The Mask: Animated Series Explained

Developer:	Duane Capizzi
Theme Music Composer:	Keith Baxter Christopher Neal Nelson
Country:	United States Marshall Islands Indonesia (season 1) Canada (season 2)
Language:	English
Num Seasons:	3
Num Episodes:	54
Producer:	Gary Hartle
Runtime:	22 minutes
Related:	The Mask Son of the Mask Adventures of the Mask Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

The Mask: Animated Series (also known as Mask: The Animated Series, or simply The Mask) is an American animated television series based on the 1994 film of the same title.^[1] The series aired for a total of three seasons and fifty-four episodes from August 12, 1995, to August 30, 1997.^[2] It spawned its own short-run comic book series, Adventures of The Mask. John Arcudi, former writer of the original comics, wrote two episodes of the series.

The Mask was one of three animated series based on Jim Carrey movies that premiered the same year. These included the 1995–2000 Ace Ventura: Pet Detective series, and the 1995–1996 Dumb and Dumber series.^[3]

Overview

The series retained major plot points from the film, with insecure bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss using an ancient mask to gain superpowers while taking on the mischievous personality of The Mask. The major alteration is that Stanley can use the mask in daytime as well as at night. Following the events of the film, Stanley's friend and coworker Charlie thinks that Stanley threw the mask away, but Stanley discovers that his dog retrieved it and decides to keep it.

Reporter Peggy Brandt is the main female character in the series, though Stanley is upset with her for selling him out to the mob. Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz's character in the film) is absent from the series and never mentioned. Niko and Dorian Tyrell, the two primary antagonists of the 1994 film who died during the course of it, do not appear in the animated series and are never even mentioned (nor the mob).

Despite having a "realistic" setting in the fictional town of Edge City, the series often relies more on Tex Avery-style humor and occasionally breaks any meaningful laws of reality. For example, 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 United States, with the job merely handed to him (former Mask comic writer John Arcudi wrote both example episodes, a stark departure from his usual writing). Police officers are portrayed as idiots unable to recognize obvious clues.

Also continued from the film were The Mask's frequent visits to the Coco Bongo: a fictional, glamorous nightclub frequented by the Edge City well-to-do, which was based on the Copacabana in New York City. The destruction of the Coco Bongo in the episode "A Comedy of Eras" horrifies and enrages The Mask, and provides him with the motivation to ultimately defeat the antagonist.

During the late 1990s, Rob Paulsen appeared on the US TV talk show Donny & Marie. When talking about his role as Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask, Paulsen said, "I get to be Jim Carrey for a whole lot less cake."^[4]

Characters

Main characters

• Stanley Ipkiss / The Mask (voiced by Rob Paulsen) – Stanley and The Mask each have a distinct personality, such as Stanley being shy and meek, while the Mask is loud and confident, and refer to the other as a separate person, and display a brotherly rivalry. Stanley is conflicted about the mask and on several occasions tries to dispose of it, but is forced to use the mask to get out of trouble, eventually coming to rely on it to fight supernatural enemies. Unlike the violent comic book original, the Mask personality is a mischievous superhero who "would rather go to water polo night at the Coco Bongo than fight crime" and cares about Stanley despite their rivalry.
• Milo (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) – Stanley's dog (a Jack Russell Terrier) and loyal sidekick. He is also a frequent wearer of the mask, and is shown to be quite intelligent, able to understand some of the human language.
• Lt. Mitch Kellaway (voiced by Neil Ross) – A grumpy detective lieutenant of the Edge City Police Department who is overzealous in blaming The Mask for every big crime and disaster, and linking The Mask to other criminals and villains. For this attention, Kellaway is a frequent victim of atomic wedgies from The Mask.
• Detective Doyle (voiced by Jim Cummings) – Lieutenant Kellaway's dimwitted and lazy partner, who is somewhat friendly to the Mask and thinks of him more of a hero than a villain.
• Peggy Brandt (voiced by Heidi Shannon) – A tabloid reporter who mends her friendship with Stanley by rescuing him several times after having sold him out to the mob. Her career ambitions often put her in compromising situations from which The Mask rescues her. She is resourceful in outwitting certain rogues, and shows a motherly affection for The Mask.
• Charlie Schumacher (voiced by Mark L. Taylor) – The manager of the bank where Stanley works. He is Stanley’s best friend. He usually looks out for himself, pursues women, and takes advantage of Stanley as his friend. Although he promises to help Stanley's career, he is unhappy when Stanley finds success.

