Overview: Yabba Dabba Doo Not Pass This Up!

'The Flintstones: The Complete Series' is boulder-sized fun for the whole family and fans of all ages will crack up at the misadventures of the Flintstones and Rubbles who consistently find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place!

Since the stone age, The Flintstones has delivered entertainment that never shales to delight each new generation and now all 166 episodes are available, for the first time, in HD!

So settle in for the first primetime animated television series and celebrate 60 years of history in the making!

DVD Verdict: Hailed, and rightly so, in my humble opinion, as one of the best animated TV series ever created, each episode of The Flintstones was simply laugh out loud hilarious.

As I'm sure you are all more than aware, The Flintstones cartoons featured two Stone Age families, the Flintstones and their neighbors, the Rubbles.

Much of the humor was based on its comic portrayals of modern conveniences, reinterpreted using Stone Age "technology." Most notably were their cars, complete with absence of floorboards to allow them to be foot-powered.

I myself loved the prehistoric twists they threw in, such as when they used animals to depict current uses of technology (wooly mammoths for garbage disposal or a bird for air travel, complete with passenger cabins on their backs, et al).

And so we were presented with Fred Flintstone, the gruff, but also lovable working class stiff who came to be to audiences everywhere in the '60s.

His wife Wilma and his neighbors Betty and Barney Rubble were the most loyal and helpful people in his life and Fred took advantage of that in every way he could!

Although what I have just written makes Fred look like the ultimate beast you couldn't write a character like this without him having redeemable qualities as well.

So Fred is also trustworthy when Wilma tells him to and works hard to give her things she so desperately craves. Such as glamorous clothes, though, for the most part, she always has to return them!

As the series evolved so did the characters, and so Fred, Wilma, Betty and Barney all became parents. Pebbles, Fred and Wilma's daughter were the pride and joy of Fred and he became a babbling softy when he became her father.

Barney stayed himself and Betty and Wilma didn't change all that much either. There was one major difference in Wilma's character as she didn't put up with so much anymore.

Indeed, she wasn't just a spectator anymore and moreover tried to become something other than a housewife, which Fred didn't like one bit at first. But those were the breaks and he had to follow suit and get in line, of course.

I think the earliest episodes of The Flintstones were the best, but not because the character of Fred was more mean spirited and chauvinistic (a caveman, if you will), but when Betty got a new voice (Gerry Johnson) she lost all appeal!

She sounded like what they used to call a "boob" and Barney got pushed into the background. Indeed, the early episode saw Betty and Barney actually standing up to Fred on a number of occasions and that turned into the moral of the show: That you couldn't let Fred get away with his selfishness all the time!

Admittedly, as the years went by, it was interesting to watch the changes that happened: a new opening theme song, the birth of Pebbles, the appearance of Wilma's mother, Anne Margrock (Ann Margret) and other unusual characters came and went.

Oh, and if you love a drinking game, it's easy to find the more-than occasional animation mistakes! My favorite is when Wilma's eyebrows disappear as she turns her head! And on the first season shows with the original closing title, we see Fred turn off the TV and walk past Wilma, asleep in her bed, she has no mouth!

For me though, well, I simply cannot compare this show to the other more successful shows of nowadays, such as The Simpsons, American Dad, Family Guy, et al, because I think they are in entirely different leagues.

The Simpsons are, at times, oh-so out there, whereas The Flintstones was, for the most part, totally believable and relatable; except for the stone age setting, of course.

So both have merit and they should be judged entirely on their own terms, but without a shadow of a doubt, The Flintstones were, and still are, an absolute sensation to behold.

And now this wondrous flashback, animated cartoon TV show - which has its own humor and originality, but more importantly, the catchiest and most joyful title song known to the business - if out now on Blu-ray via Warner Bros. and not only features all 166 episodes from all 6 seasons, but two bonus movies too!

With regard the movies, The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown! is actually more know as the film that marked the very first time the character of Mr. Slate was voiced by someone other than John Stephenson.

When Fred loses his family's vacation money, he hatches one of his hair brained plans to get it back. It's a sports entertainment spectacle that involves throwing his best bud, Barney into the wrestling ring with the likes of John Cenastone, Rey Mysteriopal and even The Undertaker, with Fred himself as event promoter.

In the other movie, The Man Called Flintstone, which was produced right after production of the original The Flintstones (1960) series ended, and was intended as a swan song for the characters; and unusually, Wilma is seen wearing a purple dress in this film rather than her usual white, while preparing for a camping trip, Fred Flintstone is enlisted by the Bedrock Secret Service to capture a criminal mastermind after a spy who looks like him is injured on the job.

As for the Original Pilot Episode, well, entitled The Flagstones: The Lost Pilot (480i), it only lasts a minute and a half, and is just a really badly faded quick showing that has obviously suffered from bad storage over the years.

This is a Full Screen Presentation (1.33:1/1.77:1/1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs via an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1, and comes with the Special Features of:

'The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown!' (Movie)
'The Man Called Flintstone' (Movie)
Original Pilot Episode (1:35)
How to Draw Fred Flintstone (6:47)
Carved in Stone: The Flintstones Phenomenon (20:42)
Songs of The Flintstones Album (27:57)
All About The Flintstones (5:21)
Wacky Inventions (5:44)
Bedrock Collectibles: Collecting All Things Flintstones (6:42)
The Flintstones: One Million Years Ahead of its Time (8:33)
First Families of the Stone Age (7:06)
Hanna-Barbera's Legendary Music Director Hoyt Curtin (7:05)
The Flintstones Meet Pop Culture (11:29)
The Great Gazoo - From A to Zetox (3:49)

Official Purchase Link

www.WBshop.com