Code Lyoko
| Code Lyoko | |
|---|---|
| File:Code lyoko.jpg The opening title for the first season of the show. From left to right: Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd (holding Kiwi), and Jeremie. | |
| Created by | Tania Palumbo Thomas Romain |
| Starring | Jodi Forrest David Gasman Matthew Géczy Mirabelle Kirkland Sharon Mann Barbara Weber-Scaff |
| Country of origin | France |
| No. of episodes | 52 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 26 minutes approx. |
| Original release | |
| Network | France 3 |
| Release | September 3, 2003 – Present |
Code Lyoko (often abbreviated as CL) is a French animated television series featuring both conventional animation and computer-generated imagery (CGI), produced by Antefilms during the first season and MoonScoop during the second, in association with the France 3 television network and Canal J. Code Lyoko is about a group of four boarding school students, enrolled at Kadic Junior High School, named Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi. The students try to help a virtual girl named Aelita leave the virtual world of Lyoko — which is found in a supercomputer housed in the basement of an abandoned factory near Kadic — and enter the real world.
A megalomaniacal digital entity named Xana, obsessed with world domination, has taken over the supercomputer in charge of Lyoko. It attacks the real world by activating towers (usually one at a time), which act as links to the real world. If the group is able to get Aelita to the activated tower(s) out of the more than forty scattered about Lyoko's four main regions, she can deactivate the tower(s) and neutralize Xana's attack on the real world; then they can use the supercomputer to return to the past, leaving no one except themselves to remember any of the events that transpired. To complicate the situation, they must do this while ensuring their classmates and teachers are not killed (as going back in time cannot bring back the dead), and deal with the many clashes of personality at the same time.
Plot
First season
The first season of the show has very little plot development, with the major plot points revelations made in the two-part finale. The rest of the episodes are mostly simple entertainment. Until the finale, each episode consists of the group discovering an attack, then stopping the attack, and reseting time to cover it up. Other sub-plots are included, such as their relationships with one another and other students and teachers at the school. Throughout these events, Jeremie works on a program to materialize Aelita in order to shut down the supercomputer safely. He eventually develops the program in the two-part finale, but Xana takes measures to keep Aelita linked to the supercomputer.
Second season
The second season, in contrast to the first, is much more plot-focused, though a decent portion of the episodes are still filler. The animation is more realistic and detailed, and Jim and Sissi's personalities have changed significantly, though some traces of their old personalities exist in some form. Aelita lives on Earth in the second season. In the first episode of the second season, she enrolls at Kadic under the name of Aelita Stones. She poses as a cousin of Odd, using a forged birth certificate created by Jeremie. Jeremie's new super scan program also means that Aelita doesn't need to stay on Lyoko to check for Xana's activity. Aelita also begins having visions of a life she supposedly never lived, and a man named Franz Hopper is shown to have connections to Lyoko.
Each member of the group now has vehicles to quickly transport them in Lyoko: Odd gets a hover skateboard called an "Overboard," Ulrich gets a one-wheeled motorcycle called an "Overbike," and Yumi gets a hover scooter called an "Overwing." Aelita can ride any vehicle by herself if necessary, but usually rides with another person. A fifth sector, Carthage, is discovered in Lyoko, and turns out to be Xana's home sector, from which all of his data can be accessed, so the group go on several journeys into this sector to do so. At the same time, Xana begins sending the Scyphozoa after Aelita to steal her memories, and has created three new monsters. The operations of the supercomputer are also somewhat demystified. Return trips are fewer (though still common) now, because it makes Xana stronger. Eventually, Xana's true purpose is revealed, as are the origins of the supercomputer, Lyoko, and Aelita herself.
Third season
In the third season, Xana has been strangely quiet in both the real world and Lyoko, having done nothing for several months. It still needs a computer to exist, but is no longer limited to a specific one, instead being free to roam the internet at will. Jeremie has developed a new scanning program capable of tracking Xana, which reveales that Xana is currently residing in the U.S., but lacks the means to strike against Xana. Because Aelita had her memories returned by Franz Hopper, she can be devirtualized normally. She even has a weapon to defend herself with in Lyoko, though she hasn't gotten the hang of using it yet. Yumi has apparently decided against having a relationship with Ulrich, preferring to remain just friends. In Carthage, the group finds Lyoko's core, which Xana wants destroyed.
Characters
Primary characters
The main characters are Aelita (known as Aelita Stones at Kadic), Jeremie Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, and Xana. The first five are the protagonists while the last one is the antagonist. There are also several supporting characters that appear in most of the episodes. These two groups make up the primary cast for the show.
