Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Oct 1, (THAINDIAN NEWS) On September 30 Google paid tribute to the legendary animated series ‘Flintstones’ on the 50th anniversary of its first airing. The homepage for the day was turned into a scene from the animated series with all the important characters in it. Mike Dutton, one of the people behind the Google Doodle, said in his blog post that the city that the Flintstones lived in, Bedrock, was the modern city of the past and he wanted to live in it. He added that since his plans of living there never worked out he was happy to make the doodle on the 50th anniversary of Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

The ‘Flintstones’ was first aired in 1960 and as an animated series broke ground in a number of ways. At that time, cartoons were aired only for a few minutes but the Flintstones was the first animated venture that aired for 30 minutes. The Hanna-Barbera production actually started as the animated version of the hit series ‘The Honeymooners’ but later went on to have an identity of its own. The central character of Fred Flintstone, who is a working class man in the imaginary city of Bedrock, has been an inspiration for comics and impressionists over the years. Known for his sudden fits of temper and caring nature towards his family, Fred Flintstones is one of the most loved cartoon characters of all times.

Though the Flintstones lived in a prehistoric city of ‘Bedrock’, the technology that they used was at par with what we use today. The show appealed to the children and adults alike. The original series only ran 6 seasons till 1966 but several spinoffs were broadcast in the years that followed. The original series has also been aired by various networks.