The Mask: The Animated Series

The Mask: The Animated Series is a television animated series based on the comic book superhero, The Mask, but is a sequel to the 1994 film adaptation. The show ran for three seasons, from August 12, 1995 to March 8, 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. It originally was played during the CBS Kidshow line-up on Saturday mornings, but after being cancelled was moved to Cartoon Network (where the live-action films were also aired). The show also ran in syndication.

Overview

Much as with the Beetlejuice cartoon before it, The Mask: The Animated Series took many elements from the source movie but dropped characters and changed certain other persona. Reporter Peggy Brandt (Amy Yasbeck's character from the movie) is the main female character in the show. Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz's character in the movie) is absent from the cartoon. However, the events of the movie are alluded to, as Charlie knows that Stanley is the Mask (though did not know Stanley kept it), and Stanley is 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 though The Mask himself sometimes tries to woo her). A gypsy named Madam Suspiria at one point claims that the Mask is the most powerful artifact in the world when she remarks "The most powerful artifact in the world and this idiot keeps it with his laundry". Unlike in the movie, Ipkiss is able to use the mask in daytime as well as at night.

Niko and Dorian Tyrell, the two main antagonists of the 1994 film who died during the course of it, do not appear in the animated series. However, an early draft of one episode was to have the ghosts of Niko, Tyrell and their deceased henchmen to return to Edge City and wreak havoc. The plot was to involve both of the ghosts and their gangs to break the remaining gang members out of jail, regain their areas of influence and resume their war against one another. However, the script would determine that they join forces in an effort to exact revenge against Ipkiss. Both Matacena and Greene were approached in order to reprise their roles, but eventually the episode was scrapped.

The cartoon, despite having a "realistic" setting in the fictional town of Edge City, often relies more on Tex Avery-style humor and on occasion, breaks 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 are portrayed as idiots who can't see even obvious clues.

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 based on the Copacabana in New York City. In the episode "A Comedy of Eras", in which 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.

During the late nineties, Rob Paulsen appeared on US TV talk show, Donny & Marie. When talking about his role as Stanley Ipkiss, Rob said "I'd get to be Jim Carrey for a whole lot less cake".^[1]

Characters

• Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - The main protagonist. Instead of getting rid of the mask as in the movie, he kept it. And whenever he tries getting rid of "The Mask", he gets into trouble and is often forced to use the Mask to overcome these problems, sometimes even relying on the Mask to fight supernatural enemies (even facing Satan at one point). Stanley Ipkiss is portrayed as a push over good guy, once described as "repressed, with an overactive superego", but inside of him he has a "wild man under the surface, just waiting to get out". Meanwhile, The Mask, unlike his violent comic book counter part, is more of a mischievous superhero, who, as Stanley had put it, "Would rather go to water polo night at the Coco Bongo then fight crime". The Mask is also apparently even aware of the surroundings when he isn't being worn as during one episode Stanley attempts to control the Mask with the Sister Mask which seems to work at first only for the mask to go back to normal and state the sister mask doesn't work at all (though this may actually be due to The Mask and Stanley sharing knowledge). The Mask also works when broken (when the Mask was split in two each half still works but only does half the transformation, finally allowing Stanley and the Mask to converse). To date the only thing that truly affects The Mask is the Common Cold which throws his powers out of whack and will result in the death of both The Mask and the wearer. Due to the different personalities The Mask and Stanley have, they often refer to each other as separate people (such as The Mask remarking "Oh Stanley is going to hate me in the morning"). In Split Personalities it is revealed that the Mask always wanted to give Stanley a wedgie (he even manages to give him a "half-wedgie"), in the same episodes (as pointed out by Stanley) possibly the only thing The Mask and Stanley have in common is their lack of success with women (though Mask has more luck and self-confidence in this area, failing only due to the interference of other characters). The Mask shown to be very impulsive, fun-loving and cynical and several times has been shown to have a humongous appetite, once eating twenty pizzas in one bite.

• Milo (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) - Stanley's dog is a Jack Russel Terrier. He is a frequent wearer of the mask as well and is shown to be quite intelligent, able to understand human language.

• Lt. Mitch Kellaway (voiced by Neil Ross) - A lieutenant constantly trying to prove Ipkiss is the Mask. A running gag of the show is that he receives atomic wedgies from the Mask. He often fails in capturing the Mask. His appearance is drastically changed from the original movie, where he was portrayed as short, middle-aged man (by Peter Riegert), whereas in the series he appears taller and younger.

• Detective Doyle (voiced by Jim Cummings) - Lieutenant Kellaway's dimwitted partner. He is usually the comic relief and is occasionally seen eating a donut or a candy bar.

