How would YOU have written Code Lyoko?

[Carth]

Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking. But after the airing of the rather, erm, unexpected season finale in France, I just started thinking this. If you had been put in charge of writing, directing, etc, what would you have done differently with the show?

And I don't just mean plot points, like "U/Y kiss, Jim joins the gang, William never existed," etc. I mean, like, the general style of the show in general, though plot points are good. Would you have changed the music? Added more drama? Humor? Made it more obvious that the show was in France? Take anything you want, and run with it. Just not too far. You still have to have the five main characters, XANA, and the general frame of the story.

Maybe this is a game...I dunno. Whatever. Either way...how would you have done it?

I, definitely, would have made it more dramatic and emotionally charged, because that's just how I roll. I also would have introduced a lot more anime SFX (sweatdrops, baka-hammers, etc)...and in funny enough contrast to the drama, would have included a lot more crazy (and slapstick) humor. Essentially, I'd put it on crack.

I'd also make it a bit more plot-heavy, aside from some episodes where I'd just let everything go crazy. I'd more thoroughly explore the backstory of the supercomputer and such. And everyone would have secrets. EVERYONE. Seriously, they had so many little plots they could have done, and they didn't. Waa

Few fun things I might have done- more obvious tension between William and Ulrich (like, throwing things at each other), more Clone!Willie (seriously, they gave him way too little screen time), and more cowbell. The series had no cowbell. How can it have no cowbell?

Well? What would you have changed? I'd like to know. Seriously. This is your time to let it all out.

I hope this thread is acceptable...and doesn't start any fights. Remember, this is how YOU would have done it, not how it SHOULD have been done. Kay? Kay.

[mitchmcmichael offline]

If I wrote it it woul;d be nothing like Code Lyoko. I'd have some serial killer...serial-killing everyone.

[Darth Grale offline]

I'd have more Comedy, and would of put in a gag where William's Clone is smited through his own stupidity (like something heavy smashing onto him) and someone would say 'And there goes William"

[AmericanLyokoTeam offline]

Looking back, after having written all this, I'll just say wow, I didn't know I had so much to say about how I'd do it...
Oh and mind the horrible end of S4 spoilers included here

***

I've long felt that the episodes and series suffered a huge lack of pacing, tight character interaction, and all around scale. Were it written the way I feel it should have been, it would have been a struggle to cut the info in one episode down to the twenty something it actually airs for. It often felt like the episodes were struggleing just to MAKE 20 something minutes.

Assuming I have to run roughly the same plot arc the series did (thats the game here, right?) that means writing a lot more personal drama, and in the keynote episodes, finding a way to intertwine it with the action. They tried to do this sometimes, and we had good examples (Vertigo, Routine, anything with William pre-XANAfication) that kept getting callbacks the whole series. They also had misfires however. (I'm thinking just about every time they tried to link things up in season four, a lot of season one, etc.)

Changes at a minimum:
1) Gives XANA a motivation. He's good as a silent protagonist, it adds menace and makes his efforts seem genuinely alien, but give him a backstory. More information about what Franz created him for, and why he's so crazy and out to take over the world now. This could easily fill half a season itself, finding a little more out about him each time. For that matter, dive way into the past of Franz Waldo Hopper Shaeffer Lets Stick On A Few More Names: The man dies and is still an enigma to all of us beyond a few bare minimum story framework serviceings. Franz and XANA are the core of the underlying mystery: the only thing people are watching for besides the daily interaction of the main characters.

