Animation truly would not be where it is today without the contributions of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Through their Hanna-Barbera animation studio and production company, the duo brought the world some of the most iconic characters of all time including Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons and The Smurfs. Following their success with The Quick Draw McGraw Show and The Huckleberry Hound Show in the late 1950s, the creative team were inspired to create a show that would serve the adult audience as much as it would entertain children. In previous decades, theatrical cartoon shorts such as Tom and Jerry and Popeye, The Sailor were considered an essential part of the moviegoing experience for adult audiences. It was becoming clear to American viewers that cartoons were for kids and sitcoms were the domain of the parents. With the arrival of The Flintstones in 1960, these two areas were no longer mutually exclusive, and expectations for animated properties would shift dramatically. The show would go on to run six seasons and 166 episodes and leave behind a legacy as one of the most important television shows of all time.
The Flintstones was inspired by the immense success of The Honeymooners at the time. It was family comedy like any other; Fred was a working class stiff with a gorgeous wife, Wilma, who loves him even when he gets into crazy situations. The couple were best friends with their neighbors, Barney and Betty Rubble. Every week Fred would drag Barney into some kind of heightened situation, although occasionally the ladies would get into I Love Lucy-esque shenanigans themselves that were quite a bit of fun. Wilma and Betty acted as the perfect foil to their husbands. What made the show unique was the Stone Age setting for the story. The Flintstones brought a twentieth century sensibility to the town of Bedrock as modern advancements in technology were carried out through Stone Age means. This allowed the show to brilliantly satirize modern life by bringing it into the past. Everything from pop culture to consumerism and urban development was on the table when it came to the show. The show was not trying to topple the establishment, but it had some incisive criticism to level in the guise of a family-friendly sitcom that always ended on a laugh.
The show was at its creative best during its first three seasons as it kept a keen eye on servicing the adult viewers. While it never became a bad show, the introduction of a child for the titular family late in the third season served as a changing of tone that geared more towards the younger viewers in the audience. The welcoming of Pebbles into the family brought about more opportunities to show the softer side of Fred. This was also one of the few times where the show featured a substantial narrative arc that would be continued from episode to episode. By the time the Rubble family adopted Bam-Bam a short time later, the tone shifted even further away from the adult sitcom that the show had started out as. Throughout its six seasons, the show consistently showcased why it has been such a mainstay in pop culture for the past sixty years. Through hilarious depictions of “advanced technology” and lovable characters that you want to return to again and again, the Flintstones became America’s family. Both for what it accomplished at the time along with the legacy it has left behind, The Flintstones deserves to be recognized as one of the most important shows in television history.
Video Quality
The Flintstones: The Complete Series makes its Blu-Ray debut with an impressive and vibrant 1080p transfer. There were major concerns when it was announced that these 166 episodes and two additional movies were going to be squeezed onto ten discs, but the results are largely positive when it comes to the video portion of the series. Simply put, The Flintstones has never looked better. The quality of these episodes is visually stunning with vibrant colors and seldom a trace of damage to be found. There is a beautiful amount of natural film grain present with a remarkable amount of detail and clarity to the picture. The black levels hold up really well with no extreme instances of black crush to be found. The quality seems to somewhat decline in the last season or two, but the results are still largely pleasing. There are some source-related issues that are a bit weaker such as optical dissolves and film flickering, but these would be hard to improve upon and do not amount to a major issue. This release includes all of the episode openings that have periodically been missing on some releases in the past. While I feared for the quality of this release, it turned out to be a beautiful looking Blu-Ray presentation.
Audio Quality
The audio quality of the Blu-Ray discs is pretty good but not quite outstanding with its Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track. If you have only seen these tracks on TV with all manner of age-related wear and tear, these tracks will serve as a noticeable improvement in the clarity of the dialogue, sound effects and music throughout. A lossless audio presentation would have been preferable, but that would have required more discs and greater dispersion of episodes to compensate for the extra space taken up on the disc. While this is not the absolute optimal way to listen to the series, the difference in quality is probably slight enough that it should not be considered a dealbreaker. Everything is working together in perfect harmony to give you the best listening experience possible. This disc also includes optional English (SDH), French, Spanish and Dutch subtitles available on these discs.
NOTE: There is a problem with episode 17 of disc 1 not having the background music or sound effects. A replacement program has been set up for that disc, and those details can be found at the end of the review.
