Hammy is one of the animals and tritagonist in the Over the Hedge franchise. He is one of RJ's, Verne's and Stella's best friends. He is the comedic relief character of the movie, but plays a role in the main plot as well. He's generally seen as the icon of Over the Hedge, and part of the main trio alongside RJ and Verne (who were all members of the original comics the movie was based on).
He is voiced by Steve Carell.
Biography[]
Along with Verne and the others, Hammy wakes up from winter hibernation to discover the human suburbs that have encroached on their forest - as well as the hedge around it, which Hammy nicknames "Steve".
Following RJ's first failed attempt to get himself welcomed by the family, he returns the next day to get their sympathy by telling a story about how his family was killed in "the weedhacker incident". Doing so, he gets himself welcomed by the family and gets a lot of sympathy from Hammy especially. RJ takes Hammy to help him steal a red wagon full of cookies from two Girl Scouts, which he needs for Vincent. RJ dresses Hammy up as a rabid squirrel. Hammy goes to scare the girls, but they retaliate. Verne accidentally gets his shell knocked off of his body when going to save Hammy, and his nakedness ends up distracting and disgusting the girls, giving RJ and Hammy time to steal the wagon.
Later in the film, Verne attempts to return all the stolen food to the humans in an attempt to keep the humans from wanting to kill them after Dwayne (the Verminator) arrives. He gets in a fight with RJ that destroys all the food. Hammy - displaying a non-hyper attitude for once - is deeply upset when Verne gets in an argument with the rest of the family and calls them stupid. Hammy replies solemnly, "I'm not stupid".
Hammy's big moment comes during the final battle, when the family is trapped inside the Hedge between Vincent on one side and Gladys and Dwayne on the other. RJ and Verne devise a plan to feed an energy drink to Hammy, which they had refrained from doing prior because he was already hyper enough as is. Once he drinks it, he goes crazy, and becomes so fast that time around him slows to a crawl. During this pause, Hammy activates the Depelter Turbo on Gladys and Dwayne, and grabs a cookie on the way out.
In the short film "Hammy's Boomerang Adventure", RJ hosts his own show called "RJ's Wide World of Nature". He and the porcupine kids sneak up on Hammy and secretly expose him to a boomerang to see how he behaves with it.
Personality[]
Hammy is meant to be the comedic relief character. He is hyperactive, sweet, innocent, childish, and somewhat dim-witted. He is easily distracted and easily swayed, and has an incredibly short attention span. He has unexplained speed powers that allow him to move incredibly fast and becomes so fast after drinking caffeine that he can travel multiple times faster than the speed of light, making time seem to almost pause entirely. Like all squirrels, he loves to bury and rediscover nuts. More than anything else the humans have, he loves cookies.
Appearance[]
He's a red squirrel with green eyes, and two large front teeth. Though his age is unknown, he's visibly young. Aside from Lou and Penny's kids, he's the smallest member of the family, and very skinny. His fur is red-orange with white on his front and face, but his hands and feet are a darker brown. His tail is large and bushy.
Trivia[]
- Hammy is among the original trio of comic characters who inspired the movie, the others being RJ and Verne.
- A near-identical character named Sammy was in the comic strip up until late 2005, where a story line shows a mirrored dimension where RJ, Elrod ("Like Verne is any better?"), and Hammy resided.
- Hammy (or Sammy, as he first was) did not appear in the comics originally, as RJ and Verne were the sole main characters. Other niche characters like Dotty (a dog), as well as Velma & Luby (the female counterparts to Verne and RJ) came before him.
- He can move very fast whenever he consumes caffeine.
- At one point, Hammy suggests calling the Hedge "Steve" which is a reference to his voice actor.
- Hammy appears on the spine of the cases for the DVD and Korean VHS releases instead of RJ or Verne.
- "The moment" Hammy stops time during the final battle and walks around casually is a cinematic scene that came long before the iconic Quicksilver scene.
- Though they only talk to each other one time in the script, Hammy is seen around Heather's company somewhat often, so it can be assumed that they're friends of some caliber. This isn't conveyed very well, though.