Glamour and glitter, fashion and fame

Saturday at 2:00 pm, The Hub is airing a Jem mini-marathon.

Jem was my all-time favorite when I was a kid. If you aren’t familiar, it’s a cartoon that ran from 1985 to 1988 about Jerrica, a record label and foster home owner by day/rock star by night. Jerrica discovers a holographic computer named Synergy at an old drive-in movie Theater.

With just a touch of her red star earring and the words “Showtime Synergy,” she transforms into Jem. Her sister and friends are her band The Holograms.

Jerrica is straight-laced and boring, while Jem is fun, glamorous and carefree. The main premise of the show is to keep her identity a secret from everyone, including her boyfriend Rio. Who is cheating on Jerrica with Jem.

Kimber plays Jerrica’s sister. She’s kind of a baby. She’s jealous of Jem/Jerrica and "they" often have to talk her down from doing something stupid.

The Misfits are Jem and the Holograms rival band. They are pretty much evil and will do anything to upstage Jem.

I watched a few episodes a couple of years ago and couldn’t believe it was a kid’s cartoon. It’s pretty scandoulous. They almost die a few times, someone sets fire to the foster home, there is greed, revenge, theft, adultery, kidnapping, etc. It’s like an '80s cartoon version of a soap opera. But there is also fashion, music, romance, friendship and music videos! Almost every episode has a music video or two. And they are like, totally awesome.

One thing that really sticks out in my mind about watching this as a kid, is how Jerrica and Kimber’s mom died. She was a successful singer in the '70s and often had to travel. When Jerrica was twelve, she threw a fit at the airport because her mom was always leaving. She refused to say goodbye or I love you before her mom got on an airplane. She even glares at her mom as she’s waving from the steps of the plane. Her mom’s plane crashes and Jerrica has to deal with being a little bitch right before she died.

My mom traveled for work when I was between the ages of 7 and 11. I remember repeating I love you over and over when we dropped her off at the airport and usually crying when her plane took off. I didn’t really care that she had to leave because we always had a ton of fun with my dad when she was gone (ordering pizza, renting movies, eating candy), but I always had a fear that she’d die in a plane crash. Man, cartoons can mess you up!

So anyway, after the mini-marathon this weekend, The Hub will show an episode of Jem every weeknight. I’ll be TiVoing all 65 episodes! If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest checking it out. After all, Jem is truly outrageous. Truly, truly, truly outrageous.