Rainbow Brite
| Rainbow Brite | |
|---|---|
 Rainbow Brite Title screen |
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| Format | Animated television series |
| Written by | Woody Kling Howard R Cohen Felicia Maliani |
| Directed by | Bruno Bianchi Osamu Dezaki Rich Rudish |
| Voices of | See Rainbow Brite#Voices |
| Composer(s) | Shuky Levy Haim Saban |
| Country of origin | United States France Japan |
| No. of episodes |
13 half-hour animated episodes 1 feature-length movie |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Jean Chalopin Andy Heyward |
| Producer(s) | Jean Chalopin Andy Heyward Tetsuo Katayama |
| Running time | 25 minutes per episode |
| Production company(s) | DIC Entertainment Tokyo Movie Shinsha LBS Communications Inc. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original run | June 27, 1984 – July 24, 1986 |
Rainbow Brite is a media franchise by Hallmark Cards, introduced in 1983. The animated television series of the same name was started in 1984.
Rainbow Brite made her animated debut in a syndicated prime-time special, "Peril in the Pits", first aired on June 27, 1984. Two more two-part specials were subsequently made, "The Mighty Monstromurk Menace" and "The Beginning of Rainbowland".
In April 1986, Rainbow Brite became a regular series, as part of DIC's weekly syndicated Kideo TV block; eight new episodes were made for this run. Rainbow Brite remained part of the Kideo TV lineup until May 1987.
Contents |
Premise [edit]
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, and along the way she befriends a sprite, Twink, and a majestic white horse with rainbow hair 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 King of Shadows (also known as the Evil Force and 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 Rainbow Land 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. In the 2009 release, the color belt still functions, but Rainbow Brite and the other Sky Powers have scepters as well.
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 [edit]
Main characters [edit]
- Rainbow Brite – the title protagonist. She is the main source of light and color of the planet earth, as it is her job to make everything beautiful.
- Twink – Rainbow Brite's assistant.
- Starlite – Rainbow Brite's horse.
- Murky Dismal
- Lurky
Recurring characters [edit]
- Brian
Color Kids and Sprites [edit]
- Red Butler and Romeo Sprite – in charge of everything red
- Lala Orange and O.J. Sprite – in charge of everything orange
- Canary Yellow and Spark Sprite – in charge of everything yellow
- Patty O'Green and Lucky Sprite – in charge of everything green
- Buddy Blue and Champ Sprite – in charge of everything blue
- Indigo and Hammy Sprite – in charge of everything indigo and cooler shades of purple
- Shy Violet and I.Q. Sprite – in charge of everything violet and warmer shades of purple
Other Rainbow Land characters [edit]
- Kitty Brite
- Puppy Brite
- Moonglow & Night Sprite
- Stormy
- Skydancer (Stormy's Horse)
- Tickled Pink
- Sunriser (Tinkled Pink's Horse)
Star Stealer characters [edit]
Characters who originated in the Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer film:
- Krys
- Orin
- On-X
- The Dark Princess
- Count Blogg
- Sgt. Zombo
Episodes [edit]
| Title | Original airdate | # |
|---|---|---|
| "Peril in the Pits" | June 27, 1984 | 01 |
| "Mighty Monstromurk Menace" (part 1) | December 4, 1984 | 02 |
| "Mighty Monstromurk Menace" (part 2) | December 5, 1984 | 03 |
| "The Beginning of Rainbowland" (part 1) | April 22, 1985 | 04 |
| "The Beginning of Rainbowland" (part 2) | April 23, 1985 | 05 |
| "Invasion of Rainbowland" | June 5, 1986 | 06 |
| "Mom" | June 12, 1986 | 07 |
| "Rainbow Night" | June 19, 1986 | 08 |
| "Star Sprinkled" | June 26, 1986 | 09 |
| "Chasing Rainbows" | July 3, 1986 | 10 |
| "Murky's Comet" | July 10, 1986 | 11 |
| "A Horse of a Different Color" | July 17, 1986 | 12 |
| "The Queen of the Sprites" | July 24, 1986 | 13 |
Voices [edit]
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Merchandise [edit]
Mattel [edit]
In the 1980s, Mattel produced most of the dolls and Rainbow Brite merchandise.
Up up and Away [edit]
The 1996 re-boot doll featured the Rainbow Brite name only, but not previous character plot.
Toy Play [edit]
The 20th Anniversary Release: The 2004 master toy licensee was Toy Play and Nick Jr. was the TV station that advertised those Rainbow Brite products. The 2004 18" Talking Rainbow Brite doll produced by Toy Play (the toy division of Hallmark Cards) names the colors of the rainbow, but leaves out green. Upon contact, Toy Play indicated that the doll would be fixed for any future production runs, but there were no future production runs by Toy Play.
Playmates Toys [edit]
2009 relaunch (aka the 25th Anniversary Release): As of 2008, the master toy license belonged to Playmates Toys and they released their first line of Rainbow Brite toys in January 2010. The toy line was not continued and the license returned to Hallmark Properties as of January 2011.
In popular culture [edit]
- In Digging to China, a Puppy Brite plush is seen in scenes where Evan Rachel Wood's character is in school for Show and Tell, even though the movie is set in the mid-1960s and not the 1980s.
- 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 four episodes of Robot Chicken:
- In "Metal Militia", in a skit called "Game Over" Kelly Hu voiced Rainbow Brite while Breckin Meyer and Seth Green voiced Murky Dismal and Lurky.
- In "Rabbits on a Roller Coaster", in a skit called "Follow the Light, Rainbow" Candace Bailey voiced Wisp while Seth Green voiced the Sphere of Light.
- In "Moesha Poppins", in a skit called "Girl Toys" Adrianne Palicki voiced Rainbow Brite.
- In "No Country For Old Dogs", in a skit called "Rainbow Dim" Mila Kunis voiced Rainbow Brite.
- Unlicensed, revealing Rainbow Brite and Patty O'Green costumes have become a popular item in adult novelty catalogs.
- Season 3 finale of Reba called "Core Focus" 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 a 2003 Red Butler doll.
- A reference to Rainbow Brite was made in The Order of the Stick.[1]
- 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.
- Penny Arcade published a web comic parodying the sequel to American McGee's Alice. The comic features a racy version of Rainbow Brite and a menacing version of Twink.[2]
External links [edit]
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rainbow Brite |
 |
Look up rainbow brite in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Hallmark's Official Rainbow Brite Website
- Rainbow Brite.Net
- Rainbow Brite.Co.Uk
- Rainbow Brite at the Internet Movie Database
- Rainbow Brite at TV.com
References [edit]
- ^ "Order of the Stick #415". Giant In the Playground Games. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
- ^ "Reprise". Penny Arcade. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
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- 1984 American television series debuts
- 1986 American television series endings
- 1980s American animated television series
- Television series by DIC Entertainment
- Television series by Cookie Jar Entertainment
- 1980s toys
- American children's television series
- Child superheroes
- First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
- Fantasy television series
- Superheroes
- Kideo TV
- Works based on Mattel toys