Secondary characters
There are many characters in Code Lyoko that do not contribute much, if anything, to the overall plot of the show. Several of them have played roles in single episodes, though. All of the various characters are sorted by their current grade.
Monsters in Lyoko
There are many types of monsters in Lyoko. Xana creates them in order to keep the towers it activates safe. Some are a mere nuisence while others are a major threat. The ones that can be considered a nuisance make up for this fact by travelling in packs. All of them, however, try to impede the group. The monsters remain until they are destroyed or a return trip is activated. Xana has eleven types of monsters so far. Odd, Ulrich and Yumi each have special weapons in Lyoko in order to destroy the monsters. Aelita mostly relies on the protection of the others when it comes to dealing with the monsters.
Other monsters exist that don't fall into the same category as Xana's monsters. One is a monster Jeremie produced, called the Marabounta. It appears in only one episode. There is also an entity known as the Transport Orb. It's a giant white sphere with an Eye of Xana printed on it, like all of Xana's monsters. Unlike the other monsters, however, its only purpose is to ferry passengers from the edge of any region to the center of the fifth sector, Carthage, and back again. Both Jeremie and Xana can access it at will. This entity's classification as a monster is arguable, but is included for the sake of completion.
Episodes
Code Lyoko has a total of 97 episodes, the first 52 of which have aired. The following 45 are still in production.
| Overall | Season | Episode Title | Airdate (France) | Airdate (U.S.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 101 | "Teddygozilla" | September 3, 2003 | April 19, 2004 |
| 02 | 102 | "Seeing Is Believing" | September 10, 2003 | April 20, 2004 |
| 03 | 103 | "Holiday in the Fog" | September 17, 2003 | April 21, 2004 |
| 04 | 104 | "Log Book" | September 24, 2003 | April 22, 2004 |
| 05 | 105 | "Big Bug" | October 1, 2003 | April 23, 2004 |
| 06 | 106 | "Cruel Dilemma" | October 8, 2003 | April 26, 2004 |
| 07 | 107 | "Image Problem" | October 15, 2003 | April 27, 2004 |
| 08 | 108 | "End of Take" | October 22, 2003 | April 28, 2004 |
| 09 | 109 | "Satellite" | October 29, 2003 | April 29, 2004 |
| 10 | 110 | "The Girl of the Dreams" | November 5, 2003 | April 30, 2004 |
| 11 | 111 | "Plagued" | November 12, 2003 | May 3, 2004 |
| 12 | 112 | "Swarming Attack" | November 19, 2003 | May 4, 2004 |
| 13 | 113 | "Just in Time" | November 26, 2003 | May 5, 2004 |
| 14 | 114 | "The Trap" | December 3, 2003 | May 6, 2004 |
| 15 | 115 | "Laughing Fit" | December 10, 2003 | May 7, 2004 |
| 16 | 116 | "Claustrophobia" | December 17, 2003 | May 10, 2004 |
| 17 | 117 | "Amnesia" | December 24, 2003 | May 11, 2004 |
| 18 | 118 | "Killer Music" | December 31, 2003 | May 12, 2004 |
| 19 | 119 | "Frontier" | January 7, 2004 | May 13, 2004 |
| 20 | 120 | "The Robots" | January 14, 2004 | May 14, 2004 |
| 21 | 121 | "Zero Gravity Zone" | January 21, 2004 | May 17, 2004 |
| 22 | 122 | "Routine" | January 28, 2004 | May 18, 2004 |
| 23 | 123 | "Rock Bottom?" | February 4, 2004 | May 19, 2004 |
| 24 | 124 | "Ghost Channel" | February 11, 2004 | May 20, 2004 |
| 25 | 125 | "Code: Earth" | February 18, 2004 | May 21, 2004 |
| 26 | 126 | "False Start" | February 25, 2004 | May 24, 2004 |
| Overall | Season | Title | Airdate (France) | Airdate (U.S.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 201 | "New Order" | August 31, 2005 | September 19, 2005 |
| 28 | 202 | "Unchartered Territory" | September 7, 2005 | September 20, 2005 |
| 29 | 203 | "Exploration" | September 14, 2005 | September 21, 2005 |
| 30 | 204 | "A Great Day" | September 21, 2005 | September 22, 2005 |
| 31 | 205 | "Mister Pück" | September 28, 2005 | September 23, 2005 |
| 32 | 206 | "Saint Valentine's Day" | October 5, 2005 | September 26, 2005 |
| 33 | 207 | "Final Mix" | October 12, 2005 | September 27, 2005 |
| 34 | 208 | "Missing Link" | October 19, 2005 | September 28, 2005 |
| 35 | 209 | "The Chips are Down" | October 26, 2005 | September 29, 2005 |
| 36 | 210 | "Marabounta" | November 2, 2005 | September 30, 2005 |
| 37 | 211 | "Common Interest" | November 9, 2005 | October 3, 2005 |
| 38 | 212 | "Temptation" | December 7, 2005 | November 25, 2005 |
| 39 | 213 | "A Bad Turn" | November 16, 2005 | October 26, 2005 |
| 40 | 214 | "Attack of the Zombies Bad" | November 23, 2005 | October 4, 2005 |
| 41 | 215 | "Ultimatum" | November 30, 2005 | October 5, 2005 |
| 42 | 216 | "A Fine Mess" | December 14, 2005 | October 6, 2005 |
| 43 | 217 | "Xana's Kiss" | January 11, 2006 | October 7, 2005 |
