Rainbow Brite

Infobox Television
show_name = Rainbow Brite


caption = "Rainbow Brite" Title screen
format = Animated television series
camera =
picture_format =
audio_format =
runtime = 25 minutes per episode
creator = Jean Chalopin
developer = Howard R. Cohen
executive_producer = Jean Chalopin
Andy Heyward
voices= See Rainbow Brite#Voices
narrated =
opentheme =
endtheme =
country = USA
FRA
JPN
language =
network =
first_aired = December 13, 1984
last_aired = March 7, 1985
num_episodes = 13
list_episodes =
website =
imdb_id = 0174422
tv_com_id = 13440 "Rainbow Brite" was an animated television series introduced by Hallmark Cards in 1984. The Rainbow Brite franchise generated $1 billion in retail sales of dolls, toys and other licensed products throughout the 80's. In the franchise's backstory, a little orphan girl named Wisp is taken by an unknown force to the Colorless World. She must find the Sphere of Light, but upon doing so, she befriends a sprite, Twink, and a majestic white horse known as Starlite. She rescues the seven Color Kids (one for each color of the rainbow) and finds the Color Belt, which is the tool she needs to bring color to the land. After using it to defeat the Dark One, an evil hooded being with twitchy fingers, the unknown force renames Wisp as Rainbow Brite. She and the Color Kids (and their helpers, the Sprites) live in Rainbowland and are in charge of all the colors on Earth.

The Color Belt needs colored Star Sprinkles to work. Each Color Kid is in charge of his/her respective color, and their Sprites mine Color Crystals from the Color Caves, which are turned into Star Sprinkles by a process much like using cookie cutters.

The movie "Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer", made in 1985, added a magical planet of light named Spectra, which is also called the diamond planet. All the light in the universe must pass through Spectra before coming to earth. The Dark Princess causes problems when she tries to wrap ropes around Spectra (in order to haul the giant diamond to her palace), which blocks out the light and throws Earth into a permanent winter.

Characters

* Rainbow Brite (originally named Wisp before taking this name) and her white sprite Twink. In one of the books, it is revealed that Twink used to be red, until villain Murky Dismal removed his colors.
* Starlite is Rainbow Brite's egotistical talking horse, who calls himself "the most magnificent horse in the universe". He is white with a yellow star on his forehead, and can fly only with the help of the rainbow. His mane and tail are rainbow-colored.

Color Kids

The names of each Color Kid's head Sprite is in parentheses, although several more named Sprites exist. Except where noted, each Sprite is the color of the Color Kid he or she belongs to. Sprites all look identical except for their colors, and in some cases, antennae. Regular Sprites have star antennae.

* Red Butler (Romeo)
* Lala Orange (OJ) (in the 2004 merchandise line, OJ's name is Mango)
* Canary Yellow (Spark)
* Patty O'Green (Lucky)
* Buddy Blue (Champ)
* Indigo (Hammy)
* Shy Violet (IQ)

Special Kids

Although frequently lumped in with Color Kids, there are a few residents of Rainbowland who do not deal with colors.

tormy

Along with her non-speaking horse Skydancer, Stormy lives in the clouds and is in charge of storms. Her favorite season is winter, as a scene from the 1985 movie "Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer" proves. Stormy does not apparently have a sprite, although in the episode "Invasion of Rainbowland", an unnamed sprite matching the color of her outfit follows her around (perhaps an indigo or violet sprite). She is in charge of winter, rain and lightning. Skydancer is dark purple with light purple hair. Skydancer's gender is never revealed; and unlike Starlite, Skydancer has the ability to fly unaided.

Tickled Pink

She appeared in later episodes, and the movie. It is controversial whether Tickled Pink is in charge of just the color pink, or in charge of all pastel colors. Her outfit is the only one besides Rainbow Brite's that has multiple colors, and not just different shades of the same color. In the merchandise line there is a pink sprite named Dee Lite, but Tickled Pink is never shown to have a sprite. In the 2003 new merchandise line by Toy Play, the coloring book indicates she is in charge of secondary colors such as aqua and magenta.

Moonglow

Along with her navy blue Sprite named Nite Sprite (who has crescent moons at the tips of his antennae instead of stars like the other Sprites), Moonglow is in charge of making the night sky bright with stars and color. She appears in the episodes produced after the movie. (Note: The merchandise line has her name spelled as Moonglow, but the TV series has it listed as Moonglo. Both spellings may be considered correct.)

