler was a voice actor originally from Toledo, Ohio. He worked mostly for Hanna-Barbera and originated the voices of many famous animated cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound.Daws Butler trained many working actors...
(Howard MorrisHoward Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :...
in a few early Season 1 episodes)
- Orbitty — Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
In later productions,
Jeff BergmanJeff Allen Bergman is an American voice actor, who provides the modern day voices of various classic cartoon characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, George Jetson, Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, and Huckleberry Hound.-Life and career:Originally from Philadelphia,...
has voiced George, Elroy, and Mr. Spacely. Bergman completed voice work as George and Spacely for
Jetsons: The MovieJetsons: The Movie is a 1990 animated science fiction film produced by Hanna-Barbera and released on July 6, 1990, by Universal Pictures based on the hit cartoon series, The Jetsons . The movie features the final voice roles of George O'Hanlon and Mel Blanc who both died during production of the film...
(1990) after George O'Hanlon and Mel Blanc died during production. Controversially, Janet Waldo was replaced — after recording all of her dialogue — by then-popular singer
TiffanyTiffany Renee Darwish , known popularly as Tiffany, is an American singer and former teen icon. She is most notable for her 1987 cover version of "I Think We're Alone Now", originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells in 1967. Released as the second single from her eponymous album, Tiffany,...
for
Jetsons the Movie. Lori Frazier has provided the voice of Jane Jetson in television commercials for
Radio ShackRadio shack is a slang term for a room or structure for housing radio equipment.-History:In the early days of radio, equipment was experimental and home-built. The first radio transmitters used a noisy spark to generate radio waves and were often housed in a garage or shed. When radio was first...
.
Episodes
The show's original run consisted of 24 episodes that first aired on ABC from September 23, 1962 to March 3, 1963. In 1984, Hanna-Barbera began producing new episodes specifically for
syndicationIn broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
; by September 1985, the 24 episodes from the first season were combined with 41 new episodes and began airing in late afternoon time slots in 80 U.S.
media marketA media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
s, including the 30 largest. The 41 new episodes were produced at a cost of $300,000 each, and featured all of the voice actors from the 1962–1963 show. Starting in 1987, ten additional "season 3" episodes were also made available for syndication.
The 1962 episode "A Date With Jet Screamer", in which daughter Judy Jetson wins a date with a rock star, provided the song "Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You)" written by
Hoyt CurtinHoyt Stoddard Curtin was an American composer and music producer, the primary musical director for the Hanna-Barbera animation studio from its beginnings with The Ruff & Reddy Show in 1957 until his retirement in 1986, except from 1963-1973, when the primary music director was Ted Nichols...
,
William HannaWilliam Denby Hanna was an American animator, director, producer, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of people for much of the 20th century. When he was a young child, Hanna's family moved frequently, but they settled in Compton, California, by...
and
Joseph BarberaJoseph Roland Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century....
, sung by
Howard MorrisHoward Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :...
. The episode was a surrealistic
Busby BerkeleyBusby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
-in-space affair which prefigured conceptual MTV videos by decades.
Reception
After the announcement of the fall 1962 network television schedule
Time magazine characterized
The Jetsons as one of several new situation comedies (along with
The Beverly HillbilliesThe Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
,
I'm Dickens... He's FensterI'm Dickens, He's Fenster is an American sitcom that ran on ABC during the 1962-1963 season , and was created and produced by Leonard Stern, filmed at Desilu.-Synopsis:...
, and
Our Man HigginsOur Man Higgins is a 34-episode situation comedy, the story of an English butler — portrayed by Stanley Holloway, who is inherited by a suburban American family, resulting in a cultural clash that grows into a cultural blending. A Screen Gems presentation, Our Man Higgins was seen on ABC television...
) that was "stretching further than ever for their situations"; after all the season's new shows had premiered—a season "responding to
Minow's exhortationsThe Wasteland Speech was a speech given by Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow to the convention of the National Association of Broadcasters on May 9, 1961. The speech was Minow's first major speech after he was appointed chairman of the FCC by President John F Kennedy...