• Peggy Brandt (voiced by Heidi Shannon) - Stanley's reporter friend. She sold out Stanley to mobsters in the movie, causing their strained relationship, though their friendship was repaired when Peggy rescues him (several times later). She constantly tries to up her career in the tabloids biz usually leaving her in sticky situations. She is one of the many women that The Mask has made advances on.

• Charlie Schumacher (voiced by Mark L. Taylor) - Stanley's friend in the movie turned into bank manager. He knows Stanley had the mask, but he thinks he got rid of it, like in the film. He appears not to know the mask is Stanley, most likely because he never saw ipkiss wearing the mask. He usually looks out for himself, tries to score women, has Stanley do his work for him, etc. but still acts as a friend to Stanley.

Villains

• Pretorius (voiced by Tim Curry) - The principal antagonist of the series. Pretorius is 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. His plans always revolved 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 as part of some increasingly insane "science experiments" which if carried out would result in the death of thousands or even the end of mankind. He mostly pronounces Ipkiss' last name as "Ipp-kiss". In the episode "Sister Mask", Pretorius did eventually gain the mask and as with Tyrell, he 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). Pretorius was also likely a parody of drug dealer/mob boss Eugene Rapaz from the original comics as both of them share the same face (though Rapaz wore small, rounded-lens dark glasses while Pretorius had round optic implants that looked similar as well) and is also named after Doctor Septimus Pretorius from Bride of Frankenstein.
  • Walter - Pretorius's 210-cm tall, silent and indestructible goon, but not as murderous and cruel. He is mostly seen working for Pretorius though sometimes he appears on his own. He chased the Mask for several episodes, but when he obtained the wooden mask and it failed to work for him (a moment taken directly from the original Dark Horse Comics in which "Walter" was a recurring character), he simply dropped it. Walter remained a recurring character throughout the series. He is strong enough to actually break the Mask in two (an impressive feat as only seconds before the Mask withstood being hit by cars and run over by a steamroller without a scratch). In "How Much is that Dog in the Tin Can", it was revealed that he was locked up in the same prison as Willamina Bubask.
  • Pretorius's Henchmen (Various Voices) - The henchmen of Pretorius are shown to wear black and purple outfits. They are often seen carrying out Pretorius' criminal errands to prepare for any of his criminal plots.

• Dr. Amelia Chronos (voiced by Victoria Carroll) - 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 looping time every half hour for everyone but herself, so that even the Mask could never foil her plans, since by the time he got to her, everything would be reset to a half hour prior (which creates one of the very rare instances of the Mask actually acting remotely serious), 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.) though none of them worked and an actual time machine through which she could travel into the past or future to manipulate events so that she would ultimately be victorious in her quest for world dominance.

• 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 (a extra-sharp cheddar cheese arrow, that would be fired from Gorgonzola's palm). This character was created as it was the winner of a contest held by Disney Adventures to create a new villain for the series. Legend says that Gorgonzola is the half-sister of Parmaseana the greatest dairy farmer in Mesapotamia. After Gorgonzola was caught trying to steal her brother's riches, she was shunned and vowed revenge. Many years later, Mrs. Peeman's niece Jennifer found an amulet during a dig in a Mesapotamian tomb that ends up transforming her into Gorgonzola by a the third-quarter moon when she removed it from the Mesapotamian tomb. When the transformation occurs, Gorgonzola plans revenge on the mortals that "treated her like sour milk." This led to the final confrontation with The Mask at Edge Stadium. The Mask managed to turn Gorgonzola's Cheese-Eye attack against her. Once the Mask removed Gorgonzola's amulet and returned it to its tomb, Jennifer alongside everyone and everything was restored back to normal. In "Convention of Evil," Gorgonzola popped up as one of the villains attending Pretorius' convention. Pete made a lot of cheese puns around Gorgonzola where she shot melted cheese at him.

• The Tempest (voiced by Bud Cort) - Fritz Drizzle was 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. Taking the name "the Tempest" He put Edge City into a hailstorm, a blizzard, and a flood. The Mask was able to stop him by opening a manhole which sucked him down, along with the flood waters he created. In "Convention of Evil," he was present at Pretorius' convention. During that time, he did get into a fight with Stinger when he called him "Beeboy." He is not to be confused with the Action Man villain with a similar name, origin, and powers. He resembles Robin from Batman: The Animated Series and has powers similar to that of the X-Men Storm.

