A Jetson
Christmas Carol
Format:
Animated TV
series episode
Country:
USA
Production
company:
Hanna-Barbera
Year:
1985 (first aired
in syndication in the USA on December 13th that year)
Length:
22 minutes
Setting:
Fantasy sci-fi future
Background:
The Jetsons had first aired on the CBS network in the
United States in the 1960s, as a futuristic counterpart to the hugely
successful Flintstones, another prime-time animated sitcom. Unlike The Flintstones’ version of the Carol which was later made as a special
in the 1990s, this was a regular series episode of The Jetsons, although
not from the original 1960s run – this was part of a second season made in the
1980s and sold in syndication (so directly from Hanna-Barbera to individual
private TV stations) rather than airing on a network.
Cast and crew:
Also unlike The
Flintstones version, even though the second season of The Jetsons
was made twenty-odd years after the first, this still features all of the main
voice cast from the original version. George O’Hanlon plays George, PennySingleton is Jane, Janet Waldo is Judy and Daws Butler plays Elroy, the four members of the
Jetson family. Voiceover legend Mel Blanc is the star of this particular episode, however, as
George’s boss Cosmo Spacely, a regular character from the series who fills the
Scrooge role here.
Barbara Levy and
Marc Paykuss wrote the episode – beyond other work on the 1980s version of The
Jetsons, other credits for them seem to be non-existent. It’s possible of
course that they were some sort of in-house Hanna-Barbera pseudonyms for other
writers. There are no fewer than five directors credited, which seems
rather extreme for one 22-minute production, but perhaps that’s the nature of
having to churn out so many episodes of an animated series.
Underdone Potato:
 |
| Lazy buggers, these Jetsons! |
There isn’t
actually a huge amount of the Carol in this, although probably just
enough to count. We’re 11 minutes into the 22-minutes episode before we get to
the Dickens-inspired section, with the first half being taken up with a
depiction of the Jetsons’ preparations for Christmas. All of this culminates in
their dog, Astro – who talks, after a fashion, much in the manner of Scooby-Doo
– opening his present early, finding it’s a robot cat, chasing it to destruction
and becoming gravely ill when he swallows one of the sprockets which comes
flying out of the wreckage.
This is important
later, trust me.
Having not
watched The Jetsons for many a long year, I had forgotten just how
completely and utterly lazy they are. Possibly the laziest television
characters this side of Lieutenant Green on Captain Scarlet, who had that moving chair he would move about three feet to the left whenever Colonel White
wanted to talk to him.
Anyway, these
lazy buggers go even beyond that, having devices at the dinner table which
literally spoon-feed them, as well as a moving walkway just to go through their
own living room. Which I know is all probably supposed to be a parody of either
the laziness of modern generations or of sci-fi gimmicks, but still…
Poor old George
has to work late on Christmas Eve to fulfil an order for his boss Mr Spacely,
who he remarks is a real Scrooge. After George finally gets home to fret over
the seemingly-dying Astro with the rest of his family, we see Spacely back at
the office enjoying his massive piles of money. This is when the Carol
element finally kicks off, as his former business partner ‘Marsley’ pops up and
warns him of the terrible fate he may share. Marsley is swathed in bandages
rather than the traditional chains, however, looking more like someone going to
a Halloween party as a Mummy than a tormented soul, and Spacely dismisses the
whole thing as a bad dream.
Past:
 |
| George gets orders to work late on Christmas Eve. |
The Ghost of Christmas
Past then appears, in the form of a giant, floating robot head. It shows
Spacely his childhood playground, where oddly he’s a young contemporary of George
Jetson – given that he’s the boss, I had assumed that Spacey was supposed to be
rather older than George. We see him getting a lot of money from George’s hard
work, before we flit forward to a ‘fly-in’ cinema, where teenageSpacely is
watching The Flintstones with his future wife, Starla. In a diversion
from the usual course of the traditional Belle scene, Starla is worried about
his obsession with money, but in the end seems prepared to go along with it!
Present:
The Ghost of
Christmas Present is… a giant, talking present, with a lid which hinges open on
the front and a pair of hands inside which reach in and grab Spacely, and transport
him around inside the gift. Which is a decent gag, I suppose!
This section is even
shorter than the others, as all Spacely is shown is the Jetsons gathered around
the dying Astro. “I’m bored of this corny yuletide soap opera,” Spacely
complains, which puts them on rather dodgy ground!
Yet to Come:
 |
| The Ghost of Christmas Present. In more ways than one, it seems! |
The spirit here
is depicted as a large, imposing bank of computer equipment, which doesn’t speak
but does bleep menacingly at Spacely. Again we’re just shown one scene, of the
Jetsons of the future – although clearly not all that far into the future,
as none of them has visibly aged – living in a fabulous mansion and being
stupendously rich. It turns out that the sprocket which killed Astro was a Spacely
sprocket, and they were able to sue Spacely for an enormous sum, ruining him.
What’s To-Day:
Having learned
that he’ll end up ruined, Spacely rushes to the Jetsons’ on Christmas Day,
having dragged his “own personal vet” who he just happens to have handy away from
his Christmas dinner to treat Astro. The dog is saved, and Spacely also loads
them up on presents, including a guitar for Elroy – who remarks “you must be
psychic,” as indeed he must be as Spacely wasn’t shown the scene of Elroy
wanting it which the audience were earlier – and daughter Judie gets some “nuclear
roller skates,” which sounds pretty hazardous.
I was expecting
some sort of punchline or pay-off pointing out that Spacely isn’t a reformed
character at all, and clearly only did all of this so that they won’t sue him,
but none came. It’s an odd version of the Carol where our ‘heroes’ lose
out on riches because the Scrooge figure ensures they don’t get it, but I
suppose one of the messages of the original is that there’s more to life than
money, and at least their dog survived this time.
Review:
A curious version
of the Carol, which at 22 minutes probably just about stays on the right
side of outstaying its welcome. It does manage to pack a fair bit into those 22
minutes, although labelling it as ‘A Jetson Christmas Carol’ is probably a bit
rich when that element of it only takes up about half of the running time.
There’s some
pretty weird scripting at times, mainly all of Jane Jetson’s lines when Astro
first falls ill, and George’s rather cheery “I’d have more fun in a torture
chamber!” when he sets off to work at the beginning of the episode, which makes
him sound as if he is having serious psychological problems with his job.
But the ghosts
are all nicely done, and if you’re a fan of The Jetsons and like the Carol
I would imagine you’d enjoy this.
In a nutshell:
Probably more one
for fans of The Jetsons or at least people who are familiar with it in
some way, and not especially worth seeking out otherwise.
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