"—the magazine called the series "silly and unpretentious, corny and clever, now and then quite funny."
Thirty years later,
Time said "In an age of working mothers, single parents and gay matrimony, George Jetson and his clan already seem quaint even to the
baby boomerA baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom and who grew up during the period between 1946 and 1964. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even...
s who grew up with them." Conversely,
Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Albert Tucker is the publisher and executive editor of Laissez Faire Books. He is past editorial vice president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and past editor for the institute's website, Mises.org...
of the
Ludwig von Mises InstituteThe Ludwig von Mises Institute , based in Auburn, Alabama, is a libertarian academic organization engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. Its scholarship is inspired by the work of Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises...
has argued that "The whole scene — which anticipated so much of the technology we have today but, strangely, not
emailElectronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
or texting — reflected the ethos of time: a love of progress and a vision of a future that stayed on course ... The Jetsons' world is our world: explosive technological advances, entrenched bourgeois culture, a culture of enterprise that is the very fond of the good life."
Differences between versions
In the first episode of the 1980s show, an alien named Orbitty joined the family after Elroy discovered him on a field trip to an asteroid. Orbitty speaks in his own garbled dialect, has coil springs for legs, and changes colors according to his mood.
Other differences include the following:
- The original 1960s episodes are distinguished by 1960s design motifs, music, and references (similar to The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
and other Hanna-Barbera shows of that period). The 1980s version had a custom soundtrack with new sound-effects created by synthesizer.
- Whereas the 1960s stories were basically 1950s sitcom plots in a futuristic setting, the 1980s stories delved into fantastic, sci-fi cartoon territory.
- The 1960s version was more adult orientated than the 1980s version which was aimed at younger viewers.
- The opening credits of the 1980s version contain a re-recorded version of the original Jetsons theme song, which features the use of synthesized drums and synth-lead tracks to create percussion typical of 1980s music.
- Most episodes of the 1980s version of The Jetsons were colored and composited using computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
technology rather than the more traditionalTraditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
ink and paint on cels.
- While episodes made in the 1960s referenced rockets and other "space age
The Space Age is a time period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events. The Space Age is generally considered to have begun with Sputnik...
" theme devices, reflective of the real-life U.S. space program which fascinated America, the 1980s episodes leaned more towards how computers would influence life in the future.
- In the 1980s version Rosey the Robot appears more often than the 1960s version where she only appears in 2 episodes
- Instead of the buttons, knobs, dials, and switches in the 1960s version, the 1980s version uses flat buttons and brightly lit consoles.
Television films
- The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones is an animated TV movie, featuring the first meeting between the characters from The Flintstones and The Jetsons...
(1987)
- Rockin' with Judy Jetson
Rockin' with Judy Jetson is a 1988 musical made-for-TV movie produced by Hanna-Barbera and aired in syndication as a part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 series. It is based on the animated television series The Jetsons.-Plot:...
(1988)
Live-action film
In May 2007, director
Robert RodriguezRobert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
entered talks with
Universal StudiosUniversal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
and
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
to film a live action film adaptation of
The Jetsons for a potential 2009 theatrical release, having at the time discussed directing a film adaptation of
Land of the LostLand of the Lost is a children's television series co-created and produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. During its original run, it was broadcast on the NBC television network....
with Universal. Rodriguez was uncertain which project he would pursue next, though the latest script draft for
The Jetsons by assigned writer
Adam GoldbergAdam Charles Goldberg is an American actor, director, producer, and musician.-Early life:Goldberg was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Donna and Earl Goldberg, a former lifeguard. His father is Jewish and his mother is a "lapsed" Roman Catholic of Irish, French, and German descent...
was further along in development.
