The Mask: Animated Series

The Mask: The Animated Series is a television animated series based on the comic book superhero, The Mask, but with most of its inspiration from the 1994 film adaptation. The show ran for three seasons, from 1995 to 1997, and spawned its own short-run comic book series, Adventures of The Mask. John Arcudi, former writer of the original comics, penned two episodes of the cartoon.

Overview

Rob Paulsen starred as Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask. Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz's character in the movie) was absent, but reporter Peggy Brandt had become the main female character. Unlike in the movie, Ipkiss appeared to be able to use the mask in daytime as well as at night.

Much as with the Beetlejuice cartoon before it, The Mask TAS took many elements from the source movie but dropped characters and changed certain other characters. Peggy's inclusion also officially discounts the cut scene in the film where she is killed. Tina is never even alluded to. However, the events of the movie happened for the most part, as Charlie knew that Stanley was the Mask (though did not know Stanley kept it), and Stanley was still upset over Peggy selling him out to the mob (given that Stanley and Peggy were never treated as a potential couple, there may have remained some bad feelings over that).

The cartoon, despite having a "realistic" setting in the fictional town of Edge City, would often rely more on Tex Avery-style humor and on occasion, broke any meaningful laws of reality - one episode featured the Goofalotatots, parodies of the Animaniacs, treating them as if they were naturally alive. Another featured the Mask becoming a personal assistant to the President of the US, with the job merely handed to him (the president was a caricature of no real president - it should also be noted that former Mask comic writer John Arcudi wrote both example episodes, a stark departure from his usual writing). Police officers were portrayed as idiots who couldn't see even obvious clues, and Doyle was so dumb, he could not have possibly passed a written police academy exam.

Also continued from the movie was the consistent visiting by The Mask of the Coco Bongo - a fictional, glamorous night club frequented by the Edge City well-to-do, which was most likely based on the Copacabana in New York City. In one noteworthy episode, where Dr. Chronos manipulates time so that the future Edge City becomes a corrupted, Nineteen Eighty-Four-like dictatorial society ruled by the villainess, features a Coco Bongo which has been destroyed - a development that horrifies and enrages The Mask and provides him with the motivation to ultimately defeat Dr. Chronos.

Villains

The main villain, Dr. Pretorius (voiced by Tim Curry), was a madman who had his own head removed from his body and placed on tiny, spider-like robotic legs, which could attach to a larger android body. Pretorius was also likely a parody of drug dealer/mob boss Eugene Rapaz from the original comics (both share the same face. Rapaz wore small, rounded-lens dark glasses and Pretorius had round optic implants that looked similar, as well). Ironically, during The New Batman Adventures in 1997, Batman villain Mr. Freeze would become a disembodied head, walking on small spider-like legs and controlling a robotic body, much in the way Pretorius did. Given that Batman TAS writer Duane Capizzi worked on The Mask TAS in early episodes, and given the span between shows, this may have been an intentional homage.

Coming from the comics was Walter, still silent and indestructible but not as murderous and cruel. Walter chased the Mask for several episodes, but when he obtained the wooden mask and it failed to work for him, he simply dropped it and was never seen again. Ben Stein reprised his role as Dr. Neuman, from the movie. In one episode, the mask falls into Neuman's hands, and he becomes a super-villain known as Loki Ipkissiomascosus, determined to kill Stanley and even goes as far as to spring Pretorius from prison to aid him (a running gag, however, was that Dr. Neuman refused to believe the mask worked, even when he had it on).

A third villain who has made it to the TV series for a few times was the mad Dr. Chronos, who, with her ambitions of gaining power and dominance through the manipulation of time, often caused quite a lot of chaos through inventions like a machine that kept rewinding time every half hour for everyone but herself (so that the Mask could never foil her plans, since by the time he got to her, everything would be reset to half an hour ago), a gun that reversed/fast forwarded time for whoever it was aimed at (so that the person would keep getting younger and younger until he/she became nothing, or became older and older until he/she was dead), a large time portal through which she could summon anything to defeat the Mask (such as prehistoric creatures, robots from the future, etc.), or an actual time machine through which she could travel into the past/future to manipulate events so that she would ultimately end up victorious in her quest for world dominance.

