In Praise of "Captain EO" 25 Years Later

On this date, September 12, 1986, 'Captain EO' opened at Disneyland! Yes, it's kind of cheesy (meant adoringly), and yes, Michael's uniform kind of looks like it's decorated with Jolly Rancher candies, lol, but you know what else? 'Captain EO' is Disney and it's Michael Jackson and it's amazing dancing and excellent music... and it rules. To fully appreciate this date 25 years ago, let's not only marvel at it's amazingness and at how art so wonderfully imitated life's deeper spiritual truths, but let's put it into the context of the times...

Two years earlier Michael Jackson was on top of the game in a way that no one else had ever been. He won a record 8 Grammy Awards, the American Music Awards were basically an MJ tribute show, his name was put into the Guinness Book of World Records at a special ceremony in New York when 'Thriller' became the biggest selling album in history, he received an award at the White House and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. There was the Victory Tour that summer, Pepsi commercials on TV, you couldn't go anywhere without Michael Jackson. Ubiquitous is an understatement. Heck, I even bought my 'Human Nature' folder (pictured below) in a tiny, itty, bitty grocery store in Kansas that summer. Michael was everywhere. It was a lovely time (for a fan, lol - for others it was total "overexposure" ;)!

Flash forward, though, and it gets quiet in MJ world. There was "We Are the World" and Madame Tussaud's in 1985 and a brief appearance at the 1986 Grammy's, but otherwise it was kind of a lonely time for those of us recovering from the joyous onslaught of 'Thriller' days. It seemed so horribly lonely without the world celebrating Michael's every move. The high point between early '85 and the release of 'Bad' over two years later (two years = eternity when you're a kid ;) was the exciting news about 'Captain EO'! There was a "making of" special on the Disney Channel, a primetime special on network TV in September ... it was so exciting! Ah, beautiful Michael dancing in something we hadn't seen before, beautiful Michael singing two (!!!!) new songs we hadn't heard before! Oh happy-happy, joy-joy!!! I'm not trying to be melodramatic when I say that 'Captain EO' was such a bright spot in my life at the time, even though I had no idea when or if I would ever see it...



We didn't have a VCR back then, so I recorded the "making of" special on audio cassette (roflol) and adored those precious clips of "We Are Here to Change the World", "Another Part of Me" and some of the dialogue (which I memorized so perfectly that my sister swore I sounded exactly like MJ, hehe. "Very beautiful within, your Highness, but without a key to unlock it. And that is my gift to you." :))) And remember that we didn't know if we'd ever get those two songs in their entirety or not, so those poor audio quality clips were like gold! And I spent the next months wishing on the first evening star (a la Disney!) that somehow the universe would see fit to find me a way to Disneyland so that I could soak up every bit of MJ I could get. My family had never taken a vacation like that (we never went anywhere, geesh!), so the chances were virtually nil. Just nil. Until early that next year when a MIRACLE occurred... my dad had received a bonus or something and my parents decided to take us for a real vacation for once in our lives... to California... to Disneyland!!!!!! So yes, blessed miracles occur... I saw 'Captain EO' less than a year from its premiere date, against all odds. And more miracles may have been in store, for guess who else may have been there on my precious day????!!! YES!!!! But that, as they say, is a whole 'nother story! A-hee-hee! ;)

All these years later I think one of the most amazing things about this short film is how closely it represents a deeper spiritual reality. It's not a reality that most of the public can grasp, perhaps, but we know it. We knew it then and we know it now. And Michael knew it, too. We're on a mission in the everlasting light that shines... we are here to change the world... a small group that struggles to bring freedom to the worlds of despair, led by the beautiful Captain EO, ever deeper into love from that first moment of the music... into a love that awakens and transforms, brings out the beauty in all we see, brightens the world with its light, makes us dream, fills us with bliss. A love so major that all these many years later we're sending out a major love (see Major Love Prayer!) every month and really, with every heartbeat, for we are filled with it. "That is my gift to you." Indeed it is. Thank you, Captain ;) We are honored and humbled to be part of your crew. :Salute:! And to help us get into the spirit... "Wooooooooooo!!!!" Love you, Michael.





More info, dates, etc on Captain EO on Wikipedia. Here's the Making of: