The Flintstone Kids was a Saturday-Morning Cartoon on ABC that reimagined the main characters of The Flintstones—Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty—as schoolchildren. A supporting segment, Captain Caveman and Son, was presented as a television program enjoyed by the children of Bedrock, contrary to a previous Flintstones series in which Captain Caveman interacted with the grown-up Flintstones and Rubbles.
Tropes:
- 555: In "Monster From the Tar Pits", the fantasy sequence portrays the Bedrotten Gang as bug exterminators who can be contacted by calling 555-BUGS.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Rocky towards Wilma. Part of his antagonism towards Freddy is seeing him as a rival for Wilma.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the end credits of the classic Flintstones cartoon, a black-haired waitress delivers ribs so big they make Fred's car fall to the side. When that gag is adapted in "The Twilight Stone", the waitress is a blonde.
- Alliterative Name: Fred Flintstone, Captain Caveman and Rockfort "Rocky" Ratrock.
- Alliterative Title: "Dusty Disappears".
- Armor-Piercing Question: In "Hero Today, Gone Tomorrow", Capt. Caveman defeats Perfect Man by asking why nobody likes the latter if he's so perfect. Perfect Man is so devastated by the realization he's not as perfect as he believes himself to be he surrenders.
- Break the Cutie: Betty in "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Betty" after her ice cream business is crushed by Dreamchip's more expensive resources. It takes a pep talk from her dad to convince her to not give up.
- Call-Back: One episode was about Freddy and Barney arguing about which one really deserves to appear on The Captain Caveman Show (they had won it as a contest prize). Then it was revealed the prize was for two. The episode "Grime and Punishment" was the one where they appeared.
- The Cameo: Basically all Freddy and Barney got in the above mentioned contest.
- Casting Gag: Freddy's parents (Ed and Edna) are voiced by Henry Corden, the adult Fred's official voice actor at the time. Mel Blanc also voices Barney's father, Bob.
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase: The Brazilian title of "To Baby or Not to Baby" is "Capitão Caverna e o Elixir da Juventude"note .
- Continuity Snarl: Not that continuity was ever a strong point in the franchise, but the entire series' premise (like those of most Spinoff Babies series) of the leads having known each other as children contradicts the original series, where Fred and Barney first met Betty and Wilma when they were teenagers or young adults. It also contradicts one episode that establishes Mr. Slate as Barney's uncle, though that episode was pretty ignored even after it aired, a much worst offender is them having Dino as children.
- Cosmetically-Advanced Prequel: The characters here enjoy 1980s-equivalent technology, social roles (including a strong presence of women and minorities in various roles), and pop culture, versus the 1960s-equivalent tech, social roles, and culture of the original series. The opening credits show Barney has a Stone Age Walkman, for instance (versus the original series' use of transistor radios).
- Crossover: An in-universe case took place when the host of a science show went into Captain Caveman's show to trick him into drinking a youth elixir. Later, Cavey and his son went into the science show to force the host into giving the antidote. Freddy and Co. had to change channels to see how that story ended.
- Easily Forgiven: In "To Baby or Not to Baby", the closest thing to a punishment the scientist who turned Captain Caveman into a baby received was a warning against doing it again and a threat to be sent to jail if he repeats his crime.
- Epic Fail: Even in a fantasy sequence, Fred cannot make the cat stay out.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Apparently Fred, Barney, Betty, and Wilma, as well as Fred's future boss, Mr. Slate (or "Nate Slate" here), all went to Bedrock Elementary.
- Fantasy Sequence: The episodes of the Flintstone Funnies segment have people imagining themselves living adventures.
- Framing Device: In "Capt. Caveman's First Adventure", said adventure is shown in flashbacks when he tells his son about it.
- The Friends Who Never Hang: Fred and Betty never hung out once in the original series, but here, they get one rare episode together in "Freddy the 13th".
- The Genie in the Machine: In "Philo's D-Feat", Philo makes a robot that, when given commands, it either obeys them the literal way or explains that it can't be done. When Philo says "make my bed", the robot makes a new bed that looks like the bed Philo already had. When Rocky Ratrock commands the robot to shoplift, it literally lifts a shop.
