Was Michael Jackson the Original Transformer?

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In a week when Michael Jackson and Michael Bay share top billing in the zeitgeist, it seems only fitting that some overlap of the two would soon emerge to blow everyone's minds. Leave it to a Movieline tipster to find the Rosetta Stone, pointing us back to that glorious day in 1988 when Jackson's film Moonwalker featured the King of Pop in an epic, bittersweet transition from man to machine, saving the world from Joe Pesci and defending Sean Lennon's (among others') innocence in the process. If you've got about 10 minutes -- and for this kind of milestone, you'd better -- grab some Kleenex and flash back with us after the jump.

Moonwalker is available in its entirety on YouTube, perhaps the most grandiose testament to Jackson's visionary prime. The scene below eerily anticipates the Transformers phenomenon by two decades -- which of course won't please Bay, who will probably unearth some new polling data suggesting that audiences prefer his Autobots to Jackson's benevolent man-machine by a two-to-one basis. Maybe, maybe not, but only one of them will break your heart in the end. Goodbye, Michael, indeed.

· Moonwalker [YoutTube]



Comments

  • Juben Vlaty says:

    The first Transformer toy was released in 1984, making it 4 years prior to Moonwalker's release. Also the first transforming robot was a cartoon called Raideen in 1975. Not trying to take anything away from this amazing sequence, nor the passing of such a legend, but Moonwalker didn't anticipate the trend.

  • Well, yeah. But if MJ didn't have a 20-year running start on the Decepticon Succubus, then my name is Shia LaBeouf.

  • Lowbrow says:

    In related news, triangular nostrils, bleached skin, and burnt scalp are going to be the hottest accessories in everyone's Fall/Winter '09 lineup.

  • I appreciate and respect your point of view.

  • Capp says:

    For Transformers in particular, the cartoon came out in 1984, and the first Transformers movie was released in 1986. I'm not sure when the Transformers comic series started, but I'm fairly sure it was well into it's run by '88.
    Transformers had been one of the hottest toy lines for several years before that MJ film. So... visionary? Not so much.

  • Capp says:

    There were actually a sub-group called Pretenders in the original toy line, which were disguised as humans. (Or creatures.)