Concept artwork for Hamster & Gretel
The original pitch of Hamster & Gretel, also spelled Hamster and Gretel, bears the same premise as the finalized show, but contains several differences.
Pitch pilot[]
Much like the pitch pilots for Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law (the previous shows Dan Povenmire co-created), the pitch pilot for Hamster & Gretel is a storyboard animatic as opposed to a fully-animated cartoon. As such, the dialogue is only provided by Dan himself and his child Meli Povenmire, with Dan voicing the male characters and Meli the female characters (although Dan sometimes voices lines for Fred, Gretel and Bailey). Dan has stated in an interview that he originally storyboarded the cold open during his vacation, then turned it into an animatic and presented it to Disney, then worked on the rest of the pilot the same way.[1] The pitch pilot was eventually leaked to public on October 26, 2024.[2] Also like the pitch pilots for Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law, the Hamster & Gretel pilot became the basis for the first episode of the series, "Empower Failure".
Several key differences can be found when comparing the pilot to "Empower Failure". The most notable difference is Kevin's design, who has been given a shorter face, a completely different hairstyle, a visible nose bridge, and simpler clothing compared to his final design. His default expression also appears to be a bit grumpier. Gretel's design also has given her slightly larger and bulgier eyes compared to her final design. Hiromi has initially been named Twilly, and her eyes were initially shaped like half-ovals instead of almond-shaped. Similarly, Bailey was initially named Lonny.
Another notable difference is the absence of Almost Almost There from when Gretel was watching Professor Exclamation's message, as the song had not been written at this point. Instead, Let It Go from Frozen was used for the scene as a placeholder. Finally, the pilot ends with Hamster, Gretel and Kevin taking Professor Exclamation to prison, with Kevin and Gretel hugging, and the scene that would follow in "Empower Failure", where Kevin meets up with Hiromi after the concert, appears to be missing. This also means that Hamster is completely mute for the entirety of the pilot, as his first speaking line in the series was displayed in that final scene.
Pitch bible[]
A pitch bible had also been written for the show by Dan Povenmire. One version of this pitch bible is a seven-page documeny (including the cover), and was leaked on October 26, 2024.[3] Not only does this bible include several notable differences, but also includes several inconsistencies in its own text, suggesting that this pitch bible had been revised from an earlier version.
Characters[]
Six characters were listed in the document, including the three main characters.
- One notable detail about Hamster that got changed was that Hamster was supposed to not talk at all, since he is a hamster and therefor should be unable to. Because of this, Hamster does not even try to communicate with Kevin and Gretel whilst already having figured out the situation on his own. This was changed in the finalized show, as Hamster had been given his first lines in "Empower Failure" and actually communicates with his teammates. Throughout the document, the emblem on Hamster's super suit has also been shown different designs: the cover of the bible shows Hamster's emblem depicting narrow "SH" letters, much like the superhero hamster doodle this series spawned from. Hamster's image for his character profile shows his emblem depicting only the letter "H", but with thin lines. The image shown on the prior pages detailing the premise shows Hamster's emblem depicting the letter "H" in the same thickness as in his finalized design. All three of these emblem designs do not use the finalized coloring, however, depicting white letter(s) on an orange shield shape with a white border, as opposed to an orange letter "H" on a white shield shape.
- Gretel was originally a seven-year-old girl, as opposed to nine like in the finalized show; however, the second page detailing the summary states that Gretel is nine. As in the pilot, Gretel's eyes are larger and bulgier. The colors of her civilian outfit are also identical to those of her superhero outfit (pink shirt and magenta skirt), and both outfits depict her hairband as light pink instead of sky blue; these colors were kept when Dan Povenmire initially revealed Hamster & Gretel to the public,[4] although her eyes were made smaller like in Gretel's finalized design, and her hairband was also made magenta. Gretel's civilian clothes in the finalized version are instead a teal shirt and shoes, and an orange skirt and hairband.
- As in the pilot, Kevin's design used to have a completely different hairstyle, a shorter face, a visible nose bridge, and simpler clothes (although his shirt still appears to be orange, although with a green collar as well). The pages detailing the premise of the show display Kevin's full name to be "Kevin Miller" as opposed to "Kevin Grant-Gomez", and his character profile names him "Justin" at one point, suggesting that this was his original name. His initial reason for not letting Hiromi/Twilly in on the secret, despite her being stated to be a fan of Hamster and Gretel, also appears that he doesn't want her to think of him as a second banana to his sister, which was not detailed in the finalized show.
