Jem (The TV Series)

The Steves welcome back Dennis Quigly to discuss their favorite cartoon from the 80s- Jem and the Holograms, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today.

What's making us happy?

• Love Victor (Season Two)- Hulu
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 (Comics)
• Modern Family- Hulu

Jem and the Holograms discussion:

• The origins of Jem and it's creative team
• The first 5 episode arc- Battle of the Bands
• The Holograms vs. The Misfits- whose songs are better?
• Are the Misfits misunderstood or evil?
• Is Rio the victim or do he and Jem deserve one another?
• Why is Eric's henchman named Zipper and why can't he do anything right?
• Diversity in the cast- is it worth the occasional stereotyping?
• Why is Ashley the worst orphan ever?

What's your favorite Jem song? Let us know at happylifepod@gmail.com

Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.

Transcript

Steve 0:02

Hello, returning happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin,

Stephen 0:05

and this isStephen Martin-Bennet. And welcome to a lifetime of

Steve 0:08

happiness. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, TV shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy while hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way

Stephen 0:17

Showtime centers. What I'm trying to activate my high-tech computer best friend. That'll provide realistic holographic images that can fool anyone, you know, like on gym, we don't have one of those fine. Can we at least talk about Jem then?

Steve 0:32

Sure we can. And while we're at it, let's invite a misfit to join us gem lover and returning guests, Dennis. Quickly. Welcome back to the show, Dennis.

Dennis 0:39

Hi guys. Thank you for having me on your truly outrageous

Stephen 0:43

podcast. Thank you so much for coming back and darling, before we get into Jem, what's been making you happy this week. Well, we've been

Steve 0:51

catching up on love Victor season two, and it is really cute. It is

Stephen 0:56

really cute. Because I loved the movie. Love Simon. Yes, it was really well done. And I was excited whenever Disney was making love Victor, and then they moved it over to Hulu. A slightly older audience and yeah, I get that. That's fine. But the show is good and I was glad that I got to see. Yeah, it's

Steve 1:18

nice. And like wholesome in its own way. I mean, of course they tackle like, you know, the teenage sex stuff and like coming out story related topics, but in general, compared to a lot of the other stuff we watch, which is also awesome, but it's a lot heavier, darker, or twisty and bendy. Like it's just a nice little pallet cleanser. Have

Stephen 1:36

you seen either the love Simon or love Victor? I have

Dennis 1:39

seen I've seen both and I also read the book that it's based on, which is also a fantastic but I do, I love, love Victor and I'm team Benji.

Stephen 1:50

Oh, absolutely. Team Benji. Oh. And I still feel bad for his best friend that the black girl that got screwed over. Yes, that was

Steve 2:01

yes. And when I haven't been watching that with you, I've also been enjoying a reading Buffy season. The comics, because as people might not know when Buffy the show ended, they continued on in comic form. And it's been a while since I've read season eight. So I've been bingeing through that and it's everything that just, we didn't ever want him to do in the show that they didn't have the budget for. So it's a little balls to the walls insane, but it's also been just a fun romp, rereading reading.

Stephen 2:26

And I am also really currently enjoying American horror story, season 11, with the red tide part one.

Steve 2:35

Oh, yes. That's so good. It's so fucked up in an amazing way.

Stephen 2:39

And the cast seems debris really like swinging for the fences with their performances. That daughter is just

Steve 2:47

pure evil though. Yeah. I love her for that though. Mommy, take the pill.

Stephen 2:51

Yeah, I swear. You're talented mommy. And where are you? Have you given up on American horror

Dennis 2:57

story? I've given up on Ryan Murphy. Sorry, Ryan Murphy. If you're listening to this, I don't

Steve 3:04

think he's listening.

Stephen 3:05

If Ryan Murphy is listening to you better, but Frances Conroy is the standout this season for me as the writer. She's just fantastic. She certainly is her relationship with Evan Peters. Like Israeli. Good. Yeah. Love, love, love. Yeah.

Dennis 3:24

I would say American horror story. Your cast is always incredible. Oh

Stephen 3:27

absolutely. And Sarah Paulson went really interesting with her character. This season. It's a, she was like

Steve 3:35

typhoid Mary, basically, but caring. Yeah. Or

Stephen 3:38

burning off. And she's got like tuberculosis and she's homeless and she knows the secret that's going on in this town. And she hates everyone.

Steve 3:49

Yes. So what have you been watching that keep you happy, Dennis?

Dennis 3:53

So I've actually recently been watching modern family on you know, via Hulu because I never watched it when I was on the air. I would just see reruns on like USA or something. So I've watched it from the beginning and I do love it. There are some parts that they don't hold up necessarily as well. It's not even that far removed from

Stephen 4:15

the air.

Dennis 4:16

But there's, you know, there's some parts that don't hold up quite as well from the earlier specifically, the first season when they were kind of figuring out their footing. But there's, you know, kind of some jokes at the expense of Asian people, a lot of jokes at the expense of gay people. And it's like, if it were done, I guess by less talented actors, it would maybe come across even more crude. Right. So, but yes, I've been enjoying it and I've also recently kind of rediscovered my love for this Shania Twain album. Because I was out to eat and the song gets you good was on. And I was like, damn, this is a great song.

Steve 4:53

And speaking of great music, my love you've been bingeing, an album or an artist. I normally wouldn't have pegged you for loving as much as you do.

Stephen 5:00

I am obsessed with Montero by little nozzle. Yes, it's so good. And like, he describes himself as a pop rapper and I was like, that's a perfect description because he's not just a rapper and he's not just a pop star. Like it's a really good blend. And this album, I haven't seen him say this about it, but if he does an interview, I wouldn't be shocked. I think that he was processing a lot of stuff when he was writing these songs. Like, I think this was trauma healing for him to get a lot

Steve 5:38

of this stuff out. Well, I'm glad he got it out and I'm glad that you're loving

Stephen 5:41

it. My love. Everyone should stream it. It's quite good. Yes. You know what? You

Steve 5:46

also love

Stephen 5:51

Ooh, jam jam jam.

Steve 6:06

Yes. Gem is truly outrageous.

Stephen 6:09

Yes. And tell us a little bit about it. Tarling well,

Steve 6:13

it is an American animated musical TV series that ran from 1985 through 1988 for a total of 65 episodes, following Jerrica, Benton, her singer slash alter ego gem and the adventures of their band, the holograms.

Stephen 6:28

And it was actually a joint venture between Hasbro. Some bow productions who did GI Joe back in the day and Marvel productions. Yes.

Steve 6:39

Marvel like Spider-Man and his amazing friends. Marvel. Yeah. It's

Stephen 6:42

the whole, and like the same team that did transformers. Yes,

Steve 6:46

exactly. And the creator of the series, Kristy marks was also known for her work with teenage mutant ninja turtles, Conan GI, Joe, hyper knots, captain power, and most other cartoons from the eighties. She had a hand in, in some way, shape or form.

Stephen 7:00

I used to watch captain power. And like other than the hyper knots, I think I watched all of those.

Dennis 7:08

I don't remember a captain power or maybe if I do, I don't remember it vividly enough

Stephen 7:13

to send that the

Steve 7:14

one with the race where they were trying

Stephen 7:16

to say captain planet. I think I may be wrong about this, but I thought that captain power was the interactive toy thing where the. You you, your toys were mixture between planes and guns and interacted with the TV. You know, like laser tag, it was like an interactive laser tech show where you could shoot at the TV and the TV would have things and your gunship would register it. I may be wrong, but that was, that was the whole toy back then.

Dennis 7:51

I really don't remember that.

Stephen 7:54

And, and you could use, like, if you weren't watching the show, you could use them as like laser tag around the house and things.

Dennis 8:02

Cool. I was a huge fan of a teenage mutant ninja turtles though. Oh,

Stephen 8:06

me too.