| 44 | 218 | "Vertigo" | January 11, 2006 | October 24, 2005 |
| 45 | 219 | "Cold War" | January 18, 2006 | October 25, 2005 |
| 46 | 220 | "Déjà Vu" | January 18, 2006 | October 27, 2005 |
| 47 | 221 | "Tip-Top Shape" | January 25, 2006 | October 28, 2005 |
| 48 | 222 | "Is Anybody Out There?" | January 25, 2006 | November 1, 2005 |
| 49 | 223 | "Franz Hopper" | February 1, 2006 | October 31, 2005 |
| 50 | 224 | "Contact" | February 1, 2006 | November 25, 2005 |
| 51 | 225 | "Revelation" | February 8, 2006 | December 9, 2005 |
| 52 | 226 | "The Key" | February 8, 2006 | December 9, 2005 |
Third and fourth seasons
MoonScoop has announced that 45 new episodes for Code Lyoko have been ordered, and are set to air throughout 2006 and 2007. The first announcement about the new episodes can be found here. The third season aired in France on September 9, 2006. The air date for the U.S. is unclear.
According to information Template:Fr icon on CodeLyoko.net, including an interview with one of the writers from the show, the 45 episodes will be split into two new seasons. The third season will be 15 episodes long and will serve to bridge the gap between the second and fourth seasons. It will be airing in September of 2006. The fourth season will be 30 episodes long and will go even deeper into the history of Franz Hopper and Lyoko. The first half of it will air in March of 2007. The second half will air near the end of 2007. It will be accompanied by a major merchandising campaign to cover a broad range of licensed products, including toys, clothes, stationary, and school bags. A excerpt from the interview is below, converted into English. Other information on CodeLyoko.net is also available, including a Flash pamphlet Template:Fr icon detailing the various news events leading up to this point. It has three images of the third season, showing Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd, respectively. There is also a video available with a few scenes from the third season, as well as several E-Cards.
There will also be an original animated prequel, medium-length film about how the group originally discovered Lyoko. It will be approximately 52 minutes long. Cartoon Network currently has it ordered, whereas other stations have not agreed on anything and may have it release straight-to-DVD in France.
By request of Tchoucky, our guest of honor has given her opinion on our site, which she finds very detailed, well organized, and full of commentary pertinent to the series, and she assured us of her faithfulness.
Mrs. S confirmed the preparation of season 3. In reality, it’s a matter of a short season 3 (15 episodes) that the scriptwriters are in the process of writing, serving as transition between season 2 and a VERY long season 4 (30 episodes) where the changes of the characters and of the scenery itself will increase, and which promises to surprise us. William should return to the front of the scene. One can expect, among other things, new romantic plots, but I won't say any more. Also in preparation is a medium-length film on how our friends met, and how they discovered the supercomputer. It will be a 52-minute OAV (Original Animated Video, a term most often used for direct-to-video releases of Japanese animation/anime). This prequel is on order in the U.S., we do not know how it will be broadcast in France, probably on DVD. Talks are still ongoing for a feature film project, which may never happen, but is all there, suspended in the creativity-filled head of Madame S, and just asking to be developed.— Interview with Sophie Decroisette, CodeLyoko.net
Time travel
By using an apparent side-effect of the supercomputer (as described by Franz Hopper), someone operating the supercomputer can take themselves, the supercomputer, and a select few people back in time. Jeremie calls it "returning to the past" or a "return trip" for short. They usually travel roughly a day, or whatever amount of time Xana's attack occured in. After travelling back in time, they can use their knowledge of the future to alter events in their favor or the favor of others. This usually entails taking steps to keep one of Xana's attacks from taking place, though they do use the knowledge to prevent other unfavorable events that might not be related to Xana, such as the destruction of Jeremie's Kiwi 2 robot in "The Robots" or Sissi's protest in "Satellite". Return trips lack the capacity to bring back the dead, so the return trip must be activated before this occurs. It is discovered in the second season that return trips double the processing power of the supercomputer, which in turn doubles Xana's power, limiting the use of return trips to situations where they are absolutely necessary.
