Sketchy Talks: The Best Code Lyoko Season

Let's settle it once and for all.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / sketchybug
PICARTO: picarto.tv/TooSketchy
TUMBLR: / sketchy-the-changeling
TWITTER: / sketchybughorse

[@boomboysuper1075]

I never forget Code Lyoko but why People Forget it I want to cry

[@enchantmentoverride2521]

this is sad....XANA PLAY DESPACITO

[@delix787]

Never will forget such a great show!!

[@nipcoyote1140]

My ranking: Season 2 Season 4 Season 3 Season 1

[@diduii4507]

I really appreciate that you highlighted aelita's evolution and how important it is for the improvment of the show

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Of course. I had to give the writers their flowers for how well they handled the development of one of the most pivotal characters in the show. They could have just kept her stagnant but they made her a master class in character writing.

[@RafilaWan]

Season 4's my favorite, but likely because I'm a big fan of William to (say the least), so I'm a bit biased.

[@BriannaDrobot]

it's nice to know there are people like me who enjoy the show. I remember watching the first two seasons when I was little but since I was young, i didn't remember the important stuff. And I didn't see the other two seasons because my family moved a lot. I was able to reconnect to the show and watch some episode from 3 and 4 when we gotten Comcast On Demand. when we moved to another state. I had the internet provide me with episodes I haven't seen. So for me I'd say season 2, season 4, season 3 and season 1. as long as I ignore the animation errors, repeated animations and continuity errors, I'll still enjoy the show regardless. because Code Lyoko was and still is my favorite show of all time. But lets not talk about Evolution. ever again.

[@pippo17173]

If there is one thing I hate, its how they never got a huge big finale of a battle when they play the fact that xana can mess the real world. It kinda ended ok but not good enough for a final season.

[@ThePreciseClimber]

The finale of Season 3 felt more epic than the actual series finale. :P

[@bronyfnafandfnaf5562]

I used to love this show when I was kid good times.

[@justsomedude1752]

One thing that bothers me though is that in season 4 even though the main driving plot of the season was the crew trying to bring William back from Lyoko, just how they acted (and depending on what the situation was in certain eps) well......they acted like William wasn’t even in trouble and it just seemed like Williams’ "situation" wasn’t even that important at times. Honestly there were times while watching season 4 and I’d forgotten that William was even a threat. Good video btw.

[@dimentdash]

Honestly all the seasons are great so I don't know how to rank them.

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Now you understand my struggle.

[@dimentdash]

Yeah. Ranking has always been difficult for me.

[@davidgraziano6235]

It's a testiment to Sketchy's entertainment value that i got a lot out of this month with only a passing familiarity with the show, my favorite video of the month was definately the Cerebus one.

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Yeah, that was a video that was gonna be done whether it was for Code Lyoko Month or not. As I was planning the videos, I realized that the show's storytelling is a perfect vector to illustrate how a show avoids the problems discussed in Cerebus Cereal.

[@vigilantsycamore8750]

What I just realized about Season 3 - it was a season where the heroes kept losing, ending with a hail mary that backfired even worse at the end. And yet it worked - because those losses were written in a way that made sense, because the show still had enough moments of levity, because the losses helped move character arcs forward instead of just being used to wipe away everything that had come before, and because it was a shorter season so the high stakes and frequent losses weren't dragged out too much. The show basically did everything right. There are some live action superhero shows that could have learned a lesson or two from Code Lyoko. Including one which I stopped watching because of how THEY tried to do "it's season 3 and the heroes keep losing", which did everything wrong that Code Lyoko Season 3 did right

[@SketchytheChangeling]

This is part of the reason why I believe Season 3 does everything Season 2 does, but better. With the added element of Xana deleting sectors, it’s mixes things up and adds a level of uncertainty to the outcome of each episode. Will the heroes be able to stop the attack, or will Xana get away with deleting a sector. It’s an added element that raised the stakes and put the show on another level.

[@kelsey1467]

@@SketchytheChangeling Im curious do you think they should of made sissy part of the group why or why not

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Sissy doesn’t really add much to the dynamic of the group, and she isn’t much of a fighter. Plus she was originally part of the group but proved herself untrustworthy. While her being the principal’s daughter probably would’ve given them a vital connection in terms of covering for them and vouching for them, I don’t see her being very useful outside of that.

