The Flintstones


The Flintstones is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It was originally broadcast on ABC from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966 as the first animated series with a prime-time slot on television, as well as the first animated sitcom. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the lives of the titular Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their pet dinosaur, Dino, along with the saber-toothed cat Baby Puss, and Fred and Wilma's eventual baby girl Pebbles. It also focuses on the Flintstones' neighbors and best friends Barney and Betty Rubble, and later their adopted baby boy Bamm-Bamm and pet hopparoo Hoppy.
Producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who had earned seven Academy Awards for Tom and Jerry, and their staff faced a challenge in developing a thirty-minute animated program with one storyline that fit the parameters of family-based domestic situation comedies of the era. After considering several settings and selecting the Stone Age, one of several inspirations was The Honeymooners. Hanna considered The Honeymooners to be one of the finest comedies on television.
The enduring popularity of The Flintstones mainly comes from its juxtaposition of modern, everyday concerns with the Stone Age setting. Its animation required a balance of visual with verbal storytelling that the studio created and others imitated.
The Flintstones was the most financially successful and longest-running network animated television series for three decades. In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Flintstones the second greatest TV cartoon of all time, behind only The Simpsons.

Overview

The show is set in a comical version of the Stone Age, with features and technologies that resemble mid-20th-century suburbia in the United States. The plots deliberately resemble the sitcoms of the era, with the caveman Flintstone and Rubble families getting into minor conflicts characteristic of modern life. The show is set in the Stone Age town of Bedrock, where dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures are portrayed as co-existing with cavepeople, saber-toothed cats, woolly rhinoceroses, and woolly mammoths.
Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman considers that the series partly draws its humor from anachronism, mainly the placing of a "modern" 20th-century society in prehistory which takes inspiration from the suburban sprawl developed in the first two decades of the postwar period. This society has modern home appliances which work by employing animals. It also has automobiles, but they mostly do not resemble the cars of the 20th century, as they are large wooden and rock structures powered by people who run while inside them. This depiction varies according to the needs of the story; on some occasions, the cars appear to have engines, requiring ignition keys and some representation of gasoline. Fred might pull into a gas station and say, "Fill 'er up with Ethel", which is pumped through the trunk of a woolly mammoth marked "ETHEL". As well, the stone houses of this society are cookie-cutter homes positioned into neighborhoods typical of mid-20th-century American suburbs.

Characters

The Flintstones

  • Fred Flintstone – The main character of the series and patriarch of the Flintstone family, who is easily angered but a loving husband and father. He is an operator at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company for a bronto-crane, a Brontosaurus used as an excavating machine, but is prone to accidents. He is also overweight and likes to eat copious amounts of unhealthy food. As well, he is good at bowling and is a member of the "Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes" Lodge No. 26, originally called the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs in Season 1, a men-only club which parallels fraternities such as the Loyal Order of Moose. His catchphrase is "Yabba Dabba Doo!", which is revealed in the first season to be the Lodge's official cheer.
  • Wilma Flintstone – Fred's wife and Pebbles' mother, who is more intelligent and level-headed than her husband. She often serves as a foil to Fred's behavior and is a loyal wife to him. However, she has a habit of spending money, with her and Betty's catchphrase being "Da-da-da duh da-da CHARGE it!!". She can also be jealous, as she becomes easily angered if another woman interacts with Fred.
  • Pebbles Flintstone – The Flintstones' infant daughter, who is born near the end of the third season. She normally wears a bone in her hair which holds up her hair in a ponytail, and a light green and black shirt with a turquoise and black diaper. She, like her family, does not wear shoes or pants.
  • Dino – The Flintstones' pet dinosaur, who acts like a dog. A running gag in the series involves Fred coming home from work and Dino getting excited and knocking him down.
  • Baby Puss – The Flintstones' pet saber-toothed cat, who is rarely seen in the series, but is seen throwing Fred out of the house during the end credits. This causes Fred to repeatedly pound on the front door and yell "Wilma!", waking the neighborhood in the process.

    Relatives of the Flintstones

  • Pearl Slaghoople – Wilma's hard-to-please mother, Fred's mother-in-law, and Pebbles' grandmother, who constantly disapproves of Fred and his behavior. They briefly reconcile in the episode "Mother-in-Law's Visit", until she learns that Fred suckered her out of money he needed to buy a baby crib for Pebbles. Their disastrous first meeting was recounted in a flashback in the episode "Bachelor Daze". Her surname was not revealed until the fourth season while her first name, "Pearl", was conceived after the original series ended in 1966.
  • Uncle Tex Hardrock – Fred's maternal uncle, Wilma's uncle-in-law, and Pebbles' great-uncle, who is a member of the Texarock Rangers. He constantly holds Fred's future inheritance over his head.

