An experiment that can create massive tidal waves threatens to flood the Earth should he jump into the Pacific Ocean. As Lilo and Stitch try to prevent him from washing away the planet, she must also make a sand sculpture for a competition on Lahui Beach.
A blue pod with the number 520 on it gets knocked into a lake, and suddenly a massive wave forms draining all the water from the lake. In the middle of the now dried-up lake bed, a pink creature with a big butt happily bounces around and takes delight on seeing the Pacific Ocean. Just when Gantu was being yelled at by Dr. Hämsterviel as to why he haven't received any experiments recently, the Experiment Pod Container announces that Experiment 520 has been activated, so Hämsterviel demands the big whale-like alien to go after it.
Over at the hula halau, Moses informs the class of a sand-sculpting contest being held on Lahui Beach soon and they will be choosing a design for the school's entry. He decides that Mertle's idea of doing a sculpture of famed surfer Duke Kahanamoku
would be the best choice. Lilo, who just arrived after feeding Pudge the fish, tries to enter an "Aloha Tiki" design, but Mertle and her posse calls it "gross", and Moses reinforces that Mertle's design would be the best.
Lilo later returns home struggling to come up with a better design for a sand sculpture. David and Nani sees Lilo in her misery and the former decides to take her to the Birds of Paradise Hotel's swimming pool to cheer her up, even though Nani tells him that the pool is for hotel guests only. At the hotel, Lilo and Stitch notice Gantu hunting down a pink experiment with a big butt. The experiment jumps in the hotel pool, creating a huge wave that causes a mess around the pool deck. After Stitch forces Gantu away, the experiment takes a gander at the close-by ocean from on top a palm tree, so Stitch launches the experiment away before it gets a chance to jump in.
Our duo briefly visits Kiki's Coffee Hut, where Stitch determines where the experiment has landed before they head home. Nani is relieved that Lilo's safe when they arrive after the incident at the pool, but when Lilo says she and Stitch need her only working car to get the experiment, Nani denies them as she heads to the rental hut, which is seeing low business as of late. Jumba overhears Lilo mentioning the water-loving experiment and tells her that she is dealing with Experiment 520, who is designed to creating waves so massive an entire planet could be devastated. Lilo tells Jumba that she and Stitch need transportation to get to the experiment, so Jumba shows them that he has repaired and upgraded Nani's dune buggy to help them capture experiments. After Pleakley gives Lilo and Stitch a pineapple, our duo drive off to hunt down 520. Meanwhile, Gantu arrives back at his ship, where he has 625 free him from the life preservers that Stitch stuck him in earlier.
Lilo and Stitch find 520 heading towards Kokaua Town's water reservoir. Stitch manages to stop 520 in time before the town's water supply could be washed all over the town, but Gantu arrives and tries to take the experiment away. Stitch knocks Gantu into a nearby tree and the two fight over the experiment. Although it seems that Gantu has won and taken 520 with him back to his ship, Stitch reveals to Lilo that he got 520 and lets the experiment out of the capsule. (Gantu actually has Pleakley's pineapple, much to the big dummy's embarrassment when he shows it to Hämsterviel.) 520 is scared from all the fighting over him, but Lilo and Stitch convince the experiment that they're his friends, not Gantu. She then realizes that she and Stitch are supposed to be sand sculpting, so they rush over to Lahui Beach where the competition is taking place.
At the beach, Lilo tells Moses, who's judging the competition, that even though she may not know what "Aloha" truly means, she can help out others. However, he tells her that is exactly what "Aloha" is all about. Meanwhile, Gantu arrives to try to capture 520 again, so Stitch constructs a tall sand tower to protect his "cousin". Gantu attacks the tower, so 520 decides to jump in the ocean, creating a giant wave that only washes away Gantu. Lilo decides to name 520 "Cannonball", and Moses decides to give Lilo and Stitch's tower the blue ribbon instead of Mertle's Kahanamoku sculpture, as he believes that the duo's sculpture shows the most "Aloha" spirit. (The audience in- and out-of-universe are also shown that the tower also says "ALOHA" on it.)
Lilo decides that Cannonball's "one true place" should be making waves, but she wonders exactly where should he do so. Stitch then says "Nani!" as he knows her Rental Hut needs some business. As people rent boards over at the hut to enjoy Cannonball's awesome waves, Lilo wonders what happened to Gantu—and we are shown that he has washed up on the shores of San Francisco.
Experiments who were featured or were mentioned in this episode:
- Cannonball (X-520): This episode's Monster of the Week; a pink experiment with a large posterior who is designed to create devastating tidal waves.
- Reuben (X-625): He blasts Gantu out of Stitch's improvised bindings with a plasma blaster, but he needs to work on his aim. He also chuckles when Gantu shows Hämsterviel the pineapple he mistakenly got.
Tropes featured in this episode include:
- An Aesop: "Aloha" means to help others.
- Animation Bump: This is the best-animated episode of the show by far, with some nice details such as shading on the characters.
- Answer Cut:
- After Stitch shows Lilo that they have captured 520, she asks Stitch what Gantu took in his net. The scene then shifts at Gantu's ship to show he actually has the pineapple that Pleakley gave Lilo and Stitch for a snack.
- Lilo wonders what happened to Gantu after Cannonball's wave washed him away. Cue him ending up in San Francisco.note
- Bait-and-Switch: Pleakley does not allow Jumba to let Lilo go off "joyriding in an unlicensed, untested, and possibly radioactive vehicle... without a little snack!" He then gives her and Stitch a pineapple before they drive away.
