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don Jaime
Apr 3, 2004
Led through the mist by the milk light of moon
All that was lost is revealed
Our long bygone burdens mere echoes of the spring
But where have we come and where shall we end?
If dreams can't come true, then why not pretend?




Over the Garden Wall is a 10-part miniseries premiering this week on Cartoon Network. Created by Patrick McHale of Adventure Time and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, it pulls from classic fairy tales and 19th-century Americana and is well-suited for viewing around Halloween.



What's the story?

The story follows Wirt (Elijah Wood) and Greg (Collin Dean), brothers who are trying to go home after getting lost in the woods. They are accompanied by a talking bluebird named Beatrice (Melaney Lynskey) who is leading them to the house of Adelaide, a witch who might be able to help them. Along the way they encounter a variety of strange people and animals, including an old woodsman (Christopher Lloyd) who rants about a beast loose in the woods, and they try to avoid them both. The complete first episode is now available on YouTube and can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wc1-q1CX_E

There's also a snip of episode 6:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMduxeCSMaI

What's the schedule?

All episodes start at 7 PM Eastern time.

November 3
1: The Old Grist Mill - Wirt and Greg encounter the crazy old woodsman.
2: Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee - Beatrice joins the brothers at a strange town during its harvest festival.

November 4
3: Schooltown Follies - Wirt, Greg, and Beatrice help a faltering school for animals.
4: Songs of the Dark Lantern - The three stop at a tavern for directions but only get songs instead.

November 5
5: Mad Love - Wirt, Greg, and Adelaide help a man living in a haunted house.
6: Lullaby in Frogland - Beatrice leads the boys to Adelaide's house at last, and the journey takes a new direction.

November 6
7: The Ringing of the Bell - Wirt and Greg try to help a girl controlled by a witch.
8: Babes in the Woods - Greg dreams of angels in heaven.

November 7
9: Into the Unknown - Wirt dreams of the night everything went horribly wrong.
10: The Unknown - Wirt faces the beast.

Or, if you'd rather binge through the whole thing in two hours, the complete series is available on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.

What's the point?

I can't recommend this enough. It's more than harkening back to old-fashioned forms of music and drawing; it evokes the strangeness of childhood in all of its adventure and its loneliness. Over the Garden Wall feels pleasurably sad and happy simultaneously and is a sure classic for this time of year for years to come.

For those who've already watched ahead, I would recommend anything go into SPOILERS before the broadcast dates for those who want to wait.


Don't miss this. It's amazing and beautiful, and chilling, and heart-warming. A good way to spend a few autumn evenings.

don Jaime fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Nov 5, 2014

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don Jaime
Apr 3, 2004
Reminder that today is the big day, first and second episodes tonight. Also, CN has completed their playlist of various songs from the show if you need to get into a 19th century mood.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg6KfZlgBuDWDfSJRb8iV1lesGcQnDuGs

BravestOfTheLamps
Oct 12, 2012

by FactsAreUseless
Lipstick Apathy
Those fancy frogs looks positively Ghibliesque. Looking forward to them.

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE
I watched through the whole series last night and loved it. The dynamic between the woodsman and the Beast was my favorite part.

I thought it was interesting that they added vignetting to the corners/edges of the frame, but it worked well with the show's style.


BravestOfTheLamps posted:

Those fancy frogs looks positively Ghibliesque. Looking forward to them.

The show alludes to a few different animation styles. The eighth episode in particular is like watching an old 1930s era Disney short.

Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Nov 3, 2014

horriblePencilist
Oct 18, 2012

It's a Dirt Devil!
Get it?
Just finished the show. It was pretty unsettling at times, but what a nice ending. I really hope this is successful enough to spark more of this.

Solaris Knight
Apr 26, 2010

ASK ME ABOUT POWER RANGERS MYSTIC FORCE
I'm goinjg into this blind but man the music is good.

Pick
Jul 19, 2009
Nap Ghost
I'm halfway through and really digging it. Tons of references to old-timey media, which I really appreciate. This is a cool model and I hope they do more miniseries like this.

JT Jag
Aug 30, 2009

#1 Jaguars Sunk Cost Fallacy-Haver
Doc?

Crabtree
Oct 17, 2012

ARRRGH! Get that wallet out!
Everybody: Lowtax in a Pickle!
Pickle! Pickle! Pickle! Pickle!