- Also like in the pilot, Hiromi was originally named Twilly, and her eyes were originally shaped like half-ovals. Her profile states that Twilly will often be used to highlight comic book conventions that the writers may be lampooning, commenting on how ridiculous some of the convention-goers are by stating how obvious some of these disguises may be, while not realizing Hamster and Gretel's secret identities despite their civilians selves standing next to a poster depicting their superhero selves. Although Hiromi has been attempting to discover Hamster and Gretel's secret identities in Season 2, she has never been stated to go to comic conventions or be used to lampoon conventions in any way throughout the entire show.
- Fred (or Winnifred) was initially Kevin's best friend instead of his cousin. Like in the finalized show, Fred is stated to be a computer genius. However, she was also stated to be a budding artist who made her own Hamster and Gretel comic which doesn't mention Kevin at all; this was not a detail in the finalized show. Her initial design also makes use of slightly different colors: her coat was brown instead of dark red, her shirt was light cyan instead of purple, and her glasses were only faintly pink instead of the more obviously mauve-tinted glasses of her finalized design.
- Also much like the pilot, Bailey was originally named Lonny. Unlike in the pilot, Lonny is stated that she loves that her best friend Gretel is a superhero now, implying that she would be let in on the secret pretty early on; in the actual show, Bailey does not find out until "My Invisible Friend". Lonny is also stated to be put on crowd control when Gretel is beset by her fans, a detail also absent from the finalized show. Lonny's glasses also appear to be tinted pinkish with a black frame, whereas Bailey's glasses in her finalized design are pure white with a red frame. While it was revealed during the D23 Expo 2022 that Bailey was originally a one-off character,[5] the pitch bible already suggests that Lonny would be a recurring character, implying that this part was written after the decision to make her appear more often.
Story[]
The big story for Season 1 also includes key details that were never implemented in the finalized version. It details that the aliens have given superpowers to other brother-sister duos as well and assigned those to be superheroes as well, giving Kevin more reason to believe that he was being skipped over by accident and making more sense as for why they're doing this to prepare them for an oncoming threat, which was still implied in the pitch bible. In the finalized version, Hamster and Gretel are the only people that the aliens have chosen to be superheroes, and the only ones they set up against this oncoming threat, and the rest are all intended to be supervillains for Hamster and Gretel alone to face.
It was also intended for Kevin and Gretel to meet the aliens after tracking down their U.F.O., but with the aliens only shown through a filtered glass screen that only make them visible as silhouettes. In the actual first season, Kevin and Gretel never met the aliens like this, though "U.F. UH-OH!" did lampoon on the alien silhouette reveal using FistPuncher and The Destructress, and the idea of the aliens being shown through a filtered glass was eventually used in "Who's Afraid of Mordros the Annihilator?", the finale for Season 2, when Hamster, Gretel and Kevin, alongside Hiromi, were brought inside their U.F.O.
The aliens would've also revealed that Hamster and Gretel were the only of their superhero duos that remain undefeated, and even credit Kevin for being the factor that tipped the scales for them, despite still not allowing him superpowers. Since Hamster and Gretel are the only superheroes in Season 1, this detail never exists in the finalized show, and the aliens disrespect Kevin more often than actually complimenting him for his efforts.
The bible also details that Gretel manages to get around the screen and take a picture of the aliens' true appearance, revealing that the male alien is actually Kevin and Gretel's grandfather who used to work at Area 51, but disappeared years ago during a military mission. This also never happened in the finalized series, as "Who's Afraid of Mordros the Annihilator?" presents the aliens as amorphous creatures whose true appearance would make anyone's head explode, and that they've come from a planet that Mordros the Annihilator already destroyed.
The bible details that for Season 2, Hamster, Gretel and Kevin have to defend the Earth from an invasion by an army of aliens led by the powerful, villainous threat, with other superhero duos falling one by one. In "Who's Afraid of Mordros the Annihilator?", Mordros does not lead an army of aliens and invades Earth alone.
The document also reveals a doomsday machine, but does not disclose what it exactly does. However, it does describe its shut-off switch being protected by a forcefield that prevents anyone with superpowers from getting through, while also being located on a place unreachable for regular people, and above some deadly spinning blades, meaning that Hamster, Gretel and Kevin have to work together to shut off the machine. While no such doomsday device appears exactly like that, "Who's Afraid of Mordros the Annihilator?" does include a close equivalent in Mordros's chinchilla reactor drill, which has an anti-powers defense system that drains Hamster and Gretel of their superpowers and vitality, but leaves Kevin unaffected due to his lack of superpowers.
Gallery[]
Pitch bible[]
