Over The Garden Wall
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For those of you who don’t know (presumably all of you), Over The Garden Wall is a animated short series (10 episodes, 15 minutes each) that aired on Cartoon Network this past week.
The story is of a young Teenager named Wirt (voiced by Elijah Wood) and his kid brother Greg. The two find themselves lost in The Unknown - a mysterious forrest full of mystical things - with no explanation of how they got their but searching for a way home. As they make their way through the forrest, they encounter many fantasy mini-stories that constantly subvert your expectations. But as they wander, darkness is close behind and they must work fast to escape the Unknown and return to their home.
The series has a wonderful mixture of beautiful scenery, derpy character design, dumb comedy, and fantastic pre-twentieth century music, and it all meshes so well. The scenery makes it feel like an old ghost story: a fantasy forrest full of sepia tones, creepy shadows, and broken down houses. The characters stand out in their relative simpleness; their features are blocky, derpy, and charming. You may know the creator, Patrick McHale, for Adventure Time - some of the same stupid, blunt, unexpected humor pops up here. And finally, the music. The Petrojvic Blasting Company (or at least members of) put together an amazing mix of gypsy music and new orleans style jazz to make a sinister, uplifting, old-timey score. It really adds to that old ghost story feel.
Overall, if you like cartoons even a little, this is definitely worth your time. At $10 for HD on google play, amazon, and itunes, it’s easy to get ahold of.
Petrojvic Blasting Company also has their own album for sale through bandcamp where you can name your old price! If you’re like me and love music, this is a no-brainer.
I like this show enough that if some a few of you are on the fence about it, I’d buy it for you. Same goes for the music. The Petrojvic Blasting Company are great and will send you a personal thank you if you leave them a nice comment.
Let me know what you guys think!
