Lilo & Stitch Franchise

**Lilo & Stitch** is an American Disney franchise that started in 2002 after the release of the first name. The franchise has seen three sequels, three television series, a short film, a number of video games, theme park attractions and various merchandise.

## Films

### Lilo & Stitch

The film was released on June 21, 2002. An extraterrestrial mad scientist named Dr. Jumba Jookiba is put on trial for illegally creating creatures to cause chaos and destruction. His latest experiment is Experiment 626; a little blue alien with four arms, two legs and antennae who is deceptively strong and indestructable. 626 is sentenced to exile, while Jumba himself is jailed. However, 626 escapes custody, steals a police cruiser ship and heads to the planet Earth. Jumba gets sent on a mission to retrieve his creation along with a partner on board, self-proclaimed Earth expert Agent Pleakley, who is forced to go along to keep an eye on him.

Masquerading as a dog, 626 is adopted by a little girl named Lilo Pelekai who is living with her 19-year-old sister Nani. Lilo is lonely and a bit of an outcast until she finds a new friend in 626 whom she names "Stitch".

### Stitch! The Movie

The film was released on August 26, 2003 as a direct-to-video sequel. Ex-Captain Gantu is hired by the evil Dr. Hämsterviel to retrieve the remaining 625 experiments. Meanwhile, on Earth, Stitch is still not fitting in but when trouble comes calling through the form of Experiment 221, he and Lilo must band together to stop his electrical rampage. Meanwhile, Gantu ends up with a new ally, Experiment 625 but is displeased by his lazy behaviour and love of sandwiches.

### Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch

The film was released on August 30, 2005 as a direct-to-video sequel. Set a time between the original film and Stitch! The Movie, Lilo and her classmates are preparing for a hula competition where the winner gets to perform at the local May Day festival. Each student is required to create an original dancer. While preparing for the competition, Stitch's past comes back to haunt him. It seems that after Stitch was created, Jumba did not get a chance to fully charge Stitch's molecules before they were both arrested. At first, this glitch causes Stitch to revert to his old destructive programming but it will ultimately destroy him if Jumba cannot create a charging pod before Stitch's energy runs out.

#### The Origin of Stitch

This was a short film which was included on the Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch DVD. It sees Stitch finding Jumba's secret computer and is scared to find out what a monster he is, only for Jumba to come and explain how he found family and love when he met Lilo. The other experiments are also hinted at.

### Leroy & Stitch

The film was released on June 23, 2006 as a direct-to-video sequel. After three years, their mission to capture all 624 experiments and repurpose them on Earth has been completed, so Lilo and her family are honoured as heroes by the Galactic Alliance. Despite originally turning down their new offered positions in order to stay with Lilo, Stitch and the crew separate to live out their ambitions. However, after Gantu frees Hämsterviel from his prison, they create a new experiment of their own, Leroy. Lilo and Stitch must reunite and unite every single experiment they have to fight Leroy and his army of duplicated clones.

## Television Series

### Lilo & Stitch: The Series

The series premiered on September 20, 2003. Continuing where Stitch! The Movie left off, Lilo and Stitch are given the task of collecting the rest of Jumba's missing experiments, changing them from bad to good and finding the one place where they truly belong. Meanwhile, the former Captain Gantu and his reluctant partner, Experiment 625, try to capture the experiments for the imprisoned Dr. Hämsterviel.

### Stitch Meets High School Musical

Stitch and a number of Lilo & Stitch characters play a friendly game of basketball and then dance to "We're All in This Together" from High School Musical. This anime short aired on Disney Channel Japan in 2007 and was later released internationally in 2008 on the High School Musical 2: Deluxe Dance Edition 2-disc DVD set.

### Stitch!

The series premiered on October 8, 2008. The anime series features a Japanese girl named Yuna Kamihara in place of Lilo and is set on a fictional island off the shore of Okinawa instead of Hawaii.

### Stitch & Ai

The series premiered on March 27, 2017. Taking place in China's Huangshan mountains and stars Stitch and a local girl named Wang Ai Ling.

## Cast and Characters

### Main

* Stitch/Experiment 626
* Lilo Pelekai
* Nani Pelekai
* Dr. Jumba Jookiba
* Agent Wendy Pleakley
* Captain Gantu
* Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel
* Reuben/Experiment 625
* Leroy/Experiment 629

### Minor

* David Kawena
* Mertle Edmonds
* Cobra Bubbles
* Grand Councilwoman
* Angel/Experiment 624
* Sparky/Experiment 221
* Gigi/Experiment 007
* Yuna Kamihara
* Wang Ai Ling

## Music

* Lilo & Stitch: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack
* Disney's Lilo & Stitch Island Favorites Featuring Songs from Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch
* Lilo & Stitch Hawaiian Album
* Stitch!: Original Soundtrack

## Comics

### Comic Zone: Lilo & Stitch

From 2002 to 2005, Disney Adventures released a number of comic strips tie-ins to the franchise. These include prequel comics set before the original film (which include the first appearance of later major character Experiment 625/Reuben, who has a teal colouration in these comics), additional comics set around the time of the film, comics set during the events of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and two comics set around the time of Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. On March 7, 2006, Disney Press released a compilation of the Lilo & Stitch comic strips as Comic Zone, Volume 1: Disney's Lilo & Stitch, the first of four volumes compiling various strips that featured in the "Comic Zone" section of Disney Adventures.

