Yes!…that is an unabashed plug.
:-)
seriously, Amazon tells me it’s shipped already —I can’t wait.

I’ll keep this simple:

I. Want.

There are some reports that the opening to the first Popeye with Betty Boop hasn’t been properly restored and that for a few cartoons, Cartoon Network prints were used. Can anyone confirm this?

Can’t wait — Pre-Ordered mine a month ago but I’m actually kind of regretting it now because it probably won’t arrive before Thursday. Every review that I have read says that this set is breathtaking!

I will not sit on the porch waiting for the UPS guy, I will not sit on the porch waiting for the UPS guy, I will not sit on the porch waiting for the UPS guy….

Yes, I yam excited.

JERRY!

your popeye panel at comic con was awesome! i was REALLY disappointed that there weren’t dvds for sale at the con!

i tried to hang back and talk to you and stephen after the panel but you were being spirited away by people concerned with scheduling…and i couldn’t figure out where the poster signing was!

in any event i’m incredibly excited and thank you so much for all your shameless promotion!

and hey…what the heck was going on with that 3d popeye? despite what the host was saying i’d much rather see robin williams as popeye than look at that 3d business…

jeep jeep

It’s been said that several 16mms of the first Popeye with original titles are owned by various sources (Someone on another forum has said that Jerry has one, as does La Cinemateque Quebecois and a few other places). Sounds like either Warner didn’t get a hold of one of these for their restoration, or flubbed the reconstruction (This short was also recontructed for an episode of the Popeye Show, but was not actually aired due to PC concerns).

Severeal Shorts are also reproted to not have Stereoptical captions on the openings. This does not bode well for future sets.

Copies were flying off the shelves at Best Buy this morning. I talked a bit with several other ‘Popeye’ customers there, some buying more than one copy. (Ebay or Xmas presents!??)

I don’t mean to plug buying it there, but they have the set as an exclusive available in a collectible deeply embossed tin case. It goes on the shelf real nice next to the Disney Treasures tin cases. Beyond sweet!! I didn’t see any there in the regular packaging, however.

This release has been given plenty of TLC and lots of respect that has been long overdue for these milestones of American animation.

Just picked up my POPEYE DVD set at Best Buy. The set comes in a tin case (like the WALT DISNEY TREASURES sets) with an embossed POPEYE logo and image on the front. It’s an exclusive for Best Buy. I haven’t watched any of it yet, but the packaging art and design is sensational! All looks GREAT!

Just want to say the Best Buy collector’s tin was a complete surprise to me and I am delighted with it! It looks and feels very rich. Inside the tin is the standard cardboard box too, in case you wanted to put the tin away for safekeeping. However, I will be proudly displaying this one on my shelf! Can’t wait to get home to watch it.

Will the original Paramount opening to the first Popeye cartoon be a bonus feature on a future release?

I’m just about to walk across the street to the WB Store, where they’re holding 3 of ‘em for me!

Thanks, Jerry – for helping this happen. You’re doing the Lord’s work. (He’s a Fleischer fan, y’know…)

Love it, love it, love it. I’ve been waiting for a collection like this ever since I’ve enjoyed those 5 dollar VHS tapes of public domain cartoon classics.

Not too keen on some of the commentaries though, I love the historian ones that actually comment on historical facts about the cartoons, but do we really need to hear the animators about how much they love certain gags and blatently plug the cartoons they’re working on right now? Have people today become so dense about humor that it has to be explained to us?

By the way folks, watch my cartoon; Ivan the Unbearable, coming soon to Nickelodeon

AWD!– Can you EXPLAIN your cartoon to me??? And, what were your favorite gags– or are you gonna make us wait ’til the DVD w/ commentaries comes out?—
- I’m kidding you-nice plug, you just gave, here in COMMENTS, Isn’t that the root word for commentary? HAHAHA

But, most of all, I hope you all watch my new show, The Bill Field Trip- featuring my cartoons and characters, all wrapped up in a live action, almost-reality show.

Long time reader, first time caller…er, commenter.

I don’t know how many gamers are in the group, but for those with Xbox Live access, they have put some videos up in the Marketplace from ComicCon. Of particular note are “Hanna Barbera/Popeye Panel Coverage”, and “Sailor’s Horn Pipes.” I believe Mr. Beck appears in both videos.

DISCLAIMER: I am not associated with Xbox, Cartoon Brew, Popeye, or the State of Texas and can’t draw to save my life…just a fan saying howdy and looking forward to the DVD.

This is effing AWESOME! Everything about this set is perfect except one tiny little thing. The DVDs are in that “stacked” pattern with the discs overlapping eachother so you have to pull out one to get to the other. This is so forgivable though. I’m really happy about this set!

OK, my only real complaint is they changed the animators credits on “The Organ Grinder’s Swing” for some reason, switching it from Dave Tendlar and William Sturm to Willard Bowsky and George Germanetti. Anyone have any idea what that was all about?

