A Flintstones Christmas Carol

Premiered November  21, 1994.

It's Christmas Eve in the town of Bedrock.  Fred Flintstone (Henry Corden) is busily preparing for his role as Ebonezer Scrooge in the Bedrock Community Players production of A Christmas Carol.  In fact, Fred's devoted so much time to learning his lines that he's neglected other duties and has taken the needs of his family for granted.      

Fred runs a red light because he is too busy working on his lines.  He also treats his fellow actors with disrespect.  Fred appears to be taking on the characteristics of Scrooge while preparing to play him.  

Fred's wife Wilma (Jean Vander Pyl) is also involved with the play, working as its stage manager.  Her duties increase when the play's costume designer gets sick with a flu known as "the Bedrock Bug."  Wilma has to go to the theater early, so she asks Fred to pick up Pebbles (Russi Taylor) from cave care.

On the way to the theatre, Fred realizes that he never bought any Christmas presents for Wilma and  Pebbles.  Fred has to scramble at the last minute to get gifts before showtime.  

When Fred arrives at the theatre, Wilma is very angry at him because Fred forgot to pick up Pebbles from cave care.  Wilma tells her husband that ever since he was cast as Scrooge, he's only thought of himself.  

When the play begins, Fred gives the performance of a lifetime.  The audience loves him, but Wilma still isn't ready to forgive him.  This creates tension backstage.  

Barney Rubble (Frank Welker) portrays Bob Cragit in the play.

The play gets more complicated when several actors catch the Bedrock Bug and are forced to drop out. This means that in addition to her stage manager duties, Wilma is forced to take over multiple roles.  

Will Fred take the message of A Christmas Carol to heart and stop acting like a Scrooge offstage?  Can Wilma keep the play going while the Bedrock Bug keeps infecting actors?  

J.A. Morris says:

This another special that was new to me and I enjoyed it. 

It's sometimes unconvincing when characters from TV series who are generally nice start acting like Scrooge in order to shoehorn a Dickens adaptation into the story.  Fred is a good guy, but in various series, he's occasionally displayed boorish behaviors.  So it's believable when Fred begins to channel Scrooge on and offstage.  

Mr. Slate (John Stephenson) plays Marley's Ghost.

The heart of the special is a stone age stage performance of A Christmas Carol.  It's a good adaptation that hits most of Dickens' most important notes, while skipping "Ignorance and Want."  For a production that takes place in the stone age, the Bedrock Community Theater has very impressive special effects, including the ability to project "ghosts" on to the stage.

Like previous Flintstones holiday offerings, A Flintstones Christmas Carol features a strong cast of voice actors.  Henry Corden and Jean Vander Pyl, longtime voices of Fred and Wilma, are excellent as the leads.  Voice acting legends Don Messick and Frank Welker are also great.  Charles Brickens, author of A Christmas Carol in this special, is voiced by film actor John Rhys-Davies, who is best known for his roles in the Indiana Jones and Lord Of The Rings franchises.

Charles Brickens and Wilma prepare for the play to begin.

No Flintstones special would be complete without some clever modern stone age technology.  A Flintstones Christmas Carol features a dinosaur-powered snowplow.

But it's not a perfect holiday special.   A Flintstone Christmas Carol feels a bit too long.  There are several scenes and moments that don't move the plot forward and they feel like filler.  It has a running time of one hour and nine minutes and it could've probably been 45-50 minutes.  

Tiny Tim is played by Bam-Bam (Don Messick). 

Wilma and others repeatedly scold Fred for acting like Scrooge in his personal life.  Since we know that like Scrooge, Fred will (SPOILER ALERT!) eventually see the error of his ways and make things right, the scolding gets a bet old.  

Other than that, it's a good retelling of Dickens' story.  

If you're a fan of A Christmas Carol and the Flintstones, you'll probably enjoy this special.  It's a clever adaptation and I recommend it, but it's slightly over-long running time prevents me from giving it my highest rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

  .5

3 and a half candy canes.