S4 Episode 4: Wreck Room

[yumi_yemimah offline]

I would never think of that, the banana eating thing. Now, Aelita should drink Mr PiBB out of a solid gold brandy glass with Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield while yelling, "XANA BAD!!!"

I was just replying to Taelia's comment.

I understood nothing of this post.

And what about Taelia's banana comment? Are you guys being... dirty!?

I dont get it either.

[Malkmusian offline]

I would never think of that, the banana eating thing. Now, Aelita should drink Mr PiBB out of a solid gold brandy glass with Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield while yelling, "XANA BAD!!!"

I was just replying to Taelia's comment.

I understood nothing of this post.

And what about Taelia's banana comment? Are you guys being... dirty!?

I dont get it either.

Actually, it was a little landmarkable in the show when Odd ate the banana and that's when they show became good and a bit dramatic. I just referenced Napster Bad! as a joke.

[Jinnai offline]

Sissi has been too one-dimensional for too long to be redeemed in my eyes. I don't like her no matter how brave she is for Ulrich.

..........You're kidding, right? Honestly, the majority of the characters have been "too one-dimensional" through this show's length, Odd particularly.

And come on, I've counted and in all actuality, Sissi has shown her good side more in the show's run than her bad side!

[AmericanLyokoTeam offline]

I have to disagree with the notion she's done more good that bad, I don't know what the real conclusion would be except that she's antagonistic more than helpful or the powers that be would probably have used her more in the show by now. Anyway, it seems her attitude changes based on season pretty much, which could factor heavily into how and how much they wind up using her this time.

In Season one, Sissi really was almost evil in her own right, outright stealing things, blackmailing, abusing people, etc. She got a few redemptory moments and even a large part of a whole episode to look good, but the bad things far outpaced that.

It was only when season 2 started that she got a lot more human, having her own falability, more redeeming moments and toneing back the bad moments to mostly just being inter-group namecalling. It almost seemed as the season went on that they were genuinely going to develop her into a ballanced character.

"S3," by which I mean the prequal in this case, gave us a lot of backstory with her almost being in on the group to begin with, but makes it look unlikely that she'd ever be part of the main cast (quoth the fan, 'unfortunately.') This sets up her need to be redeemed before she can ever even begin being accepted. Unfortunately she just vanishes for the rest of the season though.

S4 so far is unknown, but what we haved seen is more mixed bag, she was being really rude about investigating the Lyoko gang in S4E1, but in this episode she gets quite brave when the pressure is on.

Grace under pressure is a recurring theme for bringing out Sissi's good side, which make it kind of odd how she acts in the prequal, maybe there is a personality change ongoing? Its always possible she may be redeemed if she helps them enough over the course of the rest of the season's run, but I really don't see Moonscoope making much use of her beyond a bit part sadly.

this has been your vaguely on-topic daily Sissi rant by ALT

[seb offline]

does anyone have any screenshots for this episode?

[Dark William offline]

I think that Xana pulled out a trick, because William was so called good again, then not anYmore.

[ArgentDandelion offline]

I watched Wreck Room about twenty minutes ago.

Poor Jeremie; he did not have any breakfast. I do not remember Ulrich even telling Odd that Odd could have Jeremie's breakfast. It must have occurred off-screen. If a Return To the Past was not in effect, perhaps Rosa might learn not to let Odd have Jeremie's portions again.

Odd, the impulsive and slightly childish one, as evidenced by his taking a nightmare seriously and crying out in joy about fries when the nightmare did not come true.

Wait...I see an error. Jean-Baptise Pujol, (the one with dark hair that frayed lower down that was on Herb's soccer team is Claustrophobia) is seated next to Mathias Burel (the guy with long hair and glasses whom XANA-Yumi kissed in XANA's Kiss that remarked about brushing his teeth) in 2:50, but in 3:08 he is seated next to Herb, Sissi and Heidi Klinger. It is unlikely that he switched seats in the span of eighteen seconds without being noticed.

I saw either Theo Gauthier (the character that flirted with Sissi in Claustrophobia) or someone who looks much like him at 1:58. (when Rosa is explaining to Jeremie that Odd took his portion)

Great, another underwear scene (or sequence, really) at 8:07. (it is the commercial Sissi is watching.)

Looks like Emily and Heidi are friends; they are standing closely together, looking at the same thing, in two shots in the Recreation Room.

At first, I thought Aelita's comment to Jeremie in the factory lift was not necessary; she already said that she wanted to welcome William back with him. Then again, she did say that (that she wanted to welcome William back) casually, without much emotion, so I suppose her exclamation strengthens the reason as to why she decided to accompany Jeremie. Or maybe part of the reason that she accompanied him was simply because she likes to spend time with him beside the Supercomputer, or because it is habit for her to do so and she wanted to justify accompanying him besides appreciating his company. (romantically or not, although JxA is canon and they do not deny it like Ulrich and Yumi do)

Looks like she is about to kiss him in 6:33. Nope, but I guess going through the trouble of coming close to him to clasp his hands is close enough to a romantic gesture. (look at Jeremie's expression in 6:34; it might not be a coma-invoking kiss but he still seems stunned)

Either way, it conveniently means the writers can set up the current situation of her being unable to enter and deactive a Tower. Had she not gone with Jeremie earlier, she would have found this out later and William would not be able to trick her. I guess Aelita's desire to accompany Jeremie is to XANA's advantage---it means XANA can conveniently make it seem reasonable for Aelita to go to Lyoko (and then dump her in the Digital Sea) even when a XANA attack is not obvious.

