The animated miniseries Over the Garden Wall originally aired on Cartoon Network in 2014, and is comprised of 10 11-minute episodes. The story follows teenager Wirt (Elijah Wood) and his younger stepbrother Greg (Collin Dean) who get lost in the woods after going over a garden wall, and now are trying to find their way home. Along their journey through this strange, whimsical and sometimes scary land, they encounter several fairy tale-like situations and characters. They first meet a Woodsman (Christopher Lloyd), who warns them to “Beware the unknown, fear the beast, and leave the woods”. This is a mystery that plays out across the journey. However, the boys befriend a talking bluebird named Beatrice (Melanie Lynskey) who offers to help them find their way home. And also traveling with this trio is Greg’s new pet frog, whose name hasn’t yet been settled upon.

Here’s a short rundown of the show’s ten episodes:

• ”The Old Grist Mill“ (11:16)
  Stepbrothers Greg and Wirt get lost in the woods and trunk to find their way home. They cross paths with The Woodsman, who warns them to “Beware the unknown, fear the beast, and leave the woods”.
• ”Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee“ (11:34)
  The brothers befriend a talking bluebird named Beatrice who offers to bring then to Adelaide of the Pasture, The Good Woman of the Woods who can help them get home. However, Wirt decides to head to nearby town Potsfield instead, which is inhabited by strange people donning vegetable costumes as they celebrate the harvest.
• ”Schooltown Follies“ (11:36)
  As Beatrice continues to lead the boys to Adelaide, they come across a one-room schoolhouse. Greg wanders off to hang out with the wildlife while Wirt attends the class led by a schoolteacher, Ms. Langtee (Janet Klein), who has a lot of baggage.
• ”Songs of the Dark Lantern“ (11:36)
  The boys and Beatrice find themselves at a creepy tavern, looking for directions, but the patrons would rather sing songs offering advice. They are found by The Woodsman, but Wirt fears that he may actually be the Beast.
• ”Mad Love“ (11:35)
  Wirt, Greg, Beatrice and talking horse Fred (Fred Stoller) make a stop at the stately home of tea businessman Quincy Endicott (John Cleese). Beatrice tells the man that the boys are his nephews, in hopes of obtaining the 2 cents they’ll need for the ferry. However, Quincy seems a bit off, madly in love with the woman in his painting.
• ”Lullaby in Frogland“ (11:35)
  The boys sneak onto the steamboat ferry populated by frogs without paying. They hide from the cops, but soon find themselves in the spotlight, on the stage with the orchestra pretending to be a frog. But when Beatrice sneaks away in the middle of the night, her true motives become evident.
• ”The Ringing of the Bell“ (11:36)
  The boys are looking for place to wait out the rain when they come across a seemingly-abandoned cabin. However, a sick girl named Lorna (hannyn Sossamon) is trapped there as a servant to a seemingly evil witch named Auntie Whipsers (Tim Curry).
• ”Babes in the Wood“ (11:35)
  Wirt is dejected and has given up hope of ever getting back home, so he tells Greg he’s now in charge. As they lay down for a nap, Greg takes a trip to Cloud City to learn how to be a leader.
• ”Into the Unknown“ (11:35)
  Flashback to Halloween, just before Greg and Wirt got lost. Wirt desperately tries to get back an embarrassing tape that he made for a girl named Sara, which causes them to go over a garden wall, find a frog, and get lost in the woods.
• ”The Unknown“ (11:35)
  Wirt desperately looks for his brother Greg in the snowy weather and faces off with the Beast.

I had somehow never seen Over the Garden Wall over the past decade, but always seen people cosplaying these characters each year at San Diego Comic-Con. I quite enjoyed this fun and unusual series. I like how we just jump right into the story with little explanation. Wilt and Greg are oddly dressed, which adds to their whimsy and charm. Their clothing isn’t explained until episode 9, so the audience is left most of the time thinking a gnome hat and teapot are just normal headwear for these two boys. Wirt and Greg have very different personalities. Wirt is constantly nervous and a rule-follower, while his younger brother Greg is much more happy-go-lucky. Elijah Wood and Collin Dean do an excellent job of bringing these characters to life—their clashing personalities leads to a lot of humor. There is also a fun running joke of Greg constantly renaming his pet frog.

While some of the dialogue is more modern, the animation style and songs have a classic feel to them, giving the series a throwback tone. The are some really fun musical numbers, sung by Greg, Wilt and/or some of the other odd characters we meet along the way. And the charming score feels like something out of early cartoons. It’s just a very delightful series that makes you smile all the way through.

Along their journey, the boys encounter lots of unusual characters that feel like they are straight out of some classic familiar fairytale, just one you haven’t heard before. At the same time, there is also this darker mystery playing out with the mysterious Beast and Woodsman, which keeps the viewer guessing.

