Sample (episode)

"Sample" is the thirty-fourth episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series. It aired on January 11, 2004.
==Plot==
Pleakley gathers the day's mail at the Pelekai house. Jumba, Stitch, and Lilo gather around while Pleakley doles out the envelopes. There's one addressed to Stitch; a reminder from the animal shelter for Stitch to get his shots. Stitch runs away, and Lilo gives chase. Stitch climbs onto the rooftop dome to get away from Lilo, refusing to get the shots. Lilo promises that he can have coconut cake and coffee for breakfast as long as they go to the shelter afterwards, and Stitch agrees. Meanwhile, Pleakley reads through the mail, and stumbles across a flyer for an upcoming alien convention. He is excited about the possibility of meeting other aliens.
Later, on a golf course, a pair of golfers drive their cart across the green, looking for where their ball went. One of the men sees a white experiment pod and hits it into a water hazard. The experiment inside activates and takes in his surroundings. A bird squawks next to him and, using his speaker-like ears, he repeats the noise a few times. A nearby frog croaks, and the experiment repeats that sound, making a rhythm from the noises. He dances around to his beat, but the golfers get annoyed and cover their ears.
On Gantu's ship, Gantu is meditating while listening to a motivational CD. He is interrupted by the computer's experiment activation alert. It says the experiment's function is to annoy the populace by sampling and repeating sounds in an endless rhythm. Inspired by the CD, Gantu tells 625 to not let him back into the ship unless he has successfully captured Experiment 258.
Out in town, the experiment is running amok, taking in all the new sounds it hears, and adding them to its rhythm. People run away from the noise. Gantu is following closely behind, repeating phrases from his CD. But before he can grab the experiment, a dogcatcher scoops up 258 and takes him to the animal shelter. The shelter's manager, Susan, looks at the "weird dog", and calls a number on her recently acquired Alien Convention flyer.
A bit later, two young men, Merwin and Dean, enter the shelter, and ask to see the creature. They tell Susan that they are alien hunters, and are preparing to go to the upcoming convention by dressing as aliens and holding prop weapons. The pair get a good look at 258. Merwin is excited and declares they will bring the experiment to the convention and show it to everyone. Dean is doubtful, since they tried the same thing last year with an ostrich. Merwin says this year will be different, because the creature before them is clearly an alien. 
At that same time, Lilo is dragging Stitch into the shelter, assuring him that he will be okay inside. The alien hunters see Stitch, realize he is an alien as well, and make a grab for him. Stitch fends off Dean, then takes the experiment away from Merwin. He and Lilo escape with 258, and the hunters chase them. Lilo tells 258 to be quiet so they aren't followed, but 258 can't stop sampling. Nearby, Gantu is alerted to the noise, and heads towards it. The hunters follow the sound as well, but Lilo and Stitch hide amongst some tiki statues. The hunters pause by the tikis and comment on them, but press onward. 258 adds those words to his rhythm, and alerts the hunters again. But, Gantu arrives to the scene as well. Merwin says they should forget about grabbing the experiments and take the much larger Gantu with them instead. Lilo, Stitch, and 258 escape while their backs are turned. Gantu tries to give chase, but notices the prop weapon Dean is holding. Apparently, it looks like the most feared plasma cannon in the galaxy. Gantu retreats back to his ship. He pounds on the hatch, yelling for 625 to let him inside. 625 pokes his head outside, and says that he is following Gantu's order from earlier: No matter how much he begs, do not let him inside the ship unless he has 258. Gantu has no other choice but to run somewhere else.
Meanwhile, Lilo and Stitch have returned home with the experiment. Jumba explains the experiment's function, and Lilo decides to name him Sample. Stitch quickly gets annoyed with Sample's rhythm, and throws him into a closet. Pleakley then comes downstairs, dressed in his old Galactic Federation uniform. He says he is heading off to the convention, but Jumba stops him. He says that an alien convention is sure to draw the attention of alien hunters and spies. Jumba quickly puts on a wig and goes with Pleakley to the convention. As soon as they leave the house, Gantu runs up to the porch and pounds on the door. Lilo goes to open it, and Gantu forces his way in, begging for a place to hide. Stitch sees Merwin and Dean approaching. Lilo makes Gantu promise that he won't take Sample once they help him hide. Lilo and Stitch shove Gantu into the same closet that Sample is in, but Sample starts his rhythm again. Merwin and Dean try breaking in through the window, so Lilo leads everyone towards a different window to escape the house. Lilo, Stitch, and Sample head out the window, but Gantu gets stuck. The alien hunters get into the house, and pull Gantu back in through the window. The rest of the group sees this, and Stitch wants to leave him. But, Lilo insists they help him, not wanting to break her promise. The group goes back inside, but Gantu captures them all in a net. Gantu has apparently struck a deal with Merwin and Dean: they show Stitch and Sample to the convention's patrons, then they give Sample to Gantu. Lilo is forced to come along as well.
