The second season of Code Lyoko originally aired from September 19, 2005 to December 9, 2005.
Story[]
Aelita on Earth[]
Aelita sleeping with Mister Puck, her childhood toy.
After discovering Aelita's link to the supercomputer and the inability to shut off the supercomputer that stems from it (meaning that if the supercomputer is turned off for whatever reason, Aelita will die too), Jeremie works hard to find new and better ways to fight X.A.N.A.. To that end, he develops three new vehicles for the group. He also develops a new tower-scanning program that instantly detects activated towers, allowing Aelita to live on Earth full time.
While on Lyoko, using their new vehicles for the first time, they :encounter a brand-new creation of monsters X.A.N.A. has made, the Tarantulas, as named by Odd. Aelita is enrolled to Kadic with a room of her own and everything, and she happily accepts the offer and enrolls as Aelita Stones. During a field trip, Aelita suffers from visions, leading her to an old abandoned house, the Hermitage, where X.A.N.A. ambushes her and tries to kill the team inside the house's boiler room. Aelita manages to escape with Odd's help and they deactivate the tower. As Aelita keeps having bad dreams, they eventually lead her to rediscover her past toy, Mister Pück, which has a key to a locker in the local train station.
Jeremie finds a video diary of Franz Hopper, the man who used to own the Hermitage and has worked at Kadic before. However, the diary is locked with a code. X.A.N.A. takes control of Jeremie, destroying the diary. Later, Aelita finds out that she is a good mixer, and she likes mixing so much that makes it her hobby. News of Peter Duncan, a notorious criminal, has escaped the police and Aelita is having serious headaches and passes out during class and is sent to the hospital. There, she has two heart attacks and survives both of them. Jeremie finds out that Aelita's behaviour is because of the supercomputer losing its power and its nuclear battery is needing to be recharged. Peter Duncan, possessed by X.A.N.A., takes Jeremie and makes him change the core of the supercomputer, resulting in Aelita being alive and well again. (New Order, Mister Pück, Final Mix, Common Interest, Déjà Vu)
Sector Five and the Scyphozoa[]
Sector Five, the fifth region of Lyoko and its main sector.
The Scyphozoa attacking Aelita.
Sometime later in school, Aelita doesn't get along with others well, as Sissi tricks her into entering the boy's bathroom and feeling that no one has time for her, Aelita returns to Lyoko, where X.A.N.A.'s monsters trick her to the edge of Forest Sector and a transportation orb appears, taking Aelita to a new, mysterious sector, where a new monster attacks Aelita to steal her memory. She is saved by the others and brought back to Earth, where she decides to stay while learning to insult Sissi as well. As the team goes to investigate Sector Five, Yumi has to stay behind because of her parents getting suspicious. Ulrich and Odd, however, get devirtualized and Aelita is almost attacked by the Scyphozoa again, but Yumi arrives just in time. Jeremie and Aelita decide to work on an anti-virus that would free her from X.A.N.A's virus. However, as X.A.N.A. takes control over the return to the past program, Aelita is left to Lyoko by the program and the Scyphozoa attempts to steal Aelita's memory again, but is again stopped just in time. In an episode, as she gets a necklace as a Valentine present from a mysterious person (thinking it is Jeremie), she is possessed by X.A.N.A., who created the necklace. Being possessed, Aelita surrenders herself to the Scyphozoa, forcing Odd to shoot her to the point that she could die, which then again forces the Scyphozoa to let her go. Later, the Scyphozoa steals Yumi's DNA code, forcing her to stay in Lyoko.
Aelita chooses to transfer her DNA codes to Yumi, which would leave her memory without protection and X.A.N.A could steal it much more easily. Aelita stops the process, thanks to Ulrich and Odd. Together, they all visit Sector Five and get Yumi's DNA codes back. X.A.N.A. tries his best to get Aelita's memory: materializing Krabs on to Earth, turning people into zombies, causing the team to break up by using a polymorphic clone, and even kidnapping Yumi and Odd. As Aelita keeps seeing her visions, she goes to Sector Five during one mission, only to find out that X.A.N.A probably used the visions to have Aelita come to him willingly. (Uncharted Territory, Exploration, A Great Day, Saint Valentine's Day, Missing Link, A Bad Turn, Attack of the Zombies, Ultimatum, X.A.N.A.'s Kiss, Vertigo, Cold War, Tip-Top Shape, Is Anybody Out There?)
