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The Fast Lane

What Happened To The Flying Cars?

thefastlane | 12 November, 2007 08:07

The future seems to arrive too slowly. Why others are saying time passes so quickly, some circumstances defy the observation. Things are gradually changing. But some are changing so at a snail's pace.

Take the flying cars. Despite the tech wonders why can’t flying cars appear in multitude?

Each day there are thousands of inventions and millions of innovations. They could be jaw-dropping, remarkable, so-so, or mediocre, but still they can’t bring to reality the opulence of making aficionados ride on flying cars.

The fact is glaring: by far, the innovations and inventions did not take us to flying cars.

Jason Fry of The Wall Street Journal writes:

I doubt the creators of "The Jetsons" ever imagined how they'd influence kids growing up in the 1970s. The last episode of the original "Jetsons" aired in the spring of 1963, but its real heyday came in syndication, with the show playing on what seemed like continuous loop in the late 1970s. Amazingly, there were only 24 "Jetsons" episodes --- it's a bit frightening to imagine how many times I must have seen each one.

Why such an influence for a show that was basically "The Flintstones" in aerial houses. I'm sure a nation of grad students have emitted turgid narratives about alienated children finding a utopian sequel to JFK-era space-race America preferable to a dystopian continuation of the real 1970s. But at the risk of being no fun, that's not it.

The appeal of "The Jetsons" is much simpler. It had easily identifiable characters (often ripped off, down to the same voice talent, from other Hanna-Barbera shows) and comfortably well-worn family-sitcom situations, with the addition of goofy gadgets that made kids laugh. None of that has anything to do with the future -- "The Flintstones" had the same goofy gadgets, but with vaguely prehistoric animals as technology. Most importantly, "The Jetsons" was on all the time. (Though it should be said that the brassy, galloping theme song is totally great.)

The only reason "The Jetsons" is a touchstone for the future instead of just childhood nostalgia is that it was "about" the future -- which was bound to arrive because, well, that's what the future does. You could spend your day comparing the future to "2001: A Space Odyssey,” but not everybody's seen that. "The Jetsons," on the other hand, is pretty close to a sure thing, conversationally. If for some reason daily life in the 2000s included girl bands foiling not-very-frightening crimes, those of us who watched too much TV 30 years ago would spend a lot of time wondering why today's intrepid musicians weren't more like Josie and the Pussycats.

Are flying cars just around the corner? Or we’ll wait ages to witness the revolution. Whether or not we will be waiting in vain remains a big issue.

But I do look forward to riding one of these amazing flying cars. It will be nice to touch the clouds you know.

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