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The very first season of Code Lyoko originally aired from September 3, 2003 to February 25, 2004. The head writer was Sophie Decroisette. It was directed by Jérôme Mouscadet.

Plot[]

The first season of the series focuses more on character development than plot development, only revealing details about the plot in its last few episodes. The rest of the episodes are "filler" because, in each episode, the Lyoko Warriors discover a X.A.N.A. attack, fight against it, stop it and activate a return to the past for one single day.

As a complement to avoid the monotony of the series, this season shows relationships between characters and other students and teachers of the school with their parents, relatives, etc. During all this, Jeremie is working on a program to "materialize" Aelita (transport her from the virtual world to the real world) so that they can turn off the supercomputer and, therefore, X.A.N.A. once and for all.

Story[]

X.A.N.A. Awakens[]

Le reveil de XANA partie 2 061

X.A.N.A.'s first attack.

As Jeremie Belpois is looking for parts to use for his robots in an abandoned factory, he eventually finds the supercomputer and restarts it. Aelita awakes almost immediately afterwards, but didn't remember anything about her past. Jeremie assumed she was an artificial intelligence and decided to name her Maya, after she requested to be called something other than "Artificial Inteligence". As Jeremie found out about the scanners and virtualization, he sent Odd Della Robbia and Ulrich Stern to Lyoko. They didn't meet Aelita because they were devirtualized by Bloks in the Ice Sector, but not before Ulrich spots a strange red Tower in the same Sector. Feeling the pulsation from the red tower, Aelita heading to the Ice Sector through a Way Tower.

Jeremie wanted to fully materialize Aelita on Earth, so they can shut down the supercomputer and neutralize X.A.N.A. for good. He had confided in Odd, Ulrich and Sissi that they could do it if they could get Aelita into the red tower (a tower which X.A.N.A. had activated when Jeremie restarted the supercomputer) in the Ice Sector. However, Sissi gets electrocuted by an electric energy orb sent by X.A.N.A. and Ulrich brings Yumi Ishiyama to the factory. Jeremie sends Ulrich, Odd and Yumi to Lyoko to help Aelita get to the tower after an fierce fight with X.A.N.A.'s monsters. As Aelita saw the interface, she found out that her name wasn't Maya, but Aelita. She deactivates the tower. However, Jeremie's theory was wrong as Aelita didn't come to Earth. Aelita thinks that keeping the supercomputer on is too dangerous and that they should shut it down immediately, but the others agreed to keep fighting X.A.N.A until Jeremie finds a way to materialize Aelita. (X.A.N.A. Awakens)

Aelita's Materialization Program[]

D'un cheveu 167

Aelita's Materialization Program.

Jeremie programmed an almost working version in Cruel Dilemma. But it wasn't until he left, and Odd accidentally pressed a few keys that weren't known, which made the program workable. Since nobody knew the full contents of the program, it couldn't be recreated. For an unspecified reason, it wasn't re-usable. Because of these two facts, it was a single-use program. Yumi fell into the Digital Sea later in the episode, and they had to use the program on her instead. This version was the only Materialization program that was able to recover a body from the digital sea. Unlike the later versions, it didn't require the target to be in a Tower to work. In Just in Time, Jeremie managed to create a materialization program which actually worked. Since he was unsure if it would work correctly or not, he tested it by materializing a single hair of hers. This worked, but in the process, his program bugged up the Annex Program, so that if Aelita used Code: Lyoko, she would be deleted. Exactly that happened, so the group used the hair to clone her and recover her data. In Frontier, when Aelita and Jeremie try to do more tests on materialization, Aelita accidently does some preparations that Jeremie had already done, causing Jeremie to get mad at her. As Jeremie thinks he hurt Aelita, he decides to go into Lyoko by himself, but an error occurs, moving Jeremie somewhere between Lyoko and Earth. Aelita, who is connected to Jeremies' thoughts, activates four towers from four sectors, bringing Jeremie safely back to Earth just before the supercomputer had him erased. During Ghost Channel, Odd, Yumi and Ulrich dissappeared during Return To The Past. Aelita finds out that X.A.N.A had created a virtual reality to trick the missing trio into thinking that they were actually back in the real world. As Jeremie virtualized himself to save the others, Aelita used her abilities to destroy the illusion, freeing the others from X.A.N.A.'s mercy. (Cruel Dilemma, The Girl of the Dreams, Just in Time, Frontier, Ghost Channel)

Aelita is finally Materialized[]

Aelita finally materialized

Aelita finally materialized.

In Code: Earth, Jeremie soon manages to create the correct materialization program, sending Aelita to the Forest Sector. However, monsters attack her and the tower she is in in order to stop her from leaving. But with the help of Ulrich, Aelita materializes for the first time on Earth with others being at the scanner room to welcome her. Jeremie had her enrolled to Kadic as Odd's cousin and Yumi had her parents convinced about her staying at her home and Aelita was even better than Jeremie in the classes. But when team tried to shut down the supercomputer, Aelita collapses. As Jeremie investigated, he found out that X.A.N.A. had given Aelita a virus that connects them both. If X.A.N.A. is destroyed, so is Aelita. With X.A.N.A. sending his monsters to attack Kadic, Aelita deactivates the tower and decides to stay in Lyoko in case X.A.N.A. would attack again. The Lyoko Warriors decide that Aelita would visit the Earth occasionally to visit for them. (Code: Earth, False Start).

List of Episodes[]

Prequel[]

Although produced as part of Season 3, the prequel is included here for chronology purposes.

Ep No. Pro No. Name Image French Title Airdates
0 309 X.A.N.A. Awakens, Part 1 Xana awakens 1 Le réveil de XANA partie 1 US: October 2nd, 2006
FR: October 21st, 2006
0 310 X.A.N.A. Awakens, Part 2 Xana awakens 2 Le réveil de XANA partie 2 US: October 3rd, 2006
FR: October 21st, 2006

Season 1[]

Ep No. Pro No. Name Image French Title Airdates
1 103 Teddygozilla Teddygozillamaincredits Teddygozilla US: April 19th, 2004
FR: September 3rd, 2003
2 101 Seeing Is Believing Seeing Is Believing Title Screen Le voir pour le croire US: April 20th, 2004
FR: September 10th, 2003
3 102 Holiday in the Fog Holiday In The Fog Title Vacances dans la brume US: April 21st, 2004
FR: September 17th, 2003
4 105 Log Book Logbook Carnet de bord US: April 22nd, 2004
FR: September 24th, 2003
5 108 Big Bug Biggestbug Big bogue US: April 23rd, 2004
FR: October 1st, 2003
6 106 Cruel Dilemma 6 cruel dilemma Cruel dilemme US: April 26th, 2004
FR: October 8th, 2003
7 110 Image Problem 7 image problem Problème d'image US: April 27th, 2004
FR: October 15th, 2003
8 109 End of Take 8 end of take Clap de fin US: April 28th, 2004
FR: October 22nd, 2003
9 112 Satellite 9 satellite Satellite US: April 29th, 2004
FR: October 29th, 2003
10 107 The Girl of the Dreams 10 the girl of the dreams Créature de rêve US: April 30th, 2004
FR: November 5th, 2003
11 111 Plagued 11 plagued Enragés US: May 3rd, 2004
FR: November 12th, 2003
12 104 Swarming Attack 12 swarming attack Attaque en piqué US: May 4th, 2004
FR: November 19th, 2003
13 113 Just in Time 13 just in time D'un cheveu US: May 5th, 2004
FR: November 26th, 2003
14 116 The Trap 14 the trap Piège US: May 6th, 2004
FR: December 3rd, 2003
15 114 Laughing Fit 15 laughing fit Crise de rire US: May 7th, 2004
FR: December 10th, 2003
16 115 Claustrophobia 16 claustrophobia Claustrophobie US: May 10th, 2004
FR: December 17th, 2003
17 117 Amnesia 17 amnesia Mémoire morte US: May 11th, 2004
FR: December 24th, 2003
18 118 Killer Music 18 killer music Musique mortelle US: May 12th, 2004
FR: December 31st, 2003
19 120 Frontier 19 frontier Frontière US: May 13th, 2004
FR: January 7th, 2004
20 119 The Robots 20 robots L'âme des robots US: May 14th, 2004
FR: January 14th, 2004
21 121 Zero Gravity Zone 21 zero gravity zone Gravité zéro US: May 17th, 2004
FR: January 21st, 2004
22 122 Routine 22 routine Routine US: May 18th, 2004
FR: January 28th, 2004
23 123 Rock Bottom? 23 rock bottom 36ème dessous US: May 19th, 2004
FR: February 4th, 2004
24 126 Ghost Channel 24 ghost channel Canal fantôme US: May 20th, 2004
FR: February 11th, 2004
25 124 Code: Earth 25 code earth Code Terre US: May 21st, 2004
FR: February 18th, 2004
26 125 False Start 26 false start Faux départ US: May 24th, 2004
FR: February 25th, 2004

Production[]