• Kablamus (voiced by Jim Cummings in a homage to Sterling Holloway) - Joe Blow is a green-haired explosive man who was experimenting on a balloon that would be the greatest balloon ever that won't break. Unfortunately, the balloon overinflated and caused him to fall into the chemicals in his factory. As a result, he gained the power to blow himself up like a balloon and explode without dying (the chemicals he fell into made him unbreakable) and then returning to normal size. His costume consists of a blue leotard, orange pants, black gloves, boots, and a belt with grenades.When he inflates, he sounds exactly like a balloon inflating. He has a special pouch in his costume where he puts different grenades that explode with him. Every time he inflates, he's getting bigger, so when he used the Plutonium primer, he could inflate himself to the size of a skyscraper. Kablamus also can use his power to inflate only parts of his body, like his feet, in order to jump very high. Stanley as The Mask had a hard time in his first encounter with him due to following a reverse psychology written by Dr. Neumann disrupting his powers. Also, Kablamus was successful at reading Dr. Neumann's book and even invaded his office. The Mask managed to defeat him by replacing his Plutonium Primer grenade with a Popcorn Primer grenade. He, then inflates, giving the Mask the opportunity to install a valve, which deflates him.

• Channel Surfer (voiced by Gary Owens) - A madman who glides using his surfboard and travels by teleporting through televisions as well as manipulation of electricity and whatever is in the television. He was once a man named Raymond Neilsen who went insane after his favorite TV show Pointy Peaks (a parody of Twin Peaks) was cancelled due to complaints from viewers. Upon getting into a fit, his TVs fell on him and he emerged from the TV pile as Channel Surfer. 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. He held a challenge for The Mask by mind-controlling the people of Edge City and ended up trapping The Mask in the TV World. Peggy managed to place The Mask in a live broadcast of Channel Surfer's show. The Mask then sucks Channel Surfer into a satellite and shoots Channel Surfer into outer space as Channel Surfer vows to return. He is obviously a parody of Silver Surfer.

• The Dark Star Trio - A trio of villains who came out of the first issue of Doyle's favorite comic book "The Galactic Avenger." The Dragon Lady (voiced by Kath Soucie) can transform into a dragon, fly and breathe fire. War Machine (voiced by Jim Cummings) is a robot armed with deadly weapons and ammunition. Rip Tide (voiced by Frank Welker) is a punky villain with the ability to transform into water. They set out to kill Lt. Kellaway after mistaking him as their superhero enemy Galactic Avenger. Stanley/the Mask defeated the trio by ripping the comic book from whence they came. A parody of the Galaxy Trio from the Hanna-Barbera shorts. War Machine appears to be a parody of the Marvel superhero of the same name (although he's a robot instead of a man in a suit), while RipTide is a parody of Hydro-Man.

• Skillit (voiced by Jason Marsden) - A mischievous imp who hails from the Shadowland, and can use his own living shadow to suck the shadows out of other people, turning them old fast (only the Mask is immune to this) and allowing him to remain forever young (though he is powerless without his shadow). He is over 4000 years old but, in his own words, doesn't look a day over 12 (because of this when he is captured, he is often forced to do homework). He has known everyone who has ever possessed the Mask such as Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Blackbeard, Billie the Kid and Nimrel, a malevolent corruption of Merlin who was transformed into a monster when a magic spell blew up in his face.

• Chet Bozzack (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) - The high school bully of Stanley who resurfaced when he got a job at the Edge City Bank, though by that time he had more or less reformed himself into a nicer person. Unfortunately, he accidentally wore half of the mask when it was split into two by Walter which reawakens his darker urges. It is later shown that their Mask sides have something akin to a rivalry to the point that Stanley's mask form willingly abandoned a chance to dance at the Coco Bongo (an almost impossible task at any other time) just for a chance to get even with Chet's Mask form. Upon meeting, the two Mask's proceed to fight using their respective reality warping powers. Stanley and Chet along with their half mask personalities battle ended only when Chet stopped his mask personality from killing Stanley. After Chet was liberated from his half of the Mask, he was fired by Charlie.

• The Terrible Two - Dak (voiced by Cam Clarke) and Eddie (voiced by Jeff Bennett) are two slow-witted comic book-obsessed teenage boys who wanted to be superheroes. Driven by this desire, they went into a nuclear power plant in hopes of obtaining radioactivity. They believed that this state would eventually turn them into comic book superheroes when coming on contact with a bug. They succeeded, but forgot to bring a bug, both became ill and were to be sent to a hospital. On the way, the ambulance they were on accidentally released them and they crashed into two different stores; Dak in a putty shop and Eddie in an aquarium. This transformed Dak into Putty Thing and Eddie into Fish Guy in the episode "the Terrible Two". Fish Guy envied Putty Thing because he had "the great scorcher super powers" and he didn't. Technically, he was a harmless fish sidekick. Even worse despite being a fish, he can't swim or breathe underwater. In the episode, "The Good, The Bad, and Fish Guy", he managed to take The Mask from Stanley and wear it, thus transforming him into Shark Dude, a much more dangerous villain that was much stronger and faster than his previous form, and he also shown to have a very egoistical nature, seeing that after he gains the mask powers, he quickly and ungratefully abandons Dak. After Putty Thing landed in a tub of radioactive waste, he gained the power to shoot explosive laser beams from his mouth which was temporary. Also in that episode, Putty Thing also learns how to shape-shift. The two are likely a parody–homage to Mike Myers' titular Wayne's World character while Fish Guy resembles Wayne's sidekick Garth Algar (played by Dana Carvey) and Putty Thing is a parody of Clayface.

