Customer Reviews

Popeye (75th Anniversary Collector's Edition)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Attempting to capitalize on Popeye's 75th Anniversary, someone raided the old vaults at King Studios and rushed out this collection of misses.

If there is anyone who loves the 1960's era Popeye cartoons, and doesn't expect any picture/sound quality, then this is the motherlode.

While there are a few fun cartoons on here, they are few and far between. The price is not too high for 8 hours of Popeye. It is just too bad it is not 8 hours of glorious Fleischer Popeye.

Included in this collection are:

- Hits and Missiles
- Plumbers Pipe Dream
- Jeep Tale
- Hoppy Jalopy
- Popeye's Pep-Up Emporium
- Golden-Type Fleece
- Coffee House
- Mueller's Mad Monster
- Popeye and the Spinach Stalk
- After the Ball Went Over
- Popeye's Car Wash
- Muskels Shmuskels
- Interrupted Lullaby
- Goon with the Wind
- Hamburger Fishing
- Childhood Daze
- Jingle Jangle Jungle
- Incident at Missile City
- Fashion Fotography
- Sea No Evil
- Popeye's Junior Headache
- What's News
- Voo-Doo to You Too
- Matinee Idol Popeye
- Popeye and the Giant
- Sheepish Sheep-herder
- Sea Serpent
- Little Olive Riding Hood
- Invisible Popeye
- Track Meet Cheat
- Scardy Cat
- Popeye's Trojan Horse
- Alladin's Lamp
- Crytsal Ball Brawl
- Out of this World
- Swee'pea Soup
- Two-Faced Paleface
- Spare Dat Tree
- Frozen Feuds
- Weight for Me
- Tiger Burger
- Old Salt Tale
- Seer-ring Is Believer-ring
- Popeye Revere
- The Glad Gladiator
- Jeep is Jeep
- Strange Things Are Happening
- Popeye's Testimonial Dinner
- Popeye the Ugly Ducklin
- Giddy Gold
- My Fair Olive
- Kiddie Kapers
- Popeye Thumb
- Barbecue for Two
- Popeye's Used Car
- Popeye's Tea Party
- The Wiffle Bird's Revenge
- Bullfighter Bully
- Fleas a Crowd
- County Fair
- Popeye and Buddy Brutus
- Lighthouse Keeping
- Butler Up
- Popeye's Cool Pool
- Oils Well That Ends Well
- Motor Knocks
- Popeye the Lifeguard
- College of Hard Knocks
- Duel to the Finish
- The Medicine Man
- Egypt Us
- The Big Sneeze
- Wimpy's Lunch Wagon
- Operation Ice-Tickle
- The Mark of Zero
- The Super Duper Market
- Insultin' the Sultan
- Wimpy the Moocher
- Popeye's Double Trouble
- From Rags to Riches to Rags
- Me Quest for Poopdeck Pappy
- The Golden Touch
- Gem Jam
- Popeye's Hypnotic Glance
- Olive Drab and the Seven Sweapeas

This is a great collection of the boring, flat(but colorful!) Popeye cartoons that were to come with the advent of television (and the corresponding notion that cartoons are only for kids and only for Saturday mornings). They are completely lacking the energy, imagination and eccentricity that made the early black and white cartoons so entertaining. Like the early Betty Boop cartoons of the same time period (though not quite so surreal), there seems to be a hidden beat that runs the length of each film: the characters, objects and backrounds are never actually static. You can actually run just about any pop music instead of the soundtrack and the films just about dance. I must admit that I also find Popeye's constant mumblings much more charming in these early toons: although he is much less intelligible, he is funnier and his whole nature seems more improvised rather than scripted. I wish some studio would shell out the bucks and buy the early stuff and remaster it. I have about 4 hours of these films on a bootleg VHS and they are AMAZING. Popeye deserves the treatment that Republic gave Betty Boop a few years back (although sadly, this same BB collection has yet to come out on DVD).

I should have read the comments section before I bought this DVD set. The popeye cartoons are not the original classics. This version of Popeye came out later in the 60's. Very dissapointed.

Don't be fooled by this set. These are not the great Max Fleischer and Famous Studios POPEYE cartoons that hit theater screens from 1933-1957. These are unbelievably cheap and unfunny cartoons made for television by King Features, who were trying to compete with the great original theatrical cartoons.

The unknowing consumer should be aware of the difference and not waste their money!

(...)

Even though this DVD contains the limited animation made-for-TV cartoons from the 1960s, one can still find some entertaining and/or interesting films on it. Some use Segar's cast and/or are based on Segar stories (ex. Wimpy The Moocher, From Rags To Riches To Rags, Me Quest For Poopdeck Pappy). Some are Sagendorf-like (ex. Insultin' The Sultan). Some are pretty clever (ex. Egypt Us, Golden-Type Fleece). Some flirt briefly with the sort of romantic storylines that Famous Studios used to do (ex. Motor Knocks, My Fair Olive). Some would be exciting to young children (ex. Gem Jam, Giddy Gold). Some have interesting character designs (ex. Bulter Up, Coffee House, Barbecue For Two, Sea No Evil). BUT some of these cartoons are among the worst ever created (ex. Popeye And The Giant, Old Salt Tale)!! And most of the people who visit my Popeye fansite are asking for the Fleischer and the Famous Studios cartoons to be released. This ain't them! Still, it's a start. But come on, Warner Brothers and King Features Syndicate, release the theatrical cartoons already!

This was a great 3-CD set. It has about 85 different mini Popeye cartoons from the early 1960s. These were the cartoons you saw as a kid in the early morning or after school...not the ones you saw on Sundays with Tom Hattan. They usually showed these on t.v. with three episodes per half hour. I loved these cartoons..and with 85 cartoons on 3 CDs..it was a great buy. I really wish Koch will come out with the rest of the 220+ mini episodes in the near future as well. Personally, I liked these Popeye cartoons better than the older "classic" ones as these are more comical and cartoon-y (simple animation) than those older ones. I was waiting a long time for these to come out on DVD and now I hope the rest of them will be out soon too. But if you're looking for those older Fleisher Popeye toons..go get the other DVDs and don't complain about this DVD set because there are many Popeye fans out there who like to watch these versions!

It's a real shame that the very best of the 220 produced TV
Popeyes could not have been selected for this DVD set.
Some of the choices are just unwatchable due to the poor (very
poor) animation. Others, are well animated but this set will make you think "why couldn't they all have been this way?" That's because King Features hired 5 different animation studios to crank out these TV toons, fast, because the Max Fleischer films were so popular on the small screen.

Which makes us wonder, when will those great Fleischer cartoons
get released on DVD? Will this mixed bag of Popeye cartoons be
the best way to introduce new generations to the swab or rekindle
fond memories in babyboomers. Let's hope not!

Finally I found it! The Popeye cartoons from WGN when I use to watch Bozo circus on TV. These cartoons, while not masterpieces like the old B&W Popeye cartoons from the 1930's, were part of my daily vewing when I came home from school. I just bought this video yesterday and showed them to my kids. They laughed hysterically! Money well spent!

I bought this to introduce my 6 and 10 year olds to Popeye. They've watched it 5 times over (at least) and never tire of it. They've even gotten me to watch and relive my childhood. Highly recommended

Warner Brothers is in the process of restoring the classic B&W and Color Popeye Cartoons for a July 31 2007 DVD release! Original Paramount main & end titles will be a part of the restoration. All will be mastered from pristine 35mm nitrate negatives!