Dinosaur Gum
Christopher Lloyd's finding a lot of work in children's horror.

JT Jag
Aug 30, 2009

#1 Jaguars Sunk Cost Fallacy-Haver
Oh dear.

edit: "and muuuurder."

"What? Murder?"

"Oh, not murder."

Solaris Knight
Apr 26, 2010

ASK ME ABOUT POWER RANGERS MYSTIC FORCE
This show has a very fall feeling of nostalgia and creepiness. Kind of bittersweet in that sense.

Crabtree
Oct 17, 2012

ARRRGH! Get that wallet out!
Everybody: Lowtax in a Pickle!
Pickle! Pickle! Pickle! Pickle!

Dinosaur Gum
"Oh well, you'll join us some day".

Pretty chill Skeleton village.

muscles like this!
Jan 17, 2005


That was pretty great.

Y Signal
Feb 17, 2009

I love you, Tiger Millionaire.
Really liked it. That kind of bittersweet sense of nostalgia to the whole thing is a pretty great draw as well.

muscles like this!
Jan 17, 2005


Elijah Wood was perfect casting.

Pick
Jul 19, 2009
Nap Ghost
Got through it all, found it very satisfying and an all-in-all well-done miniseries.

Quinton
Apr 25, 2004

I loved this. I really hope we see CN (or others) explore the miniseries format more in the future. Ongoing series are fun, but there's a lot said to having a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

A couple comments and a nagging question (spoilers for the whole series):
I love that the scenes we get glimpses of during the opening of Ep 1 are each a window into a significant chunk of the story.
Definitely go back and re-watch that (if not the whole thing) when you're done. It's awesome:

- Beatrice and the dog, bluebird in the background
- turkey-drawn pumpkin wagon driven by the black cat
- the circus with gorilla
- toys carved by the toymaker
- Endicott seeing the "ghost"
- Adelaide's quilt and the bird scissors
- wind-up steamboat in the river
- Lorna sorting the bones
- the fishing fish in boat on the river
- Greg's hands grabbing the rock facts rock
- the woodsman and his daughter

I didn't quite follow the resolution to the fate of the woodsman's daughter -- she turns up at the end and they're re-united but I'm not sure how extinguishing the lamp (and defeating the beast) leads to that result (most of the other ending scenes more clearly fit against the story).

Also fun, all the *stuff* in Wirt's room, much of which seems to relate to the story.

Relentlessboredomm
Oct 15, 2006

It's Sic Semper Tyrannis. You said, "Ever faithful terrible lizard."
Wow that was great and the animation is gorgeous.

Baron Fuzzlewhack
Sep 22, 2010

ALIVE ENOUGH TO DIE

Quinton posted:

spoilery stuff

As far as the woodsman, his daughter, and the resolution of their story, my partner suggested that perhaps his daughter was always at home and never actually lost or trapped anywhere. The woodsman merely believed the Beast's lie about her spirit being trapped in the lantern and resigned himself to the fate of wandering the woods constantly gathering edelwood and grinding it up into oil.

For some evidence to suggest this: when the woodsman realizes the Beast has been lying to him about his daughter and threatens to blow out the lantern, the Beast asks him, "Are you REALLY ready to go back to that empty house?" Further, after encountering the Beast, I don't think the woodsman ever went back to his home for fear of his daughter being truly gone, so he wanders the woods and shacks up at the old Grist Mill. In the outro scenes, his daughter looked like she had been living in the home (not just gotten back), and acted surprised to see him when the woodsman showed up on the porch, like he'd been gone, not her.


It's a pretty satisfactory explanation, at least for me.

Baron Fuzzlewhack fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Nov 4, 2014

Quinton
Apr 25, 2004

That explanation totally works for me.

...and fits nicely with the Beast's M.O. of thriving on the despair of those who are lost (the woodsman actually being lost, not his daughter).

Quinton fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Nov 4, 2014

don Jaime
Apr 3, 2004

Quinton posted:

I didn't quite follow the resolution to the fate of the woodsman's daughter -- she turns up at the end and they're re-united but I'm not sure how extinguishing the lamp (and defeating the beast) leads to that result (most of the other ending scenes more clearly fit against the story).

It's also possible that snuffing the beast released all the souls he had "eaten" while the lantern burned.

