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Quick answers to questions about Jem and this site.
An 80's doll line and a musical animated TV-series about a female rockband
called "Jem and the Holograms" and their rivals "the Misfits".
A somewhat better introduction is given at the Quick guide.
Joe and Barbara Hyland togheter with, and perhaps most of all, Bill Sanders, are the ones who started it all by coming up with alot of the concept, characters and designs for the doll line. Read the page Story behind Jem. And Hasbro added a lot to it all and created their entirely own characters and designs for the Jem line. Most Jem fans see it as the head writer of he cartoon, Christy Marx practically created Jem, since she created so much of the story around Jem and the characters for the cartoon, and so many characters of her own for the Jem world, alot of which also affected the doll line.
It's the writers guide to all the necessary information for writing episodes for
the animated series. Written by Christy Marx.
It consists of over 150 pages of black and white A4 papers in a folder. A lot of Information
and model art, in form of full body sketches of the main characters one by one, and sometimes close-ups.
Characters in model art are: Jem and
the Holograms, The Misfits, Synergy, Rio, the Starlight Girls, Danse, Video, Clash,
the Limp Lizards, Eric, Techrat, Harvey, Howard, Danielle,
Anthony, Mrs. Bailey, Joanie, Lindsey, and Zipper. Sketches of early looks of
Jem/Jerrica, Danse, Video and Clash. Storyboard of the music video of the song "When It's Only Me And
The Music". Sketches of Starlight Music, M Jet (unproduced playset), and the Rockin' Roadster. Information
only about Techrats Rathole, the Stingers, Graphix, Astral, Regine, and Craig.
Information about interactions between the regular characters
Jerrica/Kimber/Aja/Shana, Pizzazz/Roxy/Stormer, Riot/Minx/Rapture, Techrat/The
Stingers, The Stingers/The Misfits, The Stingers/Jem and the Holograms, Rio/The
Stingers, Clash/Video/The Stingers. Audition dialogue for Jetta, and new 1988 Jem
characters Riot, Minx, Rapture, Graphix, Astral, and Regine.
Read more on the page Story Behind Jem.
1.5. When was the Jem the animated series first shown on TV? October 6, 1985. It's something of a special anniversary date for Jem fans, and some companies have chosen to release licensed commemorative products on the anniversary of this date. Read more on the page Story Behind Jem. 1.6. How long did the Jem cartoon TV-series last? About two and a half year. Read more on the page Story Behind Jem. 1.7. Why was Jem discontinued? Please read the page Story Behind Jem. 1.8. When were the Jem dolls first released? In early 1986, after the cartoon had begun airing. 1.9. How many Jem dolls were released? 24 Jem dolls were officially released. Plus the second year Misfits dolls that were the same as first year except for the updated guitars and boxes, which would make it 27. More were planned in the 80's, but were not released. Plus all the new ones by Integrity Toys, 70 or even more depending how you count, made between 2012 and 2022 and perhaps beyond. 1.10. How many Jem songs were made?
155. Including themes and all groups, duets, collaborations and guest singers.
See a list on the lyrics page.
Then there were tunes recorded especially for the doll commercials. And international
versions of themes and many songs in the episodes. And in Italy for example, they created
their entirely different own Jem theme song.
And in 2015 new songs were released with the live-action Jem movie, and also
a separate soundtrack of songs inspired by Jem songs.
1.11. Is there a soundtrack of all Jem songs?
No, strangely not for the cartoon. The only released Jem songs, were those on the cassette tapes that came with the
dolls, 19 of them (while 5 of the dolls came with no cassette) and 4 Video Madness playsets,
3 board games, and 3 mail-in offers. 51 songs in total.
Here is a list in alphabetical order of the 51 songs released on cassettes in the 80's:
But the 2015 live-action Jem movie soundtrack was released digitally aswell as the
mentioned separate soundtrack of songs inspired by Jem songs.
1.12. Is there an official fan club for Jem? No. Hasbro had a fanclub in the United States in the 80's when the dolls were in stores. And Integrity Toys have a members club which is for all their dolls, where also Jem fans get the news first of upcoming commemorative Jem doll releases.
Yes. There is quite a following for Jem after all years. Collectors of the doll line and
other Jem collectibles, and fans of the cartoon. Even many
famous people like Kirsten Dunst, Beyonce, Chris Pratt, Nicki Minaj, among many others,
have said they grew up with Jem or still like Jem. Nicki Minaj even released a song where she
sings a line about Jem and The Holograms.
How many people currently consider themselves huge fans of Jem is hard to say exactly. Look
at fansites, ebay sales of 80's collectibles and prices, and sales of new licensed products.
Then there's all the additional many people who remember and like Jem.
