Captain EO
Encyclopedia
Captain EO is a 3-D
science fiction film
starring Michael Jackson
and directed by Francis Ford Coppola
(who came up with the name "Captain EO" from the Greek, cf. "Eos", the Greek goddess of dawn) that was shown at Disney
theme parks from 1986 through the 1990s. The attraction returned to the Disney Parks in 2010, as a tribute after Jackson's death
.
The film's executive producer was George Lucas
. The film was choreographed by Jeffrey Hornaday
and Michael Jackson
, photographed
by Peter Anderson, produced by Rusty Lemorande
and written by Lemorande, Lucas and Coppola, from a story idea by the artists of Walt Disney Imagineering
. Lemorande also initially designed and created two of the creatures, and was an uncredited editor of the film. The score was written by James Horner
, and featured two songs ("We Are Here to Change the World" and "Another Part of Me
"), both written and performed by Michael Jackson. The Supreme Leader was played by Anjelica Huston
. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
was the lighting director during much of the principal photography. Captain EO is regarded as one of the first "4-D" films
(4-D being the name given to a 3-D film which incorporates in-theater effects, such as lasers, smoke, etc., frame synced to the film narrative). This innovation was suggested by producer-writer Lemorande who is, therefore, sometimes referred to as "The Father of 4-D."
) and the ragtag crew of his spaceship on a mission to deliver a gift to "The Supreme Leader", who lives on a world of rotting, twisted metal and steaming vents. Captain EO's alien crew consists of his small flying sidekick Fuzzball, the double-headed navigator and pilot Idey (Debbie Lee Carrington
) and Ody (Cindy Sorenson), robotic security officer Major Domo (Gary Depew), a small robot, Minor Domo (who fits like a module into Major Domo), and the clumsy elephant-like shipmate Hooter (Tony Cox) who always manages to upset the crew's missions. Dick Shawn
plays Captain EO's boss, Commander Bog.
Upon arriving on the planet, the crew is captured by the henchmen of the Supreme Leader, and brought before her. She sentences the crew to be turned into trash cans, and Captain EO to 100 years of torture in her deepest, darkest dungeon. Before being sent away, Captain EO tells the Supreme Leader that he sees the beauty hidden within her, and that he brings her the key to unlock it: his song, "We Are Here to Change the World".
The two robot members of the crew transform into musical instruments and the crew members begin to play the various instruments. As Hooter runs toward his instrument, he trips over EO's cape and breaks it, stopping the music. The spell broken, the Supreme Leader orders her guards to capture Captain EO and his crew.
Hooter manages to repair his instrument and sends out a blast of music, providing EO with the power to throw off the guards. He uses his power to transform the dark hulking guards into agile dancers who fall into step behind him for a dance number. As EO presses forward toward the Supreme Leader she unleashes her Whip Warriors, two cybernetic defenders each with a whip and shield that can deflect EO's power.
The others all run away leaving Captain EO to fight the Whip Warriors alone. EO is trapped by a closing gate and is preparing for a last stand as both the whip warriors draw their whips back for a final blow. Fuzzball drops his instrument and speedily flies over to tie the two whips together, causing the Whip Warriors to be thrown off balance giving EO an opportunity to transform them as well. With no further obstacles, EO uses his power to transform the remaining four henchmen not yet unleashed and they, the transformed whip warriors and the other dancers press forward in dance before EO transforms the Supreme Leader into a beautiful woman, her lair into a peaceful Greek temple and the planet into a verdant paradise.
A celebration breaks out to "Another Part of Me", as EO and his crew triumphantly exit and fly off into space.
. The action on the screen extended into the audience, including lasers, laser impacts, smoke effects, and starfields that filled the theater. These effects resulted in the seventeen-minute film costing an estimated $30 million to produce. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever produced on a per-minute basis, averaging out at $1.76 million per minute.
The 2010 version does not include the in-theater laser and starfield effects. It does utilize hydraulics previously used for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! to make the seats shake along with Captain EO's spaceship, as well as LED flood-lighting which is new to the theater. They are also used for the bass heavy musical numbers. The seats also bounce to the beat of Jackson's song. Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!s seat-back misters are also employed when Hooter sneezes.
special entitled Captain EO: Backstage was produced for television by MKD Productions. The piece was directed by Muffett Kaufman and was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg
. It featured interviews with cast, writers and the director.
Eclipse
3-D Special #18 and issued in two formats: regular sized for distribution to the national network of comic book stores and tabloid sized sold at Disneyland as a souvenir. Toys available included plush versions of Idy and Ody, Hooter, and the "Fuzzball" character. Trading cards, pins, keychains, a Hooter backpack, and a 'glow in the dark' T-shirt with the same three-color pattern painted across it that Captain EO wears in the film were also produced.
