# What's this "Popeye" thing on FOX tonight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727 "2005-12-30T15:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/1 "2005-12-30T15:39:36Z")
Supposedly the original air date was 12/17 but I didn’t see it. [Here’s](http://www.fox.com/schedule/showinfo/specials/sp_0533.htm) some info on it. Billy West does some voice work. I like him, and I always liked Popeye. Did anyone watch it the first time? ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/2 "2005-12-30T16:19:42Z")
I haven’t seen it, but it’s not new. It was released on DVD a little over a year ago. It’s computer animation, and you can watch a trailer for it [here](http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=718712). [Appearantly](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400743/) it was co-written by **Paul Reiser**. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/3 "2005-12-30T17:21:20Z")
Thanks for the notice! My SO loves Popeye and this may have been the DVD we were looking for but every store we tried never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/4 "2005-12-30T23:49:17Z")
I saw this last year when it first aired. Pretty good, actually. Has a slight Christmas theme. Computer-animated. Popeye’s still got it- he has a place in this modern world, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/5 "2005-12-31T03:23:26Z")
Looked like they used the same rendering as for the [Reboot](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108903/) cartoon series (Mainframe Entertainment). That was pretty hot for 1994, but it looked kind of quaint tonight. -Not that quaint and Popeye are a bad mix. What can you do to modernize a guy who gets his powers from a can of spinach? The voices were great. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/6 "2005-12-31T04:43:47Z")
It’s been a while since I watched any old Popeye cartoons, but the speech pattern for Popeye from this ep seemed off. Too many closing “ks” sounds where they really didn’t belong. Olive Oyl looked like Jack Skellington. Her mouth was really weird. Was this intended as a pilot for a proposed Popeye series? It seemed like they were trying to introduce as many characters from the Popeye mythos as they could cram into 22 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/7 "2005-12-31T06:33:47Z")
I watched the first 90 seconds or so, listened to the stupid voice acting by Popeye and changed the channel as quickly as I could. ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/8 "2005-12-31T09:37:52Z")
I noticed that the characters had five fingers (on each hand) in this. Were they drawn that way in the original cartoons? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/9 "2005-12-31T14:19:24Z")
> [@williamweigand](#): > > I noticed that the characters had five fingers (on each hand) in this. Were they drawn that way in the original cartoons? I just did a quick search, and I see that Popeye and his friends have five fingers on each hand both in the comic strip and the cartoons. Apparently, Popeye’s voice is hard to do (the gruff voice he uses when he’s talking. The high voice when he’s muttering under his breath is easier- I think everyone can imitate that). I remember reading that Billy West had trouble until he saw a documentary about the east Russian territory of Tuva. In Tuva there are “throat singers” which can sing two notes at the same time. Apparently, Popeye’s voice is kind of the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Plinth\_percher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc348/32.png) [@Plinth\_percher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plinth_percher)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/10 "2005-12-31T14:34:48Z")
I loved the Popeye movie with Robin Williams(except that he made the sad choice to mutter and mumble so you couldn’t tell what he was saying.) But the cartoony quality and physical comedy made it a real pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/11 "2005-12-31T17:36:30Z")
I watched this quite by accident, and loved it. It was cute. It wasn’t too cloying, and, well… I’m a sucker for Popeye. When I was a wee lad, my dad and I would watch old black-and-white popeye cartoons every morning before I left for school and he left for work. It was pretty much the only bonding time he and I had. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-popeye-thing-on-fox-tonight/337727/12 "2005-12-31T18:42:54Z")
I watched it too… and I did like it (although I am always weirded out by the cartoons that have Bluto and Popeye working together instead of as enemies/rivals)… I have to ask… WHY was this on? It’s apparently NOT new. It was sandwiched between The Simpsons and FAMILY GUY. I don’t get it. I did just watch the Altman’s Popeye movie the other night… G-damn that is a fun movie.