Jem & The Holograms

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 Jem and her band 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 with some provided by South Korean studio AKOM.

## Plot

The series revolves around Jerrica Benton, the owner and manager of Starlight Music, and her alter-ego Jem, lead singer of the rock group 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 to be "the ultimate audio-visual entertainment synthesizer" and is bequeathed to her after his death. Jerrica is able to command Synergy to project the hologram of Jem over herself by means of the remote micro-projectors in her earrings, thus disguising her features and clothing, enabling her to assume the Jem persona. Jem, through the use of her earrings, is also able to project holograms around her and uses this ability throughout the series to avoid danger and provide special effects for the performances of her group.

Jem's group, the Holograms, consists of Kimber Benton, Jerrica's younger sister, keyboardist, and main songwriter for the band; Aja Leith, Asian-American guitarist; and Shana Elmsford, Jerrica's african-american foster sister who plays the synth drums. Aja and Shana are also childhood friends, and adopted foster sisters of Jerrica and Kimber, having lived with the Benton family since they were young. Shana briefly leaves the group to pursue a career in fashion, at which point a new Latina character, Carmen "Raya" Alonso, is introduced as her replacement. The Holograms are aware of Jem's secret identity and the existence of Synergy when the series begins, while Raya is made aware unintentionally shortly before joining the group. Upon her return to the Holograms, Shana becomes the band's bassist.

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 (real name Phyllis Gabor) and her group; no-nonsense guitarist Roxy (Roxanne Pelligrini) and kind-hearted, sensitive keytar player Stormer (Mary Phillips) they are joined later by the manipulative British saxophonist Jetta (Sheila Burns).

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 (Rory Llewelyn) guitarist/con artist Rapture (Phoebe Ashe) and keyboardist Minx (Ingrid Kruger) the real names of Minx and Rapture are not disclosed in any of the installments.

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 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).

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.

In the final episode of the series, the Misfits and Jem declare a truce when Ba Nee, one of the most troubled foster girls in Starlight House, is claimed by her long-lost father. Her father is found by Jem and the Holograms with the help of Riot's father. Riot's relationship with his father is mended with the help of Jem.

## Production

### Conception and staffing

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.

Marx wrote 23 of the 65 episodes. Other writers for the series included Cary Bates, Greg Weisman, Paul Dini, Buzz Dixon, Ellen Guon, Steve Mitchell, Michael Reaves, David Wise, Marv Wolfman, Mary Skrenes, Beth Bornstein, Roger Slifer, Richard Merwin, Sandy Fries, Cheri Wilkerson, Misty Stewart-Taggart, George Arthur Bloom, Jina Bacarr, Barbara Petty, Chris Pelzer, Michael Charles Hill, Eric Early, Clare Noto, Carla Conway and Evelyn A. R. Gabai.

The executive producers were Joe Bacal, Jay Bacal, Tom Griffin and Margaret Loesch. The story editor was Roger Slifer and Christy Marx featuring industry veteran Wally Burr as the series' voice director. The series' directors and supervising animators included many veterans of the DePatie-Freleng cartoon studio including Gerry Chiniquy, John Gibbs, Norm McCabe, Warren Batchelder and Tom Ray.

### Casting

Samantha Newark provided the speaking voices of Jem and Jerrica. Despite having toured as a child singer in Africa, 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), the 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" Kurger). Gordon Grody, a vocal coach who later worked with Lady Gaga, provided the singing voice for Riot.

Other notable cast members included Charlie Adler, who had already had a lengthy voice-over career, as the central villain 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", who provided the singing voices of both Rapture and Minx, and Ari Gold, pop singer and songwriter, who provided the singing voice for Ba Nee.

## Reception

*Jem* was the #1 Nielsen rated syndicated cartoon series in November 1986, and in 1987, it was the third most watched children's program in syndication with 2.5 million viewers weekly. *Jem* has aired in multiple countries including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, West Germany, Netherlands, United States, Italy and France. 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".

The long-standing popularity of Mattel's Barbie franchise led to a competition between Hasbro's *Jem* product line and Barbie and the Rockers, a similar product line by Mattel. This resulted in reduced sales for both products. Hasbro discontinued the *Jem* toyline at the end of 1987 after it failed to meet sales expectations but, despite this, the series continued production and aired until 1988. *Jem* was partially released on DVD in multiple countries, with a complete set available for the first time in 2011. The same year, *Jem* began airing on The Hub in the United States, causing a significant increase in the ratings for the channel. It also aired on Teletoon Retro in Canada. The Series Premired On Toon Disney/Jetix On September 26, 2020.

1. ↑ Template:Cite book
2. ↑ Template:Cite journal
3. ↑ Interview: Christy Marx, Creator of Jem and the Holograms (September 1, 2011).
4. ↑ Danielle Henbest. Samantha Newark – Jem and the Hologrmas.
5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `britta`
6. ↑ Template:Cite book
7. ↑ Official Charlie Adler Site: Biography.
8. ↑ "Jem" (1985) – Full cast and crew.
9. ↑ Template:Cite journal
10. ↑ Template:Cite journal
11. ↑ Template:Cite news
12. ↑ 8th Annual Awards.
13. ↑ 10th Annual Awards.
14. ↑ Template:Cite press release
15. ↑ Jem et les Hologrammes – Intégrale – Pack 3 Coffrets DVD – DVD Manga – Animation – Achat de DVD à petit prix.
16. ↑ Template:Cite news
17. ↑ Jem The Movie [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Jem: Film & TV. Amazon.co.uk.
18. ↑ Shout! Factory Store. Shout! Factory Store (1996-12-04).