("Grabs Can, pulls Tab")
It's Time.
After 5 YEARS OF REVIEWS Let's Pour one out for the end of Code Lyoko.
Episode 93, Down to Earth starts with Jeremy, giving the warriors good news for a change! He has created Something from the universal reset, A multi agent system to Counter the hundred fold processing power XANA now wields against them, Destroying it and it's forces for good, But before Jeremy even considers using his new Program, William has to be rescued, which can only be done when Aelita destroys the supercalculator that powers the ice Replika, While Someone destroys William's avatar, which is easier said than done!
After what seems like forever Fake William returns, the Naive Program is told by Jim "his" parents are here, Since our heroes have being working on keeping William's Kidnapping and Brainwashing a secret, the many lies used to cover up Williams absences are slowly unraveling, Not helped by Fake William himself saying he is a Program when Jim calls him a "Piece of Work"
Odd and Aelita are Energized back to Siberia, While Yumi and Ulrich have the tall order of killing William. Yumi does ask if Ulrich please not be jealous if William chooses to Befriend her, But Ulrich denies that he still has feelings for her.
We see what the brains from the last episode may have been used for, as it looks like The Rushkis were making killer robots in 06.
Leading the charge on the back of a Manta, William enters stage right while in Russia, the killer robots are on the move towards the away team.
Meanwhile the Kollosus rises from the Digital Sea, But Jeremy uses an incomplete version of the Multi Agent System to freeze the Kollosus in a new ice floe, Odd holds off the robot army as Aelita hacks the system. As the Kollosus breaks free, the plan fails... except Odd died on Earth which means as William takes time to gloat, Odd Snipes him with an arrow.
William is now free but the Skidbaldnir, central to Replika Travel, is now destroyed. A bait and switch while the adults are distracted and William is Returned, who vaguely remembers what happened to him, only that he was under Xana"s Control, Hopefully he can return to being the William everyone knew....and that worries Ulrich.
For all intensive purposes, Episode 94 is the Real Finale, as episode 95 is more of an Epilogue and clip show than anything of merit. This is the final chance to fuck XANA, and by that I really mean...we'll keep Reading!
We open with Aelita having a Prophetic Nightmare of Franz, in his Guardian form, Dying from an Attack in Carthage.
Waking screaming from a nightmare, Aelita takes a fanservice shower (THIRTEEN YEARS OLD!) She meets Jeremy for the big day, the final battle, which Jeremy will see to the end, even if it means he dies of exhaustion.
William realizes that while he was gone, Something happened to convince people he wasn't and to make him feel unwanted our heroes balk on him sitting for lunch, Aelita and Yumi agree that to avoid this from happening again, They can be friends with William, but he cannot rejoin the Warriors.
As Jeremy finishes the Multi-Agent Program an email claiming to be Franz Hopper is sent to his computer. The Time has Come, even William wants to score, But Is waved off, But it doesn't stop Sissi from sticking her nose in. However William does come in clutch to distract Sissi as the others get to the factory.
When they Arrive So does William, He wants Revenge, But Jeremy Proposes to Only Virtualize William as a last resort.
Before The Battle, Aelita says he Goodbyes to her Father. Xana Attacks and Repossesses William. Poor Sucker can't catch a break! Jeremy is out of action, so Yumi Commits Sudoko to return to deal with William, Ironically being Stalked by an obsessive William, once again!
Franz has sent all the data he owns to Jeremy, but for it to work, it has to be launched in the one place where all of the data will reach all of Lyoko: Carthage. Meaning Aelita's Dream may play out. It took Everything Ulrich had, even his body, but the Kollosus is destroyed! Ulrich is not done yet, he has to save Yumi.
The Events of Aelita's Dream comes to pass, as Franz uses his life energy as a catalyst to Start the Multi-agent Program, for the last time Aelita activates Code: Lyoko and xana is Fucked, because Jeremy had Based the design of his Program....on Sperm!
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| "GET AROUND, ROUND, ROUND, I GET AROUND!" |
The Replikas are gone Xana is Violently expunged from William's Body as the last time we see is Aelita return to Earth, held gently by Jeremy as She Cries over Her Father. The World is saved but at a cost!
Echoes is a Clip Show and Epilogue, There is some things of merit and that's because Sissi learns the truth and tries to expose them after learning from Jeremy's Video Diary which he kept because his memory was wiped every time he used Return to the past on the Begining, that Sissi had directly or indirectly interfered in their mission. (She did Betray the Team in the Origin Story after all) the others except her as friends.
And I Know what you are going to say!
"BUT EAMONN, THE STORY IS NOT OVER WHAT ABOUT CODE LYOKO: EVOLUTION? YOU SAID YOU'LL TALK ABOUT CODE LYOKO EVOLUTION WHEN YOU GOT TO THE FINALE!"
OK I WILL!
Code Lyoko Evolution.......SUCKS!
