"Popeye at the Center of the Earth" is an episode from The All-New Popeye Hour's "Popeye's Treasure Hunt" segment for Hanna-Barbera Productions in association with King Features Syndicate.
Plot[]
Popeye and Olive go on a road trip in an RV, with Bluto and his car tied to the back of it. Poopdeck Pappy calls his son through the CB and tells him about a bunch of rubies he was found. He just told them his location which is the famous geyser Old Faithful, when he was cutoff with no explanation. So the group head for Yellowstone National Park, the home of Old Faithful. When they arrive and sees Pappy's car & pipe, they get sucked in.
Inside the famous geyser is a strange world. Popeye and Olive fall in first and first spotted Pappy's hat, to which the anchor on it points like an arrow. It tells them to go east. Soon they come to a dangerous bridge with living flames in the pit; but Bluto falls to the other side of it and cuts down the bridge. That ended up being a good thing, because Olive reads a sign telling them not to cross that bridge anyway and go the other way. Bluto, in all furious-ness, uses a rubber tree to make a new bridge and go back across.
Bluto briefly traps Popeye and Olive in living melons, but they escape by virtue of Olive's pollen allergies.
Popeye and Olive read some hieroglyphics and found that Pappy was captured and taken to the Twin Peaks (not to be confused with the ABC drama show). Popeye and Olive pass by a large Dodo bird, only to go on a ride on it thanks to Bluto next scheme. But it backfired on him when he ran into some tar pits. Soon the dodo stops and the sight of a sign saying that they are about to enter Molomon Country and should not trespass by order of the king. But seeing that Pappy must be there, Popeye and Olive go there anyway; at the same time, Bluto emerges from the tar pits, only to get covered in feathers by the dodo.
When arriving, Popeye and Olive encounter two chairs, but the chairs are really the Molomon creatures they were warned about. So they get captured and Bluto after them and they are all taken to the King. When they arrive before the king, they found Pappy. King Molomon told the party about the rubies Pappy tried to take. He even gives the group a chance at freedom by going through the maze to pick up more rubies for him. So they take the challenge and enter the maze. But sneaky and greedy Bluto sends Popeye and Olive out of the maze by shoving a boulder with a rope that Popeye & Olive are holding. At the bottom, they encounter giant scorpions and Popeye eats his spinach to take care of them and return to the maze. Back at the maze, Popeye and Olive face the guardian of the maze. Popeye initially cracks it in two; but they come apart to form two guardians. But Popeye anticipates this and drops them to the ground.
Bluto, who just finished collecting rubies for the King and himself tried to trip up Popeye and Olive, but Popeye turns the rubies into a bowling ball and bowls Bluto over. Soon they returned to the king with the rubies and Popeye forced his Pappy to give the ones he took back to the king. Later, King Molomon explains why he needs those rubies. He needs them to feed his pet whale Ruby Dick, who is actually the source of Old Faithful's power. So naturally, Popeye and his crew use that power and return to the surface. Bluto comes back behind them, but by being shoved out by the whale.
This episode ends with Pappy finding the lost dutchman, in the hopes of being lead to his mine, much to Popeye's chagrin as he faints in obsession.