Puneet Varma (Editor)

The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone

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Directed by
  
Ray Patterson

Original language(s)
  
English

Running time
  
45 minutes

Country of origin
  
United States

Producer(s)
  
Alex Lovy

Voices of
  
Henry Corden Mel Blanc Jean Vander Pyl Gay Autterson John Stephenson

The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone is a 1979 animated Halloween television special featuring The Flintstones. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and first aired on Tuesday October 30, 1979 on NBC.

Contents

Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a an inferior laugh track created by the studio.

Plot

When Fred wins the big prize on the "Make A Deal or Don't" game show, he and Wilma plan a vacation with Barney and Betty to Count Rockula's spooky castle in Rocksylvania which has now been turned into a tourist resort. Unfortunately, during the trip, Fred and Barney accidentally stumble across Rockula's old laboratory, where his unfinished Frankenstone monster sleeps, and forget to close the window when they leave the lab. Lightning subsequently strikes the machines in the lab, and provide Frankenstone with life. Frankenstone awakens Count Rockula (who has been asleep for the past five hundred years, thus explaining his disappearance) from his secret crypt, and the two scare everyone out of the hotel, except for the Flintstones and the Rubbles, who had gone to bed early due to jet lag.

Rockula and Frankenstone eventually discover the Flintstones and Rubbles, and Rockula mistakes Wilma for his long-lost bride and vows to make her his, even if it means killing Fred. On a comedic note, Wilma mistakes Rockula for the hotel manager, Mr. Silika, who had dressed up as Rockula, for quite some time until Rockula turns into a bat in front of her. A long cat-and-mouse chase ensues all over the castle, and eventually the Flintstones and Rubbles are cornered inside the Rubbles' room. Fred challenges Rockula to a fight, using a bat statuette as a weapon, but the statuette turns out to actually be the switch for the trapdoor to Rockula's laboratory, which Rockula and Frankenstone were unknowingly standing on. As Fred raises the statuette to strike, both Rockula and Frankenstone fall through the trapdoor, and the Flintstones and Rubbles escape and return to Bedrock. Wilma invites Betty and Barney to stay for dinner and leaves the three of them in the living room while she goes into the kitchen to cook.

Unbeknownst to them, Count Rockula has flown (in the form of a bat) all the way from Rocksylvania to Bedrock. Flying through the kitchen window, he transforms into a vampire, begging Wilma to be his bride. Winking at Fred, Barney, and Betty (watching surreptitiously from the doorway) Wilma agrees to consider marrying Rockula, then immediately begins nagging him about chores, upkeep of the house, and his bad habits. Aghast, Count Rockula changes back into a bat and flies off, claiming to need another 500 years of rest. Barney laughs and lauds Wilma for telling Count Rockula "the truth about marriage".

Images of the once again-vacant Rocksylvania hotel are shown during the end credits.

Rockula and Frankenstone

  • Count Rockula: a campy and not-so-bloodthirsty vampire with a lust for women and a fear of werewolves, prompting him to build a Frankenstone monster to keep them away. Having been asleep for five hundred years, Rockula is awoken by Frankenstone and sets out to clear his castle of the guests and take Wilma, whom he thinks is his bride, for himself, even if it means killing Fred. Count Rockula also appears in the episodes "Blood Brothers" and "Fred and Barney Meet the Frankenstones" of The New Fred and Barney Show, again voiced by Stephenson, albeit in a completely different continuity because Rockula then has a bride, slightly different garments, and a pet werewolf despite having a fear for them in this movie.
  • Frankenstone: Count Rockula's unfinished creation, awoken prematurely when lightning strikes the machinery in Rockula's lab. His only mission in life is to carry out Rockula's orders, primarily to keep werewolves away from Rockula, although his low IQ often leads him to find difficulty in accomplishing even the simplest of tasks (in one particular scene, Frankenstone is ordered to search some barrels for Fred, and fails to notice Fred crouching right beside him). Despite the resemblance, he is not to be confused with the Frank Frankenstone character that first appeared in the episode "Fred and Barney Meet the Frankenstones" of The New Fred and Barney Show, the TV special The Flintstones' New Neighbors or The Flintstone Comedy Show. Frankenstone was one of Ted Cassidy's final roles, as the special was released nine months after his death.

    • Voice cast

  • Henry Corden - Fred Flintstone
  • Mel Blanc - Barney Rubble, Dino
  • Jean Vander Pyl - Wilma Flintstone, Frau G. (Gladys the housekeeper)
  • Gay Autterson - Betty Rubble
  • John Stephenson - Count Rockula
  • Ted Cassidy - Frankenstone (The movie was released ten months after Cassidy's death)
  • Casey Kasem - Monty Marble
  • Don Messick - Igor (Charlie the chauffeur), Wolf
  • Lennie Weinrib - Mr. Silica, Bat

    • Home media releases

    The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1989 by Hanna-Barbera Home Video.

    On October 9, 2012, Warner Archive released The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection, in a release entitled The Flintstones- Prime-Time Specials Collection, Volume 1. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.

    References

    The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA