Looking at: Over the Garden Wall

https://lh6.ggpht.com/f2ThcTvcZmuIwiy8V2s2ZKNLRGYzIUhHkK8oFZKI1soms0JzpzLCGIBq4QnIfJsXAar3_A=w1264

Power of Boredom

I love it when this happens. Occasionally I'll see an image or .Gif so weird that I need to research it. In this case it was this:

http://i.imgur.com/b4jdMQD.gif

There's a lot in that .Gif that caught my eye. A bird talking about scamming, arguing with what appears to be a garden gnome, then a horse given free will and the ability to speak stating that the only thing he wants to do is steal things. 

A little research (definition: checking the Reddit thread) revealed that this was a scene from Over the Garden Wall, an animated mini-series from Cartoon network. The .gif was enough to get me to take a look further, and man am I glad I did. 

Not Your Little Brother's Cartoon

http://www.awn.com/sites/default/files/styles/original/public/image/featured/1020658-cartoon-network-announces-over-garden-wall-premiere.jpg?itok=hYNvgEGB

A relatively normal moment.

I hesitate to refer to OtGW as a kid's show. It's animation style skews a bit young, sure, but it's art direction, themes, and even dialogue suggest this is a much more mature show than it lets on. It also might be because I'm a 22 year old man who swears like a sailor, and the idea of me sitting down to watch a kid's show seems weird. Then again, the popularity of shows like Adventure Time, Regular Show and Avatar in my age group have sort of opened the door for something like OtGW. It's a cartoon for people that grew up watching cartoons, and aren't quite ready to actually be adults. 

Other shows have attempted this before. Regular Show in particular regularly seems to go way beyond the bounds of a normal kids show by tackling themes like being in debt, caffeine addiction, and relationships. Paranorman back in 2012 was an animated movie that definitely would've gone over a kid's head, that is if it didn't scare the hell out of them. It's likely that this trend will continue, with more and more 90's kids and millenials refusing to actually become adults well into their 20's, and these types of cartoons can often reach an audience, however niche. 

The Other Side

http://i.cdn.turner.com/toon/video/repository/8a250ab047fac98401488f07857c03a2/thumbnail_40160.png

Christopher Lloyd is a standout as the mysterious Woodsman.

OtGW comes to us courtesy of Cartoon Network's Shorts Development program, the same program that gave us cartooning legends like Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Lab, Samurai Jack, Powerpuff Girls) and Derek Drymon (Spongebob, Rocko's Modern Life). It's been a while in the making too, with the original short being pitched back in 2006 by Patrick McHale. McHale worked on Adventure Time, and wrote a short called Tome of the Unknown about two brother becoming lost in a strange world. this would eventually become OtGW. 

The central plot of the series is centered around Wirt (Elijah Wood) and Greg (Collin Dean), two brothers that find themselves lost in a mysterious forest. Wirt is the older brother, but lacks any confidence, while Greg is happy-go-lucky and lacks any awareness, trading it in for a smile and a frog. They run into a mysterious Woodsman (Christopher Lloyd) who warns them of a horrible beast, and Beatrice (Melanie Lynskey), a bluebird with an attitude. Following a disaster the two brothers decide to go with Beatrice to find their way out of the woods. 

What follows is a sort of Alice in Wonderland style journey, with each episode offering a small vignette into the world of The Unknown, often with the brothers directly influencing something. they meet pumpkin people, deranged demons, singing frogs, and all manner of weirdness as they try and get back home. 

There are two things I really enjoyed about OtGW's story. First, it's characters really evolve. Wirt, Greg, and Beatrice all change is fairly believable ways, and they become really flushed out by the time the series concludes. Second is that it never looses sight of it's plot. It's probably best that OtGW was presented as a short series, rather then a regular cartoon, as it's plot would've been unnecessarily muddled in the need for extra "filler" episodes to pad out a season. It's plot is simple to follow and concise, and never strays to far from it's intended path. 

A Grimm Tale

http://cdn.bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/over-the-garden-wall-image-5-620x400.jpg

The autumn setting helps to sell feelings of both fear, and levity.

It's art style is probably my favorite thing about OtGW. It's a mixture of the animation works of Studio Ghibli, American Fokelore, and 19th century Germanic children stories. Whatever it is, it works great. There's a pervasive style to the show and it's great to watch. 

Similarly the music is fantastic. Again influenced by American fokelore, there's a lot of old time music being played around, everything from dixieland jazz, to negro hymnal style, to tenor based operatic scores. Almost every episode contains a wonderfully well done song, and although I'm not partial to children singing, it's endearing enough to earn a pass, particularly a song about mashed potatoes and molasses that I still have stuck in my head. A special mention needs to be made of Samuel Ramey who voices the villain The Beast. Ramey is an American opera singer, and not only does his bass-ey voice give great life to The Beast, but his penchant for breaking into song is both eerie and beautiful. 

It's rare we get a show as well put together as Over the Garden Wall, one that builds momentum and creates a world that's a joy to see explored. McHale has already said he'd like to release the story in comic form, and I'd definitely buy that again, just to re-enter the Unknown. I don't know when the next cartoon this good will come along, but if this is what Cartoon Network can do with an independent pitch, I say bring them on. OtGW is a wonderful, creative, and darkly comedic show that reminds us that every once in a while, it's worth looking into the unknown.