Special Features
For those who owned the original season releases on DVD, most of the supplemental material has been carried over, but there are some notable omissions on this set including multiple audio commentaries, early TV commercials and other additional featurettes. The supplements that have been ported over can be found below:
Disc One
- The Flagstones – The Lost Pilot: A minute-and-a-half snippet that gives an interesting glimpse at what could have been for these characters. The dynamic feels roughly the same, but the designs are far less refined than what we became accustomed to.
- How To Draw Fred Flinstone: A seven-minute vintage featurette in which Hanna and Barbera give you detailed instructions on how to draw the iconic lead character.
Disc Two
- Carved In Stone – The Flintstones Phenomenon: A 21-minute special that reflects on the series as a whole with many people who originally worked on it. The participants discuss how the series was developed for adults, the design style of the animation, how the show used sitcom tropes, the music in the show and more. This is a lovely addition to the set.
Disc Three
- Song of The Flintstones Album: A 28-minute journey through the album which provides the songs over relevant stills from the series. Most of these songs include little skits that set up the singing portion. These songs are not actually great, but they are fun.
Disc Four
- All About The Flintstones: A five-minute piece that looks at the series as a whole along with the relationship between Hanna and Barbera. You also get a fun look at the legacy of the series including the various forms of merchandise that was released over the years.
- Wacky Inventions: A six-minute look at the “technological advances” that were showcased in the series. Seeing the way the series adapted technology we know to fit the stone-age time frame was always one of the most fun parts about watching the show.
Disc Five
- Bedrock Collectibles – Collecting All Things Flintstones: A seven-minute look at fun tie-in products from the series as displayed by Flintstones superfan and Animation Producer Scott Shaw. There is a good mixture of personal stories and show history provided here.
- The Flintstones – One Million Years Ahead Of Its Time: A nearly nine-minute retrospective on the series that reflects on the enduring qualities of the show, designing the characters, the way in which it employed parody and more.
Disc Six
- First Families of the Stone Age: A seven-minute featurette that offers a closer look at the family dynamic. This delves into Wilma and Betty and their place on the show, the expanding of the families in the form of Pebbles and Bam-Bam, the way in which the voice actors mirrored some aspects of the show and more. It is fun to learn some of the contests that were implemented to promote the welcoming of Pebbles to the show.
- Hanna-Barbera’s Legendary Music Director Hoyt Curtin: A seven-minute featurette which takes a look at the importance of the music on the show. The participants discuss how the music was key to alerting people that their favorite show was on, how Curtin gave Hanna-Barbera shows a unique identity, the use of modern jazz and more. This is one of the more insightful pieces on the set.
Disc Ten
- The Flintstones Meet Pop Culture: A nearly twelve-minute featurette which finds Stephen Baldwin guiding you through this video that has participants discussing all the ways in which the show parodied the culture of the time. You even get individuals such as Sal Valentino, lead singer of the Beau Brummels, who were animated into the show to discuss their experiences.
- The Great Gazoo – From A to Zetox: A four-minute conversation with Earl Kress in which he discusses the history of this breakout character from season six.
- The Flintstones and WWE – Stone Age Smackdown!: A 52-minute film from 2015 that does not really come close to the magic of the original series. Most of the fun comes from seeing various wrestling personalities pop up, but the laughs are not strong enough to make this an essential addition to the cannon. Plus, this film is presented in standard definition, which is really odd considering it had Blu-Ray release when it was first released.
- The Man Called Flintstone: A 1-hour-and-29-minute movie that was released right around the time the series was signing off the air. In this outing, the series indulges in the spy crazy of the time by making Fred fill in for a secret agent, who happens to look identical to him. This is actually quite a bit of fun, and it is a huge bummer that this was not released in high definition along with the series.
Final Thoughts
The Flintstones remains one of the most important shows in television history, animated or not. The show maintained a remarkably high level of quality throughout its six seasons as it offered up hilarious commentary on contemporary life and sitcom tropes. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released a pretty wonderful collection that serves up a significant upgrade in the video department while delivering a fairly solid audio presentation. There are some disappointments in terms of certain special features not being ported over and the two movies being in standard definition, but overall this collection should be very appealing for fans. It is worth it just to have these episodes in high definition. Recommended
The Flintstones: The Complete Series is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
REPLACEMENT PROGRAM
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has identified and corrected the issue noted in the audio portion of this review that affects season 1, episode 17. Those who wish to have the corrected disc shipped out to them should follow the instructions below:
Please email your information below to receive a replacement disc.
Email Address: [email protected]
- Full Name
- Phone number
- Email address
- Mailing address where the replacement disc should be shipped
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
