Flintstones on the Rocks

[TV Guy]

Anyone watch this new movie on Cartoon Network? It was a highly stylized approach to "The Flintstones", done by the same guy who does "Dexter's Laboratory". I liked how they paid tribute to the early "Flintstones" episodes, with the music, the sound effects, and the more minimalist artwork than done in the later spinoffs. Various versions of the original theme, "Rise and Shine" were snuck in throughout the movie.

There was obviously an effort to take the voices in a different direction. Although the original cast has passed on, some of their replacements have been doing the voices for as long as twenty years. Wilma was played by Tress MacNeille of "The Simpsons". She did an OK job, probably a little too nasal. The new voice for Betty tried to imitate the original Betty, Bea Benederet, more than any of her many replacements. I don't remember Betty having a Brooklyn accent before, though. The actor doing Barney was clearly trying to imitate the way Barney sounded in the first-season episodes of the original series.

The real standout was Jeff Bergman as Fred. He did a flawless recreation of the original Fred, Alan Reed. Much better than Henry Corden, who played Fred in the many sequels and spinoffs (and Fruity Pebbles commercials). Doesn't surprise me, though. Bergman was the first successor to Mel Blanc as the Looney Tunes voices, and nailed pretty much all of them (with the notable exception of Bugs). It was so great to hear Fred sound like himself again.

The plot seemed a little too simple to be sustained for 90 minutes. But I think the plot was supposed to take backseat to the characterizations. I didn't care for how extreme the characters of Fred and Wilma were here -- Fred was more boorish, and Wilma more shrewish, than usual. Once again, this seemed intentional in the stylized environment.

Altogether, I thought it was an interesting experiment, certainly more creative than some of the specials done in the 90s.

[PPatters]

I'm a little disappointed. That morning I had every intention of taping it, but I accidentilly didn't set the VCR, and I woke up too late, and I'm afraid that I don't think Cartoon Network will re-run it soon. I, personally, thought it was a wonderful recreation.

Now, to say it's better than some other 90s recreations was incorrect, in my opinion. I liked those, and I like this equally as well. I think that this is wonderful, and it obviously was supposed to look like it was older (did it have Pebbles at all, I didn't see it all), so the primitive artwork and the voices that more reminded you of the first episodes was a good homage to this.

I certainly think that, if this were a pilot for a new recreation of The Flinstones, I wouldn't mind seeing a new half-hour installment of this every week. This was a different approach then was originally taken, but I think that that's the beauty of cartoons.

In a cartoon, you can take different approaches to everything. When the original voices die, or they feel they are too old to continue doing voices, I am sure that they want you to find new voices that would adequately take their places, and even if they go in a different direction, it's still alright. Also, I think that the primitive artwork was alright, things take different approaches all the time, and I liked this one, personally.

[TVLanFan]

I happened to catch part of this when it aired the other night, and thought it was great...I loved the references to the original series (like Wilma giving her "judo yell" - asi-taki...HAH!! - when she took care of the jewel theif on the bridge over the boiling lava).

And I thought the guy doing Fred's voice was fantastic! I could never watch any sequel Flintstones movie/tv show, and one of the reasons is that after Alan Reed passed away, his replacements were horrible. But I thought that this guy who did the voice for this episode was great (I wouldn't say exact, but definitely as close as anyone has ever come). Isn't it amazing that no one has ever been able to duplicate Alan Reed's Fred voice, even after all of these years?

I agree that Wilma was a little nasal, but was pretty close otherwise, and that Barney was clearly an imitation of "early" Barney. I frankly can't remember what the new Betty sounded like, but I enjoyed what I saw of the new show.

Is this going to be a series? I'd definitely give it a chance if it will be!!

[PPatters]

I know that people like the originals, but even if the new ones don't sound exactly alike (and this isn't directed towards anyone that replied in this thread), we have to realize that they're not always going to be able to do that. As the original voice actors, unfortunately, have died, I am sure they want their characters to live on, and they also know that perfect recreations of how they did the voices are simply not possible. I do think, though, that the voices of the characters did pretty well, and they fit the slightly primitive drawings of the characters, as well.

Now, I dno't think that this was a pilot for a series, though, from what I saw, I think that if they were to bring this into series, I wouldn't mind seeing it, just as long as they didn't have it just get totally off the wall. This was a really fine cartoon, in my opinion, and I'm very impressed by the job that they did.

That movie sucked!!! They turned Fred into a cheater! That was horrible! I hope it doesn't turn into a series, I want to remember Flintstones a nice simple cartoon with no cheaters! I can't believe they did this to Flintstones!!!

[PPatters]

Get over it, you poor, deprived person. The creators knew very well that this show was obviously going to last a long time after they started making those spin-offs and movies, and they know that it's going to change. Just simmer down. Take a chill pill. Take a deep breath.

[wren]

Understood, Pat!
Well, I liked the Flintstones a lot! I watched it faithfully at noon every weekday when it aired, and I could watch the eps several times and still enjoy them!!!
I never tired of them....and am still not tired of that show!

[thomasjarvis]

Hi,

I am looking to get ahold of a vhs or DVD (+R or -R) copy of "Flintstones On the Rocks", or else be tipped off when Cartoon Network plan to air it again. I really enjoyed it the first time I seen it, but I didn't catch it from the beginnning, so I really want to see it again all the way through this time.

My name is Alex, and here's my email address:
xanderonurantia@yahoo.com

[yankeesfan82]

Flintstones on the Rocks was horrible - plain and simple.

[Scoobiedoo30]

I was just wondering if Boomeranfg will ever show Flintstones on the Rock