Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
Encyclopedia
is a feature-length Japanese animated
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 musical film
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

 originally released on December 1, 2003. The film is the visual realization of Discovery
Discovery (Daft Punk album)
Discovery is the second studio album by the French house duo Daft Punk, released in March 2001. It marks a shift in the sound from Chicago house, which they were previously known for, to disco, post-disco and synthpop-inspired house...

, an album by Daft Punk
Daft Punk
Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter . Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop...

. Each track from the album has been animated as an episode in the story of the abduction and rescue of an interstellar pop band. The film was produced by Daft Punk, Cédric Hervet and Emmanuel de Buretel along with Toei Animation
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...

, under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto
Leiji Matsumoto
is a well-known creator of several anime and manga series. His wife is also known as a manga artist.-Space opera:Matsumoto is famous for his space operas such as Space Battleship Yamato...

. The film has no dialogueOnly Shep, Earl and Octave speak in the film. Shep sings "Digital Love"; Octave sings "One More Time" and appears to convey information in "Short Circuit"; Earl talks to Stella during "Crescendolls", but is unheard. and minimal sound effects.

Plot

The story begins on another world where four blue-skinned music stars on an alien planet are performing the song "One More Time
One More Time (Daft Punk song)
"One More Time" is a song by Daft Punk first released as a single on 13 November 2000 and later included in the 2001 album Discovery. The song's vocal performance by Romanthony is heavily auto-tuned and compressed. As part of the album, the track is featured in the introduction to the film...

" to a similarly blue-skinned audience. At the end of the song, a team of humanoid troops appear, having gone unnoticed until too late by the planet's security and subdue everyone with gas, including the band on stage. The four musicians are kidnapped and beamed aboard a large space vessel ("Aerodynamic
Aerodynamic (song)
"Aerodynamic" is an instrumental track by Daft Punk featuring a prominent guitar solo. The track was released on March 28, 2001 as the second single from the Discovery album.-Composition:...

").

A distress signal is sent out to a nearby ship piloted by Shep. When Shep is first seen he is daydreaming of Stella, bass player of the kidnapped band. He dozes off and is visited by an apparition of Stella. Just as the couple are about to kiss, the alert finally reaches him and brings Shep out of his dream. After receiving the call, Shep is determined to save the band and rockets off in pursuit of the kidnappers. During a chase sequence, Shep and the kidnapping vessel travel through a wormhole
Wormhole
In physics, a wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through spacetime. For a simple visual explanation of a wormhole, consider spacetime visualized as a two-dimensional surface. If this surface is folded along a third dimension, it...

 and eventually land on Earth. The kidnappers quickly bring the band off as an unidentified leader watches. Shep and his ship crash land into a dense forest ("Digital Love
Digital Love
"Digital Love" is a song by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk. It was released as the third single from the album Discovery. As part of the album, the song is featured in the film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem....

").

Within a large underground facility, the band goes through an entirely automated process while unconscious. Each member of the group is stripped of their alien garb and have their memories rewritten. Their old memories are archived and stored on disks. The band is then skin-painted and hair-dyed to resemble humans. They are redressed and implanted with mind control devices ("Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" is a song by French duo Daft Punk. The single was first released on 13 October 2001. A live version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was released as a single from the album Alive 2007 on 15 October 2007. This version won a Grammy Award for Best Dance...

"). The band's captor (Earl de Darkwood), in the guise of a manager, takes them to a recording studio where a record deal is made. The band, now named The Crescendolls, produce their hit single "One More Time". The names of the protagonists are revealed: Stella (bass guitarist), Arpegius (guitarist), Baryl (drummer) and Octave (keyboardist / vocalist). In no time, The Crescendolls become a worldwide phenomenon ("Crescendolls"). The fame has its disadvantages as the exhausted members of the band are forced to sign large amounts of marketing material. While this is happening, Shep walks the streets at night discovering what has been done to his heroes ("Nightvision").

The band later appears in concert at a crowded arena. Earl de Darkwood appears on the stage and directs an orchestra. Shep rockets into the stadium and fires a device at Arpegius, Baryl and Octave, freeing all but Stella from the effects of their mind control devices. Leaving Stella behind, Shep and the others hijack a step van and attempt an escape. During a chase, bodyguards catch up to the van in two black cars and mortally wound Shep before crashing into a semi-truck ("Superheroes").

Still under the control of the Earl, Stella is later taken to a "Gold Record Award" awards ceremony, for which The Crescendolls have received a nomination.Daft Punk themselves make a brief cameo appearance in the film during the Golden Record Awards scene (obviously, losing to The Crescendolls); as the candidates are being named, they appear in the audience with their robotic faces saying "Happy" and "?", and they appear in the nominations reel with said robotic faces saying "Peace" and a star emoticon
Emoticon
An emoticon is a facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters, usually to express a writer’s mood. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a portmanteau word...

