VGFlicks: WarGames (Part 2)

Go here for Part 1.

The escape

Makes sense that David would get along better with the
computer guy at NORAD than with any of the agents who
are trying to imprison him for life...

"It's not what it looks like! I was just hacking
and... I'm not helping my case, am I?"

McKittrick begins his interrogation of David, going about it in a friendly way, by showing how things work around the NORAD base and how the teen hacking into their system and playing with the WOPR has put everyone on edge. David sticks to his story; he was looking for a games manufacturer, thought the simulation was a video game, and the A.I., which he nicknames Joshua, called him back to resume the game. The topic of the plane tickets to Paris that David reserved for himself and Jennifer comes up as what the agents think is an escape attempt with an accomplice on the teen's part. They even talk about the late Stephen Falken and McKittrick mentions that Falken is a brilliant man. Present tense.

...Uh oh.

In McKittrick’s office, David takes advantage of a moment during which the man is pulled away to log into Joshua through the room’s computer. His findings:

-Joshua’s plan is to increase the level of alert to DEFCON 1, which will kickstart World War 3;

-It estimates 72 million casualties on the American territory if it succeeds;

-It does not know the difference between simulation and reality, and intends to play to the end;

-Oh, and it has looked into the Department of Defense's files; it knows that Stephen Falken is not dead, and it even knows its creator’s new name (Robert Hume) and address (on Goose Island, Oregon).

And now, the only one who knows what's going
on is being taken away. That's gonna make
stopping the damn thing trickier...

Hack open, Sesame!

Before he can learn more, David is arrested and locked into the infirmary again, though he tries to warn everyone about Joshua's threat as he’s taken there. Although, props to the kid, he’s resourceful – using only a couple of items that he finds in his temporary jail, he manages to escape the room he’s locked in before the arrival of the FBI. I would have called this the “MacGyver method”, but MacGyver started in 1985, this film predates the show. It helps that the officer who was supposed to guard the teen was a moron. After a trip through the air vents, David leaves by inserting himself into the tour group on their way out of the NORAD premises.

Finding Falken

"David, is this because of what you did with
my grade?" Would he be in such big trouble if
it had all been only about your damn grade?

At a phone booth later, David tries to call Stephen Falken through the man’s new identity. When that doesn’t work, he calls Jennifer and tries to get her to book a plane ticket for him to Oregon. And she comes to join him down there since it’s only at a three-hour drive from Seattle. From there, they take a ferry to Goose Island.

Meanwhile, WOPR/Joshua keeps on feeding false data into NORAD’s computers, making them believe that the country is surrounded by Soviet submarines ready to strike. The Department of Defense is in contact with the Soviet Union, being told that no, there isn’t an ongoing attack and, in fact, America is the one provoking them right now (due to their responses to the false data). The DEFCON Level is risen to 2.

"Stephen Falken? I don't know who that is,
but he sounds like a clever man."

David and Jennifer arrive at the island and are promptly attacked by a pteranodon. Jurassic Park? But we’re 10 years too early for that! No, it’s just a robot. Arriving on the scene, “Robert Hume” is quick to dismiss these high school students as trespassers… until they call him Falken and mention Joshua. The expert in artificial intelligence now lives as a recluse on the island, with little to no contacts with the outside world. Though, he did hear about the War Game that David sparked. He even chuckles about the pair’s original choice of target in the simulation. Las Vegas, struck by Soviet missiles? “A suitably biblical ending to the place,” he thinks. Bit of a jerk, isn’t he?

"Please?"
"Don't try, you won't convince me."
"Pretty, pretty please?"
"Nope! Definitely not convinced, young lady."
"The biggest pretty please ever?"

Stephen Falken believes that life on Earth follows cycles, that if nature killed the dinosaurs to start anew with something else, perhaps it’s time this happens to humanity as well, and it’s only ironic that such would happen by their own hubris and weapons and not by some outside force. Dude’s lost all hope for mankind, and it shows. He then says that he never could teach his creation about futility – that some games either can’t or shouldn’t be won.

He gives an example with Tic-Tac-Toe, a game which, if both sides play perfectly, can’t be won as all matches will end in a tie. Falken doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the people at NORAD, who believe that a nuclear war could be won, that human losses in the millions would be an acceptable tradeoff. Falken is perfectly content with letting humanity destroy itself, he thinks it’s been a long time coming. David and Jennifer’s argue the opposite; they're only 17! That if the real Joshua was still alive, perhaps Falken wouldn't be saying these things. Their arguments seem fruitless, but the scientists nonetheless agrees to let them stay the night since they might die before the end of it.

The final countdown

(Wait, crap, this song’s from 1986! But it works too well)

Instead of laying down and waiting for death, David and Jennifer leave Falken’s cabin, and talk about future plans they had, that might never happen now. “I never learned to swim!” laments David. Or so they thought, but then a helicopter arrives, with Falken in the pilot’s seat. He changed his mind after all! And good thing, too, as time is running out.

"Your 'biggest pretty please ever'
made me reconsider!"

Not the kind of reunion either of them was
expecting.

They get to the NORAD complex in Cheyenne in the nick of time. Literally as the base was being shut down due to the detection of several USSR missile launches, with its heavy doors closed and impenetrable. In the time it took them to get there, the DEFCON Level had been raised to 1. The personnel is surprised to see Professor Falken showing up at such a dire time, but not surprised to see him alive. Falken says that, logically, this threat cannot possibly exist; the USSR knows that America has the resources and weaponry to destroy them, so why would they ever attack?

Seeing firsthand what a real nuclear war
would turn into.

Unfortunately, since time is running out, they can’t go out and check whether those submarines and missiles really are headed towards America. They have to make a very risky gamble by calling the three bases that will be struck by these Soviet missiles first and waiting for the impact in Maine, North Dakota and Alaska. Everyone waits in silence for an agonizing minute as they witness the impacts on the screens, then listen for a response. The response comes – none of the bases have been hit! Everyone’s alive! It WAS a simulation after all! ...Or was it?

Winner: None

Joshua noticed that its attacks didn’t do anything. A 10-digit code appears with random letters and numbers on the screen, and the staff of NORAD seems unable to cancel any of the measures they had set up in response to the threat they thought they were facing. Nobody can log on to their accounts, the WOPR has locked everyone out of the system. And it’s trying to figure out the launch codes so it can toss the nukes by itself.

Games got them in this trouble, games will
get them out of it.

Oh, and they can’t turn it off. It would require disarming thousands of missiles. Unplug it? The system has a fail deadly function (if the system’s power is turned off, the WOPR will interpret that as the result of an attack and will retaliate by launching the weapons). However, David gets an idea: If all this thing knows to do is play games, let’s give it some games. The engineer at NORAD accesses the list of games, and not seeing Tic-tac-toe on the list, David requests it anyway. The 3X3 grid appears and David plays a first game that ends without a winner.

There’s only a few minutes left until the computer has the code, so they need to speed things up. Falken explains how to make the computer play against itself, then David makes it happen. Joshua plays against itself and once again gets a tie. Then again, a tie. We’re seeing a machine learn through repeated failures in real time, and the tic-tac-toe screens get faster and faster.

So many apocalypse simulations.

And the game speeds up consistently, with the same result over and over, going so fast and needing so much CPU that it burns out some of the NORAD computers as well as the complex’s electrical power. At this point, Joshua has even figured out the launch codes, but it’s too busy playing against itself. Then… All goes dark. The screen changes to the world map with a scenario title: “U.S. First Strike”. Joshua plays a sped-up game of Global Thermonuclear War with that starting scenario. Ten seconds later, the results come up. “Winner: None”. The computer continues with “USSR First Strike”. No winner. The A.I. then goes through every war game simulation it knows, once again increasing the speed at each one, with the entire NORAD staring at the flashing screens. And it’s a massive, massive list, as you can see in this Reddit post. And not a single scenario turns up with any victors.