Steve 8:07

I remember getting the VHS tape says good are as goodie bag things in the happy meals at birth.

Stephen 8:13

Oh, all right. We did not have a burger king growing up and

Steve 8:16

Spencer, that was my mom's version of cooking us lunch. Oh, that's a sweet memory. Yes, it was. As, as, as was our childhood

Stephen 8:24

obesity, animation was done by Towey animation. How do you know them?

Steve 8:30

Did G Mon digital monsters? Did you mind are the champions? Yes. They later went on to do the Digi Mon series, which

Stephen 8:37

is actually a much better cartoon than Pokemon because it has and character

Steve 8:42

development and growth. And it's a series long or, you know, end season lungs episodes. Yeah. Rather than just one-offs, which I love.

Stephen 8:52

What does IMDV tell

Steve 8:54

us? Well, that's summarizes it as Jerica. Ben is secretly the leader of the glamorous and exciting music group gem in the holograms

Stephen 9:01

that tells us nothing. Sounds

Steve 9:03

good. Well, how would you boys then

Stephen 9:06

summarize it, Dennis? How would you summarize the

Dennis 9:08

show? I mean, I think fine. I am DB has a good start on it because that part is true, but it would also be about the exploits and the adventure that these girls get to be involved in, in each episode. And obviously the fantastic

Stephen 9:26

sick and didn't even mention the misfits or how Jerica almost dies every episode every

Steve 9:36

yeah, at least once an episode. Yes. And speaking of gem, she is portrayed or performed by Samantha Newark. Did the speaking voice of gem and Jerica while Britta Phillips provided the,

Stephen 9:49

And I do have to say Britta Phillips is quite talented because that singing voice, I was impressed. It didn't sound overly produced

Steve 9:57

and it was her first professional game.

Dennis 10:00

That's I did not, I didn't know that and that's kind of crazy, but I do. I love her voice. I think it's fantastic.

Stephen 10:06

Yeah. Samantha Newark appeared in the live action gem and the holograms as the hairstylist and was the voice actor in Brittany's dance beat video game, which I didn't even know that that

Steve 10:18

was the thing. Did you, Dennis? Cause you're, you're like any fan. I knew

Dennis 10:21

it was a thing. I never played hate video games. I do. I've never played the video game and I probably would never, but I did watch the commercial about 5,000 times. Cause it has till the world ends, it's like the background and she walks in and these girls on a dance studio and she's like, come on, girls, let's

Stephen 10:37

dance. You said like a dance, dance revolution type of game. Yes it is. Okay.

Steve 10:43

Yes. And Brita also is in the live action gem and the holograms has their stage manager and has more recently been the voice of Elizabeth Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's Franklin. Which,

Stephen 10:53

what is that? You have no idea what that is. That sounds wrong.

Dennis 10:57

Frankenstein is like one of my favorite novels. So I would be interested.

Steve 11:02

Well, no, it's a, it's a, I think it's like more like a adult, not a stop motion animated series a, it came out in 2010 and had two seasons. It was part of adult

Dennis 11:12

swim. Okay. I'm going to have to look it up on YouTube

Stephen 11:15

later.

Steve 11:16

It is based on Frankenstein.

Stephen 11:18

Oh, I put Mary Shelley's name in front of it. I was going to notice

Dennis 11:23

that it was Mary Shelley. No one knows anymore. It,

Stephen 11:27

Julia Roberts portrayed her. Right. Other characters in the show. There's Asha, Shana, Kimber who make up the holograms as well as pazazz Roxy and storm are as the misfits.

Steve 11:44

Yes. And Rio Pacheco is Derrick has love interest while Eric, Raymond is the bad. And synergy has the master hologram that lives in Jem's earrings.

Stephen 11:55

I like synergy is just like, that's the neatest thing. I think it's also why I always liked mystique in the X-Men like that whole like, changing to full things and stuff. I think that would have been cool. I'm

Steve 12:10

surprised you didn't Pierce your ears so you can try and get hearings. Just like

Stephen 12:14

it. My father always said, even when it was a fad in the nineties for guys to get their left ear pierced if you come home with an earring, I'm ripping it out and he didn't mean out this way. He meant down through the cartilage.

Dennis 12:27

I don't like I had my left ear Pierce back in the nineties and I've never had gem earrings, but I did sometimes as a kid use my grandmother's clip-ons she had like red, like kind of Ruby hearts, I guess. I think I remember. So they weren't quite, but I would play with them anyway. Synergy, come on.

Stephen 12:49

So Graham, we're going to be doing the first five episodes, which are kind of like a gym movie in and of itself. It introduces everything and gets everything set up.

Steve 13:02

Yeah. And one thing that I was able to teach you during my research about this was that they were originally not even full length, like 22 minute episodes. They were six minute segments on super Sunday in 1985. And then later on, they were spliced together into five episodes on a VHS tape in 1986, before they officially aired on TV when the series

Stephen 13:23

premiered, and this was originally on Fox growing up. And I remembered that because. Our Fox also had it on sometimes on Sunday mornings at 6:30 AM. And I still remember the one morning I got up and it was the glittering gold Jem episode. And it was the first time and I lost my ever-loving shit at six 30 in the morning on a Sunday.

Steve 13:51

Yeah. So what's the best place to start my love

Stephen 13:54

at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start. So it starts off with kind of a voiceover and you're seeing all this success. And Jem decides to look back on how we got there and it starts because Jericho's father died and left her half of a recording company, Starlight music, and an orphanage Starlight house. Are we seeing a theme with the naming?

Steve 14:22

Yes. They both start with Starlight.

Stephen 14:24

That's right now, Dennis, are you running your own Starlight house right now? Oh my

Dennis 14:29

God. Yes. And this is, I love it. It's funny to me. I thought about this when we Quincy my partner and I built our house from scratch. And the model that we selected is actually called the Starlight. Oh, really? That's pretty cool. I was always like, oh, that's so cool. It's just like, you know, from Jem and I thought it was cute and funny. And then my nephew moved in with us and now my brother is staying with us in a transitional period in his life. And so sometimes his children are there and it's literally, I'm like, okay, so now I'm actually just running Starlight house except they don't have the damn earrings.

Steve 15:04

Well, I was gonna say, well, if you ever need money, you can just go on over to this, the music part and just take money from them. Where's

Dennis 15:09

my

Stephen 15:09

studio. Yes, because we do see a comical chain reaction of a. Where somebody falls and there's a lighting break and then the vacuum blows up and the plumbing and there's flooding. And, oh, but as you said, Jerrick, his dad used to get the money from Starlight music and we know she owns half and that's when we're introduced to Eric, Raymond who owns the other half. And Eric is telling her, you know, you can't just have money. And he goes, if you want to be a success, you know, you could be like the misfits Yes. How did they enter the office?

Steve 16:06

They entered driving motorcycles, shaped like guitars inside,

Dennis 16:10

inside the building. How do they get them? Because the office is on like the top floor. You see that kind of from the pan

Stephen 16:17

out and the elevator is tiny. Yeah.

Steve 16:20

I just imagine them all going up one at a time in the elevator and then like just waiting outside and people were walking around like, what the

Stephen 16:25

fuck are you doing? And they must've practiced in advance to be able to do the circles inside of Eric's office. I mean,

Dennis 16:32

that office is huge. So

Stephen 16:33

yeah. Yes. So Jericho's rejected for money and she's upset because she also finds out that there's going to be a battle of the bands and Eric's already rigged it for the misfits to win and booboo. But she goes home. And Dennis, what does she find when she gets home?

