M.A.S.K. is a 1985 animated television series produced by DIC and ICC TV Productions, Ltd. The series was based on the M.A.S.K. action figures produced by Kenner Products. It was animated in Japan by Ashi Productions, Studio World and K.K. DiC Asia (later known as K.K. C&D Asia).

Overview

M.A.S.K. (an acronym for "Mobile Armored Strike Kommand") is a special task force led by Matt Trakker, who operate transforming armored vehicles in their ongoing battle against the terrorist organization V.E.N.O.M. (an acronym for Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem) with an emphasis on superpowered helmets (called "masks") worn by the characters of both factions. V.E.N.O.M.'s primary goal was obtaining money through either robbery, extortion, counterfeiting, kidnapping, or attempting to steal historical artifacts, but M.A.S.K. always found a way to foil their plans.

Cast

Crew

Season 1 (1985)

Season 2 (1986)

Episodes

A total of 75 syndicated episodes over two seasons were broadcast from September 1985 to November 1986. The first season consisted of 65 episodes. The second season, whose theme deemphasized crimefighting in favor of auto racing, lasted only ten episodes.

Season 1 (1985)

Season 2 (1986)

Production

One of many cartoons produced during the 1980s as a vehicle for toy merchandising, M.A.S.K. was a hybrid of popular era cartoons G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and The Transformers. When originally broadcast, M.A.S.K. was the first closed-captioned series to air in first-run syndication.

Home video

Several episodes of the series were released under Karl-Lorimar's "Kideo Video" branding on VHS in the 1980s, with two episodes per tape. The "racing" second season was distributed by Tempest Video. In the United Kingdom, two releases titled M.A.S.K The Movie, and M.A.S.K The Movie II were released by Tempo Video, featuring episodes edited into a feature-length format. Several episodes of season one were distributed by The Video Collection in association with Karl Lorimar's Kideo Video, then a lot of these episodes would be distributed on later VHS tapes by Castle Vision. While episodes from season two would be distributed by Golden Book Video. M.A.S.K. episodes have been released on DVD in three different regions:

Reception

While certain critics criticized the show for showing the weaponry and vehicles "at the expense of anything deeper in terms of plotting and characterization", the show was quite successful. IGN voted M.A.S.K. the 99th-best animated series in 2009, calling it one of the most popular cartoon/toy marketing franchises of the 1980s, stating that it took many of the strengths of G.I. Joe and Transformers while taking few of their flaws.

In other media

In 2015, Hasbro and Paramount were planning a cinematic universe combining M.A.S.K. with G.I. Joe, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, Micronauts, and Rom. In April 2016, a writers' room was formed consisting of Michael Chabon, Brian K. Vaughan, Nicole Perlman, Cheo Coker, John Francis Daley, and others to develop storylines, but it disbanded in July 2017. The next year, F. Gary Gray was announced as the director for a live-action M.A.S.K. adaptation, with Chris Bremner hired in 2020 to write the script. The project has since remained in development.