nice morning, huh, fred?
heh, hey. that arnold's got a real arm on him, don't he?
ah, well, that appliance store and me, we kinda had a little adjustment --
fred, don't start on me again. i donno, i'm just not a nine to five guy. i got dreams, fred. ideas --
i invented fire.
i told you that, fred. but the coal conglomerate ripped me off. the case is still in court, but meanwhile i got lotsa other ideas --
maybe, fred. but first.
let me try some of that smoke on your car.
-- see, the first step, we make a mold of the old car hood, smooth out the dent in the clay -- he tosses the original car hood aside with a crash. then, moving rapidly, he starts heaving a variety of ingredients into the reverse imprint of the car hood.
-- add some lava granules.  some woca leaves.  juice from two coo-coo berries.
anything for a pal, fred -- a lump of coal.  bamboo sawdust.  eucalyptus sap.  a touch of the la brea tarbrush -- and -- voila. barney dips a finger in this mess, "tastes" it; satisfied, he yanks on a hanging rope and a giant rock weight slams down on the whole mess, making fred jump out of his skin.
not bad, eh? after it cures for an hour or so, it's solid as a rock.
did i ever?
you're a big man anywhere, fred --
hey. lava lane.
yeah, those were the days.  we usta dream about coming back here some day with a real car and goin' for the goldrock!
fred.  i thought you said it was time to retire those old dreams.
oh-oh! fred, slow down -- !
gee, fred. i knew you were a big shot. i just didn't know how big. fred beams at that, and then follows barney's gaze to the read-out on the truck scale. fred is standing on it and it's pushing 250. with a scowl, fred grabs barney's sleeve and they go into the quarry. as they move, the camera pans and cranes up towards the window of the slate construction office.
social security number.  dependents.  'how learned of job' .  newspaper ad, carrier pigeon.  .  personal reference.  hearing a loud smash, fred looks up and sees --
hey, maybe you guys oughta fix that first.
it looks dangerous. besides, you can kick fred's fat butt anytime.
hey, nice going, fred. you even got the spare --
that's a lie, mr. slate!
b. rubble. white male personal reference --
well, actually, fred, it was the other way ar-- fred hisses between his teeth, repeats the "slate and me are just like this" gesture he made earlier, points at slate.
sure, fred, right, right. slate nods, distracted, his eyes and hands running over the smooth lines of the car hood.
fibrerock, fred.
gee, thanks, mr. slate. lava glowers. slate pulls fred and barney close with genuine excitement.
gee, fred, i don't believe it. eight hours ago i didn't have a job and now look -- i got 1. 2 of one percent of the after-taxes after-expenses net breakage profits on fibrerock!
no, fred, you weren't. i didn't nose any grindstones and you didn't shoulder a wheel. we just hung out together and everything that happened was a total accident.
betty, these are for you. for sticking beside me during the tough times, and well.  for making a little guy feel like he was ten feet tall.
hey. fred does something stupid every day and i still love him.
plenty more where that came from.
yeah. and nothing's ever gonna change that.  right, fred?
indeed we do, brother herdmaster. tonight we are to hear speeches from prospective candidates for lodge offices, such as good old fred and some other guys.
my apologies, brother piltdown. allow me to rephrase. tonight we will hear speeches from a whole bunch of good old guys.  .  plus the one and only fred flintstone! cheers go up, which drown out piltdown's renewed cry of the poisoned water hole. fred moves towards the podium as the noise dies down.
-- crucible --
thanks, fred, but here at the lodge drinks are free.
'here's to the water buffalo and their next herdmaster.  fred'!
gee, fred, how come i didn't get any business cards?
fred, we gotta talk turkey --
fred -- !
fred.  what's this single-handed stuff? i distinctly remember at least four hands and two of them were mine.
the truth?
okay.
i never knew that.
i get it. i got the brains, but you just pretend to have them.
thanks, betty. what would i do without you?
come on, betty, it's only my first day. you have to have seniority to run off.  she giggles, kisses him.
yes, yes. looking good, mister flintstone. i see you've recovered from that polo accident.
gee, fred, driving with you is better than an 'e' ticket at magerock mountain.
oh, hi, mister lava.
but, fred, it's right where the employee basketball court used ta be --
i guess so. you already did. lava leads them to a wood-sided trailer.
all-right!
ready.  aim.  fibre! barney pulls a rope which opens the trough. "fibrefoam" pours into the mold.
fred. you gotta do something about this!
that's my fred.
fred? fred staggers over to his locker, opens it.  gets in, and closes the door. we hear a muffled sob.
they're mad at you, fred.  it's understandable, i mean, they all got laid off today -- fred crosses to the other guys, puts on a big smile.
