Into The Unknown

Taking place before the events of the first episode, it's Halloween and Wirt has just finished an audio cassette tape for his crush, Sara. He fashions a costume out of an old Santa Claus hat and a marching band cloak. He goes to a football game, where he meets up with his brother, Greg. Wirt thinks about giving the tape to Sara, who is the football team's mascot. Greg takes the tape as Wirt chases after him. Greg gives it to Sara's friends, as they tease Wirt for having a crush. They tell him that he should hurry, because another boy, Jason Funderburker, was planning on asking her out at a party that night. Wirt chickens out and leaves with Greg. He realizes that they never got the tape back, and they head back to retrieve it. They end up at the Halloween party, as Wirt chases in after Greg. He meets up with Sara, who invites him to go to the graveyard with her and her friends. He declines and tries to get the tape from her jacket. However, Sara comes back for it, leading Wirt and Greg to sneak after her and her friends. At the graveyard, the group is telling ghost stories when Greg tries to cause a distraction for Wirt. The plan backfires and Greg unwittingly reveals that Wirt is hiding behind a tombstone. A police car pulls up and jokingly tells them off for being in the graveyard, but they take him seriously and run off, with Wirt and Greg scaling a wall at the edge of the graveyard. At the top, Wirt notices Sara finding the tape in her jacket and he panics. They jump off the wall and onto a set of train tracks on the other side. Wirt blames Greg and his stepfather for ruining his life, but Greg pays no attention and picks up a frog in the bushes. A train comes down the tracks, heading straight for them. Wirt and Greg jump out of the way, but roll down a steep hill and into a lake, knocking them both unconscious. Wirt then wakes up after the events of the previous episode, and finds himself in a nest with Beatrice's family. He thanks them and heads off with Greg's frog into a snow storm to look for his brother.

Wirt, Greg, Woodsman, Beatrice

A ten-part mini-series, the first on Cartoon Network. Each show consisted of two chapters, and was originally aired over five consecutive nights.

Wirt and Greg travel across a strange land until they find their way home, aided by a wise old Woodsman who gives them directions and a bluebird named Beatrice. Music plays an important role in the series with a soundtrack full of Americana-influenced original songs.

The series is adapted from McHale's animated short, Tome of the Unknown. Both the short and the series create a unique look at styling by juxtaposing an extremely simplistic character design with moody, ornate watercolor backgrounds.