Recurring characters

• Dr. Arthur Neuman (voiced by Ben Stein) – Stanley's therapist and the only character to be voiced by the same actor from the film. He believes that "The Mask" is the suppressed side of Stanley who wants to be outrageous and impulsive.
• Mayor Mortimer Tilton (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) – The corrupt mayor of Edge City. Despite his selfishness, Tilton is a person of genuine gratitude and often thanks The Mask for saving the city and frees him from any legal trouble that he causes. This is opposite of the film which Mayor Mitchell Tilton is more straightforward and compassionate of ending the corruption
  • Smedley (voiced by Cam Clarke) – Mayor Mortimer Tilton's nerdy assistant.
• Agnes Peenman (voiced by Tress MacNeille) – Stanley's cranky landlord.

Antagonists

• Doctor Septimus Pretorius (voiced by Tim Curry) – The primary antagonist of the series. He is a mad scientist 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. His plans revolve around either obtaining or controlling the mask (Pretorius is one of the few characters in the series aware of The Mask's true identity), or increasingly insane and deadly scientific experiments.
  • Walter – Pretorius's mute, indestructible goon.
  • Pretorius's Henchmen (various voices) – The henchmen of Pretorius are shown to wear black and purple outfits. They are often seen carrying out criminal errands to prepare for his criminal plots.
• Lonnie the Shark (voiced by Glenn Shadix) – A biker gang leader who has sharp teeth and a hairdo that resembles a shark's fin.
  • Pete (voiced by Charlie Adler) – Lonnie the Shark's lazy sidekick, who makes an excuse of "feeling pain" on any part of his body in order to ditch the gang's dirty work for his fat companions.
  • Biff, Muffy, and Brad – The three tough members of Lonnie the Shark's biker gang.
• The Terrible Two – Dak (voiced by Cam Clarke) and Eddie (voiced by Jeff Bennett) are two slow-witted teenaged boys who exposed themselves to radiation with the intention of becoming superheroes. Dak subsequently became "Putty Thing" while Eddie became "Fish Guy".
• Skillit (voiced by Jason Marsden in season one and by Benny Grant in season two) – A mischievous imp who hails from the Shadowland, and can suck the shadows from people, which preserves his youth while aging his victims. Because he appear to be 12 years old, he is often forced to do homework when captured. He is over 4,000 years old and has known everyone who possessed the mask.
• Kablamus (voiced by Jim Cummings in a homage to Sterling Holloway) – Joe Blow is a green-haired man who had a chemical accident while experimenting on an unbreakable balloon, and gained the power to blow himself up like a balloon and explode without dying.
• Willamina Bubask (voiced by Conchata Ferrell) – A female criminal whose known crimes were dognapping, grand theft auto, and assaulting a police precinct. While Stanley was competing in a chilli cook-off, Milo stumbled upon her dog-napping activities, to have dogs taste-test each recipe for Cheap Chucky. She has an unrequited love for Walter, who she met in prison.
  • Cheap Chucky – A crime partner of Willamina Bubask, who was defeated by Milo and later arrested by the police.
• Don Julovit (voiced by Cam Clarke in a Spanish accent) – The greatest bandit from Lispan. He arrived in Edge City for a crime in which every villain dressed as Santa Claus.
• Dynamite Joe (voiced by Jeff Bennett impersonating Sylvester Stallone) – An explosives expert who disguises himself as Santa Claus for a crime spree.
• Chet Bozzack (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) – Stanley's reformed high school bully whose dark urges are reawakened when he accidentally wears half of the broken mask.
• Dr. Amelia Chronos (voiced by Victoria Carroll) – A mad scientist who builds time-manipulation devices that cause chaos as she seeks world dominance.
• Colonel Beauregard Klaxon (voiced by Jim Cummings) – A southern businessman who dumps nuclear waste under the city stadium, resulting in a monster abducting the city's sports team.
  • Billy Bob – Klaxon's henchman.
• Cookie Baboom (voiced by Cree Summer) - An exotic dancer who threatens to kill herself and assassinate the mayor during the Mayor's Bavariaville Day announcement. Not much is known about her, except that Mayor Tilton used to date her, then broke up with her because being with her would ruin his wholesome image (something that Mayor Tilton's assistant, Smedley, knows as well), and she knows Mayor Tilton's real name (which, in this adaptation, is Mortimer).
