The All New Popeye Hour

The show was produced by the legendary studios of Hanna-Barbera, which tried to retain the style of the original Thimble Theatre comic strip while complying with the prevailing content restrictions on violence.[1] Featured characters, aside from the popular main stars of Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oyl and Wimpy, were Swee'Pea, Poopdeck Pappy, Eugene the Jeep and Popeye's quadruplet nephews. Popeye's outfit reverted to his sailor's uniform, except for his cap, which was retained as the white Navy hat. Bluto's name was restored, as it had erroneously been changed to "Brutus" for the early 1960s Popeye cartoons.[2] Olive Oyl also reverted to her 1930s look.

At the start, The All-New Popeye Hour had a number of regular components: "The Adventures of Popeye", "Popeye's Treasure Hunt" and "Dinky Dog" (a non-Popeye segment about the misadventures of an enormous sheepdog that was later spun off into its own show). In 1979, the show added "Popeye's Sports Parade" and "Popeye's Safety Tips".[3]

Because of restrictions on violence on television cartoons for children at the time, Popeye did not throw punches in retaliation to Bluto; he often lifted him, with his own hands or with machinery, and hurled him away.[4] The series marked the last time Jack Mercer would voice Popeye; he died on December 4, 1984, fifteen months after the show's cancellation.

The All New Popeye Hour ran on CBS until September 1981, when it was cut to a half-hour and retitled The Popeye and Olive Comedy Show. The truncated show added two new components. The first, "Prehistoric Popeye", transported the sailor to the prehistoric stone age of The Flintstones.[3] The second new feature was "Private Olive Oyl", where Olive and Alice the Goon join the Army, then proceed to drive their drill sergeant, Sgt. Bertha Blast (voiced by Jo Anne Worley) nuts, yet impress the base commander, Col. Crumb (voiced by Hal Smith). This cartoon is based on the idea of Private Benjamin; Hanna-Barbera was also concurrently producing a virtually identical concept with sitcom characters Laverne and Shirley called Laverne and Shirley in the Army for rival network ABC at the time.[5]

The show was removed from the CBS lineup in September 1983, and the cartoons were immediately sold to local stations in nationwide syndication. They have also been released on VHS and DVD. During the time these cartoons were in production, CBS aired The Popeye Valentine Special: Sweethearts at Sea on February 14, 1979 at 8:30 PM (Eastern).[6] In the UK, the BBC aired a half-hour version of The All New Popeye Show, from the early-1980s to 2004. Unlike cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, The All New Popeye Hour did not contain a laugh track.

The syndicated version can currently be seen for free on Amazon Video with a subscription to Amazon Prime, or at 99 cents per episode (as "Popeye: The Continuing Adventures").

In addition to providing many of the cartoon scripts, Jack Mercer reprised his voice as Popeye, while Marilyn Schreffler and Allan Melvin became the new voices of Olive Oyl and Bluto, respectively (Mae Questel auditioned for Hanna-Barbera to recreate Olive Oyl, but was rejected in favor of Schreffler).

The first DVD that features The All-New Popeye Hour was released on May 16, 2000 by Rhino Home Video with eighteen cartoon segments. A few years later, Warner Home Video (via Turner Entertainment Co. and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released Popeye & Friends - Volume One, a single DVD featuring eight unedited, full-color Popeye cartoons from Hanna-Barbera's 1978 TV series, The All-New Popeye Hour, on November 4, 2008 (Hanna-Barbera is a division of WB).[7] The cartoons included are: 'Abject Flying Object', 'Ship Ahoy', 'I Wouldn't Take That Mare to the Fair on a Dare', 'Popeye Goes Sightseeing', 'Chips Off the Old Ice Block', 'Popeye the Plumber', 'Swee'pea Plagues a Parade', 'Polly Wants Some Spinach'. A second single-disc volume of H-B produced Popeye TV cartoons was also scheduled for release titled Popeye & Friends - Volume Two,[8] featuring cartoons from the subsequent Hanna-Barbera Popeye revival, Popeye and Son, but Warner decided to cancel the release of this DVD.[9] However, it was released on Region 4 DVD in Australia. As of now, the series has yet to have a complete series DVD box set.

• The All New Popeye Hour on IMDb
• The All New Popeye Hour at TV.com
• The All-New Popeye Hour DVD news: Final Box Art for Dinky Dog - The Complete Series
• episode listing in the Animation page on Hearst Entertainment's site