One of my friends was in the JEM movie, as one of the main supporting characters, but I told him I wouldn't see it EVEN FOR HIM. Now, as an adult, I wouldn't say the show is necessarily always "better than I remember it", since all the plot holes and such jump out at me now, but I still think it was one of the best animated series ever made (not just from the '80s). To address your other points one by one:
1.) I don't, and never did "completely love" the protagonist while "unreservedly" despising the antagonists. In fact, as I've said elsewhere, I think Jem/Jerrica could be very IMMORAL - lying to Rio from the beginning and deceiving him, and then being all over Riot and actually trying to kiss him in 'Riot's Hope' all on her own, knowing full well that Rio has never been interested in any other woman but herself (or should I say her 'selves'). She was not an upright person at all. But that just makes the protagonist more real and deep - even if it sends very warped messages to children.
I was always a fan of the Misfits, because they were such 'characters' - who infused the show with VERY REAL HUMOUR through their dialogue and antics. I can see why you loathed Pizzazz and Roxy, because they could be extremely cruel (along with Jetta), but we did get insights into why they turned out the way they did, and by the middle of Season 2, they turned out to be VERY THREE-DIMENSIONAL, FLESH AND BLOOD HUMAN BEINGS (maybe rotten ones, but still 3-dimensional and fully human, unlike many antagonists. Part of it was the writing, and part of it was the brilliant voice acting once again). I actually think Stormer can be construed as the most loathsome Misfit of all, because she HAS an active conscience as we see multiple times, yet chooses to go ahead with Pizzazz and Roxy's sinister schemes ANYWAY a lot of the time. At least Pizzazz and Roxy (and Jetta) were shown to have 'numbed' their consciences (to prevent themselves from getting hurt, as it turns out). They have an excuse - in the sense that they make no pretensions about being outright mean - but Stormer 'knows better' and does the wrong thing time and again regardless. Of course, this makes her a very complicated character - just like Jerrica/Jem.
My favourite Hologram was Raya - BY FAR, THE MOST MORALLY WHOLESOME CHARACTER ON THE SHOW. Thank goodness they added her in Season 2. The Benton sisters can learn a lot from her!! I initially found Jetta annoying and unnecessary as a child, but she has since become my favourite Misfit (although I don't necessarily miss her in the Season 1 episodes, where I sometimes find myself wishing Raya were there in the Season 1 episodes when I re-watch them).
I have to point out that JEM was not supposed to be a "teen-oriented" show, as you indicated. The target audience was actually girls who were under 12, since the whole point of the show was to SELL THE DOLLS, while keeping young boys sufficiently interested so they wouldn't change the channel (and potentially prevent their little singers from watching the show).
2.) I totally agree that Jem was "one of the most aesthetically beautiful female characters ever designed" - especially in Season One. As a boy, I hated the way they made her eye shadow various shades of PURPLE (very dark to very light) instead of Pink from Season 2 onwards - it made her far less "lovely" and feminine than she was in the first 26 episodes (although she was still hot).
3.) Totally agree about Jem's singing voice, and I couldn't believe that Britta Phillips didn't become a huge singing sensation either. But she is an extremely grounded, down to earth person in real life, so maybe she didn't want to become a Madonna type celebrity. Her vocal range is PHENOMENAL, in addition to all the other amazing qualities you listed in her voice. She is the quintessential female pop/rock singer in my book.
4.) I didn't like ALL of Jem's fashions, but many of them were very appealing indeed. Especially in the first 5 episodes where they were very feminine and very smart at the same time (some of her later fashions alternated between harsh/unflattering and silly). And of course they CHANGED the soft-pink colour theme completely from Season 2 onwards, with her purple eye-shadow. :( I get that they wanted her look to "evolve", but the pink theme was the iconic Jem theme, and it was unfortunate that it basically DISAPPEARED after Episode 26.
But yeah, overall, there were some very cool fashions - and many of them were not even Jem's. Shows like 'Batman: The Animated Series' are praised as the best animated show ever, but everyone always wears the SAME THING on that, whereas the main characters in Jem changed clothes in practically every scene, making it hyper realistic in that regard!! The only characters who wore the same clothes were the Starlight Girls - which is sad, because it made it seem like Jerrica didn't buy them clothes to wear around the house, despite making all that money that was supposed to be FOR THE GIRLS PRIMARILY (that was one of the biggest 'holes' in the show right there!!!!) - but everyone else had no shortage of 'truly outrageous' fashions to be sure. I know the Starlight Girls are sent clothes shopping in 'The Music Awards: Part 1' - but those were meant to be clothes for school. Maybe they made some mysterious, inexplicable pact among themselves to wear the same things day in and day out when they were home (perhaps the clothes that had the most sentimental value to them for whatever reason). lol. Even though it was just the animators being negligent and lazy when it came to the Starlight Girls, unfortunately.
