DVD Review: M.A.S.K.: The Complete Series From Shout! Factory

Before I go into writing this review, I want to clear something right off the bat: This is a review of the 1980’s cartoon M.A.S.K., as in Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, which has absolutely nothing to do with the movie with Eric Stoltz and Cher. Likewise, Jim Carrey has nothing to do with this and the only green masks you’ll see are the ones like those worn by Buddie “Clutch” Hawks and Nash Gorey. Now that that’s out of the way…

This month, Shout! Factory released what might already be one of my absolute favorite DVD sets in my collection, and one I’ve been waiting for since the beginning of the format. That set is M.A.S.K.: The Complete Series, a 12-DVD set collecting all 65 episodes of the original 1985 animated series, where Matt Trakker and his band of heroes with masks and transforming vehicles fought the Vicious Evil Network Of Mayhem, or V.E.N.O.M.

M.A.S.K. was a bit of a daily institution for me from the moment my friend Adam gave me my first M.A.S.K. toy, Gator, for my 8th birthday in December 1985. The show is somewhere between G.I. Joe and the Transformers in concept, and at the time toy collecting wasn’t as nuts as it is now – it really was possible to “collect them all,” though I’ll be darned about the fact that they never did make that Gloria Baker with Shark vehicle. I think that Christmas my parents got me Rhino and Switchblade – two of the biggest M.A.S.K. toys to come from the original wave. I had a Boulder Hill playset but I have no recollection of when I got it. But one thing was for sure – M.A.S.K. was cool. (And I’d like to retroactively apologize to my parents for making us stop at every toy store or K-Mart on a family vacation when I was trying to find that elusive Shark vehicle that was never made one summer. Oops!)

I never quite forgot M.A.S.K.. In 1997 or so, I created what was one of the first M.A.S.K. sites on the internet, housed in my AOL space. (Classy!) You can find the remains of it at MASKsite.com, but it’s not updated very often. It’s still a general idea of what was once there. I remember late-night chats on ICQ (remember that?) in the early 2000’s talking with other M.A.S.K. fans I had found. Good times. But unlike the renaissance we’ve seen with concepts like G.I. Joe, He-Man, The Transformers, and Thundercats, M.A.S.K. has been relatively silent, aside from a Matt Trakker G.I. Joe figure made a few years ago.

But thankfully, there were others like me who wanted M.A.S.K. on DVD, and Shout! Factory finally made it happen.

So how’s the set?

First- the packaging is awesome, though my picky self would have loved an episode guide or some kind of booklet within. The first 6 discs have a M.A.S.K. motif where the second half has Miles Mayhem and V.E.N.O.M.. There are generally 5 or 6 episodes per disc. I actually ended up going for the later volumes first because I remember what a treat it was to see some of the later characters that were introduced into the show, like Jacques LaFleur, Calhoun Burns, and Billy Idol lookalike Floyd Malloy. I never noticed at the time how absolutely awful and stereotypical some of the voice work was, especially for a character like Jacques with his fake French accent. Even the British voice of Alex Sector was very obviously fake, and don’t get me started on Bruce Sato. I also didn’t realize at the time how many voice actors were recycled through for different characters. Does that character sound like Nevada Rushmore? There’s a reason for that!

The stereotypical nature of some of the characters is touched upon in the “Fans of M.A.S.K.” documentary, which has some funny commentary, but kind of disappointed as far as the choices of speakers. It really came across as “who do the producers of this set know, and can they come in and talk about it?” I’d have loved to have seen more actual fans instead of, say, Guy #3 from Roddenberry Productions (no offense to the Roddenberry guy, I don’t know you, I’m just making an example). Shout!’s done this before – remember the PR girl from Hasbro on the G.I. Joe sets? – but surely some more people can talk. But yes, M.A.S.K. has some really glaring racial stereotypes which might be considered offensive today but when you’re 8, you don’t notice, and besides… it’s nowhere near as bad as that 1960’s Dick Tracy cartoon. And they point out how obviously Sly Rax was doing a Jack Nicholson impression!

The other DVD featurette interviews two of the writers of the original series. That is interesting because in the background, you can see some of the character bible descriptions which are fascinating, but also, it’s fun to see what two freelancers thought of writing for the show. It’s a shame none of the original voice cast was available – I’d love to see what some of them actually looked like! – and I can understand why certain M.A.S.K. writers like Chuck Lorre may have been unavailable. It still would have been fun to see more, but then again, the point of this set was to get the episodes of the show out.

Which gets me to that, the most important part of the set – the episodes.

It is so easy to just pop a disc in and be entertained for hours, but more than that – it takes me back to 1985. I feel like I’m watching WNUV TV-54 again and the “Pet of the Day” intro is about to come on before the credits roll. Of course, the picture is much better than it ever was during the antenna/pre-cable days. The “M.A.S.K. will be riiiiight baaaack… and so will V.E.N.O.M.” interstitials are restored! This is my childhood. If you grew up watching the show, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

I will admit, there is a helicopter-that-turns-into-a-plane-shaped elephant in the room when it comes to the set, and that is that, although this is billed as The Complete Series, it’s actually just the complete original series. The M.A.S.K. Racing Series is considered a different show, and a different license, so, sadly, those episodes are not on this DVD. So if you want to see characters like Lester Sludge and Boris Bushkin or episodes with no Scott and T-Bob, you’re out of luck here. (Although oddly Lester is mentioned in the fan documentary – oops!) I don’t know what Shout!’s policy is on this but I am assuming that if sales for The Complete Series are good enough, they’ll think about or pursue that license. I’d really like that. Those episodes may not ultimately be as good as what came before, but they were exciting for me at the time… even though I had to set my VCR for the ungodly 6AM air time they had for “Season 2.”

If you’re a Child of the Eighties, I probably don’t have to say much more – your mind is probably already made on if you want M.A.S.K. on DVD. You can order your copy from Amazon.com (here, discounted heavily!) or Shout! Factory’s official website (at this link – M.A.S.K.: The Complete Series [MASK] with Bonus Iron-On!) Here’s the trailer (containing the opening titles) if you want to take that trip down memory lane, and/or to prove to your friends that this has nothing to do with Eric Stoltz: