6.2

Popeye & Friends Volume 1

One of the world’s classic animated characters returns to DVD in Popeye & Friends Volume 1 which collects eight episodes from The All-New Popeye Hour (1978-83) and Popeye and Sons (1987-88), a sailor who loves spinach but it also gives him muscles! Featuring a variety of varied and diverse Popeye stories, the episodes collected in this volume include;

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

Interesting enough these episodes run for under 10 minutes each and of course feature all the Popeye stereotypes as he gets involved in a variety of mishaps but manages to save the day by eating spinach and getting superhuman strength when he does. Of course, all the Popeye characters are around from Olive and Brutus and "baby" Popeye.

Unfortunately the episodes in this volume are rather dull and lacklustre that seems like Popeye should have stayed in yesteryear rather than today. The purists of course may disagree but with so many well made and professional cartoons around, volume 1 of Popeye unfortunately falls flat.

The video and audio quality of the series is quite poor compared to other cartoons of this era and at the end of the day, Popeye hasn’t dated too well but fortunately this series is quite affordable, provided you are a fan of this sailor. The series contains no extras whatsoever and is definitely not for everyone!