Hitchcoc
This is the first Popeye cartoon. He had appeared in newspaper comic strips. At the beginning we get to hear the entire version of his theme song as he disintegrates various items of property. While impressive, he is really pretty destructive. Of course, Bluto shows up and he has to deal with him. At no point does the big guy seem to have a chance. Of course, he can't leave Olive Oyl alone and Popeye saves her several times. Mostly, they show off at the carnival where Bluto does something well and Popeye does him one better. Betty Boop makes and appearance as a hula girl and Popeye gets on stage and copies her dancing. Eventually, Bluto ties Oliive to a railroad track (original!) and this forces the use of spinach, that performance enhancing drug. This is really a nice introduction to the Popeye oeuvre.
Mightyzebra
Usually in old cartoons in which a cartoon character as a debut do not have the character on for very long, or they do not make a big thing of the character's personality. Here, unusually, Popeye and Olive Oyl, in their first episode, seem to already be very developed characters (almost definitely because of the comics). It was my first official time to watch a Popeye cartoon. I quite enjoyed it, but Popeye and Olive Oyl are not yet my favourite cartoon characters.Things I enjoyed about this episode were the great introduction of Popeye "the sailor-man" and his gal, Olive Oyl. I also liked the quick appearance of Betty Boop, the old style of the cartoon which was around in those days (in Fleisher, Warner Brothers and Disney cartoons), the basic plot-line and the fact that spinach works quicker for Popeye than drugs do on normal people. Go spinach! :-) Basically, in "Popeye the Sailor", we are introduced to Popeye as a strong sailor, on a boat, who likes his spinach. Then we meet Olive Oyl, in a quay, waiting for her love (Popeye) to arrive off the boat. While she is waiting a number of sailors eye her (as she is attractive to them). She punches them and they move away, except for one huge sailor who is not hurt by her kicks. Just then, Popeye comes along and takes her to the funfair, where the horrible sailor follows them...I am not sure whether this was aimed for children at the time, not all cartoons were, but if it was it is not exactly suitable for kids in this day and age. This is because the horrible sailor tries to seduce Olive Oyl a little and yet does truly horrible things to her. It does not seem so bad partly because it is in a cartoon.I recommend this to people who are interested in Popeye, to people who like old cartoons and to people who like cartoons with quite a lot of singing (yes, sorry, I forgot to mention this). Enjoy "Popeye the Sailor"! :-) 7 and a half out of ten.
mozli
I'll start off by saying what incredible artisans and crafts-persons Fleischer, Segar and Co. were. They achieve a type of brilliance that even Disney(during that period)doesn't quite match. Now, that said I seriously doubt I would allow children to watch it even though I did. Its just too violent and the consequences of the extreme nature of it is played for laughs. Popeye's world in the cartoon is an impoverished one and its heavily suggested that the violence is a necessary part of that environment. I see it as part of life during an economic depression. Everything is heightened, gender roles, racial stereotypes and a sense that the rug has been pulled out from under all the characters(they change jobs a lot). Spinach takes on a weird quality and I thought about street drugs being the actual little helper that Popeye may be using. PCP anyone? Sherms? Crack? Crank?
edrury
The first Popeye cartoon ever, although it was marketed as a Betty Boop cartoon. It was also the first in a series of cartoons where Betty Boop met various characters from newspaper comics (Such as The Little King) in animated form. Naturally, Popeye was the only one who the Fleischer Brothers got any mileage out of.Very entertaining, like all the early Popeye's. Betty Boop makes only a small cameo, but it's hard to miss. Try to get the black and white version, since the colorized version, I dunno. It just seems to take away some of the excitement.4/4