| “ | 9-year-old Gretel and her pet hamster, "Hamster", are given superpowers by aliens. Their mission? To defeat an array of eclectic villains while not blowing their cover! | ” |
— Disney+ description for Hamster & Gretel | ||
Hamster & Gretel is an American animated musical superhero buddy comedy series created by Dan Povenmire. It is also 94th animated series produced by Disney Television Animation. The series premiered on Disney Channel on August 12, 2022.[1]
The series focuses on the 9-year old Gretel, her pet hamster named Hamster, and her 16-year old brother Kevin, who were visited one day by mysterious aliens that have granted Hamster and Gretel superpowers to use them for good, but seemingly skipped over Kevin. With their newfound superpowers, Hamster and Gretel's duty is to protect the city from a variety of unique supervillains and other dangerous situations without getting their covers blown, while Kevin, being the protective older brother, helps them from the sidelines while trying to figure out why he was skipped over by the aliens.
Overview[]
Set in the same universe as Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law (but in a different city within the Tri-State Area), Hamster & Gretel centers around the eponymous duo, a little girl named Gretel Grant-Gomez and her pet hamster named Hamster, as well as Gretel's big brother, Kevin Grant-Gomez. As the former two have been bestowed with superpowers (whereas the latter one was skipped over), the three do their best to protect their city from a wide selection of peculiar supervillains, with Hamster and Gretel facing the dangers upfront while Kevin aids from the sidelines. The three also have decided to keep Hamster and Gretel's superhero alter egos a secret from their family and acquaintances, with the only person knowing about the secret since the early beginnings being Kevin and Gretel's cousin, Fred Grant (although over time, more of their friends and family appear to learn about it as well).
While there is an ongoing plot in the background, Hamster & Gretel is a mostly episodic TV series, with a fair amount of episodes typically centering around Hamster and Gretel facing a villain-of-the-week, common for superhero and magical girl TV series. Most of these villains are one-offs, but some have appeared in multiple episodes. Often, such an episode have the pint-sized superheroes try to figure out how to defeat and apprehend their current adversary, and sometimes needing some help from Kevin and/or Fred to find the solution. The series does not follow a strict formula, so episodes may center around other characters or have Hamster and Gretel face different dangers.
Like with Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law, Hamster & Gretel has its episodes structured in two 11-minute segments, includes a selection of running gags, commonly features songs, and may occasionally break the fourth wall. One episode also reveals that the first season is being set in the summer, although it's currently unknown if it takes place during the first four seasons of Phineas and Ferb (which are all set in one summer), or after the events of Milo Murphy's Law (which two seasons take place in the autumn and winter after the first four seasons of Phineas and Ferb).
Voice cast[]
Main cast[]
Supporting cast[]
- Joey King as Fred Grant
- Matt Jones as Dave Grant
- Carolina Ravassa as Carolina Grant-Gomez
- Priah Ferguson as Bailey Carter
- Romi Dames as Hiromi Tanaka
- Liza Koshy as Veronica Hill
Recurring cast[]
- Dee Bradley Baker as Churro
- Alyson Stoner as The Destructress
- Brock Powell as FistPuncher
- Phil LaMarr as Professor Exclamation
- Carlos Alazraqui as El Luchador
- Akintoye as Anthony
- Abby Espiritu as Naya
- Michael-Leon Wooley as Roman Carter
- Debra Wilson as Michelle Carter
- Keith Ferguson as Principal Funderberk
- Cree Summer as Ms. Weems
- Valerie Breiman as Inga
- Lauren Tom as Ms. Jamanpour
- Pamela Adlon as Nordle Exclamation
- Dan Povenmire as Male Alien and Clyde
- Joanna Hausmann as Female Alien
- Jeff "Swampy" Marsh as Andrew
Episodes[]
- Main article: List of Hamster & Gretel episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half-hours | Segments | Season premiere | Season finale | ||
| 1 | 30 | 58 | August 12, 2022 ("Empower Failure") |
December 9, 2023 ("Exclamation Strikes Back") | |
| 2 | 20 | TBA | September 14, 2024 ("Hakuna Ma Kevin") |
TBA (TBA) | |
Hamster & Gretel features 11-minute episode segments, with two segments per episode, just as with Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law. Usually, these segments are one single adventure, but sometimes they are only half of a bigger episode.
Season 1 contains thirty half-hour episodes, each featuring two segments, leading to sixty segments at most. When the series was initially greenlit on October 12, 2020, only twenty half-hour episodes were ordered (a standard season length for most Disney animated series), but on June 15, 2022, it was revealed that ten additional half-hour episodes had been ordered since.[2] Season 1, and the series as a whole, premiered on August 12, 2022 with the episodes "Empower Failure" and "Oakey Dokey".
Songs[]
- Main article: List of songs in Hamster & Gretel
Hamster & Gretel includes at least one song in nearly every episode segment, similar to previous shows co-created by Dan Povenmire. The songs tend to last from half a minute to little over a full minute, but can also be shorter or longer. Jingles and other short songs appear on occasion as well, not lasting longer than ten seconds.
