I miss Saturday Morning Cartoons, Part VII

Yabba-Dabba-Doo!!

I use to love the cartoon series The Flintstones, and I still watch it from time to time.

Now this cartoon series, which was loosely based on the sitcom the Honeymooners, was one of my all-time favorite cartoons. And come to think of it, it really wasn't a Saturday morning cartoon. It was the first cartoon series to air in primetime, though. The original episodes aired in the sixties, but what I remember most is the afternoon syndication runs on WTBS (Turner broadcasting).

This show was about Fred and Wilma Flintstone, and their best friends, Barney and Betty Rubble. I wasn't all that fond of Fred. He was a loud-mouth. Sometimes I wished that Wilma would just haul off and pimp slap his loud ass... Honestly, I don't know how Wilma and Pebbles remained calm around all that loudness.


And I don't know what was up with Betty and Barney. They were cool and all, but I always wondered why the creators of the show hooked Betty up with such a short dude. Well, all I know it was a good thing that Barney Rubble didn't have a Napoleon complex... Although, that subject would have made quite an interesting episode.

Then Bam-Bam, the superbaby, showed up on the scene. I found that disturbing. He just showed up, and he had superhuman strength. Shoot, he couldn't have been my child. I would've had shorty holding up banks and grocery stores. We would've NEVER been short on cash, that's for sure.

I liked the fact that animals were used for cheap labor, like vacuuming, bulldozing, punching timecards, etc. It was very obvious that there were no animal rights groups back in that day... Again, that subject matter would have been an interesting plot for an episode.

Oh, and then there was the big food they use to eat. Remember how the rack of ribs that Fred always ordered in the opening credits of the show would tip the WHOLE car over? Even the eggs were huge. I wish that food that big was possible. The world hunger problem would be solved in a heartbeat!!

And what was up with Fred and Barney using their feet to get the car going. They even used their feet as car brakes. This perplexed me as a child. I thought that had to be quite painful.

Now there was one thing I liked about Fred Flintstone... Oldboy knew how to get the heck on when it was time to get off from work. Remember how he use to happily slide down that dinosaur's back and run like hell for his car? Now that's what I'm talking about!

All in all, I loved the Flintstones... Several seasons are available on DVD and I have managed to buy a copy of the fourth season.

As a matter of fact, I think I'll watch a few episodes of The Flintstones instead of the horrible Atlanta news this Saturday morning!!