Unearth the Surprising Secrets Behind The Flintstones That Will Rock Your Stone Age World!
But the third season saw some major new directions for The Flintstones, and the most noticeable one besides the beloved theme song was the decision to present the show in color. Modern audiences understand Fred to wear an orange animal skin, but that was a sudden, vibrant change at the time.
A Behind The Scenes Reason For The Theme Song
After “Meet The Flintstones” was adopted as the cartoon’s official theme song, it was retroactively added to the opening and ending credits of all previous episodes when the show went into syndication. Part of the reason for this edit was to remove all references to Winston’s previous sponsorship of The Flintstones.
According to Mubi, the series’s association with children fueled backlash behind the decision to work with the tobacco company, but that’s not why the partnership ended in 1963. Once Pebbles was born, Winston pulled their sponsorship themselves.
It Was The First Cartoon To Bring Up Infertility
The Flintstones has always been considered a rather progressive. Not only was it the first cartoon to ever show a married couple sleeping in the same bed, but it is also the first cartoon to explore the topic of infertility.
At one point in the show, the Flintstones’ neighbor and friend Betty Rubble goes into a deep depression after she learns that she cannot conceive a child. This leads to her adopting a son, Bamm-Bamm, who becomes a regular character on the show. It was yet another way the show was more ahead of its time than others.
People Didn’t Want To Buy The Show At First
Although Joseph Barbera initially thought that The Flintstones was going to be a hit, he ran into some difficulty getting it off the ground. While trying to pitch the show to networks, he spent eight weeks in Manhattan pitching the show to various networks and potential sponsors.
Unfortunately, nobody seemed interested in the program and things weren’t looking too good for The Flintstones. Luckily, on his last day in Manhattan, Barbera had a meeting with ABC who decided to take a chance on the show. ABC soon learned that they made the right decision.
Dino Changed Colors Throughout The Series
The Flintstone’s pet dinosaur named Dino was introduced in the credits of the pilot episode of the show, although was not mentioned by name until the fourth episode titled “No Help Wanted.” He was featured in almost every episode of the series, however, few people have noticed that his color changes throughout the seasons.
Although he remains predominantly purple, if you pay attention, you can notice the subtle changes in his coloring. Dino’s barks and sound effects were provided by Mel Blanc for 27 years which were also used in the live action films in the 1990s and 2000s.
We Never Find Out What Happens To The Great Gazoo
In the last season of the series, the fictional alien The Great Gazoo was introduced to the show. The Great Gazoo was a floating green alien that was exiled to Earth from his home planet Zetox as punishment for making a dangerous weapon.
He was discovered by Fred and Barney when his UFO crashed, and as part of his exile was forced to serve them. However, Gazoo’s storyline was never resolved as the show was canceled and he was never mentioned in any spin-offs or movies.
The Flintstones Helped Make The Jetsons Successful
Because The Flintstones did so well, Hanna-Barbera decided that it would be a good idea to make another prime-time cartoon to hopefully be as successful as The Flintstones. The end result was The Jetsons, which was essentially the same idea except it takes place in the future and not in the past.
The show turned out to be a success that is still loved by fans to this day. However, few people know that there were only 24 episodes of the original 1962-1963 series. Although there were more episodes made in 1985 and 1987, those aren’t considered the classics.
It Took Nine Years To Make The Live Action Film
When the live action Flintstones movie came out in 1994, it grossed a total of $341,631,208 at the worldwide box office. However, that doesn’t mean that it was easy to make by any means. The script for the film was commissioned by Keith Barish and Joel Silver in 1985, nine years before the film was actually released.
In 1993, a new draft for the film was written which took a total of eight writers. Steven Speilberg recommended John Goodman for the role. Although the film made a lot of revenue it wasn’t necessarily adored by critics or fans.
Seth MacFarlane Almost Made A Reboot
It was announced in 2011 that comedian and creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, was planning on rebooting the classic animated series. However, just a year after the announcement was made, MacFarlane claimed that the show was “already on life support.”
Post Comment