DVD Review: The Jetsons Season 2 Volume 1
Warner Home Video 1980's Revival of Classic Hanna-Barbera Cartoon
May 27, 2009 Dominic von Riedemann
It's strange to realize that there were only 24 episodes of The Jetsons, the cartoon series that made its debut in 1962. A futuristic remodeling of Hanna-Barbera's hit The Flintstones, it only lasted a single season, but achieved cult status when network TV reran it for the next 10 years.
In 1985, Hanna-Barbera brought back the original cast to make more Jetsons. In contrast with the Honeymooners-style humour of the 60's episodes, this revival had a more sci-fi feel, and the stories centered more on the kids, their pets and robots. However, the new show lasted for only 2 seasons, going off the air in November of 1987.
Now Warner Home Video has put the first season of the revived Jetsons on home video. Will it introduce a new generation of fans to the venerable cartoon, or will it only be of interest to the converted?
Warner Home Video, Hanna-Barbera's The Jetsons
Unlike the 1960's originals, these new episodes focused more on teen daughter Judy and junior genius Elroy. Rosie the Robot maid – which only appeared in 2 original episodes – got a bigger role, as did the dog Astro (voiced by original Scooby-Doo voice actor Don Messick). In addition, the show's producers introduced a new character: Orbity, a fuzzy-bodied, spring-legged alien who befriended Elroy.
If you were a fan of the 1960's Jetsons, then these Mulroney-era updates will be virtually indistinguishable from the originals. This is both a good and a bad thing.
On the bright side, it meant that Hanna-Barbera tried as much as possible to keep the original feel of the series. The only difference was that H-B could afford to take more time with the animation, making it smoother and less jerky than the 60's originals. Bringing back the original voice cast, instead of using starving sound-a-likes, was also a nice touch, as was jettisoning the overbearing laugh track.
However, it's also the show's downfall. The whole tone of the original – based on the future-looks-like-the-40's utopia of the early 60's – looked incredibly out of place when compared to 80's fare like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe or Transformers (why H-B didn't try to revive The Herculoids to take advantage of He-Man's success is a mystery). Baby boomers might have appreciated the respectful remake, but it's not surprising that Generation X turned up their soon-to-be-pierced noses at the show.
Many of The Jetsons remake's plots can be summed up using author Neil Gaiman's critique of Disney Channel shows: "Somebody thinks that everybody’s forgotten their birthday. But they haven’t because they were planning a surprise party all along! And everybody loves everybody and then they hug."
Simple misunderstandings were blown out of proportion and then extended so that the episode could reach the 22-minute mark. There were some clever visual gags, but not enough to distract the viewer from the wafer-thin plots.
DVD Extras
There's only one featurette: "Return to the Future" features various cast and crew, plus animation mavens like Mark Evanier and Jerry Beck, discussing how great the show was, and how faithful the remakes were to the originals.
The Final Analysis
If you're already a fan of The Jetsons then this 1980's revival is welcome news. However, if you weren't a fan of the original series (or of Hanna-Barbera's stuff in general) to begin with, then this DVD is not going to convert you.
The Jetsons Season 2 Volume 1 gets a 4/10.
Jetsons Season 2 Volume 1 DVD cover
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