Fred and Barney Meet the Thing

Who would've guessed a cross-over show with a Marvel hero and Hanna-Barbera characters! This show is not sure whether it aims to be a comedy or an action-adventure. However, it doesn't fall short on entertainment.

Don't get me wrong a LOT of Hanna-Barbera's shows are GREAT! But it's garbage like this that they made that ticks me off. Who in the hell thought that having "The Flinstones", and "The Thing" of "Fantastic Four" fame in an hour long show would be a good idea? It has to be the STUPIDEST thing they ever did!! Sure, they didn't have the Flinstones, and the Thing on at the same time(THAT would've been REALLY bad!), but still, it's bad overall.

The bottom line: Stay away from this show unless you want to see how bad, and mediocre a Hanna-Barbera show can be!

In the late 70s and early 80s Marvel tried to make all their cartoons "kid friendly", even if it meant completely destroying their beloved characters.After destroying The Fantastic Four by replacing The Human Torch(we can't have kids setting themselves on fire) with a stupid robot, they still felt the need to further disgrace The Thing.This time Ben Grimm is a teenager with two rings that he touches together to become The Thing.No one ever knows he's The Thing because he walks around the corner to change.His friends never notice that Ben and The Thing are never around at the same time.Weirdly, that's one of the best things about this show.All the stories are truly horrible.It seems like they just made up the stories week by week without worrying about anyone noticing.Anytime a new character appears, they show up in the next episode as one of Ben's friends, it's extremely strange.They even added a laugh track to the last few episodes because that's the only way you will ever realize they are trying to be funny.The most important thing about this cartoon is that it's very clear that Marvel thinks kids who watch TV are much dumber than those who read comic books.They're probably right.

'Fred & Barney Meet The Thing' was easily one of the most absurd cartoons to come out before the ultimate Saturday Morning Video Game Cartoon Massacre of '82. The Thing segments (I HATED the Flintstones so what their segment was about escapes me) had NOTHING to do with the Fantastic Four character other than his orange rocky hulk design. Instead, a goofy teenager has a pair of RINGS that he slams together and squeals "Thing Ring - DO YOUR THING" at which point a magical transformative implosion packs him in the exterior of the ever-lovin'-blue-eyed-Thing. And then he goes and fights crime! Actually... no. No, you see, the goofball is part of a motorcycle club (with your standard Hannah Barbara Scooby Doo / Captain Caveman / Jabberjaw / Speedbuggy analogs) and this is foggy, but I seem to remember that were in a cross country race. I'm not totally sure about that though. In any case, they are ruthlessly pursued by a scuzzy gang of leathered neer-do-wells, that for some reason, seem to like getting pulped by a giant crusty monster week after week.

My clearest memory is one of the bumper scenes where Fred & Barney ACTUALLY meet the Thing. They're on a dude ranch and Fred, Barney and The Thing do the 'Dosie Doe' dance. Amazing. Even at eight years old I was blown away by how stupid that was.

Yes, F&B.M.T.T. is bad, but not as bad as 'Rubick, the Amazing Cube', 'Q-Bert', 'Donkey Kong', or just about every video game / novelty toy commercial in disguise that KILLED Saturday Morning Cartoons in '82-'83.

Oh my God, why haven't I known of this show earlier, this is such a marvel! I loved every episode, so light-hearted, the word I would describe it perfectly I've only heard in Greek, the word "anemelo"!