Nothing is as groovy as the Boom! Boom! Boom!
Of the band with the Bedrock beat!
Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm and all of the gang,
Short or tall we have a ball wherever we meet!
Everything is going for the Bedrock bunch,
All the gang is here at the new drag strip.
You'll see Fred and Barney, too -- Yabba Dabba Doo!
On the Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show!

Surprisingly light and easy to take! I'm not sure in what incarnation I saw the original 16 cartoons of The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (they were reworked into various Flintstones series through the early-to-mid 70s), nor did I remember anything about them prior to watching Warner Bros.' new two-disc set, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show: The Complete Series - except, of course, for the very funny "Bad-luck" Schleprock character. But after watching all 16 shorts (they run a little over 20 minutes), along with four additional 10 minute shorts included on this set that were produced for The Flintstone Comedy Hour, I have to say they weren't too bad, with the bright, bold, primary color scheme and the occasional "funnier-than-you-would-expect-from-this-kind-of-show" moments that characterize Hanna-Barbera seventies spin-offs.

Premiering on CBS's Fall, 1971 Saturday morning line-up, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (at 10am, across from a Bewitched rerun on ABC, and Barrier Reef over on NBC) was the first spin-off of network television's first prime-time animated hit, the long-running The Flintstones. By 1971, those original episodes had already been rerun numerous times, proving even more durable in syndication than during their first run. No doubt Hanna-Barbera saw this continued popularity, and decided a spin-off was in order. Taking the unusual (at the time) concept of aging the baby characters of Fred and Wilma Flintstone's daughter Pebbles, and Barney and Betty's adopted son Bamm-Bamm, into teenagers (while apparently keeping the adults the same age), H-B designed the series to appeal specifically to young children - the main TV audience on Saturday morning. Fred and Barney and the wives were still around as supporting players, but the hijinks were definitely youthful in nature.

Structured very much like one of those Disney suburban comedies of the sixties and seventies, or even the AIP Frankie and Annette film comedies, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show takes that formula of kids driving around in their cars or hanging out at school or getting into trouble at home, and combines it with a distinctively I Love Lucy subtext, with the rather hapless Bamm-Bamm constantly trying to rescue Pebbles from one of her many hair-brained schemes (not unlike their adult counterparts, Fred and Barney). One assumes they're boyfriend and girlfriend, but it's hard to say definitely, because they never act romantically towards each other, save for Pebbles getting jealous whenever sexy Cindy Curbstone comes sniffing around buff Bamm-Bamm.

And as with most teen comedies, there's a group of kooky supporting players to round out the comedy for Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles (whose catch phrase here is, "Yabba-dabba doozy!"). Pebbles' girlfriends include Wiggy Rockstone (a barely suggested hippie, with a fro, who references astrology and whose catch phrase is, "Oh, my stars!" or "Starrific!"), and Penny Pillar, the standard frumpy, wasp-tongued female sidekick to the cute Pebbles (her rather unpleasant catch phrase, always said to Moonrock Crater, is, "Oh quiet, creep."). Bamm-Bamm's friend is Moonrock, a bespectacled nerd with the ability to invent anything. Frequently annoying tag-alongs include the rich, snooty Cindy Curbstone and her boyfriend Fabian Fabquartz, and Bronto and his Bronto Gang, a rockcycle gang obviously patterned on Harvey Lembeck's Erich Von Zipper motorcycle hood from the Frankie and Annette comedies (he refers to himself as their "leader," and continually falls off his bike or sidecar, a la Von Zipper). And acting as a Jonah to the entire group is strange little Schleprock (or as he's constantly referred to, "Bad-luck Schleprock"), a creepy little gnome who shows up out of nowhere and invariably destroys whatever he touches (his most used catchphrase, which varies slightly from time to time, is "Wowsie wowsie, woo-woo," which I guarantee every kid in America who grew up then, remembers).

I haven't seen the original The Flintstones in years and years, but what always struck me as the best part of the show was the dichotomy between the Stone Age realities of life in Bedrock, and their modern updating (for example, a hapless elephant who has to stand outside the kitchen, his trunk operating as a faucet, turns dejectedly to the camera and deadpans, "It's a living."). Those kinds of jokes are here in The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, but not in nearly as much supply. The humor is much more conventionally situational, and not as closely related to showing off the comedic possibilities of living in the Stone Age. As well, the characters of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, having been aged-up, are quite different from their original intention. Pebbles, so cute as a baby in the original series, is more of a scatterbrained klutz here, constantly misreading cues and setting into motion a series of misadventures that Bamm-Bamm has to fix. The most noticeable change is in Bamm-Bamm. A lot of funny sight gags came out of Bamm-Bamm being the strongest baby in the world, but in The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, that characteristic has been virtually eliminated. Bamm-Bamm is just your basic fun-loving, slightly goofy teenager, with not nearly as much to do as Pebbles, who dominates the plots and their action.