"Nobody wins a nuclear war" feels like such a
basic lesson, and yet, it feels like we still need
to remind our leaders of it once in a while.

After an insane moment, everything goes black, then Joshua talks. “Greetings Professor Falken. A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?” Everyone celebrates. Crisis (WORLD WAR 3!) very narrowly averted. The DEFCON level is lowered back to 5. And the movie just ends there. We don’t even find out whether David gets in trouble for changing his grades! Yeah, like that was the most pressing matter in the entire story…

Final thoughts

There's hardly any video games in it, but it
does deserve its place as a 'movie about
video games'.

This is a pretty good movie! I had my apprehensions because I thought it would fall into the category of “films so praised I’m afraid I’ll feel hype backlash towards them”, but no, I liked it just fine. The topic of video games isn’t omnipresent in it (as most of the film focuses on simulations instead), but it’s video games that start the plot when David tries to hack into ProtoVision, a game company, to see what they’re working on. The film focuses a lot more on the topic of artificial intelligence, computers and hacking. I’ve already mentioned that most of the hacking shown was accurate for 1983, and some of it is still accurate now (especially the part about social hacking).

Ah, the years when arcades reigned
over the video game market.

It’s also a time capsule of an interesting albeit dark time in History; the film is officially described as a Cold War thriller by Wikipedia, and most of the story beats involve the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. NORAD as well as politics on the American and worldwide levels are important elements of the plot. I wonder what it was like to watch this film in the 1980s, when the entire world felt on edge due to the looming threat. I do like, that neither side was demonized in this; even the Soviets are shown favorably.

Either way, the story was very interesting. Some of the setpieces were also quite nice, whether it’s David’s suburban place, Falken’s place of hiding, or NORAD’s command center itself. Fun fact: The makers of the film didn’t know what the interior of NORAD looked like; the actual NORAD looked bland and poor in comparison, and allegedly they ‘adopted’ the look that the film had given them.

Okay, in all fairness, Jennifer does more than it
seems, although it still feels like she's on the
sidelines for much of the film.

I also thought that the acting was pretty good; Matthew Broderick defended his role as David Lightman very well, and he didn’t strike me as the awkward type of guy he would play in later roles. Dabney Coleman as John McKittrick and John Wood as Stephen Falken also play their roles well. As for Ally Sheedy (Jennifer), while I think she did good, it often feels like her character does very little overall. She does contribute to the plot, however, and usually in pretty important ways, so I don't know if it's just an impression I had that she didn't do quite a lot. It's her bringing up games in the climax that gives the others the idea of beating Joshua with games, after all.

Even the general played by Barry Corbin is fun at times. “I’d piss on a spark plug if I thought it’d do any good!”

General Jack Beringer; he at least had a point
in keeping control of war infrastructures in the
hands of humans instead of relying on machines.

A couple years ago, I watched and reviewed the sequel to this film, released 25 years later (in 2008) on straight-to-DVD. Reading it again… wow, I was mean at the time. I’m re-reading my review of WarGames: The Dead Code, and that sequel feels so terrible in comparison. The best thing I can say about the original WarGames is that, while it does rely on a handful of coincidences to explain the plot, a lot of what we see has enough basis in reality to be perhaps not possible, but at least believable, which is more than I could say about what I remember of the sequel.

Yep, you really should watch the original WarGames, if you can find it. It’s a great film. I heartily recommend it.

I shall resume my reviews of video games soon enough, although I might need an extra week to write the next one. I am also starting work on the anniversary review for this year.

VGFlicks: WarGames (Part 1)

Today, we’re covering one of the big ones.

I think I can spot a Polybius cabinet in there.

