Villain Review-Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel (Lilo and Stitch)

Is Hämsterviel a good villain?

I recently wrote a Villain Review of Captain Gantu from the Lilo and Stitch franchise. I said at the time “I don’t normally write a Villain Review immediately after another Villain Review but Gantu and Hämsterviel are too closely connected for me not to follow this up with a Villain Review of Hämsterviel”.

Character Introduction-9/10

In the 2002 animated film Lilo and Stitch, an Earth expert named Pleakley recommends to his boss, the Grand Councilwoman, that she launch a clandestine mission to extract the genetically engineered monster Stitch, then known as Experiment 626, reckoning that it’s the only way to avoid “planet-wide panic!” The Grand Councilwoman realises the only person equipped with the knowledge for such a mission is Stitch’s creator, Dr. Jumba Jookiba, so she goes to him and offers him his freedom in exchange for capturing Stitch. She assigns Pleakley as Jumba’s handler. When the Grand Councilwoman and Pleakley go to Jumba’s cell, they walk past several other prison cells containing a variety of aliens, monsters, and alien monsters. One of the miscellaneous prisoners in that scene is an anthropomorphic lagomorph. That said, at the time, he wasn’t meant to be Hämsterviel but Dr. Albert Habbitrale, who was already planned to be used as the antagonist of a Lilo and Stitch video game. That said, after Hämsterviel was used as an antagonist of the movie’s sequel (and television show), the character from the original movie retroactively became Hämsterviel. Even so, Hämsterviel’s real introduction is in the first scene of Stitch: The Movie, the direct to video sequel to Lilo and Stitch, wherein the disgraced Captain Gantu applies for a job as Hämsterviel’s mercenary.

In that scene, Hämsterviel tries to make himself seem taller than he is, speaks with an inexplicable accent, vehemently insists that he’s an anthropomorphic hamster (rather than a gerbil), emphasises that his name is not “Hamster wheel”, insults and berates Gantu (at every turn) for his failure in the first movie, and hires Gantu to kidnap Hämsterviel’s former partner-in-crime Jumba to enable his own evil plans. That introduction tells you everything you need to know about Hämsterviel. (It’s not yet revealed that Hämsterviel’s goal is to capture the 625 experiments Jumba created before he created Stitch but it’s still a reasonable presumption and we know enough other information about this character that I wouldn’t complain about not yet knowing the details of his evil plan.)

Evil Deeds-10/10

It’s established in the movies and show that Hämsterviel and Jumba attended Evil Genius University together, joined EGO (Evil Genius Organization), and made headlines co-inventing morally dubious things. After that, Hämsterviel funded Jumba’s illegal genetic experimentation through “shady business dealings” but also cheated Jumba, lied to Jumba stole from Jumba, and berated Jumba at every turn. This resulted in their partnership dissolving, so Hämsterviel decided to “fink” on Jumba to the Galactic police and get him arrested. Hämsterviel also, at some point, faked his own death to escape justice.

After that backstory, he hires Gantu to kidnap Jumba and attempts to threaten Jumba into giving up the location of the 625 experiments Jumba created before Stitch. When that doesn’t work, Hämsterviel proclaims that he will threaten Jumba’s family but Jumba boasts that he doesn’t have a family. Even so, Hämsterviel holds Jumba hostage to extort Pleakley (and Lilo’s family) into giving him the remaining 624 experiments. (Gantu had succeeded in capturing Experiment 625, later renamed Reuben, but he was too lazy to do anything but make sandwiches.) Pleakley and semi-retired CIA agent Cobra Bubbles attempt to meet Hämsterviel’s demands but accidentally deliver 623 experiments instead of 624. Hämsterviel responds by declaring that he’s been tricked, deciding to keep Jumba prisoner, and commanding Gantu to attack Pleakley and Bubbles. When Lilo and Stitch show up with the missing experiment, (Experiment 221 aka Sparky), Hämsterviel reinstates his ransom. Lilo refuses to hand over Sparky, positing that as one of Stitch’s fellow experiments, Sparky is part of Stitch’s ohana. “Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.” Lilo frees Sparky and she and Stitch rescue Jumba, as Lilo asserts Jumba is now part of her family as well. Hämsterviel angrily commands Gantu to eliminate both Lilo and Stitch. When that doesn’t work, he steals the 623 experiments, plotting to use them to conquer the galaxy. Lilo and Stitch break into Gantu’s ship to thwart him but Hämsterviel, with Gantu’s aid, captures them both. Hämsterviel tries to kill Stitch, using a laser, only for Sparky to rescue Stitch from Hämsterviel’s clutches. Hämsterviel loses the experiments, crashes into Hawaii, and is captured and arrested by the Grand Councilwoman.

