King Features Syndicate announced that production has started on a new Popeye 3-D CGI animated TV special, with the first airing scheduled for prime time during the 4th quarter holiday period between November 24th and December 21st.  The new special was co-written by Jim Hardison and actor/comedian Paul Reiser, who is a 'life-long Popeye fan,' and will be released in conjunction with Popeye's 75th anniversary.  Popeye is one of the world's first character licensing sensations, and today boasts 500 licenses in 50 countries.

Artisan Home Entertainment also got a piece of the action, and will be releasing an hour-long version of the Popeye special through its Family Home Entertainment label.  The DVD and VHS release will be during 4th quarter 2004, and feature never-before-seen footage as well as material from Popeye's past.

Mainframe Entertainment, which is currently producing the Spider-Man animated series for MTV (see 'MTV to Air New Spider-Man Series'), will be helming the state-of-the-art CGI animation.  Mainframe also produced the TV series Reboot and the direct-to-video Barbie as Rapunzel.