Flintstone and the Lion

Flintstone and the Lion
Details
Show	The Flintstones
Season	4
Episode number	107
Production number	P-107
Original airdate	January 23, 1964 (ABC)
Recording Date	July 29, 1963
Crew
Animated by	Harry Holt George Goepper Harvey Toombs
Layout	Dick Bickenbach Lance Nolley Jack Huber
Background	Lee Branscome
Written by	Tony Benedict
Chronology
Previous	"The Bedrock Hillbillies"
Next	"Cave Scout Jamboree"

"Flintstone and the Lion" is the nineteenth episode of the fourth season and the one hundred and seventh overall episode of The Flintstones. It aired on January 23, 1964.

Synopsis

Fred befriends a kitten while on a fishing trip and decides to make a house pet of it, not realizing that the tiny kitten will grow up to be a full-sized lion, which begins eating the family out of house and home.

Plot

What starts as a fishing expedition for Fred and Barney in a prehistoric wilderness becomes the start of a complicated friendship between Fred and one of the hinterland's native occupants, a male saber-toothed lionasaurus.

As a growing and very hungry kitten, the Stone Age cat snatches Fred's catch in the fishing endeavor, and Fred chases the mackerel-filching feline into a cave, from which Fred is himself pursued by a disturbed and ill-tempered bearasaurus that is repelled in fear after the kitten bites its leg. Grateful for the little, leg-rubbing, and purring cat's assistance in this regard, Fred adopts him as the Flintstones' second pet. Pet number one, Dino, is anything but pleased by the new arrival to the Flintstone residence, but Pebbles adores the orange-furred feline, and Wilma agrees to Fred's wish to accommodate the cat, for the time being.

Soon, however, the cat is fully grown and, though still quite amiable, sitting upright next to Fred in a living room chair in front of the television, is a lion with a healthy appetite; he accesses the Flintstone icebox for steak snack after mere mention of food. Wilma reasons with Fred that the Flintstone family income is insufficient to support the lion's largess of feed, and Fred reluctantly opts to donate the chummy cat to the Bedrock Zoo, whose officials come to the Flintstone home and use a female lion to entice Fred's feline friend into their custody.

Some days later, a knock is heard at the Flintstones' door, and into the house prances the lion, his mate, and their litter of kittens!

Characters

• Fred Flintstone
• Wilma Flintstone
• Barney Rubble
• Betty Rubble
• Pebbles Flintstone
• Bamm-Bamm Rubble
• Dino
• Kitty (only appearance)
• Edie (only appearance)
• Kitty and Edie's cubs (only appearance)

Locations

Bedrock

• Flintstone home
• Bedrock Lions Club (only appearance)
• Pet shop (only appearance)
• Bedrock Zoo

Objects

• News-slab
• Playing cards
• Rock Bell Phone

Food

• Bronto-Steak
• Grape juice

Animals

• Snorkasaurus
• Saber-Toothed Lionasaurus
• Catasauruses
• Bearasaurus
• Brontosaurus (as a Bronto-Steak)

Vehicles

• Flintmobile
• Bedrock Zoo truck (only appearance)

Cast

Alan Reed	Fred Flintstone
Jean Vander Pyl	Wilma Flintstone Pebbles Flintstone Edie
Mel Blanc	Barney Rubble Dino Kitty
Bea Benaderet	Betty Rubble
Don Messick	Bamm-Bamm Rubble Cat Salesman Loudmouth Guy Head Curator
Elliot Field	Bearasaurus Mailman Mortar

Notes/Trivia

• The Bedrock Lions Club is one organization whose name hasn't been "Flintstone-ized."

Cultural references

• The title is a reference to the Aesop fable, Androcles and the Lion.
• Lots of cultural references were taken with spoofs including Rockatraz Prison (Alcatraz), Rockopedia Bricktanica (Encyclopædia Brittanica), Ed Shellivan Show (Ed Sullivan), and Yogi Bear.
• The Lion Kitty is named after Kitty Russell from the western Gunsmoke. And Kitty Kat from the sitcom The Addams Family.

Errors

• None known.