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Joe Barbera ''felt terrible'' about replacing Janet Waldo with Tiffany
That's not our Judy!
The 1990 film, Jetsons: The Movie, had all the futuristic delights of the original cartoon, including flying cars, sassy robots, and the same all-star voice cast. George O'Hanlon returned as George Jetson, Mel Blanc reprised his role as Mr. Spacely, Penny Singleton voiced Jane Jetson, and Jean Vander Pyl beeped and booped her way back to playing Rosie the Robot. The gang was all there - except for the voice of Judy Jetson, Janet Waldo. After voicing Judy for nearly 30 years, Waldo was replaced by pop star Tiffany.
Janet Waldo originated the role in the original television series and played Judy through every spinoff and special. She had been Judy Jetson for nearly 30 years, and now she was being replaced by a pop star. The decision was majorly controversial among the cast and crew of the movie. Casting director Andrea Romano called the situation "a huge mistake on so many levels," and asked to have her name removed from the credits. Iwao Takamoto, Hanna-Barbera's chief character designer, pointed out that Tiffany's fifteen minutes of fame were already up; her only musical hits charted in 1987, and this movie was coming out in 1990. Takamoto argued the movie wouldn't get much name-value out of Tiffany's participation over Waldo. He also felt like fans would be disturbed if the rest of the cast were back, except Waldo, who had already recorded all the dialogue for the movie, and now it was being discarded.
Waldo spoke out about her experience to the Orlando Sentinel, saying ''If they had recast the whole show, there wouldn't have been any problem at all. But the fact that my part was the only one that was changed just threw me.''
Bill Hanna also spoke to the Orlando Sentinel, saying ''I can understand how Janet feels. It was purely a business decision, based on the thought that Tiffany would bring in more dollars at the box office.''
Joe Barbera later acknowledged, "I know this broke Janet's heart, although she took it like the trouper and thorough professional she is." Hanna and Barbera made sure Waldo was fully paid for having recorded the entire movie, and both sent flowers and wrote letters to Waldo, promising that she would be Judy in any future Jetsons projects.
Joe Barbera addressed the controversial casting in his memoir, My Life in Toons, saying that Waldo was only replaced by Tiffany because Universal took over the project, "(Universal) were promoting a singer named Tiffany, and they cast her as Judy Jetson in place of Janet." Tiffany was signed to a Universal label, and they needed to promote her, and maybe as a teen popstar, she could help sell more tickets. It's worth noting that Barbera's memoir came out four years after Jetsons: The Movie, so more likely he was doing damage control.
Regardless of Barbera's memoir spin on the situation, pop star Tiffany remembered the decision differently. Tiffany told the Ellensburg Daily Record that Barbera reached out to her to audition to sing on the soundtrack. "When I got to the studio, they wondered if I would like to try doing the voice for Judy Jetson." So, which was it? Did Universal force Hanna-Barbera to cast Tiffany, or did Barbea cast her and then hide behind Universal when fans got upset? We will never know, but Barbera concluded the story with the real truth of the situation: "Nevertheless, having worked for so many years with Janet, I felt terrible about it, and I still do."
