S2E16: “Trick or Techrat”
__Synopsis:__ “Rio, Jem, Danse and The Holograms work to restore an old opera house in time for a fundraising concert on Halloween. Strange accidents occur that indicate the old place might be haunted. A bad scare the night of the concert causes Terri, a timid Starlight Girl to go missing in the buildings’ secret passages. When the group begins their search for Terri, the truth behind the strange occurrences are revealed.”
__Summary:__ Episode 42 (S2E16) is written by Misty Stewart-Taggart.
We open at Starlight Mansion, with the Holograms and Starlight Girls watching a horror movie. Two Starlight Girls burst through the door wearing scary masks, startling everyone, especially Terri, a timid young orphan (she’s accused of believing in ghosts and goblins). Kimber enters and tells Jerrica that Rio is looking for Jem, so Jerrica changes and the rest of the Holograms follow.
In a late night impromptu visit, Rio invites the band to go for a drive and a little adventure. They seem hesitant at first, but end up going. On the drive to the old opera house, Rio explains that if the owner can’t pay back taxes, the city will put it up for sale to the highest bidder. Jem insists that the opera house has to be saved, otherwise the historical building will be lost forever. As Rio is a member of the Historical Preservation Board, he suggests Jem and the Holograms host a benefit concert to raise money for the opera house. In order to do this, the band needs the approval of the owner: Frederick Vincent. At the request of Mr. Vincent, the band meets him at the old opera house at midnight, where he explains that he’s been living there, until the city comes for the taxes. Jem explains that with the money they make from the benefit, it can be used to pay the taxes as well as help cover the restoration. Mr. Vincent accepts the offer.
Back at Starlight Mansion, Jem tells everyone that they’ll need to pitch in, from making costumes to choreography, setup–even the Starlight Girls will have to help. Ashley tells the group that she wants to go as something really scary, and then grabs a mask and shoves it in Terri’s face. Terri ends up falling off her chair and begins to cry and scream how much she hates Halloween. Jem tries to console Terri by telling her she needs to not take everything so seriously.
Jem and the Holograms music video: [“It’s Fun To Be Scared.”][It’s Fun To Be Scared]
The Starlight Girls arrive at the old opera house, but Terri stops in her tracks when she sees the address 1313 above the door.
> Terri: Oh no, I can’t go in there, it’s unlucky.
Techrat is demonstrating a new invention to Eric Raymond when Pizzazz walks in (with the rest of the Misfits) holding a newspaper showing the announcement of Jem and the Holograms’ benefit concert. Pizzazz asks Eric what he’s going to do about it, and he suggests they make their own headlines by outdoing them. Eric hands Pizzazz a business card with the name, Terrance Landau, who will take care of the Misfits’ needs. It turns out Terrance Landau has a mutual need to see Jem and the Holograms fail: the opera house ruins his beautiful skyline. Terrance promises to fund the Misfits concert.
Lin-Z Pierce makes an appearance to do a press event for Jem and the Holograms, in front of the old opera house. The Misfits disrupt the live event when Pizzazz introduces “Midnight Madness” as we see a a pop-up inflatable dome going up across the street. Lin-Z mentions that there will be two concerts, but Pizzazz is confident Jem and the Holograms will be shut down once word gets out at how unsafe the opera house is. Inside, we see Rio explaining to Jem that he inspected the entire opera house himself and assures Jem it’s perfectly safe (since when did Rio become a structural engineer?).
On stage, Danse prepares to practice her performance, but is warned by Terri that walking under a ladder is bad luck. Danse tries to console Terri that it’s just superstition and that everything will be fine. Terri takes her seat next to the Holograms and Jem tells her that there isn’t anything to worry about. It looks like Jem spoke too soon, as the giant pumpkin stage prop collapses on danse, generating a giant cloud of dust. Luckily for Danse, she’s perfectly safe. Rio assures Jem that when he inspected the prop earlier, the chains holding it down were in tact. It appears that someone has cut them. Terri tries to convince everyone that she was right, but Jem reinforces that superstition has nothing to do with the accident. Frederick Vincent is seen, warning the Holograms that the opera house is full of ghosts and evil spirits, and tells the band to leave before it’s too late.
The Misfits interrupt Jem and the Holograms as they attempt to clean up the mess of the recent accident. Pizzazz brings an inspector to investigate and check if the building is up to code. The Misfits invite the Holograms to drop by a real Halloween party–their own. The inspector tells Rio that everything looks okay so far, but he’ll be back later on to finish the inspection.
