Blooper: Manners (X-358)'s back spines are yellow when he bows to greet Lilo and Stitch, but they suddenly change to black when the scene changes to show him beside the door.
"Ace"
Creator's Favorite Episode: An interesting case; episode screenwriter John Wray commented on the Lilo & Stitch subreddit that he felt the original script of the episode (before it got replaced by the Clip Show version) was the best script of the seven episodes he wrote.note His other six episodes were "Yaarp", "Houdini" (with Brian Swenlin), "Drowsy" (with Thomas D. Hart), "Spike", "Skip", and the following episode segment after this one, "Glitch".
Distanced from Current Events: As detailed below, the entire second half was replaced with the final Clip Show version after the 2004 Indian Ocean Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami. Since the original version of the episode featured a staged tidal wave gone awry, Disney and the show's production staff agreed that the original ending would've been too insensitive to the victims of the tragedy and decided to cut it.
What Could Have Been: This episode wasn't originally planned to be a Clip Show, as storyboards drawn by Sahin Ersöz reveal additional scenes that were planned for a more substantial episode.note The link to Ersöz's personal website uses Adobe Flash, which is discontinued. If you want to view the storyboards, you need to either install the Flash Player emulator Ruffle as an extension for your browser or download extracted PNG images from the Internet Archive (which also has a copy of the slideshow viewer's SWF file).
Jumba would have shown Mortlegax around Kokaua Town of his experiments causing evil, staging an instance of Slushy freezing a crosswalk to cause pedestrians to fall over, only for Ace to save them and then demonstrates what appears to be fire breath, melting the ice (and the Ice Cream Tourists' cone). Mortlegax would have begun questioning if that's one of Jumba's experiments, but the Kweltikwan would have lied by claiming that Ace is just a crossing guard before rushing him off while Slushy shrugs in confusion over what just happened.
Lilo, Stitch, and some of the other experiments would have staged a scene at a secluded section of Lahui Beach, using dummies as victims of a couple experiments pretending to do evil, and Pleakley, Splodyhead, and Spike (X-319) also playing victims. Jumba would have taken Mortlegax to a nearby cliff overlooking the scene so that the head of E.G.O. wouldn't be able to see the illusion up close.
At the end of the staged scene, Kixx would have launched Cannonball into the Pacific using a slingshot (more specifically, a volleyball net) so the wave-making experiment would have generated a huge tidal wave hurtling towards Pleakley. Ace would overhear Pleakley's screaming, rush over to the beach, and start saving Pleakley and the dummies, forcing Stitch to capture Ace in a containment capsule. However, the dummies would all pile up on top of Pleakley after Ace's capture, putting him in actual danger. Although Mortlegax would have been pleased if Pleakley lost his life in the tidal wave, Jumba would decide to save his partner over keeping his membership. Mortlegax would have been appalled by Jumba's heroism, convincing him to revoke Jumba's membership.
The end of the episode was a little longer, as it would have included a moment where Jumba flicks a strawberry from the strawberry pie that would, in a Rube Goldberg-esque sequence, end with Pleakley getting a Pie in the Face and Ace cleaning the mess off his face. This explains Jumba's last line in the final produced episode, "Does [the] club allow almost reformed evil geniuses?"
Additionally, Gantu and Reuben's scene in the episode would have been slightly longer than the final version that aired, with 625 making an insult at Gantu's expense, and Gantu grabbing him in anger ready to beat him up only to drop him upon hearing the experiment pod container explaining the non-evil Experiment 262's activation. This would also explain Reuben's line at the end of the scene, "Uh... Oh yeah! I was saying how you looked like a fish," which would have led to Gantu beating 625 up off-screen thereafter.
reveal additional scenes that were planned for a more substantial episode.note 