Jem and the Holograms

UPDATE: Jem and the Holograms now airs on The Hub Network, on Saturday mornings/afternoons. You can find out the schedule from your cable provider at www.hubnetwork.com. Remember to watch and support this great show!

Jem and the Holograms is a Hasbro inc. product, that became a show and aired on television from 1985-1988, Christy Marx was the main writer for most of the episodes but did include several other writers such as Buzz Dixon, Rodger Slifer, Beth Bornstein and Jina Bacarr.

I must begin with applauding Hasbro for letting their writers express a lot of their true creativity. Of course, there is the business and trading side of Hasbro that has caused a lot of red tape in preventing original actors, writers, and animators continue any of their work regarding Hasbro's owned rights. However, I do notice they are willing to give those passionate about their work some breathing room  with allowing the creators of the show to often work freely. I find many cartoons on networks like CN, Nick and Disney to be so binded by corporate appearance instead of quality, that many of their programs are severely lacking in substance. So I am very pleased to hear that Hasbro has released a new animation network for kids called The Hub which will air such shows as; The Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake, G.I. Joe and My Little Pony.

"Back to Jem and the Holograms!" So I just finished watching all 65 episodes of Jem and the Holograms and I must say, bravo, Christy Marx. I truly wish I had the privilege of watching these cartoons myself as a child. Unfortunately, I lived overseas when it aired and we didn't have American 80's television. Though, Jem especially seems very popular in Europe and the USA until this day. In fact, for those of you that may not know, Jemcon 2011 will be held in Holland this year. You can find out more about the upcoming Jemcon and previous cons on the official website, www.jemcon.org. OK, let me properly introduce you to the Jemgirls!


"Jem was an 80's doll line and a musical cartoon TV-series about Jerrica Benton, who, by the help of the holographic computer Synergy, can project a hologram over her body to become the truly outrageous singer Jem. Only a few people know that Jerrica and Jem is the same person, Kimber, Aja, Shana, and Raya. Together they form the band Jem and the Holograms, to battle another girlband, the Misfits, and later also face competition on the music scene by the Stingers." - Rockjem.com


Content below contains in-depth character information so, ie; SPOILER ALERT

Jerrica Benton/Jem - is the hard working business manager of Jem and the Holograms and the chief executive of the record company Starlite Music, and the owner of the Starlite foundation; a home for orphaned girls. All of which she inherited from her father. She was also given a top secret project her father was working on, a highly advanced system capable of projecting holograms worldwide, known as Synergy. Using this super computer she can change between Jerrica Benton and her alter ego Jem, the truly outrageous singer of the group, who lives the glamorous life of fame and adventure. This presents a love triangle throughout the show between Rio, Jerrica and Jem. Jem and the Holograms often performed benefit concerts to help many charitable organizations and used Jerrica's record label company profits to fund the Starlite House.

Kimber Benton - plays keyboard and song writes for Jem and the Holograms. She is also Jerrica/Jem's younger sister, and the youngest member of the group. Being a bit reckless and hates being left in the dark, she is the wild one of the group, having almost married two different men at once!



Aja Leith - is the first girl to be adopted by the Benton family as a foster girl to live in the Starlite house. She and Jerrica grew up as best friends alongside Shana. She plays the guitar for Jem and the Holograms and she is also the Starlite mansions resident mechanic because of her affinity for cars and motorcycles. It is rumored that she is of Chinese descent. However, I think of her demeanor to be more Japanese personally and look at her as such, but there is one episode in particular "Adventure in China" (S1E10) where a reference is made about "brushing up on her Chinese" but no other connection was made throughout the seasons.

Shana Elmsford - the second girl to arrive at Starlite house, she grew up as the best friends of Aja and Jerrica. The original drummer of Jem and the Holograms, Shana left to seek out her dream of becoming a famous fashion designer. Returning a short while, happier as the second guitar player of the group, she still designs the band's outfits. Her boyfriend is Anthony, they met on Countess DuVision's yacht to discuss designs and direction (S1E2) and later fell in love.

