Lilo & Stitch

Ever found yourself unexpectedly moved by an animated film from your childhood? That's exactly what happened to Anthony as he rediscovered the profound themes woven through Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" during a recent rewatch. Joined by Dakota, we don't just debate the correct way to say 'Stitch'—we plunge into the heart of the film's message on family and belonging. Lilo & Stitch, affectionately termed 'ohana', echoes the powerful narrative of the movie, reminding us that family isn't always defined by blood, but by the bonds we forge.

As we meander through the quirky world of aliens and Elvis tunes, Dakota and Anthony reflect on how "Lilo & Stitch" diverges from typical Disney fare. The movie's merchandise dominance and the upcoming live-action adaptation pose intriguing conversations—will the original's unique charm survive the transition? We dissect the emotional rollercoaster of Lilo and Nani's story, laughing and tearing up in equal measure. And of course, Anthony couldn't resist sharing his latest gaming obsession, "Tower of Fantasy," comparing its gacha elements to "Genshin Impact" and musing on its "Neon Genesis Evangelion" crossover event.

Rounding out our chat, we delve into the broader conversation about how the post-9/11 landscape prompted changes in the entertainment industry, citing specific alterations to "Lilo & Stitch" that showcase Disney's sensitivity to a grieving nation. The discussion extends to the responsibility of filmmakers in shaping content that mirrors societal shifts. By the episode's end, whether you're a Disney enthusiast or a gamer at heart, you'll find a harmonious blend of nostalgia, insight, and laughter with a dash of critique for modern adaptations. Join us, won't you, for a stroll down memory lane with a contemporary lens?

Twitter handles:
Project Geekology: https://twitter.com/pgeekology
Anthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseyswow
Dakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dak

Instagram:
https://instagram.com/projectgeekology?igshid=1v0sits7ipq9y

Geekritique (Dakota):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbA
The Complete MONSTERVERSE Timeline and History - GODZILLA x KONG Recap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BamyXL7Z_n0

Twitch (Anthony):
https://www.twitch.tv/odysseywow

Music:
Eric Godlow Beats: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRpkcYps82PdSo0tK5rEIPA

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to another episode of Project Geekology. This is episode 76 and we are going to be covering Lilo and Stitch, or is that Lilo and Stitch? I am one half of your host, anthony, and joining me, as always, is Dakota.

Speaker 2: 0:18

I would personally pronounce it Lilo and Stitch, but I have heard it pronounced Lilo and Stitch by people in the know, so I don't know. I guess it's up to you guys.

Speaker 1: 0:27

Right, it's a. It's a very small niche group of people who go by that pronunciation but a very vocal, very vocal group, uh, very vocal group a loud minority.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Yeah, I'm excited to talk about Lilo and Stitch because, you know, ohana means podcast and podcast means everyone's got to listen. So I'm excited. I'm excited to like dive into what I think is one of the best Disney animated movies. Whenever I rewatch this, I'm just like, wow, this is a really strong film, really strong film, and I'm just excited to discuss about all the different times within the movie that I just broke down in tears because it's also extremely sad. Like as a kid, I didn't think this was a sad movie at all, but like as an adult, I can just feel the the pain of all the characters and just like a much more pronounced way, before we get ahead of ourselves, we have to, you know, go through the motions of the podcast. Anthony, what have you been up to the, you know, this past week?

Speaker 1: 1:31

You know, man, I've got a lot of persona to talk about. Oh God, how did I know? How did I? Know no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, just kidding. Um well, it was, you know, kind of nice being able to hop back and and watch lilo and stitch. I haven't seen it as a kid, so I I went and I did that last night and what you?

Speaker 2: 1:59

you haven't seen it as a kid, or you haven't seen it since you were no I haven't seen it since I was okay, okay it's been a long time.

Speaker 1: 2:05

Yeah, it's one of those movies that it's. You know it's like it's a good movie, but it's not something that you go to all the time, or at least I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah but but yeah, that that was a nice little watch and well, okay. So I have hopped onto this game. I don't know if you've ever played it before. It's a little bit in in your wheelhouse Cause it's a gotcha game, but you do. I know you like your gotchas. Have you ever played the game tower of fantasy?

Speaker 2: 2:36

No, no, I haven't. I haven't even heard of it.

Speaker 1: 2:38

So it's kind of like a Genshin impact type game, but it's made by a different company and I had started it like it's been out for a while now. I started it a little bit ago when it first came out, but I really just never pressed or I never really like stuck with it. So what got me into playing it this time around is that they have a crossover with neon genesis.

Speaker 2: 3:02

Evangelion, oh, your latest obsession, so naturally.

Speaker 1: 3:09

Well, like I guess my latest re-obsession, because, like I mean, I used to, just I used to really really like it, like years ago.

Speaker 2: 3:17

Okay, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:18

Yeah, I mean not that I don't, but not that I stopped liking it. But you know, it was just something that.

Speaker 2: 3:23

Everybody goes through waves of things that they're into Right.

Speaker 1: 3:29

I just call.

Speaker 2: 3:29

whatever my focus is within whatever fandom I'm pursuing. That's my latest obsession, because I've been into the Monsterverse before, but now I'm very deeply into the Monsterverse again and that's my latest obsession, but I'm I'm getting ready to dive into my next big, big obsession. So, anyway, go ahead nice.

Speaker 1: 3:51

So, yeah, I finally got to the part in tower of fantasy where I could actually play some. There's like a like they have like a little like storyline that it includes the Genesis Evangelion. It's really interesting because, you know, there's like a part. You get to a part where the city the city that you're that is kind of central to this section of the game it is being under, it's under attack by something. They don't know what it is, and so there's like large beam gets like blown into this city. It's called, um, I think, mirror maria, yeah, maria, or something like that. So you go outside and it's like a. It's this ginormous angel. That's the name of the, the enemies and neogenesis evangelion.

