michaeljhuman
I am a 49 year old guy who likes auto racing shows, science shows and murder mysteries. Never watched Jem when it was new. But I do like certain cartoons, it's a weakness ;)Jem is of course unrealistic and a bit sappy at times.But, I figured out, the good episodes I have seen were written by Christy Marx, especially the very first ones. They are sometimes a bit soap opera like, but I think she's good at the emotional sort of stuff.The Starlight house regulars do touch at one's heart strings a bit. And when they forget to include them, the episodes are less appealing to me ( I think that was one of Christy Marx good ideas to have them.)The bad parts - the main male characters are no good. Rio is bipolar or something. One episode he has almost nothing to say and the next he's having some emotional breakdown. Perhaps we are supposed to think he's messed up due to his dual Jerica/Jem love, but that gets old. Eric is an idiot. If they made him clever, it would be more interesting. I realize this is primarily a kid's show, but kids are far smarter than this show gives them credit.The music is dull IMO. I love new wave, and would have liked to hear more of the new wave thing on this show. Better synthesizers, electronic drums...something. Some of the problem I hear are overly blended mixes where nothing stands out. I think they also went for quantity over quality and felt they needed 3 music videos per show. I ffwd through most of them.I think this show has more female than male appeal as they are often more in touch with their emotions ( stereotype, but true in my experience.)Anyway, it's been on re-runs, and I have tivo'd them, and I have enjoyed some of the shows enough to give this 6/10. I can see why people liked the show, as it has the whole feel good thing and the good guys win and the buy guys don't.
hellraiser7
I'm was a kid from the 80's and one of the best things about the decade was the music, there were just so many memorable tunes for me in this decade that I can still play again to this day, just like this show. This is another childhood relic of mine, I'll confess I'm a guy and I'm a Jem fan, I'm not ashamed to admit that, I thought it was kinda cool. Seeing it now, it's actually kinda silly which makes it a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine but there's nothing wrong with that.The story isn't anything really special, it's the kind of format you'd see in any sports or music film where it's some up and coming underdog team that is struggling to survive and get to the top. And there is tons of melodrama which makes the cartoon sort of an animated soap opera, from certain absurd twists and snafus, or even love dynamics that get twisty and turnny. Strangely this melodrama I actually found enjoyable because of it's absurdity. And the characters are actually pretty good, there not entirely three dimensional but it's an 80's cartoon what do you expect. However I do like that there is a certain amount of depth given to them to at times make us actually care about what their going though and what it's going to lead to. Jerica/Jem is solid, she's the typical struggling sweet heroine, selfless, independent, persona wise she's a bit bland but in a good way. Her niche is her hologram ability where some supercomputer gives her the power to change her hairstyle and look so she wouldn't be recognized. Why the hell Rio can't put two and two together that both Jerica and Jem are the same person is anyone's guess, if I were in his position I would be able to tell it's Jenica from her voice, face and eyes. There is a slight romance dynamic with both Rio and Jerica/Jem is decent. And I thought it was interesting for it's time, where for once animated girl and boy would genuinely interact and even kiss, while most animated shows at the time the girl and boy would never kiss which I always found weird.Though my favorite character of the Holograms is Kimber. She's a fun character, she was feisty, energetic, a little fire, despite naive her heart was always in the right place and held a certain amount of loyalty to her sister Jem.The Misfits are fun rivals, personally I found them to be the most interesting and fun. My favorite one was always Stormer, whom to me is interesting and I'll admit as a kid had a bit of a crush on her (I said I was a kid). Because she never really seemed like a bad guy she actually was kinda sweet, just a person that I felt was playing for the wrong team or influenced by the wrong people. But also there was this mystery to her, in episodes she kinda can surprise you because she does something that is contrary to the Misfits sometimes.However it's really not the story that drive the show so much it's really more by it's nature style over toping substance, and this show has lots of style. It really is a product of it's time as it really tackles the 80's customs of music, fashion, and "MTV" when it was still actually good.I really like the animation, it's the same kinda from some of the other Hasbro properties like "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe" but I'm fine with that I wouldn't want it any other way, I still think it's very good to this day. I mainly like the character designs, for both the Holygrams and the Misfits that are don't know a light way to put it, well sculpted. As well as the wardrobe they wear which is bright and reflects the 80's decade.And the highlight no doubt is the music, most of the songs I think are memorable, and I remember as a kid I danced to some of them which is cool which is a rare thing in animation. Even like the music video sequences that I think are colorful and fit well with the songs, seeing them really makes me miss the creative aspect of music videos which seem to be few far between now. My absolute favorite is "Starlight" I just thought was beautiful despite kinda sad. And lets not forget the original theme song which is one of my personal favorite theme songs, it's just a lot of fun and full of energy which perfectly reflects the show.It's true it's not perfect, there are a lot of inconsistencies that are easy to spot as much as a movie on "MST 3000", though in a strange way as I said that I feel ads to it's charm so I can't complain too much. The character Rio sometimes doesn't always make sense for me, at times he's a good guy to bet on but then sometimes he acts like a jerk for no good reason which just comes out of left field. I don't think this is the fault of the character but in the writing. Season 3 I thought was a weak point, I wouldn't say it was terrible but it wasn't great, it was too much about "The Stingers" I really didn't care about them. And the show had no real conclusion, which is a shame would've loved to of seen what would of happened as the characters get older the lives of all start to change, each started to go their own way and decide to end their carriers on a high note which is what Season 3 should've been but oh well.Overall Jem is a fun show, that has lots of synergy to make it truly outrageous.Rating: 3 and a half stars
Mbrand
I remember back in the mid 80's 88-89 Gem used to be seen every morning before I would go to co-op work every morning. This cartoon is something no one makes anymore which hopefully at some point that may come around. With the popularity of Girl bands coming into the fold, This show deserves to be seen by today's generation of kids who certainly are into catchy pop tunes they hear a lot in music today. This show no doubt can once again bring back the 80's which during that time rock music was at it's height in popularity before the greedy corperates turned in into a toy for their wasted pleasure in increasing their stocks. Anyway this long lost classic certainly deserves to seen once again to a whole new audience cause this is one show many animated writers can put their idea's in to make a great TV show that has positive messages. This show had it.
tonykavouras
I can't believe that they stopped showing this film, and now they are not even showing re-runs, and they bring cartoons that are not as great like Sailor Moon, Jem is one of the best cartoons, and I give it 10/10
