About
Over the Garden Wall is a television show created by Patrick McHale, notable for his contributions to the television shows The Misadventures of Flapjack and Adventure Time. The show ran for 10 mini-“chapters”, each running for approx. 11 minutes.
Trailer
Plot
The show centers around two young brothers, Wirt and Greg (voiced by Elijah Wood and Collin Dean), who traverse lost through a mysterious wilderness referred to as the Unknown. Throughout their travels, they meet several notable figures, including the Woodsman, a wise old man who grinds up Edelwood trees to fuel his odd lantern, Beatrice, a talking bluebird who follows them and hopes to undo a curse that has befallen her whole family, and the malicious Beast, a monstrous creature who wishes only to keep wanderers lost forever
History
While the show premiered on Cartoon Network on November 3rd and ran on consecutive nights until November 7th, the show was initially proposed by McHale in 2005 to the network. Initially envisioned in 2004 by McHale was scarier and more “adventure-based”. McHale was noted as initially hoping for the show to be regarded as a annual Halloween special, something many have clamoured for since the show’s airing. The show began production in March of 2014.
Reception
Over the Garden Wall’s premier was viewed by 4,277,000 viewers ages 2+. In addition, average delivery of the five episode premiers ranked highest among age groups 2-11, 6-11, and 9-14. Overall, the show averaged 1.3 million viewers aged 2+. Reviews of the show were relatively positive: Richard Lloyd of the L.A. Times noted that while it was “a little too folksy and fairy story” at times, its “contemporary strangeness wins out”, and “it is throughout something to behold”. Bryan Moylan of the Guardian wrote that it had “a certain darkness to it that is both mellow and twee at the same time, with a fair amount of anxiety creeping around the edges”, and that its visuals were “absolutely stunning”. Additionally, several social media sites invoked significant praise to the mini-series, including sites such as Tumblr, noting its ability at merging humor and dark undertones. Many discussed the prominent “feels”, or emotional depth found in many of the episodes.
Fandom
Despite being a relatively young T.V. show, Over the Garden Wall has already begun growing a large fan-base, with fan-art sites such as Devianart constantly releasing new show-inspired images. In addition, several blogs from assorted sites, including Tumblr, have begun popping up, showcasing the latest in fan-arts and theories. Fan-made theories have become especially popular concerning the show, thanks to its large amount of symbols, metaphors, and themes featured throughout. In fact, several sites have begun publishing pseudo-scholarly articles concerning some of the many possible symbols featured.