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Michael Jackson’s Halloween - New animated special coming this fall

CodaBroda said:
One aspect about the plot that didn't sit quite right with me was when it was revealed that all three characters (pumpkin scarecrow, spider general, and the cat scientist) "were all Michael" all along. Let me preface this by saying I don't think this was the writer's intention.
So, I could see the pumpkin scarecrow being a part of Michael; he was a fun, lighthearted character. But there were aspects to the cat scientist character (initially collecting heads, brandishing a knife to the kids) and the spider general's initial threatening demeanor that I didn't feel comfortable seeing associated with Michael. Again, I don't think this was the writer's intention, they ended up showing Michael as a positive character in the end, but I could see how children could associate those aspects of the characters with Michael, especially during the sequence where they visually show all three of those characters encompassing as Michael.
Might be reading too much into it, but it was something I noticed and felt during the special. Does anyone else feel this way? Loved the special overall.
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I think it was clear that these were all really 'free spirits' whose outward behaviour had been changed by 'Conformity', and who who each had an individual 'song' that could be freed to express itself? But some of the dialogue was difficult to hear, I thought. (Maybe just my ears, and not being attuned to American accents...and Franklin Stines' accent too).
 
myosotis;4210446 said:
I didn’t mind that there was no direct reference to Halloween in this animation film, as ‘trick or treat’ tends to degenerate into threats from large teenagers to damage your property if you don’t give them money, in certain UK locations!

Overall, I loved this animation, and until the ‘transformation’ scene I would have given it a good 9.7 out of ten. It made me cry (when MJ appeared) and I loved all the ‘Michael’ references. It was clear that the production team are fans, and packed in as much ‘Michael’ as possible :)

I thought there were a few ‘missed opportunities’, but I can understand why most of these points might have been difficult to overcome:
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They should have hired you as a consultant! I personally don't think the Conformity/real woman message is that important (although it may be trendy), but the idea of three Michael's incarnations each have a different talent is awesome! Would have been great to show different facets of Michael's talent all merged into one in the end. Too bad they did't think of that. A roller-coaster would have been appropriate too, I agree.
 
myosotis said:
I think it was clear that these were all really 'free spirits' whose outward behaviour had been changed by 'Conformity', and who who each had an individual 'song' that could be freed to express itself? But some of the dialogue was difficult to hear, I thought. (Maybe just my ears, and not being attuned to American accents...and Franklin Stines' accent too).
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Ok, so I missed a crucial exchange near the beginning on my first watch. At the beginning, Bubbles tells Michael, "Nice look, boss." after Michael transforms himself to a bat to fly and lead the girl to his "This Place Hotel". He was only acting as the three characters (pumpkin scarecrow, spider general, and the cat scientist) by transforming into them, in order to orchestrate the hotel and help the kids reach their lesson of "Keep trying, don't give up. Just believe in yourself." Basically just missed the part that he could transform into other animals. So, it really was just Michael all along, acting, not three different representations of him. Got stumped for a bit there by a kid's special, haha
 
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It was just ok. Not something I'd watch again. Felt like it was initially another project but turned into an MJ related animation. Didn't enjoy the way the music was overused willy nilly for every conceivable spoken word, it was very distracting. The characters were a little weak and I zoned out twice. Another thing that drove me mad was every time the bad character -that woman- appeared the Dirty Diana intro would play. The choreography for the pumpkin character was a bit meh. I don't know what I made of MJ? He was off to me and should have been singing Thriller. The whole thing; storyline, music, characters, everything felt very rushed. The pacing wasn't good.

I don't know, this is my honest opinion. Fine for 5 to 10 year olds perhaps.
 
it just aired on the second main TV national TV channel in Ireland. I was following the hashtag and my non MJ twitter timeline. To me it seems like it got a very low viewing audience. The only people tweeting using the MJ Halloween hashtag were my friends, people who are active in the MJ fan community. I didnt see one tweet from a causal fan / random person about it. Also very disappointingly the official Twitter account for the Irish TV broadcaster used the hashtag Jackson Actually Cool OK which is not cool :(
 
moonstreet said:
it just aired on the second main TV national TV channel in Ireland. I was following the hashtag and my non MJ twitter timeline. To me it seems like it got a very low viewing audience. The only people tweeting using the MJ Halloween hashtag were my friends, people who are active in the MJ fan community. I didnt see one tweet from a causal fan / random person about it. Also very disappointingly the official Twitter account for the Irish TV broadcaster used the hashtag Jackson Actually Cool OK which is not cool :(
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That's the definition of cringy. 😐
 
knigofpop said:
Oh, I just checked and it's there. The initial 'screen' looks like some Japanese Anime, if you click play on there it will start. Hope this helps?
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Ok so I finally got to see it!
I think some of the criticism is justified but most of it is a little harsh. I can see the animation could look a bit dated, but that's just the style they've gone for IMO.
There's definitely something amiss with MJ's dancing right after he first appears, like there's a framerate issue, but when he starts dancing with the newly improved Conformity it seems fine to me, so I don't know there's a problem earlier.

