Code Lyoko Evolution is the sequel series of the French animated series, Code Lyoko (2003-2007). It first premiered on December 19, 2012 in France and February 28, 2013 in the USA. It consists of twenty-six episodes. Unlike the original series, it consists of live-action for scenes on Earth as opposed to 2D hand-drawn animation, but still contains 3D computer animation for Lyoko. The soundtrack has been overhauled.
This reboot is also considered the fifth season of the Code Lyoko franchise.
Plot
One year after the events of the fourth season, Jeremie Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama and Aelita Schaeffer return to their daily lives and routines at Kadic Academy. However, they soon find out that their old virtual archenemy, X.A.N.A., has been successfully reborn with even more strength and power than ever before. The Lyoko Warriors resume their former double lives in order to protect humanity from X.A.N.A.'s evil schemes once again. Joined by William Dunbar, who has finally been accepted as the sixth Lyoko Warrior, and an unreliable girl-genius named Laura Gauthier, the seven heroes are bent on unraveling the reasons for such a return and to exterminate the evil artificial intelligence that is threatening both worlds once and for all.
In addition to X.A.N.A., the Lyoko Warriors discover that they have another dangerous enemy, a mad scientist named Professor Tyron, who seems to be the one responsible for inadvertently returning X.A.N.A. to life. He commands the Ninjas, a group of several virtual human avatars in green and black-striped costumes to counter the Lyoko Warriors. In Tyron's lab the group also discovers Aelita's long-lost mother, Anthea Hopper-Schaeffer, and seek to discover why she is with their newest enemy and how to reunite mother and daughter.
In the cliffhanger, Ultimate Mission, it is revealed that Tyron has been married to Anthea for four years, and is now Aelita's legal guardian and stepfather. His only purpose of marrying Anthea was not out of love, but to get his greedy hands on her late husband's archives so that he could effectively create the Cortex region, which then the further evolved X.A.N.A. secretly inhabited to carry put its plans for world domination and destruction once again.
Differences from the Original Series
Weapons and Abilities
Abilities Used:
- Creativity
- Triplicate (only used in "Intrusion")
- Super Sprint (only used in "Rivalry" and "Confusion")
- Super Smoke
- Cat Climb
- Feline Execution
- Enhanced Reflexes
- Enhanced Balance
- Flight
Weapon Upgrades and Modifications Used
- Energy Slash (from William's Zweihänder)
Abilities Never Used:
- Telekinesis
- Triangulate
- Anticipation
- Shield
- Second Sight
- Second View
- Levitation
- Teleportation
- Time Control
Weapon Upgrades and Modifications Never Utilized:
Other Differences from the Original Show
- Due to now being in live-action, many characters have undergone changes in appearance or mannerisms.
- Odd's hair on Earth is now dark brown, but still features his trademark purple streak at the front.
- Jim looks a bit different. He is not muscular nor does he have a potbelly.
- Mr. Delmas seems to have a fresh shave than his normally seen beard in the animated series. He is seen as a more younger version than his original design, resembling a French Michael Richards.
- Several characters are missing, regulated to minor roles, or replaced entirely.
- Kiwi never appears. His disappearance is explained in the episode Obstinacy: this time, he is staying with Odd's five older sisters - Pauline, Louise, Marie, Elizabeth, and Adele.
- Sissi has only made two appearances in the live-action series rather than messing around with the Lyoko Warriors or trying to compete for Ulrich's attention like she used to. This could be explained as being due to her now being on more platonic terms with them as of the last episode of the original series, thus removing her motivation to antagonize them.
- The character Samantha Knight has had her role in the series replaced by a new character, Samantha Suarez. They share the same role as Odd's love interest, but Suarez is merely an adaptation of Knight, not the same character.
- Herb and Nicholas are not present, although Nicholas is mentioned by Mrs. Hertz in the episode Chaos at Kadic when revealing test grades to the class.
- Different 3D computer-animated software was used for the creation of Lyoko scenes. The Lyoko scenes are now more "cartoonish" compared to the original designs used in the original series.
- Towers have had a drastic redesign. They are now rectangular rather than cylindrical. They cannot be entered when not activated, with the exclusion of Way Towers.
- The costumes on Lyoko are slightly altered.
- The Ice and Forest Sectors are lost due to the long inactivity of the Supercomputer.
- Abilities on Lyoko have an entirely different appearance and color. Such as, Ulrich's super sprint leaving a pale blue trail instead of pale yellow, and Aelita's strengthened creativity has a light blue aura without any angelic, siren-like sounds heard.
- The powers and attacks of X.A.N.A. and the spectres are drastically mitigated. This results in the conflicts on Earth being far less intense than the desperate life-or-death scenarios from the original series.
- Yumi has a new weapon in addition to her Tessen Fans: the Bo Staff.
- Others seem to act like they never entered towers before, as seen when Odd tried to deactivate the tower for the first time.
- There are frequent inconsistencies in regards to Aelita and Franz Hopper's false names.