Franz Hopper and Aelita's Past[]
Jeremie informs the others that X.A.N.A. has activated five towers at once, and the team goes to the Factory, where they find Franz Hopper, deactivating towers from the interface of the supercomputer without going to Lyoko. He explains that he was a prisoner, but managed to escape and that he was there to help the Lyoko Warriors rid of X.A.N.A.. He reveals that the scanners and virtualization weren't ready for usage and finds out that Yumi has cellular problems in her brains, causing everyone (excluding Aelita) to turn against Jeremie. When Franz sends everyone to Lyoko, Jeremie had found out that 'Franz' is really an impostor, and he helps Aelita to send a replica of her to Lyoko, where the Scyphozoa attacks and destroys it. With his plan in ruins, X.A.N.A.'s polymorphic Franz Hopper spectre disappears and Aelita deactivates the tower in Sector Five. Soon however, in Odd's movie night, Sissi starts acting weird, and the Lyoko Warriors discover that the real Franz Hopper is trying to contact them. Jeremie sends Aelita to decode Hopper's diary, which X.A.N.A tries to take over, but fails and it is revealed that Aelita is actually Franz Hopper's daughter, who lived on Earth a long time ago. X.A.N.A didn't give Aelita an virus, but took a fragment of Aelita away and that he wants to steal the Keys of Lyoko from Aelita's memory, so he can escape from the supercomputer and conquer the world. Aelita tries to shut down the supercomputer and kill herself in the process, but Jeremie prevents it from happening and everyone goes to Sector Five in order to find Aelita's missing fragment. One by one, Odd, Yumi and Ulrich are devirtualized and Aelita gets trapped with the Scyphozoa immediately arriving and stealing her memory, killing her and X.A.N.A breaks out of the supercomputer. Franz Hopper, however, uses all of his powers to revive Aelita, who finally gets her past memories back. Aelita decides that she and the Lyoko Warriors will destroy X.A.N.A, whatever it takes. (Franz Hopper, Contact, Revelation, The Key)
List of Episodes[]
| Ep No. | Pro No. | Name | Image | French Title | Airdates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (27) | 203 | New Order | 
|
Nouvelle donne | US: September 19th, 2005 FR: August 31st, 2005 |
| 2 (28) | 204 | Uncharted Territory | 
|
Terre inconnue | US: September 20th, 2005 FR: September 7th, 2005 |
| 3 (29) | 205 | Exploration | 
|
Exploration | US: September 21st, 2005 FR: September 14th, 2005 |
| 4 (30) | 202 | A Great Day | 
|
Un grand jour | US: September 22nd, 2005 FR: September 21st, 2005 |
| 5 (31) | 206 | Mister Pück | 
|
Mister Pück | US: September 23rd, 2005 FR: September 28th, 2005 |
| 6 (32) | 207 | Saint Valentine's Day | 
|
Saint Valentin | US: September 26th, 2005 FR: October 5th, 2005 |
| 7 (33) | 208 | Final Mix | 
|
Mix final | US: September 27th, 2005 FR: October 12th, 2005 |
| 8 (34) | 209 | Missing Link | 
|
Chaînon manquant | US: September 28th, 2005 FR: October 19th, 2005 |
| 9 (35) | 210 | The Chips Are Down | 
|
Les jeux sont faits | US: September 29th, 2005 FR: October 26th, 2005 |
| 10 (36) | 211 | Marabounta | 
|
Marabounta | US: September 30th, 2005 FR: November 2nd, 2005 |
| 11 (37) | 212 | Common Interest | 
|
Intérêt commun | US: October 3rd, 2005 FR: November 9th, 2005 |
| 12 (38) | 213 | Temptation | 
|
Tentation | US: November 25th, 2005 FR: December 7th, 2005 |
| 13 (39) | 214 | A Bad Turn | 
|
Mauvaise conduite | US: October 26th, 2005 FR: November 16th, 2005 |
| 14 (40) | 215 | Attack of the Zombies | 
|
Contagion | US: October 4th, 2005 FR: November 23rd, 2005 |
| 15 (41) | 216 | Ultimatum | 
|
Ultimatum | US: October 5th, 2005 FR: November 30th, 2005 |
| 16 (42) | 217 | A Fine Mess | 
|
Désordre | US: October 6th, 2005 FR: December 14th, 2005 |
| 17 (43) | 201 | X.A.N.A.'s Kiss | 
|
Mon meilleur ennemi | US: October 7th, 2005 FR: January 11th, 2006 |
| 18 (44) | 218 | Vertigo | 
|
Vertige | US: October 24th, 2005 FR: January 11th, 2006 |
| 19 (45) | 221 | Cold War | 
|
Guerre froide | US: October 25th, 2005 FR: January 18th, 2006 |
| 20 (46) | 220 | Déjà Vu | 