Unlike in Phineas and Ferb or Milo Murphy's Law, most of these songs are actually credited in the credits segment, including its name and its writers, but not its performers.
Dan Povenmire does not have the usual team of songwriting collaborators on the staff of Hamster & Gretel as with Phineas and Ferb or Milo Murphy's Law; consequently, he has been collaborating with people he follows on TikTok to write songs for Hamster & Gretel.[3]
A soundtrack album featuring thirteen songs (including the theme song) has been digitally released on August 12, 2022, the same day the series premiered. The album lasts just under fifteen and a half minutes.
Running gags[]
- Main article: List of running gags in Hamster & Gretel
Hamster & Gretel has a collection of events and jokes that tend to occasionally recur throughout the series. This is similar in line to previous shows Dan Povenmire has co-created, which also feature running gags. In that regard, Hamster & Gretel may be most similar to Milo Murphy's Law, with both shows having recurring gags that aren't always in an episode, whereas Phineas and Ferb has gags that do appear in nearly every episode as per the series formula.
Currently, there are a couple of reoccurring gags in Hamster & Gretel:
- Gretel's attack: Gretel would shout a phrase going by the template "[noun] PUNCH" before attacking her opponent.
- Image scene transitions: A scene transition inspired by those of the 1966 Batman television series may play inbetween scenes. The image in those transistions differs nearly every time, commonly related to the previous or next scene.
- Action News report: A news report from field reporter Veronica Hill shows up, with occasional snark from Veronica.
- Imaginary floating heads: A floating head of another character may pop up next to a character to remind them of something they had said earlier in the episode, in comical fashion.
- Andrew and Clyde's chess game: Two seniors may occasionally show up playing chess against each other, deviating from the action in the foreground. Andrew may ask Clyde if the latter had hired the characters from the foreground to distract him, when Clyde actually hired something else.
Development[]
Background[]
The doodle of the superhero hamster that would eventually lead to the creation of Hamster & Gretel.
The origins of Hamster & Gretel the series began during the production of Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, when Dan Povenmire doodled a sketch of a superhero hamster while brainstorming ideas for the movie[4][5] (which was subsequently posted online on June 18, 2019).[6] Dan loved what he had drawn, but didn't know what to do with it at the time.[5] Regardless, he took a picture of his doodle and decided to show the picture to his daughter, Meli Povenmire, while tucking her in bed, and started pitching random ideas for what the show could be like. While it was sort of done jokingly, it was evident that Meli loved the ideas, as she laughed at all of them.[4]
While pitching for ideas, Dan Povenmire started to sort of base it on his relationship with his youngest sister when he was 16 years old and driving her around as her personal chauffeur; being the basis of Kevin and Gretel, the hamster's owners.[5] This then evolved into the little sister getting superpowers as well, which then evolved into the big brother, from his point of view, feeling left out when the little sister and her pet hamster get superpowers while he doesn't. The basis of the series eventually became about the older, protective brother's sister and her hamster now having superpowers, and the older brother trying to find his place in that dynamic.[5]
Production[]
When Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe began wrapping up, Dan Povenmire was called in to pitch a new show idea.[4] Dan had already written and storyboarded what would eventually become the cold open for the pilot episode during his vacation, and made an animatic of it as well, with Meli voicing reading some lines for Gretel; so Dan Povenmire simply showed the finished animatic during the idea pitch.[4] The executive producers liked it, so Dan worked on the pilot the same way, which tested really well too.[4]
On October 12, 2020, Disney Channel has officially greenlit the series.[7] In 2021, the series was confirmed to come out in 2022, by one of the series writers, Jim Bernstein.[8] Then on June 3, 2022, it was confirmed to come out in Summer 2022. Short while after on June 9, 2022, the rest of the characters and voice actors were announced.[9] At the 2022 Annecy Festival on June 14, two new characters were confirmed[10], and on June 15 it was announced the first season was ordered 10 extra episodes, bringing the total up to thirty.[2] On July 7, 2022, more characters, the official release date and trailer for the first season was revealed, with the series premiering on August 12, 2022 after the extended edition of Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3.[1]
Season 2 was officially announced in January 13, 2023, alongside the revival of Phineas and Ferb.[11] On August 15, 2024, the trailer and release date for Season 2 was officially unveiled, and the new season is set to launch on Disney Channel on September 14, 2024 with two new episodes, and later on Disney+ with eight new episodes on September 18, 2024.[12]
Awards and Nominations[]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2nd Children's and Family Emmy Awards | Outstanding Younger Voice Performer in an Animated or Preschool Animated Program | Melissa Povenmire (as Gretel)[13] |
Nominated |
| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation - Storyboard | Kyle Menke[14] | Awarded |
Trivia[]
- This is the first series Dan Povenmire created without Jeff "Swampy" Marsh.
