This month was absolute shit. Death, depression, floods, injuries, impending doom (more so than usual).
But enough about last week, let's turn our attention towards something good:
The Flintstones premiered on this date SIXTY years ago!
It seems like just yesterday I was writing about the fiftieth anniversary back in 2010. Yes, I've been blogging for so long, my old posts now have sequels a decade later. It's weird knowing shows that you grew up on were the same ones that your parents and grandparents watched back in the day. There would be no prime time animation, or animated sitcoms without it. So, basically a blessing and a curse.
They really need to meet up with the Jetsons again. It's been far too long.
I already showed off this cel I bought a few months back, but it's worth seeing again. But speaking of cels, I recently picked up this one:
They're a pair of cels (and the drawing) from some episode of Yogi's Space Race. Hey, it had Jabberjaw on it, I HAD to get it. The drawings might be tiny, but they're really clean and clear. This sat on eBay for five bucks until an hour before it ended, but I still managed to snag them for a decent price.
It's even signed by Mark Russell, the artist, to boot! He was a nice guy.
Speaking of comics, I managed to finally snag a copy of the comic where they went to the 1964 NY World's Fair a while back. Again, I need to get around to reading this, the cover alone is really charming.
Did you know there was an episode late in the series where they actually went to the fair? The show got weird near the end, time machines were involved. Oddly enough, Gazoo WASN'T in that one.
And you might've known that the Flintstones once shilled for Winston cigarettes, but did you know that there were three different commercials? The one where Fred and Barney duck out of yard work is the most famous one, but it's still weird to see someone have a record of a cigarette jingle,
or watching a cartoon character actually go into a tobacco shop.
Fred didn't even pay for that already opened pack of smokes. He was right to just leave Rocky out in the cold like that.
And I have to share what's one of the more baffling Flintstones projects: Fred & Barney Meet The Thing
The only time the two actually crossed over was in this intro, the show itself was a package of a half hour episode of "The New Fred and Barney Show" and two 11 minute segments of a Thing cartoon. And this version of the Thing wasn't a member of the Fantastic Four. No, it was about the adventures of young Benji Grimm in current day America, who fought crime by turning into The Thing with some help from a magic ring. Hard to believe this only lasted thirteen episodes, really.
Here's to sixty years, Flintstones, and here's to sixty more! Do kids know anything about the Flintstones these days apart from the vitamins and the cereals?
