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Code Lyoko is a French animated television series featuring both conventional animation and CGI. It premiered on September 3, 2003 on the France 3 network, and was produced by Antefilms during the first season, MoonScoop Group during the second and third season, and by Taffy Entertainment during the fourth season, all in association with the France 3 television network and Canal J. The series has been translated into various languages and is currently airing in over 80% of the world's countries. The show is licensed and distributed worldwide by Moonscoop in the past, today Taffy Entertainment.

Code Lyoko was first broadcast in the United States as part of Cartoon Network's Miguzi block on April 19, 2004. The series is currently on hiatus on Cartoon Network at the end of the fourth season. Repeat episodes were available on Cartoon Network's video on-demand service and are on Kabillion. Episode 78 was skipped by Cartoon Network, but was shown on Kabillion and on Cartoon Network Australia.

Three animated films are planned for release, but have been delayed due to problems with the co-producers. There is also a special called Code Lyoko: Reloaded planned for release.

Synopsis

Code Lyoko is about a group of five boarding school students enrolled at Kadic Junior High School: Aelita Schaeffer, Jeremy Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, Ulrich Stern, and Yumi Ishiyama. The students travel to the virtual world of Lyoko — which is found in a supercomputer housed in the basement of an abandoned factory near the school — to fight against a deadly multiangent system named Xana.

Plot

The artificial intelligence known as Xana is obsessed with world domination. Towards that end, he has taken over the supercomputer in charge of the virtual world of Lyoko, which he largely dominates. Xana is also able to attack the real world by activating towers (usually one at a time), which act as links to the real world. When these towers are activated, Xana is able to seize control of other computers and electrical systems as well as occasionally possessing organic life-forms or generating copies of them. The group has to get Aelita to the activated tower(s) out of the forty one scattered about Lyoko's four main regions to deactivate them, neutralizing Xana's attack on the real world.

Once the danger is averted, 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 time travel only goes back roughly a day, taking back anyone who has been scanned in one of the scanners. Once 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 Jeremy's Kiwi 2 robot in "The Robots". However, as a downside, returning to the past adds a qubit to the supercomputer, doubling its power and therefore Xana's with each use.

Pilot

The five-minute pilot of Code Lyoko, titled Garage Kids, was released in 2001. Though similar in concept, it differs in execution, such as the protagonists possessing their powers in the real world, and some characters not having appearances, such as Sissi, Jim and Aelita.

First season

The first season of the show has very little plot development. The only major plot developments are made in the two-part finale. The rest of the episodes are mostly filler. Until the finale, each episode consists of the group discovering an attack, stopping the attack, and resetting time to cover it up. Other subplots are included, such as their relationships with one another and other students and teachers at the school. Usually the interaction with their classmates and teachers early in each episode contributes to Xana's attack. Throughout these events, Jeremy works on a program to materialize Aelita in order to shut down the supercomputer safely. He eventually completes the program in the two-part finale, but Xana takes measures to keep Aelita linked to the supercomputer, preventing the group from shutting it down without killing her in the process.

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. Also adding to the group's troubles is a new student named William Dunbar, who has begun to take an interest in Yumi.

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 goes 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 other new monsters, as well. 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 during the group's summer vacation. 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. Jeremy has developed a new scanning program capable of tracking Xana, which reveals that Xana appears to be residing in the United States, but lacks the means to strike against Xana. Jeremy's current goal at the moment is to find a way to transfer the group into the internet.

Because Aelita had her memories returned by Franz Hopper, she can be devirtualized normally. She even has a new power to defend herself within Lyoko — energy fields. Also, Yumi has 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. Despite their best efforts, Xana eventually succeeds in deleting all four sectors. Luckily, Jeremy finds a way to access Carthage directly.

Seeing that their numbers aren't enough against Xana's increasing power, the group decides to add William Dunbar to the team to balance things out. However, a chain of events lead to only Aelita and William being able to make it to his first trip to Lyoko. Once they arrive, the two are separated, and Xana uses the Scyphozoa to possess William. Using William, Xana is easily able to overpower the other Lyoko warriors and destroy Lyoko's core. The act renders the supercomputer useless. Within the empty supercomputer, William is transformed into a dark version of himself, now possessed by Xana to an even greater degree. Afterwards, Jeremy gets a coded message from the internet from none other than Franz Hopper, who has somehow survived the destruction of Lyoko.

