Written in 2002, Our Time Is Now
is a Jem sequel that takes place directly after Ba Nee leaves with her father in the series finale. It examines the causes behind Jem's creation and what could happen in Jerrica's life after Jem ended.
Jerrica is wrestling with her double-life as Jem. Her confusing relationship with Rio doesn't help her turmoil. At the same time, the three bands of the series are preparing for big, upcoming events in their careers. Unbeknownst to any of them, Eric Raymond has plans of his own on how to deal with Jem and the Holograms.
Our Time Now also has a sequel called The Ripple Effect. It takes place in 1989-1990 and starts with Rio and Jerrica preparing for their wedding. But, life never seems to be simple for Jerrica. Trouble follows the couple.
Our Time Is Now contains examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Even on her own wedding day, Riot tries to woo Jerrica away from Rio. She makes it clear several times that she's not interested, but he won't listen.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Eric's Sanity Slippage makes him more violent and hands-on than normal. He has Jerrica kidnapped, threatens to kill her, and threatens to rape her. In The Ripple Effect, he tries to kill Deidre (under the misconception that she's Jerrica).
- The Stinger's sleaziness is upped. Riot just won't take "no" for an answer, while Minx goes as far as to drug Rio and pretend they slept together to make Jerrica jealous.
- Adaptational Sexuality: In canon, Danse only has male love interests. In Our Time Now and its sequel, she's a lesbian. Her romance with Stefan was experimental and one-sided.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Raya's hair is naturally dark, not pink like in the cartoon.
- Adaptation Name Change: Downplayed. Jerrica is given a middle name, "Elise".
- The Alcoholic: Eric turns to alcohol after losing his livelihood.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Raya's daughter Selena is born on New Years 1990. At the same time, Eric is shot dead,
- Broken Pedestal: Clash worshipped the Misfits until they abandoned her. She still agrees to join their band but she's no longer the fawning groupie she once was.
- But We Used a Condom!: Raya had a one-night stand with Luis while in Mexico. Despite being careful, she still ended up pregnant.
- Continuation: Our Time Now continues directly after the series ends.
- Darker and Edgier: The Ripple Effect contains more mature content then Our Time Now.
- Dark Fic: The first few chapters contain more mature material than the cartoon (cursing, alcohol, allusions to sex, etc) but aren't anything out of the normal Jem-level of drama. Then Eric has Jerrica kidnapped near the end and things really get dark.
- Death by Childbirth: Jacqui was born in a shed in the early '40s. Her mother died after giving birth to her.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": After what they've been through, Pizzazz doesn't allow Riot to call her something as friendly as "Phyllis".
- Gayngst: In The Ripple Effect, Danse has some of this. She fell in Love at First Sight with her girlfriend Video and they began dating soon after meeting, but Danse still felt uncomfortable with her sexuality. She ended up cheating with Stefan to see if she could fall for a man, but in the end she went back to Video. Her gayngst was put on the backburner until she was reunited with her mother. Upon coming out, her mother reacted negatively and called her an "abomination" to her face.
- Meaningful Name: Clash's nickname comes from her drum skills.
- Parental Abandonment:
- Rio's parents died in a car accident 4 years prior.
- It's mentioned offhand that Stormer's parents had died in an accident several years ago.
- Eric's dad died in the early 1980s and his mother died soon afterwards.
- Polyamory: The Stingers have this type of relationship. The three have a very strong bond but Riot is still heads-over-heels for Jem because he believes that she is the perfect woman for him. In the end, he realizes that Minx and Rapture are enough for him.
- Precision F-Strike:
- To show how angry Clash is at the Misfits, she calls Jetta, Roxy, and Pizzazz "dumb bitches".
- Jerrica calls Eric a "stupid belligerent fucker" after she escapes from his binds.
- Related in the Adaptation: The final chapter of The Ripple Effect reveals that Eric is Jerrica and Kimber's cousin.
- Recurring Dreams: Since Eric burned the master-tapes of her mom's songs, Jerrica's been suffering from a reoccurring nightmare where she's walking through the remains of the airplane crash looking for Jacqui. It turns out to be her mother trying to talk to Jerrica through her dreams.
- Sanity Slippage: Eric slips when he gets fired from his job as manager. After realizing that Jem and Jerrica are the same person, he schemes against Jerrica, however his scheme is much more violent than his previous ones.
- Sixth Ranger: It turns out that Clash does have some musical talent after all. She can't sing, but she can play the drums. With that, she becomes the fifth Misfit.
- Slipping a Mickey: At Jerrrica and Rio's wedding, Minx slips a drug into Rio's drink. She tries to make it look like Rio was cheating with her so that Jerrica will run into Riot's arms.
- Surprise Incest: Unknown to both, Eric is Jerrica's cousin. She used to have a crush on him and he later had a Villainous Crush towards her.
- Teen Pregnancy: Jacqui's mother Marianne was sixteen when she had her.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Danse gets upset when Stefan calls her by her real name, Gisele. He's not close enough to call her by name.