In 2012, to Grand Fervour online, a Live Action 3D animation sequel was announced. Hype caused by for how this show, Now driven to cult status by Lovers of animation and Retroviewers was high, to the point there were even interviews with the actors with their faces obscured by the faces of their characters, to prolong the mystery. It sucked that the show didn't make it to Europe Dubbed, but on YouTube someone made sure that the show was Subbed before the Dub was Dropped.
They Dropped something alright.
Despite the upgrade to the 3D, the Casting was mocked for its Choices in actors who for named minor Characters, were either the wrong hair Colour,
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| Sissi. All that build and they just give you one line. |
The Wrong Age,
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| Mrs Hertz |
The wrong Size,
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| Off course, your Comic Relief Gym Teacher should be fat, that's the joke! |
Or in the case of Sam, The Wrong Ethnicity!
But as the Quality Control of this Last season can Attest, You can ignore Visual Hiccups, if the story is good,
Code Lyoko Evolution's story is not good!
Xana is not dead, but now a Ghostly bowl cut Child of Ambiguous Gender, who data was accidentally imbued onto our heroes that he can collect by hugging them and draining their souls. Our new Villain Professor Tylon is a a greedy capitalist, Who wants Lyoko because SHUT UP! Who is also an allegory for Climate change deniers because he doesn't believe XANA exists, Five Minutes of the show is wasted on Odd Trying and failing to impress Sam, But the worst thing they did was introduce a character who broke the fandom
It's time we talked about Code Lyoko's own Megaforce, let's talk About Laura Gauthier.
First of all, Don't Attack Actors for playing bad parts in badly written shows, Don't do that! Plus the show came out in 2012, when they were teenagers, so 1, they probably don't remember, and 2, she is probably a lot better she was back then, So I'm Stopping it before it starts!
So the character of Laura was Introduced in universe as a second Control Room Operator. As a Story Device, Laura made sense, after all, 2012 was 6 years after the show ended, a Show while it aired on Cartoon Network, was not produced by Warner Bros, so CN had no obligations to repeat a show they had no say in, and given said show was left on a website to rot, people who watched the entire show were few in number anyway. So Laura is a writing tool called an Audience Surrogate! She was the new kid at school, who like the audience, needed to be explained the backstory to move the existing story or world building of something not of the norm. It's a Trope that is used a lot, the best examples being Rose Tyler from Doctor who or Gus Griswold from Recess.
But Laura soon became a Mary Sue Character, wanting Jeremy-Senpai to Notice her, leading her to put Aelita in danger all because she wanted Belpois' Bell-End! So to make sure she doesn't fail again, just like old times, they wipe her memory,
..... only to be Kidnapped by Tylon Cooperation, showed footage of the avatars and she blabs their names, because she has no memory on keeping it a Secret.
Oh and the show ends on a cliffhanger, Anthea Hopper, Aelita's mother is alive, and married to and works for Professor Tylon, so we have a show that will never be resolved.
Back to season 4 and it's a mixed bag, Without the show ending it's run on TV, Quality Control Standards are not the same as they were. But you can ignore that is the story is good, and apart from some filler and the disaster that was the second half of Distant Memory, it's didn't defer from the story too much!
For Character Development in season 4, Of all the minor characters, Jim and Sissi get the most development. Jim, whose stories of World Travel, Myriad Employment and Badassary are proven true and gets the respect of Jeremy when Both are driven to use Jim's Survivalist lessons in practice! Sissi continues to be an annoyance, and as rushed as "Stop being a Racist Jerk and we can be friends" seems out of context, learning that she played some contribution to world domination, caused Sissi a nervous breakdown, So she's not completely heartless.
What's this?
A Jerk in a French Cartoon, Getting a Redemption Arc.... That Sticks?
Take Notes, Miraculous ladybug!
With the Least character development is Odd who gone through Flanderization instead, All Odd does is Chat up girls, Eat or Tell bad jokes. He gets more stupid as he turns superstitious in one episode and caused the events of Wrong exposure to happen, even his own arc fails as though it leads to Sissi being more friendly, She is not Odd's Girlfriend in Evolution and she only gets one line of Dialogue. Kiwi gets more Development than his owner!
Yumi have the "Will they, won't they" Storyline after the break up and nothing else, with Ulrich getting no resolution on his parents, Especially his father.
While Yumi has more of a presence, I hate how Generic they made Yumi's Costume for season 4, Changing it from a cool and Contemporary Geisha to a Generic Ninja, this during a time in 2004 to 2006 every kids station had at least one ninja themed show and for Code Lyoko a French Show to just boil down its only Asian character to just a ninja is so disappointing. It gets worse in Evolution as her Fan Weapons are replaced with a Bo-Staff.
Jeremy Despite his little Freudian Excuse if his Multi Agent System looking like that! Jeremy proves to be a tough nut to crack emotionally, if course Xana is a threat, but if Aelita, the main target of attacks can relax, then Jeremy usually follows suit, but it had lead to mistakes, or put in a Situation when making Xana stronger with returns to the past was the only solution. He has being more keen to run into danger though rather that hedging his bets to get to the factory, especially when Aelita Is In Danger
Speaking of, Aelita goes through a somewhat Bipolar Direction, Sure her Focus is on life after XANA is Destroyed and While People Criticize Aelita falling into the trap in Distant Memory, She went In to Give her father a piece of her mind for abandoning her In Lyoko for 12 years.
