With layoffs rampant, corporate pressure to increase profits at an all-time high, and public respect for the trade at an all-time low, journalists face unprecedented hard times. But through the muckraking spirit of its protagonist, 1989's Brenda Starr suggests that the perils of today's flesh-and-bone news hawks are nothing compared to the danger-fraught existences of their fictional comic-strip peers. Brooke Shields stars as the titular news hound, who, tired of illustrator Tony Peck's constant verbal jabs, exits her comic strip--an action which, if extended to the real world, doubtless would at least mildly disappoint the strip's several loyal readers. Eager to prevent Shields' disappearance from destroying his livelihood, Peck draws himself into her garish fictional world and trails after her as she travels to South America in search of a magical formula that can turn water into fuel. Shields' artfully monogrammed wardrobe and journalistic wiles do little to prevent her from falling into one of the most common traps faced by journalists: getting abducted by circus folk and forced to wear a skimpy costume, a fate that routinely befell Edward R. Murrow. Thankfully, her traveling-circus adventure ends happily, and the increasingly close Shields and Peck meet up again with rogue adventurer Timothy Dalton, a dashing, eye-patch-wearing enigma with a mysterious condition that forces him to imbibe the serum of a flower lest he go mad before his time. Shields' journalistic savvy ultimately saves the day, but though she emerges triumphant, Peck returns to his own world, content to leave behind the perils of fictional reporting for the slightly less hazardous existence of a real-life newspaper hack.
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