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Rainbow Brite

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The Rainbow Brite logo as seen on the television series
The Rainbow Brite logo as seen on the television series

Rainbow Brite was an animated television series introduced by Hallmark in 1983. The Rainbow Brite franchise generated $1 billion in retail sales of dolls, toys and other licensed products throughout the 80's. It was also aired in Japan, along with other american cartoons at the time, under the name Ribbon Fighter. In the franchise's backstory, a little orphan girl named Wisp is taken by a Sphere of Light to a land without color. 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 the Color Belt to defeat the Dark One, the Sphere of Light tells her she will now be known 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.

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

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 - 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 Kid's head Sprite is in parentheses, although several more named Sprites exist. Except where noted, each Sprite is the color of the Kid he or she belongs to.

  • Red Butler (Romeo)
  • Lala Orange (OJ) (in the 2004 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.

  • Stormy - Along with her horse Skydancer, Stormy lives in the clouds and is in charge of storms. Her favorite season is winter, naturally (as a scene from the 1985 movie proves). Stormy does not have a sprite. Skydancer is dark blue with a lightning bolt on her forehead, and, unlike Starlite, she cannot speak.
  • Tickled Pink - 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, Tickled Pink has a girl Sprite named Dee-Lite.
  • Moonglo - Along with her navy blue Sprite named Nite Sprite (who has crescent moons at the tips of his antennae), Moonglo is in charge of making the night sky bright with stars and color.

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.
  • Sunriser - Sunriser is a pink, non-talking horse introduced in one epsisode and seen in others. She has a white heart on her forehead, and Starlite seems to have a crush on her. Although the merchandise boxes show Tickled Pink riding Sunriser, it is also commonly believed that Sunriser may have been intended to belong to Moonglow. Supporting this are her celestial name and the fact that only special Kids seem to have horses, not Color Kids.
  • 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.
  • 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 only a legend. It is not revealed whether Orin has always been white, lost it with age, or, like Twink, lost his colors.
  • 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. (At the end of the 1985 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 into 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 and takes him to Rainbowland. Brian has a dog that is only ever referred to as "Boy."
  • Puppy Brite & Kitty Brite - Rainbow Brite's pets. The former makes a cameo appearance at the start of Star Stealer.
  • Rainbowland Sprites - Sprites who live on Rainbowland and mine Color Crystals from the Color Caves. They also perform other duties for the Color Kids. They speak their own language, which Rainbow Brite can understand. They come in every color of the rainbow and have stars on the ends of their antennae.
  • Spectran 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 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!" Most likely not Murky's brother, though they share the same last name. 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 namesake Star Stealer, tries to steal the diamond planet, Spectra. She is very spoiled and greedy for diamonds which seem to be the source of her powerful magic.
  • Count Blogg - A green monster who is the Dark Princess' right-hand man.
  • Sgt. Zombo - The Sergeant in charge of the Prison Planet, where the Dark Princess sends her enemies.
  • Glitterbots - Giant gold robots who hypnotize the Spectran Sprites into tying ropes around Spectra.

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 use 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.
  • Sorell - A sorcerer who creates Murky's Comet to try and destroy the Color Caves. He looks like Merlin.

Voices

Merchandise information

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

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

Wikiquote has quotations related to Rainbow Brite.
Look up rainbow brite in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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