We’re going to do something a little bit different for today’s TrailerTown. On tomorrow’s all-new episode, Q introduces a friend to the 1980 Robin Williams vehicle Popeye. Since she’d never seen Popeye, it got us thinking, how many other of you cinematic noobs haven’t seen the fantasy/action/comedy and Mr. Williams’ first starring movie role? We imagine it’s a lot of you, and with the upcoming HBO documentary Come Inside My Mind about Robin’s life and struggles, we thought this was a good time to introduce our loyal Fivers to the start of his illustrious film career.

If you’ve seen Popeye, this will be a fun nostalgia trip, but if you haven’t, sit back and enjoy this classic TrailerTown and then read our Top 5 thoughts about it below:

Top 5 Things About the Popeye Trailer

  1. Robin Sparkles – The first and best thing about the Popeye TrailerTown is just seeing Robin Williams young and in his element. High Five: The Podcast are avid fans and lovers of Mr. William and his work, so seeing the young wide-eyed (well, one-eyed wided) Robin in his first movie role, playing a classic cartoon character.
  2. Socktopus – Near the end of the TrailerTown (1:26), Popeye punches a giant squid in the face. Let us repeat that. Robin Williams, dressed as Popeye, punches a motherfucking giant squid in the motherfucking face.
  3. Little Pirate Diddy – Nowadays we’re spoiled to trailers giving away the entirety of a movie’s plot, but classic trailers were more discreet. Take Popeye, for example, the entire soundtrack to this TrailerTown is Robin Williams singing a sailor song around his catchphrase “I am what I am.” Amazing.
  4. In Living Color – Fine, we’ll give you that the TrailerTown looks kind of silly and over-the-top, but if you can put yourself in 1980, seeing Robin Williams bring a cartoon character to real life in a way that still felt like a cartoon hadn’t really been done before, at least not like this. The breaking window panes (1:02), the punch wind-ups (0:50), and the colors put you in a child-like trance.
  5. Costume Party – For all its faults, Popeye gets the look and feel of the characters spot-on. Robin Williams is great as a cartoon character, Shelley Duvall’s casting as Olive Oyl is inspired, Paul Dooley looks exactly as we imagined Wimpy, and Paul L. Smith is large and intimidating as Bluto. If nothing else, they get the look and feel of this world down pat!

Sure, it’s not a new TrailerTown, or even a new movie, for that fact, but it’s one you may not have seen and something we wanted to share with you. Be sure to check out episode tomorrow as Q dives into the film as a whole and leave your thoughts in the comments below!