5.) I agree that a lot of Jem's songs seem better when you listen to them as an adult. I actually started crying when I heard "Music is Magic" again a few weeks ago - even though I've heard it thousands of times in the past. And "Twilight in Paris" is very sensual/sexy - I wish there had been more songs like that as the show continued, instead of the more high octane, child-oriented songs they sang for most of Season 2 (although I guess the executives wanted more of the latter, and less of the "Twilight in Paris" type, unfortunately).
Of course, I wouldn't say Jem's songs were "especially" good, compared to the others. Even songs like Roxy's 'I'm Gonna Change' and Ba Nee's 'A Father Should Be' had a lot of psychological resonance. The Misfits had some awesome, kick-ass numbers like "Takin' It All", "Welcome to the Jungle" and "I Like Your Style" (to name but three). I'm not a fan of the Stingers' style overall, but I think "Destiny" was one of the BEST songs on the show (probably because Rapture and Minx had solos too, as opposed to just Riot singing lead vocal). Also, there were some highly exhilarating duets between the Holograms and the other bands - like "Click/Clash" with the Misfits and "Believe/Don't Believe" with the Stingers. My point is that the music was one of the biggest assets the show had, and it wasn't just limited to Jem's songs. :)
6.) I think everything the animators got right ultimately outweighed the limitations. The expressions on the characters' faces were often PRICELESS. I didn't like the way they started making Rio look wimpish from Season 2 onwards - in stark contrast to the handsome, subtly macho Latino look he had earlier in the show - and I think Stormer looked prettier in Season 1 too, but on the whole, the animation was impressive. The music videos were definitely inventive, if sometimes trippy and hallucinogenic. lol. "Jealousy" was particularly effective and primal, while the Misfits' "Scandal" was spot on despite the trippiness. And "Lovesick" in Season 3 was phenomenal! lol. Also loved the way they showed the Holograms, Clash, Rio et. al orbiting around a giant Pizzazz in "Universal Appeal", along with the way she and the Misfits turn into constellations and the iridescent heat generated by stars! :D
And who can forget giant Pizzazz hatching out of a giant baseball on the field, scaring all the other players away in "Winning Is Everything", while walking away with the jock, football player version of Rio in "Takin' It All"? lol.
7.) I decided to take the "Jem Girls" theme song with a grain of salt and just go with it. It's not that bad in its own right, but definitely disappoints fans in the wake of the ultra sophisticated original opening number.
8.) I wouldn't call the Jem/Jerrica/Rio love triangle "legitimately compelling". It made for a lot of highly amusing soap opera style drama, but it wasn't compelling because Jerrica didn't have a strong enough reason to LIE to Rio in the first place!! Unlike the usual superhero secret identity love triangle scenario, where there are LEGITIMATE REASONS to maintain the deception and subterfuge with the love interests. Also, Christy Marx and the other writers didn't make it clear enough that Rio was dating Jem with Jerrica's permission - and so we have all these fans hating on Rio and calling him a cheater and what not, when he wasn't. The whole thing just turned out to be a HUGE MESS more than anything - despite starting out in a very compelling way in the first 5 episodes. Sometimes I think Christy Marx herself got in over her head and confused herself.
9.) Of course the "action-heavy" aspects of the show end up straining credibility - I wonder what kind of premiums Jem and the Holograms pay on their insurance, because disaster seems to follow them around no matter where they are - but the action definitely kept the boys on the edge of their seats just like the girls. Like you, I probably wouldn't have got into it if it weren't for the danger and thrills myself, as a 5 year old boy. I actually turned off the TV the first time I watched the show (the episode was 'Starbright: Part 1', which is an ultra girly episode until the end).
10.) I think some of Jem's songs turned out to be "overly preachy" - especially by the time we get to Season 2 (at which point the executives seem to have SPECIFICALLY asked the writers to make the show more girlish and kid-centered, probably because the dolls weren't selling as well as Harsbo had hoped by the end of Season 1. Of course, by the end of Season 2, as Season 3 approached, the songs became less preachy once again - probably because they had to shake things up again to sustain interest!)
Once again, Jerrica's/Jem's PERSONAL MORALS were not always "legitimately good" as I pointed out earlier - but the overall morals of the show definitely were!
11.) Yes, the show got away with what was essentially "magic/fantasy" by coding everything as "science fiction" - whether it was Synergy or Techrat. That was definitely genius. It was essentially as supernatural a girl's show as SHE-RA: PRINCESS OF POWER, in the final analysis, but framing everything within the confines of sci-fi certainly made it plausible that all these things could take place in 'the real world'.
Definitely way more things to love about the show than not to love.
I used to fantasize about a new animated series as far back as the late '90s, but what made the show for me was the VOICE ACTING, ultimately - and I can't imagine anyone replacing Samantha Newark as Jerrica/Jim. Similarly, no one with today's styles of acting will be able to infuse Pizzazz with the almost whimsical sense of trouble that Patricia, her '80s voice actress did. She had those upward vocal inflections that were classic. Today, she would speak with vocal fry. There were definitely so many unresolved things on the show that could be delved into in a reboot series, but perhaps it IS just best to 'leave well enough alone' as you said.
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