Jemstar Earrings

The Jemstar Earrings are the two crimson-colored, seven-pointed star-shaped earrings worn by Jerrica Benton and, by extension, her music celebrity alter ego, Jem. While they may appear to be a pair of ordinary accessories, in reality, they are two powerful, electronic projectors capable of creating life-like holograms in almost any environment.

History

Shortly after the completion of Synergy, Emmett Benton created the Jemstar Earrings for his eldest daughter, Jerrica. He thought he would be able to give them to her himself, but unfortunately, he passed away before he could do so. Sometime after his passing, the earrings made their way to Jerrica as part of Emmett's will. She then proceeded to put them on and it was then when she and her friends were introduced to Synergy, who explained her presence and what Jerrica's father was working on before he died. When Jerrica decided they should form a music band to save the Starlight Foundation and Starlight House, she used Synergy and her star earrings to create the Jem alias as a cover to compete in many music festivals and tours.

During a trip to China, Jerrica's Jem cover was almost blown when she needed to go through a metal detector and refused to take off the earrings. Fortunately, she was able to save herself with the aid of an influential Chinese fan who happened to pass by. It was through this event that The Misfits, along with Eric Raymond, suspected there was a reason to why Jem never took them off, thinking they were some sort of lucky charms; thus they decided to steal them, causing The Holograms to search all over Beijing and eventually find them in the possession of another Holograms' fan, a little Chinese girl named Lin, who gave them back as a present (without knowing their true power and without The Holograms realizing they were the real ones at first) just in time to perform for an increasingly impatient audience.

To this very day, Jerrica can almost always be seen wearing the earrings and very rarely does she take them off.

Notes

• Jerrica is able to communicate with Synergy through the earrings.
• Even though they come in a pair, it has been demonstrated a few times that even one of them is powerful enough to project holograms with almost the same quality.
• Though powerful, the earrings' signal has been shown to get jammed a few times in the series. In the episode In Stitches, the signal was interrupted by a satellite glitch during the band's flight to Venice and also right before their presentation at a fashion show; in Island of Deception, the signal was temporarily lost when Jerrica dived underwater to save a drowning Stormer. In both cases, the earrings' holographic projections were interrupted unexpectedly, making Jem suddenly transform back into Jerrica and almost revealing her true identity.
• The Jemstar Earrings are vulnerable to water and have a limited working duration while submerged. In some occasions, Jerrica has been shown to take them off before going for a swim or taking a bath.
• The earrings are even capable of projecting sound along with their holograms, although if needed, Jerrica would then resort to use her ventriloquist skills.

Film

The earrings also make an appearance in the full length feature film, Jem and the Holograms (2015). Similar to their animated series counterparts, they were given to Jerrica by her father before he died and are also star-shaped.

Both earrings are assembled into the final piece.

There's where the similarities end, however, as this time around they are only four-pointed, transparent and pink-colored. Additionally, they are now part of Synergy's missing pieces, being in fact two parts of the very same device which can be assembled by uniting both of them. The final piece can then be inserted into Synergy's body, allowing it to uncover more of Jerrica's past. In this case, it was her father's final message to her.

Gallery

Animated series

Jerrica about to transform.

Jem with her star earrings as she performs.

A satellite glitch interrupts the earring's holographic projections.
(In Stitches)

Film

Aja returns her earrings back to Jerrica.

Jerrica retrieves her earrings from Erica Raymond's hands.

Jerrica inserts her earrings into Synergy's body

Trivia

• The Jemstar earrings were created by Emmett Benton after Synergy was completed.
• When she's about to transform into Jem or when in need of Synergy projecting a hologram, Jerrica is usually seen touching one of her earrings and saying her catchphrase: "It's showtime, Synergy!". Likewise, when the holograms are no longer needed or she wants to transform back to her former self, she touches one of her earrings once more and says her other catchphrase: "Show's over, Synergy".
  • This is a personal way Jerrica uses to communicate with Synergy, although saying these phrases are not strictly necessary and holograms can be projected just by asking Synergy to do so.
• Jerrica has had to use at least one of the earrings in order to get either herself or the band out of a jam.
• In some scenes, the stars that comprise the earrings have been depicted to have more or fewer number of acute points. This is probably because they were easier to draw and animate that way. In close-up shots, however, they are often portrayed correctly.
• The earrings are not symmetrical. Some of the stars' acute points are either larger, wider or thinner than the rest.
• In some occasions, the holograms projected by the earrings have been shown capable of interacting with physical environmental objects. For example, in the episode Island of Deception, the hologram of an elephant is projected and it pulls down some trees (the only explanation would be if those trees were also holograms themselves).