The framing sequences for the first two seasons featured an instrumental
called "Rise and Shine." The original opening sees Fred driving home from
work, zipping through the streets of Bedrock. He slams his car into the
garage, enters the house and sits down to watch television--on which he
himself appears, hawking the program's sponsors' products. The original
closing sequence has Fred turn off the TV set, cover the bird cage, and
attempt to put the cat out--after which the cat puts him out instead.
("Wilma! Come on, Wilma, open this door! Willllll-ma!")
The more familiar framing sequences, the ones with the "Meet the
Flintstones" theme song, weren't introduced until the third season. The
opening has Fred sliding down the tail of his dino-crane at quitting time,
picking up Wilma and the pets, and driving to the movies (where "The
Monster" is playing). The closing sequence has them leave the movies, order
giant ribs (which tip over the car) at a drive-in restaurant, and go home,
where Fred attempts to put out the cat but gets put out himself instead.
("WILLLLLL-MA!")
These last sequences were later altered to include the Rubbles and
accommodate the arrivals of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm. The vocals are altered
slightly and given an echo treatment. Also, the quitting-time whistle is
given an actual whistle sound rather than the original bird squawk.
A later closing sequence featured Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm singing "Open Up
Your Heart and Let the Sunshine In."
Nowadays, most showings of the original series in syndication use the third-
season "Meet the Flintstones" sequences to frame episodes from seasons 1 and
2. Moreover, since the same end credit list is merely tacked onto an entire
season's worth of episodes, the credits are generally useless for
determining the artists associated with a given episode.
The "Rise and Shine" opening, recovered in 1994 after a worldwide search,
was believed to survive only in black and white, and the closing sequence
was thought to have been lost completely. In November of 1995, however, the
Cartoon Network restored the full-color opening sequence to
the first ten episodes (to commemorate the show's 35th anniversary), as well
as the minutes of footage that had for many years been edited out of the
episodes in syndication.
The official DVD releases of the first two seasons feature the orginal "Rise and Shine" opening and closing sequences -- now colorized along with the original episodes.
