A Flintstone Family Christmas
Tags: psychedelic, alternate history

Plot synopsis:
Fred Flintstone gets into the Christmas spirit by hanging up decorations and being altogether joyful while awaiting the arrival of his daughter Pebbles, her husband Bamm-Bamm and their twin children, daughter Roxy and son Chip. After learning that they will arrive at 4pm, Fred and Barney leave to get their turkeysaurus for dinner. However, on the way back home they are mugged by a Santa. Fred hands over his wallet and watch and orders Barney to give him the bird, but while tossing the turkeysaurus the Santa "breaks" in half. Seizing the opportunity, the two run away from the mugger.
When Fred and Barney get to the police station, they identify the thief, who turns out to be a "caveless" abandoned child named Stoney. According to the social worker, Stoney used to be the horror of foster homes because of his stealing habits. Feeling sympathy for Stoney, Wilma decides to adopt him, despite Fred's initial reluctance. They try to show Stoney that they trust him and attempt to teach him that stealing is wrong.
However, things get slightly bleaker when Pebbles and her family get stuck in an airport because of a blizzard. The Rubbles and the Flintstones then go Christmas tree shopping, but can't afford any that aren't "smaller than their grandchildren". Stoney attempts to help by convincing people to bet on him as he plays a game in order to earn enough money for the Flintstones to buy the tree. When a man loses, he chases Stoney, who runs for cover near Fred. The man claims that Stoney cheated him, and Fred asks if this is true. Stoney then truthfully replies "no", and when Fred believes him, he gets hit in the head with a tree by the man.
Fred then goes to the hospital, but his boss informs him that he can't participate in the Christmas parade (which is something Fred is quite eager to do since the beginning of the movie) and when he tries to protest, his boss finalizes his "no". To make it up to Fred, Stoney poses as his boss's driver and locks him up in the Flintstone's bathroom, which will allow Fred to participate in the parade. Instead, Fred saves his boss and ends up in jail, where he eventually bonds with Stoney. Fred even consoles Stoney that cutting corners to get what you want is not the solution. However, the social worker then takes Stoney away, and meanwhile Fred's boss makes him go to the parade. While there, Fred saves Stoney.
At home Fred sees Pebbles and her family, and Stoney bonds with the twins. Fred says that the new addition to the family gets to put the star on the Christmas tree. Stoney thinks Fred is referring to Roxy and Chip, but it turns out it is him and he becomes a Flintstone. Bamm-Bamm helps him put on the star and they all have a happy Christmas.

Review: Deck the halls with yabba dabba doo.. There seems to be a lot of sarcastic comments on this (and the other two Flintstone Xmas specials) referring to the fact that even a modern stone age family cannot celebrate. I might have been one of them, but if you are the type of person who is going to seriously judge a satirical cartoon where humans use dinosaurs as slaves for their household appliances then perhaps you should be locked in a cold, dark room for a long spell.In this one, which received an Emmy nomination, Fred takes in a homeless orphan boy called Stoney and tries to give him the best Xmas ever. The enthusiastic kid tries to help but instead makes lots of trouble for Fred.It's a great cartoon, and certainly one of the best Xmas specials.. A sacrilegious Christmas special?. Firstly, let me acknowledge that perhaps I am being a bit too extreme when I toss out the word `sacrilegious' as it relates to this special.  As a moderately religious person myself, I am certainly not an individual who usually goes around passing judgement on these kind of things.  But I do raise this question: how on earth can a society living in the stone age celebrate a holiday that honors the birth of Christ?I suppose we could let this slide (after all, this is not the first Christmas-themed Flintstones special), but there was one particular scene in this special that really took me aback:  The Flintstones pose for a Christmas family photograph, which is taken and then shown with the following writing below it: `Flintstones Christmas BC'.  If there was ever an opportunity to use the words `blasphemy' and `oxymoron' in the same sentence, that's it.That aside, this is a pretty bland, by-the-book half-hour of Christmas television viewing.  As with most modern Flintstones specials, it doesn't hold a candle to the sheer delightfulness of the original television series. There are better Flintstones Christmas specials than this one.. Decent Christmas Special. A Flintstone Family Christmas (1993) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Decent short has Fred and Barney being held up by a young orphan who has always been in trouble with the law. Wilma feels sorry for the kid and invites him back to their house for Christmas but Fred doesn't like the kid at all but overtime they become buds. A FLINTSTONE FAMILY Christmas isn't nearly as good as some of the early episodes and specials that dealt with the holiday. Overall I think fans of the show are going to be somewhat disappointed because this special is just missing a certain quality that made the earlier stuff so special. With that said, this here isn't too bad but I think the biggest problem is that the kid is just so annoying. Not once did I like this kid and I really didn't care for his transformation as the picture went along. Perhaps I'm being too harsh on a cartoon but this was a big part of the story and it just didn't work for me. I also thought some of the jokes were a little flat, especially for a Christmas special as there's even a joke about Charlie Mansonstone. Try explaining that to the kids if they ask.. Rocky from start to finish. "A Flintstone Family Christmas" is a 23-minute television special from 1993, so this one has its 25th anniversary next year and it is the last directorial effort by prolific filmmaker Ray Patterson. The title already gives away that this one takes us back into the prehistoric world of Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty and it's a special made for holidays. But sadly, I must say here that stones and spirit don't really go together. Perhaps I am a bit biased as I've never been a big fan of Fred in particular and his little buddy included here didn't do too much for me either. Then again maybe I'm not as I have nothing against the series. There is an okay moment here and there for sure, but with the Christmas message and emotional impact they were going for, the film comes really short in my opinion. If there is any reason to see it, it is the comedy, not because that area is particularly great, but because everything else is so mediocre. The voice acting is okay too. If you care about voice actors, you will see one or the other known name like Welker of course. But story is key and there it is just unfulfilling overall. It's just not working out well at all and the Emmy nomination was definitely a bit (too) much. I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.