Shark Bytes

The Jetsons never jumped. I liked George Jetson much better than that prehistoric blowhard Fred! Orbity was a little lame but Astro was a great family dog. Elroy and Judy were likeable, Jane knew how to snatch George's wallet before he could blink, nighttime dreams could be pre-programmed by computer before bedtime, and George and Spacely had mother-in-laws you'd never want to cross. Just an all-around great cartoon.

Have you ever noticed how Jane Jetson's hairdo style resembles a bullhorn? Perhaps she didn't know it, but she was a feminist, which would become evident in the 1980s incarnation of the series.

I really do like the original Jetsons a great deal and not that travesty that was brought back decades later.

I guess it is one of the nostalgic things where the first time a show comes out everything is fine, then someone gets the bright idea to bring it back and tweak it a bit (Orbity) and the results are horrendous.

I am glad I bought the original series on DVD, because this show has been absolutely gutted with commercials in syndication.

A few points to ponder: The 62-63 episodes of The Jetsons reflected the times they were produced in, plus it was a series produced for a prime-time auddience (adults and children).Though it lasted only a season in prime time on ABC, it became a maninstay of CBS and later NBC's Saturday morning programming through the 60's and 70's.

Hanna-Barbera produced new episodes in the late 80's to add to the orignal episodes for syndication. The target audience became mostly kids.25 years had passed and the world had changed.

However, the Jetsons stayed basically true to concept. Remarkably, all of the series orignal voice talent reprised their roles.

I always smile whenever talk turns to the future, flying cars and robot housekeepers become part of the conversation.

Okay, here's the story...

George O'Hanlon, the original George Jetson voice actor, came back in the late '80's to once again voice George jetson for the "Jetson's movie." By this time he was 77 years old and very ill, wheelchair bound and blind, yet, he was still in perfect voice as George Jetson.

Unable to read his scripts, he had the casting director in the booth read his lines for him and explain the acting of the scene, and George would parrot the line back to him for the take, in that perfect George Jetson voice.

On his last day on this Earth, Mr. O'Hanlon was in the recording booth repeating back lines as Jetson when he had a massive stroke. Seeing this happen in front of his very eyes, the casting director (who had been feeding him lines, remember?) shouted into the mic, "George! George!! Are you okay?!?" To which O'Hanlon, in perfect George Jetson voice responded, "George! George!! Are you okay!?!" and promptly slumped over, stone cold dead.

It never jumped! The Jetsons were cool. I can't believe The Jetsons meet the Flintstones got so many votes. I loved that movie! I was a kid and that was great to see two favorite cartoon families meet up. You know what else would have been wild? If they had written The Great Gadzoo, the cool little green alien on the Flintstones, into the Jetsons instead. That would have fit better and rocked.

To the last voter: It's truly a shame your idea was rejected! That sounded like a blast.

...I too agree with the sentiment of most of the voters that the original 'Jetsons' series was the absolute best, while the 1980s version was literally a shadow of the former; the majority of the vocal talent from the 1962 run were either elderly or had already died (Daws Butler and Mel Blanc, the superglue which held that series together in the first place).

...Ahh, such a waste .

Back in the 1990s, I submitted the idea of Super Jetsons to the Hanna-Barbera folks, who rejected the concept. Super Jetsons would have been a continuation of the original series, except that Orbitty would never appear in any of the episodes.
The updated TV version would have focused on the Jetsons forging new identities as costumed superheroes after George starts tinkering with an improved version of the Thinko machine. In addition to Super George, Jane becomes BatJane and wears the shortest shorts known to women as well as fishnets as part of her costume (she can also turn into a real bat--take that, Batman!); Judy becomes Sparrow, an idea inspired by MAD Magazine; Elroy resumes his Space Boy alias; Rosie becomes RoboBot and has a male voice as well as a dark blue suit of armor; and Astro would be Zoom and be very alienated with his lot in life ("Ri rate reing a ruperhero"!).
Knuckles Nuclear, Mugsy Megaton and the Cat Burglar would all have returned to make life miserable for the Super Jetsons, as would Police Chief Moon, who disrupts the Jetsons' civilian lives with his numerous assignments given over the visaphone. Perhaps the reason Super Jetsons was rejected is that is was ahead of its time--I thought of it a decade before Disney conceived The Incredibles!