Later, at the convention center, Pleakley and Jumba arrive. Jumba worries that Pleakley will stick out like a sore thumb. But, once they enter, they see dozens of people dressed as aliens and sci-fi characters. Jumba takes off his wig, and the pair take in the sights. Meanwhile, on the main expo stage, Merwin and Dean show Stitch and Sample to an event coordinator. The coordinator thinks the experiments look like koalas, and brings up the ostrich incident. Merwin insists they are real, and the coordinator agrees to give them a turn on stage, if only because it will be funny. While they discuss this, Stitch escapes his container, then frees Sample.
Jumba and Pleakley continue to explore the convention, mistaking cosplayers for old friends and talking to "space explorers." They come across a live band, Fox Roswell and the Tall Greys, but their music is horrible. The sight-seeing is interrupted by the event coordinator making an announcement: Merwin and Dean will (again) show real aliens to the convention. While Merwin makes his intro speech, Gantu goes to get the experiment containers. But, he notices that Stitch and Sample are on the ceiling, trying to get away. He tries grabbing at them, and the noise alerts Merwin, who peeks backstage. Merwin immediately signals for the curtains to open, revealing Gantu to everyone. Gantu whispers to Merwin that they had a deal. Merwin responds that since Gantu let the experiments escape, he will take their place in the showcase. Gantu tries to protest, but Dean points his "plasma cannon" at him again. Merwin and Dean insult Gantu and force him to dance for the crowd. Pleakley starts to panic, but Jumba calms him down by saying the cannon is a fake, and Merwin and Dean aren't really hunters. Pleakley still worries that the other humans know Gantu is an alien, but the people in the crowd think Gantu is a Samoan guy in a whale suit.
Lilo approaches Jumba and Pleakley and asks if they want to watch Fox Roswell's band again, adding that they added a new "rhythm section." The group goes to see the band, which now includes Sample, keeping the beat with his sounds.
==Trivia==
*Moral: Never make promises you can't keep because what goes around, comes around.
*Stitch is revealed to be scared of going to the vet due to having (a fear of needles). It is possible he got this after he was pricked by a syringe in the first film.
*When Lilo tries to persuade Stitch to get his shots at the vet, he is seen taking a shower to avoid going, despite his . This indicates that Stitch is more afraid of needles than water.
*Merwin and Dean are the first two humans to see through the aliens' disguises, the third being Victoria.
*When Susan Hegarty questioned them about dressing up as aliens, Dean revealed that their costumes were made by his mother out of her old trailer, while Merwin made a reference to E.T. as a cover-up.
*The ray gun that Dean carried was made out of toilet paper rolls and aluminum foil, which Gantu mistook for a real plasma-converting pulse cannon 9000 series (though at the alien convention, Jumba could tell that Dean's cannon was fake).
*This is one of the rare times Pleakley is seen wearing his military uniform from the original movie, the other times being in "Phantasmo" and "Fibber".
*When Gantu comes to the Pelekai residence to hide from the alien hunters, despite being too large, he is able to squeeze through the front door without damaging it, unlike in a previous episode.
*This episode shows how irresponsible Jumba and Pleakley are, as they left Lilo, Stitch, and Sample unsupervised, resulting in them getting captured by Gantu.
*This episode further reiterates the humans' blindness of the existence of aliens. While Pleakley voiced his concerns that their secret was out, one of the spectators remarked how fake Gantu was, which guaranteed the rest of the audience to not believe it as well.
*It is unknown how Gantu managed to get back to his ship, since he gave Reuben strict orders not to let him in until he caught Sample. Though it is possible that either Reuben relented or Gantu caught another experiment off-screen later on.
*Although Stitch never did get his shots, it is unknown if he actually caught a virus, according to Lilo.
**It is also skeptical if aliens and experiments can get sick, considering in "Poxy" that Pleakley got sick when he unknowingly ingested the titular experiment. Also, in "Ploot", Stitch got sick when he ingested trash.
***While both instances verify this, it is unknown if they can catch viruses through ordinary means or at least through foreign customs on Earth.
*This is the last Season 1 episode in production order.
===Experiments mentioned===
*Experiment 258: Sample
*Experiment 625: Reuben
Category:Lilo & Stitch episodes