- Yumi is assumed to be a boarder by some fans as she can be seen going to the upper floor of the dormitory, where the girls reside, and she doesn't leave the school grounds with the rest of the day students as she normally has. However, in the episode Confusion, she mentions getting ready "at home" therefore leaving it a possibility that she is still a day student. Her parents and her younger brother have also been mentioned in the series.
- The Sewers, as well as the manhole to them, have drastically changed. Also, the characters are never shown on the bridge to the Factory, which can only be seen very far in the background.
- After someone is devirtualized, it takes twelve hours in order to be virtualized onto Lyoko again. In the original series, it didn't seem to take that long to be re-virtualized, as shown in several episodes such as Missing Link, Cold War, and Lost at Sea.
- The time period of the series was altered by ten years. While the original series takes place in the early 2000s, Evolution jumpstarts events by having them take place ten years later than in the original series. This was done to bring the series up to date with the year it was released in.
Production
It uses live action for Earth-based scenes and remains in CGI for Lyoko scenes. Twenty-six episodes of the show were aired on Canal J and France 4 in France. The season is estimated to have a budget of €5,600,000. Moonscoop has developed an extensive licensing and merchandising campaign around the IP including an upcoming live show to launch in Spain. On YouTube, several videos were released showcasing various elements of the show: "evolutions" of characters, the MegaPod, and others. A few teasers were also released, some of which are dubbed in English. For the United States, Code Lyoko Evolution was not picked up by Cartoon Network, but aired one dubbed episode on the channel Kabillion on February 28, 2013.[1]
Reception
Code Lyoko Evolution received mixed-to-positive-to-negative reviews. While the improved CGI animation was viewed positively by fans, reception to most of the other changes were either mixed or outright negative. Fans lambasted Laura Gauthier's character and had mixed views about the live-action shooting replacing 2-D animation in real life. Fans also criticized the casting choices and wooden acting of some of the performers. Aspects of the writing have also been criticized and it is generally seen as inferior to the original series.
List of Episodes
Ep No. | Pro No. | Name | Image | French Title | Airdates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 (96) | 501 | X.A.N.A. 2.0 | XANA 2.0 | FR: December 19th, 2012 (Online) January 5th, 2013 (TV) | |
2 (97) | 502 | Cortex | Cortex | FR: January 5th, 2013 | |
3 (98) | 503 | Spectromania | Spectromania | FR: January 5th, 2013 | |
4 (99) | 504 | Mrs. Einstein | Madame Einstein | FR: January 19th, 2013 | |
5 (100) | 505 | Rivalry | Rivalité | US: February 28th, 2013 FR: January 26th, 2013 | |
6 (101) | 506 | Suspicions | Soupçons | FR: February 2nd, 2013 | |
7 (102) | 507 | Countdown | Compte-à-rebours | FR: February 9th, 2013 | |
8 (103) | 508 | Virus | Virus | FR: February 16th, 2013 | |
9 (104) | 509 | How to Fool X.A.N.A. | Comment tromper XANA | FR: February 23th, 2013 | |
10 (105) | 510 | The Warrior Awakens | Le réveil du guerrier | FR: March 2nd, 2013 | |
11 (106) | 511 | Rendezvous | Rendez-vous | FR: March 9th, 2013 | |
12 (107) | 512 | Chaos at Kadic | Chaos à Kadic | FR: March 16th, 2013 | |
13 (108) | 513 | Friday the 13th | Vendredi 13 | FR: March 23th, 2013 | |
14 (109) | 514 | Intrusion | Intrusion | FR: March 30th, 2013 | |
15 (110) | 515 | The Codeless | Les sans-codes | FR: April 6th, 2013 | |
16 (111) | 516 | Confusion | Confusion | FR: April 13th, 2013 | |
17 (112) | 517 | An Assured Professional Future | Un avenir professionnel assuré | FR: April 20th, 2013 | |
18 (113) | 518 | Obstinacy | Obstination | FR: April 27th, 2013 | |
19 (114) | 519 | The Trap | Le piège | FR: May 5th, 2013 (iTunes) December 12th, 2013 (TV) | |
20 (115) | 520 | Espionage | Espionnage | FR: December 13th, 2013 HU: July 27th, 2013 | |
21 (116) | 521 | False Pretenses | Faux-semblants | FR: December 14th, 2013 HU: July 28th, 2013 | |
22 (117) | 522 | Mutiny | Mutinerie | FR: December 15th, 2013 HU: July 29th, 2013 | |
23 (118) | 523 | Jeremy's Blues | Le blues de Jérémie | FR: December 16th, 2013 HU: July 30th, 2013 | |
24 (119) | 524 | Temporal Paradox | Paradoxe temporel | FR: December 17th, 2013 HU: July 31st, 2013 | |
25 (120) | 525 | Massacre | Hécatombe | FR: December 18th, 2013 HU: August 1st, 2013 | |
26 (121) | 526 | Ultimate Mission | Ultime mission | FR: December 19th, 2013 HU: August 2nd, 2013 |