- This series uses a similar crediting font and a similar end credits sequence style as Milo Murphy's Law, Dan's previous show. Like Milo Murphy's Law, the episode credits and end credits are presented in the Cooper font family (although usually presented in a light yellow color), and the end credits consists of a slideshow of stills from the relevant pair of episodes as backdrop.
- The series is inspired by Dan Povenmire's relationship with his sister. Gretel and Kevin's family, however, are more based on Dan's current family pre-divorce, with their father, Dave, even resembling Dan himself.
- The title of the show, and thus its titular main characters, is a reference to the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, due to "Hamster" sounding similar to "Hansel" and having a little girl as his companion.
- This is Disney Channel's first show with a confirmed character with ADHD; the character in question being Gretel, as mentioned by Dan in a interview.[15]
- Nearly all of the non-silhouetted antagonists shown on the rogue's gallery poster for Season 1 of Hamster & Gretel have actually been faced by Hamster and Gretel throughout the first half of the season. In order of episode debut, they are Professor Exclamation, his army of exclamation robots, FistPuncher, The Destructress, El Luchador, Rodney Thunderpants, a fast-running, scarlet-clad villainess, Animus Machina, a hooded villainess with skeletal face-paint, La Cebolla, CopyCat, The Neighslayer, Dr. Eelgood, The Ideal Eel, the X-Terminator, the Pi-Rat, The Amplifier, The Nightmarionette, Big Baby, the Sloppy Joe Monster, Tina, the E.V.I.L. S.C.H.E.M.E. Plumber animatronic, The Earworm, Record Scratch, The Imposter, and Tobor. It is unknown if the antagonists remained in silhouettes will appear in the series as well.
- Coincidentally, one of the villain silhouettes resembles Dr. Doofenshmirtz wearing the Devolition-Inator helmet, as seen in the Phineas and Ferb episode "Brain Drain". Also coincidentally, Dr. Doofenshmirtz has made a couple cameos in Hamster & Gretel, in "Strawberry Fest Forever" and "Shush Hour", albeit without the helmet.
- The giant squid-like silhouette bears a slight reference to the Kraken from Roman's VR game in "Dr. Eelgood", although the Kraken in that game resembles an octopus instead.
- The poster for Season 2 also contains a handful of antagonists, shown in the first five episodes of the season. In order of episode debut, they are FistPuncher and The Destructress, four ACEs, Hiromi's stress ball, and the season's overarching villain, Big Bad.
- In contrast, nearly none of the antagonists featured in the pile of beaten villains poster actually appear in the show proper, aside from the theme song in a similar shot. A handful of exceptions include Professor Exclamation (who appears most prominently in the pile), the mechanical tail of CopyCat, La Cebolla's hat, The Neighslayer's hoof, and a lighter-colored version of The Nightmarionette's face.
- Interestingly, the dark-skinned bank robber laying next to/on top of Professor Exclamation does make an appearance in the Chibi Tiny Tales short "Super Pet Pals", alongside other villains from Hamster & Gretel, Phineas and Ferb, and Milo Murphy's Law.
Names in other languages[]
Certain languages have named the series and its title characters differently: some languages have given Gretel a different name in order to maintain the reference to the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale and its characters, as those were named differently in those languages as well. Other languages have given Hamster a different name, to reflect its species' name in those languages. In a few languages, Hansel and Gretel is named completely differently, so the title name is either left intact, or changed slightly.
- In Dutch, Gretel has been renamed to "Grietje" in reference to the fairy tale's Dutch title of Hans en Grietje.
- In Danish and Norwegian, Gretel has been renamed to "Grete" in reference to the fairy tale's Danish and Norwegian title of Hans og Grete.
- In Finnish, Gretel has been renamed to "Kerttu" in reference to the fairy tale's Finnish title of Hannu ja Kerttu.
- In Swedish, Gretel has been renamed to "Greta" in reference to the fairy tale's Swedish title of Hans och Greta.
- In Czech, Hamster is known as "Křeček", after the species' Czech name.
- In Slovakian, Hamster is known as "Škrečok", after the species' Slovakian name.
- In Polish, Hamster is known as "Chomi", which appears to be shortened from the species' Polish name of "chomik". Gretel has been renamed to "Greta"; the fairy tale's Polish name appears to be Jaś i Małgosia, so Gretel's rename doesn't seem to be in reference to the Polish name of the fairy tale.
- In Hungarian, Hamster & Gretel is titled Gretel és a Hörcsög ("Gretel and the Hamster"), opting to swap the character names as the fairy tale is called Jancsi és Juliska in Hungarian.
- In Brazilian Portuguese, Hamster & Gretel is titled Gretel e o Hamster ("Gretel and the Hamster"), also opting to swap the character names as the fairy tale is called João e Maria in Brazil. The title was left intact in Iberian Portuguese, as the fairy tale is called Hansel e Gretel in Portugal.
Gallery[]
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| Click here to view the image gallery for Hamster & Gretel. |
External links[]
References[]