[@kelsey1467]

@@SketchytheChangeling My thoughts on evolution are kind of this I don't hate it as much as some other people do I don't like that its live action but I don't hate it either what I don't like is that everything feels watered down they only have axis to 3 sectors out of the 5 I think the attacks that Xana uses are all the same and everyone with the exception of William can deactivate a tower which I think makes it too easy and also I feel like laura added nothing to the show the only thing I actually liked was that William become part of the group permently this time which I liked cause personally I wasn't a fan of him being xana's minion and to close this out I will say evolution didn't ruin the series for me but I was pretty happy with how it ended and I didn't think we needed anything else well that's my opinion peace.

[@hypershock0storm479]

I used to watch this show on YTV way back in the day. Since it's been over a decade I might go and watch the show again some time soon.

[@ImBoredv4]

I like code lyoko, and I like your list, so I did my own list; 1. Season 3 2. Season 4 3. Season 2 4. Season 1 5. Evolution

[@Zerog41612]

Glad to hear from this show!

[@yonokhanman654]

1:50 "Her name is Kara Zor El from Krypton. She is my cousin." (handsome Superman)

[@Gungelion]

I would like to ask if you could give a summary of your feelings of each Protagonist character. Including your thoughts of X.A.N.A. and Sissi who are in a way also main characters in my opinion

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Odd: Best character Aelita: Close second Jeremy: Great development as a leader. William: Great rival character that's often mistaken for edgy because people can't think past overt design. X.A.N.A.: Good villain, and after seeing so many shitty attempts at humanizing terrible people, it's good to see a straight up evil force. Sissi: Not much to say. She's a functional foil for the heroes.

[@Gungelion]

wow, good summary. Maybe I should've asked you to do a in ten words or less video. No joke, those are surprisingly entertaining.

[@rewriter3981]

@@SketchytheChangeling I agree with the first 3 I love ulrich the most while jeremy had great development he is probably only 4th in my lyoko warrior ranking 1.Odd 2.Yumi 3.Aeltia 4.William 5.Jeremy 6.Ulrich

[@Code1Lyoko]

Fun fact we were supposed to get the Mountain Sector Replika but never happened because of budget cuts and there’s a concept art of where the Mountain Sector Replika was gonna be at it was gonna be somewhere in Canada North America with a large dam

[@SketchytheChangeling]

I’m aware.

[@Dtianann745]

yeah those rankings seem fair. good choice in nostalgic show's to review.

[@meganbarhorst5272]

Yeah, Season 4 actually had a lot of potential, but it really should've been half the length. If they kept the concept and just made it tighter I think it could've stolen second place from season 2. Alas, that's not the world we live in.

[@goldenbullssmithite7675]

Aye. I didn’t even know there was an evolution version for code lyoko. Seasons three & two were a tie for best season in my opinion so I can see the list making sense.

[@dustinwatsongkx]

That order of the seasons sounds just about right. Season 3 does contain my favorite episode: Final Round (It ended the season with a BANG!). Although I may swap Seasons 1 and 2 (or possibly making them a tie). I can't help but examine a show's animation at the early times and Season 2 possibly has my least favorite (or most bothering) episode that gave Ulrich vertigo... I was one of the people wasn't excited to find out that Evolution was going to be live action because the creator 'wanted something like this', but I eventually gave it a chance over a year ago and I can say that, even though the first couple of episodes didn't do much for me, Evolution wasn't a horrible thing. I'd still prefer the unique drawing over the attempt of trying to get wigs and makeup to work, but the 3D looked better when seen in action and the music was fairly unique in itself. I'll definitely look forward to any month-themed videos in the future and the Yu-Gi-Oh! one I haven't seen yet... And since Code Lyoko month is over, I have a random question (I don't expect/want you to get very deep or lengthy about these): Have you seen/read the comics or chapter books?

[@SketchytheChangeling]

I haven't bothered with them.

[@okami1101]

how about any future video on Code Lyoko would like to see is were would you rank XANA monsters

[@SketchytheChangeling]

They're just monsters. There's nothing substantial to talk about.

