Millionaire Astro

"Millionaire Astro" is the sixteenth episode of The Jetsons season one. It aired on January 6, 1963 on ABC. It was written by Tony Benedict, and produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the creators of the series and the founders of Hanna-Barbera Productions.

A rich man claims to be Astro's legal owner, forcing the Jetsons to go up against him in court for ownership.

Characters

 * style="background-color:#clear"| Astro
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Don Messick
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Gatekeeper
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Daws Butler
 * style="background-color:#clear"| George Jetson
 * style="background-color:#clear"| George O'Hanlon
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Miss Rivets
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Unavailable
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Jane Jetson
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Penny Singleton
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Elroy Jetson
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Daws Butler
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Judy Jetson
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Janet Waldo
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Withers
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Daws Butler
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| J.P. Gottrockets
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Hal Smith
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Perry Spacen
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Unavailable
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Judge
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Daws Butler
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Dogcatcher
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Don Messick
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| J.P. Gottrockets
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Hal Smith
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Perry Spacen
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Unavailable
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Judge
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Daws Butler
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Dogcatcher
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Don Messick
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Daws Butler
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Dogcatcher
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Don Messick
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Don Messick

Organizations

 * Spacely Space Sprockets

Locations

 * Earth
 * United States
 * Orbit City
 * Spacely Space Sprockets building
 * Sky Pad Apartments
 * Jetson residence
 * J.P. Gottrockets's residence
 * County courthouse
 * Miami (mentioned)
 * Hawaii (indirectly mentioned)
 * Honolulu (mentioned)
 * France (indirectly mentioned)
 * French Riviera (mentioned)

Objects

 * Jury-Vac (voiced by Don Messick)
 * Photo of Jetsons

Vehicles

 * Flying cars

Aftermath
When The Jetsons originally aired, no title cards were present. They were only added when the series was revived in the 1980s, and the original episodes were given title cards for consistency when they were all packaged together for The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera. Notably, they all include Orbitty, who wasn't in the original series.

Music
The music was composed and conducted by Hoyt Curtin.

Release
Dates are in order of release:


 * United States: January 6, 1963 on ABC

Behind the scenes

 * This episode elaborates on how Elroy found Astro in "The Coming of Astro," which only showed Elroy arriving with Astro at the apartment.
 * George's workday ends at 3 pm (although Spacely is always calling him to do something that is clearly outside of 3 pm).
 * This is the first time in an episode (outside of the closing credits) that George yells "Jane, stop this crazy thing" in reference to the automatic dog walker he gets trapped on.
 * Astro is described as being 5'9" and 115 pounds.
 * Astro's real name before living with the Jetsons was apparently Tralfaz.
 * Perry Spacen is a reference to the TV character Perry Mason.

Errors

 * It's unclear if Gottrocks was the real owner of Astro, because Astro didn't recognize him and didn't acknowledge that Tralfaz was his real name. It may be because Gottrocks possibly confused him with another dog, or that Astro acted ignorant because he didn't like the name.
 * Despite being called J.P., the front entrance of his estate says "G.P. Gottrockets."

Marketing and promotion

 * In 1997, Landoll's published Millionaire Astro, which was reproduced in 2001 by Golden Books.

Home availability

 * In the United States:
 * May 11, 2004: Warner Home Video releases The Jetsons: The Complete First Season on DVD.
 * May 23, 2017: Warner Home Video releases The Jetsons: The Complete First Season (Hanna-Barbera Diamond Collection edition) on DVD.
 * September 10, 2019: Warner Archive Collection releases The Jetsons: The Complete Original Series on Blu-ray Disc.
 * October 13, 2020: Warner Home Video releases The Jetsons: The Complete Series (Hanna-Barbera Diamond Collection edition) on DVD.
 * June 21, 2022: Warner Home Video releases The Jetsons: The Complete Series on DVD.