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Orbitty is a lot like
the green kangaroo Hoppy from "The Flintstones." He was
around, he was on the show, but people often pretend
they never existed. When people think of The Jetsons
they never think of Orbitty, and when they think of Bam
Bam, Hoppy is the last thing that comes to mind. If
ever. Around the time the show jumped the shark by
adding Orbitty, "The Jetsons" was pretty much on its way
to losing its relevance and momentum that it had. And
Orbitty became the Cousin Oliver of the series. Though
he wasn't as annoying as Scrappy Doo, he was still
fairly unnecessary to the show. In fact the writers only
chose to acknowledge him when he had to deliver a cutesy
line of dialogue, or had a rare episode revolving around
him. The writers make a justification for Orbitty,
though. The little furry kitty like thing can fix
things.
It's natural ability is
to fix things. But the character is so streamline to
appeal to kids, it almost feels cold and lifeless.
Especially when you consider the character is there to
appeal to boys and girls. So it's androgynous in
design with a furry body, it can talk and it purrs like
a kitten, it has a purple pompadour and gender neutral
colors, and it walks on springy legs a la "The
Impossibles." The introduction of Orbitty is a fairly
annoying episode, and one that still begs the question
why it even needed to be added on to the show and
shoehorned in to the family. It has zero personality and
little appeal beyond working as a potential teddy bear,
and lacks in interesting storylines. Plus with Astro,
why do we need another talking animal? And why was Mac
even allowed on to this series, in the first place? |
