Rip Van Flintstone

Rip Van Flintstone is an episode of the sixth season of The Flintstones.
== Summary ==
At the supermarket, the manager tells a few boys and Fred Flintstone not to read the comic books if they're not going to buy them. Fred then decides to try out a skatebone inside the store. Unfortunately, he goes out of control, and causes considerable damage. The manager tells him the total cost is $62.52.
On the way home, Wilma reminds Fred about the Slate Company picnic. Although Fred thinks it'll be boring, he agrees to go since Pebbles is looking forward to it. Bamm-Bamm Rubble moves a tree for Barney, while Fred demonstrates a new TV remote.
On the day of the picnic, Fred gives his co-worker Sandy a hot foot, which Mr. Slate catches on camera. Sandy retaliates with a water-squirting flower, a hand buzzer, and an exploding cigar. Barney also hands Fred a box containing a dragon's head mounted on a spring. Fed up with all the practical jokes, Fred takes Dino with him, and they leave the picnic grounds and climb to the top of a hill. Fred falls asleep, and a giant yearglass appears in the sky.
Some time later, Fred wakes up, and discovers that Dino is gone, and that he now has a long white beard. Thinking someone put a fake beard on him, he constantly trips over it as he heads back to the picnic grounds. He finds them deserted, and ties the beard around the top of his head. A hunter mistakes him for a jackrabbit, and shoots at him. After the hunter realizes his mistake, he tells Fred that the Slate Company went out of business twenty years ago. Fred refuses to believe it, and soon returns to his own neighborhood.
Fred enters his house, and sees a woman he thinks is Wilma. He kisses her, but it's not his wife. She sics her dogosaurus on him. He goes to the Rubbles' house to see Barney, but a stranger is living there now. He tells Fred Barney is now wealthy, and then suggests Fred's been asleep for the past twenty years. Fred realizes the stranger is probably right, "Just like in that Rip Van Winklestone story." He decides to visit Barney's mansion, and the butler brings him into the drawing room. Barney realizes it really is Fred when Dino jumps on him, and licks him. Fred tells Barney what happened. He learns that Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are now married, but advises Barney not to tell them it's him. Barney introduces Fred as Mr. Glump. After Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm leave for their summer place, Barney tells Fred that Wilma is now living in a cottage on his estate. Fred goes to see her, but she mistakes him for a brush salesman. Hard of hearing, she thinks Fred is saying, "Bread." Finally, she realizes he's finally come home. Upon finding out he fell asleep, she berates him for leaving Pebbles to grow up without a father, and asks him, "When will you wake up?"
Wilma is now at the top of the hill, trying to rouse Fred. He wakes up, and is delighted to see she's young and beautiful. He runs back, and takes part in all the games, winning each of them. Mr. Slate takes a picture of him with a trick camera, but Fred merely laughs. Finally, Mr. Slate awards Fred with a trophy, and everyone sings "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow".
== Trivia ==
* The dream sequence in this episode is similar to the one in the earlier episode "Groom Gloom".
* Oddly, when the elderly Fred and Barney are reunited, neither of them mentions Betty Rubble. So the elderly Betty's fate is unknown.
* The wedding of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm foreshadows the animated TV movie I Yabba-Dabba Do!
Category:TV Episodes
Category:The Flintstones
Category:The Funtastic Index