There’s Astro!  I was wondering where the Great Dane was, because he is Elroy’s best friend.  Astro probably stopped to dig up a bone he sniffed out along the way.  After all, there are a lot of pet dogs here at Sun City Peachtree, and you never know if one of them might have buried a bone around the ‘hood.

Astro was adopted by Elroy when he found him during the fourth episode of The Jetsons.  His parents were at odds with each other as to whether they should let their little son keep the canine.  George was against it, because he felt an apartment was no place for a dog; however, Jane, and Elroy’s sister, Judy, wanted to keep him.

Majority rules, so George was S.O.L.  The thing is, by the time the 15^th episode came along, they learned that Astro belonged to zillionaire J.P. Gottrockets and was actually named “Tralfaz.”  The Jetsons knew they had to the right thing and return the pooch to his rightful owner; however, Mr. Gottrockets realized that his dog was happier with the Jetsons and allowed him to go back home with them. 

Now, Astro isn’t just your average dog.  He has a rudimentary grasp of the English language and talks a bit like Scooby-Doo in Scooby Doo Where Are You!  It’s the r’s he has a hard time pronouncing, so instead of saying “I love you, George,” it comes out sounding like “I ruv roo, Reorge.”  As a result, when he expressed how much he hated the name “Tralfaz,” he said, “Ralfaz… Ruck!” which was supposed to be “Tralfaz… Yuk!”  “Uh-oh!” sounds like “Ruh-roh!” when Astro says it, which is often since it’s his signature expression.

Like a lot of dogs, Astro isn’t especially found of felines.  A joke at the end of each episode in the 1960’s run shows George Jetson walking Astro on an automatic dogwalker outside his apartment.  Astro chases a cat causing the dogwalker to go fast; George loses hold of the dog leash; Astro and the cat jump to one side, and both watch George forced to run for his life on the out-of-control dogwalker screaming for Jane to “stop this CRAZY THING!” George eventually falls and is carried by the treadmill’s belt around its path, under the machine and back up again.

I guess the Jetsons won’t be adopting a cat any time soon!