Friends

Baby Brite

She is named this in the merchandise line and only appears in the first episode, where she is called "the Baby". She has pink hair and is (arguably) the form that the Sphere of Light takes in the dark land. Rainbow Brite finds her, and because of her goes into a cave to get out of the rain, which leads her to finding the Color Belt.

unriser

Sunriser is a pink, non-talking horse introduced in the episode "Horse of a Different Color". She has a white heart on her forehead, and seems to have a crush on Starlite. She is very shy at the beginning and won't let anyone ride her except Rainbow Brite. The Sprites gave her the name "Sunriser" since she came out in the early morning to watch Starlite. Although the merchandise boxes show Tickled Pink riding Sunriser and say "Tickled Pink's fun-loving horse" on the box, some people believe she was originally meant to belong to Moonglow. Evidence supporting this includes her celestial name and the fact that only special Kids, not Color Kids, have horses. It is possible that the manufacturers gave Sunriser to Tickled Pink instead since the Moonglow doll was not released outside of Germany.

Krys

Met in the movie and later appearing on the show, Krys is a resident of Spectra. He is taller than Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids. He wears a space helmet and helps Rainbow Brite defeat the Dark Princess. He utilizes a small wrist-mounted prism that's powered by Rainbow Brite's rainbow. It usually works by creating a crystal (possibly of ice) around its target, but can also apparently make metal items, such as swords, very hot, and make them disappear.

Orin

Also appearing in the movie, Orin is a white ancient sprite, presumably from Spectra. The Sprites seem to have always thought that he was real, while the Color Kids believe him only to be a legend. It is not revealed whether Orin has always been white, lost his color with age, or, like Twink, lost his colors through some other way.

On-X

Pronounced "onyx," he is Orin's black robot horse. His red mane lights up when he talks, and blue jets coming out of his feet allow him to fly. He can store a message for someone, which can be retrieved by pressing the button on his chest. (At the end of the Star Stealer movie, Orin gives On-X to Krys.)

Brian

The only boy on Earth who can see Rainbow Brite. After school one day he accidentally walks into a rainbow that Rainbow Brite had sent to cheer him up. This turns him many colors, and Rainbow Brite takes him to Rainbowland to remove them. He is given a special key which, when put in any lock, forms a rainbow which he can ride to Rainbowland. Brian has a dog that is only ever referred to as "Boy."

Puppy Brite & Kitty Brite

Rainbow Brite's pets. Puppy Brite makes a cameo appearance at the start of "Star Stealer" and appears in an episode after the movie. Kitty Brite appears only in episodes produced after the movie.

Rainbowland Sprites

Sprites who live in Rainbowland and mine Color Crystals from the Color Caves. They also perform other duties for the Color Kids, such as processing Color Crystals into Star Sprinkles, and carting them to storage. They speak their own language, which Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids can understand. They come in every color of the rainbow and have stars on the ends of their antennae.

pectran Sprites

Sprites with soft, fuzzy feet who live on Spectra and keep it shiny and polished. Spectran Sprites have circles on the ends of their antennae, as opposed to the stars that Sprites from Rainbowland have on theirs. They also seem to only come in pale (almost white) colors such as light blue and light pink.

Villains

Murky Dismal

Murky is the main villain from The Pits. In one episode it is revealed that, as a toddler, he colored on the walls with crayons, markers, paints, rollers, and finally an industrial airbrush. His mother made him wash off "every bit of color, if it takes all day, if it takes the rest of your life," leading Murky to his hatred of color as an adult. He loves to invent devices to create gloom clouds which remove color and make people hopeless. He is constantly trying to capture the Color Kids or take Rainbow Brite's Color Belt. His full first name is Murkwell.

Lurky

Murky's sidekick who looks like a giant brown Sprite with a large nose. Lurky actually delights in "all the pretty colors!" It is possible that Lurky was once a sprite who is under Murky's spell due to a cloud that has been placed over his head. Lurky is generally goodhearted and often foils Murky's plans by his clumsy nature.

The Dark Princess

She is only officially called "The Princess." She lives in a palace in space and, as the movie's eponymous "Star Stealer," tries to steal the diamond planet, Spectra. She is very spoiled and greedy, even going so far as to steal Rainbow's Color Belt after witnessing its power (although she never used it, herself). She has a magic jewel that is the source of her power.

Count Blogg

A green monster who is the Dark Princess' right-hand man. When he appears in the television series he pretends to have the power to change people into frogs.

gt. Zombo

The Sergeant in charge of the Prison Planet, where the Dark Princess sends her enemies. He is turned into crystal by Krys' prism beam.

Glitterbots

Giant gold robots who hypnotize the Spectran Sprites into tying ropes around Spectra in preparation for the Princess' claim of the planet for herself.

