Trivia / Popeye Saves the Earth

• Creator Backlash:
  • Barry Oursler stated that Popeye Saves the Earth was one of his least favorite games he created:
    "Not really. Management wanted me to do another game with Python [Anghelo] to try and capture the 'magic' we had with previous collaborations. I wasn't too happy with the theme or the drawings that he had created. It was another scenario where the artwork was done first. I reluctantly agreed, due to pressure from "above". I think it was one of my two least favorite games that I designed, the other being BAD CATS." — Barry Oursler, The Pinball Blog, 4 April 2009
  • While fan reception to the game itself is mixed, Popeye was eventually disliked by Williams/Bally/Midway themselves, according to Steve Ritchie's post on rec.games.pinball. Steve also admitted that while it may not have been responsible for heralding an Audience-Alienating Era for pinball like some say it is, it definitely didn't do anything to help, either.
• What Could Have Been: Python Anghelo's original proposal for Popeye Saves the Earth is even more outrageous than what appeared in the final game. With the help of Real Life celebrities such as Al Gore, Ross Perot, and Carl Sagan, Popeye buys the biggest ship on Earth, collects two of each animal, then gets NASA to make it spaceworthy. After liftoff, Popeye slingshots around Saturn, reaching superluminal speeds, and visits various alien planets to find a habitable world where the animals can flourish and multiply. Along the way, Popeye has to deal with alien heterophobia, Monstrous Cannibalism, Death Worlds, and other problems. Eventually realizing There's No Place Like Home, Popeye returns to Earth and finds it a Crapsack World overrun by pollution; he somehow manages to rejuvenate the planet by returning his animal passengers to their habitats.