Fun Fact of the Week #563

6/23/2025

A post on Reddit from an artist reveals the original files of a few DVD covers were lost and/or never obtained by Warner Brothers. As a result, the files had to be recreated years after the release by a different artist, so that the covers could be redone for use on Boomerang's streaming service. These include Mecha Mutt Menace from 2013 and Beach Beastie from 2015, and potentially others. Check out the Reddit post here to see the slight differences between the original and recreated posters. The artist making the post also made some illustrations for CN Arcade back when Guess Who was airing.

Thanks to Scoobdoob for coming up with this week's fun fact!

15 Comments

Spooky Space Ghost

6/23/2025 11:21:52 am

Wow, the differences between the original and recreated drawings are minimal. The reworked Mecha Mutt drawing is simply lighter than its original version.

Cartoon Network's drawings are also very nice. I've always found it impressive that multiple artists can adopt the same style so that the designs remain consistent throughout the episodes.

By the way, I did some research yesterday regarding DVDs containing the specials. I was lucky, as I found four at a local store. I'm hesitant to buy them right away, however, since I already have a good number of the episodes included with the specials. I was thinking of buying the Zombie Island/Alien Invaders DVD in a few weeks, then the New Scooby-Doo Movies. I'll have to think about including the specials.

In response to your previous comment, I also really like the Flintstones specials! This is a personal opinion, but I find these specials are sometimes more interesting than episodes from the original series. I loved Season 1, with The Flintstone Flyer being my favorite episode of the series.

I tend to judge Flintstones episodes based on the number of memorable lines they contain. I'll never forget what Hot Lips Hannigan says in Episode 2: "Every once in a while, a moment of truth." There's also Barney's line in Episode 3 when Fred asks him who his best friend is: "How many guesses do I get?"

I also really enjoyed Season 2, but I have a hard time fully appreciating the later seasons, even though I find them good. I sometimes feel like the plots are repeating themselves. There's a lot of talk about movies, where Fred is promised he'll become a star, Fred's marital relationship with Wilma, who too often suspects Fred of being in love with another girl, and thieves who are always like the Rocky and Mugsy duo in Looney Tunes.

On this point, I find The Jetsons episodes more varied, and I tend to enjoy them more.

On the other hand, The Flintstones specials are always more creative. The themes listed above are rarer, the stories contain more twists, and the supporting characters are more present.
I was lucky enough to see these specials for the first time on the DVD "2 Movies and 5 Specials." I'm almost done with it, and I hope to get the Prime-Time Specials Collection: Volume 2 one day.

Thanks again for the fun fact :) I'm trying my hand at analyzing Big Top, even though I returned the DVD to the library!

WildwindVampire link

6/23/2025 01:31:31 pm

Yeah, it was hard to tell the difference to me too! The artist did an amazing job making them look extremely similar!

That's awesome that you got those DVDs! I actually have that Zombie Island / Alien Invaders double feature DVD too! It's the only double feature DVD I have of the movies, and I own the rest all separately.

I agree that the plots sometimes get a little repetitive in the original show, especially in the first couple seasons. That's a big part of why seasons 5 and 6 of The Flintstones are amongst my favorites of the show, since they explored different types of plots. The specials are great about having a variety of plots too! I'd say my favorite special is The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone. "A Haunted House Is Not a Home" is my favorite episode of the series, and "The Gruesomes" is a close second for me. I really like those couple episodes that feature supernatural elements. Definitely agreed that The Jetsons are much more varied in types of plots. Like we were talking about the other day, it seems like The Jetsons was able to improve upon a few of the elements of The Flintstones that weren't as strong.

Congrats on finding that DVD! That's awesome! I actually wasn't aware that DVD even existed, as I haven't really kept up with Flintstones releases in the past handful of years, but it's cool they bundled a bunch of the movies/specials together in such a big group! Did you have a favorite of the ones you've watched so far?

