The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones

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The cover art to the VHS release of The Jetsons Meet the Flinstones.

The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones is a 1987 American animated musical telefilm, featuring the first meeting between Hanna-Barbera characters The Flintstones and The Jetsons. This film was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and debuted in syndication as part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 series.

1 Synopsis
2 Voice cast
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

While Elroy is busy working on a time machine (with Henry Orbit's help), George is ordered to come to Mr. Spacely's office for a discussion. Cogswell has been stealing Mr. Spacely's business ideas under his nose; blaming George for the problem, Mr. Spacely orders George to go spy on Cogswell. Disguised as Cogswell's robot dog, Centro, George finds out that Cogswell's new robot computer, S.A.R.A., has been seducing R.U.D.I. into leaking Spacely's secrets to her. Upon finding this out, George tries to go tell Mr. Spacely, but R.U.D.I. won't let him.

Millions of years in the past, Wilma and Betty are trying to butter up Fred so that he'll agree to have their vacation in Honolurock. Fred, wise to their plan, ignores their advances and, while at the quarry, tells Barney that he plans to take the girls some place even better with the winnings he believes he will make at a poker game at the Water Buffalo Lodge tonight. Mr. Slate, however, wants him and Barney to work the late shift, but they go to the poker game anyway, believing that Mr. Slate will never find out. But Mr. Slate is also at the poker game, so Fred tries disguising himself as a rich Texan (and Barney as his ladyfriend). Unfortunately, not only does Fred lose to Mr. Slate, but he and Barney's disguises fall apart, exposing them and getting them fired.

Back in the future, Elroy finishes up his time machine. George doesn't believe it really works until Elroy uses it to send a girl he brought from Arabian times back to her own time. The Jetsons decide to use it to take a trip to the 25th century, with George wanting to get away from Mr. Spacely (and Judy wanting to get her mind off of a rock star boyfriend she just broke up with after seeing him with groupies). Right before Elroy gets the machine working, Astro accidentally sets the switch to "Past".

With no job, the Flintstones and Rubbles are forced to settle for a camping trip in the middle of nowhere (although Fred and Barney have not told their wives about getting fired), and without food as Dino has stowed away and eaten all the food they packed. Just as Fred and Barney are trying to set the tent up, the Jetsons show up in the time machine. At first, both sets of characters mistake the other for aliens until Fred and George eventually call out offering for peace. The families become fast friends (and Astro forms a friendly rivalry with Dino), and Fred, amazed by George's expand-o-matic bag containing futuristic goodies (such as the anti-gravity belt and boots), decides to use the Jetsons' things to help Mr. Slate win against Turk Tarpit at the company picnic next week.

At the picnic, while Judy falls for a rock star named Iggy Sandstone, Fred introduces George to Mr. Slate, claiming him to be his distant cousin. Mr. Slate is also amazed by George's futuristic objects and decides to give Fred a chance at helping him win the games. Thanks to George's help, Mr. Slate manages to even his score against Tarpit, all the while Fred keeps reminding his ex-boss of the reward he expects for it. Unfortunately, Astro and Dino's continuing chase causes Mr. Slate to lose the last event, and he fires Fred and Barney again.

While Mr. Spacely continues to vent over his failing business, Henry and Rosie assemble a time machine retriever in order to bring the Jetsons back home. But just when they get it to work, the time machine does indeed return - but, due to a mishap, it ends up bringing the Flintstones and the Rubbles instead of the Jetsons! At first, Henry, Rosie, and Mac mistake the newcomers for the Jetsons, and so does Mr. Spacely. Upon seeing that they really are cavemen, Mr. Spacely introduces them to the press.

Stuck in the past, George asks Mr. Slate for a job. Slate, still angry at George for the picnic accident refuses at first, but when Tarpit offers to make George famous himself, Slate immediately employs George, making him his partner. As a "flying man from out of this world" (thanks to his anti-gravity belt), George becomes famous, and this makes the family so rich that they buy ownership of several businesses, including George buying a whole car lot and half of downtown, Jane possessing a clothing store and several beauty salons, and Judy becoming the manager for Iggy's band. Pretty soon, though, the Jetsons begin to experience great stress with their businesses. George cannot deal with the stress of owing so many businesses, Jane is not prepared for the pressure of owning so many clothing stores, and beauty salons, and to make matters worse, Judy goes through deja vu when Iggy also leaves her for some groupies.