|
Empreintes | US: October 27th, 2005 FR: January 18th, 2006 |
| 21 (47) | 222 | Tip-Top Shape | 
|
Au meilleur de sa forme | US: October 28th, 2005 FR: January 25th, 2006 |
| 22 (48) | 226 | Is Anybody Out There? | 
|
Esprit frappeur | US: November 1st, 2005 FR: January 25th, 2006 |
| 23 (49) | 223 | Franz Hopper | 
|
Franz Hopper | US: October 31st, 2005 FR: February 1st, 2006 |
| 24 (50) | 219 | Contact | 
|
Contact | US: November 25th, 2005 FR: February 1st, 2006 |
| 25 (51) | 224 | Revelation | 
|
Révélation | US: December 9th, 2005 FR: February 8th, 2006 |
| 26 (52) | 225 | The Key | 
|
Réminiscence | US: December 9th, 2005 FR: February 8th, 2006 |
Production[]
Planning for the second season began in early 2004. A test script for X.A.N.A.'s Kiss was written in February that year, which had Aelita living on Earth as a boarder at Kadic and introduced the polymorphic specter.[1] According to Sophie Decroisette, Season 2 wasn't officially greenlit as of March, but things were "heating up" by the end of the month.[2][3]
One of the top priorities was Decroisette and Jérôme Mouscadet's desire to flesh out the series' backstory.[4] After Françoise Charpiat suggested to have Jeremie want to materialize Aelita onto Earth early on in the writing for Season 1, the writers began thinking about Aelita possibly really being a human as well.[5] Decroisette liked this idea and wanted to make it official now. Such a change would require altering the series' graphic bible however. As her and Mouscadet wanted to have more potential ideas for stories, they asked the producers to let them make changes to it, which they approved.[4]
What resulted was the massive rewrite of the series' backstory. Instead of simply discovering the supercomputer, Franz Hopper had built it for "political" reasons.[6] While Hopper remained a former science teacher at Kadic, it was decided before this point he originally lived in Switzerland under the name "Waldo Schaeffer" and had worked as a scientist on Project Carthage, a military project designed to block enemy communications in the Cold War era. He later defected from it, which lead the Men in Black to kidnap his wife. He fled to France with Aelita, now his biological daughter, and began work on the supercomputer. Rather than creating it to be his virtual paradise, Lyoko now served as a safe haven for him and Aelita in the event the Men in Black found them.[4] X.A.N.A. was repurposed from being the supercomputer itself to a multi-agent system on it that Hopper created to destroy Project Carthage, but he had lost control of.
Decroisette and Mouscadet also began considering ambitions for X.A.N.A., as she described: "We thought that what he wanted was control, like every machine. Human enslavement. On this basis, we started to develop this, we thought of what he could do to enslave humans, taking control of weaponry, building robots." They also retroactively gave X.A.N.A. a goal in the first season: "we proposed that in season 1 Xana was doing all it could to learn about the human world, it groped its way forward, like a long learning experience that would then allow it to have a more precise objective in season 2."[5] They set the second season around the first part of his goal: escape the supercomputer. It was decided to have X.A.N.A. want to steal the Keys to Lyoko within Aelita's memory in order to achieve this. Decroisette and Mouscadet wanted a new monster to accomplish this, one "that could extract memory", and "[...] wasn't an attacker, but could take the heroes out in another fashion".[4][7] They asked creative director Tania Palumbo to design one, which lead her to create the Scyphozoa.
In the early planning for Season 1, the writers originally decided not to have X.A.N.A. be able to possess humans to avoid plots becoming repetitive.[8] They revisited this for Season 2, where they decided for X.A.N.A. to gain this ability by revealing the supercomputer's power, and thus his own, increased whenever the Return to the Past program is used, additionally giving a reason for the heroes to utilize it less from there on out.
