Code Lyoko

Code Lyoko was a French animated television series created by Tania Palumbo and Thomas Romain. In season 1, it was produced by Antefilms Productions. For the rest of the series, it was produced by the Moonscoop Group… which filed for bankruptcy in 2014, not long after their terrible and open-ended sequel series of this show finished airing. Code Lyoko was distributed by Mediatoon Distribution, which, along with Moonscoop and its own subsidiaries, is part of Dargaud, a French company that publishes Franco-Belgian comics. Code Lyoko ran for four seasons and also had a two part prequel, XANA Awakens. It aired 95 episodes in total. It's a unique and iconic series for the fact that it uses hand drawn and 2D computer animation, as well as 3D CGI, which helps exemplify the other worldliness of the titular Lyoko. It originally aired between 2004 and 2007. It also has some episode novelizations, a CD, alternate continuity books, and a terrible non-canon sequel series that no one could ever pay me enough to review. Only the CD was officially available in English though, or at least the music that was on it is.

## Summary

The series focuses on four kids who find a supercomputer in an abandoned factory and a friendly A.I. trapped inside the computer on a virtual world called Lyoko. Also trapped inside the computer is a malicious A.I. named XANA, who wants to free itself from the supercomputer to take over the world. The kids discover that they can virtualize themselves onto Lyoko in the form of avatars. Together, they form the Lyoko Warriors to fight XANA and free their A.I. friend from the computer. I recommend that you watch the prequel first so you know what the heck is going on. Now that I think about it, the first season of this show in particular reminds me of a classic fairy tale. A princess is trapped somewhere, usually a tall tower, and has to be rescued by someone else. Even parodies of fairy tales have included this. Unlike actual fairy tales though, the story doesn't end once the princess is saved, nor do the heroic characters live "happily ever after". The story continues even after the princess is saved, and it turns out that she's also pretty good at kicking ass. It definitely gives me Tangled vibes, even if that version of Rapunzel didn't realize that she was trapped. There's also *Professor Layton and the Curious Village*, even though that female character was sadly forgotten and basically abandoned multiple times in and out of universe by everyone except fans of the series. Heck, one could even argue that it's the climactic act of the first *X-Men* movie when Jean, Scott, Storm, and Logan rescue Rogue from the Statue of Liberty. This is just how my brain works when I'm wide awake at 2:00 in the morning, okay? I may know nothing about computers, but I'd like to think that by now, after almost a quarter of a century on this planet, I know a thing or two about storytelling. XANA Awakens

## Season 1

Episode 1: "Teddygozilla" Episode 2: "Seeing is Believing" Episode 3: "Holiday in the Fog" Episode 4: "Log Book" Episode 5: "Big Bug" Episode 6: "Cruel Dilemma" Episode 7: "Image Problem" Episode 8: "End of Take" Episode 9: "Satellite" Episode 10: "The Girl of the Dreams" Episode 11: "Plagued" Episode 12: "Swarming Attack" Episode 13: "Just in Time" Episode 14: "The Trap" Episode 15: "Laughing Fit" Episode 16: "Claustrophobia" Episode 17: "Amnesia" Episode 18: "Killer Music" Episode 19: "Frontier" Episode 20: "The Robots" Episode 21: "Zero Gravity Zone" Episode 22: "Routine" Episode 23: "Rock Bottom" Episode 24: "Ghost Channel" Episode 25: "Code: Earth" Episode 26: "False Start"

## Season 2

Episode 1: "New Order" Episode 2: "Uncharted Territory" Episode 3: "Exploration" Episode 4: "A Great Day" Episode 5: "Mister Pück" Episode 6: "Saint Valentine's Day" Episode 7: "Final Mix" Episode 8: "Missing Link" Episode 9: "The Chips Are Down" Episode 10: "Marabounta" Episode 11: "Common Interest" Episode 12: "Temptation" Episode 13: "A Bad Turn" Episode 14: "Attack of the Zombies" Episode 15: "Ultimatum" Episode 16: "A Fine Mess" Episode 17: "XANA's Kiss" Episode 18: "Vertigo" Episode 19: "Cold War" Episode 20: Déjà Vu" Episode 21: "Tip-Top Shape" Episode 22: "Is Anybody Out There?" Episode 23: "Franz Hopper (Part 1)" Episode 24: "Contact (Part 2)" Episode 25: "Revelation (Part 3)" Episode 26: "The Key (Part 4)"

## Season 3

Episode 1: "Straight to Heart" Episode 2: "Lyoko Minus One" Episode 3: "Tidal Wave" Episode 4: "False Lead" Episode 5: "Aelita" Episode 6: "The Pretender" Episode 7: "The Secret" Episode 8: "Temporary Insanity" Episode 9: "Sabotage" Episode 10: "Nobody in Particular" Episode 11: "Triple Trouble" Episode 12: "Double Trouble" Episode 13: "Final Round"

## Season 4

Episode 1: "William Returns" Episode 2: "Double Take" Episode 3: "Opening Act" Episode 4: "Wreck Room" Episode 5: "Skidbladnir" Episode 6: "Maiden Voyage" Episode 7: "Crash Course" Episode 8: "Replika" Episode 9: "I'd Rather Not Talk About It" Episode 10: "Hot Shower" Episode 11: "The Lake" Episode 12: "Lost at Sea" Episode 13: "Lab Rat" Episode 14: "Bragging Rights" Episode 15: "Dog Day Afternoon" Episode 16: "A Lack of Goodwill" Episode 17: "Distant Memory" Episode 18: "Hard Luck" Episode 19: "Guided Missile" Episode 20: "Kadic Bombshell" Episode 21: "Canine Conundrum" Episode 22: "A Space Oddity" Episode 23: "Cousins Once Removed" Episode 24: "Music to Soothe the Savage Beast" Episode 25: "Wrong Exposure" Episode 26: "Bad Connection" Episode 27: "Cold Sweat" Episode 28: "Down to Earth" Episode 29: "Fight to the Finish" Episode 30: "Echoes"