Classic Television

The fifth season of "The Flintstones" featured a few classic episodes, the arrival of another regular character (Hoppy, the Rubbles' pet), a turn towards the supernatural as well as some far fetched episodes that demonstarted how far the show had strayed from its roots as a relationship based show.




There were several memorable episodes from the fifth season, including the classic holiday themed "Christmas Flintstone", which featured Fred stepping in for Santa Claus, who was unable to perform his regular duties of delivering toys to children all over the world, due to illness. In addition, "Adobe Dick" finds Fred and Barney on a fishing trip when they encounter a legendary whaleasaurus. The episode was different in that the focus was placed on two main characters, instead of the ever-growing ensemble cast.




"The Most Beautiful Baby in Bedrock" featured a battle between Fred and Barney, who both wanted their respective children to win the contest. Of course, they both went to great lengths to see that happen and ended up fighting in the process. Fred's parenting skills were put to better use in "Pebbles's Birthday Party", but he still ended up making a mess of the situation. He was attempting to plan two parties at once, one for his daughter and the other for the Water Buffalo Lodge. In order to make the appropriate plans, Fred had to visit "the only caterer in town", who was an obnoxious lout. The caterer got the plans confused and sent a clown to the Lodge party and Dancing Girls to Pebbles's party and, of course, chaos ensued.



Fred's desires to climb the social ladder were realized when his fairy godmother gives him the opportunity to attend the party of his boss, Mr. Slate. While I was not usually pleased with the more fantastic episodes of the series, this one is a favorite of mine and the atmosphere that was created during this episode was memorable. Another solid entry from season five is "Itty Bitty Fred", which finds Fred trying to come up with another invention. This time it was a reducing formula, but instead of helping him lose weight, it shrunk him down to the size of a doll. However, Fred and Barney were always looking for ways to get rich quick, so they decide to form a ventriloquist act and eventually land on national television, on the "Ed Sullystone Show." Seeing a miniature Fred sitting on Barney's lap and then proceeding to grow back to his original size was very amusing.




Supernatural themes permeated the fifth season, which found Fred and the gang going to visit Dr. Len Frankenstone for help after Fred has an accident with his bowling ball. Instead of addressing Fred's injury, Dr. Frankenstone tests out his personality switching machine on all of the characters, which causes many problems for everyone. In addition, a Halloween themed episode finds Fred having to spend the night in the haunted mansion of his late Uncle Giggles, in order to collect his inheritence. The episode, entitled "A Haunted House is Not A Home", featured some very funny sight gags as well as a creepy atmosphere and was reminiscent of the classic Vincent Price film "House on Haunted Hill."




In the mid 1960's "The Addams Family" and "The Munsters" were big television hits, so it made sense that "The Flintstones" would try to emulate that success by introducing a strange, new family to the neighborhood, in the episode "The Gruesomes." Unfortunately, the new addition failed to add anything positive to the aging series and the Gruesomes were not seen very much after their initial appearance. In yet another attempt to cash in on popular culture of the day, spy movies, the episode "Dr. Sinister" finds Fred and Barney on their way to the store to pick up "some brontosaurus burgers and some buns", but they end up being pursued by villains who try to end their lives. The guys eventually end up at the island fortress of Dr. Sinister and meet a spy named Madame Yes. This was a very entertaining episode which featured the classic line "A judo, a chop, chop, chop."




Other memorable episodes from the fifth season include "Moonlight and Maintenance", which finds Fred and Wilma moving to a luxury hotel, where Fred gets a job as a Resident Stationary Engineer (a janitor), while continuing to hold down his job at the quarry. Fred thinks hid new job will be a cinch, but is soon overwhelmed with all of the work. In addition, "Fred's Second Car" features another adventure filled episode, as Fred is chased by thieves who suspect that hidden jewels are stored in the car.



The aforementioned Hoppy arrives in the episode "Hop Happy", but I always found the character annoying and pointless. Other episodes, featuring western, rodeo and hillbilly themes were not favorites of mine either. In addition, Fred spent many episodes pretending that he was someone else, such as a king, a superhero, a surfer, an actor and a race car driver. These episodes continued the series' turn towards the fantastic and, for the most part, were not very well done.

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