The film, to be produced by
Denise Di NoviDenise Di Novi is an American film producer.-Personal life:When she was three years old, Denise and her family moved to Los Angeles from New York, where her father Gene Di Novi - a musician - made music for the TV shows of Danny Thomas, Dick Van Dyke and Andy Griffith. Prior to that, Gene worked...
alongside
Donald De LineDonald De Line has been a film producer, executive producer, and studio executive at Walt Disney Productions and its Touchstone Pictures division since 1985, eventually serving as Disney's vice-president of production. He is a native of La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California...
with Hanna-Barbera Productions, Universal and Warner Bros. was set for a 2012 release. It was put on hold by Rodriguez in favor of a fourth Spy Kids film. Universal's involvement in the project is a result of having previously acquired the film rights in the late 1980s, the resulting film being
Jetsons: The Movie.
Hanna-Barbera related
- The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera (ride)
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera was a simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida, and one of the park's original attractions. The story line was that Dick Dastardly and Muttley have kidnapped Elroy Jetson, Yogi Bear gives chase and the audience is in for the ride of their lives. Peter N...
Elroy Jetson is kidnapped by Dick Dastardly and Muttley and it is up to ride guests to save him. (1990)
- Space Stars
Space Stars is a 1981 NBC Saturday morning cartoon created by Hanna-Barbera which ran from 1981-1982.-Format:Space Stars ran four cartoon segments each week: Space Ghost, The Herculoids, Teen Force, and Astro and the Space Mutts. The cartoons would occasionally cross-over into one another...
, Astro appeared in the segment Astro and the Space Mutts
Other projects
- The Jetsons: Father & Son Day
Father & Son Day is a 2000 short cartoon starring George & Elroy Jetson. It was made by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø using Macromedia Flash. -Plot Outline:...
(SpümcøSpümcø, Inc. was an American animation production company based in Los Angeles, California. The studio produced three traditionally animated series, two Flash-animated cartoon series, two music videos, five animated shorts, and a comic book. The company also went on to produce content for a few...
, Macromedia Flash)
- The Jetsons: The Best Son
The Best Son is a 2001 short cartoon starring The Jetsons. It was made by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø using Macromedia Flash.-Summary:...
(Spümcø, Macromedia Flash)
- Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is an American animated television series comedy created by Williams Street and produced by Cartoon Network Studios that aired on Cartoon Network during its Adult Swim late night programming block. The series' pilot first aired in 2000, and later became a series in...
episode "Shaggy Busted" (2002)
- Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Back to the Present" (2004)
- Some characters appeared in commercials for Electrasol
Reckitt Benckiser plc is a global consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest producer of household products and a major producer of consumer healthcare and personal products...
and TumsTUMS is an antacid made of sucrose and calcium carbonate manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline in St.Louis, Missouri, USA. It is a non-prescription drug and available at many retail stores, including drug stores, grocery stores and mass merchandisers. It provides relief from acid indigestion, heartburn,...
.
- In the late 1990s, George, Jane, and Astro appeared in Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
Radio ShackRadio shack is a slang term for a room or structure for housing radio equipment.-History:In the early days of radio, equipment was experimental and home-built. The first radio transmitters used a noisy spark to generate radio waves and were often housed in a garage or shed. When radio was first...
commercials. Judy, Elroy and Rosey were mentioned.
- In 2003 New Zealand ISP Xtra
Xtra Limited is New Zealand's largest Internet service provider . It was founded in 1996 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telecom New Zealand. Xtra has provided dial-up Internet access throughout New Zealand since its inception...
used The Jetsons as part of an advertising campaign with George Jetson promoting the benefits of Broadband Internet. The advert ended with George saying that "Broadband is the way the future, but some people will never get used to progress" showing an image of Fred FlintstoneFrederick Joseph “Fred” Flintstone, also known as Fred W. Flintstone or Frederick J. Flintstone, is the protagonist of the animated sitcom The Flintstones, which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960-66. He is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles...
using a stone shaped computer with a real mouse.