My biggest criticism is the duration - 44minutes is too short to tell the story they've tried to tell. It needed another 20 minutes to do it justice IMO. It could be that they had to cut it down too much to fit the broadcast slot. I would find it hard to believe that they intended for it to be so condensed, so there is hope that one day they release it in it's full format.

Anyway, overall I think it was an awesome MJ product with a brilliant message and I'm glad it was successful in the USA for a traditionally broadcast show, even if the viewing figures to appear a bit low to me considering the US population - I guess streaming has hit the traditional broadcast channels hard!
 
Thanks you madmijack for sharing the link last Friday. I had to wait until 2 AM local time to watch the premier. I felt kind of excited to stay up especially for this TV special! I must say I really enjoyed it. There was good music of course, the animation was definitely not bad (I compare it with for example Madagascar, which in my opinion isn’t perfect either in every frame, it’s just the style of animating), many good jokes, LOVABLE side characters and at least four cool looking main characters: Bubbles, Hay Man, Generalissimo Meriweather and Franklin Stein.

I agree with MJTruth the special should have been longer to give more room to the story or to let the side characters blossom more: the old clumsy lady in the super market, Vincent’s dad/proud store owner and the dog Icky. They have the ability to have their own story lines. I see potential for future specials and merchandising (if they ever going to consider it). Artistically Hay Man and Meriweather look really cool and I could easily see them be made into collector’s figurine, toys and dolls.

The overall plot was clear: bring two teenagers to an deserted but magical hotel to let them fight against conformity with music and dance and teach them to believe in their own talents. However during the first view it was a little confusing to me why they had to collect the amulets of Hay Man and Meriweather. What happened to these creatures after Victoria and Vincent left? Did they conform, how did they knew they would be okay in the end? Another thing: where did they leave those amulets (mind you it’s too big for your regular skinny jean pocket!). And how did the teenagers knew how to use the Conformulator (‘’The greatest invention since the travel pillow’’ haha) for their win. Being a disk jockey doesn’t make you a technician. But like Bubbles said in the beginning ‘’DON’T OVERTHINK IT’’.

Negative point is the overuse of some music in the background, it was quite a distraction to the dialogues. The Dirty Diana sound when Conformity appears was just annoying most of the time. It’s the WORST haha

Can easily see this being played every year during Halloween on kids channels like Cartoon Network or other family friendly networks. Very nice to see the special had good ratings in the US. Also loved the inclusion of lesser known songs into the mix like Threatened and Xscape. So people will discover more gems in his catalogue C+/B-
 
Glad to read it was well recieved. - Hopefully most viewers enjoyed it - and wanted to hear more MJ music. That was the plan all along I guess.

If this Halloween Special has made some children laugh and some wants to her more MJ - know more about MJ - and maybe watch a concert. Then it has been a huge succes.

I was not very impressed myself... But maybe it was as some has said, the duration times fault... it's hard to get the story into 44 min.

But mostly it annoyed me that the music was so randomly picked.

About the animation and the concern some children will see the scientist cat and the general spider as MJ... I would not worry. Children do not analyse so much. And children do not care very much as long as they are entertained and like what they see.
 
When hayman gave them the Amulet... it only made me want the multitracks to dangerous.

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I thought the Hamlet quotation ('Goodnight, sweet prince') by the Spider General after the self-sacrifice of his lieutenant (a suispidal mission?) was a bit out of place, as you'd really expect to hear an MJ lyrics quotation (eg from 'Gone too soon') in an MJ animation. So I looked up other uses of this Hamlet quotation in film and TV, and found it had previously been used in ....a Spiderman animation, back in 1995 :) (Just before a mechanical 'Megaslayer' thinks it is going to kill Spiderman). LOL

I found the Bubbles humour to be a bit of a 'slow burn', but next day and I'm still smiling about the 'Monkey in the Mirror' and 'Are these organic'?
 
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My thought of the special is basically, it was a great conceptually (story/theme/overall lay out/choice of characters etc.) but the use of music was too desperate, I did not like putting in songs where songs aren't needed JUST to get songs heard (Especially since they repeated the songs anyways).. of course the digital work and movements as others mentioned were weak, If I were to guess that would have been Michaels main criticism (with L.O.V.E) I would imagine he would have pushed cutting edge technology and more accurate body movement - especially when it comes to representing him..

I did love the story, the use of specific things that fans would appreciate as a nod to Michael!
 
Some great positive feedback, guys.

It's not perfect but, for me at least, the positive outweighs the negative. Perhaps, given the mostly decent reviews and higher than expected numbers in the USA, it might lead to bigger and better things in the future.
 
Am I the only one who is wondering if it is just the beginning? Seems like more episodes are coming, probably one new episode every Halloween:

Michael_Jackson_s_Halloween_Special_Videos_CBS_com.png
 
It clearly does leave it open for sequels if they wanted to - just go visit different people each time - but i doubt they're planning anything right now
 
KOPV said:
My thought of the special is basically, it was a great conceptually (story/theme/overall lay out/choice of characters etc.) but the use of music was too desperate, I did not like putting in songs where songs aren't needed JUST to get songs heard (Especially since they repeated the songs anyways).. of course the digital work and movements as others mentioned were weak, If I were to guess that would have been Michaels main criticism (with L.O.V.E) I would imagine he would have pushed cutting edge technology and more accurate body movement - especially when it comes to representing him..

