40 Fun Facts About Rainbow Brite

Which greeting card company created Rainbow Brite and unveiled her at a 1984 toy fair?

Hallmark Cards backed her launch with a $15 million marketing campaign built mostly on television advertising, and the dolls and cartoon specials followed within the year.

What was Rainbow Brite called before she earned her famous name by bringing color to a gray land?

Wisp was the girl's name when she arrived in the colorless world. She became Rainbow Brite only after freeing the Color Kids and taking charge of them.

Which furry sprite is Rainbow Brite's personal helper and most loyal friend in the 1980s cartoon?

Twink is the one sprite who answers to Rainbow Brite herself. In one episode a sly traveling salesman tricks him into signing away the Color Caves.

What is the name of Rainbow Brite's talking horse, a loyal friend with a high opinion of himself?

Starlite is loving but egotistical, a running joke of the series. He was voiced in the 1980s by Andre Stojka, who took on other parts in the 1985 film as well.

Which magical item worn by Rainbow Brite produces the energy force she uses to fight evil?

The Color Belt is powered by processed crystals from the sprites' mines, and the villains of the 1985 film make stealing it one of their goals.

Which evil scientist is Rainbow Brite's chief enemy, plotting from Rainbow Land's last colorless corner?

Murky Dismal keeps inventing ways to spoil Rainbow Land. In one episode he even claims to be in charge of it to impress his visiting mother.

In Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, which season does the weather girl Stormy refuse to let end?

Winter is Stormy's idea of fun, so she battles Rainbow Brite to keep it going on Earth. She loses the chase, but the cold lingers anyway because of trouble far out in space.

Which toy company produced the original Rainbow Brite dolls after licensing the character in 1984?

Mattel made the dolls and many of the toys from 1984 to 1987, while other firms turned out everything from bicycles and bedding to radios and lamps.

In Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, what kind of horse is On-X, who brings a call for help?

A robot with rockets in place of legs, On-X flies to Rainbow Land to report that the leader of a distant planet has gone missing.

Which voice actor, famous as Optimus Prime in Transformers, played Rainbow Brite's main villain in the 1980s?

Peter Cullen voiced the scheming scientist in both the series and the 1985 film, where he also supplied the voice of the storm horse Skydancer.

Which Hannah Montana co-star voiced Rainbow Brite in the three-part animated reboot released in 2014?

Emily Osment, who played Lilly in the Disney sitcom, led a cast of redesigned characters. The miniseries premiered on a video-on-demand service that November.

Which star of The Breakfast Club voiced the villain in the 2014 Rainbow Brite animated reboot?

Molly Ringwald made The Breakfast Club in 1985, the same year the villain she voices first appeared on cinema screens in the original animated film.

Which diamond-obsessed villain tries to steal an entire planet in Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer?

The Dark Princess plans to tow the planet home behind her spaceship. She returned in the final episode of the series, scheming to become Queen of the Sprites.

Which big, dimwitted sidekick with a large nose bumbles along beside Rainbow Brite's main enemy?

Lurky looks like a giant brown sprite. In the 1985 film he and his boss crash their ship into a throne room, which accidentally helps the heroes win.

A live-action Rainbow Brite home video was filmed on location at which California zoo?

San Diego Zoo hosted one of only two live-action Rainbow Brite programs released on VHS. The other was a tape made to be played at children's birthday parties.

Studios in which country handled much of the animation for Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer?

Japan supplied one of the film's two directors, Kimio Yabuki, and six named outsourcing studios, a common arrangement for its producers at the time.

Lucky is the personal sprite of which Rainbow Brite Color Kid, who oversees a team of crystal miners?

Patty O'Green and Lucky look after the green sprites and their crystals. She was one of only three Color Kids to get a doll in the 2003 anniversary toy line.

What is the name of the diamond planet that all light passes through in the 1985 Rainbow Brite film?

Spectra is kept polished by its own sprites so that more light can pass through it to the rest of the universe. When it dims, Earth is left stuck in the cold.

Which Hollywood studio released Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer in American cinemas in November 1985?

Warner Bros. booked the film for matinees only, three shows a day, and it left cinemas after a run of just five weeks.

Which boy warrior, at first scornful of girls, helps Rainbow Brite save his home planet in the 1985 film?

Krys insists he can beat the villain alone until his mentor makes the two young heroes combine their powers. He wears a wrist device that works much like her own power.

