While the film gives us a glimpse of what the show might have looked like, the special features offer a wider, more detailed view. A 40-minute documentary, "Staging the Return," shows us more of the stage props and over-the-top gimmickry that was planned, from the fluttering ghostly puppets slated to swoop above the audience during "Thriller" to the "MJ Air" jet that Jackson was to board as part of his grand finale. In "The Gloved One," one of three featurettes, costume designer Zaldy shows off the intricate suits -- often bedazzled beyond reason with Swarovski crystals -- he designed for Jackson, including a "Billie Jean" ensemble crafted in conjunction with Phillips Technology so it could appropriately light up in synch with the beat. And two of the short films created for the tour, the nearly four-minute "Thriller" vignette and the "Smooth Criminal" short that fuses footage of Jackson with 1940s movie clips of Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart, also can be seen in their entirety on the Blu-ray release.

Collectively, it all suggests how potentially spectacular these concerts could have been, and how much of a personal and artistic loss the crew surely felt when it all came to a sudden, screeching halt. The DVD shies away, wisely, from trafficking in that grief, although a "Memories of Michael" featurette certainly does its share of lavishing praise on the pop icon. For those seeking to hear directly from the icon himself, there are sadly no interviews here with Jackson, just a few peeks at production meetings during which Jackson munches on crackers, softly shares his opinions and, occasionally, bursts out laughing.

"This Is It" may not tell us anything radically new about the glitter-gloved man behind it, as the DVD case promises. But it definitely reveals that in those final days before his death, Jackson and his mammoth creative team still had a pretty good sense of how to put on a show.