Hopefully you're able to find volume 2 at some point. When I first watched the franchise when I was younger, it also took me forever to be able to watch those episodes. There wasn't any DVD out yet, so I had to catch them all on TV. They were rarely aired, so it took me years to be able to watch them. I honestly can't remember if I ever saw Wind-Up Wilma or Fred's Final Fling on TV, or if I ended up having to wait until that DVD came out. I owned The Flintstones' New Neighbors on VHS, and I remember recording Jogging Fever on Boomerang.

Our conversation here also inspired me to check out some of the few Flintstones episodes that I haven't seen. I've seen almost all of the series, specials and films, except for Cave Kids and some of The Flintstone Comedy Hour (1972). Cave Kids was on the Boomerang streaming service, which I had, but I never really had an interest in checking it out. I think I watched maybe five minutes of an episode, and the plots were way too simplistic. I saw some of The Flintstone Comedy Hour on Boomerang when I was younger, but they rarely aired the show, and it was only certain episodes. Looking at an episode guide for the series, it looks like I haven't seen episode 4 or 10-16. I looked it up and was able to find them all available to watch online, so I think I'm finally going to check out the episodes I haven't seen. I haven't watched any new Flintstones material since 2020 when I checked out The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980), so I'm excited to finally watch these! :)

Good luck with the Big Top analysis! Looking forward to reading it whenever you've finished. :)

Spooky Space Ghost

6/23/2025 05:41:55 pm

It's a good thing to finish all the Flintstones episodes :) I've never been able to watch Cave Kids, since the show airs in the mornings when I'm at school. However, I know that new episodes have been produced recently. Is this a step towards creating a major Flintstones series?

Unfortunately, I'm quite skeptical about the Flintstones returning. First of all, it's private broadcasting networks that could commission a new series, not Warner Bros. I find it rather sad that interests other than Warner's decide the future of Hanna-Barbera series. That's why we end up with shows like Velma. I read last summer that Seth MacFarlane's project had failed (between you and me, I once saw a scene in a Yogi Bear video where Peter Griffin cruelly murders Yogi. I can't say I'm disappointed by his failure to bring back the Flintstones :). There's also Bedrock, which, despite a very interesting concept, couldn't move forward. It seems the private broadcast networks aren't particularly excited about bringing back the Flintstones.

Then, I think the Flintstones haven't survived very well over time. The real problem is that, unlike Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones don't have another well-known series that can be mentioned alongside the original series. Scooby-Doo, in addition to Where Are You, has What's New and Mystery Incorporated, which are quite popular. You might hear a fan consider Mystery Incorporated or the New Scooby-Doo Movies their favorite series in the franchise. However, I doubt anyone would prefer The New Fred and Barney Show to the original series. It's possible, but it must be much rarer than in the case of Scooby. There have been no notable Flintstones series or specials since the turn of the century, with the exception of the WWE movie.

These observations also apply to The Jetsons.

In fact, only Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, and Scooby-Doo have survived the test of time at Warner Bros. Yogi is still around, but only cartoon fans or those who grew up with him still know him. It'll be difficult. Too bad, he's my favorite Hanna-Barbera character...

Well, there are always the old Flintstones series! Thanks for the congratulations on my 2 Movies and 5 Specials DVD! Choosing my favorite is a difficult task. I loved The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, but I wish the two groups had been together longer. Still, it was a great special, but maybe not my favorite. I'm going with The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frakenstone because I really enjoyed the atmosphere. The Man Called Flintstone isn't far off that top spot, though.

I was extremely lucky to stumble upon this DVD. I found it in the Toy's Rus store in my town. I think you had these stores in the US too before they closed. They stayed open in Canada, but signs saying they were closed recently... Recently, Toy's Rus started selling DVDs, including many Scooby-Doo ones. Over 50% of the Scooby-Doo DVDs available in the store in my town are in my house, haha! I'm very disappointed that this store is closing. Today I went to the mall and bought the last DVD I didn't already have at home: Zombie Island/Alien Invaders! This morning, I said I was hoping to get it, and here I am a few hours later with it! You never know what the day will bring, haha!

As for the Flintstones specials, I'll have to find them online before I can buy the DVD.

Thanks again! I'm still thinking about how I'm going to do this analysis. Chance complicates things, but I like a little challenge :)

WildwindVampire link

6/23/2025 06:50:32 pm

I think I heard about that! Is this movie what you're talking about? https://collider.com/new-flintstones-movie-animated/ Otherwise, I haven't heard about a new Flintstones series beyond that, but that would be cool if they were releasing a new series!

I'm also glad that the Seth MacFarlane series didn't end up happening. I know they'd been talking about that for a while, but I'm also not a fan of Family Guy and don't think I would have enjoyed his series.

That reminds me that I was wrong about only having not seen those two series. I also haven't seen Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs. It just doesn't look all that good to me personally. There was also a clip that Boomerang sent to me, since I was a part of their focus group when the streaming service first launched. The clip had Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm congratulating Dino on a job well done, and in response, Dino started dabbing. It was a bit too cringey for my taste and didn't make me want to watch the series.

You make a great point about The Flintstones not really having a successful follow-up series. It seems pretty much everybody remembers either the original series or the movies/specials, but most of them have been forgotten. In general, I feel like the Scooby series have been a better job experimenting with different parts of the franchise, but the other Flintstones series have mainly been shorts that try to emulate the original series, but just end up feeling like a watered-down version of it. The New Fred and Barney Show had a cool angle with the supernatural villains, but I think it wasn't a consistent enough element to make it a memorable part of the series for many people. I thought The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show and The Flintstone Kids were really solid attempts at spin-offs, but for whatever reason, it seems like they didn't stick out as memorable to the general public.

I was never as into Yogi, so I've not seen any of his series except the original and Jellystone, plus a couple episodes of Yogi's Gang. I've seen most of the movies, though, but it's forever since I've watched them and I honestly don't remember much about any of them. Jellystone! is easily my favorite Yogi series, although I think the audience was more adult fans who grew up with the original series. Although it only ended earlier this year, I don't think it will be remembered too much by the general public in a few years.

All of those films are amongst my faves too! Besides Rockula being my favorite, I especially love The Man Called Flintstone for its strong atmosphere. I'd probably rank The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones third. The four 1980s specials you haven't seen are decent, but I don't think you are missing too much if you don't see them for a while. I used to like The Flintstones' New Neighbors more, but in recent years it's wore on me a bit. I find Fred to be a bit too angry in the special, and does a number of over-the-top mean things to his new neighbor.

That's awesome you found those at Toys R Us! Yep, we used to have those stores here too, but they closed down. I actually used to look there when I was a kid for Scooby releases, and I think I bought a few Scooby DVDs from them back in the early 2000s. That's really cool that you got the Zombie Island / Alien Invaders double feature there too!

Thomas Beaumont

6/23/2025 02:18:03 pm

Hi my favourite Scooby doo blog- blog snax of course haha, in all seriousness hi again!!! I hope your well, your blog is very interesting with its opinions , which I like, we all like different things which makes a fan of franchise in my opinion, when you fans or great Scooby doo fans respond with. I’ve heard Sony is taking over Warner bros discovery, is that bad for Scooby doo franchise, message me again soon if you can.

WildwindVampire link

6/23/2025 03:45:06 pm

Thank you, hope you’re doing well too! So glad you enjoy the blog so much! :) I actually hadn’t heard about Sony buying WB-Discovery but that’s really interesting to hear! I honestly don’t really know enough about Sony’s leadership to be able to say for sure if it would be an improvement on what David Zaslav has done with WB-Discovery, but I really hope that they would treat the franchise better and start putting out more consistent content again!