Raya (Carmen Alonso) - a relatively new character to the group, first came about in the episode Hollywood Jem (S2E26), a talent contest for the new drummer of Jem and the Holograms. It was a part 2 series where she ended up dueling Stormer's brother Craig Phillips and won. She is originally from Mexico and her parent's own a plant nursery.


Danse (Giselle Dvorak) - was the only character I can remember from my actual childhood. I was in love with her hair. After her mother died in a natural disaster, Danse grew up with foster parents in America. She volunteers at a foster home for teenage runaways called the Haven House and has worked with Jem and the Holograms on several videos. She is a professional dancer and brilliant at many different styles. It is later found out that her mother was the famous Russian ballet dancer Nadia, who fled to America because she thought her husband was dead, turns out he wasn't and Danse is reunited with her father. (S3E5)

Pizzazz (Phyllis Gabor) - is possibly the most badass cartoon character ever thought up! It is amazing the writers were able to even get away with half the stunts she pulled on the show. She brutally harasses Jem and the Holograms for no apparent reason other than to just do it. She is money hungry and incredibly selfish. The Misfits get away with attempted murder practically every episode. Some of the things they have done include: is ruthlessly beat up Jem on the side of a mountain, tried to demolish a building full of people, used deadly lasers wildly in a public setting, kidnapping and even tried to wipe out an island of seals. Pretty evil, but later you realize her father ignores her at every turn and cares more about money than anything else, and that Phyllis's mother abandons them when she is a little girl...Oh and she is the lead singer of the Misfits and plays guitar occasionally.

Stormer (Mary Phillips) - is the song writer and guitarist/keyboarder for the Misfits. Her brother is Craig Phillips who is very protective of her and once tried out for Jem and the Holograms as the drummer. She is the bands most heartfelt member and often questions Pizzazz's malice decisions. However, she is still very much a follower and will usually do as she is told.


Roxy (Roxanne Pelligrini) - Plays guitar for the Misfits, and comes from a poor home in Philadelphia. Roxy dropped out of school when she was 13 and never learned to read. Roxy ran away to the streets working an assortment of odd jobs trying to make it big before she met up with the Misfits. Considered to be the most ruthless of the Misfits if pushed too far.


Jetta (Sheila Burns) - Comes into the show an episode after Raya. Hey, if Jem and the Holograms got a new member the Misfits had to as well. She plays the saxophone for the band and almost replaces Roxy as the pure evil one, though she is certainly the most conniving of the group.This britrock star comes from a poor home in England and traveled to America with a band called the "Tinkerbillies". The Misfits recruited her into the band after they saw her get rowdy at a show in L.A.

Riot (Rory Llewelyn) - The lead singer of the Stingers, he grew up as an army brat and was pushed into joining himself, where he then stationed in Germany. He quit the military and joined his first band called "Nirvana". He has been Pizzazz's only love interest in the show due to his insatiable charm. It seems he has some magic power over women that he can control, however unlikely. The only woman he considers to be "perfect" enough for him is Jem, and even managed to maroon her on an island with him. Riot is the only man Jem/Jerrica has kissed on the show besides Rio.


Mynx (Ingrid Kruger) - Plays the synthesizer for the Stingers. She attended high school with Riot in West Germany and is from Berlin. Her name derives from her ability to flirt and steal men away, she can't seem to nab Rio though and persistently chases him. Her father was a computer technician and she fell in love with engineering at a young age. I love her fashion and how accurate it seemed for the era in Europe.

Rapture (Phoebe Ashe) - The guitar player for the Stingers, is by far the most manipulative, conniving character on the show. She often deceives people into thinking she has some sort of magical talent, whether it be fortune telling or playing medium for Houdini, an expert con artist preying on the gullible.




