"Operation Barney" is the twenty-second episode of the second season 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 work day. 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)
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.
Errors
- None known.
Template:Season 2 (The Flintstones (1960))