POPEYE!! NASA MISSIONS!! ER!! BURN NOTICE!! BOSTON LEGAL!! FRIDAY THE 13TH!! HercVault!!

I am – Hercules!!

The second volume of the Fleischer Bros.’ wonderful classic Popeye theatrical shorts contains half as many cartoons, discs and extras as volume one, but at $24.49 it’s also half as expensive and I guess twice as easy to buy. The 31 adventures here include all those released to cinemas between May 29, 1938 and Dec. 13, 1940. DISC 1 I Yam Love Sick (1938) Plumbing Is A Pipe (1938) The Jeep (1938) Bulldozing The Bull (1938) Mutiny Ain't Nice (1938) Goonland (1938) A Date To Skate (1938) Cops Is Always Right (1938) Customers Wanted (1939) Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp (1939) Leave Well Enough Alone (1939) Wotta Nitemare (1939) Ghosks Is The Bunk (1939) Hello, How Am I (1939) It’s The Natural Thing To Do (1939) DISC 2 Never Sock A Baby (1939) Shalespearian Spinach (1940) Females Is Fickle (1940) Stealin' Ain't Honest (1940) Me Feelin's Is Hurt (1940) Onion Pacific (1940) Wimmin Is A Myskery (1940) Nurse-Mates (1940) Fightin' Pals (1940) Doin' Impossikible Stunts (1940) Wimmin Hadn't Oughta Drive (1940) Puttin On The Act (1940) Popeye Meets William Tell (1940) My Pop, My Pop (1940) With Poopdeck Pappy (1940) Popeye Presents Eugene The Jeep (1940) Thirteen of the 31 episodes feature commentaries, contributed variously by directors Bob Jacques and Eric Goldberg, writer Paul Dini, historians Glenn Mitchell, Michael Barrier, Jerry Beck and Daniel Goldmark, animators Shamus Culhane, Mark Kausler, Arnold Gillespie and Gordon Sheehan, and documentarian Greg Ford. The set includes four documentaries: * “Out of the Inkwell: The Fleischer Story” (47:20) Learn that Walt Disney was a nobody when the bad-boy Fleischers ruled the animation world. Learn that older brother Charles Fleischer invented the “claw” arcade game that allowed patrons to fish prizes out of a glass cage. Learn that Betty Boop was originally intended as a girlfriend for Bimbo The Dog, and had dog-like features. Learn that Popeye’s 18-minute color two-reelers were sold to audiences as “features.” Learn that the Fleischers’ first true feature, “Gulliver’s Travels,” was one of the year’s top-ten grossers. Learn that a follow-up, “Mr. Bug Goes To Town,” flopped in large part because it was released Dec. 7, 1941. Learn that the Max and Dave Fleischer parted bitterly, but the reasons behind the split remain uncertain. Learn that Dave left New York’s Paramount studio for Hollywood’s Columbia, then Universal. Learn that Max got involved with the production of industrial films and spent years trying to invent a perpetual-motion machine. Learn that most of the Fleisher animators went to work for Disney. * “Eugene The Jeep: A Breed Of His Own” (3:17). A look at Popeye’s magical Orchid-eating dog. The Army jeep may have earned its name because, like Popeye’s jeep, it could go anywhere. * “Poopdeck Pappy: The Nasty Old Man and the Sea” (5:09). Popeye’s 99-year-old pop, we learn, was brought aboard the Thimble Theatre cartoon strip to soften the Popeye persona. He made his movie debut in 1938’s “Goon Land,” but quickly became a regular in the shorts. * “O-Re-Mi: Mae Questel and the Voices of Olive Oyl” (8:38). Learn the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl came out of Yiddish theatre. Learn that an actress named Bonnie Poe briefly gave Olive a Brooklyn accent. Learn that Questel based Olive’s voice on Zazu Pitts’. She continued doing Olive’s voice all the way into “Popeye and Son” in the late 1980s. * “Men of Spinach and Steel” (6:20). Popeye is compared to the Fleischers’ other popular strongman, Superman. Popeye, who came along when Siegel and Shuster were about seven, may have been an inspiration for the Last Son of Krypton and a lot of the other funnybook superheroes. Both Popeye and Bluto eventually return the favor by donning the Superman costume. Other extras include: * “Paramount Presents Popular Science” (1938; 6:32). An incestuous installment of the largely forgotten documentary series, focusing on the Fleishers’ state-of-the-art Miami animation studios. * “The Mechanical Monsters” (1941; 11:02). The amazing first motion picture to feature “Superman.” It begins with a two-minute origin story that explains that the Man of Tomorrow grew up in an orphanage. Unexplained is how this orphan came to call himself Clark Kent. Superman’s eyes change in a creepy, decidedly alien manner as he switches to x-ray vision. Supes can fly, but doesn’t seem a whole lot stronger than Batman as he combats the title characters. * “Early Max Fleischer Art Gallery” (3:06). A look at 19 pencil sketches a 14-year-old Max Fleischer drew in 1897. * “Females Is Fickle” pencil test (:31). The sailor man is vexed by a fish. A title card assures us this is a particularly rare document because the Fleischers discouraged pencil tests. * “Stealin Ain’t Honest” storyboard reel (6:12). A side-by-side comparison of the short’s crude storyboards to the completed film. * “I’m Popeye The Sailor Man” vintage audio recording (2:25). This allowed fans to take Popeye’s voice home! * Michael Sporn’s audio interview with Jack Mercer, who provided Popeye’s voice (6:11). Mercer’s real voice turns out to be not unlike the sailor man’s. A lot of material for $24.49! How is it Warner Home Entertainment continues to issue a bunch of shorts preceded by the Paramount logo? Paramount sold the Popeye catalog to Associated Artists Productions (AAP), purchased by United Artists in 1958, purchased by Turner Entertainment in 1986, purchased by Time Warner in 1996. Fleischer Studios remained in the Popeye game until July 1942, so look for at least one more Dave & Max set. Paramount continued the series Fleischer-free until August 1957, after which the sailor man became the domain of television and a Robert Altman movie. King Features produced 200 (!) TV cartoons (co-starring Brutus instead of Bluto) in 1961 and 1962. With that much toonage flooding the syndication market, the Spinach-muncher steered clear of filmed entertainment until September 1978, when CBS launched on Saturday mornings Hanna-Barbera’s “All-New Popeye Hour” and its half-hour 1981 sequel “The Popeye and Olive Show.”

