Eugene the Jeep is a character in the Popeye comic strip. A mysterious animal with magical or supernatural abilities, the Jeep first appeared in the March 16, 1936 Thimble Theatre comic strip (now simply Popeye). He was also present in animated versions of Popeye's adventures, including three of the Fleischer Studios shorts of the late 1930s/early 1940s, with more extensive appearances in later Popeye cartoons produced for TV. Fictional character biography Origin In the August 9, 1936, strip, headlined "Wha's a Jeep?" Popeye asks Professor Brainstine what exactly a Jeep is. He gets the following response: When asked if he had any further questions, Popeye, totally unenlightened by this explanation, repeated, "Wha's a Jeep?" The animated cartoons took the straightforward approach of defining the character as some type of dog. In The Jeep (1938), Popeye presents the animal to Olive Oyl and Swee'Pea with the simple explanation, "The Jeep's a magical dog and can disappear and things". In Popeye Presents Eugene the Jeep (1940), it is Popeye who receives the creature from Olive, in a box via a special delivery man (voiced by Pinto Colvig), and with the premise that he had never seen the creature before: "Well, blow me down! A baby puppy!" Eugene the Jeep appeared in several Popeye TV series, including Popeye the Sailor (1960-1963), The All-New Popeye Hour (1978-1983) and Popeye and Son (1987). In the latter two series he was voiced by Don Messick. Eugene the Jeep did not appear in the live-action 1980 Popeye movie. The Jeep was included in early drafts of the original screenplay but was soon deemed too difficult and too expensive to render believably, so the character was dropped and elements of the character were given to Swee'Pea. The baby's mysterious ability to answer questions and make predictions through the use of whistles were scenes originally written for Eugene the Jeep. Eugene was slated to appear in the animated Popeye film produced by Sony Pictures Animation but production of the film was cancelled in 2016. Attributes and abilities In the context of the comic strip, Eugene the Jeep was a gift to Popeye's girlfriend Olive Oyl from her Uncle Ben who found Eugene in Africa. The Jeep is a yellow creature about the size of a dog who walks on his hind legs. He has a bear-like head and ears but a large nose, long tail, and protruding belly. The