Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5system

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5secret 5tar 5system (インターステラ5555, Intāsutera Fō Faibu^?) is a French-Japanese animated film, originally released on December 1, 2003. This film is the visual realization from Discovery, an album by the French electronic music band, Daft Punk.

Each song on the album was animated like an episode in the kidnapping and ransom story of an interstellar pop band. Each video started where the story left off in the previous sequence. It has no dialogue and has light sound effects, such as gunshots and vehicle tires.

The film was produced by the same Daft Punk duo, Cédric Hervet and Emmanuel de Buretel together with Toei Animation, with Leiji Matsumoto as graphic supervisor.

This film was presented during the 56th Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

One More Time: The film opens with an approach to an alien planet, where a group made up of guitarist Arpegius, drummer Baryl, keyboardist Octave and bassist Stella, is giving a concert in front of an audience of thousands of people, all blue-skinned aliens. Suddenly, spaceships invade the place in the service of a dark figure dressed in a tuxedo.

Aerodynamic: A hundred soldiers from the ships burst in, putting the audience to sleep with gas and capturing the gang members. Arpegius escapes, though he is soon captured. The soldiers apprehend the group members, and take them back to their ship to go to Earth.

Digital Love: Unnoticed by the raiders, a signal is sent from a watchtower to the only ship within range: a guitar-shaped space fighter, piloted by Shep. Shep, who at first is daydreaming about Stella, his crush, is snapped back to reality by the alarm bell. Realizing that the group, and therefore his beloved, have been kidnapped, he decides to chase the kidnappers down a wormhole, which leads them to planet Earth. Shep suffers from a crash landing, and is knocked unconscious.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: In a secret underground facility, the four abductees go through an automated process that erases their memories and replaces them with human memories, saving the originals on backup disks. The pigment of their skin and hair is changed to make them appear human, and devices are implanted with which they control their minds. At the end it shows the man in a tuxedo who is the mastermind behind the kidnapping: an ambitious music manager known as Earl of Darkwood.

Crescendolls: Earl decides to travel with the band to Records, where they are readily accepted and become a worldwide phenomenon in the blink of an eye, known as the Crescendolls.

Nightvision: Later, the band members feel exhausted not only by the life of fame and fortune, but also because Darkwood makes them work to the point of near collapse; meanwhile, a hooded man who turns out to be Shep in disguise watches Stella from the shadows on a propaganda screen.

Superheroes: During a big concert, Shep arrives unexpectedly, falls onto the stage from a blimp, and, using a laser device, frees Arpegius, Baryl, and Octave from mind control, but is late to save Stella, as Darkwood gets in the way. Darkwood sends his bodyguards after them, but they escape in a van and a chase ensues. Although their pursuers lose track of them, Shep is badly injured.

High Life: Stella, still under mental control, represents the Crescendolls as winners in the delivery of the gold record, among the nominees are the members of Daft Punk. At the last minute, Baryl appears, who using Shep's device frees Stella from her mind control and helps her escape from her.

Something About Us: Arriving at an abandoned warehouse, Stella discovers a dying Shep, who with his last breath confesses his love for her and before dying reveals to the four that they are aliens.

Voyager: The gang decides to flee the city in the van while they look for a place to bury the brave Shep, finally they decide to do it at the foot of a tree next to a cliff where by resting their body flies off as a spirit, smiling at them and wishing them good luck. That night, while traveling by road, they decide to go to the Darkwood mansion, to find out more about his kidnapping.

Veridis Quo: After arriving at the mansion and walking through it, they find a grimoire titled "Veridis Quo". The book reveals Darkwood's grim history: centuries ago he was the son of an alchemist, yet his parents died when an asteroid destroyed his castle. Darkwood followed in his father's footsteps by continuing his research, discovering that the asteroid came through an invisible black hole in space that connects the Solar System with another planetary system, so he created a spaceship that allowed him to explore it. Since then he has spent centuries kidnapping talented extraterrestrial artists to exploit them on Earth, earn him gold records, and then sacrifice them on an altar created at the impact site. When Darkwood gets 5555 discs (Crescendolls being the last) he will have the power to control the universe. The boys are captured and led to the altar in front of Darkwood, who decides to use Stella as the final sacrifice. As he is about to finish the ritual, Octave and Baryl confront and defeat the bodyguards while Arpegius throws the last golden disc into a lava pit. Darkwood, desperate, tries to save the disc by falling into the well, the ritual is not finished and Darkwood apparently dies, but his evil essence is still alive, they save Stella before she dies and escape while the enclosure begins to collapse.

Short Circuit: Back in town, book in hand, Octave infiltrates the Records building to get the master disc of his single "One more time& #3. 4; containing the disks backed by memory from it. He is caught by the security guards, who by paralyzing him with an electric stunner, release Octave's true alien appearance. Meanwhile, a large amount of dark energy, the essence of Darkwood, pours out of the remains of the mansion.

Face to Face: The news has a worldwide impact, because through the book Verdis Quo the history of the band is revealed and among the most outstanding scientists they decide to help the unfortunate members of the band to return to their normal appearance and give them back their memory. Through the help of the IASO, an international version of NASA, Shep's ship is repaired and the gang is ready to return to their home planet.

Too Long: While crossing the black hole, they are attacked by the evil essence of Darkwood, who is defeated by the spirit of Shep, who subdues him and takes him to the other world. While Stella remembers through flashbacks all the events of the story, they decide to go ahead and between the four of them continue with their lives. Upon reaching their planet they are greeted with ovations, while they perform another of their singles, which is also heard on Earth. At the end, Stella reveals a statue to Shep's memory, while she looks up at the sky.

The camera zooms out to end on an LP record from Daft Punk's Discovery album. At the end, a Daft Punk fan boy is observed who has all the characters from the story in toys. His parents put him to sleep, while the record stops and the light goes out.

Reception

The film was well received by critics. It currently holds an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on seven reviews (6 positive, 1 negative). The BBC gave the film four stars out of five, saying the film is a "visual and auditory delight." of intergalactic proportions.”

However, Empire magazine said of the film: "Okay if you like the band, it will be about some cartoons playing about their Discovery album. To everyone else, just silly".