Jem and the
Holograms
Season 2 (1987)
I consider myself a child of the 80s as well as the early 90s, but the Jem and the Holograms cartoon was never
much on my radar growing up. My
only true association with the show was the fact that my sister owned a Jem
doll and once (Defense: I was very young!) I smacked her in the face with it and
gave her a bloody nose. The “Jem
doll incident” is part of our family lore but aside from that I never had much of a Jem connection. Now Jem is having
something a renaissance, with a upcoming live-action movie that I will
definitely not be seeing, an amazing new comic book adaptation that I can’t
recommend enough, and a new audience via Netflix streaming.
I’ve started watching the show and instantly became a fan. It encompasses all of the neon glamour
and excess of the 80s that I love and is camp of the highest order. What I didn’t realize is
how bonkers some of the storylines are—the show goes far beyond rock stars and
holograms and features a weird blend of action adventure and real-world issues,
including but not limited to: the lost city of Shangri-La, desert islands,
illiteracy, runaway trains, drug addiction, zombies, Yugoslavia, and time
travel.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Jem also has a Father’s
Day-themed episode. Father’s Day episodes,
unlike Mother’s Day episodes, are few and far between, usually because most
shows have already ended their seasons by June. It’s doubly surprisingly that Jem, of all shows, has a
Father’s Day episode because it’s a cartoon about female rock stars aimed at a
young audience. Since I’ve been
enjoying my recent exploration of the Jemverse I happily settled in to watch
Season 2’s “Father’s Day.”
One thing I’ve grown to appreciate about the show is that episodes
often focus on the many supporting characters, such as members of rival band
the Misfits or friends of Jem and the Holograms. In “Father’s Day” the focus is on Clash, the Misfit’s number
one fan and hanger-on, and Video, the Hologram’s videographer (in the world of Jem
you will mostly likely be named after your primary occupation/characteristic,
such as videographer Video or dancer Danse. I
guess my Jem named would be Editorix?
Bloggera?). Video and Clash
are cousins who grew up on the same street, but as adults they’ve allied
themselves with rival bands, as happens in life. In
this episode, both of them return to their hometown for its annual Father’s Day
Banquet, bringing the Holograms and the Misfits and a whole lot of trouble with
them.
While Video and Clash fight for the spotlight and the admiration of the
locals, Jem and the Holograms are preparing a special song to perform in honor
of Video’s dad. Band member
Kimber, however, refuses to write the song since she misses her own (deceased) father. Kimber eventually pulls a
Gerald O’Hara, angrily riding a horse that bucks her off, and then has a change
of heart when she meets the father of Pizzazz, the bitchy lead singer of the
Misfits. Just when things are
looking bad for Video at the Father’s Day Banquet (which has no food or even
tables and looks like a high school dance), the Holograms make a splashy
entrance, arriving in Pizzazz’s dad’s private jet. They perform their song but, surprisingly, Pizzazz and her
dad do not reconcile by the end of the episode.
The best part of any Jem episode, aside from the amazing outfits the
characters wear, are the music video segments. Two to three times an episode the Holograms and Misfits will
break into song, accompanied by psychedelic imagery. In this case we’re treated to Kimber’s lament for her late
father, “Something Is Missing In My Life,” as well as the Misfits’s unfortunately
named “Let’s Blow This Town.” The
finale song and ode to fatherhood is “You’re Always In My Heart.” I love the songs mostly because they
are extremely literal and the lyrics usually just repeat the song’s title ad
nauseum—a character will say something like “I’m thirsty” and suddenly the
music video text appears and they start singing “I’m thirsty/So thirsty/Life
makes me thirsty/I’m sooooo thiirrrsssttttyy!”
This episode didn’t exactly move me to tears but it had all of the
elements that make Jem such a fun and highly watchable show. The animation is terrible but the
nostalgia factor is high, and you may find yourself humming “Let’s Blow This
Town” after watching.
I hope all you dads out there have a truly, truly outrageous Father’s
Day!
Father’s Day Quotient: 3
Own It, See It,
Skip It?: You may not be able to convince
your dad to sit and watch with you, but this one is worth seeing.
