The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones

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Time Travel. Is there anything it can't do?

Often mislabeled as The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons, this was one of the films in the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 series of made-for-TV movies produced for syndication in the late 1980s. It's Exactly What It Says on the Tin - a Crossover between The Flintstones and The Jetsons.

Short synopsis: In their respective times, Fred Flintstone and George Jetson are both experiencing troubles with their jobs - in Fred's case, he and Barney lose their job when they get caught at a poker game when they're supposed to be working the late shift, and George is being blamed by Mr. Spacely for the fact that Cogswell is stealing his company secrets (it's actually because Cogswell's new female computer, SARA, is seducing the secrets out of George's computer, RUDI). When Elroy builds a time machine, the Jetsons use it to escape their problems and end up in the Flintstones' time period. Fred attempts to use George's futuristic equipment to get his job back, but ultimately fails at that. Then, when Henry Orbit and Rosie construct a time machine retriever, they end up accidentally transporting the Flintstones and the Rubbles to the future instead. Back in the past, the Jetsons get rich thanks to George's anti-gravity flying belt, while Mr. Spacely makes Fred his new spokesman (only to have Cogswell steal this idea as well with Barney). Fred and Barney have another falling-out while the Jetsons soon find themselves missing their old life. Eventually, Rosie manages to find the Jetsons and bring them back, but the time machine breaks for good after that. Don't worry, the Flintstones and Rubbles do make it back to the past nevertheless.

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Tropes present:

• Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?:

Fred: I know what you're gonna ask - where are we gonna get ten times that much [money for our vacation]? Barney: No, I was gonna ask what's in the coconut juice.

• Bamboo Technology: Expected for the Flintstones' side of the story, of course. Lampshaded by the Jetsons at several points in the film, commenting on the Flintstones' foot-powered automobiles and animal-powered appliances, as well as the Jetsons' initial difficulties in using both. Ironically, Bamboo Technology is what ultimately saves Spacely's company in the end (mass producing Fred's Stone Age car as a collectors' item).
• Broken Streak: In a company picnic...thing, Mr. Slate's always loses against his rival company. While Fred tries to use the Jetsons' technology to break the streak (extorting Mr. Slate for his and Barney's jobs back, plus other exorbitant demands, in the process), it is subverted by Dino and Astro messing up the final event.
• Brother Chuck: Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are not in this movie.
  • The Jetsons could have gone back to before they were born.
  • That or they went to the period after the kids had left home for college (given the next Flintstones production was a pair of early 90s TV movies showing the adult Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm)...
• Chekhov's Boomerang: The Flintstone car. After being brought back to the future with the Jetsons and seemingly forgotten about, it later serves as inspiration for saving Spacely's company by mass-producing them as a collector's item. It then comes back for a second use at the very end; residual energy from being sent through time is present in it, and the Flinstones and Rubbles are able to use it to return to their own time.
• Deus Ex Machina: How the Flintstones and Rubbles make it back to the past.
• Horrible Camping Trip: Fred and Barney have to settle for taking their wives on this after losing their jobs.
• Know When to Fold'Em: One scene has Fred (dressed as a professional gambler; complete with Barney in drag as his "girlfriend") proving he apparently does not know when, as he gets greedy, loses (and blows both his and Barney's cover in the process) and manages to get both of them fired by Mr. Slate. This scenario leads to the scenario described under Broken Streak above.
• Minor Disney Acid Sequence: The sequence with "The Bedrock Rock" qualifies during some portions of it.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Mainly the Jetsons' universe parodies of Dan Rather, Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers (the latter containing a brief Shout-Out to her short-lived talk show on the then-fledgling Fox network)
• Replacement Love Interest: Judy is crushed to leave behind Iggy, but is consoled when she meets his descendant in the future.
• San Dimas Time: Which corrobates George's conflict; Spacely believes George's disappearance means that his suspicions are correct.
• Time Machine
• The Eighties: The future- and Stone-Age equivalents of '80s celebrities and culture are seen in this film, including Iggy being an 80s-style rock musician, while in the future, Fred is encouraged to go on Jet Rivers' talk show.
• Viewer-Friendly Interface: Elroy's Time Machine has a lever that lets you select between "Past" and "Future". Apparently that's the limit to your control of where you're going.