I dont understand why M.A.S.K. is not released yet in North America there is huge interest in this cartoon and I will not rest until its released in North America

According to Cookie Jar's site, they own it, so I don't think rights would be much of an issue:

http://www.thecookiejarcompany.com/cj_shows_mask.php

I think M.A.S.K. was way more popular than Jayce.  It wasn't quite to the level of what I call the Big 3 of the 80s (MOTU, G.I. Joe, and Transformers), but it wasn't too far behind.  The toyline did well and the show got some season 2 episodes.

Hasbro used matt tracker in gijoe so i guess they own the rights.  If your worried about dvd sales then do like wb and disney does and release a single disk "try-out" dvd for about $10.  If it's a hit then make the box-sets.  You can also use the uk only mask: the movie vhs as a try-out.

Is it possible for you to tell me what company has the rights to M.A.S.K.?  I wouldn't think it is a secret.  I would like to write or e-mail them about releasing it on DVD, but need a name.  thanks.

I just bought M.A.S.K. complete series from Amazon UK for $22. Just use your region free DVD hdmi upconversion player and you are set! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQdgbs0IUDg

Update!!  Guess what showed up in the mail today? M.A.S.K boxed Set Season 1-2 and Dark Skies Season 1! 

Whooooooooaaa! Awesome!

Today is a great day!

Still waiting for a region 1 release, with the recent release of The Six Million Dollar Man Complete Series Collector's set, this is now my holy grail.  Until then I geuss I have to live with the surprisingly high-quality "set" i got from youtube. (talk about luck)

I will be getting this, but I still hope that Shout! eventually gets the back 10 episodes of the series.

Will the deluxe set be released to general retail on August 9th?

TERRIFIC! Wondering if they rank above the Transformers and the G.I. JOE tapes in terms of preservation...

Although admittedly not as good, I still hope you guys get the rights to the second season down the road.  I won't feel like I have a truly complete region 1 M.A.S.K. collection until I get it. 

 Shout! Factory did pick up the inferior third season of Captain N at a later time since it was part of a different show and recently picked up DiC G.I. Joe.

• New Featurettes with Talent"

By the way, VENOM never killed Matt's brother, not in the cartoon continuity --- that was the standalone continuity set by the comic book which accompained the early toys.

About the two seasons, The Racing Series is a parallel universe because:

1- It belongs to COOKIE JAR. Brian Ward confirmed so.
2- The origin/backstory is different: Mayhem was a co-partner of Matt Trakker and they created M.A.S.K. together. Then, Mayhem created V.E.N.O.M. to compete with M.A.S.K. An origin slightly similar to the comic book which accompained the early toys, not the original cartoon series where MASK and VENOM are totally unrelated.
3- MASK is a race team, not a secret, anti-terrorism organization supported by PNA (Duane Kennedy).
4- VENOM is a race team, not a terrorist squad with OBVIOUS criminal past and "social status".
5- MASK agents have no secret identities nor civilian jobs.
6- No mention of the "past" Season 1 adventures, no continuity-related cohesion with them anyway (read the points above).
7- New masks with silly powers, not designed to fight terrorist actions. Shroud, Eclipse, Totem.
8- Mayhem's... twin brother.
9- Brad Turner, Dusty Hayes, Clutch --- their lives and MASK functions are different.
10- 10 episodes, not even a full 65-episodes season. Screams alternate spin-off.
11- More importantly: in the Racing Series the VENOM helmets are as much powerful as the MASK ones, if not more (see Powerhouse/Samson and what it does). In the original series, the MASK helmets were much more powerful because charged via Trakker's ancient crystal, which generates an incredible and unlimited amount of (mysterious) energy.

No way. Alternate universe. Don't get me wrong, I love the Racing Series anyway.

Any word on if the MASK PSAs will be included?

To: N8 Storm

I feel exactly the same way. It's bittersweet to finally get an official region 1 set of M.A.S.K., but without the final ten episodes (Racing Series), it feels incomplete. Many thanks to Brian and Shout Factory for laboring to make this set available. The artwork and possible talent interviews (especially Scott Trakker aka Brennan Thicke, son of actor Alan Thicke and brother of singer Robin Thicke) makes this even more of an attractive set to own.   

Well, a 65 episode release in the US is better than no release at all.   Hopefully, this set will have a lot of cool extras that haven't been seen on DVD before.  You never know.  They might get the rights to season 2 down the road and release it at a future date. 

Season 2 writer and story editor Jack Olesker commented on Vanquest's post in another forum.