Dennis 16:54

Well, it's I think her sister, right? Kimber's yeah. Oh, there's a package that came for you today. So coincidentally, and it's these beautiful star shaped earrings and they're red and, you know, something funky happens when she puts them on it

Stephen 17:09

starts, yeah, synergy appears and there's a cryptic message. And that leads she and her friends to the Starlight drive in, I wonder who owns it? Who could it be? It's a mystery, but they drive their beat up van through a salt. Well, what they think is a solid wall. It was a hologram, it was a hologram into an underground lab where there is a giant computer who turns out to be synergy. Yes.

Steve 17:40

Synergy makes holograms and provides them with a car, the rockin Roadster, and an amazing rock and roll wardrobe with instruments,

Dennis 17:50

which, okay. I have questions. Yes. The clothes are real and the

Stephen 17:55

car is real. Yeah. So how

Dennis 17:59

I'm, I'm genuinely curious because they of like synergies, like, oh, look at this car and it just appears, but it's a real car.

Stephen 18:07

How does she do it?

Steve 18:09

Well, I don't know about the magic of the why, of what the carpet I was like, why do you need to give them clothes? If you can just hologram clothes onto the, it seems a little repetitive

Stephen 18:16

also with this whole thing, how long ago had her father, her father passed away to know all the girls, correct sizes. And did they know that they were musically talented or was he just hoping he's just so big.

Steve 18:34

I don't know about if you had your own synergy, what would you do with that power?

Stephen 18:39

Oh, so obviously I would be trying on different hairstyles, like, because you know, you're like, oh, I want to grow it out to see what it looked like. Boom. Grow it out right then and there. Oh, you want to try this color? And then you're like, oh, maybe I should get colored contacts, try it on your colored contacts right there. And like glasses frames, like, everything becomes easier. You can do online shopping. She looks at it and you're like, okay, show me what this would look like on me. Like shopping and fashion and aesthetics become infinitely easier. And then also I would use it to play pranks on people. Yeah. Well,

Dennis 19:20

I would not play pranks. I like your idea though. I didn't think about that. Like, oh, what color could my hair, what my hair looked like this color. Yeah. My idea about it is like, I hate going out late. So if someone invites me to a function that starts at like 9:00 PM, I'll tell you I'm coming and then not show up, but I can have synergy make it look like I was there. I'm here to support my friends. I love you. Meanwhile, I'm eating popcorn and watching a love Victor on

Stephen 19:48

Hulu. The only problem with that. Is if your friends or anything like our friends, you're going to get hugs and those people are going to fall through the holographic. You

Dennis 19:59

oh, no. I'll just be like, you guys know me. I'm not touchy.

Stephen 20:01

Feely. What about you, baby? What would you do with it? Well,

Steve 20:06

you could just make myself look like anyone else that I wanted to become a spy.

Stephen 20:10

Oh,

Dennis 20:11

very good.

Stephen 20:13

Oh yeah. You'd be the ultimate master of disguise.

Steve 20:17

I don't know whether I have the, like the active skills of fibbing and lying my way through situations. Cause I have no poker face, but that's what the holograms will be for.

Stephen 20:26

Yeah, you'd be like I'm president Macron of France. I swear.

Steve 20:32

Oh yes. Meanwhile, Jem and her friends use this power to crash a battle of the bands that Eric had set up for the misfits to win by putting them against the talent list, limp lizards, which reminds me of soft penises,

Stephen 20:46

but I think I'm sill and like, and their song is good. And like, it's a pretty sad turnout for the first annual battle of the bands. There seems to be like 50 people there. And in what I believe is supposed to be Los Angeles.

Steve 21:03

Well it's all right. They have six months until the real show off goes down. And what happened? What, what's the, what are the stakes for six months from now? Well,

Stephen 21:10

was originally going to just be controlling ownership of Starlight music, but then. Unbeknownst to everyone, music, Purdue or movie producer, Howard sands is in the crowd. And he says, I would like to sweeten the deal. What I will do is I will give a movie contract and this mansion to whoever wins.

Steve 21:32

I'm just wondering what, what was he doing? Just carrying that, that contract and blueprints around with.

Dennis 21:39

And was he going to sweeten the deal for anyone who may have been nearly as good as the misfits? Like was that his plan the whole time? Did he show up thinking like, well, I hope there's two good people so I can give a good smack down

Stephen 21:51

around. Or does he drive around town where he's like, he goes to a bar and like two guys are like, I could drink you under the table. I would like to sweeten this deal, whoever wins this shrinking contest gets a movie contract at this mansion.

Steve 22:06

Back in my prime, I would have been able to win that mansion for a space.

Stephen 22:11

So it's all good. I'm Irish Jerrick, and Jem have a very Superman thing going on where? Cause we studied the face because for a bit I was like, no, no, no Jem's face is a little fuller, but it's actually not. It's really just a Hey hair. And then the face makeup, like the very eighties, like over the eye and stuff like that. It's the same face

Dennis 22:37

and, and the same earrings. They're always wearing the same

Stephen 22:41

earrings. You would think that somebody would be like, Jerica, why are you wearing Jem's earrings? Like, oh, we're BFFs. We got her earrings. Except we never, like, you'd never really seem to hang out all that much.

Steve 22:53

She's gonna say like, how pissed would you be if you came out in a wagon and be like, where'd you go, babe? And who's this friend of yours.

Stephen 23:01

So, unfortunately the misfits don't take this upstaging very well.

Steve 23:06

Not at all, like, fuck this shit. They steal all their instruments and then start throwing them off the back of their van during a car chase, almost sending them off a cliff while also destroying all of their musical.

Stephen 23:17

So here's the question. Are the misfits bad or misunderstood Dennis thought? Ooh.

Dennis 23:26

I think, I think they're bad.

Stephen 23:29

Yes. All like all the way through, maybe

Dennis 23:33

not all the way through, but I think it's like, you know, when, you know, you've always got kind of that one friend, who's like a little off the wall and every time you hang out with them and they're like, come on, do this with me. And you're like, oh, I don't know if I should, but you do it anyway. Yeah. Like I think it's like that it's like the three of them together. Just egg each other on like individually, I think maybe except for pizzazz. She's kind of the leader, but yeah, I think, you know, They definitely make each other

Stephen 23:57

worse. He doesn't have a soul,

Steve 24:00

so, yeah. And this is the only one who ever kind of shows any sort of like feeling bad for what, like she's the one who was like around because she like gave into peer pressure and doesn't know how to say no, but the other two I feel,

Stephen 24:11

and that's exactly it. I think Gretchen Wiener is I think Stormer has low self-esteem. She had these two girls that were like, oh, you're really good at writing songs. You should hang out with us because Stormer writes all the music for the misfits little known fact. And so I think that she got brought into this and in her mind, these are the only friends she's ever had. And so. Like, well, she may not agree with it. She doesn't

Steve 24:40

stop. Yes. And I'm sure we're going to get that into that more later on as we go through this arc. Yeah. But in this one, yes, they definitely you're a bad. And as Jen and her friends are hanging off the side of the cliff in the car, Rio saves them and ropes it back in and lands them a newspaper article that helps them gain popularity.

Stephen 24:57

So we also, as I said, Roxy doesn't have a soul. She also like, Eric's like, I can't believe you girls, you get them a front page headline and make them more popular than they already were. And Roxy says, it's not our fault that Asia chick can't drive. And so it's Roxy being racist against Asian since 1985, which I mean,

Dennis 25:20

Obviously he didn't get that. No Asians are bad drivers reference.

Stephen 25:24

I didn't either. And it may not even be there, but Asia is the one that always drives. Yeah. Asia, rasa, Asha. She's Asian, she's

Steve 25:34

Asian. So she's Asha

Stephen 25:36

Asha chick can't drive. And I do love her blue hair though. I do. Yes, I

Steve 25:42

do. Yeah. Yeah. And I didn't even realize that, that she was like a, supposed to be Asian American descent. Like when you were, when you were thinking, cause she's drawn very white, very

Dennis 25:52

whitewashed. Should I love the, I mean, I love the diversity that this show has with oh yeah. With AZA with Rio. Who's obviously

Stephen 26:00

Hispanic. Yeah. Yeah. And you've got Shayna who's black. Kimber's a ginger that's its own thing. It is.

