The Jetsons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
The Jetsons
Image:Jetsons.jpg
Rosie, George, Jane, Judy (top)
Astro, Elroy (bottom)
Format Animated situation comedy
Starring George O'Hanlon
Penny Singleton
Janet Waldo
Daws Butler
Mel Blanc
Don Messick
Jean Vander Pyl
Theme music composer Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States
No. of episodes 75 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 22-25 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel ABC (1962 - 1963 First Season) and Syndication (1985 - 1987 Second and Third Seasons)
Original run 1962 to 1963 (ABC) – 1985 to 1987 (Syndication)
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Jetsons is a prime-time animated television series that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It first aired on Sunday nights on ABC from September 23 1962 to March 3 1963. 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 retro-futuristic (although not retro at the initial date of production) utopia of elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions.

The original series, comprising 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 two theatrical feature films.

Contents

[edit] 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 (one time with a robot named Uniblab). 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 Jetson. 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). Astro's catch phrases are "Ruh-roh!" and "Right, Reorge!" or "Rats Rall Right Reorge!" In the first episode of the 80's 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Voice cast

[edit] Minor repeating characters

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

[edit] The Jetsons media

Image:Jetsonslogo640x480.jpg
The Jetsons title card

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of The Jetsons episodes

[edit] 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]

[edit] Further appearances

[edit] Parodies

Image: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, 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 and is apparently killed when Death arrives. 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.
  • 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. Claiming to be from the future (even though they actually live 2 years in the past), they struggle with the lack of a conveyer 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.

[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, August 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

  • Warner Home Video released season 1 of The Jetsons on DVD in R1 on November 8, 2004. It is unknown if the last two seasons will be released at some point.
DVD Name Ep # Release Date Additional Information
Season 1 24 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

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • 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 lead/solo trumpet part for The Jetsons theme song was played by Bud Brisbois.

[edit] The Jetsons today

  • A live-action adaptation, produced by Denise Di Novi alongside Donald De Line with Hanna-Barbera Productions & Warner Bros. is set for a 2009 release.[1][2]
  • Boomerang is currently airing only the 1960s episodes regularly, while some of the 1980s episodes are available for viewing on In2TV. However, Boomerang does air the 1980s episodes occasionally in Boomeroyalty marathons. Also the first 2 seasons of the Jetsons are available to download on Apple's iTunes store, or at the Xbox 360 marketplace.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Jetsons: Did you Know…?. Did You Know?. Gemstone Publishing (May 16, 2003). Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
  2. ^ Borys Kit. "Future or past for Rodriguez?", The Hollywood Reporter, 2007-05-09. Retrieved on 2007-07-16. 

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Jetsons
CharactersGeorge Jetson · Jane Jetson · Judy Jetson · Elroy Jetson · Astro · Rosie the Robot Maid · Mr. Spacely
Television showsThe Jetsons (Original, 1962-1963 / Revival, 1985-1987) · Astro and the Space Mutts
Television filmsThe Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987) · Rockin' with Judy Jetson (1988)
Theatical filmsJetsons: The Movie (1990)
da:Familien Jetson

de:Die Jetsons es:Los supersónicos fr:Les Jetson gl:Os Supersónicos it:I Pronipoti he:משפחת סילוני nl:The Jetsons ja:宇宙家族ジェットソン pl:Jetsonowie pt:The Jetsons sv:Jetsons

Retrieved from "http://wiki.smashits.com/wikipedia/The_Jetsons"
Views
Personal tools

Toolbox