Ba Nee

Ba Nee
Full name	Ba Nee O'Carolan
Alias(es)	Banee "Bonnie" (by Andy Martin)
Series	Jem
Role(s)	Support character Sweet little girl
Affiliation(s)	Starlight Girls
Personal information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Place oforigin	An Lộc, Vietnam (born) Los Angeles, CA, USA (current)
Born	c. 1976-77
Age	8 at the beginning of the series
Status	Alive
Race	Vietnamese-American
Hair	Black
Eyes	Brown
Relatives	Martin O'Carolan (father) Kieu Chinh (mother) †
Partnerships	Ashley (friend) Danny (friend) Deirdre (friend) Krissie (friend) Randy James (friend) The Holograms (friends and caretakers) Uto Kenyak (pen pal friend)
Appearances
Firstappearance	The Beginning (1985)
Appearances	The Beginning Disaster Kimber's Rebellion The Battle of the Bands Starbright (Part 1) Starbright (Part 2) Starbright (Part 3) In Stitches The Music Awards (Part 1) The Music Awards (Part 2) Island of Deception The Jem Jam (Part 1) The Jem Jam (Part 2) Glitter and Gold The Talent Search (Part 1) The Bands Break Up Treasure Hunt Music is Magic The Jazz Player Roxy Rumbles Alone Again Trick or Techrat Rock n' Roll Express The Middle of Nowhere Hollywood Jem (Part 1) Hollywood Jem (Part 2) Stingers Hit Town (Part 2) Video Wars Beauty and the Rock Promoter The Day the Music Died That Old Houdini Magic Straight from the Heart A Change of Heart A Father Should Be...
Voiced by	Samantha Paris
Singing voice	Ari Gold †

Ba Nee O'Carolan is a character in the Jem animated series. She is one Jerrica Benton's foster girls throughout the series and the only one who managed to be reunited with her father at the end.

History

Ba Nee was born in An Lộc sometime after her mother's village was attacked and her parents got separated. Some years later, her mother's health started to deteriorate and soon she was facing her impending death. However, she was still able to tell Ba Nee to look for her father, an American ex-soldier who fought in the Vietnam war whose main distinctive feature was that he had red hair.

In the "Starbright" episodes, Ba Nee has trouble with her eyesight and Jerrica takes her to an eye doctor. He tells Jerrica that Ba Nee has a degenerative eye condition, possibly inherited by her parents, and that if she doesn't have eye surgery immediately, she'll become completely blind within a matter of months or even weeks, with the eye operation costing $250,000. Due to the success of The Holograms' film, Starbright, Ba Nee was able to have the surgery, regained her eyesight and she also got to see the movie.

In the "Jem Jam" episodes, Ba Nee believes one of the performers, Randy James, is her real father just because he has red hair and at some point he visited Vietnam. However, it turns out that, much to Ba Nee's dismay, Randy couldn't possibly be him as he left Vietnam years before she was born. After coping with this fact, both remained as good friends.

In Roxy Rumbles, Ba Nee gives Roxy a book to learn how to read when it is discovered that she's illiterate.

In the series' finale, A Father Should Be..., it is discovered that Ba Nee's biological father is Martin O'Carolan, who was a soldier in Vietnam in 1976 and is still alive. He and Kieu Chinh got married in the middle of the war and he arranged for her to be taken to a safe place after Kieu Chinh's village was seized by Vietnamese soldiers. It was the last time they ever saw each other. Martin suffered from amnesia after taking a severe hit to the head and was brought to the Veterans Administration Hospital to recover after the war ended and he was rescued. At the end of the episode, Ba Nee leaves Starlight House to go live with Martin and is given a big farewell party where The Stingers and even The Misfits show up.

Appearance

Ba Nee is an eight years old girl of Asian-American descent. She has pitch-black, long straight hair and can usually be seen wearing her distinctive pink dress fashioned in an Oriental-like cut with abstract-pattern decorations. She usually wears a pink bow on her hair and has a red ribbon tied around her waist as a matter of belt. The bottom of her dress ends up in a bermuda shorts-like design.

Her dress is changed to a two-piece set instead for her doll and box artworks. The bow on her hair is changed from pink to blue and appears more to the front and to the left of her head. Her shoulder sleeves are longer and the patterns on her dress are of flowers this time. Instead of her red belt, she now uses a curly pink ribbon around her waist.

Personality

Ba Nee is a sweet-mannered girl who loves to draw and read all kinds of books. She is smart, kind and cares about the people around her. She has a positive attitude and is optimistic about finding her long-lost father someday. Ba Nee's wish is fulfilled when she and her father are reunited in the series' final episode, A Father Should Be...

Songs sung by Ba Nee

• A Father Should Be

Gallery

Artworks

Ba Nee, Ashley and Krissie.

Animated series

Ba Nee about to go blind during the "Starbright" story arc.

After the operation, watching the Starbright movie with Jerrica.

Ba Nee reunited with her father, Martin O'Carolan.

Ba Nee breaks the fourth wall and says goodbye to the audience.
(A Father Should Be...)

Fashions

Dolls

Ba Nee doll.

Trivia

• Ba Nee was one of the three Starlight Girls to be adapted into a doll.
• She is the most featured out of all of the Starlight Girls in the series.
• She is among the youngest out of all of the Starlight Girls, being eight at the beginning of the series.
• She had a rare, degenerative and recessive eye condition that almost caused her to go blind.
• She sang "A Father Should Be" twice in the series, in The Jem Jam (Part 1) and in A Father Should Be...
• Male pop singer Ari Gold provided Ba Nee's singing voice for the song "A Father Should Be" when he was 12 years old.
• In the episode The Jem Jam (Part 2), during a conversation with Randy James, she reveals that she was born in An Lộc, Vietnam. It is never explained how she made it to the United States and at a very young age.
• She has had two bad experiences in a zoo. First, in the episode The Jem Jam (Part 2), she falls down into a bear cage while she was running away from Jerrica, Randy and the rest of the Starlight Girls in tears. The second time, when Andy Martin kidnaps her and takes her to an abandoned zoo.
• She is the only character in the series to get a concluded storyline.