JEMcast – Hologram Radio

Synopsis: “Rio, Jem and the Holograms are flying to China at the request of the Chinese government. The band has a huge fan base in China and they have the honor of performing a concert tour that includes the Great Wall itself. At the airport, Eric Raymond and the Misfits notice how reluctant Jem is to part with her earrings. They decide to steal the earrings, make copies to wear and then lead them on a chase around the city.”

Summary: This episode opens with the Holograms onboard a plane as they descend into China, where the band has been invited by the Chinese government to perform at the Summer Palace. The Misfits are along for the ride, but regrettably didn’t get booked for the performance. They don’t seem to be as enthusiastic about the beautiful view of the Great Wall as the Hologram’s are.

Eric Raymond: Roxy, you don’t want to see the view?
Roxy: Who cares about seeing a big wall, right Stormer?

After disembarking, The Misfits are enraged when a small group of fans waiting for them have misspelled the groups name as “Misfats.” How can you possibly get a band’s name wrong, even in another language? It’s not that difficult.

Within the first few minutes of this episode, trouble finds its way to Jem when she goes through airport security. Jem’s earrings set off the metal detectors and she’s denied entrance when she refuses to remove them. Before catastrophe strikes, she’s saved when a high ranking representative of the chairman excuses Jem from going through standard security processes.

During the limo ride from the airport, The Misfits and Eric finally clue in after 10 episodes that Jem’s earrings, which she always wears, are incredibly important to her. It seems odd that she never takes them off, especially when requested of her during customs. This gives Eric an idea that he can use the earrings as leverage against Jem and the Holograms, with the ultimate goal that The Misfits will perform at the concert.

The Holograms decide to use some of their spare time to partake in a relaxing mineral bath, but Jem says she has to take off the earrings because she’s concerned that the mineral water may short out the circuits. Jem removes the earrings and sits in the pool, but she doesn’t transform back to Jerrica. If Jem didn’t want to remove the earrings in customs, for fear that the holographic illusion would be no more, why doesn’t she turn back to Jerrica immediately when entering the pool? Jem quickly decides to get an early start to the day and gets out of the pool and finally turns back to Jerrica. It turns out that the earrings were stolen by Stormer.

The Holograms regrettably decline from performing at the concert, since without the earrings which create Jerrica’s holographic persona, there’s no way Jem can make an appearance. Conveniently, The Misfits appear and volunteer to replace them. Meanwhile, Rio shows up and is surprised to Jerrica. When Rio questions Jerrica about Jem’s whereabouts and why she can’t perform, Jerrica provides nothing more than a cryptic response that “she just can’t” and then shuts the conversation down and says “I don’t want to talk about it.” This is completely unreasonable. Could Jerrica not have come up with some kind of reason, such as Jem got food poisoning? Jerrica’s utter lack of creativity is ponderous.

When The Misfits perform, Jerrica notices that Pizzazz, Stormer, and Roxy, are all wearing earrings that look like copies of Jem’s, only that one of them must be the originals. What a fantastic f-you to the Holograms.

After the concert, Jem and the Holograms attempt to reclaim the original earrings by chasing after The Misfits in a ricksha. This of course is an excellent moment to cut to a music video by The Misfits called “You Can’t Catch Me”.

We see The Misfits messing with the Gondola controls, causing the Gondola to shake violently back and forth. Thankfully, Jem and the Holograms are unharmed. What in holy hell is going on here? This seems about on par with The Misfits using bulldozers. This is unbelievably dangerous.

Just so viewers are clear that the band is in China, during the chase there’s a completely superfluous scene where a group of people are practicing Kung-Fu outdoors. The Misfits are wearing wearing gis for some reason. I’m confused. When did they get time to change while being chased by Jem and the Holograms? The madness doesn’t stop here. The two bands chase each other up a cliff, where Aja is almost killed by a large stone statue that comes loose, and then we’re on to a train, where The Misfits throw all three pairs of earrings out the window. Now Jem and the Holograms are tasked with tracking down the real pair of earrings, wherever they may be. This is a wonderful time to contemplate Jem’s predicament with a music video: “Something Is Missing In My Life”.