• Cybermite (voiced by Jim Cummings): A living yet obnoxious computer virus (in a form of a fat termite wearing a leather jacket) who manages to invade and infect Milo's body in Fantashtick Voyage. He grows bigger when ever he eats brain cells and occasionally says some pretty bad jokes. Mask had to go inside Milo which also dragged Lt. Kellaway and Detective Doyle with him. The Mask defeats Cybermite who is then dragged away by the antibodies.

• Don Julovit (voiced by Cam Clarke): The greatest bandit from Lispan. He arrived in Edge City to take part in the criminal activity where every villain dressed as Santa Claus. He is a parody of Don Quixote. He was apprehended by The Mask along with all the other criminals but unlike Walter, The Terrible Two and Kablamus The Exploding Man, he along with Dynamite Joe were never seen or heard from ever again.

• Dynamite Joe (voiced by Jeff Bennett impersonating Sylvester Stallone): Dynamite Joe is one of the sleazy low-lives who disguised himself as Santa Claus at Christmas Time in order to get away with his illegal escapades. He didn't bother to introduce himself and only spoke 3 or 4 times during the entire caper. He stated he had worked with explosives his whole life when confronted with something as extraordinary as Kablamus The Exploding Man. He was arrested along with the other criminals but unlike Walter, The Terrible Two and Kablamus he along with Don Julovit was never seen or heard from ever again. He is called Dynamite Joe as he was a sleazy explosives expert.

• Lonnie The Shark (voiced by Glenn Shadix): A mobster who has sharp teeth and a hairdo that resembles to a shark's fin. Lonnie has his own biker gang that cause chaos within Edge City. Lonnie once disguised himself as a "Barney The Dinosaur"-style kids TV host in "Baby's Wild Ride." They attempted to rob a bank in "Malled" and tried to steal the XAW battleship in "The Green Marine."
  • Pete (voiced by Charlie Adler): Lonnie the Shark's lazy sidekick. He always invents any excuse of "feeling pain" on any part of his body in order to ditch the gang's dirty work for his fat companions.

• Phony Frenchman (voiced by Jess Harnell): A villain with a bad French accent. He fought The Mask when he lured him to the Eiffel Tower that The Mask had stolen.

• Stinger (voiced by Stuart Pankin): Buzz Stingman was 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 to do his work and also developed a taste for honey. He was able to hypnotized the entire city into building a giant beehive. He was eventually stopped by the Mask who removed his stinger and Buzz was returned to normal. In "Convention of Evil," Stinger was present at Pretorius' convention. During that time, he got into a fight with Tempest when he called him "Beeboy."

• Davida Steelmine (voiced by Cree Summer): Originally named Vicky Pratt, Davida Steelmine is an illusionist criminal and an old schoolmate of Stanley where she was his crush, unknown to him she harbors a similar infatuation towards him (not enough to give up her life of crime though). She uses illusions as diversion while she robs the actual places while using an illusion of herself during her magic show to throw off suspicion, though she is capable of creating fireballs to attack with, she commonly escapes through her top hat. She originally appeared to steal valuables from Edge City but met her old crush Stanley and makes him an offer to leave with her. He refuses and dons The Mask to stop her. After several failed attempts to woo her, The Mask stops her with his own magic tricks and Davida is defeated in the end. The Mask manages to take her Top Hat escape route after she does an escape trick from Lt. Kellaway's car and dives into her hat.

• Willamina Bubask (voiced by Conchata Ferrell): A female criminal whose known crimes were dognapping, grand theft auto, and assaulting an entire police precinct. Milo ended up stumbling upon her dog-napping activities while Stanley was competing in a Chili Cookoff. It was all part of a plan to have dogs taste test each chili recipe for Cheap Chucky. It was revealed that she knew (and fell in love with) Walter when they were in the same prison (though, the heartless giant criminal seems to show no love interest on her). She was defeated by The Mask and was arrested by the police.

• Cheap Chucky: He was in collaboration with Willamina Bubask into getting dogs to test each chili recipe from a contest he held in order to find the perfect one to market. He was defeated by Milo when he unleashed the dogs from the cells and later arrested by the police.