Speaker 1: 4:42

They're called angels, but they're like these, like the enemies in Neon Genesis Evangelion. They're called angels, but they're like these like not robots. They're not robots, they're. They are these like organic beings, but they have these like fields that they put up. But you know, I digress, but it's really cool because you you get separated with some of your people and, like, while you're trying to locate one of them, you have this like massive battle that's going on in the background and you see Shinji and Evil One fighting this angel Dude. It's insane. It's like, oh my gosh, You're running to find this person, you're fighting things along the way, but you have these massive beings in the background just duking it out. It's insane, it's awesome, but it's pretty cool. Yeah, I enjoy it so wait, is it?

Speaker 2: 5:26

is it actually? Is it like genshin impact? So the gameplay style, or is it more gotcha? What, what, what is? What do you think?

Speaker 1: 5:35

I would say it's very, very similar to genshin, okay, you know, but again, genshin and this game, I mean they're, they're very strong in the gacha yeah they have strong gacha elements, for sure. They have strong, strong gacha elements, and this game is no different, except Genshin Impact is more it kind of feels more fantasy, whereas Tower of Fantasy is more kind of sci-fi-ish man. They got their names mixed up. They really did. Genshin impact would actually probably have been a better name for tower of fantasy.

Speaker 1: 6:13

Yeah, yeah, but um, but no, it's. It's cool like being able to go and and mess with that and and kind of. You know I I sometimes I get into gacha games, but I don't really get too deep into them. I had played genshin impact for a little while, but then I fell out of it. I might hop back on it is.

Speaker 2: 6:34

Is genshin impact still a thing like is? Is there still a you know an audience for it?

Speaker 1: 6:40

oh, absolutely yeah, absolutely yeah. And the actors, they still make their rounds.

Speaker 2: 6:46

Oh sick. Okay, Maybe I'll get back into that. I've only played it on mobile Do you recommend playing it on because I know it's like on PlayStation and stuff.

Speaker 1: 6:54

It might be a better experience for you, because mobile is usually limited when it comes to graphical power, and you could play it on PS5, which runs at like a pretty high frame rate so, okay, maybe I'll give it a shot again. So it might be better and I and I think you should be able to.

Speaker 2: 7:12

I'm pretty sure that there's cross play between what you had on mobile and ps5, so whatever progress you made on mobile, you'll be able to honestly, it's been so long it's been literal years I have no idea what the story is or who the characters I own are, so I might as well just restart, but yeah it has been a little while maybe not as long as you, but for it's been a while for me but yeah, no, that's, that's definitely something that that's a little interesting.

Speaker 1: 7:41

I mean it's, it was interesting, you know, kind of hopping on and and playing that have you watched anything else besides uh, lilo and stitch, basically?

Speaker 2: 7:50

or you just been playing games recently well, I've been.

Speaker 1: 7:54

I've been pushing through one piece, I'm on on, I'm on like another one piece, kick, I'll watch like a whole bunch of One Piece and then, like, I'll take a break to watch other anime, nice, so right now, yeah, I'm closing in on 200 episodes now.

Speaker 2: 8:11

Only got what 900 more to go.

Speaker 1: 8:14

Yeah, because I think there are like 1100 now yeah, yeah, I think before when I started, they hadn't cracked. They had cracked a thousand already. Yeah, but like I don't think that they had reached the 100 mark yet.

Speaker 2: 8:31

But now, that's, that's recent I think, but yeah, yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 8:35

I'm so I know, yeah, no, it's, it's been nice. And how about I know that? You said that you were thinking about hopping back on that.

Speaker 2: 8:43

Yeah, yeah, I'm excited to dive back into both the manga and the anime. I I just think it's such a a great universe, um, and everyone that I've like actually heard who's you know completed or at least caught up or is like mostly caught up with one piece will say that it's like one of the best fantasy series ever written. So I'm excited to, you know, actually experience that for myself. Yeah, what else have I been up to? I Godzilla Kong.

Speaker 1: 9:10

The New Empire came out yes, I have not gone to see that, but how was it?

Speaker 2: 9:16

I actually really liked it. Yeah, it's, I mean it's it's on the shorter end. I think it is the shortest of the MonsterVerse movies, like a little less than two hours, but uh, it's a very strong two hours, if that makes sense. The human elements are weak. I would say that's kind of the weakest bit of the movie.

Speaker 2: 9:34

But what they were capable of doing with the giant monsters and the lore surrounding them and creating this beef between characters we've just met and characters we've known long, you know for a long time. I think they captured something really cool with godzilla calling the new empire. I think they really were able to maximize their budget for the story that they wanted to tell, because it's it's a smaller budget for like a blockbuster movie. I think they clocked in at 135 million for the cost of the, the production. That's not including any of the promotional stuff. Obviously, like they, they spent a lot on promotion. I'm pretty sure they more than doubled whatever they cost in production. But what they were able to do with like maximizing like production costs, was that they pretty much made a whole movie about CGI monsters.

Speaker 2: 10:28

When you see Godzilla or Kong Skull Island, there are long portions where the monsters aren't on screen, godzilla doesn't show up until an hour into the first movie. It's not like that in this at all. It's literally like it starts with a monster battle, it ends with a monster battle. So there's a lot of screen time for just big monsters in general, and that's kind of what you come for. You want to see monsters explode each other. So as a monster fan, as a Titan fan fan, um, and a monster verse fan, I'm I'm a happy camper. Yeah, I've seen it twice now.

Speaker 1: 11:11

Actually, I really liked it and so so you watched it, for not only yourself, but for me pretty much. Yeah, so I'll tell, I'll give you all of my notes.

Speaker 2: 11:21

Uh, I also read the novelization. I'm gonna give you all my notes about that and send it your way. Yeah, no, I recommend it. I had a really fun time with it.

Speaker 1: 11:29

Yeah, I'll probably go and see it this weekend then.

Speaker 2: 11:31

That's good. Yeah, I mean, don't expect the best movie you've ever seen, but expect to have a fun time.

Speaker 1: 11:36

No, if I want to go see that, then I'll go see Godzilla minus one again.