Spooky Space Ghost

6/24/2025 05:33:37 pm

Oh, I completely forgot about this new Flintstones movie! I'm excited to see it. I wasn't talking about this movie, though, but rather Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs. I've only seen one episode of that series, but I think it's a great idea to get the younger generation interested in The Flintstones.
In fact, attracting new Hanna-Barbera fans is much easier thanks to Boomerang. All someone needs to do is be interested in one of the network's shows and they'll be able to discover the studio's other creations.
In my case, I don't get Boomerang, but I do have access to it online. I first discovered The Flintstones there, and I never missed that show, which aired at 8 p.m. Sometimes I'd turn on the TV a little earlier, just as The Yogi Bear Show was on. I started watching Yogi too, and, again, by turning on the TV five minutes early, I discovered Top Cat. After The Flintstones, I saw the opening credits for The Jetsons, which led me to become interested in this series. Last October, Boomerang only aired Scooby-Doo on weekends, with a different series each day. I must admit I was pretty unfamiliar with Scooby-Doo before that, and this program helped me learn more!
I hope Warner Bros. doesn't decide to shut down Boomerang. I've noticed that the schedule varies greatly from one place to another. Cartoon Network cartoons are, in some cases, much more present than Hanna-Barbera ones.

I really enjoyed The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, even though I can understand why that series wasn't a huge success. The Flintstones relies mainly on what Fred brings to the table. Unlike Scooby-Doo, Fred is at the helm of a one-man show. Other characters like Wilma, Barney, and Pebbles serve primarily as supporting characters. In The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, Pebbles faces the difficult challenge of succeeding her father, who becomes a supporting character. While she has inherited Fred's inventive and clumsy side, she doesn't have the same personality. For example, we never see her have an argument with Wilma or gently mock Bamm-Bamm. Pebbles is an excellent main character, but her different personality from Fred's may not have helped her appeal to a younger audience.
In short, I imagine people in the 1970s expected something similar to the original series. In my opinion, to enjoy The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, you have to avoid any comparisons to the original series.
Thank you for your feedback on the specials! I'm not in a huge rush to see them. I'm more curious about the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 specials. I've already seen the Scooby-Doo and The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones specials, but I'm looking forward to the Judy special. It would be a good opportunity to develop her. She's a poor performer with her weekly boyfriend changes, and this movie would be a good way to introduce us to her from a different perspective.

Regarding Toy's Rus, I was surprised to learn that you were already buying DVDs there a few years ago. In my area, it's only very recently, about a year or two, that the store started offering DVDs and music albums. I used to buy my DVDs at a record store, but Toy's Rus has a better selection. These days, it's a little easier to complete your movie collection thanks to compilations like the Monsters Movies Collection or the Greatest Mysteries Adventures Collection. So, I have 32 Scooby-Doo movies on just 6 DVDs. The most recent ones are easy to find, but they cost more than a 4 Kids Favorite. As for the earlier movies like Scooby-Doo Goes Hollywood or Boo Brothers, they're unavailable. I seriously need to find a way to get them online.

Speaking of DVDs, I recently bought a 4 Kids Favorite with the live-action films of the franchise. I already had Scooby-Doo 1 and 2 on the Warner 100th Anniversary Collection, but not The Mystery Begins and Lake Monsters.
Since I love Scrappy-Doo so much, I promised never to watch Scooby-Doo 1 (they could have thought of a better name :). However, that only makes me want to see it even more. I'm having trouble ranking this movie among the others. I don't think it's exceptional, but I've already seen it in the top 3 of a ranking: https://screenrant.com/scooby-doo-best-films/

I'd like to hear your opinion on this film to get a better picture, if you don't mind.

Thanks again :)

WildwindVampire link

6/24/2025 08:41:11 pm

Oh gotcha! I'm pretty sure Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs is done now that they've aired the two seasons. Looks like one of the animators posted about it here: https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/instagram/optionjoe/1947067836237531170

That's so cool that you discovered all of those cartoons and Scooby so recently! :) I completely agree that Boomerang has been great at airing a wide variety of cartoons and airing the Hanna-Barbera library. At least until recently, there were no other networks airing the HB library, although in the past year, MeTV Toons has started airing them. I hope WB doesn't shut down Boomerang either. It made sense that they merged everything on the Boomerang app over to Max so WB wasn't juggling two streaming services, but it's really frustrating that they purged most of the Boomerang library so quickly here. It hasn't even been a year since the Boomerang streaming service shut down, and almost all of that content is already gone from Max.

