History WesternAnimation / OverTheGardenWall

''Over the Garden Wall'' is an MediaNotes/EmmyAward-winning ten-part animated mystery/comedy MiniSeries created by Patrick [=McHale=], best known for his work on ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' and ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''. Airing in a TwoShorts format from November 3 to November 7, 2014, the show is Creator/CartoonNetwork's first original mini-series, and based on the 2013 animated short film ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-0vZeaIrFg Tome of the Unknown]]''.

* AnAesop:
** Fear not the unknown, because nothing is as it seems; sometimes what you fear may turn out to be much more benign than you think, and the easiest choice may have terrible consequences.
** Also, don't judge by appearances or jump to conclusions. It may very well get you in trouble, or at the very worst, ''doom you''.
** It's better to take responsibility for your own actions than shove it onto someone else. Blaming other people can blind one to the truth.
** Any gesture, no matter how small you think it is, can leave a positive impact, so never stop trying to make the world a better place, because your actions (and by extension, your life) have meaning.

* PlotTwist: As can be seen by the many spoiler tags, this is a series full of them. Things are seldom as they seem in this show; which serves the show's subtle [[AnAesop Aesop]] of not being afraid of the unknown, for things you fear may actually turn out be quite benign.

* ForWantOfANail: "Into the Unknown" reveals that [[spoiler: had Wirt listened to Greg and decided to not run away from his problems over the idea that Sara would laugh over his mixtape for her, he and Greg wouldn't have ended up rolling down a hill and ending in a lake, nearly drowning. Moreover the following episode reveals that since Sara didn't even have a cassette player, Wirt's anxieties were for nothing since she had no means to listen to it!]]

''Over the Garden Wall'' is an UsefulNotes/EmmyAward-winning ten-part animated mystery/comedy MiniSeries created by Patrick [=McHale=], best known for his work on ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' and ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''. Airing in a TwoShorts format from November 3 to November 7, 2014, the show is Creator/CartoonNetwork's first original mini-series, and based on the 2013 animated short film ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-0vZeaIrFg Tome of the Unknown]]''.

** Any gesture, no matter how small you think it is, can leave a positive impact, so never stop trying to make the world a better place because your actions (and by extension, your life) have meaning.

** Any gesture, no matter how small you think it is, can leave a positive impact, so always strive to make the world a better place.

The story follows two half-brothers, [[SociallyAwkwardHero Wirt]] and [[CheerfulChild Gregory]], who find themselves lost in a dark and mysterious forest called The Unknown, where "long forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel through the wood". In their quest to return home, they are helped by a talking bluebird named Beatrice and are stalked by a shadowy creature known only as "The Beast".

%%* EnchantedForest: The Unknown is largely covered in this. The Beast lurks in the shadows of these woods, and his Edelwood trees grow in them.

* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: Wirt's defeatist cynicism gets him in trouble much more often than Greg's idealism, and the latter is played as the more noble characteristic. {{Justified}}, because you cannot afford to lose hope in the Unknown, and cynicism can indeed lead to that. [[spoiler: Also, the two brothers are fighting for their lives, drowning in the real world the whole time, so giving up or staying strong is directly tied to their survival in the outside world.]] In the final episode, however, [[spoiler: This is ruthlessly subverted. Greg’s overly optimistic belief that, if he just waits a little longer for the sun to set into the teacup, the Beast will show him and Wirt the way out, is exactly what The Beast is counting on. This causes Greg to very nearly die and become one of the Eidelwood trees, and the only thing that saves him and defeats The Beast is Wirt’s realisation that The Lantern contained only the soul of The Beast.]]

* SapientSteed: Fred, a talking horse who the protagonists initially took as an ordinary horse until he revealed he could talk at the end of his debut episode. He’s only briefly used as a horse by the protagonists though, since he leaves them shortly after his introduction gget a job.

* CrossoverPunchline: A subtle example. A skyview of Wirt and Greg's hometown show it to be identical to [[spoiler:the town of Aberdale from ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'']].

* WeirdMoon: The moon in The Unknown is a downward-facing half moon, which is impossible in real life.

* SapientSteed: Fred, a talking horse who the protagonists initially took as an ordinary horse until he revealed he could talk at the end of his debut episode. He’s only briefly used as a horse by the protagonists though, since he leaves them shortly after his introduction to get a job.

** Many people will recognize that needing two pennies for the ferry is a reference to the Greek myth of TheFerryman needing payment to cross the River Styx into the underworld. But when Greg and Wirt get on the ferry, it's full of singing frogs which doesn't quite seem to fit the theme - unless it's a reference to another work of Greek literature, Aristophanes' play ''TheFrogs'', in which Dionysus does indeed run into a chorus of frogs while being ferried to the underworld.

-->-- "Into the Unknown"

* OverarchingVillain: Each episode has its own conflict, but the Beast is alluded to at least once and is involved with every villain in some way, until he becomes the direct antagonist at the end of episode 8.

* TurtlePower:
** Wirt [[spoiler: has a poster for a band called the Black Turtles in his room]] as he's battling his own fear. Subsequently, a recurring small black turtle is frequently seen all over the Unknown, and good-aligned characters are often seen harming it, hinting at [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent the negative nature]] of that kind of fear.
** In Chapter 1, a snarling dog-creature is revealed to [[spoiler:return to the form of a normal pet dog, once it regurgitates a turtle]].
** In Chapter 2, Gregory befriends a group of friendly CivilizedAnimal schoolchildren, one of whom picks up a turtle and throws it far away.
** In Chapter 7, Auntie Whispers is seen picking a turtle out from a basket, and then [[ExtremeOmnivore eating it]].
** In Chapter 8, it also shows up in Greg's Cloud City dream sequence, in rubberhose cartoon character form - right in front of an old man carrying a lantern.
** In Chapter 10, the Fish fisherman hooks up a turtle in the epilogue.