Episodes three and four tomorrow. Prepare to face the beast:



And even more fearsome, an earworm.

don Jaime fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Nov 5, 2014

Big Anime Fan Here
Sep 8, 2010

by XyloJW
They hosed up not getting Tom Waits to sing the theme song

don Jaime
Apr 3, 2004
The theme song is Jack Jones, he's won a couple of grammies and is old school cool. I think he does great. BTW the pumpkin god is Chris "Wicked Game" Isaac and he sang the "Patient is the Night" song in that episode.

Pick
Jul 19, 2009
Nap Ghost
Reminder that Pottsfield is a reference to "potter's field", aka a graveyard.

Relentlessboredomm
Oct 15, 2006

It's Sic Semper Tyrannis. You said, "Ever faithful terrible lizard."
Made a gif of that creepy rear end pumpkin man

snucks
Nov 3, 2008

Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Watched the first two episodes and loved them. I'm glad this got made, it'll be interesting to see what Cartoon Network does with it (probably run it once every fall?)

Solaris Knight
Apr 26, 2010

ASK ME ABOUT POWER RANGERS MYSTIC FORCE

snucks posted:

Watched the first two episodes and loved them. I'm glad this got made, it'll be interesting to see what Cartoon Network does with it (probably run it once every fall?)

It seems like one of those timeless cartoons, and it beats more reruns of Scary Godmother.

Command Ant
Aug 9, 2010

I can make you
worth your weight
in gold!
The music in this show is beautiful, and I'm kind of surprised by how much Elijah Wood sounds like Mordecai from Regular Show.

Pick
Jul 19, 2009
Nap Ghost
I've rewatched a few segments, and I have to say, cartoons are in a genuine Renaissance. It's amazing to see.

Relentlessboredomm
Oct 15, 2006

It's Sic Semper Tyrannis. You said, "Ever faithful terrible lizard."
This continues to be amazing and a fascinating blend of styles.

don Jaime
Apr 3, 2004
Has anybody figured out yet why Wirt wears mismatched shoes? I've racked my brains and can't think of an explanation.

So, tonight we had a sort of Betty Boop cartoon at the tavern. Wednesday we get two doses of John Cleese, neither of which are this horse:



But he does play this character as a bunch of threads come together:



EDIT: There's a read along record and storybook that was given out only to industry people. Don't have the book yet, but we've got the audio!

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/otgwreadlisten/
User name and pass: gardenwall

don Jaime fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Nov 6, 2014

icantfindaname
Jul 1, 2008


That was really good. The ending with the Beast and the Woodsman was really well done. I liked how Wirt's social anxiety is completely unjustified and his friends are all massive dorks in reality. The horror parts were really well done and unsettling.

muscles like this!
Jan 17, 2005


He's a talking horse, he can do what he wants.

I want to steal!

JT Jag
Aug 30, 2009

#1 Jaguars Sunk Cost Fallacy-Haver
You were human? I don't think I knew that. Did I know that?

Crabtree
Oct 17, 2012

ARRRGH! Get that wallet out!
Everybody: Lowtax in a Pickle!
Pickle! Pickle! Pickle! Pickle!

Dinosaur Gum
Stop making the old man think he's mad.

JT Jag
Aug 30, 2009

#1 Jaguars Sunk Cost Fallacy-Haver
What a twist!

Crabtree
Oct 17, 2012

ARRRGH! Get that wallet out!
Everybody: Lowtax in a Pickle!
Pickle! Pickle! Pickle! Pickle!

Dinosaur Gum
Good job guys, now all the Tea is held in a monopoly of love. :)

Command Ant
Aug 9, 2010

I can make you
worth your weight
in gold!
"The door's stuck! Looks like we'll have to spend some time together."

"HELP!"

:allears:

JT Jag
Aug 30, 2009

#1 Jaguars Sunk Cost Fallacy-Haver
Dapper-rear end frogs

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Crabtree
Oct 17, 2012

ARRRGH! Get that wallet out!
Everybody: Lowtax in a Pickle!
Pickle! Pickle! Pickle! Pickle!

Dinosaur Gum
Oh good, they're making him voice the mystic woman as well. You done good Over the Garden Wall.

EDIT: And the bird is trying to sell them into slavery. Jeeze.

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