Franz Hopper (Code Lyoko episode)

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"Franz Hopper" is the forty-ninth episode of the French animated television series Code Lyoko and the second installment of the Season 2 finale. It premiered in France on February 1, 2006 and in the United States on October 31, 2005.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Recap 3 Memorable Quotes 4 Trivia 4.1 Cinematic Notes

[edit] Summary

Jeremie discovers five activated Towers and gathers the group to take care of them. When they arrive at the Factory, they find a man at the Interface, deactivating the Towers as if it were a simple matter to do so. When questioned, the man says that he's Franz Hopper. He reveals XANA to be a military project and Aelita to be Lyoko's guardian, though he doesn't go into why he's been gone so long. Later on, after listening to tales of their exploits, he expresses concern over their use of the Scanners, saying that they cause cell degeneration. Yumi is the only one who's affected. This turns the rest of the group, except for Aelita, against Jeremie, since it was his job to know about that sort of thing. Franz Hopper then arranges a mission to Lyoko to retrieve data for Aelita's anti-virus. His suggestion puzzles Jeremie, since he had said earlier that the Scanners were dangerous. Franz Hopper shurgs it off, saying that the Scanners are necessary if they plan to shut XANA off. Jeremie wants to help, but Franz Hopper won't let him, citing Jeremie's failures; most notably, the destruction of his diary. After Jeremie storms off, Hopper sends Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi directly to Carthage. On top of that, he upgrades their weapons, making them invincible in combat. During this, Jeremie realizes that Hopper couldn't have known about the destruction of his diary, so he must be one of XANA's ghosts. At the Factory, just as Aelita is about to go to Lyoko, Jeremie stops her. She is apparently sent anyway, and ends up on a small piece of land in the Desert, stranded. The Scyphozoa then arrives to steal her memory. During this, Jeremie confronts the ghost, who is confident that Jeremie is powerless. This is not the case, however. Once the Scyphozoa finishes stealing Aelita's memory, it goes haywire. The memory it had been stealing was fake, engineered by the real Aelita, who had virtualized a copy of herself by hooking Jeremie's laptop up to a Scanner. This gets rid of the ghost and allows Jeremie to get Aelita to Carthage. The ghost comes back in an attempt to suffocate Jeremie, but the Tower is shut off by Aelita. Afterwards, Jeremie reveals all of the fake Hopper's assertions to be lies and that the real Franz Hopper is stuck somewhere on Lyoko.

[edit] Recap

The episode starts out at Yumi's house at night. While still asleep, she gets a call on her cell phone. Jeremie is on the other end. He says that XANA has attacked again, this time with five Towers instead of the usual one. Yumi says that she'll come as soon as possible.

At the Factory, the group goes down to the Lab. When they arrive, someone mysterious has already arrived. It's the bearded man from Aelita's visions. When they question what he's doing, he claims to be deactivating the Towers. The group is surprised that he can do so, having never known any other way to do so other than with Aelita's help. When they further question his presence, he claims to be Franz Hopper. He tells them all about how he created Lyoko and XANA to be two viral programs designed to counteract a National Military project, based on a multi-agent system. He also explains how he designed Aelita to guard Lyoko as its protector. They're all quite surprised at the sudden (false) revelation.

Back at the school, Aelita and Jeremie are talking about Hopper. Aelita sees him as a father figure. Jeremie compares him to his own father, Michael Belpois, who's just as caring, but not as smart. Aelita heads for bed and the lovers bid each other sweet dreams.

The next day, Jeremie gets a call on his cell phone. He assumes it to be Hopper, but it's Michael instead. He's called to wish Jeremie a happy birthday. He's also curious if he wants to transfer to the School for the Gifted (mentioned previously in "Plagued"). Jeremie's friends have also arrived with similar well wishes. Michael asks his son to call more often since his mother tends to worry. Jeremie says he will and then has to cut the conversation short thanks to the attention from his friends. Odd has a gift for him. It's a picture of the five of them that he drew from memory. Ulrich teases him about the comment, saying that it must have taken him a while if that were the case. Jeremie suggests they all head back to the Factory to talk to Hopper again, who has apparently taken up residence in the former automobile plant.

