Movies - Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

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	Movies - Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is a Japanese animated film from the year 2003.

The film is the visual realization of Discovery, an album of the French house band Daft Punk. Each track from the album has been animated as an episode in the story of the abduction and rescue of an interstellar pop band. It was produced by the Japanese production studio Toei Animation and conceptualized by Leiji Matsumoto, famous for his many other anime creations such as Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamato, and Galaxy Express 999.

The film has no dialogue and minimal sound effects. The first four episodes were played on MTV and Cartoon Network in 2001, and Cartoon Network hosted the episodes online as part of their short-lived Toonami Reactor project.

Plot

The story begins in a distant galaxy, where four blue-skinned music stars on an alien planet are performing the song "One More Time" to the delighted residents for their city, the event televised throughout the region. However, everyone is so absorbed in the concert that a team of elite humanoid commandos are able to launch a surprise raid on the city. Using knockout gas, the invaders subdue both the security forces, the city's residents and the entire band. The four musicians and their instruments are loaded onto hover sleds and beamed aboard the transport ship.

As the unknown vessel leaves the planet's orbit and the effects of the knockout gas begin to wear off, a dazed security guard sends a signal out to the planet's protector starship (in the form of a guitar). The ship is piloted by an alien named Shep, who harbors a crush on the sole female member of the band. When we first meet Shep, he is busy cleaning the ship and daydreaming, singing "Digital Love" to himself. Returning to the crew quarters, Shep dozes off and is visited by an apparition of the female bass guitarist, which pulls him through a poster hanging above the bed. Just as the couple are about to kiss, however, the alert finally reaches him, bringing Shep out of his dream.

The alien security guard recounts the abduction to an ever-more angry Shep. Determined to save the band (and his love), Shep rockets off in pursuit of the unknown ship. While the chase begins, the leader of the commando team inspects the knocked-out band as the invading ship enters a wormhole in the shape of a glowing quadrilateral figure. Shep, having nearly caught the ship, decides to follow into the wormhole, entering a strange, multicolored area populated with blazing balls of energy. The view shifts to that of the unknown spacecraft, which exits the wormhole at what is revealed to be the planet Earth, and a shadowy figure inside is monitoring the band recently captured, a smile crossing his lips. It quickly enters the atmosphere, morphing into a jumbo jet and landing on a runway surrounded by mountainous grazing land. (Of interesting note is that the jumbo jet lands much like a VTOL-equipped aircraft, such as the Harrier.) The commando team quickly bring the band and their instruments into a hangar as the unidentified leader watches smugly. Back to the rescue ship, Shep is close behind, but the stress of the wormhole travel damaged one of the guitar-craft's wings, sending it crashing into a dense jungle. The final view of the scene fades between the wrecked spacecraft and Shep's slumped form bolted to his pilot's seat, unconscious from the impact.

The next scene is set inside a large underground facility. In an entirely automated process, and set to the tune of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", each member of the group is stripped of their alien garb, and then have their memories replaced (to make them believe they have lived on Earth all their lives), the old memories recorded onto optical discs and stored separately. The band is then 'painted' and their hair dyed to resemble humans, redressed, and implanted with mind-control devices attached to their new sunglasses. The end of the song/episode shows the foursome standing in front of a massive monitor with their newly-altered appearances playing "One More Time" as their mysterious captor cackles. The transformation complete, the band's captor, dressed in formal attire and presenting himself as their elderly manager, takes them to a recording studio, where a kindly executive is enthusiastic about their performance and signs a record deal, although the band members stay curiously silent through the proceedings. In a flurry of activity, the band (now known as the Crescendolls, which is incidentally the name of the song now playing) star in a photo shoot and produce their single of "One More Time", which is an instant hit. It is now that we learn the names of our protagonists (although these may be their newly christened names): Stella (Bass Guitar), Arpegius (Guitar), Baryl (Drums), and Octave (Keyboard/Vocals). In no time, the Crescendolls are a worldwide phenomenon, with concerts televised all across the planet to CD signings with throngs of fans. However, it is here that we first see that, although forced to do as their unknown captor asks, they still possess an innate self as evidenced by Stella's sad, lingering look at her hand after shaking with an admirer, as if she's trying to figure out if there's more to her identity. Eventually, the band reaches Number One on sales charts around the planet, leaving their captor unsettlingly happy as the episode ends.

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