Rio begins to raise the impressively large chandelier. Pizzazz is disappointed that the inspector didn’t find anything wrong, but Jetta then suggests they give him a helping hand. Before they can do anything, what appears to be a mummified arm attempts to grab the Misfits, so they freak out and run away, believing the opera house truly is haunted.
Misfits Music video: [“Don’t Look Now.”][Don’t Look Now]
The chandelier is raised to where it needs to be, but something goes wrong as the rope snaps and it comes crashing down, nearly killing Terri. Rio begins to question things and suggests that maybe the Holograms rethink doing the benefit concert. Mr. Vincent pops out of nowhere and once again, warns the Holograms to leave. Jem makes a stand and refuses to be intimidated and believes in doing the benefit.
Across the street at Midnight Madness, Pizzazz is infuriated at Eric’s lack of involvement and disappearance lately, as well as Landau’s, so she decides to take matters into her own hands.
Back stage at the opera house, Jem and the Holograms are getting ready. They’re interrupted by a ghoulish looking figure on a large mirror that warns them about performing.
At front of stage, Danse is also interrupted by a ghoulish sound. Terri freaks out and runs away, with Jem chasing after her. Terri falls down a trap door and Jem and the Holograms now must search for her (they split up to cover more ground).
Terri makes a run for it down a long corridor, looking for a way out. At the end of the corridor, an open door is seen with light emitting from it and voices chattering. Terri eaves drops on a conversation between who we’ve been made to believe is Mr. Vincent, Techrat, and Mr. Landau. They’ve been working together all along, plotting to sabotage the benefit concert and eject Jem and the Holograms from the opera house. Terri is spotted and so she makes a run for it. Terri runs by a cell and an arm reaches grabs her. It’s Mr. Vincent, but is is the real one? According to him, it is. Reunited with his cat, Phantom, he escapes with Terri via a trap door.
Rio’s attempts to stall the inspector have failed. Jem tells the inspector that he won’t have to bother with closing them down as she’s cancelling the concert. Rio is asked to issue refunds.
We cut to the real Mr. Vincent, who pulls a lever that turns the trick stair case that Landau, Techrat, and the imposter are running on, into a slide, so they fall through a trap door and exit right where Jem, Rio, the inspector, and Pizzazz are located.
![spiral staircase][staircase]
Landau, Techrat, and the imposter make a run for it, but not before Jem can enlist the help of Synergy to create a little ghostly diversion to scare them. Rio unmasks Mr. Vincent’s imposter and of course it’s Eric Raymond. Eric places all blame on Landau, who apparently promised to make him a partner in the new condo development project that would have been built on top of the old opera house. Landau and Raymond take off. Unfortunately for the Misfits, their concert is ruined when a lightning bolt strikes the inflatable dome, causing all of its patrons to run across the street and into the opera house for shelter.
Jem announces the beginning of the benefit concert.
Jem and the Holograms music video: [“We Can Change It.”][We Can Change It]
We wrap with Mr. Vincent being thoroughly impressed with the post clean-up and restoration of his opera house. Phantom, Mr. Vincent’s cat, jumps into Terri’s arms and she now realizes that there was no reason to ever be scared of him.
__Duration:__ 51:15:00
__Present:__ Alex Knight, Aleen Simms, K. Tempest Bradford.
_________
## Episode Links
– [S2E16: “Trick or Techrat”][Trick or Techrat]
– [“It’s Fun To Be Scared”][It’s Fun To Be Scared]
– [“Don’t Look Now”][Don’t Look Now]
– [“We Can Change It”][We Can Change It]
– [Contact your hosts for show feedback][Contact]
– [Show your support and donate to our podcast on Patreon!][Donate]
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__Download:__ [JEMcast – Episode S2E16: “Trick or Techrat”][S2E16]
[staircase]: https://hologramradio.org/images/JEMcast-S2E16-spiral-opera-staircase.jpg
[Trick or Techrat]: http://jem.wikia.com/wiki/Trick_or_Techrat
[It’s Fun To Be Scared]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvxQe0vihes
[Don’t Look Now]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmxtLzvhuuc
[We Can Change It]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDQM3bVg6NI
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[S2E16]: http://podcasts-1.feedpress.co/9829/JEMcast-E42.mp3