The Final Episode #19: Jem and the Holograms (1985 - 1988)

 

Jem and the Holograms was a great 80s cartoon based around a set of toys for little girls. I never cared about that junk! I watched Sailor Moon and Care Bears with great glee! Gender roles meant nothing to me as a child and they mean even less to me as an adult. I'll do what I want! This cartoon was created by Sunbow Productions which was the Animation wing of Hasbro. They worked with Marvel Productions on pretty much every series. I'm sure that's why Marvel Comics had G.I. Joe and Transformers comics. I'm still pissed that there are no Jem and the Holograms old school 1980s Marvel Comics! The IDW series was really good but I still feel like we missed out! Jem and the Holograms should have been a Star Comic! Like the Care Bears!

Jem and the Holograms ran from October 6th, 1985 to May 2nd, 1988. It was created by Christy Marx, a pretty cool lady who also worked on comic books and stuff! The show was about a rock band called Jem and the Holograms. Jem was also Jerrica Benton who had to keep her identity as Jem a secret. They would end up going on wild adventures and have to stop the Misfits (who songs really are better, just saying) and the Misfit's manager Eric Raymond, who might be the sleaziest and shittiest cartoon character of all time.

The Final Episode of Jem and the Holograms, entitled "A Father Should Be..." which was the 12 episode of the 3rd season and the 65th overall was written by Christy Marx herself. I wonder if she's like the Great-great-great-great granddaughter of Karl Marx. Probably not. That was a dumb joke. I'm sure the big reason you come to this blog is the dumb jokes though so I won't delete it.

A Father Should Be starts with Jem and two Starlight Girls (The Starlight Girls were foster girls who lived with Jem and the Holograms), Ba Nee and uh... I don't remember the other girls name at a event for artistic children. Ba Nee gets sad because she sees all the other kids have parents and her mother is dead and her father is missing. This was a running thing throughout the series trying to find Ba Nee's father.  After realizing that Ba Nee really needs to find her father even after she says she doesn't want to be alive if she can't find her dad. Now that's some dark shit for a damn cartoon meant to sell dolls to 6 year olds. 

Anyway Jem goes to Riot, a member of the Stingers, a third band that was made for the 3rd season because they needed new dolls to get money from the parents of little girls (and probably some boys. I would have wanted some Jem dolls if I were older than 3 in 1988) and they started off as big jerks as rivals to both Jem AND The Misfits. They grew as characters over the third season. I really think 1980s cartoons get a bad rap. Yeah they were made to sell toys but people still told fun and heartfelt stories with them. Anyway weirdly put in ranting done. She gets Riot to talk to his dad who works for the military and his dad finds 3 people with the first and last name Martin, Ba Nee's mom had told her that her fathers name was Martin. 

The Holograms break off into groups to find the men. One is disabled and tells them that he isn't her father. The second is a creepy jerk who realizes he can try to con Jem out of money using this girl, the last one is an amnesiac and ends up actually being her father. It's just that he gets to the mansion to late and the creep has now kidnapped Ba Nee. This guy in just one episode makes Eric Raymond and the Misfits look like the greatest heroes. It's pretty amazing. Anyway he has taken her to the old abandoned Zoo and is trying to get 1 million dollars from Jem.

Her actual dad and Jem go to the Zoo to find Ba Nee and him. Jem gets accosted by the BIG JERK KIDNAPPING SHITBAG and uses her powers of creating actual holograms to scare the shit out of him with Gorillas. Meanwhile, Ba Nee's dad is having PTSD flashbacks which finally show him that he's her father. He ends up finding Ba Nee in some weird rock pit. Probably for Tigers or some shit. He then puts the BIG KIDNAPPING SHITBAG in his place, in one of the cells for the animals. The big jerk is going to go to prison and not the prison rich people go to.

There is then a party to send off Ba Nee, she and her dad are moving on. They are even met up with the Misfits and the Stingers. Everyones here. Except Eric Raymond. Anyway Jem feels bad that Ba Nee has said nothing about Jerrica not being there until the last second when Ba Nee realizes that she hasn't said goodbye to Jerrica and there's a nice goodbye and a great way to end the series.

This was a great little last episode. A nice little bow to end the series. Everyone seems to end off at a good place. It wraps up a story that was on going for quite some time. Even had some nice moments between the Holograms and the Misfits, who call a truce. I'm sure that truce ended pretty quickly after the party. It made me feel good. Jem was a good cartoon. The 1980s made good cartoons. Haters can get out of here.

I don't know where else to post this but drag queens need to dress up as Jem and the Holograms AND the Misfits. I would go to see that drag show.