Fred Flintstone

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Fred Flintstone
Fred Flintstone.png
Fred in "Hop Happy."
Species Human
Gender Male
Affiliation Barney Rubble
Betty Rubble
Dino
Mr. Slate's quarry
Great Gazoo
Occupation Quarry worker
Works for Slate Rock and Gravel Company
Goals Supporting his family
Father Ed Flintstone
Mother Edna Flintstone
Grandfather(s) Rocky Flintstone or Stoney Flintstone
Aunt(s) Hilda
Other relative(s) Son-in-law, Bamm-Bamm Rubble, in the early 1990s trilogy
Marital status Husband to Wilma Flintstone
Children One daughter, Pebbles
A son, Fred Flintstone, Jr., in Golden Little Book's The Flintstones
Grandchildren Roxy and Chip Rubble
First appearance TF: "The Flintstone Flyer" (1960)
Played by Daws Butler (1960, pilot pitch)
Alan Reed (1960-1977)
Henry Corden (1966-2005)
Lennie Weinrib (1986-1987)
Scott Menville (1987-1988)
John Goodman (1994)
Jeff Bergman (since 1994)
Mark Addy (2000)
James Arnold Taylor (since 2005)
TFK Freddy.png
The Flintstone Kids
90s Fred Flintstone.png
I Yabba-Dabba Do!
Goodman Fred.png
The Flintstones
Addy Fred.png
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
DC Fred Flintstone.png
The Flintstones
YDD Fred.png
Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs

Frederick "Fred/Freddy" Flintstone is a caveman and one of the main characters and the protagonist of the Flintstones animated franchise. His voice was originated by Alan Reed (not counting Daws Butler in the pilot pitch).

Fred is a working-class quarry worker living the life of a dinosaur crane operator in his hometown of Bedrock. While Fred is away at work, he has a stay-at-home wife in Wilma, the adoring pet dinosaur he's stuck caring for, Dino (Hanna-Barbera later retconned Dino to be the childhood pet of Fred); and the later addition of the family's baby daughter, Pebbles. His best friend and next-door neighbor is Barney Rubble.

Character description

Fred is a caveman with fair skin, a beard stubble, black hair, and a large nose. He wears a ragged, green-blue necktie, and a orange and black-spotted loincloth.

Fred tends to be both loud-mouthed and ambitious, constantly scheming for ways to improve his family's lot in life. However, wether it be related to money or fame, his actions often end up backfiring him with unintended results. He is able to create some of the biggest perplexities, even with the most innocent and mundane intent.

In addition to his main goals in life, Fred is prone to being short-tempered and grouchy. He constantly yells and gets into fits of rage or sadness whenever things don't go in his way. Despite his impulsive, naive and childish behavior, Fred is usually free of any malice. Although he is sometimes short-tempered, he proves to be a friendly person; often helping and showing some affection to others — including both his family, Barney and Betty. While he does complain to Wilma about his outrageous demands, he does appears to be both a loving, caring husband and father. Fred also goes to great lengths to please his family or owe somebody, especially in moments where his actions go too far. Fred's catchphrase is "Yabba dabba doo!", which he often yells to express his excitement and astonishment.

An average blue-collar worker, Fred works as a crane operator at the Slate Rock and Gravel Company. His boss is Mr. Slate, whom he sometimes has trouble with due to having made some mistakes working here. He is also a member of the Water Buffalo Lodge, a private club of which he and Barney hang out. The two are rather popular within the lounge's members, and even have some degree of influence over its events.

Fred's interests include bowling, golf, poker, and playing pool. In the case of bowling he is exceptionally good at it; even winning numerous championships for his skills. In the episode "Bowling Ballet," Fred took on ballet lessons in order to improve his game, which gave him the nickname "Twinkletoes."

Appearances

TV series

Movies

Specials

Shorts

Theme park rides

Comics

Books

Video games

Biography

Straight to the moon, Wilma!

Fred and Barney on the Laff-A-Lympics

Celebrating another 50 years! 50 years of fun!

Fred Sells Out

Fred appears alongside Barney in pirate form in the Duck Dodgers episode "Shiver Me Dodgers".

In The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Modern Primitives", Fred was unfrozen in the present day and Billy keeps him as a pet named "Jake Steele". Depicted as primitive and hostile, Fred goes on a rampage after being overwhelmed by all the modern technology and customs due to future shock.

In the Adult Swim short Come and Learn with Pibby!, Fred greets Pibby to Bedrock and slides down a dinosaur's back right into the corruption below that swallows him whole.

Fred in the Funny Books

Development

The personality of Fred Flintstone is largely based on Ralph Kramden, a character played by Jackie Gleason in the 1955 TV sitcom The Honeymooners. Like his animated successor, Ralph is an ambitious yet ill tempered and brash working-class man, who lives at home with his patient wife. Similarities between the two have also extended to their physical appearance, as both Fred and Ralph are overweight men with black hair.

