If you think of Rainbow Brite as just a simple, adorable, sprite-like character from ’80s TV, I have news for you: As with every children’s property that has recently gotten or will soon get some sort of reboot, it’s so much more complicated than that. Rainbow Brite, who debuted in a 1984 TV special, has come and gone over the years, with shifting styles, stories, designs, and, of course, toys. (I do not advise visiting the Wikipedia page unless you have some time to spare or are immune to surprising nostalgic rabbit holes.)
And now she’s coming back—again. Variety reports that there’s a new series and a new movie in the works from Hallmark (the originator of Rainbow Brite) and Crayola Studios with an interesting pair of producers on board: Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher, who have worked together on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Moritz is also a producer in the Fast and Furious empire.
The series logline, Variety says, is “Rainbow Brite, a friend, hero, role model and creative inspiration who brings all the colors of the rainbow to the universe, is transported to a dark and gloomy place with a mission to bring color, light and happiness to the world.”
This is basically the original Rainbow Brite story, in which a girl named Wisp was teleported to a strange world and tasked with finding the Spheres of Light. Eventually, she gets renamed Rainbow Brite (Wisp is a much cooler name, though). She makes friends with Twink (a sprite) and a horse named Starlite, finds all the necessary objects, liberates the Color Kids, and has many adventures that lend themselves to the creation of related toys. There was an earlier Rainbow Brite reboot in 2014.
No release date or casting details have been announced for the movie or TV series.