[@geraldmintetiah6507]

My favourite seasons are 3 and 4 the fourth season was different I know but some elements were great like our villain William and their new avatars they explained the replikas and all in season 3 😏

[@Code1Lyoko]

Also I would pick Season 4 Season 2 Season 3 Season 1

[@Pau-sp9yp]

It's easy to rank them look: 5-Evolution, no further details necessary 4-Season 3, as its own season it doesn't really have an identity, the much it brings is either XANA-Aelita, the setup for William or the 2-part prequel episode which feels like its own thing, also by being short, it's rather a bridge from 2 to 4 so it's not that important despite being really good. 3-Season 1, it's extremely charming, and even if it's fillery and generic, it's a formula that works and starts as a really good episodic animated series 2-Season 4, this is the big blowout, there are a lot of ideas like William being possesed, the new Digital Sea exploration with Replikas in the real world that must be destroyed, this is the final season and brings so much to the table it's impressive how well it works, while keeping mostly the standard formula from Code Lyoko and being an episodic and lore-heavy series at the same time. 1-Season 2, it did SO much for the series, it added really important lore and started elevating the stakes higher and higher, it was similar to Season 1 but with such as many changes that felt natural and it works perfectly as a season 2, while still being the same show and offering the same and more, for what it did to the series from what it already was, it's imo the best season.

[@SketchytheChangeling]

I'd disagree about Season 3 not having its own identity. It was the start of Aelita becoming more independent, and the fact that she is able to actually fight on Lyoko with the development of her Energy Field ability symbolizes this. Were it not for her development in this season, her sassiness in Season 4 would've felt a bit jarring. Plus, Season 3, more than any other season, puts the Lyoko Warriors on the back foot, constantly struggling to keep up. At least in Season 4 they had a chance of hope with the Skid, but in Season 3 they really were just buying time until they could find some way to locate Xana while he only got more and more stronger, and the season put more emphasis on how hard it was for the team to keep their secret while also keeping their school lives balanced compared to the previous two seasons. It brings a sense of tension that I feel is unique to this season. It may be short, but its short length made for a season that was more tightly paced than the others, and the opposite happened with Season 4. With Season 4 being so bloated in episode count, and with the gang spending multiple episodes on one replika, many points in Season 4 feels like the story is just running in place. There wasn't really any reason for it to be longer than Seasons 1 and 2. The show is mostly episodic so you can easily cut some of the episodes from Season 4 without losing anything. Season 2 is a very close second and William is better in this season than he is in Season 3, but all the things I listed above are what elevate Season 3 above Season 2 for me.

[@Pau-sp9yp]

@@SketchytheChangeling You may have a point here, i always saw 3 as this in-between seasons but it's true that it feels more consistent and not as complex, it also improved Aelita quite a lot and left a cliffhanger and an origin story, i may have been a bit too harsh on it but i would still keep it in the same spot since i prefer the nostalgic and simple Season 1, and the amazing Season 2. But i would probably move Season 4 since it is true it's a bit overwhelming, so it stays like this 5.Evolution 4.Season 4 3.Season 3 2.Season 1 1.Season 2 Honestly you are correct, this series is hard to rank (except evolution, even if it weren't live action it would still be bad) since overall the quality is always so high for one reason or another, i really love this series a whole lot

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Well, I didn't say that it was hard to rank the series. I said that picking the strongest and weakest was easy, but it was only a little tough to decide whether I liked Season 1 or Season 2 more.

[@leopardnosepaws]

what about that live action version of the show in France? never mind xD

[@SketchytheChangeling]

This is why we comment after the video's over.

[@kelsey1467]

I have a couple questions would you have liked to have an ally that was just a normal person not a geinus and not a code lyoko warrior like sokka from the avatar the last airbender I think there are characters that could qualify jim, milly or tamaiya or maybe even hiroki yumi's brother and also I think laura from evolution does have a flaw she thinks she knows whats best for everyone and it does more harm than good she's not really a team player and its what causes her to be kicked off and also what did you think of tyrone I always kind of wanted a human villain like an actual one not someone possessed by xana but I don't think it was executed well

[@SketchytheChangeling]

A human villain wouldn't be all that interesting for what the original show was trying to go for. The whole point of the show was to be about a ragtag group of kids banding together to fight something artificial with no emotion or feeling. It's an inherently Man vs. Machine premise. Not having a human villain in the original series was the entire point. As for a human ally that is neither a genius nor a Lyoko Warrior, that leaves them for almost nothing to do. Sure Jim could provide alibis for the kids when they have to go on missions, but if that's his only role, that will get very boring very quickly. Sokka honestly isn't a good comparison, because unlike Code Lyoko, the world of Avatar has roles that a non-powered person can fill because the conflict of Avatar is more complex. Sokka was the war strategist, and was resourceful and handy. With that in mind, if you're trying to use Sokka as a point of comparison, Cody Lyoko already has a Sokka. His name is Jeremy.

