For those that enjoy the Fast and Furious, GI Joe, and Transformer franchises, MASK is bound to be something interesting since the word is that the 80s cartoon is making its way back to the spotlight and will be featured as a movie directed by F. Gary Gray and Hasbro. One question to ask however is whether anyone remembers the show. Standing for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (yes, K’s in C words DO predate Mortal Kombat) was a group designed to combat the terrorist organization known as VENOM, or Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem. The names were kind of awkward and might get laughed at today but there’s likely a way that’s going to be used to make certain that it won’t be entirely comical and will be taken seriously. In essence MASK was kind of like GI Joe in that they fought the bad guys and kept them from taking over the world or destroying large parts of it, but weren’t quite as successful when it came to being as highly regarded. The show only lasted 2 seasons whereas GJ Joe went on to become well-known and spawn two movies that people are still willing to argue about since they were kind of entertaining even if they weren’t absolute blockbusters. MASK however was never given that distinction since it wasn’t around long enough to really earn the same kind of notice.
With the onset of nostalgia that’s been going on throughout the last several years however it’s not entirely surprising to see the emergence of several different titles from the archives of pop culture that many people felt were due a second chance. MASK did in fact have a toy line as you can imagine since the idea of letting something this great go without at least trying to market it as much as possible to the public would have been absolutely foolish. The toys were a great deal of fun really since there were a couple that were kind of hard to find at times and, if you were a kid that had them, offered at least a little bit of prestige when the show was still popular. On top of just looking cool thanks to the coloration and the designs, each vehicle had several hidden and very specialized features that would come into play during battle, as the lead antagonist, who operated a high-tech chopper, would push a button and the chopper would suddenly become a high-powered jet. There was also a motorcycle that could become a chopper, and a car that would open its doors and become an airborne vehicle kind like the DeLorean but without the flux capacitor or the Mr. Fusion strapped to the back. Some of the designs were rather practical and could be easily explained, but the features were still outlandish enough that adults might have looked at them and chuckled since having a rocket in the back of a semi-truck doesn’t exactly feel plausible, nor does having a jet boat in the body of a jeep.
But for kids the cartoon was great since it took the ordinary and made it into something extraordinary that was too cool to pass up on. Whether this will be a part of a new universe or not along with GI Joe, the Micronauts, and a couple of other ideas is hard to say but it does sound as though it will be getting the movie treatment eventually. James Whitbrook of Gizmodo has more to say on the matter. It might be best to remind people just what the cartoon is all about at this point and see how it tracks with the current generation to assess just how much it might need to change or if it’s even that plausible. The changes to come are undeniable since there’s a good deal of the show that would need to be reworked and redone if only because a lot of it does appear kind of out there, even for a cartoon. In the 80s though things were designed to be big, flashy, and as impressive as they could possibly be, which mean big guns, big weapons, and things that could become something else and basically entertain the imagination of young children whose interests can be extremely mercurial. It’d be nice to know if Hasbro is going to keep MASK as a cartoon or if a live action version will be coming, but for now it’s intriguing enough to know that the plans have not been scrapped and that a new representation is incoming.
The hope of course is that enough will remain the same and that the movie will be able to wow those of us that can still remember the show from our younger years, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. It’s comforting though to know that F. Gary Gray is on the project since his work does speak for itself and that’s more than enough for a lot of people.
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