Back at the Factory, they ask Hopper where's he been all this time. He gives a cryptic answer about being away, but then says he's returned to the country to stop XANA. Jeremie tells him about Aelita's virus. He doesn't seem to think finding it will be difficult. He then questions them on their use of the Scanners. He says that their testing had not progressed beyond basic research, and as a result were never ready to be used on humans. Apparently, they can cause cellular degradation in a user. He uses the Scanners to run a check on Odd, Ulrich and Yumi to find any problems. Odd and Ulrich turn out fine, but Yumi has some unannounced problem (appears to be neurological in nature).

Back at the school, the others, save for Aelita, are upset with Jeremie over his apparent lack of foresight into the problem with the Scanners. There's really not much he can say in his defense other than he couldn't have known. Yumi says that she'd rather be alone, but takes Ulrich along anyway.

At Yumi's house, she's still upset over the news. She won't tell her parents, leaving Hiroki to assume that Ulrich is the cause of her bad mood. Yumi just heads off to bed. Her mother assumes that her mood is just the result of some teenage crisis.

Back at the Cafeteria, Odd and Ulrich are still upset with Jeremie. Jeremie is mad that they're blaming him for everything now. However, Odd and Ulrich still aren't entirely convinced that Jeremie is being truthful. He's the group genius, after all, as they point out. Jeremie just gets up and walks off. Aelita defends him saying that the Scanners are the reason that she's on Earth and leaves with him. In Jeremie's room, Hopper calls and tells him that he's found the parameters for Aelita's virus. He tells him to gather everyone up and meet at the Factory tomorrow.

The next day at the Factory, Hopper explains that they'll need to head to Carthage to retrieve the data needed for Aelita's anti-virus. Jeremie points out that Hopper said the Scanners were dangerous, but Hopper says that they've no other choice if they want Aelita to be saved from being dead. When Jeremie asks what he can do to help, Hopper says that he can stay out of the way. Jeremie tries to protest, but Hopper points out how all of the bad things to happen so far are his fault, including the destruction of Hopper's CD Diary. Jeremie leaves after hearing it all. Once he's gone, Hopper sends Odd, Ulrich and Yumi to Lyoko.

On Lyoko, the three appear directly in Carthage. Hopper tells them that he has direct access to the region, although he doesn't say why. As they head for the switch, a large amount of Creepers arrive to stop them. Hopper tells them that he's upgraded their weapons to help. Sure enough, their weapons are indeed more powerful. Odd's Lazer Arrows now track targets and destroy them on contact, Yumi's Tessen Fans fly for longer and also have a homing ability, and Ulrich's katana can now slash enemies from long range thanks to a shockwave-like energy effect.

Back at the school, Jeremie calls Michael and tells him that he wants to be transferred to the School for the Gifted. Once they've finished their conversation, Jeremie remembers Hopper's speech. The one part that sticks out is the mention of the CD Diary. Jeremie realizes that Hopper couldn't have known about that, since he had been away at some unspecified location. He then realizes that XANA is scamming them all, in an attempt to once again steal Aelita's memories and end her life.

Back on Lyoko, Ulrich manages to reach the switch. It's not much trouble to deactivate the countdown thanks to their enhanced weapons. Hopper prepares to send Aelita to the Sector. Jeremie arrives in the Scanner Room just as Aelita is about to enter one of the contraptions. Knowing that Hopper can hear them, he simply does a "shh" motion. Aelita gasps.

On Lyoko, Aelita arrives on a miniscule sky island in the middle of the Desert Sector. The Scyphozoa arrives to steal her memories and life force. She has nowhere to go as it picks her up.

In Carthange, the other three face a similar handicap when their weapons disintigrate without warning. They're forced to run. Their pleas for help are in vain. Yumi is the first one to suspect that they've been betrayed...by XANA!

In the Factory, Jeremie heads back to the Lab and confronts Hopper. Hopper, irked at the boy's presence, says, "Jeremie, what are you doing here?" Jeremie rightly accuses Hopper of being a XANA Polymorphic Clone. XANA-Hopper isn't threatened by the revealation, knowing that Jeremie can do nothing to stop him. He even explains how he's doomed Jeremie's friends by deactivating the devirtualization process.