Read more on the page Jem Fandom.
1.14. Isn't it immature to like cartoons, dolls and other toys?
Not at all. Many people have a favorite cartoon or a collectible these days. It seems
more common than rare. Certain
cartoons and collectibles are considered more mature to like for some reason, but isn't that a
bit hypocritical?
A cartoon is a form of entertainment, and can be very well written and have a depth which make it
timeless.
As for the toys, everyone who likes a cartoon or doll does not consider
it something to play with, but rather a collectible or even a piece of art.
The recent releases of Jem dolls are infact marked "adult collectible".
Or compare with games and sports, which are generally considered mature, but which in fact are rather
a form of play or activity.
1.15. Does Rio ever find out that Jem and Jerrica are the same person? Spoiler: Not really. But he confronts Jerrica with the suspicion in the episode Broadway Magic. He even confronts Jem in a cut out scene from that same episode, as far as I've been able to figure out from material found from the creation of that episode. 1.16. Did Kimber get married in an episode? Spoiler: She came close to, in the two-parter episode Hollywood Jem, but no. As for Clash and Video, it was apparently Hasbro's idea when they released a doll of those characters, so that the cartoon character would resemble the doll more. As for Jeff and Zipper, it was probably the animators who forgot what haircolor they had. And as for Lindsey Pierce, no clue. 1.18. Why do some episodes have a different looking animation? You are probably referring to a few of the later episodes which were animated in another country, Korea, instead of Japan where most episode were animated. 1.19. Will Jem dolls be re-released? In 2012 the Jem doll line made a commemorative comeback in a new shape, by Integrity Toys. The line was very successful despite being extra high quality and thereby alot more expensive than the 80's dolls that were available in stores, and this time around it lasted as long as ten years!!! Which is extremely unusual for any doll line. For more info, see the doll pages. 1.20. Is Jem available on DVD or Blue-ray? DVDs have been released in the United States, Australia, France, Italy, the UK, Sweden and some other countries. In October 11 2011, Jem was released again on DVD by the company Shout Factory, which includes alot of fun extras. No Blue-rays yet, but the live-action movie is available on blue-ray. 1.21. Where is Jem airing right now?
It has aired on the Discovery Family Channel in the USA. It also started
airing on the Canadian channel Teletoon Retro in september 2011.
And it was previously available to stream on Netflix.
1.22. What can I do to bring Jem back?
1.23. Was there an animated Jem movie released?
No. If you find VHS tapes or even a DVD that claims to contain a Jem
movie, it will probably include the first five episodes, which
have a more continuous story than most later episodes.
An animated Jem movie was planned by the writer Christy Marx in the 80's, but it never got beyond
early plans. Read more about it on the Mysteries page.
But there was a live-action Jem movie released in 2015!
1.24. What Jem site is the largest? I don't look at it as a competition, and it's hard to compare how much love was put into features of Jem sites. 1.25. Which line came first, Jem or Barbie and the Rockers? Jem, by Hasbro, was created first. Barbie and the Rockers, by Mattel, were based on the concept of Jem and was created by Mattel to compete with the Jem line. In a Netflix documentary, one of the former employees at Mattel, Judy Shackelford, former Vice President at Mattel, responsible for the Barbie line, admitted that Mattel employees tried to find out information about Hasbro's Jem line before Jem was officially released, so that Mattel could create their own version to release before Hasbro were able to get the Jem dolls out in stores.
2.1. How can I contribute to this site?
You can send an email with information and pictures
if you have some licensed Jem product or material from the creation of Jem.
You'll be credited for all contributions with your name/nickname next to
the content if you like. You can also ask to have your pictures covered by a watermark.
This site acknowledges material provided by others.
It's meant as a tribute to the people and companies who created Jem.
Therefore this site has a public policy about this.
Please don't send something taken from someone else's Jem site.
Yes absolutely! 2.3. May I use content from this site?
If you use anything from this site, make sure to mention Jem is made by Hasbro somewhere on your site / blog / social media account.
Please respect the following things:
2.4. I followed the guidelines here, why haven't you replied to my email?
Maybe:
2.5. What is the purpose of this site?
This is a fansite with an introduction of Jem,
the cartoon, the dolls, and to the people and companies that made it all happen. And in depth
information for Jem fans, with guides to the cartoon, reviews of the collectibles, behind the scenes
material, and other informative, and fun features. Hopefully the information on this site can be
helpful in creating a new series and new toy lines.
To read more about the history of the site, see the page: About Rock Jem.
2.6. Wasn't this site called "Universal Appeal Jem" before? Yes. The name changed when the domain was registered. I wanted a shorter name and a name that more corresponded with Jem. Can you figure out where the name "Rock Jem" came from in particular? 2.7. Why does this site look like it does?