In the early 1980s, we can’t actually say that video games were still in their infancy period. Arcades had been around since the late 70s, but home consoles were becoming prevalent as well. To the point where so many companies threw their hat in that ring and saturated the market with so many home consoles that the video game market crashed, but that's not today's topic. Video games were slowly growing into pop culture as well; sure, they were seen as “kid stuff”, but they were slowly making a name for themselves across the population.

Video games, this new form of media, intrigued and puzzled, and in some cases, horrified. Moral guardians were quick to vilify them. And yet, they already fascinated the other forms of media. Hollywood took note and was quick to produce features about them. Video game movies began popping up in the early years of 1980, with the first fiction feature-length video game movie being TRON, released in 1982.

A contender for the second place would be WarGames, released on June 3rd, 1983 to theaters. How big was the impact of this one on pop culture? If you’ve ever heard the line “The only winning move is not to play” (and you most likely have, as it’s been referenced in plenty of media, including by Marvel Studios), then you already know this film’s most iconic line.

I look at this film like I should respect it, like it’s an Elder of video game culture. And I’m all in for this ride. So, for everyone who hasn’t seen it, let’s jump in.

Top 12 Best Episodes of Code Lyoko

Okay, let’s call this one a freebie. A week or two ago, I fell back into watching the episodes of Code Lyoko on YouTube. As I said, it’s like a cycle, I go back to them every couple years. This is why I wrote such a long retrospective for the blog, a few years ago. In hindsight, I realize my reason was tenuous at best; even if Lyoko, the virtual world featured in the show, features video game-like mechanics, that element of the series isn’t sufficiently prominent to bundle the show with other media about video games. Still, it’s a show that I actually like to talk about and analyze. I love the progression from a “monster of the week” format (read: where continuity matters very little and episodes are nearly interchangeable) to a continuity-heavy show where most episodes have value in the myth arc of the series.

I hesitated for a while before making this list, because I wasn’t sure I would actually be able to do it. Since I love the show, I feel that it’s difficult to cut down what I feel are the 12 best episodes. There are just so many awesome episodes to choose from! Bad episodes, that’d be easier; actually, I’d have the opposite issue, where I wouldn’t know if there are 12 episodes I’d consider bad enough to make the cut.

Ultimately, I made my picks based on a handful of factors. Quality, of course, but also the originality of the plot, the place of the episode in the greater scheme of things and who it focuses on. It won’t be objective, but I do think most picks on this list are standouts that are commonly agreed upon by fans.

I don’t care if it doesn’t fit with the theme of the blog, I just want to have fun today. Let’s jump into it, shall we?

12. #74: “I’d Rather Not Talk About It”

Jim has almost equally been an opponent
of the team as he's been an ally to them in the
real world, even if he usually doesn't remember
due to the reset button.

One element I like about Code Lyoko is that, when you study the show as it evolves, you can see some of the directorial decisions made throughout, and how they ultimately benefited the story. One of the most interesting elements may be Jim Morales, the gym teacher, who started out as a somewhat antagonistic adult in Season 1, only to become a lot more comical from Season 2 onwards, and  a lot more interesting as a result. His catchphrase, “I’d rather not talk about it”, follows his offhanded mentions of things he may have possibly done in his life and jobs he occupied, several of which are highly doubtful for an unfit middle-aged guy who teaches P.E. at some French school.

In the episode that bears the name of this running gag, the protagonists hire him for a tough physical endurance session, only to be attacked by a XANA-controlled wild boar. This episode shines a light on Jim that we might not have thought about before – he does have a lot of knowledge that proves a handful of his claims. It was a sweet form of insight into a secondary figure that deserves an episode all to themselves. Plot-wise, since Jérémie stayed behind to help Jim, the Lyoko-Warriors had to use the Supercomputer on their own, which is something they learned literally in the previous episode, “Crash Course”. How's that for continuity?

