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Fred and Barney Meet The Thing
Genre Animation
Directed by Ray Patterson
George Gordon
Carl Urbano
Voices of Henry Corden
Mel Blanc
Joe Baker
Wayne Morton
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 13
Production
Executive producer(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Producer(s) Alex Lovy
Running time 60 minutes
Distributor Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Original run September 8, 1979 (1979-09-08) – December 1, 1979 (1979-12-01)
Chronology
Preceded by The New Fred and Barney Show (1979)
Followed by Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo (1979-80)

Fred and Barney Meet The Thing is a 60-minute Saturday morning animated package show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions from September 8, 1979 to December 1, 1979 on NBC. It contained the following segments:

Despite the title, the two segments remained separate and did not crossover with one another. Fred, Barney and the Thing were only featured together during the show's opening title sequence and in brief bumpers between segments. The unusual combination of a Marvel superhero and The Flintstones was possible because, at this time, Marvel Comics owned the rights to several Hanna-Barbera franchises and were, in fact, publishing comic books based upon them; The Flintstones was one of these.

For the 1979-80 season, the series was expanded to ninety-minutes with the addition of The New Shmoo episodes and retitled Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo.

The Thing[]

The first segment, a very loose adaptation of Marvel Comics' character The Thing, consisted of stories following the Thing as a teenager named Benjy Grimm (voiced by Wayne Morton). He transforms into the rock-skinned superhero Thing (voiced by Joe Baker) by touching together magic rings and reciting the words "Thing ring, do your thing!" When the Thing spoke, his voice is identical to Jimmy Durante.

The stories centered mostly around Benjy at Centerville High School with his friends Betty (voiced by Marilyn Schreffler), her rich boyfriend Ronald Radford (voiced by John Erwin), Betty's kid sister Kelly (voiced by Noelle North) and teacher Miss Twilly (voiced by Marilyn Schreffler). Kelly was the only person who knew about Benjy's secret.

Other members of the Fantastic Four did not appear in the show, and the portrayal of the Thing and his origin story differed greatly from the original comics.[1]

Twenty-six 11-minute episodes of The Thing were produced; 2 shorts aired per show.

The Thing segments are owned by Time Warner, but the character is owned by Disney due to its purchase of Marvel Comics in 2009.

Episodes[]

# Episode title Original airdate
1 "The Picnic Panic / Bigfoot Meets The Thing" September 8, 1979
2 "Junkyard Hijinks / Gone Away Gulch" September 15, 1979
3 "Circus Stampede / The Thing and the Queen" September 22, 1979
4 "Carnival Caper / The Thing Blanks Out" September 29, 1979
5 "The Thing Meets the Clunk / Beach Party Crashers" October 6, 1979
6 "Decepto the Great / The Thing's the Play" October 13, 1979
7 "Double Trouble For The Thing / To Thing or Not To Thing" October 20, 1979
8 "The Big Bike Race / The Thing and the Treasure Hunt" October 27, 1979
9 "Out to Launch / The Day the Ring Didn't do a Thing" November 3, 1979
10 "A Hot Air Affair at the Fair / The Thing Goes to the Dogs" November 10, 1979
11 "The Thing Goes Camping / Dude Ranch Rodeo" November 17, 1979
12 "Photo Finish / Lights, Action, Thing!" November 24, 1979
13 "The Thing and the Captain's Ghost / The Thing and the Absent-Minded Inventor" December 1, 1979

Voices[]

Fred and Barney[]

Main article: The New Fred and Barney Show

The "Fred and Barney" half of the show consisted of seven new 30-minute episodes combined with reruns of The New Fred and Barney Show, which was a 1970s revival of the original Flintstones series.

Episodes[]

# Episode title Original airdate
1 "Stone Age Werewolf" September 8, 1979
2 "Fred and Barney Meet the Frankenstones" September 15, 1979
3 "Physical Fitness Fred" September 22, 1979
4 "Moonlighters" September 29, 1979
5 "Fred Goes to the Houndasaurs" October 6, 1979
6 "The Bad Luck Genie" October 13, 1979
7 "Dinosaur Country Safari" October 20, 1979

Voices[]

  • Henry Corden – Fred Flintstone
  • Jean Vander Pyl – Wilma Flintstone, Pebbles Flintstone
  • Mel Blanc – Barney Rubble, Dino
  • Gay Autterson – Betty Rubble
  • Don Messick – Bamm-Bamm Rubble
  • John Stephenson – Mr. Slate

References[]

External links[]

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