Now that all 6 seasons of
The Flintstones are on DVD, where does Warner go next with the modern stone-age family? Well, this holiday season sees the DVD release of the one-shot special,
A Flintstones Christmas Carol, but fans are really looking at the various spin-off series that include 1972's
Flintstones Comedy Hour, 1977's
Fred Flintstone and Friends, 1979's
New Fred & Barney Show, 1986's
Flintstone Kids and 1996's
Cave Kids...just to name a few!
The best-known and most-wanted of the spins-offs, though, is 1971's
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show. This was the first of the shows to be made following the end of the original series, and featured the now-teenage children of The Flintstones and The Rubbles. Pebbles Flintstone was voiced by Sally Struthers (then also in the prime-time hit
All In The Family), and Bamm-Bamm Rubble spoke courtesy of Jay North (already a classic TV star thank to his '50s role as
Dennis The Menace). While Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty would be seen in episodes (with the original voice actors returning to their roles), we would usually see more of fellow teens Moonrock, Fabian, Cindy, Schleprock, Penny and Wiggy.
The show ran on its own at first for a season, then was combined into 1972's
Flintstones Comedy Hour (mentioned above) for a couple of seasons, and then split off back into its own show again in 1974. It ended in 1976, but re-runs of the individual cartoons were shown as part of 1977's
Fred Flintstone and Friends. So this series was in the public eye for most of the '70s, and many of us would like to see it again on DVD!
Warner Home Video apparently knows this, because word has leaked to us that they plan to bring
The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show to DVD in the
Spring 2008, as part of their ongoing "Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection" series of packages! Details are sketchy, but we're apparently looking at a 2-disc set for under $30, probably in the March-April timeframe. We've gotten this latest info from multiple sources. The only official word from the studio came back in May 2007, during
an online chat Warner had with the Home Theater Forum: in it, the studio said that DVDs for this 'toon were "being looked into". It sounds like it's a go, if our separate sources are all correct. If true, though, then we're still at least a month away from an official announcement by the studio. But stay tuned, and we'll post more as soon as we get it!