11. #64: “Double Trouble”

Any time XANA got behind the Supercomputer's
keyboard, it did some crazy things. And yet,
wouldn't it have the power to do much more
if it stayed into the virtual world?

The show deconstructs the “Wake up, go to school, save the world” trope so common in children’s media by showing how the protagonists’ everyday lives are impacted by their fight against their enemy. They’re overworked and exhausted, their grades take a toll, they constantly skip classes, and the adults are starting to notice. Season 3 focuses on that aspect, and this episode marks the peak to that plot thread, as Yumi is threatened with expulsion by the principal of Kadic due to her repeated absences.

Things aren’t any easier on the other side of things as XANA, which could by this point exist outside of Lyoko, has taken to deleting the virtual world one piece at a time, which would leave the heroes incapable of combating him. When a XANA-made Jérémie clone almost drowns the real one, the heroes have to jump on Lyoko again; Yumi has to escape from a photography class, with William electing to cover for her. This is the episode where the team realizes they need a sixth member, and decide to add William to the group. Oh, if only they knew…

10. #81: “A Lack of Goodwill”

The real (read: evil) William was noticeably
unimpressed by his clone/double.

Speaking of William Dunbar, he spends most of Season 4 under XANA’s control in the virtual world, adding another layer of complexity to the heroes’ quest to defeat the monstrous program. This forces them to create a clone with basic intelligence, similar to the clones XANA can create, to hide the fact that the real William is gone. That clone is… well… “Dumber than a box of rocks” would be an improvement. Per its limited A.I., the fake William takes everything literally and has no initiative. And yes, many people notice. A program is created to make him a little smarter, but he starts to grow beyond his programming, to the point of acting like a real person. No problem, right? Well… this isn’t a real person, so yes, it’s a problem. It’s unfortunate that the show doesn’t explore this in greater depth; it would be a fascinating science-fiction tale.

Then, the student journal reporters interrogate the clone and learn the entire story. Looking for more, they discover the factory and the supercomputer, just as the real William, still mind-controlled and evil, returns to wreak havoc. It’s an episode with a great story, even if I do wish more was done with the idea of a smarter William clone. It also features the Lyoko-Warriors breaking another Supercomputer by translating their Lyoko avatars into the real world, which was a really cool idea, even if admittedly it takes a backseat here.

9. #37: “Common Interest”

Ah, the age-old trope: Science-fiction writers
think uranium can do anything.

Throughout Season 2, XANA attempts to escape from the factory’s Supercomputer, which would make it much harder to defeat. However, in order to achieve such a thing, it has to survive; hence why it ties Aelita’s being to Lyoko. As a result, both feel the effects of any damages done to Lyoko or the Supercomputer. When one of the quantic computer’s uranium batteries begins to fail, Aelita gets fainting spells while XANA feels its power wane. Something out of its control threatens its victory. It thus makes a surprising truce with the Lyoko-Warriors in order to swap the failing battery with a functional one. Say what you want, it has a sense of self-preservation.

This aligns with other actions it took before, such as forming another truce with the heroes in “Marabounta” (Episode #36), in which a creation of Jérémie threatens XANA, with Aelita caught in the crossfire. It’s fascinating to see how XANA thinks; it’s always a step ahead, but it also isn’t above requesting help if it needs to (especially if it has some bargaining chips). Also note how, in the Season 3 episode “Sabotage” (#61), once freed from the main Supercomputer’s shackles, XANA isn’t above breaking its physical core in order to prevent the heroes from fighting him.

8. #93: “Down To Earth”

"How's my new steed?"

I feel like I’d be missing something if I didn’t discuss one of the final episodes. My choice landed on this one. Bringing William Dunbar back from XANA’s control is an important element of Season 4, alongside destroying Lyoko replicas around the World Wide Web to put an end to all of XANA’s plans. By this point, it’s been revealed that the show’s villain has infected several hundred computers around the world, thus making the team’s original strategy of destroying one Supercomputer at a time futile. However, they do have a plan to bring William back. And it’s about time they act, too, as William’s real parents have shown up at Kadic and can tell that the clone isn’t their son.