, while the area and pre-show music was written by Richard Bellis
.
Two new songs appeared in the film. The first is an early mix of "Another Part of Me
". The song was re-mixed and later appeared on Jackson's hugely successful Bad
album. It was released as a single in 1988, and makes a brief appearance in the movie "Rush Hour" in which Chris Tucker
mimics Jackson after blowing up a car.
"We Are Here to Change the World" was not officially released until 2004 as part of Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection
. However, this version is a shorter edit of the full-length song. Soul/R&B singer Deniece Williams
covered the song on her As Good As It Gets album in 1988.
, albeit in a down-converted 2-D version. It has not aired again since, nor has it officially been issued on home video/DVD
/Blu-ray
, although bootleg videos exist.
After the death of Michael Jackson
on June 25, 2009, Captain EO regained popularity on the Internet. For several years, a small group of fans had petitioned Disney to bring back the attraction and Jackson's death had brought this campaign to a peak. Soon afterward, Disney officials were seen in Disneyland at the Magic Eye Theater and reportedly held a private screening of Captain EO to determine if it could be shown again. It was rumored that Disneyland would announce the return of the attraction at Disneyland in September. However, on September 10, Disney CEO Bob Iger said, "There aren’t plans to bring back Captain EO at this time ... We are looking at it. It’s the kind of thing that, if we did it, would get a fair amount of attention and we’d want to make sure we do it right."
On December 18, 2009, it was announced that Captain EO would return to Tomorrowland at Disneyland beginning in February 2010. Social and Print Media Manager Heather Hust Rivera from Disneyland Resort confirmed this on the DisneyParks Blog and stated that Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! would be closing. The attraction hosted its final public showing in the Magic Eye Theater at midnight on January 4, 2010 to make way for the Michael Jackson film's return.
The attraction re-opened at Disneyland on February 23, 2010. The attraction returned to Discoveryland at Disneyland Park (Paris)
on June 12, 2010, returned to Epcot
at Walt Disney World on July 2 and to Tokyo Disneyland
on July 1. The attraction in fact returned to Epcot for a "soft opening" (actual opening to the public prior to the official opening) on June 30, 2010, two days prior to its official re-opening.
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
science fiction film
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
starring Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
and directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
(who came up with the name "Captain EO" from the Greek, cf. "Eos", the Greek goddess of dawn) that was shown at Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
theme parks from 1986 through the 1990s. The attraction returned to the Disney Parks in 2010, as a tribute after Jackson's death
Death of Michael Jackson
On June 25, 2009, American singer Michael Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication after he suffered a respiratory arrest at his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles. His personal physician, Conrad Murray, said he found Jackson in his room, not breathing, but with a faint pulse,...
.
The film's executive producer was George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
. The film was choreographed by Jeffrey Hornaday
Jeffrey Hornaday
Jeffrey Hornaday is an American choreographer and film director.Hornaday's choreography credits include the films Flashdance, A Chorus Line, Dick Tracy, D.C. Cab, Romancing the Stone, Tango & Cash, Life Stinks, Carlito's Way, Sweet Jane, and Neil Simon's The Marrying Man...
and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, photographed
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
by Peter Anderson, produced by Rusty Lemorande
Rusty Lemorande
Rusty Lemorande is an American screenwriter, director, actor and film producer, who created the 1989 version of Journey to the Center of the Earth.One of Lemorande's first major jobs was production executive for the comedy Caddyshack...
and written by Lemorande, Lucas and Coppola, from a story idea by the artists of Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering is the design and development arm of the Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation and construction of Disney theme parks worldwide...
. Lemorande also initially designed and created two of the creatures, and was an uncredited editor of the film. The score was written by James Horner
James Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
, and featured two songs ("We Are Here to Change the World" and "Another Part of Me
Another Part of Me
"Another Part of Me" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. Produced by Quincy Jones for the singer's seventh solo album, Bad , the song was originally featured in Jackson's 1986 3-D film Captain EO. It is the sixth song on the album...
"), both written and performed by Michael Jackson. The Supreme Leader was played by Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...
. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
Vittorio Storaro
Vittorio Storaro, A.S.C., A.I.C. is an Italian cinematographer.In 2003, a survey conducted by the International Cinematographers Guild judged Storaro one of history's ten most influential cinematographers.-Biography:...
was the lighting director during much of the principal photography. Captain EO is regarded as one of the first "4-D" films
4-D film
4-D film is a marketing term that describes an entertainment presentation system combining a 3-D film with physical effects in the theatre, which occur in synchronization with the film...
