Greetings,
O-KAY! So, a couple of days ago I saw the trailer for the upcoming Jem and the Holograms movie. It took me a couple of days to process, but I think now I'm ready to share my thoughts on what I witnessed.
I did already discuss this film when it was in its infancy of development. If you read that, you may recall that I was hoping for the best, preparing for the worst, which is all one can do in these cases. As time has gone on, and as more information was released, I began to get more and more nervous about how faithful this would be to one of the best things about my childhood. And now I have seen, officially, what is coming. Well, two and a half minutes of it. Okay, let me back up a bit.
When all that I knew about this movie was that it was going to be made, I managed to remain quite open minded about the whole thing. I understand how adaptation works. I'm not one of those people who is extremely anal retentive about it and freak out if even one thing changes. No, I understand that when something is presented in a new medium, changes will be made. Changes have to be made. And I was okay with that. Even when they said it was going to be set in modern times. That was fine with me. Now, let me, first, explain the plot as seen in the trailer, then I'll take about the changes.
We have Jerrica Benton and her sister, Kimber, who I assume are orphans, living with their Aunt Bailey and her foster daughters, Aja and Shana. Jerrica is a closet singer who does not really want to be on camera or on stage. But one day, Kimber secretly records her singing and posts it on the YouTube. That leads to the girls forming a band and signing with Erica Raymond at Starlight Enterprises, where Jerrica is "transformed" into Jem. Then, they meet Rio. Then, everyone singles out Jem, which causes tension in the group. Then, I assume everyone gets passed it. The End.
Where do I even start?
Okay, the characters are younger than they were in the cartoon. That's no big deal. I mean, it kind of matches with the original back story as Jerrica's and Kimber's parents died and Aja and Shana were foster kids. This Aunt Bailey is based on Mrs. Bailey, who was kind of a den mother at Starlight House, the foster home that Jerrica and the girls ran on the show. She was a minor character, at best, but it seems her role has expanded. And is now played by Molly Ringwald, who looks great, by the way. Next, let's discuss the changes made to Starlight Music...I mean, Enterprises. I guess they do other stuff now. On the show, it was run by Jerrica's father and left to her when he died. Here, it is run by Erica Raymond. Yeah, not ERIC. Erica. Why now? As much as I like Juliette Lewis, who is playing this part, I feel the same way I did at the end of Series 8 of Doctor Who. Like, changing a character's gender based on the powerful reason of "because we can". Not good enough. Do they think we need more girls in the Jem story? No, we've got plenty. I guess this bothers me because I actually consider Eric Raymond to be one of the best, albeit underrated, cartoon villains of all time. Maybe that will still be the same at the core. Oh, and speaking of which, guess what else we don't have? The Misfits. That's right. The main antagonists of the series are not in this movie. Whaaaa...? I mean, what with all the competition to get and keep fame these days, you'd think having a rival would be a good idea. I guess not. Also, Rio does not have purple hair. What's up with that?
Oh, yeah. And no Synergy. Actually, Jem does say "Showtime, Synergy" in this trailer, though I don't why. It does not appear that there is a somewhat sentient super-computer that projects holograms and makes Jerrica turn into Jem and vice versa in this movie. Just make-up and a different hair color for that. Makes it easy!! So, WHY did she say that? She even touched her earrings which did not look like red stars AT ALL. What is going on? I don't know. Do you guys?
Now, a lot of people have been comparing this to a cross between Hannah Montana and that Josie and the Pussycats movie. Which is weird because Tara Reid was in Josie and the Pussycats, and she was in Sharknado with Aubrey Peeples, who is playing Jem/Jerrica in this movie. But anyway...Combining those two films does not seem like a good idea. Although, I see where people are coming from. Something else that people are saying, or more accurately, questioning is the absence of Christy Marx, who was a major player as a writer on the series. I believe they could have used her input. Let's just hope they include her should we get a cartoon series reboot.
Oh, and can people stop using the words "From the Studio That Brought You..." as a marketing tool. In this case, they're saying that with Pitch Perfect. With that logic, they could have promoted Fifty Shades of Grey as "From the Studio That Brought You The Pianist". By that I mean a studio can be quite...versatile. And did I just make my second Fifty Shades reference within two blog posts? Pray for my soul.
But the good news is that I think I saw Dick Casablancas in a cameo, so...yay. That will be a nice addition to the cameos of Samantha Newark (cartoon Jem's talking voice) and Britta Phillips (cartoon Jem's singing voice).
Bottom line, I am not going to judge this movie fully until I see it, which means I am more fair than some internet memes that I've already seen. I will say that one thing I am optimistic about is the cast. Granted, we have a lot of new faces here, but like I said, I like Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis, and I've certainly come to love Aubrey Peeples after watching her on Nashville, so high hopes there. What I'm taking from this trailer is that, best case scenario, this will be a good movie, but even if it is, I'm not sure it's the Jem movie that the fans of yesteryear really wanted. I mean, we have been waiting a LOOOONG time for this. Although, some are arguing that this isn't for the longtime fans, but it was made to make new fans. Problem is, new fans of what exactly? I think that is the issue with a lot of remakes and reboots. We older fans wonder why they pick these established characters and ideas if only to change them so much. Why not just come up with something completely new? Just give me a good reason other than...bottom line. Again, I'm not saying it won't be good. I really hope that it is, and that it does something good for these lovely young actresses. I'm just saying that I'm not sure it will be Jem. We'll see, though. But, you know, prayers.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
