Over the Garden Wall

About

Over the Garden Wall is an American cartoon created by Patrick McHale. The show ran for 10 mini-"chapters", each running for approximately 11 minutes.

Premise

The show centers around two lost brothers, Wirt and Greg (voiced by Elijah Wood and Collin Dean), who traverse through the 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

Patrick McHale is known for his contributions to the television shows The Misadventures of Flapjack and Adventure Time. While the show premiered on Cartoon Network on November 3rd 2014 and ran on consecutive nights until November 7th 2014, the show was initially proposed by McHale in 2005 to the network. Initially the miniseries 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 clamored for since the show's airing. The show began production in March of 2014.^[2] The pilot of the show (seen below) was released on 2013 under a completely different title: Tome of the Unknown.

Reception

The show received an average score of 9.2 from 3,513 users of IMDB.^[7] 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.^[1] 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".^[5] 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.

Online Relevance

An official tumblr for the show exists which showcases concept art, soundtrack, and side projects by the team behind Over the Garden Wall.^[8]

Fandom

Over the Garden Wall has grown a large fanbase. A wiki for the show exists with 134 pages.^[2] The fan-art site Devianart currently has 8,868 deviations tagged with the show's name.^[4] In addition, several blogs from Tumblr that are devoted to the show have popped up, showcasing fan-arts and theories.^[6] 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.

Various Fan-Art

Related Memes

It's a Rock Fact

"It's a Rock Fact" is a phrase often mentioned by Greg in the show when he brings up an entirely false, convoluted fact. He does this with a painted rock in his hand. The quote caught on with the internet and various fan-art of Greg and his rock were made, occasionally adding their own false fact.

Potatoes and Molasses

Potatoes and Molasses is a song sung by Greg in the third episode of the series, Schooltown Follies. the song became popular in the fandom and was the basis of multiple covers and was used in multiple remixes.

Search Interest

External References