Fred and Barney Meet the Thing

Fred and Barney Meet the Thing is an American animated package show and a spin-off of The Flintstones produced by Hanna-Barbera which aired on NBC from September 8, 1979, to December 1, 1979. Despite the show's title, the two segments remained separate and did not crossover with one another. The characters of Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble and Thing were only featured together during the opening title sequence and in brief bumpers between segments. The segments featuring Fred and Barney were episodes of The New Fred and Barney Show while The Thing was an unrelated new series co-produced with Marvel Comics. The actual idea for the series came from then NBC President Fred Silverman who originated the concept for a series involving a "boy with a magic ring", and told Hanna-Barbera it needed a recognizable "celebrated attraction". As Hanna-Barbera had a relationship with Marvel producing comics off their IPs the company was able to negotiate for the likeness of The Thing.

For the 1979–80 season, the series was expanded to a 90-minute timeslot with the addition of The New Shmoo episodes and broadcast under the new title Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo.

For the following 1980-81 season, both The Thing and Shmoo segments would be removed in favor of The Flintstone Comedy Show.

Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained a laugh track, one of their last productions to do so.

Premises
The first segment, a very loose adaptation of Marvel Comics' character Thing, consisted of stories following the adventures of a scrawny, red-headed teenager named Benjy Grimm (voiced by Wayne Morton) who changes into the monstrous and mighty Thing (voiced by Joe Baker impersonating Jimmy Durante) by touching together two magic rings and reciting the words "Thing Ring, do your thing!", releasing an explosion of energy that causes orange rocks to hurl in from every direction and transform him into the stone-skinned superhero.

The stories centered mostly around Benjy at Centerville High School with his friends, the beautiful brunette Betty Harkness (voiced by Marilyn Schreffler), her snooty rich boyfriend Ronald Radford (voiced by John Erwin), and Betty's blond tomboy younger sister Kelly (voiced by Noelle North), with minimal adult supervision provided by Principal Twilly (voiced by Marilyn Schreffler). Only Kelly and her scientist father Professor Harkness (voiced by John Stephenson) know Benjy's secret identity.

When not battling various mad scientists and getting involved in Scooby-Doo-style mysteries, Thing spent most of his time using his superhuman strength to protect his pals from everyday dangers and the nasty practical jokes of leather-clad bully Spike Hanrahan (voiced by Art Metrano) and his biker buddies Stretch (voiced by Wayne Morton) and Turkey (voiced by Michael Sheehan) in the Yancy Street Gang. Other members of the Fantastic Four did not appear in the show and the portrayal of the Thing and his origin story differed greatly from the original comics.

Twenty-six 11-minute episodes of The Thing were produced; two shorts aired per show.

Other appearances
In FF #8, Ant-Man and Dragon Man give pink-haired rock star turned reluctant superhero Darla Deering her own Thing Rings to summon Ben Grimm's old rocky Thing-bodied exoskeleton and become the bubble-helmeted Miss Thing, saying "Thing Rings, do your thing--".

Betty and Ronald appeared in Scooby-Doo: Where are You #66, but it appears their names were changed, but remained similar (i.e. Betty was renamed to Bella.)

Second run
The "Fred and Barney" half of the show consisted of a second season of seven new 30-minute episodes of The New Fred and Barney Show combined with reruns of first-season episodes.

Voice cast

 * Wayne Morton as Benjy Grimm, Stretch
 * Joe Baker as The Thing
 * Noelle North as Kelly Harkness
 * Marilyn Schreffler as Betty Harkness, Miss Twilly
 * John Erwin as Ronald Radford
 * Art Metrano as Spike Hanrahan
 * Michael Sheehan as Turkey
 * John Stephenson as Professor Harkness, Various guest characters
 * Paul Winchell as Dr. Quimby (in "The Thing Meets the Clunk")

Legal issues
The series only aired during the Saturday morning lineup from 1979 to 1982 and has never been syndicated nor released on video prior to the 21st century. The Flintstones are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, through Hanna-Barbera. The Thing is part of Fantastic Four, and the character is owned by The Walt Disney Company due to their purchase of Marvel Comics in late 2009. Due to copyright restrictions regarding the use of the Marvel character, Warner Bros. Discovery will not release The Thing episodes on any physical nor digital format, including the Boomerang app.