"Tome of the Unknown" or "Harvest Melody" is a 9-minute cartoon from 2 years ago that actually won 2 Emmys this year. It is the introduction to the successful new television series "Over the Garden Wall". The voice cast is not particularly known with the exception of Elijah "Frodo" Wood and I have to say I did not know writer and director Patrick McHale either before watching this. And afterward, I think it wasn't much of a loss really. I felt all about this short film was only so-so, fairly mediocre. The animation of the nature is nice, but I did not really like the way most of the characters looked. And the jokes and story weren't a revelation either. I am fairly surprised that this short film and series are so lauded as I cannot see great quality here. Not recommended.

This was a neat pilot for the excellent Cartoon Network miniseries "Over the Garden Wall". And while this short is somewhat more lighthearted and less dark than the actual, it still has many of its enjoyable qualities, such as catchy songs, nice music, very beautiful background art, a dream-like atmosphere combined with a whimsical story which seems to borrow several elements from classic fairy tales, American folktales and even those wonderful shorts from the Golden Era of animation (such as Disney's Silly Symphonies and the shorts done Max and Dave Fleischer)I'm glad Cartoon Network was able to see the potential of this short, turning into one of their best and most memorable series. For those viewers who already have seen (and enjoyed) "Over the Garden Wall", this short would be a nice watch too.8/10

After 2 years of being only seen in private film festivals, Cartoon Network recently released the pilot to its acclaimed mini-series Over the Garden Wall on its website for the general public and I have to admit it wasn't half bad.The premise was basically simple: it's about our main characters (Wirt, Greg, and Beatrice), who get tired of walking, meet up with a vegetable man named Johnny Crops who join him to the big city. It sets up some atmosphere of what Over the Garden Wall would have. The animation and designs are also slightly different from that of the later series (not in a bad way) but that's expected from a pilot.Overall, if you're a fan of Over the Garden Wall who wants to check out what the pilot is like or just want a sample of what the mini series would be like before watching the actual show for the first time, it's worth checking out Tome of the Unknown.