(4-D being the name given to a 3-D film which incorporates in-theater effects, such as lasers, smoke, etc., frame synced to the film narrative). This innovation was suggested by producer-writer Lemorande who is, therefore, sometimes referred to as "The Father of 4-D."
Story
The film tells the story of Captain EO (Michael JacksonMichael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
) and the ragtag crew of his spaceship on a mission to deliver a gift to "The Supreme Leader", who lives on a world of rotting, twisted metal and steaming vents. Captain EO's alien crew consists of his small flying sidekick Fuzzball, the double-headed navigator and pilot Idey (Debbie Lee Carrington
Debbie Lee Carrington
Debbie Lee Carrington is an American actress and stuntwoman known for her diminutive size . She has appeared in many films and TV shows, including In Living Color, Return of the Jedi, Howard the Duck, Total Recall, Men in Black, Seinfeld, Baywatch, Married with Children , Boston Legal, The Garbage...
) and Ody (Cindy Sorenson), robotic security officer Major Domo (Gary Depew), a small robot, Minor Domo (who fits like a module into Major Domo), and the clumsy elephant-like shipmate Hooter (Tony Cox) who always manages to upset the crew's missions. Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn was an American actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Shawn was born as Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York. He played Sylvester Marcus, son of Mrs. Marcus , in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Lorenzo St...
plays Captain EO's boss, Commander Bog.
Upon arriving on the planet, the crew is captured by the henchmen of the Supreme Leader, and brought before her. She sentences the crew to be turned into trash cans, and Captain EO to 100 years of torture in her deepest, darkest dungeon. Before being sent away, Captain EO tells the Supreme Leader that he sees the beauty hidden within her, and that he brings her the key to unlock it: his song, "We Are Here to Change the World".
The two robot members of the crew transform into musical instruments and the crew members begin to play the various instruments. As Hooter runs toward his instrument, he trips over EO's cape and breaks it, stopping the music. The spell broken, the Supreme Leader orders her guards to capture Captain EO and his crew.
Hooter manages to repair his instrument and sends out a blast of music, providing EO with the power to throw off the guards. He uses his power to transform the dark hulking guards into agile dancers who fall into step behind him for a dance number. As EO presses forward toward the Supreme Leader she unleashes her Whip Warriors, two cybernetic defenders each with a whip and shield that can deflect EO's power.
The others all run away leaving Captain EO to fight the Whip Warriors alone. EO is trapped by a closing gate and is preparing for a last stand as both the whip warriors draw their whips back for a final blow. Fuzzball drops his instrument and speedily flies over to tie the two whips together, causing the Whip Warriors to be thrown off balance giving EO an opportunity to transform them as well. With no further obstacles, EO uses his power to transform the remaining four henchmen not yet unleashed and they, the transformed whip warriors and the other dancers press forward in dance before EO transforms the Supreme Leader into a beautiful woman, her lair into a peaceful Greek temple and the planet into a verdant paradise.
A celebration breaks out to "Another Part of Me", as EO and his crew triumphantly exit and fly off into space.
Special effects
Captain EO made full use of its 3-D effects3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
. The action on the screen extended into the audience, including lasers, laser impacts, smoke effects, and starfields that filled the theater. These effects resulted in the seventeen-minute film costing an estimated $30 million to produce. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever produced on a per-minute basis, averaging out at $1.76 million per minute.
The 2010 version does not include the in-theater laser and starfield effects. It does utilize hydraulics previously used for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! to make the seats shake along with Captain EO's spaceship, as well as LED flood-lighting which is new to the theater. They are also used for the bass heavy musical numbers. The seats also bounce to the beat of Jackson's song. Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!s seat-back misters are also employed when Hooter sneezes.
The Making of Captain EO
Concurrent with the opening of the attraction, a behind-the-scenes documentaryDocumentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
special entitled Captain EO: Backstage was produced for television by MKD Productions. The piece was directed by Muffett Kaufman and was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
. It featured interviews with cast, writers and the director.
Merchandising
The story was adapted with art by Tom Yeates in the comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
Eclipse
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
3-D Special #18 and issued in two formats: regular sized for distribution to the national network of comic book stores and tabloid sized sold at Disneyland as a souvenir. Toys available included plush versions of Idy and Ody, Hooter, and the "Fuzzball" character. Trading cards, pins, keychains, a Hooter backpack, and a 'glow in the dark' T-shirt with the same three-color pattern painted across it that Captain EO wears in the film were also produced.
Music
The show's orchestral score was composed by James HornerJames Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
, while the area and pre-show music was written by Richard Bellis
Richard Bellis
Richard Bellis is notable as an Emmy Award winning composer for the mini-series "Stephen King's It." Bellis is a former President of the Society of Composers & Lyricists, former governor of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences a USC lecturer and the composer of music for numerous TV...
.
Two new songs appeared in the film. The first is an early mix of "Another Part of Me
Another Part of Me
"Another Part of Me" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. Produced by Quincy Jones for the singer's seventh solo album, Bad , the song was originally featured in Jackson's 1986 3-D film Captain EO. It is the sixth song on the album...
". The song was re-mixed and later appeared on Jackson's hugely successful Bad
Bad (album)
Bad is the seventh studio album by American songwriter and recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic/CBS Records, nearly five years after Jackson's previous studio album, Thriller, which went on to become the world's best-selling album...
album. It was released as a single in 1988, and makes a brief appearance in the movie "Rush Hour" in which Chris Tucker
Chris Tucker
Christopher "Chris" Tucker is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series.-Early life:...
mimics Jackson after blowing up a car.
"We Are Here to Change the World" was not officially released until 2004 as part of Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection
Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection
Disc 2Disc 3Disc 4*The Jackson 5 perform tracks 1-3 and 7 . The Jacksons perform tracks 8, 11-12, 18-19 and track 8 .DVD - Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour # "Intro"# "Jam"...
. However, this version is a shorter edit of the full-length song. Soul/R&B singer Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams
June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
covered the song on her As Good As It Gets album in 1988.
Popularity and return
Several years after the attraction originally opened, it made its one and only network television appearance on MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, albeit in a down-converted 2-D version. It has not aired again since, nor has it officially been issued on home video/DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
/Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
, although bootleg videos exist.
After the death of Michael Jackson
Death of Michael Jackson
On June 25, 2009, American singer Michael Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication after he suffered a respiratory arrest at his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles. His personal physician, Conrad Murray, said he found Jackson in his room, not breathing, but with a faint pulse,...
on June 25, 2009, Captain EO regained popularity on the Internet. For several years, a small group of fans had petitioned Disney to bring back the attraction and Jackson's death had brought this campaign to a peak. Soon afterward, Disney officials were seen in Disneyland at the Magic Eye Theater and reportedly held a private screening of Captain EO to determine if it could be shown again. It was rumored that Disneyland would announce the return of the attraction at Disneyland in September. However, on September 10, Disney CEO Bob Iger said, "There aren’t plans to bring back Captain EO at this time ... We are looking at it. It’s the kind of thing that, if we did it, would get a fair amount of attention and we’d want to make sure we do it right."
On December 18, 2009, it was announced that Captain EO would return to Tomorrowland at Disneyland beginning in February 2010. Social and Print Media Manager Heather Hust Rivera from Disneyland Resort confirmed this on the DisneyParks Blog and stated that Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! would be closing. The attraction hosted its final public showing in the Magic Eye Theater at midnight on January 4, 2010 to make way for the Michael Jackson film's return.
The attraction re-opened at Disneyland on February 23, 2010. The attraction returned to Discoveryland at Disneyland Park (Paris)
Disneyland Park (Paris)
Disneyland Park is a theme park at Disneyland Paris, a resort complex just outside of Paris, in the new town of Marne-la-Vallée, France. The first of two parks built at the resort, it opened as Euro Disneyland on 12 April, 1992...
on June 12, 2010, returned to Epcot
Epcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
at Walt Disney World on July 2 and to Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo Disneyland
is a 115 acre theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside of the United States and opened on April 15, 1983...
on July 1. The attraction in fact returned to Epcot for a "soft opening" (actual opening to the public prior to the official opening) on June 30, 2010, two days prior to its official re-opening.
See also
- Epcot attraction and entertainment historyEpcot attraction and entertainment historyEpcot is a theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort. The term "attractions" is used by Disney as a catch-all term for rides, shows, and exhibits.-Current Future World attractions:...
- List of 3-D films
- List of past Disneyland attractions
- Tokyo Disneyland attraction and entertainment historyTokyo Disneyland attraction and entertainment history-Current attractions:* Snow White's Adventures* Pinocchio's Daring Journey* Dumbo the Flying Elephant* Cinderella Castle* Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall* Castle Carrousel* Alice's Tea Party* Peter Pan's Flight* Pooh's Hunny Hunt* It's a Small World...
- List of most expensive films