Digital Digest: The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones DVD Review

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Digital Digest: The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones DVD Review

Welcome to Digital Digest, your weekly dose of all things digital relating to all of your favorite sitcoms! This week, we have a review of The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones. Let's get moving from the stone age all the way into the space age!

DIGITAL NEWS

It's been a slow few weeks, but we've got a plethora of news this week! We start with current TV series, specifically current series on NBC. This week, the recently canceled series Outsourced - The Complete Series was announced for a September 13 release at a $39.99 MSRP. Just one week later, on September 20, Parks and Recreation - Season 3 will be released at the same MSRP.

The CBS series Mike & Molly gets a DVD release with Mike & Molly - The Complete First Season on September 20, but it'll also get a Blu-ray Disc release on the same date. The DVD comes at a $44.98 MSRP while the Blu-ray comes at a $54.97 MSRP.

Now over to ABC, the current series The Middle - Season 2 has a DVD release scheduled for September 27 at a $44.98 MSRP. We'll have reviews of this and all other current sitcoms when they are released, of course.

That actually isn't all for the sitcoms, though... TBS has sitcoms too, and now, Meet the Browns will finally get a DVD release. Meet the Browns - Season 1 comes August 30 at a $29.98 MSRP.

We head off from current sitcoms into classic sitcoms now, with The Lucy Show - The Official Fifth Season! Although it isn't set in stone yet, a tentative release date seems to be planned for December 6. We'll have more information on this when we know it. It is not yet available to pre-order.

Over to classic series that aren't sitcoms, Shout! Factory made some big announcements this week, with an announcement of Police Story - Season One (coming September 6 at a $39.97 MSRP) and Kojak - Season Two (coming September 27 at a $44.99 MSRP)

Have you ever wanted to watch Family Matters from your computer? Well, now, amazon.com is offering the second season of the series for online streaming! You can watch the entire season for $39.99 or individual episodes for $1.99. However, there is one problem, is it does appear that the episodes are syndicated versions.

UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW

Tuesday (June 21) has only one sitcom release, with Mister Ed - The Complete Fifth Season, from Shout! Select. Shout! Factory is also releasing Rocko's Modern Life - Season One on Tuesday, as a wide retail release.

BLOG FEATURE REVIEW

In the 60s, Hanna-Barbera brought what could perhaps be considered among their most iconic series to the small screen, with The Jetsons and The Flintstones. Despite one taking place in the space age and the other taking place in the stone, the series had very similar premises, with different families living an ordinary life in a time period that nobody at that time (or even at this time) would never actually experience. In the '80s, these two series clashed together toward the end of the syndication run of new episodes of The Jetsons for a classic crossover movie, The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones. Here is our review of this set.

DVD Review: The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones

by Pavan

The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (Warner Archive, $14.95) is FINALLY on DVD and it's a great cross-over movie from 1987 between two of the most beloved animated series of all-time! It's the wackiest animated adventure of all space-time when the world's favorite Modern Stone Age Family comes face to face with the First Family of the Future in a match-up that only Hanna-Barbera Studios can delightfully make possible! Thanks to Elroy's malfunctioning tie machine, the Flintstones and Rubbles are zapped into the robot-run future while the Jetsons suddenly find themselves in the dinosaur-filed past. Can our fearless families adapt? And more importantly, will they ever get back home? Find out, in a time-hopping animated feature-length romp packed with all the gags, gadgets and nonstop fun unleashed when The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones.

The movie originally aired in 1987 in local syndication. If you love The Jetsons and The Flintstones, then this is a dream movie for you. Yes, the voices for these differ from the original series, as we have new voices. However, The Jetsons was revived in local syndication from 1985-87, so the new voices are the same people who were in that series. The Jetsons originally aired on ABC for one season in 1962-63. It was so popular in repeats it was revived in the mid-80s as a new series. The Flintstones aired on ABC from 1960-1966 and was popular from the start. There were many reincarnations and specials after that, so The Flintstones never really disappeared from TV when this movie aired in 1987. In fact, more TV movies and specials were created for this series after this movie aired, so back to the original point about the original series voices--it doesn't matter, because there were so many specials and movies.
Anyway, the movie runs 92:05 and is unedited of course. We have 10 chapter stops for the movie, but it is every 10 minutes rather than at the end of acts.

