"Operation Barney" is the twenty-second episode of the second season and the fiftieth overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on February 16, 1962.
Synopsis[]
Fred and Barney decide to feign illness so that they can go to a baseball game instead of work, but Barney is ordered to report to hospital by his boss.
Plot[]
"Spring fever", for Fred and Barney, involves an all-consuming urge to attend a baseball game on a workday. En route in Fred's car to their daily jobs, Fred and Barney decide to call their respective employers and lie about being sick so that they can go to the baseball game. Fred succeeds at hoodwinking Mr. Slate, but Barney's boss orders Barney to visit the company nurse for an examination. Barney has no option but to report to the nurse, and Fred, lurking outside the examination room's "window", uses a flint-lighter to raise the temperature on Barney's mouth thermometer after the nurse temporarily leaves Barney.
When the nurse returns with a bizarre "needle" to extract a blood sample, Barney faints. The nurse looks at the reading on the thermometer- 312 degrees- and diagnoses Barney with an astronomical fever. Barney is put on a stretcher and rushed by orderlies to an ambulance, before Fred's flustered eyes! Fred follows the ambulance to a hospital, whose cantankerous desk nurse refuses to allow Fred to join Barney.
Betty and Wilma are summoned to the hospital, and Fred's efforts to find Barney and flee with him from the hospital are foiled by the arrival there of the wives. Fred disguises himself as a cranky German doctor, Dr. Sliprock, and pretends to operate upon Barney, "curing" Rubble of the fevered affliction. He succeeds in fooling all of the nurses and other doctors, and Barney is released.
By this time, it is late afternoon, and Fred and Barney believe that they have missed the baseball game and must tell Wilma and Betty about their woebegone scheme. They then learn that the desired baseball game is actually scheduled for the evening! Their "ill"-fated deception was unnecessary.
Characters[]
- Fred Flintstone
- Wilma Flintstone
- Barney Rubble
- Betty Rubble
- Dino
- Mr. Pebble
- Nurse Godiva (only appearance)
- Dr. Sliprock (only appearance)
- Shirley (only mentioned)
- Mrs. Rockslide (only appearance)
Locations[]
Bedrock[]
- Flintstone home
- Rubble home
- Pebble Rock and Gravel Company
- Bedrock Rockopedic Hospital (first appearance)
Objects[]
- News-slab
- Scalpel (only appearance)
- Monkey wrench (only appearance)
- Rock Bell Phone
Food[]
- Soft-boiled Pterodactyl Egg
- Bronto-Burgers
Animals[]
- Snorkasaurus
- Pterodactyl (as a soft-boiled Pterodactyl Egg)
- Pelicansaurus
- Brontosaurus (as Bronto-Burgers)
Vehicles[]
- Flintmobile
- Ambulance truck (only appearance)
Cast[]
| Alan Reed | Fred Flintstone |
|---|---|
| Jean Vander Pyl | Wilma Flintstone Nurse Godiva |
| Mel Blanc | Barney Rubble Dino Bird |
| Bea Benaderet | Betty Rubble Nurse #1 Mrs. Rockslide |
| John Stephenson | Mr. Pebble Dr. Sliprock Charlie |
| Paula Winslowe | Nurse #3 |
| Herschel Bernardi | Doctor #1 |
Notes/Trivia[]
- Fred works for Slate Rock and Gravel Company, known this time as Rockhead Quarry. Barney works for the Pebble Co., and his boss's name is Mr. Pebble.
- The baseball team in town is called the Bedrock Boulders.
- Barney goes to the Rockopedic Hospital (which it was where Pebbles would later be born). The German surgeon is named Dr. Sliprock. The intern is named Charlie.
- This is the first episode written by Tony Benedict, who would script many future episodes of the series.
- This could be seen as a take-off on The Honeymooners (or more specifically The Jackie Gleason Show) episode "Finders Keepers", where the main character(s) get out of work for something that ultimately does not happen for them, only to find out if they had actually gone to work that day, they could've easily had what they were looking for.
- This episode marked the first and only time Barney's boss and place of employment was ever mentioned.
Errors[]
- None known.
| Season 2 of The Flintstones |
|---|
| "The Hit Songwriters" • "Droop-Along Flintstone" • "The Missing Bus" • "Alvin Brickrock Presents" • "Fred Flintstone Woos Again" • "The Rock Quarry Story" • "The Soft Touchables" • "Flintstone of Prinstone" • "The Little White Lie" • "Social Climbers" • "The Beauty Contest" • "The Masquerade Ball" • "The Picnic" • "The House Guest" • "The X-Ray Story" • "The Gambler" • "A Star is Almost Born" • "The Entertainer" • "Wilma's Vanishing Money" • "Feudin' and Fussin'" • "Impractical Joker" • "Operation Barney" • "The Happy Household" • "Fred Strikes Out" • "This is Your Lifesaver" • "Trouble-in-Law" • "The Mailman Cometh" • "The Rock Vegas Story" • "Divided We Sail" • "Kleptomaniac Caper" • "Latin Lover" • "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" |