Brian, the Earth boy who befriends Rainbow Brite, dreams of a future playing which sport?

Baseball is Brian's ambition. He is the only boy on Earth who can see Rainbow Brite in the 1985 film, and he also joins her in episodes of the series.

What is the name of the gloomy villains' lair, the one part of Rainbow Brite's land still without color?

The Pits featured in the title of one of the first Rainbow Brite TV specials, a 1984 adventure in which the Color Kids are kidnapped.

In Rainbow Brite, the crystals mined by the sprites are processed into what color-giving substance?

Star Sprinkles brighten and color anything they touch, and they keep the heroine's own powers charged. One episode of the series is named after them.

Which publisher issued the 1985 tie-in comic book for Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer?

DC Comics adapted the film in 1985. A different publisher, Dynamite Entertainment, revived the character for a five-issue comic more than thirty years later.

Which animation company, fresh from Inspector Gadget, produced the Rainbow Brite specials and series?

DIC Enterprises made the first three TV specials, and their success led to a cinema film that was only the second feature the studio had produced.

Romeo is the name of the personal sprite who assists which of Rainbow Brite's seven Color Kids?

Red Butler and Romeo run the red sprites' mine. He was voiced in the 1980s by Mona Marshall, who played two more Color Kids and later many South Park characters.

Which of Rainbow Brite's Color Kids is helped by a personal sprite with the brainy name I.Q.?

Shy Violet and I.Q. manage the violet sprites. She was voiced in the 1980s by Robbie Lee, who also played Indigo and Lala Orange.

Which Rainbow Brite character, once kidnapped by the villain, owns the loyal blue horse Shimmer?

Moonglow makes the night sky shine, so her kidnapping in the episode Rainbow Night threatens to dim every night for good.

Which child star of the horror film Poltergeist appeared in TV commercials for Rainbow Brite dolls?

Heather O'Rourke was one of three well-known child actors in the doll adverts, alongside Tracey Gold and Kellie Martin.

The mysterious baby found by Rainbow Brite in her origin story turns out to be another form of what?

The Sphere of Light is the very thing the girl was sent to find, hidden in plain sight as Baby Brite. The Sphere later gives the heroine her famous new name.

In the Rainbow Brite two-parter The Mighty Monstromurk Menace, what does the villain trap the heroine inside?

A magic bottle holds Rainbow Brite while the Monstromurk drains the land of color. She breaks out, and the monster ends up sealed inside it instead.

Which production record did Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer claim among animated features in 1985?

Quickest ever made: the film was produced in only three months, with the work shared between an American unit and several studios overseas.

Which future Power Rangers mogul co-composed the music for Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer?

Haim Saban wrote the score with Shuki Levy, his partner on the Inspector Gadget music. Both men went on to work on the teen superhero franchise in the 1990s.

Which actor, famous as Dr. Smith in Lost in Space, voiced Count Blogg in the 1985 Rainbow Brite film?

Jonathan Harris played the loyal adviser to the film's chief baddie. Near the end of his career he also voiced characters in A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2.

Which company made the Rainbow Brite breakfast cereal sold in American stores in the mid-1980s?

Ralston Purina, a conglomerate with big interests in pet food and animal feed, sold the cereal, one of many licensed character cereals it made in the 1980s.

Which toy company, known for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures, relaunched Rainbow Brite in 2009?

Playmates Toys planned its 25th anniversary line for the fall, but production delays meant the dolls reached shops on December 24 and missed the holiday shopping season.

In Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, what is the wrist device worn by the planet's young protector called?

The Prism works like the heroine's own power. It once belonged to the elder sprite Orin, who handed it on when he chose and trained his successor.

Which actress and singer, also Lucy in The Littles, was the original voice of Rainbow Brite?

Bettina Bush voiced the heroine in the 1980s specials, series and film, and later played Gloria in the Madagascar video games.

Western Publishing issued many Rainbow Brite storybooks in the 1980s under which famous children's imprint?

Little Golden Books, published since 1942, has long turned film and television characters into picture books, and Rainbow Brite joined them during her first toy line.

Which actor, later the voice of Robin in Teen Titans, played the Earth boy Brian in Rainbow Brite?

Scott Menville voiced Brian in the 1985 film and in the series. Outside acting he played bass in the alternative rock band Boy Hits Car.