We are way too happy to report that the Popeye DVD series is going the distance…at least through the black-and-white cartoons produced by the Max Fleischer studio, plus a few color specials by the same outfit. A couple years ago, if you'd gathered cartoon buffs in a room and asked them to fantasize the ideal DVD release of some vintage animation series, the consensus would have been very much like what we're now getting. The early Fleischer Popeyes were the most-desired cartoons that (then) seemed to not be anywhere on the horizon…and the buffs would have yearned for them to be reissued with sharp restoration, everything in sequence, nothing censored, etc., with just the right bonus material.
Volume 1 came out last July and all I could say was, "Well, blow me down." Sharp restoration, everything in sequence, etc. Apart from the fact that I was in the bonus material, it was perfect.
You can order that first volume from this link and you can pre-order the second, which comes out this week, from this link. The third volume will follow closely. It's currently scheduled for the end of September.
Do not, by the way, get confused. Time Warner Home Video is also bringing out a single-disc this week called Popeye and Friends. This is a batch of the 1978 Popeye cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera. I'm not including a link for that one because you don't want to order it…but make sure you get the other sets.