Sunstar is one of the lead characters in Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. She is magic animal special friend and partner of Princess Gwenevere (Starla), voiced by Deborah Allison. She was renamed as Estrella in the Catalan version.
"Magical Friendships" card
Sunstar is a wondrous white-and-pink unicorn with a unique feature, her mighty wings. Loyal and true, Sunstar becomes bonded with the new leader of the Jewel Riders, Princess Gwenevere, sharing the magic and a half of the Sun Stone with Gwen after having been rescued by her from the evil Lady Kale and learning how to fly. She then quickly becomes Gwen’s best friend and soulmate, faithful companion, and trusted confidant in the Jewel Riders' fight against the forces of darkness, teaching the young princess to make the right decisions and always keep a positive outlook.
In the show[]
Character[]
Princess Gwenevere on Sunstar in "Lady of the Lake"
The very rare winged unicorns are the most wonderful of all the unicorns. When Sunstar first met Princess Gwenevere, the gentle and kind unicorn was an outcast from her own kind because she was afraid to fly. But after she bonded with Gwenevere through the royal Sun Stone, and with Gwen's love and support, Sunstar has matured into a powerful and graceful champion.
Gwen on Sunstar in "Dreamfields"
Sunstar has a sweet temperament and a sharp sense of what is right and wrong. Although Gwen has a tendency towards being selfish and shallow, the ever-patient unicorn knows the young woman has a strong-willed nature and tremendous potential to someday be a great leader of the kingdom of Avalon.
Gwenevere and Sunstar with their Sun Stones in "Prince of the Forest"
Aside from her long and curving wings, Sunstar has a unique pearl-white "sea-shell" swirled horn. Gwenevere loves her more than anything in the world, and she makes sure the unicorn is taken care of. Sunstar has a lush, and very soft, suede-like hide that Gwenevere constantly brushes to a radiant, golden glow. Sunstar's long mane and tail get particular attention from Gwen during grooming. Gwen only adorns her with riding gear made from the finest materials as well as lovely silks and flowers for the unicorn's mane and tail.
Appearances[]
Sunstar is introduced in the first episode ("Jewel Quest, Part I", continued in "Part II"), as she is being mocked by some other young unicorns for having wings yet being unable to fly, and dreams of having a friend who will understand her. Sunstar's father consoles her, saying she is special and will be a great gift to all of Avalon, and will find a friend that she so desires.
Merlin's key-carrying Sunstar captured by the evil Lady Kale in "Jewel Quest, Part I"
Following a fateful chance encounter with the hawk fleeing from Gwen's wicked aunt Lady Kale in the Great Forests, Sunstar selflessly tries to save Merlin's key from Kale but is caught after a chase. By chance, Princess Gwenevere and her friends happen to arrive and see Sunstar being cruelly tormented for magically hurting Kale's hands with her horn. They try to rescue Sunstar, but Kale escapes to her Castle Thornwoods with Sunstar still in her captivity. Since Gwen managed to recover the key, Kale demands for the princess to trade it for the unicorn's life. When Gwen does surrender the key, it turns out Kale has already magically bound Sunstar to her through the Dark Stone. But a magical intervention from Merlin saves the day, also breaking the dark spell that the witch put on Sunstar to make her a creature of evil. Once freed, the unicorn suddenly learns how to fly as they dramatically escape from Kale's castle with the key and the now-empty box.
Next day, at the Circle of Friendship ceremony, with the help of Tamara, Gwen succeeds in sharing the Sun Stone with Sunstar as her special friend after having failed bonding with any of the assorted magic animals that have been brought to the ceremony. This bonds them to each other and enables Gwen to become one of the Jewel Riders. Repeatedly through the first two episodes, Sunstar is asked to fly - once when it is only merely about her pride and place among her peers, and twice when the fate of the world, or the lives of others, are at stake. Gwen, by contrast, is worried that she will not fit the Sun Stone and become a Jewel Rider. But with each other, Sunstar and Gwen both succeed in overcoming their troubles.
