The Flintstones Complete Series Blu-ray Review (With Restoration Comparison Images!) 

True but maybe it originally came from an unused master audio and accidentally put on the disc we will never know at least

Thanks, brother! I'm glad I was able to show the difference that's been made in these episodes. Like you, I also think it's really affordable for six seasons of a show on Blu-ray. Current price on Amazon breaks down to about $10 per season, which is more than fair.

Thanks, glad I was able to help you make up your mind! Some people are always going to find a reason to complain, regardless of how hard people work or how many positives outweigh the negatives, and I'm happy to be the voice of positivity here. It's not perfect, but pretty darn good!

Please, sir, assuming you have a region B player since you are in Europe, when you get it, can you test it and write a comment about region B playability? I am desperate to get this but worried it's just Region A. Then again, the back of the box does not seem to have any indication that this is so. As an aside, I can't believe that, in 2020, we are STILL worrying about regions. An absolutely pathetic way in which film studios treat their customers, using a system not found in music CDs, books or any other medium.

It got down to as lost as $29 I picked it up on a whim, for that price even if I only watch a dozen or two it’s worth it.

I don't have Space Ghost yet, but it's on my shopping list! Knowing it's from Warner Archive, it will definitely be worth a purchase, especially since the current Space Ghost DVDs are burned on demand.

All of the episodes I watched had the pre-credits bumpers, but I can't vouch for all 166 episodes. And thanks for pre-ordering with our link! That really helps us.

It's uncut on HBO Max, so it will be fixed here since it's using the same restorations. Sadly though, other problems abounded on these restorations. Many episodes were missing their teasers as well as the problem episode mentioned in the review that was lacking the sound effects and music.

I may, but probably not. We just got the complete original series of The Jetsons last year on Blu-ray (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OwJRcSoYKCQ.html) that consisted of 24 of the original 1960s episodes. In the 80s, Hanna-Barbera created 51 new episodes with the original voice cast, and that's what makes up the majority of that new set. With the sixties episodes on Blu-ray and the Jetsons Movie hitting Blu-ray in February, I have to imagine all those 1980s episodes are coming to Blu-ray soon. Maybe from Warner Archive? Then again, the new DVD box set is only 25 dollars, so I may get it anyway, just to make sure I don't miss out.

@@CerealAtMidnight Very understandable I hope seasons 2 and 3 get a release on Blu-Ray. I'd buy shows on Blu-Ray if it was possible for the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to get a release. I have a DVD collection of shows just for that reason. Everything looks fantastic on Blu-Ray.

Sorry, I can't answer that. I'm not familiar enough with what was cut to see if it's added back.

@@CerealAtMidnight The scenes were as follow. The Flintstones arrive at their new house. Landlord: Where's your sports car and your chauffeur? Wilma: You're looking at it and talking to him! Another scene features Fred on his dinocrane, right after he's been thrown "into the pyool." He even imitates the guy and starts to sneeze. Fred then shouts "All because I have a big mouth! A BIG MOUTH!" And the dinocrane wonders aloud "So who's arguing?" Barney comes to visit Fred at the quarry. Fred apologizes for his bad attitude and admits he misses the Rubbles.

Correct. Not the DVDs, just the Blu-ray.

No, they're not the same. Also the screenshots are just to give a vague idea of the improvement. They're captured unscientifically, and compressed to the nines by RU-vid.

Great question! Reboot? No, definitely not. But I'd like to see more new animated adventures of the modern stone-age family, for sure. Certain crossovers, like the WWE movie, are befuddling to me, but I see WB trying to capture a new, young audience. In my view, these characters are timeless: they thrived throughout the seventies in new TV specials, and even in the 80s and early 90s, these characters were everywhere. We had Flintstones Kids on Saturday morning, we had Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles adverts all over the TV, and we even had Flinstones on our vitamins. Scooby-Doo is still going strong, and I would love to see some new animated specials that just provide us with new adventures, but not if it changes these characters into something we can't recognize.

@@CerealAtMidnight Thanks for the reply. I watched the recent scooby-doo movie, and I very much enjoyed it.

There is a disc replacement. One disc, for the episode missing the music. No discs have been shipped yet, so it's still a good idea to pick up the set and request the replacement, rather than waiting for the new disc to hit retail in a future pressing. Given everything happening at WB these days, I wouldn't wait.

Yes to the full frame using less data, and these are also minimally animated. The backgrounds are still at almost all times, so I think they need less bit-rate than many other shows. I think that's probably a big factor: it's not like anime, it's pretty low detail animation. Hoping for a replacement disc announcement soon!

@@CerealAtMidnight Have you gotten the "Space Ghost & Dino Boy: The Complete Series" on blu-ray from Warner Archive yet? I am very impressed with the restoration job on that set in particular.

That set is on my shopping list, Kevin, but I haven't purchased it yet! I'm VERY excited about it. Glad to hear the quality is on par with what we've come to expect from Warner Archive.

What other studio?