Speaker 2: 11:41

Yeah, or Dune part two. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1: 11:44

Oh yeah. Well, I guess, as far as like a monster film, I'll go and see Godzilla minus one again.

Speaker 2: 11:51

Yes, yes. What's what's great about covering Lilo and Stitch this week is that we get to continue discussing monsters. It's, you know, except Stitch is a very small monster, you know he's a, he's a. Know he's a, he's a. He's a genetically modified creature. Um, who's called a monster throughout the movie and I kept thinking, like man, we're gonna talk about another monster movie.

Speaker 1: 12:13

I mean he's called a monster and he was created by aliens that humans would consider them monsters too.

Speaker 2: 12:22

Essentially like it's monsters creating a monster yes, yeah, um, we'll get into that and more in just a couple minutes. Oh, have I done anything else? I don't think I've actually done anything else.

Speaker 1: 12:34

I've, uh, I've been working like a madman I know you've been catching up on stuff that you didn't have time to really like watch or or. Oh yeah, I've been watching some bad batch.

Speaker 2: 12:46

Um, I'm catching up on that. I'm still behind by like several weeks, but I'm excited to to jump back into the grind with that.

Speaker 1: 12:54

Um, I think as.

Speaker 2: 12:54

Of today they they just released the two part episode, or the two episodes, out today, so I'm sure there's something big that's happening this week that I'm just like not caught up with. But yeah, all right, I think that's it for me. You want to start talking about Lilo and Stitch?

Speaker 1: 13:10

Yes, my favorite, lilo and Stitch. It's really interesting that you decided to to talk about. You know that you decided to want to talk about it because you you're the one that suggested it, because this is that movie that you know, stitch is a very I feel like stitch is a popular character, but that the the film itself isn't talked about a lot.

Speaker 2: 13:35

I mean, that's, that's just me yeah, I mean you go to the. I mean I'm sure you've gone to the disney parks plenty of times throughout your life. Stitch merchandise is everywhere. You know, like in every store you're gonna find stitch pins, stitch plushies, the. The reason I actually like we were, you know, brainstorming what we were gonna cover this week, last week, and the reason I even came up with lilo and stitch was because I looked over at my bookshelf and there's like a plush of stitch on the shelf there. That's. That's how I came to that conclusion and I'm just like wait, wait, we can, we can discuss, we can discuss lilo and steech.

Speaker 1: 14:12

Um, so I'm just gonna go with that.

Speaker 2: 14:14

I'm just gonna go with lilo and steech for the rest of the podcast just to annoy that that one person who's listening, um, uh, but, but yeah, he's. He as a character is everywhere within kind of disney iconography these days and he himself is a merch powerhouse. So it's kind of crazy that the film that he is based on isn't talked about all that often, but I think it will soon enough, because uh, disney is doing uh, a live action lilo and stitch movie oh, that's right, that's right so we shall see how well that you know is is translated to, to the, I guess, live action screen.

Speaker 1: 14:55

But yeah, we'll talk about that another day yeah, they've got, they've got some some shoes to fill as far as that, because I mean, when you do look back it, it is, it is a really good film and I feel like the reason why it probably isn't talked about is that I it, to me it's not, it's not a typical disney movie. It's different, it's a lot different. Yes, they this. That movie was definitely an experiment and I mean it paid off because it a lot of people enjoy it. But, yeah, it's like one of those ones that it's kind of like in hindsight, but not something that that's talked about a lot like. You know, maybe a lot of the disney princess movies are ones that are usually, you know, kept in the forefront yeah, it it out in 2002, which was after that period of Disney's Renaissance.

Speaker 2: 15:49

You know, like the 90s leading up to maybe like 97 ish was kind of like the golden age for Disney. Movies, like from like Little Mermaid in the 80s to maybe just before Hercules would probably be like their huge renaissance period. And then Lilo and Stitch came a couple years after, and not that it fell through the cracks, because I'm pretty sure it did well, for you know, whatever they were gearing up for, uh, you know, box office wise. But yeah, like you said, it's not classic disney, it doesn't have that memorabilit, memorabil, memorability is, I'm saying the word, right, but you're not gonna see. You're not gonna see, uh, you know, lilo and stitch in like a disney firework show. You know, like you will for moana or frozen or little mermaid, you're not gonna see that. And I think the big reason is that it's not a musical. There's no musical elements, although there is music in it. You know you have Elvis. There's a couple of Elvis songs that play throughout the movie and that's actually like Right, yeah, elvis is like pretty.

Speaker 2: 17:01

Pretty heavily prevalent in this movie.

Speaker 1: 17:04

That's the soundtrack.

Speaker 2: 17:07

It's Elvis pretty, pretty heavily prevalent in this movie, like that's the soundtrack. It's elvis, yes, uh, which is. Which is fun? It definitely has. It gives the the film a vibe for sure, um, and then you have.

Speaker 1: 17:13

I forgot about that. I was like, oh my gosh, I forgot there's so much elvis in this movie and there's a.

Speaker 2: 17:18

There's two uh songs or songs sung by hawaiians. There's one that's uh, the hawaiian roller coaster ride uh, which I. I love that song hawaiian. Hawaiian roller coaster ride base. Whenever I'm like driving into disney world, that's the song I put on as I go underneath the gate. It's just, it's just like the perfect vibe. Um yeah, it's not a, it's not musical, so I I think that that kind of hurts. It's memorable. But why can't I say memorable, memorability, am I? Happens man why can't I say it?

Speaker 1: 17:52

I don't know. I have the same problem too and I'm like dude, what's wrong with me, what is wrong with me? But anyway, yeah, it's it's a.

Speaker 2: 17:58

It's an extremely good movie. Let's, let's start from the top in terms of, like, who the characters are, because there's not a lot of characters, but the characters are all, uh, quite memorable in their own little right, I guess right, you start with uh lilo and steege lilo and steege. Uh, let's talk about lilo first.

Speaker 1: 18:21

Actually, um, because, you know I'm gonna drive people, I'm gonna drive myself nuts.