Steve 26:08

Yes. And so after Eric decides that the misfits can't handle it themselves, he hires a henchman named zipper to break in and scare the girls who buddy's caught and excellently sets fire to the house on his way out.

Stephen 26:23

Yup. And that fire spreads faster than any fire I've ever seen. Start lighthouse must be made of polyester. That's the only thing I

Dennis 26:31

can think of the eighties. Well, that house wasn't built in the eighties. Probably. No, it was the old probably had his best dos and stuff

Stephen 26:36

in it. During this time we are also introduced to worst orphan Ashley.

Steve 26:42

Yes. She steals from the honor jar and then she, she's also the one who steals it or saves it from

Stephen 26:47

the fire. But Ashley immediately has an attitude and like, I don't see any redeemable qualities. No, not at all.

Dennis 26:59

This the worst. She

Steve 27:01

is the worst. So at the end of this, with the house burning down, that's the one way this episode, that jam is going to die. In addition to almost falling off the cliff twice in one episode, twice in one episode, whatever might come. We don't know. I guess we have to continue on with it's

Stephen 27:17

called disaster. And luckily for us, they all make it out safely. And even the fireman saves Ashley after she had gone back in just in time, because as soon as they come out, the doorframe crashes in the house goes down and they're like, what are we going to do now? And Derek is like, I have an idea and they decide that they're going to go put on a concert for Howard sands. And they go when they perform and her line delivery on this always really bothered me when she got. And our house burnt down and it's all like, boom.

Dennis 28:01

Well, I want to know like, was this the thing that people just knew, like where this movie

Stephen 28:05

producer lived and also from what I saw his house, isn't that nice. His house is smaller than the mansion he's giving away. Yeah. So why is he giving it away? Like, I'll give them his house and be like, Hey girls, I upgraded. You can move into where I used to live that one and

Steve 28:22

worked for the plots. Cause the misfits wouldn't be getting jealous over his house. Like they get jealous over the man

Stephen 28:27

showed well. And so how did the misfits get in darling? Well, they get jealous

Steve 28:31

and they bribe little twat Ashley to let them into the mansion for$30, which is how much Ashley's still owes in the honor jar. And what a way to get an honor back.

Stephen 28:42

And you can definitely see how the dynamics and the mission that's run where possesses like fine payer Roxy fine payer storm, or. Okay.

Steve 28:54

Meanwhile, zipper sneak sin to plant a bomb, which he hides under a couch cushion in the old servants quarters.

Stephen 29:03

Yeah, the worst hiding job ever, but thankfully, no one was in there. And but Eric shows up because he knew what was going to be happening. He sees the misfits in there trying to get some fame. Cause the gym girls are in there, like posing for photographs and he's like, get out of there. There's a bomb. And then we see the thing tick down and we go to commercial with we'll be right back with more gem and the holograms. Yes. So

Steve 29:31

she almost dies, but she doesn't, it blows out the wall, but everything else is okay. Eric blames it on a deranged gem fan that was out to hurt the misfits,

Stephen 29:40

like where you hurt. Oh, my goodness. I'm just scratched everywhere and look what happened to my tights and my hair. Like the only one that seemed to be messed up were stormers tights. Everyone else seemed fine.

Steve 29:57

Yes. And then miraculously, Danielle comes, who's a Countess right out of Belinda blinked.

Stephen 30:03

Yeah. Very I'm an American actress, but I'm going to be putting on this accent as Daniella account is deep. Was a yes.

Steve 30:12

I was just waiting for her to proposition the girls into some lesbian sex scene

Stephen 30:17

and have a magical horse ride.

Dennis 30:19

Yeah. So where did the counters come from is what I need to know? Like, was she just stopping by to see her friend Howard sands, but why was

Stephen 30:26

Howard there that he doesn't live at? Yes. It's one of those story. I know.

Dennis 30:32

Well, I know the kids, kid, the kids watching it didn't care. I didn't care. I still

Stephen 30:36

don't care, honestly, but like, this is one of those things that it's fun to talk about. And she invites him to a party on her magnificent yacht, which of course gets crashed by the misfits and Ken mass. Jeff, we almost gone berserk. Wow. Yeah. So what are the misfits do, darling? Well,

Steve 31:12

they make mischief. Yeah. Lindsey Pierce famous D VJ wants to air a gym video, but they don't have one. And

Stephen 31:19

then poor Shawna Shaina is dragged away and she's

Steve 31:23

about to get Harvey Weinstein for music, video funding by Anthony, Julian until the misfits jumping. So in some ways the Misha saved her having to put out to get the music, video

Stephen 31:34

and

Dennis 31:34

books. You would have

Steve 31:35

done it for her girls. I know, but at the same time, I was like, oh, they're like you two go together.

Stephen 31:42

And why did they

Steve 31:43

put them together? The same skin color,

Stephen 31:46

both black and white. And the misfits take control of the ship. And the thing that always amazed me is whenever they start going fast, the skis come out from the front of this yacht. And I was like, is that a thing? Is that how yachts work do yachts have skis on the front of them? They do not regular alerts. Okay. Slightly disappointed because I thought that was really neat. And they almost wreck it into an oil tanker and the captain comes at the last minute and he's hard to port and turning it. And of course, because it wouldn't be an episode if something didn't happen, Jem falls

Steve 32:27

overboard and almost dies again. So that's twice in the second episode as well. So we're at four

Stephen 32:32

almost stats, but how, how is she still alive darling? Well,

Steve 32:37

Rio saves her and then they kiss.

Stephen 32:41

Okay. Here's my next. Do you not know how your girlfriend kisses? Like wouldn't you recognize what goodness you kiss just like Jerica. Well, you

Steve 32:53

also were upset that they were kissing to begin with because of the

Stephen 33:00

deception, this masquerade Oh, I love that song. It's probably my favorite of the gym songs

Dennis 33:16

is one of my, one of my two favorite gem songs, which both deal with her situation to three O anyway.

Stephen 33:24

And what is the other one it's called? Who is he kissing? Would you like to sing a little bit? I w I would not. I, I don't sing either, but I just, I do it anyway. Yes. And

Dennis 33:35

Susie kissing me or her it's

Stephen 33:38

very good. So Jerrick and Rio were dating. And Jerica doesn't tell Rio that she's Jem, but as Jem Jerrick has still makes moves on Rio, but somehow feels slighted. When Rio tries to stay faithful to Jericho, it's this weird like mental break. And none of the holograms are like, girl, this is messed up. Rio's the one of the good ones. What are you doing? None of them say this.

Steve 34:09

Well, he likes both women and the mystery of Jemen time, a girlfriend in Jericho. It's just confusing for him because he's the band manager who likes the star. And it's just weird that, you know, Jerrica and Jem never in the same place at the same time. And he loves them both in their own little ways. And

Stephen 34:28

she has so many opportunities. To come clean. And the whole situation is filled with lies, cheating, jealousy, betrayal, and delusion, and deception and deception, deception rates, and surreal, and like so Jericho tries to kiss Rio many, many times while

34:52

she's as Jem. What part

Stephen 34:55

of her thinks that this is okay? I

Steve 34:57

think it's her dissociative identity disorder.

Stephen 35:00

And

Dennis 35:01

I'm just wondering, like, does she sometimes maybe forget right. That she's got the hologram that she's jammed in that moment? She forgets it and she's just with her boyfriend and, and then, oops, I slipped up. I don't know.

Stephen 35:13

So image comics did a recent modern day run on it and it's actually really fantastic. Stormer and Kimber are lesbian level. And it works really well. You remember the episode where they, they made the album together, so it kind of plays off their interaction with that. And because they're both still the actual songwriters for both groups. But in

35:39

the comic, Jem does have

Stephen 35:42

an identity disorder thing where she or Jericho does where she believes that they are two different people sometimes. And in the comics, the girls are like, this isn't good. This isn't healthy. Like you need to fix this. And do you think, like, do you think it's sometimes she's forgetting that she's gym or do you think she's starting to split her for a splitter personality that she could, she treats them like, they're two different people. I

Dennis 36:12

mean, I think she treats, you know, I think

36:15

she treats Jem as a separate

Dennis 36:17

identity, but I think she forgets, you know, which one she is sometimes. Like, oh, I know that Jen has a different identity. She's outgoing, she's famous. She's glamorous. And then, you know, but she's like, oh wait, I forgot that I have the gem hologram over me right now. And I'm supposed to be being gem. Oh no.

Steve 36:37

And it is the true victim of all of this Rio.

Stephen 36:40

It is not no, because Rio Rio is cheating on Jerrica still. So in the end, Jerrick is playing these mind games with him, but he's knowingly cheating on her. So I think they actually deserve each other in the end. Do you think

Dennis 36:56

he's not maybe like confused, like maybe he recognizes in gem all this stuff about Jericho the way she kisses and I don't know. I feel, I feel bad for Rio. I also blame this show for giving me this kind of like romantic notion of. Oh, you can be in love and still fall in love with someone else. And you don't know what to do

Steve 37:16

about it. I'm sure that's hurt you once or twice. It has.

Stephen 37:23

I mean, I never

Dennis 37:23

was like dressed to somebody else and pretending to like, you know, live two separate lives, but what's still this show put it in my head.

Stephen 37:31

Yeah. Like back then, I, I definitely felt sorry for Rio back then. And I was like, oh, I can see why he's so conflicted. And nowadays I'm like, both of you were bad people. Ah,

Dennis 37:44

I mean, but we, I mean, it's become, I think it's such a trope now. Like, did you guys watch Jane the Virgin where she

Stephen 37:50

never did

Dennis 37:52

like that whole, like, you know, oh, I'm in love with two people thing and it's happening right now in love.

Steve 37:59

Love and Victor. Yeah. Well, you haven't gotten to that part. But they haven't,

Stephen 38:04

we haven't

Steve 38:05

finished episodes in. Yeah. Okay. But it's

Stephen 38:10

not, I'm kidding. It's okay.

Steve 38:13

Love triangles are definitely a stroke. I was going to say, I love triangles. They're definitely a trope in TV and I guess it started in our

Stephen 38:21

cartoons. Yeah. And this leads us all into the next episode. Kimber's

38:27

rebellion. Yes. Jem and the group

Steve 38:30

head to Paris for their first music

Stephen 38:31

video shoot, which, because of everyone being so mad at the misfits for what they did on the yacht everyone is funding their trip and the shoot and their clothing just because the misfits pissed them all off and they

Steve 38:47

get this gem of a song. I see what you did there.

Stephen 39:04

The only thing, I

Dennis 39:09

actually really liked that song too. I liked this song. But I do have a question about it. Maybe just your opinion on this. You know, like all the videos are these kind of like psychedelic imaginary things, but they're shooting a real video. And so do we think that the scene is that like, this scene is actually the video where it's like jam walking around the streets of Paris and like seeing Rio. So it was Rio starring in the video?

Stephen 39:34

No, I think that the only part of the video that

39:37

was real is Jem twirling

Stephen 39:39

around the tree that Julian was like, and you come here and you hit your mark and you swing. And then you and the other three girls sit in front of the cathedral. Like, I think that was the video,

Dennis 39:50

but just imagined that like the whole thing was the real video with Rio in it. Cause I mean, Rio is a

Stephen 39:54

babe. So you mean where they all were riding unicorns in the class. Yeah. Okay.

Dennis 40:02

I'll go editing. I mean, that happens.

Stephen 40:04

And I also love that she mentions ma Mar and the move on Rouge. And I was like, that's kind of fantastic that, you know, teaching children about burlesque at an early age culture, us culture. And so Eric, Raymond, I have decided is actually not an intelligent man or a good businessman because after zipper in the fire zipper, in the poorly hid bomb, he sends zippered a Paris.

Steve 40:34

Yes. I don't know how many times this guy can fuck up before he gets fired. But I'm also wondering where he got his name zipper. Cause you know, like criminals have it like their nicknames from like something that they did. I'm like, I just imagined what time he got his Dick cut in a zipper. And like everyone's like has

Stephen 40:48

zipper. It was like out of there's something about Mary. Yeah,

Dennis 40:55

it would be an interesting backstory.

Stephen 40:57

Yeah. Zipper climbs on top of the said cathedral and tries to push a gargoyle onto the girls. Of course they are saved again. Yes,

Steve 41:06

they are. Meanwhile, back home, worst orphan Ashley turns to the misfits who convinced her to turn away from the Starlight grip, especially gem and

Stephen 41:14

company. But Ashley goes to meet them at a bar. And Ashley hangs out with the misfits in a bar and storm, or is such a bad-ass that this big burly biker guy is scared of stroke. I'm sorry. Pizazz is such a bad-ass that she threatens this biker guy for his seat and he's like, oh, and

Dennis 41:40

I would be scared of pizazz would do. Oh yeah, I would present.

Steve 41:44

Yeah, same. I'd get real submissive for her. Yes. Meanwhile, Kimber gets jealous of gem success, which I never would have guessed after reading the title of the episode,

Stephen 41:55

even in Paris. Like she's so

41:57

mad that Jem's getting

Stephen 41:59

featured like so much in the video, she's like Rio, you don't even know that Jerrica is. And then the girls come up and go Kimbro you're needed over here. Yes. I, about

Dennis 42:11

this episode, right? Like she's so re so resentful. And I think it's, there's a little bit of like, I'm the younger sibling thing going on, but, but like, it takes bands literally years to get to this point of resentment and Kimber's done it in like two and a half weeks.

Stephen 42:28

Yeah. And which means that obviously? Well, so the father dies Kimber and Jerrica didn't get 25% of the music company. Each Jerrica got 50% Kimber got shit like the father. Canberra. I don't know what you're good at, but it's not business.

Steve 42:49

Your sister will take care of you. I'm sure. Yeah. So

Dennis 42:51

not music because I'm sending the earrings,

Stephen 42:53

your sister too, even though obviously you're the talented writer, your sister's prettier. Hannah. You're just a ginger. Just so Kim got a pretty face. She, no, Kimber's beautiful. They're all beautiful. And Kimber sees the misfits tearing

43:08

down, um, Jem posters around

Stephen 43:11

the city and she gets mad and she goes, Eric, I want you to stop. And he's like, Kimber. Everyone knows you are the real talent in the holograms. You write all the songs. You're the strength behind the woman. Leave her. I could make you a star. Hi, I have to. Yeah, that might be the

Dennis 43:35

smartest business decision ever. Oh yeah.

Stephen 43:38

And it it's somewhat worked because she gets home and Lindsay Pierce, famous VJ calls. She's like gals, I want you to come down for an interview, just jam this time. I'll get the holograms later. And they're all excited. And she goes, oh, Kimba, I'm sorry.

