Jem | |
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Title character and logo from opening sequence
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Genre |
Science fiction Adventure Romance |
Created by | Christy Marx |
Voices of |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 65 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
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Location(s) | Los Angeles, California |
Running time | 23 minutes |
Production company(s) | |
Distributor |
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Release | |
Original network | First-run syndication |
Picture format | NTSC (480i) |
Original release | October 6, 1985 | – May 2, 1988
Jem, also known as Jem and the Holograms, is an American animated television series that ran from 1985 to 1988 in U.S. first-run syndication. The series is about music company owner Jerrica Benton, her singer alter-ego Jem, her band the Holograms, and their adventures.
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 the Japanese animation studio Toei Doga (Toei Animation).
The series revolves around Jem, the mysterious lead singer of the rock group "Jem and the Holograms". Her real name is Jerrica Benton, and under this name she is the owner and manager of Starlight Music. Jerrica adopts this persona 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 Jem hologram" 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. While disguised as Jem, Jerrica is able to move freely without restrictions and on several occasions other people have been in direct physical contact with her without disrupting the holographic projection. 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, guitarist; and Shana Elmsford, 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 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.