Popeye takes his first voyage on 21st-century TV

NEW YORK – Popeye’s back on. Sure. But is he see-worthy?

Since the late ’80s, he’s been virtually beached – no new cartoons have been made, and only sporadic reruns have aired, in syndication or on the Cartoon Network.

So the Christmas special “Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest for Pappy” (8:30 p.m. Friday on Fox) marks a comeback for the pipe-chompin’ sailor with seemingly steroid-infused forearms.

The show keeps much of the longtime traditions and cast of characters: ditsy but feisty Olive Oyl, precocious Swee’pea, big dumb Bluto, hamburger-hungry moocher Wimpy; that strange love triangle that’s always resolved in Popeye’s favor; and of course Popeye’s fractured syntax, mangled words and single-minded taste for spinach.

But Popeye sails into the 21st century in a couple of ways: The animation is a handsome, computer-generated 3-D, and the plot touches on issues of paternal abandonment and family reconciliation.

Co-written by Paul Reiser (from “Mad About You”), the story focuses on a trip Popeye takes to find his long-lost Pappy, who he believes left him without explanation as a child. Along the way, the Sea Hag (voiced by Academy Award winner Kathy Bates) literally casts a dark cloud over his pursuit.

“The word ‘reinvent’ scares people,’ said Frank Caruso, the show’s executive producer.

Instead, he thought of it as “re-establishing, reinvigorating” the franchise.

Popeye made his first appearance Jan. 17, 1929, in what was planned as a one-time cameo – in E.C. “Elzie” Segar’s newspaper comic strip “Thimble Theater.” The public loved him: He was such a hit he was brought back and made a star character.

Animator Max Fleisher and brother Dave (of “Betty Boop” fame) started making animated shorts starring Popeye in 1933. After the Fleishers, Paramount’s Famous Studios made the cartoons, which became a staple (along with the Three Stooges) in the 1950s and ’60s on after-school kiddie shows.

Baby boomers who grew up with those shows should feel a heartwarming, nostalgic familiarity with the new program (already out on DVD). And for those who came of age in the ’80s, Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO (who has written the score for many movies including Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore”) did the music.

But at 75, Popeye really is an old salt and may not appeal to kids who prefer a low-sodium TV diet.

At a recent screening at the Museum of Television &Radio, which has an exhibit marking Popeye’s diamond anniversary running through Jan. 30, a little girl watched along with her mother, Caruso recalled. When there’s the inevitable scene in which Popeye eats spinach and mops up the villain, mom immediately started humming the theme song.

“Ma, how’d you know that was going to happen?” the youngster asked.

While Hanna-Barbera brought Popeye to CBS’ Saturday morning lineup from 1978 to ‘83, Robert Altman directed the execrable 1980 live-action feature film starring Robin Williams. Then came a short-lived TV series that appalled many fans – “Popeye and Son.” The 1987-88 show was a crass domestication of the gang – a bourgeois suburbanization with toned-down violence and without Swee’pea, who had been supplanted by the spinach-hating Junior, the offspring of the now-married Popeye and Olive Oyl.

Caruso and company didn’t want to make that mistake.

“We really broke the character down to the early days of Segar,” Caruso told The Associated Press. “We asked ourselves: Why did people latch on to this character? He’s a hero. He’s in a sense an Everyguy. He doesn’t have superpowers.”

But Popeye does have a clear-cut sense of right and wrong.

When pushed to the limit, he always says: “That’s all I kin stans and I can’t stans no more!”

Those words are now uttered by Billy West, who first did Popeye (and Bluto) for a MinuteMaid commercial a few years ago.

Longtime fans will by gratified by how well he’s got it down. West’s rendition of the gravelly voice (and muttered asides) is true to Jack Mercer, who did Popeye for more than 45 years until his death in 1984.