It is from this era we get the eight 8-minute episodes that comprise Popeye & Friends Vol. 1. Stiff slow sanitized Saturday sitcom smallfry swill. This one also went on sale today; don’t accidentally buy it unless you hate your children.

“ER” enters its 15th and final season this fall, but don’t expect me to watch it. The series’ 2002-2003 season goes on sale today to remind us of how compelling the show was when Jack Orman was running it – and before it devolved into the unfunny dramedy perhaps better designated “Stamos’ Anatomy.” By season nine George Clooney and Julianna Margulies were long gone, Anthony Edwards and Eriq LaSalle had just departed and a restless Noah Wylie was eyeing an exit, so we find first-season faces Sherry Stringfield and Ming-Na Wen returned to the fold in time to grace the DVD box. Lockhart and Carter grow apart as her troubled brother enters the picture and she climbs back into the bottle. Weaver gets kicked upstairs. Romano begins his downward spiral (the 9th was Paul McCrane’s last full season) thanks to a shocking mishap and subsequent demotion to E.R. duty. The season ends with an installment written by John Wells, about Carter joining romantic rival Kovac in Africa. The new set comes packed with a gag reel and loads of deleted scenes from 17 of the season’s 22 episodes.

An action-dramedy from a maker of short films named Matt Nix, “Burn Notice” is about a formerly globetrotting spy named Michael Weston (dreamy Jeffrey Donovan) who -- having learned that he has been suddenly and mysteriously deemed untrustworthy by the entire intelligence community -- makes ends meet as a private investigator in Miami, his hometown, as he tries to work out who betrayed him. I liked parts of it, was bored by others, and ended up deleting subsequent episodes from my TiVo because I needed the space for “Lost,” “Galactica” and other shows I liked better. TV Guide said:

… while the deadpan Westen is scrappy and resourceful, the pilot is neither thrilling nor funny enough to earn notice. …

Entertainment Weekly said:

The best reason to watch USA's new spy drama, Burn Notice, is Jeffrey Donovan. … a standard detective story that's brightened by unusual characters and snazzy dialogue. …

The New York Times said:

