Jem and the Holograms trailer is 'outrageously bad,' fans complain
'Thanks for ruining Jem for me,' said one fan about the live-action remake
Jem and the Holograms are back in the first trailer released by Universal Pictures, but fans aren't convinced the live-action remake of the 1980s cartoon will bear any resemblance to their beloved childhood show.
The animated TV original, which ran from 1985 to 1988, centred on the adventures of Jerrica Benton, a hardworking music company owner who could transform into Jem, the holographic frontwoman of the rock band The Holograms, when she harnessed the power of Synergy by touching her star-shaped earrings.
'Ruining' the original
Rivalry with the bad-girl band The Misfits helped to turn up the tension, and Hasbro's line of flashy dolls from the series were the must-have toys for many a Barbie-weary child-of-the-'80s.
Juliette Lewis plays a ruthless record label executive who styles and Photoshops the girls into Jem and the Holograms.
Universal appears to have alienated fans of the original series by updating the story for the digital age, and when the trailer hit the Internet Tuesday, they quickly took to Twitter to express their rage.
"Thanks for ruining Jem for me," tweeted one fan. "No Misfits, no magical transformation machine (aka Hologram), wtf?"
"I have seen the Jem and the Holograms movie trailer and my 11 year old self calls b-llsh-t," said another.
"Jem and the Holograms looks truly, truly outrageously BAD. Where did the fun go?" asked another fan.
The remake comes amid a string of '80s cartoon reboots, including the updated My Little Pony TV series, a 3D version of Inspector Gadget, the latest big-screen adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Disney's upcoming refresh of the DuckTales.
For fans of the original Jem and the Holograms, they'll likely be thinking of the old theme song when the movie hits theatres in October, singing to themselves: "Jem is my name. No one else is the same."