Founded in 1957, Hanna-Barbera became known for several iconic animated series. Debuting in 1960, The Flintstones were one of the most popular, becoming the first with a prime-time slot on television. While the original run ended in 1966, The Flintstones lived on in reruns, specials and spinoffs 1979 saw the debut of The New Fred and Barney Show, which ran for seventeen episodes. Recently released by Warner Archive, it’s wonderful to have this iteration of The Flintstones available on Blu-ray.
The New Fred and Barney Show has the same feeling as the original series, using many of the sound effects, laugh track (which still sounds annoying) and allowing Fred and Barney to regularly laugh at their own jokes. Many of the same voice actors returned, including Mel Blanc (Barney Rubble, Dino) and Jean Vander Pyle (Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone) who had been with the series since its inception. Gay Autterson (Betty Rubble) had taken over the role from Bea Benaderet in 1971. While Henry Corden had regularly been Fred Flinstone’s singing voice as far back as 1965, he wasn’t Fred Flintstone full time until 1977, when Alan Reed (the original voice of Fred Flintstone, died).
The New Fred and Barney Show finds the boys in trouble with an array of horror infused characters, from Frankenstein and witches to werewolves and genies. Other episodes, fans will recognize, are recycled adventures from the 1960’s. Despite that, The New Fred and Barney Show does offer adventures with a series of one-off characters that are fun in small doses.
The episode titles are listed below:
Disc One: Sand-Witch / Barney’s Luck / The Bad Luck Genie / Fred & Barney Meet the Frankenstones / Physical Fitness Fred / Fred Goes to the Houndasaurs / Moonlighters / Dinosaur Country Safari
Disc Two: Stone Age Werewolf / Haunted Inheritance / Roughin’ It / C.B. Buddies / Bedrock Rocks / Blood Brothers / Barney’s Chickens / The Butler Did It…and Did It Better / It’s Not Their Bag
While not the quality of the original series, like the other spinoffs, I enjoyed this series for what it was. Here’s hoping Warner Archive releases more of The Flintstones on Blu-ray!
Sourced from new 4K scans of the original camera negatives, all seventeen episodes of The New Fred and Barney Show look excellent. Colors are vibrant throughout and the linework is smooth. A very fine film grain gives things a realistic look. There are no age-related anomalies. The first official release of The New Fred and Barney Show, this is another shining example of the superior work Warner Archive produces.
The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mixes serve the series well. Dialogue is clear, crisp and concise throughout. Music cues are well balanced. There are no significant anomalies to report.
English SDH episodes are available.
There are no extras included.