Speaker 2: 18:26

Uh, lilo is. She's a misfit, you know it's. It's actually really difficult to watch the beginning of this movie, or this is difficult to watch a large portion of this movie, because of the predicaments that lilo and her sister, nani, are in, which is, you know, lilo is falling through the cracks of society and Nani is trying to keep her afloat, while also holding down the fort as an only mom, even though she's not even a mom. She's a. She's the sister.

Speaker 1: 19:02

Right, right, she, she's pretty much, she's taken on guardianship of of Lilo, which I don't remember. Do they even go over what happened with the parents? I don't know if that passed me by.

Speaker 2: 19:16

They briefly did. Lilo is showing Steech a picture of their family and she basically says that her parents took a drive in the rain and it's just kind of implied that they crashed and died.

Speaker 1: 19:33

Oh okay, that's right. Kind of implied that they crashed and died. Oh okay, yeah, okay, that's right. I remember that. Now that you mentioned it, I remember it. I don't know why that slipped my mind I.

Speaker 2: 19:42

I literally just watched this right before we record it, so it's it's fresh in my mind. I know you watched a day ago, but yeah, come on, act, get with it lilo and steech here. Let's, let's do this oh, is that?

Speaker 1: 19:53

I mean, my memory is is pretty much, you know, intact as far as this, because I, we are calling it lilo and steech. So yeah, I mean, of course I'm gonna remember some things, something quick like that lilo is just kind of getting into all sorts of trouble.

Speaker 2: 20:11

She's, she's a troubled child. She obviously has a lot of emotional baggage that she carries with her every day, even though she's also just a kid, trying to make friends, trying to fit in, but she marches to the beat of her own drum. Everything she does is very Lilo. That doesn't always work out for everyone around her. The the drama behind the scenes is that this guy cobra bubbles. He's, um, like a child protective.

Speaker 1: 20:45

Yeah I love his name so much cobra bubbles, mr bubblesbles. And it's just like this giant brawny guy and his last name is Bubbles. Yeah, cobra Bubbles Such an awesome name.

Speaker 2: 21:03

I also like that. He Cobra Bubbles. He introduces himself as Mr Bubbles and Lilo immediately notices that he has Cobra on his knuckles Just Cobra. It's a great name, but anyway, the the background of what's going on is that cobra bubbles comes to basically see if this kid is being taken care of properly and because lilo is who she is and nani is, you know, trying to keep everything together and also keep a job down and everything. You know she's struggling. She's clearly not like, not a full adult, she's probably like in her late teens at this point yeah, I think she's like 18 it seems that way.

Speaker 2: 21:46

Yeah, so she's new to the whole parenting thing. Because of everything, their, their broken family is just falling apart day after day, you know, and you know the functionality within the household is just going to crap, basically Like there's a whole bunch of safety hazards within the house that are worrisome. You know, like she can't hold the job down for X number of reasons and Cobra Bubbles basically gives her three days to fix whatever's going on with Lilo. And you really do feel for Lilo because you know everyone's felt lonely, you know everyone's felt lost and everyone's been the misfit at some point or another, you know. So what's amazing is that it's like a believable animation, um, in the sense that, like, you don't question that this is a real thing, even though you know it's fake. You know it's, you know it's animated, you know these characters don't exist. The way that it's animated, the way that this character, lilo, is acting out, the way that she, um, kind of curls into her own self, is all very real. It's very human and I right, like deep down it's, it could happen.

Speaker 2: 22:57

Oh yeah, and it happens every day, you know, and it's right, right, right.

Speaker 1: 23:00

I mean, obviously some circumstances in the film aren't real, yes, but the whole child protective services and you know siblings taking care of their younger siblings and you know them being taken away like that, that stuff, yeah, it's very real and yeah, you, there there is. You know, we it's not something that you and I may personally have experienced, but it's something that you can. You can kind of like extend your heart out to you feel it. You know, you feel like, you understand that that it's uh, you understand that it's a tough situation and that you wouldn't want somebody that who is obviously, who has a good heart, and somebody who obviously cares about her sister would want you know that she should go through that.

Speaker 2: 23:48

You know you don't want that and then you have the other extreme, Steach Experiment 626. Somewhere deep in Galactic Alien Federation I don't even remember what the Galactic Federation was called, I just know that the words Galactic and Federation were in there there is an alien organization of many different species that are very, it's the Disney Covenant.

Speaker 2: 24:15

Yeah, basically like from halo they have, um, a whole bunch of different species, but they're they're very law-abiding individuals and that kind of governs everything that they do. So when one of their alien scientists kind of creates a genetic experiment, something that's illegal, uh they obviously throw him in prison and take stitch away to. I don't even know where they were taking him. I'm assuming they were taking him to some sort of uh prison or something. I I don't even know. I it kind of seemed that they were going to exterminate him, but then they didn't. So I really don't know what was going on there.

Speaker 1: 24:55

But stitch gets away well, I mean, he escapes. So yeah, we don't really know the end of that, you know?

Speaker 2: 25:02

yeah, we don't know what they were originally planning for stitch because, as a, you know, a genetic experiment, uh, an illegal genetic experiment. I know captain gantu, basically like he, he says that he it should be like eradicated or it should be like uh, destroyed on the spot. You know, like when, when stitch is first introduced to the film, but anyway, um, stitch, stitches, uh, he breaks free, he, he steals a police corvette, ship thing and travels to uh, a planet with a whole bunch of uh water around it. And I love, I love the scene where they they show that he's heading toward a planet full of water and they're like, oh, okay, he'll die, you know, because he can't, he can't swim. And then, as, as it zooms in on, like where he's going, it just shows this tiny little island chain in the middle of all this blue, and they're like you, you could see the face on on the grand councilwoman's face change from like acceptance that he's going to die to like total disbelief that he somehow managed to find land and all that ocean.

Speaker 1: 26:14

It's like you've got to be kidding me yeah how is that possible?

