When every girl reaches their sweet 16 birthday, they want it to be extra special. After all, she's two years away from legal adulthood, so live it up while you can. But no birthday party can compare to a surprise party. You have to make them think you forgot, only to pop up at the most unexpected time and scream "happy birthday!" Never fails. In this episode, Judy Jetson turns sweet sixteen...well, not so sweet I'd say. We open on Astro getting terrorized by a cat, no relevance to the story but a very humorous episode starter. Meanwhile, Judy is turning her room upside down via remote control looking for her diary. She soon finds it: her futuristic diary named DiDi (die-die), a floating pair of robotic lips that sounds remarkably like Selma Diamond. Judy begins to tell about the most exciting week of her life, leading up to her surprise birthday party, while DiDi has little choice but to listen. It all started one day when Judy's car broke down. Yes, she has her own car in this episode, but I guess it gets stolen because she wants one in numerous later episodes. Anyway, school chums Nicky and Andy stop by to acknowledge she's in trouble but are too busy to help. Judy wishes for a good Samaritan to come along. Enter Curly Quasar, a naive, neurotic young man with a heart of gold. He deduces that her car is out of fuel pellets, so he lends her some. She thanks him, calls him Burly instead of Curly, and takes off.
The next morning, Judy awakens, full of anticipation for her impending birthday party. She's overly excited and bursting with cheer....which she displays by complaining about Elroy working on an invention at the table and after a "Daddy!" whine, Elroy is forced to work elsewhere; Judy heads off to school. Along the way she spots the nice kid who stopped to help her that day, and how does she display appreciation? Flies right by, ignoring him. She also takes to ignoring Curly in the halls at school. Judy hated being snobby, but Curly wasn't "with it", a member of the socially elite and Judy had an image to maintain...oh, give me a break. The teenage Jetson tries to get some sort of party hint out of Rosie, but to no avail. The best thing about a surprise party is that it's a surprise, however Judy wanted to know the surprise ahead of time. She snoops around Elroy's room and finds her present: Saturn slugs; Knowing her party was on Saturday, she turned down several dates. So not like her. But when Saturday night arrived, each member of the family heads out to do their own thing, leaving Judy all alone. Funny, she pushes everyone away and then wonders why she's all alone. She calls the dates she rejected, but finds they've all gone to a big party. Gee, the biggest party in the galaxy, on the night of her supposed surprise party...why wasn't Judy invited? She then receives a call from Curly, baring a gift. He brings it over and sure enough, it's a comical machine that recites limericks, like "there once was a woman from Venus, who found out..." Just kidding. No, these limericks are family friendly. A special one just from Curly wins Judy's heart. See? The personal limerick, no matter how corny, will win you the girl. Suddenly, a flying saucer sails through the room and instantly it fills with her family, Mr. Spacely, and pretty much everybody in the neighborhood. Even Judy's would-be dates were there. So, after making a wish and blowing out her candles, Astro jumps out of the cake, and the words "Happy Birthday Judy" are spelled out in the sky above the building, courtesy of Elroy's invention. So it all worked out. Judy got her birthday party, and she was certainly surprised. Whether it was well deserved or not.
All in all, this episode is one of my least favorites. Judy comes off as incredibly mean, spoiled and self-centered, and we're supposed to sympathize with her. The way she treats her family and her friends really makes them look like saints to still want to throw her a party. I think one of the main problems is that Judy's character was never really elaborated on. She was just the typical teenage daughter who obsessed over cars, clothes and boys. Judy was usually selfish, conceited, we rarely saw a compassionate side of her...not until Rockin' With Judy Jetson, which is real, by the way. So, basically the writers just made her mean and spoiled in this episode so I'm afraid I can't sympathize with her or feel sorry for her. But, Happy Birthday anyway, Judy. Many more to you.
The next morning, Judy awakens, full of anticipation for her impending birthday party. She's overly excited and bursting with cheer....which she displays by complaining about Elroy working on an invention at the table and after a "Daddy!" whine, Elroy is forced to work elsewhere; Judy heads off to school. Along the way she spots the nice kid who stopped to help her that day, and how does she display appreciation? Flies right by, ignoring him. She also takes to ignoring Curly in the halls at school. Judy hated being snobby, but Curly wasn't "with it", a member of the socially elite and Judy had an image to maintain...oh, give me a break. The teenage Jetson tries to get some sort of party hint out of Rosie, but to no avail. The best thing about a surprise party is that it's a surprise, however Judy wanted to know the surprise ahead of time. She snoops around Elroy's room and finds her present: Saturn slugs; Knowing her party was on Saturday, she turned down several dates. So not like her. But when Saturday night arrived, each member of the family heads out to do their own thing, leaving Judy all alone. Funny, she pushes everyone away and then wonders why she's all alone. She calls the dates she rejected, but finds they've all gone to a big party. Gee, the biggest party in the galaxy, on the night of her supposed surprise party...why wasn't Judy invited? She then receives a call from Curly, baring a gift. He brings it over and sure enough, it's a comical machine that recites limericks, like "there once was a woman from Venus, who found out..." Just kidding. No, these limericks are family friendly. A special one just from Curly wins Judy's heart. See? The personal limerick, no matter how corny, will win you the girl. Suddenly, a flying saucer sails through the room and instantly it fills with her family, Mr. Spacely, and pretty much everybody in the neighborhood. Even Judy's would-be dates were there. So, after making a wish and blowing out her candles, Astro jumps out of the cake, and the words "Happy Birthday Judy" are spelled out in the sky above the building, courtesy of Elroy's invention. So it all worked out. Judy got her birthday party, and she was certainly surprised. Whether it was well deserved or not.
All in all, this episode is one of my least favorites. Judy comes off as incredibly mean, spoiled and self-centered, and we're supposed to sympathize with her. The way she treats her family and her friends really makes them look like saints to still want to throw her a party. I think one of the main problems is that Judy's character was never really elaborated on. She was just the typical teenage daughter who obsessed over cars, clothes and boys. Judy was usually selfish, conceited, we rarely saw a compassionate side of her...not until Rockin' With Judy Jetson, which is real, by the way. So, basically the writers just made her mean and spoiled in this episode so I'm afraid I can't sympathize with her or feel sorry for her. But, Happy Birthday anyway, Judy. Many more to you.