The DVD comes in a movie-style case. The cover art has a nice shot of Fred & Wilma in the Jetsons' car, while George, Jayne & Elroy are in the Flintstones car. Dino and Astro are outside running around. There are some characters missing, but oh well. But the back of the case has nearly everyone. We have a nice episodic image of Fred and George looking at each other, along with info on the movie & set, and three smaller episodic images. Inside the case we just have the disc on the right panel. The panels are not decorated, so it is just plain black. The disc art is the same as the cover art, but the disc art is more zoomed in.

The menu design is good and uses the same artwork as the cover art, but a bit more focused and in an oval shape. The menu is very simple as well. There is only one option: Play Movie. It's as simple as that. I wish we had options for subtitles at least, though. And maybe scene selections? There isn't music playing in the background either. It's all good though, as long as we get to watch the movie!

Video and audio quality are both good. There are some dust and debris here and there, but it looks good. This isn't re-mastered or anything, so it isn't HD quality. It's better than your VHS recordings of this movie, I'm sure. It's the best you can get anywhere.
There are no special features, which isn't really surprising since this is a made on-demand set from Warner Archive. It would have been nice to have some original promos or something, but it is what it is and I'm just happy this movie is FINALLY on DVD!

I think Warner Archive did a decent job on this set. They bring a lot of rare items that would never be released on Warner Home Video, so they focus on the main feature itself rather than bonus features or any other item. That being said, yes the packaging, menu features, the special features and even the audio/video could be better, but this isn't a general release, so expectations are lower. I hope more The Flintstones movies and specials get released by Warner Archive, as I'm a big fan of the franchise. It just seems Warner Home Video won't release those for some reason, so Warner Archive is the way to go! Get ready for two classic animated series families getting together in a wild and wooly mammoth movie treat! Fred or George? Sound off to us on Twitter and Facebook!

(3.5/5 stars)

To purchase this DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Warner Archive

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Main DVD Reviews Page
The Jetsons TV.com page
The Flintstones TV.com page

LOOKING AHEAD

Be sure to come back next week for more Digital Digest. We'll have more news and reviews for you, and we hope that you'll be back for it. Until then, keep it digital!

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Sunday, November 24

The Simpsons - "Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
A tattooed man at a mysterious night circus transports Lisa into three strange stories from the innocent 1950s, the chilling retro-present and a brutalist future where prestige TV rules the world.

Universal Basic Guys - "Mark Men" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Mark throws his hat into the ring as an Ad Man after being shown up by a group of execs at his favorite bar.

Bob's Burgers - "Boogie Days" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
When Louise signs up for a father-daughter boogie board contest, Bob's past comes back to haunt him.

Krapopolis - "Ty Man Woman Table Chairs Food" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
There's this new thing called a map, and all the cool cities are on it; Tyrannis and Hippocampus start a restaurant to earn Krapopolis its spot; Stupendous follows the map to face her longtime foe.

The Conners - "Driving, Dating and Receipt" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Mark is anxious to get his driver's license when a job opportunity presents itself across town; Darlene attempts to teach Mark to drive, but her frantic energy sends him running to Ben for help; Harris meets a new guy online.

The Conners - "Parent Traps and Heart Attacks" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When a relative passes away unexpectedly, the family must debate about who should gain custody of a jaded nephew, who is just shy of his 18th birthday.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 18)

Friday, November 22

Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Watch Kerry on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Jimmy O. Yang (Interior Chinatown/Space Force/Silicon Valley) - Jimmy is a guest on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Ariana Grande (Sam & Cat/Victorious) - Ariana appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Andy Richter (Andy Barker, P.I./Quintuplets/Andy Richter Controls the Universe), Thomas Lennon (The Odd Couple/Sean Saves the World/Reno 911!) and Aparna Nancherla (Lopez vs Lopez/Search Party/Corporate) - Andy, Thomas and Aparna are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Keke Palmer (Scream Queens/True Jackson, VP) - Keke talks about her new book Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Andrew Rannells (Girls/The New Normal) - Drew is joined by the hilarious Andrew to celebrate all things Thanksgiving on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Rosie Perez (Human Resources/Search Party) - Rosie tells Sherri about her new Apple TV+ psychological thriller Before on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Candace Cameron Bure (Fuller House/Full House) - Candace will be on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:15am.