- Gotta Have It, Gonna Steal It: Subverted in one episode where Freddy is about to steal from his mother to get a new Captain Caveman gizmo. But after watching a Captain Caveman and Son cartoon titled "Greed It and Weep", he decides not to go through with it.
- I'll Take Two Beers Too: In "The Twilight Stone", Freddy has a Fantasy Sequence where he runs a fast food chain. Rocky Ratrock and his gang are among the customers. After ordering four bronto burgers, he tells Freddy to ask what the rest of his gang will order.
- "Just Joking" Justification: When a bus accident leaves Freddy and his friends with no choice but to either watch that day's Captain Caveman episode at Rocky's or not watch it at all, Rocky won't let any of them (other than Wilma) to watch it until Captain Caveman says he won't show the episode unless Rocky lets all of them watch it, prompting Rocky to say he's only kidding.
- Lightbulb Joke: Captain Caveman asked how many of him were needed to change a light bulb. He said none of him because the light bulb hasn't been invented yet.
- May the Farce Be with You: The Fantasy Sequence in "Rubble Without a Cause" is a parody of Star Wars with Barney as Skywalker and Rocky as Darth Vader.
- Mythology Gag:
- In "The Twilight Stone", one of the fantasy sequences parodies the classic intro and ending that came with the song "Meet the Flintstones". It ends with Freddy taking the cat outside only for the cat to get back inside and placing Freddy out, prompting him to bang on the door and shout for Wilma.Barney: [to Betty] You're my wife? Boy, this is the silliest fantasy of all.
- "Day of the Villains": While taking a bath, Captain Caveman hums the old Flintstones theme song.
- In "The Twilight Stone", one of the fantasy sequences parodies the classic intro and ending that came with the song "Meet the Flintstones". It ends with Freddy taking the cat outside only for the cat to get back inside and placing Freddy out, prompting him to bang on the door and shout for Wilma.
- No Fourth Wall: In-universe. Captain Caveman not only acknowledges that he's in a TV show watched by the kids but also has some awareness to what his viewers do.
- Opposing Sports Team: Rocky's baseball team, the Bedrottens, featured in the baseball episode.
- Parents in Distress: A variation in "Invasion of the Mommy Snatchers" being every mother in town getting kidnapped; Captain Caveman learns that aliens are capturing the mothers and has to get them back.
- Rich Bitch: Dreamchip has moments of these.
- Shout-Out:
- A pink version of the Bouldermobile briefly appeared at the beginning of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Betty".
- In "Dino Goes Hollyrock", one of the featured studios is 2nd Century Rox. Their logo is similar to Fox's.
- Show Within a Show: The Captain Caveman Show. Also Bedrock Bunny and an educational show whose host once tried to get rid of Cavey to increase ratings.
- Spinoff Babies: As seen in both the premise and title.
- Sports Dad: Averted by Fred, Barney, and Nate's dads, who attend their sons' baseball games but are rather relaxed about them being perennial losers. If anything, Edna thinks they're a little too self-deprecating about the whole thing and encourages them to be more supportive.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Captain Caveman's home has a sign reading "This is not Capt. Caveman's Secret Hideout". It really isn't his secret hideout as it's known he lives there.
- The One Who Wears Shoes: Philo Quartz and Granite Janet despite the entire cast being barefoot.
- The Television Talks Back: In the Captain Caveman segments. The narrator responded to Wilma's protests when The Captain Caveman Show wouldn't be broadcast in favor of a game, and Cavey himself would talk to some viewers. (Examples: Freddy's mom when she thanked Cavey for teaching Freddy a lesson about greed; and Rocky when Freddy and his friends had no way to watch an episode other than watching it at Rocky's. Rocky would only allow Wilma, but Cavey threatened not to broadcast his show unless he allowed all of them).
- Title, Please!: Dino's Dilemmas is the only segment whose episode titles don't appear on-screen.
- Utility Belt: In "Day of the Villains", Captain Caveman and his son go to a supermarket for superheroes. Utility belts are being sold with a 20% discount.
- Vanity License Plate: In "Freddy in the Big House", there's a license plate reading IMA CHEAT. It was ordered by Rocky.
- Very Special Episode: The "Just Say No" special which aired on primetime in September 1988. It involved drugs (being The '80s) and the Flintstone kids having to deal with them.