Fourth season

In the fourth season, Lyoko is recreated, allowing the group to continue tracking Xana. Traveling into the digital sea in Jeremy's latest creation, a submersible ship called the Skidbladnir, the group finds a number of "Replicas", which are single-sector recreations of Lyoko. Each of these Replicas is controlled by another supercomputer, which is in turn controlled by Xana. To stop Xana once and for all, Jeremy devises a way to materialize his friends at the site of these supercomputers with their Lyoko abilities intact, giving them the necessary firepower to dismantle them, all while continuing to battle the Xana-possessed William. The group has new outfits (in both Lyoko and the real world) and weapons to accompany the new season.

In the final few episodes of the season, the creation of a monster known as the Kolossus (which destroys the Skidbladnir) opens the gang to realize that with hundreds of supercomputers under his control, Xana cannot be defeated with Jeremie's teleportation method. To this end, Jeremie initiates a multi-agent program to destroy Xana and another program to free William. In "Fight to the Finish", Franz Hopper sacrifices himself to give this program the power to destroy Xana and free William. In the epilogue, "Echoes", having completed their mission, the gang shuts down the supercomputer for good.

Characters

Primary characters

The main characters are Aelita, Jeremy Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, William Dunbar, and Xana. 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 major roles in single episodes, though. All of the various characters are sorted by their current grade.

Monsters

There are many types of monsters in Lyoko. Xana creates them in order to keep the towers it activates safe. Some are a mere nuisance 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 in the first two seasons, but gains a weapon in the third.

Other monsters exist that don't fall into the same category as Xana's monsters. One is a monster Jeremy 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 Jeremy and Xana can access it at will. This entity's classification as a monster is arguable, but it is included for the sake of completion.

Also, there are monsters located in the digital sea. These monsters must be destroyed using torpedoes shot from the Skidbladnir or Nav Skids.

Location

The show is set in France (most likely Paris), which can be seen in various scenes through the series. The episode "Satellite", for instance, shows a military satellite zooming in on France to target the junior high school. Despite this, the English dub of the series occasionally confuses this fact. For example, 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). The English version also tends to use American terms in place of the French equivalents (Washington St. and Franklin Ave., for example), further confusing this fact. In Episode 84, the coordinates of Jeremiah are those of a nuclear power plant in France.

Reused scenes

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 traveling 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. The fourth season intro is done in the same style as the last two seasons, but using new clips. CGI scenes are also reused occasionally, though with different backgrounds in some cases.

Awards and Recognition

Code Lyoko has been rated as one of the best shows on Cartoon Network, and is a key show in France, and It was voted as the best show by Canal J viewers. It has shown to have popularity all around the world, being aired in nearly every country on Earth.

The show also won France's prestigious Prix de l'Export 2006 Award for Animation in December 2006.

Other networks

Trivia

• Despite popular belief, Code Lyoko is not at all an anime series, and is of French origin, not Japanese.
• Many creators from the show were involved in the creation of Oban Star-Racers
• Code Lyoko was banned in mainland China for using a fake lisence to be aired in the country.

Merchandise

Several Code Lyoko products have been or are being planned for release, including DVDs, a series of cine-manga, apparel and other accessories. In 2006, Marvel Toys released a line of Code Lyoko toys and action figures. In July 2007, Carl's Jr. had a kids' meal toy promotion for Code Lyoko.

In 2007, Game Factory released two video games based on the show; Code Lyoko for the Nintendo DS and Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity for the Wii, the PSP , and PlayStation 2. A new Nintendo DS video game, Code Lyoko: Fall of X.A.N.A., was released in June 2008.

Four new books based on the show are now in development, with the first one planned for release in early 2009.

References

1. "OFFICIAL Code Lyoko forum". Retrieved 2008-10-16.
2. http://img.codelyoko.fr/upload/files/1230477681_29.png
3. http://img.codelyoko.fr/upload/files/1230477621_944.jpg
4. "Manga Kids Code Lyoko articles". Retrieved 2007-01-20.
5. "Preview video for Code Lyoko's fourth season". Retrieved 2007-01-20.
6. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=10825
7. http://worldscreen.com/newscurrent.php?filename=atlantyca062408.htm

External links

• Official website
• Official website of lead background painter Frédéic Perrin
• Entire first season of Code Lyoko - Kabillion.com
• Code Lyoko at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com

• Code Lyoko
• 2003 television series debuts
• 2007 television series endings
• Animated television series
• Computer-animated television series
• French television series
• Funimation Entertainment
• Time travel television series
• Virtual reality in fiction
• YTV shows