NEW YORK -- Popeye's back on. Sure. But is he see-worthy?

Since the late 1980s, he's been virtually beached -- no new cartoons have been made, and reruns have aired only sporadically in syndication or on the Cartoon Network.

So the Christmas special "Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy" (8:30 p.m. today on Fox) marks a comeback for the pipe-chompin' sailor with the signature forearms.

The show keeps many of the longtime traditions and cast of characters: ditsy but feisty Olive Oyl, precocious Swee'pea, big dumb Bluto, hamburger-hungry moocher Wimpy; that strange love triangle that's always resolved in Popeye's favor; and of course Popeye's fractured syntax, mangled words and single-minded taste for spinach.

But Popeye sails into the 21st century in a couple ways: The animation is a handsome, computer-generated 3-D, and the plot touches on paternal abandonment and family reconciliation.