I did love the story, the use of specific things that fans would appreciate as a nod to Michael!
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I agree with the entire post - and especially the bolded part.

Overall the positive reviews and reactions on twitter etc. seems positive. - So I guess it's a succes.

Hopefully this will be such a succesful project the Estate will more like it. - More MJ Halloween next year along with Ghosts 3D in 4K. - Could be nice.
The Estate should really do everything they can to make Halloween associated with MJ and his music.

Makes me a little sad MJ never released a Christmas album as an adult. - Could have been great. - I love Christmas. much more than Halloween... :)
 
madmijack said:
Am I the only one who is wondering if it is just the beginning? Seems like more episodes are coming, probably one new episode every Halloween:

Michael_Jackson_s_Halloween_Special_Videos_CBS_com.png
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Nope, that's not hinting at anything. That'd just be the way their system is designed.
 
^^My exact thoughts, moonchinking. Love to see this happening. This edition could be ''a pilot'' for future MJHalloween CBS specials to come. Although Halloween isn't as big in Holland, it's a growing market. Hope networks see the potential so it also will have a premier on Dutch television next year. Too bad the video's on the CBS website are not available in my country. Still would like to see the interviews with the cast members !Jim Parsons! I am glad I was able to see the special through live stream. Keep on spreading the Michael Jackson spirit this week. Happy MJHalloween! ?????

 
It could have been more then 44 min and the ended part could have been longer like having Michael at the end. i have to agree to that why i love it also it had a positive message and that was good to see. It just may be another episode did you hear what Bubbles said who next Boss? I think it would be nice to keep this going going to different places given a positive message. Like Michael always say Don't Stop Til You Get Enough.


Watch it again.
 
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I hope this will be shown again next year - in more countries.
 
I've only been able to see a small clip so far. I definitely saw influences from 'speed demon', when Michael transformed into various characters during his big spin! I also liked the nod to 'captain eo' by turning negative (zombies attacking) into positive :)
 
Okay, curiosity took the better of me so I bumped into the segment with Michael in it.


I don't really know what to say really! It just made me cry :boohoo

Though I thought the 'mummy' was kinda funny :laughing: but then again I don't quite like the end where he's 'leaving' :cry:

If you look past the emotion, it does look a little 'out of sync' somehow. :rolleyes:
 
How did this animated Frankenspecial come together? Well, it was created by Optimum Productions—a company owned by Jackson’s estate—and is produced by John Branca and John McClain, two executors of that estate. According to Branca and director Mark A.Z. Dippé, the special was born a year and a half ago, when Dippé’s team began dreaming up an animated project for the estate.

“The notion of doing something for Halloween was an easy and natural one because of Michael’s love of it,” Branca tells Vanity Fair. “And every October, ‘Thriller’ goes back to the top of the charts, so we wanted to take the next step and create something fun for families.”

Jackson was fond of scary, fantastical live-action projects (“Thriller,” “Ghosts,” “Captain EO”) and had wanted to make an animated project in his later years, according to Branca, who worked with the singer for over two decades. Ultimately, Michael Jackson’s Halloween got the green light thanks to the characters Dippé’s team created—particularly a spider voiced by Cumming, which reminded him of a spider prop that Jackson once used in live shows. He also found the Hay Man to be “a stroke of genius.”

The show was inspired by the spirit of various Charlie Brown specials, like It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. “You see those every year, for 20 years,” Branca said. Though there are currently no plans to roll out more seasonal Jackson specials, the estate has not “decided anything” just yet.

Dippé says the animation shares “a certain relationship” with films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim Burton’s idiosyncratic holiday classic, though Jackson’s Halloween doesn’t have quite the same timeless aesthetic. When he began plotting the project, Dippé decided to use 3D animation, tapping some of Jackson’s former choreographers and dancers for the film’s motion capture, in order “to bring Michael’s dancing to life in a very rich and deserving way.” The special also features a dance sequence performed by an animated version of Jackson himself—though Dippé and Branca emphasize that this is not an exact replica of the singer. “It’s a stylized representation of Michael,” Dippé says. “It’s not meant to be a photographic, accurate depiction of him, but rather this magic, stylized version of him.”

The special will weave together 25 songs from Jackson’s catalogue, including spookier fare like “Thriller” and “Blood on the Dance Floor,” slightly deeper cuts like “Childhood,” and peripheral hits like Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” and the Jacksons’s “Torture.” For the millions bound to watch Michael Jackson’s Halloween when it airs October 27, Branca has one main piece of advice: “Turn it up loud.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/10/michael-jacksons-halloween-special


Franlin-Stein-Micahel-Jacksons-Halloween-Hammerhead-CBS-620x375.jpg
 
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