Astro

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Astro
Astro.png
Rhe rog rof romorrow
(The dog of tomorrow)
Species Dog (Great Dane)
Gender Male
Member of Space Mutts in Astro and the Space Mutts
Affiliation Elroy Jetson
George Jetson
Jane Jetson
Judy Jetson
Rosie
Orbitty
Occupation Housepet
Marital status He was once had an unnamed mate
Children A litter of unnamed puppies with said mate
First appearance TJ: "The Coming of Astro" (1962)
Played by Don Messick (1962-90)
Wally Wingert (2004)
Frank Welker (2017)
Ron Funches (2024)
Universal Astro.png
Jetsons: The Movie
DC Astro.png
The Jetsons
JS Astro.png
Jellystone!

Astro is the pet dog of the Jetsons and one of the main characters of the Jetsons franchise. His voice was originated by Don Messick.

Adopted by the Jetsons family in the year 2062, Astro lives a life as a housepet of theirs. Although a little clumsy and a stress to the family, he remains consistently loyal to those around him, especially his best friend George.

Character description

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Specials

Shorts

Comics

Books

Video games

Biography

The Coming of Astro

Astro made his debut in the fifth episode of the series, "The Coming of Astro," where Elroy first brought him to the Jetsons residence. Elroy states that he was an "orphaned puppy" and demonstrated him dog tricks to his mother Jane, and older daughter Judy. Although the two quickly accept Astro as a sweet pet, Jane was hesitant because George would refuse to let them have a dog in their apartment. They first hid the dog until George gets home. But when George arrived, he surprises his family with a nuclear-powered robot dog named 'Lectronimo; with the added promise that it will keep burglers away. After Astro lunges at George, he ordered the dog to leave. But Jane insists that he should not let Astro go, and the rest of the family propose on having a contest on which dog can stay. Despite Astro's best efforts, 'Lectronimo wins the contest and Astro is left out of the home, much to Elroy's disappointment. The two dogs were put to the test when a cat burgler showed up in the Jetsons' apartment. 'Lectromino was unable to catch the burglar after several mishaps, prompting Astro to stop him and convince George to adopt him as a permanent member of the family.

In "Millionaire Astro," it was later revealed that Astro was the former pet of a rich industrialist named J.P. Gottrockets, and that his actual name was "Tralfaz." Despite Astro having no recollection of Gottrockets as his owner, the man was not happy that he had taken a different name under the Jetsons family and seeks to return Astro back to his ownership. However, the family was hesitant to give Astro back to his former owner, and starts to worry on what would happen if they lose their dog. After the Jetsons' failed attempt to pose Astro as their "Uncle Charlie," Gottrockets tries reposses him, but not long before George proposes to him on a trial over ownership of the dog. When Gottrockets is taken to the stand on trial, he shows the judge a pedigree that shows that he had ownership of Tralfaz. Elroy, who later was put into testimony, reveals that he had rescued Astro in a playground, further explaining that the dog wanted to live with a real family rather than a life of wealth and privilege. Despite Astro's sympathy, Gottrocket wins the trial and takes him back to his estate much to the family's sadness over their loss. Astro, under Gottrockets' estate, was not happy with the wealthy living conditions of his former owner. But after seeing how much he loved the Jetsons, Gottrockets transfers his legal ownership and gives Astro back to them.

Astro in the Funny Books

Marvel's Laff-A-Lympics

Development

Gallery

Main article: Astro/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Main article: Astro/Toys

Behind the scenes

  • Don Messick would later use Astro's dog-like accent and the phrase "Ruh-roh!" for when he provided the voice of Scooby-Doo during his career.

In popular culture

  • Although having no part in the actual movie, Astro, along with George and Jane, was featured on the poster of the film D.A.R.Y.L. The inclusion of the family may represent something Daryl is missing out on, while Paramount Pictures may have included it as an Easter egg as they had acquired the rights the same year for what became an undeveloped live-action movie.
  • In Chris Rice's song "Cartoons," Rice questions if Astro is religious and would say "Rough-ray-roo-loo-yah" in place of "Hallelujah."
  • In the Family Guy episode "From Method to Madness," Peter thinks it's fine for Stewie to go into acting at such a young age because he thinks Elroy turned out okay. But Elroy has grown up to become a poor drunk. He gets taken out of a bar by its bouncer and put into a taxi driven by another former child star Bamm-Bamm. The bouncer tells Bamm-Bamm to take Elroy home, but he wants to go to Astro's grave, instead. Elroy and Bamm-Bamm later attended one of Stewie's terrible one-man shows.
  • In The Fairly OddParents TV movie Channel Chasers (part 1), Astro is parodied as a robotic dog belonging to Tony Futurelli, who are portrayed as both stereotypical Italian-Americans in the same vein as the HBO drama The Sopranos. Just as in the closing credits to The Jetsons, Tony takes his dog for a walk, but the dog is distracted by a cat who owes him money. The dog and cat end up jumping on the balcony as they watch Tony get stuck on the revolving treadmill.
  • In the Drawn Together episode "Toot Goes Bollywood," at the beginning of the episode, Foxxy is making love to Scooby, who she mistakes for Astro.
  • In the DTV movie Futurama: Bender's Game (cut as part 2 when aired as part of the TV series), Rosie has been sent to the HAL Institute for Criminally Insane Robots for killing Astro, referring to him as a "dirty dog".
  • There is an anthropomorphic thug-like dog strongly resembling Astro in the Samurai Jack episode "Episode XCVII." He was voiced by Greg Baldwin, although he didn't sound like Astro.
  • For the 2021 Halloween special of Live with Kelly and Ryan, Michael Gelman, one of the show's executives, was dressed as Astro.

References