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

* Interstella 5555 (Alien Form)
* Interstella 5555 (Human Form as The Crescendolls)

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The Crescendolls (Human Form)
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### Associated Acts

Toei Animation, EMI Group Limited, Virgin Records, Daft Punk (featuring), Romanthony, Todd Edwards, DJ Sneak

### Personal

* Directed by: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
* Written by: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Cédric Hervet
* Produced by: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
* Cinematography by: Fumio Hirokawa

**Interstella 5555** is a 2003 animated musical science fiction film. The film tells the story of the abduction and rescue of an extraterrestrial pop band and serves as a visual companion to *Discovery*, Daft Punk's second studio album. The film was produced by Toei Animation, directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi and supervised by Leiji Matsumoto. The film's audio has no dialogue, but instead consists of the entirety of *Discovery* with minimal sound effects.

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## Started

In the year 2003 at the Cannes Film Festival May 18 & aired worldwide May 28, 2003.

## Main Characters

Stella – The bassist of the Crescendolls and the only female member.

Arpegius – The guitarist of the Crescendolls.

Baryl – The drummer of the Crescendolls. He is noticeably shorter in stature than most of the other characters.

Octave – The keyboardist and vocalist of the Crescendolls.

Shep – An alien astronaut on a mission to rescue the captured Crescendolls. He has a crush on Stella.

Earl de Darkwood – The human captor of the Crescendolls and the main antagonist of the film.

Record Co. Owner – The supposed owner of the record company. He is giddy and excited in most of his on-screen time.

Daft Punk – The masked musicians themselves make a cameo appearance in "High Life".

## About

The main points of the story coincide with the *Discovery* album. On an alien planet populated by humanoids, keyboardist Octave, guitarist Arpegius, drummer Baryl, and bass player Stella are playing to a packed audience ("One More Time"). A military force from Earth invades the planet and kidnaps the band ("Aerodynamic"). A space pilot called Shep is seen daydreaming about Stella while working on his guitar-shaped ship. Interrupted by a distress call about the kidnapping, he pursues the culprits through a wormhole and crash lands on Earth ("Digital Love"). Meanwhile, the band is taken to an underground facility where their memories are moved to disks and their blue skin changed to make them resemble humans. They are fitted with mind-control devices hidden inside sunglasses ("Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"). Their captor, Earl de Darkwood, poses as their manager and presents them as a new band called The Crescendolls, who take the world by storm ("Crescendolls"). The fame has its disadvantages as the exhausted members of the band are forced to sign large amounts of publicity material. Meanwhile, Shep finds his way to the city and discovers what has happened to the band ("Nightvision"). Shep flies into a Crescendolls stadium concert with a jet pack and fires a beam at each band member, freeing all of them except Stella from the mind control. During his escape, he is mortally wounded by Darkwood's robotic bodyguards ("Superheroes"). Still under Darkwood's control, Stella finds a card with the address of Darkwood's home, Darkwood Manor, which she hides in her dress. She is then taken to an award ceremony where the Crescendolls win the Gold Record, a coveted music award. Baryl, concealed in the audience, frees Stella with the beam, and they make their escape with Octave's help ("High Life"). The band returns to Shep, who reveals their true identities before he dies ("Something About Us"). They bury him, and his spirit rises into space. Driving away in a stolen van, they use the card Stella took earlier to make their way to Darkwood Manor ("Voyager"). While exploring Darkwood Manor, the band discovers a secret room, in which they find a journal revealing Darkwood's plans entitled *Veridis Quo*. He has been kidnapping alien musicians from various worlds and passing them off as human musicians in order to acquire 5,555 Gold Records, with which he can rule the universe. Darkwood captures them and attempts to sacrifice Stella to complete the ritual required to unlock the Gold Records' power; however, Arpegius manages to throw the final Gold Record into a lava-filled chasm. Darkwood follows it into the abyss, apparently killing him. His henchmen follow after him, killing them as well ("Veridis Quo"). Following this, Darkwood Manor collapses in on itself. The band narrowly escapes and travels to their record company to retrieve their memory disks. Octave sneaks in to steal them but is tased by a guard while escaping the building, and his skin reverts to its natural blue color ("Short Circuit"). The authorities find Shep's ship along with *Veridis Quo* and mount an operation to restore the Crescendolls' memories and send them back to their home planet via the same wormhole that Shep used ("Face to Face"). As they enter the wormhole, the spirit of Darkwood appears and attacks their ship. Shep's spirit also appears and defeats Darkwood, freeing them. The band returns to their home planet to great acclaim, and a statue of Shep is erected ("Too Long"). At the film's end, it is implied that the whole story was the dream of a young boy, inspired by the *Discovery* album and toys in his room.