Princess Gwenevere riding Sunstar to battle Kale in "The Faery Princess"
Since then, Sunstar appears in all of the other episodes, serving as Gwen's trusted friend and mount in the Jewel Quest to defeat Kale and bring back Merlin. Sunstar grows to become a strong character that guides Gwen to always do the right thing and gives her the confidence that they can free themselves and Avalon from darkness. They are almost always together in their adventures, helping out and rescuing each other and their other friends. The episodes in which Sunstar plays particularly large roles include "Travel Trees Can't Dance", "Dreamfields", "Prince of the Forest", and "The Wishing Jewel".
Despairing Gwen being comforted by Sunstar in "Spirit of Avalon"
Sunstar, together with Gwenevere's wolf-boy sweetheart Ian, eventually helps Gwen in the time of a great crisis in "Spirit of Avalon". Together, the three of them manage to save the day as they finally rid Avalon of Kale and rescue the other Jewel Riders from their would-be doom. In the following last episode, "The Last Dance", Sunstar then also takes part in the decisive battle against the witch-queen Morgana alongside Fallon's Moondance and Tamara's Shadowsong. During it, when Gwenevere is forced by Morgana to make a hard choice between rescuing either Sunstar or Ian, she chooses to save Sunstar.
Behind the scenes[]
Sunstar was voiced by Deborah Allison, dubbed over by Eva Michaelis in German. Sunstar's Catalan name in Starla i les amazones de les joies, Estrella, is a Spanish feminine name that shares the meaning of 'star' and 'divine strenght'.
Development[]
The original version of the character that would become Sunstar can be found in the pitch for the cartoon adaptation fo Dragonriders of Pern, which was to feature a "Gold Queen" female dragon named Arianth ("the luckiest girls of Pern are these who have bonded themselves to 'golds', the future dragon queens").[1] Turned into a unicorn after the Perm project was abandoned, she has been at first noticeably stockier and entirely golden-colored,[2] and used to be known as Amber in some early versions of the show, including in the Show Bible.[3][4][5][6] Amber's woodland animal friends were also to appear.[7]
According to Greg Autore, "originally Sun Star did not have wings and was just a unicorn. It was eventually decided that giving Fallon a horse was not magical enough so Fallon's horse became a unicorn and Gwen's horse became a flying unicorn."[8] Two versions of Amber's toy prototypes were made: a golden unicorn (similar as in a picture below but with a pink saddle) with a pink saddle, and a pink one more similar to Sunstar (but still with no wings).[9]
Legacy[]
Sunstar later partially inspired the characters of Lyra, Starfire and Lorelei in Avalon: Web of Magic. Kara Davies (Avalon's analogue version of Gwenevere) bonds with the firemental horse Starfire after naming him just like the Jewel Rider Tamara does with Shadowsong. She also bonds with the leopard-like flying cat creature named Lyra, after rescuing her from the Dark Sorceress' captivity.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Dragonriders of Perm – The Jewel Riders Archive
- ↑ Enchanted Jewel Riders Show Bible | The Jewel Riders Archive
- ↑ Travel Trees Can't Dance (script)
- ↑ Song of the Rainbow (script)
- ↑ Wizard's Peak (script)
- ↑ The Faery Princess (script)
- ↑ Jewel Quest script (Enchanted Quest)
- ↑ Enchanted Camelot | The Jewel Riders Archive
- ↑ Enchanted Camelot | Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders Archive Showcase | Toy Prototype Kitbash
| Jewel Riders |
|---|
  Enchanted Jewels and the Jewel Riders Magic, Jewel Armor, Crystal Palace, Enchanted Gardens, the Pack, Jewel Quest |
| Characters |
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| List of characters List of episodic characters Main characters |
| Magic |
|---|
  Magic, Wild Magic, Jewel Quest, Jewel Armor |
