Review-”The Flintstones: The Complete Series”

“The Flintstones: The Complete Series”-Own it on DVD October 28, 2008

• Release Date: October 28, 2008
• Publisher: Warner Home Video
• Price: $89.99 on Amazon.com (Buy It)
• Rating: Not Rated
• Run Time: 4,258 minutes
• Features: 166 Episodes, Flintstones TV Packaging, Bonus Features (a list of all the special features can be found below)
• Starring: The voices of Alan Reed, Mel Blanc, Bea Benaderet, Don Messick, Gerry Johnson, and Jean Vander Pyl
• Genre: Animation

The Episodes: While I obviously didn’t grow up with this series (I was born twenty years after it stopped airing) but I do remember watching a lot of the cartoons as a kid. I used to watch a ton of cartoons and I remember this as being one of my favorites despite its age. While kids will likely enjoy the show more than adults, those who remember watching the cartoons as a kid should have fun on their return trip to Bedrock.

If you’ve been living under a rock your whole life, “The Flintstones” is a ’60s cartoon about family life in the Stone Age. Despite taking place way back in time, most 20th century inventions still exist, they are just powered by more primitive methods (usually by animals).

After going through a lot of the episodes again (obviously it was impossible for me to go through 166 episodes in a very limited time), I still thought most of them were pretty good. I’m sure I loved them more as a kid but that is to be expected. The comedy is quite corny and very kid-friendly so it’s easy to see that children would enjoy this more than adults. However, adults who are huge fans of animation or those who want a nice trip down memory lane will likely really enjoy this set.

The Video and Audio: Since the show was made in the ’60s, it isn’t too surprising that the animation isn’t great. Warner Bros. did do a pretty good job restoring the episodes as best they could but there is some noticeable dirt and the animation is obviously quite limited. Sound quality is similar, about as good as you could expect but quite flat overall.

The Bonus Features: I never watched any of the previous season sets so I can’t confirm this but I’ve heard there are no additional special features added to this complete set package. While this is a little disappointing, there were quite a few bonus features on each of the previous sets and all of them are included here.

Season One Features:

• “All About the Flintstones”-A five-minute general introduction to the series
• “Wacky Inventions”-A clip-show of all the various Stone Age technologies
• “The Flagstones: The Lost Pilot”-A very interesting minute-and-a-half clip from the original pilot where the family was called “The Flagstones” instead of “The Flintstones”
• Vintage Commercials and Network Promos-Four commercials featuring The Flintstones along with various network promo spots

Season Two Features:

• “Carved In Stone” Documentary-A nice retrospective piece about the series
• Vintage Art and Commercials
• “How To Draw” Featurette-Learn how to draw Fred in this seven minute feature
• 3 Commentaries-These are all pretty informative and interesting

Season Three Features:

• “Bedrock Collectibles”-A look at some of the toys and other Flintstones collectibles that date back to the early ’60s. As a fan of collectibles I found this quite interesting.
• “First Families of the Stone Age: Bedrock Wives”-Interviews with many members of the creative team about the third season.

Season Four Features:

• “The Flintstones: One Million Years Ahead of Its Time”-A look at the impact the show had on television.
• “Hoyt Curtin Profile”-A brief look at The Flintstones’ music director.
• 2 Commentaries

Season Five Features:

• “A Stone Age Parenting Guide: Child Rearing in the Stone Age”-A funny featurette that shows you how to raise a child in the prehistoric times.
• “The Gruesome’s Road to Bedrock”-A look at one of the most popular Flintstones episodes of all-time.
• “Rarities Unearthed”-Interviews, vintage commercials, etc.

Season Six Features:

• “The Flintstones Meet Pop Culture”-A look at how ’60s pop culture influenced the show
• “The Great Gazoo Profile”-A look at the character from the future

Overall, most of these bonus features are pretty good and help make it acceptable that there are no new bonus features included.

The Packaging: I wasn’t really a fan of the packaging at all. While the idea of making the packaging look like The Flintstones’ TV is good, the execution isn’t so great. The front packaging isn’t bad at all but the inside could have used some work. The discs are packaged rather cheaply in two paper books. It is quite hard to get the discs out of the sleeves without scratching them. Since packaging is supposed to be designed to keep the discs safe, this definitely can’t be considered a good design.

Summary: Since the package is quite cheap (only $89.99 on Amazon.com), this is a very good option for those who don’t already have any of the sets. However, if you have some or all of the six season sets already I would advise that you keep them and just finish up your collection. There are no new bonus features included and the packaging kind of stinks.

If you don’t already have any of the season sets and you loved “The Flintstones” as a kid, I would definitely pick this up. I’d also recommend it for all animation fans as well.