| They Came from Within | |
|---|---|
| Season 3, Episode 4 | |
| |
| Air date | 6. October, 1997 |
| Written by | Alexx Van Dyne |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Fantashtick Voyage |
Next To Have and Have Snot |
They Came from Within is the forty-ninth episode of The Mask: The Animated Series.
Summary[]
The Mask gets sucked into a comic book world, where the evil Dark Star Trio mistakes Lieutenant Kellaway for their archenemy Galactic Avenger.
Plot[]
Stanley attends to a comic book convention in which he spends his life savings on a very expensive comic book, the very first issue of Galactic Avenger. Unfortunately, before he gets a chance to read it, he gets interrupted by Kellaway, who mocks Stanley for having a childish hobby, and Doyle, who is also interested in the issue. To make matters worse, a stranger steals the book from Stanley and the cops chase after him.
The Mask quickly recovers the comic but the thief escapes and Kellaway, as usual, suspects the Mask to have orchestrated the comic's theft in the first place. In an attempt to avoid the police, the Mask hides within the comic and unknowingly becomes part of its story. The villains of the comic, Warmachine, Riptide and Dragon Lady, seek revenge on the Galactic Avenger for their imprisonment, and take an interest in the Mask, believing he can lead them to the Galactic Avenger. The Mask escapes back to the real world but he unwittingly allows the villains to step into the real world, as well.
The villains attack the Mask again, even though the Mask attempts to make the realize that they, and the Galactic Avenger, are not real, just fictional characters. Suddenly, Warmachine detects that the Galactic Avenger is nearby and attacks the convention, just in time to witness Kellaway going undercover as the Galactic Avenger in an attempt to caputre more criminals. The villains confuse Kellway for the real Avenger and attack him. Doyle, being a comic book reader himself, tells the Mask how to defeat each of the villains.
First, the Mask traps Riptide quick-dry cement. Then, Stanley gives the Mask to Milo so he can impersonate Quasar, the Avenger's companion dog, and sabotage Warmachine's internal systems. Finally, the Mask uses a moon rock that Doyle believes will decrease Dragon Lady's powers. Unfortunately, the rock ends up having the opposite effects and the villains become more powerful than before, leaving the Mask with no choice but to destroy the comic book they came from and, by extension, the villains themselves.
The next day, Stanley sits on his couch, sad that the Mask had to destroy a comic for which Stanley paid a lot of money. Suddenly, he gets a package from Doyle, who found his old copy of that same comic and has decided to give it to Stanley as an act of sympathy from a fellow fan. Stanley is happy he will finally learn how that issue ends, only to find out that the Mask's own adventures had overwritten the comic's events. The Mask has overshadowed the Galactic Avenger in his own comic book.
Characters[]
Cultural references[]
- In his gladiator form, the Mask says "Hail, Cesar Romero!"
- When Dragon Lady expresses surprise at Riptide's appearance, he asks "Were you expecting Kevin Costner?". This could also be a reference to Costner's film Waterworld.
- This episode, being an obvious parody of the superhero genre, features the Mask transforms into obvious parodies of famous superheroes, such as Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Superman, Spider-Man and Silver Surfer. Even Peggy briefly becomes a character based on Lois Lane.
- Before deactivating, Warmachine sings a fragment of "Daisy Bell", the song infamously associated with HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.