Greetings,
I have made it no secret that I love the 80's cartoon Jem, and yesterday, I got some news about it. It seems that someone is finally going to make a live action Jem movie. I am so...apprehensive.
Okay, here's the thing. For quite a while now, I have been hoping that a movie based on Jem and the Holograms would happen. Still, even in those times, a part of me always held worries in my mind that, whomever did it, would not do it the way I wanted. When I say "I", I am referring to myself as part of the fan base. And I think that WE have certain ideas, which are probably similar, when it comes to what we want this movie to be. As of now, I have very little info about exactly what is going to happen, but, judging from what I do know and what I've thought in the past, I have some concerns, which I'd like to voice at this time. In no particular order...
Number One: The People Behind The Project - As I said, I have long hoped for a Jem movie, but I never really thought in depth about things like producers and directors and whatnot. Apparently, I have to do that now. Okay, a video was released by the three guys (yes, guys) who are spearheading this thing. The director will be a Jon M. Chu, best known for directing two of the Step Up movies, which I haven't seen, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which I also haven't seen, but I heard it was a little better than the first. A little. I guess I don't know enough about his skills as a director to judge. However, he did direct the Justin Bieber documentaries, which brings us to our next contestant, Scooter Braun. If you don't already know, this is the manager of the aforementioned Justin Bieber. Yeah, okay. Ya know, in one of those Bieber documentaries, and I only know this thanks to Cinemasins, he says something like his job was to make sure that Justin becomes a good man. As of late, I don't think he has been succeeding at that job, so I worry about his ability to succeed at this one. We'll see, though. Finally, Jason Blum will be producing, in conjunction with his Blumhouse Productions. Now, though I don't know much about him, I'd say I trust him the most. He has a fairly long resume. The highest point on it appears to be The Reader, a movie I thought was very good, and it won Kate Winslet her long-deserved Oscar. He was involved on all the Paranormal Activity movies, which go either way for me, and also Sinister. I have not seen that one yet, mostly because I am still a bit scaredy cat about it at the moment, but I heard very good things about it. Yeah, this guy has a lot of horror movies under his belt, so, again, we'll see. Bottom line, I don't know these guys, so I don't know if we can trust them. However, they are doing something that could be good. They are crowd sourcing with this project. Not for funds, but for ideas, which means, hopefully, that the fans will have a say, at least. That's not a bad idea.
Number Two: The Music - One of the things that we all loved about Jem was the music. On the show, we got a lot of short, but pretty good songs in every episode. Some of them were VERY good, actually. Fun Fact: I recall the guy who wrote them saying that he refused to do any near rhymes, because the kids needed to know what rhymes with what, for real. Love that. I don't always do that myself, but good for him. Anyway, because there was so much music, I always thought they could take some of that old stuff, use it as a base of sorts, then update it a little or expand it, even. That way, the songs can be longer and appealing to this new generation, but still give us original fans our nostalgia. I fear, though, that they may just get some random songwriter in there to crank out some tunes that might make them a buck with downloading. I'm not saying they can't have any new music, but it should be kept to a bare minimum.
Number Three: The Cast - This has always been one of my biggest concerns when it came to a Jem movie. I always worried that they would fill the cast with people I am not exactly fond of. Bad enough, we're probably not going to get Gary Sinise to play Eric Raymond. Think about it. If this would have been twenty years ago, he would have been perfect in that part. Seriously, think about it. Anywho, I just hope they don't run out and get every person who has been on Glee to fill the roles. NO! In fact, that's my deal breaker! No one who has ever been on Glee is allowed to be in this movie. They aren't even allowed to see it. Except maybe John Stamos. This might not be a problem, since, as I mentioned crowd sourcing for ideas, they are also asking for audition tapes. You know, I think it might be the best way to go getting some very talented unknowns in there. So thumbs up on that. Although, they probably should get, at least, one big name for to be in it. I vote Catherine Zeta-Jones as Synergy. Just because.
Number Four: The Plot - Okay, this is my biggest problem, thus far. Apparently, they already have a script, and it is set in the modern day, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But the plot is something like Jem is an orphan teenager, she starts a group with her sisters and they get big releasing songs online. Also, there was mention about a secret from her father. Or something. I just...WHAT? What does this have to do with the Jem canon? I mean, are we not getting Jerrica and the dual identity thing? Are we not getting The Misfits or The Stingers? Is anything, at all, going to resemble the original show? Look, I understand, especially as a novelist, that when adaptations happen, changes are inevitable, even necessary. But you cannot make the source material practically unrecognizable. Did we learn nothing from the Last Airbender debacle. You cannot just make up a story about music and slap the Jem name on it. That is not going to sit well with the longtime fans. Now I don't know how locked in this script is, but since they are doing the idea crowd sourcing thing, perhaps the fans can make enough noise that this all won't get off track. Personally, I always had an idea for how I wanted the plot of a film to go. If you're a fan of Jem, you know that the first five episodes were pretty much five parts of what was, ultimately, a TV movie type thing, and it was a perfect origin story to set up the series. I always wanted someone to take that story, and, like the music, use it as a base, tweek it a little to make it new, but still retain the basic story that we all know and love. Not exactly the same, but not exactly overwhelmingly different. It's an idea.
So there are my thoughts on this the new Jem movie. You know, I am really hoping for this best with this. I want, so much, for this to be good. Not just for me and the older fans, but also for a new generation who can come to love what a great show Jem and the Holograms was. So let's all pray.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