As with Dorian Tyrell in the film, Dr. Pretorius did eventually gain the mask, and as with Tyrell, retained his own personality while wearing it (While the mask is said to release one's own inhibitions, those who have no inhibitions seem to retain full conscious control while wearing the Mask, such as the Joker in the DC crossover).

Many other villains were introduced, generally DC Comics parodies (some Marvel references were made, like The Mask becoming Biclops, a parody of Cyclops and a villain that turned into a dinosaur like Sauron; though Dark Horse has generally had a good business relationship with DC). Notable were Skillit (parody of Mr. Mxyzptlk and Peter Pan, albeit much more malevolent in nature) and Putty Thing (parody of the Batman: The Animated Series version of Clayface, albeit now a dumb teenager rather than an angry, jaded actor).

The Mask also had a few more enemies in his rogues gallery such as:

Gorgonzola, the Cheese Witch, whose powers include the Cheese-Eye (an eye laser that turns anything into cheese) and the Shot-Cheddar (a razor-sharp cheddar cheese arrow, that would be fired from Gorgonzola's palm).

The Tempest: (real name: French Drizzle) A fired weatherman who was struck by lightning which rebounded from a satellite dish onto him and he was mutated into a freak with the ability to control the weather. He put Edge City into a hailstorm and flood. He resembles Robin from Batman: The Animated Series and has powers similar to that of the X-Men Storm. The Mask was able to stop him by opening a manhole which sucked him along with the flood waters he created.

Kablamus: A green-haired explosive man who could cause destruction by blowing himself up like a balloon without dying, but returning to normal size. He has a special pouch in his costume where he puts different grenades that explode with him. Jim Cummings did his voice.

Channel Surfer: A madman who glides using his surfboard and travels by teleporting through television. He had all of Edge City watch the TV shows he liked and he was able to trap Stanley (wearing the mask) inside the television.

Dragon Lady, War Machine and Rip Tide: A trio of villains who came out of Doyle's favorite comic book set out to kill Lt. Kellaway after mistaking him as their superhero enemy. The Dragon Lady (Kath Soucie)can transform into a dragon, fly and breathe fire. War Machine (Jim Cummings) is a robot armed with deadly weapons and ammunition. RipTide (Frank Welker) is a punky villain with the ability to transform into water. Stanley/the Mask defeated the trio by ripping the comic book from whence they came.

Chep Bozzack: The high school bully of Stanley who accidentally wore half of his mask when it was cut into two. Stanley and Chep along with their half mask personalities battle it out ending only when Chep stopped his mask personality from killing Stanley.

Fish Guy: Technically a harmless villain-partner of Putty Thing, he is a teen who was transformed into a fish after crashing into a public aquarium while under radiation. Even if he's a fish, he can't swim or breathe underwater and relies solely on the help of Putty thing. In the episode, The Good The Bad and Fish Guy, he managed to take The Mask from Stanley and wore it thus transforming him into Shark Dude, a much more dangerous villain that was must stronger and faster than his previous form. A likely parody/homage to Mike Myers' titular Wayne's World character, with Putty Thing resembling Wayne's sidekick Garth Algar (played by Dana Carvey).

Episode list

Season one

The Mask is Always Greener on the Other Side
Baby's Wild Ride
Shadow of a Skillit
Sister Mask
The Mask Is Always Greener on the Other Side (1)
The Mask Is Always Greener on the Other Side (2)
Bride of Pretorius
Double Reverse
Shrink Rap
Mayor Mask
Martian Mask
How Much Is That Dog in the Tin Can?
All Hallow's Eve
Split Personality
Santa Mask
Mask's Last Days

