Popeye: 75th Anniversary Collection

Buying this collection of 85 Popeye cartoons, which were produced for television from 1960-1961 by King Features Syndicate, is like buying a boxed set of James Bond films and winding up with all of the Roger Moores: these are, to say the least, not Popeye's finest hours. The spinach-scarfing, grammar-garbling sailor man, who made his comic strip debut in 1929, and his screen debut in 1933, is a much tamer, more domesticated character than in the knockabout Max Fleischer cartoons of the 1930s and '40s. Several of the cartoons, such as the surreal space adventure "Hit and Missiles," are see-worthy, but the mass-produced animation, which simplified the once distinctive character design, is hit or miss in quality. To paraphrase the titular swab: they are what they are, but that's rather disappointing. Presented in a three-disc set boasting reasonably good transfers but no extras, Popeye: 75th Anniversary Collection is an optional purchase. (D. Liebenson)