Cartoon Network has a massive catalog of Halloween-appropriate cartoons, from their bevy of WB-backed anime to Courage the Cowardly Dog. However, spookiness and creepiness is not all there is to Fall, as is proven by a fan-favorite limited series from Patrick McHale (Adventure Time, Gravity Falls), Over the Garden Wall. The series stars Elijah Wood, Collin Dean and Melanie Lynskey as its principal cast and is one of Cartoon Network's greatest Fall-feeling shows.
An adaptation of Dante's Inferno, Over the Garden Wall similarly deals with themes of loss and change. It is established that the timeline of the show begins on Halloween night, yes, but the themes of the show stretch far beyond the night of spooky screams. The ideas of the seasons of life, and the frigid chill of life's impending winter, loom large throughout the show's short runtime. The first day of Fall is the ideal time to prepare a plate of potatoes and molasses and binge-watch Over the Garden Wall.
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5)
Dante's Inferno begins with the narrator establishing that he has come to middle age, often referred to as "life's autumn," and is wandering lost through a wood. Likewise, when Wirt and Greg, the protagonists, are introduced, they are in their Halloween costumes (a callback to autumn) and lost in a deep wood. The theme itself additionally refers to autumn, setting the season as not Halloween or any farther-reaching time by simply omitting the line, but fully identifying the season as autumn and making the show unwaveringly associated with Fall.
As the series goes on, Fall passes. A harvest festival takes place in Episode 2, "Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee." This is as opposed to the scary ghost story, a Christmastime tradition, which takes place in Episode 5, "Mad Love." The next episode, "Lullaby in Frogland," is centered around frogs going into hibernation. As the series draws to an end, the once soil-covered forest becomes blanketed with ice and snow. All stages of Fall are represented in the short series, both physically and metaphorically.
Ultimately, the show is a coming of age story. This change is the one most central to the show as Wirt begins to learn responsibility for his younger brother. The whole story is about change, which is deeply interwoven in the imagery of Fall. As Wirt, Greg and their cursed bird companion, Beatrice, find their way toward their goals, all three undergo massive changes with the season before the dénouement, making their stories mimic that of the seasons around them.
Over the Garden Wall isn't just a Fall show. It's a grand idea to watch at any point, and the themes stretch to any number of occasions. It even takes place ostensibly on Halloween and is appropriately creepy. However, its themes happen to be perfect for ushering in the season of autumn. Thus, given that there are so many perfectly spooky movies and TV shows for October's scares, the first day of autumn proves best accompanied by potatoes, molasses and Over the Garden Wall.
Over the Garden Wall is available to stream on HBO Max.