Disney Channel’s set to debut the new family-friendly animated series Hamster & Gretel on Friday, August 12, 2022. The new series comes from Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy’s Law co-creator Dan Povenmire and takes place in the same universe as those popular shows, with voice cast members from those series taking on new roles in Hamster & Gretel.
Alyson Stoner, the voice of Lydia in Milo Murphy’s Law and Isabella Garcia-Shapiro in Phineas and Ferb, provides the voice of Lauren The Destructress in Hamster & Gretel. During our roundtable interview at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, Stoner described The Destructress as having quite an attitude.
“She’s got quite a sharpness on how she communicates, and I would say she’s very self-justified. So, if you ever need to find a person who knows how to wiggle their way out of something or convince you of anything, she might be it,” explained Stoner.
Brock Powell also returns to the Phineas and Ferb/Milo Murphy’s Law universe, voicing Lyle aka FistPuncher in Hamster & Gretel. According to Powell, FistPuncher’s a dynamic villain who works as part of a team with his sister, The Destructress. “If you just need someone who generally just smashes things with intent and malintent, FistPuncher is your dude,” said Powell.
Teamed up for the roundtable interview, Stoner and Powell also talked about what viewers can expect from the series, working with Dan Povenmire, and if they see anything of themselves in these particular characters.
Brock Powell and Alyson Stoner Interview
What did you think when you first heard about this series?
Alyson Stoner: [In a high-pitched voice] “I spoke like this for 14 years of my life, so I was just glad to use my lower register. And I’ve always played the moral compass on shows and so when Dan said, ‘Hey, I need someone to do this temp voice for this pilot. Just come on in.’ I thought I could just have fun with this because I’ll never be the villain for real – and then here we are.
This is a blast because I get to touch into completely different aspects of who I am as a human, and things that you would never get away with in real life are totally on the table as a Disney villain.”
Brock Powell: “I think for me when Dan was talking about the pilot… I think he’s been talking about Hamster & Gretel [a while]. The idea was born while he was working on Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe which we both have worked on. I just fell in love with the idea of the sibling story and to be the counterpart to that these other siblings that…I don’t know if people know that not all siblings get along apparently. I would have never known. But it’s a really cool thing to represent that and to be on a show that is so family-centric and also to be representative of all kinds of family relationships.
I think it’s super, super fun. If I wasn’t on the show, I would be watching the show so that’s kind of my relationship to it.”
Alyson Stoner: “And what I will add to that is I think it’s easy with the comparable titles like Phineas and Ferb and Hamster & Gretel to assume it’s copy and paste. And while the universes co-exist, the sentimentality and the character stories and even the traditions of having a multi-culture leading family, there are a lot of different flavors that really give it its own distinctive place.
So, if you love Phineas, you’ll watch Hamster & Gretel knowing you’ll fall in love with the characters because Dan and all of the creative team are genius and it’s going to have its own payoff.”
Would you say you two are the main villains? Are you the most recurring?
Brock Powell: “I mean, if you asked us, yeah.”
Alyson Stoner: “I think that The Destructress would totally, hardily agree that we are the main villains. And if you want a photo, we are charging.”
Brock Powell: “I think we definitely are an integral part. I’m excited for fans to meet our characters and fall in love with our characters and how often we appear – if often.”
Alyson Stoner: “I mean, also there may be other villains and sometimes people play multiple villains in the same show.”
Brock Powell: “Yeah. I will say that’s one of the things that Dan, Sara Sherman, Kristin Paiva, and the entire team behind deciding who voices what characters… Because you have the writers and the writers will write with a very specific character voice in mind and it will be on paper. And then they go to the casting team and the casting team will be like, ‘We are looking for…’ and they have to take a picture of the character. And what happens is when we are in the studio together, Dan will just be like, ‘Why don’t just try it? Just try it.’
And we’ll come up with usually a touchstone of this celebrity or it’s kind of this character but make it your own. So, on Milo Murphy’s Law I voiced a villain named Dr. Not Sorry who was kind of a Rick Moranis kind of thing. And it was super, super fun to be able to do that. On this show, I voice Lyle and I think right now maybe four other villains throughout the series. But I don’t want to give away anything because it’s a really super surprise.”
But you do voice Big Baby?
Brock Powell: “Yes, I do voice Big Baby. Big Baby is my baby. I love this character so much. He is a politician who’s got an attitude problem. Again, I can’t compare that to anything that’s happening. But he kind of talks like this [said in a low, slow voice] and he sort of kind of gets angry. He’s kind of like The Hulk but he also at times can sound like a baby. You know, a Jerry Lewis kind of thing.