Shortly after Garage Kids was made, scripting for Season 1 began in January 2002, with Frédéric Lenoir, Françoise Charpiat and Laurent Turner being hired as writers to create Teddygozilla, Seeing is Believing and Holiday in the Fog, respectively.[1][2] Lenoir was the first to be brought on, initially to help make everything consistent with Carlo de Boutiny. His largest contribution was suggesting the addition of a time travel mechanism as a way to explain how X.A.N.A. could cause massive destruction to the real world that other people would witness without arising suspicion of its existence among the populace and government.[2][3]

Antefilms was said to have difficulty finding a channel interested in the series.[4] They decided unusually to fund the literary and graphic development themselves in the meantime, which is usually paid for by the channel after a show is greenlit. The series' backstory underwent a heavy revision around this time. The team of researchers who built the supercomputer were simplified into a single person named Franz Hopper, at this point a scientist/science teacher at Kadic who had simply discovered it one day.[5] He used it to create his own virtual paradise, now named Lyoko instead of Xanadu, which was repurposed as the name Hopper gave the supercomputer: X.A.N.A.. Aelita was also added to the series around then, who originally Hopper had created as a humanoid AI to run the virtual world. Hopper was said to have built the scanners to access Lyoko and disappeared during one of his visits, which was implied to have been the cause of why X.A.N.A. began attacking Earth.

In searching for a director, Thomas Romain and Tania Palumbo wanted someone from "a new generation" to lead the series, meaning a graduate from the 90s.[6] Jérôme Mouscadet was selected in June 2002 after having a chance dinner with a friend who worked at Antefilms. Although Mouscadet had experience directing animated short films at a small company, he had never directed a full-length series before. He met with friends at Dupuis who had worked on animated series before to help familiarize him with the differences. Ultimately he found "it was similar to what I had been doing previously, but much, much bigger" and so he "surrounded [himself] with competent people". One of the first changes Mouscadet made was to drop the heroes retaining their superpowers from the virtual world into the real world, which stemmed from him wanting to the line between each world to be as clear as possible to younger viewers.[7]

The desire to differentiate the two worlds lead them to recruit a team of artists, most notably Frédéric Perrin, to give the real world backgrounds a more realistic appearance in comparison to Garage Kids'.[8] They wanted to base the sets off real locations, so Mouscadet searched for a school with amenities such as a park and stadium to help provide material for adventures.[9] They selected Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, where Romain attended as a child, and received permission to photograph the school for reference. The factory in Garage Kids had been based on the Renault plant in Boulogne-Billancourt. When the crew learned it was planned to be demolished, Mouscadet hurried to receive photobanks of the factory from the Renault Regional Council within Boulogne-Billancourt's town hall.

Development progressed slowly throughout the summer of 2002, which Mouscadet attributed to the series' initial head writer "[taking] a lot of vacation".[6] Sophie Decroisette was contacted in late-August or September 2002 to replace her, who was recently a writer for the animated science fiction series Malo Korrigan and on a break at the time from giving birth to her first child. Decroisette accepted, and "things progressed very quickly" thereafter. According to Decroisette, very little of Garage Kids' plot and characters were defined at this point, with her describing this stage of development as finding "narrative foundations", saying: [...] I really just saw a teaser that was focusing on images, there were great ideas in the images, notably the transition from one universe to the other, but plot-wise, it was just "they travel from one universe to the other", with no explanation on "how" and "why". They had no real motivation, they were fighting X.A.N.A., which was represented as black spheres, something like this, but none of this was clearly defined. Our job, with the other writers, was to try to introduce "scientific accuracy"".[2]

Decroisette and the other writers frequently asked questions about how things worked in the show's universe and would then think of an explanation.[6] As an example, Decroisette turned Lenoir's time travel idea into the Return to the Past program in the supercomputer, which she attributed to it being a quantum supercomputer. Another was the implications of X.A.N.A. possessing a teddy bear: "we had to think of the fact that he was taking control of the teddy bear, why the teddy bear grew… Then, we gradually refined this concept, we asked ourselves what could be the implications of electrical attacks. For instance, it would allow to take control of a hairdryer… But how can you attack someone with a hairdryer? All of this was maturing, so we would always ask ourselves questions, such as: can we go as far as taking control of a samurai armor?" One of the limits they initially decided on was that X.A.N.A. could not possess humans, primarily to avoid plots from becoming repetitive.[10]

Next the writers spent two months working on the characters and figuring out their motivations.[2][11] They particularly struggled with Jeremie, until one day Charpiat suggested during a meeting that Jeremie want to bring Aelita onto Earth.[2] This "solved a lot of issues" according to Decroisette, and "allowed [...] something strong in season 1".