Video (Vivian Montgomery) - A well known and award winning video director, Video is highly respected in her field and has filmed several music videos for Jem and the Holograms. Videos' cousin, Clash, tries to sabotage her career. She has a loving father who is always willing to defend her.




Clash (Constance Montgomery) - is the spoiled cousin of "Video" and is constantly jealous by her cousins success in the film industry. She desperately wants to become a member of the Misfits and comes up with some pretty devious ways to attack the Holograms in order to get Pizzazz's attention. An amateur filmographer but a wicked mastermind. Ultimately she just wants to be accepted by someone and she isn't as evil as she tries to be. She gets her name from two bracelets that have tiny symbols on them, using them to scare people.

Ok, now that you know the most appeared characters on the show I can finally move on to the WHOLE reason I made this entry, the love triangle (can it even be considered a love TRIangle?) between Jem, Jerrica and Rio. I have been wanting to rage about this for quite some time now. Let's clear some things up first. Rio is Jerricas long term boyfriend, they have known each other since childhood and always had strong feelings for each other. The briefly separated in college but when he returned they professed their love for each other. Now the show has never been clear on the ages of any of the characters but I am assuming they are in their late 20's early 30's, kind of have it in my head they are all around 28. Anyway so, Jerrica first becomes Jem to enter a battle of the bands contest in order to win the prize money and save the Starlite Foundation. No one but the Holograms is supposed to know that Jem is Jerrica (why the hell not?) and that for some retarded reason, Rio must never find out either. They win, yadda yadda, Jerrica meets Rio as Jem. All of sudden sparks are flying and Rio starts developing feelings for his already girlfriend Jerrica (as Jem of course). Naturally, he is confused about all of this but chooses to pursue Jem anyway, behind Jerricas back (not literally x/). All of this even happens, quite often, publicly. As if, thousands of pictures of Jem and her "lover" wouldn't have been splayed across the media constantly and no way Jerrica would not have found out about it. Especially when they (Jem&Rio) kiss several times in front of Kimber and the rest of the Holograms. Why wouldn't her best friends tell on him? If of course, they didn't already know Jem and Jerrica were the same person but Rio not having a clue, you think he'd expect them to confront him. It should also be noted Rio mentions two times in different episodes that he "absolutely despises liars and deceivers", but isn't that exactly what he is? He thinks Jem is a different woman and not Jerrica at all, his girlfriend, yet he chases her, gets jealous when she talks to other men, and they kiss...a lot. The whole time this goes on, everyone pretends they are hundred percent "OK" with it, a total open adulterer to their best friend who would otherwise suspect nothing. Oh but then, in not one but two episodes, Kimber snaps at Rio saying things such as "oh yea like how your fair to Jerrica with Jem?". She later even apologizes for snapping at him. Again, ONLY the Holograms know that Jem is Jerrica. I didn't realize that the 1980's were so liberal towards infidelity or am I reading this all wrong?

Now I realize this is a bit ranty but it is the only thing that just stuck out so sorely with me during the shows run. I loved the deep meaningful messages given in each show and how mature a lot of the scenarios were but how could they showcase moralistic values while the whole time this "love triangle" is going on. Just one of those "wtf" moments you can't help but to rage about and I feel if doing so I will finally rid myself of it, sorry folks. And the third season ends with goodbye to one of the foster girls but you knew it was directed toward the audience, and creators knowing it would be their last season, decide not to have Jerrica tell Rio. Ugh, why couldn't that have been in the last episode to and it having a 'love conquers all' message along with farewell?


I am in the process of making a set of "Jem" dolls from my old childhood barbie dolls being that the ones on eBay can be a bit pricey. It's a lot of fun and will make another jemfan entry when they are done so keep an eye out, Synergy is looking pretty cool so far. Ta ta.

**All of the wonderful avs provided by Xirim, you can view more of her great Jem fanart on her Deviant Art page.