They also had the idea to add a fifth sector of Lyoko. In the words of Mouscadet: "We created it in order to go to the center of Lyoko. Right from the first drawings by Eric [Guillon], there were four sectors rotating on the holomap, and we decided that the central sector could only be spherical. So its graphical design came out really similar…"[9] The rooms and layout of Sector Five were then decided gradually according to Decroisette.
A request came from the producers to add more supporting characters to the series, which Decroisette was enthusiastic to.[6] This resulted in the writers adding Yumi's younger brother Hiroki, who "thought it would be funny to create a younger character" and it "allowed to show [more of] Yumi’s family". Another character was the new student William, who was envisioned as "an opponent for Ulrich", with Decroisette saying: "We wanted a somewhat marginal character who would be like a free electron that could come and go". Mouscadet had the idea to "make him fall to the dark side", and it was already decided early on to eventually have William become a Lyoko Warrior and an agent of X.A.N.A..[4]
Before the season was greenlit, a synopsis for an origin episode on how the Lyoko Warriors discovered the supercomputer was written with the intent to produce it during Season 2.[10] The series' broadcasters ultimately rejected the idea at the time, forcing them to hold off on it.[11]
While Season 2 was still in production, Code Lyoko was renewed for 45 episodes.[11] This helped the writers decide to end the season on a cliffhanger with more episodes already guaranteed.[7]
Animation Services Hong Kong Limited and Fantasia Animation again returned to create the 2D animation, along with the new studio Welkin Animation.[12] Starting with this season, storyboards for the 2D and 3D segments of each episode were done "in parallel" of each other.[6]
Scripting for the rest of the season officially began in October 2004, and ended in April 2005.[13][14]
Trivia[]
- In the US airing, several episodes of this season were aired out of order.
- Chronologically, this season is set during the second half of the 2002-2003 school year.[15]
- Lyoko was redesigned this season, becoming brighter overall. Although this is commonly attributed to the second season having a larger budget, Mouscadet later revealed they were possibly given a lower budget than Season 1.[16]
- This was the last season released in Japan alongside the prequel.
- A common misconception is that a number of story changes in this season were done by the request of fans, including changing Aelita into a human and rewriting Franz Hopper's backstory. This is false as Decroisette said they didn't use fan ideas when writing the season.[17] This misconception originates from a post where Decroisette said they tried to slip in references to the fandom, though she later clarified these were limited to trying to name secondary characters after some people.[18][19]
- From this season onward, the English dub would be recorded at roughly the same time as the French version.[20] This lead to some occasions where the English actors' grunts accidentally slipped into the French version.[21][22]
- As a result of being produced at the same time, the English dub would here on out be based on the original French script rather than the finalized dialogue. This led to moments where it seemed as if the dub was changing a line, when it was actually sticking to the script.
- Several other minor changes were made to accommodate the English dub as well. The mouth movements for the characters were animated to the English dialog instead of the French lines, though this was abandoned after this season.[23][24] The sign for the Hermitage was edited for the dub to use its English name, which is spelled "Ermitage" in the French version, the only visual edit in the entire series.[25] The password to enter Sector Five is Scipio in both versions. The Roman general the code is named after is actually spelled "Scipion" in French. To avoid another visual edit, Jeremie explains he'll write the name in Latin.[26] Another small moment has Jeremie writing the letter "E" when referring to the factory's elevator, which he refers to as "P", or the "portes du monte-charge" in French.[27]
References[]
(For production numbers)
- "From scripts to episodes S2 - Part 1 - CodeLyoko.fr
- "From scripts to episodes S2 - Part 2 - CodeLyoko.fr
- ↑ "From scripts to episodes S2 - Part 2 - CodeLyoko.fr
- ↑ Reply from Sophie Decroisette to [animation] Code Lyoko (up p41 goblin exhibit): "The sequel will no doubt have some surprises in store for you: new characters on Lyoko, discovery of secrets concerning Xana... perhaps new monsters? Hmmm... I won't say more... because unfortunately, for the moment, no one can say if season 2 will see the light of day or not. We all hope so!". CATSUKA. March 5, 2004.
