"The Rock Vegas Story" is the twenty-eighth episode of the second season and the fifty-sixth overall episode of the original series, The Flintstones. It aired on March 30, 1962.
Synopsis[]
At the invitation of his old friend Sherman Cobblehead, Fred packs up wife Wilma and neighbors Barney and Betty and heads to Rock Vegas, there to spend some time at Cobblehead's Golden Cactus Hotel.
Plot[]
Fred and Barney eat at the Bedrock Rock-o-Mat (automated cafeteria), with Barney literally chipping at a slab of "marble cake" and Fred feasting on an elongated brontosaurus rib that hits the head of another Bedrock Rock-O-Mat customer and causes that person's face to drop into a bowl of soup. To his delight, Fred recognises the man to whom he is apologizing to be an old friend, Sherman "Sherm" Cobblehead. Sherm now owns a casino-hotel, the Golden Cactus, in Rock Vegas, and, saying that he would "treat (Fred) right", invites Fred to stay there whenever Fred and his wife are in the casino city.
Fred assumes that Sherm will favor Fred in Fred's quest for lucky monetary gains. Flintstones and Rubbles are due for a vacation, and a leisurely two weeks in Rock Vegas is agreed and embarked upon (with Wilma and Betty not privy to Fred's gambling agenda) by way of the Flintstone car. Flintstones and Rubbles have problem-wrought travel, with freeway traffic jams, loss of direction, a bumpy short cut, necessity of manually pushing the car up a steep hill- and the vehicle then falling down a cliff so that Fred and Barney must build another car from a log, a hazardous crossing of Rock Canyon via a footbridge, and an outdoor campsite on the back of a huge dinosaur mistaken by Fred for a mountain.
In Rock Vegas, compulsive gambler Fred loses all of both couples' money in a slot machine, and Sherm offers to accommodate the Flintstones and Rubbles for the duration of their stay at the Golden Cactus in return for their help in attending to dinner tables, selling cigarettes, and performing in the Rock Vegas Revue, with Barney and Betty singing and dancing "When You're Smiling" to the music of a piano whose inner wires are struck by a bird. Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty finish their planned stay in Rock Vegas and bid a warm good-bye to Sherm, who admits that he envies their ordinary Stone Age life.
Characters[]
- Fred Flintstone
- Wilma Flintstone
- Barney Rubble
- Betty Rubble
- Dino
- Sherman Cobblehead (only appearance)
Locations[]
Bedrock[]
- Flintstone home
- Rockhead Quarry and Construction Co.
- Bedrock Rock-O-Mat (only appearance)
Map[]
- Brickrock (only shown)
- Cinderock (only shown)
- Flintrock (only shown)
- Pebblerock (only shown)
- Rock Canyon (only appearance)
Rock Vegas (first appearance)[]
- The Dune Rock (only appearance)
- Star Rock Dust (only appearance)
- The Golden Cactus (only appearance)
- The Sandstone Hotel (only appearance)
Objects[]
- Hammers
- Sleeping bags
- Sundial
Food[]
- Bronto-Cutlets
- Bronto-Ribs
- Roast Dodo Bird
- Chicken Cacciatore
- Saber-Tooth Tiger Chops
Animals[]
- Brontosaurus (as a Bronto-Crane, Bronto-Cutlets and Ribs)
- Saber-Tooth Tigersaurus (as Saber-Tooth Tiger Chops)
- Dodo Bird (as Roast Dodo Bird)
- Crocosaurus (as a time card puncher)
- Chickenasaurus (as Chicken Cacciatore)
- Sea Serpent (as a ferry)
Vehicles[]
- Flintmobile
- Loggin Continental
- Trucking Company truck (only appearance)
- Trucking-Hauling Anywhere Moving truck (only appearance)
- Here to There Moving truck (only appearance)
- All the Way Moving truck (only appearance)
Songs[]
- When You're Smiling
Cast[]
| Alan Reed | Fred Flintstone |
|---|---|
| Jean Vander Pyl | Wilma Flintstone Girl #2 |
| Mel Blanc | Barney Rubble Dino Son |
| Bea Benaderet | Betty Rubble Lady Girl |
| Don Messick | Sherman Cobblehead Charlie |
| John Stephenson | Mike Captain Announcer |
Notes/Trivia[]
- Barney says his first name is Bernard.
- The title refers to the prehistoric version of the gambling Mecca, Las Vegas.
- In the book, The Flintstones: A Modern Stone Age Phenomenon, the title was known as "The Rock Vegas Caper".
Allusions[]
- The hotel in this episode, The Golden Cactus, is a reference to The Golden Nugget Casino/Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Rock Vegas is a spoof of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Errors[]
- Fred's sundial watch that he looks at just before the work whistle blows ending the workday disappears.
| 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" |