Season two

A Comedy of Eras
Goin' for the Green
Flight as a Feather
The Good, the Bad and the Fish Guy
Malled
Channel Surfin'
Mask au Gratin
Jurassic Mask
You Oughta Be in Pictures
For All Mask-Kind
Up the Creek
Boogie with the Man
What Goes Around Comes Around
All Hail the Mask
Power of Suggestion
Mr. Mask Goes to Washington
Rain of Terror
The Mother of All Hoods
To Bee or Not to Bee
Love Potion No. 8 ½
Cool Hand Mask
Broadway Malady
Enquiring Masks Want to Know
Future Mask
Sealed Fate
(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Green Mask
Mutiny of the Bounty Hunters
Convention of Evil
The Green Marine
Counterfeit Mask

Season three

Magic
Little Big Mask
Fantashtick Voyage
They Came from Within
To Have and Have Snot
Mystery Cruise
The Goofalotatots
When Pigs Ruled the Earth
The Aceman Cometh

Crossover

One particularly memorable episode had the Mask team up with another Jim Carrey movie character, Ace Ventura. Ace Ventura also had a cartoon series at the time (both cartoons ran on CBS in adjoining time slots). When Stanley's dog, Milo, goes missing, he hires Ace Ventura to find him.

However, Ace is drawn in the style of his own cartoon (it should also be noted that Rob Paulsen did not try to imitate Jim Carrey's voice, however, Michael Dangerfield, the voice actor for Ace Ventura, did imitate Carrey). Upon the end of the episode, Ace's pet monkey, Spike, steals the mask, and Stanley must follow Ace to Florida to get it back, leading to the second part carried over in an episode of Ace Ventura. Stanley/Mask keeps his own artistic style in this episode.

Episode Bans

When this cartoon series aired on the FOX Family channel (now ABC Family), the episode "Flight As A Feather", where The Mask loses his lucky fedora feather and goes through Edge City to get it, was skipped over, due to a sequence where Mayor Tilton is signing a new bill during a televised ceremony and a woman in a trenchcoat by the name of Cookie BaBoom (who, according to the Mayor's aide, is a stripper [called an "exotic dancer"] the Mayor dated at one point, though she was never seen or mentioned in the episodes that aired on CBS) crashes the ceremony and throws off her trenchcoat to reveal two megatons worth of dynamite strategically strapped to her body and announces that she's blowing herself up because the Mayor dumped her. The Mask (only interested in retrieving his feather thwarts Cookie's plan by impersonating a bartender who creates a dynamite smoothie and uses the dynamite strapped to Cookie's body as the main ingredient. Before Kellaway and Doyle (the officers who are always after The Mask and suspect Stanley and the Mask being the same person) can capture The Mask, he distracts them by turning Cookie (who had been spinning around in a blur after The Mask ripped the dynamite off her body) around so her now naked front faces them, causing the two to react sexually to her nude body and pass out. This episode has been seen in syndication and on international broadcasts.

Voice actors and their characters

Rob Paulsen - Stanley Ipkiss (a.k.a. The Mask)
Frank Welker - Milo, Baby Forthwright
Mark L. Taylor - Charlie Schumaker
Heidi Shannon - Peggy Brandt
Neil Ross - Lt. Mitch Kellaway
Jim Cummings - Doyle, Kablamis
Kevin Michael Richardson - Mayor Mortimer Tilton
Tim Curry - Pretorius
Charlie Adler - Pete
Jeff Bennett - Eddie (a.k.a. Fish Guy)
Cam Clarke - Doc (a.k.a. Putty Thing)
Mary McDonald-Lewis - Mrs. Francis Forthwright
Glenn Shadix - Lonnie the Shark
Ben Stein - Dr. Arthur Neuman

Home releases

Four VHS volumes of the series were released in 1995, all of which are now out of print. Upon the initial DVD release of the Son of the Mask, Wal-Mart stores sold an exclusive 2-pack of the movie with two episodes of the animated series. As of 2007, this is the only DVD release of the series and no plans for a full release have been announced.

External links

The Mask: The Animated Series at IMDb
The Mask at TV.com