@@joeybaseball7352 oh I dunno, a studio “all started by a mouse” that hasn’t done much whatsoever in the physical media space since they started a trend of naming streaming services with a plus sign ;)

@@BJWanlund you mean disney? What? They released a lot of DVDs.

@@joeybaseball7352 That was back in the day. Nowadays they are only focused on streaming.

I agree, but we fans need email and hit their Twitter get more well shows back on physical formats. I go local stores, when start of the pandemic alot classic shows were sell out.

Need to start waiting for the end of the video before I post questions

Warner is aware. If a replacement disc is announced, Cereal At Midnight will report on it.

@@CerealAtMidnight Thanks. If these sets that are coming out pretty much all have this problem (& perhaps other issues), I hope it is not “if” but “when”. It would be inexcusable as far as I am concerned.

A replacement disc was just announced yesterday! Looks like it's expected to ship in late November.

@@CerealAtMidnight Hey, thanks Mr. C.A.M, I very much appreciate you letting us know. I was holding off picking this up b/c of this issue. Nice that they addressed it so quickly. Thanks again!

This is incorrect, Richard. Missing scenes weren't mentioned because there are NO missing scenes. All the intros that are missing on the streaming versions are actually complete here on Blu-ray. The episode with the Gruesomes on Blu-ray DOES open with them in the estate agent's office, and my screenshots show that scene, captured from the Blu-ray. Don't believe anyone that says otherwise. Too much unfounded speculation being reported as fact. The opening scenes are intact!

@@CerealAtMidnight Okay, thank you for pointing that out. I will look to the blu ray versions and not the streaming versions from now on.

That's correct.

@@CerealAtMidnight whats exactly correct? that its still the same or that they fixed this?

That episodes are complete, as originally aired. Same with Jetsons, as I see your other comment.

Listed as region A. No reports yet of anyone trying it on other region players, though many Warner discs are region free. I’m region A locked for now, so I can’t verify region.

I actually just started picking up MeTV over the air in my area and was really excited they show The Flintstones. They actually look pretty decent on there considering they are problably compress a fair bit. Do you have MeTV in HD?

@@Gmen2010champs yeah I have metv in hd. I'll have to check and see how good the flintstones looks

It’s a little on the smooth side. I’d prefer more grain, especially since we know it has it. Some of it appears to have been polished away, but I don’t see a ton of other evidence of DNR. Grain is there, but it’s very fine.

@@CerealAtMidnight You gave the set high marks notwithstanding. Is the difference in grain noticable after comparing it to, say, WAC's Jetsons blu?

Jetsons has more grain. Yes, I gave Flintstones high marks, and it really does look gorgeous, better than ever before. Grain has not been erased, and your takeaway may be different from mine. This is not the sort of restoration "the other studio" does for their animation where they strip away all grain and detail. This is done with moderation, and the results are pleasing.

Yes! English, French, and Spanish audio options. 2.0 mono for each.

@@CerealAtMidnight Thank you!

All the prime time specials that the Frankenstones appeared in are on dvd!

Those shots were taken with my phone. The colors look great and it's a huge upgrade over the DVDs!

Well, the Blu-rays are 60 bucks for the whole series on Amazon. That's ten bucks per season. I DEFINITELY paid more than that for the DVDs. I don't know how much cheaper they'll ever get, but if they do, you know we will tell you guys about the deal.

Aha! Thanks for the info.

@@CerealAtMidnight you're welcome

"Did you at least check?" As if I haven't done my homework here and spent HOURS going through these episodes and showing you my results. Of course I did. Every episode I watched had the opening pre-credits segment. I did not watch all 166 episodes. If you have a specific episode you'd like checked, I'm open to that.

Sorry for the poor choice of words. I saw no mention of it in your video review, so assumed you weren't aware by the silence on the topic. It's one of the leading issues of concern among enthusiasts paying attention to this upcoming release at forums, since the problems that plague these restorations on HBO Max were highly likely to be carried forward to the Blu-Ray release (Such as the discovery by HighDefDiscNews that episode #17 is missing audio tracks just like when it hit HBO Max). forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=330302 Above in the first post is a presumably complete listing of the missing teasers on HBO Max. I'd be quite surprised if they're actually on your Blu-Ray discs when the other glaring error wasn't corrected. And sadly many of these missing teasers feature scenes not repeated in the main episode itself, so it's not just what amounts to an episode preview before the introduction that's missing in those cases. Another area of concern for some (Minor for most of us), is if The Man Called Flintstone still has the cut opening or if Wilma holding the torch is finally intact again. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-d1bfJmopZgg.html Not as important I suspect to the fans that were annoyed that this nice touch has been edited away in recent decades, given the news that the movie isn't presented in HD.

I've just checked two episodes from that list you mentioned for pre-credits: Episode 2 (Hot Lips Hannigan) and Episode 11 (The Golf Champion). Both episodes have the pre-credits scene intact. Every episode I screened for my review contained the pre-credits sequence. I can't vouch for all 166 episodes, but I don't think these are straight ports of the HBOMax versions.