Cut to a manufacturing plant, where we see someone hand over a pair of Jem’s earrings to Lin’s father, who decides to mass produce them as he believes he can make a fortune. But are these the genuine earrings? Lin receives a gift from her father. When she opens the box, a beautiful pair of star earrings appear. As a massive fan of Jem and the Holograms, it’s clear that Lin will treasure the earrings and keep them safe.

Later in the evening, Jem and the Holograms stop by a newsstand and Aja picks up a local magazine, only to flip a page advertising Jem’s earrings. The band tracks them down to a local manufacturing company who’s mass producing fakes, but to their dismay, only the manager has the original earrings. Unfortunately, their journey leads them to fake earrings, despite the information they were given previously. It’s not looking good at this point and the morale of the band is down as they consider the reality that they may not be able to perform the Great Wall concert.

Jem and the Holograms make their way to the Ming Dynasty exhibit to try and brighten their moods. While looking at some of the artifacts, Aja is shocked to see that Jem’s earrings, or at least a pair that resembles them, are being showcased. Jerrica swipes the earrings and ends up setting off an alarm. The band is arrested, even though Jerrica tries to explain that the earrings belong to her. Why would anyone mistake Jem’s earrings as belonging to a princess of the Ming Dynasty? This doesn’t make any sense. Furthermore, why didn’t Jerrica consider that stealing earrings from a music would set off an alarm? Isn’t that obvious?

Cut to the Great Wall concert stage, Rio and some government officials are concerned that Jem and the Holograms haven’t turned up.

Back at the museum, Jerrica demands to speak with the curator so she can clear up the mixup. The curator ends up closely examining the earrings, and discovers they are fakes and were clearly manufactured in the 20th century. The band is pardoned and Jerrica takes the earrings. Unfortunately for Jerrica, when she asks Synergy to generate her Jem holographic persona, nothing happens. Another dud! How much longer is this wild goose chase going to go on for?

Jem and the Holograms make way to the Great Wall concert to let everyone know they will be unable to perform. Before they get a chance to do this, the band meets Lin, a young girl who bravely defended herself against some bullies that wanted to steal her good luck charms, which just so happen to be Jem’s earrings. When Jerrica tells Lin that Jem won’t be able to perform, she hands Jerrica her earrings, insisting that Jem should have them. Jerrica graciously accepts.

5 minutes and counting down to the start of the concert, Rio insists to The Misfits that Jem will still make an appearance. Pizzazz tries to put the moves on Rio, but sadly she’s rebuffed like usual.

Pizzazz: I can see your’e upset, Rio. Why don’t we talk about it after our concert.

The crowd is going wild and are calling for Jem to make an appearance. But right before The Misfits have the opportunity to take over, Jerrica hears Synergy’s voice and transforms into Jem. At last, the real Jemstar earrings!

The Misfits are understandably furious that their performance has once again been taken from them. Jem and the Holograms enter stage and perform the final musical number of the evening, “Love Unites Us”.

Trivia:

• Notice when Jem comes out of the mineral bath and the holograms fades that Jerrica is fully clothed and not wearing a bathing suit.
• Although it is credited that Jem and the Holograms sang “Something is Missing in My Life”, Jerrica is the one actually singing it.
• By the end of the Misfits’ song, the Holograms have somehow managed to change from their concert costumes into street clothes even though the Misfits are still wearing the same dresses they wore in their concert.
• The Misfits have changed out of their disguises by the time they reach the train, but now they are wearing their standard Misfits outfits instead of their concert dresses.
• Because of the odd clothes changes, it is very hard to tell how much time has passed in this episode. It’s presented as if it takes place in one day, which means that the two fake pairs managed to become part of an art exhibit and reproduced by the millions at a jewelry factory in less than 24 hours.
• This is the second time that Jem and the Holograms have been out of the country. The first was to Paris, France in Kimber’s Rebellion and this time to Beijing, China.
• The song the Misfits are singing in the background during the first concert on the Great Wall of China is “Winning Is Everything” last heard in the episode, The Beginning.

Duration: 47:41

Present: Alex, Aleen, Tempest.

• Episode 10: “Adventure in China”
• “You Can’t Catch Me”
• “Something Is Missing In My Life”
• “Love Unites Us”
• Contact your hosts for show feedback
• Jem is My Name: 2013 remix (during the trivia) is sampled from Sam Silk

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Download: Episode 10: “Adventure in China”