It has now been almost ten years since Over the Garden Wall first aired on Cartoon Network. The show will officially cross that threshold over the weekend, but that doesn’t mean we can’t preemptively celebrate one of the network’s crowning achievements and most enduring projects. But Over the Garden Wall is more than just a great show led by a great cast (Elijah Wood! Melanie Lynskey!! Christopher Lloyd!!!) with great messages for audiences of all ages: it is also perhaps the single greatest thing you can watch during the fall, and embodies everything I love about the season.
Over the Garden Wall emerged from a deeply weird time in Cartoon Network’s history. I mean that quite literally, because the network was led at the time by some of the strangest shows it has ever boasted from some of the most singularly unique creators of the late aughts and early 2010s. Shows like Adventure Time and Regular Show dominated the airwaves and minds of the network’s viewers, and Over the Garden Wall’s creator, Patrick McHale, even worked on the former in a significant capacity. Cartoon Network became a home for weirdos and screwballs, and despite my fondness for the stuff I grew up with, this was probably its most refreshing era.
The show follows brothers Wirt and Greg who, after wandering through the woods to get home on Halloween, find themselves in a strange world called the Unknown. In it, all kinds of animals can speak, including a bluebird named Beatrice, and all manner of weird towns and creatures exist alongside people like you and I. Everyone is dressed like they’re out of the 1800s, and the series seems to lift from Americana artwork and folk music. It also cribs heavily from folklore, which lends the Unknown a sense of otherworldly and magical history despite the otherwise short runtime of the show, which clocks in at 120 minutes in total. In one episode, Wirt and Greg are taking a riverboat with a bunch of talking and singing frogs, and in another, they’re rescuing a girl seemingly enslaved by a witch. There’s a haunted mansion, a haunting Woodsman, and an unseen Beast that stalks the woods at night. It’s a strange show, and utterly delightful.
When I think of the strange and the unknown, my mind first flashes to autumn. That first autumnal chill is utterly magical, and after months of being beat down by the heat, it’s like an otherworldly gift. It’s cold and sharp, but also strangely comforting, and I’d say that Over the Garden Wall is, too. The fall also feels like this deeply transformative time. Growing up, it’s when the new school year begins, ushering in new people and experiences that could profoundly change you. As sure as the leaves change color and fall off of trees, fall invites you to transform with it, and that’s as frightening and strange a prospect as any. Over the Garden Wall is acutely tuned into those notions and anxieties.
Wirt and Greg have completely different impressions of their time in the Unknown. Wirt treats the autumnal wonderland as a threat to his existence, and fights it every chance he gets. Greg, on the other hand, perhaps blessed by the obliviousness of childhood, welcomes it and its oddities. He adopts a frog which bears many names over the course of the show, and befriends the locals at every opportunity. Similarly, Wirt begins the show as a bit of a reluctant older brother to Greg, perhaps due to the fact that they are actually half-siblings with different parents. He doesn’t lack care or empathy for his younger brother, but he certainly puts a wall between them which comes down as the series progresses. Greg, meanwhile, looks up to and admires Wirt, like younger siblings are wont to do, regardless of circumstance. Over time, Wirt begins to open himself up to the world and the possibility of change with the bravery that his little brother does, and if that ain’t a fairytale ending, what is?
Maybe that’s the thing about Over the Garden Wall actually: it feels like one of our few modern fairy tales. And much like the fairy tales we grew up with, there’s a little something for everybody who gives the show a chance. Over the Garden Wall, like a lot of Cartoon Network’s programming at the time—as well as some series that would follow it, like Infinity Train—is obviously aimed at kids, but it has no problem appealing to older audiences too. I first watched it as a young adult, and it’s only grown more precious to me with every journey back into the Unknown. The impact of the show is so profound that I just saw a Wirt on Halloween, ten years after it first aired, and the cast of that show remain regulars around this time of year.
Over the Garden Wall may begin on Halloween, but the journey that Wirt and Greg take may as well span the entirety of the fall season. So if you’re looking for something bite-sized, endlessly charming, comforting, and great for people of all ages, I cannot recommend it nearly enough. It’s been ten years already, and it truly hasn’t lost a bit of its luster. It may just be timeless.