    The Rubbles

  • Barney Rubble – Fred's best friend and next-door neighbor, who is nearly six inches shorter than him and also overweight. His occupation is unknown throughout most of the series, though later episodes depict him working in the same quarry as Fred. He shares many of Fred's interests, such as bowling and golf, and is also a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes. Though Fred and Barney frequently get into feuds with one another, usually due to Fred's short temper, they are still close friends.
  • Betty Rubble – Barney's wife and Wilma's best friend, who like Wilma has a habit of spending money and is jealous of other women being around her husband.
  • Bamm-Bamm Rubble – The Rubbles' abnormally strong son, whom they adopt during the fourth season. His name comes from the only phrase he speaks as a baby: "Bamm, Bamm!"
  • Hoppy – The Rubbles' pet hopparoo, a hybrid of a kangaroo and a dinosaur whom they purchase at the beginning of the fifth season. When she arrives, Dino and Fred mistake her for a giant mouse and are frightened of her, but they eventually become best friends after Hoppy gets help when they are in an accident. She babysits the kids as she takes them around in her pouch, which also serves as a shopping cart for Betty.

    Other characters

Over 100 other characters appeared throughout the series. Below are those who have made more than one appearance:
  • Mr. Nate Slate – Fred’s hot-tempered boss at the gravel pit, who fires him on several occasions only to give him his job back. A running gag is his ever-changing first name, which has been revealed to be Sylvester, Seymour, Nate, Oscar, and George throughout the series. In the episode "The Long, Long, Long Weekend", he is shown to be the founder of "Slate Rock and Gravel Company", which is still in business two million years later and operated by his descendant, "George Slate the Eighty-thousandth". In early episodes, the more recognized "Mr. Slate" character was known as "Mr. Rockhead" and was a supervisor of Fred, while Mr. Slate was a short character. Over time, the two switched identities and the shorter version of Mr. Slate was phased out.
  • Arnold – The Flintstones' paperboy, whom Fred despises mainly because Arnold is frequently able to best and outsmart him and because he often throws the newspaper in his face. Arnold's parents are mentioned in the series, but his mother Doris, who is a friend of Wilma and Betty as shown in the episode "The Little Stranger", is referenced but never physically appears. Arnold's father appears in the episode "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", though his name is never mentioned.
  • Joe Rockhead – A mutual friend of Fred and Barney, Fred usually mentions doing something with Joe when Fred and Barney have a falling out. Joe was, at some point, the fire chief of the Bedrock Volunteer Fire Department, as shown in the episode "Arthur Quarry's Dance Class". His appearance varied throughout the run of the series, but his appearance in the episode "The Picnic" was his most common appearance.
  • Sam Slagheap – The Grand Poobah of the Water Buffalo Lodge.
  • The Hatrocks – A family of hillbillies, who feuded with the Flintstones' Arkanstone branch similarly to the Hatfield–McCoy feud. Fred and Barney reignite a feud with them in "The Bedrock Hillbillies", when Fred inherits San Cemente from his late great-great-uncle Zeke Flintstone and they fight over who made Zeke's portrait. The Hatrocks later return in "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes", where they bunk with the Flintstones during their trip to Bedrock World's Fair and their antics start to annoy them as they guilt-trip Fred into extending their stay. It is also revealed that they dislike bug music, and the Flintstones, the Rubbles, and the Gruesomes are able to drive them away by performing the Four Insects song "She Said Yeah Yeah Yeah". After learning that the Bedrock World's Fair would feature the Four Insects performing, they fled back to Arkanstone.
  • * Jethro Hatrock – The patriarch of the Hatrock Family. He had brown hair in "The Hatrocks and the Flintstones" and taupe-gray hair in "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes".
  • * Gravella Hatrock – Jethro's wife.
  • * Zack Hatrock – Jethro and Gravella's oldest son.
  • * Slab Hatrock – The youngest son of Jethro and Gravella.
  • * Granny Hatrock – The mother of Jethro and grandmother of Zack and Slab.
  • * Benji Hatrock – Jethro's son-in-law.
  • * Percy – The Hatrock's pet dogasaurus.
  • The Gruesomes – A creepy but friendly family, who move in next door to the Flintstones in later seasons.
  • * Weirdly Gruesome – The patriarch of the Gruesome family, who works as a reality-show host.
  • * Creepella Gruesome – Weirdly's tall wife.
  • * Goblin "Gobby" Gruesome – Weirdly and Creepella's son.
  • * Uncle Ghastly – The uncle of Gobby from Creepella's side of the family, who is mostly shown as a large furry hand with claws emerging from a door, a well, or a wall. His shadow was also seen in their debut episode. He wasn't named until his second appearance, which is also the only time he is heard speaking, as he is heard laughing from a well.
  • * Occy – The Gruesome family's pet giant octopus.
  • * Schneider – Gobby's pet giant spider.
  • The Great Gazoo – An alien from the planet Zetox, who was exiled to Earth and appears in the final season. He helps Fred and Barney with his reality-warping abilities, often against their will. He is actually from the future and is quite dismayed after realizing he has been sent back to "the Stone Age". He can be seen only by Fred, Barney, Pebbles, Bamm-Bamm, other small children, Dino, and Hoppy.