Tome of the Unknown
A 2013 animated short that inspired Over the Garden Wall.
Tome of the Unknown: Harvest Melody, commonly shortened to Tome of the Unknown, is a 2013 animated short film created by Patrick McHale and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. It served as the inspiration and pilot for the miniseries Over the Garden Wall, which premiered in 2014. The film is narrated by Warren Burton and follows Wirt, his brother Gregory, and a bluebird named Beatrice as they search for an arcane book of all known things.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Patrick McHale
- Producer
- Nate Funaro, Pete Browngardt (supervising producer)
- Starring
- Elijah Wood
- Collin Dean
- Natasha Leggero
- C.W. Stoneking
- Warren Burton
- Editing
- Paul Douglas
- Runtime
- 9 minutes approx.
Facts from the source article.
Plot synopsis
In a large forest called the Unknown, Wirt and his brother Gregory walk with Beatrice, a bluebird who can speak. They are traveling to the big city to find a book titled The Tome of the Unknown, which is said to contain every forgotten thing. When their legs tire, Greg suggests riding a goose, but Wirt doubts they can find one big enough. Greg wanders off and discovers a car made of vegetables, whose owner, John Crops, is a vegetable humanoid. Crops laments his loneliness and wishes to go to the city. Wirt offers to drive Crops there in exchange for keeping the car, hoping Crops can find a soulmate. During the drive, giant crows attack the vegetable car, forcing Wirt to crash into a scarecrow pole in a cornfield. Crops reveals they have arrived at the big city, which is actually a small farm community. While Wirt and Beatrice repair the car, Greg and Crops explore a gazebo garden party, where Crops meets a cabbage woman. The party's entertainment is cancelled, and Greg suggests Crops perform. The cabbage woman is flattered to learn Crops is a musician. Wirt struggles to fix the car until Beatrice instructs him. When they start the engine, they knock over the scarecrow, summoning giant crows and turkeys that terrorize the vegetable inhabitants. Wirt and Beatrice pick up Greg, while Crops continues to woo the woman. As they try to escape, giant animals devour the vegetable car. Greg jumps out and finds a goose large enough to ride. His screams scare off the birds, and Crops returns home with the cabbage woman. Wirt, Gregory, Beatrice, and the goose continue traveling deeper into the Unknown.
Production
Tome of the Unknown was written, directed, and storyboarded by Patrick McHale. After graduating college, McHale pitched the idea to Cartoon Network, which was considering creating a feature film department. He was asked to adapt it to feature length but found it needed an episodic structure, planning a three-season television series. The project was put on hold when McHale became creative director for Adventure Time. Around 2011, the network asked for another pitch. McHale, who had only made student films and worked on others' animations, did not expect it to go beyond a short. The short was well received and accepted for production as a miniseries. Originally conceived as eighteen episodes, time constraints reduced it to ten. The miniseries, retitled Over the Garden Wall, reused the main characters but abandoned the search for the Tome of the Unknown, instead focusing on the characters getting lost and finding their way home. Nick Cross, a background painter on the short, became art director for the series, and Chris Tsirgiotis worked as layout designer on the short.
Release and reception
Cartoon Network released Tome of the Unknown to film festivals starting in 2013, including the Austin Film Festival on October 24, 2013, and the International Children's Film Festival in Boston in May 2014. At the Ottawa International Animation Festival on September 21, 2013, it received an honorable mention for best short animation for children. The film won a Bruce Corwin Award for animation at the 29th Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February 2014. Ethan Gilsdorf of The Boston Globe noted the presence of celebrity connections, particularly Elijah Wood, and McHale's work on Adventure Time. The film was released digitally as part of the miniseries DVD on September 8, 2015, and earlier on the network's website in May 2015. Róbert Kovács-Cohner of Hungarian IGN highly recommended it, praising the story over the backgrounds. Nick Cross and Chris Tsirgiotis earned juried Emmy Awards at the 67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for their background work.
More in Characters & Creatures
Elsewhere in Over the Garden Wall
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