Speaker 2: 26:18

yes, exactly, and there's a whole bunch of that in this movie, and so basically they send jimbo jukiba. That was the, you know the the crazy scientist guy and pleakley right. Well, the creator of stitch yeah, because who knows who would know stitch better than the creator himself? So, and they also send pleakley to basically capture him. And I love this running commentary throughout the film that the reason they can't just blow up the planet or do anything like that is because, uh, mosquitoes were an endangered species.

Speaker 2: 26:50

Dude I wish they were an endangered species because of bubbles all because of bubbles oh my gosh, he saved the planet.

Speaker 1: 27:06

Yeah, I thought that was hilarious. I was like, oh my gosh, it's like all creatures that he could have picked to be an endangered species Mosquitoes.

Speaker 2: 27:16

Yeah, I have no idea. I love Pleakley's like excitement to like show everybody what the like whenever he talks about the mosquitoes or like life on Earth, he has to show them like that little it looks like a binocular with like images inside of it, that kind of like he can flip between he loves, he loves shoving that, yes that like what was it um? I know that has a name.

Speaker 1: 27:39

I just like a slide a scope or something or like, but I know it's like an old toy like you know, we had it when we were kids yeah, it's like the.

Speaker 1: 27:46

It had the slides. You, you click through the slides and yeah, it's like a little like binocular. Yeah, yeah, dude, I thought when he brought that out I died laughing. I was like a little like binocular. Yeah, yeah, dude, I thought when he brought that out I died laughing. I was like, oh my gosh, not him like really like getting excited over this thing Like a toss away toy that we all had.

Speaker 2: 28:07

On Earth in Hawaii, stitch. Basically, you know, after getting ran over by a couple trucks A couple, by the way you know popping at least a couple, by the way, uh, you know popping at least 16 tires along the way um, he's brought to an animal shelter which is where, like nani, she's trying to like get things right with lilo she. She brings her to the animal shelter.

Speaker 1: 28:29

Why don't you?

Speaker 2: 28:29

choose a you know a dog so that we can, uh, you know, try to like get some normality in our, our lives right, right.

Speaker 1: 28:37

Well, she knows that, like lilo feels lonely.

Speaker 2: 28:41

So you know it's like maybe a pet will help kind of alleviate some of that loneliness and and we know earlier in the film that she was kind of going crazy from loneliness like she she was late to her hula class yes, because she, she loved taking dude. The pictures that she would take is freaking hilarious and she's like I love them, you know they're beautiful yes, she would just go she'd just be on the beach taking pictures of fat people like specifically fat tourists, yeah fat tourists dude.

Speaker 1: 29:19

When I saw the picture on the wall, I started laughing. I was like dude, this is awesome. She's like they're beautiful. It's dude and it's so many on the wall and she like gives nani the she and she had, like her camera was full again, like yeah, no it hurt, dude, like back when we, when film was like really I know film still exists, but like when that's all we really had was film.

Speaker 2: 29:46

Yeah, getting pictures developed was fun. You know like it was. It was fun to go to the store and see what you got one hour photo yeah, basically, um. So what else she also like would take her sandwich to, to feed it, to like a like a peanut butter and jelly, to like her like that fish in the water, so like yes, she had like a whole explanation, like yeah, he controls the weather it's the weather.

Speaker 1: 30:13

It's the weathering with you fish.

Speaker 2: 30:17

It controls uh global warming so I think that's actually like why nani decided, uh, it might be a good idea to get a dog or like a normal pet, so that she isn't doing crazy stuff like that. It turns out that the dog that she gets is stitch, and all she does for the rest of the movie is crazy stuff, because because it's not a normal pain, not at all, not at all.

Speaker 1: 30:45

One that like, right off the bat, she's like I want to, because he like speaks to her how dude. I love, I love stitch's voice because it is very like like that, very like throaty, like guttural, yeah, like ohana, you know like it is fun.

Speaker 2: 31:04

Yeah, it's a fun, fun character. It's a voice. Yeah, I could have.

Speaker 1: 31:08

I couldn't. I'm mad. I can imagine that that was a fun film to make and I think it was what was that. That was disney's first for, and I think it was what was that. That was Disney's first foray into, like the Polynesian culture a little bit Right, but like it was like modern day, whereas Mohana is, like you know, a little bit more ancestral.

Speaker 2: 31:24

Yeah, let's talk a little bit about the Polynesian culture, because it's. It's kind of whenever I see Hollywood depicted in, or whenever I see Hawaii depicted in Hollywood, it's either Polynesian people and the Hawaiians, but because of tourism, because of the colonization, a lot of the typical Hawaiian traditions, like the hula, dancing, the tiki stuff, all that typical stuff, the luau's all of that Fire juggling, yeah, fire, yeah, fire juggling.

Speaker 2: 32:14

That's all done for tourism purposes now, which it makes me kind of sad when I think about. Like just that's just a culture that has been kind of abducted for abduct is probably a strong word, but it it has necessary, it has actually been appropriated to it to where most Americans only see and view Hawaiian culture as something touristy and something to enjoy as a show.

Speaker 1: 32:46

And it's sad in that respect. Their culture is, like you know, very much so, like you know how, like the Native Americans, they have their own. They have their own cultures, their own beliefs, their own, you know, their own ancestry, the things that they believe. You know, like there's a lot of that that, yeah, you're right, it is kind of, it is kind of, you know, washed out a little bit because of tourism. Tourism, and yeah it, I I do agree that it is sad in that kind of sense because, you know, with with you know, native americans, there might be some stuff that that, like they're, that you know they might have some touristy stuff that that people enjoy. I do feel like they are afforded to like have their own, like privacy, and that their stuff hasn't really been really been taken away from them in that kind of sense. I mean, I could be wrong.

Speaker 2: 33:37

You're not the expert, I understand.

Speaker 1: 33:39

But no, I see what you're saying. Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:41

I understand what you're saying and I kind of agree with you to a certain extent. But when it comes to Lilo or should I say Lilo and Stitch they do kind of comment on that a little bit, you know, like fake Hawaiian culture in, I guess, the 21st century I mean it was 2002, so I'm assuming this was around maybe like late 90s, early 2000s.

