Cannonball (episode)

"Cannonball" is the seventh episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series. It aired on October 13, 2003.
==Plot==
A little bird notices an experiment pod in its nest. It flings it out, and the pod lands in a nearby lake. When the experiment activates, it causes the water to form a massive wave that washes over the nearby area. The experiment hops away on his large bottom, making his way towards the beach.
Meanwhile, at the hula halau, Moses is telling his students about the sand-sculpting contest taking place at the beach. The theme of the sculpture must represent what "aloha" means. He looks over the girls' hand-drawn designs and ultimately chooses Mertle's: a likeness of Duke Kahanamoku. Lilo arrives late and tries submitting her sculpture idea, but its macabre details disgust Mertle and her hula friends. She tears up Lilo's drawing. In retaliation, Stitch terrorizes them.
Later at the house, Lilo and Stitch try coming up with new sculpture ideas, but they are interrupted by an explosion in the kitchen. Jumba made some "improvements" to the stove, and cooked Pleakley's meatloaf into a solid brick. Lilo talks to Jumba and Pleakley about the sand-sculpting contest. Jumba tells her that the classic sandcastle is a good design, but he and Pleakley admit that Duke Kahanamoku is a better design. This depresses Lilo. At that moment, Nani and David arrive. David says he has an idea of how to cheer up Lilo. He brings her, Nani, and Stitch to the Birds of Paradise Hotel to sneak into the guests-only pool.
At the pool, Lilo and Stitch go on a photo safari, while Nani and David get busted for sneaking in. Lilo then notices that Gantu is at the pool. He is chasing the experiment, who makes his way to the diving board. He jumps in, and causes the water in the pool to swell into a giant wave. Everyone runs away as well as they can, but the water washes away the pool chairs and a few people. After the water recedes, Stitch traps Gantu inside of a few life preservers and sends him rolling away. The experiment gets closer to the beach, stopping for a moment to land on top of a palm tree. Stitch quickly pulls the fronds of the tree, then releases, sending the experiment flying into the forest beyond. Stitch uses complex math to find out where the experiment landed, and he and Lilo head home to find faster transportation.
Lilo tells Nani they need to borrow her car to catch the experiment, but she refuses, and heads off to work. Jumba asks about the experiment that is loose, and Lilo describes it. Jumba tells her that Experiment 520 turns any body of water into a tidal wave. He adds that if it gets to the ocean, it will cause a tsunami that will destroy the world. To help them find the experiment faster, Jumba unveils his new X-Buggy, made from Nani's old dune buggy. Pleakley insists that the pair at least being some food with them on their mission and gives them a whole pineapple. 
Lilo and Stitch search through the forest for 520, and see him heading towards the Waita Reservoir. Before he can destroy nearby buildings with the reservoir's water, Stitch harpoons him with a plunger gun and pulls him away. But, Gantu arrives and stomps Stitch into the dirt. He picks up the scared 520 but Stitch recovers, then bats Gantu away with the X-Buggy. Stitch follows Gantu and 520 into the trees, and they scuffle. Eventually, Stitch falls out of the tree, seemingly unconscious. Gantu takes his full sack and leaves. But, Stitch promptly gets up, and gets 520 down from the tree. Gantu presents the contents of his sack to Hämsterviel, revealing it to be the pineapple from earlier.
520 is very afraid of Lilo and Stitch. But, Lilo calms him down by explaining that she and Stitch are friends, and greeting him with an "aloha". This reminds her of the sand sculpting contest, which she is officially late for. Lilo, Stitch, and 520 make their way to the beach. Mertle and her friends are working on their sculpture, but scream and panic at 520. Moses tells them to calm down and get back to their sculpture, then thanks Lilo for coming to help, declaring that this is what "aloha" is about. But, the festivities are interrupted by Gantu stomping his way towards Stitch and 520. Stitch quickly builds a large sandcastle, and takes Lilo and 520 to the top out of Gantu's reach. Gantu tries knocking it down. 520 jumps down from the tower and towards the ocean, to Lilo and Stitch's dismay. But, when 520 hits the water, the wave he produces is just big enough to wash Gantu out to sea, but leave the rest of the beach intact. Grateful, Lilo gives 520 his new name: Cannonball. Moses arrives and presents Lilo's sandcastle with the first place ribbon, saying that she and her friends showed a lot of "aloha" that day.
Lilo decides that Cannonball's one true place is at the beach, making waves for all the surfers to surf in. As for Gantu, he finds himself washed up on the shores of San Francisco, California.
==Gallery==
==Goofs==
*Lilo called the hula teacher "Mr. Petuli" in this episode, though she did later refer to him by his actual first name, Moses.
*The net that Gantu uses for Cannonball appears to have no air holes.
==Trivia==
*Moral: "Aloha" means to help others.
*Unlike most episodes of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, the characters in this episode are given shading, hence giving an almost three-dimensional quality. Most episodes have the characters drawn with flat colors.
*It is likely that this episode is chronologically the first episode of the series.
*Lilo rushing to hula school from the beach in only her swimsuit after feeding Pudge in this episode could possibly be a nod to the prologue of the original movie, where Lilo rushes to hula school from the beach after feeding Pudge with peanut butter sandwiches during the "He Mele No Lilo" song sequence.
**Oddly enough, neither Moses nor Mertle and the hula girls noticed that Lilo went to hula school straight from the beach in only her swimsuit at the beginning of the episode.
**Pudge was mentioned by Lilo in this episode.
*We learn in this episode that both David and Lilo had frequently snuck into the Birds of Paradise Hotel swimming pool numerous times, and all the hotel guests there receive complimentary blue towels.
*Stitch is seen wearing his superhero costume that consists of all stolen items: a pair of red sunglasses, a red towel, a green bikini top, and a letter S (from the PARADISE POOL sign).
*When Gantu notices Cannonball passing by, he remarks, "Just follow the bouncing abomination." This is a reference to the seen in sing-along videos in which viewers follow an animated ball that bounces across the top of the lyrics, landing on each syllable when it is to be sung.
*Lilo revealed that she had a pet goldfish named Koko who died.
*One of the locations seen in the episode (that Cannonball almost jumps into) is the Waita Reservoir, a real-life water reservoir located in the south of Kaua‘i. It is Hawaii's second-largest body of fresh water in surface area, with only on being larger.
*During their battle to reclaim Cannonball, Stitch hits Gantu with Nani's X-Buggy, a callback to the first film.
*When Lilo and Stitch take Cannonball to the sand-sculpting competition, his stomach becomes Finder's size. Whether or not it was a goof is unknown.
*This is the only episode in the series where Nani is seen in her iconic blue-and-green striped bikini from the original movie. She wore it twice in this episode: first at the Birds of Paradise Hotel pool, and later at the beach near the end of the episode.
*This episode marks the first appearance of Charles and Mary; they only made a brief cameo when Gantu trampled past them to recapture Cannonball.
*In "Felix", Cannonball was seen ruining the beach with his tsunami-sized waves, implying that he was incompletely rehabilitated.
===Experiments mentioned===
*Experiment 520: Cannonball
*Experiment 625: Reuben
==International premieres==
*October 22, 2003 (United Kingdom)
Category:Lilo & Stitch episodes