• Colonel Beauregard Klaxon (voiced by Jim Cummings): A southern businessman who helped in the unveiling of a statue that Mayor Tilton hosted. After the statue became a victim in The Mask's antics by making it look like a statue of Mayor Tilton getting an atomic wedgie, Mayor Tilton went along with Beauregard's idea to hold the Edge City Games between Edge City and Centerville at the newly-built Edge City Stadium as a way to ignore The Mask. What Mayor Tilton didn't know is that Colonel Klaxon has been dumping nuclear waste underneath Edge City Stadium where the Edge City Games were being held. This resulted in the creation of a swamp monster abducting the Edge City Team. During the tournament, Peggy used a security camera to obtain a confession from Beauregard about Edge City Stadium being built on unstable swamp grounds and the creation of a swamp monster. After the swamp monster is defeated followed by the destruction of Edge City Stadium, Beauregard is then given an atomic wedgie by The Mask and is then arrested by Lt. Kellaway.
  • Billy Bob: Colonel Beauregard Klaxon's henchmen.

• The Hood (voiced by Jess Harnell): A criminal wanted for loan sharking, smuggling, jewel heists, and other crimes. His true identity is Lawrence Lorenzo who was hired to be the police chief. Hood and his henchmen were planning to kidnap Mayor Tilton at the Coco Bongo Club and Lt. Kellaway was appointed to head up the stakeout with his visiting mother attending. When he and his henchmen kidnap Mayor Tilton as well as Lt. Kellaway's mother, Hood reveals his identity to Mayor Tilton and states that he will dispose of him and take over Edge City. The Mask managed to find Hood's hideout in the Cornitos Chips Factory and lured every policeman there. When Hood threatens to use Mrs. Kellaway as a human shield, she manages to stomp on his foot and beat him down with her purse enough to expose Hood's identity to the other cops while Mask tricked Hood's henchmen into going into the bagging machine. Hood and his men were arrested after that.

• Sly Eastenegger: An action movie star who shows up in Edge City to use it in his next movie. What no one knows yet is that Sly and the director had a stolen U.S. Nuclear Bomb used as one of the props. This was part of a revenge plot against the critics that made a bad review of his last movie. He went against The Mask in a Last Action Hero contest with Sly rigging Mask's attempts. When it came to the movie's final scene, Peggy managed to warn Mask and Lt. Kellaway that the bomb is real. The Mask manages to disarm the bomb and Sly Eastenegger is arrested by Lt. Kellaway. He is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but speaks in the style of Sylvester Stallone.
  • Director (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui): An unnamed director of Sly Eastenegger's latest movie who helped Sly in his plot to use a stolen U.S. nuclear missile.

• Sir Andrew Bedwetter (voiced by Jeff Bennett): A Broadway director that The Mask made enemies with when Andrew made a play adaption of Super Monkey. The Mask crashed the show and his antics made the show successful. While Andrew was preparing his next play against The Mask, his two employees were secretly robbing banks to obtain money to fund it. While in a giant robotic gorilla, he did a musical battle against The Mask and was defeated. After learning what his employees did, Andrew Bedwetter is then arrested by Lt. Kellaway.

• Madame Suspiria (voiced by Candi Milo): A gypsy whose family once held the greatest magic in Carbathia. After being on the brink of being fired from a carnival by its owner Admiral Wombat, she encounters Stanley Ipkiss and learns of his Mask as it was part of her family's magic. Around the same time, she gives Stanley a love potion that spilled on Mrs. Peenman that causes Stanley (and the Mask), Lt. Kellaway, and other males to fall in love with her. She plotted to steal the Mask and siphon its powers to get revenge on Admiral Wombat. When she does, it caused Stanley as The Mask to miss some of his powers. The Mask managed to trick Madame Suspiria into using her magic attacks on him to regain part of his powers. After The Mask manages to get his powers back, Madame Suspiria accidentally gets the Love Potion on her causing Lt. Kellaway, Charlie Schumaker, and every man at the carnival to be attracted to her.

• Celia N. Airtight: Celia was a top researcher at Wrapmaster Corporation until she was fired for knowing too much about the food preserving part. She formed Putterware Corporation and secretly used the Putterware products to turn leftovers into leftover monsters in her plot to take revenge on Wrapmaster Corporation. Stanley ended up becoming a salesman and later an inner circle for Wrapmaster Corporation thanks to The Mask. Upon escaping a sandwich leftover monster and upon regaining the mask, Stanley became The Mask and fought the leftover monsters. After The Mask defeated the leftover monsters, he subdued Celia N. Airtight and Harold and left them for the police.
  • Harold: Celia N. Airtight's right-hand man.