Better hope it's the real deal, they were fooled
twice before.

I like this episode as a conclusion of the William arc, but also because it’s where a lot of elements came together: The Colossus on Lyoko, the army of robots (which, while I still think is kind of lame for XANA’s final plan, still turns out to be effective against Odd and Aelita), and of course, the multi-agent program created by Jérémie with a bit of help from Franz Hopper. They do rescue William, but it comes with heavy losses, all of which pave the way to the true final confrontation.

7. #25: “Code: EARTH” + #26: “False Start”

The moment everything changed.
Continuity-heavy serials tend to have one of
those moments. Or, in this show's case, many.

Is it cheating to count two episodes in one entry? The show seldom had two-parters, aside from "XANA Awakens" and the Season 1 “finale”, split in two episodes. Imagine being a kid in 2004/05 watching this show with, let’s say, some rather elastic continuity (the episodes had little to connect them to each other aside from the quest of bringing Aelita into the real world). And then, the show reveals it’s actually going to keep its promise. We’re not gonna wait, like, 5 seasons to see Aelita in the real world? Nope, Season 1 Finale it is. In an era where most cartoons still had a “monster of the week” format, this was a breath of fresh air. Shows with continuity did exist, but they weren’t as common or popular as they are nowadays. It made the entire series a lot more interesting.

The previous 25 episodes were worth it.

The plot of this two-parter is great as well: While picking up the required disks for Aelita’s devirtualization program, Jérémie is harmed accidentally by Jim, the gym teacher. Apologetic and now jobless, Jim chooses to help them with their goal of bringing Aelita to Earth. "False Start" sees Aelita’s first steps at Kadic alongside Jérémie, Odd, Yumi and Ulrich, with Jim living temporarily in the factory. However, XANA takes control of the devirtualization program and sends its monsters into the real world… With how long it’s been and all that came after, we tend to forget just how impactful that season finale was. It forever changed the series’ status quo, something that would happen with Code Lyoko’s other season finales (+ a handful of other episodes).

6. #82: “Distant Memory”

This all looks a little too perfect...

I’ve barely mentioned Franz Hopper so far on this list, even though he’s central to the myth arc, being Lyoko’s creator and Aelita’s father. He has appeared on-screen only a handful of times. And on two of those occasions, he was a fake version created to trick/trap the heroes. In “Distant Memory”, XANA picks into what it knows of Aelita’s memories to recreate the winter cabin she remembers and lures her in with a fake of her father. Since Aelita had been left alone at Kadic due to the others celebrating the Holidays with their respective families, she jumps headfirst into the trap. And credit to XANA, the plan would have worked, had it not been for small lapses in knowledge that clued its victim in. It’s once again up to the rest of the heroes to rescue their friend.

Can't say I like the resolution, but I love
all that leads up to this.

This episode is also quite notable in that this is the closest XANA ever comes to victory; the only reason it fails is that the actual Franz Hopper, now a nondescript ball of light on Lyoko, rescues his daughter in the nick of time. Deus ex machina aside, the episode is fantastic all throughout, and reveals that the show’s villain has become incredibly good at mimicking human behavior, to the point of fooling even those who combat it. And as you can imagine, we’re not done talking about Hopper…

5. #59: “The Secret”

Not pictured: The XANA eyes on Aelita.

As stated earlier in this article, the crux of Season 3 is about forcing the heroes to realize they need help. This is the last William entry here. After growing aware of their machinations (and being rejected by Yumi for the umpteenth time), William learns the group’s secret. The factory, the virtual world, their enemy… All of it. They realize they have to team up with him this one time. XANA’s plan is simple yet effective: Take control of a demolition expert and set charges to blow up the factory. Charges that will remain active even if the tower on Lyoko is deactivated. Brilliant. The fight on Lyoko isn't any easier, either, as the villain's plan involves taking control of Aelita through its creature, the Scyphozoa, since she can delete Lyoko territories and it can't otherwise.