- ↑ Reply from Sophie Decroisette to [animation] Code Lyoko (up p41 goblin exhibit): "[...] Otherwise, I can tell you that things are heating up regarding the sequel to Lyoko. There are desires from all sides (prod, channel...). I will let you know as soon as there is a constructive start.". CATSUKA. March 25, 2004.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Interview with Sophie Decroisette" - CodeLyoko.fr (2016)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Interview - Sophie Decroisette, partie 1". Ces Dessins Animés-Là qui méritent qu'on s'en souvienne. March 4, 2014.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Interview - Sophie Decroisette, partie 2". Ces Dessins Animés-Là qui méritent qu'on s'en souvienne. March 11, 2014.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Interview with Sophie Decroisette" - CodeLyoko.fr (2007)
- ↑ 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. - ↑ "Interview - Sophie Decroisette et Jérôme Mouscadet, partie 3". Ces Dessins Animés-Là qui méritent qu'on s'en souvienne. March 18, 2014.
- ↑ Reply from Sophie Decrosisette to [animation] Code Lyoko (up p41 goblin exhibit):: "Yes , there will undoubtedly be - if season 2 is done - an episode which will tell the meeting of the heroes and the discovery of the supercomputer. It has even already been written in synopsis... but mystery!". Catsuka. March 5, 2004.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "2006 - 2007: The series climax (seasons 3 & 4)" - CodeLyoko.fr
- ↑ "CODE LYOKO ENGLISH - EP39 - A Bad Turn" (23:38).
- ↑ "From scripts to episodes S2 - Part 1 - CodeLyoko.fr
- ↑ "From scripts to episodes S2 - Part 2 - CodeLyoko.fr
- ↑ "Timeline > The official chronology and clues" - CodeLyoko.fr
- ↑ EXCLUSIVE interview with the creators of Code Lyoko... a potential SEQUEL ? ft. @Oliarius (1:43:00) - YouTube
- ↑ Reply from Sophie Decroisette: "Frankly, the writers (who aren't all familiar with fanfics) and I wouldn't have had the audacity to savagely steal your ideas. What's more, we know things about the foundations of the series that you don't, so our stories don't have the same basis as yours (yes, we know who FH is, exactly what he's done and what happens at the end of the season!). What's more, the "series" format imposes constraints on us that you don't have when writing your fanfics. However, knowing that you're die-hard fans with lots of ideas, and that we're die-hard writers with lots of ideas, you may find similar themes, in short, similarities between the stories of the 26 episodes of season 2 and some of your many fanfics. This is to be expected, since our stories and yours revolve around the same subject: our beloved heroes and XANA. In short, the similarities are, in my opinion, a logical coincidence! But I can assure you that I've read a lot of your fanfics and that you really are... very inspired!". codelyoko.net. 2005.
- ↑ Reply from Sophie Decroisette: "PS: in terms of homage, we seem to have slipped a few things into the episodes! Stay tuned!" codelyoko.net. 2005.
- ↑ Excerpt from an interview with Decroisette: "[...] Tributes: Madame S[ophie] had tried to include tributes to our forum in the series. In fact, she had simply tried to give our names to secondary characters, but she doesn't know if this was kept when the animation was done. [...]
As for the common rumors about the influence of certain fanfiction on the scripts, Madame S[ophie] has denied them. She started writing season 2 long before we started writing "ours"." codelyoko.net. October 31, 2005. - ↑ "French vs English" - CodeLyoko.fr
- ↑ Code Lyoko - EP 42 - Désordre (11:36)
- ↑ Code Lyoko - EP 75 - Replika (14:46)
- ↑ Reply from Barbara Weber-Scaff: "You're very observant. in Season One the "guide voices", on which the animators base their drawings, were done in French, and for Season Two, in English (by me, actually, and another actor named Doug Rand. Unfortunately for Season Three they might be planning to do the guide voices in French again." LyokoFreak.net. February 8, 2006.
- ↑ Reply from Barbara Weber-Scaff: "Actually, for once, I'm in the dark too! they decided, apparently this season, to do the guide tracks for the animation, in French, not English (probably a budget motivated decsion, as usual), so I don[']t have any idea what the new season looks like! I'm just as excited as you are to find out what happens next.". LyokoFreak.net. March 7, 2006.
- ↑ "French vs english" - Codelyoko.fr
- ↑ "French vs english > S2 - Part 1" (Unchartered Territory) - Codelyoko.fr
- ↑ "French vs english > S2 - Part 1" (A Bad Turn) - Codelyoko.fr