Networks were still hesitant to officially greenlight the series, however, as they worried a serialized story would be off putting to viewers who missed the first few episodes and they wanted to air reruns without worrying about following an episode order.[8] According to writer Alain Serluppus, the series' potential marketability in the United States also played a part.[12] As a result, the writers decided to shift to an episodic format. Romain was unhappy by this change, and decided to leave the series in early 2003 to work on Ōban Star-Racers in Japan. This did however convince broadcast network France 3 and cable channel Canal J to both sign on to the series. Of the two France 3 received first run rights, with Canal J not airing the series until months after it ended on France 3.[13] Despite the shift to an episodic format, Mouscadet said they tried to incorporate serial elements by progressing the story roughly every eight episodes or so.[14] Sometime after the series was greenlit, the producers requested a new name for it, feeling Garage Kids was too vague of a title.[15] Palumbo and production manager Anne de Galard settled on Code Lyoko.

For Garage Kids, both the 2D and 3D animation were done in-house at Antefilms. When the series was greenlit, while the 3D would continue to be made within Antefilms at their office in Angoulême, it was decided to outsource the 2D animation to Asia similarly to most western animated series.[6] Two studios were selected for the first season: with Animation Services Hong Kong Limited being the main studio, and Fantasia Animation being the second.[16][17]

Scripting for the rest of season 1 officially began in January 2003 and ended that July.[1][18]

Trivia[]

  • Officially X.A.N.A. Awakens is set on October 9, 2001, while Season 1 takes place roughly a year later during the first half of the 2002-2003 school year.[19]
  • This was the only season made by Moonscoop when they were under their "Antefilms" name. They rebranded after Season 1 was finished when they merged with France Animation.
  • When Season 1 premiered in the United States, the English version of A World Without Danger hadn't been recorded yet, so the instrumental version was used instead. The version with lyrics wouldn't debut until a marathon on July 24, 2004.[20]
  • This season had more English DVD releases than the other seasons combined. In fact, the entire season, has been released by two companies. In addition, 3 partial sets have been released.
  • Odd's only ability on Lyoko is "Future Flash," allowing him to see imminent danger to his friends or hidden paths. It is used only in four episodes and is lost after this season.
  • This is the only season of the English dub to be based on the finalized French dialogue.[21] All future seasons were recorded at the same time as the French version, and as a result are based on the original scripts.
    • The background music and sound effects are noticeably quieter than the voices in the English dub for most episodes of this season. Later seasons would leave them the same volume as the voices like the French version.

References[]

(For production numbers)

  1. 1.0 1.1 "From scripts to episodes S1 - Part 1" - CodeLyoko.fr
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Interview - Sophie Decroisette, partie 1". Ces Dessins Animés-Là qui méritent qu'on s'en souvienne. March 4, 2014.
  3. "Les secrets de Code Lyoko racontés par ses créateurs (et on sait pourquoi ils ont des grands fronts)" (3:26) - YouTube
  4. Reply from Alain Serluppus to "[animation] Code Lyoko (up p41 goblin exhibit)": "[...] Indeed, Antefilms seems to have had trouble raising the funds needed to launch production, because a serial series is hard to sell. The production company therefore had to pay for the graphic and literary development, which left a hole in its cash flow, and then wait several years to hope to recover its funds.". CATSUKA. March 13, 2004.
  5. "The Graphic Bible of Code Lyoko" - CodeLyoko.fr
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Interview - Sophie Decroisette, partie 2". Ces Dessins Animés-Là qui méritent qu'on s'en souvienne. March 11, 2014.
  7. "Avant première Code Lyoko saison 4". CodeLyoko.fr. July 5, 2007.
  8. 8.0 8.1 ""Code Lyoko" arrive sur Netflix: l'histoire secrète de la série culte". BFMTV. January 10, 2020.
  9. Les secrets de Code Lyoko racontés par ses créateurs (et on sait pourquoi ils ont des grands fronts) (6:33) - YouTube
  10. Reply from Sophie Decroisette to [animation] Code Lyoko (up p41 goblin exhibit): "Why can't XANA take possession of one of our heroes?
    Because it's like that ! This is the answer. It was a rule - quite subjective, I grant you - that we had put in place at the beginning of the writing. Otherwise, the series would probably have gone to episodes that weren't very varied, like: a guy and/or hero are "zombified" by Xana and try to annihilate everyone... not very interesting. But nothing prevents us from changing things in season 2!" Catsuka. April 3, 2004.
  11. Les secrets de Code Lyoko racontés par ses créateurs (et on sait pourquoi ils ont des grands fronts) (4:05) - YouTube
  12. Reply from Alain Serluppus to "[animation] Code Lyoko (up p41 goblin exhibit)": "[...] And last but not least: international sales. In fact, it's not the French who are the most reluctant to serial series, but rather the Americans. For them, it's a pain in the ass to respect a specific order. What's more, over there, kids can choose from 250 channels, and have a zapper grafted to one hand (the other being used to gorge on chips, pizza, hamburgers and other products healthy for your waistline). So, if the kid comes across an episode they don't understand or don't immediately identify, they zap to another channel. Building audience loyalty in France is pretty straightforward. But over there, competition is fierce! So French producers don't take the risk of investing in a series that's difficult to make in Europe, and impossible to sell on the other side of the Atlantic. If Lyokô, for example, had been serial, well, the US certainly wouldn't have bought it!". CATSUKA. March 13, 2004.
  13. "The Blunders of France 3" - CodeLyoko.fr
  14. "TERTULIA TISTAZO - JÉRÔME MOUSCADET Y SOPHIE DECROISETTE (Director y Escritora de Codigo Lyoko)" (8:30) - YouTube
  15. "Interview with Sophie Decroisette" - CodeLyoko.fr (2007)
  16. "Agogo Coporation - Programs Library". agogo.com.hk. 2004.
  17. "Ghost Channel" (23:06)
  18. "From scripts to episodes S1 - Part 2" - CodeLyoko.fr
  19. "Timeline > The official chronology and clues" - CodeLyoko.fr
  20. "Code Lyoko Marathon?". TV Tome. July 2004.
  21. "French vs English" - CodeLyoko.fr


