The Jetsons' Car That Turns Into a Suitcase

  Back in the 1960s, a lot of people thought we’d have flying cars by the year 2000. It’s 2020 now and we’re probably still a little ways away from flying cars. I’d love to see them come to fruition at some point in my life, although realistically I think the automobile industry should first focus on making vehicles much more energy efficient, and perhaps also self-driven. Flying cars have been a staple in science fiction for decades upon decades, but perhaps they’re most famous in the classic cartoon “The Jetsons.”

I was just looking at the opening of “The Jetsons” on youtube and there are a couple of things I noticed. One thing is that while it still looks futuristic, stylistically the animation feels very much like the 1960s. This is pretty common in science fiction, for the style to look like the era it was made in, or for people to look and behave like people from the era the series or film was made in rather than the future. If you watch “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the clothes the people wear and the way they speak feel much like the 1960s. 

But the thing I noticed the most is the flying car George Jetson is driving. After dropping off his kids at school and his wife to run errands, he heads over to work. Instead of parking his car, it folds up into a suitcase that he just casually carries with him into the office.

A couple of things. First off, George Jetson does not look like a particularly strong person. On average a car weighs 2,871 pounds. The average American male weighs 197.9 pounds. Maybe you could argue that engineers of the future found a way to make sturdy materials that are super-lightweight but still strong. Still, the average weight of a suitcase is about twelve pounds, so that’s a big if, even for a future world as fantastical as that of “The Jetsons.”

Also, what if someone forgets to grab something out of the car before turning it into a suitcase? People in the real world forget things all the time, like leaving stuff on the roof of the car before driving off, or forgetting to grab groceries out of the car. Wouldn’t it suck if someone went to the grocery store, came home, and forgot to grab their groceries before turning their vehicle into a suitcase? Then you have no food, wasted money, and a messy car.

I can buy the idea of perhaps someday there being flying cars, but seeing them turn into easy-to-carry suitcases seems pretty remote. On the other hand, I am talking about a cartoon series that came out in the 1960s, so maybe I should shut down my brain just a tiny bit.