Friday, September 15, 2006

Flintstones odds and ends


Going through all my files to prepare the Ed Benedict piece I kept coming across these little Flintstones related WTF's and cool curiosities --so I thought they might as well have their own post. I'll leave which is which up to you. Above is a flyer for the release of the 1997 Flintstones Laserdisk box set (Naturally I thought it appropriate to start with the "Flintstone Flyer" heh, heh...)

Not sure what the story is on these "Walk-Around" Costumes. The sculpts on the faces seem really decent...but the rest of the costumes have a "Little Rascals" feel to them.

These two are really googly. I can only imagine how hot costumes like that would be in the Arizona sunshine. Of course, Bedrock City only hires "little people" to wear these things and the legs are stilts. Hey, it might be true! (That would explain the massive varicose veinage on their legs, at least!)
Here's an odd 1970's ad for Eaton Truck Components penned by the one-and-only Carlo Vinci! Proportions might be a little skewy, but you can clearly see that Carlo sense of movement in every pose.


We picked this up at lunch when I worked at Designefx (I think at Denny's) in the early 1990's.
At the time (for some reason) we thought the scrambled answers were pretty damn funny.

In 1980, when I was in college we had an assignment to do-over a childrens book illustration with the style of a different famous artist (like Dr. Suess illustrated by Maurice Sendak). I chose the "Little Golden Book" of the Flintstones as envisioned by longtime Hunter Thompson cohort and visual scribe Ralph Steadman. I think I got a B-.


This 1960's "gift, prize or party favor" looks like it was designed by however painted the cartoon characters on the front of the local kindergarden in my hometown of Smyrna. I thought it was a mix-and-match kinda toy, but look at how "wacky" all the possible combinations get on the box...


The Flintstones 35th anniversary was marked with some of the coolest modern 'Stones merchandising ever. I still have some great shirts I bought (yep, had to buy 'em) at the Turner Store back then. Here's a Taco Bell bag adorned with cool retro designs by Craig Kellman.

...And here's the other side! Too bad Wilma doesn't look this cool on the same-era studio model sheets.

Eh...I thought for a minnit this was Dave Strandquest in a Halloween costume...but no, it's Weird Al in a 1995 Red Hot Chili Peppers takeoff with Flintstones related lyrics.

Pretty deluxe entrance for a stage play as the Stones taxi out on stage courtesy Pteradactyl airlines. (Though the guys walking around in street clothes sorta kills the illusion.)

Fred's "Real" Cars

There are parks all over the world that feature Flintstones homes and vehicles. I'll finish up this post with a look at some of the different ways Fred's (and Barney's) Cars have been interpeted into reality. Here's one from the Bedrock town set up at the Grand Canyon.


Here's the Flint-Car from one of the ill-fated Flintstones movies (Looks like it might be in the shop with some front wheel trouble). Designed kinda long for my taste. My biggest complaint with ALL the cars in those films is that they move about as fast as earth-moving equiptment.


Here's Barney's car from the Grand Canyon exhibit as well...all nice and shiny.

This deluxe car show car "The Wilma" is more on-model than any of the movie-car versions. Be really cool if it actually worked (with a 500 dinosaur-power engine).


This last car from an amusement park in Bulgaria(?) might just be my favorite. Like Fred's Car in the original opening title sequence, It feels just primitive enough to be sorta believable. Actually though --judging by the condition of the "happy-fun slide" in the background --this might just be the park owner's car. (I'd love to see him going 80 on the freeway in this contraption!)
More cool stuff next week.

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Holy laserdisc, batman! I forgot those things existed! Nice drawing by the way.

2:09 AM

 
Blogger Dr. Strange-Q said...

KCUD GEGS! Hwaaa, hwaa, hwaa, waaaa! It's still waffle funny! Those cars are great lookin'.

9:24 AM

 
Blogger C. Martin Croker said...

Tanks Chunp!
I figured for sure you were going to bust me for that Weird-Al comment (I almost put that picture of you playin' our vacuum cleaner right under it!)

12:04 PM

 
Blogger Dr. Strange-Q said...

Was I DRUNK er sumptin? Are you tryin' ta get my EHETT!? Ya should post that picture because it's DEIT!

11:37 AM

 
Blogger surferjoe1 said...

There was a Flintmobile parked in the H-B lot pretty much throughout the nineties...along with Bill's and Joe's Mercedes. The car I always wanted to see built-for-real was Dick Dastardly's. How much more fun would that be than another Flintmobile?

That Barney car looks like a big pencil.

4:16 AM

 
Blogger Chris Sobieniak said...

I miss Denny's! :-( (all the ones in Toledo had to close up some 5 years back), you can practically say they're DEIT!

Anyway, thanks for those amusing pics! I never thought people in their right mind would go and replicate the Flintstones car before.

The only thing missing out of this (and for a good reason), is John Kricfalusi's "Cave Nudes" cartoon he penned in the early 80's and stuck copies all over the H-B studios as I've read. It was later printed in an issue of Robert Crumb's "Weirdo" comics, but that thing was just so funny! It just wouldn't fit here anyway.

5:46 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi C. Martin:

My name is Jennifer and I’m working on a brand new television series about fans of TV shows. I’m researching an episode on the Flintstones and just found this entry on your blog. I’m writing you in the hopes that you may be interested in participating in our series. Here’s a little about our show:

It’s a 26 part documentary series which explores popular TV shows through the eyes of the fans. Each episode will focus on a different program - everything from Bewitched to The Simpsons, and of course The Flintstones - and will feature 2-3 fans of the program from Canada and the US. The series will unearth: why the fans love the show, how watching the show and collecting memorabilia makes them feel, what their friends and family think of their love for the show, and the culture of their particular fandom (individual shows express their fandom differently – look at Sex & the City fans compared to Star Trek fans).

The show will air in Canada on TVtropolis, a new Canadian Network devoted to airing re-runs of classic TV shows. More information about our series can be found at our company’s website at http://www.peacepoint.tv/pr/ABOUTFANatical.pdf

To be honest with you, I’ve been having a really hard time trying to get in touch with Flintstones fans. If you’re interested in participating or may be of any assistance whatsoever please drop me a line.

I look forward to your reply,
Jennifer
jennifer@peacepoint.tv

12:30 PM

 
Blogger Robiscus said...

Clay,
here's a link to the set design company in Atlanta i was telling you about - "Special Projects/PropORama". its across the street from Primal and they DEFINITELY have a full size, working, Fred Flinstone car in one of the garages there.
http://www.specialprojects.tv/SP_WebSite/GHT.htm
send Threlkeld over with a tin full of cookies and a camera.

10:45 PM

 
Blogger Eric Fleck said...

Loved your drawing of Fred as drawn
by Steadman...

12:45 AM

 
Blogger Todd Franklin said...

Yabba-Dabba-Doo, this is a great post!

12:01 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble are the Frick and Frack of primetime cartoons. Alan Reed, the voice of Flintsone, passed away in 1977 and Mel Blanc, the voice of Rubble, joined him in 1989. Gone, but definitely not forgotten!

11:14 AM

 

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