is that a riddle? give me a second --
well, there's not much to tell. true, i got a cut.  but fred's got a gut.
oh, yeah, i remember! i got the mind, but fred's got the behind. right, fred?
i voted for you, fred.
fred! fred! the buffalo are heading for big trouble -- !
no, no, not that! piltdown's got the guys all worked up and they're heading down to the quarry! they're gonna wreck the assembly line!
no, fred, if they do that they'll be breakin' the law! our brother buffalo could go to jail!
i know. makes you wish things were back the way they were.  before we was big executives.
come on fred. time to earn those big bucks.
stee-rike one! heh-hey. ready for a curve ball?
give me your best shot. pyrite swings. barney ducks and pyrite smashes a window pane. barney dodges again and the same thing happens. getting cocky, barney does it one more time.
whattya know. even got the spare again.
excuse me, mister lava -- ? i think you oughta know.  something could be wrong with the fibrerock mix.
it tastes different.
yup. see, ever since i started with fibrerock -- i mean, since me and fred started with it, i always take a little taste of the fibre foam. and tonight's batch, well.  i didn't get much of it, but it seems a little off. can't fool the old taste buds, heh-heh. i think there might be an ingredient missing. so tomorrow, i'll run a couple of tests and stuff --
nine days, mister lava.
but --
ah, yup, yup, young feller.  jest show me the way to the personnel office.  i'm lookin' fer a job as a custodian.
fred's in a high-powered executive job, betty. there's a lot of pressure on him.
trust me, betty. after the fibrerock debut, he'll be the same old fred. both react to the sound of hammering and sawing. curious, they go out the sliding bedroom door into the yard and see --
you mean beside fred?
see? what'd i tell ya?
hiya, fred. boy, the rental place is gonna be mad.  .  you feeling better, pal?
creep?
fool?
slimeball? louse? jackass? stuck-up blimpasaurus?
sure, fred. i've had lots of practice.
yeah. too bad we never made the team.
you know betty. she never throws anything away. he hauls out an old footlocker, opens it. there they are.
speaking of problems and worries, shouldn't we get on over to slate's party? fred has finally "clinked" the monster head down into place. now, when he talks, the monster's mouth moves in sync.
yeah? when did you notice that?
boy, there's no fooling you, fred. suddenly, with a growing creaking, cracking and tinkling, a scale model of slate city in the corner begins to fall apart.
i.  i don't know.  the fibrerock it's.  it's decomposing.  but this shouldn't happen.
it should be. there's enough coo-coo berry resin in there to petrify a brontosaurus -- suddenly barney gets it. he looks from the older models to the now decomposing little fibresphere with growing awareness.
-- the coo-coo berries! fred, that's it!
remember i said the fibrefoam tasted funny? it was the coo-coo sap that was missing!
why? because coo-coo berries are as valuable as goldrock! and we've had tons of 'em delivered to the plant since we started.  somebody musta got greedy --
fred, that sap acts as a fixative -- it's the glue that holds the whole formula together -- !
 is gonna happen for real in the real slate city!
coo-coo berry sap, fred! it's our only chance -- their only chance! barney gives it a quick test squirt. fred nods, and they rush out of the room. camera pushes in on the ruins of the model "slate city".  cut to:
we just tell mister slate that all 500 acres of his development are going to crumble into dust any minute. then we zap the stairs and corridors with some of this coo-coo sap. i just hope we have enough to get everybody out -- whoops!
hang on, hang on --
what, and explain what you're doing in that costume? start talking about coo-coo berries and fibrerock? by then it'll be too late!
we'd better split up; that way at least one of us can make it to the slate needle -- !
fred, stop it! it might know the way inside! fred "gets up to speed" and chases the xeno. barney follows.
sure, pal. we just gotta wait for the fire department. right, fred?
it must be the suit, fred -- old bedrock high built them things to last -- fred looks over at the wall of flame separating the guests from the fire hose. as everyone gets the same idea, dino rushes up, the costume head in his mouth. all brighten.
-- okay?
come on, everybody -- we'll go out the way we came! barney squirts a pathway with his flit gun, solidifying a route in the crumbling fibrerock. then barney and fred stand back nobly, wave everyone on into the adjacent fibresphere.
go on, honey.  i got bam-bam!
you think there's gonna be some? slate looks around at --
lava lava leaves.  woca sap.  all still there, but now the nutrients are all released.  .  fred, this.  this is dino kibble!
	90:
good evening. tonight we come to you live from the ah.  charming pied a terre of the man of the 'our, fred flintstone -- leach pauses, hearing the sound of someone chipping away at a stone tablet.  he looks up at --