Exclamation Strikes Back

**"Exclamation Strikes Back"** is the thirtieth full episode of the first season of *Hamster & Gretel*, and the fifty-eighth episode overall, serving as the season 1 finale for the series. It is separated in two segments called **"Exclamation Strikes Back - Part I"** and **"Exclamation Strikes Back - Part II"**, and premiered on Disney Channel on December 9, 2023.

When Hamster and Gretel are to receive the key to the city, Professor Exclamation executes his plan to take over the world. He drains Hamster and Gretel's superpowers using the weird glowing rock from Las Vegas (which he located with help of FistPuncher and The Destructress), which he then uses to power a giant mech suit.

## Plot

### Part I

Professor Exclamation recruits FistPuncher and The Destructress to lead him to the superpower-sucking rock from Las Vegas as part of his plan to destroy Hamster and Gretel and take over the world. Meanwhile, Hamster and Gretel are to receive the key to the city in honor of their many instances of saving the city. However, Gretel gets into an argument with Kevin upon learning that he will not be attending the ceremony in favor of attending his date with Hiromi, with Gretel going so far as to vent about it to the audience in lieu of giving a speech. As Kevin arrives to J.J. McWeekend's, he is captured by a robot that resembles Hiromi and taken to the creepy doll factory, unbeknownst to the real Hiromi, who arrives immediately after the incident.

FistPuncher and The Destructres interrupt the key ceremony to relay this information to Hamster and Gretel, after which, Professor Exclamation's robot army terrorizes the citizens. Once Hamster and Gretel arrive, they are captured alongside Kevin, allowing Professor Exclamation to tell the three about his five-step plan to conquer the world. He then removes Hamster and Gretel's powers and uses them to power a giant robot he built out of Unbendium, which he will use to take over the world.

### Part II

Professor Exclamation arrives at city hall and demands that the citizens dismantle it and rebuild it in his image. Fred and Bailey, who were attending the ceremony, manage to escape and locate Kevin, Hamster, and Gretel. After learning about the situation, Fred finds that Professor Exclamation's device has enough power left to give Gretel one punch, which they plan to use to destroy the rock and restore Hamster and Gretel's powers. They confront Professor Exclamation through their use of confiscated devices from villains, only for Gretel to lose her chance at destroying the rock when a piece of debris gets in her way.

A chase scene leads the group to peril at Cliffside Park, which Bailey manages to evade utilizing CopyCat's mechanical tail. When Kevin discovers that Gretel's key to the city is also made of Unbendium, he orchestrates a plan to propel himself to Professor Exclamation's robot and destroy the rock with the key. He succeeds, after which Gretel is able to rescue Kevin from falling off the cliff after regaining her powers, leading to Hamster and Gretel defeating Professor Exclamation. Kevin then realizes he is late for his date with Hiromi and attempts to explain to her that he was taking care of Gretel. However, she tells him that despite her feelings for him, she does not believe their relationship will work out. The aliens then arrive and reveal that they created villains in order to prepare Hamster and Gretel for a greater evil that will arrive "next season" and that Kevin was never intended to receive superpowers.

## Cast and characters

* Meli Povenmire as Gretel Grant-Gomez
* Michael Cimino as Kevin Grant-Gomez
* Beck Bennett as Hamster
* Joey King as Fred Grant
* Priah Ferguson as Bailey Carter
* Hiromi Dames as Hiromi Tanaka
* Phil LaMarr as Professor Exclamation
* Brock Powell as FistPuncher
* Alyson Stoner as The Destructress
* Chris Diamantopoulous as Crooner
* Brett Dalton as Mayor Meyer

### Additional voices

* Bob Bowen as Maitre'd
* Chris Diamantopoulos as Bystander
* Dan Povenmire as Male Alien, Exclamation Bots
* Isaac Robinson-Smith as Bystander
* Joanna Hausmann as Female Alien
* Olivia Olson
* Phil LaMarr as Fungus Monster

## Songs

* Key To The City
* Thimbles
* Creepy Doll Factory (instrumental)
* Gotta Get Away

## Running gags

### Image scene transitions

Two of Exclamation's robots arguing
(used to transition back to Kevin and Gretel trapped in the doll factory)Hamster, sapped from superpowers
(used to transition back to the ongoing destruction of city hall)

## Transcript

*Click here to read the full transcript of **"Exclamation Strikes Back"**.*

## Background information

### Trivia

* The fourth wall is broken twice in this episode–first when Fred pulls a copy of the episode's script out of the minivan's glove compartment during the song "Gotta Get Away" and again when the aliens explain that there will be a greater evil "next season."

### Allusions

* **If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?** - In order to distract Professor Exclamation's robots, Fred asks them this famous philosophical question.
* **You get a free car!** - When The Destructress throws sledgehammers to the audience while repeatedly saying "You get a sledgehammer," she references a 2004 episode of *The Oprah Winfrey Show* in which the titular talk show host gave everyone in her audience a free car.
* **Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back** - The name of the episode could be a reference to the 1980 film.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.dgepress.com/disneybrandedtelevision/pressrelease/december-2023-programming-highlights/
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/disneytvanews/status/1720282094398558690