Nostalgia Nook—Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealers

Bright colors.

They defined the 80s, didn’t they? You look back and all you see is bright colors and shoulder pads. God, I hate shoulder pads. Anyway, a new cartoon was created with bright colors. Besides Care Bears, but that was unisex. This colorful cartoon was made for girls—Rainbow Brite.

To make the world a brighter place, Rainbow Brite and SPOILERS!

Though I’m focusing more on Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealers, I need to touch on an earlier movie. It’s an origins story. Wisp, an orphan, is brought to a dark land once called Rainbowland. She is charged by a Mysterious Voice to rescue the place. All she has is a baby and a sprite named Twink. Wisp rescues all seven color kids (Canary Yellow, Shy Violet, Indigo, Red Butler, Buddy Blue, Patty O’Green and La La Orange) as well as a talking horse, Starlight. She defeats the darkness, banishing Murky Dismal and lackey Lurky to a distant corner of the land. The baby ends up being the Spirit of Rainbowland and restores the land. Wisp renames herself Rainbow Brite. She is tasked with preserving all the color in the universe, especially on Earth. No one can see her, except for one kid named Brian.

Origin story aside, let’s start with Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealers. We start in a creepy spaceship. A sprite that looks like Twink’s grandfather is brought before the Swamp Monster and a redheaded princess in totally 80s clothes. She yells, the sprite pleads. In short, she’s a spoiled brat and he’s an old wise sprite.

Starlight awakes to discover it’s spring! He sings a song (“Brand New Day”) as he runs through the fields. All of Rainbowland is getting busy and join in his song, including the Color Kids. They all sing Rainbow Brite awake and they begin the day. Rainbow has to race Stormy, who is in charge of storms and winter, to begin spring. Rainbow wins and heads to Earth, where she is greeted by Brian. She unleashes a rainbow but it doesn’t work. Confused, Rainbow returns to Rainbowland.

Meanwhile, Murky and Lurky are working on their latest plans to destroy Rainbow Brite and Colorland. Well, Murky does. Lurky just wants to ride the “pretty horsey.” They see a streak in the air and follow it to Rainbowland. It crashes in Rainbowland, catching the attention of the Color Kids. It is a metallic black horse that asks for Rainbow Brite. She rides up and talks to the horse. His name is Onyx and he comes from the planet Spectra. Orin sent him. The sprites recognize the name. He is a legend amongst them. Apparently, Spectra is in danger and Rainbow agrees to help.

Spectra is important. Apparently its light allows for colors. And the reason winter won’t end. Don’t think about it. Rainbow arrives at the planet, which is being covered. Rainbow and Starlight discover robots on the planet. They are brainwashing the sprites who live there into braiding the giant net around the planet. Rainbow and Starlight try to destroy the nets. They are spotted and run, pretending to be brainwashed themselves. That doesn’t go over well. Rainbow and Starlight continue to run, where they get saved by a young boy in a strange spacesuit. His name is Krys and he doesn’t seem to care much for Rainbow.

Krys and Rainbow form a reluctant union. They go to visit the Princess, who wants the planet because it is the universe’s biggest diamond. She’s a spoiled brat, remember? Anyway, she wants Rainbow Brite’s color belt. She has magical powers or a really good laser builder, which she uses to take the belt and throw the two into jail. Starlight and Onyx bust out their skills and manage to get the belt. Rainbow and Krys escape to a planet below.

Meanwhile, the Color Kids are trying to get their color console to work. It isn’t going so well. On earth, winter is getting worse. People are getting depressed. And Brian cannot get to Rainbowland through his closet. (Don’t think about it). Murky and Lurky are off…doing something.

Anyway, Rainbow and Krys find Orin on a distant planet that looks like they reused the footage from the “Beginnings of Rainbowland.” They rescue Orin and he gives Krys some weird device to wear on his wrist. He has to work with Rainbow to get it to work. They storm the Princess’ spaceship again and take her down. They free Spectra and spring comes to the Earth!

I loved Rainbow Brite. I used to have a Rainbow Brite costume when I was a little girl. I wore it whenever I could. And I loved to watch this movie. My dad taped it off HBO or something similar. It was on the same tape as “Care Bears II” and the Disneyland 35th anniversary special. I used to watch all three together. Then one day, my dad didn’t check the tape in the VCR. And the Rosie O’Donnell show ended up taped over half of Rainbow Brite and all of the Disneyland Story. When I was in college, a friend gave me a tip. She found Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealers on DVD in Blockbusters’. I quickly ran out and bought it.

Are there flaws? Of course, it’s a children’s movie from the 80s! I mean, as a little girl I didn’t realize that when it is winter in North America, it’s summer in Australia. So, there would be no reason for Rainbow Brite to go into hibernation. Unless Australia had there own version of Rainbow Brite who spoke with an accent and rode a talking kangaroo. I don’t know. But it is still a compelling plot—the universe is in peril and the only one who can save it is Rainbow Brite. A girl! Yes, she ends up with a male cohort, but she really saves the day. He needs her power to use his.

Is Rainbow Brite a kickass feminist super heroine? No, not really. She just uses her magical powers. And her villain is just a vain materialistic brat. But it’s the eternal story of good triumphing over evil (in this case, “evil” being “selfish idiot”).

What is the moral of today’s story? I still need a copy of Disneyland’s 35th Anniversary Special. I made a plea in this entry. But just to recap: It aired in the early 1990s and was hosted by Harry Anderson (“Night Court”). If you know where I can find it, let me know!

Next time—Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers!