Captain EO Was Here, and Changed the World

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UPDATE: Disneyland will be bringing back the classic attraction for a limited engagement – I think it’s a germane tribute to the King of Pop.

Each Disney theme park resort has its own share of “you should go there at least once” attractions, like Expedition Everest in Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and the tandem version of Splash Mountain at Disneyland. Also, there are myriad attractions currently defunct that will be remembered for generations, and amid the news pertaining to the pop star Michael Jackson, who died due to cardiac arrest at 2:26PM PT at a hospital Tuesday, Captain EO proved to be an example, more prominent than ever.

Personally, I have no recollections whatsoever about experiencing Captain EO, but if I would have done so back in my very first visit to Walt Disney World in December 1991 (when the resort’s 20th anniversary’s Carnival-themed revels were in full swing as did the magic of Christmas), I would have been in shell shock because a 3-D show attraction like that would have been too intense for me as a two-year-old. Secondly, I was (and admittedly am now) not much into Michael Jackson, who played the title-role of the Lucas/Coppola attraction. I have to give credit to Walt Disney World, especially Epcot, my favorite theme park, who debuted it on September 12, 1986, 6 days before sister resort, Disneyland (Anaheim, CA), did so likewise. It was a pity that they closed their incarnations on July 6, 1994 and April 7, 1997, respectively. Tokyo Disneyland also ran it between March 20, 1987 and an unknown date on September, 1996 and at Disneyland Paris between April 12, 1992 (the opening date) and August 18, 1998.

During the attraction’s heyday, Captain EO and his crewmates (consisting of Fuzzball, two-headed pilot Idee and Odee, security robots Major Domo and  Minor Domo, and the pachyderm-like Hooter) went on a mission to present a gift to the Supreme Leader, a villainous alien queen, and once there, she captured the mission party to be tortured. Knowing that he can unlock her beauty, he sent out two members of his crew to transform into instruments, until Hooter tripped over EO’s robe and breaks his keyboard instrument. As the guards captured his crew, Hooter repaired his keyboards and powered EO with the music, and he used that power to transform the guards into dancers, who joined him and his crew into that rousing song-and-dance number, “We Are Here to Change the World.” Knowing that enough was enough, the Supreme Leader recruited her Whip Warriors to recapture his crew, who ran away. With the help of Fuzzball, who tied the minions up, EO transformed them, changed her desolate, twisted lair into a splendid garden, and turned the queen into a beautiful woman.They then celebrate and leave to the beat of “Another Part of Me.”

The legacy of the attraction has its share of a few parodies. In a character banquet film at Disneyland, Eeyore takes Jackson’s place as the captain as “Captain Eeyore,” with his Hundred Acre Wood pals (Pooh as Hooter, Tigger as Major Domo, and a bee as Fuzzball), Tweedledee and Tweedledum (as Idee and Odee), some evil Mouseketeer creep (as the Supreme Leader), and Snow White’s Seven Dwarfs (as her guards) in their roles. The Family Guy episode, “The Courtship of Stewie’s Father,” featured it, with Jackson usurping a boy from the audience after he excitedly exclaimed, “Wow! It looks like Michael Jackson’s coming right at me!”

I had not been to Captain EO at Epcot as a two-year-old, but in the midst of the grief over the pop star who played the attraction’s titular role right now, I am proud to take the time to remember him as the man who was here to change the world.

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Tiffany J. L. Alfonso is a freelance writer and a Walt Disney World addict, and her blog for everything Disney can be found at flexibledisney.com