Mr. Spacely makes Fred the spokesman for his company, but R.U.D.I. accidentally leaks this information to S.A.R.A. Just as Mr. Spacely is introducing Fred to some important investors, Cogswell shows up and introduces Barney as his news spokesman, coaxing the businesspeople to him. Spacely is furious, and Fred becomes angry with Barney (to the point where he almost throws Barney out of the window)

Meanwhile, Rosie asks R.U.D.I. to help her and Henry try to fix up the time machine so that they can go find the Jetsons. S.A.R.A. shows up at this moment and demands R.U.D.I. to get rid of Rosie; upon Rosie walking out, R.U.D.I. agrees that he'll do whatever he can to get the Jetsons back. They eventually do get it to work (it was just in the "off" position), and, after mistakenly landing in the Middle Ages, Rosie arrives in the Stone Age and finds her family. Able to return home, the Jetsons do so (taking Fred's car with them), but not before Judy reconciles with Iggy and tells him goodbye.

When Spacely sees Fred's ancient automobile, he decides to produce space-cars with an identical appearance. Cogswell tries to steal this information by sending Centro to take pictures (S.A.R.A. can no longer provide him information since R.U.D.I. told her off), but Dino and Astro manage to stop the robot dog from escaping, and Fred and Barney become friends again. Spacely's new retro-style space-cars become an overnight smash, and George turns his partnership with Mr. Slate to Fred, giving him and Barney their jobs back. However, Elroy tells them that the time machine has taken such a beating that it's broken for good now. All ends well, though, because when Mr. Spacely gives the cavemen their original automobile back, they're able to return to the Stone Age due to having absorbed the time machine's quadrapotents. (Or as George puts it, "that old car wants to go home as much as they do!"). The film ends with Fred screaming out his famous catchphrase "Yabba Dabba Doo!"

[edit] Voice cast

Henry Corden - Fred Flintstone
George O'Hanlon - George Jetson
Jean Vander Pyl - Wilma Flintstone, Rosie the Robot
Penny Singleton - Jane Jetson
Janet Waldo - Judy Jetson, Female Computer Voice
Mel Blanc - Barney Rubble, Dino, Mr. Spacely
Daws Butler - Elroy Jetson, Cogswell, Henry Orbit
Hamilton Camp - Turk Tarpit
Frank Welker - Dan Rathmoon, Johnny, Mr. Goldbrick
John Stephenson - George Nate Slate
Don Messick - Astro, R.U.D.I., Mac
Jon Bauman - Iggy
Julie McWhirter - Betty Rubble, Jet Rivers, Harem Girl
Brenda Vaccaro - Didi

[edit] Trivia

Blanc, Vander Pyl, Messick and Butler worked both series. Butler's Flintstone role was limited to substituting for Blanc - as Barney Rubble - during five episodes while Blanc recovered from his serious 1962 car accident. Messick voiced Bamm-Bamm Rubble, Barney and Betty's super-strengthed adopted son, not featured in this movie.
This film marks the first time the word "sexy" is used in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are absent from this film, as are several other recurring Flintstones characters. However, the only recurring Jetsons character who does not appear in this film is Orbitty. The absence of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm might mean that The Jetsons meet the Flintstones takes place before the third season of the Flintstone, when Pebbles is born (or during The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, when the characters are teenagers), and the second season of the Jetsons, when Orbitty is found.
When the Jetsons are waving goodbye at the end of the film, Astro can be heard saying "See you 'round, Rino!", but he erroneously is missing from the shot.
The film has been released on VHS three times, first by Goodtimes, then by Kid Klassics (using the same cassette as the previous release), and most recently by Warner Home Video. Currently, there is no DVD release.
The Goodtimes VHS of the film contains two commercials for Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereals.
In The Simpsons episode "A Star is Burns", Bart Simpson is shown watching this film (erroneously referred to as The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons) on TV and dismissing it as "another cheap cartoon crossover" (which is actually what is happening in the episode itself, as it is a cross-over with The Critic).
This film would not be the only cross-over of The Flintstones and The Jetsons. George makes a special guest cameo in the last level of The Flintstones video game on the Nintendo Entertainment System (the developers also planned to have Fred show up in the subsequent Jetsons NES game, but this idea was later scrapped). Also, the final issue of DC Comics' The Flintstones and the Jetsons comic book featured a story in which an accident causes George, Elroy, and Astro to accidentally switch dimensions with Fred, Barney, and Dino. Fred and Barney also made a special guest cameo in the first issue of Archie's Jetsons comic book. One episode from the last season of The Flintstones television series had The Great Gazoo sending Fred and Barney into a futuristic world not unlike that depicted on The Jetsons, although the Jetsons did not actually appear in that one.