A Jetson Christmas Carol

"A Jetson Christmas Carol" (also titled "The Jetsons Christmas Carol" on the 1996 VHS release) is the Christmas episode of the Hanna-Barbera animated television series , originally aired in syndication on December 13, 1985. As the title suggests, it is loosely based on Charles Dickens' classic story, A Christmas Carol.

Synopsis
It is Christmas Eve in Orbit City, and the Jetsons are celebrating it the only way they can—as a family.

Meanwhile, George and the other employees of Spacely Space Sprockets are hounded by the intergalactic Scrooge of the company, Mr. Spacely, who detests the holiday season—so much, in fact, that he forces George to work overtime and head home late on Christmas Eve night.

Back at the Jetsons' Sky-Pad Apartment, Jane and the children head out to do some last-minute Christmas shopping at the new downtown mall, while Astro gets into the Christmas presents underneath the tree. He finds a remote-controlled robot cat that gives him a hard time—and ends up threatening his life when he destroys the toy and swallows one of the gears. When George finally gets home, he discovers what happened to Astro and it seems there is no hope for his beloved friend, since all the veterinarian offices and pet hospitals have closed early for Christmas Eve.

Meanwhile, back at Spacely's plant, Spacely counts his money, but decides to take a small nap before thinking about making any bank deposits. Hovering between dreams and reality, he is visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Marsley. The ghost warns Spacely that three more ghosts will visit during the night to show the Scroogelike CEO the error of his ways. Before too long, the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet To Be follow suit.

Christmas Past — a living, talking adding machine — shows Spacely that his younger self was as selfish and cheap as he is now, and then reveals the time when Spacely met his wife-to-be as a teenager. (In this episode, she is named Starla, but for the rest of the series, she was called Stella.)

After the first spirit's visit, the Ghost of Christmas Present—who turns out to be a talking gift box wrapped with a bow (pardon the pun)—shows Spacely the Jetsons and how they must face the thought of losing their beloved pet, Astro.

Then, when Spacely attempts to escape with his money, the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Be (who resembles an archaic Babbage thinking machine) shows Spacely the future. He believes that his future looks bright when he sees a large mansion—but gets the shock of his life when he discovers that it belongs to the Jetsons. He also realizes that George Jetson had sued Spacely Sprockets for the death of his dog and best friend, Astro, because Spacely Sprockets had made the gear that Astro swallowed, and it ended up killing him.

After realizing that he would be ruined, Spacely hurries to the Jetsons' apartment, bringing along his personal veterinarian, who extracts the sprocket from Astro's stomach and cures him. He has also brought Jane, Judy, and Elroy the gifts they'd wanted for Christmas, but were disappointed when they found out everything they wanted at the mall was sold out. As for George, Spacely promised him a big raise and leaves wishing the Jetsons a Merry Christmas. The story ends with the Jetsons singing the classic song "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

Trivia

 * In the sequence with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Fred and Wilma Flintstone can be seen in the movie playing at the drive-in theater.

Releases
"A Jetson Christmas Carol" was released on VHS for the first time as part of the Hanna-Barbera Super Stars video series in 1989. Two years later, it was then included on the Hanna-Barbera Christmas Laserdisc, which also featured "Christmas Flintstone" and Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper. It was released on VHS again in 1996 as one of Cartoon Network's Christmas videos in 1996. Currently, its only DVD release is on Warner Archive's The Jetsons: Season 2, Volume 2 manufacture-on-demand DVD set.