Hämsterviel nonetheless manages to obtain a contraband transmitter, signal Gantu, and command Gantu to capture the 623 experiments and hand them over to him so that he could use them to conquer the known Universe. When that doesn’t work, Hämsterviel escapes prison and goes to Hawaii himself, only to be mistaken for an ordinary Earth rodent and get sold as a pet to a little girl named Mertle Edmonds. Gantu then captures him and delivers him to the Grand Councilwoman in an unsuccessful attempt to be reinstated as an officer of Galactic law. (Long story.) When Hämsterviel is (temporarily) paroled for good behaviour, he disguises himself as a human scientist, personally kidnaps Stitch and brainwashes Stitch into becoming evil once more. Hämsterviel sics Stitch on Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakley, commanding him to kill them all, but Lilo (again) turns Stitch from evil to good. As a result, Stitch fights Hämsterviel and sends him back to his off-world prison. Hämsterviel decides Gantu, whom he constantly disrespects and belittles, is an incompetent buffoon, so he replaces him with a human mad scientist named Drew Lipsky, aka Dr. Drakken. He hires Drakken, and Drakken’s female sidekick Shego, to kidnap Stitch, clone Stitch, and provide him with said Stitch clones as henchmen. Lilo, Jumba, and Pleakley team up with Drakken’s nemesis Kim Possible, and Kim’s male sidekick Ron Stoppable, and thwart this plan.

After Lilo and Stitch capture and rehabilitate all 623 experiments, Gantu breaks Hämsterviel out of prison, so Hämsterviel cajoles Jumba into creating a new experiment, called Leroy, clones Leroy, kidnaps Pleakley, and has Leroy kidnap and impersonate Stitch. Hämsterviel has Leroy kidnap the other experiments (and Mertle) and plots to destroy them. He also uses his Leroy clones to overthrow the Grand Councilwoman and conquer the Universe and issues orders to execute Lilo, Reuben, Jumba, Pleakley, and Stitch. Gantu then betrays Hämsterviel by rescuing Lilo and Reuben, and helping rescue Jumba, Pleakley, and Stitch. Hämsterviel attempts to destroy them, alongside the experiments and Mertle, by siccing his Leroy clones against them, though they lose. After that, Gantu captures Hämsterviel and sends him back to a prison on an asteroid.

Hämsterviel is clearly quite evil.

Characterization-10/10

Hämsterviel is a megalomaniacal narcissist without any scruples, or sympathetic backstory, who constantly insults, castigates, and belittles everyone (including his own henchmen) regardless of whether he has any cause. He repeatedly (proverbially) burns bridges with everyone who would work for him, from Jumba to Gantu, is never grateful for anyone’s help, and is never satisfied by anything less than exactly what he wants. (When he goes after 625 experiments and gets 624, he lashes out.) Hämsterviel is also extremely short-tempered and has an obvious Napoleon Complex. (Yes, I know that isn’t a clinical term.) The closest he ever came to being even remotely close to being, even temporarily, nice was as Mertle’s pet and that didn’t last since he tried to destroy her. I’ve said elsewhere that I tend to categorise fictional villains into two types, sympathetic and unsympathetic, and that I’m less concerned about which category a character is in than if their characterisation is consistent in that regard. Hämsterviel is definitely an unsympathetic villain and very consistently so.

Final Score-97 %