2) Main characters:
Ulrich - Tone down his hero complex, make sure he's evenly on the same level as the others throughout unless there is a very good plot reason calling for him to be awesome or heoric in an episode. Vertigo was a good fault, but its not an excuse to not write him any other human flaws. Problems with his parents and innability to talk to Yumi are where a lot of the real drama value for him is, and we never see any good reason for it in the series from his end: think of it this way, what drives him to be who he is. For example, Is he exactly like his dad, and thats why they clash? Seems like that would be an awesome way to do it to me

Yumi - Show tended to throw her into faux-action-girl land, especially early on, where she'd need help about half the time. Aelita had a good reason to need it, Yumi on the other hand should have been more capable, and not picked on by XANA as much. Most of her real life drama was done well, although they could have gone to give her a bit more coloration as to personality. She comes across as really blank, at best you sort of transfer Ulrich's "I'm the focused one" personality on to her, whereas she could really have used more self-definition

Odd - is an awesome character. Seriously, out of all of them, they actually gave him the most personality and rounded 'good traits to faults' ratio. Could have spent more time showing why he was that way (are you feeling a pattern here?) It was nice to see his parrents, and hear about him having so many sisters, but much like Ulrich fighting with his folks, we need more backstory to get any real drama from it.

Jeremie - Poor boy didn't get half the recognition he deserved, and worked far beyond a beliveable scope. Sometimes they addressed him being overworked, but they really kinda needed to have more arc of him getting pressed as time went by or deadlines for the fight on XANA drew closer. In general, he's ok, and has a nice 'good traits to faults' ratio, but just kind of exemplifes how the show wasn't serious enough about the stakes many times.

Aelita - She should really have become more capable once they gave her abilities in S3/S4. On the one hand, Yumi actually stopped getting picked on thanks to her, but on the other hand, XANA and Xanium really didn't feel like they even had to work hard to beat her sometimes. The rest of the gang had to show up and rescue her like they actually had a valid plot reason to do in S1/S2. Seemed to lack human faults after she well established her identity in S3/S4.

Sissi - Make her ambiguous if you want an ambiguous character. Another one of those that Season 2 treated right and then she got hammered for the rest of the show as a one dimensional bad gal/occasionally good by plot point character. I accept that she was never meant to be brought on as a warrior, but she could have played a much bigger part if they had wanted to use her well instead of just to fill time with another face sometiems.

William - Treated well right up to the time he got XANAfied. This sorta ties in with point one in that it required more development on the how and why of XANA posessions before they could have him talk more. The Lake was about the only post XANA episode where he said or did anything of interest, namely remembering his oath and freaking out, that was good, that was character related, and we never did see a lot of that from him after he fell.

3) Shipping -
a) Make UxY a tension that builds the whole series, rather than going for it in S1, backing off for two seasons, and just barely getting back to the same level at the end of the series. I know there are a lot of people angry they didn't kiss, but it's my contention that with those two the way they are, they don't have to. Merely admitting they want more to eachother IS the highpoint of what we see of their relationship. It's a change and open honesty follows, clearning up three or four season of not admitting anything to the other.

b) JxA becoming a real relationship when she's materalized end of S1/S2 is fine, but god, write them some ups and downs. Season two did a good to very-good job of this: Sometimes they were right on the same page and sometimes they had fights where they wouldn't talk for a while, and yet still make up in the end. Season three fell off this completely and season four only rehashed the 'Jeremie doesn't care about her music' plot point to dead-horse-beating blood-from-a-stone levels.

c) Odd. I guess you don't have to resolve if winds up with anyone, but at least give the boy relationship arcs that last for more than one episode. I wanted to see OxSi for a long time just because she's almost a match in terms of giving him a horrible time if he lost interest quickly. If they wanted to, they could have developed it as a love/hate from the beginning: have her win some of the one line zingers sometimes, and made them evenly matched adversaries. The payout of this is amazing whether he winds up with or rejects her, which is the kind of thing I think would vastly improve the show. Sam fans: I think the series needs her too, the one girl that Odd is so right with that he actually for once doesn't get bored or screw anything up. It's just she doesn't live locally and only shows up a couple or few times a season. Bonus points for any kind of conflict between her and Sissi if you're developing both concurrently as I would.

3) Other characters

Jim - OK, he's your comic relief, I'm fine with that. He still needs to occasionally be capable and not fumble over himself so much. Sometimes they managed this, but whenever they didn't, he proceeded to become an impossibly unbeliveable and cliche character. More truth out of him at some point would have helped combat some of this, even if it removed some of the humor.