- The Jetsons have appeared three times in Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
in the episodes "Brian in Love", "Meet the Quagmires"Meet the Quagmires" is the eighteenth episode of the fifth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox on May 20, 2007. The episode features Peter after he goes back in time, in order to live the single life a little longer, before he met his wife, Lois...
" and "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side"Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" is the season finale of the eighth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy and part of the series's trilogy Laugh It Up, Fuzzball. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 23, 2010...
".
- Rosey appears in the Futurama movie Bender's Game; she has been sent to the Hal Institute For Criminally Insane robots after murdering Elroy and Astro.
- The Jetson family were seen in a Cartoon Network Rap in 1995.
- The Jetsons characters were main characters in a parody of I, Robot
I, Robot is a 2004 science-fiction action film directed by Alex Proyas. The screenplay was written by Jeff Vintar, Akiva Goldsman and Hillary Seitz, and is very loosely based on Isaac Asimov's short-story collection of the same name. Will Smith stars in the lead role of the film as Detective Del...
done by Robot ChickenRobot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
, where Rosey is accused of murdering George.
Comics
- The Jetsons #1–36 (Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
, January 1963 – October 1970)
- March of Comics
March of Comics was a long-running comic book series published by Western Publishing. 488 issues were published from 1946 to 1982. Comic book writer writer Mark Evanier has described it as "...one of the most widely-circulated comic books in the history of mankind ... some issues reportedly were...
#276 (1965), #330 (1969), #348
- The Jetsons #1–20 (Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
, November 1970 – December 1973); 100-page no-number issue
- Spotlight #3 (Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, 197x)
- The Jetsons #1–5 (Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
, September 1992 – November 1993); Big Book #1–3, Giant Size #1–3
- The Jetsons #1–17 (Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
, September 1995 – August 1996)
- The Flintstones and the Jetsons #1–21 (DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, August 1997 – April 1999)
Video games
- The Jetsons' Ways With Words (Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
) (1984)
- The Jetsons and the Legend of Robotopia (Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, 1990)
- The Jetsons: By George, in Trouble Again (DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
, 1990)
- The Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper!
The Jetsons: Cogwell's Caper is based on the well-known Jetsons property from Hanna-Barbera.-Summary:In this spin-off adventure, George Jetson is ordered by his faithful employer Spacely Sprockets to put a stop to Mr. Cogswell's profit-making schemes; especially that of a dangerous mining facility...
(NESThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, 1992)
- The Jetsons: Robot Panic (Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
, 1992)
- The Jetsons: Invasion of the Planet Pirates
The Jetsons: Invasion of the Planet Pirates is a 1994 2D action platformer video game for the Super NES, based on the animated sitcom The Jetsons.-Development:...
(Super NESThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
, 1994)
- Jetsons the Computer Game (Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
) (1992)
- The Jetsons: Mealtime Malfunction (Apple
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
)
- The Jetsons: Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
- Flintstones Jetsons Time Warp (CD-i
CD-i, or Compact Disc Interactive, is the name of an interactive multimedia CD player developed and marketed by Royal Philips Electronics N.V. CD-i also refers to the multimedia Compact Disc standard used by the CD-i console, also known as Green Book, which was developed by Philips and Sony...
) (1994)
Home video releases
On June 28, 1990, Hanna-Barbera released six episodes from the show on home video.
Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
released season 1 on DVD in Region 1 on May 11, 2004; upon its release,
James PoniewozikJames Poniewozik is an American journalist and television critic. He writes Times Tuned In column and has a blog with the same name.Originally from Monroe, MI, Poniewozik attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating with a BA in English. He subsequently attended the graduate program...
wrote it's "as much about
New FrontierThe term New Frontier was used by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the Democratic slogan to inspire America to support him...
1962 as about the distant future. Its ditzy slapstick is like the peanut-butter-and-jelly mix
Goober GrapeGoober is a combination of peanut butter and jelly within a single jar and possibly the first such combination of its type.It is sold in North America and Singapore and is named after the North American slang name for the peanut. Goober was introduced in 1968 by The J.M. Smucker Company under the...