Gallery

Main article: Fred Flintstone/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Main article: Fred Flintstone/Toys

Behind the scenes

  • George O'Hanlon auditioned for the role of Fred, but lost out to Alan Reed.[1] Aside from being later cast as George Jetson, O'Hanlon also ended up writing two episodes of The Flintstones.
  • Jackie Gleason, the inspiration behind Fred Flintstone, had once considered suing Hanna-Barbera for copying The Honeymooners, but decided to let it pass.[2]

In popular culture

  • In the movie Police Academy 2, Mahoney talks about Fred and Wilma.
  • In The Golden Girls episode "Melodrama," Dorothy reminded Blanche about how she once described Mel as looking like Fred but with a better car.
  • In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Def Poet's Society," Will sings and dances to Madonna's "Vogue," adding his own lyrics, "Michael Jordan, Al Capone, Woody Woodpecker, Fred Flintstone."
  • In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Beneath These Streets," Michelangelo gets tired of saying "Cowabunga!" as his catchphrase and tries to use "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!" instead, except when he does it, he gets stopped mid-sentence by Donatello.
  • In the movie Casper, a kid dresses up as Fred for the Halloween party at Whipstaff Manor. This movie came out in 1995, a year after the live-action Flintstones movie, both of which were produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and released by Universal Pictures.
  • In The Parkers episode "The Boomerang Effect," the sight of seeing Nate naked, makes Stevie cry in shock, "Yabba-dabba-doo!"
  • In the Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode "The Competition," Hilda taught Amanda an incantation by saying "Double, double, boil and trouble. Dress the cat like Barney Rubble." A generic cloth then proceeded to magically appear around Salem, who then remarked that he looked better than John Goodman, who actually played Fred, not Barney, as Barney was played by Rick Moranis.
  • In the film The Amazing Spider-Man, Dr. Connors's lab rats are called Fred and Wilma.
  • In The Cleveland Show episode, "A General Thanksgiving Episode," Holt introduces himself to an attractive woman as Fred Flintstone because "[he] can make [her] bed rock."
  • In the DC comic Harley Quinn's Valentine Day Special, Harley Quinn says, "Yabba dabba do me!" when seeing Bruce Wayne.
  • In the "Crazy Fails 3" and "Amazing Heroes!" episodes Takeshi's Castle Indonesia, one of the baddies (the one Caucasian man) in the Honeycomb is dressed like Fred Flintstone; the first time he wore a long black wig, not like Fred, and the second time, it must've fallen off, revealing his bald head, also not like Fred.
  • In the Fresh Off the Boat episode "It's a Plastic Pumpkin, Louis Huang," there was a couple at Deidre's Halloween party dressed as Fred and Wilma.
  • In the season 8 "Columbus, Ohio" episode of Man v. Food, host Casey Webb referred to the pork as "Fred Flintstone food," alluding to the giant-sized ribs Fred would eat.
  • In the Disney+ film Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers, one of the bootlegs is wearing Fred's loin cloth.
  • In That '90s Show episode "Boyfriend Day One," Sherri mentions that she has a tattoo on her hip of Fred surfing.

  • Casper.

  • Disney Adventures.

  • Fresh Off the Boat.

