Friday Night Fright

**"Friday Night Fright"** is the first segment of the twelfth episode of the first season of *Hamster & Gretel*, and the twenty-second episode overall. It is paired with "The Earworm" and will premiere on Disney Channel on November 19, 2022.

While interviewing Inga for the school news paper, Hiromi and Fred overhear Principal Funderberk talking about some kind of evil scheme, stored in a crate. Investigating the crate, the two discover animatronics based on the school's mascot, which then get activated by accident.

Meanwhile, Kevin, Gretel, Dave and Carolina have a family game night, as it's getting extreme competitive between the four of them.

## Plot

After school, Fred declines Kevin's invitation to the Grant-Gomez family game night due to helping Hiromi with an interview for the school newspaper (in part due to Fred's nihilistic sense of humor, according to Hiromi). While they work, they overhear Principal Funderberk talking about a seemingly evil plot and decide to investigate. Hiromi and a reluctant Fred find a crate containing animatronic replicas of the school's mascot, which are mistakenly activated when Hiromi takes a picture of them. Meanwhile, Carolina has the other family members turn over their phones to prevent cheating during the game.

Having taken shelter in a storeroom courtesy of Inga the lunch lady, Fred and Hiromi orchestrate a plan to defeat the animatronics after Fred fails to get ahold of Kevin. However, they find that the animatronics have turned off the sprinkler system, forcing them to search for another valve to reactivate it. Igna volunteers to go, only to get captured by the animatronics. Hiromi then steps forward to take her place with Fred's guidance, only to get captured as well. Hamster, who has been using an audio therapy app to block out the family's arguing due to their fierce competitiveness, notices Fred's many calls and notifies Gretel, who reluctantly disqualifies herself by claiming she was using her phone to cheat, allowing her to go to the school to rescue Fred and Hiromi.

As the animatronics prepare to dunk Hiromi in a razor blade-clad toilet, Fred intervenes by using her gymnastics skills to access a hard-to-reach sprinkler valve to activate the sprinkler system and shut the animatrotics down. She is briefly successful, but the animatronics are able to activate waterproof programming. Just as they are about to attack Fred and Hiromi, Hamster and Gretel arrive to defeat the animatronics, with Gretel angry that they have ruined her chances of finally winning family game night. After the animatronics are destroyed, Principal Funderberk reveals that they were actually meant to be entered in a robotics competition the school qualified for and hired a new physics teacher to investigate a glitch that causes them to become evil after having their picture taken. Fred and Hiromi share a high-five in celebration of their efforts, while Kevin, who has been overzealous during game night, loses to Carolina.

## Cast and characters

* Meli Povenmire as Gretel Grant-Gomez
* Michael Cimino as Kevin Grant-Gomez
* Beck Bennett as Hamster
* Matt Jones as Dave Grant
* Carolina Ravassa as Carolina Grant-Gomez
* Joey King as Fred Grant
* Hiromi Dames as Hiromi Tanaka
* Keith Ferguson as Principal Funderberk

### Additional voices

* Beck Bennett as Animatronic Plumber
* Carolina Ravassa as Game Night Relaxing Narrator, Cell Phone Operator
* Keith Ferguson as Physics Teacher
* Valerie Breiman as Inga

## Running gags

### Image scene transitions

Kevin and Gretel, being competitive
(used to transition to Fred and Hiromi interviewing Inga that evening)A guacamole-sauerkraut cupcake by Inga
(used to transition to the Grant-Gomezes starting up the family game night)Kevin, wearing the double six hat
(used to transition to Fred and Hiromi following Principal Funderberk in secret)A very smug Gretel
(used to transition to Fred and Hiromi entering the gym)The E.V.I.L. S.C.H.E.M.E. animatronics
(used to transition back to family game night)Kevin, with a paint-by-numbers clown painting
(used to transition to the E.V.I.L. S.C.H.E.M.E. animatronics putting Hiromi in peril)Fred and Hiromi, high-fiving, surrounded by banners that say "TEAM FIROMI"
(used to transition to final round of family game night)

## Transcript

*Click here to read the full transcript of **"Friday Night Fright"**.*

## Background information

### Allusions

* ***Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream*** - The title of this episode is possibly a pun on this 1990 nonfiction book by H. G. Bissinger.
* ***The Shining*** - As Fred and Hiromi close off the gymnasium after activating the animatronics, the plumber animatronic breaks through the doors with a fist, and shouts "Here's Plumby" while peering into the opening; a clear reference to a well-known scene in the climax of this 1980 horror film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick, in which an insane Jack Terrance breaks through a bathroom door with an axe, stating "Here's Johnny" while peering into the opening.
* ***Five Nights at Freddy's*** - The antagonists of the episode being a couple of animatronics at night is similar to the premise of the *Five Nights at Freddy's* indie horror video game franchise.

### Errors

* The Disney General Entertainment Content press website has erroneously referred to this episode as **"Friday Night Fight"**, rather than "Friday Night Fright".
* After Hiromi takes a second picture of the E.V.I.L. S.C.H.E.M.E. animatronics, the pockets on the back of her pants are missing.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.dgepress.com/disneybrandedtelevision/shows/hamster-gretel/episodes/friday-night-fight-the-earworm/