Meet Stitch and his Family – What is Experiment 626?

Stitch Day Is Approaching – Explore Stitch’s Origins With The Entertainer

This month, we are celebrating one of Disney’s most beloved characters, the hilarious and incredibly naughty Stitch, from Lilo and Stitch. Look our for lots of fun Stitch-content, brand new Stitch products, and in-store Stitch-themed events and competitions!

In a secret location, deep in outer space, Dr Jumba Jookiba created a series of Experiments. His genetically engineered creatures were designed with one thing in mind – destruction. In his top-secret laboratory belonging to Galaxy Defense Industries (where ‘DNA’ stands for Do Not Ask!), the eccentric and villainous Dr Jumba sets about creating a creature with superhuman powers. His the ultimate aim is defeating the Galactic Alliance, headed up by The Grand Chancellor. In the first film, we meet the Grand Chancellor when she oversees Dr Jumba’s trial. It’s the chancellor that condemns Jookiba to galactic prison and exiles Stitch to a desert asteroid…

What Is Experiment 626?

Before the first film, Dr Jumba attempted to perfect his genetic engineering techniques by creating 625 ‘prototype’ creatures. If you are familiar with the sequels and the Stitch series, you’ll already know that each of those Experiments ended up with their own special powers, weaknesses and personalities. Although Stitch himself slowly becomes better behaved due to Lilo’s influence, many of his abilities were specifically designed by Jumba to make him as dangerous as possible.  We’ve taken an in-depth look at how and why Experiment 626 came to be…

The process begins by manipulating and combining genetic material from at least 6 different intergalactic creatures with the traits that he wanted to reproduce. Dr. Jumba also reused DNA from one experiment as a prototype for a different experiment, attempting to replicate body shape, appearance, and even superhuman powers in later creations.

Next, the Doctor incubated the DNA cocktail in a containment pod designed specifically to accelerate the growth process. Finally, Jumba charges the Experiment’s molecules in a Fusion Chamber to prevent seizures, glitches and odd behaviours when they run out of molecular charge. Since Stitch’s charging was interrupted intergalactic police officers burst into the lab and arrested Jumba, leaving 626 incomplete – which has serious repercussions in the sequel ‘Stitch Has A Glitch’

Stitch is created fully formed, resembling a blue dog or koala, his original form features four arms, two legs and a pair of retractable antennae. He can use his body to hide his extra limbs, and does so when he is being held at an animal shelter before Lilo adopts him, to give him a more dog like appearance.

Although the details of his process remains a secret, we know from the Experiments that are introduced across the films, shorts and TV series, that many of Dr Jumba Jookiba’s creations feature a wide variety of both silly and superhuman traits, from being able to make epic sandwiches (Reuban, Experiment 625) to creating their own electric energy (Sparky, Experiment 221)

What Happens When Stitch And The Other Experiments Leave The Lab?

Stitch is considered to be one of the first successful results for Jumba’s “ultimate monster” experiment, but the 625 experiments that came before him have their own powers and stories. It’s not until Lilo & Stitch the Tv Series (2003) that we find out what happened to many of the previous experiments. Stitch sees all of the Experiments before him as being his cousins, referring to them as “Ohana”, a term Lilo teaches him that means Family.

Without access to water, the Experiments dehydrate quite quickly and become orbs, called an ‘Experiment Pod’. They are stored in a container for transportation by Jumba and his business partner, but the container burst open and the orbs fall out all over the island –  the experiments within the pods are reactivated upon contact in water, so this is a big worry for the protagonists who don’t want 600+

The TV series follows Lilo and Stitch rounding up the lost Experiment’s and helping them find their true purpose, or One True Place – using their superhuman or special traits to bring happiness and joy to the people of the island people instead of the destruction they were originally created for!

Stitches Legacy

From being grown in a lab as a mixture of genetic material and villainous DNA, Stitch has been through an epic transformation, turning around his own and the other Experiments fortunes and helping them all to fight their destructive instincts to find their one true place in the world. Dr Jumba, who also goes through his own transformation from villain to reformed character throughout the course of the films and TV series, would never have guessed the outcome of his experimentation would actually bring more peace, joy and happiness to a faraway little planet called Earth. Whatever is next for Stitch and his ‘Ohana’, we know that both Lilo and his legions of fans will be by his side the whole time.

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