Fred and Barney Meet the Thing

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	English
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producers	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Producer	Alex Lovy
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 8 – December 1, 1979

Fred and Barney Meet the Thing was 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:

• The New Fred and Barney Show
• The Thing

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.

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 who transforms into the rock-skinned superhero by touching together magic rings and reciting the words "Thing ring, do your thing!"

This depection of the founding and popular member of Marvel's premier superhero comic "The Fantastic Four" was totally inconsistent with his traditional usage. The idea of having the classic hero The Thing appear with Fred and Barney infuriated comic fans.

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

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

Episodes

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

• Wayne Morton - Benjy Grimm
• Joe Baker - The Thing
• Noelle North - Kelly
• Marilyn Schreffler - Betty, Miss Twilly
• John Erwin - Ronald Radford
• Art Metrano - Spike
• Michael Sheehan - Turkey
• John Stephenson - Dr. Harkness

The New Fred and Barney Show

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

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

External links

• Fred and Barney Meet the Thing at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• Fred and Barney Meet the Thing @ The Big Cartoon DataBase