For my first post, why not offer up a
short history of Rainbow Brite? I'm sure that at some point I will go
into a deeper history of the different stages, but let's just start
at the beginning.
Hallmark Cards brought Rainbow Brite
into the world in 1983. The doll and toys were so popular that a TV
show started the following year. A two-part nighttime special aired
on my fourth birthday: June 27, 1984. Titled, “Perils in the Pits,”
it was a hit with girls my age. That led to “The Mighty Monstromurk
Menace” and “The Beginning of Rainbowland.” A lot of people my
age think that it was instantly an animated series, but it actually
didn't start airing as a show until 1986. Sadly, the show lasted just
one year.
The story of Rainbow Brite starts when
a magical force takes a small girl to the Colorless World. This tiny
orphan is faced with the daunting task of tracking down the Sphere of
Light. She meets an adorable little white sprite named Twink, who
introduces her to her horse Starlite. The orphan manages to track
down and save the Color Kids, a group of kids who represent the
colors in the rainbow. She also gets the Color Belt (shameless
plug!), which lets her give the Colorless World its color back.
The little girl wins in a fight against
the King of Shadows and officially earns the name Rainbow Brite. As
part of her reward, she gets to stay in this world, now named Rainbow
Land/Rainbowland, and control the colors of the rainbow. Including
the original two-part episodes, the show ran for just 13 episodes.
Rainbow Brite disappeared for nearly a
decade before new dolls landed on the store shelves. The new dolls
had little in common with the originals save for Rainbow Brite
herself. Not surprisingly, the series failed miserably.
Hallmark held on though, releasing a
new line of dolls in 2004 as part of the 20th anniversary
of the franchise. Toy Play, a division of Hallmark, was in charge of
this line.
In 2009, Playmates Toys got the rights
to produce Rainbow Brite dolls from Hallmark. The company released
several dolls and other items as part of the 25th
anniversary. The line did not do as well as expected and Playmates
passed the name back to Hallmark. Hallmark currently licenses the
name and likeness to other companies.
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