43:56

It's just Jem. This time

Stephen 43:58

jam, this jam that Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, and she storms and she storms out and she goes, you can get some other flunkie to plunk keys for you. I love their dialogue. I do too. Like it, it's one of those things that this show holds such a special place in my heart. And no matter how over the top or unbelievable, some of the things can be, I still love every second of it. Yes,

Steve 44:30

absolutely. So the holograms go to Kimber's favorite radio station and express their affection for her, which she hears and comes

Stephen 44:37

back because without Kimber, there is no gym and there's no holograms. And Kim Brent comes back and goes well without gem, there's no holograms either. Jus

Steve 44:53

yes, just in time for their debut TV appearance, how

Dennis 44:57

fantastic

Stephen 44:57

for them and Rio trying to be the good guy tries

45:03

to quit as Jem's manager

Stephen 45:05

so that he can commit himself solely to Jerica that if he believes, if I'm

45:10

not around Jem, I can get

Stephen 45:12

rid of this temptation and I can just be committed to the girl that I love. And Jerrick is like, we

45:18

need you, Jem needs you.

Stephen 45:21

Yes.

Steve 45:21

I want to keep this fucked up cycle of emotional torment going.

Dennis 45:25

Rio is a victim right here.

Stephen 45:28

The deal right here he is, but he's still, there are issues. The misfits see the interview happening and because LA is not that big, they have time to get down to the studio before the interview is

Steve 45:41

over. The studio has no security. So they were able to get right up on stage.

Dennis 45:45

I refuse to believe one security guard and that whole bill. Yeah, I can't

Stephen 45:52

suspend your disbelief. You're

Steve 45:53

a child again. And so they're causing accidents on the way out. And this time a giant light fixture was going to fall on her and Jen was almost going to die. And yeah, you would think by this point, the girl would have PTSD just from all of her near life death,

Stephen 46:09

honest to goodness, like somebody pops a balloon behind her. Like she's not screaming at the door too

Dennis 46:14

loud.

Stephen 46:16

Like she's laying awake at night, listening to this old mansion that they're living in settle. And she's like,

Dennis 46:23

it's a bomb in the service. Oh my

Stephen 46:25

God. Exactly. But she just deals with it all really, really well. But this takes us to the next episode, which is one of my favorite. It has really good character development for Stormer is one of the reasons that I really like it. And it is called the frame-up.

Steve 46:45

Yes, that's the Vegas concert one with promoter dark,

Stephen 46:49

and the misfits are

46:50

opening for Jem. And whenever

Stephen 46:52

they hear that, they're like, how can you do that? And he goes, cause I just love to see sparks fly.

Steve 46:58

Yes. Possess of course decides to set up a

47:00

plan where Jem in the holograms

Steve 47:01

won't be able to perform. So the misfits will be the main act and they bring Ashley to Vegas for the fan because smuggling orphans, overstate lines is totally a okay. In this universe because Ashley is the worst. Yes. Everyone's like, we don't miss that bit. We

Dennis 47:17

don't care. Like Ashley's not

Stephen 47:19

here. The housekeeper shouldn't have been like, where is Ashley? She's been gone for three days. Girls. Have you seen Ashley? No. Do you know where she is? Don't care is pretty much the scene I see happening here.

Steve 47:35

Yes, exactly. In Vegas, Ashley shows up to distract Asha and trick her into getting on the bus luggage compartment to find her and the misfits locker in there and the bus drivers.

Stephen 47:47

So as a child, this frightened me to no end that like, cause in my mind I was like, could that happen? Could you be somewhere? And you get locked into something and you drive away. And as a child, my thought was, I wouldn't know how to get back to my parents, like of, are getting trapped in their traumatizes, me as a child.

Steve 48:09

Yes. And the whole plan with that is that if I was just not backed by Kurt and ton misfits

48:13

go on and Jem has to pay

Steve 48:15

a fine luckily Azure makes noise and.

Stephen 48:18

And that

Dennis 48:19

man, let me out, let me out. I think you have a flat tire, sir. Something so loud. There's the noise

Stephen 48:24

down there. I think it's a flat tire. Thanks Karen. Go sit down.

Dennis 48:27

Oh, I love the bus driver. What do you want

Steve 48:29

lady? Yes. And she gets back just in time, which means the problems that are in conflict or soft for the episode, right babe. Oh, yes. Except

Stephen 48:36

it's not because for attempt number four, Eric has sent zipper to Las Vegas and he is to steal the concert money from the casino. He has been wandering around the casino with his face shown and his clothing, but right before they go in to steal the money, like right outside the room, they all put masks on because there were no other cameras in the casino at all. Even in the eighties, there were no other camera. This

Steve 49:07

is no oceans eight babe.

Stephen 49:09

So Ashley and store. So pizazz had yelled at Ashley and made her cry. And Ashley went away and Stormer was trying to comfort her and she goes, you know, sometimes pizazz scares me too. And then they see the theft happen and Stormer is absolutely the misfit with a conscience. And and I also love her. Husky whisper the

Dennis 49:34

old lady, like the Kim Carnes, like I'm

Stephen 49:38

sexy. Like this eyes, voice love, love, love it. And shock to no one. The money is found in gyms. And she's arrested.

Steve 49:51

That's where she goes to jail. And then has this, like orange is the new black montage of events,

Stephen 49:55

right? That's exactly what happens, but not Ashley deciding maybe I don't want to be the worst person ever because my new friends were mean to me. So I'll go back to the people that actually never

Dennis 50:07

harmed in a mansion. What is this girl thinking? I

Stephen 50:12

know I would rather live in the back of a bar.

Steve 50:15

Yeah. But it's funny. Cause I mean, when, when Ashley comes and tries to tell the truth, no one believes her. And they're like, actually if Ashley's on your side, it's more of a sign that you are the victim. Yeah.

Stephen 50:25

And then this mysterious woman shows up in disguise with this gorgeous purple hat and this mask drape over a face and a long flowy gown. And I know who stole the money. I can show yo and the cops like, okay, Come on in here and show me just you two and then Ashley learns about the birds and the bees. Yes, no. And then storm or reveals herself and is able to say, I wouldn't be telling

51:00

you that Jem was innocent.

Stephen 51:01

Would I? Because we're the bad guys. Yeah. And while all this is going on, Eric deciding, okay. Maybe zipper, isn't the way to go hires a private detective named Malone

51:14

to uncover Jem secret. And

Stephen 51:17

he follows them around town and he goes into the drive in underground area after them find synergy, intruder, intruder, intruder, Jerrica, there's an intruder. And

Steve 51:32

he breaks shit left and right. And is convinced that he solved the problem except.dot dot.

Stephen 51:38

It was a hologram. Of

Dennis 51:40

course it was a hologram.

Stephen 51:42

Favorite part of the episode though, is Malone goes back and he goes, I really think that this Jerrica

51:49

and this Jem chick are

Stephen 51:51

the same person and Eric goes, no, I've seen him in the same room together. Like Malone figured it out in 15 minutes, but Eric's like, no, you're wrong. And even though Malone goes

Dennis 52:03

dumb Malone, you're fired. Whereas zipper

Stephen 52:07

did, you know that Starlight drive in is also owned by Jerrica Benton. And it's a shock to era.

Dennis 52:13

And yeah. What about the Sterling ice cream where you're on the corner?

Stephen 52:18

No, that's actually owned by somebody else. And that's one of those things that like suspension of disbelief, but it's my favorite part of the episode.

Steve 52:30

And then we go on to the finale that the battle of

Stephen 52:33

the

52:33

band. And so Jem does get

Stephen 52:37

back there. We, as we heard, synergy's fine, it was a hologram. So they disconnect her and move her into the mansion right before Eric and his goons go to the drive in to check on what Malone said and it's empty. Yes.

Dennis 52:50

And because the girls are obviously very highly qualified computer

Stephen 52:55

building. Well, you also saw that the only thing that they had to do to an unplugged aside, unplug the sides, twist a nut off, and then put it, I hope we put it back together. Right. They did Ashley now deciding that she doesn't want to be worst orphan ever goes back to the misfits to give them back their money. And what happens? Well, Eric

Steve 53:22

kidnaps her and black males gem and the holograms to show up, to save her. And it's the night of the battle of the bands. Oh no. Yes. Gem and the holograms are captured when they go to save Ashley, who is at the concert? Locked in a trunk. Yeah.

