Marvel Media Mania: Fred and Barney Meet the Thing

Fred and Barney Meet the Thing aired on NBC in 1979. Each episode was split between the Flintstones and The Thing. The two shows never crossed over with one another and the characters never met except in the show's opening. Each "Thing" episode contained two shorts. There were 13 episodes made.

Fred and Barney Meet the Thing

 I really thought no Marvel property would come close to touching the awfulness of Swamp Thing. I was wrong. 

The trouble starts right with the title of the show. Fred and Barney never meet the Thing, making the name a misnomer. 

The big problem with this show, however, is the very concept itself. It takes The Thing are strips him of everything except the fact that he's a big rocky monster... sometimes. See, he has to slam together two rings and say, "Thing Rings! Do your thing!" Then rocks fly at him in a flash of light and he's transformed into the Thing. Benjamin Grimm isn't an adult, instead he's replaced with teenager Benjy Grimm and his gang of friends that are Scooby-Doo clones. None of the Fantastic Four ever appear in this show. In short, this show has nothing to do with The Thing.

The Shmoo... better than the Thing?

The plots are as awesome as they can be. "A gang of thugs is causing trouble! Oh no! Let's challenge them to a balloon race!" Ugh. Yeah, it's THAT bad! The awful puns littered throughout the series and complete lack of logic make it hard to even laugh at how bad this show is. 

The animation is fair but it comes across as looking very cheap, even for 1979. This is probably the best the Thing has looked on the screen up to this point. That's about the only points this show picks up.

You want to know how bad this show was? Well, the Fred and Barney part of the show were reruns and they survived after this "thing" got cancelled. Fred and Barney then go a new partner to replace the cancelled Thing... Shmoo. Yes, this Shmoo.

1LR REVIEW - 2 out of 20! It's a Total Failure!