 | Don't Be Too Quick to Dismiss These
rating: 3
Animation connoisseurs love to beat up these early 60s made-for-TV Popeye cartoons as predictably, though perhaps with less cause, than Popeye himself loves to beat up anyone messing around with his sweetie Olive Oyl. It's true that the post-UPA graphic styles and limited animation do not really suit an action-oriented series (often, when Popeye threw punches, only his arm moved). Still, considering the bargain-basement budgets given these cartoons and the lightning deadlines the artists had to work under, it's a bit surprising that the cartoons are as good as they are. And speaking of the artists: some of the best animators in the field at the time had hands in the production. Producer-Director Jack Kinney assembled a team of Disney and UPA veterans who a year before were working on "Sleeping Beauty" and the Magoo feature "1001 Arabian Nights" (which Kinney directed). Other studios, in New York, Los Angeles, and Europe (under Gene Dietch, at the time considered the great white hope of contemporary animation, who also was producing the Tom and Jerry series), made a number of the cartoons; the diverse styles give these cartoons as a collection added interest. Not surprisingly, the slickest of these Popeyes came from the Fleischer/Famous Studio artists who had produced the theatrical shorts for 25 years. The actual saving grace of these cartoons is the wide range of storylines--unlike the better animated but rigidly formulaic theatrical Popeyes--and the use of so many of the Thimble Theatre characters sadly ignored by Fleischer and Famous (or underused, as in the case of Wimpy and the Jeep). Best of all, Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, and Jackson Beck were back on hand to lend their incomparable vocal talents. In sum, these are cheap cartoons cheaply prices, and worthy of a look-in (or a re-look-in). Many Boomers grew up on these cartoons; I bet Don Draper's (of TV's "Mad Men") kids watched them!
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Small screen adventures of Popeye
rating: 4
Popeye the spinach-eating Sailor returned to the public eye on the small screen back in fall 1960 after 25 calendar years on the big screen(1933 to '57). Paramount studios,who produced the theatrical cartoons,participated in some of the 220-short project that ended in spring 1961. Okay,here is the 75th anniversary collection(Popeye debuted in newspaper comicstrips in 1929) of many,but not all,of the King Features Syndicate TV shorts. HITS AND MISSILES was the first broadcast TV short produced by Paramount. HAM features Popeye,dressed in a white suit and black tie,his slender girlfriend Olive Oyl,dressed in a short sleeve shirt and skirt like she wore during the Famous Studios(color) era(1943 to '57) and their hamburger-eating friend J. Wellington Wimpy visiting outer space. There are more Paramount-produced shorts in this collection like MY FAIR OLIVE,OIL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL,BUTLER UP,GIDDY GOLD and SEE-RING IS BELIEVE-RING. BARBECUE FOR TWO like HAM,opens with the same theme music as heard in the 1950's shorts. BFT,the first produced by Jack Kinney Studios,features Popeye and Olive dressed in their comicstrip and Fleischer Studios(1933 to '43) clothes(Olive wore a cardigan sweater). Remember Bluto? He is now Brutus and still he's an often-rival of Popeye's. BFT features Popeye preparing for a private barbecue for himself and Olive and the aroma of the grilling burgers attracts Wimpy's attention. Brutus shows up as well and so does Swee Pea. Other cartoons in this collection were produced by Larry Harmon Studios,TV Spots,Gene Deitch Studios and Rembrandt. The Kinney-produced shorts were the best because only those feature the complete original theme(the ones by the other studios had edited themes). Like in the Famous era,Jack Mercer(Popeye),Mae Questel(Olive) and Jackson Beck(Brutus) again lend their voice talents to these shorts. Questel worked for Fleischer Studios back in the 30's,first voicing another Paramount star,Betty Boop,before doubling her workload with Olive Oyl. Questel also voiced the Sea Hag,who is seen in this collection(she was never created for the theatrical shorts),also Olive's young niece Geezil. My experiences with these cartoons:I've seen them aired by New York-based WNEW-TV(now WNYW) Channel 5 in my native New Jersey back in the 70's. They were later aired by Philadelphia-based WTAF(now WTXF) Channel 29 and Atlanta's TBS Superstation. King Features Syndicate also produced Beetle Bailey,another comicstrip favorite created by Mort Walker,Snuffy Smith and Barney Google also Krazy Kat.
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'60s
rating: 1
These are not the good ones.
You only get the ones made during the early '60s.
Very boring, we weatched about three before putting back up.
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"Alice the Goon is a frightful buffoon!"
rating: 1
This collection should be called `The Worst of Popeye.' Don't be fooled by the attractive packaging, these cartoons stink on ice! Featuring Sweapea (who sounds like Olive Oyl), "Brutus" instead of Bluto, and that goofy Jeep Jeep thing, these shows are poorly animated and painfully annoying...and they just NEVER stop! The set boasts 85 "full-color favorites", but it seems more like 850...or 8,500. Getting a lot of content for your money is usually a good thing but in this case it's more like torture. Avoid this and save up to buy Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Vol. 1 instead.
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Don't Be Fooled
rating: 1
I am so sorry I bought this. I spent a lot of time looking into buying some old Popeye and I thought this was a good value. After watching the first episode I realized these were the inferior Popeye cartoons. I thought I was getting the ones from the fifties. These are so poor I skipped through the entire set to see if there were some gems hidden among the garbage. No such luck.
A true Popeye fan knows that the only ones worth collecting are the Fleischers and the Famous Studios. I hope someday those will become available. Until then, this set will sit on my shelf never to be played again.
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