Yabba dabba doo: The Flintstones are 50

LOS ANGELES - Time flies even if you are a prehistoric cartoon caveman. The Flintstones celebrated their 50th anniversary Thursday, and how fitting it was that the ancients’ birthday should be marked by that icon of modernity, a tribute doodle on Google’s homepage.

The doodle is one of the most colourful and well-disguised designs seen recently on the main site of the world’s most popular search engine, which often marks anniversaries with special images on its home page.

The art work features the Flintsones’ vehicle and several of their huts which are juxtaposed with a dinosaur and tree to spell the word Google.

The classic Hanna-Barbera animated series premiered Sep 30, 1960 and ran in primetime for six years. Its main storyline was about a working class stone-age man’s life with his family in the town of Bedrock, where animals powered modern machines such as a wooly mammoth functioning as a vacuum cleaner.

The series, in which Fred and Wilma Flintstone became the first TV couple ever to be seen in bed together, is credited with paving the way for adult cartoons like The Simpsons and Family Guy.