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Michael Jackson · S5 E6
Captain EO
Lucas, Coppola, and Michael Jackson's 3D film at Disneyland
September 1986. The lights go down in a custom-built theater at EPCOT Center, and the audience puts on 3D glasses to watch a $23 million, 17-minute film starring Michael Jackson, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and produced by the man who made Star Wars.
Captain EO (1986). The full 17-minute 3D film produced for Disney theme parks. Michael plays a misfit spaceship commander who uses music and dance to transform a dystopian planet ruled by Anjelica Huston's Supreme Leader. Directed by Coppola, produced by Lucas, with visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.
We Are Here to Change the World, Michael Jackson (1986)
The centerpiece song of Captain EO was written by Michael and produced with John Barnes. It blends orchestral swells with synth-pop, sounding both cinematic and unmistakably Michael. The song was never released as a single and stayed locked inside Disney theme parks for 26 years until it finally appeared on the Bad 25 anniversary edition in 2012. For most of its life, the only way to hear it was to buy a park ticket.
Sources
Bad 25 album credits, Epic Records, 2012
Captain EO production notes, Walt Disney Imagineering
The Dream Team
The project started with Michael's long relationship with Disney and his admiration for Lucas and Coppola. Lucas signed on as executive producer and brought Industrial Light & Magic's visual effects team. Coppola directed, bringing an Academy Award winner's eye to what was essentially a theme park attraction. Michael treated it like a feature film, rehearsing the dance sequences for weeks and insisting on choreographing every move himself.
Sources
Michael Jackson, Inc., Zack O'Malley Greenburg, 2014
TAP TO REVEAL: Who plays the villain, and what happens to her?
Magic Eye Theater, Disneyland, Anaheim
The custom-built 3D theater where Captain EO ran from 1986 to 1997, was revived in 2010 after Michael's death, and closed for good in 2015.
Captain EO by the Numbers
Closed, Then Resurrected
Captain EO closed in 1997 as Disney made room for new attractions. When Michael died in June 2009, Disney revived it as a tribute. The film ran again from 2010 to 2015 at multiple parks worldwide, introducing a new generation to Michael's strangest and most ambitious creative detour.
Sources
Walt Disney Imagineering press releases, 2010
Michael Jackson, Inc., Zack O'Malley Greenburg, 2014
Just Good Friends, Michael Jackson & Stevie Wonder (1987)
A duet with Stevie Wonder from the Bad album, and proof that by 1987 the biggest names in music lined up to collaborate with Michael. Like Captain EO brought together Lucas, Coppola, and Jackson, this track puts two of the greatest voices in pop history on a single song. The production is pure Quincy Jones: tight, bright, and engineered to let both voices shine without competing.
Just Good Friends, Michael Jackson & Stevie Wonder (1987)
The lyrics are a playful back-and-forth about a relationship that both parties claim is casual, while the vocal performances tell a different story. Michael and Stevie trade verses with an ease that comes from decades of mutual respect. Never released as a single, it remains one of Bad's hidden pleasures.
Who directed Captain EO?
Michael Jackson is the biggest entertainer alive, but the world is starting to notice something changing about his appearance. The tabloids have one version of the story, and the truth is far more complicated.
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