… the casual irreverence of “Burn Notice” is a little unsettling … cheerfully insouciant about the world’s trouble spots but takes its hero’s inner child to heart. Michael has a soft spot for children, yet he is so emotionally stunted that he cannot maintain a relationship. But heavily armed gangs roaming African streets that evoke present-day Somalia and Sudan are used to comic effect. When Michael is dragged by Nigerian gunmen and tossed into the back seat of a waiting Mercedes, he makes sardonic small talk with the two large, menacing thugs on either side of him: “You know, Mercedes makes an S.U.V. now,” he says. “Big back seat. It’s great. Surprisingly affordable too.” …

The Los Angeles Times said:

… delightful … the show floats along on a spy's-handbook narration that sounds remarkably convincing. We learn how to make a listening device from two cellphones; that "in a fight you have to be careful not to break all the little bones in your hand on someone's face"; that when housebreaking "you want to look like a legitimate visitor"; that a spy's best friend is a hardware store. …

The Chicago Tribune said:

… a highly enjoyable hybrid, one that marries espionage and crime stories to a dry comedic tone. The result is a series that will probably appeal to fans of AMC’s underappreciated “Hustle” and Showtime’s “Dexter,” as well as those films starring Bond, James Bond. …

The Philadelphia Inquirer said:

Looking for something new and different on TV? It's not Burn Notice. Looking for some summertime fun? It is Burn Notice …

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said:

… "Burn Notice," like many hot weather commitments, is casual. Although it'll satisfy your urge for small-screen action and tug at your emotions every so slightly in the same fleet-footed hour, you might not feel compelled to come back week after week. That's just fine, because you'll always be excited to stumble on this show, and you'll never be lost. … I

The Orlando Sentinel said:

… flashy, erratic action series … sends Michael on a quest to find out why he was axed. But the show also loads him down with too much narration. As the hero, appealing Donovan has to chatter too much. "Burn Notice" also saddles Michael with a forlorn former lover, Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar). Their scenes lack fizz. …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said:

… the kind of show you don't want to think about too hard, just as it doesn't pay to dissect such glib Michael-isms as: "Guns make you stupid; duct tape makes you smart." Just enjoy Donovan's spirited sarcasm, Anwar's feisty-lass act and Gless' mordant mom. And if you're a fan of "Psych" and "Monk," you probably will.

The Boston Herald said:

… Part spy caper, part dramedy, part boring … The show is an easy fit with USA’s “Monk” and “Psych” - series that are quirky but hardly appointment television. “Burn Notice” has a spark of life. Now, if USA Network would just fan the writers.

Variety said:

… USA delivers a pleasant surprise, if only because so little about the concept indicates how much fun the 90-minute premiere is. …

The Hollywood Reporter said:

… goes a little heavy on exposition. Far too many scenes open with a Westen voice-over. Many of these are instructive, even amusing, but the technique is overused. Worse, it borrows from a film noir style that is otherwise little evidenced elsewhere in the show. "Burn" is at its best when Westen is outwitting and outracing bad guys, including the FBI agents assigned to tail him. …

Pining away for HBO’s old nudity-happy shitcom “Dream On”? Showtime has hired “Dawson’s Creek” vet Tom Kapinos to script the poorly written “Californication,” which depicts numerous naked women jumping nakedly into bed with a rich, successful middle-aged naked writer Hank Moody (David Duchovny). Moody, obnoxious and supremely self-absorbed, struggles with ennui and writer’s block because his ex left him and his best-selling novel was apparently adapted into a feel-good romantic comedy starring Tom Cruise and “Dawson’s Creek” alumna Katie Holmes. Audiences might struggle with the fact that everyone in Moody’s orbit thinks he’s a lot funnier and a lot more charming than his jokes and behavior suggest. A slightly smaller problem is all the plot elements in “Californication” feel recycled from smarter, better-crafted projects – everything from “The Graduate” to “Kramer Vs. Kramer” to “The Big Chill” to “Rescue Me” to “Uncle Buck.” (There’s also a gag about a girl who likes to punch her partner in the face during sex that I swear I’ve seen before but can’t quite place.) Some who find “Desperate Housewives” titillatingly scandalous (and I know you are legion) may be taken aback by the show’s measured pay-cable doses of vulgar language, but I suspect those who frequent “South Park” and “The Howard Stern Show” may find “Californication’s” dialogue as tepid as it is shopworn. Chili Pepper fans may be interested to learn that “Californication” -- like “Dazed and Confused” and “My Own Private Idaho” before it -- does NOT utilize the song its title borrows. The New York Times said:

