Happy Birthday George Jetson
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear George, Happy Birthday to you.
The popular cartoon show, “The Jetsons” first aired in 1962. The show was set 100 years in the future (2062). In the first season, George reveals that he is 40 years old, which makes his birth year 2022. And if you are a fan of the show, then you know that today is his birthday.
We already know that The Simpsons writers must be time travelers as they often predict major world events in their episodes, but what about the Jetsons? They were supposed to be set in the future, so let’s explore if they got any predictions correct. Keep in mind that we technically have 40 years to improve our technology.
Robotic maid – Rosie the Robot Maid was a significant part of the cartoon series and today we have robots like Aeolus Robot Maid and the Roomba vacuum cleaners. I’m fairly certain that in the next 40 years, we will have robots like Rosie the Robot Maid. I’d say they nailed this one
Smart Watches – I don’t think I need to elaborate on this one
Drones – Elroy owned a flying drone-like toy
Flying cars – We aren’t exactly in mass production, but they exist
Video Calls – We really jumped into video calls during the Pandemic, I think they nailed that one too
Tablet computers – Hell, they nailed the Personal Computer in general, considering in 1962, there was no such thing and computers were comprised of racks of equipment
Here are some other things that the Jetsons writers got right:
- Talking Alarm Clocks
- Dog Treadmill
- Tanning Beds
- Flat Screen TVs
- Automatic Toothbrush
- Tasers
- Pneumatic Tubes
- Digital Newspaper
- Smart Home automation
- 3D printed Food
- Holograms
- Jetpacks
- The pill cam (camera as a pill)
- Space Tourism
Another often overlooked fact about the Jetsons is that the first season only had 24 episodes. Sadly it was scheduled to air opposite Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color and Dennis the Menace and did not receive much attention; it was canceled after one season. It wasn’t until 1985 that the series was revived and aired another 51 episodes over the next two years.