, followed by "Great" and a broken heart emoticon once the winner is announced.
When the Golden Record is awarded to The Crescendolls, Baryl uses the anti-mind control device on Stella and beckons her to follow. The two enter a waiting taxicab, driven by Octave, and escape ("High Life").

The reunited band gathers around a dying Shep, who raises his injured arm out to Stella. She takes it and experiences a dream sequence similar to the one Shep experienced earlier. Shep then reveals The Crescendolls' true identity. The band expresses their gratitude as Shep dies ("Something About Us
Something About Us (Daft Punk song)
"Something About Us" is a song by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk. It was released as the sixth and final single from the 2001 album Discovery as a promotion for their 2003 animated feature film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem...

"). The group later find a giant tree and bury Shep at its base. At night, the band watches Shep's spiritual essence emerging from the ground and rocketing into the stars. While driving away, the band screeches to a halt in front of a road sign to Darkwood Manor. This is the same place that appeared on a card Stella found earlier. The foursome agrees to check it out and drive off ("Voyager").

The Crescendolls eventually reach a great castle-like mansion. They happen upon a journal titled Veridis Quo that describes in great detail exactly what Earl de Darkwood's origins and plans are. In brief the book reveals that musical artists associated with the Earl on Earth are actually aliens used by him to make music worthy of Gold Records. The Earl would then unleash a tremendous power when 5,555 records have been claimed, which would allow him to rule the universe. The Crescendolls themselves were awarded Gold Record number 5555. The band find themselves surrounded by the Earl's guards, who escort them to the chamber of an underground chasm. Earl grabs Stella and thrusts her into a massive device lined with his Gold Records. The remaining members free themselves from the guards. Arpegius rushes to Earl before he releases the power and causes the record to fall from his hands to the abyss. Then Earl tries to get the disk, but he himself falls in, to an assumed death. Arpegius rescues Stella from the device and the band flees from the castle, which begins to self-destruct ("Veridis Quo").

Escaping the explosion and now aware of the technology that the Earl of Darkwood had used on them, the band travels back to the Record company. Octave breaks in and finds the master recording
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...

 of "One More Time", under which the band's archived memory disks are found.When Octave enters the record company's building, the security guard is watching a soccer match between France and Japan, with the score being even 1 - 1. The score later changes to 2 -1 as France scores. Both members of Daft Punk are French, and Matsumoto is Japanese. Octave attempts to leave with the disks but is surrounded by guards. He reaches into his jacket to retrieve a page of Veridis Quo, but one of the guards uses a stun gun
Electroshock gun
An electroshock weapon is an incapacitant weapon used for incapacitating a person by administering electric shock aimed at disrupting superficial muscle functions. One type is a conductive energy device , an electroshock gun popularly known by the brand name "Taser", which fires projectiles that...

 on him. Due to the electric shock, Octave falls to the ground and turns into his original blue skin color, much to the surprise of the witnesses. The page is taken from Octave's hand and reveals what the disks are ("Short Circuit").

Construction crews unearth Shep's ship and the police investigate the Record company. Police also search every part of Darkwood Manor. A news report is later shown and depicts scenes of an operation to send The Crescendolls back home. The report also explains the situation and even shows that The Crescendolls were not the only group to have this happen to them. Octave wakes up and is greeted by the band, who are back to normal. As the band prepares to leave, people wave goodbye to the band from all over the world ("Face to Face
Face to Face (Daft Punk song)
"Face to Face" is a song by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, featuring vocals and co-production by Todd Edwards. It was released as the fifth single from the 2001 album Discovery as a promotion for the 2003 remix album Daft Club. As part of Discovery, the song appears in the film...

").

When the band's ship is heading to the wormhole, the Earl's essence suddenly appears, engulfing and attacking the ship. Shep's essence flies up to the Earl and defeats him, which frees the band. They successfully return to their home planet and are welcomed by its inhabitants. The band is again on the stage and the audience is dancing to their song. Everyone on Earth is also seen dancing to the performance shown on television screens. Outside the stadium, a heroic statue of Shep is unveiled. The camera pans out of the celebration. The viewer experiences a zoom out from the alien planet, to a large star cluster, and then stops with a record player. This reveals a vinyl record playing the Daft Punk
Daft Punk
Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter . Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop...

 album Discovery
Discovery (Daft Punk album)
Discovery is the second studio album by the French house duo Daft Punk, released in March 2001. It marks a shift in the sound from Chicago house, which they were previously known for, to disco, post-disco and synthpop-inspired house...