The team is so encouraging, so fun. I never feel rushed. We get to adlib so, so much and so much of the comedic timing comes from the team asking ‘Can we do it funnier? Can we write it funnier? Can we say it funnier?’”
Can you talk about your long-term relationships working with Dan Povenmire? What is about Dan or the environment he creates or the content itself that makes you want to keep working with him?
Alyson Stoner: “Well, first I may have to clarify some things. As an actor we don’t always have all the power in terms of who’s making the decisions of who’s on the show. So, really, credit goes to Dan for allowing us to be a part of it.”
Brock Powell: “Credit and gratitude, for sure.”
Alyson Stoner: “And I think what’s beautiful is that for me Dan does feel like family, and there’s a sense of safety. You know, out in the real world I often feel very self-conscious about being super expressive. And so, Dan is such an anchor for me that I know there’s nothing I could possibly express or explore tonally or in character that would be too outlandish. That kind of safety and trust, I think, really allows someone with my personality to feel like, ‘Okay, all right, I can really go for it.’
I truly thought I was just helping a bud with a pilot and I’m like, ‘Sure, I’ll throw my voice on it.’ How cool these people are doing these cool projects and there’s no expectations. And here we are.”
Brock Powell: “Yeah, so we call that scratch and that happens quite a bit in amination where so-and-so will call and be like, ‘Hey, can you come and do this voice?’ And you never ever think in a million years… Because you skip the casting process essentially because you came in and worked on this pilot.”
Alyson Stoner: “And it’s better to not believe you will get the job because most of the time you won’t.”
Do you see any of your own personality or physicality in your character?
Alyson Stoner: “I haven’t noticed yet. [Laughing] Actually, maybe I should say this is an opportunity for self-examination because if I have any similarities with Lauren, I might need to rethink some habits.
But I think maybe I have a movement background and so some of the action-packed sequences are probably close to me. For example, when I’m recording, I’m definitely mimicking and creating those gestures. However, the animation team is genius, so they don’t need poor footage of me in the studio going (displaying action moves) you know.”
Brock Powell: “It’s definitely a game of telephone. You’re taking the words off the page, usually without picture reference. Sometimes for an audition, you’ll get lucky and they’ll show you what your character looks like. In this case…”
Alyson Stoner: “I didn’t know what she would look like. You did?”
Brock Powell: “No, I had no idea. But in this case, it was like that’s pretty spot on because I kind of based him… We have this valley girl/valley boy/valley person accent that we kind of worked through. I was in my head sort of doing Biff Tannen from Back to the Future in a higher pitched voice. I was like, ‘Hey butthead, McFly.’ Like you take it up here a little bit [making his voice go high] and a little raspier so it was a little Pauly Shore from Encino Man mixed with Tom Wilson’s Biff Tannen.
And then the picture when you see the character, you’re like, ‘No, that’s exactly what that is. That’s literally this.’ [Laughing] I didn’t sit with the animators and write out an essay so it’s amazing how the sonic performance can resonate with that.”
Alyson Stoner: “I think it will continue to improve, or not improve but we will get to embellish and explore more dimensions as we get to meet each other in real life and meet the animation team. It’s like watching the first season of something versus the second, third, and fourth. It’s just like, ‘Oh yeah, ya’ll are just glue,’ and it’s already incredible.”
Brock Powell: “I think I’m just, as an actor, so excited for the fans to see the show. This show is ready for an audience, and you don’t always feel that way. I won’t show that is, but sometimes you don’t feel like that. You’re like, ‘Oh god.’ This is the opposite. This is like the premiere is August 12th – maybe let’s do it now. Let’s drop the pilot.“
Alyson Stoner: “It’s really heartfelt. I watched three episodes last night just to see how it felt compared to Dan’s other series and because the sibling dynamic is a little bit more explored, there’s just like this good-natured love at the core between Kevin and Gretel. They’re really growing and developing and becoming their own human selves through it, so there’s a little bit more depth and substance to the lessons in each episode.
I’m excited for young people, and people of all ages, to really connect on a heartfelt, human level.”
- Hamster & Gretel Creator Dan Povenmire and Voice Actor Meli Povenmire Interview
- Michael Cimino and Liza Koshy Interview: Hamster & Gretel, Voice Work, and Tiny Rodents
(Additional reporting by Kevin Finnerty.)
