The Mask: The Animated Series celebrates its 30th anniversary with the release of its first season digitally.
Fans loved the show with a 76 percent audience score, despite not having a critic’s score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Before the animated series, The Mask was a comic book series turned successful film starring Jim Carrey.
It’s been a very long time since The Mask: The Animated Series aired its first episode. To celebrate the show’s 30th anniversary, Warner Bros has announced that the show’s first season will be available to purchase digitally. Based on the 1994 film, starring Jim Carrey, the animated series follows Stanley Ipkiss using an ancient mask, taking on the personality of The Mask.
While the show doesn’t have a critic’s score on Rotten Tomatoes, The Mask: The Animated Series was well-received by fans, as it had a 76 percent audience score. The animated show ran for 3 seasons, with its last season only having a few episodes, and it aired in August 1997. Before its digital release, Warner Bros had a VHS run for some of the show’s episodes, as well as a DVD release in 2018.
The Mask: The Animated Series starred Rob Paulsen as Stanley/The Mask. Stanley tries to dispose of the mask but ends up using it to get out of trouble. Also featured in this show were Frank Welker as Milo (aka Stanley’s Dog), Neil Ross as Lt. Mitch Kellaway, Jim Cummings as Detective Doyle, and Mark L. Taylor as Charlie Schumacher.
The History of ‘The Mask’ From Comics to Television
Before The Mask entered film and television, it was originally a comic book series created by John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke, It told the story of a supernatural mask that gave the wearer reality-bending powers, in exchange for an altered appearance and personality. Unlike its adaptations, the comic version of this character was depicted as a serial killer.
In 1994, a film adaptation of The Mask was released, starring Carrey as Stanely Ipkiss. The film was a massive success, generating over $351 million worldwide and received a certified fresh critics score of 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also nominated for an Academy Award in 1995 for “Best Visual Effects” and Carrey was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for “Actor in a Musical and Comedy Film.”
Following the film came the Animated series in 1995. The cartoon was based on the movie adaptation and retained some of its plot points and details. In 2005, a stand-alone sequel was released called Son of the Mask, starring Jamie Kennedy as Tim Avery/The Mask. Unfortunately, the film was a box office bomb, generating only over $59 million at the worldwide box office, which was under its $84 million budget. At the same time, it was poorly received by fans and critics, receiving a low critics score of 6 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
