Customer Reviews

Popeye and Friends, Vol. 1

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Popeye fans will immediatly realize this is NOT the classic character popularized by the Segar comic strips or the great black & white shorts made by the Fleischer Studios. These are, in fact, cartoons culled from "The All-New Popeye Hour," which aired on CBS in 1978. As such, they are colorful but rather bland interpretations of the spinach-loving sailor and his pals.

The cartoons in this collection are:

ABJECT FLYING OBJECT
SHIP AHOY
I WOULDN'T TAKE THAT MARE TO THE FAIR ON A DARE
POPEYE GOES SIGHTSEEING
CHIPS OFF THE OLD ICE BLOCK
POPEYE THE PLUMBER
SWEE-PEA PLAGUES A PARADE
POLLY WANTS SOME SPINACH

One of the few good things about these shorts is that they feature Jack Mercer's final performances as the voice of Popeye. And they are at least as good as much of what Paramount did with the character in the 50's and 60's. But for the definitive animated Popeye shorts, be sure to check out Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Vol. 1 and Popeye the Sailor: 1938-1940, Vol. 2.

I remember as an Israeli child seeing these Popeye Hanna Babrbara cartoons daily during summer and afterwards weekly (they werent shown one at a time but 2 or 3 each time, usually including 'treasure hunt' episodes). I recorded much of them on VHS which unfortunatly did not survive over the years. I was happy to see this DVD of my old favorites, which are less good in retrospect then the Fleicher ones but are still fun to watch. My question is why only 8 of them have been released? Warner bros. should realese all of them and the famous studios ones.

In the late 1970s, Hanna-Barbera made the big mistake of reviving Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto for Saturday morning TV consumption. Despite attempts to emulate the Fleischer style of the 1930s, these watered-down cartoons really miss the mark. The eight shorts on this DVD signify another low for the spinach-packing hero - an embarrassment similar to the mass-produced King Features cartoons from the 1960s. By no means confuse "Popeye and Friends, Vol. 1" with Warner Home Video's essential Fleischer Popeye collections. Thankfully, Warner pulled the plug on a second Hanna-Barbera volume.

We love Popeye and his black-and-white shorts, but this special DVD has brand new cartoons in full color ! Unlike the cartoons produced by Fleischer studios in the 30's, these cartoons are from the Hanna-Barbera Popeye series of the late 70's and early 80's.

After a few years Popeye still has his strong stature and even stronger sensitivity as he looks out for the little guy and defends his honor with his wits and good can of spinach to boot. You'll still see Olive Oyl, Bluto, Wimpy, Swee' Pea, and even his four nephews as they take on some brand-new adventures on this official authorized DVD.

Eight full-color episodes on this DVD include:

"Abject Flying Object" - A little alien creature is welcomed by Popeye and Olive, but Bluto attempts to capture the creature for his own doings.

"Ship Ahoy" - Popeye teaches his nephews Peepeye, Pipeye, Poopeye and Pupeye how to properly sail a boat, but his lessons get hindered by Bluto (as usual).

"Popeye Goes Sightseeing" - While visiting New York City, Swee' Pea crawls off into trouble and Popeye chases him all over the place !

"Popeye the Plumber" - This cartoon seems similar to the Fleischer classic "Plumbing is a 'Pipe'" where Popeye attempts to fix Olive's constantly leaking pipes.

Although there are just the 8 cartoons on this DVD, these episodes are very mega-multilingual; there's even Japanese captions !

So this classic character takes a new-age spin on this DVD that you don't want to miss out on. And if you want some vintage Popeye, look for the classic cartoon collections also available. Plus look for "Popeye and Friends: Volume 2" available this fall !