 Rainbow Bright is a media franchise by Hallmark Cards introduced in 1983 and is known in Japan as Magical Girl Rainbow Bright. The animated series first aired in 1984 when Hallmark licensed Rainbow Bright to Mattel for a range of dolls and other merchandise. The theatrical feature linked film Rainbow Bright and the Star Stealer was released by Warner Brothers in 1985. The franchise was rebooted in 2014 with a three-part mini-series released on Hallmark's online streaming video service Feelin', a line of new merchandise by Hallmark Online and in its shops debuted in 2015. Creation and development of Rainbow Bright for Hallmark Cards is credited to both Hallmark's Vice President of Creative Licensing Gary Glyzmeyer, a team of artists headed by Cheryl Cozad and writers under the direction of Hallmark's editorial director Dan Drake. Hallmark's Vice President of Sales and Marketing Lanny Julian assembled a team of legal, marketing and public relations associates for this new licensing division. Produced by Deke Audiovisual with animation provided by TMS Entertainment, the animated series began as a part of Deke's kidio TV syndicated anthology package and aired new episodes from June 27th, 1984 until June 24th, 1986. In the Generation 1 continuity, which references the original animated series, a young girl named Wisp is brought to a great desolate land with a mission to bring color to this fictional world by locating the sphere of light. Along the way, she befriends a furry creature called a sprite named Twink and a magnificent horse named Starlight and finds a mysterious baby who turns out to be the key to her mission. With the help of her new friends, Wisp locates the legendary color belt and rescues the seven color kids who had been tracked by the King of Shadows. Using the color belt, Wisp and the sphere of light defeat the King of Shadows, liberates the sprites and brings color and beauty to the land. Henceforth, called Rainbow Land, Wisp was renamed Rainbow Bright in honor of her new role as leader of the color kids who are together in charge of all the colors in the universe. The color kids spread color across the universe from the color console inside the color castle. Each color kid is in charge of their respective color. Has a personal sprite and manages a number of light colored sprites that mine color crystals from the nearby color caves. These crystals are processed into star sprinkles, which are the essential components to brightening and coloring any object or place. Rainbow Bright and the color kids mission is often complicated by the likes of murky dismal, his sidekick lurky, and other villains. A boy from Earth named Brian occasionally assisted Rainbow Bright in her adventures. In the movie Rainbow Bright and the Star Stealer, the setting expands to include the Diamond Planet Spectra. All the light in the universe must pass through Spectra before coming to Earth. However, Earth soon falls into the wintry darkness with the dime obsessed Dark Princess decided to steal Spectra for her own. Rainbow Bright and her horse Starlight must team with Spectra's boy warrior Chris and his robotic horse Onyx to defeat the power of darkness that saves Spectra, Earth and the universe. Gen 2 continuity took a radical departure from any other generation story, focusing as much on ethnic diversity as the colors of the rainbow. Rainbow Bright had an entirely new and smaller group of friends called the color crew. Despite distribution and marketing in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia, the toy line never reached the success of its predecessor and ended after a little more than a year. Gen 3 was basically a relaunch of Gen 1 in 2003 with the same story but a smaller range of characters produced. The dolls from Toy Play were similar to but not exact copies of the Gen 1 versions. There was also a sizable amount of Rainbow Bright merchandise from various other manufacturers just as in Gen 1. Generation 4 celebrates the 25th anniversary of Rainbow Bright in 2009 with continuity returning the setting again to Rainbow Land, which looked nothing like the original version. This time Rainbow Bright and her friend's mission was to bring hope and happiness to the far corners of the universe, making hearts lighter and worlds a little more colorful along the way. The story focuses on Rainbow Bright, Tickled Pink, and Moonglow, each representing one of Rainbow Land's sky powers, which determined the cycles of the day in Gen 4 continuity had Rainbow Bright originally hailing from Earth. Rainbow Bright's absence from the world is explained in a story that sees Rainbow's return to her home on Earth for a revisit with her family. But while on Earth, the Dark Princess erased Rainbow Land from Rainbow Bright's memory, so she would never return to her duties in Rainbow Land. Rainbow Bright eventually returns to Rainbow Land with the help of Starlight and Puppy Bright. The line suffered a delay, which caused the toys to not be available until after the holiday season that year. It was scarce distribution as retailers were not impressed with it and was cancelled after just seven months and before the first release was completed. Hallmark introduced the fifth generation of Rainbow Bright toys, along with clothing and other merchandise in July 2015. A limited edition line of Rainbow Bright itty-bitties were produced in limited quantities of 500 units. The demand led to Hallmark reissuing the itty-bitties with slight revised designs and much greater numbers along with the first Rainbow Bright itty-bitties box set, featuring Red Butler, Romeo, Indigo, and Hammy. These items were followed by an 8-inch twink plush and 11-inch Starlight plush in September 2015, as well as a 16-inch Rainbow Bright doll that November. In 2016, Hallmark released another itty-bitty box set. A 24-inch Rainbow Bright jumbo itty-bitty arrived in December. These toys are sold only in the United States and Canada. Additionally, Hallmark keepsake Rainbow Bright holiday ornaments were sold in 2015. A reissue of Hallmark's 2013 ornament and 2016. A Rainbow Bright comic was published by Dynamite Entertainment for five issues from October 2018 to February 2019. Rainbow Bright and the Evil Robot Bright were voiced by Bettina Bush. Starlight was voiced by Andres Dochka. Lala Orange, Indigo, Shy Violet, and Twink were voiced by Robin Lee. Canary Yellow, Patio Greens, and Red Butler were voiced by Mona Marshall. Buddy Blue and Lurky were voiced by Pat Fraley. Tickle Pink and the Dark Princess were voiced by Rhonda Aldrich. Murky Dismal and Monstro Mark were voiced by Peter Cullen. Count Blog was voiced by Jonathan Harris. Sergeant Zombo was voiced by David Workman. And Brian was voiced by Scott Menville. A three-part animated miniseries was launched on November 6, 2014 by video-on-demand site Beelen. The reboot showcased updated character designs for the cast and starred Emily Osment as the voice of Rainbow Bright and Molly Ringwald as the voice of Dark Princess. The second episode was shown on November 13, 2014, and the series concluded on November 20, 2014. You can find websites dedicated entirely to Rainbow Bright at rainbowbright.net and rainbowbright.org, which brings news, blog posts, and a complete catalog of Rainbow Bright merchandise to the public. On a personal note, I still have my original Lurky doll from the 80s. As you can see, my name is right here on the bottom, and it's there because at the time my older sister also loved Rainbow Bright and had her own Lurky doll. So to keep us from fighting, my parents wrote our names on the bottom, and Lurky needs restuffed. If you enjoyed that video, make sure you hit the subscribe button right there so you stay up to date on All Thanks Geek Culture. Also, go ahead and check out one of these two playlists on the side for more videos just like the one you just watched. I'm Shannon from Comic NTV, the only place on YouTube where all geek culture collides. Take care, geeks!