The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone is a 1979 animatedHalloweentelevision special featuring The Flintstones. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and first aired on Friday, October 3, 1980 on NBC.[1]
In addition to the regular Flintstones voice cast, John Stephenson and Ted Cassidy played Count Rockula and Frankenstone, respectively.[2]
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 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. Wilma initially 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. As Fred, Barney and Betty discover Wilma's absence and begin searching for her, Wilma flees and a long cat-and-mouse chase ensues all over the castle. Rockula finds and corners Fred, but is scared off by Barney, wearing a werewolf mask. The couples eventually end up 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, Rockula has flown (in the form of a bat) all the way from Rocksylvania to Bedrock. Flying through the kitchen window, he begs Wilma to marry him, promising her a life of luxury if she agrees. 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, Rockula (apparently forgetting that most chores would be left to the servants) changes back into a bat and flies off, claiming to need another 500 years of rest. Barney laughs and lauds Wilma for defeating Rockula by telling him "the real truth about married life".
Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm do not appear in the story; no explanation is given for their absence.
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 & 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; the actor, who was already famous for playing Frankenstein's monster-like roles due to his height (most notably Lurch on The Addams Family and several other productions), died ten months before the special was released.
↑The movie was released ten months after Cassidy's death.
Home media[]
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.[3]
On August 4, 2020, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment gave it its first wide release as part of the DVD collection The Flintstones: 2 Movies & 5 Specials.
The program was re-broadcast by MeTV on October 30 and 31, 2020.
The Flintstones Season 1:The Flintstone Flyer | Hot Lips Hannigan | The Swimming Pool | No Help Wanted | The Split Personality | The Monster from the Tar Pits | The Babysitters | At the Races | The Engagement Ring | Hollyrock, Here I Come | The Golf Champion | The Sweepstakes Ticket | The Drive-In | The Prowler | The Girls' Night Out | Arthur Quarry's Dance Class | The Big Bank Robbery | The Snorkasaurus Hunter | The Hot Piano | The Hypnotist | Love Letters on the Rocks | The Tycoon | The Astra' Nuts | The Long, Long Weekend | In the Dough | The Good Scout | Rooms for Rent | Fred Flintstone: Before and After
The Flintstones Season 2:The Hit Songwriters | Droop-Along Flintstone | The Missing Bus | Alvin Brickrock Presents | Fred Flintstone Woos Again | The Rock Quarry Story | The Soft Touchables | Flintstone of Prinstone | The Little White Lie | Social Climbers | The Beauty Contest | The Masquerade Ball | The Picnic | The House Guest | The X-Ray Story | The Gambler | A Star is Almost Born | The Entertainer | Wilma's Vanishing Money | Feudin' and Fussin' | Impractical Joker | Operation Barney | The Happy Household | Fred Strikes Out | This is Your Lifesaver | Trouble-in-Law | The Mailman Cometh | The Rock Vegas Story | Divided We Sail | Kleptomaniac Caper | Latin Lover | Take Me Out to the Ball Game The Flintstones Season 3:Dino Goes Hollyrock | Fred's New Boss | Barney the Invisible | Bowling Ballet | The Twitch | Here's Snow in Your Eyes | The Buffalo Convention | The Little Stranger | Baby Barney | Hawaiian Escapade | Ladies' Day | Nuthin' But the Tooth | High School Fred | Dial 'S' for Suspicion | Flash Gun Freddie | The Kissing Burglar | Wilma the Maid | The Hero | The Surprise | Mother-in-Law's Visit | Foxy Grandma | Fred's New Job | The Dress Rehearsal | Carry On, Nurse Fred | Ventriloquist Barney | The Big Move | Swedish Visitors | The Birthday Party The Flintstones Season 4:Ann-Margrock Presents | Groom Gloom | Little Bamm-Bamm | Dino Disappears | Fred's Monkeyshines | The Flintstone Canaries | Glue for Two | Big League Freddie | Old Lady Betty | Sleep On, Sweet Fred | Kleptomaniac Pebbles | Daddy's Little Beauty | Daddies Anonymous | Peek-a-Boo Camera | Once Upon a Coward | Ten Little Flintstones | Fred El Terrifico | The Bedrock Hillbillies | Flintstone and the Lion | Cave Scout Jamboree | Room for Two | Ladies' Night at the Lodge | Reel Trouble | Son of Rockzilla | Bachelor Daze | Operation Switchover The Flintstones Season 5:Hop Happy | Monster Fred | Itty Bitty Fred | Pebbles' Birthday Party | Bedrock Rodeo Round-Up | Cinderellastone | A Haunted House is Not a Home | Dr. Sinister | The Gruesomes | The Most Beautiful Baby in Bedrock | Dino and Juliet | King for a Night | Indianrockolis 500 | Adobe Dick | Christmas Flintstone | Fred's Flying Lesson | Fred's Second Car | Time Machine | The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes | Moonlight and Maintenance | Sheriff for a Day | Deep in the Heart of Texarock | The Rolls Rock Caper | Superstone | Fred Meets Hercurock | Surfin' Fred The Flintstones Season 6:No Biz Like Show Biz | The House That Fred Built | The Return of Stony Curtis | Disorder in the Court | Circus Business | Samantha | The Great Gazoo | Rip Van Flintstone | The Gravelberry Pie King | The Stonefinger Caper | The Masquerade Party | Shinrock A Go-Go | Royal Rubble | Seeing Doubles | How to Pick a Fight with Your Wife Without Really Trying | Fred Goes Ape | The Long, Long, Long Weekend | Two Men on a Dinosaur | The Treasure of Sierra Madrock | Curtain Call at Bedrock | Boss for a Day | Fred's Island | Jealousy | Dripper | My Fair Freddy | The Story of Rocky's Raiders
Locations
Bedrock | Flintstone home | Rubble home | Bedrock Bowl | Slate Rock and Gravel Company | Water Buffalo Lodge | Bedrock Drive-In Theater | Grand Canyon