Stephen 53:35

Yeah. Ashley it's Stormer. You're going to be okay. Stormer, come on. You have to choose between us or her. And this is where, like, those Stormer has a conscience, as you said before, babe peer pressure,

Steve 53:50

she sides with the misfits, but alerts Rio that Ashley's in the trunk, as it's about to get crushed, he saves her. Ashley tells him where the girls are and they head off for the Popo.

Dennis 54:00

So they were almost murderers who like, not only property vandals and thieves. Yeah.

Stephen 54:05

The murderers. Now I have to, like, in my mind, I have to assume that pazazz didn't know. That a trunk in their dressing room was going to be pulled out to be crushed, headed for a

Dennis 54:19

compactor. That's

Stephen 54:20

probably, I have to believe that that was some random thing that happened. It sounds very random, but, and did you also know that this episode had so much going on? They didn't have time to

54:31

try to kill Jem. They only

Stephen 54:33

had time to try to kill Ashley this

Steve 54:35

time. Well, that's true. Although they could have all been shot down by the, by the people holding them captive. That's true as well, but the misfits ended up performing and they actually do a pretty good job

Stephen 54:45

don't they? They do because I will actually go down in voice record on this podcast saying the misfits have better songs.

Dennis 54:57

And right before when we were having dinner before we started recording and I told you the same thing, I was like, I just have to put this out there, but. There are songs that are on the whole better.

Steve 55:07

Yes. Of all. I mean, that's in the theme song. We are the misfits.

Stephen 55:11

Our songs are better. We oh my God. But I

Dennis 55:13

think it's also telling us the whole time.

Stephen 55:16

And

Steve 55:17

I, I think from a writer quality standpoint, and is that with the format through all the series is that they have to write two songs for gem and the holograms each episode, they only have to write one. And I wonder whether it's easier. Like they put like two songs worth of quality into the well,

Stephen 55:31

like early glee episodes where there was only like one or two songs per episode. And they were higher quality choreography and stuff. And then whenever that got more popular and they had to start shoving more songs into glee episodes, like quality, it started dying down. I

Dennis 55:49

also gave up on glee again. Ryan quitter, Ryan looking Murphy.

Stephen 55:56

Did you like feud? I, most of it. What about Hollywood?

Dennis 56:01

I was told.

Steve 56:04

Okay, well, at least you love gem. I do.

Dennis 56:07

I, he kept his paws off

Stephen 56:08

of jam. Yes. Which we'll get to that in a second. So like they all like pizazz and all of them think that they need Eric to set things up for them to win. And I think that they're talented enough to be successful on their own. Yeah. They may not be more

56:26

successful than Jem, but these

Stephen 56:28

are going to be platinum selling artists. Like the misfits are talented.

Steve 56:32

Yeah. Like there's room for have actually voice and then sync it. And Brittany and Christina. Yes. So meanwhile, back to

56:40

the show, Jem uses holograms

Steve 56:41

of lions and police and multiple Erik's to trick the guards just as Rio arrives with the cops. And

Stephen 56:47

I

Dennis 56:47

love that they did that, like messing with those people's heads and making them see things. And they probably all thought they were on like LSD or

Stephen 56:54

something. Zipper, let her go, Eric, Eric. And then all of a sudden there's like 10 Eric's and they're all saying the same thing that was fantastic. And the dumb guy was like, you're really your

Dennis 57:08

lawyer.

Steve 57:11

So they ended up making it to the show in the Nick of time. And how was your opinion on the overall

Stephen 57:15

arc? Most of the drama that has happened in these five episodes is Ashley's

Steve 57:22

fault. Yes, it certainly is his the

Stephen 57:25

worst. I think you, if you took out the character of Ashley, half of the things that happened to these girls would not have happened.

Steve 57:33

Yes. I hope she never gets adopted.

Stephen 57:42

Spoiler alert. She

57:43

doesn't. So Jem and them

Stephen 57:47

get back just as they're about to lose by default. And they play Everybody starts to run when music, music is magic and they win and they go to the top of the rock meter. There's fireworks. They win the mansion, the movie contract. And as Kimber says, outrageous, truly outrageous.

Dennis 58:26

I love that. That is the tagline for the entire show. It's so perfect. I know

Stephen 58:31

I do love it. So like I love how much Kimber loves. Yes. Like, yeah, she is like me. I love to love things. Yes.

Steve 58:41

The misfits refuse to admit

Stephen 58:43

defeat. It's like we are going to get her. This isn't the last you've seen of us.

Steve 58:47

Spoiler alert. It's not no. And Jericho takes over Starlight

Stephen 58:51

music and Rio RI continues to romance. Both women and Eric is arrested.

Steve 58:58

Yes.

Stephen 58:59

And so, but he's not in jail very long because he's there at the end to say this isn't the last you heard of me, little lightning,

Steve 59:08

I would have gotten away with it. If it wasn't for you, holograms,

Stephen 59:13

what are some fun facts about gem?

Steve 59:15

Well, during my research, I found

59:17

out that Jem was originally

Steve 59:18

going to meaning named M for music, mysterious and magic. But Jen was chosen to avoid copyright problems with MTV. Oh,

Dennis 59:26

thank God. Because that name Sonics.

Stephen 59:28

Yeah, because people would have thought it was like. Yeah. And they're like, auntie em, and you know, I, I like

59:35

the name, Jem, and it gave

Stephen 59:37

me trouble spelling. Shiny rocks.

59:41

Yes.

Steve 59:42

I can imagine if Jen with a J came first, you never really get yep.

Stephen 59:47

That's exactly right. So I will fully admit my parents were really good about my love of toys growing up. I like T man, I like Shira. They bought me Shira things. I

59:59

love the Jem show. They bought me Jem dolls, mom

Stephen 1:00:02

and dad were really okay with not being like those aren't boy toys. Cause I had transformers. I had GI Joe, like I had like the whole gamut of stuff, but I give them credit for buying me, quote, unquote girl toys.

Steve 1:00:17

And you know what that helped you do with the theme song truly outrageous what you helped it, babe become triple platinum because. Each doll was sold with the cassette. Yup. Each sale of the doll was a sale for the cassette. So it means that because$3 million were sold between 1986 and 1987, that the theme song won triple platinum sales status.

Stephen 1:00:39

No, while I love it outrageous, truly outrageous. My favorite song, so I had the Rio doll and it came with deception. Oh,

Steve 1:00:50

I bet it did.

Stephen 1:00:51

Yeah. And so I

1:00:54

had, um, Jem Rio pazazz

Stephen 1:00:59

synergy and clash. Oh

Dennis 1:01:04

yeah. Stormers

Steve 1:01:05

constant. Yeah. Yes. And in later seasons some of these songs are reused again, but usually most episodes, as we mentioned for two for gem and the holograms and one for the. Although there was only one song that was used in three episodes,

Stephen 1:01:20

Dream. Oh, the PhD you, a dream is

Dennis 1:01:24

coming true. I actually liked that song a lot. I do too. Okay. Maybe I don't hate all the gems songs.

Steve 1:01:31

Yes. Bops. And in addition to a lot of the last names you see in the show, most notably Christi marks named Jerica and her late father Emmit, Benton after Dr. Steven Benton, who was a pioneer in holographic technology science

Stephen 1:01:46

and the dolls, they were hugely popular. Like, so when I was growing up, we had KB toys and like every like toys R us was free standing. You went to the mall, you had Walden books and yet KB toys. Yes. And you remember KB toys? I loved KB toys and they always had a specific gym section in the front. But some stores have them on the shelf. But, and I was lucky cause I was a tall child, but why were they always high up?

