Itty Bitty Fred

Itty Bitty Fred
Details
Show	The Flintstones
Season	5
Episode number	117
Production number	P-119
Original airdate	October 1, 1964 (ABC)
Recording Date	April 15, 1964
Crew
Animated by	Dick Lundy Bob Carr Allen Wilzbach Bob Matz
Layout	Dick Bickenbach Iwao Takamoto Jerry Eisenberg
Background	Fernando Montealegre (known as F. Montealegre) Phil Lewis
Written by	Tony Benedict
Chronology
Previous	"Monster Fred"
Next	"Pebbles' Birthday Party"

"Itty Bitty Fred" is the third episode of the fifth season and the one hundred and seventeenth overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on October 1, 1964.

Synopsis

Fred invented a fat-reducing drink. That is, he thinks he did, but after he drinks it, he shrinks and ends up being about a foot high.

Plot

Fred is "on an inventor kick" again, this time attempting to perfect a revolutionary weight-reducing formula. When he samples some of the compound (Fred-O-Cal) that he has mixed and stands on a weight-scale, he is pleased to note a modest loss of pounds and decides to drink a larger dose, which diminishes him not horizontally but vertically, to a finger-sized Flintstone who frightens Dino, amuses Pebbles, and shocks Wilma, who must resign herself to the fact of her husband's "little problem".

Fred has a big enough mouth to eat and brush his teeth, and he bathes in the kitchen sink and sleeps in Pebbles' doll crib. Fred expects that his chemical concoction will "wear off" eventually, but in the meantime, he is tempted to appear on The Ed Sullystone Show as a "dummy puppet" with Barney as his "puppeteer". Tiny Fred speaks while Barney drinks water and walks of his own volition away from Barney, who impresses Sullystone with his apparent ability to imperceptibly throw voice and move his "puppet" without use of hand or wire.

However, in the middle of their "puppet" act on live, national television, Fred, seated on Barney's knee, grows back to normal, collapsing the chair on which Barney is seated- and Fred and Barney are violently expelled from the Ed Sullystone studio. Fred vows never again to experiment with chemicals and pours his Fred-O-Cal out of a window and accidentally into Dino's water bowl, with the result that Fred's pet (now wearing lenses because the sight of a diminutive master caused him to question his vision) becomes a miniature dinosaur.

Characters

• Fred Flintstone
• Barney Rubble
• Wilma Flintstone
• Betty Rubble
• Pebbles Flintstone
• Bamm-Bamm Rubble
• Dino
• Hoppy
• Dr. Sliprock (only appearance)
• Dr. Petstone (only appearance)
• Ed Sullystone (second and last appearance)
• Henry the Mammoth

Locations

Bedrock

• Flintstone home
• Dr. Sliprock's office (only appearance)
• Bedrock Television Company/Bedrock Broadcasting Co.
• Bedrock Press (labeled in a truck)

Other

• Hollyrock (mentioned)

Objects

• Fred-O-Cal (shrinking formula, only appearance)
• Electro-analysis machine (only appearance)
• Garbage disposal (mentioned)
• Toothpaste (only appearance)
• Toothbrush (only appearance)
• Eye drop bottle (only appearance)
• News-slab
• Rock Bell Phone

Food

• Bronto-Ribs
• Spaghetti

Animals

• Snorkasaurus
• Hopparoo
• Mammoth
• Brontosaurus (as Bronto ribs with spaghetti)
• Mouseasaurus
• Parrotsaurus (as an Intercom Buzzer)
• Electric Eelasaurus (as an Electro-analysis machine)
• Catasaurus
• Orangutansaurus (mentioned only)

Vehicles

• Flintmobile
• Loggin Continental

Media

• The Ed Sullystone Show (TV show)

Cast

Alan Reed	Fred Flintstone
Jean Vander Pyl	Wilma Flintstone Pebbles Flintstone Girl
Mel Blanc	Barney Rubble Dino Bird #2
Gerry Johnson	Betty Rubble
Don Messick	Bamm-Bamm Rubble Hoppy Mouseasaurus Dogasaurus Catasaurus Announcer
Daws Butler	Ed Sulleystone Agent
Doug Young	Bird #1 Dr. Sliprock Dr. Petstone

Notes/Trivia

• Ed Sullystone made his second and last appearance since he last appeared in the episode of the third season, "The Twitch".
• Wilma mentions Fred's last invention, that turned out to be glue in the episode, "Glue for Two".
• The TV star agent, although unnamed, is Robert Rockley (known as Bobby), Ann-Margrock's manager in the episode, "Ann-Margrock Presents".
• Thomas Edistone, which was a spoof of Thomas Edison was mentioned since the episode of the fourth season, "The Flintstone Canaries".
• In the book, The Flintstones: A Modern Stone Age Phenomenon, the title was known as "Itty Bitty Freddy" and the writer was mistakenly not available.
• One of Fred and Barney's jokes mentions Ohio, a rare instance on the show of an actual place being mentioned by its real name instead a "stone-age" modified name.