I agree that Pebbles perhaps wasn't as memorable as Fred, but I respectfully disagree about her needing to get in arguments with Wilma or make fun of Bamm-Bamm in order to be a strong character. Personally I really liked her character and thought it felt like a natural combination of Fred's propensity to get into misadventures, and Wilma's sometimes cunning nature. I'm really glad that they differentiated her from Fred, since I don't think a carbon copy of his personality would have fit her very well. You're right though that it was a very different vibe than the original show though, which probably didn't meet people's expectations.

I've watched a couple episodes of The Flintstone Comedy Hour like I mentioned in my response yesterday, and it made me think of another reason why the show never had a successful follow-up. I'm not sure if any series has really been able to capture a similar vibe to the original show. The Pebbles and Bamm Bamm Show and The Flintstone Kids were pretty good imo, but like I mentioned in the above paragraph, I think they were too different from the original series to capture the attention of most people. With The Flintstone Comedy Hour and The Flintstone Comedy Show, the plot of the family having adventures together was similar, but the writing isn't really strong enough to create any sort of atmosphere that's comparable to the original series. With The Flintstone Comedy Hour episodes I've been watching, the plots all feel pretty rushed and a lot of corners are cut. The emphasis is also placed more on comedy than the family dynamic, which is kind of an issue imo because the comedy is pretty cringey. I nearly stopped watching after a scene where a teacher fails one of Pebbles' classmates for not doing the assignment, and then the scene pans out to a worm inside the teacher's apple that says "That's what I call gettin' schooled!" lol. I'm joking of course about stopping watching, but it's a big issue imo when the plots are written in a way that emphasize cringey punchlines that aren't funny in the first place. There was a different episode that somehow worked the entire conflict of the episode into a single line, so pacing is also a problem for a lot of these. Honestly, so far, I feel the quality is about on-par with the Scrappy shorts. While the 1980 series was an improvement, I also feel like it had this same issue of not using its runtime well, and not fully capturing the vibe of the original series.

I thought the Rockin' with Judy Jetson special was really good! It's a really fun adventure, and I enjoyed seeing Judy get more of the spotlight.

Oh wow, I didn't realize that the Toys R Us stores by you didn't have DVDs until recently! I'm pretty sure I bought those DVDs in the early 2000s, so we've had them quite a while. Their selection was never amazing, but they usually had about 10 or so DVDs. Yeah, those multi-feature DVDs with 8 or 10 movies are really cool! For the earlier films, I think some of them are out of print at this point, since there isn't as much demand for them anymore now that they've been out for a while. I know some of them pop up on Amazon and eBay every once in a while, so hopefully you're able to find them!

Thanks for sharing that ScreenRant article! It's cool to see Ghoul School, Boo Brothers and Scoob! so high. For the live-action movie, I admittedly don't love it but I think it's decent. I really like Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby's characters and think they're very well portrayed, although I've never been a fan of Fred. To me, he comes off as pompous and narcissistic in the film. The monsters are pretty cool, although they don't really have a super strong presence in the film until the very end. I do like Spooky Island quite a bit as the setting! It's got a pretty good atmosphere. In terms of the Scrappy stuff, he is bashed a bit, although it's not a center focus of the movie and only happens at the end and briefly at one other point in the film, where they kick him out of the Mystery Machine. Whil

Spooky Space Ghost

6/25/2025 06:03:20 pm

Thanks for the link to Yabba Dabba Dinosaur! It's pretty sad that characters who gave their all for The Flintstones don't have access to jobs and a steady income. Working in animation is a tough job, especially if you have a family. I often wonder if major animation studios will eventually rely on artificial intelligence to save money, even if it means a decline in story quality. Recently, I read that a robot fed with Tom and Jerry episodes managed to generate new episodes: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/tech/nvidia-mined-hours-of-classic-tom-jerry-shorts-to-generate-new-ai-horrors-246696.html

Perhaps Warner Bros. wants to focus its efforts on the vast Asian market, judging by Go Go Mystery Machine and the new Tom and Jerry Gokko series.

Regarding Pebbles, I think, upon further reflection, that you're absolutely right to point out that she doesn't need to argue with Wilma or Bamm-Bamm. This reminds me of what I wrote about George Jetson, saying that he's much more interesting with his differences compared to Fred. Pebbles's personality is consistent with this.

