Thank You, Christy Marx For 'Jem and the Holograms'

Jem and the Holograms debuted on October 6, 1985.

I don’t remember watching cult animated classic Jem and the Holograms during childhood, but my mom swears that it happened. Apparently, I sat in front of the television, fixated on the screen, drawn by these women pop rock musicians and their super sophisticated computer, Synergy. Perhaps, it is true, that my love for purple is deeper than imagined, that the purple haired afro fashionista Shana may have been the catalyst to my lifelong passion for the color.

Plus the theme song is catchy.

Shana Elmsford, the purple afro queen, is a drummer and fashion designer. She was voiced by Cindy McGee who also voiced Starlight Girls Chrissy and Lela.

A few years ago, The Hub Channel aired 1980's throwback cartoons: Transformers, My Little Pony, and G.I. Joe with Jem and the Holograms capturing my utmost attention. Viscerally stunned by the stylish foursome (turned quintet in later seasons), I tuned into late night marathons, growing intrigued by the inherited Synergy machine, Jerrica Benton's her one-named alter ego, Jem, and the amazing band: songwriter/keyboardist, Kimbra Benton (Jerrica's younger red haired sister), blue-haired guitarist Aja Leith, and drummer/fashion designer/bassist, Shana Elmsford. Technical engineer and road manager, Rio Pacheco was an honorary member with drummer Carmen "Raya" Alonso coming on board much later to temporarily replace Shana, who wanted to pursue a fashion design career.

Jem and the Holograms' unique, pop art palette came alive with great colors and stellar patterns. Plus the frequent outfit changes were rare in a cartoon. The impressive 1980's fashion statements showcased top notch funky, sophistication, irresistible in the many sleek, fantasy fantastic music videos playing in every episode. From band members to the Starlight girls, almost every character sang a tune among magical segments about journey, love, family, and happiness.

The first words, Synergy ever recited were, "Jerrica Benton, I have come for you."

After the death of Emmett Benton whose Starlight Music Company conjoined with his foster children "The Starlight Girls," from her beloved father, Jerrica inherits red star shaped earrings, secret projectors that allow Jerrica and Synergy to communicate and create the Jem hologram.

Jem and the Holograms jamming out.

One of the biggest coops was the Jerrica/Rio/Jem love triangle. Complications went funnily overboard with Jem seducing Rio away from Jerrica. A truly, truly outrageous moment was the song, "Who Is He Kissing?" Rio is making out with a fake version of his girlfriend, which leads to the how. Holograms aren't real. Yet Jem is touchable and kissable. He can't distinguish the difference. Jerrica doesn't want to say anything. The obvious distrust leads to dispute central. Perhaps Jerrica didn't really trust her boyfriend. After all, she did make a third alter character just to test him.

Kind-hearted, thoughtful, and sincere, generous Gemini, Jerrica Benton is lead singer, Jem. She is voiced by Samantha Newark while Britta Phillips sings.

Rio loves Jerrica but......

he has a major thing for Jem.

The other girls had relationships. Boy hungry Kimber had various boyfriends of her own, Shana entered a relationship with film director Anthony Julian, and Aja fell for Stormer's brother, Craig Phillips, who was almost the new drummer for the band.

Kimber is the other wiizardress behind the curtain. Next to Synergy's incredible machine, Kimber's role has importance-- she wrote every Jem' song from the heart. She also says "Outrageous" the most.

Aja, the tomboy auto mechanic, is the most problematic one. She doesn't have a lot of episodes focused on her. Although she is an Asian-American character, her voice work is done by a white actress who also does Kimber, Princess Adriana (Kimber's doppelganger), and Starlight Girl, Ashley.  A real miss here.

Last addition Raya was a nice final addition. Late Asian American actress Linda Dangcil voiced her.

One of the several Shana centric episodes, "In Stitches," is delivers a sweet message about believing in your art and putting best foot forward even in the most desperate times.

The best thing about Jem and the Holograms aka Jem, Her Sister and Their Best Friends, however, is their sisterhood. They are always there for one another and support each other. They are a loving, beautiful family that extends to every Starlight Girl. It was especially tough for Kimber to befriend each girl that the Bentons adopted, but eventually she came to her senses. This illustrated an often tough reality in families, the brewing jealousy that comes with questioning if parental love can be divided equally-- biological verses adopted.

Attempted murderers Stormer, Pizazz, and Roxy.

The Misfits, an alternative girl band with feisty, pulp punk edge, were on the opposite spectrum of the Jem team's goody goody image. Rude, obnoxious rivals, who though talented and beautiful, allowed misplaced jealousy and ambition to corrupt their integrity. Led by rich, spoiled Phyillis "Pizazz" Gabor (lead singer and rhythm guitar), docile Mary "Stormer" Phillips (often reluctant to be full fledged evil, keytar and lyricist) and feisty Roxanne "Roxy" Pellegrini, the trio (who later turned quad with British saxophonist Jetta). Portion of blame rests on Eric Raymond, former associate at Starlight Music, a greedy, misogynistic crook stopping at nothing to win and takeover his former . Their schemes were horrific attempted murder plots that made this animated pop tart a bit hard to watch. Plus the stalking and bullying were not fun extremes. A lot of my friends consider The Misfits a pleasurable favorite, but their pettiness overwhelmed the bad girl dynamic. It seemed like two very different musically styled bands could not get along much less find a common ground (joy of music and fashion) to exist together. One had to be super positive while the other was borderline evil, except Stormer whose moral compass actually worked.

The many faces of Eric Raymond via Synergy's hologram of course.

Still, some memorable highlights were episodes that focused on Roxy's illiteracy (season two's Roxy) and Stormer's sweet side gig with Kimber when both songwriting/keyboardists momentarily quit their respective groups (season two's The Bands Break Up).

The awesome Aja, Shana, Jem, and Kimber telling Raya that she is one of them.

With the many animated reboots lately, it is such a shame that Jem and the Holograms (ignore that horrible trite that just stole its name) are left off revisit lists. For years, Christy Marx and devoted fans have wanted this to happen.

There are problematic issues. Every show, especially cartoons, have major flaws. With Jem and the Holograms, however, Marx showed a real investment in having every girl see herself in an inclusive pop band. Jerrica/Jem, Kimber, Shana, Aja, and Raya had individual style, a sense of uniqueness that was a huge crossing bridge in the 1980's decade.

To this day, Jem and the Holograms remains one of the most truly, truly outrageous cartoons that ever existed.