Jem

This poster came with the dolls.

If you're wondering if our newly re-designed color scheme has to do with today's entry, you're a tad right, and a tad wrong, you see, the v a p o r w a v e trend relies on 90's graphics and colors that were surely borrowed from the 80's. A e s t h e t i c s aside, today's review is dedicated to my wife, a true fan of Jem!

Like any other kid from the 80's on planet earth, I used to wake up early on Saturdays just to enjoy a full morning of the coolest cartoons TV had to offer. Girls cartoons would always go first, so us, boys would have to wait a bit longer for our dose of violence and transforming toys. 

Jem AKA Jem & The Holograms is a Sunbow/Hasbro/Marvel cartoon from 1985 that ran for three seasons until 1988 completing a total of 65 episodes. Like many other cartoons from the decade most of the animation work was done overseas because it was cheaper. Shockingly enough, the animation was provided by the renowned Toei Studio. Predictably enough, as it was during the decade, the Japanese animators were given no credit for Jem whatsoever.

Jem & Jerrica.

The Misfits in action!

The series is about Jerrica Benton, the owner of Starlight Music and the Starlight Foundation, which is a foster home for young girls. But by using her earrings to project a holographic image over herself, she is transformed into her alter ego Jem, the lead singer for the successful music group, Jem and the Holograms. Other members of the group are Jerrica's sensitive little sister Kimber, the strong-willed Aja, and the creative Shana. The group's rivals are The Misfits, made up of the cold-hearted Pizzazz, the tough-acting Roxy, and the humble Stormer. Jem and her friends are always involved in glamorous and exciting adventures around the world, while touching people's hearts with their hit songs. Obviously, the subject of music & the music industry was the core of the animation hence, the 80's pop culture aesthetics of the entire series. Although other cartoons & animé had already explored the music industry in their content, no other American cartoon merged the music stardom  lifestyle with the down to earth side fo things (Jem keeps Jerrica as her secret identity. While one is super popular & outgoing, the other worries about the foster home) In addition, the series featured a set of songs, each properly about something relevant to the plot of each episode. Cassettes were recorded and sold for a limited time, and even some dolls came with the cassette and a tape recorder system. 

Loads of make up.

Loads of cheesy love.

The story is the kind of format you'd see in any sports or music film where it's some up and coming underdog team that is struggling to survive and get to the top. And there are tons of melodrama, which makes the cartoon an animated soap opera. 

The characters are actually pretty good, they're not entirely three dimensional but, it's an 80's cartoon! what do you expect?. However, there is a certain amount of depth given to them. Enough to make us actually care about what they're going though. Jerrica/Jem is solid, she's the typical struggling sweet heroine, selfless, independent, persona wise she's a bit bland but in a good way. Her niche is her hologram ability where some supercomputer gives her the power to change her hairstyle and look so she wouldn't be recognized. Why the hell Rio can't put two and two together that both Jerica and Jem are the same person is anyone's guess. There is a slight romance dynamic with both Rio and Jerrica/Jem, which was rare in a cartoon. I mean, how many animated girls and boys would genuinely interact and even kiss in the 80's?

Hey you! Buy our cassette!

♪♫ 666, the number of the beast ♪♫

The Misfits are fun rivals, personally I found them to be the most interesting and fun. My favorite one was always Stormer, whom to me is interesting and I'll admit as a kid had a bit of a crush on her (I said I was a kid). Because she never really seemed like a bad guy she actually was kinda sweet, just a person that I felt was playing for the wrong team or influenced by the wrong people. But also there was this mystery to her, in episodes she kinda can surprise you because she does something that is contrary to the Misfits sometimes.

However it's really not the story that drive the show so much it's really more by it's nature style over toping substance, and this show has lots of style. It really is a product of it's time as it really tackles the 80's customs of music, fashion, and "MTV" when it was still actually good.

Jem dolls.

My wife's Jem doll.

Animation wise, Jem it's the same compared to other Hasbro properties like Transformers and G.I. Joe meaning the attention to detail in character design is rich and varied enough to allow each character to be identified by its physical features. After all, being animated by japanese artists can do you no wrong!

The series highlight without a doubt is music!, most of the songs are memorable in reprising what was going on music wise in the 80's pop scene. Each episode featured three one minute songs. Two by Jem & by the Misfits. During season 2 & specially 3 a few songs were reused in more than one episode. The songs were presented as videoclips to make the viewer feel he was actually watching MTV.

Choose your side wisely.

80's pop art!

Overall, a great piece of 80's nostalgia and maybe the one animated show that was most influenced by 80's youth pop culture. Clothing, hair style, music, colors, locations and even plotwise, no other cartoon can relate to the 80's as Jem does. I only wish there were more cartoons like this for the girls of today's world. After all, this series did have a heart and deeper meaning beneath each character's struggles (including the bad guys).

With love to my awesome wife!

Here's season 1 opening:

Here's season 2 opening:

Here's season 3 opening:

And a complete playlist featuring every song played on all 3 seasons!