Simple, consistant, informative and accessible are words I'm aiming for.
This site doesn't contain any heavy code. It's not cluttered with gadgets nor repeated content. It has no
ads. Too much of flash- or java-applets or javascripts would slow the site down.
I write it "by hand", mostly HTML and CSS.
I don't use any pre-made layouts or programs for layout.
This site is meant to be viewable in as many browsers as possible.
2.8. What cookies are set from this site? None that I control, since I have created no features that require cookies. There is no reason to use cookies unless it's done openly and of obvious use to the visitors. But some cookies come with the external features on this site, which is currently the free counter service. This is only on the index page, and no tracker nor cookies at all on any of the other pages. I'll refer to their policy (off-site link) for further info. 2.9. How often is this site updated? Hard to say in advance. Sometimes this site is updated with an entire new large feature all at once, and not piece by piece every now and then. So there may be no news for a while, and then suddenly an entire new feature. 2.10. Why are there no music/video files on this site? As much as such content would probably be appreciated by visitors, it's very easy to make, and not very creative to simply make downloadable copies available, nor informative. Well... it could be creative if extensive work has been put into it, like editing/remastering/remixing. But this site is intended to encourage people not to spread such content in unlicensed ways, and instead encourage you to buy licensed Jem products, so that we support Jem. This site will certainly never offer Jem episodes for download, nor unlicensed products for sale. 2.11. Why do some features on the site not work? This sites uses HTML and CSS and very little Javascript. Perhaps you are using an unusual operation system or webbrowser, or have activated settings to make sites easier to read (which in some cases makes this site look messy). Although this site is made to navigate well in as many browsers as possible, it may contain extra browser specific features on some pages. 2.12. I want to make my own Jem site, any suggestions?
Yes. First of all, making a Jem site can be a alot of fun, and a great way to bring more attention to Jem,
or a social media account, blog, a forum, or a photo album.
You can make an introduction to Jem.
You can personalize your site by sharing your favorites, reviews
of your own Jem collection, and links.
Then you can try to come up with a new unique feature that doesn't exist on any Jem site, and concentrate
on making it as good as possible.
For some ideas, take a look at the page Material.
2.13. Can you send scans to my email of... ? I can't. I try to cover as much about Jem on this site though and find it very interesting what people would like to see more of. 2.14. What are the sources for the information on this site?
Alot of people don't bother to be source critical. You should always question what you read.
I do my best to keep the information on this site a 100% correct, and avoid unconfirmed sources aswell as
speculation, unless I mention it's a speculation. But feel free to compare with
information on other sites (some of which may of course have gotten their information from here).
As for how this site works, I gather the information from what I can see myself, being a collector
of pretty much the entire doll line, and lots of other collectibles and material from people who
created Jem. And I gather information from original sources behind Jem, and from wellknown Jem fans that
shared information and content with me.
Sometimes I refer to information from books.
I'm very skeptic about any item that doesn't look licensed or authentic, and which sounds
very unexpected for Jem, especially if it's material that comes
from someone who was looking to sell a certain collectible as expensive as possible without having much
of a backstory about it.
I keep coming up with more ways to show my sources. I list the name of people who contribute material,
aswell as links to sites (not Jem sites) where I in few cases used information, like quotes from people who were
part of creating Jem, or where further information is available.
2.15. Why is my site not listed on the link pages?
Maybe:
3.1. Are you selling the items listed on the site? No. I don't even have alot of them myself, some are contributed pictures and information. The items on the pages are for review purposes. 3.2. Where do I find Jem items for sale? For licensed merchandise currently available from the official companies, see the links page. For older merchandise, look through the Jem shopping links. 3.3. I have Jem items for sale/trade, are you interested? I'm very interested in rare Jem collectibles and especially in background material from the cartoon, like art and scripts. Send me an email. 3.4. How can I identify a real Jem doll? Most of the 80's ones are marked "Hasbro" on the back or neck, aswell as "1985", "1986" or "1987". On top of that there are some other characteristics that differ from doll to doll and depending on where they were made. Read more on the page Identify Jem dolls. Of the ones that were released, it's mostly the second year versions of the Holograms, and the Misfits (with new instruments and boxes). Otherwise it's the 1988 unreleased dolls, incase they show up. Doll fashions are often alot rarer than the dolls, especially second year (1987) fashions. 3.6. How much are my Jem dolls worth?
It depends on things like how rare it is, the condition, whether the box was
opened, whether everything is included, whether everything is intact, in some cases in what country it was made (Mexican Jem dolls are very rare),
and if you have a doll with some kind of variation.
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