Os Flintstones

Joseph Barbera and the late William Hanna are responsible for giving us many many hours of cartoon fun over the years with fantastic shows such as The Flinstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Penelope Pitstop and Scooby Doo. The Flinstones is my favourite along with Scooby-Doo.

For starters, who can forget the theme song? I've never ever been able to get it out of my head-it will stick with me for a long time.

The premise itself is interesting-a comedy series about a stone age family who lead simple and carefree lives. The funniest thing was how the Flinstones used to use animals as everyday objects.

Who can forget the chemistry between Fred and Barney Rubble? Two good friends who would do anything for each other and whose friendship meant the world to them both. Two friends who were devoted to their wives and children even if they were buffoons at times. Two good friends whose hearts were always in the right place. Hey, I've got to be honest-the world would be a better place if we all lived like the Flinstones.

A great cartoon show. Hanna and Barbera have given us enough great cartoon memories to last a lifetime.

"The Flintstones" was so dead-on satirical in its view of a prehistoric suburban world that I don't really understand it when people tell me they liked "The Jetsons" better. There's nobody I can relate to on "The Jetsons", no character who exudes any warmth or wit. The characters here (Fred, Barney, Wilma, Betty, Dino, Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm, Mr. Slate, Mrs. Slaghoople, etc.) have expressions and personalities which are instantly recognizable to an audience. They're a very funny bunch, and they often find each other greatly amusing as well (each character has a sense of humor--and their friendships really do seem like a bond). I don't know why the Hanna-Barbera team weren't able to duplicate the quality of this show in terms of its writing and voice-casting (perhaps it was all a fluke?), but "The Flintstones" has it all: great writing and voices which bring one-dimensional drawings to life, terrific plots, fantastic music by Hoyt Curtin. Not a kiddie show...not a sitcom...not a child-pacifier. "The Flintstones" is a minor miracle.

THE FLINTSTONES hold a special place in my memory, as I'm sure they do for many people the world over. The series started in Britain in 1960, the year I had my very first job - babysitting for a neighbor. I was just 15. The two kids were total brats, screaming, spoilt, mashed potato slam-dunked over the wallpaper...but I didn't care, I was watching Fred and Barney live out there lives of near-perfection in a world that was starting to move away from near perfection! "Yabba Dabba Doo" must surely be one of the most recognizable cries on earth - WHO would not know its origins from 4 to 90?

The success of this animated icon probably lies in the simplicity of the Flintstone and Rubble clans. Everyone on this planet is part Fred, Barney, Betty or Wilmer at some time in their lives. Events depicted in each and every episode were things that everyone can, did (and will continue) to identify with. They are Mr and Mrs Average and if we all lived our lives and never achieved anything more than the Flintstones we could justifiably be happy. The show supported family values, decency, togetherness, love, friendship, clean living, laughter and it was environmentally aware, socially responsible and able STILL to reach children.

The lives of everyone in the Western World would have been that much poorer had it not been for THE FLINTSTONES. I can't say as much for the two appalling movie spin-offs!

A lot of people don't remember that The Flintstones was the first prime time cartoon series, and what a success it was.

I think the fact that it was written for prime time, with writing meant to appeal to old and young alike, is why the series holds up so well into these times. Of course, it was also based on the solid foundation of copying The Honeymooners, and that didn't hurt either.

I learned a lot of lessons from the Flintstones. I don't have misunderstandings with my friends, and I don't sneak out to do things my wife doesn't know about. LOL I also buy dogs that are too small to knock me down when I get home.

Almost every story is a little morality play with a lesson, large or small learned. Fred is obviously not a character to pattern your life after, and this is another important lesson.

Lessons aside, the shows are uniformly amusing, and the clever turns of names into stone age words, and modern conveniences into useful animals, is always clever and will bring chuckles when first you see them.

"The Flintstones" to me is indeed one of the greatest cartoons that was produced by Hanna-Barbera. For those who aren't familiar with this show (which I'll be shocked with if there are.) The shows premise is about a blue collar, dino crane operator in Fred Flintstone, who in each episode had a wacky situation along with his wife Wilma, and his neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble. The show is basically "The Honeymooners" except it's animated. The show also had an adult style (not porno) to it, but it was light. However, there were some things that occured that affected the show...

First off, the birth of Pebbles. Don't get me wrong, I had nothing against Pebbles, or Bam-Bamm the world's strongest baby that the Rubbles adopted, I think their appearances to the show hurt it since the show was originally a adult oriented show. What I'm saying is that now with kids on the show, it wasn't as adult oriented. The show was losing ground then, but that moment can't top the moment when the Great Gazoo came in. This was when the show really lost it. All of the life that "The Flinstones" had left was sucked dry when Great Gazoo came in. He ruined the show, and finished what was left of it off, and left it for dead basically. Sadly the show left the airwaves in 1966, but Hanna-Barbera began to beat the show to the ground in the 1970's with debacles like "The Pebbles and Bam-Bamm Show" (Possibly the WORST Hanna-Barbera spinoff show ever!), and the shows where Fred and Barney met the Thing, and that blob called "The Shmoo" (Both of these shows were CRAP!!!) were just bad. However, the original show itself is still great after 40+ years.

This show overall gets a 10/10 for the Pre-Pebbles birth episodes, a 5/10 for the Post Pebbles birth episodes, and a whomping 0/10 for the awful Great Gazoo episodes (thought there weren't a lot).