Teachers/Administrator/Grounds crew - Nobody over the age of the kids had any time in the competence zone of this show. There were times they were close on this, but really the adults needed a lot more credit and seriousness given to them, either to service or hinder the heroes, fine, but not this sort of general irrelevence they fell into.

Herve/Nicholas - God, give them some reason for existance beyond Sissi needed cronies. You don't make characters unless they service the plot, you could have easily given any two random people instead of having these two running around, and I would either give them a reason to exist or take em out.

4) General Summary (redux)

Tighter pacing, less filler, more care for scenes somehow each serviceing the plot, tighter conversation which sounds more natural instead of the fast and official tone they usually always took, action intertwined with the plot without feeling like a force moral of the day.

Its a tall order, but I think even with the basic plot the show had still being followed, there was room for a lot of improvement if somebody had been plotting it out from the beginning.

[If anybody is looking for a writer~]

[Taelia offline]

Same stuff you described, though here are my changes.

1. Make the teachers less of being strict AUTOMATONS and more like loving HUMANS.

1a. Make Jim nicer, not lazy, father, and more trustworthy to the children.
1b. Make Suzanne more kind, motherly, and caring.
1c. Make Jean-Pierre less strict and more loving.

2. Boot out the boring teachers and replace them with awesomer ones.

3. Make the infirmary, dorm rooms, and auditorium bigger!

3a. Make the dorm beds higher and more comfortable.
3b. Make the dorms bigger.
3c. Have Jim say goodnight to the children when it's bedtime, maybe even tuck them in. ^_^

4. Make the children have certain phobias, like astraphobia for Odd and necrophobia for Ulrich.

----

I could go on and on. =D

[MY85 offline]

1. Make the teachers less of being strict AUTOMATONS and more like loving HUMANS.

1a. Make Jim nicer, not lazy, father, and more trustworthy to the children.
1b. Make Suzanne more kind, motherly, and caring.
1c. Make Jean-Pierre less strict and more loving.

Everyone being totally nice in the show would totally suck donkey balls.

[AmericanLyokoTeam offline]

1. Make the teachers less of being strict AUTOMATONS and more like loving HUMANS.

1a. Make Jim nicer, not lazy, father, and more trustworthy to the children.
1b. Make Suzanne more kind, motherly, and caring.
1c. Make Jean-Pierre less strict and more loving.

Everyone being totally nice in the show would totally suck [watch it...]

Eh, I agree, but the topic is how YOU would do it afteral.

Also, whats your opinion, I'm kinda curious.

[Sithking Zero offline]

1) XANA shows up once in a while in a physical form. AND NOT XANALIM. He doesn't count. Also, a freaking gender and a monologue or two wouldn't hurt the character either.

2) EVERYONE has a story. Not just one or two of the main cast, and not just Aelita. I mean, Ulrich had problems with his demanding dad, Yumi has family problems, and Aelita... let's not get into that. But what of Odd? What of Jeremie? Of Taelia, Jim, Milly, Tamiya, heck, even Mrs. Hertz?

Freck, man, I came up with three possible cool stories for Jean-Pierre: Secret member of the MIB, Relative of Franz, and secret sponsor of the group.

3) More swooshy-anime-style-action-sequences. I loves me the swooshy.

4) More digital abilities for the heroes. I mean, they're programs once in Lyoko, right? So shouldn't they have some sort of abilities that reflect that? Like, for example, them being more able to understand computer code and being able to interface with the computer systems.

5) Some sort of power transfer between Lyoko and Earth. That is to say, Lyoko Powers on earth. But it would have to be controlled, like "If you use them too many times, you get hurt." But some sort of power.

6) More people know about Lyoko. And more warriors. It's honestly not as fun with such a small cast. You can only have so many interactions between five people before it gets kind of old.

7) Special attacks for Lyoko. I liked the episode in S2 where XANA made the Franz-clone and made him give them super-powerful weapons and powerups, but especially the shockwave for Ulrich.

8) More Arc-centric rather then episodic format. That is to say, More focus on the overall plot arcs and such rather than individual episodes.

9) Theme songs for each of the characters.