Only the group, being the one's who travel back in time, are able to remember events from the previous timeline. The supercomputer will also bring them back in time regardless of where they are when the return trip takes place. Anyone else will not be brought back, even if they happen to be next to the supercomputer when the return trip takes place.
Each return trip manifests itself as a pillar of white light being emitted by the supercomputer. The pillar then expands into a bubble-shaped wave that engulfs everything in sight. The distance the wave is tracked to varies from episode to episode. The furthest is has been tracked is to the distance of a satellite in Earth's orbit. That was in the episode "Satellite". The actual mechanism behind the return trips has yet to be revealed.
Other media
Several Code Lyoko products have been or are being planned for release, including DVDs, a book based on the episodes "Teddygozilla" and "Plagued," a video game, and a collection of toys. A collection of apparel and other accessories is also in development.
Trivia
- In Garage Kids, Yumi asks Odd if he could keep a secret. "Can you keep a secret?" is Code Lyoko's tagline.
- In the episode "Attack of the Zombies", there are many similarities to George A. Romero's zombie series.
- In these various films, which are all from the same series, the protagonists would often hide in a lunch room (or a similar enclosed space), were constantly arguing, and the zombies had a bluish color. Several of them took place mostly at night. In addition, Barbara in the 1968 version of Night of the Living Dead was slowly losing her grasp on reality. The lunchroom lady, Rosa Petitjean acted similar to Barbara. Also, William attacked Jeremie for trying to mutiny his leadership, an indirect reference to Ben shooting Harry Cooper in Night of the Living Dead. Bub (the smart zombie in Day of the Dead) was similar to the zombified Jeremie.
- Many scenes in the program are reused, particularly: the characters travelling to the factory, using the factory lift, using the scanners, and Aelita deactivating a tower. Because of this, there are often slight continuity errors – characters might change expression when entering the factory lift, or travelling scenes might show Odd hopping on his skateboard only to have Yumi riding away in the next scene. At other times, reused scenes involving Odd fighting the Tarantulas while circling the tower on his Overboard can also be seen.
- In the first season, the scene of Aelita entering and deactivating a tower is reused in every episode, and creates a minor continuity error as a result. Most Code Lyoko episodes begin at a normal pace and gradually become more frantic and urgent. However, in the reused tower scene, which always occurs at the end when things are most urgent, Aelita seems to move very slowly. This could lead one to assume that one can only move slowly in a tower; however, in the second season, more tower scenes are rendered, and Aelita can now be seen running into towers at full speed.
- In addition, much of the animation is rushed and small errors in geography are frequent in the episode. A clear example of this is Odd's undershirt, which occassionally changes to skin-tone during major scenes of movement.
- The supercomputer was referred to in the first season as the "super calculator." This is a direct translation of the French term "super calculateur." After the episode "False Start", the term "supercomputer" is used.
- In the beginning of "A Fine Mess", Ulrich flips a coin to see who would come out of the scanners first. A fast eye will catch that the coin is a euro. It should also be noted that the drink machines on campus and the ones at the hospital use euros.
- When Peter Duncan steals nuclear fuel to recharge the supercomputer, the soldiers guarding said material are wielding FAMAS rifles, the standard-issue rifle for the French armed forces.
- In the episode "Satellite", the targeting system from the satellite's point of view shows that Kadic is in France. Later, in the episode "Attack of the Zombies", Milly asks Sissi what her feelings are about her father starting a language-exchange program with France despite them already being in France.
- In "Uncharted Territory," Aelita feels like nobody wants her around, so she goes back to Lyoko, which she calls "home." Sissi assumes she is going back to Canada, and uses the phrase "the great, white north" to describe it. Canada is not directly north of France, but rather north-west. However, "the great, white north" is a common nickname for Canada.
- In the episode "Cold War", when Xana causes a snowstorm, Jim's magazine-bought pocket thremometer displays the temperature in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit.
