Hey everybody,
Welcome to Futuretoons, formally known as Retrofuturism and Animation.
While SEO friendly, that was a horrible title for this series, so going forward it will
be known as Futuretoons, which is slightly better.
Certainly easier to say.
For those new here, this is where we explore the intersection of animation and retrofuturism
by profiling and contextualising past predictions of the future as seen in cartoons.
Kicking off this new era is this video concerning Hanna-Barbera and their futuristic predictions.
We will be looking at a couple shows that are not the Jetsons, one: because we already
covered that in episode 1 and two: because there is enough material there for entire
stand alone video, if we want to expand upon that some day.
As a note, we are going with shows that feature a specific year in the future, rather than
relying on aesthetics so no Galaxy Goof Ups or Yogi’s Space Race or any other show that
simply takes place in a sci-fi setting.
We will instead be breaking down the futures featured in two animated series produced by
the studio.
Now I know Hanna-Barbera can be very divisive.
They have often been criticised for their limited animation.
Legendary cartoonist Chuck Jones actually once referred to their work as illustrated
radio.
While I don’t exactly share that thought though I do think their strength did come
from character design and voice characterisation.
Voice actors like Daws Butler and Don Messick gave these cartoons a ton of personality,
but that’s not to say Hanna-Barbera didn’t produce a lot of terrible shows.
Because they did.
We’ve talked about the origins of the studio before as well as their output from the 1970s
when they more or less ruled Saturday morning television.
There was plenty of trash there and everything that is going to be covered here came from
that decade, starting with Sealab 2020.
2020 was shit.
I’m sure many of you are glad it’s over, not that 2021 is shaping up much different
though let’s stay positive.
Sealab 2020 premiered on September 9, 1972 and ran 13 episodes through December 2.
This series followed the adventures of a research team stationed at Sealab, an underwater research
facility.
It was created by Alex Toth, who also gave us sixties superheroes Space Ghost and Birdman,
which in turn gave us Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Harvey Birdman, not to mention the
parody of this, Sealab 2021.
So needless to say, Toth’s work informed a huge part of the original Adult Swim.
There is something very futuristic, or retrofuturistic, about early ocean exploration.
There is a whole world under there, full of creatures and mystery we’ve only really
recently been able to explore and so when this series was produced, at the tail end
of the space age, it makes sense that in the future underwater habitats would exist.
Just like one day we’d live on the moon.
There has been plenty of retrofuturistic art created depicting underwater cities.
Even early deep sea diving equipments fits the aesthetic and so Sealab wasn’t that
ridiculous of an idea.
We are going to covering episode 1, Deep Threat.
The first episode or pilot of a show generally sets up the world so this should give us a
good idea of how things function in this 2020.
This 2020 was infinitely better than the one we got.
No global pandemics here.
It obviously features an underwater research facility, Sealab.
The design is in line with a lot of the futuristic homes of this time, so lots of domes and round
edges.
There are also underwater vehicles, similar to cars or vans, and other submarines that
helped the crew in their research.
There is care and concern for the environment.
Things are stable.
Video calling and yeah.
We are kind of limited given we don’t really leave the sea or see the world outside of
Sealab, not that a children’s cartoon would showcase the geopolitical situation or anything
but there isn’t much more here.
Next up, we have everyone’s favourite family of the future: the Partridge Family.
This is one of the more bizarre shows we’ve looked at.
It transplants ’70s TV stars The Partridge Family into a Jetsons-like future, specifically
the year 2200, hence the title The Partridge Family 2200 A.D.
This debuted in 1974, running for 16 episodes.
It was based off of The Partridge Family which was a sitcom, itself running 1970 to 1974.
That featured family of travelling musicians and starred Shirley Jones, David Cassidy and
Danny Bonaduce, who is my only real frame of reference.
I remember him from a string of reality show trash in the early 2000s.
Celebrity Boxing, stuff like that.
Kind of a rough future for Danny there.
Bonaduce reprised his role in 2200, also known as The Partridge Family in Space.
This followed Josie and the Pussycats in placing IP in a futuristic setting.
That was Hanna-Barbera’s schtick for a while.
Now why The Partridge Family 2200 A.D exists is a mystery.
The theme song tells us they are showing us how it’s going to be.
The world design and sound effects are identical to the Jetsons.
The series actually began as a spin off of the Jetsons, where Judy and Elroy were older,
so they were able to save some money and reuse assets.
This is blatantly obvious in the opening.
A lot of predictions appear here, like tube travel.
A couple gets picked up at a bus like this.
At an automated food stand, dehydrated food is served, and we see electric tennis, years
before Pong.
A robotic pet dog, Orbit, is also introduced.
I get that the dog can fly but I still think it’s pretty fucked its being dragged behind
a car in the intro here.
Unlike the Jetson, some residential buildings are grounded.
Basic, nondescript domes.
Video doorbell.
The television design is really cool as well.
In the episode I watched, an inventor creates a way to quickly teach their hillbilly cousin
to sing.
It is a very complicated system, sort of a proto-auto tune machine.
Turns him into a chicken, I guess.
Kind of like the Fly.
This cousin also arrives in outdated technology, this plane, placed around a century old.
It arrives at a jet port, interspace travel is assumed.
The music segments come off as as early music videos and some are very trippy.
Very psychedelic.
Super into these.
Probably the most enjoyable part of the show.
And yeah, might as well end it on a high note.
I enjoy mainline Hanna-Barbera but their lesser known output can be a drag sometimes.
Wouldn’t necessarily recommend but I will post links in the description if you want
to check them out.
If you are looking for more retrofuturistic content, look no further than our Patreon,
where we recently covered Fallout 3’s viral marketing campaign, Prepare for the Future.
$5 a month gets you access to that as well as Century of Schlock, currently winding down
our look at animated smut from the 20th century, as well as dozens of other exclusive videos.
patreon.com/picsnportraits.
If you liked this video, give us a thumbs up, subscribe if you haven’t and check out
other entries in the series.
As always, thank you so much for your interest in this channel and thanks for watching.
Stay safe out there.