- Body Wipe: Occurs when Kumu gets up to try to get the girls to settle down after Stitch growls at them for insulting and tearing Lilo's design, transitioning to the repaired drawing back at Lilo and Stitch's bedroom.
- Call-Back:
- Lilo arrives at the halau late again after feeding Pudge the fish.
- Stitch steals a number of items—a pair of red sunglasses, a red towel, a green bikini top, and a letter S from the PARADISE POOL sign—to become "Super Stitch" like he did during the ending montage of the original film.
- Lilo also takes pictures of tourists while he steals the things.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The pineapple Pleakley gave Lilo and Stitch. It first seems like it's just a pointless snack for them, but then Stitch tricks Gantu into thinking he's got 520 by putting the pineapple in Gantu's net, causing the big guy to believe he captured the experiment until he returns to his ship.
- Nani mentions that business is slow at the Rental Hut early on. After Lilo and Stitch tame Cannonball, Stitch decides to have the experiment create waves near her hut so that business will pick up again and she will be able to maintain her job.
- Didn't Think This Through: David notices that the hotel determines its guests using their pool by the color towels they have. However, he assumes the wrong color of the day, and he and Nani get caught for trespassing as a result.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Stitch charms an attractive human woman while he wears his superhero outfit, forcing Lilo to pull him away from the woman.
- Eat the Camera: Happens at the end of the second part of the episode when Cannonball bounces towards the reservoir with his mouth covering the camera.
- Expospeak Gag: At Kiki's Coffee Hut:Customer: I guess I'll try the Launch Velocity Over Molecular Weight Times Pi Latte. (Beat) Uh, low fat. (He and a customer sitting with him point to the "Today's Specials" board which Stitch used to calculate where Cannonball landed earlier.)
- Giant Wall of Watery Doom: True to his function, Cannonball makes a few of these in this episode.
- When his pod activates in a lake at the beginning of the episode, he uses all the water in the lake to make a wave, draining it of all its water and washing away a poor frog.
- He jumps in the Birds of Paradise Hotel's pool, also draining it of its water and washing out the deck around it.
- After Lilo and Stitch befriend him, he goes into the Pacific Ocean to wash Gantu—and only Gantu—away from him.
- Finally, there's his "one true place", which is less "doom" and more "awesome"; making choice waves for surfers at Lahui Beach.
- Noodle Incident: Lilo says that she once had a goldfish named Koko, who died before Stitch came around.
- Riddle for the Ages: How did Gantu get back to Hawaii by the next episode?
- Ocean Awe: Cannonball is naturally attracted to large bodies of water, and will try to dive into them. Lilo and Stitch spend the episode trying to stop him from reaching the Pacific.
- Series Continuity Error:
- Hula teacher Moses Puloki's surname was changed to Petuli for some reason in this episode when Lilo called him "Mr. Petuli". He still had his proper first name, however.
- The X-Buggy, Nani's buggy that's frequently used by Lilo and Stitch, is revealed to be newly redesigned by Jumba in this episode, even though it had already appeared in a few episodes beforehand (including the debut episode "Richter"). Even if one where to reorganize the episodes in what is believed to be the production order, it still has already appeared before in at least the first produced episode "Poxy".
- Shout-Out: Lilo believes that jellyfish produce jelly. Now that's not true in our world—and most likely not her's either—but in the world of Bikini Bottom...
- Stereo Fibbing: David and Nani are at a hotel pool to relax, which is against the rules since neither one is staying there. When Mr. Jameson comes over and asks their room number, they give two different numbers, and then combine them, essentially admitting the jig is up.Mr. Jameson: Hello, sir, ma'am. Are you guests here?
Nani: [Uh-]huh!
David: Oh, yeah!
Mr. Jameson: Er... What's your room number?
(Nani and David briefly look at each other, then look back at Jameson.)
Nani: Two fifty-seven!
David (at the same time as Nani): Three nineteen.
(Nani and David look at each other again, then look at Jameson again.)
David: Uh... Two fifty-seven.
Nani: (at the same time as David) Three nineteen. (Beat) Two fifty-seven! (She and David smile awkwardly.)
Mr. Jameson: Uh-hmm. Well, we don't have a room number three hundred nineteen thousand, two hundred and fifty-seven, and besides, today is red towel day not blue!
David: (awkwardly chuckles, then turns to Nani who glares at him) Busted. - This Is Gonna Suck: Gantu says "Oh, blitznak," when Cannonball's ocean wave comes right at him.
- Tim Taylor Technology: Jumba upgrades the Pelekais' stove to improve its cooking ability, presumably by increasing its power as it explodes while Pleakley cooks some meatloaf, burning the food and damaging the appliance's insides. Jumba likes the crunchy burned meal and Pleakley sort of agrees despite not tasting it, though the humans and Stitch don't.
- Treebuchet: When Cannonball sits on top of a palm tree near the hotel, eyeing the Pacific Ocean, Stitch pulls the palm tree down and flicks Cannonball away "like a booger". However, Lilo points out that they have to find where the experiment ended up, so they head to Kiki's Coffee Hut where Stitch calculates where Cannonball landed.
- Universal Driver's License: Discussed when, after being denied having access to Nani's car, Lilo mentions that Stitch could drive, but Nani points out that he doesn't have a license. Stitch rebuts by showing his dog license, which doesn't convince Nani anyway.