Speaker 1: 34:05

Anyway, right around the turn of the century In a timely manner. Yeah, I think it was about the time, yeah.

Speaker 2: 34:10

So, like contemporary Hawaiian culture versus tourism, uh, hawaiian culture, they kind of have that balance where, like you, have characters like nani and david who work at a luau for tourists. You know like they, they put on, you know costumes, um, and they perform as like, uh, I mean, david is a fire juggler, he spits fire, he's, uh, he's constantly getting on fire apparently, and nani, is, you know, a luau dancer and she is fired from the job because of something to do with stitch, but when she leaves she kind of quits and said I don't want to do this like fake or fakey hawaiian or fakey luau something.

Speaker 2: 34:56

Basically she was saying like it's not real, it's all, it's all right, a show, basically. And then the rest of the movie. You actually have what I'm presuming is a more typical, you know, modern day hawaiian vibe, I guess for for one of the smaller islands. So you know, they do have like their recreation, which was surfing. I don't know how many people in Hawaii actually do surf, but I assume that it is a pretty regular thing in Hawaii to do something like that. So that was it kind of contrasted, like what the fake Hawaiianaiian or like what the touristy hawaiian stuff is, versus what you know actually, what actual hawaiians do, um, on a regular basis nowadays. You know, and I thought that that was an interesting juxtaposition I don't think it was necessarily, uh, a critique of you know how, you know america has kind of touristified, uh, hawaiian culture, but it definitely existed within the movie right, right, no, no, there, there's definitely a lot being told in this film and it's it really.

Speaker 1: 36:04

Is, you know, like going back and and, like I said, watching it it was really, it was interesting because it's like man, like this is not something that seems like it's in a normal rotation. Even though you see stitch everywhere, you feel like lilo and stitch is not spoken about that much. So, something that I wanted to talk a little bit about, and it has something to do about the time that this film came out. Did you know that? So there, there was a couple scenes in this movie that were changed.

Speaker 1: 36:37

I don't know if you saw that yes, I, I know what you're talking about, but you can continue okay, I will be a dude, I will be a dutiful listener and let you express express what you need to express so something that I found very interesting about this movie was that there there were a couple scenes, but one very major scene that was changed in this film, and that scene is towards the end of the film. There's that whole. There's the spaceship chase that's going on where they're trying to save lilo because lilo. So lilo and stitch were taken, but stitch was able to escape, and so originally it was that stitch hijacked an airplane and that, you know, they were chasing down the, the other ship, and they took some damage, and that this plane was flying through a city yeah, you know like kind of yeah, honolulu, kind of like, you know, busting through buildings a little bit and stuff.

Speaker 1: 37:33

And well, this movie was being made around. You know it was in 20 2001. What happened in 2001? We had 9-11, yeah, so they changed that scene for you know. So the modern day, now it's a spaceship and they're kind of, you know, going through these mountains because of you know, it was very sensitive. It was very sensitive at the time. You know, you're not gonna have, obviously, disney's not gonna have a movie come out where there's a plane that's flying through a city, like I think that that change was very smart for them.

Speaker 2: 38:07

Oh, 100 because that would have been crazy.

Speaker 1: 38:10

Yeah, that would have been insane for that to come out, like the following year. Like hey, I know this happened, but we've been working on this film, you know, just yeah, we got a plane flying through a city it wasn't even a year later.

Speaker 2: 38:23

This came out in june 16th.

Speaker 1: 38:25

Yeah, yeah, so so like, just like, maybe it was a june, yeah, dude, like, but still it's not even a full year. Oh yeah, and still, you know, we're still feeling the sting of of what you know, what happened in 9-11, and so, yeah, no, dude, that would have been insane. Dude like, that's I, and like. They have the scene.

Speaker 2: 38:44

You can see the scene yeah, yeah, you can see if you look it up on youtube.

Speaker 1: 38:48

You can see the scene that they, that they replace it, and I'm actually glad that it was preserved enough to see, like, how much of it, how much changed yeah, because that could very easily be lost.

Speaker 2: 38:58

Media at this point, you know like right, right disney could have very easily just buried that and just said you know that never happened. Nope, nope, nope right, right.

Speaker 1: 39:07

But the thing is, is that honestly, like it? It wasn't. You know it wasn't in poor taste, because you know, I'm pretty sure that when they were working on a scene, 9-11 hadn't occurred.

Speaker 2: 39:18

So you know they were putting a whole bunch of work.

Speaker 1: 39:21

So obviously you know. So the fact that there was that much respect to change that scene to what it is and it still works, it still works very well. It's a very good movie. You know. It puts a point. It puts the point across anyway, like you get the gist of what's happening.

Speaker 2: 39:38

So I really do you know, what's interesting about that is that basically what. What ended up happening in the original movie was that captain gantu's ship, you know, takes, takes lilo and stitch and right then stitch, breaks out and and steals a 747 and that's why.

Speaker 2: 39:57

That's why when the ship comes like behind them or behind gantu ship, it's so much bigger because you have to like. You have to like kind of think, like jumba and plikli ship wouldn't normally be that big or they would have no reason for it to be that large because, like captain gantu is a big guy, he's bigger than both of those two characters combined. So why would they need such a huge ship? It's because they were trying to like mask over a 747 that they had animated.

Speaker 1: 40:27

Basically right, right. And then they like animated, uh, um, mountains over a city, but yeah, um. And then there's like another minor scene that was replaced and it was a scene where lilo she was, she's like, hiding in a cupboard and nani uh tricks her into coming out of the cupboard. Originally that was supposed to be a dryer and they changed it because they didn't want kids to replicate that yes, it's smart not to get in dry kids don't do it if we have any kids listening.

Speaker 2: 41:04

Don't don't eat tide pods.

Speaker 1: 41:06

Don't get in dryers you know, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. It sound. It may sound like it's fun, just don't, it's not a good time thank you for bringing that up.