—if you didn't love it as a kid, you're not going to acquire the taste as an adult—and the pop-culture gags ... have not aged well. But the animation is still a classic of gee-whiz
atomic-ageThe Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is a phrase typically used to delineate the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear bomb Trinity on July 16, 1945...
modernism."
The review of the DVD release from
Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said the show "trots through surprisingly dated sitcom plots about blustery bosses, bad lady drivers, and Elvis Presleyesque teen idols, all greeted with laugh tracks" but points out "it's the appeal of the retro-prescient gadgets (recliner massagers, big-screen TVs, two-way monitors) that still carries the show." Season 1 was released on DVD in Region 4 on July 5, 2006. Season Two, Volume 1 was released on DVD almost three years later, on June 2, 2009 for Region 1.
On November 8, 2011,
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
released
The Jetsons: Season 2, Volume 2 on DVD in Region 1 via their
Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com, and only in the US.
| DVD Name |
Ep # |
Release date |
| The Complete First Season |
24 |
May 11, 2004 |
| Season 2, Volume 1 |
21 |
June 2, 2009 |
| Season 2, Volume 2 |
20 |
November 8, 2011 |
| The Complete Third Season |
10 |
TBA |
The Jetsons today
- Boomerang
Boomerang is a 24-hour American cable television channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. Boomerang specializes in reruns of animated programming from Time Warner's extensive archives, including pre-1986 MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
is currently airing the 1960s episodes regularly, with 1980s episodes playing afterward. Also, some of the 1980s episodes are available for viewing on In2TVIn2TV was a website offering ad-supported streaming video of classic TV shows in the USA only .The main appeal of the service was that it made available numerous old shows which were rarely, if ever, aired on broadcast television...
. Also the first two seasons of The Jetsons are available to download on Sony's Playstation Network, Apple's iTunes StoreThe iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
and at the Xbox Live MarketplaceThe Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content...
.
- Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine valued Spacely Sprockets at $1.3 billion, on their "The 25 Largest Fictional Companies" list.
- In January 2009, IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
listed The Jetsons as the 46th best animated television series.
- The music video for the Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
song "Heartless"Heartless" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released on November 4, 2008 digitally as the second single for his fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak. It debuted at the number four spot on the Billboard Hot 100 where it eventually peaked at number two and reached number-one on the...
" features George, Jane, Judy, Elroy, Astro, and Rosey done as portraits. This footage is based on Kanye West's actual apartment decor, which includes large portraits of the Jetsons in the den.
- The Jetsons episodes are currently available for viewing on Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
's video on demandVideo on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
service under the kids category, then under the Kids WB subcategory.
- The Jetsons are currently being screened on the Australian TV channel GO! at 6:30 pm everyday, with the same episodes showing in the morning at 9:00 am on GO!
GO! is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 9 August 2009.-Origins:...
with a different episode being played at 5:00am.
- In South Korea, The show is named 젯슨 가족 and has been dubbed into Korean show program The Jetsons and were first broadcast by SBS premieres 2008, and later on the Boomerang (South Korea)
Boomerang is a 24-hour American cable television channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. Boomerang specializes in reruns of animated programming from Time Warner's extensive archives, including pre-1986 MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
in starts 2009 onwards.
See also
- List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera
- List of Hanna-Barbera characters
- Design for Dreaming
Design for Dreaming is a musical sponsored film about a woman who dreams about a masked man taking her to the 1956 General Motors Motorama at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Frigidaire's "Kitchen of the Future." The entirety of the dialogue is sung, though the actors...
- Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
- Googie architecture
Googie architecture is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced by car culture and the Space and Atomic Ages....
Further reading
- Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, by Michael Mallory
Michael Mallory is a writer on the subjects of animation and post-war pop culture, and the author of the books Hanna-Barbera Cartoons , Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe, X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe and Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror...
, 1998, published by Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., distributed by Publishers Group West. ISBN 0-88363-108-3
External links