• Channel Surfer (voiced by Gary Owens) – A madman with a gliding surfboard who teleports through televisions and can manipulate electricity and television content. He had all of Edge City watch the TV shows he liked and trapped The Mask inside the TV world. Peggy helped The Mask escape through a live broadcast of Channel Surfer's show.
• Gorgonzola the Cheese Witch (voiced by Cree Summer) – Her powers include the Cheese-Eye (an eye laser that turns anything into cheese) and the Shot-Cheddar (an extra-sharp cheddar cheese arrow, that is fired from Gorgonzola's palm). This character was created as the winner of a contest held by Disney Adventures to create a new villain for the series. An ancient villainess, she returns when her amulet is uncovered from a Mesopotamian tomb.
• Sly Eastenegger (voiced by Neil Ross) – An action star who tries to take revenge upon his critics by detonating a nuclear bomb during the filming of his movie.
  • Director (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) – An unnamed film director who looks like Steven Spielberg and helps Sly in his plot.
• Phony Frenchman (voiced by Jess Harnell) – A patriotic French terrorist with a bad French accent.
• The Devil (voiced by Jonathan Harris) – First appearing as Bub, he signs a contract to make Stanley a winner without using the mask, but then tries to take him and The Mask to Hell as payment. The Mask is able to save them by defeating the Devil in a dance competition.
• The Tempest (voiced by Bud Cort) – Alter ego of Fritz Drizzle, a former weatherman who was struck by lightning and gained weather-control abilities.
• The Hood (voiced by Jess Harnell) – A criminal wanted for loan sharking, smuggling, jewel heists, and other crimes. As Lawrence Lorenzo, he was hired to be the police chief, but kidnaps the mayor in an attempt to take over Edge City.
• The Stinger (voiced by Stuart Pankin) – Buzz Stingman is a beekeeper who was turned into a bee-human hybrid creature after being severely stung by genetically-altered bees. He had the ability to control the behavior of bees and hypnotized the entire city into building a giant beehive. He was eventually stopped by the Mask who removed his stinger and returned him to normal.
• Madame Suspiria (voiced by Candi Milo) – A carnival gypsy who believes her family's magic created the mask. She gives Stanley a love potion which is accidentally used on Mrs. Peenman and causes several men to fall in love with her. Suspiria siphons some of the mask's powers to gain revenge on Admiral Wombat, but The Mask tricks her into attacking him with magic which returns his powers.
• Sir Andrew Bedwetter (voiced by Jeff Bennett) – A Broadway director who adapts Mad Monkey, and is upstaged by The Mask, then tries to finance his next production through bank robberies. He is a parody of Broadway playwright Andrew Lloyd Webber.
• Government Guy (voiced by Frank Welker in normal form, Kevin Michael Richardson in Mask form) – The tyrannical future ruler of Edge City. At some point after a thermonuclear crisis, he found the mask and used it to power the city, while banning fun. Stanley time-travels to the future and uses his greater understanding of the mask to defeat him. He is a parody of Ross Perot.
• Celia N. Airtight – A former researcher at Wrapmaster and founder of Putterware, whose products turn leftovers into monsters.
  • Harold – Airtight's right-hand man.
• Tex Clobber – A bounty hunter hired by Pretorius alongside Baxter Simon to capture The Mask. Tex Clobber is a wilderness hunter that uses normal hunting weapons.
• Baxter Simon - A bounty hunter that was hired by Pretorius alongside Tex Clobber to capture The Mask. He is a businessman that uses high tech gadgets.
• Selina Swint (voiced by Susan Silo) – A smuggler who brought counterfeit money to Edge City, but accidentally switches bags with Stanley.
• Davida Steelmine (voiced by Cree Summer) – An illusionist-turned-thief and a former schoolmate of Stanley, who had a crush on her.
• Cybermite (voiced by Jim Cummings) – A living yet obnoxious computer virus (in a form of a fat termite wearing a leather jacket), who grows bigger by eating brain cells and occasionally says some pretty bad jokes.
• The Dark Star Trio – A trio of villains who emerge from the first issue of Doyle's favorite comic book The Galactic Avenger. They mistake Kellaway for their fictional archenemy and try to kill him, before they are defeated by The Mask. Its members are:
  • War Machine (voiced by Jim Cummings) - A robot armed with deadly weapons.
  • Dragon Lady (voiced by Kath Soucie) - She can transform into a dragon, fly, and breathe fire.
  • Riptide (voiced by Frank Welker) - A punk-like villain with the ability to transform into water.
• Arthur "Art" Nouveau (voiced by Jim Cummings) – An art forger who threatened to blow up a dynamite factory.

