Pop Star

Pop Star
Episode Number:	54
First Airdates
Japan ; July 13, 2001	North America ; April 13, 2003
Credits
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◄ Pepper's Visit!

Season 3

Laura is Really Gone! ►

Pop Star (とっとこアイドル!くるりんちゃん, Tottoko Aidoru! Kururin-chan)

Summary

A young pop star named Glitter has just enrolled in Laura's school. What's more, Glitter and her accompanying pop-star hamster, Sparkle, are scheduled to perform a live concert in town! The Ham-Hams invite Sparkle to come hang out with them at the clubhouse. But despite all the Ham-Ham's efforts to befriend Sparkle, she's a tough nut to crack. Meanwhile, the glamorous Glitter has her eyes on Travis, and Laura is sad and jealous. Will Glitter and Sparkle find a way to fit in?

Plot

There's a new pop star in town: Glitter! Laura and her friends love to listen and sing along to her songs. Not only that, but she's going to be attending their school! Laura can't wait to meet her. But when Glitter comes down the hallways of their school, Glitter says that she doesn't have time to sign their "silly books." Not only that, but her producer says that she only should be signing copies of her brand new CD. She gives them all the cold shoulder, until she sees Laura's crush: Travis. She asks Laura who he is and then heads after him. She follows him into class and starts grilling him about what his e-mail address is, whether he likes to hang out on "chatlines," whether he has his own website (she does) and more. Travis doesn't know what to make of all of this, but Glitter doesn't care. She hands him a backstage pass to her upcoming free concert. The other kids start bugging her for free passes, but she won't give them any. The day of the concert comes. Laura and Kana are there, as is Travis. Travis seems very bored and not at all interested in going "backstage." In fact, he's so bored, he falls asleep. In the hamster plot, an accident causes Glitter's hamster, Sparkle, to fall to the ground. The Ham-Hams, in attendance, worry that she might be hurt and rush her into the clubhouse. When Sparkle seems less than thankful for their help, Howdy tries to drive the message home to her that she's "just been rescued." The hamsters introduce themselves as the "amazing Ham-Ham gang" and do a series of parodies and routines, including a spoof of the Power Rangers that completely fail to have a positive effect on Sparkle. She makes a break to get back to Glitter - quick! Meanwhile, back at the park where the concert is being held, Travis, while falling asleep, ends up spilling his drink on Laura's shorts. So they go off alone to see if something can be done about it. Laura says that it's no problem, her Mom's an expert at getting out stains. As they continue to talk, Glitter sees them, alone. She decides not to stand for this and goes over to claim Travis for herself. She comes over and asks to speak to Laura privately. Then, she tells Laura to leave the park, or she's going to call security. When Laura doesn't immediately move to leave, Glitter immediately starts to yell for security. So Laura says no and Glitter says that maybe she can stick around after all. She could see the "backstage." Well, the backstage for Laura happens to be a box, which Glitter stuffs Laura into. Having done that, she goes and makes her move for Travis. Meanwhile, Laura escapes out of the box, which doesn't even have a back end. Glitter now, having Travis to herself, kisses him. As the does so, a pink heart labeled "Kiss" appears over the kiss. Afterwards, Glitter fantasizes about her dominance over Travis while Laura, the "weak, pathetic angel," cowers in a corner. Then, she has Travis close his eyes and count to ten. She motions to kiss him again, but instead ends up falling into a paper construct dragon along with her hamster, Sparkle. Travis reaches ten and opens his eyes. Seeing that Glitter seems to have disappeared, he heads back towards the seating area. As Glitter bumbles around in the paper construct dragon, a panic ensues on stage. Glitter's supposed to be performing soon, but there's no one to be found. So her staff starts searching for a replacement act. Travis volunteers Laura and her friends, since they're so good at singing Glitter's songs. So they go on and put on an amazing performance, while Glitter, having finally escaped from the dragon construct, watches and whines. The hamsters, all together, comment that they hope to see Sparkle again sometime. They think their time with her went well. That evening, Laura's family throws a party for her. But they party so much that Laura gets tired. She reminds them that it's past her bedtime. As she writes about the day's events. She says that if she sees Glitter again, she's going to tell her that she doesn't have to try so hard to get people to like her.

Featured Characters

Ham-Hams:

Other Hamsters:

Sparkle (debut)

Humans:

Laura Haruna
Marion Haruna
Forrest Haruna
Kana Iwata
Kylie
June
Travis Kimura
Phillip Yoshi
Glitter Kurihara (debut)
Announcer

Animals:

Brandy

Trivia

There are two scenes after Laura writes in her diary that were cut out in a few of the Hamtaro dubs. The first scene shows Sparkle complaining about the Ham-Hams. The second scene is Glitter tearing down the transition from Sparkle's scene, swearing revenge on Laura Haruna for the events that occurred in the episode. The English, Spanish, and European Portuguese versions are missing this scene, but the German and Italian dubs retain it.