A Gay Alien Ruins The Flintstones
Added 2023-01-26 07:23:11 +0000 UTC“The Great Gazoo” (October 29, 1965)
Not only did the Great Gazoo mark the “jumping the shark” point for The Flintstones well before that was a term that meant anything in TV studies, but also there’s a whole queer backstory for this green imp, where he’s allegedly inspired by a guy who taught a legendary class of CalArts animators who went on to make most of the top-grossing cinematic cartoons of the last fifty years. The fact that there’s next to nothing available online about Bill Moore only makes the mystery more enticing. We truly will have a gay old time.
Read the Vanity Fair piece on CalArts in which Brad Bird identifies the Great Gazoo as being inspired by Bill Moore.
Listen to Talking Simpsons’ What a Cartoon episode about this Flintstones milestone.
Watch the Stone Age Cartoons short “Granite Hotel,” which seems like a predecessor for The Flintstones.
Read the MeTV article about sitcom couples sharing a bed.
Go shop at our TeePublic store!
Join our Discord to talk about the show with other Patreon supporters.
Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn
And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.
This is a TableCakes podcast.
Comments
I love that thumbnail art
Big Booty Beatdown
2023-01-30 19:06:12 +0000 UTCThanks so much for the advice on the RSS feed. And I laughed out loud when Glen said “The elephant was for abortions.”
Seth Reeves
2023-01-29 02:00:13 +0000 UTCDrew Mackierock and Glen Lakenstone
Vanessa Lopez
2023-01-28 13:53:26 +0000 UTCI'd completely forgotten that ozmodiar was a great gazoo parody until now!
Michael Buchan
2023-01-28 03:34:00 +0000 UTCI’m so excited you picked this. I watched it a lot as a kid because my mom was born in 58 and grew up on it. I didn’t know Barney was Bugs Bunny! And it never occurred to me that the taboo against married couples sharing a bed had to do with the actors not being married, but it makes sense now that you say it. I always assumed people were so horny back then they couldn’t handle seeing people in the same bed 😂
Erin Fletcher
2023-01-27 06:06:28 +0000 UTCGreat episode! And it’s been a long time since I heard the What a Cartoon ep you referenced, but I felt like I learned a lot here, so can confirm it was either a very different approach, or my memory is garbage. (It’s historically very good, so points in your favor there.) Also, I realized that Wilma’s voice sounds exactly how my grandma and her sister sounded. Like what do you even call that 1950s “round sounding” Lucy/Ethel type voice? It’s not trans-Atlantic or mid-Atlantic, vaguely Midwestern, but also not? I can never find the answer to that one.
Kat Heagberg
2023-01-27 02:15:33 +0000 UTCHow wild. What a weird thing to make America consider.
Drew Mackie
2023-01-26 18:28:53 +0000 UTCI'm not even done with the episode, but I had to chime in about Holly Rock-a-Bye Baby. I would have been 11 when it aired, and I remember Pebbles yelling something like "well, YOU did this to me!" at Bam-Bam when she's laboring. I think I knew about Bam-Bam showing up through vague nonsexual means, so I was surprised that this special was unambiguosly admitting that their characters fucked.
Erin Hardy
2023-01-26 18:25:39 +0000 UTCIan O’Phelan!
Drew Mackie
2023-01-26 18:10:48 +0000 UTCGoing to savor this one. Can't wait to listen + the episode artwork is fantastic.
Jason Ullmer
2023-01-26 17:46:54 +0000 UTCIn all seriousness this was a fantastic episode. Always impressed with the research
Ryan Zepp
2023-01-26 17:35:00 +0000 UTCOh, I meant a *good* pun
Drew Mackie
2023-01-26 17:26:17 +0000 UTCGlen Rockin
Ryan Zepp
2023-01-26 13:04:05 +0000 UTC