[@Adventuregirl1985]

Code Lyoko ep 26 False Start was my favorite episode of the whole series, but I was always a little disappointed that Jim never got to become a permanent member of Team Lyoko. It would have added a great dynamic to the show, and if they gave him an avatar of his own to join in the fight would have been even better. I guess I just wanted new members to join in the fight and the fact that that didn't happen was a bummer. Still a great series and still my favorite episode.

[@SketchytheChangeling]

It really is a damn shame that we never got this. It would have been a good addition to the team and a good strategic element for them to have a teacher on their squad to provide alibis. At least the team does warm up to Jim even without him being a part of their group, which I do appreciate.

[@Adventuregirl1985]

@@SketchytheChangeling Out of curiosity what episode was a favorite of yours?

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Apologies for the late response! i meant to respond to this when I first saw it, but forgot. Anyway, one of my favorite episodes is Plagued. Since this was back when XANA's powers were more limited, he had to do more out of tbe box things, and the sequences where the rats get possessed by XANA is very chilling, and it would definitely be freaky if it happened IRL

[@josephtarvin8555]

Why did you say nothing about the gang's change of clothes?

[@SketchytheChangeling]

It's clothes. There's nothing important about that.

[@morphiuszx3438]

I'm still disappointed that Evolution didn't resolve that cliffhanger. Sure that Season 4 would be your least favorite, but I did really like it for how much they were leaving lasting impressions, from the adventures with the Skid, to the virtualizing (not materializing back) into reality, fighting possessed William, & to "presumably" killing X.A.N.A., they were practically my favorite moments to capitalize on than Season 3 since that all I recognize notably about Season 3 is XANA's objective to prevent our heroes from accessing the Carthage Sector. But hey, for you (Season 3-wise) less is more. Sheesh 'tis been ages since I watched that series. 'Have not touched it since...2013-ish... Anyways, it had me think if you were a Lyoko Warrior, what would you wear & what would be your personal armament...?

[@Wolfnrun]

Season 4 was my favorite. We don't talk about evolution. Just no

[@totof2327]

The fandom rather not talk about it.

[@Code1Lyoko]

Strider Xanthos true it was good

[@delix787]

NOPE! (●__●)

[@Dill_Pickle1997]

Oh this show was both 2D and 3D animation. I didn’t get that at first

[@SketchytheChangeling]

...It's something I've been talking about all month, bruh.

[@xaldinwolfgang]

Hey Sketchy for your next theme mouth what if you did a Pokémon mouth? (If you happen to be a fan of it)

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Like I said, no plans have been made. The next themed month is not gonna be for quite a while.

[@xaldinwolfgang]

+Sketchy (the) Changeling I understand.

[@dvqjacks7735]

Here's my ranking: 1. Season 4 2. Season 5 (Evolution) 3. Season 3 4. Season 2 5. Season 1

[@nikosafer1]

Is William a member of the Team or Not?

[@SketchytheChangeling]

He is. William was oddicially added to the team at the end of season 3, and they used the scanner on him so the returns to the past wouldn't affect him anymore. Plus, the Skid had an open space for William. They wouldn't have made that space if he wasn't on the team. There really wasn't any ambiguity about whether or not he was a team member.

[@ThePreciseClimber]

I pretty much agree with most of this video. Though I would've preferred a more serialised Season 1. I just find serialised narratives more engaging. And if it was a good serialised narrative, I made sure to not miss any episode, like with Jim Button (cartoon based on books by the writer of The Neverending Story). There just wasn't enough escalation or interesting plot revelations in Season 4. Season 4 should've been the Power Rangers in Space of Code Lyoko with its own Countdown to Destruction finale equivalent. A massive world-ending event, the men in black getting involved, Franz Hopper becoming human again, some revelations about Project Carthage, etc. XANA-William was another missed opportunity. Instead of just a henchman, he should've been the avatar of XANA himself. There could've been a plot thread about XANA becoming more human over time and him hating that aspect of himself. Again, like in Power Rangers (:P). The Jungle Fury season. Since S4 had 30 episodes, here's an idea - three 10-episode story arcs. Arc 1 - the gang figuring out the digital sea and replicas (still uses the episodic formula) Arc 2 - the gang trying to find a way to bring back both William and Franz Hopper (is more serialised than arc 1) Arc 3 - all out war with XANA. William gets to fight XANA's avatar, Franz helps out in the real world, everyone learns about Lyoko and XANA, there's no going back. (fully serialised 10-part epic :P)