Yumi was right, William wasn't to be trusted...
But not for the reasons she thought.

Meanwhile, at the factory, William points out that the guy was a demolition worker, and thus he helps the others in finding the detonator and stopping it before the factory explodes on them. In spite of his best efforts, he is not accepted into the team, due to Yumi voting against it (but William believes that Ulrich’s to blame on that front). I think this is the best William-centric episode in the series; it’s smart, has some great moments, and helps to further the point that Season 3 wanted to make. Of course, at the time, I doubt anyone could’ve guessed how thing were actually going to go…

4. #19: “Frontier”

It's unfortunate that the show barely did any
of that 2D-CGI mix like we have here.
Then again, could they have?

In the first season, episodes that focused on the myth arc weren’t common, so they stood out a lot more. Frontier is one of these. After getting into an argument with Aelita, Jérémie tries to go to Lyoko to apologize in person. However, something screws up during the virtualization process and he winds up trapped in limbo between the real and virtual worlds. In order to rescue him, Aelita needs to gather the necessary data. Meanwhile, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi are like sitting ducks against a potential XANA attack, since the only member of the group who can use the Supercomputer is out of commission (and at risk of disappearing forever). Jérémie is rescued in the nick of time (as per usual in Season 1) and has a short moment where he almost reaches Aelita through this bizarre limbo. One of the most powerful emotional moments of the season. It also tempted fans with the prospect of seeing Jérémie’s form on Lyoko… which we never do, and we’re told it’s better that way. The show would rather not talk about it.

"Jérémie really ought to teach us how to do
this on our own."
"No worries, we just have to wait 54 episodes!"

3. #49: “Franz Hopper”

That's some dark glasses there.
Makes it easy to hide some XANA eyes.

Ah, there he is again! In this episode taking place near the end of Season 2, XANA hides behind the guise of Franz Hopper. Using the argument of appeal to authority, XANA rallies Odd, Ulrich and Yumi to his side, turning them against Jérémie by claiming that the virtualization process is causing cellular deterioration in Yumi. And this, on the preteen genius’ birthday! The fake Franz Hopper appears very professional, human and fatherly – one of XANA’s nigh-perfect attempts at mimicking human behavior, to the point that the only element that gave it away was a slip of the tongue, mentioning something that it would know, but that the actual Franz Hopper wouldn’t. And when Jérémie arrives to confront the fake researcher, the rest of the group is already in danger’s way on Lyoko, made defenseless against the mooks! It’s only quick thinking and some sweet trickery that allows the team to beat the villainous program this time. This episode shows how far XANA has come to understanding the human psyche, and how dangerous it can be when utilizing that knowledge. It’s also a great episode on the “slice of life” side of things, with the drama around Yumi’s so-called affliction.

Three boxing rounds against the Rampant!
It's Punch-out time!

2. #30: “A Great Day”

Oh right, there was also that friggin' thing from
Season 2 onwards. A sign that XANA had
grown very powerful.

I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved “Groundhog Day” plots. I saw “Happy Death Day” recently and loved it and- I’m straying from the point. This may be one of the best twists on the idea. XANA gets its grubby AI mitts on the Return to the Past feature of the Supercomputer, and it becomes a race against time to deactivate the tower on Lyoko before it resets the day again. But, why would it do such a thing? The revelation is shocking: Every Return to the Past increases XANA’s power. This episode sets two things in motion: The heroes have to use the Return to the Past less often from now on, lest they want to fight against an enemy constantly improving. And two, the evil program has at that point grown powerful enough to take direct control of human beings. This episode changed the status quo forever, and it’s not even a season finale. It’s also a great story on its own, between the XANA attack and the Kadic School side of the story, in which Sissi tries to blackmail the Lyoko-Warriors with an audio file she recorded of Jérémie and Aelita talking about the latter’s (then) mysterious origins.