. A sleeping little boy is shown surrounded by The Crescendolls and Daft Punk
Daft Punk
Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter . Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop...

 toys and other memorabilia.The last scene of the film contains a lot of Daft Punk merchandise. What can be seen are vinyl records of Homework, Discovery
Discovery (Daft Punk album)
Discovery is the second studio album by the French house duo Daft Punk, released in March 2001. It marks a shift in the sound from Chicago house, which they were previously known for, to disco, post-disco and synthpop-inspired house...

(with side D being played on the record player), Alive 1997
Alive 1997
Alive 1997 is a live album by Daft Punk released in 2001. It contains a 45-minute excerpt of a live performance recorded at Birmingham's Que Club on November 8, 1997.-Background:The album was initially released online as part of the Daft Club service...

, and a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 copy of D.A.F.T.
The needle is moved off the record and the music stops ("Too Long"). As the ending credits roll, a remixed version of "Aerodynamic
Aerodynamic (song)
"Aerodynamic" is an instrumental track by Daft Punk featuring a prominent guitar solo. The track was released on March 28, 2001 as the second single from the Discovery album.-Composition:...

" plays.The song featured in the end credits is listed as "Aerodynamic (Daft Punk Remix)", though this version differs from the remix featured in Daft Club
Daft Club
Daft Club is an album by Daft Punk featuring numerous remixes of tracks from their 2001 album Discovery and one from Homework. It was released in 2003 .-History:...

.

Production

As detailed in the insert included with the 2003 DVD, the idea for Interstella 5555 formed during the early Discovery
Discovery (Daft Punk album)
Discovery is the second studio album by the French house duo Daft Punk, released in March 2001. It marks a shift in the sound from Chicago house, which they were previously known for, to disco, post-disco and synthpop-inspired house...

recording sessions. Daft Punk
Daft Punk
Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter . Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop...

's concept for the film involved the merging of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 with entertainment industry culture and was further developed with their collaborator Cédric Hervet. All three brought the album and the completed story to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 in the hope of creating the film with their childhood hero, Leiji Matsumoto
Leiji Matsumoto
is a well-known creator of several anime and manga series. His wife is also known as a manga artist.-Space opera:Matsumoto is famous for his space operas such as Space Battleship Yamato...

. After Matsumoto joined the team as visual supervisor, Shinji Shimizu had been contacted to produce the animation and Kazuhisa Takenouchi to direct the film. With the translation coordination of Tamiyuki "Spike" Sugiyama, production began in October 2000 and ended in April 2003. The cost of the film is said to have been $4 million. A Blu-ray edition of the film was released on September 2011 and contains similar artwork packaging.

The first four episodes from the film were shown on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 and Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network is a name of television channels worldwide created by Turner Broadcasting which used to primarily show animated programming. The channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 in the United States....

 in 2001. Cartoon Network hosted the episodes online as part of their short-lived Toonami Reactor project (later revived as "Toonami Jetstream
Toonami Jetstream
Toonami Jetstream was an ad-supported online broadband service and a remake of Toonami's previous video streaming service Toonami Reactor provided by Cartoon Network and Viz Media....

"). In December 2003 Interstella 5555 was released along with the album Daft Club
Daft Club
Daft Club is an album by Daft Punk featuring numerous remixes of tracks from their 2001 album Discovery and one from Homework. It was released in 2003 .-History:...

, which served to promote the film and provided previously unreleased remixes of tracks from the Discovery album.

Many elements common to Matsumoto's stories, such as a romanticism of noble sacrifice and remembrance of fallen friends, appear in Interstella 5555. Daft Punk revealed in an interview that Captain Harlock
Captain Harlock
is a fictional character created by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto.Harlock is the archetypical romantic hero, a space pirate with an individualist philosophy of life. He is as noble as he is taciturn, rebellious, stoically fighting against totalitarian regimes, whether they be earthborn or alien...

was a great influence on them in their childhood. They also stated "The music we have been making must have been influenced at some point by the shows we were watching when we were little kids."

Reception

The film was generally well received by critics. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 states that six out of seven critics thought positively of the film. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 gave the film four stars
Star (classification)
Stars are often used as symbols for classification purposes. They are used by reviewers for ranking things such as movies, TV shows, restaurants, and hotels. For example, one to five stars is commonly employed to categorize hotels.-Restaurant ratings:...

 out of five, saying that the film is a "visual and aural treat of intergalactic proportions". MovieMartyr.com said that the film was "the best animated film made in 2003, and a true testament to the artistry possible in two very different mediums." However, Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...

said the film was "Fine if you like the band - you'll be treated to some cartoons playing over the top of their Discovery album. For everyone else, just daft."

See also

  • Discovery (Daft Punk album)
    Discovery (Daft Punk album)
    Discovery is the second studio album by the French house duo Daft Punk, released in March 2001. It marks a shift in the sound from Chicago house, which they were previously known for, to disco, post-disco and synthpop-inspired house...

  • List of animated feature-length films

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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