• Selina Swint (voiced by Susan Silo): An international smuggler who was smuggling counterfeit money to Edge City. She ended up getting her bag mixed up with Stanley's bag and traced down his address. When she finds him and the bag full of counterfeit money gone, she plans to obtain both of them by kidnapping Milo. As The Mask, Stanley ends up at the location where Milo is held and manages to rescue Milo. With help from Milo, The Mask was able to subdue Selina Swint who was then arrested by Lt. Kellaway.

• Government Guy (voiced by Frank Welker): The tyrannical ruler of Edge City in the future. At some point after a thermonuclear crisis, he found the mask and used it to power everything in Edge City. However, he made laws that banned anything related to fun. He wore the mask of the 23rd century, while a time-traveling Stanley wore the Mask he brought with him from the 20th century, thus allowing two people to wear the mask at the same time without the Mask being split in two. Despite wearing the Mask, he is defeated quite easily by The Mask due to his lack of understanding of the powers it grants. He is a parody of Ross Perot.

• Tex Clobber and Baxter Simon: Two bounty hunters that were hired by Pretorius to capture the Mask so that Pretorius can discover how the Mask can fell no pain. Tex Clobber is a wilderness hunter that uses normal hunting weapons while Baxter Simon is a businessman that uses high tech gadgets. The Mask manages to outwit them and place a bounty on them.

• Satan (voiced by Jonathan Harris): The Devil, here represented as Bub (a human with vampire-like teeth and a demon shadow) appeared as a villain. The first time, he convinced Stanley to sign a contract to make him become a winner without using the Mask. The contract worked, Stanley gaining prices twice and becoming the Bank vice-president, but the Devil then tried to take him (including as the Mask) in Hell as a payment. However, The Mask was able to discard the contract by challenging and defeating Satan in a dance competition at the Coco Bongo.

Other characters

• Dr. Arthur Neuman (voiced by Ben Stein): Stanley's therapist and the only character to be played by his movie portrayer. He doesn't believe that Stanley is The Mask and thinks "The Mask" is the side of Stanley who wants to be outrageous and impulsive. In one episode, the mask falls into Neuman's hands, and he becomes a super-villain. Dr. Neuman rampaged throughout the city, claiming everyone suffered from a disease he called Ipkissiamascosus. He was 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).

• Francis Forthwright (voiced by Mary McDonald-Lewis): One of Stanley's neighbors.

• Baby Forthwright (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker): Francis Forthwright's baby. Wore the mask on three occasions: part one of "The Mask is Always Greener on the Other Side", "Baby's Wild Ride", and "Mutiny of the Bounty Hunter".

• Mayor Mortimer Tilton (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson): The egotistical mayor of Edge City. Though not evident in season one, season two reveals that Mayor Tilton is corrupt (often using the city's budget for elaborate celebrations). In "Flight as a Feather," it is revealed that Mayor Tilton once dated an exotic dancer named Cookie BaBoom, who crashes his Bavariaville ceremony and threatens to blow herself and the Mayor (to whom she refers as "Mortimer") with two megatons worth of dynamite strapped to her body (which The Mask strips off and makes into a cocktail). He is loosely based on Mayor Mitchell Tilton from the film. Despite his selfishness, Tilton is a person of genuine gratitude, visibly by the fact that he often thanks the Mask for saving the city and frees him from any legal trouble that he causes(much of Kellaway's chagrin).
  • Smedley: Mayor Mortimer Tilton's white nerdy assistant.

• Agnes Peenman (voiced by Tress MacNeille): Stanley's landlord. She is often the butt of The Mask's many practical jokes. In "Mask au Gratin", it is revealed that Mrs. Peenman has a niece named Jennifer who works as an archaeologist. In "Split Personality", the bartender of "The Silent Hulk" bar reveals Mrs. Peenman's first name, Agnes.

• Bank President (voiced by Jim Cummings): The unnamed boss of Stanley Ipkiss and Charlie Schumacher whose face is off-screen.

• Art Nouveau (voiced by Jim Cummings): Arthur Nouveau was an art forger who threatened to blow up a dynamite factory unless his demands were met. He only appeared in "The Terrible Twos".

Other mask wearers

Stanley Ipkiss is the owner and wearer of The Mask, but there have been others who have worn the Mask (either accidentally or intentionally). Some episodes focus on this aspect; someone gets his/hers hands (or face) on the Mask and Stanley usually tries get it back with difficulty. The other wearers are:

• Milo: Stanley's dog and one of the main characters. He occasionally wears the mask when Stanley (or someone else) is in trouble. Milo wore the mask in eight episodes (The Mask is Always Greener on the Other Side (Part 2), How Much Is That Dog in the Tin Can?, A Comedy of Eras, Malled, Jurassic Mask,Up the Creek They Came from Within and All Hail The Mask).

• Peggy Brandt: Stanley's journalist friend. Peggy wears the mask in Counterfeit Mask. When wearing the mask, she sought to give herself an elaborate and feminine makeover.

