Tetsuro boards the Galaxy Express 999 with the mysterious Maetel, travelling towards the possibility of a mechanical body. The space train carries him through a succession of worlds where the promise of a different kind of life can be tested against what people have made of it.
The journey joins a very particular desire to an enormous route: Tetsuro is not travelling simply to see the stars. Each stop puts his wish beside another society and its costs. This is the 1979 animated feature, with its own retelling, rather than the longer television adaptation or a sequel film.
Mechanical survival has a price that poor people cannot afford. The rumour of a planet offering bodies for free therefore promises Tetsuro more than an interesting destination: it offers access to a life otherwise closed by wealth. The train's invitation begins inside that inequality, before the journey can test the promise.
