Popeye (cartoon): Difference between revisions
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''[[I Am What I Am|I'm Popeye the Sailor Man]]''!|Part of the iconic Popeye theme song.}}
Originally a minor character in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130601114547/http://home.earthlink.net/~thimbletheatre/ Elzie Segar's newspaper comic strip ''Thimble Theater''], '''Popeye''' the Sailor quickly took over the series, edging out [[The Slacker|Ham Gravy]] as the principal suitor of Olive Oyl. He made his animation debut in a 1933 [[Betty Boop]] short produced by [[Fleischer Studios]], and continued appearing in cartoons throughout the 1940s and 1950s, when [[Famous Studios]] produced the series, and even continued on into several made-for-tv cartoons. Despite his sailor moniker, Popeye rarely ventured out to sea, instead spending his days romancing Olive Oyl and competed with Bluto for her affections.
He starred in an impressive 231 theatrical cartoons during [[The Golden Age of Animation]], lasting from [[Long Runner|1933 to 1957]], his most noteworthy short being the first of the three two-reeler, 20 minute long, full-color Technicolor specials: specifically, "[[Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor]]". This iconic short, being a precursor even to [[Disney]]'s ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]]'', was extremely popular and was even billed along with the feature of the theater, above the main feature of the theater that played it, or ''even billed as the main feature of the theater itself.'' While it failed to win an Oscar (losing to the now obscure [[Walt Disney]] [[Silly Symphonies]] short "The Country Cousin"), it is still considered to this day to be one of [[The 50 Greatest Cartoons]] ever made, influencing even filmmakers like [[Ray Harryhausen]], especially on his film ''[[The 7th Voyage of Sinbad]]''.
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=== 1939 ===
* Customers Wanted
* Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp: The third
* Leave Well Enough [[A Lone]]
* Wotta Nitemare: This short is a nightmarish throwback to the early days of [[Fleischer Studios]], which is especially odd considering that
* Ghosks is the Bunk
* Hellow-How Am I?
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* [[Cross-Dressing Voices]]: Popeye's voice actor Jack Mercer had to briefly leave the studio to serve a tour of duty during WWII. In his absence, Mae Questel voiced Olive Oyl ''and'' Popeye, and nobody could tell the difference. Incredible.
* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Olive Oyl
* [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]]: The first time Popeye and Bluto met (in the comics), Popeye floored him with [https://popeye.fandom.com/wiki/Twisker_Sock "me special Twisker Sock"], which he also used in a few cartoon shorts. Popeye himself claims this move is potentially lethal and only uses it when he has no choice, notably doing so in ''[[Popeye Meets Sindbad the Sailor]]''.
* [[A Day at the Bizarro]]: The short ''It's the Natural Thing to Do'', as well as the later Famous Studios short ''The Hungry Goat'', which feels more like a [[Tex Avery]] cartoon with Popeye thrown in as an afterthought.
** The short ''Wotta Nitemare'' might also count, although the bulk of that short was one big [[Dream Sequence]]. [[
** There's also "Popeye meets William Tell", which for [[Something Completely Different|no discernable reason]] decides to throw our hero into [[The Middle Ages|medieval europe]] and have him encounter William Tell. And it only gets stranger from there.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: In the 1930s shorts, this was Popeye to a tee. It mostly came about due to his voice actor having to ad-lib many quips ''after'' the animation was done.
* [[Depending on the Writer]]:
** Bluto's personality and character varies depending on who the lead animator was for the cartoon. He's ruthless, mean, and sadistic in Willard Bowsky, but much sillier and bumbling in Seymour Kneitel's. Dave Tendlar had him somewhere between the two.
** Also, Myron Waldman's cartoons tended to be both [[Denser and Wackier]] plus [[Lighter and Softer]] than the others.
** There's also a lot of disagreement as to how strong and tough Bluto is compared to Popeye. Sometimes, Popeye is no match for him without spinach, while other times, Popeye can put up a good fight against him even without it. Still other times, Bluto has a terrible glass jaw, and even Olive Oyl can knock him out. This of course fuels the common fan theory that Popeye is [[Willfully Weak]].
* [[Deranged Animation]]: "Wotta Nite-Mare", which almost feels like a throwback to the earliest Fleischer cartoons like "Swing You Sinners" in terms of content.
* [[Did You Die?]]: One old cartoon features Popeye telling his nephews about one of his adventures. At one point they ask, "Did you get killed?"
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* [[Image Song]]: Sort of. At the end of every short, Popeye sings some variation of the "Popeye the Sailor Man" song, depending on the situation or setting of that particular short, and always ending with the trademark "Toot, Toot!" whistle. For instance, in a short where Popeye is a sculptor and Bluto is a painter and the two fight over who gets to use Olive as a model, he sings, "A painting won't match you / it must be a statue / I'm Popeye the Sailor Man / Toot, toot!"
* [[Informed Attractiveness]]: Olive Oyl is apparently ravishingly beautiful.
** It's [https://web.archive.org/web/20141213100748/http://www.mtcnet.net/~bierly/olivefab.htm more apparent] in the Famous Studios shorts, however.
** As mentioned [[wikipedia:Olive oyl|elsewhere]], Olive was originally conceived as a flapper, which, in 2010, is a fashion now almost a century out of date, but in general the flapper ideal was, indeed, something like Olive Oyl: skinny as a rail, with as little of a figure as a girl can possibly manage, and sort of tomboyish of attitude. They tended to be party people.
* [[It Runs in The Family]]: Poopdeck Pappy, Popeye's nephews, and Swee' Pea all behave just like Popeye, more or less.
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* [[Pettanko]]: Olive Oyl
** She did have noticeable breasts in two shorts (''Can You Take It?'' and ''Shoein' Hosses'', never mind the ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' parody); however she was [[Off-Model]] in them, so they don't count.
* [[Picky Eater]]: Eugene the Jeep only eats one thing - orchids.
* [[Pirate Girl]]: The Sea Hag (although she is definitely not a [[Buccaneer Babe]]).
* [[Pocket Protector]]: In one episode, at the losing end of a fencing duel against Bluto, Popeye is saved from a finishing thrust by none other than a can of spinach hidden in his shirt.
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* [[Standard Snippet]]: Whenever "The Stars and Stripes Forever" cues up, it means Bluto's about to take a beating.
* [[Story Arc]]: As mentioned above, the original comic strip began to use these.
* [[Strawman Political]]: The short ''Olive Oyl for President'' presents Congress as a room full of arguing donkeys and elephants (Democrats and Republicans, respectively) — for every proposal that Olive presents, the donkeys say, "We accept it!" in unison, and the elephants scream, "We reject it!" in response. Olive has to call her Secretary of Love - ie, Cupid - to resolve the issue, and ''even he'' has to swap his love-inducing bow and arrows for ''a machine gun version'' to quell the argument. Political polarization is [[Older Than They Think]].
** It was a remake of ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022667/ Betty Boop for President]'' (1932), complete with the "We accept it! We reject it!" from elephants and donkeys, and Oyl imitating politicians of the day.
*** ''I'm strong to the finish/ 'Cause I vote Kucinich!''
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Print Long Runners]]
[[Category:The Golden Age of Animation]]
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[[Category:The Great Depression]]
[[Category:Western Animation]]
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[[Category:Western Animation of the 1950s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1920s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1930s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1940s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1950s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1960s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1970s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1990s]]
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