• Baby Forthwright: Stanley's friend's child and a recurring character. When wearing the mask he sometimes does destruction just to get some ice cream. While wearing the mask, baby very briefly teams up with Lonnie the Shark and his goons, but in the end turns against the mobster. He uses a variation of the mask's wedgie antic: putting diapers on everyone who annoys him. Baby wore the mask in three episodes (The Mask Is Always Greener on the Other Side (Part 1), Baby's Wild Ride and Mutiny of the Bounty Hunters).

• Pretorius: The main villain (See Villains section). Pretorius is a unique Mask wearer as he completely managed to retain his personality and consciousness in control, possibly due to him having no inhibitions which the mask releases in the wearer. He tries to kill Stanley and Peggy by eating them, but is defeated after his invention Sister Mask is used against him. During the chase scene Peggy referred to him as "Big Head", an obvious nod to The Mask's more malevolent comic book counterpart. Pretorius wore the mask in Sister Mask.

• Chet Bozzack: See Villains section. Chet wore the mask (or half of it) in Split Personality which was also his only appearance. He has a "Evil Clown" personality, wear a red suit and was Stanley worse nightmare, but Chat feels guilty after he lost the control over his evil side and begin a New Life.

• Fish Guy: See Villains section. When the Fish Guy wears the mask, he becomes Shark Dude, and is more dangerous than his previous form. As Shark Dude, he has super-strength, sprouts wings to fly, and turns his arms into 6 tentacles. He wears the mask in The Good, The Bad, and Fish Guy.

• Dr. Neumann: Stanley's cynical psychiatrist and a recurring character. Stanley typically goes to see him to talk about his problems and The Mask. Dr. Neumann doesn't believe in The Mask, which he thinks is Stanley's "imaginary friend". This is a running gag of the show.However, he later gains the mask from Stanley, who wanted to get rid of it. Neumann tries the mask on and with it on, becomes crazy and psychotic. He also wears a yellow coat and blue pants with sneakers as well as a huge bow tie with the same color scheme as the Mask's tie. While wearing The Mask, Neumann puts Stanley and other people in straitjackets (using their underwear), believing they suffer from an illness called Ipkissia maskosis. He also teams with Pretorius, but is ultimately defeated and separated from the mask after trying to kill Stanley. Even after this, and the fact that the Mask has appeared in the news and even on television, Neumann is still not convinced. Neumann wore the mask in Shrink Rap.

• Evelyn: A shy, quiet woman and Stanley's one-time date. She owns a dog called Esmeralda who is just as shy as she is. Stanley meets her in Edge City Bank and after some encouraging from Charlie he asks her to come to his apartment. Initially unsure, she goes to Stanley's apartment, but the date doesn't go as planned. Evelyn accidentally puts the mask on and becomes Eve, the first female Mask of the show. Unlike Evelyn, Eve is more loud and wears a dress. Eve is also madly in love with Stanley. Evelyn wore the mask in Bride of Pretorius, which was also her only appearance.

• Government Guy: The tyrannical ruler of Edge City in the future. He wore the mask of the 23rd century, while a time-traveling Stanley wore the mask he brought with him from the 20th century, thus allowing two people to wear the mask at the same time without the Mask being split in two. He is a parody of Ross Perot. Government Guy wore the mask in Future Mask, which was also his only appearance (note the Mask in the future is green due to mold, previously thought to be radiation exposure). Despite wearing the Mask, he is defeated quite easily by The Mask due to his lack of understanding of the powers it grants.

• Ace Ventura: Near the end of the two-part crossover "The Aceman Cometh"/"Have Mask, Will Travel". In fact, the mask hits Ace's rear end, turning it into a head of its own (exactly like Ace's, but colored in a green hue).

Spoofs to other comics

For villains as for the Mask's transformation, there was often DC Comics parodies, as Supermask and Super Salad Man (a parody of Superman). Some Marvel references were made too, like The Mask becoming Biclops (a parody of Cyclops), Spiderhyny (alias Spider-Man), Green Surfer (alias Silver Surfer) and Toolverine (a parody of Wolverine), and a villain that turned into a dinosaur like Sauron. 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, portrayed as a dumb teenager rather than an angry, jaded actor).

Episode list

Season one

Season two

Season three

Crossover

In the final episode "The Aceman Cometh" the Mask teamed up with Ace Ventura, another Jim Carrey movie character. At the time of the original airing Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was running in the adjoining time slot in CBS's Saturday morning lineup. During the crossover Stanley/Mask and Ace keep their own respective animation style while within the other's show.

