Rainbow Brite
Rainbow Brite was a character franchise and animated television series introduced by Hallmark Cards in 1984. The Rainbow Brite franchise generated $1 billion in retail sales of dolls, toys and other licensed products throughout the 1980s.
Rainbow Brite made her animated debut in a syndicated prime-time special, "Peril in the Pits," first aired on June 27, 1984. Two more two-part specials were subsequently made, "The Mighty Monstromurk Menace" and "The Beginning of Rainbowland."
In April 1986, Rainbow Brite became a regular series, as part of DIC's weekly syndicated Kideo TV block; eight new episodes were made for this run. Rainbow Brite remained part of the Kideo TV lineup until May 1987.
Premise
In the franchise's backstory, a little orphan girl named Wisp is taken by an unknown force to the Colorless World. She must find the Sphere of Light, but upon doing so, she befriends a sprite, Twink, and a majestic white horse known as Starlite. 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 it to defeat the King of Shadows (also known as the Evil Force and the Dark One), an evil hooded being with twitchy fingers, the unknown force renames Wisp as Rainbow Brite. She and the Color Kids (and their helpers, the Sprites) live in Rainbow Land 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. In the 2009 release, the color belt still functions, but Rainbow Brite and the other Sky Powers have scepters as well.
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.
Characters
Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids, in the "Brand New Day" song from the Star Stealer movie• 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 threw him into The Pits, which drained him of his colors.
• Starlite is Rainbow Brite's talking, flying horse, who calls himself "the most magnificent horse in the universe." He is white with a yellow star on his forehead, and his mane and tail are rainbow-colored.
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