Other characters

• Francis Forthwright (voiced by Mary McDonald-Lewis) – One of Stanley's neighbors who sometimes wants Stanley to babysit her baby boy during random moments.
• Baby Forthwright (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) – Francis Forthwright's baby, who wears the mask on three occasions.
• Bank President (voiced by Jim Cummings) – The unnamed boss of Stanley and Charlie whose face is off-screen. He has a son in the film whom is the actual manager of the Edge City bank.
• Ace Ventura (voiced by Michael Daingerfield) – A Miami-based private pet detective specializing in the retrieval of missing animals who helps Stanley find Milo.
• Evelyn (voiced by Kath Soucie) – A petite, shy woman who accidentally puts on the Mask and becomes a tall woman named Eve who is loud and confident and in love with Stanley.

Episodes

Season 3 (1997)

Crossover

A two-part crossover between The Mask and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective – another animated series based on a Jim Carrey film – aired on August 30, 1997. The crossover begins with The Mask episode "The Aceman Cometh", and concludes with the Ace Ventura episode "Have Mask, Will Travel". At the time of the original airing, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was running in the adjoining time slot immediately following The Mask in CBS's Saturday morning lineup. During the crossover, Stanley/The Mask and Ace retain their respective animation styles while appearing within the other's show. The crossover also serves as the series finale of The Mask and the second-season finale of Ace Ventura.

In "Have Mask, Will Travel", Stanley catches up to Ace in Miami just as he is recruited to solve a case on a space station, leading Stanley to become The Mask and join the investigation.

Syndication

The series premiered its second season in first-run syndication, mostly on local affiliates, while airing on CBS. It later aired on the Fox Family Channel from 1999 to 2000 (with "Flight as a Feather" removed due to risqué content).^[5] The show has rerun sporadically on Cartoon Network and Boomerang channels in other countries, with some markets skipping over the season two episode "Flight as a Feather" due to risqué content. Starting in 2024, reruns aired on MeTV Toons.

Home media

VHS

Seven VHS volumes of the series were gradually released by Turner Home Entertainment/New Line Home Video from 1995 to 1996, all of which are now out of print.

Title	Episodes featured
The Mask is Always Greener on the Other Side	Pilot: "The Mask is Always Greener on the Other Side" Parts 1 and 2 abridged into one episode
Baby's Wild Ride	"Baby's Wild Ride" and "The Terrible Twos"
S-s-somebody Stop Me!	"Sister Mask" and "Shadow of a Skillit"
Milo Mask	"How Much Is That Dog in the Tin Can?" and "Martian Mask"
Shrink Rap (Released in the UK only)	"Shrink Rap"
Mayor Mask (Released only in Australia and Russia)	"Mayor Mask" and "Double Reverse"
Split Personality (Released only in Australia and Russia)	"Shrink Rap" and "Split Personality"

DVD

Upon the initial DVD release of Son of the Mask, Wal-Mart stores sold an exclusive 2-pack of the movie with the two-part pilot episode of the animated series.^[6]

On April 10, 2018, Warner Bros. released the first season on DVD.^[7]

The series is also available on iTunes, Amazon Video, YouTube, and Google Play. All episodes are separated into all three seasons and are also featured in an entire collection entitled The Mask: The Complete Series.

Merchandise

Taco Bell distributed toys based on the cartoon for a short period of time in 1997. In South Africa, the Spur franchise used to give out Mask toys with the kiddies burger.

External links

• • Official Website (via Internet Archive)
• Rob Paulsen on "Donny & Marie".

Notes and References

1. Book: Hyatt, Wesley . The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television . 1997 . Watson-Guptill Publications . 978-0823083152 . 19 March 2020. 280.
2. Book: Erickson . Hal . Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 . 2005 . 2nd . McFarland & Co . 978-1476665993 . 533–534.
3. Book: Perlmutter . David . The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows . 2018 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1538103739 . 381.
4. Web site: Rob Paulsen (Animaniacs) on "Donny & Marie" . YouTube . 2007-04-02 . 2013-08-19.
5. Web site: List of every TV series aired on Fox Family Channel – Nickandmore!. 2021-05-17. en-US.
6. Web site: The Mask DVD news: Walmart Exclusive Release . TVShowsOnDVD.com . 2013-08-19 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131117072730/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mask/3433 . 2013-11-17 .
7. http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Mask-Season-1/24074 At Last: 'The Complete 1st Season' of the Cartoon Spin-Off from the Film!