Over The Garden Wall

P

Paper Iggy Koopa

Retired
Pronouns
She/Her
Although this miniseries made by Patrick McHale for Cartoon Network is cancelled, i got a couple of words for this show.

Just. BEAUTIFUL.

It has it's disturbing moments like
when it was revealed that the Pumpkin People bury humans alive use their skeletons to populate and the Beast's true form

Flourished animation, Intellectual Plot Structure, and a really intresting story. First time when i saw this show, i got attached to it, especially my favorite character: Grego.
 
it's less cancelled and more "it was only ever meant to be 10 episodes long because that's kinda the definition of a miniseries"

but yeah it's amazing and if you haven't seen it yet then you definitely should
 
My only regret about watching it was that I waited until everyone else already had months earlier, so then I had no one to talk about it with. This (spoiler-filled) AMV convinced me to sit down and watch it, although it had already been on my "to see eventually" list for a while (the only downside being that one of the biggest plot twists was revealed in the AMV, so I knew it was coming and missed out on that mystery and surprise - so don't click the link if you haven't seen the series yet!)

Anyway, the series is a great blend of silly and serious moods, with lots of surprising plot twists; real, likeable and relatable central characters; and tonnes of details for the eagle-eyed and/or repeat viewers. I definitely recommend it to people.

The fact that it was only 10 episodes is part of why it's so good, too. Hell, you could condense it further into a movie if you really wanted, but I think it works as a balance between weird episodic adventures and overarching plot - especially when you've got an episode pegged as a silly diversion but then wham, heavy plot comes crashing in.

Porygon-Z said:
It has it's disturbing moments like
when it was revealed that the Pumpkin People bury humans alive use their skeletons to populate and the Beast's true form
Click to expand...
But the Pumpkin People
don't bury people alive: they bury dead people so that they come back for a pumpkin afterlife. It's why the big pumpkin said Greg and Wirt were too early, and why they just had them dig the hole and didn't try to throw them in or anything sinister like that, iirc. The fact that the scary pumpkins weren't villains at all was a great plot twist, after spending the entire episode worried and waiting for the evil shoe to drop.
 
Yeah my sister and I waited over a year or so (for whatever a reason) to marathon watch it on Halloween this year.

Like I said earlier, the most amazing thing about the show is how they make it feel both modern and old fashioned at the same time, from the art style to characters. It just shows raw talent from pretty much everyone working on that show. And can they just do it again? Please
 
Walkazo said:
My only regret about watching it was that I waited until everyone else already had months earlier, so then I had no one to talk about it with. This (spoiler-filled) AMV convinced me to sit down and watch it, although it had already been on my "to see eventually" list for a while (the only downside being that one of the biggest plot twists was revealed in the AMV, so I knew it was coming and missed out on that mystery and surprise - so don't click the link if you haven't seen the series yet!)

Anyway, the series is a great blend of silly and serious moods, with lots of surprising plot twists; real, likeable and relatable central characters; and tonnes of details for the eagle-eyed and/or repeat viewers. I definitely recommend it to people.

The fact that it was only 10 episodes is part of why it's so good, too. Hell, you could condense it further into a movie if you really wanted, but I think it works as a balance between weird episodic adventures and overarching plot - especially when you've got an episode pegged as a silly diversion but then wham, heavy plot comes crashing in.

Porygon-Z said:
It has it's disturbing moments like
when it was revealed that the Pumpkin People bury humans alive use their skeletons to populate and the Beast's true form
Click to expand...
But the Pumpkin People
don't bury people alive: they bury dead people so that they come back for a pumpkin afterlife. It's why the big pumpkin said Greg and Wirt were too early, and why they just had them dig the hole and didn't try to throw them in or anything sinister like that, iirc. The fact that the scary pumpkins weren't villains at all was a great plot twist, after spending the entire episode worried and waiting for the evil shoe to drop.
Click to expand...
Really?, i thought they buried live people. I was a bit confused and panicked at the same time on that part where it revealed that they buried dead people and me thinking they buried live people.
 
Beast Boy said:
Yeah my sister and I waited over a year or so (for whatever a reason) to marathon watch it on Halloween this year.

Like I said earlier, the most amazing thing about the show is how they make it feel both modern and old fashioned at the same time, from the art style to characters. It just shows raw talent from pretty much everyone working on that show. And can they just do it again? Please
Click to expand...