Milo, Stanley's dog, has his brain switched with that of a scientist and is then dognapped. Stanley in turn hires Ace Ventura to help get him back. Upon the end of the episode, Spike, Ace's pet monkey, steals the mask. Stanley travels to Florida to get the mask back. The crossover is concluded in the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective episode "Have Mask, Will Travel".

Controversy

Adult humor, nude scene

When this cartoon series aired on the FOX Family channel (now ABC Family) and Boomerang 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, 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 (which the spectator is unable to see) 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.

Principal cast

• Rob Paulsen - Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask
• Tim Curry - Pretorius
• Jim Cummings - Detective Doyle, Joe Blow/Kablamus, War Machine, Colonel Beauregard Klaxon, Art Nouveau
• Tress MacNeille - Mrs. Peenman
• Kevin Michael Richardson - Mayor Mortimer Tilton
• Neil Ross - Lt. Mitch Kellaway
• Heidi Shannon - Peggy Brandt
• Ben Stein - Dr. Arthur Newman
• Mark L. Taylor - Charlie Schumacher
• Frank Welker - Milo, Baby Forthwright, Riptide, Government Guy

Additional voices

• Charlie Adler - Pete
• Carlos Alazraqui - Director
• Jack Angel -
• Jeff Bennett - Eddie/Fish Guy, Sir Andrew Bedwetter, Dynamite Joe
• Gregg Berger -
• Sheryl Bernstein -
• Earl Boen -
• Rodger Bumpass -
• Jodi Carlisle -
• Victoria Carroll - Dr. Amelia Chronos
• Dan Castellaneta - Chet Bozzack
• Marsha Clark -
• Cam Clarke - Dak/Putty Thing
• Bud Cort - Tempest
• E.G. Daily -
• Michael Daingerfield - Ace Ventura
• Jennifer Darling -
• Debi Derryberry -
• Greg Eagles -
• Conchata Ferrell - Willamina Bubask
• Pat Fraley -
• Brian George -
• Dan Gilvezan -
• Lennye Goldsmith -
• Michael Gough -
• Benny Grant -
• Dorian Harewood -
• Jess Harnell - The Hood/Lawrence Lorenzo, Phoney Frenchman
• Estelle Harris - Lt. Mitch Kellaway's Mother
• Jonathan Harris - Bub/Satan
• Charity James -
• John Kassir -
• Art Kimbro -
• Joe Lala -
• Nancy Linari -
• Taj Mahal -
• Danny Mann -
• Jason Marsden - Skillit
• Mona Marshall -
• Bill Martin -
• Mary McDonald-Lewis - Mrs. Francis Forthwright
• Candi Milo - Madam Suspiria
• Pat Musick -
• Joe Nipote -
• Gary Owens - Channel Surfer
• Stuart Pankin - Stinger
• David Prince -
• Teresa Radicia -
• Roger Rose -
• Stu Rosen -
• Heidi Ross -
• Glenn Shadix - Lonnie the Shark
• Susan Silo - Selina Swint
• Kath Soucie - Dragon Lady
• Cree Summer - Gorgonzola the Cheese Witch, Cookie BaBoom, Davida Steelmine
• B.J. Ward -

Crew

• Gary Hartle - Producer
• Keith Baxter - Main Title Song, Main Title Song Lyrics
• Ginny McSwain - Voice Director
• Christopher Neal Nelson - Music, Main Title Song
• Rob Paulsen - Theme Song Performer

Home releases

VHS

Six VHS volumes of the series were gradually released from 1995 to 1996, all of which are now out of print.

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.

Syndication

After the series ended its run on CBS it started airing in syndication. It aired on Cartoon Network from 1995-1997. Then it aired on FOX Family from 1998-2000. Since 2000 it hasn't been seen in the United States. Though in Australia it has been reran sporadically on Boomerang

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.

Indian telecast

The Mask was premiered in India on early 1999 on the "TOON TAMASHA" block on Cartoon Network. The Mask character was voiced by voiceover artist & actor Ninad Kamat. The names were changed in the Indian version names. For Example :-

• Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask <=> Sachin Sapnis/Nakaab
• Dr Pretorious <=> Dhoomketu
• Milo <=> Billoo etc.
• Peggy <=> Pinky
• Stinger <=> Dank Maar
• Dr. Skillit <=> Dr. Khitpit
• Lt. Kellaway <=> Kelkar
• Doyle <=> Goyal

It premiered on afternoons on Cartoon Network. At present this series is removed off-air in 2000 or 2001. The dialogues were changed to popular Bollywood references. The dialogue "ssssmokin" was changed to "jhakaaasss"; "Somebody Stop Me" was changed to "Koi rok sako to rok lo".

References

External links

• The Mask: The Animated Series at the Internet Movie Database
• The Mask: The Animated Series at TV.com
• Rob Paulsen on "Donny & Marie".