The best "The Jetsons" are,hands down,the ORIGINAL "The Jetsons" from ABC/1962-1963.They were sophisticated,somewhat adult,and extremely well animated.HOWEVER,when someone at the "NEW"Hanna-Barbera (not the "Hanna-Barbera of the 1950's and 1960's")decided to make NEW episodes of "The Jetsons",they blew it.The 1980's version,were extremely juvenile,poorly animated,(the addition of Orbitty was a bad idea.Why did they need another pet,anyway?),and not at all memorable.My verdict on "The Jetsons":1962-1963 ORIGINAL ABC version:NEVER JUMPED. 1980's version:REALLY jumped the shark.

rosie & mac was a good show. rosie & uni-blab no way. this must've been during the '86 episodes. yuck.

Never. I used to get up early when i was 9 or 10 and force my eyes open to watch this show, it came on weekdays at 6 or 7am and had 2 episodes back to back, I loved it. The cars were so cool. However, when I was very young and saw the show back in the 70's, I thought how horrible it must be to go to work and answer to a boss, an idea foreign to a 5 year old. Mr. Spacely, every episode, seemed to promote George to VP, then fire him, then grudgingly take him back as a peon. NOW as an adult I know it IS in fact horrible, but it takes a year or two for the cycle to complete instead of 30 minutes. And Astro? Dino was mentally challenged, Astro was cool! I've loved Astro Jetson since you were rittin' in your 'ripers!

The episodes from the 60's were the BEST Jetson episodes. The episodes that had Elroy and Astro getting a tv show (Space Boy Zoom! & his dog Astro) , the one where George read the blueprints of the Spacely and Cogswell buildings upside down misleading Spacely to think he could destroy Cogswell's building for being on his property (classic) , the one where George and Spacely lie to their wives to go to a football game and then they end up getting busted , the one with George's young-at-heart granddad , the one with the flying suit , and of course the Jet Screamer EEP-OPP-ORK-OPP-OPP episode. These were the classic Jetson episodes from the 60's and these are the shows you think of when you remember "The Jetsons". I guess Orbitty and "The 80's revival" go hand in hand. There was something about Orbitty that felt superimposed. What was his/her/its purpose? There really was no need for an Orbitty. I didn't really care for Orbitty at all so it was a distraction and made me turn away from the new Jetson episodes. (Also the 80's animation just didn't measure up to the animation quality of the episodes from the '60's and to me that also was a distraction.) I guess you can put Orbitty in the category of "NEW KID IN TOWN" but he or she or it really isn't a "kid" per say. Orbitty sucked!

Jumped simultaneously with the first appearance of Rosie the maid - the very first MILLISECOND that she arrived, the fat-ass, decrepit ol' Ethel Barrymore-wanna-be (sorry, Ethel). She's the female equivalent of Fred Mertz at his worst, cranky mothers they both are. I also hate Henry, the dinosaur-aged janitor has-been. Along with Scrappy Doo and Gazoo, Rosie (and Orbitty as well, the retard) was the worst addition to any cartoon ever made (or should I say "maid"). I also despise Elroy, the runty faggot son - perfect name for that pathetic little panty-wipe. LOVED Uniblab, though. Great, often HILARIOUS George J. lines. LOVE the following exchange between Jane and George, when he's being primed to orbit and they're doing all kinds of weird physical-endurance tests on him, and his fear: "George??!" "I feel." "Dear??!" "I feel, I feel." All these years later, my sister and I still crack each other up with that, esp. since her new boyfriend is named George! Jett Screamer was a fun episode. Sing along with me: "Jett Screamer Screamer, Screamer - I'm a dreamer, dreamer dreamer! When the trumpets blare/I wanna run barefoot through your jet-black hair hair hair hair hair hair." Hilarious. To paraphrase a cartoon policeman (not sure, but think it was on the Jetsons), that song'll "wow 'em at the station..." p.s.: Although he can't come NEAR the majesty that is Dino Flintstone, (R)Astro kicks (r)ass!!!!

The Jetsons is even greater now than it was when it originally aired, due to the absurdity of present times. I just love watching all of the things in this show that upset the "politically correct" bozos. Jane's Driving Lesson, is the funniest television show ever recorded! Perhaps Hanna-Barbera really did have excellent foresight into the future. Maybe they knew that a group of morons would be whining about it 40 years later. Thanks for the laughs Hanna-Barbera!

THE JETSONS was a classic animated show that will always have a place in my heart. Loved this show from the beginning and remember watching it in prime time, just like THE FLINTSTONES. I loved how Rosie and Astro became part of the family. I loved when Elroy became the star of his own TV show and when George had to take Jane out to dinner and entertain a client at the same time. And I am one who went absolutely nuts with George winning the songwriting contest with something from Elroy's computer or something: "Eek, OOp, Ork Ah Ah and that means I love you". Mr. Spacely was one of the all-time great TV villains and his wife cracked me up. A classic that never jumped the shark.