Day: June 19, 2007

Popeye’s Alien Abduction

There was a major Sci-Fi craze during the 1950’s, helped along by the UFO sightings that began after WW2. Another 50’s fad, a brief one, was 3-D movies. The 1953 cartoon “Popeye, The Ace of Space” was released in 3-D. Keep that in mind while watching the video.

 

This cartoon contains a couple scenes of “alien experimentation” that upset me greatly as a child, despite Popeye escaping unharmed (thanks to spinach, of course). Scanning through some of the later Popeye cartoons released by Paramount, it seems that someone at the Famous studio had a real sadistic streak that crossed the line from cartoon mayhem into something darker and more disturbing.

Eye-Popping Popeye

As mentioned previously, I was big into Popeye cartoons as a kid. This sentiment was mostly based on the black and white cartoons produced by the Fleischer brothers, Max and Dave, and not the color cartoons done by Famous, after Paramount took over the studio. But I watched those too, and last night my FiOS TV DVR caught one that I haven’t seen in 40 years.

It’s “Peep in the Deep,” from 1946. Watch and see how the cartoonists set up a particular gag and got away with what they did, still earning a “G” rating by today’s standards. I got a real cheap thrill out of this one as a kid.

Even as a little kid I was bugged by the logical lapses in underwater cartoons. For example the air hoses go nowhere (I knew about SCUBA gear from Sea Hunt), and Popeye blows smoke from his pipe, etc.

Toby Keith is a Big, Fat Idiot

I only vaguely have an awareness of country music singer Toby Keith. About all I can recall is the feud he had with the Dixie Chicks — who turned out to be right, of course, about George Bush. Stephen Colbert had Toby Keith on his show tonight. If Keith isn’t putting on a front, this guy is a total moron. The song Keith sings is the usual sort of unoriginal, by-the-numbers crap that guys like him do. Hey, talent like that goes only so far, y’know? Steve Earle he ain’t, musically or politically.
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