 This is a post from he-man.org and is copied here with Jack Olesker's permission:

"Okay, so let me weigh in on this. To begin with, I'd like everyone to know that I neither take offense at criticism nor expect everyone to like my work. I bring my heart and soul to my work. Most times I succeed in creating quality entertainment -- one does not survive three decades in this businss junless you do create quality content most of the time. Sometimes, however, I fail. It's the nature of the creative process and I always try to learn where I went wrong. Having my mistakes pointed out to me, btw, is one of the things I love most about the board because it helps me to continue to improve my work. But I always bring my best efforts to my writing, producing and directing.

Next let me say that my work on M.A.S.K. was a long time ago in a galaxy... (Well, you get the point...) I've written over a thousand episodes of television and I can't count how many television series I've been involved with. This is not to sound boastful, but instead so everyone will hopefully understand it's impossible for me to remember every single element and nuance. Too, time does blur some of my recollections.

With that said...

1- It belongs to COOKIE JAR. Brian Ward confirmed so. I'm sure that's true, but it was originally produced by DIC. DIC was subsequently acquired by Cookie Jar, and folding in DIC's library was one of the parts of the deal. As an aside I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Andy Heyward -- DIC's president -- was one of my mentors. Andy taught me much about both the creative and business elements of the entertainment industry and I am grateful to him beyond measure.

2- The origin/backstory is different: Mayhem was a co-partner of Matt Trakker and they created M.A.S.K. together. Then, Mayhem created V.E.N.O.M. to compete with M.A.S.K. An origin slightly similar to the comic book which accompained the early toys, not the original cartoon series where MASK and VENOM are totally unrelated. That's quite true. I liked the comics backstory better and consciously chose to favor it. Chef's choice.

3- MASK is a race team, not a secret, anti-terrorism organization supported by PNA (Duane Kennedy). 4- VENOM is a race team, not a terrorist squad with OBVIOUS criminal past and "social status". Life is organic and ever-changing. It was some years between the two series and the characters moved on to other interests, like competitive racing. Moving to an alternative universe to do that, btw, is not necessary.

5- MASK agents have no secret identities nor civilian jobs. True again. And your point is?

6- No mention of the "past" Season 1 adventures, no continuity-related cohesion with them anyway (read the points above). So?

7- New masks with silly powers, not designed to fight terrorist actions. Shroud, Eclipse, Totem. That's a subjective opinion and you're entitled to it. You might want to think, however, about re-phrasing as "It's my opinion the new masks had silly powers" rather than making it a definitive statement...especially when a writer worked very hard to create those masks.

8- Mayhem's... twin brother. Kindly refresh my memory about this and what your point is.

9- Brad Turner, Dusty Hayes, Clutch --- their lives and MASK functions are different. And why is this a problem?

10- 10 episodes, not even a full 65-episodes season. Screams alternate spin-off. True -- and I stand corrected about having said it was thirteen. This was the toy company's call, so I don't know what their motivation was. But I don't see why it would mean it was an alternative spin-off.

11- More importantly: in the Racing Series the VENOM helmets are as much powerful as the MASK ones, if not more (see Powerhouse/Samson and what it does). In the original series, the MASK helmets were much more powerful because charged via Trakker's ancient crystal, which generates an incredible and unlimited amount of (mysterious) energy. A lot of time has passed between the two seasons, so you fill in the blanks -- the crystal was stolen, its power ebbed, etc. Does everyhting always need to be spelled out?

I will give you a definitive answer however -- and I can give it because it's not a opinion but rather my intent as the writer and story editor of that season: I never intended the season to be in an alternative universe. Rather, I saw it as picking up the story some years later, with all the characters having new interests and, in some cases, new interrelationships. Time marches on and people change. That's called 'growth' and I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

I don't get why certain fans are complaining that the second series isn't included. You are getting all 65 episodes of the first series, in a single set. If the first series sells well enough and enough people ask, I'm sure Shout will look into trying to release the second series.

The point is, the classic series created a coherent universe run by coherent logic. Yeah, they wanted to sell toys, but in the end they sold toys using a secret super-organization aimed to stop VENOM and every calamity in the world. Wow. MASK used secret identites for a reason and nobody in the world was supposed to be able to connect Trakker to MASK for a reason --- see Batman and any other DC Comics superhero! And most importantly, MASK used the greatest and most incredible & outstanding technology in the world ("GULLIVER" could miniaturize things!) and IMHO it's very surreal a super-organization equipped with such a gorgeous technology turns into a race team just because "life goes on". LOL. You can save the world, and the guys just did that in the "First Season", but now they want... to compete on strange races with strange trophies to win ???
I'm not bashing the Racing Series, which I like a lot. Don't get me wrong. I'm just hypothizing in the universe where - IMHO - the Racing Series is set, those races have an absolute social/economical value and MASK must adhere to that value in order to save the world.