The supporting characters are all fairly disposable, as well, but one "breakout" star does emerge, and that's "Bad-luck" Schleprock, a quite funny little character whose mysterious (and too infrequent) appearances guarantee a laugh every single time. Not only drawn funny, his voice work, done by the legendary Don Messick, is frequently hilarious. When Schleprock enters a scene, and in this almost... indescribably sniveling, whining voice says, "Hi, gang - miserable day, isn't it?" I was laughing out loud - not bad for a 1970s H-B spin-off. It's a shame he doesn't show up more often (he headlines his own episode here, Schleprock's New Image, which is definitely the highlight of the set), but he's around enough to make you remember him and wonder when he might pop up next.

The other voice work for the show is fine. Jay North, of Dennis the Mennis fame, has the croaky voice of teenager Bamm-Bamm down, while Sally Struthers, soon-to-be in the seismic TV sensation, All in the Family, just one year later, is cute and funny as Pebbles. Even though the situations in The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show are pretty standard and recognizable - as well as fairly tame - there are enough occasional good jokes thrown out there to keep adult fans of the show amused (when Bamm-Bamm returns a hi-fi to a department store, complaining that it "eats too much," the twin birds/speakers snidely rejoin, "Cheapskate!" - in stereo).

Best of all, these shorts have been cleaned up, and look terrific in bold, primary colors. The backgrounds are fairly detailed for such fare (before the mid-seventies and beyond, when the H-B backgrounds almost became abstract to save time and money), giving the show a fairly dense, full look. Certainly the appeal of watching The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show may depend on your familiarity with the work - if you were a fan as a kid, you may still find it funny; you may not. As always when I review series like these, I grab a couple of my younger kids to watch, as sort of a safety gauge against nostalgia-tinted glasses. And surprisingly, they enjoyed the show. When the first episode was over, they asked to watch another one. That's about the highest compliment you can ask for when gauging 35-plus-year-old material like this against kids today.

DISC ONE:

Gridiron Girl Trouble
Trying to elude Mr. Grumpstone the dog catcher, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm disguise their dogosaurus Snoots as a football player - who is mistaken for Pebbles!

Putty in Her Hands
Pebbles gets scammed into free sculpture lessons by the disreputable Slipstone Art School, but when she tries to pass off Bamm-Bamm covered in clay as her next masterpiece, trouble comes calling.

Frog for a Day
When Pebbles pretends to be a witch for the school play, she mistakenly thinks she's turned Barney into a frog!

The Golden Voice
Bamm-Bamm is the next Mick Jagger - as long as he sings in the shower!

Daddy's Little Helper
Mistakenly believing her father is losing his job, Pebbles comes to work with Mr. Slate - and almost causes Fred to lose his job for real.

Focus Foolery
In an effort to win a Bedrock photo contest, Pebbles competes against her arch nemesis, and manages to foil a bank robbery.

Pebble's Big Boast
Pebbles says she knows Mick Jadestone of the Rolling Boulders - and then has to back it up when she promises the rock star will perform at her party!

The Grand Prix Pebbles
Fred invents a new super fuel - which Pebbles promptly throws away in a junk pile. Can Fred find it before the big Bedrock Grand Prix?

DISC TWO:

The Terrible Snorkosaurus
Pebbles makes a pet out of the cuddly snorkosaurus - who Sea Rock World will pay 1,000 dollars if he was only a little bit more terrible.

Schleprock's New Image
Pebbles tries to make over Schleprock -with typically disastrous results.

Coach Pebbles
Pebbles takes over for Fred as a little league coach, but the girls don't really know the game at all. Or how it's played.

No Cash and Carry
A con man fools Pebbles into robbing the very store where she just started working, until her gang helps turn the tables on the crook.

Wooly the Great
Moonrock's pet shampoo enables Pebble's pet elephant to fly. Will she be able to get Wooly back when he joins the circus?

Mayor May Not
Pebbles gets elected Honorary Mayor for a Week - and proceeds to turn the city of Bedrock upside down.

They Went That Away
Uncle Hatrock comes to town, and Pebbles volunteers the whole family and gang to help him run his dude ranch.

The Birthday Present
The Gruesomes are here! When Pebbles mistakenly believes the weirdo Gruesomes are behind her missing birthday present, she enlists the gang's help in searching their mansion.

The DVD:

The Video:
Although interlacing was noticeable, on a small monitor no kid is going to care. Surprisingly, the full-screen, 1.33:1 video transfers for The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show: The Complete Series look amazingly clear and bright. Either enhanced or cleaned up digitally, these 35-plus-year-old toons are vividly colorful and saturated. Compare them against the bonus episodes, and you'll see quite a difference.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English mono track accurately reflects the original network broadcast presentation. English subtitles are available.

The Extras:
As a bonus, the remaining four, 10 minute Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show shorts that were commissioned for 1972's The Flintstone Comedy Hour are included here: The Squawkie-Talkies/The Suitor Computer, Beauty and the Beast, and Bedlam in Bedrock. The video quality for these shorts is noticeably inferior to the main 16 episodes, with faded color, more print damage and a soft picture. Opening and closing headers for The Flintstone Comedy Hour are included, though.

Final Thoughts:
Fans of The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show who caught this when they were young might very well enjoy it now. It's certainly not a classic, and not in the same league as its illustrious predecessor, but it's bright and colorful and cute (especially after what looks like some restoration), with some surprisingly funny lines and situations at times. And of course, there's "Bad-luck" Schleprock. And that may be enough. I recommend The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show: The Complete Series.