Speaker 2: 41:15

I was I wasn't sure if I was going to necessarily bring that up just because it's not in the movie per se, but it is an important aspect it is it is. It's an important aspect of, like, the making of the movie and how it was ultimately received, because if that had come out in its original state, there would have been backlash.

Speaker 1: 41:33

Oh yeah, definitely, well, I think it was important because I mean it we wouldn't be doing our jobs as you know, project geecologists or geecologists if we did not bring up because it is a very significant change, that that ending is a very significant change and when I heard about it I was like wow, like it's so crazy, like the dynamic of the movie would have been so much different had it been the other way around and obviously it would have stuck. You know, had 9, 11 not happened.

Speaker 2: 42:02

But the fact that they were able to make that change and get it out the following year is it's definitely like a huge feat, because I'm pretty sure it took a lot of work oh, I'm sure yeah, and it's only for like maybe five minutes, but that's a lot of animation, you know. But when?

Speaker 1: 42:18

well, the original dude. There's so many buildings, I know they're kind of crashing through. Yeah, dude, it's.

Speaker 2: 42:22

Yeah, it must have been terrifying for the people working. I mean, it's 9-11 was just terrifying in general. But the people working on this film imagine, like your big final, you know climactic battle scene happens with a plane going through the like buildings in a city, and then you find out that 9-11 happens and like that, that sinking feeling they must have gotten the animators when they realized, oh crap, there's no way we can release what we've done.

Speaker 1: 42:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can imagine there's probably crap. There's no way we can release what we've done. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can imagine there's probably. Oh, there's no way that it's like we're gonna have to change this. That was we're gonna have to change this. Yeah, yeah, no. But like I said, man it the the change was almost like pretty much seamless. Yeah, and it worked out in the end it it didn't really it didn't impact the quality of the film.

Speaker 1: 43:13

So I would say almost seamless well, because well, you did say that the size discrepancy is kind of weird is a little weird, it is pretty massive. I'm like because, like he would.

Speaker 2: 43:25

It was captain gato would be the one flying that ship yeah, and then flying the other one and the fact that Jumba and Pleakley just hid that massive ship in some bushes is insane. That's just pure insanity.

Speaker 1: 43:41

They dug a hole in the ground. You know we have to suspend disbelief.

Speaker 2: 43:47

Dakota yeah, we have to. But when it comes to the switch from from a dryer, like a drying machine, to the cupboard, I noticed that one pretty significantly, like it just looks I need to. It's a different animation.

Speaker 1: 44:01

It looks like. It looks like a, a, like a door, yes, but then it's like a box. It's like a pizza. It's like a pizza box, yeah it's a really weird thing.

Speaker 2: 44:11

I'm sure they could have come up with something better, but whatever, I'm not going to complain. What I love about Lilo and Stitch, just as characters, is that they're both lost. They're both tremendously lost characters. They kind of parallel this with uh, stitch finding that book, uh, the ugly duckling, um of you know the, the, the small duck, crying that he's lost, and then the next panel has him happily with his family reunited and basically like this, this whole theme of ohana means family and nobody, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten. Yeah, is, it's extremely just. It's a super memorable and extremely profound for all of these characters that are involved in it, and the phrase touches each one, including Nani, in different ways, you know. And for Stitch, he has no belonging beyond destruction Right right.

Speaker 2: 45:11

And I think that he realizes that if he just goes by his base programming that Jumba gave him, he's not going to find any happiness beyond that initial thrill of destruction.

Speaker 2: 45:25

So when he finds Lilo, I think he realizes that Lilo is kind of in a similar position where she's lost as well, you know he realizes he realizes after a certain point that lilo and nani are in a very desperate situation, like a dire situation, where they're a they're a literal broken family, they're about to be broken up even more and he's to blame for, uh, a good portion of why lilo is being taken from from nani, and that that whole thing kind of coalesces into him, I guess, humbling himself to a point where he realizes that what he can find here with family is so much more important than what he was necessarily made for. I guess right right I just it's a.

Speaker 2: 46:12

It's a really cool notion, I guess yeah, I do.

Speaker 1: 46:16

I do like the the finance I. I do like the the family dynamic in this one, because it it shows that and you know there's a bunch of disney films that that'll display that. You know, having a family isn't always perfect. There's gonna be some ugliness, but there's definitely something you know different about this sister dynamic than you get with, like you know, anna and elsa right you know them two they're.

Speaker 1: 46:47

They're different people and you know, there there is a bit of a r there. But this dynamic is different, where it's an older sister that's taking care of a younger sister, and so this is a sister that's in a motherly role and she wants nothing but the best for her little sister, but her little sister is lost and that feeling of brokenness because of the, the home, and you know, unresolved feelings of, of the loss of of their parents, it, it is something that I feel like was, it was like an important story to tell as far as like a disney story, because it is a very true story.

Speaker 1: 47:28

While they add it, you know there's a whole crazy mix that is in it. But there is the story of found family that is incorporated in that, also with with stitch, and I love that that story is told. So I there is a lot of endearing and and just heartwarming moments in this film that really, like, like you said, they tug at your heart and it it's yeah, it's just, it's so good man, it's such a good movie, one of my favorite scenes just to like jump, jump around a little bit.

Speaker 2: 48:05

one of my favorite scenes is when lilo like comes in late to the the luau dance or luau lessons and she's all wet, so the whole stage is is dripping and her, her classmate myrtle, slips and what does she say to lilo? Basically, she like calls her a freak or something, and lilo doesn't even think she just resorts to straight violence. She just starts beating on this girl Like it's nothing and it's really funny to watch. But then when you get to learn like what Lilo is going through like on a much deeper level you realize that she's broken on the inside.

Speaker 2: 48:45

And she's not thinking, she's just retaliating like an animal backed into a corner. It's a really strong movie, man. I'm happy we covered this and whenever I watch it I'm I'm amazed at like you know, like you said, like this is a fictional story, but there's a lot of truth to it. You know, like there's. Everyone can see themselves in someone in this movie.

