The Future meets the Past

The Jetsons meet the Flintstones was a made-for-TV movie which combined Hanna-Barbera's well-known families in a single story. I'll give a rough re-cap of the movie. Some places may be out of order, though, as it's been awhile since I've watched the movie.

The Jetsons as well as the Flintstones are seen coping with a lot of headache in their respective time periods. George Jetson's irritated with his boss, Mr Spacely, while back in Bedrock Mr Slate is getting on Fred's last nerve. George and Fred's families are also having problems...in the meantime, Elroy Jetson invents a time machine. He hopes it will take him into the future...realizing how much pressure they're under The Jetsons decide to try out Elroy's time machine "just for fun" when at the last minute the machine slips from it's future setting to the past. They travel back in time to Bedrock. Fred and Barney have both lost their jobs in the meantime, after they sneak away from the gravel pit to get into a poker game that Mr Slate himself is attending. After Fred and Barney go in disguise as a husband and wife, the gag is up when Slate discovers who they are and fires them both. They keep this a secret from their wives.

As the Flintstones and the Rubbles head out into the wilderness they come in contact with the futuristic Jetsons. Each set of families mistake the other for savages as George demands that Astro protect the family and investigate the strangers while nearby Fred insists that Dino protect the family. Astro and Dino come face to face and are scared of each other. Wilma insists that Fred try and act friendly and they might not attack. Eventually the Flintstones and the Jetsons come in contact with each other...Wilma, Betty, and Jane become fast friends while George becomes friends with Fred and Barney.

Still pretending they have jobs, Fred spies George's suitcase filled with neat stuff. Fred hatches a plan to introduce George as his distant-cousin and with George's bag of goodies he hopes to worm his way into being Mr Slate's partner in the gravel company. The plot back-fires during a company sporting event when Slate looses events to Turk Tarpit...and Slate, after making Fred vice-president, fires him again. Meanwhile, during a time machine experiment, the Flintstones are transported into the future along with their stoneage car. Mr Spacely, thinking that Jetson had been spying on him for Cogswell, a Spacely competitor, notices Fred's stoneage car and hires him to be the spokesperson for the antique. The spy at Jetson's company was in fact George's computer, RUDI, who was being flirted with by a computer from Cogswell's company...using seductive language to coax information from RUDI for Cogswell.

Meanwhile, Fred becomes somewhat of a celebrity while Barney is hired by Cogswell to be their mascott. This causes a rift between the two friends...which spills over to include their wives, Wilma and Betty. As the Flintstones and Rubbles are at each other's throats in the future, back in the past The Jetsons have become millionaires almost overnight with their hi-tech gadgets. Judy has become a groupie for a local singer named Iggy Sandstone. She falls in love with him but he doesn't take it too seriously...when Judy finds Iggy with a crowd of girls she decides to break things off. In the meantime, tt isn't a happy life for the Jetsons as the bills rack up...and the Jetsons long for their own time period...as the Flintstones and Rubbles also want to go back home.

In the meantime, the Jetsons robotic maid, Rosie, travels back in time and meets up with the Jetsons. Elroy believes he's fixed the time machine and the Jetsons are sent back into the future. The Flintstones and Rubbles, while in their stoneage car, are awaiting a zap back into the past from Elroy's time machine but they learn that the time machine is broken beyond repair so they're stuck in the future forever...but, almost spiritually, just as the Flintstones and Rubbles are accepting that they'll never go back home to Bedrock, they vanish...with Fred exclaiming his catch-phrase "Yabba-Dabba Doo!!" as they disappear back in time. George remarks that their stoneage car was just as homesick as they were.

The Jetsons Meet The Flintstones debuted in 1987 and it's been made available on home video. I do not know if it has made it's way onto DVD yet. As you can see, the movie is 21 years old this year. The principal voice actors are no longer living but there are a few supporting players who are still around but semi-retired. Frank Welker was used in secondary roles as was Don Messick in addition to the starring roles of Astro and RUDI. John Stephenson's main role was Mr Slate. Jon Bauman, from Sha-Na-Na fame, was the voice of the Iggy rocker.

George O'Hanlon: George Jetson
Penny Singleton: Jane Jetson
Daws Butler: Elroy Jetson, Henry Orbit, Cogswell
Janet Waldo: Judy Jetson
Don Messick: Astro, RUDI, Mac, additional voices

Henry Corden: Fred Flintstone
Jean Vanderpyl: Wilma Flintstone, Rosie
Mel Blanc: Barney Rubble, Mr Spacely, Dino
Julie McWhirter: Betty Rubble

John Stephenson: Mr Slate
Hamilton Camp: Turk Tarpit
Frank Welker: Dan Rathmoon, Johnny, Mr Goldbrick, additional voices
Jon Baumann: Iggy Sandstone