JEMcast – Hologram Radio

Hello and welcome to the JEMcast on Hologram Radio. This is Alex Knight and I am joined Aleen Simms, founder of the Less Than Or Equal podcast, and science fiction writer, K. Tempest Bradford.

Synopsis: In Season 3, episode 4: “‘Beauty and the Rock Performer,’ Jem and The Holograms are invited to perform at a rock opera based on Beauty and the Beast in England, but when the rehearsals and photo-shoots become too frequent, Jem becomes overworked and exhausted.”

Stay tuned for an action packed episode.

Episode 57 (S3E4) is written by Clare Noto.

We open in London England, where Red Johnny Mack is having an impassioned phone conversation where he’s trying to book a concert for The Rockets. The members of The Rockets show up at Mack’s office looking to get paid, but he hasn’t come up with the money. Mack escapes the office and discovers Jem and the Holograms playing on the TV at a local club.

Harold, a concert promoter shows up with a thug to get some money out of Mack for the last failed tour, but when the put the pressure on him, he lies about putting together a Beautify and the Beast musical, starring Jem.

At Starlight Mansion, a package arrives for Jem with an enclosed letter, script, and contract from Red Johnny Mack. He invites her to star in the lead role of his rock opera: Beauty and the Beast. After reading the script, Jem tells the Holograms she’s going to do the play.

Jem and the Holograms arrive in London with Rio, who meet with Mack.

Rio: I’m surprised he didn’t kiss my hand.

Mack introduces Zero Jones, the set designer and Yoji Yakamura, a techno artist “of the highest quality. Yoji will be designing the Beast (he proceeds to demonstrate the effects he plans to build into the suit). Zero suggests the castle could be a giant power plant with a turbine engine in the living room. Jem appears to approve of the designs. Rehearsals begin the next day at 7:00am.

At Misfits Music, Eric informs Pizzazz that Jem is playing the lead role in the rock opera: Beauty and the Beast. Pizzazz doesn’t seem all that interested though, which seems odd. Eric explains that if the soundtrack is a success, it will make the Holograms internationally famous. Suddenly this piques Pizzazz’s interest. The Misfits decide to go to London.

Just before rehearsal begins, the Holograms are asked to take some promotional photos for the musical.

The musical opens with an old man stealing an electric guitar for his daughters, who write and sing music together. The Beast threatens the old man and makes him an offer: if he sends his daughter to him, he will let him go. If his daughter refuses, he will be forced into slavery.

The father arrives him with the guitar in hand, but looks incredibly sad.

Beauty: Hello, father.

Father: Beauty, where are your sisters?

Beauty: Oh, they’ll be home for dinner. Where did you get that?

Father: I have made a terrible mistake. Oh…

Beauty’s sisters fight each other for the guitar. Father explains the situation how he took it from the Beast, but he originally thought it didn’t belong to anyone. After Beauty’s sisters accuse her of being a “goody goody,” Beauty accepts the Beast’s terms to save her father.

Beast: Do I disgust you? No matter. I will win your love!

In anger, the beast grabs a chair and threatens to kill Beauty. They cut as some stage people tell Jem the sets need to be worked on to prepare them for opening night. Jem runs off in search for the actor who is playing the Beast, but when she finds Mack in his dressing room, he tells her he already left. Jem is excited to meet the actor in person. Mack tells Jem she has more promotion to do for the musical.

After an exhausting photo session, Jem asks to cut it short for the day. Later in the evening, Jerrica practices her lines and ends up falling asleep at her desk. We get a dream sequence where Jerrica dreams of being on stage, trying on various fashion outfits while the Beast tries to win her over. Beauty demands her freedom, but Beast denies it. Kimber wakes her up.

At the rehearsal, Zero unveils the completed set design, which is impressive. A banquet hall is shown, where the Beast provides a feast, but Beauty is miserable and just wants to see her father. Something goes wrong during practice and the stage begins spinning out of control. Back stage, Rio finds the Misfits, who were behind the sabotage. They’re thrown out and restart rehearsals. Rio is visibly jealous of Jem’s infatuation with the Beast.

Rio congratulates Jem on the musical number, but Jem gets upset when he breaks her concentration. All she seems to be concerned with is where the Beast is. Rio voices his concern over her obsession and tells Jem she’s exhausted and needs to rest and have dinner.

On the way back to the hotel, Jem calls Rio on his jealously and says the Beast is just a character–yet Jem gives the impression he isn’t. After refusing to admit she’s tired, Jem collapses and passes out. A doctor visits and gives Jem a good prognosis as it’s just exhaustion, but she does need a few weeks of rest. Jem really shouldn’t be performing on stage, so the rest of the Holograms resort to asking the Misfits if one of them can take over the lead role.

At Mack’s office, they break the news of Jem’s health. When the Holograms say they’ve already asked the Misfits to take over, Mack flips out.

On opening night, droves of people enter the theater to watch Beauty and the Beast. Backstage, Mack asks Yoji to really crank up the effects as a way of compensating for the loss of Jem. The next moment, Harold shows up and calls Mack out on his lie about Jem playing the lead role, since the sign says the Misfits are playing. Pizzazz defends herself and Mack, saying that if the Misfits don’t do the musical, Harold will have no one, which is worse.

Jem wakes up after four days of being out cold, but she’s under the impression she only slept for the night. Kimber explains that the Misfits have taken over. Jem flips out and rushes to the theater to try and take control.

At the theater, Pizzazz and the Misfits are stumbling over the lines, many of which they fail to remember. Pizzazz grabs a copy of the script and tries to read from it, but then becomes fed up and decides to improvise. While this is happening, the crowd is booing and becoming extremely agitated by the performance. If it’s even possible, the Misfits are even worse actors than the Holograms.

Jem arrives and demands to have her role given back to her. Pizzazz comes off stage and refuses to relinquish the role of Beauty, but she’s then escorted out by Harold’s goons. Pizzazz is dragged out and begins screaming: “You can’t do this to me! I’m a star!”

The musical ends with Jem arriving. The crowd goes wild and claps. Beauty tells Beast that he has an inner beauty. Many men are handsome but inside are beasts. During the musical number, the Beast transforms back into a normal man.

The musical ends with the crowd giving a standing ovation. Jem exists off stage and compliments Mack on his artistry, who is revealed at the end of the play to be the Beast. Harold congratulates Mack on the major success of the show.

Jem notices Rio standing alone and looking a bit down. She’s called to a cast party, but goes over to talk to Rio. He asks her if she’s actually in love with Mack/Beast. Jem says she isn’t and that it was just the magic of the theater that she got caught up in.

Duration: 1:04:52

Present: Alex Knight, Aleen Simms, K. Tempest Bradford.

• S3E4: “Beauty and the Rock Performer”
• “You’ll Never Win My Love”
• “Let Me Go”
• “Our Love Makes You Beautiful”
• Contact your hosts for show feedback
• Show your support and donate to our podcast on Patreon!

• @ZeroDistraction
• @Aleen
• @LessThanOrEqual
• @TinyTempest
• @JEMpodcast for show updates
• @HologramRadio for more podcasts to listen to!

• Get the JEMcast on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, or via RSS.

Please take a moment to rate our show in iTunes, even if it’s just a star rating. It really does make a difference in helping us reach a wider audience.

Download: JEMcast – Episode S3E4: “Beauty and the Rock Performer”