[@SketchytheChangeling]

The first season of Code Lyoko was so accessible and appealing for kids specifically because of the episodic structure. It made it easy to jump in and understand the gist of the premise easily. Making the show strictly serialized right at the beginning, especially in the early 2000s where streaming was not as accessible as it is now (therefore making it harder to catch episodes you missed) would have alienated fans, and considering that this show was made on a shoestring budget and wasn't guaranteed a second season, that was the last thing Code Lyoko needed. You may not have missed an episode, but that wasnt the case for most people. As for your ideas for season 4, you may want to look at the previous video in this series, Cerebus Cereal. Code Lyoko is a very straightforward story and you're attempting to throw too many ingredients into the pot and expecting them to mix well. A slow, meandering pace isn't automatically solved by just adding a bunch of things to the story in an attempt to make it resemble something else you enjoy. It's solved by being smart about how you spend your time in the story. The plot of season 4 wasn't meandering because it had a lack of things to do. It was meandering because there was a little forward momentum, and you don't need to add needless plot points to have forward momentum. One of Code Lyoko's biggest strengths is its ability to tell a compelling story with compelling characters while still having a relatively simple premise and plot structure. Season 3 was the biggest example of this. making the final season the complete antithesis of this writing philosophy wouldn't help the show in the long run. Serialization and complicated story arcs don't solve everything.

[@Code1Lyoko]

Actually Maiden Voyage doesn’t count because our heroes only see the sphere of the Forest Replika and they didn’t know what it was they thought it was Lyoko at first until Aelita said it wasn’t

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Even when you disregard that episode, that replicas still took the longest amount of episodes to destroy, so it's a moot point

[@TheTangMan8]

The show taught boys how to respect women!

[@dustinfreeman1451]

They should finish "Code Lyoko" with the gang defeating Xana. I'm shocked to find out what happened at the finale of "Code Lyoko: Evolution". At least it was the greatest month for this show.

[@SketchytheChangeling]

They DID finish CL with them defeating Xana

[@thegayghost872]

Those foreheads

[@Code1Lyoko]

Actually bro if you go to the Code Lyoko Wiki Fanon we’ll search up the episode Just In Time go to Code Lyoko Wiki here codelyoko.fandom.com/wiki/Just_in_Time go to the trivia and it will show you that how many episodes that season 1 was originally gonna have

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Okay, and?

[@Code1Lyoko]

Sketchy (the) Changeling season 1 was gonna have 13 episodes actually

[@SketchytheChangeling]

I know. You literally just said that. What's your point?

[@Code1Lyoko]

Sketchy (the) Changeling I didn’t know that they were gonna have 13 episodes for season 1

[@Code1Lyoko]

Sketchy (the) Changeling also when you were talking about season 1 to me I think it’s weak for one reason it doesn’t tell us anything about the show it just goes ahead to the middle of the events in which we don’t know what’s going on

[@rewriter3981]

I personally think the worst season was the last one pretty sure it was 4? I hated the skid stuff and worlds that xana made

[@Code1Lyoko]

Seasons 1 & 2 had the same anime over and over again well mostly season 2 I mean

[@SketchytheChangeling]

Same anime?

[@dory_ahhh4999]

When it comes to to William I have mixed feelings about him because it was only put in the team just to be there the writers wanted him to be an edgy character that's why they made him a villain and then you started treating him as if he was the strongest Lyoko character there was trust me most of the battles if William they have lost

[@SketchytheChangeling]

The problem with that sentiment is that William isn't "edgy." People only assume that because of his design. He wasn't made into a villain because he was "edgy." He was made into a villain because as the newest member, his mind was the easiest to corrupt and influence because he hadn't built up a resistance to X.A.N.A.

[@nmtlnm]

@@SketchytheChangeling actually. It was because he was reckless.

[@SketchytheChangeling]

You know both can be true, right? He can be reckless AND the easiest to corrupt.