The print of ‘Morning, Noon and Nightclub’ is definately from the AAP print which is controlled by Turner. The gouge is there at the side where it’s always been. However, I think it’s pretty unresonable to expect Warners to turn up every 70 year old master element. What they have done here is a wonderful contribution to the understanding of animation for those who might not be able to otherwise have access to these films. Sinbad is as said here: breath taking. The first half dozen or so on disc one are also better than anything peviously aired or released – and finally we get to see the inkwell right itself at the end! An ‘A’-list release for sure but John K.’s commentary is really really beyond terrible. The money could have been better spent here and I hope another candidate is chosen for ‘Alladin’. This is truly a wonderful batch of cartoons and fans of Popeye have reason to rejoice today!

BUY THIS SET! they don’t make ‘em like this anymore. : (

Just finished watching the first 8 shorts with my 11 year old, a first-time viewer – he loves them! so do I – a lot of forgotten childhood memories (and music cues) came rushing to the surface – tears of joy!

but beyond that, the set is magnificent. thanks, Jerry, bless you and everyone involved. the transfers are immaculate, as everyone has been saying. anyone know the print sources? Library of Congress?

but the even bigger surprise is the audio transfers – clear, clean, crisp, remarkably full fidelity, lots of unearthed nuances. Jerry, any comments on what was done to make these sound so good? thanks for giving the audio equal care.

Ray Fielding, an old film professor of mine, once told us that the Fleischers made the films first, THEN recorded the soundtracks, since everything was timed to the music – any truth to that?

what really stands out, 74 years later, is the Fleischers’ unbridled creativity: great animation and design, musical pacing, great music, lots of funny, trippy gags (weren’t reefers part of the mix there?) – not to mention plenty of refreshing rudeness, agression and lust! well, these are products of rawer times, but there’s also a lot of heart behind them, too. wish we had more of that kind of a mix today.

now how about a similar set of Betty Boops? and the Laurel & Hardy shorts? and rerelease the remastered Little Rascals! come on, Suits, time’s a-wastin’!

I got mine at Best Buy with the sweet tin.. Great set all aorund, the only flaw is some DVNR. I also bought Woody Woodpecker, Space Ghost, and Birdman. Great sets there, too.

I’m thinking of getting that 300 box set, too, but I’ll wait until they do the box set of the inevitable sequels.

Got mine yesterday. Wonderful job! Have only looked at disc one so far, but everything looks and sounds fabulous, way beyond my happiest expectations. I had the notion of watching all the shorts in chronological order (I’m trying to do that with the great Woody set too) to get a sense of the series/character development, BUT IT’S SO HARD! I keep spotting favorite titles (“Man, I haven’t thought of THAT one for years!) and sneaking ahead. Well done!

I had a hell of a time finding the set in Burbank yesterday. The local Best Buy got in 24 copies, Target got in 5, and FYE 2. Toys R Us, Circuit City, K-Mart, zip. The stores that got them were sold out around 2 PM, which was when I went looking for it. All of the salespeople were surprised it even existed and they had to look it up on their computers to see if they had received it. I finally found a copy at the FYE in the Glendale mall, though the manager there said they also received only 2 copies. I don’t know if the stores underordered or if Warners didn’t bother to promote the damn thing (very likely with their vintage cartoon releases) but there didn’t seem to be that many copies in these parts.

Mine’s on the way. Greg Ford told me about the extras on the disc…you could teach an entire animation class with them!
I can’t wait til it gets here. Congratulations Jerry on helping get these little gems out in style.
Now, when do we get to see your fine Betty Boop tape collection on DVD?

Our Wal-Mart got 3 copies, and of course I got one! I have never seen transfers this good, both audio and visual. I have only watched the first disk, but just seeing the first Popeye cartoon alone is worth its weight in gold to me!

On a side note: When I was a kid in the 60′s, I got a Grumbacher Thunderbird projector one year for Christmas. It came with a 200 foot reel of Popeye cartoons which were heavily edited down, one of which was Popeye The Sailor! It was great seeing these cartoons in there unedited forms.

When I got home with my Popeye set, my son said he had just seen a television commercial about it and thought of me. I imagine he was watching either CN or Nick. So there was some TV promotion. And my Best Buy sales ad from Sunday mentioned the exclusive collector’s tin (minimum six per store).

Man, I love this set. My kids don’t care that it’s black and white either. They love them. Just saw the football one this morning. Hilarious when Wimpy comes out onto the field, drinks the water himself, and leaves. And Popeye did a “boop-oop-a-doop” at the end! I haven’t seen some of these since I was a kid myself. It’s all brand new to me!

I’ve never used a promotional coupon enclosed in a DVD, but now I want to. But where do they sell Popeye Spinach? I have a can I bought a couple of decades ago, but it’s really showing it’s age. I’d love to replace it. It’s something of a totem in our home.

I got one of the collector’s tin sets at Best Buy this afternoon, and have been watching selected bits and pieces since I don’t have the luxury of popping in each disc and letting it spin…yet…

One thing struck me as very very odd, and I have no idea in hell how it happened, but if you watch Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad The Sailor with the commentary, the ending music is completely different from the version without the commentary. The commentary version has the “AAP ending” music over the technicolor Paramount logo, while the uncommented version has ending music that’s more in line with what one should expect from a mid-late 1930s Popeye cartoon. This doesn’t happen with Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves, however.

