Video of the Week: Jedi Michael Jackson

I often wonder what the future is going to look like. With limitless intelligence available on demand, what incredible feats are we going to accomplish? What boundaries are we going to be able to cross, ones that had never seemed truly possible until now?

Well, it turns out that the first thing we're going to use this amazing technology for is bringing a dead singer back to life to merge into a scifi opera, then invent an artist-adjacent backing track which gives the excuse to get Samuel L Jackson to play a pink guitar. Next to a glitterball.

Behold; Michael Jackson training Anakin Skywalker to dance.

Part of me very much applauds the creativity that came up with the concept. But even then ... it feels like the outcome of a very chins-near-the-table conversation in a pub, seven pints in - or one held after a particularly strong herbal brain spa.

And once you've started putting the pieces together - assuming you finally sober up - there must come a time when you question whether you're really going to plough on with this. Because these pieces, in no particular order, are;

• Footage of Michael Jackson from his 'Bad' era

• Scenes from Star Wars Episodes 1 and 2, including eight-year old Anakin Skywalker (eventually Luke and Leia's dad - apologies if that's spoilt anything for you), moody teenage Anakin, future wife Padme robot-dancing, Yoda, Samuel L and a gratuitous Obi Wan / Darth Vader mask at the end

• An AI mauling of Smooth Criminal's refrain 'Annie are you OK?' - which seems to have been the very basic, one-laugh inspiration for the whole thing (Anakin is also known as 'Ani' in the early films)

• Some rather basic disco additions such as neon guitars, headphones for Yoda, snazzy lights, etc

As an artefact of what we achieved as a species in 2025, it's probably brutally on-point. We created a lot of AI video slop this year, people.

As a foundation for what we will do with this incredible technology in 2026 and beyond? I'm hoping we're going to go a different way.

Maybe a jazz-fusion remake of Titanic, scored by Daft Punk, starring Elton John as the iceberg.

Cheers!