FLINTSTONES, THE [TV SHOW]: THE COMPLETE 6TH SEASON - DVD review

Crab lawn mowers. Triceratops wheelbarrows. Birds covering stop and go lights with their wings, prompted by a conk on the head. It's all in an average day's work in Bedrock, the pre-historic community in which TV's most famous animated couple lived for six seasons.

Those goofy stone-age inventions were part of the appeal of "The Flintstones." The other, of course, was that the show transferred the gender sparring of "The Honeymooners" and modern situations to an animated show set a gazillion years earlier.

Before "The Simpsons," "The Flintstones" were the reigning prime-time animation power on TV. This season shows both why the series ran for so long, and why it was time to quit.

The strongest episodes this season do what those in previous season accomplished—satirizing contemporary behavior and mores in a fun way. But this season also saw a rise in gimmickry. An alien, Gazoo, makes an appearance and, like a genie, seems ready and willing to grant wishes. But come on. Hasn't that been done in "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie"? There's also more celebrity guest stars this season, including Elizabeth Montgomery, who played Samantha on "Bewitched." The show was at its strongest when it stayed close to "The Honeymooners" in spirit and script, with gender wars and household calamities taking center stange. There are still a few episodes like that in this final season, but the gimmick episodes pretty much prove that the writers were running out of ideas.

But hey, it was a heck of a run, wasn't it? No one knows who Alan Reed is, but they'd recognize his voice in a minute as Fred Flintstone. Same with Jean Vander Pyl as Wilma, and Mel Blanc as Barney Rubble and Bea Benaderet as Betty Rubble (played by Gerry Johnson in later years).

Fred Flintstone was a blue-collar working stiff, the operator of a dinosaur-powered crane at the Rock Head & Quarry Cave Construction Co. Like everyone else he drove a car powered by feet, and had a pet "dog" who was really a small dinosaur. The stone-age trappings were fun for the kids, while the adults could get off on the satirical allusions to movies and TV shows.

Here's how this season's episodes play out:

1) "The House That Fred Built"—When Fred's mother-in-law drops in for what appears to be a permanent visit, Fred decides to rehab an old house so the old woman won't have to share his.

2) "No Biz Like Show Biz"—Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm can't talk, but apparently watching teen singers on TV has given them the wherewithal to sing songs, and it looks as if the kids might become stars.

3) "Disorder in the Court"—Fred is foreman on a jury that convicts The Mangler, who escapes and decides he's going to exact revenge.

4) "The Return of Stony Curtis"—Tony Curtis does a cameo in this episode that pokes fun of Curtis's slave-boy role in "Spartacus."

5) "The Great Gazoo"—A political exile from Zetox is assigned to play genie to Fred and Barney.

6) "Circus Business"—When Fred invests in a circus and all his investments walk out, Fred and Barney have to fill in for the performers.

7) "Rip Van Flintstone"—After Fred falls asleep at the company picnic he wakes up in a Bedrock where Barney is rich, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are married, and Wilma (shades of "It's a Wonderful Life") is a lonely spinster.

8) "Samantha"—Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick York guest in this episode about the Flintstone's mysterious new neighbor.

9) "The Gravelberry Pie King"—Fired by Mr. Slate, Fred decides the road to success is paved with Wilma's gravelberry pies. But of course nothing is as easy as it looks.

10) "The Stonefinger Caper"—In a Goldfinger take-off, Fred and Barney are kidnapped by an evil scientist, and Gazoo has to come to the rescue.

11) "The Masquerade Party"—There's a lot of music this season, and this episode features the Wayouts. But their publicity campaign has a "War of the Worlds" effect on the Bedrock residents, and Fred is the fall guy.

12) "Shinrock-a-Go-Go"—In another musical TV take-off, Fred hurts his foot and starts a dance craze in the process.

13) "Royal Rubble"—This episode owes a debt to "Road to Morocco," as Barney is mistaken for an Arabian prince and Fred gets suspicious.

14) "Seeing Doubles"—Gazoo creates doubles for Fred and Barney so the boys can go bowling . . . and still take their wives out to dinner.

15) "How To Pick a Fight with Your Wife without Really Trying"—Gender wars escalate over who has the superior mind, and the guys end up bunking together while the women do the same.

16) "Fred Goes Ape"—When Fred takes pills for sneezing, they turn him into an ape instead. Oops. Wrong bottle.

17) "The Long Long Long Weekend"—Gazoo transports the Flintstones and Rubbles into the future.

18) "Two Men on a Dinosaur"—The mob gets on Fred and Barney after Gazoo's racing tips smack a bit too much of tip-offs.

19) "The Treasure of Sierra Madrock"—In a spoof of that famous Humphrey Bogart film, Fred and Barney get tricked into buying a worthless claim but find gold anyway . . . and the con men who sold it to them want it back.

20) "Curtain Call at Bedrock"—Community theater gets ribbed in this episode about Fred and Barney in a performance of "Romeorock and Julietstone."

21) "Boss for a Day"—Gazoo fixes it so Fred can run things for a day.

22) "Fred's Island"—After Fred and Barney are tricked into painting Mr. Slate's yacht, they find themselves adrift and end up on a seemingly deserted island.

23) "Jealousy"—Fred's head is ready to explode when Wilma's old boyfriend turns up. Even bowling can't take his mind off of it.

24) "Dripper"—A performing sealosaurus follows Barney home from the Oceanrock Aquarium, but it gets more complicated than that. Criminals are involved . . . again.

25) "My Fair Freddy"—A conversation about Dino's pedigree makes the snobs at the Stonyside Country Club think it's Fred, and of course they suddenly want him for a member.

26) "The Story of Rocky's Raiders"—Fred looks at Grandpa Flintstone's diary, which tells the story of his WWI adventures.

Video: Though the picture is slightly grainy—make that pebbly—it's still pretty decent. The colors are bright and cheery, and the delineation and black level are also welcoming. It's a look that's easy on the eyes.

Audio: Nothing fancy here—just a Dolby Digital Mono in English, French, and Spanish. No subtitles. Some Mono tracks sound hollow, but this one doesn't. It's pretty full, with perhaps a touch too much treble.

Extras: Why is there a feature on "The Great Gazoo"? This was a marginal character, a cough on the way out. And yet here's an extra trying to give more credence to this futuristic fellow than he deserves. Better is a feature on "The Flintstones Meet Pop Culture," which has some fun with the ways in which the show intersected with pop culture.

Bottom Line: It's first season, "The Flintstones" finished at #18 in the Nielsens. The second season, it pulled in at #21. It's third season, the show barely finished in the Nielsen Top-30. And that was it. Other novelty shows—things like "The Addams Family," "My Favorite Martian," "The Munsters," "Gilligan's Island," and "The Beverly Hillbillies"—replaced it as a fan favorite. By the time Season Six rolled around, the show had pretty much run its course. Gimmicks prevailed this season more than the kinds of clever household satires that characterized the show throughout its hey-day. And yet, when you compare it to other animated shows, Season Six is still pretty good—which only proves that they truly don't make them like they used to.