8:33 to 8:34 shows that William (or at least, his clone) has dark blue eyes.

The first target XANA-controlled Clone William attacks is Yumi. I suppose XANA remembers Pick on Yumi Week.

When William appears on the enemies-approaching screen, his icon is round and solid, unlike the monsters (Krabes) which have icons more like the "Power" symbols on computers.

If you look at the image reflected in Jeremie's glasses at 13:01, there is another solid circle icon, but in green rather than red. That must be Aelita. It seems humans' icons on the enemies-approaching screen are solid circles, while those that are enemies are in red.

Looks like William can hold and wield his sword mid-solidifying. (when the sword is still smoke)

Look closely on the underside of Yumi's skateboard at 14:19 and you can see there is a flower pattern on it.

Looks like we have amputee Krab (from back in Season 1, when Yumi came over and used her fan to slice off a Krabe's leg when XANA tilted the platform in the desert sector to be vertical) again. I pity the de-legged Krab, as it tries to move even when its legs are sliced off, and it seems a subtle sign of cruelty when William dispatches the crippled Krabe.

The process of William's sword turning back into smoke and vanishing when not in use, as evidenced by 15:18: The sword darkens until completely black, with the designs not discernible. Purple smoke appears around the edges along with a thread or two. The dark mass forms a mass of dense dark purple threads. The threads become thinner and sparser, and purple smoke is produced. The smoke becomes sparse, and the individual, quite dark purple or black threads can be clearly discerned in a whip-like formation; the threads all join at the top of the hilt. The threads shrink back into the hilt, leaving visual echoes of thin smoky trails. Once the threads are completely retracted, the hilt becomes dark purple smoke, thins out, blows away and vanishes.

I think it is a nice, subtle touch of material physics CGI when the flaps of Aelita' skirt waver in the wind at 15:53.

Yumi is much better at her telekinesis in Season 4, as evidenced by 16:51 and 17:12.

At 18:08, Aelita does not seem to pass a hand over or touch her bracelet to sprout her wings. Maybe she only needs to touch her bracelet if flying from a standstill?

The roof tiles in 18:23 look rather detailed for objects that are moving rapidly. CGI probably helped in that shot, but it is not obvious and is dynamic anyway.

I wonder why William did not simply use a super jump of some sort for leap back onto the roof? Maybe the abilities of a clone-controlled-by-a-tower are different compared to a possessed person or polymorphic specter. After all, Clone William did not demonstrate wall-climbing or electricity-wielding abilities.

At 18:52, apparently William can render useless Yumi's fan, or perhaps Yumi just did not feel like destroying William. I am not quite sure why else Yumi held her fan to William's forehead otherwise.

At 18:54, William kicks Yumi. Strangely enough, it produces a flash a purple light on impact. (When Odd punches William at some point in a different Season 4 episode, a blue light is produced) I am not sure what the purple light is for. Does it make hand-to-hand combat more appealing and less mundane, does it indicate properties of XANA-William, is it an alternative way of showing life points are deducted?

Apparently the fan deducts life points from Yumi if she cannot catch it properly or if the fan is deflected by William's sword.

At 19:15, Yumi walks out of the scanner, touching her head with her hand as if she possesses a headache. Which is strange, since, judging by Yumi's wireframe as she is devirtualized, she was in the middle of cartwheeling away and it should have been her foot that was struck by William's sword. I wonder how Yumi can even be standing up immediately upon returning to Earth. Clearly, they are not necessarily materialized in the same position that they are virtualized.

Jeremie looks bored and disparaging of what he sees at 19:20.

Odd's scene to himself with the Tarantula at 19:31 is great for showing off Odd's climbing ability and how useful it is. Apparently, their vehicles are tied to their respective users (at least by default) or they can command them somehow (perhaps telepathically) because how else would Odd's Overboard follow Odd that way?

Looks like the show is fond of slow-then-fast motion with Odd action.

Seems a little weird when Jeremie points out that Aelita, should she fall into the Digital Sea, will be "virtualized forever" (or something along those lines) "just like her father" although Franz, aside from this line, was not mentioned or implied at all in the episode. Weird how Franz is so important for XANA and Aelita's motivations in Season 4 but he is not talked about as much as he is in Season 2. Maybe it was because they already knew plenty about him by Season 4, and did not feel the need to reiterate their goals or information?

I wonder how Jeremie decided the situation was important enough to warrant a Return to the Past without knowing that Ulrich was falling from the roof?

[TheLQ offline]

Watched CL for the first time in forever. Still a great show