Captain EO

It’s hard to imagine that Michael Jackson is dead. Then again he wasn’t what I’d call healthy, for a long time.

When I was a kid I had Thriller on an actual record. It’s hard to imagine having ever owned an actual record. I played that record until it just wouldn’t work anymore. I remember watching the Thriller and Beat It videos on a TV channel that played music videos called MTV. That was before MTV only played trashy, immoral, reality TV shows.

What really stood out though was captain EO. My parents took my sister and I to Disney World the year it was released at the Imagination Pavilion in Epcot. It’s hard to remember just how big Michael Jackson was unless you remember that show. To call it a production is an understatement. You will never see anything like that in any theme park ever again. The cast and production crew was like an all-star team. You shake your head when you hear some of the names involved in that show. Michael Jackson, Angelica Huston, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas were all involved with the show.

It was the first show that I know of to do 4D. 4D is a 3D movie with a layer of interactive or independent effects outside the screen. Captain EO had fog machines and lasers that worked in harmony with the movie. That is now a standard for all 3D attractions in major theme parks.

In the end I have to say Michael Jackson wasn’t right in the head. He had major issues. However, he was still very talented and for a while was the biggest celebrity in the world. Maybe that’s what drove him nuts.