You totally stole that idea from me.

I really did like the modern/classic mix it had. The music and art style felt very old-fashioned, with a script and humor that was a bit more modern to the taste. It was an interesting mix that went really well, and for a long while I wasn't sure how to feel about the miniseries, until I saw it again and was reminded why it was a really great show. It had a great cast too that really brought the show to life. That's one that I feel it did best was that it just did it's own thing; not relying on crude/shallow jokes once in awhile that many shows nowadays rely on.
 
To be honest, I was kind of disappointed in it. The designs and general art direction are incredible, but I thought the characters were decent but not entirely memorable (I liked Beatrice, though), and there was an episode that takes place almost entirely inside of a dream in one of the worst pieces of filler I've seen in a while. The entire show kinda felt like filler, hopping from one random adventure to another with a vague goal and no real sense of connection between each episode besides "we're here now, let's do stuff here".

The Beast was cool in voice and design, but the final showdown was lackluster, and after he's dealt with, the kids magically end up back home and everyone gets a happy ending, which felt really lackluster, especially since I didn't get invested at all in what was going on in the "real" world. The ninth episode showing how they got there really sucked some of the magic out for me. Why did those kids have costumes? Oh, because it was Halloween. What's Wirt doing? Oh, trying to hook up with a girl we barely heard about before. What's Greg doing? Oh, just being a kid (seriously, he barely grows throughout the story and it felt like a missed opportunity). How'd they end up in the unknown? Oh, Wirt was bickering about pointless angst stuff, then they end up in a lake and magic themselves there. The questions that I wanted to be answered were either skipped entirely or given disappointing answers.

I think I'm being a bit critical here because I really felt like this could have been something magical, something that could be unique and get some really powerful messages across in the process. The episode with the pumpkin people, just the second episode, was fantastic in its set-up, characters, direction, and twist, but then the twists started to pile on. Nearly every episode afterward seemed to pull the same twist, and even if I was still enchanted, it was predictable and humdrum. Do I regret watching it? No, not really. Would I recommend it to someone else? Probably just for the art.
 
Time Turner said:
To be honest, I was kind of disappointed in it. The designs and general art direction are incredible, but I thought the characters were decent but not entirely memorable (I liked Beatrice, though), and there was an episode that takes place almost entirely inside of a dream in one of the worst pieces of filler I've seen in a while. The entire show kinda felt like filler, hopping from one random adventure to another with a vague goal and no real sense of connection between each episode besides "we're here now, let's do stuff here".

The Beast was cool in voice and design, but the final showdown was lackluster, and after he's dealt with, the kids magically end up back home and everyone gets a happy ending, which felt really lackluster, especially since I didn't get invested at all in what was going on in the "real" world. The ninth episode showing how they got there really sucked some of the magic out for me. Why did those kids have costumes? Oh, because it was Halloween. What's Wirt doing? Oh, trying to hook up with a girl we barely heard about before. What's Greg doing? Oh, just being a kid (seriously, he barely grows throughout the story and it felt like a missed opportunity). How'd they end up in the unknown? Oh, Wirt was bickering about pointless angst stuff, then they end up in a lake and magic themselves there. The questions that I wanted to be answered were either skipped entirely or given disappointing answers.
Click to expand...

I don't know; everyone has different tastes, and I can easily understand the criticism with the show, as it feels like a show that you either get into or you don't and simply appreciate parts of it.

I actually found the beast's ending to be really good, because it kind of felt like it was the reason that were in this world, and the place itself might not really have existed, being sort of an "Alice in Wonderland" thing. It was an ominous being that they were warned about, and it seemed that before they could leave, they had to overcome a lot of issues, such as the beast.

The ninth episode was very vital to show though, since it established how they got there, which help develop the characters more, and why Wirt needed to become more courageous and actually go for things he wants, such as giving the mix tap to the girl he likes. And Greg also kind was the character that was there trying to stay positive and hopeful, which was the whole point of the series being that if you give up, you will be stuck forever, and he had character growth, especially when he took Wirt's place in the tree. He spent much of the show being bothersome to Wirt a lot of times, only to be the one to take his spot instead of escaping the place, because he cared about Wirt a lot.

I feel like a lot of things may seem a bit disappointing, but I felt like it made it show that sometimes the dark, scary things we think are actually not as scary once you face them.
 
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