The Warner Archive manufacture-on-demand program is continuing its run of 1980s cartoon releases by putting the 1987 animated movie special The Jetsons Meet The Flintstones onto DVD.
It’s interesting to note the time in which this was made, as far as animation history goes. The Flintstones Comedy Hour and such shows were a few years past, with The Flintstone Kids being what was really the modern version of the characters at the time. For The Jetsons, it was only two years after the 1985 syndicated revival of the series, but three years before the superbly-animated Jetsons: The Movie which looked great but sadly replaced Janet Waldo with Tiffany as the voice of Judy Jetson. (Is the original Waldo-recorded track still out there somewhere?) Most of the voices, aside from perhaps whoever was doing Betty Rubble, sounded as they should in this production, though.
I’m not sure if the Flintstones and the Jetsons had ever met before, aside from maybe cameos and references made, and even then I’m not sure if it actually happened, so a full-length feature pairing the two was a lot of fun to see. A lot of the supporting casts for both are present, including Astro, Dino, Mr. Slate, and Mr. Spacely. Interestingly missing are Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, and later Flintstones staples like the Great Gazoo are nowhere to be found. That doesn’t take away from the story.
The story basically shows how different their lives are when they are stuck in different eras. Seeing familiar characters in new settings is a lot of fun, and even though I did see this movie when I was 10 years old, I actually think I liked it better now that I’m older. There’s a lot more story than a program aimed at kids normally has, and it was obvious to me that the people who made the animated film loved the characters.
The video quality is quite good considering it’s a MOD release. Sound seems fine too, though I’m not an expert on those things.
All in all, I really enjoyed this DVD. Considering how popular both franchises are, and that this is actually pretty good, I’m surprised this didn’t get a widespread release. But, retail’s loss is the Warner Archive’s gain in this case. You can purchase The Jetsons Meet The Flintstones exclusively at the Warner Archive.
