A music mogul abducts musicians from another galaxy and reprograms them to become the most popular group on Earth. A film by Kazuhisa Takenouchi, supervised by the legendary Leiji Matsumoto.

On a distant blue-skinned humanoid alien planet in a far-off galaxy, there is a group of four musicians consisting of keyboardist Octave, drummer Baryl, guitarist Arpegius, and bassist Stella. They are all part of a very famous band.

As they perform their popular song “One More Time” at a major concert broadcast live across the planet, everyone enjoys the music that sparks imagination and dreams. Even the space surveillance operators momentarily forget their duties and are captivated by the performance.

Meanwhile, a group of unidentified mercenaries secretly infiltrates the planet and uses sleeping gas to put everyone to sleep. They abduct the band members, but Arpegius manages to escape. However, he is eventually captured. The unconscious band members are then transported to Earth through a space portal.

Moments later, the alien citizens slowly wake up and regain consciousness, while a space surveillance operator sends out a distress signal. Shep, an alien pilot who is a big fan of the band and has a major crush on bassist Stella, daydreams about her when his thoughts are interrupted by the distress call. Upon learning that Stella and her bandmates have been abducted, he immediately tracks down the perpetrators’ ship and pursues them through a wormhole.

Midway through the chase, Shep’s guitar-shaped spacecraft is struck by an asteroid. As the abductors’ vessel enters Earth’s atmosphere, it seamlessly transforms into an ordinary passenger plane. Following behind, Shep’s ship penetrates the atmosphere and crash-lands in a dense forest.

The band is transported to a secret facility where their original memories are extracted and copied onto disks. A computer-like machine then overwrites their memories with an alternate narrative, fabricating a history that suggests they were born on Earth as humans. Their skin is altered to display natural human pigmentation, and they are outfitted with newly designed clothing.

In the final stage of modification, each band member is fitted with sunglass-shaped mind-control devices. Their captor, Earl de Darkwood, who presents himself as the band’s manager, takes them to R Company’s recording studio to meet a prominent music producer. He introduces them under their new identity: The Crescendolls.

Under Earl de Darkwood’s manipulation, The Crescendolls release their debut single “One More Time,” which rapidly becomes a global sensation. The band’s popularity skyrockets as the single tops every major music chart in countries around the world. Simultaneously, Earl de Darkwood relentlessly drives the band, forcing them to work tirelessly, signing endless streams of posters and CDs for their publicity.

Later that night, Shep finally makes his way into the city and discovers what has happened to Stella and her bandmates. He is determined to rescue them at any cost.

During The Crescendolls’ concert, Shep flies over the audience with a jet pack and dramatically lands on the stage. He fires a precise beam at each band member, shattering their sunglass-shaped mind-control devices. He successfully frees Arpegius, Baryl, and Octave, and is about to free Stella when Earl de Darkwood suddenly steps in, blocking his path. With no other choice, Shep is forced to escape the stadium with the three freed bandmates, leaving Stella behind.

As the group makes their escape in a stolen wagon, they are chased by Earl de Darkwood’s henchmen. They manage to lose the pursuers when a truck collides with the henchmen’s vehicles from the opposite direction. It is revealed that the henchmen are androids. Eventually, the bandmates discover that Shep has been hit by one of the henchmen’s weapons and is gravely wounded.

During the music award ceremony where The Crescendolls wins the Gold Record, Earl de Darkwood steps up to accept the award on the band’s behalf. While he’s distracted by the trophy, Baryl, disguised among the audience, uses Shep’s beamgun to free Stella. The two quickly escape together in Octave’s taxi.

Octave’s taxi arrives at a warehouse where Arpegius and Shep are hiding. Stella is shocked to see Shep gravely wounded, and the bandmates feel a deep sadness because there’s nothing they can do to save his life. As Shep weakly reaches out his hand, Stella takes it. The moment their hands touch, their minds intertwine, transporting them both to a vibrant, dreamlike world where they joyfully ride a floating dandelion, momentarily escaping their grim reality.

At the end of their dream journey, Shep vanishes into the sky, and Stella snaps back to reality. She finds herself holding a crystal-shaped holographic device that shows a tiny version of the band playing music. In an instant, a flash of memory breaks through, and they suddenly remember who they truly are.

The band takes Shep’s body to a beautiful hilltop and buries him under a tree. On their way back to the city, Stella pulls out a card she secretly swiped when Earl de Darkwood accidentally dropped it.

Suddenly, the crystal-shaped device reacts to the card, blinking and glowing as it reveals the location of Darkwood Manor. They change course and drive to Darkwood Manor instead.

At the manor, they discover Veridis Quo, Darkwood’s journal, which reveals his sinister plan. He has been abducting musicians from various planets and passing them off as human performers.

Once each of them wins a Gold Record, Darkwood discards them and moves on to his next target. His ultimate goal is to collect 5,555 Gold Records, which he believes will grant him the power to rule the universe.

Darkwood’s henchmen capture the band and take them to a room where Earl de Darkwood, surrounded by his devoted followers, attempts to sacrifice Stella to complete a ritual that will unleash the Gold Records’ power.

The band fights back, and during the chaos, they manage to take down Darkwood’s henchmen. Arpegius tackles Darkwood, interrupting the ritual and causing the Gold Record to slip from Darkwood’s hands and fall into a pitch-black chasm. As Darkwood tries to catch it, he loses his balance and plummets into the abyss. Suddenly, all the zealots begin to behave strangely and jump into the chasm after him.

The chasm erupts with bright red lava, exploding into pillars of fire that destroy Darkwood Manor. The band rescues Stella and escapes together.

INTERSTELLA 5555 is a masterpiece created by Daft Punk in collaboration with the legendary animator Leiji Matsumoto (松本零士), known for his iconic works such as Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, and Star Blazers.

The film is an extraordinary project that uses the music from Daft Punk’s album Discovery as its foundation, crafting a seamless animated story to accompany the songs without any dialogue. Its stunning visuals and music come together to convey a unique narrative that fans of Daft Punk and Leiji Matsumoto should not miss.

INTERSTELLA 5555 premiered in France on 18 May 2003. The film was theatrically released in France on 28 May and in Japan on 26 July.

On 12 December 2024, a 4K AI upscaled remaster of INTERSTELLA 5555 received a global theatrical rollout in over 1,500 venues.