Apparently this is truly one of the most multi-faceted Flintstones cartoons to be found. I caught on to neither the need to change the nephew's name to Ned or that the black officer was from Flintstones Kids (well, I never watched that cartoon), but the continuity is truly rare.
While the kid who wrapped Fred's presents may have resembled Arnold the paper boy from the sixties cartoon, he was never named such, nor was a co-worker identified as good ol' Joe Rockhead. Pity.
What I couldn't help but notice was how Fred being called a scrooge and he took it as a compliment was some strange underlying representation of offensive slang being taken in a positive manner. And it would happen more than once.
Wilma's behavior was a clunker. In the '77 Christmas program, in which Fred substitutes for Santa Claus who is ill (and a reworking of the Christmas episode from the sixties), Wilma and Mr. Slate and some very bratty children BLAME FRED, BLAME FRED, BLAME FRED! This is actually a strange holdover from the sixties cartoon (as is seen in Charlton comic books from the early seventies) in which Fred is overly self-centered and Wilma comes at him with a scowl and unkind word.
One bit worth noting is in the '77 cartoon, Pebbles and Bamm Bamm are small, talking children (younger than they were in the Sally Struthers-Jay North Saturday morning cartoon), but now in the 90s, they are reduced to toddlers once more.
Nevermind that somewhere in this decade, there would be the marriage of Pebbles and Bamm Bamm and the birth of the Flintstone-Rubble grandchildren in another program.
The Christmas Carol as a play then redone into the cartoon as a real incident was entertaining, but Fred's sudden revelation (as callously noted by Wilma) was unexplained.
Many of these attempts to do Flintstones, Muppets or Bugs Bunny versions of A Christmas Carol are odd to watch, as they tend to have no weak frail child like Tiny Tim in this age of precociousness (Tweety Pie was Bugs' and nephew Robin was the Muppets), nor do they have an overly intimidating creature like Scrooge. Donald Duck is cheery nephew Fred in the Disney cartoon version? Philo Quartz and nephew Ned show some thought was in this production. It could have been better, say, perhaps if Barney had been Jacob Marley and Slate had been Crachit.
While the kid who wrapped Fred's presents may have resembled Arnold the paper boy from the sixties cartoon, he was never named such, nor was a co-worker identified as good ol' Joe Rockhead. Pity.
What I couldn't help but notice was how Fred being called a scrooge and he took it as a compliment was some strange underlying representation of offensive slang being taken in a positive manner. And it would happen more than once.
Wilma's behavior was a clunker. In the '77 Christmas program, in which Fred substitutes for Santa Claus who is ill (and a reworking of the Christmas episode from the sixties), Wilma and Mr. Slate and some very bratty children BLAME FRED, BLAME FRED, BLAME FRED! This is actually a strange holdover from the sixties cartoon (as is seen in Charlton comic books from the early seventies) in which Fred is overly self-centered and Wilma comes at him with a scowl and unkind word.
One bit worth noting is in the '77 cartoon, Pebbles and Bamm Bamm are small, talking children (younger than they were in the Sally Struthers-Jay North Saturday morning cartoon), but now in the 90s, they are reduced to toddlers once more.
Nevermind that somewhere in this decade, there would be the marriage of Pebbles and Bamm Bamm and the birth of the Flintstone-Rubble grandchildren in another program.
The Christmas Carol as a play then redone into the cartoon as a real incident was entertaining, but Fred's sudden revelation (as callously noted by Wilma) was unexplained.
Many of these attempts to do Flintstones, Muppets or Bugs Bunny versions of A Christmas Carol are odd to watch, as they tend to have no weak frail child like Tiny Tim in this age of precociousness (Tweety Pie was Bugs' and nephew Robin was the Muppets), nor do they have an overly intimidating creature like Scrooge. Donald Duck is cheery nephew Fred in the Disney cartoon version? Philo Quartz and nephew Ned show some thought was in this production. It could have been better, say, perhaps if Barney had been Jacob Marley and Slate had been Crachit.