French and German ones were great, maybe you were referring to the Lace and Madmen ones?

This is the greatest day of 2011. MASK rulez!

BRIAN said on Twitter that the Racing Series has standalone licenses and rights.

The real question is:

ISN'T TOO LATE? I mean, RHINO mastered TRANSFORMERS on DVD when the original elements were relatively "younger" (2002-2003), before they would degrade over time even more. Aren't the MASK original elements degraded through these years?

Don't forget all the PSAs...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIOOenQoR2Q&feature=related

Yeah, most 80s DIC series now only seem to survive on video masters produced with 80s technology, so none of them look so hot now.

On the plus side, at least we now know that it was the mighty FreemantleMedia who held the key to (most of) M.A.S.K., so we also know that they possibly hold the home video rights to other similar series that are not currently public knowledge, and thus another target to pester! :)

The copy of Star Wars I have on VHS with a copyright date of 1984 would beg to differ with you.  As would Empire & Jedi from 1991.

And the re-mastered versions were released on VHS, seeing as I've got copies of those as well.

Shout! does still have the C.O.P.S. rights.  They confirmed this on twitter awhile back.  They are sublicensing it out to Mill Creek, so there is still a chance (albeit small) that Shout! could release a third volume or complete series set.  I'd like to see Visionaries or Inhumanoids come out or Jayce finished as well.

this was from Shout's twitter in February-Question: I know Mill Creek is releasing C.O.P.S. now, but is there any chance Shout would still release a Volume 3 with the final eps?  
 Shoutfactory: It is possible, but there are no current plans for it.

I still hope we get all the PSAs on this M.A.S.K. set.  I'd also like to see some interviews with the voice cast and writers.

I never said that I thought Mill Creek wouldn't release a volume 2 of C.O.P.S., just that Shout! could release their volume 3 if they wanted to as well since they have the DVD rights.  Anyways, this is a M.A.S.K. thread, so lets move on...

here is a thread below about a guy that says he is working on the DVD extras for M.A.S.K. and is looking to interview M.A.S.K. fans:

http://www.matt-trakker.com/forums/index.php?topic=3093.msg18990#msg18990

Brian stated in the other MASK thread that DiC/Cookie Jar no longer has the rights to the racing series.

Not the most glowing of reviews:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/49804/mask-the-complete-series/

Was anyone else aware that M.A.S.K. The Complete Series DVD released today 8/9/2011 seems to be an online only release?  I wanted to pick it up today but everywhere I looked it was only available online.  That goes for all retail stores too.  Did anyone find a copy at a store today?

Yes, I figured the (in)complete series set would be online exclusive to most stores, but I still looked for it at my local Wal-Mart yesterday and there was no shelf space devoted to M.A.S.K., not even the retailer friendly volume 1 set.

Wal-Mart - website lists both the (in)complete series and Vol. 1 as "not sold in stores" and both are aslo flagged as "unrated" which means according to Wal-Mart policy they will not sell these items to anyone under the age of 17.

Best Buy - "order online or order in store" so basically you can either order it online or go to the store and then have them order it online for you.

Target - "This item is available online, but is not available in stores." and also "Arriving soon! Order now for shipment in 2 to 4 weeks". [(in)complete series only]. Vol. 1 is "in stock, but also online only."

Wow, epic fail on Shout's part on getting the big three box retailers to carry it's M.A.S.K. releases in store.

----- Original Post -----
by Jer701 at 8/9/2011 5:42:36 PM

I checked every place I could think of and no one had it.  I just checked on my pre-order on Amazon and it says "shipping soon".  One would think they would have shipped it on tuesday.  I ordered it there due to lack of info about the bonus iron-on Shout is offering.  It's estimated to arrive by the 15th at the earliest.

On another note, having worked in retail, I can honestly say some "buyers" are clueless.  So don't blame Shout for stores not carrying what you're looking for.

I posted this in the other M.A.S.K. thread:

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."

BOTH seasons were done by DiC.  The second season had the same opening as the first season.  The second season followed the first season immediately the year after.  The Austrialian DVD releases have ALL 75 episodes, so just because America's rights are a little messed up doesn't mean every country is.  M.A.S.K. isn't the first show to have big changes from one season to the next.  Obviously, they were trying to push their 3rd wave of toys in the second season.  I hope Shout! Factory's release does well and that gets them to go after the rights for the second season.  If not, I hope another company releases it.

I noticed the horizontal line as well in that episode on the Shout! Factory set.

Yeah, that's the point, but reviewers keep saying a remastering is POSSIBLE and has not been done by the charged company, but they are being 100% ignorant and are heavily misleading the general public by saying so. I think SHOUT! is doing one hell of a job with all their releases... MASK is not an exception.

Today, after watching it just sit on the shelf all week, I finally got the chance to open my set only to find out someone screwed up when filling the package.  I found no volume 2 disc 1 & two of volume 3 disc 1!  Now I have to wait even longer for Amazon to get my return & send the replacement!

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.

Greetings,

Just picked up the set (finally!). I am happy with it overall although I only watched a few key episodes so far. Also the extras while limited were nice. The comedians talking about the show actually was pretty darn funny. And my son (5 years old) is an instant fan & didn't want to go to bed last night :). Although I agree with most adult fans that the 10 season 2 "racing" episodes were horrible (even when the show originally aired & I was 10 I was thinking what the heck happened?) I'd like to see them on DVD for the sake of completists like myself.

Also I had a quesiton- which episode contains the footage seen during the ending credits? I know there was never a "first" episode, but the animation appears different and I think it was as close to a first episode as there ever was. Any assistance is appreciated. Thank you.

Brian, this has been an excellent year for Shout Factory releases! I am looking forward to what is planned for 2012! Any hints available for 1st half 2012 cartoon releases? Does Shout Factory have any plans to pursue a release of the 10 episode 1986 M.A.S.K. Racing Series? Thank you again.