10) More monster materialization

11) A death every once in a while to keep it interesting.

12) Complex relationships that ACTUALLY GO SOMEWHERE. I mean, I used to like Ulrich and Yumi- but then I realized that it was stagnent and growing smelly, so I switched over to JXA, which seems to move in some sort of direction. And find Odd a girlfriend! A STABLE one.

13) XANA has a grand scheme that results in a huge battle. It takes many episodes to build up to it.

And so far, that's it.

[MY85 offline]

1. Make the teachers less of being strict AUTOMATONS and more like loving HUMANS.

1a. Make Jim nicer, not lazy, father, and more trustworthy to the children.
1b. Make Suzanne more kind, motherly, and caring.
1c. Make Jean-Pierre less strict and more loving.

Everyone being totally nice in the show would totally suck [watch it...]

Eh, I agree, but the topic is how YOU would do it afteral.

Also, whats your opinion, I'm kinda curious.

I simply wouldn't dare to write the whole story. At best, I could throw out some suggestions.

I know I've been vocal against some of the things that happened during Season 4. But none of us are really in the condition to write a whole script for the Code Lyoko show, let alone any other television show.

[AmericanLyokoTeam offline]

Ah, but its harmless fun to try. Nobody will hold your opinions against you in a situation like this, so you might as well jump in and throw out whatever ideas it is you have had. It's not like we have a script due on monday or anything so just start where you think it'd be fun to start and go from there until you get bored.

[Cassius335 offline]

I agree with pretty much everything ALT said (if this was TV Tropes.org, that would easily be worth a Made of Win point), especially re: JxA. Plus:

1) A Giant Robot. Seriously, if you're going to have a giant monster like Collossos, give the heroes something to kick it's butt with. If it takes Jeremie an episode or two to build it, fine, but that's no excuse for not having one.

2) More Hiroki and Jonny. Wasted potential.

3) Crossover with Oban Star Racers; ok, mostly for kicks, but would have been interesting to see how the Warriors dealt with the concept of alternate times/dimensions.

4) Crossover with one of the Digimon Universes (probably Adventure); Partly to compare notes, partly to see what Xana would do if he got at the Digital World.

5) Cameo from Matt's band from WITCH; Nothing to do with magic, purely to get "Will To Love" into the Lyokoverse.

6) Replika's with Original Sectors, as contradictory as that may be

[Taelia offline]

1) A Giant Robot. Seriously, if you're going to have a giant monster like Collossos, give the heroes something to kick it's butt with. If it takes Jeremie an episode or two to build it, fine, but that's no excuse for not having one.

(hums MMPR theme song)

Yeah! That's what we have in our AU too. It takes the place of the Skid, and it's called the VirtuaMech! =D

[AmericanLyokoTeam offline]

(if this was TV Tropes.org, that would easily be worth a Made of Win point)

Haha, noticed the use of a few terms there, did you? I really do like TVTropes, it was a lot of entertainment value for a couple of weeks toword the end of my last job. Dunno where something like this would be posted there, but I appreciate the sentiment that I was hitting the high points.

I really oughta make an account over there...

[Cassius335 offline]

Yes, you should.

Meanwhile, I forgot one:

7) Jeremie on Lyoko (on screen, that is). Needed to happen at least once.

[Malkmusian offline]

Well, I'd get Jeremy on Lyoko, Franz would never die, we know what the MIB wanted with Antea, and that some other music, like some alt-rock or Beefheart-esque crap, gets played instead of that teenybopper stuff we rock to.

[Tekirai offline]

Uh oh. Teki found this thread. :O PREPARE YOURSELVES.

CL was CRAP from S2 onwards imo. S3 had a few good episodes, but it was mostly filler. S4 had even more filler. And bad filler. So this is how I'd fix it:

1- Well, to have certain plots I might need to boost the show to a... um.. I have no idea how the hell your American rating doohickeys work but I'd make it something like... y'know the way CL has/had a white box above it sometimes on CN with TVY7 or something on it? I think there's one with TVY14. I'd make it that.

2- I'd give the characters and plot more developement. Like in S2. That should have happened more often in the series.