Family Guy

Main article: Family Guy
  • "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Bucks:" While walking in New York set to Flintstones-esque music, Peter tries to lift Meg's spirits by telling her she'll find her hidden talent, when they suddenly walk onto Bedrock.
  • "Dammit Janet!:" When Peter and Lois don't return to America after the plane they were on was hijacked in Cuba, it is reported on the news, with the artist's rending capturing a fat man inexplicably married to an attractive redhead, which is in the form of Fred and Wilma.
  • "Wasted Talent:" When the final scroll to entering the Pawtucket Brewery was found, Peter disappointedly asked aloud what he was going to do now, when the Great Gazoo popped up asking the "dum dum" what he could do for Peter, but all Peter wanted was to be left alone. Annoyed at Peter's treatment of him, Gazoo whined that it wasn't always about him, the "fatso."
  • "Ready, Willing, and Disabled:" A cavegirl carhop tips Joe's wheelchair over with a plate of ribs in the same manner as what happens to Fred in his car in the "(Meet) The Flintstones" theme song.
  • "Peter's Got Woods:" When Brian is busy on another date with his new girlfriend, Peter tries to replace him with Barney. We then see Peter at the Rubbles', where he is waiting for Barney to finish in the toilet, so they can go play darts. Barney is using a pelican as a toilet who makes about his predicament. A sheep later made the same kind of joke after hearing Meg was on her period. MacFarlane voices Barney.
  • "Patriot Games:" Brian takes the same $50 bet on a celebrity boxing match between Mike Tyson and Carol Channing as Betting Freddie does, who stutters the word "bet" like the addicted gambler he was in "The Gambler." He then gets serious and claims there's nothing funny about addiction and tells the audience to vote "No" on Indian gaming bars. Fred is voiced by Jeff Bergman.
  • "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air:" Fred and Barney attend the inaugural ball of the Quahog Men's Club, where Fred reveals to Barney that he accidentally caught sight of Betty undressing, who say Fred, but continued anyway, giving way to Fred's e-rock-tion. Bergman voices both Fred and Barney.
  • "Peter's Daughter:" Fred takes Wilma to Mr. Stoneberg to get a legal separation for not letting him back in after Baby Puss removes him from their house and locks him outside. He had been knocking for 20 minutes and shouting "Wilma!" but she claims to not have heard because she was taking a shower, but he believes that she was simply ignoring him and goes on further about her spending all his money on expensive clothes and hairdos, and not being available for sex, the "passive aggressive bitch" she is. Bergman and Alex Bornstein voice Fred and Wilma, respectively.
  • "Stew-Roids": Gina says that Chris smells like Fred's ass. The scene then cuts to Fred, who says that no one's telling her to smell it. Fred is voiced by Bergman.
  • "Road to the Multiverse:" Stewie and Brian travel to an alternate universe of Quahog, which resembles Bedrock and has a laugh track. Peter and Lois are now called Rock Peter and Rock Lois and are dressed and have the same hairstyles as Fred and Wilma. The word "rock" is placed before and in place of other words as well, so they had rock sex which included Rock Peter rocking Rock Lois up the rock last rock night (which also included a "rockphylactic" in the form of a frog, "Ribbeted for your pleasure.") As you can imagine, Stewie and Brian wanted to get the "rock out of there."
  • "Quagmire's Baby:" Quagmire is selling a tape of The Best of the World's Wildest Police Chases, which features the police in a high speed pursuit of Fred in the Flintmobile, also carrying Dino, Pebbles, and Bamm-Bamm. Dino pops his head through the roof, and Fred places the babies on top of Dino's head. Fred manages to avoid them until he enters a drive-in movie theater and smashes into a snack bar. Fred tries to escape over a fence, but is caught and clobbered by the police. The narrator finishes his commentary by saying "Yabba-Dabba-Don't."
  • "The Simpsons Guy:" Fred acts as a judge when Peter and Homer Simpson go to court over the Pawtucket Patriot Ale being a copyright infringement over Duff Beer. He claims that both brands are imitations of Budrock, but is in favor of Duff Beer. Fred is voiced by none other than Bergman.

Heartbreak High

  • In "Episode 8" (season 2), Mr. Deloraine asked his nephew, Matt, how the stereo was at the warehouse he had recently moved into, with Matt responding that it looked like something Freddy Flintstone built.
  • In "Episode 4" (season 3), a student wears a t-shirt of Fred in football gear.

Saturday Night Live

  • "John Goodman/The Pretenders:" Although more as a promotion for the live-action film, host John Goodman (wearing a Fred costume, not like the one he wore in the film), does a sketch where he gives the Stone Age names of some celebrities, before removing celebrities' names who already have "Stone" or "Rock" in them.
  • "Kieran Culkin/Ed Sheehan:" In "The Heist" sketch, the thief sarcastically asks if he is Fred Flintstein when told he has to use both of his feet to drive a stick shift. When the hacker questions the use of "Flintstein," the thief responds, "Did I stutter? Frederick Flintstein."

  • Goodman in Fred's clothes.

Teen Titans Go!

Main article: Teen Titans Go!
  • "Double Trouble:" Cyborg is dressed like Fred during the "Cavemen and Dinosaurs" game.
  • "Costume Contest:" A man dresses up like Fred in a Halloween costume contest.

  • Cyborg's not feeling it.

  • A Halloween favorite.

Seth McFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy

Young Sheldon

  • "A Brisket, Voodoo, and Cannonball Run:" Georgie thinks that his parents will divorce due to the fighting between his father and his mother-in-law, but Sheldon counters that this it's typical and doesn't lead to divorce, to which Missy chimes in is to how Fred and Wilma have stayed together.
  • "A Research Study and Czechoslovakian Wedding Pastries:" When George and Mary get into a disagreement while talking to the research doctors about the twins, Meemaw tells the doctors to never mind Fred and Wilma and move on to the kids.

References

  1. ^ (February 15, 1989) "George O'Hanlon, 76, George Jetson's Voice". The New York Times. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  2. ^ Zehme, Bill (interviewer) (August 1986). "Jackie Gleason – Playboy Interview – Life History". Archived from the original on August 27, 2009.
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