“Yabba-Dabba-Doo!” In honor of the 34th anniversary of The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones on November 15th, YEM is privileged to highlight this memorable crossover film and its iconic characters! The 92-minute movie is arguably the most famous crossover film ever done by Hanna-Barbera, who are known for having their characters appear in multiple universes. Hanna-Barbera has most often done these types of team-ups with the gang from Scooby-Doo over the years. Read about a few of the biggest Scooby-Doo crossover moments here:
https://youngentertainmentmag.com/yem-presents-the-top-scooby-doo-moments-of-all-time/
The Flintstones (Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, and their pet dinosaur Dino) along with their neighbors the Rubbles (Barney, Betty, and Bamm-Bamm) have quite an impressive history. The Flintstones were pioneers, premiering as the first prime-time animated series in the history of television. They were so successful, that it became the longest-running episodic animated series of all time until The Simpsons eventually broke that record three decades later. While The Flintstones were from the Stone Age, and their futuristic counterparts The Jetsons lived in the Space Age. The Jetsons (George, Jane, Judy, Elroy, their dog Astro, and their robot housekeeper Rosie) premiered only two years after The Flintstones and made history of their own. The Jetsons became the first-ever in-color television show in the history of the ABC network.
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones
Needless to say, when the two shows finally did a movie together two and a half decades later in 1987, it was a big deal for fans of all ages! The two groups were the polar opposite of one another. The Flintstones lived in a time with machines powered by birds, dinosaurs, (or their own feet). The Jetsons, on the other hand, lived during a time that had robots, aliens, and holograms.
Key Movie Moment #1: When a family time-travel vacation goes wrong, The Jetsons end up accidentally traveling back in time to Bedrock where they meet and befriend The Flintstones.
Key Movie Moment #2: With their time machine no longer working, the Jetsons end up stuck in the past. At that point, the family has to immerse themselves in the Stone Age and George Jetson ends up in the middle of Fred and Barney’s work drama with their boss Mr. Slate at Slate Rock and Gravel Company.
Key Movie Moment #3: In an attempt to rescue The Jetsons from the past, Rosie the Robot accidentally retrieves The Flintstones instead and brings them to Orbit City! With the cave people now in the future, this quickly leads to Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble meeting George’s boss Mr. Spacely at Spacely’s Space Sprockets.
Key Movie Moment #4: Eventually, the time machine is fixed long enough to send everyone back to their correct timelines and restore the Hanna-Barbera universe to its correct order.
There are lots of memorable quotes in the film as well. Here are a few:
Mr. Slate: Flintstone, you, Rubble, and your weirdo Cousin (George Jetson) – GET OUT OF MY SIGHT FOREVER!
George Jetson: That’s grass. I read about it in ancient history.
Fred Flintstone: It’s the time machine, Mr. Spacely – It’s kaputt!
Barney Rubble: Yeah, and they can’t kaputt it back together again!
If you’ve never seen it, you’re missing out on animated history! You can currently stream The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones on the Boomerang Amazon Channel or you can rent the film online at Amazon Video, Vudu, the Microsoft Store, or Redbox.