William is a tale of two characters, the Naive Pungeon master Fake William, and the mind controlled brooding Edge lord, sadly this is nothing like the Revenants of Mortal Kombat, the heel turn doesn't make him guilt trip the heroes, no William just growls and speaks like the Hulk. And despite just looking like a black Boiler suit because EVIL! There is actually a lot of Subtext here.
His Buster Sword and Corset armour are based in the real life German knights, the Doppel Warriors. Now Consider in Xana awakens, Jeremy calls the avatars the result of scans of one's subconscious and though Williams avatar fits in the seasons where everyone is put in Boiler suits, there are hints of his worse nature in his second form.
Consider This:
William is based on a Doppel Warrior. Named after their Two handed swords. Doppel is German for Double, but we know Doppel from a more sinister Phrase.
Doppelganger.
A spirit who kills and Replaces the original.
He wants to replace the German.
In meeting Yumi, he wanted her to be his. He has been obsessive before, graffiti tagging the name of a girl on the walls of his previous School. The corset is probably a nod to his Tortured Soul, as in his pretentious ramblings in his debut episode. But to do this his avatar has a smoke power that is faster than Ulrich's Super Sprint. His sword is bigger and stronger than Ulrich's (maybe he's compensating for something?)
In Season 4, Under Xana's dark design, Edict is taken up a notch. Granting him upgrades to every heroes power. Turning simple Childish One-upmanship to a message of Domination.
For a 4 season show with 95 seasons, even a Children's Show is now unheard of. Especially for a Cartoon Network show that was created by an Independent Studio Like Monscooop later Taffy Productions and Because of that it was an Uphill Battle, that Moonscoop eventually lost, relegating it's season 3 and 4 run to a website. As for it's Legacy, Code Lyoko is underrated, as it comes from the end of the Terrestrial vs Cable Era. You could only watch Code Lyoko on Satellite, and hope the national Stations would pick up certain shows for free! Sadly Code Lyoko suffered the same Kiss of Death, Avatar the last Airbender Did: It got Dubbed into Welsh! (While Avatar got Dubbed into Irish) If your Show got dubbed into Irish, Scots Gael or Welsh when the rights got sold to Britain, Then it was over, Sky was too expensive, and the consensus was if you had to PAY MONEY! to understand the plot, then THANK YOU, FUCK YOU, BYE!
It wouldn't be til the advent of Retroviewers, that people would remember the show and make Videos and Blogs (like this one!) lauding over the Mature Storytelling and Smooth 3D Animation. (everything from the Origin Story beyond still holds up!). The Story is not perfect though, It starts In Media Rias like all French Cartoons and the English voicecast can grate at times.
Another Factor in it's Supposed Failure is the It's Presence as a toy franchise. When you toys are being sold in Newsagents and Poundshops, It's Bad News. However this brings me to a funny story. By 2007 kix! (Now Pop Max!), a channel like Pop, shows Franchise programming on freeview, with Code Lyoko as it major shows. So Imagine my Surprise at Christmas of that year, the Pound Shops In Wexford Town was swamped because they sold Code Lyoko Toys, all because A free-to-air channel gave the show a new lease on life.
Sadly, the same could not be said of it's Video games, the first Rise of Xana was a mix clunky mix of 2d Point and Click and unplayable Platformer Riddle with Camera Screw. But what do you expect from a Company called the Games Factory, they just crapped out a Basic Platformer and slapped a franchise on it!
Later on there was Test-Footage for a MMORPG, but that fell to the wayside.
A series of Young Adult Book were published following a College Aged Odd and a Mysterious Girl called Ava, Sadly the books were only Available in French and Italian.
Code Lyoko was a show before it's time, From a small Studio which Became the Little Engine that Could, Developed from a short called Garage kids the Show became Moonscoop's biggest hits. But Sadly, Taffy would Close it's Door after creating that hit-or-Miss Fantastic Four Cartoon. But before then they created other shows, Noticeably The Cinematic scaled Oban Star-Racers and I.N.K.-Invisible Network Of Kids, which you should look into because it stars the C:L Cast In a more Comedic School Based Spy Drama that if you close your eyes and Listen, comes of as a Code Lyoko parody!
Like Teen Titans Go! But Without All the Disrespect to it's Fandom!
For Me These Reviews Have Being the Best 5 years of My "Career" as a Journeyman Reviewer, But all Good things must Sadly come to an End. It has Being Fun doing this on the month i can't or won't be working on a PPV, and of Something grabs my Attention, Whose to say that this Would be my only foray into an episode to episode Retroviewing?
Next time It's back to Business, all the fallout from the Storyline part of Ticket to Heaven which is ongoing at enlightenedtowers.blogspot.ie, when we are invited to a white Wedding soon to stained Red, In Ready Or Not!
Follow me On Twitter! @RealEnli!
