“Captain EO: Just another part of me”A Michael Jackson tributean article by Rik De Lombaerde & Tim Veekhoven
This article originally appeared (in Dutch) in TeeKay Magazine issue 34 (September 2005). Permission to reproduce information from this website / article must be obtained from the authors. |
CONCEPT
The mega success of Michael Jackson in the eighties got Disney’s attention and they desired to build an attraction about the King of Pop. In this period, Disney still had to make its grand comeback with
‘The Little Mermaid’ and several other excellent movies, so there were looking towards external movies (‘Star Wars’) and characters to make new exciting attractions in their themeparks.
Jackson was free to do whatever he wanted, as long as it was to be creative. Jackson, himself a big fan of Disney, had studied Walt Disney’s past and wanted to deliver something that Walt would have liked. Disney proposed a movie and Jackson agreed if he could work with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Because Spielberg was busy at the time, Lucas proposed his former mentor Francis Ford Coppola. Kodak would sponsor the movie in league with Disney. Kodak would benefit from the project in order to promote their new 70mm 3D process. Disney constructed ‘Magic Eye Theaters’ for the attraction with 700 seats and with added laser- and smoke effects.
Jackson visited Skywalker Ranch to discuss the storyline with Lucas. Both agreed easily that it was to be a science fiction story that could benefit from the most modern special effects. Lucas came up with the name Captain EO (Eos being Greek for ‘dawn’) and Jackson wrote two songs for the movie: “We are here to change the world” and “Another part of me”. The first song got finally released on ‘The Ultimate Collection’ in 2004. The second song was released on the album ‘Bad’ and reached number 8 in the top 40. James Horner (‘Titanic’, ‘Willow’) lent his skills for the soundtrack.
