Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs is an animated series in The Flintstones franchise, the first to feature the characters since Cave Kids in 1996. It is produced by Mark Marek, creator of MAD and KaBlam!'s Henry and June shorts.
The show focuses on an aged-up (from the original series; aged-down from the sequel movies) Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble, as well as the Flintstones' pet dinosaur Dino, and their (mis)adventures in a newly-introduced Wild Wilderness setting known as The Crags. Meanwhile, back at Bedrock, Fred and Barney get into zany sitcom antics reminiscent of the original 60's show.
After a number of delays, the show was set to premiere on Boomerang in 2020. Unfortunately, it was unceremoniously cancelled in 2018 before even getting to air, dooming it to being a Short-Runner. In 2021, more than three years after said cancellation, it was announced that it would finally be making its US-debut via HBO Max on September 30th as a "Max Original." The final episodes were uploaded to HBO Max as Season 2 on February 17, 2021. Before that, it had been able to get all its episodes broadcast in select countries.
Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs provides examples of:
- Bamboo Technology: As per Flintstones tradition. Apart from the classics such as a turtle lawnmower or a tiny mammoth vacuum, this show introduces Wicky, a talking bird who can quite literally "search" for things in a Flintstone Theming spoof of the Internet.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Bamm-Bamm loves to smash stuff with his club.
- Canon Character All Along: In "Alien vs Pebbles", the strange alien collecting all the dinosaurs turns out to be the Great Gazoo the whole time.
- Carry a Big Stick: Bamm-Bamm goes nowhere without his trusty club.
- Chew Bubblegum: Used by Bamm-Bamm in one episode.Bamm-Bamm: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and smash stuff. And bubblegum hasn't been invented yet."
- Chirping Crickets: Invoked. Barney hears these and believes he's having flashbacks to his failed attempt at stand-up. They turn out to be actual crickets living in Wilma's wilted flowerbed.
- Domestic-Only Cartoon: According to Marly Halpern-Graser
, the sizable chunk of episodes not given to Toon City were animated domestically at Warner Bros. Animation. This includes her directorial episode, "The Point of a Friend." - Exact Words: In "Yabba-Dabba-Don't", Fred tells Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm they aren't allowed to set foot on the lawn outside. That doesn't prevent them from going under the lawn, or hanging from a vine above it.
- Fantastic Racism: Played for Laughs with King T-Rocks, the King of the Crags, who has a large repertoire of demeaning names for cavemen such as "flint-chippers", "boulder-throwers" or "fire-lighters". Pebbles chides him for using stereotypes, but Bamm-Bamm points out that he does throw a lot of boulders.
- Ill-Fated Flowerbed: Fred fails to take care of Wilma's azalea garden while she's off on a trip, and they all wilt. He and Barney arrange to replace them with store-bought flowers, after which it happens again when the parterre is devoured by a ravenous dino.
- Incompetent Guard Animal:
- Dino. When Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm attempt to ride him to safety from a stampede, he runs away and leaves them in the dust.Pebbles: Why do we keep you?!
- Played with with the Alarm-adillos. They are trained to shout if Pebbles or Bamm-Bamm step on the lawn, but at first they go off too early, and then Fred has a hard time remembering the code to turn them off.
- Dino. When Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm attempt to ride him to safety from a stampede, he runs away and leaves them in the dust.
- Karma Houdini: Lampshaded In-Universe. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm bring home a wild dinosaur that chews up the entire yard, but only Fred and Barney get in trouble, and even then, it's by way of their wives getting mad at them for not watching their children. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm point out that they got off.
- Kids' Wilderness Epic: Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm like to have fun in The Crags.
- Laugh Track: Used during the scenes with the main adult characters, as a homage to the original series.
- Mythology Gag: To Pebbles cereal, of all things. Fred recalls an "Infamous Breakfast Heist" Barney no doubt masterminded.
- Noodle Incident: The above incident apparently got so out of hand, that Betty signed over to Fred the rights to ground "any male Rubble" at his discretion.
- Self-Deprecation: Barney is prone to this, apparently. Wilma's flowers are "deader than the crowd that time I tried doing stand-up comedy", and a mention of "deafening silence" prompts comparisons to "the first time I asked Betty to marry me".
- Something We Forgot: Dino and Wicky are left behind in The Crags at the end of an episode.
- Super-Strength: Bamm-Bamm has it, as in the original show.
