Popeye: The 1960s Classics Volume One - a personal review (1 Viewer)

[JoeDoakes]

I finally purchased this set on Black Friday, and I sort of watched most of it last weekend. I’m no av quality expert, but for the most part, these cartoons (72 in all) looked and sounded great. There are occasional white specks that mar the image and there are even less frequent places where it appears the film was particularly worn, but generally, I was extremely pleased. As for content, let me just say that, in my opinion, these cartoons gets a bad rap. There are comments all over the internet saying that these cartoons are repetitive and dull. Well, phooey. Granted, most (not all) of these cartoons end with Popeye eating his spinach and solving problems the old fashioned way, but they are a lot less formulaic than the Road Runner cartoons or most cartoons that rely on the chase format (including Tom and Jerry). Although many of the endings are very similar, there are a lot of variations that are inserted along the way. With the exception of Popeye’s nephews, all of the classic Popeye characters are here. Some of the highlights for me were the following: (1) “Me Quest for Poopdeck Pappy,” Popeye locates his dad on a desert island; Pappy doesn’t accept him as his son, but when a Godzilla like monster emerges from the sea and grabs Popeye, Pappy comes to his rescue and they reconcile at the end. (2) “Incident at Missile City” a Cold War relic, Popeye meets Miss ICBM. (3) “Spinich Greetings” The Sea Hag seeks to ruin Christmas by tying up Santa Claus (who flies a F-4 jet with a reindeer head nosecone), but Popeye rescues him. (5) “Motor Knocks” Brutus (Bluto) is a crooked car repairman who tries to romance Olive by telling her that his real ambition is to become a song writer and write love songs like, “I saw your vision in a 3 car collision.” There’s also another cartoon where a circus strongman falsely claims to be Swee’ Pea’s real father so that he can use the child in his act. Much of the cartoon deals with how much Popeye misses Swee’ Pea, and it has a great surprise ending. I watched this set with my children (ages 4 and 6) who played with their Christmas toys during it. At the end of the first disk and over three hours of Popeye, I asked whether they wanted to watch more Popeye or something else. “More Popeye,” they responded. I can easily see why these cartoons were a staple of after school programming on many television stations for over twenty years. Now, am I saying that you can sit down and watch a 6 hour plus marathon of these and not get bored? No, but in the right context, they’re terrific!

 

[Greg Chenoweth]

Nice review. I bought this set when it came out and these were the Popeye cartoons that I remember when I was a kid. I have been enjoying them very much.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Joe, I liked your review. I, too, enjoyed Volume 1 and hope this year sees the release of Volume 2 (and maybe even a Volume 3).

As a kid in the early 80s, these were usually mixed with the Famous era cartoons when shown on my local station during the week; and on the weekend CBS had its Saturday morning originals. (It wasn't until years later that I first saw the Fleischer shorts, when Turner introduced the colorized versions.)

For me, the Fleischer shorts are the gold standard. After that, I prefer these 60s TV shorts over the Famous Studios post-Fleischer theatrical shorts. While the animation is sparser and rougher compared to the Famous cartoons, I like that the stories here (as was also true in the Fleischer era) are more willing to play around with the standard Popeye formula and even deviate from it a bit, as you detailed in your review.

I also like that these 60s cartoons incorporated more elements of the comic strip. And since I never liked Popeye's 4 nephews (even in the Fleischer shorts), their absense from these is another plus.

While the visuals are nice and the voice work is good, I find the Famous era cartoons more of a chore to watch. Even though many of the creative people were holdovers from the Fleischer era, there's just such an overall difference between the Fleischer and the Famous versions. (Though I'll still purchase them if they're ever released.) And while the 60s cartoons don't quite recapture the energy and magic of the Fleischer era, I find myself enjoying these a great deal and agree that they are underrated.

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

I agree with pretty much everyone in this thread. I too have the soft spot for this version, as this is what I saw growing up in the '80s on WNEW/WNYW, Channel 5, along with the Famous shorts (with and without AAP opening/closings. I used to think the "AAP" and "Paramount" were different versions!) And let's not kid ourselves, the Popeye formula really started with the Famous Studios episodes. In fact I think that era established that Popeye was ineffective until he ate his spinach?

I never saw a Fleischer until cable and/or when Popeye moved to WWOR.

Question...is the pilot episode, "Barbecue for Two," included on this set?

 

[JoeDoakes]

Question...is the pilot episode, "Barbecue for Two," included on this set?

No, it is not. The cartoons are not presented in production order, and from the comments I have read, it seems that the selection on this set favors those actually made by Paramount/Famous (apparently the tv Popeye's were farmed out for production among several studios). Overall, I am not upset by this as the selection present provides the introductory episodes for the Jeep and Pappy fairly early on.

 

[JMFabianoRPL]

OK, so it's more of a "Best of..."?

 

[JoeDoakes]

OK, so it's more of a "Best of..."?

The Closest analogy I can think of is when the Twilight Zone was put out in three volumes before Image released the Definitive Collection. "Best of" collections are usually one shot deals, this is a volume 1. Also, all of these cartoons showed up on television over a two year period. I am not sure if there is a known broadcast order, and since the individual cartoons were produced by various companies, there may be no definitive production order.

 

[WadeM]

OK, so it's more of a "Best of..."?

http://blogs.indiewire.com/animationscoop/popeye-tv-cartoons
[font="Georgia;font-size:13px"]King Features hired several studios, in several countries, to create 210 five-minute episodes in record time. This disc collects specifically the 63 cartoons produced by the original animation artists of Fleischer and Famous, then employed by Paramount's in-house studio. The set is filled out with a bonus group of TV Popeye cartoons produced by Jay Ward animator Gerald Ray. Future volumes will collect the cartoons from the satellite studios (by Gene Deitch, Halas and Batchelor, Jack Kinney, Larry Harmon). [/font]

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Wondering when they will be releasing Volume 2 of this series?

Reviving this thread from January to say I'm wondering about this as well.

Considering that Volume 1 was released back in May of last year, and I haven't heard anything (news or even rumors) about Volume 2, I wonder if plans for further volumes have been shelved.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Reviving this thread from January to say I'm wondering about this as well.

Considering that Volume 1 was released back in May of last year, and I haven't heard anything (news or even rumors) about Volume 2, I wonder if plans for further volumes have been shelved.

I asked about this at the end of February, and Warner Archive responded, "No Popeye news at this time."

 

[Dave Lawrence]

Thanks for the info, Joe. I guess this falls into the "no news is good news" department, because at least they didn't outright say they won't ever release further volumes. When the 1st volume came out last year, I had hopes that they might release the remaining cartoons in volumes over the course of this year. But who knows...maybe they'll try a 2nd volume in 2015.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Isn't there supposed to be a Popeye movie coming out next year and then this volume along with the Volume 4 set of those original Popeye cartoons are to coincide with the release of that film?

Last I heard, the film had been pushed to 2016, but otherwise, that's the story.