The Five Strangest Installments in the Flintstones Multiverse
Because The Flintstones is set in the Stone Age and has mostly been directed at children, you’d think its canon would be pretty straightforward. But in truth, making sense of its intricate multiverse is as complex as the fossil record itself.
Since The Flintstones debuted in 1960, as many as 17 different shows have spawned from its primordial programming — some within the original continuity, and some taking place in their own realities. There are also more than a dozen TV movies and specials, a handful of theatrical films and, for good measure, various short educational films. Making sense of all of them would probably be as fun as getting stuck in a tar pit, but here are the five strangest entries…
The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!
This one is relatively recent. In 2015, the Flintstones teamed up with various stars from the WWE for the direct-to-DVD The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown! The WWE wrestlers played Stone Age versions of themselves with Flintstone-ified names — e.g., John Cena was John Cenastone, Brie Bella was Brie Boulder and CM Punk was CM Punkrock. Apparently, they ran out of puns when they got to the Undertaker, as he’s just listed as playing himself.
Fred and Barney Meet the Thing
In 1979, Hanna-Barbera debuted Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, which featured a very different version of Marvel’s orange Fantastic Four hero. Yet, despite the title and an opening theme song that implied they all hung out together, Fred and Barney never interacted with The Thing. Fred and Barney Meet the Thing was merely an hour-long programming block where the first half was dedicated to the current version of The Flintstones at the time (The New Fred and Barney Show), and the second half was a Thing cartoon.
Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo
Premiering just two weeks after Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo was a 90-minute programming block that included episodes of The New Fred and Barney Show, The Thing and The New Shmoo, the latter of which was a Scooby-Doo-like show where these kids solved mysteries with Shmoo, a white, gelatinous, sperm-like creature. Both this and Fred and Barney Meet the Thing aired interchangeably for the last few months of 1979 when, presumably, Hanna-Barbera shut down its deceptive marketing department.
The Flintstones’ Many Adult Product Endorsements
The Flintstones began as a primetime show for adults akin to The Simpsons. Still, it’s a bit jarring to see them advertising Busch Beer and Winston cigarettes.
All the Times The Flintstones Met Monsters
Apparently, having a family set in the Stone Age with prehistoric animals for appliances wasn’t enough of a gimmick for Hanna-Barbera, as they kept trying to infuse a horror element into the franchise. First, during the original series, the Flintstones met “The Gruesomes,” a family of Addams Family-like creatures who move in next door. Then, in early 1979, during The New Fred and Barney Show, Fred and Barney met a vampire named Count Rockula. And later that year, in September, they met “The Frankenstones,” a more Munster-like family of monsters.
Most confusingly, for Halloween 1979, a TV special called The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone was released in which they met both Count Rockula and Frankenstone again, completely ignoring their previous interactions. This means it either takes place in some other continuity, or Fred and Barney each took one too many bowling balls to the head.