The Flintstones

Overview

The show is set in a town called Bedrock in the Stone Age era, but with a society identical to that of the United States in the mid-to-late 20th century.

Related Topics:
Bedrock - Stone Age - United States - 20th century

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The setting is in a fantasy world where dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, wooly mammoths and other extinct animals coexist with cavemen, who use technology equivalent to that of the 20th century, largely through the use of various animals. The characters drive automobiles made out of stone or wood and animal skins and powered by gasoline, although foot power is required to start the vehicles. Although the characters were set in the Stone Age, that never stopped the show's producers from making a Christmas episode during the original series' run (and several more Christmas specials in the decades that followed).

Related Topics:
Fantasy - Dinosaur - Saber-toothed tiger - Wooly mammoth - Cavemen - Automobile - Gasoline - Christmas

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One source of the show's humor was the ways animals were used for technology. For example, when the characters took photographs with an instant camera, the inside of the camera box would be shown to contain a bird carving the picture on a stone tablet with its bill. In a running gag, the animals powering such technology would look at the audience, shrug, and remark, "It's a living," or some similar phrase.

Related Topics:
Photograph - Instant camera - Running gag

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Being set in the Stone Age allowed for endless gags and puns that involved rocks in one way or another, including the names of the various characters being "rock" puns; some such names included celebrities such as "Gary Granite", "Stony Curtis", and "Ann-Margrock."

Related Topics:
Pun - Gary Granite - Stony Curtis - Ann-Margrock

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The series directly drew from The Honeymooners for its main quartet of characters: the blustering Fred Flintstone and his ever-patient wife Wilma Flintstone (née Slaghoople, though Pebble was also given on occasion) modeled after the Kramdens, and their friendly neighbors Barney Rubble and wife Betty Rubble (née Betty Jean McBricker) modeled after the Nortons. Later additions to the cast included the Flintstones' infant daughter Pebbles Flintstone and the Rubbles' abnormally strong adopted son Bamm Bamm Rubble. The Flintstones had a pet dinosaur named Dino (pronounced DEE-no, and which barked like a dog), and the Rubbles had a kangaroo-like animal named Hoppy. Fred Flintstone worked at a stone quarry and worked for several different bosses, the best known of which was the bald Mr. Slate.

Related Topics:
The Honeymooners - Fred Flintstone - Wilma Flintstone - Née - Barney Rubble - Betty Rubble - Pebbles Flintstone - Bamm Bamm Rubble - Pet - Dinosaur - Dino - Kangaroo - Hoppy - Stone quarry - Mr. Slate

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In later seasons, the Flintstones cast expanded to include The Gruesomes, their strange next-door neighbors (inspired by the then-popular monster sitcoms The Addams Family and The Munsters), and The Great Gazoo, an alien exiled to Earth who helps Fred and Barney, usually against their will.

Related Topics:
The Addams Family - The Munsters - The Great Gazoo - Alien

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It has been noted that Fred Flintstone physically resembled voice actor Alan Reed. The voice of Barney was provided by legendary voice actor Mel Blanc, though five episodes in the second season used actor Daws Butler while Blanc was recovering from a near-fatal car accident. The similarities with The Honeymooners included the fact that Reed based Fred's voice upon Jackie Gleason's interpretation of Ralph Kramden, while Blanc, after a season of using a nasal, high-pitched voice for Barney, eventually adopted a style of voice similar to that used by Art Carney in his portrayal of Ed Norton.

Related Topics:
Alan Reed - Mel Blanc - Daws Butler - Jackie Gleason - Ralph Kramden - Art Carney - Ed Norton

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In the show's closing credits, Fred tries to "put the cat out for the night" but winds up getting locked out and yelling for his wife to come open the door: "Wilma! Come on, Wilma, open this door! Willllll-ma!" By the time the theme song "Meet the Flintstones" was used, Fred cut the yelling to: "Willllll-ma!" Although the cat, Baby Puss, was seen in the closing credits of every episode, it was rarely actually seen in any of the storylines. This running gag of having the lead character of the series ending up being helpless during the end credits in every episode due to the hijinks of a family pet would later be repeated by Hanna-Barbera in the series The Jetsons in which George Jetson ends up being caught on a treadmill that ends up spinning out of control. He also (as does Fred in this series) cries out for his wife, by asking her to stop the mechanism with the line, "Jane! Stop this crazy thing!"

Related Topics:
Baby Puss - Running gag - The Jetsons - Treadmill

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