Since his death three years ago, the Michael Jackson we’ve been exposed to in the media is a sad case: a child-man sucked down into a maelstrom of nuttiness and drug abuse that finally killed him.

That Jackson made himself a recluse, frittered away a $1 billion fortune, demanded dangerous narcotics and lived under an unshakeable cloud of allegations that he was a pedophile. “This Is It,” the 2009 documentary about the rehearsals for his would-be comeback, shows an artist clearly in it for the money, largely disengaged and distant.

“Bad 25,” the documentary airing on ABC tonight, turns back the clock a quarter century to provide us some relief. Here is the Michael Jackson that millions idolized, an artist of extreme talent performing at his peak, and we are reminded that there once was a legitimate reason we liked Michael.

The film tells the story of the making of “Bad,” Jackson’s seventh solo album, his third as an adult and the first since the world-conquering “Thriller.” Director Spike Lee has crafted an old-school documentary, with none of the breathless narration or silly re-enactments that History channel fans are used to. The film is composed of archival footage, reminiscences from people involved in making “Bad” and comments from contemporary artists such as Justin Bieber and Chris Brown. The latter we probably could have done without – only Kanye West adds much – but the rest of the movie is a real pleasure

The tale begins in early 1987, with Michael at last ready to follow up “Thriller,” his 1982 release that became the biggest-selling album of all time. Jackson’s modest goal was to do even better; he wrote “100,000,000” on his bathroom mirror.

While “Bad” did not surpass “Thriller” – it’s only the fifth-best seller of all time – it did become a critical smash and a commercial sensation, the first album to spawn five No. 1 singles.

After a brief introduction, “Bad 25” gets down to the business of deconstructing the album’s songs and their accompanying “short films.” (Michael, we are told, did not make music videos.) The sequences combine revelation and entertainment, squeezing dabs of insider information between spectacular dance moves.

The tidbits are fun. A vocal coach reveals that Michael could sing and speak in a baritone; he just preferred not to. He was too shy to kiss Tatiana Thumbtzen at the end of “The Way You Make Me Feel.” The film for “Smooth Criminal” was inspired by the 1953 musical “The Band Wagon.” But the overwhelming message of the film is to remind us what a tremendous force Michael Jackson was. An extreme talent, of course, but also a driven artist obsessed with every detail of his work.

He first recorded demos of the “Bad” songs at his private Hayvenhurst studios, then redid them with co-producer Quincy Jones at Westlake Audio. Steve Stevens, Billy Idol’s guitarist at the time, remembered getting a call from Jones to come work on the song “Dirty Diana.” Stevens said he wouldn’t come just to do a session; he wanted to be sure Jackson would be present. “Of course he’ll be there,” Jones scolded.

Filmmaking, choreography, costume design were the same story. Michael was there every step of the way, overdubbing vocals during the day and blocking dance steps at night.

There’s a secondary theme, too. The people who worked with Michael – that wacky, creepy drug addict – loved him as a friend. In a touching segment, Lee cuts from one narrator to another, each unable to speak about Michael’s death. They miss him.

And ultimately, that’s what “Bad 25” does for the viewers: It brings back the Michael Jackson we miss.

Contact the writer: mhewitt@ocregister.com or 714-796-7724