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 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.

The show is set in France, which can be seen in various scenes throughout the series. Despite this, the English dub of the series occasionally confuses this fact. 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.

Many scenes in the program are reused, particularly transitional scenes. 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. The intro sequence changes in the transition from the first season to the second, but not in the third. In the third season, the logo in the final scene is merely recolored green.

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 new power to defend herself with in Lyoko — energy blasts. 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. Being free of the supercomputer, Xana's attacks are far more powerful. Tower activation is still required to initiate them, but Xana can perform attacks on levels far beyond what he could when imprisoned. Xana can possess mass numbers of people at once, making it that much more difficult for the group to make their way from the school to the factory.

In the hopes of isolating the group from Carthage, since destroying Lyoko directly would prove difficult, Xana has turned his sights to Lyoko's sectors, hoping to remove their ability to access Carthage by deleting the sectors they use to get there. By using the Scyphozoa to possess Aelita, Xana can use her to enter the code "XANA" in a passage tower. This gives Xana full access to the sector, after which he can delete it. With the Forest sector already deleted, Jeremie has to find a way to get to Carthage without going through the other sectors.

Characters

Primary characters

Main article: List of primary characters in Code Lyoko

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

Main article: List of secondary characters in Code Lyoko

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 major roles in single episodes, though. All of the various characters are sorted by their current grade.

Monsters in Lyoko

Main article: List of monsters in Code 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

Main article: List of Code Lyoko episodes

Other media

Main article: List of Code Lyoko 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.

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.