PLANET JACKSON (1997)

"Mr. Jackson, we officially present your new home in space."

To say that Michael Jackson has done it all would not be that big of a stretch. Aside from a multi-platinum music career, he has also starred in film, television, and even video games. Michael made his animation debut in the classic 1991 episode of The Simpsons, "Stark Raving Dad", where he played a large white man at a mental asylum who believed he was MJ. In 1997, MTV Animation released a short made-for-TV film centered around the King of Pop called Planet Jackson, which stands as one of the most heartfelt, as well as obscure, works based on his life. It was thought to have been lost because MTV discarded the sole film reel after a lack of publicity resulted in staggeringly poor Nielsen ratings. This may also be due to the fact that Jackson did not voice himself in this feature, presumably because of scheduling conflicts that arose while he was filming the movie, Ghosts.

 

In order to escape unwanted media attention, the King of Pop hires a large crew to build him his own space station, far out of the public's eye. Isolated out in space, Michael is finally able to rediscover true happiness now that nobody's trying to leech off of his success. However, his euphoria is cut short when he is visited by a fleet of enemy ships, commanded by his siblings, who have all become white in an effort to emulate their famous brother. Now, Michael must make the difficult, heartbreaking  decision of whether to fight his own family in deadly starship combat, or be forced to bend to the wills of everybody around him for the rest of his days.

Planet Jackson is a perfect metaphor for all of the hardships that Jackson was going through during the late 1990s. It does a very good job of getting across the idea that no matter how hard he tried to hide from all of the negative attention he was getting, stemming from his divorce with Lisa Marie Presley and the many child molestation allegations, he couldn't escape. It is a tragic tale that pulls you in with its bright animation style, courtesy of acclaimed sci-fi animation director Toshihiro Kawamoto (Macross Plus/Gundam 0080), and then silently tugs at your heartstrings, showing just how high the price of fame can really be. It's truly unfortunate that not many people have had the pleasure of watching a production so worthy of Michael Jackson's name.

Although Planet Jackson was once so obscure to the point where many doubted its existence, a few years ago, somebody came forward with a VHS recording of it that had been taped during the film's initial broadcast on MTV, and uploaded it to YouTube. Now here, for all of you to enjoy, is Planet Jackson:

Planet Jackson aired as part of an episode of MTV Animation's Cartoon Sushi during its anime parody-themed Ultra City 6060 segment, and was created using stock footage from the direct-to-video series, Mighty Space Miners.