CBBC Memories – The All-New Popeye Show.

The All-New Popeye Show (CBS, 1978-1983)

This is a cartoon character who has been around for a very long time. Indeed, I do remember seeing some cartoons of Popeye that were made in black-and-white, which was a rather strange experience, and seemed to defeat the point of them to me really, as I always presumed that they were designed to be rather colourful. But I was most fond of the series that were made in the 70s and 80s.

Although I thought that I had reviewed them all by now, it does seem that The All-New Popeye Show was yet another Hanna-Barbera production (although this mostly featured human characters rather than talking animals or anything like that, and they were rather unusual-looking ones). Popeye is of course the sailor man, and a can of spinach can do some rather unusual things to him, like giving him super strength.

Although I remember reading that in his very earliest stories, he actually gained his strength from rubbing a magic hen, which I thought was nonsense, but it does seem that this is actually the case. Well people had to be entertained somehow about 100 years ago. I’ve never had much spinach myself, I can’t imagine what would happen if I did. But this always manages to get him and everyone else out of a situation that could be best described as sticky.

The other main characters include Popeye’s friends Olive Oyl, hamburger enthusiast Wimpy, and his quadruplet nephews, along with Bluto, who most certainly can’t be considered to be a friend. After saving the day, he would also often end episodes with a song. There were also a few extra segments, such as Popeye’s Treasure Hunt, and Private Olive Oyl, featuring her bizarre adventures in the army.

Also, during the original run of the show, there was a live-action film made, starring Robin Williams, and nobody seems to know why. I can’t recall ever seeing this myself, although it would appear that I haven’t missed that much. The All-New Popeye Show was shown on CBBC for many years. And then going into the late-80s, there was another cartoon series, called Popeye And Son.

Well it seemed that after years of speculation, he has finally got together with Olive and now they have a son, we’d see their adventures together, and I’m sure that Junior was a right old chip off the old block that he called sonny boy. And there have been many spin-offs beyond this. I was surprised to discover that both these series were being repeated on CBBC as late as 2004.

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