Disney's Captain EO Starring Michael Jackson

Closed August 17, 1998

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You sit in the darkened theater wearing your bright purple glasses. As the synthesized music swells, the lights dim and a fiber optic star field magically appears in front of your eyes. Soon the blackness transforms into a spiraling galaxy and a small asteroid floats out towards the audience. A powerful narration thunders through the auditorium: "The cosmos, a universe of good and evil. Where a small group struggles to bring freedom to the countless worlds of despair. A rag tag band lead by the infamous Captain EO!" An unexpected explosion destroys the asteroid, the first of what will be many amazing 3-D illusions.

Captain EO represented a new era for Disney attractions as it was one of the first to be designed after Michael Eisner was named Chairman of the Board of the Walt Disney Company. The idea of using such a current star (and non-Disney star at that) as Michael Jackson was revolutionary and forward thinking. For the first time in many years, a theme park attraction would reflect modern tastes and interests. In another trendy move, Disney brought in George Lucas of Star Wars fame and he took over the job as Executive Producer. Anyone who watched Captain EO undoubtedly saw the influence of Star Wars on the production. For example one of the characters, Hooter, looks nearly identical to Max Rebo in Return of the Jedi. With Industrial Light and Magic on special effects, Captain EO has become famous for being one of the most expensive movies at all time. It's been estimated that the movie cost more that a million dollars a minute to make, mostly due to the elaborate 3-D effects peppered throughout. Underneath all of the explosions and excitement was a very unusual story for science fiction. Captain EO is set on a mission to find the Supreme Leader and present her with a gift. On the way over a "patrol ship" who's origins are not fully explained starts an attack leading to an exciting chase scene. While the enemy uses lasers against them, the crew simply tries to find a way to get away as fast as possible. This trend continues throughout as Captain EO does not use any weapons throughout the movie, an interesting thought the movie doesn't really explore. Finally, the crew finds themselves at the Supreme Leader's planet and through a bad run-in with guards taken into her custody. Apparently, showing up announced is a serious offence, as the Supreme Leader sentences them to 100 years of torture. Thankfully, Captain EO has a secret plan up his sleeve. Apparently this entire time the gift he was supposed to present the Supreme Leader was music, and with a flick of the wrist his crew turns into a rock band. Through the power of his music Captain EO transforms the hideous disfigured guards into normal looking people. After the huge production number, "We Are Here to Change the World" the Supreme Leader herself is transformed from the hideous monster into a beautiful woman. After a brief celebration, Captain EO's ship takes off, apparently to bring his gift to another world.

The strange story worked very well as a vehicle for the exciting dance numbers at the end of the movie. Very much a product of it's time, the end sequence of the film was reminiscent of Michael Jackson's other music video projects such as Thriller. The last song of the movie, Another Part of Me was eventually released as a single and peaked at #11 on Billboard's Top Pop Singles charts and #1 on the R&B charts. The song's lyrics are somewhat cryptic, but seem to imply some sort of universal peace:

We're sending out
A major love
And this is our
Message to you
The planets are lining up
We're bringing brighter days
They're all in line
Waiting for you
Can't you see
You're just another part of me

If there was a greater meaning to the movie, it's certainly something that I never comprehended.

Technically speaking Captain EO was a very impressive movie, especially for the time in which it was created. Even in the late 90s the special effects held up to the CGI-fests common in modern movie houses. Another great feature was the beautiful score created by James Horner, who would later do Disney projects such as The Rocketeer and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids as well as the blockbuster film Titanic.The amazing makeup of the Supreme Leader was accomplished with the talents of Rick Baker, who won the first Academy Award for makeup and as since worked with Disney on Mighty Joe Young, Haunted Mansion and The Rocketeer.

Captain EO represented a change in how Disney attractions would be created. For the first time Imagineers worked with outside companies for much of the creative development, the same process that would eventually create the wildly popular Star Tours and Indiana Jones Adventure attractions. In the end, the film would end up in every Disney resort (excluding Hong Kong) and would entertain audiences for over decade.

This article was provided by Orlandovacation.com your source for Disney World vacation discounts.

Epcot's Imagination Pavillion and Captain EO images © JWL Media. All Rights Reserved.

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