… “Californication” is supposed to be a dark comedy about love and sex in Los Angeles, but it is not nearly dark or funny enough — less “Shampoo” than “Rogaine.” Mr. Duchovny is not the problem; this former star of “The X-Files” somehow manages to inject some humor and occasional flashes of roguish charm into a boring script and thankless part. … tries to poke fun at the hypocrisy and delusions of Hollywood, but it doesn’t have enough wit or sense of place to be very convincing. …

The Los Angeles Times said:

Over at Showtime, there is good news and bad: "Weeds" is back, but it has brought "Californication" with it. … Drugs are done, breasts are bared, explicit references to sex organs and their grooming are made (even by the 13-year-old daughter), and you can practically hear everyone involved singing to themselves, "We love ca-ble, we love ca-ble." None of which would be objectionable if it had meaning or reason. But it doesn't. The only cliche more tired than Los Angeles as a spiritual void is the tortured writer. … makes us want to set fire to our hair and run screaming into the street. …

The Chicago Tribune said:

… If "Weeds" is the tale of an unlikely drug dealer, the story of Hank Moody is one we've seen too many times before. … David Duchovny does a deft job in the lead role of Hank, "Californication" adds little to this shopworn tale. Hank is one of those self-pitying bleaters who doesn't see his own hypocrisy: He berates and curses the suits of the entertainment industry for their reliance on cliches, though the fact is, his entire life is a cliche. …

The Boston Herald gives it a “D” and said:

… It’s just so precious. … Duchovny, who also serves as executive producer, plays almost every scene with a smirk. Still, he’s better than McElhone, who openly grins through most of her moments with this egotistical manchild. … Here’s a word to describe ‘Californication”: X-cruciating.…

The Boston Globe said:

… Hank is the cliché of an ex-husband who pushed his wife away and now longs for her. He's the cliché of a man in a midlife crisis, jumping from woman to woman to prove his vigor. And he's the cliché of a writer busy Googling himself because he has writer's block. In "Californication," Hank is as familiar as a palm tree on Rodeo Drive. But never mind the clichés, because Duchovny makes his character worth watching, as he swaggers from bad predicament to bad predicament, pretending not to care about his life anymore.

The San Francisco Chronicle said:

… Duchovny had a series on Showtime called the "Red Shoe Diaries" and it redefined the mythology of soft-core porn on a pay cable channel. A lot has changed since those days. But Duchovny is back on Showtime, in a series that could conceivably be billed as soft-core porn but is more clearly defined as one of the better new shows on television - albeit with a lot of naked women. Gone is the pretentious voice-over stuff and the Zalman King titillation. In it's place? Bitterness, drinking, self-loathing and one of the most caustically lovable losers television has seen in a while. …

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram gave it two stars (out of five) and said:

Everything that's wrong with Showtime's new comedic drama series debuting Monday after Weeds is summed up in its title: Californication. The combo of abundant if predictable cable-TV sex, calculated outrage (it opens with a nun in a dream sequence doing something nuns shouldn't be doing), the L.A. entertainment industry as a backdrop and the supposed hipness that comes from lifting the name of a Red Hot Chili Peppers album probably sounded like a sure winner in the initial pitch meeting. But, like its moniker, Californication is just unoriginal, uninspired and, worst of all, unfunny. …

TV Guide said:

… compellingly caustic …

USA Today give it three and a half stars (out of four) and said:

… How lucky for Californication that it found David Duchovny, who makes the unlikeliest twists believable and the most heinous behavior forgivable. …

The Hollywood Reporter said:

… "Californication" can be unabashedly self-centered, judgmental and off-putting, but it is redeemed by occasional hilarious moments, an appealing father-daughter relationship and Duchovny's skillful creation of a charismatic boor. …

Variety said:

… the premiere is watchable but not fully arousing, often feeling as clenched, dour and indecisive as its brooding protagonist. … At first blush, anyway, "Californication" isn't necessarily a bad place to be, but unless the series finds viable avenues to pursue beyond wallowing in Hank's self-pity, it'll be Showtime subscribers before long who wind up feeling screwed.

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