# Pointless Jetsons question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191 "2008-07-20T22:41:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/1 "2008-07-20T22:41:51Z")
So why were all the buildings built at the top of impossibly tall stilts? Why didn’t folks live and work on the planet’s surface? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/2 "2008-07-20T22:44:12Z")
Because being on top of impossibly high stilts is _cool_. Square. ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/3 "2008-07-20T22:48:00Z")
Because the dinosaurs would have crushed the houses. Also, Fred Flintstone would have met George much too soon. SSG Schwartz ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/4 "2008-07-20T23:19:54Z")
I just assumed it was a smog thing. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/5 "2008-07-20T23:25:37Z")
Greenland and Antarctic Ice shelves. They knew, they knew! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/6 "2008-07-20T23:50:47Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] I just assumed it was a smog thing. [/QUOTE] I think that was actually kind of explicit, not so much the smog, but so they could rise above the inclement weather and live a Sunny existence all their lives. Smog is a decent interpretation as well. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/7 "2008-07-21T00:00:52Z")
To my knowledge, we _never_ saw the ground in that show – everything was impossibly high up. There were even floating burger joints (presumably serving flying cow burgers). ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/8 "2008-07-21T00:07:22Z")
Wasn’t _The Jetsons_ architecture basically just copying the [Space Needle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_needle)? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/9 "2008-07-21T02:02:25Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] To my knowledge, we _never_ saw the ground in that show – everything was impossibly high up. There were even floating burger joints (presumably serving flying cow burgers). [/QUOTE] There is one episode where they go to a Dude Ranch, which is on Jupiter or thereabouts. 😃 Same episode also featured Jane doing an aerobics workout that involved flexing her index finger over and over again. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/10 "2008-07-21T02:09:50Z")
I don’t know about the stilts, but I DO know what\* Eep Op Ork Ah Ah\* means. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/11 "2008-07-21T02:13:20Z")
[QUOTE=blondebear] I don’t know about the stilts, but I DO know what\* Eep Op Ork Ah Ah\* means. [/QUOTE] Oh, christ. Please don’t do that. Not _that_ earworm again! I cast [Let the sun shine in](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpab0a3W4Ec), performed by Pebbles and Bam Bam. Take that! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/12 "2008-07-21T02:16:05Z")
The dinosaur explanation is close: the ground was where birds walked ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/13 "2008-07-21T02:39:05Z")
Smog, just look at the [exhaust on that thing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFbuulDiM_U) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/14 "2008-07-21T02:41:37Z")
The Jetson’s movie showed a significant smog layer. However the original show showed the ground a couple of times- it was inhabited by birds and hoboes. And they showed a surveyor measuring the height of a building by dropping a plumb line, and then announcing that the building was six inches too tall for the building code. But really, I dunno, it’s just that being up in the sky was “where it’s at”. Heck, they didn’t even really distinguish between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/15 "2008-07-21T03:09:43Z")
I have a memory of a random Jetson’s scene where they’re informed to raise their houses again because of the smog. It’s entirely possible that I was stoned at the time though. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/16 "2008-07-21T03:28:18Z")
[QUOTE=Crawlspace] I have a memory of a random Jetson’s scene where they’re informed to raise their houses again because of the smog. It’s entirely possible that I was stoned at the time though. [/QUOTE] That might have been episode #15 ([_Back to the Present_](http://www.tv.com/harvey-birdman-attorney-at-law/back-to-the-present/episode/320961/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;14)) of _Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law_, an Adult Swim cartoon that parodies numerous Hanna Barbera cartoon characters. The Jetson family travels back in time (from the far-future year of 2002 - this episode aired in 2004) to file various lawsuits because in their time, pollution has gotten so bad that they can no longer stilt-lift their house above the rising water levels of the melting ice caps. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/17 "2008-07-21T14:37:28Z")
George and Wilma were upper class. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/18 "2008-07-21T14:50:57Z")
Well they were moving on up _moving on up_ to the top _moving on up_ of a de-lux apartment, in the sky-iii ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/19 "2008-07-21T14:52:21Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] George and Wilma were upper class. [/QUOTE] Does Fred know about this affair? ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191/20 "2008-07-21T14:54:45Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] The dinosaur explanation is close: the ground was where birds walked [/QUOTE] I do believe that has to be the most obscure _Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy_ reference ever made on this message board. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-jetsons-question/457191.md?page=2)