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The official chronology and clues
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 | The concrete clues within the series | |
| | To start with, let's look at the concrete clues within the series.
There are 2 types:
• France, the school setting, and the heroes' dialogue
Firstly, we know the show takes place in Paris, France, at a combined junior high/high school. This context already gives us some interesting elements.
- School times and holidays operate according to a French calendar, specifically zone C.
- Combining that with certain pieces of dialogue from the heroes, we learn a bit more about their weekly schedule, which lets us gather information on when the episode takes place.
We know for example that the heroes have class from Monday to Saturday morning, but not Saturday afternoon (Odd, episode 36 "Marabounta").
With this information, we can sometimes place an episode on a particular day of the week, or a particular week in the school calendar. But that's all.
• Extrapolating clues
Finally, the most eagle-eyed among you may be able to spot other clues among the visual elements in the series. Or from certain scenes. Here's a list:
 | Let's start with episode 19 "Frontier," where we see Odd playing on a handheld console. Everyone recognises the GameBoy Advance SP, released in France on the 28th of March 2003. We see this console again in episode 34. However, as season 1 takes place in 2002, it's too early for Odd to have it. |  | Along the same lines, but with a series of vehicles this time... First, the car used by the driving school in episode 39: a Smart Fortwo, released in 2005... Though season 2 is supposed to take place in 2002-2003. |  | Same point for TV's car, an Alpha Romeo Brera, released at the end of 2005. |  | Finally, the demonstration continues to season 4 with Ulrich's parents' car, a Peugeot 206 Sedan, released in January 2006. Season 4 is supposed to take place in 2004. |
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| | The official timeline can only be veeeeery veeery succinct. Why? Because it's only based on the original line established in season 1 by the production team, which the writers follow throughout the seasons.
If you've seen the long introduction page, you'll know this timeline will frequently contradict the events of the series.
So here are the main milestones found in the production documents, as Sophie Decroisette said in an interview:
BIRTH OF PROJECT CARTHAGE: 1974
6 JUNE 1994: Franz Hopper goes to Lyoko with Aelita
PREQUEL: 09 October 2001
SEASON 1: SCHOOL YEAR 2002 - 2003
SEASON 2: REST OF THE SCHOOL YEAR 2002– 2003
SEASON 3 (15 EPISODES) START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR 2003 – 2004
SEASON 4: REST OF THE SCHOOL YEAR 2003-2004
Evolution takes place in 2012-2013 but with changes to the dates in the backstory (Hopper disappeared in the 2000s...).
If we base our ideas on these guidelines set out by the writers, the rest of the scenaristic suppositions soon become evident. And each one does the job on its own (yeah yeah, I won't mince words with you...).
Like this, the holidays in episode 03 "Holiday in the Fog" become the All Saints' Day holidays of 2002. Between episodes 52 "The Key" (which takes place during the final days of the school year) and episode 53 "Straight to Heart," there are the summer holidays of 2003. Finally, episode 82 "Distant Memory" obviously happens right at the start of the Christmas holidays, 2003. And the end of the series would take place between January and June 2004...
However! If you've read the introduction on this page, you'll realise that this timeline doesn't quite fit.
For one simple example, episode 14 "The Trap" is supposed to take place on the 9th of October 2002... But that before the All Saints' Day holidays, which should have happened in episode 03 "Holiday in the Fog."
Another big problematic example: the episode Saint Valentine's Day is meant to take place on a Tuesday, as stated in the episode... But Valentine's Day 2003 was on a Friday! Valentine's Day didn't fall on a Tuesday until the year 2006...
There are also some anachronistic elements in play, see the images above.
Finally, note that very few parts of the backstory are mentioned.
Overall, how do we ensure this timeline is valid?
Simply by ignoring these half-dozen issues. In order to adhere to the official timeline, we need to acknowledge that a handful of elements mentioned in the episodes are wrong. | | |
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