Popeye the Sailor Man

Features, Shorts, Live-Action and Direct-To-Video
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Post by Daniel » November 4th, 2008, 12:24 am

Volume 3 comes out tomorrow! Anyone picking it up? Best Buy's exclusive this time around is a collectible comic book. If I'm able to, I'll be picking it up this week.

Also, I'm happy to say I received my replacement disc in the mail today! Talk about great planning, huh? In it, they included a pre-paid envelope to send back the defective disc. Will be sending that out tomorrow.

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Post by Randall » November 4th, 2008, 12:34 am

My review copy is in transit. I should have it soon.

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Post by EricJ » November 4th, 2008, 12:52 am

Already got mine in the mail, and was on the floor laughing at "Seeing Red, White & Blue"--
(It's the Three Stooges rule of wartime humor: If aiming low is un-PC, it's patriotic to aim lower...) :)

And that appears to be the ballgame for my collection, as there's no way I'm making any contact with the color Paramounts....Next classic?

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Post by Ben » November 4th, 2008, 7:31 am

Still need to phone WB about that disc replacement! Will order Popeye tonight. :)

I think I'm going to pass on the Famous toons. I don't see how they're going to sell, as it seems only the die-hards are keeping this series going and they all know these cartoons are not worth it. Which means more two disc sets instead of fours, which means the series will be dragged out for longer than it needs to be, which means eventually they won't sell, which means the Famous cartoons not being completed on DVD.

Plus they're fighting against other public domain releases like the Koch set, which most who need these cartoons will already have. Granted we're not talking <I>specifically</I> about the same cartoons, but unless WB really goes to town with something stupidly elaborate as an extra pull, I just can't see these leaping off shelves.

Next classic? Mighty Mouse and a decent appreciation for TerryToons, from <I>someone</I>... ;)

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Post by EricJ » November 4th, 2008, 12:18 pm

Excuse me, did you actually say that someone would KEEP their public domain versions in the face of a Warner restored version?
Are you speaking from personal experience??

(Which also applies to any Mighty Mouse as well, as most of Terrytoon seems to be owner-unknown.)

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Post by GeorgeC » November 4th, 2008, 2:54 pm

Why SHOULDN'T people keep public domain copies of some of these cartoons?

Some of those PD sets have extras that aren't available on the "authorized" sets!

In many cases, what gets released on the official sets really isn't in that much better condition, either. The Private SNAFU shorts on the Looney Tunes Golden Colllections don't look any better than they did on the Bosko Video complete Private SNAFU DVD.

The Thunderbean and VCI Popeye discs do NOT infringe on WB's rights to Popeye. All the cartoons on the discs released by Thunderbean and VCI are public domain -- the copyrights on those Popeye shorts expired before they were renewed so the cartoons are fair game for DVD release.

The Thunderbean Popeye disc is STILL excellent! Prior to the WB release of Popeye, it had the best copies of the full-color Fleischer Popeye shorts on the DVD market and tons of exclusive extras (interviews, audio clips, etc.) you couldn't get anywhere else.

People keep older DVDs for different reasons. A big reason to keep older DVD releases IS for the extras that aren't duplicated on newer releases!

(Some of us also keep older DVD releases for the eventual "portable video player" sessions. It's harder to crack the Region Locks on newer DVD releases. 'Nuff said on that!)

Again, that's the same reason why people like myself, Ben, Droo, and Randall have kept laserdiscs -- the Disney sets in particular. There's just a wealth of backstory and exclusive behind-the-scenes production material that hasn't been ported to the DVD AND Blu-Ray releases!
Last edited by GeorgeC on November 4th, 2008, 4:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Ben » November 4th, 2008, 4:42 pm

Thanks George.

Yes, actually Eric, I do still have plenty of PD collections. I have one that I actually think has a better transfer of Popeye Vs Sindbad than what we got from WB, but my point was <I>who's to say that WB will spend much time actually cleaning up the Famous cartoons</I>?

You really think they're going to sink that kind of money in on bad cartoons with little sales potential? We'll get one-wipe video clean-up and that's that.

And I wasn't saying that people would keep their old PD sets (of Popeye ONLY), only that with that competition, would that many people choose to buy this sub-par cartoons again? As I said, it would take some very decent extras to entice.


With Mighty Mouse, the character is controlled by Viacom, and I'm not sure if that's now reverted back to Paramount, but the ownership of the cartoons themselves is under debate as I understand it. You simply asked "what's the next classic"...I was making a valid suggestion, even though - yes - I do actually have three or four hours worth of Mighty Mouse cartoons from a short-lived public domain series. I'd <I>love</I> those cartoons to be made properly available in restored or remastered editions.


You really do need to read other people's posts (not just mine) more clearly, buster. :)

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Post by GeorgeC » November 4th, 2008, 5:00 pm

I think it'll be a cold day in ---- before Viacom/Paramount wise up and actually release ANY of their classic cartoons to DVD.

Hold on to those PD DVD sets and VHS recordings, guys. It'll be a long wait...

I think it's more a matter of ignorance on the part of V/P home video executives than it is willful stubbornness and low sales fears on the part of V/P as to why the TerryToons, Betty Boop shorts, and other Fleischer/Famous Studios shorts (V/P may still own) have not shown up on DVD yet.

The multimedia conglomerates have gotten so big that I doubt most of the people who work for these companies really know what the companies really own! There's a famous story about Warner Bros. back in the day when Jack Warner still ran the studio. He was under the impression that WB produced Mickey Mouse shorts! The (apocryphal) story goes on to relate that he shut down the WB animation studio in the 1950s when he found out they produced Bugs Bunny shorts.

Another funny thing is that in the short-lived Viacom stores there was plenty of TerryToons animation art for sale. They were sure merchandizing the likeness of the characters even if they weren't selling them on video back in the late 1990s!

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Post by Ben » November 4th, 2008, 6:24 pm

I agree...Universal didn't realise they owned a bunch of Walt Disney cartoons before Bob Iger made that deal to swap the sports anchor for Oswald!

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Post by Ben » November 26th, 2008, 5:59 pm

So...I just finally phoned through for the Popeye replacement (Volume 2, Disc 1) and spoke to a very nice WHV lady who asked if I needed any of the Tom & Jerry discs.

I said no (don't have any of those sets on DVD, just stuck with the LDs) but wondered if anyone else here had them and were not aware replacements were going out.

They're for T&J V1, Disc 1, and both Discs 1 and 2 for T&J V2. What were the problems with those discs? Uncut cartoons or transfer issues?

Anyway...hope that's of some help. :)

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Post by GeorgeC » November 26th, 2008, 8:09 pm

You realized you posted this in another forum?

For shame, Ben, for shame. 'Sposed to set an example for the rest of us!

I'm shattered...! :cry:

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Post by Daniel » November 26th, 2008, 11:02 pm

I think it was intentional. :)

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Post by Ben » November 27th, 2008, 7:29 am

Sho'was! ;)

It was kind of an update to the Popeye thread, but as I posted it I wondered if those interested solely in the T&Js would even bother to read it! Hence the double post...exactly the same, so as to not look like I was trying to turn either topic away from its intention, and no harm done.

Anyway, I'm a moderator... ;)

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