### Stitch & the Samurai

Stitch & the Samurai, known in Japan as Tono & Stitch, is a manga written and illustrated by Hiroto Wada that was first digitally published on Kodansha's website Comic Days from January 13 to December 28, 2020. It takes place in an alternate universe where Stitch crash lands in Japan during the Sengoku period and gets taken in by a warlord named Yomata Meison, who finds the "blue tanuki" to be cute. In November 2020, it was announced that an official English translation of the first compiled volume was announced to be will be published by Tokyopop on May 11, 2012, although it was published earlier on April 27, 2021.

The manga's art style is a combination of hyper-realistically drawn humans and environments as featured in other historical manga with the cartoonish design of Stitch and related characters and elements maintained from past franchise entries, with short animations added on some panels. Aside from taking place in Earth's past instead of the modern day, the mange also deviates from past franchise entries by having Stitch's human companion to be an adult male rather than a young girl.

## Video Games

### Disney's Lilo & Stitch

This is a 2002 side-scrolling shoot 'em up platform video game based on the original film that was developed by Digital Eclipse for the Game Boy Advance.

### Disney's Lilo & Stitch: Trouble in Paradise

This is a platform video game developed by Blitz Games for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows that was released on June 24, 2002.

### Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626

This is a platform game for the PlayStation 2 on June 19, 2002 and serves as a prequel to the original film Lilo & Stitch, although it was retconned from the franchise's chronology by Lilo & Stitch: Stitch Has a Glitch.

### Lilo & Stitch: Hawaiian Adventure

This is a video game developed by Gorilla Systems Corporation and published by Disney Interactive on June 22, 2002 consisting of various mini-games, similar to Disney's Activity Center series.

### Lilo & Stitch Pinball

This is a pinball video game developed by Buzz Monkey Software and published by Disney Interactive for Microsoft Windows. It was released on October 8, 2002.

### Lilo & Stitch 2: Hämsterviel Havoc

This is an action-platform game developed by Climax Studios and published by Disney Interactive Studios for Game Boy Advance on October 12, 2004. It is the sole tie-in game for Lilo & Stitch: The Series and a standalone sequel to the Lilo & Stitch game released on the same platform in 2002.

### Disney Stitch Jam

This is a rhythm video game developed by Cattle Call and published by Disney Interactive Studios. It is the first video game based on the Stitch! anime series and was released in Japan on December 3, 2009, in North America on March 23, 2010 and in Europe on March 26, 2010.

### Motto! Stitch! DS: Rhythm de Rakugaki Daisakusen

This is a rhythm video game and a sequel of Disney Stitch Jam. It was developed by Cattle Call and published by Disney Interactive Studios. It was released in Japan on November 18, 2010 but was not released in North America or Europe.

### Other Appearances

The franchise's settings and characters have appeared in a number of video games.

* Disney Move
* Kingdom Hearts II
* Kingdom Hearts III
* Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
* Disney Magical World
* Disney Friends
* Disney Universe
* Kinect: Disneyland Adventures
* Disney Infinity
* Disney Infinity: 2.0 Edition
* Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes
* Disney Magical World
* Disney Magical World 2
* Disney Crossy Road
* Disney Emoji Blitz
* Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
* Disney Magic Kingdoms

## Theme Park Attractions

Various Lilo & Stitch-themed attractions have opened in Disney theme parks.

### Stitch's Great Escape!

This was a "theatre in the round" show that opened on November 16, 2004 in Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort as a replacement for the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. It last operated on January 6, 2018 and was confirmed by Disney officials to be closed on July 16, 2020.

### Stitch's Supersonic Celebration

This was a short-lived stage show that ran from May 6, 2009 to June 27, 2009 at Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort.

### Stitch Encounter

This is an interactive show similar to Turtle Talk with Crush that opened in 2006 at Hong Kong Disneyland at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. Other versions of the attraction opened at Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris (as Stitch Live!) in 2008, Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort in 2015, and Shanghai Disneyland at Shanghai Disney Resort in 2016. The original version in Hong Kong closed in 2016 and no versions of this attraction have ever opened at either American Disney resort.

### The Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents Aloha e Komo Mai!

This is a "theatre in the round" Audio-Animatronics show that opened in 2008 in Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort and is the fourth incarnation of The Enchanted Tiki Room.