Oh, and The Man Called Flinstone doesn't open with Wilma holding the torch. It goes right into the title song. If I had to guess why, I'd say because the torch logo was representative of the fact that The Man Called Flintstone was distributed by Columbia Pictures in the sixties. Now it's owned by Warner Brothers. Columbia is a subsidiary of Sony Pictures now, so for that to appear at the beginning of the movie would be Warner Brothers running a logo for someone else before their movie. And that's IF they're even legally allowed to do so. You'd never see McDonald's advertising for Burger King, and this is a similar deal. They're rivals.

That's great news that the affected teasers are intact. Makes it all the more puzzling that they missed the error you pointed out in your review. Thanks for the good news. :) And I'm sure you're right. While some studios aren't afraid to keep another company's logo intact (Like black & white Paramount movies under Universal ownership), some prefer to edit it out. For me personally, I'm not one to get too hung up over a 5 second alteration in a movie so it didn't matter to me like it does to some. But still, like any fan, I would obviously still prefer it to be presented with 100% authenticity if I had my choice.

Are you talking about this monstrosity comprised of cardboard pockets that scratched the discs up? www.amazon.com/Flintstones-Complete-Alan-Reed/dp/B001CC7POE

@@CerealAtMidnight yes sir. I am. I haven't had that problem with scratches though. And I've had the set for at least a decade. Granted, I haven't watched it that much, because I own the series on digital. (Which is probably useless since they most likely aren't the bluray versions.)

If it makes you happy, more power to you, Joey! I personally prefer shelf-friendly packaging, but I do think the idea of that collector's set is cool. Just been burned a lot by those cardboard sleeves.

I was surprised by how "hot" those colors in that particular shot were as well. However, these screenshots aren't an exact science, so don't take it as gospel. They're mostly to illustrate the jump in clarity and resolution. Also, no telling how these look on RU-vid compared to the naked eye. I thought everything looked fine in that Blu-ray shot before I did the side-by-side.

@@CerealAtMidnight yeah sorry about typos I fixed them. Auto text. I meant have not hate. And flipper disc not flipped. But yes In that one shot it does seem colors make drastic change but then at other points a lot less subtle. But again it’s like you said it could be RU-vid.

I do too. It might if actually happened if that evil company didn’t purchase a great company.

Epic price drop on a stellar set. Make sure you ask WB for the replacement disc too.

I definitely did thanks. Can you check out my Post on Instagram

I tagged you in it.

@@chr1stopherthrobbin Oh that woulda been cool too

I would of like to seen The Jetsons meet The Flintstones movie put on Bluray and added to this set

Nothing will be added to this set. This is the complete 1960s series, not a Flintstones archive. However, you bet your sweet bippy that Warner Brothers will be watching the sales of this box set to determine the audience for future Flintstones restorations and products on disc. As mentioned in the review video, if we want more, we vote with our wallet.

You are correct about there being more stuff out there but expecting more than a full and, more importantly, original series in one package is expecting too much. Other material, if it is ever released, will be released separately. Besides, a full, original series satisfies the vast majority of fans. The completist in me itches to think like you and wonders why everything that has ever been released in a franchise can't be put into one uber package but one has to be realistic about commercial considerations, space on discs, rights to material and all sorts of other issues. My suggestion is to enjoy this beautiful product for what it is. If you are going to wait for a more super and complete package, you are going to be waiting till Kingdom come.

@@greengrassofhome all of the flintstones shows are available in SD on the boomerang app. And all the commercials are up on RU-vid. So I guess that will have to do. But I can't find _The Flintstones on Ice_ from 1973 anywhere.

Why does that suck? 4:3 is their original aspect ratio, and there is literally no way to present content that was created in 4:3 without cropping the image. We don't EVER want to see this stuff cropped, edited, or cut.

@@CerealAtMidnight I hate watching something with the big black bar each side and for me hd 1080 = fullscreen I dont understand that "you" restored and put old stuff in hd but you dont change the ratio for the same price I rather buy the dvd 166 episode boxset

I hope you come to change your opinion in time. Original presentations should be preserved. Those black bars are there because the people presenting the show care about preserving the show as it aired. And the DVDs have black bars too. Just to make sure you understand, the only way a show like Flintstones would NOT have black bars is if roughly a third of the image was removed. Black bars are necessary to preserve how these were MADE to look. If it bothers you so much to have black bars, use the zoom button on your remote. Art shouldn’t be ruined because people don’t like having blank space on their new TVs.

@@CerealAtMidnightmy dvd player and Playstation put every dvd in fullscreen and the quality of image is the same but with Bluray it doesnt work even the zoom

Discussed at the 10:00 time code. This was never intended to be an archive of EVERYTHING Flintstones. This is the 1960s Hanna-Barbera TV series in its entirety, with two movies thrown in as as extras. A Flintstones archive would be hundreds (thousands?) of dollars and dozens and dozens of discs. This is focused on the original series, newly restored. And it's 60 bucks. If we want more, we gotta buy this.

You know what I mean. They look fresh.