Jem, also known as Jem and The Holograms, is an American animated musical television series that ran from 1985 to 1988. The series is about record company owner Jerrica Benton, her singer alter-ego Jem, and the adventures of her band Jem and The Holograms. The series was a joint collaboration by Hasbro, Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions, the same team responsible for G.I. Joe and Transformers. The creator of the series, Christy Marx, had also been a staff writer for the aforementioned programs.
The animation for most of the episodes was provided by Japanese animation studio Toei Animation. Eleven episodes and the opening sequence were instead provided by the South Korean studio AKOM.
Premise
Characters
The series revolves around Jerrica Benton, the owner and manager of Starlight Music, and her alter-ego Jem, lead singer of the rock group Jem and The Holograms. Jerrica adopts the persona of Jem with the help of a holographic computer, known as Synergy, which was built by Jerrica's father and is bequeathed to her after his death.
Jem and The Holograms consists of Kimber Benton, Jerrica's younger sister, keyboardist, and main songwriter for the band; Aja Leith, Asian-American guitarist; Shana Elmsford, African-American, who plays the synth drums. Carmen "Raya" Alonso becomes the band's synth drummer after Shana briefly leaves the group to pursue a career in fashion. Upon her return to Jem and The Holograms, Shana becomes the band's bassist. Jem and The Holograms have two rival bands: The Misfits and The Stingers:
The Misfits (no relation to the real-world band Misfits) consist of petulant rich girl Pizzazz and her group: no-nonsense guitarist Roxy and kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player Stormer. In the second season, they are joined by the manipulative British saxophonist Jetta. The Stingers debut in the third season when they cause disruptions for both groups by becoming co-owners of Stinger Sound with Eric Raymond. Originally from Germany, The Stingers are composed of egotistical lead singer Riot, guitarist/con artist Rapture, and keyboardist Minx.
Plot Episodes of the series frequently revolve around Jerrica's efforts to keep her two identities separate, protect Synergy from those who might exploit the holographic technology, and support the twelve foster children known as the Starlight Girls who live with her and Jem and The Holograms. The Misfits frequently attempt to upstage Jem and the Holograms' endeavors, often nearly resulting in physical harm to members of the group. This rivalry is encouraged and manipulated by their manager and central villain in the series, Eric Raymond, the former half-owner of Starlight Music who runs Misfits Music (later Stinger Sound) while working under Pizzazz's father, Harvey Gabor.
During the series, Eric Raymond constantly plots to become owner of Starlight Music and get revenge on Jem and The Holograms for having cost him control of the company. Jerrica also deals with a complex and emotionally draining faux-love triangle involving her alter identity, Jem, and Rio Pacheco, Jerrica's longtime boyfriend. Rio romantically pursues both women, not knowing they are one and the same. Later in the series, Jem is also romantically sought after by Riot, who becomes infatuated with her – adding further complications to her relationships.
Music videos and songs
The series' format included three songs for the featured music videos in each episode. The theme song "Truly Outrageous" was the opening and closing theme for the show until late 1987, when "Jem Girls" became the series' opening theme for the majority of episodes and "Truly Outrageous" was kept as the show's permanent closing theme.Bascal, Joe. (2011). Commentary. Jem and The Holograms: The Truly Outrageous Complete Series (DVD). Shout! Factory. Music videos featured an "in-your-face" style that was directed at the viewer or the more traditional style. The music videos paralleled the style of rock videos found on MTV at the time featuring fast editing, a quick pace, and special effects.Marx, Christy. (2011). Commentary. Jem and The Holograms: The Truly Outrageous Complete Series (DVD). Shout! Factory.Griffen, Tom. (2011). Commentary. Jem and The Holograms: The Truly Outrageous Complete Series (DVD). Shout! Factory.
Episodes
Production
Conception and staffing Hasbro and an outside investor started developing Jem in response to an interest that children were showing in music videos. Hasbro hired advertising agency Griffin-Bacal Advertising, the founders of Sunbow Productions, to create the 65-episode animation series. Griffin-Bacal (Sunbow), as well as Marvel Productions, had previously created the successful G.I. Joe series for Hasbro. G.I. Joe writer Christy Marx was hired to create the series based on the line of dolls and the original concept, which consisted of the two girl bands, Synergy, the boyfriend Rio, and the Rockin' Roadster. Marx created the full character biographies and relationships, including the love triangle aspect between Rio and Jerrica Benton/Jem, Starlight Music and Starlight House, the Starlight Girls, the villain Eric Raymond and various secondary characters. Later, Marx was asked to develop new characters as they were introduced, with several of them named after pioneers in the history of holography.
Casting Samantha Newark provided the speaking voices of Jem and Jerrica. Despite having toured as a child singer in various African countries, she did not do the singing for Jem. The voiceover cast never auditioned for the music side of the series and vice versa. The music for Jem was all cast and recorded in New York and Atlanta and the voiceover actors were cast and recorded in Burbank, California. They matched the speaking voices of the cast to the singing voices. Britta Phillips, who had never before worked professionally as a singer, was cast as the singing voice of Jem after obtaining an audition through her father who worked on jingles in New York. The initial take from the audition was used as the first opening theme song "Truly Outrageous". The remaining Holograms speaking voices were provided by Cathianne Blore (Kimber Benton/Aja Leith), Cindy McGee (Shana Elmsford), and Linda Dangcil (Carmen 'Raya' Alonso).