Monstromurk

A malevolent entity best described as a living storm-cloud, with the power to destroy colors. He was kept trapped in a glass bottle, like a genie, by Murky Dismal. Murky sought to control him and use his powers against Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids, until he was accidentally freed by Lurky. He wrought havoc across Rainbowland until trapped and imprisoned again by Rainbow Brite.

Other minor characters

Mrs. Dismal

Murky's mother, who doesn't like that Murky hates colors, and ends up helping Rainbow Brite.

Wajah

A multilingual alien who crashes in Rainbowland. His species uses color as food, so Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids fix his ship as quickly as possible to prevent him from "eating" all the color in Rainbowland.

Plock

A conniving salesman who tricks Twink into selling him the Color Caves in exchange for a "magic seed." Once he realizes what the world would be like without color, he changes his ways and gives the Caves back to Rainbow Brite.

orell

A sorcerer who creates Murky's Comet to try and destroy the Color Caves.

Show facts

* First Aired: December 1984
* Last Aired: March 1985
* Number of Episodes:
** 13 half-hour animated episodes
** 2 half-hour live-action episodes
** 4 read-along videos (2 per tape)
** 1 feature-length movie

Episodes

Voices

* Bettina Bush
**Rainbow Brite
* Andre Stojka
**Starlite
**Wizard
**Spectran
* Rhonda Allman
**Moonglow
**Tickled Pink
* Rhonda Aldrich
**Dark Princess
**Creature
* Peter Cullen
**Murky
**Monstromurk
**Narrator
* Pat Fraley
**Lurky
**On-X
**Buddy Blue
**Dog
**Guard
**Spectran
**Slurthic
**Glitterbot
**Evil Force
* Robbie Lee
**Twink
**Shy Violet
**Indigo
**Lala Orange
**Sprites
* Jonathan Harris
**Count Blogg
* Mona Marshall
**Red Butler
**Witch
**Spectran
**Castle Creature
**Patty O'Green
**Canary Yellow
* Scott Menville
**Brian
* George Ball
**Plock
* David Workman
**Sergeant Zombo
* David Mendenhall
**Krys
* Marissa Mendenhall
**Stormy
* Charles Adler
**Popo
* Les Tremayne
**Orin
**Bombo
**TV Announcer
* Alan Lee
**Additional Voices

Merchandise

In the 80's, Mattel produced most of the dolls and Rainbow Brite merchandise. The 2004 master toy licensee is Toy Play. Nick Jr. was the TV station that advertised Rainbow Brite products.

The 2004 18" Talking Rainbow Brite doll produced by Toy Play names the colors of the rainbow, but leaves out green. Upon contact, Toy Play indicates the doll will be fixed for any future production runs.

There is a new Rainbow Brite costume available in the latest merchandise line.

Other Media

* Rainbow Brite was mentioned in the Skye Sweetnam song Hypocrite.
* A Rainbow Brite doll appeared in the music video "What U Do 2 Me" by Boomkat.
* In the episode "Prick Up Your Ears" on the cartoon series Family Guy, Peter attempts to give a sex ed demonstration with a bust of William Shakespeare and a Rainbow Brite doll.
* Rainbow Brite was recently parodied in 3 episodes of "Robot Chicken":
** In "Metal Militia," Kelly Hu provided the voice of Rainbow Brite while Seth Green voiced Murky Dismal and Lurky.
** In "Rabbits on a Roller Coaster", Candace Bailey voiced Wisp while Seth Green voiced the Sphere of Light.
** In "Moesha Poppins", Adrianne Palicki voiced Rainbow Brite in a "Where Are They Now" segment.
* Unlicensed, revealing Rainbow Brite costumes have become a popular item in adult novelty catalogs.
* On an episode of "Reba" where Barbra Jean believes Brock is still in love with Reba, Barbra Jean pounds on two dolls, pretending they are Brock and Reba. One of the dolls is Red Butler from Rainbow Brite.
* A reference to Rainbow Brite was made in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0415.html The Order of the Stick #415]
* A talk show called The Soup did a skit in which the host (Joel McHale) is dressed as Rainbow Brite for a fake trailer for Rainbow Brite: The Movie.
* On an edition of WWE Raw, William Regal stated that WWE Diva Maria liked Rainbow Brite.

External links

* [http://www.tv.com/rainbow-brite/show/13440/episode_listings.html TV Episode Guide] at TV.com

References

* [http://www.rainbowbrite.net Rainbow Brite.net]
* [http://www.rainbowbrite.tv Rainbow Brite Online]
* [http://www.hallmarklicensing.com/charecters.htm Hallmark Licensing]