Description: Thriller 40 documentary finally aired on December 2nd, 2023 and many fans watched it and reviewed the documentary. I finally watched the documentary twice and I have a lot to state about it. I will be stating spoilers of the documentary so if you have not seen the documentary and you do not want to hear any spoilers, please ignore this episode of the podcast.
Michael and the Truth Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michaelandthetruthpodcast/episodes/Episode-29-Thriller-40-Documentary-Review-SPOILERS-e2dsbva
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Show Notes -
If you want to read my reviews of the two previous documentaries that the Estate release on Michael in 2012 and 2016, here it is:
Bad 25 Review - https://michaelandthetruth.blogspot.com/2012/11/review-of-bad-25.html
Journey From Motown to Off The Wall Review - https://michaelandthetruth.blogspot.com/2016/02/review-michael-jacksons-journey-from.html
The Thriller 40 documentary poster:
The trailer:
My reaction to the trailer was all over the place.
The documentary premiered on Paramount+ and Showtime in the United States. The lack of promotion for the documentary was unfortunate. MJ fans had to pretty much promote the documentary.
I finally saw the documentary twice and I have decided to breakdown what I felt about it.
Likes/Loved:
- The rare footage. This was pretty much the best thing about the documentary.
Mary J. Blige, Usher, Will.i.am, Maxwell, Misty Copeland, Steven Ivory, Mark Ranson.
Incorporating Michael's words in the documentary.
The sequence from his beginnings as a child star/teen idol to superstardom.
Putting Michael's writings in the documentary to show his view of how he would approach the album.
Interviewing the musicians/producers such as Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Steve Lukather, Greg Phillinganes, Steven Ray, etc.
The right people on the documentary (musician wise) were speaking on the music they worked on such as Paul Jackson Jr. and Anthony Marinelli
The demos of the songs from the album were played and audio of Michael discussing how the songs came about.
Usher stating that the song "Billie Jean" could be viewed as "toxic R&B".
Walter Yetnikoff explaining what he had to do to get Michael to get on MTV black artists on heavy rotation.
The funniest part of the documentary was when Walter called John Branca on the phone and told him "tell Michael to stop kissing the monster". Michael was angry and that led to Walter giving Michael his masters.
Incorporating Bruce Swedien and Quincy Jones views in the documentary.
How the "Beat It" short film showcased the street life.
Motown 25 Performance: Michael becomes a legend.
Michael's dancing being disected.
Goes into detail with how he sang and his vocals.
Dislikes/Loathed:
Nelson George was never nice to Michael. Why was he the director but not Spike Lee?
However, here is his website discussing the behind the scenes of working on the documentary - https://nelsongeorge.substack.com/p/thriller-40-the-end-of-a-long-journey?r=i2dnl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Brooke Sheilds had no reason to be there.
John Landis and Deborah Landis stated off putting things about Michael in the past.
Link to this foolery - https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/07/michael-jackson-thriller-201007?fbclid=IwAR0EWVBPtO0NiydarvWw0oc00xc5I5UjpsmjyNeeIojeToIVEu2J5oIbYRM
No family members and they worked on the demos with Michael. LaToya and Janet sang back up for "PYT".
John Branca acts as if he is Michael's historian.
He stated that Michael wanted to do a Thriller tour to thank the fans for buying the album, but that is not the case. Michael explains the Victory Tour situation in his book Moonwalk. I will read pages 238-242 and 249-257.
The documentary was trying to imply that Michael used white icons like Paul McCartney, Eddie Van Halen and Jane Fonda to get Michael to the white audiences, A sneak attack.
A better explanation of why Michael was trying to incorporate those people - https://thegrio.com/2022/11/30/michael-jacksons-thriller-a-quiet-manifesto-of-black-music-reappropriation-birthed-from-marginalization/
No mentioned of "Lady in my Life" or "PYT".
Assuming his Pepsi Accident led to his issues later on in his life when it was a combination of things.
From his book Moonwalk: I will read pages 235-237.
Ola Ray and Vincent Patterson were not interviewed.
Ola Ray speaks to Youtuber Red Dance -
Vincent Patterson speaks to the Youtube channel Dance Dish:
Why Tik Tok was mentioned but not Youtube or Instagram? Tik Tok is not the only social media platform. This shows that the Estate is catering to a younger audience and ignoring the established fans/audience.
When a list of artists that were inspired by Michael why was Chris Brown, Beyonce, Janet, Ciara, Sisqo, Omarion, Jason Derulo not mentioned?
The documentary was disorganized.
Why weren't the former gang members from the "Beat It" short film interviewed?
Michael's view of Motown 25 was not mentioned.
Michael discussed this in his Moonwalk book on pages 207-215.
Michael did an interview with Ebony magazine in 2007 and discussed his view of his performance on page 98 and 100.
Not sure why Polo G, like K-Pop/BTS was mentioned. More evidence that the Estate is catering to a younger audience.
Should have focused more of Michael's humanitarian work.
Suggestions:
Michael's views about Thriller from his 2007 Ebony magazine interview.
Reads from page 96 and 98.
Not injecting his impact in the middle of the documentary. It should have been moved to the very end.
Using what Michael stated in his book about the album.
In Moonwalk, Michael discussed the making of the album in detail. Reads pages 181-208.
The interview that Michael did in 1999 for MTV and TV Guide where Michael talks about the short films from the Thriller album.
Genesis of Thriller audio documentary goes into detail with each song.
Should have discussed how the album change music when it comes to everything.
The documentary should have been longer.
The documentary should have included the fans who were around at the time.
Random Thoughts:
Dick Zimmerman who photographed the Thriller album was not in the documentary.
Recommended watch to learn more about Thriller: Sonic Fantasy by Marcos Cabota.
All of the Victory Tour earnings Michael had he donated to: The United Negro College Fund, TJ Martell Foundation for Cancer Research and Camp Good Times.
The reactions from the fans about the documentary and why certain fans need to accept the fact that the fan community as a whole will never like the estate executors.
Michael's strive for greatness and to be number one is something to be studied.
The closing credits mentions MJ: The Musical and Myles Frost - what does any of that have to do with Thriller? I was confused by that. Is the executors trying to replace MJ with Myles Frost? Very weird.
Youtuber Professor Black Truth's video reminding people of what Sony Music did to Michael.
Why John Branca continues to include people who have openly disrespected Michael (John Legend, Nelson George, Sheryl Crow, Lynn Nottage, Brooke Sheilds, John and Deborah Landis) in posthumous projects on Michael? It show his lack of respect towards Michael.
Conclusion/Overall:
Does this documentary explains Michael's genius and impact properly? Probably. The documentary was good, probably OK at best. However, it could have been much, much better. The documentary did reach to number one on that Paramount + platform but after all of the small hype around it, it was slowly forgettable.
Other Thriller documentaries:
References:
