Earlier this week, I checked out the rather dark looking Over the Garden Wall. It had a few times on my list, so I decided to break with tradition and press play, which was the right decision to make.
Based on a 2013 short called Tome of the Unknown, Over the Garden Wall is the story of two young boys who – for reasons not yet explained – find themselves lost in the dark, scary woods known simply as the Unknown. In order to find their way home, the boys, Wirt and Greg (voiced by Elijah Wood and Collin Dean) must traverse this terrifying landscape, outwitting and outrunning the monsters and murderers that seemingly lurk around every tree stump – including a horned rogue named The Beast, who is obsessed with taking the souls of lost children and travelers, seemingly trapping them as flames in his mysterious lanterns.
Yup, it sounds terrifying, and for your average kid, it probably is. But it is also one of the bravest, most accomplished children’s shows in years. Developed by Patrick McHale and debuting on Cartoon Network, the miniseries ran for a total of 10 episodes, with each episode lasting a mere 11 minutes.
Despite coming from the mind of McHale – who is perhaps better known as a writer on Adventure Time – Over the Garden Wall is not a brightly coloured, melting pot of zaniness and trippy, drug-infused mania, but instead opts for a much more neutral color palette. Sure, there are some off-the-wall characters thrown into the mix, something we’d expect from Cartoon Network and McHale alike, but they’re not the kind of bubble-gum princesses you’d want to meet on your quest. Instead, they’re skeletons masquerading as Pumpkin people or young maidens suffering from acute cases of demonic possession.
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As for our heroes, well as the show reaches its climax, it is revealed they’re modern-day kids who jumped over a steep wall to avoid getting in trouble with local law enforcement one Halloween night, finding themselves in the woods of the Unknown. Things take a somewhat sinister turn, though, when we realise that in their haste of leaping the wall, they’ve fallen into a lake and been knocked unconscious, with the entire adventure taking place in their heads as they come closer and closer to death by drowning. In other words, it’s all pretty messed up, and that’s why it’s so bloody great.
Despite all that I’ve said, please don’t be put off showing this to your kids. There’s enough slapstick humour to keep them laughing through the creepiness, and McHale knows his audience well enough to keep it on the right side of scary. So much so that most kids won’t even pick up on the adult themes and references, obsessing more with Greg’s teapot hat or side quest to name his pet frog.
Over the Garden Wall is destined to become one of those shows that your kids will be talking about for years and is sure to become one of the essential Halloween go-to shows for generations to come.
