previous page
TOC
TV/Streaming
A Family Affair Dan Povenmire’s new Disney Channel show Hamster & Gretel is inspired by his own experiences. By Ramin Zahed
N
ever underestimate the creative powers of a doodling animation genius! Take, for example, the case of Dan Povenmire, who was putting the finishing touches on Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe back in 2020. That’s when he found himself doodling a hamster superhero character. “I realized that I had done a lot of these doodles on the 3 X 5 cards we put on the board in the writers’ room,” recalls the creator of the five-time Emmy-winning show Phineas and Ferb. “One night, as I was tucking my daughter in her bed, I showed her the picture and I told her the story of a super-hamster, and we both couldn’t stop laughing!” Cut to a few months later, when Povenmire pitched the idea to the development team at Disney Channel — and wouldn’t you know, he got the greenlight for his new show, Hamster & Gretel. The charming music-filled series, which premieres this month on the cable outlet, centers on a brother and sister named Kevin and Gretel who are about to gain super powers from space aliens,
“It’s a superhero comedy, so it also has a lot of action, but then, you have this sweet core that is about family relationships. I think It’s perhaps the best thing I have done.” — Creator Dan Povenmire
but things don’t go as planned: It’s Gretel and her pet hamster who get the magical abilities. The talented voice cast includes Povenmire’s own daughter Meli as Gretel, Michael Cimino as Kevin and Beck Bennett as Hamster.
Sitcom Siblings Povenmire, who is best known for cocreating Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy’s Law with Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, has worked on a wide range of animated shows including The Simpsons, Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants and Hey Arnold! He says the new toon is different from his previous work because it’s loosely based on his own family life. “My wife is from Venezuela and I have these two blond and red-haired Latin daughters,” he
explains. “So the mom and dad on the show look like me and my wife. The heart of the show is also about the relationship between a brother and a sister, which is similar to the one I had with my youngest sister. We had 10 years between us, and there was no competition. I could be the cool older brother who had pillow fights with her.” The 2D-animated Hamster & Gretel, which is produced by Disney Television Animation, with the help of Snipple Animation (Manila, The Philippines) and Synergy Animation (Shanghai, China), features lots of funny songs and has the same visual style as some of Povenmire’s previous hits. “The characters and the color scheme are different, but it feels like it’s part of the same family as my other shows,” he notes. “I have a signature style — and who
www.animationmagazine.net 22
TOC
august 22
previous page