Noticed how this is the only mention of Sissi
on the entire list? Gee, it's almost like I think
she's an annoyance or something.

1. #24: “Ghost Channel”

Which one is the real Jérémie?

It was a tough choice between this and “A Great Day”. I ultimately went for this one because I think it’s the most interesting story the show got to tell. After fending off a XANA attack and launching a Return to the Past, Jérémie notices that Yumi, Ulrich and Odd haven’t returned. Meanwhile, they’re in class somewhere else with a strangely antagonistic Jérémie. The nerdy kid gets in trouble with the school over the disappearance of his friends, while the rest, in the other version of Kadic, are noticing bizarre glitches in the matrix. It turns out that they’re still on Lyoko, in a bubble that replicates Kadic School and its surroundings.

Looks like this Matrix needs a quick reboot.

Listening to his courage and proving that he’s a true Lyoko-Warrior, Jérémie goes into a scanner and gets himself virtualized, and this, in spite of what happened the previous time (see my entry about "Frontier"). The mere concept of “virtual bubbles” is fascinating, yet only used twice in the show. I love the creepy feel of the false Kadic, with random things repeating movement patterns (the aforementioned “glitches”). I really think it uses the full extent of the universe’s elements (or at least what existed at that point, in season 1), to create the most interesting story possible. It’s also in a fantastic spot in the season, right before the season finale. And, oh yeah, that evil Jérémie is frightening as Heck! This episode deserves its #1 spot.

This is it, this is my list. Hope you enjoyed! I should return to my regular programming very soon.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Hey, didn’t I say I was gonna review some games off of the Ubisoft UPlay platform? I did, didn’t I? Yeah, I’ve been putting it off and delaying it, in no small part due to the recent reveals about Ubisoft’s toxic workplace environments. I don’t know if they’ve improved in that regard; all I know is that every now and then, they give away free games. I’ll admit there’s a bit of shame in getting free games from a company that’s turned out to be so awful.

It's kind of crazy actually how often Ubisoft will give
games away. At every single event.

My way of looking at it: I got those games for free. Not a single cent went into the pockets of the people in charge at Ubi. But does that make it okay to play the games, then? Again: If free, I think it may be alright. The company has revealed a truly crappy side of itself, but not every Ubisoft employee is awful. Some of them, mostly women and POC, were victims of that crappy system. I like to think that by playing the games I got for free, I give credit to the people who worked on the game (developers, artists and so on) while the big pockets at the top of the chain got nothing. You’re free to tell me that I’m wrong, if that’s what you think. I admit it’s not a flawless point of view, either, as some instances of abuse towards women and minorities in Ubisoft’s studios were likely done between devs, artists, etc. It’s a tough topic to navigate. Which is why the serious talk ends now.

No, seriously... is there an actual running theme
to that series of games? I wonder.

So, there’s that Ubisoft series called Far Cry, which I know very little about. I know it’s open world games focused on characters in dire situations, but I have no idea what the running theme of the series is since the games are all so different. Far Cry 3, as far as I know, is about a guy stuck on an island and hunted down. Today’s game bears the name, but is really at a… heh… “far cry” from the usual trends of the series. It’s sort of an expansion from the main game; it reuses the maps and some assets, but is otherwise an adventure entirely separate and can be played as such. No need to have any knowledge of Far Cry 3 (though I’ve read it helps to know the controls to that one in order to play).

It’s also balls-to-the-wall insane, an affectionate parody of cyberpunk films from the 1980s. It’s got enough unchecked testosterone to make even the most macho of men feel inadequate, and enough cheesy one-liners and puns to provoke a reaction from the lactose intolerant. And it’s unapologetic about all of it.