The only regular animated TV series directed at girls, Jem focuses on a rock singer who's a combination of Wonder Woman and Madonna. In her early 20s, she is clothes-conscious, boy-conscious, music-conscious and spinoff-toy-conscious. She has also inherited a computer that can create three-dimensional holographic images, which helps her get out of scrapes. This tape, a compilation of episodes from the series, suggests Jem is easier to take in small doses. The music is passable rock. The animated videos that accompany most of the songs are inventive, and there are some satisfyingly malicious villains—foremost among them the green-haired Pizzazz (her real name is Phyllis), leader of the envious group, the Misfits. Their theme song is Winning Is Everything. The succession of near disasters gets monotonous, however, and dads who watch the tape may resent that almost every male who appears is either dumb or a thug. Jem's boyfriend, Rio the Roadie, is the main exception. It's a plus that girls have a real heroine to root for, but the women in such shows as G.I. Joe or even Rambo, while relegated to assistant-good-person status, are clearly virtuous and competent. They don't suffer from the extreme sexism Jemhead writer Christy Marx and her staff unwittingly display. (Family Home Entertainment, $9.99)
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