Back on Lyoko, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi end up at a Tower floating over part of Carthage itself. The Creepers follow shortly after. Odd starts boxing with one of them, complete with the bell rings and audience roar during the match. It eventually gets the better of him. Ulrich and Yumi are also fighting similar, yet futile, battles with other Creepers.

In the Desert sky island, the Scyphozoa finally manages to completely steal Aelita's memories. The end result is different than expected. The Scyphozoa's head lights up as if there's a loose wire inside it. It flies about randomly while trying to get over whatever pain it's been caused.

In the Lab, XANA-Hopper notices what's happened and demands an explanation. Jeremie says that the Aelita he transferred was actually a decoy. Aelita was outside the Scanner all along using Jeremie's laptop to control the fake version. The XANA clone breaks apart and flies into the ceiling. Jeremie takes control and sends the real Aelita to Lyoko. The XANA cloud is seen returning as he does. It flies into his head and settles in his pharynx to cut off his air supply.

Back in Carthage, the Creepers have cornered Odd, Ulrich and Yumi. They take out Ulrich, much to the other's dismay. Jeremie just chimes in saying that he'll be fine. Their true weapons return and they take out the Creepers with no problem.

By this time, Jeremie has already taken Aelita to Sector 5 to shut off the Carthaginian Tower. A Manta has arrived to cause trouble, but is in fact a great help. Since the Tower is too far off to reach normally, Aelita uses the creature as a springboard to close the distance. She deactivates the Tower via the LYOKO Code and saves the asphyxiating Jeremie from the Ghost, restoring his oxygen intake.

Back in Jeremie's room, the others forgive him for their quick judgement. He accepts and also tells Yumi that there's nothing wrong with her at all. It was just a lie from XANA-Hopper. At this point there is a knock on Jeremie's door. It opens to reveal Michael Belpois. He his son if he is ready to leave. Jeremie takes Michael outside and says that he wishes to stay. Michael is fine with that and tells him again that he should call more often. Jeremie promises to and the two part company. The others ask what that was all about, but Jeremie just says that it's nothing. He puts the picture that Odd drew him up on the wall next to his Albert Einstein poster, facing the group. The others just laugh and the episode ends.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

Odd: It’s almost too easy… I want more creepers!

Odd: It can't be!

Jeremie: Come on. Don't be so pessimistic Odd.

Yumi: Jeremie!

Jeremie: Yes. I'm back! Come on. Let’s start over!

Aelita: Your father seems like a really nice guy.

Jeremie: Yeah. I love him. He's great!

Ulrich: Like father, like son.

XANA-Hopper: Your friends are in trouble. I fixed things so that they could never rematerialize! No more life points! And it’s bye-bye! And now for the grand finale!

Franz Hopper: Don’t worry Odd. It’s not over yet. I've got more surprises in store for you.

All: Happy birthday Einstein!

(Stands up angrily)

Aelita: You know Ulrich, if it weren’t for the Scanners, I wouldn’t be here!

Franz Hopper: (to Jeremie) Perhaps… but you were the one who played the Sorcerer’s apprentice. You’re the one who put your friends’ lives at risk. (angrily) And you're the one who let XANA destroy my diary!

Yumi: I need to be by myself. Coming Ulrich?

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Cinematic Notes

• After meeting Franz Hopper Jeremie and Aelita are talking in Jeremie's room. Aelita comments on Franz Hopper being "very fatherly". She then goes on to say "actually in a way he is my father, he created me," it is ironic that Franz is Aelita's real father and she doesn't know it because her memories are missing.

• After the Polymorphic Clone of Franz Hopper gets rid of all of the defenders’ weapons, you see in the following shots that Ulrich’s sword is still in its sheath.

• Jeremie says to "Franz" that he and his friends turned the supercomputer back on simultaneously. This turns out to be a lie, as he turned it on alone in Xana Awakens.

• During the scene in the Lunchroom where Ulrich and Odd are accusing Jeremie of lying to him about the safety of the Scanners, you can clearly see Sissi looking back at them with a suspicious look on her face!
• only Appearance of a Carthaginian tower (to date).
• At the beginnning of the episode when Jeremie's warning Yumi about the five towewrs, her hair is down. When Franz calls her later, her hair's up like in Lyoko.

Preceded by: "Is Anybody Out There?"

Code Lyoko episodes

Followed by: "Contact"