Popeye the Sailor (1999 TV sitcom)

Popeye the Sailor is a 1999 American animated sitcom produced by King Features Entertainment in assocation with Paramount Television Animation and Warner Bros. Animation. The series was developed by animators Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone. It premiered on Cartoon Network in 1999.

Premise

The new adventures of the sailor who fights his enemies at eating spinaches.

Characters

Main

• Popeye the Sailor (voiced by Dave Coulier) - The main protaganist of the series. He is best known for his squinting (or entirely missing) right eye, huge forearms with two anchor tattoos, skinny upper arms, and corncob pipe. He can occasionally be seen smoking his pipe but usually he toots it like a tugboat and sometimes uses it as a weapon by blowing the smoke in his enemies faces. His strength varies among his portrayals: as per the original comics, he is super-humanly strong and can lift huge objects, while in later adaptations he is not quite as mighty until he gains a boost in strength by eating spinach. He is known to mutter when he speaks and mangle the English language (e.g, he calls elephants and infants "elephinks" and "infinks", respectively).
• Olive Oyl (voiced by Cheryl Chase) - Popeye's girlfriend. She and Popeye have stuck through thick and thin to face many challenges and adventures together.
• J. Wellington Wimpy (also voiced by Maurice LaMarche) -  He is a hefty hamburger lover and close friend of Popeye's known for his mooching ways and a hidden level of high intelligence. He is a soft-spoken and cowardly gentleman who will do whatever it takes to get a free hamburger with the promise that he'll gladly repay the kind soul that offers one on Tuesday, which he usually never does.
• Bluto (voiced by Jackson Beck until 2002 and Maurice LaMarche after 2005) - Popeye's arch-enemy.
• Swee'Pea (voiced by Grey DeLisle) - Popeye's adopted son.
• Eugene the Jeep (vocal effects by Frank Welker) - Popeye's pet in the series.

Supporting

• Shorty (voiced by Tom Kenny) - Popeye's short, bespectacled fellow from the Navy. An individual prone to cause mischief and annoy others, he is paired with Popeye in comic everyday situations, leaving Popeye in the role of "straight-man". He is wearing a t-shirt, vest, pants, socks and shoes and a cap in a 1940s fashion as opposed to the sailor suit he wore in the Famous WWII shorts. In this sitcom, he is able to apologize for his mistakes and sometimes receives consequences for his actions.

Production

Development

In late 1997, Paramount Television Animation envisioned Popeye the Sailor as a full-fledged animated sitcom. Originally, the show was pitched to Nickelodeon, but rejected it because they barred the Popeye characters from their Nicktoons. The show was instead pitched to Cartoon Network with Warner Bros. Animation also joining the project, becoming one of the first sitcoms to be produced without the association of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons.

Stock sound effects from Fleischer Studios/Famous Studios/Paramount Cartoon Studios were used for the show as well as a few new ones, such as robots, new-wave instruments, and electric guitars.

Differences

Differences in Popeye's story and characterization vary depending on the medium. Originally, Popeye got his strength from rubbing the head of the Whiffle Hen, changing to spinach by 1932. Swee'Pea is definitively Popeye's ward in the comic strips, but he is often depicted as belonging to Olive Oyl in cartoons. The cartoons also occasionally feature members of Popeye's family who have never appeared in the strip, notably his lookalike nephews Peepeye, Pupeye, Pipeye and Poopeye.

There is no absolute sense of continuity in the stories, although certain plot and presentation elements remain mostly constant, including purposeful contradictions in Popeye's capabilities so he seems bereft of manners and uneducated, yet he is often depicted as capable of coming up with solutions to problems that seem insurmountable to the police or, most importantly, the scientific community. Popeye has, alternatively, displayed Sherlock Holmes-like investigative prowess (determining, for instance, that his beloved Olive was abducted by estimating the depth of the villains' footprints in the sand), scientific ingenuity (as his construction, within a few hours, of a "spinach-drive" spacecraft), or oversimplified (yet successful) diplomatic arguments (by presenting his own existence—and superhuman strength—as the only true guarantee of world peace at diplomatic conferences). Popeye's pipe also proves to be highly versatile. Among other things, it has served as a cutting torch, jet engine, propeller, periscope, and, of course, a whistle with which he produces his trademark toot. Popeye also on occasion eats spinach through his pipe, sometimes sucking in the can itself along with the contents. He seldom appears to use it to smoke tobacco.

Popeye's exploits are also enhanced by a few recurring plot elements. One is the love triangle among Popeye, Olive, and Bluto, and the latter's endless machinations to claim Olive at Popeye's expense. Another is his near-saintly perseverance in overcoming any obstacle to please Olive, who often renounces Popeye for Bluto's dime-store advances. She is the only character that Popeye will permit to give him a thumping. Finally, Popeye usually uncovers villainous plots by accidentally sneaking up on the antagonists as they brag about or lay out their schemes.

Writing

The writer of the show is confirmed to be the creator of Animaniacs. Many writers, such as Doug Langdale, Thomas Hart, John Benkhe, Rob Humphrey, Jim Peterson, Sherri Stoner, and Deanna Oliver came to work on the show as well.

Voices

Dave Coulier, Maurice LaMarche and Cheryl Chase reprised their roles as Popeye the Sailor, Wimpy, and Olive Oyl. Jackson Beck returns as Bluto for the sitcom. Shorty, for the first time returning on the show, is voiced by Tom Kenny. Harry Shearer is the new voice of the Genie from the 1939 Fleischer Popeye color two-reeler Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp. And even Patrick Warburton stars as Rough House. Popeye's nephews are currently voiced by Maurice LaMarche. Grey DeLisle does the vocal effects of Swee'Pea.

Animation

Animation was outsourced to South Korean studios, such as AKOM, Anivision and Rough Draft Korea.

Hiatus

The show went through a three-year hiatus after its third season was completed in 2001. In May of 2005, the series returned with new episodes until finishing in 2008.

Voice cast

• Dave Coulier - Popeye the Sailor
• Maurice LaMarche - Wimpy, Bluto (2005-2008), Pipeye, Pupeye, Poopeye and Peepeye
• Cheryl Chase - Olive Oyl
• Jackson Beck - Bluto (1999-2002)
• Tom Kenny - Shorty
• Grey DeLisle - Swee'Pea
• Patrick Warburton - Rough House
• Frank Welker - Eugene the Jeep
• Harry Shearer - Genie (from Fleischer Popeye color two-reeler Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp)
• Gregg Berger - Castor Oyl
• Billy West - Poopdeck Pappy