'Jem And The Holograms' Trailer: Synergy Is Now A Cute Robot

There's a robot in the new Jem and the Holograms trailer, and at first I was sure why. For the most part, this new trailer is an expansion of the first, where Jerrica, a shy but talented young woman becomes an internet sensation only to find rapacious talent executives trying to separate her from her friends in order to control her. (Just like what happens to Eazy-E in Straight Outta Compton!)

Turns out the robot, a cute toy invented by Jerrica's dad, is the movie's updated version of the holographic computer from the original animated series. Check it out in the new Jem trailer below.

So, in the original series, Jerrica's dad built Synergy as a computer that could project holograms, and which is "the ultimate audio-visual entertainment synthesizer." The holograms projected by Synergy gave Jem her on-stage alter-ego, which protected her identity and give her some nifty show tricks, too. The show's catchphrase was "Showtime Synergy," a line heard in the original trailer without the context showing that, in this case, Synergy is a cute little robot.

In addition to the new trailer, there's also a new featurette that attempts to explain the translation of animated TV show to movie, with director Jon M. Chu noting that the original cartoon was fearless... so they wanted to do something different. (But keep the essence of female empowerment in the cartoon.)

Jem and the Holograms opens on October 23. Trailer via Clevver. Jem stars Aubrey Peeples, Stefanie Scott, Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis.

As a small-town girl catapults from underground video sensation to global superstar, she and her three sisters begin a one-in-a-million journey of discovering that some talents are too special to keep hidden.  In Universal Pictures' Jem and the Holograms, four aspiring musicians will take the world by storm when they see that the key to creating your own destiny lies in finding your own voice.

Directed by Jon M. Chu (Step Up series, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), the musical adventure stars Aubrey Peeples, Stefanie Scott, Aurora Perrineau, Hayley Kiyoko, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis.  Jem and the Holograms, based on the iconic Hasbro animated TV series, is written by Ryan Landels and produced by Chu, Jason Blum for Blumhouse Productions, Scooter Braun for SB Projects, Bennett Schneir, and Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis of Hasbro Studios.