ve Episodes
Pilots "Les enfants" • "Garage Kids"
Prequel "X.A.N.A. Awakens" (Part 1Part 2)
Season 1 "Teddygozilla" • "Seeing Is Believing" • "Holiday in the Fog" • "Log Book" • "Big Bug" • "Cruel Dilemma" • "Image Problem" • "End of Take" • "Satellite" • "The Girl of the Dreams" • "Plagued" • "Swarming Attack" • "Just in Time" • "The Trap" • "Laughing Fit" • "Claustrophobia" • "Amnesia" • "Killer Music" • "Frontier" • "The Robots" • "Zero Gravity Zone" • "Routine" • "Rock Bottom?" • "Ghost Channel" • "Code: Earth" • "False Start"
Season 2 "New Order" • "Uncharted Territory" • "Exploration" • "A Great Day" • "Mister Pück" • "Saint Valentine's Day" • "Final Mix" • "Missing Link" • "The Chips Are Down" • "Marabounta" • "Common Interest" • "Temptation" • "A Bad Turn" • "Attack of the Zombies" • "Ultimatum" • "A Fine Mess" • "X.A.N.A.'s Kiss" • "Vertigo" • "Cold War" • "Déjà Vu" • "Tip-Top Shape" • "Is Anybody Out There?" • "Franz Hopper" • "Contact" • "Revelation" • "The Key"
Season 3 "Straight to Heart" • "Lyoko Minus One" • "Tidal Wave" • "False Lead" • "Aelita" • "The Pretender" • "The Secret" • "Temporary Insanity" • "Sabotage" • "Nobody in Particular" • "Triple Trouble" • "Double Trouble" • "Final Round"
Season 4 "William Returns" • "Double Take" • "Opening Act" • "Wreck Room" • "Skidbladnir" • "Maiden Voyage" • "Crash Course" • "Replika" • "I'd Rather Not Talk About It" • "Hot Shower" • "The Lake" • "Lost at Sea" • "Lab Rat" • "Bragging Rights" • "Dog Day Afternoon" • "A Lack of Goodwill" • "Distant Memory" • "Hard Luck" • "Guided Missile" • "Kadic Bombshell" • "Canine Conundrum" • "A Space Oddity" • "Cousins Once Removed" • "Music to Soothe the Savage Beast" • "Wrong Exposure" • "Bad Connection" • "Cold Sweat" • "Down to Earth" • "Fight to the Finish" • "Echoes"
Evolution "X.A.N.A. 2.0" • "Cortex" • "Spectromania" • "Mrs. Einstein" • "Rivalry" • "Suspicions" • "Countdown" • "Virus" • "How to Fool X.A.N.A." • "The Warrior Awakens" • "Rendezvous" • "Chaos at Kadic" • "Friday the 13th" • "Intrusion" • "The Codeless" • "Confusion" • "An Assured Professional Future" • "Obstinacy" • "The Trap" • "Espionage" • "False Pretenses" • "Mutiny" • "Jeremy's Blues" • "Temporal Paradox" • "Massacre" • "Ultimate Mission"
Movie "Havoc" (cancelled)
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