The Misfits' speaking voices were provided by Patricia Alice Albrecht (Phyllis "Pizzazz" Gabor), Samantha Paris/Bobbie Block (Roxanne "Roxy" Pellegrini), Susan Blu (Mary "Stormer" Phillips), and Louise Dorsey (Sheila "Jetta" Burns), daughter of Engelbert Humperdinck. Ellen Bernfeld provided the singing voice of Pizzazz. The Stingers' speaking voices were provided by Townsend Coleman (Rory "Riot" Llewelyn), Ellen Gerstell (Phoebe "Rapture" Ashe), and Kath Soucie (Ingrid "Minx" Kruger). Gordon Grody, a vocal coach who later worked with Lady Gaga, provided the singing voice for Riot.
Other notable cast members included Charlie Adler as Eric Raymond. He also provided the voices of both of Eric's major henchmen Zipper and Techrat. Vicki Sue Robinson, famous for the 1970s discothèque-oriented hit "Turn the Beat Around", provided the singing voices of both Rapture and Minx. Ari Gold, pop singer and songwriter, gave the singing voice of Ba Nee.
Music
The inclusion of music videos in Jem was a result of the success and popularity of MTV (Music Television) at the time, which began airing four years prior. The show contains a total of 187 music videos with 151 unique songs. Over 200 original songs were written for the series. Several songs are featured on cassette tapes of Hasbro's Jem toy line. Sunbow Productions employed several musicians and songwriters. Ford Kinder and Anne Bryant composed the music, and Barry Hamon wrote the lyrics of the songs. Britta Phillips performed as Jem, Ellen Bernfeld performed as Pizzazz, and Gordon Grody, performed as Riot. Anne Bryant, who chose the singers and musicians, created a pop sound for Jem and The Holograms supported by acoustic instruments. The sound for The Misfits was crafted as strictly electronic other than the addition of guitars and an occasional sax solo when the character of Jetta was introduced into The Misfits. This was done to create an identifiable punk electronica style in stark contrast to their rival singing groups. In season three, Bryant introduced the slower funky groove for the third group that entered the show, The Stingers.
Release
Marketing According to Newsday in 1986, the budget for the first year of advertising the franchise totaled approximately $10 million— a large sum for a multifaced line at the time. Along with the series, Hasbro promoted Jem with a complete line of toys and accessories, hoping to create the "next fashion doll superstar in a market". Steven Eisenberg, a toy industry analyst at Bear Stearns, stated that the lineup would be "very successful" and "represent a potentially significant challenge to Barbie." Alfred C. Carosi Jr., former vice president of marketing services for Hasbro, also said, "Jem is getting as much push in terms of marketing muscle as any major line", explaining that the marketing services promoted several "Jem Coming Soon" advertisements. In a response to an analysis chart of toy sales, Paul Valentine, a toy analyst at Standard & Poor's Corporation, predicted the Jem toy line to be a flop. Hasbro's first Jem doll line was unveiled on February 10, 1986, at Hasbro's Madison Avenue showroom in New York City's North American International Toy Fair. The showroom was filled with Jem dolls and decorated with neon colors, "Miami Vice-styled" fashions, and video screens with animation clips and commercials.
In mid-1986, Nickelodeon partnered with Hasbro to sponsor a contest in which people were asked to call a toll-free telephone number and sing the theme song of the series. The grand prize was worth $7,000 and featured a trip to the MTV Video Music Awards in New York City. Other prizes included a 19-inch color television, a VCR and the Jem home video library, a dress identical to the one made for the Jem doll, and $1,000 cash. Carosi explained that the promotion "added proof of Jem's popularity", garnering more than 375,000 phone calls and breaking the telephone system once during the eight weeks of the contest. The contest winner was Keri King of Seymour, Indiana, who was chosen out of 325,000 children aged 12 and under.
Broadcast Jem started airing 1985, in syndication. It consisted of one seven-minute short that aired every week as part of the Super Sunday lineup. On May 4, 1986, Jem started to air as a television series. Starting in September 1987, the series aired five times weekly. It has aired in multiple countries including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, West Germany, Netherlands, United States, Italy and France. The series aired reruns on Hub Network / Discovery Family from May 31, 2011, to November 15, 2015. On July 25, 2011, Teletoon Retro, a Canadian channel dedicated to cartoons, announced that Jem would be part of its fall 2011 lineup. On April 5, 2012, Hasbro announced that Jem, along with several other Hasbro franchises, would be available on Netflix.
Reception Jem was the #1 Nielsen rated syndicated cartoon series in November 1986. In 1987, it was the third most watched children's program in syndication with 2.5 million viewers weekly. The show was nominated for the Young Artist Award twice, once in 1986 for "Exceptional Young Actresses in Animation: Series, Specials, or Film Features" for Samantha Newark's performance, then in 1988 for "Best Animation Series".
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