3- Agreeing with Carth in the moar slapstick part. :D

4- Make err... what's the word to use here. Romantic? Fluffy? Toast? Ehh, enough of those moments to be on par with the majority of all the anime series these days with even a little bit of romance in them. Might as well... ._.;

5- Make the openings more flashy and different each season. And different endings too. With different songs. :D

6- Give the minor characters more background. D: Like how Sissi... is, uh, Sissi. And stuff.

<s>7- MOAR SEXY TOWEL DANCING</s>

7- The rest would just be me making adjustments to their Lyoko outfits. LIKE GIVING ULRICH HIS VISOR THINGY BACK. That way we can make IT'S OVER 9000 jokes. |D (I swear I will be the first on DA to make a picture about that. I swear.

3) Crossover with Oban Star Racers; ok, mostly for kicks, but would have been interesting to see how the Warriors dealt with the concept of alternate times/dimensions.

...

<3 :D

[Taelia offline]

6- Give the minor characters more background. D: Like how Sissi... is, uh, Sissi. And stuff.

Youy're right. We never found out what happened to her mother.

[Cassius335 offline]

1- Well, to have certain plots I might need to boost the show to a... um.. I have no idea how the hell your American rating doohickeys work but I'd make it something like... y'know the way CL has/had a white box above it sometimes on CN with TVY7 or something on it? I think there's one with TVY14. I'd make it that.

If I may say so, bad plan. Code Lyoko is a kids show and fully intended to be such. TV-14 is CSI territory. CSI is most definately not a kids show. TV-14 means "People under 14 should not be watching this." Oddly enough, the target demographic for Cartoon Network in it's entirity? All under 14.

There is a TV-PG level, but even that would have to be handled with care lest the show stop being kid friendly.

3) Crossover with Oban Star Racers; ok, mostly for kicks, but would have been interesting to see how the Warriors dealt with the concept of alternate times/dimensions.

...

You're quite welcome.

[Taelia offline]

Everyone being totally nice in the show would totally suck donkey balls.

HEY!! That's the way I wanna see CL my way! If you don't like it, fine by me!

[G-Force offline]

I'm not for upping CL rating to the TV-14 as that would ruin what makes CL great. If you look at it, the overall themes of CL are themes that kids can immediately latch onto: friendship, keeping secrets and the entire fact that they're playing a really dangerous video game. By darkening the series you would be altering its very core but of course that's just my opinion.

Now if I wrote CL what would I do....hmmm. I'll get back to you on that.

[Reesane offline]

I would have re-writen the two ending episodes.


Fight to the Finish
1. Franz survives.
2. After they "destroy" XANA, Franz hopper shows his true colors and kidnaps Aelita.
3. Cliff hanger ending as the gang tries to rationalize what had just happened.

Echoes
1. Episode begins with the gang (Minus Aelita, but with William) sitting in the hermatige, still shocked at what had happened.
2. Jeremie is still franticly searching for Aelita on the network, when he finds an oddly familiar signature on the network. As it turns out, XANA (badly damaged) survived his destruction by condensing most of itself into a single program.
3. Jeremie begins work on reconstructing XANA, paving the way for the next series.

[Carth]

Ooooooo, a plot twist! I actually want to see how that ends now. *stares*

How would I have done those episodes...I probably would have made it a big, showy, two-part finale. I'd have had a big, enormous showdown in the real world, probably, with everyone around (including their parents) finding out about everything, Franz getting virtualized (and reconciling with his daughter) before sacrificing himself, a come-from-behind victory, and finally, all the recognition that the gang deserved for all their work. The end.

Uh...did that make any sense?

[Reesane offline]

Ooooooo, a plot twist! I actually want to see how that ends now. *stares*

I'm writing the fanfict as we speak.

[Taelia offline]

My friend Liz, and I are planning something similar, but I can't wait to see how your story progresses.

[Reesane offline]

Thank you.

Eh, this is slightly off topic....

I need someone to beta the story before I post it. Just spelling and some feedback on how it's going, that's all.