Great set, and the Popumentaries certainly show the difference that the restoration of both the picture and sound have made. Kudos to all involved!

I wonder if the original negative elements of the ending music track still exist. There’s so much we DON’T know about what happened to the Technicolor Specials while they were in AAP custody; do the camera originals still exist (not three strip separation negatives, but the successive-frame exposure single-strip film that Technicolor animation cameras used), are we seeing the correct ending when the last scene dissolves into the Paramount title (rather than fading out or irising out), etc.

On the one hand, I can’t believe that some collection somewhere (LC? UCLA? National Archives?) wouldn’t have a correct Technicolor imbibition print from which the actual correct ending could be taken. On the other hand, nitrate is unstable and seventy-one years is a long time, so perhaps not.

…I’m nitpicking about thirty seconds of screen time when we have gloriously restored films to enjoy, with their correct opening sequences and music. Somebody please eat some spinach and sock some sense into me.

I’m still waiting for Amazon to send mine — “shipping soon” they say. It’s just sitting there! Errgh. I met with King Features publicity folks in 2003, trying to get a 75th birthday theatrical tour together. They made that 3-D cgi disgrace instead. So like all of you I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting…

The clip of Jerry Beck at ComicCon I mentioned earlier can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK46twWaDeA

I’m hoping they still have some of those tins at Ye Local Best Buy!

I also went through the trouble to get the Best Buy tin. I really hope the next three volumes have tins since they’re ultra-classy. The new remasters are beautiful even if they show age a lot. One of my favorites, Shiver Me Timbers, was a real surprise since I had only seen it colorized before. Great set!

I agree with Sgt King about the banal commentary of John, Eddie, and Kali on the Technicolor specials. WHV would have done better, I think, to have put one or two noted animation scholars on the track to talk about the mammoth undertaking that was involved in producing these color films…the use of the horizontal turntable camera and how it worked (Popular Science had a screen magazine segment showing Popeye’s Aladdin being filmed, in color), the complexities involved in the Technicolor process, the extreme amount of publicity that these films were given, the public reaction to them, etc.

Most lay people watching Sindbad or Ali Baba for the first time are not aware of how Technicolor even worked, with their floating imbibition printing baths, gelatin relief printing matrices, separation negatives, or even the way the animation cameras worked by making the red, green, and blue pictures successively on the same strip of film, with optical sequential printing being done to derive the separation negatives from which the matrices were made. They also don’t know that Technicolor was extremely flexible, and could do color corrections in the lab as well as offer six degrees of color intensity in the final print, from subtle and muted to garish and dizzying.

Warner had a golden opportunity to educate the audience, and instead what they gave us was “Yuk yuk, look at that – Bluto just got his [posterior] handed to him again!”.

Mine arrived today, with all discs intact. The color restoration is particularly impressive. Congratulations!

As with a few others, I thought the commentary, or lack thereof, by John, Eddie and Kali was purposeless and offered no insight into the genius behind the creation of those beautiful gems of animation. Listening to that constant giggling was particularly annoying. I was thankful for having versions of those cartoons elsewhere on the disk sans banal remarks and giggling.

The only other minor complaint is the packaging. I realize it’s done to cut down a bit on manufacturing costs (less material required for the packaging), but overlapping disks is dumb. If I want to watch a disk that is underneath, I have to remove the one above it. Looney Tunes Golden Collection (#4) did this same thing. I’d prefer to pay the extra buck or so for a return to non-overlapping disks.

That being said, this set is amazing, make that AWESOME, and like most others here, I have been waiting in anticipation for years to see these Popeye episodes released to the public.

Two of my personal favorite black and white episodes are, “The Paneless Window Washer,” and “I-ski Love-ski You-ski,” and watching the SinBad the Sailor color two-reeler was akin to looking at a luscious piece of beautifully made birthday cake. Abu Haaaaaassan !!!

Can barely wait to see volume 2.

Awesome set, I’ll echo the sentiment regarding the low-rent packaging, is it me or does Warner consistently have the worst DVD boxes? -glares at cardboard-packaged WB DVDs on shelf-

A minor complaint, though, bring on volume 2!

With regard to the promised “publicity campaign”, I was complekely susprised while watching AMC last weekend (you know: Any Minute a Commercial) and saw ads! TV ads for the thing! TWICE! I’ve never, EVER seen a TV commercial for any of the previous “classic cartoon” collections from any studio. Am I totally wrong or is this, in fact, unprecedented?

That’s the only negative I’ve noticed on this otherwise amazing set. The jittering doesn’t happen in every cartoon, fortunately.

Fabulous restoration and mastering jobs! Great audio.

The DVD set is amazing! I got mine at Target almost a month ago. And after watching “Sindbad” and “Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves” with restored opening titles for the first time, I have to say I am impressed! As for that “Making of Popeye as Aladdin” segment, I recently found it on YouTube at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0P795hUCIo It’s very interesting and I hope they include that as an extra on Volume 2. I just hope they can restore the Famous Studios color Popeye cartoons for DVD, those are my faves of the series.