The series takes these characters on an adventurous journey that allows each of them to grow, change and learn something about themselves. Ultimately, everything builds to a satisfying conclusion, that not only reveals what has been going on, but also gives each of the characters we met along the way a happy ending.

Warner Bros. originally released Over the Garden Wall on DVD back in 2015, but now the series makes its way onto Blu-ray for the first time. We were sent this Blu-ray release for review and it looks stunning. The animation is flawless and the colors are bright and beautiful. While the audio is not an immersive surround track, it does provide clear dialogue throughout, and the songs and score still sound excellent.

All of the same bonus material from the previous DVD release has been ported over (though now in HD), which includes audio commentaries and isolated score audio for each episode, the original pilot, an 8-minute making of featurette, some alternate title cards, and deleted animatics. Unfortunately no new bonus material has been added, such as Aardman Animations‘ 10th anniversary stop-motion short that was released in 2024.

Everything is contained on a single Blu-ray disc which is packed in a standard HD keepcase. There is no slipcover or digital copy included.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (1:55:33)
• All 10 episodes of the series:
  “The Old Grist Mill”, “Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee”, “Schooltown Follies”, “Songs of the Dark Lantern”, “Mad Love”, “Lullaby in Frogland”, “The Ringing of the Bell”, “Babes in the Wood”, “Into the Unknown”, “The Unknown”
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH​

Extras:

• Audio Commentaries (1:55:33)
  Series creator Patrick McHale and art director Nick Cross provide interesting and informative commentary tracks for all 10 episodes of the series. They discuss the story, the world, the characters, the look of the show, and more. Select from:
  • ”The Old Grist Mill“ (11:16)
  • ”Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee“ (11:34)
  • ”Schooltown Follies“ (11:36)
  • ”Songs of the Dark Lantern“ (11:36)
  • ”Mad Love“ (11:35)
  • ”Lullaby in Frogland“ (11:35)
  • ”The Ringing of the Bell“ (11:36)
  • ”Babes in the Wood“ (11:35)
  • ”Into the Unknown“ (11:35)
  • ”The Unknown“ (11:35)
• Composer’s Cuts (1:55:33)
  Isolated score audio tracks for all episodes—watch each episode without the dialogue and sound effects, and just the beautiful score and/or musical numbers. Select from:
  • ”The Old Grist Mill“ (11:16)
  • ”Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee“ (11:34)
  • ”Schooltown Follies“ (11:36)
  • ”Songs of the Dark Lantern“ (11:36)
  • ”Mad Love“ (11:35)
  • ”Lullaby in Frogland“ (11:35)
  • ”The Ringing of the Bell“ (11:36)
  • ”Babes in the Wood“ (11:35)
  • ”Into the Unknown“ (11:35)
  • ”The Unknown“ (11:35)
• Behind Over the Garden Wall (8:20)
  Recorded before the series had a name, the cast and crew discuss the story, the characters, combining classic animation style with modern dialogue, the world inhabited by the characters, the tone of the series, the music, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes/recording session footage, rough sketches and animation, and interviews with creator Pat McGale, composers Josh Kaufman & Justin Rubenstein (The Blasting Company), and stars Elijah Wood (“Wirt”), Collin Dean (“Greg”) & Melanie Lynskey (“Beatrice”).
• Original Pilot: Tome of the Unknown (9:00)
  In this original pilot episode, “Tome of the Unknown: Harvest Melody”, Wirt, Greg, Beatrice and the frog are on a journey looking for a book that contains “all that has been forgotten”, aka The Tome of the Unknown. They meet vegetable man/singer John Crops (C.W. Stoneking) and drive off together in his watermelon car to the big city, which is populated by other vegetable musicians.
• Alternate Title Cards (0:46)
  Original camera test for the title cards, which have a slightly spookier, smoky look.
• Deleted Animatics (3:41)
  Collection of clips that were cut during the Animatic stage of production. The roughly animated black & white sequences play back-to-back. These extended clips include dialogue but no music or effects. Scenes include
  • “Chapter 1 – An elephant never forgets!”
  • “Chapter 3 – Greg’s full ‘Adelaide Parade’ song.”
  • “Chapter 4 – Some banter bewteeen Beatrice and Wirt that was cut for time.”
  • “Chapter 4 – Fred explains why he didn’t talk to Beatrice.”
  • “Chapter 9 – Greg asks permission to go to the party.”
  • “Chapter 10 – Wirt over-explains the subtext of the story, and the Woodsman realizes he has been tricked by the Beast.”

Final Thoughts:

Over the Garden Wall is a delightful adventure that introduces many fun and whimsical characters. I could easily see myself re-watching this miniseries. The 10 episodes play out like a movie and are easily bingeable. Warner Bros.’ Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, and includes all of the same bonus material as the previous DVD release, but now in HD. The only thing I wish they had included while re-releasing this was Aardman’s 10th Anniversary short. That said, the Blu-ray still comes highly recommended for any fan of the series as well as those who are just fans of whimsical and creative animation.