As a HUGE fan of the Classic Series ("Season 1"), and an estimator of the Racing Series ("Season 2"), I found very useful to think they exist in two separate realities and have fun with both, despite I'm a HUGE fan of the one and only Classic Series.

By the way, here we go, two very interesting Season 1 episodes that could clear up the fact in Universe 1 Venom and MASK have no common origin:

39 "Green Nightmare" November 21, 1985 (1985-11-21)
VENOM agent Vanessa Warfield, sabotages Matt Trakker's private jet which crashes in the jungles of New Guinea. The rest of the MASK team goes to rescue them.
40 "Eyes of the Skull" November 22, 1985 (1985-11-22)
VENOM leader, Miles Mayhem, uses an ancient "crystal skull" which allows x-ray vision to see through Matt Trakker's mask and discover his identity. Mayhem then kidnaps Scott Trakker for ransom.

IF Miles Mayhem co-worked with Trakker to create MASK in the very beginning of the "project", as long as MASK would have appeared in the bigger scheme of the things --- fighting VENOM --- Miles should have abducted Scott Trakker. No need for the crystal skull to discover who was the man behind MASK !!!

As a kid, I wasn't a fan of the blatant changes in season two of M.A.S.K., but have really come to appreciate it. In hindsight, It doesn't seem way off that MASK and Venom would've retired into racing , retaining a friendly competative nature with Venom finally giving up crime. With everyone still be able to enjoy their powerful vehicles and masks. I don't like how it won't be included in the Shout Factory set (which is being billed as the Complete Series), but figure they would have included it if they could. Maybe calling the set Season One instead of the Complete Series would lessen the sting. Season Two aka the Racing Series was not drastic enough to have a different theme song or opening, therefore It's my opinion that those few final episodes be included in any Complete M.A.S.K.dvd set. It isn't like how Beast Wars is to Transformers. Buying a separate set for episodes I feel should be included in the Complete Series box only seems to aggrivate me, but on the flip side, the UK Complete set is made up of two separate sets that you can buy separate or together with a cardboard sleeve that houses the two cases. So it really isn't that different. It's just hard for us fans to accept things can't always be perfect. Again, I appreciate all the laboring that Shout and Brian has done to get the best possible M.A.S.K. product out that's in their power. They don't have to care, but I'm glad they really seem to. 

To Brian:

If it's not too late, please consider releasing the M.A.S.K. Complete Series in a big sturdy plastic case (with inner trays) instead of slim cases held together only by a fragile paper/cardboard sleeve. Thanks.

I'm starving for information...any news on disc art, etc.??

YES!!! 10 Episodes of The Racing Series of M.A.S.K. By 2012 By Shout!

extras for the complete series set:

Unmasking M.A.S.K.: retrospective interview with show writers on this hit animated series

 Saturday Morning Krusaders: entertaining look back with loyal fans

http://www.shoutfactorystore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=5257427&sid=19B7C9A25EC14D308E0FA7965925641A#axzz1PP4HEO77

Hey Brian! Thank you so much for the infos. It wasn't my intention to hurt you in any way :) Just wondering...

2 episodes from... the UK company releasing the MASK DVD set (Lace)? Hopefully not, that set is heavily plagued by serious video transfer problems.

Shout Factory did the same thing with Captain N The Game Master.

You're just delusional trolls. THE RACING SERIES is a spin-off set in an "alternate" continuity/universe, so yes, the first 65 episodes are the COMPLETE SERIES.

No you're just flamers and trolls. John Q and Zakk Whatever.

It IS the complete series featuring Universe 1. The Racing Series was an alternate universe, something different than a "new direction".

Go away.

Look at this twitter account-------

David Ponce Jones

Tummybot has to be somebody that either works with Brian or at least knows him.  Who created the REALBrainWard who you follow on twitter?  I remember Brian saying last year on twitter when REALBrainWard first started to post that he had to be somebody he knew.  RealBrainWard's style is very similar to Tummybot's.  Tummybot even created a thread for RealBrainWard so it has to be him.

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http://www.shoutfactory.com/community/3474/thread.aspx#axzz1RIDl8NcM

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I never said you followed him.  David does.  Happy days soon for most episodes of M.A.S.K. being put out.