Line #11 WesternAnimation/PopeyeTheSailor


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/popeye_5.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Yep, it all started as a crossover with [[WesternAnimation/BettyBoop her]].]]
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4	''Popeye the Sailor'' is a 1933 theatrical cartoon short produced by [[Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer Fleischer Studios]] and distributed by Creator/{{Paramount}}. It marks the first appearance of the [[ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} eponymous comic strip character]] in animation. It was billed as a WesternAnimation/BettyBoop cartoon, but she's clearly not the main star in it (this was to ensure many theaters already showing the Betty Boop series could pick up the cartoon, to see if audiences liked seeing Popeye in animation, [[BreakoutCharacter to which they did, leading Popeye to get his own series]]).
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6	The ''Popeye'' series' formula is established right out of the starting gate with this cartoon, with Bluto kidnapping Olive Oyl and Popeye having to chase him down and beat him into submission to prevent Olive from being run over by a train. Spinach is introduced as power-up to save the day.
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8	!!''Popeye the Sailor'' contains examples of the following tropes:
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10	* AbhorrentAdmirer: The first time in animation that Bluto chased after Olive Oyl without her consent.
11	* ChainedToARailway: Bluto chains Olive to a railway (she's tied up ''with the train tracks'' in order to kill Olive in a train crash, somehow) since she keeps refusing his advances.
12	* RaceLift/ChangingTheMajority: Just like in WesternAnimation/BettyBoopsBambooIsle, in this short Betty is a Samoan hula dancer with darker skin then usual.
13	* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Both Popeye and Bluto are incredibly strong even without spinach here. Popeye is introduced punching several big metal objects into plenty of much smaller objects, sends a high striker's striker ''in the Moon's face'' without the need of a mallet (he even reduces said mallet to dust beforehand) and pulls a whole cliff to him with a rope. Bluto has no problem using ''train tracks'' to tie up Olive, also.
14	* {{Crossover}}: Although Betty Boop doesn't do much in this one, it's effectively a crossover between a comic strip property that was unrelated to the Fleischer studios' animated star and the latter, if only for the hula dance scene.
15	* CutASliceTakeTheRest: After Bluto rings the bell at a strength tester and is offered a cigar from a cigar box, Bluto takes a cigar, then takes the filled cigar box and pockets it and puts the lone cigar in the carnival worker's mouth.
16	* DemotedToExtra: The short is definitely billed as a Betty Boop one, but she appears in it only for the hula dance scene.
17	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
18	** It was a Betty Boop short and not Popeye's own series yet. As such, plenty of features (such as {{Funny Animal}}s and DerangedAnimation) are straight out of earlier Golden Age Fleischer shorts. They would be phased out in later shorts.
19	** Olive's voice was not yet high-pitched.
20	** While the short introduces [[PowerUpFood raw spinach as power-up]], Popeye doesn't seem to really need it (he displays impressive feats of CharlesAtlasSuperpower throughout the short -- one should note that he's already super strong in the comic strips, which carried over to here, and doesn't need spinach in them) nor does he seem to be in peril when he eats it (he looks more bored than incapacitated by Bluto when doing so).
21	* {{Fanservice}}: Betty Boop dancing the hula in little more than a grass skirt and a strategically placed lei, just like she did in her 1932 short "WesternAnimation/BettyBoopsBambooIsle".
22	* TheFreakshow: The fair corner where Betty Boop dances is apparently a freak circus, with several posters about such people exhibitions. Popeye "borrows" a [[GirlsWithMoustaches bearded woman]]'s beard to use as hula skirt when dancing alongside Betty.
23	* IAmSong: The short also marks the first time "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" was sung by the protagonist. It opens the short following a live action footage of newspapers announcing that Popeye (who was already famous in comic strip form at this point) is making it to theaters.
24	* ICantLookGesture: While dancing along with Betty Boop, Popeye playfully covers his eyes in shame for Betty's sexy moves.
25	* {{Jerkass}}: Bluto's very unpleasant personality and behavior were already in full display.
26	* TheManInTheMoon: Popeye sends a fair high striker's striker straight into the Moon, which happens to have a face. A black eye ensues for the Moon.
27	* NoCanOpener: Popeye rarely needs a can opener to open his can of spinach. Usually, he squeezes it open or applies another method --e.g.: a submarine propeller in [[Recap/Popeye1943SpinachFerBritain "Spinach fer Britain"]].
28	* OfCorsetsFunny: Popeye is revealed to be wearing a girdle during his song.
29	* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: One wonders if including the appearance of Betty Boop was even necessary.
30	* {{Rotoscoping}}: Used for Betty's dancing. Some of it is recycled from her 1932 short "Bamboo Isle".
31	* TrackTrouble: Bluto [[ChainedToARailway ties up Olive Oyl with railroad tracks]], in order to cause a train wreck that would kill her. Olive is saved, but the train still get wrecked from Popeye [[{{Trainstopping}} punching it with one blow]] before it can derail and hit Olive.
32	* {{Trainstopping}}: Popeye saves Olive by ''punching out'' the train at the last second.

Context WesternAnimation / PopeyeTheSailor