- Also, if you are to compare the Fahrenheit temperature that Jim gives to the information on the thremometer, they are different.
- Yumi has a Totoro doll (a character that looks like a giant bunny or cat from the Japanese animated movie, My Neighbor Totoro) seen in her room in the first season episode "Laughing Fit". After this episode, it is replaced with an unnamed stuffed cat.
- My Neighbor Totoro was created by Hayao Miyazaki, who happens to bear a striking similarity to Jean-Pierre Delmas, the principal of Kadic.
- Xana's apparent proclivity for attacking Yumi in the first season was extremely noticeable to some fans, who noticed the phenomenon in five consecutive episodes ("Cruel Dilemma" to "The Girl of the Dreams"). This event is often referred to as "Pick on Yumi Week".
- In the second season, Xana tends to attack Jeremie on more occasions than the rest of the group. The exact reason for this is unknown, but it might be because Jeremie is the only one who is well-versed in all the functions of the supercomputer. Removing him would seriously hinder the ability of the others to stop Xana's attacks. It might also be due in part to Jeremie's continued research into the functions of the supercomputer. Such research may potentially lead to nullifying Xana's distinct advantages in battle. In several episodes, Xana's victims and ghosts use one method or another to try and kill Jeremie. These methods range from electrocution to suffocation. This is not as noticeable as "Pick on Yumi Week" (see above), but he is the only character that Xana's ghosts attack directly.
- The Cantonese title of Code Lyoko is 至Net奇兵 (zi3 Net kei4 beng1, which means the smartest gang on the net). However it is often incorrectly claimed that the Chinese title of this series is 密碼 : 利奧高 or 代號 : 利奧高 which has the same meaning of Code Lyoko. The first season of the Cantonese version was broadcasted during May to August 2005 in TVB Jade and early 2006 in TVB Pearl.
- In Chinese, 利奧高 or 李奧高 can be used for the sound translation of Lyoko in Chinese.
- In September 11, 2006, TVB broadcasted the Chinese version of season 2. In the subtitles, the term Lyoko is translated as 尼奧高.
- In Chinese, 利奧高 or 李奧高 can be used for the sound translation of Lyoko in Chinese.
- Some people have noticed a similarity between the Capcom video game series Megaman Battle Network and Code Lyoko. This is because of the similar theme of battling in a virtual world, as well as the effects caused in the real world by the villains in the series.
- Many people in the U.S. find Code Lyoko somewhat similar in certain ways to The Matrix, possibly due to the similar theme of battling in a virtual world against an evil artificial intelligence. There are also other similarities, such as:
- The code seen in the background of scenes involving the supercomputer (most noticeably when talking to Aelita through the computer) and the code seen in The Matrix. This is called the "Matrix Effect," which is characterized by downwards scrolling glyphs on the screen. The screensaver on Jeremie's computer shows a similar effect, but with upward-scrolling binary code instead of downward-scrolling glyphs.
- Jeremie's role is very similar to that of the operators in The Matrix; he remains in the real world to guide and warn those in the virtual world of Lyoko. The three-monitor setup in the factory is also very similar to that used by the operators.
- Characters have to be sent to the virtual world in a non-trivial manner. The main difference is that, in The Matrix, only the mind of a person gets input into the computer system, called "jacking in." In Code Lyoko, their whole body gets virtualized, via the scanners.
- Another similarity is the change in appearance of characters in the virtual world, compared to their appearances in the real world.
- In The Matrix, this is explained as 'Residual Self Image' – a character's virtual appearance is influenced by their subconscious. This manifests as a change of clothing, and removal of "holes" and "plugs" (used to jack in to the Matrix) from the body.
- On Lyoko, the characters' appearances are the result of customized templates stored in the supercomputer. It's mentioned that they are kept in the same part of the supercomputer that Jeremie stored Hopper's diary in.
- If you look on some of the screens of the supercomputer you can see Aurebesh, the font used in the Star Wars movies. Also, the sounds heard when the monsters fire their lasers bears a striking similarity to the lasers heard in the Star Wars movies.
See also
- A World Without Danger (theme song)
- Lyoko
- The factory
- Kadic Junior High School
External links
- MoonScoop, the French distribution company for the program.
- Code Lyoko – The Web Site, in English, French, and Spanish; a very extensive fan site. It appears to have input from Sophie Decroisette, the director of writing, on Code Lyoko.
- Codelyoko.fr, an extensive faniste with clips, episode guides, and galleries, among other things.