Steve 1:02:18

Well, because, and that's part of the reason what led to this show's cancellation is because eventually while the dolls were popular during their first two years, they died off during season three and four, when it, when it ended up being canceled. And the theory was based off of retail, science, doll, Isles were designed to hold 11 and three quarter inch Barbie boxes because they'd been the lungs long time standing mainstream dial box and gem styles were larger. So they had to be fit into 14 and a half inch packaging. And that was too large to fit on standards shelves. So they ended up having to be stacked weird. So they would be stacked sideways or just like put like kind of crooked. And because of that, because they didn't look appealing from the front, cause you couldn't stand them all up retailers to put them on the low bottom shelves or on the top shelves. And because of that, kids were less likely to see them or it didn't catch the eye as well

1:03:06

because

Stephen 1:03:07

they were at night. They were definitely not a kid. And the KB toys that I went to and Parkersburg closest mall to where I was growing up in our way. They had these sections just as you came to the store that like, if you go into bath and body works, the square tables that they stack stuff on. Yeah. They had one of those for the gym dolls base. So they had product placement there. Okay. Well

Steve 1:03:31

good. Because yeah, I can only imagine if the boxes had fit and they were standard size. If the toys would have sold better. And that meant that the show would have lasted longer

Stephen 1:03:42

if only, but

Steve 1:03:43

luckily Christy marks was given the heads up that the show was being canceled. So she was able to write the finale where everyone lives happily ever after and all the plot stories are all

Stephen 1:03:52

too. Did you have any gym growing up?

Dennis 1:03:56

I know I didn't. I didn't have any other adults.

Stephen 1:03:59

I don't think a minor still. In my old bedroom at mom and dad's house.

Steve 1:04:05

Oh, we'll have to get them and show them off for this week's posts.

Stephen 1:04:09

They probably need a little bit of Washington brushing.

Steve 1:04:13

Oh, well you can pamper and dial

Dennis 1:04:15

them up. Yeah. I guess the energy just predict a hologram over

Stephen 1:04:17

them. I had the rock and Roadster tube, which was really neat. Because you could open up, I believe it was the trunk. Because the hood, you would open up that you could start closing, but I believe that you could play music out of the trunk, like a radio. Oh, cool.

Dennis 1:04:37

No, I don't remember.

Stephen 1:04:39

I could be wrong, but I remember something that the rock and roots are actually played music before my time. Ah, so final thoughts, darling. I've now made you watch this twice.

Steve 1:04:51

I know. And out of all of the things that you've made me watch that were outdated cartoon shows from the. And this is probably my favorite of all

Stephen 1:04:59

of them. And why did you enjoy it?

Steve 1:05:01

The music mostly. And it's just the campiness. Yeah. I can see how like a little gateway, which just like see something in the show and just be like, I want to be jam.

Dennis 1:05:11

Oh, I did. I wanted to be jabbing. Fantastic. Exactly. I also love, I mean, like I mentioned earlier, I loved the diversity in the show, which is something I think that, you know, didn't happen a lot in the absolutely

Stephen 1:05:24

did not. So

Dennis 1:05:25

to have that kind of like wide variety of characters is pretty awesome, but

Stephen 1:05:29

I do give him credit. It's the same company, the GI Joe GI, the people that appeared in GI, Joe, you had Asian, native American, black, white women, like you GI Joe also had a very diverse cast. Yes. And

Steve 1:05:44

we we've skirted around the topic baby, but there was a recent resurgence in gem and the. Live action movie.

Stephen 1:05:51

Yes. And so I want to start this. The movie was directed by John Chu, who Les you, who is now well known for crazy rich Asians, which is a fantastic movie. Yes, it's really, really good. But he did the

1:06:11

live action Jem movie. Um,

Stephen 1:06:14

so I did not go see it in the theater. It didn't stay in the theater long

1:06:18

long time Jem fans were

Stephen 1:06:20

mad because we also found out that there were no holograms happening. The, she didn't have a secret identity, like I didn't mind that they gender swapped Eric Raymond for Eric, Raymond, because the actress that played her is Louis is fantastic. I'll take Juliette Lewis in anything. I didn't like the fact that Juliette Lewis knew

1:06:46

Jerica was Jem and the whole

Stephen 1:06:48

thing, like there was no mystery involved. I was okay with Rio being related to Erica. That's a fine twist that brings more together. That makes him like, I'm not following along with my mom's evil things. But Dennis,

Steve 1:07:05

why did you hate it?

Dennis 1:07:07

Okay. So I can't rightfully say that I hated it because I refused to see it. I do love Juliette Lewis. We, that would have been the one reason that I saw it, but once the details started coming out, I said, you know, fuck this movie, right. That's face.

Stephen 1:07:21

I hate it. I got it on Amazon for 9 99 on blue Ray. And we watched it. And as a movie, not

1:07:29

trying to be Jem, if it was

Stephen 1:07:31

cause

Steve 1:07:31

like gem

Stephen 1:07:34

or if it was called Sierra sings or anything that wasn't like this. Because they did have a synergy that was a small R2D2 type of thing. So like if they had just stuck to some things, and my favorite part was the post credit scene. Yes. Where Casha shows up as pazazz. And I would've loved that. I love cashout.

Dennis 1:08:01

I've got about like ideal, like casting for a real gem movie. We can talk about that in a minute, but,

Stephen 1:08:06

and so, and Eric is

1:08:09

like, because Jem has now gone

Stephen 1:08:11

away from Erica, Raymond. And so she goes back to her old moneymakers, the misfits, and Cassius says where the misfits, our songs are better and we're going to get her. And I was like, yes, that made the movie worthwhile just right there. I

Steve 1:08:27

know it's too bad. The movie tanked or else you would've gotten a SQL cause that's clearly what they were setting it

Stephen 1:08:32

up for. And that's. The director said this was supposed to be a superhero origin story type of movie. And it, it really could have gone that way. If he had holograms holograms and kept the secret identity, that's the only place where it like fell apart because the music was fine. It really was. You took away the holograms, you took away the secret identity, and at that point you took away the heart of the show. So that's our

1:09:09

discussion on Jem. We love

Stephen 1:09:12

it. We've watched it many, many times. If someone wants to get in touch with us to talk about

1:09:19

their love of Jem darling,

Stephen 1:09:21

how could.

Steve 1:09:22

Well, the best way is to join the conversation on Facebook. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at happy life pod. They

Stephen 1:09:30

can also email us directly@happylifepodatgmail.com. Dennis, thank you so much for coming back and joining us. Thank you guys

Dennis 1:09:40

for having me. It's a blast.

Stephen 1:09:42

Oh, and I forgot to tell our listeners. I have had the gym and the hologram shirt that Dennis got for me here. Prominently displayed while we are recording. And

1:09:51

it is, um, Jem meets mean

Stephen 1:09:54

girls

1:09:55

where, um, Jem is Katie

Stephen 1:09:59

and the misfits are the plastics and it's fantastic. It's a beautiful shirt.

Steve 1:10:05

Yes, Dennis has a good gift giver. We actually have. We get the privilege of seeing Dennis two days in

Stephen 1:10:10

a row. We do because besides Dennis and I bonding over

1:10:16

cherry Coke, Jem and the holograms,

Stephen 1:10:18

we also love. The golden girls.

Steve 1:10:21

Yes. As listeners know, you can always go back and listen to golden girls volume one, which was Dennis's first guest stint on our podcast

Dennis 1:10:28

Intuit again.

Stephen 1:10:30

And because tomorrow night we're going to see the golden girls at the movies. Yes. So we'll be sure to

Steve 1:10:36

report back on that in our next what's making us happy. Yes.

Stephen 1:10:40

And until next time everyone stay happy. Show's over synergy.