Speaker 2: 49:06

You know whether it's whether it's david trying to help uh, someone, david's clearly trying to help this family, you know, get its its stuff together. Then you have nani, who's personally trying to, you know, get their family in line, even though it seems like a losing battle. Then you have lilo, who is just, totally, uh, lost. You know she's alone, she has no friends. She's even like praying, like to to falling stars, to like send an angel, to like. You know there's that scene where, like she's, she's kind of praying, like please send me a friend.

Speaker 1: 49:42

You know just a single friend, that's all she wants your, your best angel, or something like that and it's right and and that, that, that that's actually an interesting scene, because that star that landed was Stitch.

Speaker 2: 49:57

Yes, so she got her angel, even though it wasn't necessarily the one that she necessarily asked for.

Speaker 1: 50:03

Absolutely chaotic. I mean honestly, the line between them was the fact that Stitch was not a human and Lilo was a human, but they were practically like the same being.

Speaker 2: 50:17

Yes, yeah, actually I like that you put it that way, because they're both in the same position, they're both lost individuals, they're both broken, wild, wild animals pushed into a corner, basically.

Speaker 1: 50:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 50:31

But I love the juxtaposition of uh, send me one of your best angels, and then the very next shot is is stitch, like coming out of the crater, like you know, like all crazy, and manic and looks like he's about to cause some serious evil, and then he like shoves a gun into a frog's face dude.

Speaker 1: 50:51

Yeah, I love that moment and just like the, the frog, just not phased by what's happening yeah, I love that and then he gets run over. It's that moment that he just gets run over by so many tower, by so many tires, oh man I like how it's resolved too.

Speaker 2: 51:09

let's, let's wrap this up a little bit. But I like how the movie is resolved, in the sense that in the beginning, when Stitch is introduced, he's given an opportunity to speak for himself, like within the Galactic Federation Council, whatever, and he just curses everyone out. And it's kind of a funny scene because it's a fake curse. But if you look at the characters in the background, you see like a robot, like vomiting up bolts and stuff, like it's. It's really, it's really fun.

Speaker 1: 51:38

They're like oh my gosh, yeah, and like he speaks that same language like throughout the movie and you don't know what he's saying, but like everybody else, well, everybody else, all the like alien characters, like know what he's saying and they're like oh my gosh, don't speak to me like that. Yeah, I didn't teach him that.

Speaker 2: 51:58

And by the end he is very polite as the councilwoman is escorting him onto the ship and he's like, can I say goodbye? And she goes, yes, and he goes, thank you. And you know, that's when he has that moment with lilo and and nani and that's that is kind of the the turning point for the, the councilwoman wanting to imprison him because he's now changed from just a vicious demon little offspring thing to something who is polite, caring and wants to be loved.

Speaker 1: 52:35

You know, and I think, I think that that's a cool way, it's a really cool arc for the movie to take yeah, yeah, yeah that there's this, uh, it's, it's like a growth moment for those characters too, because it's like, you know, here's this creature, and you know, a creature that we didn't even think could learn to be civil or anything other than what it was designed to be, is showing that it could be so much more I also really liked cobra bubbles as a character.

Speaker 2: 53:08

Um, you know, he he's kind of an antagonist for a good portion of the movie, because you don't want him to come back and see all the mess that stitch and lilo are causing, or the fact that nani's out of a job. But whenever he shows up it's like oh, this is the worst time for you to be here yes, he would always show up at like the most inopportune times but he genuinely cared for lilo yes, and that's, that's kind of where I stand like.

Speaker 1: 53:36

I like him as a character because he wants what's best for the child right, right, like these child protective service individuals, whenever I see them on screen they're always like very kind of like cold, or they're, like you know, callous and don't seem to really care too much about the individual outside of, like, maybe, the child, but even then they're not really like looking at the child, that they're just like okay, this person doesn't seem like they know how to take care of a kid. I'm just gonna take them, you know, whatever all will and nilly, but like he, you know, is obviously doing it and he, he wants to look out for lilo, but he's also trying to give nani the benefit of the doubt, like you know, I'm gonna let you try to get yourself together. You know he does, he kind of doesn't want to take her away, but he gives her like five chances.

Speaker 2: 54:27

You know like yeah, he really does.

Speaker 1: 54:29

He does give her a lot, you know so he's, he's almost like a, an anti hero antagonist, like you know, but yeah, and then in the end, like he, he, just he ends up allowing them to stay together. And then you reveal that he knows about all of this because he's like former cia. Yeah, uh, it's a, it's a fantastic little twist yeah yeah, it's like former.

Speaker 2: 54:51

CIA. Yeah, it's a fantastic little twist yeah yeah, yeah, it's like 1973.

Speaker 1: 54:57

You had hair.

Speaker 2: 54:58

Whenever I watch this, it makes me want to go back and watch the Lilo and Stitch series. Dude.

Speaker 1: 55:06

I kind of wanted to Right, I was literally just thinking about that too because I remember that series and all these characters. I remember watching a handful and all these characters.

Speaker 2: 55:13

I mean, yeah, it was fun. I don't know if it's any good because I was a kid at the time, but I'm interested and I know it's all on Disney+ so maybe I'll give it a shot at some point. But thank you guys for listening to us here for our 76th episode of Project Ecology Lilo and Steech. Everybody, I I hope you enjoyed our coverage of, uh, this classic disney movie. Please let us know your thoughts on it. Do you? Do you like lilo and steech? Um, do you prefer to call it lilo and stitch, as it's more you know, as as like the normies call it?

Speaker 1: 55:50

uh, do you know? You know?

Speaker 2: 55:52

retweet if you want dakota to make a lilo and stitch timeline oh god, no, oh god um anyway, guys, we're gonna have thousands of retweets oh, no, guys, thanks so much for listening to us here. Uh, for our 76 episode. If you want to check us out on our socials, you can be. Uh, you can find us in the show notes down below. All of our links are there, um, not just for the podcast itself, but our individual socials as well. Please get in contact with us. We'd love to hear your thoughts and we'll talk to you on the next one. Bye guys, bye ohana.