It's true that The Flintstones Comedy Hour failed to find a wide audience. I believe this is due to the fact that The Flintstones failed to transition from an adult audience in the 1960s to a family show a few years later. Several episodes of the original series hinged on the relationship between Wilma and Fred, with Fred often carrying out activities with Barney behind Wilma's back. I suspect this wasn't appropriate for a series for all ages. The Flintstones' marital relationships resonate more with adults. Younger viewers might not have felt directly involved with this theme, hence the idea of featuring Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm.

Otherwise, the Jetsons have a more relaxed family dynamic, which made their transition easier. It's also worth mentioning that, unlike The Flintstones, the Jetsons waited 23 years for new episodes. The episodes from seasons 2 and 3 are likely stories that weren't included in the first season and were perfected by the writers over those two decades.

Thank you for your opinion on the live-action Scooby-Doo. I agree with you about the roles of Velma, Daphne, Scooby, and Shaggy. It's true that Fred's character is a bit of a misfire. I feel like his character is a mix between Fred's personality in What's New and a slightly stronger character than usual, which isn't very satisfying.
ScreenRant's ranking is quite interesting. While I was surprised to see all the live-action films, I think the top 10, with the exception of Scooby-Doo 1, is well done. I was also pleased to see Scoob ranked so high. I thought it was pretty good, but it's more of a top 15 for me. I particularly liked that Daphne's main quality, her empathy, was established from the beginning and that it was emphasized throughout the story. I really like Dastardly and Muttley, and I would have liked Muttley to be present throughout the film. Without him, Dick Dastardly is too evil and less funny.

Thanks again :)

WildwindVampire link

6/25/2025 06:24:59 pm

Oh haha, I didn't even notice my comment got cut off lol. The rest of my comment was just saying that I was able to look past the Scrappy bashing since it wasn't for most of the film, but if you really don't want to see Scrappy being bashed, I would recommend maybe avoiding this one.

That's so crazy about the Tom and Jerry episodes being written by AI! It's really weird to think about, and I hope the future of the animation industry doesn't heavily rely on that at the expense of hiring real people to write the episodes.

I hadn't heard about the new Tom and Jerry series, but it's interesting they're going in a similar direction.

Yep, totally agreed with what you said! I always found Pebbles to be interesting because she's a bit more complex as a character than Fred is imo, and similarly to what we were talking about with the differences between George and Fred, I feel her and Bamm-Bamm's dynamic creates a much more relaxed vibe for the show, which I liked.

That's a great point about The Flintstones not really fully transitioning from being an adult show to a family show. That transition started with seasons 5 and 6, but I feel like those seasons presented more of a balance where it appealed to both adult and younger fans. There wasn't really as much of this balance in later series, which is probably why no series ever fully rose to the level of the original show.

I ranked Scoob! just outside my top 15 when I did my rankings last year. I've always loved what a unique film it is, and thought they did a really good job creating a different kind of a mystery than we we've seen in past movies. I also really liked Daphne's empathy in the film!

Grumpydrawer

6/24/2025 06:32:07 pm

Admittedly I'm surprised WB actually put the slight effort in to hire someone to redraw them. Interesting that they did though, makes me wonder if this has happened with other posters/covers and promotional art before.

Also was sort of fun playing spot the difference with the covers.

WildwindVampire link

6/24/2025 08:42:13 pm

I was really surprised too! I'm wondering if maybe they just needed covers redone exclusively for those specials on the Boomerang app, since the only other posters of them were the DVD covers, which had the 13 Spooky Tales name rather than the special's name.

Ben Scherber

6/24/2025 10:00:23 pm

What’s your opinion on the eyes in the dark gag used in Scooby-Doo? It’s whenever it is pitch dark, the characters' open eyes are always visible. My opinion: it’s my favorite cartoon gag.

WildwindVampire link

6/25/2025 09:17:26 am

I think it's a really iconic gag! It's cool that it's continued to be used pretty much since the start of the franchise to this day.

Ben Scherber

6/25/2025 09:30:28 am

Really?

Fun Fact of the Week #563

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