Cartoon Network has been airing a promo of sorts that shows three bears (white, brown, and Panda) accompanied by a catchy tune, stacked on each other traveling through various universes of the CN lineup and concludes with #BearStack.
While amusing, because I love the silly scenes and the art style of the bears, I didn’t quite get what they were going for. Was a new game coming? A new app? Some special summer event?
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A new five night animated mystery series by Patrick McHale, Over the Garden Wall, is coming to Cartoon Network on November 3.
I discovered a behind the scenes teaser before promos started appearing on CN shared via Ben Bocquelet (creator of The Amazing World of Gumball) on Twitter. I was unaware it would be a mini series, but was, and still am, very intrigued.
This is one of the first times I can recall Cartoon Network offering a series that is of the artistic quality and feel of animated film. And it seems like the team behind it has every intention of telling an engaging story.
Not only does it look fantastic, it brings to mind a classic cartoon vibe like any number of Nickelodeon’s cartoons directed at young children of the late 80s early 90s, while offering a story with more depth and a wider reach. A vibe that lately, seems reserved only for animated films or shorts (that may struggle to find an audience if independent), as cartoon centric networks evolved in relation to the artists coming through. I have no real qualms with a network’s evolution, it’s easy to see I enjoy cartoons from essentially every decade and the styles they utilized. It’s just refreshing to see there is a chance of bringing a style that incorporates more artistic range back or reinventing it for a different generation of viewers and making it readily digestible. A six minute sneak peek snippet can be viewed here.
I hope the series succeeds in viewership, and that this opens the floor to seeing more of this kind of animation mixed in with the Adventure Times and Clarences of today. Or even a showcase like Cartoon Network used to do with such programming as O’ Canada. I love cartoons, but the reality is I love animation more, and when it looks like there’s a homogeneous system of cartoons dominating, I can become disappointed because I know there are brilliant artists/creators out there. That could make wonderful series and tell all sorts of stories, if their art style didn’t “threaten” the reigning parties.
So, if you enjoy animation and cartoons, I hope you’ll join me in taking a peek Over the Garden Wall this November.
Subliminal Quibbles 